Chapter 12

"Wow its been a while since you've come out with us." Eren says to Crystal as she meets up with them at the entrance of the arcade.

"Yeah I know. I thought it would be fun though." Crystal smiles and Eren nods. The group head in and Mikasa looks at Crystal.

"We will be splitting up into pairs then. Eren wants to make this a competition."

"Competition?" Crystal asks, and Eren grins at her.

"Me and Mikasa versus you and Armin! We each get a card for tickets and at the end whoever has the most gets half of the losers tickets." Eren challenges and Crystal gasps.

"You are so on!" She shouts and as they go up to the register, she forks over $50 to buy all the tokens she needed. Armin pays $25 and the two pairs split.

"Which games are you good at?" Armin asks and Crystal points to the basketball hoops.

"I used to love this one. I'll play a game and see how it goes. Go play a brainy game and get as many tickets as possible!" Crystal cheers excitedly, and runs up to the hoops, putting the card into the slot she picks up a basketball. She tosses them into the hoop, making perfect hoops every time.

The machine dings as she beats the high score and it rewards her with 15,000 tickets. Walking over to one of the claw machines, she notices a black pair of earbuds and her mind went to Levi. He might like those as a gift.

Putting her card in, she plays and clicks the button. The claw drops down and one of the teeth hook right into the plastic tab of the earbuds, plus another pair that was light blue. She watched anxiously as they were lifted and then dropped into the drop zone. Picking them out she slips them into her purse and curses herself. She won no tickets doing that, and Levi might consider matching earbuds too weird.

Playing more ticket rewarding games, she made her rounds to a dance off machine. It would give her tickets if she beat the last person's high score, as she got onto the machine and stuck the card in, she saw the name on the high score, 'Jean'. She smirks before putting on Rumors by Neffex. Her job was to step on either the left or right square in time with the lights that showed up on screen, and as soon as it started it was fast. It was like she was running in place, but she felt determined to beat the high score. 

No, she would beat the best scores, she would take the crown for herself. Without realizing it she had gathered a crowd of onlooking guys checking her out. The song was harder as the squares that were once full of color would only show a dull outline and Crystal heightened her concentration. She had already surpassed Jean, she didn't need to keep going. Leaning over as the song ends she groans loudly, having not properly exercised made that harder on her muscles than she liked, but looking up to see she made it to the jackpot scores, she grins as her card received 50,000 more tickets. Pulling the card out she walked to a nearby bench and sat down, her eyes drifted up to the ceiling as she remembered how much Yagi loved Dance games.

"Hey." A strange voice speaks as someone sits next to her, "Pretty lady, you had some mad skills up there." Crystal looks over at the guy, his red hair was doing a really weird swoop at the top.

"What the fuck is your hair doing?" Crystal asks harshly, "If you think you can come over here and hit on me with a literal rat's nest for a hairstyle, you are terribly mistaken my friend." Crossing her arms she glares at him and he gasps.

"That's no way to talk to someone who was just being nice to you-"

"No. Your type only want to fuck a girl and leave em." Crystal cuts him off, "You're an ugly fuckboy wannabe. Look, I've got a boyfriend."

"What? No way-" Crystal spots Armin and points to him, "Him? He's so weak looking."

"Yeah, but if he gets pissed off, I'm more inclined to kick your ass." Crystal keeps her eyes trained on Armin as he notices her and starts walking towards her. She gets up as he makes it three feet in front of her, "Hey baby. This fucker won't stop trying to flirt with me." Armin blinks in surprise before glaring at the guy.

"How dare you flirt with my girlfriend like that?"

"Eh? I don't believe it- she's too pretty for someone like you."

"If that's the case then she would never go out with you." Eren says from behind Crystal, "I would go before you start something you won't be able to finish."

The man grumbled before getting up and leaving the area, "Thank you Armin, sorry for that."

"No, you're fine. It's quick thinking like that that can save you in dangerous scenarios. I know I'm not strong, but if you ever need me, I will be." Armin smiles at her and she smiles back.

"I'm out of tokens." Eren says, "So is Mikasa. You guys?"

"I have enough for one more game." Crystal says softly, "I want to do the big items claw machine." 

The group had fun trying to get Crystal the VR headset, and eventually it fell towards the drop off zone. Crystal pulls it out excitedly and walks towards the gift shop. 

"Okay me and Mikasa together have 178,987 tickets."

"Me and Armin have 234,567 tickets." Crystal smiles, Eren whines.

"What did you hit jackpots the entire time?!" Eren shouts and Crystal laughs.

