No manga spoilers :) No real pairings, either, though if you want, you can read it as implied Eren/Levi. Twoshot, probably. My first Shingeki no Kyoshi fanfiction. Enjoy :)

Levi really looked okay.

If Eren just kept his attention on just his legs and his arms... maybe he could even include the tips of his sweat soaked black hair... if that was all he looked at, then the elite corporal was just resting.

Sitting back helplessly, Eren gave up ignoring the cold blood that was still soaking through his uniform. Denial may be helping the bubble of pain that was still trying to expand inside his chest, but it wasn't helping Levi, and that meant he couldn't waste time on it.

The Titan had nearly shredded the corporal's side. This was so far beyond his level of expertise there was nothing that could even be done; there weren't even enough bandages to cover the damage- all he could do was give his cloak as a barrier between Levi's head and the hard branch that was their safe haven and hope the corporal was as numb as he felt.

He chanced a look at Levi's face, hoping to see hazy tiredness, or just something that wasn't pained, and sighed in quiet relief. Levi's eyes were half open, usually steely gaze unfocused and blinking blearily at the sky. His pale features, while slick with sweat, were slack, and his breaths, while ragged, did come easily. He was awake and aware- but past the point of feeling pain.

Levi's breaths hitched, then, the shaky pattern being broken by a quick gasp and a choked off cry. His chest heaved and a spasm racked through his slim frame, curving his spine and lifting him up off the branch in a short moment of agony before he dropped back at last- breaths now even weaker than before.

Unable to bear much more, Eren shut his eyes tight and turned his head away.

I'm so sorry...

"H-how's your... h-h-hands?"

So soft he had to strain his ears to hear it, so surprising it shocked him out of his guilt, because Levi should've been beyond words at this point, and Eren found himself obediently following orders and opening his eyes to be able to answer the question. His vision was blurry, and he had to blink a few times until his eyes and cheeks felt wet but he could see again, and he found himself staring at the two steaming stumps of his wrists. No semblance of hands had even regrown yet.

He looked hesitantly, regretfully, back at Levi's wounds, which were not steaming, because he couldn't heal himself, and had to turn away through another stab of guilt. "They're not bad," he whispered hoarsely, shifting to put himself in between Levi's line of vision and his hands so the corporal couldn't see the lie. "Coming back quickly."

"And your legs?"

Eren looked down without thought, too accustomed to following Levi's every command to even think about it anymore, to be greeted by the sight of his knees and nothing beyond that. He swallowed uneasily. "Same."

"Y-you'll... be okay... once night comes?"

Eren kept his eyes away from Levi's. He didn't have enough experience with his Titan power to know how long this healing would take, but the orange rays of the glowing ball of fire in the sky and the fact that he was still missing half the bones in his arms and legs told him that no, he wouldn't be okay once night came. He probably wouldn't be okay once morning came.

And he lied again.

"Yes. I'll be fine."

Because Levi didn't need even more to worry about.

"There's a fifteen meter class Titan coming from the south, sir!"

"Two others from the west! One looks like it's over fifteen meters!"

Eren licked his suddenly dry lips and bent lower over his horse, trying to go even faster, and looked to Levi. The corporal still led the pack, and Eren watched fearfully as their leader didn't even look to see the threats for himself- he just kept on moving. "We keep going! Eren, you are not to shift under any circumstances. If they get close, squad one, you handle the one from the south. Squad two, you handle the ones from the west."

"But, Corporal-"

"No, Eren. If they see you shift, you become the target."

Eren looked morosely out from their tiny patch of safety, eyes scanning the horizon worriedly. They were high enough up that Titans wouldn't be able to reach them- for now. If any Aberrants came along, though, they were done for, and even the normal ones weren't leaving. The crowd of monsters below still crowded around the trees, and a few had even started trying to climb them. It was late enough, though, that it wouldn't be long before the Titans were out of action. They were safe until morning.

It was also too late for any rescue missions, though; any hope of help did not exist until morning. They were trapped and helpless and safe until then- but Levi probably wouldn't last that long.

