Chapter Text
"Jaeger," his early European history teacher droned. Eren jolted upright, not realizing that he had almost fallen asleep. He hated early morning classes, and this one was no exception.
"Here," Eren yawned before stretching. It wasn't the most exciting class, and having it this early made it so much worse.
The professor continued down the roll list, his bored tone making it a lot harder for Eren to fight the pull of sleep. Why hadn't he made Armin take this class with him again? Oh, yeah, he had other important things to do...stupid prodigy geniuses.
"Before we got on with lecture, there's something I want to do," the teacher began. Eren felt dread fill his chest at those words, they were usually followed by the announcement of a pop quiz. "I thought we could talk about these reports that have been showing up on the news."
Eren almost sighed aloud in relief. That was before he remembered what reports his professor was undoubtedly talking about. That sickness that had been spreading around lately. It was apparently pretty nasty and caused its host to completely lose their mind. They were going around attacking people like rabid animals. He'd heard a few people jokingly call the infected zombies, which he viewed as bad taste, but it wasn't really any of his immediate concern. He figured that it would all be over quickly enough. There were probably hundreds of geniuses trying to find a cure, and they would make a breakthrough soon.
With that bit of totally unnecessary self-assurance, he at least attempted to look interested as his professor began talking to the class about it. He finally gave up on actually listening and just closed his eyes. This was all boring, he would just take a small nap and wake up in time to take notes.
2 years later...
Eren often found himself thinking back to that lecture, if only to remember his last normal day. It was the last time that he had really felt any peace or security. He remembered how uninterested he had been in the entire outbreak and how naïve he had been about the whole ordeal. He had felt so secure, trusting other people to handle this disaster before it even turned out to be a problem, that he hadn’t even spared the situation a second thought…and why would he have? He’d just been a stupid kid that had only been worried about how he was going to manage to get past his history exam with a passing grade so that he would be able to keep the scholarships that his best friend, Armin, had helped him get.
Now things were a lot different. He no longer had school to worry about, instead he had to worry about living. Every second he was alive was a miracle, and he knew that he had to fight to keep that miracle happening. It was impossible to forget when it was screamed at you every few minutes by a ruthless man that was training you to be a killing machine.
“Eren!”
He flinched before turning to look at his best friend. Armin Arlert was sitting next to him, his shoulder-length blond hair glowing lowly in the dim light that shined from the roof in the mess hall. He was looking at him with concerned blue eyes, as though unsure of what to think. That was a rare look for his friend to have, considering how intelligent the man was. He stared at Eren for a few more seconds with the same expression before sighing. “You spaced out again. That’s not good, you know. We’re not trainees anymore, and if there’s an emergency, it’s our job to respond quickly and efficiently. You can’t do that when your mind is always in other places.”
Eren scowled at his friend. “You’ll have to excuse me,” he snapped. He hated it when Armin lectured him like he was some sort of idiot. Eren knew that he needed to be alert at all times, but it was hard to do when he knew that he was trapped inside of this ‘gated community’ as the leaders of the place preferred to call it. Personally, he liked to call it confinement. “It’s hard to keep your mind focused on this stupid place, when the only thing you want is to be as far away from here as possible!”
“Shhh!” Armin hissed at him, casting worried glances all around the cafeteria. A few people were looking in their direction, but most of the gazes were disinterested. No one had the energy to care about other people’s opinions anymore. “You’re drawing attention!” He put his face in his hands and let out a small groan. It was a noise that Eren had started to associate with Armin’s annoyance, and it was something he was starting to become very accustomed to hearing at least twice a day. Eren knew why Armin was so weary, because he was afraid that speaking like Eren did was just going to get the leaders of this colony to throw him out. He doubted that would happen, but he complied with Armin’s wishes all the same, though he couldn’t refrain from rolling his eyes as he settled down.
He just let out a sound similar to Armin’s and crossed his arms over his chest. “What were you saying while I was spaced out?”
“I was just telling you that we have to pick what group we’re volunteering with by the end of today. I was wondering if you’d changed your mind about wanting to be with the Survey Corps.”
