The Human Princess

by RiaZxxZ

Y/N L/N - beautiful, savage, and deadly. In a world where assassination needs to be taught as a primary topic to prepare for the titans' army, she thrives. But when her kingdom is challenged, can she survive? Or will she need help from the stoic, satirical Levi Ackerman along the way? {Levi X Reader} {Reader Insert}

10. Chapter 10

It was almost funny.

Even though a tear was still dancing down your cheeks to meet with the cool ground, and your blood was still weakly fizzing in your veins, you didn't feel sad.

Maybe you were a little afraid, because no one ever liked pain - and maybe a little disappointed, because you would never get to see Isabel or your team again. You'd never get to hear one of Sasha's bad jokes, or share Connie's snacks. Reiner and Bertoldt would never get to hoist you up on their shoulders like they always did, and Annie would never try to beat you in swordplay again. And you'd never tell Isabel how much she meant to you, or that she was the reason that you went out to identify murderers every Friday.

And you'd never get to prove to Levi that you were better.

There was just something about him, you thought, that made him so irritatingly present in any situation. Even if he didn't say anything, he commanded everyone's attention. That was the reason you were always so aware of where he was, or how far away he was from you... That was obviously the only reason.

So you forced yourself to think of your friends as the titan loomed over you sat next to you. He lifted your head into his arms and tilted it back, his eyes on your neck. "Those fools," he sniggered, caressing your cheeks with his fingers. "They all want your legs, but me... I want your neck."

And so he unbuttoned the top button of your shirt to expose the entirety of your neck and collarbone, and you gritted your teeth and waited for the moment to snap your head up and whack your forehead into his jaw. Like hell you'd let him eat you without a fight.

But you never got to whack him with your forehead, because the moment that his eyes rested on your collarbone, he gasped and threw you away from him, like you were nothing more than a doll, before he cowered in the corner of the cell, whimpering like a child who had been scolded. "Please, stay away from me..."

You lifted yourself slowly up onto your elbows, your body tossed onto the stone floor. Your head had stopped ringing, and though your knees shook as they struggled to lift you onto your feet, they still held you. Keeping a hand on the wall in case your legs gave up on you, you looked at the whimpering man in the corner. "What? Weren't you going to eat me?"

"No! No, of course I wasn't! You must believe me; I didn't know that you were theirs! I didn't, I swear!"

"Wait - what?"

"Your tattoo! I didn't know that you belonged to them! I wouldn't have touched you if I had known!"

You look down at yourself, confusion making your head hurt more than before. But you got some of the answer immediately - on your collarbone was a small black tattoo, starkly obvious against the colour of your skin. It was a singular line that curved at the end and crossed back over itself many times, creating an irregular shape that twisted without reason or pattern. "W-what is this? How did it get here?" You mumbled to yourself. You had never seen this mark before - how long had it been there?!

"It's their mark! It means that you're their property!"

"I am no one's property!" You snarl at him, making him duck his head in a frightened shrug. "Now, how do I get out of here?"

"I don't know," he said, looking at you with fear and desire, "do you think that if I knew that, I'd still be here?"

"You're disgusting." You tell him. "If I had a weapon, I'd kill you right here in penance for what you were about to do to me."

"But you don't have a weapon," he said, hope flaring in his eyes as he began inching towards the door. "So - you can't kill me?"

You whip out with an arm, catching him right in the temple. "I can kill you without a weapon," you say as he crumples. The blow wasn't strong enough to kill him, but it was enough to send him asleep for quite a long time. "Mostly because I am a weapon myself."

You step back out into the corridor - bad mistake. The titans that the leader had sent away were no more than a few meters away, eyes gleaming and mouths already open in a snarl. You took off, flying down the other way as you again heard the mad scrabble of titans running after you. They didn't know about your tattoo - and you didn't think that they'd wait long enough to find out.

Your legs were already trembling, and this time fear took a hold of you. You couldn't run like this, you were already out of stamina and energy from the multiple injuries to your head and legs. The titans were so close behind you, and the sheer number of them was enough to ensure that your death would be neither quick nor pleasant. Breathing was a chore for you, and it came in short and gasping wheezes. You were going to die, and this time you didn't want it to happen. So you sent a scream rushing down the corridor, knowing that it was the last sound that you'd ever make, knowing that the fury and fear was evident in every second that the scream lasted. And it lasted a while, with it echoing and bouncing of the walls, amplifying the sound so that it sounded a hundred times worse.

