Hi readers (if there are still any :P ) So in this chapter I've set a few things under way for the next chapter which will probably be a lot longer (as will the update time , sorry in advance ) and have a big key event (can't promise though might be the chapter after that)
The familiar cries of people's horror mixed with the rumbling of the Titan's death and destruction struck like thunder through the bitter cold night. As if the animal had known that their lives depended on it, Doombringer had made haste but collapsed on the outskirts of the castle grounds. Levi had to act fast. Nina who had leaned against his chest was still unresponsive.
"Wenning, snap out of it", he shook her violently. When she didn't respond, he grabbed her head and pulled her head back.
"Snap out of it or die here". She pressed her hand against her chest then looked at her open palm vacantly.
Time was running out and Levi would have no way to get to the castle to replace his gear. He scanned his surroundings and soon enough found the corpse of a fallen soldier. His eyes lingered on the military police crest sewn on his jacket as he stripped the gear off. He equipped it and walked back to Nina who still had a disturbed look on her face.
"Look, there is no time for hard feelings, you either get over it, get your ass moving Now, or you die just like your friends." Even for him it was a harsh thing to say, but he deliberately said it to get her attention. Levi handed her the gear and watched her as she was overwhelmed with emotions that he could not fathom.
She lifted her head, gave him a withering glance before she slapped it out of his hand and pushed him against the tree. He felt her chest pressing against his as she leaned toward him, her hand on his waist and her face so close that he could see the amber lines that streaked across her green iris.
"Son of a bitch", she hissed before butting him in the face. He watched her turn and walk away.
The deep wound on his arm pulsated and he felt his blood surging. He waited for the dizziness to fade before he charged forward following the fainted battle-cries. Even with his wound holding him back, he managed to kill three titans on his way to the castle.
The first one to notice him was a young military guard whose eyes welled when they met Levi's. As more people saw him approaching, he could sense their hope turning into bloodlust. They were all equals now in the presence of death.
But not all were that brave. A prisoner who was so stricken by terror so much that she couldn't move, had gotten cornered by a titan. It reached down to grip her and Levi knew that he was too far away to do anything about it.
With a whizzing sound, a sharp object flew past cutting through the titans Achilles' tendons and bringing it to its knees right beside the shocked victim. Without hesitation Levi flew there as fast as he could and finished it off. He looked around to see the killer, his eyes finding the back of a tall man with ridiculously long hair. Vincent Valentin was already on his way to the next titan.
Flying on the same level as the titan's feet, he shot another metal disk from his fist weapon and put another 15 meter class to the ground. Levi followed up to kill it. The pain in his arm was getting worse and he could feel the dammed up blood soaking through the bandage, but he had to follow Valentin. He turned when he heard a shrill voice coming from behind.
"Come to mama", she shouted as she flung herself on top of the titan and slashed its nape. Hanji's eyes opened in shock when they met Levi's but then she smiled and seemed to completely have forgotten that they were on a battlefield.
Levi's desperate warning shout was drowned out by the sound of a 15 meter class crashing into the castle tower as Hanji disappeared in a cloud of dust. The ground shook and his legs gave in. After several moments the dust cleared and he could see Hanji lying on the floor unconscious. He shot a hook to a nearby rock and pulled himself forward, knowing he didn't have the strength left to break, he let his shoulder bear the brunt. He pressed his fingers against her neck to feel her pulse. A hand clutched at his shoulder.
"Is she … ", Siegfried stared down at him concerned.
Levi shook his head.
"I'll take her. Thanks to Vincent most of the titans are down but everyone is too injured or too dead to finish them off so they just keep coming. The .."
Bang. The titan that had crashed into the tower was regenerating.
"Take her and leave".
"Where?" Siegfried asked.
"See that big ass tree there. Take her on top and bind her ankle to the branch with her jacket".
"But you …"
"Just do it."
Hanji's life was more important, he would gladly give his own to save hers. He wasn't one to give up so easily though. If he was going down he would make sure to take as many of those abominations with him.
"14 dead, 6 severely injured and 2 missing" The city guard reported. Reinforcements had arrived shortly after the prisoners had overcome the titans. The handful of survivors, fit enough to stand had gathered in the main hall.
