Chapter 8 - All Eyes On Me

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Levi turned the golden doorknob and pushed open the door. The first thing that he noticed was that there seemed to be more people in the library now than when they left. These new people were all wearing the similar green jumpsuits, and Mikasa noticed that some of them were not partnered up, just like Eren.

Reiner and Armin were the first to notice Levi and Mikasa's return, as they waved and ushered them over. The others in the room were talking to each other, eagerly trying to gain as much information as possible as to how and why they were here.

"Welcome back guys." Armin said, his voice bursting with excitement.

"Thanks, are we the last to get back?" Mikasa asked.

"Yeah, though you were only a minute behind the others... and they've brought a few new faces." Reiner said with a hand on his hip.

"Seeing as everyone is back now, why don't we call a meeting, Reiner?" Armin suggested. "It'll be easier, so we can all find out what everyone has found."

"Sounds good." Reiner said, nodding in agreement.

"And we will get to meet these new faces..." Levi said, only loud enough for Mikasa to hear.

Reiner shouted for everyone to gather at the large table in the centre of the library, and everyone rushed to take a seat. Immediately there was a clinking sound as the metal handcuffs and chain brushed against each other as people hurried to take the last seats. By the time they reached the table, there was only one chair left which Levi offered to Mikasa to sit on, while he remained standing with some of the others who had missed out on chairs.

"First of all, I would like to welcome the new arrivals that have made it here." Armin said standing at the top of the table, "We are all confused, but hopefully if we work together and share what information and resources we have, we will be able to get out of here in no time."

Levi dared not look at Mikasa at the mention of sharing information.

"I have a quick question!" The voice came from a pretty girl with blonde hair, who had no partner.

"Umm.. sure." Armin said.

"Are we supposed to be on different teams?"

There was a murmur of whispers all around the table.

"Shhh... please guys." Armin said, with the frustration obvious in his voice. "I'm not sure what you mean?"

"I was under the impression that we were on different teams. The Singles, those without partners, verses The Couples, those with partners." The pretty blonde girl said.

The atmosphere in the Library changed almost instantly, people were not whispering anymore, and Levi could hear someone shouting. He knew who it was before he even turned in the direction of the voice.

"I told you all from the beginning, that we couldn't trust Eren!" Jean shouted, pointing his finger at Eren at the other end of the table, sitting next to Reiner.

Reiner, who was standing next to Armin at the top of the table rested his hands on table and stared down Jean, who was sat at the opposite end of the table. Mikasa could not miss how the way Reiner was standing seemed to emphasise how broad and muscular his shoulders were.

"Jean, we all know that you have this obsession with Eren - but this is a bit much, don't you think?" Reiner said.

"With the new people we've found, it proves that just because Eren was by himself, doesn't mean that he killed his theoretical partner. The other Singles prove that he had no partner in the first place." Armin said.

"B-but Eren is-", Jean stammered, before being interrupted.

"Anyway," Reiner started, "Why don't the new people introduce themselves? I'm sure by now that you have all found the cards with your names' and phrase in your jumpsuits?"

The first was a couple, the man with a closely shaven head, the other pretty blonde woman who had asked about the teams.

"I'm Connie, and my card has the number 4 on it."

Armin's brow furrowed as if recalling something, just as Ymir stood up.

"My card has the number 4 on it too. Do you think this a coincidence?" Ymir said, holding up her own card.

"We will make a note of it," Armin said, as he took out a note book similar to Mikasa's, and began writing something down. "I found this notebook in the Classroom, where me and Reiner started. I'm going to start making a log about all the information from the cards. Hopefully it will help us solve this puzzle."

Reiner called for Connie's partner to stand up next.

"My name is Krista, and my card says 'Go by the book',"

"We found Connie and Krista in a room that resembled a church, and we found Sasha in the hallway to the north. She said that the room that she started in looked like a café. But the first we room tried was locked and we weren't able to get it." Said Annie.

"Fine. Next." Reiner called, as Armin finished writing.

A girl with long brown hair in a ponytail stood up next, and she did not have a partner.

"As Annie said, I'm Sasha. My card has some of symbol on it that I can't really get the meaning of." She passed the card to Armin who looked at it for several moments with his lips slightly pouted.

Looks like he doesn't know what it means either.

Armin drew the symbol the best he could into his notepad and passed it back to Sasha. For a second Levi thought that he noticed the lights getting dimmer in the room. He pushed the thought away and focused on the situation at hand.

"So Annie and Bertholdt found you in the hallway, but you originally started off in a Café? Did you find any food there?" Reiner asked.

Sasha's cheeks flushed a pink colour and her eyes were focused on the table.

"Yes. I did find some...but most of it is gone now..."

There was complete silence at the table, as a sea of eyes leered at Sasha. Her blush was now a deep crimson.

