Blood

Lara couldn't feel her fingertips anymore.

She, Hange, and Levi were still being dragged by the freezing waters of that strong river flow.

The few Jaëgerists who were still chasing them were now dots on the horizon. It would take them at least a good few minutes to catch up.

Lara looked at her mother, who was as white as a sheet of paper, her eyes wide and her jaw shivering with the cold.

Among them, the blood that did not stop coming out of Levi mixed with the waters.

"We gotta get out of here!" exclaimed Lara, trying to make her voice be heard above the strong noise of the flow, "We need to find a shelter, right now! Mom!" she turned to Hange, "You know this area better than I do, can you tell me where we are?!"

Floating, Hange looked at her husband, passed out in the girls' arms, then she looked around, running her free hand over her face to clean herself.

"I-I believe we're close to the camp where your father stayed with Zeke and the other soldiers," she replied, placing her hand in front of her belly to protect herself from anything that was under the water.

Lara breathed a sigh of relief. There, at least they would have a little chance of finding some supplies.

"Great!" she exclaimed, "Let's go then! Hold Daddy and grab my cloak! I'll get us out of here!"

Hange entwined Levi in one of her arms and with the other, held onto Lara's green cloak, who propelled herself to the side, swimming hard until she reached the bank of the river. Lara tossed the rifle to the grass ahead and grabbed the reeds with all the strength she found in her body.

"Hang in there, Mom!" she exclaimed, clenching her teeth. "Brace yourself, I'll get up!"

Turning red, such strength she was making, Lara emerged from the waters and managed to get out. She quickly turned around and pulled her mother and father up too. Hange landed on her back, her chest rising and falling from extreme exhaustion.

"There, there, Tiny-Human-Bean…" Hange stroked her belly, huffing, "Your sister helped us..."

Lara was on her feet, hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Ahead of her, Levi was still passed out. Quickly, she took his own green cloak and wrapped it around his face, trying to cover the big cut that ran across it.

Lara felt her heart tighten as she glanced at the state of her father's face and pressed her eyes together to get that vision out of her head.

"Mom," she called, panting, "are you okay?! And the baby?!"

"We're good, sweetheart," replied Hange, sitting up and helping her to cover Levi's face. "We gotta find the camp now before they find us!"

Hange barely said that and they heard the swift hooves of the Jaëgerists' horses approaching. They stared at each other in horror and then at Levi.

They froze for a second. Then, Hange grabbed Lara's shoulders.

"Take your father and run in that direction," she pointed to a certain place between the giant pine trees that rose in front of them. "The camp's in that area. Give me that rifle. I'll stay and finish them off!"

Before Lara could argue anything back, Hange placed her index finger in front of her daughter's mouth.

"I cannot carry your father, I can't carry any weight," Hange looked down at her belly with a meaningful look. "But I can deliver a precise shot. I'll eliminate them and meet you right after!"

Lara pressed her lips together and frowned.

"Dang it!" she thought, running a hand over her face.

Her mother was right. That was the best chance they had right now.

Huffing in indignation, Lara nodded in agreement. In a quick move, which she had learned in first-aid training classes, she put her father on her back, reminding her of when Mike would carry her on piggyback through the corridors of the Headquarters, and ran in the direction that her mother had pointed out, fading through the trees.

Holding the rifle, Hange followed her and hid behind one of the pine trunks, with a Jaëgerist in sight. She took a deep breath and felt heaviness in her heart. Those soldiers were her friends. Comrades who had promised to fight side by side for the good of humanity.

"Forgive me," thought Hange, shedding a tear.

BANG!

One of the soldiers fell from his horse, dead.

A few seconds later, another one appeared close behind and got off his horse, heading for his downed comrade.

"Oliver!" he exclaimed, "What happened?! Come on, you need to--"

BANG!

He also fell dead to the ground.

Hange waited a few more seconds and realized that there was no one else around. Making sure she was finally alone, she walked over to the two horses and took them by the reins. Then, Hange turned towards where her daughter had disappeared with her husband. She ran through the pines for a few minutes, one hand holding the rifle and the other holding the reins.

"Hold on just a little longer, my baby," she said, panting. "Mommy will sit down soon soon..."

