The Hunter sighed, lowering his blade and hitching it onto his belt once more. Bows, while fun to use, seemed rather ineffectual against Titans of their size. It was like using splinters as a spear. He'd only just been able to fell one Titan with it, and that may have been just a lucky shot. He had been much less lucky with the next Titan when it started flailing its arms around, trying to get the arrow out of its neck, striking the Hunter in the face as a result. A blade truly did seem to be the best weapon against them—well, second best in the Hunter's opinion.

He turned away from his kill, trying once again to wipe the coppery splash of his own blood from his face to scent the air for more Titans. It was no good though, he'd just have to wait for his nose to stop being broken before he could find any more.

All thought of the hunt were halted though with a soft, rush of air and a hushed light thump against his branch. He tensed, hand leaping to his blade as he spun around to—

To freeze as his brain caught up with his eyes, recognising the figure that had lithely dropped down before him.

The Hunter stumbled back and froze again, hands outstretched to his side, completely unmoving but for the quick rise and fall of his chest.

"You did a good job there, cadet. Are you injured?" the voice breaks the silence.

Levi's voice. The Hunter had heard it before, of course, but never like this, so close, so- so-

Too close. The Hunter blinked and took a step back as his Human took a step towards him, then another.

The Hunter kept walking back, eyes unwaveringly fixed on the faint furrow forming on his Human's brow.

"Stop moving back, idiot, I'm not gonna do anything to you!" snapped Levi, finally stopping to fix the Hunter in place with a heavy glare.

The Hunter had to hold back a snort of disbelief as images flashed through his mind of his fierce and bloodthirsty human.

The brief spark of humour in the Hunter's eyes fizzled out as his attention turned back to the present.

Earth, I've got to get out of here.

He turned and readied his cables to shoot off, only to find himself being pulled back by the hood of his cloak, loosing his balance and falling to his knees.

"Gross. Don't you know how to wash?"

The Hunter twisted in his cloak, looking up at the pale hand that gripped tightly onto his earth and sweat encrusted cloak, in sharp contrast to the disgusted tone of voice, then looking up further.

His human was strangely silent, staring at him with shadowed eyes and a grim cast to his mouth. It was like staring at a statue. Then he shifted, a faint beam of grey light illuminating his face as he tilted his head, eyes roaming over the Hunter's wide-eyed face.

"It's you."

Panic stirred in the Hunter's belly, clawing its way up his throat and into his voice to make a sound curiously similar to a cross between an old door hinge and a broken flute.

"You're that kid from Trost, the one who was staring at me like... a moron," Levi continued, staring oddly at the Hunter as his ears registered the odd squawk coming from him.

"...Oh," the Hunter simply said, blinking rapidly. Then, oddly, a smile curled at his mouth. It was brief, only lasting a second but it had still been there, not that the Hunter noticed.

Levi did though. It was his turn to blink now as his eyes shuttered and his hand dropped from his death grip on his hood.

A pale hand swung forward towards the Hunter, silently offering help to get up.

"What's your name?"

It took a while and an impatient sigh from Levi for the Hunter to finally take that hand, his skin rough and burning hot in Levi's cold but tight grip.

"...Jeager..." came the quiet reply as the Hunter rose up to stand at a foot higher than Levi.

"Jeager huh..." Levi murmurs, before looking down sharply, frown heavy on his brow as they both notice the Hunter hadn't let go of his hand yet.

The Hunter seemed to get the message quickly though, yanking back his hand as if it was on fire.

"You weren't recruited for this mission," Levi stated with a sigh, prompting an expression on the Hunter's face that screamed 'how did you know?', clearly visible even in the dim, late evening light. "It's obvious. Your cloak is from the garrison not the scouts. Also you were trying to run away. I can't think of another reason you would do something so stupid."

The Hunter shifted slightly, rearranging his cloak across his shoulders, seemingly considering his next words carefully as he fought down his embarrassment.

"... I uh- I want- wanted to join."

The Hunter winced slightly as he saw Levi's thoughtful expression at his slight accent and the way he stumbled over his words. The Hunter didn't know why it was so important that Levi didn't notice, that he didn't think him simple like the others did.

He opened his mouth to try again but was cut to the chase as Levi started to speak.

"I'm interested to know why you would stow away with your skill level. It's not like the scouts don't take criminals into their—" Abruptly, Levi stopped speaking, brow slightly furrowed as if in thought.

