Can't Get Along (Levi X Reader)

18. Nightmare

Reader POV

I kicked my horse faster, trying to keep Levi in my sights through the thick curtain of heavy rain that was coming down. It was hot out and the pouring ran was cold enough to cause fog to begin swirling around near the ground. A gust of wind blew the hood of my cloak off my head and the rain drenched my hair almost instantly but I ignored the cold water running down my face as we kept riding. Of all the times for a nasty storm like this to happen, it just had to be while we were in the middle of an expedition.

I took one hand off the reins to bring it up and swipe some water from my eyes. And when I blinked them open again to look ahead of me I could no longer see Levi. I looked around me for Eren or Jean who had been riding close by. No sign of them either. I twisted around to see if Armin was still behind me but all I saw was fog and rain. I didn't like this. A strong feeling of uneasiness filled me and made my stomach churn. But I faced forward and kept riding my horse in the direction I assumed was following after Levi.

I rode on and on for what felt like hours and still no sign of my other squad members or even anyone at all. Surely I couldn't be lost? I couldn't have passed everyone and left the formation? Could I? I hadn't seen any titans either and that feeling of unease inside me grew. I felt sick, like I couldn't breathe as I pulled my horse to a stop. I looked around me, squinting in the blinding rain and now much thicker fog. I couldn't see anything at all, no large rocks, no random tree, no footprints or hoof prints in the muddy ground immediately surrounding my horse. All I could hear was the deafening sound of the pouring rain.

I waited for a glimpse of a comrade, a sound that wasn't this annoying and ominous downpour. I don't know how long I sat there on my horse just staring out at nothing but suddenly there was a loud crack and flash from somewhere in the distance and a moment later the rain slowed to a mere drizzle. The fog thinned out somewhat to reveal my surroundings and I looked around me with wide eyes. Jean lay half crushed under his horse to my left, Armin was leaning against a boulder to my right, missing an arm and a leg on one side, cradling what was left of Mikasa's mangled body in his other arm as he bled out slowly. Sasha's lower half lay directly in front of my horse a few yards ahead and I saw half of Connie's face nearby. I was horrified of course at seeing my squad like this, dead or dying. But what disturbed me the most was the sight that lay beyond where Sasha and Connie's body parts lie. Eren in his titan form was swatting at a small figure whizzing around his body trying to subdue the raging titan. Levi.

Despite my sick feeling of fear and grief, I kicked my horse to move forward, galloping toward titan Eren and Levi. But no matter how far I rode, they never got closer. I could see them both perfectly clearly even though I was a decent distance away. I opened my mouth to call for Levi to watch out but no sound came out of my mouth as my lips moved with the words. I pulled my horse to a stop again, silently crying out for Levi as Eren snatched him out of the air. I saw Levi struggle in his grasp but Eren was quick to bring his hand up to his mouth and bite the Corporal's head clean off. His flailing arms went limp as blood spurted out from his neck and I felt the hot tears already streaming down my face. I sucked in a shaky breath and leaned my head back to look up at the sky as I let out a silent wail...

I sat up in Jean's bed with a short shout of Levi's name, a thin layer of cold sweat covering my whole body as I panted and stared at the wall ahead of me. I felt the sting of threatening tears at my eyes, not having the mental strength to force myself not to cry right now. The hot tears welled up in my eyes and blurred my vision of the creamy colored wall in front of me until I screwed my eyes shut and pulled my knees up to my chest. I wrapped my uninjured arm around my legs and hid my face in my knees with quiet sobs.

I felt the bed dip under Jean's weight as he sat beside me and brought a hand up to rub my back slowly, moving his hand in large circles to comfort me as I cried after my nightmare. "Armin, go get the Corporal..." I heard Jean's tired voice say in a worried whisper and turned to lean my head against his bare shoulder, getting it wet with tears that streamed down my cheeks but he didn't seem to care. He just wrapped his arms around me, minding my injured shoulder, and whispered reassuring things in my ear as one hand pet my hair.

Armin POV

I nodded when Jean told me to go and fetch Corporal Levi and rushed out of our shared dorm, my eyebrows knit together with deep concern for (Name) and whatever it was she had dreamt about to make her cry so easily like that. She wasn't the type to cry often and we all knew that so I was glad that Jean and I had been the ones present. As much as Jean liked to act all tough and cocky, he was a big softie and was surprisingly in tune with other people's emotions. He handled the situation so well and I was a bit envious of that because I had just been frozen watching her cry and not knowing what to do about it.

I ran down the halls as quickly but quietly as I could since it was around 3 in the morning. I was breathing heavy and sweating a little as I reached Corporal Levi's office door and knocked on it in an urgent manner. I was only waiting at the door for a few seconds before it swung open to reveal a rather annoyed and grumpy looking Levi. "You better have a damn good reason for bothering me this late at night, Arlert." He grumbled in a tired tone but it still made me flinch a little. "Y-Yes, sir. It's (Name)... s-she had a really bad nightmare and was calling for you in her sleep. Jean told me to come g-get you, sir." I mentally cursed myself for stuttering but I wasn't sure if it was from my usual fear of the short Corporal or if I was just worried and panicking. Maybe a bit of both...

Levi POV

As upset with (Name) as I'd been earlier the previous evening, hearing this made my heart drop and quickly went to my room and grabbed my shirt from yesterday that had yet to be cleaned and then rushed out of my office past Armin, heading for their shared dorm. I had been planning to put the shirt on as I made my way through the halls but my mind was clouded with worried thoughts of (Name) and I completely forgot, opening the door to Jean and Armin's room wearing nothing but my grey sweat pants I'd been attempting to sleep in.

I closed the door behind me then took in the scene in the room. Jean sat on one of the beds carefully hugging (Name) to his chest and rubbing her back with one hand, the other comfortingly resting on the back of her head as she cried into his bare shoulder. He looked up at me when I walked over to stand beside the bed and I watched him gently push her away from him by her good shoulder. "(Name), look. Levi's here. He's alright. He came here just to see you; he was worried about you." Jean said to her in a soft, soothing tone and I felt slightly envious of that. I had comforted her in the past but I could never be as sweet and gentle about that stuff as Jean was being right now. I just didn't have the nack for it with my personality.

(Name) shifted her watery (e/c) eyes from Jean's honey ones to my steel grey ones and she hesitantly reached out her hand to grab mine. I let her take it and sat down on the other side of her as she brought it to her face and placed her wet cheek in my palm. I frowned as this only made her start crying again. I shifted and pulled my hand away from her to wrap her in a gentle, warm hug. She leaned against me and hid her face in my bare shoulder as she cried more hot tears. I closed my eyes with a heavy sigh and leaned my head against hers, rubbing her back with one of my hands. I opened my eyes again a moment later to catch Jean's concerned gaze. "Thank you." I whispered to him and he just nodded, watching me comfort (Name) from her nightmare. I wanted to ask what she had dreamed about that got her like this but maybe it was better to never know. I didn't want her to relive it, after all...