For someone who couldn't feel pain, Carmen had become close friends with it in the past few days. Although her injury was numbed by her condition, she hadn't felt more hurt in her life.

When she'd received medical attention, they'd stitched and bandaged her up, sending her to her room to rest. Nanaba and Lynne left on their own mission straight after the expedition, and Petra wasn't there to keep her in check anymore, so Carmen simply sat down and let tears consume her once more. If only the government could see her now, their unstoppable weapon was broken, crying into her own bloody hands.

She hadn't cleaned herself, she hadn't eaten or drank, and she most certainly hadn't made any attempts to sleep. Because what was the point? Her purpose had died along with the rest of her squad, so why continue? The female titans identity was unknown, so her revenge was decimated. Meaning there was nothing left for her.

For the third time, someone knocked on her door. There was no use, she'd already scared Eren away twice by throwing one of her daggers beside his head, simply a warning shot. She didn't want his pity or his help.

"Open the door brat." Levi ordered and banged his fist against the wood again.

Levi was the last person Carmen wanted to speak to. He was the one who told her to protect the squad, and she didn't only fail him, but also herself. Not even lifting her head to look at the doorway, she grabbed a knife and prepared to get rid of the nuisance.

Unlike usual, the captain didn't have the strength to kick down her door, instead he took a while to unpick the lock. "I told you to-"

Directly beside his head, the knife pierced the wall, but unlike Eren who manically ran away, Levi didn't even flinch. Accepting the fact Carmen wasn't acting normal, he turned to his side and pulled the knife out of the wall, admiring the precision of the woman.

"What are you doing?" Levi looked down at her. "You're filthy." He was right, she hadn't made any attempts to stay clean in the past 2 days, she'd given up. "Your wound will get infected."

Reluctantly, Carmen looked up at Levi but instead of being met with a cold dismissive gaze, she saw concern in his eyes.

"Leave." She demanded, voice low and monotone.

"And to think I went through the trouble of making you this." He ignored her request and put a cup of tea on the dresser, but even if the gesture was kind, Carmen wasn't convinced.

"You probably poisoned it." The assassin accused.

"If I really wanted you dead, I would've just left you here. By the looks of it, you've completely given up." Levi observed. "After all that fighting to stay alive, you're just letting it go to waste. I used to think you were resilient, turns out, you're just like the rest."

"What purpose is there for me to continue? I've lost everything that mattered." The woman asked, she didn't need to be lectured, she needed her friends.

"So that's it then? You lost your friends so you're going to let yourself die?"

"Precisely." Carmen hated that he was always right, she didn't have anything left.

But... maybe she did?

Her squad were gone, but she still had one final mission to complete. She'd postponed it long enough, but nothing was holding her back anymore, a prison cell was all that was waiting for her when she went back, but it was better than dying without reclaiming her purpose. Captain Levi was destined to die to begin with, ever since he crossed paths with Carmen. And now, it was time to act on that.

Levi scoffed, pointing at the tea again. "Drink it, or don't. In all honesty I don't care for your well-being." The captain continued to talk, he wasn't usually this talkative around Carmen, but with no one else to talk to, he had to aim his frustrations somewhere.

Finally, when Carmen got to her feet, Levi thought he'd managed to convince her, but he couldn't see the knife she'd concealed behind her forearm. He didn't expect her to lunge towards him, and with his own injury, he couldn't fight back when she pinned him against the wall, knife against his throat. How was she even fighting him with her own injury? Carmens resolve would've amazed him if he wasn't on the receiving end of her wrath.

"You should've just let me die." The assassin spoke, while Levi tried to push away the knife.

"Is this what they would've wanted?" He struggled to say his desperate attempt of survival.

"Does it matter?" She replied, pushing the knife closer to him.

"Of course it does. Because we're the only ones who can truly honour their memories." He answered her, and suddenly, Carmen stopped pushing the knife, prompting him to continue. "No one else knew them like we did. They don't know the sounds of their laughs, or the way Oruo used to speak before he joined the squad. They probably didn't memorise Eld's strategies and plays in chess, or how Gunther took charge of the squad more than him. And they definitely didn't know why Petra knew exactly what to say at any given time. But we do."

"Get to the point." She encouraged, irritated at how Levi pretended to know them better than her.

"If we die, no one will know any of that. All four of them will be another mindless pawn who devoted themselves to the cause. Only we know what they were really like. And clearly, you knew them a lot better than me. They weren't just your friends, were they?" He wondered, hitting the nail on the head.

