Eren was engulfed by darkness. A low, loud humming was in his ears, and he shot his arm out blindly to feel for something he could recognise, but came back empty handed. It didn't matter if his eyes were closed or not, because no matter how much he willed it, he couldn't see a thing. He felt uncertainty slowly creep in, and he patted his chest. He felt some kind of fabric, possibly cotton, and he shook his head. That didn't help him at all; he was still in the dark, quite literally. Suddenly, there was an ear-shattering boom and the ground shook. Eren stumbled forward. A cracking sound made Eren's head snap down to look at the small crack in the floor. Bright light shone through the tiny crack, and as Eren shifted his weight his right foot, and the crack grew. Little fingers of light shone up through the floor and Eren squinted as his eyes tried to adjust and look around.

The light that came through the cracks didn't help Eren at all; in fact, it confused him even more. He didn't know where he was, and there were no objects around, only thin air and ominous pitch black surrounding him. He carefully got onto his knees and put his hand near the larger crack. There was a slight draft. Eren licked his lips. There was a way out. He smiled. The smile was gone in a flash as the ground crumbled away from beneath him and he began to fall. He had screwed his eyes shut and let out a shout. He flailed around in the air, and kept falling, tumbling, and twisting in the air, as his hair whipped around his face and the fall left him breathless. He wrenched open his eyes and looked around. He was falling past flying islands decorated with grass, broken fences, brightly coloured flowers, and all sorts of debris like abandoned books, split sheds, and tangled wires. He flipped around in the air, and he reached out towards one of the islands, but his finger got cut by some stray metal. He hissed and yanked back his hand.

He glanced down. There didn't seem to be any end in sight. It seemed like he was falling forever. He cast his eyes up, to see a dot of black far above him, and bright blue skies. Wispy white clouds hung in the air like soft cotton candy at a fair. Eren looked around in awe, and he frowned.

That was when he noticed something. There was a man, sat on an island with his ankles crossed, and his head tilted up to watch Eren. As Eren fell closer, the man became clearer. He had inky black hair, and a slim figure. He seemed quite small, and he didn't quite fit in with all the green grass, because of his stark black jeans and blood red jacket. He rested with his hands behind him, and something in his eyes gave a hint of tranquillity.

"What the fuck?" Eren shouted and flailed wildly.

The man tilted his head and he lifted his foot onto the edge of the island, as if to get up. Eren gave out a little squeal as he felt his stomach churn. If Eren squinted, he swore he caught a smirk pass the man's lips.

"Help me!" Eren yelled at the man, who he was fast approaching.

"Why should I?" The man stood up and folded his arms.

"Please!" Eren put a hand to his mouth. "I'm going to throw up if I can't stop spinning."

"If you'll stop that godawful screeching." The man stepped back. "Just will yourself to slow down. I'll try to catch you or something, I guess."

"Will myself to slow down? Are you crazy?" Eren exclaimed.

"Just do it, you ungrateful brat!"

Eren grimaced and tried to concentrate. He screwed his eyes shut and clenched his fists tightly. 'Slow down, please slow down, fuck, fuck, fuck. I'm going to be sick. Please slow down.' He pleaded in his head. He soon heard a grunt and came to a stop as something warm wrapped itself around him. He had hunched over into a ball and didn't move a muscle until he heard a huff.

"You're not dead." A smooth voice was in Eren's ear, and sent a cold shiver down his spine.

Eren slowly opened his eyes to see sharp silver eyes staring at him. He jumped and the man instantly let go. Eren blushed and coughed as he straightened himself out. He ducked his head sheepishly as the man brushed himself off and slowly raised an eyebrow at Eren.

"Uh, I, uh. Thanks." Eren nodded awkwardly.

"Yeah." The man nodded and folded his arms across his chest.

"So, um. Where the fuck are we? And who, uh, who are you?" Eren stuffed his hands in his pockets as he cast another glance around.

"You tell me." The man shrugged.

Eren paused. "How am I meant to know? I literally fell from the sky just now."

"I know. I was the one who caught your ass, by the way." The man raised an eyebrow at Eren.

"Yeah, I, thanks for that, but you were here already, so…" Eren sighed. "This can't be real, can it?"

"Is it?"

"I don't know!" Eren huffed.

"Geez, you've already got your panties in a twist?"

"No!" Eren's eyebrows flew up and his eyes widened. "I don't- I don't wear those."

"You don't sound too certain about that, hm?" The man gave Eren a teasing smirk.

"No! Yes! What?" Eren slouched and looked at the guy in confusion. "I- Who are you?"

"Huh." The man gave Eren a once-over and extended a hand, after getting a quick look at Eren's. "You first."

"Eren." He took the man's hand and shook it. "You?"

The man smirked and retracted his hand. He tapped his nose. Eren frowned. That wasn't fair. The man adjusted his blood red jacket and unzipped it, revealing a simple grey t-shirt. He sighed and watched Eren carefully. Eren was actually a bit taller than the man, and he was lankier, whereas the man seemed small, but not absolutely tiny.

