When Levi finally stirred awake, the pain coursing through his body forced a groan from his lips. He rolled over, hearing the bedcover draped over his body rustle as the cotton-y fabric tickled his exposed skin. There were muffled voices, as if coming from the other side of a wall.
Levi's thoughts were all over the place and his eyes felt like they were being weighted shut with bricks. Where was he? Wasn't he just on a wagon with Zeke? Why was he now lying in a very warm, very comfortable bed? And where was Leah?
"...navigation... mission... go... check... Levi..." Leah's voice met Levi's ears, though he couldn't make out every word. He tore his eyes open, squinting slightly at the light of the room. He was in his Trost quarters. The light from through the window painted everything in a pastel glow and the white curtains danced in the breeze seeping in through the open window.
"Tell him I wish him well." A familiar, deeper voice, answered Leah. Footsteps closed in on the outside of Levi's door and when Leah spoke again, her voice was clearer and much closer. "I will, see you later."
The door clicked open and Leah stepped in, a smile still on her face from whoever it had just had just been talking to. "You're awake." She beamed, shutting the door behind her and moving towards the bed. Her hair swayed around her head, and Levi felt like he was staring up at an angle. Her perfect smile, her silky hair, her twinkling eyes, it all left him in awe of the women. "Who was that?" He mumbled, his voice croaking hoarsely.
"Erwin, silly." Leah chimed, perching on the bed and reaching up a hand to comb through his hair. The feeling of her fingertips massaging his scalp made Levi feel tempted to close his eyes again, but he fought it. Erwin? She was talking to Erwin? But Erwin's...
"Of course." Levi muttered as if it was the most reasonable answer in the world. He lifted a hand out from under the bedcovers and tentatively reached for her face. His fingers ghosted over her cheeks, as if scared that touching her would cause her to vanish. When she leaned into his touch, he spread his hand to cup her face, gently caressing the supple skin of her cheek. The skin was pale, bar her sun-kissed glow, and untouched by imperfections.
It was her, it was Leah, it was actually her. Everything Levi thought had happened - Erwin's death, the attack on Marley, the thunderspear explosion - it had all been some horrible, sick nightmare. Right? Because this was the only thing Levi wanted to be true.
Leah lowered her face to Levi's and gently kissed him. "I missed you so much." He whispered, his hands clutching her close. "I missed you too." Even her voice sounded like a choir of angles.
"But you have to wake up."
Those words chilled Levi to the bone. His heart sank, and the pain that had been numbed by the sight of Leah returned with a stab. "Wake up, Levi."
~
His body felt like it was on fire. He writhed in his skin and while he wished he could rip it off, scratch at it, throw himself into icy water, his body wasn't cooperating. It was dark outside - no - Levi's eyes were closed and wouldn't open. One of them stung worse than he'd ever felt, and he was almost sure he could feel tears welling from the pain.
It took a while for each individual sense to return to Levi. The first thing that he noticed was the smell in the air. Smokey, mixed with cooked meat, all muted by the overwhelming smell of damp earth. Each time he inhaled through his nose, short, shallow inhales, the smells grew more defined and more real.
Next the pain that had been numbing his sense of being, took a backseat long enough for him to feel the discomfort of cold, uncushioned ground on his bare back. The air itself was mild, a comfortable temperature. While the soil was firm, and dug into his skin in places, the cool temperature soothed his burning body.
The world was quiet until the ringing began. At first it was a distant thrum, but slowly it closed in, becoming a painful screech in his ears. Again, Levi tried to lift his hands and cover them, to muffle the earsplitting siren noise, but there was no response from his limbs. He didn't know how long it took for the intense buzzing to subside, but when it did, the world came to life.
At first it was just the crackle of a fire, meagre spits and splutters as the wood began to be eaten away by the flames. And then birdsong. A nightingale? The chirping disappeared into the distance, only to be replaced by the wailing of a crane flying in the sky above.
And then Leah's voice. "I'm not hungry." She mumbled, not far from where Levi was situated. Her voice was weak and if Levi was right, it sounded as if she'd been crying. His heart hammered in his chest, and the desire to open his eyes and throw his arms around her was like torture to his disobedient body.
"Leah, you have to eat something." Hange reprimanded firmly. There was the soft shuffle as someone moved in the grass.
Yes, Levi thought, make her eat, Hange.
