Okay quick note~~~Sorry for the extremely late update...
So, author-chan as a bunch of you call me (which I think is really adorable and I hope you continue doing, just saying) has been sick lately and has had the same cold kicking her butt for the past two weeks.
Anyways, thank you all for all the support! I've been seeing the reads go up like crazy on this story lately, which makes me super happy :)
And that's all for now... I really hope you enjoy it (^_^)
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"Nora, move!" the Sergeant yells, throwing his body in front of hers. A crack sounded through the air, followed by a small cloud of black smoke.
Her face and body were painted red, and with a scream she realized that the man in front of her was on the ground, red pouring from three wounds in his chest and one on his neck.
"Sarge!" she screams, falling to her knees by his side. One incomprehensible word escaped his lips before he closed his eyes, a relieved smile at seeing her alive forming on his lips, a trace of blood in the corner of his mouth.
With horror apparent on her face, she looks up, seeing two unfamiliar faces in front of her. Their 3DM glinted in the sun, the guns attached to them stained with black powder at the ends.
Malicious grins were on their lips. They already reloaded their guns, pointing them at the curly haired soldier in front of them.
As fast as she could, she jumps backwards, slamming her eyes shut as she hears another crack go off. Her body falls through the air, down, down, and down, and with another scream she realizes that she's jumped off the edge.
With shaking fingers she reaches for her gear, shooting it towards the building, feeling the reassuring pull on the straps on her hips that let her know that she's successfully clipped in.
The attackers jump after her, eyes slanted. She begins moving, as fast as she possibly could, through buildings, her vision fading.
Run, she tells herself. Run! It's what you're best at! Run! Escape! Evade! E-e-e-
Her head was spinning. She wills her body to go on, unhooking from one building and hooking into another.
My head is spinning, she thinks to herself. What's going on?
She unhooks her gear from the building, but as she tries to hook at another, she blacks out momentarily, her vision coming back only when she sees a wall in front of her.
She hears her pursuers behind her, yet she's unable to do anything about it.
My head... hurts....
Her body slams into a wall, her chest wailing in pain at the contact. She slides down the stone, her fall cushioned by someone's garden.
Her pursuers land by her side, eyes narrowed at her body. Her eyes were closed, her chest barely rising.
Their grins grew wider upon seeing blood from the wound on her shoulder staining the white flowers beneath her.
One of them holds up his guns, pointing it at the barely conscious girl. The other places a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head. "She ain't even worth the gunpowder at this point," he says with a sigh. "Captain Kenny will get mad if we waste it."
The one soldier lowers his gun, nudging the girl's side with his foot. "You clipped her shoulder. She should bleed out soon."
The brown haired soldier grunts in response, looming over the girl to see her shoulder. He casts a glance to his partner, and the two turn on their heel, using their gear to reach the rooftops above them, leaving Nora laying on the floor, blood dripping from her wound.
____
Nora's body ached as her vision started coming back to her. As she wearily looked around, she began to sit up, stopping in her tracks as she felt the sharp pain stabbing through her shoulder.
"Where am I?" she asks aloud, looking around and seeing no one. She was laying in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room, a throbbing emanating from her shoulder.
She could hear someone below her, talking to someone else. She was getting nervous, eyes looking around the room anxiously.
She sees a pair of scissors on the nightstand next to her, resting next to a roll of bandages. Nora hides them in her hand, pulling her hand underneath the blanket that covered her body, just in time for someone to walk up the stairs and open the door.
"You're awake!" the older woman-- maybe in her mid forties-- says with a warm smile. "How do you feel?"
"Who are you?" Nora asks quickly, peeking the pair of scissors out from under the blanket as a subtle warning.
"You can call me Jane," she says with a smile, having noticed the scissors yet nonetheless inching closer to the curly haired girl. "You're Nora, correct?"
"Why do you know my name?" she asks now, sitting up as far as her body will allow her.
"My son is in the military," Jane replies, pushing some of her brown hair behind her ear. "Survey Corps, too. That's why I felt like I absolutely had to help you."
"How'd you help me?"
"It seems like you were shot, dear," she replies with a sad sigh. "I found you not too far from my house. I saw the Wings on your uniform, and good thing you're small, because I had to carry you all the way home," she adds with a slight laugh, inching closer to the bedridden girl. "I had some medical stitches around the house, but I never used them before."
