Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

His life was like any others titans.
He went sunbathe, walked in it's forest, and his body would shut down at night. His life has always been repetitive.

Sometimes, he would meet others titans and the two would growl at each others. For no apparent reason other than they simply did it.

That all changed when he saw small titans on the grass.

That day, like any other, he was sunbathing against one of the towering trees around. Suddenly, the peaceful atmosphere got broken by footsteps. The titan could smell many titans and...weird...titans.

It was weird. Their smell were different than the rest. No wonder so many of his kind noticed it too.

The patterns were endless with smells that he never knew about. More than that, even. They were mixed. Not like one of the forest and some animal they accidentally touched. No. Some had the smells of flowers, food, blood, and more.

The titan got up and cautiously walked towards the noises of his kind.

After a few minutes, he saw...small things. Not like animals. They wore two skin; one green and another much more similar to his own and the rest of the titans. But it was a bit in a different shade depending on the small titans.

He stood there. Observing them.

To his right, two four meters titans ran to them, one of them having four legs. And then, even more ran. A six meters with his stomach bigger than it's legs, a eight meters with big plumping eyes besides a nine meters with a mouth always open and curved. It was chaos.

The fifteen one, however, didn't ran. He felt, instead, a weird feeling. His heart was beating faster than usual for a few seconds as his eyes went too quickly from the small to the average titans.

Surprised. Confused.
He never felt that before.

He decided that he didn't like that.

If it wasn't weird enough, the small titans suddenly jumped from the weird big mules, and went through the air. Except...They didn't had wings.

One of the small titans with two skins took out two grey slim body part from their hips and after a few seconds, one of his kind was down. It's eyes got sliced as a weird liquid came out of it. Then, another one sliced It's legs.
The titan fell down as a third one appeared and sliced at his nape.

The others titans didn't care one bit, keeping running to them as the small titans did too, attacking other ones with the same technique.

The fifteen meters waited for it to stand up again. Smoke was coming from the body, like usual.
But even when he waited, the one on the ground didn't move.

No. Rather, it's skin ...disappeared. And then, it was nowhere near. The fifteen meters looked around, searching for it, but it wasn't there anymore. And when he looked back to the body, not even the strange liquid remained.

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After many time the sun passed up and down, the titan found itself having a feeling of irritation. More than just bothered, like when he slipped and fell in a small river one time.

He was bored.

Not even sunbathing was as entertaining like before. Relaxing? Yes. But did he enjoyed it as much? Not anymore.
No more like a hobby he enjoyed, but like the only thing he could do and needed to do.

The time was not an important thing, as when the sky wasn't dark, he moved, and when it was, he didn't. Simple.

Way too simple. From that day when he saw humans, the titan found itself thinking. Not of his needs.
He thought about the small titans with two skins. How could they fly without wings? How could they kill without claws? How could they take out these two grey body parts at their hips to attack at titans, but remain alive? How could they get them back? Where did they came from? Why were they so small? Why did his kind ran to them, trying to catch these small creatures?

His head hurted.

He never thought about anything else than the sun and when the sun would go down.
And now, thinking about these two seemed such a waste of time when he could go to these small titans instead.

However, they moved too...precisely and quickly. He was smart enough to know that they would kill him if he approached them like any other titans.

First, he would need to get himself noticed. Maybe then they would agree to let him shrink to their size? That would be more interesting and fun than anything he ever did in his life reunited.

Yes. Doing something else than simply walking, watching and sleeping.

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Doing anything else than those three things were actually hard for the titan. He thought of flying, but when he jumped, it did nothing. After many failures, he gave up.

He tried to approach one the remaining stranges mule, as the small titan with two skins on them disappeared, but it was scared of him. It ran away.
He could only hope that the creature would manage to survive in that territory.

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After many days passed, the titan heard big footsteps. More titans ran to one place, and the fifteen meters knew what he needed to do.

He didn’t know yet what he could do to get seen as a target, but perhaps observing the small titans could help him in seeing what he need to copy and learn.

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At the place, the titans were already leaning down. But unlike last time, it was a silence. A silence broken by the noises of swallows, bitting and chewing.

Were they eating? Why?
The titan knew none of his kind needed anything else besides the sun. The proof being that he never felt any needs to eat. Or was it just him? No, it couldn't be. The others titans also never died of never eating.

But then he froze.

Legs.

Arms.

Heads.

Torso.

And that strange liquid once again.

There were body parts everywhere. But mostly in the mouths of his kind. When the fifteen meters approached one who was whole besides having a leg twisted weirdly, nothing happened.

The eyes did not snap to him, nor did they noticed him. They simply were directed to the sky, unfocused and unmoving.

The titans kept eating, some leaving as they thought their last food was going to be eaten by another. Their footsteps menacingly being the only sounds left besides the start of a small rain.

But he wasn't going to eat. He didn't need to.

When he picked it up, more liquid poured out of the mouth of the small titan. That's when the titan noticed that a big injury was on its torso. He didn't noticed it, thinking it's second skin was going to regenerate. But no smoke came out.

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The titan didn't know what to do of the small titan in his hands. He figured out that he should pick up the remaining small creatures. Their mules were not regenerating either, not moving an inch. And so, he carried all of them with him.

Where?

For the first time, it seemed like it was important to find a precise place. The titans could eat them if they found the unmoving bodies.

When walking, he heard a bird. Not one. It was a flock, staying in the brenches. When he looked down, he saw the few wolves growling at them, but no matter what they did, they didn't managed to get them.
Maybe he should hide the creatures high as well.

He looked up.

.
.
.
Or maybe not.

He let out a huff of irritation and slight nervosity. How was he going to be able to going up? The trees were many times his sizes as they were all sturdy and straight. And high. Really high. Yeah, no titans would be able to go there. But that included him as well.

The titan figured that he should atleast try.

He tried to let his arms around the tree, but that would risk destroying or losing the small creatures. Plus, he had a feeling that it wouldn't work at all.
Next was 'fuck it ;improvise' technic, wich he used as he let his hands go in the tree. He had to be careful as any wrong steps could result in him falling.

But luckily, after many (and many) failed attempts, he managed to get on a sturdy brench. It was big enough for him to hold it without it shaking or moving an inch.

He let the little bodies on it.

After he let his body go down until he land on one just under, his body felt suddenly incredibly slow and tired. When looking up again, he saw the sky. It was almost night.

Well, he might not have interacted with them as the bodies on the brench above him still ignores him, but he managed to do something for them.
Perhaps if he would wait a few hours for them to regenerate, they would stop ignoring him. Maybe he could even get comfortable enough with them that they would let him touch their second skin, or their grey body parts that they used to attack? That wasn't such a bad compromise.

He would help them, and they would stick around.

Chapter Text

The small titans didn't move. It has been two days, and they still ignored him. He observed them, but the only things that changed thorough the time was that the weird liquid kept coming out of the body parts and that a new smell appeared on them. It wasn't as good as the previous ones.
He didn’t like it. It stinks.

After a moment, he looked at the animals below. Comoared to the weird big mules that the small titans rode, the ones in the forest didn't fear him, as they ignored the titans.

He never looked at them as it proved useless. But now, being curious, he did. That's when he noticed that the wolves from the previous days gave up on the birds because they caught two small deers. They were eating them. From where they chewed, the unknown liquid was there again.

The liquid was always there.

On the small titans bodies, on the other titans mouths, as well as on the ones of the wolves.
Was it the injuries that made it?

The titan never injured himself besides sometimes falling or walking straight onto the bigger trees. But each time, his body regenerated before he could see them.

When thinking about it, besides his own kind, no animals had smoke coming out of their body when they were injured. Their bodies didn't disappeared either.

Where did they go, then?

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The small titans came back many days later. It took them a while. This time, their second skin changed slightly. There was a thing on them. Four different color with a head in the middle.

As usual, the other titans ran up to them. The small titans go off their weird mules and charged to them. They were in a big group, like wolves. Yet, not completely like them. It was a different flock than wolves. Rather, it was like birds. Organized with straight lines.

A small titans was in one of the front line, screaming something who was more complex in both tones and vocals. Their hair was blond, yet it was less messy than an usual titan's hairline. It was tall, having blue focused eyes who seemed to judge every targets.

"Charge!"

The rest of the small titans screamed as they came even quicker to them. Once more, all began to fly, slicing the neck of some titans, then using the trees to hide themselves.

It worked.

His kind searched for them on the floor. But the fifteen meters watched higher. On the brenches stood the hundreds of small titans with two skins. He caught the gaze of one.

They had messy long brown hair in a ponytaisl. A short object was on one of their hands as they seemed to make weird movements. Were they using their claws? But the material they used seemed too fragile to stand it.

On their eyes was another objects. It had two circle with a weird transparence. Could they see with it?

"Levi! Watch! That one!",they pointed at him. Another human, shorter, with short hair with the same color as a raven, looked at the titan. The small titan's eyes were blue, being more menacing than anything. The creature didn't seem impressed.

"It saw us! It's watching us but it isn't trying to raise it's hands to catch me!"

"Calm down. It's just too dumb enough. If it had an asshole, I'm pretty sure it would piss itself more than anything."

"But LOOK! It is observing us! Not just watching! It's gaze goes from up to down, sometimes focused on something in particular!"

The small titan with brown hair then proceeded in scrubbing even more, as their gazes was sometimes on him and others times on their materials.

"Soldiers!"

The blond small titan from earlier shouted, as every other of his kinds looked at him. The fifteen meters did it as well.

"We will jump in groups of two. Attack the eyes then their necks. If you miss a spot, go back on the trees. We can't allow ourselves to lose more of our men."

Again, the titan understood none of the sounds made. However, he noticed how the small titans looked at the titan's eyes then necks. Including his.
He should run.

He was about to do so until that small titan yelled something again, and the rest jumped. All the creatures took out their two respective grey body parts from their hips and went to slice their eyes.

The titan wouldn't have time to cover his eyes, but he did have to cover the most important thing. The nape.
Quickly, he put a hand on his nape, and in less than a minute, besides him, almost all of his kind besides a few were on the floor.

His theory was proved as he felt his hand covering the nape was sliced. He got lucky.

"Commander! We...That titan..It's.." A small titan with short yet light brown hair spoke with a surprised voice. They looked at the blond one. The titan did as well.

"Erwin! Let me capture this one!"

"Oi, four-eyes, we don't have time for your fantasies. We still have to take care of the remaining titans. Including the other asshole."

The fifteen meters couldn't see anything. His eyes hurted, as everything was black. But it was evident that if he didn't managed to get away, he would be finished like the others.

Even without seeing anything, he knew that a tree was behind him. Thinking wasn't easy. He never did it before. Not so quickly and precisely. But he managed to have some kind of plan.

He leaned against the tree, letting his injured hand on his nape fall by his side. He knew that his knees were going to be attacked next. The small creatures did it when his kind had something behind their back wich made it impossible for their nape to be touched. They would be sliced. And when he would fall forward, he would be dead in less than ten seconds.

Even if it was dangerous and probably stupid, the titan let himself sit against the tree. Slicing his knees would make nothing. They could attack him as much as they wanted, he wouldn't disappear like the rest of the titans.

"Huh?"

"Why did it sit? We didn't even cut it's knees or tendons yet."

The fifteen meters mamaged to recognize the loud voice of the brown haired small titan from earlier. The one who pointed at him.

"We don't have the time to know. More titans are approaching. Even if almost no one died, we still have too many injured from the earlier attack."

"Let's go back."
The firm yet calm voice was maybe the blond small titan.

"Ugh! Fine...Let's see each others again next time, weird titan!"
It was definitely the brown one.

"Stop screaming. You'll blow not only it's but my head as well, dumbass."
And it belonged to the raven-titan.

The Titan heard weird sounds, like snakes. When one of his eyes slowly recovered, he noticed how it was made when the creatures fly away.

The small titans tried to slice his nape, as they managed to touch his eyes, wich the strange liquid got out of. It hurted. But he was right once more. His theory was correct. It was coming out of injuries. Around here was the few remaining bodies of his kind. The titan knew that somehow, this spot being sliced meaned disappearing. But atleast, now, the creatures noticed him.

Chapter Text

The titan ran through the forest. He always walked before, never needing to really worry about something. There were no need to, after all. You had the time to do anything, so why hurry? But now, as it was rare to see the small titans, the titan wanted to hurry up.

He wondered why the others from his kinds did it when seeing the small creatures. From now on, he knew.

The weird excitement as you almost crashed against
obstacles.
The feeling of power and energy.

He had never experienced it before.

Suddenly, the fifteen meters stopped dead in the tracks, smelling a new thing. The weird liquid. Blood.

It came from the opposite side of the forest. Normally, he wouldn't be able to go there quickly enough before the small titans left, but now, with this new ability, it was possible to reach them.

The titan sprinted towards the location, dodging the other titans and habitant of the place.

Once again, he stopped. The forest stopped there.

He couldn't go after the small titans, after all.
If he went, he wouldn't have any hiding spots against the flying creatures.

"A fifteen meters at six o'clock!"

"Captain, we should—"

"HELLOOOOOO!!!!"

He recognized that voice. Once again, the brown creature yelled loudly while going towards him.

Around the small titans was a lot of blood coming from dead animals. The little creatures weren't injured at all.
It took the fifteen meters a moment to understand that they used one of his senses against him, using the smell of the blood to attract him.

The titan wasn't fully used to thinking, but the concept of 'traps' isn't that foreign to him.

However, he thought that they were just interested in him. He was naive.

His attention was all on the brown-haired small titan, and so, their kind used the opportunity to attack him. His nape was almost touched if it wasn't for a group of two titans who appeared. That day, he escaped once more.

But from now on, he promised to himself never to approach them again. They attempted to slice his nape each time. He could simply observe them from afar from this day on.

"Damnit, he escaped again."

"NOOOOO! Come back, sweetie! I swear we're not going to hurt you!"

"Hanji-"

"COME BACK! I SWEAR IT'S JUST A MISUNDERSTANDING!"

Chapter Text

"HOLY SHIT! Levi, look! He's here!"

"Shut up. You'll attract even more titans."

"But look at him! He finally showed his pretty little head again!"

"He's as pretty as one of the rich pigs."
The small creature attacked a seven meters titan before going after a five meters.

"Don't be so mean to my baby!"

The titan turned slightly to look at them before running away. He didn't glance behind him but still punched a few other titans on the way. His kind didn't even spare him their attention, focused on getting the small creatures.

The fifteen meters let out a huff while dodging another attack from the humans. They didn't leave him alone for a few months, trying to either eliminate or capture him.
Even if he was curious, he wasn't going to risk his life for them. They clearly didn't like him, besides that brown-haired one.

His footsteps made a thundering sound amongst the usually calm forest. It was rare for other titans to come, but because of the small creatures, they were more than usual.

Humans.

That was what the small titans were.

He learned it by accident; one of the bodies covered in blood was barely conscious.

.

.

.

.

They stared at him in horror when they woke up. Then, the horrified turned into disgust and hate. They made strange noises in their weird languages, water coming out of their eyes. Like rain.

"You monster... You eat us... You ruin our lives....And for what? For either us humans to end in a fucking cage all our existence or to being eaten alive..."

They mumbled in a low voice as their eyes closed.

"You....ba...stards..."

Even if the Titan couldn't understand anything, he knew how the human was scared. Anger was pained in their eyes. But fear was the most present. They were scared. Scared of sleeping forever. Scared of not opening your eyes, even when the sun is up.

"Bas...tard...ba...sta...rd..."

They kept speaking the same thing, again and again, as their voice became muffled by their sobs. The holded their legs against their chest, their eyes full of emotions the titan didn't understand.

The fifteen meters observed them until their little chest didn't move anymore. Nothing did besides the last tears who came out. When he looked closer, he saw their eyes were empty, yet staring on the horizon.

.

.

.
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The Titan watched the humans fighting. Their metal object shone in the night with the reflection of the moon as they flew amongst the trees, trying to escape from his kind.

The red liquid came out from the humans as some had missing body parts or legs bending in an upsetting way.

Amongst the crowd, he recognized one in particular. His favorite human was flying gracefully through the trees, going after three titans.

