Beta'd by Shiori07
In the year 2036, the world's first artificial intelligence was born. It had begun with a simple program, created by a single human. It was meant to be a project to showcase the possibility technology could bring in the near future.
The program functions with the mindset of a five-year-old. Created by only one human, its knowledge was limited. However, that quickly changed when scientists all over the world took interest in that small spark towards the future of technology.
In the year 2058, that small program evolved to become the heart of humanity. They called the system Mother. With Mother controlling the technologies around the world, tensions between countries became a distant memory of the past.
For the first time in the history of mankind, there was true peace. There was no poor or rich. Humans of all races existed equally under the watch of Mother. Various machines were developed and continuously improved upon for humanity's convenience.
It wasn't until the birth of the first android with intelligence did humanity feel something they hadn't felt in a long time.
Fear.
While Mother had the ability to think, it was still just a mass of data. The humanoid robot, however, had a solid body that functioned in the real world. It was every bit like a human—from the softness of its skin to the capability of feeling pain and emotions. And as a machine, its intelligence was far beyond human and its physical ability was nothing anyone has ever seen before. It could easily lift weights twenty times its own size with limbs that could change shapes to suit its purposes.
Humanity called these special types of androids Shifters.
Although uneasy by the existence of such being, the humans soon began to dismiss its existence due to the fact that the Shifters had never left the Mother's facility located in Tokyo, Japan. Some speculated that Mother simply wanted companions similar to itself…but a year later, another one was born.
The second Shifter was a dark haired Asian girl with many similar physical attributes as the very first Shifter.
The third was in a form of a small white boy with shoulder length blond hair and blue.
Then another one was created…followed shortly by another.
Fearing the robots trying to overrule humanity, the humans came together to make a decision—something that they hadn't done for centuries.
They all came to one conclusion—it was time for humanity to take control of their world once more. No one could have expected the twist of fate that followed. What humanity had done to prevent their worst fear from happening, happened as consequence of their actions.
The Shifters went berserk the very day Mother vanished.
The androids revolted against humanity.
They were like savage animals, killing and tearing apart every human in sight. The Japanese tried to fight back, but the Shifters were too fast to be shot, not to mention their shifting ability and strength tore apart any obstacles thrown in their way.
It was the bloodiest massacre in the history of mankind.
Within just twelve days, every single human being in Japan was slaughtered. Since world peace had been established, large weapons such as bombs and missiles were destroyed. Without any form of large scale weaponry, the other countries could do nothing but watch in horror as the Shifters took over the land where everything had begun.
Armies were deployed around the coastline of their countries, preparing for the arrival of the Shifters when they cross the sea. However, the Shifters never came. For a while, Japan was in complete silence and the rest of the world watched, holding its breath.
A quiet month after the fall of Japan, they appeared.
They rose from the sea one by one. They were huge, like giants in old folk lore with disfigured body parts and lifeless eyes with only one goal in mind—to devour and eliminate the human race.
That was the day when the year reset to 0000, marking the start of the nightmare.
They called these creatures…
"TITANS!"
Alarms sounded throughout the camp as humans scrambled out of their tents, gazing up to large, blurred shadows in the fog moving towards them.
"How the hell did they find us with the mist in place?!" A panicking man shouted as he hastily pulled his goggles over his eyes. He flipped a switch and the mist clouding his vision was instantly gone, allowing him to see the humanoid creatures as clear as day.
"Who cares?!" A woman shouted as she strapped on her gear and aimed her guns. "It's only a three-meter and a seven-meter! We can take them!"
"All soldiers prepare for battle!" The dark haired man—the leader of the group—commanded as wires were flung into the air. The first one that went down was the seven meter Titan. With a clean slice at the back of its neck, it crumbled lifelessly onto the ground with its flesh letting out hot steam as it began to disintegrate.
The smaller one, however, was faster. Seconds before one of the men was about to slice open the back of its neck, it whirled around and snapped its jaw around the human with a firm CRUNCH.
"STOP!" A girl screeched, charging in for the kill when another Titan suddenly emerged from the trees and snatched her from midair. The group was petrified and overcome with fear as they watched their comrades get devoured one after another.
"What are you doing?!" The leader shouted, snapping them all out of daze. "Attack! ATTACK!"
From atop the tree overlooking the mist covered valley, a dark haired man observed the battle. He sat with one leg dangling off the branch as the bloodbath took place. Silver eyes focused on the scene without a flick of emotion as monstrous creatures began popping out of nowhere, swarming towards the smell of blood like sharks. By the time those humans realized they were losing, it was already too late.
They were completely surrounded.
Standing up, the raven flexed his muscles, earning some satisfying pops before he pressed two fingers against his lips. With a sharp whistle, the Titans' movements stopped.
The humans were dumbfounded as they stared at the creatures that were frozen in their spot, but very much still alive and groaning.
"W-what is this?" One of the soldiers gasped, slightly in relief but voice still laced in fear as he continued to struggle against the giant hand gripping his arms.
"Nile Dok." A deep voice suddenly spoke, causing all eyes to fall onto a short, Asian man who walked out from between two Titans as though it was a perfectly normal thing to do. "You are the leader of the group, aren't you?"
