Those Three Words
Summary: All the three word phrases Eren and Levi said to/about each other as their relationship changes and gives them a whole new meaning.
1. Wings of Freedom. (Eren first sees Levi up close) (Eren) (Eren POV)
After a horrendous, tragic day with too many losses and too many gambles, Eren had finally managed to seal the Gate of Trost with the giant boulder, as Armin had planned out. His new Titan powers were not something he wanted, but he's been told he killed twenty Titans in this form before he first collapsed and he'd been able to protect his friends from cannon fire with it. For all that he hates Titans, if he already has this monstrous power, he will use it to save his friends, his people from those monsters and possibly even avenge his mother, Armin's grandfather and all of their fellow cadets, their friends, who had been killed by Titans.
When Armin and Mikasa managed to pry him out of his Titan's nape, his consciousness was wavering, he was barely staying awake because he knew this mission was far from over. He may have sealed the Gate and stopped more Titans from coming through, but there were still dozens trapped within the Walls of Trost and people were still losing their lives. There were still Titans coming for him and his friends and that Garrison soldier, Rico, and none of them could leave him to his fate, stuck in his Titan form's nape since he was humanity's new hope to fight against the Titans and to win.
He's the reason behind the first victory, minor as it may seem, to some point, against the Titans and Eren would definitely be needed if this victory was to be repeated.
But he could barely move. Armin wasn't strong enough to tug him free and Mikasa was too hesitant to hurt him to just chop off the tissue connecting him to his Titan and Rico wasn't fast enough to fix that problem before the other Titans were on them. Just for a moment, Eren wondered if this was how he was going to die, in this city of ashes, fires, blood and Titans, after having survived being swallowed whole by a Titan and discovering that maybe humanity had a fighting chance against these monstrosities.
Then all thoughts of death and everything else disappeared from his mind as something flashed above and a blur of movement descended from the sky. Eren was barely awake yet he couldn't take his eyes off of the whirlwind of gleaming steel and fluttering cloaks, taking one Titan down after another with the precision and ease of a born slayer the likes of which Eren had not seen in any one person, not even Mikasa, no matter how close she got. Their instructors in the Training Corps looked like they were swatting flies in comparison.
Perhaps, a part of him knew who the person who landed on the pile of steaming Titan flesh was even before they looked over their shoulder, not that Eren would later recall seeing their face at all, too exhausted to be truly coherent, but he couldn't believe Armin had even thought of comparing this person to Mikasa.
Mikasa was good, but not that good.
She didn't move like she was soaring through the air with the ease of birds, as though she herself had the very wings stitched into the forest green cloak that fluttered in the wind like a victorious banner as this horrendous day slowly ends with the sunset.
She was amazing, but she didn't move as if she were the very embodiment of the-
"Wings of ... Freedom."
Captain Levi, Humanity's Strongest Soldier, stared down at the trio of Shiganshina orphans turned graduate soldiers and what was left of the Garrison Elite Squad before his eyes took on the decomposing body one of the brats was being dragged out of.
"Oi, brats. Just what the hell is going on here?"