"Ughhh open the gates already." I groaned, fidgeting atop of my horse. We waited as the rest of the Survey Corps finished the last few things for us to leave. Erwin and Hange rode at the front, Levi and I closer to the back. It had been a really long time since I had done an expedition outside the walls. The crowds of people watching us leave was rather…weird. I still wasn't used to it.
"Quit complaining." Levi's voice was cool as he stared directly in front of him. In front of the crowds, he definitely wasn't going to be any sort of affectionate.
"No way. I'm dating a constant complainer, let me complain too." He glared at me as I pouted. "You're no fun." I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. Waiting to leave was so annoying. I felt like kicking my horse into full gallop just to run everyone over if this took much longer.
"Why are you so impatient?" Levi was staring at me like I was crazy.
"Because I finally get to go outside, it's just taking forever and a day to happen!"I exclaimed falling forward onto my horse, hugging its neck gently. My horse was even fidgeting, desperate to get moving.
"You are so hopeless." Levi rolled his eyes. The gates finally started to open making me squeal excitedly. The line of horses began to move ahead of us as the Survey Corps headed outside. Our horses began to move as well, trotting lightly at first before gradually getting into their full gallop. The wind against my face as we exited the walls made me smile from ear to ear. I missed being outside. It was my adrenaline rush, my drug. Heading out to get more titans for Hange would be fun, at least for me and her. I stared up towards the front of the group, giggling as I saw Hange with the same look as I had. It didn't take us as long as I had expected to get to the old HQ. There it stood, the giant castle converted for the Survey Corps use. The last time I had been here….
"But, Captain Levi…" I whined, pouting at him as he pointed at my room again.
"You suck at cleaning. Do it again." I groaned, heading back in the room, getting on my hands and knees and scrubbing the floor. I glared up at him as he stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. My newly appointed Captain, the jerk; it was no wonder he had no friends. He turned and left the room, checking on everyone else. Another 2 hours of cleaning and it was finally to his liking. I was going to sleep like a baby tonight that's for sure. I made my way down to the mess hall, my stomach growling rather loudly as soon as the smell of the vegetable stew hit my nostrils. I plopped down next to Hange with my big bowl of soup, licking my lips hungrily.
"And where do you intend to put all that?" She teased.
"Just you watch; I can eat a horse right now if given the option." She laughed as we ate. Resting my head on the table next to my bowl, I sighed happily ready for sleep. I made my way up to my room after we all cleaned up our messes. I slowly stepped up the stairs, my legs feeling like boulders. As soon as I reached the top, I turned the corner smacking into something. I hit the floor hard with a loud thud.
"Ugh my ass…" I groaned. Looking up, the pissed off stare from Captain Levi made my stomach knot.
"Watch where you're going." I gulped. As much as I disliked him, he still scared the hell out of me.
"S…sorry." I grumbled, getting to my feet blushing. His eyes never wavered from my face as we stood there for a moment in silence. "Um…excuse me." I mumbled slipping past him. His arm reached out quickly, grabbing my arm before I got too far. I turned to face him, blushing yet again.
"Come with me for a moment, I need to speak to you." I stared confused, though still nodding and following him to Commander Erwin's empty office. He leaned against the desk, pointing at the chair in front of him, indicating for me to sit down. I slid into the seat, nervously staring up at him.
"You're being requested out of the military. Any chance you know why?" I stared at him confused.
"What do you mean requested out of the military?" He rolled his eyes.
"We have a request to kick you out back into civilian life." My brows furrowed, the captain answering my unanswered question. "The request came from your uncle. He stated that you are unfit to be a part of the military; saying you are mentally and emotionally unstable." My confusion turned to anger before rising to complete and utter hatred.
"Captain if I may…" He nodded letting me continue, "I really don't want to leave. I am not mentally or emotionally unstable. At least not nearly as bad as a lot of others…" I tried to lighten the mood, his face still utterly serious. "I can't go back…" My voice got quiet as the nerves in my stomach twisted tightly.
"Why?" It was something I didn't want to explain to the captain, but his unwavering stare made me sigh after a few moments. My cheeks flushed bright red, not in embarrassment, but in anger.
"My uncle…he's crazy." The captain continued to stare, knowing full well there was more to the story. I fidgeted uncomfortably before continuing. "He hurts me." Now the captain's brows furrowed, tilting his head to the side. "My aunt died a few years ago and no one could figure out how. It was him…he killed her. After a while, his abuse…turned to me. He hit me all the time and constantly tried to marry me off to random people. Eventually he found a taker, some greaseball of a man. An ugly fat merchant who acted just like my uncle. I ran away before they could arrange anything and joined the military." The captain's face softened, just ever so slightly. "Please Captain, don't send me back there."
"I'm not one for saying 'sorry' but I am truly sorry you had to endure something like that." I looked down at my hands, avoiding the captain's eye contact.
"Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. He was just an ass…" The captain moved quietly, leaning down on one knee and lifting my chin with his hand. I stared in utter shock at the apologetic expression on his face. I wasn't sure if I should run or not…seeing as the captain almost never showed emotions like this. "Um….C..Captain…?" I stuttered nervously. His lips crashed against mine, taking me completely by surprise. He backed away after a moment, staring directly in my eyes.
