The Transtempus Penalty (ERERI//RIREN)

Chapter 44

It's Wednesday bitches. I'll post as many Wednesdays as I can, because I finally have the time and available mental capacity. Don't expect too much, but I'll do my best. Anyway, prepare to get *immensely* more stressed.

"Oh my fucking God!" Levi shouted, pointing to the empty parking spot where Petra's car had just been. "You fucking saw that, right?" he demanded once he was within speaking distance again.

"Yeah," I replied, trying to stay calm and act proactively. "Leave me here. Go get F-Farlan and Isabel. I saw which way she went." Before I could finish speaking, he had already reentered the church.

The time he was gone felt like eons, like I was alone, orbiting a black hole, and watching time warp around me. I could see the end of solar systems fast approaching while the singularity drew me closer. The longer I held still, the more obvious also was the viscous pain rearing its head and reminding me that my body was in no condition to engage in a car chase. By the time Levi had returned with my partners, I was practically catatonic; Levi had to shake my shoulder to rouse my attention again.

"Turn right, and then keep heading North. It looked like they were headed out of town. Leave me here, alright? You'll waste too much time trying to carry me down the stairs and trying to push me across the parking lot, Farlan. Levi knows what the car looks like," I instructed, a very firm note in my voice that should have made them listen to me.

"No, Eren, we aren't gonna leave you here just because-" Farlan argued, but I cut him off.

When Farlan began to protest, I could feel bile burning the back of my throat, and my vision began to darken around the edges. Gripping onto his dress shirt and pulling him down so that we were at eye level "God dammit, Farlan, quit being so fucking noble! You're wasting time! I want you to catch them! Go!" I pushed him away from me by his collar to punctuate the urgency I needed him to operate with.

"Isabel, wait with Eren, please?" Farlan asked as he released the handlebars to my chair and let out a distressed exhale. I used the strength that hadn't been sapped from my limp limbs to fold my arms and appear sentient, despite the nearly all-encompassing combination of pain and panic.

"Of course. Be careful. There'll be no way for us to know if things get dicey out there until the three of you get home safe," Isabel replied, her voice unwavering in her diction while her hands replaced Farlan's on my wheelchair. The other two finally broke away and began sprinting to the station wagon. They were out of the parking lot less than a minute later, and once they'd departed, I began to wish I had taken the pain meds that had been offered to me when I'd woken up.

"We have to talk to Marco," I said, as soon as I caught my breath, but Isabel held a hand up.

"Is that such a good idea, Eren?" Isabel rebutted, wheeling me back towards the door. "Should we really be calling out the rowdy teenagers from a funeral? Is it wise to cause a scene about this?"

"If my body didn't hurt so much, I'd stand up on my goddamn feet right now and end the funeral prematurely, okay? That's Petra's ex, Zeke, and he's severely not right in the head," I said between my shallow, gasping inhales. Unfolding my arms, I began pushing the wheels of my wheelchair on my own, but her hands on the handlebars prevented me from making much progress.

"Is he the one that punched out Levi?" Isabel asked, and although Zeke had been there when Levi had taken that beating, Reiner had been the one to knock him out. Considering my options for a moment, I knew there were more dire matters at hand than riling up a group of teenagers. I had seen them all come together for Petra before, and I was certain that we could get them out quietly.

I took a deep breath and told her the truth. "No, he's the one that stuck a knife in me."

"My God, Eren! Why didn't you say that sooner?!" Isabel exclaimed, swinging the heavy wooden door to the church back open and barreling forward, pushing me inside before either of us could get trapped in the threshold.