"Basically. Fork over half." Crystal smirks and Eren groans as he puts both cards in, transferring half of his tickets to hers. Crystal looks at Armin who smiles.

"I just want that random gift for 15,000 tickets and the tarot card deck for 2,500. The rest you can keep." Crystal nods happily and looks up at her options before her eyes widen. A teapot and teacup set, capable of being painted on. 

"What would you like, little lady?" the man asks and Crystal points to it, "That's 150,000 tickets, you sure?"

"Yeah." Crystal nods, before looking at other options, "The penguin and duck plushies. Oh and the bean bag chair."

"Alright. That will come out to a total of 350,000 tickets." Crystal frowns, she had 8,000 left, looking down she found a big bag of candy, "That too?"

"Yes please haha." Crystal laughs and the guy puts the smaller items all into a big paper bag before handing her the large bean bag chair, "Shit that's way bigger than I thought it would be."

"Need help?" Armin asks laughing and Crystal looks at him pleadingly before he takes it, "I remember, you hate leaving places like this with left over tickets or tokens."

"Yeah. Its annoying." Crystal says as the four walk out, Eren snickering at her full bag.

"I didn't think you were into tea that much." Eren teases and Crystal looks at him.

"Um. What are you getting at?" Crystal prys and he smirks at her.

"Obviously you got that set because of Levi. He's the only one in our group that drinks tea often."

"Huh?! How did you figure it out?!"

"Well, your attention was on him a lot the past few days since he joined the school. It's obvious you like him." Mikasa says softly, "Plus you're happier now."

"Eh…?!" Crystal cries out as they reach her car and she presses her key to pop open the trunk, "Please keep it to yourself!"

"You should go for it. Get you a boyfriend." Eren says simply as he helps Armin stuff the bean bag into the trunk, "He seems to like you enough as it is. He's really harsh to me and the others when you're not around."

"Haha." Crystal laughs as she puts her bag into her passenger seat, "This was fun guys. I had fun." Crystal smiles at them and the three come in for a hug.

"We're just overwhelmed with joy to have our friend back to normal." Armin says softly as they all hug tighter before breaking away, "We'll see you Monday?"

"Yeah." Crystal smiles and the three get into their car. Getting into her driver seat, she checks her phone to find three missed messages.

[Levi]: You home? I was thinking we'd rehearse the song together before Monday. (half an hour ago)

[Levi]: Hey? Are you there? (15 minutes ago)

[Levi]: I hope I didn't do something wrong. (2 minutes ago)

Crystal smiles sweetly before messaging him.

[Me]: Sorry! I was at the arcade with the three golden kids. I'll be home in 15.

Crystal puts her phone down and drives off, heading home, but she remembers she needs to go shopping for food again. Stopping at McDonald's she checks her phone.

[Levi]: Okay. I'll be there in 20.

[Me]: What do you want from McDonald's?

[Levi]: What? I guess a 10 piece chicken nugget and large fry. BBQ sauce to dip.

[Me]: Mkay! I'll be another 5 minutes. My spare key is taped to the inside of my plant pot outside.

[Levi]: I found it. See you when you get home. Drive safe.

Crystal looks up with a smile as the line moves and she gets put at the speaker.

"Welcome to Mcdonalds would you like to try our new oreo mcflurry?"

"Uhm…" Crystal looks at the menu and sees the icecream treat, "Yeah. Get me two of those please. Two 10 piece Chicken nuggets and two large fries. Barbeque Dipping sauce for both."

"Would you like to make that a 20 piece? You'll save $1.04"

"No. I appreciate it though." Crystal says softly and the woman comes back on.

"Alright, that'll be $18.82." Crystal nods to herself before she starts to pull up to the first window, pulling out her bank card as she waits for the woman to open the window. Wordlessly exchanging the card and returning it with the receipt she closes the window, and Crystal goes to the next one.

The lady opens it, "Two Oreo Mcflurries?"

"Yes." Crystal smiled and she got handed two small cups of ice cream, placing them in her cupholders she turned back just in time for the big brown bag to be passed to her. She checks inside for the BBQ sauce and once she confirms it's in there she waves goodbye to the lady. Placing the bag in her passenger seat, she drives off towards home. 

Pulling in beside Levi's Mustang she takes a moment to properly look at it, it was stunningly beautiful. He obviously took very good care of it and for it to be so old and running, she figured he had it regularly maintenced. Getting out of her light blue Porsche, she grabs the bag then the icecreams and walks up to her front door. 

"Shit." Crystal curses as she realizes she can't open the door, kicking the bottom of it gently, "Levi? I can't open the door!"

"How do I know it's really you?" Levi opens the door with a slight smirk, "While the home owner is gone, it's my job to protect her humble abode."

