Notes:
Song recommendation for this chapter:
- Look After You by Aaron Wright
Chapter 31 - Beast Titan Arc Part II
"I will lead, and you both will follow me closely," Levi instructs. "Try to slice their ankles, they shouldn't be able to notice you that quickly when you're under them. When their ankles are torn, they will lose stability and make it less likely for them to run and wreak havoc. It'll also make it easier for me to strike. I will deal the killing blows."
"Roger," you and Mario nodded. After the discussion with Erwin, you've stuffed all your emotions down your throat to focus on the mission, and it scares you at how easy it has become for you to do that.
"We need to move fast, so set your gas to the highest setting and go full speed ahead. The faster you are, the more likely you'll be able to avoid their hands."
"Yes, Captain!" you both cried out, adjusting your ODMs and preparing your sharpest blades.
"When we get to that shitty beast, I will deal with him. Don't engage the Beast Titan, we don't know what he's capable of yet," Levi said. "You both stay on the ground and look out for any incoming Titans that may attack, and warn me."
"Captain, what if you get struck down?" Mario asks.
"That won't happen," Levi scowled. "Not until I kill that coward. Are you both ready?"
"Ready," you answered. You don't miss the way Levi looks at you warily, the anxiety in his expression is all too obvious to miss. You can tell he doesn't plan on letting you stray far from him, and a part of you is worried that he'll be so distracted in keeping you alive that he might miss his chance in killing the Beast Titan.
"Levi," you said. "Do what you need to do. We don't want to be a burden to you, so please don't worry about us. Focus on the Titans, not us."
"Yeah, we got this," Mario reassured him. "Our job is to cover you."
Levi looks unconvinced. You already know he was just starting to think of a way to not let you join the battle.
"I trained with you for two months. I'm a much better soldier than I was two months ago," you placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Right," Levi said, his voice worried but you can tell he's starting to remind himself of your training.
"We need to go," you said. "Commander Erwin is going soon."
Levi turns and unsheathes his blades.
—
The Titans are enormous and frightening, but nothing scares you more than losing sight of Mario as you zipped dangerously fast through them. You just passed the first Titan and Levi killed him in an instant, there are several more to go.
You focus your wires on the ankle of the second one and with terrifying speed, you launch yourself at the Titan's ankles. You remember Levi's technique. He has drilled it into your brain for the past two months.
Clutch on your blades tightly but allow your wrists to be flexible. Use momentum from the gas to spin yourself around and add extra power to your slices. Lift your arms above your head and rotate your hip right before you spin so that the blades go deep. When you spin, focus your eye on one point so you don't get dizzy. Force your eyes on the target. And.. cut!
Blood and steam gushes out of the Titan's ankles and you quickly withdraw yourself. You hear blades and zipping from above and you see Levi slashing the nape of the second Titan. Mario rushes in to slice away at the chunk of nape hurtling down, so that it doesn't hit you.
And repeat.
With you at the bottom to slice ankles, Levi dealing the killing blows on top, and Mario in the middle to cover you from chunks of falling flesh or Levi's blades, you three worked like cogs in a machine to destroy the Titans in your path.
With every flesh you sliced and every inch of gas you used, you're getting closer and closer to the Beast Titan. You're completely focus at not getting trampled on by the Titans, yet in the distance, you could hear the faint screams of terror from your comrades. From Commander Erwin.
The Beast Titan has thrown at least twice. Could he still be alive? Commander Erwin had survived so many atrocities and close-calls. He'd survive this one too, right?
You shake your head and focus on the next ankle. Rotate your hip, bring up your arms, press on your gas, and slice. More flesh and blood gushes out. You look up to check on Mario and Levi. Still there. This is going decently well. With Levi around, you can always count on him to make the kill. He will never miss.
You're starting to close the distance to the Beast Titan. Only one more Titan left. Now that you're this close, you realize how humongous the Beast Titan really is. A part of you worries for Levi, but you try to remind yourself that nothing is impossible with him.
