"I know how this all ends, Levi, and all this time, I'm trying my best to prevent it."
Levi's eyes got wide with surprise and confusion; protests of rage and doubts eventually contoured his face yet even that didn't deter or make you flinch.
Depending only on yourself didn't work as much as you hoped it should, so maybe it's time to trust someone else.
"Are you going to tell everybody?"
Maybe it can't be just someone else. Maybe it has to be him.
Levi's face didn't look like one expression at all. If anything, this pause was a melting pot of emotions; rage and confusion, disbelief and enchantment but no joy was mixed in it.
"You expect me to believe that crap?" And he finally said something. His eyebrows furrowed, the sour scowl sported his face like his tone. You raised your palms to chastise him and the emotions brewing in his chest.
"I know, I know it sounds crazy—"
"No shit."
"I know it's not an easy concept to learn, believe me—"
"Thank the walls, we agree on one thing at least—"
"Could you please take this seriously? Damn it captain, I'm here sticking my neck out for all of you and you're in the mood to mock?"
You shot him an irritated glare until he finally caught how sincere you are and how grave the situation was. He looked at you with an equally done expression, sighing a great deal as he rested his form on the couch, his head facing the wooden ceiling.
Maybe you have to cut him some slack. All these transmigration and 'clairvoyance' thing you just slapped him with aren't the easiest to process.
But this silence couldn't be left alone; the longer it gets, the more questions he's going to have. For the sake of your life, you need him to listen.
"Levi," You whispered, gently taking his hand from the touch of the leather couch. You felt him stiffen at the instance of your touch, instantly making him peek at you from the floor.
"I know it's difficult, but I can't bend the truth just because it's not what you expected."
Levi long searched your eyes. They softened the longer he stared at you, his stiffness gradually went away the longer you held his hand. He sat up, immediately longing for his warmth when he pulled away.
"Come here, the floor's getting cold." Levi said, patting the couch. You might as well succumb at this point.
The couch gave an ugly sound when you sat beside him. Levi took your forearm, gently pulling you up, while the man shifted his angle of sitting to face you. No touch, no eye contact, not a word after that; he just quietly sat beside you, patiently waiting for you to start.
You chose to overlook it; pretending as if the gentle pull didn't tingle your skin even after he pulled away. You sucked and you know it, that is, pretending to be unaware that he practically wore nothing underneath the hospital gown, and the warmth of his obviously sculpted thigh persistently kept brushing your knee.
You forcefully ousted a bout of air to compose yourself.
"In some days from now, Erwin will be arrested."
Levi did nothing but stay still. It took a few seconds for his face to transition from calm to utter disbelief, his furrowed eyebrows deepened, his cheek ticked from his clenched jaw.
"Then we'll be ordered to vacate the temporary hideout and make sure Historia and Eren are safe—"
With his audible intake of air, you could almost feel Levi being shaken to his core. He didn't look present in the room with you; as if the floor offered solace better than his couch or the warm rays of daylight.
"You okay?" You peeked over his downcasted face as you stroked his back. Warm— no, warmer than you imagined, seeping from the thin protection the gown had to offer.
This must be from piled up stress, you reckoned. Maybe air would do nicely for the both of you so you walked your way into his windows and opened them, not bothering to ask for your captain's permission, seeing he was in utter shock.
"Where did you get that?" He eventually asked firmly, almost angry. You could feel his eyes following your movements in his office.
"If you're not working with someone, how did you know about it?"
"That doesn't matter," You said. You were at his last window when you decided to turn around, making him see your strong, unyielding plea.
"What matters is do you believe me? Or are you willing to test me by putting your soldiers' lives on the line?"
Levi stared at you while grinding his molars, his fingers tightly clasped with each other as if preventing them from shaking much. Levi was considering it, you could tell.
"Tell me from the beginning."
"Ah, thank goodness!" You said jauntily, sighing in relief. "You should know that no one else knows about this and you're the first one." You treaded lightly to his personal water station, getting him a glass of water, and finally sat beside your still skeptical captain… with a lot more space this time. Ooh boy, is he in for the ride.
