She was born to be the woman we could blame; make me a beast half as brave, I'd be the same. She was gone before i ever got to say, "lay here my love, you're the only shape i'll pray to."
Levi tried a door, banging through a couple other before someone came out to stop him. Nule. Out of all people. It had to be that idiot. Military Police ontop of that , it was like they couldn't fucking win. He heralded the door the man came up with and stalked towards it, catching sight of her in the door way, lit by the early morning light. He'd found Erwin, and now he was going for her.
"Captain Levi-" Nule attempted.
"Hey, move out of my fucking way, I can still kick your ass if needed, I'm not that injured," Levi had him out of the way, but decided to add something for injury. "It'd take something crushing my entire body to not do damage to you. Military Police." he kept his sentences fairly clipped, and pulled his insults, here for Zoe, rather than an argument.
Nule crossed his arms over his chest, and opened his eyes, trying to find something to say, but Levi had snapped the door closed in the man's face before he could. He turned back, leg giving for just an instant, surprised to see her whole, compared to Erwin. Zoe shifted in the large bed, numerous pillows under her head, barely taking up space under the blankets. Levi dragged a chair with him, sitting close to her, knees knocking against the bed.
She smiled over at him, shifting her arm slowly to him. There were wraps up and down her arm, covering stitches. LEvi had been by while the carts rolled past, wondered how she'd gotten her arm so wrapped up in wires, but then another person passed like that, and he supposed it was a common thing. Another severe bruise to her leg, fractured lung, and something had gone wrong with her eye. As well as numerous body bruises, so bad she could hardly move.
"I can't fuck you, you know that," she mumbled.
"Shut up," he said, grabbing her hand a bit too tight and making her wince. "Why the hell did you go out there? You're worse than Erwin."
"mmm, I saved his life, Levi, you should be thanking me."
"His hand is off, Zoe, you can do better."
She raised her eyebrows, and he stood up, sitting on the edge of her bed. "What?"
"Let me see the damage."
"Levi-"
"Please."
Zoe gave him a long look, then sighed. She nudged at the covers and he tugged them back for her, eyeing the wrap on her chest, shorts at her slight hips, heart giving a jump when he saw her leg, wrapped tight in bandages. Levi wondered how many more leg injuries she could sustain. He let the blanket fall away, swallowing thickly, wanting to snap at her, do something to offset the fear that she wasn't going to be alright. A little whine emanated, and he looked to her, saw one of her cord marked hands, thought how lucky he was that she'd made it back with 40 out of the 100 that had originally made it. How lucky she was, and wondered when it was going to run out.
He sat back against the headboard, wanting to burrow close to her, but he'd hurt her if he did that. Levi was helpless in this region as well, and he didn't know what to do anymore, everything was going to shit, and he didn't want her to follow as well.
"Are you okay?" he whispered, then shook his head. "Fuck, you're not okay, but are you comfortable?"
"Sjeh is going to kill you when she finds you in here," she murmured, eyelids drooping, shifting closer to her missing blankets. "I'm fine, if you'll put my covers back over me."
"Shit, Zoe, you're going to kill me," he breathed, settling slowly where he was, drawing blankets back over them both, kicking his shoes off. "I swear, my heart's going to give, shiting Titans won't have a chance to eat and shit me out."
"They don't-"
"I know, Zoe, they don't do fucking squat with their...food."
"Is Erwin alright?" she asked, easing her head slowly onto his chest, wincing as she did, but she rested without movement when she found her place.
"Yea," Levi brushed a soft hand through her hair, making sure to barely put any pressure there. "he wanted me to check that you were alright."
"Is this you checking?"
"Yes."
Sjeh broke in at that moment, and Levi had to hold himself back from flinching, sincerely scared of the woman, mostly because she'd caused him a lot of pain the many times she'd looked over his legs. As well as cornering him once or twice; once he took his eyes off her, she moved faster than he did, it was ridiculous. She glared at him, and he glanced down at Zoe, eyebrows raising as he realized she was asleep, head tucked down slightly, a hand clutched in his shirt.
"Oh look," the stout woman snorted. "It's Rivaille." How many times did he have to hear that in the Capital?
