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nofacedpoet · 4 days ago

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Chapter 32: The Day After and Before Hell

A loud thunder roared as a heavy rain slammed against the only two windows of the desolate room. Only a few chairs and a single mobile chalkboard laid at the front, of which sat from right to left, Levi, Valentine, and Ava in the first row and in the second row sat Hange, Eren, and Armin. They watched Erwin at the front as he pointed to various parts of the rather large poster posted on the chalkboard.

“In our last expedition, along with the attack yesterday, the Alpha seemed to use the classic military strategy of divide and conquer,” Erwin stated. “As you may know, this is where the enemy seeks to split the strongest components of its rival apart before its attack. Hence, why is used a distraction to pull our strongest forces apart during the last expedition, Captain Levi and Valentine, and why it chose to attack yesterday when the two were apart.”

Valentine stared into the document file in her right hand as she placed her left arm on the arm rest. Incidentally, her hand laid directly onto Levi’s and her cheeks instantly went aflame. He quickly snatched his hand from under hers and dropped it into his lap.

“Uh—” she awkwardly glanced at him. “Sorry,” she whispered.

He silently stared into the document in his left hand. She made a confused expression and was about to move her attention back to Erwin when she felt a stare from behind. It was coming from Hange.

Valentine’s eyes slightly widened at the ominous expression on her face before it quickly switched to a smile. “What the fuck,” Valentine whispered under her breath as she turned her attention back to Erwin. Levi subtly nudged his head as if he heard her.

“During the last expedition, its first use of teleportation that we know of was when it appeared directly behind the Special-Ops Squad—where Valentine was placed. The second use was when it attempted to escape death from Valentine, and appeared directly behind her again,” Erwin pointed in different spots on the map. “A similar pattern occurred with the attack yesterday. After multiple searches, it has been reported that there are zero punctures within any of the walls—meaning the Alpha used its teleportation to get into the walls, along with bringing some other titans along. And as before, it attempted to escape death, this time from Captain Levi, by using its teleportation ability a second and final time. From this information, we’ve drawn the hypothesis that the Alpha can only use its teleportation ability twice in a certain amount of time. The exact range of time is unknown.”

Erwin switched the posters on the board to reveal the expedition map. “This is what leads us into our expedition plan for tomorrow. Now, the special titan that seemed to be fighting on our side yesterday did not survive after its fight with the Alpha. This doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t find more titans like this out there, but this plan will be based on a scouts-only basis as before. All scouts will deploy out first, alone, without either Captain Levi or Valentine.”

Looks of confusion and slight terror exchanged between Eren, Armin, Valentine, and Ava. Meanwhile, Hange’s attention on Erwin didn’t budge and neither did Levi’s attention from the same page document he’d been staring at for the duration of the meeting—the very first page.

Erwin continued, “Once the Alpha—”

“We’re being separated?!” Valentine blurted out. “This makes no sense.”

“It’s the only plan we have to catch the Alpha off guard,” Erwin responded.

“Our squad works better together as a unit, not broken into pieces,” she countered.

“I understand your concern,” Erwin acknowledged.

“I don’t want to be separated from them,” Valentine’s tone hardened as she began to glare.

For the first time in the entire meeting, Levi finally broke his silence with her, but kept his eye on the document that now laid on his lap. “Keep your emotions out of this. Its the only plan that’s certain to work.”

Valentine glanced at him in disbelief.

Erwin continued, “Once the Alpha assumes its only threat is already on the field, it will use its teleportation to appear, more than likely in the back of the formation, where the Special-Ops squad, Eren, Ava, and Armin will be deployed.”

“Are you seriously going to okay this?” Valentine’s hurt whisper cut through Levi’s ear drums. He could feel her desperate eyes lasering into the side of his face as she awaited a sign from him.

Watching him with annoyance, she hadn’t even noticed the light above them flicker a few times. It wasn’t until a sudden blow to the window by a crow that her stern stare was broken. She, and a few others, gasped as they looked toward a window on the side that smeared blood down that mixed with the rain.

“Those damn birds, I tell ya,” Hange sighed. “That’s the second one today.”

Valentine moved her attention to Levi, who hadn’t budged the entire time. She noticed his hand just slightly trembling as he was nearly crushing the documents inside of his hand to the point where they were nearly crumbling on one side.

“Pfft,” she slouched in her chair and crossed her arms.

Eren leaned over toward Armin and whispered, “Did you know about this?”

Armin nodded no with a concerned expression. The secret meeting among Erwin, Levi, and Oplin was already enough suspicion, considering Armin is second to the Commander. But now even the expedition plan was carried out without Armin’s input.

“Why are they keeping things from you suddenly?” Eren whispered. Armin leaned forward and took a small glance at Hange. She seemed rather content with the entire ordeal. How could a section-leader know of this before the second in Command?

“Hm,” Armin leaned back into his chair as he gripped his stomach. “I don’t know.” An excruciating knot formed in his stomach and felt as if it was clamping the insides of his organs.

“Once it makes its presence known,” Erwin continued. “Multi-colored flares and acoustic shells will be shot to alert both Levi and Valentine—who will be awaiting the signal from the walls entrance. It will be then that the two of you are deployed in the direction of the Alpha’s location. But as expected, it will use its second and final teleportation to catch you by surprise once it realizes you’re on the field. Once it appears, this is where the both of you strike it down together, along with supporting squads nearby, including my own.”

Valentine glanced at Ava with insult. “When the hell have we ever needed the Commander’s squad for assistance?” Armin slightly heard and he and Eren exchanged glances.

“Maybe it’s just an all hands on deck situation to ensure the certainty of the Alpha’s death,” Ava whispered gently. She seemed to have more faith in the Commander.

“As usual”—Erwin began to take down the poster and roll it up—“we can expect the unexpected will occur. It seems the Alpha may have insiders working with it. The Alpha somehow obtained the information that Captain Levi was away on a trip, separated from Valentine, before it made its attack. The same group that attacked both me and Levi, along with the single person that attacked Valentine, is more than likely all linked together—”

Eren abruptly stood and all of the documents from his file slipped off his lap and scattered across the floor. Everyone turned and glanced at him. He looked like he’d just seen a ghost with his wide eyes of fear and his heavy pant.

“Uh,” Hange said. “Kid, are you okay—”

“I knew I did…” Eren whispered so faint that no one could gather it.

Armin lightly tugged on Eren’s sleeve. “Eren…”

“I knew that I had grabbed your medication that morning,” Eren said. “I’m certain of it now.”

“Hm?” Armin looked confused. “What’s that have anything to do—”

“That son of a bitch,” Eren’s tone was suddenly dark and it caused an easiness within the room. “When we separated in the crowd, there was an instance where a single soldier rammed into me before quickly disappearing into the dust. They must’ve stolen the medication off me in that moment, only I hadn’t realized until just now.” His words became angrier the more he spoke. “They…they were trying to kill Armin.”

There was a light gasp in the room as Armin exchanged glances with Ava and Valentine.

“It seems as if they were attempting a quadruple homicide by taking out all of our strongest,” Eren looked dazed as if he was seeing it unfold all over again right in front of him. “Armin, the Commander, Valentine, and the Captain—all in one day. All while distracting us with our biggest threat, the titans and the Alpha.”

“You think this soldier was the same person that attacked Valentine?” Hange asked.“Do any of you happen to have any recollection of their appearance? Any detail of description would be helpful.” Valentine gave her a suspicious glance.

Eren gasped and jerked his head up. “Silver. They had silver hair.”

“Silver hair?” Hange lifted a brow. “Are you sure?”

“I’m certain!” Eren yelled. “Well,” he hesitated. “It was like…white-ish silver.”

“So was it white or silver?” Levi asked annoyed. “It can’t be both.”

“Well it was, okay?!” Eren yelled.

“Alright,” Erwin nodded with his hand up. “We’ll take note of it. And you?” Erwin glanced at Valentine and there was just something about it that she didn’t like. Maybe it was the tone in which he said you, like the way rivals speak when they meet again for another battle. Or maybe it was the suspicious look in his eye. “Do you remember any detail of this person during your interaction, Valentine?”

It seemed like he wasn’t searching for an actual answer, or maybe he was, but it seemed more as if he was trying to gage her attitude towards him in general.

Her brows became stern. “Small,” she answered.

“Small?” Erwin repeated.

“Small. Very small. A small person.”

“Did you happen to get a glimpse of any characteristics of their face?” Hange asked.

Valentine crossed her arms and glared at her. “No. Their face was hidden. With a mask.”

