Tasteful - Levi x OC (Attack On Titan)

Bigger Problems to Deal With

No, Kain was reckless beyond any relief. But he wasn't stupid, he wouldn't jeopardise the safety of his sister or himself.

So the only explanation the woman could come up with was that Kain was following the shifters. And that left her stumped. Stuck at a crossroads with no idea where to turn. She could turn left and belive that Kain had some ulterior motive, perhaps he was aiding Reiner and Bertholdt in their seeming plan to bring about Humanities downfall. So why wouldnt he tell her? But that was simply a path she would never cross.

She could try every single route, every possibility that her stressed mind could conjure up but still she'd find herself trapped at that crossroads. Stuck in an endless loop of never knowing.

Unless, she went after him herself. But she'd have to be fast, faster than any human ever could be. Perhaps in her mission to figure out the crazy man's mind, she'd be the one to let her demonic heritage known. To destroy the safety and equality she had tried so hard to build. Maybe she'd lose everything, the places, the people she had finally started to recognise as home. But this was Kain. Her brother. The only blood she had left. The one person she knew she could never truly be without. So for him, for family, it would be worth it.

That's what Arden Croix wanted to believe with all her heart. And she hated that she didn't. Loathed that her wretched heart had allowed itself to let others in. To build bonds so strong and important that she didn't know if she had the strength to break them without shattering her heart in the process.

Confusion and anger washed over her, flooding her senses and taking control of her body. "Damn it!" Her voice strained in irritation, fist raising only to come crashing back down to the wood a second later. Small splinters scattering through the air as the wood split and cracked. One more hit and it would shatter and break.

Arden was ready to give up everything and run for her brother. After all, she didn't know what was happening with him. Her mind had managed to convince itself that he was safe and protected, but her heart wouldn't accept it. Too much had happened recently, the changeling, Drystan Daine, the sudden appearance of Nightshade. For all Arden knew, her brother could be in the biggest danger of his life, so she had to get to him.

But no matter how hard she tried, her legs wouldn't move. No matter how much she willed or internally screamed at them to budge, they just wouldn't. And she knew why. Because for the first time in her life, she had found happiness. True happiness. Whether it was the people she had met or the things she had seen; joy and love had managed to worm its way into her cold, caged heart. And now that it was there, she was clinging on to it with everything she had. For the first time she had a family, a real family. Not your typical nuclear family with a Mom and a dad and a few kids. No. She had people who cared about her, who she cared about. People who made her dark and dwindling life so much brighter that she didn't recognise the scared and lonely girl she used to be. Now she smiled. And now she loved.

So her knees shook. Her hands trembled against the wood and tears stung at her eyes. Kain was meant to be her focus, the thing she put above all else. But he wasn't. And that broke her heart.

After everything she had been through, Arden Croix had finally found something, someone that made her feel alive. Heart clenching that it wasn't her adorable younger brother like she always thought, but love. Love made her feel alive and made her feel human. That was the only thing she ever wished for herself.

Even when the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood on end and a presence she didn't want to see made its self to known to her, Arden didn't turn around.