One place on Earth - Levi x Reader

One place on Earth - Levi x Reader - part 13

  A/N: This story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It really was a close call. The hardest part was to re-open the gap on the linked fence to get into the pipe before they became sitting ducks for the soldiers that wanted their heads. Once they were all in, their final sprint through the dark and moist underground route started. They ran over the little mass that was left of Oluo, and continued their way, not looking back, not stopping. They heard the growls and roars of the dead ones when they reached the crossing point. Some of them came after them, some of them were waiting for them ahead. They didn't care if they made noise, they used their guns to get rid of everything that came in their way. The soldiers came after them, but they were unaware of threat that was waiting for them in the darkness.

The noises that Levi's team had made, lured the dead ones towards the sound, and the soldiers came across the pack of living corpses at the crossing point, forcing them to fight the dead ones instead of proceeding their hunt for the living. The gunfire echoed in the walls behind them, the screams of the men became louder and louder.

One by one they climbed up the ladder which lead them to the upper level, away from the danger. The voices of dying people faded to the distance, as they finally made their way back to the surface, meeting the fresh air again. They didn't look back, they didn't feel sorry for those who faced their deaths inside the sewers. They just ran away.

------------

The day was slowly turning into an evening. They were back at the supply house, treating their wounds and hoping that Annie and Reiner would appear to them by some miracle. Jean stared out the window, looking for any movement outside. Every once in a while, some dead people walked pass the streets, but there was no sight of their comrades.

Hanji was lying on the couch. She was in the worst condition. The long run had made her leg even more painful. Levi and Mikasa had been shot, while Eren and Jean suffered more from the mental damages that this mission had caused. It had been hours since they got here. They had been waiting, but as the time went by, it was getting more clear to them that their friends would not make it back.

"Should we stay here over the night?" Jean spoke no one particular, while he kept his eyes on the window.

Levi sat on the couch with his arms crossed. He looked at his remaining team members, trying to think what was the best choice for them to do next. They were all tired, exhausted, it was clear. He didn't want to take any more risks to lose more people. He took a deep breath.

"No. We should go. We've done what we came here to do." he said monotonously.

Everyone raised their heads, looking at each other in silence.

"We'll take the minivan and leave the other car here so they can use it to come back if, or when they show up here." Levi continued, standing up from his seat.

He received a few nods from Eren and Mikasa.

"That's right, it's the best we can do." Hanji said, while she heaved herself up from the couch.

"Tch." Jean noised from the window.

He agreed that it was the best they could to for their friends, but he still didn't want to just leave. He gave one last look around the block, before he reluctantly turned around and joined the others to pack their things.

They removed most of their supplies to the minivan. When they were finally ready to leave, the sun was already dropping into the horizon. Jean turned the key to start the car, squeezing his hands around the steering wheel for a while, before he allowed himself to leave the yard and start their drive back. The car was silent, no one had anything to say. This mission was a success, but it had cost too much for them to have anything to celebrate.

--------------

"Levi?" you said, watching the blue sky above.

"Hm?" Levi hummed beside you.

He was lying on his back on the tall grass with his eyes closed, resting his head against the arms behind his neck.

"Do you think it's gonna be forever like this? Will we ever be able to live free in this world?" you asked, turning your head towards the man next to you.

He opened his left eye to look at you from the corner of his eye. "As long as you're here, I don't care about the rest of this world." he said, now turning his head towards you.

The warm breeze played with his dark hair. You reached yourself closer to him, removing the few locks near his eyes. You stared at his eyes, straight into those mysterious dark orbs that had seen so much, that held so many stories behind them. His hand moved on your chin, caressing it softly. With a smile growing on your lips, you leaned closer to kiss him.

"I love you" you said quietly against his lips.

He smiled, before he kissed you again, reaching his arm over your back and pulling you closer to him. "And I love you" he replied between the kisses.

His arms squeezed you even closer, as the kiss got hungrier. You taook deep breaths through your nose and hummed against his lips, feeling that nice warm tingle all around your body.

"You taste so good." he said to tease you, and you giggled.

He gently bit your lower lip, making you moan. He tug his hands on your shirt, not wanting to let you go. The kiss turned even more harsh and he bit your lip again, this time harder. You tasted iron in your mouth. It hurt. His nails sunk against your skin. He's actually hurting you. You tried to pull away from the kiss, but he didn't let you go. A low hoarse breaths left from his mouth as he kept your lower lip between his teeth. Your eyes shot wide open. His eyes were different. There was just an empty look in them. His breath grew deeper, and his nails moved painfully against your back.

