Belonging to Love

3

Just a quick side note before we start the chapter! I wanted to be honest with you all and say that I'm having a difficult time writing this. I feel as though my writing style has changed so much from the first book that I don't even know if I could call this a sequel...what're your thoughts?
Thanks :) Enjoy the chapter!

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Rays of yellow sunlight cast itself along the floor and up the walls as it peeked through the break in the curtains from the window across the room.

I rolled over on my uncomfortable mattress and immediately regretted it. All of the muscles in my body felt as though they were on fire.

Levi had me clean the floors after I finished helping the others end making the stables look spotless.

Jean had to dust the whole headquarters from head to toe until Captain Clean was satisfied. He had said it was punishment for ruining his uniform.

I could feel my eyebrows net together as I slowly opened my eyes. A hiss escaped my teeth as the incandescent light seeped into my tired eyes. Confusion smacked me straight in the forehead as I realized that I couldn't remember walking back to my room last night.

I propped yourself up on my elbows and pinched the bridge of my nose between my index finger and thumb; my head began to feel as though it would explode.

"Eren are you awake yet?" I asked the mount of blankets beside me.

He didn't stir.

"Eren, come on," I reached for the covers, "It's time to get up!" I shook the still figure back and forth. But still no response.

I sighed and ripped the covers back. I wish I hadn't. I screamed at the sight of Eren's dead body lying in a pool of blood upon the mattress.

I rolled out of bed and hit the floor hard, but for some reason, it didn't hurt as badly as I thought it would. I scrambled to my feet, tears falling like wells down my face.

"Eren!" I screamed, my heart was beating so fast that it felt as though it would burst through my ribs.

"You've grown up so much." A familiar voice said from behind me. I whirled around to see my father standing beside Eren's body looking sombre.

A sob hitched in my throat at the sight of the two people I loved most in the world -now dead.

"Dad-" I said in between gasps, "how did this happen?"

My father looked up from the corpse and directly into my (E/C) eyes, his gaze blank and upset. It was the same look he had after my mother died.

"You'll have to ask yourself that question, little cadet." He said coldly.

"(F/N)?" My name echoed through the room.

"You did this to us," another familiar voice said from behind me, "this is all your fault."

I turned around and tried to hold in another scream at the sight of my former squad members mangled bodies. Gunther, Oulo, Eld and Petra.

"You might as well have killed us yourself!" Petra cried, "You and your fiance -both titan shifters!"

"(F/N)!" A masculine voice shot through the room, making it echo painfully in my ears.

"Stop!" I yelled, "Please stop!"

"Cadet! Dammit, wake up!"

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I felt my body being shaken back and forth vigorously and my eyes shot wide open.

Another sob hitched in the back of my throat at the sight of Levi's anxious face and Hanji is hovering close behind him.

Hanji practically shoved Levi out of the way and threw her arms around me as I cried into her shoulder.

I could see now that I was in the Corporal's office, remembering that this was the last place I was supposed to clean. I must've fallen asleep in here by accident.

"(F/N) what happened?" Hanji's soothing voice calmed me from the tizzy I had worked myself into as she stroked my hair.

I closed my eyes as the images came back. I had been getting nightmares like this more and more frequently -but this was by far the worst.

I looked over at Levi, who was standing behind the two of us with his arms crossed menacingly (as per usual) and his face stern.

"It was them." I sounded out of breath.

Something sparked in his hard eyes, and I could tell he knew who I meant.

The special operations squad was very dear to me. They felt like the family I only briefly had. Loving, kind, and generous. But they too were killed by titans. No. That was false. They were murdered by titan shifters, just like myself.

The door flung open, causing a gush of air flying my way. I blinked, and Eren came dashing into the room, beads of sweat and a speck of mud still lingering on his cheeks.

"Corporal, I heard that (F/N) is,"

He didn't even have enough time to finish his sentence before I bolted up and sprinted across the office. I leaped into Eren's arms and dug my tear-stained face into his.

"Y-you were gone." I managed to say, my voice muffled by his shirt.

The tears had made their way to the surface again, and Eren just let me cry, as he held me in his strong embrace.

"It's alright," Eren cooed, "I'm here now it was just a dream."

Only it wasn't. My father, my mother, Petra, Gunther, Oulo, and Eld. They were all gone, and I felt guilty for the deaths of everyone close to me. It felt as though life kept ripping the rug from underneath my feet and one day I feared that Eren would be too...

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(F/N) eventually fell asleep in my arms. Her breathing still sounding a bit ragged and uneven.

I hated seeing her like this. I couldn't bare it. She looked so sad and lonely, and in turn, I felt useless to help her.

I looked up at Levi, who was leaned up against the far wall merely staring at us.

"Did she say what it was?"

The Corporal shrugged, "All she told me was that it was about my former team." The words 'former' and 'team' felt like a knife to the heart.

Even though I hadn't been on the special operations squad for nearly as long as (F/N) or Levi -it was needless to say that I still really missed them.

(F/N) had told me a few weeks back, shortly after I proposed, that she had had a nightmare about her father. She cried for hours, and I realized something. Had her father still been here, he would've walked her down the aisle.

And ever since then, the dreams kept appearing. Each one is more traumatizing than the other. Each one ending in a blood-curdling scream.

I honestly didn't know how to help her, and I hated myself for it. I was supposed to be her protector, and now I can't even protect her from her thoughts. She would never really tell me all of the details, the story would bounce around a lot, so I didn't push it.

I wrapped an arm underneath her knees and the other around her waist, picking her up bridal style. I stood, careful not to wake (F/N).

It was nearly dawn, and I had fallen asleep waiting for (F/N) to come back from cleaning. That is until Armin came pounding on my door saying that someone heard screaming coming from Levi's office saying that it sounded like (F/N). As my foggy brain started to piece the puzzle together, I wasted no time and sprinted what little energy I had left in me to help her.

I slowly walked to the door, "Thank you, Captain."

"Don't mention it brat," Levi snickered, "Now get out."

I smiled inwardly at his comment and made my way down the hallway.

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Hope you enjoyed! :D See you next chapter!