Orders | Levi Ackerman

80• A river and a stilled heart.

"Keep walking, Solera." Floch said, his hand lingering over the gun in his holster.

Mia rolled her eyes, muttering curses under her breath. They'd been walking for a day and a half, and her legs were starting to hurt.

She hadn't used them in two weeks, and now she had no choice to. Mia gave Hange a sorrowful glance and looked back to what felt like an endless path of grass and trees.

Her eyes were heavy as the sun grew hotter into the midday heat. She shook her head, frustrated by her weakness. Mia knew she would've grown slower after not training since her return to Paradis Island, but the burn in her lungs was new.

Mia took in a deep breath, looking back to Floch, in an attempt to distract herself- and from others seeing her hazed state.

"Why do you even want to find Levi?"

Floch growled, "It's none of your concern-"

"And why do I need to be here for it? Wait-" Mia looked to Hange, "Why the hell is Levi with Zeke in the first place. Do you remember what he did to me or-"

Hange sighed, and kept her head down. The men behind her keeping their guns pointed at her.

"Stop talking, Solera." Floch interjected, shoving her shoulder. Anger flustered against Mia's chest, her eyes narrowed at him.

"Oh relax, stop acting like you have any level of importance to me."

He turned back to her, a scowl etched on his face. Floch pulled out his gun, and pointed it at her head.

Her eyes stayed soft, and she merely shook her head. "Try it again, dumbass. Your guns don't work on me."

Floch gulped down, his hand shaking as he placed the gun back in his holster.

"I have no idea why Eren ordered you to come with but I have never hated-"

"Wait- what?" Mia said, interrupting Floch. She furrowed her brows, and her gaze slowly fell to Hange.

She stared right back at Mia, giving her one, silent nod. Mia smiled, uncaring to try conceal her grin.  She looked back to Floch, and shrugged her shoulders.

Mia picked up her pace, ignoring the ache in her thighs and calves, "What's the plan, commander?"

She scrunched up her nose, taking notice of Hange's eyepatch. Mia held no recollection of her losing her eye, and she wondered if that was a memory she never managed to retrieve after it had been wiped.

"And what happened to your eye anyway? I don't remember you telling me."

Hange sighed, "I would've told you but it's not like you've been around exactly."

Mia furrowed her eyebrows, "What does that mean?"

"It means you've been back for awhile now and yet, most of us have barely seen you. You've been too busy with Historia and Eren."

Mia stayed silent, recalling Levi saying the exact thing. Guilt flooded her stomach, and Hange saw it painted across her face.

"I had to be, Hange. I won't let Eren fall away into this...evilness." She whispered, "I can't... I love-"

"Oí, you two, walk faster. I don't want to be here at night." Floch called, interrupting them both. Mia sighed, and looked back to Hange.

"And as for the plan..." Hange mumbled, brushing off what Mia had tried to say,"When we get there, I want you to kill Zeke...the others too. We need to get Levi out of there."

Her eyes widened, "Kill? I mean- I can do it but I never thought you'd be the one asking me to do that. Why the change of heart, three eyes?"

"Three eyes? Huh?" Her confused expression fell into a frown, "oh."

Hange shook her head, "And no, I mean-" she sighed, "Floch wants Levi dead. That's why he's made us come out here, because I know where he is. We can't let him die, Mia. So, you don't have to kill him and the others but..."

Mia nodded, curling her hands into fists. Black dusted her under-eyes, and faded away as she unclenched her palms.

"I know. I'll get them out of the way."

Hange smiled, as she looked back ahead at the path. But her grin fell as soon as her eyes laid witness to the scene before them.

Mia looked at Hange's distressed face, her brows furrowing as her heart fell to the pit of her stomach. As if she knew what she'd see.

She couldn't even keep her breath as her gaze fell upon the crippled man by the river, and the plumes of steam that arose meters away.

Her legs stayed frozen to the floor. Her eyes fixated on him. The men around her walked forward to him and as did Hange.

But Mia couldn't bear to. As there Levi laid, drenched in his own blood. His eyes closed, and chest barely moving.

Her heart fell to her knees. Time stilled as she watched him. Regret piling her shoulders.

Their last words to each other had been out of anger. Their last touch weeks ago.

She shook her head, her lip quivering. But not out of anguish, rather out of anger. Levi was right, as was Hange. Mia had done everything to try and save Eren, that she hadn't realized in that process she was losing everyone else too.

That she was losing Levi.

Mia wasn't sure where her heart truly laid, but her heart already felt broke in two. Now, she was left to decipher for which reason it was.

Eren's actions lead them here. Eren's unknown motive for this wish of murder on the Marlyians, is what lead to the demise of his relationships, and to the possible demise of Levi Ackerman.

Frustration melted into a fiery rage, and her eyes turned stone cold.

"He's dead..." Hange muttered.

And for a second, Mia's world went silent.

Floch turned to her, "Get over here, Zeke isn't even here- the bastard-"

Mia gritted her teeth together, and gave him one last look. She threw her foot to the ground, a surge of energy exerting off her heel and running past each root of every weed.

The ground broke up into pieces, as Floch and his guards were blown away and thrown into the endless field of flame and debris.

Streaks of black coated around her eyes, and trailed down her neck. If her heart didn't stop racing, she'd transform and blow even Hange away.

"Mia!"

Hange called out to her, pleading for her to look their way. And when she caught her eye, her heart, too, paced.

No tears fell from her eyes, but agony laid in them, panting the whites of her eyes to a bitter red. Mia didn't know what to do, for once, she was helpless. And entirely speechless.

"It's okay...but we need to go." Hange said, but Mia merely shook her head. She payed no attention to Levi's unsteady breaths.

Hange groaned, and got up. Mia felt her grip on her shirt, but couldn't bring herself to look at her. "Get in." Hange demanded, raising a brow on Mia's face.

"W..what?"

And before she could even take a breath, Hange shoved her into the river.

Mia desperately tried to stay afloat, looking back to Hange as she continued to float downstream.

But what she couldn't fathom, was why Hange threw Levi's body in next, before jumping in herself.