Chapter One
Hanji yells while hitting the wooden table with her fist to enunciate the point she's trying to make. I sit swirling my black tea in the cup in front of me, trying to be quiet and inconspicuous. I don't think Captain will let us join Hanji squad to capture a fifteen meter class outside of the Trost district, but Squad Leader Hanji is doing her best to convince us.
"Every breakthrough we make will save lives! This is possibly the most important opportunity since the discovery of the diary!" Her hair tumbles from its hastily put up ponytail and her large eyes are wide behind her glasses. She leans her weight on the desk looking from Levi to Auruo (who's asleep) to Erd, Gunter and then finally to me. "Eh Petra, back me up." She pleads.
"It isn't my decision Hanji," I smile encouragingly at her. I really don't want to be pulled into this.
"Come on Levi!" She pleads again, turning to the other head of the table occupied by Captain Levi. He has his legs crossed and is sipping his tea in a disinterested fashion. I make the mistake of looking at his face and his eyes meet mine. I smile shyly before turning away quickly.
For someone who is always by his side, you seem abnormally shy around him.
Hanji is always too quick to notice that about me. I drink my tea holding my silence.
"You already know the answer Hanji so why are you wasting our time?" He drawls in his usual manner. Hanji runs her hands through her hair.
"Levi, this is important," she stressed for the hundredth time, "Besides, what am I taking you away from? Cleaning the barracks? Again?!" I can tell she's flustered and so I kick Auruo's feet and he wakes with a start.
"Aw hey Petra, did I miss anything?" He wipes his nose with that ridiculous napkin he insists on wearing around his neck. He thinks he looks like Levi but in reality he just looks like a toddler. I almost roll my eyes, a motion that is very unlike me.
Hanji huffs and then throws her hands in the air as a sign of defeat.
It's obvious that the meeting is over but I think Hanji is waiting for me to do something.
I swallow hard, careful not to meet anyone's eyes as I rise from my seat. I go and hug Hanji, "It's okay, I'm sure it'll work out," I whisper in her ear. She gives me a squeeze and before we part ways I give her my most reassuring smile. I chance a look around as see that the other members are starting to shift and Erd is on his feet already and stands there with only his left arm in the sleeve of his military jacket. I straighten mine self-consciously and hurry from the mess hall.
I am headed to my room when I hear something strange.
My eyes have barely adjusted to the dark corridor but I have a sense something is off. Is it the temperature? I am close to the outside doors that lead to the forest and the camp outside. I am just about to dismiss it as my imagination when I hear the sound again. I am still in uniform but I don't have my swords with me (obviously) but I hear the noise again and realize that I don't have time to fetch my weapons.
It's someone groaning? Calling for help it sounds like. I run to the double doors that lead to the courtyard and throw open the lock and latch, and thrust both doors wide open.
The smell of the night forest is cold and damp, a heady musk. I love the feeling of the cool air rushing into the castle, but I don't take a moment to savour it. I rush out into the courtyard and notice none of the torches are lit. It's well past ten and that fact alone makes me uneasy. The old castle has always made my skin crawl at the best of times, let alone at night. Auruo would always try and scare me with ghost stories while pretending to act tough. He once offered to sleep in my room with me if I got scared, the audacity!
I wouldn't mind having him here now though, as the minimal light from the corridor doesn't extend past about two feet in front of me. My heart is racing, but I try to listen. If something is wrong I need to warn the others. If there is urgent news from the wall I need to be brave and find out about it!
I hear the crunch of gravel behind me and I whip around only to be faced with more darkness.
"Is someone there?" I call out weakly. I need to sound braver if I want to save any face if this is some kind of a sick joke. "Auruo is that you? If it is I will kick you so hard you won't be able to ride for a week." The threat sounds hollow in my ears. I take a step out further.
"Auruo? Captain Levi?" I swallow. "Is somebody there?"
I feel the whisper of breath on my neck and for a moment I am frozen. "Here sweetie," comes a thickly accented voice that belongs to no one in the squad. My moment of being frozen is over quickly as I react in the only way I have been trained: fight. I ram my left elbow into his kidneys and whip around to kick him in the face. Little did I know that that would put me in a worse position.
