Elsie had enough mind to open the curtains before she went to bed, the rising sun slowly coming through the four glass panes, gliding over the tiled floor, and to the tips of the duvet that grazed the bedpost. Elsie watched, having not slept like the night before. It must've been the physical drain that had succumbed her to bed but she had nothing but faces and memories floating behind her eyelids, no rest in sight. She'd gotten maybe an hour of deep slumber before a dream, no, a memory, had roused her with tears on her pillow.

It was the fresh loss of someone new that brought back the pain of loosing her mother. She wasn't killed ruthlessly like the four people Elsie had come to call family. No, mother had left them in the dead of night, leaving only her clothes and children as reminders that she existed. They had no funeral, no grievance for her parting. Dad had pushed forward, determined to let her leave but not destroy them. For whatever reason mother had left, it left the same pain as this one Elsie was nursing.

She really wished she could talk to her dad.

"Alright, get it together, Elsie." She said to herself, vigioursly rubbing the tears from her eyes.

Elsie had beaten Himari by dressing and bathing herself, gloating about it as she headed down the stairs. It sounded like only the kitchen help were awake, bustling in the cool air that only early mornings held. Elsie gathered the hem of her dress before daring to walk across the grass and towards the stables. Minister Nick had been polite but she figured she should at least dress the part of a church goer, choosing a pastel pink dress that hugged her breasts up and made her hips a tad wider than they were. It shouldn't cause a distraction during riding, at least, like the rest of her choices.

A green cloak hung at the open stable doors, slowing Elsie's steps. A knowing smile tugged at her lips, and with intent to scare, she tip toed to the barn door before whirling in, mouth open to demand an explanation. She froze, eyes wide.

"Good morning to you too, Miss Elsie." Erwin said, not lifting his head.

Erwin sat with his horse's stall door open, a hoof in his lap as he chipped at the debris that had collected, hair not yet styled and hanging over his thick eyebrows. He didn't look like a commander in his position and rather friendly, easing Elsie's surprise yet giving her disappointment.

"Good morning, Commander."

"Going for a ride?" Erwin smiled to himself, eyeing her dress.

"Uh, no actually. Sir," Her hair was in a strict bun for the ride and she was grateful for it as her hands came to fidget with a strand that had escaped. "I'm going to church."

"I never realized you were a holy person, Miss Elsie. Is Minister Abselm still leading?"

"No, Minister Nick. He's radical, I'm interested for his reasons behind it."

Erwin let the hoof fall, the tan horse shaking its long neck and tickling his face with the mane. He stood and rubbed the stallion, silent, but Elsie knew that he was going over something in his head.

"They say that God will smite the Scout Regiment for the obstruction we've done to the wall. I don't think that will happen, He understands what measures we are taking to save humanity." Erwin mused.

"What if," Elsie licked her lips, bracing for the pain. "What if God didn't put the wall ups?"

The blue of Erwin's eyes reminded her of paled turquoise, "Do you know who made the walls?"

"Yes."

Erwin's hands fisted, looking like a man in love, "What I would do, just to know half of what you do."

"If I can become friends with Minister Nick, if I could get him to believe that I am one of his Wallists, then maybe when the day comes for the church to work with the Scouts we will know everything. He won't speak to you, to any Scout, but I told him I was thinking of discharging and it made him very sympathetic towards me." Elsie talked fast, scared to be wrong.

Erwin thumped a beefy hand on her shoulder, her knees knocking from the strength of it. There was rejuvenation in his movements, eyes open and seeing the endless possibilities with the secrets of the church.

"You do everything you can to get those secrets, Miss Elsie. I have a feeling that day is drawing nearer."

"I will."

Erwin and Elsie stared, a new respect for each other, a hope creeping on her that she hadn't felt with them the first time. It was the camaraderie that bound them together, a determination to get to the end without too much loss.

