Hey, I'm not dead, would you look at that? It's been like, what? Two years since I uploaded something? You know, when I said I was a lazy fuck, I wasn't joking in the slightest, I wish I were, but I wasn't. All this time I have been just lazing around, my creativity and inspiration just went *poof* and it was gone, I couldn't find in myself the passion and drive to write anymore, so I just stopped. I'm terribly sorry and incredibly ashamed for doing so, especially because there were people waiting for more chapters of my other stories, and I let everyone down.
However, inspiration hit me like a fucking truck at the end of last week and suddenly I made this one shot crossover of Attack on Titan and Sonic. If there are any inconsistencies in this story and some characters seem out of character, I'm sorry, I'm not well versed into Attack on Titan, I just watched the anime, and that was about it. I did however, do a little research, and found out that one of the characters background stories is non-cannon, so for the people who reach a part and wonder "Why is it different" is because since the background is non-canon, I'm making a different, much simpler one to not get in the way of the story
So, without anymore god damn further ado...
Fateful Encounter
Low sizzling sounds could be heard cutting the air on a heavily forested area, the sound getting louder as time went by, as if something was getting near. A few moments later, two blurs soared through the air, in between the gigantic trees that made up that forest. The blurs danced through the trees, evading with grace the large trunks as they shot what appeared to be iron cables, and propelled forward with some sort of compressed air.
The blurs continued to seemingly fly through the forest, the shadows had a target, and they had finally made eye contact. The target was walking a few dozen meters in front of them, going around without any purpose in life, slowly trudging through the forest in a very clumsy way, staggering left and right, almost tripping from time to time.
There was something strange about their target though, it was huge, not as tall as the trees, but reaching an impressive fifteen meters of height, it had short black hair, and carried an emotionless, and an almost retarded looking expression on its face. It was also naked, not a single piece of clothing covering its enormous body, what's even stranger is that it had no genitalia whatsoever, despite having a masculine looking body.
Having located their target, one of the blurs almost disappears from sight as it speeds even faster than before, brandishing two blades from its hips, with the intent of taking out the human looking giant.
Said giant must've heard the sizzling emitted by the cables being shot, because it stopped walking aimlessly to turn around and face its supposed executioner. The giant let out a bloodcurdling screech after seeing what was coming after him, and ran, also in a clumsy way, directly into its direction, however, the blur was not surprised by the events, and soared in high speeds in the giant's direction.
The giant then raised its right arm and tried to swat away the blur coming in his way, only for it to pull back the cables it had shot, and dodge the swing at the last second. But rather than just evading, the blur spun itself like a buzzsaw at an alarming speed, hacking its way up the giant's arm like a speeding wheel of death, splattering blood everywhere. The giant completely ignored the attack, as if it didn't even feel any pain, and tried to grab the spinning killing machine hacking its way up, but as soon as the giant's fingers neared blur, they were sliced apart and showered the attacker in blood.
Spinning its way up the arm, the attacking blur jumped off as soon as it neared the giant's shoulder blade, and next, turned around in the air so it could shoot the iron cables on the creature's shoulders and pull himself at high speeds to the nape of its neck, and in a flash of silver later, the attacker slashed the nape of its neck, killing the giant instantly.
All of that happened in the spam of five seconds.
The human looking creature fell to its knees and then face down on the grassy ground, a few seconds later its body started to let out a lot of what looked like to be steam, starting from the place where the blur had sliced.
Speaking of blur, it and the other one who followed it moments before went up high in the trees and landed on one of the massive branches from the gargantuan trees. Upon landing, and finally stopping to a still position, they can finally have their appearance analyzed.
The attacker was a lean teenager looking male, he had short, straight black hair and carried an expressionless face, his eyes were sharp, and his mouth was always in a straight line. His attire consisted of long brown leather boots, white pants with brown straps covering his thighs, a white button up shirt, a white cravat, a brown leather jacket that barely reached his navel, and a green hooded cape. On the shoulders of his jacket and the back of his cape there was a symbol of two wings, one blue, and one white, intertwined above a shield.
This was Levi Ackerman, the best soldier of the Survey Corps branch of the Military, and the best of the Military as a whole, and leader of an elite group entitled the Special Operation Squad, which had its members picked by the man himself. The Survey Corps is a the branch of the Military whose tasked with patrolling, exploring, and reclaiming territory from the Titans from outside the walls perimeters.
Titans, is what the race of the giant he had just killed was called. They were enormous human looking abominations who just appeared out of nowhere one day and wandered around the world without any purpose in life other than killing human beings, any other wild life such as animals they would completely ignore, but the humans they would kill on the spot.
Despite his lean and rather frail looking frame, Levi is an expert fighter, and as already mentioned, the best soldier of the entire Military, capable of killing the Titans in the blink of an eye.
Beside him landed his partner for their current job, one of his handpicked elites, Eren Yeager. He had short black hair as well, only his was less tamed than his partner's, and he had green eyes, which were rounder and softer than his partner's sharper eyes. And aside from his light brown shirt, he wore the same uniform as his partner and leader.
Eren was nowhere near as good as his leader, but he had his own unique way of dealing with the Titans, and it was very efficient, with the downside of heavy costs on his conscience.
What was curious about them though, was the contraption they carried around their waist and legs. It was a machine called Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear, or 3DMG for short, and it was made specifically for humans to engage and win fights against the titans. The gear allows them to move quickly and the blades they carried were incredibly sharp, it requires a lot of training and practice from the wearer, but the results of said training are some of the deadliest soldiers known to man.
Eren turned his head to his leader just in time to hear him sigh in annoyance.
"I can't believe I let myself get dirty" Levi spoke in a low, monotone voice. He brought his blades up and slashed the air in front of him, flicking the blood out of the blades. He wish he could do that to his clothes as well, luckily for him, the blood covering soon evaporated off his body "I'm going to need a bath after this mission" he finished, still feeling dirty despite not looking like it.
"It can't be that bad?" Eren asked his superior. All the boy had received was a glare from Levi, which made him gulp "I guess it can..." he said to himself. Then his head snapped up when he remembered something.
"Hey, Captain" Eren spoke up, bringing the attention of his young looking leader.
"What is it?" Levi asks without looking at his underling, he pulled out a small piece of cloth and started cleaning the rest of the blood stains that didn't evaporate off the blades.
"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Eren asked back, hoping that his superior would answer what he wanted to know. He waited for a moment, it looked like Levi had completely ignored him in favor of cleaning his blades, when Eren was about to ask again, he saw the young looking man turn his head and nod in his direction.
"I've been always curious, but... how did you learn to fight with moves that?" the green eyed teenager asked with genuine curiosity lacing his voice.
Levi looked at Eren from a moment, a little surprised about his question, not because it was a strange question, but because he had just realized it was the first time someone had ever asked a question such as this, no one had ever wanted to know how he learned to fight in the unique way he does.
"I was taught these techniques by my master" Levi responded as he kept rubbing the blades with the cloth.
"Your... master?" Eren's eyes widened a little bit in surprise, Levi had a master?
"I call him master more out of respect, for he has taught me the moves I use when fighting the Titans" Levi explained to Eren, who thought that the person who taught his captain how to fight must've been incredible to earn the respect of Levi, and to be called master by him.
"When did you meet this guy?" Eren was getting more curious, who was this guy Levi seemed to respect so much?
"It was during one of my first recon missions, I wasn't very different back then, but I lacked experience and technique I possess now" Levi explained, and although he didn't outwardly show it, he actually wanted to share his tale with someone else "I had just finished my Military training and I immediately joined the Survey Corps, alongside a group of rookies fresh out of the training as well. We were exploring on a forest not unlike this one, doing a recon mission when, as expected, tragedy happened...
XXXXXXX
Fifteen years ago
"Well, shit" an even younger Levi spoke to himself in a low tone, he was kneeling on the floor holding his left shoulder with his right hand.