I land the kick to his face, which is conveniently low since he's doubled over holding his stomach, but I feel two strong arms wrap around and over me from behind. There are two of them?!
The second man has around a quarter of a meter on me and at least 50 kilograms. I can't brute strength my way out of this one. Instead I kick out and make him carry my weight before biting down savagely on his forearm. He grunts but doesn't release me.
"She's a fighter; I guess that's why she was handpicked by Levi the Great himself," the man I kicked says sarcastically. I almost stop fighting for a moment. They know who I am? They know who Levi is, so this must be some kind of a targeted attack. The fear begins in earnest now.
The man holding me clamps a hand on my mouth and begins to drag me into the shadows by the stables. I kick and convulse against him but to no avail. I begin to cry despite myself but that just makes me fight harder.
"What a bitch!" The man throws me down and the one I kicked in the face comes over and, with a closed fist, punches me square in the face before I have a moment to scream for help.
The punch knocks my head backwards and I am seeing stars and choking back bile from the pain of the punch. I quickly asses myself, and realizing that I didn't accidently bite my tongue...I scream.
The big guy puts me in a headlock as I struggle for breath behind the sudden gush of blood from my nose. I know how to fight through the pain, (if the cadet corps taught me anything it was how to be tough) but the strength is quickly leaving me and my kicks are becoming feebler. Freeing myself is looking less and less likely.
"We have to load her up onto one of the horses, but she has to be alive." I can feel some of the pressure in the guy's arms lessen and I come back from the verge of passing out.
"Here, help me get her up," the guy holding me gruffly demands.
I hear something: I almost miss it since it wasn't much louder than a mouse.
"Hey, what was that?" the other guy says while turning around. And then, like that, he's flat on the ground with a boot on his head pushing his face into the gravel.
"What's going on here?" comes that ever cool and collected voice. The emotion radiates from those words and I can tell how angry Levi is. I feel an incredible relief at the sound of his voice and tears sprout afresh in my eyes.
"Le-vi," I croak out. The bastard must have begun to crush my windpipe as my voice is barely there. I struggle towards Levi but the man still has me tightly against him. I feel him move and when the tip of a knife pokes into my throat I know exactly what he plans to do, the idiot.
"Let her go," the dangerously quiet command comes as Levi takes a step closer.
"D-don't come any closer!" the man yells. "I-I'll kill her, I swear it!" He's sweating against me but all I can feel is the knife tip and all I can see is Levi. He runs a hand through his undercut pushing the hair back in an effort to look nonchalant, even though he isn't.
"You won't hurt her because I'll kill you," he states matter-of-factly, "And if you let her go I'll only hurt you and not kill you."
"Stay back!" A tear drop of blood springs from my neck.
That's it. Levi has had enough.
He makes eye contact and I know enough to duck as his foot slams into the guy's head. The force of the impact sends him rolling off me and I cough and sputter before I can comfortably breathe again.
Levi leaps over me and grabs the man by the front of his shirt and slams his head into the ground: over and over again.
"Levi...stop," I choke out.
He drops the now unconscious and possibly dead man onto the ground unceremoniously.
He turns and in a moment I am in his arms, crying.
I hadn't expected him to grab and hold me but now that I'm here I never want him to let go. I weep into his shoulder a little as he strokes my hair. I feel his incredible warmth as I hold onto him and I feel just how human he really is. I feel my face grow warm as I pull away and look down, embarrassed at my weakness.
I feel his strong fingers lift up my chin so he can look at my face. His cat-like silver-blue eyes look dark grey in the light as he stares at me, carefully examining my injuries. I feel his fingers, like the touch of the wind, as he barely caresses my bleeding nose and swollen eye. I feel the warmth of his breath like the beauty of a summer day, and I feel safe. I dare to meet his eyes with mine as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. There is so much emotion in those eyes, how anyone can claim he doesn't feel is amazing to me: he feels more than any other person I have ever met.
"Levi," his name on my lips is a whisper...a secret.
"Petra," he responds, his voice low and charged.
I try to say more, I really do. I try to apologize for being reckless and not being strong enough to fight them off on my own. I try to say something –anything- but before I can, he kisses me.
And all I can do is kiss him back.