purple hyacinths

white roses

Levi has never liked flowers.

They all seem rather useless. They're needy- sunlight, food, water, whatever- and then they die. They never last long, especially not in the Underground. He would never see many, but he'd see some street hustlers trying to sell them unsuccessfully. They're pointless.

Since coming above ground and joining the Survey Corps, his point of view hasn't really changed. He sees some within the walls, some outside- they're all just tiny, pointless little things that get crushed under a titan's foot or a horse's hoof.

Or, apparently, they're the final resting place for one stupid member of the Survey Corps.

Levi's not expecting to find anyone, really, as he rides into a meadow that's filled with steam. He and a few others had seen the chaos from a distance: two large titans, likely abnormals, attacking a small group. Normally, that means death to the whole group: one abnormal is tough enough, let alone two. Levi, being rather bored today and in the mood to kill something, decided he'd stop them where they are. If those titans break through that group, they'll topple everyone in their path, and he knows he can handle them: he may as well stop the pair of them before they cause more death.

But as he draws closer, one of them falls. He can hear screaming, so it wasn't without casualties: he continues to ride as the screams are abruptly cut off. The second one's still there, lurching around. He can handle one stupid abnormal by himself with his eyes closed.

He's maybe fifty meters away when that titan collapses too. Levi slows his horse but continues to ride towards the steam that's billowing up into the sky. "Damn," he mutters. He'd been hoping to kill one himself.

A horse breaks through the steam. Empty- no rider. It gallops past him, and Levi turns his head to watch it race away. He looks back to the steam. Someone has to be alive- how else would that second titan have gone down?

And that's how Levi finds you.

You're laying down in the grass, which Levi doesn't even notice is a flower field until he's looking at you. You've got your eyes closed, and Levi thinks you might be dead, but there's no visible injuries.

"Oi," he snaps. "Are you dead?"

Your eyes flutter open. "Don't think so."

"Then what the fuck are you doing, laying in the fucking field?"

"Not sure." He sees you shrug, displacing some small flowers by your shoulders. "Seemed like a nice place to die."

This is a new level of stupid. "You're not dead."

You shrug again. "Figured I would be soon. Horse ditched me and there's more titans over the hill."

More over the hill? Good; maybe he'll get to kill some after all. "Hate to break it to you," Levi says dryly, "but you're not dead. Now get up."

He watches as you sigh, then push yourself to your feet. Your nonchalance bothers him: you just took down an abnormal- maybe two- and were very ready to accept your death. Not very common among the scouts he's met. 

"You killed them?" Levi asks as you stand yourself up, discarding your blunted blade and sticking the hilt back onto your belt.

You shrug. "I had help- two others. Did they make it out?"

Levi scans the flowers. There's a bloody, dismembered hand nearby. "Haven't seen anyone," he replies.

Your expression slips slightly- grief- but just as quickly as it showed up, it's gone again. Levi pulls his foot out of the stirrup of his saddle and extends a hand: you grab his hand and, using the stirrup as a push off point, pull yourself up onto the horse.