Tiny-Human-Bean was moving and kicking a lot. It seemed extremely uncomfortable and Hange was experiencing severe cramping and pain in her lower back. She looked up and saw that some stars were already popping in the sky. However, her vision was a little blurred.

Hange breathed a sigh of relief when she reached a clearing and saw that there was indeed, the camp. A quick look around could confirm that: several tents were set up here and there, and there was a space in the middle where the campfire was, which to her surprise, Lara had already lit, and was starting to put Levi down on top of one of the sleeping bags right next to it. They were still soaking wet from the freezing river waters and needed to warm up immediately.

However, that place also denounced that some kind of a disaster had happened there, for there were some carts destroyed and many pine branches scattered on the ground. Quickly, Hange spotted a cart that was still intact and tied up the horses, which began to graze.

"This must be where the soldiers turned into Abnormal Titans," she thought, in affliction.

Lara didn't seem to have noticed her mother's presence, as she was very busy, finishing placing Levi on the makeshift mattress.

"There's no one else chasing us, baby," said Hange, quickly getting close and kneeling beside her husband, "How is he?!"

Lara gazed at her with an expression of fear, tears in her eyes.

"That's what I was about to find out," she said in a dark tone.

Everything was in complete silence. Only the sound of the fire crackling flames and some sounds of crickets and nocturnal animals began to be heard.

Gently, the girls began to unroll the cloak that was covering him, and then, they could finally contemplate Levi's real condition.

As if they were connected, they both covered their mouths and felt great anguish rise into their hearts.

Levi's face was filled with small shrapnel from the exploding Thunder Spear, embedded in his cheeks and neck. Now that they looked closely, there weren't one, but two large cuts running across the right side of his face.

With tears already streaming down their cheeks, Hange and Lara noticed that one of the cuts passed through his right eye to his mouth, and down to the end of his chin. The girls felt their stomachs churn when they realized that you could see the inner muscles of that part of Levi's face and that his eye had been completely torn apart. A lot of blood was running down from those two cuts.

Lara felt her entire body shaking and her heart pounding wildly. Hange was now holding her belly with both hands as if she wanted to prevent the baby from seeing its father in that terrible state. She felt a strong pressure in her head.

"M-My love..." stuttered Hange. With a shaking hand, she brushed his bangs out of Levi's eyes, "Wh-What they've done to you?" Hange let out a great lament in her throat and began to cry, bouncing her shoulders uncontrollably.

Lara stared at her father with eyes of pure terror. Tears were burning down her face. Her mother's cry got into her ears and she felt dizzy, feeling like she was in a dream.

Doing her best to compose herself, Lara shook her head.

"Quick, Mom!" she exclaimed, starting to take off her father's jacket, "We need to check if he has any more injuries!"

Hange didn't know how she managed to help her daughter get the rest of Levi's clothes off, as her thoughts were in a whirlwind. Her belly hurt too much and that strange pain in her private part started to come again. Hange thought her head was going to explode at any moment and she felt the back of her neck ache.

The girls analyzed Levi's body, who was now only in his underwear. It looked like everything was covered in shrapnel, but fortunately, none had hit the heart or some other critical area, like an artery. However, when Lara took her father's right arm to check for any injury, she couldn't hold back a loud scream when she noticed that two fingers were missing from Levi's hand, the index and the middle one. With horror, the girls saw that only pieces of the bones and flesh of these two fingers were left.

Afterward, they noticed that Levi's entire right leg was in a strange position.

"H-He surely dislocated his leg from the pelvis," whispered Hange, holding her belly, with an expression of anguish and pain. "It'll be pretty hard to put that back into place..." she looked at her daughter, with more tears coming out of her eyes.

Lara pressed her lips together, her jaw trembling. It felt like her heart was going to come out of her mouth, such agony was in her chest.

"M-Mom..." said Lara, staring at her firmly, "You think you can suture his face? I'll try to find some first aid kit." Hange nodded and Lara stood up, immediately starting to explore the tents.

Hange stared at them, open-mouthed, alternating between her daughter and her husband. She felt a sharp pang in her belly but tried to remain calm. Gently, Hange brushed her own cloak over Levi's forehead, wiping it clean, and gave him a tender kiss.

