A/N: I really, really love Bryan Fuller shows and was thinking about what ones I could use for AUs and I thought it would be really cool of I did a Dead Like Me one with an SnK twist.

WARNING: There are character deaths.

Everyone dies, some sooner than later. Unbeknownst to Eren Jaeger, nineteen-year-old community college dropout, he would be one of the former, but that's getting a little bit ahead of the story. Right now, Eren was sitting at the table, picking at his peas as he awaited the inevitable lecture that he would be getting from his mother any minute.

Carla Jaeger, Eren's mother, was seething. Steam was pretty much coming out of her ears at this point and Eren knew that it wouldn't be long now before she exploded. It was pretty amazing that she hadn't blown up at him when he first walked through the door earlier that day actually. The silence didn't last that much longer because Carla slammed down her silverware and gave Eren a good, hard look. "Eren Jaeger," she said through gritted teeth. It was never Eren anymore. No, she always seemed to be using his first and last name these days. His middle name, too, if she was feeling particularly pissed. "Care to share how your interview went today?"

He reached out and took a sip of water from the glass in front of him. "Not particularly," he replied, shrugging.

His adopted sister Mikasa looked alarmed. He didn't know why. She should be used to these sorts of arguments he and his mom had by now. Even if she had come home from university for the summer just last week, Mikasa had probably witnessed a fight between Eren and his mother every other day. It wasn't as if his relationship with his mother hadn't been all that relaxed prior to his college years either. "What happened?" Mikasa asked.

"Keith called and told me he turned down Eren for a job after his interview," Carla answered but her eyes were still on Eren. "You were incredibly disrespectful to him. How the hell did you expect to get a job with your sort of attitude?"

Eren rolled his eyes. "Well, maybe he forgot to mention the part where I said I was completely disinterested in a temp job because it didn't seem particularly fulfilling," he replied, twirling his fork in his right hand. "And for the record, I never wanted that job in the first place."

"He's a family friend, Eren," his mother said in exasperation. "Couldn't you have at least had a little bit more tact than that?"

He scowled. "I told you last week I didn't want to go to the stupid interview. I don't want a job handed to me just because my mom is friends with Keith Shadis," Eren replied. "I hate handouts."

"It's not a handout," his mother said. "It's just a little push. Eren, you dropped out of college, you didn't even finish a whole year, just let me help you get a job –"

"You've been babying me my whole life, Mom!" Eren said, his voice rising. They had reached the point in the conversation where they'd just be yelling at each other now, Eren knew. It always, always came down to this because his mother could never understand that he didn't need her help. "Can't you let me do something for once in my life without holding my hand?"

"Why must you always be so stubborn about this?" she yelled back, her voice equally loud if not louder. She slammed her hands on the table, standing now so she could look down on him. "Is it so wrong to want to guide you to a successful path?"

"Dad would understand! He'd let me find my own way!" Eren shouted. He was standing now as well, taking the same stance his mother was.

"Eren…" Mikasa said quietly, reaching out to tug on his sleeve. She was no doubt trying to get him to calm down but he wasn't going to back off now. He shook her off, glaring. He almost told her to stay out of it and probably would have if his mother hadn't spoken.

"Your father isn't even here right now," his mother said coldly. "He is never there for you, Eren." Your father doesn't love you. She didn't say it but Eren knew she was thinking it whenever he brought up his father. It wasn't true though. He was sure of it.

"Because he knows he doesn't need to be there for me anymore!" Eren exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air wildly. "Because what you're doing isn't helping me. You're trapping me. You're suffocating me." He swallowed and saw his mother had taken a few steps back, a hand clutched to her heart as if he had stabbed her there. She looked at him as if a monster stood before her.

Mikasa stood up this time, her chair squeaking across the floor as it slid back. "Eren," she said, no doubt trying to get him to apologize to his mother, but he was tired of her interfering all of the time too. She was always trying to get him to appease his mother. She was just like her, always hovering over Eren and insisting that he needed help, so he waved her off.

"I'm heading to my room," he announced, already turning on his heel. Half of his dinner still sat on his plate but it didn't matter. He wasn't feeling that hungry anyway.