Levi felt relief in his body. Leah was safe and she had Hange to look after her. He wasn't sure what state he was in, and he was honestly quite shocked he was still alive. When Zeke set off that thunderspear, Levi was sure he was as good as dead. And now part of him was disappointed he was awake again; rest had felt so good. But the satisfaction of knowing Hange and Leah were still with him was good enough to dampen that disappointment.
But where was everyone else? Where was Zeke? Why were there birds everywhere?
There wasn't another word from Hange or Leah for a while and the silence was maddening for Levi: had he imagined them in the first place? When he started to feel his tongue in his mouth, heavy and dry, the sensations in his body also returned to him.
His mouth tasted horrible, as if he hadn't drank in days or weeks, and his lips felt horribly dry and cracked. His foot began tingling, and when he tried, he realised he was able to wiggle his toes. And then his ankle twitched. The tingling moved up his right leg, and began in his left too. Slowly the awareness crept through his body. When it reached his hands his curled his fingers, only to find two on his right hand still wouldn't comply. No, that wasn't it. Something wasn't right. The more he tried to move that hand, the more pain flowered in the area. His fore and middle finger weren't just being disobedient, they were missing.
The faint alarm that shot through Levi sped up the process of regaining control and before he knew it his eyes were open. Again, no, not quite. One eye was open, his vision only half of what he usual had. His right eye was a searing pain in its socket, held shut by fabric wrapped around his face. Bandages?
Levi's eye stared into the lush canopies of a forest. The leaves were saturated and vibrant, the green reminding him that Leah was indeed nearby. He was reclined back on something, not fully able to see lower than the skyline of the trees. The sun was filtering through the branches and scattering light through raindrops, causing a dim rainbow to shine through.
Planting his hands purposefully on the dewy grass beneath him, Levi slowly sat himself up. The action was a lot more taxing than he'd anticipated, and by the time his spine was straight he was huffing in air with great effort through bandages covering his mouth. The feeling was distressing and he wasn't sure he could quite get enough oxygen into his lungs.
As the blanket that had been covering him slid down his body, his unobstructed eye spotted with black dots. It took a minute for them to clear again, and when they did his eyes landed on Hange and Leah. They were sat around a campfire, a few meters away from where Levi was. Leah was sat in the grass, her knees hugged to her chest and her gaze fixed unblinkingly on the dancing flames.
Her face was pale causing the dark circles beneath her eyes to seem even more defined. There was no trace of laughter or joy on her face, instead a hint of wetness on her cheeks that glistened in the fire and sun light .
Hange was turned away from Levi, focused on a joint of meat hanging over the fire, rotating it obsessively on its skewer.
Levi lifted his least aching hand and rubbed his good eye, working away the accumulated sleep. "Oi, carrot-top." Levi rasped, his voice weaker and more muffled than he would've hoped.
But it was enough to get both Leah and Hange's attention. The red-head's eyes snapped to where Levi was and her posture straightened in shock. For a moment it seemed like she was staring at a ghost, the way Levi's porcelain skin seemed to glow in the light. His metallic gaze was trained on her, a tired and pained look replacing his usual deadpan.
He was alive. He'd woken up.
Leah's throat tightened and her eyes stung with tears once more as she scrambled up in the moist grass and threw herself in Levi's direction, ignoring the screaming from the wound in her shoulder.
When Leah's body collided with Levi's the pain forced all air from the ravenette's lungs. Leah's arms engulfed him, and as Levi wrapped his own around her, he felt a sob shake her chest. Every wound in his body seared at the contact, but Levi didn't care. Leah was crying, and he was going to comfort her. He held onto her as tightly as he could, but his muscles were exhausted already.
Abruptly, Leah pulled back, her breathing hissing through her gritted teeth. The look on her face was that of a wild animal. Her face contorted with fury, her bloodshot eyes so angry that Levi froze in place, his hands resting on her hips. All her sadness had dissolved as she lifted her hands and shoved them against Levi's bare chest.
Levi's arms shot out behind him to keep him upright, only barely succeeding. "You asshole!" She cried, her shoulders trembling. "What were you thinking!? I thought you were going to die!" Her voice quickly choked up with tears and her body collapsed in on itself. Leah crumbled to her knees, folding over herself as she sobbed into her hands. Levi's gaze softened.
"Leah, be careful!" Hange had called out, as soon as the woman's outburst had begun. The Commander moved over, placing a hand on Leah's back and looking up at Levi.
