And So It Ends | By : Sasunarufan13 Category: +. to F > Attack on Titan /Shingeki No Kyojin Views: 4851 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I don't own nor make profit of Attack on Titan. Hajime Isayama owns it. |
Author's note: This is a birthday fic for Cazzylove. Happy birthday, sweetie! (And yes, as you can see, I couldn't keep it to a oneshot *coughs*)
This is the first part of the story. The next one will be up next week normally ^^
Warnings: set a few years in the future, so I'm glossing over some events in the manga; established slash but in secret; age difference; Eren's pov; angst; MPreg (will be explained later how that happens); foul language; not completely following the manga as I'm not completely up to date yet
I hope you'll like it!
Part 1
The sharp sound of steam sizzling cut through the air and some birds nearby quietened down for a moment before they started their furious chattering once more. Wind made the leaves rustle and some young trees swayed gently with the force. Above the sun was shining brightly, casting its warm rays on the earth.
"That the last one?" Jean grunted, bringing his blades back down. He rubbed over his scarred left cheek with his sleeve.
"Looks like it," Mikasa answered blandly and jumped down from the dead titan's body before it completely evaporated. She chucked the dull blades to the ground and wrapped her red scarf – the edges frayed by now – tighter around her neck.
"At least in this perimeter," Hange muttered and stretched out their arms, yawning widely. "But it's now safer than it has been in centuries! We can deal with the remaining titans when they pop up." They gnawed thoughtfully on their lower lip and scratched the back of their head. "Although, taking into account the reports from the other groups, it appears that only around fifty titans are still roaming around. They are no bigger than sixteen feet at most, though, so no biggie!"
They received a couple of incredulous looks, but as always they didn't seem to take notice of them, clutching instead at their assistant's arm to blabber about an easier way to get rid of the remaining titans in one swoop.
"Back to the walls?" Captain Levi inquired flatly and Commander Erwin nodded.
Grim, blue eyes glanced quickly at the brunette standing a few feet away from the two men. "The Court has summoned us." He raised his remaining arm and called out, "Everyone, back to your horses! We'll return to the walls in fifteen minutes!"
"Do you think they'll have more of that delicious meat at dinner?" Sasha wondered, already salivating at the thought of getting her hands on the food. Her fingers – her right pink missing due to a close call with a titan a year ago – twitched rapidly in a parody of grabbing food.
Since the Survey Corps had managed to get rid of the majority of the titans near the walls, the food resources had nearly tripled. While food was still put under certain restrictions, they did receive bigger portions. Of course, for Sasha no portion was big enough to still her ravenous hunger.
"Kelly said they're receiving more meat this week, so we might be in luck tonight!" Connie crowed and fist pumped the air.
"You eat more than your share, Blouse, and I'll personally tie you up," Jean threatened and pulled himself up on his horse.
Ever the mature one, Sasha stuck out her tongue and then ran after Connie to get on her own horse.
"Eren?" Mikasa popped up next to him; her black eyebrows furrowed together in concern. "You okay?"
He gave her a quick smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Stop worrying, Mikasa," he said dismissively and turned around to go back to his own horse. Today there had been no need for him to join the attack; the three titans had all been no bigger than ten feet and it had been decided that Eren's Titan would only be used in the case of titans reaching more than ninety-eight feet.
Since they had got rid of the Ape Titan two years ago, not many titans even reached the height of twenty-five feet anymore. None of them complained about that, naturally. The more titans they got rid of easily, the quicker humanity could finally tear down the walls and spread out again over the earth. Already there were more villages popping up just outside the walls, but the majority of the people still remained behind the walls out of precaution.
Eren's dream to discover the world was getting closer with each titan they slew.
And yet it was also getting further out of his reach with each new summon of the Court. After finally reaching the basement and subsequently discovering what his father had hidden there, the Survey Corps had made it their sole mission to wipe out all the titans. The scouting part was left in the hands of the new Scouting Corps, led by the old man Pixis. They drew maps of the places they visited and the moment they encountered titans, they retreated and handed over the coordinates of the large beings to the Survey Corps. As soon as the titans in that area were wiped out, the Scouting Corps continued their mission.
