#Aot among us

[yelenachan]

Artist:ニナ/@_ni_na_dc

[lucysarah-c]

Masterlist!

All my Levi x reader fanfics and Levi fanart

Art Commission: OPEN!

Writing Requests: CLOSED!

Headcanons and asks:

-> Little "toxic" things Levi does as a boyfriend

-> Levi dating a Swifty

-> Levi's s/o telling him she's pregnant

-> Virgin! Levi

-> Sexism in AoT

-> Homosexuality in AoT

-> Levi showing affection to his S/O in front of his kids

-> Levi having competition to wins your heart!

-> Canon! Levi (Scouts time) views on kids, marriage and romantic relationships

-> Alpha! Levi believes you would be a good mommy of his spawns

-> Wishing to be breed by Levi.

-> Levi accusing his partner of cheating?

-> Is Levi a virgin?

-> Is Levi conservative?

-> Levi's S/O with a contagious weird laugh

-> Levi in love

-> Connie having a crush on Levi's girlfriend

-> Levi reacting to his girlfriend giving birth

-> Petnames that Levi would use

-> Levi's reaction to his S/O getting assaulted NSFW

-> Levi's kinks

HEADCANONS MASTERLIST PART 2

I've reached the limit of this a single post by tumblr for links so. . . here's another masterlist lol.

One-Shots:

-> Ackerman’s blood

Levi fears for the first time that perhaps his Ackerman's powers aren't a bleassing when his son suffers the consequences of them. Dad! Levi x Reader

-> Stoppers (NSFW!!)

Levi feels overwhelming jealous and decides that there's nothing better to set things clear of who owns who than a good old fucking. Levi x Reader.

-> Criminal Record Part 1 - Part 2

Levi insist he has done worse things in his life than, perhaps, sleeping with a subordinate.

-> Traidor

2020 what a time to be alive. The snk character are doing the same as old of us trying to survive the lockdown... playing among us! Levi x reader.

-> Father’s day

Having a soldier as a father is never easy, way less when your father is Humanity's strongest soldier. Levi's kid has the perfect gift but perhaps it's not the perfect scenario. Dad! Levi x Mom! reader

-> Couple goals

Levi hates military's formal events and you know it. Both of you still make the perfect team.

-> Baby boy

Hang out with your higher-ups as you just become Levi's girlfriend. What's the worse thing that could happen? Spoiler alert: Eren is not going to forget about this... neither Erwin.

-> Scratches down his back NSFW-ish

Repeat after me, nothing good happens in the common showers unless it’s Levi sandwiching you with the wet wall. Sadly, this is not the case. So, nothing good will happen. 

-> Blackfire

Erwin insists that Levi should educate his squad on certain topics proper of their age. Levi isn't really convinced but Commander's orders are Commander's orders… However, Erwin didn't specify on what he should educate his bratty cadets about. Levi x reader!

-> ANGEL

You met Captain Levi while working as a teacher at one of the new orphanages that Queen Historia created. He seems so willying to help. (YANDERE! Levi x reader NSFW!!)

-> Tea time

Levi is deep down a huge gossip old lady. Levi x reader

-> An Old-fashioned Girl

You're a teen living her normal life until she travelled back on time to aot period.

-> Self-sabotage

Erwin begs Levi to buy him a coffee on his way to university. Having a crush in a barista is so hard when you don't like coffee. (Modern au! University student Levi having a crush on a barista)

-> Not in season? NSFW! Part 1 - Part 2

Winter had settled in, and the scouts were busy training and preparing for the prospects of spring, still far away, to retake Wall Maria. Despite the snow accumulating outside, the building was freezing cold, and the world had secluded itself until the temperature rose. So, why was Captain Levi boiling in his own body? Something felt off, but his mind was quickly slipping into insanity as he tried to find a rational explanation. OMEGAVERSE ALPHA LEVI X OMEGA READER.

-> Levi and the first encounter! Underground! Levi

Tales of Levi's life in the underground.

-> EXPLANATION OMEGAVERSE AU

-> Fifteen, what an age to be alive!

Steal your father's car! What could go wrong? Dad! Levi x Mom! Reader

-> Laundry Problems

Levi's a very stoic calm man. He always does laundry but as a unknown piece of clothe appear, Levi's life flash before his eyes. Levi x reader

-> Bed-head Levi

How are Captain Levi's mornings?

-> Boop! You've been chosen!

Levi and you decide to adopt a kitty.

-> My Teen! Levi's modern AU stories.

There's a lot of them so here's a link to all of them.

-> EUPHEMISMS (NSFW-ish)

Levi may not have attended school, but he knows a thing or two about pregnancy… and also periods. (Levi takes care of you during your period)

-> Transactional (PURE NSFW!!!)

When you go to ask Captain Levi for a promotion, it's important to remain humble.

-> Mother's smile (Dad! Levi angst)

Levi's son feels the pressure of being an Ackerman.

Little Pieces I Wrote (Self-Explanatory Titles).

-> Levi isn't romantic

-> Levi as a father part 1 part2

-> Unpopular aot opinions

-> Levi growing up in the underground 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,

-> Levi's morning with happy ending NSFW

-> Sick clingy Levi NSFWish

-> Soft Levi NSFWish

-> Horny Levi x nurse! reader NSFW

-> Levi x Passenger princess reader

-> Travelling with Levi

-> Girlfriend effect on Levi!

-> Levi loving calling his girlfriend "wife"

-> Levi and farlan as roomies

-> Levi as the father of a baby boy

-> Being humanity's strongest baby girl

-> SnK boys and pilates.

-> Levi's baby thinks Levi's tight chess works as mommy's chest lol

-> Erwin finds out that now Levi is busy at night 👀

-> Levi's only weakness... You, you and a sundress

-> Sexually frustrated Levi

-> Levi = female gaze

-> Levi using you as an excuse for anything

-> Modern au! Levi was a very attentive fuck buddy, even more attentive as a boyfriend.

-> Your horse doesn't want to share you with Levi.

-> Levi's daughter

-> Erwin introduce you to Levi

-> Rambling about gossip to your boyfriend while stealing his food >>> anything else

-> Deadly Occasion (Levi is forced to marry someone else) NSFW

-> Drunk Levi? Better say needy Levi! NSFW

-> Walking down the streets with Levi

-> Princess treatment + Levi

Mounting Spring (Alpha! Levi x Omega! Reader)

Paradis has opened its doors to the world, and the Rumbling has not yet occurred. The military board insists, "We need more Ackermans!" to avoid ruining Mikasa's life. Levi agrees. Arranged marriage, explicit consent, Omegaverse. Alpha! Levi x Omega! Y/N. Mentions of underage marriage but it doesn't happen, the reader is over 21. Age gap but they are both adults.

Levi's horrible flirting skills!

Short multichapter where we follow Levi's awkward attempts to win the reader over.

Holy Ground (longfic! Levi x reader)

"Alright, get comfortable because this is going to be a long, crappy tale. Join me as we travel down memory lane, back when Erwin wasn't yet a commander, when Mike and Nanaba couldn't keep their hands off each other, when Hange was... well, Hange. And Levi? Well, Levi was a twenty-four-year-old man who didn't give a damn about the rules. Are you ready?"

600! Followers event!

Have you ever wished you could ask Captain Levi a few questions and see his reaction? Well! say no more! I left Levi incharge of my blog for a few days. Enjoy the comic with hisreactions!

2k! Followers event!

Have you ever wished you could ask Captain Levi a few questions and see his reaction? Well! say no more! I left Levi incharge of my blog for a few days. Enjoy the comic with hisreactions! Part 2! Levi's revenge.

SnK Incorrect Quotes:

63 and COUNTING silly posts of quotes that I think snk characters would say.

You think that art looks cute? I draw it! Here's a link to a few of my other pieces!

WANNA JOIN MY TAG LIST SO YOU DON’T LOSE A SINGLE POST? HERE!

[cosmicjoke]

Okay, this person @7m7n7, whom I've now blocked, decided to start some major shit with me on one of my own posts https://www.tumblr.com/cosmicjoke/752860317563895808/for-a-character-like-that-supposed-to-be-stoic-and?source=share answering an anon ask. I no longer want to engage with this person, so I've blocked them. But I still want everyone to see their bullshit, and so no one can accuse me of being afraid of others seeing their replies, like they tried to do. I'm posting the whole conversation here.

They accuse me of taking issue with them because they "disagreed" with me, but another poster disagreed with me on the same post and I took no issue with them whatsoever. My issue wasn't the disagreement. I never have an issue with anyone who disagrees with me. I have multiple mutuals who disagree with me all the time, and we're still friends. It's the WAY people disagree that bothers me. If they're going to be insulting about it, then I'm going to have a problem.

Their accusation against me that I was "woobifying" Levi and saying his stoicism is "fake" by saying that it's a coping mechanism to deal with his grief and trauma, that it isn't at all indicative of his true feelings, something about Levi that is commonly understood among the AoT fanbase in general, is what pissed me off.

I was simply saying that Levi has developed an in the moment, emotional distance between himself and the events of his life as a way of dealing with the pain those events cause him, and that that emotional distance, that "stoicism" isn't any kind of indicator of him lacking emotion or of him being unaffected by said events. And for that, I'm apparently "woobifying" Levi and saying his stoicism is "fake", and the real kicker, accusing me of "degrading" Levi's character. And then they want to act surprised that I got mad.

The language they use here is the same type of language that so many of those anon haters were sending to Levi blogs in the wake of "Bad Boy", accusing anyone who wanted to discuss Levi's trauma and the trauma of him being exposed to or even possibly experiencing sexual assault of "femininizing" him or trying to make him seem weak. It's the same sort of homophobic, sexist attitude, and is plainly indicative of this person's biased, even vitriolic disdain of any man who's impacted by their trauma. This kneejerk hostility toward anyone daring to acknowledge that Levi is an emotional man who indeed IS impacted by the events of his life. It says everything about what kind of person they are, and nothing about Levi himself. They just hate men who possess any qualities that could be seen as feminine in any way, including having actual feelings, apparently.