But there was no way to get back to the walls sooner. They had no horses. They had only one partially usable set of 3D MG. And until he healed, he couldn't transform into a Titan again. If they tried to leave now, Eren would only a) get them lost, and then b) get them eaten.

Levi... Levi's dying... and I can't do anything to help him...

Oh, my god... Levi's going to die.

"I'm really sorry... I'm r-really sorry, s-sir..."

If I had just followed orders...

"I'm s-sorry..."

But the injured corporal didn't bother to give his Eren's apology a verbal response. Speaking had to be an ordeal by now, and anything he said was going to be dammed important, and he wasn't going to waste what strength he had. The dark glare the corporal levied on him was enough of a reprimand.

Not that it was much of a glare; his half-lidded eyes had lost a lot of their power to stare someone down, and Levi was only barely able to maintain it for a second before they flickered shut. The corporal forced them open again but now his tired gaze roamed to the leaves above, tired and fading, the black eyes somehow, even blacker when framed by his bloodless face. It looked cold and clammy, short locks of hair plastered to his skin with sweat.

And then his mouth opened again, and Levi, his voice heavy and shaking, began again. "Mikasa. W-why is she... th... best?"

Eren's eyes widened. The statement was something so far out of the blue that he thought he had just misheard him, but there was nothing in Levi's empty expression to support that. The soldier was still just staring at the sky, now waiting for an answer, and Eren found himself left shocked into silence before he finally managed to gasp, "Corporal?!"

"Mikasa."

Slowly, Eren shook his head, his reforming hand dropping numbly to fall onto Levi's. It was cold and limp, and Eren found himself squeezing tightly, the skeleton of his hand gripping the bony one before him, trying to somehow just hold Levi here with him and keep him alive. "Sir, don't talk now; you have to conserve your strength- I- I'll think of something, just give me a little bit of time! But until then-"

"Mikasa."

"They're Aberrants! CORPORAL! THEY'RE ALL ABERRANTS!"

Eren cursed and looked back again at the approaching threats. They were faster than normal Titans- too fast for them to be able to outrun them.

"Sir!" another soldier screamed, his voice cracking on panic. "Sir, they're catching up! We have to do something! SIR! DO SOMETHING!"

And once again, Levi didn't even turn back to look at the danger. "If they're Aberrants there's a good chance they're already after Eren. When they get close enough to engage, do so. Eren, stay with me. We keep going."

"But Corporal-"

"I said, we keep going."

"Mikasa."

Levi's calls were getting more and more insistent now, his features more strained and his voice more worried, and all Eren wanted to do was to keep the corporal calm and quiet, and so he just started talking. Levi had turned stubborn over Mikasa suddenly, her name abruptly all the injured corporeal could focus on, and maybe if he just answered his question he would relax and rest- something he desperately needed. "She's the best because she's not afraid," he answered without hesitation, immediately following orders- maybe even hoping to distract Levi from the agony that he had to be in. Just give him a moment's peace, please, god...

"She's not afraid of being eaten or killed. So, she's not afraid to take risks."

"Why?"

Eren frowned. That wasn't a question he could answer; that was for Mikasa to decide to answer and Mikasa alone. But Levi looked like he was fighting to focus now, his features pale with exhaustion and his eyes, slowly drooping closed every few seconds- his breaths, now like he was beginning to have to fight for each one. And he was fighting to be able to ask these questions about Mikasa. Whatever his reasons for being insistent about this were, they had to be serious; the skeleton of his hand gripped Levi's tighter, but even as Eren tried to keep the corporal calm, he knew he couldn't break Mikasa's confidence. Not about this.

"...It's in her file."

But Levi shook his head, the motion weak and stubborn, his eyes closed and his breaths hard and ragged. "No. No history... on a-anyone from... Shiganshina. Why?"

And rather than answer the unanswerable, Eren was reduced to just countering with another question. "Why do you want to know, sir?"

