"EREN!" the cry was torn from Levi's throat as he rushing towards the ledge, staring over it frantically. There was the clatter of feet as the others rushed over behind him, all expecting to see Eren's broken body on the ground.

Instead they say Gunther- the battered man had somehow manage to struggle into his 3DMG, and had anchored himself into the castle walls. He was holding onto the dazed-looking titan-shifter.

"I got him!" Gunther shouted upwards. Petra burst into tears of relief, sinking to her knees, hand covering her mouth, Eld went weak in the knees, and Auruo simply looked up at the sky, thanking whatever entity there was that Eren was alright.

Levi didn't relax- Eren was still in a perilous position, being held by Gunther on the wall, and he wouldn't relax until the boy was beside him….

Eren had expected pain. He'd expected to hit the ground below in a flash of it- to feel his bones explode from within his limbs, feel the wrenching as his insides were damaged beyond repair, and watch his blood make love with the dirt.

He'd accepted it- he'd welcomed it, really- because as he bled out from every orifice, he'd know that the Levi Squad was safe. He'd died protecting his friends from himself.

He hadn't expected to be snatched out of the air mid-fall- hadn't expected to have the breath knocked out of him in a painful crunch as he impacted roughly between someone's body and the castle wall- hadn't expected to hear the violent crack or feel white hot pain cloud his vision.

"I got him!" a fuzzy voice sounded as though it were a thousand miles away. It was familiar- had he been in possession of a clear mind, he would've recognized Gunther, but as it was, he was clinging to consciousness by a thread….

The next thing he knew he was being dumped onto a stone floor. He couldn't breathe- every time he tried to, his lungs rattled and his chest jolted with pain enough to make him cry out, if he'd had the lung capacity to do so.

He looked up through watery eyes to see the hazy image of his squadmates staring down at him, could hear the garbled cacophony as their voices seemed to blend together.

"Eren. Eren, can you hear me?" Levi asked. He placed his hand beneath the boy's chin, lifting his head so Eren's cloudy eyes were focused on him.

Eren was sitting on his knees on the rooftop, doubled over, clutching his chest as tears streamed down his face. It took him one second, then another, to focus in on Levi and gather the breath to say something around his tears and pain.

"Y-you should've just… Let. Me. Die." he choked out, before his abdomen spasmed, coughing involuntarily, warm crimson liquid bubbling past his lips, dribbling down his chin. He lost all control of his body, then, and had his eyes not rolled back in his head they would've seen the horrified expression on Levi's face before he collapsed into a heap, boneless.

"Eren. Eren, can you hear me?" Eren was alive, but he was clearly not without injury. As soon as Gunther had set the boy down on the rooftop his legs had given out, and Eren had ended up on his knees, doubled over. Levi had no idea what'd happened to him in the fall, but he needed to be treated.

Eren looked up at him dolefully, cloudy eyes struggling to lock on his face. "Y-you should've just… Let. Me. Die." the boy managed to rasp out, before he was coughing, blood bubbling past his lips and dribbling down his chin, warm in Levi's hands.

Levi didn't recoil in horror, he was so absorbed by the cadet's face. "Eren!"

The boy's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed, falling forward against Levi's legs roughly.

Levi was gathering the injured boy into his arms, turning to glare at Erwin frantically. "Send a goddamn medic to the infirmary." before he was gone, sprinting down the stairs and kicking open the door to the infirmary.

He laid Eren on a bed, turning the boy on his side and trying not to be alarmed when a stream of blood bubbled past his lips. He knew first aid, he'd been binding up injuries since he was young, but every time he's seen someone coughing up blood they died, and he couldn't handle it, couldn't face it if this boy died.

He grabbed a pair of scissors from a nearby metal tray, beginning to cut off the boy's shirt as fast as his shaking hands would allow. Eren's left chest was swelling horribly, the flesh bruised a mottled dark purple with spatters of sickly yellow on the flesh. The boy had managed to break some ribs, most likely.

