Lady execution Levi Ackerman x OC (ENG) 18+

Chapter LVII. When the night falls on you

The edge of the coastal city of Paradis Island August 3, 853

She crouched down to the grass to smell the herbs, which she crushed between her fingers. She then put them in a bowl that she made from the bark of a tree and mixed with aloe vera juice. She wiped her forehead with her sleeve and returned to Levi, who she laid down on a flat surface. She knelt in front of him and examined his horrible state with a searching gaze. She herself knew best that he wasn't invulnerable. Maybe everyone took him as a weapon that simply cannot be broken, but not her. But despite that, she never even thought that she would see him in such a state. She pushed his dirty hair away from his burnt face, which she began to rub very gently with the herbal decoction she had prepared.

"Why do you always do that?" She asked, even though she knew the answer well. She only thought that he was the one most needed by humanity to be seriously injured like this and most likely to be not able to participate in a battle. She cleaned his whole face, which had two deep wounds, one of them even through his right eye, by which he probably won't see again. She exhaled unhappily and re-wetted a piece of fabric from Levi's torn shirt. "In the end, I guess we both survived because of you, didn't we?" She smiled and cleaned up the remaining, small wounds to begin sewing up his face, taking incredible care in her work, trying to pull each stitch as gently as possible. She caressed his bruised face pityingly and kissed the stitches after cleaning them with a decoction of canola, chamomile and lavender. As she leaned over him, she tried to feel his slow breathing, which was her only comfort. She pulled away from him and reached for his hand, which was tied with his shirt. She fought back the feeling of disgust as she washed his hand with clean water from a nearby stream so she could get a better look at the wounds left by his missing fingers. The whole time she nursed him, she tried to turn off her mind, not to think about anything that could upset her, because tears welled up in her eyes every time she found a new injury, the whole time she held his hand, which she wrapped in bandages, while she knew very well that he would never be able to use it like before. After she finished, she continued to clean his body, which she washed bit by bit. She touched him so carefully and lovingly, as if she was afraid that he would break under her hands. She caressed him with her fingertips because she hoped he would feel her warm touch, which would bring him at least some sense of security. She wrapped his whole head in bandages because she wasn't sure of the size of his injuries. She carefully placed him on the ground and entwined his dirty hair between her fingers. It's been a few hours, and she already misses him so much. His voice, his calmness, that most of all... because without him she felt like a pile of nerves ready to set the world on fire. He had no idea how many times he had pulled her out of the darkness just by being there. No light, she felt like the darkest room one could find. A room where all the pain of the world is hidden, maybe not the whole world, but definitely hers. "Love, I don't know what to do," she whispered, sitting helplessly next to the small fire she had made. "I have a feeling that I won't be enough this time," she looked down, still holding his injured hand in her palms. "I don't know what our future looks like anymore and if there is any waiting for us at all," she painfully closed her eyelids and approached his chest, which was rising very slowly. "My own mind is killing me," she rested her forehead on his chest, trying to feel his heartbeat. "I'm scared...love," she whispered, never feeling so alone in her life. She had no idea what was happening in the city, she didn't know what Eren and the scouts were doing, she didn't know if Hanje and the others were even alive. She knew nothing about Kiara and her terribly wounded husband lay in front of her, unsure if he would even survive this. She wondered how it was possible that she could bear that helplessness at all, but it was probably due to the fact that nothing was more important to her than his safety at the moment. She stroked his chest again and felt her own eyelids closing in exhaustion. She was aware that she had treated her own injuries very carelessly and they still needed her attention, but she couldn't even raise her head, which she completely rested on Levi. And finally, she'd never found a place where she felt safer than with him, even when he was lying lifelessly on the ground, he was here, breathing, his heart beating, and that was her greatest source of strength. She pulled his healthy hand to her, their wedding ring still shining on it, and even though she knew her thoughts were childish, she was glad the ring remained in the right place. She placed his hand on her body to feel at least a little of his warmth and touch, tears falling from her tired lids and soaking his chest. From the bottom of her soul, she hoped that his voice would wake her up, scolding her for being heavy, but nothing like that happened. She opened her swollen eyes, still in the dark after barely a few hours of sleep. She was woken up by hunger. She sat up and immediately checked on Levi who didn't even move. She considered the possibilities, how to get him to Harald, who would surely help him better like her. But the only thing she could do was get up and look for some food. She was no hunter, and it was really difficult for her to find her way in the unknown nature, but she found some mushrooms, nuts, herbs and also gathered some strawberries, blackberries and blueberries. She returned to Levi, where she washed everything and cooked the mushrooms with nuts and herbs. She didn't believe it would taste good, but it would definitely be enough to kill the hunger. While the soup cooled, she sat down next to Levi and ate some tasty blueberries.