All of his comrades were killed by a titan, it was different from the rest, a deviant type as they call. It was a bit smarter than the rest of the titans, quick on its feet, and could react much faster to the 3DMG they sported, meaning the speed advantage they had against the creature had gone downhill, so one by one, this deviant Titan managed to murder all of his companions, all with this infuriatingly stupid grin on its face.
And to make matters worse to him, it managed to score a hit on Levi while he was in mid air. While lucky enough to survive without any major injuries other than a dislocated shoulder and a few hurting bruises, his gear was trashed and he was confined to the ground, where he was at major disadvantage. He could get one of his dead comrades' gear, but he had no time, the titan would kill him before he could even make one step in their direction.
He was going to die and he knew it. Levi gritted his teeth in anger, he got too careless and decided to face the deviant titan, thinking it would be easy just like any other, and that got his squad killed, even if he survived, he would never forgive himself for leading his companions to their deaths. Maybe this was his redemption, his deserving end for letting them die.
As if feeling what the small soldier was thinking, the strange titan slowly walked toward him, a very painful walk, even slower than the common titan, like it was trying to mock Levi for killing his partners and having no way of getting out of the situations.
That only made Levi angrier, but he had no way to defend himself, so all he could do was accept his impending demise. But if he was going to die, he would die like a man, Levi stood up, still holding his left shoulder, and glared at the titan in front of him, challenging him to kill him already.
If looks could kill, the titan would be dead already, but alas, that's not the case. The titan finally reached its prey, and eyed him for a moment, as if thinking what it would do next. And, instead of simply reaching down for Levi so it could eat him, as the soldier thought it would, the titan lifted one of its huge legs, ready to stomp him to death.
Levi watched as the titan lifted its leg up, casting a big shadow over his tiny body, and when he saw the feet coming down, he closed his eyes, at the very least expecting his death and to be fast and painless.
He waited for what felt like hours, and suddenly, he felt his body become weightless. 'Is this death' he thought? It had to be, why would he suddenly feel like that? But he was curious, he wanted to see what hell looked like. Levi opened his eyes and all he saw were... blurs? Brown and green blurs, as if he was speeding through the forest at high velocity.
"That was a very close call, buddy" he heard someone speak right next to him, and realized he wasn't dead, he was being carried, does that mean someone saved him, but... who?
Levi turned his head to the source of the sound and was nothing short of shocked. He was being carried by a strange blue animal, said animal just turned its eyes to Levi while keeping his head straight, and smirked to the boy.
Then, they heard thundering steps coming their way from behind, and the blue creature turned his head back to see the titan running after then, and from the looks of it, it seemed it wouldn't stop until it killed Levi, and now the strange blue creature as well.
The creature smirked once more, as if accepting the challenge, and made a sharp turn to one of the many really high trees, jumping on its side, and shockingly enough for Levi, running up its trunk until it reached a point where the titan could not go after then, and jumped off of it in order to land on a tree branch.
The creature puts Levi down on the wooden floor of the large branch and Levi can finally have a real good look at what just saved him from certain death. It was a strange humanoid creature with long legs, long arms a big head and a small round torso, and despite that, he didn't look the least bit disproportional. His body was covered in short blue fur, and peach colored furless areas such as his chest, his arms and his muzzle. On his face he had a long black nose, emerald green eyes and six thick and long blue spikes on the back of his head.
What was even stranger was the fact that it wore clothing, not a lot of clothing, but much more than what a Titan would ever wear. He had a pair of white gloves that covered his hands and a pair of red shoes with a white strap slicing through the middle of it and a gold buckle keeping it from opening.
All he could deduce was that it was some sort of animal, because it honestly looked like similar to one, despite the strange shape it possessed.
The blue creature turns his back to Levi, making his way to the edge of the branch. The rookie soldier watches it with fascination curiosity as it cracks its knuckles from the sound he had heard, and then shock when the creature jumped off the branch.
In the air, it somersaulted into a tight ball and shot down at an insane speed, faster than anything Levi had ever witnessed before, he could swear he saw the air ripple and the sound of what seemed to be an explosion, literal milliseconds before it had gone down. Levi stood up and ran to the edge in time to see the small creature, smaller than him even, had impacted against the titans face, and the force was enough for it to fall down on the floor.
He couldn't believe his eyes, this small non threatening looking creature had just sent a fifteen meter titan to the ground with only one attack.
"What the hell..." Levi muttered to himself, his usually narrowed eyes were wide open, he had seen a lot of unbelievable things in his life, but this definitely took the cake.
The creature had bounced off the titan's head, and made what looked like aerial acrobatic maneuvers. It was showing off, against a titan no less.
The blue thing landed on the ground near the titan, and crossed its peach colored arms, waiting for the human looking giant to get up. The titan did, and it looked mad, which was surprising, titans don't usually show emotions, but this one looked pissed. The blue creature bounced on the balls of his feet when he saw the titan looking at him in an angry way, and made a 'come one' gesture with one of his hands.
"What is it doing? It'll get itself killed" Levi said to himself, felling somewhat worried for his savior.
The titan started running after the small blue creature, who in turn was running backwards with his arms crossed. The titan was fast, very fast for a titan actually, but the creature that saved him was even faster, and it looked like he wasn't putting any effort into running.
The titan tried to swat away the small creature, but it jumped up on its giant arm and ran it up. Upon reaching the titan's shoulder, the creature shot itself to the side of its face as another boom was heard, and the titan staggered to the side, but managed to catch itself before it could fall down.
The blue creature landed on the floor and the titan was already above him, bringing his giant foot up and down in an attempt to squash it. The foot impacted with the ground, and thinking he had got him, the titan brought it up to see the dead body, only for it to see nothing. A whistle was heard and both Levi and the titan turned their heads to the source of the sound, and there it was the blue creature, a few meters away from the beast.
This kept going for what felt like hours for Levi, the creature ran circles around the titan and took pot shots at it from time to time. This mysterious creature, who was about the size of a twelve year old, was going up against humanity's biggest predator, a race which had almost decimated the human population to near extinction.
And it was toying with it.
Levi just let hand go of his shoulder and placed it on his head, watching the scene unfold before him with shock, he still couldn't believe what he was seeing, and no one could blame him for it. Humanity had feared the titans for years, they were no match for the mysterious giants when it came to physical prowess, and despite having the means to go up against them, killing one is a whole different matter. One slip, one error against them, and you're as good as dead, and the titans are highly unpredictable, meaning every bout is a gamble.
Levi's thoughts were interrupted when he heard something in the distance, he turned his head to the side to see another titan thundering its way to where the blue creature and the titan were fighting, another deviant. This one crawled instead of walk, but it was just as fast as the first one.
"There's another one coming!" Levi shouted, he didn't know what made him shout like that, but he felt like it was his obligation to help the creature who was most likely fighting to keep him safe from the titans.
The creature turned his head to see the other titan crawling at high speeds like a spider, now he had two titans to worry about. The crawling titan quickly made his way over to the blue creature, and surprising both Levi and the creature, pounced on it like an animal hunting for its prey.
The blue creature jumped high enough for the crawling titan to slide on the ground just beneath him, but this gave the other titan he was fighting with the opening it longed so much. The titan raised its giant arm and swatted away the much smaller blue creature, it only had time to turn itself and bring its arms up in a futile way to ease the blow.
Levi gasped as the seemingly untouchable creature went flying dozens of meters away, hitting its back on one of the giant tree trunks. It slid down the trunk of the tree and fell to the ground on one of its knees, when it looked up, Levi could see that the smirk the creature always sported on his muzzle had yet to disappear, what changed though, was how his eyes narrowed in response to the blow he received, and the small trickle of blood that slid down his lip.
The blue creature stood up and charged at the titans, who had also charged in the creature's direction. The crawling titan was faster and was already in front of the creature when it pounced once more, and in response, the creature once again jumped high in the air to avoid the attack. And the standing titan was already by its side, swatting his hand, only this time with the intent of grabbing it.
