Part 15
Drifting Away

"Did I ask you to do that for me?" Snarled Levi as he snatched his clothes out of Fury's hands. "We don't live like we used to, get that in your head!"

"Why are you being like this?" She questioned, folding her arms. All she had done was clean Levi's uniform, as well as her own. "You still hold partial blame towards me, don't you?"

"Tch!" The male had nothing to say and all he could do was sit down in the chair that he also slept in. Maybe he still did want to blame others, if not to avoid blaming himself. It had only been the passing of 3 months since saying goodbye to Isabel and Farlan. "From now on, leave my stuff alone." He then muttered, frowning at her. "You don't need to cling to me either. We're in the Scouts now, surrounded by people every day. Can't you make other friends?"

He always did know how to hurt Fury, even if they were just words to him. "I'm not a people person, you know that…" She admitted. "I… I don't want you being on your own either, it's still too soon."

"You show that you care now too, do you?" Levi somewhat mocked as he shook his head. "Go back to Erwin, I have my new team to meet later."

"Erwin? Why would I want to be anywhere near the man?" Asked Fury, unsure of what Levi's meaning was. "If that man didn't force me to stay by his side out of orders and formality on that expedition, I could've been with our friends…"

"You keep telling yourself that." Levi scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Haven't you been assigned to him? Didn't he ask for you personally?"

"What are you trying to say, Levi? Spit it out, your refusal to get to the point already is really starting to piss me off!"

"You've gained attention from our new Commander." Levi revealed as he somewhat chuckled. It was a rather pathetic blow from him. One Fury wouldn't expect from Levi, either. It was obvious he was lashing out to still hide his grief.

"How dare you!" Fury responded in anger, clenching her fist. "How could you insinuate something like that?"

Levi waved his hand at her, a gesture of him asking her to leave him alone. "Leave me be, Fury. I need to go and meet Petra and Eld."

Fury raised her eyebrow. "Who's Petra?" She quickly asked, ignoring that another name that was mentioned. Why the hell did she care? They were only members of his new team that he had formed. She was aware Levi picked them out personally. Not just for their skill in battle, but for their natural suspicions that surrounded them.

"What's it to you who she is?" Levi asked. He knew Fury was smart enough to know he was doing his best to push her away. But now he was just being harsh about it. "She's someone who has gained my own interest, leave it at that."

Fury had enough now. May be it was best that she did leave Levi alone from now on. Not that she'd admit it, but she only clung to Levi out of fear of being alone again. Kenny still haunted her shadow, and Levi still doesn't know that she knew of him. In Fury's eyes, she was probably holding Levi back now. He was right, they weren't living the same way as they once did, and losing Isabel and Farlan had caused them to blame each other, instead of admitting to their own faults.

"Alright, Levi…" Fury muttered, looking down as she slowly pulled a strand of hair behind her ear. "You want leaving alone, I can do that."

Fury turned to walk towards his door so that she could open it and leave. "Thank you though." She then went on to say, almost smiling at her upcoming words. "You taught me a few things when were in the Underground, and I'll always use those skills to help me."

Levi, refusing to give in to his own emotions, said nothing at all to a friend he was about to let walk away from him. He cared for Fury, like a sister, though he always spoke to her as his equal. In his mind, he was pushing her away for her own sake. He was protecting the last of his family, even if what he was doing was degrading and cruel.

"You were just a guest…" He finally responded, though it was the harshest thing he could say, despite it not being true. "To me, you were always just a guest and nothing more."

Fury's eyes widened in pain. It hurt too much for even her to see through his pretence. The strand of hair that she had placed behind her ear fell back to hang beside her pale cheek. "Well… you were always more than that to me, Levi." She admitted, somewhat revealing how she truly felt for once. It still wasn't enough to have Levi take his choice of words back. "Take care…"

With that, she closed the door behind her and she found herself unable to move her body for a moment. She was shaken. She felt lost again. Her hand lifted to cover her mouth as a stream of tears left her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. It was only ever Levi who could bring her to this state. Fury felt her heart hit against her chest like a hammer against cloth. She may continue to see Levi every other day, but it still felt like she had walked away from her only friend for the last time.

Fury leaned against the wall as she allowed her tears to flow endlessly from her eyes, she allowed her pain to deepen as she was confused as to why she was feeling this way with so much tenderness. She missed Farlan and Isabel and she knew Levi did too. Her own room in the girl's barracks was deafened by silence without having Isabel there to make the noise. But Fury knew that her life had to go on, as that was what time was forcing her to do.

"Fury…?" Came the soft, yet commanding voice of Erwin as he happened to be walking towards the emotional female.

Fury, quickly wiping her eyes, soon looked up to her Commander as he now stood before her with his hand placed upon her shoulder. His eyes gazed towards the door next to her, knowing well that it was Levi's. Levi himself was right about one thing when it came to Fury and Commander Erwin. She had been instructed to work alongside him not long after they had returned from the expedition.

But he was a mentor to her, nothing more and to Erwin, he still wanted to keep his eyes on her as her original outburst at him still had him, of all people, on edge.

"Commander Erwin…" Fury muttered, as she then saluted him and he nodded, indicating there was no need for the formality. "I… uhm…"

"You're struggling." Erwin finished, as it was obvious to him. "That's to be expected when you lose those you care for. But it's something we have to learn from and use it to grow stronger in our fight against the Titans. Do you think that's what your friends would have wanted for you?"

Fury nodded, as his words made sense, but she could not stop her tears and she was embarrassed by it. "The guilt…" She admitted, though she was somewhat admitting she felt guilty over many things, not just Isabel and Farlan's deaths. "The guilt, I can't take it anymore…"

Erwin closed his eyes shortly as he removed his hand from upon the woman's shoulder. He then nodded at her to follow on with him as he began to walk on, taking her back to his quarters so that she could compose herself. Could he be the one Fury talks to about Kenny, about everything she's been through?

For Erwin, he wanted to use this to try and question Fury about her strange habits and to question her about the outburst. The Commander was not a stupid man, and he saw a form of potential within Fury that may help them against the Titans. It would be difficult for any to accept, if Erwin had proposed that Fury was some Mystic, but he recognised strange when he saw it.

And this was his reason for taking her to his quarters.