-Before the 56th expedition outside Wall Rose-

Martha was attending the usual meeting with the team leader, hearing the strategy proposed by commander Erwin.

"Lieutenant Krieger, your team will sweep this area right here", he told her, handing her a semi detailed map of the region. "It should be simple enough for you. We don't want to pressure the kids too much, just yet."

"I agree, sir.", she replied, nodding. Despite being soldiers for almost two years by now, her teammates were still young and didn't have much experience dealing with stressfull situations.

After all the captains being assigned a specific location around base camp, the discussion revolved around the general plan. Supposedly, all of the teams should help secure the advanced outpost and only then split up and cover the individual areas.

-

"How are you feeling?", Hange asked Martha, galloping by her side, while the scouting formation was still tight.

"I'm fine.", Martha smiled, glancing at the other four behind her. "Let's do a clean mission, kids."

"Yes, mam!", they cheered.

"That is... if Lee doesn't start fucking around...", snarled Jake.

"Do you wanna fight?!", he other growled back.

"Oy, I'll punch both of you idiots if you don't stop right now!", the lieutenant threatned, making Hange laugh.

"Sorry, Martha...", the they sulked.

"You should follow Marla and Kayla's example more..", the light brown haired woman noted, praising the calm and composed demeanor of the two girls on her team.

"Don't be so strict, Martha!", Hange laughed. "If you keep that up, you'll turn into a female Levi!"

"Why are you talking about me, Shitty Glasses? Go die.", the raven colored hair man spat, from further in the front of the formation.

-

It didn't take them long to reach the advanced outpost previously set. It was rather rudimentary but it served as a mission support base, crucial to maintaign in order to guarantee future missions' success. It was then that, during an encounter with an abnormal titan, commander Erwin suffered the accident which lead to his arm injury.

Luckily, captain Levi was quick to erradicate the threat, much to everyone's relief. The outpost was a tree platform high enough that no ordinary titan could reach, so it was relatively safe. Provisions from previous missions had been left there, in case something went wrong and they had to stay put for couple of days.

"Commander, are you sure we should continue de mission? It could affect the whole Corps, should you not be in the best of conditions to lead the formation.", Martha questioned Erwin, while he was being looked after by the medic.

"Mike, make sure all goes according to what we'd planned.", the stern man ordered, glancing at his second in command, Mike Zacharias. "Lieutenant, I appreciate your concern, thought it is not needed. Focus on the task at hand."

"Very well, sir. We'll return soon.", she raised her fist to her chest, saluting him one last time before heading out, followed by the other four.

-

From where they were to the entrance of the high wall canyon it as about a 10 minute ride straight forward. Two colossal masses of earth stood proud as if the doorway to Wall Maria herself. No sound could be heard coming from the inside and the air at the rocky gate felt stale.

"Martha, something feels a bit off...", Marla noted, looking uneasy. The lieutenant checked her map once more, to confirm it was the correct place and indeed, they were standing right at the edge of the area they were supposed to clean up.

"Off? Let's go, it's probably just your sense tricking you.", she dismissed the warning, rilling up her horse to enter the passage. The only task they had to do was enter through one way, go out the other and kill any titan in the middle. As simple as that.

The day ws a bit cloudy, having rained earlier and it probably would rain again, judging by the thick dark clouds that dimmed the sunlight shinning on them. Visibility wasn't too good after a rather small radius in open field, hence why they only noticed a 15m class titn when it was relatively close.

"Lieutenant, shall we?", Jake asked her, hands falling to her blades.

"Negative. We need to clean this passage. We'll avoid contact with all other titans if we can. In fact, I don't believe that one has seen us yet, so let's go in and get this over with."

"Right.", they nodded. Despite all of them being young and treating her like she was an older sister instead of a superior officer, they respected Martha and had faith in her decisions as a team leader, knowing she made them with utmost care and attention, in order to guarantee their safety at all times.

"The road is wide enough for two horsemen to ride side by side. Jake, you stay at the back; Sanchez, you ride next to me and Kayla and Lee, you guys go in the middle.", she ordered. They held this formation for a while, trotting calmly through the contorting and maze-like narrow gapped canyon.