Elsie was sure glad she'd chosen her dress the moment Minister Nick shook her hand at the entrance, buoyant with life at the early hour. It appeared that Elsie, Krista, and Ymir had chosen the right day to visit, having sat with the townspeople for his weekly preach. Today's sermon required that all the stone pews be pushed out of the way - no doubt the labor of those boys - and only the front row inhabitants that Minister Nick had shaken hands with had been allowed in. They dressed to the nines, with bright, butt enhancing dresses, tailored suits, and golden necklaces much like Minister Nick's.

Elsie was also the last one to enter. Minister Nick snapped his thick fingers and the boys hustled from the shadows, all eyes turning to Elsie. She felt the sun's warmth withdraw from her back, left to the wolves den. Ignoring the anxiety of being focused on, Elsie smiled politely and met their eyes. Only one woman looked familiar, a blonde with a long face that had been killed by Annie's ass falling through the roof.

"My friends, let the Lord's love come through you and welcome Miss... What's your full name?"

Elsie was too nervous to think, "Elisabeth Fraser."

"Miss Fraser," He smiled kindly, suddenly, as if knowing she was thrown back. "She has been forgiven for her sin of breaking the wall," At this, Elsie didn't know if he was helping or tormenting her, due to the harsh whispers that broke out in the crowd. "And I will personally help her reach the God's forgiving light."

Minister Nick was a forgiving, inspiring person for doing it, the crowd whispered as he led to a spot in the group. Elsie wanted to duck her flushed cheeks but faked confidence, appraising the Wallists. None seem too interested to keep her gaze, spar for one tall man in the back. She would be lying to say he wasn't handsome, with black hair and kind eyes, long nose, and a smile that offered friendship in the whispers. Elsie returned the gesture before facing the Minister, who once more climbed his pedestal.

"Lock arms, my friends. Mr. and Mrs. Duboius, would you be so kind to lead Miss Fraser?"

They were kind, each entangling one of their arms with Elsie's so that her hands were raised to her chest in a lock with them. The people spread out to create three rings, heads bowed and knuckles fisted as they waited for words of faith. Elsie tried to relax and let her chin rest on her chest, thinking of her attempt at meditation in her old life. Unlike his last sermon, Minister Nick's voice was full of raging belief, loud and shaking her ribs with every word. Elsie closed her eyes, listening, and being.

"Oh dear Lord, we gather today to bathe in your Holiness and to let your knowledge wash over us. We stand before you in the prayer that you will give Elisabeth Fraser, a reformed sinner, to be in your arms, to be allowed to see the wrong-"

Maybe it was the sun glinting in but a flash of red, so bright, flashed behind her eyelids. Hoping to not be caught, Elsie peeked through one eye. A cloud had passed, allowing the sun to filter briefly in the window. Mr. and Mrs. Duboius had looks of peace, face lax with lips tugging as if they were sharing a thought. Elsie bowed her head once more.

"-to protect and preserve the Walls-"

A raging storm. Black waves that suffocated were rising, blocking a half moon. Running steps, shouting, people she'd never seen before. They're outfits, long brown coats, and guns, were unfamiliar. She felt a shot in her chest, the gunshot ringing in her ears. The pitch steadily raised, deafening her, and a blood covered face, fell into the skin-less, stretching arms of titans. Screaming. Limbs flying through the orange sky.

"Amen."

The ringing broke.

The Duboius' dropped their arms and Elsie was released from the terror. Sickness rose in her, her entire body shaking, palms sweating. She swayed but refused to let the pain take her, not wanting to fall into the comforting darkness that was coaxing her. Only one place sounded good to fall into, and with a soft, thankful good bye to Minister Nick - who was happy enough to wave her out the door, distracted by the others - she was stumbling to Sunni.

The ride had been torturous. She had no energy to unsaddle Sunni, even though someone would see and no doubt come screaming at her later. Her body sagged, eyes drooping, and she fought the exhaustion back with a crude pinch to her arm. Elsie's feet scoffed the nice floors of the castle, her fingers loosing grip as she climbed the never ending stair case.