He raised his eyes to the ceiling, mouthing around a sigh as she bustled around the room. Sjeh tapped Zoe awake, voice dropping to a considerably kinder tone as she coaxed the half-asleep woman to drink pain medicine. Zoe fell asleep as soon as her cheek rested back on him, and Levi looked to Sjeh, raising his eyebrows, as if to say he was winning whatever competition the woman was setting. Levi supposed the prize wavered around who made Zoe more 'comfortable'.
"Wipe that smirk off your face," Sjeh snapped, arranging more, softer looking as well, blankets around Zoe, fluffing the pillow, managing to bat his head as she moved. "You are the worst person to be in a relationship with. I'd prefer Erwin, or someone inside wall Sina, who she doesn't traipse about outside the wall with."
"Erwin," Levi stated, spread his hand briefly to the side. "Eyebrows. Blonde. Constipation. Lacking one arm at the moment."
"Yes."
"The Commander of the Scout Regiment; I wanted to double check that you know his title, yea? So, essentially, he's just a bad of choice as I am for her, I don't know what you're making your assumptions based on."
"At least he's proper tall," Sjeh said, didn't even try to hide her swing, batting him around the head with decidedly less comfortable pillow than any of the ones around him at the moment. "And a commander."
Levi raised his eyes to the ceiling again, but Sjeh invaded that safe space as well, eyebrows twisting up expressively as she glared down at him.
"I'm taller than her," Levi finally squawked, and Zoe twitched, making Sjeh freeze, midway through another pillow swing, and they waited for the minute it took for her to fall back asleep.
"You're smaller than me," Sjeh snapped, yanking the blankets back for a second, eyes flickering over Zoe's bandages, then her wrapped leg, ointment under them. "With you, she's gotten more bruises, and less sleep. Haven't even heard you say I love you, and the girl dotes on you like you're her horse; and you aren't even as tall as the horse, nor as smart."
"You're calling me her horse now, aren't you finished with the tirade?"
Sjeh's eyes widened, and she stared at him for a good second, then spoke slowly, "No, in fact, I am not."
"Look, you wanna hear it, or something?"
"What?"
"the love word."
"you can't even-"
"I love her. Is that good enough? Swear you're acting like her mother, or something."
"She's a female commander, I think Mary already did something wrong, personally, because the stress-" Sjeh stopped herself. "At least you love her. But you used to strut around after you were done with her like a- Shit, you're an arrogant little twerp," Sjeh swatted around his head, and Levi almost yelped, leaning away as far as he could instead.
She was halfway out the door when he decided to get in the last word, "Bad language, Sjeh, it's really coming down to it, isn't it?"
The woman's face screwed up, and she bounced Nule away with her hip, slamming the door after her. Levi shifted himself, saw Zoe's smile, knew she was awake, and murmured her name. Zoe cracked an eye open, smiled again, then curled herself close, body giving a short shake, before she slept properly, and Levi knew he should've checked. She was much craftier than he gave her credit for.
It's all gonna shift, it's out of our hands. Baby if you could know, you would hatch a plan; that's my, that's my man. If we're gonna die, bury us alive, if they're searching for us they'll find us side by side; that's my, that's my man. This world is gonna burn, burn burn burn; as long as we're going down, Baby you should stick around. The earth breaks; it falls and save your beat. I'd find myself swallowed, drowning in your heat(..)
Pixis opened the door for him, allowed him and Zoe to walk through, though she couldn't honestly walk at the moment, hefted in his arms instead, wincing everytime he moved. She held on a bit tighter, head tipped to his collarbone, resting safe as he set her down on the given chair, shifting slowly. Erwin gave her a slight smile, which she returned, though pain instantly twisted it down.
Levi hovered around her for a second, waiting for a nod, dragging up a less comfortable seat. The old man watched, lids drooped slightly, out of uniform like all of them, except his Garrison Troop, standing against the wall. Erwin took a large breath, lifting his chin, fixing his calm gaze on Zoe, and giving her a tiny smile.
"Thank you for sparing me any further harm."
