(A/N): Mikasa arrives earlier than expected...
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I'm awaken by Levi cussing around the room.
"Get up, idiot!" He says as he throws me bits and pieces of my clothes.
"Wha...?" I mutter.
"GET THE FUCK UP, Mikasa is early she just knocked! Go get dressed in the bathroom, quick!"
It doesn't take longer for me to get up and run. Unfortunately, I'm not quick enough and the door creaks open. Mikasa's gaze falls on half undressed Levi. His face falls apart and he turns to me, powerless. She follows his gaze to me, covered in nothing more than my underwear. Her eyes widen as she takes in what this means. It's one thing to have doubts, but it's another thing to get them confirmed in such a way. From her point of view, I assume she pretty much understood what was going on here. I can see her jaw clenching as I stop and take a step toward her.
"Mikasa, I'm sorry, it's not... It's not what you think!" I blurt out.
I realize my mistake as Levi frowns.
"It's not?" He asks.
"That's not what I mean and you know it!" I reply instantly.
He sighs.
"Fine, stop arguing! She's running away, go get her."
I give him a quick peck on the cheek and then run outside in the corridor, trying to lift my jeans up as I move through the set of stairs. Connie catches a glimpse of me and laughs.
"Damn, what did you do to her?" He says.
"Shut up Connie!"
I run past him as I put my shirt on, almost falling 3 times in the process. I grab a pair of boots that seems to fit me and were left unattended. Then I run outside. As soon as the door closes behind me, I spot Mikasa at the stable picking up one of the spare 3DM gear sets.
"MIKASA!" I call, but she doesn't reply.
A second later she's already on a horse and running away. "SHIT" I mutter to myself. I sprint to the stable and grab a set of straps that is too small for me, but I'll manage. It takes 5 minutes before I'm fully equipped. I jump on a horse and kick his sides with my heels. I keep my head down as he races outside. I follow the other horse's trail. I hope she's in that direction. She is intelligent though so she might be playing a trick on me so that I don't find her. I get passed some tiny abandoned houses and I wonder if she's there but the trail doesn't stop here so I keep moving. Instead, it leads to a tiny forest a bit further along the way. We often go there to train with our 3DM gear but it is a dangerous place where small titans used to hide. I hesitate before entering the path that we normally use. We are not supposed to come here. And we are not supposed to come here alone. I go in anyways, I can't leave her in this place even if I know she can handle a couple of titans on her own. I know there shouldn't be any technically, but you can't be too sure in this place.
After about a mile, I stop. The trail has completely disappeared. I'm guessing she let the horse go. I make sure to attach the leather strap of mine to a strong tree. Then, I pull my gear's handles out. I go up flying as the wires launch from my hips to attach to different trees and the air get's released from the fan on my back. I take a couple of turns and try to see exactly where the trail stops at. The straps are pulling hard on my feet and I can feel that I'm going to be sore tomorrow, if I make it alive. The boots are bit too big and the straps are way too tight. It hurts but I keep going. Suddenly, the left hook misses a tree and my wire rolls back in, leaving me completely off balance. My heartbeat races up. I launch it again, trying to grab at anything that would keep me from falling but I fail miserably. "This day is just getting better" I mutter as I fall. The ground gets closer but I pull on the handle so that the other wire tries to roll back in a little. The screeches that it makes now are probably a sign of malfunction. At least, it does pull me up just enough so that I can hit the ground with a not so elegant stunt. I roll on the ground and end up crouched, taking deep breaths. I inspect the handles and the wires to see what's broken but I can't see anything that seems to be damaged. I get up, ready to get back in the air. That's when I hear it. A muffled sob, followed by another one, and another one. I glance up at the trees in front of me and I see her, resting on a gigantic branch, 50 feet up in the air. She's holding her knees, her eyes hidden in the red scarf I gave her.
I do not hesitate. The wires launch in front of me, pulling me forward. I land right beside her on the branch. She doesn't even move to look at me but I can see that her hands are now holding her gear handles. She's ready to fly away, probably not willing to listen to anything that I have to say. I must choose my words wisely. All I come up with, is the obvious.
"I'm sorry."
She snorts and shakes her head, still hidden behind the scarf.
A couple of seconds later, she glances up at me and as her face slowly uncovers, I see the pool of tears that fell and are still falling. Her clenched jaw tells me that she's still pissed off. She frowns angrily.
"Of all the people..." She starts, still shaking her head. "Of all the people... you had to pick him?"
The way she says it goes straight to my heart. Levi is a good man and he's mine. Before snapping at her I remember that she is deeply hurt, I hear it in her tone, I see it in her eyes even if she tries to hide it. What if Levi had picked someone else and this was me? I understand how she feels. I need to be honest.
"Yes. I admit it. I love him."
She stares into my eyes, trying to see if I'm sincere. Hoping that I am not.
"Mikasa, you count as much for me as you always have, nothing has changed."
She scoffs.
"Are you an idiot Eren? Really? Was I always just like a sister to you?"
Tears fall down on her cheeks but she wipes them off angrily with her fists. I shake my head slowly.
"You were...more than a sister to me...but I couldn't give you what you wanted. I had nothing else in mind than protecting my friends and avenging my mom's death. You are family to me. Maybe if things would've been different... We'll never know. All I can tell you is that this happened so suddenly, it took me by surprise and at first we were not even sure of what this was. Please don't be angry, I didn't want you to be hurt if this was worth nothing after all. That's the only reason why I wasn't telling you. We wanted to tell you this morning, you weren't supposed to find out this way."
