Hello and welcome to part 6 of the Arcade verse!
I use 1-3 lyrics from the original version of Arcade by Duncan Lawrence for this multifandom verse.
I've been shipping ereri since April 2017 and I still feel like such a noob to this ship. I can't believe that I never wrote a fic for them yet, haha. This fic is what actually kickstarted this whole Arcade verse. I started writing this one a few months ago before I even knew that I was going to be writing a whole multifandom verse surrounding Arcade. Hurray for ereri!
Please enjoy!
Tags: major character death, established relationship, torture, post-canon, canon divergence, angst, hurt no comfort
Small-town boy in a big arcade
I got addicted to a losing game
Eren stirred on the small cot at the sound of footsteps approaching his cell. He pushed himself up and rubbed at his tired eyes. He wasn't sleeping well anymore. He hardly ever got a good night's sleep down there. He didn't know if it was day or night. There wasn't a window in his cell. He hadn't seen the sun in months. Some of his brown hair hung messily unbound from his ponytail. There wasn't a decent hair tie around. Probably because nobody wanted to waste a perfectly good one on prison bait. He hadn't washed his hair in at least a week either or so he thought. He didn't keep track of the days anymore. He had no reason to.
"Hello, Levi," Eren muttered. His voice was weak from disuse. He kept his gaze low on the man's feet and slowly rose from the bed.
"You should be eating. Your clothes are hanging off of you more and more each day," Levi said softly and folded his arms against his chest as he took in the once strong, healthy young man. Eren was nothing more than a shell of his former self. "You look like you haven't slept in weeks either."
"Why does it matter? I'm going to die tomorrow," Eren said. It was an eerie sense of calm in his voice. Almost like he had given up long ago. "There are other people worthy of having a meal."
"Why did you call me here?"
"I didn't want a last meal. I wanted to see you instead. I wanted to hear your voice one last time. I wanted to see you one last time," Eren said lightly and finally looked up at Levi and took in his appearance as Levi did to him. Levi looked exhausted himself. He never was the greatest sleeper, but the hundreds of times the two of them shared a bed he seemed to get better sleep. It was almost a year since they last slept together. The final night in Marley before Eren launched his reckless plan.
"Why." More of a statement than a question. Levi held onto the bars of the cell and stared Eren down.
"Because I didn't want to die without speaking to you again. Because you rarely came to see me and it's been maybe three months or longer since I last saw you. Because you haven't looked at me like you did when we were together." Eren's breathing came faster and his temper bubbled under his warm, dirty skin. He gripped the edges of the lumpy, uncomfortable mattress. "Because I love you!"
"You…you don't get to say those things," Levi snarled and gripped the cell's bars even harder. "If you had any ounce of love for me you would have trusted me. You could have talked to me before you went on with your plan and endangered our nation and then killed almost the entire world."
"I did it to protect our nation. I did it to protect you! The entire world deserves to die! The entire world wanted us dead! Why can you not see that?!" Tears lined Eren's eyes. Emerald eyes that were once so full of determination and vengeance toward the titans that took his homeland and everything he loved him. A small town boy in a big arcade. Shiganshina was but a small drop in what was a big world.
"So many people died always trying to save you every time you were captured. Even during your little scheme back in Marley." Levi delivered nothing but the raw truth. Sasha's body flashed in Eren's mind. One of the many deaths caused because of him. One of the millions of deaths.
"I always trusted you, Levi." Eren couldn't stop the tears that fell down his cheeks. "I just wanted to protect Paradis and make our enemies pay. That's all I wanted. Please look at me like you used to. Please don't stop loving me. Please, Levi. I…I don't want to die tomorrow. I don't want to die," he sobbed, his face contorted in phantom pain from the rush of emotions in his final night alive.
A lump wedged its way into Levi's throat. He shivered at Eren's words, at the way he fell apart right in front of him. His chains rattled as he moved from the bed and tried to come closer on unsteady legs until he was in front of the bars. He dropped to his knees and reached for Levi's legs. Even if he could just touch him one last time…
Levi dodged his hands and stepped back. "I got addicted to a losing game. You and I were doomed from the start. We were never meant to be. This just cements it all, Eren. Can't you see?"