"Shit!" Levi muttered to himself in anxiety, the creature fell for the same tactic twi-
What the rookie soldier saw next almost made his eyes shine in amazement, the creature had dodged the hand swipe at the very last second, landing on the titan's hand, and spun itself in a ball so fast that it started to climb up the titan's arm, but what amazed him the most was that the move was leaving a large gash on the giant's arm, splattering blood everywhere.
Next thing he knew, the creature disappeared out of thin air, and quick flashes of blue started covering the titan's body, with cuts appearing everywhere all over its huge body.
"He can cut them...?" Levi wondered in bewilderment, how did he cut them, he had no blades within himself, unless... "His spikes" he realized, but... no, it could be his spikes, they looked so flimsy and rubbery, how can they have enough sharpness to cut through a titan without being hard?
Levi's train of thought were interrupted when he heard the titan screaming in pain as his body got sliced apart. The titan stood still without moving as his body started to release huge amounts of steam, and its wounds started to regenerate at a steady pace. Meanwhile, the creature had gone to face the crawling titan, which was trying in vain to catch the blue speedster within his big mouth, as it jumped left and right just in time to evade the wild lunges.
The blue creature jumped in front of a tree and waited for the crawling titan to catch up to him, taunting the titan in order to get him to react more violently, which surprisingly worked. The crawling titan looked angrier and lunged forward with all of its might, only for its pray to dodge, and let it hit the trunk of the tree face first, smearing blood all over it, as steam also started to rise of its face.
The creature looked between the two titans, looking confused as to why they were releasing steam, and it seemed to realize that they were actually regenerating, when he looked at the titan standing still, and noticed most of its wounds were healed. The smirk it had on its face disappeared as a much more serious one took place, most likely wondering how to beat these giants.
And he had to find a way fast, they were regenerating quickly, and were ready to go at it again.
"Oi!" Levi shouted, trying to get his attention. When the creature turned his head to where the sound originated, he found Levi at the edge of the branch looking directly at him "Cut the nape of their necks, that's their weak spots!" the soldier shouted the instruction to the creature, who looked at him in surprise, but soon smirked and gave him a thumbs up in response.
And immediately after, the blue creature took off after the two titans, going even faster than before. As he ran after then, the crawling titan had healed first and lunged once again after its small prey, only for said pray to jump to the side and while the titan flew beside it, the creature shot itself like a bullet, turning itself in a ball and ripping off the flesh covering the nape of the titan's neck.
The titan died instantly as its body started to let out a lot of steam, but the creature gave it no thought as it ran straight for other titan. It circled the titan for a few seconds before disappearing from its sight, unbeknown to the titan, its prey had gone to one of the many trees surrounding them and started running up the trunk. The titan looked left and right, trying to find where the little creature had gone, and while that happened, the creature waited for the right moment before the titan turned its head to a direction that would give it the perfect chance to attack, and it happened, the creature shot itself moments after another boom was heard, and the wood beneath its feet shattered.
The titan barely had any time to register what happened before it felt something slashing the flesh on the nape of its neck, and its vision went black as it fell to its knees as the rest of the body followed right after. The creature didn't stop flying down until it reached the ground, as its feet touched the floor, the speed's momentum made it slid along the ground, two trails of dirt on its wake until it stopped.
When it stops, it stands straight to look at his handwork, it cringes a little at the sight of the bodies seemingly melting into steam, and looks a little... guilty? Levi finds it strange for it to feel guilty for the titans, even after they tried to kill it.
'It probably don't know what they are and what they do' the rookie thinks to himself, seeing he had to instruct him into how to kill the damn things. Who in their right mind would feel sorry for the titans? They were monsters, all they do is murder people for absolutely no reason.
Levi watched the creature made its way back to the tree he was on. It ran up the trunk and jumped off of it, lading right in front of the boy, it turned to him and gave him a smile.
"Thanks for the tip" the creature gave him a two finger salute.
The voice was definitely of a man, meaning this creature was a guy. It also sounded young, about as young as Levi himself, which shocked him honestly, if he was indeed as young as Levi, that must mean it has been fight for years if his skills are anything to go by.
"It was nothing" Levi spoke, his voice a bit higher than normal, it's not every day he talks to some strange looking creature "And thanks for saving me earlier" he bowed slightly out of appreciation.
"No problem" the blue creature raised its right arm in front of Levi, for what seemed to be for a handshake "My name is Sonic, Sonic The Hedgehog" the now named Sonic introduced himself to the teenager.
"Levi Ackerman" Levi answered, grabbing Sonic's hand and giving it a firm shake, to which Sonic smile in response.
"Well" Sonic started "You seem to know about this place and what those things are, care to fill me in?" the blue hedgehog asked, Levi whose doubts about him not being from here were confirmed true.
"Yes" Levi answered Sonic's request, much to his relief "But I'm going to need your help again" he said, hoping the hedgehog could assist him.
"Alright, what do you need?" Sonic asked with a smile, he's always willing to help someone in need.
"My friends..." Levi started, his voice was a little heavier, but Sonic managed to get the tone, and his smile quickly turned into a straight line, he already knew what came next "They were killed by those things. I want to give them a proper burial, and I can't do it by myself" he motions to his dislocated arm and trashed gear.
Sonic winces a little when he sees Levi's arm bending in an odd way, but then he cocks his head to the side, watching with curiosity the contraption attached to his waist. He had never seen something quite like that before, and he had seen lot of mechanical wonders in his life.
"I can put your arm back in place if you want" Sonic offered to Levi, who lifted an eyebrow, to which the hedgehog replied with a shrug "It's gonna hurt, a lot. But it's better than having your arm dangling around" he argued. Levi could see he didn't mean any harm, so he nodded, he had endured military training, getting his arm back into place shouldn't be that bad.
Levi got down on one knee so Sonic could reach his shoulder, the hedgehog grabbed the soldier's left shoulder blade with one hand, and his arm with the other, and without any effort, he pushed Levi's arm back into its socket, eliciting a grunt from the black haired teenager. A few pained grunts later, he moved his left arm a little and opened and closed his hand. It stung a little, but he could manage, at least now his arm was back in working condition.
"Alright, let's get your friends a well deserved bed, the floor shouldn't be a resting place" Sonic spoke in a lower tone than he would normally speak, after all, his new acquaintance just lost his companions.
Levi glared a little at the hedgehog for the way he talked, which was promptly ignored, but he decided to let it pass, it may just be Sonic's attitude that's a little rough, as he could hear the sincerity in his voice.
Levi nodded and Sonic got to him, picking up the soldier on his arms and jumping off the tree. Surprisingly for Sonic, Levi didn't seem fazed at all that they just jumped off an 80 meters tall tree and flew down directly to the floor beneath them. As they landed, Sonic put Levi on the ground and asked him where were his friends located.
Levi just told the hedgehog to follow his lead, and they started trekking slowly through the forest with massive trees. Sonic looked a little impatient, but he knew this was important to the person next to him, so he kept quiet. He also took the chance to marvel at his surroundings.
He was located in a huge forest, taking up miles and miles of terrain, and the trees themselves were just as huge. They were about as big as some of the tallest buildings from where he game from, and the vegetation on top of the trees were so dense, that it looked like the sky itself was made out of leaves and branches.
"There they are" Sonic turned his head once he heard.
Levi had stopped and was looking at the scenes before him, Sonic stopped as well and cringed at the sight. There were two other teenagers, they wore the same uniforms as Levi, only with a few minor differences and touches. But that's wasn't made Sonic cringe, it was the state their bodies were.
One of them, a girl with long brown hair in a bun, had a look of despair on its dead face, eyes and mouth wide open as half of her body was missing, leaving only the upper body, starting from the waist. He could make two streaks coming from her eyes, and it pained his heart to see that, she survived whatever ripped her apart, and had to wait in pain and agony as she finally succumbed to the cold embrace of death.
