Broken Hearts, Severed Limbs (Levi x OC x Erwin)

|83| A True Mom

She was stressed, she couldn’t deny it. All she could think about is how she had figured it out. It made sense no matter how many times she looked into it. She worked, and worked, and worked on the new serum. The one that was supposed to dissolve the genes that cause Eldians to transform. She knew what the right protein was, but that wasn’t enough. She couldn’t afford having the entirety of the genetic material dissolving by accident. Nor she could allow any unwanted mutations in the genome. The results would be catastrophic.

Nathalie pulled her hair out once more. She hadn’t slept in two days. She didn’t know when was the last time she ate something. She didn’t know what time it was. She didn’t know whether it was night or morning outside. She was alone in the lab. Hange and Moblit had left a few hours back. Maybe they had left because night had fallen. But Nathalie couldn’t leave, and Levi was no longer coming to get her.

You can work whenever on your research and spend as much time as you want in those labs. That was what he had told her. But there was just no end to this. She had so much work to do. Her fingers ached from grasping tightly around the pencil as she scribbled down things like a maniac.

Blood slipped out of her nostrils, but she had several handkerchiefs ready for that. All of them were now stained in red and her throat burned. She could tell her fingers were trembling as she tried to grip onto the pencil. Shivers ran down her body as she further curled herself. Cold. She was freezing. If she kept it up like this, she was going to die far sooner than six years. No. She just had to take another shot of Hange’s Resurrection Serum. That was all that she needed.

She hadn’t seen any side-effects. It didn’t seem to have harmed her somehow, but Nathalie couldn’t tell. It was still too early to tell whether it was affecting her health somehow. It was still better than nothing. The iron taste of blood lingered in her mouth, and she knew she had to stop. She had to take a break. She hadn’t realised how heavy her breathing was until she actually stopped and pulled her glasses off, and rested them on the lab counter.

Her eyes stung. She ran a hand over her forehead tiredly. She had to ride back to Trost, but she knew there was no way she could do that. Not like this. She still needed to rest. She needed to lie down, and the cold marbled floor wasn’t an option. Neither sleeping on the desk for the second time was an option. Her nape, her waist and her back and hands were still aching from the sleep she had done for three hours only last night on that very same desk.

She sighed heavily and she stuffed her glasses and her notebook back in that leather-brown bag that always hung around her shoulders. Maybe she couldn’t ride back in Trost, but hopefully Historia would let her spend the night in the palace which was right above her.

Nathalie injected herself with the serum once more. She had lost count of how many shots she had taken. She stood up and propped her hands on all the counters she passed from. She should probably get a cane. She chuckled bitterly on the thought. So damn miserable and helpless and weak. For a moment, she cursed herself for asking Levi to give her some freedom. If she hadn’t, he would be there now, and he’d take her home.

He’d pick her up and he’d guide his horse to take her back in the HQ and then to bed. Shit. She was helpless without him, and she hated it, but she didn’t mind it at the same time. It was such a weird feeling. She needed him and she knew it, but she hated it all the same.

Now she was standing in front of the large entrance of the royal palace. The sky was dark outside. The torches burned bright all around, bringing enough light. The royal guard recognised her and she was now waiting for the maids to open the door. Nathalie had thrown a hand on the wall, making sure to keep herself standing. Her vision was blurry. She was going to pass out. She just knew it. Depending on how large the injury, the serum needed time to work, and she could tell she had done quite the damage.