She walked past her room, two doors down, and twisted the knob. She must have arrived before lunch because Levi was changing out of his uniform, pants unzipped, shirtless, and his mouth twisted in insult at her slamming the door open. He realized quickly that she was using the door to hold herself and strode to her side, easily lifting her and carrying her to his bed. Levi situated the pillows under her drowsy head, running his hands down her cold, shaking body to find an injury.

"I'll kill the cunt, the fucking bastard-" Levi was saying, his voice and face coming and going. It seemed that the energy had left her once she'd seen him.

Elsie had enough strength to grab his hands, still scared, feeling like a child who had a bad nightmare. She held the calloused palms to her chest, sighing in relief that he was real. Her eyes fell, her racing heart calmed at the smell and touch of Levi.

"Stay with me." Elsie exhaled on her last conscious breath.

Levi stayed.

Elsie woke up to a heavy weight on her hand, shots of pain coming from the tingling muscle. To her relief, her body wasn't sore, but her mouth was dry and her eyes crusted. She licked her cracked lips before turning her head. Levi had found a chair and placed it at the bedside, one of his hands resting on her open palm, and his cheek rested on his cast at the edge of the mattress by her hip. Soft, intermediate, snores came from the man, a piece of hair moving in front of his pointed nose.

She'd never seen Levi sleep. It was serene. He had long, dark eyelashes that ever so gently grazed the purple, tell-tale circles of no rest. Elsie must have worried him enough to only get a chair because he was still shirt less, broad back open for her to memorize, the dark hairs of his arm covering scars that spanned from his spine to fingertips. Only one indent on his upper arm, below his shoulder, was deep enough for her to realize that at some point a titan held him in its jaws.

It was Elsie's fingers, gentle as a butterfly running over the scar, that stirred Levi. He sat up at once, pulling his hand back to scratch at his red cheek, the lines of his cast criss-crossing the skin. They stared; Levi demanding, Elsie resisting.

"What happened?" His voice was calm considering the words she'd last heard him curse.

Elsie licked her lips, "I went to church and I saw things."

"Stop talking like a cynical piece of shit and spit it out."

"I don't even know what I saw," Her throat was raspy and Levi poured a cup of water from the pitcher on the nightstand. "Minister Nick told us to close our eyes and then I saw... I saw horrible things. I don't even know." Elsie covered her eyes with shaking hands, trying not to remember the face falling to titans.

Levi's warm hand came to graze across her throat, as light as her own touch had been, "Your throat is fine, there's no burns."

"It was different. Like a vision."

It felt stupid, to say the word out loud, because she wasn't a sorcerress like Sasha claimed. She was just Elsie, a girl lost in another world. Alas, there were no other adjectives she could find to describe it. It had been a vision, in all its sweat breaking, puke inducing glory.

"Horrible things, huh?" Levi's question roused her to drop her arm.

Her wet eyes met his steel ones, "Horrible."

Levi gave her minutes of silence. He sat at her side, head bowed as she cried, finally letting the fear break out. Elsie knew what was going happen, she knew all the way up until Erwin died what would happen, and after that she couldn't have fathomed the blood and guns that had revealed itself. She didn't know how to stop it, didn't know who these people were, and the worst was that the face she'd seen in blood, blood that hadn't been steaming, was the one comforting her, in his famed silence.

Elsie's sobs didn't lessen as time went on, changing from fear of her friends to if she would ever see her dad and brother again. She couldn't see the sky, Levi's curtains pulled. Elsie was too shamed to look at Levi after she'd calmed down and then started once more. She faced the wall, turning her back to the hunched man. She sniffled into the pillow, curling into herself.

"You're getting snot all over." Levi tutted from behind, his voice a whisper in the depressed room. He grasped her shoulder and turned her around, heaving her so that the dejected blonde was sitting, her feet hanging off the bed.

