Few Options

Quick Recap:

I turn my stare back to his beautiful eyes, the eyes of my Captain and the man I fell in love with. No matter what he decided, I would still love him the same.

His silver eyes fill with unshed tears and then he pulls the trigger.

Levi's pov:

The gunshot was deafening as it echoed around the clearing. Everyone had their ears covered and their eyes closed and I had to fight myself not to join them. I've been in the military for years, but I don't think it ever gets any easier to take a life, especially the life of someone you know so well.

I shove the smoking gun into the waistband of my pants before his body even thuds to the dirt. Maybe he was telling the truth or maybe I was reading into it, but it didn't matter anymore. I could feel the eyes of my friends on my back, but I continued to stare at him.

His body was pale and his face was covered in drying blood from injuries I couldn't see. His hair was tangled and had grown since the last time I'd seen him. It was hard keeping my expression blank, especially when he told me to do it. He wanted to die.

I pick up his light body and carry him bridal-style to the others. They were staring at me with a mix of shock and relief. I know that Erwin and I were playing a dangerous game, but they had no choice but to trust me.

Even the Levisquad, who spent the most time with me and knew me best, were shocked. They tried to hide it, but they, for one moment, believed that I would kill him. I can't lie and say that the thought didn't cross my head, but I couldn't do it.

I wanted the truth and I knew he would tell me. Either his injuries or the shock of the gunshot knocked him out cold, his legs dangling over my arm limply. We were finally free from them and Eren was forever free of Grisha. If he was upset, so be it, but I could not allow a man like him to live after all that he has done.

Silent tears streaked down Petra's cheeks as she moved the hair out of his face. Armin and Mikasa had broke free from their lovers and were crowding around me to see him. I don't know how someone who has been through the shit he has could still smile and be so strong.

Our reunion was cut short when a man walked out.

"What is going on here?" Historia's father asks.

He takes in Grisha, the hole in his head that was oozing blood, and then Eren in my arms. His face stays impassive, but I see how his eyes light up with sick delight. He thinks this is all just one big game, but he's about to get a reality check. I hear a gun click and look at the blonde standing protectively in front of us.

She keeps her gun trained on her father, "We have survived your little game, father. Now let us go like you promised."

"Now now. You killed one of my best men and you expect to get off punishment free?"

I hand Eren to Erwin and go to stand next to Historia's trembling form. Though she is strong and accurate with a gun, he knew as well as I did that she wouldn't shoot him.

Her voice quivered when she spoke, "Let us out. Now." He grins and shrugs nonchalantly. "Go ahead. But someone has to stay in exchange for the life you took."

Everyone started arguing and yelling, but I met the eyes of the blonde I had bandaged and she nodded. She was going to die anyway, so this was our only option.

"I'll go." Hitch says, stepping forward.

"And what would your name be, girl?"

"Hitch."

Historia grabs her arm when she starts walking towards her father. "No, you can't—"

"Let her go Historia." I order.

Hitch meets my eyes without hesitation, a look of thanks and a silent favor. I nod, ignoring the others' glares. Historia lets go and we watch as she steps over to his side, sacrificing her remaining time so we could be free. She was a soldier at heart, willing to sacrifice everything for a cause she believed in.

Historia's father grins at the look of devastation that passes over his daughter's face. He thinks he's won. Thinks that he's cleaved our group apart, because of our forced hand. Little did he know that Erwin and I had planned for this too.

Hitch agreeably going wasn't discussed, but maybe she too knew where this would end. She could either die and turn or end herself when the time came.

"You're free to go." After saying that, he clicks a button on a tablet and the gates behind us open.

Hopefully, he'll still open Wall Sina for us when the time came, especially after what I was about to do. I nod to the others and we leave the corporation and Hitch behind. When we get to the tree line of the forest, I whip Eren's sniper over my shoulder and adjust the scope.

I see Historia's father leading Hitch away with a hand on her lower back. She stops and turns, looking directly at me through the scope and she smiles. The silencer muffles the shot as it whizzes through the air and goes through her forehead. She drops and I can see the scientist panicking and running inside, leaving her abandoned on the dirt.

A muffled sob sounds behind me and I turn to see Historia approaching me with her tiny fists raised. Her fist thumps softly against my chest as she starts crying.

"How could you?!"

Erwin answers for me, "We had a plan if something like this were to happen. Hitch was infected, so she knew that she was our best option. Levi promised that he wouldn't let her turn, so he was just keeping the promise."

"I wish you would've warned us beforehand, but I understand why you didn't. You needed our reactions to be believable." Petra says, placing a hand on Historia's shoulder.

The anger on Historia's face fades into understanding and she steps away from me. I approach Erwin and hold my arms out for Eren. Once he's safely in my arms, we start walking again.

"We need to get to the wall before he changes his mind. If he hasn't already."

