A/N If this was done already, I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist. This is probably going to be a three-shot. Levi POV, Eren POV (after the events of the 1st chapter), and then the finale.
Warning: Angst, major character death, probably OOC-ness, time loops, violent scenes, lots of swearing from Levi.
Disclaimer: Both Shingeki no Kyojin and the vocaloid song Heat-Haze Days aren't mine.
1.
It wasn't part of Levi's plans to be stuck in this goddamn heat that rages down on his head with the fury of a thousand suns.
But you know, his life just decided to go one-hundred-eighty-degrees-bastard on him because fuck a comfortable lifestyle, let's make Levi's life a living hell! Not that this hell couldn't be shared with the people around him, which the eighteen year old teen makes sure to do with penetrating stares that could make even the devil flinch. There aren't a lot of people he can spread his misery to, however, since most people have the sense to stay inside, away from this amazing shitty heat.
On the other hand, he could go back to lying around and being bored all day, since school is off. Being bored makes Levi feel worthless and lazy, which he is not. So he had figured, 'the exercise wouldn't hurt me', but if he had known it would be this hot, he wouldn't have even considered the idea.
If he backed out now, he would be a quitter. He wasn't a quitter.
"Fucking sun. Hotter than a fucking cat in heat," he curses under his breath, swear words trailing out of his mouth like a waterfall. "Just go home." His feet does nothing of the sort.
He curses again. This time, the crude words are aimed at himself and his stubborn feet.
"Hey, it's cooler over here, you know!"
The morbid stream of words are suddenly stopped by a cheerful voice that drifts from underneath a grove of lush, green trees. The person that had talked is waving him over from a bench right next to the park, leaning against the fence that separates the park from the sidewalk as he sits.
The first thing that flies to Levi's mouth is, 'Why the hell would I sit with a stranger?', but he stops the words from making itself known. Instead, he silently walked over and perches himself on the bench, shooting a cautious glance at the person.
A boy, a few year younger than him, he suspects. There's a fluffy ball of black yarn in his hands, or at least what Levi thinks is a ball of yarn until it starts purring. He jumps a foot into the air at that.
The boy lets out a laugh as sweet and clear as bells (what the hell is he thinking?) and shoots a teasing look at the other. "Mikasa," he says pointedly, a small trace of a smile etched on his mouth, a forgotten piece when the laugh had disappeared.
Levi's cloudy-gray eyes narrow, not enjoying being made fun of. Nevertheless, a small quirk of his mouth has sneaked its way onto his features. "Yeah, I'm a fucking scaredy-cat, what of it?"
The cat eyes him in a distrustful manner before resuming its purring beneath the younger boy's quick and steady hands that trace little lines onto its sleek fur. "It's fine," the boy says. "Bored? I had to get out of the house since our air conditioner broke. Our house is practically a greenhouse, and it was getting too hot for me and Mikasa here."
"Parents?" Levi asks. His own parents had left him years ago, but it occurs to him that other normal people had parents that worried about them.
"My dad's a traveling doctor, so he wasn't home. My mom died." The green-eyed (the sun made it seem strikingly so) boy's tone turns slightly bitter at the last three words. Strangely, Levi finds a drop of pity squeezing itself out from his usually indifferent heart.
"Same for both of my parents. I was living with my older brother until last year. Life just loves to screw you over, huh?"
The younger boy's face reveals another smile, smaller and sadder. "Yeah."
They chat about little insignificant things, which surprises Levi. Small talk is one of his pet peeves. But there's an exception with this boy. It's like he feels an instant connection, some kind of strange aura pulling him in. Not like he has a crush on the brat or something (fucking ridiculous), but a strange fondness does start to well up in his heart. The boy's laughs and smiles, which he hands out as often as teachers hand out stickers, warms him. Not in a bad way, like the current temperature, but in a good way.
"You have a name, brat?" Levi asks, pretending to be disinterested. He emphasizes the disinterested part by casually peeking a glance at his phone. August 15th, 1:15... It was 12:30 when he left the house, remembers Levi. When he turns back to face the brat again, he finds the said brat peering over his shoulder, checking the time as well.
"Wow, 1:15 already? Time goes by so fast when you're having a good time." It takes a moment for Levi to realize that he is talking about their conversation together. "My name's Eren Jaeger. What's your-"
Without warning, the blur of black fur that is Mikasa jumps out of Eren's grasp and rushes toward the street. Eren jerks, eyes wide and panicked, a shout forming itself on his lips as his feet pick up speed to pursue the feline. Levi thrusts out his hand, about to grab Eren's arm, to warn him, to stop him; that shitty cat will be fine-
The traffic light turns a blaring, murderous red and a truck jumps out from fucking nowhere and there's a scream (he hopes desperately it's just the cat, just the cat) and suddenly the street, his clothes, Eren are covered in a coat of sickening red and death streaks the sky with its vulgar scent-
People, people scream at almost the same time and he finds his own aghast wail mingled into the chorus of their cries as he bends down to cradle the mangled body that's making the street a poisonous shade of crimson. "Jager, don't die on me, don't fucking die on me. Don't for a shitty cat that fucking KILLED you-"
As he blacks out, a high pitched voice shrieks with the utmost glee-
"This is all real!"
2.
Something pulls Levi to his feet and out the door on August 15th, 12:30 in the afternoon. He just can't place what. But he's strolling along the street and soon, plops himself onto a bench next to a boy he swears he's seen somewhere before. The boy doesn't protest when he sits down, and doesn't even look surprised when Levi knows his name.
"I look like an Eren," he says when Levi asks about it.
