CHAPTER 16
Oh baby, baby,
I'm addicted to the party,
to the honey,
to the pretty pill, to the fresh kill
Techno-pop music shook the earth. The sky was barely setting, yet some clubs had already begun blasting music to the max, though it seemed everyone around was too high or drunk to care. The brick buildings were rickety and old. They thumped with every beat of the rhythm, threatening to crumble with every step of the catchy song and the rainbow lights shining on the inside was like caked-on makeup on an elderly woman.
The dirt streets were riddled with piss, vomit and a variety of garbage items like bottles, plastic bags and used condoms. Luckily, it didn't smell as bad as it looked-that wasn't to say it smelled like roses. Most people wobbled from one side to another, others stayed put with frantic eyes and fidgety hands, some were plain passed out.
Eren zipped through the streets like a nervous fly. If it were up to him he'd run out of there as fast as his legs could take him but the boy didn't want any suspicion to arise.
"Hey there lover boy, where are you off to in such a rush?"
A woman had approached him wearing a short red dress, black tights and matching crimson heels. Her long blonde hair was framed in a poofy half-ponytail that intertwined itself in the big hoop earrings she wore. Though she had a pair of youthful emerald eyes, the crow's feet and bags around them suggested otherwise. The wrinkles in her face pointed to a life full of adventure, whether it was good adventure or bad adventure Eren would never know. Her figure was slim, too slim. Her arms and legs were so thin, the teenager couldn't help but wonder how it was possible for her to walk.
"S-Sorry, no thank you!", Was all he could think to say.
"No thank you what? I haven't even offered you anything." Her voice was low and raspy.
His eyes widened, "Uh, I mean, I-"
"Come on boy," she stepped closer and ran a finger up and down his arm, "don't you wanna be a man? It'll be the best night of your life."
Eren watched nervously as her finger went from his arm to his collarbone, then it started travelling downward...
"N-No thank you!"
He ungraciously pushed the woman aside and headed for the hills. The woman, obviously angered, yelled after him, "HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING YOU LITTLE SNOT BRAIN?! FUCK YOU, PRUDE!"
Eren eyed his surroundings expecting the gaze of a million eyes on him. Instead, everyone kept on minding their own business. A man to his left sat down to drink a nameless bottle all while singing old timey shanties. Meanwhile on his right, another club kept on blasting music like the world depended on it.
The tan boy turned to see if the woman had been following him but she had wasted no time in chatting up another man who by the looks of it was far more infatuated with her than Eren had been.
He threw his hoodie over his head and continued forward. With every block the streets became increasingly lonely which put Eren at ease for one reason but on edge for another. When he was three blocks away from his destination a man tried to offer drugs to him. The boy didn't even respond to the "salesman" and just hurried forward. When he was one block away, he saw a woman dancing and chanting something to the sky, dirty from head to toe. Out of nowhere, a short but fat man came out from the alleys and punched her square in the face. Eren would've felt bad for her if it weren't for the fact that not even five seconds later, said lady pulled out a gun from behind her baggy pants and shot the man in the upper body. He was still groaning and moaning when he fell back and hit the floor but Eren took no time to see if he was okay, opting instead for scurrying off before he was next.
A wave of relief washed over him when he was at the dump site Annie had told him about.
He rushed to the entrance with a big sign that had been washed out back to white throughout the years, though a few scraps of paint and flyers remained. The green-eyed boy looked around confused. There was no one in sight. He eventually turned to the sign once again, wondering if he was in the right place. That's when he noticed something taped to it. It was a walkie-talkie. A note was attached.
I really hope you didn't bring your bodyguard with you.
Eren went to grab it, examining the small device.
"Hello, dear." Eren almost dropped the fucking thing.
The nickname annoyed him, but he decided to ignore it, "Where are you Annie?"
"Oh, I'm close by. I just decided to take precaution in case you weren't alone."
Eren glanced around, "Well I am, so can't you come out?"
"I think I'll wait a little longer." Even through the static, Eren could tell she had a teasing smile on her face.
He threw an arm up in the air, exasperated, "So, what? You're not gonna take me?"
"Oh stop being so emotional Eren. I'll take you. Walk straight inside, I'll tell you when to turn."
Eren contemplated the dumpsite, "You... you want me to go inside the dumpster?"
"Yes." She said as if she was asking for him to walk into a quirky little coffee shop.
The boy ultimately shrugged and went ahead. It's not like he had anything to lose.
