They say that when you're on the brink of giving up, destroying yourself your own demons manifest inside. It's like a vast, dark ocean that's a constant rolling storm and you're weathering it in a rowboat. At first it just seems like an irritation, something you travel through forever, but then the waters roughen. The boat begins to rock softly, but you know a deeper unsettling feeling is pulsing beneath the surface of those stirring waters. Just when you think you'll be fine, that the waters are just ebbing and flowing as life dictates, the storm creeps from behind. The wave of your suffering, pain, memories, and actions swells just out of the corner of your eye. By the time you notice it, it's far too late. Everything you cannot bear to hear, think, or say crashes over your head and suddenly you're drowning. The storm crushes down and the words of the wicked and the whispers of the cruel shoot holes in your patient, merciful heart. And then, just when you think you've died from it all—the sensation of pain, grief, and utter loneliness—you open your eyes. The storm is still churning and twisting over your head, above the surface. It's deafened to your ears, but you watch anyway. It's so quiet beneath the surface, floating in the endless space were you're numb to the core. Sure, the cold is a constant reminder that you lost and it hurt like hell, but you can't feel that anymore. You can't see anything except the storm and the empty space of eternity and that's okay. You're content. Why? Because you've lost all autonomy, even your own identity. This was exactly Eren's thoughts as he watched the brewing tsunami dance maliciously above his eyes.

I bet it's loud up there…

This time, no reply comes. No hissing voice of doubt or constant reminder that its hatred was simply a penance. Slowly the boy blinked and stared up the vast watery surface, glimmering with a light unseen. It was actually quite beautiful despite its deeper meaning. He didn't want to think about that. Eren closed his eyes and tried to envision forgetting. It was easy now. It was simple as closing his eyes and whispering, "I want to forget."

"Irwin," Levi growled, pushing the door open to the man's office only to find it hollow. The tall, proud blonde was nowhere to be found.

Inside the office things were unusually tidy, even for Irwin. The desktop was clean and the fireplace was stoked, a crackling blaze warming the room as if he'd intended to be there for the night. A crisp sheet of parchment sat on the desk, skewed to the right indicating that it was, indeed, Irwin who'd been sitting there. Ink and pen was ready, but the man of the hour was missing.

Looking back over his shoulder, Levi shut the door and locked the deadbolt. He would have little time to search for that damn letter before the giant came thundering down the hall in search of the noise Levi was inevitably going to make. There wasn't time to be stealthy and cat-like when there were lives almost indefinitely on the line.

Instantly Levi went to work, overturning small boxes and flipping through books looking for places that Irwin might have crammed the letter. What seemed like an hour ticked by while the short man paced the room, anger rolling like a storm in his body as he searched high and low. The desks drawers were empty to the point of curiosity. In fact, the entire room was far too clean to actually be lived in. The man turned his sharp eyes to rafters. If there was anyone who could spot a speck of dust from twenty feet off the ground, it was the corporal. Though, he hardly had to look very hard. Above his head cobwebs draped every surface like sheets of thin, ghostly silk fluttering in a thin breeze. "What?" The man growled, eyes narrowed in disgust.

However, it wasn't just the rafters. Upon closer inspection just about everything was coated in a layer of dust thick enough to change the color of the wood of the bookshelves. The mantle on the fireplace, floor, and desktop was actually the only truly clean surfaces. It was like everything that wasn't cleaned had been there for ages while the rest had been moved in to look spick and span. Another thing, Levi couldn't really recall cleaning this room or entering it much at all. The whole time Irwin said not to enter unless truly necessary, but even that in itself was an off-kilter warning. Something was wrong.

Eyes casually surveying the room Levi caught something flapping in the fireplace. He turned and knelt, staring at the dancing piece of char wedged between two well-lit logs cracking against the stone. It first it looked as if a leaf had gotten clenched between the two wooden blocks, but it wasn't that at all. The corporal cursed at himself as he saw the paper twist just in time for him to see a ribbon of red ink blistering into ash, spiraling into the chimney and into the night. "Damn it, Irwin," he snapped, grunting in frustration. All evidence had been destroyed.

Well, there was no real use idling around a warm fire. Besides, Levi's anger was enough to keep him snugly heated. He pushed himself off against the oriental carpeted floor and turned back to the door. Just for a moment his heart nearly leaped out of his mouth as he saw Irwin staring down at him. The man had his hands folded tight behind his back, one hand slipping over the doorknob and shutting it with a loud, frightening click.

