Title: Regrets

Summary: Levi was humanity's strongest in more ways than one.

Pairing: Eren/Mikasa, Levi/Petra

Warning: May contain adult themes.

Author's note: AU. It stopped just after Chapter 65 or an assumption of what happened after that.

Disclaimer: the manga, characters, etc. are not mine.

CHAPTER 4

Erwin's gaze was calculating before turning to Commander Shadis.

"We should cancel the expedition and head back to the wall." he suggested.

Commander Shadis glanced at him and raised an eyebrow in question.

"WHAT?!" Flagon protested. "We don't even know if we could trust them! They just came from the trees out of nowhere!"

"And from the looks of it, took down a titan." Erwin answered more calmly. "If we stay here and deal with it, we're liable to meet more titans. Behind the walls, we'd be able to question them thoroughly without the constant threat of being interrupted. We'd also have more men at hand to deal with whatever that could happen. It's safer for everyone if we deal with it inside the walls."

"That's what these guys have been trying to tell him earlier." Farlan said. Isabel whipped her head in his direction and glared.

"Which side are you on?" she hissed at him.

"I'm on whatever side that doesn't involve any of us dying." he answered her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Use the green flare signal. Give the order to retreat back to the walls." Commander Shadis ordered.

"Commander!" Flagon's protest sounded more like a petulant toddler. The Commander stared him down and he looked resigned and subservient.

"This expedition will have to be postponed." his tone offered no room for debate. Sayram saluted, taking it upon himself to follow the commander's orders. He took out his flare gun, loading it with the green flare and fired it upwards. There was an immediate answer from the other units.

Commander Shadis turned to Farlan. "Have a wagon they could ride in to take them to the wall."

Farlan saluted and bolted toward the direction of where the supplies were kept in the formation.

Just then, a single red flare from the right flank pierced the sky followed by multiple others from other directions.

"Titans." Eren hissed.

"There's no time to lose." Erwin told the Commander.

Farlan came back with a wagon in tow.

"Have them in the center flank at all times. Keep an eye on them." Commander Shadis ordered, gesturing to the black clad squad before trotting back to the walls, the vanguard forming back into formation.

Historia, Armin, Sasha, Connie, Jean and Eren got on the cart. They turned back to the other two members of their squad who didn't get on.

"What are you doing?" Jean demanded. "We need to go."

Mikasa shared a look with Levi. After finding out they were related, non-verbal communication seems to have awakened between them. Levi had always needed to issue precise orders and drill formations into his subordinates to avoid mistakes in the field. But with Mikasa, it was different. They were family and humanity's two strongest soldiers. They were bonded through war and blood.

"Farlan. Isabel." he spoke up and the two looked surprised to be addressed by the black clad Levi. He shifted his gaze to his old friends, their deaths flashing in his mind over and over again. He clenched his fists. "Get off your horses."

"What?" Isabel protested indignantly.

"You're joking, right?" Farlan scoffed.

Levi pointed to the red flares fading in the sky.

"The titans look like they're coming towards the direction of the retreating squads. With this many, chances are, the rearguards are already being slaughtered as we speak." Levi explained. "Mikasa and I can take them down to avoid any more casualty. So get off your fucking horse. We need them."

"You think you could take them down on your own?" Flagon scoffed in disbelief.

"Sir, if I may," Armin spoke up and Flagon turned to him. Levi had always wondered how he can sound so respectful but contradictory at the same time. It eerily reminded him of Erwin. "I think it's best to follow the captain's orders. It is with great personal knowledge when I say they can do it."

Farlan and Isabel looked at him skeptically but it was the perched Levi who spoke up.

"Do as he says." he said.

"Big bro?"

"Levi." came the replies of his friends, hesitance in their voice.

"He said they can do it, didn't he?" Levi told them. "The worst case scenarios are either them turning into titan shit or all of us dying anyway. Let them do what they want."

Eren frowned at that while the others blanched.

"Titans can't defecate. They don't have internal organs." the other Levi told him. The other Levi seemed to be flipping him with the finger with his eyes.

"Fine." Farlan sighed getting off his horse and Isabel followed suit. They got on the cart while Mikasa and Levi got on the horses.

"The rearguards are coming this way." Sayram announced. The sound of hooves coming their way and the unmistakable thuds of titans seemed to be drawing nearer and nearer.

"We should go." Farlan told them. Everyone nodded in agreement and Sayram and Flagon bolted ahead with the wagon right behind them. Worried faces looked back from the cart.

Before Levi could join them, a voice stopped him.

"Keep close to them." Mikasa told him. He raised an eyebrow. "Protect that cart with your life."

She didn't look like she'd be moving an inch unless he gave an answer. He glanced at his counterpart for confirmation. The black clad Levi looked exasperated but nonetheless nodded, confirming her stubbornness. He glanced back at the nearing rearguard and the titans. He nodded to get it over with.

He bolted at high speed to keep up with the wagon.

"What did she tell you?" a boy demanded. He had piercing emerald eyes and dark hair. He had a look in his eyes that told Levi this boy was probably just as stubborn as that girl.

Levi said nothing.

"Mikasa," the boy insisted. "What did she tell you?"

He gave the boy a withering glare but the brat soldiered on, giving him a glare of defiance in return.

"To protect this wagon with my life." he finally answered.

The boy looked angry but, at the same time, worried at that.

"They'll be fine, Eren." Armin tried to placate him.

"Yeah," Connie piped up. "If anyone can come out unscathed from that, it's them."

