To Make A Machine Cry (LevixReader) AU! Chapter 11

Chapter 11: One third of the way there.





"Armin! Hey, Professor Shadis will be angry if he catches you sleeping in his class again!" Eren whispered harshly into his friend's ear.

The blonde shot up in his seat quickly. Glancing around the room he could see everyone working intensely on a paper set in front of them. Taking a look at his paper Armin was relieved to see he had already finished it before falling asleep.

Eren looked at his friend with concern. This wasn't the first time or the only class he had caught his friend dozing off in. He knew Armin was stressed but it seemed he was only just starting to show to signs now.

"Hey you know, maybe you should take a few days off working with Hanji. It seems like the job is stressing you out."

"No, it's not Hanji." Armin said stifling a yawn.

"Armin, I have never seen you so overwhelmed in my life. I'm not saying to quit your internship but just take a little break."

"Honestly Eren, it's not the work. Its just...it's already been a month." Armin mumbled the last part to himself.

"What's been a month?"

"There's just something Hanji and I have been working on and we are giving it a test run for three months. One month has already past."

"And? What's wrong with that?"

"At the end of the three months we are sort of 'upgrading' what we've worked on."

"This upsets you because?"

"Because (Y/N)'s perfect the way she is now."

"(Y/N)?" Eren asked raising an eyebrow.

"Ahh its just a nickname for the project. You know how guys name their cars with a girl's name and stuff." Armin said almost too quickly. Eren looked at him skeptically but nodded anyway.

"So tell Hanji you think your experiment doesn't need any adjustments. If it's fine the way it is then I don't think she would change it for no reason."

"Well it's not really up to me or her for that matter. We have someone outside of the university working with it and they will ultimately decide what happens to it. Honestly, it doesn't seem like he will refuse the upgrade."

"Why is this affecting you so badly? I know it sucks to mess with perfection but I'm sure you'll work on bigger and better things once this is over."

"I suppose." Armin mumbled, resting his chin on his desk.

"By the way my mom asked if you wanted to come over for dinner tonight. She says you used to come around a lot and now feels like she hardly sees you anymore."

"Hmm? Tonight? I think I can make it. I need a break from studying and homework anyway."

Eren nodded as he finished up the last question on his page. Judging from the look on his face Armin knew he wasn't feelings too confident in his answers. Armin chuckled before glancing up at the clock on the wall.

After this class he was heading over to Hanji's lab. He didn't know if it was just in his mind but Hanji hadn't seemed her usual self since the truth about Erwin came up. However she refused to speak about it at all.

At times Armin was tempted to ask Erwin about everything but he seemed practically attached to Hanji since the incident. He no longer lived in the back room of the lab. Armin figured he was only ever back there to ensure people like Levi never stumbled upon him. Since the cat was out of the bag Erwin had been accompanying Hanji home everyday.

Armin figured that was probably best for them both but he couldn't help but wonder what was causing Hanji to remain in a slump. Perhaps it was just the fact that she had to discuss her tragic past and relive those memories.

Still Armin couldn't help but wonder if there was something else lingering in the back of her mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Right! Okay, then grandma, bye-bye!"

(Y/N) watched curiously as the little girl on the screen allowed tears to rush down her face.

"What are you watching?"

The young woman practically launched off the couch at the sound of Levi's voice. Even Levi seemed surprised that she gave such a reaction. Locking his eyes with the screen he saw an animated girl being loaded up into a truck and carried away with somber music in the background.

"It's an anime."

"I can see that." Levi said before sitting down beside the girl. "I meant what's it called? What's it about? Knowing you it's about-"

"Robots." (Y/N) and Levi said simultaneously.

"It's called Plastic Memories. I had been watching other shows and this one was suggested to me. From what I gather the plot of the show is this group of humans and robots whose job is to turn off other robots."

Levi felt his heart quicken for some reason. He wondered what must be going through (Y/N)'s head while she watches something like this.

"Why?"

"Well the robots only work for a few years. Once that time is up their memory bank gets full and they need to be shut off permanently."

