Fulfilling a Promise (and Preventing the Destruction of the World)
"You wanted to meet me, didn't you, Levi?!"
"Can't say I wanted to do the same!"
The hairy bastard, butt naked and well, was waving at him, calling out to him, calling out to be killed.
Shock. The burning sensation of cold rage seeping through his veins. Confusion. It all swept through him at once - nearly drowning him for a moment with their sudden intensity - at seeing the one he had wanted to kill for so long.
Levi had an infinite list of insults collected over the years, but the only sound that came out was—
"Zeke."
The next instant, Levi was moving, blades ready, the wind whistling in his ears and emotions pushed at the back of his mind, solely focused on the task before him. There was no time.
It was over in an instant, his blades slicing through skin, muscle, and bone like it was nothing, red seeping of the gleaming steel. It was no different from all the other times, no different at all. And yet—
He made it back to the flying titan, smashing into the feathered body, fingers gripping into the soft coat. His lungs were heaving, sweat dripping down his forehead, into his eye. He had no idea what expression he should make. Now that he had finally fulfilled his promise. Now that the destruction of the world had finally, finally come to a halt - how should he feel? (But there was no time, no time at all.) Maybe he should feel relieved, even if it was just the tiniest bit or, or—
He felt nothing but the screaming emptiness in his chest, he—
Erwin, sitting there before him, eyes suspiciously bright, thanking him while the world around them erupts in tiny pieces of wood, rock, and gore, the gravel underneath his knee digging into his flesh.
He hardly felt the warm palm of Mikasa ghosting across his spine in a comforting gesture. He coughed, curling a bit forward, tasting the familiar metallic flavor at the back of his throat. His lungs were trying to remember again how the whole breathing thing worked. His wounds were bleeding anew, or, even more than before. Levi perhaps should feel their throbbing ache, but the emptiness was overwhelmingly screaming at him, like cutting nails digging deeper and deeper into the skin of his chest. Somewhere at the back of his mind, he thought that his face felt too hot all of a sudden, then the warmth moved up and into his eyes. He closed them for a second, and the next instance, the stinging sensation was gone.
They were speeding away, the brats clinging to each other, teary eyes, bruised cheeks, and desperate fingers trying to hold on—
There was just no time, no time at all for anything. It was still not over.
He turned a bit, his gaze falling on the infinite large skeletonic titan standing there among the sickening destruction and bloodshed, spread around it the colossal titans also remaining still, and as afar as the eye could see, ashen clouds of dust and smoke. Levi could sense the bitterness of the soot on his tongue.
There was just no time, no time at all for anything. It was still not over. Not by a long shot.
It was already far, far too late. And—
Then, the scene plunged into the yellow and red radiance of a blazing eruption.
"Goodbye..."
"...Eren."
Ahh, this chapter gave me all the feels... I want to wrap everyone into a big hug D:
All the mistakes are mine.
