Overprotective: AOT/KNB Crossover [Reader x Eren]

Alternate Ending

~from Eren's POV~
And so the two of us cried, her tiny hand still enclosed between two of mine, and when I finally got up to leave, I turned to her. "Promise me that you'll get better, okay?"
Her eyes were wet, but she nodded. "I promise."
Even though my own tears were still wet on my face, I grinned. "Good! Then you just focus on getting better! Don't worry about anything else, got it?"
She nodded and smiled at me, and there was a long moment where both of us were crying and smiling at the same time before I finally turned and walked out.

~from Author's POV~
Two weeks.
Students cross paths in the hallways, moaning about Monday, and then moaning about Monday again.
Two weeks.
A pastor gets up and gives a sermon, and then repeats the process.
Two weeks.
Seeds just begin to break the surface of the soil and germinate, bringing new life into the world.
***
Two weeks.
(Y/n) is ready to die.
Her condition worsened every day in a steady decline. No amount of well-wishing could prolong the inevitable.
But I'm ready, she tells herself. I've known that this day would come for over a year. I've had all that time to imagine, and at last, I can be at peace.
She's ready, she tells herself.
She cries, alone.
***
Two weeks.
Mrs. Jaeger has never looked worse, with the exception of being bit in half by a titan.
Her are are constantly red from her frequent bouts of crying.
She, of course, denies the existence of every single tear to those who ask about how she's holding up.
(Y/n)'s the one out there fighting a losing battle, she screams to herself, but her cries fall on only one pair of ears. And my son is caught in the crossfire.
For an instant, a flicker of hatred burns through the sympathy and pity she feels for (y/n). It's not strong or particularly bright, but it's there.
And then it's gone, put out by (y/n)'s tears.
***
Two weeks.
Levi doesn't know what to do with himself.
He wants to be beside (y/n) every second, but of course that's not possible. He thought about dropping out of school to be with her for what the doctors say are her last weeks, but he knows that (y/n) wouldn't want him to throw away his future for a week or two with his dying sister. The sacrifice of a year would be gone in a week, in a heartbeat.
Heartbeat.
His heart hurts. He wants to hold (y/n) in his arms, to hug her close, but he's afraid that he might hug her too hard, and she'd break in his arms. He's afraid to touch her...
But he's afraid that if he doesn't hold on to her, she'll leave him alone...
So he sits in a chair, staring at the clock as the minute hand makes yet another rotation.
He just doesn't know what to do.
***
Two weeks.
Eren is scared to go to sleep at night.
He's even more afraid to wake up, because while he knows that he lived to see another day, that's not something to take for granted with (y/n). In fact, quite the opposite. Each morning, he wakes up expecting to hear a phone call and a tinny monotonous voice on the other end that reads out (y/n)'s name and time of death, just one of many calls on that day's schedule.
On one occasion, Mrs. Jaeger came into the kitchen to see - through red-rimmed eyes - that Eren was sitting in a chair beside the phone, staring at it blankly as though he expected it to ring, only -
He'd unplugged it straight out of the wall.
While (y/n) is crying in a hospital room a mile away, Eren is sitting in the kitchen again, waiting for the phone to ring, from the time he comes home from school - earlier than as of late because he hasn't been attending any basketball practices - to before he goes to sleep.
One day, the phone rings.
***
Two weeks.
Himuro isn't himself.
He thought he'd made peace with the idea of (y/n) eventually ceasing to be, but with every day, he realized how faulty his logic was with shocking clarity.
He's just coming home from school when he suddenly misses her, and he stops in his tracks. I'm going to miss her for the rest of my life, but she won't be there...
But she's here now, so I can still go see her.
He knows that the day will come when he'll have to rip the band aid off, but that day hasn't come yet. He hasn't let it.
And so he starts running towards the hospital, ignoring the surprised yell from his best friend.
***
Two weeks.
The doctor had told Levi of a plausible procedure, but it wasn't possible to attempt at this time.
"We don't have the necessary requirements and materials," he explained. "If they become available, of course we'll make every effort-"
Those were the words that threw Levi into a fit of rage and had him removed from the hospital.
So he sat in his chair, watching the clock...
Until abruptly, the phone rang.
***
Two weeks.
Atsushi Murasakibara wasn't completely sure what was wrong with Himuro, but he figured that it had something to do with his sister and some condition that she had.
Atsushi felt bad for Himuro's sister, but as he didn't personally know her, he was more worried about Himuro.
That kid's completely zoned out. The other day, he nearly got caught in the doors of the subway, and he would have, if I hadn't pulled him in. One of these days, he's going to cross the street and get hit by a car-
