Humanity's Strongest Woman

by xDollfie

In every empire, there is an epic era that defies the boundaries of time and immortalized itself in the history books. For mankind, an epic era they will never forget has finally emerged. The war between humanity and Titans has finally come to a head. Love cease to exist in a time like this, but they found it, and promised that it'll be worth it. Every stubborn inch of it [LEVIXOC]

15. Truth Uncovered

Chapter Revamped: 19 March 2020

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Humanity's Strongest Woman by xDollfie

Chapter 13 — Truth Uncovered

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Click.

Ida Starke grimaced grimly as she secured the last of her gears. Grabbing her cloak, she stared at the Wings of Freedom logo on it for a few moments, before swinging it around her shoulders and fastening it around her neck. A knock on her door disrupted her from her thoughts and she turned around just as it swung open.

"It's time," Levi Ackerman stated in a low monotone, leaning idly against the doorframe. "Hurry up."

She stared at him briefly, before averting her eyes away. Levi was dressed in casual attire. Ida was so used to seeing him in his uniform that she had forgotten about his unhealed injury. A cold lump formed in her throat when she remembered this was the first time she was going on an operation without him.

"I know. I'm almost done."

"Do you want to quit?" he inquired firmly, observing her unrest.

"Since when did you decide that it was okay to ask unnecessary questions?" Ida shot back snappily, avoiding eye contact.

He raised a brow at her sharp comment. "Since I saw your shitty state."

Biting into her lip, she forced herself to look at him. She could never hide anything from him, Levi was just too sharp. She breathed out heavily, before deciding to change the topic in her favor. "Your shirt is crooked," Ida pointed out, noting how his black suit was shifted towards the left side. Seeing his unamused expression at her comment, she sighed wearily. "Where's Erwin?"

"With your team downstairs, we're all waiting for your slow ass," he told her brusquely.

With her gaze still dejected on the ground, Ida heard him walk further into the room.

"Let's go then," Ida replied hastily, taking one last look at her reflection in the wall-length mirror.

You can do this, she told herself grimly, moving towards the exit of the room. She didn't realize that Levi was standing behind her and she bumped into him. Looking up at him briefly, she angled herself away from him and continued on her walk towards the exit.

"Those brats will be depending on your guidance," Levi reminded her dryly just as she passed him, turning around to look at her, he continued on. "It takes more than strength to guide others — you're the most veteran soldier among them."

Ida grimaced at his reminder, pausing in her steps. Turning around to face to her Captain, she considered his wise advice for a moment before replying. "Save the talk. I know that well enough. You don't have to keep reminding me about that, you know? I won't screw this up."

"Do you plan to do things freely again?" Levi confronted her with a scowl, stopping her in her tracks again. "After all, you once thought it's fun to eat our strategies recklessly."

Smiling softly at his harsh accusation, she waved a hand as if to wave off his concerns. "I cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. So don't worry about me and stick to worrying about taking care of yourself since you will be surrounded by those Military pigs. I'm sure it'd be a pleasant day for you," she told him sardonically, moving past him and towards the meeting room in the hallway.

"I hate having unnecessary casualties," Levi reminded her evenly, following behind. "Use your judgment properly to avoid blunders that may cost lives."

"I don't need your advice. I know what I am doing." Ida was growing tired of his constant reminder. She knew that Levi valued preserving human life and cares greatly for the welfare of his subordinates, but his constant nagging was getting a little annoying to her — did he have that little faith in her? But as that thought crossed her mind, she was reminded of what a failure of a soldier she was and her anger immediately dissipated.

Just as Levi placed her hand on the wooden door leading to the room where the rest of the squad was waiting, Ida's voice halted him. "Hey, take care of Erwin for me. I heard he'd be with you. I know that the Military pigs are dying to get their hands on him."

"Starting to mend your estranged relationship now?" Levi grimaced sarcastically, looking as bored as ever. "I can't promise you that with the shitty state I'm in right now," he said, pushing the door open. "Let's go."

Ida's lips thinned at his remark, but she did not let it bother her. She knew that he would never let anything to Erwin — the Commander of the Survey Corps was a far too important man.

She greeted the people in the room with a stiff nod and a dull expression. Erwin stood up from his chair, holding a sheet of paper. "The military escorts will be arriving soon, remember your sham practice and your positions," he told a bunch of recruits, before moving his gaze towards Ida by his sides. "Ida Starke will be your squad leader for this operation."

Ida moved her gaze towards Armin, Mikasa, and Eren; members of her temporarily squad that she will take charge of. She crossed her arms.

"Well, let's hope that we won't screw things over again," she said in a grim tone.

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

BOOOOOM!

"What the hell is that noise?!" A Survey Corps soldier shouted in panic when the impact of the loud boom resonated through the underground tunnels, shaking the narrow tunnel in its fury. A rain of dust dropped from above the brick roofs, showing signs of age.

Ida gritted her teeth, studying the situation. The plan was to lure Annie Leonhart to the underground tunnels where they could subdue her if she were to transform, but from the sounds above, Ida could discern that things had gone awry. "Tch. It appears that Eren and the others have failed to capture the Female Type Titan! Plan A has failed! Let's go!"

She started to hastily sprint through the underground tunnels, with members of the Squad three following behind her shortly. She ran up the concrete gray stairs leading to the designated meeting spot with her squad.

"Oi!" Ida called out, waving at a frenzied looking Armin, Mikasa, and Eren running from the other end of the narrow underground passage. "What the hell happened?!"

"It's the third squad and Squad Leader!" Armin quickly told his friends, sprinting towards them to regroup. "Plan A has failed! We have to switch to Plan B right now!"

Ida opened her mouth to speak, but only a loud gasp of realization escaped her lips when she felt a distinctive rumble above the grounds above her.

"Get back! She's above us!" Ida screamed loudly to warn the other soldiers. With unprecedented reflexes, she grabbed onto the nearest soldier's collar and shot her grapple, reeling herself and the stunned soldier forward to safety.

"WHA!?"

BWOOOSHHH!

The brick roof above them came crumbling down with the impact of the grotesque Female Titan foot, burying the screaming soldiers underneath and granting instant death.

"Squad leader!"

A loud cough echoed through the narrow tunnels, the dusty smoke from the fall of the roof dissipating into thin air, revealing a fiery-haired woman crouching down on the floor. Ida hissed in annoyance, her heart rate elevating when she realized she had just escaped a narrow death. She snapped her head back to look at the rubble, before moving her eyes to the soldier she had grabbed before making her lucky escape.

An indescribable expression flashed across her face when she saw that the subordinate she had tried to save was half-buried under the rubble. Blood was leaking out between the cracks of the rubble. There was no way that any human could survive a blow like that. She clenched her jaw, reluctantly letting go of her grip on her fallen comrade's collar.

She had failed to save her subordinates once again.

Burying her emotions, she stood up hastily and turned around to look at her squad. She felt her chest tighten when she absorbed their stunned and frightened looks, reminding her that they were depending on her with their lives. She couldn't possibly afford to break down now, she was a leader today — people depended on her.

That's right, you're doing great.

"We've got to help them!" Eren finally snapped out of his stunned state, charging forward towards the large rubble to save the soldiers buried underneath.

Mikasa held him back by the shoulder, bellowing in a loud frantic voice. "Eren! You stay back!"

"But what about them?!" Eren argued back in disbelief that his adoptive sister would allow their comrades to die like that.

Ida looked on with a bitter look, remembering how she used to be like that — allowing her emotions to get the better of her, reckless, naïve and completely stupid.

But where has that gotten her? A dead squad and a grieving heart full of regrets.

This was the reality, there are bound to be casualties no matter how hard she tried. In a cruel world such as this, Ida realized she had to keep going even if she failed instead of going by her usual morals of fighting until she succeeded. There was no such thing as virtuousness or honorability in a merciless world like this.

In a world where death was constant and common, Ida couldn't afford to be grieving.

"Leave them, Eren," Ida commanded swiftly, putting to rest any debate between Eren and his adoptive sister. "We'll die here if we stay here any longer. The Female Titan is making a gamble. That crazy bitch made a reckless gamble that Eren wouldn't get crushed underfoot, and that makes the situation much shitter for us. We'll continue on with Plan B. Eren will turn into a Titan and assist the legion in capturing the Female Type Titan alive."

"Huh?" Eren spluttered, still in shock. Mikasa and Armin only stared at Ida, fully absorbing the situation with a grim expression.

"She cut off our escape route and staying here is simply going to get our asses killed." Ida immediately took control of the situation, her brain actively plotting a way to get out of this mess. Pursing her lips in annoyance, she turned back to the young Titan Shifter. "Eren, turn into a Titan immediately."

"Y — Yes!" Eren nodded, signaling them to come closer to him. "Come closer!"

