Crack!

Emi could feel her heartbeat speed up as her eyes widened. She hadn't realised that the branch she was standing on was so fragile. It was so old and it had been eaten away at by bugs so much that there was basically no way it could hold her up. Usually, she would be paying attention to things like this, but the panic from the thought of Levi catching her had caused her to completely forget, and now it had broken and she was falling from who-knows-how-far up.

She closed her eyes and braced herself to hit branches and, eventually, the ground. However, she only felt herself hit one thing before she felt herself moving in a different direction. She opened her eyes and rolled over to find herself on the back of her trusty wyvern.

They were still a ton of metres higher than the top of the other trees, which meant that the Survey Corps had no way of reaching them unless they had wyverns of their own.

She stopped when she realised just what was going on. The Survey Corps had found her, which meant that either, Emi and her friends had traveled farther away from Melodia than intended, or that the Survey Corps had traveled farther from the walls than they usually did, and she was putting her money on the Survey Corps travelling farther, since the Great Oak hadn't moved anywhere.

If they really were travelling farther, that meant that the Melodians would have to have the titans scare them back again before they rediscovered Melodia. The people behind the Walls had forgotten all about the Melodians, and wars would start again if they found out that their enemy was working with their other enemy, the Titans. That was, if they had the guts to fight the Titans so that they could get to Melodia.

"Shit," Emi said under her breath as she realised that her wyvern was starting to lose energy and descend towards the ground. "How fast did you fly to come save me?" she asked the wyvern. It simply clicked tiredly in response. She sighed and closed her eyes once again.

"Okay, Mage, land so that I can get off and you can go to rest. I'll find Buddy and use him to get to the cavern to rest," she told the tired wyvern. He clicked thankfully and dived into the trees. Once he got to the ground, he flapped his wings noisily so that he could land easily. Emi was slightly annoyed at the flapping. If anybody from the Survey Corps were close by, they would hear her for sure.

She hopped off of the wyvern and walked  behind a tree so that she could somewhat hide while Mage took off. She watched as he hopped forwards and flapped his wings, jumping and taking flight.

She looked around for a bit, making sure that the coast was clear before she began to run to find Buddy. After deciding it was safe, she started sprinting through the woods, looking around for her Titan and listening as best as she could for the hiss of the gear that the Survey Corps used. She couldn't hear perfectly due to the constant rustling of dried leaves and sticks underneath her feet, but she believed she could hear well enough.

She suddenly stopped as she heard the hiss of gas being released, and she knew that she had been spotted, and someone was now chasing her. She whipped around to see Levi flying after her. His raven black hair was pushed out of his face by how fast he was going, and even though they were quite a distance away, Emi could still see the gleam of determination in his silver eyes.

Her heartbeat picked up as she took off once again, hoping to find Buddy before Levi got to her. He would surely kill her, just like the other man had with her aunt. With no remorse.

She heard the man's cape flapping behind him in the wind, and she instantly noticed how it was quickly getting louder and louder, until the only thing she could hear was the constant whirring of the lines bringing him closer to her. No matter how much bobbing and weaving she did, it still grew closer and she couldn't lose him.

Curse my bright hair! she thought to herself. She knew that the bright orange stood out against the brown bark of the trees, the green color of leaves, and it even stood out against the darkness surrounding them. It was surely what was keeping him locked on her. And on the one day that she didn't bother to bring a dark cloak.

She felt her lungs begin to burn, but she pushed herself to still run as fast as she could. She started stumbling lightly as her legs started to turn numb, but the only thing she could think about was escaping. Whether it was by finding Buddy or losing him through one of her hiding places, she could care less. She just wanted to escape.

Her eyes widened and everything seemed to slow down as she felt her foot get caught on a root, and her face started getting closer to the ground. She tried to get back up, but her legs were too tired and she doubted she would be able to walk very well even if she did get up, so she just rolled over on her back and closed her eyes, waiting for her death.

"Who are you?" the voice of who she assumed to be Levi asked. It made her tense up. It was colder than she imagined.

She opened her eyes and looked at his sword. It was pointed directly at her neck, but it was a few inches away so that it wasn't pressed up against her. The silver of the blade gleamed in what little sunlight shone through the branches, and she couldn't help but notice how thin it was. How did they keep it sharp? How did they keep it from breaking?

"Why should it matter?" she growled in response, her voice just as cold as his had been. He didn't seem too happy with the answer she gave him, and he moved his blade closer to her neck as a silent threat.

"We saw three other people with you. Where are they?"

"Hiding. Like I told them to."

"Where?"

"Well, the point of hiding is so that people can't find you." Levi moved his sword closer to her neck, but was surprised when she moved her neck up against the blade so that they were touching. "You wouldn't kill me. I'm too valuable to you."

The look in his eyes told Emi that he wanted to put the sword through her neck so badly, but he wasn't going to. Instead, he moved his sword away from her neck and watched carefully as she stood up and leaned against a tree. She panted a bit as she caught her breath from running so much. Levi was annoyed that she used so much of his gas by running so much, but impressed that she was able to run so much and so fast.

"Where are your friends?" he asked, sending a glare at him.

"I told you. Hiding," she told him. She sent her own glare back at him. But made no move to attack, so he did the same. He put his swords away, but she instantly took out her swords. With the help of two black dual katanas, Emi managed to knock his own swords out of his hands, leaving him defenseless.

"Attacking a man while his guard is down? How unhonourable," Levi said, still keeping his icy cold glare locked on her as she put her own swords near his neck.

"Trust me, Captain Levi, compared to me, you have no idea what honour is," she hissed back. He was a little surprised that she knew who he was, but kept it to himself. "Besides, I wasn't the one who attacked a poor, defenseless woman out for a lovely afternoon stroll."

"Defenseless isn't the word I would use," he said. He watched as she took her swords away from his neck, but kept them out, just in case.

"Maybe not. I was minding my own business, and I'd like to continue, and I'd love it if you and your friends would mind your own," she said. She rested one of her katanas on her shoulder and went to turn around.

"As soon as you stepped outside of the Walls, you became our business," he told her. She stiffened up and turned around to face him again, before stomping over to him, grabbing his collar, and pulling him down so that their faces were inches apart.

"I have some news for you, buddy," she growled. "I have never once stepped inside of your precious Walls, so I couldn't have stepped outside of them. And I would never want to associate myself with any of you, or your stupid Walls. Now, I want you and the rest of the Survey Corps, to leave me and my friends alone and to never come anywhere close to here, unless you want to end up just like the inconsiderate fuck who decided it would be a great idea to kill my aunt."

She pushed him away from her and to the ground, and he only watched as she stomped off.