"You ate it." Reiner sighed. His words were a statement, not a question. Sasha's look of plain guilt was impossible to miss.

"Are you serious? If I had known that, I would have left you in that hallway." Spat Annie.

"I was hungry. Really, really hungry." Sasha said.

"We are all hungry!" Cried Jean, from the other side of the table.

"Let's continue." Said Armin, the frustration in his voice was not hard to miss.

Murmurs around the table concerning food continued until Ymir and Jean stood up.

"So Jean and I found two new people. The first person we found was Erwin here..." Ymir paused and looked towards Jean.

"The room we found him in was...quite strange to be honest. There were chains hanging from walls, the floor was made of flagstones, and there were a few weird devices...the impression that we got, was that the place basically looks like a torture chamber." Jean said.

Erwin was a tall man with blonde hair and icy blue eyes, but he was not as broad and muscular as Reiner. Levi cursed his damned headache that was thumping hard against his temples and gripped the head of the chair that Mikasa was sitting on.

"I just want to point out that none of us chose what room we woke up in. I am as confused as the rest of you." Erwin said confidently.

"Fair point. And what does your card say?" Reiner asked, with his arms folded across his chest.

Erwin paused for a moment before speaking, and seemed to be measuring up Reiner. He quickly glanced at the people sat around the table before taking his card out of his pocket.

"Mine says, 'Nefarious ventures can be of use'... again, it'd like to point out that I didn't choose these words." Erwin's voice was careful.

This guy will have to be careful not to cause the others to turn on him. Seems like there are too many ill coincidences that make him look dangerous.

Levi scratched at his wrist, drawing blood and wiped it away on his sleeve. He was eager to see what the others would think of this blonde man. The table remained quiet as many people looked towards the top of the table, to Armin and Reiner. Levi found himself surprised by this observation.

Looks like these people see Armin and Reiner as the leaders of our little group.

As everyone looked to their would-be leaders, Mikasa turned to look at Levi. She noted to herself that although his expression was usually vacant, she was sure she could see the hint of a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth at this moment, though his eyebrows were slightly turned down.

Daring not to break the silence, Mikasa too turned to Armin and Reiner. She was not surprised to see a cold look in Reiner's eyes, and his arms were still folded across his massive chest.

"We will take everything into consideration, Erwin. We are not here to judge people based on what cards they have, or where they were found." Armin said, seemingly unfazed by the whole thing.

The same thing could not be said of Reiner, who remained silent but did not take his eyes of Erwin.

Obviously, Reiner thinks that this guy could be a threat.

"I am glad to hear that." Erwin said as he sat down in his chair, aware of the Reiner's stare.

Ymir and Jean were still standing at the table, and urged a girl with red hair to stand up too.

"This is Petra - we found her in a huge room that looked like a theatre." Ymir said.

She is very pretty, thought Mikasa.

Petra stood up nervously, tucking her beautiful red hair behind her ears before pulling out her card.

"So, I'm called Petra. Apart from my name my card doesn't have any words. But it has '+1'".

She sat down in her chair as soon as she had finished speaking, and Mikasa could hear Armin's pencil scratching in his notepad.

Somehow I have to remember all of this, and then write it all down in my own notebook.

Mikasa let out a small sigh, slightly changing the position that she was sitting in. She could now feel the solid shape of the knife in her pocket that she and Levi had found in the tunnel. Just then Mikasa thought that she noticed the lights in the library getting dimmer.

Focus! Stop thinking about the knife. No one else knows that you have it. Only Levi.

"Looks like that is everyone we've found today." Said Reiner, as he put a friendly hand on Armin's shoulder. "How about we get everyone fed and settle down for the night."

"Yes, that is a good idea." Armin said, to the delight of everyone at the table. "Guys find yourself a couch or whatever, we are going to call it a night. We will continue the search for more people and information tomorrow. Could you organise the distribution of the Reiner?"

Everyone stood up from the table, speaking in excited voices at the prospect of food and being able to relax for a few hours. Silently Mikasa stood up and motioned for him to follow her, when they were stopped her Armin who called out to them, still sat at the top of the table. Reiner his partner was telling Ymir and Jean how to distribute the food.

Why is Armin calling us over?

"Guys," Armin said with a smile, still writing in his notepad, "I noticed that you guys saw the lighting change."

Surprised at Armin's observation skills, Mikasa remained silent and tried to control her breathing rate.

He knows. He knows we have a knife and are hiding it from him.

Mikasa could feel her heart pounding, every beat harder and faster than the last

"I thought my eyes were playing a trick, when I first noticed." Levi said nonchalant.

Armin nodded finally looking at the pair.

"Circadian lighting would be my best guess. It's almost as if this place is trying to regulate our sleeping pattern." Armin said.