When the last Titan is finally down, you and Mario quietly distance yourselves from Levi and the Beast Titan, afraid to catch his attention. Levi takes off almost immediately, not wanting to waste a single second. The faster he kills the Beast, the faster he can get to his comrades out there who might still be alive, and the faster he can get to Eren and the rest.
"Will he be alright?" Mario whispered to you.
"It's Levi, I'm sure he's got it," you whisper back and pull Mario down to lay low behind some rocks. "Stay down."
"I can't believe we survived that," he trembled. "There were so many Titans. All of them were huge. Without Captain Levi, I'm not sure how we would have made it."
"I'm not sure how we survived too," you brought your arms around Mario and hugged him. "I'm so glad you're alright."
"Me too," Mario hugs you back, tears streaming down his eyes. "This is the scariest thing I've ever done in my life. I swear, if I make it alive by the end of today, I will quit the Military and open my cafe-clinic immediately."
You let out a little laugh. "Once we handle the Beast Titan, we'll regroup with Eren and help them out, and we'll be out of here in no time."
"We'll get to see Eren's basement," Mario smiled, breaking away from the hug. "And find out about the secrets of this world."
"Yes, we will," you patted him on the head.
Your short conversation was ended by the sounds of a deafening, beast-like roar. Terrified, you and Mario clung into each other as you watched Levi slice through the Beast Titan's arm like it was meat on a butcher's stand.
"It's started," Mario trembled.
So many things happened at once. There were more roars, blades slashing, lines zipping. You kept your eyes and ears fully aware of your surroundings, looking out for potential threats that could harm Levi while he was smothering the Beast Titan.
Suddenly, he blinded the Beast Titan and sliced his ankles. In a second, it's falling and Levi's already on his nape. A cloud of dust begins to spread from the impact of the Beast Titan's fall.
How does he make it look so easy?
If you thought the Beast Titan was frightening at first, it looked absolutely helpless facing Levi. There was the sound of a thousand blades slashing and then, an ear-piercing scream. A blond, bearded man with glasses erupted from the Titan's nape, his arms severed and he was screaming in pain. Your eyes widened. This must be the Beast Titan's host.
"Mario, Levi's got him. He got him!" you cried out.
"Let's go!" Mario yelled as he grabbed your hand and you ran into the cloud of dust towards Levi together.
—
Levi shoved his blade at the blond man's mouth, telling him to shut up.
"After transforming, your body's too busy healing to let you transform. Isn't that right?" Levi hisses, his entire face covered in blood. There was a murderous glaze in his eyes that you've never seen before, sending shudders down your spine. The blond man looked absolutely terrified.
Levi was insanely furious. This blond man killed all of his comrades with no mercy, toying with them as if they were dolls with those boulders. Now with his blade in his throat, he could easily shove it further down to end the Beast Titan's host's life. This man must be someone from beyond the Walls. Someone who wants all of you dead. As badly as he wants to kill him, he can't do it yet. He still has the serum Kenny gave him. Now was the perfect chance to steal the Beast Titan from the other side, but who will inherit it?
Levi looks around the battlefield, but all he sees are dead bodies. Is there anyone else out there that is alive? Even on the brink of death, this injection will make them a Titan. Please, anyone but-
"Levi!" you called out, running to him from a distance and breaking through the cloud of dust.
Levi's eyes widen as he sees you approaching and dread washes over him. His stomach feels sick.
No, he can't use it on you. Not you. Someone else.
As you're running towards him, you notice Mario isn't behind you.
Huh?
A blinding cloud of dust is still behind you, but Mario is nowhere to be seen. He was just right behind you, when did he let go of your hand?
Suddenly, you hear a gut-wrenching scream. Your throat closes and your stomach falls the second you recognize the familiarity of the scream.
"Mario!" you scream, running towards the source of the scream.
Behind the cloud of dust separating you from Mario, you see him. That shock of platinum blond hair, those warm brown eyes.
Mario's blades are out and his clothes are bloodied, it looks like he had been fighting something. But there's something wrong.
He's halfway inside a Titan's mouth. The Cart Titan's mouth.
Suddenly, it was as if everything was in slow-motion. Your mouth opens but not a sound comes out.
