XVII

                                    

                                          
You and Claire. Claire and you, against the world. You would have preferred it to be Hange or Nanaba, or Rico, but at least you knew Claires fighting style. The two of you worked well together, which was imperative. The flare had indeed attracted more Titans, and they were coming at you from all angles. You assisted Claire inn her first kill, and then turned midair to watch her take down her first solo.
"Captain! I'm low on gas!" She called, having just used a significant chunk in completing a large loop.
"Get up that tree and assume defence only, I'll bring back more!" You yelled, knowing you weren't far now.
You raced ahead, knowing your own gas was low too. You encountered no more Titans, and were just about to make the final push when you collided into something hard. Whatever you had crashed into must have been sharp, there was a strange wet feeling along your torso, which you figured was blood. For one horrifying moment, you thought perhaps you had said Ed straight into the mouth of a Titan, slicing yourself on its teeth.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck, you're back," it wasn't a Titan, it was Levi.
"Yeah, it's ok, don't worry," you said, as the two of you recovered from the crash, "we need to get more gas back to Claire. She's up a tree."
Levi nodded, and began to walk you back the short distance to the hut. He looked down at his blade, noticing the blood, and wiping it away.
"I didn't see the flare for so long, I came out. I killed a fair few Titans on my way, until I saw it," he said, looking disgusted at the blood, "I think I've dulled my blades too much."
You nodded, realising he hadn't noticed the gash in your side, or that he'd caused it. The two of you quickly made your way back to the hut. You made sure to keep the jacket Claire had given you wrapped tightly around you. No one had to worry, not until Claire was back. Luckily, you were wearing a black top, so when your hand came away coated in blood, you were able to wipe it on yourself without leaving obvious smears.
Eld volunteered to go with you to collect Claire. You were hoping to sit that part out, but it was obvious that you were the only one who knew exactly where she was. You swapped out your own canisters with Petra, who instructed you to fly fast and safe. Eld was all too ready to resign from captaincy, joking that this small rescue mission would be his swan song. You laughed too, not as deeply as you normally would, on account of your bleeding side.
The two of you made considerable timing, dodging as many Titans as you could before closing in on the tree that Claire was in. You pushed to reach her, holding one of her new canisters beneath your arms. You were nearly there first, Eld only a few seconds behind you, when you faltered. You began to fall, dropping the canister you had been tasked with. Eld caught you suddenly from behind, throwing you towards the tree. At first, and rather dramatically, you assumed the gash on the side had nearly killed you off. But as Claire and Eld began inspecting your gear, it was revealed that one of the old canisters had finally given up. The valve was faulty. 
"Both of them, actually. We can't even siphon gas out of them," Eld explained, looking distraught.
It then dawned on you that with two useless canisters, two empty ones with Claire and only one replacement, getting back was going to be tricky. It was possible to siphon some gas from the back up canister to Claire and then save the remaining for yourself, but that would mean flying with only one canister. This was something you had never actually trained to do, the weight imbalance would throw you off entirely.
"Captain, any other day I would take the singular canister myself as your Squad Leader," Eld began, "but I'm sure you know that you far excel me in ODM. If you can't make it, we'll send someone else back."
You nodded, and looked at Claire. She smiled sadly, it wasn't nice awaiting rescue up a tree.
"I'll try it, if it doesn't work, I'll get up another tree."
———
You were flying, but poorly. There was no real way to control just how much you would swing between each hook, it was nauseating. You could see Eld up ahead as you dizzily swung forwards. You tried to regain your heading, when suddenly you were pulled sharply left. At first, you though your canister had finally gone completely rogue. But the clash of a blade told you otherwise. Instead of plunging evermore leftwards, you felt a force slam into your body, pushing you forwards.
It had been a Titan, one of it's hands were now severed, but the other had found your saviour; Claire. She was looking right at you, but not pleadingly. She knew you couldn't save her, not with that gear. It was clear that Eld was too far ahead at this point. The two of you locked eyes, before she closed hers, resigning to her fate. You scrambled further up the tree you had landed on, not wanting to meet a similar fate. 
With one hand, you clamped your mouth shut, silencing the sobs. With your other, you clutched at the ever growing pain in your side. The blood seemed to have clotted into your clothing, sealing the wound, but you knew it would need some medical attention. You heard the splutter of gas heading towards you, and you wondered if Eld had turned around instead of getting reinforcements.
It wasn't Eld, it was Levi.
"Sh-She's gone!" Was all you could get out.
He held you carefully, preventing your body from slipping as you sobbed. For a moment you considered latching onto him, but you decided that was too much. He rubbed your hair gently, and then raised your face up off his shoulder while supporting you both with his other hand against the tree.
"I know, shh, I know," he said, and let you place your arm around him.
So much for not latching on.
You considered asking him to siphon you some gas so that you could get back to the hut and tend to your injuries. But you old see him tapping at his canisters, trying to gauge their level by sound.
 "I'm going to have to carry you. I siphoned most of my gas to get you back to the wall. I think we'd lose too much trying to exchange some,"he muttered, almost angry at himself.
"Would be no use either way, I've only got one canister."
"Of course you do."
The two of you geared up awkwardly, you decided piggy-back was a little bit more dignifying than a fireman's carry. Besides, it would free up both of Levi's hands. The only downside was you had to rely on yourself to keep hold.
As the pair of you flew off, the final entourage of Titans appeared. It was a short stretch, and for your sake, Levi trying to evade more than attack. Unfortunately, with the light of the hut coming into full view, a small 4m class Titan swiped at your passing body. Injured and sleep deprived, you lacked the strength to cling on any longer.
"No!" It was Levi, still swinging away and unable to correct his hooks fast enough.
"Come back for me! Get help!" You called back, slashing at the Titan with your blades as it dragged you towards the ground.
"I'm not leaving you, not now!" He yelled back.
"You don't- ugh- you don't have the gas," you called, continuing the attack.
As if the prove your point, a worrying splutter could be heard from Levi's canisters. They were drying up, fast. Frustrated, he screamed, and began to head back to the hut for whatever gas they had left.
"Don't give up, I'm coming back for you."