Reality's Insanity

The Key

Hey guys! So sorry for never updating, hopefully I can make up for it the next few updates now that I found the time. Sorry in advance for all the grammar mistakes, I promise one day I'll go through it all and edit them. Please comment what you think, believe it or not it really helps me to continue writing.

*Cristine's POV*

Pain. So intense it surged through my entire body, enough to make me feel as if I embodied it. Not that the earlier searing of my nerves was enjoyable, but the scorching experienced now was that exemplified by a million to the point in which for a split moment I felt absolutely nothing. Yet all good things must end, as did the shock, and I felt the cold cobblestone floor maul into my disfigured flesh from this morning's episode. The world was black and I began to wonder how long I've been here from my earlier attempt to trying to limp to the medical ward a few buildings down until it all hit me like a truck. Frustrated, I struggled to shift my weight to face upwards but only wriggled in the warm pool of my own blood. Lovely. I tried to control my breathing, then gasped in insurmountable agony as I felt strong arms pick me up swiftly. I finally had the ability to open my eyes, and was met with the sight of a clearly distressed Levi. There went me trying not seem pathetic, I swear he always catches me at my worst moment. I am always a burden to him, even when I worked mercilessly to become his comrade. Just my luck, all further thoughts were cut off for a second as Levi ran and I felt a tear on my side widen with each hurried stride. Shifting my gaze down I examined my white shirt (now red) stuck to my mangled abdomen in a concoction of sweat and god knows what other bodily fluids. Yet what made me wince more than the sad sight of my self was the immaculately clean uniform of the germaphobic Levi taking in all my gory goodness, I chuckle in vain (instead coughing blood) muttering, "Windex won't clean that."
"Dammit Cristine, you just don't know when to shut up," he scoffed caught off guard and struggling to mask his concern in his usual annoyed tone. After a few seconds of scattered shuffles and hushed curses, Levi tighten his grip causing me to gasp in pain then kicked open the doors of the infirmary catching a group of physicians off guard. Without having to say a word Levi shot a deadly glare, but this varied from his signature expression for his eyes were slightly wider giving away panic. Funny, in all the expeditions I've accompanied with him even the most devastating I've never seen him break his stoic shell. Yet as he was handing me off to a group of men dressed in their equivalent of scrubs he shot me a quick glace and I groggily trying to stay conscious picked up on the sudden panic shift to a sad undertone almost a plea. My heart panged and I immediately felt guilty, god I'm such an idiot. As team of doctors began to work on me taking me to a separate room, my vision blurred and Levi began to fade into the background.
"Thank you," I whispered with the last of my energy. Not knowing whether he heard it or not, I slipped into the darkness falling limp with an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

*Levi's POV*

My heart painfully pounded in my chest and took hurried shallow breaths as I watched her lips move making an inaudible mutter followed by her piercing green eyes fluttering shut. The group of people in uniform turned a corner, her bloody and dangling body leaving my field of view. I last saw her chestnut trail away and my brain couldn't help but replace it with the shorter ginger hair of Petra along with the stained patches blood from when I last saw her. A lifeless corpse. I pause and with the best of my ability try not to imagine the day where I lost the closest people to me since my original trio from the underground, and after a minute finally got a handle on my breathing and the surge of adrenaline, anxiety, and concern. I took a seat in the small reception at the entrance and listened to the unintelligible shouts from down the corridor where the group worked to save her life. It was when the havoc led to silence that I felt a striking pang of panic and it was also then that I replayed the event in my mind making sense of what led to this in the first place. How did she get tattered like that? Was she attacked? And if so, why did she hold it throughout the entire meeting not saying a word when she was clearly bleeding to death? Dammit even as her time as new cadet she would expertly playoff broken bones smiling, the only give away being the obviously distorted appendage. I look down at my stained palms and bloody uniform and wondered how many times I looked at myself in this same way and faced the all too familiar scene of someone else's blood splattered everywhere. Too many times to forget. Before I could dwell in a deeper abyss of my experiences, a man with a white apron and mask save for the splatter of red and other undeterminable stains walked up to me and saluted.
"Captain Levi," I nodded my head and he broke his rigid stance. "Captain Davidson is stable." I exhaled the breath I didn't know I was holding, but there were many gaps that still needed to be filled.
"What is the extent of the damage and projected recovery?"
"Recovery time is unknown since she may still not survive through the night. Her wounds consisted of severe shredding of her abdominal wall reaching her back as well from what we conclude was the result of the glass we extracted imbedded deep enough to penetrate and hit some of the pelvic bone. Glass was also recovered from her spine, she will be lucky if she doesn't become paralyzed. There's also the curious matter of the healed scars also littering her back and chest. Do you remember any incidents that may account for this?"
"No. Could the scars by any chance appear older than a year?" I asked wondering if it could have been from a time before her fateful appearance outside the wall.
"Not a chance they couldn't have been older than two months, and they don't match the usual locations of scarring from flesh tears due to the maneuvering gear. They for certain were closed without stiches caused by what I would say was a jagged, sharp object." The new update only unlocked more questions to my already overwhelmed mind trying to determine and rationalize the reality, but each thought of possibilities pointed towards a sinister route. "There's more," the man continued his voice dropping to adopt an even more stern tone. I looked up and locked an unwavering gaze from his gray eyes, "Upon inspection of her entire body we found peculiar symbols carved into her lower back." Upon registering the words that passed through the man's facial mask, I rose from my chair and wordlessly ran to where I saw her being hauled for medical attention. Ignoring the man's protests and the shrill objections from nurses I pushed my way into the nearest room and was met with the nauseating scent of alcohol and iron. As I made my way to the back of the room, Cristine lay on her stomach with her battered and bandage back exposed. I shortened my strides and a stray ray of light from the window illuminated her naked skin. As I drew closer my body froze as my gaze was met with brutally written scratches making up what I would assume was I harrowing phrase. I felt shivers pass through my body even though I couldn't make sense of what it meant, it was written in the same symbols she tried to use to communicate the first time I saw her. The doctor followed into the room after me and after a second of silence asked one last question, "Do you understand it?' Not bothering to answer I memorized the jagged, tattered strokes against her tan skin adding to the already bandaged gore. The foreign marks were then and forever engraved into my mind.

GATES OF HELL

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