Off Record [Ereri/Riren] ✓

3 ⚕︎Mundane ✍︎

Off Record
Chapter 3
⚕︎Mundane ✍︎
Levi

mun·dane

/mənˈdān/

adjective

lacking interest or excitement; dull.

"Big Bro!"

I look behind me and see Isabel Magnolia, the Survey Corps' youngest patient running up to me, her pigtails bouncing with each step like waves of fire.

"Hello, Isabel," I greet, allowing her to grab my hand.

Her stuffed elephant, Zara is being hugged tightly by her as the little redhead converses with me, occasionally making certain grammatical mistakes that I can look past simply because she's so young.

We pass Jean Kirstein punching his black, patched up punching bag. His eyes are focused and dull, giving off the impression that he's more broken inside than he is. His eyes will soon have some life to them, however. Marco Bodt will be making his appearance in four minutes as he's allowed to everyday so that the two stay as calm as possible.

"Can I come with you and see?" Isabel asks.

"I'm seeing someone new today," I explain to the four year old, patting her head.

"Is it the man who hit-ed Mister Berty?"

My eyebrows come together. "What did this man look like?"

"Umm..." She stands still for a while as she thinks. "He had brown hair, green eyes, and a lot of owies."

I nod. She's talking about Eren Jaeger, the man who I'm going to see.

"Why don't you play with Annie?" I ask, not wanting her to accompany me to see Jaeger. I don't know what he'll do with a child around. After making so much progress with her, I can't bear the idea that it all may be torn apart.

Her father, Farlan, was his age when he died two years ago. I don't want her nightmares to return. No. Not when she can finally talk.

"Miss Anne?" Isabel asks, pronouncing the blonde's name incorrectly as always.

I nod. "Yes. Would you like to be with her today or Erwin?"

"I wanna be wit' Big Bro!"

"He's busy today, okay?"

Her head is bowed. "Okay. I'll go find Mister Eyebrows."

My eyes don't leave her frame until she's well out of sight. When she's finally gone, I walk past the same patients' rooms, down the same hospital corridors, and down the same flights of stairs. Everything I do here is habitual. From the tea I drink to the patients that I have conferences with, everything is uniform. It is enough to drive one mad.

Today will be different. Today will be new. Today will be unexpected, something that I can't simply calculate according to past behaviors and circumstances. No. I cannot do this with Eren Jaeger, for he is too alien for me to calculate yet.

My mind gets a little lighter with excitement as I take a different set of stairs than usual, the stairs to the solitary confinement room. My mind becomes a feather when I reach the bottom step, but turns into helium when I see the brunet sitting in the far corner alone.

"Hello, brat," I greet as I close the door behind me and sit in a chair that I pulled in. My laptop sits balanced on the leg that is crossed over the other as I wait for his file to load.

The patient looks up and scowls, his eyes a startling green as opposed to the gold I saw when he was first brought in. "I'm not a brat."

I type into my computer. "I'll be the judge of that. Now, speak."