It was supposed to be a training exercise, something for the new recruits to experience, given that the Underground rookies had barely survived one mission with all of their limbs intact. The Xugeld Valley was just one of the many that lay within the boundaries of Wall Rose and this place was to be their stage. Heavenward hills braced either side of the patch of forestry that the old castle and surrounding settlements (long since abandoned due to the harsh climate & lack of farming) called home. Although they dotted around the landscape in varying clumps, if you didn't know that they were there, you'd probably have never found them.
Winter had hit the valley pretty hard that year, blanketing everything and everyone in a white so thick that it made it hard to see you own hand in front of your face. Which made their task incredibly more difficult. The cadets were supposed to be hunting down a (fake) criminal who'd 'escaped' from custody earlier in the day. The criminal in question was one of their instructors who'd happily assumed the role, using the name and story of the Mitras Marauder; a crook long since gone. They were more than happy to play it out to its fullest. The rookies had been told that if they didn't recapture the criminal by nights end in two days time, then they'd have failed the exercise. Hanji had promised herself she'd win, if only because the promise of a hot (roasted) meal hung over their heads (and the promise to wear in some new soldiers was just an added bonus).
Hanji wasn't sure how the others were faring, but being born of the mountains herself, she didn't particularly feel too out of place. Of course, she could've done without the knee-high snow and that incident with the poison ivy earlier. The snow just made things ten times harder! How the HELL are we supposed to get this done in two days?! She whined, pathetically. They were supposed to be completing the exercise in pairs, but Isabel—Hanji's partner—had caught one whisper of "Furlan in trouble" and had taken off for the hills, leaving the other girl behind in her wake. Even as Hanji trudged through the snow, she knew that there would be no way for her to catch up with the girl with the one-track-mind.
Practically crawling through the blizzard as she was, it took Hanji a moment or two to recognise who'd she'd stumbled upon. Unfortunately, it wasn't the person that they were all looking for nor her own wayward partner. Instead it was her fellow cadet and friend, Levi Ackerman. But whatever had happened to the teen since the start of the exercise had left him looking worse for wear. He was soaked to the bone, that much was obvious by the vicious shivering that had him shuddering against the tree trunk behind him and the familiar rash that bled from beneath his fur-lined parka told her that he too, had had a run-in with the poison ivy. Well, at least she wasn't alone in that aspect.
"Huh? Levi?" Hanji blinked, before she worriedly raced over crunchy snow to get to her friend. "Are you all right?"
"Han…ji?" Levi rasped hoarsely, his face flushed with fever as he leant back against the tree. "What're you…? Where's Isa…bel?"
"She ran off to find Church" She hummed, hands coming up to cup his face as she inspected him.
"Of course" Levi nodded as if that was the most predictable thing in the world.
"Where's Oluo?" She replied in kind, thinking of Levi's own partner. Knowing him, his ego had probably gotten the better of him.
"Gone" Levi hummed, heavy lids falling shut as he leant into her touch.
"Right…" Hanji hummed, sparing a glance over her shoulder and back towards the collection of small hovels she'd passed on her way here.
"You should go" Levi murmured as he fought to stay awake.
"Wha—?"
"Just get going and forget about me. You came here to hunt down the Mitras Marauder, didn't you? To get into the Military Police? So just go"
"Grr!" Hanji growled low in her throat, unsure as to why he was suddenly being so stubborn. She couldn't remember even mentioning a want to join the Military Police because they were further from her beloved woods. Even without saying so, she knew that he knew that. But perhaps something else had happened to leave him here like this? She could only wonder. "Do you honestly expect me to just leave you in this state?!"
Hefting him over her shoulder despite his half-hearted protests, Hanji began to make the journey back towards the collection of the abandoned hovels in the hopes of a place to stay. If not for comfort, then for warmth and shelter. Really, they just needed a place to wait out the night…and to sort out the irritating rashes which begged to be itched.
Traversing back across the snow with the added weight was just as difficult, if not harder, but Hanji refused to let Levi go no matter how many times the boy complained and offered to remain behind. But even then, those were half-hearted attempts as his exhaustion weighed heavily on him and she could feel the heat of his fever radiating through the many layers that each cadet wore. Thankfully, it didn't take her long to retrace her steps and before she knew it, she was shoving open the door to the closest hovel and dragging her cargo inside.
