Our Love Made By Magic (EREN X LEVI FANFICTION)

18: A New Day

Eren groans in irritation. Hange needs a bath, and because Hange needs one, it means that Eren has to get her some clean water from the town's water source. However, Hange being the psycho physician she is has decided to take this bath at the witching hour. Which seems kind of fitting considering how much of a witch she is being in making Eren walk all the way down to the lower town, in nothing but his undershirt and pants to fetch her some water. Then it will be Eren's job to bring the water to the correct temperature using his special gift. He grumbles as he pulls along the buckets needed to fill up the madwoman's wooden tub and shivers as the cold air bites into his skin. It's not too dark, and maybe it isn't quite the hour Eren thinks it is, but as he wanders down the long road from the castle to the lower town to fetch his pale of water, he can't help but notice the patrol of guards returning from their night shift. 

"It had to be early in the morning..." he frowns as he finally makes it to the tap. Sighing at the absurdity of his guardian's needs, he dumps the buckets under the tap and cranks the lever a few times to get the cold, fresh water flowing. It pours into the buckets and Eren makes sure to switch the buckets out when one gets full. The sun is slowly peeking out over the horizon, only providing enough light for Eren to see what's in front of him. He breathes in, his throat becoming chilled, and when he breathes out he sees the hot air evaporate right in front of him. 

"That should do it," Eren says to himself as he cuts off the water stream. He picks up the buckets with a grunt, the extra weight definitely not welcomed at this time in the morning. Just a few more hours in bed is all he asked for. He doesn't have to wake Prince Levi until the sun hits the main gates, but no. Hange has decided that not only is Eren the Prince's personal servant, but now also hers as well. He goes to take a step forward when a scream passes through his ears. He freezes as he listens intently to the sound. Distressed, scared; a young girl's voice by the sounds of it. The sound came from further into the lower town and Eren's mind begins spiralling with all these questions.

Who is it? What has happened? Are they hurt? Is anyone able to help them? Should I go and see for myself...?

Eren frowns and place the buckets down beside the water tap and makes a decision that he is pretty sure Hange won't agree with. The woman can wait for her damn bath, more important matters have come up instead. Slowly, Eren walks down the path into the lower town, keeping close to the building walls in case whoever caused the scream is a threat rather than a scared child. Eren swallows down a lump of nerves that follow him as soon as the second scream echos across the town, this time moving further towards the town gates. It's definitely a little girl. The shrill cry leaves Eren's heart pounding quickly within his chest. He doesn't know what danger lies ahead, but he needs to save the little girl from whatever it is that threatens her. 

He scans the area with narrowed eyes. All is quiet, all is still. There doesn't seem to be any danger from what Eren can see, and he is unable to sense anything magical nearby. He can rule out a sorcerer attack then. That's always a good sign. 

Finally, Eren reaches the gate that leads out towards the forest, at the edge of the lower town. 

"Where is she..." Eren mumbles to himself. He knows he heard the scream. He's not deaf and certainly not blind. Around the entrance to the town, muddy footprints run this way and that, scared, hasty prints that run out of the town. Eren widens his eyes. She must have ran out! But what about her family?! They will be worried, and devastated if anything happened to her! 

"Bath time is gonna have to wait until later," Eren says with a new determination crossing over him. He quickly mutters a spell and allows the familiar energy to burst within him, and a sudden light illuminates his vision. The outline of the little girl's footprints become clearer, surrounded by this white glow. It's when this spell is activated that Eren notices the paw prints that run over the small human's marks.