Saph's PoV

Fixated on the gigantic Titan carrying the boulder on top of it's shoulders, I barely registered Levi's short questions and the resulting answers from the commander of the Garrison.

"Should I go over there and help protect the Titan? What's his name?"

Commander Pixis sighed, "A young boy that just finished his training named Eren Jaeger."

"Well if he has this ability, he could turn out to be quite useful."

"Or dangerous," Levi snapped, eyeing me cautiously.

"Something that could even perhaps be strong enough to kill Kenny," I whispered into his ear.

His sweat stained skin gave off a scent that could only be attached to Levi. My lips grazed his ear as I leaned back, caught off guard because of my own action. Pulling myself away, I began to run towards Eren. With the plan outlined to the Survey Corps before, I knew that the Titan Eren was in the process of trying to stop the flow of Titans into the town by covering the hole with the rock. While Titans usually didn't attack one another, Eren seemed to be an exception. Small ones crowded around his legs, trying to gnaw on his makeshift flesh and bone.

"We have to help, Garrison soldiers are practically useless when it comes to fighting Titans. This plan will only work if we get involved." The chances of me letting what could potentially be the best weapon against Kenny was zero. Even if I didn't have Levi by my side, I'd still cut through the hordes. The Garrison soilders were next to useless when it came to fighting. I watched in horror at the small figures running for their lives. It was suicide to try and fight or run from the monsters on the ground. Without much experience or horses, each endeavor was just a loss of another life. "Protect the Titan with the boulder on his back. Got it."

Levi and I raced off. Eren had already reached the hole and had smashed the boulder into the opening, causing the ground and walls to shake with the force. Stumbling as the reverberations hit me, Levi used his full speed to approach the collapsed Titan. Realizing that two large ones was approaching the hero, I switched to seeing if there were any other Titans nearby. Levi could get those, and I'd minimize the multiple lesser threats.

Sprinting across the rooftops, I enjoyed not having to use my 3DMG the entire time as I slashed my way through the hoards. Their engorged eyes and gaping mouths collapsed into ashes as I sliced their necks. Some of their clumsy fingers grazed me as more and more began to surround me making my adrenaline start pumping at full speed. Careful not to slip on the surfaces wet with their blood, I danced my way inside the battle. The small size and stupidity reminded me of the humans I'd massacred not to long ago, making my enjoyment of the slaughter grow. Most of them were small enough that I could use my own speed and strength to make the kills.

I didn't realize that I was grinning maniacally until some of their blood wet my tongue. Spitting out the rancid liquid, I realized there was no reason to continue as everyone was beginning to climb up the walls. Taking my time, I made sure to cut down any Titans on my way to safety. Seeing the green unmistakable cape of the Survey Corps, I headed for them in the hopes that Levi would be nearby.

"You certainly killed a lot of Titans down there Saph," Petra praised me. "It's always amazing to watch how fast you can move using your own two legs." Her hands were busy with bandaging a wounded soldier but she gave me a sweet smile.

"Maybe you can finally practise those stitching skills on a human being now, Saph," Hanji shouted excitedly. While she would have otherwise been busy with helping the wounded, her joy at having someone like Eren made her to antsy to be of any help.

Shaking my head in disgust, I leaned close to the energetic woman. "What's going on? Where is Levi? Where is the boy? What's going to happen?"

"I hope I get to study him if that's what you're asking!"

"I'm sure they're having Levi guard the boy right now wherever he is," Petra interrupted, "I didn't see where they went off too."

Sighing at everyone's inability to give me the answers I wanted, I took off.

"I already told you what my opinion is, sir."

"Yes that you want to use Eren for your own selfish reasons such as to kill Kenny," Levi said as I stood facing him in his bedroom. He leaned back into his chair to fold his arms against his chest. I couldn't look him in the eye but his tone reflected his disapproval.

"You're asking me about a situation that probably isn't going to happen. The government already dislikes us and believes are funds could be put to better use elsewhere. They aren't going to give us control of the Titan boy."

