Chapter 3

Levi rushed through the door to the hospital, Gunther, Oluo, Eld and Petra in tow. His clothes were flowing out behind him like a superheroes cape due to the speed he was walking, well more like running through the corridor.

He stormed over to the desk glared at the man behind it before saying, "A young woman with blue hair and seriously injured just appeared on your doorstep. Now, you are going to tell me exactly where she is or else I may loose what little control I have left and you don't want to see me when I'm let loose off my chain"

The man shivered and looked absolutely terrified. He froze and just stared at Levi in shear fear. His shaking hand reached over to the record book and he looked inside.

"R-roo-oo-mm 3-6-1 Sir," he stuttered as Levi's piercing scrutiny cut through his soul like a sharp knife.

"Why thank you," he replied with menace in his voice. With one final lingering stare, Levi spun round and carried on his journey to room 361.

~/~

Three floors and 60 rooms later, Levi found himself standing outside the doorway to the room where he was told his missing squad member was. He took a deep breath before barging in nit bothering to knock or see if his squad were still behind him.

A swarm of nurses and one doctor were circling the bed where a woman laid. He couldn't quite see her face but that didn't matter. Through the small gaps in between the medical staff, Levi could see a vibrant streak of bright blue hair. He knew that hair anywhere. It really was Kayla. He wanted to go to her side and hold onto her hand as if she could disappear from existence at any moment but his idealism was thwarted as one of the nurses who must have realised he didn't belong here. She grabbed his arm and tried to banish him from the room but to little success.

"Sir, please leave the room, you can't be here. We have a patient in critical condition." she calmly requested.

"I'm her commanding officer and partner Captain Levi of the special operations squad, you have no right to make me leave this room. I will stay here or would you like for me to bring this incident up with Commander Erwin? I received a phone call from someone at this hospital informing me of her condition which is highly classified so if anyone is not allowed to be here, its you and the rest of these nurses and doctors. So I suggest you let me stay in this room with my partner."

She gave me a look of pure resentment "Very well, Captain Levi" she spat "Just stay out of the doctors way, your partner is still in critical condition."

Thanking the nurse silently, Levi made his way to a single white chair in the corner of the room which he sat down on without a second thought and began to watch as his partner laid on the bed in the middle of the room. How he wished to tell her how much he missed her. He wanted to tell her that things weren't the same when she was gone and how he felt like half of a whole without her. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was that he was unable to save her sooner and she had to endure god knows what.

A light tap the door reminded him that the rest of his squad was still outside probably wanting to come in as much as him.

The nurse form earlier gave him a death glare as if to say 'go answer that door or I am going to kill you little midget'

Complying with her wishes for now knowing it was what would guarantee his allowance into this room. He opened the door to meet his squad members looking all worn out after they'd sprinted up 3 floors of stairs. He smirked at their dishevelled appearances to which they replied with glares of their own. It was Oluo who spoke first.

"Is she in there?" he asked.

A swift nod from Levi confirmed the answer. "It was hard for them to allow me in so I think it would be best if you guys went back, I promise to update you as soon as I hear anything. Also Petra, I think you should probably call Hanji."

A chorus of nods rippled through the small group. "Ok Heichou, but when we are allowed to you can expect us to come back." Eld stated with no room for argument. Another nod from their Captain and the squad left except from Petra who still stood there nervously. She was about to speak but Levi beat her too it "I thought I told you to go back"

"You did, but…." Petra started

"But what?" Levi asked impatiently, he just wanted to go and check on Kayla.

"Please Heichou, she's my best friend and I missed her just as much as you did, maybe a bit less but it was still painful to be without her. I won't go inside just let me stay please."

"Hmmmm,"

"I'll also try to calm down Hanji when she gets here, you know she's going to go crazy over this." Petra begged.

"Tch, fine brat. Alert me when Hanji gets here." Levi demanded and walked back into the room.

When he re-entered the hospital room, it was pure chaos. The once calmish nurses and doctors were now running around with scared and panicked looks on their faces. The heart monitor was spiking and then going flat, spiking and going flat. The scared look was now mirrored onto Levi's face as he strode over to the nurse from earlier.

"What's going on?" he hissed.

"She's waking up from her medically induced coma. But she isn't meat to wake up for at least another couple of weeks." the nurse replied. "And as I'm sure you can see, her heart beat is acting strangely."

"Will she be okay?" Levi asked in an uncharacteristic concerned tone.

"Hopefully. If we can get her to wake up without any problems then we should be able to settle her." the nurse assured him.

Levi gave a nod and walked back over the chair in the corner and settled himself down for a long night.

~/~

Petra sighed happily as she walked away from her Captain. He'd let her stay at the hospital on the basis she could calm down the soon to be rampaging Hanji as she found out that her best friend was alive. Walking over to the phone, she picked it up and dialled Hanji's squad land-line bracing for the soon to be come impact.

"Hello?" Petra asked.

"Petra? Why are you calling at 2 in the morning?"

"Oh, hi Moblit. Is Hanji awake, I need to speak to her, its urgent." she questioned.

"No but I'll go wake her up if its urgent. Out of my pure curiosity, what's so urgent that I'm going to have to wake up my titan-crazy squad leader and probably get physically abused for it?" he joked.

"Umm, I'd love to tell you but it's classified. Sorry."

"Ok," he replied in defeat as he went to wake up Hanji. "Owwwwww, Jeez woman, Petra wants to speak to you."

Petra heard a mumbled "Sorry" as the phone was passed over.

"Whaddya want Petra? I need my beauty sleep too ya know." she grumbled.

Petra giggled at Hanji's half asleep wording "Well, a certain someone is in hospital and alive. Levi told me I ought to call you."

"Hang one slow down. A certain someone is alive? Wait, are you talking about Kayla? I thought she hadn't been heard from in 8 months. She's alive?" Hanji asked incredulously.

"Yeah, she's alive."

Petra didn't get a reply but could hear her soft cries through the phone. Hanji, like Levi, wasn't one to cry often so Petra didn't quite know what to do. SO she just leaned against the wall next to the phone booth and just listened to the tears of happiness. "She's alive," Hanji confirmed.

"Yeah."

"Where is she, I'm coming to see her." Hanji wiped the tears of her face and went all business mode.

"The main hospital, I'm here at the moment. Meet me in the reception."

"Ok, I'll be there in 5 minutes." Hanji hung up and walked over to Moblit about to tell him where she was going. "I'm going to the hospital to see a friend, you're in charge whilst I'm gone."

"Yes Ma'am!" Moblit responded.

Hanji swivelled around and swiftly walked out the door. A smile graced her lips. Not her usual I love titans smile but a smile from finally getting her best friend back.