Hanji x Levi (Staying Strong Till The End)

Operation

*Levi's pov*

I rode as fast as I could down to the next town. I knew where the doctor lived and nothing would stop me from getting there.

When we arrived I jumped down off my horse and ran to the front door before knocking loudly so someone would hear me. When he answered I told him about Hanji and how bad a shape she was in. He told me he would see her as soon as she arrived.

I was only there for a few minutes until I heard the clopping of hoves coming down the path. I looked and saw Petra coming towards us with Hanji on the back of her horse. I offered to get Hanji down but the doctor told me to leave her. He then called in two men from the village to get Hanji down and off the horse. Apparently we should be keeping her in the same position for some reason. I didn't want these two men to be holding her I wanted to help but for once I didn't object as I knew that this man was Hanji's best hope.

Once Hanji had been placed down on a wooden table the two men left and me and Petra were allowed to be with her. Hanji had sweat building up on her face and her hands were gripped tightly into fists. The doctor then proceed to look at her, he lifted up her top to look at her stitches. He pulled a not reassuring face before saying "who did these stitches?"
"One of the lower downs" I told him.
"Well he did a good job, unfortunately he just got to it a bit late but this would have left her with a fairly clean looking scar" he said, he then looked further up her body and paused when he saw her ribs.
"You didn't say she had started to starve herself" he told me as he gave me a look.
"I just forgot, I have been busy and this has been stressful" I told him as I tried not to snap at him.
"How serious is it?" Petra asked to get the doctors focus off me.
"Well it is serious as she seems to have a fever from it and I am going to have to remove these stitches and get all of the infection out" he told us as he pulled and stretched the stitches.

We were asked to stay with Hanji and too talk to her and hold her hands just so she knew we were there. She hadn't re opened her eyes since she fell asleep on Petra. I had never see such a messy operation before, there was so much blood but it was also the stench of rotting flesh coming from her. The doctor ended up having to cut out all of the infected tissue as it had spead through out her. Petra stayed by Hanji's head and held her still just incase she woke up, the doctor had also tied her limbs down because she could wake up at any second. If she woke up then she would probably try to move away from the thing inflicting pain, which could end up with her life on the line. I was worried that she didn't wake up even with all the pain she would have been in, but I was also thankful as if she had woken up it wouldn't have been plesent for her. 

The whole process took around half an hour to complete but it felt so much longer. She would at some points stopped breathing and we had to bring her back quickly. She was now fine, the infection had been completely cut out and she had just been freshly sewn up. The doctor then grabbed a large badge and wrapped it several times around her stomach. We should have done that really but none of us thought about that until it was too late.
"When can she go home?" Petra asked the doctor.
"I will need to keep her here over night to make sure she is recovering but it could well become longer" he told us "but you are free to stay here with her" he the  got all of the equipment and nasty bits from the operation together before leaving us.
I looked down at Hanji and Petra piped up "I could go back to tell Erwin what's happening"
"Could you come back tomorrow also just incase she is allowed home?" I asked her.
"Ofcause" she smiled, "well I best be heading off as it's going to get dark soon but I will see you two tomorrow"
"Thank you for staying" I thanked her as she walked out. She turned and looked at me before smiling and then going to leave.
The doctor walked back in and gave Hanji a very quick check over to see how her fever was doing. "Already she seems to be improving" he told me. I continued to hold Hanji's hand and when he had left us alone I sat and talked to her. I didn't know how much she could hear but I wanted her to know that I was here with her. This whole experience had made me realise how much I really did love her and that I needed her.

The doctor came in every few hours to clean Hanji's stitches and re dress them with new badges. He said that because she was recovering from a nasty infection she was more susceptible to getting another one if we weren't careful. He also used salt disolved in water to clean the wound and surrounding skin.
His wife that night cooked me dinner which I took and sat with Hanji to eat. I really wished she was awake enough to eat something but she would only open her eyes for a brief moment before closing them again. We gave her water everytime she woke up so she wouldn't become dehydrated.

That night I bearly slept as I was on high alert, every noise she made I would get up to check on her. Sometimes she would whimper or cry out in her sleep so I would sit next to her and stroke her head whilst speaking to her to calm her down. The doctor also came downstairs to check on us when he either heard Hanji or me moving around.

But after this nightmare hopefully she would soon be better and recover well so she could go back to fighting and experimenting on titans.
The Scouts just wouldn't be the same without her.