Love you always (Levi x Reader x Erwin)

Chapter Sixteen: Sweep and Weep Em' In Rows

I lit two oil lamps, casting a warm glow that danced across the empty dining table. The hushed stillness enveloped the room as everyone settled into their seats.

"We will probably be on stand by for the next few days" Eld began. "But I heard we're supposed to be going on a large-scale extramural expedition. We'll be taking the new recruits with as as well. On the other hand we have, we got an unexpected ray of hope." We all turned to Eren who shot me a glance before looking back at Eld. "I still have trouble believing it. You can turn into a titan'. but what does that mean, Eren?"

"My memories from that time are quite hazy. It felt like a selfless, dreaming state. It can be triggered by me hurting myself." Eren looked down at the hand he was always biting into.

"You all already know this. We couldn't get anymore out of him than what's written on the reports. She won't stay put though. Her meddling could even kill you Eren." Levi said taking a sip of his tea.

" 'She' who?" Eren asked. At that moment, the door swung open, revealing the entrance of Hanji. Like startled birds taking flight, everyone leaped out of their seats in a collective eagerness to leave the room as she made her way towards the table. They wasted no time getting out here did they?

As I started to get up myself, an unexpected force yanked me back into my seat, courtesy of Hanji's firm grip, as if gravity itself conspired with her to keep me anchored to that chair. "You two stay here I have information I am just dying to share!" Seizing hold of one of Eren's and I's hands, she sported a manic grin that cracked with a wild energy.

"It about those pretties we caught earlier." She said, pushing up her glasses. "First we attempted communication. I tried asking them questions. 'Does it hurt anywhere?', 'Hello, isn't the weather wonderful today?', 'Are you hungry?' Things like that. Sadly communication proved impossible this time as well."

Eren and I exchanged confused glances before focusing back on the story Hanji was telling.

"For me, interacting with the titans was so enlightening that it made me forget my everyday fatigue. I'll tell you two the story I told them. It's significant to how they got their names. 'once a long, long time ago, there was a tribe of cannibals. They were much like titans, but these cannibals were human. This tribe kept up their resistance for 25 years. During that time, over 500 people became their prey. They also experimented with various ways of preparing their meals. turning the ass into steak, cutting the thighs up into cubes and cooking stew with them. They minced, kneaded, and fried the hard meat. Out of fat and innards, they even made sausage. That's right they knew the concept of 'cooking'. That's how they were different from the titans.' " Hange put her hands on her hips, proud of her findings.

"thus i named the 7 meter class Bean and the 4 meter class Sawney." She smiled. "Next, we tried denying them sunlight. The titans are clearly less active during the night. These experiments tried to prove that they gain some kind of power from the sunlight. There was a huge variation between individual Titans... Their names were Sawney and Bean. They had such beautiful smiles. I feel bad about what I did to them. I don't want that to happen again... I'm sorry." Hange let out a sad sigh, resting her chin in her hands.

Eren frowned. "Squad leader Hanji..." 

"And then!" She sprung up, now full of energy, causing Eren and I to jump in surprise.

"I moved to the next stage, testing their sense of pain by actually touching them! we had to confirm whether they had any weaknesses besides the nape of the neck. It was really tough work. Compared to Bean, Sawney was a lot quieter. He hardly reacted at all... Sawney isn't very good at expressing himself. Normally such huge bodies shouldn't even be able to stand and walk on two legs. It's the same for every titan. Their cut off body parts were much lighter than they should have been for their size. I heard when you turned into a Titan, Eren, that your body appeared out of thin air. I tried fighting the Titans out of hatred for decades." Hange poured Eren and I a cup of coffee.