Lookie another chapter in a decent amount of time! :D
Chapter 36: Criminal Trial Experiences Mild Setback!
Eren
I decide to spend the night after our decision at the apartment with Mikasa and Armin. I know that Mikasa will find out about the decision to move our wedding up sooner or later, so I better tell her now myself to avoid getting blown up on. Besides, it's been a while since I've spent a night at the apartment with my sister and best friend.
When I get back to the apartment, I find Mikasa and Armin sitting together on the couch under a blanket. I almost feel like I'm intruding on something, but Armin waves me over to sit with them. I take up a seat on one of the other couches.
The two of them have been official now for a while, but they're both very private people and tend to avoid public displays of affection, so sometimes I forget how much their relationship has advanced. But they have moved into the same room together, giving me a room of my own. I have no complaints about that. It means Levi can spend the night here now that I'm not sharing a room with Armin. But honestly I couldn't be happier for them. They deserve each other.
"So I have something kind of important to tell you guys," I say, deciding to just dive right into it.
"Oh yeah? There hasn't been any more problems with the press, right? That conference was a week ago, you'd think that everything would've died down by now," Mikasa says with a frown.
"No, no, it's nothing like that," I reassure her. "It's good, actually."
"Well, spit it out!" Armin urges with a smile.
"Well, you know how Levi was offered a position on Team USA for the World Cup?" When they both nod, I tentatively continue. "Well they needed an answer today, and Levi was still really on the fence about it, so I told him that if he accepted the offer, that we could get married before he had to leave."
Both of their eyes go wide and they look between each other before looking back at me. "And?!" Mikasa demands. "What did he say?"
"He agreed. We're getting married right after the school year ends, right before he has to leave to go to Europe," I tell them.
"Oh my god congrats!" Armin says, jumping off the couch to give me a hug. He's joined quickly by Mikasa.
"Have you picked a date yet? A location? Wow, the end of the semester isn't very far away, Eren, are you sure you'll be able to get everything arranged before then?" Mikasa hounds. She doesn't even give me time to answer any of those questions before she's already continuing on her monologue. "I supposed Levi's fame will get you into pretty much any location on such short notice, as well as other things such as a photographer and a caterer and such. Boy it's a good thing you fell in love with a famous person, because you guys are really cutting it close. Although-"
"Mikasa!" I cut her off with a laugh. "We haven't picked a date or a location yet. We just made this decision today. But don't worry about it. Isabel is way ahead of you. She's already left Levi a long voicemail on everything he needs to plan and get done as well as a list of deadlines. Trust in her to have everything ready to go for us when the time comes. Besides, it's not like we're having this huge ceremony or anything. It's going to be small, just close family and friends. Levi doesn't want a lot of attention."
"Okay, okay, whatever you say. Do you think Isabel would let me help with the preparations though?" she asks.
"I'm sure she'd love the help," I assure her. "Remind me later to get you her number."
She smiles and pulls me into a hug. The both of them return back to their couch, pulling the blanket back around the both of them.
"But right now I have other, more pressing matters to think about," I frown, sinking down into the couch.
"You mean more pressing than a wedding that needs to happen in just about two and a half months that neither of you have planned a single thing for?" Mikasa questions with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes. Like the trial that's coming up this week," I respond. "I'm meeting with the ADA who's prosecuting my case tomorrow after classes to go over my testimony, and to be completely honest, I'm really nervous."
"It'll be fine, Eren," Armin promises me. "It's not like it's the real trial. He's just going to tell you what to expect when you get there, right? It'll be nobody else except you and the prosecutor. It's the actual trial you should be nervous for. I bet that's going to be totally nerve wracking."
"Thanks, Armin, you're a huge help," I mutter sarcastically.
He just smiles with a shrug and leans into Mikasa. "You'll be fine, Eren. There's nothing to worry about."
...