He would have slammed the door like he usually did but on this day he was feeling more tired and frustrated than he normally did after a fight so he just let it swing shut softly behind him. Eren collapsed on his bed and rolled onto his back, an arm lying across his forehead. Did he like arguing with his mother? One might think so because he did so frequently but he really did hate it. But it wasn't his fault. Besides, they wouldn't be arguing nearly as much if his mom would just leave him alone. He was nineteen now, no longer a child, and having her hovering over his shoulder would stifle his growth. But somehow she never seemed to understand that.

Eren rolled on his side and sighed. It wasn't like he was her only child. After all, they had Mikasa. Mikasa was naturally intelligent and it seemed like everything came easily to her. With her grades and impressive athletic ability, she was easily admitted to Rose University. The same couldn't be said for Eren. While his application for Sina University was accepted, he decided to just attend Shiganshina Community College instead, much to his mother's dismay. He could get a degree and not have to worry about crippling debt if he worked at a part time job, he thought. Except college was much harder than he had anticipated and his mother still wouldn't leave him alone so he stopped going to college entirely and decided to just focus on the job part. Hell, she was going to be pissed at whatever he did so he might as well just do what he wanted, right? Except things still weren't going in the direction he wanted and here he was still living with his parents, with no hope of getting a degree, and throwing away another job opportunity that he admittedly needed because his stubbornness and insistent independence got him fired from all of the previous small jobs he did.

He closed his eyes, slowly breathing in and out. Dying might be an option, he thought tiredly. His mom wouldn't be there to nag him and he'd be free of having to deal with all of this crap. He wasn't serious, of course. Eren was stupid, yes, but he wasn't a suicidal bastard. No, he planned to just scour the streets for another job and hopefully land one within the next couple of weeks or something. Maybe his life would start to look up. Fate, however, had other plans for Eren.

He was sleeping soundly in his bed before someone pulled the sheets off of his body and Eren stirred. "Stop," he said sleepily, trying to reach for his blankets but they were nowhere to be found. He cracked open an eye and saw Mikasa standing next to his bed, his blanket on the floor next to her feet. Her hands were on her hips and she was frowning. "What is it?"

"Get up," she said. "You have work."

"I have what?" he said, sitting up. Now that was news. If he recalled correctly, he completely blew the interview yesterday. Only a miracle could of gotten him a job or…

"Mom talked to Shadis and he told her that they had an opening that might be to your liking," Mikasa said. "You need to be downtown in an hour if you want to make it in time for your first day. I ironed your clothes for you. They're on your chair."

Eren rubbed his face. Of course his mother talked to Shadis. He wasn't surprised at all. He snatched his blanket from off the ground and pulled it over his head. "I'm not going," he mumbled. "Who wants a shitty ass job in a place like that anyway?"

"Eren." Mikasa was using her stern voice now. It was always amazing how much threat she could put in his name considering it was only four letters long. "Go. Just one day. Please. For me."

He lay there for a while, still hidden under his sheets, and then emerged. He sighed and held his hand out so she could hand him his clothes. "Fine," he grumbled. "I'll go."

"Thanks, Eren." Mikasa gave him his clothes and kissed him gently on the cheek, making sure to shut the door softly behind her when she left.

He dressed quickly and left the house, taking only himself and his wallet, and didn't bother grabbing breakfast. Eren contemplated saying goodbye to his mother but he was still pissed about last night, so he just strolled through the hallway. He didn't know why he lingered just a bit before opening the door, but his mother completely ignored him and continued to wash the dishes instead so he left without a second thought, giving the door a little slam on his way out.

They both regretted not saying goodbye to each other later.

He knew he would be getting a job at the temp agency. What he didn't know was that he wouldn't even be given a temp job. Instead, he was being forced into filing. Eren was just about ready to explode when Keith Shadis had told him what he would be doing but thought better of it. After filing for an hour, he was really wishing he had told off Shadis anyway.

"What did you do to piss him off so much?" the only other girl in the room asked him. Shadis had introduced her as Sasha, if Eren could recall correctly, but he hadn't bothered giving her a last name and Eren was too grumpy to ask. She was much better at filing than Eren was. She'd already gone through two boxes to his one and was well into her third. Then again, it sort of just looked like she was jamming whatever folders into the general area they were supposed to be in alphabetically. It was making Eren wonder just how much effort he should actually put into this stupid job.

