Chapter 4: Kiev

Erika fell asleep peacefully on Levi's bed after the long trip they had taken on one day. She crawled on to the fluffy bed and had fallen unconscious only when Levi sat beside her. He found it funny how she couldn't fall asleep if someone wasn't with her in bed. Eren had definitely spoiled her and Levi couldn't really judge him OR her.

The last few hours had been a blur for the Corporal. He had escorted Pastor Nick throughout Hermiha so that the man could see what keeping secrets from them was causing. In the end, the man's will to not break his vows didn't give in. In spite of this fact, he still had given them a valuable piece of information. He talked about a girl named Historia Reiss, she could decide to tell them everything she knew about the Walls's secrets. The brats recognized the girl by description and had told Levi and Hanji the name they knew her by was Christa Renz.

After all of that was settled and the squads that were to patch up the breach were dispatched, Levi headed once again back to his room in the inn to check on Erika. He found her curled up in bed snoozing a little more to the right than where he had left her. He sighed relieved she was resting so peacefully. He was kind of worried she might not sleep well because of her danger issues. Apparently her tiredness won against her problem, fact that was good this once. He sat by the window on the room and looked outside not really gazing at anything in particular. He was analyzing what the brats and Hanji were going to do, if they really could pull off such a feat as sealing a breach on Wall Rose then they could really go ahead and recover Wall Maria. Levi sighed again and got on his feet to pace around the room. He really wished he could do something, if it wasn't for his leg then he would have gone with the brats and Hanji. It bugged him immensely but he wouldn't dare do anything reckless. He hated the thought of losing lives unnecessarily; he of all people loathed it with colossal intensity.

"Something the matter Levi?"

Levi stopped on his feet and turned in the direction of the voice only to find himself confused as to who he was looking at. Erika sat on the bed with her legs crossed staring at Levi with bored, glowing red eyes. The voice, which must have come from her, was not her normal voice. It was something a little deeper and it just didn't resemble a girl's voice much less Erika's. Levi stared mercilessly at this different person in front of him, what had happened to Erika and just who was sitting so unworried before him.

"Heichou? Why are you staring at me like that? Hmmm, why don't you come here and sit with me?" The unknown person spoke again and chuckled mischievously. "I'm lonely heichou..."

"Well sorry to disappoint you, but there's no way that with that voice I'll do anything with you." Levi replied and went on to quickly nail down the bored Erika against the bed. "Mind explaining me who the fuck are you?"

The red eyed Erika laughed, feeling the pressure of the man's body on her and deeming it a slightly inhuman level of strength. She moved her leg despite Levi looking at her with such intense and rage filled eyes and pressed her knee against Levi's crotch.

"Well, hey there little man. My name is Kiev and I'm humanity's ultimate weapon"

Completely ignoring Kiev's actions, Levi took the other's shoulders and gave them a strong squeeze as he pushed down harder. Kiev only smiled cockishly as he went on to rub Levi's crotch with his leg. The being inside Erika was pissing the hell out of the Corporal and all he wanted to do was punch the living lights out of it.

"Whatever your purpose here is bastard, you are not getting it accomplished like that. Ultimate weapon? More like ultimate moron" Levi replied coolly.

"Ouch, tough luck for a defenseless girl like me then" The red eyed Erika's voice had changed back to its original tone but it was more than obvious, even if she didn't have the red eyes, that her actions at the moment as well as her arrogant smile were not hers.

"C'mon Lehv e heichou, I deserve a welcome back gift don't I?" Kiev spoke in sing song, managing to pull out a rather irresistible invitation that Levi would have accepted if he wasn't the man he was.

He looked at the overconfident being underneath him with hate filled eyes and after a few seconds of thinking about it, he went on to punch Kiev on the face as hard as he knew wouldn't kill him. Even holding back to avoid a death blow in the position they were, Levi felt Erika's bones give way under the pressure of his fist and once he had punched the girl he stood up and waited.

