It was Armin in the end, Armin who had stared down hopelessly at his captain as he'd tried in vain to staunch the ragged gash on Levi's stomach, Armin who had lifted him onto the front of his saddle, ignoring the curses and groans of pain, Armin who had unclasped his useless gear and watched the blood bubble over onto his palm.

"I'm going to take you somewhere," he's said. "Somewhere beautiful." Somewhere to die.

He'd allowed himself to be carried from the battlefield, the very last of his comrades falling into the distance, Armin holding him tightly to his chest so he didn't fall from the horse. No last words, no time to say goodbye, but he didn't mind. There was no one left he'd want to speak to, not since Yaeger…

They'd all fallen. First his team then, soon after, Erwin. Little by little, death had chipped away at the last of the tiny group of people he could trust. They were titan killers, how could he have expected them to be equipped to fight a king? It was almost ironic really, how Armin, little Armin, was the last man standing in the end.

It wasn't meant to be him. He wasn't meant to be here, staring out at the free world from the front of Armin's saddle. Eren was the one who had promised - promised them, promised him - that he would wipe out the titans so one day he could walk the Earth with his friends by his side. Where was he now? Levi was nothing more than a relic of war. He was done now, empty, like a river ran dry.

He was dragged back into the present as the horse stumbled on a rock and Armin tightened his grip reflexively. He grunted in pain and blood began to blossom afresh across his shirt. The fabric was beginning to stiffen against his skin like cardboard. Tch, death is always so filthy. He usually overlooked his insatiable urge to be clean when tending to fallen soldiers but when it was his own demise the experience was understandably different.

"Shit! Captain, are you alright?" Armin asked frantically, leaning over his shoulder.

"M'fucking dying… what do you think?" He bit back, wondering vaguely when his voice had begun to slur.

"Just hold on a little longer, we're nearly there!" Armin encouraged, his voice still softened by a lingering tendril of youth, and he shook him a little.

"I give orders… not you, br… you little shit." He couldn't say brat. Not anymore.

Either way, he pulled on some residual reserves of energy, straightening up his back and refocusing on his surroundings.

They were riding down an overgrown track. It was shaded on one side by overhanging oak trees and fell into the edge of a meadow on the other. The low sun shone through the trees and dappled the ground with a hazy orange light, highlighting the deep veins within the yellow leaves and lining them with gold. The late afternoon heat was punctuated by a lazy breeze which gently tousled his hair.

Armin suddenly pressed the reins into his hands and told him to lean forwards. Too tired to question, he complied, and Armin jumped down. Levi sank his fingers into the soft hair of the horse's mane and drooped downwards, whispering nonsensical praise into the animal's ear. Warm brown eyes stared up at him inquisitively and he felt the corners of his mouth lift slightly as he wondered if the animal pitied him. He'd heard that intelligent creatures like horses could tell when someone was dying.

There was a shrill torturous noise as Armin forced open a rotten farmer's gate on its rusty hinges. He pushed it halfway before halting, panting, as the bottom caught on the overgrown weeds on the path.

"It'll fit," Levi said quietly.

Armin looked up, slightly startled.

"Huh?"

"Your horse is small," Levi nodded towards the gate. "It'll fit. Get back over here."

"Y-yes, sir."

Levi raised an eyebrow, silently remarking on how weird this whole thing was. Armin flushed slightly and hurried back over to the horse, swinging onto the saddle and geeing the forwards. He wrapped his arm back around Levi as the steady rocking motion returned.

"Did you name your horse?" Levi asked suddenly, recalling a conversation he'd had with Erwin years earlier. He craned his neck round to meet bright blue eyes, ignoring the annoying haze around the edges of his vision.

"Um… Captain?"

Armin looked monumentally uncomfortable and it dawned on Levi that, even now, the kid was still scared of him. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. The Levi of old would probably have been pleased, satisfied that his reputation had endured. But now… was Armin not his equal in everything but rank? It wasn't as if rank meant much anymore, either.

"I named mine," Levi murmured, his voice barely audible over the background roar of the wind sweeping through the trees and the constant chirping of crickets.

"I mean I- I suppose I just… call her girl or something when I'm just talking to her… not that I… I don't really-"

"Mine was called Isabel," Levi interrupted. "Erwin once told me people who name their horses live longer, some crap about sentimentality. Guess he was wrong on that one."

"I don't know. Eren didn't name his horse either…" Armin trailed off but this time his voice had been strong and clear. It was Levi's turn to feel uncomfortable. Live longer and lose more.

