Sacrifice

"We couldn't be in a shittier situation." Liesel surmised that Levi was right with every word. They had found Eren in lowest level of the Reiss cottage, imprisoned in a cave-like structure made out of ice. It was strangely beautiful, and for a brief moment Liesel was a child again. She remembered the time when she and her parents had been skating on the river as soft snow pelted down on her nose as she tightly held the arm of her father, his soothing voice pointing to her brother who was now exclaiming gleefully as he slid down the ice not far from their mother was.

Liesel had scowled, jealously marring her red face as her father gave a bark of laughter as his daughter continued to tightly hold his hand as they continued to skate. She had been six years old. The war that was to come was not in anyone's memory. Now as she stared into the present, Liesel wondered who had made this chamber-like place and why. The young woman stared at the scene before her, fear molding in her chest. Historia had not, as Liesel had stated, eaten Eren. Instead she had turned against her father and attempted to free the Titan-shifter as her father transformed into a Titan himself.

The Titan was large; larger than the chamber could contain. His body was trying to move, but the debris from the ceiling continued to fall. Liesel could hear every debris crack as ice became slivers and glass. The Titan's heat was moving towards them, burning through their skin. If this continues, Liesel thought as chaos continued to reign around them, we'll die. She swallowed thickly, the recent memories from her past imprinted into her mind. Her hands clenched as despair started to overcome her. She heard the others trying to convince a broken-willed Eren to do something. I survived…all of that…to meet my end here. All of them…

A sudden thought invaded her mind. For a moment she was still, her breath caught in her throat. She thought about the possibilities. Eren is too unstable to do anything right now…he can't even properly speak. The heat was so hot Liesel could feel her hands burning. The heat will kill them before their skin becomes a burnt crisp, and…the height of a fifteen meter Titan is not good in this situation. What should I do? Her blue eyes glanced around her, finding her newfound comrades. Edmund…you always seemed to know what to do. Her thoughts echoed on the figure that had saved her life so many times and taught her so much. She thought of what he had said to his squad when they had first met. A small smile echoed on her face as she remembered. Ah...yes…I understand now.

"Eren, do you remember the time in the trees?" Liesel could see the young man coming to his decision, but before he could transform, she intervened.

"Nein!" The others turned to her, their eyes shocked and bewildered by her posture of determination. Levi's burning gaze forced herself not to look away. "No," she repeated more softly. "Eren will not transform. I will."

Levi was on her at an instant. "What the fuck are you thinking?" he hissed as he roughly grabbed her collar by her neck. "Don't you fucking remember the last time you transformed?"

Liesel remembered, hearing the shouts and screams of those that she had eaten. "Stop! Stop it!" The faces of innumerous people whose end that she caused remained in her mind, not once ceasing when she slept. The horror that she witnessed when she had transformed when she was only a weak little girl would not happen this time. She would make sure of that.

"I do," she stated to him. His furious expression did not cease. "The helplessness still haunts me when I cannot sleep, and guilt almost killed me. It will not happen this time, though. I…remember." Levi's eyes narrowed, staring at her face as if he knew what she was implying. "You are not the only one to have experienced deadly years of war anymore, Levi." Her breath caught in her throat. "I know what it is like to lose comrades, and I can tell you do not want death's blood to stain your hands." Liesel could feel Levi stiffen, his hands of her collar tighter as his expression echoed the emotion he held in his heart. "Eren is too unstable to fight now. His mind is still in the grasp of agony, and…"

"Are you saying you want to be a fucking hero?" Levi whispered into her ear. She could feel his breath against her cheek. She could almost feel his conflicting emotions as he spoke.

"Nein," she stated again. Even without understanding what she meant, Levi's cold expression echoed his understanding. "I want to save them when I couldn't before," she whispered. Claudia's intestine's against her heel…Erik's head almost off his neck…Nina's arm and legs across the room…Edmund's entire body destroyed…Friedrich shot, the blood splattering against the rain… Their bodies flashed in her mind. Isabel's legs, falling onto her as the child's desperate screams echoed into her head as she stated at the creature that had once been her brother burned in her mind as blood flowed from its mouth. I couldn't save my own squad. I couldn't save my brother, my dear brother who meant everything to me, and my own family. …I couldn't even save myself. Levi turned away, releasing her from his grasp. She couldn't see his eyes.

As she stepped beside Eren and the others, she could see their horrified expressions as she prepared for the transformation. Eren was trembling beside her, not willing to meet her eyes. Jean's expression was only stunned disbelief, and Mikasa looked at her with respect in her eyes.

"Luz…" At the sound of the name that Levi had given her, the young woman turned to see Eren's swollen green eyes boring into her own. He seeped of guilt. "I'm sorry…for everything. I can't even protect you and the others." Tears trailed down his cheeks. "I'm nothing but a monster, a monster that can't even protect the ones he cares about." His eyes squeezed shut. "And to think that I…"

"Eren." The young man turned to look at her, the blood from the cut on his forehead reminding Liesel of her distant yet near past when every day had been that color of dear red. "You are not a monster. Your father's actions have nothing to do with you." Eren's expression became one of shock at the sound of her words. "Not one child she be blamed for the sins of their parents. And," she stated as she turned to the falling debris and to the raging Titan. "You were right. I am a monster, not you." Liesel could feel Levi's hard back as she stated those words. Her breathing slightly hitched as she yelled. "You need to go now!"

The only one remaining after was Levi. She could feel his dark eyes at the back of her head even when she couldn't see him. She could almost see his face, handsome now as she admitted, cold and angry at the scene before him.

"You better come out alive, you fucking brat." There was a slight rasp to his tone, and Liesel could almost feel the agony going through him, of leaving one of his squad behind. "You said I didn't want any more blood on my hands, Luz."

It was then that she turned to him, a smile on her face as his dark gray eyes moving over to hers.

"My name is Liesel."

That was the last words they exchanged. Liesel watched Levi as he slipped away, following his movements with her eyes as he disappeared from sight. She had a vision of Friedrich as a child, his tiny hands waving to her as he smiled, his mouth moving. Liesel remembered of what he had said to her. A silver tear dripped down her cheek. "Es tur mir leid, Friedrich," she whispered. "I couldn't save you, but perhaps this time…I'll be able to save them."

The tear dripped onto the ground as she transformed.