[countrymusiclover]

1 - Two Different Princes

Part 2

A Wolf Among Dragons

Tag list ( just ask to be added ) @tallrock35 @kmc1989 @starkleila @noirrose21-blog @lover-of-books-and-tea @immyowndefender

Author note - if I am getting anything wrong about Daemon or Aemond's characters please let me know how I can fix it for later chapters

At the age of ten and seven I was sent to King's Landing to get used to living my forever life with the King's brother who was to be my husband in the coming days. I wasn’t a fool who was going to believe that love would come from this arrangement. For he was much older than I was and had much more freedom. I thought wrong to my somewhat delight.

“Where are we going, Daemon?” I questioned once he had snuck down to my chambers and awoken me from my sleep.

He insisted that he must show me something that second. He was dressed in an all black cloak with the hood over his easily recognizable Targaryen white hair. “Just wait a minute and you’ll find out. Honestly I never thought you’d be this curious.”

“Simply because I was born a woman I’m told what things I am allowed to know and what I’m not.”

Daemon kept one hand around my forearm leading me out into a large pit like room with many torches lit to provide light in the room. “You’ll not be able to not do something when we’re wed. Just as long as you don't go against your new family. Does that sound like a good arrangement to you, little wolf?”

“Yes, my prince.” He squeezed my arm a little harshly, making me wince but I saw a smirk crossing his face once I had addressed him by his royal title meaning he liked it.

Daemon moved a few steps closer before I saw something coming to us in the light coming off the torch he was carrying in his other hand. “Drakari pykiros, tikummo jemiros, Yn lantyz bartossa , Saelot vaedis, hen nuha eleni, perzyssy vestretis, se gelyn irudaks, anogrose. Perzyo udryssi eztmptos laehossi, harossa letagon, aot vaedan, Hae merot gieruli se haros bartossi, prumysa sovili. ( Fire breather, winged leader, but two heads, to a third sing, from my voice, the fires have spoken and the price has been paid. With blood magic, with words of flame, with clear eyes, to bind the three, to you I sing as one we gather and with three heads we shall fly as we were destined ).”

“By all the gods and new.” I sharply gasped, hanging my mouth open in shock seeing a large dragon head appear above us.

Daemon gazed down at me then briefly at his dragon. “His name is Caraxes and he’s my dragon.”

Caraxes intensely stared down at me and Daemon but by some miracle I wasn’t afraid around the large creature. Especially when I had Daemon beside me, although if he didn’t want to marry me he could very well kill me right now and no one would know. “So what do you think of him-“

I cut him off mid sentence, crashing my lips up onto his letting whatever excitement I was feeling take complete control over me. He leans his body against my chest deepening the kiss and I couldn’t resist doing the same after I had wrapped my arms around his neck.

Daemon finally was the one to break the very heated kiss between two people who weren’t yet married so if anyone had seen it would be found indecent. “Daemon - forgive me , my prince. I shouldn’t have done that.” Looking into his purple eyes I knew I had messed up and done something I shouldn’t have.

“Oohhh Lehna you and I are going to have so much fun together.” He cupped my face in his hands, crashing his lips down onto mine with the same passion I had moments ago.

“Visenya, get back here!” I called out for my six year old daughter who was running so fast ahead of me I wasn't too sure I'd ever catch up with her.

She stuck her tongue out at me looking over her shoulder before rounding the corner and I heard her bump into someone and objects falling onto the stone floor. “Catch me, momma - ow!”

“Are you hurt - Prince Aemond!” I gasped finding her being helped off the ground by the youngest son of Alicent Hightower who had married King Viserys after the death of his former wife Aemma years after I had spent a majority of my life inside the Red Keep.

The current queen had produced two boys and one girl in that time while I had produced two at one time. Daemon’s son Caraxes, named after his loyal dragon, was always attached to his father’s side if he could help it. “You don’t need to be so startled, my lady. The young girl merely slipped on my sword is all. No harm to either of us.”

“Gods be good then. I must apologize again, my prince. We were simply playing tag and she got further away from me than I originally intended.” I gave him a curtsy knowing my place as the wife of Prince Daemon was no more. Meaning I needed to address the young man correctly before.

Aemond rose up from the floor scooping up my daughter with her white hair and my brown eyes into his arms walking up to me slowly. “She’s a little beauty just like her mother.”

“Thank you, my prince.” I smiled, taking her from his arms where he noticed a blade holder on the side of my hip that was hidden underneath one of the layers of my dress.

“Do you carry a sword, my lady?”

Nodding my head slowly, yes I simply answered his question. “I do. My husband saw no reason why I couldn’t be allowed to be taught most things most men think are beneath them or something they can’t comprehend like we’re dumb.”

“You are rather intriguing, lady Lehna.” Aemond smirked back at me.

I blushed uncontrollably. “Thank you, my prince.”

“Call me Aemond. It shall make the conversation much easier between us.”

Visenya laid her head on the crook of my neck, getting bored of our conversation. “Momma, I’m sleepy.” She rubbed her closed eyes with her tiny hands yawning.

“I should be getting her to bed, my pri - Aemond.”

Aemond tilted his head to the side suggesting an alternative option rather than letting our conversation end here and now. “Perhaps we could keep talking after you put her down for a nap. If your husband doesn’t need you, hmm.”

“I don’t have any other obligations at the moment. Walk with me and we can keep talking.” I gestured my head over my shoulder back in the direction of my shared chambers with Daemon.

Aemond raised up a hand forward before we began our walk back where I had previously come from. “After you, lady Lehna.” I wasn’t sure what was going to come of this yet I had no desire to see him leave while Daemon was down in the streets leading the Citywatch of Gold Cloaks.

[leviismybby]

this is a super random question, but what do you think Levi would smell like?

Hello anon!

Well in aot, body odor isn't something looked down on considering the time it's set in but this is Levi are talking about, he is probably the one who keeps the best hygiene among soliders. I think he would smell like fresh soap, clean and maybe a bit minty, I have a headcanon that he liked how mint smells so he uses mint shampoo or soap. He doesn't like way too strong smells tho but he still makes sure that he smells clean.

[annawayne]

Hi Anna!! I hope you're having a wonderful day!!! And that you have been well 🩷 I wanted to ask you about what your favorite AOT alternate universe is! And if you were to make your own, how would you write it? Sending you hugs!!

Oh, Stella, hello-hello!

Thank you so much for asking, and I had so much fun while answering and thinking about it, so I might accidentally wrote an outline for a fic...

You know, I really love canon-compliant and canon-divergent scenarios, but I have a very weak spot against the historical AUs or mythology AUs. In general, I really love AUs which take canon and transform into AU, without changing the main topic/character arcs too much, but adapting it into the new scneario. And I really love Medieval AU, Ancient Greece AU, 1900-1920's AU, but now, I want to stop on another AU which was sitting in my head for a while, and with your ask, I gave it more thought and structured all these ideas into something more proper, so here I present you -

Here, I want to make a quick disclaimer that I took as a base the whole period as a whole and in my AU, there's the fictional geography which is based on original AoT, but some events are inspired by real historical events and the whole vibe of the epoch. Plus, I focused on some general points of this plot without too much details and it's written more like the outline, rather than some fic (so sorry if it's not very good...)

Far away from home she never saw, Annie is raised by the man who is in slavery, among others people from the conquered lands - but there, in complete secret, they raise their children as Warriors - someone to give revenge for the King bloodline, who sent them there and who conquered their lands.

They worked from a very young age on the fields, and at night - they train, they are raised to be weapons and with the solo goal - to buy themselves freedom and then, to use for the killing. So when times comes, Bertholdt, Reiner and Annie are sent to Paradis Kingdom.

They know that the King is quite not sane - by age and illness he gained by various sexual connections, and he has three children: the oldest son, Erwin, twins Historia Armin, the youngest son. Erwin is an heir, a talented warrior and promised leader; meanwhile, Armin is much younger and not so strong, but his intelligence, bravery and the desire for knowledge is enormous. However, their father didn't really favor Armin, and always neglects him, sending him to battlefields, which are already meant to be lost. Erwin, on the contrary, recognizes Armin's talent and they are close; he, as an older brother, teaches him a lot and they like spending time together. Historia and Armin are close too, not only as twins but as allies: Historia isn't really loved by their father as she's a daughter and can't heir the throne, and by gossips. she has love affairs with one of her guardians, Ymir, which is also not approved by their father - but Armin always supports his sister and her lover, trying his best to cover Historia's missing for nights.

Annie, Reiner and Bert, when they arrive to Paradis Kingdom, they join the Warriors who didn't belong to any village, gathered only by desire of fight and war, the legendary order of Viking mercenaries. There, they meet Zeke, Pieck, Porco, Marcel, and many other people, who was informed of their arrival, and so starts the years of the battlefields. Endless, endless battlefields, full of blood to prepare themselves for the King killing.

Until one day they learn the news from their spies: Erwin, the heir, should be on the battlefield not so far away from their location, and they decide to capture him to manipulate the King, that will eventually lead to his death, but... Instead of Erwin, they find Armin and his army. Armin at the age of 17 is already an excellent strategist, however, his subordinates mocked him for being too merciful, kind and coming up with strategies that save lives, so commanders didn't obey his orders that led to almost his own capture. Annie, Reiner and Bert and their order used this situation, and they helped Armin to win, but... They caught him as a hostage. Not Erwin, but Armin is still an heir.

Firstly, there was an obvious tension, but Annie couldn't miss that Armin was different from what she imagined him to be, how... Royal should be. He is kind, smart, very attentive, and yet, he is manipulative and he never choose to opt to violence, only as a last resort when he could save someone important to him or when he realizes that there's no other choice. It's strange, Annie thinks, and she doesn't understand him. He is the first person in this cruel world who is so unconditionally kind - and yet, not without venom in him, and she couldn't just wrap up her mind how to understand him. She always thought she was nice at reading people. But with Armin, she realizes that she never was.

