One Answer

Martyn and Niki stood in an empty stall of the stable. Both where at a reclined lean at opposite ends as they glared at one another, "This is shit!" Martyn huffed, being the first to look away.

"You think I'm happy about this!?" The auburn haired beauty countered.

"How can there be no rooms left?" The male continued. He found the whole ordeal stupid and if Elle hadn't already been despised by him before, she bloody well was now. Their travel was halted because of the idiot woman.

Elle had managed to run herself down into such a state that they were making next to no head way and had to stop for the night. To add to the annoyance, the small village inn they'd stopped in had no vacant rooms to accommodate them all; surprising considering the fact the village was small and couldn't have had many travellers passing through.

"Be thankful they're still offering you food in the morning!" Came the Captain's clipped tone and the two jumped to stand upright. Levi passed them both a sharp look as he threw down two blankets and strode off as smoothly as he'd appeared.

The inn keeper was waiting for the Captain when he arrived back. She was a short and plump woman with worried look on her kind face. "Are you sure they would not like a room?" She asked again.

"No, they have a duty to watch the horses." Was Levi's excuse. He doubted the woman would accept the dismissive 'fuck them' he wanted to say.

A great sigh of irritation deflated his chest once he was finally able to throw himself down on a chair. He placed an elbow on the arm rest and cradled his head in his hand. He needed this moment of peace as he kneaded his finger tips into his forehead to try and release the stress.

"Can I get you anything?" The elder woman then offered, if a little timid.

Levi politely declined her. It was late and the woman had done enough with setting them up last minute and seeing to Elle.

He moved his hand down and pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes. It had been a ridiculously tiresome day.

Had Levi not already known one member of the group be would have flat out refused the suggested members; he could tell from looking at them that they were going to be difficult and therefore not worth the time or effort it would take to shape them up. Martyn and Niki he had absolutely no interest in but he couldn't just pick out Elle to take- no matter how much he wanted to shake answers out of her.

Elle- the thought of the woman alone caused a frown to crease his brow. There was an unreasonable amount of questions rolling around his head and concern too.

His time to question her will come soon, she couldn't avoid it no more than she could avoid him, but for the time being her questionable approach to her own health was something that would need addressing first.

Levi thought back. Elle had arrived late to the mess hall the night before and instead of getting food she'd gotten herself into trouble. Levi didn't know the relationship or history between her and the brawny Hawthorn but it didn't seem anyone was overly surprised by what had happened. This morning he hadn't seen her in the mess hall for breakfast and he hadn't noticed her eat any of their rations during their ride.

She was now asleep and knowing her slow recovery rate after throwing up she wouldn't be up for food until well into the next day.

Again Levi sighed in annoyance, he had to make sure she at least took in some fluids. Her attempt at drinking during their journey to the inn was rather pitiful and it just looked like she was slumped in the saddle dribbling every so often. She was so scorned from her previous attempts at trying to ingest water that she became a bit frightful of upsetting her stomach if she drank too much or too fast and ended up throwing up again.

Elle woke in a groggy haze. Her head was still homing a stubborn headache but her stomach felt much more settled. She sat up and pushed her mess of hair from her face and peered around the dark room in search of the door.

Her mouth was awfully dry and it left a tacky feeling in her mouth that prevented her from feeling comfortable. She needed a drink.

Quietly she slipped out of bed and padded across the dark room to where the door had slowly shown it's self once her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. It gave a quiet creek as she opened it and her bare feet made little sound as she wandered her way down the hall.

She could only find her way thanks to the soft glow from the small oil lamp that had been left on by the stair case and once she reached there she carefully made her way down. She could see a few doors but only one had some light creeping out from under it and so she assumed this to be the common room where she'd more than likely find either a drink or someone who could find her one.

She pushed the door open and before she could take a proper look about she spotted the Captain and froze.

He was sat in an arm chair by the fire with one leg slung over the left arm rest while he propped an elbow up on the right to support his head in his hand, and she watched and waited for him to either move or say something.

Nothing.

Elle relaxed a little and shifted more into the room, she got herself into a better position to see him and her suspicions were confirmed. He was asleep.

She wondered why he hadn't gone to his room to sleep but the thought of him staying on guard to catch out either Martyn, Niki, or herself came to mind. She shook her head and cleared the thoughts from her mind, but the surprise of him still sleeping in chairs remained.

It had always boggled her how he could sleep in any chair, but at least this one looked like it had a bit more comfort.

She was about to creep back out the room when she noticed the papers in his left hand and curiosity had her wondering what they were. She only inched close enough to be able to tell what the document was rather than see the details of it, but she saw enough.

They were her papers. Her length of service, her skill gradings, her rank- everything to do with her service in the Scouts- it couldn't be a good sign.

