Pain and Loss [Levi x Reader]

Chapter 10

"Shitty four-eyes," Levi growled as he climbed off his kill.

"Ahhhh! You killed him! Noooo! Why did you do that? Why!?" Hanji cried, running up to the decomposing titan and embracing it, "We were going to be best of friends..."

Levi tsked, cleaning his blades, "You would be dead if I hadn't killed it."

You phased out of Hanji's crying and Levi's growling. What had just happened? The titan was dead, and their was Levi. He had killed the titan in a heartbeat. You closed your eyes, recalling what had happened.

"Woah...." Charlotte murmured as she came to a stop next to you, "So cool..."

You turned to look at Charlotte, "You saw it?"

She nodded, "Levi galloped right pass me. He looked pissed, scary pissed. Then WOOSH!" she exclaimed, imitating the action of Levi taking off with his 3DMG with her hands, "Off he went! He spun in the air and killed the titan before it even noticed his presence."

"So the rumours could be true..."

"The rumours could be true."

Soon you, Charlotte, and Hanji had rejoined the group, this time with the extra addition of a Levi. Not that anyone minded. They all felt much safer with a Levi than with a Hanji. The ride was quiet, no one was quite brave enough to speak; Levi had an awful scowl across his face, and Hanji was still murmuring some nonsense about Levi killing her new friend. You couldn't help but agree with Charlotte: how Levi killed the titan was cool. Terrifying, but cool. You chuckled to yourself, was such a small grumpy man really 'Humanity's Strongest'? If he really was, then you had no idea what the world was coming to.

"Psst, (f/n), you're staring," Charlotte whispered in your ear. Blinking, you snapped out of your daze.

"Oh shi-" you gasped, Levi was staring back at you from the corner of his eye. You felt the heat rise to your cheeks as you quickly looked away, unsuccessfully trying to cover your face with your arm.

*~*~*~*LEVI POV*~*~*~*~*

What the hell was up with that cadet? She keeps fucking staring at me, and now she's blushing. Bloody fucking brilliant.

*~*~*~*2ND PERSON POV*~*~*~*~*

There were few titan encounters after that, and Levi managed to keep Hanji in check whenever a titan was nearby. Soon, the sun started to set.

"For as far as we know, titans are not active during the night. We should be arriving to some sort of camp soon, we'll stay there overnight before returning to the wall," Hanji explained to the group as they cheered, but then she added, "We'll have our first count of losses then."

Everyone fell silent. Your group had been, for the most part, very lucky. You knew that other squads had not been so fortunate. A trail of green smoke went directly up into the air – Erwin's squad had made it to camp.

As groups made it to camp, people ran to greet their friends... or cried at the news of their unfortunate passing. Much to your disgust, Antony was still alive and well... sort of. He was one of the few survivors of his group, most of the members were, well, dead. He seemed... different to say the least. Something in his eyes had changed, and maybe for the better. You spotted Noel from the corner of your eye, taking a few horses off to the stables. The camp itself must have been an old training ground or soldier residence. For the most part it was fairly untouched, only a few of the towers had been destroyed. As night fell, people lit fires. Not only for light and warmth, but also to burn the bodies of the dead. Survivors gathered around these bonfires, crying.

You sat a few meters away from the fires. Of course you were sad, but no one you particularly cared about had died. Of course, Charlotte had been fetched by Michael. You chuckled, remembering the scene. He had been asking everyone in Hanji's squad if they had seen Charlotte. When they saw each other, they ran, hugging each other for a solid 5 minutes. All that was missing was for them to kiss. If they were trying to hide something they were doing an absolutely terrible job at it. It was absolutely adorable watching their flustered expression as they both tried to come up with excuses. You sighed, leaning back and brushing a loose strand of hair behind your ear. Goddamn it. Charlotte left you alone.

"You were quite brave back there," sighed Levi as he sat down next to you.

"Than-" you started to say before pausing. Had Levi just... complimented you? No. Fucking. Way.

"But it was a fucking stupid decision." Levi then added.

Never mind. He hadn't given you a compliment. You brought your knees up to your chest, hugging them. "I know, sorry sir." You mumbled, looking away.

You two shared a moment of silence, staring into the flames. You glanced over to look at Levi. He had a very defined jawline, and he finally had another expression that was not a scowl. However, it was hard to determine what the expression was. Was it sadness? Mourning? Nah. Levi, mourning? Sad? Impossible. In the light from the fire, Levi's pale skin gained some colour. As a soft blush rose to your cheeks, you buried your head between your arms. What were you thinking? You couldn't possibly actually consider him good looking!

"Filthy...." Levi muttered as he stood, wiping some dirt off his pants and looking with disdain at his now stained pants. The scowl had returned to his face. You looked up at him in silence, hoping that the blush had left, or that the flickering light from the fire wasn't bright enough to reveal it. "I expect more from you tomorrow, Cadet (l/n)." Levi said before walking off.

The stained pants really didn't suit him.