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Levi kneels in the wet sand for hours, his vacant titan body long since evaporated. The sky has faded from blue to orange, the sun burning red as it sinks into the horizon.
He looks out over the incredible view before him. The ocean, Eren's ocean. The ocean he's longed to give him and they finally made it. It's even larger than he imagined from Eren's stories. The deep green water extends on forever, waves cresting and receding in a constant, soothing sound. There are other sounds, too: Crickets chirping in the lush forest in the distance behind him, laughing, shrieking gulls, and the low, cracked sound of his own voice.
He's been chanting the same thing endlessly since they arrived on the shore together.
He cradles Eren's body against him, rocking him gently, lovingly, in unison with the rise and fall of the waves.
"We're here. Look, Eren, we're here. Wake up, please wake up. Eren, we're here, we made it. Eren, wake up."
His soaked body is freezing, shivering violently, waves crashing against him relentlessly as he strokes Eren's wet hair. He hasn't dared acknowledge what he felt before, but now he's accidentally brushed his palm over it, his hand stilling as it cups the back of Eren's head, unable to pretend anymore.
Unable to ignore the gaping hole where the back of Eren's skull should be.
"Eren. Eren."
He loses his breath as he lets the reality sink in. He allows himself to release a few soft, whining sobs before he's completely overcome with a pain that tears him apart, consuming him right down to his bones. There's no point in holding back his anguished screams. There's no one here to hear them. He's completely alone at the edge of the new world they were going to explore together. The huge, beautiful world they've always dreamed of, a world where they could live in absolute freedom together. Levi screams until his throat is raw, but the sound is swallowed under the roar of the crashing waves. The taste of his own blood now joins Eren's in his mouth, seasoned with the salt of the sea and the salt of his own tears.
Levi holds Eren impossibly tight, crushing him to his chest as if he could transfer his own heartbeat into him if only he held him a little closer, not wanting to let go of the cold, stiff body that lies unmoving in his arms. Not wanting to let go and accept the finality of loss.
Eren's bright green eyes, which turned out to be the exact the color of the ocean and just as sparkling, are now forever hidden from him. He will never see them again. He'll never again see them light up with excitement, warm with love and affection, darken with lust, or crinkle up at the edges when he smiles. He never even got to say goodbye.
He kisses Eren's blue, salt-crusted lips for the very last time before he stands, still gently cradling his mate, his lover, his other half.
Levi walks into the sea, disappearing under the waves just as the sun falls below the horizon and casts the sky into darkness.