symbiosis » levi ackerman

chapter twenty-seven ; untruth.

Fallan

It seemed I'd left the Corporal speechless, as he didn't utter another word to me for the remainder of our journey. I wasn't uncomfortable at the silence this time, but God was I glad when the grassy green hills of Trost rolled into view. 

I knew my first destination as soon as I stepped down from the carriage, and didn't spare Levi another look when I left. I had to find Benjin and find out exactly what he knew. There'd been a constant niggling feeling in the back of my head after my meeting with Kenny, and I was never one to ignore my intuition. My brain had always worked in strange ways, I found myself connecting dots and finding correlations to things that had no explicit link - Hanji said that's what made me such a valuable scientist. Now, my brain was telling me that every unusual circumstance that had arisen lately was entangled, and interrogating Benjin was the first step to untangling it. I wasn't certain of the time, but it looked to be around the late afternoon, so I was sure that Benjin would be training. I found him under the old oak tree doing press-ups. 
"Benjin!" I shouted at him, and jogged over. He took a swig from his flask and raised an eyebrow. 
"And to what do I owe the pleasure?" He grinned, leaning against the trunk of the tree. 
"Am I not allowed to simply talk to you anymore?" I mused. I knew Benjin too well, and knew he would get defensive if I jumped straight into questioning him. 
"I thought I'd been replaced by the short one." He hummed, and I rolled my eyes. 
"He's got nothing on you." I grinned.
"I know." He replied cockily, "How was it? At your parents', I mean."
"As painful as ever," I sighed, and sat on the grass cross-legged, "However the walk back was quite eventful." 
I watched his reaction carefully. Benjin seemed to look uncomfortable, as he shifted slightly and took another swig of his flask.
"How so?" He asked, attempting to play off his nerves cooly. To anyone else, it could've been a believable performance - but not to me. 
"Kenny paid me a visit." 
His eyes widened and he stood up straight, coughing as he choked on the water he was sipping. 
"Kenny? Kenny the Ripper?" 
I couldn't tell if his reaction was one of surprise, or another cover up for his nerves. I watched as his hands shook slightly, and I nodded slowly. I had to play this carefully. 
"Yes," I hummed, "He kept referring to a mysterious 'he'."
"Well, clearly that's Levi." He sputtered, scowling slightly. 
A guilty conscience is quick to shift the blame on to someone else. 
Maybe Benjin had nothing to do with Kenny, but he had to know something. 
"I've got a feeling there's something more to all of this Benjin." I sighed, and looked up towards the skyline. 
"Well, that brain of yours is very rarely wrong, but maybe you're looking into this too much? Kenny may just be after you as he knows you wanted to kill him, and maybe those Titans left you alone just-"
There it is. 
"How do you know about that?"
My eyes snapped to him, and I watched his brain scramble for an answer.
"About what?" He asked innocently.
"The Titans. I never told you about the Titans." 
He paused, carefully choosing his words. 
"Captain Hanji told me."
Bullshit Benjin Sallow.
"Hanji doesn't know. I didn't tell her."
"Commander Erwin told her." 
I didn't tell Erwin shit.
"Why didn't you want me visiting Mitras?" I asked slowly, and saw him nervously shuffle his weight from one foot to the other. 
"Because of your injuries." 
"And why did Levi catch you snooping around the carriage yesterday morning?" 
"I wanted to check it was safe." 
His answers were quick, and they made sense, but I couldn't ignore my gut feeling. 
"And how did you find out about Kenny and Edward?" 
"Erwin again. He told Hanji, Hanji told me."
And there it is again. 
I paused, processing everything. 
"You really ought to start spending more time with Hanji-" Benjin began to joke awkwardly.
"I thought you said it was Levi who'd told Hanji about Edward?" I looked to him, eyes narrowed. I saw him lose his composure, and he gave up the innocent act, letting his eyes darken slightly. 
"Why ask if you already knew?" He said through gritted teeth.
"To make sure you were lying." I shrugged. 
To my confusion, he let out a short laugh. 
"I didn't think I could fool you for much longer." He sighed and leant back against the tree, smiling down at me gently. 
I began to feel nervous at his reaction, but fought to keep my thoughts at ease. I'd just caught him spinning a web of lies, why was he finding it so amusing?
"I sense there's more questions you want to ask, so go on. I'm not sure if I can answer all of them just yet, but I can do my best." 
I was speechless for a minute, a million questions rushed through my head, but I couldn't formulate any of them into words. Was this really my Benjin? The boy who I'd trained and fought alongside for years?
"Who are you?" I asked, but Benjin simply looked amused at my question. 
"I'm the same old Benjin you've always known."
There was more to it, he just wasn't letting on.
"I'll ask again," I said, steadying my voice, "Who are you?" 
"It's not my place to reveal everything yet, your time will come. Besides, you're asking the wrong questions. The real question Fallan, is...
Who are you?"