Kiev was immobile for a few seconds, long seconds the Corporal spent thinking that perhaps he had hit her too hard and on a stupid anger thriven impulse, before she sat up and started laughing hysterically. Vapor fumed out of the being's mouth and nose as she spat blood unto the carpet below.

"Wow, you really are strong heichou!" The boyish voice was back and Levi tched at the piece of information he had just confirmed with his violent actions.

"You're definitely not Erika at all. You're not even a woman to begin with… you're her titan form aren't you?"

"Right on the mark from the first guess! You're also very smart for a human" Kiev spoke and crossed his legs as he sat on bed. "I can see why Erika admires you so much, you're not half bad at all"

"Speak, what happened to Erika in Shinganshina?" Levi wasn't about to let Kiev fool around with him, he wanted answers and he was going to get them one way or another.

"Geez, you're way too uptight…" Kiev rolled his eyes and stood up. "What happened to Erika in Shinganshina you ask? Well…she died" he smirked and walked closer to Levi.

The Corporal stood still on his spot as the other man wrapped his arms around his shoulders and looked at him with clever eyes. Levi knew the other wasn't going to try anything too funny, the bastard was enjoying the whole situation too much to spoil it so soon, and so he waited for Kiev's reply not willing to show any reaction or emotion on his face.

"She wasn't supposed to live… not after getting her arm and shoulder eaten…"

"Heichou I can't believe we lost Wall Maria to them" Erika sighed out stressed as she looked down with a sad expression. "Even though so many died..."
"Could you stop tormenting yourself about this? It's that very nature of yours that's going to get you killed you idiot" Levi spoke to her with his usual sassy tone and deadpanned expression. He petted Erika's head softly and she looked at him with an enraged expression.
"Stop that! Who the hell do you think you are huh? You don't get to pat me like a dog Lehv e Heichou!" She exclaimed angry as she glared at Levi hatefully.
Everyone in their squad, three other people, laughed at her reaction as Levi wore a soft grin on his face. She crossed her arms and pursed her lips as they continued their way out of the Shinganshina district. They still had a dangerous way to go before they could reach the safety of Wall Rose and so they all needed to be extra careful about their surroundings. Even if it was for a short while they had managed to get some laughs in this dire and dangerous situation and because of that one moment, they had all signed up for the sacrifice that was to come.
As they all replayed the whole joke in their heads, Erika noticed something the others, including Levi, hadn't yet.
"Behind the building! Something's coming in fast!" She thought as she turned around to stare at the empty street behind them.
"Heichou!" She exclaimed realizing where exactly the titan was coming in through.
Levi turned to look at Erika as the 9 meter tall titan came in crushing the building directly behind Erika and badly damaging the ones beside it. "No! Look out

Time seemed to stop as the rubble sprung everywhere. Erika reacted quite faster than Levi did and before the giant piece of building could land right on the man, Erika had used her 3DM gear to soar through the air and push Levi out of the way. They landed far away from the block and Erika stood up and glared at the titan that was recovering from going through the building.
"Your senses are getting dull sir, take the others away I'll finish this one off"
"Erika you can't afford to do this alone, that one's a deviant and it was after us..."
"With all due respect sir, this one's mine. Get out of here, Ill join you shortly" Erika didn't wait for Levi's approval she just went off with her gear and holding her blades firmly. Levi admired her stubbornness at times, it had saved them in the past after all, but this time he had a sour taste in his mouth about all of this. He wanted to yell at her not to do this alone and he really wanted to go and help her, but things were unraveling too fast around him. Erika was fast on her gear and when she was slaying titans she didn't have inside her a single trace of the clutz she was. She moved and thought faster when under pressure, when a single inhalation could change the course of things. Levi was a slowpoke compared to her, even when he was called humanity's strongest soldier. The titan moved, Levi held his blades in his hands ready to attack, Erika saw the whole scene play in her head before it happened.
"NO!" She exclaimed and dived in to use her 3DM gear cords to wrap the titan up.
Levi watched the scene play out with wide eyes. Erika had screamed and the other squad members had snapped out of their surprise to actually grab their captain and get him out of the way. The titan crashed against one of the weakened buildings, the closest one to Levi, with Erika on its nape. She smiled sweetly, the man saw her, and even had time to mouth out "Lehv-e heichou… I'm sorry…" before she jumped up and maneuvered her way to apparently cut off the titan's nape. He didn't see more of her, the cloud of dust hid her and for what was left of the scene she couldn't have survived. She had been crushed by the building, she had brought the building on to herself. The fucking retarded idiot had killed herself for their sake.

