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It occurred to Levi that people were a lot like snowflakes. Everyone was born the same but with different levels of potential depending on where and when they started out. When some hit the ground they grew into something beautiful and powerful whereas some fell and dissolved until there was nothing left. Not a trace that they had ever existed.
He supposed that most would say he was the former. In a way they were correct; in this moment he was strong. Humanity's Strongest is the title he was given for his ability to fight. But in the end, he was a soldier who would be forgotten. If by some miracle he was remembered years after his death, it wouldn't be as a human. It would be as a soldier. A machine.
As he watched Eren growing greater and stronger with the passing months he knew that he would be different. This boy would be humanity's salvation, and he would be remembered. But there was more to him than how he would save humankind. He was loved while he lived. Many of his friends would give their lives for him simply because he was their friend; because they loved him. Not because it would be beneficial to keep him around or because he was a good soldier.
Only a few would die for Levi Ackerman and it would be so he could keep fighting, not just because they loved him. If he was untalented in combat, he'd be left to rot.
He didn't want that.
He didn't want to be seen as some cold, unfeeling, emotionless being who was strong on the battlefield. He wanted to be seen as he was. Human. But it wasn't possible, was it? Not without making himself vulnerable. Not without becoming weak, defenceless. He'd have to make friends and talk to people but that would only bring him more pain when they died.
It was better this way.
He was safer this way.