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

|123| Breaking The Hardening

Alright. This will probably work.

Probably.

Nathalie couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of trying this sooner. Of course, she had made sure to go there on her own. She couldn’t afford them seeing her like this. She couldn’t afford any of her kids, especially her little ones, especially Levi or Hange or Moblit or Erwin, to see that she was still a monster. Or at least, she was very capable of being one.

She remembered clearly how to use those damned enhancements. Nathalie looked up at Annie who was still trapped within her crystal. It was night. Eren and Mikasa had offered to look after Furlan and Isabel for now as they had finished all their duties and Nathalie found the chance to rush down there.

“Alright, darling, I promise you I won’t hurt you one bit, okay?” Nathalie reassured her. “I’ll just try to take you out of there…” She shook both her hands and the natural short transparent nails were replaced with sharp, long black ones. “…the nails of an Enhanced Soldier are supposed to be capable of cutting through anything,” She informed her. “I repeat, I won’t hurt you,” Nathalie repeated it, because she had to make sure that Annie wouldn’t attack her should she actually manage to draw her out of there. Though, Nathalie had a feeling, Annie would be too exhausted to even walk.

Nathalie took a few steps back to make sure she gave herself enough momentum. She took off her glasses. Eyes blinked and flashed into a bright red. Nathalie had no idea how she had managed to learn to control this, but she couldn’t complain one bit. The Burgess Devil was powerful. Too powerful it was truly brilliant. It was the only reason she had spent days without eating and she still had enough energy to fight those twenty Enhanced Soldiers.

Nathalie ran. She ran fast. Unnaturally fast and she launched her attack towards the crystal. An animalistic growl escaped her throat when she reached it and it took her a moment to realise it. She looked at the crystal. She looked at the cracks that started erupting from where her nails had been stabbed into. Her eyes widened. It worked. Oh God- it had worked. She laughed.

“AAHH! YES!” She shouted excitedly. Another theory proven correct. The nails of an Enhanced Soldier could dig through the titan hardening. “Holy fuck, it worked,” She laughed again, and again, as she pulled out her nails and dug them into the crystal again, and again in different spots till the cracks were too many and they had spread in various places. She pulled her nails out and she punched it, creating more cracks. She punched it again. She felt no pain on her knuckles. She felt no sting when the shattering crystal dug in her flesh.

She did not bleed because her flesh was just too hard to penetrate. She was still a monster. She was aware of that. But fuck it. She was genuinely enjoying to be a monster. She delivered one final punch and the crystal shattered to pieces. Next thing she knew, Annie’s limp body was falling on top of her own. Nathalie caught her. She picked the girl up bridal style. It wasn’t a weight that the Burgess Devil couldn’t handle.

Annie’s half-lidded eyes looked up at her as Nathalie grunted and held her tight. “N- Nat…?” She mumbled.

“It’s alright, darling, I’ve got you now,”

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Nathalie instructed the doctors on how to deal with Annie’s current unconscious state. She had sent Marlowe to notify everybody -no matter how late it was- that she had finally managed to release Annie from the crystal. But for now Annie was resting. She had passed out, because as Nathalie had predicted, she was exhausted. It was alright. She had made sure she had connected cables in her wrists that fed her body with all the nutrients that it needed. It would take a night -or maybe two- but Annie would wake up in the morning healthy and well.