"This sure is high...", Marla stated, looking up, to where the walls almost seemed to close up, blocking most of the light from the outside.

"Yeah, miss lieutenant, couldn't you have asked for a better lit area? This looks like a dungeon...", Lee complained, huffing.

"Shut up, you whiny brat.", Martha scolded in a playful tone. "Pay attention to the road nd stop making so much noise.", she looked at the walls that caged them in, noticing something rather odd. According to the map, the materials that made this location didn't match.. "Oy, stop.", she ordered absentmindedly, directing her horse to ge closer to the wall.

"What is it?", Jake asked, looking at her, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"This is... wrong.", Martha's brown furrowed as she touched the frail material that easily crumbled in her hands. "We need to leave now, this is very dangerous."

"Whaaat? Please...", scoffed Lee, smiling, his green eyes shining in the dim light. "We're the Gamma Squad, it's in the bag! Right, guys?"

"Yup.", Kayla smiled at the captain, her flame short locks framing her smooth face as she spoke. "You shouldn't worry so much about us."

"Your enthusiasm is praise worthy, but we should leave right away.", Martha replied dryly, searching for the easiest escape route from that trap.

"What's the matter, tell us, Martha", Sanchez requested.

"The map is wrong. You're right, Marla. Something it very off, they must've fucked it up last time we came here.", the lieutenant answered.

"We'll double back and return to base camp. As simple as that.", Jake concluded.

"Let's go then.", Krieger rushed her horse to turn back but, seeing several titans' silhouettes starting to appear just around the corner behind them, she hesitated. "We can't go that way, it's too dangerous."

"We can make it, Martha", Sanchez tried to sooth her to no avail. "We've been training for this for years, now."

"Look, kids, I know you want to show me what you're capable of, but I already know what you can do. I simply don't want to risk anything, let's continue forward, we'll escape through the other end.", she made her horse turn once more, galloping fullspeed.

They were galloping for about a full minute before they where sure that there was enough distance between them and the titans. Despite being relieved that there were no creatures in sight, Martha couldn't make out which way to go next.

"Where to, mam?", Kayla asked, scooting over and eyeing the intricate maze on the paper sheet.

"I don't understand... It should be right there...", the other replied, unable to believe their situation. She knew she hadn't made any mistakes when reading the fucking map so how was it possible that they were in the wrong spot?

Titan footsteps broke the silence that encased them team and the pressure began to rise.

"I'll climb up and see where we are.", Lee stated, preparing to jump.

"Don't do it.", the leader warned. "These walls are weak and they can't handle your weight."

"You worry too much, miss.", he laughed, launching the cables and securing them to either side of the canyon, before she could stop him, jumping into the air. A titan dragged itself along the path, half of it's flesh constantly being torn by the snaking walls, getting closer to them by the second.

When Lee gave the final impulse to go up even higher, the metal hooks that kept the cables in place tore through the crumbling material, making the boy freefall until he hit the ground, thumping hard against the packed dirt.

"JASON!", Martha shouted, jumping off her horse to help the kid. Kayla did the same and, together, they carried him towards the horses, where he was strapped to the lieutenant's saddle. "NO ONE is to use the gear on the walls, got it?", the older spat, looking at the passed out boy. The titans were starting to surround them but, seeing an opening between their high legs, Krieger steered her squad until they were clear of danger.

-

"Lee...?", Marla gently slapped him, trying to wake him up.

"That idiot...", Martha growled, glaring at him. "Come on, we'll take care of him when we're safe."

-

Once again, the titans caugh up to them, except this time, the gap between the walls was far too narrow to pass through their legs, specially with Lee still unconscious. The space between the walls was small enough that it only allowed one creature to pass through at a time.

Lucky for them, the titans coming from the back would still take few minutes to catch up to them, so they still had a time gap wide enough to take out these ones.

"I'll handle this one", stated Martha, jumping and hooking her cables to the monster's body, turning around it. The immensely narrow space made it hard to reach the other side, causing her to scrape her back on the rocky wall, tearing part of her clothes.

