Not Much Longer (AOT)

The Flames of Failure

Athena carefully pulled out the documents from the envelope. The paper was so delicate because of its age. It was soft to the touch, and the ink scratched along the surface would hold the key to humanities future.

Levi stood on guard by the front door while Erwin sat across from her at the dining room table.

Only one candle was lit in the entire house, and it sat in between her and Erwin.

Athena took a deep breath and went to work.

The documents were littered with words that
she had never seen before. She was able to piece together some phrases, while at other times she would have to skip several sentences...even pages.

Frequent words included "humans" and "monsters." She painstakingly tried to sow the peices together to form some kind of understanding.

Athena could barely make any sense of the works. She was left with fragments that meant nothing to the future of humanity.

She skimmed through every book, every paper, anything she had ever written down to help her, to no avail.

Erwin had fallen asleep hours before, and Levi was getting ready to pass out against the door frame.

Athena was tired and frustrated.

All of those long days slaving over those books had barely prepared her for what she was trying to do. She continually read and re-read the pages, trying to force them to make sense.

But she couldn't.

She eventually put her head in her hands and cried. She felt as if she was letting down all of humanity in that moment. She felt that it could not get any worse... 

...but it did.

Levi was toppled over by the sudden slamming of the door. A brigade of men poured in through the frame, all dressed in their military police uniforms.

Lyons was the last man to walk in.

"Oh little flower...didn't I tell you I don't like people who act dumb?" He hissed with a painfully familiar tone.

Levi was trying to bring himself to his senses. His vision was blurry and his ears rung from the impact of the floor. He was able to get himself off the ground and realized what was going on. The men hadn't even noticed that he was even there. "Oh shit..." he whispered.

Erwin jolted awake when two of the men grabbed him and threw him to the floor. The chair broke like a twig under the force.

Athena grabbed onto the documents for dear life as she tried to make a run for it.

Roman grabbed her by her arm and threw her back into the table. "You're not going anywhere." His voice growled.

The papers fluttered to the floor.

Levi jumped at Lyons and the two rolled to the floor. He was only able to get in one good punch before 3 men pulled him off.

Lyons was helped up by his men as he grabbed his nose, that was now visibly bleeding.

He was boiling with rage.

"Now that wasn't very nice..."

Levi was held back by the men as he growled "Go to hell."

Lyons motioned towards Roman. The three men holding unto Levi made sure he couldn't fight back, and Roman was able to give him a swift knee in the stomach, before landing a solid punch into his face.

"Stop!" Athena ran in between Roman and Levi. Roman still had his fist raised as he glared down at the girl.

"P-Please..." Her voice cracked as she begged.