The creature was tall as a two-story building—nobbly and disfigured as they all were with a mop of dark hair and an overly large mouth. It swatted a meaty hand at the tree, nearly jerking her off the branch. She resisted the urge to scream, knowing it would only invoke more fear. She needed to stay calm.

She could handle one lousy Titan.

Karma glided down the tree, swinging her lithe body through the branches until her feet touched wet grass again, not for the first time grateful for all the extra training Levi insisted upon. His cadets were well-versed in offense with ODM gear and defense with and without its aid. After all, gear can malfunction. Levi never anticipated a soldier would be foolish enough to purposefully leave their gear, but regardless, Karma was grateful for his training.

Since she had no means to fight the beast, her only option was to run. If she could just make it to the wall—

But no, she wasn't fast enough. Not even close. The Titan's hand swiped again, this time hitting its mark. She crashed to the wet grass, sliding through mud. Before she even had a chance to swim free of the suctioning mud, her body was surrounded in a carriage-sized hand. She was yanked from the ground toward the Titan's lopsided face.

Its breath was a reeking sauna of rotten flesh and blood. It cloyed her senses and poisoned her shallow breaths. The breath grew hotter and the stench unbearable as she was pulled deeper into the mouth. A picket fence of teeth and a tongue as big as the bed she should be laying in closed in on her.

Karma gagged and retched and squirmed and clawed against the meaty flesh trapping her, determined to fight until her last choking breath.

She'd gravely overestimated herself; what fight could she put up against a Titan? Her struggles were useless and the teeth were closing in to crunch her in half.

She would never get to see the look on Levi's face.

Mikasa was right. She shouldn't have ever disobeyed. She should've been a good soldier and played by the rules, even the ones she disagreed with. If she had, she'd be in her captain's good graces and tucked behind the safety of the walls. Maybe even the safety of his arms—

Suddenly, a war cry spliced the air. For a moment, she thought it was her own cry from being bitten in half. But instead of the anticipated pain, the Titan's grip around her body slackened. The beast collapsed to the ground and she was able to squirm between its tree-trunk fingers to freedom.

It felt like almost drowning. She was soaking wet from her own sweat and tears and the damp mud clinging to her pajamas. The breaths she managed between gagging on vomit were shallow and rapid with adrenaline.

Death had been a choking breath away. Never before had her trouble-making tendencies brought her to the brink of her own extinction—damn her stupid defiance!

From behind the steaming, sliced neck of the fallen beast emerged Captain Levi, panting and blood-soaked.

"Captain!"

Karma sprinted toward him on wobbly legs. The adrenaline left her giddy and a bit dizzy. She imagined him sweeping her up in his arms, laughing and crying with her, relieved that she was alive.

But he was shaking with rage.

"You idiot!"

Karma stopped. The giddiness fogging her brain lifted. She'd forgotten how much trouble she would be in for getting caught. And after narrowly escaping death and experiencing the inside of a Titan's mouth, all the pleasure in it was gone.

"I'm sorry!" Tears tumbled down her cheeks. Thick hiccups shook her until she could no longer hold her body up. She dropped to her knees.

"You almost died. Dammit, Karma!" Levi dropped his bloody blades and fell to his knees beside her. "Could you imagine if I'd been even five seconds too slow?"

She'd never seen him so angry. She couldn't imagine how he'd act if the Titan had succeeded in eating her.

"I'm so—" Sobs overtook her again. Captain Levi groaned.

"Am I supposed to comfort you or something now? God, don't you ever listen?!"

Karma sniffled and swiped her eyes. "No, but I will from now on. Always, always, always—I swear!"

"Don't bother making promises you won't keep." Levi rose and jerked Karma to her feet with a steel grip.

"But I will! I'll obey every order. I'll clean out the stables and do all the dishes for forever. Just please never let a Titan put me in its mouth ever again," Karma said in a rush. It took every ounce of willpower to keep from collapsing into his arms. His strong, safe arms toned from years of sword wielding and laced with battle scars.

"Let's be clear that I never let that happen. What do I need to do? Chain you to a wall?" He clenched his fists and catharted a growly sigh that calmed him like a hot rock simmering in water. He gripped Karma's shoulders. "You will be on standby permanently, got it?"

Karma nodded, too shaken up to refute or disobey. Levi sheathed his blades and yanked her back toward the wall, away from the stench of the already decaying Titan.

"How did you find me? I was so quiet. Did Mikasa tell you?"

"Mikasa knew you planned to breach the wall and didn't report it?!"

"Well, sort of. She suspected it, but I didn't tell her my plan." Karma fumbled on her lie, not wanting her friend to take the fall. Certainly, even Mikasa with all of her brains could have never foreseen this.
"Your plan was stupid. You're as stealthy as an elephant."

"Then why didn't you stop me sooner? I breached the wall and almost got eaten before you stepped in!" Now Karma was charred with anger. He could've prevented all of this and yet he waited until she was nearly chomped in half to swoop in, making her look like a weak fool while he got to be the hero?

"I followed you the whole time. I stepped in the instant I saw the Titan."

