Chapter 1 "Survive"

The roaring thunder of a two hundred horse charge shook the earth. From the high ground, Captain Levi engaged in combat as Commander Erwin led his mounted cavalry onward into battle. His sword thrust proudly before him; he led his men straight into the mouth of hell. Thousands of boulders volleyed from the Beast Titan hurdled toward them. As explosions shot dirt and blood into the air, soldier's screams cried out as sharply ringing bells. Levi turned and watched the fatal strike, as a boulder crushed the Commander's chest. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he fell from his saddle into the muddied ground.

"Erwin!"

Levi bolted upright in bed as he reached for his blade. Frantically he looked about, his gaze swung in hazy hues, a smear of gold and brown, light and shadow. As his eyes focused, he oriented himself. Pale sunlight from the window panes above him shone into the quiet room. A nearby clocktower sang out its chimes, 9 o clock in the morning. The smell of antiseptic met his nostrils. He was in the hospital.

Levi remembered what had come to pass. The choosing of Armin, the death of Erwin. A victory for humanity grasped by a thin shred. Pressing his hands to his face Levi sighed.

"Captain Levi?" a voice beside him spoke.

Turning his gaze to his left he saw there a nurse. Dressed in a white apron, her anxious young face was flushed against the blond curls that fell about her countenance. Her doleful eyes were wide and filled with surprise.

"Are you in pain, Captain Levi?" she asked urgently. "I will fetch the doctor immediately!"

In a flutter of navy skirt and blond curls, the girl stood as she darted quickly from the room. He groaned. Looking to his hands he saw hat his palms were bloodied and raw. Having grasped the handles of his ODM gear so tightly, he had worn away the flesh to a bloodied scab. How many Titans had he killed to reach the Beast? Ten? Fifteen? He could not remember.

How many hundreds did Commander Erwin charged to their deaths? Was it worth his own life? Levi stared listlessly at the blank wall, his countenance devoid of emotion. He had felt a vast emptiness for as long as he could remember. An abyssal void consumed his heart and mind alike. It provided for him the contentment of being numb to the horrors he had endured. "I survived again."

"Captain Levi," a soft, steady voice spoke.

Turning his gaze toward the door, Levi saw a woman dressed in a white coat embroidered with the shield of the shepherd's staff and snake. He recognized her face as one of the physicians from the Medical Barracks. As she approached him, Levi took keen notice of her. Light from the hall behind her glowed about her presence. The lengths of her long black hair was combed to the nape of her neck, with tresses falling about her kind face.

"I am Chief Medical Officer, Ellaine Adalheidis," she spoke as she introduced herself. "I was asked by Commander Pyxis to provide direct care for you. I am glad to meet you, now that you have awoken."

As the calm air of her presence washed over him, Levi felt a sense of relief. Taking a deep breath, he did not speak and sighed as he slowly lied back upon the bed. Staring upward at nothing, he sensed her approach his side.

"Maggie has been keeping an eye on you for me, as I tended to others. You have been asleep for two days," Ellaine spoke. "I will assess your wounds now if you are feeling well enough for me to do so."

Levi hummed in agreement as he closed his eyes. He felt Ellaine's hand upon his temple as she brushed back his hair to inspect the wounds on his scalp. The soft pads of her fingers and cool palm of her hand was soothing against the heat of his broken skin.

"After the return of the scouts, you saw your soldiers to the medical barracks, but lost consciousness as you attempted to leave," She recounted to him.

Levi had lost memory of what had happened after they arrived to the interior of Mitras. He remembered scavenging a cart and a single remaining horse. Hange sat quietly in the corner, bandages covering her bloodied face. Sasha was wrapped in Connie's arms with Jean's head rested on her shoulder. Mikasa, Armin, and Erin lay next to one another on the floor of the cart. He recalled that Floch drove them into Mitras and their arrival at the medical barracks was greeted with great alarm. "Are you the only ones who survived?"

"I found you lying in the dirt and had you carried to surgery. You had rock shrapnel in your scalp, chest, and back. The tendons in your lower right leg are torn," She spoke softly. "I gave you an infusion of saline that bolstered your low blood pressure and abated a fever."

As she reached for the blankets, Levi grasped her hand and looked up at her sternly with narrow eyes. He was naked beneath the sheets, and physician or not, his pride would not allow her to see him so indisposed. Ellaine paused as she turned her gaze towards him. Her cobalt blue eyes gleamed in the light of the sun, revealing the darkness within them. They were eyes belonging to someone who had witnessed the deaths of countless soldiers. "Her eyes are the same as mine."

Ellaine rotated her hand beneath his and grasped hold of it as she placed the other over top his. The tenderness of such a simple action caught him off guard. She gazed at him intently but it wasn't pity in her eyes.

"I must check your wounds for rot... I will be gentle," she spoke firmly to reassure him. Arching her eyebrow, she questioned him sarcastically, "Unless, that is, you prefer to die quietly of a blood infection rather than screaming being torn in half by a titan's teeth?"

"Heh, that's fucked up..." A smirk upturned the corner of Levi's lips, "Tssk."

Releasing her hand, Levi relented. Folding back the sheets to his hips, Ellaine exposed the patchwork of bandages upon his chest. Turning to the bedside table she grasped a pair of surgical shears. Clipping away the old bandages, she removed the soiled dressings. With a sheet of fine gauze she wiped his skin with a herbal antiseptic. It made the small lesions scratched into his skin burn but was refreshing to his senses. Allowing his eyes to fall closed, Levi groaned.

