After a while, his sobbing slowly died down and he just laid there peacefully in my lap. He was asleep. I could tell by how he was breathing. His muscles had relaxed and he looked peaceful...for now.

A little while later I heard the door open and looked up to see Mikasa walking in. Eren's face was red still and anyone could tell he had been crying. He still had some tear tracks on his skin. I could tell she knew something was wrong. Aside from seeing how he had been crying she could see he was injured. I don't know what injury she saw, but she definitely saw at least one.

She's quiet as she just stands there looking at us her expression is unreadable. She finally took a breath and walked up to us. Before sitting down on the other couch. "What happened," her voice was calm and cold. The look on her face seemed to suggest she already knew what was coming.

I told her what I knew and she just nodded before she got up grabbed the ice packs that were no longer cold and headed into the kitchen. She hand grabbed a new one and wrapped it in a towel before coming over and handing it to me. "Ice for 20 minutes then switch to a different area," she said before quietly heading into her room. She didn't seem too worried, but I knew she was just dealing with this in her own way.

When her door closed I knew I was right. I heard a loud bang. A sound I knew all too well, followed by a long string of curses. She had punched her wall. I wanted to go check on her, but I didn't want to disturb Eren. I just sat there and held him closer.

My eyes felt like they were glued shut for a moment. When I finally pried them open they still felt heavy and swollen and my face felt hot. I sat up and looked around the room. I was in Levi's arms still. I looked up and met his eyes.

"Feeling any better?" He asked and I just shrugged. I didn't really know how I felt about everything that happened, I still felt like shit, but that might be because I cried to the point I gave myself a headache wore myself out and made my eyes swell.

My eyes landed on a pair of shoes by the door. "Mikasa?"

"She's in her room." He answered.

"She knows, doesn't she."

"Yeah."

I just took a deep breath. She was the last person I wanted to know. She would take it the hardest. She would beat herself up about this for some reason or another. This is one aspect where we are very similar. We both find ways to blame ourselves for problems out or our control. I know I need to sit down and talk to her, but I couldn't bring myself to have that discussion right now. Especially since I'm not even in an emotionally stable state myself so I don't know how I'd be able to talk to her with a convincing comforting attitude.

"What do you want to do?" Levi asked. It was clear he wanted to help but didn't know how.

I sat there for a minute thinking of how he can help, and how I had to help Mikasa. Well, I knew I had to be in the right frame of mind to talk to her, and I know what thing that helps to get people into the right frame of mind... no matter how much I hate it. I finally let out a sigh before looking up at him. "Do you mind if I just rant about what happened? I just need to get all these emotions off my chest."

He seemed a bit surprised, honestly same here. I surprised myself I knew I was going to say it, but I still didn't think those words would actually come out of my mouth.

"Of course, what are boyfriends for," he smiled. I made myself comfortable leaning up against him and I just felt as he wrapped his arms around me and lightly ran his fingers up and down my back in a comforting manner.

"Everything that happened today was just... I don't know. I never thought I'd actually see him again, but then he came out of nowhere. I knew he was an asshole, but I never realized how crazy he actually was. I never thought he could physically hurt me as much as he did. He tried to kill me!" I took a deep breath and tried to recompose myself. I wasn't sure if anything I was saying was making any sense.

I looked at Levi to see if he was still listening. When I looked up at him his eyes were focused on me and his eyes looked into mine. I knew he was listening intently to every word. "I'm sorry," he said. I knew he didn't know how to respond, because, I didn't even know how to respond. I did notice his arms tighten around me a little more as if to make sure I wouldn't be taken away from him.

"I was being stupid this morning when I told you not I could go alone."

"Eren you're not stupid."

"Yes I am, you offered to go with me and I turned you down all because I was afraid of you seeing me emotional. Well, look at the irony now instead of seeing me get emotional about my dad you see me not only bruised but also emotional about the past anyway."

Levi had gone quiet, but his hand that was wrapped around my waist had moved to my head and just caressed my cheek. I felt him lean his head down and place a kiss on the top of my head. "Eren," he finally broke the silence, "just because you made a choice that you could have never known the outcome too doesn't mean you're stupid. It just means you can't see the future."

"I know, but still the whole thing was unnecessary and foolish. It still scares me thinking back about everything that happened in such little time. I can't help but think, what would have happened if Jean didn't arrive in time. What would have happened if he dragged me into his car, what would have happened if he didn't release his grip on my neck." I didn't even realize one of my hands had started rubbing at the sore bruise around my throat.

