ONE ʙʏ ONE

ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ

As Levi climbed the steps, he began to speed up, feeling the uneasy feeling growing. The teen took off at a full sprint and slammed into his door. The doorknob twisted but didn't open. Levi pounded on the door, alerting Armin and his uncle.

"Eren," Levi hollered, "open the door now."

Armin called from downstairs, "Is everything okay?"

"Stay downstairs!" Levi commanded, vigorously turning the knob. "Eren, I'm gonna give you to the count of three!"

Levi took a deep breath and stepped back. He calmly counted, "One...Two...Two and a half..."

The sound of a window sliding open sent dread through the raven. He slammed his foot four times into the door before it finally flew open. The room was empty of life. Levi ran to the open window and peered out at a drip trail of blood.

"Shit!" Levi cursed, before turning and yelling, "Arlert, he jumped out the window! Get him – he's hurting himself!"

Armin jumped to action and ran out the front door. Levi whistled from the roof and pointed to Eren, who had made it a good distance down the road. The blond took off after him, following the drops of blood on the rough concrete.

"Eren, what the hell did you do?" Armin shouted, his voice cracking with concern, but Eren ignored him and only ran faster towards the closest place he knew – the park.

Levi quickly went back inside to grab his car keys. Then, he dialed Erwin's number and waited for him to pick up. When the call was answered, Levi barked, "Eren's hurting himself. He ran off, heading East towards the park, but I'm not sure exactly where he's going. Chase after him and get the blade out of his hands!"

Instead of hearing Erwin's voice come through, Levi heard a smug girl maliciously chuckle, "Good to know."

The call ended as Levi's blood ran cold. Kenny ran up and peppered his nephew with questions, but Levi sharply commanded, "If you want to help me right now, get a few of your people together and meet me at the East park. Armin and I will get Eren before he kills himself."

Kenny nodded before heading out to his car and revving down the road. Levi copied him, going the opposite direction towards the park. His engine thundered down the street as the corners of his vision turned red.

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"Stop, you're going to end up doing something you'll regret!" Armin argued, still trailing hot on Eren's tail.

Eren's focus was still somewhat on auto-drive; however, he quickly woke up from the sudden adrenaline. Blood was drip off his arm and onto the ground at a terrifying rate, and the teen's vision was starting to waver a bit. Finally, the park came into view, giving him the surprising energy to run faster towards the wooded area to hide.

He didn't know exactly why he was hiding. All he knew at the moment was that he was being hunted, and he didn't want to be caught. It was like a flight response to the sudden action and fear of everything. He didn't feel in control of his own movements anymore.

Thanks to his momentum, Eren was a few meters in front of Armin, who was slowly losing stamina. Then, Eren came across a twisted tree that looked easy to climb and speedily began to haul himself amongst the branches. Just as he propped himself behind a leafy branch, Armin sprinted into view.

"Eren?" The worried teen called out. "Look, I'm sorry. It's just that Jean ruined my life – our life. So, please, come out!"

The screech of car tires caught Armin's attention. Then, after a car door slammed, Levi's voice boomed, "You lost him?"