#levifanfiction

[nofacedpoet]

Ch 29: Vampire

Because the mission had been prolonged due to questioning from the many MPs and officers regarding the incident that occurred hours ago, it was already sunset by time the streets fell silent. Levi made the decision that they were to stay the night in the Capitol before making leave and they settled inside of an old abandoned building that once served as an emergency base and shelter for local soldiers.

Due to the valiant efforts by the Special Ops Squad, the mission was a success and the wagon had successfully exited Wall Sina.

What was concealed within the wagon remains a mystery, and more so, the reasoning for the efforts by the opposing squad; all of which were declared deceased on the scene, except for one in which was declared MIA—Kenny Ackerman.

***

Blue, purple, and orange flames weaved within each other through the large fire. Embers broke off and ignited into the air like a million fire flies. One of the larger embers gracefully danced toward Armin. His eyes followed as it passed across his face and fell into his palm that laid lifelessly in his lap. 

The ember sizzled into his numb skin and he watched its color slowly fade as it died, its bright orange glow fading into eternal ash. His eyes shrunk as he smeared its remains across his sweaty palm with a single finger. 

BANG! His eyes widened at the sound of a gun shot echoing through his head and his hands began to tremble…

***

BANG! Ava’s eardrums erupted, causing her to fully wake from this state of fainting. A loud ringing followed after and her eyes shot open. The first thing she noticed were three bodies that laid across from her. The second thing was the small red puddles underneath their bodies that diffused into one giant one. 

A thin stream escaped and hastily headed in her direction, pointing blame and reminding her of the inevitable guilt that she could never run from. Her boots separated and she watched it drift between them, passing under her, and into her shadow of a person that she couldn’t recognize.

A cloud of confusion flooded her mind as her memory from the last few seconds completely vanished.

Did I…she glanced at the rattling rifle in her trembling hands with question. I don’t remember… She glanced up and noticed a bullet hole straight through two men’s heads. Eren grunted as he pushed one of them off and sat up. His expression fell into distraught as he glanced towards Ava’s direction.

“Eren,” Ava was still trying to understand. “What—” a heavy pant came from behind her and she slowly turned around. 

Armin stood a few feet back as he held a rifle that was still smoking. It slowly slipped from his grip and he collapsed to his knees. His eyes widened with terror as he stared into his palms as if they weren’t his own. And he screamed a loud and painful cry that would echo through the streets for a moment, but through their minds for eternity.

***

“What are you doing out here?” a familiar voice asked. 

“Huh?” Armin glanced up. Eren sat at a wooden bench to his left, one of the four that laid around the fire. He gripped onto the edges of a soft white blanket that completely shielded his head and body. 

“It’s freezing out here,” Eren glanced down at Armin’s hands that were held out in an awkward position. He noticed a black mark across his palm before Armin quickly flipped his hands over on his knees. Eren moved his gaze back up to Armin’s eyes, which looked slightly frantic. 

“You should be resting,” Armin tried to calm his light panting. 

“I could say the same for you.” 

“Yeah well,” Armin swallowed. “I wasn’t shot.”

“The bastard on that rooftop hardly got me. It barely even scraped my arm.”

A desolate shadow cast over Armin’s eyes and he moved his gaze back to the fire, but not even its bursting flames could ignite a light within them. His fingers clutched onto his knees but the tremble in his hands was still far too obvious.

“Are you cold?” Eren gestured one of his arms outward and opened the blanket cave that he hid inside.

Armin glanced at him for a moment. His entire body felt aflame with the layer of sweat that beaded over—even with the single bit of clothing he wore in this cold night—a thin long sleeve T-shirt. 

“Sure,” Armin sat beside him and pulled his half of the blanket over. “Thanks.”

Eren scooted closer to him until their legs touched and Armin slightly flinched. Eren moved his leg away. “Sorry—”

“No,” Armin quickly moved his leg over to where it laid against Eren’s. “It’s fine. Sorry. I don’t know why I’m so squirmish.” 

“Are you sure? I don’t mind giving you some space,” Eren was nearly about to stand. 

“No, really,” Armin meant to grab Eren’s arm but incidentally clutched onto his thigh. Eren sat up straight with wide eyes. “Sorry,” Armin snatched his hand back. “I didn’t mean to—”

“No,” Eren huffed a nervous laugh as his cheeks grew incredibly red. “It’s fine. I don’t know why I’m so squirmish either.” 

He and Armin glanced at each other with an awkward smile. “Heh,” Armin turned toward the fire across and his smile quickly dropped. If he wasn’t showering in sweat before, he was sure swimming in it now. He wiped his forehead to clear any obvious indications as he felt Eren’s stare from the side. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah—fine,” Armin leaned over and covered his mouth like he was about to puke. “It’s just—” a light pant stole the words from him. “I—uh,” he tried to swallow to clear his sudden dried throat. 

“Hey,” Eren gently laid his hand over his shoulder. 

“I just,” Armin’s eyes blurred with tears and he sounded like he was choking with how hard he attempted to hold it back. But he just couldn’t anymore. Everything suddenly poured out like a flood gate that had been snapped by the waves of a tsunami. “I a-almost lost y-you—” the words themselves shattered his insides and he began to sob uncontrollably. 

“Armin,” Eren grabbed him and Armin immediately fell into his chest as he clutched onto the back of Eren’s shirt with one hand and onto the back of his hair with the other. Eren tightened his arms around Armin as he gently held the back of his head. 

“I n-nearly lost i-it when I thought—w-when I thought—oh god,” the agony in his voice was like a knife being twisted in Eren’s chest. 

“It’s okay,” Eren laid the side of his cheek against Armin’s head and his eyes watered. “You’re not losing me.”

“P-promise?” Armin whimpered as he slightly broke away to glance up at him. 

“Promise,” Eren whispered as he freed one of his hands to wipe Armin’s cheek. 

“S-sorry. I got your shirt wet.” 

Eren smiled from the corner of his mouth. “It’s alright.”

Armin fell back into his arms and rested his head on his chest as he listened to his heart beat, a sound he yearned to hear forever. They stayed in this position for awhile longer, in silence, with only the crackling fire. It was a few minutes later when Eren glanced down at him that he’d realized he’d already fallen asleep. 

***

Ava stared into a single crooked ceiling tile above as a nearby lantern cast its yellow light unto it. She attempted to focus on only that and not the tall walls that towered over and caved in like her collapsing lungs that suffocated her. It seemed like this large vacant room could never be spacious enough. She tried to grasp a deep breath, but as before, she failed to tread above the water and her grueling sigh echoed.

I’m nothing like them, she thought to herself. While they’re real scout soldiers, sacrificing their lives for humanity, for exploration of the world, to end the titans…I’m just a poser. The tile above began to blur with her tears. I never gave a damn about any of those things. Because I’m selfish. I only joined for one reason…

A warmth spread across her cheeks as she thought of a memory—She and Valentine laying on the ground near the cabin, pointing to the sky above. 

I could’ve stayed there forever…but that world just wasn’t big enough for you, was it? That’s alright. I’d run through fire to follow after you…I’d do anything as long as you were next to me… She raised her hand toward the ceiling and stared through the cracks between her fingers. It was always me and you…But things are changing quickly. I feel it. I feel it all slipping through my hand, her fingers fell weak and slowly bent like a decaying flower. 

I serve no purpose for any of you anymore. Eren nearly died because of me today, Armin lost a part of himself because I couldn’t pull a trigger, and now…you…But if I serve no purpose for any of you at all, what am I even doing here? Maybe…I’m just better off—

The front doors slammed open and she quickly wiped her tears and glanced up to see Eren stumbling inside as he struggled to hold Armin on his back. Armin’s arms loosely dangled around Eren’s neck and down his chest and his head gently tucked into Eren’s neck as he drooled. The entire sight of it all made Ava laugh a bit.

“How is he so small and still this heavy?” Eren grunted as he attempted to kneel down without dropping him.

“Hm,” Ava smiled. “Is Valentine still out there?”

“No,” Eren gently lowered Armin on the sleeping bag and began to zip it up. “It was just me and Armin.”

Ava gazed the room and noticed the only two people missing were Valentine and Captain Levi.

***

“Ah!” The last sleeping bag in Valentine’s hand slipped from her grip as she stumbled back and nearly fell from ramming straight into Levi. His hands quickly clutched onto her and their eyes locked with the same mortifying glance.

They’d both been avoiding each other all day and said as little as two words—a subtle moment as everyone cleaned and patched up their wounds:

Levi and Valentine nearly reached for the same roll of bandages before she pulled her hand back and said, “you go ahead.”

“Take ‘em,” he nodded and they both stared at one another for way too long that even the others began to notice. He wanted dearly to ask her in that moment how was the wound that she got only due to his own negligence. And she wanted so badly to ask how he was, not that he had even a scratch on him, but his mood seemed rather somber after the mission even after it was a major success. And he kept doing that thing again where she’d catch him glancing at her like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t. 

And now, after all that effort to avoid each other, they were forced to confront one another.

The first thought that crossed Valentine’s mind was, Damn it, I wish I could’ve fixed my hair a little better before seeing him. But it did make her feel a little better that his hair was also still drenched from his shower and split sporadically into different directions. It was still dripping from the edges and onto his long sleeve grey T-shirt, which looked even more damp itself like he hadn’t even completely dried before putting it on. It pressed against his skin and made his muscles even more visible, especially in his chest. A light blush appeared across her cheeks and her eyes quickly shot back up to his. 

It wasn’t until Levi’s eyes widened and his teeth clenched of embarrassment that she realized that his hands were clutching onto her waist and she was clutching onto his forearms. 

“S-sorry,” her fingers quickly unclenched from him just as fast as his released from her waist. “Clumsy,” an awkward smile stretched across her face. 

“Yeah,” Levi kneeled down to pick up the sleeping bag. “I can see that.”

“I was talking about you—” she cut off as he stood and his eyes were back at her level. His stoic stare was the most expressionless thing yet it was still intimidating for some reason. “Heh, I’m kidding.” 

His eyes didn’t blink once for the entire duration he stared back into hers. He didn’t even seem to breathe in that entire moment. “I know,” he finally said as he gestured the sleeping bag towards her. 

“Oh—uh,” she fiddled her fingers. “That’s yours. Mines already up there.”

“I don’t need it.”

“What—why not?”

“I’m not sleeping tonight. I’ll be keeping watch.” His hand still gestured the sleeping bag towards her. 

“We’re in like the safest part of the walls. What could possibly happen?”

His eyes subtly glanced at the wound on her neck, then he glanced to the side. “I don’t sleep much anyway. So it won’t make much of a difference.” He leaned over to toss the bag back into the closet behind her and his body just barely brushed up against hers. 

She took the opportunity to sneak one last peak at his muscles that shown through his drenched shirt just right before he stepped back and glanced at her. 

“How is it?” he asked stoically. 

Her eyes widened as she blushed. “W-what?” 

“The wound,” he glanced to the side as he mumbled, “idiot,” but his tone was rather innocuous than his usual brusque. 

“Oh,” her hand laid over it. “Fine. It’s just a scratch.”

He glanced at her and though it was with his usual boring expression, she felt as if he knew she was lying. Thankfully, it was covered with a bandage—

“Let me see it,” he ordered. 

“What? You want me to take the bandage off?”

“Yes.” That was the first time this entire conversation that he held no hesitation or long pause before responding. She panicked.

“It’s really not that big of—”

“Am I going to have to take it off for you?” 

Her eyes widened. Only he could make such disputatious words sound so benign. He still carried such an assertiveness, but there was a fondness to it. It was extremely off putting and confused her.

“Well?”

She knew that he meant it. He’d do it. “Alright, alright. Fine.” Her finger nails pinched at the corner of the bandage and her eyes squinted as she slowly peeled it back. “See. Nothing,” she rushed to seal it back over but he beat her to it. 

She gasped at his sudden grip on her face and neck. He was firm, but not rough, as his fingertips held the bottom of her jaw and the back of her neck as he leaned in to get a better glance at it. She could feel the calluses on his palm against her cheek and the strength of his muscles pressed against her body. 

His warm and calm breath lightly trickled down her neck, dispersing an alien feeling throughout her entire body. A warm chill sprinkled across every centimeter of her skin, sending her body into a sweat. Her breath became short and heavy as her heart rate rapidly increased.

Levi leaned in closer and his eyes shrunk at the two-inch wide slit across her neck. The flesh inside of it was visible and raw. The outer skin throbbed a painful purple-red with crusted bits of dried blood along the edge. 

“Just a scratch, my ass,” his voice tickled her ear and only accentuated everything she was already feeling.

“For a germaphobe,” more air than words escaped her lips as she struggled to speak through her heavy and short breath. “You sure are into it—” he pulled his head back and glanced at her. Her eyes shot open as she rushed to compose herself. GULP! “I mean—what are you—like some vampire?” The words stumbled from her lips so quickly.

He looked into her one hazel and one white ghostly eye with a stern stare that made it a difficult for her to translate his thoughts.

“Well, that’d be rather fatuous of you”—he leaned in closer—“allowing me this close, wouldn’t you think?” His wet hair dripped onto her chest and her gaze fell gentle unto him. 

“It could’ve been worse if you hadn’t shown up,” her tone was so delicate and his eyes widened at her sudden rash thought. “So, thank you, Levi.” His name was the most delicate part of her words. It left her gentle lips like velvet and he could almost taste it.

He gently released his grip on her. “Yeah, well,” his hands stuffed into his pockets as his gaze met with the floor. “I would’ve done that for anyone.”

“I know that,” she grabbed for the bandage that desperately hung by the edge and patched it back over the wound. She stared into the curtain of wet hair that laid over his eyes. “It just seems like you’re always getting stuck saving me.” He could tell by the way she said it that she was smiling. 

His gaze returned to her and his eyes softened. “Yeah,” his tone was rather relaxed for the first time this entire conversation. “You’re really starting to become a pain in my ass.” 

A blush clouded over her cheeks and a small smile appeared from the corner of her mouth. “Sorry,” she whispered. 

He glanced to the side as his hands fidgeted in his pockets. “It’s late…you should probably get some rest.”

“Oh, yeah,” she fiddled her fingers. “…Night then…” she turned to walk away and glanced at him one last time, hoping to get another glance at his eyes, but it never came. It was right as she turned around that he took one last glance at her, before returning his gaze to the floor.

Valentine’s steps echoed through the long hallway and Ava grinded her teeth as they grew further away. A small slit of faint light cut across Ava’s eye as she glared into the back of Levi’s head from the crack of a door on the opposite side. The longer she stared, the more burning acid diffused throughout her stomach and fumed into her skin like an explosive battery.

As the door shut behind Valentine, it sounded as if a second door shut from the other end and Levi glanced over. “Huh?” 

But no one was there…

[leviiattacks]

Head canons for mafia boss levi being interested in Starbucks barista reader please

note :: this idea is so cute i wrote a scenario i hope you don’t mind. i can still post some headcanons for it too if you really want me to! i’m sorry if it’s not what you wanted me to write anon :-( ALSO this is super casual writing it’s not like the way i usually write it’s just bullet points i mean idk i wanted to try something different and more relaxed lmk if this style is okay for some requests :D

if anyone would like any more requests with this levi please lmk!! i could go in more detail tbh maybe the pacing of this isn’t too good bc it is a short request but yeahhh

+ idk why the formatting looks so odd i tried my best to fix it myself ?!.!/!:£:& but yeah sorry again!!

levi has always been one to keep his business meetings lowkey

i mean, realistically who is going to suspect mafia boss levi is lingering in a starbucks???

the place is well-suited for his hushed meetings, he finds it to be quiet enough and clean enough

but then one winter everything changes

you start working there

he’s waiting in the queue texting erwin asking when he’ll be able to get there

it’s been a RUSH and the traffic is crazy as expected from the bustling city so he doesn’t expect to see erwin for a while

that’s when he hears you for the first time

“HEY!! Mister in the fancy suit it’s your turn to order”

your hands are placed on the counter and you lean forward eagerly waiting for what he has to say

levi rolls his eyes because he thinks you have to be ogling his designer watch and shoes (you really aren’t)

“black tea, no sugar and... a cinnamon swirl” he’ll order for erwin later. “i’ll be eating in.”

“ooohhh you’re a tea guy? name?” you’re smiling at him radiantly and it irks him because you have nothing to be smiling about really

eyes narrowing he responds “no shit, i just ordered tea.”

“and why the hell do you want my name?” he snaps on reflex

he then remembers he’s at a starbucks and you are not interrogating him, you’re doing your job

“sir... this is starbucks?? is this your first time here?”

you blink in confusion but then your face lights up “oh my, would you like to sign up for a starbucks card?? you can collect stars and get rewards and it’s so muc–“

“do i look like i need a starbucks card?”

“everyone looks like they need a starbucks card”

he doesn’t carry on that part of your conversation instead he looks you dead in the eyes “levi, is my name.”

his glare intimidates you and you awkwardly laugh

you think he’s probably having a super bad day and choose to not bother him that much

as he’s waiting he sees the way you clumsily navigate behind the counter, you’re juggling a number of things in your arms

automatically his face sours

he’s not expecting the tea you produce to be any good

he doesn’t care how nice you are if you can’t do what he wants he won’t be leaving a tip

he’s stingy like that

a clatter is heard and all the noise you’re making just makes you all the more aggravating

he’s been coming here for years and never has encountered a barista as bothersome as yourself

at some point you call out the name “SCROOGE!” from behind the counter, levi finds it embarrassing that anyone would ever call their child that

like... out of all the names this is what they choose??

damn they have to hate parenthood

“scrooge i’m begging you collect your drink.”

he looks up pissed that whoever this scrooge is has the audacity to hold you up because that by default means they are holding him up

then he sees you staring directly at him with that warm smile again

yeah, that smile, it could thaw ice

then it settles.

he’s scrooge?

turning around he notices no one is behind him then he sees that no one else is waiting apart from him

jaw clenching he heads towards you and makes it a point to “tsk” in frustration

he takes his cup and his cinnamon roll and you wave him goodbye

usually levi prefers to silently sit in the booth furthest from the action, he wants no attention drawn to him at all

but that day he finds himself sitting closer to the counter

he’s kind of stunned when he does that because he’s just sat there thinking why the hell did i just do that?? why did i sit here??

but he convinces himself it’s because he wants to see erwin when he’s about to walk in so he can prepare to scold him for not arriving on time

he takes a sip of his beverage expecting nothing above mediocirty but weirdly, your brew, it tastes perfect

levi’s eyes linger on you and he notices the way your behaviour is consistent

you’re helping an old woman pick what she’d like from the menu

you compliment her jumper, says it really makes her blue eyes stand out

you don’t have to be as nice as you are and it’s ticking him off

it ticks him off seeing someone so pure and sweet for no reason

when did people decide to not have ulterior motives anymore? did you decide those were too old school for you?

tongue poking at the inside of his cheek he activates his poker face and looks away

you, are a random person. a random, annoying person. he is going to stop thinking about you.

turning his attention to erwin instead he calls him and when he picks up levi makes his point very clear

“i was just called scrooge. get the hell here so i can order for you.”

erwin chuckles, his throaty laugh makes levi’s mouth twitch downwards in irritation

“and who exactly called you scrooge?”

“is that relevant?”

“very much so if you’ve mentioned it yourself”

levi is silent and erwin laughs once again at his colleagues anti social way of interacting

“i’ll be there in five, feel free to order.”

grunting a sound of approval levi hangs up

“you’re back! how may i help?”

the way you treat being a barista so seriously, he finds it oddly endearing

“one doubleshot iced coffee.”

nodding to yourself you hum a tune happily and get to work

ever since that day levi finds himself frequenting that specific starbucks more

at first it’s a whole lot of “i’m pissed and i don’t have a reason so i’ll go down there and have her annoy me, then i’ll have a real reason”

then you talk to him more and you both engage in small talk

then it develops when he doesn’t mean for it to

you tell him about what you study, where you’re from, how your mother has recently developed arthritis but she’s still so determined to cook to the best of her abilities despite the pain

that reminds him of you

each visit he learns something new about you

sometimes he’ll let you in on his life

“what do you work as, i’ve always wondered?“

“accountant.“ no way in hell is he going to scare you away, telling you isn’t an option

you burst out in laughter holding your knees

“accountancy is well paying what is your point...?”

“do you not know what that means” your laugh is muffled as you press the sleeve of your jumper against your mouth

he shakes his head completely clueless

“people say their accountants when they’re actually strippers. it’s a tiktok thing.”

you pause for a second staring at his face

he feels the way his ears grow red under your gaze but he ignores it looking as bored as ever

“ah well. i did not know that.”

“clearly not you are an old man.”

then you turn away to brew his tea and he lets the ghost of a smile sneak its way onto his face

you aren’t looking, it’s okay

but he knows it’s dangerous getting attached to you

it’s stupid relaxing

and it’s even worse loosening up

so he doesn’t.

he’s always cold, bitter and frigid in his responses as he’s always been with you

but that doesn’t stop you from kindly smiling

or absentmindedly brushing the surface of his skin on rare occasions

it doesn’t stop you from calling him scrooge

and it certainly doesn’t stop you from slowly thawing the frosty exterior of his heart

then one day you let the words “my scrooge” slip out of your mouth

he doesn’t know why he let’s it happen or even how it happens exactly but he can’t help the smile that makes itself evident on his face

“HEY YOU JUST SMILED HELLO?????? you can do THAT????”

he smiled in front of you, that’s it he’s fucked

he quickly drops it and is back to his normal narrowed glare

“i did no such thing”

you give him a knowing look but sigh airily there’s no point in getting the man to admit it

“what would you like today, a frappe?”

you ask the sarcastic question even though you know he hates change. his usual order is already ingrained in your mind. you know it off by heart

he sighs in exasperation

“is your memory really that bad?”

“nope. cinnamon rolls and black tea it is!”

[fablesecrets2]

Motivations of the Subconscious {Levi Ackerman x OC} (on Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/story/266836655-motivations-of-the-subconscious-levi-ackerman-x-oc?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_myworks&wp_uname=FableSecrets&wp_originator=OQpocZwbUUX7jMcQsG5Ne0qmKAuEWAZBZeGoXBFGlXKL7M7vf5WSiQIBWfUSV5eoTAdTsBHkvdrk%2FOTrU4tdymT8TGdY%2FbUdXIIhk%2FQtj%2BRFpabqqqkQowP92MS1OJlg 

 After the fall of wall Maria, Jana enlists in the military, joining the Survey Corps. All she wants is to protect her family from the threat of titans. However, her motivations are challenged when she meets the seemingly emotionally cut-off Captain Levi. Now she's left to wonder what she truly wants from her life and why.

 Attack On Titan: Levi Ackerman and OC fanfiction. Updated daily!

[nofacedpoet]

Chapter 29 will drop in a week from today.

I meant for it to drop today but I am not fully satisfied with it just yet.

[nofacedpoet]

Ch. 28: The Killers and the Saints (part one)

A purple shade cast over Eren’s face as he struggled to wiggle out of a headlock. There was no other way of shaking the man off because Eren’s hands were busy holding a second guy in front that held a knife and already got a slash on Eren’s left leg.

“I’m warning you!” The words barely left Ava’s mouth due to her shortness of breath. She held the rifle in her hands in such an awkward position that proved she’d never held one before. “Let him go! I don’t want to have to do this!” 

“It’s a bluff!” the man with the knife claimed as he tried to break from Eren’s grip. “Don’t let that boy go! Kill ‘em already!”

Ava’s eyes widened. She had gone her entire life thinking that there were always other solutions than killing. Not once had it ever crossed her mind that the day would arrive where she would have to cross that bridge of her own moral and belief system, killing herself in the process and becoming an entirely different person.

She blinked a few times to clear the tears in her eyes and tried to steady the shaking weapon in her hands. She swallowed the dryness in her throat and lifted the barrel of the gun to eye level. “I mean it,” her voice trembled. “Please.” 

“Do-it!” Eren’s voice weakened and his eyes could barely stay open. “Take the shot!”

She watched the end of the barrel shift aim from Eren, to the man in front, to the man behind, and then Eren again. I’m going to miss, I know it. I might even get Eren and miss the men entirely. 

Eren slightly opened his mouth to say something but she couldn’t hear it. Her ears were currently filled with the pounding of her heart that sounded like explosives going off. Black spots began to appear in different places of her vision and she swayed back and forth as her legs and arms grew weak and tingly. She was about to pass out. If I don’t take the shot at all, they’ll end up killing us both anyway. Her finger finally met with the trigger and she gave one last best attempt to aim at the man behind Eren. “I’m…sorry,” she whispered as a tear trickled down from her eye. Then she either closed her eyes or blacked out, she couldn’t really tell. 

BANG! Her eardrums erupted, causing her to fully wake from this state of fainting. A loud ringing followed after and her eyes shot open. The first thing she noticed were three bodies that laid across from her. The second thing were the small red puddles underneath their bodies that diffused into one giant one. 

A thin stream escaped and hastily headed in her direction, pointing blame and reminding her of the inevitable guilt that she could never run from now. Her boots separated and she watched it drift between them, passing under her, and into her shadow of a person that she couldn’t recognize. 

*****

A light whistle sang through the air as a cool gust of wind flew by. Orange, yellow, and red leaves danced across the pavement before flying upwards, swirling around each other so freely, then skipping across a rooftop. The point of a blade pierced right in the center of one of the leaves, forcing its back against the hot clay tops of the roof. Valentine mercilessly spun the blade even further into it as her eyes scanned the Capital city below with suspicion.

This was one of the busiest cities known and yet the only living thing in sight was a black cat that quickly scurried across a nearby alley. 

What could we possibly be hiding from, friends? The point of the blade lifted to free the now cracked leaf and it quickly skipped away before bouncing off Levi’s boot.

His eyes drifted for a moment to the leaf that broke into two halves before leaping to its death, then he returned his attention back to the eye piece in his hand of which he attempted to hide behind his leg. He rotated it as he studied it. He had cleaned every crevice of it and even tightened the tiny screws of which held the lens. Yet, he continued to find any excuse as to why it wasn’t ready to hand back to Valentine. 

He had been carrying it around since the last day they trained together, the day it all happened. And though the plan was to give it back today, the more time that passed on, the more he managed to talk himself out of it. What if she didn’t accept it? Though that could be the worse outcome, one would assume, it was far worse than it seemed and something that he didn’t know how to accept if it happened. You see, it wasn’t just Levi returning a lost object. It was Levi asking for amends due to his rupture of words that caused a far more divide than he expected, or ever wanted.

What if she isn’t ready? He thought to himself. What if she’s never ready? She said she wanted to be off my squad…and that she never wanted to see me again…but she joined us for the special-ops mission today. It is her first day back. Is it too soon to do this?

He slightly moved his head to the right so he could glance at her from the side of his eye. She was still kneeling down and staring out into nothing, the same as the last five times he checked. He squeezed the piece in his hand and took one step towards her when she suddenly turned her head to him. His eyes widened and he paused for a moment before turning back around and shoving the piece into his pocket. 

A peculiar expression grew on her face because this was one of the many times she caught him staring at her today. And they weren’t the usual glare-y mean ones that he usually gave before. These were just plain stares with no expression at all so she could never get a read on what he was thinking. And as usual, once she caught him, he would just look away without saying anything at all. In fact, neither of them had said a single word to each other this entire mission.

There were a few times where she thought about going up to him. But then she realized that she wouldn’t even know what to say. And then she’d tell herself that if he really wanted to talk to her in the first place, he would. So she’d convince herself that he didn’t want to talk to her at all and then change her mind about the whole thing. This happened about twenty times.

“Eren,” Levi nodded for him. He was sitting a few feet away with Ava and Armin. Ava sat in the middle of Eren and Armin, which was odd since they usually almost always sat beside each other. And for most of the duration of their conversations, he and Armin hardly exchanged words or glances. She assumed it must’ve been because of how tired everyone was, considering none of them got much sleep due to their late return from their witchcraft quest the night before.

“Sir?” Eren said as he approached Levi. 

“What happened to her face?” Levi nodded towards Valentine, who had a major black splat of a black eye. Eren gave him an odd expression. This wasn’t the first time he had called to ask him a question regarding Valentine and he wondered why he didn’t just ask her these things himself. But he was too tired to care and didn’t have the energy to piss off a sassy captain.

The truth surrounding the black eye was that she fell inside of a witchcraft tunnel that none of them should’ve been in to begin with. But because he couldn’t say that, he just blurted out the first excuse that came to mind. 

“I hit her.”

Levi slightly moved his head back. “You…hit her?” 

“Uh-yeah,” Eren shrugged. He could feel the disapproval from Levi because he began to glare. “But not like on purpose or anything.” Levi lifted a brow and stared with confusion. “It was an incident really.” 

“How?”

“Well we were wrestling and—”

“Wrestling?”

“Uh-yeah. Like play wrestling.” He could tell Levi didn’t like that and he began to panic to finish this bullshit of a story. 

“What were you doing wrestling?” Levi’s tone sounded insulted and the more Eren talked the more he disliked the entire thing.

“We play,” Eren’s voice cracked. “Like play fight, ya know?” Levi just stared. “A-and well when I was on top of her—” Levi’s expression changed to anger and Eren could feel a layer of sweat appear on his face “I-I mean, she was on top of me,” he wiped the sweat off the side of his face. “Ha-ha, it sounds weird when I explain it b-but anyways”—he gulped at the site of Levi’s stern eyebrows—“I incidentally knocked my elbow in her eye”—he gestured his elbow to reenact it—“and well”—he nodded to her—“I hit her eye ball.” 

Levi gave him an intense stare down that felt to last at least a full minute before he broke it to glance back at Valentine. Then he moved his gaze back to Eren and glared intensely.

“I just don’t get it,” Armin complained in the background. “I mean, we kill titans. They seriously need the special-ops to watch a carriage make exit of the Capital?” 

“The real question,” Ava said. “Is what is even of that importance—or who?”

Eren took this as an opportunity to break the awkward stare down from Levi. He quickly turned around and walked toward them as he said, “yeah, weird.” 

But the whole thing really was weird and it was bugging Valentine so much that she couldn’t figure it out. Whatever they were protecting inside of that carriage was exclusive, so not even they knew what—or who— was in there. More so, why were they called upon this mission instead of the MPs, who were in charge of the Capital and royal orders?

“Our job is to make sure the carriage makes it out of the Capital—Wall Sina. That’s all you need to worry about,” Levi said. “After that, it’s not our problem.” He moved his gaze ahead to see the carriage moving out of the royal gates. “Look alive!”

“Sir!” Everyone quickly jumped to their feet.

Nearly five minutes had passed as they glided between the buildings and guarded the carriage that patiently made its way down a large vacant road.  The only sound in that entire city was the horses galloping and the wheels of the carriage that crushed bits of sediment between the cracks of the brick road. 

The driver hadn’t glanced in any other direction than ahead towards the gate of Wall Sina that was nearly a mile away. It was hard to tell whether he was just determined to reach it or fully confident in the squad’s ability to guard him. Regardless, it gave Valentine an iffy feeling.

No way it’s going to be as easy as a straight line of guarding without any distractions, Valentine thought. They wouldn’t have called us for that. We’ve been wondering who we’re guarding, but the real question is who are we guarding from—uh—

There was a slight glimmer of something that reflected off the sunlight from on top of a nearby building. She turned and her eyes widened at what was waiting. “G-gun!” she screamed right as a man shot at them. 

