There's one, maybe two chapters left in this arc.
[stares at writing notes]
This arc.
.
The reviews on the back cover of the novel had promised a gripping story that would fully engross the reader and yet Eren found himself barely interested in the loose cannon cop who didn't play by the rules as he tried to get to the bottom of why his partner had been murdered. For all that the protagonist was supposed to be a lady's man, Eren couldn't help but feel that the protagonist was a little bit too intent on getting revenge for his partner's death for them to have just been friends. Or maybe he was projecting. Though he was pretty sure he'd seen at least one porno that picked up where the flashback to their final stakeout ended that involved something a hell of a lot more interesting to him than reading about the protagonist's clichéd downward spiral into alcoholism.
He had just gotten to the part where the femme fatale showed up when there were a couple of scuffed footsteps on the gravel outside followed by a soft knock on their room's door. His body stiffened and he saw Levi's eyes snap open, not yet ready for a fight but immediately alert and aware of his surroundings, body tense as he swung his legs off the bed and stood up. There was another soft and tentative knock before a man's voice filtered through the door.
"Um. Hello?" An awkward pause drew out and both Levi and Eren tensed, ready to act. "Uh, I think you're the ones with the Civic? I um, I think I may have dinged your car."
"Fuck." Levi's voice was a whispered hiss. From beyond the door they heard another man speak, voice slightly raised as though he were standing more than a few feet away.
"Come on man, they aren't here let's just go."
"We can wait another minute."
"Just leave your phone number and insurance and let's go."
"Okay, yeah fine."
Eren watched as Levi dragged his hands down his face and leaned back, about to sit back on the bed when his body snapped out of its almost-relaxed state. It took barely a fraction of a second for Eren to process why Levi was fully alert again; there were no retreating footsteps.
In the same moment that Eren was edging backwards away from the door, Levi lunged forward to grab his arm and yanked him back. He stumbled slightly from the force with which Levi had pulled on him but he didn't lose his footing completely. There was barely a moment for him to take in the fact that Levi had placed himself slightly in front of Eren before the door came crashing in revealing two silhouettes – one short, one tall – as the midday light streamed in through the door, dust swirling in the shaft of light.
There was no pause in their momentum as they came barreling in, Levi rushing forward to grab the arm of the shorter man as he raised a gun. The taller man didn't bother to stop and engage Levi, heading straight for Eren. He counted himself lucky that only the shorter man seemed to have a gun as the taller one made to grab him, trying to slip away as grasping hands brushed at him and managed to grab the loose fabric of his hoodie. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Levi continuing to grapple with the other man and realized that his assailant had a stronger grip on the back of his hoodie than he had initially thought. For a moment he struggled against them but quickly changed tactics and pulled at his zipper, twisting out of his hoodie and leaving his attacker holding it as he took short adrenaline-spiked breaths and backed away, keeping them in view as they tossed his hoodie aside. They were staring each other down when a gunshot went off, startling the both of them to look back at Levi and the other figure.
For one brief hysterical moment Eren thought that Levi had been shot until he watched the other man's body drop, hitting the floor with a heavy thud, his arm dragging Levi down to his knees as he tried to shake off their grip. He took advantage of his attacker's distraction, rushing forward in a crouch and slamming his shoulder into their gut. It had been a couple years since he'd been in an actual fight and even longer since he'd been in a fight with any actual stakes in it but instinct kicked in almost immediately. He'd never been the most skilled or graceful when it came to fights but he had a stubborn will to survive backed up with Annie's lessons and he wasn't above fighting dirty if the occasion called for it, and it definitely called for it now.
His opponent's height made it somewhat easier to crouch and protect his core and use his lower center of gravity to his advantage. Eren got in another blow to their rib cage before they hit back, their fist colliding with the side of his face and sending him stumbling away disoriented. The world was far away and he felt like his brain was rattling inside his head as he scrambled away on all fours, knocked down by the force of the blow. Across the room he could see that Levi had managed to disarm the other assailant and that they were still locked in a fight though the other man was clearly bleeding, scuffs of blood on the floor where he had fallen and dragged Levi down. The fallen gun caught the taller man's attention and he dove for it, Eren reacting and moving towards it as well, trying to grab at it to toss it away. As his hand touched the gun he realized just how close the tall man had gotten to him and some survival instinct drove him to turn around onto his back aiming the gun upwards at his attacker, eyes wide as they stopped their forward motion and froze above him. A long moment passed as he stared up at them, their eyes narrowing as they realized he wasn't going to shoot and finally reaching down to grab it from him.
