Chapter 1

Seeing Levi's small frame in the grass amidst more debris than he could even register, he jumped off his horse. Only a few steps had to be taken before he was by his side. Gently, careful to hurt the person he cherished most, he took Levi in his arm as he heard the other people approaching behind him. For a second he didn't even care about the people behind him, his heart beating faster and faster as he looked at the small men in his arm.

'I am going to shoot him through the head,' one of the men behind him exclaimed.

Erwin's hand searched for Levi's wrist, finally wrapping around the small wrist. Suddenly he felt it, a pulse. It was barely there and it could easily be missed. But he felt it. He hadn't lost another comrade. Not yet.

Cradling the small black haired man in his arm, he sat up even straighter, as to protect him from all the men behind him. They wanted nothing more than see humanities strongest soldier dead and he wasn't about to let that happen.

'He is dead,' he lied, not looking up at the people behind him.

But looking down at Levi he did feel his chest sink. The horrible injuries to his face, his mangled hand and the possibility of internal bleeding worried him.

He had to get out of here. Even if he wouldn't make it, he didn't want the person he cared about the most to die in a field, possible even shot to make sure he was dead by the people behind him.

'Let me take his pulse'

Before he could argue, their attention was instead pulled towards the titan nearby.

Holding Levi in his one arm, almost crushing the man against his own body, he ran into the river, taking Levi with him.

He didn't stay in the water long, holding Levi and swimming wasn't possible at the same time with his one arm so instead he climbed out of the water behind some rocks, throwing Levi over his shoulder as he started running.

Although he had only one arm to carry him, Levi wasn't that hard to carry. His small, light body was barely a show of the brave, strong man he was. Looking back, he worried about the trail they were leaving, leading them right to their location.

'Gotta take care of you before we can continue,' Erwin groaned, stumbling between the trees. He felt tired himself, going on for days now without proper rests or food as everything inside and outside of the walls had gone to shit.

Gently, he lifted the man from off his shoulder, his hand behind his head as he gently laid him down. Even more gently he wiped the hair away from his face, that had gotten stuck onto the blood on his forehead.

He seemed even paler than when Erwin had found him in the grass, blood still seeping from his face and the wounds around his hand. After his own injury, losing his own arm, he hadn't thought that seeing Levi so hurt, losing two fingers, would hit him this hard. But it did. The person he felt the most for, he appreciated the most and was the most important in his life didn't deserve this.

'I got you, I got you,' Erwin mumbled, more to himself than to his captain as he gently put him down on the ground, still looking back every now and then to make sure that they were not being followed. Kneeling down, he was grateful as he heard a small rattle coming from Levi, signaling that although barely, he was still breathing.

Ripping the cape apart that was barely hanging onto Levi's body, already partly shredded from the explosion, he started to rip it into pieces.

'Don't worry, you can have mine,' he mumbled softly, chuckling a little nervously as he wasn't even sure what to do, he was so scared about losing his best friend. His captain. The most special person in his life. The first aid kit was still on his hip, but he knew there was no time. He had not been fast swimming and running away carrying his captain and he knew that there wasn't much more time than trying to stop the bleed so they wouldn't leave a trail.

Tying some of the strips of fabric as tight as possible around his hand, he heard voices in the distances. Wrapping the rest of the fabric around his face, he was worried about the debris that was still lodged in there, but there was no time.

Hearing people approach, he knew better than to fight them and instead lifted Levi over his shoulder again, stumbling into the bushes to get away as fast as possible.

Only as night was falling, he dared to slow down. He could see the outline of the wall in the distance. He also spotted the outline of a roof, one of the farms that had been abandoned years ago. The rain still pouring over them, Erwin knew it was the best chance for them to stay. Scouring the location, there was nobody around and careful he opened the wooden, creaky door to go inside. It had clearly been empty for years, but as soon as he saw the fireplace in the middle of the room and few personal belongings left behind, he felt a little hopeful.

Scared as he lowered Levi from his shoulder, worried that this hours long trek had been too long on the injured man, he sighed with relief as he could see Levi's chest rise as he laid him down.

'Damn, you Ackermans are hard to kill,' he sighed with relief.

