Levi x OC | Humanity's Greatest

16 - Wake Up

When Levi finally decided he felt ready to walk again, we thanked Commander Pixis and headed out onto the busy street once more. Civilians gathered yet again, muttering pointless things about their taxes and their food.

I glanced to my side to get a better view of Levi, who was limping slightly. I felt a pang of guilt in my stomach. I really hurt him.

"Levi" I spoke up.

"Hmm?" The corporal turned his head, his steel eyes scanning me.

"Listen, I-"

I was about to attempt some form of apology, when a figure pushed through the endless crowds of people and made its way towards us.

Something felt familiar. It was the figure of a middle aged man, he wasn't wearing any shoes and he had cracked glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose...

Then it hit me that it was the man from earlier, the man who had shouted at Levi about the loss of his loved one, probably coming back to have another aggressive dig at us. Not like we needed anyone to make us feel any worse right now.

I looked around me, but there were no Garrison soldiers to be seen so it looked like we were going to have to sort this one out ourselves.

We stopped in our tracks and I was about to address the man in the most polite way possible when I heard him muttering under his breath.

He looked angry, viscous. He had a certain deadly expression written all over his face.

Something felt off. I had a bad feeling in my gut, one of those feelings that you can't shake off.

It was only when he was a few feet away from us, when I spotted a flash of silver in his hand.

Time stopped.

I watched as the civilian man clenched his teeth, and his sweaty hand tightened against the silvery object.

His eyes were on Levi, full of anguish, full of hatred.

The man rose his hand into the air along with the sharp silvery object, and I saw people's eyes widen and mouths gape open in slow motion all around me.

I didn't even need to think about what I was going to do next, I instinctively stepped in front of Levi at the last second and gasped with pain and shock as the knife punctured the skin in my chest and sunk into my flesh.

It was a large knife, it looked like something a butcher would use. Maybe if it was an ordinary kitchen knife I'd have a chance of survival but now...I wasn't so sure.

Gunther and Eld ran over to the man who had stabbed me and restrained him.

I could feel my heart thumping frantically inside my chest, the blood pumping around my body, and all of a sudden I was falling backwards, the world around me tipping over.

I waited to hit the ground, I waited for the impact and the pain, but it never came. Instead, I felt a pair of strong hands cushion my fall and lay me on the ground gently.

I tried to focus my blurry vision on Levi, who was hunched over me, his face plastered with complete and utter disbelief.

"Hey...Levi" I coughed. It was excruciating to talk, and I winced as I did so.

Levi's eyes only widened. For once in his life, he seemed lost for words. I smiled.

"I guess..." I grimaced with pain. "I guess we're even now"

Tears streamed from Levi's eyes, landing on my face, but it was almost as if the corporal didn't realise he was crying. He just stayed there, still and silent, holding me in his arms, his eyes wide with shock and fear.

"I missed you" I whispered. "I'm sorry. I missed you a lot"

Levi remained silent, statue-like. His jaw dropped open slightly, and I noticed he was shaking a little bit.

It was as if he didn't believe, or didn't want to believe, what was happening right in front of him. It was odd for me, seeing him like this. Levi was the strongest person I knew, he was the person I looked to for my own strength, so to see him in such a state was uncanny.

Petra and Oluo rushed over and crouched down on the ground on either side of me, panic strewn across both of their faces.

But all the while I never took my eyes off Levi, who in turn, never took his eyes off me.

"We need to get her to a doctor!" Petra yelled, her innocent voice cracking with tears and stress.

When there was no reply from Levi, who was too shocked to move, Petra looked at her corporal desperately. "Captain?! Captain please!" She pleaded.

My vision began to blur, I closed my eyes and soon all that was left was darkness and the fading sounds of the bustling street around me.

My senses began to dull and just before I drifted away I heard Levi's voice, chasing after me, trying to pull me back into reality.

"Grace?"

"Grace please!"

"Grace!"

I could feel myself being carried away as his voice followed me desperately. I tried to grab it, I tried to stay with him, I tried to hold on.

"Wake up..."

But in the end, my efforts faded into nothing.