The feeling of the rain hitting her face stirs her awake, the sound of pitter-patter and the smell of the Earth greets her as she opens her eyes. But then there was that annoying ringing masking her hearing, having to shut her eyes close as she slowly pushes herself off the wet ground.
Diana observes her surrounding, her spinning head tries to shake her memories, desperate to know what had happened or where she even was. She squints her eyes, the ringing in her ears worsening when she noticed something sprawled across her.
Then, everything floods into her mind. How she had activated her protective globe. The explosion that caught her off guard. Zeke pulling a suicidal move. Levi cutting Zeke's feet to bits. The look on his face when he tries to pull her back in. The feeling of Levi's breath on her skin as she places the kiss...
Levi...
"Oh my god, Levi."
Ignoring the throbbing pain in her head, Diana clumsily gets on her feet and run towards the figure she saw sprawled on the ground. She hadn't noticed it before because of her hazy memory and blurry vision, but she had only realised it now that it was Levi. And when Diana saw his condition, she never wanted to strangle herself to death as much as she did right now.
"Levi! Oh my god..." her voice trembled as she gently brings her bloodied body into her arms, pushing his bangs to the side to study the cuts on his face.
It was horrible. No matter where she touched, blood gushes out. His face was unrecognisable, and if it wasn't for the steady wheezing of his, she would've thought that it was too late for him. His body limping in her hands, Diana could feel the weight of his body in her heart. Never had she ever seen him in such a weak condition. It breaks her even more than she thought she would be.
Tears blurred her vision as she let out a strangled sob, clenching her jaw as the grip on his body tightened.
"This is all my fault..." she weeps, "I couldn't react fast enough. I'm sorry..."
Hange couldn't believe the sight in front of her. Wood splinters, blood and body parts all over the place, and what disturbed him the most was the sight of Diana crying over Levi's body.
They were too late.
"Wh..." Floch gasps next to the commander, "What happened?!"
"Be careful! Titan ahead!"
"There are body parts everywhere!"
Having processed the scene, Hange instantly jumped off his horse, her weak legs slowly bringing her towards the two.
"Commander Hange! Please don't run off like that!"
"...Did a carthorse get blown to pieces...?" he ignored the yell from a Jaegerist, eyes widening as she feels the familiar pain at the back of his throat.
"Man down!" they yelled, making a sudden sprint towards his two friends. "Hey! Is he alive?!"
"Hange..." Diana sobbed, "It's all my fault... Levi, he..."
Pressing his lips together, Hange pulled the captain away from Diana's grasp, hand coming up to feel a pulse under his skin.
"Levi?"
"...I don't know what happened here, but..." Floch strides up towards the trio, "We got lucky. One of our biggest threat, covered in his own blood."
"I'll send a shot through his head."
"He's dead," Hange promptly announced, halting the finger from pulling the trigger. "He must have been hit by a thunder spear explosion at close range. I saw something similar in a training accident. He may not look it, but his organs are in shreds. He died immediately."
Diana eyed the commander from the corner of her eyes, knowing damn well that every word that came out of her mouth was a lie. But she was glad. Who knows what could've happened to Levi if Hange hadn't lied.
"I know how to take a pulse," Floch said suddenly, "Let me see him."
Hange frowns at the ginger, their grip on Levi's head tightening as his heart raced to find a way out of this. They needed to take Levi somewhere far away, where they could attend to his wounds. They know, that if they handed the captain to Floch, he would have him shot to the head instantly.
"Floch! Something's strange about that titan!"
Hange lets out a breath they didn't know they were holding in, relieved as Floch's attention shifted towards his comrade.
Good, now he could think of something while they're distr—
Hange's eyes widen at the sight in front of him. Is that titan...? How???
"Is it disappearing? ...Did it die?!"
"No..." Hange answered breathlessly, still couldn't believe what he's seeing right now. "They don't normally suck steam into themselves when they disappear..."
As they all continued to observe the titan, guns pointed at it in case of sudden movement, another unexpected event unfolds itself.
Is that... Zeke?
A small part of Hange wanted to drop everything and make a run towards that intriguing titan, to put their hands all over its body and to inspect it from up close. How is Zeke crawling out of that body alive and unscathed? Why is the steam sucked into the titans body instead of disintegrating into the air like it normally does? Hange never had this many questions before,
But they had more important matters to attend to.
Hange shifts his glance back towards the stunned Diana, eyes finding each other as their brains connected with one single look.
Diana knows what she was about to do. She had been plotting it ever since that damned Jaegerist pointed the gun at Levi. She was ready to do this since their attentions shifted towards the titan.
But she also knows that by doing this, there's a high chance that she will never see these two ever again. Her heart ached at the thought of separating with the two people she cared about the most, especially with how she left things with Levi. But she understands that his recovery is the top priority at the moment.
Clenching her jaw, Diana exchanged a short nod with Hange before they jumped into the river next to them, holding Levi close into their arms.
"Huh?!"
"Get em!"
"Stay on their tails!"
"Wait!" Diana holds her arms up in the air, halting the movements of the Jaegerists threatening to hunt her two friends down.
"You son of a bitch..." Floch glares at the woman, making his way towards before grabbing the collar of her shirt. "This was all you, wasn't it?! You let them go, didn't you?!"
"Yes, but hear me out," the blonde swallowed, staring back into the narrowed brown eyes of his. "If you let them go, I promise I'll follow you guys. I won't act out. I will do whatever you tell me to and aid you with anything."
Floch stays unbudged, his lips pressed into a thin line as he clenches his jaw.
"Please," Diana continued, "It's better to have a powerful vessel in your hands, than a dead man, isn't it?"
Frowning, the ginger pushes the woman away with a defeated groan.
