Can't Get Along (Levi X Reader)

28. Wings of Freedom

2 Years Later, After the Reclamation of Shiganshina

Jean POV

"Squad Leader Jean, we're moving out. Hurry up." Evelyn called into the stables with a hint of excitement in her voice and I heard her footsteps rush away from the barn door a second later. With a heavy sigh, I put the bridle on my horse and led her out to the group of Scouts getting mounted up and prepared to leave the outer wall of Shiganshina. I followed suit and mounted my horse, riding her over to where the rest of my squad was waiting. Eren, Mikasa, Felix, and Evelyn. I spotted Armin and Sasha across the field and I heard Connie laugh loudly at something from somewhere behind me. Commander Hanji led the large group out of the rebuilt gate once we were ready on our horses and I kicked my horse to keep pace with Evelyn and Felix at the front of our smaller subgroup as we spread out into a larger formation for traveling.

The ride was long and I just couldn't find the energy to be excited about this outing like many of the others were. Even Eren looked more somber than usual despite the fact that we were finally going out to see the ocean for the first time, something he had joined the Scouts for in the first place. I caught a glance over at Armin in the group ahead of mine, he looked pretty grim too and I sighed, looking down at the ears of my horse as we continued our ride along the flat plains of perfectly green grass. I couldn't help but recall previous events that I would rather forget, but they were burned into my memory just as the day I found Marco dead in the streets of Trost was...

I rode back toward Squad Levi's position after delivering the message Levi told me to give to Hanji in the command squad toward the center of the formation. I had seen some black signal flares from over this way to relay that an abnormal had been spotted but I was ill prepared for what I encountered there. I yanked my horse to a sliding halt as I passed mangled bodies scattered across the grassy flatlands. Whatever kind of abnormal titan did this, it wasn't eating everything. There were arms and legs scattered about, half of a head here, a pair of legs or a torso there. the green grass was drenched with blood in some places and there was broken ODM gear everywhere, blades sticking into the ground too. It was like some kind of explosion had gone off and left a huge amount of carnage behind. It was enough to bring bile rising in the back of my throat and I put a hand over my mouth as I scanned the bodies for any sign of my squad members. Luckily, I didn't spot them. I kicked my horse to continue on, forcing myself to swallow growing nausea as I pushed on to where I could only assume Squad Levi was engaged in combat with whatever abnormal titan had run through here. 

And not five minutes later did I spot the titan, a fifteen-meter class just crawling about on all fours. I once again pulled my horse to a halt to watch as Levi whizzed around slashing into the titan's flesh from all angles. I wasn't close enough to get caught in the crossfire but I was definitely close enough to hear the grief-stricken screaming coming from the short man. I had never seen him like this. He'd completely lost it. Levi was always so calm and collected when fighting titans and this was anything but. He would normally make as few cuts as possible to kill swiftly and lessen the potential for any damage to himself or anyone nearby, but right now he was just landing blows to release his emotions. It gripped at my heart and I felt my lungs begin to close up. There was only one thing that I could think of that would push Levi to such agonizing sorrow. (Name) must be badly injured... Or worse, dead.

Looking around, I quickly scanned the nearby bodies for anyone I recognized and then I saw the familiar (h/c) hair laying in the grass a few meters to my right. It was matted with fresh blood, and it was still attached to her head and upper body but both of her legs were missing at the hip. I dismounted my horse and rushed over to her when I saw her eyes flutter open. She was alive, but she wouldn't be for much longer with that amount of blood loss. As I got closer to her, I noticed the missing left arm just below the elbow and frowned, dropping to my knees in the pool of blood beside her. Hot tears pricked at my eyes and blurred my vision until I blinked and squeezed them out of my eyes and they rolled slowly down my cheeks. "(Name)... You... You're going to be okay." I told her even though we both knew that was a huge lie. She only smiled at me, tears welling up in her eyes and sliding down her cheeks until they dripped off into her hair and the ground below.