✓ Blood Lust (Levi Ackerman - Attack on Titan) #wattys2021

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Our next stop ended up being a worn down church. It was our next lead on Eren and Christa. I can see the stress on Levi by his taunt shoulders, but I don't acknowledge it, knowing he wants to prove he's a rock.

The first part of our plan goes off without a hitch. The barrels cause the air to get thick with smoke, making visibility hard on the enemy but unfortunately gave us away, but they're still slow to act.

"Thirty-five enemies! They're behind the pillars!" Levi yells, but I'm already off, catching one of Kenny's men by surprise and rendering him unconscious. Possibly dead. There's no time to stop and check.

The smoke has become too thick to see what my comrades are doing, but each Military personnel I encounter, I take them out from behind like Armin said. I briefly spot Jean slitting a throat before he's gone again.

Without warning, my body slams into a pillar, and I spot Kenny cackling to himself, not even bothering to finish me off as something, or someone, now has his attention.

Levi.

My vision blurs as I recover from the fall, the dizziness subsiding eventually. I spot my target, Kenny's blonde right hand women. She's mine today and she'll pay for trying to kill Levi and I.

Mikasa lunges at the woman at the same time I reach her, and I narrowly avoid being sliced by my own comrade. A man comes at me, my sword meeting his throat before he can get a shot off. I turn back to my target, noticing she's dangling from the pillar, her gun pointed right at Hange.

"Shit!" I yell as she's struck and flung into a nearby pillar. I dart down, slowing her descent, hoping her injuries aren't deadly. My fingers find her pulse, relieved it still seems strong, but she's losing lots of blood. A piece from the bottom of my shirt is pressed into her shoulder where the ODM gear entered, applying pressure in hopes of stopping the bleeding, or at least slowing it.

Hange starts to come to, while Armin and Moblit drop down beside me. "We've got this, Eliora. Catch up with the others at the exit," Moblit says, and I nod, casting one final glance at Hange before shooting away. I land beside my husband, his body looking through the net in barely concealed anger. 

There's a crack similar to the sound that Eren makes when he transformed. Mikasa cries out for her friend as I take steps closer to see what's going on.

"Captain! The hole!" Armin shouts behind us, pointing at an opening in the ceiling.

"Armin! Moblit! Take Hange and get out of here!" Levi orders as a rush of hot air blows through the tunnel. The blast blows open the net and none of us hesitate going towards the danger. Right now, Eren and Christa are our priority, even if we may die.

Mikasa catches Christa as she's blown back, while Levi and Jean attempt to free Eren's chained wrists.

"It's way bigger than the Colossal Titan, isn't it?!" Sasha shouts in a panicked voice, watching the creature transform in front of us. She's right. It's going to be larger than Titans we've dealt with before, and it's still growing. I press back against the wall, pushing my redheaded friend with me. Mikasa and Christa are already doing the same.

"The ceiling! Look out! Get back!" Levi shouts, dragging Eren back with him, the other men following along as a piece of the rock ceiling collapses.

Eren begins to sob, sliding down the wall.

"Pull yourself together! You can't fall apart on us now, not after everything that's been sacrificed!" I scream at him, the heat from Rod Reiss's Titan beginning to make my throat dry.

"I'm sorry everyone...I've been nothing but useless."

"What's this? You think you're some kind of tragic hero? When have you ever accomplished anything by your strength alone?" Jean says, his sentences being questions but ending up more as statements. We all have done so much for humanity, Eren being our tool.

"What a weakling," Connie says, grinning down at the fifteen year old boy. "We've been through so much worse than this."

"Not that I want to get used to it!" our loveable redhead pipes up, staring ahead in fear.

Connie speaks again. "It's not going to be fun navigating through all of that, though."

"I'll take Eren," the other Ackermann speaks up, ever loyal to her childhood friend.

"It's useless. We can't escape." I'm close to shaking our Titan hybrid at this point.

"So we just do nothing?" Historia says, glaring at him. "You wanna sit here and hold hands till we're crushed or burn to death? Because we're enemies of humanity?" Eren looks up at her through his tear-stained and blood covered face. Maybe it's finally sinking in that we're either going to die or we're going to die fighting.

"You know, I hate doing this to you every time, but Eren," Levi says from beside me, looking over at the young kid that's been in his care since day one. "But you have to make the choice." Once again, he's asking him to trust us, trust his comrades.

He stares long at Levi before turning, grabbing something from the ground and running forward, transforming into a Titan. Soon, webs of what looks like Annie's armor is shooting out from him, and Levi grabs my elbow, pulling me along with him. "Everyone, get under Eren!"

His hand doesn't leave mine, almost standing protectively over me, watching the protective webs continue. Rod Reiss is leaving the underground chamber slowly, something good for us, but bad for everyone above ground. When everything settles, Jean and Mikasa break human Eren from his Titan body.

"Now that's what I call hardening," Levi says, stepping away from me. "Even after cutting you out, the body hasn't gone away. Pretty impressive, yeah?"

"Hange is going to be pissed she missed it," I say, going up to the hardened body and breaking a piece off for my mentor, placing the foreign piece into my pocket.

"Oh right! Right before I turned into a Titan, I drank that armor bottle."

Levi steps closer to Eren. "You couldn't do it at all before now, but you used the hardening power. And saved all of us." I can hear how proud he is and his thankfulness in his voice, making me warm inside. "In the blink of an eye, you devised and made all of this. The construction looks shoddy but I bet that's how the walls were made too. In other words, it's possible for us to plug Wall Maria." He makes eye contact with me, probably gauging for my reaction, but I'm stunned. I'm surprised my mind didn't immediately go there. Maybe I'm still reeling from almost dying and now being okay.

"A lot of enemies and allies have died on the way, and getting this far hasn't been pretty, but for as ugly as it's been, look at the position we're in now." Eren looks away from Levi, becoming deep in thought.

A voice calls down to us, and we see Sasha and Connie lowering down to us. "Captain, we secured an exit!"

"Armin's safe! Hange and Moblit too!" Connie speaks next, still lowering down to us.

"Well done," Levi replies. The two run to Eren, and my husband comes over to me, pulling me into his arms, catching me off guard. His protective arms squeeze me for a moment, letting go in case the others notice. His hand caresses a loose strand of hair from my bangs, pressing a quick kiss to my lips and turning back to the group. We have other pressing matters, such as the loose Titan that's larger than the Colossus.

"Hey. Let's go. We're going after that big ass Titan."