Seven years. Levi glared at the person as he strolled across the lawn. Seven years, they had known! Why?
Levi grabbed their arm spinning them around to face him. Their mouth was full of Crab meat. They looked down at Levi's obviously furious face. They swallowed.
"What has your panties in a bunch now, runt?" Hange asked.
"Seven years." Levi spat out.
"Huh?" Hange looked at him as if he were crazy.
"Hey Zoe!" Hange lifted their eyes to the friendly smile. They giggled.
"Hey, it's you! Did you find your friends?" Hange called.
"Seven FUCKING YEARS YOU KNEW WHERE HE WAS!" Levi bellowed.
Eren jerked back startled at the anger in the others voice. He had been so clam while everyone else got upset before. Hange looked from Levi's steel cold eyes to the dancing sea blue greens of Eren's. She laughed.
"You said he had green eyes! Those are obviously blue!" Hange titled their head. "Or maybe teal? Turquoise?" they shrugged.
"You. Are. An. Idiot!" Levi spat out.
"Hey, I saved his life. He would have fallen like fifty feet in a heap of twisted metal!" They pointed out.
Levi pinched the bridge of his nose. "How?" he muttered.
"How was he falling?" Hange asked. Levi's grip tightened on their arm.
"How did you save him?" He hissed.
"Oh, that pulley grappling hook thingy Moblit invented. When I saw the pair fall, the girl, she was like a cat leaping to safety, but he was too slow. So I lassoed his arm, yanked him up tight. He had to dangle for a bit and I did pull his shoulder out of its socket, but I fixed it!" Hange babbled.
"One of these days, I will end you." Levi turned away from Hange.
"You didn't know them when their name came up before." He frowned at Eren.
"I know Zoe, not Hange." Eren shrugged.
"When have you ever introduced yourself as just Zoe?" Levi demanded of the auburn haired weirdo.
They cackled. "Well, we sort of got interrupted during introductions. I never got his name." Hange explained.
"I have no words for you." Levi growled.
Only now did he notice that Eren wasn't beside him. Looking around he saw him sitting at a table with Historia, Ymir, Erwin and Armin. Kenny was creeping up behind them. Before Levi could say anything Erwin was on his feet, gun in hand. Kenny snorted as he jerked back shocked.
"I train only the best." Levi snickered walking up to his uncle.
"Forgot about his bat hearing!" Kenny complained.
He took a seat across from Eren. Since Armin was on one side of the teen and Historia on the other, Levi was forced to sit next to Kenny. Historia was telling Eren about a mutual friend they knew.
"You guys kept in contact?" Levi asked.
"As often as was able." Historia shrugged.
"What does that mean?" Kenny scuffed.
"Well, we had our way of leaving messages. Eren often tossed his phone after a few weeks." She looked over at the teen.
"Whenever he would run. I'm guessing your time is coming up now." She said.
Eren lowered his hands to under the table. Levi hadn't missed the fact the two boys were still carrying their backpacks around. Eren had eaten nearly everything on his plate.
"With my folks finding out about me..." He lifted one shoulder letting it drop.
Levi punched the table. Eren jerked back. Armin placed a hand to his shoulder.
"You're not leaving!" Levi snarled. "Not without me. I thought I made that clear." He glared at Eren.
"You're bleeding." Eren whispered. He picked up his napkin to wet it with some water from his glass.
Reaching over he took Levi's hand. Carefully he washed the blood from his knuckles where he struck the table.
"Eren, I think you would be safe here." Historia spoke softly.
For a while Eren said nothing. He worked at cleaning Levi's hand. Once the blood was washed off, he stole Armin's napkin. Using this to dry off Levi's hand, Eren saw it was still bleeding. He wound the napkin tightly around the knuckles, tying it off. Once more his hands fell back to his lap. He turned away from Levi, who felt like screaming at him to just pay attention to him.
"You thought the palace was safe for me too." Eren whispered.
A sadness fell over Historia's eyes. "You're right. I didn't consider all you really went through before then." She looked away.
"Will you go to Jean again?" she asked.
"No. Levi knows where that is." Eren gave a tiny smirk toward their host.
"You're not leaving here. There is no way out once I give the order to make you stay." Levi insisted.
Historia laughed. "You think so?" she asked. "They got past my personal guards, slipped right out of some hole in our security." She huffed.
"I have Erwin." Levi pointed out.
"Yeah well, he has Armin. Would really love to see that match up!" Ymir huffed.