Levi raked a bloodied hand through his hair, frustrated and bordering on frantic at his own inability to do something….

"Erwin! Where the fuck is the medic!?" he shouted out the door, before Jager made a gurgling sound and Levi had darted back over to the boy, bodily forcing the boy into a sitting position and leaning him forward. Bloody saliva dripped from the kid's mouth onto the sheets before Hanji was rushing in, with Erwin at her heels.

"She's not a fucking medic!" Levi protested. "She's just as likely to kill him as she is to help…."

But Hanji was already moving forward, reaching out gingerly when she saw Eren's ribs and frowning. "He's broken some ribs and has chest trauma. Lay him back…."

"And let him drown in his own blood?" Levi scoffed, raising an eyebrow.

Hanji rolled her eyes. "Fine, we'll prop him up on pillow, but keep him still."

Levi wordlessly obeyed as Erwin gathered up pillows to prop the boy up, and Levi kept Eren's limp arm around his shoulders, keeping the boy leaning forward. Eren looked positively awful.

"Lay him back slowly. Levi, make sure he doesn't choke." Hanji said, stepping back for a moment, eyes worried.

"Oi! Are you going to do something to fix him or no?" Levi demanded, impatient.

"I'm thinking!"

"He's got chest trauma, what's there to think about!?"

"There's not much I can do for him, alright!?" Hanji burst out. Her hands had clenched into fists, and her eyes were looking glassier than usual behind her goggles- Levi's eyes widened when he realized they were filled with… tears.

"He should be healing by now. I would wrap his ribs, but that'd restrict his breathing, and with all this blood…." Hanji trailed off, looking absolutely, utterly defeated. "I'm worthless."

Levi's eyes widened slightly at her reaction, and he realized she was slipping into despair.

He also noticed Eren had scraped his arm quite badly on the wall when Gunther had caught him, and he hurriedly spoke. "Oi. Do something about that."

Hanji was on her feet, then, rushing to get bandages and blinking heavily, simply glad to be doing something. Still, once she was done cleaning the wound they were left in silence again, and hopelessness started to creep in.

"Levi- could you take his pants off? I wanna make sure he doesn't have any more injuries…."

Levi complied, gently tugging off the boy's pants to reveal a large blood-stain on the right thigh of his boxers.. Levi quietly slid the fabric up past Eren's thigh, expecting to see a wound of some sort…. His breath caught in his throat when he came face to face with the dozens of white lines marring the flesh, and when he realized that the blood on Eren's boxers was dry- it was an old stain.

"No…." he breathed, clenching his teeth and closing his eyes. He felt useless- absolutely, totally stupid. He'd been a fool to think Jager had been opening up to them, been an idiot to think that Eren had stopped hurting himself simply because he didn't see the lines on the boy's arms. After his first outburst when they'd told him he was searching his room, he should've known the boy would keep in more secret.

Erwin sighed, staring at the ground guiltily, while Hanji stepped back, hands shaking as she blinked rapidly and breathed heavily.

"Oi- Hanji. It's not your fault…." Levi started.

"It is my fault, Levi, and don't you dare lie and tell me it isn't!" Hanji shouted, eyes murderous. "I'm the one who's always experimenting with him, I should've known, should've seen it…."

Hanji's eyes had fallen to the floor along with a few stray tears, and her arms hung limply at her sides, the fight knocked out of her. She turned, surprised, when Erwin placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Guilt won't solve anything. What do we need to do to keep Eren alive?"

Hanji took a breath, composing herself, swiping a sleeve across her face. "R-right. He's had chest trauma, broken ribs…. The best thing we can do for him is keep him still. His wounds should heal, though I don't know how long it will take, since his regeneration is clearly… compromised… by his emotional trauma."

Erwin nodded, taking it into consideration.

"We'll need someone with him at all times, incase he wakes up or starts to struggle."

