Chapter Text
"I am going to die!" Jean shrieked as Sasha hugged him hard for the second time. Honestly, this girl was given two giftcards from McDonalds by Jean, and she was acting like he was Jesus or something.
"Horse Jesus." Connie had to snicker to Marco.
"Hey!"
Thunk!
"That hurt, you asshole!"
Levi sighed as he leaned his head against the glass of the window, the cold surface helped his headache to calm down considerably, but as soon as the throbbing looked like it was about to disappear, the kids would start shouting again.
"Mm, what do you think I should go with? The blue nail polish, or the black?" Annie muttered from beside him. She had her headphones covering her ears, and was blasting rock music loudly enough that had Levi questioning just how his cousin didn't become deaf because of it. Maybe it hadn't been as loud as he had originally thought, cause it certainly didn't block out the zoo that was creating a racket behind him on the bus.
Levi groaned, "Do I look like I give a fuck?" He glanced at Annie, who was focused on looking at her neatly manicured nails.
Ever since Annie began dating that nerdy Arlert kid, she seemed to take care of herself more often. Sometimes Levi couldn't believe that this was the same girl who used to visit his house wearing flannel pyjamas when his uncle and aunt visited from the neighbouring city of Trost.
"Come on Levi! Just trying to cheer you up." She muttered as she finally looked up at him, her blue eyes frowned as she took in Levi's annoyed face.
'You need to come up with better ways to cheer me up than asking me about nail polish, dear sister." Levi shook his head as laughter roared through the back, Reiner. Had to be that big burly blond with no brains. Only he could laugh so loudly without any care whatsoever.
"Guys, you need to calm down a bit...” Bertholdt’s said nervously but his voice was drowned in yet another fit of annoying laughter from his boyfriend.
Levi had enough though, he had agreed to come on this bus trip because of Annie, not because to hear these idiots laughing about something stupid.
"Listen to the sweaty guy you cuntfucks! Jesus Christ you all are so annoying." He swore.
The bus quietened down considerably after Levi's interruption. The silence was seriously a blessing; no voices meant that he could hear the gentle motor running, and the heavy tires on the road as the bus drove on, and that felt quite soothing to Levi's headache.
But ofcourse it didn't last for too long.
It had to be that fucking horse who had to break the silence with his annoying neigh like laughter. He began chuckling and Connie joined him, and soon, everyone was laughing. Even Armin Arlert, Annie's lover boy, who was sitting on the other side of the bus, with his best friend Mikasa Ackerman.
Mikasa so far, was the only one who had been really quiet, and only murmured gently to Armin whenever she talked. She spoke rarely but whenever she did, Levi felt Annie stiffen beside him.
She hated when Mikasa even looked at Armin, and probably, that she breathed in the same air as him.
Heck, Annie would have been probably sitting with Armin, snogging him to her heart’s content if Levi hadn’t tagged along, but since he was here, as her cousin she had to sit with him, while stonily facing away from her friends and boyfriend.
She smiled softly, as the others on the bus roared with laughter around her, and her blue eyes twinkled. “Bravo! You successfully calmed down the bus, Levi. Teach me how to do it too!” She said sarcastically.
“Sure Annie, but you need to speak for that, and not fucking glare at Mikasa the whole time.”
At the mention of Mikasa, Annie sobered down. Levi still didn't know why Annie and Mikasa went from being the best of friends to sworn enemies. All he knew that it was because of that Armin kid. Who would had thought that a bowl head blond like him could wreck such a strong friendship?
As far as Levi could remember, Mikasa, Annie and Armin had been an inseparable group of three. They had stayed together throughout their highschool years and now, in their college years too, as Mikasa and Annie were majoring in the same major. Armin was majoring in Chemical engineering cause he was a nerd like that. Still, they all attended the same college: the college Levi also went too. Levi was glad that Armin had decided to come along with the other journalism students to make sure that Mikasa and Annie kept their hands off each other. He was silently thankful to the blond nerd because he didn’t have to hear them both bickering to each other now, especially since he was already irritated as he was forced to go along on the trip by Annie’s mother.
