Nightmares~
{Notes: I've got the insperation from a doujinshi that i found on instagram. The doujinshi is not mine and the credits goes to it's rightful owner. The art is not mine either, so here's the credits to it as well: " hamu160/media". This is a Levi x Eren (Ereri/Riren) fanfic and a oneshot. Reviews are highly appreciated. Enjoy ^-^}
"…leave me alone anymore." The words rolled down his tongue.
His right arm was in the air with fingers separated from each other. It was as if he was grabbing after something, or rather, someone. Sweat pearled on his forehead and his body heated up into an uncomfortable state. The teen's sea green eyes were wide open in terror, just like his dry lips. His left hand was grasping tightly on the rag that he used as a blanket.
The frightened teen tried to calm himself. It was only a nightmare after all. He's been having the same nightmare every night for the past few years, but not this time. Something was odd with this nightmare.
He reflected back on the nightmare. After years of having the same nightmare, it was impossible for him to forget it. The horrible scenes from the nightmare that are excerpt from his memory have burnt into his mind and threatening to take over his sanity.
The nightmare started of like usual. Eren was in his old town, Shiganshina, where he lived before it was destroyed. The boy was standing beside his mother; both of them had smiles plastered on their faces. The sun shined merrily on them and made it look like something from a fairy tale.
The next thing he remembered was the sun disappearing. Thin streams of light vanished and everything went dark. The boy felt someone pull at him. He whipped his head toward where he thought his mother was and held out his handing, wanting to grab her and escape from whatever that was scaring the others together. But his mother wasn't there.
The boy looked around, desperately in search of his lost mother, and shortly after, he found her. She was dangling from the air in the hands of a huge titan.
For each second that went, the brown-haired boy was pulled further and further away from his mother. His shouts went unheard as he grabbed in vain after his mother.
Then everything went black.
Normally, this was where his nightmare would end. Eren would wake up by now and find out that he had once again cried in his sleep.
But not this time, this time, it continued with something new.
Eren felt older, more mature. His view was blurry at first, he blinked several times and just like a camera that caught focus, everything become clear. The teen noted his surrounding, everything seemed so oddly familiar. Each tree, each pebble, each blade of grass and each flower petal. It was the forest where the Survey Corps would have their expeditions in.
Worry gnawed in the pit of his stomach, something was going to happen; he knew it. It didn't take long before what was bound to happen to flash right in front of his eyes.
The teen had blood and wounds all over his body. His Survey Corps uniform was tearing apart and his tears were already leaking out of his eyes.
Suddenly, the branch under him gave in and cracked in the centre sending Eren tumbling through the air, down to the hard ground. A chilling scream escaped his throat and echoed through his ears.
The speed slowed down and everything was in a torturous slow motion.
The brown-haired boy felt pressure against his chest, he quickly reopened his eyes. An older male had his left hand on his chest and violently pushed him away, sending himself down to the ground. Eren gasped for air as the man under him was pulled by gravity away from him. The teen found himself hovering in the air, but towards a different direction than before.
The raven headed gazed up towards Eren, looking straight into his glossy eyes. Eren shouted, he yelled after the older man, using his name like never before, when he saw exactly where Levi was heading. The older man held out his hand towards Eren with a sad smile plastered on his bloodied face.
"Don't go…" Eren pleaded hoarsely.
Levi fell further and further down, taking Eren's heart with him, leaving a devastated teen. The open jaws of a titan under the raven headed were terrifying, all Eren wanted to do was grab Levi's hand and run away with him, but the reassuring smile on Levi's face telling him that it was too late kept Eren in place.
"…please don't…." He continued.
His surrounding went dark as if the something blocked the light source. The atmosphere was unbearably still and tense. It felt like among the shadows lurked monsters that wanted to see him in suffer.
Scenes from what happened previously flashed past his eyes.
Eren woke up with a jerk. His chest was heaving from the amount of air going in and out of his lungs.
"…leave me alone anymore." Eren finished his sentence from the dream with trembling lips. He was still in shock after the horrifying nightmare.
I need to, I just have to check.
Like a new force had taken over his body, the teen leaped out of his bed. The cool stone floor tiles embraced his skin and cooled him down. He ran bare-footed towards the door that kept him in the cell. The teens shaking fingers pulled open the door and ran up the dark grey stone stairs. His legs moved by himself and the next Eren remembers is him facing an all-so-familiar door. There was a metal plate on the door with the name of his lover carved into it with cursive writing.
Not wasting a second, Eren kicked open the door with all his force. The shock and panic boiled in his blood and made him fidget with suspense. Though he was half asleep, he knew that if he woke up Levi by Eren, Levi would be furious and punish him for interrupting him in his sleep. But it was a risk Eren was willing to take. He just had to check Levi's wellbeing.
The teen whipped his head from side to side, searching for his Corporal's bedroom. He saw a door on the right side of the office. Without thinking twice, Eren pranced onto the door, almost breaking the door in middle.
Eren rushed over to the bed and ripped the blanket away from the bed, hoping to find a sleeping Corporal. But it was empty. The teen's mood sunk and his heartrate rose. It felt like his heart was going to break his chest in any second.
"LEVI?" Eren exclaimed as he run through the corridor. "LEVI?"