Eren looked over at Armin with a raised eyebrow. He knew that his friend desperately wanted him to reconsider his choice to go into the Survey Corps, but he couldn’t. He hadn’t felt so strongly about this being the right decision in a long time, and he was going to follow his gut. He hated the undead, better known as Titans, and wanted to kill every single last one of them out there. Those stupid undead had taken everything from him, and he wanted to return the favor so badly that his mouth salivated slightly at the thought. He didn’t care what it took; these creatures were all going to pay. It was something that he had already told Armin, and he felt mildly offended that his friend was actually asking him to reconsider going something that he had been wanting to do since he had gotten to this stupid shithole. “No,” he finally said. “I haven’t changed anything. I’m joining them.”
“I am too,” Armin told Eren, trying his best to make himself sound totally at ease with the thought of knowingly throwing himself headfirst into danger. Eren knew him too well for that, however, and knew that Armin would never do anything like that unless there was a good reason. His friend was just too smart.
“No you’re not,” Eren said calmly. He didn’t even really take Armin’s announcement seriously. The blond belonged inside of the meetings with the strategists of the colony. He needed to be advising food rationing, researching the best ways to take down zombies without getting killed, and the best direction for the Survey Corps to head in hopes of finding a more secure shelter than what they had. “You’re going to become an advisor. We’ve already talked about this, and you’ve already been approached about it. Don’t be stupid Armin. Go where you’re needed.”
“I know where I’m needed,” Armin shot back. His voice held a bit of fire in it, making Eren turn to look at his friend sharply. There was no way that Armin was being serious, though he never really remembered the blond having much of a sense of humor; he might have found it in the sickness of this new world. “My strengths are at making split-second tactical decisions,” Armin told Eren. “I need to be out on the field, keeping idiots like you alive. I was approached by Erwin Smith last night. He told me that the other officials had spoken to him about me, and he wanted me on his team.”
“If he’s making you—”
“No one is making me do anything, Eren,” Armin snapped. “I want to do this. If it’s the best way that I can help, then I’m going to do it. I want to contribute as much as I can to this. I know my parents weren’t killed right before me, but they were casualties in this world. I want to avenge their deaths and try to see to it that one day it won’t happen to someone else.”
Eren just looked at Armin silently. What could he say? Don’t do this, because I don’t want you to die! It was the truth—Armin was weak and lacked the athletic ability that it took to keep one alive on the outside—but Eren knew all too well that reasoning would do no good. Anyone that wanted to join that suicide team was already hellbent on their path, and there would be nothing stopping them from that decision, especially not something as trivial as reason.
“Fine,” Eren sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair agitatedly, but didn’t say anything to start an argument with his friend. He just silently promised himself to be there any time that Armin needed him. If the blond wanted to be brave, then Eren would respect him for it and protect him at all costs. “We can both go and sign up to the groups after we’re done eating.”
Armin actually smiled at him, an expression he had not seen in over two years. He was that happy that Eren had accepted what he was planning to do. Apparently, he didn’t realize how much it hurt Eren to agree to it. Eren attempted a smile in return, but it came off as more of a grimace. He turned away from his friend before his expression became too obvious and looked around the dingy mess hall. The walls were stained grey from smoke and soot. The people all sat at mismatched tables with mismatched chairs, looking down at their food with either determined or resigned looks, depending on what sort of day they were looking forward to, bad or terrible. He hated life inside of the walls, and he didn’t want him or Armin to have to suffer from the depressed mood that always accompanied being there. He wanted his friend to be free, but he didn’t want him to have it at the expense of his life.
That didn’t stop him from just nodding his head as Armin said, “We can go now, if you want. I’m finished eating anyway.” Eren stood up and grabbed his tray, following Armin to the waste bin on the other side of the room. Then they both walked out of the mess hall, side-by-side, to go and sign their own death warrants.
