watch?v=pojy5d7lwtY music akin to what they dance to.
This chapter starts off with a bit of Levi and Ivy's life in the Underground District
"Come on and dance Levi-bro" Isobel shouted from the center of the square. A small group of ragtag musicians had taken up playing there and Isobel and Farlan could not resist the urge to join in with the throng of people already dancing. Levi stood on the outskirts, not wanting to join in, a young Ivy stood with him looking on longingly.
"Join them if you want" Levi said looking down at her.
"Not without you" she responded
"Tch, I don't dance Ivy"
"Please? Just once?" she pleaded with him grabbing his hand and forcefully uncrossing his arms.
Levi rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the wall "Fine Ivy I'll dance with you" and they fell in with the throng just as the band started up a jig. The pace sped up considerably and Ivy was nearly pulled away by the crowd as she danced.
"Isn't this more fun?" she asked him over the music
"I suppose" he told her, truthfully dancing like this reminded him painfully of his mother. She had liked to take him out dancing on the nights she wasn't working. When she his mother seemed to be able to forget about all of the problems that she had. The song changed again something slower and more ancient sounding than the others. This was one of the songs that had been written before the building of the walls. Ivy split off from him a bit as she started her own dance, making use of her arms mostly, moving them in time to the music her feet keeping time. She would spin occasionally. Levi could tell she was having fun. Farlan and Isobel danced over their way.
"So you decided to join us after all Levi-bro?" Isobel asked
"Ivy wanted to dance" he explained
"Watch out or you'll spoil the brat" Farlan warned jokingly as Ivy danced her way over to them.
"Lets go now." she said in a low voice
"But we were just having fun Ivy.." Isobel started to whine
"We need to go. I'll tell you why once we are gone." she said seriously as she practically dragged Isobel along. The boys had no choice but to follow her. Once they turned the corner she broke into a run, and ran all the way back to the house the others following behind her.
"Who did she steal from this time?" Levi thought to himself as they ran
"What did she do now?" Farlan thought as they ran
"Great we're running again…" Isobel thought.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" was all that ran through Ivy's head as they ran. They managed to make it back to the house and Ivy threw what she had been carrying to Levi. Levi caught it and immediately noticed the aroma coming from the tin "Tea?" he asked her "You risked your neck for some tea?" the foolishness of the girl baffled him sometimes.
"Not just tea" she said opening her coat to show a book, a pad of paper and ink. Levi looked to Farlan and Isobel for help, sure they were criminals, but that didn't mean they could steal anything and everything with reckless abandon. "Besides thats really good tea" she continued.
"Ivy," Farlan said "You cant just steal everything, you do have to pay for stage occasionally"
"I'm practicing, so I can get paid like you guys do. Besides I thought Levi could use some more tea."
"Fine Ivy, just be careful ok"
"Just be careful" Levi thought, that was one of the last things he had told her before he left. "Tch no wonder she hates me" he thought as he took another swig of scotch. Normally he wasn't much of a drinker, he didn't see the point. But tomorrow Ivy was going beyond the wall with her squad. It was just a short mission so he shouldn't worry, but it was her first. And he couldn't help but be reminded of Farlan and Isobel. It would be five years in a month. He wondered if Erwin knew. He got back to worrying about Ivy "She's prepared" he thought "She's been training for four months straight." the weaselly voice of doubt worked its way in "But what if she's not? What if she goes the same way as Farlan and Isobel? You wont know till its to late…" He slammed his scotch glass down on the table. "She will be fine!" he said in a hushed whisper. "She's with Baldric and he's not a complete idiot, besides she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself." he looked over at the clock and realized that it was well past midnight, and he knew that it was going to be an early morning so he washed out his glass in his wash basin and went in his bedroom to sleep.
Across the commons at the same time Ivy lay awake thinking about tomorrow as well. She was terrified, naturally, if you weren't you were a fool. But she was prepared she kept telling herself. "Besides if you do die it will be quick" she thought it might reassure her. It didn't. She listened to one of her squad mates Geralyn's snores, wondering how the girl could be so calm before an outing. Ivy remembered that Geralyn had lost her fiancé when Wall Maria fell and yet she still stood tall and fought with all her might. It was admirable of her to remain so after she had lost him, but Ivy remembered that Geralyn was not the only one who had lost someone they loved. Lorelei and Llewellyn the twins had lost everyone but each other when Wall Maria fell, they had been out on assignment and the news devastated them. Then there was Baldric the squad leader. He it seemed had lost so many. He like most of the squad leaders had no family, but thought of his squad members to be his family. But he had lost so many squad members over the years. "I've lost people too" she reminded herself thinking of Farlan, Isobel, and before them her mother. Like many women in the Underground she was a common prostitute. "Sleep, I need to sleep. I have to get up early in the morning" she thought to herself as she rolled over to look at the clock in the corner.
