The strength of devotion

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Levi POV
Eren was shivering in the water when Erwin walked out. I ran my hand through his hair. I felt like crying, which was a strange sensation for me. What could be wrong with him? I pondered.
"Levi?" Hange whispered softly. I glanced up.
"How did he get the wound?" She asked. I blinked.
"He was fighting Reiner." I said. She waved her hands in a stay calm kind of gesture.
"Yes, I know, but did Reiner stab him with the knife?" She inquired. Where the hell was this thinking coming from?
"I don't know, he had too..." I ground out. "... where else would it have come from?" I thought back, trying to recall the fight.
"My lab." She whispered. No! I couldn't breathe. I struggled. Rage so profound it blinded me, swelled up inside me. Could he be dying because of one of her stupid experiments? My body began to rise.
"Not now, soldier." A voice reached through the rage. Darkness closed around my vision. What was going on? My body felt like it was floating away.
(Grisha Yeager POV)
I had listened in on the exchange. What little I knew about Eren's lover told me he had been born a fighter, a killer. When the other doctor told him she could be responsible for Eren's illness, I saw the rage over take him. Did he love my son that much? I watched for half a second. If I allowed him near anyone else he would do something he would regret. I needed him for Eren. I decided he could use a little nap. I plunged the needle into his neck. Now I turned to the woman.
"Were there other knifes around where he fell?" I asked. She looked blankly up at me.
"There were several knives scattered on the floor." She paused ringing her hands. "I had six on a table. I was experimenting with poison..." her voice trailed away.
She came around the tub to take the limp body of her friend out of my arms. I was stunned. Could he have been taken out by his own friends? Wouldn't Reiner's knife also be poisoned? I headed over to my bag. Pulling out the zip lock bag I still had the knife in, I turned to her. She blinked. It was a standard military issued knife.
"Is that the one from his leg?" She asked after putting the body in the bed.
"Yes." A sigh of relief escaped her lips.
"It's not one of mine then." She came up to point out a few characteristics that hers didn't have. Like the serrated back blade or the compass in the hilt.
"Test it. Reiner may have poisoned it anyway." I told her. She took.
"I will let you know what I find." She began to walk away.
"Wait. Draw some of his blood, test that first. We need to get ahead of this before it costs him his life." I stated grimly. She nodded. Pulling out her own case of syringes and vials, she extracted some of Eren's blood. I knew I couldn't keep him in the bath much longer without causing hypothermia.
I knelt beside him. I had never wanted a second child. Not after Zeke's death. Carla had wanted Eren more than almost anything. I twisted a strand of his hair around my fingers. He was her son. He looked so much like her. In part, maybe that was why I turned away from him. I had tried to convince myself he wasn't mine. How stupid I was.
I wasted the best years of his life not bothering to get to know him. Now he may die before I ever get the chance to right such an awful wrong. "Eren, if you can hear me at all, know that I love you. I will do everything to save you. Then, just maybe, we can work on fixing our relationship. You are my son." I bowed my head kissing the top of his.
(Levi POV)
When I awoke the room was full of light. It came streaming in the window beside my bed. What the hell...? The events of that led up to me being knocked out came rushing back to me. Eren! I sprang up.
"He is still alive." Doctor Yeager sat quietly beside the other bed. His wife was across from him. Her head bowed resting on the mattress. She was holding Eren's hand.
"Hange..." I nearly choked on the name. Could the stupid shitty glasses have hurt him? I know she would never do it knowingly.
"She saved his life. The knife wasn't hers. We determined it was indeed, Reiner's." Relief flooded through me. I tossed the blankets aside. As I fully sat up to survey the room, I saw they were all here.
Armin and Erwin were together on a small love seat. Armin had his head resting over the commander's heart. Erwin's arm was wrapped loosely around him. Where they really dating? I snorted. Like it would matter. Hange was sleeping with her head next to me on the bed. She had bags under her eyes. When had the last time she slept been? I pondered. I turned to the doctor. He didn't look like he slept much either.
"When was the last time you slept?" I asked crawling from the bed. He sighed. Slipping his glasses off, he ran a weary hand over his tired face.
"I have never been one to sleep much, or for long." He whispered. His tired voice muffled behind his hand. "When it comes to the health of your child..." his voice trailed away ending in a hiccupping sob.
"He told me, about Zeke." I stated. The doctor nodded his head. He hadn't moved his hand. I knew he was fighting not to cry. Whether from exhaustion, stress or any real love for the boy in the bed, I wasn't sure. Before I could press the issue, the door opened. In walked Jean. He carried two trays of extra large coffee cups, along with a few brown paper bags. I rushed to help him set everything down. Only then did I recall something.