Levi was standing beside the front gates of the gated community. He had his back against the wall of a small shed that housed guards that were on lunch break during their shifts on the wall. He was waiting for Erwin and Hange to show up, and the longer he stood there, the less patient he felt. He knew that it was because it was time to start training the newest trainees again, and Erwin always left him with most of the hotheaded idiots. He didn’t know why; his tolerance for bullshit was a lot lower than anyone else’s in the colony. Maybe it was because he wanted the soldiers to take after his no-nonsense attitude while they were on the field. It never really worked. Most of the people that went out with them either die or turn. It was a dangerous job, so the people that go out with them, are the loud and obnoxious ones, because the ones with any sense are inside of the gates with their lives.
“Stupid Erwin,” Levi muttered to himself. Shitty Glasses was probably talking to him, keeping him preoccupied while they were heading this way. The lunatic was trying to get the okay to capture one of those creatures. It had been a request that she had been trying to get granted for over a year. Erwin had been denying her because it was too damn dangerous and a total waste of time, space and resources. They were evil, and needed to be exterminated, and that was all. Levi didn’t know if he believed everything to be as black-and-white as that, but he didn’t voice his opinion, mostly because he didn’t have a strong enough one on the subject to particularly care, and it would be more work if he were to convince Erwin.
“What are you muttering to yourself about?” Levi turned around and saw a familiar blonde with chin length hair. She had a friendly smile on her face despite the knowledge that they were leaving out at first light to do a sweep through of yet another town. This one would be more of a test of the newbies; all of the veterans would observe all of the recruits and decide which ones were worth the weight that they would take up in the trucks, and which ones would be food for the Titans before they made it halfway out the gates on their own.
“I’m cold,” he told her curtly. He didn’t want to have a full-on conversation with anyone at the moment, not when he felt so aggravated. He didn’t even know why he felt irritable. Maybe it was a sense of foreboding; it was as if he could feel something was going to go wrong when they left. With that thought, the iciness in his stomach seemed to drop into even colder temperatures. “Tch.” This is going to suck.
The veterans slowly started to accumulate a bit later on. Levi wondered if Hange had given him the wrong time as a joke. It sounded like something she would do, trying to be funny. He felt his scowl soften slightly as Furlan Church walked up. The flashy blond was one of his oldest friends, and someone that Levi honestly respected. That was saying a lot because there weren’t a lot of people out there that Levi could say that about. He smiled cheerily at Levi as he came to stand next to his friend.
“Where’s Isabelle?” Levi inquired. It was strange seeing one of them without the other. They were both extremely talented fighters, skills that they had picked up in the same manner that Levi had, but neither of them had ascended the chain of command like he had. It was because Erwin Smith didn’t really trust him. Levi couldn’t really begrudge the man. If Levi was in Erwin’s shoes, and the rest of humanity—at least the parts that they know about—rested on his shoulders, he wouldn’t trust a lying thief either. Levi had been the leader of their gang, and Erwin had saw it fit to keep both Furlan and Isabelle away from him, though he’d had no luck keeping the duo separated from each other, which was why Levi was surprised to see Furlan by himself.
“She hurt her foot a few days ago in a training exercise,” Furlan told him. “She insisted that she was okay, not that I believed her. I made her go to the healer’s station, and they forbid her to go. They said that her ankle was fractured.” Furlan scowled. “That crotchety bitch had the nerve to look at me like I was trying to get her to go. Hell, I was trying to get her to stay behind.”
Levi rolled his eyes. “Tch. Idiot.” He didn’t know if he was talking about Isabelle or the other woman. Either situation would have worked. Levi might not have said much, but he didn’t have to be a verbal person to be observational. Any idiot could see that Furlan cared deeply for Isabelle, and would know that he wanted to keep her as far away from danger as she could stay.
