♡ Eternal Bond ♡ {EreRi | RiRen}

Chapter 21: Death

// "Let's be together again in our next life..!" //

CHAPTER 21: Death

~*~

Marble floors glistened with the gentle rays of sunlight that filtered in through the glass windows as well as the glass ceiling in the middle of the vast room. Walls decorated with a unique yet subtle floral design that dated back from the early 20th century masked the sinister function of the room. And, a large, circular podium stood in the middle of the room, right below the dome-shaped glass ceiling. This room was one of the few of the courthouse which was preserved from olden ages... and it was still very much in use.

Funnily enough though, the people of the past must have enjoyed watching others getting tortured...because this was one of the only courtrooms which allowed the presence of viewers from the public to watch what was going on.... Metallic bars to around waist-length now replaced the old wooden ones and were the only form of a border between the people and the center of the room... The judge's section was situated high to the north where it faced the center and a few inside balconies popped on the right. It was a lot like the courtroom...and true this room had been used for many other purposes throughout the years... but now, it remains and is only known as the Supreme Execution Room-these was where the most dangerous criminals apprehended would be put on the podium and have their death sentences carried out.

Back in the day, it was used for similar reasons, but with much worse methods of execution and the public was offered the front seat to watch the heartless people get their retribution in the form of their execution.

And now, it was opened for the execution of Levi Ackerman.

~*~

With unsteady legs, cuffed in heavy and cold shackles, Levi stumbled as he was pushed toward the large wooden doors of the Execution Room. Every step he took should have awakened a sense of dread in him...but at the moment he couldn't think of anything apart from the brown-haired boy with the bright teal eyes.

Levi hadn't slept at all since he was separated from the boy... he couldn't sleep. He constantly worried about the boy... what if something had happened to him? Was he eating well? Was he...alright?

Despite him worrying for such things, he himself hadn't eaten at all... yet he could feel no difference. No physical pain could compare to what he felt inside. It was cliché, but it was true.

Even until the night before when the realization that he would die finally dawned on him, the first thing he thought of was: would Eren be okay without me? And then he grieved to be separated from the boy once again. Every once in a while, his eyes would sting when the memories of Eren...dying in his past life resurfaced-the memory of Eren crying onto him, begging him not to leave him...begging him that he would promise him that they would meet again.... He did...and they did meet again. They were bound together by that promise...that fateful promise that brought them together again...but even then, they couldn't truly be together... There was always something...something to pull them apart again.

He wanted...needed to be able to stay with the boy; to be by his side, to love him...

When the doors were pulled open from the other side, a light that seemed blinding suddenly flashed on his face. A few gasps spread throughout the room and Levi finally noticed how there were quite a large crowd gathered behind the bars. Some seemed to be there to protest while others might have been there for entertainment.

And how entertaining it must have been for them... humanity's strongest... executed under the charge of murdering an 'important personnel' in the Military Police. His teeth gritted at the thought. He might be weak at the moment without Eren by his side...but he wasn't going to give up and let them have the pleasure of seeing him fall. Neither his pride nor his dignity would ever allow that. He would still be strong... for Eren. He wasn't Humanity's Strongest for nothing...