BLACK WATER (LE V I A C K E R M A N)

One

For X_Angel-Wolf_X
Lmao sorry it's a bit unedited.

Thick clouds rolled through the sky like an omen from the gods, dark and laced with evil intentions. Rain poured down in heavy droplets, soaking the earth with painful splats. Truth be told Commander Erwin would have canceled the expedition if he'd known it would storm, he never liked running troops in bad weather. It added to the risk.

But the storm had rolled in after they'd left the walls behind, there was no way he could successfully turn around all his troops. The casualties would be higher than pressing forward. Instead he had to keep going, pushing his cadets forward and ordering his elites to protect. Most of the elite squads had done this before, run a protective detail around the others, but none had ever done so in such poor weather.

The rain poured down so violently that not a single member could see four feet infromt of them, severely damaging visibility and in turn the odds of survival. Thankfully the titans had been merciful. Levi, however, was not.

The small man was filled to the brim with unbridled anger, his posture nothing but a mirage to trick his enemies. Every now and then a small group of three or four titans would arrive unseen and the short corporal would fire a yellow flare, jumping from his horse and into action. He was nervous, scared even, not knowing the outcome of this particular mission. He was worried for his cadets, for the other captains, for himself.

But most importantly he was worried for the 15m female titan that was responsible for this expedition.

A few years back Levi had been doing the exact same thing he was doing now, slaying titans in harsh conditions. The only difference was the rain was sleet and snow. Usually recon avoided harsh conditions but this one could not have been postponed. Levi, chilled the bone and soaked, had done the very human thing of messing up. He was saved, in the end, by said 15m abnormal class female titan. She pried him from the grasp of a very awkward looking abnormal, crushed its head in her palm, and taken off with his shock paralyzed body in her hand.

She was intelligent, Levi was surprised to find, and took him to the castle the rest of his squad had gathered at. He didn't bother to try and explain his strange encounter. At least, not until it happened again.

Af first he'd passed it off as a hallucination. All the loss and responsibility was finally ruining his mind, driving him insane. But then it kept happening. Every expedition was accompanied by at least one appearance of the titan, until it became routine. Levi tried to explain to Hanji and Erwin, but after numerous failed attempts to see her for themselves, they'd all but given up. They believed him, of course, Levi hardly joked and he'd never lie, especially not about something as far fetched as an intelligent titan.

"You," Levi pointed strongly out to her face, even with her nose from the tree branch he perched upon. "Follow," he made a come here gesture with two hands, then tapped his chest. "Me."

"Grn..." the large titan grunted, her long hair shading her eyes. She held an expression of nervousness, and shook her head no.

"You have to!" Levi snapped, frustrated with having to talk in a visual manner and still not getting what he needed. He needed her to be seen. She made a face of confusion and uneasiness, clearly not understanding the words he spoke. "Don't you get it?! You could save so many people if you just fucking let us use you! We don't have to keep losing people!"

She let out a huff like growl, the tone uneasy yet just as guttural and friendly as her greetings. Levi let out a disheartened sigh. Yelling wouldn't help, she couldn't understand him anyway. She was just barely learning to understand small words as it is. Her big blue, piercing eyes were large and observing, trying to gather all the bodily cues she could.

"I know..." he sighed once again, and found himself plopping down onto the branch. A deep coo rumbled from her throat, concerned with his sudden turn of emotions. "I know you're scared, and afraid of what we do to your kind, but you hate them just as much as we do. If you joined us, we could become an unstoppable force. We could defeat the titans."

He let out a dejected sigh, looking up at her confused eyes with an empty expression.

"But you don't understand a word I've said."

It took two years to gather enough of her trust. Two years since they met and she'd finally agreed to lend herself to the recon. She still didn't fully understand, but she knew Levi wanted her to. Desperately. And, she reasoned with herself, it would give her more time to spend with the small human she adored.

So as the heavy rain pelted down on his coat, he knew he had to make it back to her. He knew he hand to arrive, squad behind him, and secure her safety. He had to convince them she was worth protecting, worth weaponizing, worth learning from. He was nervous, because he wasn't sure she'd even show up when they got there. And if she did, and he wasn't there to ease her nerves, there was no telling what would happen to her. What they would do.

Because believe it or not, Levi Ackerman had grown fond of the female titan. He valued her innocence, her gentle nature, and her irrefutable ability to destroy anything in her path.

"Oi!" Levi's sharp yell had the titan turning on her heel, crystal sword growing from her palm as she dashed to his rescue. It was really only two steps, her body encased in a suit of nearly blue crystal.

Her sword swiped and beheaded three titans, giving Levi the opening he needed to cut their nape. The hoard didn't stop there, however, and many more Titans if ranging classes surrounded them.

Levi lifted off the ground to soar into the slowly approaching embodiments of death, but was knocked out of breath as he collided with her palm. She held him firmly, but gently, and quickly placed him back on a tree. She waved her arm outwards at him, motioning him to leave.

"What? No!" His glare deepened, hands griping the controllers with anger. "If we don't take them out here, they'll make it to the camp!"

She let out an inhuman yelp, gesturing away harsher. When he didn't move, she did it again, more viscously. She raised her sword and gave him a deadly glare so filled with determination he knew he had to trust her.

"Fine," he caved, readying for retreat. "I'll be back with reinforcements, don't die."

She didn't know a lot of words, but she recognized his sentiment. With one last fleeting nod she turned to the quickly growing hoard of monsters, and swung her makeshift sword. Levi left, and within the hour, returned with a group of scouts. All that was left of the hoard was the scattered and steaming remains.

The female titan was nowhere to be seen.