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Her chest ached as she ran, her injured leg protesting loudly from the strain of each step. But she couldn’t stop, not if she wanted to be a chew toy for the fifteen meter titan than bounded after her. Hange knew she wouldn’t last soon, she had ran out of gas miles ago and her body was beginning to shut down painfully.
But of course her stubborn self wasn’t going to allow any form of giving up, not as long as she was alive and kicking.
The titan scientist pushed herself to continue running in between abandoned houses to gain some distance between her and the titan, and for the most part it was working.
That is until her injured leg suddenly twisted and buckled underneath her, causing the brunette to face plant onto the dirt road. She coughed from having the wind knocked out of her and spat out some dirt, the squad leader then rolled onto her back and froze at the sight of the titan looming over her. A violent gasp tore out of her throat as she scrambled backwards and attempted to get up, only to be snatched up by the very thing she was trying to evade.
It’s grip was unrelentingly tight as it lifted her up, she thrashed and wiggled while growling and spitting out curses.
Hange squeezed her eyes shut tightly and prepared herself to be brutally ripped apart.
Just as quick as she was snatched up, she was suddenly falling, now free from the titan she fell hard onto the rooftop below. A grunt of pain escaped her as she rolled and clutched onto the loose shingles to keep herself from sliding off. The brunette was shocked, had the titan let her go?
With newfound energy, she managed to pull herself up into a kneeling position and look up in time to see the titan fall dead with a loud crunch as it crushed some smaller houses underneath its weight. Then a figure landed clumsily onto the rooftop beside her, Hange blinked in recognition.
It was Levi who had come to her aid
“Levi?!” The scientist cried out in relief, a smile breaking out onto her grimy face. Though it faltered when the raven stumbled onto his knees in front of her and that’s when she noticed that he was bleeding from a large gash on the side of his head.
“Oh my God- Levi!” Hange shuffled closer to steady him and check his wound but he gripped her wrists and pulled them away.
“Stupid four-eyes, what the hell were you doing letting that titan grab you like that?” His voice was his usual semi-annoyed tone but there was a slight edge to it that Hange couldn’t really point out. Was it fear? No, there’s no way- this man hardly feared anything besides germs.
“I- my gas and blades ran out- and my horse..” she trailed off at the last part but he didn’t need her to say any more to understand.
“Shit-“ Levi clicked his tongue and glanced over his shoulder before switching his focus back on her.
“Are you injured?”
Hange gaped. “You should be asking yourself that, what happened to your-“
“Hange are you hurt?” He cut her off, asking in a firmer tone, his face was set in a hard expression that masked any sort of pain he was in.
“..Just my leg, the bastard made a grab at it.” Levi nodded and gave her leg a look over.
“You can walk on it?” He asked and she cringed a little.
“I think it’s at its limit.”
The raven cursed under his breath and looked over his shoulder once more and suddenly pushed himself up onto his feet and gripped at his blades once he saw an approaching titan.
“Fucking annoying beasts-“ Humanity’s strongest grumbled and glanced at Hange from the corner of his eye. “I only have a little gas left..”
Hange’s heart sank from his words and she flicked her gaze towards the approaching titan who seemed to have not noticed them on the roof yet. Levi stumbled again from his head injury but willed himself to stay upright as he wracked his brain for a solution. The short man then suddenly turned to Hange and dropped his blades in front of her and began unbuckling his gear.
“Woah- what are you doing?” Hange gave him an alarmed look but Levi was quick to shush her by kneeling down in front of her and gripping her shoulders.
“One of us has a chance at getting away, and it’s going to be you-“
“What the fuck? Levi n-“
“Hange look at me!-“ The short man hissed and grabbed her face in his hands to force her to look him in the eyes. “I can barely fucking stand straight, I’m done.”
The brunette shook her head in denial, her stomach twisted painfully and her chest began to ache again.
“Levi I can’t.”
“You can, shitty glasses, I’ll push you off the roof myself if I have to.” He ground out as he unbuckled her gear and replaced it with his, ignoring the tearful protests coming from the woman in front of him. He grimaced when he looked up at her face and saw thick trails of tears pouring out from those doe eyes of hers. Levi swallowed and tugged his cravat free from his neck and used it to wipe her face.
“Stop crying and get up.” He tells her flatly as he tucks his now soiled cravat into one of the pockets of her jacket and presses one of his blades onto the palm of her hands. “I only have two blades, use one and I’ll use the other while distracting the ugly bastards so you can escape.”
