ONE ʙʏ ONE

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"Levi, what are you doing?" Kenny mumbled to himself, adjusting his mirror to look at the people behind him. Carla had a gun pointing across the van to Zeke, Armin held Eren steady, and Erwin gripped his head to massage the pain. 

Armin decided to break the heavy silence by asking, "So, why save him?"

"Well," Carla began, making eye contact with Zeke, who just glared at her. "He's my step-son."

"Really!" Armin gaped, nearly dropping Eren. 

"Yes. His father is my late husband, Girsha."

Zeke furrowed his brow and corrected, "Girsha's not dead. Eren said he left you and him."

"He did leave." Carla smiled a sadistic but motherly grin. "He went to hell, dear."

Zeke's eyes widened in shock, realizing how psycho his stepmother had become. It was devastating since his real mother, Dina, dumped him in the streets at eleven years old, and Zeke was hoping to have a real family with his step-family. But the maniacal glint in Carla's eyes was far from normal and sweet. He glanced over at Eren, feeling guilty for being unable to protect him.

"You know how awful your father was, right?" Carla tilted her head, a few locks falling in front of her face. "He'd beat me and Eren. God, he even offered Eren to a rapist!" Zeke darted his gaze between Eren and Carla. "But Levi saved us."

"S-Saved you?" Zeke asked, formulating a plan in his head. If he pretends to be on their side, then maybe he could grab the gun and Eren and run. "L-Levi saved both of you?"

Carla smiled happily, slightly lowering the barrel. "Yes! He killed Girsha, and he protected Eren against that rapist. Mikasa was a violent girl and a bad influence on Eren, so Levi got rid of her."

"A-And what about that other girl? Sasha."

"Just innocent jealousy!" Carla piped. "Levi is my family, and you can be too."

Carla pointed the pistol away and held out her hand to Zeke. The man glanced over at Eren with concern, watching his limp figure bounce and sway with the van. He sighed and reached his hand towards his stepmother. 

Kenny watched them closely, carefully watching them embrace as mother and son. He didn't want to take any chances after the brawl he experienced with Zeke.

"I'm sorry, mom," Zeke muffled into her hair, filling Carla with pride and joy. "-But Eren isn't safe with you anymore."

"Wha-"

BANG!

The van screeched out of control, nearly swerving off the road. Kenny hit the brakes, throwing everyone on the back around. Eren landed on Zeke, and Zeke hauled him on his shoulder. He then jumped out the backdoors and took off at a full sprint.

"Carla!" Armin yelled, struggling over the the woman.

Zeke had shot her, but it was unclear whether or not it was fatal. She winced and clutched the wound. Kenny cursed and hopped out of the van; however, Zeke was already out of sight.

Red and blue flashing lights accompanied by sirens echoed closer. Kenny had no choice but to drive on without Eren or Zeke. He sighed a heavy breath, already hearing the shit that Levi would give him.

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Levi managed to slam the figure to the floor, finally gaining the upper hand. He dug his nails into the guys throat mercilessly.

"You must be an idiot for attacking me." Levi growled, yanking the boy up. "Did you think you could take him from me...Jean? How are you still alive anyway?"

Jean clawed at Levi's arms, fighting for breath. "She didn't fatally shoot me, and Eren doesn't belong to you!" He managed to croak out.

"So, you're gonna say he belongs to you then?" Levi tightened his grip, digging until blood began to drip.

"He belongs to nobody but himself!"

Levi chuckled with threatening purr. "Well, aren't you a gentleman? Actually, Mon amour is my property, and you tried to steal from me."

Jean struggled a leg between them and shoved Levi off of him. He coughed and wobbled to his feet. Levi jumped back up, hardly feeling the impact, and lunged at Jean again.

Jean sent a fist flying across Levi's face, but the raven brushed it off and grabbed him. He wrapped an arm around Jean's neck and flipped over his shoulder. Jean slammed into the concrete floor, slashing his face on scattered glass shards.

"Eren is not of stable mind, and you're letting him hurt himself!" Levi scoffed. "It's just tough love — something that you'll never understand." The raven slammed a boot in between Jean's shoulder blades. "Plus, I already have his mother's blessing."

Levi scanned the room and found his pistol that he dropped when Jean yanked him down. He left Jean on the ground to writhe to retrieve his weapon.

"Eren..will never...love you!" Jean gasped through the pain. He propped his front half on his hands to look at the raven.

Levi laughed mockingly, "And you think he'll love you? You're pathetic."

"But I'm not a killer."

Levi rolled his eyes, raising the barrel towards Jean's head. "Exactly, you're too weak, but don't worry yourself — I'll take good care of Eren."

"Good thing I had one last bullet."

Suddenly the trapdoor flew open and a swat team began piling in. Levi didn't even flinch and only sighed in frustration.

"Put the weapon down slowly and put your hands in the air where we can see them!" One of the policemen commanded.

Levi dropped his gun and raised his hands in the air. Normally he would've fought them off, but one bullet can't hold off an entire swat team. An officer came up behind Levi and handcuffed him. Another called for an ambulance.

Jean relaxed, finally at peace of mind that Levi was caught. Levi, on the other hand, was agitated — not really worried. Getting arrested was just an inconvenience, not a game over.

Levi was going to catch Eren again, and when he did, he would never let him go again. He would kill every person in the world if he had to — One by One.

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Book one complete! But it isn't the end of the story!! I'll be posting a sequel soon. I'll upload a coming soon chapter with a bit of the first chapter to get yall interested.

How was the first book? And are you ready for the second?

Toodles~