"You took me out of Erwin's torture chamber, sir. I hope this isn't a trick just to get under my skin."
"From the beginning." He said, taking a sip at the water you just brought him. "I'll be able to cover for you if I know what's happening."
"Alright captain." Your grin faded faster than you grinned. "Are you allergic to happiness or something?"
"Not when there's practically nothing to be happy about." He settled the glass down on his coffee table and fixed his eyes on you. There's just something so intimate and intimidating about the way he looked at people.
"Now speak."
"Well," You fidgeted, "I was testing this portal back from home…"
"With the assistance of Ymir and Eren Jaeger's (Training Division 104, Survey Division, Commander Erwin Smith) collaboration, Private Bertholdt Hoover (Training Division 104, formerly associated with Survey Division, Commander Erwin Smith) was captured in his attempts to flee from the walls. Reiner Braun (Training Division 104, formerly associated with Survey Division, Commander Erwin Smith) successfully fled.
Hoover is confirmed as the shifter to the colossal titan (First sighting circa 845) as deduced by Captain Hange Zöe (Survey Division, Commander Erwin Smith) evidenced by numerous soldiers reporting the transformation of Braun as the armored titan.
Ymir (Training Division 104, Survey Division, Commander Erwin Smith) was witnessed to transform into a titan of unknown species.
Hoover and Ymir are currently detained at a classified location…"
So Ymir didn't flee with Reiner. You wondered what made her change her mind. Historia? Maybe it was the turn of tables when she saw Bert captured and she thought 'Maybe the walls have hope even for me.'or something. Because honestly, you don't get why she felt obligated to 'return' the jaw titan that she 'stolen' from Marcel. She was used and abused and discarded in a snap of a finger and if that was you, you'd be more than willing to flee from them. And isn't she all about living for yourself and all of a sudden she wanted to die for others? You rolled your eyes— enough with the overthinking— and turned your attention away from the written report to the conversation currently taking place.
There was only Levi, Erwin and you as the insipid housefly, (reflected in the mirror in front of you) in the fully furnished hospital room. The gentlemen carried on talking airnothings and meaningless 'How's your arm?' to each other. Wait, didn't these two used to be roommates when Levi couldn't walk?
Until a knock on the door disturbed the peace, revealing Hange and Connie on the other side.
"Good thing you're awake Erwin," Hange dropped the salute, "Private Springer has a lot to report."
And Connie, who still has not recovered from the shock of finding out about his mother, reported everything he saw in Ragako. The report only passed from one ear to the next, your attention was at the worsening, grim shadow in Levi's face. He just couldn't believe what he was hearing, and you caught him stealing a glance, as if confirming to you if what was reported was true.
You remained unfazed and composed as you stared right back. You didn't dare give him a shrug or smirk with the implicit words of: 'I told you.'— no. It will only infuriate him because you knew all along and didn't tell a soul.
"So you're saying that the titans are actually humans?" Erwin confirmed to Hange.
"We don't have any solid proof that all titans are this way. But if they are…"
"We received a report of a wandering abnormal in Ragako. A beast titan. It was the same titan who attacked Miche's squad in Utgard before they could even make their way to Dauper. It was reported to be capable of speaking human language." Erwin stroked the veins of his bitten arm, easing the pain.
"I haven't heard about this…" Hange was surprised. "Was there anything else?"
"One of our soldiers conversed with it. It implied that it has a family outside the walls."
"A family?" Hange was panicking, but more than due to alarm, it was more on pure eagerness to know more. "They could have a whole civilization that we know nothing about! And it's just beyond the walls…"
Your eyes shifted from Hange to Levi who was now seething at these revelations.
"So you're telling me," He put his teacup down as if buying time to compose himself, but every word was laced with distinct anger; one so terrifying if unleashed, after being quiet and controlled for so long.
"You're telling me that I've been flying around killing humans this whole time?" He snapped a glare at Hange, one that your former captain repaid with a lookaway.
