Eren's P.O.V:
I curiously watched the raven-haired man as he gazed over my bullet wound. Slowly removing the bloodied and torn cloth plastered on the painful wound.
Why was Levi helping me? Wasn't he the man that wanted me dead more than anyone else? Or was he doing this just to torture me?
"Good news," He announced, "the bullet isn't there. Your shoulder is just badly grazed."
My visions began to clash before I could respond, and my head lightened to the point where it felt like a dream.
My sight grew hazy. It was getting really hard to see... And it felt like I was seeing, feeling, and hearing...in third person.
"Don't go to sleep, dammit. I can't bear the thoughts of being alone," I heard Levi growl.
So that's all he wants from me? Just a white noise so he doesn't feel afraid? Is that it?
My drooping eyes looked over my now tightly wrapped shoulder. I just wanted to die, now. Having barely anything to live for... I don't want to be a tool to a man I hate. But being so weak, and with Levi's damned persistence, I couldn't die even if I tried.
"I said don't."
I mumbled a few curses under my breath. But slowly started to feel my head coming back to me after being so high in the clouds...
"Good, brat. Stay the fuck alive or so help me I will..." Levi trailed off with an obvious scoff.
I couldn't help but let my gaze lift to see his expression. It was a strange mixture of fear, and hate. But it was terribly hidden behind a poorly composed poker-face.
"If we're going to stay alive, we need to find water to wash all the disease off of us," Levi said, but with a softer tone when he said the word 'washing'.
"What...about me then?" I asked quietly. My voice quivering from the unsteadiness due to the large blood loss.
"You can stay here for the time being. I'll be back," Levi replied.
I gave a weak nod, and watched him as he walked off into the trees until he was out of my sight.
I don't trust him. Not the smallest bit. But I know he will be back. Levi seems to have a problem with being alone in the woods. Or being alone in general.
My head was still feeling a bit off, but I didn't feel like I was on the verge of death anymore. So to pass the time, I decided to watch the clouds drift by as the trees surrounding me rustled from the gentle wind caressing my cheeks. Giving them a slight rosy hue due to the slight chill.
Is Mikasa alive? Or is the love of my life gone?
~Long Flashback~ (Eren is presently ten)
"Eren! Stop being so silly!" Mikasa laughed. Pointing at the marks on my cheeks made of mud to look like a mud warrior.
I giggled along with her. We were so young and innocent. My best friend, Mikasa, always hung around and protected me from my stupid actions. She was intelligent, but not so smart when angered.
"Your daddy is fighting again," Mikasa said suddenly, making me lower my expression a little bit.
My father was constantly attacked by the neighboring king, Levi. He was a little young, being twenty four, but it wasn't too bad considering the youngest queen being nineteen.
I would always be told stories of the bloody battles. Slightly censored for my little child mind, of course. But they were still awesome. My dad being stalked by a spy, an assassination attempt, or just a full blown war were common. And I was always told it happened due to the greed of Levi.
Mikasa and I didn't know what he looked like, but we would always draw little battles in the dirt with sticks. Giggling to ourselves when we would scribble something silly in it. Like a flying dragon breathing fire on the enemy side, or a mustache on a soldier or two.
One day, when I was twelve, my father went back to war right after my mother died of a poison meant for him. So he didn't put his all into the battle. Or so I heard.
Sad my mother was gone, I tried to recall the description of the twenty-six year old. He didn't change that much after all the stories, but I remembered something about him having black hair like Mikasa's, being shorter than me, and having one of the most expressionless faces known to man at the strangest of times.
Before my mother died, my father told Mikasa and I a story about how one of our elite soldiers left our side after grazing Levi's wrist with a bullet. It would have killed him, but she seemed to regret doing so. Immediately helping him retreat before he bled to death due to a vital blood vessel being opened up.
She left our side to join his, and her good name was polluted with crimes. So if she were to ever come back, she would be immediately executed.
I wondered why Petra, one of our greatest elites, would abandon her squad for Levi. Making Oluo, Eld, and Gunther devastated. But of course, it seemed as though those three wanted to follow her. But whilst they tried to escape one night, Gunther was caught, and executed immediately.
My mother died the day after Gunther's death. She was seemingly poisoned the night Gunther was executed, but it was supposedly directed towards my father. Since he refused to eat that night, saying he had too much work to do, and too little time. My mother, not wanting to waste any of the cook's great meals, ate it up. Getting sick after half an hour. It was unknown if Gunther's death was tied together with the poison, but I was deeply affected by the event.
My father had gotten extremely cautious, and always had someone test the food and drink before feeding it to anyone of the royals.
Nobody was poisoned after that, but when Levi demanded war once again, my father left. Like said before, he was still slightly depressed, and when the battle ended, I ran towards the soldiers to greet my father at the main kingdom gate.
