SnK: Only Human -C.6- (Erwin x Reader x Levi)

“ONLY HUMAN”

Erwin x Reader X Levi

WARNING: Future contents may contain mature/explicit gore or violence. Current chapter has mild, explicit language. There is no skipping because otherwise you’d miss out some details... ._.

You were a proud member of the Military Police of Wall Sina. Your family owned a popular bakery that had been due in its tax payments and land rentals, and you—as the eldest female child of the working-class family—feel responsible and helpless in that situation. A new opportunity of working as an undercover spy for the Military Police opened up with great perks—all of which helps you and your family. You took it without thinking, hoping it would solve all your troubles. But as a spy, your memories of your family were wiped clean and you were thrown—after countless torture and all those sadistic devices—outside of the safety of the Walls. Before long, you were saved by the infamous Recon Corps but to what end? Was that your true purpose—to infiltrate the Recon Corps for the MP’s sake?!
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“Have you forgotten?”

Erwin whipped his head up while his translucent cerulean optics mimicked that springing action; an expression crossed between curiosity and confusion befell on his now pallid face. His bushy eyebrows in a knit as he gazed upon the familiar contours of his fellow coworker and inferior officer of his squad, Mike Zacharius. As he considered what those words meant, thinking if he had in fact missed something, he nevertheless collected his hands at the ready papers on his desk; his elbows propped sturdy on the teak wooden furniture, limb digits straightening out the documents before he swiftly turned a file open and snuck them in.

“What do you mean?” he finally said, giving in to the curiosity.

Mike was leaning against a wall by his left arm, “What? You don’t remember?”

It was Erwin who shrugged this time, his head shaking in even more confusion. “No,” he tried to sound curious, but his indifference failed him, “I’m afraid I don't know what you’re talking about!”

“You’re bluffing. I can always tell that, you know? You and I have been close friends since—”

“No need to take a stroll down memory lane! Just get to your point!” Erwin gave in to a chortle.

“Hey!” Mike crossed his arms to his chest, shifting as his back burdened the wall with his weight and stocky body. He second guessed, rolling his eyes at Erwin, “You know what! Did you think I couldn’t sniff whatever stuff you’re up to? Or that I couldn’t smell that?” and he pointed gingerly at the file in Erwin’s hands.

“You’re not making any sense, Mike.”

“Oh, great! Genius! You’re making me look the fool while you’re not any of that! I thought you said you wouldn’t do that to me ever again?”

“Mike, I—”

“I can smell her file a mile away, you know! And I also know that it’s been missing from the Commander’s desk since—”

“Alright!” Erwin burst into another chuckle, earning a scolding look from his friend, “Yes, you’re absolutely right. I am reading her file.”

“For the hundredth time.” 

“Actually, I lost count at a hundred.”

“Yeah, that’s very funny! I know it's been three years and—seriously, Erwin, have you
forgotten about her graduation today?”

“No, of course not!”

“Well, what’re you waiting for? We should be getting ready to get to Wall Rose right about now.”

Erwin cupped his chin suddenly, musing aloud as he went on, “I’ve been blanking out lately...”

“You don’t say!” snorted Mike.

“It’s not entirely about her, if that’s what you’re implying,” a smirk grew on the severe looks on Squad Leader Smith.

Mike grew a smirk as well, “That’s what you’re implying!”

“Hey!” Erwin growled childishly, “We agreed not to play mind games on each other, right?”

His friend’s head hung low suddenly, before he raised it back up and waved his hands in
the air as he took a seat before Erwin’s desk, “Alright, truce! You’ll stop and I’ll stop—but only if you tell me what you’ve been thinking!”

“Commander Shadis has a proposal,” Erwin began, “Since [f/n] has decided to join us, he wants to promote her into a Squad Leader—the reason for that is something that I know you know.”

“Enlighten me,” Mike smiled softly, one that made Erwin roll his eyes, and continued, “In your perspective as you always have!”

