(Not so) MANDATORY OPENING! If you don't know or realize I'm kind of new to this whole fanfic thing, but I'll get better. I promise.

I guess I kind of wanted to keep the theme of Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin going so, in honor of that, I'm going to try to make a story with actual characters and plot development! *gasp* Shocker, huh? Well, get to reading!

Best Regards,

Heichou

This world is cruel; unbearable even in its simplest forms. What it all comes down to, even at the smallest microscopic level, is kill or be killed. That is the rules, always had been the rules, always will be. My own hands are even covered in this wretchedness that's vomited from our own mouths as well as these… things. No matter how many times I scrub them, they'll never be pure. This world… It's unclean. Becoming emotionally unattached from everything is the way to go about living life within the walls. I'm not a believer in stoicism, fate, or that other bullshit people say. I only have one rule: don't become attached; nothing to lose. I learned this the hard way, much like everyone else. It doesn't matter about the position I'm in, nor the position of other people. We all face the same thing in the end.

Titans.

"Just whose mouth are we feeding anyways?" I asked the creatures below the wall, scrounging and hurling themselves at the rocks, hands aching to find a loose hold. "Is it yours, or ours?"

"Technically speaking, it's ours, Levi."

I made a tch sound to show my displeasure as I turned to meet the glint of glasses as the figure leaned over the edge beside me. Her hands reached out as one would if they were pulling someone up from a cliff- only this cliff was a wall meant to not let anyone in. "What?"

"Well," Hanji said, retreating from the edge and turning her face up to meet the light, "they don't exactly feed on us per se."

"No need to get all educational on me, Shitty Glasses."

"Man, you need to lighten up. It's like you have a stick up your ass all the time." With that, she flung herself off the edge with a holler of amusement only she could obtain. The buzzing sound of pressure releasing and she arced into the sky, momentarily blocking the moon as she twirled about in pleasure.

"Don't waste all the gas!" I yelled, watching her moment of peace turn to panic as I heard the fated sound of bubbling air escaping the tubes. "Hanji!"

The tips of her toes landed on the edge far to my left and I let out a sigh of relief as she regained her stability. What else should be expected of Zoë Hanji, the Survey Corps' resident nutcase, let alone a subordinate under my command?

"Who knew you had any emotions under that thick skin all along?" She smirked, anchoring herself into place as she walked the thin line between certain death and safety. "I don't understand what's got you so worked up all of a sudden. It's like you're about to burst into an emotional wreck." She paused for a moment, putting on a serious face. "No, that's not right."

"I'm fine, Hanji. Trust me."

"You know we all do."

"I'm sure of it, but don't do something like that again, or next time I'll let you fall."

"Will you?" I looked sideways at the woman next to me who studied the action in every way she knew possible. She was sizing me up, her eyes filling with doubt. How I hated that look; the look of discontent with everything I had done or said. It was the same look as what the other beings called humans gave us when we couldn't do anything but say 'We failed.' It was hope by the time we left again, but surely enough, it was still hidden in their eyes.

"Will you?" she repeated, standing in front of me this time, the brown of her eyes being blocked by a shadow. "You know, I've never told anyone this, but I, once upon a time, considered dropping out of this game."

I tightened my cloak around me, the warmth leaving my body for a second as a cold wind blew between us. "What game?"

She turned her gaze to her maneuver gear at her hips, the scarred metal filling with dirt and other detestable substances from our numerous encounters with the beings from somewhere beyond our world. "Life."

She sighed heavily, pivoting on a foot to face the titans. My breath caught in my throat. "You can't be serious. You, of all people?"

"Mm-hmm. It was more for research purposes, though." She paused again, this time, unclasping the numerous connections of the harness on her tiny waist. Her maneuver gear clanked to the cold stony surface as her face dropped. "Levi, do you think we both end up in the same place when we die? That titans and us are just somehow one in the same?"

I stepped forward, grabbing onto her shoulder tightly, spinning her around. "Hanji, don't do anything stupid," I warned. Don't become attached. Don't lose anything.

"I'm not, I promise." She said with a smile so fake I could have snatched the mask from off of her skin.

"Hanji, don't-"

"Would you let me fall?" She repeated, dragging her feet backwards with a skittering of pebbles. She smiled again, throwing her head back and letting gravity use her body as a rock.

I couldn't move, my brain wrapping my head around the situation.

"HANJI!" The familiar figure leapt into the air, gearless, after my other subordinate, catching her in the air. A glint of a key and a rush of another green cloak made my heart stop.

Eren.

"Heichou, help!" He screamed in fear as they plummeted towards the creatures below.

I leapt after them, ignoring the fact I didn't have much air in my tanks either at the current moment, our latest expedition outside the walls having drained it to little puffs of air. I didn't care anymore. All that mattered was saving them, was saving Hanji, was saving … everyone.

The air rushed past me, a roaring sound of nothing carrying my cries to the night sky. I whipped off my cloak, the green fabric rushing back into the air, making my body as stream-lined as possible, gaining more speed to counter their weight. I reached out and snagged Eren's harness with a hand and brought them closer to me. Being careful not to hit them with the lines (from the last shot I would probably be able to take from the canisters), I pushed the button for discharge, the lines rushed quickly into the stony surface of the wall. The sound of the pressure came to a sputtering, choking halt as my hips were tugged violently in the wall's direction. The section where my gear attached to the harness on my waist began to tear, groaning under the weight of three people-two individuals higher than the maximum occupancy.

"It's breaking!" Eren screamed, ignoring the silent Hanji in his arms. "Heichou…" he whispered.

"Do you not think I know that?!" I screamed back, my brain trying to find a solution to our predicament.

"Heichou…" he repeated, this time stronger.

"What?!" I saw the look on his face as he was trying to fasten his gear to Hanji's. "No, Eren! Don't do something so stupid!"

"Take Hanji. Everyone wants to kill me now anyways." His eyes became cold, a mirror of myself. He took off his necklace and slipped it over Hanji's head.

"I don't, Eren! I don't want anyone to die, especially you!" We dropped a few inches as the leather kept tearing. The little shit's making me not think straight.

The connecting piece broke free, taking one of the hooks out of the wall with it. I grabbed Eren as we fell, tucking the both of them under an arm as the other grasped the rope tightly. The whipping action of our quick movement made the rope tangle around my forearm. The abrupt stop made it dig into my skin, and a loud crack vibrated in the still air. I let out a cry of pain, but stopped myself short. I was stronger than this. This pain was nothing compared to other things I've been through. Bracing my feet against the wall, I shook under the effort of keeping all three of us up and out of any further danger.

Blood began dripping onto the preciously clean white of my shirt and some splattering into the mass of titans below, exciting them into a mass of writhing pink and white, moaning and calling out for the rope to drop us within reach.

My chest heaved up and down, the adrenaline pumping through my veins at high speeds. Our breath formed in the cool air in front of our faces as I began to hear our names being called through the silence.

"Heichou… You did catch me." Hanji smiled in Eren's arms before returning to a state of near-vegetation as she smiled at her precious titan crowd below, arms dangling uselessly as I fought to keep both of them near.

"Don't. Do something… Like that… again," I huffed, watching Eren's upturned face light up as members of the guard squad leapt into the air over the edge, the lines of their gear streaking the sky like fireworks.

"I won't, Heichou." He grabbed my arm with a cold hand. I shivered against the feeling of overwhelming sense of softness that came from the split second of contact. Why do I feel like this? It's unpleasant. No, it's not unpleasant. Just… unfamiliar.