The Girl With The Yellow Ribbon - Attack on Titan

Chapter Three

It was strange to see the ever-energetic Petra Ral in a state of such calmness.

Her normally rosey cheeks lost their complexion, her ivory skin drained of colour. She looked more like a china doll than a soldier.

Captain Levi, who sat at her bedside, yearned for nothing more than to reach out and touch her strawberry blonde hair, and maybe twirl it around his fingers and watch it unravel.

There was a strange thrill they both got from whatever relationship they had, the kind of thrill derived from adrenaline and stolen kisses.

"Hush, they're going to hear us!" Petra whispered through gasps.

At this, Levi grinned. He grabbed Petra's hand and pulled her down an empty corridor, away from Oluo and Gunther's approaching conversations.

"Where are we going?" Petra asked, throwing a fearful glance over her shoulder. With thrill, there came a certain fear--and both Petra and Levi knew this fear well.

"Don't ask questions, just keep up!" Levi responded.

They ran down the empty corridor, the only lights coming from the torches lining the walls.

They ran through the shadows as they had many nights before--they were soldiers, yes, but they were also human, and humans all harboured the same burning desire for adventure and romance.

When they neared the end of the hall, Petra wondered what it had all been for, but Levi stopped running and nudged her into a small corner at the very end of the hall.

Petra had never been to this part of the castle before, but every late-night rendezvous they had lead her to areas she'd never seen before--and tonight was no exception.

Unbeknownst to the other Scouts, there was a little nook at the end of a long hall; no one knew of it because no one bothered to come this way.

Levi, however, was prone to wonder late at night whenever he couldn't sleep--for a man like Levi Ackerman, that was just about every night. And his wonderings lead him to this corner.

From the end of the hall, no one could see this corner, and if someone stood in the corner, they too would go unseen.

A perfect spot for hidden lovers.

It was quaint, barely enough space for two grown adults to stand shoulder to shoulder--luckily for them, both Levi and Petra were very little, and they fit perfectly.

"See, didn't I tell you I knew where I was going?" Levi said, reaching up and fiddling with the ends of Petra's strawberry blonde hair--oh, how he loved her strawberry blonde hair.

"No, you didn't." Petra said, smiling. "You told me not to ask questions and to keep up. Hardly the same thing."

"Eh, what difference does it make? We're here now." Levi said with a shrug. Petra laughed and laid her head on his shoulder, curling into his warmth as her cheek brushed against his jawline.

She hummed to herself contently, soothed by the little tugs at her hair.

Petra always dreamed of something like this--a story book romance, two lovers running through an old castle, and pretending that the world doesn't exist. And for a moment, it doesn't.

Levi never imagined himself in such a situation--growing up in the Underground in a brothel, the thought of a forbidden romance or a scenario where a woman as beautiful as Petra clung to him in the shadows was laughable.

The whole scene was overly cliché in the best ways possible.

Captain Levi Ackerman isn't a man made for love stories, but Petra Ral was determined to change that--and she did.

"Levi?" Petra's voice was soft and hoarse, and it almost startled Levi. He'd been lost deep in thought, and hadn't noticed Petra wake up.

"Hey," Levi murmured, leaning his forearms on the recovery bed. His voice was soft, softer than he'd intended. "How are you feeling?"

"Could be better," Petra grimaced. "How's everyone else? Did we take down the Female Titan?"

Levi's breath hitched. She didn't know... would Levi have to tell her that they were the last surviving members of the original Levi Squad?

"Levi?" Petra whispered, reaching across the bedsheets to grasp his calloused hands. "Levi, what happened?"

For the first time since they'd returned home, tears prickled in Levi's eyes as he remembered his fallen comrades.

Oluo, Gunther, Eld...

"They're gone," Levi wheezed. "All of them... they're all gone."

"Gone?" A weight was dropped into Petra's belly as she struggled to grasp the gravity of Levi's words.

"Dead." His words were short, and angry. The anger is the only way Levi is able to mask the pain, and it is the only way he is able to push away the tears. "All of them. They're dead."

"No, you're mistaken." With her free hand, Petra begins to fiddle with the edge of the blanket. The other clutched Levi's hand so tightly that the colour drained from her knuckles. "Surely you're mistaken."

"I'm not, I promise." He runs his thumb along her palm absentmindedly, something simple and stupid to soothe the ache in his chest. "I... I saw them before I saw you, and they were already dead. I thought you were dead too..."

"You knew?" Petra whimpered. Tears drip down her face but she didn't bother to wipe them away. "You knew when you found me and you didn't tell me? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to put you under more stress than you already were," Levi mutters, still clutching Petra's hand. "At that moment, all you needed to focus on was staying alive."

"You should have told me." Petra says. She tries to stay strong, to keep the facade of bravery up, but the mask is slipping and Petra doesn't know how long it will be before she breaks down.

"No," Levi shifts so both hands clutch Petra's hand. "I shouldn't have told you at that moment. You were almost dead yourself, and the added stress from finding that out may have been too much. I wasn't going to take that risk and lose you too... I can't lose you too."

Petra bites her lip as tears still stream down her face, and she clutches Levi's hand as if it were her grasp on life. She can't let go.

Somehow, she manages to pull one hand away, and reaches up to cup Levi's face--she feels the stubble from this morning's shave, the little hairs along his nape, and the stringy locks that always fall over his eyes.

She also feels the tears sticking to his cheeks, both fresh and dried. He bottles everything inside, but one day that bottle will have to spill over. Does he even know how to cry?

Though the movements pain Petra greatly, she clutches at Levi with whatever strength she has left.

Her bottom lip begins to quiver as she whispers, "I... I can't lose you either."