Of course, upon general viewing of SNK and its characters, it's clear that they have established Erwin, Levi, and Hange as the leading trio of the Survey Corps. They represent this faction of the military and in interesting ways, mirror the main protagonists of the series.
While there is a lot to be said and appreciated about Levi's relationships with Erwin and Hange, I have come to find that the character who humanizes him is the lovely (albeit forgettable) Petra Ral.
Early in the series, we are introduced to Levi as Humanity's Strongest Soldier. Erwin makes use of his abilities in this sense, and Hange often relies on his strength in combat as well. That is not to say this is the extent of their relationships: we have Levi's iconic "Give up on your dreams and die" scene with Erwin (S3 E16) and the infamous "Maybe we should just live here [away from my responsibilities] together" request from Hange (S4.2 E8). However, something to note with both scenes is that while they give depth to Levi's relationship with both characters, he essentially serves to highlight others. In the former, Levi's response directly challenges Erwin's dream, and allows this commander a defining moment of growth. Similarly in the latter, Levi is used as a means for Hange to express and eventually overcome their fears and insecurities about the deal they've been dealt as the new Commander of the Survey Corps (which at the time was rapidly disbanding under the Jaegerist movement).
In other words, Levi is the "subplot character" to Erwin's and Hange's individual arcs. (According to John Truby, 'The subplot character… provides another opportunity to define the hero through comparison and advance the plot.')
Which begs the question… at what point in the series, if any, is Levi defined as a character in and of himself?
Two prominent scenes from season 1 come to mind, which are namely: 1) The dying soldier scene (S1 E9), and 2) Petra's conversation with Eren in headquarters (S1 E15).
In the first, Levi comforts a dying soldier and vows to carry on their will and exterminate all Titans. When the soldier passes before he can reply to Levi's words, Levi turns to his fellow soldier Petra and asks her if he was heard. Petra provides confirmation, emphasizing the peaceful expression on the soldier's face.
In the second, Petra confronts a gloomy-looking Eren, who has been tasked to clean headquarters along with the rest of the Special Operations Squad (aka the Levi Squad). She specifically points out how Levi is 'not the hero he's expected to be' in the sense that he has a terrible personality, though she does so while smiling almost fondly, as though it doesn't matter what his personality is because they can always put faith in him as their Captain. It seems she wants Eren to understand this - or a notion similar.
It is in both moments that we are able to clearly see Levi beyond being a powerful soldier. Always, he is a threat. When he enters the scene we expect the shift in the dynamic of the battle - we expect him to win. He's a trump card. Erwin's last words to him are an order (S3 E16), and Hange's last words about him is "he's [Armin's] underling now, so really put him to work" (S4.3.1). Levi acknowledges Erwin's and Hange's humanity, bolsters it even, with the conviction of "dedicating your heart". In SNK he is the symbolism, the embodiment, of a soldier. That's all he really ever gets to be. Even his softest moments with - heck, anyone in the series - are meant to deeply reflect on the guilt, the burden, the purpose of getting the job done. ("So… you're telling me… I've spent all this time and energy running around killing people?" (S2 E12) / "Just think, if your hands were still clean... Jean wouldn't be here right now." (S3 E2) / "If we just run away and keep on hiding, what will we have left?" (S4.2 E8))
But for those singular moments in season one, he's more than just the threat. We see him as a human not only with (personality) flaws, but also with dreams and convictions, tied so seamlessly with his comrades' cause that we are reminded painfully, at the end of the series, that it was Levi who carried them all to the end. Throughout the story we see Levi lament fallen soldiers; we are exposed to how much he empathizes with his comrades and their deaths, to the point where it can be said that no one keeps us more aware of the lives that have been lost throughout the show more than Levi himself.
In this manner, Petra was the subplot character to Levi's hero. She gave the audience a (subconscious) glimpse of the Humanity within "Humanity's Strongest" and built the bridge that would lead us to compelling and important revelations about Levi's thoughts and actions as the show progressed. It's Petra whom he finds tending to a dying soldier; Petra whom he asks for confirmation that the soldier heard; Petra who, against all expectation, asks Eren to see past the station, the status, the soldier, to the person himself.
"He's not quite the great, perfect hero society makes him out to be, huh? The real Captain Levi is shorter than you'd expect, temperamental, crude, and unsociable. (…) You thought that because he's skilled, he doesn’t have to follow the rules like everyone else?" (S1 E15)
It's even Petra who, despite her rank, asks Levi to step aside when Eren becomes a half-baked Titan. Here, Levi's robust intuition and split-second decision making skills are shown even away from the battlefield. It's Petra who leads the Special Operations Squad in their apology to Eren (S1E19 "Bite"), who first instills in us (narratively) the notion of trusting your fellow comrades. More specifically, she is who convinces Eren to place his life in their hands. It's this notion that Levi carries with him even until the final arc - "I've saved Eren countless times over - each time, more comrades dying. All because I believed he was the hope of humanity." (S4.1 E13) In the manga (Ch112), it's Petra we see at the forefront of this belief.
