UnderWater

Chapter 27

Voices. Loud voices. Frantic voices.

The voices didn't matter because Eren didn't have a voice. Eren. Where was Eren?

Levi was able to protect Eren, right? Eren was safe, right? Eren...

"...Eren... didn't fall into the ocean, right?" His voice was raspy and weak as he spoke. Levi wearily opened his eyes, realizing that he was lying on the ground. His body was drenched in sea water.

"L-Levi..." He blinked and recognized Hanji's face, her glasses were off as her eyes were full of tears. "L-Levi, I-"

"Where is Eren?"

"I... h-h-he..." Hanji hiccuped several times before attempting to compose herself. "Th... the earthquake came out of nowhere, L-Levi, the whole town is in a panic-"

"Eren?"

"He... he saved you, Levi. When you fell into the water, he... E-Eren went after you."

"Then where the hell is he?"

Hanji's voice trembled before breaking completely. "I... I don't know..."

"NO!" In a flash, Levi was up again. Waves of pain coursed through his body, but he couldn't care less. "Eren, Eren, he can't be-"

"Le-Levi," Hanji clung to his arm desperately, "C-calm down! You're in no position to move-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Levi shook his arm from her grasp and started to run. "THAT STUPID BRAT! WHY DIDN'T HE LISTEN TO ME!?"

"LEVI!" His former classmate shrieked, beginning to stand to go after him, but Erwin grabbed Hanji's shoulder, his face full of sorrow. "Hanji, leave him."

"But, Erwin-"

"Let him go. You can't stop him."

Levi went to the place where he had first found Eren. He went there because he didn't know where else to go.

At the beach, there was no sign of the chaos from earlier. The weather was beautiful.

The sky was so blue, it was nearly painful to look at it. A few white clouds drifted lazily as a slight breeze blew. Levi felt as if it was mocking him.

"Eren..." He said slowly, not able to believe what had just happened. Eren, who had just been by his side a moment ago. Eren, who had thrown his world in complete disarray. Eren, who had liked wearing a maid dress. Eren, who was a demon of the road. Eren, who had smiled and blushed for him. Eren, who had laughed and giggled with him. Eren, who kissed him. Eren, who he had woken up to. Eren, who he had kissed. Eren, who told Levi he loved him.

"EREN!" Levi heard someone screaming the boy's name, a split second later, he realized it was himself. "Ah... ah... hah..." Panting slightly, he slid down on the sand, his hands clutching his hair. "Eren..."

Levi felt like he lost his mind, so when he first spotted the mop of dark brown hair in the water, he thought he was hallucinating.

It didn't stop him, however, from desperately rushing out into the water. "Eren!?" The mop of hair rose, and Levi saw the most beautiful shade of green in the world again. He thought his heart would stop beating.

"EREN!" He cried desperately, and he was nearly convinced it was an illusion when Eren shrank back from him.

"Are you hurt!?" Levi demanded, reaching out to grasp Eren's hand. His eyes widened as he clutched the tan flesh, he could touch Eren, Eren was real, Eren was safe- "Eren, thank god-"

"D-don't come any closer!" A voice suddenly cried, a beautiful voice, Levi thought, as Eren tore his hand away from his.

"What the hell are you saying?" Levi grabbed Eren's hand again, squeezing it as hard as he could. "Wait, you can speak? No, never mind, that's not important. My god, Eren, I thought I would never see you again!" Before the brunet could make another protest, Levi quickly embraced him, holding Eren close.

And then he felt the scales.

"...Huh?" Levi glanced down. Eren took advantage of his confusion and quickly pushed Levi off of him.

"P-please get away from me... Levi..."

"Wh-what..." Utterly speechless, Levi gawked at what used to be Eren's legs. Instead, a shimmering blue-green tail swayed below the ocean's surface, twinkling in the sunlight. "E...Eren?"

There was an extremely long stretch of silence.

"...well damn." Levi said, slowly bringing his gaze back to Eren's face. "No wonder you liked wearing dresses better."

Eren promptly burst into tears. "L-Levi... I-I'm so sorry! It wasn't you, it wasn't you, Levi, it was me! I saw you fall into the water and you were drowning, and, and, I didn't think, I just dove in after you!" Wiping his face furiously, Eren shook his head. "No, I did think. I didn't want you to die, Levi... I should have just gone away but I heard you call my name and I just couldn't, I couldn't..."

"...I don't believe this..." Levi cautiously extended a hand towards Eren's waist. Eren hesitantly nodded and allowed Levi to touch the area where his skin became scales.

"I..." Eren swallowed thickly. "I... I need to tell you everything, Levi. Everything about me."

Levi's fingers slowly trailed off Eren's body, his eyes not leaving Eren's face. "...and... I'll listen..." The man said slowly, the shock still clearly etched in his face.

"I... I never knew who my father was." Eren began, his tail curling as he spoke. "But I had his surname, Yeager, and I knew his given name, Grisha, my mother used to cry it out in her sleep. My mother raised me. Her name was Carla. She was my world. But, one day, when I was only twelve years old... she was killed."

Under the water, Eren's hands formed into fists. "She was caught in a sea net. I tried to untangle her, but I couldn't make it in time. The fisherman dragged her up and, thinking she was a demon, hacked her into pieces." Eren closed his eyes, as if the action made the memory less painful. "On bad nights, I could still hear her screams."

Levi said nothing, his hair dripping with water.

"I had always despised humans, but from the day, I became obsessed with annihilating them." Eren went on, opening his eyes. "I banded with a group of merpeople and we set out to destroy the human race. We sunk countless ships... we made so many soldiers drown... I must have killed hundreds of them, Levi."

The man remained silent, still listening carefully.

"But then... at least sixty years after I began killing humans... I got caught in a net. I thought I was going to die like my mother. An old man came to me, I was certain he was going to kill me with his knife but instead... he set me free." Eren rubbed his arm, as if remembering a sensation of the net leaving his skin.

"That incident... what do humans say? Turned my world upside down? After that, I could never kill another human again. I realized... that's there was not much difference between humans and merpeople. Humans could still care and love like us. I was still obsessed with humans, but in a different way. I wanted to understand them. I wanted to understand how the very race that killed my mother could save me. As the years passed, I began to wish to be a human. To understand those feelings."

Eren smiled bitterly as he thrashed his tail. "So here I am, over a hundred years later. I turned from a deadly shark to a harmless guppy. I made a deal with the sea witch to become a human, but if I ever went back into the ocean, I would be forever a merman again. So I became human and then I met you, Levi."

Eren's eyes filled with tears, which he hastily rubbed away. "Like the idiot I am, I fell hopelessly in love with you! Imagine! Me, a human killer, in love with a human! And now I can't ever be with you... I'll never be human again!" His voice beginning to crack, Eren paused, breathing heavily.

Levi simply watched him, saying nothing.

Eren suddenly let out a hysterical laugh. "Levi, how do you feel about that!? You're in love with a merman! A merman who can never leave the sea! Now you'll leave, won't you? Now you'll stop loving me, won't you?" He finally broke into sobs, hiding his face with his arms. "Of course you will!"

Levi continued to watch him for several seconds. Then, he finally opened his mouth to speak.

"Of course I won't. I'll never leave you or stop loving you, no matter what you are, you shit-faced goddamn brat."