Shots fired and echoed from every direction and the squad quickly scattered. The driver glanced back for the first time and Armin screamed, “go-go-go,” as he waved his hands forward. “Don’t look back!” The man shrieked and whipped the horses to go faster. 

A trail of bullets chased directly behind Valentine, piercing into the walls of buildings and shattering windows. She couldn’t shake the shooter off so she made her way to the next street over and halted behind a building. For a moment, it seemed that the shooter lost track. She readied her gear and took one step to the left. PEW! A bullet just barely missed her foot and she quickly pulled it back in. 

“You five, get the Ackerman!” a man’s voice yelled from somewhere on top of a nearby building. Her eyes widened as she quietly worded out, Levi. “I’ll take care of these other rats.”

“On it!” a collected voices responded and took off on what sounded like ODM gear. 

How the hell did they get their hands on that? She angled her blade to glance at the rooftops behind her. After a moment, she found one who was glancing through the scope of a rifle. Gotchya. 

“Where are ya, ya little bitch,” the man scoped near the last building where he saw Valentine. “Ya can’t hide forev—“

A flash of light crossed his eyes and by the time he blinked, he had already been cut. His eyes widened at the last thing he’d ever see, a burning anger that bled from Valentine’s eyes as she dragged her blade through the flesh of his throat. His eyes rolled back and he fell forward off the rooftop. SPLAT! His body slammed against the pavement and his blood splashed out everywhere. 

“Hey! Tommy!” a separate man screamed from another rooftop. “The hell—” he blinked and five men on different buildings began to fall. He gasped and clutched the rifle as he desperately glanced around. Another two fell from ahead and he panicked. There wasn’t anything visible to the eye that would do that. What could possibly be that quick, he thought.

“Hey!” he screamed out. “I thought you said the Ackerman was ahead!”

“He is!”

“Than who the hell is—” he was suddenly drowning in his own blood as it spilt from his lips. He glanced down at the sudden pain to see a blade sticking straight through his heart from someone behind. His eyes slowly moved to behind him. A short girl smiled as she took her time pulling the blade out. That ain’t no Ackerman, he thought. That’s a demon—

“Oh,” Valentine yanked the rifle from his loose grip. “I’m going to need this.” Her boot shoved against his chest and pushed him off the edge of the building. 

A blurry barrel of a gun pointed directly to Ava’s face. She could barley see much from her watery eyes. “Please don’t,” she pleaded with her hands up. 

The man glared. “If I don’t, you’ll just end up killing me instead.” 

“That’s not true!” 

“How do I know that?!” His tone sounded more desperate than angry. He pushed the gun onto her forehead and she could feel it trembling in his hand. And though he was wearing the same mask as the others (a plastic cover that shielded the bottom half of his face and had a skull-like design), she could see the panic in his eyes. This man didn’t want to do it.

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Armin walked up behind him. 

The man quickly stepped back to where he could see them both at once and pointed his gun back and forth. “See! I knew it!” he screamed at Ava. “You were just distracting me so your buddy here could sneak up on me!”

“No! I swear!”

“If that was true,” Armin pressed his blades in and freed both his hands in the air. “I would have already done it, rather than letting you know I was here.” 

The man blinked a few times like he was confused. “Stop where you’re at!” he ordered as he gripped the rifle even tighter and pointed it to Armin.

“Wait!” Ava cried desperately. “It doesn’t have to be like this—none of us have to die—”

“Shut up!” He pointed the gun back to her. 

“We can all walk away from this alive. Right now,” Armin sounded rather calm but there was a slight panic in his eyes. “We could go back to our families tonight.” The man straightened up as if Armin’s words were a match that striked a light within him. “I just want to see my father again,” Armin continued. “Imagine how he’d feel if I never returned…are you a father?” 

Ava’s eyes widened as she glanced at Armin. The man barely lowered the gun from Ava’s face and glanced at Armin from the side. “What’s it to you?” His tone was less violent than before.

“Well I’m sure they’d love to have you make it back home…” Armin’s voice softened. “The way my family would with me and my friend here. We can all make it back.” 

The man hesitated and glanced back and forth at Ava and Armin like he didn’t know what to believe. “Alright,” he finally said as he stepped back. 

Armin smiled nervously. “Ava,” he waved for her. “Let’s go.” Her hands stayed in the air as she carefully backed away from the man and made her way to Armin. The man kept his gun pointed slightly downwards as he watched them carefully. “We’re just going to get out of here now, like this never happened,” Armin reassured the man. The man slowly backed up in the opposite direction. Then suddenly, someone flew by and cut the man’s throat. 

“Ahh!” Ava fell back at the sudden attack and glanced at the man as if she just imagined that. The man collapsed to his knees as he tried to clasp his hands around the giant gash that bled out all over Ava and Armin. His eyes met with Ava’s with a look that said, I trusted you, you liar.

Blood poured from his mouth as he slowly reached his red stained hand toward Armin, as a desperate attempt to ask for help, even from his betrayers. A deep cold chill covered Armin’s entire body as he trembled and stared into the bloody drops that fell from the man’s fingertips and smeared across the clay roof. A raspy grunt was the last thing to leave the man’s mouth before he slowly swayed back and fell from the roof. Armin collapsed on his legs and stared ahead with wide eyes like he could still see the man there.

Eren landed a few feet away. “Are you guys okay?” 

“Why…” Armin struggled speak through his heavy breathing. He clutched his trembling hands to fists as they rested on his knees. “Why did you do that?” 

“He’s one of the enemies, what do you mean?”

“He wasn’t going to do it!” Armin screamed. “He wasn’t—” he leaned over with his hands on the ground and gagged like he was about to vomit.

“The hell he wasn’t!” Eren said. “He was holding a gun right at you both—”

“He wasn’t,” Ava whispered as she stared into the red streams that danced around the edges of the clay. “His kids…they’re never going to see him again.” 

“What the hell is wrong with you guys?!” Eren screamed. “You think that guy gave a damn about—” Someone shot at them and Eren grunted as he grabbed his arm and fell back off the roof. 

“Eren!” Ava screamed as she got up to run towards him when a man landed in front to block her. She glanced back to see another man kicking Armin’s back and forcing his face into the blood left from the man before.

A cocking sound came from the gun that pointed to Ava’s face and she quickly turned back around to see the man smiling as he pressed the trigger down. She closed her eyes and held her breath. The last thing she saw was the moment she met Valentine. The way she gripped onto that stupid small scribbly map that was going to change the direction of her entire life. 

BANG! She opened her eyes in shock to see the man in front of her slowly falling back. He had a gun shot wound to his chest, along with the other near Armin.

“Go! Move it!” a voice screamed from afar that sounded like Valentine.

Valentine was scoping the nearby rooftops for any visible shooters when she spotted Levi from afar, taking on multiple men at once and protecting the wagon on his own. “Shit,” she aimed the rifle at one of the guys and pulled the trigger, but it was out. “Damn it!” She tossed the gun aside and flew off the building to head towards him. 

Her eyes widened and she gasped at the sight of a man that was suddenly in front of her. How did she not notice him until he was already there? She didn’t even hear him coming up.

A cunning smile spread across his face like he’d known that she would have that reaction. A toothpick hung halfway out of his mouth as he held a gun in one hand and held a fedora hat on his head with the other. He looked much older than all the others she already went up against. Who the hell is this cowboy?

“Well I’d be damned,” he smiled and pointed a small gun at her. “Ain’t you a pretty one,” he pulled the trigger with ease. She jerked her head to the side to dodge the bullet as she spun and kicked the gun in his hand. She could tell he wasn’t expecting that as it nearly fell from his grip and his eyes widened a bit in surprise as he clutched onto it.

“Gah-damn!” he yelled with excitement. 

She swung her blade out towards his throat and he dodged. She swung the other blade toward his leg, then his arm, then his face, but no matter how many attempts, she just couldn’t get him.

“Ding-dong!” he shouted as he pointed his gun and shot again. The bullet bounced off her blades that she crossed in front of her face. “You’re supposed to ask who’s there!”

Damn it! That one was way too close, she thought asshe kicked off his chest and slashed her blade once more toward the gun before flying off in another direction. 

Her boots skidded across the pavement as she landed abruptly and rushed behind the corner of a building. A loud stomp slammed against the gravel nearby and she knew that he landed close. Gah-damn it, she angled her blade to see if she could spot him in the reflection when she noticed that her finger was bleeding from a bullet that scraped by. She clenched her teeth and glared. He got her. Whoever this guy was, he was definitely giving her a run for her money. And by the way he carried himself with such an exuberance of confidence, she knew that this wasn’t his first time doing this.

“I have to say, Valentine,” the man said as his boots crushed against the gravel. Her eyes widened. “I don’t appreciate you killin’ off my men like that. Really rubs me the wrong way.”

She squeezed onto her blades at an attempt to make her hands stop trembling so much. Get a hold of yourself.

“It’s no wonder you got Levi’s panty’s in a twist,” the man laughed as he finished loading his gun. She gasped. He knows Levi? “You can kill and you’re even prettier in person. Double threat!” 

DING! She flinched at a bullet that swiped the corner of the building. Bits of rock sediment flung out and got into her eyes and mouth. She spat the tiny pieces out and tried to rub the others out of her eye.

When she looked back up, she was already surrounded by multiple others. “Alright,” she placed her blades back in and walked out until she was standing directly from the cowboy. 

“Ah, c-mon!” he said with a laugh. “You didn’t really strike me as the weak type. At least put up a fight before you die.” The surrounding others laughed. 

Her golden knife flung open and she flipped it in her hand. “I want a one on one,” she aimed the knife towards him. “With you.” The group was now laughing even harder. 

“Eh?” the man chuckled. “Well I suppose if that’s the way you want to go out,” he put the gun away and grabbed for a knife that was much larger than hers. “I’ll let Levi know that you were brave til the very end—” his eyes widened. She was already in front of his face and her knife was about to go right into his chest. He hit her arm and swiped at her face, but she back flipped and slid across the dirt before facing him again. The surrounding group was now dead silent as they glanced at her with wide eyes. 

“You’re fast, I’ll give you that,” the man said as he spit his tooth pick out. “But,” he was gone within a flash. She felt his presence from behind and without even thinking about it, slashed her knife behind, nearly cutting him, but missed again. He kicked her legs from underneath and she fell to the ground. “You’re still not as fast me!” he gripped both of his hands on the knife and slammed it down. His eyes widened at the dirt that he pierced below. 

“Huh?” he glanced up to see her coming straight for him. He quickly dodged her and swiped his knife towards her, cutting through the fabric of her sleeve. She swiped her hand towards his face and he jerked his head back, but he quickly realized that it was a ploy because her hand that held the knife was the one down below. It nearly pierced him before he noticed, and he grabbed it by the blade. 

“What?!” Her eyes widened at that psychotic move. She kicked from under his foot to make him lose balance and tried to pull the knife away. He quickly grabbed her collar, causing her to fall with him. Then he caught himself before even landing and before she knew it, he was standing behind her with his knife to her neck. 

“I’ll never underestimate you again,” he tightened his grip around her arms. 

A trail of dirt quickly circled around them and all of the men had dropped to the ground at once. Blood began to drench into the dirt as it spread out. Valentine glanced up and her eyes widened at the sight of Levi. He was drenched in blood from his skin to his clothes and his eyes filled with a furious anger. In fact, he was slightly trembling with how angry he was. 

“Now that's just messed up!” the cowboy said. “But I knew messing with your little girlfriend would get your attention.” He smiled and waved the knife near her face.

“Kenny,” Levi grunted angrily as he replaced his blades for news ones as if he wanted this to be a fresh kill. “Let her go.” Valentine gasped. She’d only ever heard of one Kenny before. Surely, this couldn’t be that one, right?

“Aw, ain’t that romantic,” Kenny placed the tip of the knife on her neck. “Look at 'em getting all emotional—” 

“Don’t you fucking touch her,” Levi practically screamed and in a tone that sent a chill down Valentine’s spine and made her skin go cold. The pupils in her eyes dilated and the hairs on her arms struck up. He sounded like a totally different man. The anger in his eyes sparked like the beginning of a fire. 

This was the first time ever that she actually felt a sense of fear with Levi. It was a fear that she rarely felt, one that was the full flight mode; which says a lot considering she’s never ran from anything in her life. The only other time she felt this specific fear was with the Alpha titan. More specifically, the very moment right before the hit that nearly killed her. That feeling exactly. Death was so close that she could smell it, taste it, feel it. 

There’s no way he’s this riled up just because this guy has me hostage, right? It has to be that him and this guy have history. Because why would me being held at knife point bother him at all— she noticed Levi’s eyes shift into a much darker anger. The sparks in his eyes were now flames that could set the entire world on fire. 

And his face lit up red like he was the fire itself—she’d never seen him like that either. That’s when she realized what he was reacting to— there was a stinging on her neck from the point of the knife that dug into her skin. By time she glanced up again, Levi was already with his hand to her side, pushing her away as to not hurt her, as he shoved himself into Kenny and held his blade to his throat.

SWOOSH! A giant gust of wind violently ripped by as she fell to the ground. She crossed her arms to cover her face as the dirt lifted from the ground and swirled around her like a tornado. Glass shattered as they crashed into a window from a nearby building.

“Levi!” She quickly got to her feet and was about to fly in when there was a gun shot that echoed through the streets. She gasped and looked in that direction. Then, a loud and painful moaning of a cry echoed. By the sound of it, she knew it was Armin.

[nofacedpoet]

Ch.27: Why Do You Wear My Old Hoodie?

Eren and Armin.

Eren and Armin had been walking in the same direction of this tunnel for an hour in complete silence. They walked alongside the walls, Armin on the far left and Eren on the far right, as if the large gap between them could never be enough space. The only sound was that of a thin stream of sewage that flowed down the center passed them. That was until Eren heard a small sniffle. 

He subtly glanced toward Armin and noticed him wiping his face with the torn sleeve of the old hoodie he wore. It was so old that the cuffs were split at different places and barely held together. Yet, Armin gripped his fingers to them so they stayed over his hands. It was one of Eren’s oldest hoodies that Armin always wore. And even though Eren offered him a new one, Armin refused and only wanted to wear this particular one. Eren never understood why. He didn’t even notice that he was wearing it until right now.

The handle of the lantern creaked as Eren pushed it more toward Armin. But all that he could see was his hair that covered that side of his face. It was longer than usual too. Eren had only noticed this just now as well. Is he growing it out again like he used to? Did he just not have time to cut it recently? It was as if he didn’t even know the small things anymore. Eren gradually lowered the lantern until it hit against his leg, but he hadn’t taken his eye off Armin. 

“To be honest,” Eren’s voice caused Armin to slightly flinch as it ripped through the silence out of no where. “I think we’re going to be stuck down here forever.” They hadn’t seen any of the others for awhile since they were mysteriously separated from them. And though part of him just wanted to joke about never being found, another part of him thought it to be true. He only realized after he said it that it wasn’t really that funny. And to make matters worse, Armin didn’t have a response. Not even one of those fake laughs he did when Eren would usually say something stupid, but he would do it just to make him feel better about the stupid thing he said. And it wasn’t as if Eren didn’t notice when it was a fake laugh, but he somehow just found a comfort in it anyway. Hm. When was even the last time I heard Armin laugh, real or fake, at all?

Eren turned to face him completely now. “What do you think?”

There was a few seconds of silence and Eren watched as he patiently waited. Then, so soft to barely be heard at all, Armin mumbled with a shaky voice, “Mhm,” as he wiped his cheek again.

Eren’s eyes widened as he stared into Armin’s hair that shielded him out. He thought for a moment to say nothing at all, but without even thinking, he sighed as he halted. Armin walked a couple of steps before he noticed, then stopped and stood in place as he kept his gaze downward. A long silence that was somehow more silent than the silence before erupted between them. It was much heavier in this moment than the entire hour before. 

“Armin,” Eren said unsure of what to say next. Armin silently stood with his back still facing Eren. “I guess you’re going to make me come over there then.” He waited for a response but there was none. “Alright.” He walked along his side of the wall until he was side by side with him again. Then, crossed over, his boots splashing through the sewage as if it wasn’t there anymore. Armin subtly glanced to the side at Eren’s boots as it happened, then moved his head even more downward so his hair covered most of his face.

“Armin,” Eren nearly whispered as he stood directly beside him now. Armin hesitated for a moment then slowly moved his head up until his eyes met with Eren’s. 

The light from the lantern in Eren’s trembling hand reflected off the tears on Armin’s drenched face and made it seem as if his skin was made of porcelain. His lashes were still wet and sparkled from the light which made it looked like there were mini diamonds within them. His eyes looked heavy and there was a painful red right underneath them.

“I’m sorr—” they both began to say. They hesitated and looked surprised at the other.

Eren sighed and walked to the wall on Armin’s side. He leaned against it as he rested the lantern on the ground and put one hand over his face. 

“No,” he said in a regretful tone. “I’m sorry,” his voice cracked at the end. “I’ve been such a dick to you.” Armin stared with wide eyes. For some reason, he didn’t expect Eren to ever admit that. Mostly because it went on for so long and he just began to accept that this was how it was now. “It’s just-” Eren became tense and clutched his fingers onto his face as if he was trying to remove a mask. “Just-why do you have to hang out with him so much?” He finally spit out a full sentence but it sounded as if he was about to vomit as he did. He clenched his teeth and his eyes peaked through the cracks of his fingers at Armin as he waited for his response.

Meanwhile, Armin looked like he just found out the world’s biggest secret as his jaw dropped and his eyes shot wide open. He stood there awkwardly with his arms loosely dangling to the sides. Eren couldn’t get the slightest read of what he was thinking and he began to feel like he was sinking into the ground below. For fucks sake, Eren thought, just please say something already—

“That’s…” was all Armin could come up with. His expression looked more perplexed now as he tried to find his own words. 

“What.” 

“That’s…why?” Armin looked as if he didn’t believe him.

“Well…yeah,” Eren was hyperventilating a bit now but not in a dramatic way. He tried to keep it as low as possible so Armin wouldn’t see through his panic. His hand dropped from his face, which was extremely red and sweaty now. Luckily, the light from the lantern below didn’t show much of it.

“Why?”

Eren’s eyes slightly widened. “Why what?” His tone became nervous and slightly offended.

Armin glanced down at Eren’s trembling hands. He had them as closed fists as if that bothered to stop the obvious nerves. Armin moved his gaze back to Eren’s eyes, which looked petrified now. “Why does it bother you so much that I hang out with him?” 

“It doesn’t!” Eren moved his hands outward in a motion as if to cut Armin’s words with them. “I-mean it-does,” he clenched his fists again and put them to his sides. Armin looked confused as he watched Eren transition into different emotions. He’d never really seen him this flustered before. “It’s just-” he sighed. “I-just-“ he put his hands over his head and squeezed his hair between his fingers like he was forcing his thoughts to come out. “Agh!” He slammed his back against the wall and slowly slid down until he sat on the ground with his knees folded to his chest. “It’s just…” he sounded exhausted now as if all his energy was put into whatever he was trying to say before. He placed his elbows on his knees and let his arms loosely dangle between his legs as he stared at the sewage ahead. “It’s nothing,” he mumbled. “I just find him incredibly annoying…” his words trailed off and Armin barely caught the “that’s all,” at the end.

Armin glanced at him for a moment longer, now more confused than before. All that performance for that? Was that really all he was going to say? He’s been treating Armin so terribly for a couple of weeks or so all because he finds Xilo annoying? Makes little to no sense but Armin thought it best to not pressure him. Instead, he walked over and collapsed next to him with the lantern being the only thing separating them. He folded his legs to where he could lay his chin on his right knee and hugged his arms around them. 

“Well,” Armin stared into the laces of his boots. “He doesn’t really have anyone. All of his friends are dead.” Eren’s eyes widened at the way he said dead. He said it so nonchalantly as if he were just used to it already. “And he doesn’t really have family, like the way we have with each other. I just feel bad for the guy. It reminds me of when we lost our homes in Shiganshina and lost everyone.” He began to trace the laces on his right boot. “That feeling…it just reminds me of that.” 

Eren glanced at him with a look of sadness and admiration. He always wanted to be more like him and found it astonishing that someone like Armin could even still exist in such a harsh world as theirs. He was so golden. Armin turned to him and noticed his odd stare. “What?” 

“Your hair,” Eren said softly. “It’s so long now.” He lifted his hand and grabbed a small strand between his fingers. Armin glanced at him shyly and laughed. 

“Yeah,” Armin put a small piece behind his ear and glanced across at the opposite wall. “I was thinking of growing it back out again.” 

“Oh,” Eren glanced closer at it. “What made you want to do that?” This caused Armin to sit up like he just remembered something that he forgot earlier. For some reason, he didn’t think Eren would care to ask that question. He panicked as he struggled to come up with an answer. He knew the real answer, which was that he was growing it out to how it used to be when they were kids because that time made him feel closer to Eren. But this was too pathetic to admit and one of those things he’d die before telling.

“Oh. I just…miss my old hair, I guess,” he fake laughed and for some reason Eren felt deeply unsettled by this. It was just off for some reason. Like something was wrong.

“Looks good.” 

“Thanks…” Armin could still feel Eren’s stare like he was trying to figure something out. 

“I’m sorry, by the way,” Eren’s voice cracked again like before.

“For what?” Armin turned to him.

“For hurting you,” he whispered as he glanced at Armin’s lips and it looked like he was actually about to cry. Armin’s eyes widened and he quickly covered his mouth.

“It’s not a big deal,” Armin mumbled through his sleeve as he fidgeted like he was sitting in an uncomfortable chair. 

“It is to me.” 

“It’s fine, it’s already healed.” 

“Let me see.” 

Armin hesitated for a moment. Then slowly brought his hand down from his mouth and slightly moved his head to where Eren couldn’t see it. 

He quivered at the feeling of Eren’s freezing hand that was now gently pressed on his face. With his cold fingers just underneath his jaw, Eren gently turned Armin’s head to where he faced him. Armin slowly moved his gaze to Eren’s eyes as he felt the tip of his thumb gently pull his bottom lip down. Eren leaned in closer and lightly rubbed his thumb across the small scab that slashed across it. He glanced up and caught Armin’s eye and for a few seconds they just stared at each other silently. Armin felt a rush of warmth take over his body and his face became flushed. Luckily, there wasn’t enough light for anyone to really tell. But by the small angle of the yellow light that did reach Armin, it made his eyes look like they were illuminating. It made his skin look gold and warm. He looked like an angel, Eren thought anyway.

Armin felt his face slowly moving closer to Eren’s and tried to stop himself but felt like he couldn’t. Then he realized that Eren was also slowly moving closer to his and they were both inching closer to each others faces like magnets. The tip of their noses touched for a brief moment, then swiftly passed as the sides of their noses met. 

He closed his eyes as he felt Eren’s breath escaping from his mouth and into his. He slowly spread his lips.

“I’m sorry,” Eren whispered and as he did, his lips just barely touched Armin’s. Armin opened his eyes with confusion. “I’m sorry I did that to you,” Eren rested his forehead on Armin’s as he rubbed his finger over the wound again.

Armin brought his hand over Eren’s and his fingers naturally sunk into the cracks between Eren’s, and they both grabbed as if to get a better grip. “I’m so sorry,” Eren was nearly about to cry.

“It’s alright,” Armin whispered softly as they continued to stare into each others eyes and he squeezed onto his hand a little tighter. “It’s alright.” It really was. It hurt Armin in the beginning but he knew it was truly an incident. 

“Armin,” Eren whispered and Armin felt the swoosh of his breath against his lips again and it warmed his whole body.

“Yes?” His lips nearly touched his.

“Why…do you wear my old hoodie?” Eren sniffled and this was the first time this entire moment where he broke eye contact and glanced downward at their noses. 

Armin’s eyes widened and he slightly moved his head back. “Why are you asking me that?” He was genuinely shocked. That question came out of no where.

Eren looked a little surprised at his reaction and slightly moved his head back as well. “Well, I just always wondered.”

A million thoughts raced through Armin’s mind within a split second. What is happening? Why’d he ask that? He never asked that before and I’d worn this a million times before.

“Well?” Eren asked and patiently waited. 

“I-” Armin clenched his teeth like he was about to regret this. He felt like he was seriously about to throw up. “I…like…” Eren’s eyes widened and he stared into Armin’s lips as he desperately waited for the last word. “I just like it,” he said quickly but the last word sounded as if he meant to hold it back, like it incidentally all came out like that, and his face fell into regret. Eren’s expression dropped like Armin had said the wrong thing, and in this exact moment, Armin knew that he did.

“Right,” Eren’s hand slipped from Armin’s face, breaking their fingers apart. He turned to face the opposite wall across. “Of course,” he laughed a bit as he shook his head. 

Armin stared with wide eyes. Should I have said something else? Is that why he was asking? I still can. Right now. Just do it, you idiot. Say it… It’s too late. The moment’s passed…

***

Ava and Xilo. 

Xilo grabbed a small box of matches from his pocket. “Last pack.” He scraped a match across and it ignited, lighting the darkness that he and Ava were lost in. 

Ava sighed as she threw a used match behind them and into the sewage that laid down the center of their path. “At least we’ll have a trail just in case someone attempts to find us.” She sort of laughed at her own remark, not sure of whether she was laughing because she knew deep down no one was coming or because she never imagined the person she’d die with would be Xilo and of all places in a witchcraft tunnel. 

“I hate the dark.” Xilo held the end of the match with his finger tips so it could burn to the very last piece. “I swear it, weird things come out in the dark—” he glanced at her. “Sorry. Guess I shouldn’t be saying that at a time like this.” 

“That’s weird.” Ava glanced into the little flame of the match that slowly grew. “Valentine always says the same thing.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah. She’s always hated the dark. Says she always feels something in it. Like another presence. Though I could never feel it.” 

“Ouch!” The last of the flame got his finger, forcing him to drop the match. There was a small sizzle as it landed in the sewage. “Yeah, that’s exactly it.” He opened the box to grab another as they ventured in the dark for a few seconds. Being so careful to not drop the box, he finally ignited another. “I could sometimes hear it, whatever it was.” Ava gave him a peculiar expression. “I could never quite see it. But always hear it with me, around me.”

Ava remembered a time when Valentine mentioned that she heard an odd sound in their room that sounded of a plastic bag, growing and crinkling, that slowly dragged across the floor, inching closer to her. She shook her head as to rid the thought.

“I’ve always wondered,” Xilo continued. “What if the dark is like a portal for things to venture into our own world. But they’re only able to in the dark. So when you think about it”—he held the match up a little higher—“light is like a superpower of ours. That wards them off.” He moved the match as if to cast away evil spirits ahead and the flame danced in different directions. “It’s funny how light is also like a superpower for the titans, giving them the strength to move. And at night in the dark, they’re paralyzed. Sometimes I wonder…” he stared at the their stretched out shadows that cast on the nearby wall. “What if they are-”

“Us?”

Xilo’s eyes widened and he snapped his head toward her. “Uh.” 

“I’ve thought that too. Like maybe we are the evolved version of titans, or maybe they are the evolved version of us. Who knows.” 

“Yeah,”  Xilo said nearly in a whisper. “And we’re just bound to this hell all together for eternity.” 

“Yeah,” she whispered so faintly as if this was the moment she accepted their never ending fate. 

“Why did you join the scouts?” 

“Huh?” She glanced at him with a confused expression at his sudden question. 

“Well part of you thinks there’s no hope for humanity. And well, a part of me thinks that too. But you obviously joined for a reason right? What was it?”

“Well…” the word barely left her mouth. She moved her gaze ahead into the darkness that awaited them. The flame on the match finally reached Xilo’s finger, but rather than moving his attention away from her, he threw it down and watched the light slowly fade from her face as her expression fell into despair.

She never thought so much of a reason to join the scouts. Usually she’d say her usual response which was, “I want to see the world.” But she knew deep down that was never really the reason. That was more of her friends reasoning than hers. Her exploration to venture beyond the walls started the day she met Valentine. She never really thought beyond that. She never needed to.

Xilo scraped a match and light appeared once again. She still stared off into the same direction as if she had never noticed the light fade off in the first place. There was still a somberness to her face. “I guess if we don’t hang on to hope,” she finally answered. “Then there’s no point in living at all.” Only she wasn’t necessarily talking about hope for humanity or the world. All she ever cared about was being next to Valentine. And nothing was getting in the way of that. 

“Well, it must be cool being on the special ops at least,” Xilo tried to brighten the mood. 

“Totally. It’s a lot of fun not knowing if you’re going to die today or tomorrow. The adrenaline rush is what does it for me.” His smile quickly faded and she turned to him. “Joking,” she whispered and he laughed a bit. Was she joking? Her energy was off and he couldn’t get a read. It was confusing.

“So being on the squad,” he continued. “You’re somewhat close to the Captain. I mean in a sense that you guys spend the most time with him. What do you think about him?”

“He’s okay, I guess. Grumpy. A little mean sometimes. But alright.” 

There was a long pause as if he wanted to say something else but hesitated. “So is he like,” his tone shifted into one of embarrassment and Ava glanced at him. “Would you say he’s quite protective?”

“Um,” she really thought about it. “I mean, he can be. Why do you ask?”

“Nothing, really,” he scratched his head. Within the hour they had been stuck together, Ava learned that he only did this when he was nervous. “It’s weird. You’re going to think I’m weird for even caring.” 

Okay. Now she was intrigued. “Well now you have to tell me,” she teased.

Xilo awkwardly laughed. “Okay,” he sighed as if to prepare himself for this crazy intense thing he had to get off his chest. “Well…a few days ago-shit,” he dropped the match that nearly burned him and went to light the next. “Anyways…The Captain had me sent to his office. And of all times, pulled me out of training for this. It was just weird. He kind of…warned me.” 

Ava felt her chest sink in. “About what?” Part of her guessed what it could’ve been. But she wanted it to be anything else so badly.

“He-uh. Well. He sort of told me…” he made a very odd and awkward expression that Ava had yet to see on him. “He basically told me to stay away from Valentine—”

“What?!” Ava yelled and her voice echoed as she halted in her step and turned to where her entire body faced him. 

“What?” Xilo nearly tripped as he stopped and faced her. 

“He said that?” She looked insulted.

“Yeah.”

“Like how?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like how did he say it, word for word?” She moved her hands in a chopping motion as she said, “word for word.”

“Um,” he glanced at the wall behind Ava as he tried to remember. “It was something like, ‘I will only say this once. I am ordering you to stay away from Valentine. If you disobey me, it’ll be your ass.’” He said it in a mocking tone that resembled Levi and even scrunched his eye brows to look pissed. He gave her the full on reenactment of the moment, which was more than she asked for, but she was somewhat pleased with it. 

He moved his gaze back to her. “That was it. That’s why I was asking if he was protective or if it was just something else.”

“Oh,” was the only thing she managed to come up with. Only it was too low for him to even hear. 

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” her voice barely a whisper. She continued her way without glancing at him and he followed. Again, her energy was such a hard read. He thought she must be the type to typically hide the way she felt about things. But he was even more confused about why something like this would make her uncomfortable.

“Well I don’t think you’re weird for caring by the way,” she said in a sad tone like they were walking into a funeral. 

“Thanks.” He waited for her to say more like if she thought it odd of Levi to say this, but she never did. She just looked so melancholic. Even in the way she was walking. Maybe it was just everything else going on, Xilo thought. For all they knew, they were having their last moments right now. 

There was a long moment of neither talking and only the sound of the matches being lit one by one and the sound of their boots against the gravel and sewage. 

