Sorry it took so long, I have a teething baby and work, plus my two other stories I have decided to do at the same time as this one. Those are the kind of choices I make in my life.

FYI: There is mention of rape in this chapter. Please beware of this information and proceed to read with caution.

Bertholdt scaled Wall Sina, sweat running down the side of his face. Any minute now, he expected someone to find him, but to his surprise, he was alone on top of the wall. He looked down on the Capital, the lights below looking like stars.

"Ava..."

Reiner sat by the fire side, his eyes fixated on the flames dancing around while biting away on the wood they had collected.

"You'll go crazy if you keep thinking about the 'what ifs' and 'whys'." The female voice said from his side, her elbow jutting into his side.

He sighed and a deep growl resonated from his chest at her jab. He couldn't help it. Bertholdt was out there, alone and on a suicide mission. He had come to terms he was not going to see his friend again. Reiner thought back on the day that Ava had spent with them. His and her bickering, Ymir becoming more playful, and Bertholdt...turned into a different man. He was more sure of himself. It also helped that he wasn't in the middle of a human crowd that would have his head if they had known the truth then. "I should have gone with him. It seems cowardly that I am here while he goes and dies for something he truly believes in."

Ymir shrugged and pressed her cheek to his shoulder. "It feels wrong and cowardly that Historia is on her own and I am not there beside her. Isn't that what humans do when they love someone?"

Something clicked in Reiner's head and he looked at the freckled girl. "That is why he left."

Brown eyes regarded him with a concerned look, as if he had lost it. "That made no sense."

Reiner shook his head and pressed a palm to his forehead. "I am such an idiot."

"Nobody is arguing with that."

"No, no, listen." Reiner stood up. "We knew they were fooling around. They barely could hide it, not to mention Bertholdt can't sneak around worth shit-"

"Get to the point, Braun." Ymir's eyebrow twitched. She didn't like it when people rambled.

He grunted and nodded. "I knew they were fooling around, but I didn't know that they actually had feelings for eachother."

Giggles erupted from Ymir as she slapped her knee. When she caught her breath, she looked up at the blond who was glaring at her. "You now just figured that out?"

"I'm not really an expert on these things." His lips thinned. "I don't just mean any feelings. I think...Bertholdt is in love with Ava."

Ymir smirked and hummed in amusement. "Figures. She loves him too, you can tell by the way they look at each other, ya know? Like the breathe for one another." Ymir's words drifted off and she cleared her throat. "I've been meaning to ask you, the other day, when you said you got Krista...for me, did you mean that? You did that out of love?"

His face heated up in a blush and he turned his head away in embarrassment. "Yeah...I really admired you back when we were cadets and you were determined to keep your friend safe, like I was with Bertholdt. I was really glad when you came to me that one night. I know when we go back home, maybe you and I can...you know, make a life together."

Ymir looked at him with wide eyes filled with awe. "You don't think I'm ugly?"

His head turned back sharply towards her and his frown deepened. "Who told you, you were ugly?"

She shook her head, a wide smile spreading on her face. She grabbed his hand and held it tight in her's. "Doesn't matter anymore. I got you."

Ava's injuries healed overnight.

After discovering that she was able to heal quickly, though not as quickly as the other titan shifters, it was decided that torture would be more suitable to milk out the information they wanted.

First it started with burning her flesh on her arms and legs, then her back, her stomach, and then finally, her more sensitive areas. Hangi over saw the torture, but she was not always there to supervise her subordinates actions.

She remembered why she hated the military police so much. They were corrupt, filthy pigs and they had no problem getting their hands dirty. They would take turns on her, each attack becoming more and more vicious, until it became down right inhuman.

There would be a guard on the look out while another attacked her, beat her, and then put her under him while he called Ava a 'filthy titan whore' and telling her that this was 'humanities revenge'.

She would stare at the ceiling, her eyes empty and her face slack. She could see Bertholdt sometimes and she even wished that he would fly in there and kill them all. She wanted those men who hurt her to feel her pain. Ava began to really think that she was more than a titan than she thought before.

But this time, this time they were caught and this time, they weren't going to get away with it. Some one heard her screaming.

Surprisingly enough, it was Levi who found them. Jean and Armin were with him and the two men that attacked her were arrested, but not before Levi had his run with them.

He threw open the bars, his expression dangerous. He pulled out a knife and charged at the man who was on top of Ava, moving to fast for the man to react.

Levi sliced open a nice wound on the man's cheek and when he rolled off of Ava, Levi put his dagger away and replaced it with his fists. Jean had already detained and dragged off the man's accomplice.

When Levi was finished, he sat Ava up and tried to get her to respond to his voice. She just stared forward, not saying a word.

"Perchov. Hey, talk to me. Armin, go get that shitty glasses! Why wasn't she here?" He mumbled the last part to himself and took off his jacket to cover Ava's lower half. "Hey, hey." He shook her slightly.

She looked at his face slowly and with the same speed, she blinked. "And they call us the monsters."

Levi frowned and pushed her hair out of her face. "Every one, despite their species, is a monster. Some of us are just more so than the others."