Just as you were about to fall, your legs giving up, a shadow whipped out in front of you - the flash of silver blades already dancing in the shadow's hands. You turned and watched the shadow fly towards the titans, and then blood was flying everywhere.

"Get away from her!"

You closed your eyes, wobbling on your legs as you heard the familiar sound of swords slicing through the obstacles. It lasted only a while, before the shrieks of the titans were silenced and the only thing that could be heard was the panting of the shadow. Opening your eyes and allowing them to take in the scene in front of you, you couldn't help but to be amazed.

Levi's back was facing you as he was facing the remains of the titans in front of him. His body was splashed in blood that wasn't his own, and his two swords were hung down by his sides were dripping in crimson liquid. His chest rose and fell, and he turned his head to look at you with grey eyes that were dark and shrouded in emotion. "You have no idea how much you worried me, brat."

You laughed, a tired and panting sound, and your legs decided that they simply could not hold you anymore. The floor flashed up to meet you, and you could only watch as it came closer...

But Levi's arms caught you before you could connect with the floor, and you curled into the warmth of his chest. You hadn't realized that you were cold, but as Levi's hands lifted your back and legs, you knew that your shivering wasn't entirely due to the adrenaline. He lifted you easily and started walking through the corridors, and you closed your eyes and began to try to calm your breathing. Your head was being cuddled to his chest, and so you could hear the steady beating of his heart.

"Do I dare ask why the hell you're in prison?"

"I was arrested," you mutter.

"How the hell did you get yourself arrested?"

"I helped the wrong people, that's how," you growled, and you felt Levi's laughter through the vibrations in his chest. A silence stretched between you, but it wasn't uncomfortable. You allowed Levi to enjoy the silence before breaking it with a question. "How did you find me?"

Levi didn't answer for a while. "I went looking for you after Isabel found that you were missing. You've got your team and mine looking everywhere for you, you know that?"

You smiled, much to Levi's ire. "That's nice. But how did you know that I was in prison?"

"I saw blood everywhere in the grounds." You grinned wider - you had deliberately cut your hand on the guard's swords and left the trail everywhere with this objective in mind. "And so I followed it, and I ended up here. I heard titans running after something..." At this, Levi's eyes darkened with a memory that he wanted to forget. "And I heard a scream."

"I didn't plan for anyone to hear it," you groaned as you blushed; you couldn't help but feel embarrassed that Levi would hear that weak sound from you, "I thought that I was going to die."

"Aren't you Y/N L/N? The best assassin of all?"

You fell silent, remembering the number of titans and all of the choices that you had made. "I'm alive, aren't I?"

"Thanks to me."

"No, even the fact that you are here is because of me and my choices," you told him, and you again shut up as Levi approached a door. He kicked it open, and the guards on the other side leaped to attention. It was at this moment that you were thankful for the fact that because Levi was on Petra's team, he too was part of the Special Operations. He had the authority to get you out of here.

Levi placed you carefully in a chair at the base of the stairs, which would lead back up to the secret door in the library. You went readily into the stable seat, and watched as he stood in front of the seven officials that had carted you into prison, and started laughing to yourself at the drastic height difference between Levi and them.

"Tch, do you recognize this girl?" Levi asked them, and their eyes flickered towards you with hate before meeting his again. They all nodded, and Levi stepped forward and slapped them all in the faces. If you were shocked, it was nothing compared to the officials. None of them made a sound, but their facial expressions were ones that would probably make you laugh in the future. "Good. Then you can make sure that none of you ever touch her again."

And he picked you back up and carried you all of the way to the library. He opened the secret door and stepped out, and you squinted in the sudden light as he looked at you and gasped. "Damn," he said, and you realized that you must have looked a mess, with your own blood matting your hair/hijab and multiple cuts on your face and arms. Then your knees were a bleeding mess, and your nails had several layers of dirt and grime under them.

"I forgot," you sighed as Levi set you down onto your own two feet. "I'm sorry."

Levi looked at you incredulously, as though he were evaluating your sanity. "For what?"

