shortcutter | [3] drei | the fertile fortress

Entry tags:

[3] drei | the fertile fortress

The journey wasn't a lengthy one. It was a bit longer than the estimated fifteen kilometers, but for a Survey Corps horse, such distance was akin to a sprint. There had been no cause to stop, and although they'd taken a few minor detours to avoid being harried by wandering titans, they still made good time; however, with the thick silence that held between Levi and Mikasa for the duration, it could have felt shorter. The weather also did them no favors. The sky was pale and overcast while the wind blew hard, threatening a storm.

Their path skirted them well wide of the forest, leaving less chance for a surprise attack. Levi was prepared to encounter a mass of titans as they drew nearer, and had warned Mikasa of the possibility, but the final leg of their trek proved to be uneventful. The lack of titans was almost unsettling, and as the fortress rose into view, Levi motioned for Mikasa to slow. He reigned his own horse to a trot and allowed her to catch up so that the two of them were riding side by side.

The fortress was a broad, hulking structure that sat on the crest of a hill with a shallow and steady incline. Its thick gate, visible from their position, was up and appeared to be fully intact. The crescent cut of a stream ran some twenty meters away from the north and west facing walls, appearing not unlike half a moat. The stream crawled further south only to disappear into the forest.

Still no sign of any titans. So far, this was seeming all too easy. When Levi spoke, he raised his voice to be heard over the light howl of the wind and the rattling of his cape.

"I'm going to give you my extra horse," he said. "Tie them near the gate, then scale the walls from the outside. Find the highest point up there and be my lookout. I'll circle the place and check for any breaches."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She took the horse's lead silently. Glancing sidelong at Levi, hesitating just long enough to make a point of it, she clucked her tongue and tugged off for the gate as he had instructed. It wasn't like she had any particular quarrel with his directions or any better ideas, but three days was not wholly enough time to distance herself, and her hands still gripped awkwardly inside leather gloves. But it was mollifying to know that the first order of business was the one that mattered most to her.

The best that could be done for a tie-out was the thick leg of a cascade of ivy. The horses settled, she fired a wire high up on the parapet and climbed.

A day where the clouds furled up on each other like sour milk. The sky was nearly the same color as the stone walls and the bare, ugly dirt of the courtyard below left the impression of a dug grave. She pressed her lips together and listened, rather than watched, for Levi's horse. The bastion tower at the hillcrest was the highest point, so that was where she flew.

At its top she found a table so weather-beaten the legs had cracked on one side and knelt askew, a trapdoor, and nothing else. It was a better viewpoint for the surrounding countryside and the substantial and barren fortress below. There, at the west, Levi's compact form on the back of his chestnut horse. The only living things in view, so far, though a cold trickle crept up the back of her neck.

Mainly through his peripheral vision, Levi found himself keeping track of Mikasa's progress until he'd ridden far enough that he could no longer see her. However little focus it took, the monitoring was a waste. His orders had been simple and logical, so why bother sparing her the attention? Even after all Erwin had done to force her compliance, perhaps there was a small part of him that still expected her to turn and abandon the mission at the first opportunity.

Bent low over his horse, Levi circled the fortress in as tight a loop as reasonable maneuverability allowed. He scanned the towering walls as he rode, and though they showed small signs of weathering, he saw no breaks large enough to admit even a human child. No titan could climb such sheer stone, except for the dextrous Ape Titan, but a creature of that size would leave telltale signs if its activity was recent.

As he rounded toward the gate, Levi felt the first drop of rain pelt his cheek. The clouds had taken a darker stain, and a billowing thunderhead was quickly rolling in. By the time Levi tied his horse with the others and began following Mikasa's route up the parapet, the precipitation built only to an intermittent drizzle. The true storm was likely ten or fifteen minutes off.

Thunk.

Before Levi joined Mikasa at the top of the tower, a force from below jostled the nearby trapdoor with a kick that nearly splintered the wood. Levi landed next to her seconds later, unaware of the noise.