The Hunter didn't have an answer to that, simply staring at Levi with wide, silent eyes until his human sighed irritably and looked away.

"...Why did you come here?" the Hunter finally asked, voice stronger as his mind slowly cleared of the fog of fear and Levi, finally taking a moment to consider the reason for his human's presence.

"...You came with us even though you didn't know what we are doing?" he questioned in a dead, toneless voice.

The Hunter considered this for a moment then nodded.

Levi rolled his eyes to the heavens, and sat down on the branch.

"May as well tell you, it's not like we can go anywhere in the dark. I think most of the Titans should be 'sleeping' now... or whatever the hell it is they do."

The Hunter slowly, hesitantly, lowered himself to sit next to his human, eyes tracing over his form as he took in the fact that this was really happening. He was talking with his Human, sat right next to him, like they were equals or something. Not that they really were, but...

Those peculiar, buzzing thoughts were cut to the quick with the next few words his human spoke.

"We're here for the Titan that sealed the breach in Trost... You've heard of that right? ...How deep have you got your head up your arse if you haven't heard of that?"

"I heard of that!" the Hunter returned, snapping out of his hundred yard gaze, before taking a slow hitching breath and turning to face Levi on their perch. He could feel Levi watching as he chewed on the corner of his lips, hesitating over the words building on his tongue.

"What do you plan to do with it?"

By the expression on Levi's face, that obviously wasn't the question he was expecting.

"...Not sure. Question it, train it, keep it as a pet. It seems vaguely intelligent."

Silence fell.

"How do you know you will trust it? What if it turns on you? If it is bad would... would you kill it?"

Levi stared out into the darkness for a long time, silent. Then:

"Do you always talk to all your superiors so casually?" he asked, voice painfully mild.

"...No, sir," the Hunter replied after a long pause.

"Good, I'm starting to get an idea of why you had to sneak into our regiment."

There was no answer, just a deep sigh of breath.

"Hey, brat! You falling asleep on me?"

"No, sir."

Levi clicked his tongue, shifting around to attach his loose wires to the branch they were perched on before facing the Hunter again.

"Get some sleep, I'll take first watch, but keep your distance. You smell like shit."

There was a faint puff of amused breath.

"No, I will take the first watch m- Sir. It is hard to wake me once I am asleep."

"If you run away while I'm resting, I'll castrate you."

The Hunter decided not to ask what that meant, taking the tone in and fighting down an odd, twisted smile.

"I won't leave you, sir."

The Hunter could just about see Levi frowning at this, but the man made no comment, instead shifting back and leaning against the trunk of the tree.

The seconds of silence between them stretched and grew, turning into minutes, and those minutes stretched and warped until the Hunter could not say how much time had passed.

He could say how he spent it though.

Levi's eyelids fluttered slightly, his thin lips parted with soft breaths. It was hard to see him in the dark, but the Hunter saw him anyway, drinking in the unlikely proximity of his human.

It felt odd, watching him like this. It was as if he had stepped back through years and miles, into his old drey as he kept his human safe.

The Hunter breathed in slowly, gaze unfaltering as he kept his vigil. How peculiar it felt...

It felt like the Hunter's clothes were too tight, like his arms and legs were too big for his body, like- like-

Like he had been numb with cold but was slowly warming up from the chest out.

The Hunter looked back out at the dark with a soft confused furrow to his brow.

Why did it feel like that? Why did it feel so odd?

A faint light streamed down from the gaps in the canopy above. Levi squinted, shut his eyes, then tried again. It was light. It was day.

Levi almost jumped up from his resting place only to still as the figure on the other side of the branch noticed his movements and looked towards him.

Grey met ocean green and both of them froze, unmoving in that prolonged moment when their gazes met.

Levi had remembered those eyes, even in that dim, darkening light from last night when he had recognised the brat. That smiling boy from Trost...

The moment ended as Jæger blinked and looked down at whatever he was holding, a light, slightly perplexed, frown on his brow.

Levi continued to stare. In the dark it had been hard to take in everything, but even then he'd been able to tell that something was off. In the day, it was a hundred times more obvious, especially with how Jæger was lit up in a beam of golden light streaming down from above.

For one thing, he was looked much older somehow than that smiling figure a month ago. His eyes were hollowed out by the shadows beneath them, his cheeks were dipped in and pale, as if he hadn't eaten or seen the sun for a long time, and his lips were pale and frozen still, no longer turned up in that soft, beaming grin he thought he saw last night. In all, he didn't look good.