“A mask?”

“A mask. I know. Convenient right?”

“Valentine,” Ava whispered as she nodded no. This caused a peculiar expression across Levi’s face.

“They had ODM gear,” Eren sounded defeated. “It was on of our own people.”

“Well that can’t be certain,” Armin said. “Other regiments are experienced with ODM gear.”

“They were in a scout uniform.”

“Oh…”

“They flew on the gear quite well,” Valentine added. “They were definitely skilled before yesterday. But never used their blades for some reason.”

“What?” Hange asked surprised. “I thought they attempted to cut you?”

“That was with a knife.”

“They used a knife when they had blades…interesting…”

Levi glanced at Valentine’s waist band, where she had the knife from the enemy strapped. She placed her hand over it and he glanced at her before looking away.

“That was only a small part of their attack,” Valentine said. “They seemed to have a preference for hand and hand combat.”

The lights above flickered once more before completely going out and the only piece of light that was left was what shined in from under the door from the hallway.

“We’ll reconvene about this specific issue at a later date, after the expedition,” Erwin said. “You’re all dismissed.”

After a few glances around, everyone began to stand and gather their things. Valentine turned to Levi, who was shuffling through his papers. He could definitely tell she was facing him, but he didn’t bother to acknowledge her presence. Her lips slowly parted as she took in a deep breath but instantly paused as he abruptly stood and walked the other direction to grab his things from the table. He didn’t seem to have an issue with talking to anyone else, as he and Hange instantly began conversating like normal.

Alright then. Valentine squeezed unto the file that creased between her grip as she stomped her way out of the room. I don’t know what the hell his problem is. She glanced back at him one last time and saw Erwin whispering something as he handed Levi what looked to be a folded paper. She rolled her eyes and turned around to leave.

“This is our detailed version of the actual plan that will occur,” Erwin whispered as Levi grabbed a blue-gridded folded sheet. “It’s imperative that it goes according to plan, as it is only between you, me, and Hange.”

“Alright,” Levi’s tone was rather somber as he tightly gripped onto the plan and grabbed the rest of his things. Erwin silently watched him until he’d already gathered everything and made his way out.

“Gotta be fucking kidding me!” Valentine punched the side of the vending machine that now stole her third and last dollar without fully releasing the small bag of Ladois, small circled spicy chips. They clung from the edge of the metal rod like a climber holding onto the edge of a mountain for dear life. “Ouch, fuck,” she gripped onto her fist as she hadn’t realized just how hard she hit the machine until now.

Her grip quickly dropped from the hurt knuckles as steps began to approach from down the hall. Levi stomped his way down the hallway like he was pissed while he studied into a rather large blue-gridded paper.

“Ugh.” For a moment, she thought about hiding around the other side of the vending machine, but if he caught her, that’d be far too embarrassing. She settled on standing exactly where she was, piercing her pupils onto the snacks until he fully passed.

His heavy steps became lighter as he got closer, and eventually came a complete halt nearby. He glanced at her, then at the vending machine that she stared into as if she was attempting telekinesis onto the snacks, then back at her again.

“Everyone knows not to use this one,” he said. She ignored him and kept her eyes on the bag of chips she desperately wanted. “How much until you realized?” he asked.

She released a rather large exasperated sigh as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Three.”

“I see.”

A long silence ensued as he awaited another response from her—of which never arrived. She was visibly irritated and he knew it must’ve had something to do with more than just the three dollars the machine had stolen.

“Well,” his gaze moved to the snacks. “Have you tried kicking it?”

She shot him an ugly glare from the side of her eye. “Don’t have to bother yourself. You can just go—”

CRASH! Her eyes widened at the shattered glass that exploded into the vending machine from Levi’s right kick.

“There,” he said calmly. “Now you have them all.”

“Hm,” she mumbled. Feeling the burning stare from him, she still refused eye contact and didn’t bother to even gesture toward the numerous snacks.

Levi glanced to the side, “I wanted to apologize.” Valentine glanced at him from the side of her eye but still hadn’t fully turned. “I doubted your statement on the Alpha’s ability to teleport. I was wrong. And I am sorry.”

She turned to fully face him now and he moved his gaze to her.

“Yeah, well,” Valentine said. “You are usually wrong about things, so.”

This caused a light huff from Levi but he still wasn’t exactly smiling. In fact, a fade of somberness wiped across his face. “Yeah, I know,” his tone fell quiet.

Her shoulders dropped and she suddenly felt bad for being so rude to him the last few minutes. She hesitated for a moment. “I have to ask you something,” she asked rather quiet and Levi glanced up at her. “It’s sort of random,” she continued. “But I haven’t really had a chance to ask you since…everything.”

“What is it?”

“Do you happen to remember the day at the castle, mine and Eren’s punishment?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember anything specific occurring that day?”

Levi glanced to the side. “Don’t be facetious.”

“I don’t know what that means but I’m being serious.”

He glanced at her. “Yes, I remember. What of it?”

“Can you be more specific?”

His eyes studied her for a moment. “Your dumb ass fell into a hole in the ground. As usual, you found trouble.”

She gasped with a perplexed stare which caused a peculiar expression onto Levi’s face.

“Okay,” was the only thing that left her lips.

“That’s it?”

“Mhm.”

He stared for a moment before his eyes fell to the knife on her waist band. “Why didn’t you mention that beforehand?”

She unclutched the knife and flipped it in her hand. “Why let them lock it up in a closet somewhere when I have a better plan with it?”

“What plan?”

“I’m going to kill the perpetrator with their own knife,” a creepy grin stretched across her face as she gestured the enclosed blade across the side of her throat.

Levi noticed what looked to be a blade wound in the area in which she taunted. “Is that from them?”

“The blade is rare,” she tossed the enclosed knife toward him and he caught it, giving her a peculiar expression before switching his attention to the blade. He studied it for a moment.

“This has a similar symbol as the one on your gold knife.”

“Huh?” How does he even remember something so meticulous? She pulled her knife out of her pocket and stared into the symbols down its neck before Levi abruptly snatched it from her. The knives clinked against each other as he studied them side by side.

“Where’d you get your knife again?” he asked. This caused a rather odd reaction from her as she hesitated and took a single step back to allow more space between them. His gaze moved to her as he noticed. “Well?” he pressed for an answer anyway.

“I…I don’t remember.”

He carried a confused expression. “You mentioned before that you stole it.” She became tense. “But from where?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Is it from your old friend?”

Her eyes now pierced open like someone was forcing them out of her face. How the hell does he know about that?!

“The same one that taught you your combat skills?” Levi continued.

Oh, she breathed. I forgot I mentioned that to him. But still. Another meticulous detail he remembers.

“Do you happen to know where he got it from?” he kept a steady stare on her like he was studying an animal in a cage.

“Uh,” Valentine’s hands began to sweat and her face was going pink. I never told him it was a he. “I-uh…”

“The source of this knife could be a lead to the perpetrator that attacked you.”

She gasped and stared into the knives in his hands. She began to panic and her avoidance to the question was beginning to annoy him.

He glared. “Why is this guy such a big secret?”

“Huh?!”

“You heard me.”

“He isn’t!”

“Who is he then?!”

“No one!”

“You’re quite protective of him, aren’t you?”

“What-no. He’s…” she stuttered and he angrily began to move closer to her, making her even more nervous. “I—” before she could finish, he slammed the knives into her chest and walked off in the other direction.

“Uh,” she watched him leave, completely befuddled. She couldn’t put together his chaotic and inconsistent behavior that shifted so much in just the last hour she’d interacted with him. As she tried to piece together some sort of odd understanding of it all, her attention was stolen by something.

She gasped as her eyes met with a blue gridded paper that was folded into fours that sat on the ground a few feet away beside the vending machine.

#aot #attackontitan #enemiestolovers #enemiestofriendstolovers #levi_ackerman #leviackerman #slowburn #levifanfiction #leviff #levixoc

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nofacedpoet · 1 month ago

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Ch. 31: Long Bad Dream

(TW: Suicide. Seizures.)

Xilo’s deranged eyes struggled to believe the illusion set before him. “See?” his voice trembled with a light pant as his legs nearly crumbled from beneath him. “Where is it?”

Armin took one step away from the group and closer toward the center of the room before Eren lightly grabbed at his sleeve.

“Careful,” Eren mumbled. “It could collapse again.”

