Armin nearly toppled off of his horse as it sped toward where the fingertips of the titan had barely brushed Chi's body. In that split second, her body moved. The fingertips of the titan went flying as she sliced them cleanly off with her last pair of blades, her injured arm twisted sickeningly at unnatural angles.

"Don't you—dare—think—that I've given up," she panted, her eyes flashing with an unknown ferocity.

The titan seemed to lose interest in playing with her and yanked her up by her broken arm. Grimacing, Chi screamed, but her menacing glare had not yet calmed. Just before it brought her to its awaiting jaws, she sliced the blade straight through her arm right below her shoulder. Her limb was separated from her body, and she fell once more, away from the titan. This time, Armin jetted forward on his stallion and caught her while Mikasa took care of the gruesome beast.

"Chi!" Armin cried, his wet eyes dripping as he held the now unconscious woman in his arms. "Chi! Wake up!" His chest filled with a heavy feeling of despair as he watched blood pour from her wounds.

"She's not going to wake up," a Military Policeman suddenly interjected, drawing up his horse next to Armin's. "Let me return her to the district. If I hurry, we might have a chance to save her life."

Armin looked at the stranger with wide eyes. "What? No, Chi—"

"Look. She's lost a lot of blood, both an arm and a leg, and her body looks like a mangled rag doll's. She needs to get back as soon as possible. I know the shortest route by heart." The Policeman's platinum blonde hair fell into his forest green eyes as he looked hard into Armin's periwinkle ones. The man looked just barely older than Chi.

Reluctantly, Armin nodded and wiped his teary eyes on the sleeve of his jacket. Gently, he scooped her into his arms and handed her over to the other man, letting her body drape over the horse's back. Using his own cloak as a tourniquet, he tied it around Chi's leg tightly. Mikasa took off her own and offered it up for where Chi's missing arm used to be.

Once they both finished treating her to the best of their abilities, they mounted their stallions again and gave the man a final nod.

"Um, excuse me," Armin asked. "I—I'm Armin. What's your name?"

"Ya speaking to me?" the Policeman grunted, one of his thick brows raised. Armin nodded. "I'm Kazz Finch."

"Kazz, nice to meet you. Have a safe journey back to the wall—and please, please take care of Chi." His eyes pleaded along with his words.

"Why? This girl special or somethin'?"

"Y—you could say. As soon as the Lance Corporal Levi finds out... all hell is sure to break loose. She's his lover."

Armin shot the Policeman one more fearful look as a final warning then turned on his horse, immediately bursting into a gallop to catch up with the rest of the soldiers. Shrugging nonchalantly, Kazz looked down at the broken girl before him. Bloodstains splattered nearly every inch of her body—and most of it looked like it belonged to her, especially with the huge gashes on her torso, missing limbs, and all.

Heaving a great sigh, Kazz gave the horse a slight jab in the side with the heel of his boot, starting back with an urgent trot. There were many questions in his head as to how incredibly well Chi had taken down those titans; the way she charged straight into battle seemed almost... inhumane.

Transfixed by this superhuman who wasn't that much younger than himself, Kazz urged his horse faster and protectively strapped an arm over Chi's back. Together, they rode back to the wall.