“He has been pressed by many to keep an eye on her, so by making her Squad Leader he would have a direct control and order over her. However, judging from her performance at the Trainee Academy, I think she won’t ever accept something with so huge a responsibility so easily and so soon.”

“What’s your counter proposal then?”

Erwin’s once clear sky-blue eyes had a dark storm brewing in them—that clearly depicted what was going on in his head or what he was just thinking about. His breathing hitched a little, but after a while, a single, long sigh was all it took to clear his air; Mike had a way of noticing this severity in his look and he too ran out of words. He knew that Erwin was talented when it comes to thinking of moves three steps ahead, so he let his friend did all the strategy while he amused himself with brawns and pawns. He didn’t mind that of course—they had been friends since before their military training years.

Before long, words began to formulate in Erwin’s mind as he tried to find a way to approach his friend about this; “I have a thought,” he began with collecting his calloused hands while his chin rested on his bare, hardened knuckles, “I propose to give her a position that will be equally exposed as a Squad Leader and also one of which that would still be under his purview.”

“Oh? And what’s that?”
 
“She’ll be working in our Squad.”

Mike’s piercing aquamarine gaze widened, “E-Erwin, is that e-even a good idea?”

“Of course,” Erwin paused to examine the effects of his words, “It’s the perfect idea for her sake!”

But an impending silence froze them to their stiffening seats and stance; their thoughts scattered to different items all at the same time—Erwin’s, however, went straight to the thought of [f/n] and how she would later be working with him in the Survey Corps. Would she fail or would she succeed, considering the horror that waits beyond the Walls? For someone who had just been rehabilitated to this new way of living after losing her memories, Erwin thought it might take some toll and as her would-be Squad Leader, he found himself questioning his responsibilities.

Yet, one inevitably had to consider the mysteries surrounding [f/n]’s appearance, her injuries of torture that came after her lost of memory, or the fact that none of the population from Wall Maria, Rose and Sina recalled having ever to have seen her around. Even if that led to the hyposthesis that some people may have managed to live outside the Walls or that humans may have a link to titans, Squad Leader Smith just couldn’t leave things to chance.

If there was a conspiracy or secret to this mystery, he was going to uncover it himself—

no matter what it takes.

Mike, on the other hand, had noticed something rather eerie about Erwin’s interest in [f/n]; it was absolutely more gravitating than his previous interest in Marie, a woman from a bar they used to frequented with fellow cadet way back when.

He was afraid that it might be derived out of the fixating necessity to solve the mystery, which no doubt would have a lot to do with the safety and survival of mankind in general, and Erwin had a habit of getting away with it too, considering the efficiency of his words or actions. It was evident to him that Erwin’s feelings towards [f/n] emerged out the same necessity and that it would end up breaking either one of their hearts, especially since he knew [f/n] had a liking to Erwin—though her feelings were much more genuinely sincere than Erwin’s.

He disliked what was happening to Erwin, as a friend, a colleague and as an inferior officer, as much as he disliked what was happening or had happened to [f/n].

Now that [f/n] will join his squad, he felt he had to put a stop to this charade.

“Hey, why do you think Commander Hartmann rushed to Generalissimo Zacklay after he saw our memo?” Startled, Erwin’s orbs cut through the silence that left Mike gulping nervously—regretting to break the ice with such old, scandalous topic; but he prodded on anyway, since it managed to alter the atmosphere, “I’m sure you’ve thought of it... I’m just curious as to what.”

Erwin didn’t seem to appreciate the subject; he shifted uncomfortably, propped his weight on one elbow and tilting his head to the side, “It is no doubt suspicious as to how we’ve come to that or how the only person who knew the truth is dead.”

“And you think the mystery of [f/n]’s appearance has something to do with it—one way or another?”

His Squad Leader’s eyes widened for a brief moment—he knew then why people said, ‘you are the company you keep.’

“Yes, the timing links them all together,” he replied curtly.

“I thought so,” Mike’s anxiety had eased by now; he rather confidently crossed his arms before nodding to himself in quiet thoughts. Then, he suddenly remembered something, “Hey, you also told me we had something to do in Wall Sina, right?”

