AN:

As mentioned in the previous chapter's notes this chapter is going to give some more page time to Dante.

Don't worry there's more as well.

Also don't forget to REVIEW the chapter at the end and FOLLOW to keep up to date with the story.

Chapter 12 - Boredom

The next day

THUD!

"Ow! Dammit!"

Dante forced his eyes open and grimaced at the pain and the taste in his mouth. 'Ugh...What the hell is that? Carpet?' He pushed himself up and his eyes focused as he realised that he was lying on the floor, his face inches above the carpet. 'Yeah...Like I thought...Carpet…' Dante sighed as he looked all around in his room. His leg was still beneath the bedsheets and he saw that his coat had fell off the stand, causing the picture of the girl to have landed in front of him. He looked at it and sighed sadly.

'Great. Falling out of bed. I'm picking up your habits now...I guess I miss you more than I realised, gorgeous…' He breathed out as placed the picture back in his coat, tidied his room and quickly got dressed. Finally, he looked in the mirror, and carefully placed his fedora on at the right angle and flicked the small black feather pinned to the ribbon. Satisfied, he kicked the door open and made his way to the pantry. After making and downing his coffee, he left with a pair of biscuits in hand only to see Sasha approaching him. He broke into a massive grin and waved at her.

"Hey! You and Connie have a nice nap? Or was it a little chilling sleeping in a large place like this?" Dante remarked cheekily only for Sasha to give him a murderous stare, not sure whether to be annoyed at the prank from last night or Dante's terrible pun. "Oh come on, it's just a little fun!" Dante raised his hands, "Listen, just get yourself some breakfast and you'll laugh it off. The pantry is on the left. You can't miss it. Help yourself!" Sasha's face dropped and without saying a word, she half-walked, half-jogged down the corridor.

Dante finished his breakfast and walked outside, yawning and stretching his arms above his head. He paced around the Retreat until he found the perfect spot. Dante sat back against a tree and sighed, his breath forming a cloud in front of his eyes. 'Perfect…' Dante thought as he shut his eyes and tilted his head back.

Coo! Coo!

Dante's left eye opened up suddenly. He slowly looked up and his scanned the branches above. Perched above was a large grey pigeon, looking around and cooing as it pecked at the branches. Dante grumbled and he forced his eyes shut only to be awoken by a series of cooing. He opened his eyes and looked up to see a small flock of pigeons looking down at him. He rubbed his temples with his fingers and closed his eyes, groaning out loud in annoyance. 'Why is it every damn morning with these damn pigeons!?' he thought to himself as he looked down at his feet. He knew he shouldn't do it. It could cause havoc, cause too many problems. He should just go inside and fall asleep…

"Ah, to hell with it," he mumbled to himself. He exhaled deeply and without taking his eyes of the ground, took out his gun and fired.

Levi shot up straight from his chair as soon as the first shot was fired. He grabbed for his dagger and gun from his nearby table and darted to the windows. He scanned his surroundings and stared at Dante, one hand holding a smoking pistol, the other playing around with a single bullet.

"Would you kindly explain what makes you think is a good idea to fire off shots this morning? " Levi asked flatly from his window.

"I'm tired…" Dante said as he holstered his pistol and let his head rest against the tree.

Levi stared at him for a while then he shook his head, "You're...tired?"

Suddenly, Dante rocked back and landed on the balls of his feet. He reached to his belt and whipped out two pistols and fired them towards the sky. "Yes...I'm tired… I'm tired of sitting around here while you and these stupid pigeons all are doing NOTHING! Don't get me wrong. I have a pet owl and he's majestic. These birds on the other hand are just sitting there going 'coo coo' all day. It's driving me insane how annoying and boring this morning has already been in less than 2 minutes"

Levi just stood there, staring at Dante, completely stunned. 'Just what the hell is this brat?' Levi blinked and was about to throw a vivid insult until there was a loud sound from next door. Just then, the window right next to him opened up and Jean poked his head past, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THIS EARLY!" he yelled out.

