Hey guys. Here's a little one shot at plagued me as I was going asleep last night. I resisted the urge to write it then - at three in the morning... Only remembered it now.
Apologies for those waiting for my multi chapters - Quite frankly, I've been too lazy and distracted to sit and focus to write something that needs proper thinking. Sorry! :/ I'll try get a chapter or two done next week!
Please review, it's really helpful and heartwarming to hear your thoughts. :)
Being a soldier meant there was no respite nor postponing from or for weather.
It was so hot you could barely walk a step in the heavy, soupy air without sweating a gallon? Too bad, ditch the cape and jacket and carry on.
A blanket of snow as high as your waist? Better pray your 3DM gear or your fingers don't freeze up - both could mean chow time for the Titans.
Nope, the life of a soldier held no concern for the weather patterns.
It was duty and orders, no matter the suffering due to be inflicted via climate hissy fits.
With that in mind, that was how Captain Levi and his team found themselves perched on top the Wall on watch near below freezing conditions.
A small herd of Titans had been seen making a bee line for the Wall, which, due to age and the expanding and shrinking of the warm days and suddenly freezing nights, had found itself collapsing in a section north east of the main gate.
So, while repairs were being made, Erwin had asked Levi, Hanji and Mike to take shifts overseeing the building. They'd be ready to defend the soldiers working if they found themselves being considered for a snack by giant, pudgy, flesh coloured beasts.
It was night now, the clear, velvet-inky sky pulsating a cold front down upon them.
Far below, the echoey clinks of the late night shift's tools working on the rocks softly sounded around Levi.
He was sitting with his back against a high point of the wall, eyes peeled on the forest bordering them for signs of life emerging. His wool cloak was pulled tightly around him, breath curling in steaming fingers towards the icy, pin point stars.
The buttery glow of lanterns below was barely visible from so high up as they illuminated the workspace for the soldiers toiling away.
All noises fell on the deaf ears of his sleeping team behind him, curled up under their cloaks and huddled in a close cluster. Levi turned his gaze to them, knowing they were all exhausted.
They'd had their work cut out for them this evening, a group of eight Titans falling slaughtered, only for a new wave to emerge amid the waves of evaporating Titan blood, like a nightmare bursting softly through the wall of steam.
No casualties occurred thanks to Teams Levi and Hanji and now Mike and his team were on watch, but that wouldn't soothe the tick that was constantly keeping Levi focused and on high alert.
His squad, however, had not lasted long on their complaints that it was too cold to sleep, one by one following each other into slumber.
Steel eyes caught a faint movement, finding it it the quiver of the slim form of Petra Ral as her body shook from the cold.
Her cape was strewn aside, having been shred to tatters by the clawing fingers of an eight metre. With a frown, Levi recalled how he'd watched in horror as the Titan had grabbed her by the cloak as she had zipped in to help one of Hanji's team members.
He'd tried to make his way over as fast as he could, eyes trained on her struggle all the while. His youngest recruit had managed to twist and slice the fabric, falling from the grasp of the giant eyed freak.
It had grasped the air and managed to catch her again and Levi had cursed out loud at the damned persistence of it.
He'd gotten to Petra just as she, shaking her head at her own acknowledgement of the rotten luck, had once more swung her blades up through the material, making it too small for the clumsy hand to keep a hold.
Swinging towards the Titans nape, her Captain had raised his own blades and chopped clear the hunk of flesh, which fell to the ground with a thunk and a heavy 'woosh' of grass.
Pulling the ruined cloak angrily from her shoulders, Petra had thanked him before heading off on her duties again.
That was why she was lying shivering now, because it as bad enough the Titans took freedom from them, now they seemed to be going after the little things, like clothing, too.
Greedy assholes.
Rising from his perch, Levi felt the cold air swell in against the slightly warm spots he'd made leaning against the stone wall. Now, he felt cold and damp, but he brushed it off.