“Yes, some small business...”

“You’re checking out that rumour, aren’t you? About a couple of gang with 3DMG, right?”

A slight glance of Erwin’s glare was all it took for Mike to laugh it off, waving his hands down as a sign of defeat and moot point.

He chuckled, “Alright! I’ll keep my mouth shut about that. But since we have to pick [f/n] up and that she’s going to join our Corps and Squad, how about, as her initiation, we bring her with us to Wall Sina? That way we’d show her around and check out the underground—two birds with one stone!”

Erwin nodded in a deep muse; in spite how awkward it had been for Mike to keep up with his own intricate web of thoughts, his friend had always knew how to read him. He stood up suddenly, saying, “Well, there’s no problem with that, I suppose. Nile wouldn’t mind.”

“Yeah,” Mike’s eyes followed as Erwin peered his head over to the windows behind his seat, “He’s Commander now, isn’t he? Hey, don’t you worry about it! Soon you’ll be one too!”

“Not how he does it,” Erwin let out a snort—almost as low as a mumble, but Mike heard it.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Squad Leader Smith side-glanced at his friend before looking back out, “It’s nothing.”

“Ah, of course!” Mike caught his drift somehow—maybe even sniffling it out from the air; he let out a scoff as he remembered, laughingly adding on, “So how did old man Olav died?”

“His lungs gave out as he rode his carriage back home.”

“Hm, there’s no difference between that and asphyxiation.”

“Mike, you know Commander Olav had been through so much of anything—one would say it was about time that he died, considering his service and reputation in the military. That man had been battle scarred for life! But of course, just because death is inevitable, doesn’t mean it’s imminent...”

“True that!” chuckled Mike again.

Erwin smiled at that; he collected the documents on his desk, tugged it under his arms, and led the way out for his squad member.

“Shall we? We wouldn’t want to keep [f/n] waiting!” he said.

Mike stood up as well, opened the door for them and walked out of the office after a long length of discussion—

neither one of them decided to forget exactly what had crossed their minds.


“So you did join the military, eh? Well, then again, you never said you were like one of us...”

You couldn’t believe your ears.

You couldn’t believe that despite grabbing onto you and flew off with exertion of 3DMG gas to an empty alley, next to an abandoned building, this person—a young man no doubt, judging from his voice—spoke to you as if he hadn’t trespassed or committed the crime of kidnapping a military officer.

Worst of all, he was acting as if he had saved you from Erwin and Mike.

Here you thought you might have been safe to roam around with them in the underground of Wall Sina; but just half an hour spent interrogating the flea market about a 3DMG-equipped gang, you were then struggling against the hold of the said group. There were three of them in total—all hooded in a cloak—and two of them distracted your two colleagues from the Recon Corps while one of them managed to grab onto you with his arm around your waist—only to carry you off into the stalactite ceiling.

Here you thought that you were already distracted by the fact that Erwin had come to your graduation to pick you up—heck, you didn’t even have time to change the jacket you were wearing or the badges on your sleeves.

You were happy to see him, of course, considering you had been missing out the action from Hange or anyone of them; ever since you were training in the Academy, none of them had time to visit you or you to think about them. Occasionally, it was Mike who would come over and you would sometime practice tackling an opponent with him (where you somehow always won against him). You knew he visited only because he took pity on you, since you had no friends in the Academy because everyone thought you were a monster—save for the Superior Supervisor, who thought you had an uncanny resemblance and style of a particular cadet, but he couldn’t place just who it was.

Which brought you to thinking that it was rather suspicious Squad Leader Smith had showed up personally.


Perhaps it had something to do with you graduating top ten (number three to be exact) in the Military Training Academy of the 90th Training Squad of year 844 or maybe because your decision to join the Recon Corps. Of course, you had to have chosen that because:-

1) No one else would accept you;
2) Everyone believed you belong there; and
3) You had no choice as you had to pay a debt.