"And if they don't?"

"I'm not sure. I would like to continue the series but I can't make it past the first episode."

"Too boring?"

"No, just the opposite. I find it really interesting and keep rewatching this episode. The people that get these robots seem so attached to them in such a short amount of time. I find it strange that they would be willing to subject themselves to that kind of heartache knowing that their time with that person is limited."

"Loneliness, I guess, plays a big role."

(Y/N) nods in agreement before rewinding the video to the same scene Levi had walked in on. A small green eyed girl was crying profusely while an old woman's eyes watered as well. Levi noticed (Y/N) seemed completely transfixed on the young girl.

"Levi, do you cry?"

Taken aback by the random question Levi mentally stumbled over his words. Of course he could cry nearly every human could. However he felt that his physical ability to do so isn't what (Y/N) was referring to.

"No, I don't get emotional very easily. I have no reason to cry."

(Y/N) looked at him in disbelief. She figured if anyone had more reason to cry than others it would be Levi. However now that she thought about it, she had never seen him express sadness.

Even the time with the little boy in the street Levi didn't seem sad more so anxious and angry. (Y/N) had lived with Levi long enough to know that he suffered from nightmares at times. She would hear a random gasp coming from down the hall and that would soon be followed by Levi getting ready for the day no matter what time it was.

But even when (Y/N) managed to peak her head into the hall and catch a glimpse of Levi, he never looked sad. Perhaps disturbed or even guilty could describe it but he never shed a single tear.

"Surely you must have at some point." (Y/N) mumbled to herself as she flicked through more suggested shows.

"When my mother died."

(Y/N)'s eyes flicked towards the man quickly. She was more than a bit surprised that Levi would mention something so personal. He still had yet to even mention Petra to him. She had asked Armin about the situation but he only revealed that she had been a close friend to both Levi and Hanji before the incident.

So to bring up his own mother was something that threw (Y/N) for a loop. The only time he ever talked about his mother was when he had discussed how she was one of the only people who could make tea properly.

"But I was a kid at the time so it was normal to cry."

"It's normal for adults to cry too you know. I've heard it may even serve as a way to release certain chemicals in your brain to make an individual-"

Levi tuned out her words but continued to watch her face as she excitedly droned on about god knows what. She always did seem to get too enthralled in certain topics and never really got the hint that Levi wasn't quite as interested as her. At first it was nothing more than an annoying habit but now he could admit he saw it as an endearing quirk of hers.

"Levi? Levi, have you been listening to me at all?" (Y/N) asked with a pout.

"Not at all." Levi stated bluntly before flicking her on the forehead.

(Y/N) rubbed the spot where Levi had flicked. With a mischievous look in her eyes (Y/N) leaned forward to get him back. She frowned when Levi managed to back away from her hand.

Her pathetic attempts seemed to be getting nowhere when (Y/N) took notice of a pounding on her chest. Taking in her surroundings (Y/N) realized she had pushed Levi completely onto his back. Currently lying on top of him, she knew the pounding feeling was coming from Levi's chest.

"Your heart is beating rather fast." (Y/N) commented as she finished measuring his heart rate.

The feeling was foreign to her. She didn't exactly have a heart beat, though at times her chest gave off slight vibrations from the machinery running inside of her. The feeling of a heartbeat was completely different though. It felt very comforting.

Practically hypnotized by the beating, (Y/N) placed her hand directly above Levi's heart. She felt his body jerk slightly.

"It's even faster now. Are you nervous or excited?"

(Y/N) was snapped out of her trance when the same sharp pain from earlier sprung up on her forehead. Before she could process what happened she was being rolled off the couch, onto the floor.

"Don't just lay on top of people and start touching them." Levi said sitting up and fixing his hair back into place.

(Y/N) looked up at Levi, seeing his face was just as neutral as ever. His voice had sounded annoyed yet his face was rather blank. Her thought were interrupted again by the same glitch in her tracking system.

"Hey what's wrong with you? You look nervous."