"What was in that letter, Irwin?"

Brushing it off, the blonde simply walked past Levi and lowered himself into the chair helming the massive wooden desk. His blue eyes seemed distant like a daydream swimming in buzzing thoughts. Habitually he wove his fingers together and perched his lips against them, room still silent with uncertainty. The entire castle could have crumbled around them, the woods flattened out in a perfect circle around an unseen explosion and that still would not top the shock of the icy look on Irwin's face.

"Levi, do you remember the day that I grabbed you off the streets?" Irwin muttered after a long, chilling quiet. Even so, the corporal knew it wasn't a question he was meant to answer. Of course he remembered. "You came at me with a knuckle blade, remember? Heh… you thought you were going to take me out, too," the man nodded, a faint, nostalgic smile crossing his hard face. "You attacked me because it was instinct… you were hungry and you didn't care who I really was, you cared what I had to offer you. Which was money. Levi, what do you think Eren's monetary value is to that thing inside of him?"

Suddenly the air became frigid. All this time the corporal's thoughts were being spun around as that thing played with his head and he'd never even thought about what he was really doing. It was just a game. "Eren's consciousness is gold to that creature," Irwin nodded, no longer beating around a sentimental, metaphorical bush. "And if you think it hasn't already won I question your judgment."

The corporal stared off into the distance and thought back to how Eren reacted when he told the boy he was cut from the corps. It was strange, almost as if he didn't put up a big enough fight. Ever since he'd met him Levi knew Eren as a fiery, vengeful wreck and yet he seemed to bark once and storm off in anger. It was almost as if he was reserving his energy for something else, like the argument wasn't worth the air. It was weird. Oh, God.

"It's made a name for itself, hasn't it?" The blonde yanked the corporal's attention back to the desk where he sat. "If it's made a name then it's formed its own conscious. Eren's strong, but his motives are weak."

Think if you want to live… what makes you human, Eren?

"Levi…"

"He's my charge!" The man snapped, fists balled, but face never twisting in rage. He stifled the bubbling anger within him. "I swore under oath that I would end his life if this thing got the best of him, you got that?!"

"Levi, the king-," Irwin began.

"The king can kiss my ass! I will take him out of this world if he is a threat!"

A rigidity reminiscent of a corpse filled Irwin as he looked up at Levi who'd slammed his hands against the desk, eyes sharp like tacks. For just a split second the commander was reminded of the fiery thug that had lunged for his throat. It had been a long time since he'd seen a real flame flickering behind Levi's calculating glower. At first it seemed frightening, almost like a monster twisting inside, but then again, Irwin knew better. He smirked and nodded.

"I'm sure he'd love to hear that," the blonde responded flatly, hands still tucked neatly beneath his chin. "But you no longer have the authority here."

The doors to the office swung open with a bang and Hanji stumbled forward, arms bound behind her back. She screamed something through her cloth gag, but it only came out as a confused cry for help. She shot her eyes over to Irwin who simply looked back at her as if nothing was out of place. Two large men in 3D gear stepped into the flickering orange light of the fire, their faces unfamiliar. "Corporal Levi, at the present I am forced to relieve you of status."

"What the hell is this, Irwin," the man hissed, anger twisting into betrayal.

"We've been getting constant messages of a spy in the inner walls who's been sending messages to our troops. Both you and Hanji were seen hiding information." Irwin looked into the darkness of the hall and made a motion for someone standing in the shadows to enter. Levi's eyes immediately snapped back, bulging at the pitiful face that drew forward, head down.

"You little shit… you've just cost your friend his life!" Levi roared, grabbing Jean by the collar as he trudged forward. At first he looked unapologetic, but upon closer inspection it seemed like the ashen blonde seemed to be in a state of utter shock. He probably wasn't even aware of where he was or what he'd done.

"I'm not saying that you two did it," the commander shook his head. "I'm just saying that there's too much evidence pointing to the obvious."

"We're not the spies!" Hanji shouted when she'd shaken her gag away. "You're ordering the murder of a kid, Commander!"

"You're in no position to talk, Hanji," he said coldly, her eyes widening as tears rolled down her bruised cheeks. This wasn't right. None of it. Who was this man talking?