"If that guy is anything like big bro, then you have nothing to worry about. He's stronger than anyone." Isabel reassured him but bragged at the same time.

"I hope they'll be okay." Historia said, worry marring her voice.

"They will be." Jean reassured her. "But prepare for the worst just in case. We can't lose either of them. Get ready for possible extraction maneuvers."

The black clad squad checked their equipment and made sure to keep it on stand-by, fingers twitching in anticipation.

The rearguard was now close enough that they can hear their screams.

"Watch out!"

"No, please! I don't want to die!"

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

Then titan bodies started dropping, steam rising in the air.

"Whoa." Isabel murmured and she heard others murmur something similar to her awe.

Mikasa and Levi were fluid, precise and deadly. They swung from one body to the next, slicing and hacking body parts. They flew into the air, the wings of freedom crest glinting in the sun against the black. They were as quick as lightning, cutting through the nape of the titans' necks like butter. They twist and twirl in midair, effortless and graceful in their kills.

"How is that even possible?" Farlan asked in disbelief.

"From where we come from, they are known as Humanity's Strongest." Eren told him.

"The Ackermans." Historia provided. "The last members of a noble family in charge of protecting all of humanity."

Levi glanced at her from the corner of his eye. It was that Eren boy who met his gaze.

"Mikasa is his cousin." he told him as if he somehow missed the implication that the other Levi and Mikasa were related.

"Big bro," Isabel said. "You never told me your last name was Ackerman or that you had a cousin."

"Don't be an idiot." he told her. "I don't."

"Then who is that woman fighting with you?" she asked.

"Isabel," Farlan said patiently. He pointed to the Levi riding beside them. "That is our Levi. The Levi we know and lived with for years." Then he pointed to the Levi in black, taking down titans as easily as breathing. "That is their Levi. Apparently, one of humanity's strongest from wherever these guys came from. If we get confused, we can call him Ackerman since that's his last name. But he is not Levi. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I kind of do." Isabel muttered, scratching her head. "Man, this is confusing."

"Tell me about it." Farlan said.

"But if he is like you, big bro, then you're nobility." Isabel teased Levi.

Levi scoffed. "Like that's going to fucking happen."

"Titan on the left heading our way!" Armin alerted them. A 7-meter class was running towards their cart at top speed, its hand outstretched as if reaching for them. Everyone tensed and instinctively held their gear.

"Something's wrong." Armin murmured, narrowing his eyes. "These titans aren't like the usual ones we encounter outside the walls." he pointed to where Mikasa and Levi fought off numerous titans. "Those look like they've come from one direction and this one is running in our direction, reaching for us."

"They're after us." Historia said. "Then a shifter is among them."

"Could it be the ape controlling these titans?" Jean asked.

"But the ape doesn't have that power or, at least, the last time we encountered it." Sasha said. Farlan and Isabel shared a bewildered look.

"It doesn't have to be. Annie could attract titans with her scream." Historia pointed out.

"It doesn't matter." Eren growled. "Mikasa and Captain Levi are already risking their lives enough to save us. We can't ask any more from them. We have to fight it."

"Eren! Don't!" Historia grabbed his arm to pull him back down as he got ready to pounce out of the moving wagon. She had a pleading look in her eyes and he paused. Their relationship was strained since the incident where she tried to eat him and Eren couldn't find it in himself to bridge the gap, no matter how many times he considered the thought. Sometimes, Historia can't even look him in the eye in shame and he in turn for his father's crimes. But today, her grip was tight, as if she would fight him herself to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. "We have to trust them. If someone else is controlling them then the person we must protect the most is you. We can't lose you, Eren. Please."

"Oi, Eren," Connie admonished. "Listen to Historia. If we lose you then the hope of humanity will be lost."

"Trust in Mikasa and Captain Levi. They could do it. Or if not in them, then trust us." Sasha spoke up.

"We're soldiers, too. If it comes to that, we'd deal with it ourselves. But we have our priorities and our orders and that's getting behind the wall safely. We have to accomplish that." Jean supplied.

"The last time I trusted and followed my squad's orders, they ended up dead. I made the wrong decision then. I won't make the same mistake twice." Eren growled back.

"Then think of Mikasa, Eren." Armin said, grabbing his other hand. "Think of the captain. Think of what they'll do if you put yourself in the line of fire. Right now, the only thing keeping them alive is the fact that they can move freely on their own and their speed. They know each other's movements like their own. They've trained together enough to know what each other's limits are. You running into the fight like this would cause them to lose focus. You'll be a liability. You have to trust us. Trust that we can protect ourselves."

Eren gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He really wanted to believe Armin, he truly did. But the images of Erd, Gunter, Auro and Petra hanging from trees and bent in odd angles against the hard barks keep flashing behind his eyes. Sometimes, their faces morphed into the people who looked at him with impatient pleading in their eyes now and he morbidly wondered if they would meet the same fate today if he made the wrong decision again.

Before he could answer, the sound of a 3DMG pierced their silence. Lightning speed blades glinting from the sunlight and the sound of ripping flesh. The titan crashed a few meters away and Levi spun in the air to meet his horse. He sheathed his blades back in the canisters and continued riding right along beside the wagon, Isabel and Farlan looking smug and beaming with pride toward their friend. The others were struck dumb in silence.

Levi glanced at them.

"You wouldn't shut the fuck up." he offered as an explanation.

Jean smirked and looked at Eren pointedly smug as if saying, see, didn't I tell you.

Eren just rolled his eyes and sat back down, shoulders less tense than they were before.

Not today, he thought.