Protector | Levi Ackerman x Reader

Explanation

so I feel like I gotta explain why I chose to end protector in the way I did and why I made certain decisions.

YN:

I made it clear in the first part that yn had had a great childhood and, in her mind a perfect life.
"I don't have a dramatic backstory about why I want revenge on the titans. I only joined the scouts to make my dad proud"

And at first, I thought it might be a breath of fresh air, to have a main character who didn't join the scouts for any revenge related reason, just purely "cuz".
Then I realised, the world of attack on titan is not like ours, and bad shit happens everyday.
So in the process of thinking about this, and future character development, wouldn't it be impactful to reverse what yn had said at the beginning?
The childhood she protected had crumbled and in some way, she was still living in that bubble.

She wasn't allowed outside the walls, she hadn't had any traumatic experiences and she lived close enough for her to go and see her mum, meaning she was still being encased by this "safe haven" and by removing her reason to join the scouts, Erwin, and her protector, her mum, it showed how she grew without them, because of levi in some ways, and metaphorically became an adult.

Levi:

There isn't much to say about Levi, but I can explain why he gained an attraction for yn.

At the beginning, i tried to make it clear that it wasnt "love at first sight", it was mainly physical attraction, in the same way that you can become instantly attracted to someone you saw on the streets. In some ways it is more than what they look like, its also about the way they stand or their expression and it's due to multiple things, and anyone is capable of feeling that way, including Levi.

Now, throughtout the story I mentioned subtly that yn would notice if Levi's expression had changed, even slightly, and this is what drew Levi in.
Levi doesn't explain himself to people, he doesn't show off his emotions through words or actions very often, and for him I feel like if he met someone who could read him like a book, he would want to spend more time with them. I think in his case, he wouldn't mind having someone who already understands, so he doesn't have to bother explaining himself.

Erwin:

Erwin could never have been a possible candidate to try and kill levi. The main point of his character in my story was to show how he value's Levi's skills more than Levi himself, and would never hurt him or want anything to get in the way of Levi, just becuase hes their strongest soldier, nothing to do with him as a person.
Even if he found out yn and levi were together, he wouldn't've tried to kill levi, the most he would've done is sent yn home.

As for how he treated yn, I did have a few reasons.
First, he wasn't around when yn grew up, and him and ymn had yn out of wedlock, and so the first time he met yn would be when shes around 24.
Erwin is the "work only" type guy imo, and after all these years of only dealing with scouts and subordinates, its only natural that he treated yn as if she were another scout.
However, while treating her in a very unemotional and detatched way, he didn't want her to get hurt and he certainly didn't want her to compromise his best soldier, leading to why he acted the way he did.

tho some of his comments were unnecessary *cough* provide a service *cough*

Steve:

I feel like steve's character is already pretty explanitory.

He feels guilty that his brother died instead of him, leading to his mothers death too, and while he at first wanted revenge for his family, it became more of a redemption for himself, something he could do to make himself feel better. But through that, he felt even more selfish and that led him to a depressive state, which we see him in during the timeline of protector, where he acts suicidal, i mean

no one would go after levi thinking they'd win, especially not an old dude whos name isnt kenny, so that kinda explains steve's character a lil better.

Connie and Petra:

while being minor characters, connie and petra represnt the typical human beings in this story, showing feelings like forgiveness, excitement, humour etc, and they just bring a bit of realness into the story where there wouldn't be otherwise.

And jean is just comedy relief at this point, (and his death was intentionally ambiguous, because is character in the story gets injured at lot, and at this point it wouldn't've mattered whether he was dead or alive cuz he would be hurt anyway)

YMN:

So, the whole story is basically YMN's story.

We learn how she became pregnant with her boyfriend at the time and that they fell apart due to his work. She brought up her daughter all alone and had to watch as she left home to join her father, but couldn't show her conflicted feelings about it. This left her alone until she met Steve, someone she thought could stay with her for the longrun, and unfortunately nothing worked out. The only person she truly loved with 110% of her heart was yn and in the end, she died protecting her because she didn't want to live in a world where the person who kept her strong for 25 years, was gone.

Overall, protector is about perspective, in some ways its not just about yn or levi or yn and levi, its about everyone within the story.

I've probably missed a few things, but if u wanna ask any questions j comment on the part and i'll get back to u

lia x