Levi's eyes squinted for a second before he spoke.

"You remember things like circadian lighting, but have no other memories - like how we got here or anything?" Levi asked.

"I just happened to come across a book about circadian rhythms before the first of our group arrived back. We are in a library after all." Armin replied.

"Any of these books tell you how to get out of here?" Levi asked.

Armin chuckled as he replied.

"No. Not yet. Though I am almost sure that the books here will be of use to us. After all, I cannot imagine that whoever put us in here, would be put the library in here for no reason."

"Sure."

"Anyways, I better let you guys find somewhere to sleep before all of the good spots are taken."

...

All the good spots were taken. The sofa by the fireplace that Levi and Mikasa had used before was now taken, by Jean and Ymir. The only one left was a small two-seater sofa at the end of the library. It was in a sort of nook of the library that was surrounded by three sides of bookcases. It was far enough away from the others, that their conversations were muffled and would give them some privacy.

Perfect. Mikasa thought immediately.

"Sit down quickly, so I can write everything down." Mikasa said, taking out her notepad and writing down everyone's names and what their cards said, as best as she could remember.

I couldn't see the image on Sasha's card. I'll have to find a way to get a look at it.

"What do you think of the Erwin guy?" Mikasa asked, stashing away her notepad.

"Well, in my opinion-"

At that moment, Eren appeared around the corner of the bookshelf that blocked Levi and Mikasa away from the others.

"You guys didn't take any food yet." Eren said, passing their food rations to Mikasa.

"Thank you, Eren," Mikasa said.

"It's no problem," Eren said, standing there with a bright smile for Mikasa.

After a few moments of watching Eren standing there awkwardly, Levi spoke.

"You can go now." He said curtly.

Eren's expression changed as he turned to Levi. Eren's lips pouted slightly, but he looked back to Mikasa and wished her a good night before leaving, giving Levi daggers as he turned around the corner and out of sight. Mikasa stood there perplexed at the situation.

"We will have to be careful of that book corner. Although it gives us good protection from the sight of the others, we may not see people approaching..." Levi said.

"You don't trust the others either yet?" She asked.

Levi shook his head.

"Something is not right. But there are so many people now, that it will be harder to sniff out the wolf in sheeps clothing." He replied.

"You think it might be the Erwin guy that is not right?" Mikasa asked, she was beginning to trust his opinions.

Levi pondered for a few moments with tension in his face growing.

"I can't say for sure... But if he was part of the people who put us in here, I don't think they would have made him look this sinister." Levi said.

"Yeah, his card and where Ymir and Jean found him. It's a bit much isn't it?" Mikasa said, half laughing to herself.

Taken aback at Mikasa laugh, Levi couldn't help but smirk.

This is new for Mikasa.

They made their way round to the front of the couch that faced the wall-come-bookcase. It was a small couch, and Mikasa did not think her chances of getting a good night's sleep were very high. Without a word, both of them sat down and ate the little ration of a single sandwich and a carton of milk.

"Try and get some sleep, Mikasa." Levi said kindly. He was folding up the empty milk cartons. "I'll keep watch. I won't be able to sleep for some time anyway."

Mikasa could not deny that she was dead tired. She had too many thoughts running through her head. Too many scenarios to contend with. Memories that she had to investigate and defragment. She wanted to ask Levi what he had to keep watch for, but her heavy eyelids were already closing, as she said thank you and fell asleep.

Levi knew that she fell asleep almost instantly. Her breathing changed to a more even rhythm, and her head rested on his shoulder. He brushed hair away from her face and noticed a scar running just under her eye on her cheek.

Did she have that before? Maybe I just never noticed it before.

As Mikasa slept, Levi listened to the low rumble of the others in the library. Levi noticed the lights getting darker and darker. Eventually the low rumble of voices became silence, as all the others fell into their own slumbers. Levi found himself thinking about the course of today's events over in his mind. But it his thoughts kept coming back to one person.

Erwin.

Levi himself was not sure what to make of the tall blonde man. He decided that he would have to speak to the man himself tomorrow. Just then Mikasa stirred in her sleep, and Levi noticed that her hands were tightly clenched.

She is dreaming.

There was no chance of Levi falling asleep. His near constant headache would prevent even him even a few minutes of dozing.

I really should find some painkillers.

Levi cursed himself from not grabbing a book before Mikasa fell asleep, and he did not want to wake her now when she had looked so tired from before. His thoughts now turned to her.

Mikasa. I still can't get a good read on you. Anytime I think I do, you do something that completely suprises me. Like with what happened in the tunnel.

Levi sighed and closed his eyes and realised he was more confused now, than when he first woke up with no memory in this maze. A sense of uneasiness washed over Levi's body. Not only because of the huge task he faced to get out of this place; but because he was sure that somebody was watching him.

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