Together Again

Chapter 8: The Reunion with Words

Levi stood on top of the Female Titan, who had been brought to her knees, the thick metal cables and poles locking her joints and holding her in place. She had her hands up, covering her neck unfortunately; they had already tried to cut through them but the Titan had simply grown a hard bone-like structure across her hands, preventing them from cutting through.

"Oh right," Levi said after a long silence, "I wanted to ask you something. Is it okay if we cut off your hands and legs?" He stared down at the top of the blond head, his usual blank demeanor masking the disgust and contempt for the creature he stood upon. "They'll grow back right? I'm talking about your limbs, not the Titan's." He tightened his grip on his blades as he continued, "We need to alive, after all…" The Titan gave a start beneath him, her head slowly moving upwards for a moment.

Levi felt her head shift and a scream tore itself from her throat, echoing throughout the forest and piercing the men's ears, sending massive gusts of wind everywhere. They stood there, momentarily deafened and dumbfounded, before they registered the sound of pounding feet hitting the forest floor.

A small 5 Meter class Titan appeared from the gloom, moving in a dead sprint as it raced over to the Female Titan, latching onto her fleshy leg and beginning to chew. More and more Titan began to appear and with some reluctance Levi retreated a safe distance away. He watched as the horde of Titans ripped at the Female type, slowly devouring her.

"The enemy was willing to sacrifice everything," Irvin murmured, "I didn't expect the enemy to destroy itself along with the evidence by making Titans devour it." Irvin sighed and opened his eyes wide, "Retreat, men! Back into the formation! We return to Karanes!" Smoke signal rounds went off and they began to move throughout the forest, in the direction where they had initially come from.

A ferocious roar echoed throughout the forest, both human yet not at the same time. Levi turned his head slightly. "That voice… Don't tell me…" Don't tell me that they're dead… No, maybe he finally made his mind up. Maybe they finally trust him. He spun around in the air and shot back to the origin of the sound. He raced through the forest, sunlight dappling his path and his body as he flew through the trees, faster than he probably should have been going. That didn't stop him from seeing their bodies.

Gunter Schulz, hanging upside down, blood leaking out of his mouth and from the gash on the back of his nearly-severed neck, his eyes staring sightless forwards.

Erd Gin, who lay on the ground which was slowly turning red from the blood that flowed thickly from the two halves of his body that had been unceremoniously flung to the ground, his blank eyes staring upwards as blood trickled from his slack mouth.

Oluo Bossard, who was lying on his side on the ground, his back and neck bent at odd angles, blood leaking from a dozen lacerations hidden beneath his blood-stained clothing.

Petra Ral, who had been thrown up against a tree, her back and neck broken, her head thrown back with a stream of blood flowing from her mouth and nose, and a trail of blood from a meter or so up the tree leading down to her limp body.

Levi hung above her corpse for a moment; with each body he had passed his eyes grew colder and his thoughts turned blank from the white-hot rage that flowed within him.

But it wasn't just rage; it was despair and sorrow and guilt because they were dead because of his orders, because he had somehow subconsciously prevented them from completely trusting Eren, because he had ultimately led them to their deaths, like others before them. But these people were different; they had long since ceased to be nameless faces and people who had died performing their duty. No, they had become comrades, companions, even friends in Levi's own cold, stoic way.

And now they were dead, their mutilated bodies slowly cooling. Levi blinked and tore his gaze away from Petra's body, back to where the sounds of fighting and inhuman roars were coming from. He had known it since Eren's initial roar but he had foolishly deluded himself into thinking for even a split second that maybe, just maybe, they were all alive and they had trusted Eren enough to let him transform. But no, they were dead now, dead before their lives had truly begun. Levi clenched his swords, the memory of you will push me onwards, and I will kill them all!

Levi awoke in a cold sweat, his eyes dry with numbing horror. Oh God, their faces, flashing in his mind, one after the other, repeating again and again and again, endlessly for who knows how long. Gunter, Erd, Oluo, Petra; their faces flashing in his eyes, a mixture of alive and dead, their faces tight with life and anger and their faces slack and void of everything but the reflection of the world around them.

Their names were in his head, on the tip of his tongue, present in every fiber of his being; he knew what seemed like everything about them and while he couldn't recall meeting them before he felt like he had. It was a terrifying thing, feeling like his thoughts, his memories, and maybe even his mind weren't even his own to control, not anymore.

School began the next day; Zoe was not in Levi's class this year, which was unfortunate but expected nevertheless. What Levi did not expect was to see four very familiar and very much alive faces when he walked into his classroom.

There was a short girl with short orange hair and vibrant amber eyes; there was a somewhat tall boy with ash-blond hair that turned darker underneath, with stormy gray eyes; the second boy had long blond hair pulled up into a ponytail and light brown eyes; the last boy had tanned skin, dark brown hair that was smoothed to a point at the back of his head, and dark brown eyes.

