The Titan Queen - Levi X Reader

Chapter 29 - Silence and Darkness

War was so entirely messy that you almost understood Levi's obsession with cleanliness.

But it wasn't just the stickiness of the blood on your face, or the sweat plastering itself to your clothes, or the mud that was quickly forming.

It was the mess of information that was quickly becoming your most hated thing – wondering where your friends were, wondering who had been hurt. You understood, glaringly, your weakness; you were an excellent assassin and could hold your own in a fight with ease. But in war, where there was no duel or collection of information or the opportunity to give your enemy one minute of attacking time so that you could glean their weaknesses... You were at a loss. The best you could do was keep your sword moving, keep your enemy's head rolling.

Levi and you had branched out, standing the ground between the titans and the wall of flame. You wouldn't allow the titans to push you back – but even as you had that thought, a titan dove headfirst at you, and you both tumbled to the dirt.

You locked your ankles around their waist and quickly abandoned the sword, going straight for the daggers at your thighs. Their handles were slippery with blood – whether yours or your enemies, you did not know – but that didn't stop you from getting a solid handle on them and plunging them deep into your attacker's stomach and ripping upwards, up through skin and muscle and organ.

Whilst you'd been going for your daggers, the titan had been tearing into your shoulder with brass knuckles so that your entire left arm was slowly turning numb – but once you'd tossed the body aside and scrambled to your feet, you merely armed yourself with your sword in your right hand and continued.

Messy – constant death.

"Y/N," Levi shouted, ducking around a titan so that he could yell cleanly. "Look south!"

You looked south.

The flames at your back did well to light the battlefield before you – but not enough that you could immediately see what Levi had wanted you to. It took a few solid seconds until you spotted a familiar sword arcing through some students, their human bodies crumbling into blood and splintered bone.

Orion had come to play, and his game was death.

For the first time, you didn't want to walk straight up and fight. Fear was lacing itself into your fingers – and pain. Pain was in every breathe you took, rattling inside your lungs. But you still stumbled forwards, joining Levi in the act of carving yourself a path towards your promised partner, the iron ring at your finger strangely hot. Or was it cold? It was getting harder to tell.

You tripped over more than one body on your way to face Orion and forbade yourself from looking at their faces to evaluate whether they were friend or foe or if you recognised them. Levi stormed ahead – not pausing to help you rise, not bothering to check his back.

You did that for him, deflecting the titans to other fighters, keeping the ones you couldn't kill far away from Levi's prowl towards Orion. You'd never seen Levi in serious action before – but you doubted he was normally like this; unguarded, hardly cautious.

Naturally, his talent at killing things was staggeringly obvious, but the man was tired.

He'd already been fighting for an age before you'd gotten to him, although you'd lost track of time since your horse had taken a tumble. But still he stepped forwards, his gear useless with the lack of trees or buildings, but his twin swords unstoppable.

Orion laughed as he saw Levi approach.

He flung out a clawed hand, sweeping titans away so that they formed a sickening circle around the pair – and you. They parted for you, silently watching to see what you'd do. "Even if you manage to kill me," Orion shouted, his onyx eyes alight as he settled them on Levi, "my army surrounding us will fall onto you and tear you apart."