Just as Armin promises, the meeting with the prosecutor goes over smoothly. He simply brought me into the courtroom, showed me where everything and everyone will be, gave a quick run through of the procedure for swearing me in as a witness, and gave me a brief summary of the types of questions he'd ask me. He also warned me of some of the questions I might receive from the defendants' lawyers. Overall, it went pretty well.
He also informed me what time to be at court. The official trial starts Thursday, but he said the first day will be simply opening statements and the presenting of witness lists and evidence exhibits that will be used in court, and that I won't be called up to testify until Friday. He assured me that he managed to convince the judge to schedule afternoon sessions so that I wouldn't have to miss any classes.
He assured me that this case would be a very easy case to try. I guess all the evidence is pretty undeniable, and with my testimony, the trial shouldn't last more than a week.
And as promised, the first day goes by without a hitch. I sit in the galley on the prosecution side, Levi, Mikasa, and Armin sitting with me, and we listen to both sides present their case to the jury. We listen to the opening statements and the witness lists, and in all honesty it's rather boring. I find, by the close of court on that first day, that I'm actually kind of looking forward to getting up on the witness stand to give my statement. At least that will be a lot more interesting than sitting in the galley listening to boring men use big words that I don't really understand.
But of course nothing is ever as easy as it should be.
The shrill of my alarm wakes me for my early morning class Friday, and I groan as I fumble for my phone, eager to get the ringing to stop. But the cessation of the phone's ringing does nothing to stop the ringing in my head. I force my eyes open, but then snap them back closed at the persistent pain in the back of my head. Oh great. How is it that my headaches seem to know EXACTLY when the worst time to occur is?
Deciding that I should probably forego my classes today and stay in bed to rest, I climb out of bed to hunt for some pain medication safe for me to take, then crawl back under the covers. Armin and Mikasa have classes earlier than me on Fridays, so they're probably already gone and won't come knocking to try and wake me up for my classes. Hopefully if I can fall back asleep, the headache will ride itself out and I'll be good to go by three o'clock when I have to be in court.
...
When I next regain consciousness, it's to the most searing pain I've ever felt in my life. I am literally startled awake with a gasp, the pain so intense I have to wonder how it is my head hasn't cracked open yet, because it feels like someone is driving an ice pick straight into my scull. The faint LED lights on my bedside clock are like the sun, and I cringe at their brightness. I can hear the TV on in the front room, and although it's merely a faint murmur through the walls, the sound is thunder in my ears.
The pain is so incredible I almost can't breathe, and a whimper involuntarily scrapes past my dry throat. I bury my face in the pillows and fist my hands in my hair, as if that would make the pain go away. How can any one person feel so much pain? How is it possible? It shouldn't be. This much pain all at once feels like it should be lethal.
A cry leaves my lips again as I curl in on myself. Oh my god how do I make it stop? Please, someone just make it stop. Tears are leaving warm trails down my cheeks and nose. The throbbing in my head is like a jackhammer. It feels like my head is about to explode any minute now.
"Eren?" I hear Mikasa's voice from in the front room. "What are you still doing here? Don't you have court soon?"
"Mi-" I try to call out, but my voice cracks. I swallow hard against the pain and try again. "Mikasa."
My voice is hoarse and quiet, but either Mikasa heard it or she was already heading for my room, because the door opens to the blinding light of a million suns. She enters the room and I can hear her gasp, her hurried footsteps bringing her to my bed.
"Eren, what's wrong?" she pleads desperately, and her voice lances through my skull and rips another cry from me.
She doesn't wait for an answer. She doesn't have to. I hear her snatch my phone off of the nightstand and then she's shouting at someone on the other end of the line.
"My brother is having a migraine, he's in so much pain I don't know what to do, please send help," I hear her cry into the phone and for the love of god could she do that somewhere else? The pitch of her voice is sending sharp waves of pain through my skull. "Yes, he has hemophilia and he gets migraines from lack of bloodflow, just please send help, I've never seen it this bad before!"