"What's the deal with all the floating dirt and," he looked over the edge of the small island they stood on, "air?"

"What do you mean?" Eren tilted his head.

"Well, you were the one that came up with all of this." The man stepped forward and stretched up to tap Eren's head. "Or at least this did."

"I'm not following." Eren shook his head and shrugged.

The man sighed. "Really, people are really thick." He muttered. "You're dreaming right now, if all this weird shit didn't make it obvious as fuck."

"Right…"

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"No, no! I… kind of do?" Eren frowned.

"You don't act like it." The man shook his head. "I'll prove it." He frowned for a moment. "Think of your favourite animal. It better not be some kind of rat or something." He grimaced.

"Animal?" Eren smiled. "Nah, it's not a rat."

Eren thought about his favourite animal. He thought about the soft fur against his fingers, and the bright, hopeful eyes that had peered up at him. He could remember them clearly, like it was only yesterday that… He bit his lip. He focused back on the cheerful yips that his pup would make, and the way that it would wag its tail whenever he saw it. He smiled softly at the memory.

"A dog?"

"Huh?" Eren glanced up at inquisitive grey eyes.

"A dog. That's your favourite animal?"

Something bumped against Eren's leg, and he looked down. At his feet, there was a black Leonberger puppy, pawing at his leg and demanding to be picked up. Big brown eyes stared up at Eren, and he felt a wave of relief go through him.

"Titan?" Eren whispered in disbelief.

The little puppy yipped and wiggled its behind, as its tail wagged furiously, like some fighter jet about to take flight. Eren reached down and scooped up the pup. He felt a warm feeling in his chest as he raised Titan up to get a proper look at her. Titan desperately reached towards Eren, and strained to lick his face. Eren laughed and hugged her close. He stroked Titan, and treasured the soft fur on his fingertips.

"She's not just any dog." Eren murmured and scratched behind Titan's ear.

"How so?" the man tilted his head.

"She, um. I got her just after…" Eren shook his head. "It doesn't matter. She's just really special, and she was there when I really needed someone."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Eren glanced up to see the man's eyebrows were pinched into a frown. "What's wrong?"

"Me?" The man glanced up. "Oh, nothing, I'm fine." He shook his head.

"You sure?"

"Yeah." A sigh left the man's soft lips. "She's really important to you, isn't she?"

"Was." Eren's face fell into a frown. Titan whined.

"'Was'? What do you mean 'was'?"

"She's…" Eren frowned and put Titan down. He took a step back.

"Hey, watch out, you're kind of close to the-" The man took a step towards Eren and lifted his hand a little towards Eren.

"She's dead. This isn't- none of this is- she's dead. Oh my god, Titan's dead." Eren shook his head as Titan kept pawing at his leg, and tried to get his attention again.

"Eren."

"She's dead. She's dead because- she's-"

"Eren!"

Another step backwards, and Eren started falling again. The man had grabbed onto Eren's sleeve, and ended up falling with him. He gritted his teeth and grasped Eren's shirt tighter. Eren felt tears well in his eyes as the realisation that his pup was dead hit him. It was like a stab in the gut, and he bit his lip hard as he tried to stop the tears that began to fall.

"Eren! Listen to me." The smooth voice brought Eren away from his thoughts for a moment. "It's okay. She may be gone, but, at least you had her, right?"

The wind rushed past them, but the man's cool gaze was sharper than any wind. It seemed to stare into him, and Eren tried to swallow the lump in his throat. His lip trembled. The man gripped his arms tightly.

"It was better that she was there, than not at all." The man nodded, and Eren nodded in return.

He felt something wipe his tears away, and he looked up to notice the concerned glint in the man's eyes. Eren nodded again and smiled. The man sagged in relief and nodded reassuringly.

"You can always get another pup, you know. It won't be Titan, but," the man shrugged, "yeah."

Something loud and shrill echoed all around them. Eren whipped his head around in panic and he looked back to the man, and gripped his arms. Eren's green eyes widened, and the man shook his head.

"That's the wakeup call, I guess." The man nodded. "You're just waking up, that's all."

"Will I see you again?" Eren gulped and held on to the man tightly, as if he were a lifeline.

"If you can get to sleep tomorrow, I'll try."

"What do you mean you'll try? Aren't you a part of this?" Eren started to shake.

"Sort of. It doesn't matter." The man caught Eren's eyes and made sure he held it. "Tomorrow, okay?"

"O-okay."

"It's Levi."

"What?" Eren's eyebrows drew up in confusion. Everything started to get fuzzy and to crumble away into tiny pieces.

"I'm Levi."

As Eren's mouth fell open in realisation, Levi disappeared, and Eren jerked awake. He glanced around and fumbled to stop the obnoxious bleeping of his alarm. He slapped the table next to his bed, but struggled to get his arm out of the tangle of covers he was trapped in. He groaned as the alarm started to cause a headache, and he wriggled his arm out of his duvet. He slapped the alarm, and it stopped its beeping. Eren sat up in bed and rested his forehead in his hands.

"Tomorrow." He croaked.