The others nod and we start jogging towards the gate we passed before. Eren is very light and it's concerning, but it also makes it easier to carry him. What have they done to you? Every worst case scenario played through my head and I shuddered.

He still hasn't even stirred, but I can see his chest rising and falling with each breath. I won't be able to check on him until we stop for the night. Petra jogs next to me and Eld, Gunther, and Oluo take up the rear. We are at the back of the group while Erwin leads the others ahead of us.

"Erwin has always been a gambler, but I never took you as the betting type." Petra says quietly.

"It wasn't a gamble. It was just one of the many possible outcomes we'd planned for."

"You really scared me. Scared the others too."

"And why is that?" I ask through gritted teeth.

She looks at me from the corner of her eye and shakes her head. Petra has always given me what I needed to hear even if I might not want it. I've never seen her hesitate before.

"I've always been able to read you Levi, but back there... I was scared. I couldn't tell what was going through your head and then when tears started to flood your eyes..." she shakes her head and continues.

"You hardly ever cry and for one second I thought you might have actually thought about killing him."

"I did. I took in every possibility of what could happen if I killed either of them. And I chose the one that would keep our group together."

"Bullshit!" Petra yells angrily, drawing the eyes of the others.

They turn back ahead when it's clear that Petra isn't going to continue. In a much quieter tone she says, "That is bullshit and you know it. Why do you keep acting like you don't love him?"

"Because I don't."

But even I didn't believe those empty words. They were too quick and clipped to be believable. I knew this and yet... I was still trying to convince myself that it wasn't true.

"If you don't tell him how you feel, it will end up just like her. Except, instead of cheating, maybe he'll die. And then he'll die not knowing you cared."

My blood freezes at the mention of my past lover. I wanted to scream. Wanted to yell at her and say she knew nothing, but that wasn't true. I told her everything and she knew that history was repeating itself. I waited four years to tell Grace how I felt and when I did, it was already too late.

So instead of saying anything, I turn my attention back to our surroundings and refuse to speak for the rest of our journey. Finally, we stumbled upon a town and Erwin said we could stay for the night. He pairs us up to search for medical supplies and food for the night.

I open my mouth to argue, but he raises his hand, "You have experience as a field medic, so you are the only one who knows what he needs."

"I won't know what he needs until I check him over."

"Do that then. Hange, go with him!"

Hange bounds over to the door of the building we'll be staying in and opens it. I walk past her, with Eren still in my arms, and set him on a mattress. Erwin had stumbled upon a mattress store, lucky right?

The spacious store reminded me of that episode of Glee where they made the mattress "Jump" commercial. Okay, well you see... I can't even blame my sister, even though she's the one who got me started on the show. Honestly, I thought the music teacher was kinda hot and he had a talented voice.

"You watched Glee?!" Hange asks, breaking into hysterical laughter.

"Yes, okay! Stop listening to my inner dialogue, Shitty Glasses!"

A light pink stains my cheeks and I rub my warm cheeks in embarrassment. She pats me on the back, still laughing, and whispers in my ear, "Don't worry. I thought Sue Sylvester was kinda hot. Such a strong and conniving woman would be perfect for me."

I could practically see the hearts over her eyes like a stupid emoji. She has never really talked about her preference, mostly because she wasn't interested in anyone. She'd rather meddle in Erwin and I's love lives like the crazy Fujoshi she is.

"What even are you?!"

Erwin peaks his head through the door, "It doesn't sound like you're checking Eren's wounds." Then, he shuts the door loudly.

"Yes Dad!" I yell after him.

I don't doubt that he was eavesdropping the whole time. He was the idiot who paired me up with the crazy bitch, so what does he expect? I shake my head and kneel next to Eren's mattress. My hands pull at the baggy sweater, but I make no move to actually remove it.

"Captain?"

I'm not one to hesitate or show worry, but I was currently doing both. His face looked like it was dunked in red paint that's started to dry and flake. And it might be cowardly, but I was scared to see the damage to the rest of his body.

"We're on the field. Erwin goes down in the gunfire and you kneel next to him. What is the first thing you need to do?"

This is the Hange that moved through the ranks within a few months and made it to my Squadron. She is crazy smart, but she also knows how to get us to focus. My fear starts to ebb and I take a deep breath.

"Check for the injury, so I can stem the blood flow."

"Good. Do that." Her voice is authoritative and gives no room for argument.

I remove the sweater carefully and pale at the damage. The bruises on his ribs are black and yellow, blending into a dark brown in places. His normally tan skin is bleached white and there are grey veins slithering up his torso like thorny vines. They look kind of like Hitch's leg as the infection spread.

"He's infected..." I whisper.

Hange looks over my shoulder and takes a deep, calming breath. "Look for a bite or scratch." I do as she ordered, not wanting to believe that he was dying.