The Cart Titan. You all had noticed it early on cause it was carrying a suspicious luggage, but didn't know whether it was an abnormal or an intelligent Titan. In the midst of fighting the Titans and the Beast Titan, you all had lost track of it. And your ignorance is going to cost you Mario, your best friend — now waist-deep inside the Titan's jaws. Your pulse stops for a moment, and you feel an overwhelming sense of dread cripple you. You noticed the Cart Titan had a deep gash on its cheek, it's bleeding out.
The injury is from a blade. Did Mario see the Cart Titan and let go of your hand so he could fight it?
Mario's eyes are wide with fear, his mouth open with agony. He says your name, his voice barely inaudible. The Cart Titan begins to close its mouth tighter.
"No!!" you screamed as you launched your blades towards the Cart Titan's eyes. It reacts quickly, dodging your blades. As it jumps to the side with Mario still dangling inside its mouth, Mario manages to loosen from its jaw a little bit. He's sliding out, he's only hanging by his legs now!
You wasted no time reattaching new blades and launching your grappling hook to propel yourself forward with rapid speed to kill the Cart Titan.
"I'll kill you!" you screamed, bringing your arms upwards for the kill.
And then, the Cart Titan brought its jaws down. There was the sickening crunch of bones and tendons breaking, and then, Mario's blood-curdling scream.
"Mario!" you cried out, swinging your arms down at the Cart Titan. Just as you were about to strike, the Cart Titan drops Mario and launches itself towards the cloud of dust, disappearing into the distance towards where Levi was headed. Mario drops limp into the ground with half of his legs missing and bloodied.
"Wait—" you whimpered, looking at where the Cart Titan disappeared. "Where are you going?"
Mario's screams fill your ears and you immediately run towards him. You look at his legs that were missing from the thigh down.
"No, no.." you said shakily while kneeling down beside him.
A pool of blood drenches the ground below you. You can see everything. His bones, muscles, tendons,, and they're all spilling out. Mario hasn't stopped screaming, his eyes wide with fear and blinding pain. Mario looks at you and says your name.
"The Cart Titan," he gasped, eyes filled with tears. "When we were running towards Captain Levi in that cloud of dust. I saw it. The Cart Titan."
"Mario, Mario," you said, voice trembling. "Don't talk. I've got this, I'm going to save you."
"It was running towards us from a distance," he quivered. Blood was starting to come out of his mouth.
"Elevate the injured area, wrap the area with sterile dressing.." you say to yourself in a barely inaudible voice as you took off your cape to wrap his blunt limbs.
"I think it was going to attack you, but I managed to hurt it with my blade," Mario coughed up blood. "But it was too fast, and it got to me before I could kill it."
"How did I not notice you were gone," you cried, hands shaking as you desperately tried to stop the bleeding. "It was only for a few seconds."
"Please, don't blame yourself," Mario trembled, his voice growing weaker by the second. "You could have died, it was aiming for your head."
You notice his eyes are starting to droop and your stomach falls.
"No, no. Hey Mario, hey! Stay awake!" you cried out and slapped his face repeatedly. "Do not fall asleep, I repeat, do not fall asleep."
"I'm trying not to," he coughed.
"You know what happens if trauma patients fall asleep," you whimpered. They won't wake up again. "I got this okay. I just need to stop the bleeding and-"
"It won't stop," Mario mutters as a stray tear runs down his cheek. "My legs are gone, I'm losing too much blood and we don't have blood transfusions nor the right equipment here."
"I can still—" you choked on your tears. "I can still fix this."
"I'm coughing up blood too which means I might have blood in my respiratory system or my abdomen. I'm hemorrhaging, which means you have to operate but we don't have surgical equipment. I'm going to die soon, either from my legs or my internal bleeding."
"I graduated top of my class. I got into the medical program in Wall Sina. I'm a Section Commander of the Survey Corps Military Doctors. I'm the best here, I can still save you!" you desperately cried out, all sense of rationality gone. You keep holding pressure but Mario won't stop bleeding. Why won't he stop bleeding? Why is there so much blood everywhere?