Yet, before you could gauge him and his intentions, Mike had proposed to take you around town—more specifically, within the vicinity of the innermost wall, Wall Sina. You weren’t briefed as to why you had to go underground instead, questioning random people about a gang, and then—why the hell were you attacked by a gang and then whisked away from Squad Leader Smith and Mike?

But it all happened spontaneously.

The thugs were doing their own meagre business, while you were in the crowd asking questions; suddenly, one of them looked right at you and—it just couldn’t be an ambush or—

“Have you gone deaf?” the young man’s voice was equipped with a venomous, sarcastic sting.

You shrugged in both shock and confusion, “N-No, I just don’t know what you’re talking about...”

“You’re [f/n], right?”

You stared at him, still in immense confusion but you nodded anyway; then the figure before you removed his hood gingerly with an audible click of his tongue and was replaced by that of a man no foot taller than you*(see Author’s Note below). His raven tresses hanging just above his forehead, parted from the left side of his head, and creating a startling contrast against his marble white skin; his eyes were beautifully grayish blue, like that of an old and tried glacier. They were cold and solid with an aura of confidence, as well as a load of mistrust and rebellion against authority—you could feel all of that exuded from his gaze alone and then some—

A tinge of kindness and compassion, resting amidst his emotional presence.

“It’s me,” his deep voice spoke more clearly and loudly, as if you were dense, “Levi, remember?”

“Have you got any meat loaves to spare?” he went on desperately.

You shook your head; a growing and oscillating headache began as you tried to remember—no, scour—his face, his voice, his gesture, his gaunt in your memories.

“Have I been mistaken?” he asked again, creasing his eyebrows as he approached you; the warmth of concern was evident in his once icy eyes, “You’re [f/n] from [l/n]’s bakery, right? You used to leave out meat loaves for us street kids... Don’t you remember? I always remember a good person’s face when I know one...”

You now fall to a crouching position; your hands pressed hard against your head as eager trembling spread throughout your body, shaking your head vigorously with [e/c] oculars stretched open in dismay like the remainder of the past bruises you had in your body. It seemed like every inch of your skin and every ounce of your flesh chided you for looking back into a past you’ve long forgotten.

“I-I—” you could barely even make out words.

You couldn’t see how Levi gulped a nervous lump in his throat; sweats beading down his cheeks as he watched you mouthing out an inner wail or scream—he didn’t know how to console you.

“You don’t remember,” he said suddenly; it sounded like a deduction than a question.

You nodded without hesitance, “T-They found me o-outside the W-Walls...”

It had been years since you had this kind of breakdowns as the training at the Academy had you distracted about thinking of your memories or your past. It was hard to think about it, considering how everyone called you a ‘monster’ and you knew no one would know anything about you so you gave up hope on that. But suddenly all of this making you confused and happy and anxious all at the same time. 

You stumbled forward on all fours now, trying to withhold that gag in your throat as you just rambled on, “I-I don’t remember anything else than m-my name and b-birthday... M-My name is Titania... N-no, it’s [f/n]... No, it’s T-Titania... I-I—”

“Hey, if you don’t remember, it’s fine—damn it! I just saw you with those browns* so I thought you might have some—shit! They’ve found us!”

Footsteps summoned attention from the two of you; you knew that the police wouldn’t be so kind to thugs who kidnap officers and yet this Levi person hadn’t done anything harmful to you. It didn’t seem fair and just to think that they were going arrest him for something he didn’t entirely do. So you suddenly shoved Levi on his shoulders, slamming him into the wall behind him before you drive elbow against his jugular, which earned a hateful glare and hiss from him.

“Get out of here!” you harshly whispered, “Fight me and run off—I’ll make up a story or something!”

Levi stared at you with a mimicry of the same confused look on your face; he nodded in understanding, swung your arm away from his body gently (regardless of how it looked to the oncoming officers) and placed his hood back over his head. He shot his wires over the buildings above, but only after he took a glimpse into your eyes and mumbled a few last words.

You thought you heard him say, “Thank you for everything...”

As you watched him safely fly off with his gear, you pretended to kneel and held your arm, cursing in the air and grimacing in pain.

“[f/n]!”