After untying and removing his sweatpants, I survey his body and even turn him over, but there is no sign of a bite. His skin is icy cold to the touch and it sucks the warmth from my hands.

"He's freezing."

Hange touches his forehead, "Levi, he's burning up." she says, giving me a weird look.

I grab her hand and place it on his bruised chest. She pulls away with a hiss and looks him over—from the tiny holes in his arms and thighs to the veins fading every second.

"What the fuck happened to you?"

She was muttering and staring at Eren, but I hope she wasn't expecting an answer from my unconscious boy anytime soon. Ignoring the biting chill, I place my ear against his chest and listen to the slow thumping of his heart beating.

It's slower than it should be, but with his temperature being that low, it actually makes sense. Someone stuck in cold temperatures for a long time would find their heart rate dropping lower as time passed. I had experience in the field, but I've never seen this before.

I rush up and out the door to find the only one who might know what's going on... Armin. He's coming towards me with cans, but drops them at the look on my face.

"Is he okay?"

"I don't know, Armin. I've never seen anything like this before. I need your help." I say honestly.

His eyebrows furrow in confusion, but he follows behind me without another word. He rushes past me when we get inside and goes to stand next to his sleeping form. I can hear his muffled mumbling as his hands skim over his bruised ribs and each grey vein.

Armin looks up at me and says with nothing but pure honesty, "I don't know, but if we don't bring his temperature up, he'll die."

"Is he infected?"

He sent me a look and tilted his head. I could tell even before he answered that he wasn't sure.

"I really don't know. The marks are almost identical to Hitch's, but you found no bites or scratches right?" I nod. "Okay, lets just take some precautions. I'll go find some rope or cloth to tie his hands in case he does turn."

He disappears out the door, leaving Hange and I with the hurt boy. Every awful thing I did to him ran through my head along with Petra's words while we were jogging away from the corporation. If he died, I would never know what actually happened with my sister and he would never know how I felt.

He would die thinking I still hated him.

"He'll be alright. Just let him rest for now. Put the clothes back on him and find a thick blanket to try and warm him up." Hange says before also leaving the building.

Every step towards him is heavy and hesitant. My body was fighting me, wanting to run away from the possibility of him dying. Locking my shoulders, I push past my rising fears and start putting his clothes back on, one article at a time.

His head and legs were warm, but from his neck and shoulders to his pelvis were freezing. Grisha is a doctor and scientist, so he could have done a number of things to Eren that even he wouldn't know about.

I grab a rag from my duffel and dump some water from a bottle on it. After wringing it out of excess water, I start gently wiping down his face, removing blood and dirt. Then, I worked on his ears and neck, being even more careful in case his ears were injured.

From the crookedness of his nose, I could tell that it was broken. Maybe it would be easier to set if he was still unconscious... I grab his nose in a firm grip and set it, ignoring the answering crack. Eren groans and opens his eyes to slits, but then he's back under and his eyes are rolling to the back of his head.

Once I can tell that his condition isn't worsening, I start searching through the store for comforter sets for everyone. I grab a sea green comforter that reminds me of Eren, though it doesn't do his beautiful eyes justice. It takes a couple trips to get all the blankets to the front of the store.

The others had brought back canned goods, bottles of water, and anything else that we could use. Armin had placed different medical supplies on the bed next to Eren for me to use. I got to work wrapping his ribs and placed a cold bottle of water over it to try to ease the swelling.

I remember when I fell and broke one of my ribs... That was when there were still hospitals and heavy anesthetics that could ease pain. Now I'd have to hope I could find some decent pain meds and something to ice the broken bones. My doctor said that swelling could lead to pneumonia and other breathing issues.

"Shouldn't you not put anything heavy on his ribs?" Mikasa asks.

"The water is cold and the cold will hopefully get rid of the swelling. But yes, normally you shouldn't put weight on an injury like this. I have little choice, though."

She nods and leaves me alone to go talk to Armin.

Erwin comes over with rope and places it next to Eren.

"I'm sorry, but we need to be safe. You saw how many we lost that night at the settlement."

I understood, I really did, but it didn't make me feel any less guilty. He's been through so much already and I was about to make it worse.

I tied the rope around each wrist and ankle, connecting them to each corner of the bed frame. They were tight enough to hold him, but still loose enough they shouldn't be too uncomfortable. Normally, I'd joke about how kinky this looks, but I couldn't find it in me.

This was going to be a very long night. Erwin paired us up for a guard rotation, so we could keep an eye on the outside. But he mostly wanted us to keep an eye on Eren. I volunteered for first rotation and so did Petra.

The others quickly started picking out mattresses and comforters, then falling on them, exhausted. All of what happened today was just exhausting. Petra and I sat against the wall across from Eren's bed.

A long night indeed...