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"So, I guess this is the end of the line, isn't it ..."
Hange didn't turn to face him. She kept her head straight down, her half-closed eyes lost somewhere between the blood- stained blade on her right hand and the stone floor beneath it. This dawn was probably the coldest one this winter had to offer, as it hadn't stopped snowing all night. She was pale.
How long had they been there, sitting against a wall? Hours? Minutes? She couldn't have known. What she could have known, though, was that the time had been enough for the snow to gradually bury their legs inside its frigid embrace.
"Who would have guessed, Erwin's plans don't always work out", the manly gruff voice said again. Levi huffed and stretched his neck closer to hers, finding a more comfortable spot onto her shoulder to let his head lie. He blinked and watched as a few brunette locks slowly fell before his tired eyes, and lightly tickled the tip of his nose.
He didn't expect an answer. What could she possibly say to that? He himself barely understoud what had happened during the night.
It had started with screams. Loud, desperate,gruesome screams coming from the gate that soon spread around the district like wildfire. They were alerted by the gunfire that started right afterwards, and the screams blended with growls and trampling sounds. The next thing he knew was that he was firmly holding his gun, his other hand pushing Mikasa's back out of the shack as he kept shouting on top of his lungs to Hange and the rest to get out of there. The horror he met outside wasn't exactly what he was used to.
He focused on the brown locks in front of him. He could still listen the gunfire and the human cryings for help around them. The sound of blades thrusting into bodies. It was still snowing, but with a much lower pace than it did when the battle began. A building near by was slowly smoldering. Hange's hair was filthier than usually.
Some hours earlier, he had stood still on the street, Hange by his side, to observe the red flames that had conquered the area, illuminating the shocked and horrifying faces around. He had froze there, his lips firmly closed and his eyes widened in shock, watching; it was like an army of them, entering Wall Shina via the gate. They were thousands. And they were't titans.
"Oi, shitty-glasses. You fucking stink."
No response. He thought that maybe he should shut up too. It wasn't exactly time for chit-chat now, even though they weren't doing anything helpful while hiding at this remoted street, away from the battle. Snow kept falling onto their heads and bodies, gradually covering them like a cruel and suffocating death game. They weren't going to get up any time soon. Snowflakes that had the fate to settle right onto his stomach were immediately drowned by the blood that was ingrained in his shirt. Levi sighted. What a shitty situation, indeed.
He crawled a bit closer to her body, seeking warmth. She didn't seem to mind. Under her messy hair, Levi tried to meet her eyes. Even though he was sitting right next to her, their knees touching, his right hand interwined with hers, his injured head resting on her shoulder, she just kept looking down, avoiding his glare. Behind her broken glasses, her liquid eyes were peacefully starring at her hands. Hange seemed relaxed and serene.
"Say something, four-eyes."
It was not like her at all and that frightened him. Ηer tranquility frightened him. But no matter what, she wouldn't look at him. Even if she could, she wouldn't look at his face right now. Levi was a bloody mess. But he was begging for some fucking attention here. That was not like him, either.
Fighting while struggling to move your legs through the heavy snow that had covered the town had proved to be harder than he anticipated. With titans it was way easier, and they were much more predictable. But frustrated men and women with guns, rakes or whatever they had found and thought that could open a man's head in two, that was a whole different case. In this battle, there was no enemy. Just people fighting people.
He averted his eyes from hers, and let them wander around the sky above. From the first day he had set his eyes on it, one thing truly amused him; no matter the situation on the ground, it hardly ever seemed to be affected. They would be fighting and getting eaten, and the sky would be celebrating, the sun shining like a thousand dozens of diamonds. It was the most sarcastic motherfucker Levi had ever had to deal with.
The sky was untamed. Like it belonged to a whole different world, or it simply didn't give a single fuck for them. Levi was always a bit envy of it.
"The irony though, dying from a fucking bulle-", a sharp cough scratched his throat, preventing him from finishing his words. He kept coughing for a while, sensing a bid of warm blood making its way up to lips. He felt quite dizzy. Maybe it was more than one bullet.
"It was okay...it could have been better, but it was okay", he gasped when he had again regained his breath.
He was still surprised. Not because he was dying; his early death had been imminent for as long as he could remember. But he had imagined it to occur differently. He had devoted his life to fighting titans, god dammit, and if he were to be killed, this should at least happen by one of those things. Not by fellow, old, poor and frustrated men.
Should he believe all those who said that his people would be waiting for him on the other side? The number of them there was so big, it almost made death appealing.
He heard a girlish sream dribbling down the air, overshadowing the rest,and slightly squeezed Hange's palm .
"You are filthy", he stated, and at the same time resolved that yes, he should finally shut his mouth.