Just then, Carmen dropped the knife, putting Levi at ease, even if he knew she was more than capable of killing him without it. "They were my family." She responded, stepping back and allowing him to compose himself. "I'm sorry." She'd been saying that a lot recently. "But I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Levi didn't know what to say, she'd clearly wanted him dead, but something he'd said had gotten her back to her senses. He didn't want to press matters further, at least not until his leg was healed, he needed to be able to defend himself if needs be.

"You can start by taking a shower." He decided, looking at the state of her.

"You're not going to ask any questions?" She asked, it was odd he had kept to himself.

"We're both heavily injured, I'm sure there'll be plenty opportunities to discuss your outburst in the future." He replied. "But for now, you need to redress your wound. I'll be in the hall." He walked away, limping on his broken leg.

For some reason, she was expecting more. Regardless of the simplicity of the orders, she complied and walked to the showers, washing away the blood that had remained trapped in her hair and under her fingernails. But when she looked down at her wound again, she realised she probably should have taken better care of herself. She'd given up, and as a result, the skin around the stitches turned red, as if it was slowly igniting in fire, only she didn't feel a thing.

After cleansing herself, she put on her casual clothes and walked into the main hall, seeing not only Eren and Levi, but a few guests. "Carmen!" Hange stated, they were the first to see her lurking in the doorway. "I'm sorry for your loss dear, but on the plus side, it gives me an opportunity to get to know you better."

Carmen was at a loss for words, but she still had two fists that could voice her thoughts through force. Noticing her anger, Levi stepped in. "Ignore them." He advised. "They're a titan maniac."

"Oh, Carmen, I'm sorry about earlier, I wasn't thinking straight." Eren apologised, referring to him trying to help her and talk about how much he loved the squad, in all fairness, he wasn't being helpful at all.

"Hm." Carmen dismissed, looking at the others in the room. If her memory proved right, they were Armin and Mikasa, the other boy, she'd only seen once but she recollected his name was Jean. But of course, she couldn't ignore the commander who had also accompanied them. "I wasn't aware we were having visitors." She questioned. "What's the occasion?" She wondered, and Mikasa was about to answer her, but again Levi stepped in monitoring the situation carefully.

"Carry on the meeting without us." He got to his feet, wincing slightly.

"Why? What don't you want me to know?" She asked.

"You're being paranoid." He led the way to the infirmary.

"Am I?" She shot back. "Then why don't you enlighten me? What were you talking about?"

Levi knew he couldn't tell her that Annie Leonhardt was the female titan, she'd go insane, probably kill Annie herself. But if he didn't tell her, then someone else would. "Sit down." He pointed at the medical bed and searched for a first aid kit. "I'm only telling you this so that you don't hear it from anyone else. They think they know who the female titan is."

"You're kidding. Who is it?" She instantly responded, if she found out who it was, then she could kill them, and finally avenge her squad.

"I can't tell you, because I know you'll kill her. Erwin wants her alive." Levi revealed, waiting for Carmen to show her wound. "Any day now." He scoffed, forcing the woman to unbutton her shirt and unravel the sloppy bandages on her torso.

"It's infected." She informed. After sighing with annoyance, Levi walked to the supply draw and took out some rubbing alcohol.

"This is going to hurt, but you probably deserve it for being so careless." He placed some on a cloth and cleaned the wound, he was surprised when she didn't even react to what should've caused he pain.

"Don't stare." She warned him, seeing his eyes trail away from the stitches and up her heavily scared body.

"What happened to you?" He asked instead, well aware he wasn't likely to get an answer.

"They're scars." She said. "Past tense, because they don't matter anymore, they're just reminders, and personally I hate reminders." She simply answered, not getting into the details. Every scar on her body had a different meaning, she received her first dozen when she was first training to fight with knives, experience is the best teacher. And the others, she'd gotten as punishments for escaping. However, one or two of her scars were reminders of her first few missions, when she was sloppy and had gotten caught by her targets, but they were too faded to notice.

Levi didn't reply, he knew it was a touchy topic so kept to himself, after all, he didn't like it when people pointed out his scars, which was why he was grateful they were always covered.

"Can I ask you something?" She wondered, now that she had no one to talk to, she'd gotten desperate.

"Go ahead."

"Why do you hate me?" She asked. "I know, I may have gotten out of hand before, but ever since we met, you've never treated me the way you treated the others."

"You and I have a lot in common." He said honestly.

"We're nothing alike." She denied.

"We are." He disagreed. "You forget, I had a life before I became a scout." The captain reasoned.

"Petra said you were wanted in the underground, and Erwin dragged you here kicking and screaming. That doesn't sound similar to me." Carmen revealed.

"That's because it's a rumour."

"Then what was the truth?"

"Nothing important." He shook away the question, even though it technically was significant. "Have some food then get some sleep, I'm guessing you stayed awake the whole time." He advised, earning a nod from the woman.