Note: This is the sequel to 'Love Anew' which was the sequel to 'Tender Care'. If ya haven't read those ones please dooo. If ya want to. If you have then read on!

Strengthen Me

Chapter 1

Flashback, seven months ago.

Levi's POV

"Oniisan, can you believe it? In a week you'll finally be nineteen! Don't you feel old?" I hear Mikasa say and I glare at her, not liking her comment. "I'm not old. Our father is old. I on the other hand am young and handsome" I say and she rolls her eyes. "Oh please. You're as self-centred as usual I see. I wonder how you and that brunette manage to keep a relationship going with you being such a prick and him being an angel"

"An angel? Eren? that's the funniest thing I've ever heard. And since when do you talk so fondly about him? Don't you two hate each other?" I ask, thinking back to the time where she confessed her feelings to me and claimed to hat Eren. "I realize that hating Eren won't do anything. You guys are perfect for each other and what sister would I be if I went and hated on the person you love? Besides, now that I think about it Eren is a real saint."

"I don't know how you came to that conclusion. He's a demon. I'm sure of it" I say and she just chuckles. "Yeah, he can be pretty troublesome. But you know he's actually a great kid. Back when I confessed to you he made me realize that what I had done was wrong. When you guys had left I followed after you and I sat out your room door and listened to you both. I could understand why you were crying but I never could understand why he was as well"

"That night I couldn't sleep at all. I was plagued with thoughts on what had happened and I was trying to figure out why Eren had been crying. And then it dawned on me. He was crying because he loved you. It sounds sill but when you think about it more logically you feel sad when the person you love is going through a rough time and all you can do is sit and watch. Of course he did more then watch. He helped you through it. And that's what makes him a saint. He's kind and genuinely cares about you"

I stayed silent. I didn't know how I was supposed to reply to something like that. "He's truly an angle disguised as a demon" the woman says, chuckling at her own words. "Yeah… and I must be a real demon for leaving him like that. He's probably really mad at me" I say and she shakes her head. "No, he probably isn't. I don't think he has the capability of being angry with you"

"You might be right… but you might be wrong as well" I say and she was about to say something but was interrupted by the sound of my phone going off. I picked my phone up off of the table and looked at the number. It was one I didn't recognize. "Who is it?" Mikasa asks and I shrug, "dunno" I say as I just hang up.

"What if it was something important?" my sister asks me. "Then I'll apologize" I say and she just rolls her eyes. "You really are a pric-" she starts but was interrupted by my phone ringing again. I look at the number. It was the same one from a few seconds ago. "Just answer it" Mikasa says and I just sigh and accept the call.

"Hello?" I say into the speaker. "Levi?" I hear someone reply, "It's me, Grisha…" the man says and I could hear how exhausted and weak he sounded. "What's wrong? You sound dead. Is Eren giving you grief again? Where are you guys by the way? You were supposed to be here yesterday already" I say and I could hear the man go silent on the other side.

"Mr Yeager? Is everything okay?" I ask. "No… nothing is okay. Levi I need you to come down to Fuki Kenpaku (1). There's been an accident"

When I heard Grisha say that there had been an accident I had gotten up quickly and drove the short distance to Fuki Kenpaku. I didn't know what had happened. Eren's father had hung up on me after telling me which ward I was supposed to go to and didn't answer me when I asked about what had happened.

I hope it isn't anything too serious. Hopefully they just had a minor accident and all that happened was a few broken bones and some cuts… although there's nothing good about that but I suppose it's better than Eren being dead…

As I pulled up into the parking lot that was packed with other cars and emergency vehicles I found a free spot and parked my car before climbing out and running inside the emergency entry. I saw Grisha standing there, next a sign that read 'IC RM 6'

"Mr Yeager? What happened to you?" I asked as I examined the condition he was in. He had a cast around his one arm and a bandage around his head. He also had a forlorn expression on his face that told me this wasn't some minor accident. "Where's Eren?" I ask.

"He's in there" the man says, pointing to the door of 'IC RM 6'. There was a plate on the door that read 'Eren Yeager, Cardiac'. "Cardiac, isn't that to do with the heart? Why would Eren have problems with his heart?" I asked, turning around to look and Grisha who chose not to reply.

I turn back around and open the door and step inside. The sight I was greeted with wasn't something I was expecting or prepared for. "e-Eren…" I stutter out as I walk towards the bed that Eren was on. "What happened to you?" I ask, even though I knew he probably wouldn't be able to answer me.

He was strapped up to a machine with pumps and tubes here and there. He was covered in bandages and had bruises all over his body. He was also pale and looked sickly. "His heart is failing" I hear Grisha say and I look up to see him staring at his son with a sad expression. "The surgeons did what they could… but his heart is too weak to go on… they said he'll probably only last for a week on Life Support…"

"You can't be serious… no… this is a joke right? Eren put you up to this didn't he? Ha ha, very funny Eren. You can stop pretending now. This isn't funny" I say, looking back at the brunette, expecting him to wake up but he didn't. "Levi… this isn't a joke… no one will go to such extents to prank someone…"

"No… no… this can't be happening… not to Eren… that's just unfair…" I mumble out as I watch the brunette who seemed to be struggling with his breathing. "Eren… I'm so sorry… this is all my fault… please… please don't die… don't leave me… Eren… you can't do this to me…" I witter. I could feel tears pricking at the corners of my eyes as they started to burn.