"Be careful in here. You'll see a couple of nutbags and junkies around. Avoid them at all cost otherwise you'll have to knock them out."
Eren chewed on his lip. He had only had a couple of classes with Levi, surely they would be of some use if things got messy, right?
He frowned, "Why does Grisha even have a hideout here? Doesn't he usually like cleaner places?"
"It's new. Not many people flock to dumpster sites so he was using it to handle the... residues. He put Mikasa here because not a lot of his own workers know this place exists. She's guarded well. Grisha is keeping her in top priority. Turn left here."
His lips tightened, "Fuck. I swear, if he laid a finger on her..."
"If he laid a finger on her, what Eren? What are you going to do?"
Eren breathed in sharply.
Annie chuckled, "Kill him?" The words felt as sharp as a knife.
"No!" He was so startled, he hadn't realized he had stopped walking.
"You do know what'll happen once we get her out of here right? The chances of not being caught on camera are slim. If we manage, we'll still have to burn the whole thing down and that'll certainly grab his attention." Annie lowered her voice, "You're going to face him eventually Eren. What'll you do then?"
Eren knew she had that expression, the one where her eyes where half lidded and her lips a bit low on her face, the one that meant 'you're such an idiot sometimes'.
It's not like Eren hadn't been questioning himself the same thing for the past month. And yet no matter how many times he mulled the question over he couldn't get to an answer. Eren simply picked up the pace. There was no point in lying to Annie. She could always see past his bullshit.
A few moments of silence passed. Eren was completely focused on walking. Finally, Annie broke the ice.
"You know Eren," her tone was of a parent talking to her silly little child, "I know the idea of killing your father might seem horrifying, monstrous even-"
"Annie, don't." He knew exactly where she was taking the conversation and he wasn't in the mood.
"It's true! Even the words "killing your father". They sound so cruel, don't they? So cold. Wouldn't you agree?"
The boy sighed, "I don't know."
"Of course you know." She snapped. "You just don't wanna admit it. Turn right."
Eren glanced to his right and his feet followed suit. He ran a hand through chocolate locks, "What's your point, Annie?"
Annie took a moment before responding.
"I thought the same way. When I was a little girl, my father was my whole word. Don't you remember? I would go on and on about him. He was number one in my eyes."
Eren shivered.
"But that day. That day that I killed him, I was... free. I was so nervous, I couldn't stop shaking. But when I dropped the knife and got back on my feet-"
Eren shook his head, "I don't wanna hear about this Annie."
"When I got back on my feet and looked down at his dead body, I felt so light I felt like I was flying!"
The exhilarated tone in her voice made Eren feel a bit sick.
"I was a caged bird inside those labs Eren. When I killed him, it was like I unlocked the door and liberated my wings for the first time in forever. Don't you wanna fly as well?"
The boys lips trembled.
"I'm not killing him, Annie." His voice was weak.
"Well... I guess we'll find out soon. Turn right again."
There was a shoddy building in front of him. He had seen an exact replica near the entrance which begged the question, was this building copying the other one or was the other one copying this one?
Eren was about to take a step forward when- "Wait. Don't go in yet."
"Why not?" He looked at the walkie-talkie in wait for an answer.
Silence.
The boy huffed. Mikasa was in there and he was standing outside doing nothing.
"Why not?" He glared at the device.
"By the Gods, you know what your problem is?" Said a voice right behind him.
Eren jumped 3 feet into the air, luckily, Annie was able to cover his mouth before a squeal escaped his lips.
Once the teen realized who it was, Eren settled down. She released him and stationed herself in front of him.
"You always run into shit without a plan. The only time you don't is when running into shit without a plan is exactly what you're supposed to do."
"Yeah? Well! You know what your problem is?"
Annie raised an eyebrow. Eren stammered around trying to find an answer to his own question.
"Wh- You, are always, you know- walking around and, and telling people what to do and-"
The girl raised a hand, "Eren, just... stop."
The boy stammered around a bit more until he decided to, in fact, just stop.
There she was, looking at him with that half-lidded expression again.
By the Gods, you're such an idiot sometimes.
Annie inhaled, "Yeah, well. If you're done, I'm gonna tell you the plan."
Eren nodded fervently.
"Ok. I'm going to go in here and clear the way. You stay here, count to 100 then go in got it? Everything should be safe by then but if I miss someone in there and they attack you you're gonna have to take care of them. The building has three floors going down, Mikasa should be at the bottom."
'Take care of them.'
Kill. She meant kill.