“I’m not going too far,” Armin took a single step more before kneeling and wiping a single finger across one of the tiles among the floor, leaving a clean and distinct line that contrasted against the rest of the dirty floor. “It seems as if it’s been this way for ages. Even more peculiar, there’s not a single scratch of evidence that this was recently newly floored. I don’t get it.” He stood as he wiped the dust along is pants.

“Someone is definitely covering it up,” Ava glanced behind them to make sure no one was waiting at the door. “I mean, that’s the only logical explanation right? How else would the floor go from being caved in to being completely sealed?”

“If that was the case,” Eren said. “Where would they even be able to find ancient tiles like this? This castle was built centuries ago.”

“Even so,” Armin pointed. “It looks aged, not new. Untouched even. It’s almost as if—”

“It never caved in to begin with,” Xilo said nervously. “Like it never happened.”

Armin glanced at him. “Exactly.”

“But it did happen,” Ava glanced at them for reassurance. “We were all there that night.”

“Did it happen?” Xilo asked and they all glanced at him.

“We all have a recollection of it,” Eren said. “Of course it—”

Xilo reached for his back pocket and pulled out his journal and everyone gasped.

“I lost that in the cave on my way out that night. It got left behind,” Valentine stared in disbelief. “How would you have it?”

“Yesterday,” Xilo whispered as he leaned in and the rest of the group moved closer. “I woke up to this on my shelf. It was in the usual spot I always had it.” He flipped the journal to its back. “It has my initials just the way I carved them into the leather when I first got it, so it’s definitely mine. And look,” the journal shook in his trembling hands as he shuffled through the pages until it reached the last few. “There’s no record of the symbols from the cave—the ones I wrote nor the ones that appeared on their own.” On the last written page, he spread the journal open to expose the center of the spine inside. “No torn out pages either.” Everyone desperately glanced at each other in hopes for one of them to either have some explanation or finally shout out that this was all just some prank, but neither proceeded. “Did it actually happen?” Xilo whispered. “Or was it just some long bad dream—”

“Stop it,” Eren demanded as he stepped back, breaking the group apart. “I know that you’re behind all of this!” he pointed at Xilo.

“Eren,” Armin said.

“No!” Eren said. “H-he’s a witch! Doing some weird magic shit on our minds!”

“Stop it,” Ava’s tone was more fearful than demanding.

“Oh c’mon,” Eren said. “You trust him?”

Ava took a single glance at Xilo. Could the same guy that comforted her in the cave that night actually be behind all of this? The amount of effort and time it would take. What would even be the motive? Sure, he had much time alone without them to plant such an absurdity, but there was just no way. He looked quite innocent for the most part. He’d have to be the best Joker villain in the world to pull something off like this while controlling their emotions and faking his own. She thought it better to assume he wasn’t capable of it.

“You’re just trying to find someone to blame to feel better about this weird incident,” Ava finally said. “I get we’re all befuddled but pointing blame to Xilo isn’t fair,” she closely watched Xilo’s reaction when she said it, and for the most part, he did seem rather the most afraid of this entire ordeal than anyone else. His hands were still shaking and his eyes were slightly watery.

Eren’s shoulder’s dropped. Perhaps she was somewhat right in that it did feel better to blame someone, the one person he didn’t like much, than to believe they were all simply going crazy. “Fine,” Eren mumbled, crossing his arms and looking visibly annoyed. They all stood in silence for a moment as they tried to piece together some sort of explanation to this odd occurrence.

“Heyo!” a voice ruptured through the silence, causing them all to jump. “It’s time for my weapon experiment. Are you guys about ready?” Hange waved a rather large missile-like weapon in her hands. It was one of the newer ones that the military had been creating in secret for the scout regiment.

Valentine gasped. “Hange!”

“Valentine!” Hange smiled.

“Remember the first day of my and Eren’s cleaning duty in this castle?”

The others gasped.

“Uh-huh!” Hange waved the weapon once more as if to ask if this was more important than the weapon testing that she desperately wanted to begin.

“Remember right here”—Valentine pointed to the center of the floor—“the ground caved beneath me and you had to rescue me out?”

Hange raised a brow and hesitated. “What?”

Everyone’s stare moved from Hange back to Valentine. A mystified expression spread across Valentine’s face. “T-the floor,” she pointed again and Hange nodded to confirm she knew what the floor was. “It fell, and—” she hesitated as Hange glanced at her like she was telling some odd tale. “T-the witchcraft, the star—the story—or I mean the history—that you told me?” Now Valentine actually started to question her own sanity. Was it really all just a dream?

Hange gestured her hand as a gun sign in the direction of Valentine. “You kids with your wild imaginations,” she laughed. Valentine glanced at Eren and noticed his wide eyes pierced on Hange as if she wasn’t actually Hange. “Anyways, if you kids are done playing whatever game this is, let’s get to it already,” Hange waved the missile around as she turned and headed out the door. “I’ve been waiting to test this bad boy out for so long now, can’t keep me waiting…” her voice trickled out. For a moment, they’d all stared out the doorway, frozen in movement and breath, as if they’d just witnessed a ghost.

“Why…” Eren whispered. “Why is she lying?”

“The thing is,” Ava whispered. “I don’t think she’s lying. She looked genuinely confused…”

“Either she’s in on whatever is going on or we’re actually going insane.”

“I don’t think Hange would be,” Xilo whispered. “Right?”

Eren sighed and pulled his hands over his eyes. “Who knows? Who knows anything anymore—” his sudden gasp and rip of the hands from his face caused everyone to slightly jump. “The Captain.”

Valentine’s eyes widened. “That’s right.”

“What’s right?” Xilo glanced back and forth at Eren and Valentine.

“He was there when the floor collapsed that day,” Eren said. “We could just ask him and really find out if we’re imagining this or if something else is going on.”

“Great,” Armin sighed. “The only other person that may have any recollection of this, happens to be away on a military meeting with the Commander to meet with Chief Oplin.”

“Oplin,” Eren glanced at Armin. “That’s the guy that handled my and Valentine’s hearing. He’s one of the big guys. Why would they be meeting?”

“Not sure,” Armin shrugged. “He and the Commander left me out of that one.”

“But you’re second to the Commander.”

“So?”

“Shouldn’t you be involved with all of the meetings?”

Armin glanced at him and thought for a second.

***

Levi sat with one leg crossed over the other, his right elbow resting on his knee, his chin resting in his hand, as he stared into the velvet red lace curtain that covered the tiny window on the side of the carriage. A cloudy glaze screened over his eyes as he replayed the moment from the night before. The gentle skin of her face in his palm, the soft sound of his name from her lips, her light gaze upon his eyes.

“How is everything?” Erwin’s voice ruptured through Levi’s day dream.

“Fine, I guess.”

“Fine?”

Levi’s tired eyes finally glanced at Erwin for the first time since this carriage ride began.

“You haven’t attended any of the recent meetings and haven’t turned over any of your work lately. You seem…rather distracted.”

“Maybe I am.”

“And are these distractions professional or personal—”

“Tch,” Levi gave him an annoyed expression.

“You know that I have to ask as it does concern me. I need to know that you understand your responsibilities,” Erwin gave him a stern stare.

“Nothing more makes me want to punch your face than when you speak in code. Just do me the favor and spit it the fuck out already.”

Erwin stared for a long moment. “I need to know that you’re still with me is all.”

“So are we going to keep playing this shitty game of detective or are you going to just say it?”

Erwin sighed. “The last time we spoke was weeks ago—the last conversation being Ava’s life on the table for a successful attack of the Alpha titan. Of course this meeting with Oplin will either replace that plan or ensure its certainty. Depending on if there’s another option to save the regiment from it’s doom.”

“Now you tell me where we’re going and why. Took you long enough.”

“I’m sure you understand why. Whispers echo too far down the corridors of the scouts. Can’t let information get into the wrong hands now.”

Levi stared boringly for a moment before switching to the previous topic. “We don’t even know for sure if she’s an Ackerman. This plan may not even work.”

“Well like most of my plans, it’s a gamble I’m willing to take.”

“A gamble on an innocent girls life.”

“A gamble on one soldier’s life for the sake of humanity, rather than the risk of humanity for one soldier’s life.” Erwin sat up and leaned forward. “Which one will you choose?”

“Tch,” Levi glared. “I’ve always been on the side of humanity. I wouldn’t have joined this shitty regiment if I wasn’t. I just want to make sure there’s no other way.”

“Will the plan somehow be an issue with any entanglements of yours?”

Levi’s scowl sharpened. “The hell are you getting at?”

“We’re both aware that you’re Valentine’s new host. She’ll latch onto you due to the Ackerman bond. I hope that hasn’t muddled your mind or tugged on your heart strings too much.”

