Lovers (Killers) Ereri/Riren AU

Chapter Nine

A/N: I'm so sorry...I'm so so sorry... (heheheh I sound like the Doctor :D). No wait why am I smiling this chapter is depressing I'm supposed to be depressing aww :(

Disclaimer: Don't own SNK or anything else except the plot.

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Rehabilitation was going great.

Eren had been released from the hospital with a huge party and lots of hugs and tears from the nurses and doctors that had basically adopted him as their own child. Levi was shocked by the amount of people whose lives Eren had impacted so strongly.

Well, that was two months ago.

A month into his rehabilitation, still taking daily tests with his transplant team, Eren decided to move out from Armin's grandfather's house and instead live with Levi. It wasn't a problem; Levi's house was pretty big and his uncle was hardly there. And that meant they could easily have sex or make-out sessions without fear of being interrupted by Mikasa, Armin, or his grandfather (they'd almost given the old man a heart attack). The tests were all going well, and Eren's new heart showed no signs of rejecting him. Levi and Eren could go on real dates; Eren was able to go back to school to finish up his sophomore year of high school, and Levi was able to scrape together a passing grade for his sophomore year of college. They went out to the park frequently, sometimes to a Starbucks, and Eren's collection of paintings and drawings of Levi grew and grew. Some Levi wasn't even aware of, and several new ones of him sleeping appeared every month.

And Levi continued to work on his story. He gave Eren a new chapter every time he finished, and the younger boy devoured them eagerly. He even drew fanart for them sometimes, with Levi helping him with the uniforms of the people in the Survey Corps. It was a fun thing for both of them, and it made Levi love writing even more when Eren's eyes lit up every time he revealed a new chapter.

Levi told Eren stories about Isabel and Farlan and some of their stupid adventures, and Eren told him about his mother and how kind and wonderful she'd been before the fire. They both comforted and helped each other whenever one of them suffered a nightmare, but those were getting less and less frequent as time went on and the pain they had felt was slowly buried beneath the absolute love and adoration they felt for each other. Eren's last attack had been the one he had had when at the hospital with Levi, and the older boy had stopped blaming himself for his friends' deaths after Eren lectured him on it after a particularly horrible nightmare.

Of course, this perfect life couldn't last. And it was perfect. They were completely enamored with each other, and Mikasa started to warm up to Levi more, and the nurses and doctors from the hospital came by sometimes to visit. Levi started to make good friends with them, especially Hanji, which surprised everyone. He even showed them the first few chapters of the story he'd written for Eren.

And then the anniversary of Eren's mom's death came up. Even though the younger boy had basically stopped having nightmares, it didn't mean he was over all the pain and tragedy her death had caused him. Even with Levi there, the impending attack was almost inevitable.

It hit when none of them were expecting it, and at the worst possible time.

Eren had just had his tests with the transplant team the day before, and they had taken the results back the the hospital for analyzing, but the transplant team said he was doing very well and probably didn't have anything to worry about, he just had to watch himself today.

Mikasa was coming over for dinner, Armin was cooking, Levi was trying (and failing) to not set the kitchen on fire, and everything was going well. Eren was upstairs, looking through old photo albums because he wanted to remind himself of what his mother's smile looked like so he remembered some of what his old family was like before he went downstairs to join his new one.

No one knew how horribly wrong things would go.

It started when Levi was wiping down the dinner table, Mikasa was setting it, and Armin was just pulling a pie out of the oven. There was a crash from upstairs, and they all froze instantly, glancing around at the others' expressions before simultaneously dropping what they were doing and sprinting for the stairs.

Mikasa reached Eren's room first, and as soon as she saw what was inside, she quickly ran back down the stairs, pulling Armin with her as she shouted, "We have to call an ambulance!"

Levi ran into the room next. Eren was lying on the floor clutching at his chest as he struggled to take a breath but failed, gasping in pain.

"Eren! Eren, hold on, please," Levi begged, dropping to his knees beside him. I have to find his inhaler, he thought numbly, getting up and running to the bedside table and searching through the mess to try to find the inhaler. He shouted in frustration when he couldn't find it and went back to Eren desperately, holding the younger boy in his arms.

"Come on Eren, breathe with me," he said desperately. "Come on. Come on, please don't leave me, I can't live without you…"

"Lev...i," Eren gasped out. "I-I lo...love...y-y-ou…" His green eyes were full of tears that dripped down his cheeks as he struggled to inhale.

"I love you too, and you'll get through this, I promise," Levi felt his own eyes start to fill with tears because he couldn't lose Eren, not now, not ever—

"Step back," a serious voice said and suddenly they were surrounded by paramedics. Levi recognized Erwin's face among them and reluctantly let go of Eren, letting him be taken away by the team of medics. They were his best chance of survival, but it still hurt that they were taking his Eren away from him and he couldn't do anything about it. Never had the feeling of helplessness felt so suffocating.

~o)0(o~

Levi and Armin arrived at the hospital only three minutes after the ambulance did. Mikasa had rode in the ambulance, and Levi had let her because she'd known Eren so much longer than he had, and it would be cruel to take this time away from her.

But he still couldn't stop himself from feeling some resentment towards her for taking his own time with Eren away.

When they got into the hospital, the doctors wouldn't let them see Eren. They were apparently performing emergency surgery because Eren's new heart hadn't been able to survive Eren's attack and was now rejecting him. They were trying to give him the drugs that would help to stop the rejection, but it wasn't working.

Levi felt his eyes fill with tears when he heard the news. Eren was dying, just like Isabel and Farlan had, and he couldn't do a thing about it. Gone were the gentle kisses and the passionate "I love yous" whispered in the dark before bed. Gone were the sweet dates and the amazing sex and Eren's bright smiles. Levi's world had turned into heaven while he was with Eren, and now he was plummeting back towards hell.

Mikasa's strong exterior was finally broken by this news and she started crying into Armin's shoulder, who looked like he was trying to fight back tears himself.

"He can't be gone," she cried. "He can't. He's always been so strong...he can't...no…"

"He's not dead yet," Levi said coldly, not bothering to look at the two who raised their faces to him in shock. "The surgery might work in the end."

He knew he was clinging to false hope, but that false hope was all he had right now, and he would be damned if he was going to let go of it. Eren had survived the first surgery, and he'd been doing so well. It was just another attack. He'd survived so many of them before. He was going to survive this one too, and then he was going to come home to them. They were going to have their happily-ever-after.

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A/N: I'm a terrible person...