"My tracking device had been flickering for awhile now. I haven't been able to inform Creator Hanji about it. Erwin was having the same issues with his but assumes it is just radio-waves messing with our systems."

"Do you want me to take you to Armin?"

"No, it's okay. I'll be fine as long it is only affecting my tracking device and nothing else."

(Y/N) could see the look on Levi's face that let her know he wanted to ask something more but didn't know how. In light of recent events she knew what he probably wanted to ask.

"Creator Hanji is fine. You didn't talk about it when you came home that day but Erwin told me all about it. As much as I care about both of them I do see your point. I ran many scans on him while I was there and Erwin's human body is in great shape. His mind struggles to wake back up."

"Struggles? That means it has?"

"There have been fleeting moments where I detected changes in brain activity from him. I never informed Creator Hanji about it. It would just be false hope."

"What if in the midst of all the struggle he breaks through? Then what?"

"You know the answer to that. He would have two separate entities fighting for control of the same body. That's why I can agree with you. However the chances of that happening are closer to impossible rather than improbable."

Levi still looked skeptical about the whole situation and (Y/N) could admit it was understandable.

"Levi, I care about Erwin. I know you don't think of him as the real Erwin but he is very real to both Creator Hanji and I. I think you should talk to her. Erwin says she hasn't been the same since you found out. Think about it...she's lost several friends before. Don't make her lose you too."

Levi was about to nod but something (Y/N) said took him by surprise.

"Several?"

"Yes, I was referring to Erwin."

"That's not what several means. Who else were you talking about?" Levi asked curiously.

"I didn't mean in terms of death. I just meant that people used to distance themselves from her once they grew tired of her personality." (Y/N) said making a quick save.

Levi seemed to accept her explanation. In his mind he was secretly relieved. When he first met (Y/N) he assumed she knew about his situation with Petra. After finding out she was kept in the dark about it he felt it may be best to keep it that way.

He hated telling people about the situation. It was something he would rather keep to himself and he was glad that Hanji knew him well enough to keep it from (Y/N).

(Y/N) watched Levi's face as he stared into the distance. She had figured he didn't want her to know about Petra but she couldn't figure out why.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hanji was typing away at her computer, bobbing her head lightly to her music. Looking at the bottom of the screen Hanji jolted up.

"Shoot, I forgot about my meeting. Erwin!" Hanji called out, whilst shoving several papers into her bag.

The tall blonde man in from the back room with a concerned look on his face. He almost laughed to see Hanji frantically getting her stuff together.

"Erwin, I have a meeting that starts...now. Watch the lab for me and make sure nobody gets in here okay? Armin should be showing up soon let him know that I'll be back as soon as possible."

Hanji finally lifted her head only to find Erwin staring off into space as he appeared to be listening closely, but not to her. Waving a hand in front of his face, Hanji attempted to snap Erwin out of his daze.

"Hey, you okay there?"

Erwin shook his head as if clearing his thoughts.

"I'm fine I just got distracted by your music."

Focusing on the song playing through the computer speakers, Hanji instantly recognized it as a  Wing of Freedom song. More importantly it had been Erwin's favourite song back in high school. Hanji could feel her mouth go dry as she watched Erwin listen to the song.

"D-does it sound familiar?"

"Not at all. It's just different than the music you normally listen to." Erwin said with a clueless smile.

"Oh, I see. Do you like it?"

"It's fine, I suppose." Erwin shrugged halfheartedly

Hanji could practically hear Levi's words echoing in her mind.

'You aren't Erwin. You're nothing but a computer program jammed into this guy's body using him as a puppet.'

"Hanji don't you have a meeting you're late for?" Erwin asked, noticing her face had gone totally blank.

"Yea, I'll be back soon okay?" Hanji rubbed her temples trying to keep her thoughts straight.

Walking out the door Hanji began jogging down the hall. She knew she was already late to the meeting but she just needed to be somewhere else thinking of other things than this.

'You aren't Erwin.'

'Aren't Erwin'

"Not Erwin." Hanji mumbled to herself as she clutched her bag tighter.