Paradise Found

Chapter 1 of 1

Bullets tore through the right wing of his plane, their pursuers having finally caught up to them. Levi ducked beneath the dashboard of the old, shitty one-seater that was more of a kite than a plane as another entourage of bullets passed over his head. As soon as the noise above him died down, he dared to look around. A few hundred yards away, Erwin was on fire.

"Stay put, Levi," He yelled over the din, his voice barely audible from such a distance, "I'll find you!"

Levi nodded and hoped that Erwin would see his compliance from so far away as his right wing finally tore free and he spiraled downwards. With no time to watch the wind pull Erwin further and further away, he turned his focus to surviving his one-winged crash landing. Shifting his weight towards the remaining left wing, he balanced the plane as best he could. A farm was up ahead with a small barn and cottage, so Levi aimed for the trees at the edge of the clearing, hoping they would break his fall.

Sticks and leaves cut into his skin and tore at his pressed, cream-colored jacket as he fell. His plane tumbled through the branches like a ball in a pinball machine, and the forest spat him out, rejected, onto the very edge of the clearing. He lay on the forest floor, sweaty and panting but very much alive, as the planes continued to roam above him.

They had been unlucky to run into a patrol over the ocean. The Marleyan pilots had likely been returning from a scouting mission to Paradis when they had crossed paths, and it was a miracle they made it all the way to land before crashing. The noise above died down as the planes moved away from him.

You're not even going to check if that crash killed me? Levi thought with a sneer. Fucking amateurs.

He stared up at the sky a moment longer before pushing himself up on his elbows. Searing pain flared through his left arm and he gasped in surprise, immediately collapsing again onto his back.

Fuck, is it broken? He wondered, but his thoughts were cut off by hurried footsteps approaching.

He steeled himself, prepared for another fight with his pursuers, only to be met by an old, wrinkly man and a middle-aged woman. They looked strikingly similar, right down to their mirrored expressions of horror and concern that pulled the same wrinkles on their foreheads and under their eyes. Father and daughter, then. Devils.

"Is he alive?" The woman asked, approaching more cautiously now that she was close. Levi shifted again, pulling himself up by only his right arm and the woman gasped.

"Get back!" The man yelled suddenly. "Look at what he's wearing; He's a Marleyan!"

Levi glared at them. Like hell I'm a Marleyan, did you not just watch them shoot me out of the sky? He thought.

"Don't move any more, young man," The older man said, holding out his pitchfork and Levi had to put considerable effort into not rolling his eyes.

He shifted further, not batting an eye at their empty threat, until he could sit upright.

"What are you doing?" The woman asked hastily as he reached up to his arm. He wrapped his fingers around the black armband, its Marleyan insignia stitched in blood-red thread, and ripped it off. He let it fall at their feet, hoping they would get the message.

Hopefully Erwin's right, and the devils aren't as stupid and savage as Marley has made them out to be. They managed to kill all their titans and make contact with us, so they can't be too idiotic.

"Are you saying you defected?"

Close enough. Levi nodded with what he hoped was sincerity and shakily got to his feet.