A/N: alright im sorry for any lame typos because i edited this on the phone but yeah, this is a shorter chapter, more of a filler before the next one,. Quick update, im sorry if i dont keep up with my a chapter per week schedule, im starting uni next week and im moving out so i wont have as much free time as i used to, so please be considerate.
Levi honestly didn't remember when was the last time he had run this fast. Hell, he couldn't believe he was even capable of running that fast. His face was calm and collected, his breathing regulated into a steady rhythm, only the reckless leaping across busy streets indicated that Levi wasn't quite himself. The hospital was a good half an hour away from their apartment, but Levi estimated he should reach it in 10 minutes no less.
The vampire's mind was all but empty. When he had jumped out of bed and ran out of the apartment, most likely leaving the door unlocked or even open, he wasn't really thinking. It felt like pure instinct kicking in and moving his body against his own will. He couldn't even focus on the places he was running past, it was all just blurry lights and muffled sounds.
After a few minutes his shock started to phase out and his thoughts came rushing down like a waterfall. First came the flashing images of Eren lying in the hospital bed, barely alive or gone already, then his bloody, beaten up body lying in some driveway or alley so close to home, and finally the last time he had seen him, and sent him outside all on his own perfectly aware of the danger he could get in.
Levi suddenly stopped in his tracks as quick as he had started running. It felt like an invisible punch right in his stomach stopping him from moving forward or moving at all, like the surprise punches that Eren pulled and suddenly he felt like puking. The vampire clutched his stomach desperately as the passerby's stared at him frowning or worrying. He pulled away off the main sidewalk into a shadow, realizing the attention he was drawing to himself. Levi was almost paralyzed with the sudden pang of guilt and responsibility of the kid's life. How fucking naïve of him to think that this feeling would be easier to bear the second time. But then again, he never thought something like this would happen again and fuck, it shouldn't have happened. None of this was supposed to happen and he wasn't even sure whose fault it was anymore.
Berthold's small smile and his forever indifferent eyes reached Levi's mind next, along with the mocking line 'huh, you've gone soft' echoing in his ears and suddenly it all made sense. There was one thing in common between the two times that this had happened and it was those four fucking everything up. Whatever else Levi was feeling was replaced with white hot rage and he was back running again. This time with a definite goal and a set mind. He was going to fucking massacre them for this.
When the hospital came into his view though, flashing images of what he might see inside kept crawling back into his head no matter how much he willed them not to. Levi was only slightly out of breath when he came to a halt in front of the door and dived in, going straight for the emergency room.
"Jaeger. Eren. Where?" Levi demanded, quick and firm at the reception. The nurse was flustered as there was a lot of commotion in the hospital that night. The old lady with light blonde hair mixed with grey was talking on the phone and filling some papers at the same time. Nonetheless she lifted up her head at the vampire. Upon seeing the urgent look on his face she began checking the logs and shook her head.
"Wait who? Jaeger? I can't see him. Wait, maybe it's somewhere here." She said to herself looking at the pile of papers on her desk. Levi merely scoffed impatiently and went off on his own.
It took him a few wrong doors, slight wandering around the hallway until he saw Hanji sitting on one of the couches next to an intensive care room. His roommate lifted up her head, revealing a tired expression. Unlike Levi, all of her emotions were right there on her face, the worrying had only deepened the small lines in it.
"That was quick." She commented raising her eyebrows, coming to stand beside him.
"Where?" Levi simply asked. Hanji didn't ask or say anything, just wordlessly led him near one of the glass rooms.
"The doctors can't let you in, unless-" Hanji started as she saw Levi eyeing the door to the room.
"I know how intensive care works." Levi replied evenly staring at the view in front of him with an empty face. There were a few monitors, machines and countless of tubes around a body which looked almost indistinguishable. His head was almost entirely wrapped around in bandages. The few patches of skin that were visible were bruised or still bloody. There was a doctor and a nurse standing nearby, filling out the chart and attaching even more tubes. Nonetheless the calm, rhythmical beeping of the heart monitor forced a small sigh of relief out of Levi.