"I know this whole thing was probably terrifying, but you shouldn't worry yourself more thinking about the things that never happened, those are the things that will stay in your mind and fester. The more you dwell on it the scarier it gets." He was right. All day I've been thinking those same question each time getting a worse scenario playing out in my head.

I just took a deep breath and tried to clear my thoughts ridding myself from the scenes playing on repeat in my mind. "You're right, but no matter what I try I can't get those thoughts out of my head." I looked back to Levi with hope maybe he would be able to give me some advice to get rid of these thoughts.

"Okay, I know this is going to sound really cheesy and clique, but it's worked for me a few times." he shrugged and I nodded for him to continue. "When those types of thoughts crowd my thought I usually take a deep breath and go to a happy place sort of thing, but once inside my mind I make my own story. I stop the negatives and replace them with the positives. It takes a lot of thought and a lot of practice to keep it up, but it works after a while."

"What do you mean?" I asked hoping for him to clarify as I was still a little confused about what he meant.

"Well," he said thinking of what seemed like an example, "Close your eyes," he said and I followed his instructions. "I usually close my eyes and focus in my mind what's happening and take control," he explained. " So say you're in that situation with your ex. Some bad scenario is playing out in your head. Right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it is your head, after all, your mind, your imagination. If you concentrate enough you can shape the surroundings, the conversation, the actions happening. Imagine a tree"

When he said that I started to notice there was a tree behind where Josh was standing that wasn't there before. I started to understand what he was getting at. "I see one."

"Now start listening to the conversation going on." I did. Josh was screaming at me. "Change what he's saying to obnoxious noises. Cows mooing, the windows Error, hell elevator music." I laughed when it actually started to happen in my thoughts. "Lastly where are his hands."

"Around my throat," I said feeling a little more panic pick up after the quick moment of relief.

"Okay, imagine his arms just fall off." Just as he said they did. It was hard to hold back laughter at the pure face of shock from Josh in my imagination. I opened my eyes and Levi had a smile on his face.

"I know it's a weird strategy. It's like a movie but in your head. However, sometimes it works really well, and other times it doesn't work at all. It depends on the person and how compliant their brain is on that given day," Levi shrugged.

"It's definitely a funny way I'll give you that." I laughed and I actually noticed my mood improving. Hell, I was actually smiling, which I only notice from the pain in my busted lip. I ignore the pain and just kept smiling the image of Josh getting punched by Jean and getting the wind knocked out of him came to mind and I let out a little bit of a smile.

"I like this suggestion." I finally said.

"I'm glad I could help," he smiled and I leaned in an gave him a loving kiss.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you're doing better," I heard Mikasa behind me say. I swung my head around and I saw a smile on her face.

"How long were you standing there.

"Well, since I heard you yell "he tried to kill me."I got curious." Fair enough. I'd be curious if someone yelled that too.

"What happened to your hand?" I asked glaring at her for a minute when I saw her hand wrapped up tight in a bandage.

"I punched my wall," she said bluntly. She didn't even bother trying to hide or excuse it. "Sorry I was pissed, but I'm fine now that I know you are doing better."

"Did you-"

"Yes, there is a hole in the wall," she answered my question before I could finish asking it.

"Damn it, Mikasa."

"Don't worry I'll pay to get it fixed," she shrugged before walking into the kitchen and grabbing herself an ice pack for her bruised knuckles.

"You sure you didn't break anything?" Levi asked looking at her hand.

"Nah, it didn't hurt enough to break something. I've broken a finger before, it didn't feel like that. I probably bruised a few of my bones though." she shrugged it off and plopped down on the couch kicking her feet up.

I had to think for a moment when she broke her finger, but then I remembered it was back in elementary school she had punched some boy for bullying Armin. They were a few years older than them and had been harassing him for days. She finally got fed up with it and swung knocking the kid out cold. She broke two of her fingers, her thumb that was tucked under her other fingers, and her index finger which had taken the brunt of the force. That was the day Dad showed her how to punch properly.

I let a smile slip remembering how dad wasn't even mad since she was standing up for her friend. When he was called down to the school, and as he stared the principal down he high fived Mikasa and told her he was proud of her for looking after her friend. They had reported the bullying numerous times to teachers, and Armin's grandpa even talked to the principal personally about it, but they never did anything for "lack of evidence" despite the many bruises they left on Armin.

Mikasa might have gotten suspended, but those boys never did pick on Armin again. It must have been especially embarrassing since the guy got knocked out by a girl three years younger than them.

"What?" Mikasa asked noticing I was staring at her in a daze.

"Nothing, just remembering something," I smiled and looked back to Levi, then back to Mikasa. "How about we all watch a movie?"

They both agreed.