Levi's eyes widened and for a brief moment he fought back, trying to ward off the intense grasp of connection he felt as her desperate request echoed around his head. He could feel it so clearly: every emotion and every reason Arya had to ask this of him. She needed to make a stand and defend, to help keep their foes at bay long enough for all of them to see another morning. Her pleas battered Levi's defenses, and he realized with chagrin that he had a choice to make. He could either ignore whatever this was between them and risk losing more people, or he could embrace it for the sake of their survival, and right now seemed like no better time to choose.

With a shuttering sigh Levi relented, lowering the walls he had built up inside his mind and, if only for the briefest of moments, offered it to her. Reaching up he placed one of his hands over hers, and Arya let out a wild gasp as an indescribable force of power flowed through her body. Her strength returned; exhaustion banished away as if she would never need to sleep again. She was focused, ready to do whatever was needed to be done to ensure that no one else had to give their lives to save her.

Pulling her hands away from Levi, she let her arms drop to her sides. He still had ahold of her hand, his rough palm burning against her skin. How she could let him touch her like this with no trace of fear in her heart was once baffling, but now it simply solidified her resolve. Arya turned away to look at Armin, who was staring wide-eyed at them, seeming caught between needing to leave and wanting to stay.

"Go, Armin. Get everyone else out of here and make a break for the edge of the city. We will keep them off you long enough that no one else needs to die." He gave her a fearful nod and she turned back to Levi, who met the intensity of her expression with a fierce grimace.

"Ready?"

It was her turn to nod, tightening her grip on her hilts and his hand. "Ready."

A huge burst of air rocketed out from his air compressor, sending the two of them streaking into the air and across the courtyard to where several dozen soldiers were advancing on Jean and Quinn, pushing them into a corner near the stables. The mechanisms on Levi's back twisted, sending him into a tight spin. As they barreled towards the group he gave a hard tug on Arya's hand, sending her flying at impossible speeds towards the soldiers.

She wheeled back her blades and with a ferocious swing allowed the momentum to send her careening through the center ranks, howls of agony and a cloud of red mist hanging in her wake. Levi was right behind her, throwing his arms upwards in a powerful strike to a woman who had been distracted by the carnage that Arya had left behind her. Meeting back in the middle of the enemies' formation they spun around one another, hacking down half a dozen troopers while the rest scattered in alarm.

Jean, who had fired off a couple shots at the approaching group, once again found himself watching in awe as Levi and Arya worked around one another in perfect form; though in this case their blades were as real as the enemies they faced. With a cry he threw himself back into the fray, beating down a man that was trying to get Arya within range of his shots.

The place where they had once bent their heads to Historia for their efforts in reclaiming wall Maria had become a slaughterhouse, deafened by the sounds of gunfire and screams of soldiers. Even with the aid of whatever power Arya and Levi had summoned, they couldn't hold back the endless flow of enemy forces as every guard, sentry, cadet and Elite converged on the Capitol fortress. Their ranks were beginning to take shape again, most of which were concentrating their efforts solely into separating Levi and Arya. None of them could touch down on a surface for more than a few seconds before gunfire rained down on them.

Try as they may, they were losing. As the Allied Nations rescue team started to feel as though they were about to drown in a sea of red, Levi parried a blow and called out to Jean and Quinn, pointing at the Northern edge of the city where they had entered not hours before.

"Pull back!" He yelled, wiping the blood from his face. "Our ride is here!"

Thundering across the sky at engines full throttle, their mighty airship was soaring over the farthest reaches of Mitras. They had know that flying directly over the center of the city would most likely result in them being shot down by cannons or other anti-aircraft projectiles, and so the craft was flying in a wide arch from East to West with just enough structures beneath it that they would be able to reach the hull during the fly-by.

It was pure genius of Oz to have brought along the portable radio to keep in contact with the flight crew, even though the original plan had called for a much stealthier approach to their rescue. He had been right to suggest a contingency plan, as now it was clear that it was the only means for retreat that they had.

Acknowledging this Jean and Quinn took off, meeting Connie and Armin along the outer wall of the castle. Even with more soldiers mustering from the outside, every Jaegerist within the walls was being sucked into the destruction Levi and Arya were reaping.

