During the final battle in a almost unwinnable war against a group of mutated humans known as titans the ultimate weapon was meant to be humanity's sacrifice for the greater good.
The weapon itself managed to destroy the race of deadly creatures without having to sacrifice it's life. In the December of 2243, humanity was declared free of the creatures for good with the exception of a few living 'titan shifters' these were announced as 'the shrapnel's' relating to the last existing line of people linked with the original creatures.
The queen at the time Historia had decided that those who fought for the sake of human kind would be celebrated as hero's and given special pardon's for their dedication.
Upon the announcement of this, many remaining humans decided to rise against the Queen as they saw it fit to destroy the 'shrapnel's' before they could turn rabid and therefore begin the cycle once more.
The Queen stepped down with the agreement that her lover and several of the main soldiers known as shifters would not be killed. One of these was nicknamed either 'the rouge or the ultimate weapon' due to his strong and sometimes unpredictable abilities it was debated whether he should be 'put down' for safety.
Luckily, on the 4th of April 2244 he disappeared, nobody had seen him since.
His name was Eren.
Eren's absence had caused a void in the everyday lives of the Scouts, they were used to waking up to his eager expression and eyes that held pure unadulterated determination.
The vigor that those turquoise gems held could drive a soldier into an equal and honest titan slaughtering frenzy. Nobody doubted themselves when Eren was around to tell them about his dream of a titan-free world.
The brunet was something special when it came to encouraging others in seemingly hopeless situations. Levi secretly always believed that it was this power that made Eren shine brighter than the other cadets.
Never had he encountered someone with so much devotion to the cause than himself but then again he never would have guessed that certain lunatics were turning innocent children into mindless bloodthirsty monsters.
The thought of Eren screaming in agony as his father forced a venomous life changing serum into his system made Levi genuinely gag. How could somebody do something so unbelievably cruel to their own flesh and blood?
Sometimes Levi wondered if the mission (if there was one) for these experiments was to make the children just like them, evil, vicious beasts. Grisha Yeager had earned his place among the long list of despicable people Levi wished he had the chance to meet.
This would allow him the opportunity to beat the life out of the man, the way that Levi had beaten Eren.
Thanks to Grisha's wonderful handy work Eren had gotten the life kicked out of him over and over and over again.
Levi knew that he was in love with Eren. To be honest it wasn't really a secret.
Most either never mentioned it out of fear of actually losing their lives or didn't figure it out because overall he was rather discreet about the way he presented his emotions.
It took Levi a cold trail and several months of pure agony for Levi to realise his feelings for Eren. The brat made his heart race like nobody else could make it and every time he was around the beauty he felt completely on edge.
These feelings that he now admitted were side effects of love, he used to imagine was his way of staying constantly weary of the bright eyed boy. This short amount of time that Levi used to deny his true feelings ended rather abruptly when the young man left though.
He tried desperately to use excuses about his feelings in order to protect his open heart from the obvious fate that the teen held before him. Levi knew that once the war was over then the people that Eren wanted to protect would turn against him and chose that the boy should die for the good of humanity.
Then the humanity that resided in Eren would be taken.
Piece by piece.
It would be stripped from him by the ones he loved.
The ones he fought for
The world would decide to destroy him for their own selfish gain, Levi just knew it.
It was true that they had been discussing the eventuality of Eren Yeager since he arose from the corpse of the titan's nape. From the day his human life as destroyed and turned into entertainment for the humans that he chose to believe were good and honorable.
Eren was a child.
He probably still believed in fairytales and happy endings.
Perhaps this was what Levi was so drawn to, the side that Levi himself never got to embrace, the one filled with childish dreams. Maybe, just maybe Eren was Levi's escape from reality, the reason that he chose to fight on instead of finally giving into fate.
He had never felt so enthusiastic, then when those turquoise eyes entered the room, he honestly seemed to get a new sense of purpose, one much stronger than ever before.
When he felt, well Levi broke.
The sudden impact that was Eren's disappearance took away any feelings of optimism or enthusiasm.
He just existed in a world where most others thrived.
Levi had never felt love loss, but he was sure that this feeling was it, he chuckled darkly whenever he thought about fates cruel way of taking precious things.
