Vista - Attack on Titan x Reader

CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR: Resolve

"Don't say a word, right?"

Armin's voice came out deeper than I had ever heard it as he spoke to our new hotages. We had been travelling through the mountains to avoid the main roads, but of course, even that was risky. The interior police force had been sent out to hunt us down, so it only made sense that we'd run into trouble.

The girl I had seized trembled in my grip, but I didn't relax my hold, even for a second. I was just thankful she wasn't fighting back, otherwise my injury would have been knocked around.
"Alright, strip them down. Their uniforms may come in handy, and the fuel in their gear." Levi ordered, and I internally groaned.

This feels so wrong...

I did as instructed, only because I knew that it wasn't wrong. We didn't have to kill this pair. At least not yet.
"Sorry..." I murmured as I began to undress the girl, gritting my teeth as she squeaked out. Making quick work of her buttons and straps, I had her in her thankfully modest underwear in no time, directing her to kneel by the bank of the river beside her companion.

"So, privates Marlo Freudenberg and Hitch Dreyse, of the Stohess district interior police..." Levi began to pace around them, holding onto their paperwork, rifle tilted against his shoulder. "We'll need to dispose of you..."

There it was. I had been dreading it ever since we had left our makeshift base. The two of them flinched and shook at the thought, panic evident.
"B..because of what you did, Stohess became a graveyard..! Over a hundred people were killed!" Hitch piped up, which, considering her situation, was probably a poor choice.

"Hey...quit it..!" Marlo snapped at her in a whisper, but it was too late. She was on a roll, and Levi's attention was caught.
"You bastards! I bet you all think you're some heroes of justice, but you're not! You dropped dozens of innocent families into hell on that mission of yours!"

She isn't wrong...I saw the aftermath...

"Yeah, we did..." Levi agreed with her calmly, staring down from behind. A calm and collected Levi was normal, but this time I was worried. Was he really going to kill them?

Hitch grit her teeth, but quickly turned her attention to Jean, who was standing a few yards behind me, keeping watch.
"Hey, you! You're from the southern cadet corps, right? So you trained with Annie Leonhart? Were you a friend of hers?"

That name caused my jaw to clench tight. Annie Leonhart, the woman who had murdered the man I had loved, and the family I had found. So, this girl was connected to her? Blinking, I felt somebody touch my right hand, and I suddenly realised I had gone to draw my blade.

"Calm down..." Connie murmured from my side, waiting until I had settled before taking his attention from me.
"No...she wouldn't have made friends there either...Way too gloomy and unapproachable for that...She was just afraid of people, like a scared little kid. Now I'll never get the chance to learn anything about her...She's listed as missing...Y'know why? It's because one of your titans turned her into an ugly red stain on the street..!"

She hadn't known. Not the slightest clue about anything. They really did keep their grunts out of the loop in the capital.
"Actually, no." Levi started once he was sure she had finished. "That's because the titan we captured was Annie Leonhart herself."

Should have ended her life...

As blunt as ever, he laid down the facts, and her face blanched, as did Marlo's.
"God dammit...It makes me sick. Nobody knows a thing about this damn world..." The ravonet clicked his tongue and looked to the side, directly at me. His eyes flickered to the young MPs, and I realised he was asking me a question. Kill or release?