Death: There is a reason why I chose my author name Death Can't Be Trusted. It was sort of based off of my absolute love for Death Note, but also because I wanted to be one of those authors that don't always follow happy endings. I wanted to write stories that are heart wrenching, full of love and sweetness, and hardship that make my audience feel in every chapter I have written, and then end it on a bittersweet note.
Although I am sad Everything But Mine isn't my first completed work of bittersweet stories, I am glad that it is this story. When I first started this, I had no idea where to go with it, so for the most part I went with the flow until I found what I wanted to turn this into what I feel is one of my best works. I am sad for this story to end, but on the same token I am proud of myself.
I have finally finished a story. It has been years since I have accomplished such a thing, and along the way I have abandoned and deleted much of my works when I couldn't continue. I have endured a lot of hurt and pain these last few years, and that hindered me from writing and doing what I love. And somehow, I found the drive to keep going and now I find myself almost finishing a story. I'm even tearing up while writing this, for I thought that after the crushing blow of losing the flashdrive that held nearly the whole completed writings for Everything But Mine and Code Geass: Fukkatsu no Lelouch, that I would never be able to finish a story.
And yet here I am, second to last chapter of finishing a story. Please, enjoy, and note that as you're all going to for sure cry reading this chapter, I am too. The last long break I took before picking this story back up again was deciding on how to end this story. And as Levi said, "Keep going without regret", as much as it hurts writing this, I'm going to be doing just that.
Chapter Twenty Four Retaking Shiganshina Part Two
=3=
Everything happened so fast. Levi dared not ever glance at the direction of the Survey Corp charging. If he dared to look, he wouldn't be able to complete what he had set out to do. He wouldn't be able to finish what he had started if he even so much as glanced even for a second. And so, he kept his gaze solely on the Beast Titan as he drew ever closer.
Just a few more titans to go.
He dared not look back behind him to check on his squad. They were all so young, too young. He couldn't afford to look back, for if he saw that Lavena wasn't behind him, then he would lose his resolve. And so he focused straight ahead, and with all of his willpower he activated the portion of himself that was a titan.
His eyes burned golden as they came into focus that was not human.
Blood marks of a titan shifter flowed from his cheeks as pain seared from his eyes. Even as he kept his focus on the Beast Titan, his vision blurred. He strained his eyes to keep focus, and even as everything blurred from the corners of his vision he was still able to slice where he aimed his mark.
And still he willed his titan abilities to remain as he let out a shrilled cry of a bird when he was finally upon the Beast Titan. It finally noticed he was there, and it was too late to block as he took a swipe at the joint of shoulder and arm. He essentially severed the nerves of one of its long arms. His cuts were deep, and it would take minutes for the regeneration process to be completed.
Your ability to control titans won't help you now. I have raised the stakes just enough to take you out.
Levi was a blur of motion as he sliced all over the torso, back, anywhere where he could reach as he dodged out of reach of the other arm. He knew his squad were helping as the swung about, avoiding his path. None of them could afford a collision in the most critical moment. The seven of them were becoming too much for the Beast Titan as it slowly began to panic.
I might be dead before the day is done, but I'm taking you down with me.
The pain was so intense he almost lost focus. He grit his teeth as he pushed onwards, as the Beast Titan twirled around, reaching blindly with one arm after him. Just like last time, it kept its focus on him instead of his squad. Good, perhaps the seven of them just might have this chance to kill it. Capture the titan shifter be damned. This thing was too strong to be taken prisoner if it has the power to control other titans.
"What's wrong? Now that you have seven devils surrounding you, you're not so confident are you?" Levi taunted as he sliced at one of its eyes.
The Beast Titan roared in agony and fury. And Levi was smirking, eyes still burning, still bleeding.
"Earlier you looked so delighted for your handiwork. Jumping up and down like that. But now is the time to face my wrath you filthy bastard. And this time, I have the weapons to kill you with." He laughed coldly.
Someone cut up one of the Beast Titan's legs, and it knelt down, unable to run at this moment. It was at the same time its remaining arm had managed to grasp Levi. He struggled against the hold, as the giant hand held him gently. Before the Beast Titan could do anything with him, Lavena swung down.
"Get your filthy hands off my father!" She roared, eyes flashing as she sliced off its hand.
Freed from its hold Levi immediately took to the air again. This time, he felt he had enough playing games. His eyes were bleeding profusely, and he was starting to feel dizzy from the loss of blood. He swung behind its head and sliced open the neck. He intentionally didn't cut the human body inside, for he had a different plan.
Levi landed behind the gasping man and held his blades to his neck. And he was right, this was the same man who tried to kidnap Eren a while back, the man riding around on the four legged titan.
"Ready to greet Lady Death?" He whispered, releasing another cold laugh as he felt the body shudder.