"Are Hange and the others...?" Levi asked, his voice a low growl.

"Commander Hange lost her left eye in the explosion but she is resting and regaining her strength," Ellaine spoke as she continued to clean and dress his wounds. "Your scouts Connie, Sasha, Jean, and Mikasa are resting likewise with minor injuries and muscle strains. Erin and Armin are fully recuperated."

"Thank you Doctor Adalheidis," Levi sighed quietly.

Pressing her hand to the side of Levi's head to steady it, she tenderly wiped his face and neck with the cool rag. She looked down at him as she smiled. "Doctor Adalheidis is my father," she spoke with a chuckle, "Please, call me Doctor Ellaine, Captain."

Levi opened his eyes and looked up at her. Ellaine stood over him. She was close enough that he could smell the oil on her suntanned skin, it was warm and earthy. Her hair had loosened from the bun at her neck and strands tumbled down over her shoulder. As he relaxed against her soothing touch, Levi allowed his head to rest in the palm of her hand.

"Doctor Ellaine," Levi spoke quietly.

"A mild fever remains, as I am sure you feel it." Looking down at him she spoke, "Will you turn to your side for me so that I may look at your back?"

Slowly turning, Levi tucked his arm beneath the pillow as he felt Ellaine sit upon the bed beside him. The cooling sensation of the herbal antiseptic upon his neck and back pacified him. As his eyes slid close, he laid quietly. Ellaine's fingers pressed and inspected the wound borders. He felt the warmth of the salves and fresh bandages as she applied them carefully. Working diligently, she finished quickly.

Ellaine stood from the bedside as she arranged the medicines upon the side table. Looking at Levi she spoke, "Now that you are awake, you must be hungry."

"I am," Levi hummed.

"I will send Maggie in with some breakfast and tea for you," Ellaine spoke as she washed her hands in a white metal basin. Drying them with a clean wash towel, she turned once more to Levi. She met his somber gaze as she walked back to his bedside. Reaching down she took hold of his hand as she spoke, "Please continue to rest. You must regain your strength if you desire to continue to fight and survive it."

Levi turned his gaze towards Ellaine. Her comforting voice quieted the blaring static in his mind. He no longer felt the painful tension in his muscles, but relaxed fully into the feather mattress upon which he laid. His thoughts still, his body soothed of ache.

"I will be making rounds in the soldier's barracks until this afternoon. I will return to check on you afterwards," She said as she pressed the palm of her hand to his forehead. "Send Maggie for me, if you should have need of me."

At that moment, the door handle clicked and the hinges wined as it swung slowly open. There in the doorway appeared Commander Pyxis, his cape draped over one shoulder, and eyes rimmed in shadow. Entering the room, he secured the door behind him.

"Captain Levi," Pyxis spoke somberly. "…If you are done holding hands with Doctor Ellaine, I would speak with you now."

Levi's face darkened in anger as he exhaled slowly and deeply. "Haggard piece of shit…"

Ellaine smiled as she turned away from him. Nodding to Commander Pyxis she pressed her hands into her hips. Standing akimbo she spoke firmly, "Commander Pyxis, do not antagonize my patient as he has only just awoken."

"I promise you, Doctor Ellaine, I will do no such thing," Commander Pyxis spoke gently as he smiled. Approaching her, he took hold of her hand, and pressed his nose to the top of it. "Thank you for caring so diligently for the sword of humanity."

"It is my duty and pleasure," Ellaine spoke as she walked past the Commander towards the door.

Turning, she looked to Levi who laid prostate in bed, and whose dark eyes quickly met her own as she bid them farewell, "Gentlemen, good day to you." Pulling open the door, she was met by the faces of a crowd of frantic nurses.

"Doctor Ellaine, you must come quickly," one whined anxiously.

"Doctor Ellaine, I think we must make a quick amputation of the soldier's leg in Bay 9," another chimed, holding a clip board as she adjusted her glasses.

Several others stood crying, arms full of medical supplies, frustrated looks of desperation upon their young faces.

"Talk with me as we walk. Now, keep your voices down," she spoke with authority. "Ladies, bear up now. Dry your tears. Why are so many of you crying?" As she shut the door behind her, Ellaine returned to the ward.

Beyond the door the nurses cried in unison, "Why don't we get to take care of Captain Levi?!"

Commander Pyxis chuckled as he turned, looking to the exasperated face of Levi Ackerman. Approaching the bedside, Pyxis took a seat beside him and sighed as he settled into the chair. A flush came over his face as his eyes glossed over in a daydream. "If I were thirty years younger, I would court Doctor Ellaine," He spoke slyly as he brandished his hip flask and took a sip of it. Light gleamed about his beaming countenance. "The Doctor and Commander. Has a nice ring to it."

Levi groaned as his eyes narrowed, "You dirty old lecher."

Pyxis chuckled as he smiled. "On the matter for which I have come…" he spoke as his joyful disposition fell sober. "Now, tell me all you remember of what came to pass at Wall Maria…"

Slowly, Levi roused enough strength to sit upright in bed. He felt the heaviness of his body. Resting against the headboard, he sighed deeply. Looking to Commander Pyxis, he began his report...

(Thank you for reading. Second Chapter soon to come. Please leave your thoughts and comments in the ratings. Respectful regards, THOA)

(Characters and places within the AOT world belong to Hajime Isayama and full copywrite belongs to him. OC and plotline belong to author THOA.)