Hange interrupted the silent showdown by starting telling a story of Moblit. The tension eased as they enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. Later that evening, Levi made dinner for Eren and Armin in his home. He watched as they ate nearly everything he had made. He simply smiled sipping his tea.
"Alright, um where are they going to sleep?" Erwin asked.
"The guest rooms." Levi offered.
"Yeah about that. I thought you wanted to keep him here." Erwin rolled his eyes but stopped when Levi glared over his cup at him.
"Post two guards outside one in the hall. I thought you were the head of my security?" Levi stated.
"You're forgetting the kid doesn't sleep without his life sized Armin body pillow!" Erwin snorted.
"Fine, put them in the room closest to mine." Levi insisted.
"You want to listen in?" Erwin smirked. Levi kicked at him, but the table was in the way. He ended up hitting his shin on it. Erwin laughed at him.
Erwin escorted the two teens out. "He really is a great guy. Been handed a shitty life, not as bad as you guys, but it's not easy for him either. Just keep that in mind." He opened the door to a room that was around the wall from Levi's hall.
"Yeah sure." Eren agreed. Erwin left them to go inside the room. He came back to find Levi looking out the window.
"Now what?" Erwin asked.
"I don't know. I guess I never planned further than finding him." Levi admitted.
"Well, you did confess to him. So far, he hasn't runt to the hills." Erwin offered.
"Did you notice?" Levi asked.
"That you didn't switch when mommy and you were fighting? Yeah I did." Erwin slumped in an easy chair.
"Not sure how you plan on keeping him here." He sounded tired.
"If you try to imprison him, he is going to run. If you give him too much rope, I'm sure Grisha will hang him with it. I can't see the best path forward on this one." He added.
"Go get some rest. Maybe you will come up with a brilliant idea in the morning." Levi offered.
Warily Erwin pulled his tired body up from the chair. "Don't stay up all night." He warned.
"Sure, dad." Levi hissed.
He went to his room. Sinking down in his office chair he looked over the reports from his non for profit businesses. He knew he would have to keep them open. They didn't lead him to Eren, but they helped a lot of people. He must have dozed off at some point, for he was awaken by a horrible scream.
It came from down the hall. A blood curling cry that went on and on. It didn't sound remotely human! Levi was on his feet dashing out into the hall. Erwin appeared down his hall way, shirtless, gun in hand. They made eye contact while the scream appeared to run its course.
Before either could move it started again. Loud, high, chill educing cry of extreme agony. It was only upon hearing it the second time that Levi realized where it was coming from. He raced toward Eren's room. Not slowing, he kicked the door open. Rolling to one side, to allow Erwin a way in, Levi took in the situation.
Erwin flipped the light on. Eren was laying on the ground tearing at his hair. The screams were coming from him as Armin fought to gain control of the boy's flailing limbs. He was seated on Eren's legs to hold the teen down. He was singing. It was soft, barely audible over the ear drum splitting cries. It was a lullaby.
"What the hell is going on?" Levi yelled.
"Not helping." Armin sang in the same soft tone.
It appeared this change to the words confused Eren. He suddenly stopped screaming. Armin was able to grasp his hands. He pulled them down to rest in his lap. His hand reached out to gently tap Eren's cheek. Slowly, as if waking from a long sleep, Eren's eyes blinked open.
"Armin? It happened again." Eren sat up. He wrapped his arms around Armin's waist, burying his head in the others stomach.
"You're safe now, Eren." Armin cooed running a reassuring hand through Eren's long hair.
"I dreamed of him, Levi, coming to save us." His voice was muffled. Levi gasped.
"Brat, that wasn't a dream." He whispered as he knelt beside Eren.
Those haunted green blue eyes lifted to met his gaze. Eren blinked as if he were trying to get Levi to disappear. He pulled one hand from Armin to touch Levi's face.
"It wasn't a dream?" he whispered.
Then, as Levi watched, Eren's eyes closed. He was asleep sitting up. Armin laid him back down, tucking him in.
"Just so you know, he was never awake." Armin informed them.
"You've been dealing with this alone, for a long time?" Levi asked.
"Ever since I met him." Armin muttered.
Levi had Erwin shut the light back off. He sat with his back against the wall as Armin laid down beside Eren. They weren't using the big king-sized bed, but had pulled the blankets off to sleep on the floor.
Levi didn't leave, he didn't sleep, he kept watch over the two teens. As the bright rays of the sun began to rise through the window, Levi stood up to go get some tea.