That moment was a very serious matter but Eren was slightly hurt that someone would actually call him stupid without even knowing them first. He always hated it when people assume something without actually quite knowing what or who they were. It was a cruel and harsh way to judge a person; like seeing an Asian and assuming they're Chinese...people who immediately assume things like that are lazy asses who apparently don't have time to get to know that specific Asian person.
Everyone was silent after Levi's spoken words as Maria and Sina soldiers stared each other down.
"How should we know if you're not lying?" a middle aged man in full armor and gauntlets asked with a raised eyebrow.
"A little bird told me you've already checked my entire castle as an attempt to search for the prince who isn't even there, dumb fucks. Can't you all see that he isn't here? Why would even kidnap a useless, little brat in the first place?" Levi mutters with disgust on his face.
The soldier remains silent and lifts a hand, gesturing some sort of signal to his small army.
"Check again," he commands.
"You have to be fucking kidding me," the king uttered. "My wife and child are in there and you're scaring the shit out of them. Just leave-"
The king was shortly interrupted when a loud and long scream erupted from the nearest window near a balcony whom everyone was close to.
"No! Let him go! He has nothing to do with this!" a lady's shriek screamed from the opened window pane.
Levi's head jerked up when he heard the familiar voice of the queen and it scared him that she sounded so desperate and horrified. He started to race towards where the sourse of the scream could be found.
"Petra? Petra!" he called for her.
When he got no response, he started to legit climb the vine filled brick wall with several cadets following after him. After a few moments of slipping and nearly falling off, they all reached the balcony with a small mob of Rose soldiers greeting them. Eren was there too and watch with a terrified expression when he saw a blade of a crude looking knife press to the pale, delicate skin of a young looking boy who seemed to be the age of two or three.
They landed in a very big room with a crystal chandelier- or what was remaining of one anyway. The whole room looked as if it was burned to the ground and then built back together again with glue. Everything was a mess and so was the trembling queen who had her body curled around the young boy to shield his body with hers.
Her face was splotchy and filled with tears and her orange-ish hair looked as if she went through a tough wind storm. Her lip was cut and she also had a few bruises on her head and arms. Despite all the pain and fear flooding her golden eyes she looked brave and strong. This image could have been beautiful if only the bruises, tears and her shreded, white dress was replaced with happiness, smiles and possibly a new gown.
The boy with her looked so fragile, like he might slip from under the queen's grasp like quick sand. He was shaking really hard from fear but he wasn't crying at all. He looked like the mini version of Levi with the same black hair and haircut but his eyes were totally different and made him stand out from his father; his eyes were bright like his mother's.
"Petra, Petra, Petra, what happened?" Levi hissed when he quickly ran to her side and wrapped his arm around her shaking frame.
"They...they're trying to hurt us...to-to get answers if we m-might know where Prince Eren is b-but, Levi, I don't know I just don't know..." she trailed off with a choke.
"I know you don't, okay?" Levi said and turned his head to glare at the Rose soldiers. "Obviously you're all just idiots looking for an excuse to start war way too early."
"We found his horse in your land the other day," a man spoke up. "He must be here somewhere."
"Cut the crap. I don't know where he is and I didn't take him away or kill him. Stop fucking around and just leave."
"Well I guess that leaves us no choice," another man said. "We must eliminate all liars."
"What-"
Before Levi sould speak or even take another breath, the man raised his sword above his head and aimed for Petra. She screamed again and when Levi was about to grab his sword from its sheath, he paused with slight horror when he realized he left all his weapons with his horse outside. Some of the cadets began fighting with the Rose soldiers.
Hope glisttened in Levi's eyes when he spotted an old but sharp looking sword a few feet from him and decided to just use it as a subtitute but something inside him made him stop; the sword was...filthy and tainted with dirt. To anyone else it wouldn't look so bad and the would still use it anyways but for Levi it was different. His mysophobia was very severe and bad so to his eyes it looked as if the sword was smeared with mud and viruses of who the hell knows. He didn't want to touch the sword; he couldn't.
He totally forgot what was happening at the moment and hesistated when he tried reaching for it. it was digusting and unpure; the sword was the most dirtiest thing he has seen in a long time and it scared him way too much. He could almost imagine what would happen if he did pick it up: germs and insects of all kinds climbing up his arms and down his throat and eyes...
He was brought back to reality when he hear metal clashing against metal, creating loud and annoying noises behind him. He whipped around to see Hotaru (to his eyes it was her) fighting hard with a man way bigger than her with the cruelest and sharpest sword he's ever seen in his life.
He was taken aback with sudden misery and terror when he saw Petra laying on the ground in a broken form: her arms and legs in weird positions like a rag doll being thrown against the room. There was blood and life spurting from her lips and she was pressing her hand to her side where her dress was completely caked with blood.
