"Because that's what you and I do, protect each other."

~Suzanne Collins

-Emmryn's POV-

The atmosphere at dinner that night was tense to put it lightly. The rest of the squad was avoiding Eren like the plague, and after having a bit of a debate with Levi, he agreed to back off a bit and let me try and help Eren a bit with fitting in with everyone. So I decided to sit next to the brunette with a kind smile on my face. He looked at my burnt arm with a guilty expression which was now visible since I had changed into a sleeveless shirt to let it air out at the advice of Hanji.

"I'm so sorry about your arm, Em! I'm still trying to figure out how to control this power!" Eren apologized loudly causing the whole squad to look up, and I resisted facepalming at the glare I felt from Levi at Eren calling me Em.

"If you're so sorry, you should hurry up and control it before you end up killing the people you're so determined to save," Levi stated in his usual bored tone, but I knew it was said in anger at me getting injured and Eren acting so familiar with me which was only confirmed by his next statement, "Your good intentions have done so far is further injure my already injured wife. Get your shit together or fuck off." At that, I snapped.

"Enough, Levi! He apologized! Taking out your frustration on him is doing fuck all to help the situation!" I snapped, seriously tired of this petty shit. The room went completely silent as the entire team stared at me in shock. They had seen that I was more relaxed and less formal with Levi, but they had never seen me straight up stand up to him like this. Eren looked like he was fearing for my safety.

My raven-haired lover himself did not at all look happy with my response as his glare intensified, but he said nothing. Deciding probably to scold me later or make me clean the stables by myself for a couple of weeks. Noticing that no one was going to break the silence, I turned to Eren and gave him a reassuring smile.

"You do need to learn to control it, but I think with Hanji's help and your determination, you'll figure it out. We are depending on you," I tried to reassure him but still be honest. Things were not looking good if he couldn't control this power of his. He just nods dejectedly, and having enough of Levi's glare, I slammed my hands on the table.

"Well as fun as this has been, I'm going to excuse myself," I said irritably earning me a glare and a click of a tongue from Levi.

"And who dismissed you, Cadet?" he challenged, his eyes narrowed, earning him a glare from me in return.

"I'm injured, Captain. I was advised by medical staff to take it easy and frankly, it's been a long ass few days," I shot back, leaving the room without looking back or giving him a chance to stop me.

With everything that had happened in the past few days, I was finding myself completely overwhelmed. I needed fresh air. NOW. As I ran out of the base towards the stables, I was shocked to find Icarus not standing in her stall. When I came up to the stables, the smell of blood hit my nose, and as I reached her stall, I looked in to see my horse lying a bloodied mess on the ground.

At that sight, I got a bad feeling in my gut and turned to run back towards the HQ. Right as I did, a blow to my head knocked me to the ground, and as my vision started to fade, I screamed at the top of my lungs for the one person who only wanted to protect me, but I had been too stubborn.

"LEVIII!" I screamed as everything faded to black.

-Levi's POV-

Shitty glasses had just finished explaining to us her theory as to why Eren transformed when he had grabbed the spoon, but I was honestly only half listening. I got the gist of it, but my mind was focused on Emmryn. I'm sure she's fine. She's just really struggling to stay stable after hearing that that bastard got citizenship above ground. She'll be fine. No one even knows were out here. Just as I finished that thought, Emmryn screaming my name in fear echoed through the room, and my heart stopped.

In seconds, I was outside looking for her, but seeing no signs of her, I ordered the squad to go in pairs to look for her with Eren coming with me. We searched everywhere, and no one found anything until we reached the stables. As the brat and I reached the stables, the metallic scent of blood permeated the air and I felt my heart drop. I felt a slight sort of relief when I realized that it seemed to have come from her horse who had unfortunately been murdered, but I'd rather it be the horse than Emmryn.

We met back with the other squad members who reported not finding anything causing me to curse under my breath as I began to saddle my horse to go to the main HQ.

"Captain, where are you going?" Petra asked in a concerned tone, "Do you know who took Emmryn?" I looked at my squad. All of them had concerned expressions, but I didn't have time to fully explain right now.

"Everyone get your horses ready and head to the main HQ. I need to have a meeting with Erwin about Emmryn being taken," I ordered and everyone ran off to do as I had ordered. Shitty glasses came up to me with a concerned expression as she was already on her own horse and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"We will find her, Levi," she said, a determined expression on her normally crazed face, "And we'll make those bastards pay." So she knew. Erwin must have told her. After all she was originally the one who treated Emmryn when she first came to the HQ.

"Eyebrows better fucking hope she's okay. If one of those bastards lays a finger here, I'm holding his apathetic, shitty sibling ass responsible," I seethed, though my tone barely showed it. Before shitty glasses could respond to that, the rest of the squad arrived on their horses, determined expressions on each of their faces. And at my order, we all headed full speed towards the main HQ.

Hold on, Emmryn. We are coming. No one is leaving you to suffer this time. Eyebrows orders and thoughts on it be damned.

Song: Ready Aim Fire by Imagine Dragons