Summary: (y/n) is devastated when she finds out that her lead came to a dead end
Warnings: cursing and angst
Word count: 1008
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"How long have we been walking?" Connie groaned. "about five hours" I answered nonchalantly. "can we stop and take a break?" he asked, just then we came to a stop at the end of the tunnel, there was nothing but wall in front of us.
I looked at my map then back up "there should be another ten feet that way" I said full of confusion. "there is no more" Jean replied, crossing his arms over his chest I picked up a stone and banged it against the wall. solid rock.
"there must be another way to get there" I said, though I was more talking to myself. Jean looked down at his own map and shook his head. "there is no more (y/n)" Jean said again, now getting annoyed.
We all looked around for a sign but found nothing "does this mean no treasure?" Sasha asked, looking let down. "I don't know" I answered distantly. "damn I was excited to be rich" Connie laughed sarcastically
I kept scanning the surface looking for any clue. I mumbled to myself, thinking through everything that led us here, getting more and more frustrated. "there's nothing.." I whispered.
"I'm sorry (y/n)" Levi said softly, standing beside me. "I really thought we had it" I sighed "for what its worth I thought we had it right too." he said, turning to face me.
"okay are we ready to go back?" Eren asked, clearly just wanting to get out here as soon as possible. "wait! wait! Direction! Magnetic north!" I said, looking down at my compass. "what?" Levi replied, raising a brow.
"Magnetic north! True north remains fixed, but magnetic north shifts about 2.5 degrees per hundred years." I said excitedly, hope was not lost "Which by now would have produced a..." Armin paused waiting for my answer.
"Variation of about 15 degrees." I said looking around "There!" I yelled, pointing towards a second smaller tunnel leading away from the one we were in. we all raced into it.
I threw my backpack down and scanned the walls with my fingers. I began to rub away at a stone and found a clue. "oh my god! there's something there" Armin said, grinning. I continued to rub the dirt off of it
"Don't wreck it." Levi said, pushing me out the way. "what is it?" Mikasa asked. "a vulture" I replied, looking at Levi with disbelief. "winged vulture leads the way" I said. "with brightest light, in darkest day." Levi finished.
I looked at the vulture up close. I then followed the angle of the vulture's beak across the wall until it hit a second wall. I walked across and began to dig around at the joint of the walls. Sure enough, there was a crease.
"there's something here!" I called, Levi was there in a flash. "I think it's a Ptolemaic hinge" I said, examining closely. "It looks like a scarab embedded in the stone." I kneeled down and found another one.
"What's a Ptolemaic hinge?" Jean asked stepping towards us. "It's how they sealed pharaohs' tombs in ancient Egypt. The hinges formed a kind of riddle almost like an ancient padlock. There are a series of moves you must get precisely correct." I told them, though my attention was still on the wall.
"Or what?" Connie asked getting anxious. "Or it'll fall on you and crush you. Or the ceiling would collapse, or something else awful that would probably kill you" I said turning back towards them
"what the fuck" Eren mumbled, stepping backwards. everyone else backed away just in case. "okay let's give this a this a try" I said taking a deep breath "Wait! What are you doing? Giving it the old college try?" Levi hissed, pulling my hand away.
"You have a better idea?" I asked, frowning at him "Yeah. Go home. Not get crushed and die." he argued, I couldn't help but smile. "Okay, you do that, but I'm going to take a shot." I shrugged, pulling my hand away from his.
Levi stood up and hesitated for a moment "Against my better judgement, may I ask what your plan is?" he said as I stood up beside him. I pulled out my notebook "what was.. on the tomb" I asked flipping through my pages
"Underneath heaven's reign" Levi answered. "Heaven's reign. The celestial spheres! eight planets. Except Uranus wasn't discovered yet. 7 planets." I said grinning then counted the boulders and prepared to pull one out.
"Wait! Was this built before or after Copernicus?" Levi said pulling me back to face him. "Good point, Before." I replied, placing a finger on my chin "Jesus" Connie murmured in the background
"So they still believed everything rotated around the Earth." Levi said turning back towards the wall. "Which means, the Earth was not counted as a planet but the moon was, as was the sun." Armin interjected, stepping towards us
I looked at him and nodded. "so eight?" I said "that's my count" Levi replied. both me and Levi slipped out the eighth stone, it fell to the floor with a thud, causing the ceiling to rumble, dirt and sand fell down on us but the weight soon settled
everything seemed okay but soon and other stone fell down, causing the ceiling to rumble again then everything went silent and the dust settled revealing a small tunnel about thirty feet long, barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through.
Levi shined a light into it, but it didn't reveal much beyond a single rat scurrying out of sight. "no way I'm crawling through that" Eren said shaking his head.
"This is probably the first time someone has shined a light down this tunnel in over 500 years." Levi said, looking at me