It was hell. Hell on earth indeed. But Erwin had a good reason to put the veterans to deal with that hell. No one else could. They launched on the titans one by one. They were more than a few dozens. They had to give it their all just as their Commander had ordered them.

Titan blood sprayed on her face. It landed on her glasses, colouring the lenses. Thankfully, it would evaporate off right away and it never left her blind. Nathalie's muscles almost ached from the overuse, but they had no choice. It all came back to her. The night that she fought in Utgard Castle. So many titans to deal with. So much to fight.

Erwin's orders were clear. Inject the largest ones. And that was exactly what they did. They were going to inject the titans of bigger mass with the hardening serum that Nathalie had come up with. It was going to harden the titan skin, and they were going to use it to hide behind. The houses were not enough to handle the impact of the boulders that the beast would throw at them. They needed shields and they were going to use their own enemies for that.

Nathalie hooked herself on another titan. She sliced off its eyes with a fast move and then she hooked herself on its shoulder, before she sliced off the nape with a growl. The large titan landed back down on the soil beneath them. She landed beside it and she took out the fifth, and last injection that she had left. It was a fourteen-metre one. It was enough. She injected it and she hooked herself on another titan that rushed her way.

The hardening was going to take more than a few minutes, especially for titans with large masses. It was way different than having titan-shifters hardening their skin at will. The empty corpses of mindless titans did not have that will that would otherwise rush the hardening. The serum needed time. And they had to hold out for as long as they could.

Nathalie sliced off another nape, before she felt another hand grabbing her own. She looked up only to see Levi. Titan blood was evaporating on his face. There was that wild, lethal look in his eyes. She knew exactly what he had in mind. He tossed her powerfully towards three titans. Her fingers clutched around the handles of her swords and she took all three of them out, thanks to Levi's powerful throw. Another gigantic hand was reaching for her, but Levi made sure he cut off the titan's fingers, before Nathalie went for the nape whilst it was distracted.

She hooked herself towards another titan that Erwin had been struggling with. She sliced off the nape and she felt a hand slipping around her waist and pulling her away from the hands of another titan that tried to grab her and smash her in its grip. The two of them landed back down on the soil unceremoniously. Nathalie's face crashed on Erwin's chest and she looked down at her Commander. His arms were still tight around her.

"Are you okay?!" Nathalie asked alarmed and worried.

She cupped his face and tried to check for any injuries but Erwin just gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine. Thank you, Nathalie,"

The two of them stood back up and resumed the fight. The veterans weren't going down easy. They had wiped off the entirety of the titans in only just a few hours. Erwin was only glad to see his plan was actually working. He was glad to see the disappointed look on the beast's face.

Nathalie stood on the rooftop of a building, breathless. She looked all around her and Levi landed beside her. He was breathless too. There was nothing but carcasses of the slowly hardening big titans, and the smaller ones that were evaporating. Levi wiped the blood off his face with his sleeve and he turned at his wife.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Levi asked worriedly.

"I'm good, you?" Nathalie asked.

Levi nodded reassuringly and the couple turned back at the titans that were all dead. The other veterans and their Squads along with Erwin were all standing on rooftops, taking a moment to catch their breath. It was beyond doubt that they had all used their Resurrection Serums. Nathalie and Levi hadn't used their own. They didn't have to. At least, not yet.

"Seems we took them all out," Levi said. "That bastard doesn't look so happy," He pointed his sword at the beast and he chuckled lowly.

Nathalie smirked. "He's no idea what we got in store for him,"

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"He needs our help!" Mikasa cried out as she watched Eren being pinned down by the Armoured Titan.

"Not yet!" Hange landed on a nearby rooftop. "We need to trust Eren to give us a good opening. Everything rides on our first attack," Hange reasoned.

And she was right. Eren did give them the opening they needed. And Hange gave the order to engage right away. They maneuvered from house to house, rooftop to rooftop till they finally saw the Armoured Titan, sitting down on his knees. The nape, finally exposed.

