Together Again

Chapter 7: Summer Break and Memories

The 11th of June could not come soon enough for Levi; school had been a dull and mind-numbing experience that had crammed his head full of things he figured he would forget over the summer.

Zoe and Irvin came over the day school ended and they sat in the living room, playing board games and listened to the background noise of what varied from the news to cartoons depending on who managed to possess the remote. Levi glanced at his cards, "Irvin, have you got any threes?"

Irvin looked at his cards momentarily, "Go Fish." Levi picked up a card; a three. He placed the two cards down and waited for Zoe to make her move. "Levi, do you have a nine?" Levi reluctantly handed over his nine, much to Zoe's delight.

There was a thump and the click-clack of nails hitting the hardwood floor as Moony raced forwards, skidding on the slick wood and sliding directly into their game, scattering cards everywhere. All three children watched as Moony deposited a relatively large moth onto a pile of cards; if cats were capable of grinning, Levi was certain that Moony would be doing exactly that.

Zoe immediately thrust her face right up next to the bug, peering at it in fascination. "Look at the colors!" she said, her eyes widening and a grin breaking out on her face. "Such a light green it is!" She turned and looked at Levi, her face going serious. "Levi, can I borrow a knife?"

Levi stared at her, disbelief flooding through him, "Of course not you moron," he hissed. Zoe stuck her bottom lip out in an attempt to get Levi to consent to her wishes. "Cut it up at your own house," he growled as he started to pick the cards up, carefully avoiding the moth and the cards it touched.

Irvin joined him after a moment, nudging the moth towards Zoe before picking up the ones that Levi refused to touch. Moony, oblivious to Levi's apparent disgust at her prize, wound around the boy, purrs rumbling through her body as she crawled all over him and the other two, eliciting laughter from Zoe and an amused smirk from Irvin.

As five o'clock neared Zoe dragged them outside to explore through the garden patches that Levi's mother had planted. They wandered amongst the bright flowers and dirt for nearly half an hour before Levi's mother poked her head out, calling that Zoe and Irvin should start heading home. Levi spent fifteen solid minutes scrubbing his hands with scalding hot water and nearly half of a small container of soap as he rid himself of the dirt that had gathered on his hands.

There is nothing worse than being filthy, Levi thought as he dried his hands, or maybe there are worse things.

Levi cracked his knuckles at a leisurely pace as he took silent pleasure in the man's every flinch, which occurred at every jarring crack. He kept his face smooth and blank; it was best for intimidation in most cases and it prevented people from predicting when he was going to strike. Levi twisted his heel, grinding the man's shattered ankle down in the ground, gradually applying more pressure and sharp presses downwards until the man was withering in pain.

The man let out a cry of pain, "Stop, stop, I'll tell you what you need to know!" Levi raised his foot from the man's ankle and stared down at him, expressionless gray eyes meeting blue eyes that ere glazed with pain and fear. Pathetic, Levi thought, it's just a broken ankle and a few broken ribs. I haven't even broken out the knife yet. Levi rolled his eyes, "You've got nothing worth my time to tell me, you piece of shit. I already know what you're blathering on about."

His leg shot up and connected with the man's face, smashing it against the brick wall with a sickening thud. Levi pulled his leg back and kicked the man in the chest several times before kicking him in the face again, the heel of his boot smashing down on top of the man's head. Levi grabbed the man's chestnut hair and he pulled his head up right.

"Disgusting," Levi muttered before he rammed his knee up into the man's chin. There was a crunch and blood began to leak out of the corners of the man's mouth. "Go back to whatever shit city you came from," he snarled, dropping the man's head and walking away, a dark sense of satisfaction spreading throughout him, warming him even in the freezing air.

Levi sat up in his bed, breathing hard. He thought that the weird dreams had stopped too; the last one had been last April. The usual forewarning that consisted of agonizing headaches and nausea hadn't been near as intense as they had been last time. Levi had hardly even paid them mind since they were faint, barely even there. Levi put his hands in his head, kneading his temples thoughtfully, why can't they just pick a pattern already?

The colored pencil slowly moved across the paper, a dull brown skin colored streak following in its wake as it moved across the paper in a wavering, inexperienced line. An image was slowly translating itself from Levi's mind onto the paper; they were nowhere near the same in quality but it was at least similar in appearance.

The drawing was near-human in appearance but there were differences between it and a human. The beast had a set of teeth on either side of its mouth that were set slightly above and diagonal to the front pair; it did not have lips; the skin was unblemished and devoid of normal gender-defining characteristics; it was muscular, unlike the smaller, chubbier ones that he had absently drawn in the background.

A giant, Levi thought as he traded the light brown for a darker brown in order to attempt to draw the hair as neatly as possible. No… not a giant… a Titan.

The thought struck a spark of dark excitement inside of him, but it was quickly dulled by another more depressing thought; school starts again in two weeks.

"I don't wanna go to school," Zoe groaned as she pressed her face into the blanket that they had stretched out in her yard. Irvin smiled in amusement and leaned back onto his elbows. "Nobody wants to Zoe, but we go anyways." Zoe sighed but fell silent anyways, kicking her legs absently above her as she plucked at the blades of grass in front of her face.