Xilo halted as he scraped the last match against the box and watched the light ignite for the last time. “Last one,” he mumbled as if to not admit it. Ava walked to where she was just on the other side of the match and they both stared into it.

“I don’t think Eren really hated you,” Ava said with such a sorrow expression. Her eyes watered and somewhat twinkled from the reflection of the flame in front of her face. This confused Xilo for multiple reasons. Why did she say hated in the past tense as if he all of a sudden didn’t hate him anymore? Had she accepted that they were dying here? Is that why she was nearly crying? Was this just a last word she wanted him to know before they died or something?

“Why do you say that?”

She sniffed and blinked her eyes a few times to hold the tears back. After the blurriness in her eyes cleared up, she could see Xilo’s face clearly again. He looked like such a lost puppy as he stared back at her. His hazel eyes lit perfectly with the flame between them. He carried such a hopeful glance in them, even with the last match that he desperately pinched onto with his thumb and finger. His light brown curly hair waved in all kinds of directions and was still messy with dirt from his fight with Eren earlier. 

“I think that he was just afraid.” 

“Of what?”

“Of losing Armin.”

His eyes widened and the match in his hand was nearly at its end.

“I think maybe he thought you’d take him away from him.” Her eyes watered even more now. “And he’d lose him.” She was crying now, and not just a little, a lot, to where tears streamed down her face and she was hyperventilating. “Sorry.” Her bottom lip trembled.

“Why are you apologizing?” Her crying became louder and she tried to cover her mouth to quiet it. “Are you okay?”

“No-o.” Her hands were shaking so bad.

“Do you-” he awkwardly gestured his arms out. “Need like a hug or something?” He shrugged in an awkward position as if to say this is all I got, sorry. 

“M-kay,” she mumbled as she fell into his arms and nearly collapsed. He grabbed her and tried to hold her up as he also attempted to not light her hair on fire with the dying match in his hand. He watched as the flame of the match slowly shrunk, then died out completely. He sighed and flicked it away somewhere.

“It’s alright,” he whispered as he grabbed her properly now that he had both arms freed. “It’s okay,” he said even though he knew it probably wasn’t and that he and this girl he barely even knew were going to die together. But he made it his last mission to make this girl feel better as much as possible. That’s all that mattered now. 

For the first time this entire time that they had been stuck down there, Ava felt safe. There was something so warm and familiar being in Xilo’s arms, even though she’d never been in this spot before. Then she realized…it felt a lot like the way Jean hugged. It was a full hug, like a real one. Where you know the other person fully meant it. There was a squeeze to it that supported her, but was gentle enough to not hurt her. Not very many people hugged like that.

Xilo gasped. “Ava,” he pointed beyond. “Light.”

***

Valentine

A faint yellow light blurred in the distance a few feet away. At first, it looked like an orb that slightly bobbled up and down. But as Valentine’s eyes focused, she realized that it was only the long flame that stuck its head out from the shattered lantern. 

She groaned as she rolled onto her stomach and bits of glass pierced into her palms as she pushed herself up from the ground. There was a large scrape that ripped through her pants and down the side of her calf, but she couldn’t feel it due to the tingling all over her body. She grabbed the contorted and warped lantern that now looked like something out of a cartoon and glanced up at a tall and leaning wall nearby. It looked nearly 20 meters tall and there was a thin trail that followed all the way up from where she fell down from.

“Well I’m definitely not getting out the same way I came in.” The way her voice echoed before bouncing back let her know that she was in a much larger and enclosed area now. “Great,” she stared at the wall for a moment longer, then realized that it had painted carvings along it. “Hm?” she leaned in closer to get a better look. There were different types of material within it that looked to be some type of marble and special glass. All of which weren’t anywhere in current architecture of buildings, which were usually just made of brick, wood, clay, or concrete. 

As she walked along the wall, she realized that this area was more of a dungeon than a cave. Weirdly enough, hidden away underneath the tunnel. But why would it need to be hidden? She thought as she traced the odd designs along the wall with a finger. Soon enough, she was met with pillars that carried the same material and designs as the walls. But again, why hide a place like this?

She felt herself approaching something rather large, possibly another structure, and gestured the lantern outward from the wall to glance.Her eyes slowly rose up this large thing until she realized she was standing next to a titan. She froze and it was as if her heart stopped beating for a full few seconds as she held her breath in hopes that maybe if she didn’t move, it wouldn’t notice her. It didn’t move either. In fact, it stood completely still. She paused for a moment more to be certain that it wasn’t breathing before letting out a sigh of relief. “I guess it’s just a statue.” She let out a nervous laugh as she shined the light more so on its face as if she still didn’t believe it was just that. Its eyes stared straight ahead. They looked so real. “Stupid titan-” she thought she saw its eyes move for a moment and nearly choked. She watched closely. Something seemed off about it. Then, its eyes moved again, this time entirely, slowly shifting until it was staring directly at her. 

“Ah!” She fell back on the floor and the lantern rolled away from her. Not knowing what else to do, (she had zero gear or weapons and from what she could tell, she was stranded down here with no where else to go) she desperately crawled backwards until her back hit something. As much as she didn’t want to, she slowly turned around to see that she was sitting with her back against the leg of another titan. “Ah!” her scream echoed through the dungeon, and as before, it eventually echoed back to her. 

Panicking now, she yanked the lantern from the ground and took off running in any direction she could for as long as she could. But no matter where she wound up, there were even more titans awaiting. All lined up, side by side, in columns and rows that seemed never ending no matter how long she ran. 

Soon enough, she’d given up and just accepted that she was going to die here. Her heavy breath echoed through the air as she turned around in a circle and glanced at all of the titans that surrounded her in every direction. Then she realized how stupid it was to even run in the first place considering titans could out run her. Even more stupid, they weren’t moving or even bothering to chase her. Maybe it was because they were in the dark and had no energy to. 

She gasped. That’s right. Titans need light to have the energy to move. She gestured the lantern downwards, not knowing if it could be enough to necessarily allow one to move, but wasn’t particularly interested in finding out at this moment either. 

The steps from her boots echoed as she now calmly made her way around the giants and studied them. They all looked the same as one another, grayed out skin, same exact build and facial structure. However, none of them looked anything like the regular titans outside the walls. While those resembled more human-like features, these did not. In fact, these titans looked entirely new and had some sort of grey armor-like structure protecting most of their skin, even parts of their face. Only she didn’t recognize it before due to their greyed colored skin. 

Wait a minute, she slowly turned around at all of them once more and her eyes slowly widened. They all stood straight up with their arms to the sides in their orderly lines among each other. It looked incredibly military like. They almost looked as if they were waiting for… 

“War.” 

[nofacedpoet]

Ch. 26: The Loop

Eren slowly glanced up at Xilo and gave him an angry glare. “You knew. You’ve known this entire time.”

“No I didn’t,” Xilo said annoyed.

“Knew what?” Valentine asked. 

“The symbols,” Eren held up Xilo’s journal. “He already has them written in here. Even these in front of us right now.” 

“What?” Armin glanced at Xilo in disbelief. 

“Take a look for yourself,” Eren held the journal out and Armin grabbed it. Valentine and Ava made their way to either side of Armin and glanced into it. And there it was. The symbols from before, the current symbols in front of them, and what looked to be symbols they haven’t seen yet. Valentine, Ava, and Armin glanced at each other with the same expression of confusion and concern.

“It wasn’t me,” Xilo pleaded with his hands out as if he was asking for mercy. “I have no idea how they got in there, I swear. You have to believe me!”

“It’s your own hand writing! How can it not be yours?” Eren said. Xilo looked just as perplexed as them and struggled to answer. “You’ve been messing with us the entire time, haven’t you?”

“No! I swear—”

“You’ve been down here before!” 

“No, I haven’t! This is my first time!”

“Liar! You’re involved with this entire witchcraft thing, aren��t you?”

“What?!”

“You’ve always been infatuated with titans, you probably worship them yourself.” Xilo’s eyes widened. “And now you’re doing some weirdo shit on us!” Eren glanced at Armin. “This is why you shouldn’t just trust anyone, Armin. You’re too nice to anyone. This freak probably had some weird motive with you.”

Xilo clenched his teeth and squeezed his fists. It was one thing to judge him for his hobbies such as studying the titans, but it was another to question his friendship. Especially with the only friend he currently had, which was Armin. “Yeah well,” Xilo muttered. “At least I’ve never put my hands on him.” Everyone gasped and the silence that cast over was so heavy that it pulled them into the ground.

As much as Xilo wanted to feel guilty for saying it, he didn’t. In fact, he meant every word. His frustration toward Eren had grown strong due to the way he treated him lately. At first, Xilo assumed Eren just held a grudge for what happened before the expedition. But as time went on, he realized it had to have been something deeper. And no matter how much he tried to get along with Eren, it just never worked. 

Eren watched as Armin’s demeanor completely shifted. His face filled with a deep sadness as his eyes fell of hurt and betrayal. Eren knew the incident that occurred days before (the LyricBox hitting Armin in the mouth and causing him to bleed) had deeply affected both of them. Never at any point in their lives did their fights ever reach a point where one had physically hurt the other. And although it truly was an incident, he wasn’t sure if Armin knew that. By the look in his eyes, it seemed like he judged Eren for it.

Eren slowly turned and faced Xilo as anger and rage filled inside of him like a match igniting a forest drenched in gasoline. He tightened his fists and trembled. “What…did you just say?”

“I’m a better friend to him,” Xilo said with no hesitation. Eren’s eyes widened. “And you know it—” Eren charged towards Xilo.

“Eren, don’t,” Valentine held her hand out towards him but he ran straight through it and tackled Xilo to the ground.

Armin turned around and covered his face. “I can’t watch this.” 

“You don’t know anything about me and Armin!” Eren screamed as he and Xilo scrambled in the sewage. 

“I know enough to see that you don’t treat him right!” Xilo screamed. 

“You better shut your mouth!” 

“Make me!”

“Both of you stop it,” Valentine said as she failed to break them up. 

“This is all my fault,” Armin whispered. “It’s all my fault.” 

“What?” Ava grabbed one of his hands to uncover his face and noticed he was crying.

“They’re fighting because of me,” Armin glanced at her with such hurt in his eyes. “I did this.”

“No you didn’t,” Ava hugged him. 

“I’m a terrible friend. I wish none of you had ever met me,” he hyperventilated as tears streamed down his face. She could feel his entire body trembling.

***

One hour before…

“I cannot believe we’re doing this,” Ava sighed and glanced at the star that laid out in the middle of the witchcraft dungeon that they stood in. “This seems like a really bad idea that I feel we’re going to regret by time it’s over.” 

“Probably,” Valentine agreed. She wasn’t stepping anywhere on the star itself, but was kneeled down near it as she studied the symbols all over it. “But hopefully we can find something down here that can answer some of our questions.” She turned to Xilo who was a few feet away and quickly scrambling the symbols down into his journal. “Have you seen any of this before in any of your history books you mentioned?”

Xilo ran his fingers across one of the odd formed “titans” on one of the corners of the star. “Nothing like this, no.” His eyes widened in awe. “It’s all really quite beautiful. I feel honored to have witnessed this myself.” 

Ava gave him a peculiar expression. “We really shouldn’t touch this stuff. We don’t know what it is exactly yet.” 

“True,” Xilo pulled his hand back. “But to think that we’re standing on such a big part of history. And if the titans used to look like this, well, they were so beautiful once before. What could’ve happened? What changed?” 

Ava raised a brow. “None of these so called titans have faces?” 

“I know,” he whispered. “But they’re still magnificent.” 

“Well, enough boring talk,” Eren unzipped Armin’s backpack and dug through it. “I think we should have some fun,” he pulled out the LyricBox. Ava sighed. 

“Ah, c’mon,” Eren smiled as he turned it on. “We should at least try to summon Calpurnia while we’re here.” Xilo broke his concentration and glanced at Eren with an uncomfortable expression as he stood.

“Summoning a so called witch in a witchcraft dungeon,” Xilo said. “I don’t think we should—”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Eren gave him a disgusted expression as he pressed play. Xilo sighed and shook his head as Calpurnia’s song began to echo throughout the dungeon. Armin put his hands over his ears and closed his eyes. 

“C’mon,” Eren laughed. “Don’t be so scared.” Ava moved closer to Valentine. As the word “Liovel” sang out and echoed, Xilo could’ve sworn he heard a second voice from afar sing it too. He gasped and jerked his head toward the direction when he caught Ava’s eye. She had an expression like she also heard it. 

Suddenly, the LyricBox got louder in volume. Then it got even louder. “Turn it off!” Ava screamed but it was so loud to the point where her voice couldn’t be heard. “Turn it off,” she thought she heard a separate voice say from behind her. She glanced at Valentine to see if she heard that too but it didn’t seem so, as Valentine was still glancing toward Eren.

“Eren!” Valentine screamed. 

“I’m trying!” Eren yelled as he pressed the off button but it wouldn’t turn off. The walkie talkie’s that were on Eren and Valentine were now going off but with a whistling noise that was even louder than the music. 

“Agh!” Xilo covered his ears. Valentine snatched the walkie from her waist band and hurriedly turned the nozzle to turn it off. Yet, there was still so much noise that it didn’t make much of a difference.

“Turn it off!” Armin screamed. “Turn it off!” 

“It won’t turn off!” Eren screamed. Armin reached for it right as it slipped from Eren’s hand and crashed on the ground. It finally went silent but his walkie was still giving a screeching whistling sound. Armin snatched it from his waist band and quickly switched it off. Eren reached for it back but Armin moved it away from his reach. 

“How was I supposed to know that was going to happen?” Eren asked. “Quit being so immature,” he reached for it again but Armin moved it further. 

“Uh,” Xilo gestured his lantern toward Ava as he stared behind her. “Was that there earlier?” There was what looked to be a sort of tunnel way that led further into darkness. One that they could’ve sworn wasn’t there before. 

“Maybe we just missed it because how dark it is,” Armin said nervously. 

“Totally,” Xilo gave him a fearful expression. Valentine walked toward it without any hesitation.

“W-wait,” Ava reached her hand towards her and Valentine paused to glance back at her with an unbothered expression. “Shouldn’t we like…talk about this first?” Valentine stared for a moment, then carried on into the tunnel.

“Hell yeah,” Eren followed after her. “This is what I was hoping for.” 

Ava desperately glanced at Xilo and Armin. Xilo shrugged as he followed after Eren. “Just know that no matter what happens,” he said as he passed Ava. “None of this was my idea.” She turned to Armin and he sighed. 

“Why is it always them going into chaos and us following?” He sort of laughed as he walked towards her and gestured his hand. “C’mon. We got each other’s back.” He gave her a warm smile that reassured her. 

“Okay,” she whispered and squeezed onto his hand. They followed after the others into the darkness. 

“Smells of shit,” Eren pulled his arm over his nose as they made their way down what seemed to be a never ending tunnel. The further they got, the more water appeared on the ground. Soon enough, the bottom soles of their boots were drowning in nearly half an inch water, or what they now knew, was sewage. 

“I think that’s just your breath,” Valentine muttered. 

“Oh yeah?” Eren leaned in closer and let out a huge sigh of breath in her face. 

“Ew, Eren,” she leaned away and he leaned in closer, causing her to nearly fall over. Eren quickly caught her as he laughed. 

“Jerk,” she shoved him and he nearly tripped but she didn’t bother to catch him. Instead, he grabbed onto her sleeve.

“Imagine I fell in this shit,” he said. “You would’ve felt so guilty.”

“I doubt that.” 

“I mean, we take down titans for a living,” Armin said to Ava. “I’m sure we can handle this.” He tried to be brave for her but even she could see through his mask. His hand trembled in hers and his eyes filled with worry. 

“Yeah,” she gently squeezed onto his hand. “We can handle this.” 

“Well, to be fair,” Xilo slowed down to where he could walk on the other side of Armin. “We were trained to kill titans, not whatever could be down here.” Ava gulped. “On top of that, we don’t even have any of our weapons.”

“Xilo,” Armin whispered. 

“But honestly,” Xilo continued. “If knowing the truth about our history, the walls, or the titans meant death, I would do it without any hesitation.” Armin gasped and noticed Xilo’s serious expression. The look in his eye was full of a determination that he had never seen before. Xilo turned to him. “Wouldn’t you?” Armin thought for a moment. His eyes softened as the thought of what it would be like to see and feel the sea for the first time came to mind.

“Yeah,” he smiled. “I guess I would.” 

Ava wasn’t even paying attention to their conversation anymore and instead had her ears on Eren and Valentine, not that she could hear much over Armin and Xilo. Yet, she still tried to piece it together.

“I’m serious,” Eren said in a playful manner. “I have never seen the Captain act like that. I mean, what else could it be?”

“Shut up,” Valentine said sort of nervously. 

“I’ve called it from the beginning, he has it for you.”

“Has what for me?”

“You know…the hots,” he smiled at her.

She made a gross expression. “I don’t know what that is but I don’t think I care to know.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. He wants you.”

Valentine laughed. “How would you know?”

“That’s true,” he sighed. “I’ve never had a girlfriend before.” 

Valentine’s smile faded as she was reminded that none of them would probably ever get to experience relationships of any sort considering their occupation. The chances of any scout making it past twenty-five years old was incredibly slim. Close to none.

“What is it?” Eren asked as he noticed her change of expression. 

She glanced at him. “Aren’t you a virgin?”

“What?!” He screamed so loud that it echoed through the tunnel and scared everyone.

“Shh,” she put her hand over his mouth as she laughed. 

“How would you know whether I am or not?” Eren’s face was cherry red.

She lifted an eye brow. “Really, Eren?”

“Pfft,” he crossed his arms. “Yeah, well so are you.”

“Never said I wasn’t.” 

“Why are we talking about this? This is about your little 3-foot boyfriend.”

“I’m just making the point that you’ve never been with a woman so what would you know about him having the hots for me.”

“I’m pretty sure he is too. That’s why he’s so tense all the time—”

They both gasped as there was a sound of something running by that lightly echoed through the tunnel. Everyone halted their steps and stared ahead quietly. Ava glanced behind and shined the lantern. But the darkness was so deep that it didn’t reach very far. “Which direction did that come from?” she whispered. Armin whimpered as he squeezed her hand even tighter.

“I don’t know,” Valentine said. “I couldn’t tell.” 

“Should we head back?” Xilo asked. Everyone glanced around as if they were waiting for someone to make the call. They gasped as the sound of steps reappeared, only closer, and much faster now. It was definitely coming from ahead. Armin, Ava, and Xilo clenched onto each other as they prepared for the worst. Valentine switched her knife open and stared into the darkness as it came closer and closer.

“Shit-shit-shit,” Eren moved the lantern out but couldn’t see anything. “Where is it?” 

“I don’t see it either,” Valentine said as she readied her knife outwards. It was directly in front of them. And it was quick as it ran up on them. Then BOOM! 

It was a rat. 

It squeaked as it ran right past all of their feet and everyone jumped and scrambled around as they screamed. 

“Seriously?” Valentine sighed as she closed the knife. 

“Don’t act like you weren’t scared!” Eren laughed as he pointed at her. 

“You were the scared one!”

“No I wasn’t!”

“I was scared,” Xilo admitted. 

“Me too,” Armin added.

“I wasn’t that scared,” Ava laughed nervously.

“Whateverrrr,” Armin said. 

There was an even louder sound this time that wasn’t anything near a step, but rather of heavy metal falling onto the ground and being dragged. All of their eyes widened as they stood straight up. 

“Okay,” Eren said. “Now I’m scared.” 

“Hello?” Xilo screamed and everyone flinched. “Is someone else down here—”

“Shh-hey!” Eren whispered. “What’s the matter with you?”

“What?”

“What-you wanna make friends with it?”

“What-no, but someone else could be down—”

“Well don’t lure them over here, idiot!”

“Guys,” Ava pointed ahead. “What’s that light?” Everyone glanced ahead to see a white light in the distance of the tunnel. It wasn’t moving and it was hard to tell what exactly it was.

“Turn your lanterns off,” Eren said. 

“Not a chance,” Xilo said.

“Yeah, no,” Ava said. 

Eren sighed and glanced back toward the light. “Well it isn’t moving. Maybe we should just keep heading toward it and see if something happens.” He glanced at Valentine and she nodded. They began to slowly make their way down the tunnel. And rather than before, everyone was mostly quiet now, except for a few whispers here and there. 

As they got closer, it seemed to grow bigger. Soon enough, they realized that it wasn’t necessarily a light that someone was holding, but light that was escaping from somewhere else. 

“Another way out?” Ava asked. 

“Must lead to outside,” Eren said. 

“That’s weird,” Armin added. “Another entrance to a witchcraft dungeon? You don’t think that it’s still in use, do you?”

“Let’s hope not,” Xilo said.

They finally reached what seemed to be the end of the long tunnel way and the first thing they noticed was a huge gaping hole above them, where all of the light was coming from. 

“Huh?” Xilo glanced down at a giant star on the ground. “I don’t understand. Are there multiple areas of the same?”

“No,” Valentine said as she walked over to a hanging rope that reached over the edge of the hole above. “This is the same place where we began.” 

“Huh?!” Ava screeched. “But how is that possible?”

“We didn’t somehow turn back around at any point, did we?” Eren asked.

“No,” Armin said. “I’m sure of it. It was just a straight way.”

“But we came out the exact way we entered? This doesn’t make sense,” Xilo said. “We must’ve incidentally made a turn, another tunnel way, or something that lead back around.” They all glanced at each other. 

Eren laughed nervously. “Let’s just try again. And this time, really pay attention.” 

“Right,” Valentine said. Everyone began to walk back into the tunnel way in which they came. It was a long and silent walk as they kept their eyes open for anything they might’ve missed. But as before, they ended up coming out of the same way they entered. 

“No fucking way,” Eren said with his hands over his head. “I’m sure of it. We took no turns! So what the hell is going on?!” Armin rubbed his fingers along the wall near the entrance. 

“What is it?” Ava asked. 

“…chalk,” he answered with uncertainty.

“What?” Valentine asked as they walked up. There was an arrow that pointed toward the tunnel on the wall, and it was drawn with chalk. 

“I don’t remember seeing that,” Xilo said. “The first or second time.” 

Armin rubbed his fingers together. “It’s pretty soft. Couldn’t have been there long.” He glanced at them. 

“So what? You think someone else has followed us in there?” Eren asked. 

Armin glanced at the arrow. “I don’t know…still doesn’t make sense as to why we ended up here again. If that was the case, surely, they would also have ended up here…right?” They glanced at each other with uneasiness.

“Okay,” Eren said with his hands up. “I’m just going to say this now. If someone is fucking around, you better fess up now.” They all glanced around. “No one?”

“Who would be able to manipulate a tunnel way?” Ava asked with a concerned expression. Eren sighed and put his hands down. He just wanted to believe it was a prank. 

“So what then?” Valentine asked. “Do we go through it again?”

Xilo sighed. “We can. Maybe some of us should stay here and wait.”

“Good idea,” Valentine said. “Who volunteers to stay?”

“I can stay,” Ava said. 

“Me too,” Xilo added. 

“I don’t mind staying,” Armin smiled. He was more than happy to not go back in there. Eren and Valentine glanced at each other. 

“Guess it’s us then,” Eren said. 

“Alright,” Valentine unclipped the walkie from her pants and handed it to Ava. “If you see or hear anything, let us know.” Ava grabbed for the walkie and Valentine hesitated letting it go and she gave her a stern stare. “Don’t hesitate.” 

Ava’s eyes widened as she felt something else underneath the walkie. It was Valentine’s good luck golden knife.

“I won’t,” Ava whispered. “I promise.”

“Good,” Valentine finally released her grip. “Let’s go.” 

Eren and Valentine headed inside of the tunnel once again, carefully making their way through and watching for any hidden ways or unseen turns. 

“Look at this,” Eren gestured the lantern toward the wall. There was another white arrow drawn in chalk pointing toward the direction they were headed. 

“Still don’t get it. But I guess if someone else is down here, either we’ll run into them or the others will,” Valentine said. 

As they continued on their way, again with no hidden turns to be seen or found, they were met with the same light as before. Only this time, when they reached the end, no one was there. 

“Idiots!” Eren said. “We told them to stay here!”

“Shit,” Valentine glanced around. “Maybe they ran into some trouble.” 

“Hey,” Eren said through his walkie. “Where the hell are you guys?” There was no response. Only empty static came from the other side. “Hello? It’s Eren. Where’d you guys go? Are you guys okay?” Again, nothing but static. Eren and Valentine glanced at each other. “You think they left?” He glanced up at the hole. 

“And just wouldn’t tell us?” Valentine asked. “Nah. Something’s up.”

“Maybe they went back in the tunnel?” 

“Maybe…ugh. Shit. Let’s go back.” 

Eren lifted the walkie to his mouth. “If you guys can hear this, we’re coming through the tunnel again.” He glanced at Valentine with a worried expression. 

They quietly made their way down the tunnel for the fourth time. Again, there didn’t seem to be any visible turns anywhere. The only new appearance was another arrow along the wall. “Eren,” she pointed to it. 

“Another?” He rubbed his finger along it and parts of the dusty chalk fell off the wall.

“This is the third time we’ve seen an arrow,” Valentine said. Eren glanced at her with a confused expression. “So, either there is someone else in here with us, just as lost, and every time we loop, they’re already in the tunnel making their way back again, leaving marks along the way….or…” 

“What?”

“We’re the loop itself.”

“What do you mean?” Eren glanced around to make sure no one was coming up. 

“Think about it. Every time we’ve entered this damn tunnel, something was different. There was the arrow outside of the tunnel. The second arrow we saw earlier. And now another?” 

Eren looked perplexed like there was a million math equations going on inside of his head. “I’m not following.” 

“So…if we’re the loop…where we are repeating the same patterns,” she moved her hands in a loop. “But there are differences in every outcome…why not reverse it to get the previous outcome?” 

Eren’s eyes widened like he finally got it. “Reverse the loop to get the same outcome as before!” 

“Right! We need to move backwards.” They both glanced back at the direction in which they came. “I hope this works.” 

They made their way through the tunnel from the direction they had come from, and sure enough, saw a light similar to before. And when they reached it, it was where they had started. 

“Look,” she pointed to the wall. “There’s the arrow as before. I bet if we do what we just did again, we won’t see the second one in there. Also, we’ll run into the others on the other side.” 

“Let’s do it,” Eren said.

They did as they had done before, gone through the tunnel about half way before turning back around, and as guessed, the second arrow in the tunnel was gone. They saw the light once again, and when they reached it, Ava, Xilo, and Armin were still waiting for them.

“What took you guys so long?” Ava asked. 

“We were starting to get worried,” Armin said. 

Eren and Valentine glanced at one another with the same perplexed expression. Eren kneeled down with his hands over his head. “I think I’m going to be sick.” 

“What’s wrong? Did something happen in there?” Xilo asked. 

“Did you see any others?” Armin added. 

“I think we’ve ran into a bigger problem,” Valentine’s tone sounded incredibly ominous. 

“What do you mean?” Ava asked. 

“This is going to sound crazy but…every time we go through that tunnel, we end up in a different, but same, place. For instance, the first time me and Eren went through it, none of you were here. But when we did it differently, turning around half way and heading back, we found you again.” 

“What,” Ava stepped back. “But…” She looked as if she couldn’t accept what they had just explained. “How is that possible?”

“Yeah,” Xilo said. “Are you absolutely sure?”

Eren and Valentine glanced at each other. “We’re positive,” she said. 

“So going through the tunnel doesn’t just lead you back to where you started,” Armin said. “It’s also not the exact same.”

“Right,” Valentine said. 

“Seems like some sort of witchcraft trick maybe,” Armin glanced into the tunnel. “But if that’s the case, what would be the point of it?”

“Don’t know if I really want to know,” Ava said. 

“But,” Xilo moved his attention to the arrow that still sat on the wall near the entrance of the tunnel. “This still doesn’t explain who is putting the arrows there?” 

“Another thing with the arrows,” Eren said. “An arrow inside of the tunnel disappeared when we did the reversal. So I bet if we go through it together, doing the reversal, this arrow will also disappear.” 

“So let’s try it,” Valentine said. “And see if we happen to run into anyone on the way back. If there is anyone else down here that is.” 

“Alright,” Xilo laid his water canteen near the star. “I’ll leave this to see if it’s still here when we return.” 

They headed into the tunnel for the last time ever. As planned, they turned back half way and began to make their way back when they noticed something different that had not occurred at any other point before. 

“The hell is that?” Eren gestured his lantern toward the wall and everyone halted. There were three large symbols sketched out in paint, rather than chalk.

“Hm,” Xilo took his journal out and studied it for a moment. “These seem to be different from those that were on the star, yet they are quite similar.” He flipped to a new page and began to sketch them out.

Eren glanced at Valentine with a nervous expression. “What the hell could this mean? We did the reversal. This shouldn’t be happening.” 

“Maybe we’ve missed it before,” Ava said. “Don’t panic.” Even though she was very much panicking.

“Let’s just keep going,” Armin said. At this point, he just wanted to make it out.

They continued on their way and as time passed, it seem to feel longer than usual. The further they walked, the more black tunnel. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of light at the end. 

Eren leaned into Valentine. “Doesn’t it seem like we’ve been walking this way for much longer than it took us earlier?”

“I didn’t want to say anything,” Valentine whispered as she didn’t want to alarm the others. “But it seems different this time—” Eren gasped as he halted. There was another set of three symbols alongside the wall. 

“Did—” Eren glanced behind them perplexed. “Are these the same ones we just saw or?”

Xilo opened his journal and glanced back and forth at the page and the wall. “No. These seem to be different,” he clicked his pen and flipped the page to write the new symbols when he gasped. “Wait-what?” 

“Well are they or aren’t they?!” Eren said. Everyone glanced at Xilo and waited. 

“I-” he hesitated as he stared into the page with confusion. He flipped to the page before then back to the next page. “I don’t understand—“

“Give this to me,” Eren snatched it from him and glanced back and forth at the page and the wall. “They look the same to me.” He glared at Xilo. “What’s the confusion?” Xilo took a step back and struggled to respond. Armin glanced back and forth at them.

Ava sighed with her hands over her face. “So we just went in a circle? I thought this was supposed to reverse us back?”

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Valentine stared into the symbols. “None of this happened when me and Eren did the reversals. This is different.” 

“Should we just turn around and head back then?” Ava asked. 

“Nah,” Valentine said and Ava sighed. “We’ve already come this far. We minus well just keep going.” She glanced behind at Eren. “Right?” He was still glaring at Xilo.

“Yeah,” Eren said in a suspicious tone. “Let’s keep going.”

They continued on their way in pure silence. The energy had shifted more into fear and uneasiness. And as they got further, things only got weirder.

“Shit,” Valentine said as she halted and everyone stopped behind her. “There’s more,” she glanced back at Eren. “Please tell me these aren’t the same ones.”

Xilo glanced back Eren, who was still glaring at him as he opened the journal. He found the page with the folded corner that he marked for reference and opened it. After a moment of studying the page and the wall, he realized they were not the same. “They’re different this time.” Everyone sighed with little relief. Eren flipped back to the previous page to see different symbols. “Huh?” He glanced confused. Were these the first ones? He flipped the page back over to original. They were different. “What the hell—” his eyes widened as he flipped to a third page, which showed the exact symbols on the wall in front of them. He flipped the page again to see a different set of symbols. 

“What is it?” Ava asked as everyone waited. 

Eren slowly glanced up at Xilo and gave him an angry glare. “You knew. You’ve known this entire time.”

“No I didn’t,” Xilo said annoyed.

