AIN'T TALKIN' 'BOUT LOVE

CHAPTER 13 - ZOMBIE by THE CRANBERRIES

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I wanna hold the hand inside you,

I wanna take the breath that's true,

Sitting no more than a few feet from the stage, Eren gazed up at Isabel, as her angel voice crooned high over the crowd. "Fade Into You" was one of the songs she sang she used to sing on the streets, when it was cold and wet, and they were wrapped in trash bags and wool blankets to keep them warm.

One winter, Eren found a building with a partially covered roof. They reached it by climbing up the fire escape by the loading dock. It was hidden from the wind, and best yet, no one else knew about it, so they were safe. She would sing, he'd twist her curls around his fingers, and they'd watch the water drip from the tin corrugated overhang, warm and dry.

That's what he missed most when he tried to fall asleep in the boy's jail. Dry, relatively safe, and well-fed, the only thing missing was beauty...her voice and the night sky. He never took it for granted. Belles was always the one to slow them down, and say, "Hey look, it's a Magpie!" or point out that spring was coming by how the sky was so much bluer.

He'd come to find that beauty was a luxury, one that was lost, like most luxuries, on the poor and suffering. Who has time to enjoy art or colors or music when you're scrounging to find your next meal or trying to keep from being accosted in a side alleyway? All these things are wasted on those who fight for survival. But Isabel knew, somehow, that the beauty she provided or was a witness to, was what meant the difference between living and just surviving. Insisting on noticing the loveliness around them brought them hope. And that's what really got them through.

Eren was brought back to the moment when Levi's slide guitar fleshed out the strange enchantment of the song. Looking up from his strings, the man gazed at Belles with fond eyes. When he fanned his fingers across the last note, she giggled and reached over to kiss his cheek.

"Damn, that's a lucky little guy," a gravelly, phlegm-thick voice defiled the tender silence. "Wouldn't mind that little girly sitting on my lap."

The voice belonged to a large, overweight construction worker, his face pockmarked and flushed with drunkenness. His mouth gaped open to breathe, revealing a large space between his front teeth, stained with chew. Covered in white chalky dust and tar, everything he wore reeked of the stuff. Eren hadn't seen a man that vile in a long time.

Levi and Isabel's heads snapped around to glare at the man's declaration, Levi hissing with disgust. "The fuck you say, shit piece?" Levi spat out. Isabel placed her hand on his arm.

Erwin, Farlan and Hange looked at one another and quickly launched into the next song, effectively ending any further "conversation" or ass beating the man deserved. "Zombie," by the Cranberries, ground down into its own beat, Farlan's bass and Hange's drums drowning out any dissent. Farlan shot a murderous glare at the man and his friends, but they just laughed obnoxiously.

As Eren watched the whole exchange, bristling with tension, his muscles grew taut, and he leaned forward in his chair. It was clear, at that moment, that the situation had been diffused, but he watched and waited for the moment that he might get a swipe into that dick's fat gut.

Armin watched the whole exchange with wide eyes. He shifted in his seat and covered Eren's clenched fist with his hand. "All right, honey," the little blonde cooed in Eren's ear. "It's all right." He gestured with his chin back to the stage to the sight before them, electric and raw.

Effectively arresting everyone's attention, Erwin, Levi and Farlan laid down a pulverizing sound that felt like rolling over shattered glass. Isabel stomped her foot to the beat and threw her head over, her curls cascading towards the floor, gripping the microphone stand for balance. When the bass slowed, it opened up a space for her entrance. She tipped her head back, eyes closed, lips pressed to the microphone.