He was the raven one. Compared to others, he was short, looking a bit weak. When the titan examined him further, he noticed how he slowly got away from his kind.

To be honest, the giant was worried.

Yes, the human was strong. More than every others.

He was quick, his gaze piercing as he never got touched by any titans. His eyes always carried an unknown emotion.
Not fear.
Not happiness.
Not anger.

It was almost empty if you ignored the disgusted and uninterested gaze towards anyone. He looked always depressed. In his own world.
The titan didn't need much to understand that compared to his brown-haired companion, the human didn't see him as much other than the other titans. He would be killed easily in front of this human.

That was why he couldn't approach him, even if he was dying of curiosity. Or out of boredom. Probably a mix of the two.

But today, his eyes were more expressive. They were wider as he glared, being a little more panicked than usual.

The titan shook his head, reprimanding himself. The human always surprised him. He didn't need him to survive. For months, he killed every titan without problems in front of the titan's eyes.

And so, the fifteen meters turned around to leave. The rest of the humans were doing the same, though not the same direction as him. But also the same one as the raven-haired.

He saw how the troops tried to look around, searching for their companion, but got ambushed by the titan's kind.

Therefore, they left.
Besides the brown-haired, who screamed before joining them after going further in the forest. The strange mules left, going back to the direction of the big rock; where they came from.

The titan was meters away from the humans and other titans. He knew that the human missing was strong. He was probably going for a few more kills before joining his kind.

Like the other animals of the forest, he sat down to sunbathe, relaxing. A comfortable silence was set.

But a scream and more titans running interrupted the silence.

The humans were fragile, but they could defend themselves.

However, the titan knew that today wasn't like the other days. The humans left without one of their companion, the brown-haired one was injured, looking back at the forest, as the raven-haired didn't come back to them.

The titan got up.

Today was different. The human wasn't there out of choice. He was abandoned by his kind. And now, probably injured. And if the fifteen meters didn't hurry up to him, he would be eaten alive.

Chapter Text

Levi was spinning in the air, barely dodging the hand of the six meters titan. A five one appeared accompanied by others ten meters. The son of a bitch was huge, and his constant frown on his face looked out of place with his empty eyes.

More and more titans appeared. There was from five meters to nine, as even some abnormal tried to catch him. That wasn't surprising. He became an easy prey, an easy meat.

"Damnit."he cursed under his breath, trying to go higher amongst the trees. He was short on gas, and so, he couldn't allow himself to make unnecessary moves. Killing those big-ass bastard wasn't his top priority.

His body moved to the right as he got between the feet of an abnormal, trying to fly away from the four titans behind him. One of them being a twelve meters, which was enormous already compared to the usual ones. Four-eyes was going to be excited when they would hear about that one. Well, that was if he managed to get out of here alive to tell them about it.

Suddenly, the twelve meters grabbed his wire with his disgusting hand. Levi quickly sliced the hands, but the movement forced him to take an akward turn. His body fell on the grass. A muffled yell came out from the veteran soldier. Yeah, of course, his right leg had to be broken now of all times.

The twelve meters looked slowly down at him while the other titans came behind him. They approached him with eagerness.

Levi felt his vision blurry a little. Was he going to fall unconscious before dying? Honestly, that wasn't such a horrible death for someone like him.

The soldier closed his eyes, still reluctant to give up.
But he didn't have the choice, did he?

Suddenly, footsteps were heard nearby. Great, another titan to feast on him. By how Levi heard the loud running, he guessed that it would be another abnormal.

But... instead of a ten meters one ready to eat him was a fifteen meters. He was enormous.

Levi couldn't see him much, but he could recognize that one of all titans. It's actually abnormal.

The one Four-eyes and Eyebrows were obsessed over. He had seemingly longer hair than most titans, with a physic being more human than the rest of his kind. Muscular but not too much to make it akward or unsettling to look at. Instead, it was his mouth with no lips that made him scary. It had two ranges of teeth, twice as big as Levi's hand.

But it was the eyes that shocked more. They weren't empty. Rather, they seemed even more expressive than some humans. Their colors weren't set.

When the sunlight made them shine, they reflected a golden color.
At a normal day, a deep forest green was present.
At the sunset, the blue covered the green.

Yet now, at the moonlight, Levi could see something more. They were all colors. The color green was the more present, as the blue and the golden mixed up with it, creating the same effect the water has in a sunset. It absorded and reflected every color beautifully.

Levi closed his eyes again, waiting for the moment either a mouth would close on his body or a hand would grab him like a doll. But that never came.

Instead, a punch was sent to the twelve meters. By the fifteen meters.

The bastard fell against one of the trees as the fifteen one grabbed the two small four meters by their legs. He threw one far away. The other one was squeezed until a gruesome scene was played in front of the scout's eyes. The ten meters tried to fight back, but the attacker jumped at him like a wolf, punching, biting, and slicing its body. After the fifteen meters turned his opponent, he bitted his nape, then spit it out on the ground.

After he stood up again, the attacker simply stepped on the nape of the smaller titans again and again.

After minutes passed, a silence was in the forest. The only sounds are the disgusting one of the Titan finishing his kind in a painful manner.

The thing didn't eat them either. Instead, he turned at Levi. The titan's gaze catched his. Both stopped moving.

The last thing that Levi saw before fainting was the fifteen meters walking to him.

Chapter Text

His eyes shot up open.

Levi waited for his vision to stop blurring as he looked quickly around. He was on a tree, on one of the biggest and highest branches.

How did he get here?
He had no fucking clue of how all that bullshit happened.

But, by the sharp pain he had in his head, he knew that it wasn't good.

"Shit.."

Levi hoped with all his heart that he wouldn't have a concussion or any grave injuries.

All the captain remembers is how some part of the mission happened. And also how it miserably failed.

Everything was like usual. Many deaths came from the new guys, screams, yelling from Erwin and moans from Hanji when they saw new titans before a soldier took it out. But then, a new popular guy tried to impress his fans. How? By fucking driving away from the formation with them.

Erwin sent Levi with newbies soldiers to find them. Normally, they thought they wouldn't go that far, but it turns out the dumbass were fast. Not smart or alive, though.

The friends of the dude were all dead as the coward ran away. It seems his horse got stepped on or ran away.

When Levi and the six soldiers with him found him, they scolded the boy before heading back to the formation. The problem was that titans got attracted to them as the dumb soldier kept crying, yelling and screaming out loud.

And so, almost all of them got killed. A girl escaped with her friend, but one of them got grabbed. She saved her friend at the cost of another soldier being lost while trying to help them.

They were almost in the formation until the many titans trapped them in the forest.

Now, it became real chaos.

Levi got separated from everyone and cornered like a rat against a tree.

And—

Footsteps.

It didn't take Levi more time to get and try to fly away. Except he remembered at the last moment, before jumping, that he didn't have any gas. Plus, his head throbbed and his leg hurted like a bitch.

Yeah, he had way too many chances of dying.

When the soldier peeked down, he saw an abnormal. Well, the abnormal. The one Four-eyes was fantasizing over.

And also the same one who walked towards him when he fell unconscious.

Levi felt relief washing over his face as he realized that the branche was literally so high that it was four times the size of the fourteen meters. Besides trying to grab, that bastard can't do anything.

The man let out a scoff.

Dumb fuck was staring up at him with his green eyes.

How much the man was willing to pay for seeing it being put down right there and now was not something he would ever reveal. Just for being a little petty.

Shushing the non-essential thoughts, Levi concentrated back on 'how'.

How did he get here in the first place?

Was there another person stuck here?
How long were they here?
Who were they?
Where were they now?

The tree shook. Levi almost fell over. He ended on his butt, but hey, at least he was still alive and wasn't on the grass, his blood splattered over the ground.

Suddenly, a huge hand wrapped him. He didn't find any of his blades to slice the...titan.

A titan grabbed him.
A titan managed to climb that high to reach him.

And it was the abnormal.

Levi wiggled in the air, kicking, biting, and screaming at the beast. It did nothing as the monster didn't even react.

'That's it? I'm going to die like that?'

Levi almost laughed from the stupidity of his situation. Of course, his death deserved to be so specific.

Mysteriously saved by a stranger, placed on a high brench on one of the big-ass trees, to then die devoured by the first intelligent titan ever seen.

He wanted to curse the world. Maybe he already did.

The scouts could have learned so many things that all these thousands of repetitive years tried to get. But instead, all those secrets would leave with him: inside the ugly stomach of a titan.

With closed eyes, he accepted his fate, a scoff probably being his last words.

Yet, nothing came.

Instead, the hand around him became gentler as they were side by side, cupping his body.
Levi opened his eyes, noticing immediately how the fifteen meters titan was observing and not eating him.

__________________

The Titan watched in awe the little human in his hands. It was so small and fragile. He was scared of breaking its bones by just letting it in one hand.

The poor thing was staring back at him with wide eyes, one of his legs shaking.

Not of fear.

When paying more attention, the titan noticed how red was on the little body, especially on one leg who was bent in an awkward way.

One of the fingers of the monster went to touch it. However, he stopped when seeing how it seemed painful to the human.

The giant couldn't set him off on his own to his kind. The thing wouldn't last more than a few minutes before getting stepped on or eaten alive. All by the Titan's kind.

When thinking about his own kind, for some reason, the Titan always felt a weird feeling in his chest. Not just being angry. It was different while being similar.

Sometimes, you get angry at a tree as you hit your toe into it, and it hurts. Before, this was the type of anger or furious that he knew. Just a passing feeling that would leave after the next day.

Now, that wasn't the case. Just by thinking of his kind, the Titan desired to exterminate them all. One by one.

The titan got back to his senses when he felt the human petting out a whimper. Oh, he accidentally tightened his grip.

The beast tried to make an apologetic sound, attempting to make himself look smaller. He didn't want to scare the human.

Footsteps were heard by his right. He made a sharp turn, a second away from being grabbed by two seven meters titans. The two possessed disgusting grey eyes who were hungrily staring at their prey.

No. The Titan wasn't going to let them hurt the humans. Not anymore.

The Titan's body leaned to the right as he easily got away from one of his opponent's grip. A punch was send on the one with deformed eyes while his leg kicked another one away from him. Still, even if he was strong, he didn't managed to dodge a pair of teeths who bit into his hips.

Just when he was about to use his other hand, the Titan remembered for what use it served. The little human in his hand could get crushed. Maybe it was already dead.

A deep whine left his mouth as he punched with difficulty the one on him before running away.

Again, while sprinting through the forest, the Titan still tried to be careful to not step on too much creatures. When looking back, he saw that the small horde lost him.

In his hands, fortunately, the poor thing still seemed to breath. It was unconscious, but not dead.

The Titan made a grave mistake. The trees were alright when it came to hide or use as a way to escape from the humans or the titans. However, living onto it was a bad idea. Not only for how difficult it was to climb, or how it was dangerous to fall, but also, how was it going to be during winter? Sure, titans weren't in danger during those times. But, even without being a human himself, he knew that the humans were way more weaker.

The one in his hand would need a safer place to rest.

Chapter Text

While the idiot finally stopped in its track, observing the surrounding, Levi couldn't help but curse at it once more under his breath.

He woke up one hour ago, confused, only to realize that a fucking fifteen meters titan was walking with him in his palms, cupping him like a injured bird.

Not only was it stressing, but also humilating. In fact, Levi rather die than admit to anyone that he fainted three times in less than one day. Perhaps was it because of the few hours of sleep he had recently, or just how his body was weak from his injured leg, but he felt dizzy.

He didn't had his blazes to cut the bastard's fingers, so his weapons was limited beside only his two daggers (one in his pocket and the other one in one of his boots used as an emergency), but even then, that was pathetic.

Like a lost puppy, the titan was visiting the forest, sometimes climbing a bit the high trees, but going down after realizing how weak the brenches were.

No matter how much Levi screamed, cursed or (tried to) attack it, it simply made either weird sounds while tilting it's head or looked at him with confusion. After a while, the titan simply ignored him, more focused on it's task.

"Oi, you damn pig, where the fuck are we going?"

Unsurprisingly, it didn't answer.
But it still managed to make Levi even more pissed off.

A drop of water then came on his face. The captain felt a second on his shoulder, before slowly, a rain started. Damn his luck.

When looking up at the giant, he saw how it didn't look like it noticed. Maybe because a titan skin was more sturdy.

Levi used his cape as an attempt to cover himself from the rain, but that proved to be quite useless. The good thing, however, was that since the rain got heavier, the titan finally used its brain and looked at the sky.

It looked down at him, then at the sky full of clouds, then at him again. It gently pushed him on one hand while using the other to put it above him, protecting him from the cold wind. For now.

It was warm in there, but it was clearly uncomfortable. Despite the efforts of the titan to be gentle, his hold was still sometimes too hard. Not at a point to break his bones, but he had cramps from earlier on, after the titan had holded him in one hand.

Besides a faint crack between the two hands, Levi couldn't see anything. He could feel how the giant moved faster in search of a hiding place other than the brenches in the trees.

__________________

Sitting against one of the walls of the cave, Levi glared at the asshole in front of him. It was akwardly sitting a pose between sitting and laying down, the rest of his knees being outside at fault of the lack of space.

The two looked at each other in silence. Despite the captain’s hatred at titans, he couldn't disagree with Four-eyes anymore. They were right about that titan.

It was more than different. It was intelligent. It was curious.

Its green (or maybe blue) eyes were observing him, sometimes tilting its head to see something in particular. His equipment, his clothings, or just him fully.

Its gaze was always going somewhere from curiosity, yet doupt could be seen in it too.

One time, it tried to move its hand closer.
Levi used one of his daggers and sliced it. The hand healed in less than one minute.
But the titan never tried to approach him again.

A gurgling sound got him out of his thoughts. When he looked at it, the titan blinked a few times, its eyes being halfway open.

Right. Because of the rain, the sun wasn't there anymore. Not only that, but it was night.

The titan looked at him, showing for the first time another emotion than curiosity and confusion: suspicion.

Before falling in a deep slumber, it put a hand against his nape.

Levi looked at the titan's chest, who was showing faint mouvements of breathings, before his gaze turned to the rain outside, holding a dagger in one of his hands so much it hurted.

Chapter Text

Levi glared at the big shadow that was slowly yarning. After that night, the entire next day, rain was a constant bother. It was heavy and annoying, and Levi hated everything about it.

Because of this morning, just when the titan was about to go to sleep, a thunderstorm started near them. It scared the living shit outta the thing. So what did it do? It fucking panicked, resulting into the cave shaking.

Large hands appeared in front of the captain and Levi swung one of his dagger at it. However, even when flinching, the fifteen meters titan still took him, to get out of here. It didn't take one minute before the cave collapsed.

Since then, they were stuck with the consequences being always soaked, Levi's being sick (of course, by his amazing luck), and having no place to cover or hide themselves.

"Hurry up, you stupid pig."

The titan let out a grumble looking like a deep groan while furrowing its eyebrows. When the hand finally got near him, it stopped just a meter away from him. Apparently, it learned that going too close to him too fast resulted in an attack from Levi's side.

With a snort, Levi went on the hand as the titan holded him carefully. It usually treated him like an injured birdie, but this time, it was irritated. It's as if it was seeing him like a peticular child throwing a tantrum. Its eyes carried the one of an exhausted parent.

Which was fucking bullshit. Levi was the one having to deal with this shit.

"Continue looking at me like that, and I'll force one of your disgusting hands so far up your non-existent ass that you'll feel it in your throat."

The titan gave him a unimpressed look that silently stated 'try that then', before ignoring him once more.

While one hand was the place Levi rested on, the other was above him, covering him from the climate. It was giving more place, making him a bit more comfortable than a few hours ago.

Probably less than one day has passed since he saw his squad, yet, he had to admit, he missed them in some way. Never has the urge of drinking tea with a blanket around his body been this strong.

Not only that: he was starving.

He tried to explain in his own words (threats with insults) along with poor mimics of eating, but the titan didn't understand, looking at him with a mix of confusion and pity, seemingly worried about his mental state.

