The Path Back to You | Levi x OC

Chapter 4.5 - That Day

Erwin

"Commander Erwin! Levi Squad and Anya Squad request urgent assistance!"
One of Anastasya's soldiers came racing towards him from the other side of the mountain, sheer panic on her face.
"What's the situation?" he demanded, already mounting his horse.
"Captain Anastasya has fallen from a ledge! There was a Titan and-"
For a moment, all he could hear was a high-pitched ringing in his ears. Anastasya. Anastasya was hurt. She hardly ever got hurt. She was one of the only ones who didn't. He snapped back to the present.
"Show me the way. Miche, Hange; with me."
The Scout raced off, and Erwin and his men followed close behind. A minute or so later, he jumped from his horse, Hange right beside him, and strode over to where Levi was desperately directing both his and Anastasya's squads.
"Careful!" he called. "The rock isn't stable!"
Levi turned to look at him, and he immediately saw the despair in his friend's eyes.
"What happened?"
"She was on a ledge; she thought she could hear voices below. She was trying to take a look, but a 10-foot Titan appeared out of nowhere. It ran from that cave over there, straight onto the ledge behind her. Her squad tried to stop it, but it killed most of them and carried on after her. The rock couldn't take its weight, it... it broke. Anya... I don't know if she managed to get away or not. It looks like she and the Titan fell into the ravine."
He suddenly felt the urge to vomit. His mouth fell open, and for a moment, he was rendered speechless. Miche and Hange looked equally horrified.
"Can you see the Titan?" Hange asked.
"The bastard thing seems to be stuck down there. It's got itself wedged between the rocks. Anya might be below it, but we can't see."
He recovered enough to start thinking rationally again. If there was a chance that she was still alive, she needed them.
"What are the squads doing now?" he asked.
"They're assessing the ravine and trying to find a safe way down. It's only just stabilised."
"All right. Hange; have your squad set up a perimeter. There might be other Titans around, and if they get too close, they could disturb the rocks enough to cause a collapse. Levi; recall the squads and let's hear them report back."
Levi nodded and called them back up. All of them looked desperate. Anastasya was a well-liked member of the Scouts. Losing her would be a serious blow to them all.
"Well?" Levi demanded.
"The Titan is still moving," one of them replied. "It seems like it's trying to reach for something, but it's blocking our view. We might be able to slip past it and get to the bottom, though."
"If it's reaching, it might be that it can see or sense Anastasya," said Erwin.
"I'm going down there," said Levi.
"I'll come with you."
Perhaps it wasn't the best decision, in view of the fact that he was the Scouts' leader, but in that moment, Anastasya was far more important.
"Miche; you're in command while I'm down there."
"Roger! Go and get her back."
He and Levi readied to descend into the ravine.
"We can land on the Titan and try to slip through its legs," he said.
"Yeah."
"All right. Let's take it slow."
They cautiously deployed their ODM gear and zipped into the ravine, landing on the Titan's back as planned. It sensed them and tried to reach back to grab them, but its arms were pinned between the stone walls, and its ugly face was turned away from them.
Levi walked over to its nape.
"Maybe if we kill it, we can stop it from thrashing about and loosening the rocks."
"No," said Erwin, frowning. "Look; it's holding up part of the broken ledge over there. If we kill it, its body will evaporate and we risk having the whole thing cave in."
Levi followed his line of sight.
"Shit."
"Let's proceed with the original plan."
Levi nodded, and they carefully slipped between the Titan's huge legs and down to the floor of the ravine.
"Damnit, I can hardly see a thing," Levi muttered.
Although it was supporting the rocks from the ledge it had broken, the Titan was also blocking out the already-faint daylight.
"Anastasya?" Erwin dared call out, hoping it wouldn't disturb anything.
They began to search amongst the rocks, but the Titan was becoming increasingly agitated.
"Anya! If you can hear us, shout to us!" Levi called, becoming truly desperate.
They suddenly heard the sounds of fighting coming from above. Moments later, another Titan tumbled into the ravine, dead. It landed on top of the one wedged above them and knocked it free, along with the rocks it had been supporting.
"Shit!" Levi cried. "Erwin!"
He and Levi just about managed to attach themselves to the other side of the wall, and they clung to it, pressing themselves as flat as possible against the rock, watching helplessly as yet more rubble poured in.
