Author's notes: After eternity, there is now finally a chapter 2. This chapter involved Eren being completely crippled and in a terrible state as a consequence of the experiment. Minor spoilers.

"Eren, we're heading the other way!"

"Why aren't you riding your horse properly…?! Over here!"

"Eren… Eren…!"

Eren's head was spinning- the world in front of him had begun to turn colors he didn't know it could be. The yells and clopping of the horses became faint whispers as he hit the grass with a loud thud. Rolling over, he thought to himself, "It's getting hard to breathe… Maybe I can close my eyes."

"Keep that boy breathing!" The demand was instructed for the entire squad who was horseback as they turned around and all halted to a sudden stop around the now barely conscious Eren.

The night that Eren spent with Levi was around three weeks ago, and by this point, Eren had been in bed rest for the past few days. His body collapsed under him during one of their drills, earning himself a disdainful side glance from his corporal. During the period, the only memories he had were the distant and hazy memories of dreams, and every time, they were accompanied by a searing pain though his abdomen. However, he didn't have the strength to open his eyes, so he kept them closed.

The entire squad took turns watching over him, and at some points, they couldn't even tell if he was alive or not since his heartbeat had become barely detectable. When Eren rolled over in bed, Armin, who was watching him at the time, rejoiced to the point of tears, announcing it to all of his comrades that his best friend was indeed alive and moving.

When Jean was watching him, Eren had started murmuring in his sleep, which Jean was happy about, although slightly irritated. But, gradually the murmurs had turned into loud gasps for air, and Jean panicked. It was the middle of the night, and no one was awake. He tried his best to comfort Eren, helped him roll over, and rubbed his back. He never, ever imagined having to do this.

Three days passed, Eren had yet to awake from his limbo slumber where he alternated now between barely alive to full out screams. God forbid anyone had to imagine what he was dreaming about. It was hard for his squad members to watch Eren without anxiety or just extreme sadness; everyone was waiting for him to wake up.

When Mikasa had come to see Eren, she kept one hand on his chest, timing every heartbeat, watching every breath that he took. It shook her to the bone that there was nothing that she could do to save Eren from this near-death state. There were no titans for her to kill to frantically save Eren because the monster lived within him.

Everyone, including Sasha, Connie, Hanji, and Erwin took time out of their busy schedules to watch over Eren, all except for Captain Levi. Everyone knew that Levi had not taken his turn to watch over Eren, but no one dared question the captain. Mikasa, who had had enough of Levi's composed and detached attitude, approached the captain.

"You have yet to watch over Eren. I believe that this is as much your duty as ours, if not more."

It would be a lie if Levi said he didn't bat an eye at Mikasa- he looked up at her for a few brief moments.

He confirmed her statement, "You're right."

However, he said absolutely nothing else. He proceeded to walk in the opposite direction of Eren's room. There were a multitude of explanations as to why Levi had been avoiding Eren's room, but none of them was his aptitude to avoid responsibility.

Maybe, he felt no need to further attach himself to Eren, since his job was done. Perhaps, he might have even felt guilty as the only possible connection of Eren's mysterious state to his previous actions and encounters was the night that he spent with Levi. Worst of all, Levi might have even felt scared of what could happen to the boy. Yes, even Levi was capable of feeling such things, but it is a secret. The best kept secret in the world.

On the fifth day of his almost coma, Eren woke up. Erwin was with him at that time. He was looking down at his book, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to read the small text. In that moment, Eren snapped his jade green eyes open. His eyes began to fill with tears that started to roll down his face. His eyes were puffy and swollen as if he had been crying the entire time he was asleep.

Erwin noticed that Eren had woke up because Eren's legs were kicking in and out underneath the blanket.

"Ah, Eren, you're awake!" Erwin was elated to see that Eren had finally awoken.