The inside of the hovel wasn't much, not that she expected it to be. In fact, it almost reminded her of home. There lay a single wooden pallet against one wall big enough to house two or more people (if you squished in close), a table & chair, a small log pile and mercifully, a large fireplace which took up one of the other walls. Murmuring a silent thanks to whichever gods were watching over them, Hanji hurriedly shuffled inside and kicked the door shut behind her.
"Wait here" Hanji murmured as she dumped the shivering boy on the pallet and quickly set to work. "I'll get a fire started"
"Dammit!" Levi muttered to himself as his eyes graced the brunette's hunched form in front of the fireplace. Hanji may not have outwardly spoken about her connection with the Mitras Marauder (for there certainly must've been one with the way she reacted when they'd first been told) but Levi knew that this experience was much more than just a training exercise to her. Somehow, someway, this person behind the infamous title held a place in the soldier's heart and he found himself wanting to both pry open those secrets & lock them up tight so that she could get that promised scholarship.
"Well, now we're getting somewhere. At the very least, we'll be able to warm ourselves" Hanji happily sighed, unaware of his inner turmoil as she stoked the flames in the pit. "You! Sit up! And take your clothes off"
"W-what?!" Levi choked, eyes blowing wide as Hanji easily shed her parka & boots and tossed them aside to dry in front of the fire.
"Calm down, you idiot! Look at your clothes! They're completely soaked and frozen from the snow! You can't stay in these! You'll catch your death if you leave them on!"
"What, so you're asking me to strip naked?!" He spluttered as the girl advanced on him with a wicked gleam in her eye.
"Of course!" Hanji replied, one hand already working away at his buttons. "You don't mind if I help, do you?"
"Yes, I do!" He panicked, quickly shoving her and her wandering hands off of him. "Let's get this straight: you're suggesting that we'll get warmed by disrobing and lying down together? Hehe~!Goodness me, Hanji! Surely, you wouldn't be so…"
"—Yes, that's right" Hanji nodded as she easily shed the rest of her layers until she stood in naught but her chemise. Her loose, slipping-off-the-shoulder chemise which drew his eyes downwards and made his throat run dry.
"YAAAH!" Levi's face flushed red as he tried to decide if he was the luckiest man in the world, or not. "HAVE A LITTLE MODESTY, FOUR EYES! THIS ISN'T THE UNDERGROUND BROTHELS—!"
"—That's enough yapping!" Hanji snapped, hand snapping out to yank the spluttering boy up to her face as she tried to shake some sense into him. "Lives are on the line here! Now take them off or else!"
"I, uh…yes ma'am!" Levi squeaked, eyes grazing over the blush covering her cheeks before he promptly passed out. Before he hit the floor, absently he wondered if it was because of the fever, the sudden demand to disrobe or a mixture of both. Either way, he soon found himself eating floor.
"Levi?!"
Levi was still pretty out of it when he came to a couple of minutes later, but he was more pliable and co-operative than he'd been since she'd found him and so Hanji held no qualms about stripping him of his wet clothes and rubbing mud on both of their rashes. She tried not to let her fingers linger too long, least she make him uncomfortable, but her eyes couldn't help but grace the numerous scars which littered his body. From the little snicks left behind from the ODM gear, to longer ones likely gained from working the fields as a child and roughhousing as boys are wont to do.
Eventually the pair found themselves curled up next to each other in front of the fire, every single article of clothing that they had worn was draped over furniture which had been dragged close to the fire. Save for a single soot-covered blanket which they'd found nestled beneath the pallet. It was only just large enough to house them both, y'know, if they cuddled in close. Next to her, Levi's breaths were laboured in her ear; but she wasn't sure if that was from the fever or their close proximity. Their naked proximity.
"Hanji?" Levi softly murmured as his head lay resting against her shoulder, breaking her from her stupor.
"Hm?" She hummed as her eyes remained resolutely trained on the dancing flames in front of them and she tried not to think about how his arm brushed against her bare breast or how her elbow lingered dangerously close to his crotch.
"Who—who is the Mitras Marauder?"
"Weren't you listening to Shadis? It's just—"
"—No, I meant to you. Who are they to you?"
"What d'you mean?"
