She was floating, almost carelessly suspended in an endless ocean of darkness. There was no thought or feeling in this place, no sensation in her limbs, just a heavy warmness which seemed strangely comforting. Elsie had no idea how she had reached this place, and at that moment she frankly didn't care. It was surprisingly wonderful, to feel held, weightless, beyond all of those cares which had been weighing her down far more than any child should be.

Time had no meaning, something which probably should have been disconcerting, but the child simply could not find enough energy to worry about it. And so, she drifted…

Wait a moment, there was a memory- an intrusion of rationality on this soothing plain. It must have been important to grab her attention, and so she summoned what small strength she could and tried to focus in on the distraction. It was a hazy, flickering thing, a brief shot of sensations which washed over her mind in the space of a breath and vanished. Curiously, she briefly analysed what the burst had consisted of. Voices, shouts, blinding whiteness ripping through her body. A pressure on her hand, and then again on her chest, sounds which were a lot like the voice she had long ago forsaken, had she spoken? And underneath it all had been a steadily pulsing current of magenta agony.

But that was all gone now. Here, in this place was only the blissful silence which enveloped every fibre of her- hang on a minute: how could a feeling be a colour? There was the tiniest intrusion of logic, the briefest flash of actual thought in the surrounding black. Latching on to this fragment of lucidity, she examined the truth of the idea. It didn't make sense- it was illogical and flawed. Something in her slowly awoke…

I shouldn't be here… for some reason that felt right, as if she had finally acknowledged something that she had been pointlessly ignoring. The surrounding darkness no longer held the same appeal, not when the sense that she should be somewhere else kept intruding. A new certainty settled over her, a determination to understand this sensation.

Slowly, something new filtered through, something that hadn't come from her own imagination. Sounds, a voice, which both pleaded and commander her.
"Wake up…"

Like a spark in the night, it flared in her consciousness, acting like a beacon. Feeling as if she were wading through water, she began to strike out towards it with growing urgency. It was an anchor, that voice, a guide to what she realised was reality. The black was fading, becoming more twilight than midnight, almost as if her growing awareness was a rising sun inside her own head.

And then she… felt. All remained in darkness, but there was suddenly sensations piercing through the fog of her mind. Something soft beneath her fingertips, a heavy weight resting on her leg, a faint yet familiar smell. Without thinking, her fingers automatically went to stroke the fur beneath them, although they only managed a twitch. Even so, that slight control of her own limbs gave her the confidence to try again. What if I were to try and open my eyes…

Levi, according to Hanji, looked like shit. And although he wouldn't admit it, he felt like it too. Three days, three days had passed since the attack on the castle, three days since the girl in the bed beside him had saved his life. Three days in which she had lain unmoving and oblivious to the world.

He looked at the unconscious child, and felt something constrict in his chest. She was so small and pale, so vulnerable, and yet so brave. Her dog was curled up next to her on the bed, despite his previous protests that animals should not be allowed in the infirmary. Trying separate them had been hopeless, any attempts being met with a fierce growl as the hound stood guard over the child. Gradually the Captain had come to accept the dog's presence, perhaps even to find it comforting as they sat vigil together.

The cadets had all been dropping by periodically, Sasha and Mikasa sitting beside the girl for the longest stretches, both talking to her about random and inconsequential things. Erwin had stopped by for at least ten minutes every day, and Pixis had come all the way from Garrison HQ when he heard the news, visiting the child for over two hours with an expression which was almost heart breaking. His own squad had been stopping by at almost hourly intervals to check on her condition.

In fact, it had surprised Levi just how many people had visited her. Apparently the silent child had somehow managed to make friends with almost every person on the base. Not just the cadets, but nearly all of the scouts had peeked in at some point or another, enough bunches of flowers being left to make the room look like a garden. Although he hated the thought of the potential bugs, he let them be, realising that they needed some way to express their feelings over events. Petra in particular had brought some especially bright bouquets, trying hard to find the wildflowers which she knew the child loved.

Then the general staff who looked after the castle had been dropping in, the cooks bringing a box of cookies, the stable hands delivering a card they had all signed. It was as if the entire corps had become centred on this child who had managed to impact all their lives in ways they hadn't even realised until they faced losing her. For some reason, these people who had all lost so much many times over, seemed to draw a line in the sand over the life of this one girl.

He leaned forwards slightly in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees, and sighed. "Honestly, brat, you have managed to turn this place upside down." There was no response at his words, there never was, but he still kept talking. "I have never seen anything like it… you really are causing some chaos you know. And you know how I dislike an untidy or distracted corps. So… just wake up already. You hear me?"

Agitated, he ran a hand through his hair, looking at the dog who was staring at the child with liquid brown eyes. As he watched, the animal lowered his head onto the girl's lap, nudging it forwards until it rested beneath her limp hand. The dog whined softly.

And then Levi saw it. Very faintly, the fingers of the hand resting on the dog, twitched. It was only for a second, before they were still again, but he knew he had seen it. Somewhere, deep within, the girl had reacted to the familiar presence, wishing to stroke the ears of her mutt as she had so many times before.

"Hey, kid, come on, wake up. I know you are in there somewhere. Come on Elsie, wake up." He was speaking with a new sense of urgency, a strange flutter of… hope? Stirred in his core.

The fingers twitched again, stronger this time, gently running along the silky ear of the dog who started nuzzling in closer to the girl. His tail had started thumping against the bed covers, and to the Captain's faint disgust the dog began to lick the girl's arm. Turning, Levi hollered for Hanji to come quickly, the scientist in question bursting out of her lab at the tone of his voice, just as the dog gave an exited bark from the bed.

Turning back, he watched with his heart in his mouth as the child's eyes flickered, and slowly opened. Hanji pushed past him, running to her patient. "Elsie? Elsie can you hear me?" The girl blinked, staring at the woman groggily and shifting her head into a faint nod. The adult's face broke into an irrepressible smile. "Oh thank god, you really gave us a scare there missy!"

The girl smiled faintly at the tone, understandably still looking as if she wasn't quite sure of her surroundings yet. Her gaze travelled around the room, settling first on the dog who seemed ready to wag his tail off as she gave him a proper scratch behind his ears.

A moment later and tiredness seemed to suddenly claim her. But before it could, she noticed the Captain sitting in an uncomfortable chair at her side, although the image was already becoming blurry as her eyelids began to drift closed once again. Something clicked in her muzzy brain, a memory of a voice, her voice… "H-hey big b-bro…" and she was gone again, eyes closing and breathe evening out.

Hanji saw something in Levi's face then, "It's alright- she just fell asleep…"
"I know, it's not that." There was a catch in his tone which she couldn't identify.
"Levi?"
He turned to her, and she almost did a double take as she saw emotion swamp his eyes and threaten actual tears. "She called me… big bro… just like…"
"… oh god, just like Isobel." And suddenly she understood the swirling pain behind his expression. For a moment she was unsure of what to say, what to do. He was clearly distraught as memories long buried rose up from the depths of his soul.

It turned out that she didn't need to say anything at all, as after a brief internal struggle, the taciturn clean freak Captain who she called a friend… smiled.