p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I'm sorry."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Sorry for what, brat?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Leaving you alone like this. We weren't supposed to end up this way. We were supposed to defeat the titans and live the rest of our lives together in peace. I'm sad we won't get to do that now."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I'm the one who should be apologizing. It's my sword that has to end this tomorrow. Tch, and I promised I would take you to see the ocean someday. What a joke."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I don't think we're a joke, Levi." Hearing my name whispered by lips I knew so well, I couldn't help but look up. I hated my decision the second I had followed through with it. Eren sat on the floor in front of me but we were separated by the thick iron bars that formed his cage. It reminded me of the first time I had met the fiery youth who would eventually become the other half of me, but the differences between the two scenes were difficult to ignore. There was no bed now, they wouldn't waste the commodity on a monster, so Eren was left kneeling on the stone beneath him with both of his arms chained behind his back and his ankles and neck both shackled and attached to the filthy floor./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I grabbed the cold bars between my fists and leaned my head between them. "You stupid kid. I know we aren't a joke." I could feel tears start to pool behind my closed eyelids but I willed them back. I wasn't the one who was dying. I didn't get to cry. Not yet. I dropped my voice to a low whisper, not really intending for Eren to hear just needing to say it, "I don't know what I'm going to do without you…" It was silent for several minutes after that. And when I looked back at my lover through the bars of his cell I nearly let all of my tears escape. Eren was smiling. "How are you still smiling?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Eren shook his head slowly but never dropped his smile, he only allowed a few tears to run hot tracks down his cheeks. "I love you. And I know exactly what you're going to do. You're going to keep living and you're going to keep fighting. Not just the titans but the king and the government and those stupid wall worshipping pricks. You're going to do it for me because I want to see an end to all of this, even if I'm not actually here for it. Please, Levi?" I choked back another sob and nodded. Eren's head dropped and my eyes opened wide when I heard the door to the dungeon opening and footsteps coming down the stone stairs. I turned to look at who was coming to bring us up for the execution and nearly fell to my knees when I saw Hanji./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It's time guys."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"With shaking fingers, my hands somehow unlocked the cell door and then got Eren unchained from the floor and onto his feet, though his hands were still bound. Before we got to the stairs I pulled on the collar around Eren's throat and gently tugged him down to me and placed one last kiss on his lips. It was short and innocent but it held all of my feelings for the titan shifter standing before me./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The court room was bright and cold. I looked at Eren and wished that I had been able to keep my promise about getting him to the ocean. The kid deserved to be in the warmth and the sunlight. Seeing the cold metal that he was attached to only made his death seem worse. He wasn't a monster. The real monsters were all the men sitting in the stands with faces of smug satisfaction, knowing that they had won./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I cringed at the sound my blade made as I slid it from the sheath that rested on the ground next to me. I lifted my arm high above the tan neck beneath me and with one last look into those turquoise eyes that I loved so much, I brought my blade down./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Sorry for what, brat?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Leaving you alone like this. We weren't supposed to end up this way. We were supposed to defeat the titans and live the rest of our lives together in peace. I'm sad we won't get to do that now."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I'm the one who should be apologizing. It's my sword that has to end this tomorrow. Tch, and I promised I would take you to see the ocean someday. What a joke."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I don't think we're a joke, Levi." Hearing my name whispered by lips I knew so well, I couldn't help but look up. I hated my decision the second I had followed through with it. Eren sat on the floor in front of me but we were separated by the thick iron bars that formed his cage. It reminded me of the first time I had met the fiery youth who would eventually become the other half of me, but the differences between the two scenes were difficult to ignore. There was no bed now, they wouldn't waste the commodity on a monster, so Eren was left kneeling on the stone beneath him with both of his arms chained behind his back and his ankles and neck both shackled and attached to the filthy floor./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I grabbed the cold bars between my fists and leaned my head between them. "You stupid kid. I know we aren't a joke." I could feel tears start to pool behind my closed eyelids but I willed them back. I wasn't the one who was dying. I didn't get to cry. Not yet. I dropped my voice to a low whisper, not really intending for Eren to hear just needing to say it, "I don't know what I'm going to do without you…" It was silent for several minutes after that. And when I looked back at my lover through the bars of his cell I nearly let all of my tears escape. Eren was smiling. "How are you still smiling?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Eren shook his head slowly but never dropped his smile, he only allowed a few tears to run hot tracks down his cheeks. "I love you. And I know exactly what you're going to do. You're going to keep living and you're going to keep fighting. Not just the titans but the king and the government and those stupid wall worshipping pricks. You're going to do it for me because I want to see an end to all of this, even if I'm not actually here for it. Please, Levi?" I choked back another sob and nodded. Eren's head dropped and my eyes opened wide when I heard the door to the dungeon opening and footsteps coming down the stone stairs. I turned to look at who was coming to bring us up for the execution and nearly fell to my knees when I saw Hanji./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It's time guys."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"With shaking fingers, my hands somehow unlocked the cell door and then got Eren unchained from the floor and onto his feet, though his hands were still bound. Before we got to the stairs I pulled on the collar around Eren's throat and gently tugged him down to me and placed one last kiss on his lips. It was short and innocent but it held all of my feelings for the titan shifter standing before me./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The court room was bright and cold. I looked at Eren and wished that I had been able to keep my promise about getting him to the ocean. The kid deserved to be in the warmth and the sunlight. Seeing the cold metal that he was attached to only made his death seem worse. He wasn't a monster. The real monsters were all the men sitting in the stands with faces of smug satisfaction, knowing that they had won./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.1199998855591px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I cringed at the sound my blade made as I slid it from the sheath that rested on the ground next to me. I lifted my arm high above the tan neck beneath me and with one last look into those turquoise eyes that I loved so much, I brought my blade down./p
