Angel With A Shotgun [Levi Ackerman x OC] / Attack on Titan / Shingeki no Kyojin

Code XXIX: The Mystery of Mission O-17

content warning: there graphic depictions of violence and gore later in the chapter.

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Faster than a bolt of lightning, Levi shot off in the direction of the clinic and burst inside, exclaiming, "Xora! Are you alright?!" And his eyes landed on the writhing form of the agent, tears streaming from her wet eyes as she bit hard on her bottom lip to stop herself from screaming. Her hands frantically felt around the bed for some kind of hold, pulling at the white sheets surrounding her sweat-drenched body.

"Xora?!" Levi cried again, rushing over to her side. Gently grabbing her arms, he steadied her thrashing body, a dark red already seeping into the white of her bandages. "Xora, what in the hell is going on?"

"It h—hurts," she choked, her uninjured leg kicking away the sheets, the linen landing into a pile on the tile floor. "Everything... it hurts!"

"Of course it hurts. You didn't want to take the painkillers." Levi's face was pained as he took Xora's hand and held it in his, gently rubbing circles into her knuckles with his thumbs.

"Why does it hurt so much?" Xora rolled over onto her side and curled into fetal position; her knuckles were a pale white from where she gripped Levi's hand tightly. She trembled, her chest heaving as she gasped for air. "I didn't know—I had no idea it would hurt so bad! So... bad!" Her sentence ended with a breathy moan of pain, her wounds throbbing heavily.

"They were shotgun shells," Levi whispered as he caressed her cheek with a gentle finger, his lips pursed. "Xora... do you know what they used shoot? What kind of gun, or even the specific model?"

"N—no," she gasped, letting out a few quiet, pitiful sobs. "It was P—Petra's gun. Petra... Petra!"

"Petra's? Oh, god... oh, god." Levi bit his lower lip, his skinny eyebrows furrowing deeply together. "Her bullets were laced with a chemical that acts similarly to a catalyst; it was designed to intensify the pain received by whoever it shot for days, or up to weeks after the first shot. We'd intended to use it to detain Eagle. Petra's shot was immaculate, and we thought it would be best if she had gotten the gun we would use to immobilize Eagle. But... I had no idea they'd turn it on you."

Levi flinched with every moan of pain that came past Xora's lips, her voice hoarse. Though he knew he would come to regret it, his hand inched toward a sterile pan of syringes—the painkillers Hange was going to use to subdue Xora's pain. With trembling fingers, he gripped one and placed his thumb on the top of the stopper.

"...I'm sorry," he whispered as he moved Xora's uninjured arm aside and pulled up the hem of her tank, shifting the waistband of her shorts lower to fully expose the skin of her hip.

"Wh—what are you—?" Xora started, but she was cut off as she felt the sharp prod of the needle sink into her skin. Levi injected the entire syringe before tossing the needle far away, hitting the wall in the corner of the room before clattering to the floor. "Levi, how could you...?

"I can't bear to see you like this any longer." Caving, Levi folded his arms upon the bedside and buried his face in them. "I don't want to hear you cry anymore, Xora. But I don't know what else to do."

Her sobbing did indeed dwindle until it ceased entirely, her body still frozen, contorted, upon the bed. Along with the dying of her sobs came the stillness of her body. Minutes later, Levi finally lifted his head, having had worked up the courage to finally look Xora in the eyes.

They were indeed dry, dried tears crossing her nose bridge and cheeks, but they were empty. The usually brilliant blue was hollow and far away, replaced with what almost looked like a dull gray.