Saph's PoV
"Why are there leaves and shit floating around in my tea?" Levi asked, as he peered into the cup I had brought him.
Two days passed since I my sick day, and I believed that to wiggle my way into his heart, tea would be one way to go. In the guise of saying that it was to thank him for helping me out, I served tea to him during our lunch break. "I boiled the water and then put the stuff in the tea bag into it. Isn't that how you make tea?"
"You opened the tea bag?" Petra asked, giggling as I stared at her in confusion.
"You told me to put it in?"
Levi dumped the contents into the sink, his nose wrinkled in disgust. "You put the bag in, stupid. That would have tasted like shit. You also wasted perfectly good tea."
"I'll fix you a cup, Levi. Do you wanna watch while I do it Saph? I can show you how for next time."
"I'd rather not."
Petra got up and went into the kitchen. Daintily, she began to prepare everything necessary with quick movements. Standing out of the way, I observed her and Levi. Both of them seemed to be in their element. Completely relaxed and worry free as the two quietly chatted about various topics. Perceiving just how out of place I happened to be in the cozy atmosphere, I stalked outside in red hot anger. No. I wasn't giving up, but I needed to restrategize my plan.
Birds chirped around me while I stolled farther away from the busy headquarters and deeper into the training area. I found Leon and Oluo sitting at a table devouring their lunches in the open air surrounded by nature. Must be nice to be so content. Not stressing about a damn thing.
"I'm guessing the whole making tea thing didn't go too well?" Leon inquired as I sat down next to him.
Watching me shake my head in defeat, Oluo snorted in derision. "You can't even do that? You are totally useless aren't you?"
"Don't worry Saph, he's just pissy that Petra is making Levi tea and not him."
Frustrated, I wasn't up in the mood to argue with him. "Why don't you just ask her to make you one? I'm sure she would say yes since she's so good at it," I said, bitterly.
Leon patted my head. "That's not the point my dear Saph. This man here wants the woman he loves to automatically bring him drinks instead of him having to ask."
"Leon!" Oluo shouted, red in the face.
"You're in love with Petra?"
"How could you not know?" Leon gasped. "This poor fool follows her around like a dejected puppy all day unless she's with Levi."
Is that what being in love looked like? Trying to please the person with no regard to your own wants? "Petra nor Levi act that way though," I mumbled.
"Love appears differently on every person. I can only imagine how you would act, Saph. Dreamy eyed with knots in the stomach. Sputtering words all the while blushing. I only say that from my point of view," Leon said sounding wiser than ever before.
Both Oluo and I stared at him, rapt in attention as he explained a subject neither of us had much knowledge about. "Have you ever been in love?" I asked, breathless in anticipation.
"Hmm? No. I don't believe so. I was just describing the way people have acted around me when they were infatuated."
Oluo sat back, all the magic of the moment lost. "Then you can't be any help." Oluo went back to munching on his sandwich.
"Why are you in love with her?" I inquired, locked on every movement of Oluo's. If maybe he could tell me what attracted him to Petra than I'd be able to figure out the same thing for Levi.
Glancing up from his meal, Oluo glared at me. "What?"
"Why do you like her? I mean, there has to be some stuff."
"That's idiotic! Why do I have to answer that?"
Tilting my head, I wondered why this seemed to be such a difficult topic for him. His entire face flushed and his eyes widened, filled with panic.
"It's because she is a good person, unlike you."
Ignoring the last comment, I pressed on. "But we have lots of good people in the Survey Corps. Hanji is a good person, isn't she?"
"Like hell I would ever be slightly attracted to a glasses wearing freak like her."
"You're ignoring the question," I accused, finger pointed out.
Leon seemed to be enjoying himself. Wrapping an arm around Oluo's shoulders, he pulled him in close and began to rub his head with a fist. "Yeah Oluo! You're always talking about the girl, so why are you clamming up now? I bet it's because you think she's pretty."
"Petra is beautiful," Oluo responded, stubbornly.
Leon and I erupted into laughter at that. Smiling, I leaned across the table to get a better look at Oluo. "You're in love with Petra because she is beautiful and a good person. That isn't very specific."
"Why are you so dead set on asking me about this?"
Shrugging my shoulders, I couldn't help looking down at the surface of the table when I answered, "Curiosity."
Oluo's back straightened, he considered me seriously. "I'm in love with her for many reasons. She's kind and generous, willing to help out the people around her even when it's an inconvenience. She's always smiling, always being optimistic no matter what is happening at the moment. Petra is also stubborn and smart. She will do the right thing no matter the consequences to herself. The question is more like how can I not fall in love with her? She makes the people around her laugh, she cares about everyone, and she is the one bright spot in this whole damn dreary place."