Everyone huddled around him that instance. Ida watched with bated breath as he lifted his hand towards his mouth and bit down hard. His teeth sank into his soft flesh, a pool of blood accumulating at his freshly instilled wounds.

"Eh…?" Armin echoed, seconds after realizing that Eren still had not transformed.

"Why now!?" Eren gripped onto the hand and bit down hard again, the pain throbbing through his body. He fell to his knees, screaming in agony when the aching burn resonated through his arms and into his body. "Aw, shit! It hurts, damn it!"

"You can't transform without a clear goal in your mind right?" Armin asked, panic anchoring his tone. "Picture it in your mind in vivid details and try again!"

Eren bit onto his hand once more, feeling the agonizing pain surge through his veins. Despite the torment, he bit down, again and again, each time harder and more violent, but no matter what — his body just wouldn't listen to his commands. "That's exactly what I am doing! But… it just doesn't work!"

Mikasa looked down grimly on her adoptive brother, crouching over to meet him at eye-level. "Isn't it all because you're hesitant… about fighting Annie?" Her voice was low and serious, accusing even. "Don't tell me that you still think that even now, Annie being the Female Type might be just you imagining things? Didn't you see it happen before your eyes?"

"S — Shut up!" Eren growled, his teeth still plunged deep into his hand, but the flickering determination in his eyes wasn't enough to convince Mikasa and neither did his words. "I'm resolved to fight that Titan, don't you get it?!"

Ida assessed the situation with a depressing look. "Forget it, let's stick to another plan. Mikasa and Armin, get out of here using the two exits simultaneously. The Female Type will surely go after one of you, I'll handle Eren from here on and protect him. Let the other standby scouts help you deal with that bitch in the meantime, and make sure that you do your damnedest not to get your asses killed."

Mikasa and Armin nodded stiffly upon receiving her orders.

"Let's go!" Armin stood up, moving towards the destroyed entrance that they came from. But Mikasa was more hesitant, throwing another concerned look towards Eren before following Armin.

"W — Wait! Ida-san, what are you doing?! With this plan one of them will die for sure!" Eren protested desperately, but Ida simply ignored his pleas.

"If we stay here, all four of us will die," Armin argued grimly, looking back at Eren with a flash of disappointment but yet laced with mutual understanding. He raised his hand in a signal. "Mikasa, on your mark!"

"Mikasa!" Eren shouted desperately, hoping that his beloved adoptive sister would stop, but the jet-black haired female went towards her assigned opening.

With another signal from Armin, Mikasa propelled herself out of the dungeon without another word.

"Ida-san!" Eren screeched in a severely distressed voice, looking back at Ida for answers. "How can you let those two fight against her?! They'll die!"

BAM!

Ida launched a rough kick towards Eren's face, sending him flying towards the wall. Her emerald eyes were narrowed down vehemently at the boy. "You stinking brat," she growled menacingly with utmost hatred. "Do I need to beat your little Titan ass like how Levi did to knock some sense into you?"

"Ugh…" Eren held onto his bleeding nose, looking up with wide eyes at the approaching figure emitting a murderous aura. "W — Wait… Ida-san!"

Grabbing onto his collar, Ida pulled him towards her violently. She could feel the rage within her flare. "I'm not as understanding as your friends, and I certainly do not give a shit about your opinion on your Titan turning bitch out there! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Eren was really testing her limits, and soon enough, she would be at her limit.

"I — Ida-san..." Eren found it hard to reply with the murderous glare she was emitting — he had seen her mad before, livid even, but the anger she was emitting now was on a whole other level. Her hands were trembling as if to hold back her anger, her eyes were flashing in rage and even her voice sounded strained — as if anchored and sore from the surge of pain she was feeling.

"We've entrusted the world, humanity and even our lives to you and this is how you repay us?! By letting our subordinates get butchered alive like squealing pigs awhile you stay here and brood over your idiotic attachment to some girl?!"

With a swing of her hand, she swiped a hard punch to his face.

A dark malevolent look crossed her face as she finally poured out all her frustration to the boy on the floor.

"Petra, Oluo, Gunther, Eld!" Ida's voice cracked painfully, picking up a groaning Eren by the collar once again. "They died to save you! And you're telling me that you can't accept that the bitch out there killed your comrades?! MY COMRADES?!"

Suddenly all the strength in her seemed to have left and Ida tilted her head down.

"The one… who killed our squadmates—" she paused, her voice growing low as she fought back her tears. "...Is out there effortlessly killing your subordinates right now... Innocent civilians are dying right now... Your friends, Mikasa and Armin are out there fighting to save you from her clutches and you're staying here like a little coward?!"

BWOOSH!

"WATCH OUT!"

It was too late.

Eren's warning call was just a second too late. Suddenly, the tiles of the roof came crumbling down above them when the Female Titan plunged her foot into the tunnels.

Fuck, she had let her emotions get to her again and she had failed to sense the movements of the Female Titan above. Ida felt something push her out of the way and her heart stopped for a brief moment when she felt her back hit the concrete floor. A searing hot pain shot through her right arm and the impact of hitting her head made her feel faint.

She was going to die, surely this was her end.

"Eren! Squad Leader!"

Who…?

With all the strength she could muster, Ida pried her eyes open. She tried to focus her blurring vision and she saw Armin dropping down from the air with his gears. He ran hurriedly towards her. "I'm coming! Please hold on!"

I didn't die? Weakly, she glanced at her surroundings and a gasp hitched in her throat when she saw that she was at a distance away from the hole that the Female Titan made, but it wasn't to say she was completely unscathed. There was too little time gap. But she was fortunate enough to be buried only under small rubbles. Forcing her brain to work, Ida immediately organized her jumbled thoughts.

Did Eren push me away to save me...? No... where's Eren… He must live — he has to live, he's humanity's hope…

He is my hope.

"Ida-san!" Armin cried in distress, reaching her. "Y — Your arm! You're injured!"

At the mention of her arm, Ida began to assess her physical state but she only groaned in agony when she attempted to move her right arm. Armin immediately moved to remove the small but heavy rubble crushing her arm. Blood coated her sleeve. A dribble of blood leaked from a small cut on her head.

"E — Eren…" Ida hoarsely croaked when Armin guided her to sit upright. The pain in her arm was excruciating, but she willed herself to ignore it. She grabbed onto Armin's cloak in urgency. "Eren! Where's Eren?! Help Eren! We cannot let him die!"

Armin shifted his gaze over to the other side and he gasped when he saw that Eren was buried under a boulder of immense rubbles. A pole had lounged itself in his chest and blood spilled endlessly from his head and chest wound. He was barely conscious.

"Eren!" Armin charged towards him and attempted to remove the rubble trapping him.

A hiss escaped her as Ida tried to tolerate the immense pain and to stay conscious. She bit back a groan of agony. Her hand gripped her injured arm, knowing that it was probably fractured, or perhaps even worse, broken.

Shit, this was the worst situation possible. Eren couldn't transform and she had sustained an injury. Both of their front-line defense was incapacitated.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?! Where's Ida Starke and Eren?! The squads are calling for reinforcements!"

"Jean!" Armin screamed in urgency when he saw him drop from the sky. "Eren is buried under the rubble and Ida-san is injured—"

"Recruit!" Ida cut in, bringing his attention to her. Jean's eyes expanded when he saw her bloodied and injured state. She panted heavily, but she willed her vocal cords to work. "What's the situation now?"

Jean unconsciously took a dismayed step back. "The squads are looking for you to subdue the Female Titan—What... What's happening? Wasn't Eren supposed to turn into a Titan?"

"He couldn't!" Armin answered, still digging the rubble to free Eren. "I think the fact that the Female Titan is Annie is holding him back. Jean! For now, we need to help him!"

"He couldn't transform?!" Jean parroted, horrified. He stormed towards the rubble where Eren was buried under. "Damn it! Eren quit screwing around! I told you we'd need to count on you someday!"

"Stop it!" Ida bellowed. Her jaw clenched together. With great difficulty, she struggled to stand and to get back up on her own two feet. "It's no use, Eren won't die from that he is a Titan Shifter. We need to subdue the Female Titan first, if she comes back and sees Eren in this state, it's all over. We need to go. I'll try to hold her back."

"You can't be thinking about fighting?!" Armin cried in concern. "We have to get you to the medic straight away!"

"Forget it, I can still fight!" Ida retorted, fighting through the pain with anger. She was determined to carry on with her mission despite the setback. Her movements would probably be restricted, but she could still tolerate the pain for now. "This is the worst situation possible, there's no other choice! Eren cannot transform!"

This was the burden of her title and Ida knew that she had to fight.

Jean stared at her in dismay, gaping. "No! You'll die if you fight with the state you're in!"

