[AN] Heeeyyyy guuyyys... Sorry, My beta reader went awol so this isn't beta'd, sorry if there are grammatical or spelling errors, or it just sucks.
Anyhow, thanks for reading. :3
"Hey!" Bara calls as she runs out of the tent, her 3DMG straps now on as she catches up with Levi.
"Levi! Wait!" she whines.
Levi smirks as he stands still for Bara to catch up. When she's standing beside him she huffs. "You couldn't wait?"
He shrugs. "You couldn't go faster?"
"Touché," she mutters as they begin to walk.
"Watch it!" Levi calls as Bara's grapple dislodging nearly causes her to fall.
"Shoot!" she shouts, being forced to launch another grapple and swing up safely to the tree branch Levi is on.
"That was close," Levi said.
"Too close. This training is hard."
"It's not as easy as you thought, eh?" Levi asked, shooting off with one grappling hook after.
Bara sighs. "Not at all," she whispers when he's out of earshot, following behind him with two grapples.
"Giving up?" Levi asked as Bara caught up with him. "Not at all, I have a proposition." Levi cocks his head. "A proposition? What of?"
Bara smiles. "I'm proposing a race."
"Oh?" Levi responds.
"Yeah," she says with a nod.
"One grapple?"
"Of course," Bara smiles again.
Levi smirks. "Have fun."
"Oh, I will. This will make training fun!"
"Oh, but remember," Levi starts, shooting out another grapple. "It's still training."
"True."
He smirks as he shouts, "GO." and shoots out a grapple and a burst of gas.
"Hey!" Bara shouts. "That wasn't fair! I wasn't ready!"
She bursts forward with a bit of gas and launches one grapple into a tree, swinging around it instead of in front of it.
"Shoot!" she shouts, aggravated with her lack of practice.
"She'd better catch up," Levi smirks, noticing that Bara is nowhere to be found. Suddenly, a thought strikes him. He lands on the nearest suitable branch and turns around, looking out behind him.
"Where is she? Shouldn't she at least be nearby?"
He sighs, going in the opposite direction from which he was originally going and moves backward, searching for the brunette racer.
"Bara!" He shouts, looking around. "Hey! Bara! Where are you?" He says the last part quieter. He glances down, noticing a figure.
He lands softly on the ground about ten yards behind Bara.
"Bara," he calls, walking toward her.
Bara hums, turning around and looking behind herself. "Levi?"
"What're you doing here?" he asks.
"Oh, sorry," she says with a nervous laugh. I forgot about the race…"
Levi sighs. "So what have you been doing here for so long?"
Bara looks over to the field and river she stood next to.
"Oh," Levi mumbles, looking over to where Bara was looking. "It's pretty."
She walks through the theoretical doorway of trees to the opening. It all looked so surreal… There, a huge tree sat at the center of the meadow, flowers, and fireflies buzzing around it. She smiled faintly as pleasant, reminiscent memories filled her mind.
She walked to the base of the tree, looking up the tall mossy trunk and placing her hand on the cool moss.
She sat at the base of the tree by the roots, closing her eyes and leaning her head back.
Levi smiles softly and walks toward her, sitting next to her on the ground.
"You like trees?" he asks.
She nods. "Yeah, and my grandma loved them."
Levi nods. "Did she have a big affect on you?"
"Of course," she says with a nod. "She raised me. Until she died, at least."
"Bara!" Jean calls with a smile as he sees his friend returning with his captain. "Sir," he greets formally. Levi nods, and parts with Bara, heading toward his tent.
"Where were you guys?"
"Oh, we were just-"
"Making out?" Jean interrupts with a smirk.
Bara punches him in the arm and growls, "No. We were simply training."
"Well, how about last night?" he teases. "How was it? Sleeping with the captain."
Bara blushes and slaps his arm. "Shut up! Dakirai! Dakirai! (I hate you!)" She slaps and punches his arm more as he simply laughs and occasionally asks her to stop.
Levi chuckles from his viewpoint at his tent, smirking as he enters it.
"Hey, but aren't you already like a fricking, a ninja on the wire?"
Bara sighs. "No, I'm not a ninja, Jean, don't be an idiot. I'm training to improve mobility."
"But you're better than like… Everyone one on the squad combined."
Bara sighs and slouches. "Stop and let me prepare my horse!"
"Fine, fine," Jean concedes.
They spend some time in silence, adjusting the reins, and the saddle of their horses.
"So what else did you do out there?"
"Jean!"
Levi removes his 3DMG straps and drops them and his gear in the pile with Bara's gear.
He sighs as he plops onto his cot. Thoughts swirl around his head, most pertaining to his time with Bara. He thinks he needs to try to tell her, but also thinks he shouldn't.