"Please…" Eren whimpered from his pillow, unable to raise his head more than a few inches, "Please… help me… God, it hurts so much…"

Erwin's smiling face quickly turned into a face of concern and panic. He needed to leave to go get Hanji, but leaving Eren alone in this state was out of the question. The commander staggered closer to Eren's head and felt parts of Eren's body like his forehead and chest.

"Where is the pain, Eren?" Erwin tried to keep his head on straight and his voice cool to try to avoid completely chaos.

The boy did not answer his question; he just continued to thrash around. At that point, Erwin did not know what to do. It was one thing to watch in horror as someone is eaten by a titan. Of course, it was a terrible site, but after half a second, there is nothing anyone can do to save said person. In this case, however, the person in front of him looked like he was dying a slow death, so it lands on Erwin as the bystander and a decent human being to help him.

Just as Erwin began to dread the situation, he heard footsteps and saw Levi pass by the door. Levi was walking at a brisk pace as though to avoid the door of Eren's current stay.

"Levi, wait, come in here. I need you to watch Eren."

Levi just stared at him with a cold blank expression. As much as he wanted to refuse it, he couldn't if it was a command issued by the commander.

"I'm going to go try to find Hanji. Eren looks like he's in a lot of pain, so please take care of him. Have you seen Hanji today?" Erwin asked the man in front of him.

"Not since breakfast. She might be out doing experiments."

Erwin just nodded and left the room.

A heavy silence filled the room whose weight was so enormous it would've taken away anyone's opportunity to breathe. The only thing that could be heard was Eren's muffled cries along with the violent shuffling of sheets.

Eren finally cried softly, "Please help me… I can't take this anymore."

Levi was quick to reply, "Just deal-," but cut himself off immediately. He had been through a lot in his life, and he didn't know if what he went through was comparable to the living nightmare that Eren was going through.

Finally, finding some amount of humanity in himself, Levi arose and lifted the sheets off of Eren. Just as he had suspected, the lower half of the boy's body was a mess. There was blood that had stained the sheets. It reeked of all kinds of bodily discharges from Eren's body, which was evidence that Eren had barely any control over his body in this state.

"Disgusting," Levi muttered to himself. If he had to be honest with himself, he did feel a little bad for Eren in the pitiful state that he was in.

"Sit up," Levi demanded Eren softly.

Eren hadn't eaten in days and his only fluids were given through a drip, so it was near impossible for him to do anything other lying down. Levi did not take it harshly that Eren could not sit up. He just tried to help the boy up by lifting him, but Eren could barely keep up. He just kept crying.

Levi issued out another order, "Stop crying."

Eren didn't stop. No, he couldn't stop. Again, Levi's orders were not followed. Eren was two for two, but Levi did not resort to violence. Guilt tinged Levi's conscience since he believed that he had done enough to agonize Eren for the past five days. The psychological burden that this put on Levi and the others was immense.

"Eren, cooperate with me," Levi was almost pleading with him because he did not know what else to do.

"Mm… Gonna vomit…" Eren managed to squeak out. He was clenching his stomach.

The black-haired man immediately rolled him over onto his side facing the edge of the bed. Eren threw up all over the floor. It was mostly just water but some black ground coffee like substances came out too. The brown-haired boy continued to heave over the side of the bed with no avail. Tears were streaming down his face, and he was clenching his stomach so hard that his knuckles were turning white. Seeing him, Levi felt like there was a rock in his own stomach as he hadn't the slightest clue what was going on- he just hoped that Hanji and Erwin would arrive, or even one of the other recruits to free him of this situation.

Eren fell back onto his pillow, and he closed his eyes again. The panicked corporal gently trying to move him and tried to hit his face to wake him up.

"Eren. Eren, I need you to wake up," the blood was draining from Levi's face as he saw his subordinate losing his consciousness once again.

Levi realized that it was probably from all of the blood loss and yelled down the hall, "Hanji! We need an emergency blood transfusion- we are gonna lose Eren!"