"You stitched me?"
"Not well, but I closed the wound. I've done a lot of sewing in my time," she laughs again, now sitting on the edge of the bed "How do you feel, dear? Some friends of yours are downstairs."
"My friends?"
"I ran into one of my son's friends when I was carrying you back. I told her that you were hurt, and she found my son and his friends and they came back to wait for you."
"How long was I out?"
"Only about half an hour. You didn't lose too much blood, I think you just passed out from the pain."
"Can I go see my friends?"
"Of course," she smiles, handing Nora her cleaned uniform, having already sewed up the bullet hole and scrubbed out as much of the blood as she could.
She leaves the room as Nora changes, waiting on the other side of the door for her to finish. Once he finishes, Nora opens the door to see Jane, patiently waiting for her.
"So who's your son?" she finally asks, shaking out her curls.
"Jean Kirstein," she replies with a smile, thinking fondly of her son. "Jean Boy, oh he never comes to visit," she sighs. The two begin walking towards the stairs. "But when I told that oriental girl to go get him, he came running home, shouting 'Where's Nora? Where's Nora?' Oh, sweetie, he needs to sort out his priorities."
They walk slowly down the stairs, the pain in Nora's shoulder a dull ache as she takes the steps. "Thank you for helping me... Sorry about threatening you with your own scissors and all," Nora says, face pinking at the thought of her being threatened by Jean's mom. Jane simply shakes her head, a smile on her face.
She should have been able to easily see the dual colored hair that his mother had, looking quite similar to Jean's. Not to mention, she had the same exact shade of brown eyes that Jean had, that honey brown color that she'd looked into so many times before.
"Nora!" her name was instantly called. Her eyes scanned the room for the voice. She knew it without even having to think.
The the deep tone. The slight sound of arrogance...
"Jean," she replies with a smile. She leans her weight onto the rail, letting it balance her as she reaches the bottom of the steps.
"Are you okay? Mom brought you up to my room when Mikasa was getting us."
"Yeah, your mom helped me out a lot," she replies, stepping onto the ground floor. Her hazel eyes glance around the room, looking anxiously around. Someone was missing... Sasha, Mikasa, Connie, Jean, Armin... They were all here, but...
"Oi, brat," she's called. She looks towards the kitchen, meeting his silver eyes.
"Levi," she responds, her voice barely above a whisper. He, unlike the rest of the soldiers in the room, was also on patrol on the rooftop. His shirt was off, a bandage wrapped on his shoulder. The bandage was clean, no sign of blood on it.
His eyes flicker down to the cup in his hand, emitting a small puff of steam. The way he held things always made Nora question certain aspects of him. He put off such a cold, hard demeanor, but the way he held things, that was a different story. He, like he always had, was holding the cup by the brim, his fingers barely grazing the white porcelain. It was almost like he was afraid to hold anything too close or too tightly, an action that could be seen in the way he hugged her... He held her enough to keep her to him, but not so tight that she couldn't get away from him if she wanted to.
"Levi, you're hurt," she says now, slowly making her way to him.
"Tch. And you're not?"
"Where'd you get hit?"
"Grazed my shoulder."
"You were stitched up?"
"Braus did it for me."
Her fingers gently touch the bandage. She was just so relieved he was alive... and that she could be with him now.
She lifts her arms as high as she could, wrapping them around his chest, squeezing him tightly. He stiffens, cautiously hugging her back. "Yours went through you completely," he starts, pulling away from her. She looks away, and he immediately puts his thumb underneath her chin and forces her to look into his steel grey eyes. "You're lucky Mrs. Kirstein found you. She gave you some medicine to make sure you were asleep. How do you feel?"
"A little out of it, but I'll be fine. Why were we attacked by the Military Police?"
"I'll explain on the way. We have to leave here now, before they find us."
He grabs her arm, leading her into the living room with the rest of the group. "Wait," she pauses, looking around the room again. "Eren... And Christa... And Reiner, and Burt, and Ymir," she realizes. "Where are they? Were- were they shot?" Everyone looks at her blankly. No, that wasn't it. "I- I was told things went awry on the check to the village on the outskirts... Don't tell me... Were they eaten?" She remembers the talk she had with Klaus in her closet. He said something about Levi. "And Klaus, he, he-"
"Did he do something to you?" Levi asks in a low, dangerous voice.
