"You are a minute of quiet in a loud shouting world."

~Gabriel Gadfly

-Emmryn's POV-

To say Eren's training wasn't going well would be an understatement. Today was only the first day, and things already looked like it was doomed to be a disaster. Hanji's bright idea for keeping everyone safe was to have Eren transform into a titan at the bottom of a well that the pressure would crush the lower half of his titan body when he transformed, ensuring he couldn't go on a rampage and kill us all. I sighed as I watched from my position beside Levi earning an annoyed click of the tongue from my raven haired lover. Not wanting to deal with his grumpy ass, I started to walk away to go talk with Petra and Oluo, but his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist causing me to roll my eyes in annoyance.

Levi had been like this ever since Commander Smith had told us about Friar Reed being above ground and in an unknown location. He never let me out of his sight unless it was use the toilet and even that had taken some convincing. Baths were no longer something I got to do by myself, but that wasn't so bad because getting to cuddle in the tub with Levi was definitely a perk of this whole thing. However, overall, his overprotective attitude was starting to get on my last nerve. I was trying to be patient because I knew he was just trying to look out for me and protect me, but for Walls sake, I was the one who had been kidnapped and abused and even I wasn't as paranoid as he was.

Wrenching my hand away from him, I gave him a glare over my shoulder, before walking over to where Oluo and Petra were.

"Trouble in paradise, short stuff?" Oluo sneered earning a swift punch in the arm from me causing him to grunt in pain and defend himself, "Hey I was just kidding. Geez. No need to resort to violence."

"Sorry," I muttered, slumping my shoulders slightly, too tired from the high strung aura of my lover from the past couple of days. Petra came up beside me and placed a concerned hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, are you alright, Emmryn? You seem like you're stressed," she asked, concern filling her voice as I forced a fake smile to try and make her not worry so much.

"I'm fine, Petra. I just didn't sleep well. That's all," I half-lied. I hadn't slept well in a couple of days. The nights had been full of night terrors that led to me waking up screaming several times a night. Levi had insisted that he was fine with it. He never slept much to begin with, but after two or three times of it happening, I began fighting sleep tooth and nail to avoid depriving him of what little sleep he usually did get. It was that as well as the constant fear and dread that was pooling in my stomach ever since the commander had told us about him.

The commander. He was a whole other issue for me. I thought we had finally become like siblings again, but after his comments the other day, it was clear to me that I was just another pawn for Erwin. He was not my older brother. He was the commander of the Survey Corps, and he had no desire to be anything else anymore. My heart had broken all over again, but there was nothing I could do at this point. Best to leave him behind, which unfortunately was easier said than done.

Suddenly a flick to my nose snapped me out of my thoughts earning a small squeak of surprise to escape my lips earning a chorus of laughs, my squad members standing around me with Eld's hand inches from my face, prepared to repeat the action to get my attention. My squeak had caused Levi, who was ever alert to everything to do with me lately, to snap his head to our direction, but he relaxed when he saw the squad around me.

I couldn't help but laugh. Not giggle, not chuckle. Full on laugh. I laughed so hard that I started to tear up and my stomach hurt, earning some concerned and entertained smiles to appear on the faces of Squad Levi. They probably thought I had finally lost it. Hell maybe I had. I just knew that right then, I was happy. For a moment, I was not scared, not thinking of Friar or titans or a stupid older brother that didn't care about me. Finally, my laughing died down as I wiped tears from my eyes as we went to go eat lunch.

"Sorry guys. I just… I've been stuck in my head a lot. Thanks for snapping me out of it," I admitted with a grateful smile earning smiles from Eld and Petra and slight smirks from Gunther and Oluo.

"Anytime, Mrs. Ackerman," Eld teased with a smile. Oluo made a face.

"Even though I've teased you about the captain for years, that's still weird to think about it," he whined. I rolled my eyes and smirked.

"Then stop thinking about it, you pervert," I teased earning laughs from Petra and Gunther.

"Walls, Ackerman, you got pretty confident after training huh?" Gunther commented with a smile, "It's nice to see you relaxing around us more." I smiled at him.

"Thanks for giving me a chance," I said with a grateful smile. As we got to the table, I noticed everyone seemed to be suspicious of Eren and nervous about getting too close to him. I decided I would take a seat next to him to try and encourage the others to accept him too.

"Still haven't figured it out, huh Jaeger?" I asked, trying to start a conversation, earning a dejected shake of the head from the brunette.

"I just can't figure out why I suddenly can't transform. I know I have to activate it by hurting myself, but no matter how many times I bite my hand, nothing is happening," Eren vented, clearly frustrated and dejected.

"Well, you'd better figure it out soon, greenhorn. All of humanity is depending on you, and all you're doing now is wasting our time," Oluo sneered angrily. I glared at him for that.

"That was uncalled for, Oluo," I shot back, clearly irritated. He glared right back at me.

"You may be fucking the captain, but that doesn't give you the right to order me around," he snapped at me, causing me to roll my eyes.

"You've been using lines like that for nearly two damned years, Oluo. Come up with something a little more original for an insult," I retorted before smirking, "And speaking of the captain, while you're at it maybe find a more original hair style and learn to make your cravat not look so messy."

Just as he was about to snap at me, Eren dropped his spoon. Gunther bent down to grab it for him, but Eren insisted that he could do it. However, as soon as he did, lightning struck and I felt a burning pain on my right side where Eren was sitting.

Shit! Now he manages to fucking transform? As I was cursing to myself, I noticed that everyone had drawn their blades and were positioned to attack Eren who was currently freaking out with just his right arm stuck in a huge titan arm. Cursing under my breath, I grabbed my blades despite the throbbing my now burn right arm did in protest as I stood protectively in front of Eren.

Everyone started yelling at Eren about how he better turn back now or they were gonna kill him. Petra was shouting for me to get away because it was dangerous, but I refused to let them kill Eren just because he spooked them. In seconds, Levi was at my side, his blades also drawn to protect the brunette behind me.

"Look, all of you stand down now!" Levi ordered, clearly not wanting things to escalate either.

"Captain, he's dangerous! You and Emmryn need to get away from him. It's not safe!" Petra yelled in concern. Before anyone could respond, the sound of Hanji's squeal of excitement echoed through the clearing as she ran up to Eren and put her hands on the titan arm before pulling away yelling about how how hot the muscle tissue was. Right about them, Eren managed to pull his arm out of the titan arm causing it to decompose resulting in a heartbroken Hanji.

After that, Levi ordered us all to head back to the old HQ and get ready for dinner and a meeting. Everyone agrees and mounted their horses with me riding with Levi.

"How's your arm?" Levi asked, trying not to sound as irritated as he probably was at the moment. I looked down at my arm. There was some blistering but nothing as bad as I worried it would be.

"It's fine. The burns are pretty minor," I responded back softly, "Thanks for not chewing me out about trying to protect Eren." He clicked his tongue but rested his chin on my shoulder so I could feel his hot breath on my ear.

"I know you think I'm being a dick and paranoid, but I refuse to let those bastards get their hands on you again," he explained, a rare action for my usually stoic husband. I smiled and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.

"My hero," I teased before getting serious, "Thanks, Levi. I know you're just protecting me. I'll try to be less stubborn about it."

"…. Thanks, Emmryn," he responded before placing a soft kiss on the shell of my ear before placing his head on my shoulder as we read the rest of the way to the old HQ in a silent world all our own, mentally away from all the tension among our teammates, safe and comfortable in each others' presence and trust.

Song: The Judge by twenty one pilots