After some time, Armin and Annie start to speak with each other, and Annie hates that she starts craving these conversations. She hats that this boy should paint his hand - beautiful hand, maybe, more suitable for some crafter or painter - with blood. So when she hears Armin speaks with Marcel that he wants to train to become stronger and more capable in fight, Annie bursts in anger. At this moment, she was practicing with her daggers, and so she throws one of the daggers to the tree trunk, just a few inches away from Armin's face, cutting a few strands from his locks. She hopes it would scare him. She hops he would just step away and refuses to train to become a Viking. To become a Warrior.

She hopes.

But Armin looks directly at her, with his hazel eyes, so deep, like the autumn foliage in the sunset, and the determination in his gaze chokes her with the tight grip.

"Teach me.".

"Me? To teach you?" Annie snorts, trying her best to stay indifferent. "You're helpless. Don't even try."

"I know I am now," Armin nods, taking a step to her. "But with your help, I can become stronger."

"And? What benefit is it for me?"

"I'll teach you reading and writing. And I can also pay you. For you being my guard. When we come back to the capital, I can make you my guardian."

Annie looks at him, and she couldn't fight against his gaze. It's beneficial for her mission, isn't it? It is. And so-

She agrees.

Their training starts, they stay together, since she's now his guardian and his teacher. Armin struggles at first,, failing and failing miserable, but after every fall, he gets up with no complaints, the same determined fire in his irises, and... In one year, he really becomes stronger.

And they become closer. Annie learns about his twin-sister, how close they are, about Erwin, about their crazy father, about all the intrigues and horrors happening in the royal court. She learns that Armin loves to read, that his dreams - not to conquer lands but to see them, experience every single land with respect and admiration, that he never really wanted to be a King. She learns that he knows how to braid hair exactly thanks to Historia: she did it to him, and he did it for her, and now, he does it to Annie's hair too. She learns so many things about him, and she learns another thing, that braided hair by his hands looks so beautiful on her. So beautiful and she doesn't deserve this beauty.

One day, Armin cuts his hair, and Annie suddenly realizes that he grew up. And so she is, too.

And so grew up something in her heart she didn't know a name.

Reiner, Bert and other Warrior pressure her that she started losing her head and betraying them, but she always fight back., defending herself and always dismissing their accusations.

Until, one day, both she and Armin train on the cliff, the sea shimmers at the horizon with molten gold, and just at the very end, their bodies suddenly pressed so closed, caught between the daggers and their battle stances. Eye to eye, torso to torso, their jagged breathes wash each other with warm waves.

"Don't be so cocky," Annie says, her dagger stops inches away from his neck, . "If you think that you can win easily in the battlefield, someone will kill you faster that you can even imagine."

"I wouldn't be so sure," he whispers, and it sent shivers down her spine.

Confusion furrows her brows, and Armin nods down, somewhere to her abdomen. When she looks down, she sees Armin's dagger pointed right into her gut.

Something coils right in her abdomen - impression, surprise, pride and something else. Something she is afraid to name our loud.

"Not so bad for a dead man," Annie whispers, and instead, with the effortless maneuver of her hands, perfected by years and years of war, she flips him.

Armin falls on his back, right into the long grass, but instead of groaning or insults, he smiles, starting laughing.

"You're honestly amazing," he says and looks at her with so much joy and tenderness, and it just makes her blush intensely.

That day she realizes that she can't run away any more from her true feelings. She realizes that she really loves him. And it terrifies, and excites her at the same time.

Weeks later, their hands touch for the first time longer than a sudden brush, and decided to stay for a few minutes longer interwined. Months later, their first kiss happens. A few more - their first intimacy.

But time goes on, they're closer to the capital. And once they arrive in the capital, the King is not really happy to see Armin having his own subordinates. He feels that he's not safe anymore - and he plans to kill Armin after the celebration of his return.

Warriors plan to kill the King, some high-ranked vassals and King's advisors plan to kill Erwin because they see that Armin his more powerful army with him now, and King also has his own plans - none of the sides know what the other plan, so during the celebration, the total mess happens. Both the King and Erwin are killed: King when everything happens, he orders to kill Armin right away, and Annie protects him by killing the King; and Erwin - is killed by Zeke.

Armin becomes a King.

But since Annie killed the former King, she should be now executed, and it's Armin who should ordering since she killed the King in front of his vassals and subordinates. If he wouldn't do it - they wouldn't recognize him. She understands that she failed. She put her feelings first, and now, when she sees Armin in blood and with bloody crown, his eyes so terrified and so... Broken, she sees his heart broken in his gaze when she realizes that she was lying all this time, she just realized that she failed something that was more important than her mission.

She succeeded in her mission.

But she failed him.

"Since when... You... Started to look at me with these eyes, Armin?"

She mumbles, as the hands of soldiers dragged her away. Armin is devastated, but to save her life, he orders to sell her to slavery - he couldn't leave her with him, and he couldn't execute her either. He asks only for one condition - to find a farm where she can work with not so grave conditions.

Then, 4 years pass.

Armin was immediately dragged into wars and he won them, by his excellent mind and strategies. But all this time he was utterly depressed and totally alone, the weight of the crown and responsibility killing him bit by bit, and all this time he was searching for Annie - when he asked the farm of the slaves where he ordered to sell her, his vassals lied to him and told him that she died, not wanting to see her near the new King. Armin was devastated, but searched for her for 4 years, not leaving this hope that she was alive.

Until one day, they met again, on the random market place, when Armin was with his guardian Connie, eating a pie.

And so she was. Alive. And so beautiful, even with the stuffed cheeks and startled gaze, but for him, she was the most beautiful and strong woman he ever met.

And so... The new story begins. But, this is completely another story :D

[howlingday]

Just woke up in a cold sweat remembering the brawl Eren and Jean have halfway through S3 of AoT and then reimagining it as Nora and Yang.

Cue Nora getting absolutely clocked by Yang for making a horse face joke.

"Look, I'm not saying joining Beacon without aura was a good idea, but I mean, I like to this of it as another learning experience to make me into a better huntsman. After all, if I learned it earlier, I would have just relied on it..."

Nora glared across the table as her leader prattled on. His voice was annoying, but not as annoying as the two sisters sitting on the other side, gossiping and giggling about becoming huntresses. Every word the older sister said made her want to puke.

"See, if you use low-impact rounds to take off and shift to high-impact in mid-air as you land, you can conserve ammo for when the real fight stars!"

"Wow... That's pretty advanced, even for me..." The younger of the two said.

"What can I say, I've got a sixth sense for these kinds of things." She leaned over, putting her attention on Ren as he quietly ate. "Among other things~." She got louder as she boasted even more. "You gotta do the strut to make the cut! Only the best of the best get assigned to Beacon Academy staff!"

"Yeah." Ruby smiled, her cheeks flushing with joy. "Working here, helping the next generation become better huntresses than we are. There's nothing more noble than that." She lifted her mug of milk to her lips.

"Man, shut up, Ruby!" With a heavy hand, Yang slapped her sister's back, making her spill milk onto herself. "We're not at Signal anymore, so you can cut the childish bullshit. Nobody cares about things like nobility and honor around here. You just want to work at Beacon so you can have the easy life, kicking back while you let everyone else do all the heavy lifting~."

"Th-That's not true!" Ruby yelped, milk dripping down her chin. "That's not me at all~!"

"You're both so fucking pathetic." Ruby and Yang turned to Nora. "Heavy lifting? The only heavy lifting you've ever done was pick up a text-book. My heavy lifting was pushing a support beam off of me so I didn't get crushed after the Grimm destroyed my village. And where were your Beacon staff then?"

"Oh, yeah?" Yang sneered as Nora lifted her mug of juice to her lips. "Got somethin' to say, sweetheart? I'm right here."

"Yang Xiao Long, the girl with more boobs than brains... Besides," Nora gave a snarky grin, "I don't think the students would care for that horse-face of yours~."

Students from other tables heard this and snickered. Yang wasn't laugh. "Cute."

"You've got it backwards. You want to get the best grades for killing Grimm so Beacon will hire you to never see one!"

"What, and getting ripped apart on the outside is much better? Thanks, but I'll pass. Better to play the game then get played with by the Grimm."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" If Nora was angry before, she was livid now, standing as she slammed her palms and rose to challenge her opponent. "YOU FUCKING TRAMP?!"

"BRING IT ON, YOU LITTLE BITCH!" Yang met the challenge with her own barking, getting in Nora's face.

"N-Nora, calm down!" Jaune weakly called as Nora grabbed Yang's uniform.

"Ladies, please," Ren placed his arms between the two warring women, "this is hardly the time or place." He gingerly took Nora's hand from Yang's lapel, something Yang took notice of. Nora seemed to calm under her partner's gaze.

"YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME?!" Yang grabbed hold of Nora's uniform.

"RIP UP MY COAT AND YOU'RE DEAD!" Nora shouted back.

"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOUR UNIFORM! YOU PISSED ME OFF!"

"WHAT, ARE YOU ACTUALLY CRAZY?!" Suddenly, Nora noticed the other students staring at her. Cardin, Coco, Blake; they were all sizing her up- No, sizing THEM up, her and Yang. Yang had something to prove to these people, to herself. And if that didn't sound too damn familiar to her. She'd apologize later for this.

Stepping away and lowering her body, Nora grabbed hold of the off-balance Yang, twisting herself before throwing the blonde girl overhead and slamming her into the ground. Blake gave a small gasp as she recognized her move being used by the same person she used it on not long ago.

"Damn..." Yang picked herself up, rubbing her head. "What the hell was that move?!"

"Little something I picked up this afternoon while you were stuffing yourself with your hay and oats." Nora answered, glaring down at the brawler beneath her. "You actually think being on Beacon's staff is your ticket to the good life? You're not huntress. You're not even a horse. YOU'RE A YORSE-FACED PET."