Tears were leaking from his eyes as his hands dragged against the walls for support. His knees were soon going to give away.
"Please…" The teen sniffled. "…God please…Levi…answer me…"
"Eren?" A pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into their arms.
"Levi?" The boy asked as he looked up, hoping to see the raven haired man's steel grey eyes.
"It's me, Hanji." The voice replied.
Eren could feel his heart sink in him. He pulled away from Hanji, but her arms were like locks around him.
"Hanji, please, I need to find Levi, do you know where he is? I need to find him, Hanji. I need to know he's ok. Please…please…" Eren's voice died down as Hanji shoved his head into her shoulder and let him cry out.
"You don't have to worry Eren, it was just a nightmare. Calm down, Levi's just out for a walk. He'll be back in a while." Hanji reassured with a soothing voice.
It was only a dream…right?
They stood there in that position for a while until Eren had calmed down. Hanji then gently dragged Eren with her to his cell and tucked him in. Eren's face was calm, but his eyes were still red after crying and his cheeks were rosy.
Hanji soothingly caressed with his cinnamon brown hair until he started to fall asleep.
"Hanji?" He asked, right before falling into unconsciousness.
Hanji hummed questionably, still stroking his hair.
"Levi's going to wake me up tomorrow with a kiss tomorrow, right?"
The female stopped in the middle of a movement from the unexpected question. Eren noticed and opened his eyes.
"He's going to kiss me good morning, just like other days, right Hanji? And I'm going to wake up with him as the first thing I see, right? He still loves me, right?"
"Corporal Levi loves you, Eren, and he'll always do." She replied.
Hanji didn't answer his question, but he didn't have enough time to say it before he fell asleep.
Hanji sat on his bed, long after the boy had fallen asleep. The smile that she had plastered on her face to reassure him that his lover would return tomorrow disappeared. All that was left was a deep feeling of guilt that gnawed her from within.
"Eren, remember that Levi loves you, ok? You have to take care of yourself, make sure your safe, 'cause that's what Levi had wanted. He's not here to protect you anymore, so you'll have to do it yourself. You can always come and talk to me; I'll always be here by your side. Stay strong, Eren, we believe in you." Hanji whispered to him before she got up and walked to the cell door. She gave the sleeping teen a last glance before exiting the cell.
Silence dropped down in the chilly cell. The teen stirred around in the bed.
"I will." He whispered as a single tear tripped down his temples.
V_V_V_V_V_V_V_V_V_V_V_V_V_V_V
"Eren!" Levi exclaimed, his voice echoed through the hallway making every cadet in several metres radius turn their heads.
The teen's head turned towards his lover's voice with a confused gaze. He doesn't remember doing anything that would make Levi angry.
"We need to talk." Levi continued with a serious tone and dragged Eren onto his feet.
"Wha-?"
The raven haired man interrupted him with a finger pressed against his lips and walked down the hallway.
Eren followed after him with his hands behind his back. His shoulders were pulled closed to his body as he rummaged through his memory trying to find an answer to his corporal's anger.
They walked towards Eren's cell under a tensed silence. Eren didn't notice since he was deep in his thoughts. Before he even noticed it, he was pushed into his bed forcefully.
"What was that for?" Eren asked.
"What was that for?" Levi gave a heartless laugh before he continued. "Why not you tell me why you've kept your distance from me? Do you know what everyone think when they see me chasing a stupid brat that pretend like he didn't notice me? Huh?" The older male asked.
He grabbed the teen's chin and forced him to look into his eyes. The teen stared at the man for a while, don't know how to reply. And when he finally realised, he angrily shoved Levi away from him.
"This world isn't all about you, Levi! I have feelings too! I've lost my sister a week ago and I've kept my distance to everyone, not just you. Why do you have to pester me the whole time? You should be comforting me, not asking more of me!" Eren yelled as he punched the bed with his fist feeling the springs inside it digging into his hand.
Levi was taken aback. The teen had never talked against him, even less raising his voice at him.
"Watch it, brat." He simply said through gritted teeth.
"So that's it…" Eren shook his head in disbelief; tears were threatening to come out. "'Watch it, brat'…is that all you're going to say? You know what, Levi. I now understand why the others think you're a heartless jerk."
"I said watch it." He repeated with a louder and more serious tone.
Levi's eyes darkened with anger and irritation. If Eren kept up with irritating him, he wouldn't be able to control himself.
Eren got up from the bed and pointed towards the cell-door. He knew that Levi acted heartless to put up an image for the others. But why was he acting that way to him? Levi knew that Eren had recently lost his adoptive sister to the titans, so why was he asking so much of him? Does Levi even love him?
"Are you the Corporal here?" The older male asked with his usual stoic expression and tilted his head slightly to the side for the effects.
The teen clenched his fists.
"Go." He simply said. "And leave me alone."
The corporal didn't budge. He sat there on Eren's bed staring at him sending chills down the teen's spine.
After a minute, Levi got up from his bed and stormed out the room, slamming the cell door shut after him.
Silence once again fell down in the silent cell. The heart-broken teen dragged himself to his bed and collapsed into it with a loud thump.
"God damn it, Levi. Why now? Why talk about it right before the expedition?"