"No, no of course not," she replies, swallowing the lump in her throat. "He- he said the reason you have been ignoring me lately is because you may be disgusted with your recent actions," she says, looking pleadingly at Levi. "What have you been up to lately? You and Hanji have been gone so often... What's been going on?"
His teeth clench, and his eyes go to look at the older woman. "Thank you for your kindness, but we have to go," he tells her, walking towards the front door. The group of soldiers follow him in tow, all silent, not one of them daring to look at Nora anymore.
Nora was given a brown stable worker cloak to cover her uniform. Levi and her rid themselves of their leather uniform jackets and the straps the their gear, hiding them under blankets for their open carriages. They had to get out of Trost and into the inner of Wall Rose if they wanted to survive.
They say their final goodbyes and thank yous to Jane Kirstein before piling into the carriage and giving the horses a nudge.
"Where are we going?" Nora finally asks. Everyone remains silent, until Levi finally turns around with a roll of his eyes.
"Take a guess, you brat."
__
Levi kept his head ducked as the team continued on towards their safe house. Nora had been asking questions the entire trip, answered only by silence.
"Jean," he hears her say quietly behind him. "Where is everyone else?"
"Nora," he replies with a sigh. "Captain said that when we are at the safe house, we will talk."
Being shot down by even Jean elicited a sigh from the curly haired girl. If she couldn't get the information even from Jean, who could she get it from?
"Are Eren, Christa, Ymir, Bert, and Reiner even alive?" she asks out loud to anyone, already knowing that no one will answer. "Why are you keeping it a secret from me?"
"Nora, shut up. We're almost there." Levi looks at her from over his shoulder, silver eyes rolling in annoyance before turning to once again face the road.
She goes to touch his shoulder, but upon lifting her arm a hiss escapes her lips. "Ah, god, that still hurts," she says with a breathy laugh. "Come on, Levi," she sighs, forcing her arm up even though it screams in pain. "Don't make me kill myself over here just trying to get information out of you."
"We're nearly at the house. Calm your shit, brat," he snaps, eyes focusing on the terrain in front of them.
__
Their trip continued. Levi could feel Nora looking at him, staring into his back as he focused on leading the surviving Scouts back to somewhere he knew was safe. He heard her whispering behind him, quiet grumbles escaping her lips followed by whelps of pain as she tried to lift her injured arm, attempting to guilt him into speaking to her.
Attempted.
"We're here. Everyone, keep quiet. We're not too far from the city," Levi says, his voice in its usual monotone pitch. He carefully hopped out of the carriage, his body actually aching from the run in he had with Kenny.
Nora makes her way over to him, offering her shoulder to his seemingly weak body. He shakes her off, searching for the key in his pocket. The curly haired girl catches up to him, allowing him to lean his full body weight on her small frame.
"Geez, Levi, you're a lot heavier than you look," she says with a small laugh.
"So are you," he replies quickly.
"Not nice, Heichou," she laughs, trying to make the situation a little lighter. "All Sina food is made with so much fatty things, I can't help it. Not to mention I've just spent weeks there. Forget that, though. Come on, careful. Got the key?"
"Not like you ever remembered your own key," he replies with a sigh. "Oi, everyone here?" he asks the Scouts, looking over his shoulder.
"Captain, let me get that," Armin says quickly, shuffling in front of the slightly trembling soldier. Levi replies with a "tch", looking off to the side as the blonde opens the door for all of them.
"There's food here, everyone," Nora says, helping Levi to the couch. "I was suspicious of something happening, so I had my family's servants bring food over."
"Are they going to come back here?" Mikasa asks, her voice barely above a whisper.
"No, the servants never came here unless ordered. I also dismissed my family's soldiers, so we should be safe for now."
Sasha and Connie began scurrying over to the kitchen, searching the worn out cabinets and ice box for any food and water. Given the current condition of the soldiers, it was expected that they'd be staying here for a while.
Nora leaves Levi's side, going to head down to the hallway when she's stopped by footsteps behind her. She turns, the ashen haired soldier quickly making his way to her side.
"So is this really where you and Captain lived?" Jean asks, looking around the small house.
