Requested on Tumblr
════════════════════════════
Despite losing it all, Levi still had you. But in the heat of the moment, seeing victory so near at hand, he never thought for a moment he'd trade the world's freedom for the only freedom he had left.
════════════════════════════
He should have seen the signs sooner, wounded or not. Maybe it was the idea that this would finally be over, that had clouded his mind with hope. He'd been so confident he could save the last thing he had, while fighting one last time on the front lines for his freedom.
Both your freedoms.
With your hand held tightly in his, he felt that no matter how hard he squeezed he couldn't hold on. The smile on your face made him frown, lips quivering with words unspoken that begged to be shouted out towards the heavens. Tears unspilt burned his damaged eye as they flowed freely down his opposite cheek and soaked the thin bandaging held tight there.
"Finish this," you'd whispered, your eyes nearly as glossy as his once you'd slipped your hand out of his firm grasp. He followed after the step you took back, stumbling over his lame leg.
"The only freedom I want is the one I'll have with you," he rasped out, searching your face frantically as more tears spilled.
Your comrades rushed about on either side, racing back towards Faldo's titan for fear of the explosion that was soon to follow. Of course he had to follow, but how could he when he knew what you'd become?
"Darling, you have to go. This isn't your end," you whispered, bringing a hand up to his cheek and averting his gaze to your own. Removing the ring on your finger, you slipped it onto his right hand's ring finger, and curled his hand back around the band.
"Take it not as a rejection, but as a momento to the love we shared while we could."
With a shuddered smile, you placed one last gentle peck to his parted lips, closing your eyes to savor the last thing you'd ever feel as a human.
A whirlwind of emotions left the Captain frozen in place, hardly aware of the soft hands that shoved him into the arms of another as a sickening yellow hue resonated from the civilians and soldiers huddled together on the cliff side. The ground shook as the transformations began; human turning to beast from a singular breath of the poisoned air and the scream that followed.
As Levi was forced onto Faldo's back, the last thing he saw before the light consumed everything around him was your loving gaze, a ring-less hand raised out to him in goodbye before you were consumed by the plague.
He couldn't look any longer. Couldn't see the monster you'd become. So many of those beasts he had slain in his bloody past...How could he have let this fate be your own?
A numbness crept into his mind, leaving only the thought of, why? Why you? After everyone else was gone, why you?
The freedom he fought for now, the carnage he sook to put an end to; suddenly, it was no longer for him. How could he seek the peace of freedom if his heart wasn't in it? He'd left it there with you, on that cliff. Nothing could ever hold any significance to him after this. After you.
Letting the ever flowing tears continue to soak into his bandages, he clenched his shaking fist tightly around the band of gold in his hand, bringing it close to his heart in silent salute to the place you'd stood only moments earlier.
A silent confession of his love for you left him in a breathless whisper as they flew away from the battlefield; the last he'd ever utter.
For after you, he knew his life held no further meaning. How could there be, when you were his meaning? His drive? His soul and his heart in all its shattered beauty?
Adding your ring to the finger that held his own, he made a promise to himself.
He would see you again. He would see you soon; through this life or another he had no doubt. With this in mind, as they approached the towering figure before them, he had one last thing to fight for.
Just as before, you were his reason; to see you again. He had only one task left, to aid his comrades one last time, before he could uphold his promise to you.
Together, forever and always. No matter what.