To the Bitter End Eren x Reader: Levi's Little Sister Book One

Four: Gone for Good

The frigid air seemed endless, surrounding your body and leaving goosebumps on your exposed skin in its wake. You stood silently and unmoving, drifting back and forth between reality and the endless void of your relentless thoughts.

The sound of crying in the background brought you back to your current predicament. You didn't have to turn your head to know who it was. Phasing back into your thoughts another sound, one of quiet chatter, slowly moved through your ears. You listened half-heartedly still too shell-shocked to comprehend what was going on. Yet even in your hazy state those few words, the simple few words uttered by one of the medical helpers brought you back. Soon the tears that brimmed your eyes fell, staining your cheeks, Marley's wails and whimpers grew louder too. It all happened so fast.

"I'm sorry, there was nothing we could do. She was gone so fast."

You watched, still deathly silent as two more helpers walked out, carrying Lisa's lifeless body on a plain white gurney. There was no cover over her face yet, and her head was slightly tilted to the side, facing your direction. Her skin was pale, and her eyes - her deep blue eyes - now dull, void, and lifeless. They used to sparkle and shine, especially when she was happy. Now they just scared you and gave further proof to the indisputable fact that Lisa was dead. Your friend, one of the only friends you've ever made was dead, gone for good, and you somehow couldn't fully comprehend that.

The workers covered Lisa's freckled face, and you knew that was the last you would ever see of her. You'd miss her gap-tooth smile, her unique freckles, the wild mane of hair that she, like Isabel, wore in two low ponytails. You'd miss her hyperactive energy and the way she pushed you out of your comfort zone to let your child-like innocence shine through way more than you were used to. You'd miss her, but that was just it. There would be no more her, no more Lisa, just like that she was gone and that was eternal.

They hastily tossed her on top of a large pile of bodies, people who lost to the plague just like she did. You couldn't watch anymore, you knew what would happen next. Soon they'd burn her and the rest and that would just be it. Life would just move on until the next round of people died and they'd clean out the pit, tossing the bones and remains of Lisa and everyone else out like nothing happened.

Levi stood behind you, talking with the medical helper who announced the news, the other helper who roused the six of you from your home to urge you to come to the shelter in the first place, was over with Marley, Farlan, and Isabel. Currently trying to comfort the two-toned haired girl who sobbed loudly. You walked over to your brother, your presence stopping the conversation he and the other man were having. They both looked at you as you silently wrapped your body around Levi. Your head buried in his lower stomach, right where you reached. You let the tears fall, unlike Marley who cried with purpose you found yourself crying softly wondering if the full impact had not hit you or if you were just a person who was void of key emotions, like grief and sadness.

Maybe it was because Lisa was the first person you felt like you ever lost. While you (and Levi) lost your mother and both your fathers - as it was explained to you that you both had different dads which would explain some of the differences you had-, you were too young to even remember them, so it didn't hurt to know they were gone. Levi was the only family you had ever known until he met Farlan and Isabel expanding your family and then expanding it again at the new additions of the sisters. While death was around every corner for a lot of inhabitants of the underground district, and it was something you were well accustomed to, Lisa's death just felt different. It struck a chord in you that you weren't prepared for. Maybe you should have been, or maybe it was because she was only a child. Not even getting the chance to reach the double-digit age before she was swiftly taken from this world. All over a stupid plague that the military police conveniently decided to actually help the underground with after she was already infected with it. They were too late.