Can't Get Along (Levi X Reader)

23. Respite

Christa POV

Ymir let us down safely along one of the short walls of the ruins before charging off to try and fight off the remaining titans that hadn't been taken down by the collapsed tower. It was painful to watch. I could see her movements slowing down and the exhaustion getting to her from being up all night and all day previously. The titans quickly overtook her and began tearing into her titan body. I climbed down to try and run to her, my body moving before I could think about what I was doing. I never knew what she was but I didn't care that she'd kept this from us all this whole time. She was my best friend, the only one who truly understood my own history. I felt tears leave my eyes and slide down my cheeks, standing on top of some tower debris to call to her. "Fight Ymir! You can't die yet! I haven't told you my real name!"

A fell silent as a shadow slowly covered and stretched over before me and I turned to look up at the titan looming over me, its hand reaching down to grab me. I willed my legs to move but I couldn't. I could only stand there completely frozen as I stared back at the large hungry eyes looking at me as if I was the most delicious thing they'd ever seen. I slowly closed my eyes, ready to accept this fate but snapped them back open as I heard Eren's voice yelling. I watched him fly in behind the titan just as its hand reached me, slicing deep into its nape before it could grab me and I blocked my face with my arms as the large body crashed to the ground and small bits of debris got kicked up. "Christa, are you alright?" He asked as he landed on the ground near me, running up and placing a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and nodded with a small cough as the dust settled again, scanning the area to see the bulk of the Scouts coming in to back up Ymir in the fight for her life. Her titan body was torn to shreds; Moblit and Hanji cut her out of the nape, laying her down and I rushed over to her without a look back at the rest of my friends that had been with us that night.

I knelt beside her and carefully lifted her head into my lap, trying to hold back tears as I waited for her eyes to open. both of her arms had been severed when she'd been extracted from her titan form along with one of her legs at the knee. There was a large hole in her side and it was obvious her insides were totally scrambled. But all the injuries were slowly beginning to steam as her healing ability kicked in. She did eventually open her eyes and I couldn't be happier to see her alive regardless of her serious injuries...

Reader POV

I groaned as my eyes slowly blinked open in the bright sunlight and I glanced around with blurry vision only to realize I was being lifted up the wall on a stretcher. I sighed heavily and lifted my right arm up toward the sky, frowning at the sight of the drying blood from the cuts and scrapes I'd inflicted on myself in my blind rage fighting those titans. I laid the arm over my eyes and closed them again, a sudden wave of grief washing over me and quiet sobs soon wracked my weary body.

When I was lifted from the lift, I took my arm away from my face and opened my eyes again to see Eren and Moblit holding either end of my stretcher. "Ah, (Name) you're awake. How are you feeling?" Eren asked in a concerned tone and I averted my gaze from him for a second before returning my eyes to his as they placed my stretched down farther back from the edges of the top of the wall. "Where's my gear? I need more gas and blades. I'm fine." I grunted at the dull ache in my muscles as I sat up and tried to stand. My legs had a few deep cuts on them from my blades when I'd had to cut myself free from a titan's grasp twice but they weren't bleeding anymore.

"You shouldn't be moving right now. You've done enough to help out. Take a break." I heard a new voice and footsteps join the conversation from the left and I glanced up from my seated position, Eren's hands on my shoulders to try and hold me down. "Shut up Reiner. I said I'm fine." I snapped at the tall blond and he took a step back with his hands raised. "He's right, you're in pretty bad shape, (Name)." Eren piped up and I sighed in frustration, pushing his hands off my shoulders. "You of all people should understand, Yeager. I want my gear back. I want fresh blades and gas. I'm still in this, we can't afford to be down one more soldier right now. Nanaba and Gelgar are gone. Mike too. How many more experienced elite soldiers will die if we Cadets don't pull our own weight?" I pushed myself to my feet and stumbled slightly but managed to catch my balance and stand upright.

Eren frowned but I heard him stand and rush off to get exactly what I'd asked for, Reiner following behind him to get his own set of gear and a harness. Seemed my resolve got to him as well. "At least let me treat the worse of your injuries first..." Moblit caught my attention and I let out a short exhale from my nose then nodded, sitting back down to allow him to treat the deeper cuts on my legs and arms left from my blades and debris.

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Levi POV

I walked along the top of Wall Rose, looking out at the expanse of land between it and where Wall Maria lay just past the horizon. It'd been a long time since Wall Maria fell and even longer since my last expedition outside of that outermost wall. Reclaiming Wall Maria seemed impossible the longer this dragged on. I let out a long exhale and returned my gaze to the ground in front of me as I made my way to meet up with the rest of my squad that I'd sent out to help with the search for the breach in Wall Rose. I was mostly worried about (Name). She hadn't had full stores of gas or blades when I sent her out to help Nanaba's group a few hours earlier and as I glanced around me at the few wounded and dead that had been recovered, I wasn't able to calm down. Especially when I saw one of Nanaba's arms being set down in the lineup of casualties. Surely (Name) couldn't be dead. No, she had to be alive.

I was pulled from my thoughts when Hanji spotted me and ran over, dragging Eren along with her. I rolled my eyes and listened to her blabber about something, letting my gaze wander the other Scouts milling about on the top of the wall ahead of me. I spotted the Commander and farther down the rest of my squad all gathered around the edge of the wall, chatting and looking out over it into titan territory. "Tch, you talk too much. Eren, come with me." I said, leaving Hanji's side to make my way over to where Armin and Jean stood looking out over the horizon. "Oi, you two, where's (Name)?" Armin turned and saluted me a bit startled at my sudden appearance while Jean just jerked his thumb over toward Bertholdt and Reiner farther down the wall. I nodded and went right up to (Name), placing my hand on her shoulder.

She tensed up and whipped around to glare at me but when she realized who it was the look in her eyes softened. I looked her over from head to toe, frowning at the bandaged I could see on her arms and legs and even the ones wrapped around her forehead. "What happened to you?" She averted her eyes and looked down at her bandaged right arm with a sigh but Reiner beat her to speaking up, answering my question for her. "She snapped and went on a rampage to try and protect us. She killed at least nine titans before she ran out of gas and Ymir jumped in to save her." I narrowed my eyes at the tall blond cadet for answering for (Name) but didn't give him too much grief for it since it was what I wanted to know after all.

She fulled turned toward me and brushed past me, grabbing my hand in hers as Reiner asked Eren if they could talk. I let her lead me off away from the small group but she suddenly stopped and I actually walked right into her as I'd been lost in my worried thoughts about her wellbeing. I stepped to the side of her to get a look at her face. Her eyes were wide with little tears in the corners threatening to spill over. "(Name)... What's wrong?" I asked her, taking my hand out of hers to place them both on her shoulders and try to get her to look at me. She looked horrified and I saw her eyes swimming with a growing rage as she met my eyes for only a second, turning her head slowly to look back at Reiner and Bertholdt. "It's them..." She mumbled barely above a whisper and if I'd been any farther away from her I wouldn't have caught it. She must have overheard something that Reiner had said as we were walking away that made her act like this but I had no idea what she meant by that. "Them who?" She turned her head to look at me again, no more tears in her eyes as she scrunched her nose up, her eyebrows knitting together with pure anger.

"The Colossal and Armored titans..."