Pluviophile | Levi Ackermann × Reader |

| Chapter 2 |

Blood stained my sword for a brief moment before evaporating into a cloud of steaming smoke, wafting up into the sky.

Rain continued to flood the streets below, my hands sliding across a stoned wall as I held myself in place with the help of my ODM gear.
I could see the distant zipping of lines, other cadets giving their all into this mission.

Water became trapped on my lashes, falling down my cheeks the second I blinked.

"Soldier! Look out-!" A sharp voice shouted across the skies, hitting sharply in my ears. At the warning, I snapped my head to the side, my attention locking onto a fast approaching abnormal humanoid being... A titan.

Without a moment spared, I dove off the building I was previously attached too, looping around in a wide circle and using as much gas as possible to increase my speed. I held my swords tightly at my side in order to keep my arms from snapping in the powerful wind, eyes narrowed.

As soon as my wire sunk into the flesh of the beast, I took one final breath before diving into it's nape, my swords slicing clean through the skin, blood exploding into the air.

Upon landing, my foot slid on the slabs of a roof, sending me tumbling down the wet, slick surface and onto the paved ground, a gasp of pain erupting from my body.

"... Damnit...!" I coughed, forcing myself up clumsily, using a building as support while I clawed my way to my feet. My swords were attached to my waist by a thick wire, dragging behind me as I snuck into an alleyway, a decent place to rest all while hiding from the jaws of our foreboding enemies.

I pressed my hand against my ribs, letting out a sigh of relief as I realized I hadn't broken anything.

It would leave one hell of a bruise though.

After what seemed like an eternity, I placed my hands back onto the swords, pulling them up with me and glancing up at the night sky overhead, rain pounding down onto my face, sliding down my neck and into my already soaked shirt. I clicked the trigger of the ODM gear, taking myself up past a clock tower, keeping watch for titans.
No matter how injured I may be, I must completely follow through with the orders given until death tears that burden away from me.

"..." My sights were set on a 12 meter. It's gaping mouth hung open, the putrid scent of its drool meeting my senses. I could see the way it twitched, the way it drank in the promise of a meal, eyes mapping out each and every Scout in a mile.

The very sight of it made my skin crawl, yet I felt myself grow even more disgusted when I watched it lift a hand towards a passing Scout, gripping onto their wire and giving it a starving tug.

I knew I was too far away to save the person who flailed in the air, dangling from their harness as the monster breathed down upon them, eyes tearing into their flesh before its teeth ever could.

I tensed up, preparing myself for the bones crunching, the agonizing scream, and the rotten grin the titan made after devouring it's target.

I never got used to it, no matter how many missions I went on.

And after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, my fear came true, and the previously terrorized Scout became nothing more than a lingering memory in the falling rain.

"Bastard!"

The distant voices of my comrades echoed through the storm as they had seen the same fate as me, charging at the beast without a single moment spared. I knew them going in with their emotions was a death sentence, but I knew better than to try and stop them. So instead, I brought down the titan myself.

"... What a shitty world we live in," I muttered under my breath, foot caressing the matted hair of the titan as I stood atop its fading body.

Thunder roared overhead, lightning striking between the dusted grey clouds, illuminating the streets around me. I felt myself shiver, the cold starting to creel into my skin. Scouts peppered the skies like falling leaves of autumn, soaring above buildings whilst fighting for their lives.

I let out a shallow breath as a blood curdling cry erupted to match the rhythm of the storm, my sharp gaze darting in the direction it came from, hands sliding into position of the buttons on my gear as I readied for a fight.

Right beside the clock tower I spotted and abnormal titan racing into everything in its path, bricks and rubble crashing down, crushing more than one of the people I viewed as family. I felt my heart begin to pound with rage. I let the emotions build up, unknowingly feeling the rumble of the earth below my feet as the titan got closer and closer.

I hadn't the will nor energy to move out of its path, only staring up at it, scowling.

If it was going to flail all over the place, taking it out from the sky would make me nothing more than a fly being swatted.

I'd take it down from here.

In a heartbeat, I pivoted to the right, diving off the still steaming body of the last titan I killed, latching my wires straight into the meat of the abnormal's calf.

I swung down and around, swiftly turning in a powerful spin, slicing open the back of it's ankles and sending it flying into yet another building. The crash made an enormous gust of wind flow up towards me, but I didn't let that mess me up. I pulled myself up high, ready to shred it's nape, eyes locked onto my target. I'd finish it in one blow. A single, easy slice-

...!?

A sudden blockade appeared in front of me, my heart falling to my feet.

Another abnormal had somehow appeared beside me in the midst of all this, it's teeth now gnawing right before my eyes, my body just inches away from meeting my end. How had it gotten here so quickly? How?!
I tried to stop myself by letting off the gas, struggling to escape, but to my demise, the creature only brought its hand up, ready to squeeze every last hope out of me.

I shut my eyes tightly.

There was no wishing now. I had to accept that this was the end. That's just the kind of world we live in...

... Or is it?

Abruptly, I heard the familiar and oh so heavenly sound of ODM gear cutting through the skin of a titan, followed by the heavy splashing of blood that dissipated the moment it hit the ground. As soon as the humanoid collapsed, I felt my falling body be swooped up and carried to the roof of an abandoned parlor, my mind whirling with a thousand thoughts and questions.

What met my sights was none other than Levi Ackermann.

"Be more careful of your surroundings. Don't get yourself killed!" He called over his shoulder, sliding off the roof before finishing off my kill.

He did it in such an elegant manner you wouldn't even stop to think he was slaying the monsters that terrorized our lives.

I lifted the palm of my hand to my chest, heart still pounding, legs growing more limp by the second. I normally didn't give in to my emotions on a mission, but I felt so many all at once I couldn't help but let out a shaking breath as my eyes followed Levi over to the roof of another building. He stopped for a brief moment, eyes turning over his shoulder as he gazed back at me, the distance between us making it hard to read his face. But seeing even the outline of his nose made my previously restless heart stop, the dream rushing back like a cold bucket of water being poured over me before quickly drying in the warmth of the sun.

I took a moment to watch as he disappeared into the fog.

Had that dream not been in my thoughts at that moment, perhaps I would have had enough restraint to stay out of his life... But because it was, I could not help but feel my curiosity grow. I needed answers to the mysterious longing I had in my heart.