The wake up call came soon enough to the members of the Scout Regiment. It was a chilly misty September morning and the sun had yet to even fully rise so everything was shades of grey. Ivy dresses quickly and washed the sleep from her eyes in the basin in the corner of the women's barracks. She looked in the small mirror above it "By the Walls I look terrible" she thought. Her long brown hair was matted and greasy beyond belief "When was the last time I washed you?" as she attempted to brush it. Brushing that mass of hair was easier said than done and she had breakfast to get to. Considering her hair a failure for the day she tied it up in a messy bun as she made her way to the mess hall. She managed to get her cup of tea and bread, and sense today was a expedition day she got a small ration of salted meat as well. Ivy sat at the same table as her squad, but it was pretty easy to tell that she didn't quite fit with them. The other members of Baldric's squad had a chemistry and Ivy just couldn't fit in. It wasn't that both parties didn't try, because they did. It was just that Ivy was difficult, and that was putting it kindly. At first Ivy couldn't work with them at all, she was far too independent, preferring to work alone. She still did, and it was obvious she didn't really put her faith in her squad mates.
Levi watched Ivy's interactions with her squad mates from across the mess hall. He observed her reluctant trust of them and leaned towards Erwin "This isn't going to end well, you know that right" he said motioning to the squad.
"Yes, I know Levi." he said without looking up "But we need to see how she works in the real field. Even with people she doesn't work well with"
"Just so you know, if she dies her blood will be on your hands" Levi muttered threateningly.
"So will everyone else's" Erwin said softly as he finished his coffee and stood up "EVERYBODY MOVE OUT!" he shouted to be heard over the crowd.
The horses where readied and everyone moved out as the first rays of sun broke through the fog. "WE ARE HEADED TO THE SOUTHERN GATE TODAY!" Erwin had to shout to keep his voice heard above the clatter of hooves and panting of breath. "JUST A SHORT MISSION TO TRY AND CLEAR A PATH!" he fell silent after that, and soon they reached the gate. As the gate opened Ivy felt her spine shiver with anticipation and excitement, her stomach clenched up and she could feel her breakfast crawl up her throat. She quickly swallowed it back not wanting to appear frightened in front of the rest of the squad.
As they rode forward under the wall she couldn't help but let loose the smallest of squeals, luckily no one noticed "Ha!" she thought "Take that One-Legged Leroy, telling me I wouldn't amount to anything, this is something! If I survive…." soon the wall was far behind them
A signal flair indicated that a titan was moving in from the left so the squad moved to the right. But soon all semblance of a plan fell to shit as a titan appeared seemingly out of nowhere chasing them. "Shit, shit, shit," Ivy thought as the Titan was running towards them occasionally stoping to eat her fellow members of the Scouts "Shit! I don't want to die just yet" as she watched Geralyn get swept up by the titans massive hand. That was when Ivy turned around and engaged her 3DM gear, it stuck in just above the titans collarbone and she swung upwards, landing on its shoulder. "Wow, you are hot aren't you?" she asked it, feeling the heat radiating off its body through her leather boots. "Pity I have to kill you, but you've killed part of my squad, and well that just wont do" and she leapt down. Hitting the sweet spot and downing the titan instantly. Ivy however didn't take into consideration how this massive body was going to fall, and so as it fell she fell into the gash that she had made. She fell into its steaming blood "Gahh!" she screamed out loud "That burns you bastard" the body hit the ground with a thud and she fell back in the gash "Eeagghh" she yelled in pain again. As she dragged herself out of the smoldering corpse she noticed the blood evaporate off of her body and clothing, "Thats nifty" she said, but upon closer inspection she noticed her hands and arms were covered in angry looking red welts. She assumed they were on her face as well. She could feel the skin on her face puckering from where it had been in contact with the blood. "This wont do at all" she told her horse who was coming out from a patch of trees. "But theres no use crying about it, lets catch up with the others ok?" and she climbed on her horse and raced after the others. She found them in a small clearing, and she could tell that things had not gone well for them either. So she dismounted her horse and walked it over to the makeshift horse stand and gave him a handful of grain from her hand. As the horses rough tongue grazed over her burned hand she let out a little gasp of pain.
"Tch, brat are you ok?" Levi asked from behind her.
"Yeah" Ivy said turning to face him
"What happened to your face?" he asked, his lip raised in a slight sneer.
"I got a face full of titan blood, thats what happened."
"Tch well you'd better go see Hanji, she has a salve or something for burns. How'd you even get a face full of titan shit anyway?"