"If it wasn't for longmane over there we'd all be dead" One of the prisoners said while pointing at Vincent Valentin. Only days ago he was the laughing stock of the entire squad but everyone seemed to look at him with high regard now. Everyone but one. With Erwin still in the capital and Hanji and Levi injured, Fromm "The Inquisitor" was left in charge.
Fromm turned to Vincent with a questionable expression "That weapon of yours" He paused but his tone was so demanding that Vincent replied without him having to finish the sentence.
"Sir, it's the one I talked to Captain Levi about, as I said it suits my …"
"Do you have permission to use it?" Fromm interrupted.
Vincent frowned but remained silent.
"I asked you a question. I do not enjoy asking twice and when I do I don't usually use words. Do I need to ask twice?"
The remaining prisoners exchanged uneasy looks that clearly showed that they knew exactly what he was talking about. But contrary to what he had just said everyone could agree that Fromm very much enjoyed asking twice.
"No" Vincent replied bitterly.
"No .. Sir, you would do well to remember how to address your superiors, soldier"
"My name is Valentin … Sir".
A dead silence stretched out. Nina wasn't one to care much about socially adaptable behaviour but even she could tell that Valentin was about to overstep the line and that Fromm was by far the worst person to get on the wrong side of.
"Vincent Valentin" Fromm paused and seemed totally absent as he swiped some dirt off his boots. He looked at Valentin and smiled.
"You will speak when you are spoken to. It seems that you have a few lessons to learn and I believe that pain is the best schoolmaster. You will report to me tomorrow at noon and start your discipline training. I will confiscate your illegally crafted weapon. Consider it an act of kindness that I will not have you suspended and sent back to prison.
"Well I for one don not deem it necessary." Erwin's voice came from the gates.
"Welcome back Commander." Fromm forced himself to say before he sat down.
"Commander" A guard sighed. There has been no word from the troops assigned to search the walls for a breach." The guard said, relieved about the diffused tension.
"There is no breach" Erwin replied his answer gaining baffled looks from everyone.
"I will make a formal announcement but for the moment I need to see the Captain. Valentin would you please come with me"
Nina wasn't sure if he was in trouble or not but it was never easy to tell with these crazy folk. One day you were a murderer, the next day a solider.
"And Wenning, you too please.
"What?" She immediately spouted before she could help herself. "I mean yes Sir, Commander, sir" She stammered hectically, not ever having spoken or been spoken to by the someone of such high military rank. Erwin gave her a faint smile.
"Please wait here I will need to get a few documents. I will be with you shortly."
She glanced around to see if anyone was in earshot.
"You sure have a way to make yourself popular. I have a feeling that Fromm is infatuated with you." She whispered to Vincent.
He raised an eyebrow in response and gave her a crooked smile. "Says the one who went missing with Levi for an entire day."
Nina chuckled. "Oh well, out of those two he's by far the better choice" Well, overlooking the fact that he tried to kill her, Nina thought to herself. "Hell, Imagine having that flesh mountain as your lover."
"I would rather not. Also, I am starting to believe that unjustified torture and mutilation is the only thing he can derive pleasure from"
"Unjustified?" Nina cleared her throat. "You did one hell of a job today, no doubt, but to him we are all the same criminal scum and he will use any excuse to make us feel that.
"Only a fool would believe that there is no distinguishing between murderers and thieves.
Nina scoffed "Fool or not, he is bastard enough to abuse his power all the same. So you better keep that pretty mouth of yours shut until his hard-on for you is gone else you will end up being his bitch"
"I appreciate the advice as eloquently as you put it, but I would rather not play the part of his obsequious lapdog."
"Yeah sure, keep talking like you've got books up your arse - that will get you places around here. I'm not sure if you're brave or dumb. Probably both", Nina replied.
"If you would both please follow me" Erwin demanded in his casual tone. When they arrived at his office Levi was sitting in the corner leaning against a chaise lounge. At butting folk in the face she was a master, as he knew now. There was a deep tear above his brow where she had hit him and a bandage around his shoulder.
"Please take a seat."