His words made me sick. It felt as if acid slowly ate away at my stomach the further he went on. Nothing, nothing he said could be used to describe me. If Levi was attracted to her due to these attributes, I didn't know if there was a single action for me to take to pull his attention away from her. Drained of energy, my hands shook slightly as I excused myself from the table.
"I regret asking," I said honestly. "Hearing all that… makes me wanna puke."
"You're the one who kept bothering me about it!"
Staggering, I headed back inside. Not even the dread of the scene between Petra and Levi stopped me from making my way back to my room. Foot hovering over the porch step to the entrance, a voice stopped me.
"Saph?"
Head swiveling, I awaited for Leon to continue. There must have been a reason for him to chase me to the house instead of staying with Auruo.
"How are you doing?"
Considering no one had any idea about my attraction towards Levi, I guessed he referred to the fever. "A lot better. I'm still pretty weak, so the doctor told me not to do any hard exercise for awhile. Makes me fidgety, not being able to train like usual."
"Do you want to go for a walk into town later on then? Get rid of some of that energy?"
"Let me finish some work first. Hanji wants me to create the schedule for who will be overlooking the next set of experiments over the captured Titans. Do you have a preference for a certain time?"
There is no light in his blue orbs as I stared at him. Waiting for an answer. Such an indifferent expression on him made me wonder if I had lost Leon to his own thoughts. Not a second before I was going to repeat my question, he sighed. The long exhale as if my question was completely trivial puzzled me. Me asking him was normal, and most certainly polite. Why it deserved that sort of reaction, I didn't know.
Leon smiled, necking popping as he stretched. "I guess there are some benefits to knowing the second in command. No, I don't have one. Set me up for whatever time."
"Really? You always complain that you're on guard duty when you were supposed to have a date with a pretty girl," I said, incredulous.
"Nope. Not this time. I'm good with anything." Leon patted me on the head, roughing up my hair a little. "Do you wanna have the walk after dinner? You should be done with all of your work by then"
The quick switch in topics left me muddled. "Uh... yeah, sure?"
"Cool. Great. I'll see you later than."
Shifting uneasily, I stepped into the house. Levi sat, by himself, on the couch. A newspaper in hand, and a steaming cup of tea on the table next to him. The sweet aroma drifted to my nose, such a different smell than my disaster earlier that morning.
"You drink a lot of tea, don't you?" I asked, peering into the brown liquid.
Levi set the newspaper into his lap. "It helps me shit."
"Can't argue with that logic." Reaching for the porcelain dish, I commented, "
tea has to taste good if you chug it down like that."
He swatted my hand away. "Don't. Go make your own."
"Did Petra make this one for you?" I questioned with a sour edge that I didn't mean to disclose.
It was a good thing that no one else was around to hear the distinct implication of my tone. Levi was dense enough not to notice anything different. Sometimes that made me feel better, other times it made this whole affair worse.
Of course, Levi never indicated a sensitivity to dealing with social sensitivities. "I'm sure she will make one for you if you just ask."
"I'm good," I withheld the snarl in my voice better than this time. My pent up energy coupled with my tangled emotions led to me tapping my foot incessantly. Shifting uneasily, I considered leaving to go up when he spoke.
"Something wrong?"
A sharp inhale, I stared in amazement. An inquiry about my well-being never happened. For a second, I figured that I stumbled into a dream-like state where obscure fantasies were achieved. Almost as if I had somehow became sick again. My own tightly coiled hunger told otherwise. Control never seemed close to being lost when I slept. This remained reality. Licking my lips, I scavenged for an explanation. "I'm...I'm wondering when you'll let me train again."
"Not my call."
"Imagine being in my position! You get all cranky if you don't train at least once a day, I haven't done anything in three."
"You couldn't bathe yourself three days ago."
That didn't help my embaressing state. "I realize that." Cheeks red, I felt uncomfortable knowing how vulnerable I'd been.
"Are you going to stop complaining then?"
Huffing, I stomped out of the room and up the stairs. Childish, maybe, but there seemed to be no relief from the physical and emotional stress I happened to be under. Tempted to slam the door shut, I refrained from that action with the knowledge that Levi would call me a brat because of it.
"I have to say, taking a stroll after dinner is always a very pleasant experience."
I glanced up at Leon, "I prefer to go on runs."
"You know, I've been told that I make an excellent running buddy."
Hesitating in my steps, I snorted at his statement. There were few people on the streets, the roads slightly lit up by the lights from the surrounding houses casting shadows into our pathway. With it being so quiet, I experienced the need to whisper. "It's more of something I like to do alone."
"You tend to do everything alone. Well," Leon added, amending his statement, "it's either alone or with Levi."
Alert, my chin jerked up. "I've known him for years. He's a good friend of mine, so it's not unusual for us to be together."
