Danger Day pt 2: The Levi Squad

Pain

Levi POV
Eren came up behind me as I was watching the moonrise up. Something was out there. It felt like it was watching me. I knew that Bertolt and Reiner were out there somewhere. They wouldn’t have given up so easily, unless Reiner needed to recover first. Why couldn’t they just leave us alone?
Hands rested lightly on my waist. I had heard Eren walking towards me. His chin came down on my head, the fucking brat was getting too tall. “Hey.”
“Hey.” I answered as I was going to turn into his arms, the screams started. I was never sure, later, which ones came first. In my mind, they came at the same time. Marco had woken up, hollering in pain. I was facing more towards him, so I saw Jean leap up to comfort the injured boy. Hange and Doctor Yeager met him at the boys side..
Eren was moving me behind him. One hand on my back, the other pulling one of the swords from my gear box on my hip. The clash of metal on metal had me spinning back towards the opening. Reiner appeared above Eren. My little brat had met him with my sword. Bertolt was just behind the brute. I guess they never realized just how many friends Eren had.
In high school it was only him or I they saw. Bertolt had a thing for Reiner, possible even Eren. Reiner, was blind to his friends affections. The tall dark shadow of a man was happy to be in the blond's presence. It didn’t matter to him if the guy liked him back. He was smitten, maybe even mind controlled, who knew. Either way they were always together.
That day in the bathroom, when I saw what they were trying to do to Eren, I lost it. Rage like I had thought I had under control exploded in me. I didn’t think. I had sprang into action. Eren was on the ground, barely conscious. It was all I truly remembered from that fight. I didn’t know I had almost killed Reiner that day.
He had traumatic brain injury, the doctors said. After some hospitalization, he slowly recovered. I guess some part of him never really did. He had lasting brain damage. It wasn’t anything real obvious. The two times I actually spoke to him afterwards, all I noticed was he was a little slower to respond to questions. Like it took him longer to recall what he wanted to say. Now it looked like he never really left that bathroom.
Seeing the rage in his face, shocked me. What was worse, was he wasn’t looking at Eren. His eyes, huge and cold were starring at me. Eren had put himself between us each time. He had been protecting me all the while. I had no clue. Not until I saw it in those lost and haunted eyes.
Being singularly focused on something had it advantages. You saw everything in hyper reality. The draw back, you didn’t really see everything. You saw the thing you were focused on, to the disappearance of everything else in reality.
Up until this moment, we all thought these two had been after Eren. The idiot brat hadn’t told us any different. Always protecting those he loved, with his own stupidity and muscular body, he stood between us. But no one ever looked to the left of the tall handsome man I had fallen for so many years ago. If they had, they would have seen the real reason Eren Yeager fought.
Small, smart and endearing to all that knew him, Armin was an asset to any unit. He was loyal, kind, caring, but deadly accurate with his predictions on strategy. A tiny Erwin, if you asked me. So, why was it, he was always in the shadow of the brat? Because Eren had the shoulders, the strength to take the hits he knew Armin, just wasn’t physically able to.
Because of Eren Yeager, Armin was able to become invisible. Sometimes, that was the best thing in the world to be. Like now. As Reiner focused solely on me, he hadn’t seen Eren move in to combat him. Neither had Bertolt seen the blond who was right beside him
The knife in Armin’s hand gleamed briefly in the moonlight. It flashed quicker than thought. I could see it in the boys eyes, he was scared beyond anything he had ever had to face. But he had seen what Eren missed, the gun in the other brunettes shaking hand. It was pointed point blank at Eren's face.
“No!” I screamed. Just as Armin struck out at the taller boy, doing all he knew to protect his protector. I rolled around Eren. Using his body I launched myself at the blond. If he killed…. I couldn’t complete the thought. Eren would be a wreck for sure, knowing he couldn’t save the blond from his own destruction.
I landed, pushing Armin down. He lost his grip on the slick knife as it was already coated in the taller boys blood. I ripped the knife out of his side. Bertolt looked at me, eyes wide.
“He befriended you, even knowing who you were!” I hissed in his face, a second before I drew the knife across his throat. He died without making a sound. As his body fell, as Reiner saw where I had disappeared too, the hatred became even more intense. This had been my fight all along. Eren had just been a shield. One I refused to hide behind any longer.
It was in slow motion. When people say everything happened so fast, I never got that. When it was real, when it was your life, or the life of someone you loved, on the line, it was always in slow motion. At least it was for me. Reiner was done engaging with my brat. He was ready to meet his real target. I had just ended his stay in that bathroom. Or maybe just completed what he thought I had done there.
His sword slipped up slightly. Bringing Eren's arms higher. This exposed Eren’s chest and stomach. While holding him there with sheer strength alone, Reiner's other hand slipped away from the blade.
Reaching behind him he pulled out another knife. It looked like he was going to punch Eren in the stomach, but the knife would reach him before the man’s fist. I have no idea what alerted Eren to this new danger. One second he was in a stand off with Reiner. The next he was kicking out his feet, low on the ground under the lug of a thug.