"You kill me, and you will regret it later." The man stated boldly.
"Does it look like I have anything left to lose? Take a good look around, you drove me to force my hand and risk losing everything. You forced an assassin to gamble with every precious bond with these people, among them a lover and a daughter. Do you believe I would have any regret spilling your blood like the pig you are?" Levi snarled, eyes burning bright golden as they bled even more.
The man stared at him, studying him.
"I do apologize for that. But I cannot allow humanity to reclaim lost territory. Humanity shouldn't even exist for the horrible experiments of creating monsters like us. I see you were also given an injection, but not the whole of it. I can sense that it is slowly breaking down on you, taking a toll on your body. I can fix it if you wish."
He dares make that offer after everything he have done!?
Levi snarled, pressing the blades a little harder on the neck. No, he wasn't going to be fixed. Even if he went blind again, he would rather be broken than be fixed after forcing so many to sacrifice themselves for him.
"Nothing you can do will change my mind. You are nothing but scum to me, ready to be brought to Lady Death." He hissed, raising one of the blades for the finishing blow.
"You might want to look behind you." The man advised, and Levi snarled.
I will not let you slip from my grasp.
"Captain...titans coming in fast!" Jay sounded the alarm.
Finally he did turn his gaze away from the man to the horde of titans running full speed towards them. Because of his distraction he was suddenly pushed away by the Titan shifter. Levi rolled and instinctively curled his body as he fell. He landed with a hard thud on the ground, and was nearly trampled by the four legged titan as it retrieved its master.
"You're more interesting than I thought you would be. I will be looking forward meeting you again." The man said, and with that he made his titan move toward the wall.
Levi stood, as his squad surrounded him, their gazes were upon the horde of titans coming closer.
I can do this. I can do this on my own.
"You lot stay back unless you have no choice but to engage. I will be taking them down myself." Levi stated before he bolted to meet the horde halfway.
They stayed behind as he told them, and he flashed a smirk as he was airborne. With the skills of an assassin he used his gear expertly as he took them own one by one. Once more his eyes were straining to keep focus, his vision blurring with each second. Even so he pushed onward, even as exhausted as he was.
I failed. I failed at killing the Beast Titan. And I don't even know of the cost of raising the stakes were.
He was afraid to look back. He didn't want to look back. A part of him didn't want to know. And yet he had to take care of these titans to save however many lives were left. It was his resolve for having the blood of many Scouts on his hands. And he wasn't even their commander and he was the cause of this slaughter.
How ironic. The lover of the commander is responsible for the sacrificial lambs this time around.
He chuckled darkly at his humor. And even as titans reached out to him, he was too quick for them. Even as his sight blurred dangerously to dimness, he was relying solely upon his instincts. Despite how exhausted his body was, he didn't care. He somehow found the strength to keep going as he cut them down one by one.
Twenty three...or was that twenty four? I lost count.
Levi didn't care on the number anymore. He was simply reacting as he took on the horde all on his own. And just as inside Shiganshina, when those stuck inside had taken down the Colossal and Armored Titans, Levi had finished with the horde. He landed on the ground, his legs shaking. He collapsed, kneeling and hunched over as his vision became nothing but darkness.
He blinked, and a sob wracked his body. He couldn't see. He was blind once more.
I can't even see the damage that I have caused. Perhaps that is for the best.
His squad ran to his side, all six of them were alive. Their hearts wrenched at the sight of him. Lavena collapsed next to him and pulled him into a tight hug as she began to sob. Reluctantly he pulled away, and somehow he found his voice as he spoke the one question that was burning in his head.
"What is the damage? How many lives are lost because of me?" Levi was facing in the direction of her sobs, and everyone gasped as they came to realize he couldn't see.
"They're...They're all down. We have to check over for survivors. But they're all down." Lavena reported, her voice shaking.
"Bring me my horse. Someone come with me to the wall. The rest of you remain and aid the survivors." He left out the if there were any survivors. He needed them to not lose their heads right now.
"Who do you want to go with you?" Hawkins inquired as she and Lavena helped him to his feet.
"Jay bird, you're coming with me. Lavena, you are in charge temporarily. Send a green signal flare if the commander is alive. Send a red one if he is dead. If there are anymore titans coming our way, send off a black flare." He instructed, flinching as the twins began to whistle for the horses.
"What if he is in critical condition?" Lavena inquired.
"Then send off a yellow."
A few minutes later his horse was brought to him. He swung up and offered a hand to Jay, who carefully joined in behind him. Together they worked on directing the dappled gray towards the wall. When they cleared the area of not trampling over bodies, Levi clicked his tongue and squeezed his legs and with a snort his mount burst into a gallop.
"Any flares yet?" He inquired, he hated relying on other people for sight.