"Get the shit out of your ears because that wasn't my question, Saph."

Flinching at hearing my own name, it took me a moment to realize that Levi was requesting me to be dead serious. Biting my lip, I scowled at the floor. "I would trust that if he ever became a danger to humanity as a whole, you'd kill him. So, I would treat him like any other soldier here if that is what you wish." Didn't mean I couldn't use him to kill Rod or Kenny when the time came. With his powers, Eren could help me exact my revenge. "Would you kill him if he went on a rampage and attacked us?"

His stony silence made me shuffle my feet. "Levi," I started with a tremble, "would you choose him if it was between Eren and your squad?"

"Are you worried that it might come to that? If Erwin's plan works then we will have the greatest weapon against the Titans since this war began."

He didn't have to say it anymore for me to know what his answer would be. He would never, no matter who it was, would put a few individual's survival over that of the human race. I could say that with complete confidence. The same certainty, I felt that if it came between Eren and Levi, I'd doom the entire world instead of let Levi be killed. Good thing he was practically unkillable.

"Are you going to the hearing?" Levi interrupted me out of my thoughts.

"No. I hate listening rich fat men complain about being in danger when they aren't the ones on the frontlines nor ever a casualty from these catastrophes. I can't imagine it'll be fun and there is no reason for me to be there. I'm not the strongest like you or a political schemer like Erwin."

Standing up, Levi grabbed his coat. "If we succeed, then we will be moving to the castle. Start packing your things just in case."

"Fine."

Leaving the room I realized both Petra and Auruo were just outside the door. "Are either of you two going to attend the trial?" I asked, perplexed by their presence.

"No. I just wanted to make sure that someone was going to be safe and careful." Petra straightened Levi's tie as he stopped behind me. "You will not be doing anything reckless, right? It is a safe idea to bring him here?"

Levi leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. I took that as my cue to leave. Auruo started walking away just as abruptly. "I'm going to start packing my stuff," he announced.

Hearing their whispered words and soft kisses made me cringe hard. Without a word, Auruo and I gave each other a look as we fast walked down the hall of so much understanding that I wanted to buy him a drink. I made a face of utter disgust and he matched it. I couldn't help but shake at my head. Auruo and I were finally on the same page about something and it had to be this.

With how few belongings I had, it didn't take long for me to be impatiently waiting by the front door of the house. All I could anticipate was if Levi and Erwin had succeeded or not in convincing them to let Eren join the Scouting Legion. Everyone else eventually joined me. Eld, reading the newspaper. Gunter, scowling as he tried to distract himself by eating lunch. Auruo and Petra were with him, muching quietly on sandwiches.

"Are we not going to talk about this?" Auruo shouted, standing up so fast that the chair he'd been sitting on tipped over and slammed onto the ground. "He could be an infiltrator. He could be like the Colossal Titan!" his shouting sprayed crumbs from his mouth.

"We are just going to have to trust Levi's judgement on this," Petra calmly responded.

Auruo rounded on her, more anger in his eyes directed towards her than I have ever seen him possess. "That's easy for you to say! If things turn to shit, you know he'll protect you."

"I would still be following his lead even if our relationship was strictly professional. I'm his subordinate, so of course I'm going to follow his orders. Levi has never led us wrong before."

Images of a red-headed talkative girl and blonde confident boy popped into my head. How long has it been since I thought of those two? How long for Levi? Did it still haunt his sleep most nights? "Even Levi makes mistakes," I muttered not thinking anyone would hear me.

"See! Saph agrees with me!"

"No. I don't. This is a high risk high reward situation."

Eld spoke up as he set the papers down in front of him. "Consider this, Auruo, we have been doing the exact same thing for years and it has been a continuous losing battle. There has only been the prevention of more loss like implementing Erwin's new formation, but that hasn't helped us win. Hanji's experiments haven't panned out to anything useful either. This is the first time that we actually have a weapon that can do some damage." Eld's steady observation seemed to settle at least most of Auruo's nerves.

