Different Kind of Love

Chapter 16 - New life

Eren woke to a knock on his door and a deep male voice calling his name. "Eren? You coming down for some food?"

"Yeah I..." Eren yawned. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Alright, don't take too long." The sound of footsteps faded into silence and Eren sat in his bed, his head still trying to work out what his life was coming to. He pulled himself out of bed and looked in the mirror by his wardrobe, his hair was a mess and he looked as though he hadn't had any rest in years. Prison must have drained him. He put on his beige shirt and slipped his necklace on, on it was a key that his dad had given him wen he was younger, he didn't know what it was for, he was only told that he should keep it with him at all times. One final look in the mirror and Eren was ready. He headed to the main area to get to know his new 'family'.

Eren stepped into the dining room, like the bedrooms it had been extended and renovated, the open kitchen in one corner of the room, a large oak dining table on the middle surrounded by matching chairs and two fairly modern couches in another corner, facing a huge widescreen TV. "Bacon?" Eren jumped from the voice behind him. He turned to see Reiner's smiling face and a plate full of bacon.

"Jesus you scared the shit out of me." Eren replied.

"Sorry. So... Want some?"

"I fucking love bacon," Eren grabbed a hand full of bacon but it didn't seem to effect the size of the mountain of meat. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it, though it's Bertholdt's the cook and we get all our food from a farm across town, the farmer doesn't ask for much and he keeps our secret so it's all good."

"You trust people that much?"

"Well we were originally squatting in his barn but he found us, we were only kids then, so he helped us and still does, he's the only normal person who knows about us."

"Normal?"

"Yes." He looked at Eren with a serious face. "We aren't normal Eren, we're different than them, it's a curse."

"Hmm." Eren hummed with a mouth full of bacon. Just as he swallowed a female voice called from the front door.

"I'm back." It was a flat tone, Annie of course. She made her way into the dining room and glanced at Eren with her usual no-emotion look. "Eren, sit down on the couch, we need to talk." She gave Reiner a nod and he headed to the kitchen where Bertholdt was cleaning up.

"Ok?" Eren placed himself politely on one couch, whereas Annie laid on the other, one hand behind her head. "What's this about?"

"What do you remember about your childhood?"

"What do I remember? All of it, I was a normal child, went to school, got my grades, made friends, that's how I met Armin and Mikasa."

"Really? That's what you remember?"

"It's what happened."

"Listen, Eren." Annie sighed. "When did you start little school?"

"When I was 6, I didn't go to nursery."

"What do you remember before that?"

"Like I said I was a normal child, played out with the other kids, had a good life and..." Eren thought about it some more, but now that I comes to it, he didn't actually remember anything about it. "What... What's going on? Why can't I remember? Why can't I remember?!"

"Eren calm down, it's not your fault, it's your father's, he was that one who did this to you... to us."

"But...but why would he do that?"

"He needed test subjects."

"That son of a bitch!"

"We will get to him eventually."

"Wait, you plan on killing... Holy shit it was you! You're the ones who murdered them at the lab!"

"It's taken you this long to figure it out?"

"Oh my god... Why would you do that?"

"Why? They ruined our lives, made us into monsters, took away our families, and for that they must die."

"But... My dad..."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, for now, just deal with it."

"You're cold aren't you?"

"What?!" This made Annie break. "I have lost family, I have lost friends and I have lost my life. Don't you dare assume you know what I've been through!" In the midst of Annie's rage, she slapped Eren across his right cheek. She would have jumped on him if it wasn't for Reiner who grabbed her and restrained her movement. She was taken to another room to calm down.

Bertholdt approached Eren. "Forgot to tell you about that, she just gets angry when others judge her."

"I wasn't judging I was just saying."

"Well next time, try not to. Just... be careful what you do to her. I think it might be best if you just go to your room and give Annie some time to chill."

"Alright, well I'm sorry about this anyway."

"No problem, it happens. I'll see you later." Bertholdt exited and Eren stumbled to his room, his mind reviewing what had just happened.

The mirror showed all, a large red mark had appeared on the right side of Eren's face. He huffed as he jumped onto his bed, gently stroking his right cheek. 'Pretty and harsh?' Eren thought to himself. 'Perfect imperfections, right?' He looked at the clock on the wall, 11 am.