So far they had already covered a perimeter of more than three hundred kilometres – not that large when taking into consideration how big the earth probably was, but it was definitely a lot more than humanity had ever dared to hope to regain. The further they travelled, the less titans they encountered. It made sense of course; their prey were humans, so they would not remain in places completely barren of people.
Each time the Survey Corps returned, Captain Levi, Squad Leader Hange and Commander Erwin were summoned to the Court where they had to explain their findings. With each successful mission, the members of the Court grew more excited – but they also grew more cautious towards Eren.
Eren hadn't had any dealing with the Court so far, but Captain Levi had bluntly told him four months ago that the Court was trying to decide his fate: let him live or have him executed. The man they called Humanity's Strongest hadn't beaten around the bush; there were more and more voices rising up demanding Eren to be executed once the final titan was slain. They didn't want anything related to the titans to remain alive – not even a titan shifter who was on humanity's side.
Eren's greatest wish of freeing humanity from the titans would at the same time be his death sentence. Sometimes it was hard to decide who was cruellest: the titans who ate people mindlessly or humanity who mercilessly got rid of anything they deemed unworthy.
For four months already Eren walked around with the knowledge that each mission could be his last one. He hadn't told Mikasa or Armin yet; he knew he should tell them, but every time he found himself alone with them, he couldn't bring himself to confess. Something in him held him back every time; a lump blocking his throat.
Time was slowly running out, though, and they deserved to know what would happen to him. At the same time he didn't dare to imagine how Mikasa would react. It wasn't that farfetched to imagine that she would plot to murder the entire Court if that meant Eren would stay alive. He couldn't let her do that. He couldn't let her ruin her life, let her be branded as a murderer, just so he could stay alive. But how on earth would he confess to his friends without them trying to rescue him?
He climbed on his horse, bending slightly forwards as he sank down on the saddle to grab the reigns and grimaced when his waistband dug into his stomach. Right, he still hadn't figured out why …
"Ready to go, Yeager?" Captain Levi appeared next to him; his grey eyes appraising him carefully.
"Yes, sir!" Eren immediately straightened his back, ignoring how the sun seemed intent on burning through his jacket.
The captain quirked an eyebrow. "I expect you at nine o'clock sharp tonight, Yeager. There is a pile of documents as tall as our four-eyed lunatic over there that needs to be send off. Nine o'clock sharp and not a second later," he barked and then urged his horse to go to the front where the commander was already waiting.
"Yes, Captain Levi," Eren muttered and took a deep breath; his stomach turning upside down.
A pile of documents, right.
"I heard there was some commotion during dinner," the older man remarked idly as he deftly unbuttoned his pristine white shirt.
Eren stiffened and signed the last report with a less steady hand. "What kind of commotion, sir?" he asked flatly, placing the report on top of the pile.
The sun had made place for its counterpart the moon and it cast its milky white rays over the tidy desk. The sky was clear, devoid of any clouds, promising a chilly night.
"The kind where a certain someone apparently demanded that his meat be as rare as possible to the point where it was practically raw as fuck and the cook refused." A slim, dark eyebrow rose up in incredulity. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this?"
Eren huffed and turned around to face his superior, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I was just in the mood for rare meat; it's not that weird," he said tersely and frowned. He had been ready to punch the cook, because the dickhead kept insisting the meat needed to be roasted until Mikasa had stepped in. He had received his rare meat barely ten minutes later.
"I thought you usually had your meat well done?" Levi – he wasn't his captain in this particular situation – questioned and sat down on the thin mattress.
"What does it matter? Tastes can change, you know," Eren pointed out and stood up, stretching his arms.
Levi smirked and his eyes glinted. "I know," he muttered, amused at something Eren didn't understand. The man beckoned him closer. "Come here; we still have a few hours left before you have to return to your room."