Out of the rain at last, he looked around the house for a second, making sure that he was not missing anything that could help him now. Grabbing some of the sheets from the beds, he put them in front of the windows before lighting a fire in the fireplace, placing his blade in the flames.

Careful, gently, he took the cape from around his face, moving him closer to the fire so he could see what he was doing. Taking the pliers from the first aid kit, he took a deep sigh before starting what he knew he needed to do.

'I am really sorry-' he mumbled softly, taking out the pieces of wood lodged in his face. Even though Levi had not came to, he could feel his body shiver and he was not sure if it was the cold in the house, the fire going but not nearly having warmed up the abandoned farm at all, or the wet and bloody clothes still around his body.

He was almost laying on top of him, struggling to do the careful work of taking all the wood pieces out of his face with his left hand. Looking as his blade was still in the fire, he already hated what he had to do.

Most of the debris was gone from his face now and Erwin looked at the wet clothes slumped around Levi, his lips even tinged with a disturbing shade of blue.

'I hope you don't mind,' he just said softly as he took his clothes of him, not wanting to do anything against the wounded man's wishes, but knew it was something he had to do if he wanted Levi to survive. Inspecting his body, he didn't see any bruises and he felt a little calmer, knowing that he was most likely not bleeding internally.

Walking over to the bed, he took one of the woolen blankets off and put it over Levi's legs, finally walking to the fire to take his blade from between the flames.

Putting Levi's right wrist between his ankles, he made sure it was secure before he carefully lowered the heated blade onto the stumps where his fingers still had been hours ago. For a second he worried about Levi waking, but the pale short man didn't react at all.

After a few seconds he pulled the blade away, trying to move back from the smell of burned flesh. He tried to keep the bile coming up down as he laid back, moving the hot blade away and taking a breath for a second.

Finally he got up again to pick up the first aid kit, grabbing bandages to wrap up his hand, the stumps burned closed. Wrapping it up, he look at his face, sighing deeply.

'I don't know how to do this with only one hand, Levi,' Erwin mumbled, finally hearing his own voice break after the exhausting day and all the worries he felt for the person he cared about the most. He was glad Levi wasn't here for everything he had to go through to survive, but still he wished the man would just tell him he was going to be okay. He needed him to be okay.

Grabbing his cape, he carefully put it under Levi's head. Looking through the windows for a second, he didn't see anybody around and went outside, looking if there was a well around. In the dark, he was even more careful now that they had a fire going, worried that somebody would find his unconscious captain on the floor.

Finally, behind the house, he found a well and clumsily as he couldn't reel the rope in, he finally got it up there. Even moreso now he realized how much Levi helped him every day with the things that were a lot harder with only one hand.

Checking the water, he wasn't sure how fresh it was, but knew he didn't have much of a choice.

Taking the ripped sheets, he gently started to clean his face, still not sure how he was going to stitch it up. He knew he had to find a way, as he wasn't going to lose Levi, no matter what. The small man was even paler now and Erwin knew all the blood he had lost wasn't helping. Looking at the large wound on his face, he knew he had to do something.

Taking the thread, scissors and pliers, he moved closer to Levi again, starting with his left and pulling the thread with the pliers between his teeth. His mind kept wondering how much better Levi would have been off if anybody else had found him, but he knew that he most likely would be dead. Finishing up the last stitch, he spit out the pliers.

'Thankfully you did not wake up for this,' Erwin said softly, chuckling a little at the idea of Levi waking up with him hanging over him, stitching up his face clumsily.

He felt his stomach sink though, looking at the uneven stitches and he bit his lip, feeling guilty had hadn't been able to do a better job. Taking a deep breath, he just tried not too feel bad about it and started to wrap up his face with the bandages.

Finally, he lifted up the small man, the man easily fitting in his one arm as he carried him to the bed in the corner. Wrapping him into his way too large cape and the blanket, he gently laid him down, looking as the fire was going down, hoping it meant that they could keep their location a secret.

Holding his left hand as he sat beside him, his blade at the ready incase anybody would come here to hurt them, he suddenly brought Levi's unharmed hand towards his mouth, gently kissing it, holding the tiny hand in his giant hand and not letting go, as if it was a last lifeline.

'Please, I can't lose you,' he whispered, tears in his eyes as tears filled his eyes, thinking of the nights they had secretly spend together inside the walls.