"I'm dreaming tonight of a place I love
Even more than I usually do
And although I know it's a long road back
I promise you~"
Lance corporal Levi sat at his desk managing the last of the pre-holiday paperwork, and arguing with his ever persistent lady. "Oh come on Levi," She whined "It's one little scouting mission. I will be perfectly fine."
"It's not the mission I'm upset about," He monotone back, eyebrows furrowed.
"Well why can't I go then?" she questioned once more.
"Because I said so, Brat." He responded.
"Aww," she chimed "gonna miss me too much?"
"No," he growled "I just can't keep you from making stupid mistakes if I'm stuck here with a god damned bum leg. I can walk on it, so I shouldn't be housebound." She chuckled and hugged the man from behind.
"But you are housebound, and my being away for one little two day scout on horseback isn't going to kill you Darling," she persuaded "Besides, it's almost Christmas and I'm sure you'd love to finish up last minute cleaning with me out of your way." He relaxed back into her embrace and turned his head to kiss her cheek chastely.
"I'll be home for Christmas~"
"Fine," he gave in "But I expect you to be home for Christmas. I have a surprise for you this year."
"Of course," She agreed giggling. She nuzzled against his neck affectionately, "I have never failed you before. You can count on me."
"Please have snow and Mistletoe, and presents under the tree~"
With that established she turned to look out the window as she was wont to do. "Levi," she gasped excitedly "It's snowing outside!" Levi snorted derisively, turning his chair around.
"For being white, that stuff is absolutely filthy and disgusting," he said "I don't know why you like the damn stuff so much. It's gross and cold. You hate freezing your ass off."
"Doesn't mean it isn't nice to look at every once in a while," she replied, coming over to sit on his good leg. She placed her arms around his neck, as his left arm moved to wrap around her waist.
"Besides with it snowing again, that means I won the bet with Erwin," she smirked "This means I get to put up as much Mistletoe as I want, wherever I want."
"Bet you're going to miss seeing all of the results of that." He mused, bringing his right hand up to cup her face. She placed her right hand over the top of his.
"I know sappy things aren't really your style, but I think I would miss your presence more, Short stack."
He scoffed at her remark, "and maybe I should just sit under the tree with a big ass bow on my head too."
"Sounds like a good present to me." They both leaned forward to share a quick kiss.
"I'm going to go start decorating everywhere with Mistletoe now." She said, getting up. He scoffed once more returning to his paperwork. She left, but behind the closed door the smallest of smiles graced the corporal's lips.
"Christmas Eve will find me, where the love light gleams~"
"I still can't believe Erwin still sent us out to scout. It's Christmas Eve for Maria's sake!" complained one of the guys.
"At least we get a cloudy winter scouting shift and not, a sunny shitty titan bait spring one, Blake" reflected the other guy.
"Shut up Ermine!" retaliated Blake "There still could be an abnormal out there."
"It's Eugene, not Ermine." He sighed. A snort came from Tsukiko behind them.
"Just be glad the chances of running into more than one titan at most are really slim," she added on "You could also be glad you aren't home alone for Christmas, or doing the mission solo."
"Easy for you to say, you have the corporal waiting for your ass at home," snickered Blake "Me and Ernie here are single and family-less."
"I'm afraid he's right. The only Love light we see is that of Christmas in the mess hall," added Eugene
"And again, it's Eugene, not Ernie."
"I'll be home for Christmas~"
The three continued to chuckle and bicker, always keeping the other half of their attention on their surroundings.
"Umm, Blake, Tsukiko Taicho," Eugene spoke, suddenly serious. "Is it just me, or is that a low-lying bank of fog just ahead?" All three paused and looked at the mass of vapor that was not there earlier.
"Well, Hanji is going to want to hear about this," chuckled Blake smiling. "Fog in the winter." Eugene and Blake both moved to continue forward. "The West entrance is just ahead. Let's get going already." Tsukiko stayed put staring at the mass before them. The two guys turned to look back at her.
"Taicho?" questioned Eugene "Don't you want to get back already? What is it?" Her senses were screaming at her, something was wrong. There should not be fog in the winter, unless… her eyes widened.
"Run!" she commanded, turning, "It's not fog. It's steam!" They both followed immediately as the realization hit them. Steam could only mean one thing, Titans.
Sure enough the minute they realized this the first 12m class reared its ugly head and stepped from the cloud. It spotted them unusually quickly and began its pursuit. The three other 12m, one 15m, and two 17m following after. They were gaining ground and fast.