The terrain was changing around them. There were no more crumbling drystone walls or skeletons of abandoned farm buildings and the neatly segmented fields and meadows had given way to a wild and sprawling land. The branches were closing in around them, tangling together in twisted knots, and the humid air seemed to vibrate with a throbbing energy. Every so often the undergrowth would shiver and something fast and unidentifiable would scurry out and dart across the path.

Lush, emerald branches formed a canopy which slowly blocked out the sun as the forest thickened around them. The air was sweet with sap and rotting wood and the ground was coated with a bed of moss so thick he no longer knew if they were still following the path. All evidence of the noise and light of the outside world was muffled as they ventured deeper and deeper.

Then there was a sharp click as the horse's hooves met with stone and the trees began to thin and become younger and more welcoming again, emerald fading to sap, speckled with yellow. Levi was momentarily dazzled as a light flickered on the horizon; then the setting sun broke through the tree line and the spell shattered.

"Can you feel it?" Armin whispered.

Levi nodded slowly. He could. The ground was dipping down into a shallow slope and a strong breeze was picking up, carrying a bitter taste on the air. The trees here were weak and underdeveloped, their branches bending backwards where they had been battered by the wind. Behind him Armin inhaled deeply and lifted his face the to the sky, letting his blonde hair whip around the back of his head. Levi closed his eyes. The air felt raw and pure, similar to the sensation of using the manoeuvre gear, the familiar rush of exhilaration and freedom.

Armin brought the horse into a canter and they rode down the craggy slope. The motion sent pain jolting through Levi's stomach and his eyes began to roll to the back of his head as he pressed down on the wound. After the haze had descended the next thing he was aware of was Armin shaking him, shouting at him to stay awake. No, he wanted to say. Just leave me be. I'm exhausted, I can't keep going. But instead he forced himself back from the edge.

"Cut it out you idiot," he groaned. "M'not dead yet."

"Open your eyes, we're here."

Levi blinked blearily, squinting against the sudden brightness. At first he wasn't sure what he was seeing. A fire was burning across an endless plain, it writhed up to the joining of the world where it danced into the sky. Then Levi blinked, the world righted itself, and he realised it wasn't land at all, but water, the sea. The sea was red.

They were standing on the precipice of a tall embankment, overlooking a glistening rocky shore. The setting sun hovered, a burnt orange sphere, on the horizon. Its quivering light spread like a crimson stain over the bruised purple sky where it reflected on the water and shattered into a thousand shards of colour over the waves.

"We have to walk this bit," Armin said, sliding down from the horse and wrapping an arm around Levi's waist. Levi nodded mutely, his eyes still fixed on the sky.

He leaned limply into the younger man's arms, uncharacteristically trusting him to support his weight. They both staggered sideways as he half fell from the saddle. Armin hoisted him up and grabbed his arm, placing it around his shoulders so he could use him as a crutch and they moved at a sluggish pace down to a set of steps cut into the cliff side which they mostly slid down. Levi dimly noted that Armin must have gained a fair amount of muscle in the past five years to be able to carry his weight.

Consciousness was slipping from his grasp by the time they reached the beach.

"Armin… I can't…" He said hoarsely. At last they tumbled to the ground, Armin still holding onto him, one hand was resting over the sticky pool on his stomach while the other supported his head.

Lying there on the shore, their earlier conversation returned to Levi.

"You should keep your horse, don't let the military take her," he said slowly, struggling to form the words.

Armin nodded, looking startled by the sudden announcement, and Levi prayed the fucker wasn't just indulging him.

"Name her. Call her…" He looked around for inspiration. I don't know, I usually name shit after dead people. The glint of the lapping waves caught his eye.

"Call her Sapphire… or some shit… something… to do with the sea…"

Armin nodded again but this time he seemed to be smiling a little.

"I like it," he said. "Sapphire."

Levi's world was focusing in on a few tiny details… the slight glimmer in Armin's eyes which could have been tears, the taste of the salty air on his tongue, the pebbles on the uneven ground, the lullaby wash of the waves …

"I wonder what you would have been if there had been no titans, no reason to fight," Armin murmured in a dreamlike voice.

Levi would have actually smiled if he'd had the energy. Everything was fading now.

"Without titans…without Erwin…I'd have been…a thief…murder…probably dead…lot sooner…but there is…always…a cause…to fight…or we'd be…nothing."

He reached out and grasped Armin's sleeve, choking on the battle for his last few breaths, Armin rocking him gently. Then his body relaxed as if he was melting into the ground.

Levi's eyes went blank as the first stars flickered bravely in the darkening sky.