Be My Salvation (Ereri/Riren)

II

Warm. Eren didn't remember ever feeling this warm. Didn't remember being this comfortable the last time he woke up from sleep. Didn't even remember what it felt like to get such a good sleep.

The backs of his eyelids danced with reds and oranges; it was enough to get him to peel them open. Golden stripes splayed across his front, warming. Blinking, he lifted his eyes to the window at his right. It was big, covered by half-drawn blinds with the sun shining through, uninvited but welcome nonetheless.

White sheets covered his body all the way up to his chin; he could still feel the tape securing the plastic tubes to his arms. The plastic mask he remembered from before was gone. He lifted his arm, pushed the blankets down a bit to rub his face. Before he made it, however, his eyes caught sight of the dark bruises still marking up his skin. The memory of where they came from flashed in the front of his mind, and he swallowed only to find his throat was still completely dry.

"Eren Jaeger?" a soft voice called from his left. Gasping, his head snapped in its direction to find a petit, unfamiliar woman lingering in the doorway with her knuckles against the large wooden door, indicating she'd knocked and he hadn't heard it. She smiled warmly at him and moved slowly into the room. "Okay if I come in?"

She wasn't dressed in a nurse's uniform, but he nodded nonetheless, all too curious about who she was and why she was there. She sported shoulder length red hair and fair skin. She wore a simple gold blouse and jeans, carrying a white purse over one shoulder. The side of her hair was clipped back by a fake periwinkle flower pin. Her eyes were large, bright, warm - a honey amber color with the smallest hint of green; they reminded him of his mother and it left a pang.

"Hi, honey," she said without ever losing the smile. She took a seat next to him without prompt, but he didn't mind. "My name's Petra. I've heard you've been through quite a lot."

Eren remained quiet. He attempted another swallow, but his throat still felt like sandpaper. Noticing, Petra retrieved a large plastic cup filled with water, complete with a lid and a crinkled straw from the table beside his bed and offered it to him. A bit shakily, he took it with both hands and peeled his dried and cracking lips apart to take a small sip. It hurt a bit, wetting his throat, but it felt good going down. He continued to take tentative sips.

"It's been a few days since you were admitted into the ICU," she began explaining. "But you're alright. You've got quite an intense amount of bruising, and not only on your skin, but it's nothing that won't heal with time. Right now they're working on getting nourishment back into your body and re-hydrating you. But I promise you're completely safe. The people who hurt you are in jail now."

Eren merely blinked at her. He had about a thousand questions for her, but something seemed to be holding him back from asking a single one of them. Fortunately, she wasn't asking any questions or forcing him to say a thing. She was gentle. Motherly, even. But there was no explanation for who she was or why she was there.

"You'll probably be here for a few more weeks," she said. "And you're allowed to choose where you want to go after that."

What about my kitten? he wanted to ask.

Either she could read his mind or his question was plain on his face, because she was explaining right as he formed the thought. "The baby kitten you had is safe, too. We took her to an animal hospital just a few blocks from here. She's doing well and it's likely she'll grow up to be a normal, healthy cat."

Eren couldn't help but smile a little at that, and it was a smile Petra returned all too easily.

~

A few weeks, as Petra said, turned out to be two and a half. They did test after test on him, and after about a dozen he'd stopped counting. Doctors and nurses were constantly in and out of his room even after he was moved from the ICU to a normal room. They explained the results of all his tests with him, and he'd also lost count of how many times he was told he was lucky, and that little word angered him. No one who was trapped in a basement for over a month, beaten and neglected was 'lucky'. But he said nothing.