Illusion
The sky was a hazy glow of purple and orange and glittering streaks of the late vestiges of sunshine were dancing across the horizon. Levi Rivaille stood on the Rose wall, made up of titans. He kicked it furiously. Damn you titans. He thought scathingly. You are exactly where you belong. Under my feet, you big incarnations of garbage!
The wind blew, rustling the leaves of the trees around and he inhaled deeply, ponderingly as he sat down. It was scentless. But then again, it mostly is, he thought. It was always scentless before the attack and after the attack… By now he was so used to the tang of blood that it was almost relieving. By the time anybody was sane enough to actually make out that the smell lingering in the air was that of blood, the attack would already be over. The worst would be over, for that moment at least. How many such moments had he survived? He let a humorless smirk spread across his face and cynicism entered his eyes.
Perhaps humans should start counting their age not in years, but how many attacks they survived. After all birthdays gave no guarantees but the survival of an attack did, that your life was spared for a moment until the next attack. Until then… He refrained to think any further.
He took a deep breath. The air had no taste as it blew furtively around but he knew the directions it took, the patterns, the cruel harmony in which it made leaves rustle… Years of experience and keen senses had given him intuition. The air with no scent, no taste was ominous… always had been and this time was no different. It meant the worst had yet to come.
The soft footfalls caught his attention and he tilted his head slightly in that direction. For a moment, he was just so relieved that it was probably a human. Titans always trampled and stampeded.
"What are you doing here, Ackerman?" He intoned softly.
"Taking a walk." Mikasa replied, calm and serene.
"On the Rose wall?" he drawled, barely managing to control his surprise. "A very nice place for a walk."
"Not nice." She took few steps closer until she was standing right in front of him, her coal-black hair gently billowing in the breeze. "This place is the most… honest in this whole area."
"Honest?" He asked wryly. "I would ask you why you chose that certain word but I guess I am not curious or bored enough."
A flash of anger entered her eyes before she quickly suppressed it, "And even if you had asked me I wouldn't have given you the explanation to what you already know, Captain Levi. You come here for the same reason I do."
"I am on patrol." He interjected, almost defensively.
"Yeah but you could have sent people from lower rank on patrol." She smiled tranquilly. "You come here because the streets inside these walls just seem like an illusion. Beyond these walls… This is our reality."
Despite himself, he let out a small smirk of acknowledgement. "Not bad," He drawled in his usual bored, condescending way. "Most humans aren't willing to face reality so readily."
"You… you don't have high opinion of general humans, do you?" She sighed as she sat down on the wall, her legs dangling almost in a very delicate gesture. But Levi knew how very far from delicate and how formidable she was.
"But I don't blame us humans for it." He replied. "These are desperate times and we have no choice."
"So you don't have high opinions of other humans." She stated, irony entering her voice. "And yet you fight to save them? I don't get it. What is your ambition? Why did you join Survey Corps, knowing you will end up a corpse? You put your life on line for what if you think most humans aren't even worth it?"
He didn't know why but her words irked him. "You tell then, Ackerman. Why do you fight the titans?"
"Oh that's easy." Her smile was peaceful now. "To protect Eren."
"Protect Eren." He scoffed, "that weak-ass boy who can't ever save himself. Tell me, do you think you are doing him favor?"
Her eyes narrowed to slits dangerously. "What do you mean?"
"We all join survey corps knowing we are going to die out there, fighting the titans." He grinned bitterly. "Do you think that by protecting him and dying in front of him, you would be doing him a favor? He'll just be broken. He would try to fight the titans with his useless skills and no rationality, just the way you did last time when that female titan took away Eren. And then you already know the end."
"You just shut the hell up!" She snarled, suddenly getting up. "You know nothing! You just look down on people! You—"
"Pardon me for my honesty." He cut her off smoothly, "I thought you preferred it."
"Oh, so you are trying to tell me that you fight the titans because you won't be breaking someone in the process?" She scoffed. "Is that why you are always distant from others, protecting people and refusing to act like you care about them?"
"You got it all wrong." He answered softly, slowly standing up too. "I fight because I know titans can't beat me. Because I get thrill out of killing them. Come, I don't think we have time for the talk. There is going to be an attack soon."
"How do you know—?" Her question was cut off as she heard the distant trampling of the imminent danger, the titan approaching. Fear shuddered through her mind but she pushed out her basic instincts, reminding herself that she chose this path, that no matter how many mind-games Levi played, no matter how many times titans tried to bring her down, she still would protect Erin.
Levi was impervious as ever but his eyes were scrunched up with resolve and determination. Perhaps that was why he was so strong and invincible, Mikasa thought. Perhaps he really believed that titans couldn't possibly bring him down.
First came the heavy footsteps, the deadly shape of titan emerging from faraway, and then that sick smile that showed no understanding, no remorse for the terror they incited. This was the sickest part, knowing that they were unable to acknowledge their crimes and sins. Mikasa knew the drill by now and it made her more focused. There was no time for fear. She glided through the trees using her 3-D maneuver gear, ahead of Levi and then in one swift movement she had anchored herself onto a titan, the horrible figure of death.
"Do you have death-wish?" Levi bellowed as he too gracefully whizzed around the awkwardly waddling titan, looking for an opening.
"I'll prove it you that you that my cause is better than yours!" She screamed back, pushing the branches out of her way. "I will kill this monster. Just stand back, Captain Levi."
"Fine." He scoffed. "Just don't expect me to save you while you are being so reckless, Ackerman."
He watched as she flew around elegantly, almost like a little hummingbird, quick and sinuous in her moments, dodging the flailing arms of the titan effectively, with her swords at ready. The titan hollered with frustration, unable to get his hands on her. Finally she seemed to find an opening and lunged… And didn't see the titan's arm as big as a tree coming. It slammed into her stomach with a tremendous force and before she could fall, titan caught her in his big hand in the midair. She howled in pain as the titan squeezed his fingers and between the mists of bewilderment, she saw Levi's silhouette against the setting golden sun, standing on the titan's shoulders as huge as mountains. She saw him slashing the titan's eyes with his swords almost vengefully and the titan seemed to release its hold only for a split second during which Mikasa managed to free her arm and cut off the monster's fingers. But then free of titan's clutches, she was falling miles below to the ground, unable to get her 3-D maneuver gear working.
Before she realized it, strong arms circled around her in a strangely protective manner and they glided through the air for a surreal moment before landing on the ground. She felt as if she was soaring through air effortlessly, like in a dream, warm, light and weightless. It was reminiscent of the last time he saved her, getting injured in process and she was so used to of protecting others that it was almost eerie to rely on somebody else who was just as capable as she was, maybe even more. She reveled in that infinitesimal moment in which she allowed herself to be weak.
"You…" She coughed out some blood; her chest seemed lacerated. "You said you wouldn't try to save me when I am being so reckless, Captain."
"Someone has to keep fighting to protect humanity. It has to be someone like you…" He intoned, steadying her shoulders. "So that I can keep fighting only and only for myself."
"You mean so that you can keep deluding yourself." She smiled approvingly. "Very well then."
He let barest hints of smile hover over his face and released her as soon as she was stable on her feet. "Let's go." He said. "We got a titan to kill."