"You were very inspiring," she said, lips crooking up in amusement. "But I decided that I didn't want to deal with your replacement."
"Of course, you received your injuries when the Titans began flying."
Zoe smiled wide then, thought it faded again when she moved. "I think Hanji might be amused. And, if we use the right tone, I think we could make her believe in flying Titans."
"Four-eyes can't see shit without her glasses, you could do it," Levi said, cozying up to her further, knew he was being maybe slightly pathetic, but he just
A beat of silence, and attention was shifted to the old man, Pixis's mustache giving a tell-tale twitch before he began,"It was only one week after the incident that the safety within wall Rose was confirmed. Well, truthfully; we had no choice but to declare Wall Rose safe within the week. We've already let the refugees return to the surface. and perhaps I should say it's fortunate that even amidst all the chaos, only one incident required MP intervention. When we tried to evict the illegal residents squatting in the city underground, there was a conflict with the stationary guard in one area," the old man broke off to nod at Zoe.
"Despite the fact we've abstained from the underground and normal criminal activity, we essentially had to stuff a good thousand men and women down there, as the Lords and Ladies had dug in their heels, are still aren't cooperating, refusing to let even a hundred common people sleep in their sprawling estates. They're taxing us now for lack of wildlife and trampled farms, so," Zoe said, sighing heavily, looking more worn than ever.
Pixis gave a nod, hailing the end of her sentence before he continued, "There were no deaths, but this incident had a huge impact within the wall. It was like hell had been unleashed for a moment. After seeing it for ourselves, we can be certain that one week after Wall Rose falls, people will begin to destroy one another over issues that seem so petty otherwise."
"I'm sorry, Erwin," Levi shifted, stabilizing his arm over the edge of the chair. "You'd finally recovered to the point of being able to talk. I'm sure hearing about this week is enough to make you want to take to being bed ridden again. As well as you, Zoe."
"No, I've had enough sleep," Erwin said, calm demeanor set as always, and Levi was reminded of Sjeh's word; proper. "Continue."
Levi missed a beat, his eyes at his Commander's missing arm. "It's too bad about your right arm."
He didn't know why the man was smiling, Erwin's eyes traveling over the area before he spoke again, "How many hundreds of people do you think I've fed to the Titans by now? One arm's hardly enough to make up for that. I'll pay off my debts in hell one day."
"Well said, Erwin," Pixis said. "will you let me join you in hell when that time comes?"
"What are you talking about, old man? Have you had enough too? It seems like you haven't had enough to drink yet."
Zoe lifted a hand, and brought it down over his stomach, pushing air up through his lungs. Still, he didn't back down from the slight name-calling he'd participated in, especially when Pixis' mustache gave a twitch in amusement at Zoe's abuse. She had more respect for the old man than he did, and quite frankly, she had respect for more people than he ever had.
"Indeed. I would like a drink now. but the alcohol's been confiscated. Somebody is determined to keep an eye on me until the bitter end." Pixis' eyes drifted to where his troop stood. The brunette let a little blush through, but didn't avert her gaze to them, just straightened further, though he'd thought that previously impossible.
Erwin gave a short laugh, "Looks like you have quite the exceptional subordinate."
Someone knocked at the door, and Levi didn't twitch, recognizing the borderline aggravating knock, "It's Hanji. Enter."
"Excuse me, Erwin," four-eyes said, easing the door open, saluting, "so you were here as well, Commander Pixis. Perfect timing. I'm here in regards to the investigative report for the incident. This is," she trailed off for the troop beside her to speak, giving a slight gesture to better indicate the smaller person.
"Connie Springer of the 104th training regiment!" he said, words crisp.
"His home town is the Ragako Village of interest. He joined my investigative squad due to his knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the incident."