Levi shrugs, not bothering to question the very shaky explanation. "I dreamed about meeting you yesterday," he says to Eren. The words are automatic and have a will of their own, because sensible Levi would definitely not even act friendly with a stranger, much less tell them about his dreams. And it's so fucking cheesy. Something he's heard in a million sappy romance movies.
Eren shrugs the same way Levi did to the whole 'I-look-like-an-Eren' thing.
The cat in Eren's embrace, Mikasa, unsettles Levi. Like it's going to kill someone or something. He offers to take the cat from Eren.
His grip is so tight that his fingernails dig into the cat's flesh. The cat hisses once or twice, but gives up when it realizes he is not going to let go.
They talk for a while, both of them smiling and laughing (though the laughter is all Eren's) and there's not a care in the world until Levi checks his phone and the black digital numbers tell him it's 1:12. A string of a marionette springs to life and pulls him out of the area.
"Hey," he says to Eren, "do you want to go to my house?"
That's what they do. Eren doesn't seem to mind being invited to the house of a stranger who he only met today. In fact, he seems rather happy about it.
A scream, harsher and more terrifying than nails on a chalkboard-
The people that were crowding the streets just a moment ago press their backs against shop windows in a flash, and Levi grabs Eren's wrist and is about to do the same and a large shadow covers them in a sheet of black and both males look up at the same time and the thing dropping is coming so fast and as it drops it reflect the light of the sun for the briefest of moments and momentarily blinds them-
and something splatters all over Levi during that moment of blindness in gooey, wet globs a bit thicker than rain and people scream some more (that's all they're useful for here) and the cat jumps out of his arms and flees to who-knows-where and Levi doesn't care; all he thinks is just shit shit shit shit...
The flash of sunlight is gone, because the iron pole has impaled itself straight through Eren's chest and now hovers the dying boy above sidewalk for all to see, like some sort of macabre sacrificial ritual.
Drips of cherry red dribbles on the dull gray cement and someone's shaking him ('Hey kid, you alright?') but he just keeps shaking his head with empty gray eyes that mirror the pavement below his bloody knees and everything starts to tremble violently and blurs away at the edges.
"This is no dream!" The heat mocks him, and he's pretty sure he sees Eren smile.
3.
Levi remembers Eren this time. The first thing he does when he wakes up is go to that damn bench by the park and attempt to drag the boy away into a safer place. He thanks whatever god that's listening that for the cat that isn't there anymore.
The truck and iron pole are both avoided since he leads Eren by the wrist to a different place entirely. Up the stairs to an apartment complex that runs right to his house like a gilded path to an oasis in the middle of the desert.
The golden of the path becomes a grisly red when he lets Eren's hand go, just for a second, and the boy slips down a rather large set of stairs to his inevitable death.
Blackness comes, and the heat haze smiles at him lazily.
11.
Levi tries to get up early, but the heat always brings him to consciousness at exactly 12:30.
It is a rather punctual executioner.
24.
He ignores Eren once, and never does it again.
Eren's name is too small and too insignificant on the paper, tucked away into a tiny corner. It's even over-shadowed by its own headline.
16-year-old dies after being caught in gas truck explosion.
97.
Eren always has that startled look of surprise on his face when Levi captures his wrist and leads him away. He's never protested though, but Levi does realize that, wherever he leads Eren to, the younger boy always ends up dying by (technically) his hand.
He wonders if Eren thinks he is an executioner as well. A shop window shatters and the shards pierce the younger boy's body as if he is just a board to play darts on.
But Eren always dies smiling.
342.
He's never realized how many ways a one person could die in one, normal day until Eren demonstrated each and every one of those ways for him. He's literally running out of ideas for 'what could kill Eren next'. This lack of imagination and knowledge of what's coming is a serious disadvantage, because usually something just pops out of nowhere and kills the boy before he has time to see it coming. Even Levi doesn't remember all the dangers and sometimes Eren dies the same way twice.
He never dies the same way after the second time though, because the sheer horror of it all etches itself into Levi's soul and never lets go.
434.
He's lost count a long time ago.
467.
A rather weird thought pops into his brain at the same time Eren's body disappears down the manhole and the soft splat of flesh hitting hard floor. (at least there's no blood this time.)
He's never told Eren his name before.
468.
"Levi."
He takes Eren's wrist before the brat can say anything else.
502.
A small, rational part of him asks him why he's doing this all for a stupid brat he just happened to meet. A lot of people die every day, why should this one be any special?
But when he sees the sad smile of a crushed corpse, the irrational part chants lovelovelovelove-
and the rational part doesn't argue.
(It's so cheesy that the heat haze wants to throw up, and tell Levi so.)
861.
Levi only just realizes he's crying after Eren dies. The tears had seemed non-existent before, but they were definitely there. They only makes themselves known now, when the cool liquid finally drips onto his crimson-soaked hands.
1000.
After who-knows-how-long, an idea, a bolt of pure hope floods Levi and washes him away in the sea of success.
1001.
The truck appears out of nowhere, murderous and menacing, and rushes to hit Eren and fling his lithe body into a bloody pulp-
it takes him more time to shoot out his hand and attempt to drag the teen back-
the heat widens its eyes when he realizes what Levi is about to do but doesn't have time to pull the boy back to it just screams bloody murder-
so Levi brakes into a full-speed dash and tackles Eren out of the way, taking the full blunt of the hit and he's the one lying on the ground in the middle of a pool of blood, except for the first time in what feels like forever, he's happy and he wants to say 'it's okay' and grip Eren's trembling hands reassuringly.
People, people scream and Eren screams as well, his voice the voice of a canary in a mine full of crows and the canary shrieks, "Levi Levi Levi Levi" (he likes the way Eren says his name he's never said it before, but wait, he didn't tell Eren his name in this trial)-
Levi smiles.