Chapter 5

"This fight will be a decision maker between us and the Yulvaskians. A lot of you might die but by the end of it we will have won ourselves a seize of armstice with them." Hanji said, before looking at Crystal, "Your orders are going to come directly from me. This fight needs someone like you to take every risk imaginable. This battle's outcome will rest on your shoulders."

"So you want me to go in and kill until either i die or theres no more to kill?" Crystal asked bluntly, the other scouts givinf wary expressions to the two.

"Yes. Thats my exact orders to you. If youre about to die, fire off a purple smoke so someone can recover your body. You will be coming back home with us no matter what."

"Right. Got it." Crystal said with a short nod and they continued discussing the battle plans for the others. Crystal felt eyes boring into her skull and she turned to see Levi with a menacing glare.

Once the meeting was over, Crystal tried to effectively avoid Levi by pretending to talk to her comrades.

"Oi. Cadet Shigorati. Come to my office. Immediately." Levi announced loudly before walking down the hallway and Crystal grimaced as the unsavorable cadets started to sneer awful comments about their private meeting.

Gulping down her tears she walked down the hallway after him and approached his office door. Knocking on it gently, she refused to speak.

"Come in, Shigorati." Levi commanded and she opened the door, their eyes locking as soon as she closed it behind herself, "Who made you cry?"

"No one..." Crystal muttered, "What did you need sir?"

"You seem eager to go along with Hanji's orders." Levi mumbled, "What did i say about self preservation?"

"I dont give a shit about my life." Crystal said harshly, suddenly every hurt emotion boiled into rage, "My orders are absolute! Hanji needs me for her plan to work, and I'm more than capable of keeping myself alive."

"You damn insolent brat! I'll have you jailed for disrespecting a higher up officer!" Levi threatened and Crystal felt hurt by his words.

"Why? Why do you care at all? This whole time I've been a scout you've always treated me like i was different from everyone else!"

"Because you are different!" Levi shouted, before getting up and storming over to her, making her cower back towards the door.

"How am i different?! Because I'm actually useless? Or that I'm fast? Or that i was able to satisfy your meager lust for someone-!" Crystal shouted accusing him when his lips suddenly crashed onto hers and her breath was stolen.

It had been a month since they had their night together and Levi went back to treating her like nothing ever happened. She assumed he wanted to keep it that way and it had only proved to hurt her more.

Yet here he was, desperately clinging to her and for a moment all her body wanted to do was stay there and let him have his way. But then her mind caught up to the moment and her palm made contact with his cheek, effectively breaking the kiss.

Tears streaming down her face, she turned and left the office quickly, leaving Levi stunned.

Her heart screamed at her to turn around, to go back and apologize, but she wasn't special, she wasn't someone's somebody. She was simply a scout who knew how to follow orders, if those orders were that she was to die then she would gladly die right then and there.

Levi held his cheek for a moment when Hanji's footsteps approached and a soft gasp left her, "What happened? Your cheek is all red."

"Cadet Shigorati put me in my place..." Levi mumbled, touching the burning skin.

"She must've been really upset to hit you of all people." Hanji sighed, putting her hands on her hips, "Levi, Cadet Shigorati... No, Crystal, is the most valuable asset we have that seemingly has boundless loyalty to the scouts. Armin is still on our good side but who knows how long that will last? Eren has got whacko. Crystal is our last and only good fighting chance to earn our armistice from the Yulvaskians."

"I hear you Hanji. I know what you're saying is true..." Levi muttered as he sat down at his desk, and Hanji walked up, shutting his door behind herself.

"I get it," Hanji said softly, "You care about your cadet. You care about your comrade. But I honestly wouldn't have suggested this if I didn't think she'd survive."

"What's your guess...?"

"She has a 56% chance of survival. If she can focus on purely killing the enemy that will obviously increase to 67%." Hanji said sharply, and Levi felt a gust of relief wash over him, "See? Absolutely nothing to worry about. Do you want me to call her here for a punishment?"

"For what?"

"For slapping you and leaving a pretty sizeable bruise." Hanji laughed a little, noticing the purpling skin on his face.

"Is it that bad? I should've figured that getting slapped by Crystal Shigorati would leave a bruise..." Levi let out one of his rare, tiny smiles, "Nah, I won't punish her. Its rare that I get bruises from other people."

"So lenient, Levi." Hanji said, now acquiring a teasing tone, "If I'm not mistaken, you two shared quite the passionate moment not too long ago."

"I think you need to leave and shut up." Levi said in a grunt, but Hanji laughed in response before spinning around to leave, "Hey, Foureyes!"

"Yes...?" Hanji looked back at him, to find him tensed up and his arms crossed, a behavior he only did when he was about to say something he wasn't used to.

"Thank you... for telling me she'll be okay."

"No problem Levi. That's what I'm here for." Levi looked down at his paperwork, and instantly started to regret telling her off, Crystal took pride in being able to follow orders.

She loved the fact that her higher ups could rely on her for special, albeit dangerous, tasks. She loved completing said tasks and enjoyed the praise the other cadets gave her. Now she had the fate of this battle on her shoulders and Levi thought he had the right to tell her she shouldn't go.

