To be a cat
A/N: ~because I'm cats and Levi obsessed.
Also, I'd like to apologize in advance for any possible mistakes. English is not my first language, but I did my best to write correctly. Hope it's readable ;)
That day started like many before. Levi woke up before the time set by the officers and sat on his bed by the window to watch the sunrise. After spending more than a half of his life underground he considered such view to be a small miracle. No amount of survived expeditions outside the Walls could stop him from wondering if these sunrays looming above the high borders of their little prison wouldn't be the last ones he would see in his life. Because it would undoubtedly be the last sunrise for a huge part of the Survey Corps. Those inexperienced newbies had no chances to come back alive. They couldn't afford the luxury of ending the full training. The number of members in the Survey Corps always tended to decrease faster than new fools were found to take place of their dead comrades.
That was why now Levi could hear the anxious voices of the newest soldiers making usual morning noise in the shanties below, worrying about literally everything. From the influence of sleepless night on their reflex to the terrible taste of the food, they'd be served during the expedition. Justified concerns.
Levi stretched and yawned widely. Time to kick some titanic asses. But first breakfast. He was just about to leave the modest room and head to the canteen downstairs when suddenly loud knocking on the door reached his ears. The thin wood shook under the fierce banging, someone called his name.
"Levi! Help Hanji to…" before Erwin ended the sentence he opened the door without waiting for Levi's permission. Levi hissed shortly. Walking into his room without invitation? There were some limits of bad manners, even in the military. Erwin developed an irritating habit of snooping into his life and turning his world upside down. From the very first day they met until now.
Maybe he would be more irritated by the commander's lack of manners if it wasn't for the fact that the blond seemed awkwardly tall compared to when Levi saw him for the last time. What was going on here?
"Captain Levi!" the commander started, but then his sight landed on the bed. He raised his eyebrow. "I've never suspected that our cold-hearted captain would break the statute in such way."
"In such a cute and innocent way!" Hanji appeared by Erwin's side and now both of them were awkwardly staring at him.
So it was true. Levi felt constantly monitored. Apparently despite a month of intense duty huge part of the Survey Corps still expected him to blow off their quarters in revenge one day.
But what the hell meant that comment about 'cute' way?
Then he saw his reflection in Hanji's glasses. Or, to be more accurate, a reflection of a black cat with a white neckerchief sitting on the bed in a puddle of sunshine with wide opened dull blue eyes.
"Haven't you told him that keeping animals in rooms is forbidden? Or you've never considered it worth mentioning?" Hanji guessed as she drew closer. "Hello, it's nice to meet you, Mr. Cat. Or maybe Ms. Cat?"
Levi hissed and hit Hanji's hand with his paw with a set of sharp claws, preventing her from checking her theory. He held his tail close to himself.
"Oh, how naughty!" she laughed. In comparison to Erwin, who seemed immune to natural feline charm. "Can we keep it?"
"Enough. I'm not going to tolerate it anymore. We're leaving soon, the half-wild cat is the last thing I want to deal with today." And without further consideration he grabbed squirming and struggling ball of fur and walked through the corridors to the front door, almost losing his arm in the process. In exchange for all the bloody scratches, Levi was indelicately thrown away outside.
The cat snarled when his body hit the cobblestone path. The headquarters' door slammed behind Erwin and Levi didn't even bothered to stop him. He couldn't find the right words to defend himself or explain the situation. Well, actually, he couldn't find words at all. Besides the meowing and purring repertoire plus limited body language. Definitely too little to explain his current situation to the commanders.
The cat growled in irritation. He couldn't even find a reasonable explanation for himself! Yes, they lived in a world where there are huge human-eating creatures, the entire human population lives inside three Walls and is ruled by a king, but turning into a cat overnight was still a high-fantasy thing. A thing that should have never happened. But… There was a handful of things in his life that should have never taken place. Like his mother's death. Farlan and Isabel's last moments.
If he'd managed those, he'd also cope with a bit more of fur, four legs, and tail.
Maybe his appearance had changed, but his mindset stayed the same. First things first, cleanliness. By no means could he walk around so dirty – the neckerchief was in the dusty brown shade and the black fur was spotted by sand grains, which gave an ugly impression of dandruff. Unacceptable.
About half an hour later came time for breakfast – there were far too many mice and rats around, despite Levi's hardest tries to keep his surroundings clean back when he was human.
On the other hand, at least now he had something to eat. Hunting wasn't very difficult, though required different attitude than killing titans. This time the victim was escaping and hiding instead of fighting with him.
Three mice, bird, and two flies. That should be enough to provide him energy to actively participate in today's expedition. He simply couldn't let his companions go alone when his presence would not disturb them and also might turn out to be helpful. The fact that now he was a cat, for heaven knows how long, didn't mean he was going to change his life's goal.
Joining the expedition, unfortunately, turned out to be a very demanding fight itself.