“Knew what?” Valentine asked. 

“The symbols,” Eren held up Xilo’s journal. “He already has them written in here. Even these in front of us right now.” 

“What?” Armin glanced at Xilo in disbelief. 

“Take a look for yourself,” Eren held the journal out and Armin grabbed it. Valentine and Ava made their way to either side of Armin and glanced into it. And there it was. The symbols from before, the current symbols in front of them, and what looked to be symbols they haven’t seen yet. Valentine, Ava, and Armin glanced at each other with the same expression of confusion and concern.

“It wasn’t me,” Xilo pleaded with his hands out as if he was asking for mercy. “I have no idea how they got in there, I swear. You have to believe me!”

“It’s your own hand writing! How can it not be yours?” Eren said. Xilo looked just as perplexed as them and struggled to answer. “You’ve been messing with us the entire time, haven’t you?”

“No! I swear—”

“You’ve been down here before!” 

“No, I haven’t! This is my first time!”

“Liar! You’re involved with this entire witchcraft thing, aren’t you?”

“What?!”

“You’ve always been infatuated with titans, you probably worship them yourself.” Xilo’s eyes widened. “And now you’re doing some weirdo shit on us!” Eren glanced at Armin. “This is why you shouldn’t just trust anyone, Armin. You’re too nice to anyone. This freak probably had some weird motive with you.”

Xilo clenched his teeth and squeezed his fists. It was one thing to judge him for his hobbies such as studying the titans, but it was another to question his friendship. Especially with the only friend he currently had, which was Armin. “Yeah well,” Xilo muttered. “At least I’ve never put my hands on him.” Everyone gasped and the silence that cast over was so heavy that it pulled them into the ground.

As much as Xilo wanted to feel guilty for saying it, he didn’t. In fact, he meant every word. His frustration toward Eren had grown strong due to the way he treated him lately. At first, Xilo assumed Eren just held a grudge for what happened before the expedition. But as time went on, he realized it had to have been something deeper. And no matter how much he tried to get along with Eren, it just never worked. 

Eren watched as Armin’s demeanor completely shifted. His face filled with a deep sadness as his eyes fell of hurt and betrayal. Eren knew the incident that occurred days before (the LyricBox hitting Armin in the mouth and causing him to bleed) had deeply affected both of them. Never at any point in their lives did their fights ever reach a point where one had physically hurt the other. And although it truly was an incident, he wasn’t sure if Armin knew that. By the look in his eyes, it seemed like he judged Eren for it.

Eren slowly turned and faced Xilo as anger and rage filled inside of him like a match igniting a forest drenched in gasoline. He tightened his fists and trembled. “What…did you just say?”

“I’m a better friend to him,” Xilo said with no hesitation. Eren’s eyes widened. “And you know it—” Eren charged towards Xilo.

“Eren, don’t,” Valentine held her hand out towards him but he ran straight through it and tackled Xilo to the ground.

Armin turned around and covered his face. “I can’t watch this.” 

“You don’t know anything about me and Armin!” Eren screamed as he and Xilo scrambled in the sewage. 

“I know enough to see that you don’t treat him right!” Xilo screamed. 

“You better shut your mouth!” 

“Make me!”

“Both of you stop it,” Valentine said as she failed to break them up. 

“This is all my fault,” Armin whispered. “It’s all my fault.” 

“What?” Ava grabbed one of his hands to uncover his face and noticed he was crying.

“They’re fighting because of me,” Armin glanced at her with such hurt in his eyes. “I did this.”

“No you didn’t,” Ava hugged him. 

“I’m a terrible friend. I wish none of you had ever met me,” he hyperventilated as tears streamed down his face. She could feel his entire body trembling.

“Armin,” she broke away and glanced at him. “Don’t say things like that.” Her eyes watered. 

“I’m sorry,” he whimpered. 

“Hey,” she wiped his tears. “You’re the bestest friend any of us have ever had. I mean it. You’re so special and I’m so grateful to know you and have you as my friend.”

Armin’s eyes widened. “I’m not special,” he whispered. 

She grabbed his face. “I’m telling you, you’re special, Armin. You bring something special to all of our lives. You’re one in a million. So please don’t say things like that. It pains me that you don’t know how wonderful you really are.” She hugged him again and squeezed him tightly.

He lifted his weak arms and placed them around her. “You’re always…so nice,” he whispered. 

“So are you.”

CLINK! A similar sound as before, the sound of heavy metal falling on the ground and being dragged, came from behind. They both gasped and glanced down the long and dark tunnel. 

“What was that?” Armin whispered. 

“The missing person maybe?” Ava whispered. 

“In the dark?” They glanced at one another. 

She turned around to see Eren and Xilo still fighting and Valentine getting annoyed. “Guys!” None of them could hear her over their bickering. “Guys! I think there’s someone—” Armin’s lantern began to flicker, along with the others. Valentine gasped as she noticed Eren and Xilo’s lanterns doing the same thing.

“What’s going on?” She turned around to see Armin’s lantern flicker once more before being shut off completely. Her eyes widened as Armin and Ava had blended into the darkness. “Guys?” She felt another presence behind them. What is that coming? The missing person?

All of the lanterns shut off and the ground suddenly felt as if it was shifting. An excruciating whistle filled the air and everyone screamed in panic as they struggled to balance on the moving ground. It lasted for about a minute long before it finally stopped. 

A lantern that laid on its side a few feet away slowly dimmed back on. Valentine hyperventilated as she uncovered her ears and glanced around in a panic. All of the others were gone.

[nofacedpoet]

Ch. 25: Mourning the Ghost of a Living Person

There was what felt like a subtle shake of everything around. Gradually, it strengthened to the point where everything in the room was shaking and moving.

“What the hell?” Valentine opened her eyes and glanced around the dark room confused. She grasped onto the blankets as the entire bed slightly skidded across the floor. “What’s going on?” The shaking slowed and then came to a complete stop. Everything was still again.

“Uh—” She stared for a moment as she tried to comprehend what just happened and if it was even real. She glanced toward the window and noticed that it wasn’t raining. Surely, it wasn’t a lightening strike then. But if not, then what? She slowly got out of bed and caught a glimpse of the alarm clock as she headed to the door. It was 3:55 AM. When she walked out into the empty and dark hall way, there was nothing but sheer silence and emptiness. Did no one else wake up with that?

\\

“It must’ve been a weird dream of some sort,” Armin said as he, Ava, Valentine, Eren, and Xilo made their way down the hall. It was nearly eleven pm and they were headed for their secret side quest to explore the witchcraft dungeon inside of the castle. “Like one of those that you still feel for a few seconds after you wake up.”

“But it felt so real. None of you seriously felt that?” Valentine glanced at Ava on her left, then at Armin, Xilo, and Eren on her right. She gave them all the same perplexed expression as if she didn’t believe them and thought the whole thing was some weird joke. 

“I’m a pretty light sleeper,” Xilo said. “I think it would’ve woke me up.”

“I didn’t feel anything either,” Eren added.

Ava moved some loose strands of her curly hair from her eyes to get a better glance at Valentine. “I didn’t feel anything like that.” Her brown eyes stared wide and her cheeks slightly blushed. She gently squeezed onto Valentine’s arm and whispered, “are you having those night terrors again?”

Valentine yanked her arm away as if she was insulted. “What? No! I haven’t had those since we were kids.” 

Ava glanced at her with such lament. “You’ve just been acting a little off lately. Is it just everything going on?” She attempted to grab Valentine’s arm again, but only the end of her sleeve cuff this time. Valentine sighed. She knew it was true. Between everything going on with their recent findings and the mixed emotions with Levi, it was all too much and she hadn’t felt like herself. But this didn’t mean she wanted to talk about it. Unlike Ava, who was usually pretty vocal about worries, Valentine would rather pretend nothing was actually happening. “Is it because the situation with the Capt—“ 

“Ava,” Valentine glanced at her with an annoyed expression. “This is the fifth time you’ve asked me about him. Are you sure that you aren’t just concerned about him?” Armin slightly glanced at Ava from the side of his eye as he clenched onto the straps of his backpack. 

Ava’s eyes widened. “What-no. It isn’t like that—” 

“Then stop bringing him up.” 

Ava shrunk in herself and hesitantly let go of Valentine’s sleeve. “Sorry,” she whispered. She caught Armin’s stare and he quickly glanced away.

“Shit,” Valentine said as they were nearly out the doors. “I forgot my jacket. I’ll be back,” she turned around and headed back to her dorm.

“Look, I can show you some if you want,” Xilo said as he opened his journal and began to flick through the pages. Eren sighed and crossed his arms. The last thing he wanted to see was Xilo’s sketches of titans and theories, however, he was attempting to not be so mean to him in order to get on Armin’s good side, who was still ignoring him at all costs. Eren glanced over to see Armin whispering something to Ava as he hugged her tightly. Armin glanced up and caught Eren’s stare, but rather than acknowledging, he glanced away as if he didn’t even notice. Eren grunted as he pouted his lip out. 

“Oh, sorry,” Xilo said as he noticed Eren’s annoyance. “I don’t have to show them if you don’t—”

“Go ahead. Please. I’m dying to see,” Eren said.

“Okay!” Xilo said excitingly as he faced the journal to Eren.

-

Valentine opened the door and it pulled itself open. The room was freezing cold and there was a light whistling that came from the window that was a few inches open. “Did I leave that open?” She walked over and slammed it shut. In the reflection, there was what appeared to be a shadow in the background. She blinked and glanced again to see a tall, thin, black shadow standing in the corner of her room. She gasped and quickly turned around. But there was nothing there. The light flickered a few times and she glanced at the window to see the shadow gone. “Must just be tired,” she tried to reassure herself. Still carefully watching from the side of her eye, she made her way for the closet.

The same weird feeling that had occurred only recently was happening again at this very moment. It was one that she could hardly explain even if she tried. The closest explanation was the feeling of being watched from someone that is very close, yet not too close that you could actually touch them. It didn’t replicate that exact feeling though because there was still something so alien about it at the same time. It wasn’t exactly threatening, but it was uncomfortable. The entire idea sounded quite irrational and unable to hold in words, so trying to explain this to anyone wasn’t an option.

Am I just being paranoid? She dragged the hangers across one by one without even glancing at the options.

It must be that. After everything, maybe I’m just worried of us getting caught— One jacket in particular caught her attention and her hand struggled to push it along into the others. After a long moment of hesitation, her hand finally dropped from the hanger and gently slid down the sleeve. I forgot I even had his jacket…

She gently removed it from the hanger as if it was a delicate little thing and a small smile appeared on her face. It still smells of him. Her fingers clenched onto its collar as if it was being taken from her. She pressed it into her face and his scent filled her nose as she remembered the moment she met him. The way he stood there on the balcony. The way he looked at her with his deep grey eyes. How comforting his voice sounded, even with his sarcastic remarks. The way his hair was perfectly parted and laid to the sides of his face. It looked so soft. Her cheeks began to warm and her hands tingled. Hm.

It was almost as if he was standing directly in front of her again. Almost as if she could just reach out and feel…almost. Suddenly, her smile quickly faded as she was reminded of the moment it all changed for good. She gasped as his jacket effortlessly slipped from her fingers and landed at her feet. Her empty hands fell heavy. All of the warmth in her face dissipated. And she was now left again with the feeling of mourning the ghost of a living person. There it is, her eyes watered. That feeling. So familiar that it’s stranger not to have it nearby. Everyone leaves eventually…one way or another—

A light rattling sound that came from nearby. She slightly glanced up to listen as it was so gentle. The noise began to get louder and louder and she flinched as there was a loud thump on the other side of the closet door. Her compass had fallen from the book shelf behind and her eyes followed as it rolled across the floor until it collided against the bed frame. It vibrated across the floor as it ticked loudly. She hesitantly walked over and kneeled down to pick it up. It trembled in her hand as she opened it. The needle spun chaotically for a few seconds before seemingly getting stuck in one direction. It began to move now in the opposite direction, then again, getting stuck in the same position. Her eyes followed in the direction in which it pointed and she stared with a confused expression toward the corner of her room. Is there something magnetic messing with it? 

She glanced back down and stared into it for a moment when her attention was brought to the floor. Her eyes widened as she noticed marks behind the bed frame that looked as if the bed had been slightly dragged. “Huh?!” The compass nearly dropped from her hand as she jerked her head in the other direction to see similar marks on the other side of the bed frame. I knew it! She quickly stood and slammed the compass shut. It wasn’t a dream!

\

Ava, Armin, Eren, and Xilo were still waiting near the door when she got back to them.

“Jeez, what took you so long?” Eren asked. Valentine hesitated. It looked as if she was about to respond but didn’t know how to.

“Are you…alright?” Ava asked.

“Yeah,” Valentine nodded nervously and was very clearly sweating. “All fine.”

“Okay, don’t panic,” Eren mumbled as he glanced behind her. “But the Captain is at 6 o’clock—”

“What?!” Valentine panicked. She turned around to see him down the crowded hall way and very clearly walking in there direction. He hadn’t seen them yet. “Shit, move!” She shoved between them to hide behind Eren, who was the tallest of the group. 

“You’re being weird,” Eren said. “Don’t be weird.”

“Shut up!”

“Should we pretend we didn’t notice him and just-oops never mind he’s looking-he definitely sees us now,” Eren mumbled.

“He looks pissed,” Ava said. 

“He always looks pissed,” Eren said.

“Why do I feel like we may be in trouble?” Armin gasped. “You don’t think he knows that we know about it, do you?”

“Don’t be paranoid,” Eren said. “Just act cool—”

Levi now stood directly in front of them. “Well you guys look like you’re up to no good.” Eren gave him a nervous smile. Ava and Xilo tried to not make eye contact with him. And Armin just stared with a guilty expression. Levi glared at them suspiciously. He noticed Armin and Xilo wearing backpacks but didn’t care to ask. “We’ve been called for an unexpected special-ops mission tomorrow. Looks like we��ll be heading into the capital. So rest up. It’s going to be a long journ—”

He hesitated as Valentine made her way from behind Eren and hesitantly glanced up at him. Their eyes met at the same time and Levi’s expression softened.

The first thing that she noticed, other than his soft gaze on her, was how different he looked since the last time she saw him at the meeting (which was three days ago). She felt a sense of relief in the way his eyes had a different look in them, not that they still didn’t carry some worrying heaviness, but he didn’t look as exhausted as before. The discoloration that laid heavy underneath his eyes was now faded. And though he was usually pale, he didn’t look as sickly as before. He actually looked rested, which was odd for him.

His lips slowly parted as he said something to her, but all she could hear were her own thoughts of this sight she longed to see again. She quickly became embarrassed as he stared and waited for her response and everyone else awkwardly glanced back and forth at them.

“Uh,” Valentine barely even got that word out and struggled to get it together. “What?” Her expression was sort of cute to him. She genuinely looked lost but innocent.

He huffed a small laugh from his nose as he smiled from the corner of his mouth. He moved his gaze to the floor as if to hide it from her. His soft hair fell from the sides and over his eyes. She felt as if she was about to pass out. Her face was hot, her mouth was dry, her hands were sweaty. Fuck. What did he say?

He glanced back up at her with his same soft eyes and said again, “I assume you will be joining us, then?” His expression slightly shifted into a worried one as he waited for her response. She didn’t even realize how long she had taken as she was trying to process it all. “Y-yes,” she struggled to get that one out as it barely left her lips at all. She clenched her teeth of embarrassment. Did he hear me? Did I say that too low? 

Levi nodded to show that he caught it. “Good,” he said softly that the word barely left his lips this time. He broke his gaze and glanced at the floor again. “So I-expect everyone—” his words were jumbled together and weren’t very coherent. He cleared his throat and took a step back. “I expect to see everyone tomorrow,” he tried to put his hand in his pocket but missed. “Seven am sharp,” he added as he was nearly walking off as he was still finishing whatever it was he was trying to say. 

“Yes sir!” Eren, Armin, and Ava said with confused expressions. Levi turned around and walked off. 

“The hell was that about?” Eren whispered. “I’ve never seen the Captain like that.” Ava moved her attention from Levi and glanced at Valentine, who was still watching him leave as she tried to process what just happened. After a long moment, she finally moved her attention back to everyone and noticed Ava across everyone, giving her a stare that she hadn’t seen in such a long time. It was one that made Valentine feel uneasy, as if she had done something wrong. She gave her a peculiar expression and Ava looked away toward the ground. 

Armin blocked Valentine’s view as he stepped in front of her and gave her a huge smirk.

“Stop that,” Valentine shoved him and he giggled.

“C’mon,” Eren said. “We have a quest to get to.”

[nofacedpoet]

Ch. 24: A Million Butterflies

Levi was on his fourth rotation around his office as he aggressively scraped the bristles of the broom against the wooden floor. It looked more like he was attacking the floor rather than sweeping it. He noticed a small spec on the floor that refused to move and instead mock him. He scraped at it a few more times but it stubbornly stayed in place. “Tsk,” he tossed the broom aside and grabbed for a rag and some cleanser. He kneeled down and began to spray away at the spec when the trigger of the spray bottle broke in his hand.

Agh, you’re shitting me. He violently ripped the top off and dumped the entire thing onto the tiny spec and chunked the empty bottle across the room. It bounced off the wall and rolled back towards him, just barely sitting behind his shoe. He clenched onto the rag and angrily scrubbed away at the floor. The giant puddle of cleanser began to form bubbles and spread out into an even bigger mess. After what seemed to be more than enough scrubs to wipe the spec away, Levi scraped the bubbles aside and leaned closer to examine. The spec was still there, in its same spot, looking back at him. His eyes widened as he stared into it as if the small thing was purposely taunting him. 

“That’s it,” he punched the floor where the spec was and cleanser splashed all over his face. This only angered him more and he punched at the spec even harder. Not realizing how hard he was fighting with it, his fist fell into the floor and he now stared into an even bigger problem, a hole in the floor. He gasped as he pulled his hand back and blood peered from his ripped glove. Shit. He took the glove off and stared into his bloody knuckles which were already bruised from before.

There was a knock at his door and he sighed annoyed. He went to stand, but not noticing the bottle was still behind his shoe, he slipped on it and collapsed right into the giant puddle of cleanser. “God damn it!”

Hange’s eyes widened from the other side of the door. She was about to turn around to quickly leave when Levi opened the door so abruptly that it slammed against the wall behind.

“Uh,” she glanced down at his wet clothes. His sleeves were messily rolled up and uneven. She glanced back up at him and noticed dark circles underneath his eyes, worse than the days before. His hair was messy and in all directions like birds had nested in it. She glanced over his head and into his office to see a mess. “Now a bad time?”

He sighed and glanced to the side. “What is it, Hange?”

“Right. Uh. Anyways. Erwin is asking for your report for tomorrows meeting. He figured you were too busy to take it to him since he hasn’t really seen you…or rather no one’s really seen you—” 

“Shit. I forgot that was tomorrow,” Levi rubbed his eyes.

“Really? You’re usually the one prepared—uh, is that blood?” She leaned over to get a closer look at his hand.

He pulled his hand away from her and glared. “I don’t have the report. It’ll have to wait for tomorrow—” his eyes widened and his expression completely changed as his gaze froze on something behind Hange. 

“Hm?” She turned around and noticed Valentine walking with Eren, Armin, and Ava. Levi’s eyes followed as she passed by and watched until she disappeared into the crowd and couldn’t be seen anymore.

“Is she going to be at the meeting tomorrow?” Hange smirked.

He had barely realized that he was still staring into the crowd and quickly moved his attention back to Hange. “How the hell should I know?” He scowled. “It’s not like I give a damn whether the brat shows up or not.”

“One of you is going to have to give in eventually. You can’t both be stubborn forever.”

He glared. “I need to get back to work,” he slammed the door and leaned against it as he let out a huge sigh. 

Shit. I haven’t even thought of the possibility of running into her tomorrow. Should I say something to her? What would I even say?

He could see the last time he saw her. “…I don’t want to ever see you again…”

No. Forget it. Best to just keep my distance…

~

“I’m telling you,” Valentine glanced around paranoid at the other male scouts who were getting dressed in the boys locker room as if they were going to hear. She leaned more into Eren. “I know what I heard.” 

“How,”—Eren jumped up and down as he pulled his pants up—“can you be so sure?”

“Hey! You’re not supposed to be in here!” a shirtless scout said as he pointed to Valentine. 

“Shut up!” Eren and Valentine screamed at the same time and the scout stumbled back as if they barked at him. He glanced around as if any of the other scouts were going to get in for him but no one cared. They were too busy rushing to get out on time, as it was a penalty on all scouts if even one person was a second late to the training field. 

“I mean, think about it,” Valentine whispered. “How many other languages do we know exist?” 

“Yeah,” Eren hurriedly pulled his shirt off and tossed it in the locker as he glanced up at the clock. “Other languages are unheard of.” He scrambled through his messy locker but couldn’t seem to find his training shirt. 

“Right?” Valentine pointed into the locker where his shirt was. “There.” 

“Oh, thanks.” He violently ripped it out from underneath all the other junk and a few items fell onto the floor.

Valentine sighed and kneeled down to pick them up. “So it has to be in some relation to the guys that broke into Levi’s office that night.” She stood and tossed the items back into his locker.

Eren pulled his shirt over his head when he just realized what she said. He jerked his head toward her. “What?!” He yelled. “You think—”

“Shh!” She put her hands over his mouth and incidentally slammed him against the lockers a little too hard. His eyes widened as he glanced down at her. “Keep it down. This is serious shit.” She looked around at the other scouts that were now giving them peculiar expressions. Eren mumbled something and she removed her hand and stepped back.

He made a gross expression as he wiped his mouth with his arm. “Why are your hands so damn salty—” Eren suddenly stopped speaking as he noticed Armin turn the corner to make his way to his locker, which was directly beside his. He quickly turned to face his locker as if he hadn’t noticed him.

“Hey Valentine,” Armin said quietly as he began to change. 

“Hey Armin,” Valentine replied. She glanced at Eren who was having trouble getting his right arm through his shirt.

“Here,” she grabbed onto the bottom of his shirt and pulled it down as he pushed his arm out. She caught Armin subtly glance at Eren’s body before quickly looking away. 

“Thanks,” Eren said. 

“Sure.”

Eren shoved his feet into his boots and yanked his gear from his locker. He slammed the locker shut and began to walk toward the doors. “Are you coming?” He glanced back at Valentine.

She glanced down at Eren’s boots that were still untied and glanced at Armin. “Shouldn’t we wait for Armin?” She glanced back at Eren with a confused expression.

“Whatever. I’ll be outside the doors,” Eren walked off. 

She turned to Armin and he just gave a forced smile as he pulled his pants up. “Are you guys alright?” She asked as she walked over and kneeled down to help tie his boots. 

“Yeah, fine,” Armin said as he glanced up at the clock and rushed to pull a belt around his pants. She glanced up with a peculiar expression, as Armin had never worn a belt before. More so, she noticed that he had to tighten it all the way to the very last hole. She tied the last knot on his boot as he finished pulling his shirt over. She stood up and now that she was close enough, she could tell his eyes were a bit puffy and slightly red from underneath. 

He gave another forced smile as he quickly broke eye contact and reached into his locker for his gear. “C’mon,” he shut the locker and walked off with his head down. 

\\\

Later that evening…

“Cherry Wine?” Eren asked as he leaned his shoulder against the wall and glanced at the tape in his hand. “I didn’t know you listened to this sort of depressing stuff.”

Valentine snatched it from him and tossed it on the desk with the other two. “It’s the Captain’s.” She grabbed the LyricBox from the shelf and sat down on the floor next to Ava.

“Oh,” Eren glanced over at the other titles. “So you guys are close like that?”

“Pfft, please. It was for training.”

“Wait a minute,” Armin sat between Ava and Valentine. “I’ve heard of these before! Isn’t that a LyricBox?”

“How has everyone heard of these but me?” Valentine put it on the station that it was on yesterday and placed it in the center.

Armin carefully lifted it as he studied it. “How did you get one of these?”

“The Captain got it for me.”

“What?” Ava asked. “Why is he buying you all this stuff?”

“It was just for training.” 

“Really?” Ava lifted a brow.

Valentine glanced at her. “What.” Armin glanced back and forth at them.

“I knew it,” Eren sat opposite of Armin and they formed a circle. “He was in love with you this entire time.”

“Shut up,” Valentine shoved him and he laughed. “I’m pretty sure he hates me. He hasn’t even bothered to apologize.”

“What happened between you guys anyway?” Eren asked. “You never—” he noticed Armin glance up at him and nod his head no. Not even Armin knew what exactly happened between Levi and Valentine, however, he did witness some of her last training with him, and from what he and Xilo could tell, it was bad.

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Valentine said quietly as she glanced into her palm.

Eren glared at Armin and snatched the radio from his hand. “Let me see this,” he said angrily. Armin sighed through his nose and tried to compose himself. Valentine glanced at Armin and he moved his gaze to the floor as he began to fiddle with his fingers. 

“So what have I missed?” Valentine asked.

“Nothing, really,” Armin glanced to the side.

“Nothing,” Eren glanced into the radio. Valentine glanced back and forth at them as a very long and painful silence ensued.

Ava leaned over and whispered into Valentine’s ear, “they’ve been like this all week.” Valentine glanced back up at them. Armin was glancing around like he’d never been in Valentine’s dorm before and Eren was studying the LyricBox like it was the most interesting thing he’d ever seen. She looked at Ava and Ava shrugged.

Luckily, there was a bit of static that came from the radio and broke the awkward silence. They all gasped and Eren quickly placed it back in the center. Armin grabbed his notebook and pen and leaned in as he waited. There was a bit of muffling through the static that sounded like something was trying to come through. It slowly faded out and the music came back on. “Did you guys hear that!?” Valentine said. They all glanced at one another. 

The static appeared once again and they all leaned in. “Listen closely!”  The muffling returned and lasted longer this time. Then, a very distant voice could be heard just in the back of it. “Moluski…driak—“ a man’s voice broke in and out of the static and all of their eyes widened. 

“I-I heard it that time!” Ava said. 

“I told you guys!” Valentine said. 

“What the hell does this mean?” Eren said. “Who are they—”

“Ouki Palashi—“ a second voice said.

Ava gasped. “That voice sounded different.”

“They must be communicating,” Valentine said. Armin attempted to write as quickly as possible into his journal.

“Shit-shit-shit,” Eren put his hands on his head. “They had to have been the ones out in Shiganshina when we went on that special-ops mission. They were looking for that red folder too.”

“And they were so desperate for it that they broke into Levi’s office to take it. Probably swapped it with that blank we saw in the meeting,” Valentine said. 

“The Commander said that file involved a major secret about the walls,” Ava said. “So does this mean…”

“They know what it is and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to keep it hidden,” Armin said. “Makes sense to communicate in a language no one knows. Whoever they are, surely they’ve been around for awhile.”

“Itoski—” the voice muttered through the radio.

“Damn it,” Eren said. “We need to figure out what they’re saying. And how are they communicating through like this? Where are they?” Eren tried to replay the moment they snuck into Levi’s office. He tried to remember anything about them from that night. His eyes widened as he gasped.

“What?” Ava said as she glanced around paranoid and scooted closer to the center of the circle.

“That night,” Eren said. “When we snuck into the Captain’s office,” he glanced at Valentine with a terrified expression. “They unlocked his door with keys. That’s why we thought it was the Captain in the first place!”

“Zioukl—” the voice muffled through the static.

Valentine’s eyes widened. “Shit.”

“What? What’s that mean?!” Ava shrieked.

“How else would they get copy of his key?” Eren asked. “This means…someone was helping them. Possibly someone in the higher ups. They aren’t the only ones protecting this secret.”

“That reminds me,” Armin said as he finished writing. “In my last meeting with the Commander, he did seem more eager about showing results in the next expedition. It seemed rather odd because, well, whenever has the scouts been about results and not exploration? You think the higher ups have something to do with that?”

“Maybe they’re trying to find an excuse to shut us down,” Eren said. “Makes sense, since they realized we nearly caught their big secret,” he glanced at the radio.

If there is something going on, Valentine thought. Why wouldn’t the Commander or Levi tell us? Do they not trust us? Does he…not trust me…

Her mind wondered back to the last moment she saw him. “What are you going to do, strangle me?!” The look in his eye when he said those stinging words would never be forgotten. An image of the marks on his neck came to her mind and she squeezed her eyes shut to make it go away. I guess…he has a right to not trust me…I did that to him. I did that… She covered her face with her hands as she tried to not think about it, but moments from the last time she saw him began to flood her mind. 

“…Don’t forget what that thing took from you…are you going to let it take more from you?…”

“…If you keep going like this, it will surely take everything…everyone…”

“…Imagine when it takes the others…”

His words carved through her once again, like a blade slowly reopening the wounds. Her chest tightened as her heart sunk and her hands began to tremble.

Armin grabbed the radio and tried to cut it up but incidentally changed the station. 

“You idiot! Let me see it!” Eren attempted to snatch it from him but Armin pulled it away. 

“I got it!” Armin said. 

“No, you don’t! Let me see it!”

“Guys, stop fighting,” Ava said.

“Eren, stop!” Armin yelled.

“You stop!” Eren grabbed it and attempted to yank it from him.

“Stop being such a jerk!” Armin pulled back on it.

“You’re being the jerk!” Eren yelled.

“You’ve been the jerk all week!”

“Me?!” Eren yelled. “Definitely not you right? Cause you’re just so perfect!”

Valentine hadn’t even noticed them fighting because her mind was so clouded. “Maybe it’ll take all of their lives to amount to nothing…just like his.” Why would he say this to me..when he knows…I just don’t get it…why would he do that to me…purposely hurt me…

“…the Commander did seem more eager about showing results in the next expedition…”

“…Maybe they’re trying to find an excuse to shut us down…”

“…If you keep going like this, it will surely take everything…everyone…”

“…Maybe it’ll take all of their lives to amount to nothing…just like his….”

Wait a minute… she thought.

“…the Commander did seem more eager about showing results in the next expedition…”

…Is that why he was acting like that towards me…was he just trying to… 

She gasped as her eyes widened right as the radio slipped from Eren’s grip and hit Armin right in the face. Armin fell back on the ground and the radio crashed into pieces beside him.

“Armin!” Ava yelled as she kneeled down. He touched his bottom lip to see that it was bleeding. 

“Don’t touch it,” Ava said. “Let me see it.” She gently grabbed his face and glanced into the slash across his bottom lip.

“Shit,” Eren glanced around and saw some tissues on the desk. He grabbed a few and walked back over to Armin. He kneeled down and reached to pat his lip when Armin slapped his hand away.

“Armin,” Eren said. “I didn’t mean—“

“Leave it,” Armin sighed. Ava helped him up and he wiped his lip with the back of his sleeve and stared into it as his eyes slightly watered. He kept his head down so no one would notice.

“Uh, Valentine?” Ava said. “Are you alright?”

They all glanced at her. She had a distraught expression and her eyes were wide as ever. 

\\\

The next day…

“I’m so glad you decided to come to the meeting!” Ava jumped with joy as she, Valentine, and Eren headed to Commander Erwin’s office. Armin was already there due to a meeting beforehand. 

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Eren said. “If he didn’t say himself that you’re off his squad, you’re definitely still on.” 

“Exactly!” Ava smiled as she giggled.

“Regardless, I’ll find out in this meeting, I guess,” Valentine mumbled. 

“Alright,” Eren put his hand on the door. “Ready?”

Valentine sighed. “Let’s just get it over with.” 

