[AN] Another "hot off the press" update!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin in any way. BUT, I DO own my OC, Bara Tetsu! She's 29, a shifter, and lookin' for love!
-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-
"What… What are we going to do with her?"
The thought rang through Levi's mind as his horse picked up speed.
Bara's grip tightened around his waist. He held the reins tightly in his hands as he grit his teeth.
"You okay?" he called.
Bara mumbled some kind of affirmative response as she snuggled her head into his back.
He hummed and smiled gently. "Good," he muttered.
Levi was worried. He wouldn't show it, but he was worried. He was afraid of what would happen to Bara. He knew she'd have to go through some kind of "quarantine" when they got back, but he didn't know just what would happen when she was in there, or what they would do to her.
But, most of all, he was afraid of how she'd be when she woke up. How would she feel, would she even be okay? And what had she seen?
Levi felt Bara's head move against his back, and she lifted it onto his shoulder.
"What happened, where am I?" Bara whispered into his ear, sending shivers down Levi's back.
"You… Uhm…" he muttered, clearing his throat softly.
"Oh… Right," she mumbled, casting her gaze aside. "I remember now…"
"Yeah… You…"
"I know…" She whispered.
There was tense silence for a moment, not the kind of silence Levi is used to around Bara. He's used to being around Bara and not even talking for hours on end, being fully comfortable about it. But Bara's aloof nature had disappeared.
She had become tense and serious, much like the situation they were in.
And it worried him.
-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-
Bara shifted uncomfortably. Her head pounded, her body ached, and her ears picked up faint sounds of footsteps and distant conversation.
She opened her eyes and was met with the familiar face of her beloved captain.
Levi looked down at her, and, meeting her eyes, asked, "Bara, you fell asleep. How are you feeling?"
When the brunette in his arms managed to piece together her thoughts, she murmured, "Fine… Th-thank you…"
Levi smiled gently. "Good," he whispered.
"I… I can stand, ya know," Bara said with a slight smirk.
Levi scoffed as he set down her legs and gently helped her to stand. "Yeah, you couldn't do that while you were asleep."
"And yet you continued to hold me long after I woke."
As Bara looked around she found that they were in the castle.
"Where're we going?" She could see they weren't headed toward the barracks as she followed her captain.
"The infirmary."
"The infirmary?" she repeated. "Why?"
The raven haired man sighed. "Because you need to get checked out by the nurses."
"But, I'm fine…"
"Hanji will be there as well," Levi continued walking as he spoke, but when he heard his disciple's footsteps falter, he turned to look.
Bara had stopped walking completely, she stared at the ground as her body shook.
Levi looked at her a moment, before walking back to her.
"Bara? What's wrong?" he asked gently.
She shook her head, brown hair-tussling around her.
"No… No… No tests, no needles, none of that…" she whispered as Levi moved closer still.
"Bara, please, calm down," he said as he held her shaking body in his arms.
Finally, the scared brunette looked up from the floor, looking to Levi for answers.
"There… Please tell me there won't be any of that… There won't, right?"
Levi looked down the hall. "I don't know."
Bara looked scared into his eyes.
"I'm sorry, I just don't know. I can only tell you that Hange will have to decide. I can ask her while we're in the infirmary."
Bara nodded, and they continued on to the infirmary.
-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-
"Okay, take a deep breath for me," The polite nurse said as she held a stethoscope to Bara's chest.
The young brunette does as asked, taking a long breath of air into her lungs, before breathing out again.
"Okay," the nurse says as she removes the stethoscope from her ears. "That's all, your vitals seem to be normal, and you have no injuries."
Bara nods. "Thank you," she murmured as she stood from the examining bed, barely registering the nurse's response as she walked to the exit of the infirmary.
Levi and Hanji stood by the exit, talking to one another.
The dazed brunette stood by her raven-haired lieutenant, feeling as though water was in her ears as she was deaf to the conversation around her.
Only when the brown-haired scientist is staring at her with anticipation, and she turned to her captain to see the shape of the words, "are you okay," on Levi's lips, does she realize she's missing something.
And only when she saw the world spinning around her, and felt arms around her, holding her close, and the relief of being supported, did she realize the pain she was in.