"What the hell kind of Titans are these!" screamed Blake "Not only are they giving chase and gaining on us, but they are also active in the winter!"
"Aberrants!" replied Eugene, "That's the best we can classify them!"
"They're gaining on us!" screamed Blake once more, "Taicho, What do we do?"
"Taicho!" The look on Tsukiko's face said it all. She knew they couldn't make it to the south gate before the Titans would be on them.
"Both of you are to go and never look back. A couple of them may follow you, but I will distract the brunt of them. I order you not to come back for me either. Promise me that one or both of you will make it back to that gate." She monotoned.
"Taicho, you can't possibly-" "PROMISE ME!" she cut him off.
"Yes, ma'am," replied Eugene, "At least Blake, if not him and myself will make it back inside."
"Good," she said in reply. Then she laughed a bitter laugh, "Tell Levi, I'm sorry, I might be late coming home this year."
Rare tears pricked the men's eyes, "Yes, Ma'am!" they replied in unison.
With that, she nodded, prepped her gear, and turned her horse around.
"If only~"
She charged back towards the Titans, all but two of the 12ms stopped to deal with her challenge. Dancing through the steam, she kept the Titan's bunched up and tripping over one another. Meanwhile, the two 12ms had gained on Blake and Eugene. One reached forward toward Eugene, with its grubby hand and missed, knocking Blake and his horse over instead.
"Blake!" Eugene screamed. Blake stirred and grunted in pain. He sat up, shook the stars from his vision, and tried to move his horse off of himself. It wouldn't budge. He was trapped.
"Go Eugene! Get back to the gate! Only one of us needs to make it back!" Blake shouted. The two Titans had stopped to go over to him, noticing his predicament. Fear shone in his eyes as the grinning monsters moved closer, hands outstretched.
"KYAAAA!" cried Eugene as he sliced through the nape of the first Titan. The Titan closest to Blake paused to look at the fallen for merely a second, before continuing its decent. The Titan picked up a struggling Blake.
"NOOO!" screamed Eugene. The Titan brought Blake up and closer to its jaws. Eugene ran forward and his cables flashed. Blake dangled just outside the doors of death. Just in time, Eugene sliced through the kill zone and they all fell.
Eugene was the first to recover. He whistled for his horse. Grabbing it by the reigns he called, "Blake?"
"Blake?!" he called once more. A groan sounded from his right and he ran over. Kneeling by his comrade he said, relieved, "Blake! You're alive!" The man blinked and groaned again.
"Yeah you bastard. Only because you couldn't leave me behind even after I told you to. Besides, at least one if not both of my legs are useless, and my horse is dead."
"You called me by my name. My real name," rambled Eugene, "What kind of a wingnut leaves a friend behind? Even injured." He moved to pick up Blake and help get him on the horse. "Looks like we'll be sharing," laughed Eugene as he hopped up behind. They started walking once more toward the south gate.
Blake frowned, "The wingnut that leaves a friend behind is the same nutcase that leaves their Captain behind to fight five Titans on her own." They stopped and both turned their heads at the sound of one of the titans dropping. This was followed every once in a while by the repeat of the sound. It sounded as though 3 out of 5 had been felled.
"Do you think she'll make it back?" tentatively asked Eugene.
"I don't know," Blake solemnly replied, "She's probably tired, and maybe low on gas. Overall, she just needs help."
"I'm going to help," Eugene said, determined.
"She ordered us not to come back for her," Blake reminded him. Eugene hopped off of the horse.
"You get to that gate. I'm still going back to help her," he stated.
"Are you crazy? If you don't die yourself, she'll want to kill you for not listening," Blake told him.
"Her coming home to Heicho might buy me some time. You need to get going," Eugene quipped. "Go! Now! Get to the Garrison and get help." Blake turned horse and ran. Tears in his eyes, a weight in his heart, and a mission in mind. They will live. They have to.
"In~"
Tsukiko ran through the steam, horse lost when she took down the first 12m Titan. Every once in a while a flash of a hand, or foot will appear in the cloud surrounding her. She would jump in the exact opposite direction. Stopping, she waited for one or both of the remaining Titans to appear.
"Come on you fuckers!" she shouted, swords raised. "Show me your ugly mugs!"