"Yeah," she smiles. "He promised me that we'd return here one day. I suppose these aren't the best circumstances to return to, but... I like being here."
"It's where the Captain fell in love with you, huh," Jean asks with a smirk, causing Nora's face to flare up.
"I was thirteen when we lived here!" she protests, punching his shoulder with her good arm. "'Sides. Things were different then." Her blush fades, being replaced with a sad smile. "Levi may be the same person he was back then, but the situation is different. Very different. Jean, I'm honestly afraid. What happened a few hours ago is finally sinking in. I want to know what you've all been hiding from me, but I'm afraid to know."
Jean pulls her into a hug, giving her a reassuring squeeze. He was a sarcastic horse, that much was obvious, but there was no denying that he was also extremely worrisome too.
___
"Levi," his name was called. The voice itself was deep and gruff, not the type he wanted to hear when waking up out of a nap. "Levi, get off your ass."
"Bite me, Farlan." he says with a yawn, opening his silver eyes narrowed at the brunette leaning over him. "What the fuck do you want?"
"You were dozing off again."
"Ever think that's because I'm tired and want to sleep?"
"You have a lot of catching up to do," Farlan says with a sigh, putting his hand on Levi's head and ruffling his hair. The short ravenette looks at him with bared teeth, practically hissing at the condescending action. "You were gone for three weeks this time."
"And?"
"When you're gone, I'm in charge. And you know who the second-in-command is? Izzy. Isabel Magnolia. Have you seen that brat try to lead?"
"She's got the gear down, but she's a hell of a project," he sighs in agreement, sitting up. "And I was busy, Farlan. Other obligations."
"In the above?" Farlan replies, resentment in his tone. "Not everyone down here is free to leave here as we please."
"Shut up," Levi simply responds, standing up and walking into the kitchen of their small home. "Where's Izzy?"
"Aniki!" the redhead says happily, stepping into their dimly lit home, her maneuver gear swinging on her hips. "I'm finished with my rounds? Everyone is afraid of me, ya know? Isn't that cool?"
She practically skips over to him, big eyes looking at him for approval. He pets her hair, looking off to the side so he doesn't have to see her grinning so widely.
"I have to go back to the surface again, soon," Levi hums, already knowing what Farlan is going to say. "I have to be back there by Thursday morning."
"Izzy, go check on the baker down on 5th," Farlan says to the younger girl.
"But-"
"Izzy, go," Levi pipes out, trying to clear her out before the yelling starts. "Aniki says so."
She looks between the two older boys, hanging her head and leaving the room, grumbling about how she wants to stay. Farlan waits until he hears the front door close and her walk down the creaking steps, making sure she's out of earshot before looking to the shorter male.
"I didn't start following you for you to pull this bullshit on me, Levi," Farlan snaps, hands going up in frustration. "Just bring that brat down here with you."
Levi's head quirks in annoyance. "Like I'd even get that 'brat' down here."
"And why not?"
"I've told you numerous times, asshole. Her family is part of the inner circle. It's hard enough getting her outside of Mitras, you expect me to get her down in this shithole?"
"Oh, don't give me that shit, Levi," the brunette sighs in frustration. "Like anything you do is legal."
"I don't want her ever coming down here, anyways."
"Why? She might get some dirt on her diamonds and silk dresses?" Farlan replies, rolling his grey eyes.
Levi cracks his knuckles, sending a warning to the older male. "I'm not bringing her down here."
"Is it that the princess is too good to come down here? Does she think herself too important to spend a day with us sewer rats? Pretentious bitch, probably."
Aaaaaand that was it.
Levi swung his fist at his partner, landing his knuckles on Farlan's left check. Farlan immediately staggered, finally landing his back on the wall. "Shut the fuck up when I tell you to, Farlan. I could just as easily forget you all and stay there with her permanently."
Farlan licked at the blood that had settled on the corner of his lip, his fingers gently touching the side of his face. He mumbled a breathy "fucker" with a laugh, his eyes meeting the stormy ones of the shorter male. "I guess she really is priority, huh Levi?"
"You don't get it Farlan," Levi sighs, looking off to the side. He grabs something cold from the ice box, pressing it to Farlan's face. "I can't let anything hurt that girl. Nothing. Not in any way or state. Farlan, you don't understand... I don't think I could handle ever seeing her hurt."