"Just shut up and take your ice cream!" Crystal shouts at him and his smirk fades as he notices the icecreams in her hands. Grabbing one he smiles at her.

"Fine. It does seem like you're the real Crystal. Only she is stupid enough to get me ice cream when I didn't ask for it." Crystal huffs at him as she walks in and takes off her shoes before walking into the living room where a movie was selected on the TV, "It's another Dinosaur movie, if that's not your thing-"

"Are you kidding? I love movies about Dinosaurs."

"You didn't seem too interested last night." Levi says as he puts his ice cream down, "What would you like to drink?"

"Could you get me the bottle of green tea from the fridge?"

"Yeah." Levi smirks at her and goes into the kitchen. Crystal smiles to herself as she puts out all the food on the coffee table and opens her chicken nuggets as her green tea was set down beside her.

"Thank you, Levi." Crystal says happily, and Levi looks at her for a moment, "Something wrong?"

"No." Levi says simply sitting down next to her, "Thank you for the food." He says politely before digging it. Crystal giggles at how hungry he seemed before pressing play on the movie.

"RUN YOU DUMBASS!" Crystal shouts as the characters on the screen sit behind a tree hiding from a T-Rex.

"Tsk. They're always so stupid." Levi says harshly and Crystal nods furiously.

"THAT IS WHAT YOU GET." Crystal exclaims as the T-Rex eats one of them, and Levi looks at her, out of the corner of her eye she swore she spotted a smile on his face, "Huh? Is something wrong with my face?"

"No. You just look good when you're happy." Levi speaks softly, but his stormy grey eyes looked so fierce looking at her, making her shiver.

"O-Oh… Yeah well I'm having a lot of-" Crystal gasps as she remembers the stuff in her car, "Levi I'll be right back."

"What's wrong?" Levi asks as he pauses the movie, they were right at the end so he wasn't too bothered.

"I forgot I had prizes from the Arcade." Crystal beams, pressing the button on her key fob to open her trunk and she runs outside barefoot. Not noticing Levi had followed, standing at the door looking at her.

Pulling out the large bean bag chair she fell back on her butt and couldn't help but laugh before getting up, putting it up on her left shoulder she started to haul it to the door.

"A bean bag chair?" Levi asks and Crystal nods but freaks out as he reaches for it, "What? Let me help you."

"No-! I've got it-!" Crystal whines before it's ripped off her shoulder, "Levi!!!"

"Get the bag of prizes." Levi points to the car and Crystal pouts. She hated it when people treated her like she couldn't carry something.

Grabbing the bag, she walks back inside to find the Bean bag placed strategically in the living room, "Thank you…" She mumbles.

"You're welcome. What's in the bag?"

"Two things for you!" Crystal says excitedly as she sits down next to him and he looks at her with wide eyes.

"Things for… Me? Why would you…?" Levi goes to ask but she pulls out the teapot set.

"Look. You and I can paint these together!" Crystal smiles wide, she watched his reaction carefully, his mouth opened slightly before he took it out of her hands, "Do you… Like it?"

"Crystal…" Levi mutters, "You spent tickets on me? Why?"

"What? You were on my mind at the time." Crystal admits, but then she realizes what she said and looks back into the bag, "I-I also got you some matching Earbuds…" Crystal pulls out the black bluetooth earbuds that claimed they could connect with others of the same brand like an earpiece. Levi takes it gently out of her hand and instead of looking at it, he puts both items on the coffee table, "I-I'm sorry if you don't like those. You don't have to keep them."

"Tsk… You idiot." Levi leans over to her, picking up the bag and putting it on the ground to get it out of his way, "I…"

"You?" Crystal smirks slightly at his pink cheeks, he seemed slightly flustered to her.

"Fuck." Levi curses as he realizes how close he got and pulls away, "Thank you. Let's paint the teapot together." He says softly and Crystal reaches up. Touching his cheek softly.

She couldn't tell you why, but she figured it was curiosity. What kind of face would he make if she tried to kiss him? She moves her thumb over the smooth surface of his cheek as he looks at her, a new unidentifiable emotion in his eyes.

"Crystal…" Levi mumbles, "Don't touch me like that." Crystal's hand froze in place, and she pulled it away quickly.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have touched you without permission." Crystal says sharply, feeling kind of hurt that he told her to stop. She was sure he felt the same about her after what Armin said, but now she figured that even Armin was wrong.

"What else did you get?" Levi asks and Crystal looks at the two stuffed animals.

