Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin A/N: Hope you didn't mind the bit of a wait. ^^; This kind of got lost in the spiraling abyss that is my ask box on tumblr. But hey, I'm finally going to finish up these requests!

~oOo~

They look as if they are about the size of ants, moving and maintaining their perfect formation even as they travel farther and farther away from the danger, toward where they know the walls stand. These dark figures that are humans, horses, and wagons begin to fade into the horizon, and Levi is vaguely aware as he watches them of how striking their appearance is against the fresh green sway of the tall grass. He used to take it for granted; never noticed it before, especially not from here. Despite the irony of the situation, he cannot help but think it is a sight that is so very beautiful: Survival.

He wants to tell her that they are not going to die.

Something which is not exactly fear stirs within his core. Personally, he is not afraid, though, at this moment when death is sure to come, a flood of emotion washes through his being until it seems to be overflowing from the crevices of his narrow eyes. Suddenly he realizes just how magnificent being alive truly is…

Like always, Levi brushes these feelings away, if not for his sake but for the courageous soldier who had the misfortune of being abandoned with him here.

The girl on the ground is watching her captain intently, as if he would know how to fix this. That maybe if he said so, everything would be alright. Her face is so pale with the fright she tries to conceal and he cannot bear to hold her gaze for too long.

"Levi-heichou." Her voice wavers in its uncertainty. "They…" she pauses briefly. "They aren't coming back, are they?"

The rubble beneath his boots is the only audible response she receives when he shifts his weight to one side. He appears to be deep in thought. This causes the awful anxiety to settle upon her tongue like bile.

"They're leaving us." He flinches away as if slapped. She is entering the denial phase; the inevitable ending to their lives being so close that it is going to drive the copper-haired woman insane. He is not sure how to keep her calm because he has never comforted someone about their death when they still possessed their limbs and were not coated in sickly blood.

"We're… we're going to die." Giving up is not his usual manner. He should be yelling at her right now, telling her to get her shit together and pick her ass up off the ground because being a soldier means accepting this fate at whatever time it comes to take them in its cold, unyielding grasp.

Levi has never been a good liar, so he opts for the quick, undeniable truth. And as useless as it may be, he needed to hear it, too: "Yes."

He knows that she will never say it aloud. How could she not be mentally berating him? This is your fault, you idiot. I told you the gas tanks were too low. What did you expect would happen? But Levi is admittedly not a strategist. When the right impulse takes him he acts upon it with no regrets. This is no exception. Defeating a titan in open terrain is difficult; yet, Petra answered his call for backup anyway. If it were not for her dedication she could be safe with the rest of the Survey Corps on her way back to the walls at this very moment.

"I'll never give up on you, Heichou."

Levi scoffs at her optimism, faintly relieved that she managed to recover so quickly when grieving would be so much easier. Petra is something special, he remembers fondly. It is her presence right now which is soothing the racing beat of his pulse.

"While we're both still breathing, I want to tell you that I love you." Her tone is neutral, steady hazel eyes holding his dark grey ones with a calm dignity instead of fluttering downward in bashfulness. Most of the fear seems to have vanished. She is wholly focused on his person, waiting to carry out his next orders.

Yes, as he is looking at her now, he realizes just how very beautiful survival is.

Petra accepts his silence with a small grin. "I promise I will do everything in my power to keep you alive."

~oOo~