His mind conflicts with itself and reels over and over again.
After a long moment of those thoughts, he stands abruptly. He moves to the exit of the tent, thinking briefly whether he should get his 3DM Gear back on, but ignores it and walks outside.
"Bara!" he calls.
"Oh?" Jean teases, poking her.
"Stop," Bara groans. "Yes, Levi?" she asks in a perky voice.
"Come with me?" it sounds more like a question than an order.
"Sure," she responds, waving to Jean as she begins to walk with Levi.
Jean sticks his tongue out, mouthing the words 'have fun' to her.
She makes a face just as they're about to walk out of the castle.
"What'd you want from me?" she asks.
"Well," Levi starts. "I just wanted to talk."
"Okay, we can do that."
They walked through the tall grass, and over to a tall, mossy tree.
"Sit?"
"Sure," Bara responds, plopping onto the ground by the roots of the huge tree, Levi taking a place beside her.
"So? What'd you want to talk about?" Bara questions.
Levi looks off to the treetops, the words on the tip of his tongue but no will to say them.
"Well?" she asks again. "Because if you just wanted to spend time with me, you didn't have to lie. You can just tell me so."
Levi sighs slightly, feeling like a weight was being lifted off his shoulders, only for another to be dropped back on him. He struggled with internal turmoil for just a few moments before taking a deep breath. "I did want to talk to you about something, it's very important, but… I-" he chokes on his words, his breath getting caught in his throat, causing him to pause. "I… Find it very difficult to… Say…"
Bara nods, waiting patiently for him.
"I… Just… I-I…" His words get jumbled as he becomes tongue-tied. He bites the inside of his cheek, a blush crawling across his face as his heart thumps inside his chest.
"Levi…"
He felt like he could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears, and shaking the ground.
"Levi."
It began to sound louder, even though his heart was calming.
'Shit,' he thought.
"Do you hear that?" Bara asked.
"Yes," Levi says, hoping up to his feet quickly.
He scans the nearby area, looking for the source, the titan.
"Levi!" Bara shouts, seeing the titan coming from the west, the opposite direction he was facing.
He ran back toward the tree, seeing the surprisingly large titan nearing, he went into survival mode, finding the nearest refuge.
He grabbed Bara by the arm and ran with her behind the tree, scanning the area for a place to hide, but they couldn't outrun the speeding titan behind them.
"Levi, we can't outrun a titan," Bara says, eerily calm.
"Just keep running!" Levi shouts.
He knew where he wanted to go, he saw a cave not far, they only needed just one more minute to get there… It was so close…
"Levi!" she screeched, looking behind herself, seeing the titan mere yards away.
Levi slid around a corner and jumped into a small ditch just near some large roots of a tree, pulling Bara in with him.
The titan followed, though, and peered into the hole from above, its huge grinning head casting a shadow over their stilled bodies as they stared up in horror.
One of the titan's hands plants firmly against the trunk of the tree, its other hand reaching down toward Levi and Bara.
Its hand moved closer toward them, Levi standing protectively over Bara as she knelt on the ground. If he wasn't going to be able to tell her how he felt, he'd at least keep her safe.
The titan's hand suddenly slipped from the tree, making it abruptly fall down.
Levi's eyes widened as he stared up, but got abruptly jerked back.
Bara jumped up, pulling Levi by his shoulder and taking his place as Levi fell to the ground.
The titan's hand was now wrapping around Bara, and in an instant, Levi went from protecting her to the one being protected by her.
"Bara, no!" he shouted as the titan's grip tightened.
Tears fell down Bara's cheek as her hands gripped the enormous fingers of the titan.
She stared it in the eyes, it's giant grinning face staring right back. It just held her there, not moving her any closer, but staring directly at her.
It threw her to the side, completely ignoring her and reaching for Levi instead.
She screamed as her body hit the ground, tearing open her clothes and scraping her skin.
Levi stared up in awe, shocked by what he'd just seen. He'd never seen a titan simply throw a meal to the side, just to eat a different human.
He couldn't breathe, the grip was too restricting, he couldn't focus, his mind was in a haze, he couldn't see, his eyes wouldn't open…
Bara pushed herself up, coughing up blood as she attempted to sit. She turned herself around, seeing Levi, laying unmoving in the grip of the titan as he was mere feet away from its open mouth.
"Levi, no," she whispered, reaching out to him.
Her vision fades around the corners, her arm reaches out as far as possible, her heart rate increases, her breathing hitches.
"No," is the last thing she remembers whispering before her vision fades to black, and her assumption is…
Levi is dead…