And only when her world began to turn dark, and the face of Levi that hovered above hers slowly began to black out from her vision, did she realize how tired she was.
-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-
Running,
running,
running.
It was the only thing that crossed the blonde-haired girl's mind.
'Run, if you keep running, you'll find them. They'll be safe, you'll be safe -'
Her thoughts were cut off as she stared up into the sky, seeing the sun blocked from her view as a giant monster's head peered in from above the treetops.
Her eyes widened as her heart raced.
Run...
Run...
Run!
Her feet slipped across the dew covered grass as she scrambled to escape the monster's sights.
'I just have to find them, I just have to find them!'
The blonde girl shot two grapples into a tree, and though she had no gas, she leaped into the air. She retracted the lines just slightly, using momentum to throw herself forward, and bring herself high enough off the ground to swing.
She shouted, "Sis! Bay!" to the figures standing on a giant branch.
Ran fired a grappling hook into a branch above where her friends stood. She swung up, using the last of her gas in hopes of making it, but wasn't quite able to make it up.
Her feet planted on the side of the branch, the blonde gripped her wire to keep herself up, but the grapple, dislodge from the tree branch above. She screeched and closed her eyes as the grapple fell, but quickly realized she wasn't falling.
She opened an eye and looked up, meeting her brunet friend's eyes. Her eyes brightened as she shouted, "Basil!" jumping into her friend's arms who held her by the wrists.
Basil smiled. "You're alright," he said.
"And so are you!" Ran said, standing up straight. "Sis! Are you okay too?" she asked, turning to her female brunette friend.
The brunette smiled. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just glad you're alright, you had me worried."
Ran jumped into her arms with a giggle. "Aw, you don't have to worry about me so much, Bara!"
Ran looked up to Bara with her head against the brunette's chest, Bara's hand on Ran's head.
"But, I do," she said with a soft smile. "I wouldn't ever want anything to happen to you."
Ran smiled. "And I wouldn't ever want anything to happen to you, either!"
"But it's a good thing," Ran stated quietly as she removed herself from Bara's side.
"What do you mean?" Bara asked.
"I was chased by a titan on the way here, but I think I lost it!" She said with a chirp.
Bara's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to say something, but Basil's shout cut her off.
"What!? Why didn't you tell us!? It probably followed you back!"
Ran's head reared back with every shout of Basil's. She raised her hands, apologizing, saying, "I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't think to tell you, I... I just-!"
"Basil! Stop it!" Bara shouts to her older friend. "Don't yell at her, that won't fix anything. We need to find a way to deal with this."
Basil frowned but reluctantly agreed. "Do either of you have any blades? Gas?"
Bara and Ran shook their heads.
"I used all the rest of my gas to get back, and you guys used the rest of my blades."
"Okay, well, I-I guess we could..." Basil starts, but he's cut off by a loud bang, Bara and Ran staring up in fear.
Basil slowly turns around, being face-to-face with a titan, just mere feet away.
"Run!" he shouts, backing away before jumping off the tree and swinging down, following his female friends.
He hits the ground running, passing Bara and catching up with Ran who'd jumped down first.
"No! Stop!" Bara shouted as she tripped, hitting her face on the dirt.
Bara grounded as the world spun around her. She looked up, vision blurry, but could see Basil turning to look at her, and not making any attempt to turn back and help.
Bara's eyes widened as tears burned the edges of her eyes, pounding footsteps thrumming in her ears.
She was shocked as she looked up to see the smiling giant step directly over, taking no notice of her.
The titan moved toward her two friends, Easily plucking the brunette male, smiling, seemingly mocking his futile attempts of escape.
He brought Basil up to his mouth, its huge grin opening. Bara could sware the creature looked right at her as...
Its jaw snapped closed, tearing the top half of her friend apart.
Bara screamed shrilly, tears streaming as she shot up in bed.
She looked around, vision blurred and swaying, her whole body shaking, she realized she wasn't laying in the dirt, she was no longer in the Garrison squad, she was in the infirmary of the castle of the Survey Corps under captain Levi.
She clutched her stomach as she sobbed, and succumbed to the darkness and her own echoing cries.
She looked up at the ceiling, tears in her eyes as she said with a broken voice, "I loved him."