This question, Levi didn't answer. The corporal had never taken the trouble to explain his actions before, and it didn't look like he was going to now; he just continued gasping and blinking, his thin chest heaving with the effort it took to keep breathing through his injuries. Eren was left unsure of what to do; just answer the question to try and help him calm down some more- or let Mikasa decide when her darkest secret should be told and keep silent?

Levi coughed. The sound was short, wet, and terrible; it sounded like he was trying to dislodge a lump from his throat, and then, before he knew it, a thin line of blood had dripped out Levi's mouth to trail down his chin.

Eren stared in horror.

He's dying. He's- he's really dying.

Except this was Levi. Levi wasn't supposed to die.

"If she doesn't fight, she'll lose. If she loses, she'll die!" Eren gasped- because all he wanted to do was keep Levi calm and alive, and he wasn't calm now, and if he didn't answer his questions, then he was going to get even worse. "She knows that. She doesn't have anything to lose if she fights. Why, sir?! Why do you want-"

"Ordered to f-fight somewhere... else... when you're in danger. W-what would she p-pick?"

The approaching footsteps were so loud they were crushing booms in Eren's ears, and the ground shook beneath his horse's hooves. The panic beating in Eren's veins was powerful- almost too powerful for him to remain on course. He wanted to break away and fight; running from the Titans went against everything he stood for. But he forced himself to stay still and follow Levi's orders, only listening to the whiz and whir of the 3D MG of his teammates' activating and the battle cries that quickly turned into screams.

"Corporal, PLEASE-"

"I said no, Eren-"

"AGHHHH!"

"GOD, HELP US!"

"LEVI! SAVE US!"

Eren gasped, the sharp cries for help yanking him back to the fights behind them more than any order of Levi's could keep him focused forwards. He turned back, head whipping around and one hand already moving to grasp a blade-

Just in time to watch the death of Squad one.

Jake was stepped on. Nothing was left but a crushed, lifeless husk with staring eyes and a mouth open in a scream.

Nathan was pulverized by a squeezing fist. Nothing was left but a spray of blood mixed with fine bone fragments.

John was eaten alive. Nothing was left at all.

Three humans were dead in the space of one second.

And Eren saw red.

"Fall back! FALL BACK! We're retreat- EREN, NO!"

"Y-you... or... orders?"

Eren bit his lip and looked away. Levi knew the answer; Mikasa had defied orders in front of him before for just this reason, but he was asking the question anyway. A test of loyalty, maybe- yes, he's dying, so he decides NOW to test my loyalty-

Fucking answer the fucking question.

"...She'd pick me," he answered reluctantly. I'm sorry, Mikasa, but I can't lie to him.

"She's obsessed... with... you. Why?"

Shaking his head in confusion, Eren answered impatiently- not a clue as to why Levi was suddenly so interested in Mikasa- and why the hell he was asking all these things now. "Because I'm her only family left. Corporal, what's wrong?! Why are you asking about Mikasa-"

"Y-you... c-c-can... protect yoursel... . But s-she s-still doesn't... trust... you... Why?"

Levi looked terrible; the blood coming from his mouth had thickened from a few droplets to a stream, and his skin tone had gone from white to grey. His expression was still desperate but focused, somehow, his words heavy with the weight of command, not pain, and Eren looked frantically out to the horizon again, searching for any signs of help.

But there was nothing. From here all the way out to Wall Rose, Eren could see no signs of civilization. Just an empty land turned dark by the fading rays of the dying sun.

He looked below them to the waiting enemy. The Titans were still below, all right, pawing angrily at the trees and trying their damnedest to climb up to their prey. There were too many to even think of taking them on with 3D MG.

He looked down at his hands and feet. White skeletal structures had taken form fully now, giving him the appearance of limbs, but as for muscles? Ligaments? Tendons? Skin?

Those were hours away.

He still couldn't do anything except keep Levi alive.

He's dying now, but... but I won't let him. I won't let him die. He won't die because of my mistake.

I will keep him alive until I can transform. I'll find a way. And I'll get him back to the walls.

I promise, Levi.

He couldn't transform yet. So, for whatever reason Levi was suddenly so fixated on Mikasa, Eren was going to keep distracting him and hope it was enough.