"Martha!", Marla shouted, lunging forward and doing the same as her commander.

"Sanchez, stay where you are! Stay with them!", Martha yelled back, but was ignored, since the brunette had already hooked her metal cables to the titan and swirled around it, reaching its nape at the same time as Krieger.

"You see, captain? You should have a little more faith in us...", she panted, her hands gripping her knees for support. "What a rush! Bring it on!", she chuckled.

"Let's just get out.", the lieutenant stated harshly, ending the chat. They began the ride again, facing yet another titan on the increasingly narrow path.

"I'll go.", Marla said, looking at her commander with a confident stare.

"I'm the leader, I'll go.", Martha held her in place by grabbing her arm.

"The captain should stay here with the others and look after them. This one is shorter than the other, it's easier. Besides, you've already hurt yourself.", she answered, freeing herself from the grasp of the older woman and jumping to attack the creature.

Krieger hadn't even noticed that her uniform was half torn up on the back and shoulder as well, revealing a small set of cuts that were bleeding slightly but nothing very serious. She hadn't even been able to stop the other girl from fighting the monsters. She had to find a way for them to get some rest and attend Lee's injuries.

"Come back here now, Sanchez!", the lieutenant shouted towards the girl that spiraled around between the titan's legs. "Don't go alone then! You two, take care of Lee and the horses, we'll clear a path.", they nodded and she ran towards the beast, attacking it.

Marla quickly took out the smaller titan in front of them and they managed to move on. Martha approached the girl and gave her a slap on the back of the head.

"Hey... that hurts!", the other complained, rubbing the numb area.

"When I give an order, you have to obey! Or do you want something to bad to happen to you, like it did to Lee?!"

"Come on, don't be so stiff, mam. This is kinda fun, actually...", she noted, smiling. "Look, there's another one."

"This one...", Martha looked at its figure. It was wider than the others, a fact revealed by the lack of skin on both its arms as shoulders. The space between it and the walls was even shorter than any of ther previous ones. It also seemed abnormal, seeing that it threw itself against the one of the sides periodically. "It's too dangerous, let's find another way past it. It seems to me like there's something up ahead on one of the walls"

"Easy-peasy!", Sanchez laughed, jumping again. The lieutenant had no other choice but to go after her.

"Stop trying to be a fucking her, Marla! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"Don't worry about me, I'm-"

"WATCH OUT!", Jake's scream ecchoed through the whole maze. He yelled as he saw the shift in the titans feet but she wasn't able to move in time and the creature's shoulder crushed her against the rocky wall. A loud impact was heard and some blood spewed out, staining the earth near the corpse. "Get out of there, Martha!", Jake shouted at her, who was barely able to rip her cables off the creature's flesh without almost getting crushed as well. She fell on the ground, rolling a few meters before getting up and running towards the other three.

"We need to go, now. I think there's enough space under this one's legs, we need to hur-", before she could end the sentence, the horse that carried Jake was grabbed by another titan that had appeared behind them, the boy having jumped off of it at the last second possible.

"L-l-l-l-lieutenant...", Kayla whimpered, holding the reins so tighly, her knuckles had turned white. The stench of rotten eggs and fresh blood mixed with the scent of rain created a mist that travelled around them, impregnating itself on their clothes.

"Relax, now's not the time to panic. let's go!", Martha yelled, pulling Jake up to Kayla's horse and mouting her own, where Lee was still asleep. "Through it's legs!"

She instigated her horse to run as fast as it could, making a sharp turn to escape the monster's foot. On the left side of the path, there was an indentation that could be a cave of something where they could hide. She looked up, to where the stain left by Marla's body was and clenched her jaw, gritting her teeth.

The loud sound of the titan munching on her fellow soldiers bones was more than enough to make her want to throw up but she managed to keep it together, afterall, she had three other people to care for. If only she'd been more stern... Sanchez wouldn't be dead.

Martha looked back at the other two, to make sure they were doing alright and, seeing them almost being stepped on by the creature, she got distracted, steering her horse poorly and making it trip on a slight hollow on the ground. The animal rolled over at high speed and she and Lee were launched off of its back, ending up hitting the soil and rolling a couple of meters. Realising they were about to fall, Krieger hugged Lee tightly, protecting it from the impact.

