Foolish Titan

Author's Note:

Hey everyone! I've got some amazing news to share! My 12th-grade results are out, and guess what? I got an A Plus! Hahaha, I'm over the moon right now! My overall score is 86%—definitely not the highest, but honestly, it's a huge achievement for me.

Now, it's time to buckle down and get ready for Medical College/University! Wish me luck on the next step of this journey.

Also, I published a story of Naruto in the Warring State Era as Nanashi Uchiha. Nanashi has one of the finest stories in the game series, do check it out.

Alright, without any further ado, let's dive into the new chapter!

Û~Û

The Armored Titan was supposed to keep Levi occupied while the Beast Titan rained destruction, launching chunks of earth and debris with terrifying accuracy, creating a smokescreen that masked their true intention: capturing Eren Yeager.

And it worked.

The horde of Titans wasn't a coincidence. They were controlled, driven like weapons by the Titan Shifters. Their coordination, their timing—it all fell into place too perfectly. Could these Shifters command the mindless Titans? Levi didn't have time to think about it, didn't need to. There was only one thing that mattered right now: Eren. She was taken.

He saw his chance—a narrow opening in the chaos where the Beast Titan was within reach. Levi wouldn't forgive that bastard, whoever he was. His team… all dead. His comrades. His friends. And now, they had the brat.

But just as Levi launched forward, blades flashing in his hands, a few Titans blocked his path, their grotesque faces looming before him. They gnashed their teeth, arms flailing wildly. He could've cursed; the Armored Titan was nowhere to be seen. Gone. Tch, coward.

Fine. They were in his way? Then he'd carve his path right through them.

The next few minutes were a blur of violence. Levi moved faster than the eye could follow, his blades singing through the air. Titans fell before they even knew what hit them, their limbs severed, necks torn open. He danced between their massive, clumsy strikes, untouchable, unstoppable. One after another, they fell, grotesque bodies crashing to the earth in heaps.

This wasn't a battle. It was a slaughter.

Levi stood alone among the wreckage of the Titans he had butchered, breathing heavily. The ground beneath him was littered with their corpses, but there was no satisfaction in the victory. There was no time to feel anything. He had to find Eren.

He shot through the air on his ODM gear, slicing through the smoke and dust that clung to the battlefield. The chunks of rock and earth from the Beast Titan's earlier assault still littered the ground, and it was then that he saw them—his fallen comrades. Petra, Gunther, Oluo, and Eld. Their bodies lay crushed, broken beyond recognition beneath the rubble.

Levi forced his gaze away, but—

"Captain…"

He froze mid-air, his heart stopping for just a second. Slowly, he turned his head toward the voice, his pulse pounding in his ears.

It was Petra.

She was crushed beneath the debris, bloody and broken, her breaths shallow and ragged. But she was alive. Barely. Fifteen minutes, give or take. Half an hour max.

Her eyes, half-lidded and filled with pain, locked onto him. The sorrow in her gaze hit Levi like a physical blow. He had never felt so helpless in his life.

At that moment, humanity's strongest warrior was faced with an impossible choice.

Retrieve Eren Yeager, the Female Titan kidnapped by an intelligent group of Titan Shifters—her importance to humanity, immeasurable.

Or save Petra, his comrade. His… friend, who lay on the brink of death. She would be useless to humanity even if she survived this. Her importance to humanity? None.

Levi's teeth clenched, his whole body trembling with frustration, with rage at the sheer unfairness of it all. His mind screamed at him to chase after the Beast Titan, to rescue Eren. But his heart… his heart wouldn't let him leave Petra behind. He could go after the Beast Titan and rescue Eren then come here…

No. That's not possible.

History shifted in that moment, as Levi lowered his ODM gear and landed beside Petra.

"Captain…" Petra's voice was barely a whisper. Her chest rose and fell in shallow, painful breaths. "They… they have her… Eren…"

"Don't talk," Levi said, his voice tight as he carefully lifted her onto his back. "Just breathe. I'll get you to Hange."

With that, he launched into the air again, the wind whipping past them as his ODM gear propelled them forward, away from the battlefield, away from Eren. Away from everything.

Û~Û

Eren Yeager woke up with a scream. "No!" Her voice cracked, the images of her squad's lifeless bodies flashing behind her eyes. They were killed by the Armored Titan—at least, that's what she thought. Captain Levi had been fighting it, but she hadn't checked the pulse of anyone. She was trapped under chunks of earth herself.