A loud boom echoed through the city when rubble the Female Titan kicked crashed into the clock-tower. The recruits' expression contorted in horror at that sound, and Ida knew that they understood. There simply wasn't any other way. With Eren gone, she was the only other trump card that the Survey Corps had.

Ida stared at them head-on, determination oozing from her. "We don't have a choice. Listen to orders."

"Ida-san…" A weak voice from Eren filtered through the air. "D — Don't…"

"Tch." Ida scoffed derisively, tearing her eyes away from Eren. She glanced at Jean. "Help me out of here."

An unwavering flash of determination sparked in her emerald eyes. Jean opened his mouth to protest, but he shut his lips immediately. There was something in her narrowed down cat-like eyes that had left Jean shuddering — the malevolent intent sparkling in her eyes that displayed Ida's deepest malicious thoughts. Even with her current incapacitated state, she looked frightening.

Though Ida might show concern and loyalty to her comrades, there was an obvious indifference in her behavior when it came to eradicating things that threatened humanity. For that, Jean was glad that he wasn't a Titan right now. He nodded his head grimly and assisted her out of the tunnel.

Eren weakly lifted his hand up from a departing Ida and Jean, his eyes were half-lidded and he was barely conscious. "No…." he croaked weakly. "No… you're injured..."

"Eren!" Armin shouted at him, horror overwhelming him. "There's something I told Jean once, those who can't abandon anything can't change anything! The ability to give up your humanity when forced to rise about monsters I think that's something Annie can do. Although I don't know why Annie does it, whoever can do that will prevail! Your squad died, and many others will die if you don't transform! Eren please—"

"Armin!" Ida interjected sternly. "Leave him be! Our main priority now is to incapacitate the Female Titan!"

Biting his lower lip, Armin got off the ground beside Eren and rushed towards her. They were a good distance away from the hole where Eren was when Armin spoke again. "You can't fight."

"I can," Ida replied grimly, she forcibly took both of her hand grips out. A thin layer of sweat coated her forehead and mixed with her blood. The pain in her arm seared and she forcibly bit back a cry. "What happened to Hanji's plan C? Did it fail?"

Jean nodded his head numbly, still holding onto her to support her. "The traps weren't enough to incapacitate the Female Type, our scouts are currently trying to hold her back."

"Shit." Ida cursed through gritted teeth. Her brain was actively plotting out a situation out of this dire mess. "We'll regroup with Hanji's group. I'll probably be slower so I'll need both of you to assist me. We need to lure her away from Eren—"

BOOOOM!

Ida shut her eyes instinctively when a bright light suddenly erupted behind them. She could feel the searing heat behind her, the loud crackling sounds of the blinding lighting and the sounds of destruction as the debris gave way to the impact of transformation.

A mighty roar brought her back to reality and she snapped her eyes open, realizing what Eren had done. Eren in his well-defined lean muscular Titan form hovered intimidatingly over them, blocking out the sun rays from the late afternoon sun.

"He did it!" Armin cried in relief. "He transformed!"

"…Heh, that stupid brat." Ida scoffed when Eren roared another thunderous battle cry before charging towards the inner cities of Wall Sina. She smirked proudly at the sight. "Why did you just have to make such a dramatic entrance?"

And she knew then, just like how she had made her choice to abandon her humanity, Eren had done the same thing too.

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

She pushed herself past the half-destroyed city, smoke and fire raging. Ida didn't know how many homes were destroyed, nor how many people had died. But the extent of destruction only proved just how frightening a Titan's power could be. The endless phantom cries haunted her as she flew past grieving families and frightened civilians hiding in their houses. At that point, Ida knew that any more damage could prove detrimental, they had to capture the Female Titan fast.

Spotting Hanji from afar, she pressed the button her handgrips and propelled herself towards the top of the roof, hearing Armin and Jean landing behind her a few seconds later.

"Wh — What is this?" Moblit Berner stammered when he observed the destructive power that the two battling Titans have left on the city. "Squad leader, even if we capture the Female Type, they might destroy the whole city first!" he pointed out in a panic, too troubled by his squad leader's unprecedented actions to remain by the sidelines. "This is too much!"

"We'll still do it regardless," Hanji told him rigidly. A shiver passed down her back and the hair on her neck stood up when she witnessed another house effortlessly destroyed when the Female Titan crashed into it. "This is Commander Erwin's decision."

"Let's get ready to capture that cunt."

At the sound of Ida's cold voice, Hanji and the rest of the platoon turned around. "Ida! Your arm! What happened?!" Hanji immediately noted her bloodied arm but was stopped by Ida from saying any more.

"Leave it, we've much more important things to do now," she reminded her, looking onwards towards the two Titans involved in a bloody battle.

"Ah…" Hanji rubbed her face, pushing her glasses up towards her head. "Levi is going to kill me for letting you get injured you know?"

Ida made an annoyed noise, shooting her an acid glare before deciding that it was much more important to secure the Female Type now than to get into a useless bicker with the eccentric squad leader. "We'll wait for Eren to incapacitate her before we move, they'll blow us away if we interfere now and we'd probably hinder Eren's movements. We should be on standby."

"You heard her!" Hanji shouted. "If Eren fails, we'll all immediately descend on her! We cannot afford to let her escape again!"

After a resounding 'yes' of understanding from the platoon, Ida moved her gaze and concentrated on the violent battle between the two Titan Shifters. Eren charged forward, grabbing onto the Female Titan's leg before she could land a hit on him and threw her violently across the city.

"Look at that brat go," Ida's whistled with a sense of pride and fondness, a confident smirk playing on her lips.

"This time, it seems that he is retaining control," Hanji noted expectedly, watching Eren chase after the Female Titan, destroying every object in his way.

"But Eren has never managed to beat the Female Titan," Armin pointed out in a depressing note.

"Now that he's a Titan, he must be prepared to fight," Jean argued back. "He won't go down that easily."

"Willpower isn't enough in a battle," Armin stated firmly. "You should know that Jean. Defeating Annie will require far more than that."

Jean watched in dismay as the Female Titan lunged towards Eren lying in the pile of debris from a destroyed house, throwing violent punch after punch at his healing and the disabled body. The image of the massive amount of steam pouring out of Eren as he was pulverized before came back to the forefront of his mind, there was no guarantee that Eren could win. He watched as Eren got up and tried to deliver a hit to her, but was only knocked back with an immense kick to his stomach.

The impact of the destructive kick set out a strong wind towards all directions of the city. The scouts covered their eyes with their arms and dug their feet firmly to the roof just as the strong wind hit them. The impact of the hit was so strong that it could have easily blown away a human child.

"She's just too strong!" Armin cried, noticing how Eren's Titan form was completely incapacitated and immobile, the steam from his healing injuries streaming out of his body in massive amounts. "We have to help him!"

"No. Eren will beat her," Ida's cold voice stopped Armin in his tracks, watching Eren's Titan form with a twinkle of mystery. "I've honed skills into that little useless brat, if he fails and dies, I'd dig him up from his grave and kill him again."

She thought back to the times and hours she had dedicated over the past week teaching Eren the ropes behind the gear as well as martial arts skills — it wasn't simply for the sake of improving himself, it was for the sake of defeating the Female Titan. It was for the sake of getting revenge for her fallen squadmates that died in the hands of the Female Titan.

Ida was determined to capture the Female Titan or die here without honor. She was going to make that bitch of a Titan pay.

As if on cue, a mighty roar reverberated through the burning city and Eren rose from the ground, his body displaying streaks of glowing crimson red. He sprinted towards the retreating Female Titan in an unimaginable speed and knocked her towards the ground.

"Eren!" Mikasa's loud frantic cry was heard above the agonizing screams of the Female Titan when Eren clenched down hard on her bony face, tearing through her muscles and crushing her bones. Blood drenched the area around them, painting the city of screams crimson.

"Don't!" Hanji shouted at Mikasa before she could launch herself towards the two Titans. "Right now we don't know if Eren can recognize you!"

The phantom cries of the Female Titan distracted Ida from the argument happening beside her. She watched the gruesome spectacle with a face devoid of any emotions, relishing in the agonizing cries and the frightened look of the Female Titan as Eren launched destructive blows on her over and over again. She felt invigorated as if the agony the Female Titan was experiencing gave her energy and strength.

"The Wall!" Hanji cried when the Female Titan plunged herself towards the wall, her crystallized fingers digging into the bricks. "Does she intend to climb it?!"

Ida grit her teeth when she saw the Female Titan sprinting towards the Wall for an escape.

"Fuck! Split up and surround her! We must not let her escape!" Ida instantly issued the command, winching when the pain shot up her arm and tightened around her lungs, reminding her of her injury.

Gritting her teeth, she tolerated the aching pain and launched herself forward to keep with the squad.

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

It was too late.