Uprighting the chair, Auruo sat back down with a huff. Just in time too as Levi opened the door, almost smacking me in the process.

"What the fuck are you doing right behind the door? Do you want me to hit you?"

"Levi! What happened? Did the plan work?" We all clamored for answers.

Wiping his feet on the rug, Levi took his sweet time before responding. "Gather your things and get on your horse. We move out in ten."

With my things already in hand, I rushed outside. And lo and behold there he was, the Titan boy himself. Saddling Lucifer, I couldn't help but keep my eyes on Eren the entire time. Not out of fear, but of curiosity. He seemed nervous but there was a look of steely determination that filtered everything else out. It made sense given his history that Eld had given us. Seeing your family home and mother be consumed by Titans would either destroy you or harden you.

Riding Lucifer closer to the boy, I offered my hand, "My name is Saph."

"Eren," he responded, taking my hand into his own. "I've heard about you. You're almost as strong as Levi."

I laughed heartily at that. "I wish. I've just been here as long as him, but that does not mean our strength is anywhere close to equal. His title of Humanity's Strongest Soldier came with no competition. I did used to be his second in command though."

"What happened?"

"My leadership skills weren't up to par," I shrugged my shoulders, " but Eld is the second in command now." I pointed towards the blonde ponytailed man as he exited the house we all had been staying at for years. "The guy with the black hair behind him is Gunter. The guy who looks ancient but isn't is Auruo, and the only other female member on this team is Petra. I'm guessing Levi needs no introduction," I grinned.

"I grew up wanting to join the Survey Corps, so I always watched them, and especially Levi, as they passed through my town," Eren said with the slightest smile I've seen yet from the boy.

Eld rode up to the two of us, his chestnut horse swinging his head away as Lucifer tried to nip him. "We are heading out to the old military castle."

Groaning internally, I gave a slight nod. "I'll head out there right now then."

With Lucifer being such an unfriendly horse, and him being the fastest, meant I got to go ahead of everyone else most of the time. While I wasn't excited to get started on what I knew was going to be a grueling cleaning process, at least I'd be alone. While Eren probably couldn't sense it, the entire group (excluding Levi) had a slight tension in their shoulders. The boy's ability of transforming into a Titan meant that we'd probably never feel completely comfortable with him. I might have felt bad if that didn't mean he endangered all my comrades with his very existence.

I had a lot of complaints about Lucifer, but his smooth gallop wasn't one of them. We arrived quite quickly to the castle. "I'm guessing the first order of business is to make sure we can stable all of the horses," I said to him as I unmounted. Shoving his body away as he tried to step on my foot, I approached the barn. The entire placed had been unused for multiple years resulting in the place being disgusting. Running my fingers through my cropped hair, I sighed. This might have been better than almost getting eaten by Titans, but with Levi's ridiculous standards of cleanliness, there might be no sleep tonight.

Four stalls were at least livable for the horses by the time everyone else arrived. "Glad to see that you decided to buckle down and start cleaning instead of taking this time as a break," Levi said while he brought his horse to me.

"What are you doing handing the reins to me? I'm cleaning the stables not taking care of everyone's horses," I snorted in disbelief.

"Do you not want somewhat of a clean room by the time night falls? I don't care if you sleep out here."

"Are you saying I'll get my room personally cleaned by Humanity's Strongest Soldier if I care for your horse? How could I ever say no to that offer?" I snarked.

Anyone could tell that he wanted to smack me. Eren stared at the two of us with wide eyes as I sassed back at my captain.

"You'll get used to it," I heard Gunter whisper to him. "He'll kick her ass if he really wants too."

Petra, my little hero, chimed in. "While you're out here working on this, I'll start on your room, Saph!"

"Don't worry about it, Petra, Saph will have a ton of time to clean her own room," Levi sighed.

Tilting my head, my mind mulled over his words. "What do you mean by that? Won't we be doing a ton of training since Eren has joined us? Like teamwork stuff."