A few meters ahead, she got up slowly, picking up the boy and seeing her horse with an exposed fracture.

"We need to call for help...", she muttered to herself, franticly looking around an finally locking her gaze on the saddlebag which rested beneath the injured animal. The other two arrived there in a couple of seconds.

"Martha, are you okay?", Jake asked.

"Don't mind me. Kayla, take Lee inside.", she pointed at the cave. "Jake, help me take this off.", they tried to lift up the horse but its injury was probably too painful for it to move. "I'm sorry, friend...", the woman whispered sofly, pulling out her blade and using it to detach the animal's vertebrae, killing it quickly.

Thus, they managed to roll it off the saddlebag, where the flaregun was stored. There was a small box with several flares of different colors but Krieger wasn't succeeding at holding it properly. All the effort she'd made and the stress of the whole situation had made her hands start to shake, making it harder to load the gun.

"Martha, they're closing in, hurry up!", Jake rushed her, his voice had an alarmed tone to it.

"Almost there...", she finally opened the stupid box and took one of the flares but, before she could load the gun, she was pulled into the cave.

Right on time before a hand tried to grasp what was there before, picking up the horse instead. Neighing was heard but then everything went silent once more. Martha had back up against the wall inside the small cavern, trying to regain focus and balance.

"We need to call for help.", she mumbled, her eyes fixated on the entrance. Low sounding sobs were heard, coming from where Kayla was, kneeling next to Lee. The lieutenant approached the entrance only to jump back, avoiding the huge hand that entered it, scratching the floor, while searching for them. "Jake, are you okay?", Martha turned to the boy hunched over and leaning against the smooth rock, trying to swallow his breakfast back down. He sat up, glaring at the spastic appendage of the monster.

"Y-yes, I am, Martha", he nodded, coming out of his trance.

"Kayla..?", the older woman turned to the red head, that wept loudly now.

"Marla.. is dead!", she yelped, covering her puffy face with her hands.

"I know... come on, we still have to help Lee...", she let her hand rest on the girl's shoulder but her muscles recoiled and she pulled up her knees to her chest, burying her face and sobbing silently.

Without a plan yet, Krieger sat down by the passed out boy, taking his head on her lap and lightly slapping it, while checking for major wounds.

"Lee..?", she whispered softly, but she recieved no answer. He was still breathing and had a pulse so, he should probably wake up soon either way. Still, he needed medical attention immediately. "Kayla, are you wounded?", her response was a negative head nod. From what Martha had seen of Jake, he was also okay. She was the only left.

The adrenaline and her worry for them had completely overrided her sence of pain. Looking at her shoulders, she noticed that the small cuts she'd made earlier were now larger and had made her a new bloody sleeve where the clothes had ripped.

Tearing the bottom of her shirt, now dirty, she tied some sort of bandage with her teeth. Certainly, she'd have other wounds throughout her body but now wasn't the time to think about that. She felt something move on her lap.

"Ngh...", Lee mumbled.

"Jason?", Martha looked at his face relieved that he'd finally regained concience, even though his eyes were still closed. "How do you feel?"

"Captain? What... happened?", slowly, his green irises were revealed and moved to stare straight at her, who didn't nothing more than smile and softly caress his disheveled hair.

"You disobeyed me, like you always do, and you fell.", she chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. "Don't you remember that?"

"Yeah... sort of, sorry about that.", he smiled apologetically. He seemed to have some trouble breathing and also being in some sort of pain, seeing as his face contorted from time to time. "I can't...-"

"Breathe properly? It should be expected, you probably have a few broken ribs, so. Don't wo-"

"...feel my legs.", hearing this, Martha's train of thought stopped. In fact, it completely derailed and burned to a crisp. A cold sweat trickled down her semi exposed back and her stomach turned, forming a tight knot.

"What do you mean..? Can't you feel this?", her fingers pinched tightly a bit of skin above his knee.