"When the building fell on her she had a chance, a moment to escape you know… but she thought the titan she sought to murder was going to escape with her. So she turned with her gear towards the titan to make sure it was going to die. Before the building crushed them both, the titan ate her whole arm along with her shoulder… and even when half her body was crushed under the rubble she hadn't died yet" Kiev was talking softly and carefully despite his cocky look. Levi knew that for more that the other tried to make it seem as if it meant nothing to him, he just couldn't help being sad and pained for his host body's fortune. Kiev's true feelings, the Corporal had noticed, showed off clearly on his bright red eyes.

"I am not sure myself of how it happened but the moment she finally slipped away is when I took over. I regenerated her limbs and believing she had left her body to me, I lived out my life for two years hunting and doing monkey business in Shinganshina and the outskirts of the district… and then she woke up. I remember how terrified she was, how she couldn't understand how she was alive… and how awfully terrified she was at the thought of you being dead because of a mistake she didn't commit. She fought all that time she was out in Wall Maria because she needed to go back to you, to her home. Her only drive was seeing you alive and thanks to that we are both here now." Kiev's cocky smile fell apart and turned into a sad smile, he looked directly into Levi's eyes and then just remained silent waiting for the man's next jab.

"So you don't know anything else? Tch, thanks for keeping her alive but she doesn't need filth like you inside her" Levi didn't let down his guard down, even when he knew Kiev wasn't in the mood to even attempt something funny like before.

"Fuck you Lance Corporal, she might not need me but the humanity you all so dearly want to protect does" Kiev spoke seriously and tightened his arms around Levi's shoulders. "I am loyal to Erika and that means I'm loyal to you"

"What do you mean by loyal to…?" Levi continued talking but stopped midway when Kiev's face got a whole lot closer to his.

"I meant what I meant Levi" He grinned cockishly again before planting a soft kiss on the Corporal's lips.

Levi was about to push him away, a little late on his reaction, when Erika's body fell limp in his arms. Kiev was gone and the one who slept ever so peaceful in his arms was the cheerful Erika Engel. She mid opened her eyes for a moment, the green orbs filled with drowsy confusion. She looked at Levi and grinned softly.

"Lehv e heichou…" She said gently as she closed her eyes newly and continued sleeping as she was.

He placed his hand on her hair and petted her lovingly like he used to do to tease her in the past.

"Humanity's ultimate weapon huh? Just what the hell happened to you…" More questions flooded the Corporal's mind.

What was Kiev? Ultimate Weapon? Why Erika? What kind of shifter was she? Why was she different from Eren? What the HELL was happening?

Even when all those questions and more menaced to drown him in stressful insomnia for the next few days, one outshined the others in how much he needed to know the answer.

"Who did this to you?"

/ / End of chapter 4! Here's Kiev for you, isn't he charming? The boy has problems besides being stuck in a girl's body I took a long time to write this even though it was such a short chapter to begin with! I added in a flashback scene to avoid a short explanation by Kiev's part of what Levi already knew, more like I thought it better to show you guys instead of Kiev just saying it. Kiev's an asshole but he's really soft on the inside. Next chapter's tentative name is "Vigilante", feel free to speculate what will happen and see you next time! Again, thanks so much for reading! / /