"ANASTASYA!" Erwin yelled, stretching out a hand.
Beside him, Levi's eyes were wide and full of utter terror. It felt as though hours passed, but moments later, the ravine stabilised once more.
"Erwin!" Hange called from above. "Are you all right?!"
He coughed the dust from his lungs.
"We're fine!"
"There's a situation up here! More Titans are approaching!"
"Hold them off for as long as you can!" he ordered.
"Understood!"
Levi had already returned to the ground. He slaughtered the Titan in a fit of rage, no longer needing it to support the rocks, and then picked his way over the rubble and continued searching, growing ever-more frantic. Erwin, however, was beginning to realise that they may have really lost her.
"Don't just fucking stand there," Levi snapped. "Help me!"
Erwin joined him, but it wasn't long before they found a large splattering of glistening crimson on the ground in front of them. Had it been from the Titans, it would have evaporated by now. It seemed fresh, and Levi suddenly took a sharp intake of breath, looking sick to the stomach. He dropped to his knees and began digging through the rubble with his bare hands.
"Dig!" he urged.
He felt tears burning in his eyes as he knelt next to Levi and sifted through the debris. However, their search proved fruitless. Other than blood, there was nothing left of Anastasya, and he forced himself to get up.
"We have to keep trying!" Levi insisted, standing up and turning to him. "She might have walked further up the ravine, she-"
Erwin sat down heavily on a large hunk of stone and buried his head in his hands.
"She's gone, Levi."
"You don't know that! She might have been buried, she might be running out of air, we-"
"She can't have survived that. And that blood... It's directly underneath where the Titan's face was. It might... It might have eaten her."
"Don't you dare give up on her," Levi snarled, dragging him up to his feet. He raised his head, tears rolling freely down his face. Another scream echoed down to them from above. Their comrades were dying trying to protect the ravine, and it was for nothing. 
"We have to go, Levi."
Levi shoved him backwards, furious.
"She wouldn't give up on us. I'm not leaving without her!"
He turned and began digging again, tearing the skin and nails from his fingers as he scrambled over the rocks. Erwin suddenly felt empty. Empty, and so very, very cold. He swayed on the spot, throwing out his arm to support himself against the wall. He forced himself to follow after Levi, half-heartedly searching for as long as possible, but it was hopeless.
She was gone.
He put a hand on Levi's shoulder, and his friend whirled on him, eyes wide with desperation, face covered with blood and dust.
"She can't be gone. Not...not like this," he choked out.
"It's time to go, Levi," said Erwin, his voice thick with grief.
"No!" He tried to shrug him off, but Erwin slipped his arms under his shoulders and pulled him back.
"ANYA!" he screamed. "ANYA!"
He dragged him away, back to the widest part of the ravine. He was a foot taller than Levi, and he used his height and strength to his advantage, keeping him flung over his shoulder as he used his ODM gear to take them back up. All around them, soldiers were fighting on the rain-soaked mountain in order to keep the Titans at bay. By the looks of it, there had only been a few casualties, and the situation was nothing the Scouts couldn't handle without him. He put Levi down.
"Miche," he gasped, trying to ignore the agony of his shattered heart.
Miche instantly grabbed hold of Levi as he tried to go back down to the ravine.
"Hange, remove his ODM gear."
"O-Okay," she said. Her face was full of sorrow. She knew it. She knew her best friend was gone. Beside her, Miche hung his head. Erwin stared at the remaining Titans. He suddenly felt an unbelievable fury burning in his gut, and he roared and launched himself at them, slaughtering one after the other after the other until not a single Titan was left.
"We return to the walls," he announced, panting and coated in blood. "Immediately."
For a moment, nobody moved. However, when he raised his gaze to them all, the entire regiment sprang into action, despite their grief and exhaustion. He flicked the blood from his blades and sheathed them before striding over to where Miche was still restraining Levi.
"Can I trust you to ride back?" he asked.
"I-I'll make sure he does," said Hange, doing her best not to cry.
"Good."
Levi seemed not to hear any of them. His face was distraught, and he was utterly silent, staring at the mouth of the ravine. Erwin wanted to hug his best friend, to share their loss together, but he knew that his anger would come, and he knew that he would be its target.