But where was she?

In the dim light, she noticed a bonfire flickering nearby. It was a relief to see fire. Humans. Someone had to be here. Her gaze wandered until it fell upon a figure standing by the cave's entrance. A man, dressed in a finely-tailored, aristocratic outfit. Something felt off. No ODM gear. Did he stash it somewhere?

"He—" She tried to call out, but the words died in her throat as a sharp pain struck her legs—except there weren't legs. There were stumps.

Her breath hitched. Panic bloomed in her chest, her heart racing as her eyes locked onto the sight of her own severed legs. The stumps were grotesque, torn and raw, steam lazily rising from the exposed tissue.

They'll regenerate, right?

Eren's breaths came in short, jagged bursts. She was hyperventilating, unable to process the reality of her injuries. This couldn't be real—no, it had to be a nightmare. Her vision blurred, and the world began to spin.

Suddenly, the man was by her side, his arms wrapping around her as he tried to hold her steady. "It's going to be okay," his voice was calm, soothing even, but Eren's mind was spiraling. She gasped, clutching at the ground, trying to will her legs back into existence.

Minutes passed, or maybe it was hours. Her breathing finally slowed, her trembling hands still clutching the earth beneath her. Eren's body went limp, exhausted from the panic. She looked up at the man, taking in his features for the first time. His blonde hair fell in waves, a neatly trimmed beard framing his face. Round glasses perched on his nose. He had a calm aura, but something about him made her uneasy.

"Wh-what happened?" Eren's voice was shaky.

The man spoke, his tone carrying a slight foreign lilt. "I am from Marley, a—"

"Marley? Where's that?" Eren frowned. She didn't remember any place called Marley inside the Walls.

"Marley is where I was born. A beautiful place," he replied.

"There are people outside the Walls?" Eren's eyes widened.

The man nodded. "Indeed. Now, as I was saying, I found you in a forest under some chunks of earth, beside some corpses."

"Corpses…?" Eren's breath hitched. Her chest tightened. That meant Petra, Oluo, Captain Levi... they were all dead?

"Surprisingly, you were healing. But I had to amputate your legs because I couldn't pull you out from under the debris… I'm sorry."

"It's… fine. They'll probably regenerate," she muttered, still reeling from the information.

"Really?" The man raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "Now, just as I was leaving, I heard a voice not too far away. I followed it and found another person, a man. He was barely alive…"

"Captain Levi!" Eren blurted, her heart pounding again.

"Levi, you say?" The man's voice was calm, measured. "His half side was crushed, and he had lost a significant amount of blood. But before he passed, he told me to deliver a message: 'Tell the brat to run and save her ass.' Then he died, peacefully."

Everything froze.

Levi… humanity's strongest, the undefeatable soldier… dead? It felt unreal. No, it couldn't be. Not him. Not Levi.

Eren's heart raced. Panic clawed at her throat again. No… no… this couldn't be happening.

The man rushed to her side once more as she began hyperventilating, holding her steady until her breathing slowed. His calm, steady presence helped, but her mind still spun in disbelief.

"I have to get back to the capital," Eren gasped. "I need to avenge my comrades…"

The man shook his head gently, his hands resting firmly on her shoulders. "We're already out of the Walls," he said, his voice low but certain.

Eren's eyes widened. "What?!"

"We were being chased by the monsters. I had to make a run for it. I could've taken the route back toward your Walls, but that wasn't a route I knew well. So, I took the path I came from."

Eren was stunned. It was too much to process, but he made sense. The reality of their situation settled in her gut like a stone. She didn't know what to think, or what to say.

"Anyway," the man continued softly, "get some sleep. Your legs will likely regenerate faster if you rest."

She nodded weakly, exhaustion finally catching up with her. "Okay… thanks, mister…"

"Zeke," he said, with a faint smile. "My name is Zeke."

Author Note: Actually, Petra was supposed to stay dead. But nah, why should I follow canon's 'survival of the fittest' rule?

Why did Levi make such a decision? He is a logical man. As a wise man said: Author-sama, love is war.

Eren is a fool to believe Zeke so easily. She is too traumatized right now to think straight.

However, this causes a huge canon divergence, something I wasn't expecting.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Do drop your thoughts in the review section. Your words inspire me to write faster, better and larger.

Till next time!