Levi glared. “I haven’t fucked her insides just yet, if that’s what you’re so concerned of.”

Erwin’s eyes slightly widened at his crude response. Even after all the years of knowing him, his dirty mouth still sometimes caught him off guard. He awkwardly chuckled with a somewhat grossed-out expression. “Even I know that you’re not as foolish to allow selfish desires to risk your position.” Levi’s head slightly tilted to the side. “Of course,” Erwin continued. “I know that you’re more responsible than that.” He glanced to the side. “You’re her superior. If it got out that you diminished your title, well, it’d be an unfortunate fall of events that would come about. No acts go unnoticed”—his eyes moved back to Levi—“even if you are the strongest soldier.”

“I don’t take threats lightly, even if you are the Commander.”

Erwin chuckled with his hands up. “It’s not a threat, Levi. I’m just looking out for you.” His hands lowered into his lap and his gaze slowly fell into his palm. “I know. It’s unfortunate that soldiers like us don’t get to choose…due to our position and our regiment. It’s the sacrifice we all agreed to when we pledged our life to the scouts, both men and women. I’d hate nothing more than your duties to become your burdens, is all. Your hand is the only one capable of ending Valentine if her abilities become too much of a problem for us. I need to know that you understand this to its full extent.”

Levi’s head lowered as he glanced toward his boots and his hair fell over to cover his eyes. “You have nothing to worry about, Commander.” Erwin sat up straight and glanced at him. “When the time comes,” Levi continued. “I’ll kill the bitch.”

***

“I didn’t know you guys were coming too?” Eren said.

“What? Are we not cool enough to also see the new weapon?” Reiner asked.

“Oh save it,” Connie responded. “We’re really here because we’re Hange’s new squad.” A single brow raised as if to await the applause, yet there was only an awkward silence and stare from Eren, Valentine, Ava, and Armin. Xilo on the other hand looked quite pleased to finally not be a single-man squad.

“We know, we know,” Bertholdt brushed his hair back over his head. “Who would’ve thought the coolest of our class would be—”

“Are you guys insane?!” Eren bursted out, causing Reiner, Bertholdt, and Connie a look of confusion.

“Eh?” Connie raised a brow once more.

“Hange’s squad is the second to Levi’s,” Eren said with his hands out. “You’ll be riding on the verge of death in every expedition—”

“That’s the point, idiot,” Reiner huffed. “We were in the top ten too, ya know? We’re the next best in line after Hange’s squad got smashed—uh,” he awkwardly glanced at Xilo.

“Do you have a suicide mission or something?!” Eren screamed.

“Rich coming from you,” Reiner mumbled

“What’d you say?! Speak up,” Eren demanded as his fists tightened, causing Reiner to smirk.

“Anyone who goes beyond the walls has a suicide mission,” a soft voice said from behind Reiner and everyone turned around. “You kind of have to if you’re going to be a scout.”

There stood a 6’1” dark woman with thin elongated eyes that nearly looked white with how pale blue they were. There were hundreds of thin braids that stretched far below her waist, each with multi-colored beads within them that made a clink sound every time she moved. A strip of silver eye shadow smeared across her thin eye lids and a thick layer of gloss shimmered across her lips.

“Everybody say hi to our most recent recruit, Astarra,” Hange said. “She’s joining my squad!”

“Uh,” Reiner looked as if he was about to pass out. His face was so red that Eren had to take a double take—he’d never seen him like this. “I—uh,” Reiner gulped. “I’m Reiner.” His voice cracked at the end of his name and the others laughed.

As the others introduced themselves, her eye kept returning to Eren, and Ava noticed. Then when Astarra’s attention was finally met with Valentine, the interaction was rather odd.

“Valentine,” Astarra said with a smile. “Yes. I know about you.” Her piercing eyes began to look like marbles of glass as she gave a semi-creepy grin.

“Well,” Valentine said. “I certainly hope not.” Why is she smiling like a cannibal?

“I’m glad to have finally met you,” Astarra said in a somewhat robotic tone that made Valentine think she was being disingenuous.

“Sure. Whatever.” No, but seriously. Why the hell is she looking at me like that?

“Alright, now that we all know each other, let’s get on with the fireworks show, shall we?” Hange’s eyes nearly bulged out of her face and her teeth chattered as she gripped the missile. “Now, since most of these bad boys won’t be ready until the expedition, we only have the one opportunity to showcase how you’re to use it. So pay close attention!”

Reiner and Bertholdt were already distracted as they fought to stand beside Astarra. But she was too busy glancing back at Eren, who stood aback with Armin, Ava, Xilo, and Valentine. Armin glanced to the side at Eren, but as soon as Eren turned to him, he quickly looked away.

“I think the new girl has a staring problem,” Ava murmured to Valentine—who was paying no attention to the new girl or the new weapon, but rather was staring into the clouded sky at three black birds that flew across. They seemed to be racing in the same direction as they chirped so dramatically to one another that it sounded as if they were arguing.

WHOOSH! A giant gust of cold wind blew by and brushed Valentine’s hair outward in front of her, the same direction in which the birds flew.

BOOM! Her eyes widened as her attention was forced to the sudden blow from Hange’s weapon ahead. Everyone cheered at the site of a large tree trunk that snapped in half. Flames ignited from the bark and swirled chaotically against the wind.

A large flock of birds crossed over the sky, all chirping even louder than the others beforehand. She glanced up as a second cold gust of wind blew in from behind, causing the flames of the fire to grow even larger and the group to cheer even more.

The flock of birds grew more and more that it seemed as if the entire sky was covered with tiny black moving dots. Valentine glanced back to see even more birds rushing in from the same direction.

“Where are they going?” she mumbled to herself.

“What?” Ava tried to scream over the loud cheers. “What’d you say?”

“The birds,” Valentine whispered as she was suddenly overcome with an odd but familiar feeling. Her eyes shot open.

“Huh?” Ava glanced back. “What is it—”

BOOM! A loud bang shook the ground and caused everyone to nearly fall. For that moment, it seemed as if the entire world fell mute. Even the birds above had stopped chirping. There wasn’t even the faintest mumble of voices from people afar.

“What was that?!” Connie shrieked with his hands over his head.

Valentine glanced at him, and for a moment, his posture reminded her of Jean, the way he’d also look when he was afraid, when something terrifying was about to happen.

“What?!” Connie shrieked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

The view of Connie blurred from Valentine’s eyes as her gaze was met with Astarra, who stood a few feet behind him. She was staring into the direction from which the noise occurred, yet her facial expression didn’t look as surprised as everyone else. In fact, she looked rather calm.

A number of sirens set off at once. The high and low tones intertwined with one another, causing an eerie and unsettling noise that ripped through eardrums.

Then suddenly, it seemed as if all at once, a sound barrier broke through reality, breaking the mute of everyone who stood frozen, and an eruption of screams and fear spread like fire.

“Everyone get to HQ now!” Hange screamed as she took off to lead the way, but some hadn’t heard her through the overpowering alarms and screams.

“No. Not again,” Armin collapsed to his knees as his eyes watered. “I can’t do this again.”

***

The carriage came to a sudden halt, causing Levi to jerk forward and Erwin’s back to slam against the wall behind him. They exchanged glances as they awaited any sign of sound from outside. There were a few muffling voices and footsteps surrounding them. BANG! A shot gun went off and a heavy thump followed.

Levi reached for his blades. “Guess they’re starting early.”

“Guess so.”

“Let’s just get this over with.”

The fight didn’t last very long. In fact, it went on for about ten seconds. As soon as Erwin kicked the carriage door open, Levi flew out, not giving any of the men a chance to choose a target between him or Erwin. Though Erwin happened to get scraped by a bullet during the shoot out, Levi cut all the men in halves. Except one, that is.

“Who hired you?!” Levi grunted as he pressed his boot into the man’s chest as his blade clinked against the man’s front teeth. “I’ll only ask once.”

“I don’t know! Please you have to believe me!” the man shrieked. “Not even I know!”

“Do you really think that I won’t shove this through your throat?” Levi nudged the blade in further, scraping up the man’s gums and blood began to drip out of his mouth as he shrieked.

“If you tell me why you’re trying to shut down the scouts, maybe I won’t slice your head off like I did to your buddies here,” Levi nudged his head back at the bloody corpses laying around.

“I can’t,” the man began to cry. “I really—”

“Tch. Pathetic,” Levi shoved the blade even further and the man screamed even more.

