The riot dies fast. The night comes even faster. Eren is back, sleeping because he's exhausted. Mikasa, Jean, Sasha, and Connie are with Hanji, discussing the next show. Ymir is with Historia, cleaning her up, and Armin is eager to help.

Levi is with Nick, deciding what to do with him. In his mind, this plan is shit and is only making their movement look idiotic. But as critical as he was, he trusted Hanji's judgement. The question is what to do for Nick. The man is still begging for his life, but the pleas fall on deaf ears. Leaving him alone for a few moments, Levi returns with a syringe. "A man your size...probably 200, 210 pounds easily." Kneeling down beside the chair the man was tied to, Levi pulled up his sleeve and injected him with something that would knock him out for a few days, something Hanji developed for faking deaths. Levi really appreciated the discovery. A problem he'd deal with later, giving him time to think.

Tragedy strikes a few days later. At this point, more riots have broken out, with and without the help of the Wings of Freedom. There is a free show, starring Eren and Historia. A riot erupts in the audience-exactly as planned. However, the police were beginning to catch on, unbeknownst to the group of rebels.

The stage lights are on. The two performers walk out. Smiles and waves, before the wings of freedom flash on the screen behind the two. The songs start-it's a song about oppression. "Know Your Rights", it seemed appropriate in this time of government control and police brutality. Murder is a crime!-unless it was done by a policeman-" Eren doesn't get to finish. There are people jumping and cheering, but when he said that, there was a roar of agreement, and people start turning on those that disagree. The spies are being weeded out, and backstage, Hanji is laughing, and Levi is rolling his eyes.

Until the gunshots go off. The police are undercover among the crowd. The first to go down is a young woman named Petra Ral, shot in the head. She had been with the revolution from the start. Auroro Bossard, a man called Eld, Gunther-all would die at the hands of the police for nothing more than shouting their opinions. It is a sickening sight, but Hanji holds Levi back. "Wait, don't do anything rash." The two can see everything going on on the telescreens before them. Another goes down, another, and Levi is getting harder to hold back. Glaring at Nick, whom they'd brought with, Levi pulls his gag off and forces him to look at the screen. "You're enjoying this, aren't you? Your type?"

"No!" He cried. "I'm not! I'm actually not! These people are dying for now reason." Thus far, Armin, who was monitoring the telescreens, is the only one who believes him. However, Hanji, upon glancing back, can see the pain in his eyes that Levi is blind to.

"Don't fucking lie to me, I don't like being lie t-" Hanji grabs Levi's arm before he can hurt Nick.

"No..." She says calmly. "You're upset, but don't take it out on him. You've done enough, right? Look at him. There is remorse in his eyes. Let me handle him. You get your ass up there and stop this."

Levi rolled his eyes. "Stop this?" He questioned. "I'm one man. How am I-" She cuts him off.

"Because you're Levi. Now go."

Head hung, Levi scowls before climbing the stage stairs, blinking in the dying sun. He rips the microphone from Eren's hand and taps it a few times to check if it's working. "Well...it looks like our friends showed up." He said to Eren, before facing the roaring audience. "Your friends are dying. Isn't that shitty? Isn't everything shitty? And all this time, you're just looking for someone to blame. The cops blame us. But why? Because we're poor? Because we're different? That isn't our fault. No, the truth is-wow, none of you are fucking listening, which just goes to show what dumbasses you are. You all pitching a bitch fit call yourselves members of the Wings of Freedom, no? Then I'd expect some fucking respect seems I'm your god damn leader." A hush fell over the crowd then. Protesters in awe, but Levi could also feel every gun now pointed at him. "So shoot me..." He muttered, pulling out his own gun. Seeing Eren was close beside him, he decided to make an example of the kid. "Newsflash to the world, the kid's a fake. He's flesh and blood like you and I." He said, grabbing Eren and tugging him closer. He cocked his gun and pointed it at him. "So what'll it be? I shoot this innocent kid who I forced into doing my dirty work-" All lies, but Eren was silent. "Or do you kill me?"

A silence befalls everyone, and Hanji is holding her breath as she watches. Eren is doing the same, staring with fear at the end of the barrel.

"No one's moving. See, here's the thing, everyone, and our lovely performers already said this. 'Murder is a crime-unless it was done by a policeman or an aristocrat.' I'm neither, so if I kill this kid here, I go to jail. But if you cops kill me, what happens to you? Extra pay? A bit of champagne? A party to celebrate the death of Levi?" He hoped what he was trying to say was getting across to someone. "Hardly seems fair..." He muttered, before a shot was fired. It wasn't from his own gun, but from an MP in the crowd.