Eren's hand tensed as he tried to hold onto the gun to keep the other man from wrenching it out of his hand, his finger pulling the trigger. He closed his eyes as the shot rang out and heard the man's pained and enraged cursing as he pushed himself up and stumbled to the side. It took another moment before Eren could open his eyes, assured by the continued string of obscenities from the other man that he hadn't killed him. Opening his eyes, he took in the man kneeling next to him and clutching at the other side of his head with blood dripping down his arm and watched as Levi ended his fight with the shorter man, slamming his head into the desk and his body going limp. That got the taller man moving again, pulling his hand away from his head and picking himself to charge at Levi. Pushing himself partially upright as well, Eren lashed out at the other man, kicking him hard in the shins and causing him to come crashing down again.
Levi's attention snapped away from the unmoving man on the floor and back to where Eren and the other man were grappling on the carpet. There was a brief moment where Eren thought that the other man was going to go for the gun again and pushed it away, sending it tumbling across the thin carpeting and under the couch as the man pushed up and headed for Levi. Eren stayed down, back flat against the hard floor and stared determinedly at the ceiling, only looking over when he heard the sound of a body connecting with the wall and then falling to the floor with a groan. The only sound left in the room was that of heavy breathing and his own hammering heartbeat. Given the sudden stillness of the room he could only assume that Levi had subdued the other man – his assumption confirmed as Levi now stood above him, leaning down and offering a hand.
His legs were surer than he had expected when Levi helped pull him upright, though his body heavy and slow as everything caught up. Levi's fingertips brushed lightly at his bicep, poised and ready to support him if necessary, face tipped up and eyes darting as he watched him and waited for some response. His hand fell away as Eren let out a shaky breath.
"First time you shot a gun?" Eren nodded mutely and Levi let out a short breath. "If it's any consolation all you did was clip his ear."
"I didn't want…" He trailed off and turned, looking at the two men sprawled out and unmoving on the floor, an awful churning in the pit of his stomach. "Your guy –?"
"I was trying to get the gun away from him, he pulled the trigger and shot himself in the leg." Levi paused and spoke more softly. "They'll live but we need to go. They won't be unconscious much longer."
"Right." Gathering up his belongings and throwing them back into his bag took slightly longer than normal, his movements slow and mechanical as Levi knelt down and did a quick turnout of their assailants pockets and stilled, a police badge in hand.
"Fuck." He stood up quickly, shoving the badge into his pocket and grabbed a pen from the desk, taking a few quick steps towards the couch and reached under to fish the gun out, hooking the pen into the trigger and laying it at the top of his own bag before zipping it closed. "Fuck."
Levi grabbed Eren's elbow and pulled him forward, hopping over the kicked in door and moving quickly towards the car, the both of them throwing their bags into the backseat and pulling their doors closed as Levi peeled out of the parking lot and headed back towards the highway. There was an almost weary tension in him as he hunched forward slightly, his jaw set and his eyes alert even as the rest of his body showed his exhaustion. As he watched out of the corner of his eye Eren realized that Levi was still wearing the pajama bottoms and t-shirt that he had been sleeping in, a hoodie thrown on haphazardly over it and looking painfully young. If he could forget everything going on around them, let all of it fall away, he could almost believe that Levi was simply an overworked grad student nearing the deadline for his thesis defense. And suddenly he ached for that – that Levi's exhausted alertness was the result of last minute scrambling for more grant funding or an unhelpful adviser causing him to nearly miss a deadline and not the fact that less than fifteen minutes ago he'd been trying to wrestle a gun away from a man intent on killing the both of them. That he had been forced to disarm and subdue two men larger than himself while he was in far from peak condition.
"Eren?" Levi's voice caused him to jerk, rapidly called back from his own thoughts. "Can get my phone from the glove box?" He had his hand stuck out, eyes still focused on the road.
"Thought we were maintaining radio silence." Even as he said it he was reaching to get Levi's phone, the arched eyebrow that he got in response causing the corner of his mouth to quirk up. "I mean, it's not like we were just involved in a minor gun fight and destroyed a motel room. Could be dangerous to give away our position."
"Sarcasm in the face of near-death; I like your style, kid." Levi glanced down briefly as he powered on his phone before returning his gaze forward, scanning the road in front of them and his eyes flicking up to the rearview mirror every few seconds. When his phone fully turned on a minute later he brought his hand up, scrolling through his contacts. He put the phone on speaker and set it on his lap, the dial tone sounding a countdown as they came fully back onto the grid.
"Levi!" The voice was distorted but still unmistakably Hanji.
"Hey, so we're back on the grid in a big way."
"I'm putting you on speaker."
"What do you need?" Erwin's voice came through this time; brusque and clipped, all business.
"We're about an hour and a half from the juncture of Highway 40 East and the Trost-Shiganshina. Can you meet us halfway between here and Trost?"
"The whole cavalry?"
"We were just attacked by two men. One of them had a badge and gun. Shots were fired; we're okay, they'll live."
"Keep driving. We'll call you back in ten with a meet-up location."
"Sounds good." Levi hung up, a determined look on his face as he watched the road.