Ava's eyes fell on the dagger at Levi's hip and without warning, she snatched it from its hilt. She fell back from Levi and before he could stop her, she began to stab herself repeatedly in her lower abdomen. When Levi finally got the knife from her, she struggled against him, screaming frantically.

"Ava!" He held her wrists to her chest and pressed her back into his chest in a tight restraint. "Stop."

She began to sob. She was more than ruined. If Bertholdt ever came to find her and even if he was able to take her from this place, she was ruined. He would never want a ruined woman.

Levi placed the jacket back over her and sat on the floor holding her, both getting soaked in blood.

"They won't hurt you no more." Levi said in her ear.

Ava laughed bitterly through her tears. "You're too late."

After Hangi returned, Levi filled her in on the situation and the new commander went straight to work on finding all the culprits she could, stating that even humanity's enemies weren't even worthy of that.

Levi, without even asking permission, carried Ava off to his own personal quarters. Ava didn't even protest.

He sat her down in his bathroom on the toilet and rolled up his sleeves and grabbed a cloth, soaking it in warm water. While he let it soak, he helped Ava stand and removed the rest of her clothing. She didn't say anything about him stripping her down. She was so unclean already that he couldn't do anything else to hurt her.

Some of her wounds began to heal and scab over. By tomorrow, they would be gone and her body would be back to the way it was before.

As soon as the warm cloth touched her, Levi spoke. "I am going to wash you down before I put you in the tub. Let me know if I hurt you or touch you in a place you don't want me too."

She responded with a nod and with that, Levi set to work to scrub off all the men who had hurt her.

He started with her shoulders, working down her back. Once finished with that, he rinsed out the cloth and began to work on her legs and arms, as if putting off all the other places.

Her breasts had dried blood on them from when they bit her and when she stabbed herself. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the warmth of the cloth. She felt him hesitate when he moved to her abdomen. He was being so gentle...

"I get it now." She whispered, not opening her eyes. "You like me."

His hands didn't stop and continued to gently wipe away the dried blood on her belly and the front of her thighs. "Does it matter?"

She turned her head towards him and looked at him. "I belong to another man, but...I don't know if he'll want me if he knew..."

Levi's eyes hardened and his mouth turned down in a scowl. "If he rejected you because of what some fucking pigs did to you, then he is as bad as them."

She blinked back her tears. "And you?"

He turned her toward him and held out the cloth. "Do you want to wash the other parts?"

She looked at the rag and then back at him, as if she wanted to hit him. She shook her head. "It won't matter, I'll never be clean enough." She muttered as he pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her.

"If you think this is your fault and that you will forever be ruined, you are a total idiot. Don't let them break you."

"Says the man who beat me only a few days ago." She rested her cheek on his shoulder and was surprised to hear his heart beat. She remembered listening to Bertholdt's heart after he would make love to her, the way it would boom in his chest would give her shivers.

He stepped back and washed off her collar-bone and in between her breasts. "I wondered what you would look like naked. Hoover is a lucky man."

He put her in the bath after that and scrubbed her down again. While scrubbing her nails clean, some one knocked at the door.

Levi turned his head in annoyance and glared at the door. "What?"

"It is commander-in-chief Zachly. I've come to see Ava."

Ava sat up in the tub, eyes wide and she grabbed Levi's hand while shaking her head violently. That was one person that could not see her like this, no matter what the situation was.

"He will come in here no matter what and if it isn't now, then it will be later." Levi stated. He stood up and wiped his hands on a towel. "Face the facts Ava, you have people who love you. You should stop taking that for granted."

She sighed and pulled her knees up, pressing her forehead into her knees as he left and his presence was replaced with another.

They were quiet for some time until she heard him move and felt a cloth run over her back. She turned her head towards the man sitting on the stool next to her. He didn't seem any different from any other time, but she knew underneath that he was boiling. He never had a tolerance for crimes like this.

"I don't want you to see this." She mumbled against her arm.

"That boy of yours, Bertholdt, I presume, is in the city. He was spotted last night. He will be in captivity shortly." Darius ignored her words.

She moved away from him and stared at him with wide eyes. "You're going to kill him."

He sighed and set down the cloth. "Captain Levi, Commander Hangi, Private Jaeger, Blouse, and Springer have vouched for your life. You can live on a parole of sorts, but he will never have that option. You never attacked civilization like those three did. We will have to see about that Ymir girl when she is detained if we can put her on guard like you or execute her like the other two."

Ava dug her nails into her palms. "I will never forgive you if you kill him. At least hear what he has to say! You don't know why they did it! They could have loved one's held against them to do this, you don't know!"

"We are using your detainment as bait." Darius carried on. "The current events that just took place will be made public, so that he will hear and come to you. If he truly loves you, he will come."

Ava choked on any words and felt her body spring. She stood and quickly lashed out at Darius, planting her palm against his cheek. "You son of a bitch! How could you do that? The man I knew would have never done that!"

He looked at her with serious eyes. "I think I've told you that before."

Meh, meh, meeeeh. Sorry for the rape thing. I know that is a terrible subject, but two more chaps and this story will be finished!

-Jane