Hange shuddered slightly and let her fingers curl around the handle of the blade as he pressed a lingering kiss against her forehead.
“You’ll fight right? Promise me-“
Suddenly the titan was upon them before Levi could utter a response, the both of them jumped away as it swiped at them and the raven told her to go before slicing at the titan’s hand. Hange wobbled to her feet and stood her ground.
She could take it, she could take the titan down and they could both escape.
If it were only that easy.
“Hange, for fucks sake- go!” Levi’s yell snapped her back into reality and she realized that Levi was now scaling onto another rooftop, leading the titan away from her. She watched him fight it off the best he could and Hange swallowed and prepared to take off.
What stopped her was the sound of Levi’s only blade shattering into pieces, followed by a curse.
She whirled around in time to see him being dragged up into the air by the leg as he struggled. Without thinking, Hange took off towards them and landed on the rooftop he was previously on, it want a graceful land, her weakened legs buckled beneath her and she could only watch in horror as the titan took a huge bite out of Levi’s side. It took his arm, thigh and half of his stomach all in a few gruesome seconds as the captain cried out in pain.
“No, no, no!” Hange shrieked as his blood rained down on her, causing her stomach to churn.
The brunette used Levi’s gear to launch herself at the titan but it saw her coming and swiped at her, the wires got caught on its hand and Hange slammed back onto the roof. She cried out and wheezed for her breath as her vision blurred for a minute. Another short cry of pain shifted her attention above her, and she could only sob as she watched her best friend, the love of her life, be torn apart and chewed up in front of her.
“Please!” She cried out at no one in particular, she knew it was too late, he was already gone but that didn’t stop her from calling out for him.
The titan dropped that last bit of him into its mouth and swallowed before shifting it’s attention to Hange who lay prone on the roof.
And that’s when she screamed awake.
She bolted upright on her bed in a cold sweat as she gasped and scrabbled at the sheets around her.
It was a dream, an awful bloody dream.
Hange’s chest twisted painfully once the images replayed in her mind over and over, ripping out a few sobs from her. A pair of arms suddenly shook her by the shoulders and her breath caught.
“Hange!” It was Levi, alive, warm and yelling at her to get a grip before she woke up the entire HQ.
“It was a dream- a nightmare, whatever it was it’s not real- hey look at me-“ He took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him as he spoke. “Calm down, its okay..”
Hange nodded and hiccuped, letting her sobs die down a bit as she gazed at him, almost not believing that he was actually alive. She reached out and touched his face, his cheeks, his hair and slid her hands down to his bare shoulders.
“Hange?” He murmured in slight confusion.
“Y-You-“ she swallowed and continued to let her hands trail over him. “You died.”
Levi’s jaw clenched.
He now understood why she was so shaken up, he’s had so many of those kinds of dreams- he’d seen her die and it made him throw up as soon as he woke up. It shook him to his very core.
They were quiet for a moment before Levi grasped her wrists and placed one of her palms flat against one of his pecs, right over his heart. She felt his body heat spread into her hand as well as the subtle thumping of his heart beat.
“I’m here…I can’t promise you that I’ll be here forever but I’m here.” His voice was barely above a whisper but she heard it loud and clear, it made her heart swell and she nodded. Hange sniffled as fresh tears escaped her brown eyes, the scientist made grabby hands at him which he learned long ago that it meant she wanted to cuddle. Without another word, he wrapped his arms around the woman and pulled them both down to lay their heads on the pillows. He let her bury her damp face into his neck, not minding the way her tears felt against his bare skin. He let her cry as he stroked her hair, letting his fingers gently comb through any knots that were caused by her fretting during sleep.
“I’m here, I’m okay…it’s okay. So stop crying four-eyes, you’re going to make the pillows soggy.” He whispered softly, making Hange snort.
“You’re so shit at this.” The brunette mumbled In between snickers, Levi felt himself relax now that she was at least laughing.
“Just go to sleep shithead.” He grumbled and pressed his cheek against hers, before pulling the bed sheets higher over them and encircling his arms around her again, letting their legs lock together.
Hange hummed sleepily as she hugged him, breathing in his scent which wasn’t much but soap and clean linen melding with his natural musk. She was grateful he smelled like usual and not like blood or death, he was alive in all is freshly bathed glory. She relished in the the heat his body gave off, and his slow, controlled breaths that fanned against her neck causing her to shiver ever so slightly.
Though, the best thing she thought was the fact that she could feel the thrumming of his pulse against her cheek as she rested her face against his neck.
It was enough to reassure her, to forget about the images from before and to let her know that he was there.