•《 '' This Doesn't End Here. '' 》• || AOT Zombie Apocalypse AU.

' Freedom Is In Sight. '

"That's amazing news," Erwin responded warmly. "Um... Commander Erwin... if you want," Eren began, "I can give the cure to you and Ymir now."

Erwin nodded once. Ymir appeared suddenly from a hallway, Historia at her heels. "I can get my humanity back?" Ymir asked.

Eren turned to her and nodded. "Do you want to?"

"Do I?" Ymir snorted, walking closer. "C'mon! I'd love to be human again!"

When Erwin gave Eren another nod, Eren took out a fresh syringe and filled it with a dose of the cure. Ymir held out her arm, waiting for Eren to inject her.

"Ready?" Eren checked. "Ready," Ymir confirmed. Eren stuck the needle in her arm. Ymir winced. Eren injected the serum, then removed the syringe. Ymir opened her mouth, but only a scream came out.

Her scream brought Historia to her side. "Is everything alright?" she asked nervously.

Ymir had dropped to the ground, writhing in pain. Historia knelt beside her, holding her girlfriend close. Eren watched as Historia gently ran her hands through Ymir's hair, murmuring softly to her.

After a minute or two, Ymir stopped writhing. Eren stood by and watched as she lifted her hands and studied her skin. He jolted as the former zombie started crying.

"I'm human again!" she exclaimed. "It really worked! Eren, you genius bastard!"

Historia was apparently crying now, too. Eren took a step back as the others flooded the room, coming to see what had happened.

Eren realized Erwin was staring at him. "Are you ready, Commander?" Eren asked, looking up at him. Erwin nodded, holding out one bare arm. Eren hesitated when he remembered how Ymir had reacted to the cure.

Erwin gave a small nod. Eren let out a sigh; he knew the commander had a higher pain tolerance than the average person. So he carefully cleaned and sterilized the syringe and filled it with more of the dull purple liquid, then injected it into Erwin's arm.

If it hurt the commander at all, he showed no sign of it.

Levi moved closer to be by Erwin's side. Eren was certain he could just barely see the smallest glint of concern in Levi's eyes, and a smaller hint of pain in Erwin's.

Erwin pursed his lips, looking away and taking a seat. Levi sat beside Erwin, blinking at him. He seemed suddenly less like 'humanity's strongest soldier' and more like the 30-something-year-old man he really was beneath that cold exterior.

Eren realized he was probably one of the only people to ever see Levi in that state. It only took a few moments for the cure to take over, and Eren didn't miss the flicker of relief in Levi's eyes when Erwin's humanity returned.

"I didn't think it was possible," Porco muttered. "But you did it." He blinked dumbly at Eren. Eren didn't miss the look of awe in the warrior's eyes.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't easy," Eren replied. "And your snarky comments didn't help me at all."

Porco flinched. Eren snorted and looked the other way, towards the four new faces in the room.

"Who are they?" Annie asked. Eren hadn't even noticed her before. "The test subjects," he replied with a shrug. He nodded at them. "Go ahead and introduce yourselves."

"I'm Krysta," said one of them. "Krysta!" Ymir gasped. Krysta tilted her head slightly. "I used to be called Christa, when I was hiding my name a while ago," Historia explained. Krysta blinked, then gave a small chuckle. "What a coincidence."

Historia nodded with a soft giggle.

"I'm Ray," said another one of the subjects. Ray was roughly Eren's height. "And I'm Alex," introduced one of the others. "And I'm Lynnette!" said the final one. She poked Alex's shoulder. "I'm his sister."

"Little sister," Alex corrected. Lynnette rolled her eyes. "Only by two years," she muttered. Ray raised his hand. "Lynnette's my girlfriend."

Historia gasped. "Congratulations!" she exclaimed. Lynnette blinked. "Thank you," she said sweetly with a soft smile.

Historia returned the soft smile. Then Lynnette paused. "Krysta's the youngest of us all," she announced with a mischievous grin.

Krysta scoffed. "I'm only three years younger than you, Lynnette!" she protested.

Ray, Alex, and Lynnette chuckled quietly while Krysta huffed and crossed her arms.

Levi cleared his throat. "Not that it matters, but how old are you four?"

"24," Alex responded. "23," Ray replied. "22," Lynette said. "19," Krysta admitted.

"Some of us here are 19," Porco told them. Levi nodded. "Eren here is one of them," he added, looking over at the soldier.

Eren jolted when his name was mentioned. He felt like shrinking as Levi continued, "He was the one who invented the cure."

"Really?" Lynnette blinked. "Thank you, Eren," Alex said to him. Eren cleared his throat. "Uh- don't worry about it," he mumbled.

Looking back at the group of former zombies, Eren realized they all sort of looked like his deceased friends.

Krysta looked like Mikasa, with shoulder-length black hair and gray eyes. Eren felt his heart twist as he studied her, and then the others.

Lynnette reminded him of Sasha, with her tied-back red hair. Ray looked like Armin; fragile-framed with blonde hair and soft blue eyes that held more knowledge than his age might suggest. Alex looked much like Reiner; he had dull blonde hair, goldish eyes and a broad-shouldered, muscular body.

Visions flashed through Eren's mind. Memories of all the times he'd hung out with his friends when they were younger. Memories of time spent facing their own hell on Earth and recovering afterwards. And then the painful memories of the end of their lives.

Tears sprung to Eren's eyes. He quickly rushed to another room, biting his tongue as he locked himself inside, trying not to cry.

He heard the rest of the group's voices as they began to talk.

"Why did he run off like that?" Krysta asked. "You look like people we used to know," Levi explained. Eren heard a few small gasps, and then soft apologies.

He curled up, trying desperately to hold back his tears. But ultimately, he failed. So there Eren sat, sobbing as he ran through memories of his time with the people he'd lost.

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woohoo! im crying over my own story!

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