"Seriously 'Captain', use your brain. Missing blades, titan blood burns… Its obvious, I killed a titan, but unfort—"
"You killed a titan?" Levi asked "How big?"
"10 meters, but—"
"Not bad for your first time out"
"Levi! I was to late, it killed most of my squad!" Ivy shouted at him.
"I know, but you need to get those burns cleaned up." Levi said as he physically dragged her over to Hanji. Ivy protested to no avail, it was pointless, she might be taller than Levi, but he was stronger. "Clean her up" he told Hanji as he deposited Ivy in front of her.
"What happened?" Hanji asked without looking up, she was to absorbed in her notes. \
"Titan-blood burns"
"Ah, interesting" she said, looking up from her notes and looking at Ivy's arms and hands first. "I've never seen any burning this severe from titans blood before…. maybe it has to do with the fact that you were born and raised underground. I mean when you first came up here you burned as red as the Colossus Titan. Ha! It must have been painful…" she was saying when Levi cleared his throat.
"Keep it focused four-eyes" he told her sternly. Hanji looked up at Levi.
"Fine, but I think Ivy might—" Levi stared her down "Fine" she said as she rolled her eyes and dug in her bag "here is this burn salve, it should help with these small ones" she said gesturing to the lighter colored patches on her upper arms and some of her face, "but these bigger ones might take a bit more. But don't worry, they will heal up fine." and Hanji began to rub the salve on Ivy's burns. "We have to work quickly because we don't know when the titans will be back, and when we get back to the walls a proper medic will take care of this ok?" Hanji said as she wrapped Ivy's arms in bandages "tell me if this is to tight"
"Its fine" Ivy told her as Hanji finished her arms and made her way to her face.
"How did this happen?" Hanji asked, Levi had sense walked away, leaving Ivy in Hanji's care.
"I- I killed the titan that ate most of my squad, and I fell in the gash that I made. Twice."
"Close your eyes" Hanji said and then "I'm sorry to hear about your squad, but you cant do anything about it now we have to leave soon."
"Well thanks Hanji" Ivy said as she stood up
"No problem Ivy"
Within a few minutes of their interaction Erwin signaled for them to move out, back to the walls. The return trip was about as eventful as the trip out, which is to say there where more titan attacks. Ivy managed to kill another titan before it got one of the men. Levi noted the delicate way she used the 3DM gear, like she was dancing. She looked natural the way she just flew thru the air and mercilessly took down a titan this time jumping off of it before she burned herself. When they got back to the wall they received the usual criticism about how they were waisting tax payers money and the like. Some brave souls even dared to throw rotten fruit and vegetables their way, claiming they should eat that shit if they were just going to get killed within the month. Levi looked back at Ivy, he half expected her to lash out at them, but she ignored them. Even as a rotten tomato hit her in the arm she didn't even flinch.
"She's in shock" Hanji said leaning over to Levi.
"I think she expected things to be better up here" he told her, "she used to eat the kind of shit they are throwing at us." he said "We all did" he added quietly which made Hanji think she was not supposed to have heard the last bit. Upon their arrival back to the base the injured were released into the care of proper doctors and nurses. Ivy somehow managed to avoid them as she put her horse away in the barn. She also avoided them as she made her way back to the dorm that she had shared with the other girls in her squad. It had once held the chatter of young women, now it was silent. Ivy sat down on the floor by her bed and reached under her bed, retrieving a box of pencils and pens as well as a tightly bound sketchbook. She sat on her floor and began to draw, because what else could she do? She had learned early on that tears never solve anything. Her burns itched through the bandages and she was tempted to scratch them, but she knew better.
"Have you seen Ivy Shiner?" Hanji was asking one of the medics. He shook his head in response, his face covered by a thin cotton mask "Are you certain? She's got some burns that need attending to and I haven't seen her sense we got back."
"Squad Leader, I think I saw her going back to her dormitory" one of the newer recruits said.
"Thanks" and she turned to find Levi. She found him in the stables feeding his horse a carrot "Come on Shorty" she said dragging him away "Ivy needs help."
"Tch why would she need help?"
"Think, how did you feel after your first mission? After you saw your friends killed in front of your face?" Hanji demanded as she pulled Levi across the commons "You where an inconsolable mess, and Ivy is a lot younger than you were, and god help me you are the closest thing that girl has to a family. Don't deny it Levi I covered for your short ass when you went on that 'mission' to retrieve her books from the Underground."
"No need to get worked up about it." Levi said bluntly, but his eyes widened just a little bit, Hanji spoke the truth he really was the closest thing to family she had.
Thats all for now folks please rate and review or not, whatever. Also sorry for some moments being really OOC I was maybe a little to emotional? or maybe drunk? who the fuck knows