Dante looked up and grinned as he waved his pistol. "Hey, Jean, wanna join me kill these blasted birds or what?"

Jean stared at him for what felt like hours then yelled out at the top of his voice. "IS THAT REALLY NECESSARY THIS EARLY! SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO GET SOME SLEEP, YOU IDIOT!"

Dante looked back, then to Jean and blinked. He rubbed his head with the muzzle of his gun and tilted his head, his face creased with confusion. "Why are you screaming? You're going to wake everyone else up…"

"...Wha-what?...W-wha?" Jean stammered, taken aback by his comment.

"Just...stop shouting, take a deep breath and go to sleep…" Dante shrugged, staring at him innocently.

Jean opened his mouth but no sound came out. He looked at Dante and then at Levi then shook his head angrily as he slammed the window shut. "Well...he was just a ray of sunshine…" Dante said distantly but shook his head, "Anyway, come on, it'd be fun..."

"Tch, do you have some kind of problem? What in your right mind, or whatever mind you have, will make you think that I would go out shooting stupid pigeons with you? You have the entire forest to yourself, so why are you deciding to play your stupid game here?" Levi asked as bluntly as possible, fixing him with a dull, narrow stare.

Dante stared at him blankly. He looked down at his guns, then scanned his surroundings as if he was a lost child in the middle of nowhere. 'I can't believe I'm reasoning with a moron like him' Levi thought to himself as he stared at Dante. Finally, Dante looked up and gave him a dorky half smile, "Er...ok...um...what if the answer to all 3 of those questions are, 'I really don't know?"

Levi stared at him for a moment taking in what Dante had just blurted out. He was completely speechless at Dante's clear ignorance that he even found himself questioning Erwin's past decisions and motives.

"I mean, look," Dante gave an exasperated sigh, "This might seem a little odd but it's a bit of fun so... just this once, ok, I'll probably stop in the future but, come on….just, take a gun and help me out here."

Before he could continue, Levi slammed the window shut and walked away. Dante let out a disappointed sigh and turned away, aiming his revolver 'Talk about such a grumpy geyser," Dante muttered aloud as he had a bird in his sight but stopped. He then looked back to Levi's window and a wide smile appeared on his face.

Armin groaned as he rubbed his eyes and staggered all the way to his room. He had been woken up by Jean's screaming and had rushed over to see if everything was okay. But apparently it was due to Dante's 'stupid antics' as put by Jean who grumpily tried to go to sleep, pulling a pillow over his head and refusing to listen to any reason. Nonetheless, Armin felt completely shattered as he struggled to keep his eyes awake and head for the door. 'All I need is some proper sleep…' He thought wearily to himself as his fingers curled around the door handle and he twisted it open, "There's nothing stopping me from getting any-"

He stopped in his tracks and stared in front of him.

Standing in front of the window was Jay, still wearing his black, blade-loaded coat and his hands clasped casually behind his back and his fingers drumming out a regular pattern. His head tilted to the side and he turned around fixing Armin with a dark collected stare, "Artlet…." he stated flatly, still staring at him.

Armin blinked, his mind still registering what was in front of him as he suppressed a shudder as cold anticipation clambered up his spine. 'What was he doing here?' Armin thought, his mind reeling in surprise and dread, 'How did he get in here?'. Armin did his best to push these thoughts down and tried to think logically. "J-Jayden….w-what are you doing here?"

Jay exhaled, "After that incident in my room, Eren came to see me about it…"

Armin's blood ran cold. 'Oh God, I should have known this was going to happen...And Jay knows that I told Eren...Is he going to kill me for that!?' Armin tried to suppress the images of Jay executing him in various, grisly ways threatening to overwhelm his in order to try and calm himself.

"You told him about it?" Jay asked, his voice was flat and uninterested.

Armin paused. '...I should probably tell him the truth. Who knows what could happen…' "Y-Yes I did…." Armin admitted nervously, "But I didn't think that he'd-"

"It doesn't matter…" Jay cut in smoothly, tilted his head and stared at him, "Yesterday evening, Jean, Sasha and Connie tried to break into my room…"

Armin blinked as he stared up at him, "Y-yes?…"

"And you tried to stop them?" Jay stated, the question sounding more like a given fact than a question.