Elsie rubbed her swollen eyes, an apology on her lips, when Levi bent and hugged her. She melded into his chest, his heat giving a comfort that her own arms couldn't give. His skin was rough and bumpy from his survival and Elsie held tight, her nails digging into his sides and wishing that she could stop it all now. Hadn't he done enough?

It was fast but efficient, her tears at bay when Levi lowered himself to the chair, their knees bumping. He held her gaze, his fingers finding their place on her knees, kneading the skin as he spoke in his calmest, lowest voice she'd heard.

"You're doing the best you can in this shit show, Elsie. Fuck if we thought you knew everything, and here that bastard God is proving that you don't. You've done enough-"

"There's more I could've done." The guilt of the squad rained on her, fresh and stinging. Her brain didn't want her to find peace, flashes of their dead faces in the forefront.

"I did it, I killed them," Levi shook her, his grip hurting enough to calm her back down. "It's all on me, the whole squad is on me. You got rid of Reiner, you did that after four months of jack shit training. You're doing the best you can and I know that whatever this fucking obsession you have with the church is so you can do more for us."

"You didn't kill them." Elsie sniffled, the tears staunched.

Levi rubbed where he'd clenched, soothing the aching joints and bringing something forward that Elsie didn't want to feel at the moment.

"Are you done, snot nose?"

Elsie laughed wetly, "I don't know what about you makes me think that you're the best person to cry in front of."

"Me either."

But he didn't tell her to stop and Elsie knew that she'd always come to him first.

Levi was less amused with her insistence to return to church the next day. He had dressed in his off duty attire, black on black with a white cravat that shouldn't look handsome on him. Elsie busied herself with the mirror in the bathroom. Her bun had fly aways so she let it down, shocked at the outcome of the bouncy curls. Her dress was rumpled and the heart-line top was skewed, which she hurriedly tucked the milky skin of her breast into the top, glancing to make sure Levi wasn't looking.

Of course he wasn't. Levi stood at the door, waiting for her with his slung coat hiding his cast. Like the trips from the Scout headquarters, they walked in comfortable silence to the dining hall. Elsie hadn't eaten all day and, considering, it was the smartest thing to do. Part of her wanted Levi to suggest that they eat in the kitchens but with the voices loud, harmonious in their relaxing night, she knew that all the food was on the tables.

Elsie stayed a step behind Levi, this time feeling out of place due to her dress. The Scouts hushed when he entered, striding purposefully down the aisle of two long tables to a circular table at the front of the hall where Erwin, Miche, and Hange ate. Eren caught her gaze, waving a hand for her to sit between the glowering Mikasa and pleasant Armin. She waved back but continued, Erwin catching the gesture. Not wanting to be with anyone else, Elsie met Erwin's eyes in challenge when she sat beside the captain.

"Where have you two been all day? I sent three people looking for you." Hange's voice held insinuation, her glasses gleaming as she leaned knowingly into Elsie's side. The smell of ale wafted over, explaining the red cheeks and wide smile.

"I went to church." Elsie ladled her stew, for the fifth night in a row, and she was sick of it. Levi's curled nose said the same sentiment.

Hange choked on her drink. Miche was the only one concerned with her, thumping her back, although that was not distraction enough to stop drinking his own goblet of ale. Erwin, glad that Hange was silent, rested his elbows on the table and faced Elsie. Levi poured tea, Elsie realizing that there was more than ale and water.

"How was it, Miss Elsie?"

"They holds arms and pray for the Scouts death for an hour," Elsie said, glad that Levi and Erwin found this amusing enough to grin at. "Minister Nick wanted to purify my dark soul, or something like that. I'm sure I'll know more tomorrow."

"Know more about your soul? What's the point of the church, anyway? Pray to the Scouts, I say, we're the only ones doing something." Hange pounded her fist in finalization, cackling at the idea.

"I went to church back when it was God's word. Now it's all Wall talk." Miche spat on the floor, expressing his own feelings towards the church.

