Levi's POV
"Still no signal from the northern squad, Captain."
"Yes, I am very much aware of that." Levi stated dryly, not taking his eyes from the direction of the northern corner of the base. After sweeping the area, every squad had shot up a yellow signal flare as a signal of a successful mission... all except one; [f/n]'s squad. But thanks to the awful weather conditions and the fact that her squad was the one located farthest from the central of the base, even if the flare was shot, there was a good chance that no-one could see it. But, unfortunately, that also applied to the emergency flares.
"Sir, we should send a team to investigate the situation." Petra added in a more demanding tone when Levi just kept quietly staring into the distance. "I'll send the first returning squad-"
"Oluo. Petra." Levi interrupted. "You'll stay here and inform Erwin and the squad leaders about the situation. Rest of you with me." He gave Eld and Gunther a meaningful look before unsheathing his blades.
"C-captain?!" Petra stuttered, unable to believe her ears. "But you just can't-"
"Look!" Gunther suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the figure in the distance. "Someone is coming!"
"Springer?" Levi furrowed his brow when he recognized the person who almost outright crashed in front of him from the air. "What the hell happened? Where's the rest of your squad?"
"I… We…" Connie gasped between wheezing breathes and gasps of air as he tried to calm down, clutching his hand against his chest as if his racing heart was about to burst at any second. "Two abnormals… we tried to signal for help…" He panted. "The other squad never came and we lost two of our men already..!"
Reader's POV
"Oh my FUCKING GOD, just die already!" You screamed furiously after dodging one and then another swoop of a giant hand. Peeking over to the other side of the base wall had almost costed you your head― very much literally, unfortunately. It was almost like the bastards had been waiting for you; You had managed to leap away barely in time when one of the titans outright launched at you from behind the wall. You had finally managed to take down the other one of the abnormals, but the second one was giving you a lot more trouble than the first one. "That bastard is a fast one..!" You'd think that the huge, caricature of a head that wildly swayed from side to side on the titan's bony shoulders would slow it down even a bit or at least reduce its field of vision, but no; this bastard was almost like possessed, launching straight back at you after every failed attempt to gobble you up. If one of your squadmates hadn't kept the beast distracted― and given her life as doing so― while you killed the first abnormal, you doubt you could have taken down either one of the titans. Fighting both of them at the same time would've been a suicide! "Connie… please, hurry..!" That jockey was your only hope at the moment. Thanks to the heavy rain, the emergency flares were good as nothing, so your best bet was to send someone to get help. "I swear, if I'll die while fighting these motherfuckers..! I'll swear I'll come back and haunt you for all the eternity- Yikes!" This time when you had time to react, the stubby fingers were already basically wrapping around you, forcing you to release the grappling hooks and let yourself fall down, just barely in time to avoid the titan's crushing grip. The adrenaline pumping in your veins and just the pure will to live keeping you moving, you hadn't realized how exhausted you were until you hit the ground; Taking the impact gracefully like a llama in roller skates, you fell onto your knees when you landed, but managed to scuffle back onto your feet almost right away. Tilting your head backwards only to see the massive creature towering right above you, you didn't have to think twice before bolting away from its reach― But instead of running into the opposite direction, you skittered between the pudgy legs of the titan, praying in your mind it wouldn't be able to reach you. Then, the worst possible scenario happened: Stumbling into your own feet, you crashed down painfully onto your stomach, sending tiny pebbles flying into every direction.
"Oh no..! Oh no!" You were already screaming and cursing in panic when you tripped, but when you felt the stubby fingers brush against your feet you started outright screeching and howling like a maniac, desperately trying to kick the giant hand away before it would get a hold of your ankle. Flopping onto your side, you shot a grappling hook into the wall of one of the ruined houses― It was going to be a bumpy, painful ride, but you didn't have much of a choice at the moment. You hit the switch and reeled yourself across the yard, out of the titan's reach. Like said, getting dragged on the ground for a good 50 feet wasn't exactly a pleasant experience― especially when the rain had filled the yard with mud puddles― and all the bumps and bruises on your body would act as a proof of that. You couldn't even get back up and onto your feet when you heard a loud thud from behind you; Turning to look at the titan, you found it laying on the ground, twisting and turning like a fish out of water. "What the hell..?" You panted out of breath and swiped the messy hair away from your face as you examined the situation in disbelief, not even bothering to scuffle up onto your feet after seeing the titan was down. When you had skittered between its legs, the titan had leaned forwards while trying to reach out for you, and that's when the good old law of physics took that bobblehead of a titan down. "Just look at that..!" You let out a weary laugh as the feeling of both exhaustion and relief flushed over you; The fight was finally over.
"Oi! What the hell happened in here?!"
Glancing over your shoulder, you saw a group of people approaching; the very much needed backup, just a little bit too late. What took you surprise, though, was the fact that Levi was one of the approaching figures.
"Oh, you guys finally came―" You tried to give Levi and the others an unimpressed, a bit taunting look, but couldn't prevent the slight smile spreading onto your face as you continued. "But looks like you missed the party."
"Holy heck, [f/n]..!" Connie's jaw dropped as he scanned the now so quiet battleground. "You did it..!"
"Just don't go near that one, it's still alive." You nodded at the fallen titan, giving them a tiresome grin as you continued. "It just… let's just say that the situation kinda handled itself."
"If that's the case, consider yourself lucky." Levi, who had been examining the situation just as baffled as the others, finally turned his attention back to you. "That type of stuff won't happen out here too often." He added with a slight smile and offered his hand to help you up from the ground.
"Not that I'm saying there was nothing to do with the skill~!" Taking his hand, you struggled up onto your still wobbly feet. "Gotta take some credit-"
"Uhh..! Guys?!"