"Eren… please… please tell me I'm just dreaming… please tell me that this is just a horrible nightmare… please tell me you're not dying…" I drone out. My voice was starting to sound weak and much like Mr Yeagers. "Please don't die" by now I could feel my tears streaming down my cheeks and I wasn't going to even try to stop them.

"Please don't leave me…"

"Levi… it's okay. He won't die" Grisha says. I look over at him, not even caring about the fact that I probably looked pathetic. "What do you mean?" I ask and the man smiles. "I'm giving him my heart. I'll take his damaged one" he says and my eyes widen. "But you'll die if you did that… and there's no guarantee that his body will accept your heart."

"It will. I can feel it. Call it a parent's intuition but I know that my child will live through this" he says smiling, "I don't care if I die. As long as Eren lives another day. There's no way I'll allow my son to die before me"

"But-"

"No buts. I have already made my decision and nobody is going to change my mind. I want you to promise me something, Levi" the man says and I nod my head. "What is it?"

"Please take care of my son"

"I will…just… thank you… for giving him life"

Present day

Normal POV

Two weeks had passed since the brunette had finally woken up from his coma. The brunette had been kept for so long because his doctor wanted to do check-ups on him and make sure that he was okay. Everything was fine. He was healthy, healthy as can considering he was asleep for seven months. His body showed no signs of rejecting the heart that he had been given, although if his body were to reject it, it would have done t long time ago already.

The only thing that was really wrong with him was the fact that not moving his body for so long had caused him to lose a lot of muscle mass and therefor he wasn't able to walk on his own and needed the help of others. He could still kinda use his arms and hands, though it caused him a lot of strain since he wasn't quite used to the action.

He had to go through a rehabilitation course to train his body and build up the muscle he lost. Aki had said that he would probably make a quick recovery as most patients aren't even able to lift their arms and legs after waking up from a coma after one week and the brunette had already started moving his arms the day he woke up.

Today he had been discharged from the hospital, which he was grateful for as he couldn't stand being in that place any longer. The brunette had found out that he was in a hospital in Levi's home town, since it had been closer to the accident sight. He had told the blackette that he didn't want to stay and that as soon as he was discharged he wanted to go home.

Levi hadn't complained. He could understand that the brunette was probably tired of being in such a foreign place, even though he had been there for seven and a half months, and wanted to be in his own home, sleeping in his own bed. He doubted he would even want to go to Levi's house and stay there.

So the blackette had fetched him from the hospital he was in and currently they were driving to the brunette's home town, drowned in the sound of complete silence.

Eren was looking out his window, watching all the structures pass them as they drove on. It felt oddly strange for him to be driving down the road they were on again. He was so used to driving around in Tokyo that the roads they were on seemed like they belonged to a foreign country.

"What did you dream about?" he heard Levi ask. He turned his head to look over at the male, a brow raised at him. "Why do you ask?" he question and the man just shrugged is shoulder. "We still have a long way to go before we reach your house. You can kill some time by telling me about your dreams. Plus I want to know about them…" he trailed off.

"Okay" the brunette says, "Where should I start?" he asks. "From the beginning" the blackette replied. Eren nodded his head. He stayed silent for a short while, thinking of ways to tell the male the story of his dream. "Well… the way I remember it starting was with me being on an aeroplane, heading to Tokyo"

"In the dream you and I had been separated for ten years. I had become a teacher and was moving to Tokyo for a job opportunity. Of course I had to stay with someone for a month or so because the house I was to live in was still being built. So when I got off the plane and went to find my temporary roommate I was greeted by a very rude man"

"I didn't recognize the man at first but after a while he started looking more and more like you. And it was you. Apparently you had planned for me to teach at some school that was filled with pot heads. To be honest I don't know how I lasted there… anyway. In the dream I wasn't very happy with you because you had ignored me for almost ten years and suddenly wanted to be a part of my life again"

"Of course you were persistent and tried whatever you could to get me back. Whatever you did worked. We got back together. Oh and me and Mikasa were good friends for some reason and she was a serious pervert who got nosebleeds each time we did something romantic. So yeah, life went on and then I woke up and found out that I was actually dreaming the whole time and that the life I though I was living was nothing but a fantasy" he ended off.

"I should have realized I was dreaming much sooner… now that I think about it everything seemed so farfetched. But the one thing that should've stood out the most was you. You were so different. More vocal. More emotional, in a sense. You used the word "love" so easily it actually hurts just thinking about it. In the dream you were the epitome of niceness and devotion when in reality you're exactly the opposite" he says as he looks away from the blackette.