The other was in better shape, but still, nothing to joke about either. It was a male with short, spiky red hair, it was taller than Levi. This one had its body intact, unlike the girl's, but his head was facing the wrong direction. All Sonic could deduce is that he got hit so hard that his head snapped. If he was lucky, it might have had been a quick and painless death.
"There was supposed to be a third one" Sonic heard Levi say, as he started moving to the bodies.
"What... happened the third?" the hedgehog gulped, not exactly wanting to know, but curiosity got a hold of his voice faster than his mind could prevent it.
"He got eaten" Levi responded quickly as he went to the body of the red haired guy and lifted it over his right shoulder. If you listened closely enough, you could hear the pain in his voice, but the black haired boy was good at hiding his emotions.
Sonic just closed his eyes and sighed, he knew he shouldn't have asked, he was too much of a nice guy, and this kind of thing just pains his heart. He bows his head lightly in respect for the fallen soldier whom he wouldn't be able to put to rest among his friends. Levi looked a bit surprised by the action, but he was thankful his new acquaintance was this considerate.
Sonic walked to the body of the girl and lifted it under his right arm. Some of the blood coming from the girl dripped on his legs when he picked her up, but he didn't feel disgusted nor creeped out by it, it would've been too disrespectful of him to think like that, so he just ignored the red liquid sliding down his legs.
After picking them up, Levi told Sonic they had set a small camp about a mile from where they are before all this happened, and he started walking in the direction he said it was, with Sonic slowly following him. Both boys walked in silence throughout the entire way to the camp, Sonic thought about starting a conversation, but he barely knew Levi to act so casually with him, and he most likely don't want to talk right now.
When they finally reached the camp Levi talked about, it was already nearing night time. The camp was up in the tree, on one of the massive branches, so they could rest without risking being attacked by titans.
"There are shovels in the camp up there" Levi muttered to the hedgehog, who only nodded to what he had said, already knowing what to do. Sonic carefully placed the girl's body leaning against the trunk and ran up the tree. Upon landing on the branch he noticed he was right beside their camp, since the branch was so wide, they were able to set up a camp as if they were on solid ground.
There were two tents on the branch, and a few sacks and a metal box around them, and in the middle was an extinguished oil lamp, acting as a some sort of bonfire. Not wanting to waste too much time, Sonic went for the sacks and immediately found the shovels Levi talked about, he also saw a small piece of rope in it, but they didn't need the rope, so he left it there.
He picked two shovels up and jumped down next to Levi, giving him one of them. He noticed Levi had discarded the gear around his waist on the floor, as well as taking off the one on the guy's body. Levi picked up the shovel in his hand, and promptly started to dig a hole right next to the tree they camp was in. Not wanting to be a hassle, Sonic went to his side and started digging another hole next to the one Levi was working with.
After digging a big enough hole, Sonic and Levi stopped and carefully picked up the dead bodies, and slowly placed them on the holes they had made. Putting her body down, Sonic moved his hand to the girls face and closed her mouth and eyes, giving her a more serene look on her face. When they both placed the bodies on the holes, they took the shovels into their hands started burying them, picking up the dirt on they dug out and putting it back into the hole, finishing their graves.
Levi and Sonic shared a moment of silence for the fallen soldiers. Levi for they were his friends from training and their partners, as well as their leader. He knew he wasn't the most social of people, but always made sure to do his best to keep them safe above all else, and they all respected and liked him for he was great at that.
Sonic didn't know who they were, but if Levi, who seemed like the antisocial type of guy, showed this much respect for them, then they must've been important to him, so he gave them a minute of silence, in respect for them, and wishing the afterlife was good for them.
"I wish all three of them were here" Levi sighed, breaking the silence between the two. Sonic looked at him, and sure enough, regret could be seen on the soldier's eyes. The hedgehog was about to say something for him when an idea popped into his head.
"Say" Sonic said in order to grab the human's attention "Do you have anything that belonged to this third person?" the blue hedgehog asked, hoping Levi would say yes.
Levi looked at the hedgehog for a moment wondering what he was thinking, but he nodded, and from a pocket inside his jacket he took out a pendant. It had the shape of two wings crossing together, not unlike the symbol on the back of his jacket, and was held attached to a silver chain.
"I found this near their bodies" Levi's head motioned to the two graves they dug "The one who got eaten used to wear this all the time, seemed important to him" the soldier explained, not giving names, Sonic didn't know who they were, and their names didn't mean anything to him, especially now that they were dead.
"Alright" Sonic sounded content for some reason, what did he have in mind "Just wait here for a moment" the hedgehog requested, and without waiting for an answer, he went up the tree back into the camp, and seconds later he came back with a small piece of rope on his hand, it was relatively long, only its width that was small.
"What are you going to do?" Levi asked, his voice sounded genuinely curious, despite his face not looking like it.
"Just wait and see" Sonic shot the human a smile.
The hedgehog picked up the two shovels they had and walked to the graves, going up the small path of grass in between the two mounds of dirt, and heading to the head of the graves. Reaching his short destination, Sonic stabbed one of the two shovels on the ground, burying it until only the wooden handle was visible, positioned in a way the shovel was stuck a little ahead of the graves, and between both.
Next, Sonic picked up the other shovel with his two hands, and snapped the metal blade out of the wooden handle, which surprised Levi quite a bit. Sonic didn't look that strong, he actually didn't look threatening at all, he was one of the best examples Levi had ever seen of 'looks can be deceiving'.
After snapping the metal blade out of the shovel, Sonic held it perpendicular to the shovel stuck to the ground, and used the piece of rope he had brought with him to tie the wooden handles together. When the hedgehog finished, he stood up and walked back to Levi, who finally saw what Sonic had done.
It was a makeshift cross, it was a very crude looking cross, but it was made to get the job done, not look nice. But why would he make a cross?
"Give me the pendant" Sonic requested, holding out his hand in front of Levi.
"Why?" Levi asked, wanting to know what Sonic was going to do with it.
"I'll place the third guy along his friends" Sonic smiled softly "If this pendant was important to him, then it carries part of his soul" the hedgehog looked back to the cross with a somewhat distant looking expression "So, nothing better than put it to rest alongside his friends, right?" Sonic looked back at Levi with the same smile from before, only it got a little wider.
Levi was dumbfounded by how considerate Sonic was being to him and his dead friends. He had just met the hedgehog, but he was being so friendly to him, more friendly than most people he have met for much longer. Levi looked at Sonic, then the cross, and lastly, the pendant he was holding in his hands.
"Let me do this then" Levi eyes muttered, clenching his fist tightly around the pendant.
"Alright, go ahead" Sonic nodded, stepping out of the way for Levi to hang the pendant on the cross.
Levi walked toward the cross and kneeled in front of it. He brought his hands up, holding the pendant by its chain, and carefully slid it down the cross' upright handle, until it reached horizontal one. The young soldier took his hands off the pendant's chain and let it hang on the cross, bowing his head down in for a moment in respect.
With a heavy heart, Levi let out a sigh escape his mouth as he stood up and walked back to Sonic, who looked at him with slight worry. Levi seemingly ignored the look, and went to one of the strange contraptions, and slid off it what Sonic could only guess were gas cylinders. Then he picked up the one that didn't look like it was in a bad condition, and attached it to his hip and legs, with the two metal cylinders under his left arm.
Sonic looked curiously at the young soldier as he pulled with his right hand what looked like a motorcycle handle with gun triggers and aimed it at the branch that had the camp set on it, shooting an iron cable with a hook at the end, which got stuck on the wood as intended. What Sonic saw next made him wide eyed and slack jawed, Levi started flying at a fast speed upward as the iron cable he had just shot pulled him up to the branch.