"You know them—the real one—don't you? That's why you were so gung-ho about this exercise"
"…Broadmeadows, my village, has always been one of traditional values. A close-knit community that lived off of the land. Outsiders don't visit; it's too far into the mountains for anyone to travel that far" Hanji's toes clenched and unclenched against the scratchy rug beneath their feet. She wasn't sure why she was suddenly spilling her guts to this rookie. "But one day, when I was a little girl, an outsider did come. She wouldn't say where she was from, only that she had travelled west. But anyone with a brain could see that she was of nobility; or at least, from one of their households. When we bathed in the river together, she had this brand on her that she quickly covered up, but I'd already seen it. It was the House of Reiss—I'd recognised the crest from the King's Day festival. That's where she had come from—that's who she was, the bastard who had runaway from the House of Reiss: Mistress Katherine Reiss"
"So she was a bastard then?" Levi rasped, eyes staring unseeingly at the flames. "I see. And she was able to keep it a secret all this time?"
"Mm" She hummed, shifting only slightly. "She was pretty and quite young. But she taught me many things; we did lessons together, played games—it was almost like having a big sister. With her there, the days were so bright. But then, one day, she was simply gone"
It had been hard for Hanji to come to terms with Katherine's disappearance; she had been sorely missed. Like a limb that you knew should have been there, but wasn't. Their homes were suddenly too quiet, the river too loud, the woods too grim, the nights too lonely and the days too bare. It had taken her a long time—years, in fact—to get over the fact that she wasn't coming back. And by then, her attention was moved elsewhere, overtaken by the sudden refugees that were seeking refuge inside their walls and disrupting their hunting seasons.
"The next time we saw one another, I had joined the cadets and she had been returned to her chains and led away to slaughter" Hanji sniffed, as tears pricked at her eyes and heartache pinged in her chest "It felt so monstrously unfair; of all the people they could've taken away—that they could've killed—I could never understand why it had to be her. She was so sweet to me; how could this person—this sister—that I had known been the same one that they said had done all those horrible things?"
"So, that's why…" Levi murmured as he leant further into her, "I get it now"
"Levi?"
"…It isn't because…you harbour any ill will towards her…"
"Levi?" Her hand brushed up against his forehead; one so deliciously cool against his burning forehead. "You're burning up! Hold on! I'll get some water!"
"I see…" His eyes tracked her every movement even as she left the comfort of their little den and slipping her chemise back over her head, moved to grab a pouch of water from her parka's pocket. "That wasn'… hatred at all…no, in fact…I…"
"Here you go!"
"Ken…ny…"
Kenny? Who's that? Her brows furrowed in puzzlement as she trotted back over, water in hand. What could he be talking about?
"Levi, you should drink some water" She offered the beverage to him even as he lay huddled beneath the blanket like a bear in hibernation. "You won't get better if you don't stay hydrated"
"Why are you helping me?" He sounded almost bitter.
"Huh?" She blinked dumbly.
"We're both trying to pass this stupid mission, right? But we both can't get what we want, so that makes us foes…in other words, why don't you just kill me right now? People'll have been hurt during training missions before, so why not cut down on the competition—?"
"—DON'T BE RIDICULOUS!" Hanji snapped, hoping to God that Levi's sudden mood swings were a symptom of his hyperthermia and not what he really thought. "YOU NEARLY DIED OUT THERE! HOW COULD I DO SOMETHING SO CRUEL TO MY FRIEND?!"
"Ugh! You're so naive, Hanji!" Levi grumbled to himself, "And Martin has the same problem! That's why're you're both—!"
Having had enough of her friend's self-deprecating attitude—sick or not—she popped the lid of the water and gulped down several mouthfuls herself. Striding across the room with a purpose and intention driving her forward, she grabbed a hold of his chin and forced herself on him. Hanji wasted no time in prying open his lips, mindless of how silent he'd gotten nor how wide his eyes suddenly were as she forced him swallow the water in her mouth. "That's quite enough" Chastised Hanji, pulling back just far enough that she could look Levi in the eye. "If you're so damn ready to be killed by me, then you'd better rest before this fever beats me to it!"
"Hanji!" Levi tried as the soldier gulped down more water to feed him. He wasn't sure if—or why—he should be complaining. This was the closet he'd been to the woman since he knocked her out to bathe her. "Hey—!"
