Praise the walls yall.

Midnight here, back in business and feeling better than ever. Hope yall had a WONDERFUL holiday, and now that we are officially in the realm of Christmas time, deck the walls, get some cocoa and prepare yourself…*grabs megaphone*

FOR THE GREATEST FOOTBALL GAME IN HISTORY. (Today mah boys face the Oakland Raiders. Boo. Hiss. With Mahomes, we shall prevail against the California menace.)

As for this week, I just want to say that I wrote over twelve thousand words, this week alone, and that makes me feel bloody great. I wanted to keep myself around twenty some chapters ahead, and granted I know that I don't always write chronologically so I've got a lot of the end story written out, but still. I was getting nervous as I'm only about 10/15ish chaps ahead now, and I /really/ don't want to get to a place where I have to go to every other week updates, so I'm really, really trying to be diligent to make sure that that never has to happen. If it does, we'll get through it. But still. Let it be known I am staying focused :)

Either way, I did say that I could continue weekly updates for sure through the end of the year, and I can stick by that. I'll revisit the topic in a few more weeks and let you know the game plan!

…

…

It had been just over two weeks since Erwin had his conversation with Petra – Levi knew this to be true because logically speaking, days continued to pass by on the calendar and numbers didn't lie, yet Levi was certain that his squad, Petra, and even himself, had found themselves in some horrible void where time seemed to stand still.

Since that night in her room, Petra had not wasted any time in her quest to find the various holes in training, different numbers that stood as outliers worth looking into, how their resources had been used in the past that might produce new methods of use – Erwin had predicted correctly that Petra would drive herself past what was healthy in attempts to come to a different conclusion.

It wasn't uncommon for Levi to make his rounds in the halls to ensure that his squad was somewhat respectful of the Scout's curfew every so often, and on more than one occasion he had walked into Petra's still lit room well after hours, given her a firm stare as she all but jolted from being caught red handed, and turned out the light with a simple, but indisputable, "Get to bed. Now."

Regardless his slight micromanaging, she was clearly sleep deprived, her skin was pale and sickly, and as the days progressed, she was having increasing difficulty staying focused for even the simplest of tasks. Her obvious change in behavior didn't go unnoticed by her peers.

While the men didn't know the full details, they were aware that something was amiss between the Captain and his wife, that there was something going on with Petra specifically, and as each day passed by more slowly than the last, Petra's performance began to get worse and worse, the squad got more and more worried, Levi became more and more…exhausted – it was a vicious cycle.

Still though, determined to not make the same mistakes twice, Levi intentionally intervened with a strong presence as the squad's Captain, making sure that they were still challenged, still held accountable, and weren't left to fend for themselves just because Petra was playing by her own set of rules for the time being. While he couldn't dictate how she used her time while off duty, on duty, he was her Captain through and through and demanded the same level of performance from her as anyone else on his squad.

He had corrected her on more than one occasion, intentionally coming into the main lobby earlier than usual in the mornings to ensure that he could have a private conversation with her before the men got there. He reminded her firmly that her baser duties came first, that she couldn't disregard her responsibilities in the Scouts in favor of the extra work that Erwin had delegated to her, and yet regardless her apologetic expression and promise to try harder, he knew full well his message wasn't sinking in because come the next morning she appeared just as haggard, and just as exhausted.

Her performance on his squad was similar now to what it had been when she first joined his ranks, and it frustrated him endlessly to watch her flounder about each day because she was better than that. She struggled in almost every avenue, from strength to speed to agility, as though her body were weak and untrained. He knew full well that she was neither of those things; she was just that exhausted and wasn't taking care of herself. He knew she wasn't sleeping, Eld had reported to him that she was sometimes skipping meals, she wasn't talking to anyone and would merely shut herself away in her room – it was so unlike Petra and it worried him, but there was only so much he could make her do.

Come morning training, she would fall behind when they were running, and he would have to run back to her, tell her to pick up the pace because they were just warming up for the day and she needed to get it together. Other times he had told her she was dead weight and he knew damn well he had trained her better than that.

While that would instantly spark something within her – he could see it in her eyes that she wanted to make him eat his words – her body just couldn't keep up with her will, because after a mere few minutes, she would fall behind again and he'd be right back at her side, having to shout at her and push her every step of the way with various methods at his disposal – things he hadn't had to resort to in years, just to drag her through the day.

Today was shaping up to be yet another piss poor day, and Levi had known from the start that it was going to be rough. Instead of being first to the room like normal, Petra had been last. Not wanting the squad to suffer from lack of caffeine, Levi had prepared the coffee in her stead, thinking that Petra would stumble in with them attempt to make coffee at the last second and forcing them all to chug it down in attempts to report for duty on time.