"Go! Now!" Hange ordered as she and Moblit reached the Armoured Titan close enough to stab their thunderspears into his eyes.

They pulled away and then pulled the string for the explosives to detonate. The titan shrieked and Hange with Moblit landed back down on the rooftops all around them. And then, Jean, Mikasa, Connie and Sasha came maneuvering close to Reiner and stabbing their thunderspears on his nape. They pulled the strings and the armour on his nape was blown into pieces.

Connie landed unceremoniously on a rooftop and his eyes widened. "Did it really work?!"

"Whoah! We can actually do some damage!" Sasha said, eyes widened.

"Do it again!" Hange ordered. "You each still have a thunderspear, use them to end this!"

They still hesitated though. Reiner had been their comrade three years now. Jean gritted his teeth. "C'mon, guys! We said we'd do it if it ever came down to this… let's go!"

Sasha, Connie and Mikasa nodded before they maneuvered with the Hange Squad towards Reiner's nape and they shot their thunderspears back into the nape. And once the explosions took place, Reiner could be seen, missing half his head. Hange gritted her teeth. It was no time to celebrate.

"Moblit!" She turned at the man beside her and he nodded. He knew exactly what she had in mind. The two of them jumped on top of the nape. Moblit pulled the man out of the titan body, and Hange gripped her swords. "I'm so sorry, darling, but I can't have you transforming again," She said, before she cut off his hands and feet. She hated to do this, but she had to. "Nat said if the body's too injured it's too busy healing to transform,"

"So what are you gonna do?!" Connie cried out with tears in his eyes as he watched Moblit carrying Reiner's body that lacked all limbs and half his head. "Feed him to some titan?!"

"That is a possibility," Hange said. "We tie him down for now. We've bought ourselves enough time,"

"Wait! Hange!" Jean pointed upwards as something came flying towards them. It looked like a barrel. "W- What's that?"

Armin gasped as he pointed at the barrel. "It's Berthold!"

"Shit!" Hange cried out as everybody switched to ODM. "EVERYBODY! FALL BACK!"

But they were too late. Berthold transformed, and the large explosion came with uncontrollable flames and a large wave of fire and heat. Hange felt hands grabbing tight around her. Her back crashed against the soil beneath her. Moblit's body landed on top of her own, shielding her from the flames entirely. Hange shut her eyes and she buried her face in his neck clutching on him, and trying to ignore the heat and his screams as flames consumed the flesh of his back.

No. She had never heard and seen Moblit being in so much pain in all the years she knew him. She hated it. Hange gritted her teeth. She had lost vision from one eye. It stung harshly and bled. Fragments of the explosion must've rammed in her flesh and broken the one of her lenses. But she didn't care. All she could do was listen to the cries of her squad, Levi's and Nathalie's squad and Moblit's groans and screams. Hange shut her eye and she tried to ignore it. It almost felt like the explosion took forever to cease. They've got their serums. She reminded herself. She was going to inject Moblit with the serum and he was going to be okay.

She gritted her teeth. She couldn't lose him. Tears streamed down her one eye. He shouldn't have done that. He should stop jumping right in to save her all the time. He groaned in pain as he pressed his cheek against her forehead. Hange's fingers tightened around his brown jacket. His entire back was on fire.

"Hang in there, Mobby…" Hange shut her eyes. "…hang in there, please,"

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Nathalie recognised the explosion. Her eyes widened. It was the Colossal. Only the Colossal could bring such an explosion whilst transforming. She gritted her teeth. No, no, no, no, no, no… Our kids, Hange, Moblit… they couldn't have been caught up in it, could they?!

"Nat! GET DOWN!" Levi cried out as he grabbed her. He shielded her body with his own. A stone struck him on the side of his body, but he couldn't care less about it. He had to get her to safety. He urged her to jump off the roof that they had been standing on.

They landed on the back of the building. Her back crushed against the grass beneath her and Levi's body landed on top of her own, shielding her from the rocks and boulders than came in high speed, and broke the wall that had been shielding them. The wall was brought down revealing the Beast Titan in the distance, smashing another boulder in his hands, ready to throw the giant rocks towards them once more. Blood sprayed in the air from the first throw. Two squads were already wiped out. One remained, with Erwin, Levi and Nathalie.