"It's not that Mikasa doesn't trust me," he said confidently, and he wrapped the bones of his fingers a bit tighter around Levi's, hoping that the feel of a skeleton holding his hand was comforting and not just fucking creepy. "She does. Mikasa just-" he paused, trying to think of a way to put this without making it sound bad, "...she just cares more about protecting me than fighting Titans. That's all, sir."

Levi's eyes narrowed, and Eren hastened to try and correct his words before the corporal got the wrong idea. "I mean, she hates the Titans. And if one's in front of her, she'll kill it. When- when she thought I died, in Trost, she was the one leading the defenses! It's just..." he shrugged helplessly. "If Mikasa had to choose between helping me and killing a Titan... she would pick me."

And then came the worst question of them all.

"W-what about... you... or... all the Titans? S-s-saving... humanity?"

I'LL KILL YOU

Limbs snapped in his hands like twigs. The head of the one that had swallowed Jake popped in his fist. He rammed his shoulder into the monster, bringing it to the ground with a boom as powerful as an earthquake, and brought his foot up to crush his neck.

I'LL KILL YOU ALL

The second Aberrant slammed into his side- teeth sinking into his arm and powerful legs wrapping around his waist. Eren stumbled back, shuddering under the weight even as he fell, and caught sight of both his attacker and Levi out of the corner of his eye.

Levi, still on his horse, had been mere seconds away from firing his 3D MG when the teeth of the third Titan had sank into his cloak. Eren was left watching helplessly as the corporal was yanked into the air- and was now dangling from the Titan's mouth by the hem of the wings of freedom.

Eren's attacker had blood dribbling down his chin and a human leg sticking out from between his teeth.

The image of Levi vanished from his mind.

I'LL KILL YOU ALL!

"You or humanity, Eren."

Eren's eyes widened in shock. There was humoring Levi, but then there was- this. "What?!" he demanded, and he leaned forward, trying to get a better look at the corporal's strained expression even as he shook his head vehemently. "Levi- uh, sir! How can you even ask me that?!"

"Answer," Levi pressed weakly, insistently, his gaze unfocused, even now with Eren's eyes now directly in front of us, and the corporeal gasped before repeating himself again. "Answer."

This time, Eren didn't answer immediately. He was too caught up with wondering just how damn delusional Levi had to be to even be asking this- but when Levi, with another wheeze, coughed up a globule of blood that splattered onto Eren's cheek, his mind came to a stuttering halt.

Levi's condition was deteriorating. Fast.

Keep talking. Keep him here. Keep him alive.

"Mikasa would want to save me," he answered carefully, but confidently- and truthfully. "But she's not stupid or heartless. She would never risk humanity just for me. She knows what's important and knows a world where she's unhappy is better than no world at all."

And that must have been the right thing to say, because the moment Eren finished, the sheer desperation on Levi's features faded, and it was replaced by contentment.

The thin, grim line of his mouth relaxed, and the hard fight of each breath vanished. The confusion and concentration vanished as well, expression smoothing out into one of peace, and his grey eyes turned sleepy and tired. His tense muscles and exhausted struggles eased, and in the space of a single second, Eren found himself watch the dying struggles of his corporal become nothing but the dreamlike moments before sleep.

"Ah," he murmured softly, voice beginning to slur, and he smiled- actually smiled. His teeth were red with blood. "Good. I see..."

Eren frowned again. "Corporal?" he asked hesitantly, the bones and beginnings of muscle of his hand squeezing tighter again around Levi's cold fingers. "Are- are you all right?"

Levi's tired eyes turned didn't focus on Eren; rather, they seemed to look almost through him, as if he couldn't really see, and the corporeal let out a quiet sigh of contentment. "Wanted to know," he breathed, but to himself, not to Eren, "that... who they've been calling... humanity's second strongest... could really... become the strongest. Good to k-know... that I'm... not... letting anyone... down."

And then, with one final smile, his eyes closed.

Eren sat, frozen.