"Feel what?...", he seemed confused by the whole situation. When he tried to sit up, she helped him, letting him rest against the inner wall. "Captain... honestly, will I ever walk again?", he asked, afterwards jumping at the sight of the enormous hand digging the entrance of the small cave. Luckily for them, the titan didn't have enough reach to get close to where they were sitting. "Where even are we?"

"We found a cave on the edge of the gap.", Jake answered him before the commander could.

"We need to find a way to alert the others... " she mused, her gaze pensive as she looked at the loaded flare gun.

"Where's Marla?", Lee asked, sounding distracted.

"Sanchez... she...", Martha began mumbling, feeling her eyes fill with tears. "She was caught...". The lieutenant stood up and paced around for a moment, before walking towards Jake, avoiding Lee's glazed look on her back; she could feel his stare burning her.

"What happened?", he questioned, swallowing a cry.

"She tried to take out a titan too dangerous for us and didn't make it."

"And the captain didn't go back for her...", Kayla added, speaking in a low poisenous tone.

"What did you say?", Martha spat, glancing at the shrivelled up girl on the corner. "I warned her not to go and she didn't listen to me.", why did Kayla have to do this... during a mission, when lives were at stake, why did she have to throw a tantrum and make the commander sound like the bad guy... She didn't want to shout, nor get mad at them; not after they'd just lost a friend. "Kayla...", she kneeled in front of the red head, her forehead resting against the top of the other's head.

She felt her tears moisten up her face and ligthly caressed the younger girl's hair, who continued to refuse to lift up her face, rejecting any contact.

"We'll leave this place soon enough, come on, don't let fear take hold of you. We knew there'd be tough moments like this when we joined.", Martha whispered softly.

"M-marla said...", Kayla mumbled, her words inaudible. The lieutenant didn't have time do stick around taking care of each person's mental state; they had to find a way out of there and fast. When she got up, Lee pulled the red head into a tight hug, trying to comfort her.

Walking towards Jake, Martha noticed he was inspecting the monstruous hand, probably trying to find a weakness.

"Martha, I don't know how we're going to do this...", he sighed in a low voice, so the others couldn't hear them.

"Me neither...", she hated to admit that she didn't have a plan, specially now that she'd been praised by Erwin for being a rather good strategist. Krieger looked closely at the opening, hoping to observe the outside, through the small gaps left when the arm moved around.

-

"Use me, Martha.", she heard Jason say.

"What?! Are you insane?!", Jake yelled at him, throwing himself at the other's neck and almost shaking him violently before realising he was still injured.

"I'll probably never walk again... If we gave the titan something to chew on, he'd take the hand out for a moment and then we could shoot the rocket, right?", he proceeded.

"That is completely out of the question. We are not sacrificing anyone.", Martha replied, her stance and tone firm.

"So what? We just stay here forever until the four of us die?!", Kayla complained, her voice almost hysterical. She seemed to have lost some mental sanity, judging by her appearance; her puffy face and bloodshot eyes, illuminated only by the ocasional sun rays that crept into the cave.

"Calm down...", the older on advised. They couldn't afford to start fighting. "No one will die here. Let's all be calm and think about a plan. You two rest, we'll handle this.", clearly, no help would come from a crippled boy who had now a death wish and a girl willing to have the murder of her friend on her hands for no good reason. They'd all die, then. "Jake, come here, I think I have an idea."

"Tell me."

-

He nodded after listening to the whole thing, smiling when he realised I seemed to be keeping a sort of leveled head, even when faced with such danger. He was a good kid, even though he fought a lot with Lee from time to time. He was, however, from the lot of them, the one most difficultly would let themselves be dominated by fear.

"Ready?", I asked, moving towards one of the sides of the creature's arm, while he flanked from the other side.

"Let's go.", he nodded with a stern expression on his face, looking concentrated at the spastic limb.

"If something happens to me, take care of those two, will ya?", my lips curled into a soft smile as the words fell from my mouth.

We took out our blades and began to chop off the arm. There was a window of a few minutes before it could regenerate so then we could go outside and shoot the fucking flare. The shot had to be well aimed because, if it were to hit one of the walls, it would blow up and not be seen from outside de canyon.