And Atsushi yells out, startled out of his thoughts, as Himuro crosses the street without paying attention.
Atsushi quickly dials a three-digit number before being redirected.
***
Two weeks.
The EMT's had gotten more work than usual lately.
"What's up with all the vehicular accidents?" asked one man to another. "Don't these people have licenses?"
He shook his head. "Couldn't tell you. The way they drive-" The main line rang, and he picked it up, listened intently, and hung it up after a moment, sighing. "Got another one."
"Car crash?"
He half-shrugged, half-nodded. "Sounds like there might be a civilian fatality."
The first man sighed in exasperation before getting behind the wheel of the ambulance. "Don't they ever teach these kids not to cross the street without looking both ways first?"
The second man claimed passenger seat, shaking his head as he buckled in. "Couldn't tell you."
***
Two weeks.
"Got another one," the mortician called out to no one in particular. The room was empty, he being the exception - unless, of course, you counted the half-dozen cadavers lying around in the morgue. "Got hit by a car, they told me. Shame, too. So young...And you're missing parts of you, aren't ya? Well, don't you be shy. No one'll ever know the diff'rence. I'll dress you up nice and proud. We don't get many organ donors around here, you know. You're somewhat of a novelty..." He chatted as he went about his work.
***
Two weeks.
"Organ transplants?" Levi repeated, skeptical. When the doctor had first pitched the idea, back when Levi had gotten himself forcibly removed, he hadn't been against the idea, but it was like the system was rigged. Organ transplants were great...if organs were available. But the circumstances had changed with a single phone call from the doctor. "What do you mean, some became available?"
***
Two weeks.
(Y/n) had been at the verge of death, but now Levi was being told that she had a chance. Not a big one - not even one to make it a good risk for anyone who wasn't on their death bed - but a chance.
He knew that if he asked her, she'd say no.
So he didn't ask.
When the doctor asked him the question, he nodded, hard, strict, trying not to think of the implications.
If it succeeds, she may never have to know.
And if it fails...well, then it won't be a problem anyway.
He'd want us to try...He'd want to save (y/n) if it was the last thing he ever did.
So Levi signed on the line, authorizing his decision as legal guardian of (y/n).
Please, God, please let this work.
***
Two weeks.
Two weeks of waiting for the phone to ring with awful news...And yet, when it finally rang, Eren wasn't going to answer it, not at first.
But then his hand moved on its own, and after a moment, he picked up the phone. He didn't talk; he just listened.
Then he dropped the phone and began crying.
***
Two weeks.
Fourteen days of waiting, not sure if (y/n)'s body would reject the new organs and cause a dysfunction in her system that would end her, if the AIDS didn't first.
Fourteen days of whispered prayers, withheld tears, and tightly clenched hands.
Fourteen days of will it... and will she... and what if...
And then the wait was over.
***
Two weeks.
(Y/n) opened her eyes, expecting - she didn't know what she was expecting. She wasn't sure where people like her went. She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
But when she opened her eyes, she saw a familiar ceiling, a ceiling she'd had far too much time to stare at in defeat.
And then she turned her head and saw the people who had been waiting for the past fourteen days - Levi, Eren, Mrs. Jaeger, Hanji, Sasha, and - perhaps most surprising of all - Atsushi.
Even though they'd never met, he had tears in his eyes.
It didn't make sense until she'd scanned all of their faces again and realized that one was missing.
And (y/n) cried.
***
Two years.
Levi eventually confirmed what (y/n) suspected, and when she'd reacted badly at first, Levi asked her how such a risky surgery worked.
She had no answer for that, but Levi did.
"Because those were his organs fighting to save you, (y/n). Anyone else's, and you would have died. I'm sure of it," he said, with the far and few between Levi tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "He saved you, (y/n), and I'm sure that he wouldn't want you to waste it."
And so, gradually, (y/n) came to accept what the faint surgical scars on her body represented, what they hid underneath the surface, and she came to accept Himuro's wishes as well.
She finished high school, although she was stuck a year behind her friends.
And then one day Eren came back to the promise they had made.
"(Y/n), I love you. I've loved you all these years, and I've waited until you got better, like we promised. So...can you tell me your answer now?"
(Y/n) smiled at Eren. Her extraordinary fear of nearly everything had faded over the past two years, and she'd come to peace with who she was - and who was inside of her. Despite everything that had happened - no, rather because everything that had happened - (y/n) was able to smile, and that was what Eren loved about her the most.
"Eren Jaeger, my answer is..."