His eyes widened in the slightest as his sharp blade sliced through… through something. The resistance this something withheld against the blade was stronger than just flesh, this thought frightened the Corporal. He knew very well who crashed right into him during their 3DMG training, he also knew that his blades had managed to slice into this person.
There was a sharp cry upon impact, he heard three bodies hit the floor that was once below them. One of them was his own. The other two were…
As the Corporal stood, he quickly brushed himself off. There was blood on his swords, on his pants and jacket. He was splattered in the warm crimson liquid. His blades had cut a newbie Corps recruit, his instincts from what seemed like long ago kicked in when they crashed.
And it caused Captain Levi to slice the most important boy in the damn Corps.
As the man approached, his boots squelched in the mass of blood. He wasn't even next to the body, no he was a foot away and yet his boots were soaked already. Levi could go no further.
"Captain! We saw you crash, you-" Just as soon as Petra's worried voice sounded through the air, it halted, just as her body did. She was still, tense, eyes wide and fingers shaking. "Captain…,"
And along came the rest of his squad, all reactions were the same, they all became pale.
"Petra, Auruo. Go, quickly alert the Commander," Although his voice was smooth and even as ever, internally the captain felt sick. What had he done to this boy, this boy who was lying in two on the floor. His torso being cut from his hips and legs, upper body rested so that the boy's face was tilted up, eyes still wide, but drained. The lower half wasn't looking too swell either.
"Gunther, Erd. Take off your cloaks," He ordered sternly, brows furrowed as he tried to remain passive. Of course, the two men did as their Captain had ordered, and seeing where he was going with this, they tried to wrap both open wounded ends of Eren's body(s) up, to minimize the blood loss. Hah, like that would save this boy now.
As Levi suspected, Eren was gone completely long before Erwin had arrived, with Hanji and the Corps' medic. They all deemed Eren a lost cause. And although he never voiced anything, Levi could see the disappointment and resentment in those damned blue eyes Erwin had.
There went Humanity's last hope, dead at the hands of Humanity's strongest soldier.
Levi could see the news headings already.
XxX
A few days had passed slowly, as if his week was a drop of molasses. He still tasted the resentment on his tongue from the first day.
When the news hit the Corps, there was an eerie silence, a silence that sent chills down Levi's spine.
The silence only lasted a few minutes before Armin started weeping alongside Mikasa. They wept for their brother and friend, everyone silently wept.
After the tears were dry, Mikasa went after Levi. She had no mercy. "I shall kill you, you killed my brother," She had said through gritted teeth. But she never managed more than a slice to Levi's forehead.
The second day, the Corps was a ghost town. They had the day off, so people either were off in the thicket of trees, or in their rooms. Everyone was silent, no one was at peace. Until now they had not realized how much of an impact Eren was on their lives. Levi saw this, and he felt this, no matter how much whiskey he downed. He managed to finish their supply by the end of the week.
On the eighth day, Levi was out training. For what, he didn't know. Their last hope was gone, everyone's hope in humanity was gone. But Levi kept training out in the blazing sun all on his lonesome.
"Captain?" It was the Goddess's playing with him, Levi concluded when he heard that annoyingly familiar voice of his favourite brat. Maybe had too much whiskey the night previous, he was hallucinating seeing that kid, now, too. "Heichou? Where is everyone? Hey Captain, can you hear me? Come on, I'm so confused…,"
That got his attention easily. The Captain stopped his exercises and fully took in the boy, the tall boy, before him. It looked like Eren, was tall as shit like Eren (to him, at least). How could this be?
The Captain was about to respond, but he heard a low gurgle like growl, a roar that sounded humanly despite it also not sounding humanly at all. He didn't have his blades on him, so swiftly he pulled the boy behind him, for safety since he already lost him once, and his eyes narrowed into slits. "Captain what is that," Eren whispered obliviously as something dashed in their direction.
As it got closer, this something began to look a lot like…. Eren.
"Another one… what the fuck is going on..," The Captain muttered in obvious confusion, before he spoke loud enough for the Eren behind him to hear. "Oi, shithead, get inside now. wait for me behind the entrance door," And he was glad at how obedient Eren was being, the boy ran off to the entrance of the Survey Corps headquarters without having to be threatened, or told twice.
Once Eren was gone, this other… thing was on him. It knocked the Corporal over harshly onto his back and growled in his face, salavitated in his hair and on his cheeks, the boys teeth snapping and clenching in his face. He acted like an animal; as a titan. He was out of control, so Levi had no choice but to grab one of the boy's arm that seemed to be inching closer to his neck, and he snapped it. The bone cracked loudly, but the boy's pained howl was loud enough to bring Hanji out of the building. "Levi! I just saw Eren at the front- what was that sound? What is this!" The crazy eyed scientist was all over the place with their speak, gasping harshly between each question in confusion and excitement. "Another Eren!? How exciting! Let's bring him in Levi, let me take a look at them!"
There was no stopping Hanji. Not that Levi wanted too, he as well wanted to know what the hell was going on. Two of the same person was not regular, especially two of the same person who had previously died, and acted like polar opposites.
Over the days after these two Eren's showed up, they were forced to keep the one they labelled "Rogue Eren" chained up in Eren's cell.
