Together Again

Chapter 6: School Begins

April was sunny and warm, with gentle rains coming down every few days, bringing the plants and grass to life. Colorful blooms had exploded in Carla's garden, providing bright swathes of color amongst the green grass.

Levi awoke on the fourteenth, his head pounding and his stomach twisting in uncomfortable knots. Levi cracked his eyes open slowly, wincing at the light coming in through his window, even though it was dimmed by the heavy curtain hanging in the way. He pushed himself up shakily and wobbled to the bathroom, locking the door behind him and crouching down pitifully next to the toilet, remembering how Carla had told him to go straight to the toilet if he felt nauseous.

Levi clutched his head and buried it into his knees, trying to block out the single light in the bathroom that he had turned on. It felt like his skull was splitting in two again. He almost wished it was; at least that way the pain might stop. Every movement and sound was like a knife to his head and hot, pained tears began to trickle down his face. Not again, Levi thought desperately, why again? He jerked upwards and his spine stiffened, bright colors and startling images flashing through his mind.

Levi closed his eyes, tucking his hands behind his head as he listened to Eren's subdued voice as the boy read from a book. The book talked about things in the outside world; lands of fire and ice, great and endless bodies of saltwater, of places where there was nothing but sand, and more. The boy had apparently acquired it from Armin before they had departed for the Survey Corps HQ.

Levi still wasn't quite sure how exactly Eren had managed to smuggle it out here without anyone noticing, much less have it during training without anyone finding out. Maybe Arlert's parents had held onto it while they were training. He could almost imagine the scenes Eren was describing; places where mountains spewed fire and ash and water-like fluid that burned through everything it touched. Places where farmers had once built terrace farms along the sides of mountains in order to sustain themselves.

They practiced that now in the mountains, but it was still inefficient. Levi sighed, feeling a sense of hopelessness building at the thought of all the things in the world he probably wouldn't get to see.

There was a rustle of pages and a soft thud as Eren shut the book before the bed dipped under Levi. Levi cracked an eye open as the taller boy laid his head down on Levi's shoulder. "I'm sorry if reading that irritated you Levi," Eren murmured. Levi raised his hand and ran his fingers through the boy's hair. "It didn't irritate me," he said, "It simply made me think that I might never see any of those things."

Eren nodded in agreement, "I probably won't either, but even if I had the chance too I wouldn't want to see them without you."

Levi blinked, clearing his watering eyes as he tried to focus his wavering gaze on something. Everything had dulled; the pain was still there but it felt like it belonged to another person, to another body. He felt his spine lock out again but the feeling was distant, disconnected from his mind. His vision plunged black again.

"Ten more laps," Levi deadpanned, watching the incredulous faces of the new recruits who had only joined the Survey Corps a few days ago. Currently he had them running around the edge of the complex walls on the inside. Already they had completed thirty laps. "Go on you stupid brats," he said, "Get running; we've all done it before." There were a few sighs but everyone took off again, slowly jogging their way around the complex.

He could see Eren in the group, running alongside Mikasa and Armin. They were probably too breathless to talk but company was always good when it came to forcing yourself to keep going. The rest of his squad took their places around him, watching as the new recruits ran.

"Did Commander Irvin inform you about how long we have until the 57th Expedition begins?" Erd inquired quietly. "Ten days," Levi said, "Which means that we need to ensure that these idiots are at least mediocre before we take them out." He watched as Eren and one of the other boys – Jean, Levi presumed, based on his conversations with Eren – broke out in front of the rest of the group, staying ahead for a minute or two before dropping back again.

Morons, Levi thought, the whole point of this exercise is to test your stamina, not see who can drop dead first. Levi turned and began to walk across the training grounds, "Make sure that they finish their laps before they get water," he called over his shoulder.

The tears slowly stopped flowing until Levi gave one final hitch and slumped against the cool tiles on the bathroom floor. He couldn't remember when he had hit the floor, but it must have been some time ago. He laid there for a long time, slowly bringing his breathes back under his control. His headache was receding and his stomach no longer felt shaky. Levi pushed himself up on trembling arms and stood, his right leg giving out twice beneath him before he finally managed to stand. What is going on?