Sonic just stood there, looking incredibly impressed and amazed at what he had just witnessed, but he quickly shook his head to stop him from looking so flabbergasted and ran up the tree's trunk to get to the massive branch as well. When he got there, he saw Levi sitting on the wooden floor in front of the oil lamp, carving lightly at one of the cylinders with what looked like a pocket knife, obviously marking it. For what reason? Sonic didn't know.
"It's getting late" Sonic commented out loud, walking up to Levi and sitting beside him. The oil lamp already had fire dancing within it, meaning Levi had already lit the lamp while Sonic was gawking at him moments earlier.
"Uhum" Levi hummed a response, acknowledging Sonic's obvious statement.
Both of them sat beside the oil lamp in awkward silence, with the only sound being the one of Levi's knife scratching against the metal cylinders as the night got even darker, and the yellowish orange light emanating from the lamp bathed both of them with a soft orange colored hue.
"So, uh" Sonic started, scratching the back of his head "Can you tell me what were those things?" the hedgehog asked, in hopes of knowing what were the giants he ended up killing.
"No one really knows what they are, we just call them titans due to their massive size" was Levi's answer, he turned his head to the hedgehog to see a confused expression on his face "One day we were living our lives normally, and the next, they just appeared, and started killing everyone in sight" Levi explained resumed story of what had happened decades ago.
"The titans have no disregard for human life whatsoever, they see us as prey, and kill us just like that. No ulterior motives, no drive, they just murder human beings on sight for no reason at all, as if it's all just a game for them. They don't feel hunger, nor do they feel pain or any kind of emotion, save a feel rare ones. They almost completely annihilated the world's human population, all the humans left enclosed themselves within a city built inside three gigantic walls that the titans can't climb"
"However, despite being technically safe, we all still live in fear of the titans, and we all feel like caged birds, since we the only safe place is inside the walls. There's a whole different world out there that we can't even imagine, and we can't see it because the Titans are going to kill everyone. That is why we fight them, that's why we kill them, we fight to survive, and to reclaim what was once ours. We can't have time to feel guilty for killing them, for its either them, or us, there's no middle ground"
Sonic looked at him in disbelief, Levi was telling him that there was a race that just popped into existence and started genocide on the human race? No, it was impossible for it to be true, but... he could see it, on Levi's eyes, all he said was true, and not even the soldier himself could believe what he was saying for it was too ridiculous to be true. But he could hear it in his voice, and see it in his eyes, the young soldier wasn't lying about these titans.
"I'm sorry to hear, that. I didn't know things were so bad here" Sonic sighed out as a bit of sadness washed over him, he probably made the young soldier remember events that he didn't want to.
Levi just nodded at the hedgehog, thankful for his kindness. Sonic was an interesting fellow, he wasn't human, that's for sure, but he acted like he was one, but what captivated him the most was his willingness to help in any way he could. The hedgehog was obviously not from here, and he could have easily ignored Levi when he would have needed help the most, but instead he chose to save him, and not only that, he decided to keep him company when asked to help, despite not being obligated to, all without looking the least annoyed or frustrated. Sonic had a kindness to him that Levi wished most people he met in his life would have, it almost as if he was from a different world altogether.
Then silence once more took a hold of everything, Sonic sat a little closer to the oil lamp, trying to bask on its heat which was surprisingly powerful, the heat it emanated felt like he was sitting next to a real bonfire. Meanwhile, Levi went back to carve whatever he was carving on the cylinders using the pocket knife he had with him.
After Levi finished what he was doing, placed the cylinders down and released a heavy sigh, bringing his knees up, and resting his elbows on them. He looked forward in the direction of the fire with a distant, thoughtful look on his almost emotionless eyes. Sonic heard the sigh and turned his head to the human beside him, who had a pensive expression, he knew there was something going on inside Levi's head.
"Got something on your mind?" Sonic tried to strike up another conversation. He was given no response other than Levi's soft breathing "There's no need to keep it to yourself, maybe I can help" Sonic tried again, this time with a smile, but once again to no avail. A frown quickly made itself known on Sonics face, as he looked annoyed for being ignored.
"C'mon, don't leave me hangi-"
"It was my fault" Levi interrupted Sonic, but the hedgehog didn't mind, as he got the teenager to talk "You should've not saved me back then" Levi started, and startled Sonic with what he said. Why wouldn't he want to be saved? He was about to get killed.
"Care to explain?" Sonic asked, his voice sounded a bit soft, he didn't want to sound like he was trying to force an answer of the young soldier.
"I didn't deserve to be saved" Levi started explaining in his monotone voice, keeping his head straight forward, looking intensively to the flames hypnotizing movements inside the lamp, not moving a single inch "I was the leader of the group, they were my responsibility, and I lead them to their deaths. They trusted me, they trusted my decision, and I failed my friends" he kept telling what made him look so distressed to Sonic "I didn't deserve to be saved, you should have let me get killed by the titan to make up for my inability to keep them safe" Levi finished what he had in his mind.
...
Sonic didn't respond immediately, he was going over what he had just heard, which he honestly thought was insane. His cold looking companion was blaming himself for the deaths of his small group, it made the young soldier's heart ache and drowned his conscience in misery to know that they died because they trusted him.
"It wasn't your fault" that was Sonic's answer, which guaranteed a look of disbelief from Levi.
"What are you saying? Of course it wa-"
"It wasn't your fault!" Sonic repeated himself in a much louder and aggressive tone, but not quite yelling. Once again, Levi gave him a look of disbelief, and this time with a touch of surprise, it was the first time he had heard Sonic raise his voice, and from his limited time with the Hedgehog he thought he wasn't the type act like this.
"Did you know this would happen?" Sonic asked, looking straight into Levi's eyes, who just shook his head "That's right, you didn't. You couldn't have known this would ever happened, whatever happened wasn't your fault" Sonic kept reasoning with the young soldier. Sonic could see in his eyes that he still wasn't convinced "You just told them what you believed was the right thing to do, but all that occurred was nothing but an accident, an accident you couldn't have possibly foreseen"
"And even if you still think something out of your control was your fault, do you seriously believe your friends would want you to just let the titan kill you needlessly over it?" Sonic was so dead serious in his words that he stood up and raised a clenched fist "No, they wouldn't!" the hedgehog actually walked to Levi and held him up by the collar of his shirt "They wouldn't want you to just waste your life for something as stupid as guilt. If you let yourself get killed it wouldn't have changed anything, and it wouldn't bring them back either. If they truly were your friends, they would want you to stay alive and survive, to keep living your own life instead of wasting it, and to live for their sake as well" Sonic face was inches away from Levi's, as he looked at young solder dead in his wide opened eyes, and then the boy, and looked down on him, waiting for what Levi had to say.
If there was something that Sonic really hated, was when someone thought of life in such a nonchalant and lightly manner. It pissed him off to no end, and it almost gets him over the edge ever time he hears something like that.
Levi's eyes were wide open in shock at what Sonic had just told him, now that he thought about it, he was right. Levi looked down, and clenched his fists in anger, angry and disgusted that the thought of letting himself get killed by the titans out of guilt actually crossed his mind. He had felt he deserved death for what happened, as well as to get him away from the thoughts of his friends deaths that tormented him.
And now he felt pathetic and weak for even thinking like that. Sonic was right, his friends wouldn't want him to do that, they knew what they were getting into. They knew the prospect of dying was very high, but they accepted it nonetheless, because they chose to. If Sonic hadn't saved him, Levi wouldn't have made any effort to survive, he would've just stood there and accepted death, spitting on and disrespecting his comrades, who did the best they could and gave their lives to the cause they believed was right.
"You're right..." Levi's voice cracked a little bit, he was on his knees on the wooden floor while supporting his upper body with his hands "I was only thinking about me, I never thought of what they would have wanted" his eyes teared up a bit, and a few drops fell on the wooden branch, turning it to a darker brown. Sonic saw the tears on the floor, and his expression immediately became softer "It's exactly as you said, they would want me to keep going forward, not only for me, but for them as well" the hedgehog heard resolve starting to seep into Levi's voice.