When the men walked in at their normal time, grabbing their coffee and making a few cracks that his coffee tasted just like him – strong and bitter – and that they preferred Petra's coffee, because apparently her coffee also matched her personality in that it was energizing and sweet.

He told them all to shove it, but in truth, he couldn't help but agree.

Petra's coffee was better.

It wasn't until almost five minutes until they had to report for duty that Levi was preparing to walk to Petra's room, irritated that she had gone from a top performer to someone who couldn't even get out of bed in a mere two weeks' time, but as he stood up from his chair, she finally stumbled into the room, yawning widely as she pulled her arms through the sleeves of her tan jacket – looking completely exhausted and barely put together.

"Uh-oh," Oluo chuckled as she moseyed into the room, being the physical embodiment of fatigue, "Looks like someone overslept. Were you having such a good dream that it made you want to stay in bed? Was I in it?"

Petra gave him a dirty look at his implications, but lacked the energy to respond the way she normally would, and she simply kept walking into the room without a word. She blinked a few times, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes – her behavior was so odd that the entire room fell silent as they each watched her in question - and when she came to the table, she looked around in obvious confusion, only now seeming to realize that everyone already had their respective cups of coffee.

"Who made the coffee?" she asked quietly in surprise, and Eld raised his cup higher, nodding toward the Captain casually.

"Levi did. Good thing too, because I don't think we've got time to wait around much longer. I know you like your morning coffee, but if you get some from the pot now it'll still be a bit too hot to drink outright. Frankly, we're past the time of lazing around. If you want the rest of mine though, I've got a little over half a cup left. It's cooled down a bit so you could finish it all in one go without burning yourself. If you wanted, that is."

Petra took in his explanation with a blank look, as though she didn't understand what he was saying in the slightest. It was only when she looked at the clock and her eyes went wide, that Levi realized she wasn't even aware that she had slept in.

Great.

Her mouth fell open in surprise, finally understanding the time crunch she had put herself in, and she looked toward the coffee in question, then toward Eld. She pondered his question for a moment as she watched him hesitantly, "I didn't know I was so late…Are you sure? I mean, it's your coffee and -"

Eld stood up from the table and pushed the cup into her hand with a lighthearted chuckle, "Believe me Petra, I'm sure. I don't actually need the caffeine, I'm just a social coffee drinker. But you? Well, you look like you've got your work cut out for you today, and something tells me you could use the boost."

He nodded toward her, "Drink up."

Petra gave a single nod, drinking what was left of his coffee in a single go as the rest of the squad moved up from the table and started to walk toward the door as she chugged the lukewarm coffee.

The squad was already out the door when Petra set the coffee mug onto the table, and it didn't escape her notice that a certain Captain had stayed behind with her. The way his gaze was lingering on her, the way his jaw was set firmly, she knew he was upset.

"Cutting it a bit close today, don't you think?" his tone was far from amused, and Petra looked toward him nervously.

She gave him a single nod, hoping to defuse his anger quickly, because this was far from the first conversation he had had with her regarding her performance, and she already felt bad enough without his disapproving scowl. She wasn't even aware she had slept in until just a moment ago - in her mind she had gotten out of bed same time as usual - so she was still coming to terms with the fact that she had slept in to such an extent that she had almost missed reporting for duty entirely.

She bit her lip nervously, guilt evident in her voice as she looked toward the ground apologetically, "I'm sorry Captain, I won't make a habit of it."

He was unimpressed and watched her flatly as he stood up from the table. His voice was deceptively calm, which only put her on edge even further because she could feel the rising tension in the room. "Tell me. What time did you get to bed last night?"

She swallowed thickly under the weight of his stare and took a step toward the door, hoping to get them both moving and force the conversation to come to an end because perhaps if they just moved on with their day, then maybe… She gave a shrug, "Late, okay? I'm just-"

Levi walked toward her, his irritation rising exponentially when she tried to walk away from him. He shook his head once, his voice more tense as he corrected her, "Oh no, stay right there because I'm not done." He moved toward her in a tense silence, and after a few moments he was standing directly in front of her with a still narrowed gaze, "The time, Petra."

She gave a long sigh and shrugged in exasperation, knowing that yes, they were going to have this conversation and there would be no avoiding it after all. While his anger was perhaps justified, it irritated her in return, because she wasn't doing it on purpose. She was pushing herself to the best of her abilities, trying to force her mind and body to bend to her will because she had to save her comrades, but the strain was overwhelming, and she was doing the best she could. With how he was acting now, it was as though he believed that she was doing things for the singular purpose of pissing him off.

