Dead End(Erwin x Levi)

Chapter 1: Running Low

A/N: up top is what happens when I have too many stories but not enough ideas to actually write any of them. Comment if any of them sound interesting.
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Levi ran through the forest, the dry leaves crunching under his feet. It was mid autumn and the air was crisp and cool in the morning light. Fog came out of his mouth every time he exhaled and a slight layer of frost covered the ground. He held a pistol in his right hand and a knife in the other. Birds sang overhead as he ran and dodged branches and tree trunks.

He had ventured out into the forest that day because he was looking for food, specifically, a deer he had been tracking for days now. He left the safety of his cabin and went to go hunt down this deer. It was a pesky thing and it had roaming around his place for days and he needed the food so he got his bow and walked out to kill it. Currently, his bow was slung over his back along with the quiver to get it out of the way. After losing three arrows he decided he would just use his gun instead.

His partner was waiting for him back at the cabin, probably getting diner ready and probably hoping that Levi would come home with deer meat that they could cook. Either way, they were both excited and anxious to get the kill.

Levi took a quick glance at the ground to see the deers tracks through the mud and kept following until he reached rocks and a river running past. He'd been here many times before to gather water so he knew the place well. The tracks stopped at the rocks and he turned his gaze upwards to look at the river bank. A loud splash sounded through the air along with a pleading cry and when Levi drew his gaze to the water he could see the deer splashing and thrashing about. A corpse was grabbing at it and ripping its flesh, trying to get a bite into the animals neck.

"Shit!" Levi yelled as he ran towards the scene, aiming his gun at the rotting corpse. It only took him a few seconds to aim before he shot the corpse between the eyes. It went limp as its body laid over the deers back. Levi didn't want to get in the water to retrieve the deer so he waited until it ran out to shoot it. A loud bang sounded through the cold autumn air followed by the sound of the deer collapsing. Only problem was that it was on the other side of the river. Levi ultimately gave up and started on his way back to the cabin, adjusting his gear and holstering his gun. He couldn't take the deer meat anymore. The corpse had gotten it first. He could have cut around the wounds, yes, but he'd rather live another day than risk eating tainted meat.

He didn't have to follow his tracks back, he knew exactly where he was going. He had traveled this way many times before. The river was where they got all their water for cooking and bathing and such. It was an easy route back as well, they'd even made a trail to follow. Of course, if a hunter came by then they would know there were people living somewhere and they could possibly follow the trail and raid the cabin but Levi knew that that was impossible. If a hunter ever came across a settlement they were never allowed to steal or go through anything there. They were to wave and keep on walking. That was part of the code.

As Levi walked back the wind had started to pick, rattling the leaves on the trees. He was very disappointed that he didn't get the deer. All those days he tried and yet a corpse got to it first. How awful. He didn't know how long it would take before they would find another deer but he guessed that it would be a pretty long time. They didn't get many animals around, even though they lived out in the forest. He knew his partner would be disappointed as well but there was really nothing he could do. It was a lost cause, simple as that.

He glanced up at the sky and saw black smoke, signalling that his partner had started a fire and was probably getting lunch ready and waiting for him to arrive with the deer. It was just going to make the result all that more sad. A deer could have feed them for weeks, maybe even two months if they rationed. But it was gone now.

As he looked back at the trail he could see the cabin up ahead, his partner poking at the fire he'd built in the stone pit they'd created for it. They had built that fire pit a few weeks after they'd found the cabin and decided to live there. Levi remembered the memory well; hauling the rocks and finding the perfect spot, arguing about where to put it, and then making up when it was all said and done. That had been a good memory of his, a pleasant one among the overwhelmingly bad ones. He enjoyed those times.

His partner had noticed his presence and had immediately asked him, "did you get it?" His voice was hopeful.

"Does it look like I did?" Levi said while he held his hands in front of him. His partners face dropped to that of disappointment.

"Corpse?" He asked. Levi nodded his head. "Ah shit!" He yelled, some of the birds in the trees startling and flying away.

"It's fine, Erwin. We'll figure something out." Levi wasn't usually the type of person to say such things but the words were out of his mouth before he had the chance to say anything else.

"What are we going to do? I checked our food and we're running low. We can't grow anything now because it'll die and we already picked everything. We are going to starve." Erwin said. It was true, everything from the garden and the bushes were gone, having been picked during the summer, and their storage was running low. They needed food, and fast.

"Then we'll ration. We've done it before-"

Erwin cut him off. "But that was during the summer and spring. We can't ration during winter or else we'll never make it...Why don't we go to the city?" He suggested. He knew that Levi would shoot down the idea but he thought he should bring it up just in case.

"They'll kill use if they find us. We can't."

"That's why we hide our faces." Erwin explained. "Use our jackets and hide our faces so they won't recognize us. It's worth a shot."

"I'm not letting you go to the city alone. And we don't even have any money so how would we buy anything?" Levi asked, his brows raised in a questioning manner.

"We trade. Merchants would pay quite a bit for a good fox fur, and you know we have a few."

"We're saving those!"

"For what!?" Erwin yelled. "We don't need them! What's more important: a few fox furs or food!?" Levi had only seen Erwin yell at him like that a few times and it was rare. Although right now he could understand why Erwin was so mad. Food was very important and because they lived out of the cities it was difficult to get any. It wasn't like they got any rations so they had to fend for themselves. But they had agreed that years ago they would live through this together until they died.

"I just don't want you going. If you get killed then I'll never forgive myself because I let you go alone." There was a long story about why they were wanted in the cities and neither of them liked to talk about it.

"Then we'll go together." Erwin concluded. "We can find a way to get past the gate and then we'll go to the markets to trade for food." Levi didn't like the idea one bit but he supposed that it was their only option. He had no choice but to agree.

"Fine. We leave tonight when the sun sets, that should be enough time to get us there by dusk tomorrow." Erwin nodded. Levi hadn't been to the city ever since he left and that was probably five or six years ago. He knew that things had changed, however, now he would get to see it for himself.