Furlan nodded in agreement but remained silent. “Sorry I was so late getting here,” Erwin’s voice hit his ears a moment later. Levi slowly turned and looked at the tall and muscular blond man that was standing in front of the small crowd of troops. He had neatly brushed blond hair and a well put-together suit. Levi knew that it was a show to let the other people know that Erwin was a neat individual with everything calm and collected. “I had a couple of things that I had to attend to before coming, and one took a lot longer than I had originally anticipated.” He pulled a sheet of paper out of his pants pocket and unfolded it. He looked it over for a moment before looking back at the veterans and smiling. “We have twelve recruits this time; the names of these brave young men and women are: Sasha, Connie, Jean, Marco, Bertolt, Reiner, Annie, Ymir, Christa, Mikasa, Armin and Eren.” He looked around at the older soldiers and said, “I’ve asked them to stay in the Survey building while I talked to you guys. I know that you’re all tired and you don’t want to have to train any newcomers, but please treat them as equals and protect them as you would a comrade. They’re in our circle now, and you should treat them with due respect.”
Levi silently wondered which jackass had badmouthed the recruits this time. It was the only time that they ever got this speech. It was cold outside, and he didn’t have time for any of this. All he wanted to do was get back into a house with a fire burning so that he might be able to warm up his frosty hands. He was kicking himself for forgetting his gloves in his sleeping quarters.
“Petra,” Erwin called. “Could you please go and get the recruits. They need to be properly introduced to the regiment.”
“Yes sir,” Petra said. He nodded in her direction as she walked away from the group. Levi stared after her for a moment in disbelief. She was too nice and helpful. It was going to cause someone to take advantage of her one of these days, and Levi was going to have to gut them for it. Most of the time weak and kind people were synonymous to him, and all of them pissed him off. Petra was the only exception, and he didn’t want to see something as pure as that be washed away.
“You look distracted, Levi,” Furlan said, snapping him out of his train of thought.
“It’s nothing,” Levi told his friend curtly, and it really wasn’t anything at all.
Eren hadn’t felt self-conscious in over two years. He knew that he looked like utter shit, but so did everyone else that he was around. The apocalypse was not a beauty contest, but when he walked out of that building and followed the nice woman, he thought her name was Petra, toward the walls of the colony he started feeling a bit uneasy. All of the veterans were in his sight, and their gazes were starting to psyche him out. It was as though they were measuring him up for a coffin instead of just glancing him over to see what he looked like. Everyone looked haunted and tired, and like they all needed a large hug…not that Eren would have been brave enough to venture forward and attempt it. They might have looked weary, but he had no doubt that they were all veterans for a reason.
“Alright!” Erwin Smith’s booming voice hit his ears and he stood a bit straighter. He refused to look as intimidated as he felt. “Survey Corps, meet your newest recruits!”
“Okay, brats, listen up!” Eren’s first impression of Levi had been one of mixed emotions. The man was terrifying, for lack of a better word, and Eren cringed to think of how easily he would be able to kill Eren. Would the man even blink? With the cold and harsh way that he looked at everything, Eren doubted it. He quickly brushed that thought out of his head. He had to trust the people that he went out on this raid with. They were going to have his back and make sure that he made it to the colony in one piece. He couldn’t die before he achieved his dream of killing all of the undead. He shook his head, clearing it of the unnecessary thoughts and tuned back into what Levi was saying. “I’ve been placed in charge of half of you for this mission. I am not a babysitter. I will not be holding your hand. If you want to be Titan shit, I will not stop you, but do not do anything stupid that’s going to get anyone other than yourself killed! Am I clear?”
They all nodded their heads vigorously. No one wanted to disagree with their captain, so to speak; he was a scary man. “When we get to the town, I want you all to pair up into teams of three. Do not get separated from your comrades at any time. If something happens, you will each have a flare gun to fire. This will attract Titans as well as us, so only use it in life-or-death situations.” Levi paused for a second, as if debating on whether to say something. Apparently, he decided against it, because he simply said, “That’s all. Find a vehicle and get in.”
Eren scrambled to get into one of the armored vans and sat in the very back, next to Armin. There were a few others from their training group as well—Eren spotted Connie and Sasha—but most of the people were veterans. They were all silent, and no one wanted to fill the void with chatter. They all just allowed each other to sit in peace with their thoughts as the truck rolled along, past the gates and into Titan territory.
