Titans Rule, Levi Ackerman UNDER EDITING

(42) The sea.

~Amelia's POV~ 

"So, our enemy is... the world?" A high-ranking officer exclaimed. 

"How are we supposed to announce this to the public, there will be chaos!" shouted another. 

Commander Pixis rose from his seat with a calm and collected expression, arms folded behind his back. "Then, will we deceive the people again? Withhold information from them so they stay domesticated and ignorant as King Reiss did before? If so, then by what notions did we rise against him to take his crown?" That was enough to keep them quiet. 

"Let's announce it," Queen Historia started, "After all, we're just returning the memories that were stolen from the people, be it a century later. We all share the same fate as people of the walls. We must unite as one and bring our strength together if we are to take on the giant task before us." 

The room remained silent as no one could mutter a word against their Queen. So from then onwards, it was as she said. The truth was published in the news. The true identity of the Titans, that they are the subjects of Ymir, how the King built the walls one hundred years ago and altered everyone's memories. But, most of all, that humanity hadn't perished and there was a world much larger out there, one that wants to annihilate us. 

As expected, everyone reacted differently. Some just accepted their fate whilst others insist that we are spreading lies. Essentially, it was chaos. It was hard to go anywhere without people bombarding us for answers. All we could say was that the truth had already been revealed because we didn't know any of the answers ourselves. And that was what we would try to find out from now on. 

But first, it was time to reclaim the land that was lost. With Wall Maria all fixed up, we could start to wipe out the rest of the Titans there, restore people's homes and, finally venture outside of the Walls without the fear of Titans bombarding us. Above all, we planned how exactly we were going to defend ourselves against our enemies. But before all that, we had been labelled as heroes and that meant attending a boring ceremony held in our honour. 

"Are you sure that I really need to be here for this? I'm not even a real citizen of the Walls," I groaned, shuffling around awkwardly in the suffocating uniform we were forced to wear. 

Hange slipped one of their arms around my shoulders, pulling me in close. "Yes, you are remember? As the Commander of the Scouts, I pulled some strings to get your documentation. Besides, it isn't polite to not be present for your own medal. You played your part in this battle just as much as everyone else did." 

"But a medal? Isn't that a bit much for someone who's only been in the Scouts for half a year?" I was trying to wiggle my way out of this as much as I could. I hardly deserve a medal as I wasn't even supposed to be here in the first place. It feels like too much. 

"Well, Floch hasn't either and he wasn't even a proper Scout until Wall Maria," Jean teased, causing Floch to go red with rage. 

"You make a good point I suppose..." I gave in. Despite me coming out of my shell whilst I've been here, the socially anxious university student with no friends still creeps back in every now and then. 

"You deserve one just as much as the rest of us." This time it was Levi who appeared out of nowhere. Hange's grip on me loosened as they pulled away, hurrying everyone else along, leaving just the two of us. 

"Thank you," I said weakly. I was still embarrassed from our encounter on the Wall which we hadn't had the chance to talk about since we got back. In fact, I hadn't seen him much at all as he was busy being Hange's second in command. 

Levi's eyes held mine intensely. "Come here," he beckoned. I furrowed my brows at him, confused as to why he wanted me to get closer. He stepped closer, closing the gap between us. My heart jolted in my chest and I looked up at him, our eyes locking. Then, he pulled at my collar and my heart calmed down. Of course, that was what he was doing, fixing my collar. Nothing more than that.