For over a hundred years, no one has set foot here.

Never had Antonia been further into titan territory and yet, she did not feel as terrified as she had thought she would. The sky did not hold a single cloud and apparently, they had been able to evade most of the threats.

Things looked well as far as she could tell.

While she, Hange, Emma and Ben were part of the scout support team, the squads in front of them and to their right who were responsible for the enemy detection had not signalled that they engaged in any fighting yet. Of course, it was impossible to know if things went as smoothly on the other side of the formation, but still, they were in high spirits.

According to Hange, they would set up the new resupply station as soon as the next suitable building emerged. Antonia was honestly not looking forward to this. It would take some time for Shadis and Erwin to mark the new location on the map and for her and the others to unload the carts.

The rest of them would be on watch for titans – and on edge. It was not an ideal break after riding from morning to noon. While she knew that it made sense to stack gas, blades and food in regular intervals, she still preferred to be on her horse until the sun went down.

"Aaaah, here we go!", Hange pointed towards a small tower, "I bet it's going to be this one!"

As they came closer to the building, Antonia saw that it was in a rather good shape. Only a few of the grey bricks looked like they had loosened over the years and the ivy growing up the walls offered a certain charm.

But the aesthetics of nature reclaiming its rightful place was nothing that concerned her too much right now.

"Alright guys, I'll be off to Erwin and the commander" Antonia noticed the slight blush appearing on Hange's cheeks and tried her best not to smile.

"One of us needs to get on that tower and keep watch. Can you do that, Emma? Miche and two other scouts should be up there, too. The other two of you can help unpack the supplies. Oh, and make sure to eat a bite."

As soon as the brunette was out of earshot, Ben grinned at them.

"When do you think they'll officially make her our squad leader?"

"She's rather good at this, right?" Emma smiled.

"It should be only a matter of time." Antonia agreed.

Carefully, Antonia tried to balance the gas tank on her right shoulder, wondering why anyone would design such a phallic object which, through its ridiculous length, caused anyone who attempted carrying it around, to risk bumping it against things like people or solid walls.

Ben had chosen to carry a box full of medical supplies and left the transportation of the unnerving object to her. She could not really blame him. Had she been the first one of them to choose between the last two things left to be moved inside, she probably would have done the same.

"You'll let it fall." A familiar monotone voice predicted.

She almost did because she had not heard him coming. She gripped the tank a bit tighter. If Antonia had been more polite, she would have tried to turn around to look at him. But as she was sure that she would be met with the usual blank expression, she decided that it was not worth to risk dropping the container.

"Trying my best not to." She muttered through gritted teeth.

Suddenly, the weight on her shoulder got a lot lighter and she furrowed her brows in disbelief.

Was he really going to help her?

"It's something two people should carry." The bored voice behind her decided.

It bothered her slightly that he wasn't wrong. It just had not occurred to her to ask anyone for help.

"Yeah… Probably."

She adjusted her hold on the tank more to its front and started moving. He followed swiftly. As they made it through the door, Antonia noticed how well-coordinated their transport had gone. A part of her suspected that if she had carried that thing together with Ben, they would have collided with everything around them at least once. On the other hand, they would have filled the silence with swearing and bickering.

With a fluid motion, Levi and she sat the tank down on the ground. Antonia leaned against the wall and turned towards him.

"Thank you." She offered him an honest smile.

While Hange had dominated the conversation last night and Levi had barely said a word, let alone anything nice, it still might have had an impact on him. He seemed to be trying to be decent. If he had a good side, maybe they were starting to get on it.

"No problem." He shrugged.

"Where are you in the formation?" she asked.

"Forward scouts."

Antonia blinked.

"Erwin… ", she corrected herself, "Commander Shadis put you in the front line?"

She thought that she should not have been surprised that someone as skilled as him would be part of the enemy detection, but it still seemed utterly uncommon for someone with this little experience regarding expeditions.

Levi crooked an eyebrow.

Antonia blinked again. She had just witnessed a change in his facial expression.

"It's unusual. You must have earned Erwin's trust" she explained.

He clicked his tongue dismissively as if he did not want to waste any words on how little he cared for that.

"Where is your squad?"

With the monotony of his voice it did not really sound like a question.

"We're one of the support teams, right flank, next to the command."

"I see."

Once again, their conversation ceased to exist. However, Antonia noticed that she felt comfortable with the silence. Apparently, he did not mind it either as he did not show any inclination to leave the room. Instead, he sat down on one of the barrels that had been moved into the room and looked through the glassless window.

Maybe, this was the exact extent that she, and probably anyone else in the scouts, could, well, in lack of a better word, bond with Levi. He was not very talkative, to put it mildly, and she wasn't either.

She suspected that Hange was trying to get him out of his shell with excessively engaging him in (up until now rather one-sided) conversations, but Antonia doubted that she'd be successful to the point that he'd ever start joking or laughing with anyone.

Antonia decided to take advantage of the fact that he was not paying attention her anymore and took a moment to study his face.

For once, his eyes were not narrowed to a slit, causing him to not look annoyed for once.

Not on edge, huh? That's rare.

She noticed that his features were somewhat… delicate. With mild surprise, it occurred to Antonia that Levi was handsome. His pale skin stood in contrast to his dark hair and the dark circles that were prominent under his light grey eyes.

She decided to push that thought away. It really did not matter how he or anyone else looked. Once she had averted her gaze, she could feel his eyes on her and felt relieved that he had not caught her staring.

"We should get back. Erwin and Shadis are outside."

"Alright." It might do her good to get her focus back on the mission. I've been too caught up with social trivialities, lately.