"I'm sorry, Crystal..." He mumbled, guilt wrecking his body. He didn't want her to leave like this, he didn't want her to hate him in her final moments.

Just that thought alone made his head spin with guilt and shame. The last time she would ever touch him... was a bruising slap to the face.

---

"Alright Crystal..." Hanji said softly as they started to reach Crystal's personal drop off point, "Please focus purely on attacking the enemy. It'll increase your chances of survival."

"So no saving our comrades...?" Crystal asked and Hanji nodded.

"Your life is a little more important at this moment. So please focus on coming back alive."

"I'll do my best." Crystal prepared to jump out of the door, her feet holding somewhat of a shield made of titan hardening.

"Crystal." Hanji stopped her, "I have to ask... Are you still upset with Levi?"

"I don't even remember what I should be upset about." Crystal said simply before jumping out of the door. She spotted her first targets and started to shoot with her pistol as she continued to free fall. Despite everyone else upgrading to the gun version of ODM gear, Crystal stayed true to the original Blades. Claiming she was faster and more reliable with blades instead of bullets.

But she carried a handgun with her to ward off those who were further from her and she had to admit, her shot was dangerouslys close to her accuracy with a blade.

As she landed, protected by her shield, she slipped it off her feet and began grappling through the buildings, slicing each and every enemy into pieces.

The plan was to drop Crystal off in the farthest right section of the Enemy's main base, from there Crystal would work her way to the far left, killing every single one in her path. Considering these men still did the trenches, most of them would be in this area, some would be out in the field, but those could be handled by the other scouts.

Crystal sliced off another man's head and then spun around, slicing all the buddies around him across their stomachs. She hadn't stopped killing since she landed in the trench, but thankfully she didn't have any wounds other than a bruise from hittng a wall top hard.

Her guess was she was about half way done with being there, and she smiled gleefully. She could go home after this, she could see Levi again if she did a good job.

"I think I'll ask for a feast with meat." Crystal said simply as she sliced another enemy down and kept going. She was running out of blades, eventually she would have to pick up the enemy's guns and take over using those.

She luckily knew how to shoot them, so she wouldn't be totally screwed. That's when she saw the blimp off in the distance that held Hanji, Armin, and a handful of scouts. They were her marker for the end of the trench and she felt sense of joy washing over her.

"Commander Hanji." The pilot says softly, "Crazily enough, your fighter down there is closing in on our location."

"She's my best weapon. Next to Levi of course." Hanji said happily, "In the event that she does fall though, please keep in mind where her smoke signal comes from."

"Right."

"Captain Levi!" Mikasa jumped into the hiding spot, "The troops are motioning for a retreat. Apparently they've caught wind of Crystal and are prioritizing her."

"Fuck." Levi cursed, "She won't be able to handle all of the soldiers. Let's head in to give her back up!" He ordered loudlt to all the squad members. The 6 of them jumped out of the hiding spot and ran off towards the Enemies trenches.

"It's pure carnage..." Connie said quietly, as they flew over all the dead bodies, "Not a single survivor..."

"That's the power of our weapon." Mikasa said, "She holds no remorse for the men she cuts down, so she's able to slice them down faster than we shoot."

Levi listened in as they scanned, looking for her. Was she really that heartless on the battlefield?

They looked ahead and found Crystal shooting with one of the guns the enemy had, taking out every soldier that came around the corner.

"Cadet Shigorati. Report!" Levi said as he landed behind her and she continued to shoot into the fray.

"I'm completely out of blades, but I'm at the very end of these vermin. I've killed all of the ones in their little rooms too, so I don't think any will come from behind. If you're here that means that you guys took care of those in the field?"

"No. Those in the field started to retreat to here." Mikasa said, "We came to provide backup."

"Please attend to our wounded. Find them and make sure you bring their bodies back home." Crystal said as she shot another man's head, his brains exploding all over the man behind him, and Levi took her order into suggestion.

"Alright. You've got this handled then?" Levi said, before the squad took off to go find their wounded. She had a point, if she had her job taken care of, it would only be reasonable to assume they should take care of their wounded comrades.

Crystal shot another man and realized she was running out of ammo, "God this is why i hate these stupid weapons." She cursed and started to look around for another gun. She would have to switch to get the ammo out of that one.

Grabbing the one closest to her she felt someone over her and she shot blindly, one of the enemy had taken her window of vulnerability and was about to kill her. She groaned as she shoved him over the barrier before taking point again, when she noticed that they were no longer coming from that spot and she felt the hairs on her arms start to stand on end.

Where were they? She didnt kill them all. She knew that for a fact.

"You island devil scum!" a man shouted and they started to surround her, Crystal cursed under her breath.

But in a blink of an eye she pulled her handgun out, dropping the larger weapon and started to shoot around herself blindly. As long as her bullets hit something, she knew she was okay.

But three bullets lodged themselves into her shoulder, two closer to her nape and one in her bicep. She hissed as the pain started to kick in and her vision started to go white. As more of the enemy closed in, she mindlessly reached for her smoke gun.