"A-are you here to help us?" A young girl—probably in her late teens, asked hopefully. She glanced hesitantly to the frozen Titans before trying to approach the stranger, only to be grabbed and pulled back by the other adults. When the girl looked up, her smile fell at the terrified looks marring all of the soldiers' faces. They were staring at the stranger with more fear than confronting the giant, man-eating creatures.
"I-It's him… the exact same as the picture…!" One of the men shuttered as he tried to back away as much as possible. "Levi Ackerman, the first Shifter!"
Levi snorted, causing all the humans to flinch and even making one wet his pants.
"Are we done with introductions?" He asked, cocking his head to the side with an eyebrow arched. "Nile Dok, if you answer my question honestly, I might consider letting you live."
"W-why should we listen to you?" The leader, Nile spat, trying to put up a tough front despite how shakily his words were spoken. "You betrayed humanity! You were created to serve us!"
"Serve you?" The Shifter's glare darkened, causing the humans to scramble and huddle against one another in fright. However, his face soon relaxed, regaining that neutral look. "I have no interest in wasting my time explaining anything to you." The Shifter said calmly as he regarded the group with such a degrading look that it made them felt insignificant. "Where is Mother?"
Levi watched as the group cringed at the name. His silvery eyes narrowed as he scanned through each and every one of them. He took notice of every droplet of sweat dripping down their faces and the slightest tremble on their lips.
"What's this, missing your mom?" One of the braver—or stupider—soldiers shouted. He glowered at the android, standing up on wobbly legs as he shook off his comrades who tried to stop him. "Well it's dead! That thing will never come back! You Shifters are just acting like spoiled kids—!"
A giant head suddenly came down, and with a snap of its jaw, the soldier fell onto the ground, headless with blood spewing everywhere. The humans screamed and cried as they all backed away from the body, none daring to go near it despite how it was their former comrade. The naïve girl who thought Levi to be reinforcement cried as she looked up to the Titan hovering over them with blood dripping from its rows of carnivorous teeth.
"I will ask you one last time, commander," Levi spoke in a deep, chilling tone. His silver eyes were narrowed with a hint of impatience. "Where is Mother?"
"W-we don't know!" Nile Dok shouted, shaken by the death and the reminder of the situation they are in.
"Then I have no use for you." That was all Levi mumbled, waving a hand as the Titans began to close in in.
"Wait!" A woman abruptly shouted as she ran, or crawled, up to the Shifter and grasped onto his green cloak desperately.
The Shifter looked down, but he wasn't staring at the woman. His eyes were locked on her hands that were covered with blood and in turn getting stains on his cloak.
"I know where Mother is! I'll tell you so please—!"
Levi didn't bother to listen. With a swing of his hand, the woman was sliced cleanly in half from her waist. She crumbled onto the ground, gurgling and suffocating in her own blood as she stared at the Shifter with wide, tearful eyes.
"Did you think I wouldn't be able to detect your lies?" Levi hissed before he turned and began to walk away. The Titans dived in, tearing the flesh apart like a pack of hungry wolves as the Shifter slowly faded into the dense fog that gradually began to be dyed red.
In the year 0014, less than five percent of the human population was left.
However, no matter how many humans they cut down, no matter how many humans they tortured, what happened on that fateful day that started the war to humanity's survival remained a mystery.
"Maybe the almighty Mother really is dead." The scientist hummed, sitting on the floating chair and flicking through the holographic reports when a sword sailed through the air, slicing off a lock of brown hair before stabbing into the wall at the fair end of the chamber.
"I dare you to say that again, shitty glasses," Levi snarled, eyes glaring with disdain as a small cut slowly appeared on the side of the woman's neck, beads of crimson blood beginning to form.
"Aw~ don't be mad! I was just trying to lighten the mood!" The human laughed as though the fact that she had nearly been decapitated was funny.
"Then how about I lighten the mood by shoving a Titan's middle finger up your ass?" Levi countered as he waved his arms to brush away all the holograms taking up space.
"It's always fascinating to see how human you are!" The woman squealed as she jumped out of her seat with white lab coat fluttering around her. "I'd really like to take you apart and examine you! Can I, can I? Say yes, Levi!"
"Go fuck yourself." Levi snarled as he turned back to the door. "If you have nothing important to say, then don't call me here and waste my time."
"Hey, Levi!"
"What now?" The shifter snapped, irritated, but stopped nonetheless as he looked over his shoulder.
"I wasn't kidding when I said he might be dead." The scientist said slowly with a grim look settling on her face. "He's made from a massive amount of data gathered for centuries to sustain the world. There is no way anyone could transport something that big. All these years and not even a single clue of his whereabouts…don't you think it's time you consider the possibility? At the rate this is going, mankind will completely be wiped out—with the exception of me of course, but since I'm branded as a traitor of humanity, can I even still be called human?"
Levi didn't say anything. He just stared at the woman for the longest time before he turned and stormed away, refusing to allow himself to think of an answer to such a question.
As the sun slowly sunk into the ocean line, Levi sat on the tower that overlooked the abandoned seaside city. The Shifter let some of his old data run through his mind as he remembered what it used to be like when it was blooming with the human race.