Eren felt surprisingly at peace the entire ride out. Some of the veterans chatted amongst themselves, but no one really got too noisy. It was as though they were trying to prepare themselves. Eren felt nervousness start to tickle the pit of his stomach, and he didn’t really know why. He’d faced and killed zombies before. The Titans were nothing to scoff at, but they were all stupid, and easy to manipulate. Killing one wasn’t that difficult, as long as people were sure to keep their guard up and not get too cocky. He figured that it must have been the thought of putting themselves through hell after they had been inside of that nice, protected cell. The only person who didn’t look troubled was Levi…though his facial features hadn’t changed in the least since he’d been in the shorter man’s presence.
“Stop the car,” a man with longer golden brown hair and a goatee said. The driver, an older man with greying brown hair obeyed immediately and turned to look at the speaker, who was sitting directly behind him, with a raised eyebrow. “Supplies are in there.” The man pointed toward a large subdivision that was immediately to their left. All of the houses were nice brick homes…or Eren imagined that they were supposed to be nice. It was hard to tell when the windows were shattered and blood was splattered all over the walls and the porches. The occasional body was seen strewn across a lawn or down the small street. On the first yard of the subdivision, Eren saw a tattered, blood-spattered sign. Past all of the gore, he was able to decipher the name: Trost Subdivision.
“Are you sure about that, Mike?” the driver asked incredulously. “That place looks like it’s been ransacked already.”
“I can smell it,” the man named Mike said stubbornly. “Has my nose ever steered you in the wrong direction?”
Before the driver could reply, there was a loud knock on the window behind the man. Eren saw his eyes go wide as he flinched. “Relax Oluo,” Levi sighed, sounding bored. “It’s just Petra.”
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack, girl?” Oluo demanded angrily as he rolled his window down. “What’s wrong with you?”
“The commander wanted to know the same about you,” Petra told him sternly. “Why have you pulled over in the middle of a road. Titans could be anywhere!”
“Mike said he could smell supplies,” Oluo told her. “Yell at him!”
“Tch,” Levi sounded. “Tell Erwin about it, and ask him if he wants to detour here and get the supplies. If he does, you can just drive around us and lead the way.”
“Yes, sir,” Petra nodded in agreement. She turned around and quickly walked away from the van. A few moments later, the other van was pulling in front of them and turning into the subdivision. Eren said nothing as Oluo followed them, but that didn’t stop the strong sense of apprehension that he felt as they pulled to the center of the community. Something about this entire place felt off.
Eld, a man with blond hair pulled back into a bun was sitting next to Mike. He turned around to look at both Eren and Armin. He smiled, though Eren though that the action was forced. It was as though he could feel the exact same foreboding sensation that Eren did but was trying to be brave in front of the newbies. “Don’t do anything stupid while we’re here,” Eld told them. “It’ll just be a quick in-and-out mission, as long as you guys stay close by and don’t try anything courageous.”
Eren nodded silently, and saw Armin doing the same thing out of the corner of his eye. He would do what he was told as long as it was within reason. He could listen. The van pulled to a stop and Levi opened his door first, hopping out of the front passenger’s seat to look at their surroundings with narrowed eyes. Did something feel wrong to everyone? Eren pushed that thought away almost immediately. If it felt off, they wouldn’t be here. He was just being paranoid.
Eren and Armin waited for Mike and Eld to step out before they clambered from the back seat. They were all standing in the middle of the road, waiting for orders. Eren saw Levi, Mike, Hange, and Erwin standing in a group, speaking lowly amongst themselves. He looked away and turned back toward the small crowd that made up the rest of the subordinates.
“Do you think that we can get food here?” Sasha’s excited voice met his ears, and Eren looked in her direction with a raised eyebrow. She had been talking to Connie, a short man with brown hair shaved near his scalp.
“Do you ever think about things other than food, Sasha?” Connie demanded. He had to look up at the pretty brunette, who had a good few inches on him. Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, leaving her excited face visible. Her expression didn’t change with Connie’s demand, obviously too hung up on the thought of a meal to pay him any attention. “You should be more worried about the Titans that could be around here! The undead aren’t anything to just scoff at!”