Firstly, he jumped off a stable windowsill planning to land on Hanji's horse's, hoping that the woman would be either too busy to notice him or too impressed by his 'cuteness' to leave him, when suddenly his paws slipped and instead of firm leather saddle he felt something soft under his paws. The piles of fabric stunk like festered meat.
Without the ability to see the full range of colors it was hard for him to recognize the emblem of famous wings of freedom on the jackets of dead soldiers. In times like those, where every square centimeter of fabric was priceless, they collected as much of those from dead or wounded soldiers as they could, in order to reuse them in the future to sew new uniforms. Among many, there was one jacket with ripped off sleeve and one was a sleeve only.
He didn't want to see more.
The second try was half of a success. He found himself on a horse, thanking his lucky stars that the Survey Corps' horses were so well trained that his sudden appearance on the animal's back didn't result in immediate panic. The problem appeared when one of the soldiers – Levi couldn't recall his name - noticed him and banished from the saddle. Receiving a deep wound on a cheek in return.
Then, the cat was almost trampled by the first line of leaving soldiers and their horses.
Finally, desperately, understanding that it was now or never, he jumped onto the first animal he saw and hid in the saddlebags.
When he heard that loud rapping of horses' hooves on the cobblestone roads of the town changed into softer, he glanced out and found himself on a grassy plain outside the Walls, just as he planned.
The only thing that went wrong was the fact that he ended up only centimeters from Erwin. Life was rough on him. No doubt.
Levi stayed hidden between the colorful signal flares the for the next part of the journey to avoid detection and its unpleasant consequences. Erwin wasn't nice to those who broke his orders. Throwing away from the headquarters meant to stay away until said differently.
And then, suddenly the serene silence was broken. Cat's ears detected the heavy stamping of three… No, four, at least four Titans. The air had already been vibrating in warning…
It was a quick decision. The cat announced the upcoming danger when he stuck his black head out of the bags with a loud meow.
Erwin jumped in surprise and grabbed tightly his horse's mane to prevent himself from close meeting with the ground.
'Calm down, I don't want to kill you. But the Titans want!' Levi tried to say. For obvious reasons, Erwin didn't get the message hidden in between Levi's meows.
Finally, the man figured out the source of cat's panic and carefully glanced in the direction pet's ears were twitching. Levi watched carefully man's lips tightened into a thin line and his furrowed eyebrows. The cat let out a quiet gasp of relief when Erwin took out a signal flare and shot it into the sky.
Although the formation obediently followed the order and turned right, successfully avoiding close interaction with the Titans, the danger wasn't over. As during every expedition outside the Walls, the constant risk and uncertainty hung in the air below the endless blue sky. The soldiers breathed in that concern together with the overwhelming freedom of wide open spaces, which gave them all a perfect balance between ecstatic feeling that the world belongs to them and the breathtaking fear of death.
It wasn't ten minutes when Levi heard the titans coming again. Though this time there were more of them approaching from several different directions. There was no way soldiers could escape them without a fight.
The first signal flares crossed the blue sky. The strong wind dissipated the colorful smoke all around the grassy landscape, closing the formation in a red cloud. From the left came to their ears piercing yell announcing Titans' attack.
In that case, Levi was done with waiting. He jumped belligerently in the middle of a fight. It was too easy, really. Titans didn't pay the slightest attention to the small black cat running like a lightning through the battlefield.
The mindless gigantic monsters didn't even bother when Levi dug his claws into their flesh and started to climb to the weak spot on the neck. Titans treated him like every other animal, they just seemed not to notice his actions at all. Thanks to that Levi could fully focus on not being stepped on or shook off from the moving titan. The rest of his job was as easy as pie.
Levi was amused by the set of newly gained weapon. Short little blades, five in each front paw, for four in back paws, and a mouth full of sharp teeth adapted to ripping flesh. Just purrfect.
He clung closer to the titan when the monster fell down like a marionette with cut lines, because of a deep hole, which the cat had just dug in his neck.
Back on the solid ground, Levi looked around to find his next target. His eyes widened and legs moved before he fully realized what was happening. No way, humanity was going to need that particular blond commander a little more in the future, Levi strongly believed that. He wouldn't let anyone eat Erwin Smith while he was around.
The Titan's skin and blood were flying around him as Levi was violently climbing on the opponent. 'Faster, faster!' he rushed in his thoughts while biting into monster's neck. It tasted awful, but all he could think about was the blond on the horse facing another Titan and unaware of the attack from behind.
The monster Levi was fighting with had already started to bend to catch Erwin and swallow the man whole when with last final strike of the clawed paw cat ended its life. The huge creature suddenly lost all its vital energy as if it magically evaporated through the wound.
Erwin watched in complete surprise how only a few meters from him fell a Titan with a cat on its back standing there silently like a god of death, who suddenly decided to save him. Like an adamant conqueror, but instead of new land, there was a dead Titan under his feet. Paws. Feet or paws, whatever. That cat saved his life. Erwin grabbed the dirty furry ball and ordered a retreat.