As soon as the arm was severed from the rest of the body, I left the cave with the gun on my hand, seeing a series of titans begin to assemble around where we were and, lifting my gaze up to the sky iI saw where the huge wall broke and let the grey skies be seen. Jake had left the cavern as well, holding up his swords to try and protect his captain.

"Go back inside!", the yell left my lips without me even realising. My full attention was on the cloudy dope above us, where I had to hit.

"I won't leave you alone out here!"

"If I die, it doesn't matter!", I yelled, feeling the tears come back and blurring my vision. "I can't let anymore of you die... for fucking once, obey me!"

Out the corner of my eye, I saw him lowering his swords and running inside. I took the shot and waited a couple of seconds until the flare passed the top of the canyon, filling me with joy and relief. At least now, someone would know we were having problems. However, those extra seconds of me not moving had let the titans get nearer.

The jump I made wasn't on time and I couldn't escape the giant hand that grabbed me, squeezing my body tightly. My own swords cut me, creating shallow valleys on my exposed flesh but, after a few seconds, I managed to get enough momentum to cut open the monster's hand. From up there, the sight of Jake watching me, expectantly, and hesitant in obeying my command made my heart clench.

I fell on the floor, getting up out of balance and throwing myself into the cave, latching on to Jake's hand, that helped pull me in. My body landed over his, muscular arms holding me tight as his wavering chest revealled an unsteady heartbeat. We got up and he hugged me once again, making me feel his light sobbing.

"I'm so happy you're okay, cap... I thought we were gonna lose you for good...", he smiled, still crying and crushing me in her embrace, making my injuries throb even more. I didn't complain, simply returning the hug.

"They'll be here for us soon enough.", I smiled, patting his hair and nuzzling his tired head on the crook of my neck.

All this took about five seconds, before his face contorted in horror and he turned us around, being caught by a giant hand that had reached inside de cave. I ran outside, wielding my swords, looking up. He struggled to try and take his blades off their holsters but, but he could, the hand crushed him and I saw his body go limp, falling into the mouth of a 15m class titan. I hadn't been fast enough to help him and had to run back inside to escape the other creatures.

"Jake...", my head seemed almost like it was in a daze, sitting with my knees up and fingers laced amongst knotty hair strands.

"He died too...", Kayla whispered. The anguish climbed up the back of my throat and a sob escaped from my lips. My hand clenched my face, trying desperately to suppress the the tears that rolled down dirt covered cheeks. "Lieutenant... we're gonna die here...", she whispered again. She wasn't crying anymore, not that I could hear over the sound of my own sobs, that I tried so hard to hold in.

He looked so happy for us finally getting rescued... and the he sacrificed himself for me... Fucking idiot.. It wasn't supposed to be like this, kids shouldn't need to die like that... The sound of a sword being unsheated woke me from the trance and my eyes darted to where Kayla was.

Kneeling besides Lee, facing him. He seemed to have passed out again, his eyes closed and leaning over to one side. She held up the sword and slowly crawled up to him.

"Kayla, what are you doing?", I sprung up and pulled out my blades, preparing to attack.

"We're gonna die anyways, lieutenant... They're gonna get us...", she didn't look at me, instead raising her sword a bit more until it was at the boy's neck level. Her voice sounded soft, almost playful and the sent a shiver down my spine, making me tremble slightly.

"Enough of this fucking nonsense, what do you think you're doing?!", I rushed towards them, stopping her movement with my sword, throwing her back. "Do you think I'm going to let you kill a comrade? You're mistaken.", what the hell was wrong with her...? Then, when she lifted her gaze to face me, my eyes captured sight of her manic stare, the smile that was too wide, the bloodshot eyes, the despair that oozed from her face.

"He,", she pointed at Lee with her sword "will never be useful to Humanity ever again... I'm just giving him an honorable death...", she laughed.

"Kayla, stop this, face the reality. Wake up and look at yourself, you were about to kill Jason...", I tried reasoning with her but, judging by her staggering walk, it was already too late.

