There she was; broken, bloodied, and slaughtered. Deceased.
Even the wildest of his tainted nightmares never ended with this, or maybe he had chosen to forget it all. He never wanted to believe that the disgusting land of dirty blood and withered bones in which he called his world could get any uglier than it already was.
When she came along, he had given the world a chance to become beautiful, for she was the embodiment of beauty itself. Why couldn't the world just watch and learn the grace she had with every step she took, every blink of her flaming amber eyes, every curl of her soft pink lips, every fresh breath she inhaled, and every symphony she performed with the sound of her voice?
Petra Ral wanted to devote herself to him.
Captain Levi, however, could not match up to her. He was not perfect, the moon compared to the sun. Emotionless, rude, and blunt. He had more similarities of the hell he traversed on than her.
Once, when the sun's rays had warmed his blood, a pulse had begun and his heart beated in his chest. But when he had landed on the red-stained grass beside the dimming light and felt of her pulse, his became the same as hers, nothing.
The sun was no longer here to warm him, and he was once again a cold slate. He no longer had faith that things were going to get better, the world will always remain filthy and blackened; A mess that cannot be cleaned.
Although her light was now lost, Petra Ral still had beauty. Her copper strands softly swayed in the wind and entranced the mourning and weathered man, distracting him from the scarlet tears forming upon her face and dripping down her cheek.
Petra Ral wanted to devote herself to him.
You know what? Levi's feelings were mutual. He wanted to do so many things with her after this expedition was over. After humanity had taken another step towards making this world better, getting rid of some of the titans here and there.
Barely keeping his usual placid expression in place, he bent over slightly and brushed the backs of his surprisingly soft fingers down her face, shutting her eyes, uncaring of the fact that he had gotten some of her blood on himself. Why should she spend time looking at that tree?
Levi positioned her in a sitting position with her back against the tree to make her more comfortable, and got down on one knee. "Petra Ral," His lips formed the wonderful name one more time. It slipped out of his mouth like smooth satin and he recalled the fact that he admired looking at on paper because the letters fit each other so perfectly. "You have fought wonderfully for humanity. I'm glad we got to spend time together while we... could."
His hand made his way under his own cape and into his breast pocket, plucking out a small halo that glistened in the light and cupping one of her hands gingerly and sliding it on her ring finger. Pausing, he stared at her hand with the ring resting on it and swallowed a lump in his throat, trying to imagine how she would have reacted if she could still breathe. She would probably gain that stoplight glow on her cheeks and have a nervous breakdown for a while, before curling her lovely lips into one of her usual warm and welcoming smiles.
"I love you." Now bringing his hand up to his own face and letting her hand drop, he heaved a sigh and wiped off the salty water onto his pants. He sat there, head hanged, and remained in that position until he had the strength to stand up.
He then grappled onto a tree and maneuvered himself away, not looking back.
Alright *sobbing rn* I DID IT. THERE. I finally wrote a (short) Rivetra thing and I'm glad *squealingggg*