"Commander! Three titans have finished hardening, sir!" A soldier cried out and Erwin fired off a red smoke signal.

"Everyone! Behind those titans! RIGHT NOW!" Erwin ordered and everybody did as their Commander had asked.

They maneuvered towards the fifteen-metre to twelve-metre hardened titans that were lying down. They were now blue-coloured, entirely turned into large, titan-shaped crystals. Levi and Nathalie were far from them though. Levi couldn't risk maneuvering there. They didn't have the time to maneuver. He looked around him and he tried to think, and think fast. That bastard was about to start shooting rocks again.

Levi jumped back up on his feet, ignoring the pain in his ribcage, and he caught her hand urging her back up as well. "Follow me,"

His fingers were painfully tight around her hand as he dragged her with him. The next wave of rocks came crushing towards them, landing on the buildings, and bringing them down. Levi led Nathalie through the crushing debris. The streets of what was once a small town, now being destroyed all around them. Buildings were brought to ruin, crushing in front of them in the street that they were running it. Using ODM to maneuver was no longer an option. The rocks came in high speed and there was no way they could maneuver in the air without being caught in the crossfire no matter how skilled they both were on ODM. Not to mention, that soon there will be no buildings to hook and maneuver on.

There was dust and blood in the air. Her fingers tightened around his own just as tightly as he was holding her. His one arm found its way around her shoulders and urged her to move in front of him, making sure to shield her with his body as the two of them made their way towards the wall and to a hardened titan that stood nearby. It hadn't finished hardening, but it should be enough to cover them till the next throw of boulders.

They slipped behind the hardening titan. Levi let out a wince and dropped to his knees. Nathalie's eyes widened. "Levi!" She rushed beside him, kneeling down. She pulled his cloak and his jacket away revealing a large chunk of stone piercing the left side of his stomach. His blood had rushed out, colouring and drenching his white shirt in hot crimson. She panicked. Her body felt numb and unable to move, unable to react.

"I'm alright," Levi pressed his hand on her shoulder, propping himself to stand back up and continue running. The titan wasn't going to hold out for too long. It hadn't finished hardening and the bastard just kept throwing and throwing rocks and boulders non-stop. Levi winced. His legs gave in and he landed back down on his knees with an expression of pain on his face, and more blood rushing out of his wound.

"You're not alright, dammit!" Nathalie cried out alarmingly.

Her hands were almost trembling from the terror, the thought of losing him. But she had to get it together. She had to remain calm if she was to save him. Nathalie urged him to lie down, and she settled his head in her lap. Her hands reached for the buttons of his shirt. Her fingers shakily but hastily unbuttoned his shirt and she pulled it away from the wound around his stomach.

Her fingers, drenched in his blood as she brought a hand to her mouth and she tried to muffle all sounds when she saw his wound. She couldn't believe this was happening. She couldn't believe he had taken a hit for her whilst she had asked him not to. "Don't do anything stupid out there, please… I just want you with me… always," She had said. Always. And of course, he had ignored that.

Tears slipped warm down her cheeks. Another blast of rocks and boulders crashed against the titan that was shielding them. Pieces of the titan flew all around. It wasn't going to hold out for long.

"You need… to get out of here. There's no time-"

"Shut up! Shut up, Levi. Stop asking me to leave you, please," Nathalie snarled. He had been asking her to leave him ever since the first day she met him. If she had listened to him, she wouldn't be there now. She wouldn't be there to hold him, and love him, and marry him, and give him the affection and the kindness that he had so much longed for.

She cupped his face and she looked down at him. Her tears landed down on his own cheeks as she looked down at those wonderful silver eyes, and she saw nothing but pain. Sadness. Sorrow. He was leaving her, wasn't he? This was the end, wasn't it? If she pulled that chunk of stone out of his stomach, he was going to bleed to death, unless she injected him with a serum real fast. And even then, he would need time for the serum to take effect. Time that if he bled, he wouldn't have.

