Natural Strength || Levi Ackerman x Reader

Chapter 18: Rough Times Ahead

"Don't do it!" Levi yells as Mikasa charges toward the nape of the female titan's neck.

Levi pushes Mikasa out of the way as the titan's hand comes up. You watch as Levi drops down on the hand wrong and you actually hear the crack of his ankle and see his foot twisting unnaturally. His face morphs into one of instantaneous pain, but being the prideful man he is, he shakes it off as if it's nothing and spins around to slash the titan's mouth, revealing Eren drenched in saliva.

You cringe and are again angered by the actions of Mikasa. If she had followed the damn plan, Levi wouldn't have just fucked up his ankle. In your thoughts, Levi obtains Eren and swings up to land on a tree.

"Got him!" Levi confirms. "Time to go. He's all right. Disgusting, but all right."

"What did we say about taking her down?" you grit out, landing on a branch next to Levi. "Your actions-"

"Not now, (Y/N), come on," Levi interrupts and takes off with Eren on his side.

You put aside your feelings for the time being and join Levi on the route back to safety. Mikasa stays slightly behind and remains silent.

"Our work here is done. Don't screw this up by making it personal. We all get that you love him, but don't try not to act crazy," Levi says to Mikasa.

Mikasa opens her mouth to respond but closes it as that is clearly the better option. You know in your heart how much you love Levi, but you're not willing to lose your mind in dire situations because of it. You hope Mikasa learns that with Eren because she is a very skilled soldier.

The three of you land in the clearing outside the forest, and while everyone is focused on Eren, you can't take your eyes off of Levi's leg because you know it's hurting him so much, but he doesn't want the attention over someone who's more injured just because of his title.

You and Levi fill Erwin in on the past events and Mikasa, along with nearly everyone else, worries over Eren's safety and health. Eren gets cleaned up and placed in the back of a wagon. The dead bodies of fallen comrades are also hauled into separate wagons to be taken back for their families.

You don't point out that you know Levi broke his ankle to him even after watching him subtly wincing and limping. You just keep a hand behind his back incase he is to fall or stumble.

Erwin is rounding up the bodies and saying that they are to leave anyone in the forest as titans may be approaching any moment and to mark them as MIA, but two guys don't seem too happy about it.

"No, I refuse! It's inhumane. We can't just leave them out here! He was there, I saw Ivan's body, he was right in front of us!" a guy you remember to be named Dieter argues.

"If you haven't noticed, there are titans nearby! If we go back, we could get killed ourselves!" a higher ranking officer replies.

"So if they attack, we'll fight! It's what we do, right?" Dietra exclaims.

"Stop shrieking," Levi interrupts in a tiresome tone. "If you've already confirmed his death, then there's nothing more to do. Whether we have his body or not makes no difference now. He's still just as dead either way."

"That's cold," Dieter's friend murmurs in mortification.

You slightly peer over at Levi, knowing that his own grief is getting in the way of his words. He would never say something so morbid if he were in his right state of mind.

"Ivan and the others will be listed as missing in action. That's my decision and it's final, now let it go," Erwin dismisses. You and Levi follow after him.

"You heartless bastards! That's the kind of respect you show the men who give their lives for you!"

The three of you ignore his outburst and walk over to round up the Scouts and prepare for departure back to the gate. There are less horses than needed, so some of the soldiers have to ride with the bodies in the wagons, but there's no way in hell you're doing that.

Instead, you arrive at a horse--Levi's actually--and hoist yourself up first. Levi knows now that you're aware of his serious injury as you put a hand out to help him up. He grabs on and you pull him behind you with your remaining strength until he's settled.

"Are you comfortable?" you ask.

"Besides my broken fucking ankle, I'm great," Levi answers sarcastically.

"I've been trying to get you to sit down for twenty minutes, but of course you wouldn't," you claim.

"Job needs to be done first before I think about myself."

"That's why I'm here to think about you first," you mumble, gripping the reigns in your hands.

Levi doesn't respond and instead wraps his arms around your waist, resisting the urge to rest his head on your shoulder because of how tired he is since there are others around. The Survey Corps take off toward the direction of the gate, and not fifteen minutes later, something goes wrong.

"Titans!" you hear being shouted behind you.

"Of fucking course," Levi mutters.

You look over your shoulder to see Dieter carrying Ivan's dead body on the back of his saddle being accompanied by his friends as well. The worst part is that they're being chased by two titans.

"Full speed, all soldiers!" Erwin commands loudly from your and Levi's right side.

"Our best chance might be to circle back, make a beeline for the trees. We can't put up much of a fight out here," Levi says.

"No, our best option now is to continue to the wall," Erwin replies.

You nod and fall back away from the frontlines. It seems that Dieter lost Ivan's body and his friend is now being eaten while the other titan is gaining on the group, but Mikasa slows down to, in fact, save Dieter's life. You're glad your words got through to her, but the closer titan is still a problem.

"Get farther back incase we need to engage," Levi directs.

You follow his orders and decrease speed until you're all the way at the rear beside a wagon filled with bodies and you know exactly what he's thinking.

"You got to get rid of the extra weight. Dump the bodies," Levi tells the two men preparing to fight and continues when seeing their faces. "Do you know how many corpses we already left behind? These aren't special. Dump them. Consider it their last service to the cause."

"Are we really considering this!?" one of the guys shout.

"(Y/N), you might have to take this one if they can't follow through with it," Levi whispers.

"Will do," you reply.

"I'm sorry, there's just no other way!" the other guy apologizes and throws the tailgate of the wagon open.

Together, they dispose of the bodies and you tighten your grip on the leather reigns when you see one of the corpses so happens to be Petra's. You remind yourself of not just hers, but all of their sacrifices and it's just enough for you to keep moving forward.