"Excuse me?" Eren said, remembering that she was addressing him.

She smirked at him. "Shadis only gives people he absolutely hates this job," she explained, shoving another folder onto a shelf.

Eren snorted, setting aside the files he was holding, and leaned against a shelf. "What did you do to piss him off?"

Her cheeks colored and the lanky girl quickly went back to sorting files to avoid his gaze. "I asked you first!" she mumbled.

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I told him he was an ass and I didn't want a job at this crummy temp agency," he confessed. He looked over at her to see if she was judging him and was surprised to find that she was holding back giggles. Eren straightened up and frowned at her. "What are you laughing at?"

Unable to hold back any longer, she burst into howling laughter. While it was nice to finally be in the presence of someone who wasn't pissed or worried about him, Eren still took a peek out of the door's window to make sure no one would come in and accuse them of goofing off.

She wiped a tear from her eye – Eren couldn't actually believe this girl was actually laughing so hard she was crying – and took a few breaths to calm down. "Sorry, it's just that I can't believe anyone would ever say that to him! Oh my god." Sasha covered her mouth with a hand to muffle her snickers. "Jesus, no wonder he was pissed the other day. No one's ever stood up to Shadis ever. I mean, I've only been working here for a few months but everyone seems to be scared shitless of the guy."

He had to admit that the little fact Sasha shared gave him a surge of pride. When she was done laughing, he decided to repeat his question. "So why does Shadis hate you so much?"

Sasha's face became immediately sober and she looked down at the ground. "I ate all the chips in the vending machines," she mumbled.

"You ate all the-"

The girl sunk down to her knees and buried her face in her hands. "I seriously thought no one would notice," she moaned. "I mean, I bought them all with my own money, so it technically shouldn't even be that big of a deal, right? And it's not like I ate all of them. There were only a couple of bags left in the vending machine when I got there."

"I don't think so. Why would it be?" He wasn't sure if he should stop working and go over and comfort her. It was pretty weird to see someone get so traumatized over an incident with potato chips.

She let out a huge sigh. "It was actually because I was eating them during my shifts instead of during breaks," she said sheepishly, twirling her ponytail around her finger. "Shadis has this super strict 'no eating while you work' policy. Of course, when he found out that I pretty much hoarded all of the potato chips, it just gave him more reason to hate me." She blew he bangs out of her eyes and sighed again.

Eren raised his eyebrows. "All of the chips, Sasha?" he repeated. "A little selfish there, aren't you? Think about all of the poor chip-deprived coworkers you have now." He let out a short tsk and waggled his finger at her.

She opened her mouth, ready to defend herself, but saw that he was joking and allowed him a smile. "I actually brought some today if you want any," she told him. "Not from the vending machine. Just from a 7-Eleven I pass by every day. We can eat them during our lunch break."

Eren was about to respond when there was a sharp rap at the door.

"I hope you two are working," Shadis' voice boomed.

"Yes, sir!" Sasha squeaked. She had immediately started sorting files once again, actually taking the time to peer at the names and place them in the proper spot. The potato chips were completely forgotten.

Eren frowned and got back to work as well. The last thing he needed was another scolding from Shadis. While Eren would never admit to be scared of Shadis, he felt a wave of relief wash over him once he heard his manager's footsteps fade away. He looked over at Sasha but saw that she was still filing folders with the same diligence and concentration she had when Shadis' voice had startled her. While Eren hadn't planned on making friends at work, he wouldn't have minded if he had Sasha had become more acquainted, but it looked like she was a little too shaken by Shadis to pursue their potential friendship any longer.

They worked together in silence for another hour before Sasha, noticing the time, gave a loud cheer and stretched.

"It's finally our lunch hour!" she exclaimed happily. The girl bounced towards Eren, grabbing her bag on the floor, and smiled at him. She was a little taller than him so he had to look up at her when they were talking face-to-face like this. "Want to grab something together?"

