Ordinary Hero (Attack on Titan // LeviHan)

Chapter Eight

WARNING! CHAPTER DEALS WITH PHYSICAL ABUSE! IF THIS TOPIC TROUBLES YOU IN ANY WAY, I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU AVOID THIS CHAPTER. THANK YOU!

I was completely and utterly dumbfounded that the Erwin I had just met, the man that seemed so kind and gentlemanly, would go so far as to hit his own girlfriend. My intuition had been right, there was something bad going on between them, an unhealthy relationship of a man beating up a woman. He wouldn’t even let her explain herself or hear her out, he barely gave Hanji the opportunity to speak up. he simply resorted to violence. It wasn’t like that at all was what Hanji had told him, and that was one hundred percent true. We both knew that it was right, so why was Hanji simply letting Erwin abuse her like this? Even worse, why was I letting him get away with it while I stood there like a complete imbecile, dumbfounded? Had it always been like this between them? Did this happen often? The questions raced over and over through my head, repeating themselves multiple times and finding new ways to restart them. All the time, I stood there and simply watched.

Erwin proceeded to grasp Hanji’s arm, and quite forcefully at that, which was what I understood from her sudden yelp. He pulled her close to him, and her lip quivered. In her eyes, I could see that she was dying to fight back, but it was as if her body wouldn’t do as she commanded it to. Almost like she was a rag doll, allowing herself to be thrown about by Erwin and much as he pleased. He raised a firm hand, and not even seconds later it collided with Hanji’s face. Her left cheek was already swelling up, and was going to leave a nasty bruise later on. She stumbled backwards into the wall, trying to regain her balance. Erwin cornered her there and she refused to face him, turning away from the blonde man and closing her tearful eyes. I could hear her whimpering under Erwin’s yelling. I couldn’t tell what he was saying, everything was mumbled together and nothing could be made sense of. Hanji would try to yell back and defend herself, only to be cut off by another blow from Erwin, whether it be a punch, kick, or slap. It didn’t seem to matter so much how he hurt her, he seemed to get pleasure just by hurting her.

Hanji was cowering in the corner now, tears running down her face as she screamed back at him. Erwin growled and kicked her leg, and she crumpled to the floor, wrapping her arms around her knees and disappearing into a little ball as she sobbed. I wondered if the neighboring apartments could hear, I wondered if they knew what was going on. Maybe they weren’t around, maybe they were just so used to this that they did nothing to stop it. I tried to will myself to go out there between them and stop this nonsense, but I was like Hanji; I couldn’t move, no matter how hard I tried. I was petrified, and even if I did react, I wouldn’t know how or what to do. Even still, going in without a plan seemed like a far better idea than not going in at all.

I threw myself forward, releasing myself from my trance. I lost my balance and staggered toward them. I jumped in front of Hanji, protecting her from Erwin, who was about to strike again. He wasn’t completely aware of my presence, and went ahead and swung his fist again, as if he was hitting Hanji. I took the hit for her, and that was exactly what I needed to put myself into action. I narrowed my eyes into a glare and grabbed Erwin’s upper arms with my hands, grasping him in a way so that I wouldn’t lose my grip – at least, not without a fighting chance. I raised my leg up, kicking him to the right of his abdomen. He stumbled backwards, quickly regaining his balance. He glared at me, his bushy eyebrows practically merging with his eyes. “You shrimp, you’re asking for it,” he growled, lunging forward toward me.

I was caught a bit off-guard, to say the very least. The tall man had me pinned against the wall. He was so much larger than me, it wouldn’t be so simple to try and escape from his grip. I’d have to go down fighting. He had my arms pinned against the wall, as if they were nailed there. I’d have to resort to using my legs. I swung my right leg around, trying to kick him in the shins, but he caught my move before I could even execute it. He stamped down on my right foot with his, copying the same move with his left. I seethed, trying not to let the pain get to me. It was hard though, he was so much heavier than I was. He removed one hand from my arm, but before I had the chance to fight back, he began to punch me. Repeatedly, in the face, in the arm, in the gut, anywhere he could reach me without letting me out of my grasp. When he was upright, focusing on my face, I took my chance. Between punches, I slipped under his arm and smashed my head into his chest.