Pain, Taunts & Rivalry

Eren stuffed his bloodied battle suit into his duffel.

"It is a wonder Gaine's head is still attached to his body." Tiana said over his shoulder.

"What?" Eren said.

Now that the contests were over, the surge of adrenaline that carried him all day had passed, and he started to feel the pain from all the hits he took more acutely.

Silas had warned him.

MANNA could heal wounds, but the pain that came with them stayed.

Pain always asked to be acknowledged. Awakened or not.

The most Eren could think of was getting back to the professor's mansion, finding something warm to pour down his throat before falling face down into his bed. It was no surprise he was not paying any attention.

Tiana jabbed her chin in the direction of his hands. "Your knuckles. You scraped the skin right off them."

Eren glanced at his hands, and true to her words, he found that the skin there was still patchy, barely healed.

"Winchesters are famous for ther hard-headedness. What can I say?" He joked.

Ti