Eren looked away from them after a moment, knowing the argument that was about to quietly unfold all too well. It was the same one that he’d heard day after day during the training that they had all received together. Some days it was amusing and others it was just annoying, and as nice as the thought of having something distract him from the horror that was bound to become his life in the next few moments, he knew that he needed to remain focused. It was the only way that he was going to make it out of all of this with his life intact. There was something very wrong with this place, and until he found out what, he would be on his guard.
“Alright!” Erwin’s commanding voice reached their ears. He wasn’t talking too loudly, obviously being cautious to not attract any of the undead that were bound to be stumbling around. “We’ll be splitting up into four separate teams, led by Levi, Hange, Mike and myself. I want half of the recruits with me and half with Levi. Stay quiet and be sure to keep your guards up.”
“You go with Erwin, blondie,” Oluo said, nudging Armin. “I know you and Jager are friends, and that’s why you need to split up.” Eren could hear the words mission comes first without them being spoken, but that didn’t stop his heart from clenching painfully in his chest as he saw Armin’s wide eyes look from Oluo to Eren.
He looked over at Armin and nodded, “Go on, then, Armin,” he said. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“O…okay,” Armin muttered. He looked terrified for a few more moments before he seemed to compose himself. He smiled over at Eren and said, “I’ll see you soon.” He marched off toward Erwin’s forming group with his head held high. Eren watched him walk off, praying for his friend’s safety.
“Don’t look so down, kid,” Oluo told him gruffly. “You don’t go on missions if you can’t pull your own weight.” His rough demeanor changed after a moment, as though he realized that he’d sounded like a complete ass. “Don’t worry about him. They’ll keep him alive. He got through the training, which means that he was adept enough to come out here.”
Eren jerkily nodded before turning away from him and walking toward the group that was forming in front of Levi. “We’re in charge of this quadrant of the subdivision,” Levi said, pointing to the corner that was behind him. “Get into groups of threes and keep each other safe. I want each veteran grouped with two recruits. Show them the ropes and keep each other alive. No flares unless a dire situation. Everyone pick a house and comb through it.”
He saw recruits start to merge together with the veterans, and walked further into the crowd. “You and the loud one can come with me.” Eren jumped slightly at the unexpected noise and spun around to see Levi himself standing behind him. He saw Connie next to Levi, and figured that was who the strong fighter meant by loud one. Eren nodded at Levi, doing a quick once over of him, seeing as it was the first time he’d ever been in close quarters with the man that was dubbed ‘humanity’s strongest fighter.’ He was short, for lack of a better word. He may have had an inch or two on Connie, but there was still a large height difference between the surly man and Eren. The thought might have been comical if Eren wasn’t certain that Levi would be able to maim him in less than a full second after he mentioned it. His hair was black, with the sides shaved close to his scalp, and the top hung down, parted in the middle, covering most of his ears. He looked at Eren with half-lidded grey eyes, for a few moments before turning away from him with the same disinterested look that always seemed to be on his face.
“Yes, sir,” Eren replied.
Levi rolled his eyes. “There’s no need to call anyone sir,” he grumbled before he turned completely around and began heading toward the house that was directly behind them. “We’re not in the military. The world has gone to shit, and we’re all just trying to survive it. I’m Levi, and you’re Eren and Connie. Let’s keep it that way.”
Eren and Connie both looked at each other for a few seconds before they shrugged simultaneously. He had a point, Eren supposed. “Alright, then Levi. I think we can do that.”
They all walked up to the doorway and Levi grabbed the knob and attempted to turn. There was a clicking noise, signaling that the door was locked. Levi sighed in obvious annoyance before gesturing to Eren and Connie to back away. They both silently obeyed and Levi took a step back and pushed his leg forward so that the underside of his foot connected with the wood of the door. It swung in with a loud crack and thud. Levi turned around to look at them and tilted his head toward the doorway in a universal gesture to hurry up and move before he turned to face forward and walked into the house. Eren took a deep breath and walked in behind him. He grabbed the blades that were holstered on his hips, gripping them firmly in preparation for use.
