TITANS. aot

TIME | e. jaeger

eren | gender-neutral!reader

warning:
manga spoilers, marvel's "what if" spoilers

                                                                                             
                                                                                             
     the strong metallic smell and rotting bodies was enough to make eren nauseous. it was pungent, swarming the atmosphere with its thick tendrils of dark red smoke. his vision blurred, mind hazy and blacking out almost, before finally making sense of his surroundings. rubble and broken glass shards covered the ground, adding into the cesspool of dead bodies around eren. 

     blood covered his calloused hands, dripping and pooling onto the cement floor and staining his ragged pants. the yells and cries of the civilians as they run to somewhere safe, paired with the faint explosions and gunshots filled the dark air of liberio, yet eren droned them all out.

     emerald eyes glazed over the body laid across him, color lost and body cold, his breathing labored as his hands shook in front of him.

     "no... no, no, no." he mumbled again and again in disbelief, voice cracking. his throat clogged up, salty tears stinging his beautiful eyes, before shakily wrapping his arms around the body as he pulled them close to his warmth. he cringed at how cold the body had became, weightless in his touch. "not again, please... no..."

     amidst the deadly disaster he created, he sat on the ground he trampled the civilians of marley in, surrounded by thousands of bodies drowning in their own blood, with your lifeless body in a tight hold between his arms. the guilt and sadness he felt because of the crimes he had committed couldn't compare to the heartbreak and sorrow that swallowed him up like the ocean as he looks at your face, bloodied yet so peaceful.

     a loud cry left his lips, shrilling and unpleasant.

     his hold on you tightened, shaking you awake as if you would just open your eyes and laugh for pranking him in the silliest way possible. eren did everything he could, pleading for you to wake up silently, covering up your wounds to stop the blood, doing cpr as best as he could even though he failed at those tests in the past.

     but no matter what he does, your eyes wouldn't open.

     "please, y/n... please..." he gasped out, his long hair falling over his eyes to hide the tears that streak down his soot-covered face. hands cupped your soft cheek, stroking the skin as he sobbed and pleaded for you to wake up again and again even if his voice rasped out.

     cold and lifeless. two combinations that eren has always hated ever since he watched his mother die.

     "i can't lose you too..." eren croaked out, closing his eyes. "wake up, please!"

     "eren," mikasa's concerned voice filled the silence of little sanity he has, jumping down from the nearby building as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "we have to go. it's not safe. they can come back sooner than you think."

     he didn't budge, however. he continued clutching your lifeless body, pressing you against him as if it would save you miraculously. "y/n wouldn't want you to risk your life after all of this," she spoke softly, trying to soothe the brown-haired man with her best efforts.