"My love..." she whispered, clenching her teeth and shedding a tear on his face, "We're here... Me, our daughter, and our baby... Please... Hold on tight..." Hange sobbed, "D-Don't leave us, please!"

Levi breathed slowly, his chest rising and falling with difficulty.

Hange couldn't say how long she stayed there, hunched over him. At one point, she heard Lara exclaim:

"I found a first aid kit! And some water!" she lifted a waterskin over her head.

Lara ran back, kneeling beside her father. Fortunately, it was a very complete first aid kit, with items for suturing, gases, some injections with medication, and other supplies. As if connected, Hange and Lara began working together to tend to Levi's injuries. The first thing they did was give him an anesthetic and a strong pain reliever so he would feel as little pain as possible.

The next thing hurt more in them than in Levi himself: they had to finish amputating both of his fingers, as they were completely torn apart and, if they healed like that, they would look pretty grotesque. Closing her mouth to keep from throwing up, Lara watched as her mother used a sharp scalpel from the first aid kit to cut off what was left of Levi's fingers. It bled profusely and they quickly bandaged his hand.

Then, while Hange sutured the two large cuts on his face, Lara gently started on pulling out every shrapnel of the Thunder Spear she could find on her father's body.

The moon was already high in the sky when they were almost done. Lara noticed that her mother's expression was very dark, appearing to be in a lot of pain, for she was often placing her hand on her belly.

"Mom..." said Lara, trying to give her a kind smile. Hange turned to her, "At least Daddy will look stylish with that scar. He'll look like those gangsters from the books that Onyankopon lent us."

Hange replied with a sad smile, feeling a heaviness in her heart. With his face already clean, she allowed herself to caress him.

"I lost my left eye and he lost his right eye," said Hange, gazing sadly at him. "We really were made for each other."

Lara nodded, blinking slowly and unable to hold back a little smile.

"Mom... We need to get his leg into place. Do you think we can do it?"

Hange crawled over to her, holding her belly. She started to feel around Levi's pelvis area, grimacing in concern.

"This is not good at all..." she said, looking at her daughter, "I've never put a whole leg in place. Maybe it won't be perfect... But, we have to try, otherwise, it'll be worse..."

Lara nodded, discontent, and they both positioned themselves in front of Levi's right leg. Hange guided Lara to support her, holding her from behind as she tried to put the leg back in place.

CREC!

Anxious, Lara watched her mother inspect Levi's leg and pelvis.

"Yeah..." said Hange, pressing her lips together and shaking her head, "I believe it's not the ideal, but that's what I can do right now. Maybe he'll have trouble walking..." she looked apprehensively at Lara, who nodded, with anguish in her chest, and who was now starting to look around her.

"Wait here with Dad, I'll look for any suitcases with any clean uniforms. I'll also see if I can find more waterskins."

As Lara walked around the camp, looking for what she needed, Hange finished cleaning all of Levi's wounds. After a few minutes, Lara knelt beside her with some clean clothes and more water.

"Here," she handed her the waterskin. "Drink it, you need to hydrate yourself."

Hange thanked her and drank. The girls then dressed Levi and bandaged his face, leaving only his left eye visible. They covered him with a warm blanket and finally sat down, Hange beside Levi's head and Lara beside her, stroking the back of her mother, who was stroking her husband's hair.

"Mom..." said Lara, downcast, "Do you think he'll recover well?"

Hange looked from her daughter to Levi, pressing her lips together.

"To be honest, my dear... I have no idea how he'll react…" she gazed at his face, "I've heard that the Ackerman blood is very strong compared to the others... I believe he can recover in a more effective way than other people." Hange turned to Lara, "But yet... I think he can still have serious sequelae and take a long time to fully recover, especially with this leg..." She took a deep breath, "Do you remember when we went after the Female Titan and he ruptured some tendons in his foot? To just recover from that, it took him about three weeks, and he was still in pain for a while longer… Now, imagine recovering from this?"

"Yeah..." agreed Lara sadly, "He may be a real Ackerman, but he's still a human... Dad is not in any condition to fight now..." She ran a hand over her face, "Poor thing, he'll be devastated when he finds out that Zeke survived… He still wanted to fulfill the promise he made to Uncle Erwin, to kill him, didn't he?"

