Elsie stared at the cobbled ceiling, tapping her bandaged hand as Levi wrote at his desk. His quill filled the tense silence and she could visualize his hunched figure over the scroll, his dark eyebrows pushed together in concentration. She knew he had received a letter from Erwin earlier in the morning and he had called her up to his office shortly after. She expected him to ask her questions, or at least inform her why she was called, but he merely stared at the letter. Eventually Elsie got comfortable on the couch.

"When do the cadets graduate?" She asked, hoping he would indulge her in conversation.

"A month from now." Was his short reply. He continued to write.

Only a month left until she met Eren Yeager. Elsie was quite excited to meet him; he was the main character after all and she always had liked him. Mikasa on the other hand... She was nervous for how the deadly girl would take to her. Armin was less of a stressor.

Elsie rolled over so she was on her stomach and her chin rested on the couch arm, her eyes locked on Levi. He didn't spare her a glance.

"You've been looking at that paper for hours now," She said slowly. "Why don't we go for a ride?"

Levi scoffed, "You're a lazy fuck, you know that?"

"I'm a bored fuck," She corrected, sitting up and stretching her arms. Levi finally took his eyes off the desk, watching as she moved. "If I'm feeling cooped up I can only imagine how you are. Let's go! The worst is that you think about whatever you're writing and have more to add to it."

Levi considered her words before nodding. She grinned and jumped to her feet, eager to get out of the castle. Once she had returned from Hange's, the entire squad had put her on the back burner. Her chores were completed before she had a chance to pick up a broom, her ODM gear had been taken by Eld, and Levi banded her from doing combat. Essentially the pass three days had been couch ridden- or rather watching the squad work from afar- and she was antsy to move again. She hadn't realized how fast her body had taken to this new routine and was shocked at how much she missed it.

Levi left his cloak on the back of his chair and Elsie followed him down the stairs, a skip in her step. Petra and Oluo were eating in the dining room, softly chatting, and stopped to watch as the duo walked past them.

"I can saddle Suni." Elsie said quickly, rushing past Levi to open the mare's stable. She refused to be handicapped any longer.

Levi let her prepare Sunni and did the same with Noir. The two worked in silence and once the horses were prepped, neighing as they were led to the end of the horse yard. Elsie easily got onto Suni, grinning when Levi mounted Noir. He rolled his eyes at her excited attitude but she didn't let the debbie downer bring her down. She was finally leaving the castle!

"Yah!" She kicked Suni and the horse quickly took off.

She didn't care how far away Levi was or if he was right on her. She enjoyed the hot sun glaring down on her, relished in the feeling of sweat dripping down her back. She hadn't felt productive in days, and as little of a thing it was to ride a horse in her new life, she felt better. She led Suni around the castle with Levi trailing behind her. She was glad that he had agreed to let her out, even if he wasn't having fun. She laughed to herself. Did Levi Ackermann ever have fun?

After an hour Levi whistled for her to turn around. She followed Noir back to the stables and slid off of Suni's back, taking the horse to her stable and doing the usual routine of undressing her. Levi finished before her and leaned against the stable door, watching as she heaved the saddle over the half wall.

"If I give you a list of names do you think you could tell me who the traitor is?" Levi asked.

Elsie shrugged and grabbed the brush, "I don't know. We can try. My hand's already injured, what's another burn?" She lamely joked.

She focused on Suni. The thought of circling names was so easy, and she would love to do it for him, but in the long run was she supposed to? If they knew who to go for, would this all end sooner than expected? Would it lead to the same revelations as the show? Was she here to keep the show the same or to change everything? Elsie felt a headache coming on.

Elsie finished with Suni and turned to leave, stopping when she realized that Levi wasn't moving. He stared at her, unreadable as always, and she shifted from foot to foot. He kept an unwavering gaze on her before moving to the side, although barely enough room for her to squeeze past him.

"Once your hand is better you're going to be doing titan training," He said. "Meaning you'll be learning how to kill them. That won't be enough to prepare you for the actual thing."

Elsie grinned, "Don't worry, Levi. I've worried myself sleepless about meeting a real titan."

"Good."

The titan training was just like the one's Eren used. Large wooden necks were laid out in the woods for Elsie to practice. Petra sat in the tree, the only around since the others were gathering materials for the expedition in three weeks.

Elsie took a deep breath and rubbed her hands over the handles of the ODM gear, feeling the rough burn on her right hand. The welts had disappeared and left red scars over her hand, forever there, and the skin was calloused. She finally had gotten the clearance from Hange to return to her normal activities and had gladly leaped back into her work.

She steadied herself, pushed off, and gave it her all.

The nights became Elsie's time to have Levi's undivided attention.

His rule of her not leaving her room had been quickly forgotten as they met routinely in the kitchen, a pot of tea made and waiting for her. The days were tiring and relentless, full of Petra and Elsie flying through the woods and slicing necks. Levi often left the castle to meet with Hange and the other squad leader, Miche, to go over last minute details. A carriage had arrived the day before and Gunther and Oluo had spent the hot morning loading it with materials. They had two weeks before the expedition, two weeks before graduation, and unbeknownst to the Scout Regiment, two weeks before the Colossal Titan returned.

It gnawed on Elsie that she hadn't told Levi when the Colossal Titan was coming. She knew the exact date now, could probably tell him the time, but she had came to the decision that it wasn't her place. The attack had to happen for Eren to realize his powers.

She could help in other ways, could tell them about Annie and the others, but this one thing was not her's to stop.

"What's your favorite color?" Elsie asked when Levi placed her steaming mug in front of her. She held up a finger, ignoring his peculiar expression. "Wait, I know it. Black."

He tutted and sat across from her, "How observant of you."

"I sense sarcasm."

"At least you got that right."

She pouted, "If it's not black then what is it?"

"Green."

There were multiple reasons that came to Elsie. Green, the color of the Scouts, green the color of grass, green the color of trees or anything that was above ground. Black was too reminiscent of the underground, she would think.

"Mine's yellow. It's very cheery." She said.

Levi shrugged and sipped at his tea. She watched as he held it strange and once again thought of a question, "Why do you hold your cups like that?" She mimicked his way. It hurt her wrist to bend it that way.

"Just how I do it." He said simply.

Elsie shook her head and smiled. She should've known she wouldn't get a straight answer from him. They drank in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

"Levi," She said, meeting his grey eyes. "I'm sorry for everything I can't stop."

"Tsk. Are you god? Imbecile."

She smiled in reply but wondered - would he say that in the end?