In only a handful of hours, the Survey Corps had once again suffered a record-breaking loss in their mission to capture the Female Titan. This time, it wasn't the military who had lost their lives, but defenseless civilians as well. With the heavy reminder ever-present, most of the soldiers hung their heads and slumped their shoulders, preventing them from even glancing ahead. The sense of heavy foreboding lingered like parasites.

Among the broken spirits, there were only a few heads raised. Ida was staring relentlessly forward, absorbing the massacre that had just plagued the desiccating city. While she didn't outwardly show any signs of anguish, the heart-wrenching scene playing out caused her to inwardly flinch.

Just how many people died today?

What did her choices of going with Erwin's plan cost her this time?

With her chest constricting, Ida moved her emotionless gaze towards the immense skeleton Titan bodies, dread hitting her stomach before she averted her glance towards the large crystallized figure on the ground.

No, all these sacrifices are necessary, a strong voice in her mind argued. Humanity cannot win without sacrifices — this is necessary, do not feel bad.

Still holding onto her blades, Ida immediately began to assess the situation of her squad. Mikasa was holding onto an unconscious Eren, red square like marks dotting the sides of his face. Armin was beside his friends, assisting Mikasa to prop Eren up.

After mentally ensuring that her small squad was alive at the very least, Ida turned towards the figure beside her. She felt his presence before he even spoke. "I thought you were injured."

Levi folded his arms across his chest. "I can still move a little, a move like that wasn't that strenuous."

"You're putting a strain on yourself," Ida berated him flatly. "I told you not to worry."

She was surprised when Levi suddenly appeared in front of her and had managed to slice the nape Eren's Titan form to extract him out before he lost his senses. She wondered why he had changed into his gear when he was exempted from the operation. Still, Ida was glad that he had decided that he couldn't simply sit on the sidelines of this operation and watched everything go to hell.

Her arm injury slowed her down, and frankly, Ida wasn't sure that she would have made it on time to get Eren out of his Titan shell.

Levi saw the large bloody patch on her cloak and his tone turned serious. "Why are you injured?"

Ida shrugged, placing her blades back into her carrier. "Nothing serious."

He grabbed onto her arm, earning a loud agonizing hiss from her. Levi grimaced at her reaction. "You call this not serious? Why didn't you report to the medic immediately?"

'Y — You're hurting me," Ida complained, wincing in pain. "Let me go."

He instantly released her grip on her and Ida pressed her lips together. Levi's face hardened briefly before looking away. "Tch. You worked hard today."

Loud clanking sounds caught their attention and they moved towards the crystallized figure in the open field.

"Damn it! What is this?! We've come this far and you won't even say a damn word, Annie? Come out! Come out and finish what you started!" Jean screamed in anger, plunging his broken sword into the impenetrable crystal over and over again. "Hey! This isn't fair, Annie!"

"Stop it," Levi grabbed onto Jean's shoulder with a frown. "It's useless."

"Use the wires to make a net!" Hanji ordered the rest of the surviving scouts. "We will tie it up and carry it Underground!"

"L — Look!" A panicked voice caught Ida's attention. "T — There's something in the wall!"

Curious, she followed the gaze of the scouts who had gathered. Her heart froze when she saw the very thing that was embedded in the concrete walls.

"A Titan?!" A scout shouted in disbelief.

A wave of lightheadedness passed through her in an instant, rendering her paralyzed to the ground as she stared at the immense Titan in the walls. Through a small opening in the concrete that the Female Titan had made, Ida could see it clearly. A small lump formed in its throat when she realized the resemblance to the Colossal Titan that had kicked down Wall Maria.

Then, its eyes moved.

"Squad leader!" A scout called out to Hanji, who was uncharacteristically shell-shocked. "What are your orders?!"

"W—Wait… But…" Hanji managed to splutter out, her fanatical eyes wide with horror upon their latest discovery. She was just about to say something when a hand landed on her shoulder.

Ida recognized the man outfit as a priest for the Wall Cult — they were rather famous for their stupid rants about the glorious Walls and how they were the goddesses. Once as a child, Ida attended one of the Wall Cult masses when she still lived in Wall Sina and she found it horrendously boring. As the priest gathered short ragged breaths, he tried to calm himself down from the long sprint to the edge of the Wall where the scouts were.

"Do not let the sunlight shine on that Titan!"

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

Ida wandered through the halls of the Survey Corps base, deep in thought.

She had survived her first mission as a Squad Leader, but they hadn't gained any information from Annie who had encased herself in an impenetrable crystal. Though it wasn't what she had expected, she found contentment in the fact that the Female Titan was in custody, encased in a crystal or not.

She held onto her numb bandaged arm absentmindedly, thinking back to how Eren had saved her. He was probably in the recovery room now. Ida knew she should've visited him earlier, but there were bigger things to worry about.

For now, the Survey Corps' and Eren Yeager's recall to the capital was rescinded temporarily and the scouts were placed in charge of supervising Annie deep underground. But it wasn't like they were completely in the clear yet. Erwin was summoned to the inner walls for further questioning over the Survey Corps' reckless actions and Ida couldn't help but worry about the fate of her Commander.

Not only were they heavy casualties among the civilians and military, but the damage to the city was also beyond imaginable. There was no guarantee that Erwin wouldn't be held responsible. Ida could only hope that Monarchy would see sense in what the Survey Corps was trying to do.

Trudging through the hallway, Ida's mind flashed back to the shocking accidental discovery that had left the entire legion in a state of unease. Titans? In the walls? She would've probably laughed at that insane theory if she hadn't been there to witness it herself.

She could still remember the mortifying scene when the pieces of the Wall fell when the Female Titan destroyed parts of it in her quest to escape, revealing an immense but idle Titan in the wall. She still felt the shivers whenever she remembered the image; how its pearl glass-like eyes moved as if to inform the world that it was alive.

As shocking as it is, everyone could only wait patiently for Hanji's report on the investigation from Pastor Nick of the Wall Cult and his explanation on why the Titan needed to be shielded from the sunlight.

"Oof!" Ida stumbled backward when she bumped into something.

Shit. Had she been wandering aimlessly around the halls for that long? Rubbing her forehead she gasped when Levi greeted her with his usual cold stare.

"What are you thinking about that you can't even see straight?" Levi spoke in an indifferent tone.

"Nothing," she denied flatly, though she knew it was a pathetic attempt at lying. She tried to maneuver away from him, but he grabbed onto her shoulders.

"I told you to use judgment properly to avoid blunders that may cost lives," Levi deadpanned, his tone dangerously close to a growl. "But I didn't say that you should recklessly throw away yours. What you did today was incredibly stupid. Why did you insist on continuing to fight when you're in that pathetic state? If Eren didn't manage to fucking transform what would've you have done?"

Even though he released his tight hold on her shoulders, Ida knew there was still no escaping him.

Damn it, she cursed inwardly. She wondered which of the two recruits ratted her out to him. "I adhered to our strategy. You've done the same if you were in my position. This is the burden of our titles, isn't it? I don't regret it."

His eyes hardened. "Tch, I bet you don't."

She smiled at him softly, knowing that he was worried about her. "I lived, don't worry about it."

Levi looked like he was about to launch a snarky retort but Ida moved to the tea set by the corner before he could.

She picked up two cups from the cupboards. "Want a drink?"

Levi watched her as she took the box of tea leaves from the drawers, noticing how she winched every time she moved her injured arm. "Let me do that," he offered flatly, grabbing the tea sets from Ida. "Go and sit."

"B — But—" Ida started to protest but clamped her mouth shut shortly after, knowing that a stubborn man like Levi would never change his mind after he decided that he wanted to do something.

Sighing, she moved towards the benches, sitting down.

Weird, Ida thought, observing him. Levi had always made her brew his tea. He wouldn't let anyone else do it. Apparently, when she had confronted him once over asking her to do such a petty job when there were so many new recruits, it was because she knew his taste in beverages and the new recruits would only screw things over.

"Here." Levi placed a steaming cup of tea back in front of her and sat beside her.

Picking up the tea, she noticed it was a different color this time. It was a pale green and the fragrance was different as well. It was only after she took a sip did it confirm her suspicions.

"Herbal tea?" she asked.

"Good for pathetic injured folks like us," he told her with a monotone.

Ida was silent for a while after that. Her mind still wandering over multiple different things. Her gaze was blindly fixed on the wall in front of her. "Why didn't you send me to the Military Police back then?"

She was so distracted that she didn't even realize that she had spoken aloud until Levi's hard voice broke into her wandering mind and pulled her back to reality. "What did you say?"

"Ah… nothing." Ida mumbled, going back to drinking her tea. She berated herself in her head for even asking such a question in the first place.

"If you're asking for the reason why I invited you to join the Survey Corps…" Levi started dully. "Well, you can't really send your Commander's shitty daughter to jail, could you? That's like a direct message to ask for an ass beating."

