~from Jean's POV~
Someone had tried to kill (y/n).
(Y/n) had saved my life.
Therefore, it was my job to protect (y/n). I had failed once, but I couldn't afford to do it again.
Especially not since Marco had died. I didn't want any more of my friends to die. I just couldn't take it.

~from Levi's POV~
Something about the latest death and murder attempt were odd.
Both scenes had evidence pointing towards intended homicide, and yet, both scenes were staged to look like accidents. As had Marco's, now that I thought about it.
A killer that felt, what? Guilty? Apologetic?
But then why violently attach Sasha's phone? Did the killer have something against her?
No, Levi decided. If the killer had something against Sasha, he or she wouldn't have killed two - almost three - more people just to cover it up.
More likely, Sasha, as the first victim, was an irregularity. The killer wasn't yet used to killing, or perhaps hadn't put enough thought in. So he or she took whatever was handy and attacked Sasha's phone.
But then everybody knew that there was a murderer, or at least suspected it.
So maybe...
Maybe the killer hadn't meant to kill Sasha. Maybe it had started out as an accident. But then something had switched in the killer's mind. They had killed Sanji in a violent matter; couldn't change that. But the feeling they got from killing...maybe they craved it again. But they had to be careful. Had to remain out of suspicion now that people were getting nervous and observant.
So the killer went for the person least known and least likely to be missed.
Marco.
They'd done it in a way that seemed accidental, as though Marco had accidentally fallen into the border.
And when they got away with a crime twice, what was stopping them from a third? A fourth?
The more they killed, the stronger the urge to kill again grew. That would account for picking two victims in such a short time frame. Both weak individuals who weren't extremely suspicious of others. No struggle at either of the crime scenes, so both Armin and (y/n) had trusted this person.
Nobody trusted Annie, by after she'd slept her way around camp.
Nobody trusted Erwin for the same reason.
If he stuck with the theory that (y/n) was the killer and had done everything to avoid suspicion, then Armin would have trusted her. Then she would have had Jean bury her cell phone to provide her with an alibi.
Or the flip. Jean was trustworthy enough. Who would suspect the guy who just had his best friend murdered?
Nobody. They'd all sympathize with him. Nobody would truly suspect him, because who would sacrifice a friend just to avoid suspicion?
Part of Levi argued that it was the perfect cover, that Jean was a front-runner suspect. That same part of him agreed and added (y/n) to the suspect list. Or maybe they'd tag-teamed the whole thing. Motive? He wasn't sure. Could be anything, could be nothing.
As for Annie and Erwin...
His mind flashed back to Armin's death scene. The phone, lying facedown in the puddle. As though someone had purposefully put it there.
But still, no signs of a disturbance. Armin hadn't struggled.
So in order for someone else to get his phone and carefully lay it down, Armin would have had to hand it to them. Most likely on request.
He wouldn't have handed his phone to Annie or Erwin. Even if Armin was nice and unsuspecting, he was still rather intelligent. He wouldn't have done that.
Which just seemed to point all the more towards (y/n), Jean, of both of them acting together.
He sighed in frustration. He'd talked with (y/n), hell, he'd kissed her. Not that he hadn't kissed other girls, but still. Nothing in him had suspected her of anything but innocence. He wasn't often wrong when judging someone's character. Where had he gone wrong?
As with Jean. He didn't sense anything inherently odd about Jean. He seemed to be just what he was - a little rash, a little reckless, a little too quick to say whatever he was thinking, but a good friend. His facial expressions matched his mood. He was what he looked like.
But Levi was only human. He'd messed up, somehow, somewhere. He'd missed something.
What did I miss? Where? Was there any indication of anything strange?
What if Armin's murder hadn't been a murder at all? Perhaps he was being too analytical. It could have simply been an accident. One that pained him, as it reminded him of Hanji, but a simple accident nonetheless.
If so, he couldn't rule out Annie and Erwin after all.
He growled, pulling at his hair. This whole thing was a mess, and a deadly one.
He looked over at Eren, who had fallen asleep next to him due to the emotional stress.
Levi ran his hand through Eren's hair, not hard enough to wake him, but just enough to reassure himself. He'd had Eren by his side as far back as he could remember. He was glad Eren was there. Not that he wanted Eren to suffer alongside him, but it was comforting to have a familiar face, someone to have your back.
He wasn't sure if he could last much longer, not without Eren.
Levi sighed and laid down. He'd done as much thinking as he could stand to do. His headache was flaring up, and it wasn't like he could fix everything just that moment.
He laid down next to Eren in his own sleeping bag and shut his eyes.
***
Just a few tents away, a pair of eyes was staring blankly at the roof of the tent.
They did not blink.
The dead don't need to blink.