"Shit, it's hypovolemic shock. This is serious," Hanji said in a deadpan voice. She called over some more recruits and lashed out orders at the speed of light. Within ten minutes, Eren was receiving blood.

"E-Eren, stay with me, Eren," Hanji frantically rubbed Eren's hands and kept hitting his face in hopes of keeping him conscious. Levi grimaced in the shadows. He was in shock- everything was just so traumatic, trying to keep Eren alive. It was like his vitality was that of humanity, like the air that Eren breathes goes into the lungs keeping humanity alive. As humanity's strongest soldier, it was Levi's job as the heart of humanity, to keep circulating that which Eren breathes through the blood of every Eldian. He couldn't let him stop breathing.

"Eren!" Levi's voice was harsh as he placed his cold hand on Eren's chest. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare give up on me. Don't you dare give up on everything that you stand for. Humanity. Your comrades. Your mother."

Between the ragged breathes and the fading consciousness, Eren put his own hand on Levi's and whispered, "I won't."

At that moment, Levi felt like he had witnessed a surreal moment- an otherworldly experience. His throat made a cracked noise that he didn't recognize as he felt relief and tears almost surge. He let his usual phlegmatic self drop to his knees as he crouched by Eren's bed, looking only at the ground, unable to recognize himself.

Eren whispered one more time, but it didn't seem like anyone other than Levi could hear him.

"I can't. Not yet."

Later, Armin, Sasha, Connie, Mikasa, Levi, Hanji, and Erwin were sitting at the usual wooden conference table. If everyone was honest with each other, Armin and Mikasa might have tried to murdered Levi, and the others wouldn't have blamed them, not even Levi.

Hanji began to talk, "He must have conceived and this is –"

"What is the bullshit, Hanji? Why are we even doing this," Levi was the first to cut her off. He couldn't stand losing himself like this, and the only way to stop that was to make it all over.

"Levi, you know why we are doing this," Hanji bit her tongue before she almost told Levi to keep his emotions in check, "As I was saying… Upon conception, whatever was inside of him must have started to eat away at his insides. This is probably what caused his terrible condition and all of the blood loss. After all, it is normal for a titan to crave human flesh-"

Armin was covering his face with his hands, wet with his tears. Connie, who was sitting next to him, tried rubbing his back to comfort him. Neither he nor Sasha knew how to react or what to say in the situation. Afraid of their superiors but more afraid of their friend's death, they kept quiet, praying of things to turn out okay. Armin let out a small noise akin to that of a distressed animal, struggling to keep his composure in check, "E-Eren… This can't be h-happening."

Mikasa quickly threw her arm around the blonde-haired boy, and pulled him closer, quietly shushing him. She realized how much of a toll this whole ordeal had taken on Armin, and she felt the same way, but she knew that if she lost her collected demeanor, all hell would break lose.

"I know you're upset Armin," Hanji explained, "We all are. I do predict that eventually, the fetus will develop normally like a human and that this is just for the implantation phase. The stormy seas will pass eventually. We can surgically remove it from him, once he is done. There has to have been spinal fluid, or even cerebral fluid coding within his DNA. There is no way that this is the doing of a normal human child, however strange it may be. We must be ready for anything at this point."

"And then what? What happens if something goes wrong?" Levi asked. He pretended like it was a rhetorical question, but once he heard the answer, he felt as though he had frozen.

"We kill him."

"No! NO!" Armin yelled hysterically, "You can't kill Eren! We won't let you!"

Mikasa had just about had it.

"If Eren dies, none of you will be left alive. I will make sure to kill you by my own hands before the titans get you."

Before anyone could tell Mikasa she was infringing on law by threatening superiors, Hanji gave the other leaders a silent nod.

"You have my life as your word, Mikasa."

While Eren was in his comatose state, civil war had erupted between the recruits and the veterans of the scout legion.

I hope it was a worthwhile read! And also, I'll try not to take too long to upload the next chapter. Don't forget to follow, favorite, and review!