Her golden retriever, Bean, let out a woof and romped over to them, a large bundle of muscle, golden fur, and dog slobber. Levi instinctively shied away from the dog's mouth; the thought of the sheer amount of germs that a dog's mouth could contain was an instant turnoff. Irvin noted his discomfort and laughed, "You do realize that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a person's, right?"

Levi slowly turned his head to Irvin, a look of embarrassment and irritation crossing his face, "'Course I knew that…" he muttered, sticking his hand out to stroke Bean's glossy fur. "Suuuuure you did," Zoe sang out, "After all, you know everything." Levi looked at Zoe, who had turned her head so that she could see him better.

"Of course I do you idiot," he deadpanned, "Certainly more than you do." Zoe scoffed at that but didn't bother with a retort; they both knew by now that nearly every conflict between the two of them ended in either a stalemate or Irvin breaking the argument up when the older blond boy felt that the conversation had grown too heated.

Zoe sighed and let her head drop back onto the ground, "I really don't wanna go back to school."

"Too bad that it starts tomorrow then," Levi said his voice void of remorse. He gently pushed Bean towards Zoe and the heavy dog planted three feet firmly on her back.

"Bean!" the shriek burst forth form Zoe and neither Irvin nor Levi could resist laughing as the girl struggled to get the retriever off of her without much success; Bean instead decided to pull his last paw up so that he was precariously balanced on Zoe's back.

"Oh God," Zoe groaned, "He's going to crush me! I can already feel my guts squishing together! Irvin, if this kills me, make sure that Levi cleans it all up!" Irvin smirked deviously, "Sounds like an excellent plan." Levi's eyes widened in horror and he shot up, pressing his hands against Bean's solid side and pushing as hard as he could, hoping he could get Bean off before Zoe could have the chance to be crushed.

Lev awoke on the morning of October the fifth, his head pounding and his body trembling with the cold that had seeped into his bones. He shivered violently and silently prayed that his mother and father wouldn't come in to check on him for another hour or two yet. Maybe by then everything would have passed.

His head pulsed violently in time to his thundering heart and black spots were dancing in his eyes. His spine locked out and every sense grew fuzzy and indistinct until it felt like he had been torn from his body again, connected only by a thin thread to reality as he was thrown into whatever awaited him in the darkness.

A slight breeze stirred the otherwise still air, providing a respite to the relentless heat that beat down on them. Practice during noon had been cancelled in favor of exercises later in the day, when it had sufficiently cooled down enough for practice to resume. "The weather is certainly all over the place for this time of the year isn't it?" Levi turned and looked as Eren strode up, his hazel eyes glittering as bright as always.

Levi shrugged and leaned forwards till he could put his elbow on the parapet, resting his chin on his hand and staring out at the rolling fields beyond. Nearly a month had gone by since Eren had joined the Survey Corps; the 57th Expedition was scheduled to begin as soon as the new recruits joined them. Levi found it absurd, bringing kids barely out of training directly into the field, even if every one of them had been at Trost.

Eren walked up and sat on a raised section of the parapet next to Levi, pointedly staring forwards and not looking at him. "I'm assuming you want to talk about something other than the unseasonable weather," Levi said dryly. Levi watched as Eren looked away, suddenly awkward and blushing furiously. "W-well…" Eren said, turning his head even further away and his voice dropping into an incoherent mumble as he continued with his sentence.

"Yes, that's alright," Levi said, "I don't mind if you don't talk audibly. Honestly, people seem to get stupider with every generation." Perhaps he shouldn't quite be saying that since he was what, nine or ten years older than Eren; some would argue that the age gap couldn't quite classify them into different generations but Levi didn't really give a shit.

Eren took a deep breath and turned back to face Levi, looking downright pale despite his tan, although Levi wasn't quite sure whether it was from the heat or the fact that Eren had somehow managed to terrify the shit out of himself, which Levi wouldn't have put past the boy. He fought down a smirk as he watched the boy open and close his mouth a few times, obviously unsure of how to proceed with the conversation.

"Well," Levi said, "Are you planning on waiting till I die of old age before you say something?" Eren sucked in another breath, the corners of his mouth quirking up in a partial smile.

"Well…" Eren began again, "I-I… Corporal, I really like you, I-" Levi cut Eren up before the rest of his words could come tumbling forth, which the boy was obviously working up too. "Hm, so I guess you don't want that hot Titan date," Levi said in his dry humorous way. "Congratulations brat, come to my room tonight. And no, I do not sleep with minors if that is what you're thinking."

Eren's mouth opened and closed a few times in shock and by the time he managed to form a coherent sentence in his head Levi was already gone. He's cute, I'll give him that, Levi thought as he walked back to his room; he still needs some work though…

The door shut behind him with a soft click and he glared at the pile of paperwork that Hanji had piled onto his desk. Damn it Hanji, he thought, irritation replacing the rare glow of happy warmth that had built up within him.

Chapter 7: End

Hoorah for another chapter~ Although I'm about ready to crash right here, right now at my desk and sleep for 12 hours because 5:30 is so close right now -_- But I had to get this done! With softball workouts and a practice later today (I really wanted to say tomorrow even though its almost 1...), I probably wouldn't have had time to type this out earlier. Zzzzz... so tired... Plus it's a pain in the ass to type with two fingers taped together (I'm just glad that it's just jammed and not broken. Typing with a cast would be a total bitch).

Aaanyways, thanks to all of you, my splendid readers/followers for deciding to read this story~ I hope you continue to enjoy it!