Yesterday's Enemy [AoT]

ONE-HUNDRED-AND-EIGHTEEN

'Sacrifice is blind and often instinctual. Only the purest type of love can make someone forget themselves enough to act without thought of their own consequences.'

-An extract from the book 'Evolutions' written by philosopher Adette Briggs.

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ONE-HUNDRED-AND-EIGHTEEN

Somewhere in North-Western Titan Country

Somehow, Levi couldn't find it in him to scream.

He stood, blank-faced, paralysed with horror. He still couldn't believe what he was watching.

Was this it?

Was this last he would see of her? The bold, beautiful woman he'd shared the last few years with?

Was this it for them?

Soon, Lorelai would slide down the titan's gullet and disappear from his world forever. He'd never see those brown eyes again. Their townhouse would lie empty. They'd never play another match of chess.

He almost couldn't believe that such a full, complex life could be stolen in just a few moments. All they'd gone through, all she'd suffered, none of it mattered as she lay in pieces in a titan's jaw.

Levi couldn't move, couldn't look away. For the second time in his life, he felt helpless. He was a child again, watching as death stole the only woman in the world who loved him.

Was this it?

Somehow, though she was bleeding and should have passed out long ago, Lorelai was still struggling. She writhed one of her legs out of the titan's jaw, still trying to push herself out.

It broke Levi's heart to see how brave she was even while suffering.

But Lorelai's strength was clearly waning. She'd succumb soon, but each moment stretched into a thousand.

The titan seemed intent on torturing him. It took its sweet time devouring Lorelai; each bite was slow, cruel and agony-inducing.

Hers was to be a long, painful death. Levi felt bile rise in his throat.

"Levi!" Lorelai screeched, squirming in its jaws.

He thought she might beg for his help, beg for him to end it before she suffered longer, but instead-

"Get out of here! Run-" Her pleading turned to screams as the titan bit down again.

"I can't..." It was a child's voice that spoke, meek, afraid. It was as if all his years of butchering titans had suddenly disappeared. He was just a child again, a bystander to his own fate.

Lorelai seemed too overcome with pain the next moment to realise he wasn't leaving.

Levi wouldn't run even if he could. He'd far rather die here with her than live another day with these memories.

He retched when he realised Lorelai wasn't screaming anymore. He didn't dare look up, didn't know if he could stomach seeing her corpse. Levi would sooner gouge his own eyes out than see her lifeless body slip from the titan's lips.

His head was spinning where he knelt. Levi barely registered it as his body slumped into the wet grass.

It would turn on him soon.

Good, Levi thought deliriously. He'd had enough of this world.

"Lorelai!"

It wasn't his voice. Levi struggled to look up, blinking through the murk of the storm.