A bit thrown off at the direction the conversation had gone, Eren wandered over to the bed where Levi was waiting, leaning back on his hands. His shirt was open, revealing his sculpted chest; it never failed to attract Eren's attention, even after seeing the other man naked many times before. The dark haired man was practically made up entirely out of firm muscles; there was not a soft spot to be found on him.
With an almost inaudible huff, Levi pulled him closer by his hips until he was standing between spread legs. "I said we still have a few hours, but fuck, that doesn't mean you have to be as slow as a fucking snail," he sneered and started unbuttoning Eren's shirt, the latter shivering when calloused fingertips fleetingly brushed across his skin.
"Many apologies, sir," Eren retorted snarky and fiddled with Levi's popped up collar.
"You're getting fucking cheeky, Yeager," Levi remarked, flicking his side before he continued unbuttoning his shirt. When he was almost done, he suddenly paused. "The fuck is this?" Grey eyes stared incredulously at Eren's stomach.
Fuck! He had forgotten about that in his rush to be on time in Levi's office.
"Nothing," Eren muttered and took a step back, shame filling him as he tried futile to cover up his stomach.
"Nothing? If I didn't watch you train every day, I'd say you were slacking off," Levi said snidely and he narrowed his eyes. "What's going on, Eren?"
"No-not sure, okay?" Eren bit out, glowering at the other man. "It's – I've noticed it a few weeks ago, but it won't go away."
He had even increased the amount of training he did in an effort to get rid of it; it didn't work. If anything, it only made him nauseous at the end and the feeling wouldn't dissipate for more than an hour. It worried him immensely, because he had never had this problem before. It wasn't like he had started to stuff himself full with food either; the only change in his diet was his most recent craving for rare meat.
Levi furrowed his eyebrows. "Have you told someone about this?" he questioned warily; eyes flickering towards Eren's stomach, which was since a month no longer flat.
"No," Eren muttered, looking away. Who would he tell? What exactly would he tell them? That he didn't manage to get rid of the extra fat around his stomach that had appeared with no apparent cause?
"So you've been gaining weight inexplicably, but you didn't think to let yourself be examined?" the dark haired man asked incredulously and the look in his eyes was clear enough to let Eren know that the man thought he was a stupid idiot.
"Who would I ask?" Eren asked fed up and threw his hands up.
"Who would you – for fuck's sake, who does your regular examinations?" Levi snapped impatiently. "You should have gone to Hange!"
"I didn't want to bother them with it, okay!" Eren glared at the floor; one of the cleanest in the entire building.
"You'd think that after all those years you'd actually grown a fucking brain," Levi muttered darkly and stood up, buttoning up his shirt again.
The playful mood was entirely gone now.
"Button up," Levi ordered curtly. "We're going to Hange now."
"What? No, it's late now!" Eren protested, though he started buttoning his shirt close again. Clearly nothing was going to happen tonight, so there was no point in remaining half naked. "I'll see the squad leader tomorrow."
He nearly lost his balance when Levi gripped the front of his shirt and pulled him harshly down, glaring at him. "You're going to be examined now. End of story," he hissed and roughly pushed him back. "Come on now!"
Rubbing frustrated over his face, Eren cast a glance at the bed – where the sheets were faintly wrinkled – and uttered a soft curse, snatching his jacket from the chair. He followed Levi out of the room, stuffing his hands into his pockets to hide the fact that they were trembling.
This was so not how he had envisioned the evening to go.
"So despite the rigorous training our beloved Captain puts you through, you still gained weight, hm?" Hange muttered, pulling off the cap of their pen with their teeth as they grappled around their desk to find a blank piece of paper.