The tension was thick in the air as no one spoke about what just happened. It wasn't broken until the door to the cafeteria opened slightly, a grisly green eye glaring at the girls and boys. Professor Goodwitch's voice cut the air like her crop.

"Would someone care to explain what all the noise I heard just now was?" She asked, her anger smothering any sweet tone she tried to pass off. "I do hope everything is alright."

Yang and Nora quickly returned to their seats, but Goodwitch remained. If the room was quiet before, it was silent as the grave now. Eventually, the professor would enter, demanding the students to answer her, slapping her crop hard enough to break the table, until someone broke and confessed. And the one to do it was Ren.

"Pyrrha shit herself just now, ma'am." Pyrrha gasped in horror.

"I should have know." Pyrrha gasped even more so in horror. "Learn some self-control, for Brother's sakes."

[hamliet]

I was talking to a friend about how in recent years it has become so common to have anti-heroes and villains as protagonists. I think this trend started with Tony Soprano back in 2000 and it was definitely something that changed series and movies in a good way, gave us alot of great and interesting characters to explore (Tony Soprano himself was an incredible and complex character that captivated the audience, even though he sometimes did things that we found horrible and hated him for it. But seeing the success and popularity, it's no wonder that after the Sopranos show people started to explore the idea of ​​anti-hero/villain protagonists way more). I can't say when this trend started in anime, if it was before or after The Sopranos, but it also became something quite common (Light Yagami, Eren Yeager, Lelouch Lamperouge and the list goes on). I confess that sometimes I miss seeing a character with a good alignment as the protagonist, I wanted to know your opinion on these things.

So... I think there are a few layers here.

I don't actually agree that morally gray protagonists are very common at all, sorry Anon!, but--

I do think there is a general lack of well-written protagonists of all moralities, and--

All writing is a product of its time to an extent, and in a world where people at least pay lipservice to the idea that we are all culpable for the horrid state of the world, stories are at least going to pay lipservice to that.

On the line of lipservice.... Antihero protagonists do exist, but I think if anything protagonists have become very, very sanitized. Even the ones who are considered antiheroes aren't really doing anything bad. They're just vessels for the authors to preach... which, to be fair to authors, is also partially because I do think there's a lack of critical thinking among the populace and no one wants to be accused of supporting something truly terrible especially in an age where cyberbullying is an expected part of the job. But writing about it isn't inherently an endorsement.

Even in stories like House of the Dragon, which literally is based on a book that is all about gray morality, has sanitized the characters (especially the Blacks and even more so the women) so much that they are barely characters anymore. They're not the ambitious, human people who love and lust and hurt and do the unforgivable yet are still so human. Again, I think the reasoning is pretty clearly to appeal to the audience by not doing the misogyny GoT Season 8 was... except they ironically actually are but bending over so far backwards they're making the characters caricatures instead of people.

I mean, I don't know which movies nowadays besides nugu artsy ones don't have a "good" protagonist. It's far more common. Look at Pixar, at Marvel, at Disney's stranglehold on the industry. Look at BNHA. Part of this is genre-dependent too, but. Good guy wins. Bad guy loses.

In fact, it's so common for people to assume that protagonist status is an endorsement of everything the protagonist does that a sizable portion of AoT fans refuse to accept that Eren Jaeger wasn't intended to be a hero and created ANR, and other fans wrote for big-name publications directly calling Isayama a fascist for portraying a hero who sank into fascism. Overall, I do think the majority got the message, but I also think that while there are certainly some things that could have been done better, the main issue isn't the messaging of the story. I don't think AoT is muddy thematically. I do think the majority of people can't think critically if their life depended on it these days.

That said, I do think what you're onto is that a lot of characters and protagonists just are not well-written. Heroic or not, they're not well done. They're vessels to be used to prop up the author's moral views, rather than explore the difficult questions about what it means to navigate that morality in a bleak world. And I can't even blame them, because the way audiences respond gives them no choice.

Yet, antihero characters are often the more popular characters over MCs. Why? Because they're usually the ones who have a touch of humanity left, and also because tragic stories have appeal when the world is, well, tragic. Until the Mouse beats that humanity out of them anyways. However--

A good "good" protagonist is Luffy from One Piece, honestly. He's complex and interesting while maintaining his fundamental desire for kindness and compassion in the world. Or Tenma from Monster. Jim and Aja from Tales of Arcadia and Adora from She-Ra, too! And Xie Lian from TGCF (okay he considered genocide but--). And, of course, Ruby from RWBY!

[sonofthesaiyans]

Okay, the ACKERTALK.....

Mikasa and Levi Ackerman, humanity's strongest warriors. The sole survivors of a powerful bloodline that's all but extinct on Paradis.

Well the results of my most recent poll have confirmed my belief that the Ackertalk, or Ackerbond, whatever you prefer to call it is still a major point of contention among us AOT Fans.....And Ex-Fans. We all know that the Ackerman bloodline is unique in the Titanverse and that they're immune to the effects of Titanization. Still, for something that was set up to be a major plot point in solving the mystery of the Titans, it seemed to become an afterthought the longer the story dragged out. Unfortunately a pattern that is undeniably prevalent in this faux pas that's been mistaken for a masterpiece.

Mikasa and Levi, we know they're distantly related somehow, so it was natural to expect there'd be more development between the two that further clarified their unique position in this fucked up world they're trying to salvage. Yet somehow that relationship only got surface level acknowledgement, and I think we can safely say never came into full circle........Neither did really any aspect of Mikasa's heritage in regards to Hizuru and the Azumabitos (Did the Azumabitos even ONCE acknowledge Levi either in any of that btw?) Since this is the clear winner in the poll, one simple question: What did you guys hope to see from this Ackertalk had it taken place as was long anticipated? What questions were you hoping to be answered had it come to pass?

Please, don't like or reblog this post unless you intend to answer. I think we all agree Isayama owes us something on this front.

I genuinely have to know, what did you guys hope for most from this? Oh yeah ,and if you happen to be a Rivamika fan, NO you can't bring that discussion here. Thank you.

[anystalker707]

Heartache

Pairing: Reiner Braun x [gender neutral] Reader Summary: Reiner doesn't understand those things you make him feel. Tags: Reiner is actually very soft / Lots of kissing ! A/N: I never wrote for aot on tumblr, so why not not proofread

MASTERLIST

          Reiner knew you were one of them devils; he had imprinted in his mind every bad thing the Eldians had done and why he should hate everyone on that island, but he could find even more reasons to hate you. You were... worse than the others. Something about you just didn’t tick and made him despise even being near you. No one really understood what was going on—though Reiner could see Connie and Sasha bugging Bertholdt with stupid theories that made Reiner angrier. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? Why couldn’t you just leave him alone?

Still, there you were, either oblivious to how Reiner never cracked a genuine smile when talking with you or just not caring about it. Where the fuck was Bertholdt? He was there just a moment ago, but then you showed up and started talking to Reiner and Bertholdt just vanished. Annie wasn’t anywhere in sight, so he had an idea.

Still, why weren’t you talking with your friends instead? Or just annoying Jean as he would see you do, sometimes? Even just sit around, as he planned to do since it was mostly a day to learn how to get stuff from one side of the wall to the other and put some stuff in action. Some of you had already finished it all, but there were some stupid people like Eren and that friend of his that couldn’t get stuff done or kept talking with Hange instead.

“Do you think people actually take Hange seriously at some point? I mean, regarding their stuff.” You asked, keeping following Reiner around despite how he had already started walking quite far from the rest already. “Like, Hange’s experiments sound useful, even if people don’t really pay attention to them a lot. They’re cool, too.”

Reiner almost had a permanent scowl on his face as he faced forward, hands clenched into fists as he kept wondering when the hell you’d shut up. It was getting on his nerves. He noticed that you were far away enough for no one to see either of you, among some of the trees near the walls, then grabbed you by the collar of your shirt to bring you closer, making you stumble between your words until falling silent.

“What do you want from me?” Reiner clicked his tongue, looking at you closely. Your eyes had that confusing air as you looked at him, with a surprised hint. “Are you stupid or something?”

A breath escaped your lips and you twisted your mouth a little, eyebrows furrowed. Your breath tickled his face a little, fanning over it as you finally let out a breath after a small gasp. “I know that I’m not the most pleasing person ever to be around, but I thought that going along with you could somehow be useful, y’know, big guy? Like, we’re going to be working together—”

Reiner just couldn’t figure out how to make you shut up. His eyes scanned yours, your cheeks, then your lips, and... Fuck, he was weak. Annie was so right, but she wasn’t there anyways, so he tried to push the thought to the back of his mind as he leaned in and pressed his lips to yours, finally getting his much-desired silence. It was nice, creating a light atmosphere, but the pleasure he got from the silence certainly was nothing near the way your lips felt against his.

Your lips felt better than anything Reiner could have fantasized about while staring at the barrack’s ceiling while trying to sleep at night, or once or twice while observing you chat with the others.

When he pulled away, though, the flustered and surprised look on your face made Reiner’s heart ache—why did you have to be like that? Making him feel those... things.

“R-Reiner?” You looked at him, a little breathless, and only bits of words came from you without the ability to form any coherent thoughts given the fuzzy mind. It was amusing, in a way. “I— Um, that was very good, but you could’ve, y’know, maybe have warned me? That’d be nice, but I’m not really complaining, you’re actually hot, I—” There you went with another nervous rant that just got on Reiner’s nerves.

Reiner took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, but it didn’t help the slightest bit. You actually liked that? You thought Reiner was hot? The thoughts raced through his mind, and when he felt your hands on his wrists, holding them, and yeah, damn, he was still holding onto your collar. He let go slowly, but your hands held on his own, your thumbs slipping inside his palms and Reiner just had to kiss you again to see if that silence would return, if the damn voices inside his head would stop for a little. He didn’t need Bertholdt and Annie giving him lectures in his mind when they already did it in real life.

You were actually kissing back this time, your lips trying to find the perfect face to match his as your grip tightened around his hands a little; were you really into this?

