A Place To Lean On (SNK//Rivetra Modern!AU)

Chapter 8: Comfort

Petra was going through the wedding magazines with Hanji and Nanaba when she got another call from Levi. At first, the phone screen lighting up with his name was a delight sight, but when she heard his unusually frantic voice on the other side, anxiety immediately clicked in her.

"Hey, Petra, can you come pick me up? I'm on Hudson Street."

"S-Sure. Gimme about fifteen minutes." Levi gave her some shaky breaths as an 'okay' then hung up. That was strange of him, made her worried that something had happened, something bad had happened, because the Levi she knows is strong and is never moved by anything. She bit her lip and went into her room to get changed.

"Where ya going Pet?" Nanaba asked when she came out with a pair of jeans and pastel colored sweater over the night shirt she had worn earlier.

"Levi called, he wants me to pick him up." Hanji raised an eyebrow at that. "No Hans, I don't think he's okay, he sounded really, not him, on the phone." Her voiced lowered at the latter part, she was concerned for his being and wanted to take off right away to his rescue.

"Well, that's something wrong right there. Go save your princess then!" Nanaba raised from her seat on the sofa. "We better get going too, don't we Hans?" The brunette woman nodded and grinned wide, following Nanaba out of the door. Three of them went in different directions, Petra asked to borrow Hanji's motorbike, in which the brunette unhesitatingly let her.

"Go save your man Pet! He's in need of you!" She shouted.

Petra was never one to drive fast, but this time, she was willing to beat a cop and let the motorbike speed down the streets.

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The road in front of her was blocked my rows of cars, but the fact that this was no traffic jam made her stomach turn. Her brain popped up a million things that could be happening down that street, and she would be broken if Levi was involved in any of those things. She set the motorbike up next to a building, pocketed the key and ran down the street, pushing pass the crowd who surrounded the area chattering.

Smoke rose in the air, the smell of gas is dreadful, but then there was also smell of blood. She walked passed the rows of cars that blocked the road, only to discover the empty path was the most horrific sight she'd ever seen. There were ambulances and medical workers running around, there were bodies scattered on the ground, some were still sitting dead in their cars, which was somehow parted to both side of the street, the buildings were ruined from being crashed. It was like Moses parting the sea but accidentally killing the fishes, and it was more gory.

She called out his name, frantically turning her head in a way that would make her dizzy. Then she saw him, sitting head down on the broken window frame of a shop, she hoped he didn't sit on any shattered glasses. She called out one more time and Levi lifted his head up, his eyes shining, she didn't expect to see his puffy eyes, nor did she expect him to jump in front of her and warp his arms around her shoulders so suddenly.

"Are you alright?" She managed to choke out from his tight embrace, she carefully removing his arms and got a closer look of his face: cheeks stained with dried tears, eyes unfocused and his breath shaky, a Levi she'd never seen before.

"Oh dear god, it's okay, it's okay, I'm here, I'm here now." She warped her arm around his waist, threw his other arm over her shoulder, held him as close as she could. "Let's get you out of here." She walked him down the street back to where Hanji's motorbike was. When she rode them back to her apartment, Levi held his arms around her waist from behind so tightly like his life's depended on her, like the wind could easily blow him away and off the bike.

When they got back to Petra's apartment, she let Levi snuggle up in a pile of pillows on her sofa and wrapped a blanket around him then went to make tea and heat up the brownies. He had stopped breathing heavily, stopped the shaking but his eyes were still wide, grey pupils filled with terror. She quietly sat down next to him and handed him a mug of tea. Levi held it in his palm, not bothering at the fact that it was probably burning into his hands, he stared at the white steam blowing up in his face with blank eyes. Petra decided to start talking.