She tried to keep the bite out of her tone, "Well, I can't be too specific because I don't know."

He gave a sharp exhale as he suddenly leaned toward her and crossed his arms tersely, "Well give me an honest guess then."

She looked around the room in irritation, rubbing her temples as she tried to think of the time she had finally crawled to bed. She threw a hand in the air, "I don't know, maybe around three? Three thirty maybe?"

Levi quirked an eyebrow and gave a slow nod, "Three am? You expected to get less than three hours of sleep, after already being short on sleep, wake up at six to get ready for the day, go through ten hours of training, then stay up late into the night and do it all over again tomorrow?"

Petra could only watch him evenly, because they both knew the answer to his question, and Levi set his jaw and glared at her outright. He shook his head as though utterly repulsed by her decisions, and rolled his eyes, "You ever heard the expression 'burning the candle at both ends', dumbass? How do you expect to take care of the lives of your comrades when you can't even fucking take care of yourself anymore?"

Petra's mouth fell open in offense and she snarled, "Levi! That's not for you to-"

"Don't talk over me, Petra." Levi snapped fiercely, and Petra fell very silent, very fast, intimidated outright because the way Levi watched her and the harshness of his tone confirmed that he was officially livid.

His voice was tense as he continued firmly, "How many fucking times have I told you to respect the damned curfew and get your ass in bed over these past few weeks? How many times have I had to pull you aside and remind you that I expect you to take your role on my team as your top priority, yet even still you behave as though your squad is only worthy of what's left over. How many damned times do I need to tell you that you are my subordinate first and foremost, that from the hours of seven thirty a.m to five o'clock p.m you report directly to me, so even if Erwin-"

"Levi, I'm sorry!" Petra stated sharply, an edge and desperation to her voice that caught him off guard. She dared to look up at him, only once, and she sighed at the anger on his face as he watched her in obvious frustration. Gods, she hated when he was angry with her like this. More than his anger, the fact that underneath it all, she knew that he was disappointed in her, that he was worried for her – her entire team was worried for her - that was what made her stomach sink with guilt.

She gave a humbled shrug, "I won't try to pretend that I'm not struggling. I know I am and I know that…I've let you down. But I'm trying Levi, I honestly am, but I'm making mistakes and…and I know that doesn't change anything but-"

"No. It doesn't." Levi confirmed suddenly, and Petra looked back up at him in surprise, taken aback by the sheer callousness of his words. "Good intentions mean shit if they aren't backed by actions, and as it stands now your actions have been worthless. This team is a five-man squad that functions the way it does because we all pull our weight to ensure that we have each other's backs - so that we all come home together, alive. The fact that you are so caught up on the nameless, faceless Scouts that may die, that your own performance is slacking so severely - Our training has been shit for the past two weeks no thanks to you, and it makes me fucking sick. Your half-assing the material, trying to do both somehow, is causing pain to you, and your squad, and what's more, you don't even have any fucking results that justify your backsliding. You're too stubborn to admit defeat and so you keep at it, while in the meantime, you're endangering your comrades. What's worse still, that hasn't even crossed your fucking mind because you're only thinking of yourself right now."

Levi gave a shrug and shook his head in disgust as he gave her a passing glance, "I'm done here, because I'm wasting my damned breath. Still though I gotta say, for someone who is so thoughtful and kind, I would have never believed you could be so damned selfish."

With that, he walked away, not pausing to wait for her as he left the large room – as though it didn't even matter if she chose to follow after him or not.

…

…

The morning progressed on, albeit quietly.

Even though they had walked out of the lobby a mere five minutes after the rest of the group, it was obvious that Petra was not in the Captain's good graces. For once, the squad knew full well it had nothing to do with their relationship – Petra was clearly struggling and Levi was at his wits end in trying to curb her performance – and they tried to turn a blind eye to the fact she was obviously in trouble.

They had begun their training for the day, and Levi found he was just as frustrated by Petra, because he knew she was trying, he could tell she was giving it everything she had, and yet still she was falling behind – her body was just not being cared for well enough, and it was taking its toll on her ability to keep up with the demands of being on his squad.

"Pick up the damned pace, Petra!" Levi shouted behind him, watching her firmly as she continued to struggle to keep pace with her team.