At the first sprinkling Mikasa lifted her eyes to the sky with a plain, soldierly annoyance. It wasn't going to interrupt anything, but it would be a wet few hours. The table instantly started looking like firewood.

A scan of the area revealed nothing further: the darkening horizon and the river, the forest beyond, the open fields. Levi disappeared around the wall as he headed for the gate. She wondered if he meant to stay down there, in which case should she descend, because she couldn't watch for him if she couldn't see where he was, and this lack of planning was irritating, maybe it was her fault for not knowing the procedure, and...

Thunk.

She leapt back from the trapdoor, her thin swords singing as she slung them free. Wide-eyed and bristling, she didn't dare look away long enough to see where Levi was, and she did not call out for him.

Levi saw her naked blades, saw where her gaze was locked, then instantly understood. He drew his own swords and launched a cable. The anchor dug into one of the far merlons, and Levi propelled himself in a tight arc around the trapdoor, his boots skidding lightly on the dampening stone. He positioned himself so that the threshold was directly between the two of them.

Levi opened his mouth to speak, but there was a sharp crack and the trapdoor burst apart. A grotesquely thin four meter titan with elongated limbs shot up from the opening, then dropped limply before Mikasa with a spray of blood as Levi felled it with a precisely timed lunge and swing.

He landed precariously amongst the flesh of the titan corpse; a second live one appeared in the form of a rangy forearm that also rose from the opening and swung down toward Levi.

They're inside!

The heat of the dissolution of the titan spread over the stones, which began to emit clouds of steam. A huge arm emerged and Mikasa gasped - by reflex dashing, lashing powerfully with a strike that twisted her entire upper body. The first rush of adrenalin made her wasteful and incautious. As the arm toppled she glanced down at her hand and its trembling, and started to pull herself together.

Across the threshold her dark eyes met Levi's. Like him, she fired an anchor into the wall, but it was with the intent of rappelling down the tower. It seemed foolhardy to stay up here. She would only hesitate for a moment: to hear whether he meant to stay, if he had a plan.

With the vision-clouding steam, their current position was certainly not ideal. Referring to his internal compass, Levi nodded his head in the direction of the gate.

"Follow me."

He fired another whistling line and jetted recklessly off the tower. His cape fluttered in the open air, and he took in the vast, sweeping view of the fortress and the surrounding countryside for a few suspended seconds. He dropped some six or seven meters before latching himself to the side of the tower with a second balancing line.

With timing too deplorable to be coincidence, Levi could see half a dozen titans swarming toward them on the ground -- some from the forest, some from the hilly plains to the south. Perhaps there were more coming from other directions, but these six were the most immediate threats. Securing the horses and supplies become priority number one; if he and Mikasa became stranded here without them, they were as good as dead. Of course, a typical titan would ignore their animals, but if the Ape Titan was involved, it became too big a risk.

Levi quickly surveyed the layout below. The gate itself was close to eight meters high and locked firmly shut. It lead directly to the courtyard, and above it were battlements set on a wall that stood at taller than twenty total meters. There they ought to be temporarily out of reach, making it a decent eventual destination.

Smaller titans had appeared in the courtyard, as well -- likely spurred to life by the same mysterious trigger -- but only one or two were in threatening proximity to the gate. Levi gave Mikasa her orders.

"We need to secure the horses," he said. "I'm leaving you to open the gate. Kill the nearby titans, then find the mechanism. I'll handle the ones outside and lead the horses in once the gate is down. From there, if things are clear, I'll be your guard while you reseal it. We won't be much safer inside, but at least we can keep more from coming in."

She had followed him over the edge. The titans within the tower, denied proximity to the prey, beat stupidly, incessantly, murderously against the walls. While she listened to his instructions, she began to put it all together, too, just as he had, only a little behind. The titans in the field, the ones in the courtyard, the ones in the building. The danger they were in. A layer of comfortable assumption peeled off her perception as reality set in: they were alone and surrounded, no telling how many more to come.

But Levi was apparently unmoved. His precision had a subtle soothing influence. She flicked a glance over her shoulder to the courtyard below: a handful of little guys, the battlements, the tower, the gate. The mechanism would be in the wall nearby, if Shiganshina was anything to go by. A serious, calculating look swept over her face.

