Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Where is it? Where did it go?"

It was quiet, dark, the dim light of the interface the only thing illuminating the cabin. Levi could hear Hanji struggling to turn without moving the entire jaeger, the cables connecting her to the machine clacking noisily against her hardsuit.

"Levi?" she asks, and he can hear a note of trepidation in her voice, can feel her anxiety leaking through the meld to mix with his own. “Did you see where it went?"

He doesn’t answer, mind whirring a hundred miles an hour. Exterior sensors are cut and communication to HQ is down. There was no way for them to find the kaiju unless it passed directly in front of the jaeger’s visor.

"Hey, did you h-" Hanji is cut off, teeth coming down hard on her tongue and a shriek ripping from her throat when something- the kaiju- slams into the jaeger’s left side. Levi is knocked off balance, a shout of his own working its way out as he grasps for the cables that swing around him.

"The cannon, Hanji!" he shouts, stares unblinkingly at the kaiju’s glowing blue eyes through the jaeger’s visor. “Now!"

They move together, perfectly in sync, slipping into a familiar, comfortable rhythm. The lines between the two of them blur and Levi can feel the tension slipping from his shoulders (or was that Hanji? He didn’t know) could hear their breaths deepen and their hearts beat at the same time.

(It’s a strange sort of limbo that they slip into, with no Levi and no Hanji, just a conglomeration of memories, thoughts, feelings-)

There’s a screech of ripping metal, like nails on a chalkboard, and Levi’s eyes snap open, Hanji’s screams ringing in his ears. He looks over, heart pounding fast, too fast and- she’s struggling out of the clasps that bind her to the machine, expression fearful and desperate as her fingers fumble. The kaiju’s teeth have broken through the hull, sharp, ugly things closing in on the left. On Hanji.

"No!"

She looks at him, eyes wide and sad, just seconds before the kaiju’s jaws close into her. Levi throws his arm out, groping at empty air as white-hot pain skitters down his spine, again and again and again.

"No! Hanji!"