Captains Equal

Chapter 20

I sigh as I sat on the roof. I see Armin, Jean and Sasha come back from their job. I wave back down to Armin, who could only smile since his hands were full. I sigh, shake my head and roll my eyes as I hear Jean and Eren arguing again. I see Mikasa and Historia come back from chopping wood. I jump down from the roof as I see Levi from afar. I heard Jean yell something about a peeping tom as Levi walked up to me. I salute and he nods. "How were they?" He asks and I sigh in frustration. "Well, it was quiet between the times of when they left and when they got back. As soon as Jean walked through the door though..." He nods and turns, motioning me to follow him inside. "What did they argue about this time?" He asks and I chuckle. "Eren was just making sure Jean's group wiped the dirt from their shoes once they entered. I'd say you're making a fine cleaner of him." I say, finishing as the door opens. I see Historia and Eren turn to us. "What's this commotion about?" Levi asks darkly before Eren moves out of the way and next to me. Everyone goes quiet as Levi runs his fingertips across the underside of the table. He looks at his hand in disgust, causing me to shake my head. "I'm quite sure I gave you enough time." He says. *You gave them an hour...For a bunch of kids, that's nowhere near enough time.* "Anyways, we'll discuss your lax cleaning job another time." Levi says as he wipes his hand with a dust cloth. "Eren. Hange is itching to get the experiment started." He says. "R...right. Can I ask you something, Sir?" Eren says and I see him recoil slightly in fear as Levi turns his whole body to look at him. 

"Why is Hange only interested in doing experiments with me? Wouldn't it make more sense to do the with Kat as well?" He asks and I turn to Levi, crossing my arms. "Yeah, why is my brother the only one getting bombarded with experiments?" I ask before Levi clicks his tongue. "Because Katia is my right hand. She shouldn't have to deal with four-eyes' experiments. Plus the full extent of your powers is still largely unknown, even to you. Katia knows the extent of her Titan powers, so we don't need to monitor her. If we focus on monitoring you exclusively, hopefully, you'll be closer to Katia's ability of control." Levi says before Eren turns his head. "Yessir." He says before walking out the door with everyone else following behind. I grab Levi's arm and stop him. He turns back to me. "Don't be so hard on him Levi. Don't compare him to me, because I can tell he feels like shit whenever you do." I whisper and he shakes his head. "He needs to learn control. You've got great control when it comes to your Tita-" "No, I haven't. Even if I did, you shouldn't compare us. Eren and I might be related, but we aren't the same person, Levi." I say, making him look away for a second and think. "Okay. I still have to be strict with him, but I'll try to stop comparing you two." He complies, making me smile before we keep going. We all get on our horses. "Armin and Historia, you'll be with Hange, Molblit and I. Kat, you'll be on lookout duty to make sure that none of us are in danger. the rest of you will be on the ground with Eren and be ready to get him out if anything goes wrong." Levi orders and we all respond with: "Yessir" before we begin riding towards the meeting spot Hange had chosen.

Time Skip

I kept myself from looking down at my brother as I heard Mikasa yelling out for him. Something had gone wrong. "Experiment's over! All troops, disperse at once!" I hear Hange order before someone else orders that they make sure there were no witnesses. "Levi." I say, looking back at him for a second. He nods and turns to Historia. "You ride in the same wagon as Eren. I'm going to the Trost District with Katia and Hange's group." I hear Levi say before Historia answers. "Katia, let's go." Levi says as he walks up to me, but I don't move. I keep my head moving from place to place. "Katia? Did you see someone?" He asks, causing me to shake my head. "No, but I can't help but feel like we're being watched. I've felt it the whole time." I say before turning back to him. "Let's just go and keep caution." I say, making him nod. "Alright."

Time Skip

We all gathered in the main room as Hange stood in front of us. "He's dead...Patsor Nick." She says before looking at me. "What? It wasn't fucking me! I've been here since we left HQ!" I say before Eren grabs my shoulder. I take in a sharp exhale of air before looking away. "He was murdered. This morning, in Trost District headquarters." She says before telling us everything she saw. "I figured the Church would want to deal with Nick since he was cooperating with the Scouts. That's why I hid his identity and had him stay at the barracks, but...to think that they would use soldiers to kill him...I was too careless. It's entirely my fault." She ends softly before I lift my head up after thinking. "What if it wasn't the Church?" I say before everyone looks at me. "W...well, if the Church just wanted him gone, what would the point of ripping his fingernails off? They most likely would've wanted answers, so if he were to talk, one would've done the trick. If he didn't, pulling the rest wouldn't make any sense...You said all his fingernails were gone?" I ask and she nods. "I agree with Katia. If the Military Police were behind it, there's probably something more behind this whole thing. I thought he was an idiot, but he held his beliefs until the very end." Levi says before looking to Historia. "Meaning they've got no idea that we've caught wind of the Reiss family." I stand up and plant my hands on the table. "Someone in the government is fixated on taking us out though. It might not even be just us, it could be the entire Scouts, so what are we meant to do-" "Captain Levi. A message from Commander Erwin." One of Hange's squad members says. "Everyone, out. We leave now. Leave no trace we were here." He says before we all run off to grab the most important things to take with us.