"You know how I can't say anything?" Elsie cooed at Hange, who scowled and pushed Elsie away. "Well, Minister Nick can say what I can't. If I can get him to trust one of us, then maybe you can get the truth out of him."

"Tsk. Beat the shit out of him then we'll see."

"He won't talk. He gets ten fingernails pulled off before he d-" The pain came, momentarily stunning Elsie.

"So the secret goes with the Minister," Erwin finished. "Yes, the best we can do is hope Elsie is enough."

Miche eyed Elsie, "Keep old Nick happy, don't be annoying him with Scout talk."

"I am great company!" Elsie was outraged that Miche didn't think she would have enough sense to not talk about the Scouts.

"Oh I'm sure, if you kept the captain in his room all evening." Hange chuckled into her cup.

Elsie elbowed Hange in the side, not kindly. The table ate on, ignoring her huffing like a dying hippo, bent over. Levi sipped his tea, meeting Elsie's eyes knowingly. She decided the dining hall wasn't as scary as she thought.

Their shadows were long in the flickering light as they headed to their rooms. Elsie paused, briefly, in front of her door. Levi, ahead of her, turned back. A silent invitation. Elsie walked by, following Levi into his room. Once more he gave her clothes to sleep in and pulled the duvet off, taking a single pillow, and getting comfortable on the chair. He had just propped his bare feet on the bed, his head leaning back, when Elsie came out of the bathroom.

She stared before shoving his feet off. Levi teetered, almost loosing his balance, if the hilarious movement of him windmilling his arms was anything to go by.

"What the fuck is your problem?" He demanded.

"It's your bed, you take it."

"No."

Elsie, in shorts that were like capris and a black shirt hanging off her shoulder, crossed her arms and stared unrelenting at Levi. He was unfazed, his glare more threatening than hers could ever be.

"If there's not enough room I'll just go back to my room. I don't want to put you out." Elsie didn't want to go to her room. She didn't want to sleep alone.

"Fucking shithead, did I say you were-"

"You were sleeping, earlier. Have you slept a whole night since we've been here?" She demanded, already knowing the answer.

Levi shrugged, pulling the blanket to his lap as he focused on her. There was no couch for him to sleep on, only the chair from unknown origins, and a dresser on the wall. It seemed that they were at an impasse, both wanting to stay but not wanting to offer the very obvious situation. And as much as Elsie would love to share a bed with him, she knew that Levi didn't feel that way towards her. It was a brotherly protection, she concluded, since she was the last one alive.

"Get in the fucking bed or get out." Levi finally said, putting his feet back up.

Elsie scowled but didn't fight anymore. She blew the candle out and fell into the side opposite of him, allowing him ample room to spread his legs out. She huffed and puffed, turning and punching her pillow, making her anger obvious, but not having enough energy to continue once she'd accidentally found a comfortable position.

Stubborn man, she thought as she slunk into sleep.

A hand fell on her back in the darkness. Elsie surged forward, gasping for air, staring at the dark crevices of the room she was in. Her body shook in cold sweet, her breaths ragged as she turned to see who had touched her.

Levi's eyes were bright in the darkness, kneeled on the bed beside her, his hand pulled back from her sudden movement. Elsie gulped and fell back into the sheets, putting her hands over her eyes. The mattress shifted as Levi laid beside her, his hand finding hers in the darkness. He held it as she shook, blinking away the tears.

"You were having a nightmare." Levi's groggy voice came from beside her head, close.

Elsie squeezed his hand, "Sorry."

Levi huffed, in his own way telling her it wasn't necessary. Over time his hand slacked in her hold, heavy on her chest where she clutched it, and the soft snores filled the silent room.

It wasn't a nightmare but another a vision. Elsie closed her eyes, trying to find sleep as easy as before. Trees and clouds flashed, her own face, grey and sightless repeating on a loop, laid broken on the forest floor. She had seen her own death.