She backed off. Levi was on the hunt for information already that was not something she was feeling great about. She was anxious over any other emotion, but that was because she knew the truth would come out.

Elle had just reached the door and thought herself safe too soon. "What are you doing?" Levi's calm yet unimpressed voice paused her and she looked back to him in alarm.

He didn't appear to have moved and she was about to pass it off as her imagination till she noticed that from beneath his midnight curtain of hair, the glint of the fire was catching in his eyes.

"What are you doing?" She questioned back to counter him.

He lifted his head and threw her a look of annoyance, "You should be resting or you'll get worse!" He clipped.

Elle lifted her shoulders in a limp looking shrug, "You shouldn't be sleeping in chairs, it's bad for your neck!"

Silence filled the room and they stared at one another in a stale mate. Elle was waiting for him to give a snappy retort, but Levi was some what relieved by the familiar scolding.

Elle swiped her sticky feeling tongue over her dry lips as she looked away, his eyes were intense- more so than she was used to and far more than she remembered.

She could hear the shuffle of movement before the soft thud of his boot hitting the floor sounded as he stood, "Sit!" He ordered simply and calmly and she glanced his way. He was stood with a directing hand motioning to the chair he'd just been sitting on.

"I only came to get a drink." She shook her head, as a look of concern came to her face. She didn't know what was going to happen or what was going to be said.

Levi narrowed his gaze at her resistance to his order and raised a single brow up in a dare for her to challenge him on the matter again.

Elle lowered her head with a soft sigh and walked over, she avoided his gaze but was well aware of his sharp, studying eyes on her. Her throat grew clammy and her mind whirled to try and prepare herself but all she could do was inwardly panic. She wasn't ready, she didn't know what she wanted to say or how she wanted to say it. Everything she'd ignored and buried away had now left her with no plan on how to express or word anything.

It was why she'd always avoided him. Why she always went unnoticed- because she wasn't ready to talk.

She'd never allowed herself the time to be ready.

"I don't want to do this-" She breathed in a whisper as her worried eyes frowned at the fire place.

Levi studied her profile, she held up and brave face- she always had, but there was that familiar look of horror on her eyes. She always had it from where she'd work herself up into a frenzy from over thinking, and Levi thought in that moment that Eloise could hide all she wanted behind that empty smile, but no matter what she'd done, where she'd been, or how much she denied it, she was still there- this he was sure of.

"Sit!" He repeated and he watched as she lowered herself to perch on the edge of the chair before he then turned and walked off, leaving her to stew in worry.

Elle watched as he left and her eyes stayed on the door in wait for his return. She felt like an obedient dog. With a slight frown she looked back to the fire and took a calming breath. She needed to relax. She could come up with endless things Levi might say or ask and she knew it was pointless to be worrying.

Her best bet was to stay calm and stay quiet. Even if he pried for answers now she didn't have to give any, and it would only give her the knowledge of what he wanted to know and she'd then have the time to comprise what ever it was she wanted to give as an answer- when she was ready.

Elle gave another sigh and lifted a hand to her face- it had been a long time since she felt this way. She couldn't remember the last time she cried but every time she looked at Levi she felt an overwhelming need too.

Over the years Elle had changed drastically and the events in her life had ground down her heart and emotions till she became nothing more than this shell of a person yet one studying look from the Captain threatened the integrity of all the walls she'd put up.

"Here!" His voice startled her and she jolted with shock before turning her wide eyes up at him. She hadn't heard him come back in and that wasn't like her.

She looked from him and to the cup he was holding out to her, "Thanks." She spoke softly and took it.

Elle looked at the cup of water while Levi took a step back. He leaned against the fire place and watched as she expertly avoided his eyes again before he lifted the papers he was still holding and let his eyes glance back over the information they held. "Your start date, it is true?" he started, "Have you been in the survey corps for this long?" He caught her slight shift of movement as she peered up at him and he flicked his gaze to catch hers.

Elle stayed quiet, instead lifting the cup to her lips and taking a slow drink as she let her gaze wander off to the side.

"Answer me, Eloise!" He barked and she froze. "Your personal documents are forged, so you better tell me what is true or not on the rest of them!"

A frown came to her face as she battled with herself over what her answer would be, or if she should even give an answer. It was a harmless question- or so she thought. "My start date is true." She answered, but from Levi's scoff of disgust it was the wrong answer.

"Tch!" He turned to look away from her sharply as a deep scowl formed on his face. He was furious and disgusted that she'd been in service for so long, but he was furious and disgusted with himself that he'd never noticed her in all those years- she'd served longer than her brother had, and she had survived with out help. "Why!?" He flashed a deadly look down at her and she glanced up at him with a confused frown.

