Chapter Text
The first time in the underground Levi saw those blue eyes he felt like time froze. The world seemed to pause as the man stared at him.
Suddenly a scout pounced on him as he fled through the tunnel with his ODM gear. He fell to the ground and as he attempted, and failed, to stab the man who made him fall. The man with blonde hair and those piercing blue eyes stood in front of him. Levi tried to fight him but the man grabbed his wrist as he tried to stab him. The blade he held with was much smaller than the one the scouts possessed.
“Stop. Look around you.” The man said.
Levi looked behind himself as his friends—Isabel and Furlan—were brought to where he was. Levi stopped struggling and dropped his knife knowing it was losing battle on his end. After the scouts hand cuffed the three of them they refused to answer the questions. The same scout who got in Levi’s way earlier shoved his head into a puddle on the ground. As he pulled his head up, the man crouched in front of Levi and spoke.
“I’m captain Erwin Smith of the scouts. And what’s your name?”
“Levi.”
“Levi..I’d like to offer you a deal.” Erwin spoke calmly with what seemed to be no emotion in his voice in contrast to Levi’s voice which sounded rough and his tone was harsh.
“What kind of deal?” Levi asked, Erwin paused for a second then he spoke. “I’ll overlook your various crimes and you’ll lend me your strength and skill. . .as a member of the scout regiment. Levi made a noise between a grunt and a sigh. Furlan and Isabel stared at Levi, their eyes widening slightly.
“What if I refuse?”
“We’ll give you the MPs. You’ve been thorns in their sides for some time. So if you go that route, I doubt you or your comrades will receive decent treatment.”
Erwin started to walk off them he turned back. His blue eyes met Levi’s gray eyes.
”The choice is yours.”
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Levi wasn’t aware at the time when he agreed to join the scout regiment that his world would be flipped on it’s head.
He and his friends only had two goals. The first one was to collect the document in Erwin Smith’s possession for the man who had hired them. Their second objective was to kill the scout regiment commander Erwin Smith by any means necessary.
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Levi froze as the rain hit him, his scout uniform was getting soaked with rain water but he didn’t move. It was cold and he felt himself shiver as he stared ahead. He had expected to see the bodies of fallen scouts, especially considering how many bodies and limbs he had seen before his horse slipped in the rain but his eyes widened as he stared at Isabel’s head on the ground just lying there. Her big green eyes, once so bright, were lifeless now. He watched as the titan who had slaughtered all the scouts he had saw, turning them from whole bodies to just limbs threw what remained of Furlan’s body onto the muddy wet ground.
Levi didn’t know why he trusted his friends. How could be so fucking stupid to trust them. He knew he should look away but he couldn’t peer his eyes from Isabel’s head and Furlan’s upper torso. His friends he valued so much now barley remaining.
Levi felt his mouth run dry as he started. A hundred thoughts and emotions ran through his head. Everything else felt like a blur. He let his emotions overwhelm him, no longer controlling his body. Suddenly as he inhaled the lifeless body of the titan who ate his friends laid behind him as he started at Isabel’s head on the ground.
Scouts on horses ran toward him and the lifeless titan he beheaded. As they got near they paused.
Even as the sun shined through the clouds Levi didn’t move. He couldn’t tell if he was crying or if it was just the rain on his face. A rush of fall wind blew through making it seem even colder.
“I take it you’re the sole survivor?” Erwin asked, the answer was pretty obvious. When Erwin revived no reply he cracked a smile and spoke. “You’re a sorry sight.”
Levi looked at him after he said that. He clenched his teeth and his eyes were full of rage.
He jumped at Erwin, he didn’t show it but for a second he faltered. He wasn’t expecting Erwin to put his hand on Levi’s blade to stop it.
He regained himself as he yelled at Erwin. “You smug bastard! I’ll kill you! That’s been my goal this whole damn time!” Then Erwin threw the document Levi had been told to take from him onto the wet ground. Levi stared as Erwin told him the document in his possession was a fake. All the could do was yell at the commander for letting him and his friends join the corps despite the fact he knew they had been hired. Levi attempted to lunge at Erwin but was held back by Mike, the one who he attempted to stab that day in the underground.
”What is wrong with you!?” Levi asked before he fell the ground. The rain water and the blood from that titan still clung to him and his clothes.
Erwin spoke to Levi as he regained his breath while his thoughts ran wild, “Stop. Don’t regret this. If you give into regret, you’ll be left scared and indecisive. Then, in your next fight you’ll gain a new tragedy to regret. You couldn’t have known how the choice you made here today would turn out but you can give that choice meaning by using it to inform your next choice.”
With that Erwin turned around, “We’re about to resume the expedition. Get up. You’re still needed.”
Levi just sat there silently and breathless as he watched Erwin Smith—the man with the blue blonde hair and those goddamn piercing blue eyes that mesmerized him—rode away on his horse.
- End of chapter one -