Chapter 2

Rui held her head in her hands, bent over while sitting on the bench in Erwen's office. The stress made her nauseated. Now that Walker and Pixas had gone, Levi appeared to be more serious. Erwen didn't seem to enjoy speaking to Levi as though he didn't trust him.

"I'm sorry about all the trouble this has caused you two. Honestly, Levi, given your record, I didn't think they would care about any of that stuff. But I suppose they've been extra twitchy since the scouts were framed for murder. I'll assume something like that may happen again. Go ahead and act business as usual, but keep an eye out. They may have an interest in Miss Stone," Erwen said seriously. Levi nodded, moving over to help Rui up.

"Not feeling well?" He asked, gently taking her up by the arm.

"It's just stressful. Put me up against titans any day, people scare me way more!" She shuddered. Levi smiled, rubbing his thumb over her hip.

"Don't let them scare you. You've done nothing wrong. Now get back to work, soldier," he ordered. Rui saluted him, as was needed between them to keep the order. She was still his underling, and he, her Captain.

"Yes, sir," she said, quickly leaving the room. When she left, he closed the door behind her, making her feel incredibly left out. She knew they were going to talk about her. It almost hurt that she wasn't important enough to partake in conversations with them, but only due to her wanting to be near Levi at all times. It was strange, the way she hated every second they were apart, but it needed to happen. As she walked down the cold corridor, she began to feel something she hadn't felt in months. Her heart became heavy and she started walking a little slower.

"Oh..." She said quietly to herself, "I'm lonely..."

000

The heavy burden of isolation weighed on her, despite how many people were around. She loved Levi and when he was with her, she was okay. But any time apart at all made her feel depressed and alone. He wasn't enough, it would seem. She couldn't cling to him either, so she needed to make some friends on her own.

She entered the scout mess hall and her eyes bugged, scanning the room. There were a surprising number of people. She began to feel squeamish. The walls felt closer, the space tighter. Maybe she would eat outside today...

She glanced around, recognising a few faces. Eren sat with a group of scouts, including the infamous Mikasa. She might be friend material if she wasn't so attached to Eren. She didn't think she could do two at the same time. One probably automatically came with the other. She decided to actively avoid their group entirely. That was too much of a leap for her right now. She would start somewhere smaller.

She closed her eyes, knowing Victoria would have words to say about her being so shy. But without her boisterous, confidant presence, she didn't feel like much more than a mouse recently. Once again, she was swimming in unfamiliar waters, nervous and intimidated by everyone else. Sure, a few fellow cadets were here, but they hadn't been kind to her in training. Why should they now?

A woman sitting alone caught her attention. She ate her meal while reading, most people appearing to stay at least arms length from her. She hadn't seen the woman before, but for some reason, her gut told her not to bother this one.

"Well, gut, I'm not listening this time," she mumbled, walking closer to the woman. When she sat down in front of her, the woman didn't look up, stuffing a huge bite if bread into her mouth while continuing to read. Her brown hair was rusty like her eyes scanning her reading material. Rui had forgotten to get food, making the situation suddenly awkward. She was about to stand up when the woman's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, making her squeal.

"Don't move! Wait, just stay right there," she said loudly. Rui felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck.

"Umm...okay!" She stammered. The woman kept a tight grip on her wrist as she feverishly read her book. Rui felt suddenly like trying to flee, the woman's grip tightening further with each second.

"Umm...miss...you're hurting me," she said meekly. Her hand was quickly released and the woman looked at her with a wild expression.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, young lady, I had no idea you were here, how can I help you?" She asked, her face closer than Rui was comfortable with.

"You...you told me to wait though."

"Did I? Oh, my, I'm afraid I don't remember. Anyway, how can I help you? Did you have a question?" She asked. A smile stretched across her face, but Rui wondered if this was actually "friendliness" she was seeing.

"I just saw you sitting here by yourself so I decided to sit next to you, I'm sorry!"

The woman looked at the table.

"You have no food," she noticed.

"I was about to go get some, but you grabbed me...and now we're here," she said nervously. The woman looked closely at her.

"Ooohhh, you're Rui Stone, aren't you?!" She asked excitedly. Rui pulled back, suddenly very uncomfortable. The woman grabbed her hands again, this time pulling her close.

"Y-yes!"

"Oh, my! I'm so, so excited to meet you! Levi has been strangely resistant to allowing me to speak to you and here you are! Tell me, how was your first experience fighting titans!? Was it amazing!? Did you feel a rush?! You clearly like to live dangerously or else WHY would you sleep with someone like him?!" She laughed loudly.

Rui felt cornered. Everyone always referred to it that way. Why did they never say "dating him" or "seeing him"? She supposed they'd never actually been on a date, but they spent so much time together she hadn't even thought about it. Levi didn't seem like the type to enjoy something as frivolous as a date anyway. Even so, it was always assumed to be primarily a physical relationship.