You whipped your head to the advancing crowd of soldiers and noted the face of Squad Leader Smith—full of poisonous anger; you waved him off as he tried to pick you up from the ground and you simply assured him with, “I’m fine!”

“What did those punks want?” you heard Mike said as you straightened out your arms.

“What?” you glanced over to Erwin, who had kept a careful and almost treacherous eye on you; you looked away blushingly and shrugged your shoulders off the anxiety, “It was nothing... I had no money in the first place, so they got nothing on me.”

“The area is secured,” you heard another deep and husky voice interrupt the three of you; a tall, scrawny man appeared from the others. He had pale skin, a thin moustache and goatee growing around his lips, his dark hair receding to the crown of his head while maintaining an undercut hairline at the sides and back—similar to Erwin.

You gasped as your eyes met.


“[f/n],” Erwin broke your gaze with the stranger as he cleared his throat, “This is a friend of mine, Commander Nile Dawk.”

The said man stepped forward to stand before you, holding up his hand as he reached for a handshake; “I’m Nile Dawk, the fifth Commander of Wall Sina’s Military Police,” a sinister smile grew on his lips as he introduced himself, “At your service.”



Levi swerved his right foot in place before his left followed, rolling over on the ground as he ran out of gas to assist in his fall; carrying the young woman he thought he knew earlier on had done its damage and waste. He dismantled the gas tank from the body of his gear and threw it on the ground, creating loud and boisterous clanks.

“Tch!” he clicked his tongue, “What a waste! Had I known it wasn’t her, then I—”

He paused suddenly, standing still within another one of the dirty and vacant alleys in the underground; this was his home for many years and people were commonly—no, born—cruel and evil into this place, this world, this hell. It was impossible to find anyone from the surface who would appreciate the poor and help them out from time to time, but such was the person called [f/n] [l/n] was like. He remembered every detail of her face—her clear and gentle [e/c] oculars, her [h/c] strands that fell over her face just right and she'd tuck some stray ones away while talking, or how her eyebrows would knit together if she would laugh, or even how she smiled.

It had a way with transforming her skin, making them glow with life, even if she wasn’t exactly pretty of the elite blood or that she had a way with speaking in street slang. She was actually beautiful in her own way and that attracted him, even if he found it hard to trust her at first instance.

“I know it’s her!” he mused, cupping his chin in deep thought. “It’s just impossible if it’s not her!”

“Big brother!” a quirky, cheerful female voice called onto him.

He threw his head up in that direction, shaking his head violently as a warning; “Not here!” he growled at the approaching figures.

Two of them, to be exact, halted from moving; they were dressed the same way as he was—a hood over their heads, cloaked with dark clothes and accessible movement to their legs were assisted with wearing similar pants. They waited as Levi looked right and left, before walking ahead at them; he then tilted his head to the left, where a door-less entrance to a building awaits. They headed together into the building, shifting from hallways to holes within crumbling walls, and towards a certain basement which only they knew access to. Some of the people who knew of their gang were aware that they took possession of the house as their base, but none of them ever dared to confront them there.

Levi and the two hooded figure arrived to a room underneath the forsaken house; there were three beds inside, an old table with a chair, a wretched wardrobe and a coat hanger beside the door.

As the other two removed their cloak and threw it on the hanger, one of them was revealed to be a young girl—several inches shorter than Levi himself. She had messy red hair tied to two ponytails at the lower back of her head and giddy smile. The one beside her was a young male of the same age as Levi—no doubt both were older than the girl; he had a dirty blonde hair, short and yet unkempt, and his skin was tanner than Levi’s.
He was the tallest of the tree of them—at least by a foot.

The golden haired boy crossed his arms as the girl ran towards Levi happily.

“So? Is it really her? Did you get us some meat loaves?” she spoke rather fast to fully understand what words she construed.

Levi shrugged her hold on him; the seriousness in his stance and eyes made her pull away voluntarily. “It’s not her,” his words came out through gritted teeth, “At least, she thinks she’s not.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” said the other boy.