“Forget it, Levi,” Erwin mumbled in a somber tone a few feet away. He was leaning against the carriage as he wrapped up his arm. “If these guys are the type to agree to a hire a high risk kill such as the Commander and strongest of the league, they’re loyal to whoever they work for.”

Levi glanced at him. “Every man has a weakness. You just have to find—” the man moved from below and as soon as Levi glanced back down, he noticed the man clutching onto his own necklace. “Don’t—” the man exploded and chunks of flesh splashed everywhere and especially onto Levi. His wide eyes stared into the pieces of organs spread out everywhere.

A small glimmer caught his eye and he kneeled down, digging into the flesh to unveil a necklace. It was a very thin chain with a single charm attached: a silver eight pointed star with a gold button in the center.

“Guess you were right,” Levi sighed. “These crazy bastards really are—” he glanced at Erwin and noticed his odd expression. Erwin’s eyes were wider than ever with his lips slightly parted and his teeth clenched as a creepy grin stretched across his mouth. “I hate that look,” Levi said.

***

A distant whistle of an air strike grew louder as another giant boulder headed their way. CRASH! Like the others before, it collided into a building, causing it to fall more apart until completely crumbling down, crushing people below its wrath. Another wave of whooshing brown and red debris filled the already toxic air, making it impossible to see anything further than arms length.

“Armin!” Eren’s yell laid mute against the roaring screams of the stampede of people that rushed in one direction, causing his feet to skid against the ground at a pace much too fast to keep up with. Though he held as long as he could, Armin’s fingertips had finally slipped from his own as the herd quickly divide between them, causing each to pull in opposite directions.

“Armin! Armin—” BOOM! A determined force heading in the opposite direction of everyone else rammed into Eren so hard that it knocked him to the ground and left him grasping for air.

Shocked and confused by the sudden blow, he glanced around and noticed a single person running off toward the chaos. A hood was pulled over their head from the scout cloak that they wore. Their gear was in tact, yet they were on foot. “Alone?” Eren whispered. Most of the scouts were still headed toward HQ to gear up, so there wasn’t a clear plan of action just yet. He gasped at the sudden sight of a thin silver strand of hair that blew from around their hood and glimmered.

“Eren!” a familiar voice called out in panic that stole his attention. Fighting to stand against the heavy crowd, he moved in the direction in which his name was called until he was met with Ava and Valentine. They both carried a fear of panic as they kneeled down beside a laying person.

“W-what’s happening? What’s wrong with him?!” Ava’s cry was a horrific one. “W-what do we do?!”

Armin was laying face up on the ground as his entire body trembled uncontrollably. His eyes had rolled back and went completely white.

“Shit!” Eren lifted Armin’s head. “He’s having a seizure again,” he reached for his right pocket.

“Again?!” Valentine said displeased as if the comment insulted her. “What do you mean, again?!” She and Ava exchanged glances.

“He’s been”—Eren switched hands from underneath Armin’s head and dug through the left pocket—“it’s been happening since…” a panic ensued in his eyes.

“Since when?” Ava’s eyes watered. “Why didn’t I know about this—”

“Here!” He gestured for Ava to hold Armin’s head. She gently held it up as she watched in terror. His skin was changing to pale and he began to salivate from the mouth.

“You mean to tell me he’s been having these?” Valentine needed clarification. How could one of her best friends be struggling with something so severe without her ever knowing? She felt guilty for it, as if it was her own fault.

“I always bring one with me…” Eren’s voice trickled into a whisper too faint to hear as he shuffled through both of his pockets to find nothing. A befuddled look clouded his eyes as if he didn’t know where he was. His breath fell into a slight pant as he whispered, “Why of all days…is today the day that I—”

“Eren!” both Ava and Valentine screamed.

“Uh—h-he needs his medication! It’s a shot that I inject into his arm to make it stop. The only other one I know of is back at the—” he glanced ahead at the sound of another boulder that whistled through the air in their direction.

CRASH! A building a few yards away crumbled as shards of glass dispersed everywhere. A heavier layer of dust dispersed into the air and Ava gently placed one hand over Armin’s eyes. She squinted into the thick cast of death and noticed blood in the air so thin that it now moved like red smoke intertwining with the rest. Bits of flesh from the dead were now being inhaled.

“Blah!” She spat out bits of it from her mouth and gagged at the taste of iron and metal. As both of her hands were occupied with Armin, she hid her face into her shoulder as she heard Valentine say through the whistling of another boulder on its way somewhere, “I’ll go! I’m the fastest!”

“It’s my fault, I will go get it!” Eren demanded. Ava could tell by the sound of his voice that he was crying.

“Eren!” Valentine was overcome with frustration at this point. “Where in his dorm, damn it?!”

“I’m not sending you into that hell zone!” Eren pointed in the direction of the dorms, which was also where the boulders were flying in from, meaning where the titans already were.

“I’m faster than you on foot!” Valentine argued. “Faster than any of you!”

Ava gasped as she glanced up but could only see the outline of their figures through the dust. “You can’t go without gear!” Her voice nearly broke but she tried to hold it together.

“I don’t have time to get gear and I don’t have time to argue about this! Armin is going to die!” Valentine screamed. Eren shivered at the sound of the last sentence. Ava moved her hand from Armin’s eyes to unveil a piercing red underneath them. Her throat clenched up as her eyes watered but she gulped to hold it back.

“He isn’t going to die,” Ava’s tone was filled with defeat and much too low for anyone other than Armin to hear.

She gasped as one of his hands aimlessly attempted to grab at the sound of their voices, but incidentally scratched her cheek instead. A lurid sound released from Armin as he struggled to speak through the drowning saliva.

“Armin!” Ava tilted his head so some of it would pour out, allowing him to breathe. “It’s okay, everything is going to be okay,” her voice shook as tears streamed down her cheeks.

He raised a single finger toward the sky as he mumbled and spat out saliva. Ava grabbed onto his hand, “Hang in there, Armin. Please.”

“In his desk drawer—a small clear bottle of medication and the syringe. Got it,” Valentine wrapped a cloth around the bottom half of her face and tied it behind her head.

“J-just,” Eren couldn’t look up at her but rather lightly dug his fist into her shoulder. “Just make it back.”

“I will,” Valentine kneeled down and placed her hand on Armin’s chest. “I’ll be quick Armin!” She shot a quick glance at Ava.

Ava’s eyes wilted like tiny dying flowers as they sunk into her face. She had already accepted one of them was going to die today, she just hadn’t known which yet. She glanced into what could be the last sight of her, one white and one hazel eye staring out from above a cut and dirty cloth. The cloth slightly moved as Valentine worded something. But before Ava could even ask what she’d said, she was already watching her silhouette disappear into the smoke.

***

“What’re the scouts doing here?” a light mumble asked from a few feet away. Levi leaned against an old statue with his arms crossed as he studied a half burnt cigarette on the sidewalk. A few whispers surrounded him from every direction and he caught the suspicious glares from MPs that walked passed him.

“Psh-sh-sh-pshh,” a muffled radio caught his attention that continued to break in and out of static. It laid in the back pocket of a MP who was huddled up with a few others, mumbling something too low for Levi to hear. He noticed the tiny radio was a LyricBox, the same type he’d ordered for Valentine’s training, only he’d forgotten about the entire thing until this moment.

The static began to overpower the actual music itself and Levi glanced at the soldier who seemed unbothered by the annoyance. The static grew louder and louder that Levi began to question if the man was trying to piss him off. Then it became so unbearable that it sounded of a screeching noise, or nails against a chalk board.

“Tch,” Levi glared at the back of the soldier’s head. “Turn it off,” he ordered. But the soldier completely ignored the request and continued the subtle conversation with the others. “Hey,” Levi grunted. The volume of the irritating noise suddenly became so loud that it was causing Levi’s eardrums to throb.

“Agh!” he covered his ears and slightly leaned over like he was about to throw up. His entire body filled with a sudden nausea as his head fell light. The light from the sun suddenly began to pulse in and out of his vision and he glanced around confused as others nearby seemed completely unbothered by the atrocious noise.

DING—DING—DING! Bells echoed from a nearby church but sounded as if they were directly in his ears.

“Agh!” he was nearly completely kneeled down at this point.

The familiar feeling of lightning bolts crossing over his head appeared once again. He clasped his fingers around his head as he clenched his teeth. The light from the sun intensified even more and as he barely opened his eyes toward the sky, three crows crossed over the reflection of his pupils. From his clouded vision, it seemed as if they were nearly transparent.

