Dangerous Territory

Captive

Eren was lying in bed, staring straight ahead, naked, his body wet, not even the energy to wipe himself dry after the bath. He felt lost, torn between loyalty, hopelessness, patriotism, fatalism, brotherhood, and surging fear of losing everything.

He heard the wall creak as it opened, turned his head, and saw Levi peeking through.

"Sorry I'm late. Carly made it sound urgent. Bad news?"

Eren could not even nod. He just stared at Levi, a hostage to the terror.

Levi took a step into the room and carefully closed the false wall. "I take it, it's not about Armin."

His head slowly shook, and his lip began to quiver.

Still in his dress, Levi climbed onto the bed and laid on his head on top of Eren's chest. Eren squeezed his arms around Levi as he burst into loud, shattering tears.

Levi held Eren, letting him cry. It took a few minutes before Eren managed to rein in his emotions, gulping back the sobs and sniffling moistly. Levi caressed his damp chest, feeling the deep tremors as Eren struggled to hold back his emotions.

Levi's eyes closed in dejection. He already knew what must have happened. It was only a matter of time.

Softly, he whispered, "How long until you leave?"

Eren's voice croaked out roughly, "Three days." His throat was choked with tension as he tried to dam the floodwaters of fear.

Levi merely nodded. At least it was time to accept the inevitable.

Eren began to breathe slower, labored, still jolting at times with the last bubbles of sobbing. He felt tired now and stared up at the ceiling, lost in visions of flames and smoke.

Quietly, he muttered, "I'm not going to make it, am I?"

Levi calmly hushed him. "Of course you will."

"Ich weiß ... I know ... I know there's no way we can win this battle," Eren confessed, sounding fatalistic. The American accent he had picked up was completely gone, leaving the poor, lost, German boy exposed to the brutal reality of warfare. "Machern-bei-Metz was a suicide mission. All of Metz is a strategic sacrifice. They keep telling us, if we can slow down die Alliierten so they don't reach the Westwall before winter, trap their Panzer in the snow ... if we can buy time so the rest of the Wehrmacht can defend das Vaterland, protect the women and children back home ... That's what it's about now: Überleben. Survival! Protecting our own people! Those back home are losing their sons, husbands, and brothers, but it's to protect all the rest. A sacrifice of a few to save a nation." He laughed bitterly. "Appropriate that someone like me was sent here. I wouldn't be allowed to live in Hitler's Tausendjähriges Reich. Ich kann genauso gut gleich sterben. I might as well die here."

"You're not going to die," Levi said firmly as he caressed Eren's chest. "You'll definitely make it. We promised before God, remember?"

"Bullets don't care about oaths. You of all people know that."

Those words stung Levi with the pain of losing Petra. Eren was right, of course. Bullets didn't care that two people loved one another and had dreams of a happy future. Bullets were create to rip apart those dreams and oaths.

"Levi?" he whispered.

He raised up to look at Eren. His eyes were wet, puffy, and lined with pink from crying, but his face was determined.

"Take me captive. For real."

Levi's mouth dropped. "Are you saying..."

"I surrender," he whispered. "I love my country, but the only way I'm getting out of this city is in a coffin or in a prisoner-of-war camp. I'd rather be your prisoner."