ᵒᵖʰᵉˡⁱᵃ AOT

ambush *chapter eight*

He hoped to make it there in time. He had to. They were all he had.

As much as he hated to admit it, he needed them just as much as they needed him. He wasn't going to give up on them. Not now.

A blood curdling scream made his heart drop significantly and he could have sworn he could hear the sound of bones cracking and flesh being ripped apart even through the loud cackling of the rain. He could make out small details from afar and he kept pushing forward, almost making it when his horse went tumbling over something.

This sent him shooting from his horse and onto the ground, the man grunting as the impact knocked the wind out him. Sitting up quickly, he looked at his surroundings. His face had went pale at the sight before him. It wasn't the other amounts of half-eaten bodies splattered across the ground, not at all. It was his friend's head laying directly at his knees.

Isabel's head.

Her dead eyes almost mocking him as he stared longer. Another scream came out again and his head trailed upward painfully, seeing someone in front of this Abnormal, watching as it ate something. Levi could barely breathe as he knew what that thing was eating. It was Farlan, half of his body hung from the Titan's mouth and the Titan turned its head to Levi.

As it snapped Farlan's body in two, the Titan gave off a smug look, like it enjoyed seeing Levi's painful expression. The Titan then turned facing the other person still left.

"No, no, no! WHY NOW?! DAMN IT! WORK, PLEASE!" The person sobbed out, Levi recognizing the voice immediately and as if a switch clicked on in his head, he unveiled his blades, taking off turned the Titan, taking great assaults to it and making it suffer every blow as gradually as possible. He didn't stop until this thing was DEAD. Not just at the nape, he wanted it to suffer the same fate as everyone before him. He was brutal with his attacks, cutting at its limps at every turn, not giving the Titan any chance to recover. Why should it?

With one final blow, he had let out the most painful battle cry, that just as he slashed it through the nape, he landed on the ground, tears unexpectedly began flowing from his eyes as he fell to his knees, his body giving way and he gripped the blades in his hand like they were his life.

"L-Levi..?" He heard, his eyes widened and he turned his head up, Cerah staring up him with teary eyes and a trembling body, blood covering her body and her eyes wide with fear, sorrow, and relief all mixed. Levi didn't give it a second thought as he got up, his feet moving on his own and he landed in front of Cerah, hugging her tightly, afraid to let her go.

"I..I should stayed..I'm sorry..I'm so sorry.." Levi mumbled out, Cerah sobbing into his shoulder as he did so. This was on him, and he knew it. He should have just waited. None of this would have happened if he had just waited. "I'm sorry, Cerah..I'm sorry."

"D-Don't be sorry. This wasn't on you.." Cerah stated, but Levi knew it was. He knew it, he felt it. Levi felt heat at his back and he turned around, seeing that the sky starting to clear up. His eyes glared up at the sky, but he looked away, hugging Cerah once again. Though he felt extremely guilty for putting all three of them in this situation, Cerah was still here. He didn't know if it was a miracle or if she just got lucky, but for some reason, it gave him a little peace of mind.

"Levi, Isabel and Farlan.."

"No. It's okay. I know you did what you could-"

"NO! I DIDN'T!" Cerah exclaimed, lightly pushing away. Levi was surprised by the action and he watched the young girl tremble once more. "That Titan came and the superior officers were fighting it off. B-But I froze up! All that training, all that effort I put into trying to fight Titans and at the sight of an Abnormal, I froze up! ISABEL AND FARLAN ARE DEAD BECAUSE THEY SAVED ME WHEN I STOOD THERE LIKE A STATUE! I should have been the one to die, not them!"

"Hey!" Cerah jumped when Levi took a firm grip on her shoulders, pausing her in her rant. "None of this is on you! None of it! This..I should never have brought you out here! I..I should have never brought any of you out here..I should have stayed.."

Cerah began to sob again, her body never stopping its shaking, and looked down at her hands, seeing the blood on her hands. The mixture of Titan blood and the blood of some Scouts, including Farlan.

"Here.." Levi mumbled, his slightly quivered slender hands reaching into his jacket and pulling out a handkerchief, similar material to his cravat. It was soft, gentle to the touch, but now it was covered in bloody fingerprints from Levi's hands.

Unable to keep a good grip on the fabric, Levi took the cloth and wiped her hands, the blood slightly smudging around her palms as he did, but she could tell most of the blood was coming out.

"Listen, Cerah.." Levi began, Cerah's eyes never leaving the ground but continued listening as Levi went and wiped the handkerchief across her face, which was also covered in blood. "You're a kid. You'll get scared of things like these Titans. This is not on you at all. You froze up, so what? Kids do that when they're scared. I was responsible for all of you out here. If anything, I'm to blame. So, quit blaming yourself, got it?"

Cerah knew deep down that Levi was right. This wasn't on her. What did they expect an eleven-year-old to do when there's an Abnormal? Sure, they expect them to fight. But not when this thing took out every superior officer, ones that have been apart of the Scouts for years and probably seen worse.

But, there was still that string of guilt still tied in a knot around her heart as she looked up from the ground and her eyes landed tearfully on Isabel's head still lying in the grass.

How much worse will this become? What else is going to happen? Will she be next? Will Levi be next? All these questions cluttered her mind, but for now, they drowned out as Levi hugged her once more.

(Welp, this was a lot longer than I wanted it to be, but..sorry for the people that found this sad. I really am. Trust me when I tell you this chapter got me all teary eyed. But I promise it will get a little bit better. 😌)