Walking silently across the sleeping bundles of Aurou, Günter and Eld, he stooped down to kneel beside her sleeping shape.
Sometimes, like now in this peaceful, oblivious state, it was hard to believe this slender, lithe woman was capable of such ferocity. She was like a hidden weapon all in herself.
Pulling his cape from his shoulders, he let the fabric nestle across her shivering body. She swallowed and sighed, winding her fingers around the edge of the fabric by her cheek and pulled it under her chin, all without waking or letting go of the green cloak.
Her quaking ceased after a minute, in which Levi realised he was still crouched over her - quite an unnerving sight for her to wake to, if she had.
Giving himself a mental shake, he rose and returned to his perch. The stone had cooled to the same bone piercing cold of the rest of the wall and he grunted softly as he sat his ass on it.
Refusing to let himself shiver, which actually used more energy and body heat he was already lacking, making the body more cold, he instead braced his muscles and waited for his core temp to regulate with the surrounding temperature.
After years of living on the streets, he'd learnt to deal with the cold, seeing as the night temperatures underground were surprisingly sharp. Especially when he was hungry most of the time, too.
Finally, he did get used to it and found he could again bare the cold - sort of.
Petra needed the warmth more though - she would have woken with the shivering and he had no plans to sleep.
His gaze was once more drawn to his female cadet an hour or two later as she started stirring restlessly beneath his cloak.
Her lids and brow twitched and furrowed, her mouth forming silent, senseless words and pleas as she fought an invisible intruder of the peace. Levi wondered what she was dreaming about, what had her so restless, even in the Land of Nod.
Before he could dwell too much on the sight of teeth, jaws and limbs snatching and taking lives from his grasp in his own reoccurring nightmares, Petra had shot upwards with a small gush of air pushing out her lips.
Taking a few deep breaths and closing her eyes briefly, she leant her forearms on her now raised knees, and blew out a last breath.
"Nightmare?" His deep voice spoke softly into the darkness, feeling somehow guilty if he didn't alert her to the fact she was not the only one awake.
Looking up sharply, golden eyes relaxed into a familiar smile when she saw it was just him giving her his deadpan look.
"Yeah, nothing new," she yawned, pulling his cloak around her more. It was as she did so that he saw it dawn on her, that her cloak wasn't useable anymore.
Turning a questioning glance at her Captain, he looked away, suddenly uncomfortable.
"You were shivering," was the simple answer.
He didn't see the affectionate smile he received, but it was there all the same.
"Thanks, Captain," she said softly after a second, touched by her leaders kind gesture.
"Can you not get to sleep?" She asked in a low voice, careful not to rouse her sleeping team mates.
Levi gave a small shake of his head and turned back to her.
"And how often is that?" Her tone was almost scolding, one caramel eyebrow raised, one dropped as she gave him that knowing look.
She didn't miss anything, her care for her team mates making her observant on these things.
"Often," was all he replied, not wanting a pity party. It was just fact.
"Hmm, so that's why all the coffee," she smiled teasingly, the moonlight casting a glowing halo upon her head, "Keeping you on your toes for that fascinating paperwork."
It was known Levi would rather have his Captaincy minus the tediously detailed recordings and files. He often found himself asleep at the desk, having left it all to pile up.
Caffeine was the only thing that kept the midnight oil burning.
"Tch," he amusedly shook his head at her. She really did know all his little quirks. Well, the ones he didn't feel the need to hide around her and the team.
"Maybe it's just your top quality coffee," he turned his dark eyes on her once more, teasing but also serious. Nothing to do with her gender, it was merely the fact that she paid attention to detail was what added that special touch to her mugs of dark delicacy.
Giving a rueful laugh, she turned to lie on her side facing him, pulling his cloak up over her shoulders again.
"You get me some good quality coffee beans, then I'll make you a decent cup," she closed her eyes, head resting on her hand, ready to drift back to sleep.
"Maybe I'll get Erwin to scrounge some up. Then we'll see," he challenged. All he got was a sleepy laugh in return.
