Chapter 86: Between Life and Death

                                    

                                          
The forest was oppressively quiet at dawn, its silence broken only by the distant rustle of leaves and the soft crunch of boots on damp earth. Levi stood at the edge of a small clearing, his crutch digging into the ground as he, Pieck, Jean, and a battered Hange prepared to face the extremists once more. They had come too far to turn back now. Hange's infiltration had yielded crucial intel, but at a terrible cost.
They hadn't been able to rest long. The extremists, regrouped and angrier than ever, were closing in. The subtle markers Hange had left behind had led Levi and the others to her, but they'd also left traces the extremists could follow. Now the enemy encircled them, visible as shifting silhouettes among the underbrush.
Levi tightened his grip on his weapon, pain flaring in his injured leg. Pieck took cover behind a fallen tree, her rifle steady, while Jean positioned himself on a slight rise for a better vantage point. Hange, leaning against a trunk for support, refused to be sidelined. Though her face was drawn and pale, her eyes blazed with stubborn resolve.
"They're flanking left," Hange warned quietly, her voice strained but clear. Her knowledge of their patterns came from her time undercover-time that had almost cost her life.
A sudden crack of a gunshot broke the stillness. Levi reacted instantly, firing back with cold precision. Pieck added her own, more measured shots, forcing the extremists to scatter. Jean narrowly avoided a bullet, dropping to his belly and returning fire to keep one particularly bold attacker pinned down.
The firefight intensified. Branches splintered, bullets hissed through the air. Hange spotted an extremist edging toward Pieck's position and, ignoring her pain, hurled a small rock to draw attention away, giving Pieck a clean shot. Levi, though furious with Hange's earlier recklessness, couldn't deny her worth in a fight. She knew how these people thought, how they moved.
A tense few minutes later, the group managed to push the extremists back. They bought themselves time, but at a price. Their ammunition was running low, and everyone was breathing hard, their nerves frayed.
They retreated to a nearby cave Pieck had spotted earlier, concealed behind a curtain of vines. Inside, it was damp and dark, but it offered shelter. They lit a small lantern, its flicker casting long shadows on the stone walls.
Pieck knelt beside Hange, examining her injuries-scrapes, bruises, and an old bullet graze that needed cleaning. Jean stood near the entrance, listening intently for any sign of pursuit. Levi leaned against the cold stone wall, silent and brooding.
The weight of their earlier confrontation hung heavy in the air. Hange, sensing Levi's simmering anger, kept her eyes averted. She hadn't asked for his rescue, but here he was, dragging her out of the fire she'd willingly jumped into.
As Pieck and Jean stepped outside to check the perimeter, leaving them alone, Levi finally broke the silence. "What the hell were you thinking?" His voice was low but sharp, cutting through the oppressive quiet.
Hange didn't flinch. She lifted her gaze to meet his, her tone icy. "I was thinking I didn't need saving."
Levi's fingers curled into fists. "You didn't need saving? Is that what you call being half-dead in the middle of a goddamn extremist camp? Don't be a fool, Hange."
She leaned back against the cave wall, her expression cold. "I never asked you to come after me. You should've left me there."
Levi's jaw tightened, and his voice rose, laced with frustration. "Left you there? To get yourself killed? What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you even care what happens to you? To the people who are still counting on you?"
Hange's laugh was bitter, her eyes shadowed. "Counting on me? Like who, Levi? You? Ayoluwa? Everyone I've ever cared about is either gone, broken, or better off without me. You think I give a damn about what happens to me anymore?"
Her words hit Levi like a punch to the gut. His grip tightened on his crutch as he took a step closer. "You think you're the only one who's lost something? You don't get to throw everything away just because you feel like shit, Hange."
Hange's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Don't act like you care. You were just pissed I didn't let you play the hero. You can't stand not being in control, can you, Levi?"
Levi's temper snapped. "This isn't about control, you idiot! It's about not watching you destroy yourself like some fucking martyr. You think this is noble? It's not. It's selfish."
Hange flinched at the word but refused to let it show. She turned her face away, her voice softer now but no less cutting. "I'm doing what needs to be done. If I have to die to keep Ayoluwa safe, then so be it."
"Fuck that," Levi snarled, stepping even closer. "If you think for one second that I'm going to let you throw your life away, you don't know me at all."
The raw intensity in his voice made Hange falter. For the briefest moment, her façade cracked, and something vulnerable flickered in her gaze. But just as quickly, she masked it, retreating behind the cold walls she'd built.
"Why does it even matter to you, Levi?" she asked quietly, her voice a hollow echo in the cave. "You're better off without me anyway."
Levi's expression twisted with a mix of anger and despair. "Don't you dare say that," he growled. "You don't get to decide what's better for me. Not after everything."
The sound of Pieck's voice outside shattered the tense silence. "They're moving closer. We need to go."
Hange pushed herself to her feet, wincing as pain shot through her leg. Levi watched her, his eyes stormy but unreadable. As they stepped out into the forest once more, the tension between them lingered, unresolved and electric.
The extremists struck without warning-gunfire flashing among the trees, shouts echoing in the quiet woods. Levi and Hange moved in unison, a memory of their old teamwork springing back to life. Hange's mind raced with strategies, while Levi's precision kept their enemies at bay.
Amid the chaos, Hange made a split-second decision, breaking cover to grab crucial documents from a fallen extremist leader. Levi shouted after her, his voice raw with fury and fear. But Hange didn't stop. She returned with the intel, battered but triumphant.
As the battle subsided, Pieck scanned the documents, her expression grim. "We have what we need. But this isn't over."
Levi stood by Hange's side, his anger tempered by relief. "We'll deal with it later," he muttered. "For now, we survive."
They moved forward together, the forest swallowing them in its shadows, the air thick with everything left unsaid.