"Okay."

She leapt. For a moment falling free into the courtyard below, half-spun under the momentum of her push-off, her scarf trailing in her wake, like a maple samara she dropped towards the monsters. Then a cable fired and the anchor buried into the poked-out tailbone of a swaybacked titan and it dragged her with terrible inevitability to the thing's neck. She lopped out a wedge of flesh easily, then fired again, this time high up on the interior wall. Numb, dumb titans reached for her as she flew out of reach and perched. Let them collect a little and line themselves up.

Just the nearby ones weren't enough. She wanted them all. Sooner or later the fortress would have to be purged for Eren.

She swooped across the courtyard and tore flesh in her wake. More or less, step by step, she worked the last few over to one side so she could take them out before dropping to the ground and to the promising-looking doors on either side of the huge face of the gate proper.

At no point was there any question in her mind of whether or not Levi would complete his mission or return.

They would need to kill every last one inside, but at the moment, time was of the essence. Not that it seemed to matter. Mikasa was undoubtedly efficient, and it made sense to clear the entire courtyard before she tended to the gate. Levi surveyed her progress shortly before retracting his wires and springing himself into a free fall.

It would normally make sense to draw the titans away from the horses, but Levi decided against it. Better to remain near the gate so that he could be more aware of Mikasa's progress and keep the state of their supplies in a direct line of sight. Just as he landed on the battlements, two of the fastest titans that had come plodding out from the forest were within striking range.

In range, yes, but Levi waited a few seconds. No situation, however dire, could sway his brutal patience. He needed just the right angle -- and then he had it. To say he didn't enjoy moments like these would be untrue. Perfect, clean execution gave him a rise unlike anything else.

He spoke darkly to himself as he went to work.

"Just what brought you over here, hm? Bastards smell something you like?"

His anchor lodged between the eyes of the further titan, and he breezily killed the closer one as he swept by. The second had no time to raise even a partial limb in defense as Levi gouged its eyes before flipping onto its back. He chopped out its neck, then used its falling body as a launchpad for his next attack. The vibrations and loud shake in the ground stirred the horses, but they were too well-trained to panic just yet.

Levi could keep this up for some time, but that didn't give Mikasa any license to dawdle. Though he didn't expect her to.

Edited (bitty aesthetic (pedantic) change) 2013-11-11 10:19 (UTC)

The rain drenched the courtyard and collected into muddly puddles in the ruts. The shambles of former outbuildings looked sorrier for it. Her steps threaded between the fallen limbs and scoops of steaming gore as she approached the right-hand door. She was thoroughly soaked herself, her wet cape clinging to her back and pulling at her neck. There was no chance of hearing anything of Levi's work over the downpour.

At the door she laid her hands flat on the wood, leaned close, and listened at the crack. No sound, no vibration. Another check of the courtyard: still clear. The big, dark iron handle on the door did not yield to her hand. She could feel the wood yank and clunk as she tugged at it: there was something obstructing from the other side, maybe a cross-bar. An axe would be helpful right now. There was one strapped to the pack on one of the horses.

First to check the other door. She jogged over and checked it - silent as the first. This time she got results. The yawning passageway within was absolutely dark and gave off a cool, stony, moldy scent. There came a distant pounding whose source was not identifiable. At least - the passageway wasn't tall enough for a titan to hide in.

No mechanism was immediately apparent in the thin sliver of daylight. An axe and a torch. Nothing for it, she would have to go to the horses. As she crested the battlements she scanned the field below for Levi before dropping down to the tie-out.

Circumstances what they were were, it was hard to appreciate the ever-strengthening torrent. It reduced visibility -- and mobility, to a lesser extent -- and Levi would have preferred sounder footing. Still, the wave of approaching titans was thinning steadily. He'd dispatched the original six, as well as a number of others, but he'd allowed himself to stray too far from the gate.

