Silent Love, Silent Pain [Levi x OC]

75. Eldian rights movement

It was certainly a lot to wrap their heads around, but somehow they managed to not express it after Levi's initial burst out and sudden need to find Zeke and fight him. Their sole reason for that was the fact that Eren clearly didn't trust them. If he did, he would tell them immediately about everything, right? He wouldn't have to deal with that on his own, but he chose otherwise. He chose to rely on his future memories and his half-brother that he had no positive interactions with in the past.

"Thank you for everything," Erwin said to Eric later when they were about to leave the Burgess estate and go back to the Hizuru's embassy. Eren was crying a lot and hyperventilating due to stress that he experienced. It lasted for an hour before Nathalie managed to calm him down and eventually gave him medication that helped with falling asleep. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to drag him out of this place. All because he wouldn't be able to face Kiyomi. That woman would become suspicious of his odd behaviour right away, sensing something crucial to happen to him. They wanted to prevent it, they didn't need to worry about anything more at the moment as they already had a lot on their minds.

"No problem," Eric gifted him with a smile and shook his hand as the Scouts were about to leave. Sophie was the last one to go outside as she and Levi sat an appointment with Nathalie in a few days when she would get all the information about their genomes.

"Thank you, really ," Sophie said as she looked at her distant cousin.

"You have nothing to thank me for, really ," Eric said. "I'm not doing it selflessly. Well, at least not entirely. I don't want to be smashed by titan's feet," he chuckled bitterly. "And more importantly, I don't want Nathalie to end like this,"

Much to his surprise she didn't seem upset nor disgusted by his honest answer. She remained calm, ignoring him implying his selfishness. Instead, she nodded at him, expressing full understanding. There's much more layer to her character than I originally expected, Eric thought. "I understand. If I were in your shoes and it meant protecting Levi, it would be more than enough for me to help Eren. No other reason would matter," she said equally honestly and it entranced him.

"The things Leitzes do for love," he gave her a weak smile and shook her hand tightly. They stood like this until Levi joined the conversation.

"I appreciate it all, but...I can't stop but wonder one thing," he said.

"Which is?" Eric asked.

"If you mostly care about yours and Nathalie's faith then why don't you just...move to another universe?"

Eric nodded at him, a slight grin forming on his face as he was clearly pleased with this question. "It's not that simple,"

"Why?" Sophie frowned. "Are there...any limits to your ability?"

"Precisely," Eric said and sat on the chair, making himself comfortable before he continued. "There are great limitations to what I can do during my travels and in all of these realities and universes. One of the strongest of them is that there should be only one version of you staying in one universe. There are exceptions for this, yes. You can, for example, pay a short visit, but it's difficult. You must be careful to not interact with anyone who knows you and definitely avoid meeting your prototype,"

"What would happen if you met these people?" Sophie asked.

"Insanity that might disturb a whole sequence of timelines. Nasty stuff that if continued, could mess real bad with your head,"

"How did you avoid all of that?" Her eyes widened in shock. His words made her feel cold shivers all over her body, it sounded gloomy at least.

"Well...," he smiled weakly as he put on his glasses for the first time since meeting them. "All my other versions had to sacrifice themselves"