Annie put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm serious Eren. Don't hold back. I don't know who's in there. They might not recognize you as Grisha's son, just as some intruder in their territory. I might not be near enough to save you if something goes wrong. I know you can take a good beating but not even you nor I can survive a bullet to the heart."
Eren placed his own hand on top of hers. It felt so... nice... to know that she worried.
"I'll be careful." His voice was so low it rumbled in his chest.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Ok. I'm counting on it." She began walking backwards, "Ready? Start counting to 100."
"One."
And she was off. Eren could only watch as she headed for the door. Sometimes he forgot how small she was. There was something about her that made the blonde girl appear three times her size. Soon, she disappeared inside and Eren was left counting.
"Ten." Eren began hearing a few undistinguishable noises.
"Twenty." The noises hadn't stopped, he wondered what was going on in there.
"Thirty." Was Annie okay?
"Forty." Was Mikasa okay?
"Fifty." Was Grisha really capable of hurting Mikasa? He remembered one time Eren had asked if she could stay over.
'Of course! Mikasa is like family.'
"Sixty." Though, Eren doubted Grisha truly knew what 'family' meant.
"Seventy." What if Grisha was in there? Annie had said so herself that he had kept Mikasa in top priority.
"Eighty." What would he do if he saw Grisha?"
"Ninety." Hug him?
"Ninety-one." Kill... him?
Eren shook his head.
"Ninety-two." He continued, focusing all his attention on the door.
"Ninety-three, ninety-four, ninety-five, ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-"
BAM!
The door swung open, almost snapping off its own hinges by the force. A forty year old man stood at the doorway. He was pale, extremely pale, bald and with ripped up clothing. His left arm was torn off. His right arm reached forward. It was swollen to the point of tearing the black sleeve that once covered it. Cysts of all shapes and sizes ran along said arm, from each one an acid green leaking out. Veins, also a vibrant green, coursed through it, throbbing with every beat of the man's heart.
The moment Eren's figure appeared in the man's eyes, he lunged forward, frothing at the mouth. The teen yelled, throwing himself to the side just in time for the man to plop onto the ground with a nasty thump.
Blood spurted out of the severed arm, crimson with hints of green here and there.
"AAGH. AH-UH-AUGH!" The man babbled on.
Once again, the man charged towards Eren but this time, the green-eyed boy was able to swiftly kick the man in the face, sending him flying back. The man got angrier, yelling louder and louder. Eren kicked him in the stomach, hoping that would do anything. The man convulsed, throwing up blood that would accompany the quantity gushing out from his arm onto a puddle that soaked his entire body. He twitched and jerked around until, little by little, his movements became slow and stiffer until finally laying down dead on the floor. Eren backed away in disgust. He gave the body one last look before venturing inside.
The shoddy building didn't look so shoddy on the inside. It had polished cement flooring and grey walls. A few feet away from the entrance stood a second entrance where a thick metal door once stood, though now it had been blasted open. The inside was a long hallway, one that was eerily quiet. Two bodies were sprawled on the floor plus an arm, probably belonging to the man rotting outside. The walls were splattered with blood, so much so it almost looked like an abstract painting. Little bags of sentient flesh slumpered around. Infants. Lots of them. They didn't pay any attention to Eren however. At the end of the road was a shiny, metal elevator. Eren tiptoed around the bodies, shivering as he was forced to step into the puddles of blood to get through.
The lights flickered on and off, putting Eren on edge. His imagination had him thinking that in one flicker of darkness, the bodies would come back alive and attack him. Luckily, he was able to get to the other side without a scratch. He pressed the button next to the elevator. The machinery whirred as it was activated, pulling up the shaft to where Eren was.
The boy looked back a few times while waiting, just to make sure that the bodies stayed put. He could still see the legs of the dead man outside, now completely soaked in blood. The green-eyed boy frowned.
Ding! The elevator bell rang.
He kept staring at the pair of legs. Eren would've recognized that acid color from anywhere. It had meant Grisha had experimented on that perso-
WOOSH!
Someone tackled Eren to the floor. Fortunately, he was able to kick them away the moment they hit the ground. The boy rushed to his feet, slipping on fresh blood as he did.
In front of him, a male figure was doing the same. Said person wore grey clothing that had seen its fair share of rips, tears, stains and blemishes. As they stood up, Eren noticed they were tall and lanky like him. He had black hair and sickly pale skin. He had dark circles under his eyes and well-marked bags, those that came with a lifetime of insomnia.