The pain is just too much, and I start to feel a heaviness pull at the corners of my consciousness. Yes, please please drag me under. I don't want to feel this pain anymore. I don't know how much I can take anymore.
Mikasa profusely thanks whoever she's on the phone with and then there's a long, wonderful silence before her voice splits it again.
"Oh my god Levi!" Mikasa cries, and her voice hitches. "It's Eren..."
Levi? She's talking to Levi? The simple name almost drives off the threat of unconsciousness, but I'm already too far gone. The heaviness has engulfed my entire body and I don't hear any more of Mikasa's conversation with him before the blackness completely consumes me.
Levi
I arrive to the courthouse with barely a minute to spare, on account of Isabel's insistence that I get some wedding plans done before I leave. I swear that woman is starting to drive me crazy with all this wedding stuff. I'm one more "Come on Levi I need a decision" away from snatching up Eren and flying us to Vegas so we can elope.
Guilt is threatening to eat at me as I jog down the hallway towards the assigned courtroom. Eren has probably been sitting outside all by himself, anxiously waiting to be called in to testify, and I had promised I'd be there for him.
But when I round the corner, I see a handful of people out front of the courtroom doors, but none of them are Eren. Did he already get called in? I hurriedly sneak inside, as quietly as I can. To my surprise, Eren isn't on the witness stand, and a quick scan of the benches reveals that he's not in the galley either. Did he get nervous and back out?
The opening of the door has nearly every head in the courtroom turning to look at me. The prosecutor trying the case quickly pushes through the waist tall gate-of-sorts separating the galley from the proceedings.
"One moment, Your Honor," he calls back to the judge. "This is Mr. Jaeger's fiancé, perhaps he knows where Mr. Jaeger is." My heart is beating hard in my chest already as the man approaches me, a look of worry in his eyes. "You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"
"I thought he was here," I answer quickly. "I haven't seen him since last night."
"You don't think he backed out on testifying, do you?" he asks. "I talked to him yesterday after court and he seemed so confident and determined."
"I agree," I frown. "Hold on, I'll try giving him a call."
He nods and I quickly reach into my pocket for my cell, almost every eye in the courtroom on me. But before I can even remove the phone from my pocket, it starts to ring. A glance at the screen shows that it's Eren calling. I breathe out a sigh of relief, quickly showing the prosecutor the caller ID before answering the call and putting the phone to my ear.
"Eren, where-" I start to ask, but am quickly cut off.
"Oh my god Levi!" It's Mikasa's voice, and she's hysterical. I can hear Eren's cries of pain in the background. My breath catches as fear turns my blood to ice nearly instantaneously. "It's Eren... He's having a migraine but it's worse than I've ever seen before. He's in so much pain, I don't know what to do!"
My eyes flash up to the prosecutor's, and it's obvious that he sees my fear. "Mikasa you need to call an ambulance. I'm on my way right now," I tell her as I hurry towards the doors of the courtroom. That would be all anyone needs to hear to know that Eren won't be coming into court.
My heart is pounding in my throat as I sprint down the halls towards the exit. I get odd looks from the court marshals, but they are the last thing on my mind right now. I need to get to Eren. That's all that matters.
"I already did and they're on their way," she tells me, her voice hiccupping. Past the sounds of her hysterical crying, I can hear Eren's crying fade until it's gone. "I think he just passed out. Please just get here soon."
"I'm on my way," I assure her again. My whole body feels numb and my fear threatens to paralyze me at the same time the adrenaline pushes me faster down the sidewalk to my car. I don't know what else to say to her. I can't barely think. "I'll be there soon, I promise. Just keep an eye on him for me okay? Make sure..." Make sure what? What is there to do for someone in Eren's situation? It's no wonder she's hysterical. I probably would be too. "Just make sure he's okay until the ambulance gets there. And stay on the phone, okay?"