The air was once more filled with the sound of distant tools and the heavy, sleep fuelled breaths of his team.
Levi pulled in a deep breath of fresh, crisp air and stretched his shoulders before settling back again.
A quiet voice sounded from across the pile of the squads bodies.
"Captain, you do realise it's Mike's teams turn, right? You can at least try to sleep."
"Yes, I am aware, thank you Petra," he stated sarcastically, eyes drifting once more upon the forests edge.
"Well, do you want your cloak back then? It's going to be another long day tomorrow," she persisted.
Sighing, he looked back at her, but her eyes were still closed, strands of rich, coppery hair gently wisping in the breeze.
"No, you keep it. I'm good."
"We could always share?"
Levi raised his brow at her, her tone innocent and eyes still shut.
"Petra," he scolded.
He knew, oddly enough, they had their random flirting moments - only natural when you spent so much time with Petra, who was so easy going and invested in knowing her team mates, even him.
He was very careful to draw the line though, not even wanting to get into that whole area. Way too complicated for his liking.
"What? I'm not asking you to spoon me, Captain. It's freezing and you've kindly given me your cloak. The least I could do if you won't take it back, is share," she replied seriously. In fairness to her, she didn't let the fact hat she was the only female make her uncomfortable or suggest anything at any stage... Well, except the flirting, but as far as he could tell, that was only with him.
She gave him a look, one that showed she meant business.
"Captain, you need sleep. Seriously, it's dangerous to go into combat when you're tired. That's when mistakes happen. Even for Humanity's Greatest," a teasing grin came with the last part, causing Levi to groan inwardly.
He would hunt done and strangle whoever came up with that one.
"We can sleep back to back."
Knowing she wasn't going to quit, Levi regarded her for a long moment before sighing and dragging himself off the wall. He was exhausted and frozen, one of the few nights he actually longed for the too quiet solitude of his room.
Stepping over everyone once more, he stepped to the far side of her and reluctantly lay down.
"No funny business, alright?" He half teased, worried he was making a mistake.
A dry chuckle sounded behind him and she replied as she threw half the blanket over her shoulder and over his side.
"You have my word as a soldier - nothing funny."
"Convincing when you can't say it without laughing," he grumbled, trying to find a soft spot on his hip bone to lay on.
He finally did when he noticed their backs were touching, a comforting warmth coming from Petra. He felt her slight tension, and found himself oddly satisfied when she relaxed but didn't move.
"Maybe we won't freeze to death now," she joked as they settled.
"Still could lose a few toes," Levi replied, already feeling his heavy tiredness pulling him under.
"Not funny, sir," she sighed with a breathy laugh.
"Why are you laughing then?"
"Because it still surprises me when you actually joke about," came the honest reply. "It's nice to know there's a sense of humour in there... Even if it's lacking."
"Huh, maybe if I had a need for a sense of humour, I'd have one. I've gotten this far without it. Think I can manage," he muttered tiredly, the heat now forming between them acting as a shut down for his brain apparently.
"Maybe one day, Captain... Just promise me one thing," she turned slightly to talk over her shoulder to him.
"And what's that?"
"Don't go to Aurou for help."
Levi felt a ghost of a grin tug at his mouth, but brushed it off. He couldn't hide the amused tone from his voice though.
"You don't have to worry about that."
"Good. If you started joking like him, I'd feed you to the Titans myself."
"And I think I'd just have to thank you for it," he would have rolled his eyes had his lids not become too heavy to open.
"It'd be my pleasure. Goodnight, Captain," she yawned and nestled down to sleep again.
Letting the allure of a few hours of escape take him, he sighed and made do with the solid roofing below him.
"Goodnight, Petra," he softly spoke, though he wasn't sure if she was asleep again or not.
There, atop the chill ridden wall, the team lay peacefully beneath the inky blanket up above and let it's cold, yet strangely comforting presence guide them through the night and on to the fresh fight of a new dawn.