Ida snorted at his words. She had gotten so used to his manner of speaking but Levi always seemed to come up with the funniest and weirdest way to describe things. "Ah, I see."

"But it wasn't only because of that," Levi continued on quietly, looking at the hot tea in his cup. "You reminded me of my past."

She blinked for the first time during the conversation, now that she thought about it, Levi had never openly spoken of his past before.

He went on listlessly. "Foolish but strong and without a goal in life, but don't get me wrong, I never wanted to take a troublesome brat like you under my wing, it was a hindrance. But there was a fire in your eyes that just didn't die, so I decided to give you a chance."

"Bet you're regretting it huh?" Ida muttered bitterly, looking down. "I can't even do one thing right."

"I don't."

She snapped her wide eyes back at him again, surprise etched across her face. Before she knew it, a small smile spread across her mouth. "…But I'm troublesome, aren't I?"

"Troublesome, but not completely useless." Levi corrected her sharply. "You proved that today at least."

The truth was, Levi was proud of Ida today. Though unexpected, Ida had proved him wrong and had managed to rise as a leader for the new recruits. Yes, he was worried. In fact, he couldn't even sit still in the carriage at the thought of her fighting alone without him. His worries were proven to be just paranoid thoughts when he saw how much he had evolved, though he was still glad that he changed into the gear, Eren wouldn't be alive if it weren't for him.

"…How's your leg?" A small voice inquired and he saw her peeking at his leg, but Ida couldn't get any information since his black pants covered his bandages.

"Better, probably need a week or two to heal," Levi told her in a cool voice. "What about your arm?"

It was his turn to inquire about her injury.

Ida chuckled softly at how silly their conversation sounded. "It's fine, just a little fracture, thankfully. Nothing serious but it appears I'll be playing sit and watch with you now since we are both unfit for battle now."

"Just when I was beginning to enjoy the quiet life of watching by the sidelines without your annoying voice..." Levi deadpanned, but somehow Ida felt that his insult was sounding more like a tease.

"Oh come on. I bet you missed me," Ida teased back. She didn't know why, but recently she had grown closer to her Captain, which of course meant she was bolder with her words now.

Levi glowered at her, but Ida remained unfazed, still keeping her little smile. "Yeah, I miss you."

"Eh?" Ida's smile was immediately replaced by a frown and a subtle blush on her cheek. Did Levi just…? She was probably hearing things, there was no way that he said that he missed her. "W — What did you say?"

"I missed the fact that there's no one for me to order around anymore," Levi clarified sarcastically, enjoying every bit of her flustered appearance. "Now that you're here, I plan on working you until you collapse, injury or not."

"Sadistic bastard," Ida grumbled belligerently, glaring at him. Oh, how she wanted to reach out and strangle him to death, she could practically feel his neck around her hands.

Levi allowed an uncharacteristic smirk to slowly tug on his lips. "Is that your way of giving out a shitty compliment?"

She laughed softly at his words, hiding her smile behind the teacup that she held towards her lips. The pair fell back into a natural comfortable silence. Ida felt a sense of serenity grip her. It was always like this between them — silent but comfortable. It was as if they were satisfied with just each other company, nothing more. There were no words needed to be exchanged, or even eye contact made.

It was their thing — just sitting in the corner and drinking tea, staring into space, never doing anything, but still, together regardless.

And Ida couldn't deny that she enjoyed it, even back in the past when she hated him with a burning passion.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, gathering her courage. "…So, what is going to happen to us now?" she questioned in a highly disturbed tone.

Levi placed down his cup. "Don't know. After wreaking havoc around town, the brat just turned herself into sleeping beauty right after. Not to mention the discovery of some huge ass Titans in the Walls. Erwin probably has his hands full now. We can only wait for orders."

"To think that if one day they could walk all at once…" Ida remarked in a sour note, her stomach twisting at that devastating thought. "It's so ironic. To think that the Walls that protected us from the Titans outside are made up of the very same monsters."

"Tch. Life is always made up of these damned little ironies, that's why living is shitty."

"Are you afraid?" The words escaped her lips before she could choke it back down. Ida swallowed to ease the dry tension forming in her throat, silently berating herself for even asking such a question. What was she going to gain by asking such a thing anyway?

He looked at her briefly with the same bored look he always wore. "The Survey Corps have sacrificed almost everything to be where we are today, there's nothing left for us. So, what's there to be afraid about?"

"Don't you have anything in life that you value then?" Ida found herself asking. She knew it was prying, but she couldn't help it. "Other than being a soldier."

He paused midway in bringing the tea to his lips as if paralyzed by her question.

"Ah!" Ida instantly sensed how uncomfortable he looked. "Sorry, it's rude to pry. It's just that you've clearly dedicated your life to the Survey Corps, so I wondered if there was anything else in life that you thought worth living for."

A brief sadness flashed in her emerald eyes as Ida continued when Levi remained silent. "Maybe it's only me, but sometimes I wondered how life would've been for me if I wasn't a soldier. Perhaps I would've been married by now with beautiful children by my side. You know, I'd even be content even if I was just a farmer's wife — I'd be happy with a simple life. It was my dream when I was a child, to have a family of my own. But that's impossible now, the life that every one of us dreamed about was gone the moment we took our vows."

"Do you regret becoming a soldier?" Levi asked after a lingering moment of silence, silently unsure if he would want to hear the answer.

Ida smiled sadly at his question. "Of course not. If I wasn't a soldier, I wouldn't get to meet you right?"

Time seemed to have paused for a moment, the silence becoming obvious between them, but this time, the silence was uncomfortable, awkward even.

Drinking the last of his tea, Levi slammed the cup back to the table. "It's really fucking noisy here."

Ida stared at his retreating back in silence, her eyebrows forming into a frown and her lips tighten into a thin worrisome line. There was no one else in the hall apart from them, so what on earth did he mean by that? Sighing, she moved her concentration back to the steaming cup in front of her. Levi was always grouchy and Ida reasoned that she wasn't going to let some grumpy little midget ruin her mood.

But her resolve to stay unaffected was wavering as Ida found herself muttering angrily to herself with a pout. "What's wrong with that midget bastard?"

Once alone again, Ida couldn't help but feel uneasy that there was not a single soul in the vicinity. Usually, she was fine with that, but after everything that had happened recently, she found comfort in just having someone besides her. Drinking the last of the tea, she placed her cup down and left.

She guessed it was time to check up on Eren now.

Ida didn't even knock on the door when she reached the infirmary, knowing well that the boy was still fast asleep and the only other soul in the room would be his adoptive sister. True enough, she allowed a small smile to touch her lips when she saw Mikasa fast asleep on a chair beside Eren's bedside, the red scarf she always wore neatly folded on her lap.

Ida couldn't help but remember the time when Levi was the one sitting at the bedside when she was ill and her heart fluttered at that memory. Though she wasn't particularly close to Mikasa in any way, it was easy to see that she had a deep bond for Eren and she cared about him.

Putting a hand on her shoulder, she felt the girl stir awake from her touch. "You should get some sleep."

"I'm fine," Mikasa murmured in a quiet voice, her heavy-lidded eyes never leaving Eren's sleeping body. "I should be here when he wakes up."

"He won't be waking up, at least not for a while more," Ida rebuffed, noticing how tired and disheveled she looked. She wondered how long she had been here and she wondered if Levi looked as tired and restless as she did when he patiently stood by her bedside and waited for her to wake up.

"B—But—"

"It's an order, Ackerman," Ida told her sternly, clearly not taking no for an answer. "I'd stay here and look after him." However, when Mikasa threw her a look, Ida sighed as she relented. "At least wash-up and get something small to eat, it won't take long."

Mikasa seemed to take her words into deep contemplation before she finally decided to take her advice. "I'd be back in a while."

"Don't worry," Ida told her reassuringly, taking her spot on the chair beside Eren's bed. "Take your time."

When Ida heard the door shut behind her, she let out a long sigh that she had been holding in. Moving her attention back to the sleeping boy, she gingerly placed her hand on his bandaged head.

She recalled his surprise and excited expression when she offered to train him for his upcoming fight with the Female Titan shifter, how his innocent child-like eyes gleamed with anticipation. Eren looked up to her too, Ida knew, and it was because of that very reason her heart was ridden with guilt.

She wondered if he would've hated her if he knew that the reason she offered to train him was not because her worries for his life were at the foremost of her mind or her intentions, but it was because he was a human weapon to her, a boy with an unexplainable destructible ability.

Only Eren, the one with the power of the Titans would be able to take revenge for the deaths of the people she loved. Ida remembered how afraid and alone he looked back at the days when he was locked up in the dungeons, and she remembered his words, his expressions, his emotions.