He must have lost something very big in the battle of Trost, Levi found himself thinking as he stared at those shadows under his eyes again.

Wait... shadows... sunbeams...

...That idiot hadn't woke him up! He had spent the whole night awake and on watch!

Levi glowered and stood up, only to pause as a green cloak fell from him to the branch.

He looked from the fallen, dirt-encrusted cloak then back to Jæger with an incredulous glare.

"You didn't wake me. You were supposed to wake me."

The moron had the audacity to just stare blankly up at him in return, saying nothing as he strapped the odd, curving stick in his hands onto his back, not looking away from Levi's gaze once as he did so.

"Your reflexes are going to be off. Now I'll have to wait for you to get your fucking rest," Levi explained in a slow, almost hissing tone.

Jeager finally looked away, only to stare up at the gap in the canopy above, serving as the source of the light streaming down on him, casting him in a golden glow.

"Sorry."

Levi frowned angrily, mouth opening to chew the cadet out, then Jæger turned his face away from the light and faced him with a warm smile.

"I do not have to sleep if I can not do it. You need it more than me."

Jeager seemed to freeze at his own words, along with Levi at seeing the earlier upturn to those pale lips.

"...This is yours," Levi eventually managed to say, throwing the cloak at Jaeger's head, only for him to catch it mid air. "Don't ever put that disgusting thing on me again."

Jeager nodded softly then stood up, fastening it around his neck as he looked back down at the ground below.

Levi joined him, staring down at the small Titan mournfully pawing at their tree. It was minuscule and silent, and he wondered how long it had been there.

Levi looked up again to see Jæger staring down at it with a soft sigh. He had such an old look in his eyes, one Levi really hadn't expected last night. Levi didn't know why he was surprised by it though, his voice hadn't exactly been full of cheer in the dark.

Maybe that image of Jæger in the crowds had stuck with him, like that smile from a few moments ago, all full of stupid hope and... whatever the hell it was that made his eyes shine like that...

Jæger interrupted those peculiar thoughts with a quiet, strangely phrased utterance on how they should go find everyone else now, that they were to the east of their position.

"How can you tell?" Levi asked, eyebrows raising in mild disbelief.

Jæger was silent for a moment, then he raised his hand to point at the small Titan below as it was walking away in that direction.

"There must be many humans that way."

Humans?

Levi pondered the word choice as Jaeger readied his belt, checking over it before turning to face Levi.

"My gear is broken. I'm not going anywhere with this and you're not carrying me," Levi stated in a flat tone.

"I don't need to," Jæger replied, giving Levi a slightly bewildered look.

Levi returned this same expression as he turned his eyes down to the belt and found that the cables had retracted.

He squeezed the handles of his blades. The cables whipped out and in as if they were greased by butter.

"Jeager... did you do something to—"

But Jeager was already shooting out his cables, swinging over to the next tree and perching on the branch as he waited for Levi to follow.

Could he have-? No, a newbie garrison idiot couldn't have got so close to him, even asleep, let alone fix that mess. It probably just needed a rest... probably.

Levi shot after him, quickly drawing level with him as they made their way through the forest, flying high above the many Titans, following their path.

Then they came across a large Titan, desperately ploughing through the forest with a crazed salivating expression on its long face, and Jaeger's reaction to it was concerning to say the least.

The little shithead almost gave Levi a heart attack as he dropped like a stone and swung in a jagged, jerking circle, blades whirling out in a wide arch as he hacked down into the twisted neck of the red-headed titan. Then he just shot up again to join Levi with a dull expression on his face, carrying on as if nothing had just happened.

"Stop, Jeager," Levi called, pausing on a forked branch of one of the taller redwoods.

Jæger quickly turned and dropped down to join him, a slightly confused expression on his face.

"What the fuck was that?"

The confusion deepened on Jaeger's face.

"You just put yourself in unnecessary danger without permission, wasting gas supplies." And giving me a panic attack.

"It is- was a larger one. It was best to kill it now, it later on be a problem," Jeager stated slowly.

Levi gave the kid an unimpressed look, which seemed to sink into Jaeger's thick skull as his confusion morphed into mild worry.

"... Don't you kill Titans?" he asked quietly. "Did I do it wrong?"

Ugh! What?! Levi sucked in a deep breath and willed himself to be patient.

