Press Play - Ereri

Chapter 12

"I'm sorry, I have no idea who he is." I looked straight at them, and put all of my concentration into looking confident.

"Well, if you have any idea where he might be, find us. We'll be around." The taller man nodded at me, and turned to walk away. Slowly, I began to close the door, and locked it firmly before running upstairs to find him. I tapped his shoulder until he woke up, his eyes tired.

"Levi. I want answers. Now."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, getting out of the blankets and sitting up.

"Why," I whispered angrily, "did two men knock on the door, asking where you were, because you're apparently 'wanted'?"

"They've fucking found me. Oh god. I'm so sorry, Eren, I should've told you before you came. Come downstairs, I'll explain everything." He was already dressing himself by the time I walked down. The feeling I had was hard to describe. It was a mixture of anger, fear and sadness, I think.

He sat me down at a kitchen chair, and began speaking.

"When I was about your age, I was in a gang. Their gang. Well, I never wanted to join them, but their leader, a man called Erwin Smith forced me to join. Apparently I was 'skilled', and they 'didn't want me as an enemy'. Not true, though. Did they tell you about the Ackerman thing, too?" I nodded, "Well, someone in our a family did something awful, and they want all of the Ackermans gone. I'm not going to tell you what he did, but his name was Kenny Ackerman. Anyway, I didn't even know that I was an Ackerman at this point. And neither did they. I was with them for a while, and there was a woman they were making me kill for them, they said her name was Kuchel. Kuchel Ackerman. I went ahead, and set out to kill her, but when I saw her, I couldn't. Erwin was with me, asking why I couldn't kill this woman. We knew eachother. You know how, Eren? She was my mother. The mother that left me, so nobody would find out about my true identity. I told Erwin, which was one of my biggest mistakes. He shot her in front of my own eyes, and then tried to kill me. I ran, and I've been safe until now. They want my blood, Kid. They want me dead."

My jaw dropped. So that's why he didn't want me to know about his past. He wanted to protect me. He wanted me to love him back.

"I...I know an Ackerman, back in California. Mikasa." I said, utterly shocked.

"Well, they don't know about her. Make sure they don't find out. They'll kill her too."

"Fuck. Levi, I'm so sorry.." I spoke, looking down.

"Promise me something, Eren. Don't tell them you know me. No matter what. I love you, and I don't want either of us to get hurt." He begged, and I came over to him and wrapped my arms around him, whispering quietly into his hair.

"I'd never betray you, Levi. I love you."

I held my arms tightly around his shoulders, and a tear dripped onto his soft hair that was almost black, with the hint of a warm brown tone.

"You crying on me, kid? I'll fight you." He said to lighten the mood.

"I'm good, Levi. I'm good." I forced out a smile, and walked up the stairs to his bathroom and locked the door behind me. I sank down to my knees, cradling my head in my hands and shaking uncontrollably. Just an hour or so ago, I was the happiest person alive, and what about now? Reduced to a sobbing, trembling mess on the floor of my lover's house. Technically, I'd saved him. Warned him. So why was I feeling so upset? Betrayed, even?

Maybe because he hadn't warned me. I'd have loved to have known, then we could've arranged for him to come with me. But no, he didn't, and I ended up stuck in France with no money to leave. My heart burned for him, with a passion and longing I'd never experienced before, but I was angry. Angry because if I'd known, I could have properly saved him. Gotten him away from this damned place entirely. Angry because I was afraid to lose him.

"Eren! Let me in! Please, Eren! I'm sorry, I should've told you! Eren!" Levi shouted, banging on the door, but I ignored him completely. I couldn't take it. He continued to knock and knock, gradually getting less persistent and more sloppy. He carried on shouting my name too, and he went on for around ten minutes before his voice started to crack and break, but that didn't stop him. Levi was determined. At least he loved me too. I should've answered him sooner, before the yelling started.

"For fuck's sake, Eren, all you do is turn me away, you never appreciate me. I'm sick of it. Do what you want. I don't even care anymo-"

"Well maybe you should've told me the situation before I came here! I barely even know you!" I yelled back, with a broken sounding voice. Tears were flowing from my eyes and clinging to my lashes, and dripping onto the white, tiled floor.

I heard his footsteps become more and more distant, and once I was sure he'd left, I slowly unlocked the door and walked out. Into the pitch black streets, into the pouring rain. I didn't care that I was freezing or soaked to the bone, I just wanted to get away. Anywhere would do.

I was just walking slowly through a dark alleyway, when I noticed some hooded figures ahead of me, all in black. One was extremely tall, and when I got closer, I noticed who it was. Those eyebrows were unmistakeable. One of the men who knocked on the door before, it was him. I stopped in my tracks, but he was already making his way towards me, and one appeared out of the shadows behind me. Cornered; nowhere to run.

"Do I know you?" The male behind me asked, and I whipped my head around to see who it was, but they were wearing a mask to cover the features of their face. The one thing I did see though, were a pair of dark brown eyes that glinted evilly in the dull moonlight.

"I do." The taller one with the eyebrows said. "Hey kid, got any information about Levi for us?"

"I- I don't know him, sorry." I mumbled, looking away from him.

"You're lying. I knew it from the first time I saw you. Might want to get some lessons on that for next time." He said, and nodded to the man behind me. Scared and confused, I tried to run, but was caught from behind, and pulled to the ground against a wall. A strong pair of arms kept me down, before another smaller man came over hesitantly with a rope and bound my hands behind my back. I heard the man whisper something in my ear that sounded like, "I'm sorry."

"So, bright eyes. You know what happens to liars around here?" Eyebrows knelt down, and stared at me, smirking. I stayed silent, but he continued as I struggled to free my hands and stand, but my actions weren't appreciated and I ended up with a kick in the stomach. Coughing, I tried to kick back and failed. My legs were caught and tied by the same, smaller male at another's command.

"Not answering, then? Well, I guess I'll have to do the talking. I'm Erwin Smith, leader of this gang. I want a man called Levi Ackerman. Where is he?"

"I'm not telling you, you sick fuck." I snarled, straining against the ropes and scraping my skin.

"Well, that just means that there's more time until you're free, doesn't it? Until you tell us, you're not going anywhere." Erwin had picked up a knife and started to play with it, spinning it between his thumb and forefinger, not even caring that he touched the blade. He brought it over to me, and held it in front of my face. "And you'll also be meeting my friend here if you refuse to cooperate.

"Get that away from me." I spat, and instantly regretted it when he brought it down towards my left cheek and dug it into the flesh. I winced, trying to seem tough, but my eyes were watering, and my teeth were gritted.

"Any answers?" He said, digging it deeper and dragging it across as he spoke too calmly.

"Erwin, don't you think that's too far? I mean, he's practically just a ki-" the same guy who'd tied me up and apologised spoke up, but was cut off by a knife in the stomach. Literally. His body went limp, and collapsed onto the ground with a sickening thud. I gagged, and flailed around as I tried to get on my feet, but Erwin pushed me back down forcefully.

"Well, here's the dilemma." He sighed, pretending to be deep in thought, "I feel like killing you, but you're probably the only one who knows where he is. So, I'll leave you here. We'll be back. Don't get any ideas. Even though nobody comes here, apart from American idiots like yourself, I'm putting this on you. I'm not sorry." He said, as he picked up a long strip of material and gagged me with it. "Come on, men. We're leaving." He said, before spitting on the corpse of the recently deceased man and walking away.

Sitting in that alleyway in the pouring rain, a tear fell down my cheek, and the only word that came to mind as it fell was 'Levi'...