"For getting you dirty. I forgot that you were a clean freak," you told him, sincerity ringing through your tone. He looked down at himself with shock, and you almost giggled at the sight of the murderous look on his face - almost. Your ribs had started to ache with such intensity that you weren't sure that you could manage laughter.

So you began walking - slow, but still steady - towards the infirmary. Or you would have, if at that precise moment the people that you loved hadn't of opened the doors before you.

"-can't understand where she could be!" Isabel said, and your heart broke at the sound of her cracked voice. Her eyes were red, and that's all you saw before she saw you and threw herself at you.

But Levi's arm circled her middle and he heaved her away. "Calm down, and don't touch her. She's hurt."

"Y/N!" Multiple people's voices yelled. You registered Farlan, Hanji and Erwin all looking at Levi with the same expression of disdain before gaping at you, and then Jean yelled as he and Marco also entered the room. He ran towards you, relief evident in his face before Levi stepped in front of him. You couldn't see the face that Levi was making, but based upon the fear on Marco and Jean's faces, it must have been bad.

Eren, Mikasa and Armin were just behind them, and Mikasa and Armin both had to grab Eren's arms to stop him flying into you after seeing the death glare that Levi was emitting in his general direction.

Reiner and Bertoldt approached you, ignoring the glare that Levi was sending their way. Reiner took one look at you before he nodded at Bertoldt, and both of them picked you up between them and slowly walked with you towards the infirmary. Sasha and Connie walked in front, ushering people out of the way and opening doors for you all, gushing about how Sasha had brought you loads of food. Reiner and Bertoldt had stony expressions that told you that they were going to murder the person who had caused you to be in such a mess, and you felt flattered as well as slightly afraid. Annie was just in front of you, snarling at everyone who dared look at you in any way that she didn't like - which was basically every way.

Behind you were Marco, Jean, Armin, Mikasa and Eren. You couldn't focus on their conversation too much due to their muttering, but the few sentences you did catch alarmed you slightly.

"Who?"

"I have no idea, but I'll murder them."

"No, you won't, Eren. Y/N doesn't need protection."

"She does in that state! I've never seen her like this!"

"Calm down, Jean."

Behind them were Levi, Hanji, Erwin, Farlan and Isabel. You could feel Levi's gaze on you, but at this point you didn't mind too much. He was just protecting you... And you liked the feeling of being protected. Farlan and Isabel were asking constant questions about you and your status, but you didn't hear Levi answer anything.

You reached the infirmary, and once Sasha and Connie had pulled the heavy double doors open for the entire party, you all trooped through. There were a few beds that were furthest away from you that were all cloaked with a curtain, but you didn't have the opportunity to see anything else before the new nurse took one look at you and pointed the nearest bed. Hanji rushed to help her, pulling out a white lab coat from somewhere that you didn't exactly want to know about. Reiner and Bertoldt placed you gingerly onto the cotton sheets and backed away, crossing their arms and watching you like vultures, grabbing Sasha and Connie by their collars and pulling them slightly away from your head so that you could breath.

The trio that you had rescued sat on the bed next to you with Eren in the middle, all looking at you with worry that made you smile. Jean and Marco were standing at the foot of your bed, Marco smiling at you in such a way that your heart melted. You didn't like to see Jean look at you like he was, though, with such worry that he looked like a puppy. So you watched Erwin join Reiner and Bertoldt in the art of crossing his arms and looking scary as Farlan, Isabel and Levi stood right next to your bed.

Hanji and the nurse stood over you and assessed your injuries, but you didn't look at them too much. You were too busy talking and laughing with all of the friends that surrounded your bed. Soon, they all knew what had happened to you - minus a few details. You had buttoned up your shirt to hide the tattoo, because you weren't sure yourself that you knew what it was yet.

Once everything had been bandaged - you had refused the pain medicines because they made you too drowsy - and you had been allowed to sit up, everyone started eating the copious amounts of food that Sasha had brought.

"I wanted to have a picnic once we'd found you," she'd informed you through a mouth full of food, "and so I packed extra."

You had moved over in your bed so that Isabel could lie next to you, with Farlan sitting at the foot of your bed with his legs crossed. Levi and Erwin had both borrowed chairs and were sitting next to you, talking seriously to each other whilst munching on apples and crisps. Reiner, Bertoldt and Annie had calmed down now and were all on the floor in a circle along with the trio and Marco and Jean, all playing a weird version of a truth telling game.