“Wake up,” a faint voice said that carried some familiarity to it. He wasn’t even sure what the familiarity was, the person, the sound of it, the words, the feeling? He couldn’t even tell much if the voice was coming from inside or outside of his head. The entirety of it all seemed like a nightmare that he encountered the night before, but only got pieces of memory from it now.

“Wake up,” the voice repeated. The nausea intensified, clenching his stomach and tightening his chest as his heart pounded.

“Wake up,” Levi instinctively worded, and it was right at this moment, that his eyes shot open. His vision returned, the pain all over his body halted, and the only sound was the static from the nearby radio. There were a few peculiar expressions from people nearby that stared with confusion.

“What are you looking at?!” Levi glared and the soldiers awkwardly returned to their business.

He stood up, fixing his posture. His entire body felt aflame and a heavy layer of sweat bled through his clothes.

What the hell was that…

He wiped his wrist across his nostrils to wipe a layer of sweat when he noticed a red smear.

“Huh,” he dabbed his fingers underneath to see a red stain. “Tch,” he annoyingly wiped his sleeve across once more.

“That took longer than expected,” Erwin’s voice suddenly appeared. “My apologies for the long w—” his eyes met with a single drop of blood that leaked from Levi’s nostril. “Got into it with the MPs?” Erwin teased.

“It’s nothing,” he wiped again. “How’d the meeting go?”

Erwin paused for a moment, then sighed as he leaned against the statue. “As expected. Looks like their moves to eradicate the Scouts have been hastened.”

“We could always just kill them all.”

Erwin chuckled. “There is that.” A few seconds of silence ensued. “There’s no more room for mistakes in this next expedition,” his tone hardened. “We must deliver results, an expediting victory, if we are to face them with no excuse to shut the corps down.”

“That won’t stop them.”

“No, it won’t. However, it will slow the process and give us some more time.” He glanced at Levi. “Our original plan is set in motion.”

Levi stared ahead but could feel his stare. “There’s no other way?”

“I’m afraid not. This is our last card up our sleeve. It will either make or break the regiment. I need to know you’re with me on this, Levi.”

Levi’s thoughts clouded his mind. There’s certainly no going back. She’ll never forgive me for this one. “When I first joined the corps, I told you I’d do whatever it takes. For the better of humanity,” Levi said. But what is the cost? One girl for the sake of humanity? Or one girl for the fall of it all? I’d never guess the blade to her only happiness would be at the hands of my own. His chest tightened and his stomach crumbled into a thousand pieces. “So if what you say is truly the best passage way for humanity’s success against the titans…” I knew what I signed up for when I joined. We all did. This crossroad was bound to us soon enough. Levi glanced at Erwin for the first time this entire conversation. I know that “it’s not even a question.”

DING-DING-DING The church bells clanked.

***

Though each step as soft as could be, the bottom of Valentine’s boots crunched against the broken bones and debris of what remained of the deserted city. Most of the people in this area were either dead or headed to the far edge of the wall looking for escape.

Through squinted eyes against the heavy dust, she only saw as far as a few feet ahead and noticed a single wall that stood from a torn down building. She slowly made her way to it, and with the drifty way she moved through the clouded air, along with her skin and clothes painted white by all the debris, she looked as a ghost moving through the dead city.

Right as she met with the wall, the heavy stomps that she studied through the city now approached once again.

BOOM…BOOM…BOOM! She glanced down and watched as broken glass, cement, and bones all lightly vibrated up and down above the ground as each step of the titan came closer. After a moment of holding her breath in dead silence, the monster had finally passed.

She continued on toward the dorms hall, hoping that the building, like very few others she passed, was one that hadn’t been completely obliterated.

Each foot slowly stepped forward as she listened for any nearby titans. Then, as she was to take another step, a crunch sound appeared before her boot made contact with the ground and she paused, slowly turning around where the noise came from. She held her breath and waited.

Was there a titan waiting there all along? Surely she’d hear its heavy breathing or movement. Perhaps it was just fallen debris from a building…

Maybe it’s nothing. She turned and began to slowly walk away. I only heard fallen debris. That’s all it was— a crunch intertwined with her own step. She gasped and snapped her head back as she clutched onto her knife that laid against her waist band, the only weapon she had on her. It would do much of nothing to a titan, but it would definitely work on…

A person.

The longer she stared, the more a faint figure could be seen standing across from her, staring back at her. It was fairly small and her first thought was that she could definitely take whoever it was if it came down to it. She waited for another step, but it never came. Instead, they both stood across from one another, like two ghosts that were never meant to cross paths and hadn’t known what to do in this instance.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Valentine said. She could’ve sworn this caused a slight movement from the thing, its head tilting, but she couldn’t be sure with the slight visibility. “This place is crawling with titans. You should head for the escape route from the city,” Valentine slowly untugged her knife from the waist band and waited.

The figure stood completely still. And with the dust covering everything, it slowly began to look like a statue. Even it’s face looked somewhat plastic-like.

Parts of the milky smoke swirled to the side, allowing her more visibility. This is when she realized that the reason its face looked like plastic, was because it was. This person was wearing a mask.

Tic..tic..tic..tic a sound released from their pocket where a long chain hung from. Their cloak wavered in the wind like a flag, which Valentine quickly realized was a scout cloak. Ching, a long gold blade unveiled from behind their cloak and Valentine’s eyes widened. She’d barely moved her head to the side right as the blade spun toward her face, slicing just the edge of her cheek before landing in rubble behind.

“Oh,” Valentine grunted as she opened her knife. “So it’s like that,” she rushed toward the mysterious figure, swiping her knife in every angle, but this person oddly dodged every attack.

It didn’t just seem unfazed by Valentine, but it seemed to be familiar with her movements—which she quickly realized when they dodged every hand combat she attempted. It was almost as if they’d studied her fighting style for years. That, or they were just well equipped, well trained all of their lives, and she finally met her match. Of course she wasn’t oblivious to the fact that this would eventually happen. She was very aware that she couldn’t be the only good fighter in the world, besides Levi. She’d just never met one before.

With each punch, kick, and swing of the knife, the figure calmly dodged side to side and watched almost intrigued, as if their life wasn’t in danger at all. Then, they finally did a move, one that Valentine had never witnessed before—a quick snatch and twist of the wrist while attempting to knee in the stomach (as a trick of distraction), as they sneaked a kick from under the foot, causing not only them to retrieve Valentine’s weapon in a second, but allowing her to fall flat on her back.

The figure spun the knife in their hand as they slowly stomped toward her. Valentine scrambled against the rubble as she attempted to crawl backwards—or stand up, she wasn’t sure at this point what to do—when the figure tossed the knife aside. Valentine glanced toward it with confusion.

Are they not trying to kill me?

The figure rushed on top of her and began to strangle her.

Valentine struggled to break their strong grip from around her throat—a rarity. This person had definitely trained their entire life. If this was even a person that was.

Valentine stretched her hands to the side at a desperate attempt to grab at anything, when she felt a large chunk of cement. Without thinking twice, she snatched it up and slammed it into the mask of this figure.

CREAK! A crack emerged across the mask that quickly gathered into multiple. And for a moment, they’d both stared at one another in shock like neither prepared for this. Right as the mask shattered, the figure quickly made its way off of Valentine and turned around to hide its identity.

Valentine rolled over to stand as she gasped for air through her barely opened airways. She quickly snatched her knife from nearby and stood up. The figure’s back was still faced towards her, and from the looks of it, they were looking downward, using the hood as cover, and holding both of their hands to their face.

Valentine watched with confusion. They’ve left themselves vulnerable with their back facing me. But of course, they know that. Is hiding their identity from me worth more than their own life? Who the hell is this? Are they part of Kenny’s squad from the other day? I should just take them out right now…or no…I should capture them and take them back to the others—

A rather small movement came from the hooded figure as they glanced downward, the hood falling moreover. CLINK! The long chain on their side subtly moved. Tic..tic…tic…

The hooded figure bolted and Valentine quickly chased after, each taking their turn tripping over piles of rubble in the streets.

“Hey!” Valentine screamed as she reached for the end of their cloak and nearly grabbed it. “Who are y—” right as her fingertips made contact, they drew their ODM gear and shot up into the air, disappearing into the clouded smoke. Valentine’s steps slowly came to a halt as she stared into the air with confusion.

They had scout gear this entire time. And even with their blades, they didn’t use it on me. She noticed their long knife still buried in rubble. If their motive wasn’t to kill me, then what was it? And what the hell was with that clock on their chain? They were in a hurry for something…Don’t tell me…

A light gasp escaped from her mouth as she realized she was standing across from the dorms hall building. In a rush, while attempting to be as quiet as possible, she ran through the front door and dashed toward Armin’s room.

