Birdie (Levi x OC)

twenty-one

After the disagreement between the two Squad Leaders had been voiced, it was decided that we would not only focus on Eren's experiments in order to rebuild Wall Maria, but we would also, in Captain Levi's words 'exterminate our would-be killers before they exterminate us.'

In regard to how much information we were able to glean from Historia. She was the illegitimate child of a man named Rod Reiss. Her mother was an employee at the Reiss household who was eventually murdered. Rod then sent her away where she eventually became a cadet in the military.

"This is so confusing," I whispered to myself, walking out of the farmhouse after learning about Historia's past.

"Oi, Pixis." I turned to see everyone else had already gone outside to prepare their horses, leaving me alone with the Captain.

"Yes, Captain?" I said hesitantly.

"How are you feeling? Your burns?"

"Better, I think!" I mustered up the best smile I could. "I mean, they haven't all healed," I rolled up my sleeve to show him the still-angry skin. But the pain has lessened."

Captain Levi nodded quietly. He stepped forward, taking my arm in his hand, tracing gently over the blistered skin. I froze in shock, "Captain?"

"And you?" He looked up at me, his eyebrows furrowed, "how are you?"

My gut reaction would typically be to put on a brave face and tell him a cheery quip. But the vulnerability in his voice took me by surprise.

"Honestly... I'm scared," I admitted, my breath catching slightly. "That encounter with the MPs was really scary, Levi, and... and Pastor Nick's body... it was so brutal. I really thought they were going to hurt us."

Levi's expression softened into a glower. "You need to be more careful, Birdie." It was a small reprimand, but there was an underlying gentleness to it.

"I know," I whispered. "I know."

He sighed, releasing my arm and gesturing to the door, "let's go."

~

The next few days consisted of experimenting with Eren and the 'hardening' ability we were hoping to use to seal Wall Maria. We were being very careful and quiet but as the days went on, a feeling of unease spread through us all.

We have to assume they are watching us.

Eren's hardening experiments were also not going as planned. Eren could not seal something as simple as a cave. And even worse, every time he transformed, his titan was appearing weaker and seemed to not be controlled as well as Eren had been able to in the past.

"We won't be able to seal Wall Maria at this point," Eren sighed in bed after a particularly grueling day of experiments.

"That's exactly right," Levi said. "It was a real disappointment to us and everyone is miserable because of it."

I winced at Levi's harsh words despite the truthfulness behind them.

"We can't waste anymore time," Levi said. "We're in a shitty situation."

"Eren is trying his best!" Mikasa exclaimed.

"I know that, but the fact is he can't close that hole."

Mikasa continued, "but blaming Eren for that-"

"I am not blaming Eren, I am just being an asshole." Levi glanced up to me from where he sat, "Going over our shortcomings and bitching about our situation is an important ritual."

I smirked at the Captain.

"Now that we know that Eren can't fix Wall Maria, we move forward." Hange stepped in, "we go after the Wallists and everyone around them. They know the Walls are made of titans, so maybe they know about the hardening ability."