Tasteful - Levi x OC (Attack On Titan)

The Love of Family

With the latest Titan incursion being avoided, the surviving members of the platoon were given a short break to recuperate. A green smoke signal was fired into the air and the soldiers glumly took their rest. Ofcourse, they were relieved to be alive. But at the same time, the expedition had failed. The loss of life was substantial. And now the bodies of their fallen had been lost to the Titans.

They were in mourning. A mourning that would last a lifetime and never truly disappear, only fade until you think its gone. But everytime you look back at the scars it would all come flooding back again.

Arden had barely even gotten off her horse when she was very gently tackled by a head of honey blonde hair. "Arden! We were so worried about you!" Lydia cried into her shoulder, hugging Arden with much more force then you would think possible for the sweet woman.

Carlisle was behind Lydia, watching as the honey blonde tackled the red eyed woman. He nodded his head, a silent greeting to Arden. He'd already had his 'hello', now he was giving the others a chance to have theirs.

Arden smiled at him from over Lydia's shoulder before glancing at the woman and letting out a soft chuckle.

"You don't need to worry about me." Arden reassured with a gentle smile on her face. Wrapping her arms around Lydia and giving her back a soft pat.

When Lydia pulled away, her golden cat-like eyes were glistening with unshed tears, sparkling in the sunlight. She sniffled as a small, motherly smile finally rose at her lips, "Don't be silly! I'll always worry about you. It's what a family does." Her beautiful toothy smile warmed Arden's heart. If she ever needed a boost of energy, Lydia was who she'd go to.

"A-Arden? Thank the lord you're okay." Tobias exclaimed, peering around Lydia to get a look at the raven haired woman. But when Lydia moved out of the way so Arden was fully in his view, he jumped back slightly. His icy blue eyes widening in shock at her bloodied appearance. "Well, possibly okay. What happened?"

Waving him off, Arden took heavy steps toward him, hiding her limp as she didn't want to worry her friends, "We'll talk about it later. But right now, just get over here." Opening her arms she watched as Tobias grinned before stepping forward and wrapping his arms carefully around her. From their gentle touch, Arden knew that Carlisle must've told them she was injured.

Tobias gave her one last cautious squeeze before pulling away from her with a huge grin on his face. To him, Arden was his best friend and the first person to ever believe in him. He was glad to have her back.

With a small grin herself, she reached over to run her hand through his striking silver hair, ruffling it like she usually did.

But the pair of sad yet excited eyes a few feet infront of her caught her attention. Kain was awkwardly stood behind the group, hands fidgeting uncomfortably infront of him. Big crimson eyes glinting with relief yet flooding with worry. You could tell by the impatient patter of his left foot that he was dying to run at his older sister and embrace her in a hug he'll never let go of. He knew things that the others didn't. He knew that the demon wound was affecting her more than she let on.

But worst of all, he could feel her demonic energy fading...

"Ahem." Carlisle cleared his throat but didn't succeed in ending the siblings intense staring match. Wrapping his arms nonchalantly around both Lydia and Tobias' shoulders, Carlisle swiftly began pulling the two away, "Maybe we should give them some space." He stated before the two could protest.

Arden and Kain continued to stare at each other, a million words they wanted to say to one another but not a single one would form at their lips.

She had scared him. The look of pure fear in his eyes at her haunted her. It was something she promised herself 18 years ago that he would never feel again. He'd never feel scared, he'd never feel alone or frightened. He'd had too much of that for a 6 year old boy. Yet now, she had become the very thing she swore to protect him from. She thought he hated her for how little control of her demon blood she had.

"K-Kain--" She stuttered out. She had to make it right with him but she just froze.

"Forget it." His soft voice yet harsh words shocked her. Forget what? Forget trying to apologise? She thought.

But Kain took a step forward, a small smile on his face as he gazed at her, "I know what you're gonna say and you don't have to say it. You don't have to apologise. Because-- you did nothing wrong. I know you think that you're a monster Arden, but you're not." This time he took a larger step forward, gently grabbing his sisters hands and clasping them in his. "You are my sister. And you always will be. What happened that day with Drystan-- it wasn't your fault... You were just protecting me. Like you always have done, I know that... I-I never meant to flinch away from you like that. I didn't mean it. I just--" He looked down, taking in a deep breath before looking back up at her with so much sincerity in his eyes that Arden felt her own had pricked with tears.

The more Kain spoke, the more her head started pounding from holding back a flood of tears. She didn't know it then, but this was exactly what she needed to hear from him.

"I was surprised. But I wasn't scared. Not of you-- never of you... And that's because, I know you'll never hurt me. So don't say you're sorry, okay? Dont you dare say it... I love you, big sister." He finished with a big, toothy smile as a single tear ran down his porcelain skin.

Arden opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. His last words replaying in her mind, 'I love you, big sister'. It was something the siblings didn't say enough to each other because they knew that they loved each other without having to verbally say it. But sometimes, hearing the words is better than knowing them.

So she stepped forward, reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck as she tightly hugged him. Her breath shaking as she tried her hardest to calm the pooling water in her eyes. "I love you too, little brother." She whispered into his shoulder before burying her face into it.

Kain smiled even wider, all his pearly whites on display as more tears fell from his eyes. Whole body glowing with a feeling of warmth as he hugged her back, his lips placing a gentle kiss on her blood-crusted hair but he didn't care.

They stayed like that for a minute more, just happy that were together and back to usual. But it couldn't be like that forever.

Kain slowly and reluctantly pulled away, his brows furrowing as he stared down at her. With the back of his hand, he wiped messily at his tear stained cheeks, sniffling before talking, "Now you need to tell me what happened to you out there. I can sense the wound and... I can sense your energy fading..."

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