Someone was assaulting him with a hammer. In the back of the head. Levi opened his eyes to find out what was going on, but promptly shut them again upon encountring the brightest light he'd ever seen.

Instead, he felt the soft bed under him... A familiar bed. His bed. It all came flooding back to him:

Levi was on the variant. The clueless cadet riding after them. He was swinging around the Titan's hand; then he was swinging the other way... And slamming into the ground. There was a moment of pain and an explosion of color, then nothing.

He remembered dreaming of Isabel and Furlan. But instead of Isabel's face, there was that brat of a cadet, the one that probably got him killed. Or did he get her killed? Did he fail her as he did Isabel? Was she dead? Before he could make another attempt to open his eyes, a cool water of unconsciousness washed over him, sending him spiralling into faint memories again.

He remembered the heat most prudently, all over him, burning hot. After that, there was the continual pain in his head. Levi didn't know how long he was out before he felt one somewhat pleasent sensation; a coolness on his lips and throat as he somehow drank water.

The next detached memory was of flying; not in a 3DMD; there wasn't that distinct pressure around his hips and legs. No this was different, freeing as it was cool. Then it was over, he was hot and in pain as the cool water washed over him again.

Levi's head was tight. Like someone had wrapped a rope around it. It was also bouncing which hurt like hell. There was a faint banging on the back of his head, which might as well be a Titan, stepping on his face for all the difference it made. Then it jostled more and Levi cursed, or maybe groaned; he couldn't tell. Suddenly, he was moved and his head wasn't bouncing anymore. There was cool water.

Now he lay in his own bed. What had happened after he passed out? Forcing his eyes open against the waves of pain and nausea and unconsciousness, Levi looked around breifly to find a brunet girl, passed out in a wooden chair, with a cast on her arm and a book open in her lap. For a moment, Levi thought she was Hange; this girl was shorter though, with a slightly rounder face. He moved his head a bit more to scan the room, letting out a groan in the process. There was a cot in his room for some reason, other than that, the girl was the only thing out of place.

The sound he had made woke the girl up. She gasped and stretched before turning toward Levi. It was the cadet! Hale-Hael, whatever, she was alive! Hael looked suprised and stood up in a hurry, saluting him. In her rush to stand, she knocked over her chair which clattered to the floor. She began to say something, but that was all Levi could take. The loud noise launched a pain in the back of his head so extreme that he finally allowed the cool water to flow over him again.

----------