"I got Isabel a stuffed Penguin and Hange a stuffed Duck. A VR Headset for my phone," She says softly, "And a big bag of candy." Crystal reaches into the bag and pulls out the candy, tearing the bag open she pulls a lollipop out, "Want one?"

"Sure. Any peppermints?" Levi asks and Crystal looks in to find a peppermint candy, handing it to him, "Thanks." Levi says in a monotone voice, leaning back against the couch.

Crystal did the same as she sucked on her lollipop, the disappointment she felt in her heart made her head spin, she wanted to lay over and cry into a pillow. But Levi being there, it prevented her from doing so. 

Her phone started to ring and she picked it up, she wasn't one to answer with guests but seeing it was Armin she clicked the answer button.

"Make it quick, Levi is over."

"Yeah- uh. I don't know why they have my number-" Armin says rushed, "But they called me to tell me your aunt has passed away." Crystal froze in her movements, her eyes widened, "She was… Found dead in her apartment, along with your two little cousins… Both gone."

"What's wrong?" Levi asks, noticing Crystal's ashen face.

"You're… Kidding?" Crystal asks weakly, as tears start to spill over and Armin chokes up on his tears.

"No. She's gone." Crystal mutters a slightly audible apology before hanging up and chucking her phone across her room.

"Whoa! Crystal?!" Levi calls out and Crystal looks at him before lowering her head, "What happened?!"

"My aunt and cousins were murdered. Found dead in their apartment." Crystal manages out, as she clutches her head and leans her elbows on her knees, the lollipop in her mouth falling to the floor.

"What?" Levi asks as he gets closer and Crystal flinches away from him.

"Just… Please go get Hange." Crystal mutters and Levi hesitates before getting up. She hears him leave and as he does she screams in frustration, "Why the fuck does everyone I love get fucking killed?!"

Soon her door burst open with Hange standing in the hallway, before running to the Living room. No second thought and Crystal was wrapped in her arms.

"Shh. I came as quickly as I could… It's going to be okay. It's okay. I'm here." Hange says softly as Crystal hears Levi walk in, but she couldn't hold it together anymore. Sobbing loudly against Hange, "Its okay… Shhh…"

"Aunt Lyria is gone! Daine and Raine are gone! They're all I had left Hange!" Crystal sobs, her body threatening to break if it wasn't for Hange holding her.

"Levi." Hange says softly, "Could you get a bath started for her? And then after that I suggest you go home." Levi hums in acknowledgement before he walks over and picks up something. Putting it on the coffee table, Crystal opens her puffy eyes to see it was her phone before he picked up his earbuds, leaving the room she felt her heart shattering even more, "Its okay… Levi is leaving."

"I-I" Crystal mutters, she wanted him to hold her, she wanted to cry into his shoulder… She wanted his voice telling her it would be okay.

"I know… But Levi doesn't know enough right now." Hange says quietly and Crystal shakes violently as she tries to calm down her sobs.

"The bath is filling… Are you sure she'll be okay?" Levi asks and Hange smiles at him.

"It's sweet that you're worried, but Crystal is really fragile right now. Please go home, she'll be at school Monday."

"Right. Call me if she needs absolutely anything." Levi says sternly and Hange chuckles softly before nodding. Crystal looked back at him hurriedly but all she caught was the back of his head disappearing out the door.

"Let's get you in the bath. Then after that, we'll eat candy until you're sick from it." Hange says softly and helps Crystal up, who looks at her numbly.

"Am I next Hange…?" Crystal asks and Hange gets a frightened look on her face.

"No. They'll catch whoever it is." Hange says softly, "Plus they claimed you died after coming home and moved you here to protect you." 

"Right." Walking into the laundry room she strips out of her clothes, stepping into the bathroom she feels the water. It was the perfect temperature for her to relax.

Sitting down in the water she felt her body relaxing.

"Who called you anyways?"

"Armin was called by accident." 

"Oh. No, you did that on purpose four years ago, you wrote his number down because you didn't have one." Hange says simply through the door, "Armin must have forgotten about that too."

"... Hey… Hange?" Crystal asks weakly.

"Yeah?"

"You know of any guys who have a crush on me…?" Crystal asks, trying to get her mind off her family.

"Well, Jean has been trying to get with you for years." Hange says simply, "Wait, why?"

"I just… Think I might try enjoying my life before some fuckhead tries taking me out." Crystal says, her heart aching, "I'm going to live every day thinking it might be my last…"

"Crystal…" Hange's voice comes out strained, "Please don't talk like that. I would never be able to go on if you died…"

"But… If you die, our memories together will disappear. You'd have to live on, for me." Crystal says swiftly, but the next day she felt sick from how much she cried.