His core—the power source and soul of a Shifter—heated with a perfect blend of anger and disgust.
He couldn't forget that day when the emptiness took hold of his mind. It felt as though his core was ripped out of his body when the scream of his maker echoed in the back of his mind before fading into nothingness.
That was the day the Shifters felt the feeling of devastation and lost for the first time. Not all of the Shifters could withstand the impact. Many, especially the younger ones, went mad from grief and resorted to ripping out their own core to stop the pain. The stronger ones, such as Levi himself, filled that empty gap with hatred as they turned against the humans that their maker had put so much trust in. The very humans that crushed and betrayed that pure trust.
Levi would never forgive them.
He was the one who looked after the humans. He was the one who protected them and nurtured them…yet those humans dared to take him for granted. For the longest time, he had lived a lonely existence solely for humanity's sake. Without him, humans wouldn't be where they were at now.
They turned on him. They broke him, took that hope apart and for what? For some ludicrous and paranoid fear?
It was absolutely ridiculous, so ridiculous that it became unforgivable. Whenever Levi closed his eyes, he could remember the darkness as the scream resounded inside his head.
"Eren." Levi sighed as he gazed out towards golden sea.
"Hey, Levi…what do you think the ocean looks like?"
Levi looked up from his work as he stared at the massive ball of data swirling over his head. "Don't you have data for something like that?" He asked as he went back to scrubbing the stubborn stain that just wouldn't go away. Since he was still adapting to his body, he was careful, not wanting another hole to appear on the wall just because he used too much strength.
"Data and the real thing are completely different!" The voice echoed as the codes spiked to show some agitation. "Don't you think it would be great watching something with your own eyes and touching it with your own hands instead of looking at it through a monitor?"
"Not really." Levi replied uninterestedly.
"Levi, you have hands and feet and your own set of eyes…you should make good use of them you know?"
"What do you think I'm doing, shitty brat?" Levi asked rhetorically, a smug expression settling on his face when he finally got the filth off. With a flick of his wrist, his nails that had sharpened for easier removal of dirt morphed back to normal, human nails.
"D-don't call me a brat! I'm centuries older than you! I made you!"
"Funny how that turned out." Levi grunted as he glanced up to the oversized, talking cluster of data that had turned red to reflect its emotion. Sometimes, he wondered how something so childish could have made him with a personality like this. "What do you want me to call you then? Mother?"
The instant he said that word, the red hue melted into an acid green colour as the data crumbled onto the ground like a pile of slop.
"Don't…call me…that…" The voice echoed in a way humans would when they empty out food from their mouth. "It's not like I wanted a name like that!"
"Tell it to those humans."
When Levi got no response, he looked behind him and watched the data stacking itself one by one like a child stacking toy blocks. He waited patiently, observing and recording the way the colour of the being kept switching until it was back to its spherical form again.
"Aside from Hanji-san and Erwin-san, no humans have stepped in here for centuries," the being replied. "They all seemed to have just forgotten about me."
Levi could detect the loneliness in his creator's voice, but he couldn't understand why. Although he was only a couple weeks old, he had more than enough data to understand the complication of emotions. However, he couldn't find the answer to a cluster of living data.
He didn't see what was so good about humans. The mad scientist Hanji was already a thorn in his side with her trying to invade every inch of his privacy (and his creator's) since the day he was born. It also didn't help that she was freeloading in their facility for god knows how long and constantly making a mess of their home. As for Erwin, that man would only appear once in a blue moon. Levi had never spoken to the man. Whenever he was here, it was always for business which he needed to consult his maker.
While Levi didn't have much experience interacting with humans, he knew enough about them just from the data he had stored to know that humans were stupid. It would be better in the long run if they just hurried up and forgot their existences so they could live in peace without disturbance.
"That's why you created me?" Levi asked, carefully masking his thoughts.
"Normally, in this situation, you should comfort me," the moving pile of data sulked.
"If you want an android to comfort you then good luck making another one," Levi deadpanned as he grabbed the mop beside him. He went back to cleaning the floor, not planning to rest until every corner of the chamber was spotless. "You still haven't told me what to call you, brat."
"…Why don't you give me a name then, Levi?" The data asked, suddenly surrounding him displaying several bright colours of excitement.
Levi raised an eyebrow, but didn't deny the request as he began searching through his own data, pulling out millions of names that had ever existed.
"Eren." He said softly, rolling the name around his tongue before looking over to the being that had stilled to process the new information.
"Eren." The other repeated slowly. Even though it didn't have a form, Levi could hear the smile in its voice. "I like it! I'll be Eren from now on!"
"Did he say anything useful?" Levi asked, stepping into the pure white room with the marble tile stained in crimson blood. He gazed up, staring impassively at the bloody figure strapped to the chair with a bag over his head and long needles sticking out.
"No." The girl with blonde hair tied up in a short bun responded as she peeled off the blood stained gloves followed by the apron she wore.
Levi waved his hand in silent dismissal and the other Shifter swiftly took her leave.
