Underground (Levi x Reader)

Heat

Levi dragged me behind him through the trees for several miles, until we reached the abandoned village we had stayed at the night before. Without horses, and on foot, it seemed so much farther from the outpost that we had come across that morning. Or maybe it seemed so much farther because every part of my body felt as if it was made of lead.

I had stopped crying several miles ago, the tear stains long dried on my cheeks, mixed with the dark, maroon blood that had congealed and stained my skin. I felt nothing but numbness.

I trudged behind Levi through the village, as he checked each house again, making sure no titans had taken up residence since we had left that morning. The rain had started up again, a cold, constant drizzle that was slowly seeping through my cloak and uniform, sinking into my skin and making me shiver.

We reached the house where we had stayed the night before and Levi pushed inside first, his blades still drawn. After a few silent seconds, I heard him call to me from inside, the room dark from the twilight that had begun to descend over the village. "Oi, (L/N). Get in here out of the rain."

I walked into the room, my head bent, my drenched hair falling into my eyes and dripping cold rain water down my cheeks. I couldn't bring myself to care. How the hell had everything gone so wrong?

Without removing my wet cloak, I walked across the room and slumped down against the wall, watching disinterestedly as Levi gathered some dry firewood that had been left over and attempted to build a fire in the middle of the room. I shivered again. The rain made the air damp and chilly and the wet cloak hung heavily around my shoulders wasn't helping matters.

I glanced past Levi, my eyes drawn to the spot on the floor where Johnson had slept next to Miller just the night before. I felt anger rise up and fight against the numbness in my chest. Why did we do this? Why did we go out on futile missions just to return with less people than we started with? Why did we put CHILDREN'S lives in danger for the sake of humanity?

Before I could stop myself, flashes of my interactions with Johnson flitted through my head. The first mission we'd ever done together, how I had made him try to take a titan down on his own, how nervous he was to try for the first time. The ride to his village, the sound of his sobbing as his mother was eaten before his eyes, the terror on his face when he heard Mory and the joy when he had her back safely. The time he had sat by the fire with me, blushing when I teased him, his warm, rough hand on mine.

And finally, when he had stayed behind. When he had come up beside me in the forest, his eyes determined, giving me that half smile as he pressed his blades into my hands. The lone titan, Johnson crushed in its hand, raised to its mouth......the warm feeling as blood rained down on me...

Levi sat down beside me, startling me out of my dark thoughts. I flicked my gaze over to him, and the anger returned, bubbling hotly underneath my skin, as the memory of him dragging me away from the titan and Johnson returned to my mind. It was his fault. He hadn't let me go back. If he had.....

"Oi, (L/N)." He spoke flatly, watching me with his eyebrow raised. The fire he had started lit up his face with an eerie orange glow, his dark eyes black in the shadows from the flames. "You couldn't have saved him you know."

The anger bubbled over. I couldn't control it. I clenched my hands into fists at my sides, staring at the ground at my feet, as I muttered under my breath, "Maybe I could have...maybe I could have done something....but you...." My hands shook at my sides as I met his gaze, flames of rage dancing in my eyes as I finally lost control and screamed at him, "You took me away! This is all your fault! This is. All. Your. Fault!"

I lunged at him, swinging my fists wildly, not caring what I hit as long as I connected with him and made him feel the same pain that I was feeling in that moment.