Tainted (Levi x Reader)

Chapter 14

You sat on the steps next to a well directly outside of HQ, picking absently at the wood on one of your crutches as you waited to leave for the trip to Stohess. You wore a simple tan trench coat that tied at the waist. Beneath that was your basic uniform: a white button up, along with your white pants and the boots that went with them. A small leather satchel of essentials was slung over your shoulder.

A pair of boots stopped in front of you, and you followed them up to see an eerily familiar face staring down at you. Stop that. She can't help that she looks like your dead best friend.

Joan's eyebrows were raised in surprise as she took in your travel bag and what could pass as civilian clothes. "Don't tell me you're going to the capital with them, in your condition? Whose bright idea was that?"

You frowned back at her. "Captain wants me there so he can keep an eye on me. It's only because he cares."

"Face it, (Y/n). If that shrimp had your best interests in mind, he'd leave you here in the safety of HQ, where you have access to doctors should you need them. I mean shit, your leg is broken."

You looked away as her words sunk in, but quickly shook them off, not liking the seed of doubt they planted in your mind. "I've been healing up pretty quick. The doctor gave the okay for it."

"Look," Joan groaned as she pinched the bridge of her freckled nose. "It's not that Captain Levi doesn't care. It's that he cares too much and it's blinding him. Taking you with them is irrational."

"Okay, and what do you expect me to do about it?"

"Oi." You both turned at the sound of Levi's sharp tone to see him approaching. His piercing glare was fixed on Joan.

She returned it unflinchingly, standing tall and stalking right up to him. "You," she growled as tension crackled in the air. "You think you're helping this girl? In case you've forgotten, she was nearly kicked into a fine red mist by that titan bitch not even a week ago. Her leg is broken. And anyone can see that she doesn't want to go to the capital. Now I may not know the reason why, but she's terrified, and you're choosing to ignore it out of selfishness."

"You're right, you don't know the reasons. But if you did, you would agree with my course of action. It's time to go, (Y/n). Come." Levi turned on his heel and paused to wait for you.

You nervously hobbled after Levi on your crutches, sending Joan an apologetic glance as she stood with her arms crossed and lips pursed.

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You sat beside Levi on the padded green bench inside the carriage, due for Stohess. Tense silence held the atmosphere in a chokehold.

Your hands rested flat on your thighs as you looked down with your hair falling in front of your eyes. Your mind was blank of everything except for a chilling fear, far stronger than anything you'd felt since the day you escaped Sina and fled to Wall Rose. Your heart sounded like a drum beating in your ears. You were convinced that everyone else in the carriage could hear it.

As you entered Stohess, the sound of the dirt road turned to the louder clopping of cobblestone under the horses' hooves.

The small caravan, escorted through the district by the Military Police, suddenly came to a halt as a deafening explosion rumbled from far off in the city, accompanied by shouting as everyone shielded their eyes against a pure yellow light. Erwin exchanged a grim look with Levi before quickly exiting the carriage. You all knew what it meant. The female titan had transformed, and things could only get worse from here.