Without a word Irwin stood and began moving toward the door. He barely acknowledged either of the formal scouting legion members as he muttered something to the muscle heads flanking the door. It was almost as if the scene was just another sight being a part of the survey corps. His apathy only added fuel to the fire within Levi who spun around and reached out for the man. One arm of the guard came up and blocked him off, but it didn't stop him.

"We trust each other. The flag is a family and you'll die for another? You're so full of shit, Irwin! You're nothing but a fucking liar!" Levi growled, fists shaking. Hanji's heart skipped a beat as she saw the blood run between the corporal's knuckles. He'd been digging his nails into his palms that hard?

"I'm only doing this to protect the many… not save the one," the blonde called from over his shoulder.

"You're his fucking hero!" Irwin stopped in his tracks as if the words were knives that cut through him. Seeing his chance, Levi continued. "When I got his release in court it was you he was excited to be working under! I only proved he was weak and scared the shit out of him, and look what you've done! You only see what you expect to!"

There was so much at stake and no time for Irwin to be acting like a selfish child who kissed ass to a faulty king. Levi dug his nails into the arms of the men blocking his way, eyes wide as he waited for the blonde's next words. It was like pins and needles settled against the back of his neck, adrenaline throbbing through him. If this didn't work, it would be all over.

"I didn't expect anything less than success from Eren," was all Irwin could say before he disappeared into the shadowy hall, gear clicking against his thighs. His response was like gunfire in a world of silence. Levi couldn't believe it. He wasn't the type to show emotion even in the hardest of moments, but he'd never seen the commander act that way. Cold, sure. Orderly, always. But not cruel. Not like this.

An anger like no other raged within Levi as he let his gaze fall flat. His jaw clenched tight as he dropped his hands from the arms of the thugs, bangs falling over his livid gaze. His fists balled as he took a step back and knelt down beside Hanji. The woman had thick, childish tears rolling down her sun-kissed cheeks, fogging her glasses. Without truly looking at her the corporal untied her gag. At first Hanji stammered, trying to explain, but her voice caught up in her throat as the sobs overtook her.

"L-Levi," she managed before the man flashed something frightening. A smile.

"You heard him," Levi snickered, rising from his crouch, hands clutched tightly around a glimmering blade. "We met between the space of life and death." Like his body was made of water the man turned fluidly, eyes still hidden in the screen of thick, ebony bangs.

In a shockingly graceful lunge Levi nearly crushed the knuckle knife into the first thug's neck, holding the other's with nails digging in deep. Ribbons of blood seeped from where the man held the thug in place, the blade grazing the skin of the other. Like a curtain falling away from a stage did the man see the furious look in the corporal's eyes. It was as if an animal had possessed him to the point that all humanity had been drained from his body.

"You see," the corporal whispered, the thug frozen in fear as Levi tore through the skin and buried his nails into the muscles of his neck. "I never really left that behind. What is done is done… and it's in your fucking blood. That… you cannot escape."

Hanji's hazel eyes widened in horror as she watched the eyes of one of the thugs roll back into his head, the blood dyeing the white shirt crimson as blood gushed from his neck and soaked Levi's hand. She'd never seen a side like that in the corporal. It was too much. This wasn't right at all. Though, the more and more she screamed at her mind to tear her eyes away the harder it became. She felt her eyes burn as she refused to blink, afraid the moment would wither in her mind.

Primal fear filled the woman as she watched the thug held behind Levi drop to the ground, his mouth gaping in a silent scream as he drowned on his own fluids. Bloody foam gargled from his mouth as his entire body fell into a seizure of fear and pain. Hanji found her own cries of terror choking in her throat as she clasped a hand over her mouth as if the very sound would shatter the quiet swirling just outside the room. It was as if they were in a pocket of time and space, unreachable to all not witnessing the moment. Nothing existed outside of that office.

When she turned her confused gaze back to Levi was simply postponing the man's inevitable end in one last effort to make him beg. It worked. The thug began pleading, saying he had kids and a wife, but nothing mattered to the corporal. None of it mattered. With one clean swipe his life was over. Levi dropped the thug's corpse as if it were trash, his head barely attached by a cracked spine, muscle and skin. At last Zoe let out a pitiful cry of shock, entire body trembling with nightmarish images flickering through her head. She wanted it to stop. She wanted everything to just stop.