Her stomach tightened into a huge knot as Eren reached for the door knob. Right on the other side of that door was him. Who she told she never wanted to see again. It’s been so long since I’ve seen his face, she thought as she held her breath. What will his reaction be to seeing me again? Knowing him, he’ll probably have something smart or mean to say. Probably glare at me. He doesn’t want to see me. She remembered the look in his eye the last time she saw him. How much hate and anger was inside of him. Maybe this was a mistake. I can still turn around, she took a small step back. The door began to slowly open and she suddenly forgot how to breathe. Oh no. Here it goes… She slowly moved her gaze up as the door opened all the way, and it was almost instinctive and natural the way her eyes automatically drew to him first, as if they knew exactly where he’d be. Her eyes widened as if it was the first time she’d ever seen him. There he was, leaning against the wall beside the window, his hands in his pockets, one leg crossed over the other, as he stared at the ground with his hair slightly over his eyes. It felt like time moved slow as he glanced up and his eyes were met with hers. His eyes slightly widened as the expression on his face changed from one of sadness to one of surprise. And right in that moment, the knot in her stomach shattered into a million butterflies. Her breathing returned and it was like all the nerves had simply vanished into the air.

“Uh, Valentine?” Ava said as she and Eren were already a few feet ahead into the room, staring back at her. 

“Huh?” She hadn’t noticed that she was just standing at the entrance and they had already went in. Everyone else that sat at the table all stared at her. “Oh,” she quickly made herself in. Levi dropped his gaze back to the floor and a small smile appeared from the corner of his mouth. 

As they approached the table, Armin scowled at Eren. He had a small bandage on his bottom lip.

“Is it healing okay?” Ava whispered as she sat beside Armin and patted his arm.

“It’s alright,” he glared at Eren.

“Glad to see all of you here,” Hange smiled as she glanced at Valentine, but Valentine hadn’t noticed as she was glancing at Eren, who had a sad expression on his face as he glanced toward Armin. “Would any of you care for tea?” Hange asked as she stood and grabbed the teapot. 

“Yes, please,” Ava said.

“I’ll have some,” Eren said.

“Sure,” Valentine said.

Erwin began to pass out files to each of them as Hange poured into their cups. Valentine lifted the cup and stared into the dark tea as it swirled around. The vapor escaped into her nose and she quickly realized how fresh it smelt. She lifted the cup to her lips and took a small sip. Her eyes shot open as she was met with a feeling of warmth and comfort that she had only felt once in her life before. 

She was seven years old, sitting at a small brown, round, scratched up table. Her clothes were as torn and faded as everything else in the cabin. It was so cold that day. So much, that she could see white vapor escape from her mouth as she hyperventilated. She slowly reached her trembling and freezing hands that were barely covered by ripped mittens, and lifted the tiny cup of tea to her mouth. She was immediately overcome with a feeling that she’d never forget. It was the first time, she had ever felt warmth. And it wasn’t just the temperature of the tea that created this feeling. It was everything within it. The flavors, the silkiness, the scent. All of which together created an unforgettable warmth that ignited within her and made the dim world light up just a bit.

Valentine quickly gulped down the rest and wiped her mouth. Hange giggled.

“Would you like some more?” Hange asked.

“Yes,” Valentine pushed her cup towards her. “That’s some of the best I’ve had. How did you make that?” Levi glanced up at her.

“Well,” Hange poured into Valentine’s cup. “Levi made it. I suppose if he’s willing to share his secrets, he’ll tell you.” She smiled.

Valentine glanced at him and noticed that he was already looking at her with a soft expression. One that she had never seen on him before. Her eyes widened and she felt the same feeling just like just a minute ago when she walked in, a million butterflies. She broke eye contact with him first and stared into the cup of tea. As much as she tried not to, she incidentally glanced back up at him and noticed that he was still staring at her. She looked back down as if she didn’t notice. Why is he looking at me like that?

“Alright, let us begin,” Erwin said as he opened the file. 

For that entire meeting, she could barely concentrate on anything they were going over. Her mind filled with thousands of thoughts that began to scrambled all together. 

I’m not even certain that could’ve been the reason he was such a dick that day… she thought. Regardless, I’m still upset at him…some things are just unforgivable…there are certain words that one can’t take back…but then again…I said some pretty shitty things to him too, I guess…

She subtly moved her eyes from page one in her file (everyone else was on page ten, except for Levi who didn’t even bother to glance into the file) and tried to glance at Levi in a way that wasn’t too obvious. She slowly brought her eyes up toward his direction, and as her eyes fell on him, the anger she felt inside burned away like ashes vanishing into the air. Her eyes softened the longer her gaze stayed on him. It had felt like such a long time since she’d seen this site. 

He still stood in his same position, leaning against the wall, one leg crossed over the other, his arms now crossed, but still staring at the ground with his hair just over his eyes to where she couldn’t see much of his face. His hair was a bit longer than usual and he looked much slimmer too. She noticed that his right hand was bandaged. Is he hurt? What happened? Wait. Why am I even wondering. I don’t care—

Levi glanced up at her as if he heard her thoughts and she froze. His expression was somber but soft and his eyes were filled with such a grief that she hadn’t noticed before. It was as if his eyes were trying to tell her something that his lips could not. And she felt it. Something was definitely wrong. Her lips slowly parted as her expression softened. Maybe something is going on the way we thought? But…why won’t he just tell me…just tell me…

The longer he stared at her, the more she felt herself becoming warm. Her face began to slightly blush. Isn’t he going to look away first? As much as she tried to, it was like her eyes wouldn’t allow her to. And this place felt like…home—

“Magic,” she thought she heard Armin whisper. She made a confused expression as she wasn’t sure if she actually heard that out loud. An odd feeling immersed within her body like dejavu. She glanced over at Armin and he smiled before glancing back down into the file. Her eyes widened as she stared at him for a moment longer. She glanced back toward Levi, but he was already looking out the window, with his same sad expression. 

“Alright. That’s all for today. If no one has any questions, you’re free to go,” Erwin said as he flipped the last page over and shut the file. 

Armin, Ava, and Eren stood from their seats so abruptly that their chairs nearly fell back. Valentine reacted late, as she was still trying to comprehend what the hell Armin was on about. She gulped down the rest of her tea and quickly followed after the others. 

After she made her way out the door, she glanced back once more toward Levi. He was still staring out of the window. She watched as the crack of the door grew smaller and smaller, until it shut completely and he was out of sight. 

“What is it?” Ava asked.

“I don’t know. Didn’t the Captain seem a little…gloomy to you?” Valentine asked.

“Uh. Isn’t he always like that?” Ava said.

“I guess…”

“So remember the plan,” Ava glanced at each of them. “Me and Armin go to the library and see if we can find anything on this language to translate and Valentine and Eren go to the military shop to get a new LyricBox.”

“Cool,” Eren said as he glanced at Armin. Armin looked away from him.

“Alright, we’ll meet back up in an hour at Valentine’s dorm,” Ava said. She and Armin turned to leave but Valentine grabbed Armin’s hand and he turned to her.

“Why did you say that?” Valentine whispered.

Armin giggled. “You know why,” he let go of her hand and walked away. Valentine watched him with a peculiar expression.

“What happened?” Eren asked.

“Uh…” she realized that it was such an odd thing to even try to explain. “Well…he said something. A word that I only used to think of when I saw my parents together…it was the only word that came to mind…back when I was a kid.”

“Hm?” Eren glanced toward Armin. “How would he know that?”

Valentine smiled with a peculiar expression. “I don’t know…”

\\\

Later that day…

“You smell like shit, over,” Valentine said through a walkie talkie.

Eren giggled from around the corner of the hall. “Yeah, well, so do you, over,” he released the button and giggled again.

“Copy that,” Valentine said.

“What?” Eren laughed. “You just agreed that you smell like shit.” He released the button.

“No, I didn’t,” Valentine said. 

“Yes you—”

“What are you doing?” Armin asked from behind and Eren jumped. He quickly turned around to face him and hid the walkie behind his back. 

“Nothing,” Eren glanced to the side as his cheeks blushed. 

“What? I didn’t catch that. Over,” Valentine said through the walkie. 

“Is that Valentine?” Ava asked.

“Yeah,” Eren brought the walkie from behind his back. “We got walkies!”

“I see,” Armin said displeased. 

Eren had barely noticed that Xilo was also there. “What’s he doing here?!” 

Armin crossed his arms. “I invited him. He could help us with this investigation.” 

“I doubt it,” Eren rolled his eyes.

Ava sighed. “Okay, okay, let’s go,” she walked off toward Valentine’s dorm and they followed. 

“Walkies?” Ava asked as they walked in.

“Yeah, plus the LyricBox,” Valentine pointed to it. “Oh, hey Xilo. Didn’t expect you,” she glanced at Armin, who was returning the scowl to Eren.

“Don’t worry,” Xilo said. “Armin mentioned that this stays between us. I won’t tell anyone.” Eren rolled his eyes.

“Anyways,” Ava sat on the floor next to Valentine and the others joined to form a circle. “How much were those things?”

“About eight thousand each,” Valentine said. 

“What?! Did both of you wipe out your military accounts or what?”

“Well,” Eren said as he and Valentine glanced at one another. 

***

“This brings your total to fifteen thousand two hundred and forty two dollars, and fifty two cents,” the clerk said as he bagged the walkies, LyricBox, and some candy, along with Eren’s favorite Cool Ranch Doritos. “How will you be paying today?”

“Uh,” Valentine and Eren glanced at one another. 

“Well, you see,” Eren said. 

The clerk sighed. “We can’t offer a later pay for totals over ten thousand dollars, even if you are in the military,” he pointed to their uniforms. 

“Well, did you include our military discount?” Eren asked.

“Of course. That took off nearly three thousand dollars.”

“I don’t believe you!” Eren said. The clerk rolled his eyes and moved the screen to face him. “Oh,” Eren said. He turned to Valentine and whispered, “should we take something off?”

“Like what?” she whispered back. “We need all of that. Unless we drop the candy and chips.”

“No!” Eren whispered. “We need all of that for our investigation. I get stressed. And I feel like it’s going to be a long night.” 

“Eren.”

“We keep it.”

The clerk gave them a peculiar expression. 

“Uh-hem,” Eren moved his attention to the clerk. “We’ll actually be putting this on our Captain’s tab. Captain Levi. I’m sure you’ve heard of him. He sent us to get these things for training.” 

The clerk lifted an eye brow. “Captain Levi sent you to get some Doritos and candy?”

“He likes it,” Eren said insulted. Valentine glanced away as she tried to hold in her laughter. 

“Well,” the clerk said. “Regardless, we’ll need his signature to sign off.”

“Do you know who you’re talking to right now? Do you know who this is?” Eren pointed to Valentine, who was still facing away. “We’re in the special-ops squad!”

“Ohhh,” the clerk said in an unenthusiastic tone as he lifted his hands as if to ask for mercy. “The special-ops squadddd. Why didn’t you say thattttt. I’m terrified. Sorry. No. Still no.”

“This is Valentine Sakleysi!” Eren said. “She’s second to Captain Levi. He gave her permission to sign off on it, so you can’t say no!”

The clerk glanced at her. Valentine placed her hands on her hips. “It’s true,” she said as she tried not to laugh.

“Alright,” the clerk grabbed a pen and clicked a button that released the order receipt. Valentine and Eren glanced at one another with surprise. “Here,” he placed the receipt and pen on the counter and slid it over towards her as he gave them both a suspicious expression. Valentine leaned over and scribbled her name to where Levi wouldn’t be able to tell it was hers. 

“There,” she scooted it back over to him. 

“Alright,” the clerk said. “You’re good to go—”

Valentine and Eren took off running out the door. 

***

“You stole fifteen thousand two hundred and forty two dollars and fifty two cents from the Captain?!” Ava shrieked. “He’s going to kill you!”

“Well, he’s already going to kill me,” Valentine said. “Minus well get something out of it.” 

“Plus,” Eren said. “He owes us!”

“Oh, does he?” Ava said sarcastically.

“Yeah. For being a dick,” Eren smiled. Ava shook her head.

“I bet this was all your idea,” Armin mumbled as he glared at Eren.

“What?! You’re just saying that because you’re still mad about yesterday!”

“You’re still being an asshole like yesterday.”

“You know, if you weren’t being such a dick,” Eren reached inside of a bag. “You’d know that I bought you this!” He took out a Mud Candy Bar, which was just trail mix in the form of a candy bar with a thin layer of chocolate on the bottom, Armin’s favorite. Eren threw it at him and Armin stared at him as it hit his chest and fell between his legs.

“You mean, the Captain bought it for me,” Armin said annoyed. “And this doesn’t make up for the cut you put on my lip!” Xilo glanced at Armin with a surprised expression. They had been hanging out a lot lately, but he hadn’t seen this side of him yet. 

“I didn’t mean to. I already told you. It was an incident!”

“You mean accident.”

“Same difference!”

“No. Not same.” 

“Okay, okay,” Ava put her hands up to their faces. “We’re here for something far more important, so.”

“Right,” Eren crossed his arms and glanced away. Armin rolled his eyes.

“So, what’d you guys find?” Valentine asked.

“Well, we couldn’t find anything to do with other languages anywhere in the libraries book archives,” Armin said. “It didn’t seem to even be anywhere in our history. So we dug further into the archives of newspapers, articles, and music.” 

“And?” Valentine asked.

“We found something.” They gasped. Armin dug through his backpack and pulled out a tape. “We finally came across one song from back in the 600s that was in a different language,” he held the tape up. “So now we know for sure that another language existed before, however, they’re covering it up for some reason.” Valentine grabbed the tape and studied it. 

“The artist’s name was Calpurnia,” Ava said as she grabbed the LyricBox. “And the more we dug into her background, the more odd things became.” She popped the LyricBox open for her to insert the tape. They all glanced at each other like things were never going to be the same after this. Valentine carefully took it out of its box and placed it into the LyricBox and pushed play. For a few seconds, it was just silence. Then, a soft voice began sing in another language.

“It has to be the same language,” Eren said. “I mean there are no others that exist.”

“Sounds almost like cathedral music,” Xilo said. 

“That’s because it is,” Armin grabbed a folder from his backpack. “We did some digging into her background and found that she was a usual member of this specific church. Ironically, it was the same one that killed her.” He grabbed an old newspaper out of the folder and carefully unfolded it.

“You took it?!” Eren asked.

“Don’t worry,” Ava said. “We didn’t check it out so there isn’t a trace back to us. We had to steal it,” she covered her mouth and giggled. “I can see now why you and Valentine used to do it so much,” she teased.

“That was different,” Eren rolled his eyes.

“What do you mean they killed her?” Valentine asked.

Armin laid the newspaper out in front of them that showed a sketch of a church on the front. “The church had accused her of being in a cult and doing acts of witchery. And because of that, they burned her alive in front of the public.”

Eren and Valentine glanced at each other. “Witchcraft!” they said at the same time. 

“Yeah, witchcraft,” Armin said.

“No, under the castle,” Eren said. 

“Huh?” Ava asked.

“There’s some weird witchcraft bunker under the castle,” Eren said.

“What?!” Armin shrieked. “You didn’t touch it, did you?”

“Well, I sort of fell into it,” Valentine said. “And Hange thought it was connected to a witchcraft cult that used to worship titans. She said that that cult had all been burned alive through sacrifice.” Valentine pointed to the newspaper. “I guess she was right.”

“How would she know that?” Armin asked.

“Apparently she just heard of it.”

Armin sighed. “Was sort of hoping she had something on it. This stuff is completely erased from our history books. It was a pain just to find this on it.”

“But why would they feel the need to hide that?” Ava asked. “Seems rather odd if the church was doing what they thought were pure acts of God. Unless they weren’t exactly getting rid of what they thought was evil, but rather getting rid of a secret.” They all glanced at each other.

“Hange also mentioned something about that cult worshipping the eight titans like Gods,” Valentine said. 

Xilo gasped. “The ancient eight?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait-wait-wait,” Eren said. “What eight titans?”

“Well apparently, long ago,” Xilo said. “I mean ancient times—“

“Not you,” Eren put his hand up to his face and glanced at Valentine. Armin glared at him.

“Xilo mentioned that ancient titans used to possess weird abilities,” Valentine said. “And apparently it was or began with eight.” 

“Abilities like the Alpha’s teleportation,” Xilo added. They all glanced at each other.

“What’s this mean?” Armin asked. “There’s more titans with abilities than just the Alpha?”

“Well that was the case apparently way back when. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they all exist today,” Xilo said. 

“The Alpha used to not exist,” Armin said. “It was only until the expedition before our graduation that it appeared.” 

“What are you getting at?” Eren asked. 

Armin sighed. “This means everything we know is wrong. We’ve been assuming the titans have been evolving, but if they existed like this once before, then…” he put his hands on his head. “They’re just simply devolving! Going back, like in time, just the way they once were. If that’s the case then…” his eyes looked petrified. “We’ll never win against the titans. They’ll take everything. We don’t have the weapons or technology to go against this. We’re going to be erased! All of us! We have to tell the Commander—” there was a light chuckle and Armin’s eyes slowly glanced to the side to see Eren laughing underneath his breath. Armin’s eyes widened as his lips slowly parted. “What…could possibly be so funny…Eren?” Eren began to laugh even harder and Valentine and Ava glanced at each other. Xilo was staring at Eren with a freaked out expression.

“Eren,” Ava said softly as she placed her hand over his. 

“Sorry,” he said as his laughter came to a stop. “I just think it’s hilarious.” 

“What is?” Armin said with a glare.

“You want to tell the Commander,” Eren glanced at him and his expression quickly changed into a serious one. “What exactly do you want to tell him?” His tone became darker. “Did you forget all of a sudden, Armin? Valentine tried telling the Commander and the Captain. And what did they say?” He glanced around at all of them. 

“That Valentine might’ve hit her head a little too hard,” Ava whispered as she stared into the floor. Armin’s expression shifted into a hopeless one.

Valentine sighed. “He’s right. They wouldn’t believe any of this.” 

“It stays between us for now,” Eren said. 

Shit, Valentine thought. If it’s true that the Alpha titan isn’t something new, but rather something from the past, we have to take it down no matter what. This could be the answer to the secrets that were erased from us. Not only that. If I don’t take it down, and fail again, they’ll possibly shut the scouts down. Then, we’ll never get a chance at finding the truth… 

She clenched her fists and stared into the floor. I’ve been so distracted, that I’ve missed the importance of it all. Rather than training, I’ve been wasting time, sulking on my pathetic little feelings. 

“There’s also this,” Armin took out a large black book from his backpack. 

“What is that?” Xilo asked.

“It’s one of the holy books of this church. An older testament that the library carried. Thought it might be some help.” 

Xilo grabbed it and opened the cover. There was a symbol that resembled a flame with a circle around it. He glanced closer and studied it. Where have I seen this before? He tried to think hard…he gasped.

“What is it?” Armin asked.

“This symbol…it’s the same one used for my fathers church.” 

“Huh?!” Ava said. “So they’re still around?”

Xilo flipped the page. “Well, they called this church something different. Maybe it’s part of it somehow.”

“Where is this church?” Armin asked.

“Everywhere. They’ve grown so much that they’ve branched out all over the place.” They glanced at each other with the same worried expression.

“Great,” Eren covered his face with his hand. “So the church is in on this too.”

“Sorry,” Xilo said as he pointed to the LyricBox that was still playing the song. “I’m still not getting how this is all connected to the interference you guys found yesterday?”

“Oh,” Armin said. “Guess I should’ve caught you up first. Sorry, Xilo.” 

“So the men we heard on the radio, spoke another language. They’re bad men,” Ava nodded.

“They have to be the same ones that were in Shiganshina searching for the same red file that we were during our special-ops mission,” Valentine said.

“They broke into Captain Levi’s office,” Eren added. “And possibly swapped it with a blank.”

“The one that supposedly contained a secret about the walls?” Xilo asked.

“Correct,” Armin said.

“And the language we heard yesterday is connected to this artist,” Armin tapped the LyricBox that was still playing the tape.

“Who’s connected to the church that we now know is still around,” Ava said.

“And this church is also somehow linked back to the witchcraft cult,” Eren said.

“Which is related to the special titans, the eight,” Valentine said. 

“AKA, the Alpha titan,” Ava added. 

They all glanced at him for a moment. “Oh,” he nodded. “Got it.” He scratched his head. “Well, we really got our feet into some deep shit,” he laughed nervously.

"Yeah," Eren said. "We sure did."

They all stared into the LyricBox.

[nofacedpoet]

AWWT | Ch.23: Static

Beep-Beep-Beep…Beeeep-Beeeep-Beeeep…Beep-Beep-Beep….Beep…. 

Her fingers fell weak from the buttons on the radio and grew tired from the repeated call that she had pressed for years. It was always the same…nothing but static on the other side…

The radio slipped out of her hands and crashed onto the floor. She slowly leaned over until she collapsed beside it and attempted to pull the radio closer toward her mouth as she let out one last desperate cry for help.

She pressed the button down. “Please,” she whispered. “Is anyone out there….” She drew her finger away and waited desperately for a response but was only met with static.

God damn it. Her hands trembled. How long has it been? Are they still looking for me? I wonder what they look like now…surely its been years that I’ve been missing…I wonder…if they’re even still… 

She pressed the button down for the last time ever.

“This will be my last message…so I will leave it with what I can…I hope it reaches someone…anyone…

I’ve been lost in this place for what seems to be years…decades even…it’s hard to tell, you see, time moves so oddly here…Days are seconds where years are minutes…

As I move through the air, it feels as if I can go no faster than slow motion, like my skin is being pulled back by some invisible entity.

This place is filled with unfamiliar faces, different faces, I can’t explain. And while I see them, for some reason, they cannot see me, they cannot hear me. I’m so alien to this environment. My mind is confused most days…I’ve lost track awhile ago…I’m sure you have too… 

I just…want to come home…I miss you…” Her voice began to choke up. “If you hear this…just know…I won’t stop looking for you…Levi…Ava…Eren…Armin…” 

Her finger stubbornly released the button as she listened to the static once more, hoping that maybe a familiar voice would speak through it. But as before, it was only static. The static slowly died down before the radio finally gave out for good.

She sighed and pushed the radio away from her face. I have to go out there again. I need to find the way out of this place. It took all of her energy to pull herself up. She opened the closet door that she hid behind and shielded her eyes from the chaotic sky. The sun embraced a brighter than usual light as if it were closer somehow. It quickly glided across the sky before lowering completely. Then, as the sky darkened to a pitch black, the moon, as the sun did before, quickly glided across the sky before lowering. Then, it repeated all over again.

The usual crowd of strangers shoved through her as if she was nothing but a ghost. They hurried off into the same direction of nothingness, going absolutely no where it seemed, as the direction they headed in was nothing but pure blackness. After they had disappeared within it, they had come to pass again, from the same direction as before, into the same direction of the blackness. She’d wonder if they were lost too, in their odd repeated patterns, clasping onto a hope that it will eventually lead them to an escape.

“Can any of you hear me?” She desperately cried out, but as usual, there was no sound, and they just continued on their way through their repeated path. “Someone please help. I need to get home!” 

A woman that was walking in this crowd, that nearly walked through her like everyone else, had come to a sudden halt. She wore a white shimmery cloak and hood. This cloak covered every inch of her skin, even her face.

“Can you…hear me?” Valentine asked. 

The hooded woman slowly moved her arms upwards and the long sleeves of her cloak moved like they were made of water. She brought her hands to her hood, which were as pale as a dead person, and just barely moved it from her face to where Valentine could see her. The sight was both a majestic and frightening one. She was a beautiful site and something about her felt incredibly immersing. It was as if she wasn’t one of them but something greater. Her energy was intense, but not threatening. Her eyes glowed and looked as if they were made of jewels. They weren’t one specific color, but all of them at once. As she stared with these powerful eyes, Valentine felt something within her entire body as if this woman had done something. The woman’s eyes widened as if she realized herself.

“You can…see me?” Valentine felt relieved but still uneasy. This was the first person to look at her, to see her, in decades. “Can you help me get home?”

The woman’s lips slowly parted as she continued to stare into Valentine’s eyes without a blink. Her expression shifted into one of sorrow and fear, as if she was staring into a nightmare.

“Can you hear me?” Why is she looking at me like that?

A tear that looked as if it were made of a diamond slowly fell from the woman’s eye and she began to whisper very lightly.

Valentine’s eyes widened. “I can’t hear you.” 

The woman slowly lifted her hand to Valentine’s face as she continued to stare into her eyes. She began to whisper more rapidly. 

“What are you doing?” Valentine fearfully watched as the woman’s hand gently moved closer to her face. She wanted to move but physically couldn’t. The air all around began to shake and everything began to blur. Her hand made contact with Valentine and there was what felt to be thousands of electricity bolts shooting through her entire body at once and all around.

The sound of static surrounded her from every direction and she felt as if she was drowning within it as a million different things began to swiftly fly by her as she felt herself getting sucked away through the air. People she’s never seen before, feelings she’s never felt before, places she’s never witnessed, all flying by within a flash. The static got louder as the electricity became stronger and finally, she decided to not fight it. Whatever this woman had done, it’s done. Valentine closed her eyes and fully let go. Her heart began to beat slower and slower…her body became numb as if she was one with the static…then everything went black…

…Am I dead?…

…….

Her eyes shot open as she gasped for a large inhale of air. She sat up as she reached her hand outwards as if to grab for someone, but realized that there was nothing but darkness. Her heart pounded against her chest as a bead of sweat slowly danced its way down her cheek. She felt herself panting and stared confused for a moment.

What the hell was that just now? She rubbed her eyes. I don’t remember…

The headphones over her ears were playing static. Oh. She pulled them off to where they hung around her neck and reached for the small LyricBox next to her pillow. The loop must’ve finished…I guess I fell asleep with it on… She stared into it as she thought of the day before, when she received it…

***

She sat in the corner of her room as she gently held a butterfly clip in her palms like it was a delicate little thing. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to envision the image again. It was the same one she had envisioned every few months, only it began to slowly fade as time went on. 

“I would say that I have so much to catch you up on…but it’s all really embarrassing,” Valentine laughed nervously but she could feel her throat clench up. “Firstly, my friend died. No one will admit it, but it’s my fault. I killed him because I wasn’t watching. And now he’s gone. I think you would’ve liked him. He was nice. And he had a weird sense of humor.” 

She rotated the clip in her hands as she rubbed her thumbs along its gems. “I don’t think you’d recognize me if you saw me. I only have one eye now. A titan took it from me.” Valentine’s eyes watered from underneath her eye lids and her chest warmed as she imagined the sound of her gentle voice talking back to her. She smiled a bit as she knew she’d probably respond with something like, “Don’t say that, you’re beautiful.” But Valentine would know that she was lying and only trying to make her feel better. 

“I don’t think you’d recognize Ava, Eren, or Armin either. They’ve all changed so much since then…but you’d be proud of them. They’re on the special ops squad. You’d be disappointed in me, I resigned a week ago…” The warmth in her chest vanished and was replaced with a heaviness. Her bottom lip trembled and she gulped at an attempt to fight back her feelings. “They’ve been so busy with training, so I haven’t really got to talk to them lately. I haven’t really talked to anyone…just you.” The image began to slowly blur and fade away from her mind. She sighed and gripped onto the clip as she struggled to keep it in her head. 

“What if I kill them too? The way I killed my friend, the way I killed you…” the clip nearly fell out of her sweaty fingers but she caught it.

“How do I stop it all from happening…Where do I go from here…What would you tell me to do—“ she gasped as she slowly opened her eyes. A tear dripped down her cheek and splashed unto her wrist.

“Why can’t I remember…such a small detail…as freckles…” the image faded from her mind completely now. She sighed and glanced down at the clip. “You can’t even hear any of this…can you?” She flipped the clip over and stared into the golden curl designs that had small gems along the edges of the butterfly’s wings. “It’s no use,” she whispered.

There was a subtle knock on the door. “Ugh,” she wiped her face and stood. She gently placed the clip back inside of a clean cloth, and placed it on the desk. She walked over to the door and hesitated with her hand on the knob as she realized that all of her friends were in training. The only other person it could possibly be was Levi. I don’t have anything to say to him. I wouldn’t know what to say. Should I just not answer it? She waited for a moment and a second knock never came.

She quickly opened the door as if to rip this moment like a bandaid. Hm? No one was there. She glanced down and noticed a small brown box. What’s this? She snatched it up and slammed the door shut. The label read, Captain Levi Ackerman, Valentine Sakleysi. 3400 Scout Regiment Dormitory, Room 200. 

Why did he send this to me? Is it like an apology or something? No. He’d never apologize. She rolled her eyes and sighed as she made herself to the bed. She sat down criss crossed and ripped through the package. She buried her hand into the hundreds of mini foam balls until she finally felt something. She gasped and ripped her hand out. Huh? It was a LyricBox. A small device used to play music tapes or listen to the radio. She buried her hand into the package again and felt a few more items in the bottom. She yanked them out to see that they were three music tapes and one pair of headphones. One of the tapes read, “Moonlight”. The second was titled, “Cherry Wine” and the third, “Dawn”. The receipt read, “Order for Military Training Usage. Signed: Levi Ackerman.” 

Hmph. He must’ve ordered this before I resigned. Welp. Guess it’s mine now! She popped the LyricBox open and placed the tape titled, “Cherry Wine” inside. It was the first title to catch her eye. She shut the lid and pressed the play button. The music began with a slow piano, then a violin, and eventually, a very sad soft voice. “Jeez. Even the music this loser listens to is grim,” she sighed and laid back with the LyricBox on her chest and continued to listen. 

I wonder…what he’s doing right now…

~

He glanced up at the dark sky of twinkling stars as he remembered the night in which he first saw it. He hadn’t known just how big the sky or world really was. He hadn’t known just how beautiful it was at night, and more so, why more people didn’t take the opportunity to see it more often. 

***

“You can count on us!” Isabel said as she dangled her legs alongside the building that she, Levi, and Farlan sat on. They admired the stars in the dark sky as it was their first time ever seeing it because they had only recently got out of the underground. Their first scout expedition was coming up in the near future and Levi demanded that they both sit this one out. Of course, Isabel and Farlan continued to press him. 

“You should have more faith in us!” Isabel said.

“Trust us,” Farlan said.

Though from the outside it only seemed that Levi, who was usually a hard ass, was just being a bit paranoid and stubborn, it was much more than that. Levi had lost his mother at a young age due to an unforgiving illness that took her life. Later, he was abandoned as a child by his uncle Kenny Ackerman. At eight years old, Levi was left to fend for himself in the unforgiving underground. Later in his adult life, it was when he met Farlan and Isabel. They were now the closest thing to family that he had left.

“Seriously! You should trust us. We can handle it out there just as much as you can,” Farlan said as he playfully shoved Levi. 

“Yeah, you’re not the only strong one, ya know!” Isabel teased. 

Levi gave one of those light fake laughs that was mostly of a huff as he stared down the long drop that they sat on the edge of. For the first time ever, he decided to push his instinct feeling aside. He lowered his head as he said in a low volume, “Fine.” He felt in that moment, that it might’ve been the wrong decision. But instead, chose to believe that it wasn’t. 

Only, his instinct was correct, as always. And on the following day during the expedition mission, he had lost both of them to the titans. The only family he had, was now gone.