Levi nodded wordlessly, pulling over a chair and sitting down beside the boy's bedside. "I'll take first shift." he said, leaving no room for argument. truthfully, he planned on taking the first shift, the second, and the third.

Eren would survive this- he'd make sure of it.

MAILBAG

OtakuKidXD, Chapter 7

I'm so surprised and pleased by the reference to the trauma that Eren went through as a child. Having that in there and having him react to it is absolutely fantastic. It's like a PTSD from childhood coming to life.
Not to be a downer, but if he has a PTSD like reaction to the choking, why not in front of titans? They did kill his mother and some of his teammates and also bit off his LEG and ARM! Not to mention swallowing him whole. Wouldn't he be getting like serious reactions to stuff like that too?
Again, sorry for being a stikler, but isn't it too soon for Eren to be attempting suicide? It's been, what, a few weeks top since he hid his cutting better, but all because of one incident he tries to kill himself? I won't comment on THAT anymore, mainly since I hope you have some sort of plan in mind. Not sure how your going to pull off your next chapter and I worry that it'll give you a writer's block.
I love this fanfic, I really do. I just hope you don't write yourself into any corners. Otherwise...
Keep up the great work and I hope to read another chapter from you again! XD

Once again, another thought provoking review! :)

I suppose Eren's PTSD with Titans is dimmed due to the ways he dealt with it as a child- when Eren's mother was killed before his eyes, he took all the trauma and made it into hate, made ti his drive in life, and as such, he's never been afraid of titans.

However, when Eren was nearly choked to death as a child, he never really talked about ti or coped with the incident, instead internalizing it. PTSD is heavily influenced with how people deal with trauma. If a victim uses the trauma as a resolve (such as being a victim of the titans to wanting to kill them all), they have much less PTSD than if they simply internalize the incident (As Eren did with the choking incident). He let it alone, never really talking about it, so it was left to fester and bubble up later (like when Gunther attacked him).

As for Eren's suicide attempt- I feel like he was sufficiently triggered, since he was already so obsessed with controlling his dangerous side- once he attacked Gunther and realized that, even with his cutting, he'd failed to keep himself from hurting others, he felt the only thing left he could do was end himself.

I don't plan on painting myself into any corners- wish me luck! :D

Guest, Chapter 7

Hmm. First of all, I absolutely love your writing. Second of all, I have a feeling that Gunther is going to end up saving Eren in the next chapter, because he didnt run up with the others. And third of all? I absolutely positively adore this story because I had been looking for something like this for ages. And I definitely support this story. Keep on writing!

Dang it! I was hoping everybody would guess Gunther was too injured to be of any use and that this chapter would be a surprise to everybody, but you, Sir, are a psychic. :)

kittylover195678

What was weird, was the fact that i kept having this little headcanon of Levi just jumping after him, trying to go under him to sheild his fall xD But either way, great chapter! Its great how you interpreted all these thoughts and everything, like others have said. Well done

You, my good Sir, just managed to shatter all the angst I wrote all at once with that headcannon and nearly made me laugh out loud. Thank you for ruining that, lol. ;)

SomethingMore, Chapter 7

Must. Have. More.
This is the most amazing fan fiction I have read. I love/hate how you ended the chapter, and the way you described Eren is amazing. The tension on the roof was wonderfully written,and the horse part... I am lost for words. Don't feel rushed to make new chapter, though. Rome wasn't built in day.

Why thank you! :) I do my best when it comes to chapters, but I'd rather keep you waiting than post something sub par.

Sheena, Chapter 7

F**k that was intense : didn't see that coming. I doubt that Eren would die. With his fast healing, he could be in a coma for a few days or weeks. I bet they would also find out about the scratch he made on his thighs. I hope for Eren to be at peace. Thanks for the fast update! The chapter was so good it shocked me lol. XD

Why thank you. Though I must remind you- Eren's healing in influenced by him emotional state, meaning that right now- his healing might be so lax to allow him to bleed out or die.