Their grim expressions startled me. We always fought them off before Levi attacked the kingdom! If we lost, that could only mean...
Asking some of the soldiers where my father was, they simply closed their eyes. Not wanting to look at me. So I continued watching the soldiers, warriors, wounded, and even the dead come inside. Mikasa came up from behind, and sat herself next to me. I told her about my father not leading the soldiers inside. She nodded in understanding, but her face paled. Staring at something behind me.
I turned around, and was met with my heart stopping. There lay my father, the king, lifeless. There was a sloppy stab wound in his chest, and an evident bullet hole through the forehead.
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, and I turned to Mikasa as I broke down in front of her. She pulled me into a loving hug, telling me it was going to be all right. I was going to become the king at sixteen, and for the time being someone would take my place since I was much too young to make any decisions.
That night, I couldn't sleep. I continued to think about both my father, and my mother in their own little life. I didn't know where people go when they die, since no one could prove anything, so I just believed you lived in an everlasting lucid dream with all your lost loved ones.
(Sorry if I piss anyone off about the whole afterlife shit. But this is literally what I think. If you have a problem with it, please keep it to yourself.)
The slightest creaks and shutters of the floors, windows, or walls startled me greatly. Levi was only out to kill my father that one time, since he doesn't like to kill two birds with one stone. He likes to leave things simple. Even with the given opportunity, he will only do what he set out to do.
But guards still watched over my door. Making sure no one would get me.
I heard a slight click, and cringed. Looking around frantically before settling down. It was most likely the guards doing something outside since they liked to scare me. I knew the two. Bertholdt and Reiner. They were a bit young, but bold, nonetheless.
Resting my head against my pillow again. I clenched my eyes shut, hoping they wouldn't open again.
Sadly, they did open again. But they only did so because of the warm, gentle hand sliding across the bottom half of my face, and a sharp weapon being pressed against my throat.
Out of instinct, I yelped out. But my shout was muffled.
Immediately, the guards called out to see if I was all right. I would always reply with a yes, and they would go back to whatever the hell they do out there. But I knew they would come in after a few seconds without answer.
The door's handle twisted, but it didn't open. It was locked!
That click was the sound of the lock being moved!
"Unlock the door, Eren," Reiner called out. Sounding slightly frightened since he never had a full on encounter with an enemy.
I didn't say anything. I knew I could have screamed and they could hear. Even with the stranger's hand being pressed against my jaw, I could still scream. But I didn't. Not because of the sharp object slightly pricking my neck, either. I just didn't.
"Good boy," A voice whispered into my left ear.
I shivered from the heat of his breath. And froze completely. Intimidated to the fullest.
I could feel the smirk on his lips as his head stayed where it was. Still exhaling on the same spot after the first words left his lips.
My breath hitched, and I was left paralyzed. Tears brimmed my eyes for the second time.
Before the door was finally broken open, he leaned even closer. So close he was just about a hair's length away from touching my skin. So close I could see the delicate features placed ever so precisely upon his pallid face. So close I remembered my father's description, and put two with two.
His last two words before he left were so quiet in volume, I could barely hear them. But I did anyway. And they haunted me for the next four years becoming a king.
"You're next," Were his last words.
His hand left my jaw, along with the weapon that left a slight cut below my chin right as the door was unlocked through a hole bashed into it. Immediately opened by a very startled looking Reiner, followed by Bertholdt. Who looked around suspiciously as they came in with torches in hand. Lighting up the room and scanning my paled face.
"What happened?" Bertholdt asked.
There was a lump in my throat, and my hands felt numb from fear. All I could do was let out a small whimper containing all of it. The adrenaline was fresh, pumping through my veins still.
"Reiner, look," Bertholdt said, pointing at a window with a broken latch. It was still open, and a cool breeze was leaking through it. Making the lacy curtains dance as goosebumps littered my arms.
Reiner's expression grimmed, and he took another look at me. Noticing the small cut upon my usually untouched skin just below the chin.
"He's slightly injured," Reiner pointed out.
"May I ask again, what happened to you?" Bertholdt asked.
The name left my mouth before I thought it through, "Levi."
Reiner waved Bertholdt off to get some others before turning to me.
"Tell me the story."
I told the story in great detail. Explaining my fear, and small things that happened along the way. Along with the sounds that startled me. The click of the lock. And the whisper of his voice.
Reiner demanded I tell him what he said. But I felt those words were for me, and no one else. So instead, I told him I didn't remember.
The rest of the night went by like a blur. My cut was sterilized, and it turned out there was nothing dangerous on the knife used, to everyone's surprise
After that, I had to sleep underground with Reiner and Bertholdt guarding the door still.
And I didn't see that man until I hit sixteen.