"Connie; you've worked hard," Levi murmured, catching the boys eye for a second, knew what he'd see there; the look. A glimmer, maybe; flint now, unbroken by soft sentiments. The one Zoe had after her brother and sister in law didn't come back, had seen it in his own reflection, even, after his first expedition. Saw Isabel's head again, closed his eyes to it as he had hers before he'd gotten up, left them both there.
| basically, I cut out the debrief insert, as it's a big ass info chunk, and if you're not to that, I'd still just; you know. Also, wasn't really important; more for me |
Zoe flicked her hair off her shoulder, easing the bandage from her eye as Sjeh bustled in, quiet now. Levi watched her flush out Zoe's eyes out of the corner of his own, noticed the happy smile Sjeh gives her, the murmured assurance that 'it's going to be back in commission any day'. He almost smiled himself, despite the woman's presence, thinking that the day break between the recent debriefing and this was particularly nice. And he was in Erwin's room once again to give a more detailed answer to, "where is Eren?"
Levi shifted himself into a position that would make it harder for Zoe to hit him, though he was sure she could do it, and he'd let her because it was Zoe. "A little house out in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere. Where he is no doubt lumbering his ass around, spreading dirt. Do you know what he did to the landing floor of the castle, something I'd just swept?" Levi's gaze darkened, and he barely moved his lips, "he left muddy boot prints."
Erwin smiles again. "You really enjoy making him panic."
"Fault of mine."
"I can name a few more," Zoe said, and Levi scowled, heard Erwin chuckle into his hand.
He'd remind Erwin of his lack of arm (maybe sprinkle in something about constipation), but then, Zoe would hit him, so the movement had actually worked. Levi turned, took her hand to stop this, which had just recently healed itself, the slight offset sealing back over with Sjeh's practiced medicine. Also, general overbearing nature, general hovering that Zoe did to him once or twice before, and the ability to stand in a doorway(thus taking the place of the door) that kept Zoe in bed. But the muscle in her leg was still badly pulled, so, for now, Levi's and Zoe's to and from the house in the middle of nowhere was slower. The next day, he found Connie, roped him into doing that.
And he really wanted to catch Eren with the house slightly dirty; just to watch him squirm as he checked it over. Frankly, the kid should have things done; how much fucking time did he need? Eren had dealt with him for a month, as well as the constant cleaning checks that kept his Squad on their toes.
"Connie, if you wouldn't mind helping Zoe?" Levi asked, cutting over Zoe's attempt to say no.
The boy shifted quickly, just tall enough to be able to help her, not as strong as Levi was, so it was just leaning. Zoe was also trying to not put her weight on him, stammering over apologies as they went, and Levi dropped back briefly to Hanji, snapped out a couple orders on the back of 'four-eyes'. Said four-eyes rolled her normal ones, pushed her glasses up with barely a confirmation, to which he shrugged, gripped a rung on the cart, pulled himself up next to Zoe.
"Levi, you're so mean to Hanji," she sighed, her still bandaged wrist covered by his jacket as he slung it over her shoulders. Levi tugged his cravat out of place as they left Wall Sina, tucking it into place in her collar. She flicked her eyes to him, looking so fucking unamused that he almost kissed her, hiding his amusement with a stretch, and when his arms dropped, the cravat was flung in his face.
Nule (Nile, but Levi still purposely slapped a misnomer on the man, once hearing Zoe say it, and knew he'd won as Nule's eyes widened, all the attempted 'crackpots' finally dropping away as the name that bordered on Mule was passed around) had taken over Military Police command while she was still bed ridden, a large bag of Sjeh's medicine, along with very strict commands, next to him; Levi had actually been accosted in an alleyway by the woman, bringing up his own injury as she kept him from walking back out till he could repeat the proper way to administer the medicine.
"Four eyes talks too much," Levi said, sitting back down heavily beside her, shifting her hurt leg over one of his. "Just so you know, you're not getting out of the old woman's procedures."
"She's not that old, Levi."
"She hates me."
"I know."
Levi listened for something else before he sighed, let his head roll back, "You're not going to say shit else about it, are you?"
"I don't know what kind of support you want, Levi; I am but a poor guinea pig," she said, placing a hand to her chest.
He dipped in, but she laughed, ducking her head away. She'd been very self conscious with the eye thing, and Levi disliked that, knowing it was almost healed, and she should be alright. Also, he thought she was always beautiful, but he kept that close to his chest. And with the distance he was putting between him and Sjeh, he was fairly sure sex would be back on the menu. Sadly, the house was even less stable than the castle, so that was going to be an issue; because wooden walls were definitely paper compared to stone.
