The Ereri Project!

Cry (Pacific Rim)

A/N: The beginning portion of this chapter is a nightmare which contains character death, if you can't handle that please do not read the italicized part of this chapter

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Eren can't even remember how this happened.

One moment they were fighting a Kaiju and everything was fine, the next he felt like he couldn't breathe.

Suddenly there was a hole on Levi's side of the cockpit.

Suddenly they were being thrown.

Suddenly neither of them are attached to Short Temper but it feels like they're still attached to each other.

They're thrown again. Levi nearly falls out of the cockpit through that damned hole and Eren just barely makes it to catch him by his hand. "Don't let go!" he shouts, despite the sudden fatigue he's feeling.

"Eren," is all Levi replies, thick tears painting his cheeks.

"Levi c'mon, try to get up!"

"Eren, let me go."

Eren's eyes turn into saucers. "WHAT?! Hell no!"

"Eren, please," Levi pleads. "I don't want you to see."

"See what?"

Levi shakes his head. "Don't look down at me."

Eren braces himself on the broken wall and leans forward. He bursts into tears immediately.

Levi's blood is painting the side of their Jaeger. The bottom half of his body, from his hips down had been cut clean off.

"Let me die, Eren."

"No!"

"Eren–"

And with that, the Kaiju swoops in and crushes the rest of Levi's body against the side of Short Temper, decapitating him and leaving his head on the floor of the cockpit and his hand still in Eren's hand despite his torso no longer being attached. Eren stares in horror at how the eyes of his mother's dismembered head stare up at him.

"Why didn't you let me go, Eren?" she cries.

Eren wakes up with his chest hurting because of all the screaming. He cries against his knees, having sat up without realizing it. He can't calm down. Where's Levi? What's happening?

He realizes he hears arguing outside. That's Levi's voice.

He tried to get up but ow, he looks down, his arm is attached to an IV. His chest hurts again as his heart hammers inside of it. What the hell is going in? He starts screaming again without realizing it.

He can't hear the voices outside the door anymore and he hopes it's just because he's drowning them out now.

He's so busy trying to keep his eyes dry with his hands and screaming his throat raw he doesn't notice when the door finally opens. "Eren!" Levi gets up on the bed beside him and cradles his head in his arms. "Shh, it's alright. I'm sorry I took so long."

Eren clutches the familiar fabric of the shorter man's shirt. "Where were you?"

"The nurses didn't want me sleeping here so after you were settled I went back to our room to sleep. I couldn't, so I went to take a walk but I heard you scream. I forgot my badge so they wouldn't let me back in your room until they could get confirmation from Erwin or Marshall."

Eren never wants to let go of Levi again. "So what happened? Why am I in here?"

"Do you remember hitting your head?"

"No."

Levi idly runs his fingers over the bandages wrapped around his partners head. "Our training session in Short Temper got a little rough yesterday morning. You hit your head and passed out, which I also felt so thanks for that splitting pain in my head."

"Yesterday morning?"

"You've been out for a while."

"How hard did I hit my head?"

"Pretty hard."

Eren sighs and leans his head on Levi's shoulder.

"Was it another nightmare?" Levi asks, playing with the tips of Eren's hair.

Eren nods.

"About your mom again?"

Eren shakes his head this time. "Only at the end."

Levi frowns. "I'm sorry."

Eren shrugs. "It's okay."

"No it's not, you–"

Eren looks up at Levi and thinks back on his nightmare. "Everything is okay as long as you're here."