make it back to me (Levi Ackerman)

soixante neuf

"now that's what I call hardening"

They stood in front of Eren's Titan form admiring the pretty blue color.

"Even after cutting you away, the Titan hasn't disappeared. Pretty impressive yeah?"Levi says.

Norie nods and looks at Eren.

"That bottle..."Eren began.

"Oh yeah! Right before I turned into a Titan. I drank that "armour" bottle..."

"Yeah, you couldn't do it all before now, but you used the hardening power. And saved us all"Levi says.

"In the blink of an eye, you devised and built all of this. Yeah it doesn't look the best but...maybe that's how the walls were built"norie says dragging her blade on the crystal surface.

"In other words, it's possible for us to plug up that hole in Wall Maria now"Levi says

"A lot of enemies and allies dead along the way and getting this far hasn't been pretty, but for as ugly as it's been, look at the position we're in now. "

Norie looks at Levi and then they heard a voice above them.

"Captains!"

They turned to look and saw Sasha and Connie.

"We secured an exit, Armins safe. Hange and Moblit too"Sasha says.

Thank god, Norie thinks.

"Well done"Levi says.

"Eren!"Sasha says as her and Connie run towards him.

"Are you okay?"Connie asks.

Norie hooks her arm with Levi as they watch Sasha kneel down and bow to Eren as she says "we're all safe thanks to you! But to be perfectly honest, when you ran off prancing while crying like a baby..."

"I thought we were all doomed! 'It's over, over! Get it together, nincompoop! Quit bawling like a snotty-nosed brat!' is what I thought"

Norie chuckled as Levi placed a hand on top of Norie's that was hooked with his arm and says "let's go"

"We're going after that big-ass Titan"

---------------------------------

Norie made the teens go first as Levi stood next to her, she watched the teens climb up as Moblit and Armin helped them up.

"You care a lot do you?"Levi asks his wife.

"What?"she says quickly and turned to him.

"For these brats, you care a lot do you?"He asks.

Norie looks down and says "I do...even though I'm just their captain but it's my job to train them and get them ready for whatever shit that have to go through."

"And I don't want to go through what happened to isabel, furlan, our old squad and Jiro again...I wouldn't take the pain anymore if it were to happen to these kids..."norie says.

Levi looks at her and sighs sadly.

"You won't let anything happen to them, nor will I"he says

Norie stares at the ground and laughs lightly.

"What?"Levi says confused.

"You care about them too"she says smiling.

Levi gave her a "really?" Glare and looks away from her and says "I don't want to hear you saying that again..."he says.

"But you do...it's not like you haven't cared before"she says with a smile.

Norie grabs his hand and pulls him to her.

"And I love you for that"she says with a bright smile.

His face softens and kisses her lips, then pulls away.

"sure"he says jokingly with a gentle smile.

"I mean it, don't try to deny it, you do care for these kids"she says smiling.

"whatever"Levi says and climbs up the edge and Norie follows him chuckling

Armin smiles at her and reaches his hand out to Norie.

"I got you captain"he says smiling.

She smiles back and grabs his hand and climbs out up the edge.

"I'm glad you're okay"norie says as she placed a hand on his cheek.

Armin smiles back and found comfort in her soft and warm skin.

Norie looks up and sees the destruction the Titan has caused, she goes to stand next to Levi and sees the Titan from her.

"What a sick looking bastard"she whispered and Levi's hums in agreement.

------------------------------------

Everyone had gotten on their horses as Eren and the rest got on a wagon as they ride back to the wall.

Norie sees Erwin and she smiled knowing that he was okay.

"Is everyone okay?"Erwin says coming up to them.

"Hanges our only causalty"Levi says as Norie comes up besides him.

Erwin smiles at Norie and she smiles back.

"Seems like nothing to serious, well done everyone"

"I've got a whole slew of things to report but first..."

"What's that Titan?"Erwin asks.

"It's Rod Reiss"Norie responded.

"I think we'll need your call on this commander" Levi says.

Norie looks at Erwin who looks at her but then behind him at that Titan.

"Regardless, we don't have time to stand here and chat. Return to Wall Sina"Erwin says and turns his horse around.

"Your just gonna let that big ass crawl right up to the wall?"

Erwin turns to them and says "To Orvud District, actually."

"That's most likely where it's headed"

----------------------------

Norie rose back next to Levi as she stared at Rod Reiss' Titan, dragging it's face on the ground spreading fire everywhere. She cringed and looked away as she heard erens voice.

"--in other words, we still have an option. If that Titan eats me Rod Reiss will return to human. Which means it's still possible to have a true Founding Titan"

"You can't..."Mikasa says.

"Seems that way, we could capture Rod Reiss once he becomes human. Undo the First Kings brainwashing, if we could do that. It might open a path to save humanity"Levi says.

"Eren, honey? Are you prepared for that?"norie asks looking at that back if his head.

Eren lifts his head up and looks at her.

"I am"

"Eren you can't"Mikasa says again.

"You're forgetting our other option. First of all, the current plan is full of flaws. One, there's no proof that you can undo Rod Reiss' brainwashing. No matter how you restrain him, if he alters humanities memories, it's over."Historia says.

"Basically, there's to many factors about the Founding Titans that we just don't know"

"True"Armin speaks up making everyone look at him.

"Even if Rod Reiss eats Eren, we have no guarantee that he'll return to normal."

Historia nods in agreement and she says "On the other hand, all we've ever known is destructive pacifists. But as it stands, the Founding Titan was taken from them. This is a once in a lifetime chance for humanity."