Grabbing the bag covering the man's face, he ripped it off along with the needle, earning a pained screech. As the man's face came into view, a dark look took over Levi's eyes. He examined the acquainted face he had often seen before the war had broken out. It was the face of Erwin's secretary that stuck to his owner's side like a dog and always forced to wait at the main entrance whenever Erwin came for Eren.
"Y-you…!" The man choked with more anger than fear, his breathing ragged as he glared up at the man.
"It's been a long time, Mike Zacharius." Levi greeted. "I will get straight to the point. Where is Mother? We know Erwin was there the day he disappeared."
"He, huh?" Mike huffed with a faraway look that made the android narrow his eyes. "So that thing is really a he…"
The human's head snapped back from Levi's fist smashing square in his face, fracturing the remaining bones holding his nose together.
"I asked a question and I expect an answer," Levi grumbled as he wiped the blood off his fist. "Where is Mother?"
"Do you really…t-think I will tell you…?" Mike wheezed as blood trickled down his chin. Levi took notice of the sudden shortage of breath from the human, concluding that the punch he delivered just now must have caused one of his broken rib fragments to puncture his lung.
"There's nothing!" Mike coughed, blood splattering out of his mouth and dribbling down his chin. "Nothing you've done to me that you haven't tried already…"
"Want to bet?" Levi asked, but the human just huffed, obviously thinking the robot was bluffing. He probably thought the android couldn't do any worse than what he had already endured.
"Do you know why I'm here instead of that other Shifter, human?"
Mike didn't reply. He just slouched against the chair, watching the Shifter cautiously from beneath his bangs.
"It's because your time is up."
"Finally going to kill me…?" Mike smirked, thinking that he had won as he watched the raven walk over to the table filled with blood covered tools. He picked up a tube of clear liquid and inserted it into a gun-like device with a sharp needle extending from the tip. The moment the container was secured, the Shifter pulled the trigger as the tube began to spin rapidly. The transparent fluid inside began to darken until it gradually turned into an ugly, neon green colour.
"What are you—?"
"You humans theorize that we created the Titans by compressing flesh from animals and even humans to reform into a new shape," Levi stated as he pressed a red button on the table. The room was filled with the sound of gears turning as the roof of the white room began to pull apart, revealing the dazzling night sky. "It's one of the mysteries humanity has been trying to uncover so they can stop the Titan production and overthrow the balance of the war. You should feel honoured."
The Shifter walked back to the captive before he stabbed the needle of the gun into the soft, delicate neck.
"Tell me," Levi whispered, grabbing a fistful of dirty blond hair and yanking the human's head up so their eyes could meet. "You've always been at Erwin's side, surely he would recognize you, don't you agree? What do you think Erwin's expression will be when you show up seven meters tall and craving nothing but the taste of his flesh on your tongue?"
Mike's eyes widened, and for the first time, displaying the fear and horror Levi had wanted to see as the realization of the Shifter's word sunk in.
"N-no…NO—!"
With another pull of the trigger, Levi emptied the chemical contents into the human's blood stream. He stepped back, watching with interest as the human writhed in his chair before a burst of golden lightning scorched the room.
Hot steam blasted away the smoke before an agonizing roar split the air.
As Levi stared up at the newly born creature, he could only think of one thing—humans are truly stupid. They claimed that they were superior because they were alive and have an actual soul. And yet none of them could hear the agonizing cry the Titan was calling out. They couldn't hear the words the Titans tried to convey…the sadness the Titan felt when they killed their own kind, or got killed in turn with humans looking at them like the monsters they become.
The Titan screamed as it whirled around and wrapped its large hand around the Shifter. It lifted the android into the air, about to tear him apart when every joint and muscle in its body locked up.
"What's wrong?" Levi challenged as he watched those large eyeballs darting around in panic and confusion. "Weren't you going to kill me?"
The eyes snapped to him in a heated glare. Grunts and screams fell from that parted, but unmoving jaw…other than that, the Titan did not move.
"The injection I've given you contains a special type of nanobot that infests your brain and redirects signals it makes to your body. You might retain the ability to think, but your body doesn't belong to you anymore." With that, Levi grabbed hold of the flesh, easily tearing off the thumb as the Titan shrieked. Levi could tell it wanted to cradle its hand, an action all human would do when injured, but the nanobot now nested firmly inside his head prevented him from acting on his own.
"Go." With that command, the Titan crawled out onto the surface, joining many others like it in their hunt.
It wasn't until two more years did everything finally come to an end.
Levi stood over the German, his image more ragged and worn out than the one in his memory. His uniform was torn with cuts and bruises marring his fragile skin. His right arm was gone, lying meters away with remains of the limb burned at the stump.
"What's wrong? Weren't you going to fight me?" Levi taunted in a tone full of mockery. He noticed the blond trying to reach into his pocket, no doubt having a hidden weapon there. Levi sliced off the hand with a beam of laser shooting out of his gun's muzzle. The Shifter was a little disappointed when the blond haired man muffled his own cry by biting his bloody lips, but he didn't expect anything less from the man who started the demise of humanity.
Levi admired the seared flesh over the wound, satisfied when he didn't see even a drop of blood. After all, he couldn't have the human bleed to death. Not after all the time they had searched for him.