Another problem (walls, their luck was that horrible) is that the fifteen meters looked tired and weak.

Four-eyes's once told him how titans seemed to get their energy from the sun. That would explain why they were so slow during rains and night. Now, that theory was proven to be true as the asshoke carrying him was slow, nervous, and easily annoyed.

Crunch

Amongst the rain, Levi recognized these disturbing sounds.
He heard it too many time.

Levi saw, through the two hands of the titan, many corpses of scouts. Some were being eaten by titans, while the rest were laying on the ground, their fate already decided.

The fifteen meters passed through his kind, looking under him a brief second before looking forward once more, uninterested.

It didn't spare the men's corpses more than ten seconds.

Anger flooded through Levi.
He couldn't believe how a slice to the nape of all these monsters was all he desired in the world. These bastards didn't need to eat them to survive. The fact being that this one wasn't eating him. Yet, it still was a sadistic cruel shit.

__________________

The Titan observed discreetly at the small human in his hold. It was being even more silent than before (if that was possible).

Its gaze was on nowhere particular, yet the Titan could feel how tense its body was.

The human started acting like that when they passed besides his kind on the ground. Strangely enough, their bodies didn't evaporate, even without their heads. Yet, after seeing that sight, the human stopped making its specific sounds for minutes.

The titan grumbled, feeling his mood low down a bit. It liked the strange sounds the human made when it was frustrated. The glare send his way wasn't as enjoyable either. The titan wasn't uncomfortable from such a weak harmless injured creature, but...it wasn't far off.

The scent of blood was near. Maybe more titans were chewing on their meals. One was meters away, but both the little human and the titan could see it eat a human's torso slowly.

When looking down again at the creature he holded, confusion surely got painted on his face. Why was it so angry? Sure, seeing a poor creature getting eaten can make you feel annoyed, but it was already dead. You can't do anything about it, anyway.

But the thing he holded seemed to have a different opinion, now looking at him with a discreet yet fierce glare.

Yeah, humans were weird and impossible to understand.

"Keep that dumb expression any longer and I'll gouge out your pretty eyes."

The titan had no idea what these sounds were supposed to mean. It was different than a hiss of 'my prey' or 'my territory' like with titans. Normally, it didn't went past that. That is mine. But the small creatures made far more complex sounds. The titan didn't manage to understand one.

But it was useless to ponder for long since the human was hungry. Its stomach was gurgling.

Even if it didn't care, preferring to stare at him silently, the giant surely did. He couldn't let the first human he was with die.

When he moved towards the exit, the human flinched, taking out the grey sharp thing. It looked like the one it had attached to his hips before, but smaller and shapped differently.

Either way, it was a desperate mesure.

Carefully going outside, slowly, this time, the titan looked behind him, unsure. What did humans eat already?

__________________

Levi stared at the floor with ultimate boredom. Never in his life did he want tea that bad. His body was craving it as much as air, if not more. If he had the choice between dying right here and never eating tea again for a year, the man would choose the former with no hesitation.

Except he didn't have the choice but to survive.

What was happening was the dream of not only Four-eyes but Eyebrows and the millions of past scouts who lost their lives.

They could advance in their knowledge with that green-eyed bastard.

He was the key for humanity to resolve mysteries. They needed him. To fight with, to learn and to study. Who knews where it came from...

The main question that Four-eyes and Eyebrows had was how much it could understand them. Languages, tones, orders, images, recognizing shapes, stories, values, or maybe even learn to speak. Not by speaking, obviously. But perhaps by making signs or specific grumbles.

Levi didn't believed as much as the rest did.

If the rest of the world, from the citizens to the scouts (besides the commanders), learned about it, they would surely send them in a mental hospital, thinking they have a problem in their brain.

But that was what scouts were.

Fanatics. Delusional. Greedy.
Ready to throw their's and their companion's lives for possible knowledge.

No one sane would ever become a scout. Yet, there still were hundreds of people every year who enlisted.

Because humans are greedy.

For money, for power, for knowledge, for fame.
For way much more.

__________________

The titan stared at the grass, looking around like a lost puppy. What could the humans possibly eat?

Maybe they were like him. Maybe they didn't need to eat anything, like the titans did, but still decided to devore something for the simple reason that they can. However, so far, humans were weaks.

Their body was small and fragile.
They couldn't regenerate.
Falling from a too high spot could cause them to fall asleep.
Being taken an arm or leg could cause them to fall asleep.
Staying in the rain for too ling could cause them to fall asleep (the titan wasn't sure of that yet since the little thing didn't stop moving for now)

Everything caused them to fall asleep and never wake up again.

How did they survive for that long? The giant had no idea.

But that didn't matter anymore. The titan's gaze found the food he had an idea on of what the humans ate.

__________________

Levi wears to god that his soul left his body when he heard the loud scream. It appeared out of nowhere, and it lasted a full minute.

How did a titan even had that much breath? Did it even had lungs?

Oh, Levi shouldn't speak his question to that mad scientist. They would shit their pants when thinking about what could possibly be the inside of one monster.

Besides the birds flying away from the nearby trees, nothing happened. The captain wondered if anything happened to the other pig. Did it fell down a well or something?

Even if Levi would celebrate at its death, that would aslo mean that he was stuck now, alone, inside a dark cave above some high tree, that he couldn't go down, and was now stuck here forever.

How boring of a death it would be. He couldn't even drink a last cup of tea before going down to hell.

Just before he was about to sneeze again(fuck that cold), the tree shooked greatly.

"Shit. You fucking scared the shit out of me."

The titan made a rumble similar to a purr and also a whine, climbed up the tree. But after hearing a big thud, Levi looked down at it. Yeah, it fell down. A frustrated whine left the titan's mouth before it tried to climb the tree once more.

It had some difficulty since one half of his right hand was chopped off and it missed one eye. Maybe it fought against his own kind.

If only Four-eyes was at his place right now...

After many failed attemps, it succeeded to go up to his level. It standed on one brench lower, staring up at him creepily while its hand went inside its mouth.

Disgust filled Levi's entire being.

The green-eyed bastard took something out of its mouth, full of saliva. It was shown in front of him.

The titan had an expectant face. It looked like a kid giving a gift to someone, waiting for praises.

Levi relented to finally look at the content, understanding that it might be the food the titan gave him.

But Levi immediately felt his color draining out his pale. Maybe he could threw up at this place.

The entire reason the titan was injured was because it fought against its own kind.

Because the food it took was from them.

Because his food was three humans parts full of salivas and blood.

Chapter Text

After coughing violently, Levi threw up once more, even if his stomach didn't contain anything but some bread he ate before the expedition. Petra forced him to him a part of bread and an apple, along with the rest of his squad. And there was his only force for his body... The blood in his head was probably running down in the rest of his body as he felt dizzy. Not only that. He moved too fast, and perhaps he did applied too much pressure on his injured leg.

But he didn't have time for that. He was going to die from either starvation, the (possible) futur infection wounds on his leg, or that cold. Or getting eaten by that titan.

He honestly preferred to die by the latter.

His throat was burning from the coughing, breathing provoking a huge degree of pain.
His vision was blurred and his whole body craved nothing but the starvation of all this stopping.

As seconds passed, he had more trouble breathing.

Was this it? Would that be how he died?

'Mom...'

Levi's miserable life played in his mind non-stop. The sounds around him subdued before he felt and heard nothing.

Memories of different times re-played again and again.

"Isabel...Farlan...."

He knew he could survive perhaps a little longer. But he was tired from this. He wanted to be selfish. He wanted to stop the suffering and be a coward.

"Mom..."

"It will be okay."

A warm touch was around him. Gentle caresses on his back with a soft voice. He knew who that person was. His mother was there for him, even when she was the one who needed reassuring.

Except that it wasn't her.

Besides him was a fifteen meters titan with puppy-like green eyes who was touching his back, unsure. It didn't know what sadness was, yet it somehow knew what comforting was. Even if not entirety.

It didn't saw anything. It didn't understand him.

Levi was tired from feeling anger and hiding the rest away. He was tired of ignoring or forgiving for the greater good.

He hated being the captain of the scouts.

In this cave, Levi allowed the tears to fell down his face, letting the titan besides him without attacking.

It didn't make any sense, plus, it was horrendous of him to be comforted by the other’s presence instead of another human being.

It saw humans as nothing but foods and entertainment.

But it saw him just like it saw the others humans beings. He wasn't a captain of the scouts, a feared man, a thief, a cold murderer, a model for futur scouts.

He was Levi. Maybe he was food or a toy for this monster. But he was just like anyone else. If he wanted to, here, he could close his eyes. He could cry and hug his legs closer to his chest, hiding his face, like he did when he was a child.

The man allowed himself to be the helpless Levi who cried for his mother again.

Tears fell down his eyes like the previous rain without stopping. Nonetheless, both the titan and him stayed silent, the gentle caresses on his back slowly becoming more genuine and comforting.

Chapter Text

The titan looked in confusion at the human in front of him. Just a few hours ago, it hated him, preferring to die of hunger rather than look and help him find food. But now, out of nowhere, it became determined to survive.

As if it was about to die of hunger right now and there, the human looked with hunger at the white little animal with long ears that they catched a few minutes ago.

By the way, never in his life did the titan felt this frustration. Catching a smaller creature was so difficult. But it was fun, sharing a moment with the little human, even if it yelled at him, so he wouldn't mind doing this again in the future.

However, a question was in his mind. Why didn't it eat it?

It practically drooled when staring at it. Even though the titan was happy to see that it wasn't silent and sad anymore, he was doubtful of how to take care of this.

Since it couldn't walk (yes, for some reason, even a full day, the poor thing's leg didn't regenerate at all), the titan had to carry it in one of his hand. He wasn't used to caring about something.

The day before, all the titan's life remained about waking up, sitting to take sunlight, walk around, then fall asleep.

(And sometimes, when he was lucky, watch the humans)

But now, everything was more complicated. The titan just had this feeling that he would both love it and get drained his energy out very soon.

But how well, his fault for taking it in.

__________________

Levi sat against the tree, getting used of this cave already. Though, his leg started to hurt more and more as time passed on.

The captain took off his green cap. In doing so, he accidentally met the eyes of the titan in front of him. Like usual, the pretty eyes of the creature were all focused on him. But there was no malice or hunger.

Sometimes there was suspicion, exhaustion, irritation, confusion, curiosity, but also compassion and empathy.

It contained emotions, somehow.
Whatever. Levi would have all the time in the world to figure all this out.

With his green cape, he put it around his injured leg like bandages. Fortunately, even if it wasn't pretty at all, it didn't seem mortal nor so painful that death would be his salvation. However, it was still painful.

Which sucked.

After bandaging (if you could call it that), Levi looked back at the titan.

Its eyes were wide, confusion and disbelief painted on its face. A snort got out of the man's mouth. Okay, he will admit that even if he hated this situation, he didn't feel as threatened as before.

As unbelievable as it could ever be, this titan comforted and stayed by his side. It didn't understand his emotions, but it managed to feel empathy.

Which was fucking insane.

Levi was beginning to think that it a human in disguise. Because it was too perfect to be true.

Humanity could be greatly improved with it alongside humans to defeat the titans. It didn't seem to feel anything for his own kind, anyway.

His stomach once more made a gurgling sound. Right, he needed to do something that could perhaps help him survive a bit more: eat.

But he didn't have any fire. Or things to fuel it.

"Hey, dumbass, I have a service for you."

Its head moved so fast from his cape around his cape to him that he unconsciously flinched.

Ok...maybe he still was a bit nervous. But could anyone judge him?

"Go search for rocks."

It didn't break the eye contact even when tilting its head, having no idea what he was talking about.

"Rocks. And wood."

It continued to creepily look back at him, not even blinking. It was like having an eye contest with a doll. Which was a stupid thing to do in the first place.

Levi sighed. This was going to be a long day.

__________________

After ten minutes, Levi managed to persuade the beast to let him go outside. But it didn't leave him away from more than one meter since Levi was too injured to walk.

Taking three rocks, Levi and the titan go back inside (one was aditional because Levi would keep it as a weapon inside the cave besides him)

It was utterly confused, but seemed enthusiastic of simply doing something. It reminded him of a brat being excited of helping their mom, or a golden retriever jumping excitedly around when their owner simply went for a quick walk with them.

Of course it wasn't cute. Just crazy and delusional people who needed mental health could think such a impossible thing.

But, Levi will say that it lost in terrifying points, gaining some points of trust and comfort from Levi's point of view.

Inside, he placed the little pile of sticks on the floor, then rubbed the two rock together. He did it many time, but no spark appeared.

The titan let out a gurgle, seemingly amused of seeing him getting frustrated and impatient with his movement becoming more rushed.

Levi swore to himself that one day he will punch it in the face of his until that non-existent smirk disapear.

But it was his turn to show a smug smirk when a small fire started. It panicked, trying to get up but since it forgot it was in a cave, its head knocked against the ceiling.

Nervousness got replaced with irritation, as it rubbed its head, glaring up at the ceiling, forming some beed with a cave who did nothing wrong.

Levi almost let out a laugh if it wasn't for the eyes of the titan who got so purely big and adorable. Its pupils dilated, like a cat ready to bounce when playing.

It looked too much like Isabel.

"Why am I thinking of them again..."

It was the second time he thought of them. It has been such a long time since he allowed hinself to think about them.

He couldn't allow himself to be distracted.

But now, why would he hide it? The monster understood nothing. It was distracted with the fire to care of him.

Its hand slowly approached the fire. Unsurprisingly, when it got too close, the titan let out a sound similar to a gasp.

It retracted its hand. Even if it healed instantly, the titan's back was against the cave, getting away from it. It looked suspicious yet frustrated of still being so curious.

Levi couldn't help a quiet laugh.

The titan surely never it a sound like it since its eyes got wide for a second. Yet, it huffed, frustrated but also maybe embarrassed, a whine leaving its mouth.

"Idiot."

It made some weirds sounds, as if it was imitating him to mock him. Levi raised an eyebrow but left it there.

Putting the rabbit over a long brench, he let the food over the small fire, waiting impatiently for the feast. He could drool if it wasn't so disgusting.

After five minutes, it got perfectly cooked. Levi didn't wait further to start eating. He almost moaned when the savor processed on his tongue. His body craved it so much.

The titan letted out a huff, but looked to have calmed down, seeming satisfied when seeing him finally eat something.

It watched him eat, but Levi didn't found himself to give a single shit about what it did as long as he could satisfy his empty stomach.

After making sure the man didn't throw up his food, the titan looked outside. The soft sound of the creaking fire made a cozy and warm ambience. The titan seemed so peaceful and harmless, enjoying the sight of the sunset whose sky was both blue and rosy.

The wind was gently making the brown hair of the creature fly slightly in the air while it was closing its eyes, enjoying the sunlight.

Levi devoured the rabbit, admiring the sight outside.

How unbelievable.
Who would have thought him, who swore to never stargazing after Farlan and Isabel's death, would do it once more after years with a fifteen meters titan outside the walls?

Certainly not him. But he couldn't bring himself to hate the comfortable silence between the two.

It was something that was reserved only for them. The rest of the outside of the walls were full of pain, misery and regrets. Peace and safety would never be two word  used to describe the outside of the walls.

Levi begged to differ.
Until the gods proved him wrong.

The titan opened its eyes in an instant while going outside the cave. It shared a look with Levi.

Both knew what was approaching.

The first titan who showed up was a eight meters. The second and the third were around five to seven meters.

But then, a twelve meters appeared. It growled before seeing Levi in the cave. All the titans thought the same thing: eating him.

No one moved for a solide minute, the titans looking at their favorite meal with their terrifyingly blank eyes. The eight and seven meters walked slowly towards them. The twelve meters, however, fully sprinted to the cave, provoking Levi to back out as even the fifteen meters looked surprised.

But, compared to the captain, the titan recovered quickly, punching the opponent right in the chin before kicking it harder in the stomach. Its body fled slightly before it fell on the smaller titan, the five meters.

The seven meters, on his four, jumped to bite at the knee of the green-eyed bastard. It let out a groan as the thing chewed skin off, blood splurting on the grass.