He leaped from the shoulder of his most recent kill and fired a line to the battlements. Levi wiped the wet hair from his forehead, and the thick raindrops peppered his front while he flew. As he drew closer, he spotted Mikasa heading for the tie-out. It seemed strange, but he could pin down only a few motivations behind the decision -- again, ignoring the unlikely scenario that she was choosing to flee.

Levi shielded his face and launched himself full speed ahead, altering his path slightly so that he stuck to the wall low enough to be within speaking distance -- or shouting distance, as it were, with the ceaseless clatter of the heavy rainfall. He would join her on the ground, but it was ever important that he keep careful watch. Besides, that mud did look filthy.

"Need something?"

A substantial decrease in the attacking forces; Mikasa had expected as much from him, in truth. Eyeing up an eyeless titan, she thought she was starting to recognize his handiwork.

But there was still work to be done. "The door is blocked." She was unstrapping the axe as she spoke. Next, to rummage through the bags for three of the prefabricated torches, a flintbox, a pouch, and a couple of leather thongs. She began to wrap the axe and torches to bind them to her back, working methodically and efficiently despite the rain.

Finally she bothered to look at him. The same sort of calm, level gaze she'd given him in the forest, despite the hair plastered over her head and her soaked clothing dragging.

"I'll hurry."

Then she took off to climb the wall again and drop back down into the courtyard. Even over the rain, the heavy strikes of the axe could be heard. The wood near the handle splintered and gave way. Mikasa could smell the same cold, stony smell as the door fell open, and something else, something coppery. She stepped into the shelter of the corridor to light the torch.

When she did turn, Levi held her gaze and nodded. He believed her, and it might have even shown in his eyes. In light of that, he had nothing to say. There was no choice but for them to trust and rely on each other, just as Erwin devised.

Levi propelled himself up to the battlements and resurveyed the field. Two more coming from the left, and another from the right. More straight ahead. Still others tromping around the outer wall. He would need fresh blades to get them all, but for now, he could handle the nearest three.

He paused, and when they neatly aligned themselves, he weaved between them, spinning and hacking, silkily cleaving the titan flesh as if it were no stingier than the surrounding sheets of rain. The steam from the corpses rose in geyser-like plumes, and Levi landed near the horses, almost shin deep in the runny glop. His cape hissed from the spattering of residual blood.

So much for avoiding the filth, but at least the cleansing rainfall would do its part -- though it was soaking him to the skin. Levi bit back a shudder and replaced his swords. Then he was off again to continue the defense.

Between her dripping hair and numb, gloved fingers, there was an unnecessary amount of difficulty involved in lighting the torches. Still the pounding persisted. It seemed closer now. Impatiently she plucked off the gloves; her hands were still raw, the tips of her fingers pinked, but it was worse being constrained than exposed. She lofted the torch up. There against the wall was the gate mechanism, enclosed in a wood and steel cage whose latch hung open. Still this pounding, incessant now, more trebly and scratchy in proximity...

She turned to the side and stifled a shriek. The torch dropped and she scrambled to pick it up. Her heart clamped shut in her chest with the shock - more the surprise than the actuality, but there, wedged in the passageway, gleaming, pink, and cramped, an abnormal-type titan had scrunched itself to within ten meters of her. Its huge grinning face mooned and jeered at her brainlessly.

She drank down a deep breath. First she threw the torch down on the ground in front of the titan, then turned to slap the lockbolt out of the axle in the mechanism. A testing touch tried at the pull on the wheel - heavy. The titan was unfazed by the fire and continued to scritch towards her, to reach for her with its gaping mouth. Just looking at it, she felt a disgust so sharp it pierced her focus. Mikasa stepped clear of the cage with a fixed and fierce expression. She approached and smelled blood. With a single lunge in anger she slashed out the thing's childishly clear green eyes. In the moment of opportunity that followed she began to crank at the wheel.

The gate groaned open.

Levi heard it. The rough grumbling of wood and stone was distinct enough, even through the boisterous chaos of battle and the hammering deluge. With his targets dwindling, Levi had strayed to the northwest corner of the outer wall. A corpulent fourteen meter class titan waved at him dully, like a fitting gesture of farewell as Levi jetted out of reach and arced back to deliver the fatal blow. The behemoth thing teetered, and Levi's eyes widened as it began to tip -- in a direct path to smash the wall.