Briefly, he thought back to his old Squad, closed his eyes, remembering their collective chuckles when Zoe's mistake turned him into a temporary bird feeder. He'd let them have it, standing stock still while the birds pecked over seeds stuck on a sticky substance on his old cape. And she never did laundry again (a team effort), as well as Erd physically blocking her from cooking, looking desperate. He smiled over that enough for Auruo to take some notice, and Levi had turned into an exhibit as Hanji blew in out of nowhere, and stared at his face. Shitty four-eyes took fucking notes.
He opened his eyes, nodding with the memories, though they hurt.
Levi tucked her under his chin, being something of a back seat driver to Connie, but the kid listened. He eventually lost interest, happy that they were moving at a good rate, turning his attention back to Zoe. She looked up at him, raising her eyebrows, making a quiet little noise as he finally kissed her, arm sliding more secure around her back.
Slow and sweet; which was something he didn't attempt for, to be honest, but he wanted to make her smile. He felt the action against his lips, her hand slipping up to cup his face. The left one, with the bandage, he noticed, before he let his eyes droop half lidded, a hand smoothing up her good leg, just touching at the edge of her underwear. Thank fuck for her casual clothes, he really took them for granted at points. Zoe had his head in both hands now, tongue lashing against his, dissolving the slow and sweet part.
Levi curved forward, much more into this, her body warm against him, and he tugged her good hand down between them. Zoe pulled away slightly, biting her lip, the action not entirely meant to be a turn on, but it was fucking working for him. His eyes flicked towards Connie, but the cart was making enough noise to mask the sound of them.
He was close enough to whisper, arm tight around her waist, tugging her as close as he could get her, mumbling, "I bet I could get you off here," he turned his head, pushing it into her hair, "yea?"
"Levi. Later," all said very sternly; never worked.
she elbowed him, slapping his adventurous hand down and away. He caught that hand, lacing his fingers through hers, dropping to plant kisses over her collarbone, using his other hand to draw her knee up to his hip, the awkward space of the cart making it fairly difficult to get comfortable. Zoe gave hushed giggles, patting at him when he said something especially lewd in some disapproval, but he knew what to listen for.
He saw the house before she did, tipping away from her. Zoe looked surprised, but then glanced over her shoulder to where his new squad was, clustered in front of the large house, out in the middle of nowhere. Levi picked up the medicine bag before the cart came to a halt, easing off when it did, coaxing her after him. She did this very cautiously, but he caught her, ignoring the sharp stab of pain from his leg, dulled after weeks of rest. Hanji (& co.)came in a good time after them, and his leg hurt a bit more.
Eren watched him while Levi placed Zoe in a chair close to him, sitting at the head, the rest falling over each other to sit at the table. Levi glanced around the room, mood souring when his hand passed under the table, feeling a bit of wet under it. He flicked his eyes from his hand to Eren, noticing the boy jolt, hand going to his face before draining of color.
"There should've been plenty of time," he said, back to looking at his hand. "Well, whatever; we'll return to the issue of your half-assed cleaning later. We're going to review the situation at hand and set some directions. A lot has happened during this short time, but our original objective has not changed. In other words, we'd do well to plug up Wall Maria. If that were to happen, then most other things wouldn't matter. EVen if the guy next to you were to turn into a titan. Even if a fur-covered Titan were to come at you throwing rocks. Or even if the inside of the walls were filled with titans." murmurs went around the table, but it didn't last long, because he started talking again, "Oi, Armin; you were saying if things went well, the wall could be plugged up quickly. Tell us about that again."
Levi had told Zoe about the blonde kid, bringing up his impressive strategic skill, even if he wasn't a skilled soldier like Mikasa. At least he wasn't as difficult to control as Eren was. Also, much smarter, so Levi had made sure to include him in his squad. Made sure to needle Erwin about the child's intelligence, but then, his arm had come off, and now Erwin used that a hell of alot more than Levi thought decent.
