Breaking Barricades (Levi x Reader)

29. ** One Last Chance **

I heard gunfire, but didn't feel a thing. The ringing in my ears was deafening...but I was still able to open my eyes, meaning I wasn't dead. How did he miss when the muzzle had been so close?

When I looked up, I gasped. The wall where Levi had once been restrained had crumbled to the ground, with only a few dangling chainlinks left. I had gotten lucky; The bullets had effectively freed Levi from the wall. I pushed myself up slowly and turned to find he had tackled the MP to the ground just before he could pull the trigger.

The MP was no match for Levi, even in his injured state. Levi had confiscated the knife I had dropped and was pressing it against the MP's throat. Barely a moment passed before blood splattered onto the floor below. I watched as Levi flipped the knife around in his hand, wiped the blood against the MP's jacket, and turned back to face me.

Pushing my palms against the floor, I tried to stand back up, but my strength finally gave out. Lunging towards me, Levi caught me as I fell. But the moment his hands met my raw skin, I arched my back and cried out in agony. He could barely cradle me in his arms without hurting me. The gashes caused by Viktor's belt stung horribly. My shirt was stuck to the worst of the wounds, from where Viktor had switched to the buckle end of the belt, when I wouldn't give him a scream.

Levi struggled to find a way to hold me without causing me to wince, cry or yelp. Finally, he was able to wrap one arm behind my neck, the other underneath my legs. I suddenly realized just how cold I was against Levi's warm skin, when I began to shiver uncontrollably.

"Shit, you're ice cold... you've lost too much blood..." Levi murmured, looking around the room quickly. "Where the hell's that bastard anyway... I'll fuckin' kill him so we can get out of here. You gotta hang on a bit longer, alright!?"

I didn't truly understand how dire my situation was until Levi met my gaze again. I had never seen him emit pity before... and it terrified me.

"We're leaving together this time, you hear me?" He said softly, as he brought his forehead to mine.

At that point, I didn't even have the strength left to speak. So instead, I answered by grazing my quivering lips against his.

Pushing himself to a stand with a grunt, Levi cautiously carried me closer to the door, both of us waiting for Viktor to reappear. Amidst the chaos, he had somehow slipped away, but no one had entered or exited the room since, so we knew he would show himself eventually.

We were nearing the hearth, embers still smouldering, when out from the shadows we heard his venomous tongue hiss.

"Am I the only one here with a serious case of Deja Vu right now? Levi...trying to save a girl who is bleeding to death... even though it all could have been avoided if she had just behaved... and if you had just STAYED OUT OF IT!"

Appearing out of nowhere, Viktor flew forward, shoving his hands around Levi's throat and slamming him against the stone hearth behind us. The speed at which he attacked knocked me out of Levi's arms, causing me to tumble to the floor and crash into the fireplace tools.

The fall hurt like hell as the iron stand fell over into the fire, sending ash and embers into the air. The flakes burned my skin as I coughed from the sudden cloud of smoke.
I could feel myself beginning to fade in and out of consciousness, as I fought desperately to stay alive. I couldn't die here; I couldn't leave Levi like this. I had to push through the pain and fight a little longer.

I slowly turned my head to find Viktor and Levi vigorously fighting against each other, driven by pure rage. Any other day, I would have had full confidence in Levi's ability to defeat Viktor. But, when I noticed him showing signs of fatigue, I began to fret.

I rolled to my side, trying to get back up again, but could only lay against the hearth gasping for air, as it became increasingly more difficult and painful to breathe. I could only watch helplessly as Levi began to take more hits than he could deliver. One blow was so strong that he lost his footing on his bad leg, giving Viktor the opportunity to tackle him to the floor.

"Le...vi..." I barely whispered, pathetically reaching out to him.

Viktor saw me out of the corner of his eye and sputtered a laugh through his gritted teeth, as he squeezed his hands around Levi's throat.

"Take a good, long look at your Captain, Kimiyo...! Humanity's so-called Strongest Soldier will soon take his final breath, and I will be the one who finished him! You doubted me when I said that I would kill anyone who touched you! But now you understand! Because I own you, baby! YOU'RE MINE!"

My eyes filled with fear; Levi must have noticed my expression change, because the next thing I knew, Levi had thrown his head against Viktor's, causing him to lose his grip.

As they battled for control once more, blood and sweat coating the floor beneath them, I rolled back to my stomach and dropped my forehead to the ground from exhaustion. I closed my eyes and exhaled a slow, focused breath. I had run out of time. But I wasn't going to let Levi die too.

My eyes suddenly widened with inspiration as I inhaled a sharp gasp. I lifted my head back up slowly and turned, revitalized by my determination. There before me, glowing in the newly stoked flames, were the fireplace tools I had tumbled into: iron tongs, broom, shovel... and poker.

I quickly glanced over to find Viktor had pinned Levi to the ground again. He was trying to wrap his hands around Levi's throat to finish him, but Levi had him blocked. If I could just figure out a way to keep Viktor from noticing me, I could move forward with my newly devised plan. But I wasn't as stealthy now as I was before.  And there wasn't any time left to think.

Just then, Levi caught my gaze and noticed something was different. My hand was loosely clasped around the iron poker, still halfway submerged in the flames. He looked back up at Viktor, then back at me, when suddenly he dropped his block, which allowed Viktor's hands to trap his throat once more.

He was putting all of his trust in me. We both knew this was our last chance.

And I had to take it.