The winds had shifted. Something was wrong.
Even before the first scream cracked through the trees, Levi could feel it in his bones—the kind of chill that sank into your marrow and stayed there, whispering things you didn't want to believe. The mission was supposed to be routine.
Just another tree line. Just another formation. Just another survey out of the wall.
But the birds had vanished.
And Beatrice… Beatrice hadn't answered his last signal flare.
Levi had doubled back without orders, a sick weight sitting in his gut. Hange had tried to stop him. "She's probably fine," they'd said.
But the silence wasn't fine. And Levi had learned—when the world goes quiet, it's because it's waiting to take everything from you.
The rain was no longer just water. It was fury. It lashed through the trees like a scourge, turning dirt to sludge, sky to shadow, and breath to ash. His horse's hooves thundered through the mire, half-sinking, half-flying. Levi didn't feel the branches cutting across his face. Didn't care that his hands bled where his grip had torn through leather reins. His thoughts were one chaotic scream:
"Find her—find her—find her—"
He broke through the clearing. Too late. Too fucking late.
A fifteen-meter aberrant squatted in the centre of a ruined grove, blood seeping from its jaw, splattering in streaks as it chewed.
He couldn't even scream. Not when he saw Isabel's head in the mud. Not when Farlan's jacket flapped from a tree like a flag of death. Not when the titan reached again—this time for something alive.
"BEATRICE—!"
There she was. White hair stained red, shattered blades clenched like she still believed they'd work. She was shrieking—no words anymore, just pure wrath, pure grief—her body a blur of blood, fury, and despair. He'd never seen her like this. He never wanted to again.
She fought like the world had ended and only she had survived to avenge it. She leapt onto its back, embedded her broken swords into its neck, and screamed curses Levi had never heard her uttered before.
"FUCKING DIE, YOU MONSTER! DIE, DIE, DIE!"
And then—A slip. One cable snapped. The other tangled. She fell. Not gracefully. Not like a soldier. Like a girl who had lost everything. The titan caught her midair, crushed her struggling body like a ragdoll.
"LET HER GO—LET HER GO—LET HER—"
CRACK.
The sound was not loud. But it echoed forever.
Levi felt something rip in his chest. His vision blackened at the edges. His mouth moved before his brain could stop it.
"I'LL KILL YOU."
And he did. There was no plan. No form. Only instinct. Rage.
He tore into that titan like a wild animal. Screaming. Ripping. Shredding. Blood painted the sky. He didn't stop until there was nothing left—just steam and the stench of burnt flesh.
He landed. Legs buckling. Eyes scanning. There. Atop the mangled corpse. Beatrice. He was on her in seconds. Collapsed to his knees beside her body—limp, torn, soaked in blood not all her own. He collapsed beside her, hands trembling over her bloodied frame.
Arms bent the wrong way.
Ribs pushing through her side.
Blood pooling from her mouth, her nose, her ears.
She was barely breathing.
Erwin knelt. Silent. Ears near her mouth.
Levi snapped again. "Don't you dare fucking touch her—"
His blade was out before he knew it. Erwin didn't flinch.
"She's alive"
Her eyes weren't open. But she was breathing.
Barely.
Levi froze.
But it didn't bring relief. It brought terror. She was alive—for now.
"We're not moving her, let's wait for the medics." Erwin said quietly.
"We're not leaving her," Levi snapped.
"If you move her like this, she'll die—"
That's when he broke. That's when the rage crumbled into something worse. Grief.
The retreat was a blur. Rain and screams. Wagons soaked. Wheels stuck. Horses were screaming as much as the soldiers. Levi sat in the back of the supply cart beside her.
Not as a Captain. Not as humanity's strongest. Just a man. A man losing the only light left in his hellish world.
Beatrice didn't stir. Didn't twitch. Wrapped in cloaks and bandages, her blood soaked through everything. Her skin was cold, too pale. Levi kept one hand on her cheek. The other clutched hers.
"Stay with me," he whispered. "Don't go. Not you. Not you too."
He bowed his head until their foreheads touched.
"You hear me? You're not allowed to leave." A drop hit her face.
Rain, again?
No. A tear.
"I should've been there. I'm so fucking sorry."
The cart hit a bump. She didn't move. His hands shook. He didn't pray. Levi didn't believe in gods.
But this wasn't prayer. It was begging.
"Please. Please. She's the only one I have."
He didn't blink. Didn't speak again. Just watched her. Waited for her chest to rise. One more time. Just once more. Because if it didn't—
Then Levi Ackerman, the last thing holding this nightmare together, would fall with her.
"Don't go where I can't follow"