"Calm down." Hanji said putting her hand over his, which were gripping the railing against the glass wall. Levi frowned confused, his posture and face were calm, but when he looked down he realized his knuckles were white with the force he was gripping the railing.
"What did the docs say?" he asked instead.
"Not much. They're not sure if he's gonna make it, it's a miracle he's even breathing right now." Hanji kept staring at the seemingly lifeless body as well. "I don't think I like this adventure anymore." She added quietly to herself.
"I called Armin, he should be here soon. He called his parents, they're overseas now so they won't get here until tomorrow evening." Hanji informed while Levi simply nodded not really hearing her and not being able to take his eyes off the body. Once again he was brutally reminded how terribly fragile humans were. "I think maybe you should go talk to him." Hanji added quietly, motioning with her head a little further. Levi reluctantly tore his gaze away only to land his eyes on Eren standing a few feet away, gripping the railing the same way Levi was.
The vampire's eyes shot open. He looked at the body in the intensive care room and back to Eren standing right there, alive and healthy. Levi's undead heart was beating furiously in confusion, until he noticed the short sandy hair peeking out of the bandages and noticed that the boy lying in bed was taller than Eren. Because it was never him, it was Jean. Levi thought back and realized Hanji never said who she was talking about, yet his mind made the obvious jump.
"Eren." He heard the name leave his mouth as he took a step closer. It surprised him how much he didn't care why Jean was lying instead of Eren.
Eren remained still, staring at the ground, his hair was covering his face. Levi halted for another second until he saw his shoulders move from the breaths he took.
"You little shit, you got me scar-" he started with a relieved sigh, reaching for him, but Eren violently shook his hand off the minute it touched him.
Only then did Levi see that he was gripping the railing as hard as Levi was just before, and his entire frame was slightly shaking.
"It's all your fault." Eren all but hissed not lifting his head. His body was shaking even more now. "You said they were going to be safe. You fucking stood there and told them that." He scoffed out. Levi stood there baffled for a minute before the gut wrenching feeling came back.
"Look, kid, none of us were expecting this, it all just-" Levi started. The person in front of him may have looked like Eren, but he definitely didn't sound like him.
"I don't care!" Eren burst out. A few nurses and doctors gave them a mocking side-eye for the noise. Eren finally lifted up his head and Levi had to refuse the urge to step back. His face was twisted in anger, eyes vibrating with almost a kind of crazed energy that felt like could tear down walls. There were dried up tears on his face, and new ones were threatening to fall as Eren kept shouting. "I don't give a fuck how it was supposed to turn out, all I care about is that my friend is barely alive because of you! You promised everything was alright now and all that other bullshit about the danger being over!"
Now people were definitely staring at them, but Eren didn't seem to care. Hanji suddenly stepped in between them, the only one who seemed to care that they were making a scene.
"Hey hey, let's just calm down for a bit, maybe go outside for a breather." She suggested calmly, taking hold of both of their arms. Eren shook out of it immediately but didn't say anything to her. In fact, he acted like Hanji wasn't even there and stormed off towards the exit.
"Levi, you should-"
"Yeah, I know." He cut her short, reading her mind for once. He had to go after him, yet he was again frozen in place. "But what the fuck am I supposed to say?" Levi asked quietly. "Everything he said was true." He didn't wait for an answer, honestly he didn't believe Hanji had one, and went after the raging kid.
Eren had just left the hospital when Levi caught up with him. The kid was really into his whole dramatic getaway thing because Levi had to grab him by the wrist to make him stop.
"What do you want?" He asked tearing his hand away from Levi's grasp as if he was disgusted by it.
"For you to calm down." Levi came up to him with no plan, he honestly had no idea what to say to him. "What happened is a tragedy, but-"
"But what?" Eren interrupted with wide eyes. "What can you possibly say to make it better? Some other hypocritical word vomit that I'm just supposed to believe like the kid that I am?" the writer was getting fired up again. "How didn't it occur to you people to watch over them as well? You went out of your way to make me move out when nothing really happened, while you couldn't get off your ass and at least watch over the other people involved in this!"
"If this course of action was so obvious, why didn't you suggest it?" Levi shot back with a calm look, while Eren stood there shocked.
