Blue and White - Levi Fanfiction

Ch. 48 - Fall of the King, and Death of the Ripper

"Now," I heard an authoritative voice shout, "fall back to the final defensive post! Time to regroup!"

At the simple order, Kenny's Anti-Personnel Squad all started to retreat, and I noticed a few of the kids starting to give chase right away. Though I was tempted to finish them off here, I knew better than that, so I held up a hand to halt them all in their tracks.

"Hold it," I called. "We need to regroup, too. Armin, Moblit," I said, looking to them even as I dropped to the glass-like floor below easily in a crouch, "with me. We'll catch up. Everyone else, with Levi."

"Roger!"

I stood despite the ache in my limbs from so much fighting and ran the few paces to Hange. Armin and Moblit joined me quickly as the others gave chase, Levi taking charge of them for now. I lowered myself back into a crouch by their side, reaching out towards a still-unconscious Hange. With one hand, I reached out to finger their pulse, and the other tucked just beneath their nose, I waited, and I listened, and - there. Hange was still breathing, and their heart was beating steadily.

"Hange's alive," I assured the men with me. "But obviously, they're in no state to fight, and though they'll hate me for it, they need to be checked out by a professional."

"Right," Moblit agreed, and together, we hoisted Hange up. Armin replaced me on one side and now that they were being held up, I asked them to hold for a moment and opened up Hange's shirt. I sucked a breath in between my teeth upon finding the wound and the state it was in.

Goodness, it was a mess. What had happened exactly, I didn't know, but it looked like Hange had been hooked in the shoulder by a grappling hook. The mangled mess of blood, torn fabric, and skin was evidence enough of that, and I'd unfortunately seen these types of injuries before. Frayed fabric poked into the wound, and blood still ebbed from the gash steadily. It was a nasty sight, but it needed to be taken care of.

I retrieved my knife from my boot and ripped off a portion of my pant leg, fastening a makeshift bandage for the wound, and while I tied a strip of fabric around their shoulder, Moblit offered up a handkerchief of his to fold tightly to apply pressure to the worst part of the injury. Other than that, there was very little else to be done at the moment, what with our canteens and other supplies in the chapel and in the wagon.

"That's all we can do for now," I said, stepping away from them. "We'll take it from here, so focus on keeping them and each other safe. There should be a way out this way."

With the affirmatives from them, we all followed the tunnel where the others had gone. It didn't take long to catch up, considering that at the end of the tunnel was the opening to yet another cavern - the hold-up then, because true to our luck there was one, was the fact that the entrance was covered with thick netting that I'm sure was barbed as well.

I had no time to investigate it myself because just as we arrived, there was a blinding yet brilliant explosion, indicative of one thing, and one thing only: a Titan transformation. And that... spelled trouble.

The golden light of the transformation spilled into the tunnel, and even now it was blindingly bright, reflecting off the walls with a splendor and a beauty I wished I had the time to appreciate. The sound itself was thunderous, and I could only hope that it was Eren who transformed, and that he was safe, that he hadn't used it as a last resort.

But of course, that was wishful thinking.

"That's..."

"A Titan transformed?"

"Eren!"

"This place is gonna collapse," Sasha called out. I knew better than to deny her instincts, but it was obvious that she was right even to a blind man; the whole place was rumbling, thundering, shaking, the sounds of cracking echoing through the tunnel forebodingly.