Frustration builded on the fifteen meters as it used its hands to grab it and throw it at the eight meters who growled, irritated too.

The five and twelve meters used the small distraction to run at the cave. The fifteen meters had time to kick one to the side, but the other entered the small cave. Its disturbing freezed frown was the only thing Levi saw before it disappeared.

The fifteen meters grabbed its two legs, taking it away from the captain.

However, that costed the seven, twelve and eight meters to attack him. One was on his leg, effectively making him fall down on his back.

The twelve meters stood up, trying to go to Levi, but a hand gripped his knee.

At least the fifteen meters was protecting him, yet Levi still had a beef with it. It was a disgusting titan with a brain just a bit bigger than the rest of his kind that humanity could use.
Nothing more.

The man heard the fifteen meters fight the best it could while still keeping them away from Levi. He heard its groans and whines of pain.

Yet, Levi couldn't help it. If only he had weapons.

"Whatever."

The rest of the night was the titans getting killed one by one. However, one look towards his savior was enough for the captain to understand that it was injured and exhausted.

It limped with difficulty towards the cave, his knees hurting from being chewed on by the others bastards.

__________________

Three hours have passed after the ambush. Both the fifteen meters and Levi were tense, the comforting and safe ambience of earlier totally forgotten.

There were no sunlight, making the visibility outside almost impossibke besides the light coming out from the little fire between them.

Levi could feel how the titan forced itself to stay awake. Not only that. It looked nervous, flinching at every noises.

Who knew titans could get paranoid?

The healing process of the giant looked so slow, some injuries still looking painful and deep.
But the titan was determined to guard.

"Ugh. Forget it. I'll keeo watch."

Its green eyes turned to him. It didn't look to trust him. After all, even if the titan saved him, it was still suspicious that the human could attempt something.

"I can't sleep. Besides," Levi threw another stick into the fire, staring back in defiance at the beast.

"I'll wake you up if there's something. It's useless to keep yourself awake if you can't even defend yourself with those wounds."

A growl got out of the titan's mouth. It wasn't pleased, even if it didn't understood his words.

The two of them didn't break the eye contact, their determination and stubbornness being equal.

However, after some time, the titan made a sound similar to a sigh. It looked unsure of if trusting him was a good decision.

__________________

The titan was already regretting keeping this human alive. It was honestly pissing him off.

It was frustrating to not understand it. Sometimes, it would be mad while a second ago, it was happy. Also, the titan discovered that the sounds it pronounced looked like his own.

Some tones were used more often than others. Its language was far more complex than the giant originally thought.

"You're useless in that state. I can defend myself."

A groan was already out before the titan could stop himself. Why was it so determined to stay awake? The day before, it gave up all energy and a rain started inside its body as more drop rolled down its face.

Yet, the titan remembered how he helped it calm down. Surely it wouldn't hurt him after he helped it, right?

"You did enough for today."

No. That wasn't right.

The titan had to protect the both of them. It was his responsibility. The other was injured while he was healing. It was unfair.

His heart beated faster.

For the first time, the titan felt anger. But towards himself.

It hated how weak he suddenly became. Why didn't it trust him? Did it thought he was as fragile as that animal it ate?

"Stop being a stubborn brat."

The titan whined, frustrated to not being able to express himself. He wanted for it to understand him. That he could protect it without problem.

That they got simply unlocky today.

"Hey."

That the titan usually managed to beat all of these weaks things.

"Are you even listening to what I'm saying?"

That all this wasn't his fault. That is was a pure mistake that wouldn't happen again.

That he failed but—

"That's enough."

The human was closer to him. It seemed so small and vulnerable. That is why the titan should be the one to fight. To watch for the night.

So why was it so calm? Why was it so confident over itself?

"You have done enough. Now rest."

The titan wanted to differ but his eyes locked with the human. It looked calm. Was it no angry, disappointed, or scared?

"You are an idiot."

The white thing in the sky made the place look so pretty. The titan would love to sleep. But it had to be careful. What could stay hidden? What if another of his kind appeared while he was asleep?

"You have to trust me."

The titan had no idea what those soubds were. But the tone was soothing. The voice and eyes of the human were harsh and firm, like usual.

"If you want to survive, you need to gain rest. For the both of us."

But it was too calm. It put too much trust on itself and the titan. Did it not fear what was hidden in the dark?

"I'll be right there when you'll wake up."

Chapter Text

Carefully tightening the cape around his injured leg once more, Levi offered a side glance at the titan asleep in front of him. It was almost snoring. Which was fucking annoying.

The injured leg proved itself to not be that injured as he thought. Maybe he got a bit dramatic when he thought he would die from it. After all, for once, he got lucky. Even if he fell from a high tree akwardly, it managed to not break his bones.

But goddammit, it was still painful.

For now, he could only sit. Walking took too much energy. Plus, it would be useless and suicidal to try to take a walk outside.

He wasn't stupid.

Even if he hated this titan, he could admit that it was not that bad to be with it for the time being. It was relatively calm and quiet. For now, atleast.

The giant was sleeping like a toddler in a fetus position in front of him, its chest gently going up and down.

The wind started to become a tad too strong and cold for Levi's liking. Then, unsurprisingly, a rain started once more. It was less worse than before since now Levi wasn't sinked like a rat.

The presence of the titan made the cave warm. It proved itself to be useful with how much cold and humid it was outside.

Well, the titan was useful. A little bit more than Levi originally thought.

After all, the entire point of this expedition was to get closer to the asshole in front of him. But it failed, again. They didn't manage to find him since the son of a bitch kept escaping.

Levi had to admit that it was fast and good at hiding.
Not that he would ever admit it.

A crack was heard from the right. But right when he was about to wake up the titan, he realized it was only a small creature.

"A rabbit."

It was sniffing around, unsure. Three little babies of it appeared behind it, trembling from the cold. On the parent, a wound was on its body, making it limp and slow.

No matter how weird that was, Levi thought that it looked so much like the fifteen meters titan. But he had no idea of why.

Behind the rabbits, Levi could see how a fox appeared, hiding itself in the bushes. Its eyes were solely on his preys.

But then, a deep and long growl resonated through the cave to outside. The fox looked at the source. Would anyone be surprised to hear that this was the green-eyed titan.

The fox whined, doupting of if it should approach further. But after looking around frantically, it disappeared back in the woods.

The rabbit and its kids, however, stayed right where they were. The parent looked at the titan, suspicious, but this was probably an emergency for them.

That is why, step by step, the little family came into the cave. The supposably mom went near the giant, but far away that it could escape in time with a bit of luck.

It didn't took long for Levi to find out the reason.

Every of their predators were scared of this titan. Compared to others of his kind, it ran at them and seemed to not attack only humans.

Not only that, but it was warm.

The babbies cuddled against the adult one, going into the land of dreams like the titan.

How idiotic was it?

A titan managed to make safe a human and animals while (unknowingly for some) protecting them. Levi would never admit how this place managed to make him feel a soft tingle in his chest.

For this moment, even if it would last a few seconds, Levi was relieved.

__________________

The titan woke up, feeling the sun slowly showing its ray of sunshine through the land. Fortunately, the human in front of him was still here, unharmed. It even seemed calm and pretty satisfied.

It was a good sign, no?

The giant had no idea how humans worked. They were so impossible to understand and satisfy easily.

"Had a good night of sleep?"

He had no idea what that meant, but with how relaxed the voice was, it made the titan feel happy.

Not only because it was happy, but also because last night's small panicked state of the titan didn't made it scared of him. No. It did the opposite effect.

Now, even if it still looked sometimes nervous, its face wasn't covered in fear and hate.

A soft thing then touched his leg. The titan got away immediately, raising his hand, ready to punch.

But instead of one of his kind, it was the same small creature with long ears who was resting there. Not just that. It had three others animals even smallers.

"Calm your tits. Its just rabbits."

The giant looked back at the small human, confused. Was it hungry again? Why didn't it let him kill it?

A few gurgles from his side, but the small one didn't understand anything of what the titan wanted to ask. Instead, one of its eyebrows raised, its face wearing an unimpressed expression.

The titan was questioning if the human had any intelligence. Didn't it recognized that these could be its food? After all, it ate it yesterday.

Yet, it didn't look to have any hunger. It even seemed bored and annoyed.

The titan missed the relaxed expression it wore before already.

And so, trusting the weird human, the titan let its hand approach it. However, the animals flinched, going away from him immediately.

The titan could feel in his chest a uncomfortable tug, as if its heart was being squeezed. He scared these little creatures. Humans or not.

__________________

"Hanji, please, calm down."

"Erwin, you have to rethink this."

The man sighed, grabbing its head as a headache already happened again. The person in front of him, along with the Levi Operational Squad, were insisting again and again.

They all knew how cruel a scout's life was. They knew what grief and panick were, as well as helplessness. They learned a long time ago that they had to be the mature one, to always think of the worse.

But all of these years of work fell apart.
All for one man.

"Commander, you know Captain. He could be very much alive right now, still kicking around."

Gunther and Oluo noddded at Eld's words. Petra was perhaps the most determined out of everyone with Hanji to find him.

"Commander, Captain is very strong. I'm sure he is able to hang on."

"Yes! I mean, come on, Erwin! You know how determined that gramp can be when he wants something!"

The commander Erwin, no matter how strong his facade was, didn't managed to hide his sadness and faint hope. Levi was imoortant to him. He was a friend, like Hanji.

Even if he was the commander, a selfish part of him wanted to agree with them to go back at the lands of the titans to find him, even at the cost of hundreds.

But he couldn't.

"No, we can't do that."

He turned to the crazy scientist. They looked more serious and panicked than he ever saw them in the past.

"Winter is coming. We can't sacrifice all of our troups for one man, no matter how much faith we have in him."

"But—"

"We throw the lives of out soldiers each expedition, letting them see the harsh reality of their friends and loved one getting eaten alive by these titans. We refuse for them to go back to their loved ones, so why we allow ourselves to do it?"

Hanji opened their mouth to refute, but they knew the man was right. They were surely going to hell for how much innocent lives were lost for their hopes in helping humanity. But, with this expedition for Levi, it wouldn't be for humanity. It would be solely for their selfish reasons. Their feelings.

"After the past expedition, we have lost a big portion of our troops because of the incident. Not only that. Levi's disappearance caused a big storm through the Walls. Even less people got into the scouts. Can you imagine how they would react after we tell them that the Commanders would be ready to go outside again?"

Petra and Oluo were devastated. Unlike the others, they couldn't imagine that their Captain died so easily. In such a death. A lonely death. After all he has done.

Erwin once again sighed, looking down at his desk. The dark circles around his and Hanji's eyes were prominent.

"Listen, outside, it is too dangerous. Soon enough, it will be a mess for us. With the cold temperature, the strong wind, the blizzard who offers no visibility, the tons of snow covering the ground: everything proves how much this would be a suicidal mission. None of our men would volunteer for a search party. I'm sure the horses wouldn't even be able to run for long with the heavy snow."

Sadness covered the faces of everyone, but Erwin only took a pause, reflecting on what to do.

"But, we could go once the winter will be gone."

The eyes went back on him again, anxious.

"We will wait four months. Directly after that, we'll make a big search part for him. Even if I doubt we'll find him, even less his body, we can still try."

The four persons frowned. Petra and Oluo were mortified. Oluo spoke in a weak voice, trying to persuade him.
"Four months? But Captain won't survive until then!"

Ignoring everyone's pleads, the man stayed silent, knowing that he couldn't endanger everyone. No matter how much he wanted to, that was impossible.

__________________

Perhaps two days passed by after the human comforted him.

But those two days managed to change the whole life and point of view for the titan.

It learned how to hunt for very small creatures. Especially the little ones with long ears who feeds off grass. They are cute, but unfortunately for them, his human is more important than them to him.

Just this morning, when it woke up, it kept making weirds sounds. As time passed, the titan wanted more and more to learn that language. But his vocals cords can't produce the same ones as the human did.

"Hey, there's a titan over there, you damn pig. Didn't you hear it with those big-ass ears?"

The human whispered while the titan was crouched down, holding it in one hand, the other one trying to catch the small animal that was going to be food.

The titan opened its mouth and huffed, knowing his breath disturbed the human for some reason. "I should teach you how to wash your teeths", it said while coughing.

Even with the attempt of hiding it, the titan did feel offended.

But before annoying once more the creature in his hand, the titan had to take care of the other nuisance who didn't even spot him and the human in his hand.

Rather, it was walking around mindlessly, its blank stare focused only forward its way.

Even if it was harmless, the human was stressed. Plus, it was obvious it hated his kind. Just for these two reasons, that was enough for the giant to determine that it will exterminate it.

But not now. It was too dangerous for the human. And so, after looking closely at the other, memorizing its features, both of them left without causing a ruckus.

__________________

The human looked at its own body after eating its dinner, an expression of pure disgust painted on its face, then it looked back at him.

"I need to clean up."

The titan had no idea why the mood of the human changed so much. It looked (more) murderous compared to usual

And so, the two went for a quest. Walking around with an injured human around when his kind sees it as their favourite meal is not a smart idea.

That got proven right when many titans attacked them when spotting. After a fight that could have ended much badly, the giant run away.

Grumpy, the human accepted ut but became annoyed.

Right now, it was brooding, sitting against the wall of the cave while eating the white small animal with long ears.

However, it didn't finish it. More than half of the food wasn't eaten. The titan felt both hurt and a bit angered at this.

Both of them put so much effort in catching this prey for it to eat, yet it didn't had the decency to finish it?

Grumpy himself, the titan made a grumble, taking the attention of the human.

"What?"

The tone of the human displeased him.

The titan looked at the non-eaten food to then at it again. He repeated the action again and again until the human seemed to understand what he meant.

"I'm not hungry if that's what you're wondering."

The titan thought that it was all the human being dumb but he would keep it to himself. But not refuting didn't mean giving up for the titan. He growled softly, it being more like a whine than an actual growling.

"I don't want to eat that rabbit, you idiot."

The titan of course noticed how the human kept repeating 'idiot' when looking at him. Even while not understanding the word, the giant knew that it wasn't what he was.

He was a titan, not a 'idiot'.

The human then had an idea. It looked at him, apparently having doupts about something.

"Titan."

It raised its hand to point one of its finger at the giant.
Then it pounted to itself.

"Human."

The titan had no idea what the creature was attempting to do. In fact, it was repeating the motion again and again, point at itself when 'human', and him when saying 'titan'.

"Oh forget it."

It said, irritated when rolling its eyes.

"Talking to a titan...seriously..."

Even if the sounds of the human was incomprehensible for him, the giant knew those two by heart.

Titan. He was a titan.
He copied the past movements of the human, slowly raising only one finger to point his own chest.

The human looked at him with suspicion for a few seconds before its eyes widened.

"Titan."

It repeated the sounds.

Once more, the titan pounted at himself.

"Titan."

He did it again.

"Human."

The human pointed at itself and the giant follow him, its index pointing at it.

"Human,"

Both pointed at the smaller creature.

"Titan."

The duo then pounted both at the bigger of the two.

A uncomfortable silence straightened after that moment. It wasn't like the past nights and mornings. The titan didn't like it. Did he do something wrong?

"Four-eyes will shit their pants when they'll hear about you."

The titan relaxed. Its face wasn't horror or anger, like the time where he showed it humans parts. Instead, it was in disbelief, its eyes opened wide in shock.

"About a titan who can understand and learn words", it whispered, more speaking to itself.

Chapter Text

Levi still couldn't believe how a titan managed to recognize the difference between the two words humans and titan, but also recognize who was who here.

Even more so easily!

It was fast to catch up, the proud attitude almost hided the childish excitement, like a kid managing to surprise their parents.

It wasn't cute. Oh walls, it was anything but.

Yet....Levi could admit...That it wasn't stupid. Sometimes.

The titan pronounced a sound similar to both a 'E' and a 'A' when responding to him. It was becoming so smart already.

Not even one or two hours passed since then and Levi was speaking more today than he ever did in his entire lifespan.

"Rabbit."

He pointed to the dead animal that Levi still hasn't eaten fully.