It had to be well-fortified, but who knew what kind of damage the impact could do? Levi's face compressed manically as he fired both cables into the titan's back. He dropped from its left shoulder and heaved, using his gas to alter the trajectory of its collapse.

He succeeded, but only partially. The titan's face smeared the lower quarter of the wall and its neck made a grisly crunch as the body settled, but the thick stone remained well intact. For his efforts, Levi landed face-first into the ground; along with a timely burst of gas, the softness of it cushioned his fall.

Levi stood, then spat and wiped at his eyes. He soared back towards the gate where a shorter, beady-eyed titan approached the opening, lurching and sluggish. Swinging down, Levi lead with his blade and slashed open its back, carving a deep swath from neck to ass. It howled, and he silenced it with a cleaner cut.

Now they had their opening. Levi launched himself onward, heading for the tie-out.

When she ran out of the gate, she saw the field of the fallen: the wrecks of titans steaming, the crumpled limbs and nameless slabs of gelatinous, translucent flesh. There against the wall lay the big corpse of a huge titan... that must have been the awful crash she'd heard. There Levi was, heading for the horses, still swift, still completely, as far as she could tell, intact. Relief and something else.

She ran to him.

"They're in the walls. Levi..."

What she saw when he dropped to the ground... His grim sharp glare dancing from the dark hollows of a dirty face and his short, powerful body... he looked older and somehow creepy. Far from being disturbing, somehow it made him easier to approach. She'd never seen him so dirty before.

She was covered in gore herself but it was steaming away even now.

"There was a titan in the wall." She repeated dumbly over the rush of the rain.

When she had hacked away its jaw it wasn't to save her own life. The thing couldn't have gotten out of the relatively small doorway to pursue her. She just hated it. She hated how it reached for her in its blindness. She hated what it represented. She hated that it made the fortress unsafe. She thought about how a pig was butchered and how its head was cracked open to remove the brains; there were seams in the bones of a skull, splices and joints. After the jaw she had begun hacking at the most likely locations until she could cut a path to the base of the neck. It had strained hotly to the last moment.

She wanted to dry off and for Levi to provide answers to dark, panicked questions that she couldn't state out loud, in that order. But for the moment she had, without even realizing it, begun waiting quietly and attentively for his next order.

When she said his name, his neck gave a slight, involuntary twitch, as if he'd received a gentle prod that stirred him from a daze. Not 'Sir' of 'Captain.' She'd just spoken it, plainly, and trailed off.

It was nothing to dwell on. Somehow, it hadn't even felt inappropriate. And though it was, Levi had no time to discipline her over something so minor; all the more considering she'd done her part and come back in one piece. So she'd earned some leeway.

"We'll deal with them," he said. "Horses first. Let's get them inside."

As he moved to untie them, he noticed her bare hands, still somewhat rosy and abraded. Once the horses were free, he hefted the lead ropes.

"You did well." He paused. "Show me to the crank and I'll shut the gate. Then we can find shelter for the horses and take the supplies we need for the night to somewhere dry."

No reason for them to remain separated at this point. With titans in the walls, it would pay for them to watch each other's backs whenever they could.

We'll deal with them.

Silently she nodded, took her own leads from him, and followed him to the gate. In the weird calm there was nothing left of their assault except rain-noises and rising steam. One last time, she looked out over the field, and the dissolving bulk of the titan ground against the wall, and thought about how he'd done it. They hadn't been separated that long and there was so little vertical opportunity. He must have... she couldn't reconstruct the whole fight in her mind and she wanted to be able to.

Inside the courtyard she pointed him at the door, but -- of all things, she flushed a little to see that she'd left the axe out in the rain, propped against the wall, with its head in the mud.

"It's in there." She said, sounding peeved. At the same time she held out a hand for his leads.

Levi could provide her with all the riveting details later, if she wanted to hear them, but for now some urgency remained. Additional titans could still be wandering the field close by, and others might find their way to courtyard from who knew where.