"Their deaths will not have been in vain, they died for humanity's sake, and I'll keep fighting for what we believed in" Levi stood up from his position, quickly rubbing his hand of his eyes, and looking forward with his usual dead eyes, but there was something different about them this time "I'll continue to fight and survive to keep our dream alive" the young soldier stated with resolve on his voice, and fire in his eyes.
"Now that's the spirit!" Sonic patted Levi's arm, and the soldier gave the Hedgehog a small, very tiny, smile in appreciation for what the hedgehog had done for him, and Sonic rubbed his nose and smirked in response.
After the solving this little chapter, both Sonic and Levi sat back onto the wooden floor in silence, but this time, Levi had a much clearer state of mind, and Sonic was just content in helping someone in need. After a few more minutes of silence, the fatigue they had accumulated had started to take its toll, and they both fell asleep under the soothing heat coming from inside the lamp.
XXXXXXX
...
"Oi" Sonic head Levi speak to him, and turned his head to the side, Sonic was eating a ration bar that Levi had given to him. It wasn't the tastiest meal ever, but if it managed to keep him from getting hungry, who was he to complain? Levi had woken up earlier than Sonic, and as instinct from his time as leader, he kicked Sonic awake. The hedgehog didn't like been this rudely awakened, but Levi had apologized, so he shrugged it off.
"Uhum?" Sonic murmured, with piece of the bar on his mouth as he chewed it.
"Where are you going next?" Levi asked the hedgehog. He was placing the cylinders he had carved with the knife inside the metal box, which had a bunch of other gas cylinders in it as well. It also looked really heavy to carry around.
"I'm going after an artifact that can send me back home" Sonic replied while he licked his lips after his meal.
"Your home..." Levi muttered to himself "You still haven't told me where you come from" the young soldier realized. He actually didn't know anything about the hedgehog other than that, well, he was a hedgehog.
"That's because you would think I'm crazy" Sonic chuckled out loud as he brought his hands up above his head and cracked the joints of his arms.
"I've seen a lot in my life to not disregard anything that's hard to believe as bullshit" Levi, with his almost omnipresent monotonous voice, answered Sonic in a rather blunt way, which got another chuckle out of blue hedgehog.
"Alright, I guess I can tell you" Sonic scratched the back of his head, he was not very good at explaining things "I'm not from here" Sonic started speaking.
"I can see that, it's obvious" Levi bluntly interrupted Sonic, who looked a little annoyed.
"Yes, but what I meant is that I'm from a different world" Sonic explained better, he looked at Levi to see that he was not convinced at all unless more information were to be put on the table "An alternative world if you will, it's very similar to yours, only where I live we are hundreds, if not thousands of years ahead technologically speaking. Our world also don't have titans, but it does have its fair share of threats with the ability to wipe out everyone"
Levi looked as stoic as ever, but Sonic could see in his eyes he was curious.
"In my world, there's a volatile natural energy called Chaos that every living being possess, but not harnessed by everyone, only those with more energy than normal" Sonic then raised a clenched fist and closed his eyes. Levi looked at him with a bit of confusion, until the confusion became amazement when Sonic's hand started to release a blue fiery aura that calmly danced around his hand.
"No one really knows where this energy came from, but most believe they come from the artifact I'm looking for, the Chaos Emerald. There are seven of them to be specific, and each with near infinite amount of energy, that when combined together, their power becomes endless" Sonic kept explaining more about where he came from, and Levi looked extremely interested in his tale. True or not, it was very different from stories he would normally hear, and he wanted to hear more about it.
"During my latest adventure, I was in possession of one of these artifacts when I accidentally harnessed too much power than I should have during the execution of a technique of mine, and got myself teleported to here, in a different world altogether. I lost the emerald while being chucked in this place, and now I have to get it back so I can return to my home" When Sonic finished his tale, he looked at Levi to see him staring at him with an expression of what looked like to be disbelief and amazement. Sonic sighed and scratched the back of his head.
"I knew you wouldn't believe me, I mean, it would be hard for anyone to believe such a story" Sonic closed his eyes and sighed as he tossed his arms to the back on his head.
"You're right, it's hard to believe" Levi responded, blunt like a brick "But after witnessing you easily overpowering the titans yesterday, I would find it hard to not believe what you said instead" he continued, blinking slowly with his always dead looking eyes as he told the hedgehog what he thought of the story.
"Heh" Sonic just smirked and rubbed his nose.
"I guess this is it, then?" Levi spoke slowly as he retrieved the sack containing some of his stuff, and the metal box with the gas cylinders. After these words were said, Sonic quickly lowered his arm and a sad looking smile formed on his muzzle.
"I guess it is" Sonic walked up to Levi and raised his arm for a handshake "It was a pleasure knowing you" Levi looked at the hand and brought his own, giving the hedgehog a firm handshake and nodding his head to what he had said.
Both then walked up to the edge of the tree and jumped off of it. As they fell down to the ground, Sonic looked closely at Levi, wondering how the hell he was going to land, but with the way the soldier jumped so carelessly and fearlessly, he assumed he knew what he was doing, and surely enough, when they neared the ground, he released a burst of gas from the gear around his ways that made him float for a fraction of a second, stopping his momentum and allowing him to land without injuring himself from the gigantic fall.
Sonic looked at Levi one more time and gave him a two fingered wave, which was answered with a strange salute from the boy, he had had his right arm over his chest with his closed fist in front of his heart, and the other was on his back, most likely on a similar position.
'Must be their military salute' Sonic mused on his head with a smile.
Both looked at each other for one last time before they turned their backs and started walking in opposite directions. But Levi still had one last thing on his mind, and it was too important for him to just not grab the chance while he still had it within an arm's reach. So he stopped walking and turned around, to see Sonic was about run off.
"Wait" Levi called out loud, interrupting Sonic's running start and getting a curious look out of the hedgehog as it turned to face soldier "I'm coming with you" Levi bluntly spoke out loud, receiving two wide eyes in response.
"W-what?" Sonic stuttered.
"I want to help you find this Chaos Emerald. Think of it as a thanks for saving me yesterday" that's a very odd request, a request that Sonic don't think he should consider. It's going to be a dangerous journey until he finds the Chaos Emerald, and he doesn't want to have Levi in danger because of him.
"I also want you to teach me your fighting style" now Sonic was thrown off a loop even harder than before "If I'm going to keep fighting the titans, I need to get better. And you can make me better" was Levi's explanation, which still didn't convince the hedgehog.
Sonic crossed his arms and started thinking what he should do. Should he accept the request of the young soldier, and let him come with him as well as train him to better fight demons? Or should Sonic say no, and tell him to go back to where he came from, as it would be too dangerous for him to come with the hedgehog? Sonic opened his eyes and looked dead into his acquaintance's. Despite their dead look, he could see the determination and resolve in the eyes of the young soldier.
"You'd come even if I said no, right?" Sonic sighed with a smirk on his face as he watched Levi slowly nod his head "Alright then, let's get going" a chuckle escaped his mouth as he raised an arm and pointed behind his head with his thumb. Levi nodded, straightened up the sack on his back and when he was about to pick up the metal box, Sonic did it for him and hefted it with one hand. They both nodded at each other and started their journey.
Sonic and Levi journeyed across the unknown in order to search the aforementioned Chaos Emerald. The unknown... Levi kind of felt ashamed that he didn't know what lay beyond the walls, he didn't know about what these lands, the lands that once belonged to humanity. It only managed to show how low humanity had to dig in order to keep itself safe from the titans, to the point where newborns had no idea what the rest of the world had to offer. But it also managed to give him more drive to take back the land was rightfully theirs.
During the time, Sonic tried to teach his fighting style to Levi as the boy had requested, but was unsuccessful at the task for some time. Sonic had built his style to take full advantage of his special abilities and body type, and Levi was a human, there was no way he could use it efficiently. Sonic realized that teaching him would get the soldier nowhere, and that they had to adapt his fighting style so Levi could use it properly.