"Again. Human,"

The titan and Levi pointed at the captain.

"Titan,"

Both pointed at the giant.

"And rabbit."

The two pointed at the body, though there was obvious hesitation on the titan's face.

"Good. Let's do this again."

Levi would never admit how proud he felt when the titan was learning and understanding something.

"Human,"

The two index were on Levi.

"Titan,"

The two then went on the giant.

"Rabbit."

The titan pointed at the rabbit, this time a bit more confident in itself.

"Good. You're doing fine."

The truth was that it was doing way mire than a simple fine. It was amazing. It felt too good to be true. All of these years of numerous deaths and pain finally payed. For this.

A titan that could comunicate. A titan that could understand emotions and words. That was curious about the humans and animals. That had a personality of its own.

Levi then thought of something. He knew Four-eyes would beg him to do it if they were there. And it was dumb.

"Levi."

He pointed to himself.

The titan looked at him with confusion. Its head tilted to the side. For it, he was 'human', not 'Levi'.

"Human."

Both pounted at the captain.

"Levi."

Only the man did this time. The other one kept staring at him, unsure.

"Human."

Both pointed at him.

"Levi."

Only the captain did.

Was this useless? Maybe. But scouts were famous for never taking a hint from God nor knowing when to give up. He said it slower, keeping a full eye contact.

"Human."

Both pointed at him.

"Levi."

The human pointed at himself. And the titan copied him, its face even more confused, but they seemed to have trust in them.

Even if it couldn't manage to understand him, the giant would still try. It would put all of his heart into attempting this task. Both knew it.

Levi hear a fain voice at the back of his mind. He thought of something. Hange would surely find about its existence. Not only them. All the world would. And so, it would need to be called different from the rest.

It needed a name.

"You will be..."

Levi then remembered about how it made sounds similar to 'E'. It meeded to have a short yet memorable name so that it could recognize it.
"E....A....Ethan...Ed...E...."

The green-eyed creature stayed silent. Levi knew that it couldn't understand him. But, even when knowing that, it was as if it was excited about hearing its name.

"E....Eren."

The captain thought a few seconds, lowing his gaze to his innured leg. Giving a name to a titan....Maybe staying with Four-eyes gave him this idea of naming a monster.

"Yes. Eren."

Was this a good idea? Probably not. But he was going to do it anyway.

"You are Eren."

It tilted its head.

"Human."

Both pointed at Levi.

"Levi."

Both pointed at the same man.

"Titan."

Both pointed at the titan.

.....

"Eren."

Levi pointed across him, its indez facing the chest of the creature. Its gaze was so far away, as if it was thinking.

Then, it looked at him.
And pointed at itself.

Chapter Text

"Eren, stop here."

The titan, didn't in fact, stop. He kept walking, and Levi wondered if he tried to act as if he didn't hear him with these long-ass ears.

"Eren. Stop."

After a brief glance of annoyance directed at the man, Eren finally stopped in his tracks.

"Drop me."

A stretched silence went between the two.

"Oh right, I forgot you damn pig can't understand shit."

Levi stomped his (uninjured) leg before pointing at the right. He had to repeat the acts a few times before the titan understood.

With a frustrated huff, Eren turned around to go at the spot Levi pointed.

Yet, it stopped when seeing the place. In front of them was a small river. Despite having apparently lived there his whole life, Eren seemed shocked when seeing it. And Levi may have understood why.

As far as the scouts knew, Eren never wandered far from his supposed territory. He never went further than a place more than twenty minutes away from his spot. It proved itself to be proven right as now, Eren never goes too far with Levi in his hands.

The titan put the hand holding him closer to his chest before approaching the source of water, suspicious.

When arriving, his foot touched it, but it flinched when he felt the coldness.

When seeing the deepness, the drops of water flying through the air and the coldness mixed together, Eren freaked out, going out 'defense' mode.

He stomped the water again and again, panicking when the opponent never escaped from him.

"Oi, calm your tits."

The titan didn't listen to him at all.

Levi frowned, rolling his eyes when feeling the body of his savior moving even more. Even if he proved himself to be an allie for humanity, Eren was dangerous in a way. He panicked too easily, his mind closing off and attacked what he couldn't understand.

"Eren!"

The titan looked at him, scared, probably thinking his attacker was invincible.

"Put me on the ground," he said while stomping his uninjured leg out of the two on his hand.

Pointing was a thing that Eren understood fast. But the words 'lower me' were too complicated to teach to him. So, Levi managed to create a sign. Stomping on his uninjured feet when carried meant put me down.

"Eren, down."

The titan looked at him with some pity and frustration, as if he was an exhausted single mom.

"Eren."

The titan stepped back, then lowered him while his gaze never left the river. The distance he put between Levi and his craving was way too much.

But when he looked back at him, Levi saw how stubborn and adamant the other was about the captain never touching it.

"Are you kidding me?"

Eren was, in fact, not kidding him.

He put a hand around Levi, ready to pick him up and run if needed. Then, hesitantly, the two got closer to the water.

When looking down, the titan's eyes went wide, seeing his own reflection. Terrified, he raised his other hand, ready to punch it.

"Hey."

Levi cringed the moment he heard his own voice. Using a soft voice wasn't his strongest force, and it sounded akward coming from him. But it was necessary.

"It's okay."

Eren looked at him, confused but maybe also shocked and flabbergasted. Which was also understandable since Levi was himself feeling these emotions.

Finally, when the water didn't attack him, Eren figured that it was harmless enough to calm down and touch it on his own. Though Levi was seemingly still forbidden to do.

Like a scaredy cat, the titan let a finger touch it, not liking the freezing temperature, but it changed after barely three seconds.

Levi thought that this was perhaps because of his high body temperature.

A curious grumble left the mouth of Eren while he tilted his head, letting his whole hand go through the water. Amusement then settled in as he moved it around.

A toddler playing in the river instead of a monster was the sight Levi was seeing.

Levi sighed but let him entertain himself a moment. For once, the titan wasn't overprotective.

"Alright, turn around."

Eren's attention got back to him, more calm about Levi being near water. As long as he was near.

Obviously, Eren didn't understand either what those words were, just like most of Levi's past orders.

"Whatever. Just don't stare too much like a creep."

Starting to undress himself, he observed at the corner of his vision Eren's surprised face.

Butt naked beside the green cape tied around his injured leg, Levi got inside the river, shivers running down his body from the freezing water.

Yet, a spot was incredibly warmer than the rest. That was where Eren letted his body rest.

"Don't move."

His body shivering, Levi used this rare chance to wash himself, even if he possessed to shampoo. The dirt finally went away, but he knew that not even a day later, he would be dirty again, contrary to Eren.

Because yes, the titan's skin was so fucking soft for no fucking reason. In plus of being a constant furnace, beautiful brown hair, that bastard just had to have the soft skin of a baby.

Which is so unfair.

__________________

After thirty minutes of peaceful silence and a gold occasion for his hygiene, Levi got out of the water, going to pick up his clothes.

But his attention got picked when noticing the titan was focused on trying to pick up something.

When looking closer, Levi noticed that it was a flower.

It had white at the start of the petals before a soft violet appeared with gentle edges. It was so small that no matter how much Eren tried, the titan couldn't pick it up.

In the past, Levi heard a discussion between Hange and Petra. It was a few days before the expedition in which Petra received these flowers as gifts from a guy.

Eren looked frustrated and saddened, unable to touch it without destroying the flower.

Levi dressed in silence. Then, he joined Eren. With nonchalance, he picked the flower and put it in the palm of the giant.

It was such a useless thing. Yet, Eren looked overjoyed. He looked at it like a child thinking the two pieces of gold they found are the greatest treasure of all. It was innocent.

All of this was entirely pointless.

But Levi thought that if this titan could feel such emotions from possessing a pretty thing in his hand, then maybe this pointless act wasn't so useless in his eyes.

__________________

"Everything is your fault."

The voice of a red-haired soldier speaks up in a muffled voice. His tears rolling down his face half-eaten.

Another two stare blankly at the titans far away, long given up their hope of ever getting back at home.

"Please...If only we never accepted this...."

Farlan cries in a desesparate plea to the sky.His lower half gone, he crawls away from tue abnormal with red eyes.

"Did you forget about us? How... How can you live when knowing it's your fault?"

Levi refuses to stare down, knowing the decapitated head of Isabel will lose all trace of life. Yet, even in knowing this, he lowers his head, staring at horror at Isabel's now blank eyes, who express fear and anger.

He knows that they are right. It is his fault.

Accepting the mission, joining the scout, going out during the expedition, trusting his family, coming back too late.

All of this was him.

__________________

Levi didn't need to open his eyes to know that a certain fifteen meters titan was perched over him.

Yet, he did open his eyes,staring back at the titan.
His eyes would normally be wide, panicked, or shocked.

Instead, it was calm, relieved, but sad.

"I'm awake. Now get away from me, your breath stinks."

Eren looked at him for a moment, his understanding too human. He wasn't shocked at seeing him awake. After all, it wasn't the only time Levi woke up from nightmares.

Both of them saw each others experience mental breakdown, though Levi's were frequent and violent.

Eren looked uncertain, moving away from Levi's personal space to sit against his side of the cave.

Unconsciously, a gurgle got out of the titan. Levi knew it, but ignore it was the best decision he could think of.

His thoughts were going back to everyone else. Compared at when he was with fucking human civilization, Levi wasn't afraid as much for people to see him going through this.

Eren couldn't talk, after all.

The last rayos of sunshines were slowly fading out. Eren, even with all his might to stay awake, was powerless to his body.

But, instead of closing his eyes and accepting his slumber, a hand went to gentle pick Levi across the cave.

"What–"

The captain’s body was brought close to the titan, against the chest as it laid down, taking a fetus position.

"Oi, let me go."

Instead of paying any attention to him, Eren's hand went to find something across the cave.

Levi recognized the flower.
The one Levi picked for him.

This time, the titan picked it up on his own, yet he wasn't focused on admiring it in awe.

It was dropped on the man's laps.

Levi stared in silence at the flower gracefully falling down on him. Soon enough, the chest that he was against made fewer movements, the heart of this titan going slower while it went to sleep, joining his kind.

Chapter Text

"Captain, I'm scared."

The body of the soldier was slowly going limp as his voice was going weaker. The tears rolling down his face were begging Levi to do something.

Anything.

But the man did none of that. Instead, he looked as the life of this young man, barely being older than a teenager, fade away.

"I'm sorry."

The man let out a clenched sob as a response, his conscience too far away for him to hear him.

"Please!"

"I'm sorry."

The soldier didn't answer, his words becoming incoherent as his eyes shifted from one place to another, as if to wake up from this nightmare.

"Captain..?"

Levi heard a sob in the background, his ears neing unable to make out any sounds. It took him a few seconds to realize that it was his own voice.

The solider then changed. Different faces, different body type, women and men, all mixed.

"Please....Please tell my family that... that I love them. That I...."

His world was shifting to black, but the mouth of the victims didn't stop moving.

"That I regret leaving."

__________________

His eyes flew open, his dagger in his pocket being picked rapidly, slashing the air in case of an attacker.

His gaze went around him, alarmed.

But nothing was here. Not even Eren.

The reason was easy to understand when Levi looked outside. The sun was up, the animals of the forest were doing their own lives, and the gentle wind carried the last leafs of this autumn.

Levi slept not only the night but also until it was almost lunchtime. No wonder the other has left.

Eren probably noticed he would still be sleeping a while, deciding to go take food or walk around or some shit.

Normally, Levi wouldn't care if he wasn't here.

But today, he was a bit disappointed. It's like his stomach weighted so much that no energy was present in his body.

The nightmares weren't rares. But recently, he got used to waking up next to the titan who comforted him in his own way. The silence was making him uncomfortable.

Even if he didn't want to admit it, the other’s presence became a comfort place. He felt safe. He felt normal.

He didn't know to keep himself strong.
He didn't need to  keep his emotions in check to think of everyone else before him.
He didn't need to take responsibility for every choice being chosen for the good of his soldiers.
He didn't need to feel nervous when knowing someone saw him vulnerable.

Eren didn't understand who he was.

And he didn't care.

For him, the human he took care of was Levi.
He was normal.

Perhaps that was why he missed Eren already. Why was he so comforted to see him after having a nightmare.

When he awoke in the middle of the night, Levi stared at the other’s chest, raising and lowering. His calm breaths were so soothing.

Suddenly, alone after his night terrors, Levi felt lonely. He felt weaker than when titan first found him.

Not because he couldn't be protected by a fifteen meters.
But because he was alone just as before. He realized just how much a fool he was.

A fool who preferred to be with a maneater than his own kind to hide, like a coward.

__________________

Eren managed to catch two rabbits this time.

Oh, Levi would be so happy with how much food he would get!

Though, when thinking about it, his human probably already woke up, all alone.

It was weird, yet Eren hated leaving him alone. Yes, non only was it dangerous with all the titans around and these wild animals.

But also because even if he didn't show it, his human always looked exhausted. Mentally and physically.

He looked ready to brace himself for death. As if simply staying alive was draning him out.

The defeated yet accepting gaze of Levi was making him angry. Couldn't he help him? For the first time, he found a friend. Yet, Eren couldn't even mamage to make  him happy.

Maybe he could ignore it and act as if he never noticed it.

But Eren wasn't a coward.

He would keep him safe. Even if it meant protecting Levi from himself.

__________________

"Finally. Took you long enough."

By the look Eren gave him when crouching down to enter the cave with the food, if he could talk, he would surely respond with 'looks like sleeping beauty woke up', or some bullshit like that.

"Oh, look like you're useful for once."

The titan, in response, opened his mouth and let out a big huff at him. The disgusting smell of his breath almost made Levi throw up.

"There's not way I'm going to live with an asshole who smells like a pig any longer."

The titan looked exasperated, carrying the expression of an exhausted defeated mother.

"There is no debate about this. I'm going to teach you how to clean up today."

Eren rolled his eyes (guess who he learned him from).

"Don't give me this attitude."

With a last huff, the titan sat against the cave, crossing his arms over his chest like a toddler.

Levi scoffed, but let it at that. Putting the first rabbit on a stick, he used the same two rocks from before to start a little fire with the few brenches he possessed.

In a comfortable silence, Levi waited for his dinner (or breakfast) to be ready.

It was completely crazy. Living with a titan would be so rare that this being a myth would be an understatement. Even Hanji would be doupt if that was possible.

But yeah, it was.
For a month now, he lived his life outside the walls with a fifteen meters titan.

A whine left the concerned. When looking at him, Levi immediately understood.

"Be patient. Let me eat in peace, god damnit."

Nevermind his sentence, a chuckle left him before he realized it.

Eren was pratically bouncing in excitement. If he moved too much, Levi feared that he would crash the cave like before.

After fifteen minutes, the captain finished his meal. The titan hurried outside, his head knocking against the roof.

The titan gave it a glare before forgetting about it. He waited with impatience for his human to walk outside.

Taking his sweet time, Levi stood up. His leg almost didn't hurt anymore. It only did when he ran while also applying too much pressure on his injured leg.

As soon as he got out, a hand grabbed him gently. Eren let out chirps. Like usual, a hand was atop of Levi. It was both to hide him from titans, but also to protect him from falling or from rain.

It didn't make sense.

Even when Levi heard footsteps of others titans, he didn't worry. How could he have so much trust towards a titan regarding his safety? His whole life?

He had no idea.

Around thirty minutes passed. The movements stopped and Levi figured that they have arrived to their destination. The hand covering him going away, letting him the liberty of seeing the arounds.

And yes, they were at the river again.

Like an excited puppy, the titan lowered him to the ground before going inside the water. Levi followed him, though less enthusiastic with the current temperature of both the wind and the source of water.

Lucky for him, because of the titan, the water was warmer. It was still uncomfortable, but atleast he wasn't freezing to death.

It was like taking a cold bath.

Besides him, Eren was having the time of his life.

Hitting the water, moving his hands around, splashing around; all making little waves who were annoying.

But Levi will let it go. After all, his companion never had fun in his life. His curiosity being based on how his life before must have been incredibly repetitive.

