Broken Hearts, Severed Limbs (Levi x OC x Erwin)

|25| Evidence

Nathalie couldn’t make out whether it was the cold that made her hands shake, or whether it was the horror. Night had fallen everywhere. There was that deafening silence all around. Not even the clouds wouldn’t allow the moonlight shine her way. She had a torch in her hand, but it wasn’t enough. A titan could have been right on top of her and she wouldn’t even have noticed it. She couldn’t afford to let herself get eaten. She had replenished her swords and her gas. She was ready to fight a battalion of them, but they could still sneak up on her. Of course, she knew it was night and there wasn’t as much danger as there would be during daylight, but still.

She had seen that titans could be active even without daylight. She could get eaten any moment, but no. Nathalie gritted her teeth and her grip tightened around her torch. She couldn’t let herself get eaten. If she died, she wouldn’t know whether her squad was safe. If she died, she’d never get to see Levi again. That thought got her breath caught in the middle of her throat. She didn’t want to think of what kind mess Levi would be if she were to die.

But there was something else. She couldn’t tell how long it’s been since she had left HQ, but she could tell there had been hours, and no titan had come up to her. Not even a single one. If Wall Rose had been breached, then the territory should be crawling with them, but yet, she hadn’t encountered not even one. Then again, she remembered that the wall in Shiganshina was breached through the gate, not the actual wall.

For someone to break the wall, they’d have to hit a gate, and the one with the enough hardened skin to do that would be the Armoured Titan. But if she was to follow her suspicion that the Armoured Titan was either Reiner or Berthold, then none of both could have done it. They had been under her and the Mike Squad’s supervision at all times. And there was another thing. She remembered Hange screaming about how the walls hid titans inside right before Nathalie departed for the HQ of the 104th. Nathalie had promised her they would look into it together once she’d get back.

But she remembered staring at the hardened crystal that hid Annie beneath. If the walls were made of that material, then they were indestructible. Unintelligent titans, couldn’t possibly have enough power to break an indestructible wall. But what about that abnormal? That furry beast that had killed Mike right in front of her. What if that was the one to breach the wall? But still, it didn’t have any of that hardening. Not for all she knew.

She started doubting that Wall Rose had been breached at all. But that raised the question. How did the titans get in here?

Nathalie stopped thinking of all of these when she noticed torchlight not further ahead. She urged her horse to approach them and she let out a sigh of relief when she realised that it was actually the two teams. It was her squad led by the four members of Mike’s Squad.

She had a cut on her cheek, but it had stopped bleeding. Nathalie had made sure she’d take bandages and at least four more daggers with her. Who knows what was going to happen? If they were attacked, they would have to make it through the entire night, and she knew her blades wouldn’t be enough. Nathalie’s clothes were still painted in red. Mike’s blood was still sticky on her skin. She didn’t have the time to wash it off. She barely got the time to refill her gas tank and grab more blades and daggers.

She knew she couldn’t use daggers to fight a titan, but if she was proven correct about Reiner and Berthold, then all she needed was a dagger to take them both down. Levi had taught her well.

The others gasped when they saw her and rode hastily on their horses till they reached her. “Captain!” Connie cried out.

“Nathalie! Are you okay?!” Krista cried out worriedly.

She wouldn’t blame their worry. She was still covered in Mike’s blood. “I’m alright, kids,” Nathalie gave them a reassuring smile before she turned at the Mike Squad. “Gelgar, Nanaba, status report,”