He should have said yes. It wouldn't hurt to have at least one person he liked to hang out with at work. But he also felt like he needed some space after everything that happened yesterday night. He'd have more than enough lunches with her later. It wouldn't hurt her if he just declined her offer this one day.

"No thanks," he said. He immediately regretted it after he saw her face fall. It made him feel like an ass, to be quite frank. Sasha looked like she worked by herself filing papers and, when she's finally made an acquaintance of the newbie, he just had to be a douche and ruin everything for her. It almost made him change his mind. Almost. "How about tomorrow?"

She looked at him in surprise. "Oh!" she said. "Yeah, that works! Whatever's best for you." Sasha gave him an awkward smile along with an equally awkward wave before disappearing out the door.

He had the sudden urge to chase after her but, hey, he was going to see her in an hour anyway. Well, forty-five minutes. Shadis had given him a quick rundown of his schedule and had heavily emphasized that the lunch hour, despite the name, was only forty-five minutes. Eren would have asked why but thought better of it. He had run out of fucks to give and wasn't really a big fan of lunch anyway. He promised to make it up to her tomorrow. Maybe he'd buy her a pack of chips for her during lunch as a bit of an apology.

He ended up at eating a crap sandwich at a crappy sandwich shop after getting coffee that, frankly, tasted more like dirt than actual coffee. He wasn't sure if everything just tasted like garbage because he was in a terrible mood or if it really did taste awful. Eren would be sure to take Sasha's next lunch offer if. She looked like she knew good places to eat.

He smiled as he thought of the cheerful brunette. He was never really great at making friends and really only hung out with Mikasa when he was growing up. His temper was too short and he was quick to pick a fight. He couldn't remember the last time he got along with someone as easily as he did with Sasha.

After strolling back into the building, Eren spotted a vending machine and, noticing that he still had enough money in his pocket for a bag of chips, walked towards it. He still had five minutes before he had to check in. Buying a bag of chips was the least he could do for Sasha, the chipper girl who had kept him company during their horrendously boring job. Besides, it was about damn time he at least tried to maintain a friendship with someone who wasn't his adopted sister.

The problem was the machine wouldn't give him his damn chips. It just ate up his money and refused to spit out his bag of goodies. Unwilling to explode at malfunctioning robot lest Keith Shadis appear and fire him, Eren pursed his lips and gave the machine a good slap.

"Come on," he muttered, giving it another smack. He must have been hitting it harder than he thought because his hand was beginning to sting. "Just give me this one thing today. Just one thing for the one good thing that's happened to me today, is that too much to ask?"

It must have been because the machine just sat there in silence. It didn't even whir to indicate that it was trying to work.

Ridiculous as it was, Eren could feel his temper rising. He could always just wait another day and buy a bag from another vending machine but he hadn't brought any more money with him and felt like this was some weird punishment from the universe. Was it because he never finished community college? Or maybe it was because he always argued with his mother, who nagged him all day? It might also be because he was giving his adopted sister, who was siding with his mother lately, the cold shoulder lately. Perhaps it was even because he was stupid enough to get into a fight with Keith Shadis during the interview, landing him in this crappy job. But, hell, the filing job was punishment enough, so what the hell was this?

"Did the machine eat up your money?" a voice asked.

Eren whirled around to see a strange standing right next to him. He was a bespectacled man, his round glasses sitting on top of the bridge of his long, thin nose. His hair was brown and he had bangs long enough to hang in his eyes. He had a beard that wasn't all that neat and Eren wondered why Keith Shadis hadn't yelled at him to shave yet. Maybe he didn't work on this floor. After all, he didn't dress like he worked there. Most people wore a button up and slacks – khakis if they were feeling particularly daring – but this guy was just wearing a zip up over a plain white tee. Eren wasn't sure about the dress code on the other floors, but he was pretty sure this wasn't standard dress for a anyone at the temp agency. "It…yeah, it ate up my dollar," Eren stuttered. He tried to recognize the man but found that he couldn't.

"Hm," the man said thoughtfully. He stood beside Eren and gave a long, hard look at the machine. "You know, I find that giving it a decent kick will sometimes be enough to make it work."