"You can do it Petra!" Eld's voice sounded next, and Levi rolled his eyes as further words of encouragement were given from the rest of his squad. It wasn't that he didn't want them to do so – if they wanted to cheer her on that was their business – what pissed him off was that they felt the needed to do so at all.

Petra had never been the weakest link – at least not after she finally settled into the squad – and now it was obvious that she was all but being babied because it was that obvious that she couldn't pull her weight. While unintentional, it only highlighted how poorly she was doing, and with the way Petra watched her squad mates, with a mix of irritation and spite, it seemed Levi wasn't the only one who disliked their patronizing.

She still continued to struggle throughout the day, and when it finally came time to run drills and work with the 3DM gear, Levi found his patience was at an all-time low. Thanks to Petra's inability to keep up, he had elected to stick to basics today, in attempts to at least somewhat accommodate her lacking abilities.

They had worked on speed, basic maneuvers that tended to get sloppy due to familiarity, and precision and depth of cuts. They worked on a circuit sort of basis to ensure that they used their time as efficiently as possible, and as the hours progressed, it was clear that Petra was at her limit because she was getting slower and slower, and sloppy.

She struggled to keep up with them as they weaved through the trees – not because of the 3DM gear that would do most of the work for her – but because her reflexes were that slow and she was having difficulty making decisive judgement calls. Levi kept a close eye on her as they maneuvered through the forest, both in irritation and concern, because having a sleep deprived person fifty some feet up in the air that was running solely on sheer willpower and caffeine, was a liability and if her progressive sloppiness was an indicator, she was bound to mess up sooner rather than later.

He had to keep on her, tell her to pay attention, watch where she was shooting her wires, plan her next moves to ensure that they could all keep progressing ahead seamlessly, but finally, she seemed to reach the edge of her limits.

Petra had shot her wires forward, however she hadn't been paying attention and she shot her wires a few feet too high, making it so that when she came to the branch she should have landed on, it was slightly too high for her and she tried to adjust her angle, using gas to help propel her upward a little further, but the angle was still awkward and when she got a foot planted on the tree, she slipped downward off the tree entirely.

She was falling to the ground, only slightly alarmed as she looked around for where she could shoot her wires next and the easiest path to put her back in the formation, but before she could shoot off her wires again to regroup, Levi had caught her easily in his arms, holding her bridal style as he held onto her tightly, maneuvering through the forest in an adjusted path of trajectory.

"Levi!" Petra gasped in surprise; her eyes wide as she looked up toward him breathlessly, adrenaline coursing through her from the surprise of missing the tree branch, combined with suddenly being caught midair.

"Hold onto me." He stated firmly, and it was clear he was far from pleased, "I'm taking you to the forest floor and I need my hands."

Petra exhaled in frustration, though quickly wrapped her arms around his neck without argument, not wanting to endanger him by hindering his ability to redirect himself as needed. As she held onto him, she looked up toward the squad who was already adjusting to the loss of herself and Levi. Eld had seamlessly assumed command and was shouting what formation they would take, confirming that they would join Levi after a few rotations as a team of three.

While she supposed it just went to show how amazing her squad really was, more than anything, she was alarmed at how quickly they had so easily adjusted without her. She shook her head firmly, "No, I can still train. Just set me down on a branch and I'll regroup – I was going to do that before but-"

"No." Levi responded, his tone low and even as though he was just as exhausted as she was, "I'm taking you to the forest floor. You're done."

She blinked, looking back toward him in even greater surprise, "…What? What?!"

Levi remained silent and after a few moments his feet tapped onto the ground, and Petra carefully put her legs down, finding her footing and crossing her arms as Levi watched her evenly.

He didn't immediately start speaking, so Petra took the opportunity to explain herself, "Okay, okay – look, it was a mistake to be sure, I was just, well, tired, and so I-"

"Give me your 3DM gear."

Petra fell silent at once, her mouth falling open as Levi watched her flatly, his words making her blood run cold because she was expecting him to chew her out, tell her to run laps or pushups or something else as a form of punishment before permitting her to join her team again – not this.

Was he…being serious?

"…What?"

"Give me. Your 3DM gear." He repeated simply, then gave her a single nod to confirm it was not up for discussion, "You're done, Petra."

A silence fell between them as her mind tried to wrap around what he was saying, because it just made no sense to her. She was a Scout; this was her team. She was just as much a part of this team as he was, and if the team was training than she should also be training so-

Her voice was quiet and laced with uncertainty as she attempted to voice her thoughts, "Wha…no. This is my team and I want to train with you guys so don't make me-"

Levi gave a long sigh and held a hand out toward her expectantly, "Now, Petra. Take off your gear, and give it to me. You've been holding the team back, you're making stupid rookie mistakes that could wind up killing you, and I can't justify the entire squad suffering for weeks on end because you can't keep up, nor can I expend all my energy having to babysit you like this."

