~ How Heavy Is Blood? ~

Kenny tosses something to him. It's more of an underhanded lob than a throw, and Levi understands that whatever is being tossed is something he's meant to catch, not something that's thrown with intent to harm him.

It's a key.

"She's in the room at the end of the hall," his uncle tells him as he slides past Levi toward the exit.

And Levi lets him escape, because as much as he'd love to kill the bastard, damn it, rescuing Hanji is his priority and he won't allow anything to sidetrack him.

When he enters the room and sees the state of Hanji's clothing, Levi's vision clouds over with red and his mind is consumed with thoughts of revenge.

"Levi..."

Her voice, quiet and tremulous, snaps him out of it. Levi crosses the room in a few quick strides and once he is beside Hanji, he takes off his cloak and wraps it around her waist, tying off the ends over her left hip. From a fashion standpoint, the makeshift skirt looks godawful, especially paired with her yellow shirt. As far as preserving her modesty goes, it will work well enough.

He knows he should probably say something, offer some words of comfort, but he doesn't know what to say, and if he tries he's likely to say something wrong or insensitive or stupid. So he remains silent as he kneels to unlock the shackles that bind her ankles, remains silent as he draws a blade and cuts the rope that binds her hands.

Once she is free from her bonds, Hanji throws her arms around him, crying out, "Levi!"

It's only the second thing she's said this whole time, and he suddenly realizes how wrong that seems.

"I'm gonna fucking kill him," Levi says as he hugs her tightly.

"Levi, I'm okay," Hanji says. "He didn't-"

The rest of her sentence is drowned out by a titan's roar reverberating through the building.

"Damn it, I told the brat not to fucking transform," Levi hisses.

"I guess that means they found Armin?" Hanji says, with a small laugh which turns into a sob.

Levi hooks a thumb under the strap of her googles and gently pulls them off of her head, tucking them into his jacket pocket.

"Go ahead and cry all you want," he says as he lifts her into his arms bridal-style. "You're safe. I've got you."

When Levi reaches the rendezvous point where the rest of his squad waits, Eren's titan body is already evaporating beside it and Mikasa has settled Armin and Eren - who both appear to be unconscious - among a nest of blankets in the back of the wagon.

"One of us needs to be on horseback," Levi says pointedly to Mikasa.

Mikasa glances down at the boys, and for a moment Levi thinks she is going to protest. Then the girl's gaze travels back to the captain, lingering on the woman cradled in his arms. Hanji is openly weeping, her face buried against Levi's neck, and Levi is clinging as fiercely to her as she does to him. It doesn't look like either of them will let go of the other anytime soon. Silently, Mikasa nods and turns to mount the waiting horse.

On their way back to the city, after she has calmed down a bit, Hanji tells Levi everything. And although he would rather not have to hear some of the things she is telling him, he knows that she needs to talk about them. He listens, occasionally murmuring soothing words or rubbing her back reassuringly when her words give way to sobs.

When she gets to a certain part of her tale, Levi wonders if she realizes she has as good as admitted that she is in love with him. He does not interrupt her to remark on it, however, and then the thought is driven from his mind with the revelation that Kenny is his uncle. He had always kind of suspected that Kenny might actually be his father, but...

"He told you he's my uncle?" Levi blurts out.

"He specifically said that you're his sister's child," Hanji replies. "I would have asked him more about it, but at that point someone started banging on the door and shouting about intruders, and he left..."

"Where's your shadow?" Erwin asks, having spotted Hanji alone. In the weeks since they returned, Levi has rarely left her side.

"Taking a monster dump, or so he claimed," she says without looking up from whatever she is writing.

"It must be nice to have a few minutes to yourself once in a while," the commander remarks.

"He can be a little overbearing at times," Hanji replies with a faint smile, "but it's hard to be annoyed with someone for caring about me."

Erwin's expression tells her that he wants to probe more into the nature of her relationship with Levi, but at that moment Levi enters the room and Erwin quickly changes tack, asking, "How's your shoulder?"

"Much better. It hardly even hurts anymore." She turns to Levi as he sits down besides her and asks, "So how was it?"

"The toilet is lucky it survived," Levi deadpans.

"Oh? It should be awarded a medal of valor for such a feat! Wouldn't you agree, Erwin?"

But Erwin is already gone, having taken the discussion of Levi's bowel movements as his cue to leave.

~end~