Mikasa held the same amount of sadness of course, she was in about as much pain as he was in but unlike him she showed the effects differently. Mikasa was a complete mess at first, she was angry, uncontrollably so in fact.
Levi only saw this side of her as a sad little girl who was absolutely desperate to find her beloved brother before something bad happened to him. Levi understood the feeling of wanting to protect Eren no matter what the cost but Mikasa's motherly instinct was relentless and left Eren feeling uncomfortable.
He had shared his concerns with Levi about Mikasa's overprotectiveness on numerous occasions often after the pair had fought over her incredibly annoying babying.
Often Levi mistook their relationship because of the never ending arguments between the two, all they ever seemed to achieve when together was a new reason to dislike the other.
Levi smiled when watching Eren with smoke practically spouting from his ears at her 'lack of listening skills'.
For a titan the boy sure complained a lot, probably more than anyone that he had ever witnessed before, this was how Erwin had figured out Levi's developing feelings for the brunet.
Apparently, Levi was far too tolerable of the constant complaining and endless whimpering. His behaviour while being unknown to the man himself changed to become more approachable and overall friendly.
Levi was stunned when he has told by his commander that he was more sociable than usual because of some ridiculous teenager with the irritating power of becoming something that Levi vowed to destroy.
"They know where we are Captain, there is no way that we can escape" Mikasa whispered angrily, who would have thought that they would get the blame for Eren's disappearance and therefore be classed as fugitives for their crimes?
Mikasa scowled at the thought of being in the hands of the military police that she honestly couldn't stand the sight of. Levi growled at the news, he knew that they had most entrances blocked but they couldn't know them all right. Levi turned to Erwin who gave him a quick nod to confirm Mikasa's conclusion, they were stuck.
"We need to escape now Captain or we will all be killed" Sasha shouted across the room, she held a long riffle and was shooting out the nearby window ducking beneath the glass when shots were returned.
Hanji jumped when the sound of banging was against the door echoed throughout the room.
"It's too late" Connie muttered clutching onto Armin who was visibly shaking at the horrifying noise.
They were all helplessly huddled into the corner now, even Sasha had made her way over to them in a bid to feel comforted.
With one last sickening bang the door flew off it's hinges and into the corner where Sasha was snipping.
To the groups surprise it wasn't a group of angry soldiers that was sent to execute them that burst into the room but one lone man.
He was small, from his physique probably a teenager, unfortunately he wore an ugly gas mask to hide his appearance and a plain black hoodie managed to cover his hair and back.
When the man seemingly looked at the group he said something into a hidden microphone that Levi couldn't quite hear. The man didn't seem hostile towards them otherwise why hadn't he carried out his orders.
He then chuckled "well it seems that your all alright, if you want to live then go to this address" this confirmed Levi's beliefs that the man wasn't the typical soldier that they originally figured he was.
"How can we trust you?" Jean snarled, it was obvious why he didn't want to trust the masked person, but still this wasn't the time for questioning his intensions.
"Because I am the only one who came to rescue you, now lets go. Follow the map exactly and don't get followed... for their sake" the last part was an almost inaudible whisper that made everyone shudder.
Each of them followed the man to a hidden exit underneath the basement floor, the escape route was cramped but still would allow them all to fit.
"We need to go now or the building is going to collapse" Armin yelled hurriedly, they trusted the boy like no other and he was usually correct in these type of situations.
Gas mask as Levi decided to refer to him nodded in agreement before pushing Sasha and Connie into the gap.
They were followed by Krista, Ymir, Jean, Marco, Hanji, Moblit, Erwin, Levi and finally gas mask.
The darkness was shrouding them but before long they reached their destination.
Levi almost gagged when he was walking through the space, who knows how long its been since this tunnel was cleaned?
A little light above them let them know that they were allowed out.
"This is where we part. Follow it exactly, I promise that you will find shelter" the young man nodded at them before retreating into a different tunnel in another direction.
Nobody followed the mysterious stranger, he seemed trustworthy and so far the man hadn't lead them astray.
Still Levi cringed when climbing up the dirt filled slime fest that was the underground ladder, all the way to climbing through the gutter that they had now opened up in the ground.