Reiner groaned both at the sensation and at the thoughts, which he pushed away and decided to focus on making the kiss enjoyable because he could finally figure out what it was to touch you. His hand found the back of your neck, holding onto his as he deepened the kiss a little just so he could make it a little slower to guide you better; the new position had your hand slipping to his upper arm instead, holding where his shoulder muscles dived to meet his biceps. Your other hand twitched around his own, but he managed to free it from your grip to hold onto your hip instead.

Nonetheless, it was intense, hence neither of you had your breaths at a steady pace anymore, gasping now and then, going at that messy pace that just came to a halt because the way Reiner pushed you back against a tree made a sound escape your lips. You immediately pulled away, eyes wide and cheeks warm while you tried to come up with an excuse just to be silenced by another kiss—if anything, Reiner expected it and wanted to hear more of those, something he easily achieved when he kissed you again.

The way you were in a mess made it so easy for Reiner to push his tongue into your mouth, trying to take in each of the sounds that escaped your throat so he could keep them in his mind for later. Reiner’s tongue pressed to yours, gliding against it and trying to find out what he needed to do so you’d make more sounds.

Reiner could feel your touch on his other shoulder, but it was all interrupted again by the sound of a twig breaking. Both of you immediately pulled away and looked in the direction of the sound—a rabid sat there, its nose twitching before it hopped into a bush again.

Fuck.

Both of you let out the breaths you’d been holding about at the same time, the grip on each other loosening a little, but it was still there.

Reiner’s cheeks felt unusually warm when he looked at you again, gulping as he saw the state he’d left you in; your lips were swollen and shiny with spit. He adjusted his grip on the back of your neck and rubbed it in a soothing motion until he could feel the tension let go of you at least a little.

You didn’t know where to look, still holding onto his upper arms with a firm grip, but your eyes would now and then take quick looks at his lips. Reiner didn’t waste time, leaning in and giving you a kiss that now was nothing but sweet. He went for many short kisses this time, enjoying the softness it had now.

For the first time, Reiner was in your presence without feeling annoyed by how pretty you looked while laughing with the others, or by the way you’d hug the others and nod him.  He was actually thankful you had tagged along. That discomfort in his chest was filled with something warm he couldn’t quite comprehend, but it was certainly something he didn’t want to let go of.

⋆｡‧₊°꧁ ༺𓆩❦︎𓆪༻ ꧂‧₊˚.⋆

[missbubblesoda]

attack on titan in hita (3)

If I had to choose a favorite part of the experience, it would be the aot museums. It was so fascinating, not only because of all the interesting info available there, but also because of the equally interesting goods you can find inside haha The first museum we went to was located next to a local farmers market, where they sell aot themed [insert everything here] kkkkk from ramune, to sweet potato, to instant noodles, liquor, tea, cookies, shampoo and conditioner, towels, and even survey corps geta (kimono sandals) among other things haha

Inside the museums, you could find Isayama-sensei’s life in pictures, a recreation of his workspace, recognitions he was awarded over the years, doodles and sketches, and my favorite: the curious facts and insightful explanations written below important panels of the manga. In one of them, he was discussing the meaning of attack on titan and it reads “I had this idea in my mind from the beginning when I was working in vol. 1. A boy, whose hometown is devastated by titans, swears revenge on his enemies, and becomes the very type of monster that he saw when he looked up at the titans the day of the attack […] you think it is a story about being attacked by titans, but it is actually a story about becoming a titan and attacking.” He really got us from the very beginning🥹 we stood no chance against the plans he had for us.

About that scene where Reiner and Eren meet again in Liberio on the night of the attack, and Eren tells Reiner he is glad he was able to come back home, Isayama-sensei said: “Eren’s lines seem to be sarcastic, but I think he was actually truly happy that Reiner was able to return to the hometown he so wanted to return to.” And to me, someone who’s all soft for the bond between the 104th training corps kids, this piece of info was so🥹

Also, he said he added the panel of the colossus titans crushing a place that looked like Japan, because he wanted Japanese audience to feel the horrors of the rumbling from a more personal perspective, and not as something that doesn’t concern them because it’s happening in a random faraway place that doesn’t exist, which I thought was super interesting.

Actually, I’m lying. My favorite part of the trip was obviously this life size cutout of Reiner😌

[melishade]

dialogue prompts. “The sword is truly otherworldly” the world of AoT investigate the starsaber

Okay so this was something that I wanted to include in the actual chapter but didn't have the time nor the room for it. It didn't flow with it, but it was still really fun to think about so:

"WHAT IN THE ALLSPARK WERE YOU ALL DOING?!" Ratchet yelled at the world leaders, causing them to cower a little.

"Ratchet, we talked about this-!"

"There is ignorance and there is stupidity!" Ratchet pointed at Ultra Magnus, "What they are doing is stupidity!"

"I am sorry," Willy spoke up while raising his hand, "What is this all about?"

"Well, Tybur," Ratchet sneered, "We went back to the sight of the final battle to do some research and find out if there were any remains of the powers of the titans we could use for study! But then we noticed a few things out of place!"

Ratchet pulled out a datapad and started tapping on it. "So imagine my surprise when after installed a camera on the Star Saber I find out that you humans are trying to take the Star Saber!"

Willy's eyes were full of panic as he saw masked figures with gardening tools, trying to dig the sword out of the ground to no avail. He snapped his head to the world leaders. Some of them looked just as shocked as he was, but there were a few others darting their eyes away in shame.

"We spend our time and resources trying to help rebuild your world, but you all decide to try and steal the oldest and the most important relic in Cybertronian history!" Ratchet yelled.

"Well there's the Matrix-!"

"Smokescreen!" Ratchet snapped at the rookie causing him to raise his servos in surrender.

"Listen, Ratchet, I can assure you that we did not attempt to try and take this weapon," Willy proclaimed, "Why would we even try to take the weapon that is responsible for ending the power of the titans?"

"Well have some strong intel that would suggest foul play on all of you!" Ratchet pointed his digit at all the humans.

"Ratchet, enough," Ultra Magnus ordered before turning to the humans, "But Ratchet is correct. The Star Saber is the oldest weapon in Cybertronian history. It has a significance in our culture and history and has been used for battles long before your world even existed. Trying to steal it, is a high violation. You could be charged with treason, among other things."

"You all should be grateful that only Optimus can access the sword!" Ratchet yelled at them.

Willy tilted his head in confusion while the world leaders were still a little bit panic. "You say that Optimus is the only one who can access it, but none of the people in the video were able to even dig it out. Why is that?"

Ratchet groaned in defeat. "Come with me!"

===

Later

"As we have stated before, the Star Saber is a weapon that can only be accessed by the power of a Prime," Ratchet explained as he walked side to side in front of the weapon, still pierced within the ground. The world leaders were still unnerved that they were at the site where the power of the titans ended.

Ratchet stopped in his step, turning to face the humans. "Meaning anyone trying to access the device or remove it from its resting place will be met with great resistance. Exhibit A!"

Willy and the world leaders scrambled back when Miko bolted towards the Saber adorned in the Apex Amor. She slammed her shoulder into the blade, but the blade didn't take any damage. Instead, Miko screamed and fell to the ground. She held onto her shoulder and kicked her legs, screaming profanities.

"Miko, are you okay?!" Willy exclaimed.

"God damn it! NO!" Miko shouted at him.

"Thank you for the demonstration, Miko." Ratchet didn't even bother to look back.

Moments later, Wheeljack placed three grenades directly at the foot of the blade.

"Alright, everyone step back!" Wheeljack pushed his servos to single everyone to take steps back. They did so as Wheeljack pulled out the denotator on his person.

"Exhibit B!" Ratchet yelled as Wheeljack pressed the button. The world leaders ducked as all three grenades went off, creating a massive explosion. When the dust cleared, the world leaders were stunned to see that the sword and even the ground was unaffected by the grenades.

"What-!"

"The Star Saber will also protect the environment that it is placed in when protecting itself," Ratchet explained, "Exhibit C!"

The world leaders yelled when a ball of fire suddenly came down from the sky and engulfed the Star Saber in flames. Willy looked up to see the metal dragon flapping its wings and breathing fire, trying to metal the Saber. When the dragon ceased, the world leaders gawked at the fact that the blade was still in perfect condition, and the ground was not affected!

"What the hell?" Ray finally mustered.

"Thank you, Predaking," Ultra Magnus addressed the dragon. He huffed in response before flying off.

"No one can access the Saber besides Optimus! Nothing can damage the Saber at all! You will all be hurting yourselves trying! So tell your pesky human friends to stop trying to take the sword or I am-!"

"Ratchet, you got your message across. Let us go check on Optimus," Ultra Magnus cut him off.

Ratchet scoffed. "Fine."

As they we're all transported back to Aveneg, Willy couldn't help but look back at the sword. It was truly godlike.

(Unfortunately, I didn't find the room to put it in the actual story, so we can just consider this a deleted scene.)