"Huh?" Snapping out of it, you and Levi both turned to see what Connie was so shocked about. "Are you kidding me..?!" Your jaw dropped when you realized that the bobblehead titan was trying to get up― and the most shocking part was that against all the laws of physics, it was nearly succeeding. "Ugh..! No way..! Can't you just stay down, you little piece of-"
You were unable to finish your verbal threat when the titan already crashed back down to the ground― But unluckily for all the people around it, it managed to crash straight into a crumbling remains of a watchtower. All you could do was scream when the tall stone construction began to crumble, dangerously tilting into your direction as it came down. You had barely even time to react when Levi already had grabbed onto you, hauling your sorryass to the safety with him before you got crushed by rubble. The tower came down with a loud crash, but everyone managed to get out of the way in time. Still dizzy and stumped, you scuffled up into a half sitting position to examine the chaos. The situation didn't look half as bad as you had expected, but it was when you turned to look at Levi when your heart dropped. He was a couple feet away from you, still down on all fours on the ground, hanging his head down seemingly in pain. His posture and the way he squeezed his hand against his head made it difficult for you to see what had happened, but droplets of blood on the ground told you enough.
Few hours later -
"I'm fine."
"Oh is that so? You don't look like it."
"It's nothing. You should worry about yourself."
"...Don't tell me you just told me to mind my own business?"
Levi had to be the most stubborn man you had ever met― No matter what you said, he absolutely refused to get his injuries treated. Instead, right after the camp was set up, he had retreated into his tent to lick his wounds. You couldn't help but to feel it was your fault that he got hurt, so you did your best to help him… or at least tried to.
"I got only some mere bumps and scratches― I think it's you who should pay a visit to the medic tent." You gave Levi an unimpressed but a meaningful look. Thankfully he got hit by a piece of broken wood instead of a chunk of stone rubble, but the injury looked pretty bad either way; when he momentarily shifted the bloody rag from his temple, you saw a lilac bruise accompanied by a quite nasty looking, bleeding wound. Levi just scoffed and mumbled something under his breath, clearly having no intention to do as suggested. "Ok, fine." You sighed. "Don't go to the medics, but at least let me take a look, then..!"
"I told you I'm fine." He muttered, turning his gaze away like a stubborn little kid avoiding his mother's glare.
"Yeah, sure you are." You rolled your eyes as you marched across the tent, flopping next to him onto the edge of his bunk before he could say or do a thing. "Come on, let me take a look― No need to be scared, I'm not going to bite." You added in a teasing manner when Levi showed no signs of obeying. This seemed to finally do the trick; Letting out a deep sigh, Levi lowered his hand, exposing the wound so you could take a look. Now when you had the opportunity to do what you intended, you couldn't help but to suddenly feel a bit awkward. "Typical me, always acting before thinking..!" You secretly bit your lower lip as you carefully brushed his hair out of the way so you could see better. Momentarily you had been able to forget the messy bundle of mixed feelings you secretly held for this man, but being close to him like this made it all come back to you at instant. Trying to shook it all off, you focused on treating his injuries. "Hmm… Okay, the good news is that I don't think you'll need any stitches…" You said after taking a moment to examine the wound. "But we should get this properly cleaned and… well, slap a bandage on it."
"I think I can manage without a bandage." Levi smiled shortly as he said this. Finally, after succumbing to his fate he seemed to relax a bit, dropping the stubborn kid -act. While mending the wound, you couldn't prevent your gaze from wandering; at first, you were just making sure you weren't hurting him as you cleaned the wound, but then you found yourself occasionally staring at him. Levi was typically difficult to read, but right now you had absolutely no idea what was on his mind. Even though he wasn't acting up anymore, the silence had fell into the room, you both being too wrapped up in your thoughts to speak.
"Um… Levi?" You finally broke the silence when you finished up cleaning the wound. "Why you were so against of the idea of me joining to survey corps?" The question just rolled off your tongue without you even thinking about it. You had heard his arguments back then when you eavesdropped his and Hange's conversation, but you needed to hear it straight from him before you'd truly believe it. Until now you had been too much of a coward to confront him about it, but something had changed. Even though Levi was injured and seemed to be slightly embarrassed by you tending him, he had trusted you enough to let you close to him― which in exchange made you feel like it was alright to let your guard down and be vulnerable, even for a short moment… but that safe and secure feeling you had a moment ago started to quickly fade away when Levi didn't answer; His brow furrowed even so slightly when he heard the question, but then he seemed to zone out for a second. You watched him in silence, trying to read the subtle hints on his expressionless face. It didn't take more than a few seconds when Levi snapped back to the reality, giving one cautious glance to your direction before he just sighed and turned his gaze down.
"There are two types of people who join the scout regiment;" He finally said. "Those who want to make a difference… and those who just do it for the heck of it." Even though you couldn't see it, the way he said this told you he was smiling as he spoke― But there was also a hint of sadness in his voice. "The ones who are just ready to throw their life away, but also need to convince themselves that they're doing something meaningful. Pretty fucking stupid, if you ask me." Then he remained quiet for another moment, weighing his words carefully before speaking again. "I guess I just wanted to figure out which one you were before you'd throw yourself to the wolves for the sake of the humanity." Finally lifting his gaze, Levi gave you short smile. The look in those thundercloud eyes was both soft and sorrowful― It felt like that single gaze exposed a whole new side of him to you, a part of him which was always hidden deep down under the layers of arrogance and coarse, witty remarks.
"So… have you been able to figure it out yet?" You replied to his smile with a sympathetic― and maybe slightly mischievous― look. "Which type I am?"
"Yeah."