Ymir and Krista had somehow heard where you were and were also taking part, after they had both hugged you gently. Krista had brought you flowers, and so they were now in a vase on the small table next to your head.

But when the pale afternoon sun had begun to sink, the nurse went to the other end of the infirmary, where the beds were hidden behind curtains.

After a few minutes, during which you managed to eat some food, the people that were behind the curtain emerged.

Petra, Eld, Oluo and Gunther all looked fine, but as soon as they saw you on the bed, the colour that you had worked hard to regain early that morning drained out of their faces. You would have snarled, but everything about your body hurt, and you could hardly move.

It was almost funny.

You were the best assassin of the first years, but the moment that you actually wanted to kill someone, you didn't have the strength.

The liveliness of the little picnic quieted down once everyone caught up with the tension between you and the team across the infirmary.

Your party were looking on in confusion, because somehow you had managed to leave out the small detail of how exactly you got arrested in the first place. You had told Levi that you were there because you had helped the wrong people, and though you knew that he had suspected something more, he hadn't pressed you for more information. Even his eyebrows were furrowed; it was a frown of confusion rather than his signature bored one.

There were just two people that didn't look confused, and you weren't surprised to see both Armin and Erwin looking at you with slightly amused faces. You didn't know how they had guessed that somehow you and Petra were linked, but their bright blue eyes showed no confusion; only cold calculation.

"Erm," Petra mumbled, smiling and waving at your friends, keeping her eyes very carefully away from yours. "Sorry to disturb you guys, we didn't mean to."

"Sorry," Eld nodded his head to all of you, keeping his eyes on the floor. All four grinned at Levi with something akin to relief and exasperation, but he was too busy glaring at them all to notice.

"What are you all in the infirmary for?" He asked, crossing his arms. You made a move to stand up, but Jean and Marco both leaped up and pinned you gently back down.

"Stay there, Y/N," Marco whispered, keeping low and out of the way between the glaring battle between Levi and the Special Operations Squad.

Jean nodded and began idly stroking your sheets. "Marco's right, we don't want you to injure yourself again."

Despite their soothing words, you didn't focus on them at all and listened harder to Oluo's sarcastic response.

"Oh, don't worry. We spent the entire night in the raining forest because somebody didn't come back to us, like we had planned."

Levi's nose flared in supressed anger, and you watched this with fascination. Erwin, too, raised a thick eyebrow and stepped forward slightly, as if he were reminding Levi that he was there. Levi took no notice of this, however, as he replied in an equally sarcastic tone. "Tch. I was having no part in that plan, and I told you as much."

Erwin nodded and joined in the discussion. "And I didn't see any of you coming to talk to me about this plan. And I, in case you've forgotten, am the student head of Survey Corps. Levi told me about it and I promptly ordered him to abandon his side of it."

You would have fallen out of your bed if Jean wasn't holding your arm. Erwin was the student head of Survey Corps? You had known that he was smart and powerful from the first time that you'd seen him, but to be head of the entire establishment was something on an entirely different level. He had the power to kick you out, to employ other people... He was on par with Dot Pixis, the headmaster. He outranked the teachers, the Special Operations squad... On second thought, he had probably formed the SOs, being the student head...

Your shock was mirrored on your first year friend's faces; even Annie had to blink in amazement before falling back into her usual frozen frown. The second years, however, looked like there was nothing new to this news. "Oh," you groaned as you remembered your first meeting with Erwin. 'Keep up, second years. There's no point in your existence if I'm the ickle first year who can beat you at this game. Might as well give up now.'

You had said that to him! AND HE WAS THE STUDENT HEAD!

Honestly, you were cringing from embarrassment right now. However, Jean took one look at your constricted face as soon as you had groaned and was immediately set back into fussing mode. Levi half-turned towards you, his grey eyes seeking out your E/C ones, but as soon as Petra started talking he flicked his gaze back to her.

Farlan sat right next to your body with a cool cloth, and he pressed it lightly down onto your forehead. You sighed at the delicious coolness of the water, and arched your back at the small pleasure that the cold gave you. The boy smiled at your reaction and gently began bathing your face and arms with the cool water, whilst Isabel had sat up and was watching the discussion with an intensiveness that shocked you.