"Are you stupid?" Auruo interrupted with his loud annoying voice. "We aren't going to risk him getting eaten!"

I knew that Auruo's asshole tendencies were coming out because of Eren's presence, but that didn't mean I'd let him get away with it. Picking up a stone near my foot, I hurled it towards his big mouth. Thunking him on the forehead, he fell backwards. Scrambling to recover, Auruo's hands grasped at empty air until gravity took over and he tumbled off of the back of his horse.

Ignoring the disgruntled yell of his subordinate, Levi addressed my unasked question. "Erwin wants to leave in a month for the next expedition. During that time, we will be doing some training, but we will mostly just be waiting for further orders."

"Okay," I sighed. "I'll hopefully finish the stables by tonight then."

Auruo continued to rant and rave about how unjust I treated him, but everyone else began to enter the castle. He soon followed after realizing they were all prepared to leave him behind. "Great. Now I have to take care of all of you guys too."

It took me forever to unsaddle and wash down all the horses. I knew they wouldn't run away, but horse thief has always been a problem with the Survey Corps. We got the fastest, strongest horses out of everyone in the military. They were extremely valuable even if Titans kicked or stomped on them like toys.

At least I'd gotten done with the worst one first, so the rest seemed easy and quick in comparison. "You're a good boy," I said to the dapple gray that Levi owned, "you've kept him safe haven't you?" Unabashed in playing favorites, I made sure his horse got the best treatment and stable.

I was putting the last one in when Petra came out. "You didn't come for dinner."

"Honestly, I really wanted to make sure my part was down so I could go to bed early. I'm exhausted."

Petra handed me a bowl that had a chunk of bread floating in some soup. "I saved you some. That's not surprising since between the wall falling and Eren, it's been quite eventful."

Beginning to walk towards the castle, Petra had to jog a little to fall next to me. "Did you clean my room?" I asked her.

"Yep! While I may not be Levi, he did give his approval for it."

"He'd approve it even if was a death trap," I mumbled. "Thanks. I hope you got yours done too. If not, I can help you finish."

"Well," Petra started, wringing her hands, "I didn't really do it."

"Then we should get started as soon as possible," I sighed. Damn it. I wanted to just shove this food in my mouth and then collapse onto my mattress.

"No! You don't have to. Levi cleaned it."

"Oh," I could feel my brow furrow, "that's good he cleaned your room."

"Well," Petra blushed," it's his room too."

I did not know how to respond to that. Biting my lip, I considered my next words carefully. "That's...great," I said in a way more strained voice then I had hoped. Stopping in the hallway, I looked over at Petra. "So what room is mine?" I sighed.

"It's right across from Levi and mine!" Petra pointed at a wooden door.

At least it wasn't right next to theirs. "Thanks! I'm going to bed."

"Understandable. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight," I said before entering my room. I almost jumped onto the bed before I realized that I still had the bowl of food in my hands. With no appetite now, I set it aside on a dresser before crawling underneath the covers. Grabbing a pillow, I put it over my head to scream.

Hello new readers, and what's up my lovely old readers? It is I, the one who hasn't updated for more than a year. Yeah. Sorry about that. I don't really have an excuse. Did I have school? Yes. Did emotional shit happen? When does it not? Those aren't excuses though since I had time to write a chapter, and I just didn't. It's a lot easier to watch Netflix than to write. But! I am tentatively going to say that I'll be updating more frequently. Does that mean twice a year you might ask? No. I'm going to aim for twice a month. Don't hold me to that though, please. That being said, it has been forever since I wrote for this fic, so if anyone sees stuff that is off or different, please don't be afraid to mention that to me. It takes a bit for me to get back to the swing of things, and informing me of what I can do better will only speed up that process. I will also be changing this fic to M instead of T because I have gotten a few reviews and pms from you guys voicing your concerns. I'd rather be safe than sorry. And as per usual, please don't forget to leave a review on your way out!