"Do you, Eren? Do you find it that hard to trust us?" It's Petra who dies, her words the final say in convincing Eren: "I believe my squad will be victorious." (S1 E21)
"It's like some awful joke," Levi reflects later on, as his comrades' dying hopes and dreams flash by in the canopy of the forest. "What the hell was the hope that we saw? Such bullshit. It's not even funny." (S4.1 E13) "We" here could definitely mean the soldiers who've given their hearts, but the metaphorical representative of this heart is Petra herself... "Eren! Trust us." (S1 E19)
And in the end, it's Petra in the forefront alongside Erwin and Hange, representative of her fellow soldiers, the one (experienced/veteran) Scout we've seen and interacted with in the entire series to have professed the values of hope, of trust, of belief, which is henceforth carried on by Levi himself, his own convictions, his own dreams. They are, in the entire series, the glimpse we get into the Scout Regiment beyond the series' titular character and his comrades in the 104th, and a thorough dive into what makes Levi Humanity's, not simply its strongest.
Her character song, "The Light of Dual Wings", can literally be taken as an allegory of the dreams the Scouts have entrusted to Levi. That's how prominent she is as a Scout; how coded her devotion to Levi is, whether interpreted platonically, romantically, or narratively, as the dedication of hearts.
So, yes, I love them together. I love their scenes, the implications of them narratively, the values Petra professes so effortlessly in the air, washed away by the higher tides of the Female Titan arc. I love that it's still Petra at the forefront, in all of Levi's reflections moving forward, because she is our first glimpse into Levi's character, the real him.
In the end this is just a ship post struggling to keep from delving too much into the symbolism of Levi and the Scouts (how Levi is the face of the Scouts more so than Erwin himself, really), the truest depiction of humanity's collective fight for freedom in this entire series. In his early days, Eren wanted to be a Scout, after all. It is Levi and Petra who push him forward into 'that hell' - for better and worse, respectively.
In this period of grief, we see him stoop down by the smallest body in the line-up to recover their Scouts patch. It is the first and only time we ever see him do this in the series.
For someone whose philosophy is to make a choice with no regrets, regardless of the outcome; for someone who takes much time and care to reflect over his fallen comrades; we never see a scene like this again for the rest of SNK. He experiences this "Crushing Blow" (title of S1 E21, where his squad is slaughtered), and in "The Defeated" (S1 E22), stops to gaze - what was that, in his gaze? - at Petra's broken body by the tree.
Then he takes Petra's, and only Petra's, patch.
For every battle before and each battle henceforth, he comes prepared to lose everything. But in this one expedition, for this one soldier, he didn't. So he takes her patch.
"It's proof that they existed, at least for me." (Levi, in The Defeated)
He needed proof that she existed, because he wasn't ready to lose her.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
#10: petra; parted haircuts.
Levi bristles, slightly offended. "I could kiss you on the cheek if you wanted me to."
"Not the point here, hon," Petra says, "though it's very kind of you to offer. Has our son been possessed by a demon?"
"Christ, I hope not. Wouldn't know how to kill it."
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
#9: levi; like blossoms.
"Well… I still have a lot to think about… and I don't know what the future holds, but… um…" She's been drawing it out, all this time, and she peeks at him now, wondering, biting her lip.
And maybe he notices, because he says, "I'm going to need your help running the tea shop."
She huffs. "You're just going to make me run errands for you. 'You're going to town today, Petra? Here. Get me some of the new Earl Grey.'"
"Got a problem with that?" He wrinkles his nose. "You're the only one I can trust with things like that. Oluo would get the wrong shit. Eren would end up burning the store down."
That renders her speechless for a moment. Then she laughs, big and loud and guttural, air pushing all the butterflies from her stomach into a joyous melody. "You really are something else!"
She wipes her tears away, and cheeks pink, she looks at him with a gracious smile. "There's going to be an empty lot beside my house when the neighbors move."
Levi can't quite reflect her smile, but his eyes gleam, if only for a moment. "That a promise, Ral?"
Rivetra Week, Fall 2015
Day 2: Temptation
TW: sex
Synopsis: Levi has been eyeing his intern Petra for quite some time now, but has a crisis on whether or not to make a move on her.
Levi Ackerman groaned, staring down at the extensive paperwork on his desk. Most, if not all of them, were due by the end of his day and with a huge meeting soon, he wasn’t going to get them done. There was a knock on his door and Petra, his favorite intern, entered the room with another stack in her arms.
