-Levi-
Holding her in my arms, she reveals her vulnerability to me. Her hand is still in mine, and her body has finally stopped shaking.
It made more sense; her entire story seemed to line up with why Erwin scouted her originally from the streets. This must've meant that she too grew up in the underground; we might've even passed each other unknowingly.
We must have.
That man. That son of a bitch who taught me the bare minimum and left. There is no question that he was the one who killed her parents, at least, the ones that she remembers. I strengthen my hold on her hand.
"Kaisa, are you feeling better?" I gently ask.
She pulls back from me with an emotionless expression across her face. She looks up at me and nods, leaning against the tree behind her, pulling my hand into her lap. Her free hand lands on top of mine and she softly traces her fingertips across my skin mindlessly. The action surprisingly gets a reaction out of me and a spark flows through my body.
Thank you, Levi.
My eyes tear away from our intertwined hands and look into her eyes in surprise. Did I just mishear something?
What do you mean, thank you?
"W-"
For everything.
Overwhelming confusion fills my head--her voice is echoing softly within my head.
What the fuck is this?
Dunno, just figured out I can do it.
Your casual response is worrying.
I'm pretty surprised, but I wonder if I could do this with others.
That'd be pretty useful especially if we got separated and needed to get a message across to others.
Kaisa stares back at me with determination, when suddenly her face relaxes as she leans against the tree.
"And it's gone." She says.
"We should probably head back to the others. We've been gone for about twenty minutes now." I stand up, tugging on her hand slightly to bring her up with me.
"You're right. Sorry about that." She apologizes.
"Don't apologize for an event you had no control over; trauma is trauma." I affirm her.
She silently nods, and we head towards the wall.
Her hand is small, gentle, and soft in comparison to mine. Even though her fingers have callouses from holding her blades from combat, her fingertips are delicate and wonderfully made. She follows behind me cautiously, letting me guide her on the way back. The wall isn't that far from where she fell, so we arrive quickly.
I turn to face her, and she turns to face mine. Her eyes are soft, almost empty, but focused and prepared to take on any challenge that presents itself. My heart aches slightly for her; the unusual feeling continues to creep up on myself.
"Levi? Is there something on my face?" She asks, wiping her cheek with the back of her free hand.
"I hope you know I was joking earlier--about the whole 'boyfriend situation'."
"That was a shitty joke." She deadpans.
"I was just thrown off by your weird behaviour is all." I explain.
"Yeah, well, it was still shitty. Who do you take me for anyway?" She squints her eyes.
"Well, clearly someone who I think is worth my time."
I tilt her chin up slightly and lean in for a single, slow kiss.
"Let's get going."
~**~**~**~**~
-Kaisa-
I don't have time to react to the soft moment we've experienced together since he already has an arm around my waist and his hook into the wall. I lean my head into the crook of his shoulder as we scale the wall and quickly separate once we climb over the edge.
We break into a jog towards Hange's squad who have just finished properly bandaging those who needed help and brought the horses over the wall.
"There you two are! Are you okay? We heard someone scream." Hange asks.
Ah shit...Here we go again.
"Yeah, I accidentally dropped my knife and it cut me." I lie smoothly.
"Huh? Did you clean the wound already?" She asks.
Fuck...
You idiot.
My snaps to Levi. How did this thing start working again?
"Used one of my cloths to clean it—what a waste." Levi covers. Hange chuckles a bit before pointing towards some bags.
"Sounds just like you. Anyway, we're heading back to HQ, mind helping us where you can?"
"Yeah, we'll help." I nod.
We pick up a couple of bags, handing them off to other members before picking up our own. I decide to try to reach Levi again through whatever mode we've just discovered together.
Can you hear me?
Unfortunately.
You may be even more irritable to listen to in my own head, Levi.
Avoid conversation, then.
I click my tongue in annoyance and shoot him a glare. I guess we've moved on from our little moment.
Should we tell the others?
We should figure out what else you can do first to limit the amounts of misinformation.
I see.
We need to see what else that crystal does to you.
I wonder why only you can hear me.
I don't know, we-
Levi stops mid thought and turns his head over his shoulder. Curiosity takes over and so I look to find Bertholdt and Reiner speaking with Eren privately. Eren lets out a little laugh while patting Reiner's shoulder as Mikasa apprehensively stays on guard.
Oh fuck.
You wouldn't be wrong by coming to that conclusion.
I roll my eyes at his response and pretend to continue stacking the bags so we avoid suspicion.
"Can you grab that one please?" I point to a bag near Levi. He nods and stacks it on top of my pile which aligns with a thundering sound above.
A yelp escapes me and Levi pulls me into his arms as we're slammed towards the concrete top of the wall.
What the fuck is happening?!
Just as the thought enters my mind, a reminder of five years ago stands above our trusty 50-meter wall, mocking us from above. We get to our knees and I hide myself further into Levi's shoulder, only peeking my eyes over him, watching the steam clear slowly.
Two more bolts of lightning crash from the sky.
All of them are titans.
I stand up while Levi rests an arm on one knee and move in front of him. I draw my blades and prepare for my assault on the Colossal Titan.
"You'll get wiped out, Kaisa. We need to retreat and rendezvous with the rest!" Levi calls out to me.
I shoot a hook into the Colossal Titan, waiting before pressing on my gas.