"That's funny because while you were busy dreaming of a 'better' me I was sitting by your side, waiting for you to wake up. I didn't even go to university because of you-"

"So are you trying to blame me? Last time I checked you were the one that left ME for university in the first place. You could have just left me alone. I didn't need you to look after me. That's why there were doctors there. You could have just gone to your stupid school and left me alone like you planned on doing" Eren says, interrupting the male before he could finish his sentence.

Levi looked at the brunette out of the corner of his eyes. "If I didn't watch over you they would have switched off your machine and you would have died" he says, his eyes going back to the road.

"Then why didn't you just let me die?" Eren asks, his voice soft but his word clear. Silence followed after he said that. Eren didn't know if Levi was too shocked by his question to answe or if he was just thinking of how to answer.

"Because I love you too much to let you go so easily. And that's why I chose you over Tokyo… had I gone I would have regretted my decision" Levi enetually said, his own tone soft and gentle. Eren scoffed at him.

"Really? You love me too much to let me go so easily? You know Levi did it ever occur to you that had you had that type of mind-set of not wanting to lose me you wouldn't have left me for Tokyo and maybe none of this would have happened. Instead you did take that offer and it took me nearly dying for you to realise you made a mistake" Eren says and Levi's grip around the steering wheel tightens. He doesn't reply to the brunettes words, mainly because he didn't know how to.

Of course he had been plagued with thoughts like that. There wasn't one day when thoughts about what happened to Eren being his fault didn't cross his mind. He wanted to tell Eren this, tell him that he did know that maybe if he hadn't left him for Tokyo then none of this wouldn't have happened. But from his point of view he didn't know that his decision would have caused something like this to happen. Had he know he would have gladly told the university to go shove their offer up their ass.

'I should have thought about you before I thought about myself' he thought to himself. 'I know they say that you should think about yourself before you think about other but you're right. If I had the same mind-set I have now then maybe, just maybe, none of this would have happened. But you know not even we can tell if that would have stopped this from working. They say God works in mysterious ways, not that I'm religious or anything, but maybe, if there is a being like God, he wanted this to happen'

'Although that's just cruel' he thought, 'God is supposed to love all his children yet he allows them to suffer. I know us as humans are very sinful but I don't think anybody deserves to be punished for their mistakes. Well, it's not like I believe in God or anything. I'm sure this just happened because Eren and his dad were in a wrong place at the wrong time'

While the blackette had an inner conflict with himself Eren was dealing with his own struggle. He knew he shouldn't have said what he had but he couldn't help it. He didn't want to blame Levi for what happened but sometimes he said and did things he didn't want to and he ended up hurting others.

Let it out. Speak to others. Especially to Levi. He remembers his dad saying in the letter he had left for him. . Don't push him away. 'It's not like I want to push him away or anything but that's easier said than done. Sometimes I do things not even I'm aware of. Heck I was dreaming for seven month and I hadn't even known it… if I push him away it's out of reflex, not because I want to because pushing him away and driving him out of my life is the last thing I want'

The brunette let out a sigh. He didn't like having such thoughts. They were depressing. Then again his whole situation was depressing but he wasn't going to think about it. He would hold it back until he couldn't no longer. He didn't want to think about it now. He didn't want to think about what had happened. He didn't want to be weak, even though he was.

For now he just wanted hold onto any piece of meaning he thought he had.

When they eventually got to the brunette's house, both having stayed silent after the brunette's previous comment and had continued to stay quiet. Levi had to help Eren get inside the house, seeing as he was in no condition to be walking and needed to be carried up the stairs. He had a wheelchair but it wouldn't be a good idea for Levi found it easier to carry the brunette.

Once they were finally in Eren's room the blackette placed Eren on the edge of his bed and tried to make things as comfortable as he could for the teen. He was about to lay the brunette down but was stopped by Eren speaking up for the first time in the last two hours

"Forget about what I said in the car. What happened wasn't your fault. I could never blame you for something like this and I'm really sorry… I'm just having a hard time dealing with all of this still… it's been two weeks and I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I've been in a coma for seven months. Part of me is thinking that this is nothing but a dream as well and that any minute now I'll wake up… but then another part of me knows that this is real and not a dream… I'm just so conflicted and I don't know what to do" he say, tears unwillingly streaming down his cheeks.

Levi crouches down in front of him and wipes away the brunettes tears with his thumb before cupping the youngers cheeks in his hands and leans forward to place a gentle kiss on his lips. "I know this is all going to be tough on you but I need you to know that things will only get better. I'll see to it. I promise you that this time I won't be leaving you."

Hiii guyssss! I wanted to have this up sooner but unfortunately I had to study. But at least it's up now!

Soooo…. How was it? I put a flashback in of how Levi found out about the accident because I wanted to also show his reaction to seeing Eren for the first time in a long while and the brunette is in a hospital, being kept alive by a machine.

1; Fuki- Liberty, Kenpaku- Memorial. Aka Liberty memorial which I'm sure you realized was the hospital Eren was in. I just made this place up so it doesn't exist.

I really hope you guys liked! Hope to get some reviews!

Ciao~