Surreptitious [LEVI X READER]

xxi

The meeting with Parliament about the Titan Project's progress and the next steps to take did not go well. Rather, it was a complete disaster.

Afterwards, there's an emergency meeting called into Levi's penthouse—a fairly unexpected place for your group to gather in the opinion of watchful eyes. Hange texts everyone at different intervals to come. You're the last one to arrive. Judging from your higher up's expressions, nothing good came out of the Parliament meeting.

Hange is biting her nails as she paces Levi's living room and mutters things to herself. Levi's fingertips are white as he tightly grips the rim of a mug. You're sure he would have broken a fragile teacup by doing that. Erwin looks the calmest, but his bushy brows are bunched together as he stops Hange from pacing by grabbing her shoulder and telling her that you arrived.

"Sit down, brats," grunts Levi and everyone takes a seat on the white couches and armchairs. Sasha and Connie bounce on the cushions as they gaze around the penthouse in awe. That is, until they notice Levi's withering glare and instantly stop.

Erwin takes the lead in sharing the information, "We called this emergency meeting because of how things this afternoon went. To begin with the least worrisome topic, they want to starting having one of their people directly observe the project."

Sighs and eye rolls make their way around the room and the twitch of Hange's right eye doesn't go unnoticed by you. Interference with her research by an outsider who could possibly hinder the progress is not something that sits well with her.

"However," says Erwin. "The topics that were discussed next are not just bothersome. What I'm about to say cannot leave this room. The only reason Levi, Hange, and I feel the need to share this with you all is because you already know information that puts you in danger. We want to make you aware of the trouble you could get in by divulging it.

"The headline is that they want to expedite the testing of our own population for Eldians—with our team still in charge of leading the experiments and sorting through the population's DNA. They want to begin experimenting on our own people and start mandatory military enlistment for all Eldians as a defense mechanism. They're not telling us how bad the situation is with our relationship to other warring countries, but it must be pretty bad if this move is any indicator. The government will not give the Eldians a choice and they will be forced into giving up their lives and breeding more of themselves if they aren't physically fit enough for the military."

Eren has gone pale and you barely manage to choke out, "Breeding . . . ?"

"Similar to the Lebensborn program. The Eldian population is low, so they want more and to create the purest bloodline possible. If we request more POWs to meet the numbers the government wants for this elite group, then it will send red flags to the countries at war that we're up to something."

"How can they do that?!" exclaims Armin. "That's . . . that's got to be illegal! There's no way they can do that. Parliament can't even be covert about something like that. Eldians are rare, but people will still notice if they go missing."

Erwin meets Armin's baffled expression with a steady gaze of his own. "One would think. But there's always a loophole or some trick up the sleeve."

Erwin looks to Eren, then you. "Eren, Y/N, this obviously puts you two in danger, but we will protect you. That's why we called this meeting. Everyone in this room knows that you two have Eldian blood. Everyone here must swear they won't tell a soul. After we're through here, Hange is going to delete the files of the your DNA tests and burn any paper records. She'll forge your DNA to report to the government."

Your heart has dropped to your stomach and you feel like you can't breathe. You don't dare breathe. You don't know how to react or what primal instinct to save your life will come out of you if you so much as part your lips. Yesterday, you were a normal person and you still felt like one after finding out some of your ancestry. Today, your wellbeing could be endangered just by being some special race. You don't even feel special. You've been in that place of being slightly above average, yet below great excellence your entire life.