There's no answer, but I she doesn't hang up. When I reach my car, I put the call on speakerphone and toss the cell onto my dash. I can hear her talking to Eren, murmuring things to him past her tears as I race down the street. It feels like an eternity, but in reality isn't probably very long before I hear the faint sound of sirens echoing from my phone.
"Mikasa?" I start to question, but she beats me to it.
"That's the ambulance!" she says in relief.
There's a lot of background noise, the door slamming, men talking to each other and to Mikasa, and Mikasa's frantic narration of what's happening.
"Mikasa?" I call to her, trying desperately to keep a level head. "Mikasa, tell them to take him to Trost General. They need to take him to Hanji. I'm just around the corner from your apartment, I'll pick you up and we'll go there with him, okay?"
"Y-Yes, okay," she stutters, and then I hear her relaying my message to the EMTs.
I'm just pulling onto the street Eren's complex is on when an ambulance races past me. That must be the one Eren is in. I keep going though, and in front of Eren's complex, I find Mikasa pacing worriedly on the sidewalk. I pull up in front of her and she quickly dives in. Turning the car around, I chase after the ambulance.
Mikasa is still crying in the passenger's seat, and neither of us say a single word. We can both sense each other's worry though, and it's enough to nearly drive me crazy. How bad is this? Is Eren going to be alright? Why wasn't I there with him when he needed me? Not that there's anything I could've done to ease his pain, but I could've held him and comforted him until the ambulance arrived. At least he had Mikasa there with him, first of all to notice that something was wrong and call for help, but also to be there for him.
"He's going to be okay," I say, my voice barely above a whisper. The sentiment is just as much for my own reassurance as it is for Mikasa's.
"I know," she murmurs in response. "It's just... You didn't see him, Levi. You know Eren, he's always so strong and determined not to let anything get to him. Even when he's hurting, he's constantly trying so hard not to let anyone know. It's like he doesn't want to bother people with his pain. But when I heard him cry out like that...? And then to see him laying there, obviously in so much pain... He was crying and screaming and..."
She brings her hands up to cover her face as she trails off with a sniffle. My grip is tight on the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white. I know exactly what she's talking about. Eren is so strong and stubborn about not bothering people when he's in trouble or hurting. He always tries to keep things hidden and bottled up inside him. I can still hear his cries in my mind. They play over and over again. How much pain must he have been in? I'm not sure I want to know.
We make it to the hospital just after the ambulance and the two of us race inside. We see Armin waiting impatiently in the reception room, watching as Eren's gurney disappears down the hall. But when he sees us, he immediately waves for us to follow him and takes off down the hall.
My heart is still racing against my ribcage as the three of us hurry down the hall after Eren. I see Hanji up ahead, hurrying towards Eren's room from the opposite direction we were coming from. The EMTs must've called ahead to have the hospital alert Hanji that Eren was on his way.
Armin has us the three of us wait outside as Hanji and the EMTs get Eren situated in the crowded room. I hover by the window, watching Eren as Hanji slips an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth, then hooks him up to an IV. Eren is still out, and I find that I'm grateful. At least this way he's not feeling any pain. I watch his sleeping face, noting how relaxed he looks. I wish I was beside him so I could touch his cheeks, brush the hair from his eyes, press a kiss to his forehead...
The EMTs don't stick around for long, and as they leave, Hanji waves for us to join her in the room. The three of us hurry in and I make a beeline for Eren's side.
"He's going to be okay, right?" I ask Hanji.
"He'll be fine. I gave him some strong sedatives to keep him out a little while longer while the migraine abates. Now there's nothing to do but wait. These types of headaches are normal, unfortunately this one was on the more severe end of the spectrum. But now that he's here and he's on oxygen, there shouldn't be any complications. I would like to run a transfusion though, he's due for one soon anyway. Seeing as his situation doesn't qualify as an emergency, it would take a while to get the order approved. However, if one of you can do direct donation, that would save a lot of time and trouble. Armin can't because he's employed by the hospital, so he can't give blood to a patient. But one of you two...?" she questions, looking between me and Mikasa.