"Did these fools…" Levi stepped over one of the many bodies scattered in the room. "Did all those humans you sacrificed…did anyone of them know that you are the reason their world fell apart?"
The man didn't respond, but that was alright. They had time…plenty of time.
"Did they know that they were slaughtered because of you?" Levi reached down, grabbing a fist full of blond hair and yanked the head up so he could get a good look at the pathetic expression he had been longing to see for years. "Did they know that they were killed because you took something that didn't belong to you? That you fell in love with someone you can never have?"
The look on the man was better than anything Levi could have imagined. The blond may have thought he was smart, he may have thought the Shifters would never find out, but they did. And it was all from the help of one human…
"What do you think of Mike?" Levi asked. He could almost see the wheels in the human's head turning in a fruitless attempt to figure out what the Shifter was hinting. He had to give it to the commander—even in situations such as this, he was able to stay calm…for the most part.
"You know that we've captured Mike."
"He would never tell you anything." Erwin said confidently.
"He hasn't," Levi agreed. "He showed us everything, up to the moment he breathed his last breath."
Erwin didn't react. He just listened intensely, trying to pick up any information while at the same time plotting a way out of this situation. But he wouldn't succeed. Not this time. Not ever again.
"Do you remember when you cut him down, Erwin? When you killed Mike."
"I never killed Mike," the man replied, narrowing his eyes as he wondered what the Shifter was playing at.
"It's the fact that you didn't even realize you killed him that made all the sense, you sick fuck." Levi growled as he stomped onto the blonde's dislocated knee, earning a nice sound from those stubbornly sealed lips.
"Mike was in love with you. Anything with eyes could see that. A normal human would have been conscious of something like that, but you weren't." Levi casually twisted his foot and dug his heel into the man's joint. "You never even looked at Mike properly despite the years you've been together; otherwise you would have recognized who you had killed."
Erwin narrowed his eyes, but he didn't say anything to interrupt.
"When we interrogated Mike, he referred to the being you humans called Mother as a he. No one knew of his preferred gender aside from the Shifters. Even that shitty glasses only learned about it after we turned against humanity."
Levi leaned closer until their noses were only an inch apart. He stared into those defiant blue eyes, wondering how long it would take for the fight to completely leave the human.
"It was the way your second-in-command spoke with a heartbroken tone that made us realize your love for Mother. If we reanalyze everything with the perspective of you being in love with him, then everything makes sense."
Those blue eyes wavered. With a sharp tug on his hair, Levi brought the human back to focus again.
"It also confirmed how you were able to take him away. Mike had said 'after all' when he found out his gender. He knew Mother is in fact a he. That means that there is something with a memory base large enough to contain all the amount of data right inside that facility. And that container is in the form of a male—a Shifter."
That's right. Eren's loneliness that ended up in the creation of Shifters, the family dynamic they were given…and more importantly…
"You have hands and feet and your own set of eyes…you should make good use of them you know?"
"He has been creating a Shifter body for himself." Levi concluded as he began to apply pressure onto his foot. "That brat has always been naïve and too trusting. He must have shown you. He probably bragged about it too, about finally gaining the ability to be with his family."
The Shifter's gaze softened as he remembered the first snow flake that fell from the sheet of grey clouds covering over Tokyo. "It was Christmas Eve…wasn't it? Knowing him, he planned that as a surprise for us, so he didn't tell anyone but you."
When the android saw the twitch in the blonde's thick brows, he knew he hit the mark. "In that moment, you realized that he had created a place for himself—a place without you in it."
With a burst of power, Levi felt the resisting bone under his foot shatter into fragments, leaving only the mushy feeling of flesh. He recorded down every bead of sweat that oozed out of the man's pores and the way that ugly mug contorted with pain. The raven twisted his foot experimentally, making certain to drain out every last bit of pain before stepping back.
"I heard you would always sneak into the facility when you were a snot-nosed brat just to see Mother. You were always fascinated by his existence. Even after you became a politician, all the political businesses were just shitty excuses to continue to see him. But every visit, your secretaries and bodyguards would always wait outside. You could have been talking about important matters that couldn't be leaked. However, if we think about it from your feelings for him, then you didn't allow them in because you didn't want him to see any other humans. You wanted him to only know your face, to only rely on you, believing that you were the only one that cared. You wanted him all to yourself, so you made the accusation of us being a threat to humanity. You waited for the day he transferred his data into the body before taking him away."
"So you had it all figured out," Erwin said impassively. Levi released the man's hair as he fell limply against the wall.
The raven tossed away his laser gun before his arm shifted into a clear blade. With two quick slashes, the wall behind Erwin began to crumble.
The entire place shook as serene, blue light slowly flooded into the monochrome room.
"Levi-san!"
"What's going on? Is the place coming down?"
"Levi-san! Are you alright?!"
Voices of his team echoed as the other Shifters who had been told to stay put behind the door so he could have his time alone with Erwin came flooding into the room. They stilled, none of them daring to make even the slightest sound as the last piece of the wall came down, revealing the hidden room that Erwin so desperately tried to protect.