Annie glowered at Mikasa as the black haired girl had yet again leaned in to whisper something to Armin which caused him to laugh and Mikasa to smile in response. Levi glanced away from his murderous cousin and down to the bottle of nail polishes Annie had a death grip on, and gently released the curled fingers she had around them so that she didn’t break them. It would cause a mess in the already dirty bus, and Levi had no intention of giving himself a heart attack.
Annie slumped on her seat, and glared at Levi instead, “Have you seen her?” She hissed furiously, “She is so desperate to steal my boyfriend away from me, that vixen!”
Her voice rose considerably, and thankfully her colleagues were distracted enough to hear what she had said because they were laughing away maniacally in the back, but both Armin and Mikasa looked over. Mikasa looked hurt and Armin’s mouth was set in a grim line.
Levi sighed at his cousin’s immaturity. Annie was a cunning person, but she was incredibly hot headed when it came to Armin.
So he did what he thought was the best. He got up and wrapped his arms around the seat in front of him as the bus hit a particularly rocky patch of road. The roads had started to deteriorate as soon as the bus had gone off the highway, and towards the Sinarian border, where The Walls were situated at.
Their destination.
“Where are you going?” Annie asked him quizzically.
But Levi shook his head at her as he shuffled past Annie’s legs and stepped on the aisle.
The bus quietened down when the others saw Levi standing up, probably wondering if he was going to stalk his way to them, and beat up their asses because of the noise they were creating, and Levi smiled at the silence. He was pleased to know that he had the desired effect on them.
He walked towards the bestfriends and Armin looked up; Levi curved his index finger inward to signal Armin to get up. Armin did, confused, and Levi slid in the place he had just vacated. He hissed as his jeans came in contact with the sweat on the leather seat.
Armin got the signal and he walked towards the vacant seat beside Annie, while Annie stared at her cousin, shocked. It was soon replaced by disgusting smitten face as Armin sat down beside her.
Ugh, Revolting.
“Well, thank you for that.” Mikasa sighed beside him. She put her hands on the seat in front of her and hid her face in her arms. Levi turned around to face her and tried to figure out if she had genuinely meant that, or she was being a sarcastic little shit.
While he figured out, the laughter rose again, and this time Annie turned around and joined in the zoo. Her laughter echoed and Levi couldn't help but wonder if it was fake. It certainly sounded like that.
Armin joined in soon after however, and everyone was laughing at something now; Levi suddenly realized that he had just alienated Mikasa from the group.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Mikasa’s muffled voice startled him, “I really don’t care about what is going on behind. They’re talking about stupid things anyways.”
“Are you sure we’re not related?” Levi smiled. They shared the same surname, after all.
Mikasa chuckled and she peeked up from her arm, her black eyes danced with mirth, “Related to you? To that blonde witch? No thank you.”
“Mikasa.” Armin warned from his seat.
She ignored him, “Tell me again, how is a senior law student with us on a journalism trip?”
Levi groaned as he remembered what had happened that had caused him to come on this boring ass trip , “Annie and her parents don’t go along, and naturally wouldn’t let her do shit like go alone, especially since Reiner and Bertholdt are on this trip. You remember what happened last time”- Mikasa nodded-“So since I am Annie’s favorite person and the only fucking one she can stand other than that blondie, her parents made a compromise: either I go along with Annie or if Annie goes alone, then they won’t pay the rent of her student quarters anymore.”
Levi trailed off, he remembered how his uncle Kenny had begged him to take Annie on the journalism trip, because Annie had been throwing tantrums about how she was going to run away again. So it was up to Levi to stop Annie from doing anything stupid, and he had finally accepted to come on the damn trip, and now Annie owed him a lot; it was always better to have his cousin in debt cause now he could ask for favours only Annie could pull off successfully.
"Yeah, yeah, I owe you my life, Levi." She had said, with eyes looking like they would shut any second from boredom. Those words had been enough for Levi, cause he was going to make sure to remind his cousin that ever so often.
Maybe he would use that favour to get her to sneak in alcohol to his and his friends' dorm rooms.
All he needed to make sure was that she stayed away from Reiner and Bertholdt, and as long as those idiots weren't going to be around her; it was going to be all fine and dandy.