[sailorspica]

oooh now i’m curious: do you prefer krista spelt as krista or christa? i’ve seen both ways and i’m not sure which is the more common one

i am so glad you ask because i can expand on all of these for paragraphs, short answer: krista. it's the spelling used in the kodansha USA manga, and i like the regional diversity of hopping up to northern europe among mostly german and anglo names. since ymir is in the norse edda, they get to be strange (gay) together

but i think my preference is more strongly anti-christa, because any additional degree of separation from its origin helps AoT obfuscate its intentions with the royal family for a bit longer. now i don't think iseyama is versed in abrahamic religions at all, but using the references he does for eldia brings with it way more connotations than he probably imagined, which i think ultimately work out in his and historia's favor. christian theology under the cut

"christ" comes from the greek translation of the hebrew bible that predates jesus by like, two centuries: messiah (hebrew) -> khristos (greek) -> christus (latin) -> christ (anglicized). so if not a semitic word itself, it is a semantic stand-in for the jewish concept of an anointed one whose earliest mention is in exodus. pair that with historia's uncle Uri, the most hebraic name in all of AoT from the archangel Uriel, and we're courting christian antisemitism as old as the church itself, specifically replacement theology that claims christians are god's new + better chosen people

this reading casts jesus and mary as the new adam and eve (yes, disgusting), which condemns eve to elevate mary, but in the most rational, atheistic reading of christ's conception? mary was, like founder ymir, a teenage rape victim, and the claim that she was descended from david made this traumatic birth everybody's business since the anointed one was supposed to be ben david. personally i see no fucking way for mary's circumstances to be an improvement on eve's, and many a happy satanist will say eve saved rather than damned humanity

consider the last fritz king's will, and the whole premise of "eldian atonement" echoes this eve-mary binary where eve = ymir fritz and mary = a succession of royal founder shifters, but particularly the reisses. this gets extra gross in the manga because we hear the purest, bloodiest version of the fritz king's intentions from frieda's mouth (mostly to grisha but briefly in historia's memories), wholly condemning her ancestor as sinful and evil when she, too, is a young woman subordinated to a man's will

historia is a bit of the anti-mary (anti-christ) because the whole scene in the chapel caverns where rod reiss is the only person in all of AoT to use extremely theistic language is a kind of twist on the annunciation to mary, where historia says "fuck no," and that's beautiful. the implication is if mary of nazareth had a girlfriend who told her to live her life with pride we would not have christianity/most of the world's evils

so anyway: krista. as fun and ironic and obvious CHRISTa is with this interpretation, i like krista for being slightly off the mark

[moonspirit]

Hello! I'm super late to the aot and aruani train (having just binged the entire show start to finish like 2 months ago over 4 days lmao) but I just gotta say that I really enjoyed your Fort Salta series! Annie and Armin were legit my favourites already during my first watch of the anime, and it really saddened me to know that it seems alot of people online really hate Annie? Like (no hate on any other characters) but Annie is legit best girl how tf can people hate on her ;-; Anyways, I've been ecstatic since I've found your fics and blog along with many others (shoutout to distortedclouds and flailingkittylover too!!) bc it felt like I finally found my people - good to know I'm not the only one brain-rotting from this show and especially over these two xD I've been dying to talk to someone about this recent discovery of mine since I've started reading the manga though...did you know that Armin has been taller than Annie since even before she was crystalized?? In the anime he's like the shortest person pre-timeskip beside Historia, but turns out it's not the case in the manga! In volume 8 when Armin confronts Annie in Stohess, he's clearly drawn to be slightly taller than her in the scene - I thought it was just a perspective error, but it's drawn that way over multiple pages so it's definitely intended! Makes the whole height/size difference thing even more adorable omg ;-;

Ahhh hello there! First off: Welcome, welcome to the Aot fandom, and the AruAni fandom in particular! No time is too late, we're all happy to have one new aruani fan join in haha xD

I agree that while it's very sad seeing the Annie haters, it's best to ignore them. They may have their reasons or not (tho tbh, those of us in the Annie/AruAni fandom would say they just have a very poor or nil understanding of her character). Annie's an extremely well written character honestly; @distortedclouds and I once had this conversation where she was talking about how Isayama managed to give Annie flawless character development in spite of portraying her as the non-typical badass female (in that she doesn't have huge, heroic ambitions and etc) - and I agreed wholeheartedly. Annie's very strong and lethal, but in her vulnerability and desire to be loved and wanted, I think we can all see a bit of ourselves.

Wait I digressed xD My point: Annie's best girl, and we stay away from the haters and stick to worshipping her. Strengthening the Temple of Annie Leonhardt must be our ultimate goal.

I would go on a rant about Armin too being the best, bestest, bestestest boy, and of our other goal of strengthening the Temple of Armin Arlert, but that is for another post, maybe xD

Regarding the height difference! I believe it's an established fact that Armin has always been taller than Annie, right from the beginning. If I remember right, the official Character Guidebook (2014) which was based on the first 11 volumes of the manga, listed Armin as 163cms while Annie was 153. While he's one of the shortest among the boys in general (and post-timeskip he's taller than Levi), he's been at least a whole head taller than Annie ever since they joined the military. Post timeskip, he's 169cms while Annie remains apparently unchanged, so the gap is larger, and likely to grow an inch or two more (since he's only 19). Anyway, yes it's fucking cute, and don't get me started on the size difference 🫠🫠🫠

Once again, welcome to the aruani fandom here, there's lots of lovely people with great blogs writing fics, making art, brainrotting 24/7 and posting about AruAni all the time, and we're very happy to have you be a part of it, here!

And thank you so much for reading the Fort Salta series T/////T I'm very grateful.

[dangantums]

AHH I JUST SAW THAT YOU FINISHED AOT!! May I request a Levi burping fic?? (idk if you’re a Eruri stan but if you wanted to have Erwin help him out I would LOVE). THANK YOU SO MUCH❤️❤️❤️

im literally screaming and rattling the bars of my enclosure, YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

No Casualties

this fic contains: intox, bloating, burps, hiccups, belly rubs, SFW content yet some slight NSFW implications

ship: e.ruri ( l.evi X e.rwin -- AOT )

TLDR: in an AU where the scouts are successful a mission that gets rid of titans -- which is a cause to celebrate! however, l.evi indulges a bit too much, leaving e.rwin to take care of him in their quarters.

Levi, who was slick with grime and exhaustion, had surveyed the field. Blood, not his own or his squad's, caked him from head to toe, its stench mingling with the metallic tang of sweat. Steam rose from his body. Using a vial from the Reiss Chapel, the squad had formulated an anti-titan serum. Injected into the nape, it neutralized the titan, allowing them to rescue the human within. Initially, reaching this vulnerable spot proved costly, but with new strategies and refined gear, they'd finally achieved this long-held goal. Titans were no more, and lives were saved. Standing amidst his team and the newly freed people, Levi had heard Erwin's clear voice: 

"No casualties. We won.”

The war was over; a distant yet horrifying memory. Tonight, the Survey Corps celebrated not just victory, but life. Laughter and cheers echoed through the mess hall, a cacophony of relief and camaraderie – the squad celebrated at said mess hall, a well-deserved celebration after years of blood and sacrifice. Among them, Levi Ackerman, humanity's strongest soldier, sat uncharacteristically slumped in his chair, slightly tipsy, flushed, a mischievous glint in his steely gray eyes and a mug of ale perpetually glued to his hand. He was several mugs of ale deep and several degrees looser.

"And then I sliced that damn Titan right between its ugly eyes – whoosh!" Levi declared, throwing his arm out dramatically. “S-So Hange could get in with the fuckin’ vial.”

Sat next to Levi was Erwin Smith, the ever-observant commander (who so happened to be Levi’s boyfriend). He watched Levi as his golden hair caught the flickering lamplight; he chuckled to himself. They were both a little tipsy, Levi more-so than Erwin.

"Careful there, Captain," Erwin teased. “You almost hit me with your arm.”

“Then move outta the way, dipshit.” Levi hissed.

"Okay, okay,” Erwin assured him, throwing his hands up. “Are you alright, at least? Your face is a bit flush.”

Levi glared, a playful glint in his steely gaze. "Peachy," he mumbled, puffing out his chest in a pathetic attempt to appear unaffected. Though his stomach gurgled unpleasantly. Levi slumped further back in his chair, his hand resting possessively on a belly that had become pleasantly round from the ale. It pushed uncomfortably against the fabric of his shirt. He had to burp, but he’d be damned if he let out a belch here in front of his men – even while tipsy.

Erwin's lips quirked up. "Perhaps a bit too peachy. You've had quite a bit to drink."

Levi scoffed. "Tch. I’m not drunk, just a little tipsy. I can handle my ale; unlike someone I know. It's a good thing you only had one mug, or you'd be on the damn floor."

Erwin feigned injury, placing a hand over his heart. "Ouch, Levi. Straight to the heart. Come on, let’s go lay down – I think you’ve had enough.”

Levi scowled, but resisted the temptation to retort. Instead, he watched as Erwin stood from his chair, his tall frame towering over the shorter male. He allowed himself to be helped to his feet. His legs wobbled slightly, and Erwin wrapped a strong arm around his waist, steadying him. Erwin could really see the damage that was done to Levi’s tummy. 

"Oi, Erwin," Levi slurred. "I can walk m-myself."

Erwin simply smirked. “Sure.”

The walk to their shared room was a slow, meandering affair. Levi, normally light on his feet, stumbled slightly with each step. His belly, pleasantly full from the ale, pressed uncomfortably against his clothes. He mumbled a string of incoherent complaints under his breath, punctuated by the occasional gurgle or churn from his distended belly. Levi didn’t get very far before he had to stop.

"Ugh, fuckin’ carry me already," he grumbled.

"Of course, Shortcake," Erwin teased. Erwin scooped Levi up with surprising ease, the soldier surprisingly light despite his earlier feast, and carried him towards their shared quarters. Levi sighed into Erwin’s shoulder. Once inside, he carefully deposited Levi on the bed, the room tilted precariously as Levi tried to focus on Erwin's face.

“There we go,” Erwin's voice was a low rumble, sending shivers down Levi’s spine. “Comfortable?”

Levi mumbled something unintelligible, his hand instinctively going to his stomach, the bloated feeling magnified now that he was lying down. He felt... uncomfortably full. His flat stomach strained against his shirt, a taut balloon threatening to burst. And suddenly, a burp, loud and ungentlemanly, escaped him. Levi flushed a deeper shade of red, mortified.

Erwin chuckled again. "Looks like you have some air trapped in there, hm? Let’s see if we can get it out.”

Before Levi could voice a scathing retort, Erwin unbuttoned Levi's shirt with practiced ease. Then, Erwin's warm hand settled on his abdomen, a gentle pressure applied in a circular motion. At first, Levi tensed, his face scrunching up in confusion. The touch was surprisingly soothing, easing the tightness a fraction, and Levi settled. The shorter male’s eyes flickered down, looking at his distended stomach in all of its glory. The captain instinctively bit back a belch, and Erwin noticed.