"Keep watch."

It went without saying that she should also retrieve the axe. He brusquely handed her the leads and strode inside, hesitating only when he saw the decaying form of the abnormal-type titan she'd eviscerated. The hot vapor had mostly dissipated, but some of it still lingered as a thin haze. Levi could have appreciated the warmth if it didn't disgust him.

He entered the cage and grasped the crank. With his adrenaline subsided, he could feel a dull ache in his arms and chest as he worked the wheel. The only needling pain came from the bruise Mikasa's wire had left during their previous training -- a wound he'd slightly underestimated, but no matter. It hadn't hampered him during the fight.

By design, the gate was easier to close than it was to open. Levi finished the job in little time and left the chamber, kicking at one of the dead titan's emaciated limbs as he went.

All was quiet while Levi worked; Mikasa retrieved the axe and knocked the mud loose before tying it back up with the packs.

From the gate to the doors of the main hall it was perhaps thirty meters. The courtyard was roughly square and the detritus of a command post scattered it still: wide, muddy ruts that lead to and from the gate; mouldering racks sized for rifles; the collapsed shambles of outbuildings, at least one of which had a stone base and a hunched-over cover of thatch now sparse and blackened -- a stable, most likely.

If the rain didn't let up, probably it would be necessary to bring the horses in through the wide hall doors and keep them inside overnight. No doubt Levi would reach the same conclusion.

Though it was difficult to judge the hour through the heavy weather it felt like evening was setting in, and the unnaturally dark sky promised a night as unpleasant as the day had been. They crossed the courtyard in silence. A heavy bolt lay across the bastion doors, but it lifted away without issue, and the doors yielded to a cavernous interior of which nothing could be discerned. The croak of the rusted iron hinges echoed in the darkness. Mikasa pulled the torches from their ties at her back.

The weak light from outside barely penetrated the blackness. Levi lit a torch and held it aloft, then took a step further inside. The wavering light built, revealing the greater portion of an entry hall. It appeared spacious, but was hardly grand. Several stone pillars stood with unattractive girth, raising twelve meters or so to support the ceiling, which curved upwards to form a half-dome. Straight ahead was a wide stairway that narrowed slightly as it rose, leading to a corridor set under a blandly designed archway.

There were passages on either side, as well. The carpet leading up the central stairs, now the color of dried blood, was dusty and caked with filth. The entire chamber had a musty, fetid smell, as if a titan lurked unseen in each shadowy corner. If indeed one did, the scuffling and invasive torchlight could very well stir them to life. Still, he did not have Mike's nose, and he heard nothing to indicate their presence.

Levi chose to explore the left passage; from what he understood of the the architecture, the right-leading corridor would eventually grant them access to the bastion tower, where he knew at least a single one-armed titan dwelt. Levi said nothing to Mikasa as he moved. His 'keep watch' order still quite obviously stood.

His decision proved to be the wrong one in only a matter of seconds. After just a few strides, Levi saw the pale, gangling form of a stooped and grinning five meter class titan fully blocking the passageway. He retreated slowly and drew a sword with his free, dominant hand. There was no way he could get at its neck until he lured it into a more open space.

The warning to Mikasa came out sharply. "There's one."

This proved to be a second and more damning assumption. As Levi backed toward one of the thick pillars, a second titan of similar height stood behind it, obscured from either his view or Mikasa's. It blindsided him utterly, striking with the flat of its palm and slamming his back against the pillar, pinning him there. The torch spun from his grip and clattered to the ground, and though he still held his blade, Levi's arms were restricted uselessly to his sides as the titan's fingers curled around him.

Edited (and and and) 2013-11-15 05:23 (UTC)

Mikasa lit her torch from Levi's and trailed him by a few meters. The tall ceiling seemed all by itself to promise danger after her experience in the gatehouse; and, like the roof of an immense mouth, it left her with the uncomfortable sensation of being swallowed into the bastion as they turned the corner and she could no longer see the light from the courtyard. His order was forgotten, but also superfluous. Stiff-shouldered, with a white-knuckled grip on her torch, she scoured the darkness obsessively.

