Hael flew back into familiar grounds, tracing the spray of sticky scarlet on the dusty ground. Eventually she found the small lunp of dark green cloak; as Hael drew nearer, she was alarmed to find a small spattering of blood, spread like a crown around Captain Levi's head.

All he remembered was the whorl of color as his trusted 3DMD spun him easily around the Titan's body, occasionally catching a glimpse of the young woman Hale; or was it Hael? What was she doing? Levi would have sworn, but he was in honest danger of biting off the end of his tongue should he open his mouth.

"The fool is going to get us both killed." He thought with distaste as Levi caught a glimpse of the girl staring blankly at him as her horse pounded forward.

Just then, there was a horribly painful tug on his hips as the 3DMD was pulled down. Levi's back popped and his teeth clacked together violently. He was in an uncontrolled swing around the Titan's hand. What was going on? This Titan couldn't be smart enough to disrupt his 3DMD, could it? Suddenly, there was that terrible tug on his midsection and he involuntarily grunted as the wind was torn from his body. He didn't even have time to breath before Levi's body hit the ground, there was an explosion of pain and color, and the sound of snapping bone before all went dark. Captain Levi's last thought was of the inexperienced girl still running blindly after the variant.

Hael's hands were shaking as they moved ineffectivly over Levi's body; not touching him, just hovering, wondering what to do. But she was out of time, the ground shook, alerting her of an incoming Titan. What to do, what to do? She couldn't leave Levi here in the event he was still, miraculously alive. Hael couldn't lift him alone, but she didn't have much of a choice...

Instead, Hael slipped her hands into the triggered hilt of Levi's swords. His still-warm fingers tightly gripped them, but it wasn't hard to pry them off. She pulled the trigger and his 3DMD cord lodged itself in the spire above them. Hael placed her grappling hook near his and, using both Levi's and her own triggers, pulled them both up. Just in time too; as she awkwardly lifted Levi onto the top of the stone, the Titan pounded past with it's own stupid run.

For three hours, they sat atop the rock. Wind and Levi's horse had run off somewhere after a few Titans gathered under their little island of stone. Levi never woke up, but Hael was greatly relieved to find his chest rising and falling... Albeit faintly.

As soon as they had settled down up there, Hael ripped a few strips off her shirt and tied them around Levi's head, she also used her own cloak as a pillow to keep his bleeding head off the rock.

Hael was exhausted after the fight with the Titan and decided to close her eyes for a few minutes... The heat and the steady sound of Levi's breathing had her asleep in a moment. As everything darkened, Hael felt safe, so far up. And so they slept.