"Hanji," the name echoed through the room, the gargling and sobbing replaced by the complacent crackle of the evening fire. She looked up to see Levi looking at her with faint concern, careful not to touch her face as he was covered in blood. "Are you okay?"

At the sound of those words the woman collapsed. She fell forward into Levi's arms, sobs echoing down the hall and shattering the silent bubble of time. Her shoulders trembled as the painful cries escaped in choked hiccups. She couldn't be the strong, hopeful one. Not then. She was afraid. People were dying, the blood ran in ribbons, and she was afraid.

"Stop this… please," she stammered, tears and snot running down her face. "None of this has to be done…"

"I have to go," Levi whispered, pressing an apologetic kiss to the top of the woman's head. "I'm sorry."

"You said people wouldn't get hurt!" She called as the corporal made his move to leave. "Yo-you said…"

For just a moment Levi turned back and showed just a blink of regret that flickered across his face. He shook it off and muttered something vaguely similar to, "Necessary evils." Not sticking around to hear her painful words the corporal walked into the dark hallway. He had to get some gear before the stench of iron and murder bled into the air. Eren could be gone, it was possible, but he'd sworn to that kid that if nothing else, his life was in Levi's hands. And, on a blood swear, his hands alone.

The dungeon had almost become a foreign place since Irwin had last been in its dingy depths. He lit one of the torches and looked deep inside. All the doors were locked tight and Eren's prison sat at the far end of the hall with a chair sitting in the front of it. Though, with his long stride, it took all of about five steps to face the cell.

"Jaeger," the man called. It was painfully dark in the farthest corner of the hall. Cursing to himself, the commander turned and set a second torch ablaze. The moment he looked back into the cell a wave of confusion crashed over Irwin. "Damn it."

Turning back toward the stairs, his head raced with thoughts. No one had called a report and even if they did, what could they really say? My friend walked right past me and endangered his own life, therefore I didn't really feel like stopping him? That castle had too many convenient nooks and crannies for a young teenage boy to slink into and it was making the confirmation of the mission all that much harder.

You see, the cell was empty. It seems the songbird has finally flown the cage.

Oh, to be free. Liberation in all senses is like no other. Having monopolized senses and memories was almost as unreal as the nightmarish dreams Pilot had been living all his life. He chuckled richly as he strolled down a secret passage, kicking at the mice and rocks beneath his feet. He'd been so cooped up that he'd never truly appreciated evolution's little gifts. Touch, smell, hearing, and sight were among his favorites. He could take in the deep, earthy smell of mildew and damp mold that blanketed the walls and crude, low rafters of the passage. The little scampering feet of the rats were like fingernails drumming on a table top but lightly and full of frenzy. The lack of sight only enhanced the sounds and smells that much further. The texture of the moist stones beneath Pilot's fingers was strange. Rough, but also smooth. It was all so… amazing. Though, the creature couldn't get too off-task.

After closing his eyes and feeling along the wall a little further he found the turn in the path. He rounded the corner and found an infinitesimal gap between the stones, but it was enough. It took a minute for the being to get used to the bright moonlight. Once his vision focused he saw the courtyard span out for what seemed like forever. Though, more interestingly, Levi was walking quickly over the stones, gaze looking left and right. He'd strapped gear to his belts and stopped dead center of the massive space and waited, arms folded over his chest.

"And so the clock strikes twelve," Pilot whispered delightfully, heading down the faintly lit passage towards a bigger beam of light. He couldn't waste another moment in the grungy under-paths of the castle. After all, this was his cue.

The courtyard was like a graveyard in silence. Blood faintly printed Levi's path into the stones, but most of it had dried by the time he'd reached the stopping point. If people were stationed around the walls on the outer perimeter, they were dead silent. The air danced in small circles around the cold stones, bits of pine rustling as they blew along the ground. The air smelled of rich smoke and cold, the scene almost signaling something ominous.

"Hehe, oh, don't you just look lost," a familiar voice snickered, Levi shooting his eyes to the dead center. The moment he'd looked away there Eren was. No… not Eren. "Like the look?"

"Your eyes," Levi called as he looked into the whiles of Eren's eyes.

"It's easy to repress your own evils when a second party isn't biting at the seams of things," Pilot grinned.

