Band- it

Pain

Eren opened his eyes. At first he was confused. It was dark, pitch blackness meet his gaze. He thought he hadn't opened his eyes and tried to touch his face. Bound behind him, he couldn't move his arms, or legs. He tried to stretch. A lighter flared in the darkness.

For the briefest of moments Eren saw the man who had knocked him out. Tall, thin scraggly beard and eyes as cold as stone. He wore a cowboy hat. The cigarette lit, the flame died. One tiny pinprick of light glowed as the man inhaled.

"You know who I am, right?" a taunting voice asked.

"Scum?" Eren tried to be more conversational. He felt a kick to his stomach, the air escaped him. Coughing into the pain he tried to twist to see anything. All he could follow was the orange glow of ash.

"Try that again." The man demanded.

"Levi's scum of an Uncle. Think he said your name was Penny?" another kick, this one to his leg.

"Don't get smart, boy. The little captain should have warned you about that."

"He doesn't actually talk about you." Eren braced for another kick. It didn't come. He relaxed slightly.

"Figures. Little runt tries to forget that I'm the one that saved his miserable hide." The croaking voice continued.

"Do you want to know about your beloved Levi? Product of a whore who didn't even know who knocked her ass up?" a dark chuckle. "Found the skinny runt clinging to life at her death bed. Starved, dehydrated, could barely tell me his name." a coughing fit tore at his chest. Eren used the noise to try and change position.

Now he was curled on the floor facing the man a bit better. Judging by the location of the cigarette the man must have sat down on something. "Took the fifthly deprived critter home with me. He was my sister's bastard anyway." The man spit something out. "Gave him food, shelter, taught him to fight, to survive. Hell, I even had to teach the fucking idiot how to read. He knew nothing before me!" the man shouted raising to his feet.

"I bet he knew his mothers love." Eren said. The kick came. Meant, or so Eren thought, for his stomach again. Instead he took it on the shin. It hurt more, possibly broke the bone, the teen wasn't sure.

"That bitch couldn't love him!" he bellowed. "Nothing can love that degenerate asshole!" he shouted. "Goddamn ungrateful wench!" he screamed. Eren remained quiet. The pin prick of light flared once more then was tossed to the ground, snuffed out by the boot.

Eren wiggled in the dirt on the floor. Suddenly light flared all around him. Wincing he shut his eyes against the brightness. No sound came from the man as Eren waited for the light to stop stabbing his brain. Once his eyes adjusted he opened them again.

He was in one of the old warehouses around town, or so he thought. He could see the corrugated metal siding. Lights like they had at stadiums or construction sites, were set up around him. It was like he was in a spot light.

"He killed his first man, fully grown goon, when he was only eight. That skinny little runt learned some moves. Always quick to pick up physical things." The man laughed. His face was in shadow from the position of the lights and that cowboy hat. He was tall thin, but something bulky and boxy hung at his waist. Eren didn't have a clue what it could be.

"You see he killed a man over money. Do you want to know how much?" Kenny bent over the boy. "Five fucking dollars!" Standing back up the man roared with laughter that ended up in another coughing fit.

"I gave him that money because the little sissy ass bitch wanted a cup of fucking tea!" chuckling Kenny shook his head. "He was running to the market to buy it when the stupid adult baboon tripped him and took the money." Twisting his head back on his shoulders in a similar fashion to Levi, the man smirked. Eren shivered, this was the first thing he had done to remind him of his lover and bandmate.