Hand in Hand

35. Sabrina*

In the Training Corps, naive and impressionable kids learn how to become soldiers, whether they're entering the Scout Regiment or not. For three years (y/n) had trained extensively to accurately use ODM gear and fight titans. She knew what it felt like to fall far from a tree when her gear ran out of steam. And she could fight through the pain of getting cut in hand to hand knife combat training. In her years as a Scout, she learned how to tend to blistering burns from hot titan skin and patch up her comrades' sprained and broken bones in the heat of battle.

But a gunshot, that was a new kind of pain. One she had never prepared herself for.

The hands of the man who had been holding her hostage let go and her body slowly fell backward. The beautiful blue of the cavern's crystal walls began to consume her vision in kaleidoscope swirls, the faces of her comrades peaking in the corners of every angle.

'Did that man just shoot me?' (Y/n) wondered. 'How does he know Levi?'

Something warm and thick pooled underneath her shirt but she couldn't bring her head up to look. It was as if a titan had laid its arm across her torso, suffocating and immobilizing.

"(Y/n)!" A deep, hoarse voice yelled through the smoke.

'Levi?'

Beside her, Markus retracted his guns and lunged toward Kenny. (Y/n) closed her eyes and listened to the grunting men tossing around beside her, the frantic orders Levi was barking out a few feet in front of her, and a quiet ringing bleeding into her right ear.

She laid there for what felt like an eternity. The voices of her comrades quieted down and the ringing got louder, seeping into both ears and weighing her mind down like a mother's lullaby to a drowsy baby.

Levi's voice was a million miles away. Markus and Kenny's grunts were gone. The cold stone floors of the cavern were now hot as she lay there motionless and heavy. But it was peaceful. When was the last time she slept this hard? Maybe it was when she had first laid next to Levi. She felt as if she could melt away in her own drowsiness.

"(Y/n)? You can get up now."

(Y/n)'s breath hitched. That voice...

Instantly, her eyes opened and she cautiously sat herself up with no issue. No pressure and no blood. (Y/n) looked around breathless; she was still in the cavern but there was no smoke and no Scouts. It was as perfect and as pristine as it was before the fight.

Without turning around to face that familiar voice, she asked, "Am I dead?"

"Why would you be dead?"

"Well, you're here, so I must be dead." (Y/n)'s voice came out in a whisper of disbelief.

Two thin arms warmly wrapped around her neck, and Sabrina's chest pressed hard against (y/n)'s back, pulling her close into a hug until there was no space between the two.

"I just missed you that's all," Sabrina said quietly into (y/n)'s neck.

Her voice was like a ghosts', far away and breathless, but her presence was powerful. Her pitch black hair flowed out in front of (y/n)'s face. She lifted her fingers to touch it but it passed through her hand like a chilling breeze.

"I missed you more," (y/n) said as she drew out a shaky breath. "Let me see you."

There was no shuffling or warmth lost as Sabrina moved around to sit and face her friend. She was as quiet as a mouse.

(Y/n) didn't cry as Sabrina came into view, only, her face went soft and all the built up tension she had been harboring in her body from the fight eased up. If she truly wanted to, she could cry. Nothing was stopping her except the fact that she didn't want the last time she saw Sabrina be her crying the entire time.