So he was gone. In the end, after all Levi had done, Eren had lost. Pilot reigned over his once passionate consciousness now concentrated on primal instinct. It wasn't so much sadness as regret that filled the corporal. This boy, this near child, had been so adamant on destroying the very thing that had eaten him alive. It disgusted him. How something so small and barely tangible had ended the life of someone so persevering. From the moment the boy had joined the corps the corporal knew that there was a darkness in Eren, but nothing like this. What stared at him from across the stone square was evil; raw, unbridled violence and rage.

Levi clenched his hands as his side as he let his bangs fall back over his piercing eyes. Act in the favor of the many over the one, right? It's better to save your team than one member, isn't it? It was hard to see that point as he looked back at the once-was Eren. He grinned darkly and pressed a hand against his hip, almost inviting Levi's revenge. Come and get me, the boy's face said, I dare you.

Deciding it for the best, the corporal stripped himself of the gear. The metal of the blade box and gas release clattered against the stone, almost ringing the bell for a fight through the air. Pilot laughed, immediately ducking low and shooting towards Levi. His teeth bared, the creature cackled. Once Levi was dead there would be nothing to bring that sniveling brat back.

The first impact was like a wave of recoil that shot up Eren's arm, fist crushing against Levi's shoulder. The man grunted, instantly moving and driving his right hook right up against Eren's sternum. Pilot hacked, eyes wide as every faint breath raced from his lungs. Before the boy had time to recover Levi had grabbed him by the back of the neck and raised his knee. The one thought before the corporal cracked Eren's face over his kneecap was, "Oh, god."

Blood gushed from the boy's nose when the corporal pulled him limply upright, fist clenched around his thick brown hair. Levi balled his fist and punched the boy clear across the face, a tooth rolling against the stone as he attempted to look back. Pilot sneered, blood running down his lips and nose. Everything about this creature disgusted him. He'd taken so many lives, cost the sanity of a boy barely old enough to fight in the war, and worst of all, he was wearing the mask of Eren's face.

Over and over Levi ground his knuckles into the bones and blood of the monster until he was wheezing and spitting blood. He rolled his eyes up to the corporal who had him kneeling against the stone. His arms were limp at his sides, but he didn't care. It would be over soon anyway.

"You fight like a little bitch," Pilot spat, rolling his tongue around his teeth until he found that his incisor had already regrown. "And you thought you'd be the one to motivate Eren to live? Tch. Pathetic."

"You do understand your life is in my hands," Levi scowled.

"Never thought much about it," Pilot shrugged. "You know, what exactly do you get out of being the kid to a pulp? He's not coming back."

"I'm not punishing the dead. I'm ending you!" Levi roared, bringing Eren's face down over his knee once more. "What you've done… who you are… The worst part… was that he trusted us… to keep him safe!"

Levi threw Pilot onto the ground, stamping down over his back. He knelt close to the boy, lifted him up by the hair and hissed, "Stay down, you trash." For just a moment he turned. He looked at his gear for a second, swallowed the cottony sensation in his mouth, and drew one of the blades. It gleamed in the pure moonlight, Levi's bloodstained face staring back at him. He was his own monster, but not this boy's. What haunted Eren had to die.

Ready to relieve the boy's suffering, the corporal turned. His eyes widened in shock as Pilot lunged forward again. In instinct he raised his blade at the ready, body rigid with fear. Blood ran down his arms and hit the stone in sick splats, but the moment still hadn't registered in his mind. The rich smell of iron burned the corporal's nose as Eren's body slumped against his chest.

"You… should never… h-hesitate, captain," the familiarly soft voice whispered, sputtering over blood and broken bones. Time stopped. Blood was gushing, tears were falling, but time itself had stopped… and Eren was dead.

A/N: AHAHAHA I NEVER SAID HOW MANY CHAPTERS I WOULD DIVIDE IT INTO BUWAHAHHA!

So anyway. WOW this was intense to write. Also, the lights just killed at University and I was freaked out as fuck and let's just say I wanted to pass out glow sticks and cocoa, but off course uni has backup power. Stupid uni.

*wipes sweat from face* Like, wow, guys. This chapter. I even drew stuff for it! Haha, why won't you guys take it? ; m ; *skips off to cram for psych and write the finishing touches for part 3* Also, it's so far from over.