Broken Hearts, Severed Limbs (Levi x OC x Erwin)

|16| The 57th Expedition Beyond the Walls III

"Remind me, what is our mission?!" Levi turned at his squad. "Is it to simply act on impulse in the heat of the moment? Let me answer that question for you. It's not. This squad's mission is to keep this brat alive, whatever the cost. Don't forget it," Levi said harshly. Finally, their whining was stopped. "We keep pushing forward on horseback, is that clear?!"

"Crystal, sir!"

"But for how long? We can't keep running forever!" Eren cried out. "She's right on top of us as it is! If we don't do something, she's gonna- No! They keep coming! They're all gonna die unless we do something!"

"Quit talking and keep moving!"

"How can all of you just ignore what's happening back there?! Are you telling me to abandon my comrades?! Is that it?!" Eren cried out.

"Eren, stop whining and do as your Captain tells you!" Petra cried out.

"Why are we letting people die!? If this is part of some bigger picture, why can't someone explain it to me?!" Eren cried out.

"Shut up and behave like a soldier!"

"Eren! You're not allowed to assume Titan form unless your life's in extreme danger! Stop!"

Ah, so the brat was indeed going to bite his hand. Levi frowned. He wasn't planning to speak, but it sounded like he had to. If Eren got on a rampage now it could ruin the mission. However, he could understand why Eren would disobey orders. Of all people in there, Levi knew better than anyone that it was always best to disobey orders for the sake of fighting for your beliefs or your own skin. Disobeying orders got him far in the Underground. He had become the best scam of the best.

The Commander's plan was reckless like all the other plans of his. So many comrades had just been slaughtered while they could just stop running and fight them off. The Commander should just let the Female Titan to him and his squad. He shouldn't have separated him from Nathalie in the first place. If there was a soldier in the Scouts as skilled as Levi was her and together, with the squad, they would be able to take it out.

Alas, Levi had learned to follow orders, even though it never was in his nature. "I wouldn't blame you," He said. "Do as your conscious dictates. But, Eren, listen, you are not inherently evil. Your ability to change doesn't make you a monster. That said, it could be the other way around. How are you supposed to know where to draw the line? Whether you lose control or freely give it up. Maybe it's the same, but that's life. At the end of the day, there's no reason to go against how you see it. The choice is yours. You can trust yourself, or you can trust the people willing to put their lives on the line for you. I don't know which way is better. I never have. Should I act on my instincts, or put myself in the hands of my comrades and trust them. Either way there's no guarantee. In the end, you'll have to choose that one choice that you'll regret the least,"

He had acted on his own instincts and that's how Furlan and Isabel died that day. He took his eyes off of them for a second, and the other, they were gone. But even if he had put himself in their hands, maybe they'd still die. Maybe both decisions were the same, but still, he had chosen the one that he had regretted the most. He only hoped that today he wasn't going to repeat the same mistake. Today, he was going to trust his comrades. He was going to trust they were going to come back to him, and he was going to lead them back to their families.

"Eren! Trust us!" Petra said and it didn't take long when the brat said that one thing that Levi wasn't expecting him to say.

"I'm with you!"

Levi thought he didn't know what exactly it was that made Eren trust the people who wouldn't give a second thought into killing him should he transform, but then he remembered. He remembered two nights ago when Nathalie scolded him for being too harsh on the boy. She had made him talk to Eren and she had promised she'd talk to the team. Nathalie had managed to convince the others that Eren wasn't a threat. He was nothing but a scared child, thrown in a cruel, cruel world. In the end, Eren wasn't much different than himself.