His hand found her own that was cupping his cheek. He looked up at her. Watching her mourn for him. A sight that he hated more than anything. But he couldn't let her stay. If she stayed, she was going to die, and she was going to die because of him. He didn't want that. "Listen to me… I'm going to bleed out-"

Nathalie shut her eyes and she shook her head in denial. There was no way she was losing him. There was no way she was going to allow this. "No, Levi, don't say that-!"

"It's true… Nat, look at me…" Levi said, but she wasn't doing that.

She wasn't going to do what he asked. Not this time. She couldn't leave him. Him. The man that she loved. The man that she had grown up with. Her Captain. Her husband. Her best friend. Her everything. Who was going to hold her in the nights to drive her nightmares away? Who was going to be there to pick her up whenever she'd fall? Who?! She could never open up like that to anyone else. He was precious. He was so damn precious and so important to her. She couldn't live without him.

Levi cupped her face. His bloody, shaky thumb left a trail of his own blood on her cheek. He needed her to look at him. He needed to look upon those marvellous blue eyes for just one last time. "Nat… look at me… please," Levi pleaded.

No. She didn't want to believe that this was the last time she'd stare down at those wonderful, eyes made of steel but they would always look at her with such tenderness. But she gave in. She pressed her forehead against his own and she finally looked down at him. She supported his bloody hand on her cheek. She ignored the blood on his palm, and she still turned her head and kissed it.

Levi smiled up at her softly. She was so wonderful. So beautiful. She loved him so much. He loved her so much. And he had hurt her. It had only been a few days ago, and he had hurt her. He didn't want to die, knowing that they hadn't yet resolved this.

"I'm so sorry, Nat," Levi said and she shut her eyes and wept soundly. She shook her head in denial. "I'm so sorry I hurt you, I was so desperate… to keep you safe… you- you just mean the world to me," He caressed her cheek weakly and she kissed his bloody thumb. Even talking was tricky. But he had to tell her. He had to let her know that he was sorry even though he had said it before, he just knew it wasn't enough. And Nathalie knew, Levi Ackerman would never speak those words out loud. He never had the courage to say something like this to someone.

"You already apologised, my love," Nathalie pecked his lips, and he could almost taste her tears on her own. Goodness- for once in his life, he didn't want to die. He didn't want to leave her. "I love you so much," She choked out and he wiped her tears with his thumb.

"I love you too… my sweet, sweet Nathalie," He wanted so much to do with her. He wanted to hold a little brat in his arms that would be their own. A little brat that would be as beautiful as her. This wonderful woman that he had married. Alas, that moment was never going to come. He was dying. That realisation hurt far more than the wound in his stomach. He was going to leave his Nathalie. She was going to stay back to face this cruel world alone. No- he reminded himself. Not alone.

His hand had started to feel too heavy already and the painful wound on his stomach stung sharply. But what he was about to say was going to hurt him so much more than that. His Nathalie was going to be okay, even without him. She was going to be okay. He had made sure of that.

"Y- You need to find Erwin… he's going to take… good care of you-" He found he couldn't say a word further. Blood flooded his mouth and he coughed it out. It stained his ascot. The soft white fabric that she had tied around his neck for him a few hours back before they left. They should have never left.

Nathalie supported his head with her arm and she wiped his mouth, his chin, his lips with her handkerchief. The white soft fabric now stained in deep red. She couldn't even begin to explain how much she hated watching him being like this. Wounded, in pain, sad and desperate. How much she wished to be her and not him the one bleeding to death right now. She shook her head.

"I don't love Erwin, I love you dammit," She choked out. Her hand reached for her bag and she pulled out her own injection. Her one hand tightened around him, settling him so that his back rested against her chest.

Levi groaned and snarled in pain from the movement, but this wasn't over. Levi was an Ackerman. He could handle everything. He had to. She needed him to. Her hand reached down and she grabbed the stone that pierced his belly. She pressed a kiss on his temple. His hand found her own that was tight around his chest. This was going to hurt her more than it was going to hurt him.

