My Ally

I was terrified.

Now isn't that the joke of the century? Captain Levi - humanity's strongest, the most skilled soldier in the Scout Regiment, the man everyone looks up to aside from Commander Erwin - is terrified. If anyone said it out loud, it would probably cause a roar of laughter so loud, the military police inside the walls could hear it. Captain Levi . . . terrified . . .

Well, I am, especially looking in the ugly face of this cocky bastard. Eren Yeager: "humanity's last hope". He was enough trouble as a kid in the Scouts; a brat with an attitude (and shitty cleaning skills, might I add.) Having to babysit him practically 24/7, all the while keeping in mind he was also a titan and that, should the need arise, I'd kill him if I had to. I'd mentally prepared myself for that.

But here I am, practically shaking at exactly what I'd been mentally preparing myself for: Yeager's titan form. Had I not watched the transformation happen with my own eyes, I probably would have just seen him as another titan and cut him down right there. Even now, it was only sheer willpower that kept me from killing him on the spot.

I watched him. Studied him. Noted his behavior. He'd been battling titan after titan for the better part of an hour, taking down eight 15-Meter Classes almost as if they were nothing. But I still wondered, even though he was slaughtering the titans now, would he still come and turn on us when he was finished?

Every time I look at a titan, I instantly think of Farlan and Isabel. The rage I felt at seeing the titan responsible for killing them floods through me and fuels my will to fight, and looking at Yeager in his titan form didn't change that feeling in the slightest. But I had beaten it into my head that I had to refrain from killing him. This titan was an ally; only to be killed if he turned on us.

Despite that, however, I still found myself clutching at my weapons, fighting every instinct to keep myself from jumping in and killing Eren where he stood. While there were no other titans around, and still unable to let the brat out of my sight, I only watched as he pounced on a titan; another 15-Meter Class. He beat the living hell out of it with nothing but his bare hands. I could hear the rage in his howls and shrieks. Something was fueling this that was similar to the memories of my fallen friends. I'd seen it before back in the dungeons where we first met and plenty of times during Hange's experiments. To see that rage channeled into his fighting abilities was good, but I still had this doubt in my mind. Once he was done with that titan, I was next.

Before I knew it, Yeager's opponent was down. I gave a quick glance over my shoulder and the area around us, checking for any titans that might have picked up Eren's battle cries; an idiotic move. If there were any titans in this area, we would have been able to hear them coming. My grip on my swords tightened as I saw Eren turn his head and his eyes lock onto me.

Brat, I swear if you come after me, I won't hesitate to kill you!

Eren straightened himself and slowly approached me. Each step sent a massive tremor through the ground, which became more intense the closer he got. The shaking normally excited me; motivation to take down the next titan I encountered, but this was Eren. A comrade. I couldn't kill him unless he tried to kill me first.

Suddenly, Eren stopped. He was a good ten meters away from me, at least. For a long moment, all he did was stand there, glaring at me with those enormous green eyes.

Kid, if some kind of screw has come loose in your head . . .

I was on the verge of drawing my swords when Eren's hands slammed against the ground on either side of me, and I could have sword my heart jumped up into my throat. I was about to let myself go - prepared to slice this brat up and bring the report back to Erwin - when I suddenly realized that he wasn't attacking me.

Slowly, Eren lowered himself to my level (well, as close to my level as a 15-Meter Class titan can get.) His lower jaw was about a foot from resting on the ground and he was practically within arm's reach of me. He had this look on his face that I knew all too well. The moment before I gave an instruction, whenever I asked for his attention, and even the times when I put him in charge of cleaning a certain room; it was the exact same look.

He was awaiting my orders.

I managed my way up onto his shoulders, drawing my swords preparing myself to cut Eren out of his titan form, when I got a good look around at exactly what I was doing. I was already up on this titan's shoulders. Getting back to base meant using the 3DM gear, which was fine, but I couldn't help but think of the faces that everyone else would pull if I actually returned to base with Eren in his titan form. I can only imagine how Hange would react. I trust Eren knew his way back to base, and it would save a shit ton of gas from our gear; more so from me, since cutting Eren out would likely leave him comatose, leaving me to carry him back. So long as he's not a threat to everyone else, why would it matter?

"This will work," I finally said.

Eren glanced over to me. I twisted a small lock of his hair around my wrist as he slowly stood up to keep myself from flying off.

"Good work today, Yeager. Let's head back to base, now."