Back and forth the two kept going until the water was long gone and then back beneath the blanket they huddled, much more subdued than before. Levi, who was flush with fever and exhaustion, couldn't find it in himself to care too much about his state of dress (or lack thereof). But still, some part in the back of his mind was telling him not to lay down or get too comfortable with the brunette least he incur the same wrath which had beaten both him black & blue in times previous. Still, that was getting harder and harder to fight as exhaustion pulled at his lids, begging to be dragged down into sleep.
"Levi?" Hanji murmured softly, breaking him from his thoughts. "Um, listen; I hate to ask this, but since we only have the one blanket to keep us warm, don'tcha think it would be better to lie down?"
"We—we shouldn't" Levi audibly gulped, unable to look her in the eye. It was especially hard to say no after all they had done.
"We can keep each other warm" She offered.
"Hanji, I'm already at my limit. In so many ways"
"Limit?"
"This is fine"
"If you're sure…?"
"I—I am"
Hanji wasn't aware that she'd fallen asleep until she woke up the next morning in a brisk room, with the fire smouldering at her feet as she lay huddled beneath the blanket. Alone. Levi was nowhere in sight. "Huh? It's morning?" She only knew that time had passed by the light streaming in through the cracked door and the mud which had encrusted itself to her arm (thankfully taking the itching with it). It seemed to take a moment for her friend's absence to hit her and then she found herself hurriedly searching the little hovel for any sign on him. It was a small space, so she wasn't quite sure where he could've gone. "Levi? Levi?"
"…Yes, but what if something unspeakable's happened to her?!" Came a familiarly shrill voice from outside. Curious, Hanji trotted over to peer through the cracked door.
"Calm yourself!" Levi huffed in reply.
"HOW CAN I BE CALM?! NGH!"
Oh, it's Oluo. Wasn't he s'posed to be Levi's partner and—oh! Hanji blinked, gaze raking over the boy's snow-trodden form before lighting up at the sight of Levi looking well and on his feet. This means…he's well enough to be up and about again! That's wonderful! I'm so relieved!
Suddenly, images from the night before flashed through her mind and her face exploded with colour. What she had intended to be life-saving actions—now looked at in a different light—were rather raunchy as she practically threw herself at him—climbed all over him. No wonder he said he was at his limit! Embarrassment flooded her veins as she panicked over what had happened the night before and what he must think of her now. AHHHHHH! What was I thinking?! Even if I only intended to warm his body, the fact remains that I was NAKED next to Levi last night! What's worse, is that I MADE him get naked too! And drink water from my MOUTH! There's only one word for someone who behaves that way: PERVERT!
But no! My intentions were pure! Hanji spun on her heel, arguing with herself as she redressed in now dry clothes. Afterall, it's not like I could've just left him out in the snow like that and I spilt my secrets to you, Levi…STOP IT, Hanji! I can never be indebted to a man! What happened yesterday was STRICTLY PLATONIC! So there's nothing to be ashamed of! Still…I've never seen Levi with an expression like that; he looked so surprised. He's usually so goofy, so seeing his vulnerability was refreshing for some reason. Dare I admit, it was kind of cute?
Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! She paced back and forth across the floor, hopping about as she pulled her harness back on. WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU, Hanji?! THIS is the perfect chance! If he had it his way, Levi would NEVER be caught looking so helpless! Having seen that side of him, he is at my mercy! Therefore, it is time for me to turn the tide! Once I remind you of how you let your guard down with me, you'll REALLY get your knickers in a twist!
"Greetings, Levi!" Hanji slammed the door open with a flourish, taking great pleasure in how high Oluo jumped. "Feeling better after last night?"
"Oh, you're up" Levi hummed, taking note of the soldier's chipper disposition. In his mind, no one had the right to be so happy so early in the morning and he hoped this wasn't permanent. "Took you long enough"
…That little! She silently growled, annoyed that she didn't get the rise out of him that she wanted.
"What's the matter, Four Eyes? Something got your knickers in a twist?"
He's even more nonchalant that usual! It's like it never happened in the first place! Does he even remember? Or was it all just a fever dream?
"Last night?" Oluo leered, "Whatever does she mean?"
"There's nothing to talk about" Levi refused, unable to look the bespectacled woman in the eye.
I knew it! It wasn't just a fever dream! Ha! Take that Levi! Oh God! It wasn't a fever dream! AHHHHHH! WHAT WAS I THINKING?!
"Four Eyes? D'you need to take a shit or something?"