"-No, sir, we didn't forget. But we didn't think that it was worth any of your time, a matter this small..."

"But the matter was still big enough that you would try to employ Levi? Levi is my second, and you know this well. Why would you employ him without telling me?"

"Sir, we spent an entire night suffering in the rain and cold," Oluo raised his voice to be heard over the pleading tone of Petra. "And that was because of this brat here! So stop telling us off and start with her."

You narrowed your eyes at him, and you could see the rest of your team do the same. Annie stood up and marched up to him, anger dancing in her eyes. "Listen to me," she ordered with a quiet rage, "you had no right to kidnap two of our friends for your pathetic scheme. And Y/N thought that you'd be set free soon, and I heard her promise to come back to rescue you this morning if that failed."

"Stop it, you guys. She did come to save us this morning, which Gunther and I appreciate." Eld gave his input, but then realized the mistake that he had made two seconds afterwards. Reiner and Bertoldt joined Annie from where she stood in front of them.

"So she came and freed you this morning, did she?" Reiner growled, understanding and rage lighting his eyes. For a brief moment, chills went down your spine at the animalistic rage that he projected through his glare.

"Y-yes." Gunther said, holding his head up high and meeting that hungry gaze fully head on.

"So you wouldn't happen to know how Y/N san got arrested, would you, Miss Ral?" Armin said, smiling at Petra with an icy cold in his blue eyes. You cursed yourself - damn, that kid's smart! It wasn't as though you didn't want to see the SOs go head to head with your own team – you did, very much – but this was your fight. Petra, however, didn't seem to like fighting at all.

"Because I arrested her!" Petra said, tears starting to form in her amber eyes. Silence settled across all of you.

You froze and assessed the scene. If you thought that Reiner, Bertoldt and Annie had looked murderous before, you were wrong. This was a murderous look. Eren, Jean and Ymir joined in, and Eren rose to his feet along with Mikasa, who looked like she wanted a knife back in her hands so that she could run Petra through with it.

Sasha and Connie had stopped eating and were baring their teeth in a feral rage. They were forming fists at their sides, and you knew that they were holding themselves back from punching the SO's lights out. Armin had lost his smile and was impassive, but from the way that his eyes followed Eren and Mikasa around you could tell that he was rooting for them to beat the team up.

Krista gasped, bringing her hands up to her face as she looked at you with a fond kind of pity. Isabel was just looking at you like she had seen you for the first time, with wide and shocked emerald eyes that held all kinds of emotion. Hanji was looping her arm through Erwin's, and although it seemed affectionate, you could see Erwin's muscles tightening and knew that the scientist was just lending him the strength to hold himself back. You hadn't known Erwin long, but the fact that he was angry on your behalf helped to make you feel better.

But then there were the looks on Farlan and Levi's faces.

Their faces were in shadow, the way that you had always seen the dark and evil beings on the planet look like. If their eyes could have turned red, then this was the moment that they would have. Levi's lips were drawn back over his teeth, exposing white teeth that were gritted together in the way that wolves would snap their jaws closed over a piece of meat. Farlan wasn't making such a contorted face, but then he was standing up and walking towards Petra with the stumbling of a man who was either distressed or furious beyond measure.

"Do you have any idea," Farlan whispered with his face full of fury, "what she went through in that prison because of you?"

"Yes," Petra said, bowing her head, "we were listening to the entire story from our beds. I never thought that would happen, I swear. I was only trying to protect everyone from her! Think about it!" She insisted, wringing her hands. "A girl who is massively talented appears and doesn't have a file like everyone else in the school, what would you think?"

Oluo backed her up readily. "I'll say it. You'd think that she was a titan spy, or worse - an actual titan!"

Petra nodded gratefully to him. "Thank you. So I arrested her on the account that she could do dangerous things, and hurt a lot of people – hurt you!" She cried, looking at Levi. You raised your own eyebrow this time – the girl was in love with him, you reminded yourself. The girl, like many others, would naturally get jealous. Petra, despite the glower that Levi was giving her, carried on. "But I never meant to hurt her this badly."

Isabel's nails dug into your arm, but you didn't cry out because you knew that she needed your strength to keep herself from flying at the ginger woman only a few meters away. "Well?!" Isabel yelled, a tear falling from her green eyes.

