The hole was enormous. The horror stories of Shigansheena did no justice to the size of this thing; Hael felt like an ant standing beside it. If she had thought she would get special privileges because she was Levi's wife, she was about as wrong as could be. Hael was to guard the rear off to the left side, meaning that, for the most part, if nothing out of the ordinary happened, she wouldn't get any action.

Levi was hanging lazily by the wall, watching the far off Titans roam around. Occasionally one would get close; at one point, three approached at the same time. Each one was dispatched by the multitude of guards hanging around. About 20 minutes later, Levi felt Erwin's hand on his shoulder, "Come on," Levi looked up at him; he seemed dejected, "the engineer says there's no easy way to fix it. We need to get back to base before sun down." Levi nodded and dropped to the ground easily.

Hael heard the order to leave and was on Wind in a moment. She couldn't wait to get back home with Levi. The Survey Corps took off, thundering away toward base.

She felt the reverberations before she saw the Titan.

Levi looked to his right just in time to see a black flare go up. A variant near Hael. Almost immediately he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach that couldn't mean anything good. Levi kicked his horse toward the flare without hesitation. He had to get to her.

Erwin called after Levi. What was he thinking? Had he lost his mind? Hael was tough, she'd be fine; but he couldn't have his Captain racing out of formation blindly. It only took a second for Levi to get out of sight, but there wasn't anything Erwin could do at this point, only that Levi came back soon.

Hael was out of the saddle without hesitation, as she went, she kicked Wind forward. Someone to her left fired a black flare; Hael caught hold of the Titan's flesh with her 3DMD.

She twisted her body away from its groping hands and kicked her legs up, twisting until she could run along it. Hael ran up its chest, 3DMD keeping her connected. She drove both blades into the Titan's skin, slicing it to ribbons and moving toward the nape of it's neck.

Levi arrived to see Hael spinning herself around to have her feet comfortably against the beast so she could run. She was good, and unbelievably agile; but Hael was getting cocky, if she didn't hurry up, the Titan would kill her. Just as Levi kicked his mount toward Hael and the Titan, the things head snapped forward catching Hael around the waist. The top half of her was hanging out and it was starting to bite down. She caught his eyes and mouthed something, but Levi didn't care, he raced up, spinning like a tornado around the Titan. It was dead before Hael finished saying whatever it was she was saying.

Hael felt the teeth around her waist. It was biting down hard; she couldn't take much more. Hael's life flashed before her eyes as she stared out... Her last glimpses of sunlight she thought. Maybe she saw Levi, but Hael was positive it was her imagination. Her love. He would never make it. "I love you." She murmured, just as Levi flung himself at the Titan, killing it with a single, expert and impossibly fast blow to the nape of the neck. Then she was falling, everything below her mid-back was numb and darkness and ice fell over Hael.

Levi ran to her and took her in his arms. There were tears in his eyes as he looked at her. She was deathly pale and soaked with blood from where she was bitten. Hael gave him a weak smile and said, "I-I-I l-love y..." Before falling completely limp in Levi's arms.

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😢😢😢 This chapter! I had no idea what to call this. Finally I decided on "Her Love" because it was just about the only line that fit well enough. Anyway... Not much else to say! Enjoy and send me a star if you are worried about Hael; I know I am!