Shorter Than Me

29 Levi

Guiin doesn't look normal. I see her for only a few seconds and she's in the shadows, but there's something about her that looks different.

I dismiss it as everyone waits a few hours. Hanji flies around landing on titans' heads, voicing her wishes to bring them all back with her as loud as possible. Many make a grab for her, but she's fast enough to avoid them. She's the only one entirely entertained as she does a few experiments like cutting limbs off and measuring the time it takes to regenerate. Her squad helps her, taking notes and cutting limbs off. She comes up to me. "Levi, can I ask you a favor?"

"Maybe."

"Can you make a bunch of little cuts on that three meter titan, then the five, then the eleven? I want to see the differences in regeneration times and find out if the sluggishness from lack of light affects it."

On expeditions like this, she's pretty much above everyone but the Commander. Anyone she asks to help her is obligated to help her. I could say no, but then she would whine to Commander Erwin and he would tell me to do it.

I do what she asks me to do and look around for Guiin, but I don't see her. I want to see why she looked different. It seemed like something was bothering her a lot.

After a lot of insanity from Hanji, the Commander eventually decides it's time to descend on the titans. A hundred bodies jump from the trees. In the first minute I've killed over ten titans and seen two Scouts die.

Lots more from both sides die. It's hard to keep track of time, but I don't try. I just zip around and cut through titans.

When I'm on my last set of blades, I start toward a titan yet again. Someone whizzes past me too quickly to be safe, and I realize who it is. Guiin. She kills the titan and maintains her momentum as she hurtles at an obviously unsafe speed to another titan. She narrowly misses a hand reaching out to her, but she doesn't seem to notice. As I watch, she's killed four titans in about ten seconds.

I can tell when someone is going too slowly or too out of control. Guiin is definitely out of control. Rather than deciding to focus on everything, it's as if she is ignoring everything and just concentrating on distracting herself. I watch her zap from one titan to the next, passing dangerously close to titans, Scouts, and other cables. She's going to die and probably drag another Scout with her.

This is not what I taught her to be. I am not going to let her die. Something is wrong with her right now. She's smarter than this. I need to fix what's wrong before it costs her her life.

I fly after her as fast as I can while still keeping alert of my surroundings. She's extremely evasive, but the titan killing slows her down. I use more of my gas than I usually do and grab her from the side. As I drag her upward, I'm reminded of the last time I did this. She's being more of an idiot this time.

Once we get to the height I want, I stop.

"Guiin, you're being too reckless." There's more anger in my voice than I intended.

"No I'm not. I'm killing titans." She is definitely not normal. She sounds different.

"You're going to get yourself killed." I let more emotion into my voice. I need her to see that she shouldn't die.

"I'm fine. I'm not going to die." She starts to move away, but I yank the controls from her hands and let them drop. Thankfully, they don't hit either of our legs. I clasp my arms around her, pinning her in place.

"If you keep doing things like you are, yes, you will die. I'm not going to let you get yourself killed." Our faces are so close I can smell her breath.

"So, what, are you going to keep me up here while you could be saving lives down there?"

She's right. I'm wasting time on her. But I don't want her to die. She can't die. "I'm not going to let you get yourself killed," I say again. "Don't die, Guiin," I order.

Then I do something that shocks me just as much as it probably shocks her. I care about her, and I don't want her to die.

But now I need her to stay alive.

Her lips taste like her breath smells.

When I realize what I'm doing, I release her. Her expression is completely shocked, but I only glance at it for an instant before I return to the fight below.

My mind is an infinity of knots and confusion, so I do what I always do when I'm fighting titans.

I forget everything else and focus on what's in front of me: titans and humans.

End of chapter BAM. My heart... I don't know what else to say. But YESSSSSSSSSSS AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I'm as excited as you. This is so much happiness and your comments (from Ecyn's pov of it) made me smile so much.

*Jumps up and down, and screams into a pillow* *smiles so hard my face hurts*

Hearts, kitties, and toy cars to you all. This couldn't have happened without you. (This isn't the end, by the way. Oh, it's just the beginning.)

~Syre Fayne