"So how much further until Trost?"
"About seven hours assuming only light traffic." A muscle in Levi's jaw tensed. "If we're lucky we'll be meeting up with them in four hours. I doubt Moblit and Nifa are there with them right now and they're going to need a couple extra hands."
"Do you think they're going to ask my friends?" Eren's voice was soft as he looked down at his hands.
"Do you want them to?"
"No." He shook his head and paused. "Mikasa. She'll be pissed if she finds out after and…" Eren shrugged awkwardly. "Also I just really want to see my sister."
"I doubt Erwin would object to having someone with her powers along with them." He glanced over at Eren. "And don't be embarrassed about wanting to see your sister. You've been through hell; wanting to see your only family makes fucking sense." A frown pulled at Levi's mouth. "Especially with how you left things at the start of this."
Eren leaned back in his seat and focused on his breathing, tense silence settling over them as they waited for Levi's phone to ring again. When it finally did ring again it took Levi barely a split second to pick it up and answer.
"Take exit nineteen off of the Trost-Shiganshina. Follow the main road for a bit; you'll know where to stop when you see it." There was rustling in the background of Hanji's hurried speech.
"Is it just you two?"
"We've got another pair of hands."
"Get Red Scarf too."
"You sure?" Hanji's words were slower now, more deliberate.
"You think Erwin's going to argue?"
"No, but – Eren?"
"He asked."
"Okay." There was a heavy sigh, echoing oddly over speakerphone. "Yeah, okay. We should be there a little ahead of you guys so be ready to roll out immediately."
"Sounds good."
They didn't speak to one another after Levi ended the call, the both of them watching all around them for any signs of pursuit. Halfway to their rendezvous point, there was a heart-stopping moment when a dark blue sedan pulled off the highway sharply behind them and followed them to the same gas station. Eren tensed as the other car pulled up to the gas pump and the rear door of the car flung open. He relaxed slightly and let out a shaky breath as a young girl ran out towards the convenience store yelling that she had to pee right now, a harried-looking woman jumping out of the car and following behind her at a light jog. Levi continued to watch the car as a man got out and angled himself so that it looked as though he were simply watching the meter on the pump even as the man removed the gas nozzle from the cradle and began to fill up his own car. Unlike Levi, the other man was far less skilled in obscuring the focus of his gaze, his interested glances at them too long and too frequent to be coincidental. Finally, Levi looked up and met the other man's eyes purposefully, causing him to go stock still as though he couldn't be seen if he didn't move.
"See something you like?" Levi's voice was harsh and the other man flinched back, averting his eyes and jerking his head so that he was staring at his own car. His expression hard, Levi watched the man a moment longer before setting the nozzle back into the cradle and getting into the car.
"Following us?" They both looked up into the rearview mirror, the man surreptitiously tapping away at his phone with a nervous expression on his face as his eyes darted between the convenience store and the phone in his hand.
"Following us." Levi glared angrily at the reflection of the man in the mirror as they pulled out of the gas station. "Involving his fucking family too."
"Probably won't actually do anything though, yeah?" Eren glanced up at the mirror again even though the man was out of view. "Definitely didn't look like he'd be doing anything more interesting than just following us. And like you said, his family is with him."
"That doesn't mean shit." Levi's lips were pressed together tightly and Eren crossed his arms, hunching in on himself slightly.
"I know, but… I want to think he wouldn't."
"There are some really fucking awful people out there."
"I know." Eren's voice was soft as he tightened his arms around himself.
They had passed exit twenty a few miles back, the sign flashing as it reflected the headlights of the cars rushing by in the near-dark. Eren watched the road signs count down to their exit; five miles followed by two miles, followed by one mile, a half mile… The metronomic click of the directional came on as Levi pulled into the exit lane and slowed, stopping at the sign at the top of the hill and making a right turn away from the highway overpass, passing through another intersection with a gas station and a diner before continuing down a slow unlit road. Levi's features were undefined as the trees hemmed in and blocked out the remaining light, the smooth whisper of tires on paved surface giving way to the harsh crunch of gravel as they moved further from the highway and deeper into the countryside.
The dense trees suddenly gave way to endless acres of rolling fields blanketed in snow, tufts of bushes and the tops of fences rising up through the white. Eren glanced at the dashboard now, noting that they had turned off the highway at least twenty minutes ago and Levi still wasn't even slowing down to look for where they might be meeting up with everyone else. A few minutes later he heard Levi murmur something under his breath that sounded like "what the fuck, Hanji?" and in spite of everything he felt the urge to laugh bubbling up. He was able to tamp it down quickly though as they passed by a barn and farm house, Levi slowing as they continued on slightly further, the road sloping down to a second barn at the foot of the hill, the even grade of a cement drive heading off the road to the closed doors.