"L-Levi?" you stammered.

He didn't hear you. His teeth suddenly bit deeper into your lip, making you yell. You roughly pushed your head on your side, managing to get your lip free. As soon as you did this, Levi turned around, rolling on top of you and pinning your arms to the ground.

"LEVI, STOP IT!" you yelled at his face, trying to struggle away from him.

He growled low like an animal, not taking his eyes away from you.

"Levi, what's wrong with you? P-please stop!" you cried.

His head lunged towards you without a warning, his teeth boring onto your neck. You screamed. You heard a disgusting ripping sound and something warm flowing down against your neck. Levi reached his head up, and you saw your own blood covering his face from nose below, dripping from his jaw. His eyes were empty, his breath war rough and stinking of blood.

"No... NO, NO!" you cried in shock.

You couldn't get away, no matter how much you kicked or squirmed. You could only watch in terror as his face lunged towards yours once again.


*GASP*


You saw light in the corner of your vision. Someone was blocking your sight. Cold sweat ran down your forehead as you desperately gasped for air while pair of hands held you from your shoulders.

"NO, NO, GET AWAY!" you panicked again.

"(Name), calm down." you heard Erwin's voice next to your ear.

You froze, suddenly realizing where you are. You blinked your teary eyes and your breathed long and deep. "O- oh god..." you mumbled with a shaking voice, covering your eyes with your left hand.

Erwin stood next to your bed, gently letting go of your shoulders. You raised your head, gulping the dry feeling off your throat. Your hand moved to your neck, rubbing the spot that was ripped open in your dream.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Erwin talked to you in a quiet and calm voice. "You slept a bit restlessly, mumbling. I wasn't sure if you had a fewer or a bad dream so I tried to wake you."

You nodded to tell him you heard him, staring at the end of your bed. "Just a bad dream." you pressed your eyes close again, wanting to erase the image of an infected Levi from your head.

You took a deep breath, and opened your eyes again. There was a candle on the nurse's desk at the other side of the room, giving a little light to the darkness that surrounded you. There was some papers on the desk, with a pistol next to them. You looked at Erwin, reasoning he was staying on watch, being your personal executioner if the worst happened.

"What time is it?" you asked, wiping your eyes.

"Around eleven, I guess." he said, taking a seat on the bed near your feet.

"I see." your eyes moved again to the desk, wondering if he's been sitting there this whole time. "You know, you don't have to actually stay awake the whole night because of me."

"I know." he smiled. "I just I have to try sort out a few things before I can sleep." he explained, looking at the window in front of him.

"What things?" you decided to ask, since you didn't feel tired enough to just go back to sleep.

"Plans... to go outside again. We can't keep up much longer with the supplies we have. We need fuel, medicine, ammo, clothes... everything. Every once in a while, a selected few people leave to search around the outside areas to try to find what we need, but most of the people who usually do these expeditions, are with Levi at the moment. I can't get any of these plans forward, not before they come back, and I know for sure that there are enough people left to make these trips possible."

You nodded, staring at him in silence. Erwin had the same look on his face like he had earlier today, which made it impossible for you to hold your question back this time.

"Um, what was it that you were thinking earlier?"

Erwin snapped out of his thoughts. "What do you mean?"

"When you came to see me, and you just stared at me, being a little creepy?" you specified.

He chuckled. "Ah, that." his face slowly loosed the smile. He thought about it, trying to find the right words. "I wanted to speak with you about something, but I figured you were too exhausted back then."

"Well, I'm surely don't want to go back to sleep and have another nightmare. We can talk now." you shifted to relax your body.

Erwin watched you settle, before he began. "(Name), this ability of yours, if it really works... being able to move along with the dead without them reacting to your presence. It might help us all." he said, following your reactions to his words.

You wrinkled your forehead. Your eyes traveled around the space in front of you as you gave it a thought. "This sure makes things easier, for me at least. I've been thinking about it too. I mean, basically, I would be able to kill every single dead one that comes to my way, without any resistance."

"(Name), don't get me wrong. I didn't want to sound like I'd want you to do something like that. What I said, was just a thought." he said and stood up from your bed.

"You don't have to correct your words, I know what you mean. But I'm sure it had crossed your mind that I could actually be a real killing machine with this... freaking corpse-camouflage thing going on." you blurted out your thoughts.