Scrubbing the dirt off of his body, his attention got dirved to his green cape tied around one of his legs.

Recently, it didn't hurt anymore. Just a little buzzing when pressure was applied on it.

Levi crouched down, hesitantly taking it off of him. Unsurprisingly, dirt was all over it. Plus, it stinked.

However, not much blood was on it. The wound seemed to have almost completely healed.

Which was a damn miracle. Thank god he didn't lose his leg... In shock, Levi walked out, going to put on his pants.

Suddenly, Eren stopped moving. His ears moved like a cat, as if he heard something.

No. He did heard something, judging by his alarmed expression.

In a hurry, Eren grabbed him, still naked, and his clothings, before running away.

The surrounding was a full blur. Instead, it was thise monsters that standed out to Levi.

Around twenty were sprinting at full sprint, their hungry gazes all to the human. To their meal.

His sight got blocked by the second hand of Eren who covered him. Did they run for one minute or twenty-five? He didn't know. All he coupd hear was the quick breaths of Eren and his own muffled inside these two hands. Sadly, by the ruckus their attackants and them made, even more titans got attracted.

Notably another fifteen meters.

He just at the right of Eren. The moment he spotted Levi, he jumped on the titan.

"No.."

Why now? He could see their cave at the horizon. Just two minutes and they would be safe.

"Eren!"

A scared whine escaped his companion as he had to take away the hand atop of Levi to punch one, making the captain vulnerable.

He had no OGM gear, no blades and no clothings besides pants,.

He was powerless.

Mouths were in front of him, barely twenty centimeters away from him.

Multiple titans grabbed Eren from all parts, biting him, while other were reaching to the human in one of his hand.

In panick, Eren tried to defend himself, but that was useless. One against twenty was a fight already lost.

Dropped on his knees, Eren didn't have the choice but to crawl against the hard ground towards the cave. The hand carrying Levi was against his chest, making him out of danger.

"Wait."

In front of their home, with a trembling hold, the hand holded him so gently, ignoring his kind. It put him inside the cave softly. His clothings dropped besides him.

Near him, the violet flower shined with the sunlight. It was mocking him.

It was mocking him for never giving Eren back anything.

"Eren, stop it."

Like an idiot, a small yet playful chirp left him. His eyes reflected fear.

And Levi knew him.

He didn't want to die. Was terrified of being killed.
But he pretended not to.

Not to not seem like a coward.
Not to make himself seem like a brave hero.

But to reassure Levi.
Because he knew that he would appear as one more presence in his nightmares who would blame him.

"Eren!"

A weak and trembling noise close to a chuckle left out Eren's mouth. One hand went against his nape.

And the other went at the opening of the cave.

"Don't do this."

It was so stupid. A titan that he gave a name, one he got used to, one who saved him countless times, was thinking of him only again.

With a hand against his nape, Eren had chances of surviving. Besides, the titans didn't noticed that the human wasn't with him. Meaning that they would leave after they feasted with Eren.

The sun disappeared from his view as the hand covered the entrance of this cave.

And Levi knew that nothing would make this bastard change his stubborn mind.

"...Fine..."

Darkness was the only he could see. The muffled sounds of monsters eating his savior alive was all he could hear amongst the deadly silence.

"You better come back alive."

It was useless.
It was stupid.
It was pointless.

Doing that would change nothing of the situation.

Yet...Levi still raised his hand in the air.

He put his own hand against Eren's, resting his hand gently against the surface, letting his warm being perhaps the only salvation of the other.

Chapter Text

Eren tried with all his might to not close his hand at the entrance. If he moved it, it could injure or even kill the human. The caresses he receive were gentle. So much that he almost couldn't feel them.

He hated his thick skin.

His other hand was protecting his nape.

And that was the only defenses he tried. Maybe four hours have passed and the titans were still devouring him alive.

His flesh was pierced and his kind was feeding on his body, unaware that the human they so desired wasn't near anymore.

No, he was inside their home, their cave, safe, and that was all that mattered.

Levi was safe. Levi wasn't in danger.

Amongst the pain, Eren had time to think. No matter how much hours have passed, pain was almost all he could feel.

He told himself that maybe he would die. One moment, his hand on his nape could get destroyed and that would be it.

All that was keeping him alive right now was simply how he put all his energy on healing his two arms. Especially his hands.

For both Levi and his safety, he meeded to not give up.

How was it tempting to let them finish this nightmare.

But when he felt a warm presence against the skin of his palm, he knew.

He knew that he couldn't give up yet.
He needed to get Levi back to his kind.

And that was a reason that made him fight against eternal slumber.

__________________

While his view was still blocked by Eren's hand, the sounds outside stopped.

He felt the surface he was resting his hand and head against move briefly.

Footsteps resonated outside. As well as the noises he recognized as steam.

Either Eren was injured and was healing...or he didn't make it.

Fortunately, the hand finally left his vision. But the vision of his friend's massacred state was enough to worry him endlessly.

Levi knew it was too dangerous to go outside yet. The titans could still be near and could hear him. Plus, even if it was almost fully healed, his leg was still weak and would perhaps hurt.

Yet, these possibilities didn't matter to him at this moment.

Not noticing the instant pain he felt when sprinted, he went to Eren.

To put it simple, besides his intact nape, the rest of his body was remaining only bones and some muscles. Half of his abdomen was gone, his organs dripping out in a grotesque sight. Anything under his chest was gone, leaving only blood and steam on the ground.

"...You're such an idiot."

A weak sound, being Eren's chuckling, was leaving Levi powerless.

Why did he risk his life for a human?
Amd why did he care for this monster?

"You're such a... fusking idiot."

A pained grumble left the other before he chuckled again.

"It's not funny. Why are you laughing?"

The titan didn't respond.

Obviously, he couldn't talk.
But compared to usual, Eren didn't react with his body language or vocals.

He simply huffed at him, preferring to annoy him with his breath that Levi despised so.

But he didn't care today.

Hanging his arm in the air towards Eren's face, the captain then rest it on the other’s head, caressing.

"You have an horrible sense of humor. Even worse than mine, you dumb pig."

__________________

After ten minutes of crawling with only one arm left with half of his body gone, Eren managed to enter their cave.

As soon as he was in, he sat against the wall by his usal spot, relaxing.

The poor one suffered for seven hours straight.

The duo (more Levi since Eren was more focusing on healing) proceeded to admire outside. Like delicate petals, white spots covered the forest, painting the trees and flowers.

It was snowing.

"Damnit."

Eren threw him an amused look.

Normally, he would be annoyed, but right now, he was relieved to see the other getting comfortable once more.

"Great, now I'm going to stink for months."

This time, Eren rolled his eyes.

And Levi really regretted to have (unconsciously) teached him these manners.

A titan being sassy was not something Levi of the past would ever think possible. But oh well, God was enjoying him getting frustrated.

A groan than resonated through the cave.

When the captain looked at Eren, he immediately noticed how his eyes were closed. There was no doupt that it was painful.

Which was normal considering his organs and body literally got eaten for hours again and again.

"Don't ever do this again."

His words seemed so out of place in this atmosphere. Yet, Eren wasn't shocked. He didn't look back at him, choosing instead to turn his gaze back outside, remaining unresponsive as if he never heard him.

Even if Levi wanted to think that it was because he didn't understand or didn't care, he knew it was the silent's response of Eren. One where he couldn't promise anything.

Chapter Text

When Levi woke up in the morning, for the first time, he was the first one awake. Eren was still sleeping, his body needing rest to heal itself.

By the hours that passed, half of his injuries were gone, as if the titan never had them in the first place.

But by the look of it, Eren wasn't going to wake up for a while.

It didn't surprise Levi.

For now, he is waiting for the other to wake up and seek food. After all, he couldn't hunt outside.

In his entire life, even outside the walls, while living with a titan, he starved way more in the past. Hell, he had more sleep and full stomach than when he was in the scouts.

In a way, he was more content and safe here. With Eren by his side.

It was selfish of him to wish to never be Captain Levi again. He wanted to be a simple human named Levi who hid with Eren for days and days, just enjoying the peaceful journeys.

And it was disgusting of him. But right now, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about how he didn't want to return yet. And how easily that would be to play dead.

Of how he could simply disapear from the world, staying with him, instead of living this life for a few more years until he died like the rest of his companions.

__________________

Three more hours have passed.

During this time, Levi used it to observe the other.

It was rare to see Eren sleeping during the day. Like the rest of his kind, the titan woke up by the first ray of sunshine, either waiting for Levi or going to hunt.

He was always doing something except sleeping.

Maybe that was why it felt...odd. In some weird way.

Four-eyes has spoken a lot about Eren before. Like the idiot he was, at that time, Levi didn't care enough to actually hear all of their ramblings about him.

But he did hear a lot of how this titan looked adorable (questionable, but unsurprising coming from them) and how he looked like a puppy.

A month ago, in the first days he was with him, Levi would have fully agreed.

However, now, he saw how that wasn't fully true.

He would rather say that Eren was a cat.

Beautiful eyes with larg pupils, sassy personality, like to sunbath, could get grumpy, had (way too much) pride, somtimes cute, yet, compared to what he thought, calm and pretty mature.

Well, marure in a way that titans can be.

Eren understood quickly what nightmares were. When that happened, he wasn't acring like a mother hen, anxious and unsure of what to do, nor tried to comfort or distract him.

He was waiting for Levi to calm down.

He didn't make a lot of sounds, like Hanji.
He wasn't shocked or worried as if he was going to faint like was his squad.
He didn't get alward like were Isabel and Furlan.
He didn't ignore it like Kenny.
Nor did he try to sometimes talk it out like Erwin.

No.

He simply stayed quiet, not invading his personal space, not shocked or surprised, or tried to rassure him.

Eren chose to let only his presence know. Yet, Levi understood that it wasn't because he was awkward, stressed, or didn't care.

His eyes were telling him all he wanted to hear. Even if no sounds were made from both parties.

'I can't talk to you, but you are the one to choose whether you desire to talk to stay quiet. And I'll accept and stay with you either way.'

__________________

"Took you awhile."

With a yawn, Eren opened his eyes.
Like every day, his little human was against the cave, looking at him.

But this time, he didn't look bored. He looked angry.

And that was how Eren realized, with a whine, that he was going to get the worst scolding of his life.

Chapter Text

"Wolves aren't edible, you dumb idiot."

A frustrated sigh left his companion as he threw the body out of the cave. For the fourth time this week, Eren brought a non-eadible animal in the hope that Levi could eat it.

Not because he was too lazy to catch rabbits again.

But because there were just not many anymore.

With the heavy snow and storms, Eren's senses, both vison and hearing, were blocked, making it almost impossible to catch the little bastards.

That was why he tried (unsuccessfully) to try new ingredients.

Although it had been proved to be completely useless, it was the thoughts that counted.

"Damnit.."

With a shiver, Levi put his cape around himself, trying to protect himself from the hard snowstorm.

Besides a few meters away from the exit of the cave, no matter how much he squinted his eyes, the captain couldn't see much outside. The brief sounds of footsteps signaling Eren's leaving was all for Levi to know that he was alone once more.

Probably for a few more hours.

Hopefully, that idiot will be able to find food.

__________________

A grumble woke Levi up. By reflex, he took out his dagger, but it was unsurprisingly just Eren.

"You... Oh, you did manage to find rabbits."

With a prideful nod, Eren crouched down, holding the rabbit carefully.

Levi did not hide his rolling eyes.

With precious care, the titan sat next to him instead of in front, like he usually did.

He pointed gently to the captain next to him, again and again, until Levi seemed to understand.

"I'm shivering because I'm freezing my ass right now. And guess what? I can't start a fire with the heavy snow who gets into the cave to cook the rabbit."

Even if he knew Eren had no say in this, he was still frustrated.

He waited for an entire day for this damn dinner/breakfast/lunch, and he now couldn't fucking eating it unless he was ready for a puking session.

Eren thought a moment on what to do, looking away from him.

Levi still couldn't believe that a titan could actually have thoughts and ideas.

A few painfully long minutes passed until Eren finally moved again. He gently let his hand grab him, softly putting him on his chest. Then, without a break, he bited hard onto his hand.

Blood rolled down his hand as steam got out.

"The hell are you doing?"

He didn't acknowledge him, focusing more on his unknown mission.

"Stop it! It's completely healed now, but you want to injure yourself again? Are you a masochist or are you just fucking dumb?"

Eren didn't have the decency to react to his words.

With a gory sight, he took out his own flesh out of his hand until barely a few muscles stayed.

And by how much steam it made, it was hot.

With his uninjured hand, when all the blood evaporated, he put the rabit on his steaming part.

"Wait a damn minute. Are you cooking my dinner on your hand? I don't want your bacterias."

Eren rolled his eyes (Levi really regretted teaching him these manners), ignoring him as he used his other hand again to put it around him, making it a bit warm.

No matter how stubborn Levi was, Eren was even more.

With a 'tsk', he made himself comfortable, encircled by both his green and dirty cape, but also the other’s palm.

Chapter Text

When sun finally showed his pretty ass during the middle of the day, Levi could almost celebrate.

For once since two weeks, no big snowstorm was blocking his view and making his teeths chattering while he freezed his ass out. Not that he wasn't right now, but he could atleast start a little fire.

He hadn't seen Eren since this morning.

For some reason, starting from two days ago, the titan left very early to walk somewhere away from his territory. Very far away, apparently, since he came back with multiple injuries coming from his own kind.

It was hard to find any animals, making Levi's stomach grumble at the mere thought of eating a part of bread.

Which was pathetic.

Levi experienced way worse in the past. Especially in the underground. Hell, even in the scouts, as a captain, he sometimes skipped his meals.

So why was he not used to it?
Couldn't his body learn and stop forcing him to almost drool when thinking about drinking a cup of tea. Or anything, in thise case.

Plus, oh Walls was his body shivering.

His personal furnace wasn't there and his fire was too small to produce any real warm, making him dreams of being covered by an actual blanket on an actual bed in an actual house. But of course it wasn't the case.

An annoyed groan erupted him from his silent complaints.

Like usual, Eren was crouching down with some difficulty through the entrance, holding a deer. With a frustrated huff, he brushed his hair away from his face. Perhaps his hair were becoming too long.

"You got a nice catch, today."

Like a proud kid, Eren chirped while nodding his own head.

He put gently the animal's body on the floor, besides Levi. But, quickly enough, Levi noticed its chest.

It was still moving. Up and down, with slow and pained breathings, determined to stay alive.

Eren sat against the wall, letting out a sigh, like a father sitting on the couch after a long day.

Eren didn't seem to notice how he basically made this deer live through hell, without thinking of killing it to stop ita suffering. Or maybe he did, but just didn't bother.

Maybe for Eren, the suffering of this creature was pointless to think about, as if it was the death of meaningless insect.

"What if one day, the meaningless insect will be you or anyone else?"

This thought resonated in his mind as the blood of the creature spilled out of its eyes.

For Levi, Eren didn't realize what suffering was besides physical pain. He never knew what being powerless, grief, or empathy was like.

And how would he?

Never in his life has he had any social interaction with anyone, animal, human or his own kind.

Emotions was something he just started to discover. So how would he be able to feel emmpathy just yet?

Plus, Levi couldn't dislike him for that. Full grown adults needed servants to help them take a shit and mocking the ones in need while they got their ass wiped nicely, while Eren had the mentality of a toddler.

He couldn't grasp everything yet. And that was alright.
Because he still tried.

He was patient enough to endure Levi when he attacked the titan in the first days they met.
He was understanding enough to comfort him in silence when he needed to.
He was accepting enough to understand and care for every of Levi's needs, physically but also psychologically.

He was everything a mature adult should be.

As Levi fed the fire with a two more brenches, he subtly observed the titan in front of him who was putting delicately the now dead deer near the fire, watching with curiosity as the flames engulfed the brenches and cooked the fresh meat.

Levi has always been unreadable, unable to comprehend by anyone, the one everyone should listen to.

Yet, when Eren noticed his staring and catched his gaze, he knew that somehow, it wasn't the case with him.

And he hated that.

He hated how Eren could be the one that understands the other while being unreadable.