Mikasa shakes her head, looking down at Eren. "Eren can't receive my blood. Our blood types aren't compatible. We figured that out a long time ago."
Hanji looks to me. "What about you? Eren is type A positive, what is yours?"
"I'm O negative," I respond.
"Perfect, universal donor. Come with me," she says, heading from the room.
As reluctant as I am to leave Eren's side now that I'm finally with him again, I know this is to help Eren, so I press a quick kiss to his forehead before following Hanji from the room. She doesn't take me far, just down the hall to what appears to be a normal checkup room.
"I'm going to have to run a few tests first just to make sure you don't have anything that can be transmitted to him through your blood," she tells me, gesturing for me to hop up onto the exam table.
"Well we are sexually active," I remind her. "With each other. Most of the time without a condom. I'm not saying I have anything that he could catch, but wouldn't he have it already if there was?"
"Not necessarily. Although STDs make up a lot of the diseases that can also be transfusion-transmitted, there are other things to worry about too," she replies.
"Well I had a full physical and medical checkup not even four days ago," I tell her. "I needed one in order to play for Team USA. They took blood and everything. And I had it done at this hospital. Do you think I would've been tested for those things then?"
She frowns, then turns to the computer on the desk and starts to pull up some records. "Let's see... Ackerman, Ackerman, Ackerman... Ah! Here you are. Let's see, they did test you for STDs- you have none by the way," she adds, "and it looks like they ran a whole battery of tests. Including blood type- you are in fact O negative- and... everything else I needed to know. Perfect. Looks like you're cleared to give blood. So let's get to it."
I nod, relieved that she doesn't have to run any tests. The sooner she can take my blood, the sooner I can get back to Eren's side and be there with him when he wakes up.
"Luckily Eren doesn't need a lot, just enough to introduce some clotting factors into his system. One unit should be just fine. I might go a little bit heavy though, just in case, if you're alright with that," she says.
"Just take what you need," I tell her, laying back on the table as she readies the needle, tubes, and small bag.
It doesn't take long for her to finish collecting my blood. When she does I feel really light-headed, and she tells me to just lay there for a few minutes until I feel okay enough to get up. She grabs me a Gatorade and granola bar from a vending machine, then leaves me alone to go hook the bag up to Eren. I'd rather not wait here while Eren is down the hall, probably about to wake up at any minute now, but unfortunately I don't feel like I'd be able to stand up without falling over. I listen to the tick of the clock, staring up at the ceiling, worrying about Eren as the dizziness and light-headedness start to fade.
When I finally feel okay to stand, I climb off the table and leave the room, hurrying down the hall towards Eren's room. When I get there, Hanji is still there, adjusting the oxygen mask on his face. Mikasa and Armin are sitting in chairs against the wall, watching Hanji work. I enter the room as Hanji is pulling off the oxygen mask and replacing it with a thin tube that loops over his ears and underneath his nose.
"The drugs are starting to wear off," she tells us. "He should be awake soon."
Sure enough, as I approach Eren's side, I can see that he no longer looks relaxed like he did earlier. His brow is furrowed slightly and a frown is starting to pull at his lips. I take his hand in mine and give it a soft squeeze.
It's only a minute or two later when his eyes flutter open. He cringes against the light, his eyes snapping back shut, and Armin immediately jumps up to dim them. When his eyes ease open again, he looks around for a moment before they fall on me. I offer him a small smile and squeeze his hand.
"How are you feeling?" I ask him, trying to keep my voice soft.
"My head hurts," he whispers, almost too quietly for me to hear. Mikasa and Armin move a little closer. "What happened?"
"You had a migraine dear. You're in the hospital," Hanji tells him.