Armin saw one of the blades stashed in his coat, glinting from the morning light. Armin stared at that and then tore his eyes away to Jay's dark intense stare. "...Uh...I'd say so...yes…well...tried, at least..."

Jay gave the slightest motion of a nod and stared at the floor, "Well...I guess I should...apologize...that threat to you was...uncalled for."

Armin blinked, looked back to the door and then to Jay. 'Just what the hell is going on?' Armin thought to himself as he stared at Jay's face which was masking any emotion whatsoever. "Umm...okay...but that means that the threat to the others...wasn't uncalled for?" he asked nervously.

Jay's head tilted and raised one of his eyebrows as if it was a given. Armin shook his head and got his composure together, "Uh...okay...but...if you're going to do this...why break into my room to tell me this."

Jay paused for a moment, now reverting back to that dullen abysmal stare, his face remaining perfectly still. "...Like I said…" he said slowly, "I wanted to apologise"

Armin blinked and shook his head, "No, I mean-" but then he stopped. Even he was taken aback and completely confused by what was going on. His mouth tried to move but nothing came out. In the end, he simply gave up trying to come up with a rational explanation and simply stared at Jay, his face written with confusion. Seconds had past until Jay had finally moved. He glided past Armin and without even giving him a glance, slammed the door shut.

Dante stared at the door in front of him, not moving an inch. He blinked and slowly looked around if anyone was coming. After making sure he was alone, he curled his hand into a fist and began to bang on the door.

"Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!" Dante called out loudly every time his knuckles hit the door. Soon enough, the door swung wide open and Levi was standing there, scowling more than usual.

"What the hell is it, brat!?" He seethed out as he saw Dante's goofy grin. Dante didn't say anything but held out a revolver to Levi, who just stared at it in silence. 'What do you want me to do? Shoot you with it? Because right now. It's really tempting…' Levi thought as he looked up at Dante, his annoying smile had gotten even wider.

"Wanna join me?" Dante smirked.

"...No…" Levi remarked curtly and swung the door. Before it could slam shut, Dante raised his hand and blocked it.

"Please?" Dante asked innocently.

"Let go of the door, idiot…" Levi growled.

"Pretty please?" Dante asked again.

"No!" Levi said louder and tried to push the door shut with all of his strength. Dante put almost all of his full strength to keep the door open. 'What the hell is with this guy? He's stronger than he looks…' Levi thought in mild surprise.

"I promise it'll be fun!" Dante said quickly, poking his head around the corner. Levi gritted his teeth as he pushed Dante's head back out of the door.

"Get lost!" Levi snapped as he pushed the door even harder.

"Tell you what!?" Dante blabbered on quickly, "Join me and I'll make you coffee! OK! Not a coffee person! That's fine! Tea? Hot Chocolate! Wait! I'll clean your room for yo-" Dante cried out but then Levi slammed the door shut and leaned against it. He let out a low sigh and rubbed his eyes. 'That's just what I need… This idiot goofing around…"

Dante let out a miserably sigh and trudged off, not sure what to do next. As soon as he reached the end of the corridor, his face lit up almost instantly. 'That's it! Of course!' Grinning, he sprinted off to the exit.

Armin wandered into the library and marvelled at the tall shelves stacked with books lining the walls. His fingers traced over the spine of the books until he stopped on one and carefully pulled it out. Gingerly, he turned the cover and reduced into a fit of coughs as a huge amount of dust erupted from the book. 'Some of these books must be ancient...' Armin thought as he looked up at the books above his head, 'How many of these have lasted for so long?'

CREAK!

Suddenly Armin turned and stopped dead in his tracks. There sitting by the massive glass stained window only a few metres away was Jay, sitting over an impressive polished chessboard with shiny pieces sitting on it. Jay remained as still as a statue just looking at the pieces, as if he hadn't noticed Armin the entire time. As soon as he was about to sidle away, Jay called out, still not taking his gaze from the chessboard.