Mikasa looked up, and rested her head on her arm now as she stared at Levi, who looked outside over her head. The vast rocky terrain spread out as far as he could see as their bus drove on the cobbled pathway. Everything was barren and dead, and Levi couldn’t understand just as to why anyone would want to come here on a journalism trip.
“Hey, Levi” Sasha’s voice giggled behind him, “Are you okay?”
He looked over at the brunette haired girl. Sasha was the cute, next door neighbour kind of girl, whose brown eyes twinkled at only two things: food and Connie. She was sitting on Connie’s lap, as he made a face as if he was dying under her weight. Beside him sat Jean, or horseface, and behind him his boyfriend, Marco. Reiner and Bertholdt sat at the seats right at the back, and it reminded Levi of those annoying backbenchers.
“Man, I miss Historia. She was one eye candy.” Connie muttered, as he made a face yet again.
“Gross, dude. Your girlfriend is sitting right on your lap.”
“Yes, honey.” Sasha chuckled as she began shaking her hips, and not so innocently, grounding her ass against Connie’s lap. Connie groaned as everyone laughed again.
Even Levi cracked a smile at Sasha’s antics, and looked over to see if Mikasa was smiling too, but was surprised when he saw her frowning darkly at where the couple was sitting.
“Sasha, I’ll dump your ass down the aisle if you don’t stop.”
“Oh honey bun, everyone would see the boner you’re sporting then.”
“Sasha!”
Jean laughed hard and Marco smiled at him, even Annie grinned at Sasha.
The trip wasn’t that bad even, Levi had to admit to himself finally. Now that Annie was happy, and not yapping his ears off. Mikasa wasn’t a bad company either; she didn't speak often or did anything other than to look out of the window, but she was a comfortable presence on the trip. Levi made a note to sit with her again when they would be returning back by the same bus.
“Why are we going on this trip?” Levi asked Mikasa curiously. He hadn't asked Annie when he had said yes to her, cause all he had cared about then was that it was a three day short trip, and that's it. Mikasa sighed as she looked away towards the dessert.
“To see The Walls,” It was Armin who answered, surprisingly, and the conversation quietened down and the others focused on Armin as he spoke. Levi turned to face him and saw that Annie was smiling softly from beside him.
“Yeaah,” Sasha quipped in, “And Levi, can you believe that we are alive to see this?”
Levi frowned, “The Walls?”
“She means the phenomena,” Mikasa murmured, “That happens only once in every two thousand years.”
Silence fell over the bus before Marco spoke up, “The phenomena is really cool, and it is every journalist’s wet dream.”
“Wait, did Marco just say wet dream?” Reiner roared with laughter, “Jean, your boyfriend has such a potty mouth!”
“I..do not.”
“Leave him alone, Reiner!”
Levi was getting annoyed now that the conversation had shifted again, he still didn’t know what the phenomena was.
But Annie answered him, “The phenomena is something ethereal, Levi! It is said that the sky lights up green and there is this unexplained occurrences that occur around The Walls. Some say that it will look like a battleground.”
“Nonsense,” Reiner shook his head as his laughter turned into a deep chuckle, “I bet there is nothing up there, and it is just a hype, nothing like this has happened for thousands of years, and how do you know that it will happen again?”
“Reiner, you’re such a party pooper.”
And the group turned to focus on Reiner.
“I am sorry,” Annie whispered seriously, “I mean, you probably give no shits about what is happening, but it is important for my career. You helped me a lot. ” She sighed softly.
Armin his wrapped his arms around her waist in a comforting way. Levi felt strangely grateful knowing that Annie had the support of a guy like Armin, especially given her past.
Annie's face usually looked bored, and her eyes were a constant cold blue, but Levi knew her well enough. She wasn’t the person she appeared to be, and even though she had her moments, Annie never hid behind her mask whenever she was talking to Levi, and Levi appreciated that. She was smiling right now, and there was a hint of warmth in those glacier eyes.
He loved his sister very much, and Levi wished that he could have let his own mask slid off so easily in her presence.
“I don’t care,” He said clearly, “I don’t care, so as long you are happy, that is all I care about.”