Her eyes shine with overflowing tears. She doesn't seem to know how to react anymore.
"Worth nothing, eh?" Levi says as he lands, out of nowhere, beside us.
Great, now he's hurt too...
"Heichou, please. You know very well what I mean. We were both unsure at first."
He folds his arms.
"I never was." He says. "I chose you over Petra even before I even knew myself that I chose you. It's been you all along. You, though, seem to have doubts about this?"
I take a step towards him.
"No Levi, I have no doubt, I love you more than anything and you know it, stop being jealous."
Mikasa gets up and snorts. She's clearly had enough.
"Mikasa, wait!" I say.
"What?" She screams. "What more do you have to say, everything seems pretty clear to me."
"Jealous, eh?" Levi says, glaring at me.
I turn to him.
"Could we...PLEASE talk about this, say, after I'm done explaining myself?"
"Tchh."
I turn back to Mikasa, who's just about to jump down the tree and fly away on her gear.
"Please. Please Mikasa, don't!"
"Why? Give me one reason." She says.
"Because I need you in my life. You are my family, my friend, my comrade. I can't give you the love you want, and I know it must hurt so much now that I know how love feels like, and I'm so sorry. But all I'm asking from you is that you please come back with me. Please don't run away on your own. I'll give you the space and time you need, I promise!"
She stares blankly at the sky for a while. The sun filters through the leaves and makes her skin glow. I can see the little paths of tears going down her cheeks.
"Fine."
Levi taps his foot on the branch but I ignore him. I already have enough of one pissed off psycho.
"Really?" I say with a growing smile.
She shakes her head.
"I mean fine, I'll go back. But there are no guarantees that I'll ever be able to talk to you again Eren. From now on, I'm a soldier and that's all."
Then, she turns to Levi and says:
"And you, dumbass, don't you dare ever talking to me again. I'll follow your orders since you're my superior but you can drop any other subject you had in mind. Forever."
Then, she turns back to me. Levi scoffs, still tapping his foot and his arms still crossed.
"Eren. Can I ask one thing. Just one thing? It'll be our goodbye." She says.
My heart clenches as I hear the word. "Goodbye" ... it shouldn't have to be this way.
"Yes, anything." I reply.
She bites her lip and blushes as she moves forward. Closer to me.
"You must be fucking kidding me!" Levi says as he takes a step closer, unfolds his arms and puts his hands on his blades.
Too late. Mikasa's lips are already on mine. It's a desperate kiss, similar to Levi and I's first kiss in the forest. Except that we are not dying, but she seems to take this as a final goodbye so I can't refuse it to her. It's over sooner than I would've expected and as soon as I separate from her, Levi places himself between us. He's so close to me that his back brushes against my chest as he takes heavy breaths to try and control himself.
"You got what you wanted, now get back to the fucking stable." He says with clenched teeth.
She smiles, probably to piss him off. Then jumps down, launching the hooks into a lower tree. As she fades away on the right, Levi turns to face me. He's pissed off, and hurt.
"Had to kiss the bitch, eh?"
I roll my eyes.
"Hey, she kissed me! How was I supposed to handle the whole fucking thing?"
"You could've said no." He says.
"She said it would be a final goodbye, I couldn't say no to her. How desperate did she seem to you? Pretty much the same as you were when you were stuck in my gear. That's why you kissed me right? Because you knew at that moment you'd never have another chance."
I see a flicker of sadness go through his eyes and right away I regret my words. I grasp my hair with both my hands, completely pissed off at how stupid I feel right now.
"That's not what I mean. It came out wrong, please forget that I said that. I loved that kiss as much as you did. If it was going to be our last, it would've been the best thing I'd have ever lived for. I regret nothing about this. Only that I didn't make the move first, I swear. I love you, I'm so sorry I just can't seem to find the right words to talk to people. To talk to you and it breaks my heart to see you hurt. It breaks my heart to see that you are hurt and that it's because of me. I assumed that Mikasa would feel the same way as we did when we kissed the first time so I let it happen. But you are right, I shouldn't have."
A tear sparkles at the corner of his eye and I'm completely mortified by it. Not my Heichou. No, I couldn't make him cry. This can't be. What kind of a person am I? Levi doesn't cry. I open my arms, hoping he'll forget about this and just hide this sad face into my chest until he feels better. Until he knows how much I love him. He hesitantly unfolds his arms and takes a step forward. I grin.
That's when I see it. The hand. A titan's hand that smacks the branch. I fall backwards but manage to get a grip before going completely down. My eyes fill with tears as I get back up on my feet looking everywhere for Levi.
"No. NO!"
"TCHHH, idiot. I'm here. Right above you. We have to kill it."
A surge of relief fills my veins as he jumps down with his gear to meet me.
And all of sudden my heart sinks. That's when I see the fingers that catch him, wrapped around my now unconscious boyfriend. The hand that brings him slowly closer to an even bigger mouth. It happened in less than a second. I'm paralyzed. Levi's eyes are closed and their corners shine with what's left of the previous tears. His face glows under the sun. He seems to have some sort of halo surrounding him. I snap out of it as I realize what's happening. A halo? FUCK NO!
I jump off the branch as I bite my hand as hard as I ever had. My clothes rip off and the last thing I hear is a primal scream, the most powerful that was ever heard.
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(A/N): I'm sorry about your feels guys...