"I told you, there is no solid proof."
"Hey Erwin," Levi called before peeling his eyes on Hange. "Erwi—" Levi's face contoured to a perplexity and stayed frozen when he saw Erwin and his child-like wonder. He wore this soft expression, a radiance incomparable to the rays of the sun that hit his face.
At that point, there was one thing you understood about Erwin. You empathize with his curiosity, but not the length he'll go through just to get them. You thought it wasn't even the knowledge that he wanted, it was just to prove that his father was right.
All of the trails of dead bodies behind him, to prove that his father's theory was right all along. And for what exactly? To honor someone who is too dead to speak for himself?
"The hell are you smiling about?" Levi asked and immediately, Erwin washed that manic wonder off his face and reverted to the solemn look of a dignified commander.
"It's nothing," The commander said gently shaking his head. "It's just that…"
"You're gonna make me sick."
"I've been told that since I was a child—"
"Is that the real reason you're in the Survey Corps?"
You watch Hange snap their neck at Levi's remark.
There was a knock on the door, dispersing the growing tension in the room.
"It's Pyxis." Erwin announced.
You scanned the old man with an aide trailing behind, installing herself beside you.
"Here you are Commander Pyxis," Hange dragged another seat for the good South wall Commander. "Perfect timing."
The old man sat, crossing his legs. "Though by the looks of it, I seem to have missed a lot of things."
And Hange retold everything that Connie reported. When they finished, the old commander took the silence as his turn to report the status quo outside. The old southern wall commander highlighted three points:
One, the refugees from Wall Rose were getting antsy due to the shortage of food, rampant diseases and total lack of space. It was only a matter of time until they resort to force.
Two: The Garrison had no choice but to announce that the wall remained intact, despite the uncertainty of that. They had to prevent the dog-eat-dog inside in the underground city and in Wall Sina.
Three: There was no death, but the dissatisfaction about their situation left a big impression on the people living inside the walls.
"If nothing gets done, the masses might resort to an uprising…" Pyxis continued.
Levi glanced at you, remembering what you said to him a couple of days before.
"We need to find a way to take Wall Maria soon, or at least appease the people." And Pyxis concluded.
"About that," Erwin casted his attention to Hange, "Where are Eren and Historia Reiss right now? They are our most valuable asset right now."
"Ah, we've made progress there too." Hange said, and that was your cue to give the commander the written report. "For now, the two are being hidden in a safe location. We'll wait until things settle down."
"We can't wait for time to heal itself of some sappy shit like that, Hange." Levi butted in the conversation. "There's something I want you to check, four-eyes."
"That's rare," Hange looked surprised. "You usually take orders, Levi. Not give them."
"I felt sorry for all of you so I went ahead and investigated some matters myself." He fished out a rock from his pocket; a chipping from the wall. Hange inspected the seemingly ordinary rock which gave a pretty shade of blue when hit by the sunlight, despite being plagued by small chunks of limestone.
"You mind looking at the material of that?"
"Where did you get this?" Hange asked.
"The wall." Levi peered at Erwin through his straight, yet long lashes.
"Hope you don't mind Erwin," Levi leaned forward, his elbows resting on his thighs. "But since your arm was eaten and you're physically and emotionally exhausted, I also went ahead and made more decisions."
"What decisions?" Erwin hesitantly asked. You took that as your cue, giving Erwin the copy of the Bertholdt report.
And when your eyes glossed over the succeeding page, they only got wider the moment you saw the memo because what the fuck is Levi thinking?
Memorandum SC-850-0012
Effective immediately. Irrevocable until disbanded.
Captain Levi Ackerman, additional member:
Eren Jaeger
Krista Lenz
Phoebe Johnson
Captain Miche Zacharius squad, newly instated:
Mikasa Ackerman
Cornelius Springer
Jean Kirstein
Sasha Braus
Armin Arlert
Immediately report to your respective Captains for task delegation.
Signed,
Erwin Smith
Commander
Survey Corps