A Picture Paints A Thousand Words

Eyes

(Levi's P.O.V)

He was taller than I had expected. I mean, I knew he was taller than me, but he's just a kid, so I didn't think it would be by that much.

"There is a reason you came here."

He interrupted me, "Yeah, Armin said-"

"Don't interrupt, brat. Your friend only found this place because I wanted him to."

I found myself slightly happy when the brat decided to shut up. I was growing tired of him interrupting me all the time.

"I made sure your friend-Armin, right?-Well, I made sure he found out about this place. He's too clumsy to find it by himself."

"And how did you do that?"

"Tch. Inanimate objects are easy enough to manipulate. I located a book on old castles. It just so happened to fall from the shelf as your friend walked pass."

"Oh..."

"I wanted you here because I need you to do something for me."

Eren raised a dark eyebrow. "What could I do for you?"

"Well-"

I stopped at the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

"I should go."

Eren looked slightly startled as I simply disappeared. In reality, I'd only moved to the attic much faster than human eyes could be permitted to see.

I could hear his friends enter the room I'd just left. The boy, Armin, spoke.

"Eren? W-Who were you talking to?"

(Eren's P.O.V)

Staring at Armin in shock, I simply stood there, not knowing what to do or say. Can he see Levi at all? I thought.

I flicked my eyes towards where Levi once stood, but he was gone. I sighed softly, looking back at Armin and grinning.

"You must think I'm crazy, huh? Talking to myself like that...did I scare you?"

"N-No! O-Of course not...people do it all the time! I just thought..." he paused, "...nevermind."

I could see a strange look on Mikasa's face from where she stood behind Armin.

It almost seemed like...

...suspicion...

I shrugged it off and asked if the two had found anything. Both denied. We agreed on coming back tomorrow. Armin insisted that something had to be here.

The two walked downstairs after I told them I'd look around for a while more. They decided to do the same.

When my friends were gone, Levi came back.

"Where the hell did you even go?" I asked. He had left so quickly. It was amazing.

"The attic. I just went faster than your human eyes could see."

"They almost saw you...we have to be more careful.." Truthfully, I didn't know why we had to hide it from them. Something was telling me that this didn't concern them, though. Levi had chosen me.

He needed my help with something.

He nodded in agreement.

"They'll probably come back and drag me out of here, so we'll have to continue talking tomorrow."

"But-"

"Eren! We're leaving. We found nothing down here!" I heard Mikasa say. I said a quiet goodbye to Levi, meeting my sister at the bottom of the stairs.

-•-

We got back to the hotel, getting to the room the three of us shared. Armin was the first to fall asleep. Poor guy. Took on too much, eh? Then again, he does that every time we investigate something. I closed the door the bathroom, meeting Mikasa's eyes from where she sat on the bed.

"I'm not blind, you know." she said.

"Of course not." I said. No lie there.

"I know you lied to Armin." I remained quiet.

"He knows too, doesn't he? That I lied..." Mikasa nodded at me.

"We saw him too. The spirit." she replied, making me flinch.

"You weren't supposed to see-"

"Why not? Why is this a secret that you're hiding from us?"

"...It just..doesn't concern either of you." She tried to be as understanding as possible, but it wasn't working.

"So what...? You don't need us anymore? You can do this on your own?" Her voice seemed to rise higher with each word.

"T-That's not-! Look, I'm sorry. He needs my help..I just- I don't know what's wrong with me... Part of me wanted to tell you, but..."

"But what?"

"Part of me wants it all to myself..."