Annie.

Her aim is dead on. She does not go for the kill. A bullet goes right through his hand, the pain making him flinch unintentionally and making the gun in his hand go off. There's only a fraction of a second for Eren to react-and he's too slow. The boy goes down. Levi is too in shock to move as chaos ensues around him. He can hear their voices. "Murderer." "How could he?" "He's no better than them!"

"Eren!" A frightened cry from the crowd as Mikasa fights her way to the stage, climbing up swiftly before dropping to her knees beside Eren. He looks death, but he's barely hanging on. "Eren..." She bites her lip as tears form in her eyes. She strokes his cheek before her gaze turns cold, locked on Levi. "You bastard..." She growled. "I'll kill you-" The only thing that protects Levi is Armin, who'd climbed up from backstage as soon as Eren was hit.

"Wait!" He cried, grabbing her. "He didn't mean it!" With frightened eyes, he looks to the man. "You didn't mean it, right?" There is a desperation in his voice. He wanted to believe Levi didn't mean it, but it was hard to believe anything anymore.

Levi doesn't answer right away. He was in pure shock, and was now drowning in guilt. Truly, he hadn't meant it, and yet he couldn't find the words to say it. Brushing past Mikasa and Armin, he knelt down and carefully lifted Eren. "I'm so sorry, kid..." Swallowing hard, he didn't even try to hide the tears in his eyes. "Just try to hang on...there's got to be something. You're a strong brat-you can't die yet."

"You put him the fuck down right now!" Mikasa barked, trying to break free from Armin's grip.

But the blonde was stronger than he looked. "He didn't mean it. Just let him be. It wasn't his fault, but it probably feels like it is. Don't make him feel worse."

"Or what? He'll shoot us too?" She was still so shaken and angry with him.

"Mikasa..." Armin's expression grew soft. "That was cold, even for you."

Levi was right, Eren was strong, but staying alive was proving to be the hardest thing he'd ever done. Oh god...I know...you didn't mean it, right Levi? You wouldn't hurt me...Ugh. I can't move...I can't speak...I can't even keep my eyes open. How am I still alive? Hang on, Eren...Hang on...hang on...hang on... Eren was just repeating in his mind what Hanji was telling him. She was working on him with shaking hands. The last of all their medical supplies was going to him. One medication after the other as she tried to stop the bleeding and remove the bullet. All she had for help was Armin, though he was just as, if not more so, shaky as her, fearful for his friend's life.

"Well today was a bust..." Jean muttered, taking a drink of vodka he'd found. Turned out, Levi had quite the stash of alcohol-ironic seems he couldn't get drunk. Hanji insisted it was for medicinal purposes.

Mikasa said nothing. She was sitting in total silence, ignoring everything and everyone around her. Her mind was completely focused on Eren, praying to a god she didn't believe in that he'd live. How badly she wanted him to live; she needed him to live, it felt. The idea of going on without Eren seemed a pointless existence.

Connie took the bottle from Jean and took a drink to himself. "I really do want to believe it was an accident. I want to put myself in Levi's situation. I know it seems crazy to be an accident, but with all that's been happening, is it that crazy?"

Sasha just shook her head, trying to keep from crying, but Mikasa spoke up. "Even if he didn't mean to shoot him, he shouldn't have had the fucking gun in his face. That shorty can mope all he wants outside, if Eren dies his hide is mine. He's fucking dead."

"Mikasa...calm down. The guy-" Her fury cut Jean off.

"Think about Marco, Jean. Think about the fact he's gone. And be happy that you didn't have to watch it. I had to watch...and..." Tears welled up in her eyes. "I didn't save him this time. I always save him. But again, I was too late. What if I'm useless to him...?"

"No." Connie's voice was firm. "You're not useless to him, or any of us. It was a freak tragedy. If Eren dies, he dies. But I don't think he'd want us giving up because of it. He'd want us to fight until we finally win? Right?"

The discussion ends as Armin walks out, heavy headed and blood on his hands. He looks exhausted as ever. All eyes are on the blonde, and Armin just sighs and shakes his head. "We don't know yet. He's lost a lot more blood than we thought. Hanji said if he makes it through tonight, then there's hope. You can't see him now, she said he's still in critical condition. I...I just can't look at him anymore..." Armin didn't wait for anyone to say anything to him as he went outside to be alone, tears stinging in the corners of his eyes.