The door opened to a large living room with a wrecked leather couch that was torn to shreds with the stuffing falling out of it, an upturned recliner, and blood-spattered white carpet…or at least Eren figured that it had been white two years previously. Connie was taking in the scenery as well, and had a grimace on his face that Eren was sure matched his own. “Go through the stuff in the kitchen,” Levi told them. “Start making a pile in the middle of the living room of all the valuables.”
Eren and Connie both nodded in acknowledgment before they turned away from Levi and strode into the adjoining kitchen. It looked like it was in better condition than the living room had been. It made Eren a bit weary, because that meant that thieves hadn’t been the ones to make this mess. If robbers hadn’t been the ones to trash the living room, then who—or what—did? Eren slowly slid his knife out of its sheath and kept it in his hand as he walked through the kitchen. It was a fairly open space; there were no corners for any of the Titans to hide in, so Eren had nothing to worry about in that aspect.
Connie just sighed and opened the first cupboard. “Holy shit,” he exclaimed, before realizing that he had been a bit louder than necessary and winced when Eren spun around and scowled as soon as he realized that there was nothing wrong. He looked up and noticed what Connie had: the entire cabinet was filled with canned goods. “How did Mike know?” Connie demanded.
“I don’t know,” Eren told Connie truthfully. “It doesn’t matter, though. Let’s just get this stuff down and do what Levi said.”
“Right,” Connie said, turning back to the cans and grabbing them to sit down on the counter. “You know what,” he said after a moment. “Why don’t I take them into the living room? You’re taller than me and can reach more.” Eren could tell that it had almost killed the shorter boy to admit that, but was glad that he had so Eren didn’t have to point it out. He just nodded and walked up, grabbing the cans and placing them down so that Connie could grab an arm-full and carry them over to the living room.
They continued like this for some time. Four out of the eight cupboards in total had been filled with canned goods. Those nonperishables would be a godsend in the event that their crops or livestock didn’t turn out what was needed to sustain the lives of the people that were living in the gated community. Eren couldn’t help the small grin that started lifting the corners of his mouth at the thought. They were going to be okay because of this; he’d been able to be useful already, and he’d only been out of the community for a little over an hour. It was a good feeling, very empowering.
“Come on, brats,” Levi said gruffly as he walked out of the hallway and into view. Eren didn’t fail to notice a few blood spatters on the man’s boots, but he seemed unharmed, and Eren hadn’t heard any noise. He guessed he was considered humanity’s strongest fighter for a reason. “Are you not finished yet? We still have other houses to look into.”
Connie scowled at the older man as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Sorry that we’re not living up to your expectations, but there’s a lot of shit here.”
Levi frowned, not a Connie, but at the pile that the man had managed to build up. “Damn,” he muttered. “I guess Mike wasn’t lying.” Eren followed Levi’s gaze and saw, with some relief, that Connie had found some boxes and had been putting the cans inside of those instead of just sitting them on the floor. So far, there were two large containers filled to the top, and another one that was about halfway there.
“We’re almost finished filling them up,” Eren told Levi. “We’d be done even sooner if you’d lend a hand.”
Levi turned toward Eren and scowled at him. “Tch,” he sounded. Despite the glower, however, he walked up to the kitchen and grabbed some cans so that he could help fill the third box up.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Eren paused, his hand on the final can, as he turned toward the noise. It was coming from the far side of the kitchen, behind a closed door that Eren figured was either the pantry or the laundry room. “The hell was that?” Connie asked. Eren took a step toward the noise, grabbing the knife that he’d laid on the counter for easy access as he moved toward the door.
“Jager,” Levi snapped. “Don’t be stupid. We don’t know what’s behind the door, and we need to keep it that way.”
Eren turned around and frowned at Levi and said. “Are you crazy? There could be all sorts of goods behind it that we need. It was going to be the place that I checked next anyway. Why would we leave it alone now?”