This Eren didn't seem to eat, at all. No matter what they tried feeding him, the only thing he snapped his jaws at was Hanji when they got too close during feeding time. Which was noted, by Hanji themself.
This Eren also seemed to wilt and lose energy the longer he was away from the sun, so Levi was forced to drag the bastard outside once every day so he wouldn't die or some shit Levi didn't want to bother with.
So Rogue Eren didn't eat, but needed the sun. He acted very much like a titan.
On the other hand, the first Eren, which they named "Peaceful Eren", acted like a regular boy. He complained when he was hungry, liked to sleep the night away in complete peace, and he did not heal like a titan..
But he was quite personless and boring, never having his own opinions or voice.
It was all freaky, to everyone in the Corps. No one was allowed to interact with either Eren alone, other than Hanji and Levi, as well as Commander Erwin, they all could handle themselves and be trusted.
"Aha! I've figured it out!" Hanji exclaimed during a quiet and civil meeting over cups of tea. It wasn't enough to have Levi jump, but he felt his heart leap in surprise. What a shit head Hanji was.
"Figured what out, shithead?" He really wasn't original with teasing names, not that the Captain really cared. So long as the insult was in the air, no matter what it was, it satisfied him.
"The samples of hair and swabs of saliva I took from Rogue and Peaceful, they're exactly identical!" The squad Leader was squawking out this news as if they hadn't already established this the day previous, had their brain shut down or something?
"You said that yesterday so stop screaming about it," The Captain grumbled in annoyance, feeling his head begin to throb as he took a sip of his warm tea. He wished so hard for this whole conundrum to be sorted out soon, otherwise his head would suffer intense migraines.
"Levi you grump, get excited, I've figured it out!" Hanji was up on their feet, the light from the window catching their lenses in an uncomfortably creepy manner.
Though, it didn't seem to bother the other occupant of this room; Commander Erwin Smith, who was sipping away at his own tea in thought. "Go ahead Hanji," The Commander permitted once his china glass was back on the table before them. "What exactly have you figured out?"
"See, I've been thinking about it. Levi managed to slice the original Eren clean in half, and seeing how his titan abilities permits him to heal at an incredible rate, I assume that instead of coming together, his torso and legs grew back separately; thus creating two identical beings. The interesting part here though, is that Rogue and Peaceful act like polar opposites; One acts of a titan; aggressive, uncomfortable. Yet the other acts like a passive boy; calm, a pushover.. So I'd like to assume that each Eren took part of the first Eren's abilities of knowledge and physicality. It makes perfect sense, if you think about it,"
And think about it, they did. The room fell under a thick silence, the only sound being Hanji's chair screeching when they sat back down after the excitement wore off.
"How the hell do we fix this," Levi simply asked after minutes of heavy silence. It was what everyone in the room was thinking, too.
"I… have no clue," Hanji was useless.
"I suppose we'll find out," Erwin had no plan.
XxX
He had no backbone, Levi decided. Peaceful never spoke his mind, always agreed to whatever someone else said. He never had his own opinions. When confronted about this, the boy bowed his head and let out an endless stream of apologies. "Lift your head up you idiot and why don't you backup your statement," The Captain had just returned from afternoon tea, and usually he was in quite the good mood after a nice cup of freshly brewed tea leaves, but today he was not
Ever since Rogue and Peaceful came about, Levi had constant headaches. He had to babysit two brats now, and it was due to his own mistake. He was rueing the day it all happened, his blasted reflexes really fucked him over this time.
"Yes sir..," Peaceful whimpered out. Yes, he fucking whimpered. Like a child being scolded. How old even was this brat, honestly..
"So?" The Captain really wasn't very patient.
"I just thought you were right sir, because you're always right, I trust your opinion so I agreed," What a kiss ass response. Levi crossed his arms and let out a silent huff.
"You do realize I called you an idiotic child and you agreed. You shitting are ridiculously stupid," Levi's eyes watched as Peaceful's shoulders slumped forwards in shame.
"You're right sir..,"
"Oi, stop agreeing with me you piece of trash,"
"Sorry sir,"
"Fucking brat..,"
"Sorry...,"
Levi ended up giving Peaceful a black eye with his frustrations, and decided to change the boy's name to Brat
XxX
It was an unspoken rule: never allow Rogue and Brat to interact. Wherever Rogue was, Brat was not. There was no specific reason unto why, it was just a rule the Corps had taken on.
That is, until the very curious Rogue managed to escape from Levi during one afternoon sun lounging.
The Captain cursed himself, how many damn mistakes was he to make? Of course he shouldn't have let that idiot Rogue sit out in the sun without being restrained. But he had let the boy off easy and had him just lay in the grass. He looked so at peace, Levi didn't even think that he could escape in the brief time he glanced away to polish his weapons.
But he had.
"That son of a bitch,"
He was fuming, maybe not externally but on the inside the Captain really tasted the need to snap a neck. Now he'd have to find that stupid fucker and not clean his quarters as he planned on doing before. Rogue would never get outdoors time again, that was the harsh final decision Levi made.
"What the shit..,"
It really didn't take Levi too long to find Rogue. He found the boy with Brat.