He hated how Eren managed to know everything about him while he couldn't for the titan.

He hated being the one vulnerable and easy to read.

"What are you looking at?"

The titan wasn't the slightest affected by his words. He observed him with an emotion Levi couldn't decipher. Eren raised one of his (non-existent) eyebrows.

"I could ask you the same thing" would be Eren's response if he could talk.

Maybe he could tell him what he felt right now. But his energy was taken away from simply thinking about it.

"Your hair are too long. No wonder your dumb ass can't see shit outside."

Eren didn't react again. He was still waiting for Levi to admit what was disturbing him.

After a few seconds of no explanation, Eren finally accepted his silence, choosing to make a disturbing close sound to a snort.

"Not only are they too long, they're so messy. It looks like a damn bird's nest."

The titan frowned, offended.

"Crouch down. I can't see half of your face with those things you call hair."

Eren glared at him, but did as asked when Levi returned the treatment.

With a growl, the titan's head rested on the floor.

The man walked close enough before deciding to directoy going on top of it. Unsurprisingly, multiple knots were present.

But oh god, Levi didn't expect to see a big one against his neck. The tangled mess was the size of his full head.

"How."

He heard a gulp from the one under him.

Levi didn't take time before attacking the smaller ones. With no gentleness, he pulled the hair at their original form.

A muffled high-pitched yell from Eren resonated through the pit of hell.

__________________

Three hours have passed.

To be honest, when he first started to take care of the tangled strands, Levi thought he would hate it.

But it proved now to be almost the opposite.

After he took care of the big ones, only the smalls and barely noticeable were left. The hardest were taken care of, and he had rarely ised his dagger.

The same could be said for Eren.

He was flinching at every touches and pulls, his body tensing uncomfortably.

But as the time passed, he was more relaxed, not enough to enjoy the time, but enough to simply accept it and relax.

"Damn, you and Four-eyes have the same messy hair. Both of you will need an haircut."

He said this without thinking about it, but his own body tensed.

Eren will one day meet the rest of the scouts. Other humans.

And he knew that it wasn't going to be pretty. He'll be used like a weapon and seen as a monster. All his peaceful life will be broken forever. As well as his trust.

For humans. For anyone. And for Levi.

When he looked down, he saw how Eren tenses as well.

And Levi noticed where he was. He was just on his nape. And he holded his dagger.

A long silence stretched, Eren's gripping his own hand hardly, refusing to turn around and meet his gaze.

"You're a damn idiot."

Levi stared down at his savior, then at his dagger.

With a sigh, he threw the dagger near the fire, the metal slowly becoming red.

The titan's eyes widened before he looked at Levi who got down at the floor again, standing in front of him.

"No matter what happens, no blades of mine will ever be used on you."

He raised his hand to gently rest it against the other’s forehead, like he did before.

"It is a promise."

Chapter Text

While the scouts woke up, that morning, everyone looked nervous. The new recruits avoided at all cost the Commander, the Squad Leader Hanji Zoé, but especially the Levi's squad.

All of them were easily frustrated, tired from numerous nights awakes, along with a very short patience.

Since his death, they were in this poor state. But now, they would be more than they ever been.

Because today, was Levi's birthday.

A recruit didn't have time to salute before Hanji Zoé passed in front of her. Their eyes bags were more prominent than usual, like the rest of the raven-haired's acquaintances.

They were only a shadow of their past self.

It was like half of themselves were gone with the dead soldier.

In the cafeteria, sitting at the table the most further from others, the Levi's Sqad was staring blankly at a chair. The one where their captain usually sat.

As a desesparate act of delusion, a tea was placed at its usual's spot, prepared with all care and attention.

"Perhaps captain would have liked it if he was there."

The bitter thought must have appeared in Petra's head with how after few minutes staring at the untouched cup, tears rolled down her eyes.

She didn't bother to swipe them off.

Oluo holded his head in his hands, almost in the same state of the woman he loved.

How could they advance without him?

Eld and Gunther stayed silent, closing their eyes while adverting their head away from the empty chair's position.

For Hanji and Erwin, it wasn't any better.
Soem could say it was worse.

The two didn't come to eat, even with Mike, Nanaba and Moblit's insistence, the door of the Commander's office was locked, refusing to be opened.

They didn't leave the room, no matter what anybody said.

__________________

"This is bullshit."

"This is bullshit."

"This is fucking bullshit!"

For the unknown time, Hanji was walking in circle. But, with a scream, they kicked a chair down, not caring if anyone heard them.

Maybe Erwin would have reprimanded them, shocked with their anger, but not this time.

Instead, he still didn't move, looking in bewilderment at the letter on the table.

That couldn’t be possible.
He must've be in a nightmare.

It couldn't happen.
They couldn't have send them this.

He would wake up, and all of this would only be a bad dream.

"Bullshit!"

He would wake up, and the small hope of seeing his friend again wouldn't be shattered in pieces.

"Bullshit!"

He would wake up and realize that the higher-ups didn't refuse the mission of a rescue team for Levi.

"Bullshit!"

It just was all a bad dream.
He will wake up in a few minutes.

"These bastards didn't fucking care of how many died before, so why are they putting their noses on this mission?!"

Hanji was screamed at the top of their lungs beside him, kicking the broken chair again and again, yet Erwin couldn't comprehend what they said.

Was this real?
Was this how Levi was going to die?
To be given up on, for the countless time?

Why were their job consisting of going out of the walls was suddenly being useless for finding their friend?

That was all their job, so why were there now deprived of their only use?

How could they be refused of their only chance of paying back Levi, who has always suffered for them?

Was his death more useless than an insect for them? An insect that was ready to gave his life, dreams, body, and mental state for the futur of humanity?

Erwin looked away from the letter, feeling his stomach contract. He wanted to throw up all his guts.

On the couch stayed the new cape. It was the newest version of it. One they prepared in secret for their friend before the last exploration.

Like every cape they ordered for him, his capes had golden letters on which 'Levi' was written.

He always rolled his eyes when seeing this secret details on each newer designs of capes the scouts received.

But the curve of his lips was enough for Hanji and Erwin to chuckle each time.

This gift they prepared was a one where his ignitials were standing more on the higher part, like they did on the last. His one standed apart from the rest, even if you wouldn't notice if you didn't know.

"Shit. Shit. Shit."

The mumblings of Hanji were all Erwin could heard amongst the silence.

If Mike, Moblit and Nanaba weren't there, there wouldn't by any doupts that the Levi's Squad, the Commander and the Sqaud Leader Hanji would be on a bed in a hospital from how much they were starving themselves.

"Commander, can we enter?"

A vouxe he couldn't recognized spoke behind the door. It seemed urgent, yet not a urgent where it was bad, but one where no one had any clue on what is happening.

"Hanji."

The scientists didn't look back at him while walking at the door.

As soon as the door was opened, the scout made greeted them with heavy panting.

"What happened?"

"A titan."

"A titan? Well, yes, we have many titans outside the walls."

Hanji, compared to usual, spoke with impatience, maybe even with a sarcastic tone, as if becoming Levi.

"No. Not like that! There is that aberrant!"

Erwin immediately perked up, looking at Hanji who finally calmed down.

"What aberrant?"

"The green-eyed fifteen meters, sir!"

At the moment Hanji recognized who the soldier was talking about, they ran to them, wearing an excited grin.

"My sweetheart?! What happened to him?!"

"Um, well, nothing in particular."

"So what?"

"It's the fact that he is walking around the walls while dodging all the attacks from both the Garrisons and the Scouts."

Chapter Text

The moment he appeared in their visions, the titan got thrown projectiles. They were black balls that hurted more than he thought it would.

Eren despised it already.

But he had to endure it.

Even if it meant to waste all his precious time on dodging their attacks, projectiles or humans.

The ones attacking him had different skins than before. In fact, they didn't have a green skin they could take off like Levi did. They just had brown skin on top. When one fled down to try to attack him, he could even perceive some flowers on their backs.

It was a beatiful red that stuck out from the rest of the skin.

"What a strange one."

Eren heard from a human who recently arrived. Compared to most, he didn't possess any hair. His hands behind his back, he looked down at him while holding a weird thing. He brought it at his mouth, but it got pushed away by one of his comrades.

"Commander Pixis, he is dodging everything weapons we throw at him. Not only that, he isn't even trying to catch the men we send to attract him."

"An intelligent one, huh? Pretty disapointed he isn't a pretty woman, though."

"Commander!"

Eren didn't have time to look at the new person as he was more busy with stepping back to avoid the black balls sent at him.

Yet, he already knew who it belonged to.

"Commander Hanji, hello to you too."

"Sorry for the inconvenience, but you have to stop all attacks on this titan. The fifteen meters with green eyes."

The man looked back at him, deep in thoughts. In some way, he looked more menacing than his Levi.

"Please listen to us, Commander. This titan has been known by the Scout regiment for some time now. He never attacked any humans, and, by what you can see, he is intelligent."

The human didn't stop looking at him, not responding to the sounds the scientist made at him. Even if Eren had no idea of what these meant, he had a feeling that it was about keeping him alive.

After thinking more, he closed his eyes and raised one of his hands.
"Well, no matter how much intelligent it is, I guess he doesn't pose any real threats from here."

Instantly, no more things were thrown at Eren.

With a relieved sigh, he stared at his injured leg who was fastly healing from one of the balls.

Curse that human who threw it!

But at least it wasn't at his left hand who was still gripping it...

"Hey sweetie! Do you remember me? I'm Hanji Zoé!"

Yes, he knew this voice all too well. They jumped down, their grey objects attaching to the wall as they were only a few meters higher than his heads.

"Commander, that's too close!"

"How are you doing, dear? It's been a while, no?"

Eren didn't bother to try to understand the rest. The voice they were using was so high-pitched, highlighting some sounds, while slowing down when talking.

"When you'll meet Four-eyes, don't be surprised when they'll use a baby voice to talk to you", has said Levi once when he was eating his food.

It was weird. Maybe even annoying.

Uninterested, his attention focused once again on his mission. He looked away from them, his gaze following the lower-parts of the walls. Just how did the humans went in if there was no entrances?

Sure, they could fly. But their brown animals on which they rode while visiting couldn't.

At least, Eren presumed.

He left the humans alone, walking again away to another spots. Maybe the entrance wouod be further?

"Where is it going?"

"No, the question is more what is he looking for?"

The human with brown hair and weird visible-through object covering their eyes followed him with their grey things, being way too close in his personal space. Apparently, the other humans thought the same by how they yelled some more. But again, the brown one ignored them, a big grin on their face.

"What are you searching? I could help you if you want!"

He ignored them, getting irritated. No wonder Levi was so annoyed with them before, they can get distracting and bothering when they wanted to.

Though maybe it was because he was a titan.

But still.

"Do you want meat baby?"

"We can play if you want!"

"You always were curious about us, so come, we can let you insepct our materials!"

"Or we could teach you how to write. Oh, that wouod be so exciting!"

"Levi would've maybe finally appreciate you if he was there."

At the mention of his little human's name, he stopped in his tracks brutally, looking back at the human.

"What? Is there a problem, sweetie?"

"Commander, he is too dangerous. He could eat you!"

"What is it, cutie pie?"

Eren observed them. They were so pushing with him, yet he noticed how some black circles were under their eyes.

Then, it clicked.

He looked at his left hand. Maybe they wouldn't care if they saw it, but, Eren still took the risk.

He opened it in front of them, revealing a green cape in the middle of his palm.

"What? A cape?"

"It is the previous model, it seems."

"But how did he found it? The previous expedition was the last time the soldiers wore it, and it was four months ago!"

"Three and a half months, to be precise."

There was too murmurs for Eren to have time to understand half of them. However, he looked once again at the brown one who then fled on his palm directly, no prior to their safety.

Their hands were trembling as they saw something on the cape.

"It has....Levi's initials."

Suddenly, all murmurs stopped at the same time. The humans didn't move anymore.

"Did...You see Levi dying?"

Eren didn't know what that meant, but the crack in their voice was enough for him to understand that they were talking about something who hurted them.

Even if he wasn't sure if he understood correctly, he let out a groan, nor nodding or shaking his head.

"He... died?"

"What are you—"

"Tell me. Did he die?"

Maybe it was how they stood up abrutly or how they looked at him with a childish hope, but it didn't matter if Eren didn't understand everything this time.

He shook his head.

After another stunned silence, a faint tear went down their face. Their grin reappeared.

"You know Levi?"

He nodded.

"He understands us?!"

"How is this possible?!"

"How can that man still be alive outside?"

The brown-haired human ignored the rest. They holded the man's cape with a strong grip, afraid it would disappear if they loosened their hold.

"Do you know where he is?"

Eren nodded hesitantly.

"Can you guide us to him?"

This time, he didn't acquiece. Was it a good idea to let Levi go back to them? He seemed content with him. And Eren wanted, even if it was selfish, to stay with him.

"I wonder what they'll say when they'll see us together. Bet Four-eyes and Eyebrows would shit their balls out when they'll see me alive.

No. There was no question about this. Levi needed to go back with his kind.

Eren zoomed out, nodding his head, both him and the brown-haired human pretending the gasps from the others never existed.

__________________

Levi would never admit it outloud, but he was incredibly worried.

Yesterday, he found Eren's comportment to be suspicious. He brought way more catch than necessary. Rabbits, deers, even some small birds.

He growled when Levi wanted to throw them out, forcing him to put the numerous bodies at the end of the cave, like a reserve.

Levi thought it was strange but brushed it off as Eren just being cautious.
But now, he regretted it.

This morning, when he woke up, Eren disappeared completely. His cape wasn't even there anymore. Yes, maybe it flew away. But usally, Levi had a tight grip when he pulled it around himself, using it as a blanket.

Since then, he didn't return.

Even Levi could tell himself that Eren lost himself in the snow and that he would come back soon, he knew it was false.

Eren prepared more food for the future in case he wouldn't come back anymore.

Did he grew bored from him?
Did he regretted saved him?
Did he wanted to have a peaceful life again instead of spending all his time and energy on some human?
Did he saw him only as entertainment and curious thing he wanted to learn about, until he grew bored from doing the same things everyday?

God, Levi was such an idiot. Eren was a titan, of course he wouldn't want to spend the rest of his life caged in a cave with him or inside a cage within the walls as a lab rat.

Just who did Levi took him for?

Why did he even give him a name?
He was only a dumb titan like any others.

Why?

Why did he trusted him more than he ever did, more than Isabel and Farlan?

Why was he such a fool?

Why did he allow himself to be such a naive idiot?

Why didn't he let him die like the rest of his men did, instead of saving to end by giving him up?

Why didn't he let him be devored by his kind to finally end his suffering?

Why did he have to—

"Captain?"

"...Petra?"

Chapter Text

"Captain?"

"...Petra?"

His body froze in an instant, refusing to move any muscles. But his head was the only thing he managed to still control.

Petra. Ed. Gunther. Oluo.

Petra's face was all pink, both her and Oluo's eyes puffy and widened.

"How..?"

A trembling voice asked. Levi didn't even recognize his own voice if it wasn't for the fact that no one opened their mouths to speak, running to him.

He hated contact.
Physical, above all.

But now, he didn't resist the hugs his squad gave him.

Gunther tried to resist with all his might to the tentation of bursting in tears, while Eld watched everyone with a huge grin.

"Captain? Are you okay?"

"No. I need to take a shower. But besides that, it's fine."

As if he never responded, Petra and Oluo inspected his body thoroughly, making sure he still had every bones attached.

Even if he allowed the hugs, he wouldn't allow being treated like a weak grandpa in a nursing home.

Before Levi could push them away homself, however, a loud huff resonated in the cave.

"Eren?"

"Eren? Who's that?"

Levi didn't acknowledge the question. Pushing the two attached to him, he approached the other.

He was on one knees, crouching down to enter the cave. A grumpy expression painted on his face.

"Back off!"

"Captain, let's be careful."

"Wait, he is harmless. I think."

"But we still need to take precautions."

Oluo put himself in front of the raven, a hand on the handle of his blades, ready to take them off.