"Yes, the plan was to use the abilities of a titanized Eren to plug up the hole in the wall. The wall appears, somehow, to be made from the hardened bodies of Tians so if the mass of bodies necessary to plug the hole could be produced right at the scene. If such a thing were possible, there would be no need to continuously transport in large amounts of material by wagon like in previous plans. In other words, we could make plans to aim for the actual location, on a night where Titans were inactive because of the weather or what not. If it's just by horse, the road from Trost district to Shiganshina District could be traveled in a single night. If these ideals could be realized. The the time needed for a plan to take back wall Maria would be less than a day."
Zoe's eyebrows lifted, everyone's expression surprised in some degree. Except Levi's, because he had quizzed the small blonde till he'd gotten another glare from Mikasa; apparently she protected everyone now. And still would glare at him. Even if it was her fault he was grounded. He kept his eyes on Armin, waiting for the stretch of silence to pass.
"But as expected, now that I say it again, it sounds about as likely as catching clouds," Armin said.
"Whether those cloud can be turned into something all depends on this guy," Levi murmured, eyes going to Eren.
"Yes. Understood," Eren's voice quivered just slightly, but all in all, he sounded determined.
Levi turned in his chair to look at Hanji, "You heard him, Hanji. He wants to do it. So then, it falls to you to choose a suitable place for experimentation."
"Yes," Hanji said, eyes locking with his. "of course, so long as I live, that is my responsibility."
"Huh?" Levi's brow furrowed slightly.
"Currently, the Garrison is Patrolling the wall with a general mobilization. That requires an absurd amount of effort and personnel. To say the least of security loosening in the wall cities, at this, rate, they won't even be able to maintain the peace. That wall Maria must be retaken. I believe that more than ever before. I want to let everyone be at peace as soon as possible. I want to create a world where people can live without fighting amongst one another. Therefore, I don't want to lose anytime interesting Eren's power. Without reservations this time. Of course, we must experiment with the hardening ability, as well as the specifics of Titan transformation. There's also the amazing possibility that he might've been able to control other Titans. If that's really possible, then humanity just might be able to turn it's current situation around!" Hanji was staring down, tense where she sat. "Which is why I can't stand to sit like this! We have to move quickly. However. I want Eren to keep a low profile for a little while longer."
Eren made a surprised noise, and Armin jolted forward as well, saying, "But why is that?"
"Well,the situations is more complicated that we had thought," Hanji said.
"C'mon now. I'm sure that since you guys came here, waiting has been like struggling not to shit yourselves when it's on the verge of leaking out." Levi saw Zoe's huge eye roll, obviously not amused by the shit analogy. "You're even making those faces now. As to why you guys need to keep waiting to shit; Hanji, tell us why."
"Pastor Nick has died," Hanji said.
Levi and the others at the table made suprised noises, this news fresh to him as well. He could make a shit joke out of that as well, he'd keep that on the backburner. A last minute annoyance.
"This morning, within the grounds of Trost District military barracks, Pastor Nick was found dead. The cause of death is unknown, but he was killed. Finger nails ripped out, but they still claim robbery-murders. I managed to assign the blame, due to the two Central First Military Police Brigade soldier. Djer Sanes, the skin on his knuckles was torn. They tortured him, and killed him."
"Djer Sanes does not go down to Trost," Zoe murmured, stucking in a breath. "And you have to understand, Hanji, Levi, that I'm a figurehead, at points. And very much lacking hold on power, with my second in command position. Yes, I have complete control over my men on many terms, but there are many factors that influence them, and the orders they obey; as well as the Central first being under someone else's orders. Nule is in charge at the moment; and we all know how that works."
Family first, Levi thought, finger tracing a groove in the table. Admirable, maybe, but he'd never really want family to grow up in a corrupt world. Rather truth than comfort.
"Of course," Hanji nodded, "And I thought that the wall religion wouldn't just lead Nick be, after he had cooperated with the Survey Corps. Which is why I had concealed his true identity and had him placed within the military barracks; aided by Zoe, in some ways. To think that they'd kill him by using the Central Military Police. I was too naive. I have some responsibility in his death."
