Chapter Text
Eren has been practicing necromancy for millennia, twisting the laws of nature as civilizations rose and fell around him. He's been careful, mindful to avoid too much human contact...or, at least contact with living humans.
The dead have been his companions, have kept him company for the few days they were risen until he had dutifully returned them to their graves, bodies burned to bring them peace and ensure that they would never be torn from the afterlife again.
He's done his part, burned the bodies to bring them peace and ensure that they would never be torn from the afterlife again.
It's the least he can do.
They have shared their vision of the afterlife, spilled secrets only Hades himself should know. It's all in who you ask. Each answer has brought Eren closer to where he is now.
He has done this a thousand times, mind working on autopilot as he prepares the ingredients.
Never has Eren been so careful with a ritual; never has he been so desperate for it to work.
The corpse is laid out with its head pointing east towards the rising sun. The arms are set straight out from the body and dainty feet crossed at the ankles. A small dish of burning wine, mastic, and sweet oil is placed one of its...his...outstretched hands.
He has altered the incantations this time, no promise of peace after the spirit bends to his will, no guarantee of passage to the afterlife never to be reanimated again. Instead of bargains, only a plea is made,
"Come back to me..."
~
The sky flashed with a sudden burst of light, thunder crackling as the rain soaked Eren's cloak, the moon hidden by heavy clouds.
The weather was fortuitous, shattering the veil between this life and the next, but still, the body didn't stir.
The conditions were perfect, ingredients prepared with exactness at odds with Eren's typically excitable nature, the body aligned precisely in accordance with the tomes he had procured from the libraries of Alexandria and Serapeum before their fall 'just in case' but still, the body didn't stir.
"Come back to me..."
The whispered plea hung heavy in the air as the rain slowed to a drizzle, hours passing as the clouds moved on from the morbid scene on Eren's secluded estate.
The moon abandoned the man who had walked beneath her light and basked in her calm silence for centuries. She gave way to the burning sun, and with her retreat, Eren's heart shattered.
It is with the stinging warmth of that new guardian, Eren's face buried in hands that just days ago had held his love for the final time, that a sound he had resigned himself to never hear again reaches his ears.
It sounds so far away, broken in a way that is to be expected after such a long journey back to the land of the living, but still so gentle it draws Eren back from the precipice of darkness from which he was ready to leap.
"Eren...come back to me."
~
"Levi"
The name is said with a reverence of one who would address a god, but that's what this man is to Eren, holder of his heart, guider of his fate. Eren has placed his entire being into the hands of this little mortal and nearly lost himself when they had run out of time much sooner than expected.
It takes time to cultivate the craft, to weave the spells necessary for one's life to feed off the energy seeping from the other side of the veil, time that Levi had not had at his disposal. They had fallen in love regardless; Eren promising himself that he would find a way to prolong Levi's life in small increments until the proper plans could be laid.
It had worked for a time, Levi's illness progressing in fits and starts as Eren held it at bay. But split between sustaining his own life, fighting the death creeping through Levi's veins, and laying the foundations for Levi's own immortality, Eren's power had not been enough.
It is with a nearly inhuman speed that he has gathered the frigid body into his arms, hands smoothing across alabaster skin, pushing as much of his own life force as he can spare through his touch.
He does not realize he is crying until a cool thumb swipes beneath his eye, Levi's silver gaze meeting his own as the tiny smile he cherished so much spreads across petal pink lips.
"I'm here, Eren. I came back to you. I always will."