"Work with me, Levi," Erwin murmured, his voice a low purr against Levi's ear. He began to massage harder.

Under Erwin’s ministrations, a soft gurgle escaped Levi’s lips, followed by a long, resounding “BWWWURRP!” Relief washed over his face, yet he hissed as he lightly swatted at Erwin’s hand with no real bite. “Damn you, eyebrows. Stop it.”

Erwin's other hand came to cup his cheek, his thumb gently stroking Levi's flushed skin. "Hush, love. Let me help."

A traitorous moan escaped Levi as Erwin continued, his touch sending shivers down his spine. The gentle massage continued, punctuated by a steady stream of burps, each one bringing a sliver of relief. He hated to admit it, but the attention felt… good. And as the night wore on, the gentle massage turned into a sensual exploration. Erwin grazed his thumbs along Levi's taut stomach, sending delicious tingles through him. Levi, despite himself, couldn't help but let out a soft moan as another resounding “BUUUUURP!” escaped him.

“Feeling any better?” Erwin cooed, his breath hot, hitting Levi’s cheek.

"Maybe," Levi mumbled, his voice thick. "But you're a goddamn menace, Erwin."

Erwin's lips curved into a slow, predatory smile. "Perhaps. But you seem to be enjoying this, wouldn't you agree?"

The question hung in the air for a moment. "Maybe," Levi eventually repeated, his voice barely a whisper. "But don't think – Hic-urrrrpp! … don’t think this makes you less of a pain.” 

Erwin's smile widened. "Never," he said, and then his lips were on Levi's, the kiss a slow exploration, a promise of more to come.

The night that was going to follow would be a blur of soft touches and heated whispers. Erwin's touch lingered, his hand dipping lower, skimming the sensitive skin just above Levi's waistband. Levi gasped before he murmured, "When I…  UUURP! Mmmnnh… When I'm not so tipsy… you will literally die by my hands."

“Alright, love.”

[sevendeadlywhispers]

7Seals

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Chapter 19*

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•Previous Chapter: Chapter 18

•Next Chapter: Chapter 20

•Chapter List

•Content: Levi Ackerman × OC female. Slow Burn! Canon verse!

•Word Count: 3.5k

•Warning: This content may not be suitable for all readers. If you've watched all of AOT then you will understand that the show handles heavy subjects such as abuse, racism, violence, and other heavy subjects. This fanfiction will also have the same heavy themes. Chapters with heavy themes will be marked with (*) at each chapter.

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A/N: Hey babes! I’m back with a new chapter this week. Starting to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully you guys enjoy :) also I didn’t proof read this. I’m sorry for grammar mistakes. I’ll be going over it tonight🫶🏼

5-16-24

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Operation to reclaim Wall Maria

846

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The cobblestone streets whispered with an eerie quiet, as if mourning the fate that awaited us beyond the walls. Faces of the refugees bore the weight of uncertainty, their eyes reflecting the fear of the unknown. 

Women wept openly, their tears a silent plea for their loved ones to stay, while children clung desperately to their fathers, their tiny hands grasping for safety in the face of uncertainty.

This wasn't like any other expedition. It wasn't just my squad and comrades on standby. It was a procession of refugees, their presence a haunting reminder of the unspoken purpose behind our mission.

Wall Rose stood tall and imposing before us, a silent sentinel guarding the gruesome scene beyond. As we waited for the gates to rise, I perched atop my pale horse, my gaze sweeping over the anxious faces. Around me, grown men fidgeted nervously, their unease radiating off each other.

The tension in the air was thick, simmering with a mix of anticipation and fear. Even I couldn't shake the knot of anxiety that coiled in my stomach, but there was a twisted satisfaction in watching the discomfort spread among the men.

Among the throng of refugees, I recognized faces of those who once mocked us for venturing beyond the walls. Now, they stood before the same gates they once condemned, their fear etched into every line of their faces. It was a sight both chilling and strangely satisfying, knowing that they would now taste the same experience we do on a mission beyond the walls.

I relish the sight of fear in their eyes.

But beneath the surface of my amusement lay a deep-seated concern. These were not seasoned soldiers, but civilians thrust into a battlefield they were ill-prepared to navigate. Some rode atop wagons, others trudged alongside us on foot, equipped with the weapon of desperation. Their lack of experience was a glaring weakness, a vulnerability that threatened to undermine the entire mission.

As we prepared to venture beyond the safety of the walls, I couldn't shake the sinking feeling in my chest. This was my first expedition back, and already I found myself surrounded by incompetence masquerading as heroism.

Can I truly survive without him?

As I rode along the path, lost in my own thoughts, her voice shattered the silence like a thunderclap, pulling me back to the present. My gaze snapped to hers, narrowed with suspicion, as she sidled up beside me on her horse. Her green cloak billowed slightly in the wind, a feeble attempt to conceal her presence. I couldn't help but feel a surge of irritation at her audacity. Why was she here, meddling in affairs that didn't concern her?

"Why are you here?" I demanded, my tone laced with a mixture of anger and disbelief.

"Easy there," she retorted, her voice tinged with annoyance. "And lower your voice. I'm not exactly supposed to be here."

"No kidding. But seriously, why?" I pressed, unable to fathom her motives for defying direct orders.

Her brown hair tumbled messily around her shoulders, partially obscuring her face as she attempted to hide behind her cloak. It was a feeble disguise, but she knew that in the chaos of the expedition, her absence would likely go unnoticed until it was too late. She was always cunning, always finding a way to get what she wanted, even without leveraging her family name.

"I'm here because I refuse to let you hog all the excitement," she grumbled, her voice softening slightly as she met my gaze. "And I know this is your first mission back."

"I'm fine," I snapped, bristling at her concern.

"You don't seem fine. You're on edge," she observed, her words cutting through my defenses.

"Because you shouldn't be here," I shot back, my frustration boiling over. "You were explicitly ordered not to join this mission by three different commanders."

"I couldn't care less about my father's orders. And if I were anyone else, I'd be assigned to this recon mission," she countered defiantly. "Besides, your presence here isn't exactly authorized either. Don't think I didn't overhear you pleading with Captain Levi and Erwin last night to let you join."

As our voices clashed in a storm of disagreement, the gate opened and the crowd stirred, their footsteps echoing against the cobblestones, a somber rhythm marking our departure from the safety of Wall Rose.

"That's none of your business,"

"Likewise. Yet here we are," she quipped, her defiance matching my own.

"Okay, but the difference is, you're not ready for this. It's your first expedition—" I began, but she cut me off with a fierce glare.

"Don't pretend like you're ready either. Just because you're a veteran doesn't impress me," she shot back, her anger palpable. "We both know this is a suicide mission for you. I don't know how you got clearance, but I'm here to make sure you don't do anything stupid."

"As if I don't have enough to deal with," Levi's voice cut through, his tone laced with irritation as he addressed Lillie's presence. My body tensed instinctively, the rhythm of my horse's trot faltering momentarily beneath me.

I observed Lillie's feeble attempt to hide her identity, but Levi was having none of it. With a swift motion, he reached out and yanked her hood down, exposing her face to the unforgiving scrutiny of his gaze. His hand closed around her hair, holding her firmly in place as he forced her to meet his eyes.

"Thought you could sneak past me, huh?" Levi's voice was cold, his words dripping with disdain. There was no room for excuses or explanations in his steely glare—only a simmering anger that threatened to boil over at any moment.

Silence descended like a heavy shroud, broken only by the sound of our horses' hooves against the cobblestone streets. In that tense moment, Levi's gaze bore into Lillie's with an intensity that seemed to pierce through her very soul, leaving no room for doubt or evasion.

In the thick of tension, Levi's piercing gaze flickered between Lillie and me, his grip loosening on her head but his intensity only escalating.

"What in the hell are you two doing here?" His voice sliced through the charged air like a knife.

"Levi! Aldridge! Formation, now!"

My heart hammered against my ribs as Commander Erwin closed the distance, his presence imposing and commanding.

Levi's contempt dripped from his words as he directed his fury at Lillie.

"This little shit snuck out," he spat.

All eyes zeroed in on Lillie, the focal point of the storm, as Erwin's voice shattered the silence.

"Lillie. I see you disobeyed direct orders from not only me but Premier Zachary. Do you think this is a game?"

Commander Erwin's calm composure in the midst of a high-stress situation unnerves me to my core. It's not just the lack of visible anger that sets me on edge, but the cold, calculated way he maintains control. His steady gaze and measured words feel like a mask, concealing the storm of emotions I know must be churning beneath the surface. It's as if his tranquility is a form of passive aggression, a subtle way of asserting dominance without raising his voice. The disparity between his demeanor and the chaos around us makes me uneasy, amplifying the tension and leaving me feeling helpless and off balance.

"We both know if I were anyone else, I'd be on this recon mission," Lillie countered.

Erwin's voice reverberated with authority, each word laden with smoldering anger.

"Today is not the day to play soldier just because you want to rebel against your father. Today more than ten percent of our population faces imminent death. So I'm going to ask you again, do you think this is a game?"

His face flushed with intensity, Erwin's unwavering gaze bore into Lillie, demanding acknowledgment of the severity of their circumstances.

The sun hung low in the sky, casting an eerie glow over the chaotic ruined town. Titans lumbered through the streets that were once our home, their grotesque forms a nightmarish sight against the once peaceful landscape. The air was thick with tension and the acrid scent of fear as Scouts and refugees alike scrambled to hold their ground.

"Titan on the left!" a Scout's desperate cry rang out, piercing through the cacophony of terror. His horse thundered toward Erwin, hooves pounding against the earth.

"Two titans coming from the right!" another voice yelled, urgency lacing every word.

Levi's voice cut through the chaos, calm yet commanding.

"Abnormal coming from the center."

His eyes narrowed as he assessed the situation, the gravity of the unfolding carnage settling heavily on his shoulders.