"Fine," he spits out, "But if you ever pull something funny, I will shoot you. No negotiations."
"Fine with me."
Floch glares at the blonde, holding her hands up in surrender before he turns around. "Get her a horse."
***
"Everyone got turned into a titan, and only you two survived. It must be for the same reason you've always survived injuries this dire. Because you're an Ackerman."
Hange monologued with herself as she stitches the cuts on Levi's face, having already cleaned up all the blood beforehand.
"Diana blames herself, you know. Judging by her unharmed condition, I guess that she only had time to protect herself," he continued, ending the stitch with a gentle cut to the thread. "I'm worried about her. She's not in the best condition mentally, and she's in the hands of our enemy."
Setting the supplies aside, Hange turns their back on the sleeping Levi, hands coming up to cup their head.
"I admire her. Why can't I be as brave as she is? She was so emotionally disturbed, and yet..."
The commander took in a deep breath, stopping herself from saying another word.
"Well... Now what do we do?" he sighs, "We can't stop Zeke on our own... We just have to count on Armin or Commander Pyxis. ...Say Eren did betray Zeke... If the Jaegerists use the spinal fluid to control this island... We'll be on the run here for the rest of our lives."
"...Sound like our time has come. You might feel like you're doing the right thing, but times change... and you find yourself in a cell."
Hange ponders by herself, her mind going back to when Sannes wished her luck in that prison cell. How time had passed since then. A part of Hange wanted to go back to how it was. Back when Erwin was still alive. Back when they weren't the commander and their only job is to study titans and be the leader for the squad. Now it feels too overwhelming. Hange questioned why would Erwin ever appoint him as a commander. He's not doing a good job at this, he often feels like Erwin would make a better choice, even when there doesn't even seem to be a choice.
Hange wanted to yell at Levi for not choosing Erwin that day. They were angry that this man let his emotions get the best of him, spouting bullshit about setting him free and stuff. They so wanted to strangle the captain, but over the years that didn't seem to matter anymore. They still wished for Erwin to still be alive, of course, but deep down, even though they denies it, they agreed with Levi.
Shifting his gaze towards the said man next to him, Hange felt a little silly for talking to a sleeping person. He can't hear them, much less give them a response. And then a sillier thought pops up in their head.
"Maybe we should just live here together. Right... Levi?"
He paused for a second, before letting out a weak chuckle.
"What am I thinking? Running away... Some commander I am," he mutters under his breath, getting up to start working on a makeshift wagon. "And we can't just leave Diana... We owed her too much already. Stupid."
***
"Stop it, Floch!! Don't kill him!"
"Calm down, Jean. I just made him understand."
Diana pinned her gaze to the ground, her stomach turning at the screams the Marleyan volunteer let out. The sound of bullet piercing his hand was far too graphic. Not to mention how she was still mentally disturbed from slaughtering yet another bunch of her comrades who turned into brainless titans. And what the hell was that dream she had earlier?
It was all too much.
"He didn't grasp the situation he was in," Floch utters cooly, holding up the gun in his hand. "But I think this got the message across. Now all these volunteers know what happens when they speak to us the wrong way."
"Hey... Who the hell asked you to start acting like you're the king of the hill here?" Jean asked darkly, his brown eyes glaring daggers at the prideful man.
"I'm glad you asked, Jean! Listen up, everyone!" Floch turned to the crowd of terrified volunteers and a few Jaegerists, "Ten months ago, Eren told me his plan! He said he'd use Zeke to control the founder's power!"
"Wha?!"
So that's what's giving you this superiority complex... Diana thought to herself, scowling discreetly at the ginger. Just because Eren included him on his plan he acted like he's the shit. It makes me sick.
"I gathered comrades to help Eren... And today, the plan succeeded!!" he continued, "You volunteers have lost your leader! And the military isn't here to back you either! And now you'll loose your homeland! Thanks to the rumbling, gigantic titan footsteps are all that'll remain!"
"You've lost your reason for coming here in the first place— The revival of your homelands! But if any of you still wish to lend your strength for the sake of the Eldian empire here on this island, speak up! We will welcome you as Eldians!"
"Who do you think you are, you bastard?!" the volunteer who had his hand shot yells out, and just as he was about to continue, Floch sends him a shot to the head, ending him for good.
"Show this man some respect," he said, "He lived as a proud volunteer to the end, refusing to submit, even in the face of a bullet."
Jean widens his eyes at the sight unfolding right in front of his eyes, the image sure to stick around in his head for a while.
Diana throws her gaze to the side, refusing to let the blood pooling on the floor enters her filed of vision. God, she felt like such a hypocrite. She's sworn to protect the volunteers as long as they land the people a hand, yet here she was, watching that damned ginger slaughter these people, unable to even speak up against him.
"But... pride is nothing worth dying for. What's so bad about submission? Wouldn't you rather live... than die like this?"
"I'll give you think to think," Floch sighs before turning to his comrades, "Take the volunteers to their cells."
"What?" Mikasa gasps as she enters the room, her eyes instantly finding the familiar faces of Jean and Diana. "Jean, Diana... What happened here?"
The blonde lets out a long sigh, finally lifting her gaze for the first time in those long minutes.
"Let's just go, Mikasa," she grabs onto her arm, turning her away from the scene. "There's nothing for you here."
"Where are you going, Diana?" Floch stops her in her tracks, a dark tone in his voice.
"I'm just looking for some girls time," she said, "I've been surrounded by men long enough. Will you please excuse me?"
Floch eyes the woman carefully, before sending a dreaded nod. As the two women walks out of the room, the ginger signals for two of his comrades to follow after them.
"Now, to answer your earlier question..."