The Last Ackerman

Chapter 8: Sasha

Elysian woke the next morning in her bed. Her entire body ached, every fibre screaming in pain. Her head was pounding and she raised a bloodied hand up to rub it, groaning loudly. Her entire abdomen was on fire, and she bit back a silent scream when she sat up. Her roommate had already left for the morning and the room was awfully silent. She remembered revealing her name to Levi last night but everything after that was blank. Had she passed out against his desk? Somehow, she had gotten back to her room, and she doubted she had gotten herself back. It must have been around breakfast time, but she couldn't bring herself to get out of bed just for that, so she slumped back down and passed out once again.

Many people had noticed Elysians absence at breakfast. Although she wasn't one to socialise, those who did speak to her (and those who hated her) noticed she wasn't in her usual spot in the corner.

"Hey, have you seen Elysian this morning?" Armin nudged Sasha, who was almost inhaling her morning rations, bread crumbs littering her clothes and the table.

"Haven't seen her since yesterday," Sasha replied without even looking up. Her roommate had turned up to breakfast earlier on and hadn't spoken about Elysian at all, so it seemed like nothing much was wrong, but Armin still had an odd feeling. He pushed it aside and tried to ignore it, but he kept glancing at her rations left on the side, still uneaten. Breakfast came and went without any appearance from her, and even in morning training her lack of presence wasn't acknowledged. Captain Levi didn't seem bothered by the fact that Elysian was missing at all and the drills went on as usual. As soon as lunch time rolled around, Armin excused himself and walked to her room. He stopped just before he knocked, his hand hanging in the air. What if she was actually fine? Or just sick, and had been granted the day off? What if she didn't want to see him? He took a shaky breath before he shoved these thoughts aside. He considered her a friend, and hoped that she considered him one too, so a check up wasn't unusual at all. He rapped his knuckles three times on the door and held his breath as he waited for a response, letting it out when he received an annoyed, "What?" he creaked the door open and peeked his head into the dark room.

"Hey, Elysian. Um, it's Armin. You weren't at breakfast or in morning training so I just wanted to see if you were okay.." The room was very dark but he could see her figure laying down on her bed, blankets kicked to the side. She had drawn the curtains over the window and had her eyes closed, obviously wanting peace and darkness. Armin felt like he was intruding, but he wanted to check that she was actually okay.

"I'm fine, Armin. Aren't you meant to be at lunch right now?" She asked. She sounded tired but not sick, so that was a bonus in his eyes.

"Yeah. Why don't you come with me? You haven't eaten at all today, you need the food to keep your strength up."

"Can't. Stomach ache."

"Stomach ache? Is it so bad that you can't walk?" The worry in Armin's voice was almost agitating and made her want to just get up and go, but she hadn't got up to wipe away any of the dried blood, nor clean the small wounds she had, so even if she wanted to go and eat she couldn't. She'd have to get to the bathroom first, and even then her abdomen was still burning dully. It was more effort than it was worth.

"Yeah."

"Do you have a headache too?"

"No."

"Then why not open the curtains-" Armin walked over and ripped open the curtains before Elysian could tell him not to. She covered her eyes and winced against the light as Armin's eyes widened. Harsh green bruises bloomed across the small amount of stomach that was exposed and he could see large amounts of dried blood on the sheets underneath her. He let out a short gasp and she gritted her teeth in response.