In an instant, everything changed. Titans were pouring in from all directions, their monstrous figures dominating the horizon. It was always uncertain when we ventured beyond the walls, but this—this was a nightmare come to life.

Erwin's voice, authoritative and unwavering, broke through the chaos, "Keep her alive. That's an order for the two of you."

Without another word, he spurred his horse in another direction, riding off with a sense of urgency that only heightened the tension.

Levi's eyes locked onto us, intense and unyielding, "You heard him. Do not wander off. Either of you."

"You are not to be involved in any way. Your only concern is to stay the hell away from Titans. Do you understand me?" Levi's words were directed at Lillie, his tone growing sharper as the sounds of men being devoured grew louder around us. His face was a mask of controlled fury, the muscles in his jaw tightening with each passing moment.

"I'll be back. Don't get eaten."

Levi's command hung in the air, a lifeline amidst the chaos. As he rode off to confront the oncoming threat, I couldn't help but feel a pang of fear and admiration. His bravery was unmatched, but so was the danger he faced.

The world around us was a blur of movement and noise, but Levi's parting words anchored me in place. All I could do was hold our ground and pray that we would live to see another day.

Was today the day fate laughed in my face? All my hardships and perseverance was for nothing? Was Alexander right?

The monsters' feast had begun, an unholy banquet of blood and carnage that engulfed us in a sea of despair. The Titans, grotesque and merciless, tore through the masses with horrifying ease. It was a bloodbath, a nightmare unfolding before our very eyes, and we were powerless to stop it.

Lillie was beside me, her body trembling with fear. She shook her head in response to Levi's command, her eyes wide with terror. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she stared past us, her gaze fixed on the horrifying scene. She watched the Titans devour each refugee in their path, the hopelessness etched into her expression.

Men on foot scattered in all directions, their faces twisted in panic. They had no weapons, no ODM gear, nothing to defend themselves with. They were lambs to the slaughter, running blindly into the jaws of death.

No matter how many expeditions I had been on, this one felt different. It was numbing. The usual mix of fear and adrenaline was absent, replaced by a cold detachment. I watched the carnage with a strange sense of detachment, as if it were happening in another world. I wasn't scared. I didn't feel bad for those around me. It was as if I had become numb to the horror that surrounded us.

But then Lillie changed everything.

"Iris, we have to do something!" Her voice was a desperate whisper, trembling with a mixture of fear and determination.

I turned to her, my eyes meeting her tear-filled gaze. Her desperation pierced through my detachment, a stark reminder of the humanity that still clung to us in this hellish landscape. Levi's sharp command cut through the chaos.

"Stay put and don't do anything reckless." His eyes bore into us, the authority in his voice unyielding. But Lillie's terror was palpable, her eyes pleading for some form of action.

"Levi, we can't just stand here!" I shouted over the cacophony, my voice laced with a frustration that mirrored Lillie's desperation.

"Your orders are to stay alive," Levi snapped back, his voice like steel. "You're not equipped for this fight."

The sounds of men being devoured grew louder, each scream a dagger to the heart. I could see the resolve in Lillie's eyes faltering, her spirit crushed under the weight of the carnage.

"But they're dying out there!" Lillie cried, her voice breaking. "We have to help them!"

Levi's expression softened for the briefest moment, a flicker of empathy crossing his hardened features. But his resolve remained firm. "You're no good to anyone dead. Stay here and stay safe. Let the real soldiers work."

The cold reality of his words sank in, a harsh reminder of the world we lived in. The Titans showed no mercy, and neither could we afford to. Yet, as I looked into Lillie's eyes, I saw a reflection of my own soul—a soul that still clung to hope, to the belief that we could make a difference.

The numbness that had gripped me began to thaw, replaced by a steely determination. We might be outmatched, but we weren't powerless. There had to be something we could do, some way to turn the tide.

"Lillie, we stick together," I said, my voice steadying as I placed a hand on her shoulder. "We follow Levi's orders, but we don't give up hope. Not yet."

Her tears slowed, a flicker of resolve igniting in her eyes. She nodded, taking a deep breath as she steadied herself.

"I won't let them die in vain," she whispered, her voice firm with newfound determination.

The battlefield was a symphony of horror, each scream and roar a discordant note in the orchestra of death. Blood soaked the ground, turning it into a grotesque canvas of red and despair. Among the chaos, Lillie's voice pierced through, raw and broken.

"Is this what my father wanted?" she cried out, her hands buried in her face as she sobbed uncontrollably. She was oblivious to the danger around her, consumed by the sight of the people dying beside us.

"Clear your head," I urged, feeling the gravity of the situation tighten around us like a vice. "It's not the time for that. We need to stay alive."

We were surrounded by blood-curdling cries, each one a testament to the brutal reality of our situation. Everywhere I looked, someone was fighting for their life, a grim reminder that no one was safe.

"How?" Lillie screamed, her voice filled with anguish. "We are going to die. I can't fucking use ODM gear."

Her words cut through me, the desperation in her voice echoing the chaos around us. "All these people are dying right now because of my father," she whimpered, struggling to control her breath.

"My presence here isn't helping the situation."

I gripped her shoulders, forcing her to look at me. "Now is not the time for doubting," I said firmly, my eyes locking with hers. "You wouldn't be a Scout if you couldn't use your gear."

Her eyes were wide with fear, tears streaming down her face as she fought to steady herself. The reality of our situation was suffocating, but we couldn't afford to give in to despair.

"Focus, Lillie," I continued, my voice steady. "We've trained for this. You've trained for this. Trust in your abilities. Trust in us."

The battlefield was a nightmare, but we were Scouts. We were trained to face the impossible, to fight against overwhelming odds. Levi's orders echoed in my mind, a reminder of our duty. Stay alive. Don't get eaten.

"We have to move," I said, my grip on her shoulders firm. "Stay close to me. We'll get through this."

I grabbed Lillie's horse's lead, trying to pull her away from the open, but she slapped my hand away with surprising force.

"What the hell, Lillie? We need to get out of the open!" I snapped, my voice rising above the chaotic noise around us. My emerald eyes locked onto her tear-filled ones, and the playful spark that once danced there was replaced by a dark, hollow void.

"Erwin's right," she sniffled, her voice trembling. "I bought my way into the Scouts. I'm a fraud, Iris. I can't use ODM. I just wanted to piss my dad off."

"Don't worry about that now," I sighed, trying to push the shock and frustration aside. There was no time to process her confession. Grief and anger were luxuries we couldn't afford in the middle of a battlefield. "Just—"

But I was too late.

Before the words finished leaving my mouth, Lillie had already dismounted her horse. Time seemed to slow as I watched her walk away from her steed, stepping out into the open. My heart pounded in my chest, a mix of fear and disbelief paralyzing me.

"Lillie, no!" I screamed, but she didn't stop. She turned around to face me, arms outstretched to the sides, her gaze drifting upward to the sky. A single tear traced down her cheek as her eyes met mine. For a fleeting moment, she gave me a weak, pathetic smile.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," she said, her voice eerily calm. But the light in her eyes was gone, and it was clear she had lost all sense of reason. She stood there, a tragic figure against the backdrop of chaos, completely exposed.

My mind raced, unable to comprehend what was happening. Words spilled from my mouth, but I couldn't even hear them. My legs felt like lead, my body stiff with shock and horror.

And then it happened. A Titan's massive hand reached down, gripping Lillie's fragile body. She kept her eyes on mine, her lips parting to mouth something to me.

"I'll always..." The rest of her words were lost in a gurgle of blood. Her head lolled forward, her eyes wide and lifeless as the Titan swung her body around, smashing it repeatedly against the ground until she was unrecognizable.

My scream tore through the air, raw and anguished. The carefree, sassy Iris vanished in that moment, replaced by someone else entirely—someone shattered by the senseless loss of her friend. The battlefield blurred around me, the sounds of battle fading into a distant roar. All I could see was Lillie's broken body, all I could feel was a burning rage and helplessness.

Hands wrapped around my mouth, silencing my scream. My eyes never peeled away from Lillie's body, dangling lifelessly in the Titan's grip. The Titan's head, freshly severed, fell right in front of me, rolling to a stop as steam hissed from its neck. It was surreal, like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from.

I felt another person's warmth against my back, a stark contrast to the cold chill creeping over my skin. Their hand still covered my mouth while the other took the lead on my horse, guiding us away from the gruesome scene. I couldn't move, couldn't think; all I could do was stare as Lillie's body disappeared from view.

The hand finally released my mouth and pulled the green cloak over my head, shielding me from the horrors behind us. It was Levi, of course. His presence was unmistakable—cold, efficient, and utterly commanding.

Levi's hand tightened on my shoulder, a silent reminder that I was still here, still alive. But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. I looked up at him, my emerald eyes meeting his icy gray ones, searching for some hint of emotion. But Levi was as unreadable as ever, his face a mask of stoic determination.

"We need to move," he said, his voice low and steady, cutting through my haze of despair. "Iris, focus. We're not done yet."

I wanted to scream at him, to tell him that I was done, that I couldn't do this without Lillie. But I bit my tongue, knowing it would be pointless. Levi didn't do emotions. He didn't do breakdowns or tears. He did survival, and right now, that's all he expected from me.

With a heavy heart, I nodded, letting him guide me through the chaos. My mind raced with memories of Lillie—her laughter, her sass, her stubbornness that matched my own. She had been my light in the darkness, and now that light was snuffed out.

"Stay close," Levi ordered, his grip firm yet strangely comforting. I clung to that small comfort, the only thing keeping me from falling apart completely. We moved through the battlefield, dodging Titans and debris, every step a painful reminder of what I had lost.

The world stopped turning that day. I felt it deep in my bones. The birds stopped singing, the sky darkened, and the sun ceased to shine. When you died, Lillie, the little bit of joy I had in this bleak world died with you.

I died the moment you dismounted your horse. You didn't save me; you killed what was left of me. Everything seemed so pointless now, the fight, the struggle. How could I go on when the person who made this hellhole bearable was gone?

Lillian Pyxis. Why did you leave me?