School began on the 26th of August for Trost Elementary, starting at eight o'clock in the morning and letting out at two in the afternoon.

Levi's mother kissed him on the cheek as he prepared to go out the door, "Have a good day honey," she said softly, a look of worry evident on her face. Levi grumbled and rubbed at his cheek, "I'll be fine Mom." He turned and stretched up, his fingers managing to catch on the door handle. He pulled it open and turned his head back, "Bye Mom, I love you." His mother looked at him tenderly, "Love you too sweetheart."

Levi let door shut behind him and he marched down the driveway and over to Irvin's, where the bus would be picking him up along with Zoe and Irvin. Zoe strolled up a minute after he did, smiling brightly as she walked up, holding a brightly colored cube in her hand. It had six different colors of squares on it; red, orange, white, yellow, blue, and green.

Zoe shifted one of the sides of the cube, "Look Levi, Irvin! It's a Rubik's Cube!" Both of them peered at the cube as they watched Zoe twist the sides for a few moments before holding it aloft, showing them a side of solid green. "You shift the sides till they're solid!" she said excitedly, bouncing up and down, which sent her brown hair flying across her face.

"Don't you have to get all of the sides to match and in a certain order?" Irvin said, raising a thick blond eyebrow. Zoe frowned, looking distinctly put-out, "Yeah but it's hard to do." Irvin smiled, "Of course it is; if it was easy it'd be pointless." Zoe grinned and nodded in excitement, "I'll finish it, I swear!" All three turned their heads at the sound of an engine; a massive yellow machine approached. "That's the bus," Irvin said, his voice taking on an almost parental quality

Levi looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, "Really Irvin? One mother is enough already." Zoe clapped her hand over her mouth to stop a fit of giggles from bursting from her lips as the bus screeched to a stop in front of them, the doors opening with a hiss.

"Hello class, my name is Mrs. Winters. I will be your teacher for this year. When I call your name you need to say 'here' or 'present' so that I can mark that you are here." The class looked up at the woman. She was young, with brown-blond hair and bright blue eyes. She held up a clipboard and pencil and began to call out names.

"Jensen Black," "Here," it was a boy with blond hair and blue eyes.

"Nile Dok," "Here," it was a boy with dark brown hair and eyes.

"Ali Everhart," "Here," it was a girl with brown hair and green eyes.

And so the morning proceeded. Zoe was seated next to Levi, who both inwardly groaned and thanked the seating chart that he was sitting near someone he knew. He picked up a wooden pencil in his hand and slowly began to copy down the letters that the teacher was showing them. He glanced at Zoe's paper to see how she was doing.

She hadn't written anything; instead she was staring furiously at the board, her brow furrowed as her eyes narrowed. She leaned forwards, practically overtop the desk. "Can you see?" Levi whispered quietly to her and Zoe looked back at him, her face unreasonably anguished. "No," she whispered in horror, "Does that mean I can't come to school anymore?"

By the end of the first week Zoe had acquired glasses; they were square, with black frames holding them in place. By the end of September they had been launched from numbers and letters into actually producing eligible sentences, drawing pictures to accompany for some odd reason.

As the days dragged on, Levi could understand why Irvin found school so boring. Most of the time they did the same thing hour after hour, day after day, and occasionally week after week, depending on what the subject they were learning about was. Levi couldn't wait for the first long break to come up; his brain felt overloaded with all of the new information he kept acquiring.

But at least his head hadn't hurt him since April, and he had seen no strange visions of people he didn't know.

Levi slowly unwrapped a bit of Halloween candy, watching as Irvin and Zoe bickered about what they would and wouldn't trade this time. Levi sighed; those two were so compatible sometimes it was almost frightening.

Chapter 6: End

Alright guys, I finally got this chap up! I'm kind of rushing because I've got to get ready for school too so I'm gonna keep this short. Basically thanks for reading, I hope you all are liking it so far, and another chapter will be out tomorrow most likely. Until adieu and thank you for reading!