It astonished her really, how little she actually cared for the life of a boy she took under her wing when she saw him fighting. The young boy she had gotten close to throughout the past few months. There wasn't even an ounce of worry or concern for his life when she saw him battle the Female Titan, she felt only rage and an annoying impatience to get it over with.

A shudder passed through her when she saw the resemblance in her train of thoughts to those of Erwin's. She smiled sadly, thinking to herself just how much she had changed. She had gone and done it now. She was a true hard-honed soldier; inhumane, lacking any compassion and completely dehumanized.

But she was strong, and that was all that mattered to her. It kept her sanity at bay.

"I'm sorry… Forgive me..." Ida mumbled, staring at his sleeping face and retracting her hand away from his forehead. She touched his hand and took his lifeless hand into her hands, clutching onto it and moving the bundle to her head as she prayed for him to wake up soon. "Thank you for coming back alive, Eren... Thank you for worrying about me... Thank you for being alive..."

Perhaps now that everything was over, she could truly begin to care for the safety of the boy again.

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

She was troubled.

Very, very troubled in fact.

As she stormed angrily through the halls, Ida didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse that her troubles this time didn't involve the death of somebody she knew or because of those damned man-eating Titans, but this time, she found herself having the problems of a normal average girl.

She was having inferiority issues.

The young fiery-haired woman had finally come to a bitter conclusion after a day of asking endless questions around the legion — she just wasn't attractive enough, perhaps she was disgusting and detestable to look at even.

And how just did she, the second strongest soldier of humanity and one of the top leading soldiers in the Survey Corp known for the strict and hot-headed temperament ended up brooding over her inferiority? It all began with a simple request, a simple request that would spiral up into a huge traumatizing quest for answers.

"Eren."

She saw him stiffened like a pole at the sound of her voice. The young boy turned around almost reluctantly, his eyebrow twitching when he came face to face with his intimidating superior.

"Yes…?" he asked, moving towards her in baby steps to see what she needed. His head was still bandaged up from the wounds he had obtained from fighting the Female Titan.

Emerald eyes looked upwards to the taller boy, but it was no doubt to any onlooker who was the dominating one in their relationship. "Be my date," Ida commanded bluntly, crossing her arms across her chest.

"EH?!" Eren would have fallen to the floor if Ida hadn't grabbed him by the arm.

She frowned irritably, a tad bit offended at his surprising reaction. "I said… be my date for the upcoming gathering of the Military forces."

"No! I — I can't do that!" Eren immediately launched into an explanation at the sound of her cold voice. "I — I can't be your date!"

"It's an order then." Ida wasn't about to give up anytime soon, not only was she offended by Eren blunt and very, very honest rejection — this was a once in the lifetime opportunity!

Darius Zackley had decided to host a social gathering this year in an effort to mend abrasive relationships between the three divisions after the whole Female Titan fiasco. Of course, this gathering was only meant for the high-ranking officers, so why was Eren rejecting her and this rare opportunity?! She absolutely had no intention of getting into a romantic relationship with him! Though it wasn't necessary to have a date, from all the rumors going around, it seemed that all the female soldiers had a date and Ida merely wanted someone to accompany her so that she wouldn't look like a loner that she was.

But instead of her expected reaction, which involves Eren cowering at the sight of her fearsome scowl and agreeing to her request. The boy immediately held his arms out defensively as if trying to stop her from coming any closer to him. "P — Please! I can't go with you!"

"Why not?!" she demanded hotly, furious and surprised that her infamous threatening scowl did not work on him for once. Ida was so sure that it would work, Eren had never defied her orders, he was a wimp when he came to her.

"I am… going with Mikasa!" He tried to come up with a suitable excuse, but Ida immediately saw through his lies.

"She's not even invited to go to the gathering and so are you," she pointed out, insanely infuriated. "It's just for the top brass!"

Eren had to resort to lying to her to reject her, what the hell was that supposed to mean?!

"I — I just can't!" he spluttered out desperately, a panicked look in his eyes. "I really, really can't! I'm sorry! I'd be hanged by my neck if I were to go with you!"

And just like that, Eren ran away from her in panic, leaving Ida completely mystified at his words. She was flabbergasted, partly because Eren had never once been defied her orders, and also because she was regarded as such a terrible catch that even a fifteen-year-old boy wouldn't go on a date with her as mere friends!

Ida actually hadn't planned to go to that stupid gathering in the first place, but it was at the sound of the rumored amazing spread of food sponsored by monarchy did she decide that she was going. They even had sweets for dessert, the finest sweets! She wasn't going to miss that for even all the Titans in the world!

For all of breakfast, Ida brooded over Eren's peculiar behavior — it was just so unlike the boy to defy her orders, even if it meant going to a boring gathering as her partner. But never in her wildest dreams did she expect Eren to be so stubbornly defiant, he was always fearful of her. The more she thought about it, the more puzzling it was, the only other person that Eren feared more was no other than Levi, but it was irrelevant, she was rejected by a damn fifteen-year-old boy with raging hormones!

Sure, she might have kicked and punched him around like he was no more than a mere punching bag a few days ago, punish him whenever he placed a foot out of a line, and sometimes she would secretly pass him her cleaning chores when Levi wasn't looking, but still! That wasn't a reason to reject her like that!

And so, with that thought in mind, Ida simply came to a comforting conclusion that Eren was merely too afraid of her to think of her as a woman; she could be a little intimidating at times after all. It wasn't her fault that he didn't find her attractive! Eren was simply too afraid of her!

Though she soon found out that was not the answer to her problems. After a little makeover, Ida headed out in the legion to find her next target. With her luscious crimson hair released from her usual braids and allowed to flow down to her chest and a little makeup, she went to find Moblit Berner next.

He was the perfect target — a skilled veteran soldier with years of experience under Hanji's command. There was no way he was intimidated by her! Plus, he worked under Hanji and god knows what kind of torment that four eyes had subjected him to, surely the prospect of going to the military gathering with her would not frighten him.

So you could've imagined her disappointment when Moblit instantly paled at her request, spluttering uncontrollably as he backed away from her like she was a Titan trying to devour him. "I can't! There's no way I can escort you to the gathering! I — I… am going with Squad Leader!"

With that declaration, Moblit pivoted around and took off as if he was being chased by fanatical Hanji.

After that scarring blunt rejection, Ida went back dejectedly to her room to look at her reflection once more. She had always been relatively confident in her looks — silky blazing red hair, large emerald eyes, and pale milk skin. She even had an acceptable figure, but she had lost to that four-eyed idiot in terms of womanly appeal! Moblit chose Hanji over her! Was she really that undesirable?

Was it because she was always so cold and distant? Perhaps that was the reason? Maybe everyone found her hard to please? Crap, she just didn't know!

Having enough with the humiliation, Ida opted for a change of clothes. It was common knowledge that men were no more than hormonal meat bags that didn't think with their brains when it came to the opposite sex. If neither intimidation nor beauty could get her a date, then she was sure sexual appeal would. Ida knew that while enchanted by sexiness and beauty, men were easily manipulated.

Armored with an extremely tight revealing shirt underneath her training jacket, she went forward to the mess hall where she knew her next victim would be — Mike Zacharius. Sure, he was a weirdo with an eccentric habit of smelling people and she did punch him in the face the first time they met because he tried to sniff her. But it was also because of his uncanny sniffing habit that led Ida to believe that Mike was a secret pervert at heart, which was the perfect trait for her next target.

Ida made sure to have a subtle approach this time. She had forgotten that men liked the chase. Sitting in front of Mike in the mess hall, she ignored the loud banter of the soldiers and the stares at her unusual attire. She began to openly flirt with Mike, occasionally revealing a little bit of her cleavage ever so often. She wore a smirk of certainty when she saw him pause briefly.

But to her utmost dismay, Mike blinked like he hadn't even noticed and went back to his lunch.

Not only was she completely embarrassed, but also her whole confidence level had taken a devastating plunge. Ida was so confident that it would work this time. She knew Mike was a serious and collected man, but certainly not a point that even her womanly features did not affect him!

Giving up on her initial plan to get Mike to ask her to be his partner to the gathering, she bluntly opted to take the first steps.

"What?" Mike looked astonished, but with a straight face, replied her. "Sorry, no can't do!"

At this point, Ida was shot down and full of anger for men. She'd given up on understanding why they wouldn't respond to her advances and opted for threatening instead, she didn't care how desperate she looked.

"If you don't accept my invitation, I'll tell Levi that it was you who hadn't been flushing the toilet and you'll get cleaning duties all week!"

It always works, everyone in the legion hated Levi's obsession with cleaning and no one wanted to get stuck with cleaning duties.

So imagine her surprise when Mike merely snorted, scooped up another heaping spoonful of mash potatoes, and stuffed it in his mouth. "Go ahead, I rather do that than die a horrible death."