Without flinching an eyebat, Eren gave him a murderous glare while entering, not even perceiving them as threats.

"Calm down, everyone. And everyone is including you."

Eren finally refocused. He turned his attention back to him for a few seconds, before returning to the other humans. His glare lessened, but a silent threat was still present.

He loomed over them, his shadow covering almosy every source of light coming from outside.

If Levi didn't stay with him for more than three months, he would have been terrified. Maybe.

"Captain—"

"Shut up. Let me handle that pig."

When walking to Eren, the titan didn't detach his gaze from the new humans. Without sparing a glance at him once more, he put his hands behind him, separating Levi from his squad.

The rest took out their blades as well, yelling some orders that Eren apparently didn't bother to listen.

"What are you doing?"

Eren didn't look at him but at least answered with a growl to his soon opponents.

"Listen to me."

"Captain!"

"Don't attack! You'll lose and this cave is too instable and small to use your ODM gear."

Despite the fact that he couldn't see them, the few murmurs and curses was enough for him.

"Eren, listen to me. They aren't doing this because they want to attack you. But because they want to protect me and thenselves. They don't know you like I do, and it is normal for them to be cautious."

Eren's glare dissipated, disappointment showing instead. He was hurt. That being proven with a faint whine that Levi ignored to continue his speech.

"I know that you don't want to hurt me. But they aren't sure of that yet. Just like you, they are cautious since they want to protect me."

The titan's gaze then posed solely on him. If Levi was dreaming, he could say that his eyes showed pain and uncertainty.

"Prove them who you are. Prove them that you are not a mindless titan with the sole thing worth noting being that you can kill both titans and humans."

Eren shed him even more, his big hands gently wrapped around him was trembling.

"Prove that you can be trusted. Do it by trusting them. By trusting me. And by trusting yourself on your choice."

The hands stopped their trembling, freezing on the spot, before they softly left, letting his squad be in his view again.

"Thank you, Eren."

__________________
(BONUS)
__________________

"Ugh, a snowstorm is starting again. Tsk, how annoying."

Oluo remarked on his rock. He was the closest to the entrance, looking outside while, for the numerous time, imitating Captain Levi. Which was for the even more numerous time failing embarrassingly.

Eld approached the man, examining the situation more carefully. He was the one Captain Levi had the most trust on, being in fact the one guiding the team when he was presumably dead/missing for the past months.

Petra couldn't help but to envy him.

But at least, she understood why their Captain did so. Eld had faith in the Commander, in their squad, yet he never did too much by forcing himself to believe it when everything went wrong.

He was calm, skilled, kind, a bit of a parental figure for some, and hard-working.

Yes, Petra understood Captain Levi on his decision to choose him in second-in-command..

Comapred to Eren.

Yes, the titan had a name.

Petra knew Hanji would name him, since they were known for...being a little far off in their heads. But Captain Levi?

It wasn't his type to trust any titans interesting enough for humanity. Which was why Petra actually had faith in Eren.

Yes, he was, well, a titan. A maneater. But, even from a year ago, he was never spotted harming any humans. Or animals.

Peaceful, intelligent, protective, cautious, perceptive, observant, and apparently... cute.

Yes. Captain Levi did say he was cute. It kind of slipped while Eren, Gunther, Eld and Oluo were competing in some weird duel near the entrance.

Fortunately for the rest, they didn't hear anything.
Unfortunately for Petra, she heard that little word that managed to send both her and Levi in an akward silence that stretched way too much before it got interrupted by him scolding the others.

It had been a good distraction for the two to act like nothing happened.

But it did happen.

So now, Petra spend more time on observing the concerned.

He was not one you could typically call cute. Fifteen meters, defined cheekbones with a long chin and sharpened teeths that Levi swore he never used on besides on titans.

The only things remotely close to 'attractive' physically on him, was his muscles and his eyes.

But would that be enough for him to be considered adorable or cute? Not really. So what did he found in him?

"I don't think we could leave in this weather."

"Normally. But like we used it for coming here, we could attach ourselves to that titan back home."

Captain Levi didn't look up from the fire he was taking care of. Like a good puppy, Eren only looked at him, ignoring the not-so subtle glare Oluo was throwing at him as he spoke.

"Firstly, even if it worked this time when coming here, it was only because Eren had to run most of time."

Eld pointed sharply when staring at the titan in question, his many visible flesh still healing after many hours only proving his words. Gunther nodded.

"Don't forget that he got many injuries. After all, he took all the bites and attacks threw at us. I don't think he will have the energy to go back now."

"Don't titans have no concept of pain? That thing won't be a crybaby just because he got biten a few times."

"Secondly, Eren do have energy. After many attacks or depense of energy, he becomes slower. Plus, not only is there no sunlight to feed his energy, but also the clouds are hiding more and more the sun, so much that we don't know when will the night start. Meaning that we won't have a clue what time it is until Eren fucking passes out in the middle of a titan-infested area. His body had nothing to eat or compensate on for a good week now with that shitty weather, so he will simply crash out without leaving us any time to react. Going out now would be stupidly suicidal."

Oluo looked at him dumbly, perhaps shocked that the Captain Levi was ready to spend a night more outside after months of no shower and tea.

Petra was personally more shocked at the fact that he was so defensive of Eren.

"I agree. Let's stay for the night and leave only next morning."

With the hidden glare Oluo sent at him, Petra decuded that maybe she should add her part as well.

"Yes. I mean, there are many animals at the back that we could eat this night anyway without starving ourselves."

"We'll have a bettee dinner than at the base. You sure did spoil the Captain, Eren."

With a proud nod, Eren made a cute sound that looked like a chirp to Eld's words. With Gunther and Petra's chuckles, Levi only rolled his eyes.

"At this point, we should stay here a little more couple of days. There's a good feast here."

"Eren's a better wife than mine, at this point. You sure did have a good catch, Captain."

"Guess you'll spend the best birthday of your life here."

With the innocent curious chirps of Eren and murderous glares of Levi, Petra didn't bother to hide her chuckles. Okay, maybe she found out why the titan could be perceived as cute.

Chapter Text

The ray of sunshines warmed the skin of the giant. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't pay attention to the gentle wind carrying snowflakes or to the birds chrirping.

His gaze trailed to his chest where rested four persons. The soft woman, the rude man and the other two, calm but neutral.

They were now his friends, no?

Levi considered them his comrades. That he wanted it or no, Eren had to accept them.

After all, even with the annoying human that kept pestering him, all of them seemed trustworthy. Even if suspicious, they trusted Levi with their whole life. The fact that they fell asleep on a titan was surely a proof.

Yet, Eren didn't like to see them.

He felt like an outsider when the other humans were present. It felt like he was reduced back to an average titan. One that was simply more easy to control.

As time passed on, Eren wondered if he was maybe the most naive and pathetic titan.

No, he didn't want to eat humans.
But he was fearing that he could regret letting them in in his home. In his and Levi's life.

Was it a good decision to let them find Levi?
Absolutely.

So why was Eren regretting immensely?

He should be happy to see Levi be liked and respected.
He should be relieved to know that the raven will return with his kind.

But he wasn't. He didn't want him to return with them.

For the first time in his life, he found something worth to live for. Protecting Levi.
Every day, he pushed on for him. The only reason he feared dying was because he would leave Levi harmless, without any protection in this world.

But now, if the human returned with them, he wouldn't need him to protect him. If Eren died, Levi wouldn't.

The titan wanted to tell himself that he simply was overprotective of Levi, that he didn't trust them, and that was why he didn't want to leave.

However, no matter how much he would repeat hinself this, he knew this wasn't right.

He trusted the four humans here.
He trusted Levi to take care of himself.
He trusted that the team of his human would protect Levi if he wasn't there to do so.

No, it was purelt selfish.

Eren didn't want Levi to get away from him. If he didn't need him, he would be left after being used.

Every beings only need to get energy from something, sun, water, plants, or animals, to stay alive. But every humans beings fears something worse than death. For most, amongst every possibilities, being forgotten.

Eren was a titan, yet, he felt the same way.

He didn't care if he died. He just didn't want to be tossed aside forever by Levi.

He was selfish. Truly no different than his kind, other than he was hiding it.
What would Levi think if he knew?

"I'm not surprised you're already awake. I'm more by how we're still intact."

Amongst the fives humans present, of course it had to be the most annoying.

Oluo was still lying down on his chest, his eyes never boring away from his.

"You know, when rumors told that you could be actually intelligent, I did believe it."

His gaze left his, moving to the side to observe the trees outside.

"It wasn't that I was optimistic like the Commander or Captain. I guess I wanted for a lead to something."

Oluo frowned, his past attempt at copying his captain faltering.

"I allowed myself to be naive. After all, we lost so much in the past just to obtain mockery, and for once, we managed to have a lead on knowledge. Like me, the others slowly gained hope."

Eren didn't move a muscle, even more when feeling the man's posture tensing.

"Until the Captain went missing. It was stupid. Our mission was to capture you alive. The plan was so dumb. Create a diversion to attract you until we managed to catch you. But it all failed. Just cause of one influencing newbie who tried to impress others, we lost captain Levi. Everyone was dead. And, compared to usual, when we screamed, you didn't came. We...we thought you were the one who-"

Oluo stopped his words. He let out a shaky sigh, deciding to not say anything else. The cave was fully silent besides the gentle breathing of the sleeping figures. Oluo didn't add more. But he didn't need to. Eren understood.

That day, they planned to capture him. They didn't saw him once as living being. Only a possible weapon.

Levi never saw him as more.

Thirty minutes passed and everyone woke up. Petra and Gunther stretched lazily while Eld yawned. Levi woke up lately, seeming excited (in his own discreet way) to go home.

Everyone was joyfully eating their breakfast, a conversation flowing peacefully.

But Oluo wasn't hungry anymore.

Unknowingly to the rest, Oluo and Eren weren't paying attention to the discussion.

Staying silent, Eren looked somber at the wall he was facing.

Chapter Text

"Damn, talking about luck."

With disappointment, the group observed in silence the heavy snow covering the floor. Again, a small snowstorm. Normally, it wouldn't be a problem. But now, their vision were shortened with the wind, and the snow would slow Eren down. Petra looked worriedly at the almost non-visible sun. They didn't even have half a day before the sky darkens.

"Let's not panic. Maybe it will calm down."

"Gunther's right. It's not the end of the world yet. With chance, it will dissipate enough for us to leave before tomorrow."

Oluo scoffed.

"So you're telling me that we're going to be stuck here until tomorrow? What if tomorrow is going to be the same thing?"

"Even if it was the case, Eren catched a lot of animals incase he didn't come back a few days earlier. We could still hold for weeks."

"Yeah but we're not going to stay in this hell hole for that long."

The four watched with longing as the wind carried the hundreds of snowflakes.

Eren silently detached his eyes away from outside, going instead on Levi.

"Whatever. We have no need to worry. Besides the lack of water, we have food. We don't have to worry with the cold, the titans and snow in this cave."

The captain announced, ignoring the gaze of his companion. The rest either sighed and went to sit somewhere or remained on place.

__________________

"They still haven't come back."

Hanji didn't respond.

"Maybe that titan tricked us to-"

"He had the opportunity to kill the ones Pixis sent as a distraction."

"Nevertheless, we need to go back inside. It's freezing. Please, Major, let's go."

"What if they come back but no one will be here?"

"We'll know. Besides, maybe they will wait with this storm."

"You can go. I'll stay here."

Moblit looked worriedly at them, not knowing what to say. Facing their back as they absently returned to the horizon.

The man opened his mouth only to close it.
He had already said enough.

"Fine. If you say so. But please don't stay here more than ten minutes."

Without looking at him or speaking, they nodded.

Moblit stayed on place a few seconds, looking at his superior, before saluting and leaving Hanji alone once again in their solitude.

__________________

"Is he okay?"

"I don't think titans can be sick."

Gunther shrugged, turning to face Eren.
The titan barely looked at the humans on his shoulders, keeping advancing. Oluo rolled his eyes, attenpting poorly to be like his idol.

"Tsk."

Levi's brows furrowed.

His team forgot quickly about the titan's behavior. They blamed it on him being both careful and grumpy about the minimum visibility that offered the weather.

But the captain knew it wasn't that.

There was no doupt about it: Eren wasn't alright.

His companion (and not his friend) seemed grunpy and irritated since this morning. Normally, he would be like a curious toddler, listening to anything that was about humans. But now? He looked completely uninterested.

His subtle glare at Oluo even signaled he was pissed.

The thing that made it even more odd was that the titan looked aware of the stare. Maybe even guilty or nervous.

Sure, it was normal for everyone to be tense. They were outside the Walls, in the winter, where titans could totally jump on them from anywhere.

However Eren were zooming out. The titan's gaze was nowhere in particular. He looked conflicted.

"If your old ass can't hold against that shitty weather, no need to act strong. We can go back."

Levi said loud enough to be heard amongst the snow. Eren blinked, perhaps remembering that there were humans on his shoulder. He processed the words before shaking his head.

"Is something wrong?"

His companion didn't respond for a few seconds before weakily shaking his head once again, not looking back at him in the eyes, seemingly guilty and confused at once.

Before the raven could insist, the sound of blades being took out was heard.

"Captain, two titans approaching! A five and,"

Petra squinted her eyes.

"A eight meters."

Eren froze on the spot, snapping his head to the direction the crew pointed at. Levi felt his heart pulse accelerate, even through the thick titan's skin. It was the worse time to lose time.

"No one make any loud noises or rushed movements. Hide. If any spot you, just let it come to us. Attracting attention in this time would be a death wish, even with Eren."

The four nodded. The man took out his blades as the scouts hid themselves under Eren's brown hair.

A groan was heard at their right. The eight meters was looking around, his deformed grumbles being too close to Eren's liking, who growl vibrated through his chest.

Levi gently caressed Eren's nape.

"If you don't calm down right now, we'll end up dead."

Eren huffed but his anxious was obvious to his kind. The five meters was too lazy (or too dumb) to spend more time on him. The eight meters, however, sniffed the other.

No matter how much Eren glared at the titan, he either didn't notice or care enough to stop, his eyes tracking any humans to feast on.

Everybody's muscles tensed, the five scout's grip on their respective blades almost piercing.

Suddenly, its eyes moved abrutly to the brown hair covering his nape. And the five humans.

̷͇̃̎̕͠H̴̨͐̂̌̕a̵͚̪̮̾̂̅ä̵̰͈́̍a̷̙̦̰͚̽

As the eight meters froze.Levi stopped caressing Eren. He silently used the hand he used to calm him to pose it on his other handle.

̷͇̃̎̕͠H̴̨͐̂̌̕a̵͚̪̮̾̂̅ä̵̰͈́̍a̷̙̦̰͚̽‽

It made the same sound, tilting its head.
Then it smiled with all his teeths.

A̷̮͕̣̙̮͇̓̏͐̈́͐̅͆͆̈́̅̐́͌̈́̑̓͋̃̀̄͐͐̄̂͜͝æ̸̧̘͈̺̱̭̭̘̮̘̦͕̣̟̮̖̮͉̣͎͔̰̠̲͙͙͖̼̗̰̙̝̮̑̽̽̂̐̓̏̎̍͑͒͗̋̈́͂̔̆̀̈́̇̀̊̇̈́́͛͐͌̀͘͜͝͠͠ȁ̷̡̡̡̡̡̗̬͈̙͍̹̟̻̣͚̱̺̼̼̘̲̦̙͇̫͕̝͉̯̱͕́͒̐̑̉̔̽̂̽̇̿̀̄͆̈͛̂͋̈̄͊̓͆̏͌̕̕͜͜͠

Eren barely had the time to move away before the titan lunged at him, its teeths snapping shut a few centimeters away from Eld's head if it wasn't for Gunther and Oluo pulling him away.

"Shit!"

The five meters turned around, its ears picking up on the muffled curse. It didn't wait long before sprinting to them.

"Captain!"

"Don't got against them unless absolute necessary! Our ODM gear have almost no use here with both the snow, cold and environnement."

He looked bitterly to Eren who kicked the titan away from his nape where Gunther and Oluo still holded Eld.