Dancing With Death: An Ereri Fan Fiction

Chapter 1: The Calm After the Storm

"Our sole salvation..."

Levi heaved a sigh, hearing the furry piece of shit speak. He probably woke up from the sound of the rain or the water dripping into Zeke's mouth.

"...is Eldia's euthanization."

Levi pulled the reins of his horse to a stop, turning around to glare at the devil.

"Did you say something?" Levi's brow arched at this nonsense. Did he hear him right? "Euthanization?"

Levi stepped into the cart. His eyes shone brightly in rage as he glowered at Zeke wheezing for air, considering a literal thunder spear was in his torso. For a second there, Levi felt sorry for the man. Whenever they met, Zeke was always on the brink of death. He deserved it, though. He's killed almost everyone Levi's cared about. He shouldn't be sorry.

"You're about to find yourself in a Titan's mouth, listening to what it sounds like to be digested."

Zeke looked at him. His blue eyes were losing their spark, not that there was much to begin with. But Zeke looked exhilarated last night, eavesdropping on him and his comrades right before he screamed like a wailing monkey and turned the Scouts into Titans that Levi had to kill. Zeke must've thought little of him that he wouldn't kill his comrades. Levi had already killed too many people to count. Feeling sorry for their deaths didn't mean anything anymore. Too bad they only had a few days to get to know each other. But Zeke has to know that Levi would never hesitate to take on anyone, whether a Titan, civilian, or a friend, if it meant Zeke would die in his hands.

"Compared to how you stole the lives of my comrades, it sounds like a pleasant way to die," Levi said with a scowl on his face.

"I didn't steal..." Zeke spoke softly, like any moment could be his dying breath. "I saved lives."

Levi's eyes darkened at the words. He would've delighted in hearing Zeke's final words, regretting all the things he had done from Ragako Village when he turned innocent civilians into Titans to Shiganshina, where he massacred Levi's friends, including Erwin, all the way back to Liberio Interment zone where the war broke. Thousands of women and children were caught in the chaos Zeke and Eren had planned together.

Not one of those lives were saved.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"The lives of the children they would bear..." Zeke murmured, eyes rolling back at the pain he must've been enduring. He was too weak to heal the wounds Levi would cut open for his leisure and safety. "...from this cruel world."

Levi noticed the steam from Zeke grow as the wounds started closing. He wouldn't let this beast heal that quickly, or else he might shift into a Titan again, not that Levi couldn't handle him. He was too tired to fight and needed to get back to Shiganshina and have someone eat Zeke.

"Looks like your legs are growing back," Levi sighed, drawing his sword as he aimed it at Zeke's thigh.

"Isn't that right..." Zeke closed his eyes, breathing a mouthful of air before screaming, "Mr. Ksaver! I hope you're watching!"

Levi was taken aback as Zeke shouted, arching his back and pulling the wire off the thunder spear. The world fell in slow motion. The raindrops looked static, hovering in the air like small, insignificant balls. The fuze ignited so slowly that the sparks from the casing looked like millions of stars. Even the wind felt still against Levi's skin. Everything, everywhere, stopped for a moment, enough time for Levi to regret trusting Zeke that he wouldn't give up his life to get away from him. Levi knew what he had to do. He needed to brace for impact and cover himself before he would be seriously injured. But it only took a drop of rain falling on the wooden cart before everything returned to normal, and Levi was too late to cover himself.

Thunder roared as the armament exploded in front of Levi, blowing him and Zeke away from the cart in flames.

Levi didn't know where he landed, but every fiber of his body hurt. His vision blurred out as his ears rang from the blast. He couldn't bring himself to get up and find Zeke. He couldn't even lift a finger to save his life.

"How shitty," Levi managed to blurt out, chuckling at the sudden turn of events.

He had miscalculated. He didn't know Zeke just as much as Zeke didn't know him. Zeke finally beat him. Ackermans may be as powerful as the nine Titans, but they are only humans. They can't regenerate.

As Levi lay there, dying, he couldn't brush the memory of Erwin giving his last order—to kill the Beast Titan. He never failed to complete any of his commands. Never! But this last order... why was it so hard to do?

Nevermind that. Levi can't do anything about it anymore. He might die soon. There was no use regretting something like that. Levi's motto in life is to live without regrets. He could only hope that someone out there would assume his position and kill Zeke before he came in contact with Eren.

"Eren..." Tears swelled in his eyes as his name left his mouth. "Eren..." he muttered so softly, hoping Eren, his most beloved Eren, would hear him and save him from this mess.

But how could he? Eren was thrown in jail and stuck there until the Military found someone to turn into a Titan and eat him. That was the news he had heard from the other Scouts. No one wanted to say it to his face because everyone knew what Eren meant to Levi.

"Eren..."

There was no use calling his name in the middle of nowhere, yet Levi wanted it to be the last word he said in this life. If death is as calm as they say it would be, he wanted his own to be beautiful, albeit in chaos, and what else could be more chaotically beautiful than a pair of green eyes shining brightly at him, and a smile that could turn every wrong thing right?

There was a reason Hange didn't let Levi meet with Eren, only ordering him to babysit Zeke. They knew if Eren asked, Levi would travel to the ends of the earth with him, burning everything in their path. No one wanted that to happen.

But if some god out there was looking down on his people, listening to their petty prayers, Levi hoped he had his attention because there was something he wanted to ask before death claimed his poor soul.

"Let me see him one last time," Levi prayed, looking at the dull sky, crying for him. "Eren. Let me see Eren. Please."

Levi had never begged for anyone in his life, not even when Kenny left him. He saw him turning his back on him, but he never screamed and pleaded with the man to stay with him. There was no point in asking people to stay when they wanted to leave.

But this time, this one time only, Levi was begging to see Eren and let him stay with him until his dying breath. That's all he asked.

"Please," Levi begged the heavens one last time before his body turned cold and numb. His eyelids felt heavy, and Levi didn't have the strength to keep them open anymore. As darkness started seeping into his system, a familiar figure appeared before him.

"Captain," said the most beautiful angel.

Levi heaved a content sigh, a smile forming on his lips as the man before him kneeled and caressed his cheek lovingly.

"Eren," he said before everything went dark.

It's true what they said. Death was calm.

To be continued...