Off Record [Ereri/Riren] ✓

9 ⚕︎Unorthodox ✍︎

Off Record
Chapter 9
⚕︎Unorthodox ✍︎
Levi

un·or·tho·dox

/ˌənˈôrTHəˌdäks/

adjective

contrary to what is usual, traditional, or accepted; not orthodox.

"So you're saying that him causing himself harm forces this 'Titan' out?" Erwin asks, hands clasped together as he eyes me.

I nod. "That is precisely what I am saying. He isn't like anything we've come across before. I don't know if by the book methods will work for him."

"Well good thing you're quite the eccentric when it comes to the medical field, Levi. Just don't record it. Your memory is second to no one. Just get results."

"Yes, sir."

-

I bite the end of my pencil as I sit, thinking in my house. Over and over again, I look over the file that I have composed for my patient, Eren Jaeger.

'Name: Eren Jaeger

Age: 24

Diagnosis: Schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, dissociative identity disorder...'

I start to jot down possible means for him to get better.

'Music therapy

Exercise therapy

Animal therapy'

I doubt any of these will work... Eren Jaeger, what makes you tick?

I draw up a clock, layering the brunet's mad gaze over it.

I can't use normal methods for an abnormal case. Jaeger is different.

Pain.

His hand appears on paper with each stroke of my pencil. I feel my own sanity fluctuate as I put myself in the mind of the male, my eyes shut closed.

'Need?'

I gaze at the word scrawled in neat handwriting, squinting and turning the page multiple directions.

Perhaps Eren has a need for Titan. He's weak, can't fight for himself, solitary, lost. That means if he no longer needs Titan, they'll dissipate, and I'll have another person who I've helped.

My phone rings and I pick up.

"Levi!" Hanji's voice rings through my cell.

"Yes?" I ask, massaging my temples.

"Oh. You don't sound too good. What's up?"

"How do you rid yourself of a need for someone?"

"Become independent," they reply, pausing for a brief moment. "Or need someone else."

I cross my right leg over my left. "Need someone else..."

"Is it a patient?"

"It's always a patient."

"Well, you're their doctor. They already need you."

"Hanji, refocusing a need onto someone else isn't what I'd call healthy. As a doctor, I can't recommend it. They should stand on their own two feet, not use someone else as a crutch."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Teach him how to depend on himself. People can only change themselves. I can only offer aid and the tools to do so," I reply.