Petra found herself breathing heavily as emotions overwhelmed her, and it didn't help when the remainder of the squad landed beside them a moment later.

"Hey Petra, what happened back there?" Oluo asked with a chuckle, though after a glare from Eld, they all fell silent, watching the interaction with wide eyes because it was obvious that Petra was in trouble with the Captain, again.

She stood perfectly still, watching Levi with large eyes that were begging him to reconsider, and Levi frowned as sheer exhaustion built within him, because as much as he would have preferred Petra be right along side him and his squad, she was a risk; a danger to herself and comrades, and until she was in a better position to train, he couldn't permit her to join them for even a moment longer because someone would wind up hurt.

"Petra, I will not tell you again." Levi tried to ignore the way the squad watched them, having hoped they would have lingered in the forest just a while longer as he wasn't trying to embarrass her, but they were here now and it couldn't be helped. His voice was quiet, but firm, "We'll discuss this after training is over, but in the meantime consider yourself dismissed. While we're out here, I expect you to be in the compound. Clean the bathroom, then work out in the hall to dust and scrub the walls and surfaces. If you finish that, then get started on the coffee station. Is that understood?"

Petra opened her mouth to respond, but her voice cracked and she merely took a deep breath. After a long moment passed, she looked toward the ground and nodded her head miserably, "Yes, Captain."

As she began unstrapping the 3DM gear from off her waist, she stiffened considerably, because Levi had taken a few steps toward her, standing inches in front of her as he leaned forward to speak in her ear, intentionally addressing her with a quiet whisper that wouldn't be overheard by her eavesdropping comrades, "You'll get your gear back when you fucking earn it. You were the top of my squad and I won't accept anything less from you, Mrs. Ackerman."

She remained frozen in place at his hushed words, feeling a mix of encouragement and frustration and sheer embarrassment, and while it was against her better judgement, she gave a long sigh and dropped her head forward, resting her forehead against his shoulder with a solid plop as she stared into the ground, her mind swarming with various thoughts of outrage and a million different ways she could have redone the day that might have prevented this outcome.

"I'm sorry Levi, I am." She swallowed thickly, willing herself not to cry because she had no one to blame but herself, "I'm so tired."

"I know." He stated evenly, not moving to push her off of him, but not trying to comfort her with his touch either. "We'll discuss this later. Dismissed."

She nodded against his shoulder, then stood up fully and handed him the various pieces of her 3DM gear with a palpable sadness, before walking in defeat back toward the compound.

…

End of Chapter

…

*sighs*

Poor Petra.

I just love this section so much, because due to the nature of this story, I feel it's not often that I get to write Levi in his element, as Captain, first and foremost – so getting to write a Levi who is in control, confident, and has somewhat figured out a balance as to how to coach Petra now that she's his wife, the writer in me just wants to pat him on the back for a job well done because man oh man, it wasn't easy to get here and Levi, at least in this one instance, got it right! I know I've had a few comments in the past about, in short, when are we going to see some Titan slaying action because you've been building up the squad and their training, so will you write that out ever? In short, yes and no. Sorry, but that's all I can say :C Trust me that I won't waste my time or yours, and to the best of my ability, I won't be leaving holes or loose strings that will make you scratch your head and say 'what ever happened with that?'

And side note, I do try not to lead yalls minds and force my views of story interpretation onto you, but fan girl note here (that's okay, right?) Did anyone else just die when Levi grabs Petra because she's kinda sucking – and without having to say anything, without even batting an eye, Eld just takes over, flawlessly? To the extent that Petra has a mental freak out moment, because she sees just how easily her spot is covered and just how perfectly the squad moves on without her; not even missing a beat after losing not just one, but two people – one of them being Levi himself? And Eld just regroups the other two men and they keep going without missing a beat? Sooo cool.

I know I write Eld as a prankster, a down to earth guy that just loves to laugh and meddle in Levi and Petra's business, and I have NO regrets about that either because I could back that all up from the manga if you pressed me – but of course, he is Levi's second in Command and is an outright badass. Love, love, LOVE Eld in that moment. Squad Levi for life yall. Best group in the whole series.

But I digress. You know I've got an important game to prep for.

Wish me luck throughout this week and send all the good vibes, because I'm going to try and make this another great week for writing new content!

~Midnight