Reiner did a kind of jump lunge move. He managed to fall over Eren's head. Rolling in a somersault he was back up in a second. One hand on the ground, feet out behind him ready to leap forward. The knife was still clutched in his free hand. Eren had learned a lot during training. He moved quicker than I had ever imagined someone his size could. He rolled out of the way as the knife swiped the air where his throat should have been. Eren now crouched directly in front of me.
The stupid little brat wasn’t trying to get away. Instead, he was still protecting all of us. There was one major problem in this, however. Reiner was in the lab. The blond brute was between us, Marco, Jean, Hange and Eren's father. I shifted slightly to see Eren's face. Keeping Reiner in view he darted his eyes around the background. They widened.
What had he seen? My own eyes went to the others. I was just as shocked as Eren at what I saw. Jean stood defending his fallen friend. Knives in hand he was ready to protect the body on the bed. Hange stood slightly behind him. That left Doctor Yeager.
The man was as weird as his son! I watched in absolute horrifying fascination as he came charging up behind Reiner. What was he planning on doing? I wondered. Eren moved again, this time, to knock me aside. I fell next to the shaking Armin. Eren's body was protecting both of us. He was lying face down on top of us. Fear raced through every inch of me. He was exposed to that fucking knife! I wanted to scream. My hands came up. The only plan in my head was to get eyes on Reiner.
That didn’t happen. Eren caught my hands fighting me to hold me in place. There was a manic look in his eye. I noticed it a moment before his lips crushed mine. We both jerked when we heard the crash, followed by a wet sounding thud. Eren turned his head. I watched him, shocked. He was smiling.
Scrambling back, Eren sat up.  Now that I could see, what I saw was slowly making since to me. Armin spoke. It was as if he was compelled to talk. Like that was the way his brain was helping him to processes everything that had happened. Was it really only fifteen minutes? It felt like hours since Marco first started screaming.
“He had a syringe. Eren must have seen it. He knew, right. He knew his dad was going to what? Knock him out, kill him? What was in the syringe? Would an air bubble stop him so suddenly? No I don’t think so….” Armin continued his babbling as Eren got to his feet.
Doctor Yeager stood. He had been checking Reiner's pulse. The two faced each other. I was shocked to see how similar they resembled each other. They had the same shape to their heads, their hair was almost identical. Both had a tall lean build, Eren was a little more muscular than his father. Right now, they wore the same expression. Neither was really sure just what to do.
“Thank you.” Eren muttered. His shoulders slumped. His body relaxed in stages. It was as if he didn’t want to let his guard down around the other. He began to turn.
“Eren?” Half way to facing me, he paused. “You know I love you?” We were all starring at them. No other sound could be heard. Even Armin, in his reduced capacity, appeared to understand this was a serious situation. His muttering had stopped. I felt his hand grip my arm.
“Well, at least, you showed that when it counted.” There was no emotion in Eren's voice. He was afraid. Afraid to let go of the hurt, anger and pain the older man had put him through. Afraid that if he forgave him, if he allowed himself to love him again, he would get hurt. Not just hurt this time, Eren would be destroyed.
“Eren?” I breathed his name. Those sea colored eyes flashed towards me. He stiffened.
“Are you hurt?” He asked still with that detached tone. I shook my head. Eren's body began to turn  towards me once more. His foot wasn’t moving right. He staggered slightly. As his far leg came up to his front one, I saw the blood running down it. Eren's body began to fall towards the ground.
“EREN!” I yelled getting my feet under me to rush to him. I didn’t make it. Partly because Armin was still clingy to me, but mostly, because I wasn’t needed.
Grisha Yeager had already seen his son was in trouble. As the boy began to fall, he leapt forward to catch him in his arms. Lowering them both to the floor he held his son tightly to him.
“Eren?” He touched the boys pale face.
“I love you too, dad.” Eren whispered as his eyes fluttered closed.
“No!” I starred at them.
“Hange, I need you to prepare another table. I can’t pull the knife out of his leg, until I know what damage has been done.” His tone was emotionless, detached from the fact he was talking about his own son.
But his face! Only Armin and I could see the pain, the fear there. The single tear he let escape. Only we heard the whispered words… “Hang in there, Eren.”  He lifted his eyes to meet mine.
“Can you help me get him onto the table?” he asked. Chaos exploded before I could answer. Erwin came charging into the room. Pixus and many of his men followed. I stood, pulling Armin with me. Erwin glanced at me, I nodded. He went to check on Eren.
“The tables ready.” Hange called. Leaving Armin with Mikasa, I walked over. Bending I scooped Eren up into my arms. Doctor Yeager looked shocked by this as I carried the larger man to the table. I laid him down, my feet having slipped a little in the pooling blood on the floor. I kissed Eren's cold lips.
“Stay with me, brat.” I whispered. Turning I looked up to the doctor.
“Save his life.” Grisha nodded. After that he was all doctor. The boy on the table meant nothing more than a patient to him. He had to detach himself in order to do what he could to safe the life of the only person I ever gave my heart to. I fell back to Erwin's side. I didn’t know what to do.
“Mikasa, keep an eye on them.” Erwin ordered. He then ordered Pixus' men to detain Reiner and clean up the lab.