I turn back and this time, I feel the surge of energy flowing through my very veins. The familiar feeling of adrenaline is an electrifying reminder of my livelihood as I look down at the man who trained me to be the soldier I am. His steel eyes plead with me to stay with him. He's not wrong--the best choice is to regroup with the others, but my newfound pride fills me entirely.
Being free is the ability to choose decisions that don't always benefit me; it is to deny the enslavement to my future self, to only make decisions for the person I am now, not for who I will be.
I choose to be free.
Levi looks at me with concern, knowing I've made my mind up. He parts his lips to speak, but I know that if I hear him call for me once more, I'll stay.
"You're right; I am different—I'm not the same Kaisa I was."
I press on the gas, pushing myself into the steam generated from the almost unbearable heat the Colossal Titan is giving off. Eventually, the clouds clear and I'm left facing the left side profile of this despicable being.
Tightening the hold on my blades, I swing down on his flesh, spinning down the back of the titan. The blades sink into the titan with ease as I slice him open with all of my might.
Don't fucking die.
Levi's voice resonates throughout my head.
That's the goal.
I shoot another hook into his right shoulder and swing up, getting a good look of his nape before twisting my body with both blades over my right shoulder. I shoot my gas on the way down, increasing my velocity as I spin towards my target. For a split second, the nape hardens, which reminds me of the female titan's ability.
I unclip the blades from its holder and collide directly into his bare flesh, rolling over my shoulder. The extreme heat from the pure muscle burns into my body. I cry out in discomfort, but without thinking I climb to his head, withstanding the heat he's dispersing.
I'm being burned alive—at least it feels that way. Sweat is profusely dripping down my face, but I place both hands on the top of his head, and suddenly I get the information I need.
The moment I see the vision. I let the steam he produces blow me off and the air outside of humid heat the Colossal Titan produced is refreshing. I roll over my shoulder onto the wall when I land and immediately jump into a sprint towards Hange and the rest. I scan the area for Levi, but I don't see him; regardless, I have the information I needed.
"Hange!" I call out.
She turns over to me, her eyes widen the moment she looks at me.
"We're not going to be able to stop them from taking Eren and that new girl, but I know where they're going." My breathing is so erratic from the encounter I just had.
"Kaisa, what is this?" She asks while touching my face and the rest of my body.
"Ouch! You're burning!" Her hands retract from my skin immediately.
"We can worry about that later, right now, I need to know where Mikasa is because she's going to be caught in the fire trying to save Eren's ass." I ignore her concern.
"She was down near the Colossal Titan which—oh my God." Her eyes move behind me.
I turn immediately and see the titan crashing down towards the young woman. My feet move before I think, jumping off the wall while pressing my gas before hooking myself into the wall next to me. I'm scared that I won't get there in time, but I trust my agility.
"Mikasa!" I scream at the soldier. She looks at me before looking above her, seeing the inevitable chaos she's about to be involved in.
Her eyes don't change from their determined nature, which is the extra push I need to get to her. I close the gap between us, holding her in my arms as we brace for the impact above. I hold her head into my shoulder to protect it from any of the fall damage we're about to experience.
"We'll be okay, I promise."
We hit the ground and my ears shatter from the titan's collision with the ground. With my ears still ringing, I immediately bring my attention to Mikasa who is underneath me, eyes wide and confused.
"Are you okay?!" I ask, searching her face for discomfort.
"You..." She begins.
What's with everyone taking long pauses around me recently?!
"'I' what?" I press.
"There was a transparent golden orb around us."
"People and their damn concussions." I curse. "I'm taking you up to Hange to get you checked up because you're seeing things."
I move myself off of her, stand up and brush myself down. I go through my regular checks to ensure that nothing is off; gas is good, I have four blades left, and my hooks don't seem damaged—what a relief. Mikasa sits up with shoulders slumped, her body language screaming defeat.
"Look alive, Ackerman—We've got a lot of work left to do today."
She doesn't move and I sigh silently to myself in frustration knowing that we didn't have time for emotions to get in the way of an unfortunate situation. I turn my back to her and begin walking towards the wall knowing that she'd follow me.
"Your eyes were glowing."
I stop dead in my tracks.
"Mikasa, this isn't the time for conversation." I turn.
"Oh shit."
I look down at the girl who's now passed out on the grass. I bite my lip and pick her up, holding her over my shoulder as I hooked myself into the wall. My gear does as told and I call out for someone's help as I reach the top ledge.
Armin hears my plea and rushes to us to grab Mikasa from my hold. I pull myself over the ledge and see that Hange is already laying not too far from us—she must have gotten caught up in the crossfire. By the looks of it, my prediction of both Eren and Ymir being taken away is correct and now we're left to figure out where they're going.
At least, that's how it would have been.
I'm starting to find my newfound skill to be helpful, especially at gathering information. Regardless of where it came from, it seems that my contact with the Colossal Titan allowed me to get a provision of the direction they're headed in. Unfortunately, with the way things are looking right now, we're not going to be able to deploy a mission to actually save them until we get other soldiers to join.
"Oi, where's Captain Levi?" I call out to the group.
"He scaled down the wall not too long ago, ma'am!" One of them answers.
"For?"
"Unknown reasons, Captain."
I pinch the bridge of my nose.
"Alright, gather round'. This is what we're going to do."
----
hi hey hello!
yall, i actually managed to update within a week!
i love all of you, that is all.
much love and take care,
~cendiain