ONE ʙʏ ONE

ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ

Armin tried in vain to stop Eren from going to see Jean, but the teen boy was too smug to listen to his friend. If it were Levi, the raven may have been more stern, but Armin was simply too timid to put his foot down. 

Once school ended, Eren happily rode with Marco to the hospital. On the way, he dialed Levi's number, still worried to have not gotten a response. The phone rang for a while before going to Levi's voicemail. 

"Everything okay, Eren?" Marco asked, putting the car in park. 

Eren shook his head, "Oh, it's nothing. Let's go."

Marco guided him through the white halls towards Jean's room. Eren was excited to see his childhood bully hurt. The shock of what Levi did have died down long enough for him to really take in everything Jean had did to him, and that rage had been building between his father and Mikasa. A sadistic smile grew on his features, knowing Jean was going to break down in front of him.

Marco stopped in front of a door, smiling at Eren before opening it. The two walked inside, and Eren's eye fell on a bandaged Jean Kirstein. The teen looked up at Eren, half-smiling in a guilty way. 

"Hey, Eren." Jean greeted, grunting as he turned to face them. "Mind if we talk?"

Marco excused himself and left the room, letting the two sort out their differences. Eren sat in a chair across from the bully and crossed his arms. Jean was quiet for a moment before finding words to say. 

"I'm sorry," He mumbled, "for everything."

Eren jeered, "That's weird coming from you."

The teen chuckled and admitted, "Everything I did, I regret. I only have a petty excuse." 

Eren raised a brow, not believing a word that was coming out of his mouth.

"I was jealous...of you."

The brunette slightly gaped and unfolded his arms. He shook his head and puzzled, "Jealous of what?"

Jean ducked his head sadly and explained, "You were always this perfect kid, and I wanted what you had. You were always the hero–the center of attention. Like I said, a petty excuse."

Eren's chest clenched, suddenly getting that ashamed feeling that he thought was gone. He knew he messed up, thinking the way he did. Eren scooted his chair closer to Jean. 

"I'm the one who should be sorry." He muttered aside. Jean leaned his head to the side, making Eren continue, "Levi and I...well."

"Levi and you what?"

Eren mentally face palmed before shamefully lying, "Uh, Levi and I...hesitated...before going to save you. Levi actually made me go help."

Jean looked at the ground before shrugging, "Hey, I deserved it, and in the end, you saved me anyway. So, if you can forgive me, can we...be friends?"

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Erwin lazily rocked in his chair, carelessly leaning it on the back two legs. Hange had left to pick up some food for them since they were staying at the school for a while. The building was completely empty besides a few students serving detention. 

The brute was off in his own world until he heard a loud crash. His chair slid out from under him as he panicked, slamming him to the floor. His shoes screeched against the floor as he stumbled to get up. Erwin bolted towards the boiler room, but stopped and sighed in relief to see it still closed. 

"Levi?" Erwin called out but didn't get a reply.

He cautiously unlocked the door and cracked it open. The room was pitch black, filling Erwin with intense dread. He flung the door open, and light poured into the room.

Erwin's heart plummeted to his feet as his view fell on Levi staring at him with murder in his eyes–and madness in his smile. In the raven's hand was a metal bar he had pried off some railing on the wall. His wrists were bloodied and bruised, but his knuckles turned white, gripping the weapon with intensity. 

"L-Levi," Erwin shivered, reaching for his hidden syringe, "now, l-let's calm down a-and put the bar down."

Levi stepped closer, his breath heavy, he taunted, "You think your little needle is gonna hurt me?"

"You should've been on my side, Smith."

Levi raised the bar above his head and lunged at Erwin. The brute was able to dodge the bar as it came down inches from his face, but he lost grip on the needle. The syringe clinked on the ground, distracting Levi long enough for Erwin to take some steps back. He tripped but was able to land on his knee. 

As the insane teen looked down at the needle, he chuckled. Levi brought his foot up and slammed it down on the anesthetic. The syringe shattered into pieces, and Erwin's last hope of stopping Levi drained out onto the school floor. The glass ground underneath Levi's weight.

Erwin watched as Levi slowly laid his stormy, predatorial gaze back towards him. The brute shivered and shrunk–silently praying that Hange would come and save him, but, unfortunately, he had no such luck. 

"Good thing you're on your knees." Levi teased, swinging his weapon onto his shoulders. "Cause you're about to beg me for mercy."

Levi sprung at Erwin, this time landing a hit across the side of his head. Erwin crashed to the ground but somehow found the strength to stand up and run for the back door exit. His vision was blurry, and blood ran down the side of his face. The dizziness found to be too much for him to handle. He swayed into a wall to try and steady himself. 

"You and Hange are my closest friends," Levi sighed, "however, if Eren can lose friends, so can I."

Levi caught up with Erwin and brought the metal bar across his back, leaving a large gash the bled out profusely. The injured boy wailed and writer in pain. Levi pulled him up by his collar and wiped some blood out of his eye.

"You have proved valuable to me in the past." Levi monotoned in this usual self. "So, I'll actually give you a choice."

"Stick with Hange...or work with me."

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

*sips tea*

Don't we just love drama? The bully becomes a friend, and the friend becomes an enemy. Hehehe, I love being the author.

Toodles~