Levi stalked toward him. He came to Eren’s chin, but he didn’t seem to care about that at all. He scowled at him and asked, “What good will any of those supplies do you if you’re dead?” Eren didn’t give in, he just glared at his superior, to which Levi just rolled his eyes. “Tch, idiot. Fine.” He waved him on. If you want to be food for the undead, I’m not going to stop you.”
Eren scowled, hating the belittling way that the shorter man spoke to him. He turned around and walked toward the door. He would show Levi that he was able to do this, and he didn’t need his superior help.
Levi looked at the idiot disbelievingly. He was serious. The sound of those bangs had been too close together to be done by a single Titan. He wanted to watch the little shit be torn to shreds because of his stupidity and insolence, but he knew that he would never actually be able to stand by and watch someone be eaten alive, no matter how dumb they were. Levi sighed and walked forward, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to talk Eren out of this, especially after he talked down to him and hurt his pride. He guessed if he couldn’t stop Eren from doing something stupid, he would just have to join him and make sure that he didn’t end up killing himself. He didn’t have time for that to be on his conscience.
He stood next to the door and turned to see Connie walking up behind him. Great…him too. He was going to have to speak with Erwin about his brilliant idea to pin only two of the groups with hotheaded newbies. They were all stupid and cocky with no idea how dangerous these bastards were. Levi shrugged. He guessed that this was one way to learn. Regardless, if anyone got hurt during this stupid idea, Levi was going to beat the shit out of Eren, and no one was going to be able to get him to stop.
He rolled his eyes and crept up behind Eren, ready to attack as soon as the idiot opened the door. The only thing that was going through his mind as he watched the boy turn the knob was how did my life come to this…babysitting stupid brats?
Eren turned the knob, and Levi sighed as those bastards barreled their way through the opening, swinging the door open, and knocking Eren backward. There were five of them in that closet, much to Levi’s surprise. He figured that there would have only been the three that he’d heard. Also, to Levi’s surprise, Eren didn’t let the door throw him off too much, and both he and Connie didn’t falter when the rotting, walking corpses starting running toward them. Eren intercepted the first one. He tripped its legs out from under it and slammed it face-first into the tile floor. Levi heard the crack of its skull as soon as it made impact, and saw Eren plunge his knife down toward its neck.
He couldn’t watch any more of Eren’s fight, because he had two of them flinging themselves at him. He ducked underneath the swing of the first zombie’s arm and brought his knife around, slicing through the flesh on the nape of its neck. It fell to the ground immediately and Levi jumped at the second, sliding just out of its reach so that he could come behind it and cut out the only part of its body that would kill it. Levi looked around and saw that both Eren and Connie had dispatched the other two titans that had still been standing. They were both breathing a bit heavily, making it obvious that they were still just new, no matter how talented they were.
Levi snatched Eren forward and brought him down so that they were nose to nose. “Don’t ever do something that stupid again,” he growled. “If you do, I swear I’m going to kill you myself so you can’t take others down with you.”
Eren looked up at him with wide eyes for a moment before the green orbs darkened and he shoved Levi off him. Levi would have called that a very stupid act any other time, but with how wound up both of them were, he figured that putting some distance in between the two of them was probably a good idea. Levi just inhaled sharply and kicked out at one of the dead bodies, displaying a moment of anger before quickly composing himself again.
“Go ahead,” he nodded toward the pantry. “Grab the valuables from there. I’ll load up the rest of the cans and start taking them out to the vehicles.”
Connie nodded and already turned around to begin doing what he had been ordered. Eren, on the other hand, just looked at him for a moment, anger bright in his green eyes as he said, “Yes, sir.” He then turned away from Levi and walked into the pantry with the shorter male.
Levi glared at Eren’s back for a moment before he just rolled his eyes. “Tch,” he muttered as he turned away from them and began grabbing the cans and walking them to the boxes that were seated in the living room, being mindful to step over the bodies as he went. “Brat.”