perception ⸝⸝ aot

47

The four of us gently rock back and forth as the yells and screams of soldiers fade away, replaced with the Cart's heavy breaths.

"Was this planned, Jean?" I ask him quizzically.

"Yes, ma'am," he says overenthusiastically. "Didn't get time alone with you so I couldn't inform you."

The rocking stops and then the Cart's mouth opens up. Pieck drops us into a pond and I gag, trying to wash off her sticky saliva from my body.

"I'm never getting in a titan's mouth again..." Jean grumbles, hunched over and coughing his lungs out.

"The Cart can stay in titan form for months at a time right?!" I hear a familiar voice. "Don't you ever think to brush your teeth?!"

I whip my head around laid my eyes on the unbelievable: Hanji, standing tall and firm, in front of the Cart, scolding her.

"H-Hanji!" I resist the urge to cry as I get up and stumble towards her.

"Aw, my little (Y/N)!" She giggles and engulfs me in a hug without hesitation. "You're kind of stinky but that's okay! I love you anyway." She swings me side to side in a comforting manor.

"What about Levi?" I ask as I pull away from Hanji. She gestures behind the Cart titan and my eyes widen.

I turn around quickly but when I'm met face to face with Theo Magath, I deadpan. "Well, if it isn't Sasha Amana," he mocks.

"Theo Magath." I click my tongue and push him aside, desperate to see the only one that grants me hope.

He lay on a makeshift wagon attached to a horse, a blanket thrown over him and half of his face bandaged. I walk closer to him and realize his eye is wide open and he's staring at the blue sky, blinking slowly.

"Levi...?" I couldn't believe my eyes. Perhaps it's an illusion? Maybe I fell asleep or passed out?

But when he turns his head and his eye looks me up and down, the feeling I get is too realistic to be fake.

"(Y/N)..." His voice is muffled but coarse and followed by an abrupt hiss, causing me to rush forward. His brow turns upwards, he's obviously in pain.

"Levi, you're alive!" I cry, refraining from touching him in case I hurt him unintentionally.

He hums and doesn't say anything further than that, but his eye stays on my face studying me.

He slowly raises his hand and I quickly notice that his index and middle finger is gone. His whole hand is trembling, bandaged and bloody, but he delicately presses it against my cheek anyway.

"You must think I'm..." He heaves a heavy breath. "So ugly and... Pathetic." He grimaces, his hand shaking even more from the pain he's in.

"Levi, you need rest." I speak as softly. "I don't think you're either of those things and I never have."

His thumb grazes the skin under my eye gingerly and I cover his hand with my own, finally feeling at peace.

I take off the gauze from my head as the wound heals shut and my blood evaporates.

Levi's hand falls to his chest, where he rests it with his other hand. I smile down at him and though I can't see his lips because of the gauze, I know he smiled back by the way the apples of his cheeks swelled pink and the corner of his eye crinkled.

It felt like I hadn't smiled in ages, and I'm glad Levi is the reason why I'm smiling right now.

He continues gazing up at me with affection but also sadness. I let out a sigh of relief and rub my tired eyes. I hadn't gotten a blink of sleep last night, but I didn't know if it was because I was forced to sleep in the same room as Floch or because he had confirmed Levi's death.