Eren shivered as he looked into the other boy's eyes. They were black, as dark as Mikasa's. After all, that boy and Mikasa shared what in the Old World was called Japanese blood1. Eren knew that because in fact, he recognized the boy.
He was another one of Grisha's experiments.
A fuzzy memory came to mind. One of a green-eyed boy holding on to his father's hand.
"Be a good boy. Do not speak until I tell you to." The father had whispered.
And they sat down at a large, wooden table, next to a bunch of old people the boy did not recognize.
"I do hope you have something good for me Grisha."
First, Infants of different colors and sizes were shown. Then people came in front of them and showed off their 'abilities'. The first was a man that had a chimp hands sewn on. Then, a woman with skinless arms, yet she appeared to feel no pain. Third, was another woman seemingly normal at first. That was until she unhinged her jaw and from her mouth fell infants. One, then two, then five, and finally the green-eyed boy counted twelve.
"The Infants live inside of her." The father explained, "They are resistant to stomach acid so they crawl through her digestive tract with no problem."
An elderly woman offered the father money right away, throwing around big numbers. The old man next to her started doing the same but the third man stayed quiet.
"Are you disappointed by my display?" The father asked the gentleman.
A back and forth ensued. The boy didn't remember the exact words but he remembered the tension in the air. The father chuckled, he lifted up two fingers, his silver ring shining brightly, and made a "come hither" motion to someone standing in the dark.
"We have many projects in store. I assure you that if what you've seen today has been lackluster, what will come tomorrow will certainly please you."
A boy came forward, two or three years older than the one with green eyes. He appeared so frail, so small, so vulnerable.
"Show them."
The little boy nodded. An assistant came forward, a woman wearing a long white dress. She held up a long metallic rod. The crowd, clearly confused, stared in silence. The boy took a deep breath, immediately he strained his neck and moved his jaw from side to side, his once small black eyes now wide and full of adrenaline.
The green-eyed boy squeezed his father's hand. That other boy was scary looking. Very, very scary looking. The father smirked and squeezed back.
The boy standing in the spotlight brought his jaw forward, putting his bottom teeth in front of his top teeth as much as he could. His jaw widened, the skin stretching over the increasing surface to the point where it became bone white. The elderly woman screamed in a mix of fear and exciting surprise. The boy then stopped straining and stopped moving his jaw. It had grown to twice its size, the bottom of his face being significantly much wider than it had been before. The boy walked to the assistant still holding up metallic rod. In one swift moment, he clamped down on the rod with his teeth, he thrashed his head around, growled, howled, moaned and groaned until he effectively bit a piece of the rod clean off.
In utter amazement, the once tense gentleman jumped out of his seat and began clapping, "THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!"
The boy fell to the ground moments later, holding his face in pain. The father assured them that it was normal but the green-eyed boy couldn't help but feel bad when the child burst into tears as his jaw regained its normal form.
"Do not pity him, my dear." The father whispered to his son.
The other investors were so busy discussing numbers that they hadn't noticed the father now leaning closely towards his child.
"What you have witnessed just now is a miracle."
"A... miracle?" The boy repeated meekly.
"Yes. You might not understand right now," he lovingly caressed his boys cheek, "but one day you will cherish my work for I give people power. Think about it, would you rather be weak or powerful?"
The son thought about it. The answer seemed so obvious but something about the boy being dragged away by the woman made him doubt it, "I think... powerful."
The father nodded, "That's right Eren. That's right."
Years later, Eren stood in front of that same boy except that boy was now a man. The years had taken a toll on his face but Eren didn't have a doubt in his mind. And by the way he was looking back at Eren, it was clear he recognized Grisha's son.
"You..." he said with acidity.
His black eyes wandered to the exit. They widened and shimmered. Eren recognized that expression. He had one thing on his mind.
Freedom.
He glared back at Eren, "You... you... I'm getting the fuck out of here. But before I do that, I'm going to make that bastard pay for everything he's done to me by killing his own son." He laughed darkly.
The man jerked around unnervingly, summoning the powerful jaw much faster than he had when he was a kid. As his body had grown to the size of an adult, so had his jaw. Eren knew that if it could cut through a metal rod as a kid, bones would be like butter now.
The man went to grab Eren but he got out of the way. Frustrated, he leaped forward to try and tackle him once again. In response, Eren made a swift kick to the man's right knee, sending him hurdling to the ground. The man briskly got on all fours and tried taking a bite out of Eren's leg. The teen nervously stumbled back. As he did so, he noticed one of the Infants had quietly latched itself onto the man's calf. He thanked the Gods. Maybe he wouldn't have to fight this alone after all.