"Umm..."

Before she could say anything, the woman looked down to Rui's hands.

"Your nails are... incredibly clean. And well kept, I don't know why, it just stands out. Do you actually do any work?"

Rui snatched her hands away. "Of course I do! Levi just...gets a little weird when it comes to my hygiene. He spends a good amount of time every week cleaning all around my hands and nails. Honestly, it feels kinda good, so I never thought to stop him and plus I think it soothes him so..." She trailed off, the woman staring at her with a confused expression.

"He grooms you?" She asked. Rui sighed.

"I'm sorry, I'm not very good with names but...actually I don't think you ever really mentioned yours..."

"Oh...OH! I'm so sorry, Rui, you're correct. I never expected you not to know me because I'm actually your squad leader," she said with a smile. Rui practically jumped from her chair.

"You're Zoe Hange?!" She said in horror. Why? Why couldn't she have met someone normal? Why another ranking officer? Why? She was just wasting this woman's time and now she realized she should likely be wary of her. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bother you!" She whimpered. Zoe laughed, dragging her back to the table.

"Don't you dare leave this table until you answer some of my questions, miss Stone. For one, you never told me how your first Titan killing experience was. Please, fill me in and don't leave out a single detail. Also, I must know how Levi broke his leg. He has bad luck with that leg, you know, that's the second problem he's had with it this year. Maybe it's an omen," she said darkly.

"Oh...well," Rui looked around the mess hall. Gradually, people were starting to leave. She wanted to go find Levi. She was starting to feel like a prisoner.

"My first experience...to be honest I don't remember it well. I was sorta running on instinct. But I do remember that Levi broke his leg when a titan shot up from the ground -"

Zoe slapped her palm to Rui's mouth, silencing her.

"You said...it shot up...from UNDER the ground?" She looked at her as if she wanted to eat her. Rui nervously backed away, but Zoe kept her hands tightly clenched in her fingers.

Suddenly, a hand came from under her arms and hoisted her out of her chair and away from her squad leader's grasp.

"That's enough. Let's go, Rui," Levi's voice said from behind her. She'd never felt so relieved to be dragged around by him.

"Oh, Levi, I was just having a chat with her. Please leave her right where she is, she has something extremely interesting to say!" Zoe whined. Levi's expression didn't change as he spoke with Zoe. Rui could tell he was getting annoyed quickly.

"It will be morning by the time you cut her loose, just leave her alone."

"I'm her squad leader, you know, I could take her from you if I wanted!" She argued. Levi glared angrily.

"Hands off, Hange, you'll soil her," he growled before pushing her out of the mess hall. Rui wasn't sure what he had against Zoe. She wondered if they didn't like each other. When they finally left headquarters to go back to the cabin for the night, Rui walked quietly next to her captain.

"Do you...hate Miss Hange?" She asked. A shadow passed briefly over Levi's eyes.

"She is one of my most trusted comrades and someone I would consider a friend. She is also frustratingly unclean and more than a little obsessive about her research regarding titans. I don't have the energy for her today. Maybe tomorrow she can talk to you, but I worry..."

Rui listened to the sound of his boots walking on the dirt path. Why were his simple movements so soothing to her? Just the knowledge that he was alive sometimes gave her the jitters. She could listen to his breathing and heart beat all day and night. Each time she caught a glimpse of his eyes opening a rush of relief washed over her. She didn't understand the feeling, but she had some ideas of where it came from.

000

Sleeping next to him had been rough. That day had dragged on and all she wanted was his attention. He would have been more than happy to give it to her, but she would have had to take a pregnancy risk. Not that it made much of a difference now. She looked at the calendar the next morning and realized she was due for her period that day. For a week, hopefully, she could get him out of her head.

She sat at the kitchen table, sipping tea and waiting for him. The sunlight shined brightly in the kitchen window. It was unlike him to stay in bed without her. Half the time he just laid there while she tried to sleep. When he finally did come out of the bedroom, he was fully dressed in casual clothes.

"No uniform today?" She asked, eyeing the way he looked in street clothes. He smiled, rolling up his sleeves.

"No, I'm not going in today. You and I need to run down to the courthouse. Apparently we have a few forms to fill out. Erwen is going to meet us there," he explained. She sighed. That's what they'd been talking about without her. Boring stuff. It made her feel better not to have been a part of it.

"Also, I fixed your calendar. It was a week behind. You must have forgotten the week we were at the cabin," he said, picking up the cup she'd made for him of tea.

Rui's brain froze.

"I was...a week behind? So...it's not the third?" She said slowly.

"No, it's the eighth. It's not a big deal but once we start filling out forms, you should probably know what day it is."

Rui stared at him, her mouth hanging slightly open. Levi frowned.

"What the hell is your problem?" He asked, placing the cup back on the table. Rui's wide eyes looked straight into his, her mind blank.

"I'm late..."

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