||Manga Spoilers! || Promises {LeviHan}

Chapter 7: Nightmares

Hanji's POV

I just remember feeling cold. Blood was filling my eyes. Reaching up to my left eye, I felt some sort of warm liquid. Pulling it in front of my working eye, I could see it was blood. My left eye was wounded. Feeling around my head for a part of my eye-patch- there was no trace of it.

Panic began to settle in.

Looking around, I could see hundreds upon hundreds of titans slowly marching forward. Nothing was stopping them. Searching for my gear, I had realized that I wasn't wearing my gear. Just a uniform. My jacket was torn and bloodied- my stomach was staining my yellow shirt red. 

The first thing that came in mind was my baby. The one baby I was supposed to have- have I lost it once more...?

Before I could even grieve for that lost baby... a loud cry filled the thundering air. An infant. Searching around, there was nothing but rubble. If anything... that baby was dead. But its cries were still heard. Ringing and piercing. Even if I clamped my hands over my ears- I could still hear those cries.

From one baby, to 5 babies. Their cries began to overlap over one another... each one draining my strength. I was forced to my knees... crippling under their cries. I couldn't find them... those lost souls... what could I do to keep them alive...?

"Stop..." I cried, feeling my tears mixing with my blood. "Please..."

Nothing would soothe the babies' needs. 

Resulting in a crawl, I began to crawl towards the nearest baby's cries. It grew louder and louder as I slowly inched there. What I saw stunned me. A baby wrapped in a white blanket... crying at the top of its lungs. 

I reached out to it, caressing its cheeks. Its cries had stopped... and it began to calm down. Their reddened head soon turned back to its normal color. All they needed was a mother's touch.

Picking it up gently, I cradled it in my arms. The background noises of the babies soon combined into one. It fell silent soon after. The baby in my arms seemed to have smiled in my arms... happy to have me there. A smile grew on my face... this baby... was mine. 

Once they opened their eyes, I could see it was Levi's eyes. Twinkling gently in the midst of destruction.

What concerned me next was that those gray eyes soon turned red. Blood began to pool around its eyes... dripping down its cheeks. Gasping in surprise, the baby didn't seem to realize. I tried to wipe those bloody tears away... but it kept on coming. The second I began to overreact... the baby... it began to fade away...

How it faded... was similar to how a titan disappeared. Evaporating.

"No!" I cried, trying to hold the baby close. "Don't go..." I cried, "Don't go..."

I had no control... those crying babies' cries came back. Overpowering my will. The baby that was in my arms was gone- leaving a bloody stain on my hands. Infused with my skin... I could not rub it off.

I looked around, trying to find some sort of sanity- when I could see a titan reaching for me. My will was broken. I could not stand up to my feet. What I could do was... accept my fate. My fate was that... I should die. The last thing I felt was the titan gripping me tightly- my ribs cracking under its grasp. The pain... woke me.

*   *   *

"Don't go!" I jumped from the bed, sweating all over. My heart was pounding- I swear I could feel my ribs being broken... but the pain had seemed to reduce. My hands reached for my stomach... no cuts or anything. I couldn't catch my breath...

"Hanji..." I turned to my side, seeing Levi struggle in the bed. "W-What...?"

I waved it off, trying to lay back in bed. "It's nothing... just a nightmare..."

"What happened?"

"It was just a nightmare-"

"Hanji," he said sternly, gripping on my arm, "tell me what happened."

Levi sat up in bed, having me gently lay onto his chest. His arms wrapped around me as I nuzzled into his presence. He felt so warm... unlike me, falling quickly into the cold. I could feel this presence that he was a protector- able to protect me from all harm.

"What happened, Hanji?"