Levi spotted the titan first. At his warning she was already reaching for her sword -- but then by the dim flickering torchlight she watched a huge hand smash him against the pillar and wrap him. His dark head vanishing into the shadow of the fist... She saw it with a rising sensation of dread, so each hair ticked up on the back of her neck, and a strangling, soothing certainty: no. It would not be permitted.

The other titan, the one Levi first spotted, still lumbered towards her as she dashed halfway around the pillar in a narrow arc and the torch in her hand flickered low in her rush. She dropped the wire into the titan's shoulder - of the arm that gripped Levi - from the other side. It howled in pain. As she flew up it tried to reach for her and slammed its arm around the pillar to no purpose. She clambered desperately onto its shoulder and fired another line into its neck, and stabbed the butt end of the torch deep into its ear canal. The titan groaned and bucked uselessly; persistently stupid, it could neither conceive of how to step back from the pillar far enough to use its arm freely, nor how to shake its head to loosen the torch. Both hands freed, now, she drew her other blade.

A dark focus flattened her perception. She stabbed a sword into the meaty crest of the titan's arm and slashed downward and towards the chest to sever the muscles that allowed it to lift its arm. At once the limb fell and dangled loose as a hung carcass. Like the gouging of eyes, like the slashing of jaws, she'd learned this from Levi.

Launching herself back up, she searched for anything, anywhere, from which to propel herself for a slash at the thing's neck, but there was only darkness. Fine, by strength alone then. By hacking, like she'd done in the hallway, while the titan lurched and screamed and reached for her with its still-functioning hand. She saw that hand drop away as she tore out the last critical ribbons of flesh. She never saw the one reaching for her from behind.

Pure darkness engulfed him, and with what felt like humiliating pain, Levi resisted the constriction with all the strength that his powerful, compact body could muster. He held out long enough; once the muscles in its arm were thoroughly lacerated, he had the opportunity to rip himself from the titan's hold.

His dropped torch had snuffed out, and Mikasa's — with the jerking unsteadiness of its position — made the light inside the expansive hall unreliably wild. Levi needed a second or two to orient himself, then he loosed a second blade and spun counterclockwise around the pillar in time to see the titan with its lopsided smile extending an oversized hand towards her.

Cables flew, each one zipping high and sticking to seperate pillars behind his target. The moment seemed to slow, but Levi moved as swiftly as he ever had, delivering a flurry of whirling strikes, chopping tendins in its knees, then sheering both upper arms before crossing his blades at its face, jamming the length of them into both eyes. The titan shrieked at a startlingly high pitch, and Levi finished his manuever by kicking out at its forehead, sending it toppling back.

Levi retracted his wires and landed in a crouch. If Mikasa wanted it, the finishing blow was hers.

A gentle touch fell at his shoulder. She stooped for a moment and looked him over, and her eyes were very wide, very dark. Then she examined his work. In her other hand she held the torch, still mercifully lit, though the bottom of it was smeared with some odious waxy substance. She passed it to him. Her pale features hardened.

Standing, she pulled out both swords and strode towards the collapsed enemy.

Afterwards she dropped the blades out of their hilts and grabbed the next - her last - pair. She moved slowly now, methodically, as if assuring herself that everything still worked the way that she remembered.

The overnight location would have to be walled in stone on all sides while permitting exit and escape. No doors too wide. No signs of crushed furniture, disturbed hangings, muck on the floors, or other signs of titan encroachment.

On the second floor of the bastion they found what must have once been a nobleman's bedchamber, with several sizeable windows and a view to the east, a clear drop of 25 meters to the ground, and a reinforced door. The huge four-poster bed slept only lichens and molds now. A handful of chairs with decaying upholstery; dressers; chests; a painting unrecognizable beneath its coating of dust; a pair of benches -- these last were bare wood and as such were still usable. Torn, mildewed books scattered the floor.

There was also a wide fireplace with a mantel of carved marble. When they went down for supplies, Mikasa collected the axe, too. Upon returning to the room she ditched her bundle and immediately started to hack apart the chairs.