His mouth formed in a silent scream of her name as he crawled back to her side. It was too late and it was his fault.
She was dying and Levi watched helplessly as life drained away from her.
"Petra," he choked, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I couldn't do anything. I'm sorry."
It was the first time in a while that he heard his voice crack like this which made her smile a little in response. He was the kind of person who rarely showed emotions besides anger and hate and it was weird seeing him sad. He cradled her head in his lap and pressed his lips to her forehead.
"I'm stupid. I'm making a huge fucking fuss over germs. What the fuck is wrong with me..." he trailed off sadly. "You'll be okay but I'm sorry. We'll call the country's finest doctor and I'll try even harder to be here so I can see you more often. I promise."
"Ah, Levi," she giggled weakly, "you can't make promises to a dying person, silly."
"Don't say any of that shit, Petra, you're going to live, okay? You're not allowed to die. Please."
She smiled when she heard the big amount of concern and worry in the king's voice. It just made her happy that he was capable of having emotions despite killing so many enemies.
"That sounds great, really, but I must apologize for making that promise impossible to happen. Levi, I want you to watch over Jaron, okay? Please try to be at his side most of the time because that's what I would have wanted and I'm sure he would love that. I hope Sina has a bright future ahead. You're a...great..." she trailed off before whispering the last word with the last ounce of life in her left.
"...king."
Levi's head flooded with a silent scream but then he realized it was himself. He was just so impaled with grief so suddenly that it seemed so unreal but yet again it made him feel so angry at himself.
It was his fault after all, right? If only he could grab the stupid, fucking sword and fight back but his fears got in the way. Out of everything else, why the hell did he have to have a bad fear of bacteria and germs? It was as if it wasn't just a phobia but a curse.
If sadness and misery were an actual visible thing, it would be bleeding from Levi's eyes and I guess that would be tears but none dared to spill. He wasn't the kind of person to cry or show any weakness but the time was now. Of course he was very depressed at the moment but it was like he was born with the kind of body that was unable to cry and the last he probably cried was when he was born.
He held onto Petra's hand and silently prayed that she would just wake up again with her face filled with that cute, small blush of hers and that she would hug him but she didn't. She was truly gone and her face was as colourless as a canvas. The only visible coulours were red and that was from her own blood.
Levi just wanted to throw up; he just wanted to vomit all these sad feelings from deep down inside him. He absolutely hated this feeling.
It was like everyone and everything was in slow motion as he grieved for a moment for his queen. It was true what Petra said in the letter, that Levi didn't love her like she loved him but she was like a best friend to him. She was the closest thing to a wonderful childhood that he had left and now she's gone.
For once Levi admitted to himself that he was indeed tired of death and he was a bit ashamed of it. A few people from his new army was already dead from fighting but the majority of people dead were from Rose but Levi didn't feel so happy.
It was always his fault that people were dying.
Levi brightened up a bit when he realized his son was still alive. Thank goodness he was alive.
He was still in his dead mother's arms and like Levi he wasn't crying. He was still too young to understand what death was but Levi was sure he would make an imaginative excuse to why Petra was suddenly gone. He wiggled out of his mother's arms with his wide when he saw blood on his clothes and for a second he looked so confused.
"Daddy, why is...why is m-mommy sleeping in red water?" the young boy asked his father with curiosity.
Levi swore he would have cried now if he was capable to but he couldn't. He had to be strong in front of his kid. How was he supposed to tell his child that his own mother was dead? He couldn't answer the question.
"You'll be staying with me for a while. Your mother is going to be gone for a very long time," he murmured with a sad sigh.
"Where is she?"
"She's going home to see grandma and grandpa and I can't leave you here alone."
"B-but I want to be with her not daddy! She was always here and I want t-to be with her."
His annoying, whiny voice made Levi even more sad. Hearing that your own child prefers your wife over you is heart breaking. Families shouldn't be that way. Love should be equal in a family.
I guess Jaron kind of did have the right to like his mother more than Levi. When Levi thought a little deeper about it he realized that he only went to visit his son and wife five times including right now but each visit was never more than two days and when he did visit them he would just discuss ways to keep Petra and Jaron safe from the Maria and Sina soldiers or what weapons they should use.
He was a terrible dad.
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AN:
okay okay okay i rlly was expecting myself to be evil laughing and happy when petra died bc i dont ship levetra AT ALL but idek i felt srry for her ;-;
why tf am i developing feelings for characters in my own fanfic
anyways early update i have a pretty chill second semester so i wont be bugged with a lot of hard hw yasssss c:
and whAT LIKE WHAT THIS FIC GOT 500 READS WHOLOLOLOLOOLOLOL
thank you guys so much for reading ugh ily all
-Moshi moshi Takeshi desu