‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾promises☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙ (Levi X Reader)

𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞-𝖘𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖓

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞-𝖘𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖓☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
ᎢᎻᎬ ᏟᎾᎷᎷᎪNᎠᎬᎡ

The low rumbling of the gate rising filled the air as loud bells rang, alerting the public, the citizens of Shiganshina gathering along the edge of the road.

Horses trotted into the city at a slow pace, giving the people enough time to observe the wounded soldiers being hauled through the gate in wooden karts.

"Sure taken a hit, haven't they..?"

Y/n glances down from her horse, looking at all of the people lining the streets to watch.
There was blood smeared across her face, but it wasn't hers. It made them all uneasy just by looking at her.

The same sound of rumbling came again as the gate was closed behind them, releasing a loud thud once it was fully lowered.

Y/n could feel her fatigue starting to catch up with her. Suppressing a yawn she looked slightly behind her on the left to see Levi.

He was staring at the reigns in his hands, a solemn expression washed over his face. Not surprising, obviously.

Ahead of her was the new recruits. Only half of what they had left with and the remaining half were all battered, bruised and traumatised by their first experience outside the wall.

"Today was rough..." she sighed through her nose and looked to the crowd again, seeing a couple of little girls staring back at her with eyes full of wonder.

Despite the feelings of defeat and exhaustion, y/n straightened herself up and smiled, winking at them and earning a couple of excited squeals.

"Moses?" A shrill voice called out, the horses and soldiers on foot slowly coming to a stop. "Moses?!"

Y/n grimaced slightly, making her horse slow down and eventually stop. She could see what was going on from where she was.

A frail old woman stepped out from the crowd and toward the commander, timidly looking up at him.

"Beg your pardon, but where is my son?" She asked worriedly. "I can't find him, he should be with all of you all. Oh please, tell me he made it!"

Stumbling forward, she clutched onto Shadis' bloodstained cape.
Everyone watched silently, already knowing what the answer would be.

"I wish I had better news." He looked to the wounded man beside him. "Give it to her."

Wide-eyed, the woman gasped and stepped back, realisation dawning upon her before the man placed an item covered with bloody cloth in her hands.

"That's his arm...right?" Y/n turned to see Levi had stopped beside her, his eyes fully trained on the scene before him.

"Yeah..."

The crowd watched as she unwrapped the cloth to travels her sons severed arm.
She quickly covered it up again and a shrill sob tore at her throat, her shoulders trembling as she wept.

"I'm sorry..it's all that was left of him,"  Shadis said as the woman dropped to her knees, wailing and hugging her son's arm.

Y/n cringed at the commander's words. "Way to break it to her..."
The commander dropped to a crouch in front of the woman.

"He did good, yes? Tell me my son stood his ground 'till the bitter end." She pleaded. "That his death meant something! That his sacrifice gave us a better chance!"

"He was brave!" Shadis yelled  "but his sacrifice meant nothing, so with all our losses, it's ever the same...THE DAY WAS LOST, WE HAVE NOTHING.
YOUR SON DIED BECAUSE OF ME, I SENT THEM TO THEIR DEATHS AND HAVE NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT! ALL OF IT AMOUNTS TO NOTHING!"

A few members of the crowd quickly swept the old woman from the road, presumably another family member, and pulled her away as she cried.

"It's hard.." y/n said, eyes fixed on the commander's back, his shoulders shaking. "To be the commander."

Levi glanced at her, and for one of the first times since he'd met her, she looked sad.

With a heavy sigh, y/n slipped off of her horse and handed the reigns to a non injured soldier on foot.

"I'm gonna go help the commander." Levi watched as she brushed by the other horses and soldiers to get to the commander, coercing him to get on his feet again.

"Shadis." She whispered, frowning at his tear-stained face. "Come on, you're making a scene, people are injured. We need to get back."

The crowd slowly dispersed and the scouts were starting to move again, manoeuvring around y/n and Shadis as they walked slowly.

"Come on..." she patted his back getting him to pick up the pace and continue walking.

Eventually, he had stopped crying, though, the look on his face could only be described as hollow as he followed y/n like a zombie.

Sighing, she continued to coerce him, almost wishing she had stayed on her horse and ignored the situation like everyone else and saved herself the embarrassment of being the babysitter for the sobbing commander.

Approaching the gate of shiganshina that lead into wall maria, she could see her three friends all off to the side of the gate, waiting for her and the commander without their horses.

"Commander Shadis," Erwin said as they two came closer. "Are you alright, sir?"

"Yeah, you really had a breakdown back there!" Hange laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

Shadis didn't respond, the four of them sharing a look before turning their attention to the commander again.

"Erwin..." Shadis said, staring blankly at the dirt. "You will be the next commander of the survey corps, I'm resigning."

Y/n, Hange and Erwin choked on their own spit, Levi giving y/n a sharp slap on the back while she coughs.

"What?" Erwin asks in disbelief. "Sir I don't think-"

Shadis turned on his heel and started walking away, pushing past the remaining scouts and disappearing into the crowd.

"What. The. Fuck?" Y/n rapidly glanced between Erwin and where Shadis had disappeared. "So that's it? You're the commander now?"

"Uh, it would appear so?" Erwin looked at her with wide eyes.

"Congrats eyebrows." Levi snorted. "Now you get to kill us instead."

"Ooh does this mean I can do more Titan experiments?" Hange drooled, the three ignoring her as she rambled to herself.

"Should we go after him?" Erwin questioned. "He might do something regrettable."

"Like giving himself a short drop and a sudden stop?" Levi scoffed, crossing his arms.
"You saw the show earlier, of course, that's what he's going to do."

Y/n dragged a hand down her face, groaning loudly.
"No point in you guys getting involved, I already did so I'll go after him."

"You sure?" Erwin asked. "I'll go with you if you'd like."

Y/n shook her head, smiling slightly at him. "It'll be fine, I'll get him and bring him back to headquarters. I won't be any more than a few hours."

Just as the last few scouts went through the gate, y/n turned on her heels and took off running in the direction she had seen Shadis go, waving over her shoulder at the three.

Erwin glanced down at Levi who was watching her with furrowed brows.
"She'll be fine, Levi, y/n is more than capable of finding him."

"That's not it." Levi sighed stressfully. "I just have a feeling somethings off..."