What is love? (Jean x Marco and Levi x Petra)

Chapter 14: Independent

A/N: This will mostly focus on Farlan x Isabel. Sorry. But it will still be Levi's point of view, and there will still be Rivetra. Enjoy!

*Levi's POV*

I'm kinda worried about Isabel. She hasn't exactly been herself ever since we found her. I figured she would still be her cocky self even after this apocalypse. But it seems like something else is bothering her.

Sh*tty glasses tried (and amazingly failed) to ask her what was wrong, but she never wanted to talk about it. She would usually charge the topic, or just walk away. It'd be better if she would finally tell us what was going on.

Isabel's one of my closest friends. She may be annoying and senseless most of the time but she's still my friend. She's like a little sister to me, although you might've figured that out already since she constantly calls me Aniki.

Petra and I had hope if today was going to be the day she would stop hiding her problem from us and speak up. And along with four eyes, we're gonna talk to her.

As the three of us were walking downstairs, we heard a loud sound below us. It must've been Isabel, she is going Harry Potter style and sleeping at the room under the stairs.

Petra opened the door, revealing Isabel punching the wall. She left a fist mark on the wall, little bits of the wall were crumbling. Tch, I need to clean that the next time I come back here.

"Isabel, what the hell did you do!?" I yelled.

"Sorry, I just...i just had a small mental breakdown, I'll be good-//"

"Well you're not." I pressed my voice at the word "not"

She stared at me, dumbfounded. Petra sat on the tiny bed beside her, "We know something's wrong. We want you to tell us what the problem is so we can help you."

"So what happened?" Hange added, "And...where's Farlan?"

A small tear fell from her eye, her frail arm rubbed the tear off, "He's..."

"He's what?"

"...he's dead."

...

Farlan...?

"A few weeks ago, that titan Ymir blew up our house. I managed to escape, safe and sound. When I looked at the ruins of our home to look for Farlan, I found his dead corpse crushed by the roof of our house. I cried for hours before I decided to escape to join your team. He's gone. There. That's what's bothering me. I told Sasha and Connie, I just wasn't ready to tell all of you."

She buried her eyes with her palms and cried her eyes out. Hange and Petra both tried to comfort the wailing redhead, at the same time trying to contain themselves from crying as well.

I was the same. Farlan was one of my best friends. He's been with me since forever. He was an important part of my life, more on Isabel's. I still can't believe he's dead. Even I'm in grief of this loss.

After Isabel shed all those tears, she dried her puffy cheeks and insisted she needed some time alone. The three of us agreed and walked out of the room. Hange went straight for her room, while Petra and I stayed at the kitchen for a bit to cool off.

Petra was the one to break the awkward silence, "Farlan's death will be something we'll all be difficult to recover with, but it looks like Isabel's hitting rock bottom. She's completely devastated."

"Farlan was a vital part of her life. He was always there for her and didn't like leaving her alone. It would make sense if she broke down completely because of this brutal death."

"I agree." she nodded while taking a pitcher of water from the fridge, "But I'm as worried about her as you are and as Hange is. I want her to be strong about this, we are at war. This loss was a huge tragedy but I don't want that to drag her for the rest of her life. It'll tear her apart."

I sighed in defeat. She was right. Isabel would just destroy herself because of this. She would change completely. I don't want her to end up as emotionally damaged as I am.

Our conversation was disrupted when we heard a door open and close. We both simultaneously flicked our attention to the sound, which turned out to be Isabel coming out of her room.

"Petra, you mind passing me a glass of water."

The hazel eyed girl slightly moved the glass of water to Isabel's direction, "You can have mine."

Isabel nodded in gratitude and chugged the water until it was empty. After that, she slammed the glass on the table and took a very deep breath,

"It really pisses me off how Connie has such cold water here. Even colder than mine when I put it on the freezer."

Petra and I made some eye contact before going back to Isabel, who just sighed at the silence that was given to her. There was a moment of dead silence, until Isabel spoke out of the blue.

"Farlan's parents adopted me when I was around thirteen years old. I was still raised by a gang back then, but they took me away from that shame. That was when I met Farlan. He taught me everything I needed to know, and he helped me forget about my past. We've been really close since then. When we were teenagers, we decided to move to a house in Maria together. We also started going out. It was his idea. He was the one I trusted the most. The one I could look up to, or can count on to look after me. I hate that I was never able to return the favor."

I just stared in shock. So did Petra. This was something she's never told anyone else. This was the side of Isabel no one's ever heard of. Until now.

"And now, now that...the only family I most likely have left is dead, I'm not going to mourn about it like everyone thinks. Farlan is a good person, and I want to avenge him."

All of a sudden she stood from the chair she was sitting on, "I want to be part of the next fight I hear you're having. Its about time I do something for myself. Be independent."

Petra gave the redhead a warm smile, and a rather tight hug. I felt like a snob for just watching, so I closed my eyes and joined the little hug.but instead of hugging Isabel, when I opened my eyes I was hugging Petra from behind.

We both blushed. Yes, even me. Petra buried her face with her hands in embarrassment while I just scratched the back of my neck, my cheeks were still pinkish.

"Awww, Petra! You and Aniki are so cute together. Way to cheer me up, future sister in law."

Petra only blushed even harder.