Erwin X Levi X Eren One Shots ※ Eruriren

Short #2: Shortie

A/N: ABSOLUTELY HUGE MANGA SPOILERS FOR ALL CHAPTERS

They had chosen Erwin.

Between Armin and Erwin, Erwin had been the one to live. Armin, barely a remain, crumbling into blackened dust, was dead. Forever. No breaths passed through his lips anymore, nothing as Eren stared down at him, wishing that maybe he had not let Levi save Erwin.

Not let Levi save his lover.

The lover that was not Eren's.

Yet Levi was.

The complication relationship had been running steadily for years. Levi and Erwin had been together nearly a decade when they met Eren. And from there, they had doted on him.

But, Erwin's heart was restrictive. As Eren had heard, Erwin fell with everything. His devotion was always aimed at a single thing, whether it be in love or in strategy. He did not have room for another in his heart.

But, Levi did.

And so, as Erwin suggested, Levi did. Levi split his heart in two and divided it between the two. Eren loved him wholeheartedly back and so did Erwin- even if Eren did express a little disappointment by the lack of another partner at his side.

If it were up to him, he would have Erwin and Levi by his side. It had not worked out that way. Yet, he had still lost his best-friend because of it.

The war had been crippling. 300 soldiers dwindled down to just more than ten and the ones that were left were traumatised by the bloodshed they had encountered.

Erwin had led the suicide mission and had been the only one to survive. Levi had battled dozens of titans, one being one of the most powerful titan shifters that they had heard of, and lived to see the other side. No one knew how and he had refused to speak the information.

No, he hadn't.

He had refused to speak at all.

His eyes spoke volumes, shedding tears, holding dark, heavy bags beneath them and so bloodshot that Eren had feared that he had resorted to extreme self-medication.

Saying that, hadn't they all?

Mikasa and Eren were crippled by their best friends death.

Levi was mute- something that meant that he had to become co-captain for his struggle to give orders.

Erwin had drowned himself in alcohol.

Hanji had not yet left the research lab, despite her new promotion to second Captain.

Historia had hidden herself away in the palace.

Jean had not been seen for days.

Connie and Sasha left the military.

The Survey Corps were nothing. The military was nothing. They had found out the secrets of the Titans and there was no one to solve it. Wall Maria had been reclaimed, as had the territory outside of the walls and people were beginning to repopulate. The underground was destroyed, by Levi's request, and all citizens moved to the outer walls. Or, if they wished, outside the walls.

Not many had opted for the final option, the fear of leaving the pen as present as ever. But, as always, a few were persuaded. The explorers, the adventurers, the curious.

Like those nine broken people. Like those nine people who made it to the ocean. Those nine people that lived their friend's dream and scattered his ashes amongst the place he wished to visit the most.

The ocean was Armin's dream and in death, he made it.

Eren's cries were drowned out by the ocean's tide and his tears hidden in the salty water but they all felt the same. They all felt the hollow loss of their friend.