Shattered (Ereri/Riren fic)

Chapter 3: Shattering Annoucment

"I'm fine, Mikasa. Nothing extreme happened to me last night."

She still didn't look convinced. Then her eyes darkened, "It was that shorty wasn't it! If I ever get my hands on that bastard I swear I'll make him regret the day he dared come anywhere near you." Her deep blue orbs seemed to be flaming with anger.

"No! Mikasa, he didn't do anything! And stop treating me like I'm still the nine-year-old that couldn't stand up for himself," on occasion she would become rather frightening with her temper issues and over-protectiveness she felt towards me.

Other than her antisocial behaviour, she could actually be quite a nice girl. It was just that she didn't know how to talk to others in the same way that most could that stopped people from going anywhere near her. That and the fact that she was at least three times stronger than most boys her age.

She dropped her head down a little, covering her eyes with her hair, "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for." She stood up quickly and walked out of the room, leaving me alone for probably the a millionth time in my life. As she brushed past me I couldn't help but notice the obvious bandage that enclosed her forearm, or the way she flinched as it hit the work surface, as if deep inside it was tearing her apart, as if she was attempting to conceal agony.

Before I had the chance to process what was going on, she'd already left the room. Her small footsteps were clip-clopping up the stairs; she'd forgotten to take her boots off again. A few times she even slept with them on.

My eyes wandered about the room as if I'd forgotten why I'd gone down there, before I remembered that it'd probably be a good idea to have something to eat. Flickering my pupils from side to side, looking for food, I came across the bananas; I guess I could have a banana.

After about five minutes of attempting to open it, I gave up and just cut off the top. I'd managed to create a mush at the tip, so I was glad that I'd cut it rater than continuing to try until there was nothing left to try and open. It was funny how eating a banana reminded me of how much I wanted to eat Levi's d- I mean, I don't even want to know what I mean. I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. How was it that just eating a banana could bring me back to my impossible crush?

I was jostled back to my senses at the buzzing of my phone on the counter. As I walked over to it I noticed in the mirror that Levi had left more of a mark than I'd initially thought. Or was that the jerk? Ugh, I don't even know anymore.

The text received was from Armin.

What u up 2? U wanna meet tomoz outside ur dad's surg'?

It'd taken a while to get Armin used to mobiles and texting, but now he was getting ridiculous. I cringed slightly at his awkward shortening of "tomorrow". That boy went from one extreme to another, one second he was writing in full paragraphs and then wondered why texting cost so much, and the next he was shortening anything longer than five letters. As for "surg'", he meant surgery since my father worked for the Ackermans' private health clinic.

Typing in a quick reply I told him,

Yh, I can make it. Just eating. WAU?

He quickly messages back,

What does WAU mean again? It's what about u, right?

I laughed a little to myself as I jogged back up the stairs to my room. He seriously couldn't have used the internet for that?

After a relatively long time of basically the same thing over and over again, he finally texted with a "gtg" which signalled that either his grandfather had come to find him, or he'd just got bored of talking and decided to say bye without being rude.

My grey walls seemed to begin to close in around me as I sat there, the dull paint reminding me of the filth covered street that I'd ran through just the night before. Reflections in the mirror haunted me as I saw that face beside my own, trying to grab me and suck me in to a terrible fate. Heavy breaths left my mouth as I started to panic.

No.

I wouldn't let this get the better of me.

I tried to think of anything else, fuck, at this time even my saviour was a better thought. The way he'd held me as I drifted in and out of consciousness, the way he'd smirked at me before he left me.

A strong voice woke me from my daydream, "EREN! GET DOWN HERE NOW, WE HAVE GUESTS!" My father sounded both excited and angry at the same time, and I wasn't sure which was worse.

I padded down the stairs quickly as to not make my father any more angry and found him in the lounge. He was with the Ackermans, and with them was the man that had began to fix the shattered mess that was my heart.

"Ah, Eren, thank you for joining us. We have some important news to tell you," I felt slight dread creep up my spine.

"We have arranged for Levi to marry your sister."

And with that, my world once again shattered.