"No. You are right. We "kill Titans" but not all of them, not at the expense of the mission. The deviant Titan is that size. What if you killed it by accident?"

"That wasn't the deviant," was the idiot's only response to that, but he was looking at Levi with an intense expression which perhaps showed he was somewhat paying attention.

"Look, shithead. Don't attack without my say so, unless someone's life is immediately in danger."

"But I can do it."

Levi's glower deepened and Jeager quickly shut up, staring at him with wide eyes before tearing himself away and looking down at the horde of Titans which seemed to have changed direction slightly.

Jeager looked down, scratching at his matted hair, then looked back with his stupidly large eyes.

"Sorry," he murmured.

...Great. Now Levi felt like the shithead. Just brilliant.

"Look, you're doing okay, Jeager. You've got talent, I'll give you that. When we've finished this mission I'll see you put on a proper squad in the survey. Hell, I wouldn't mind seeing you on mine if you learn to take orders."

"...What?"

What? Levi thought as his own words caught up with him.

Then Jæger snorted out a breath and looked at him. It was such a strangely familiar action that Levi stopped questioning his own words.

"You will not want me."

Far below them the Titans stopped shuffling around, heads turning sharply to the west. Levi and Eren did not notice.

"...I wouldn't ask if I didn't."

Jæger gave Levi an incredulous look at that, before looking down and biting on his lips.

"Levi, I-" and he stopped, nostrils flaring and eyes widening with horror as he looked behind Levi.

"EREN!" screamed a voice.

Levi turned around to see a black haired woman land heavily on the branch, staring around in panicked desperation.

He looked back around to ask Jeager if he knew this maniac, only to find empty space.

Jeager was gone.

A blond boy landed after her, quieter but no less desperate in his movements.

"I saw him. Eren was here," she tells him with a choked voice. "He can't have gone far, let's go."

She made to move forward but soon found she couldn't. Levi released the cloak as the woman spun around, fists pulled tight into her body and ready to strike.

"Mikasa, don't!" the blond one shouted, grabbing the girl—this Mikasa—by her shoulder and sending Levi a well deserved, terrified look.

"What. is. going. on?" Levi ground out. The only answer he got was silence.

"You are going to tell me how you know that kid," Levi stated. "Then you are going to explain why he ran away and finally you will tell me who he is." It was obvious it was Jeager they had been looking for, only an idiot couldn't see it. That fucker gave him a false name.

Levi was going to hang that idiot up by his ankles and use him as Titan bait... After he was done doing the same to these two.

Several shouts sounded off as a larger group of teenagers dropped down onto the branches around him, making the Titans below spin around in delirious delight.

Levi mentally amended his punishment to include them too.

"Mikasa! Armin! What the fuck, you guys?!" shouted a tall, lanky one with two toned hair.

"We've gotta stick together, you idiots!" shouted the short one with a buzz cut, glowering at the Mikasa and Armin with all the power of a wet towel.

Levi took a step forwards and showed him how a real glower was done. He didn't even need to tell them to stand to attention.

"Who is Eren?"

The teenagers positively goggled at him from their stiff-backed salutes.

"Eren?" towel-boy asked. "Why are you asking about—"

Levi turned to look at him and the teen's voice seemed to curl up and die somewhere. Probably in the same place his brain had.

"Who is he?" Levi repeated.

A red-eyed, red-haired woman turned towards him to hesitantly answer.

"He's... He was from our old squad. He uh- he died in the battle of Trost."

"Damn suicidal simpleton," muttered the tall two-toned one.

From the corner of his eye Levi could clearly see the pained look the blond boy and blacked haired girl exchanged. He didn't address it though, not yet.

"What did he look like?"

"Uh- wild brown hair, normal size, quite muscly underneath his clothes, sir," said the one with a plat and wide eyes.

"He always had an idiotic wide eyed expression on."

"He h-had the most gorgeous eyes."

"Blue-green right?" asked Levi, turning to look at the first two soldiers now.

The other teenagers shifted uneasily, mouths opening to ask the burning question.

"He's not dead," the blond suddenly burst out.

The small group seemed to deflate, looking at Armin with pained pity in their eyes.

"...Armin, I'm sorry... we looked for him, for three weeks. They didn't find all the bodies and he- he was missing in action..."

Mikasa and Armin looked at each other then turned back to the group, mouths opening.

"Corporal Levi!" shouted a new voice, or rather, a familiar voice.