Following tightly behind Pieck as they made a hasty exit from the walls, Gabi tried desperately to stay the flow of images that were bursting into the forefront of her mind. The Attack Titan bursting out of the earth, Zophia's pale legs sticking out from the rubble, the blood oozing out of the wound on Udo's head, and now the airship raining fire down on the city. This horrible scene was so close to the massacre of Liberio that it took her breath away, and tears trickled down to her chin.

When will the fighting finally end? Gabi thought as she disappeared over the wall. I've spent my whole life as a weapon for the "cause"; will there ever be day when We can be free of this, or is this all there will ever be?

Along the Eastern edge of the group that had begun to swing out towards their hopeful exit, Mikasa dodged around the corpses that were being left in her ally's wake.

As bizarre and terrifying as it was to see Captain Levi fight so in tune with someone else, the energy and power the two of them were giving off was almost intoxicating. More than once Mikasa had to fight the urge to join in their massacre, almost like they were a whirlpool pulling her towards them and insisting that she join them.

Yet she pushed on, focused intently on Armin, who was running towards her on the catwalk and gesturing frantically.

"Come on, Mikasa! We need to go!" He turned and yelled as loud as he could to Arya and Levi to do the same, and they broke from the enemy ranks and flew towards them. Just as they were about to soar over them and into the city, Armin's face changed from severe concern to blank surprise.

Mikasa had only just made it to the section of wall where he stood waiting, and he turned to her. Four holes had punctured his white button-down shirt, where there were now blossoms of crimson beginning to bloom. He looked down at them almost curiously then back to Mikasa, who was closing the distance as fast as she could. He took one single step towards her, arm stretched out as if to take her hand, then he fell to the side and over the outer edge of the wall.

"ARMIN!"

Mikasa's strangled cry reached Arya just as she passed overhead, and she looked down. Armin was falling, his vacant eyes locked on hers as he plummeted towards the ground soaked in blood. Every thought and feeling that Arya had ever felt evaporated; replaced with nothing but a searing pain that drove the air from her lungs in a huff. The hilts tumbled out of her hands and the gas that was propelling her forward cut out, causing her to collide with the slanting roof of the building in front of her with a hard crash. Struggling to her knees, Arya gave a heaving sob, numbness seeping into her brain.

Please, no… not him... he can't be gone.

Before she could even try to get her feet underneath her, a humungous bang rang out from somewhere within the castle walls. The Jaegerist soldiers had wheeled out several modified anti-titan cannons from a storage room along the far walls and had open fire on the building where Arya remained frozen in place. Two massive, spiked cannonballs were hurtling through the air towards her, and Arya closed her eyes and braced.

A startled screech tore from her lips as impact came from a totally different direction, slamming into her from the side instead of head on. For the second time that night Arya felt arms wrap tightly around her, throwing her from the roof and shielding her against the explosion of wood and metal that rained down from the collision above as they plummeted to the ground.

Even as Levi tried to use his ODM to slow their decent, the two of them tumbled and smashed to the ground hard, falling with the debris thrown from the roof and into an alleyway one street over from the now burning building.

They both cringed as the splintered wood fell around them, Levi hovering over her on his elbows screening her from the incoming wreckage. Eventually the sound of the explosion dwindled away and was replaced with the yells of advancing military. This was bad: not only were they more than likely surrounded now, they were also on the ground, unable to use their gear without being gunned down the second they appeared above the house line. Whatever was left of their team had most certainly started making their way to the airship; a ride that they would miss if they couldn't move.

Arya looked up at Levi; their connection was keeping fear at bay, but she knew that if they couldn't come up with an escape route within the next 30 seconds, they would be dead… dead like...

A deep growl rumbled in the back of his throat as he returned her look, seemingly coming to the same conclusion she had. He whipped his head around, searching for an answer while she watched a bead of sweat mingle with the blood smeared along his temple, dripping down along his jawline. The sound of ODM gear was getting closer, loud voices barking commands nearly on top of them. Levi stiffened, looking back at her and nodding down the alleyway. Turning her head to the side, Arya glanced over and gave the slightest of smiles.

As a fleet of soldiers passed over the collapsed roof in pursuit of their fleeing attackers, a surveillance squad swung low through the side street filled with waste from the house above. The alley was full of rubble, but there was no sign of the people they had shot at. Assuming they had taken off down the street the team separated, combing through the roads that split off into the urban structures, passing swiftly by a large, broken sewer grate that disappeared into the darkness below the earth.