"Hello, Artlet..." His voice rang out with no emotion to it, "What are you doing here?"

Armin let out a shaky breath and stood beside the bookshelf. "I-I was just taking out some books...I didn't mean to disturb you…"

"You didn't…" Jay remarked, his hands clasped beneath his chin and still staring at the chessboard. Armin opened his mouth to say something but closed it and shook his head. His eyes drifted from Jay to the chessboard and then he spoke, "So…you play chess?"

"Yes...Yes, I do…" Jay replied curtly. Armin blinked at him, his face written in confusion, "And...you're playing by yourself?"

Jay let out a low sigh, which contained the slightest hint of annoyance, "Not playing...analysing…" he replied. Silence had followed but Jay broke it by taking his hands away from his chin and giving a little shrug, "But if you must know, Dante's way too impatient and incompetent to play the game and Al would rather be out hunting or wrestling bears in the woods in the name of 'sport'…"

Armin stared at Jay for a while, his mind trying to take in what Jay had said. Then, with the slightest of nods, he quietly walked over and sat opposite to him.

"...What are you doing?" Jay asked, finally sitting up and looking at him, his face remaining straight but his eyes showing a tiny hint of surprise.

"Well...you don't have anyone to play against...and I'm kind of bored so...," Armin mumbled out, "Can I play?" he asked, giving Jay a faltering smile. Jay blinked as he looked at the long haired person opposite him. After exhaling, he averted his gaze the the board and clasped his hands beneath his chin, "...OK...Your move then…"

LINE BREAK LINE BREAK LINE BREAK LINE BREAK LINE BREAK

Al stood in the middle of his library, staring at the shelves filled with books. 'Once filled with books," Al thought as he examined each of the books on the set of shelves in front of them. Someone had messed around with his books, messed with the order of them, others were missing altogether. Al racked his brain to what had happened, last time he check, every single book was in its place the last time he had checked. 'What happened? Who happened?' Al pondered in deep thought but was snapped out of it when he heard a clicking noise across from the library. Al turned his head and looked at Jay and Armin sitting down over a chess board by the window.

"Hey, have either of you…taken any books out or...seen anyone who'd taken some books out?" Al asked.

Armin blinked and shook his head. "No...I've only found this part of the mansion about 10 minutes ago…w-why?"

"Read most of them, know the gist of the rest, no point in taking any out," Jay remarked curtly as he carefully picked up the knight piece and moved it. "You sure you haven't misplaced it anywhere?"

"Yes, I'm sure, I'm very sure," Al leaned against the bookcase and crossed his arms, staring out of the glass-stained window above them, "The books have gone missing, and I hadn't touched them for months."

Armin looked down at the chess board in deep thought and then up to Al, "Are you sure you hadn't shown anyone this part of the mansion?"

"Someone could have taken them right under your very nose," Jay remarked as he sat back, finally turning his head to Al, fixing him with a dull stare.

"Oh, that's a great help-" Al began but stopped in mid-sentence, realisation sweeping over him like a wave. 'Wait...they're right...that's it...'. Al stood up and made his way to the door "That's it...Thanks, you two."

"Er...no...Problem..." Armin watched as Al left, wondering about what he did. "Your move," Jay stated flatly as he continued to look at the board, snapping Armin out of his trance, "...And this is getting rather interesting…"

Levi stared at the door, suspicion had begun to take over him. 'It's been fifteen minutes and he hasn't even knocked…' Levi thought, 'What the hell is the moron planning'. He reached for his gun and knife and slowly edged to the door. He twisted the doorknob slowly and opened it slightly. He pointed his gun out first before exiting his room and looked around the corridor. Everything was quiet. There was no sign of Dante anywhere. Levi's brow furrowed as he looked around. He stepped forward and there was a loud SQUISH!

