Tengoku

...

Marco was dead. Holding a boot in his hands, Eren walked in no particular direction, his sight lost beyond anyone could tell, a shadow darkened his expression. His head was a tumultuous mess in that moment and yet he couldn't hold a thought for more than a few seconds. Eren walked in no particular direction, but still managed to find the one he was looking for as though it was something he had become used to do automatically. He stopped at the foot of the hill, and spotted a rather familiar silhouette on top of it.

Breathing a sigh, Levi sat down on a rock after the incident. He had delayed duty for far too long, which was unlike him, but still needed a minute. And he had the feeling that if he didn't took a time, things would only be poorly executed. A bungling that could not possibly be attributed to him. That only added up to the foreshadowing of the painful throbbing of a headache coming. With a dagger he restarted the exercise of scratching the soles of the boot left.

"It's been a while, you know. I haven't felt sick since probably the first day as a Captain. But my head now… oh, yes, I can tell it's coming. For sure, a big painful one. A big painful thoroughly-" Levi was saying all of that mind-absently to no one, but in that moment, he noticed Eren's presence behind him and his voice trailed off. Slowly blinking, he waited, dead eyes fixed on the horizon. "What is it now?" he sighed, exasperated when got no answer, as he turned to find nobody.

Oh, that's weird. Levi could have sworn Eren—a person at least—was right behind him. There was no place to hide in the open field. No trees, no buildings. Did I just…? Looking around, holding the dagger tight, he caught sight of Eren who was just standing at the end of the hill staring at the weeds that grew downhill between the two of them. Hurt, he is hurt.

As if waking up from a spell, Eren lifted his face. Time passed by. Levi's mouth moved, but no sound came out of it, it was an abrupt gesture of his hand that ultimately got Eren in movement. He started to walk up the hill under Levi's gaze. There was some nostalgia going on, as the wind blew their hairs, but also a persistent weird sense of anxiety.

When they've finally met, they stayed in front of each other; Levi seated, Eren standing, not a word in the meantime.

"You should be attending your training, you know" Levi said at last.

"I thought you might need this" Eren replied passing him his boot.

"Thanks."

The sudden drive that urged Eren to kneel and help his captain put on his shoe was interrupted by a gust of wind that made him turn around. There wasn't much to see, so the landscape came across as a rather simplistic picture, but at the same time, that simplicity was like a miracle Eren was fortunate to witness. He couldn't suppress a smile as the mourning sense of Marco's lost slowly faded away.

"Woah, I can tell why you like it here, sir. It's I—" the deep green ocean he'd been admiring before turned into a grey hell when he found Levi was pointing his dagger at him. Eren was almost sure a burlesque look was painted across Levi's face probably due to the effect his action had brought upon the teen and yet, he was severe. "Captain Levi… that's just… it's not… right…" Levi showed three fingers. "Eh?"

"In three days we'll meet outside the warehouse at night. I'm telling you this now, because is likely you won't see me around here until then. Eld will take my place as your caretaker for the time being. Follow his orders as though they were mine, and don't screw this up, now that you've got a thing or two more to worry about, I need you to proceed extremely carefully and think before you do anything. Got it?"

Eren nodded. He straighten up his posture. "Yes, sir!"

Satisfied, Levi withdraw the dagger. "Good."

...

The rain just contributed as another training trial. The mud created by the boots in combination with the water and ground, the obstacles, the stress... albeit it was a fact that team's training, at least Levi's Squad in particular, was usually more oriented towards tactics and intelligence, this specific trial consisted of crossing a field blindfolded, following the instructions of an assigned partner, since it was important to be physically qualified and master other conditions such as balance, orientation and endurance as well.

However, it was the third time Eren fell from the balance beam he was trying to cross. Out of all the members of the team, he had the lowest score with only two flags in his pocket. Frustrated, Eren tore off the bandage that covered his eyes. His partner Oluo, armed-folded, contemptuously looked at him from above as the young man lost his temper.

From a distance, Levi watched. In that exact moment, his eyes narrowed. As expected.