"That won't happen again. Sorry, I got carried away." He stood up quickly, his ice cool expression back on his face. What the heck was that? I bit my lip confused, staring at the captain like he just grew snakes out of his head. "I'd appreciate it if you kept that to yourself." He stated his voice calm as he started to walk towards the door. My stomach twisted again with nerves. I reached forward grabbing his hand before he could leave. He turned to me his serious expression not moving. I stood up, facing him directly now. His face twitched slightly, as if wanting to express some sort of feeling. I mentally took a deep breath before leaning in, kissing him gently. He definitely wasn't expecting it. After a moment, he began to return the kiss, his hands grabbing my waist tightly, pulling me against him. My hands grasped his jacket as he started to deepen the kiss, his tongue begging for entrance. My lips parted and in an instant our tongues started to wrestle. Slowly he pushed me back against the desk, making me gasp against his lips. His hands grasped tightly, lifting me up onto the desk. I was drunk on the feeling of kissing him, unable to believe I was kissing THE Captain. His hands rested on my thighs, squeezing gently. Slowly I pulled away from the kiss, staring nervously into the icy grey eyes of the captain, both of us panting quietly.
"I think it's time for me to go to sleep." I whispered blushing. It took him a minute, but he finally nodded, backing away, letting me off the desk. Commander Erwin would have our heads if we did anything in his office. I giggled nervously as we stood there in silence. "Um….okay, good night." I smiled warmly, quickly moving past him and out of the office. I practically ran to my room, slamming the door, plopping onto the bed and squealing into my pillow. I can't believe that just happened. There's no way I was going to sleep tonight. Did the captain really like me?
I couldn't help but laugh at the thought.
"What's so funny?" Levi's voice chimed, his horse finally meeting my horse's pace.
"Do you remember our first kiss?" Levi stared at me surprised before rolling his eyes. "We were so funny." I giggled thinking back at all the times we'd sneak around to catch a quick kiss or to cop a feel. Nothing major, though. We made our way to the stables, putting our horses away, before heading inside. It wasn't as dirty as I had expected though, they must've been here somewhat recently. Slowly I walked through the building, Levi already assigning cleaning jobs to everyone.
"Ahna….quit spacing out." My head snapped to Levi who leaned against the hallway wall.
"Sorry, I keep drifting off into the past." He tilted his head to the side, walking with me through the halls of the HQ.
"You're not just thinking about our first kiss are you?" He asked after a few moments of silence.
"No…I was thinking about when I was being requested out of the military. Do you remember what you said to my uncle when we got back to town?" Levi nodded, a slight smirk appearing on his face.
"Yea I told him if he ever laid so much as just his eyes on you that I would break his neck. " I smiled at Levi now, giggling. "Has he ever tried getting in contact?" I shook my head, thankful that my uncle never tried to get a hold of me. I'd probably kill him at this point.
"Do you remember the time Hange and I blew up the kitchen?" He rolled his eyes now shaking his head.
"If you hadn't looked so pathetic and cute I would have destroyed you. There was flour and spices everywhere, and of course you two thought you could invent a new way to cook yet you almost set the damn place on fire." I laughed out loud now remembering that time.
"What the fuck…?" My heart sunk as I looked towards the door at the highly pissed off Levi. Who knew he could pull off a surprised look?
"Uh…hi Captain." I laughed nervously. Hange's scream had me refocused to the task at hand. We both yelled profanities, using our cloaks to put out the rather large fire that had ensued.
"What the hell did you guys do?" The Captain put his hand to his forehead staring around the disaster we called a kitchen.
"She did it." Hange immediately pointed at me. I stared wide-eyed at her, almost ready to strangle her. The Captain took a deep breath before he continued.
"I'll be back in 10 minutes. This place better look brand fucking new otherwise both of your asses are mine." Hange and I gulped as Levi turned and left. I could almost see the steam rising from his ears as he left. We quickly did everything we could to clean the kitchen before he could return. Needless to say, the kitchen itself was clean, for the most part anyways, but we looked horrid. The Captain returned, staring around at the kitchen before laying his eyes on us.
"At least the flour is off the walls." He sighed taking a walk around the kitchen.
"If I ever see this kitchen that messy again, you both will be running laps until you collapse in exhaustion." We nodded, nervous of what our current punishment was going to be.
"Do you remember how scared you were when I told Hange to leave?" I laughed and nodded.
"I honestly thought you were going to strangle me." He shrugged.
"I was thinking about it." I smirked, playfully pushing him.
"Instead you decided to drag me out of the kitchen into that broom closet to kiss me some more." He smirked back and nodded.
"Yea…you tasted like flour." We both laughed, coming back around to the main hall. We made our way up the stairs where everyone was cleaning out their rooms, heading to our own to start our cleaning. Well, mainly I was cleaning since Levi had to constantly check on everyone. The room at the old HQ was much different than the main one. Our room was slightly larger, but didn't have the kind of shelving that the other had. It had dressers, night stands and wardrobes scattered throughout and a little four seat table to drink tea at. This one also had one big bookshelf against the wall, filled with old books and random little trinkets. The bed in this one wasn't as awesome as the other one, though it was still large and covered in heavy down covers. I couldn't help but sigh loudly as I was nearly done cleaning, finally. Only a last few things to do, and I could relax a bit. As I placed the last couple of dusted books on the shelf, a small box caught my eye. I stared at it confused, reaching over and looking at it closer. It was a dark brown wood box with gold embroidering, very luxurious looking. I opened it slowly, realizing what, and whose this was. It was Petra's box, the one she had mentioned in her note to Levi. Inside was a gorgeous diamond ring, looking practically brand new. I closed the box, placing it back on the shelf, smiling as I walked away.