Levi froze when he saw them; they were mirror images of the people he had seen in his dreams the other night and although they were younger there was no mistaking them. The orange-haired girl, no, Petra, turned and spotted him, a broad grin quickly appearing on her face before she flounced up, oblivious to his startled expression. "Hi, I'm Petra Ral! What's your name?"

"Petra," the ash-blond boy called out, "Not everyone is as happy to see you as you are to see them!" Petra turned around, her eyes blazing, "Oh go bite your tongue a bit Oluo," she snipped back before turning back to Levi. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the little group that she, Oluo, Erd, and Gunter had formed, chattering excitedly the entire time.

Levi could barely understand what was going on; surely these people weren't real. Maybe he was one of those-future seers, which would make sense since none of the four seemed to recognize him. He was still numb with shock when he got off the bus that afternoon. The shock quickly turned to guilt when he remembered the entirety of his dream; they had died in part because of his foolish mistakes.

Carla looked at the stick again, double checking because what she was seeing wasn't quite connecting with her brain. She stared at it, a ball of excitement slowly building up in the pit of her stomach before it burst. Carla jolted up and dropped the pregnancy test in the waste bin, scrubbing her hands till they were the color of red lobster shells as the spark of realization passed through her head.

She jerked the door open and came face-to-face with Grisha, who had his hand stretched out for the doorknob. They stared at each other for a few moments before Carla beamed and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his frame. "I'm pregnant," she whispered, her voice hoarse with excitement, "We're finally going to have a child."

She felt Grisha smile into the top of her head and he pulled back so he could kiss her on the temple. "That's fantastic news!" he said, a grin of his own matching Carla's. "Don't even ask me when I'll be due," Carla said, "because I have absolutely no idea." Grisha shook his head in bemusement, "Do you really think that matters right now?" Carla looked up at him and smiled, "No, not at all."

Levi scribbled on his paper absently as he thought about everything that had happened in the last two months. His mother was pregnant again, which brought Levi a pang of hope every time he thought about it. I'm sure this time will be the one; he thought furiously, I'll only be seven years older, that's not too bad.

That line of thoughts occupied his mind about half of the time, warring constantly with the thoughts of Petra, Erd, Gunter, and Oluo. The guilt, no matter how ridiculous and unfounded it seemed to be to him, was ever-present and consuming; it ate away at Levi till he could barely stand it. He quickly grew accustomed to throwing up walls and barriers so they couldn't see the guilt and agony he felt first thing when he saw them as soon as he walked into the classroom.

Making himself into a cold, unreachable person was second nature; it had just needed a bit of practice before Levi had everything under control. So long as he kept them from knowing the burdens of his thoughts and dreams all would be well.

He listened as Petra and Oluo argued with each other, going on about something involving the benefits of knocking Oluo's teeth out so that he wouldn't bite his tongue constantly, a topic that brought an expression of horror and mock anger to Oluo's face. Erd and Gunter listened to their banter, occasionally adding a comment to the argument.

"I'm telling you Oluo, if you just let us wrap your tongue up with some bubble wrap or something like that you'd never bite your tongue again." Oluo shook his head violently from side to side, "Better than knocking my teeth out but I'm still not letting a brat like you near my mouth." Petra smiled at him then, cocking her head to the side before she punched him in the arm.

Oluo bit his tongue again when she did that, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. Levi wordlessly handed him a box of tissues, which he had learned to keep handy around Oluo.

He knew that Oluo had picked up the habit of calling people 'brat' from him, similar to many other things that Oluo had adopted from him, ranging from his hairstyle, which had been cut so that the underside about halfway down his head was shaved, leaving the rest to hang over the buzz a bit, to his new patters of speech and comments.

Levi also couldn't help but notice that Oluo looked at Petra in a way akin to how his mother and father looked at each other; loving and warm and so gently that had his gaze been physical a person could not have felt it. It's strange, Levi thought as he watched the two bicker, it's so obvious he loves her… I wonder why she hasn't noticed.

By early December the Jaeger household had learned that the child would be born sometime during April; they pinned the expected due date at April the fourth. Levi sighed as he stared out the window in the living room, watching the world as it was blanketed with snow. School had been cancelled due to the icy roads and the thickly falling snow, which showed no signs of letting up anytime soon.

He could hear his mother humming in the kitchen as she made hot chocolate, the soft clink of glasses and the hiss of boiling water drifting through the house. Levi sighed; April was four long, dull months away. But he had waited this long for his little brother, so surely he could wait just a bit longer.

Chapter 8: End

Two very important notes for you to read:

One: yes, I am aware that it is taking a while for Eren to appear, but you have to understand that I am also trying to get Levi at an age where he can understand what has happened without being too overloaded. After all, not many five year old children think that they're reincarnated. However, never fear, Eren shall be here in the next chapter~

Two: yes, I did have to write the squad and their deaths. Why? Because they are relatively important in the next chapter, so long as I can get everything to work out of course -_-

Expect the next chapter to come out sometime tomorrow afternoon and nothing on Saturday at all. Thank you all for reading this story and for all your wonderful feedback!