"What's the stupid map say then asshole?" Levi growled still unhappy about their decent from the gloomy passageway through the underground maze.
Erwin smirked knowingly at the short man who didn't seem to register his smugness and continued with his scowling.
The older blonde opened the map to reveal that they were now located outside the 'Rose wall district', this left them wondering just how far those tunnels took them in such a short amount of time, honestly they were astonished, the outer regions were not patrolled by the military police since it was out of their protection zone.
Nobody knew the area like the scouts or maybe someone did, the man was incredibly strange and left them all in a confused state about his intensions.
"We should get moving, he said that we can't be followed" Mikasa said calmly, she wanted to get to their destination quickly and without damage or injury.
Sasha nodded quickly and Connie sighed.
"Wait, I've never even seen this territory. Is it even real?" Hanji inquired looking helplessly at the maps coordinates.
Armin studied the paper before nodding his head and muttering calculations to himself.
"It's certainly possible that there is a hidden village in this location, that's probably where that guy was from and that's why he's sending us there" the blonde mushroom clarified before looking to Erwin.
Levi could see that the Commander was carefully evaluating their options in order to create a likely outcome.
When the man looked at Levi with blank eyes, he didn't know whether to scream or punch someone.
Maybe both.
"I will leave the decision to my fellow comrades, this must be your own choice because it seems like I am no longer your leader. We are not welcomed by the inner walls and therefore the legion doesn't exist. When you make this decision, it must be your own." Erwin concluded looking intensely at each surrounding individual.
His eyes lingered on Levi who had already made his decision, he was going to find out where that god damn map would lead them, mostly because he had a strange feeling that something better than treasure was hidden at the X.
Mikasa was the first to announce that she was following the coordinates along with Armin who wouldn't be allowed to leave her side anyway. It was clear that she was missing her daughter Kalora, but still she preserved on.
Levi noticed that Erwin was going to make his decision based on the smaller blonde anyway since they were married and automatically made his way over to the map corner.
Connie and Sasha debated to one another for a moment before saying that there would be nowhere they would rather go than with their friends.
Jean and Marco nodded at their friends before joining them.
Hanji and Moblit also stood by them.
All eyes turned to Levi, Krista and Ymir.
The two women looked at each other before shaking their heads. "We can't go with you into this fight im afraid. We have some business to discuss" Krista clarified before shooting them a blinding smile.
Everyone nodded in agreement and encouraging words shot out from amongst the group.
Levi didn't need too express his decision, one quick nod was all it took for them to guess the mans choice.
"The walk should be around three hours so I hope everyone isn't tired out already because god knows what we are going to find" Armin stated before following Erwin the direction that they were told to head.
Mikasa clutched the small blondes hand for comfort, they were completely inseparable since the disappearance and it helped Levi to feel at peace when they were both together. Who would have thought that Mikasa would be Levi's cousin?
Well sure they looked similar but then again he looked like anyone with raven hair.
The only quality that differentiated him from others were his stormy grey eyes that were apparently the same colour as a sharp piercing knife.
He glowered at the thought of people looking at him like that, all he wanted was a quiet life but sadly it seemed that he would never actually achieve such an incredible feat.
Levi wasn't exactly tired from the last encounter they had but still the tiredness that comes with age was setting on him.
He was emotionally drained by recent events and just wanted to sleep peacefully somewhere for a while.
Unfortunately for Levi the walk was a long and arduous journey that mostly consisted of the occasional meaningless banter and never ending complaining.
To say that Levi hated hiking was indeed an understatement, horses were one thing but 20 miles of continuous uphill trudging was just plain horrific. He had never wanted to strangle someone so much in his life and when considering this it was pretty damn impressive.
Why he decided to trust some random guy with a seemingly legitimate map of a previously unvisited location was completely beyond him?
Mikasa looked like she was going to collapse and Armin was already being dragged along by Erwin.
Hanji had actually lost energy and now looked like a walking corpse instead of an unnatural ball of over excitable weirdness.
"It took you long enough" a strange voice echoed from all around them, before Levi knew it he had his sword in hand and was ready to attack the stranger.