When she got there, it was a complete wreck. She couldn’t tell if someone had went through his things or if he’d just been a mess lately. Armin was always usually very organized. But then again, there seemed to be more going on with him than she’d known.

The small desk drawer made a screeching sound as she yanked it open. Her eyes immediately drew to a small glass container of medication along with a sealed syringe nearby. She snatched it and read: Patient: Armin Arlert. Dosage: 100 milligrams. Use as directed: in the event of any anxiety trance state.

“Trance?” Valentine mumbled. Her eyes moved to the bottom of the label which she read and said aloud at the same time, “Dr. Fable…Dr. Fable. I think that’s the same doctor that cared for me after the expedition for my head injury.” The label faded into the background as her eyes now focused on a stack of papers within the drawer. The top sheet had erratic scribbles all over it, some so deep that the ink bled through the paper. She stopped her hand as it reached in, feeling it too invasive. But after another glance, she couldn’t help herself.

She snatched the papers and noticed the first with thousands of scribbles that slowly began to look more of something the longer she stared. Blinking a few times to be certain, it became more of a large shadow, something resembling a monster-like figure, and a much smaller figure down below that seemed to be laying on the ground.

She flipped to the second page to reveal an even more mystifying sketch. This one was drawn out with sharp lines all over that looked of a thousand cuts bleeding through the thin paper. The thickly layered lines with thin edges covered so much of the paper that it was heavier than the first and had a much stronger scent of ink. Some parts of it were darker than the others. She tilted it sideways to try to understand the bizarre sketch. Then it came together.

It was many monster-like figures, each with very sharp edges, surrounding a single small figure at the very bottom. None of them seemed to have much a face—just more scribbles.

She flipped to the next page and her eyes widened. This one looked cleaner than the others with a very clear depiction of a long face. It’s long oval eyes matched its long oval mouth that drooped with the rest of its face. The only different colored ink of all the pages was on this one, with red streaks spilling out of the figure’s mouth.

Her eyes glanced back at the medication. “What the hell is going on, Armin—” she gasped at the sudden sound of music that bursted out. “The hell,” she desperately searched around to shut it off before—

BOOM…BOOM…

Titans began to make their way toward the building as she rushed through drawers to find where the noise escaped from.

“Where is it?!” She kneeled down and peaked underneath a dresser where she noticed a blinking green light. Stretching her arm as far as it’d go, she failed to reach it.

BOOM…BOOM… the titans were nearly right outside the building now.

“Almost…” she stretched further underneath and felt the LyricBox with her fingertips. “There…”

BOOM! The room quickly darkened with a shadow from the window, causing her to quickly roll over underneath the desk that sat right underneath the window itself.

What if two eyes were meant to be blind? The song played on from the radio.

Through all of this violence, it’s all just a matter of time.

A large huff came from right outside the window.

If we die young, we’re not going to live forever.

Well if I’m going to die, Valentine thought. At least its to a song I actually enjoy.

A loud grunt of a moan escaped from above her head, just barely shaking the room. Her eyes drew toward the medication and syringe, both of which slightly shook from the edge of the dresser. “Shit.”

A second groan, one of more aggression, shook the room once more, causing the medication to nearly fall.

A few minutes of silence ensued after, other than the radio, and soon enough, the shadow had finally moved, allowing the sunlight to return into the room.

She slowly crawled from underneath the desk, eyes pierced toward the window to ensure that no titans were nearby. Once it looked clear, she darted for the medication and syringe, stuffed them into her pocket, and dashed out the room and down the hall way.

If we die young! The music echoed down the corridor. We’ll run together!

BOOM! A giant hand broke through the wall and nearly grabbed her.

“Ah!” She nearly stumbled over the chunks of wall that flew into her, but caught herself and accelerated her speed at the exit door straight ahead. “Almost there.”

BANG! Another hand collided through the wall and nearly snatched her from behind. Then another, and another, pierced through the walls, each reaching closer to her.

BANG! A giant hand broke through the wall directly in front of her, causing her to nearly run right into its grasp. Her feet skidded across the ground as her sprint came to a sudden halt. The titan swiped its hand toward her, knowing exactly where she was, causing her to tumble to the side into another hallway.

“Damn it,” the exit door was only a few feet away, but there was no way out of this. A mixed expression of pity, disgust, and defeat fell across her face as her tired eyes glanced all around. There were giant hands reaching for her from every direction—and she laid at the very center of it all. She released a large sigh as she slid down the wall and watched the fiasco unfold of what was going to be the end of her life.

“Well this is a big fucking joke.” The giant hands wavered around closer to her, nearly snatching her. She hesitantly pulled her knife out, patiently switching the blade up, and stared into its dirty reflection.

“That’s yours now,” a familiar voice echoed in her head as she turned the knife over to the other side, which was even dirtier than the other.

“Pfft. You’d call me the punchline to this stupid joke of death that’s about to unleash…probably say I’m better off this way…” she let out a sorrow chuckle. “You would say something like that…wouldn’t you?” she whispered.

“I’m going to die here,” a hysterical laugh released from her clenched throat as her eyes watered. “And everything is the same as way back when!” Streams of tears slid down her face as she began to laugh harder. “I’ve done nothing!” Her hysterical laugh echoed down the hallways.

“But at least in my end, it still won’t be the titans that win,” she gestured the point end of the blade to her throat. “I refuse that end.” Her trembling hand poked the blade in and out of the skin. “See you in hell…old friend,” pushing the blade further into herself, blood began to drip down her neck.

SWOOSH! One of the giant hands dragged out of the building. Valentine gasped as her eyes widened, blinking to clear the tears in her eyes to ensure she actually saw that.

SWOOSH! Another one of the titans was dragged from the walls. There was a loud angry grunt followed by a heavy stomp that shook the ground.

She slowly lowered the blade from her neck as she watched with trepidation. She still wasn’t sure whether she should be happy or threatened that this occurrence was happening.

As the last titan was dragged away, the building began to shake and debris snowed from the ceiling. Unsure if it was due to the overbearing roar from something bigger outside or the ground shaking from the heavy stomps, Valentine quickly got to her feet and looked for a way out before the building collapsed onto her.

There’s only one thing that’s stronger than these other titans, her heart pounded as she glanced through the crack of the exit door, eyes darting around for any sign of what was happening out there. But that roar…it didn’t sound like the Alpha.

Cracks began to spread all over the walls as the building shook even more. Not exactly sure which of the two options was the better, becoming crushed bones with rubble or exposing herself to whatever was out there, she went with the second.

She held her breath as she hesitantly made her way out, attempting to be as quiet as possible as she ran a few feet from the leaning building. Suddenly, the roaring grew quiet, and the only sound nearby came from the leaning building. Attempting to see as far as the smoky air would allow, she noticed a few titans laying across the ground, all with their napes smashed in as steam released. An expression of both terror and relief filled her face as the feelings confused her.

HUFF! A rather large breath came from behind her, causing her hair to rush ahead of her. Her eyes shot open as she slowly turned around.

“Mmmm,” a 25-meter titan groaned as it stared back her with a look of curiosity, nudging its head toward her and knocking her to the ground.

“Agh,” her elbows bled as they scraped across the sharp pointed rubble. Her hopeless eyes glanced up at the giant as she attempted to drag herself backwards, only her entire body fell weak from nerves and caused her to somewhat freeze.

“Mm-I—” the titan mumbled as it kneeled down on a single knee.

“Did you just…”

One of its giant fingers gestured toward her, shoving her back against the rubble. “Ouch!” She glanced up with insult and the titan pulled its finger back, staring in curiosity.

“I—mm—ch,” the titan huffed towards her and stared.

Amazed and terrified, the only words she’d manage to release from her clenched throat were, “You…saved me?”

The titan let out a profoundly loud roar that caused her to flinch. It stood up and her eyes widened, unsure of what was to happen next. It lifted one leg up and she crossed her arms over her face, but the titan stepped over her and walked the other direction.

With a heavy pant, she screamed, “Wait!” But quickly stopped as she realized that it was heading toward a swarm of titans that headed their way.

“Shit,” she quickly got to her feet. We’ll come back for you, whoever you are, she thought as she took off toward HQ.

***

Valentine pushed through the crowded scouts in HQ that scattered in all directions. They each had the same look of terror and confusion as they rushed to attach their gear on, some vomiting along the side, others trying to get their squad under control, and a few crying.

