MOONSTRUCK, levi ackerman

ix. drive of force

wall maria was putting up a fight to maintain it's existence. alongside the fearless and determined soldiers, they were giving it their all; trying to retake what was once their home, the place where they grew up, the place they were born, and the place they will take their last breath.

it wasn't looking good. sam had witnessed a lot of stuff in the years of her duty, but it seems like this was the most tiring to heart she had ever been. she witnessed the betrayal of her younger comrades as they found out their close friends reiner and bertholdt were traitors all along. she couldn't even imagine the pain they went through when they came to terms that the very people they had been training and spending times with were the very reason for their sorrow all this time. 

sam refused to believe this was the life they had to live. these were kids. literal children. they shouldn't cry as they finish off their friend, seeing reiner's unconscious body sitting on top of his titan. hell, they shouldn't be in the battlefield in the first place. they were so young. way too young. they were too young to be this broken and damaged. 

hange was heavily injured from the blast that was bertholdt colossal titan's transformation. sam and squad levi was nowhere near the radius of the blast, so when hange approached them, looking like they had just escaped death—which in retrospect, they probably did—they were taken aback. squad levi was too caught up with the fight between eren's attack titan and reiner's armored titan to even realized moblit was nowhere in sight. he usually always clings to hange's side, even in battlefield. 

all of this occurred within the walls. sam didn't even want to think what was happening outside with the beast titan in all of his glory. was levi alright? was commander erwin alright? was the new recruits alright? sam might do more good worrying for herself and her closest comrades first before anything else, but she couldn't help but worry about the situation outside the walls. 

it was when she ran towards armin's unconscious body that she realized just how doomed they were. too many casualties. too many casualties from her close circle. 

armin's body was burnt to crisp. if she hadn't been paying close attention to when he was still alive and well—being exposed to the burning heat from colossal titan until the skin was peeled off of his flesh—she wouldn't recognized the body before her. she refused to believe this was the blonde, hopeful eyed boy she knew. his body was pitch black, coal-like ashes covering him from head to toe. it was heartbreaking.

there was a gap in between his lips, hot air coming out of them so faintly. 

"he's still alive!" a voice screamed out catching her attention.

has he escaped his death? how could he, when he looked like nothing but the very death itself?

 "captain, give me the serum!" eren screamed for the second time, making sam turned her attention off of the dying boy and to the bloody faced soldier just behind her.

she had no idea levi had been standing there, she was too focused on armin.

levi's once porcelain skin was decorated with thick, red liquid streaming down his face like tears. his cape had cuts and holes in it, yet it still dance so gracefully when being blown by the wind.

levi gripped the black container in his hand, close to his chest, hesitating before extending his arm to hand it to eren who was desperately holding bertholdt with all of his might. his eyes were bloodshot, with veins underneath them from just getting out of his titan form.

just when eren almost reached the serum in levi's hand, a voice called out from the edge of the roof they were standing it.

"captain, i finally... caught up to you." a broken wail called out. floch forster was climbing to the roof, on his back, was the great commander erwin—all but well, as blood gushed out of his stomach and down to floch's back, the liquid dripping down, creating what looks like a trail following floch's direction.