Sure enough, the 17m Titan did appear. It glanced over but missed seeing her and turned to look elsewhere. The last 12m that came behind it, was a bit more observant. It started to move toward her and she charged right at it. As the monster reached forward, her gear piloted her right between its legs, and she slashed both of its ankles. Severing both Achilles tendons, forcing the creature to drop. Back on running feet she charged the 17m. It turned its grin to meet her challenge.
"My~"
Eugene charged into the cloud. He heard the thud of another Titan hitting the ground. "Just one left," he thought to himself.
"Taicho!" he shouted into the dimming mist.
"Tsukiko Taicho!" he cried once more as he ran. The limping figure of a Titan appeared before him. Barely letting it register that he was there, Eugene took off and headed right for the neck. The Titan didn't even get the chance to swat at Eugene before it was dead. "That should have been the last one," Eugene thought. "But that Titan was injured, enough to still be limping. I wonder if the sound I heard earlier was just this one hitting the ground when it got sliced before," he thought once more.
As the Titan's corpse steamed away, the cloud of steam seemed to get thinner, and thinner.
"Taicho!" Eugene began shouting once more. "Tsukiko!"
The cloud completely cleared as the last of the Titan faded. There was absolutely nothing there. The captain's horse stood farther out, grazing and waiting to be called. Otherwise, the lightly snow covered ground was completely vacant as far as the eye could see. Eugene whistled. The horse responded immediately and trotted over to his side.
He grabbed the reigns and pat its side. "Where did Tsukiko go girl?" Eugene queried the mount. As to be expected, the horse did not reply. Eugene hopped on the horse and began heading toward the gate.
He met up with the team sent after them three-quarters of the way back to the south gate. Commander Erwin was leading the way. Both parties halted.
"Eugene," Erwin spoke first, "We were told that you went back for Squad Leader Tsukiko. Where is she?"
"I don't know Commander," Eugene replied, "I went back, took out an injured Titan and when the steam cleared, there was nothing but grass and her horse here, in sight."
"Corps!" Erwin shouted, "Mike's squad move forward to check out the area with Eugene. Give him a fresh mount. The rest of you, we're heading back to the gate."
"Dreams~"
A knock sounded on the door of the apartment. Levi sat up a little straighter on his end of the couch and said, "Come in." He knew she would be late again. Whenever she went out when he was Christmas cleaning, she never got home before 9 or 10 o'clock at night. It was half past 9 and he thought she was finally home. Much to the Corporal's surprise, it was Erwin and Hanji that walked inside.
"Erwin, shitty glasses," Levi deadpanned, "What are you two doing here? And in uniform none the less."
"Levi…" started Hanji her usual cheer missing. Tears blurred her vision and started to spill down her cheeks. Both her and Erwin moved into a standard salute, and with steady voices began to recite;
"We regret to inform you that Captain Tsukiko Kagemine has been declared Missing in Action after running into 7 large class aberrants outside of the walls. If she does not reappear in under a week, she will be declared killed in action and you will receive the proper certifications after the week is up. Should she not return, just remember that her sacrifice was made for the good of mankind and she saved the lives of the two men with her. We are sorry for your loss and will inform you of any updates on the situation." They both relaxed. Levi bowed his head, his eyes shadowed over.
"She's not dead," he spoke almost to himself. Erwin kept silent. He just walked over and placed a comforting hand on Levi's shoulder. Then he left. Hanji went up to Levi, tear trails still staining her cheeks.
"At least we have a week," she said voice cracking. She gave Levi a pat on the back. "Hang in there, Shorty." Then she too left.
Levi walked over to the Tree in the corner and removed the item from within the bag under the tree. Going to the opposite corner, he entered his bedroom and began his wait.
TT-TTTT-TTTT-TTTT-TT
(* one week later on December 31st*)
Whilst everyone else was celebrating the New Year about to begin. The corporal stood on the top of wall Maria. The stars glistened as he starred out into the distance, the item from under the tree rolling in his palm. Soon midnight struck, and joyous clamors could be heard rising from below. The seven days were spent. She had not come home.
Levi opened the item and stared down at the, modestly decorated, gold band within. A very kind and melodious sound rose into the night. A sound, the likes of which had never been heard or dreamed of coming from his lips, as he sang,
"If only in my dreams~…"
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*Authorness*
I'm terribly sorry about mistakes and double typing. I can see them but I am not sure if the site is fixing them or not. Hope you enjoyed. There is a poll on my profile if you want to vote about possible continuations.