"Well what?" Petra said, startled. Reiner let out a growl, and Connie and Eren both snarled in unison. Levi took one step towards her, and Erwin placed one hand on his shoulder, stopping him from going further.

"Well, what are you going to say?" Isabel shouted, anger dancing in her green eyes as she lifted her chin at Petra.

"What am I supposed to say?" Petra asked, confusion and sadness and guilt making her pretty face crumpling as she too started to cry.

"Oh, I don't know," Levi snarled, "maybe SORRY?"

"Levi," you said, and he fell silent. "Everyone," you amended, "don't worry. Petra isn't sorry for what she did, and I don't want her to lie to me. She did what she thought was right, and she shouldn't be sorry for that."

Isabel and Farlan both caught your hands, and they both held them tightly as they reined themselves in. Levi fell back into his chair, breathing heavily but closing his eyes. Reiner and Annie didn't move, however.

"If I were you," Reiner growled, "I'd get out now."

"But –" Petra said, her eyes pleading with yours.

"Just because Pride doesn't want to kill you, it does not mean that the rest of us don't," Annie says smoothly, the threat rolling of her tongue. "Just so you know - her file isn't accessible to many because apparently the headmaster read it and was getting nightmares about it two months afterwards. So back off out of other people's business - especially Y/N's. Because there are several people here who would rather like to put you back into your place."

Eren and Jean puffed their chests up, and Reiner and Bertoldt nodded in unison. Marco and the girls just stared stonily at the ginger girl and her team as though they had never seen them before.

Petra, with tears still rolling down her face, was tugged towards the doors by Oluo. Eld and Gunther hang back, however, and nod at Levi and Erwin before turning to you.

"We couldn't do anything," they said, "about Petra's decision to throw you in jail. But we're sorry all the same. If you ever need anything, we're in your debt."

Erwin joined them in walking out of the door, smiling at you. "Goodbye, Y/N L/N. For the record, I never thought you were just an ickle first year."

As you blushed, Krista and Ymir walked out with them, the former gushing about either how "they had never trusted that team in the first place" or that "if you ever have a problem, call us!" Ymir just nodded silently, but by the way that her hands were still fists at her sides told you that she definitely wasn't happy about something.

Jean and Eren started to fight soon after, and so Mikasa and Armin had taken the hint about them getting restless and so dragged Eren away, quickly followed by a exasperated Marco who apologized profusely after gripping Jean's arm and steering him from the infirmary.

Annie, Bertoldt and Reiner were the next to go, dragging Sasha and Connie with them. "We need these two to hold us back from going after those..." Reiner had grumbled before stalking out. Annie stayed just a second longer, looking at you from where she stood at the door. Bertoldt touched her shoulder, and she flinched back into reality and walked out without a goodbye. But it didn't matter - not when she had said all that she had. You hadn't realized that she cared so much about you.

Hanji just appeared and disappeared at will, popping up randomly and taking your temperature. Levi would snarl from his seat at your side though, so she wouldn't stay very long.

The four of you - Farlan, Levi, Isabel and you - would just sit in silence, watching as the shadows crept up behind the objects surrounding you, bringing the day to a close. It was a dull sunset, with clouds masking the vibrant jewels of colours that you knew were there beneath the surface.

"So," Levi started, a lazy grin creeping up onto his face, "would you like to tell us how the rutting hell Petra arrested you?"

"I tied her up yesterday because she and her team tried to kill me," you stated, keeping your voice monotone and uninterested. "Then I went back this morning to check if they were there, and they were. So I untied them and kept their cold selves alive, signalling using smoke that I needed help. Once the officials came, I thought that it would be alright. But then Petra just felt the need to arrest me."

"Why?"

You didn't bother to hide the flash of exasperation that Isabel's blunt question caused to appear. "I don't know, Isabel. Maybe she just had the 'oh, I need to arrest Y/N' urge."

Isabel's eyes flared with attitude and a reminder that she would not take any sort of rubbish from you. "Ah, yes. I've had that a lot recently," Isabel stated, sighing.

"I can't believe that she'd do that," Farlan mused. "She's always been caring and sweet, especially towards –"

"It's because she's caring that she's done this," Levi interrupted, cutting Farlan off mid-sentence. "I can understand where she's coming from... Even if I don't want to."