"No hard feelings", Nina whispered so quietly that only Levi could hear it as she walked past. She didn't watch for his reaction but had a strong feeling that his face would be as devoid of expression as usual.
"Surely you wonder why you are here. I will make this fast to give us the time to focus on more pressing matters. Vincent Valentin, I was informed that you performed very well with the weapon of your own crafting and had a big part in tonight's defence. Hence I officially give you the permission to use it in warfare against titans. As I understand its main purpose is to disable titans using a disc that cuts deep into their tendons?"
"Yes, commander that is correct. I have of course already thought about the possibility of the disk accidently hitting a fellow soldier but then again since I will be flying low the risk should be minimal."
"The biggest risk is not taking any risks. I also heard that willingly or not you two performed very well as a team. Wenning's superior slicing skills and your disabling technique has proven to be extremely effective when combined. I strongly suggest that you both keep that up. Now as Hanji's report stated, you do need another one of those fist weapons and more ammunition. We will not be able to continue with the training until the injured soldiers are patched up again. Until then I ask you both to travel to the capital with Captain Levi and get the materials needed."
"I am sorry Commander but what's my part in this?" Nina asked without hesitation.
"Valentin would you please excuse us." He glanced at Nina with a puzzled look on his face and left the room.
"You will be under Captain Levi's watch until Hanji has recovered."
When Nina looked at him with an expression that clearly showed she was still not following he added:
"Do have faith in this decision. It will be best for everyone's safety, including your own. I believe you know that there is someone, who displayed the same crystallizing ability as you who is currently captive in the capital as a high profile military hostage. Understandably there is a lot of hate directed towards this person, so for your own protection we have not disclosed this information to the public and will wait for Hanji's recovery and research results before we ultimately decide our further course of action regarding the matter."
"Look I know you had a few bad surprises with the two from the trainee squad turning out to be shifters but I am not a titan. Trust me I wish I was so I could punch the living crap out of them."
"We do not believe that you are a titan but you cannot expect us to ignore the strings attached between your power and the female titan's power. As an act of gratitude towards your contribution tonight we will not keep you locked up, but you should know that Captain Levi has the permission to dispose of you, so do tread carefully."
"Yeah somehow I got that part" She said thinking about the very adventurous midnight tour Levi had taken her on to. It's not like that." She hesitated but as pathetic as it sounded, she had to tell them. "It only happens when I…" She wanted to finish the sentence to say that she could only use the ability when she tried to hurt herself, but felt too stupid and weak to admit it. She wasn't going to be weak with Levi in the room and remained silent.
"You will have time to discuss it with Hanji. I am sure that it will be of interest to her" Erwin said reassuringly and Nina knew that he was downplaying Hanji's extent of interest in the matter by tenfold.
"Will she be alright?" She asked, surprised about the worrying tone her voice had taken.
"She is very tough and I am sure that the news of having more research material will boost her recovery significantly."
"Now that is all. You will leave tomorrow at the earliest convenience. You are dismissed."
She had just closed the door and taken two steps when she heard it open again behind her. She felt someone's hand on her wrist.
"Nina" When she recognized Levi's voice the skin on her wrist started to feel tingly with an ambiguous feeling of dread and excitement that she couldn't quite explain to herself.
She turned around slowly and carefully watched him let go of her, waiting for his cold fury to crush her. Trying to make sense of his facial expression was like being confronted with unreadable pages of a tome written in a secret language. She wanted to find words to curse him, belittle him and use profane language, but when nothing came to mind, she silently stared into his eyes and expected him to do what she couldn't.
"I am sorry", he said ever so gently.
Nina could feel that he meant it through and through. The word sounded so strange to her, as if it was spoken in some language she could not comprehend. He had pushed her to letting her guard down and made him see her weakness. She felt so stupid for letting those emotions come over her. She had stabbed herself in front of him for crying out loud. She wanted to accept his apology and tell him that it was ok. She herself wanted to apologise for butting him in the face and being such a pain in the ass. It was her chance to just let go of her bitterness and for once she wanted to overcome her weaker self and show a shred of decency.
"Whatever" She hissed and walked away.
Thanks for all the follows favourites and reviews so far mina 3