Mario shook his head. "I'm.. really sleepy. Stop holding onto the wound. It's no use, you know it."
"I don't want you to go," you cried. "I can't do this without you."
With his bloodied hand, Mario made a gesture to come closer towards him. "I'm about to fall asleep soon. If you don't come here before I—fall asleep.. you're going to regret ..it."
And then, an idea flashed through your head.
"Wait, Levi is still here with that Beast Titan. I just remembered that he has the Titan serum. The one they mentioned at the meeting," you gasped. "If Levi still has it, he can give it to you to revive you, and you'll become a Titan."
"Huh?" Mario's eyes widened. "I'll become—a Titan?"
"You can eat the Beast Titan," you said. "And you'll still be alive."
"Wait, but-"
"Mario, I'll be right back. I'll just run to check on Levi to get the serum from him. Please stay awake. You have to stay awake!" you cried out to him. Mario's eyes are wide with fear, but you were too blinded with the fear of losing your best friend. In a flash, you're already getting up from the ground. Your hands released the pressure from the wound.
"Mario, I promise I'm going to come back! Stay alive!" you screamed as you ran towards Levi. "This is the only way I'll be able to save you!"
You hear Mario yelling your name behind you as you were running as fast as you could towards Levi, but all you could think about was getting to the serum. This is the only chance for Mario to stay alive, and you need to take that chance.
And then, you disappeared behind the cloud of dust once again.
—
"Levi!" you yelled as you emerged from a cloud of dust. You see Levi standing in an open space, but he's all.. alone?
Levi's system floods with relief when he sees you approaching. Earlier, you had appeared out of the fog, only to disappear again. Shortly after, the Cart Titan jumped out and you were nowhere to be seen, and it had him extremely worried.
"What happened?" Levi asked, scanning you from top to bottom.
"No time to explain, I need the Titan serum! Now!" you gasped for breath. "The Beast Titan's host is still with you, right?"
"Why?" Levi's eyes widened. "Don't use it on yourself!"
"Not me, Mario!" you cried out. "He needs it, Levi. Please, he's dying!"
All the blood drains from Levi's face and a shadow falls over his face.
"I can't give it to him. It's no use," Levi grits his teeth.
"What? Why?" your heart sinks.
"The Cart Titan appeared out of nowhere and took the Beast Titan in its mouth. We have nothing to use the serum on. If Mario transforms, he'll just be a mindless Titan."
Your stomach falls.
"Shit! Shit!!" you screamed.
"I'm sorry, I let it get away with him," Levi hisses. In the distance, you see the Cart Titan running away with a blond man in its mouth.
Mario.. he's really going to-
Suddenly, you hear the blond man yell something incoherent and there was a shift in the behaviour of the remaining four Titans standing. Without a warning, all four start to charge towards you and Levi.
"Fucking hell!" Levi cries out. "I promised him.. I promised him to kill you!"
Levi turns around to face you and grits his teeth. Then, he unsheathed his blades. "You take care of Mario, I'm going to handle this. I'm going after the Beast Titan. Stay alive, and meet me later at Shiganshina. Go!"
You nodded, and without wasting any time, you're both on your separate ways. Levi charges forward to kill the remaining four Titans and you run behind the cloud of dust again.
Mario. You've made a mistake.
Please, please. Mario!
At your blind desire to save him, you left him alone at what possibly could have been his final moments. You ran as fast your legs could take you, back to where he was.
When you finally emerge out of the other side of the fog, you see Mario still laying there. Motionless. A bright red circle surrounds the ground where he lays.
"Mario?" you trembled as you knelt down next to him again. When you see that his eyes are half-lidded and that he's still breathing, tears spill down your cheeks again. God, if you really left him to die alone at his final moments, you would have never forgiven yourself.
You hear Mario call out your name softly.
"Oh God Mario, I'm so sorry," you cried. "I-I thought you were already-"
"I didn't fall asleep," he smiled weakly.
"Mario, the serum.. it's no use," you said. "The Beast Titan got away."
"I.. didn't want to become an ugly ass beast anyway," he mumbles weakly.