"You don't mean that," Eren sobbed and shook his head violently. "You don't…"
Levi couldn't breathe. He felt like an immense weight dropped upon his chest and squeezed the air out of his lungs. Millions of thoughts ran through his mind but were quick to stifle out at the sight and sound of Eren. He forced his fingers to uncurl from around the bars. He took one step back, then two, three, four.
"Goodbye, Eren." If Eren heard the quaver in his voice, to hell with it then. It would never make a difference anyway. As Levi drifted further and further away and rounded the corner to open the door to leave, he heard the sound of a body slamming into the stone floor. Levi braced himself against the wall and squeezed his eyes shut and took several deep breaths. It was all he could do to prevent himself from running back to Eren's cell.
A crowd gathered around the town square in Stohess—survivors of Paradis and world leaders that remained and their advisors. The leaders each had a turn with Eren while he was bound by his hands and feet to a metal pole on a raised platform. A turn that involved giving Eren a lash apiece with a long whip that had a sharp, jagged edge. Some of the leaders were a bit more creative. Sultan Khalid of Shahdad added a punch to the face that left blood dripping from Eren's nose, while Chieftain Mbonga of Jameela spat in his face. Those that remained loyal to Eren averted their eyes, including the people of Hizuru. The only nation that pledged its allegiance to the Eldian race.
The final leader stepped onto the platform and picked up the whip. Emperor Huitzilin of Tlacopan gave Eren a toothy smile. Eren eyed the man's tan sandals. Beautiful jade beads were sewn along the straps. Eren braced himself for the last hit from the whip before things were soon to be over. The gold cuff around the Emperor's bicep glistened when the sun hit it just right as he raised his arm. The whip cracked and a new slash opened up right over his collarbone where the skin was the tightest. He bit back a cry. No tears rose to his eyes.
Huitzilin hit him again. And again. And again. Then, his knee came up and drove home into Eren's chin. Not a green feather was out of place on his headdress from the sudden movement. There was a crack as Eren's head snapped back violently. He thought he saw stars. He felt spit hit his foot.
The whip dropped to the wooden planks and the strong warrior leader departed. Then, it was Levi's turn. He carried with him an old knife from a time that seemed like a lifetime ago. His face was blank and his steps were quick until he stood face to face with Eren one last time. The smell of Eren's blood was nauseating.
Levi pretended the crowd was nonexistent. Pretended that it was just him and Eren in the world. Just for a moment as he placed his other hand on Eren's bloody cheek. "I love you, too." His voice broke and he gave Eren a quick, tender kiss that left the two of them craving more. More to never come again. To the one he loved for four years, but never realized until it was too late. To the one who broke the titan curse, but destroyed the world. To the one whom he wished things could have turned out differently for.
Eren longed to wrap his arms around Levi. He wished it was all just a long nightmare. That he was asleep in a long nightmare-filled slumber.
Levi did it for him, though. Levi wrapped an arm around Eren's ruined body and tucked him close. He pressed the cold blade against Eren and took a deep breath.
"Goodbye, Levi," Eren slurred. His eyelids felt so heavy as he finally allowed them to close. His body felt like it was raw and completely removed from his skin.
Once he was pierced by the blade he no longer felt a thing. He smiled and slumped against Levi. The chains went slack. Levi still held onto him and quickly pulled the blade out. His clothes were hot and sticky from the gore. The blade clattered down onto the planks.
Somewhere a young woman screamed through the cheering and the ringing in Levi's ears. Somewhere else Her Royal Highness squeezed her eyes tightly shut.
Levi didn't see the two who came up to unlock Eren's chains. All he did was slowly lower him to the planks. He took one last look at the young man he loved before he turned away. He didn't wipe at the tears that flowed freely down his cheeks. He didn't dare look at the celebrating people. Instead, he looked at the blood that would forever be with him. Blood that would never be truly washed away.
Thank you for reading! Nice comments are appreciated!
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