"Why, what?" She shook her head. There were a lot of whys he could be asking but he needed to specific if he expected an answer from her.

Why did you join?

Why did you hide?

Why for so long?

Why didn't you come to me?

Levi couldn't choose and so he turned away from her again. "If it wasn't for this transfer I would still never know you were here, would I?" Only his eyes flashed back to watch her from under his dark hair.

She bowed her head, she wanted to deny that. Part of her had always wanted to come forwards but a bigger part of her was scared to and the longer she left it the more that side suppressed her until it was second nature to hide and avoid getting noticed. "If it makes you feel better I did want to come forward but I just didn't know how." She kept her eyes down but lifted her shoulders up in a shrug.

"Make me feel better?" He near growled as he rounded on her. "I thought you were fucking dead!" The harshness of his tone forced her to slink back in the chair to create some distance from him. "A note to say you were still alive would have made me feel better!"

She looked up to him with a soft frown, "I didn't think you'd come back to the house after Elliot passed, but just because it had burnt down didn't necessarily mean I was dead." She shook her head, it was a misunderstanding, "-But maybe it would have been better if I-"

"Shut up!" He interrupted and she pursed her lips.

Silence settled again and Elle peered into her cup of water as she thought. "I honestly never thought you'd come, and I didn't expect you too," She sighed, "But I hoped you would because I didn't know what to do with myself!" A short, humourless laugh breezed past her lips as she bowed head, "-pathetic really." She commented to herself.

A deep sigh deflated Levi's chest as he watched her, "What happened?" he asked, calmer this time. He was answered with silence as Elle took another drink instead, reigniting his impatience. "I thought you were dead because a body was found- So what happened?" He pressed in a clipped tone.

Elle froze. Fear and guilt coursed through every fibre of her being and she could only stare at the flames dancing about the fire place in horror. It had taken her so long to push away what had happened, dull the memory and move on, but now it came flooding back; and in such painful detail.

-Eloise was exhausted in every way imaginable but the moment the older male raised his voice and swung his arm out to clear the table top of the jug and cups that rested there, a surge of energy found her.

She sprung out of her chair and onto her feet, her body alive with the fright the action and noise had caused and her eyes were wide and alert. Terror filled her as the man she thought she knew turned into a stranger before her eyes.

James, he was an old friend of the family and he had helped her so much in giving her work and allowing her the chance to support herself. She had always thought of him as a pillar of strength, someone she could trust and turn too, but after Elliot's passing things changed.

James' true nature and intentions had been held at bay purely because of Elliot's existence, and neither she nor her brother realised at the time.

"Don't you dare fucking tell me what to do!" James bellowed at her and she instantly held her hands up in a defenceless surrender. He was drunk and had been slurring confusing nonsense at her and she'd told him to drink some water- that was all she'd done.

Tears sprung to her eyes, they were a familiar companion to her now as it was all she'd been able to do. "I'm not!" She chirped in fear as she backed away and positioned herself so the large wooden table was between them. It was not a barrier that made her feel safe though.

Never had she seen such deranged anger on his face before, she was used to his smile. He always had a soft, doting look when ever she caught his eye and she'd always thought him to be incapable of any emotion that wasn't loving. Even Elliot thought James to be nothing but kind, there was only one person Eloise knew of that didn't like or trust James, and that was Levi.

Suddenly all of Levi's distrust and suspicions were valid and Eloise was mortified she hadn't taken his words of warning more seriously. He'd tried to make her aware of what it was he saw and she'd given him the biggest eye roll she could muster, she thought Levi couldn't be more wrong. Levi couldn't sway her thoughts on James and he couldn't make her realise how deeply and seriously he felt over the matter either, not even when he placed a blade in her hand and told her she needed to learn how to defend herself.

"After all I've done for you!" James continued to rage as he slammed his hands down onto the table to then grip it.

Eloise teetered back on jittery legs as the man lifted the table enough to be able to flip it out his way and come for her.

Her body jolted into movement and she threw her self towards the kitchen. The blade Levi had given her had never been touched, she'd been very timid with the item and hid it in a kitchen drawer beneath the scraps of cloths she used to dry the dishes- but she never forgot about it.

Her fingers clawed at the handle of the drawer and a scream jumped from her mouth in shock and terror as a sudden weight crashed into her back. She was forced against the counter in a painful pin as James got a firm grip on her. He fisted one hand into her hair while his other arm clamped around her waist and he easily pulled her away from the counter and threw her down, even bringing the whole drawer with her.

She landed heavily and the drawer arched through the room, scattering the cloth before crashing down it's self while the blade bounced off in a different direction and she looked to it in a desperate need.

