The air was tight and dense with the smell of rocks and old metal, almost suffocating him. A heavy weight was sitting on his chest, legs and arms and pinning him down to the point where he could not move at all. He wanted to scream, but found himself unable to without coughing his lungs out. He couldn't tell if his eyes were shut close or not, for he could see nothing but darkness. His ears were ringing, and he could hear a muffled and worried voice calling out his name over and over again. Eren wished he could shout back to let them know where he was, but the only sound that escaped his throat was a dry wheeze.
"Eren! Eren? I'll get you out of there, just stay put." Levi was searching for him, and for once his voice sounded like he was in sheer panic. "Oh my god..."
"L..." Eren finally managed to croak out in a sob. "Le...Levi."
"Eren?" Levi called out frantically.
It was as if there was some invisible and strong force holding a rigid hold over his mouth. He wanted to scramble and inch his way to freedom, but the whole world was on his body. It didn't hurt too bad, mainly because his body was numb with the weight, but it did feel very uncomfortable. The moment brought him back to the time when he was a young child; all the kids in his neighbourhood would gather up and collect as much creepy insects as they could, only to throw rocks at them until they could no longer see their wiggling bodies. Eren was an insect in this case, except there were large metal chunks strewn across his body. He questioned himself how he was still alive.
Crooked cracks of fading light began to form above his squinting eyes, getting bigger and bigger until it formed a rough looking hole. At first he could only see the panting silhouette of Levi but soon could see the sharp glint in his anxious eyes. Although he was able to breathe under all that dusty rubble, he took much needed gasps of air, his chest expanding rapidly as he regulated his breathing. Levi dug out the debris with his bare hands, hardly noticing the increasing amount of shallow cuts and bruises forming at his knuckles. He too was breathing as if he were just dunked in icy water. Levi looked down at Eren's face and felt a huge wave of overwhelming relief smack him; Eren looked okay, minus the small scratches marking his skin. Levi removed all the rocks sitting atop of his body and knew that Eren was not completely alright like he hoped, but he also wasn't surprised at all.
"You're alive," Levi said as his breath hitched in his throat.
He felt strangely emotional, but not the kind that would make him want to cry. He was so overcome with feelings such as joy and relief, it made his chest warm and full.
"Leg," Eren started quietly as he raised a quivering finger to point at said leg. "It's warm. Feels funny. I don't think I can get up."
In frantic panic, Levi cringed to himself as he forced himself to glance down at Eren's leg. From the outside, nothing appeared to be wrong. until he decided to roll up fabric away from the boy's ankles and brought a hand to his mouth in horror. Flaring and angry red was an open gash the size of his forearm on his calf. Blood trickled and gushed out of the fresh and harsh looking wound like a broken tap. Levi could feel his heart dropping to his stomach and his mouth hanging open.
"You need to go to the hospital."
"But I don't want to leave you," Eren protested as the pain started to make itself known. He winced.
"I won't leave you then, if that's what you want."
"But you'll get caught."
"Eren," Levi said with visible agitation. "We're either going to be separated or stay together, there is no in between. I'm not going to let you die from infection just because of your stupid stuborn atttude, do you understand? I am no one important and this whole thing, whatever the fuck we have, does not matter. You are going to the hospital whether you like it or not."
