(Now next chapter is up ;) Hope you'll like it :D)
"Does everyone understand their part?" Erwin asked those who had gathered at the meeting.
"Yes sir" They said and saluted.
Levi sighed. He was happy that the meeting was finally over. As he had though, it had been hard to concentrate on anything.
Petra, a cute, blond girl from his squad walked up to him.
"Captain, should we really entrust so much on Eren? I mean, he still has not fully learned to control his titan form yet. What if something goes wrong?" Levi turned to her and met her light brown eyes.
"If Erwin trust him enough, so will I. And we should not focus on the worst case scenario. If you trust me, then trust Erwin and Eren as well"
Petra though for a little while, then nodded in agreement.
"Yes, I do trust you. I will be positive" She gave him a warm smile. He was at least happy that her feelings was towards another man, Oluo. He was also part of the Levi squad. Levi couldn't help but find it amusing how much the man tried to be like him, even if he failed miserably. His hair was even styled In an undercut, even though it was in a grey, blondish colour. Oluou had a tendency to bite his tongue a lot, being the klutz that he is. But he still was a very skilled soldier, that had Levi's respect.
Levi knew that even if Petra gave Oluo a hard time, she did like him very much. There is many things a persons heartbeat can tell you. And Levi was more then happy that Petras feelings towards him was purely respect and a trusting friendship. Levi had made sure to only let people he trusted, and had skills be a part of his squad. Being in custody of Eren was only because he refused to let the inside military police butcher the poor boy.
The military police was those who was most prestigious. The kings guard. He sure didn't trust any of them. The garrison, another branch had also been all to quick in thinking that killing Eren was the best option. The garrisons duty was to make sure order was maintained inside the wall. Levi had no respect for them at all. The military police, nor the garrison would ever be able to stand ground against titans. Most of them had never even seen one in real life. Sure, they could at least kill vampires, but that was all they where good for. Most of them where drunk bastards anyway.
Once they exited the room Eren came up to Levi with a serious face.
"This will truly be my first mission outside the wall. I will lay my life in you and your squads hands. But it does not seem like Petra believes in me. Nor does the others" Levi placed a hand on Eren's shoulder.
"Listen here. They are afraid. You have powers that no one, not even you truly understands. But I know you want to do good for humanity, and thus, at least you should trust in yourself. If you are afraid of loosing control, then you will. But if you trust yourself, and just try to do your best, I am sure you will do just fine"
Eren didn't look completely convinced. His green eyes reflected how scared he was. He placed a hand behind his messy brown hair.
"But what if I would hurt someone? I mean I know I did tell everyone to put their trust in me, and I will do what I can. But I don't want to end up hurting anyone"
"Neither do I, but sometimes it can't be helped. Have faith in yourself Eren. After all, you might be the one who can save humanity. That's why we do all this. Beside, Hange and I will help you all we can until we figured everything out"
Eren sighed, but then once again got that determinant look in his eyes.
"Yes captain, thank you for getting my spirit back"
The young boy got a cocky smile on his face as he walked away.
Two days later:
"I am so glad that you are okay Aya! We thought we had lost you!" Sasha, the brown haired pony tale girl shouted as she embraced Ayano in a warm hug. She chuckled and hugged her back. Most of Ayano's friends had come to visit. It had now been two days since she had started her recovery, and she did feel a bit dizzy if she moved her head too fast sometimes, so it was clear to her that she still needed a bit more time to feel completely like herself again.
"All thanks to captain Levi" She smiled, but felt a small sting in her heart. He had not came to talk to her after the last time, when she had confessed her feelings. And tomorrow he would be going out on that mission with Eren and the others, and she would not be allowed to follow them. Even Hange would go. But she had made sure to have someone look after Ayano while she was gone.
"Oh, yeah. Glad to see that he is feeling fine as well" Sasha said, interrupting her thoughts,
Ayano gave Sasha a look.
"Feeling well? Has he been ill?" Sasha shook her head.
"No, but when he came back with you here after saving you, he didn't look too good. We couldn't see his face, but he fell down on one knee and seemed to be in pain or something. He at least had a hard time standing up. We all where worried that he might have been injured or something, but Hange assured us he was fine. She took him away, so she must have checked him"
Ayano immediately got even more worried. But something was strange. He had looked completely fine once she had woken up and had talked to him, so how come he had been like that? She had seen him fight. It would take more then a fight with a vampire to get him deathly tired. He never seemed tired after a mission which must be much more draining, giving that the titans where so many, and so big.
Eren's word came into her mind, he saying that Levi might be a vampire. It must have been a lot of blood from her that day. She shook her head. It was silly of her to think such a thing, She decided to focus son something else.
"I'm sorry you can't come with us tomorrow" Eren said. He knew how much she wanted to.
"It's not like I'm in squad Levi. I would only worry myself half to death anyway" She sighed, looking down.
