Disclaimer: Shingeki no Kyoujin is Isayama Hajime's.

The first sentence of this story was taken from the random first line generator. Please enjoy! :D

The Well

There was a legend about the well in the garden. They said it would grant wishes, but not for free. They said it would ask for your soul, in return for every wish it granted. When he heard it, Eren laughed it off, and even made a joke out of it. Because, really? A well that could take one's soul? They didn't live in a fairy tale, did they?

Armin tried to warn him, and Mikasa went to destroy the well before Eren could do something stupid. But Eren was adamant, and he somehow managed to shout one thing before Mikasa's big hammer smashed the mouth of the well: "Please let me meet my soulmate!"

It wasn't his real wish. If he were honest, he wanted his dead mother back to life, but it was impossible. It was only an ordinary well after all. So he grinned when Mikasa and Armin fussed over him, and told them he was only kidding.

"Eren, you don't know what will happen," Armin said.

"Soulmates are bullshit, you know that. Just like the well," said Eren.

Mikasa looked at him with pity in her eyes, and Eren became even more amused. Because, how could one be so naive when living in a modern era like today?

Thus, Eren shrugged the whole incident off, laughing when his dad punished Mikasa for destroying the well. Nothing would happen after all.

Days, months, and years passed, and Eren was now officially an adult. He had forgotten the well, and everything that had happened in the garden on that day when he was fifteen. He managed to go to a good college, left his hometown, and spent his life partying and drinking like he had nothing better to do.

And then one day, he met him. He was Levi Ackerman, a man who was ten years Eren's senior, but too young still to be called "Professor". But he indeed was a professor, and Eren would do anything to get accepted in his special class. And of course, when he put his mind to it, he would succeed. As such, he, too, succeeded in getting close to Levi.

"I never knew that love existed before I met you, Professor," Eren said one day, sprawling on a bed beside Levi's naked form. He hadn't meant for it to come out so cheesy, but Eren was nothing if not honest. What he felt for Levi was love, and he would rather die than not admit it.

"So you think a brat like you know what love is?"

"The only thing I know is you and it scares me, honestly."

Levi raised an eyebrow at that, and Eren thought maybe if soulmates really existed, it would be wonderful to have Levi as his.

And that made him stunned. He sat up, his brow furrowed, and knew that something was off.

"What's wrong?" Levi asked.

"Nothing," said Eren, although it was anything but. However, try as he might, Eren couldn't put his finger on what exactly was wrong. Therefore he shifted, let Levi sit on top of him, and opened his mouth to welcome Levi's kisses.

The matter of soulmates, once again, was forgotten.

Until suddenly, Levi was gone. He went away, without saying anything, forever.

Eren stared at the silent tomb, trying to deny the thing that had happened that day-Levi's funeral. Because... how could Levi not tell Eren about his illness? Hadn't he known Eren was madly in love with him? Had he only played with Eren's heart?

No one could answer him. No one knew about their relationship, no one knew because perhaps, Levi had planned all of this.

"Eren, do you remember the well?"Armin asked him one day, when Eren was almost sure he couldn't live another day with the knowledge of Levi lying to him.

"The well? The..."

And that was how Eren remembered. The well that granted wishes, that asked for one's soul for every wish it granted. And that was also how Eren understood everything.

Eren laughed. He laughed until he cried, and he laughed until his voice failed him. All the while, Armin looked at him patiently, waiting.

"I asked for a soulmate," Eren said.

"You did."

"And it took away my soul."

Armin frowned, but said nothing.

"It gave me the soulmate I wanted, but when he died, so did a part of me. Because what is a soul without the mate it needs, Armin?"

"Eren. It was only a folktale. You didn't believe it before."

"And you believed it before," said Eren. "It didn't matter, though. Because Levi is gone."

Armin seemed surprised, probably because Eren had never told him about Levi before. But it didn't matter, Eren thought. Nothing mattered anymore.

Levi was gone. And, so was Eren's soul.

All that remained was the ruins of a well that could grant wishes in the garden of his parents' house.

~Fin~

Thank you for reading! And if you don't mind, please let me know what you think. :D