Quiet reigned for a good beat of time, and Levi picked up the cup in front of him, drinking quietly. He reached, stabbing his pinky into Zoe's tea, judging the temperature before pulling it over to him as well, draining it in quicktime. She waved the pot down to her end, turning to better block him from her tea, pouring it in. When the stream stopped, conversation resumed.
"Torture," Eren said, as if it was hard to believe. "The military police tortured Pastor Nick."
"Were they trying to find out how much he had said to us?" Armin asked.
Levi answered, "Indeed, they must have asked whether he had revealed the connection between the wall religion and the Reiss family. As well as the whereabouts of Eren and Historia."
Everyone took another beat, looking to the little blonde girl at the end of the table. Previously Christa, her true name had been revealed to be Historia, born out of wedlock to a powerful faction within the walls. Connections to royalty, and secrets were held close. She was useful, and so she was out here.
One of Hanji's men spoke, her Assistant Squad Leader, "of course, since the events of this morning, the situation has been shared with Commander Erwin, Commander Pixis, and now you, as well as the rest of the Survey Corps. So now, the Central Military Police is being monitored by us, so they shouldn't be able to move too recklessly. But looking at it another way, now they have any number of ways to find this place out, right? Now we don't know who is friend or foe anymore. When coming here today as well, we split up and made sure we weren't followed. I think this place hasn't been discovered yet."
Levi raised his eyes to Hanji, "So, have you been thinking about the preparations of Eren's experimentation, Hanji?"
"Yea," she responded. "As soon as Eren's Titan power became clear, "Something within central has been moving desperately to get its hands on Eren." Her eyes when briefly to Zoe. "However, after the disturbance this time, their sense of urgency has clearly changed. They've walked into previously entered Territory and though nothing of splitting the military into two camps. And more over, with everything within the wall unsettled, as well…. When you think about this situation, normally the comrades of "enemies from outside: like Reiner and the other were really always in Central this whole time. In other words, what we should really fear is a fatal stab in the back while we're busy looking beyond the wall."
"So?" Levi said. "Are you trying to say that we should just wait quietly and have a tea party, or something?"
"There are still many things you can do inside, sewing, and so forth. Please, just for now."
Sewing. He almost laughed at her.
"Just for now?" Levei repeated back. "That is mistake. It's the opposite. Do you think they'll just give up as time passes? They'll find this place eventually," and Zoe, fuck, fuck, he should've left her back, but still, it was as safe as she could get. "If we're just running away, the more time passes, the more we'll be driven to the wall. Hanji, You're usually quite sharp. However, after feeling responsible for Nick's Death, you've become a defeatist. How many of Nick's nails were torn?"
Hanji didn't seem to comprehend, brow tensing.
"How many?" he asked.
"I don't know," she said, "I could only see for an instant, but as fair as I could see, all of his fingernails were torn out."
Levi's eyebrow raised slightly, before he gaze down at the table, overcast, almost. "A guy that will talk, will just talk with one pulled out; but a guy that won't talk, will remain the same no matter how many are pulled out. Pastor Nick, I thought he was just an idiot, but he didn't deviate from what he believed in, even until the very end, yea?"
Four-eyes murmured something under her breath, eyes blocked by the light reflected in her glasses. Thus the term.
"If chances are high that Nick didn't spill, then perhaps that"something" from central hasn't taken notice that the Survey Corps is monitoring the Reiss family." He held up two fingers, "Well, as I see it, there are two ways to go now. Go out before we get stabbed in the back or go after eliminating the one that will stab us in the back." Levi looked to Hanji, saw her inability to make up her mind as he dropped both fingers. "Which will it be for you, Hanji? Go out before getting stabbed?"
Hanji's jaw clenched, the room deathly quiet, as no one seemed to be breathing, waiting for the deciding factor, in some parts. Her hands fisted once on the arms of the padded chair, and she looked up. Steel was back in her eyes, and Levi kept a bit of peripheral attention on Zoe, wondering what she would've said.
"Both," Hanji stated. "LEt's do both at the same time."
All eyes were on her, as Levi said, "That's what Erwin would say as well.
Too much power ain't enough power; brain splattered like I've fallen off a Watchtower.