"No. Not yet. I don't even see anyone on top of the wall, either. Everything went quiet at the same time." Jay reported, not liking the silence after a huge battle.
Which means they either succeeded or they failed inside the town.
As they neared the wall, Levi used his gear to become airborne as he scaled the wall. Jay followed after him, amazed the captain could still use the gear without sight. Even so he kept close by in case the man was to fall. The pair made it to the top without incident. They stopped to peer over the damages inside Shiganshina.
"What do you see?" He inquired, face scrunching at the smell of burning flesh and powder.
"It seems they managed to take down both the Armored and Colossal Titans. However, I can't see the exact number of survivors aside from the Special Forces Squad." Jay explained, and suddenly he gasped.
"What is it? What's happening?" Levi was tense, and then he heard it.
He heard the familiar sound of the four legged titan as it made its way towards the wall. It paused for a few seconds, before continuing its way. It went for a different side of the wall than where they were, and Levi debated whether to intervene or not. But before he could make a decision it escaped.
"It didn't take Eren, did it?" Levi inquired.
"No, but it did take someone who looked like the Armored Titan." Jay relayed.
"So it rescued Reiner instead of Bertoldt? Interesting. Help me down, we need to regroup with the others."
Behind them, he heard the familiar sound of a signal going off. Levi didn't bother turning around, as he couldn't see, so why should he? He didn't even have to ask for what color when Jay gave him the answer.
"Yellow. They found Commander Erwin." He said, and there was no lie in his voice.
Levi never felt so relieved in his life. He felt another wave of exhaustion hit him, and he barely had the strength to stand. A hand steadied him, and he didn't even bother pushing it away. Instead he leaned into Jay for support as he breathed a sigh of relief. Even if he was in critical condition, at least he wasn't dead.
"Are you all right, captain? If you're exhausted, you don't have to go down there." Jay had never seen him like this.
"I will be fine. Just, give me a moment. We'll be making our way down shortly." Levi fought off the waves of dizziness. Never had he ever felt so tired and ready to sleep for the next ten years.
Five minutes later they found the Special Forces Squad and Hange, the only survivor of their squad.
"Who died?" Levi deadpanned, sensing the heaviness in the air.
"It's Armin...he's in critical condition." Hange leaned closer to have a better look at his eyes.
"Before you ask, yes, I'm blind. I pushed passed my limits with the titan gene. I don't know if this is permanent or not." Levi jerked away when hands tried to touch his face.
"Easy, just let me have a good look. I may not be a doctor, but I have a good understanding of the body." Hange spoke gently, and reluctantly he allowed their hands to touch him.
He felt a hand on his chin to keep him in place, while the other opened his lids a little more to expose more of his eye. The hands switched to the other one. And after a few minutes one hand drew away, and he could hear shuffling of fabric as if Hange was doing weird motions in front of his eyes. Since all he could see was darkness, he stared forward blankly.
"I am going to have a specialist take a better look at you when we return. By the way, do you have the serum on you? We might need to use it to save Armin. I wanted to originally use it on Reiner, for he was in a near death state, but then he was taken away." Hange explained the situation here.
"Can we wait a few minutes? We're not sure on the state of Erwin yet. All I know is that he's critical."
"What happened out there?" Hange changed their tune at the sound of Erwin being in critical condition.
"I sacrificed the whole Survey Corp to charge at the Beast Titan while I lead the Queen's Guard to take it down."
Stunned silence met him, either because of the suicidal plan he had come up with, or the fact he said it so casually as if he were talking about the weather. And they all knew he wouldn't joke about something that serious. And Jay not saying a word to contradict him was the final confirmation.
"...Why?" Jean was the first to recover, his voice shaking.
"We were pinned against a wall, no way inside, and the buildings we were using for cover were crumbling. It was either wait to fight it on even ground on what little buildings left, or surprise it. What I didn't count on was all of them signing up to charge. So save your lectures, for I am in no mood, the voices in my head are already screaming as it is."
"And what can you do being blind?" Jean challenged, and suddenly Levi had him on the ground, with his boot pressing down on his chest.
"I was born blind, I was blind until I was ten. I am still just as deadly without sight. Unlike the rest of you, I don't need sight in order to kill." Levi smirked, his voice cold.
"Captain Levi, surrender your weapons. You can keep the gear, but not the blades or any knives on your person. And while you're at it, hand over the serum." Hange ordered.
"I will gladly hand over the blade, but not the serum. I believe Erwin entrusted only myself to use it on who I see fit. And I don't believe he is dead, so you're not overruling his orders shitty glasses." He scoffed as he released the blades of his gear, and undid the straps that held the extras and let them drop to the ground.
He reached into his pants pockets and pulled out Talon and Kenny's knife.