"Yes..." replied Hange, grimacing in pain, "But, I think someone else will have to do that, after all…"

Lara nodded and stroked her mother's back. Hange looked at Levi, tears streaming down her cheeks, as she stroked his hair with one hand and her belly with the other. Hange let out a big sigh and looked at Lara.

"Sweetheart... Maybe... We should run and hide... Don't you think? The four of us," she looked down at her belly, "safe and sound from this catastrophe… Do you think Armin would also come with us…?"

Lara lowered her head sadly.

"I don't know, Mom... There are times when he still seems very attached to Eren, as if he still has some ray of hope that, behind everything he's doing, Eren has some very noble purpose and he's just hiding it from everyone. I don't blame Armin, after all, they are like brothers..." She sighed, "I just know that his mind must be so confused right now..." Lara looked at Hange, "I can see how sad he is with this whole situation. Armin must be suffering a lot with all this and I wish I could help him better in some way, but, I don't know how... The only thing I know is that if Eren is really faking all this behavior, he should win some award for best acting in the world."

Hange gave her a sad smile and nodded.

"You know... Sometimes I wonder why this had to happen just now…" she looked down contemplatively at her belly, stroking it.

"What?" asked Lara, frowning, "Your pregnancy?"

"Yes..." confirmed Hange, turning to her daughter. "Your father and I tried to have a baby for so many years... Why only now, under these circumstances, that I got pregnant? Of course, I really wanted this. You know how much I wanted it… But why right now, when we have a war about to break out?"

Lara gazed at her mother and then looked up at the starry sky that lit up the clearing. She sighed.

"Maybe that's why, Mom. If you weren't pregnant right now and you had to fight for real, who knows what could've happened to you..." Lara gave her a little smile, "With all the respect I have for you, but we do know how impulsive you are when you're in the middle of a battle. Perhaps this pregnancy came at the perfect time."

Hange felt a chill down her spine at the thought of any disastrous possibility. Gradually, she nodded and sighed.

"Yeah... You're right, my dear," she replied the sad smile, squeezing Lara's shoulder affectionately, "You know very well how I don't like to be left out of the action, but... After you came into our lives and I assumed you as your mother, and now that I have a tiny human being, literally growing inside me, and that it depends entirely on me," Hange held her belly, "it seems I've started to see things with a different perspective. I can't go around acting on impulse or only just thinking about myself anymore," she stroked Lara's face, "Even though you're already a young lady, you're still my responsibility, just like this baby, too."

"I agree," replied Lara, giving her a playful smile, "It would be very irresponsible of you to leave me and Tiny-Human-Bean orphans right now." She got downcast, "I never wanna go through the experience of losing you again... What happened with you in Shiganshina and during our crazy experiences where you would almost lose your head when you got way too close to the Titans are more than enough for me! Gee!"

Hange gave her a sad smile and took her daughter's face, giving her a soft kiss on the forehead. Lara closed her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy that act of affection.

"Oh, my dear..." said Hange, with a kind smile, "Do know that I love you very--OUCH!!!"

Lara watched her mother squirm forward, holding her belly.

"Mom!!!" exclaimed Lara, kneeling down at the same time, staring at her in astonishment, "What's going on?!"

Hange gritted her teeth. Her heart was beating very fast. That sharp pain she had recently started to feel in her private part was stronger than ever. With an expression of horror, she slowly turned to Lara.

"I-I think there's something wrong!"

Lara shook her head in disbelief. Not knowing what to do, she simply placed her hand on Hange's belly, feeling Tiny-Human-Bean move a lot. They were very different movements from usual, quite unlike when the baby used to kick to communicate with them, for example.

Then, suddenly, Hange squeezed Lara's arm hard, her eyes widening so much, that she looked like she saw a ghost, turning very pale.

"Wh-What is it?!" asked Lara, confused. "Wh-Why are you staring at me like that?!"

Slowly, Hange ran her hands over her private part and when she raised them in front of her eyes, she thought her heart would stop at that moment.

Her hands were covered in blood.