“Sir, Mr. Smith just asked me to deliver these to you. He wants them done by next week,” she announced, placing them neatly in a tray. He yawned and gave her a nod.
“Thank you, Petra.”
“I also wanted to remind you that you have a meeting in thirty minutes,” she said.
“Right. Would you mind getting me a cup of tea? I don’t think I’ll be able to make it through the meeting otherwise.”
“Of course, sir. I’ll be right back.” She turned on her heel and walked out of the office, hips swaying ever so slightly as she walked. Damn it Levi, you can’t look at her like that, he scolded himself, resting his head on his paperwork. She’s just a kid. A college junior, sure, but she’s too young for you. Not to mention it’d be abusing your power. You can’t be with her and you have to accept that.
“Sorry to pop back in, but I forgot to ask what kind you’d like.” Petra poked her head into his office. He sighed and looked up at her. She really was beautiful, with her rosy cheeks and bright eyes. Not to mention her kind but take-no-shit attitude.
“Black,” he replied. She nodded.
“Got it.”
“Actually, Petra, could you come here for a moment?” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself, his heart and instinct taking over his body. What was he doing? This was wrong, this was absolutely unacceptable. There was no justification for going after an intern. Love or lust weren’t going to save his ass if someone found out about this. But, he was tired of playing games, pure and simple, and Petra was worth any risk he had to take.
“Is something wrong, sir?” she asked innocently as she shut the door behind her.
“No, Petra. Nothing’s wrong,” he said. “I want to talk to you about something.”
“Oh, okay. What is it?” He was insane, he knew he was absolutely insane for doing this. He stood up and before he could talk himself out of it, he kissed her. It was brief, only meaning to test the waters, whether she wanted him or not. And God, how his heart soared and legs shook as she leaned back into him for another kiss.
Levi could taste hot chocolate and cake batter lip gloss on her lips, savoring the taste as her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled him in closer. A dull fire was running through his veins as they kissed and he was becoming uncomfortably aware of the tightness growing in his pants. He wanted her, and clearly she wanted him. All he wanted to do was bend her over the table and take her like he’d been dying to do since he got to know her.
Impatient, Levi backed her onto his desk, making her sit. His fingers ghosted along her thighs to push her skirt up, making her shiver. Pulling down her panties and getting on his knees, Petra let out a strangled cry, watching Levi with wide, glossy eyes.
“Do you want it?” he asked, resting his head against her knee.
“Yes, sir,” she breathed. He kissed his way along her thighs, watching as her face silently begged him to go faster.
“Levi,” he said, nipping the inside of her thigh. “Call me Levi when we’re alone.” Petra let out a loud moan, thighs cradling his face as he licked her clit. Her fingers tangled in his inky black hair, urging him to move faster. He obliged, tongue working faster on her sweet spot. Mewls and cries were caught in her throat, trying to keep quiet so no one would hear them. In a perfect world, she wouldn’t have to worry about staying silent and she could make as much noise as she wanted. But maybe he could invite her to his home one day and hear her sweet cries then. Her wetness was growing as was his arousal and impatience. When she let out a strangled cry and gripped his hair tight, he knew she’d released and it was time for him to move onto what he’d been dying for. Quickly, he undid his belt and unzipped his pants, pulling them down with his boxers. He reached into his wallet and took out a condom, quickly rolling it on before diving into another kiss with her. She broke away from it and gave him a lusty smile.
“Levi, give it to me,” she breathed, sparking his arousal even more.
A guttural growl escaped his throat as he sheathed himself in her. She was so warm and had just the right amount of tightness around his cock. He’d waited so long for this and now that he was here, he was in complete and utter bliss. Levi kept thrusting, desperate to make Petra and himself cum. White hot ecstasy flowed through his veins, ebbing and flowing in intense waves as he shoved himself into her. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, face buried in his body and muffling her cries of pleasure. His head was spinning and his breath was ragged.
“Levi, more,” she begged, her breath hot on his ear. This was too much. He was so close. Any moment he’d cum.
“Sir? Sir, wake up!” Levi bolted up, grogginess spreading through his system as he opened his eyes. Petra was shaking his shoulders, a worried look on her face. “Are you all right, Mr. Ackerman? I thought you were sleeping but then you wouldn’t wake up and I got scared -”
“I’m fine, Petra,” he said. So, it was just a dream, he thought with a hint of disappointment.
“Thank goodness. Your meeting’s in ten minutes and you know how Mr. Smith feels about being late,” she said. Ten minutes? Levi started to stand up when he became all too aware of the tightness in his pants and his face drained of color. “Sir, are you all right? You don’t look too good.”