So, both Sonic and the Levi had to think of a way to adapt the moves and techniques so Levi could use them against the titans. It took them months of trial and error, but they managed a way to do it, and soon enough, Levi started practicing every time they encountered a titan, of course, with Sonic assisting in case something went wrong. The metal box holding the gas cylinders sure came in handy, as they seem to empty themselves pretty fast during combat.
The titans, sadly for Sonic, but unsurprisingly for Levi, were located mostly around small towns or villages, places with people around for them to kill. The towns and villages they passed through were all razed to the ground, houses were brought down and broken down bodies were scattered all over the place. All they could do other than take out the titans around the perimeters was shake their heads at the sight before them.
Also, while they traveled, Levi took the chance to see the world from outside the walls, and take a very good look at what he and the rest of humanity have been unable to witness for dozens of years. He saw mountains, deserts, and beaches, for the first time his life, he could see what the ocean looked like, and it was more magnificent than he had ever imagined, a huge body of water, so big it was impossible to see where it ended. And to think something like this actually existed, and wasn't just a story, it was too impossible to imagine something like a colossal body of water, but there it was, right in front of him, it was real.
Sonic couldn't help but smile sadly back then at the sight of the young soldier as it basked itself in the presence of the ocean, it must've been really hard for him and for the rest of his people to live in confinement, like animals trapped in a cage, unable to explore for the titans threatened their lives.
One time he was asked by Levi if it was true that there were places in the world that were completely covered in snow, and it never melted away. Then he remembered that Sonic was not from here, and he quickly apologized himself for his mistake, only for Sonic to tell him yes, there was. Sonic told him that this place and his home weren't so different from each other, and he was a hundred percent sure that just like in his home world, there were regions covered in snow here where Levi lived.
They kept searching for the Chaos Emerald so Sonic could return home, and one day, they finally found it, however, it wasn't a very pretty sight. The Chaos Emerald was inside a cocoon like ball, but that wasn't what made them, or Sonic for the most part, utterly terrified. What made them like that was the fact that inside the ball were dozens of dead human bodies, some whole, others in parts, all with despair etched on their faces.
Levi had told Sonic that this was what happened to the people the titans ate. He mentioned they did not have digestive organs, so when they ate too much, they vomited the humans they ate, and went on to eat more, but that this was the first time he had ever seen one, and he never thought one of these would be so downright terrifying. Sonic looked even more terrified than before, but he looked more sad than terrified, he couldn't help but feel sorry for these people.
Levi used what was left of his blades to cut through the cocoon so they could retrieve the Chaos Emerald that was inside of it. But before they could get it, Sonic insisted that they should at least give these people a proper rest, and got their bodies out one by one, carefully setting them down side-by-side, and cremated them, letting the wind scatter their ashes across the lands.
After the improvised cremating ceremony they made, Sonic got the Chaos Emerald from the cocoon. Levi could finally see what it looked like, it was a large, hand sized, and diamond shaped jewel, but it was a bright scarlet color instead of green. Levi could feel Sonic was happy that he had finally retrieved the gem, but he could also feel Sonic's distress, and when asked, the hedgehog's response was that he had to see a lot of carnage and brutality on his way to finally found the emerald, and it made him wonder if it really was worth it.
Levi than said something that even he didn't believe he would ever say, since it was just not in his nature to do so. He told Sonic that if the Chaos Emerald really would take him back to his home, and back to his friends and loved ones, back to the people who were waiting for him worriedly, than it was worth it, even if he had to see a lot of terrible things.
And so, after days, weeks, and even months have passed, the duo's journey throughout the unknown finally came to an end...
They were sitting on top of a random house of an isolated town in ruins, watching the sunset. Levi was sitting on the edge, he looked vastly different from months ago. His upper clothes were missing, his pants had tears and holes throughout all of it, in his chest were a few wounds and scars he got from the constant fighting and trying to master the style he and Sonic had come up with, and his hair was much different as well. Before it was just a neatly combed short hair, now it's length passed his shoulders. Sonic was standing on his side, and didn't too different from before, but he had a few scratches and wounds on his person as well.
"I wish you could stay here to help us" Levi told the hedgehog, throughout the over half year they had been traveling together, he came to greatly respect the hedgehog in front of him, who taught him and kept him safe, he would even go as far as to say they were close friends "The people inside the walls need you" the young soldier said in a low tone, and his eyes were a bit downcast.
"No, they don't" Sonic shook his head lightly with a smile on his face.
"But... of course th-"
"What they need, is a hero" the hedgehog interrupted Levi, and raised his arm, patting his friend on his shoulder "A hero who can bring them hope. I'm not that hero, I'm too different from them, I was born the way I am, all they would feel is that they can't fight when it takes someone like me to fend off the titans" Sonic explained to Levi, who heard his words like they were a creed.
"But you, you're just like them, a human, you'll bring them the hope they need. You'll make them see that if a human can fight off titans, than so can they. I can't bring them this kind of hope, only you can, and only you can be the hero they need" Sonic smiled brightly as he patted Levi's shoulder one more time.
Levi only nodded in response, not looking up to Sonic, but took what he said to heart. He was sad that his friend was going away, but he understood that it was time for him to go, and all he could do was wish for the best.
"Say" Sonic patted Levi's shoulder, which made him look up to the hedgehog to see him juggling the emerald up and down "You said you wanted to see what I could do with this, right?" Sonic smirked, and the young soldier only nodded in response, remembering that through the journey he had asked what the hedgehog could do with the emerald, to which Sonic had said he had to wait and see.
Sonic grabbed the emerald as it was falling back in his hand, and with his other, he grabbed Levi's shoulder, and after a few seconds of concentration, he shouted out loud.
"Chaos Control!" Sonic shouted to the heavens.
Levi saw the emerald shine with such intensity that it felt like he was staring directly to the sun, and next thing he knew, he was just outside of one of the cities positioned on one of the four edges of Wall Maria. His eyes widened at that, they had crossed what probably were thousands of kilometers in a few milliseconds.
"Well" Levi heard beside him, and turned his head to see the hedgehog raising his hand for a final handshake, a friendly smile on his face "This is it, this is where we part ways" Levi slowly raised his hand, he didn't really want to part ways with Sonic, but he couldn't keep the hedgehog here, this was not his home.
Levi finally grabbed Sonic's hand and gave it a firm shake, it brought him back memories from the day they met. His eyes then widened when he felt himself being yanked forward and saw himself in a one armed, brotherly hug, courtesy of the hedgehog, who shot him a playful smirk, and Levi smiled a little in response.
"Will we ever see each other again?" Levi asked as Sonic let go of the boy and prepared to get himself back home.
Sonic held the emerald tighter in his grip and it started to shine. He gave Levi one last smirk, and held his other hand up in a two fingered wave.
"Of course"
And then he vanished, leaving Levi by himself.
The young soldier stood there for a moment, contemplating everything that had happened to him in the last months, and wondering if the hedgehog would keep his word, or he just said it to keep his spirits up. He just shook his head, and went to the direction the front gate at the edge of the wall surrounding the city.
As he approached the front gate, he heard someone shout from the other side 'open the gate, someone is coming', and a few seconds later, he saw huge wooden door opening, yet no one came to pick him up, and soon enough, he saw why.
As he passed through the gates, he saw the shock in the faces of the soldiers guarding the gates.
"Is that-"
"But how?"
"Oh my god..."
"Private Levi is alive?!"
Levi just kept walking forward, keeping his head high. Soon, he passed the small tunnel under the massive wall, and he saw even more people looking at him, this time there were civilians looking at him as well as he kept making his way forward.