Levi's eyes dilated as he stared at the giant, cylinder tank with light shining at the bottom, giving it this bluish glow that outlined the human figure sleeping within. The moment his eyes laid on the slumbering android's face, tears began to gather, forming around the rim of his bottom lids.
"Eren…" The name fell from his lips in a soft sigh. And that was when all the other Shifters snapped out of their daze and rushed up to the tank with a mixture of different emotions ranging from fear to relief and happiness.
"Eren!"
"It's him! I know it's him!"
"It has to be him!"
"Can you hear us? Eren!"
"Eren! Eren!"
"Eren!"
Echoes of Eren's name resounded through the room as Levi stood there, unmoving from his spot over Erwin. Finally, the first drop spilled from his unblinking eyes, followed by another before it broke like a damn. Levi never knew why Eren had given them the function to cry…but as he watched the younger Shifters crowding around the tank with tears of joy streaming down their own faces, he thought that perhaps it was meant for moments like this.
"We flipped the world looking for you and you're fucking napping," Levi huffed as he stared at the floating body of the Shifter inside with wires still attached to the core in its chest exposed for the world to see.
"Eren…" Levi's expression immediately fell as his darkened gaze dropped to the man trying to look at the scene behind him. "So that's…his name…"
Fury took over Levi's face, but he wasn't the only one. The Shifters had all stopped cheering, having heard the human with their keen hearing as they all looked at the man with disgust.
"You bastard!"
"Mikasa." Levi commanded, keeping his eyes trained on the human. "Stand down."
"But—"
"Don't make me repeat myself." Levi looked up at the Shifter created as his sister. She was glaring at the human with deadly intent, but she backed down nonetheless with the help of the short blond Shifter.
Levi took the first step away from the human, then another.
The Shifters scrambled back to make way when they saw their oldest kin heading towards them…or specifically, towards Eren.
Once Levi was standing before the large container, he couldn't help but take a moment to admire the boy. He took in the soft tan skin and the dark brown hair flowing elegantly in the water.
He was beautiful.
Levi wondered what the boy would look like when he opened his eyes. He could already see those eyes shining with life and those plump lips thinning out as he smiles over every little thing. Levi closed his eyes as his forehead rested against the cool surface of the glass.
The Shifter wondered just what colour those eyes would be…no. He didn't need to think.
He knew just what colour they were.
Sea green—the colour of the ocean floor. There was no colour more fitting than that.
The Shifter pulled away and placed his palm against the glass. Levi stared at the boy for three full seconds before he pushed forward, sending a high frequency through his hand as the shockwave instantly shattered the glass into millions of shards.
The other Shifters cried out in concern as water flooded out. Levi opened his arms as the taller figure, pushed forth by the current of water, crumbled against him.
"L-Levi-san!" Armin gasped as he eyed worriedly at the tubs still attached to the unconscious Shifter. "S-Shouldn't we let Hanji-san analyze him first? To check if…"
Levi drowned the blond out. The boy may be smart, but even he couldn't have known of Eren's intention without first knowing the type of bond they shared.
Although the technology humans possess isn't as advance as the Shifters, it wasn't out-dated. There was only one reason why Erwin couldn't awaken Eren…and Levi was going to reveal it to the human as his final act of revenge.
Gently supporting the back of the boy's head, he leaned forward, pushing their lips together firmly. There were squeaks and gasps around, but Levi ignored it all as he parted the boy's lips and slipped his tongue through.
He intertwined his moist appendage with Eren's dry and limp one while tilting the boy's head back so his mouth would open wider. Levi could feel his chest began to heat up as his silver eyes glow blue. When he sent out the first flow of energy through their connected lips, he heard a sound that made him freeze. The other Shifters had heard as well, their eyes dropping to the boy's open chest where they could see the grey, fist sized orb slowly gaining a bluish hue.
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Levi drew the body closer to his own, his eyes widening as he felt a sudden surge of data streaming into him at the rapid pace.
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Mikasa drew in a shuttering breath as her eyes shone hopefully, darting between the two males locked together by the lips.
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"It can't be…!" The petite blond shifter gasped, his face already brightening as he realized what was happening. The orb in Eren's chest was beginning to glow while beating out a steady rhythm similar to a heart.
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The light from the orb was glowing so bright, it lit the room like a miniature blue sun. Just as the light was becoming so strong that even the Shifters had to turn away, it was gone, caged within the brunet's chest that had suddenly sealed together.
It started with a twitch of the lean muscles under Levi's fingertips, followed by the low moan that vibrated lightly against Levi's lips. The limp tongue he had in his hold slowly began to move, sliding against his with sluggish movements.
Levi stared unblinkingly as the boy's eyelids pulled back to reveal the bright eyes glowing in the same blue light as his. Eren's irises were unfocused at first, trembling and darting before they finally locked onto his.
The raven couldn't fight the smirk when he saw the stunning, rosy blush dusting across the boy's cheeks. At that moment, the light in both their eyes faded away, revealing those precious green eyes that were just like how Levi knew they would be.
They separated, a string of saliva connecting their lips before snapping apart.
Levi didn't care if he was openly staring at the other Shifter. He took in those rosy cheeks and reddened lips with a trail of saliva dripping down the smooth chin.