"I don't see why you worry. I mean have you seen that beast fight? I feel like there is no titan, or vampire, that can bring him down" Eren assured, trying to make his friend feel a bit better.
Mikasa didn't look especially pleased herself.
"I don't like that I can't be in the same squad as you Eren. I don't want us to be separated" Her gloomy, grey eyes was giving him a small worried look.
Ayano could understand her. Mikasa and Eren where not really brothers and sisters, even if she had been living together with the Yeager family since her family had been brutally murdered many years ago, so Mikasa still considered him as a brother. And as his sister, she was very worried. Finding out about Eren's titan power only added to all the worried she had about him.
"Mikasa, Don't worry. They needed you in another squad, and we should listen to our superiors. I am sure I can handle myself. Beside, I have Levi and his squad, so I am in good hands"
It didn't seem to make Mikasa less worried, but she didn't have the energy to continue something fruitless. Mikasa knew she wouldn't get Eren to agree on talking to Levi if it was fine for her to be with their team instead.
The night came, and Ayano had a hard time sleeping. She was worried for tomorrow. She wished she had been able to tag along as well.
Ayano got up from her bed. She was thirsty, and she didn't want to wake anyone up just to get her sine water. It was time for her to try and walk at least.
It went well. Her head was spinning a little, but over all she felt like she could handle it.
She passed Levi's office and noticed the light of a candle shining through the door cracks. She wondered what he was doing up this late. He needed to be well slept for the mission in the morning. She slowly opened the door.
"C...captain?" She almost whispered.
He looked up from his paperwork. The candle was casting a shadow on his pale face.
"Yes Ayano? What are you doing up? Shouldn't you be in bed sleeping and recover?"
The kiss came back to her mind in full force, making her cheeks turn red.
"I was thirsty, and then I saw that you where still up. I need to talk to you about… you know, before"
Levi sighed, placed the paper back down on his desk and crossed his fingers, leaning his chin against them.
"There is nothing to talk about. You had a fever and let it get to you, I understand. And my answer is still the same. I can't, and won't answer those feelings. I am sorry of you wished for another answer, but that's how it is"
Ayano lowered her head. Of course she couldn't make the captain lover her. She had hoped for something impossible anyway. She had been a fool for letting her dream cloud the truth.
"Yes, I understand Captain Levi. You should go to bed yourself by the way. You have a mission tomorrow and need to be well rested. And please…. Be careful" The last word, she whispered before heading out of his office.
Once she got back in bed Ayano picked up a book and started to read. It was the study book about vampires that everyone had to read in school. She got to a side with a huge bat-like creature. The vampires other form. They had two. One that looked like a normal human, and one that was more like a monster from the pits of hell, like it was depicted in the book.
This form was rare to see. Usually vampires where killed before taking such a form. Not many had seen them. The book only said that no one knew how or why they could turn to these kinds of creatures. No one had been able to get close enough to do any study about it. The only thing that was known was that a vampire in that state, was even more deadly then when in their human forms. She turned the page and tried to learn as much as she possibly could. She had already read the book. But it was important to know what humans where up against. She had also read a lot about titans.
Ayano could finally feel how she got more and more tired the more she was reading. She closed the book and placed it on her night stand before shifting to her side and soon fell asleep. She was still worried about tomorrow, but there was nothing she could do. She was not in any condition to fight titans. She had at least been promised that she would be allowed to get to the gate and see them all off. A nurse would taker her in a wheelchair. It felt a bit too much with a wheelchair, but Ayano would take it if that meant she would be able to see them one last time before heading out.
Once the morning arrived the nurse came and got her out of bed.
It was quite a long way to the outer gate that divided humans from titans. It was a sunny day and Ayano felt it nice being outside and breath the fresh air again. She did not have a hurry. Even though she wished that she could have walked herself without the nurse and wheelchair. But she was happy for the chance to see everyone off. She could only wish for all of them to be safe.
Once they arrived at the gate the survey corpse had already assembled. She could see their serious faces. Ayano could make out the Levi squad with Eren in the middle. Probably for protection once they ventured outside. She then noticed the rest of her friends further back. Ayano could see Mikasa's worried look as she tried to spot Eren somewhere, but he was too far away for her to see him. He was covered by the other scouts.
It felt wrong for Ayano to be a bystander. She should have been a part of it all as well. She cursed her clumsiness. It was all because she had been attacked.
The gates slowly started to open. Erwin in the front waited to give the orders to move. They needed to be quick in case any titan would be nearby.
When the door was open enough, Erwin raised his sword and gave his command. The horses started to move in union until they began to split up once leaving the interior of the wall.
Now they where outside, left in the mercy of luck.
The gates began to close up again, and the crowd that had seen the scouts off began to split up. Everyone going to their everyday choirs. As long as the wall protected them, they at least didn't have to worry about the titans.