"Three-eyes." Levi croaked in greeting.
"It's good to have you with us again, Levi." Hange replied, a much better hold on their emotions than Leah. Both turned to Leah as her crying softened.
"I'm sorry." Levi whispered.
"You should be." She sniffed, wiping the tears from her face. She slowly rose from the ground, "I've never been more worried. I thought you were leaving me to deal with Hange alone." Levi let out a chuckle of relief when Leah's lips curled into a smile, but the laugh never quite reached his eyes.
"Anyway, let's-"
Hange cut themselves off when suddenly the trio were teleported elsewhere. The sky was dark and everything cast in a blue hue by a beacon of light in the distance. "What the fu-" Beneath their feet was sand.
"Hear me, subjects of Ymir."
"Is that Eren?" Leah gasped, tilting her head this way and that to try and spot the boy. Levi, who was still covered by the blankets even in this alternate dimension, reached up to grab her hand before tugging her close to prevent her wandering off.
"My name... is Eren Jeager. I'm addressing my fellow subjects of Ymir- speaking to you directly through the power of the Founder. All the walls on the island of Paradis have crumbled to the ground, and the legions of Titans buried within have begun their match. My only goal is to protect the lives of the people of Paradis, the island where I was born. Right now, the nations of the world are united in their desire to exterminate my people, and it won't end with our Island.
"They won't be satisfied until every last subject of Ymir is dead. I won't let them have their way. The Titans of the walls will continue their march until every trace of life beyond our shores is trampled flat, and the people of Paradis are all that remains of humanity."
------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 1 OF THE RUMBLING
------------------------------------------------------------
By the time the ground started trembling beneath them and the distant boom of titan footsteps reach their ears, Hange, Levi and Leah were on the move.
Using the remains from the cart that survived the thunderspear explosion, which was a lot less than ideal, they managed to tow Levi with a horse.
Night was quickly falling, either that or the sky was just so thick with the steam of thousands of Colossal titans it shrouded Paradis in a temporary dusk. Hange decided the trio would make their way back to the wall, or what was left of them anyway. The army of Colossal titans marched South in a seemingly endless line, making it clear the quickest route to Shiganshina where the rest of the Scouts would be.
Levi had made it quite far before the detonation, meaning civilisation was in sight within an hour of traversing the forest. When the treeline gave way to an expanse of flat lands, Leah caught sight of a titan in the distance.
Levi and Hange's attentions were captivated by the airships flying over them: Marleyean.
It was the quadruped titan from back in Shiganshina, with steam surging from its nape and two figures crouched on its spine. "Wait, look." Leah smacked a hand blindly against Hange's shoulder, her eyes locked on the titan ahead.
"What is it?" Levi called in frustration, not able to see what they could see due to being faced the opposite direction on the make-shift cart.
"Wait here with Levi." Hange murmured before striding ahead.
"No, Hange- wait!" The horse went to step after her, but Leah snagged the reins, letting out a frustrated growl as she wheeled them in the opposite direction, turning the cart so that Levi could see.
"What is that idiot doing now?" Levi sighed, as Leah crouched next to him. Both watched as Hange approached the titan, waving a hand and calling out to them. The titan charged the Commander without any warning, "Woah, woah, wait!" Hange screeched.
There was a period of inactivity where Hange exchanged a few words with the foreign soldiers on the titan's back, a few times referring over to Leah, Levi and the horse.
Eventually, Hange led them over. While the titan shifter controlling the quadruped remained connected to the beast, their torso was visible out-with the nape and the second soldier descended from the titan's back. Leah helped Levi sit up, holding him steady with a hand on his shoulder.
Their faced were painted with skepticism as Levi explained his only goal now was aligned with theirs; to take Zeke Jeager's head.
When the male soldier finally felt comfortable enough to lower his pistol, Leah let out a breath of relief. The barrel had been pointed to her the whole time, for reasons she wasn't sure of. "I'm Commander Theo Magath, this is Eldian Warrior Pieck Finger." The male said gruffly, holstering his weapon. "And it seems like working with you Island Devils is the only option we have. Care to lead us to Zeke?"
------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 2 OF THE RUMBLING
------------------------------------------------------------
"How are you feeling?" Leah lowered herself to sit cross legged in the grass next to Levi, handing him a mug of tea. The male accepted it, grunting softly before blowing on the steaming liquid.