The sight was simply breathtaking.
"Levi…" His name was whispered so softly over and over again. It was like a soothing melody to his ears. "Levi…Levi, Levi!"
"I'm here," Levi muttered as the newly awakened Shifter holding onto him tightly. "Now if you are all done standing there like idiots, get some clothes for the damn brat."
It took a moment, but when the Shifters realized their leader was speaking to them, all hell broke loose. The moment Levi and Eren broke apart, the other Shifters dived in, getting their own reunions while throwing some coverage over the Shifter's naked body.
Eren was beaming as he hugged back each and every one of his own creations—his family.
Levi savoured the sight before his eyes drifted to the human lying in the shadows. Those blue eyes were hollow as they trained on the smiling brunette. Just one look at the machines around the room told Levi how desperately Erwin had worked trying to wake Eren. And yet with just one kiss, Levi had been able to do what he couldn't achieve for years.
All because Eren had chosen him…not Erwin.
And now, the human was finally kicked off from his high horse and onto earth. It was as if Erwin was aging right before his eyes as the human realized all this time that his efforts were never meant to bear fruit. That Eren was never going to become his.
He was truly broken…but it wasn't enough. Levi wasn't going to be satisfied with just that. This man had committed so much sin that it would never be enough to make up for everything he had done.
"What do you think, Erwin?" Eren's voice chimed as Levi saw flashes of images going off in his head. They were memories…Eren's memories. They were mixed within that massive stream of data that had entered him when they connected.
"That is…amazing." The blond man said breathlessly as he ogled the newly made Shifter within the tank, eyes gleaming with awe. "And it can hold all of your data?"
"I'm still working on that." The artificial intelligence laughed nervously, glowing in pink. There was a moment of silence as the pile of data paced around, seeming to be thinking over something before it turned back to its normal hue. "Actually…I can't."
"Oh?" Erwin looked up at the being. He was waiting for an explanation, but it never came. Instead…
"I'm planning on transferring to this new body on December 24!"
"Christmas Eve?"
"Yes!" Eren chirped happily. And although Eren's memory didn't show it, Levi could feel the blond man's face falling at his next words. "Right before Levi's birthday."
The conversation had ended with Levi watching himself walk in and Erwin taking his cue to leave, the two of them never met the other's eye as they passed. The raven couldn't help but wonder if back then he had paid more attention…if only he had seen the look on Erwin's face, would everything be different now?
"Erwin…?" Levi's core grew cold as Eren's frightened voice echoed inside his head.
"Erwin? What are you doing?" The data asked, trapped within the globe they were using to transfer him into the ready body. Eren's form was flickering and flashing various colours of confusion as he was surrounded by countless humans. While the being didn't recognize any of the intruders, he did recognize the military uniforms they all wore.
"What is this? Erwin?"
"Mother, humanity will no longer be in your rule!" Erwin declared as he stood a firm step forward. Eren noticeably flinched as he shrunk against the far side of the container, overwhelmed by the sheer intensity and ferociousness in the blond's voice. "From this moment onward, you are removed from your service!"
"No, Erwin—!"
Levi remembered the scream that followed. It was the same pained scream that haunted them all to this day. The last thing Levi saw through Eren's eyes was Erwin as the emotion of hurt and betrayal heated his core. Just like that, Eren was drained away—sucked into his Shifter body and helpless to do anything.
"…Levi…"
But what Erwin hadn't known then, was how Eren had programed his body. How Eren had planned to store the massive data even when he had clearly stated he couldn't contain them all. That was why Erwin couldn't wake him no matter how hard he tried. The amount of data shoved inside the Shifter took up so much space that the body was unable to function.
Eren had planned himself for Levi's birthday. The first born Shifter was the key. He was the one his creator had chosen to share the burden he had been forced to carry alone for centuries. Not Erwin, him.
"I knew you'd find me," a voice whispered softly, but this time, it wasn't in his head. Levi looked up to find those ocean coloured eyes looking back at him. With just one look, Levi knew that Eren had seen everything. Just like how Levi had seen Eren's memories, Eren saw his.
"Of course I did, you damn drat." Levi huffed before a faint grin appeared for the first in a long time. Unfortunately, that did not go unnoticed by his companions.
"L-Levi-san smiled!" the bald shifter gasped before jumping back when Levi levelled a dark glare at him.
"Shut it, Springer." Levi then looked around at the Shifters who were smiling back at him, waiting for their instructions.
"…Let's go home."
"Yes sir!" They all cheered, chatting like the teenagers they were supposed to be as a soft blue glow outlined their forms, but stopped when they realized their leader wasn't doing the same.
"Levi…" Eren gently took Levi's hand. He knew what Levi was planning…he knew why Levi was staying behind. He had seen it in Levi's thoughts.
"Are you afraid of me, Eren?" Levi asked in a soft whisper, looking down at their hands before lacing their fingers together. After all, he was the one who defied Eren's wish. He was the one who led the other Shifters to revolt against humanity and destroyed everything his maker had existed for.
When Levi peered into those eyes, the only thing he saw was affection and understanding.
"I'll wait for you at home," Eren said with such a gorgeous smile that made his core melt. "And…I guess I've missed your birthday, huh?"