"I'm so sorry…" Her tears landed on the raven strands of his hair. "This is going to hurt, my love," She whispered softly and shakily against his temple and she held him tight with one hand, the other, clutching on the stone in his belly. Even though he had handled terrible injuries before, this was undoubtedly going to be one of them. Her fingers tightened around the pointy stone and she pulled it out of his stomach with a rough jerk.

Levi gritted his teeth. His head rolled back against her shoulder. His fingers tightened around her arm, digging bruises on her skin painfully. He held back a cry of pain, and instead he snarled and groaned and shut his eyes. The blood rushed out. Nathalie's fingers searched for a vein nearby. She injected him fast with her serum on a vein she spotted near the injured area on his belly. His fingers loosened their hold from around her arm. His body relaxed, finally releasing the tension. His breathing got heavier, slower. It alarmed her. Nathalie looked down at him.

Her hand pressed down on his wound, trying to keep back as much blood as she could from flowing out. Trying to give the serum enough time to work on closing that damned wound. She didn't care how bloodstained her clothes and her fingers were. All she knew, was that his eyes were barely open. His breathing heavy. His skin, pale white. Paler than it usually was. It frightened her. His hand slipped away from her cheek, and landed limp back down in her lap.

Nathalie gritted her teeth. "No…"

She let go of his wound and she caught his hand. Part of her knew it. She just knew it. It was too late. He had lost too much blood, and there was no point trying to press down on that wide open wound. He needed a blood transfusion and she didn't have a blood administration set with her. They were all with the supplies. With the rookies and the horses. But another part of her just didn't want to believe it. She had never thought that she'd lose him. She had never even considered the idea of something threatening that man's life. It always sounded impossible for something to hurt Levi.

Maybe he was right. Maybe she should have never come to this mission. He had taken that hit for her when he pushed her off the rooftop of the abandoned house. She had always been a weakness to him. She had always been one that their enemies would use to get to him. She had always been the reason for him to put his life at risk. And she hated herself for that.

She couldn't tell how much she cried and wept till she could no longer breathe. She couldn't tell how long she clutched onto his limp body. Another wave of rocks and stones and boulders came till there was almost nothing left of the hardened titan that was supposed to shield them. She could not focus on the destruction that spread all around them. Nor the cries of soldiers being slaughtered on the spot.

Levi… Levi was dying. Her husband was dying. The man that she had been clutching onto every night, she was losing him, and there was nothing she could do about that, no matter all that knowledge that ran in her head. He had saved her life so many damn times, and now just this one time that his own life was at risk, she could do nothing. She was useless. So damn useless. She had always been.

Nathalie wept as she buried her face in his neck and she wettened his skin and his shirt with her tears that were enough to blurry the lenses of her glasses. But she didn't care. His skin, cold, unlike any other time she had snuggled close to him. She had spent all those years by his side only to lose him now. The only one that she had left, she was losing him. If only she had never come to this operation. She was going to step out of everything. She couldn't handle the thought of losing him. She couldn't handle knowing that she had lost him, and that she was the reason for that.

"Hang in there, Levi, please…" Nathalie begged helplessly. Her bloody hands clutched on his shirt. She didn't want to check if he had a pulse. She was terrified. She didn't want to know whether he was alive or dead. "…I love you so much, please, I can't lose you, I'll lose everything if you…if you…"

She couldn't even say it. Nathalie shut her eyes, pushing the tears down her cheeks, ignoring the chaos all around her, or the rocks that flied towards them at full speed.

"W- What about our life after the war? In five years from now? What about our little brats running around and… and wrecking our house?" She chuckled bitterly. Those times were never going to come. She would never see him holding their baby in his arms. Having small, chubby fingers wrapping around his own. And the realisation of that just hurt so damn much. Nathalie just shut her eyes and she tried to convince herself that this wasn't happening. "…please, Levi, I- I'll never love again,"

"You won't have to,"