"How's Marco?" I asked.
"Recovering. He will be in rehab for a while. May not be able to return to active duty, but he is alive. Thank you, Captain." He saluted me. For a moment I left him standing like that. Then I returned the salute.
"I'm glad. It sucks that Reiner took out two of our best..." my voice trailed away. I glanced around the room once more. She had never been here. Never once set foot into the hospital. Although, up to this moment, she had hardly ever left his side.
"Where is Mikasa?" I asked. Shocked that she didn't glue herself to the boy's bed.
"Ever since her parents were killed before her eyes, she has never been able to deal with watching anyone else struggle to live. It would kill her to see Eren like this. Besides, she will be the first to know if he dies." Albeit tired, doctor Yeager's voice no longer sounded hollow or broken. He shoved his emotions aside to help his son.
"She's been with Reiner. Turns out, leaving her to her own devices, she is really good at getting information out of people. Pixus' troops will be moving within a day or so to go after the people responsible for Reiner and Bertolt." Jean stated.
"I will be leaving to assist them. Levi, your only orders are to remain here to ensure the safety of Doctor Yeager and his family." Erwin stood, tall and proud. One hundred percent the commander he was born to be. A coffee cup was held in his left hand as he looked at me. I knew that would be his official report as to why I didn't participate in this battle.
"Armin staying too?" I asked as the little coconut headed boy yawned behind my dearest of friends.
"For now. We have discussed many options for his involvement in the mission." Erwin then turned to the Yeager's.
"How is he? Was the operation a success?" He asked.
"Operation?" I demanded through gritted teeth. My jaw ached with how hard I clenched it. Erwin looked over at me. Then back to the doctor.
"I haven't told him yet. He just woke himself." The strain in his voice, I felt like smashing his face in. If it wasn't for the fact that he was needed to save Eren, I may have. Those dark cold eyes fell to me.
"We had to amputate his leg in order to keep the poison from killing him." I staggered back at those words. A gasp escaping my lips. The bed hit my back. The colors around me swirled in a vortex of sight that made me nauseous. Eren would never return to active duty. He will never fight again. Would he even be able to walk? What future did he have now? All these, and many, many more questions zoomed through my head, as the sound wove in and out.
"Levi.... Now... hold...." I couldn't understand Erwin at all.
"Alive.... You... love..." Armin was right beside him muttering incoherently as well. As the world spun so far out of orbit, I could only stare at them. Out of nowhere a pair of arms wrapped around my chest extremely tight. A head came to rest on my shoulder. Gently I was lowered to the ground as they clung to me.
"He's alive." Over and over the voice in my ear repeated those two words. He's alive. Eren, Eren was alive. Slowly, my fractured mind clung to those words as the world began to slow. I closed my eyes.
Gripping the hands that held me close I bent my head to rest my chin on her arms. He's alive. She continued to say. Everything else melted away. I focused my entire consciousness on her voice. Letting it soothe me. He's alive.
One hand reached up to touch her auburn hair. I patted her head as I leaned mine back to rest against the bed. Her voice stopped. She raised her eyes. They were swimming in tears behind those ugly huge ass hell glasses she wore.
"He's alive." She repeated yet again. "He will live, Levi. We have him on meds to flush the rest of the poison from his system. He was lucky. It was a slow acting poison. Much of it was flushed out through his blood loss. Since he needed a transfusion, and your blood was clean, it assisted in weakening the effects of the poison. Levi, he's alive." She shook me a little at the end.
"I'm glad I didn't kill you last night." I whispered. She laughed squeezing me tighter.
"I'm glad it wasn't one of my knives. I should have known before I spoke. My poisons would have killed him within seconds of it being in his system." She looked proud of this. I shook my head.
"Fucking four eyes!" I hissed, but kept a hold of her hand and head. I didn't want to lose the closeness. Not yet. She was thrilled that I allowed her to comfort me. I knew it would be a long time before I ever convinced her to not touch me again. I could see the fights for years to come. Right now, it was all worth it. She had saved my lovers life.
Carefully I extracted myself from her arms. Standing on legs that felt like wet spaghetti noodles, I walked over to his bedside. Aqua green eyes looked up at me. I smirked down at him.
"How long have you been awake, brat?" I demanded.
"Long enough to know you sealed your fate with her." His smile was saddened. "And to know, I will never return to fighting status." He sighed out the last. I leaned over to kiss him.
"When the hell did he wake up?" I heard Erwin grumble.
"Right before Grisha told Levi about his leg." Carla answered.
"You are still going to marry me." I whispered. Eren chuckled.
"Is that an order, Captain?" He taunted me.
"No, just my hearts only desire." He arched up to kiss me then.

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