Tainted Vision | Levi x Reader

Inside of Ehrmich District | Part 33

Whatever he was hiding, it was more than the fate of humanity...but just how much would he reveal?

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An hour had passed since we left Trost and we still haven't arrived yet. The ride progressively grew quiet and the silence allowed for me to take better account of the things around me. 

The moonlight was especially bright tonight, a full moon on display that lit up our path. As I continued scanning our surroundings, I noticed a small glare hit my eyes. I narrowed my eyes as I took a small look around, uncrossing my legs in the process and as I leaned forwards. Scanning over my surroundings, I spotted Hange fiddling with a small piece of crystal. It's hue was unmistakable, it was a fragment from Annie's body. 

Knowing Hange, she must've grabbed a piece from off of the floor after the battle in Stohess, but why was she fiddling with it? Her eyes were glued onto it as silence continued to hang in the air, and I drew myself away and leaned back onto the edge of the wagon. Hange would bring it up when she needed to, she said she was going to discuss it anyway so she wouldn't go back on her word. 

"Hange." Levi hissed, disrupting the silence, leaning his head out a bit to gaze at the object in Hange's hand. A second passed without an answer from her, which wasn't odd, she often got lost in her discoveries. "Oi, shitty-glasses. Are you're hobbies so boring that playing with rocks is somehow fun for you?" Levi crudely asked. Although it may have sounded rude, it was just his way of asking what Hange was fiddling with. 

"Yeah, that's right." Hange replied, finally peeled her eyes away from the crystal and extended her hand for us to get a better look at the object. I lifted back away from the railings of wagon and leaned a bit closer to get a better look at the crystal myself. "But this isn't an ordinary rock. Its a hardened fragment of skin left behind by the Female Titan." Hange explained.

"Huh? It didn't disappear?" Armin asked, leaning a bit forward, intrigued by Hange's intel.

"Right!" Hange perked, hopping out from her seat slightly as she closing her fist over the crystal. "Annie reverted back from a Titan, but it was still intact even though it broke off from her body. It didn't evaporate, nor did it disappear." Hange continued, spilling her conspiracies.

Now that I think about it...I noticed that too. Every time I saw someone run their blades against the hardened crystal, it would simply shatter and fall to the ground without any signs of steam that would raise from it. But that still didn't give me any clues on what she found out through her research.

Hange eyes lit up once more, a glare flashing over them before she began to speak again, "So I thought of trying something out...When I compared it to a piece of the wall, the pattern and composition were practically identical. In other words, the wall is a barricade of humongous Titans. And if I'm right, the surface is constructed with hardened Titan skin." As Hange finished her statement, I watched as Nick lowered his face, shutting his eyes in the process.
Hange quickly glanced over, watching over Nick's façade for any signs of distress.

I raised a brow as I saw Nick's reaction. Perhaps we were correct, so what now? What other secrets were you hiding from us? This was only a small test, and Hange knew it too, if we could make it seem like we were capable of breaking down all of the secrets of the walls and the outside world, would Nick confess?

"That's exactly what Armin said earlier..." Mikasa contributed, her voice breathy as she was bewildered over the parallelism between both claims. I shot my gaze over towards Armin who suddenly gasped, perking his head up a bit before speaking.

"Th-Then--" However, before Armin could say anymore, Hange harshly clamped her hand over Armin's face, pushing him back and preventing him from speaking any further.