Lifting her bleeding arm into the sky she shot off the purple smoke. There was a good chance she would die right now. Pulling out the small broken blades in her ODM gear she started to slice up the men in front of her, briefly using her pistol to fight the others off and then stealing one of their faster guns.

In her moments of adrenaline induced fighting she recalled the kiss her and Levi shared before this mission. Her heart swelled as tears came to her eyes.

But suddenly the last man charging for her slumepd over dead and she realized that she had shot him. Tears streaming down her face she collasped where she stood, still seeing the purple smoke in the sky as she smiled.

"Crystal!" A voice cried out, and Crystal muttered to herself.

"Just let me die..." Before closing her eyes.

---

"No no no!!!" Hanji cried out as Levi jumped into the blimp with Crystal in his arms, "No! Your survival rate was over 60%! What happened?!"

"I think they ambushed her when she was reloading her gun..." Levi mumbled as he put her down on the floor, "She's still alive, but barely."

"Crystal?!" Hanji shouted in her blood stained face, "Crystal i order you to give me a full report of your wounds! Where are they?!"

"Hanji... we should strip her and check for ourselves." Armin said sternly and Hanji started to sob. Armin moved across from her and started to take off Crystal's shirt.

"Three..." Crystal mutters quietly, "In my shoulder..." Armin jumped at her words, but Hanji gleamed with joy, "Two... in my abdomen but they're not too deep..."

"Good Crystal! Good! Is that all? Where are the rest?!"

"... 4 in my..." Crystal lifted a weak hand and pats her left leg, and Hanji nodded. Now assisting Armin in taking off her clothes, Levi stood by as the othet cadets whispered that she was probably going to die.

That it would be a waste of materials to try to heal a dying woman.

"Alright her report is correct..." Armin said as he began to try to fish the bullets out of her stomach, she was right, they were fairly shallow, enough that he assumed her organs were okay. She was simply weak from blood loss.

As they took care of the bullet wounds, Levi suddenly snapped at the cadets who kept muttering amongst themselves.

"We will not be leaving her to die!" He shouted at them, "Stop muttering about leaving one of your comrades to die! She singlehandedly won this war, the least you can do is hold out hope that Hanji and Armin will heal her up in time!"

"But Captain..." Floch stepped forward, "She's useless outside of war. If this is the end of our battles for a while, it would only make sense to let useless people die."

"Want to repeat yourself?" Levi looked at him with a dark expression and Floch tensed up, "Repeat. Yourself."

"You heard me, I'm sure others here agree with me. Ain't that right Jean? She did cheat on you, didn't she?" Levi turned her glare over to Jean who gulped nervously.

"N-No. I don't agree with you Floch. Crystal and I might have our quells, but that doesn't mean I want her to die." Jean said simply, "She's a war hero now, the least we can do to honor her is to help her live."

"Exactly." Connie spoke up, "Who cares what she does in her personal life? Honestly you seem a bit obsessive over her, Floch."

"I just don't see the point in letting useless people live-" Suddenly a foot landed itself into Floch's shin, bringing him down to the ground when another kick landed on his face.

"Levi!" Hanji shouted, "Don't do this right now!"

"I just wanted to get the point across to Floch." Levi said harshly, "Stop talking about your war hero like that. She's not useless." He watched gleefully as Floch spit up blood, "Say it again and I'll kick you again. That goes for all of your goons too." Levi said, glaring at all his friends before sittiing down near where they were working on Crystal.

"She should be okay now." Hanji said simply as they finished up sewing her leg wounds, she was now only in her undergarment wraps, and the bandages. Levi huffed in annoyance.

"That's 9 more wounds to add to her list." Armin said, and what he said caught Levi's curiosity, "She has us keep track of how many wounds she gets every battle. So far she's sustained 49 different gunshot wounds."

"How is she still alive?" Connie exclaimed, and Armin chuckled.

"She's really fast at healing. Its almost comparable to Titan healing."

"Are we sure she's not a titan then?" Jean questioned.

"She's definitely not a titan." Armin said confidently, "But she'll be okay now."

"I'll watch over her." Levi said sharply, and Armin nodded.

"Of course." The others began to file into the cot rooms so they could get some sleep. Levi looked down at Crystal before taking off his cloak and wrapped it over her body like a blanket.

"See? I told you she'd make it back..." Hanji muttered, sitting down next to Levi.

"Says the one who wouldn't stop screaming when I carried her onto the ship."

"I couldn't help it!" Hanji said, tears still in her eyes, "All I seen was her purple smoke, and then you carrying her on board, unconscious in your arms." Hanji looked down at Crystal, "She single-handedly did win this war for us, and I felt incredibly guilty thinking she had died."

"Hopefully there's still hope for her..." Levi muttered, "She was already unconscious when I found her. She willingly closed her eyes..."

"She'll be okay now. She has medicine in her body, her body will soak up all of it."

Levi nodded and Hanji left them. Leaning back against the wall he felt exhaustion starting to grab at him and he closed his eyes. He could sleep for a bit, Crystal was safe, she was right in front of him breathing on the floor.