Chapter One
Petra Ral walked through the hallway, looking through the rooms as if Levi-heichō could be hiding behind them. The captain had not come down to breakfast today – not that he usually did. It was known in the squad that Levi-heichō had a small morning meal in his office as he did his paperwork. However, he always appeared at eight o'clock sharp. He didn't today. The squad, even Oluo began to feel a sense of unease when Levi-heichō didn't appear an half an hour later.
"Something is wrong," Gunter had said with a frown. "I looked outside the training grounds, but didn't find him." The soldier crossed his arms across his chest.
"He couldn't be in his office," Petra added. Her unease started to grow as the minutes started to tick by. She knew Levi-heichō, and his habits. He wouldn't abandon the squad for the sake of paperwork. He always complains that Erwin-danchō sneaks his paperwork into his pile. Petra stifled a laugh at the memory. "It wouldn't be like him to sleep in either."
"I am too strong for sleep, for I am humanity's last hope." Oluo stated despite the annoyance in Petra's eyes and the exasperation in the others'. "I must watch and wait and protect my flock."
"Unlike you, Levi-heichō doesn't have a conceited ego," Petra stated as Oluo gasped in mock horror. "He knows that sleep is necessary for a soldier." Unlike most of us, she thought. How many times had she woken up from a nightmare, perspiration coating her skin, and unable to fall back to oblivion? Too many times to count.
"Enough, you two." Eld said before the two of them could fight. "Finding Heichō is of most importance. The rest of you will come with me to look at the ground again. Petra, continue looking in the castle*." Speaking quietly to himself, he whispered, "Maybe Heichō is still asleep."
Petra continued to look though the hallway and the doors, finding nothing. Could he be sick? That had been the only time when Levi-heichō hadn't arrived on time. Petra had been new to Special Operations Squad at that time, and she had been the one to find him in his bed, burning with fever. She had been the one who had to take care of him for a week, and that was first time she realized that he wasn't just Humanity's Strongest Soldier. He was human, just like her. "Goddamn it," she remembered him rasping as she put a cool washcloth on his forehead. "I'm… never…sick." Petra hadn't remembered what she had said to him, but she knew that was the moment she had fallen for Levi-heichō. Petra stood in front of the doorway now, uncertain is she should knock or not. Somehow Levi-heichō knew it was her without Petra even saying a word. "You're fucking quiet, unlike every other soldier I've come across," he said when she asked him about it. Petra didn't know is she should take it as a compliment or not until he lightly kissed her cheek. That had been their first unofficial kiss, and Petra's face warmed at the memory.
"Levi-heichō?" she whispered when she opened the door. In the dark outline of the room, there wasn't much to see. There was a small desk at the left side of the room, and a modest closet beside it. A small bed was in the center. Petra quietly stepped closer, reaching out for the curtain that blinded the sun that she had seen this morning. "Levi-heichō?" Normally Petra would see his sleeping face, but Levi-heichō was nowhere to be found. There was a small lump hidden beneath the covers. Levi isn't this small, Petra thought in confusion. This body looks like it belongs to a child.
Carefully, Petra removed the covers. A child was under the covers. A very small child at that. Petra hadn't even been that small. Dark hair was on the child's head, bangs covering most its forehead, and the entire body was swallowed by the clothes it had on. Petra gasped when she recognized the white sleepwear. Did Levi…turn into a child? The dark hair was a sign, and the child was small. Suddenly the child opened its eyes. There was no mistake. Big gray eyes, blinking sleep, stared back at her as Petra tried to say something.
Then child started screaming.
* I have no idea where the Special Operations Squad's Headquarters is located, so I used the castle seen in episode fifteen when Eren first meet the Special Operations Squad. The place is spotlessly clean, unlike in the anime. Also as another note, this chapter is just the introduction!