Eren saw Levi's face contorting in disgust, but the man remained silent, choosing to lean against the wall next to the closed door with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Eren himself had been pushed onto a chair in front of the scientist and he fidgeted slightly. Despite the years of knowing them and interacting with them on almost a daily basis, he still wasn't completely comfortable around Hange. Especially not when they slipped into their scientist mode; that usually meant a lot of uncomfortable and often painful experiments for him. He was fairly certain he would like them if they weren't his superior and weren't far too fascinated with how many parts of his body could be cut off before he wouldn't regenerate anymore.
So far they had refrained from actually cutting off parts except for when he was stuck inside his titan form.
"How long has this been going on?" they asked, looking at him expectantly while the pen hovered right above the scrap of paper they had managed to unearth from the dangerously teetering pile on the desk.
"Eh, not sure." Eren shrugged uncomfortably, picking at the nail of his pinkie. "I think around a month ago or so? At least that's when I started to notice it."
"Hm, anything else out of the ordinary?"
He hesitated briefly, but he could feel eyes drilling into the back of his head and he replied resigned, "I've – recently I've started to crave rare meat. And I can't train for long or too hard or else I get nauseous."
"Well, training for too long would have a lot of people become nauseous," they amended, hastily scribbling his answers down.
He shook his head, biting his lip. "No, this is different. I felt nauseous at the beginning when I wasn't used yet to the training, but that nausea always disappeared fast. This one takes hours before it finally disappears completely."
"Well, this is interesting," they mumbled and frowned at the paper. They placed it on the table and clapped in their hands. "All right, first off, I'm going to take a blood sample!"
"You think his blood is going to tell you why he's gaining weight?" Levi questioned sceptically.
"You never know," they muttered, rummaging through one of the drawers. They let out a triumphant sound when they found an unused needle. "It could be some kind of disease and then there might be traces of it in his blood."
"He's a shifter," Levi stated bluntly. "Wouldn't his titan genes fuck with possible diseases?"
Hange hummed. "Maybe, maybe not. Let's find out, shall we?" They grabbed three empty vials and scuttled their way back to Eren, swiping a bottle of disinfectant and some cotton balls off a shelf. They squatted down on a wooden chair in front of him. "Give me your arm, Eren," they said cheerfully, pressing a cotton ball against the upended bottle so that the liquid would be absorbed by it.
Nose twitching at the sharp smell of the disinfectant, Eren offered his right arm, rolling his sleeve up.
Humming, Hange grabbed his arm firmly and dabbed the soaked cotton ball in the hollow of his elbow. The cotton was thrown carelessly on the table behind them – eliciting an annoyed hiss from the Captain – and they tapped a particular spot in the hollow of his elbow firmly. The needle punctured his skin and Eren pursed his lips, watching how the first vial was filled with his blood. The second vial was quickly exchanged with the first full one and the third one followed soon afterwards.
"There! That's done," Hange declared perkily and pressed a clean cotton ball against his skin. "Hold it there while I put these vials away."
Eren raised his eyebrows and removed the cotton as soon as they turned their back. His titan healing had already kicked in and there wasn't any trace left of the needle mark; why Hange still insisted on pressing cotton against it while they knew his healing kicked in as soon as the needle was removed remained a mystery to him.
"Now, let me check your stomach," Hange muttered, turning back around. "Remove your shirt, Eren."
He hung his shirt over the back of his chair and nearly jumped three feet in the air when cold fingers started pressing into his stomach.
"Does it hurt when I press here?" they inquired, nearly jabbing him.
"No," he grunted, resisting the urge to squirm away from the bony fingers.
"Are you nauseous now?"
He shook his head, wincing at another harsh jab in his side.
"Hm, your stomach doesn't feel abnormal," Hange mumbled and furrowed their eyebrows. "Let me take my stethoscope."
Levi snorted – the sound sharp and derisive in the room. "You think you can hear it if something is wrong with Yeager?" He sounded incredulously and Eren couldn't exactly blame him for that.
"I can try, right?" They shrugged their shoulders, plucking their stethoscope off a peg. "I'll analyse his blood tonight." They put the earbuds of the stethoscope in their ears and without warning pressed the cold metal against his stomach.