***

Levi stared at the sky with a dreary expression, alone now, on the edge of the balcony. Do you guys…blame me? Isabel and Farlan’s faces faded and those of his last squad appeared in his mind. He sighed as he lowered his gaze to the distant ground below and covered his face with his hand. You’d all have a right to…The brat was right when she said it was my fault… His eyes widened as he got a glimpse of the last time he saw her. His hand slowly fell from his face as the moment came back to him. He could still feel the way her body trembled as she cried, because of all the things he said to her. Her light weeping sob, that he had never heard until that day. 

The deep hurt in her eyes that he could still see as if she was standing across from him. A cold gust of wind blew by and the image of her dissipated into the night. He was overcome with the same feeling that he felt as he watched her walk away that day, the last time he ever saw her.

Maybe I was a little too hard on her that day…I just don’t want her…to go through…what I did…

I thought if I could just save one person…even if it wasn’t my own family…then maybe… He tightened his hand to a fist and stared into his bloody knuckles. Who am I kidding…I could never save anyone before. What makes me think that I can save anyone now? 

Still though…I don’t want that day to ever come for her. He sighed and glanced up at the sky. Tsk. She’s such a brat.

…I wonder…what she’s doing right now…

***

Valentine pressed the stop button and the static shut off from the headphones. Well, at least it distracted my mind for a time. She gripped onto the LyricBox and headset and stood from her bed. She walked over to the light switch and flipped it upwards but the light didn’t turn on. Hm? She flipped it a few more times back and forth but still nothing. Ugh. You have to be kidding me. She awkwardly stumbled around with her hands outward until she reached the shelf. She placed the LyricBox and headset down and grabbed for a lantern. When she switched it on and turned around, she gasped at a ghastly site of bloody foot prints all over the floor. There was the sound of small drops below her and she moved the lantern down to see a giant red stain over her white gown and a small puddle of blood forming between her feet.

A second one…in the same month? 

\\

The following morning, an electrician stopped by to fix the fuses and bulbs in Valentine’s room. He climbed up the ladder as he glanced at the blood stain on her bed with peculiar expression. 

“I took the opportunity while the lights were out. Didn’t know when I’d get the next opportunity,” she shrugged.

“Hey,” the electrician shrugged as he glanced away. “It ain’t none of my business.” 

This made her laugh a little.

“Think this buildin’ gettin’ a little too old to withstand. Lots of electrical issues now.”

“Really?”

“Yup. And not even talkin’ bout this entire hallway I had to replace with fuses and bulbs. A few days ago, it was the hallway on the other side. Same issue.” 

“Hm.” Valentine glanced outside the door down the hallway. “That’s weird.” 

“Yup. Speakin’ of weird, did ya get to see the lunar eclipse last night?” 

“No.” 

“Well darn. Ya missed a good’n. They’re already special in the fact that they don’t happen for at least 1,000 years, but this one was extra special. As it happened, there was also a meteor shower. I mean right at the same time.” She could tell he was extra excited about this. “We got a two for one deal!”

“Ah,” she didn’t know what to say. The LyricBox that was playing on the shelf began to lose signal of the radio and bring in static. “Ugh, stupid old thing,” she walked over and hit a few times.

“Well I be damned!”

She glanced up at him.

“Is that there a LyricBox?!”

“Uh.”

“Man! Those are nearly new and go for about two thousand! You scouts must be making some coin if ya can get yaself one of ‘em.” 

Her eyes widened. I stole two thousand dollars from the Captain?! “Well, it isn’t really mine. It’s my Cap…well…he isn’t really my Captain anymore but…well I kind of just stole it from him.” 

“Hey,” he shrugged. “None of my business.” 

She turned her attention back to the radio as a sense of guilt came over her. “Well if they go for that much, they should least make them right,” she slammed the LyricBox onto the shelf and the static disappeared and the music came back on.

“Yeah, guess that’s true,” he climbed down his ladder. “This oughta do it,” he switched the light on. “There ya have it. Let’s hope it last.” 

“Thanks.” 

“Sure thing. Do you think I could get you to sign just here?” He clicked a purple pen and pointed the tip to a blank piece of paper. 

“Uh,” Valentine grabbed the pen with a puzzled expression. “Sure?” She awkwardly signed her name. “Here,” she handed the pen back. 

“Thanks ma’am. Man. My daughter is going to flip when I tell ‘er I met the Valentine Sakleysi.” He held the paper up. “This is for her. It’ll make her whole day,” he smiled. 

Her eyes widened. “What?” Her cheeks went red. “W-why would she want that?” 

“Are you kiddin? Ah. You must know what they call you in the town. You’re the titan slasher, the one that took down probably a hundred titans and went up against the Alpha itself! My little girl wants to be you when she grows up.”

Valentine’s lips parted but she didn’t know to say. She was genuinely stunned and was still waiting for him to say that he was joking.

He held up the paper. “I’m tellin’ ya. She’s going to freak.” He smiled as he walked out and waved. “Stay safe out there, now.” 

\\

Later in the afternoon…

There was a light and hesitant knock on Levi’s door, as if they wished he hadn’t heard at all. 

“What is it?!” Levi yelled. The door creaked as a soldier just barely opened it and peaked his head inside. 

“Uh, sir,” he said in a quiet manner as he glanced up at Levi, who still sat in the same position as the last few hours; one leg crossed over the other as he sat at his desk, resting his chin in one hand while writing some useless scribbles with the other. He’d been staring into the same document for the entire day. He was dressed in his usual white long sleeve button up shirt, tucked in his pants of course, with this sleeves slightly rolled, black suspenders, and a nicely cleaned cravat tucked into his collar. He looked like a shiny puzzle that was being held together by duct tape. Put together for the most part but about to break at any given moment.

“Um, section leader Hange was wondering if you had finished looking over those documents—” the soldier immediately stopped speaking once Levi slowly moved his piercing glare towards him. It was far more intimidating and devilish than usual because there was such a killing red right underneath his eyes as if he was sick or tired. A bead of sweat dripped down the soldiers face as he pulled back and hid half of his face behind the door.

“If your dumb ass strolled in here asking the same gah-damn question five minutes ago,” Levi placed both of his palms on the desk as he stood. The soldier gulped. “Tell me. How the fuck should I be finished”—Levi swiped his hand across the stack of documents and they went flying in all directions—“you fucking idiot!?” Levi’s yell was so loud that it caused the soldier to flinch and others in the hallway to glance in that direction.

“S-sorry sir, forgive me, but it’s been over an hour since the last time I stopped by.” Levi gave him a cold eerie glare and the soldier quickly sensed that he had said something wrong.

“Are you calling me dumb, Marshall?” Levi’s tone was calm, but not the kind of calm that was relaxed, but rather the one that was the calm before the storm, the one before an attack. It was sly and deeply unsettling that it sent a chill down the soldier’s spine.

“No! No, sir! Of course not—”

“I think you are.” Levi turned as if to move from behind his desk and head towards him.

“No-no! Sorry, I’ll tell her you’re not finis—” he quickly shut the door before he could finish his own sentence and his foot steps could be heard quickly treading down the hall. 

Levi glanced around at the mess of papers all over his floor. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. This was how most of his week was going so far. Barely getting any work done, unable to focus, and incredibly irritable. He violently yanked his coat from the back of his chair and headed out.

\

He walked into the practice forest, the only place where he could usually get some quiet time away from everything, though he’d been hesitant to go there since the last time. He sighed as he leaned against a tree and put his hands into his coat pockets.

The same feeling that he had tried to ignore had overcome him once more. It was such a deep void within him, one that he couldn’t explain. It was like something bad had happened, but only the feeling remained. Like waking up from a bad dream. And it had been lingering for awhile, but only in the last week had it worsened. 

He dragged the tip of shoe across the dirt to draw a line. What the hell has gotten into me—

There was the sound of something that hit against the ground nearby. Levi leaned forward and glanced into the direction in which it came and saw something large and black on the ground. Hm? He began to walk in that direction and the closer he got, the more he noticed that it was slightly moving. He walked up until it was about a foot away and saw that it was a large crow that twitched as it bled out. Something about it seemed oddly familiar to Levi, but he couldn’t exactly pin down what it was. It was like dejavu. He stared into it as he tried to remember.

The crow opened its beak and let out a loud screeching caw so loud that Levi covered his ears and stepped back. When it finally stopped this overbearingly sound, it died. Levi stared at it with a confused expression.

The leaves from the trees above began to crinkle as rain began to make its way down. Levi glanced up. “Shit,” he pulled his coat somewhat over his head and rushed back to the building.

By time he made it, he was already drenched from head to toe and his shoes were filled with mud. He slammed his office door shut behind him and flicked the switch but it didn’t work. “Agh!” He grunted angrily. It was as if nothing else could go wrong this day. 

“It’s out,” a voice came from ahead and he jerked his head up to see Hange peaking her head from around the edge of a giant chair which faced Levi’s desk. “Why are you wet?”

“Tsk,” Levi aggressively ripped his coat off and threw it on a nearby counter. He made his way over to his desk, then continued to walk passed it and to the large window instead. 

“Well since you asked,” Hange said. “I came by to see how those reports were going. You scared my assistant off so I had to come by myself. And no worry at all, I’ve only been needing them since four days ago.”

Levi sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets as he stared up at the dreary sky.

Hange glanced down at his dirty shoe prints all over the floor and now stained on the papers that were still spread out all over the place. She moved her gaze to his desk and noticed his tea cup. She leaned over to see that it was full with no steam coming from it. She slowly sat back into the chair and glanced at him with a worried expression. “Is something going on?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? You seem a little—”

“I’m fine.” 

“Well I know you’re usually grumpy and blah,” she made a sarcastic frown. “But you seem off. Like off off.” 

Levi kept his back turned to her and continued to stare out of the window silently.

Hange sighed. “Is it because you and Valentine haven’t spoken?” She smirked.

“Tsk. Please.” 

“Why don’t you just talk to her.” 

“I already told you.” A huge bolt of lightening lit up across the sky and filled the inside of his eyes as he watched. “I don’t want to talk to that brat.” 

There was a buzzing sound and all of the lights came back on. 

***

The small LyricBox sat on her desk and played some old music from a local radio station. It wasn’t the best but it was the only thing on that was worth listening to.

She looked incredibly stressed as she rapidly flipped through the pages of her journal. Where is it? She had reached the first page and flipped through them again. I’m sure I wrote it down…did I write it on a random page? She glanced into the next empty page with confusion. What day was that? She closed her eyes and tried to think. 

We had the debrief meeting that day. She got a glimpse of Levi glaring at her from across the table. Ugh. Ignore him. Okay what day was that exactly…what happened before that? Oh that’s right. Me and Eren had the hearing that same day so— She gasped as she began to flip through the pages again. It was the day after the expedition, so— she stared into a page that read “Tuesday 21” which was the day before the expedition. She quickly flipped the page over. It read: “Friday 24”. It had to have been here. She glanced into the spine to see if she had maybe ripped this page out but forgotten, but there was no sign of such. She sighed and slammed her hand on the page. Well…I was really out of it that day with a concussion and medicine. Maybe I just thought I wrote it…

The music cut out a bit and began to static. “God-damn it!” She snatched it and was about to slam it against the desk when the static slowly died down and the music came back on. She sighed and placed it back down where it was. Then again, it began to static. “Ugh!” She was about to turn it off when there was the sound of some muffling in the static. She paused and glanced at it. For a moment, it almost sounded as if… 

The music came back on and she huffed a light laugh. I think this boredom is really starting to get to me— 

The radio began to static again and there was a distant muffling sound that sounded like voices cutting through the static. Valentine gasped and stood so abruptly that her chair flew all the way back. She leaned in toward the radio and increased the volume. There was only loud static for a few seconds. Then, it was exactly what she had thought. She gasped and her eyes widened…

Through the muffling in the static, there was a man’s voice…in a different language…

[nofacedpoet]

AWWT | Ch.22: The Shift

“You need your boyfriend to walk you to practice now?” Levi scowled toward Xilo and Armin who sat far back across the field near the track. 

“They just want to watch,” Valentine gave him an annoyed expression.

“Take it off,” Levi nodded toward her.

Her eyes widened. “Huh?”

“The eye piece. Off. Now.” 

“Oh—uh,” she clutched one hand to it and hesitated. She hated for anyone to see it, but especially him. It was the ugliest part of her that was caused due to what she felt was the biggest failure in her life thus far. “Why?”

“Because,” he walked up until his boots hit hers and gave her a stern stare. “I said so.” She stared at him for a long moment as if he was going to change his mind and he began to glare as he became annoyed. “Am I going to have to do it for you?”

She sighed and began to loosen the notch from behind. As the eye piece fell into her hand, she moved her gaze to the ground so that her hair fell over to cover the grotesque sight.

He snatched the eye piece from her hand and she gasped. Then, he grabbed her chin and forced her to look up at him, which she didn’t favor of course and gave him an ugly scowl. She held her breath as she waited for him to say something sarcastic or mean about it.

“You’ve been forced to learn how to fight with one half of your sight completely annihilated,” he stared into the damaged eye for a moment then dropped his hand and made his way around her. “So now, you’ll learn to do it completely sightless,” he brought his arms from behind her and wrapped a blind fold over her eyes.

“Uh, this is a joke, right?”

“The hell makes you think this is a joke?” He jerked on the blind fold as he knotted it and she stumbled back against him. 

“How am I supposed to fight completely bli—” Levi shoved her so hard that she fell forward to the ground. “Okay, I see we’ve begun,” she grunted.

“Get up,” he ordered. She got to her knees and Levi pressed his boot against the side of her stomach and shoved her back down. “Get up!”

“Stop fucking shoving me!”

“When are you going to learn?” Levi said in a threatening tone from behind her as she stood. She quickly turned around and reached her hands out to feel for him. “You don’t make the orders,” he said from the other side of her. Before she could turn around, he kicked the back of her knee and she collapsed into the dirt. She placed her hands on the ground to stand and Levi kicked from underneath, causing her face to plummet straight into the dirt.

“Okay,” she grunted. “That’s it,” she spit the dirt out of her mouth and quickly stood. She began to throw her fists all around in hopes to get at least one hit on him.

“You can’t just aimlessly attack,” Levi said from the left and she quickly threw her fist in that direction. “Have some self control,” he said from the right and she threw another fist. “Or else you’ll just keep losing,” he shoved her from behind and she stumbled a bit. 

“Ugh!” she angrily swung her hands around. 

“You’ll keep wasting your time if you only concentrate on physical senses. Feel me without feeling me.” 

She subtly gasped and perked her head up like something just clicked. Levi walked behind her as he carefully watched. She let out a huge sigh and stood straight up and he stopped moving. She slowly turned around and faced him. He took a subtle step to the left and her head slowly followed. He moved in the opposite direction and waited. She slowly moved her head and faced him once again. 

“Hm!” she quickly threw her fist straight at his face and he dodged it. She round house kicked out of no where and nearly got him in the side of the head. She smiled as if she knew and he gave her a peculiar expression. She began to throw attacks back to back, leaving little to no second in between, and she nearly got him with most. She felt his presence on her right side and pretended as if she thought he was on the left and purposely threw a fist in the wrong direction, but as her back faced him, she quickly brought her leg up and nearly back kicked up in the face. He barely dodged by less than a centimeter and his eyes widened. She quickly swung her fist around to hook him and he grabbed her by the wrist and stared into her knuckles that were only a couple of inches from his face. He noticed that they were swollen with small slits of dried blood in between and he slightly loosened his grip on her wrist. 

“Agh,” he fell to his knees because while he was distracted, she kneed him in the balls. 

“Haha! Idiot!” she laughed. Levi stood and kicked from underneath her feet and she fell back on her ass. “Agh,” she rolled over to get back up. 

“You’re the idiot,” he said. “And that was just the warm up.” She grunted as she got to her feet and faced him. “Now we begin the real training,” he walked off without saying anything else and she stood there helplessly. 

“Uh. Are you going to tell me what it is?” She waited for a response. “Levi? Idiot?” She peeled the bottom edge of the blindfold up and noticed that he was already far gone and making his way into the practice forest. He stopped and turned around and she could feel his scowl from all the way across.

“Are you coming or not?”

“Ugh. Asshole,” she headed his direction. 

When she finally reached him, she noticed a few scouts in the forest preparing the practice titans. 

“No fucking way,” she threw her hands out as if to say she quit. 

“You’re going to do it,” he ordered. 

“Are you insane? What if I run into a tree or fall or—“

“Then you run into a tree or fall. And you’ll keep doing so until you learn.” 

Her jaw dropped and she stared in disbelief. No one had ever flown on ODM gear through a forest with practice titans, or real titans, while being blindfolded in the history of ever. Why the hell did he think she would be the first to accomplish such an impossible task?

“The first few rounds, you’ll do without the practice titans being in the way. I’ll spot you.” 

“Oh. Thank you so much. How kind of you. What are you going to do exactly? Stop me from ramming my face into a tree?” She crossed her arms and gave him a sarcastic expression and he stared for a long moment as if he was trying to figure out if that was a genuine question or not. 

“I’ll catch you before you fall on your ass and die,” he said with no expression. She couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. It was always hard to tell.

“Oh,” she smiled sarcastically. “How nice of you—”

“Only for the first part.” She quickly wiped the smile off her face. “On the second portion, we’ll introduce the titans. And if you fall at any point, that’s on you,” he turned and glanced into the forest. “Blind fold on.” 

“Blind fold on,” she muttered in a mocking tone under her breath as she placed it back over her eyes. 

“What was that?” 

She ignored him and clutched onto her ODM gear and prepared to fly…blind.

“Get set…Go.”

PHEW! Valentine shot up into the forest without any hesitation. Within the first ten seconds, she had already rammed straight into a giant tree. She could’ve sworn that she heard Levi chuckle a bit, but wasn’t too sure. She had never even seen that man smile before, little yet, laugh. She shrugged it off and thought it must’ve been one of the other scouts down below. 

After ramming into a decent number of trees, she began to finally grasp the idea of how to feel their presence, like Levi’s from before, and how to feel her own presence within theirs. She was becoming more confident in this impossible task until she shot her ODM gear off and felt it catch onto nothing. She quickly tried again, but it still caught onto nothing and she began to fall straight down. “Ah!” she screamed as she filled with butterflies and could feel the near ground coming to slam against her. 

SWOOSH! Levi’s body slammed into hers as he quickly swooped her up. She was met with such a rush as she had never seen nor felt his speed before. And from what she could tell, it was much quicker than her own. The trees sounded like whips through the wind with how fast he was going and her hair was pulled all the way behind them. She never knew that flying could feel like this and couldn’t help but smile a bit. 

Her hand was incidentally met with his warm chest. She tried to pull away, but like a magnet, it only did the opposite. She couldn’t help but feel how muscular he was and felt her hand slowly drifting down the buttons of his shirt. Her fingertips lightly treading down his abs. Her face lit up like a flame. She could feel the strength from his arms as he held and supported her. His hand perfectly wrapped around her waist. His fingertips tightly clutched onto her. 

The way he held her made her feel an unfamiliar feeling, one that part of her wanted to be wary about, wanted to reject, wanted to avoid, but couldn’t help but let the curiosity slowly wiggle its way through the crevice of her mind, which was always in a tumultuous war but somehow was at peace as the world’s strongest weapon held her.

Truly, this must be the safest place in the world, she thought. Nothing could kill me from here.

“Again,” Levi said.

“What—” His grip loosened as he dropped her from his arms and she went flying again. “Ah!” She quickly launched her ODM gear and felt it catch onto a nearby tree and flew upwards. She began to glide around the trees more effortlessly, as if she was one with the forest. And the sound of Levi’s ODM gear not too far below her was so comforting.

After sometime, with only a couple more falls and catches by Levi, she began to adapt more easily to the idea of flight without sight. But now, it was time to mix that in with attacks. 

BANG! Her body slammed straight into a practice titan that came out of no where. “Sorry!” the scout sounded afraid from below. 

Valentine launched her gear and tried again. BANG! She hit another titan. Then another. And another. “Fuck!” she screamed as she waved her blades around helplessly.

Gah-damn it, Levi thought as he watched her. I know that if she can do what she did back then, she can do something as simple as this. And if she doesn’t…His eyes widened as Erwin’s words filled his mind…“Would we need to taint the experience in order for it to occur again?”… Levi clenched his jaw as just the thought of those words made his blood boil. I’ll just have to pull it out of her myself. I did it last time. I can do it again.

“Don’t forget what that thing took from you,” Levi said. “It took your sight from you. It almost took your life. It took…your friend.”

Valentine gasped and the blades nearly slipped from her sweaty palms. She saw  a glimpse of Jean’s lifeless body as his head bled out onto her lap. She could almost feel his warm blood running between her fingers again. Her eyes began to water as her chest tightened up.

“Are you going to let it take more from you?” Levi asked. “How many more of your friends?”

 A practice titan leaned in toward her and she clasped onto the right blade as she swung it outward but missed. 

“If you keep going like this, it will surely take everything. Everyone.” 

“Shut up,” she mumbled as she swung her left blade out and missed another titan. Another came from the right and her legs rammed into it as she flew by and nearly lost balance with the ODM gear. “Damn it!” She began to fly even faster through the forest. 

“Imagine when it takes the others…Eren.”

She saw a glimpse of Eren from the moment she met him, as he laughed and ran towards her. Two practice titans came from either side of her and she spun around as she zapped across and split their napes wide opened. Suddenly, she saw Eren’s corpse in her head. “Stop it,” she grunted.

“Armin,” Levi said. Her eyes began to water even more. She imagined life without seeing Armin’s beautiful smile ever again. She wondered if she had taken that for granted and would only realize it after he’d been gone. She caught glimpses of the mental photographs she’d taken of the moments her eyes were meant to see him. His soft blonde hair shining with the sun. His big blue eyes that were the brightest light of hope even in the dimmest of times. She saw him smile for a subtle moment before he disappeared into nothingness. “Stop it,” she said right before ramming into a practice titan. Her body spun around a few times and she struggled to get control of her gear. 

“Or…Ava.” He watched her carefully as he said her name a little more slowly than the others.

Valentine’s head perked up as she felt her heart skip a beat. For a moment, she forgot how to breathe. Her lips began to tremble as she got a flash of a moment. She could hear Levi’s voice from that day… “It was a slow and painful one”…she panted as her lips slowly parted. BANG! She rammed straight into a tree and clasped her hands onto her head. “Stop it! Get out of my head!”

“What’s it going to take?!” He yelled with rage and anger. 

“Stop!” She covered her ears to block him out but could still hear his screaming voice through her hands.

“Maybe it’ll take all of their lives to amount to nothing! Just like his!” 

“I said stop!” She screamed as she ripped the blindfold from her face and threw herself towards him. His eyes widened as she slammed against him and they both went crashing down. They rolled a few times across the ground until he was on top of her. He squeezed onto her wrists as he pinned them against the ground. She screamed angrily as she jerked her body all around at an attempt to break his grip, but failed to do so. Levi didn’t want to show it, but it was taking all of his energy and strength to hold her down. And it didn’t help that he was still not up to his usual self.

Finally, she gave up and laid motionless as she tried to catch her breath. She moved her head sideways so she didn’t have to see his face, which was just pissing her off even more. Levi glanced up as he tried to also catch his breath. There was a light whimper from Valentine and he glanced at her. He could just barely see a tear fall from her eye and slide across her nose before falling to the ground. His eyes widened and he loosened his grip on her wrists a bit. Her body just barely trembled like she was trying her best to hold back her tears. He released his grip from her and moved to get off of her. She quickly grabbed him by the collar and pushed him down on the ground as she got on top of him.

“Don’t you dare speak of him again!” She screamed as tears streamed down her face. The pain in her voice and the anger in her eyes was one that he had never witnessed in her before. He knew that he had truly gone too far this time, but it was only for him to know why he had to. “And if you do, I swear it,” she pressed her forehead against his and pushed until the back of his head was against the dirt. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

He couldn’t help but feel himself boiling up. All of it was getting to him. Here he was trying to save her from a shitty situation she was about to get stuck in and here she was threatening to kill him. She’s such an ungrateful brat. Oh no, he felt it. The gaze in his eyes quickly transgressed into anger. He pressed his hands into the ground as he pushed himself up against her and began to rise. She tried to hold him down but failed to do so. 

He was now fully sat up and she was basically sitting in his lap with her hands still clutched onto his collar. He slammed his face into hers and their lips nearly touched. Don’t do it, he told himself. But it was already too late. The thought had only crossed after it was already done. The words had slipped from his lips so easily, so naturally, without any restraint or resistance, as if he had been waiting to say it for such a long time.

“What are you going to do? Strangle me?!”

Her eyes widened as it felt like a thousand knives had just stabbed directly through her chest. And because those knives were from his own hand, they seemed to sink a little deeper. Her mind muddled into a million pieces as it struggled to create one piece of a thought. Every emotion imaginable, even some that she had never felt before, rushed through her veins like morphine.

He noticed the shift as soon as he said it and immediately regretted it. But it was done. It had been said. There was no going back now.

She gasped and her eyes widened as her outside reaction had finally caught up with that of the inside. Her lips parted as if to say something but she felt like she was being suffocated. She was in genuine shock and knew by the look in his eye as he said it, and the anger in his voice, that he held that against her and probably would forever. She glanced down at her hands that still held his collar near his neck and quickly dropped her grip. She pulled her hands to herself like they were made of an unholy sin that was about to taint him.

Levi’s eyes widened. Not only was he shocked at himself, but he expected anything but for her to have some mercy on him as she had never quite done that before. He carefully watched as she hurried to get off of him and stumbled back on her own feet.

He slowly stood and faced her but didn’t know what to say or do next. He could hear her slightly panting as her eyes glanced at anything but his eyes. Only if she had chosen to stray away from his gaze at any other moment, would she have seen the hurt in his eyes, the hurt that he saw in her that he just caused. 

“I—” she took a step back and covered her mouth like she didn’t mean to speak out loud. “I want to be t-taken,” she whispered through a heavy pant and struggled to fully get the words out. “Off your s-squad immediately.” His eyes widened and filled with such a sadness as if he had just lost something that he never knew he had. He knew by the broken pieces of her voice that barely held together that she meant every single word. He had never heard her like this, and in this very moment, wished that he never had to again.

“Well,” his voice could barely be heard as he struggled to think of something to say. “That’s not up to y—” 

“I don’t want to ever see you again,” she walked off before he could respond.

His lips parted as if to say something, but fell mute. This was the first time in awhile that he was actually speechless. Unable to find the words, he only clenched his fists tightly as he watched her get further and further away from him. Why the hell is this bothering me so damn much? It’s not like I….care…about a brat like her…

[nofacedpoet]

AWWT | Ch. 21: Old Friend

Levi quickly scanned over everything that moved in front of him like his eyes were lasers. He pulled his hood more over the edges of his face as he took a step back further into the dark alley that he stood in. There was a sudden presence behind him and he quickly turned around.

“Kenny,” he muttered with a look of disgust.

An older man with a hat slowly brought his face into the light. “Sharp as ever,” he smirked. “Didn’t think I’d ever see you in this shit hole again. What, did you miss the smell of piss and shit?” He leaned down a little closer. “Is it me or did you get smaller from the last time I saw you? Shouldn’t it be the opposite?”

“I need a search on someone,” Levi unveiled a file from his cloak. Kenny grabbed and opened the file to see a picture of a girl and broke into laughter. “What’s so funny,” Levi said.

“Ah, c—mon! What, new recruit got you acting crazy over her already?” He laughed. “She is a pretty good lookin’ one,” he glanced closer. “Too bad she’s way out of your league.” He laughed again. “To be honest, I was starting to think you went the other way, if you know what I mean.” 

Levi stared at him with a stoic expression. “Just find it.”

“How far back we talkin’?”

“From the moment she came out of her mother.”

“Sheesh kid. I didn’t really take you as the crazy type but damn. You really like her, don’t you?”

“Can you do it or not?”

“Do you know who you’re talking to?”

“Good.” 

“Well, what’s in it for me, runt?”

“What do you want?”

Kenny took the toothpick out from his mouth. “We both know what I want.” 

“Tch. I can’t.”

“Well then neither can I,” Kenny handed him the file and Levi stared at him. 

“Anything else.”

“I don’t want anything else.”

“You know I can’t grant you a free pass out of all the shit you’ve done. The military would never allow it. Anything else.”

“Hm,” Kenny held the file up. “The girl,” he broke out into laughter and Levi stared with no expression. “Sheesh kid, ease up. She’s all yours, I was only jokin—”

“Hurry it up already,” Levi turned around and scanned the nearby people.

“Why you so paranoid for?”

“I can’t exactly be seen engaging with the biggest outlaw.”

“Oh,” Kenny stuck the toothpick back into his mouth. “I forgot. Humanity’s strongest and mightiest soldier. You think you’re too good for all this now.” Levi turned and glared at him. “Alright. I’ll tell you what I want then,” Kenny leaned over and whispered something. Levi’s eyes widened.

“Fine,” Levi agreed. “How long until you have it?”

“How the hell should I know?”

“I’m on a time limit here, damn it.”

“Listen kid,” Kenny glanced into the file. “You’ll get it when you get it. I’ll do my part. Just don’t forget to do yours—” he glanced back up to see Levi gone. “Little runt. I hate when he does that shit.” 

[nofacedpoet]

AWWT | Chapter 20: Death of a Star

Levi rested his hand in his pocket as he held a cup of tea in the other and stared out of the window. He caught a glimpse of a falling star that ignited into a fiery green explosion. Just like all the others before that attempted to escape the skies and fly toward freedom, its glowing blood smeared across the sky before being quickly snuffed out into nothingness. Rather than sitting in the same place all its life, it attempted to fly toward something, even if it didn’t know what. Even though it had to have known the end result, as there were many examples before, it still took that chance to see if it could reach something further. 

I suppose no one really knows if there’s truly anything waiting on the other side until they get there, Levi thought. Is that why we keep doing it? The worst part of the death of a star is that after its gone, the sky looks the exact same. As if its death meant nothing at all. I want to believe…it means something, but it’s so hard when time after time, more and more fall and disappear into nothingness. And all to show for it is nothing. Levi brought his hand out from his pocket and stared into the palm. Blood appeared to smear across it. What’s wrong with me? He clenched his hand to a fist. It has to mean something. Or…he opened his palm to see the blood gone. what’s it all for in the first place…

Jazz music that was playing on a low volume on a record player from across the room gently made its way back to Levi’s ears. He had forgotten that it was even on. Then, Hange and Erwin’s light mumbling voices came back too. He noticed the yellow dim light that hung from above a nearby table flickered a few times in the reflection of the window. He watched with tired eyes and felt himself becoming slightly agitated. They had just replaced the bulb two days ago when the other busted. The record player skipped for a moment and Levi turned to face it when suddenly the same migraine that he had been struggling with for days had made its way back.

“Agh, damn it,” his cup slipped out of his hand and crashed onto the floor as tea scattered underneath his shoes. He clutched onto his head and leaned toward the window. It felt like electricity bolts being shot down from the crown of his head that slowly spread all over. The record player began to skip even more now. “Turn it off already!” he grunted. The record player began to play music normally again and Levi noticed Hange and Erwin’s reflection in the window both staring at him.

He dropped his hands from his head and turned around. Hange gave him a peculiar expression. “Are you alright?” she asked as she subtly glanced at the spilled tea and broken glass on the ground.

Erwin gave him a more suspicious expression. “You have seemed a little off as of lately,” he said. 

“Fine,” Levi made his way over to the table that they stood near. The yellow light above flickered a few more times and began to annoy him but he didn’t want to make more of a fuss than the scene he had already caused. He crossed his arms and glanced at Valentine’s background file that faced Erwin from the other side of the table. “Did I miss anything in that?” 