Everyone stopped talking and stared at Levi, none of them had ever heard Levi saying such…family stuff. It was as if a ghost was sitting in his place.
“Wait, did Levi just say something nice?” Jean asked, shocked.
“You guys-” Marco began but Levi flashed his middle finger at them.
“I was talking to my sister, you shits.”
“Ah, that is the Levi we know!”
Levi closed his eyes and leaned back, there was no point of talking to these idiots, cause either they would bring him down to their level, or he’d end up beating them up at the end of this conversation.
Mikasa hummed beside him, and her voice held a hint of laughter in it, “You know, you remind me of those people who hate babies to death, but babies love them.”
“Thanks for the insult.” He muttered, and Mikasa sighed.
“I miss hanging out with you, Levi. Ever since Annie started behaving like a bitch and I stopped coming over to her place, I haven’t seen you at all.”
“Jesus, you sound like you have a crush on me.” He opened his eyes to see her look away, towards where the others were sitting. Levi looked over, and saw that Sasha had finally sat down beside Marco, who had his eyes closed. She was now munching bread thoughtfully, while Connie and Jean were whispering tiredly among themselves (Levi noted how Connie had his crotch covered by his hands) and Reiner and Bertholdt, much like Annie and Armin, were busy kissing sleepily. Gross.
“Hm? Why would I have a crush on you?” She whispered mischievously, “Besides you want to know what is common in both of us? It is that we aren’t straight.”
Levi turned to look at her with wide eyes, Mikasa Ackerman wasn’t straight? That was a news to him, “Then why don’t you tell Annie about it and she can finally stop boring my ass about how you’re trying to steal Armin!”
Mikasa shook her head frantically, “Because..because she’ll tell the girl I have a crush on about it.” She blushed, and looked away.
Levi usually didn’t care who was gay or not, but with Mikasa it was a fucking news. He had to admit to himself that she looked like she had a huge crush on Armin by the way she had acted around him. So knowing that she had feelings for a girl came as a shock, in more ways than one. Mikasa wasn't shy, she was outspoken and straightforward kind of girl. That is why she and Annie had become friends in the first place. So who was the girl who had reduced her to a blubbering blushing mess?
Wait, was that why she had stopped talking to Annie? They used to be bestfriends after all..
“You..you have a crush on Annie?” Levi gasped.
Mikasa snorted, and she looked at him like he had grown another head “Please, I have standards.”
“Do I know her?”
“Yes.”
She looked over her shoulder, and nudged Levi, he turned to see that while they had been talking, the others had quietened down considerably. Almost all the people had fallen asleep, Jean's head was against the window, bumping along as the bus drove on the uneven road. Levi grinned internally; Jean was going to wake up with an headache worse than the one he had right now. Bertholdt was tucked in himself like a huge burly kitten, both Armin and Annie fell asleep cuddling together with their fingers tangled up. Reiner,Sasha and Connie were the only ones awake. Reiner was talking to Connie, while Sasha had a marker in her hand, which she was using to draw on poor Marco’s face.
None of them noticed the forlorn look Mikasa gave them.
“Sasha?” Levi said as the truth dawned to him.
Mikasa sighed in defeat, “It’s so stupid, she doesn’t even swing that way I think, I just…don’t know what to do.” Levi looked at her wistfully. Poor Mikasa. There was regret was etched on her face and she looked away to hide her vulnerable expression. Levi looked outside and to his surprise he could see The Walls clearly now, the weathered rocks stood proudly in the distance. He opened his mouth to say something comforting, the bus slowed down and then the engines went silent as it stopped.
Levi got up slowly and walked towards the entrance, careful not to touch any walls of the dirty bus. He looked outside, shocked. He had a feeling that the place would have been tightly packed because of 'this phenomena' but he hadn't quite imagined just how many people would have been there.
The place looked like a sea of humans, and the waves were the people milling about. As far as Levi could see in any direction; he only saw heads bobbing up and down as the people walked.
He groaned, he loathed human population, it was simply too much of stupidity concentrated in one place.
He turned around to see that Mikasa had already woken up Armin (Annie hissed when she woke up and saw Mikasa standing over them). Mikasa looked indifferent as she headed towards the entrance.