Eren flinched at the sudden cold sensation, but remained still, trying not to move too much. He didn't know what Hange thought they would discover by listening to his stomach – he certainly had never seen his father use his stethoscope in this manner – but at the same time there was no harm done in them examining him this way.
"And?" Levi broke the silence; impatience clearly ringing through his voice.
Hange frowned, pushing the metal end of the stethoscope right underneath Eren's bellybutton. "I'm picking up something interesting, but …" they trailed off, narrowing their eyes.
"Hange-san?" Eren asked uncertainly; hands gripping the sides of his seat.
They blinked and pulled back, offering him an absentminded smile. "I'll need to do some research on your blood to be certain," they announced, removing the earbuds. They dropped the stethoscope on the desk and grabbed the vials.
"So you know what's wrong with him?" Levi stepped forwards; his eyes intense.
Hange pursed their lips together, tapping their fingers erratically against the table while leaning against it. "Not sure," they admitted begrudgingly. "That's why I need to do some tests. I'll let you know when I'm sure. Now shoo! I can't have you hovering around me while I'm doing my research!"
Levi glared at them, but his eyes quickly shifted towards Eren, who hastily pulled on his shirt again.
"Come on, Yeager," Levi grunted and turned around. "I'll escort you to your room. It's getting late."
"Yes, sir," Eren muttered and snatched his jacket from the chair, hurrying after his superior as they left a softy muttering Hange behind.
They were almost in the corridor leading to Eren's room when Levi suddenly whirled around and gave him such a cold look that it made the younger man automatically freeze.
"The moment you notice something else amiss, you'll notify me immediately, understood?" he barked; the moonlight shining through the window catching his dark hair.
"Yes, sir!" Eren replied, resisting the urge to salute.
The older man snorted and continued his way down the corridor, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "Idiot can't even take care of himself."
"Training starts at ten tomorrow," Levi informed him flatly when they ended right in front of his private room.
"Okay, sir," Eren murmured and hesitated, wondering whether Levi would welcome his touch now. He didn't appear very welcoming now.
The dark haired man sighed and rolled his eyes and then there was a sudden quick squeeze around his wrist, calloused fingertips caressing his inner wrist.
"Goodnight, Eren," Levi murmured and immediately left, seemingly disappearing into the shadows.
"Eren?" Mikasa blinked sleepily at him, leaning out of her room; her red scarf wrapped around the lower half of her face. Even at night she refused to take it off.
Absentmindedly he thought it was high time he got her a new scarf; this one wouldn't hold out for long anymore.
"Sorry, Mikasa, just got back from signing reports," he murmured, offering her a quick smile.
Her dark eyes softened. "Get some rest, Eren. You don't look so well," she said concerned.
"I will," he reassured her and waited until she had closed the door of her room before he entered his own.
His shirt and trousers were placed on the chair on top of his belts. His shoes were dumped underneath the chair. A soft breeze caused the ratty curtain to flutter softly; the moonlight casting one long beam stretching over the ground, up onto the wall.
Eren slid into his bed in nothing but his underwear and laid down on his back, pointedly not placing his arms across his stomach; eyes staring listlessly at the dark ceiling. His stomach churned and something told him that he wouldn't like the result of Hange's research of his blood. He didn't have to be a doctor to realise that whatever was happening to him now was not normal and he just knew that he was in deep shit.
Sleep didn't take over for a long, long time.
It happened during training two days later.
One moment he was completing the last turn with his 3D gear that the Captain had ordered them to perform – "I don't fucking care that you haven't needed this particular move in six months, Kirstein. You'll either execute this manoeuvre or you'll muck out the stables on your own for a month!" – and the next moment he was on his back on the ground with Mikasa and Armin peering at him with panic etched onto their faces.
"Eren! Can you hear me?" Mikasa asked worriedly, gripping his shoulder but not shaking him. She seemingly didn't dare to move him around.