Finally, Valentine spotted Eren and Ava as they rushed towards her. “Sorry I took so long,” Valentine held out the medication and syringe. “You will not believe—uh—” Ava and Eren slammed into her with their arms tightly wrapped around her.

“We,” Ava choked up. “Thought you were—”

“Gone,” Eren’s voice trembled as they broke the hug apart.

“Nearly,” Valentine sighed. “But not yet. Where’s Armin?”

“He’s over here, c’mon,” Eren led the way.

Valentine gasped as she stared down at his motionless body. He looked sickly pale and a dark purple shade cast underneath both of his eyes. “Is he…”

“No,” Eren nodded as he began to unseal the syringe.

“His heart is still beating, he’s still with us,” Ava said.

“I think his body tired out of energy from the seizure,” Eren stabbed the sharp point of the syringe into the seal of the medication and began extracting it.

“Or trance, you mean?” Valentine gave him a suspicious expression.

“Huh?” Ava glanced with confusion while Eren’s eyes widened.

Eren glanced up at Valentine and they stared for a moment.

“When were you going to tell us?!” Valentine screamed.

“It wasn’t for me to tell—”

“He’s our best friend—“

“He didn’t even tell me!” Eren’s voice cracked as he nearly cried.“I had to find out myself. Caught him medicating himself before bed.” He shook his head bothered as if to shake off a bad memory. “He apparently has these seizures—or trances, delusions, whatever you want to call them—in his sleep. It’s never happened while he was awake before.”

“Like…nightmares?”

“Something like that. He made it seem as if…I don’t know,” Eren pulled the syringe from the bottle and kneeled down beside Armin. “He made it seem as if they would—”

“Come to life?” Valentine asked and Eren glanced up at her, his face now wet from crying.

“Yeah,” Eren sniffed. “Worst than freezing in panic like sleep paralysis. He would swear it was all real. And think it was still happening in front of him even after he’d wake up. Then he’d forget entirely whatever it was.” He stretched Armin’s arm out and jabbed the needle in, inserting the medication. “C’mon buddy. Come back to me.”

Ava glanced at Valentine with a frightening expression and whispered, “Does this not sound like your nightmares when we were kids?”

“I never had seizures—or trances, Ava.”

“I’ve had to wake you nearly every time—”

“It wasn’t like this—”

“You even slept walk—”

“Ava, please!” Valentine gave her a stern stare and Ava looked perplexed. Eren glanced up at them with a concerned expression.

“Valentine!” a voice screamed from behind and she turned around to see Reiner approaching. He glanced at the heavy white debris that laid all over her. “You just come back from outside? The hell is going on out there—” his eyes moved to Armin on the floor. “The hell is wrong with him?”

“Just passed out,” Eren said as he exchanged glances with Valentine and Ava.

“Great, not only is our Commander out, but so is our second to the Commander,” Reiner rubbed his eyes. “Everyone’s losing their shit in here. What’s the plan?”

“There’s something else out there,” Valentine said in an unsettling tone. “There’s a special titan out there. It’s fighting on our side, against the other titans.”

Ava gasped. “What?!”

“Be serious,” Reiner demanded with a stern brow. “This isn’t the time—”

“I am serious,” Valentine said. “I witnessed it myself when I went to retrieve Armin’s—” she stopped herself and Reiner gave her a peculiar expression. “It saved my life.”

BOOM! A titan crashed into the building back first, hanging halfway inside from the breaking ceiling, and Armin’s eyes shot wide open as he took in a large gasp of air.

Screams filled the air as scouts scattered like ants.

“Armin!” Ava keeled down beside him.

His dazed eyes and dilated pupils darted around at everyone like he hadn’t recognized any of them. His mouth looked as if it forgot how to work as he mumbled gibberish with confusion. “Who—” he began to cough. “W-what’s going on?”

“You just had a seizure, you’re a bit confused,” Eren said. “But don’t worry, everything’s okay and under control.” Armin’s eyes glanced behind Eren at the titan that hung from the ceiling. His eyes widened with fear as he let out a fearful whimper.

“Hey buddy, it’s okay,” Eren moved his head to block it. “We just gotta get you out of here, like right now, okay?” He glanced at Ava, “help me get him up.”

Ava and Eren pulled Armin’s arms over their shoulders and headed toward the exit.

“Let’s go!” Eren screamed at Valentine and Reiner, who were still going back and forth.

“Are you absolutely positive?” Reiner screamed through the noise as parts of the ceiling began to collapse.

“Positive!” Valentine yelled.

“Right, okay! I’ll find my squad and we’ll protect the titan at all costs!”

“Spread the word!”

“Yeah right!” Reiner nodded. “Like these idiots will listen—but I’ll try!”

Both of their fists slammed against the other’s heart and they took off in opposite directions right before the ceiling completely caved in.

A massive roar shook the ground and Valentine glanced back to see the Alpha a couple of buildings away, making it’s way straight for the special titan—of which was struggling to get out of the collapsed HQ building. “Oh shit,” she realized that while everything else was going on in HQ, she’d completely forgotten to gear up.

A few scouts began taking down nearby titans that threatened the special one. She glanced the other way at Eren, Ava, and Armin, who were still heading away. Her eyes squeezed shut as she tightened her fists. “There’s only one way…to save that special titan…and them…”

She bolted across the road, shoving through the mixed crowd of scouts and civilians, until she finally reached the inside of a two-story building and made herself to the rooftop.

“Hey!” she jumped up and down as she waved her arms around. “You big dummy! Come get me!”

The Alpha turned its attention toward her and crossed the road.

“Shit-shit-shit,” Valentine bolted across the roof. The Alpha roared as it slammed its fist into the roof, breaking through the building, causing Valentine to stumble. She quickly got back to her feet and sprinted before jumping into the air to the next rooftop. “Agh!” She tumbled across before catching herself and took a quick glance back to see the Alpha completely obliterating through the other building just to get to her. She headed down the roof with no plan in sight, as their was no other building to jump to this time.

The sound of breaking clay rushed from behind Valentine as the Alpha’s arm swiped across the roof straight for her. As she approached the edge of the building, she held her breath. And while nearly feeling the edge of the Alpha’s grasp, she closed her eyes and jumped into the air. Butterflies filled her stomach as she fell through the dusty air and straight downward.

BANG! A hard slam appeared from the side and her eyes shot open.

“Are you insane or just stupid?” Levi looked more worried than pissed at her as he gripped onto her waist and flew upward.

A slight smile of relief appeared on her face. “Aren’t they the same thing?” she responded.

“Idiot,” he abruptly landed on a building and nearly stumbled onto her. “Listen!” he screamed with his blade pointing to the Alpha.

“Sir!” Scouts landed nearby and glanced up at him with a last effort of hope. “Hange’s Squad, along with squads A and B, attack from the back! I’ll go for the front!”

“Sir!”

“C-squad, you take down nearby titans and watch our backs! Ava, Eren, you’re with me! We stop at no cost—take the bitch down!”

“Sir!”

“Go!” Levi glanced down at Valentine. “And you, stay here!” He quickly hurried off for the Alpha.

As expected, and just as before, most of the scouts that attempted to get near the Alpha were quickly thrown down. Levi, of course, seemed to be the only one that could get close enough to slice at the limbs. Each time he got another cut on the Alpha, its frustration grew larger. Yet, with every effort it made to swipe or stomp at him, its reactions were much too slow to keep up.

“Finish the limbs!” Levi ordered and Eren and Ava flew inwards, attempting to dodge the Alpha’s attacks. Its right leg weakened, causing it to collapse onto one knee. Both of its arms slung downward weakly.

“Now, you’re mine,” Levi spun inwards at the nape and violently ripped his blades across. But his eyes widened as he realized he’d cut into nothing at all. This was the first time in his entire career and life that he had missed a target. For the first time ever, he’d met something much faster than his own speed.

“Huh?!” He quickly turned around and swiped his blades outward expecting its presence, but again, his blades were met with nothing.

He landed on the ground as others nearby stared with confusion. Eren and Ava landed beside him, Eren glancing to the sky with terror, and Ava glancing all around with paranoia.

“W-where’d it go?!” a nearby scout screamed with fear as everyone exchanged the same look of confusion. An unsettling silence spread over as everyone desperately waited for someone to have the answer. A whistling wind blew by, swirling the white smokey air around.

“It…disappeared?”

#aot #attackontitan #enemiestofriendstolovers #enemiestolovers #levi_ackerman #slowburn #leviackerman

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