They all looked at him with shock on their faces, they just couldn't believe what they were seeing. They all stopped what they were doing to either give space to the lone soldier walking down the main road of the district, or just watch him walk altogether. All of them looked up to him like he was some sort of hero, with amazement and shock on their faces, but most importantly, hope. He could see it in their eyes, seeing him come back from outside the walls alive after so long gave them hope, the hope they so desperately needed, if one could survive out there, so could they.
This is what Sonic meant.
XXXXXXX
...
"... and that's how it happened" Levi finished telling his tale nonchalantly. He turned his head to see Eren had a dumbfounded look on face.
"Sir.. no disrespect but..." Eren started very slowly, his mind still trying to process what he had just heard "You don't seriously expect me to believe what you told me is real, right?" He asked, he didn't sound convinced at all.
"I don't care if you believe me or not" Levi quickly responded, looking directly into his subordinate's eyes as he sheathed the blades he finished cleaning "You asked me how I got my skills, and I answered your question" he turned his back to the young soldier "Let's meet up with the others" he walked to the edge of the branch.
"Yes sir!" Eren responded automatically and soon both jumped off the branch, soaring between the trees.
Soon enough, while making their way around the forest, they heard more sizzling sound around them, and turned their heads to see another boy. It had blonde medium length hair, and a rather feminine look to be honest, he wore the same clothes as the first two, and had a white button up shirt like Levi. He had a serious, but scared face at the same time, and when they saw that, they knew something was wrong.
"Captain Levi, Eren, there are titans attacking a village not too far from here, but there are too many, we need your help before they kill all the people" the blonde shouted pointing in a direction, and before Eren could even reply, Levi bolted toward the pointed direction.
"Let's go Armin!" Eren yelled back, and the now know as Armin quickly nodded, going after their captain.
All three soared through the forest until they reached its edge, where they found two horses waiting for them. Since they needed high places to use their gear, they couldn't use them through the plains. Levi took one horse while Eren and Armin took the other, and they rode to where Armin said the titans were attacking until they saw a village in the distance, it was a pretty big village, and with the village there were a bunch of titans in it and surrounding it.
They could also make the small outlines of the rest of the Special Operations Squad as they jumped and soared around the titans, trying to keep them at bay, and killing them whenever the chance came up. But there was still too many of them. As soon as Levi got into range, he stood on his horse and jumped off of it, shooting the cables from his gear into the neck on an unsuspecting titan and slicing it's nape off.
Jumping off the titan's falling carcass, he landed on the roof of one of the houses that made up the village and accessed the situation. There was an unhealthy amount of titans over here, and he could take them all out very easily, but he had to not only look out for his still inexperienced squad, but also the rest of the civilians that were still alive in the village.
At the end of the main road of the village he saw a few carriages with civilians slowly boarding inside, and beside the carriages were some of his men and women, protecting the civilian from incoming titans trying to make a meal out of them.
He saw a titan get taken down by a girl with black medium hair, wearing a red scarf around her neck. Just like him, she had a pretty stoic looking expression on her face, and accompanying her was another girl with brown hair in a high ponytail, who looked like she was doing her best to keep herself from showing how terrified she actually was.
"Mikasa!" Levi yelled at the girls and the black haired one was the one to look at him when both landed the roof across him "Help me take out the titans surrounding the village!" Mikasa nodded at the order given out by her captain, and went to the surrounding the village.
"Sasha!" this time he yelled for the brown haired girl, who let out a quick yelp in surprise, and looked in his direction "You help out the civilians, try to evacuate as many as you can to the carriages at the end of the village" she looked scared, but hardened her face and nodded nonetheless.
Levi then took off to the edge of the village and started taking down titans in rapid succession, and with the help of Mikasa, the numbers started to dim at a moderate speed. But there were too many of them, as in, way too many. All they could really do was stall the titans until all the civilians had successfully evacuated the village and were miles away from it.
Levi just hoped they could buy enough time for Sasha to get all the civilians to the carriages. That is, until he heard a terrified scream, and almost threw that hope out of the window. A small civilian child screamed in fear as it ran toward the carriage, with Sasha staying behind to at least try and buy the kid more time so it can get away. She gulped as she held her two blades in front of her in a pathetic attempt of trying to defend herself, the titan watcher her with its retarded looking face, as it towered her small frame.
The titan was about to grab the brown haired girl with his huge hands, and Sasha closed her eyes, knowing that at least she managed to save someone's life before dying herself. Levi's eyes widened when he noticed he had no time to save his subordinate, but that didn't stop him from shouting out her name in a rare display of desperation to try to get her to move.
"SASHA, RUN!" Levi shouted at the top of his lungs. He shouldn't have made her help the civilians by herself, he should have sent someone with her. The yell seemed to break her out of her stupor, and she ended opening her eyes, but it was already too late, and the titans hands were mere centimeters away from her body.
And then, her body vanished into thin air, right before the titan's hand got to her. And after that, a strong burst of wind happened right where she had disappeared. Everyone looked confused and shocked at what just happened, one minute Sasha was about to die, the other she just vanished. She then reappeared on one of the rooftops, sitting on the red tiles and trembling with a terrified look on her face, the look of someone who started at Death right in the eyes and survived.
"Looks like I came just in time to save the day once again" everyone heard a confident sounding voice coming from all directions, a voice Levi thought he would never, ever, hear again in his life.
Suddenly, titans started falling down left and right, in such a speed that it even put Levi himself to shame, and he was called humanity's strongest soldier for a reason. After mere seconds, all the titans in and out of the village were killed, and a huge burst of wind, almost like typhoon, almost blew them away from the rooftops.
When the wind stopped, all of them saw something standing on the building across Levi, staring down at their captain, as the officer did the same to the newcomer. It was wearing a long tattered brown cloak around its body, but it left the head exposed, and they could see what it was.
A blue hedgehog with six long spikes on its head and deep emerald eyes.
"No fucking way..." Eren blurted out as soon as he landed on the roof, right beside his captain. He heard of him just a few minutes ago, but he didn't believe it, how could he even believe it? The tale was downright insane.
"What is that?" It was Mikasas's turn to wonder, looking genuinely curious.
"My hero..." Sasha choked out, her eyes watering a bit as she rubbed her sleeves over her eyes, glad that she was still alive and kicking.
The rest of the squad had pretty much the same reaction as Mikasa, they all looked intrigued and curious at the creature standing on the rooftop, who singlehandedly killed all of the titans inside and outside of the village in a matter of seconds. Levi on the other hand, in an incredibly rare public display that left even his own subordinates shocked, even more shocked than they already were, smiled at the hedgehog across him.
"Sonic" the officer muttered under his breath, the smile still looking out of place on his face.
"Long time no see, Levi" Sonic smirked, giving him his two fingered wave.
And, that's the end.
The first story I actually finished... it's funny that the only story I could ever finish was a one shot. I guess I'm not fit to write fanfiction if I can't keep the chapter coming.
Anyway, I actually had a lot of fun writing this story. I remember while watching Attack on Titan that Levi's moves reminded me a lot of Sonic, and I was like, what if Sonic was the one who actually taught him? Of course, that was stupid concept, both aren't even from the same universe, but the thought lingered around my head for a long time. During this time, I decided to check on Sonic and AoT to see if there was any decent crossover, and honestly, I only found a lot of crap. That's when I was like 'If there isn't a decent fucking story, then I'LL make one' and that led me to where I am today. Uploading a story after two years of absense.
I'm also happy to announce that... I may come back? I have another story on the work (Oh god, why do I keep having ideas?!) but this one I won't upload any time soon. Why? Because it's supposed to be a multiple chapter story like my other ones, and if I can't keep track of my other ones, another will just make it worse. I'm currently trying to complete the next chapter of Sonic Tamers, which is half-way through, and the other are about 1/3, half way through as well. Do not expect any of them to be uploaded any time soon, but expect it to happen.
One more time, I'm terribly sorry for letting the people who like my works down, it was dickish of me, and I deserve every bit of shit you through at me.