Eren scoffed. "Yeah, like I can manhandle workplace property like that." Then again…

"It's not like anyone's watching," the man said. He pushed his glasses up and gave Eren a grin. The way he said the very words that were running through Eren's mind gave him chills up his spine. "Besides, it's not like your boss isn't an asshole. And how's he going to know about a small kick to the vending machine?"

"I don't…"

The man raised his hands. "I've overstepped my boundaries," he said apologetically, taking a step away from Eren. "Sorry. You just looked like you were having a bad day. Wouldn't hurt to get you a little something to make it a little better. It's the least you deserve." Before Eren can speak, the man gave him a pat on the back and left, probably going back to his cubicle.

Eren sighed and rested his forehead against the vending machine. He gave it a couple of more pathetic smacks but nothing came out.

Was the universe really against him? He knew he wasn't the best person around but it wasn't like he was the worst person ever. So what if he didn't get along with his mom? A lot of other people didn't either. She had Mikasa to fawn over anyway. Perfect Mikasa, the model child, and his mother didn't even have to go through the burden of giving birth to her! While Mikasa had never flaunted her flawless grades or superb athletic ability at him, his mother often used he against him to show him everything the ideal child should be. His mom kept bringing up the fact that his father was never there for him but the thing she didn't understand was that his dad was the only one who believed he could do anything, which was why he left Eren by himself.

He didn't know when he started kicking the damn thing. He just knew that he was and that someone was screaming for him to stop. Other people were surrounding him but no one daring to touch him. It was fine. He didn't care if other people got involved. That was how he liked it anyway.

He didn't even notice the vending machine swaying as he kicked it harder and harder. It was only when it finally tipped over when he realized he was going to die. The surprising thing was that it didn't hurt when his body was finally smashed against the huge metal box. Not even a little bit.

Eren wasn't a big believer of the afterlife or anything like that. If he absolutely had to think up what happened after death, he certainly wouldn't think it was like what he was seeing now. For one thing, it looked pretty much like where he was just a few seconds ago, but now he was watching as blood pool out from under where he assumed his crushed carcass was. People pushed and shoved at him, trying to get closer to the body and then wondering exactly what to do. They didn't exactly give drills for this sort of thing.

He stood there trying to process everything. He couldn't possibly be in two places at once, but no one seemed to notice the Eren that was standing with them. All everyone was concerned about was the Eren beneath the machine. It was like he was some sort of ghost or maybe he was just having some bizarre out-of-body experience.

Someone tugged on his sleeve.

"Jaeger?" a woman said. She was standing next to Eren and could only be a few years or so older than him. He couldn't recall ever seeing her and concluded that she probably worked in a different department or floor. Then again, he'd only worked there for a day so he might not have met her yet. She looked friendly enough – bright ginger hair and amber eyes with a pleasant smile. "Eren Jaeger, if I heard correctly."

He blinked. "Yes, that's me," he said, studying her more closely.

"Great!" She linked her arm with his and led him away from the growing crowd that was still gathering around his dead body. Although he never particularly liked strangers touching him, Eren was much too shocked to pull away from her. "I'm Petra Ral." She had a rather brisk pace, the skirts of her floral dress swishing with every step she took. He wondered if she held a secretary position in the front office. It would certainly explain her outfit, which was much brighter and more cheerful than anyone else in the office was wearing. Eren would have settled on that idea but realized that he didn't even vaguely remember anyone who looked or dressed like the woman when he entered the building this morning.

"Hey," he said numbly. He craned his neck to take another look at his body but couldn't see it because of the mass of people obscuring his view. Eren pointed to where his body lay and looked back at the mysterious ginger woman. "Did I just…die?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "You did! First time I've ever seen anyone die via vending machine. I thought that stuff only happened in cartoons or something," she said, clearly amused. She had the decency not to laugh but Eren still wished she would treat his death with a little more delicacy. The woman patted Eren's arm comfortingly. "It's nice that you're so accepting of your death though. Sometimes I have to walk people through the five stages of grief. You normally only hear about widows and the family of the person who just passed going through that, but it turns out that the deceased need to be walked through them sometimes as well."

