"Anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you."
Misty Copeland
Fortunately, I reached the formation before Captain Levi and quickly returned to my position. He arrived just seconds later, and I actively avoided his obvious glare. The tension among our squad was palpable, but I simply ignored it as we continued towards our camp for the night.
The rest of the day passed relatively smoothly, at least from what I could see from our squad's position in the formation. We had to change directions a couple of times to avoid titans, and by dusk, we had reached a small gathering of buildings that had been established as a base on a previous expedition.
The buildings were made of stone and were in surprisingly good shape despite being outside of the walls. There were 3 two-story buildings and a couple more one story buildings along with a tower that reached maybe 20 meters tall. Only about 5 meters from the buildings, there stood a spattering of about 15 trees that served as a perfect place to assign lookouts. It was a pretty smart setup all things considered.
When we reached the base, our squad followed the captain to the one story building that had a bit of an awning that had been built to shelter the horses. Here, we were ordered to dismount, tie up, feed, and water our horses. As I tied up Icarus and moved mindlessly through the other tasks associated with it, I cringed at the pain between my legs from riding all day. The pain was unsettlingly similar to a pain that I was unfortunately all too familiar with. Before I could get lost in a painful memory, my thoughts were interrupted by a bored, baritone voice.
"Emmryn," Captain Levi called, causing me to look up to see him standing right next to me, the other members of our squad having been dismissed to tasks elsewhere in the base, "We need to talk." His voice didn't show it, but his eyes were still blazing with what I could only imagine to be anger causing me to flinch slightly before quickly composing myself.
"About what, Captain?" I asked innocently as I looked up at him, a confused look on my face. This caused him to glare before grabbing my arm and dragging me to the small scattering of trees nearby. Oddly enough, it appeared that no one had been stationed here yet to act as lookout.
"Emmryn," Levi all but growled, once again snapping me out of previous thoughts, "What the hell was that out there?" I shrugged nonchalantly.
"Me saving lives," I replied in a bored tone that matched his usual one. Levi pinched the bridge of his nose, a barely audible growl leaving his throat.
"You could have died," he scolded angrily. Again, I simply shrugged at him, not seeing the big deal.
"So? I didn't. And even if I had and it saved someone else, it could benefit humanity. After all, that's what we are all fighting for, right?" I argued, causing his eyes to widen only a fraction before his glare intensified.
"Are you saying that your life is worth less than the other soldiers here?"
"Yes," I answered without hesitation.
"Then you should know that you also put the lives of your whole squad in danger," Levi stated plainly, using my own logic against me, which pissed me off a bit.
"Correction, Captain," I retorted, snarling the title at him, "I put myself in danger. You followed me of your own free will. You were under no orders to do so. Don't go blaming me for your rash decision to save some random ex-prostitute from a decision I chose to make!" The fury and self-loathing was clear in my voice.
Suddenly, I felt myself slammed into the tree behind me by my throat causing me to involuntarily whimper in pain. Levi quickly removed his hand from my throat, his eyes clearly shining with guilt; however, he didn't move his hand far, choosing instead to rest it beside my head. There was a look that I barely recognized in his clear blue eyes, concern. Noticing it caused my resolve to waiver slightly. Then leaning his head so close to my ear that I could feel his warm breath, causing me to shiver slightly, he finally spoke again.
"Emmryn," he started, his strained voice along with his warm breath fanning across my ear and neck causing me to shiver again, "Do NOT refer to yourself that way, and do NOT put yourself in danger like that again. I told you that I considered you a friend, and I refuse to lose another friend to a titan."
My eyes widened in shock. What does he mean by another friend? Also, he still cared about me even after me ignoring and being mad at him? To be honest, I hadn't had many friends growing up, even before I got kidnapped, so I didn't really know how that dynamic was supposed to work.
"W-why? Why do you care so much?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly as I felt my heart race and my face heat up under his intense gaze. He just shook his head and clicked his tongue leaning back so he could look me in the eyes, his face just inches away from my own.
"I've been trying to figure that out from the beginning," he said, his voice low and almost frustrated, "I can't stand most people, but for some reason, I need you to stay safe." He shook his head again and clicked his tongue, clearly irritated with himself for saying all of that.
"It's not just me though. It would be a huge blow to Eyebrows to lose you now," he added, changing the focus of the conversation. I cringed slightly at that last statement as my expression softened even more, staring into his eyes with my one good eye before reality hit me, and I snickered darkly.
"But I bet the rest of Squad Levi would do a happy dance around my corpse," I stated bluntly, laughing without humor as I turned my gaze to my boots. Suddenly, Levi grasped my chin, his calloused hand being surprisingly gentle as he tilted my head up to look at him causing me to blush yet again. He looked me in the eyes, a small smirk playing on his lips at the blush that was spreading across my cheeks before his gaze turned serious.
"They're why you're acting like this, especially Oluo," he stated. It wasn't a question but more of an observation of a realization. He clicked his tongue before releasing my chin and backing up a bit so I could walk away from the tree. Part of me was sad about this as the warmth from him being so close was suddenly taken away. Wait. No. Bad Emmryn. Do NOT even start going down that road.
Thankfully, my thoughts were again interrupted by Levi grabbing my arm and dragging me back towards camp.
"Levi," I called finally dropping the 'Captain' for only the second time since our argument, causing him to turn towards me with a small smile, causing my heart to almost stop and my face to undoubtedly turn more red than my hair. Walls, he was attractive when he smiled. Aghhhh... Stop it, Emmryn! He's just being nice to you because you are the Commander's sister.
"Where are we going?" I forced myself to ask before I could let my thoughts go off the rails any further.
"To settle an issue I should have taken care of in the beginning. I will NOT have my squad acting like this due to someone's past. It was none of their damn business in the first place," Levi stated, his normal bored tone returning as he released my arm as we were getting closer to the base, "And when we get back from this expedition, Oluo is gonna have stable duty for at least two months for causing all this damned trouble."
Now, it was my turn to smirk. This must be what people mean when they say there were perks to having friends in high places. I had already tried making nice with everyone and even took a punishment I hadn't deserved, but this time, for once, I trusted someone, Levi Ackerman to be precise, to be in my corner. I wasn't alone. Just as he helped and saved me from those titans, he was willing to protect me from those who wished me harm, even within his own squad.
And to be honest, my heart felt warm for the first time in a long time in a way that I couldn't quite explain. It was different from the comfort and warmth I felt from being able to depend on Erwin. Whatever the feeling was, I didn't want it to go away especially since I didn't know which monsters I feared more: titans or humans.
Songs: Move Like A Soldier by Kristina Maria
Edited: 03/26/2020