Erwin was surprised by what you said, you could tell. But you knew he surely had thought of it.

"Yes. The opportunity has crossed my mind." he admitted. "But (Name), I'm not having any plans to toss you out there to clear the world for us."

"Oh, no, Erwin," you adjusted your upper body in a more comfortable position. "I actually want that. Right now, I feel like I'm being a burden. I hate this situation. I don't want to be like this forever, just sitting on my ass and let everyone else do the hard work. I wanna do my part, just like everyone else. Help killing these bastards, go with others on these quests, and everything else what needs to be done." you said, loud and clear while hoping he could see the spark in your eye, so that he'd know you were dead serious about it.

Erwin looked at you in silence, taking his time to think about your words, especially the few specific things that caught his attention.

"You're saying, that you want to join the expeditions? Even if you know what's out there, knowing how dangerous it is? People die there, and you'd be there to witness it all, and live with it." he listed, returning back to the spot next to your feet, not breaking the eye contact with you. "Do you really want that?"

"Yes." you heard yourself saying.

Your heart was racing. You knew that it really was a risky job to take, but for some reason it didn't seem to matter. Something had changed. You didn't want to just hide and run away anymore. You didn't doubt to risk your life for this place. Why? Then it hit you. Your eyes slowly widened for the realization, and you allowed a small smile to grow on your face.

"I wanna help the others in the best way I can. A lot of people call this place "Home", including Levi, which felt a bit strange for me at first. He told me about how everything is different and better in here. I believed him, I did, but in my head, I still pictured this being just another zone among the others.

But now, even though I've been here just for a few days, I can only be amazed by the fact that it really feels like home in here. I've finally found a place where I really wanna stay, instead of just thinking about it as a temporary solution." you spoke calmly, while your eyes wandered around the room, finding it a bit hard to believe just how much you really liked it in here. "I want this. Let me help. I can be useful out there, I know it."

Erwin looked away, hovering in his thoughts for what felt like forever to you. Eventually, exhaled deeply, and looked at you again.

"All right."

"Really?" you blinked, not being completely convinced that he was serious.

"Well, everyone has their place and purpose here. There's only a handful of people willing to take the job to go outside, and we do need more men for that. If you really think you have what it takes and you can handle yourself out there, I don't see any reason to hold you back." he explained calmly.

You scanned his face, trying to look for any signs that he was just messing with you. There wasn't any.

"That's all I want." you finally found your voice.

He let out a quiet hum. "In one condition." he then added, making you narrow your eyes.

"Ha, I knew this was going too easy." you smirked.

"Just hear me out," Erwin turned to face you. "You don't go near anything dangerous. No matter what happens, you'll stay back. No more these happening, -" he pointed at your messed up arm. "No risks, until we sort out your situation with that virus."

Your gaze raced around, not really focusing on anything particular. "I keep myself safe and unharmed until we get the answers, and then I'm free to do whatever I want?" you recited the conditions.

You checked Erwin's reaction for what you just said, seeing him give you nod.

"For sure?"

He nodded again.

You extended your less painful arm forward for a handshake. "Deal."

Erwin smiled, finding your enthusiasm amusing. He reached out his own arm, squeezing your hand as you so wished. "Deal."

Something bright flashed from the window, lighting the room for a few seconds. You both quickly turned your heads.

"What was that?" you wondered.

Erwin stood up and looked out the window, seeing the gate from the far left. The light flashed again from behind the trees.

"It's a car."

Your heart did a back-flip inside your chest. You struggled quickly off the bed and pushed your face against the window. The bright headlights were now pointing towards the gate, staying still. The car had stopped.

"They're back?!" you couldn't believe your eyes.

Erwin left the window, taking quick steps out of the room, and after a few seconds you raced after him into the hallway. You followed Erwin to the entrance. He pushed the front doors open, stepping into the cool and dark night. You were about to follow him down the stairs, when Erwin extended his arm to block your way.

"You stay here."

"But-"

"Did you forget our deal already?" he looked at you over his shoulder, giving you a piercing stare. "You don't step near the gate, you hear me?"

You froze, staring back into his eyes. Goddammit, this might be harder than you thought.

"Fine." you obeyed and stepped back. "Just, please hurry and get them inside."

Erwin left you by the entrance. You felt physically sick for worrying so much. It was terrible to be so close, and still so far away from seeing if Levi was with them or not. You wanted to run after Erwin, be right there to see what's behind those heavy gates, but you forced yourself to remain still.