A well-dressed man with a bright red tie stood at the end of the hallway waiting for them. He must have been a friend of Petra's because the woman waved to him as they got near. "Talkative today, aren't you, Petra?" the man said. He was very tall in comparison, easily a foot taller than the woman. He wasn't anyone that Eren recognized either and was dressed much too formally to be a worker here.

"Well, it won't do to just awkwardly walk him through everything, will it?" Petra huffed. She pouted, pretending to be hurt by his comment, but she smiled when he reached out to pat her head. "Eren, this is Erwin Smith."

"Pleased to meet you," Erwin said pleasantly as if this was every other day and not the day Eren happened to fall down dead.

"Are you guys angels?" Eren wondered aloud.

"We're not," Erwin said, shaking his head. "They're much higher up and deal with more…technical things. Although Petra does get mistaken for one quite regularly." He smiled at his petite companion.

She sniffed disdainfully at the compliment. "I'd rather not be mistaken for one of them," she said, wrinkling her nose. "I dated an angel once and they're actually quite stuffy. Very pretentious." She patted Eren's arm. "Don't worry, we're much nicer than them."

"I…I see," Eren stammered. He was having quite a hard time taking everything in.

"You might know us better as reapers though," Erwin said. "We reap the souls of the dead, not unlike yourself, and help deliver them to the right place." They reached the elevator and Erwin allowed Petra and Eren to enter first before going in himself, punching in the button for the ground floor.

Eren shook his head. "No, no," he said slowly. He touched his face, ran a hand through his hair. "I can't be dead. I'm walking. I'm talking to you guys! You guys can hear and see me. There's no way."

"I thought you were saying something about him accepting his death quietly," the man said to Petra, amused. His companion only shrugged at him, an apologetic smile on her face. Erwin turned back to Eren and waved his hand around. "That empty shell beneath the vending machine upstairs was your body. This? This is your new husk." When Eren turned to look at Erwin, face scrunched up because, really, what kind of explanation was that, Erwin shrugged. "An elevator shaft isn't really the best place to discuss this, Eren."

"But I'm too young to die!" he protested.

"Not everyone gets to live a long and happy life," Petra said quietly, twirling a lock of her short hair between her fingers. She looked sad and Eren thought about apologizing to her but he didn't really know what he'd be saying sorry for. Shouldn't they be the ones apologizing to him anyway? After all, he was the one who had just died.

Erwin put a hand on Eren's shoulder and squeezed it. "You saw it yourself, Eren. That was your body lying on the floor, crushed by that vending machine."

"That's not fair," Eren protested before he could stop himself. He sounded whiny, childish, but who could blame him? Nineteen years old with hardly any life lived, anyone else would be mad as well. God, he hadn't even moved out of his parents' house. He hadn't graduated college, held a job for more than a month, and never had a serious relationship. Hell, he'd barely done anything. And now…

Petra shrugged. "That's life," she replied. She didn't sound upset about it. It was just a statement of fact and Eren found that unsettling.

He was on the verge of tears. It was only his hatred of showing weakness that kept him from crying in front of strangers. He sniffed, swiping at his eyes with his sleeve. If Erwin and Petra noticed him crying they made no move to comfort him. "So," he said hesitantly as the elevator doors opened. "What happens now?"

Erwin stepped out, Petra close behind him. He turned his head back to speak to Eren. There were his blue eyes staring straight at him, cold as ice. "Now?" Erwin repeated. "You can follow us. Or not. But it's your choice, Eren."

They didn't even look back as they left, which Eren found quite rude. He bit his lip as he debated on whether or not he should follow them. Part of him thought it had to be a dream but something in the back of his mind told him it wasn't. Even he couldn't dream up something this ridiculous. The doors began to close and he found himself slipping between them, running to catch up to where Erwin and Petra were. Maybe he was dead. He could accept that, fine, but he refused to be kept in the dark.

A/N: I should probably finish my other fics before starting new ones but this one has been brewing in my mind for so long and I couldn't help myself. And I know that there are probably a lot of questions so far but I promise I'll address most of them in the next couple of chapters. Expect another chapter next month~

Reviews are appreciated, so please drop by with feedback if you have the time. If you ever have questions feel free to PM me or visit my tumblr pickalily writes :)