Eren hastily reached for an Infant behind him and promptly threw it in the man's face. Taken aback, the man clawed at the gooey creature but as Eren knew, it would only harden with more effort. The teen took no time in collecting another one and doing the same thing. As the man struggled against them, Eren took his chance and booted his enemy in the stomach.
"AAGH!"
Seething, the man forced his jaw open. The creatures cried as their flesh was ripped by the force. Eren kicked him once again, but the man ignored him entirely, focusing on clamping down as hard as he could into the creatures, breaking the crystals inside of them which gave them life.
The green-eyed boy looked around for anything, a weapon or something that could help him. Just as he saw a black gun silently stowed away in one of the corpse's bodies, he was forced to draw his attention back to his enemy which looked at him back dead on. He jerked around once again, this time his shoulders and arms swelling up and getting bigger.
Well, that's new.
Tired of kid's games, he lunged at Eren much faster than any of the previous times, grabbing him by an arm and violently throwing him against a wall. Eren lost consciousness for a split second. A powerful ringing shot through his head. When he came to, he found that lethal jaw inches away from his face. The boy was extremely weakened. Even so, that didn't stop him from punching and kicking against the hard body but to no avail. The man leaned forward, letting go of a grueling scream, more beast than human.
"Let go of me bastard! I didn't- Fuck you! I didn't want this for anyone!" Eren screamed, but no one listened.
He opened his jaw, little by little, enjoying the screams of hatred and horror.
"Get away from me!" Eren threw his head to the side and closed his eyes, a part of him accepting death.
"AaAaH!" The monster hissed.
Eren opened his eyes at the sound of the whimper. The monster had now completely unhinged his jaw, but between his teeth was the tip of a dagger.
The brunet blinked once. Twice. Thrice. He had no idea what he was looking at. The monster plopped to the side as a corpse. A dagger had entered the back of his head and traversed his skull till reappearing above the tongue. Eren looked up in amazement.
It was Levi Ackerman.
"L-Levi. L-Levi!" A wave of emotion hit him like a truck, sending an ocean of tears to his eyes, "Levi! I'm so happy to see you, Levi!" He said the name as if it were that of a God.
The bodyguard looked down at the teen boy unimpressed, "What the fuck, brat?! You won't be happy for long because I'm going to bash your teeth in if you don't tell me what the fuck is going on?!"
But Eren didn't listen. He flung himself onto Levi's leg and hugged it. His head felt like it was splitting into two, and he could barely tell north from south with how dizzy he was but Levi was there to protect him. And that was all that mattered.
"Levi, pleeaase!" He pleaded, snot travelling down to his lip, "Please you have to help me! Mikasa, my dad has her. Sh-She's family. She's like my sister, I can't let him fuck her up, Levi. I don't- I don't want her to end up-"
Confused, the bodyguard slowly pushed Eren away, "Wow, wow. Slow down man, I can barely understand what you're saying. Looks like you split your skull, you're bleeding like a faucet, Eren." His tone was much gentler than before.
The man pulled Eren up, putting an arm around the taller boy's waist to help him with his balance. The teen could only desperately cling onto the bodyguard shirt as his eyes failed to focus on anything around him. His head fell onto Levi's shoulder.
"Levi, Levi, please. Help me... help me save… she- my sister. My dad... has her." He whimpered.
"Is he here?"
Eren frowned. What did it matter where Grisha was? All that mattered was Mikasa. Mikasa. Mikasa.
"What? No... we need to... we need too..." He wobbled around, trying to find the elevator door but all he saw was a mush of colors.
"Okay, okay. Calm down. We'll save her, okay? But first we have to get you to a hospital."
"No... no..." He cried into the bodyguard shoulder.
"Listen to me. It's going to be ok, okay?"
Eren sniffled. If Levi Ackerman said everything was going to be okay, then it was true. There was no other way around it. So he nodded.
"Okay."
And he let himself be engulfed by the darkness.
1 Honestly, don't think about this Old World thing too much lmao. It's my most half-baked idea. This damn sentence caused me writer's block but basically I was trying to say that the guy would've pertained to that Japanese-Ackerman faction from the original anime. He's not actually in the original anime though if any of you were trying to place him. Fun fact: His name is/(was?) Marco :D
Poor Marco ;_;