Realizing that he had watched her dance and skip through the grass was a tad embarrassing. Karma was glad the darkness concealed her reddened cheeks.

"Then why did you let me go past the wall at all? You could've stopped me the second I left the building. Were you hoping I'd encounter a Titan? As some sort of sick punishment for sneaking out?!"

"What?" Captain Levi stopped. They had just reached the gate. "You think I would ever punish a soldier like that? Even one as bratty and loudmouthed as you?" His words stung, but Karma didn't flinch.

"Then explain why you let me go past the wall."

"Of course you can't just thank me and move on. Of course you have to be difficult." He rubbed his face with his palms. "I didn't have a reason. I just planned to punish you once you returned."

"Oh…" Karma stared at his hand on her arm. "That was sort of nice of you. To let me escape for a minute before punishing me. Thanks…I guess."

"You'll thank me for letting you break the rules, but not for saving your life? Why did I expect anything less?" He leaned against the wall, shaking his head in amusement.

"What? I did thank you for saving me."

"No. You were too hysterical to remember your manners. I can't blame you—Titans are terrifying when you aren't wearing your ODM gear." He said it like an accusation.

"Well how was I supposed to know there was gonna be one after weeks of nothing? I would've worn it had I known!"

"Would you have?" Levi narrowed his eyes.

"Of course I would have. I don't have a death wish."

"You didn't overestimate yourself? You wouldn't have left it behind just to spite me?"

Her cheeks simmered. He was partially correct. "If I died, I wouldn't even get to reap the benefits of spiting you," Karma said.

"Oh, I see. Spiting me isn't its own reward? You like seeing my reaction? Seeing how angry you can make me?"

"Yes, that's exactly right," Karma said, crossing her arms and looking away.

They re-entered the safety of Wall Maria. Just outside the Scout Regiment building, hand on the knob, Captain Levi paused.

"You still haven't thanked me for saving your life." His lips toyed with a smirk. It was rare that he ever expressed any emotion at all, let alone a playful one.

"Obviously, I'm thankful that you were there." Karma rolled her eyes, reaching for the door. Captain Levi scooted to block the handle.

"I want to hear you say the words 'Thank you, Captain.'" Was that smugness in his tone?

"Oh, is that all? You wouldn't also like me to bow down in the mud and perform an interpretive dance in your honor?" Captain Levi knew she was thankful. He was trying to get a rise out of her and she hated that it was working. Either way she'd lose.

"Not unless you're feeling up to it. I'd really just like to hear you say the words."

It was so reasonable. Just three words. Why couldn't she form them on her tongue? Why did she have to continue to be so defiant, even after that very defiance nearly killed her?

Captain Levi's smirk only grew. "Weren't you just saying how you'd obey my every order now?"

Karma's eye twitched. "Are you ordering me to thank you?"

"If it gets the job done."

Karma gritted her teeth as if to grind them into powder. "Thank you, Captain," she said, giving each syllable a lethal dose of venom.

"For?"

"Thank you, Captain, for being such a pain in my ass and keeping me on a leash. It was great that you followed me against my will. If it weren't for you, I'd be dead. What a tragedy."

Levi's smirk dissolved. She smiled at the small victory.

"Don't dismiss the worth of your life so carelessly, Karma."

"Oh, please. I'm just one more soldier in the regiment—a pain in the ass one at that. For your own sanity, you probably should've just let the beast have me." She liked being the calm one. It gave her such satisfaction to grind his gears.

"You really think I could've just stood idly by while you were eaten?"

"Would you have saved me had I been anyone else?"

"No one else would've needed saving."

That ruptured her calm.

"What? You think I'm weak? Anyone else could've stood their ground against a Titan except for me?"

"No one else would've been foolish enough to breach the wall and purposefully leave their gear." His lip perked. "It's almost as if you wanted to be saved."

Pleased by her stunned silence, Levi gripped the doorknob again, adding, "Will you need to be bathed as well?" Karma followed his gaze to her filthy clothes. He was taunting her, treating her like a child. She decided to play it to her advantage.

"You were so eager to save me when I wanted it. Would you bathe me if I asked you to?" She folded her arms, trying to maintain the upper hand. She wasn't sure why she even suggested that her captain give her a bath. Or why that suddenly shifted his mood. And hers.

The image of it clouded her mind and made her stomach flutter—Captain Levi dribbling hot water down the crown of her head, rolling chills down her scalp. Captain Levi lathering her skin with lavender suds, the press of his strong fingers against her neck and breasts—

He fell silent and she worried that he was imagining it too, even considering it. Why wouldn't her cheeks stop burning?

"You forget that I am the one who gives the orders. And that you have sworn to obey them all," he said. Karma swallowed.

"What are your orders?" She resisted the urge to take a step back. His gray-blue eyes held hers tighter than his vise ever could. Her heart glimmered at the thought of what he might order her to do. Kiss him? Lay with him? No, Captain Levi wouldn't abuse his power like that. But at that moment, she wanted him to.

"Clean up and get to bed. Tomorrow, you'll return to standby without any complaint."