Erwin glanced down into the disorganized paperwork. “Afraid not. It’s just as you mentioned, it only goes as far back as her adoption into the Sakleysi family. Nothing before. And considering most records of anything were destroyed when the wall fell, this may be as far back as we get.” 

“Doesn’t make sense,” Levi said. “Why was she being so hesitant with the file if that’s all it contained?”

“Honestly”—Hange sipped on her tea—“maybe the poor girl didn’t even know her own background. Perhaps she was inclined to find out before someone else”—she placed the cup down on the table—“I mean just look at your case, Levi. You didn’t even know about your Ackerman background until recently.”

Levi’s eyes softened and he slowly dropped his gaze to his shoes. He noticed the splotches of tea all over them. “Yeah,” he said in almost a whisper.

“On a separate concern,” Erwin glanced at Levi. “I hear that you and Valentine aren’t the fairest pair of the group.” 

Levi rolled his eyes and glanced up at Erwin. “She’s a brat.”

“Levi,” Erwin said sternly. 

“What.”

“You know that if we have any chance in taking down the Alpha, it will take the both of you being on the same page of chemistry for it to happen. You need to start getting along.” 

Levi glanced to the side annoyed.

“Well, at least they didn’t shut the scout regiment down after the last expedition,” Hange with a nervous laugh. “That was a shit show.”

“For now,” Erwin glanced at Hange. “Something tells me they are just waiting to see what happens. Keeping a close eye on us for any mishaps. We can’t give them any excuse. Taking the Alpha down is our utmost priority,” he turned his attention to Levi. “No matter the cost.” He and Levi stared at one another for a long moment. Hange glanced back and forth between them. 

“Any who,” she said more excitingly. “I have a fantastic idea that will offer some healthy team work exercise between you and Valentine!” 

“No,” Levi shut it down.

“You didn’t even hear it yet,” Hange complained.

“Let’s hear it,” Erwin said. Levi sighed.

“Well,” Hange smiled. “Farmer Mitchell is needing some help with his pumpkin patch and asked for any volunteers. I figured this wouldn’t just be a great physical training but also some time for you guys to learn team effort. I mean, who doesn’t love community service!” She threw her hands outward and waited for one of them to agree. Levi gave her a boring expression as Erwin looked more perplexed and confused.

“No—” Levi was going to say again before being interrupted by Erwin.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Erwin said.

“Seriously,” Levi gave him an annoyed expression. “We need to train.”

“It isn’t a request, Levi,” Erwin smiled.

“Tsk,” Levi clenched his jaw.

“Yay!” Hange lifted her cup and gulped down the rest of her tea. “Well that’s all I really came by to say,” she chuckled. “If there isn’t any other gossip from you two, I’m going to head out now. It’s nearly two in the morning,” she pointed to the clock behind Erwin’s desk.

Erwin glanced at the papers. “That should be it for now. Thank you, Hange.”

“Alrighty,” she turned and began to walk out. “I’ll get the details of the pumpkin patch, Levi,” she said in a teasing tone and waved her hand. He rolled his eyes and began to follow her out the door.

“Levi,” Erwin said. “Not you.” 

“Hm?” Hange glanced inside of the room before Levi shut the door behind her.

“What is it?” Levi said in an unenthusiastic tone as he continued to face the door with his hand still on the door knob.

“During the expedition, you and Valentine went missing for some time.” 

Levi turned around and gave him a boring expression. “Yeah.”

“What happened?”

“I already told you.”

“Why did you leave it out of the report?”

“Didn’t really seem vital to include.”

Erwin gave him a stern stare. “Are you sure there isn’t anything else that I need to be aware of? It was only a moment of some sort of trance that she broke out of fairly quickly?”

“Like I already said, that’s it.” They stared at each other for a long moment. The record player began to skip again and Levi stomped his way over and aggressively pulled the plug out of the wall. The stylus needle slowly pulled away from the record until it was in the direction of the window. He turned back around to see Erwin giving him a suspicious expression. 

“Listen,” Erwin placed his hands on the table as he glanced at the file. “I’m almost certain that Valentine is an Ackerman. When you first went into a sort of trance, it was when Isabel and Farlan died.” Levi’s eyes slightly widened. “And if the Ackerman curse is correct, in that moment, I became your host”—he glanced up at Levi with the same suspicious expression as before—“correct?”

Levi’s lips slowly parted. “Uh—” he hesitated.

“So this would mean then, that you are now Valentine’s host—”

“How the hell do you know about the Ackerman curse?”

Erwin lightly chuckled as he walked back to his seat at his desk, which was perfectly placed directly across the room from where Levi now stood. He sat down and placed his elbows on his desk with his hands together. “Well I had to do some digging. And found that it in fact resembles fairly close to the same experience of Valentine.” 

Levi looked perplexed. “Well it isn’t the same.”

“How so?”

“She didn’t lose anyone right before that moment.”

“Didn’t you say that you had mentioned to her that Ava was dead just right before it happened?”

Levi’s migraine began to worsen and he shook his head and tried to concentrate. “But she wasn’t. And she didn’t see Ava die.”

“But, she did witness Jean’s death right before, correct?”

“Tch,” Levi glared. “What are you getting at?”

“What I’m saying is…would we need to taint the experience in order for it to occur again?”

Levi lightly gasped as his eyes widened.

“If that’s what opens the door for her real strength to be released,” Erwin continued. “We may have to consider our options.”

“No.”

“We need to consider—” 

“No!” Levi slammed his fist on the record player. He stared into the back of his hand with wide eyes like he was seeing the future of a nightmare. “We…we can’t,” he said in a light pant.

Erwin noticed Levi’s fist trembling. “You seem flustered, Levi. You aren’t attached to this military tool already, are you—”

“Tch.” Levi slowly moved his gaze toward Erwin and gave an expression of disgust like he was deeply insulted. “Course not.”

“Good. Because I have a new proposal as of today.” He gave Levi a more stern expression. “And I would hate for your emotions to get in the way of it.”

“What proposal?”

Erwin stared at Levi for a long moment before responding. “If this military asset becomes too powerful for her own good, you are responsible for disposing it. Understood?”

Levi’s eyes widened. Why the hell is he saying this all of a sudden?

“You’ve never let me down thus far,” Erwin watched him carefully. “But if you feel that this is something you won’t be able to handle later down the road, then—”

“I can do it.” 

“Good,” Erwin sat back in his chair. “I’m glad we have an understanding.” Levi stared into the floor without saying anything. “And try to keep a close eye on her,” Erwin added. “If my assessment is correct in the Ackerman curse, she’ll surely become attached to you, more protective.”

Levi grabbed onto his collar and barely felt his neck with his fingertips. “Yeah,” he mumbled. 

“Alright then. That is all.”

Levi turned to leave without glancing at Erwin and Erwin carefully watched him until he was fully out the room and closed the door behind him. Erwin moved his gaze toward the shattered glass and spilt tea near the window.

God damn it, Levi put his hand over his face. There’s only one person I know that can find out for sure. Guess its time to visit an old friend again.

[nofacedpoet]

AWWT | Ch. 19: Eight Pointed Star

Levi held up an empty wine bottle and glanced toward Eren and Valentine. “Do either of you know anything about this?” His voice was incredibly hoarse and raspy. Eren and Valentine glanced at one another.

“No,” Eren said. 

“Mm-mm,” Valentine nodded.

Levi covered his mouth with his cravat as he began to cough uncontrollably. They were deep and heavy coughs that pulled from deep within his chest and his energy fell more weak with each one. He had lost so much weight in the past week that his thin and fragile body looked like it was about to collapse and break at any moment. His hair was a bit longer than usual and there was a bit of scruff on his face as if he hadn’t had the energy to keep up with either. Today he wasn’t wearing a turtle neck, but instead his usual plain button up white shirt. Sweat could be seen drenching through it even though it was freezing inside of the castle. The marks that were on his neck weren’t visible now and seemed to heal quite quickly. Valentine assumed it must have something to do with his Ackerman background but still thought it odd that he wasn’t healing from whatever virus he seemed to have. 

Eren leaned into Valentine as he made a gross expression. “What the hell is up with the captain latel—” he noticed her extremely concerned expression. He had never seen her actually have mercy on Levi before. She noticed Eren’s glance and quickly wiped it off her face. 

“Pfft, I don’t know. I don’t care,” she glanced to the side.

Eren raised a brow. “Are you actually worried about—”

“Hey!” Levi said with a scratchy voice and they both jerked their heads towards him. “This isn’t socializing hour. You’re here on cleaning duty for your shitty behavior. Understand—” he pulled his arm around his mouth as he began to cough again. 

“Uh—yes sir,” Eren said.

“Valentine, you’re in charge of the second floor,” Levi continued. “Eren, you stay down here. And for every bit of dust I find on either floor, it’s a lap around the field, got it?” 

Eren sighed. “Yes sir.” 

Valentine and Eren walked up to grab some cleanser and rags. She and Levi made subtle eye contact and she quickly looked away. Attempting to avoid any other contact with him, she hurriedly made her way up the stairs to the second floor and walked down a long hall way.

The old wooden floor creaked below her boots as she slowly made her way down and stared into the odd paintings along the wall. She stopped directly in front of one in particular that caught her eye. Smeared dark paint made out a distorted woman-like face that was being pulled in multiple directions. Deep black holes filled the space of her eyes. Valentine leaned in closer and stared into them. There were deeper layers of dark paint within them, some of purple and dark blue.

Her own reflection peered into the glass of the painting and her eyes stared directly across from the woman’s. She slowly reached for the patch that laid over her damaged eye and flipped it upwards as if to show the woman her own missing eye. The smokey pearly white color of her eye mixed with the woman’s mysterious dark black and purple and it looked as if they were swirling into a combination of colors together. Valentine moved a bit closer and suddenly, the painting slipped from the wall. Valentine jumped back right as the painting shattered at her feet. And right as it broke, she thought she saw a subtle shadow move into a nearby room from the side of her eye. 

She jerked her head to the side to see nothing but a closed room a few feet away. She slowly walked over and stared at the door that carried bits of chipped paint all over it. She gently placed her hand over the cold door knob as she laid the side of her face on the door to listen. Her eyes slightly widened as she heard a light whistle coming from the other side. A cold air pushed from underneath the door and across her boots. She slowly turned the door knob and gently pushed the door open. It creaked as she opened it and a very bright light escaped through the crack and blinded her eye for a moment. 

She could faintly see something dancing freely through the air. It looked so majestic and effortless. She opened the door a bit more and a gust of cold wind blew across her face and bits of dirt flooded into her eye. She placed one hand over her face as she peaked out of the cracks of her fingers and noticed that the window in the room was half way open. Sheer curtains flowed into the room as the forceful wind pushed against them. Bits of dust that shimmered across the air through the sunlight looked like a million bits of diamonds and glitter. 

A layer of dirt gathered on the floor and violently swirled around the room. It got louder as it began to make its way back to her and she shielded her face once more as it slammed against the door. As it danced toward the other side of the room, she quickly made her way in. She lightly pushed the door behind her to where it stayed open to just a crack and rushed toward the window. She pressed down to close it but it didn’t budge. Its rustic edges let out a screeching yell against her force.

She applied her entire weight and was basically hanging from the top edge of the window when it finally caved down. Right as it shut, the door slammed closed behind her. She quickly turned around and gasped at someone standing across from her, but it was only her reflection in an old and scratched mirror that laid on the door. She glanced around the room and noticed the layer of dirt on the floor had settled together in a perfect swirl. She walked over and studied it for a moment before dragging her boot across it, ruining it’s perfection. There was a sudden loud creak that came from beneath her feet and her eyes widened as she hesitated to move. It almost sounded like a giant monster was underneath the floor boards. Then, the floor completely collapsed from below her. She attempted to grab at one of the edges of the floor that stayed behind but failed to do so. Rather, she fell into a giant a black hole inside of the ground. 

She gripped onto her head as she rolled to the side to shield her face from all the debris that spread. She coughed as she rolled to her stomach and placed her hands down to push herself up. Her eyes widened as she noticed an odd symbol on the ground below her. 

She slowly moved her gaze across the ground to see that she was laying directly in the center of a giant eight pointed star that had a circle around it. There were odd symbols spread throughout it and at the end of each of the eight points were what looked to be beast-like giants. Their limbs and structures were much larger than that of a human and all of their faces were filled with an empty void of nothingness.

Valentine got to her feet and slowly stepped back as she studied the odd design. She noticed that there were white pillar candles at the end of every point and she stumbled on one behind her. She kneeled down and picked it up. There was melted wax along the sides and a ton of cobwebs inside. A fiery red liquid dropped into the candle and stained against its white purity. Hm? She felt a hot liquid from underneath her nose and wiped her fingers underneath to see that she was bleeding from her nose. 

Shit, she dropped the candle from her hand as she stood and it rolled away into the darkness. She pinched her nose as she threw her head back. There was the sound of the candle rolling again and she glanced to the side to see it rolling back towards her until it hit against her boot. She slowly moved her gaze in the dark direction in which it came and stared for a long moment. She couldn’t see anything, but definitely felt something staring back at her. A very light breathing came from behind her. She jerked her head back and slowly stepped back. “Is someone there?” Then the breathing was on the opposite side. Every time she turned to face it, it moved. She turned around in a circle as she stood in the center of the star, attempting to look in every direction all at once. 

“Heya!” a voice called out from above and she jumped. “Are you alright? Did you fall down there?” Valentine glanced up to see Hange. “Good thing I came lookin’ for ya!”

“Get me out of here,” Valentine said.

“Alright, alright. One sec,” Hange stood up and walked off. Valentine glanced around the darkness that surrounded her as if something was about to reach out and grab her.

“Here!” Hange threw the end of a rope down. Valentine clutched onto it and Hange pulled her out of the hole.

“Woah. What is all that down there?” Hange kneeled down and glanced into the hole with awe.

“Looks like some type of witchcraft.”

“Hm,” Hange held her finger to her chin. “Interesting. I’ve heard of the cult that worshipped titans in the old days but I never actually believed it. Ha. Well look at that.” 

Valentine jerked her head up. “Those are supposed to be titans?”

“Mhm,” Hange stood up. “They thought the titans were some type of Gods that were here to punish us for our sins,” she nodded her head. “Now I love my titans but even for me, that’s next level weirdo,” she laughed. 

“I’ve never even heard of this before.”

“It’s not really talked of now days because it happened so long ago and some people question if it really did occur. But from what I recall, I’m pretty sure most if not all of that cult was sacrificed.” 

“Sacrificed?” 

“Apparently the King long ago had ordered all of those involved with this so called witchcraft to be burned alive in a public hearing. They believed that the only way to properly erase their forbidden sins of witchcraft was to simply burn their blood. It was a gruesome castigation.” Valentine shivered as she stared toward the hole. “Anyways!” Hange yelled and Valentine jumped. “On to a happier topic, I’m here to give you something!”

Hange lifted a small box from the floor and made her way to Valentine. She opened a case to unveil what looked to be a piece of a pirate. 

“Uh,” Valentine made a peculiar expression. “What is that?”

“This,” Hange reached in to grab it. “Is your new eye piece.” She raised it to Valentine’s face. “Voila!” 

“Eye piece?”

“Yeah! You wear this over your eye until it heals. It’s meant to train your eye to work again and it’s much better protection than that lousy eye patch,” she reached for Valentine’s plain black eye cover and ripped it off and tossed it to the floor. Hange gasped as she caught a glimpse of her white eye before Valentine turned her head away.

“Woah!” Hange said.

“Yeah, I know okay,” Valentine’s shoulder’s dropped. “It’s—”

“So cool!”

Valentine’s eyes widened.

“Can I see it!? Oh please let me see it!” 

“Uh,” Valentine slowly moved her gaze up to Hange. She clenched her teeth of embarrassment and made an awkward expression.

“Wowww,” Hange’s eyes lit up as she leaned in closer. It looked like a giant pearl with white smoke clouding the inside of it. Hange’s expression slowly turned into a creepy grin. “Please tell me. How did it feel?”

“Huh?”

“Please!” Hange grabbed her shoulders and squeezed. “I have to know! You’re the only one with the Alpha’s mark—”

“The Alpha’s what—”

“Tell me please!”

“I—uh—it hurt?”

Hange smiled again. “How?”

“Okay, you’re freaking me out.”

Hange dropped her hands and tried to compose herself. “Uh-hem. Sorry for that,” she smiled. “I kind of lost myself there for a moment. Anyways, try it on already! I want to see how it looks!”

Valentine glanced down at the piece. It looked like it was made of expensive steel just by the look and heavy feel of it. There was a small window of tented glass on the front, she assumed to help train her eye to see again. There were dragons along the sides that blew out a fire that ignited into designs all over it. Valentine hesitated for a long moment then finally placed it over her eye. She brought the black leather strap around her head and tightened the small latch.

“Well,” Hange threw her hands out. “How’s it feel?!”

Valentine lowered her hands and glanced around. “It feels…good—”

“I knew it! I knew you’d like it!” Hange jumped like she was more excited for it.

“Hange,” Levi leaned against the door way. “Stop distracting the brat from her cleaning duties.” He glanced around the room. “Tch. Doesn’t even look like you’ve touched this damn room.”

“Aren’t you going to compliment the new look?” Hange gestured her hands toward Valentine. 

Levi moved his gaze to Valentine. “No.” 

“Levi!” Hange said. 

“I’ll be impressed when she’s trained to work with one eye.” 

“Pfft,” Valentine crossed her arms. “I’m just as good as before.”

Levi laid his broom against the door and slowly made his way over until he was directly in front of her. “Really?” he asked.

“Really—ouch! What the fuck!” Valentine grabbed the side of her head that Levi had smacked.

“You didn’t even see that coming,” he said. She went to smack him back but he quickly snatched her arm. Her eyes widened. “See,” he said.

She parted her lips to say something but she didn’t even know what. He was right and she knew it. She gasped as she felt something crawling up her leg and glanced down to see a giant spider making its way up. “Ah!” she screamed in panic and attempted to kick it with her other foot but went crashing down with Levi.

“Agh, you idiot,” he grunted. 

“No—w—where is it?!” she screamed as she scrambled around chaotically on top of him like he was a boat about to sink. “Where’d it go!?” It was just here, I saw it—” she paused and glanced down at her awkward position on Levi. She realized that she was clutching onto his chest with both of her hands and he had his hands on her waist as if to make sure she didn’t fall. They made eye contact and she felt her face blush. They quickly moved their hands at the same time.

“Get off,” he shoved her away.

“You get off!” she said but she was already on the floor.

Hange was too busy laughing hysterically a few feet away as she pointed to both of them. 

“It’s really not that funny,” he mumbled as he wiped his shirt off. Hange slapped her knee and began to laugh even harder. Valentine awkwardly stood and glanced around the floor. She spotted the spider a few feet away and Levi slammed his boot on top of it. She glanced up at him and when he glanced at her she quickly looked away. “You’re telling me the girl that took on the Alpha is afraid of a spider?” 

“Oh boy, that was good,” Hange wiped her forehead. Levi gave her an annoyed expression. She cleared her throat and took a step back. “Anyways. Can we go please go now? I’ve been waiting all day!”

“No,” Levi said. “You’re an hour early. We have work to do here.”

“Eh?” Hange glanced at her watch. “You said three, right?”

Eren peeped his head in and glanced around. He spotted Valentine and made his way over to her.

“Do you not know how to count?” Levi said. “It’s two.”

“No!” Hange said. “See,” she lifted her watch to Levi’s face to show that it was three in the afternoon. “Time to retire that old thing. Is that the same one you’ve had since our cadet days? Sheesh.” Hange said.

“I thought it wasn’t socializing time,” Eren mumbled sarcastically as he crossed his arms and stood beside Valentine. “What happened?” he glanced down at her bloody sleeve that she had wiped her nose with. “Did he do that? I’ll kill him,” he clenched his fists. 

“Cool it, hot head,” Valentine said. “He didn’t hurt me,” she lifted her hand and wiped Eren’s cheek that had a smear of dirt on it. “I fell in a hole of witchcraft then got attacked by a spider.” Eren gave her a peculiar expression.

“Alright brats,” Levi said. “We’re heading out now.” 

“Where we going?” Eren asked.

“Titan hunting!” Hange screamed with her hands up.

“Huh?!” Eren screeched. 

\\\

Armin, Ava, and Eren admired the sky from the top of the wall as they awaited orders from Levi. Armin’s big eyes lit up as he glanced toward the horizon in awe. His soft blonde hair shimmered with the golden sun. He just looked like he was part of it all somehow. 

“It’s so much better from up here,” Armin said. “It’s like being part of the sky.” 

Eren watched him from the side of his eye. “Yeah,” he mumbled.

“Just pick one already,” Levi could be heard saying from a few feet away.

“It can’t just be any one!” Hange said as she glanced down at the titans that were scratching at the wall. “It has to be Sassy. I promised him.”

Levi rolled his eyes. “You know they don’t understand you, right?”

“Shhh! Let me concentrate,” Hange waved her hand towards him and he sighed. 

Xilo and Valentine stood a few feet away from the others as they watched the titans below. 

“Xilo,” Valentine mumbled.

“Hm?” He glanced at her.

“Those ancient titans you mentioned before. How many did you say there were? Eight?”

His eyes widened a bit. “Oh-uh. I didn’t say. But yes, eight. How did you know that?”

She turned to him. “Want to go on an exploration with me?”

His eyes lit up like lights as if he’d been waiting his entire life for someone to ask him this. “Really? Where?”

“I think I found something—”

“Tch,” could be heard from behind them. They turned around to see Levi glaring at Xilo. “Your section leader needs your assistance so get going,” Levi nodded toward Hange.

“Oh, right,” Xilo nodded and made his way towards her. 

Levi gave Valentine an annoyed expression before moving his gaze toward the others. “Check your gear. We’re heading down now.” Valentine turned to head toward Hange when Levi put his hand up to her face. “No. Not you.”

“What?!” She slapped his hand from her face. “Why not?”

“Because I said,” he gave her a stern expression. 

“I can help.”

“You haven’t even trained since we’ve been back.”

“So then train me!”

“Tch,” he glared at her. “We’re starting back up soon.” He turned around to leave and paused in his step. “So it best you stay focused,” he muttered under his breath. “And not distract yourself with boys,” he walked off. 

Her jaw dropped. “Huh?!”

//

After many anxious minutes of watching everyone else attempt to quite literally kidnap a live titan into the walls while keeping other titans out, the mission was a success. Scouts watched in awe as they finished applying extra ropes and nets down on the titan so that it wouldn’t escape Hange’s experimental grounds, which was near the castle now. 

“So this is why we’re cleaning the castle,” Valentine rolled her eyes. “So you and your new prince can have a proper welcoming.”

Hange giggled. “Well this is far enough from most of the population, unlike my main station. It was the deal in order for the King to agree to it. The castle is really just a plus,” she winked. 

“What are you going to do with it?”

“Ah, ya know, tell it my darkest secrets and hope that it tells me its own.” That same creepy grin appeared on her face as she smiled at the titan. 

“Okay, stop,” Valentine gave her a peculiar expression. 

Hange giggled. “Anyways. There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you and I hope you don’t take it the wrong way.” Valentine sighed and crossed her arms. “It’s about what happened at the debrief meeting.”

“My behavior blabla, I hear it everyday from Levi.” 

Hange glanced at her with a somewhat sad expression. “Look. I know the two of you don’t really get a long that much.”

“Ya think?”

“But,” Hange put a finger up. “Those things you said really did hurt him. I know he may not show it, but it did affect him.”

Valentine glanced over to Levi who was pointing and giving orders to other scouts that were still tying the titan down. “Yeah, well,” she rolled her eyes and glanced away from him. “He said some pretty shitty things too.”

Hange sighed and chuckled as she nodded her head. “Ah man. You guys are just too much of the same.” She gently grabbed Valentine’s shoulder. “Just think about it, alright?” She smiled. 

“Sure. Whatever.” 

“Alright. Well I’m going to go see how my new friend is doing,” she giggled as she walked off toward the titan. 

“So weird,” Valentine whispered as she shook her head.

[nofacedpoet]

AWWT Ch. 18: Secrets

Valentine had been staring out of the window for hours since the night before and hadn’t noticed that it was nearly eight in the morning. She laid her forehead against the cold window as she watched the sun slowly rise. Her heavy eye lids drooped down to where she could see the outside world through a small slit. Her breath formed a small fog on the window and partially blocked her view. A woman in a scout uniform ran across the grassy field as she screamed and giggled. Valentine slowly reached her heavy arm and wiped the fog with her sleeve. A man in a scout uniform chased after her and caught up rather quick. He gently tackled her onto the grass and they rolled a few times until he was on top of her and held her in his arms. She giggled as he leaned down to kiss her. Valentine’s vision blurred and her eyes slowly began to close. 

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! She flinched at the loud alarm clock that went off behind her. “Ugh, eight already,” she mumbled as she walked up and grabbed the clock. “Huh?” The clock read 6:00AM as it blinked. “Stupid things broken already?” She pushed the off button and it didn’t turn off. “The hell,” she smashed the button even harder but it still didn’t budge. She grabbed the cord and yanked it from the wall and the alarm slipped from her grip and crashed on the floor. A few pieces broke off and scattered. She glanced down and watched as one smaller piece rolled away underneath the bed. She glanced to the side as she listened to it spin in a single place until it stopped. 

She sighed as she kneeled down and peered underneath the bed. There was a heavy layer of dust on the floor that faded as it stretched further into the darkness. It looked as if there wasn’t a wall on the other side, but instead just a gaping dark hole filled of things waiting to pull you in once you got close enough. 

She stared for a moment longer, then finally caught the edge of the missing piece peaking out from the darkness. She reached her hand towards it without placing her entire body on the floor but her fingers reached only a couple of centimeters from it. She pulled her hand back and stared at it for a moment. She laid her body on the floor and scooted a bit more underneath the bed and reached once more for the piece. Her finger just barely hit it and it rolled even further under the bed. 

“Agh!” she slammed her hand on the floor and bits of dust floated up in the air around her. She sighed and pulled herself further underneath the bed until only the bottom half of her legs were the only thing outside. She grunted as she dragged her hands along the floor and picked up fluffy bits of dust along the way. Then, finally she felt something from the edge of her pinky. She dragged her hand over and grabbed what felt like a circular object. It was much bigger than the object she was originally looking for and took up the entirety of her palm. It was heavy and cold. “The hell is this?” She moved her hand over toward the light and her eyes slightly widened as she stared down into it. She brought it closer to her face and lightly rubbed the dust off the top with her thumb. It was her compass. She huffed and smiled from the corner of her mouth as the memories danced across the surface of it. 

***

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” 11-year old Eren asked as he pointed to the sky. “Doesn’t the sun lower in the South?” He pointed in the opposite direction. “We should be heading that way.” 

“I’m pretty sure it lowers in the North,” Ava said as she bit into a piece of bread.

“Ava!” Armin said. Ava quickly shoved it back into her pocket. 

“It was only a bite,” she said with a full mouth. “It’ll still last us a few days!” 

Armin shook his head. “We’re camping for a week out here. We need to preserve it.” 

“Look,” Valentine said as she walked up to Eren. She opened the compass and he glanced at it with confusion.

“What is that thing?” He tapped it with a single finger.

“It’s a compass.” She turned it around so it faced him. “It’ll always tell you where you’re going and never steer you in the wrong direction.” 

“Really?” Eren asked in awe.

Armin gasped as he and Ava walked up. “I’ve heard of those things but never seen one before!” He leaned in closer and stared with wide eyes. “Aren’t these a rare commodity? Where did you get it?”

“I stole it,” Valentine smiled.

“We have to make sure we take this with us when we explore the world outside the walls!” Armin said. 

“We will,” Valentine said. 

“To the sea and the mountains and the—”

“You got him started,” Eren smiled. 

“With this,” Valentine held the compass up. “We’ll never get lost out there, no matter how big the world is. And we’ll always know our way back home.” She walked off. “C’mon, we still have a few more miles West before we get to our spot.” 

***

Her smile slowly faded as she noticed her subtle reflection on the top of the closed compass. Light scratches stretched across it on her face. She brought her finger over the button to open it but hesitated for a moment. She took a deep breath then slowly pressed the button. There was a click sound as the top popped open. She placed her thumb underneath the lid and the compass creaked as she opened it. The larger needle ticked back and forth like it struggled to fully move in one direction or another. 

She sighed and stared deeper into the struggling needle. It’s ticking noise began to get louder the longer she stared. BANG BANG BANG! There were three loud bangs on her door and she flinched and hit her head on the bunk. “Fuck,” she grabbed the top of her head and slammed the compass shut in the other. She crawled out from underneath the bed and slipped the compass into her pocket as she made her way for the door. 

She opened the door so abruptly that it banged into the wall behind. A young man in a scout uniform stood across from her. “Comrade Sakleysi,” he fell into scout salute. “Captain Levi has requested your presence to his office immediately.”

“Ugh,” Valentine rolled her eyes. “Never too early to start shit.” 

When she arrived to his office, she walked right in without knocking. Levi was leaning against the front of his desk with his arms crossed. His bangs slightly covered his eyes as he stared into the floor. He still wore a turtle neck, a black one this time, and there was no bandage on his nose, which was still bruised but healing. She glanced over to see Xilo standing to the side near the wall. He hesitantly glanced up at Valentine with a nervous expression. 

“Shut the door,” Levi said in a low volume. 

Valentine kicked the door shut from behind her and stared at Levi. 

“Get your ass over here,” he ordered. 

Valentine rolled her eyes and made her way toward him until she was directly across from him. She crossed her arms and leaned on one hip. “Are you going to hurry it up and tell me what the hell—” she gasped as he glanced up at her. He had bags and dark circles underneath his eyes like he’d been up all night too. More so, he looked incredibly ill. There was a light sweat on his face and he looked much paler than usual. 

He slowly raised a crystal between two fingers until it was directly in front of his right eye. He stared at Valentine with the other. “Want to tell me why the hell you were concealing military intel? And more so”—he turned and glanced at Xilo like he was something of utter disgust—“why the hell would you tell this idiot before me?” She glanced toward his neck. He moved his attention to her and she quickly moved her eyes back to his. 

“Why would I tell you to begin with?” she asked.

“Tch,” Levi lowered his hand and stared at her for a moment. He pushed himself off his desk so abruptly that it shifted back and Xilo flinched. He walked closer to Valentine and glared into her eyes. “Because, I’m your gah-damn superior, brat.” 

Now that he was much closer, she could tell that he was definitely ill. “Uh,” she pointed to his face that was only a few inches from hers. “Are you alright—”

“Don’t try to change the subject!”

“I’m not, it’s just,” she lowered her hand. “Well you look like shit and I don’t want to catch whatever you have—”

Levi grabbed her by the collar and pulled her in. “I’m ordering you to tell me what the hell this is, now,” he said in a threatening tone. 

She pushed herself against him. “Why?”

“Because I said.” 

“And if I don’t?”

Levi clenched his jaw and glared. “You want an ass beating?” He turned to Xilo. “You won’t be the only one, either.” Xilo’s eyes widened and he took a step back. 

“You won’t believe me if I told you,” Valentine said. Levi turned to her. “You don’t trust me,” she said. His eyes slightly widened. “I can see it in the way you look at me. Why don’t you trust me?!”

Levi glared at her. “Why the hell should I!?” 

