Work Text:
A red string of fate is something that always stays by you,
In times of despair,
In times of hopelessness,
And perhaps it is the only thing to hold on to when everything else crumbles to pieces around you.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Levi crawls out from under dried blood and ash from his last titan kill, clambering into a darkened alleyway to regain his bearings on the battlefield. Palm flush against the wall as he makes his way through the shadows.
.
.
.
"I will always offer up my heart to you," a voice murmurs in the grim silence.
And a sharp pain in his skull, projecting a lingering memory as his eyes clench tight at the strain.
A gentle smile,
A warm hand.
Then he sees himself in someone, a familiar hand holding bloody knives and the figure jumps, landing roughly in the dirt as the giant abomination slumps to its death behind him.
The figure turns around and pounces again, vaulting past walls up into the pale blue sky and takes a leap of faith, but he is unaware of the wandering titan’s jaws below him and he falls into it’s path.
Levi jolts back to his senses, eyes widening in shock. He breathes hard, grasping blood soaked blades in one hand, the other gently tugging on the frail string wrapped around his little finger, weathered and torn from the struggles of battle, but never broken. It floats freely in the wind, neither fire nor sharp edge able to cut it, the thin fibres standing strong amongst the desolation.
.
.
.
Hope.
And Levi can only pray and pray that he's still alive out there.
He spent hours searching everywhere, following the billowing string, stark crimson against burning destruction and dead bodies that strew the streets of his once glorious kingdom. Past a pile of rubble where a warm welcoming home once stood, he climbs beyond and finally feels the string becoming taut. He’s close, and Levi feels it in his feet.
Wavering steps along the tightening thread, he finally finds the other end of the string, its red vanishing into a greyish white. All that remains of his fallen partner is a battered and bruised man, his left hand still holding the blade used to strike down the titan Levi saw in his vision earlier.
Another excruciating jolt crosses his broken mind, and he recalls another faint memory, of one grandiose speech and an affirmations of their wills.
“I'll fight till I can fight no longer!”
These same words now reverberate through his consciousness, as the realisation sinks in and Levi stumbles and falls towards the body and grabs his partner’s lifeless hand, feeling the once warm palm now dead and cold beneath his touch. The figure coughs and instinctively Levi tenderly cradles his head.
“I knew you would be right here, ” The man heaves, tired eyes looking up at the pained look Levi gives him.
“And I offer up my hea….”
He stops midway, breathing out his last and Levi feels the life slowly drain out of the form, his grip tightening around the man’s paling hand.
And finally, he whispers no longer, the only sounds heard are of crumbling buildings and loud moans in the distance.
Levi bends down, weeping bitter tears of agony, like a part of him has been torn from his side, the remaining string between them now slowly begins to fade to white, like pristine snow, fibers unraveling with every movement. Mourning a gallant knight who had once willingly sliced off his right arm to save a young titan shifter, who now fights with his own league miles away from here.
He slowly lays the body down onto broken tiles, no time and place to lay the dead, closing his partner’s eyes with an utmost gentleness. The only red that remains is the blood that spills from his lips from biting down to choke back a sob.
A roar in the distance and Levi looks back up, counting 5, no maybe 8 titans lumbering towards his direction. A flash of anger and agony spreads across his reddened eyes as Levi screams into the wind, taking a giant leap into the air onto an oncoming titan and fights till he can fight no longer.
I offer up my heart,
.
.
.
Offer up my heart,
My heart,
.
.
.
To you and only you alone.
End.