"Are you seriously going to fucking turn this around back to me? That the fact that your old friends attacked my friend is my fault?!"
"No, I'm not. I'm proving my point that no one could have predicted this. We're not even sure that it was Ymir." Levi added, because while he was almost absolutely sure, perhaps Eren wasn't.
"Oh yes we are." Eren nodded frantically. "Marco gave a good description and it was them alright."
"Who's Marco?" Levi asked calmly.
"He is the reason Jean is still breathing. His fucking co-worker did more to save Jean than you guys ever did." Eren clutched his head suddenly. "Oh god, he said that it looked like they were eating him oh my god what did I get myself into?" he was rambling to himself, while Levi closed his eyes with a defeated sigh. "How can you be so calm?" Eren asked quietly, looking up at him like he was a complete stranger. Levi was feeling the same way about Eren currently as well. "I haven't seen you worry or even frown from when you got here. Do you honestly don't care that it's your fault that Jean is here?" Eren bit harshly at him. Levi tore his gaze away from the kid, looking at the ground.
"Of course I do." Levi answered automatically.
"I don't see it. I don't fucking get you. You let me get close to you one moment and then tell me I'm trash and don't talk to me for days. Then you rush over here at light speed, but once you see my friend's bloody body lying there hanging on life support you make it look like it's a regular Wednesday to you?!" Levi wanted to answer yes, because at one point or another this was a regular occurrence for him. Nonetheless he kept his head down and let Eren beat him with his words. He needed to let it out, that was better therapy than any kind of shitty advice he could give him.
"Are you even human?!" Eren blurted out, but upon seeing Levi start to open his mouth he interrupted again. "If you're going to say anything, can you for once be fucking honest with me and let me know what you're actually thinking or feeling." Levi closed his mouth and looked back at the ground wondering what should he choose to say. What was the most honest thing that he was feeling right now.
"I agree with you, I do believe it's my fault, there's nothing I can do to change that." Levi started. "I really am sorry for what happened to Jean, but I'm glad it isn't you who's lying in that bed right now." Levi lifted up his head to look at Eren who looked thrown for a minute. For a split second he could see Eren's eyes clear up and go back to how they used to, before they got clouded in anger again.
"How fucking touching." He spat, turning around to leave. This time Levi didn't stop him, simply watched as he stormed off before going back inside the hospital. As much as he hated it, the night had just begun for them, and there were bigger things to come.
Hanji was still standing by the intensive care room looking after Jean. Levi had urgent things to ask her, but before he could open his mouth, Hanji was already talking over him. What was it today with people interrupting him?
"His condition worsened. The doctors say he has some kind of infection or fever that they can't identify." She stated calmly like out of a textbook. It seemed like Hanji already knew what Levi was going to ask and got ahead of him. For a minute they were both back to staring at the body being tended by nurses, trying to treat the symptoms until Hanji spoke up again
"How's Eren?"
"He's in shock, but he should come around eventually, he really cares for his friends." Levi observed. Though, he wasn't really sure how long it would take for him to calm down.
"How about you, are you alright?" Hanji asked quietly.
"Of course." he answered automatically, but it didn't look like Hanji bought it. "Why Jean?" he asked finally.
"I have no idea." Hanji sighed sadly. "To send some message? For shits and giggles? Maybe it was a coincidense."
"No, I don't think it was an accident." Levi shook his head. "What about this Marco, how much did he see?"
"Oh right, he's Jean's coworker. Apperently he caught them at the act, so they scattered. They were feeding off him." Hanji added.
"Hanji, we need to-"
"I know." She nodded seriously.
"I can take it from here, there's still a few hours till-"
"Levi, I think you should go to Erwin's and help him set up." Hanji interrupted with a worried face. "You're shaking." she answered his unspoken question. Levi looked down and frowned upon seeing his hands trembling.
Hanji was back to being ridiculously determined and slightly bossy. "I can handle it, you get to Erwin, Armin should be there already and you'll need to explain to him before I get there." She instructed. Levi merely nodded at the command, trusting Hanji had thought it through and headed out right away to face one of the most fucked up nights of his life.