The others woke up due to the commotion outside. Most of them looked tired and annoyed, but no one said a word about Marco’s marker moustache though.
They picked up their camping gears and stepped down the bus after thanking the bus driver. It was a long walk to The Walls but there were way too many people gathered to see the phenomena, causing the group to slow down their journey to the location painfully. Beside Levi, Jean groaned, and the others followed him, but their voices were lost in the sea of noises. All of them looked at each other as the awful truth dawned to them.
There were too many people to get a proper look at the phenomena.
“How didn’t we think of the people?” Sasha wailed, and Connie patted her arm to comfort her, before turning to Jean to whisper, “She is right, dude. How the hell didn’t we?”
"Well this is a phenomena that occurs every two thousand years and there are lot of journalists who would desire to capture it digitally and report about it. Not only that, The Walls are a historical landmark that generates a lot of tourism each year. I imagined you all would have atleast thought about it...guys." Armin trailed off as others stared at him. He blushed at the attention, and looked away.
"Nerd." Connie muttered.
"He is right, how the fuck did you not think about it?" Levi questioned, he is was growing increasingly agitated at the vast crowd. They would have to go through them to get a better look at The Walls, and it wasn't possible for all of them to go head long in the human wall with their camping gears and find a suitable place from where they could get a view of the phenomena.
Levi sensed someone coming to a stop behind him and turned to see Reiner looking over, with a look of mirth in his eyes. He was gazing at something, but it was not The Walls.
“How about,” He suggested, “We go on top of that hill?”
Everyone turned around to see the hill Reiner was talking about, it loomed at a distance, and was shrouded in a dusty haze. It might have been at a distance but the elevated platform would give a fantastic view of The Walls from there.
“Oh the hill, heard a lot about this place.” Bertholdt murmured, and a hush silence fell over the group. Levi glanced at the hill with a vague disinterest, but he had known why the others had suddenly become so quiet. Sure, the view atop the hill would be utterly gorgeous, but the stories about the place were hard to miss. The hill was the home to The Place, and Levi had no interest to go near a mansion known for its hauntings.
“Hey isn’t that the place where the world famous Hunter Squad disappeared into?” Marco muttered and Armin nodded solemnly, “Yeah, they had gone there to hunt for ghosts and they were never ever seen again. It is eerie don’t you think? That their friend had disappeared exactly few months ago and then the history repeated itself…”
“It was especially tragic because Ms.Ral had been pregnant then. She and Mr. Bossard were Sinaria’s most loved couple. It was really heartbreaking when they never came back.” Connie trailed off as he stared at The Hill.
Levi shrugged, “We’re not going inside The Place, so what’s the big deal?”
“It is!” Mikasa whispered furiously, “How do you know the hill itself isn’t damned?”
“Aw man, the last person I expected to be such a chicken was Mikasa.” Connie muttered and Jean nudged him with the elbow.
Ofcourse since Mikasa was against the idea, Annie jumped at the occasion, she tugged Armin’s arm excitedly and said, “Levi is right, we’re gonna be at the edge right? the phenomena happens tomorrow and I think if we stay at the edge, then we’re gonna be fine!”
“Besides,” Jean added afterthought, “How do we know that people aren’t already up the hill. I can bet my ass that there are people who have already gone and settled down there."
Reiner nodded enthusiastically, while Mikasa shook her head. Levi tallied up the people in favour and so far out of ten of them, only four of them wanted too go up the hill, while Armin and Bertholdt hesitated. Marco, Mikasa, Connie and Sasha were against it.
Since there was no majority, the squad decided to stay on the ground.
The group waded through the densely packed people, and looked around for a place to settle down. After walking for what seemed like an hour, they stumbled up a huge rock, and decided to sit down and take rest. The stone dug uncomfortably against the group's bodies, but the stares they got from suspicious looking men and drunkards surrounding them were much more awful.
The girls looked over at each uncomfortably, while Mikasa and Annie could beat the ogling men’s asses without any problem (and then they had Levi in their group too) they didn’t feel comfortable sitting among the group while others looked at them lewdly.