As they cut their own lights and pulled off onto the drive a dark unmarked cargo van rolled out around the corner slowly with its headlights off, stopping as it pulled alongside their own vehicle. There was a tension in Eren's body, nervousness even though he knew who should be in the van. He relaxed fully as Hanji jumped out from the rear of the van, a bag slung over their shoulder and a deep frown on their face.
"Okay, both of you out. Eren, grab your stuff and get in the van. Levi, get into the passenger seat, you look like shit." Eren stepped out of the car quickly, grabbing his bag and coat and heading for the van, wanting to get out of the cold as quickly as possible.
"Wait, take this." He turned back at Levi's voice, brow furrowed as he grabbed his own bag and held it out to Eren before turning towards Hanji to explain. "The hard drive is in there. Also a badge that needs to be run and a gun that we can hopefully lift some fingerprints off of."
"Okay."
The bag was heavier than Eren thought it would be, undoubtedly due to the fact that there was a gun in it but there was something else to it. The unspoken implication of handing off the bag was that it would be safer riding in the van – definitely would be given that it would be riding in the same van as both Erwin and Mikasa – and it made Eren uncomfortable to realize that although they knew he was expendable now, his safety was still being prioritized. He hesitated at the door to the van, watching Hanji raised an eyebrow at Levi's clothing and suddenly finding himself staring at Levi's pajama bottoms, a large splash of dried blood on his thigh noticeable against the green plaid even in the dim country twilight. That he was walking normally meant the blood wasn't his own and Eren let out a sigh of relief as he got into the van and closed the door behind him and found himself immediately enveloped in a pair of arms, the strong grip pulling him in close so that his face was squashed into their shoulder.
"Red Scarf, please sit back a second." Mikasa moved back reluctantly at the woman's request. The shadowy source of the voice shifted closer and Eren threw up an arm to shield his eyes as they turned a lantern on, Nifa's face appearing as he lowered his arm. "Sorry about that. Any injuries to report?" The van started to pull out and Eren glanced up, looking past Nifa and Mikasa's faces; Erwin appeared to be riding in the passenger seat and he assumed the man who was driving was Moblit. Looking back to Nifa, Eren shook his head no. "Eren, I need verbal confirmation: Any injuries to report?"
"No. No, I'm fine." He paused and glanced over at Mikasa, her lips pursed as she watched him. "A few scrapes but that's it."
"Where?"
"Just a couple on my hands and arms." She held her hands out palms up and he took off his sweatshirt, offering out his arms for her to look at. He sighed heavily as he watched her turn and pull out a first aid kit, putting on a pair of latex gloves and dampening some gauze with disinfectant before pulling out a container of anti-bacterial ointment. "I'm fine. I washed them out days ago and they're already scabbed over, they only sting a bit from earlier."
"I'm a doctor and I spend 90% of my time working with dead bodies. Indulge me and let me work on a body with a pulse."
"Get Levi then." She looked up from his arms, a resigned expression on her face.
"What did he do?"
"He has a bullet graze from–" Eren snapped his mouth closed as he watched Mikasa's expression turn horrified and furious. Nifa was staring at him as well, stock still with her lips parted in surprise and even Erwin had turned in his seat, brow furrowed.
"He said there were shots fired but you were fine." Erwin looked deeply displeased.
"Yeah, that was earlier today." Eren could feel the rage building in Mikasa even as he avoided her gaze. "There was a uh… there was a sniper in Shiganshina. They grazed Levi's arm." He shrank under the collective weight of their gazes, he could even feel Moblit watching him in the rearview mirror. Reaching out, he grabbed Mikasa's hand, squeezing it tightly in reassurance.
"Did he clean it properly?"
"I helped him clean and wrap it. I've never seen a bullet wound up close before so I don't know if he needs stitches or not."
"I'll check it when we're back." Nifa held out her hands again. "Let me finish this up, there's one that looks like it re-opened."
Mikasa let go of his hand and moved away, rage burning out as she curled in on herself, her expression pained as she looked away from him sharply. Eren turned back to watch Nifa dabbing his hands with disinfectant, unflinching even as she went over a cut on his right hand on the skin between his thumb and index fingers. Nifa's fingers hesitated there, her own index finger pressing close to the cut finally causing him to flinch.
"That's a bit deeper than the rest." She kept her voice low enough that only Eren could hear her. "Usually I see these on people who've never fired a gun before. If you don't hold it right the pistol slide on some guns will catch the skin next to your thumb." She looked up and met his eyes, a concerned expression on her face. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Eren nodded once and swallowed drily. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Let someone know if you aren't." Nifa laid a hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft look. "You have plenty of people who care about you." She smiled at him briefly before dropping her hand and reaching for the first aid kit again, raising her voice slightly when she spoke again. "Let's do a quick wrap around that scrape on your hand just to make sure it doesn't open again."