Humanity's Hope || Levi Ackerman

FINAL STRAW

Levi opened his eyes after his long sleep to find Marta had already left the bed and a sudden feeling of disappointment came over him.

Marta wasn't feeling too good either, as soon as she had left Levi's side her hangover hit her like a truck.

The day was going to be a hard slog, especially since it was the day Hange planned experiments for the two titan shifters to test their control over their powers. Marta wasn't unconfident in her ability yet it still seemed like an annoying task for her to perform.

Still, it went well.

And then it was Eren's turn, Marta watched as he looked gingerly at his own hand before turning away to wait at a safe distance, a few moments later Eren brought his hand to his mouth and chomped down.

Silence filled the green area.

"Hey Eren! The test's off for now!" Marta's head snapped up at this to find Levi and Hange making their way towards the well she had once been in. Despite her worry she stayed in her seat beside the members of the Levi Squad. Soon enough Eren was back sitting at the table with them, his bloody hand seeping through their new white bandages.

Everyone was silent until Marta spoke, "are you alright, Eren?"

"I guess," there was a slightly huffing tone in his reply as he looked down at the table.

Levi, who had been standing not far from the table now spoke, "not even the bite wounds on your hands have gone away?"

"No, Sir."

"If you both can't turn into a Titan, our big plans for sealing Wall Maria go up in smoke. We all know what happened at Trost, Marta couldn't lift the boulder on her own. So, figure it out. That's an order."

This time both the Titan Shifter's looked down at the table as Eren croaked out another "yes, Sir."

"Don't lose heart, Eren. This just means you're more human than we thought." Eld said.

Marta blanked the rest of the conversation, the Levi Squad weren't exactly softening the burn when it came to how they felt about the siblings. 'This just means you're more human than we thought' rang like a bell in her mind, it hadn't exactly been the first time someone had called her a monster but it still gave off a slight sting from the weight the word held in Marta's past.

Then there was Levi, who basically called her weak in front of the whole squad.

As if things hadn't already been bad enough for Marta.

Titan smoke.

A gust of wind blew Marta back from where she was sitting and soon she felt herself being pulled up by rough hands. A cold sensation was sweeping across her neck.

Why was there a blade meant for a Titan at her neck.

"Captain Levi! I don't know what happened..." Eren turned around as he tried to wrench himself out of the steaming Titan corpse he just produced out of thin air. His teal eyes widened in shock, there stood Levi telling the Levi Squad to calm down and then there was Marta, currently being held back by Oluo's arms and blade in front of her neck.

The squad were all giving Eren looks that would kill.

"What is the meaning of this?" Eld shouted. "Why did you do it without permission? Answer me!"

"Wait, Eld-" Captain Levi tried to cut in but was quickly interrupted by Oluo.

"Answer him, Eren! Explain yourself!" He roughly tugged on Marta who flinched, the blade almost creating a thin slice on her throat. "I bet yous both planned this, thought yous could escape! If you don't prove me wrong here and now, your sister will be gone!"

"Prove it, now! You bear that responsibility!" Gunther glared up at Eren.

"If you so much as twitch that arm of yours..." Oluo warned.

"Oluo, I told you to calm down!" Levi was glaring daggers at the man who currently held Marta in his arms, he was almost tempted to go over to Oluo and slit his throat instead.

"Captain! Please get away from Eren! You're too close!" Petra chimed in.

"No, you're the ones who need to get away. Step back." Levi demanded.

"Why, Sir?!"

"Will you guys please be quiet?!" Eren suddenly shouted over the top of everyone and Marta felt the cold blade pierce her neck.

The dramatic scene was interrupted by Hange screaming and yelling in the distance. While she fondled over Eren, Levi quickly stormed his way over to Oluo whom was still holding Marta and swiftly punched him in the face before grabbing Marta.

"We're going to the infirmary."

-

Exestentialism seemed to be the order of the day for Marta as she trailed herself along the floors of the castle, her feet dragging slowly. She couldn't help the feeling that her place was second to Eren. He was stronger and that seemed to be all that mattered to the Scouts for now. Eren was also more human than Marta.

"Marta."

"Captain?" She looked up into his steely eyes, they reflected hers in a way, the slight sadness in them.

"Did the infirmary sort you out?"

"Yes...." Both were quiet until Marta asked a question. "Captain, do I matter?"

"What does that mean, cadet?"

"Today... when they all pointed their swords at Eren and at me, I felt like a monster all over again. The thing is... I'm not even a strong monster, even you said so yourself. It begs the question, why am I here?"

"Marta, I'm sorry, we've all got shit going on right now but we need you as much as we need Eren."

"So I'm just a tool..."

Levi pushed her into the wall, angry about her self pitying in their dire situation. "No Marta, you're human, you might be Titan as well but you matter to people, not just as a tool but as a sister and a friend as well."

"Well..." Marta had no words, she never expected something so kind to come from Levi's mouth. Her head hung down right until Levi lifted it with his finger to face him and his steely eyes again.

"It might be hard, Marta, but we need to get through this. After Titan's, we can worry about our feelings."

"God, you're so cynical, Captain."

"I'm doing what needs to be done." His eyes trailed over her lips.

Marta noticed.

"So, you're taking the chance to never explore your own feelings, ever?"

Marta leaned ever so closer to him, her eyes also grazing his lips. Their lips not so far apart.

"No." Levi finally closed the gap between the two, their kiss heated and hungry.

A/N : What do you guys want to come next?