Levi assisted quietly with the chores. He fashioned a clothesline from their extra wire, and strung it above the fireplace so the garments wouldn't block the heat or get in the way. He shed his damp cloak and jacket, hung them, then knelt by the fallen books. He found a thick one — a tome detailing noble genealogy — and tore out several pages without pause. They served as kindling, and using the newly splintered wood, he built a fire.

Next, Levi stood to observe the bed. No blankets or quilt, and the linens smelled harshly of mold and rot; they were unusable, in his opinion, and handling them only briefly made him queasy. Levi ripped the bedding from the frame and sent it fluttering out the window. Underneath, the feather mattress appeared to be salvageable. He dragged over a bench and attended to it with rough, wet cloth and — for scraping — the back of a knife.

Though they could sleep on the floor just as easily, there was time to kill, and the methodical work made for a relaxing and occupying task. With removal of the bedding, the odor of the room had marginally improved, and the fire began to radiate a cozy, spreading warmth.

Edited (another tiny thing) 2013-11-16 11:42 (UTC)

When she saw him go for the mattress, she leaned back on her heels a bit, nodded to herself, and dragged the other bench over to her corner to split. Once she was satisfied with the pile of firewood, she wiped off the head of the axe and put it away, and stripped off her cape and jacket as Levi had. Her long, sodden scarf joined them on the clothesline.

Next she pulled out an iron pot, a pair of tin cups, a waterskin, and packets of tea, jerky, and hardtack. Filling the pot, she set it near the fire to boil. She lingered there a moment to soak up the heat. It was restful, listening to the crackle of the wood and feeling a little of the wet chill get driven away; it was civilized. Something that promised to keep danger at bay. Outside, the inclement weather waxed severe. The rain pelted at the windows, but it was too dark to see much further than that. A thought occurred to her; she looked over to where Levi sat, absorbed in his work. She went back to the packs and pulled some other things out.

The stuff was laid on a clean bit of the hearth. She took her wet boots off and tucked them close to the fire, then her stockings, and draped them over the high knee of each boot. A metallic click as she unfastened her belt and the chest crosspiece of her harness, then the knee buckles. She stripped out of the harness and carefully laid it on the floor before pulling her shirt off over her head.

Beneath, she wore a wide white breastband with a halter strap. Beneath her trousers, which also came off: white shorts, like a boy's, except shorter and made of a thin, silky-looking fabric. The shirt and trousers joined the other clothes on the clothesline. The whole business was undertaken in a simple, practical fashion, without reference to modesty. Finally she crouched and unfolded a change of clothes from her fireside pile and dressed herself.

But there remained still some left of the bundle she'd brought over. Mikasa gathered it up in her arms and tread gingerly, mindful of the dirty floor and her bare feet, over to Levi. At this moment, and no earlier, she at last evinced embarrassment. A funny sort of lost look came over her. She opened her mouth to speak but coordinating the words didn't happen immediately.

"...I...brought you a change of clothes. If you give me your wet things, I'll hang them up."

She laid the bundle on the bench next to him. At least she had been thorough: trousers, shirt, undershirt, socks, underwear, even a fresh cravat. The pot began to steam in the hearth.

no subject

no subject

heichou canon is arguing with us again go fix it :|

"Levi had never noticed a change in Erwin's demeanor since he'd lost his arm" fuck who wrote that

a GENIUS. also ehe titans in a can

like delicious titan spam with a side of tl;dr

but it's so delicious

no subject

no subject

did u kno taht em dashes r my 1 tru luv

i ---- did not know that, no

swoon

no subject

no subject

i had thoughts about this thread today. so impatient!

dirty wet make out session ready go

believe it or not, you sleaze, it wasn't even about that sort of thing. no spoilers tho~

i welcome the suspense

godmods gently

yeah well i'll scatter your detritus, and wow that got long

joins you in tldrland

so been wanting to use this icon

heichou's most photogenic smile also uhhh timeskips a little bit?

no subject

no subject