"I'm just doing what any good friend would do... Martha... Between being eaten by a titan or dying at my hands, I think I know what he prefers. But don't worry, I'll help you with that as well...!", she jumped towards me, swords clashing a couple of times.

It wasn't hard repelling her or throwing her back, even with my injuries. But I didn't want to fight her... Help was almost on its way, why couldn't she just wait a bit more?

"I don't wanna fight... look, I'm putting my swords away...", I announced, sheating my blades, while looking expectantly at her. I wanted Kayla to do the same, to realise I wasn't a threat and to just hold on a bit more... just a bit more..

"This is all your fault. Marla told you she had a bad feeling and you ignored her. Then you let Lee get hurt and then you used Jake to save yourself... but you know what? It's not worth it... we're all gonna die anyway, Martha! I'd rather die by my own sword!", she yelled in a wild frenzy, lifting up her blade towards her neck. "No one is coming to get us!"

I lunged towards her, grabbing the sword with my bare hand, feeling the sharp metal sink cutting and sinking itself into my flesh, stinging as it dragged deeper. The hot liquid escaped from between my fingers, dripping on to the floor. But it was too late, the open wound on her neck spurted out blood, spewing some of it to my face. I pressed the opening firmly, trying to keep her from bleeding out, the dense fluid evading my attempts at stopping it's flow.

Slowly, we slid onto the floor, where I laid her down over my lap, so I could put more pressure on the gash.

"Kayla, fuck you... why?... Come on, fucking hell, hang in there just a couple more minutes, please.", my face felt warm, with bitter tears pouring heavily onto her now doll like face, her eyes stuck looking at mine, seeming duller with each passing instant. Even though I was managing to stop the bleeding, she was still drowing in her own blood, that flowed into her lungs on its own due to how she'd cut herself.

I tried to clear them out but in a matter of minutes, she laid there on my lap, inanimate, starting to get cold.

"FUCK!", trying to sound as loud as I could, my chest filled and yelled again, flooding the cave and the canyon with screams of pain and despair. My head fell to her static chest, missing her pulse and breathing. My cries intensified as the body I clenched grew colder and stiffer. I dared not move from where I was. Or maybe I couldn't move, my muscles refused to obey the electric commands coming from above.

For two years... I'd seen them grow and turn into soldiers. They weren't even 18! "What happened to you, Kayla... you were such a calm and sweet girl... why-", a yelp stopped the words from coming out and the bones in my jaw clenched, pulsating with pain, trying to suppress the torment I was feeling.

So distracted was I, that my ears didn't even pick up the sound of someone outside and only when the silhouette of a person appeared at the cave's entrance, replacing the giant arm, did I turn and saw corporal Levi looking at me.

-

I woke up with a jump, sitting up and looking at my bandaged hand. I didn't notice that the lance corporal was looking at me, studying my movements with his piercing gaze.

My body moved on its own, all thought abandoning my head for a few seconds. My arms wrapped around his waist and my face nuzzled his lap, silent tears falling from my eyes. It was like I was seeing myself from the outside. Only then did I realise what my body had done on its own accord and I looked up, meet the captain's surprised stare.

Immediately, I recoiled, my face flushed with shame and embarassment.

"I'm so sorry, captain!", the words sounded pathetic, my useless apology couldn't ease the state of my heart, pouding like a caged beast and the heat that had risen to my face. I tried to stand up to leave and hid in the whole my brain desired to try and escape but the cracked ribs from earlier protested and I was forced to sit down once more.

He didn't even say anything, getting up and just leaving. I was alone again. A hand reached up to my burning face to cover it and the fingernails dug slightly, to try and ease the shame. A knot formed in my stomach, realising that the warmth of the captain's body had helped ease my initial fear and discomfort, even if accidentaly.

How would it feel to sense Levi's arms around me in a soft embrace, soothing my night terrors with merely his light touch. He pleasant scent involving me and creating a bubble between me and the outer world, the warmth of his body and skin. The undeniable peace they brought me when we were close.

I was forced to refrain my imagination, laying down again and pulling the covers up to my neck, forcing myself to think about other things rather than the events of that night.