"You idiot!" you laughed a little, and then resumed weeping. How could he still manage to make you laugh, even at his last moments?
You gently lifted Mario's head from the hard ground and placed it gently on top of your lap. You held onto his hand tightly, but he could barely hold it back properly with how weak he is.
"My cat is going to look for me, that stinky feline. He won't know that I'm gone and he can't understand why I'm not home anymore," Mario coughs up blood. "And my mom. She's going to be so worried. Can you.. tell her that I'm sorry I couldn't bring her to my cafe-clinic? And that I'm sorry for being so stubborn and noisy all the time."
And then, you're wracked into full-blown sobs.
"Please don't cry," he said as tears welled up in his eyes. "My mom needs to know that I won't be coming home, or she's going to keep waiting for me."
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Mario," you sobbed. "I should have been there fighting with you. I shouldn't have taken my eyes off you or the Cart Titan wouldn't have-"
"Hey. The last thing I want before I go is you blaming yourself for my death," Mario scolds you. "Sure, I was really scared to die, but now I don't regret a single thing. If I could save you and protect you, I'd do it again a hundred times."
"No, you won't," you inhaled a shaky breath. "You'll be too tired to do it a hundred times. You'd bail after five times."
"Or two."
And then, Mario let out a little laugh and so did you.
"Please," you whimpered and pressed your forehead to the back of Mario's weak hand. "If there is some miracle out there, something, anything. Please save my best friend."
"If it makes you feel better, I'm not in any pain right now," Mario smiles weakly. "Probably the adrenaline or maybe my nervous system has started going numb from all the blood loss, but this.. isn't as bad as I thought. I feel a little dizzy and extremely sleepy though."
"You swore that if you made it out alive today, you'd quit the Survey Corps and open up your cafe-clinic," you said, watching as your tears fell on his face. "We.. we still haven't done that yet so you need to survive."
"Open that cafe-clinic for me," Mario clenches your hand with the little bit of strength he has left. "I mean if you still want to."
"I don't know how, not without you. You've always been there for me since I joined the Survey Corps. You were my first friend and you're always.. getting me out of shit, fighting Johanne for me, getting me out of jail, helping me stay sane and protecting me."
"Yeah, that was crazy. I still can't believe you got kidnapped."
"Me neither. That was so stupid."
"It was."
"And even until the end, you're still protecting me."
"That's not true, you've protected me many times before too," Mario shook his head. "I'm grateful that I got to know you in this lifetime."
"Me too," you brushed your fingers softly through his blond hair. The pool of blood continues to grow. Your pants and boots are drenched in his blood but you're too devastated to care. "I'll make sure to let your mother know and I'll check on your cat, okay?"
"Thank you. Don't be sad about me dying, that's the last thing I want," Mario said, his expression serious. "Don't think of dying as the end, because it is not. I'll be out of this hellhole, and I'll be floating somewhere up there without having to worry about getting eaten by Titans. I'll be free."
Free. He's going to be free. He was just talking about how scared he was about dying and plummeting into a void of nothingness, yet now he is accepting it with such.. peace.
"And I'm going to open up my cafe-clinic in the spirit world or in heaven or something," Mario shrugged. "Also, I'm getting.. very, very sleepy."
"Let me know how it goes," you smiled weakly and cupped his cheek with your warm hand. You take note of how cold his face is. "God, I don't want to lose my best friend, but I don't want to keep you chained with me in this hellhole either."
"Even after I fall asleep, I'm still going to be your best friend, okay? I'll be looking down at you from the skies or whatever. Or maybe even tailing you around like a ghost," Mario said. His grip around your hand weakens, his blood turns cold.
"That's not funny.."
"The point is," Mario sighed, his eyelids starting to flutter close. "I'll always be with you. I'll always be your best friend."
"You've always looked after me," you see the light in his warm brown eyes start to fade away.
"Same to you."
"Thank you, Mario," you sobbed. His eyes turn cold.
"Thank you," he whispered and smiled faintly one last time. "I'll always look after you."
And then, Mario falls asleep.
Notes:
:'(
Reader experiences her first ever real loss in the Survey Corps :(