"Why!" Ida furiously slammed her hand on the table, offended. "Are you trying to say that if I'm the last woman on earth, you wouldn't even be attracted to me?!"

"N — No! Uh, I mean yes!" Mike stammered, becoming greatly aware of the murderous aura in front of him. "I'm sorry, but I just can't betray a friend."

"Betray a friend?" Ida echoed just as Mike scurried away before she could ask any more. She wasn't sure if she had heard wrongly or if she just simply lacked the mental capability to decipher his bizarre answer.

Ida had never been more humiliated and insecure in her life. She was angry and spiteful at the entire male population for not noticing a catch like her. She even had to go through Erwin's fatherly berating session when her when he saw her in that revealing outfit in the hallway, saying that it was not appropriate for the Military whose ranks were made up of mostly men.

Giving up on her plans to snag a date, Ida figured it was probably best to go as a loner than to receive any more traumatizing scars on her ego. She sat alone by the corner of the mess hall during dinner, sighing as she lamented over her non-existent womanly appeals.

Perhaps Levi was right after all.

Maybe she was really a man. Maybe her thighs were really so huge that she could kick a Titan to death.

Her depressing thoughts were put on a hold when a strong arm hooked over her neck into a tight friendly chokehold. Ida didn't even need to look behind to know who it was.

"What are you doing here all alone?' The voice rang cheerily. "You look so depressed!"

"Shut up, leave me alone," Ida groaned loudly, wishing that Hanji wouldn't bother her with her experiment rants. "Don't you have better things to do? Like sticking to that stupid Wall Priest?"

Hanji raised her brow, sensing something interesting happening. Pulling the chair out, she sat beside an Ida who had her head buried in her arms. "Say, is anything wrong with you? Everyone is in high spirits, we can finally forget about our worries for a day."

True, everyone was delighted and hyped up because of the social gathering. With all the Female Titan drama and great revealment of the secret Colossal Titans in the walls, a distraction was what the scouts needed most right now. The events had left a traumatizing scar on the Survey Corps, after all, only a good sixty percent of them survived.

"I hate that stupid event, why the hell do they even have to host it anyway?!" Ida grumbled grouchily, bitter that she was going to be the only female soldier without an escort.

Somehow, Hanji had a clue what was going on. Ida was just as easy to read as her partner. "Who's your date?" she spoke carefully, watching how Ida's face contorted at the sound of her question.

"Don't fucking ask," Ida growled, flattening her upper body on top of the table in defeat.

A small grin etched on the eccentric squad leader's face when she grasped what was going on. "Can't get anyone to go with you?" she guessed.

It a futile to tell a lie at this point. Honestly, Ida just wanted to rant to someone now. She was frustrated and she felt that she was going crazy if she didn't get this off her chest. "It's like all the males have lost their raging hormones nowadays! I wonder if it's because of those damn Titans that made them this way! Perhaps they'd be more attracted to Female Titans now!"

"Oh trust me, if it was because of the Titans. I would know," Hanji spoke evasively, nodding her head. She leaned in towards Ida, urging her to go on.

"No one will go with me!" Ida cried, finally admitting her embarrassing situation to Hanji. "Not even Eren who is scared shitless of me! Everyone seems to be so afraid and distressed with the thought of going to the gathering with me as my partner that they fucking shun me or run away the moment I ask! What am I? A fucking Titan?!"

With a loud defeated sigh, Ida plopped her head back on the table. All she wanted to do is to run to her room and feel smaller.

"Am I so terrifying to a point that all the males fear me?" Ida pondered dejectedly, pouting. She might be the second strongest soldier in humanity, but that didn't give her the immunity to feeling insecure when it comes to her looks.

"Oh, I don't think it's you that they are afraid of." Hanji grinned cheekily, snickering.

Sitting up straight at the sound of her snorting chuckles, Ida eyed her dubiously. "…Say, you have been acting weird…." she started off slowly in a low threatening voice as if to test her. The moment she saw a flash of nervousness in Hanji's eyes, Ida pointed to her accusingly. "Spill, you stupid four-eyes! You know something!"

Hanji angled her head away from her accusing finger. "Relax, relax! If you really want to know the reason so badly, why not just ask a male instead?" she suggested.

Still looking at her with suspicion, Ida couldn't help but nod in agreement. If it has something to do with her, she wanted to know.

As if on cue, Jean walked passed the women's bench and Hanji reached out and caught him by the arm, pulling him towards her.

"Caught one!"

"E — Eh! Squad Leader Hanji, please let me go!" The poor boy whimpered. He didn't like the way that the two women were looking at him like he was some sort of grand prize that they had won in the gambling dens. "Why are you holding onto me?"

What did the two females want with him? Perhaps Ida wanted to kill him for something he did or perhaps Hanji wanted to use his body for some weird-ass experiment, regardless of the reason, Jean knew that no good was going to come up with these two.

"Shut up, kid," Ida scolded him, not really caring if she sounded like a brute. Jean immediately froze at the acidity of her voice.

Hanji patted the frightened boy on the back comfortingly with a warm smile. "Jean, we just have a few questions for you…"

"U — Uh, yes?" Jean said, noticing how Ida was now facing him, her slender legs crossed and her face completely serious and grim. He felt like it was an interrogation rather than a question. Did he do something wrong?

"We just want you to tell us what you think of Ida here! No lies but the pure hardcore truth!" Hanji immediately told him straightforwardly, causing Ida to gape at her actions.

What the hell was she doing?!

"Eh?! What do I think of her?!" Jean repeated incredulously. Upon sensing the redhead's killing aura he yelped and immediately launched into an elaboration. "Uh, I — I think she's an amazing person!"

"Ida! You're scaring the poor guy!" Hanji scolded. "You won't get a credible and honest opinion like this!"

Sighing, Ida rubbed her forehead. "Fine," she murmured hesitantly, peeling off the scowl from her face and replacing it with an emotionless stoic expression. "You can be completely honest and I'll guarantee that you live regardless."

Jean froze in his spot once again and Hanji gaped at her.

"Really now…" she sighed, placing a hand on Jean's shoulder. She gave him a warm reassuring look as if it to tell him that it's alright to talk. "Jean, it'd be really helpful if you could tell us honestly what you thought about Ida here."

Jean contemplated on answering. His shifty nervous eyes bounced from the comforting smile of Hanji and back towards the impassive elite soldier. Honestly, he didn't know who he feared more, Titans or Ida Starke. Levi Ackerman was still intimidating to him, but in Jean's mindset, a female Levi was much scarier, especially in the eyes of the male population.

Gulping, Jean fidgeted nervously, slowly gaining confidence. "Uhm, she could be really terrifying at times, and her abrasive personality makes it difficult to be around her and unsettles people... But I respect her and look up to her as a soldier and superior."

"Okay!" Hanji chirped happily, slapping him on the back. "Now, what do you think of her as a woman!"

"A — As a woman?!" Jean stuttered in shock, completely paralyzed. When Hanji nudged him once again, he awkwardly moved his gaze and considered Ida for a moment, her face devoid of any emotions as he did so, then suddenly he turned beet red and turned back to Hanji.

"Definitely pretty. She looks young for her age, almost like she is still a teenager. One of the most beautiful girls in the legion, very attractive," Jean concluded softly, nodding his head as if agreeing with his words.

Ida felt her heart lightened at the sound of it. She didn't know if Jean was actually telling the truth or if he was just trying to make her feel better about herself — but if it was the latter, it was certainly working.

Hanji smirked a little. "If she asked you to be her date to an upcoming military gathering would you go out with her?"

Jean's reply was almost instant. "Oh hell no!"

"Why not?!" Ida snapped in humiliation, offended by his blunt and insulting answer.

The young recruit's first instincts were to run as far as he could, praying that Ida wouldn't catch him, but Hanji had already got an iron grip on him to prevent him from evading the topic and running away.

"Uhm…"

Ida was growing increasingly irritated by his lack of an answer. "Well?"

"You're Captain Levi's lover, who the hell would want to go with you after knowing that?! I'd very much like to live!" Jean explained hastily. Meanwhile, Hanji nodded vigorously at his answer.

The squad leader released her grip on the recruit. "You can go now awhile she is still in a state of shock."

Jean nodded and quickly hurried away.

Ida was rooted to her seat, completely paralyzed as she tried to decipher the meaning behind Jean's astonishing declaration. There was no way she and Levi would ever be some sort of couple because the only way that would happen was if he turned into someone other than himself!

Sure, they might have shared a few hugs, slept together on the same bed, shared a common room, and not forgetting that little thankful peck on the cheek she gave him. But they were merely friends, enemies, partners — captain and subordinate, they were anything but a couple.

Romantic relationships were not forbidden in the military, but many of the soldiers found it a distraction and an unnecessary attachment; as did she. There was no way in telling who would survive after all.