She shoved him. “Tell me!” Levi glanced away. “Why won’t you tell me!?” She shoved him again and he stumbled back as he continued to glance away from her. “Say it!” She shoved him again. 

“Stop it!” He shoved her back. 

“No!” She shoved him again. “Not until you tell me!” she pressed her hands against his chest and pushed him again. She hesitated as she glanced at his turtle neck and he noticed. She went to grab it and he grabbed her arms and held them down. 

“Stop,” he said in a lower volume as he barely glanced at Xilo from the side.

“Show me,” she said.

“Quit it! Damn brat! You’re so gah-damn stubborn,” he grunted as he struggled to hold her arms down. 

“Yeah? Well so are you!” Valentine jerked her arms around an attempt to break his grip.

Xilo took a step towards the door. “I-uh. I’m going to head out.” 

“No. Stay,” Levi ordered without glancing up at him. 

“Sir, I really prefer—”

“You’ll do as I say.”

Xilo sighed and awkwardly glanced at the wall. “Yes sir.” 

“Did I—” Valentine whispered as she glanced up at Levi’s eyes. Her face shifted into a sad expression as her eyes slightly watered. “Did I do that?” Levi’s eyes widened. “Is that why—” His door slammed wide opened and Hange walked in. 

“Thank God,” Xilo whispered. 

“Oh-uh. Am I interrupting something? I can come back lat—” 

“No!” Xilo held his hand out towards her. 

Levi tossed Valentine from his grip and she stumbled back a bit. She squeezed onto her arms as she stared at the floor.

“Alright then,” Hange continued her way in. “So what’s going on?”

“This brat forgot to mention some key information about the expedition,” Levi grabbed the crystal from his desk and held it up.

Hange nudged her glasses up with one finger as she leaned down and stared into the crystal. “What is that?”

“Good question,” Levi glared at Valentine. 

Valentine glanced up at the crystal and said in a sad tone, “It’s from a titan’s nape. I think a special—”

“What?!” Hange screeched with her hands in the air. “You brought back a piece of a special titan and didn’t tell me?! And it didn’t melt away?! Oh, it’s so shiny. Can I touch it? Please let me touch it,” Hange leaned down and stared at the crystal with a creepy grin as she held her hands tightly together.

Levi rolled his eyes. “You’re missing the point. These two—”

Hange snatched the crystal from his hand and held it up to the light. “Oooh, it’s so pretty!” 

“We need to tell Erwin,” Levi continued. “And—agh—” Levi stumbled back into his desk as he grabbed onto his head and everyone glanced at him. 

Hange gasped and lowered the crystal as she made her way to him. “You alright?” She lightly patted his shoulder. “Is it the migraines again?”

“Probably,” Levi said through clenched teeth. 

“Really, Levi. You should get that checked out.” 

“Leave it. I’m fine,” he stood back up with his hand still on his head. 

“I don’t know,” Hange said. “You’ve been getting those since the expedition. It’s been nearly a week now.” 

“I said leave it,” Levi said. 

“You know, your stubbornness is going to catch up…” Hange’s voice faded into the background as Valentine turned her attention to a rattling and ticking sound that came from inside her pocket. “Hm?” she reached in and pulled out the compass. She opened it to see the needle spinning chaotically. “The hell,” she moved the compass closer and studied it. The needle speedily spun around a few times before switching directions and speedily spinning again. She gasped as she felt a subtle touch on her shoulder. It was Xilo. 

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Oh-uh,” she glanced back at the compass for a moment then shut it. “Yeah. Just tired. Haven’t been sleeping much,” she slid the compass back into her pocket.

“Oh,” Xilo said. “Is something stressing you out?” 

“No,” Valentine said. “Just nightmares. They do their best to ensure I never sleep,” she huffed a light laugh. 

“I see," Xilo glanced at her with a sad expression. “Sorry about this by the way. I don’t even know how he knew that I had that. I swear I didn’t tell him—”

“And the two of you”—Levi glanced at Valentine and Xilo—“will receive your punishment later for keeping this hush. And because we weren’t too sure,” he stared at Valentine. “We’ve ordered a search for both of your dorms.” 

“What!?” Valentine threw her hands out. “Bull shit! You can’t do that!”

“I can. And it’s already being done as we speak.” Her lips slowly parted as she stared in disbelief. “If you have nothing to hide, then it shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Levi glared at her.

Valentine crossed her arms and scowled. “Hmph.”

“Let’s go,” Levi walked off. 

\\\

“Well aren’t you the clean freak,” Levi glanced around the room in disgust. It was still in a state of disarray because she hadn’t had the energy to clean it. “You’ve definitely never cleaned a day in your life, have you?” 

Valentine sighed and rolled her eyes. 

“Have you found anything?” Levi asked the few soldiers that continued to shuffle through her things. 

“Not yet,” one answered. Levi gave her a suspicious expression and she glared at him.

“Sir,” one soldier pulled something out of the closet. Levi and Valentine glanced over to see him holding a small wooden box. Valentine’s eyes widened. Levi grabbed it from the soldier and Valentine gripped onto the other side. 

“No,” she said in a serious tone. The soldiers glanced at one another suspiciously.

“You’re not the one making orders here,” Levi tried to snatch it away from her but she held such a tight grip that she got pulled with it. 

“No,” she said again as she tried to take it from him.

“Get off,” he yanked it from her hands and shoved her away. 

“There’s nothing in there anyways.”

Levi shook the box and there was the sound of something moving inside. “Sure doesn’t sound like nothing.” 

Fuck, she thought as her face went pale. Levi watched her carefully as he slowly opened the box. He moved his gaze inside and his eyes widened as he froze. Valentine clenched her teeth and glanced to the side as her face blushed. Her heart began to pound against her chest. Her hands became extremely sweaty.All of the soldiers watched silently. Levi glanced up at them and they began to move again. He moved his attention back to the box and reached inside. He moved something to the side and grabbed something near the bottom. 

Valentine heard the sound of a knife blade opening and glanced up to see Levi holding her golden knife. Her eyes widened as she watched him study it. The light beamed across the clean blade as he slowly turned it around. He glanced up at her and she quickly looked away. She could feel a bead of sweat slowly drip down the side of her face. She gasped as she felt something slam against her stomach and glanced down to see Levi holding the box against her. She tried to look anywhere but his eyes as she went to grab the box, but incidentally grabbed both of his hands instead. Her eyes widened and she incidentally glanced up at him. They both stared at one another for an incredibly long moment. Then, he slipped his hands from under hers and she nearly dropped the box.

“Sir, you might want to take a look at this,” a soldier said as he handed him something. She subtly glanced up and noticed that it was her file that she stole from his office. 

Shit.

“Tch,” he glared at her as he opened it. He flicked quickly through the pages then slammed the file shut with one hand and glanced up at her. “Just can’t stay out of trouble, can you?” he muttered. She glanced to the side as she clutched onto the wooden box between her arms.

“There’s nothing else,” a soldier said as he stood. “That should be everything, sir.” Levi nodded and the soldiers began to make their way out. She hesitantly glanced up at Levi.

“We’ll talk about your punishment, for all your bullshit, at a later date.” He gave her one last ugly glare before turning around and leaving. After he shut the door behind him she took in the biggest breath of air like she hadn’t breathed for the past ten minutes that they were in there. She collapsed onto the edge of her bed and laid the wooden box on her lap. She hesitantly opened it and blushed as she stared at his cravat that was neatly folded and cleaned. She slammed her palm into her face.

She wished that she could just avoid him long enough that he’d forget this, but her and Eren’s punishment from the disciplinary hearing was to begin the very next day. She threw herself back on the bed and slammed a pillow on her face and screamed. 

[nofacedpoet]

AWWT Ch.17: The Reflection

TW: Self harm.

Valentine passed across the mirror toward the left side of the room. There was the sound of frantic scrambling through items that was followed by a giant crash and pieces scattering across the floor. She walked across the reflection to the right side of the room as she held her hands to her head and panted. 

“No,” she whispered through heavy breath. “No.” 

She collapsed onto the edge of the bed and sat directly across the mirror. She dug her elbows into her knees with her hands tightly clasped around the back of her neck as she stared down between her legs and into the floor. Her right leg bounced up and down and her heel tapped the floor repeatedly. 

“I don’t want to believe it,” she whispered as she broke her grip from her neck and began to rub her sweaty hands up and down her thighs over and over. “I’m not ready. I’m not ready. I’m not ready.” She glanced up and caught the monstrous site staring back at her and gasped. The horrifying reflection blurred as her eyes filled with water. “I can’t stand the sight of you,” she whispered. She stood and stomped her way to the mirror. “I fucking hate you!” She slammed her forehead against it and a giant crack split down the middle of the mirror. She stared into the two halves of herself. It was like staring into her past self and her present self at the same time. One was completely held together while the other was completely broken. “You’re so ugly,” she whispered as a tear fell from her eye. “But you deserve it,” she grunted. “You deserve all of it!” She slammed her head into the mirror over and over again. “I hate you! I fucking hate you!” She slammed her head into the mirror so hard that it shattered into tiny pieces and dispersed in every direction. 

She collapsed onto the floor and cried. Shards of glass pierced into the palms of her hands as she stared into the broken reflection of her disarrayed life. A drop of blood fell from her forehead and splattered onto a single piece of broken glass.

There was a subtle knock on the door. She glanced up as she hyperventilated. She slowly stood and glanced around her room that was in shambles. There was another subtle knock and she sighed.

Valentine opened the door to a little more than a crack and glanced outward to see Armin staring back at her with a gloomy expression. He was wearing dressy pants with a tucked in white shirt that had a black silk tie. He had a fresh undercut shave and his soft blonde hair was parted to the right side.

“Hey,” she said with a cornered smile. Armin’s eyes widened. He noticed that her eyes were slightly watered as if she’d been crying and there were dark circles underneath them. “You look nice,” she mumbled. He stared at her for a lingering moment. “What?” she said slightly annoyed. He glanced at the small cut on her forehead and the subtle blood on her hand. She quickly jerked her hand back behind the door and glared at him. He peered over her head and tried to glance into the room. She shut the door to barely a crack. “What do you want?” she asked in a more aggressive tone.

He dropped his shoulders and gave her a melancholic expression. “We’re about ready to head out now,” he said in his usual soft tone.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I’ll be out in a bit,” she went to slam the door but Armin moved his fingers in the way and they got jammed. “Armin!” she yelled as he barged his way inside. 

He glanced around and gasped. It looked as if every storm imaginable had swept right through her room. He slowly took a step back and glanced down at the broken reflection staring back at him. He turned to her and his eyes filled with a horrifying terror. She quietly shut the door and leaned against it with her arms crossed. 

“It’s happening again, isn’t it?” he said in a trembling voice as his eyes watered. “You said you’d tell me—”

“Don’t tell Ava,” Valentine mumbled as she glanced at the ground so she didn’t have to see him cry. “I don’t want her getting sick again—” 

“What about you?!” Armin screamed angrily but his voice was filled with more concern than anything. “You can’t keep doing this to yourself!” 

“Yeah, well,” she moved her gaze to the wall beside her. 

“Val,” his voice was so broken. She continued to look away and not respond. The broken mirror crunched beneath his shoes as he walked towards her. She sighed and rolled her eyes as she felt his presence directly in front of her. “C’mon,” he said softly as he gently laid his fingers over her bloody hands and lightly broke her grip from her crossed arms. He cupped his hands so hers could lay in his and glanced into her palms. His hands were so soft and warm on the back of hers. She hesitantly glanced at him and noticed a gentleness in his eyes rather than disappointment. “I’ll wrap them up for you,” he said. Her eyes began to water and she quickly moved her gaze down at their hands and nodded.

\

“We said if it ever got that bad, we’d tell each other, remember,” Armin said as he tore off the last piece of bandage and gently placed it around her hand. “I did it last time it happened to me. Now you have to do it too.” He gently laid her hand down and glanced at her. 

“Yeah, yeah. Alright. Fine,” she glanced to the side. 

“Promise me,” he whispered. 

Valentine rolled her eyes and glanced at him. “Okay,” she said. “Promise—” her eyes widened as Armin abruptly wrapped his arms around her and squeezed tightly. His soft hair gently brushed against her cheek.

“Uh,” she tried to lift her bandaged hand and lightly pat his back. 

“Sorry,” he whispered as he cried. 

“It’s…alright,” she said.

They broke away and his bottom lip trembled as another tear broke from the inner corner of his right eye. She watched as it slipped alongside his nose and traveled down both of his red lips until it clung to the bottom of his chin. She slowly raised her wrapped hand and gently caressed her fingers across his cheek to wipe the tears away. “You’re so pretty when you cry, Armin,” she whispered with a stoic expression. His eyes slightly widened. “But please…don’t.”

\

They made their way down the hallway toward Eren and Ava. Eren’s voice slightly echoed as he panicked. “No,” he could be heard saying. “It isn’t perfect. It needs to be!”

“Eren,” Ava said. “I promise, it looks fine. It’s okay.” She gently placed her hand on his shoulder. 

“What’s going on?” Armin asked as he and Valentine walked up. Eren was hyperventilating and clutching onto his tie. His eyes were watery and red underneath. Ava glanced at them with a worried expression.

“This stupid tie!” Eren said in a slight angry but sad tone. It sounded as if he was about to break at any point. “It won’t—” he pulled on the tie angrily. “I can’t get it to tie and—I have to look perfect for this. I have to at least—” he hyperventilated as his eyes began to water even more. “I can’t look the way I feel. I want to look put together for him. It’s the last goodbye and I just—” he began to cry as he dropped one hand to his side and barely clung to the messy knotted tie with the other. “I forgot. I forgot how to tie it,” he sniffed.

“Here,” Armin said gently. “Let me do it.” He grabbed Eren’s trembling hand from the tie and lightly placed it down. Eren sighed and threw his head back on the wall as he tried to breathe. Armin gently began to untangle the mess. 

Ava made her way beside Valentine as she gave her a peculiar expression. “Why are you looking at me like that?” Ava asked. 

Valentine stared straight through her with wide eyes. She rarely saw Ava with her hair pulled back in a braid. It really brought out the beauty in her face that she always tried to hide with her hair. “You look really nice,” Valentine said in a soft tone. 

“Oh,” Ava glanced down at her black dress. “Thanks.” She moved her gaze to Valentine’s suit. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you in a suit.” 

“You look just like her,” Valentine whispered. Ava’s eyes widened. 

“Sorry,” Valentine glanced away. 

“What happened to your hands?” Ava asked.

“Nothing,” Valentine subtly moved her hands behind her. 

“Nothing?” 

“Yeah. Nothing.” 

Armin slowly slid the perfect knot upward into Eren’s collar. “There.” He glanced up at Eren. “Perfect.” 

“Can you,” Eren sniffed as he held up his sleeve cuffs that were unbuttoned. “Help me with these?”

“Of course,” Armin began to tighten the cuffs around Eren’s wrists and button them up. 

“I wish…” Eren whispered. “I was as strong as you, Armin.” 

Armin gasped and glanced up at him. “I’m not—”

“I was just looking for you all,” a voice said from down the hall and everyone glanced over. A woman was making her way towards them as she carried a large box in her arms. 

Eren gasped. “Oh no. I can’t face her,” he quickly turned around to hide his face. 

“Eren,” Armin said as he finished the last button.

“No, I can’t.” Eren clutched onto his collar.

The woman placed the box on the ground and Valentine noticed that it was filled with Jean’s things. 

“I couldn’t just leave without seeing you guys,” the woman said. Her eyes were swollen and red. “You were all such great friends to Jean. I want to thank you so much for that.”

Armin glanced down into the box. “We’re very sorry for your loss, Ms. Kirstein.”

“And same to you,” she responded. “You guys were like a second family to him. He always bragged about you all,” she gave a broken smile. “I have to know,” her face became serious and she glanced down into the box. “How did he…” 

Valentine’s eyes widened and her lips slowly parted. “He was—” her throat clenched up. “Helping to take down…the Alpha and…well…I…” Valentine moved her gaze back into the box. “I missed.” Ms. Kirstein glanced up at her. Valentine began to breathe heavily. “And because of that, now he’s—” she gasped as she felt a warm hand grab hers. 

Ms. Kirstein gave a light squeeze as she said, “It’s no one’s fault, darling. Please know that. You have to know that.” Valentine glanced up at her with wide eyes. Ms. Kirstein gave her a warm smile and squeezed once more before lightly breaking her grip. She moved her gaze toward Jean’s things. “I told him not to join the scouts. But, he was a stubborn boy of course. As much as I hate to say it, there’s only one end to every soldier.” She covered her mouth as she began to cry. “I knew that when the day came…I would have to accept it.” Valentine glanced to the side at Ava. Ava turned to her and Valentine glanced ahead. Ava stared for a moment then moved her gaze back to Ms. Kirstein.

“Thank you,” Ava said. Ms. Kirstein glanced up at her. “For raising such a sweet soul. He was truly one of a kind and I’m grateful to have known him.” Her eyes watered and she gave a warm smile. 

Ms. Kirstein’s eyes widened. “Thank you for that,” she whispered. “And please,” she gestured her hands toward the box. “All of you. I want you to have something of Jean’s if you wish.”

Armin glanced inside the box and his lip trembled a bit. “Are you sure?”

“Of course,” Ms. Kirstein said. 

Armin kneeled down and glanced into the box and something in particular caught his eye. He lightly gasped as he reached in and grabbed a beaten up book that was titled, “Insimini”. He stared into the cover as he was reminded of a memory…

***

Armin stared down into his history book as he took notes. BANG! A book titled “Insimini” slammed right on top of his history book

“Read this!” Jean said as he pulled a chair out and sat down at the table. 

“You read?” Eren glanced up at him from across the table. 

“Shut up! Yes, I read!” Jean said. 

“I can’t right now,” Armin moved the book from his history book. “I’m studying, which you all should be. Finals are—”

“Next week, bla-bla, we know,” Jean said. “But trust me. This”—he place one finger on the cover—“is so much better than that boring history book. It will blow your mind. Definitely my new favorite—” 

“Jean,” Armin glanced at him with a serious expression. “I really need to get this done.” 

“It’ll be the best book you’ve ever read.” 

“I don’t know about that,” Armin said.

“Just read it!”

“Alright, alright. I will when I find the time. Maybe after finals or training.”

Jean sighed. “Fine. But when you do, tell me if you also think that it reminds you of all of us…” 

***

Jean’s voice faded away as Armin opened the cover. There was writing on the inside that read, Belongs to: The coolest person ever, Jean Kirstein. If you steal this, I will find you and kill you. Armin smiled and shook his head as he closed the book. He moved his eyes back into the box and gazed around the items. He spotted an envelope that read, Happy 18th birthday, Big Head. To: Eren. He gasped and snatched it. He flipped the envelope over to see that it wasn’t sealed. He lifted the flap and saw that a card was inside. His eyes widened. Eren’s eighteenth birthday already happened, Armin thought. And Jean was there…why didn’t he give it to him then? Armin glanced back at Eren, who was still a few feet away and faced the wall as he cried. Armin moved his gaze up to Ms. Kirstein who was talking with Ava and Valentine. “Umm, is it alright if I also grab something for Eren?”

“Please do,” she replied. 

Armin safely placed the envelope inside of the book and closed it. He stood as he held the book to his chest. “Thank you,” he said. 

“Of course,” Ms. Kirstein said.

Valentine kneeled down and stared into the box for a long moment. She sighed as she hesitantly reached her hand inside and grabbed a bottle of cologne that had a small amount left at the bottom. She brought it closer to her nose and took in a huge whiff. She knew it was the cologne that he wore the most because it smelt just like him. She slowly placed it back into the box and studied a few more of the items. She lifted his deodorant and noticed bits of it clung to the lid. She grabbed his “secret” hair product that Eren repeatedly asked about but he refused to ever tell him. She shook it and felt that it was half empty. She smiled as she realized that it was a woman’s brand hair product and that Jean probably didn’t tell Eren because he’d tease him for it. She noticed a few rings and a single necklace. She didn’t know that he liked jewelry because he never wore it. She noticed his tooth brush at the very bottom of the box. She grabbed it and stared into it. It still had bits of toothpaste at the very bottom of the bristles from the last time he used it. Her chest tightened and she placed it back down. She grabbed his hair brush that contained strands of his brown hair inside of it. A single piece of his hair barely touched her hand and she gasped as the brush slipped from her grip. She quickly stood and glanced away as her eyes watered. “I-uh,” she cleared her throat as she clutched onto the part of her hand that the hair touched. “I don’t want anything.” Armin and Ava glanced at one another. 

“That’s alright,” Ms. Kirstein reassured her. 

Ava hesitantly glanced into the box for a moment, then kneeled down and gazed around at all of the items. She slowly reached her hand inside and shuffled around some of the things. She gasped as she noticed a handful of notes piled together. She grabbed them and flipped through them. They were all notes that he wrote back and forth to each of them, usually during study hall in training because they were too bored to actually study. She smiled and gently placed them back into the box and moved her attention toward some other small items at the bottom. There was a blue bottle cap with a giant diamond that was from a bottle of beer that they drank at the first party they ever had together. She moved her gaze to a piece of paper with a sketch. She reached for it and realized that it was one that she had done years ago. One of the worst she had ever done to be honest. She hadn’t even known that Jean kept that. He kept all of this? she thought as her eyes watered. She placed the sketch down and saw the handmade cravat Jean created. She lifted it and smiled as she remembered…

***

Jean shoved the cravat into his collar and posed. “Guess who I am! I’m so strong and mighty. Humanity’s strongest soldier! I’m so angry and grumpy because I need a girlfriend.” Eren, Ava, Armin, and Valentine laughed. 

He put his hands on his hips and he made an ugly expression. “All I like to do is drink tea and talk shit! I’ll give you another hint, I’m only 3 feet tall—” 

They all gasped and glanced behind him. 

“And-huh?” He slowly turned around to see Levi glaring at him. Jean’s eyes widened and he quickly ripped the cravat from his collar and hid it behind his back. His cheeks flushed as he trembled. “Uh, sir—” his voice cracked. Valentine, Ava, Eren, and Armin giggled in the background. 

***

Ava wiped her eyes as she lightly laid it back in the box. She noticed a wrinkly T-shirt and lifted it. She closed her eyes as she sniffed. It smelt just like him. A tear dropped from her eye and absorbed into the shirt. She stood as she clutched onto it. “I’ll keep this one,” she whispered as she stared into it. “Thank you.”

Ms. Kirstein nodded. “Of course, dear.” She reached for the inside of her jacket pocket. “There is one last thing I want to give all of you.” She took out an envelope. “Here,” she extended her trembling hand towards Valentine. Valentine reached to grab it and Ms. Kirstein noticed that her hand was also trembling. They glanced at one another.

“What’s this?” Valentine asked. 

Ms. Kirstein smiled as she glanced at it. “It’s the first letter that Jean wrote to me while he was in the scout training program.” 

“Oh,” Valentine handed it back. “I can’t take that from you.” 

“No, please,” Ms. Kirstein gestured her hand towards Valentine. “I want you all to have it. I think his words will warm you all in these cold times. He…mentions all of you in it. I want you to see how he saw you from his perspective.” She smiled as her eyes watered.

Valentine slowly pulled the envelope back. She glanced down and gently rubbed her thumb over the address in Jean’s writing. It was his usual pretty cursive hand writing that she would always tease him about. “Thank you,” she whispered. 

“Of course,” Ms. Kirstein replied. “It’s a long journey back home so I better get going now. Please know that you are all welcome anytime. You were family to Jean, and you are family to me.”

“Thank you,” Armin, Ava, and Valentine said. They all leaned in and wrapped their arms around her for a long moment. They could feel her entire body trembling. They broke away and her eyes were filled with water. She cleared her throat. “Please be careful out there, alright?” she said in a trembling voice and without glancing at them. 

“We will,” Ava said softly. 

Ms. Kirstein gave a subtle nod and lifted the box from the ground. She walked a few feet ahead and stopped near Eren. “Eren,” she laid the box down. Eren gasped and slowly turned around. His face was drenched with tears. 

She put her hand on his shoulder and smiled as a tear fell from her eye. “Jean was an only child and always wanted a brother. I want to thank you for giving him that.” 

Eren’s eyes widened as his lip trembled. He clasped his arms around her as he cried. “I-I’m,” his words broke. “I’m s-so sorry,” he cried. 

“It’s alright, sweet boy,” she lightly patted his head.

They broke away and Eren wiped his face. “You all stay safe, now,” she said as she lifted the box.

“We will,” Armin said. 

She gave a subtle smile and nodded, then turned and walked off.

\

The grey sky darkened as a distant thunder roared. Scouts gathered around a pit hole in the ground that was made to bury items of those that were lost. This was the only form a proper goodbye that the scouts could provide since most corpses were unable to be brought back home. Especially with the number of bodies.

Eren stared into the clear bag in his hand that held Jean’s ODM gear, the only thing that they were able to bring back of him. He noticed some bits of dried blood in the cracks and sighed. He stayed up the night before attempting to clean it as best he could. “It isn’t clean enough,” he mumbled.

“Really, I should run inside real quick and try to—” he lowered the bag in his hand and noticed Ava staring across from him. She had a distraught expression.

She could feel her entire heart shatter into a million pieces as he glanced up at her. Her eyes widened as she gave a soft gasp. For a moment, she saw a glimpse of him as he was the first day they ever met. He stood as an eleven year old boy staring back at her. “What?” he asked with a sad expression. 

She blinked and he was back to his present self. His arms dangled to the sides as he barley clung onto the bag in his right hand. His soft brown hair laid along the sides of his face. His eyes were so heavy. His lips were a frown. His shoulders drooped over. He looked so broken. A gust of cold wind blew in and swung his tie around and his jacket opened wide and blew behind him. His hair blew to the left and got in his eyes a bit. I don’t want the day to come where…I have to say goodbye to him too, Ava thought.

“What is it?” he asked.

Ava realized that she hadn’t breathed for this entire moment and took in a huge breath. Eren glanced at her with a worried expression. She slowly walked up to him and he glanced down at her. She reached for his tie and gently flipped it over to face the front. She noticed one of the buttons on his white shirt was unbuttoned. She reached for it and gently buttoned it up. Then, she glanced up at him. His eyes looked so exhausted. She knew he’d been crying since last night. She was the only one that saw his breakdown in his dorm room the night before. In fact, neither of them got much sleep. He collapsed into her arms and cried practically the entire night. After a few hours of emotional fatigue, he nodded off to Ava lightly playing with his hair as he fell asleep in her lap. She stayed awake to ensure that he was going to be alright. Then, by time they knew it, the sun was already up.

She moved a strand of hair that laid across his face and moved her gaze to the bag in his hand. “Ya know…I would say that the cleanliness is definitely Jean-approved.” 

Eren smiled and laughed a bit. Jean-approved was a joke they always teased Jean about. His room was always the most messy out of everyones and they always called it the Jean-approved cleanliness. 

“Yeah, I guess he would approve it, huh?” Eren smiled from the corner of his mouth as he glanced at the bag. The sky roared with thunder and Eren moved his gaze to the clouds above. “I’ll miss his shit-talking.” 

Ava giggled. “Yeah, me too,” she rested her forehead on Eren’s chest and stared into his tie. Her eyes began to water and she struggled to hold her tears back. “I’ll miss his laugh. And really bad jokes.” 

This made Eren laugh. “His humor was so weird.” He sighed and nodded. He felt Ava’s body trembling and glanced down at her. He knew that she was crying but didn’t want him to know. He wrapped his arms around her and placed his chin on her head. He stared ahead at Armin and Valentine who were making their way back with Reiner, Bertholdt, and Connie. 

“Don’t tell me,” Eren whispered. Ava broke away from Eren and glanced back at the others. 

“Well if it isn’t the guy who fought the Captain himself, big shot,” Reiner teased. His eyes were a bit swollen like he’d been crying.

Eren shook his head. “He kicked my ass.” 

“That’s not what everyone else is saying,” he lightly nudged Eren’s shoulder.

“Where is…” Eren hesitated.

Connie glanced at the ground. He covered his mouth and began to cry. 

Eren’s eyes widened. “No,” he whispered. 

“We umm,” Bertholdt gulped. “We lost Sasha and Annie.” Eren and Ava gasped. 

“I’m sorry,” Ava whispered as she covered her mouth. 

“We uh—” Bertholdt gulped as he glanced up at Eren. “We heard the news about Jean.” 

Eren moved his gaze to the ground. “Yeah.” 

“Damn it,” Reiner clenched his fists. “Losing three friends on the first expedition—” He sighed and put one hand over his eyes. “Who would’ve thought our last moment together would be that stupid party. I didn’t even say goodbye—” he felt a soft touch on his arm and glanced down to see Ava. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged tightly. He hugged her back as his eyes watered. Eren, Armin, Valentine, Connie, and Bertholdt joined and they all hugged each other in a big group. 

“Did Jean know?” a voice trembled from the outside. The group broke apart and glanced over to see a brunette woman standing by. Her eyes were swollen and her face was drenched. “He had to have known, right? I just…I need to know.” They all glanced at each other. 

“Who are you?” Eren asked. 

“Myra…I am—uh—I mean, I was Sara’s best friend. Please tell me that he knew.” 

“Knew what?” Ava asked. 

“That Sara had feelings for him. That she loved him,” her voice trembled. “She had planned to confess her feelings to him after the expedition. But…I mean no one expected…for either of them to…” she covered her mouth.

“Myra,” a blonde boy walked up and gently pulled her away. “We’re so sorry for you loss,” he nodded at the group. “I told you not to do this,” he whispered to Myra. She cried as he pulled her away. 

Ava leaned in toward Valentine and whispered, “Isn’t that Sara’s brother—huh?” She noticed Valentine staring straight ahead with wide eyes with her lips slightly parted. “Valentine?” 

“Just goes to show that we should always tell those we love...” Connie wiped his eyes. “I wish I told Sasha that…before.” 

Armin subtly glanced toward Eren. Eren noticed and turned to him. Armin quickly glanced away.

\

Eren, Armin, Valentine, and Ava released their grip at the same time and watched Jean’s ODM gear fall into the large pit with the other items from fallen comrades. 

“Jean Kirstein!” Valentine said. 

They turned and walked off from the pit as another group made their way towards it. They stood back as they listened to the names of the fallen comrades. Valentine felt a subtle touch on her hand and glanced to the side. Eren’s hand was trembling. She glanced up at him and realized that he was hyperventilating. 

“Eren,” she whispered.

He turned to her and she gasped at the distraught look in his face. He collapsed into her arms. Her eyes widened as she caught him and tried to hold him up. He cried a painful sob as he buried his face into her shoulder and clutched his hands tightly on the back of her jacket. His legs fell weak and they both collapsed to their knees. His arms dangled to her sides as he screamed a painful cry. “Eren,” she tried to say but nothing left her mouth. She wrapped her arms around him and held his head with her hands. Her eyes watered and she glanced up at Armin and Ava with a worried expression. 

/

The rain slammed against Valentine’s face. She squinted her eyes and stared into the pit hole. Everyone had already gone inside. She clenched her fists and felt the pain of the cuts underneath the bandages. She squeezed a little tighter. “I will do it. You have my word,” she said through clenched teeth. “I will kill the Alpha. I know what it’s going to have to take now.” Her expression softened as she collapsed to her knees. “And I’m willing to do it.” There was a roaring thunder and she moved her gaze up to the crying sky. “Jean,” she whispered as a tear fell from her eye. “I’m so glad…we’re going to be reunited sooner than I thought.”