"Yes, Petra?" he asked, not taking his eyes off of the two cadets as he spoke.

"Corporal! We've been attacked! The female Titan has decimated the outliers! The commander needs you."

Levi looked away from the two teens, meeting Petra's panicked gaze without pause. The mission could not fail. There was no time to think about that brat. There were more important things to do. The mission could not fail.

But he hesitated, Levi hesitated and turned to the blond and black haired soldier. "You two, come with me."

There was no time to listen to the arguments and protests building on their lips. He quelled them with a look and pointed forwards. "Move."

They moved. Reluctant and hesitant, but they followed his command.

Levi didn't though as he sent one last glance up into the trees, to his surroundings. Sighing, he turned to leave, before throwing over his shoulder ten words that stilled the teenagers breathing and froze them to the spot.

"I just spoke to an idiot with that exact description."

Their eyes widened as their voices seemed to dry up in their throats.

"W-what?!"

But Levi was already flying.

They stood not fifty feet below the Hunter, staring around themselves with an air of frozen surprise.

Connie was sharing a startled look with Jean as Sasha spun on the spot, eyes scanning her surroundings intently, her herb and pine scent winding up into the canopy with every jerky movement.

Soon they left though, taking their achingly familiar mix of scents with them, shouting out something as they moved, something just on the cusp of hearing.

It sounded sort of like his na- old name.

Stupid. Why didn't he expect they would come after him? He should have run further, he- he-

I shouldn't have run at all... I never should have come to this place...

The forest was peaceful and beautiful, it was full of achingly tall trees that made him feel small even when in his larger form, and it was driving him mad.

When he had first seen the crop of trees he thought only of resting there for the night but, on stepping into the leafy and moss strewn woodland, he found himself rooted to the spot.

It was beautiful and he didn't want to leave. He didn't want to go further on where there wasn't-

... He knew its beauty wasn't the reason he didn't leave.

Truth be told, his old forest was more grand, much larger and so much more fantastic with its hidden treasures, complex sights and almost endless reach to the East.

But he couldn't make himself leave. To take another step away felt like... felt like he would be leaving something behind forever...

He wasn't stupid though. Even if he couldn't name it, he knew why he didn't leave, and now this reason was coming back to bite him in the ass.

...But he didn't want his only company to be the moans of the wind or the soft warbles of the birds. He didn't want to be alone again.

Oh, and for a moment he wasn't. He was there. Levi,the dwarf.

He was so different from how the Hunter had imagined him but, at the same time, he was so very familiar.

A smile curled at Eren's mouth at the thought of Levi's disgruntled look and how low and deep his voice was when he chided him about speaking too familiarly.

...Yeah it was important to remember that. Levi didn't know him. Levi should never know him because then he'd look at Eren with furious eyes instead of irritated ones, or worse he'd look at him with blank eyes, like the gaze he held for the Titans he killed.

The Hunter felt his hands clench, staring straight ahead as he released a long breath, banging the back of his head against the wood and closing his eyes.

But... How nice was it was to speak to shorty.... Even though he knew he shouldn't do it again... He really shouldn't...

And he couldn't. Not now that Mika- that they had seen him... not now that Levi would-

The Hunter's dark thoughts were pierced by a sudden sound that he had not heard since coming out to the forest, the one sound he didn't miss.

Screams.

The Hunter shot off his gear, swooping round to face the horrible sounds, following the sharp rush of bloodstained wind, hidden from sight as he flew high above in the canopy.

As he drew closer, the soft scent of earth and little growing things became heavily dowsed in blood, stained with bodily fluids and drowned by the heady stench of flesh.

The Hunter forced himself to focus, shaking his head as moved forwards and saw the first of the fallen humans. Was this the 'decimation of the outliers'?

...Something was wrong with what he was seeing but wh-

His movements stilled as he took in an old human below, palms facing the sky, outstretched to either side. The stillness of his chest and the expression of terror on his face making it clear he did not sleep.

The Hunter looked further on, to where a woman had been trampled into the ground, to when a young man with burns on his arms had been pushed through a trunk. The Hunter looked at them and he realised.

None of the humans had been eaten. None of them. Not one.

Why. Why.

Seeing the humans below, frozen in their false slumber, he felt rage bubble and surge up inside of him like a tidal wave.

Some of their eyes were open, some of them were closed. All of their chests were still. None of them slept. None of them.

The Hunter's eyes were fire as he flew through the trees. 

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