"Well... at least I got out of that suicidal mission. How fortunate that I got this girl to be my excuse to return. Back to the safety of the walls, I go."

~~~~~

"Levi!" Hanji screamed, running into dining room. "Levi!" The captain had was quietly relaxing inside, sipping a cup of one of his favorite teas: peppermint green tea. It was a rare occasion for him to have a treat like rare tea, and when he did, he made sure to enjoy it to its fullest. But there was only one thing that would make him the happiest man in the world.

Chi.

Remembering that she wasn't there, he set down his cup and shut his eyes, massaging the bridge of his nose.

"What do you want, shitty four-eyes?" he grumbled. "Can't you see I'm relaxing? I thought you were injured, but you're running around and all."

He didn't bother to turn his head as Hanji slammed the door wide open, her body and face covered in bandages.

"It's—it's Chi!" she screamed, running over to Levi. Latching onto his arm, she dragged him out of his chair and attempted to bring him out into the hall, but stopped when he dug his heels into the floor.

"What the hell?!" he protested, feeling concern grow in his gut when he surveyed her panicked attitude. Abnormally panicked. "What's wrong?!"

Hanji's eyes were urgent and wide; when Levi spotted the glimmer of fear in them, he, too, became alarmed.

"She's hurt," Hanji whispered in a harsh voice, her vice grip on Levi's arm loosening. "It's bad. Really bad." Levi's eyes grew and he bolted out of the door Hanji had just come through.

"Where?!" he demanded, running to every door in the corridor and slamming it open. "Where is she?!"

"Calm down!" Hanji pleaded, chasing after the panicked man. "She's up here, follow me!"

Levi forced himself to slow as Hanji raced down one hallway, then another, then another, and up a flight of stairs before pausing in front of a large door. Heaving it open, she pushed it aside to show Chi—still unconscious—resting on a small bed pushed up against the farthest wall.

A gasp shuddered past Levi's lips as his eyes landed on her severed appendages, now properly bandaged. He failed to tear his eyes away from the blood that stained her torn uniform. Broken swearing fell from his lips as he shakily made his way over to her bedside and fell to his knees, gripping the sheets tightly.

"Why..." he hissed. "How the hell did this happen to her? Is she alive? Shitty four-eyes. Tell me now... is she okay?"

"She—she'll be fine," Hanji told him uncertainly, placing a supportive hand on his shoulder. "She'll live—I think. Maybe. It's only her right leg and arm that're missing."

"Only?!" Levi glared hard at the his balled fists, unable to look at his lover's face without feeling a large twinge of shame and guilt.

Hanji bit her lip. "Levi, I think we should just be grateful she's ali—"

"No!" Levi cut her short with a sharp growl. "I... I shouldn't have let her go. I should've made her stay with me. Tell me what happened!"

Hanji couldn't help but sigh as she pulled up a chair and set it beside Chi's bed, motioning for Levi to sit in it. Reluctantly, he did, and Hanji did the same before blowing a deep breath from between her pursed lips.

"Eren battled Reiner, as he and Bertholdt are the Colossal and Armored Titans—just like we'd predicted," she recounted, "but Eren lost the fight, and he along with Ymir were captured by the two. There was a large explosion with Bertholdt's body and many of the soldiers on the front lines—including myself—were heavily injured and knocked unconscious." She self-consciously touched her bandages. "According to Armin, Chi had suffered the same injuries as the rest of us, but she was still conscious after the explosion. She began pursuing the four of them immediately."

"...What a fool. Of course she would do something as dangerous as that."

"That's true. And, well... five hours later, we were able to transport the horses to the other side of the wall, and we started pursuit. I stayed behind due to my injuries, and a few hours later, some Garrison soldiers who were doing a perimeter check found a stranded horse. Sitting atop of it was a Military Policeman and Chi. The Military Policeman was identified as Kazz Finch, a man who finished seventh in the 101st Trainee Squad—though his head was severed, and we could tell by the marks that it was almost certainly bitten off by a titan. It seems the horse was able to escape a titan assault, but Finch must've been decapitated by surprise. Chi was found as she is."

"That still doesn't explain why she's like this," Levi fussed, his hand wandering over to the hem of Chi's bloodstained shirt. "How could she have possibly gotten this injured? With her tenacity... I've never seen her like this. A titan attack against her and a Policeman wouldn't end with like this. What the hell happened?"

"Nobody knows yet," Hanji reported, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "The people who left in pursuit still haven't returned, and we have yet to find out ourselves."

Levi sighed again, unable to let go of his regrets.

"I made the wrong decision," he mumbled. "I can't believe that I let her go. Why did I do that? Why do I always put her in danger every time I leave her by herself?"

Hanji looked at him with big, doleful eyes. "Shortie, it's not your fault."

"Yes, it is. In the beginning, whenever there was some kind of miscommunication, she always ran away. When she ran away, she would always came back in pieces that were easy to put back together. I was always able to fix my mistakes. But this time it's different. Now... now..."

In frustration, Levi swept his hands through his hair and gripped his black strands in his fists, spewing horrid curses. Hanji carefully observed the conflicted man. There were very few times she'd ever seen Levi in such distress—and for the most part, it was because of Chi.

Or at least, in the span of time in which Hanji had known Levi, it seemed that way. She really liked Chi as well, and she could feel Levi's pain—but surely what she felt was only a fraction of it. After finding out what had happened to Levi's before-the-Corps companions, she knew he had his own fair share of painful memories.

"Levi," Hanji mumbled. He was hunched forward dejectedly, his elbows resting upon his knees. "I'm sorry." She pulled her chair next to Levi's and put a caring arm around the distressed man's shoulders.

Her chestnut brown eyes went back to Chi's still-unmoving body, but something suspicious caught her attention, and her jaw nearly hit the floor as it fell.

"L—Levi...?" she sputtered. "Oi, Levi?! Is your woman... on fire?"

"What?" Levi's head whipped up and he realized that there was steam emitting from Chi's body, curling in midair before dissipating.

The two of them jumped to their feet and they raced to peel off the bandages on her body, for it seemed that the strange steam was coming from there.

It was to their bigger shock as they realized that her limbs were not smoking. They were, in fact, regrowing.