“She doesn’t remember who she was... and she said something like she was found by those browns.”

“You mean, outside the Walls?” the boy’s eyebrows creased, “Well, I thought their badges were familiar... It’s that crazy Corps that travelled outside the Walls!”

The girl shifted uneasily as she took a seat on the edge of the bed; “B-but,” she had single tear resting on each of her eyes as she reminisced, “I-It was really her! I know it is! God, her meat loaves are to die for!”

“Isabel, didn’t you hear what Levi said? It’s not her!”

“Farlan, you know that’s her! You used to like have a crush on her or something!”

The blonde boy blushed, “I-I did not!”

“Yes, you did, you perv!” Isabel now whipped her head to Levi, who was sitting on the table with an elbow propped on the table. He was in so deep thoughts that he rested his fingers around his lips, “Big brother! You remember, right? Farlan was the first one who met her anyway!”

Levi gave some time for her words to sink in; then nodding, he agreed, “She’s right, for
once, Farlan! You saw her first just now, didn’t you?”

“Y-yeah,” Farlan shrugged, a nervous sweat trickled down his brow; he leaned against the wall as he went on, “After we beat up the fat bastard and before we saw the browns, I saw her talking an old lady... She looked at me and damn, I really thought she’d remember me—I mean, it was her! I’m sure of it then and I’m sure of it now!”

“Alright, I believe you. But what happened next?”

“She just looked right at me and it was like she saw through me..."

“Well, she doesn’t remember us then. Nothing’s gonna change that fact,” was all Levi could manage to deduce out of that.

“Maybe they did brainwashed her,” Isabel pouted; she lied herself down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, “I mean, she used to be so nice and kind... Whenever she’d see us, she’d bring out the warm meat loaves—”

“Don’t talk about that,” Levi hissed gently at the girl, “It’s not good to talk of food when you can’t have’em. It’s bad... juju.”

Isabel and Farlan both paused for a while, then turned their gaze on each other; then they burst out into a laugh.

Levi clicked his tongue at that, “Tch! Laugh all you want! Don’t be telling me you don’t understand it if I had said it brings bad luck.”

“I’d still know what that means!” Isabel growled.

“I still don’t get it though,” Farlan suddenly began speaking on a more serious note; he knew Levi didn’t want Isabel to think too much about it so he let out that juju joke—Isabel was quite close to [f/n]. But still, despite how the joke could make Levi look silly, it never could leave that foreboding feeling away of [f/n]’s story. “If she isn’t the [f/n] that we know, then what is her name?”

Levi whipped his head up in what appeared to be excitement and a nod followed, “Good question, Farlan... She said her name was [f/n], but also Titania. She couldn’t exactly put it up straight as to which one of them were right.”

“Do you mean she had a breakdown?”

“Yeah, as she was trying to remember. She kept mouthing shit and pressing her head hard...”

“If so, then maybe she is the same person we know but she just doesn’t remember...”

“That could be right. But... this [f/n] was found outside the Walls, remember?”

“What’s not to say she was put outside? We haven’t seen her since—it had been at least six whole years! When we last saw her, she did say something about wanting to join the coppers. She said about clearing her parents’ debts... Then we never saw her again at the bakery and even her brothers—”

Levi stood up suddenly; “You’re right!” his eyebrow couldn’t crease any harder, “The bakery went on without her for three years and then one of her siblings joined the Academy too. It was almost as if they didn’t even realise—maybe even disown or forgotten the fact that they had a sister, a daughter... I thought that was strange!”

“You don’t think that after she first disappeared, something bad might’ve happened to her when she joined the coppers and now she doesn’t remember?”

Isabel, who was at first confused with the intense discussion, finally gasped; “So they did brainwash her and left her outside the Walls!?”

“Whatever it is,” Farlan took in a deep breath, “All of this is just too weird and I can’t believe that someone we actually know is being tangled up in this mess. Here we thought the government stinks of blood, it actually reeks of it!”

“Yeah, I know,” Levi nodded; his gaze sharpened as he thought about it more thoroughly, “It’s very weird.”