"Do you trust him?"
"Don't you?" I asked, a puff of whiteness going out into the black night. The days had been getting warmer, but when the sun set, so did a penetrating chill. All I had on was a pair of pants and a t-shirt that was covered by a light jacket. Not the kind of clothes good for frosty weather. Shoving my hands into my pockets, I continued on at a faster pace. My boots hitting the stones with a thud, shifting the knife tucked away against the skin of my calf.
"I've heard that people from the Underground are always looking out for enemies even when none exist, so I'm surprised to hear that you know he'd watch your back." Leon turned down off of the main road.
His words made me think of the time that I blamed Petra for trying to kill me, or my unfounded suspicions about Auruo. That sentence may have applied to me, but I had never seen Levi panic and lose sight of what stood in front of him. Paranoia served me well in the Underground, but maybe letting it go up here would be for the best.
"How long have you known Levi? Somebody told me that you two met up before you were offered to come to the surface to join the Survey Corps."
Scrunching my face up, I considered the time that passed since I tried to steal Isabel, Farlan, and Levi's gear to now. "It's hard to tell. Roughly five years? Why?"
"Just trying to figure some stuff out," Leon responded, distracted.
Wanting to turn back to headquarters, I slowed my movements. "Like what? Let's head back, I'm getting a little woozy."
"Well I wanted to know who else you might have told." Leon took a few more steps forward.
Stumbling slightly, I followed him until I stood by his side. "What are you talking about?"
Leon grabbed my arm so suddenly, I didn't react for a moment.
Startled by the action, I tried to jump away from him. "Let-"
A sweaty palm covered my mouth and my hands were pinned behind my back. "Keep her still, Brutus," Leon whispered near my ear.
Throwing my body about, I realized too late that we had stopped in front of the informant's house. What were they doing? Adrenaline flooding my system, I wrenched my neck, trying to get my mouth loose to scream.
"You think anybody is going to come if you start hollering?" Leon chuckled, I could hear the pounding of his heart in my back. "They know to stay inside, might as well come quietly."
I couldn't tell if he told the truth or not, but I figured that if they had decided to kidnap me here, they're weren't afraid of being interrupted. Using all my strength, I hoisted my two legs up in the air until my knees hit my chest. Leon's grip held strong, I didn't fall to the ground like I'd somewhat expected, instead I kicked Brutus's chest as hard as I could. The momentum sent him crashing to the ground while Leon and I toppled over backwards.
Crashing into the ground, I lurched away from his grasp, and slipped my hand into my boot. Finding the handle of my knife, I yanked it out quickly. Clothes got ripped up and torn while I crawled towards Brutus as he scrambled to get up. Before I was able to swing my blade down, my hair was yanked up. Shockwaves of pain from the action made me gasp out loud.
A fistfull of it in Leon's hand, he used it to make sure that I could kick him or step onto his toes. "Help me. Damn it," he hissed out, tugging harshly on my curls. Without wasting a moment, I elbowed him, hard, in the stomach. With my body free, I swung the blade in a horizontal arc with my full power. Sweat might have coated my palms, but my hold, strong and combined with the fear gushing in my veins, I went for the kill. A move that I had learned years ago, ingrained into my memory, imprinted on to my body it didn't matter that this was Leon. A human that I had considered an ally, and sort of friend a few minutes before. Cemented in my soul, the necessity to survive, and to murder whatever got in my way of my goal.
The knife sunk into his throat, the tip peeking just out of his soft tufts of blonde hair. Ripping it free, a flood of blood followed it. Spraying the air with warmth and wetness, Leon's body dropped to the ground. Soaked in red, I made sure not to slip in the widening pool at my feet. Brutus stood a few feet in front of me, his burly size shaking at the sight of me covered in a comrade's blood. Bloodlust didn't hold my brain, survival occupied the mind meaning no urge to kill ran the show. Time for that would be later since I needed to get out of there.
Turning around, I readied myself to sprint to the headquarters when an unnerving sight awaited me. Wrinkles had formed, eyes hardened, but his savage smirk still the same. "I heard you've been looking for me."
Dashing, I gripped the blade in my hand as I prepared to stab him in the chest. Instead, his callous fingers wrapped around my wrist, twisting uncomfortably until I was forced to let go of my only weapon.
"And here I am," Kenny jeered, face so close to mine that I could see his yellow teeth in the darkness. My last sight before my vision became completely black and I lost conscience.
Yeah, this is around a week earlier than when I was going to post, but I just happened to be super excited about this chapter. Figured you guys wouldn't complain. I hope everyone enjoyed this update and the cliffhanger ending with it. I'll try not to leave you guys waiting for too long. Please leave a review before you go!