"Mikasa, I'm trusting you to safeguard these. Don't lose them. I don't plan on replacing Talon anytime soon, and that other one can't be found anywhere else." He held them out, and he felt her hand as she took them.
"What's the significance of the other one?" She inquired curiously.
"That used to belong to Kenny." He stated matter of fact, and he cautiously moved away from Jean.
"You're still attached to that psycho? I mean I know he was your uncle but..." Connie trailed off when blind eyes stared into his soul with cold dark and yet blank gaze.
"He might have been the world's most shittiest asshole, but if it weren't for him I wouldn't be alive. And where do you think would have happened to the Survey Corp without my help? Dead. All of you, including Eren."
The truth hit them hard, and inside their hearts they all knew. Even though he was a dangerous assassin, he was still one of them. He gave up everything he had to stay with them, and he just gambled with the very same thing he gave up his old life for. It was unfair to judge him when he was possibly on the verge of losing Erwin.
"Eren, do you think you can transform one more time?" Hange turned to the Titan shifter.
"Yeah, I have enough strength left for one more go." Eren spoke with a hoarse voice.
"Clear the rubble of the back gate first, then seal the outer gate. From there, we can figure out who needs the serum as we place the injured on the rooftop where Armin and Bertoldt are." The commander formed the plan.
Thirty minutes later, after the rubble had been cleared and Eren sealed the other gate with his crystalized form, all of them gathered on a single rooftop as the Queen's Guard approached. They were all on horseback, and brought with them only two survivors of the charge, as well as what few horses that didn't die.
"Little bird, why are you without weapons?" Erwin spoke curiously, the first to speak.
Levi blinked, turning his face to the direction of the commander's voice. He sensed a bit of pain in the man's, but he couldn't smell any blood over the scent of burning flesh. He frowned, confused.
"The worst I have is a concussion, a broken leg, and a gaping hole in my shoulder. But it's small, smaller than your bullet wound you took for me a while back. Other than that, I'm not too bad." Erwin elaborated, as the Queen's Guard helped him down from the horse.
You're hiding something from me. You're lying.
"...Then why are you lying to me? I may not be able to see, but that doesn't mean I don't know when someone is lying to my face." Levi cleared his throat.
"When you put it that way, I guess I can't really hide anything from you. I suppose the others should know as well." He answered, his voice sounded so tired, so exhausted.
"What are you saying, sir?" Hange inquired as they helped the Queen's Guard lift Erwin up onto the roof.
"I don't have much time left of this world. I can feel it. And I have been forewarned in dreams these last few weeks." Erwin stated, and an arm reached for the short captain, who eagerly sat down next to him.
Levi didn't know what to say. He was too stunned, and even as his demons screamed in fury and sorrow, he remembered the promise the commander tried to make him swear to before they were attacked by the Beast Titan. And suddenly it all made sense. He had dreams of his death, and he had come to terms with it.
"And you're ready to accept death without even considering what that means to everyone else?" Levi snapped.
This isn't fair. I made the final sacrifice of losing my eyesight, and this is what I get?
"Little bird, forgive me. But I am tired. I have led many expeditions, led many to their deaths. And even though I never got to see beyond the walls, I at least got to see the beginning of my dream being started. Let this city be my final resting place with the others who have charged with me." Erwin wrapped his arm around the tiny form, his chin resting on the head.
There is no changing his mind.
"What...what can I do without my sky? And now I'm blind, with the chances of my sight not coming back." Levi slumped his shoulders in defeat, his voice breaking.
"You'll find your sky again, I'm sure. Just promise me you'll stick around a little longer for Lavena and everyone else. They still need you." Erwin kissed his brow, and it took a lot for Levi not to crumble.
"...I promise." He gulped, finding it difficult to breathe.
He handed the serum over to Hange, as he was afraid he couldn't inject it properly. And they all cleared the area as Armin transformed into a deformed titan and ate Bertoldt. The screams and pleas would forever haunt them for the rest of their lives. Hange moved the injured to the top of the wall, overlooking the back gate. As they settled Sasha, an unconscious Armin, Erwin was placed beside them.
"Can...can we snuggle?" Levi bit his lip, and a weak arm pulled him down, and his head was now on a broad chest.
"Get some rest, captain. I will leave the Queen's Guard to watch over the injured. I will be taking the Special Forces Squad to that basement Eren believes where the answer lie about titans." Hange spoke with pain, knowing that the commander didn't have a lot of time.
He didn't respond, instead Levi forced his eyes closed tightly as he listened to the heartbeat. He heard them leave, and he couldn't even care less. On the other side Lavena cuddled up next to Erwin as she silently cried, one arm reaching over to his hand. Erwin placed his hand over theirs, and together they drifted to sleep.
Levi awoke the second the heart stopped beating many hours later.