Her frightful gaze came back to James and her arms reached out as if it would stop him as he threw himself down on her. She screamed and grappled with him and it wasn't until she managed to get a foot under her and kick, that she managed to free herself enough to slip back from him.

Eloise went straight for the knife, her eyes locked onto the glint of the blade where the flames of the fireplace where dancing off of it. She scrambled back onto her feet but James was quick too. He threw himself onto her again and the pair knocked the chair into the fire place as they both fell back to the floor.

In a last desperate attempt she stretched a hand out to try and catch hold of the blade's handle but James stunted her efforts. He pulled her back and her nails clung to the floor boards before he roughly took her by one shoulder and force her to turn onto her back.

"Get off me!" She screeched in fear as she threw her hands out once again, fighting against his groping. "Please, don't!" She begged as the tare of her shirt interrupted the growing roar of the fire.

James lowered his body on her, pinning her torso down with his own so he could free up his hands to feel more and he didn't care that his weight was suffocating to her.

He fixed a deathly tight grip on her right wrist and the feel of her struggling resistance against him was exciting. Her left hand slammed up into his shoulder as she tried to push him off, needing to free some weight from her chest so she could breath properly but she had to abandon that attempt when she felt him tugging up her layering of skirts. "No!" She sobbed, clinging to his arm to try and still it.

Tears streamed down her face and she wriggled her body as much as she could to try and buck him off. Her feet thudded as she dug her heels into the floor and tried to push her body out from under his but she only succeed in causing the pair of them to creep along the floor a few inches. "Stop it!" She wailed, turning her head to the left to swerve his lips as he brought his face close to hers.

He took advantage of the skin she exposed to him, smothering her neck with desperate lips and a hungered tongue, eliciting a shriek of dread and disgust from her.

She couldn't look at him and squeezed her eyes closed, hoping for it all to go away, but of course it didn't. She tried to turn from him more and dared to peek her eyes open in search of help.

The blade glistened at her, the light that caught it's sharp edge winked at her, it was daring and suggestive like it was calling to her- reach for me, use me- it tempted.

She flung an arm out, her fingers stretching and heels once again digging into the floor to help give her another push towards it. "Get off!" She screamed, fear and panic still in her tone. Her fingers found the handle and she gripped it, "Get off!" She warned. The knife felt awkward to hold in her left hand as she brought in towards the man with a shout. "Get off!" She demanded, power and anger finding her and he finally lifted his head.

The blade's edge was perfectly smooth and sharp making the attack effortless and both were shocked and confused as they locked eyes.

A spray of red decorated Eloise's face while slow realisation came to his. His restraint on her finally released as he lifted a hand to fumble at the side of his neck. Panic was quick to grow on his face as he choked and sputtered, pulling away from her and worsening the injury as he fell from the blade and allowed the open wound to begin gushing.

Eloise lay shaking and horrified as she stared at the knife, her eyes watching as the blood ran down the blade and over her fingers before she finally turned to James.

He was still. A hand desperately clutching at his neck while a growing pool of blood seeped out of him.

What have I done?

She sat up and shuffled away from him, her shaking grew worse as did her tears. Her chest screamed in need for air but her breath caught in her throat.

What do I do?

She was lost and no one would care what her story was, all that would matter was that she'd just killed a well loved man.

The spreading fire gave an angry pop as it made a claim on the floor boards and Eloise looked to it in horror. In their struggle they had knocked the chair into the fire and caused it's freedom to grow.

What do I do? She panicked more.-

Elle gave a shaky breath as she looked away from the fire place, but she wouldn't look at Levi. Her chest felt painful and she didn't want to speak for fear of the emotions that would slip out.

She gripped tightly at the cup to hide the quivering of her hands. She'd gone over the memory many times in the past, she'd reasoned with herself over it and she'd done her best to justify it. Some times she had wished things had happened differently, and other times she had no regrets. Yet she still felt guilty and wanted someone to know. She needed someone to tell her what she should have done, she needed some form of confirmation on whether her actions had been right or not.

Levi stepped forwards and placed a hand over hers, helping to still her shakes and preventing her from spilling the water.

She frowned at the action. No. She couldn't confess.

The guilt she could handle over the other possible outcomes of confessing to the murder. "Goodnight." She whispered as she stood, pulling her hand away and making a move back towards the door.

Levi let his hold on her go but only in exchange of gripping her by the upper arm and pausing her, "Eloise." He started in asking for her attention.

Elle gave a half turn, looking at his hand first before she allowed her eyes to meet his, "You were right about James." She stated.

It wasn't a confession but it was an answer- to Levi at least. His hand slipped from her arm and he watched her leave. He had received no details of what had happened and yet he understood.