A couple of days later, Levi still hadn't seen any sign of the kid or its canine companion, and had almost started to think he had imagined the whole episode. Despite his resolution to keep looking for them, the antics of the new scouts kept him almost constantly busy as he tried to keep them in line and resist the urge to throttle some of them. Erwin just grinned quietly at the constantly scowling Captain as he put the cadets through their paces, trying to mould them into something resembling competent which might survive the next mission. His own squad could sense that something was bothering him, but just put it down to the incorrigible recruits who seemed to be just as much trouble as their titan-shifting squad mate.

Then one afternoon there was an incident during 3DMG practice, when a gear malfunction sent one of the rookies, Sasha if Levi remembered right, plummeting to the ground where she landed in a heap. For a second nobody moved, staring at her still form, before half the new recruits went shooting down to her side. Shouting erupted as they all tried to help at once, before Hanji took control, approaching the limp girl and quickly assessing her injuries whilst Levi corralled the recruits.

"Ackerman, Arlert, go to the infirmary and make sure there is a bed ready. Can she be moved? In that case Kirstein, Springer and Jaeger carry her there- carefully! I don't want to have to clear up an unnecessary amount of shit if you drop her on the way. Petra, Eld, take over the rest of today's session."

By the time they made it up to the infirmary, Sasha was starting to come around, moaning and muttering as the laid her on the freshly made bed. Her friends crowded around, calling her and encouraging her to open her eyes. Hanji pushed through them all, checking pulse and breathing, then running into her lab which was the adjoining room and returning with a luminous substance in a tube which she shone into the girl's eyes.

Levi was looking around the room, nose wrinkling in faint disgust. "Damn shitty glasses, whatever you are cooking up in that festering lab of yours is pretty powerful. I can smell it from here."
She looked at him in confusion for a moment, and was about to speak when Sasha groaned, eyes fluttering open and focusing slowly on her surroundings.

Her friends leaned in, Connie speaking first, "Hey, you ok? How are you feeling?" the response he received was a rather loud growling from her stomach, at which Jean and Jaeger started sniggering before glaring at each other's response.
"Alright you lot, you can see she will be fine. Time to get back to training, you can visit her later." He was shooing them out the door even as the girl waved groggily at them all and they promised to bring her some food later. Just as the door closed, he caught another whiff of that strange smell. God, that lab must be really toxic… perhaps it should be moved further away from sick soldiers…

Later that evening he was just sitting down to a cup of his favourite tea when Arlert came bursting into his office. "Tch, did no one ever teach you to knock soldier?"
"Sorry sir, but there is a problem and Hanji told me to get you. It involves Eren and…"
"Crap, what did that brat do now?"
Levi didn't wait for the blonde to answer, setting down his cup and straightening his cravat as he strode down the corridor.

When he arrived, it was to see Jaeger being held back by Mikasa and Hanji, whilst Connie and Petra were similarly restraining Kirstein. As he drew closer he caught some of the words being shouted across, Eren yelling "don't you dare insult her" whilst Jean was hollering something about "you are even more nuts than she is and that is saying a hell of a lot".

Tutting, he moved between the two demanding an explanation for all the noise. The two boys were still growling at each other, so Mikasa spoke up: "Sorry sir, there was a disagreement over Sasha and it got a bit out of hand."
"What, you both fancy the girl or something?" from the corner of his eye he say Arlert stiffen as Mikasa shot a deadly glare at her superior.
Eren piped up first, "He was calling her crazy, when it is obvious she was injured and-"
"Oh come on you know Potato Girl has always been nuts, now it is just more apparent how cracked she has become."
"Why you-" Eren lunged forwards again, spittle flying from his lips.
"That is just disgusting, brat. Pull yourself together already. Now I am only going to ask once more, and this time you had better give me a straight answer: what happened?"

This time Hanji spoke, "apparently Sasha was overheard talking to herself, or possibly hallucinating. That second one would be far more interesting of course, as I have some theories about the nature of such things and how they speak to the inner person as it were. I would love to know what she is imagining and how that is related either to her injury or-"
"Enough, I get the picture."

Pushing past the still babbling scientist, he opened the door to the room, and stopped short. Sasha was sitting up in bed, a near empty food tray on her lap, chattering away into apparently empty air.
"So, that was how I ended up with this huge lump of potato stuck right on my… oh hello Captain Levi, sir." She beamed at him, the expression making her look a bit deranged sure, but no more than usual.

"Braus… how are you feeling?"
"Me sir? Fine, although hungry still… hey- are the rest of you out there? Any chance you have some more food?"
"What?" Connie's head poked around the corner, "I brought you a whole tray like an hour ago."
"Yeah, but I didn't get to eat all of it, it would have been rude not to share after all."
"Share?"
Everyone was looking in now, at the room apparently empty except for her sitting on her bed. Jean raised an eyebrow and snickered, "told you she had lost it."

Hanji barged into the room, running over with a book and pen already scribbling down notes. "Share? So you like whoever it is you are seeing? Have you met them before? What do they look like?"
Sasha stared at the scientist warily, "What do you mean? Just look for yourself."
"Umm, well, I…" She seemed stumped by the response, trying for once to figure out a way to ask delicately. Sasha just raised an eyebrow and pointed down, "Just go easy ok? Don't want to scare them."
Nodding sagely, Hanji knelt on the floor and looked obligingly under the bed. Suddenly she jerked back upright and with wide eyes. "Umm, Levi could you come over here for a second."

Motioning for the rest of the cadets to stay put, he strode over to the bed, crossing his arms and making a disgusted face as Hanji kept motioning for him to join her on the floor. Eventually he acquiesced, although made sure to spread a handkerchief on the floorboards first, looking under the bed.

A huge pair of blue-grey eyes and a smaller pair of brown ones stared back at him.
"Hello again." He kept his voice quiet, motioning for Hanji to move back- her regular facial expressions could be unsettling even for those who already knew her well, and he didn't need her to freak the kid out anymore.

"Do you want to come out?" a small headshake was his only response. "Are you sure? It can't be very comfortable for you right now."
Sasha's voice came from directly above, "It's ok, these guys aren't going to hurt you… and if you want, I have a bit more bread which I could share?"
The eyes flickered with interest, and Levi gestured with one hand. "Come on, I promise nobody here is a threat- some of these brats are kind of thick, but none of them are dangerous."

There was a long pause, the only sound a slight creaking as the cadets tried desperately to see who he was talking to, and then a slight nod. The Captain shifted back and stood up, waiting. After a moment, there a scuffling sound and the child emerged followed a second later by the dog. Everyone was staring with open mouths except for Levi and Sasha, trying to comprehend the presence of the scruffy duo.

Calmly, Sasha broke off a bit of the bread and held it out. The child stared at it for a moment, keeping one wary eye on the other people in the room, before darting forwards and snatching it up. Hurriedly, the kid shoved half into their mouth and holding the other half out to the dog. Their table manners apparently matched, and Levi couldn't stop a sniff of disdain at the atrocious display. Sasha just grinned at the both of them.
"Well, someone is going to have to explain all of this to Erwin."