"The hospital?" he questions in confusion, obviously trying to remember what had happened. Suddenly he gasps and shoots upright in bed with a shouted, "The trial!"
He hisses in pain, bringing a hand up to his head as I come out of my surprise and gently ease him back onto the bed. "Don't worry about the trial right now, love," I say, trying to comfort him. "I was with the prosecutor at the courthouse when Mikasa called me to tell he what was happening. I'll give him a call to let him know you're alright, and I'm sure he'll be able to work something out so you can testify on a later day."
This doesn't appear to ease his worry, but he nods and relaxes back into the pillows. We all take up seats beside his bed as Hanji leaves to make her rounds. We all talk with Eren, trying to keep our tones and topics upbeat to hopefully cheer him up. He hardly contributes more than a handful of words to the conversation the entire time, which is very unlike him. I tell him about some of the preparations Isabel has made so far for the wedding and that seems to please him a little. But for the most part he reminds detached and almost uninterested, his eyes blank as if he's daydreaming. This is very unlike him and it starts to worry me. I can tell Mikasa is worried too. Armin has a calculating frown on his face, and I have a feeling he's trying to figure out why Eren's attitude has changed so drastically.
When he looks up from Eren, I catch his eyes and gesture discretely for him to come with me outside. He nods and we both stand. As I turn to leave, something snags the hem of my shirt and I look down to see Eren's hand holding me there.
"Don't leave," he asks of me in a tone showing more emotion than he has shown all night.
"I'll only be gone for a minute, and then I'll come right back," I promise him, leaning in to press a kiss to his forehead. "You won't even have time to miss me."
He releases me and as I leave his room I hear him mutter, "That's a lie."
Once Armin and I step out of the room, closing the door behind us, I turn to him. "I know you've noticed that Eren isn't quite himself. Do you know why?"
He frowns and glances back into the room at Eren, laying in the bed and holding Mikasa's hand. Mikasa is talking to him, but it appears to be a one-sided conversation. "The only thing I can think of is that the decreased blood flow caused some form of mild brain damage that's lead to decreased cognition. Sort of like the brain damage you see in patients that have suffered a stroke or some form of head trauma, except not nearly to that extent. The brain needs a constant flow of oxygen in order to function correctly- which is why Eren passed out- and the decrease of oxygen flow, even for only a short time, might've caused a slight glitch in a few of his cognitive processes."
"Armin, you're really starting to scare me with all this talk of brain damage."
"I don't think you should be scared. I'm not even sure I'm right, but if I am, side effects like the ones Eren is experiencing now are- in a vast majority of cases- temporary. They'll fade in a matter of time, and he'll be right back to the way he was before," he tells me. He looks back into the room and smiles. "See? He's already starting to get better."
"He's right," Hanji says as I look back into the room to see Eren giggling at something Mikasa must've said. "I missed the beginning of the conversation, but if Armin is talking about the possibility of brain damage due to oxygen deprivation, then he's absolutely right. Eren didn't experience enough deprivation to suffer any serious damage or long term side effects. I'll go in and check up on him, but what Armin is diagnosing is entirely possible, and if it is the case, then he's right about the side effects being short term. I'll hold him overnight for observation, and by the time he leaves tomorrow morning, all the symptoms should be gone and he'll be right back to talking everyone's ears off with his animated stories."
"Sounds like someone else we all know," I mutter, and Armin snorts as Hanji sticks her tongue out at me.
We both follow her into the room, but despite our continued joking, I have to say that her words genuinely comforted me, and I have faith that what she and Armin told me is true. I have faith that Eren will make a full recovery and will be back to his old self- the one I love and adore with my entire existence- in no time at all.
I took some pretty big liberties with the medical stuff in this chapter heh... It had been a while since Eren had experienced any severe complications from his disease, and someone once mentioned Levi giving blood to Eren and I had a dire need for that too. So don't take any of this medical jargon too seriously