You nodded, lying back on your bed. "I can too, but I'll still be mad at her for it."

"I will too," Levi said, his eyes beginning to glow with a murderer's wrath. "She has no idea what she put me through..."

"I think that you're getting confused, Aniki," Isabel said, yawning. "It was Y/N that was arrested and thrown into a titan-infested prison, not you."

"No, but I had to get into that titan-infested pit to save her. I got dirt on my clothes."

"And that was hard for you? I saw your face this morning, Aniki, and I have never seen you quite so worried before –"

Levi hit her in the stomach so that she began coughing and laughing so that she ended up on the floor, gasping for air. Farlan groaned at Levi, and after the shorter man gave him the filthiest look that you had ever seen, Farlan stooped and lifted Isabel into his arms before walking out, yelling out a goodbye.

Levi turned to follow them, but you gripped his shirt sleeve almost without thinking.

"Thank you," you blurted, and then you dropped his sleeve and turned over, allowing your H/C hair to mask your face.

You could have sworn he breathed a laugh before he closed the double doors behind him.

You woke up early the next morning, the foreign bed uncomfortable and stiff. The freshness of the room was alien to you, with your room normally smelling like lemon sherbets. But you still heaved yourself up, ignoring the clock showing you that it was roughly five in the morning.

Your knees still trembled at your weight, but you forced yourself to walk up and down the infirmary several times - you just needed to get back to your health before the prison incident. After that, you stalked into the bathroom that was attached to the infirmary and washed yourself, going carefully under the bandages and rinsing your hair. Getting dressed into a plain set of clothes - black leggings and a f/c tank top - you shoved your feet into trainers and went quietly out of the door.

You didn't stop until you were outside, the darkness around you calming you down. A faint light could be seen over the horizon, and you knew that soon the sun would be far up high - but with the humidity of the air, you wouldn't be surprised if it rained.

Taking off in a slow run down the sand path, you forced yourself to go faster and to control your breathing. Immediately, your mind slipped into the easy routine of just running by following the path all of the way around the school. You were probably able to run this route in your sleep. You allowed the wind to chill your limbs, forcing yourself to go faster so that they'd warm up.

"Isn't it a bit early for you to be out of the infirmary?"

Erwin was just behind you, his footsteps heavy and loud against the sand track. You dropped back to allow him to catch up, and you two jogged on at the same pace. "It probably is," you said, lightly shaking your head, "but I can't just lie there. I have to do something."

"I knew that was probably the case," Erwin said, bobbing his head in time with his breathing. "You seem to be the type of person who always reaches further."

"I just don't like boundaries," you say, "because they're just obstacles placed by other people. Who cares about them? I care about my future and the future of humanity, so I'm not going to allow boundaries stop me from doing what I need to do."

"Ah, yes. Your motive to be the best assassin... Why? With your skills, you could be a soldier instead. Soldiers fight on the front line, going to battles with the Titans. Assassins do the dirty and more taxing work, and have the far more dangerous job of going into the territory of the titans."

"You sound like you've already decided your future." You said, drawing the attention away from yourself.

"My future was decided the moment I became student head," Erwin agreed, "and so I knew from that day that I'd one day be the leader of the army. Imagine it - Erwin Smith, leader of the Survey Corps."

"I don't need to imagine it... I'll be there on that day, and when it takes place and you stand on that stage, I'll salute you."

"So are you planning to be an assassin?"

"Yes," you answer. Seeing that Erwin was about to ask why, you oblige him and answer his question without him ever voicing it. "I will become an assassin for the same reason that you'll become the leader of the army - because the world needs me to."

Erwin had nothing to say to that, and so you complete the rest of the run in compatible silence. Once you reach the main house, you wave goodbye to Erwin as he departed down the path that lead to the boy's Dorms.

You reach the girl's Dorms and smile at the familiar gold and blue furnishings. Sprinting upstairs and locking yourself in your room comforted you in the knowledge that you were independent and still able to be on your own. Readily jumping into the shower, you lose yourself in the hot water and steam and cleanliness. You just wanted to stay in the warmth forever... But then a bell ring shattered the silence, and Dot Pixis's voice rang out from speakers that were placed everywhere.

"All students will meet in the assembly hall in approximately thirty minutes in the appropriate attire."

Cursing the headmaster to hell, you shut off the water.