Connie and Jean sat behind them, while Levi, Bertholdt and Reiner sat in front. Marco and Armin sat on their either side. To distract themselves, the girls began talking to the guys or taking out their journals to write down about their trip, while Levi sat facing the hill.
The hill was far more interesting to him than some rare phenomenon. The raised land looming at a distance reminded him of something; something which was barely nudging his consciousness. He huffed as he gave up on trying to remember whatever this place reminded him of.
He wondered what was inside the The Place. He had known, everyone had known, that it had a tragic background story, and every passing year was a grim reminder that people had disappeared in this place without any trace. He wondered if there was someone right now, inside the dark mansion, and exploring its secrets…
“Uh, god, those asshats are making my blood boil.” Sasha sighed, as she looked up from her journal.
“Mm, you are right, do you think we should find somewhere else to sit?”
Just then, one of the sleazy men broke away from the group, and sauntered towards them. He flexed his arms in some poor attempt to win the girls’ attention.
“How ya doin.” He slurred as he reached them.
“None of your business.” Mikasa snapped at him. She tensed, her muscles coiled and ready to pounce.
Levi put his hand on her's and gave a sideway glance to Reiner, he could have easily fought off this guy but if intimidation drove him away, then it was always better than violence.
Reiner got up and flexed his own muscles, “Back off.” He warned.
The guy chuckled, “Share some of your bitches with us too, mate.”
Annie growled but didn’t get up. They were attracting too much attention, and that included the drunkards and the other assholes eyeing them with pleasure . There were simply too many people too fight with so the group got up from where they were sitting, and decided to calmly walk away.
It wasn’t easy, but Bertholdt’s height and Reiner’s muscles did the work. But there was no doubt the men were going to follow them.
“I cannot believe this, why are these people here at The Walls?” Jean groaned as they made their way through the crowds.
The spaces just got tighter and tighter as the group neared towards The Walls, but at this point, they were nearer to the hill than the stones. It would be impossible for them to get a good view of the phenomenon, and a place to sleep safely at night before tomorrow's events.
Jean turned around to face the others, Connie and Sasha looked at him, and then at each other. They sighed as they silently made the unanimous decision .
“I think we should head for the hill.” Connie said dejectedly.
“Will we stay by the edge?” Mikasa demanded as she dodged a man barrelling towards his friends.
The answer was lost in the sea of shrieking, laughing and talking, but the next thing Levi knew was that the group turned towards the direction of the hill.
The hill loomed over them. It took them an hour to walk towards the rocky edge. The heavy camping backpacks and the trudging through the sand exhausted the group to no end, and they all decided to rest and eat, before climbing the hill and setting up tents at the edge.
The sun was dipping towards the horizon in the west, and the sand glittered gold. The hill was a relatively easy climb, and it shouldn’t take them more than three hours or so.
They would make it to the edge and get the best view of the phenomena tomorrow, write up whatever the budding journalists had intended to on the trip and then they could be off to their college again.
Somewhere deep down, worry wormed in Levi's stomach as he bit of a piece of bread. He watched Jean, Marco, Reiner, Mikasa readying up the backpacks, while Sasha was on the phone talking to Ymir about their change of plans. Annie was murmuring to Connie, and Armin..Armin came over and joined Levi.
"I don't want to tell it to these guys but I see clouds at a distance." Armin said in a low voice as he settled down beside Levi.
Levi looked over the eastern horizon and saw the thin black outline. They looked threatening but Levi didn't think they were in any immediate danger of the thunderstorms.
"I swear to God if those fucking clouds ruin everything tomorrow, I'll personally beat the living shit out of the storm gods." Levi growled. God, Annie would cry for days.
Armin laughed loudly, causing Annie to look up at them with concern. Both Armin and Levi shook their heads at her and she frowned, but went back to talking to Connie. She occasionally looked over where the boys stood, as if trying to figure out what they were talking about.
Levi hoped that those clouds stayed at bay, and the thunderstorms only happened after they were done with whatever this phenomenon was. If not then Levi would be in trouble.
But something told Levi, that those clouds blocking the phenomena were going to be the least of his worries tomorrow.