It was too bright. Hael could hardly open her eyes against the blue sky and beaming sun. And she was moving, why was she moving? Was she being carried away by a Titan? Shouldn't it have eaten her by now? But no, there was no tightness around her torso, no footsteps or foul breath. She was in a wagon, an army wagon! One of her soldiers must have gotten her out.

Hael sat up, head spinning from the sheer pain in her arm; it was wrapped, so someone had cared for her. She must not have been out for long since they were still traveling. Hael turned to the men driving the wagon, "What happened?" She asked.

"One of the soldiers Commander Erwin sent with you saw to it that you made it out ok."

"Is the Captain alright?" Hael inquired.

"Concerned about the Captain, eh?" He replied slyly, drawing a glare from Hael. "Yeah, yeah, he's alright. Or he is for now. There were quite a few medics working on him."

Hael, concerned, asked, "Where is he?"

The man looked at her, mildly suprised and pointed to in front of them, "Somewhere up that way, I think. But you can't be thinking about going to see him, your arm c-" But Hael was already gone, whistling for a horse. From the cloud of dust galloped Wind, who had apparently been riding just behind, worried about her rider.

Hael jumped off the fast-moving wagon fearlessly; landing hard on Wind's back and biting back a cry as it jostled her arm.

"Let's go, Wind." Wind winnied and pounded forward, blowing past the other soldier's horses. There were annoyed cries and winnies as they passed, but soon enough, Hael was close enough to see Levi. He was limp and unconscious, a strip of white bandage tied tightly around his head. He looked pale even from here. Hael pushed Wind closer and prepared to jump. She stood in her stirups, preparing . Right as she straightened her legs, a flair went of, startling Hael. She tumbled off Wind, catching the back of the wagon in her good hand, but she was slipping. Hael's foot left foot remained in the stirup, tugging the saddle sideways. Wind was winnying and trying to pull toward Hael. In doing so, the horse gave Hael the boost she needed to pull herself onto the wagon with Levi.

As she rolled on, her arm went underneath her and she flung herself over the edge of the wagon and gagged. Managing to hold down her lunch, she looked up to see a number of soldiers watching her. Their expressions ranged from amused to pitying, from curious to annoyed and indifferent. Hael blushed and made a rude gesture, cursing at them. She was greeted by each face being more extreme then it previously was. The pitying was now more pitying, the annoyed more annoyed... The indifferent faces were apathetic to the gesture.

Hael shook herself, forgetting the soldiers with a look at Levi. He looked terrible. He was pale, his face taut with pain even as he was unconscious. Why did she care so much? Sure he was her Captain... But she cared more than a soldier should to her superior. She'd always known he was handsome, that much was obvious. With the steely gray eyes and raven black hair, it was impossible not to notice. She wanted to keep him safe, she'd saved him in the first place, she wanted to keep him safe.

So Hael crawled the length of the wagon, over to where Levi laid. The back of his head was injured, that was clear to anyone with eyes. So she did the only thing she could think of. Hael slid toward Levi and put his head in her lap. After a few minutes, a bit of the pain on his face cleared now that his head wasn't bouncing on the wagon.

Later on, looking back on it. Hael found it a little embarrassing; she wasn't completely sure why she did it, aside from the fact that it felt right. For the rest of the way to base, they sat like that. Levi never woke up. Hael never noticed the strange looks from all the following soldiers. So their story began...

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Hey guys! I decided to start doing authors notes at the ends of my chapters! I'm just starting out as an author, and if someone has a word of advice for me, please, comment! I don't mind if you go hard on me as long as it makes this crap better😂! So gimme a little star and help me write better stories for you oh-so-devoted fans!😋