Levi stood there, not even daring to breathe. Slowly, he tore his gaze down to see his boot in a small pile of wet mud on the floor. He pulled his boot out and eyed the mud pile. He slowly looked up to see a small trail of mud leading down the corridor. With his head lowered and his fists clenched, he slowly followed the trail down the maze of corridors. As he approached closer and closer, he heard the sound of whistling and he clenched his fists. 'If it's you. If it's you. If it's you…' He thought in pure outrage and turned the corner to see Dante. In one hand, he was carrying a spade and in the other was a bucket filled with mud. Still whistling, Dante took out a spade full of mud and then chucked it down on the floor with a wet SQUELCH! Levi glared at him in absolute disbelief, completely speechless. Dante looked up and his expression lit up as he saw him.

"Hi there!" He beamed as he waved with the spade in his hand. "I totally didn't expect that to work at all!"

Levi stood there, staring at Dante, his expression unreadable.

"Er...Captain?" Dante asked, the smile still fixed on his face.

Suddenly, Levi blurred forward, taking Dante by mild surprise. He grabbed Dante by the collar and kicked the door down to a nearby room. He dragged Dante inside causing him to stagger back. Dante flinched as he looked to see Levi's expression of complete fury.

"That's it! What the hell is wrong with you!?" Levi screamed out, his fists trembling.

Dante let out a small chuckle and gave a shrug, "Holy crap. I knew you were a clean freak but this is insane!"

"Answer me!" Levi screamed out as he shook Dante violently

"Well, you didn't want to come outside so I thought 'Why not bring the outside to Levi'!?" Dante raised his arms, a huge grin on his face, "It's brilliant, isn't it!?"

Levi blinked, completely taken aback, "...You did this… Just to get my attention… To join you to shoot some STUPID BIRDS!?"

Dante nodded, "Yeah, you can totally understand! Give the man in raise!" Dante paused and his eyebrows raised, "I guess in both ways since we aren't paid much and you are quite shor-"

Dante was cut off as Levi gripped Dante tightly by the collar and slammed him against the wall. "GAK-! This was not… What I had… In mind…" Dante spluttered out at he felt the tight grip around his throat and tried to write around.

"Say that again…. Say. That. Again…" Levi shook Dante violently as he stared at him, his face full with burning anger.

"I said… it's because… you're quite… short…" Dante croaked as Levi pulled at his collar tighter and he slowly began to slide down the wall, struggling to breathe.

Finally, Levi let go, dropping Dante and causing him to collapse onto the floor, wheezing. "Well… That was… interesting…" Dante shrugged as he gasped for air and tried to get up. Levi began to walk off, not looking back.

"You really are insane. Where did you get that from? Your father or-?"

BANG!

Levi stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide in surprise. 'What the hell?... Did the brat just-" He looked over his shoulder to see Dante. His arm was dead straight and his hand was gripping a pistol. The shattered remains of a nearby vase was lying on the ground only a couple metres away from Levi and he looked from the broken pieces to Dante, completely stunned. He was staring straight ahead. His head was lowered slightly and he was trembling. His eyes were wide and his eyebrows were furrowed. Levi's face creased in surprise as he realised what had happened.

'He's angry… He's really angry about something…' Levi thought as he stared at Dante, who remained where he was. Dante remained where he was for a long time, frozen in that one spot. After a while he blinked looked at the gun in his hands. He flinched and looked around wildly as he pushed himself up onto his feet.

"Oh God, I am so, so sorry!" Dante blurted out quickly as he rushed over and picked up the broken pieces of the vase in a panic. Levi blinked, completely taken aback by what was happening in front of him.

"What the hell-" Levi began was cut off when Dante looked at him, his expression that of pure shock and regret, "I'm so sorry about that. Don't worry about the mess outside, I-I'll clear that up right away!"

Before Levi could even say a single word, Dante scrambled outside out of sight leaving Levi to stand there.

"...What the hell just happened…"

END

AN:

Any REVIEWS are much appreciated.

Quite a Dante focused chapter but I threw in some Jay and Armin in there as well to mix things up.

If you didn't realised by now Dante hates pigeons. Enough to kill the damn things.

Next chapter will have less Dante (if that saddens anyone I'm sorry) and will be more focused on two particular characters...

Anyways til next time.