How did the scouts get this ridiculous idea that a high-ranking Captain like Levi and a leading soldier like her would get involved in a relationship? She was aware of the talks among her squad when Hanji told them they were dating after she found them asleep together — but that rumor was quickly shut down and contained in her squad.

Though Ida didn't gloat about it, she was very much aware of Levi and her position as Humanity's strongest team. The fate of mankind depended on capable soldiers and they were already so many casualties already.

So what Ida didn't get was how people would actually believe this insane theory! Levi and her dedicated their lives to humanity! They couldn't afford to have a hassle-filled attachment like love! The burdens of their titles were heavy enough!

In addition, there were so many things to consider when it came to the acid-tongued Levi. She was his partner and he was her Captain. He had never shown any interest in her whatsoever, in fact, he never did show any interest in women! From the rumors she heard when she first came into the legion, many had even thought he was secretly gay!

There was no way, that grouchy bastard and her could ever be… lovers?!

"No! You got it wrong! I'm not dating Levi!" Ida said in swift denial when Hanji gave her a knowing look. "Absolutely not!"

"That's not what the entire legion thinks. Even out of the Survey Corps everyone suspects that you two are dating," Hanji told her, enjoying every bit of the dismayed woman's frustration.

Ida vaguely felt as though she'd been shot through the chest at Hanji's revealment. Oh god, this was so embarrassing! Why didn't she know about this earlier?! She had noticed people had been giving her looks and gossiping about her, but that was normal! It was normal for soldiers and civilians to gossip and talk, it was one of the ways they could distract themselves from thinking about the horrors beyond the walls, but Ida certainly didn't know that they were gossiping about her love life!

"Why is it that I only know about this now?!" she demanded furiously.

"Well, this has been going on for quite a while you know." Hanji shrugged, distancing herself from Ida in case she launched a violent attack. "It's just that you and Levi are too dense to even notice that. Say, is it true? Did you two really took it to the next level already?"

She felt as if her jaw could unhinge and drop the ground when her words finally sank into her. Her face was slowly turning the same shade as her hair.

"Wa — Wait, you think that we... did that thing?! You can't be serious?" Ida groaned loudly. She felt hopeless, it was almost as if she had entered another universe where everyone thought that Levi and her were a couple.

"Well, why do you think that Eren is so stubborn on rejecting you even when you threatened him to go out with you? It's obvious. That's because he's terrified of Levi even more than you! You know what they say, a man's jealousy is a terrible thing," Hanji explained in a matter of factly tone.

Ida was livid at the fact that this humiliating rumor was going around the whole legion. How the hell could she not know about this? All those times when Petra had given her the wiggly suggestive brows when she complained about being tired after not having a good rest, and Oluo would give her a surprising cheeky thumbs up when she said she was sore all over from training — did they really know about this insane rumor back then too?!

"I even wanted to give Levi some advice," Hanji admitted with a pout. "But he launched a kick in my face before I could."

"Advice?!" Ida parroted, incredulous. "Advice about what?!"

"About…" Hanji grinned slyly. "...Well, you know…"

Another layer of blush burned her cheeks at that scandalous thought.

Oh my god! Did Levi know about this too?! Why the hell didn't he stop it?!

"I'm not dating him!" Ida slammed her fist onto the table, not caring if her injured arm throbbed painfully. Her loud outburst earned the attention of every scout in the mess hall.

Hurling a death glare at Hanji, Ida stormed out of the mess hall in embarrassment.

Hanji laughed at her expected reaction. Frankly, she was getting tired of watching the two idle around. It was about time they knew anyway. Waving her hand awkwardly in the air, she told the legion. "Relax everyone! It's nothing big!"

Slamming the wooden door to the mess hall shut behind her, Ida stormed her way through the halls of the Survey Corps' headquarters, giving off a murderous killing aura that got everyone shunning away from her.

Well, everyone except a particular high ranking Captain.

"Oi Ida," Levi called out grimly, standing in front of her tracks and stopping her.

Ida stiffened at the sound of his voice, he was the very last person he wanted to see. She started fidgeting when Levi moved forward, his cold eyes never leaving her. "W — What do you want?"

Levi eyed her dubiously, wondering what was going on with her to act so flustered. With a raised brow, he replied in his usual monotone. "It was decided that you'll be my partner to the stupid gathering we have to attend. So don't be late."

"No," Ida muttered stubbornly, avoiding eye contact with him and flushing scarlet red.

"It's an order." Levi used the same old trick on her again. "I don't want to go to that shitty place and be around those military swine either but Erwin insisted that I attend with you, so I've to humor his constipated ass."

But surprisingly this time, his supreme orders did not work. Ida's eyes blazed, unable to hold it back any longer. "I AM NOT GOING TO SLEEP WITH YOU, FUCK OFF!"

The prized Captain stared at her in bewilderment, gaping at her in shock as she stormed away muttering something incoherent under her breath. Wondering what he'd done wrong, he scowled immediately when he heard the soft chuckle by the hallway.

With a fearsome frown, Levi charged forward and grabbed the culprit by her brown ponytail out of her hiding spot, dragging her towards him. Hanji chuckled nervously when she came was face to face with an extremely unamused Levi, his expression indescribable with rage. He was pissed, severely pissed in fact.

"Remind me again why I keep you alive?" Levi deadpanned.

Hanji smiled nervously. It only made sense why no one dared to make any romantic advances towards Ida when Levi could be this terrifying. "Because… I'm an amazing squad leader and my Titan research benefits humanity…?"

Levi was not amused by her answer. "Fucking shitty glasses. You'll tell me everything you know, and I mean everything. If not, I'll throw your ass outside the Walls so you can be with those damned Titans that you love so much," he threatened. "Talk, now."

Hanji could only gulp in fear. This was one of those times when Levi was truly so terrifying and domineering. Those narrowed merciless gray eyes were pressuring her to speak, and there was no doubt that the grip on her hair was getting tighter by the second.

"Okay! Okay! I'll tell you everything I know! Don't— EEK! HELP ME MOBLIT!"

Moblit came running to his squad leader rescue again like he always did. "Ah! Captain Levi, please stop! You'll kill Squad Leader!"

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

"Ahchoo!" Eren sneezed, rubbing his nose. He sniffled, wondering if he had caught a cold. He had been sneezing a lot lately.

The color of blood had begun to spread across the sky as the sun sunk closer to the horizon. Picturesque as it is, Eren Yeager shuddered as he took in the scene. The violent streaks of red in the sky just didn't sit well with him today. Eren didn't know why, but he had been feeling a sense of ominous foreboding all day and he was getting increasingly paranoid over his unsettled feelings. As he swept the stables, he sighed audibly, suddenly remembering the conversation he had with Ida this morning.

What was she even thinking of asking such a request? She had Levi, didn't she? Was it because she was arguing with Levi once again?

Regardless, he dreaded having to face her once again after he so rudely disobeyed her orders and denied her. Who knows what she was going to do him? But still, Eren figured that facing a pissed off Ida was way better than facing a jealous Levi with killing intent.

"Oi."

Eren froze at the sound of the voice before relaxing. There was no way that Levi was behind him right now, he was busy talking with Commander Erwin the last that he knew. Someone couldn't have possibly overheard Ida asking him out to be her partner to the gathering right? So there was no excuse for Levi to come looking for him! With that consolation, he went back to sweeping, wondering why he was suddenly hearing things, was it because he was too anxious?

"Shitty brat, are you ignoring your superiors now?"

"Shit!" Eren immediately turned his heels when he realized he wasn't hearing things and went into a poised salute immediately. "I — I am sorry Captain! I didn't see you there!"

This was not going to be good, Eren could tell with just one look on Levi's face. He looked visibly annoyed and there was no doubt that there was murderous killing intent emitting from his short, but intimidating stature.

"So..." Levi deadpanned. "You're the reason why Erwin is suddenly being an old fart and telling me to take responsibility for something I didn't even do."

"E — Eh?!" Eren back away, praying that Mikasa was nearby to save him. "I don't get what you're trying to say, Captain..."

Cracking his knuckles, Levi stalked Eren with a malicious glint in his eyes. "I'm saying..." he growled lowly, moving forward like how a predator would do it it's prey. "That you really have a loudmouth."

Eren gulped, dread coiling around his stomach. He held his broom to his chest as a form of protection. "W — What?!

"I have told you before didn't I Eren? Pain is the best tool for discipline. You don't need to be educated by words, you need training," he said darkly with immeasurable ferocity. His countenance grew darker, shadowed by his jet black fringe.

"YELP!"

From that day onwards, Eren learned that he should just trust his instincts. You would never know when Levi would come running up to you with a determined goal to make your life a living hell anyway. He could only thank the Gods that Mikasa had arrived just in time to save him.

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