How Do I Save Him? (Ereri/Riren) Fanfic

Chapter 2 - Memories

A/N: I have no hate on Petra! She is very sweet and kind, but things are different here.
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Six years later...

LEVI'S POV

It's been almost ten years since I've seen or heard from Eren. What happened to him? Where is he? Is he okay? I have been asking questions like these ever since he moved away.

My mother never told me what happened to Eren and his family. I had asked many times before, but she only told me that Eren moved away because his father had to travel to a different city for his job.

I remember all the games we played when we were little. I won them all the time, but Eren never cared that he loss.

I walk toward my locker and unlock it, opening it to grab a few books. I pause when I see the small, worn out picture of me and Eren.

Hell. I miss his smiles and his laughter.

We used to talk about going to the same high school together. Of course it never happened because I am a senior and the school year is almost over. Just a few more days, summer vacation, and I'll be off to college.

What if I forget about Eren? I mean, things have to be forgotten sooner or later.

But not Eren.

Shit I miss the little brat so much.

The sound of the bell ringing brings me back from my thoughts, and I hurry off to the second level to class.

"There's the fucking shortass. Thought he'd never show up." Petra cackles.

I roll my eyes and walk past her to my seat.

"What? Did your mood shrink too?" Everyone in the class chuckled as the words flew out of Petra's mouth.

"You know I am so glad I left you." She said with a smirk.

That was all it took to make me snap, "Don't be stupid, Petra! We both know that I left your sorry ass and you didn't go to school for a whole week. The only thing I regret doing was going out with a shit like you!"

Everyone in the class was silent. The teacher walked in looking suspicious of the sudden silence in the classroom. Petra looked as if she were about to cry after what I said, but she blinked away the tears and flipped me off before turning around to face the teacher.

For the rest of class I kept receiving nasty looks from my classmates. People whispered to one another and called me names as I walked down the halls past them.

"Hey, is that the guy who screamed at Petra earlier today?" A girl asked pointing at me.

"Who? Him? I heard that when they were dating, he threatened to kill Petra if she talked to another guy. Sheesh, manipulative much." The other girl replied.

Wow. That bitch is spreading rumors already? Damn you, Petra. What the hell did I do to deserve all this?

A year before...

"Outta my way, peasant!" Petra hollered as she walked by Hange.

"Petra, don't call Hange that!" I said sternly.

She turned to me and asked, "Why not?"

"She is my friend."

"Oh, so now ya got another girlfriend?! What about me?"

"She's not my girlfriend, Petra. She's just a friend."

"You didn't answer my other question."

"What?"

"My other question. What about me? You love me, right? Do you?"

"Petra-"

"Do you love me?"

"Yes."

"Then say you love me."

"I love you, Petra."

"Then go tell nerdie over there that you never wanna see her fucking face again! You better say it now!"

"Petra, you know I can't do that to my friend."

"Then you don't love me." She whispered.

"Ugh. Fine." I grumbled and walked toward Hange.

I stopped in front of Hange and took a quick glimpse back at Petra. She was busy looking through her phone.

"Hey, four-eyes." I said.

"Heya, Levi!" She greeted in her cheerful tone as always.

"Listen. Petra doesn't like seeing me around you much, so let's just stay quiet when she's around, alright?"

"Sure thing, Levi. Anything for my BFF!"

"Alright. Thanks for understanding, Hange."

"Hey, babe. Come on we gotta get goin'." Petra said as she put her arms around my chest, hugging tight. "See ya, nerdie!"

"Bye bye, love birds!" Hange waved at us with her usual bright smile.

Present day...

Ugh. Why am I thinking of that now? Of all the things she did and said to me, why this specific one? What's worse is that Eren has been gone for almost ten years, and I will never see him again. I definitely will never get to see his bright smiles and cheerful laughter again.

Eleven years ago (a year before the Jaeger family incident...)

"Levi... Levi!"

"Huh?" I slowly got up from the ground after falling asleep under a tree.

Eren ran up to me, tripping over a stone and tumbling to the ground.

"Oof!" He face planted onto the grass below.

"Be careful you brat." I grumbled and helped him sit up.

Eren looked up at me with his mesmerizing eyes and said happily, "Thanks, Levi!"

He got up to his feet and to my horror I saw his pants covered with dust.

"Disgusting." I hissed.

"Wha?" Eren looked hurt.

"Your pants, Eren. They're all dusty." I grimaced at the horrific sight.

"Oh." His expression relieved.

I began patting away the dust from his pants. Thank goodness it came off easily.

"Thank you, Levi!" Eren smiled and hugged me.

I hesitated at first, but hugged back.

Eren backed up and looked down at me. God, why am I so short?

"Levi, will you ever forget about me?" He asked with a little frown.

"Of course not, Eren. Remember what I told you? That we are gonna go to the same schools together?"

Eren's face brightened, "Yeah! And live in the same neighborhood like we do now."

Present day...

Damn it, Eren. Where did you go? Why did you go?

The dreams we had together when we were kids... going to the same high school together, the same college together, living together as neighbors... growing together. All those dreams... gone.

All the laughs we shared together... gone.

All the memories... gone.

Do you know what makes a goodbye so painful? When you say goodbye, the biggest fear is not knowing when you'll ever see them again.

But I never got to say goodbye to you, Eren...