They couldn't afford to lose more people if they wanted to have enough soldiers to form a future army or get permission for next expeditions.
Because this one was a fucking disaster. Again. They lost too many people to continue successfully.
After his brave action, Levi was promoted very quickly. Cat or man, it seemed that he was created to kill titans. Thanks to that he was sitting now in Erwin's room. The relatively small space was sufficiently clean and modestly arranged. Bed, wardrobe, desk – basic stuff.
Levi suspiciously smelled the fish served him by Erwin. Tuna. Not bad.
But there was a far sweeter smell coming from the desk revealing the goodies hidden behind the piles of documents. He couldn't help but lick his lips at the vision of delicious cookies with milky cream.
"Don't you even think about it. These are mine." Erwin pointed out following cat's gaze. The man sat behind the desk as if to protect the cookies, took one and chewed it for a while.
Levi announced his disapproval with short sharp 'meow'. He deserved one, didn't he? If he was really stuck in this body for the rest of his days, he'd have to find a way to fight for what was his. In this case, humans seemed to be worse enemies than titans.
"Remember to stay quiet when I'm in the meeting. And stop staring at the cookies, it's still not sure I let you stay here for long. These are orders. Get it?" Erwin said in an emotionless official tone. Then he rubbed his eyes and sighed. "Why am I actually talking to a cat?"
The man seemed pretty embarrassed and tired, unsure how to behave in cat's presence. Most of his days he spent alone with his work. And there was something disturbing in pet's eyes as if it understood what he was talking about and judged him. Was he slowly getting crazy? This stressful life would bring him to grave faster than all the Titans. Governmental intrigues, disobedience of soldiers, now sudden Levi's missing. Maybe a therapeutic talk was exactly what he needed right now?
"You see, life is sometimes more complicated than 'how to get cookies' issues." He started to play with one of the cookies, avoiding cat's gaze. "One of our best soldiers is missing, I don't know how we're going to handle such loss. The king cut costs for the Survey Corps' missions." He laughed noticing how the cat moved his ears as if it didn't want to lose a single word. "Sometimes I wish I was a cat. It must be nice, to sunbath for most of the day."
That unexpected statement reminded Levi of the last evening when he'd still been a human. He'd said something oddly familiar when he'd been throwing scraps of his dinner to a small kitten outside, but forgot about that nuance due to all the surprises today had brought.
Interesting coincidence.
The intense smell of cookies filled the room again.
"Well. It's time for me." Erwin announced when he signed on the last piece of paper. He smoothened his jacket and threw crumbs off to the floor. Levi stiffened, offended. And then noticed a small detail that made him roll his eyes.
The man might have irritated him, but with all the respect and dedication towards the commander Levi couldn't let him ruin his carrier and the future of the Survey Corps and what came along that – future of the entire humanity.
He couldn't let Erwin Smith go to the meeting with the corners of his lips dirty with creamy cookies.
In an act of desperation, he jumped on the desk and started to wash himself furiously, trying to communicate the problem. Unfortunately, the man might have been an extraordinarily good commander but had too little imagination to understand the message.
Before the man could get up and Levi would lose his last chance, the cat rested his paws on Erwin's chest and licked the cream from the corners of his lips. It lasted only seconds, but Levi could swear it was the most deadly thing he'd ever done in his entire life.
His heart beat like crazy as he waited for a reaction. Would he have to fight to protect himself from being thrown through the window? They were on the second floor… But to his great surprise, nothing like that happened. The blond only looked around to make sure they were alone and patted the cat on the head.
"Hanji was right, you are cute." He mumbled as if it was supposed to be their little secret. "I'm wondering if Levi would like you when I finally find that bastard. You have similar characters, I think you'll get along pretty well."
Levi was in too much shock to do anything more than just blandly stare at his commander.
Erwin had a sensitive side. That was something new. Interesting.
What was even more disturbing, Erwin thought that he also had a soft side.
Good that cats couldn't blush.
The commander returned from the meeting late at night, threw himself on the bed, and immediately fell asleep. The cat, which was quietly snoring on the middle of the pillow, avoided squishing only thanks to his keen feline senses.
He'd always known that he was the strongest soldier, but now his physical abilities were incomparably more impressive. Even the freezing wind felt much more intense than ever before.
Yeah, Erwin had forgotten to close the window. Maybe that man would one day save humanity, but who would save him?
As the night was cold, Levi tried to wake up the man, but no wet nose kisses on his cheeks and no paw punching could give the result.
Finally, Levi gave up and simply lied down on man's chest. The emotions of the day had made him fall asleep before he figured out what was that weird feeling in his stomach, which haunted him all the evening – like he swallowed a bunch of butterflies.
The very first thing Levi saw after he'd opened his eyes the next morning was a tawny cat rolled-up at his side, still deeply asleep and unaware of the situation. The black-haired man carefully drowned his fingers in light velvet fur and gave out a short laugh when icy blue eyes opened wide in a realization that something was wrong. Veeery wrong.