"I'd be lying if I said any better." He mumbled after taking a sip. The bandages that had been previously covering the lower half of his face were now shed and the only ones left was the bandage covering the stitching on his eye and across his face.
Earlier that day, Magath ordered Pieck to Shiganshina to execute an organised retrieval of the rest of their alliance: Yelena, Onyankopon, Mikasa, Jean, Armin, Annie, Reiner, Gabi, Falco, and Connie, something made possible by Hange managing to infiltrate Shiganshina and plot the plan with Armin, Mikasa and Jean the night previous.
With Levi out of action for the meantime, Leah was tied to the camp, itching for action and anxious to see Mikasa and Armin safe again. However, there was one person she was less enthusiastic about seeing.
"How's your arm?"
Leah snorted, an amused smile spreading on her face. "You were almost killed in a thunderspear explosion... and yet you're worrying about a small wound on my arm?"
Levi frowned, knitting his brow together in thought. This was the first time today the pair had been left alone, with Hange and Magath away to rendezvous with Pieck and whoever she managed to escape Shiganshina with. Levi placed his bandaged hand on her thigh, gently caressing the area with his remaining two fingers.
"Of course I'm worried."
The woman lifted a hand to gently prod at the bandaged wound on her bicep left by the gunshot. "It's nothing, really, don't worry."
Leah placed her mug down in the grass and reached for the notebook tucked into her boot before pulling out a pencil from her back pocket. She rested the pad on her thigh, trapped her tongue between her teeth and began doodling, desperate to pass time and keep herself amused.
Levi watched in wonderment. Only seeing with one eye was disorientating at first, especially when he just woke up, but he was getting used to it. The world looked different, slightly uneven and askew, and his depth perception was abysmal, but one thing that didn't change was Leah's beauty.
He drank in every small detail, thanking his lucky stars he didn't lose his vision altogether. He made mental notes about the way she bit her tongue in concentration, about the way strands of her hair fell into her eyes but she didn't seem to mind, and how her hair looked especially red in the firelight, about how her eyes narrowed and widened depending on how successful her drawing was going, and about how she held the blunt pencil tightly between her thumb, forefinger and middle finger, moving it fluidly over the paper exactly like an artist. Every so often her eyes would dart up and scrutinise Levi before returning to the page.
"You are beautiful." Levi breathed, his eyes glued to her features. In that moment he felt as if he could sit there and watch her draw all day. Leah's lips quirked up ever so slightly, but her attention remained on the paper before her.
When she was done Leah ripped the page from the notebook, and handed it to Levi, a contented grin growing on her face. "I did a much better job than those inner-city morons that drew your wanted poster. Next time you become and enemy of the state, get me to do your portrait." She leaned in, pressed a kiss to his forehead as she rose to her feet and took a sip of her tea. As Levi scanned the paper before him, Leah strolled over to the fire to stir the stew Hange had left her in charge of.
Levi ran his fingerstips lightly over the graphite artwork. Considering the conditions she was working with, she'd done a surprisingly remarkable job. Levi felt slightly sick looking down at the paper. It was the first time he was seeing himself since the accident. The damage was always going to be bad, and Levi wasn't one for impressing with his looks anyway - even though he was naturally handsome - but now he just looked tired.
Leah had captured how worn down he looked, illustrating his half-lidded eyes, dishevelled head of hair and smileless face. He gently folded up the piece of paper and slipped it into his boot, watching quietly as Leah stirred the boiling pot hanging over the fire.
"You're drooling, by the way." Hange chirped over his shoulder as they caught him staring at Leah, breaking him out of his trance. He lifted a hand to his lips, for his fingers to come away dry. His face hardened into a scowl when Hange giggled evilly.
"Guess who I found..." Hange announced, skipping over to Leah by the fire.
"Who?" The female turned excitedly, her eyes roving the surroundings. Magath and Pieck emerged from the trees, making there way over, with Jean, Onyankopon and Yelena in close pursuit.
Leah grinned, mainly at Jean and Onyankopon. "Leah, you're alright." The darker male said cheerily, walking into the camp. Jean made a b-line for the Captain, hugging her tightly. Leah returned the gesture at first but shoved him back when her hands met a thick, horrific smelling slime which coated his body. "Eugh- what the hell is that?" The stench was familiar, and then it clicked as Leah was wiping the residuals off her hands onto her legs. "Is that titan spit?"
(3613 words)