A groan escaped his throat as pain flared up in his back when he shifted around. Fuck, had he broken something? Not that he wouldn't heal from that, but that still didn't take away the pain that burned like a bitch.
"Can you sit up?" Armin questioned, heavily frowning. He bit his lip as he and Mikasa braced their arms around Eren's shoulders to help him sit up. "Anything broken?"
"Don't know, but my back hurts like hell," Eren groused, gingerly running a hand over his back; his nails catching on the harness.
"You took a pretty nasty fall," Sasha piped up, bracing her hands on her knees as she leant forwards to look at him.
"You okay, Eren?" Connie asked when he landed on the ground after finishing his own manoeuvre.
"What the hell happened, Yeager?" Levi asked harshly, marching over to him. A frown marred his forehead and his mouth was a thin line.
"Don't know, sir," Eren grimaced, slowly standing up, cataloguing the aches that popped up. Nothing appeared to be broken, though, and soon he was standing up right again, feeling the back of his head in case he had a head wound. His hand came back clear. "I think I passed out."
"Passed out from what? Can't be from the fucking heat, considering the sun's barely out," Levi snapped, crossing his arms. His steel grey eyes studied Eren's form carefully.
Eren shrugged, wincing when a twinge of pain shot through his lower back. All right, so maybe he hadn't healed completely yet. Fuck.
"Maybe you haven't had enough breakfast," Connie suggested and Sasha looked incredulously at him, as if she couldn't imagine someone not eating enough at breakfast. She probably couldn't.
"Don't know," Eren grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Could be." He had eaten like he always did, though, so he didn't think it had something to do with that.
"You don't look like you're going to keel over any time soon, so do you think you can continue training?" Levi questioned gruffly, but Eren thought he could see a glimmer of concern in his intimidating eyes.
Instantly Mikasa glared at him. "Sir, he just lost consciousness for no reason. Don't you think it's better if he gets examined?" she argued, standing rigidly next to Eren.
"Mikasa, I'm fine," Eren reassured her, patting her arm. He adjusted the gear. "I can train, I promise."
"You're sure, Yeager?" Levi stared at him incredulously.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I swear," Eren stressed, shifting from one foot to the other. Oddly he did feel better; he still didn't know why he had suddenly lost consciousness but he felt fine now. He could continue his training, he was sure of it. Years of practice allowed him to ignore Mikasa's scolding look as he snatched his blades from the ground.
"Continue then," the captain said, narrowing his eyes a bit. His eyes fell on the others who lingered near them. "Why the fuck are you still standing here? Don't you have a training to finish?" he barked, striding back to the side of the field where they were practicing with their equipment.
Connie groaned, but dragged himself back to the wall, ready to start anew, with Sasha closely following.
"Let's go," Armin murmured, nodding at the captain's retreating back. "Don't want to give him any reason to come back."
"That midget shouldn't force Eren to continue training," Mikasa growled and scowled at Eren when he sighed. "And you should know better than to continue training! What if you collapse again?"
"Mikasa, really, I feel fine!" he stressed, making his way back to the wall. He didn't even bother to make a remark about her midget comment. She would never like Levi, no matter how many years they'd work together. He had long since given up trying to figure out why exactly she still didn't like the other man.
All the way to the wall, she kept nagging, insisting that he sat out this training and visited Hange for a check-up, while Armin tried to diffuse the slight tension between them.
Right when his grapple-hooks shot out and fixed themselves to the wall, he glanced sideways and caught Levi's studying gaze aimed at him. The man raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
Eren swallowed and let himself be pulled up by the hooks, hearing the wind whistle in his ear. Levi might have conceded to letting him continue his training, but he clearly wouldn't let the subject drop entirely.
He really wasn't looking forward to that particular conversation.
AN2: I know, I know, not much excitement has happened yet, but I had to set up the story before I can delve right into the drama and angst. (First time I'm not writing an AU for this fandom, so I hope I'm not screwing it up *sweatdrops*)
I hope you liked the first part! See you all in the next one!
Cuddles
Melissa
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