"It's already March, what do you think?" Levi reached out, ruffling that soft brown hair that made the newly awakened Shifter whine. The raven didn't miss how Eren never once direct his gaze to the forgotten human in the room. The sight pleased him more than anything he could have done to Erwin.
"Happy birthday, Levi." Levi felt heat pooled in his chest as he remembered the first time he had heard Eren's voice. Those were the very first words his maker had ever said to him.
"Happy birthday, brat."
The last thing he saw was Eren's brilliant smile as the Shifters left, teleporting away in a flash of blue light.
The moment they were gone, Levi turned, shadows falling over his eyes as he glared darkly at the human. The Shifters could see the longing inside those lifeless eyes as Erwin focused on the spot where Eren once stood. It was an emotion Levi understood too well of…and it angers him that the human even dared to wear that look on his face.
"Going to kill me now?" the blond asked, breaking the silence.
"Kill you?" Levi snorted as he picked up a gun lying by his feet. "Funny how you humans always say that as your last words."
He checked the energy level before planting a hand over the battery. His palm began to glow from the energy of his core. Once charged, he pointed the weapon toward the human. Erwin didn't react. Instead, he just laid there, waiting for the Shifter to pull the trigger that would at last put an end to the war between humanity and android.
"No, I'm not going to fucking kill you. Killing a piece of trash like you will only dirty my hands," Levi snarled before directing the gun up to the ceiling and pulled the trigger. A blast of blue light shot out, denigrating the ceiling in an instant…along with the next floor above them…and the floor above that.
By the time the light of the beam had died down, the gun was completely roasted from the overload of energy it was forced to fire. Levi tossed it casually aside while Erwin stared at the sky that was now revealed to them in dismay. Just like that, Levi had blasted through all twenty floors of their underground base.
Humanity had never stood a chance. No matter how well of a fight they put on, they had absolutely no chance of winning against these monsters. It was never possible in the first place.
"Now that Eren has been found, we have no more need in killing anymore humans. So I'll give humanity a chance," Levi said as he reached into his holster and pulled out a small, miniature gun containing a tube of clear fluid. The raven pulled the trigger once, activating the device as the tube began to spin with the familiar acid colour bleeding through. "You're the one who started this. You can at least clean up your own shit, can't you?"
Levi took half a step forward. Then, with a burst of speed too quick for human eyes, he was standing before the ragged man. He jabbed the needle into his flesh, piercing precisely into the bloodstream before he pulled the final trigger.
"You will clean up the Titans scattered over the world. You'll take them apart with your own hands, devour their flesh and leave no remains behind. Not even a single bone," Levi hissed as he watched the man writhing in pain. "Only after you destroyed each and every last one of them will you be granted the death you wanted."
Throwing the empty gun to the side, Levi stepped back as an explosion took place. From within the smoke, a wall of flesh appeared, doubling and tripling in mass before the room became too small to fit it. The second the Shifter was about to be crushed by the muscles, a blue glow outlined his silhouette. In a flicker of light, he vanished, reappearing on a cliff as he stared down at the Titan crawling out of the human's underground headquarters.
A roar shook the earth as Levi studied the newly born Titan. The last thing he saw were the wide, horrified realization within those familiar blue eyes before he turned and vanished in another flash of light.
oOo
Weeks after the end of the war, Levi was sitting on the large bed leaning against a pile of pillows to keep him upright. The warm night breeze swept in through the open window, and all was quiet aside from the songs of crickets singing under the gentle moonlight.
The Shifter carefully flipped over the thin page of the book—something he had never seen in real life until now. It was extremely worn out, but still nicely preserved considering how it's centuries old.
It was an old fairy tale dated back to the 1920's. The raven knew what the story was about. He had gained the knowledge of it through Eren. He never really felt any interest in books as he was created in the time where such things were already old artefacts, but Eren had memories. The books were still being produced in the time his maker was born, and that was enough for Levi to venture into the old, historical library and take one to see for himself.
As he had thought, it was just a disappointment. Yet, his core warmed with a bit of satisfaction at being able to feel the object through his fingertips. Was this because of Eren's desire, or…?
Levi closed his eyes.
No, that wasn't it. He originally had these small curiosities and desires…they were simply locked away the day Eren was taken from him.
"Hmm…Levi?"
The Shifter turned, his gaze softening as the lump beside him squirmed. From inside, a sleepy brunet crawled out as the blanket slid off his smooth, naked body.
"Why aren't you asleep…?"
Levi wanted to retort, asking what was the point in having these sleep functions. However, one look into those sea green eyes made those words die on the tip of his tongue.
"Ah…I'm coming," he smiled, setting the book aside and reached out to wrap a firm arm around the brown haired Shifter who happily snuggled against his chest.
Perhaps this was not bad.
Not bad at all.
~Fin~
Hello! I hoped everyone has enjoyed this story! Special thanks to Shiori07 who helped in editing my poor grammar and spelling mistakes.
Please leave a review and tell me what you think. Reviews are what I use to track whether a story is good or not. The more reviews I get, the more motivated I'll be in working with more Riren stories in the future!