Eren abandoned the body of his first victim to heal and launched himself at the second. The sight of human limbs in that bastard's mouth was too much to bear. He ripped the head in half, turning it to shreds, and ignored the thrashing blows from the body in his grip as lowered his mouth down to maul the nape of the neck. He ripped it free, and the Titan was dead.

"AGH!"

The piercing cry of agony stopped Eren in his tracks.

That cry was human.

That cry was familiar.

Still chewing the Titan flesh, he dropped his enemy and turned to face the newest danger.

His world stopped turning.

Levi.

The third Aberrant was just standing there, staring at him, grinning- with Levi clenched in between his teeth.

The corporal's slender body hung mostly free; it was just that thin sliver of his chest captured within the Titan's mouth. The monstrous teeth were sprayed with black blood from Levi, Eren just KNEW it was Levi's blood- but the corporal himself looked more surprised than in pain; his usually apathetic features were twisted in shock, his eyes wide, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

And the Titan, still grinning, began to reach up to take a bigger bite of Levi.

Eren's world went dark.

Levi hadn't been delusional at all.

It hadn't been the illogical ramblings of a hurt man in more pain than he could imagine.

Levi had known he was dying, and humanity's strongest soldier had wanted to know that there was someone who could take his place.

His last words had been devoted to finding a replacement for himself.

Shaking from some measure of either pain, rage, or probably some mixture of both, Eren sat back, stunned. Taken aback by the utter selflessness he'd just witnessed, Eren found himself mute and staring- his suddenly blurry, wet gaze taking in all of Levi, really looking at him for the the first time since he'd woken up here on this branch. Not just his face, but all of him- including the injury that he had caused.

All he could see of the right side of Levi's abdomen raw, red flesh. His skin curved inwards; where there should've been the ends of ribs, there was nothing but air. Little chunks of white bone scattered amongst torn muscle tissue, glaring against the dark red blood gently oozing from what was left of his stomach. With each painful breath, his chest heaved, shaking with the effort.

Eren stared down at the powerful image of humanity's strongest soldier- the limp body, the slack limbs, the relaxed face-

And he found himself overcome with a raging, terrible, heart stopping fury.

He'd just heard what was supposed to be Levi's last words.

Except they weren't last words at all.

Was that really all he'd cared about? Just that his job would get done?!

Eren had seen more than one person give their last words, and Levi's had been the worst. No goodbyes, no regrets, no apologies, no anything but this business-like evaluation to ensure Mikasa was ready to take on being the elite of the elite.

What kind of a goodbye was that?!

Humanity's strongest soldier was not just humanity's strongest soldier. Levi was a person, too, a person who didn't deserve to die like this- and what kind of a shit last words did he give?! No I'm sorry, no it's not your fault, not even a keep humanity safe- just I'm glad Mikasa can replace me?!

Eren saw red.

He looked down at the still dying man on the branch and clenched his fists, trembling body slowly being overtaken by a rage. "I've got words for you, shit-for-brains," he hissed, and when he realized his eyes felt wet again, he just ignored it. "Mikasa can't replace you because you're not just humanity's strongest soldier. You're our friend, Corporal. She can't replace you as our friend."

And with those words, he knew that it didn't matter anymore that he wasn't fully healed.

Levi thought he was just a corporal in the army, but he was wrong. Like it or not, the bastard was their friend. And he was not going to let his friend die thinking he was worth nothing but as a soldier.

I am not going to fucking let you die, Levi.

With a deep breath, Eren carefully slid his arms underneath the corporal's limp body, flinching when the motion drew a tormented whimper from Levi's throat. It didn't sound like it came from the soldier; it was too- too animalistic, too helpless, but that wasn't something that he could afford to think on now. "Sorry, sir," he whispered before standing carefully and turning back to face the direction of the walls.

To shift into Titan form, he had to have a purpose. The problem for Hanji's experiments was always that, when he wasn't in battle, he had trouble coming up with a sincere purpose to prompt the transformation.

Now, there was no problem.

I will protect Levi.

I will save Levi.

I will bring him home.