Petra finds the girl in the barracks. She's a strange thing dressed all in black and passed out. When she goes to examine her more closely she learns she has hair the same shade as her clothing, cut in a jagged, short manner.

She wastes no time getting the poor thing in a bed. Immediately Petra goes to work and gathers medical supplies from Hanji to take care of her. After thanking them, she gets tea from Gunther, some flowers from Erd, and some blankets from Auruo. She must turn a few heads with her odd requests, but Petra doesn't have the time nor want to care. All she knows is someone is hurt and she wants to help.

A few hours later the girl awakes, sharp blue eyes blinking and confused.

"Where am I?" She asks in a quiet voice as she surveys her surroundings.

"Survey Corps quarters," Petra clears her throat as she approaches the girl. "I found you passed out in the barracks. What made you think covering ever inch of your skin in black was a good idea?"

The girl noticeably blushes at this and Petra regrets making her uncomfortable.

"It's our uniform m'am," She remains focused on the sheets instead of Petra's face. "Sorry for troubling you."

"Don't apologize, I just don't like seeing kids hurt themselves." She's young, looks around Eren's age. The part of needing a uniform troubles her, Petra hasn't ever seen clothing like that, but she decides not to dwell on it too long.

"By the way, you have a name?"

"Xion," The syllables are foreign to her ears, and Petra can't help but note either she doesn't have a last name, or decided not to mention it.

"I'm Private Ral, but just call me Petra, honey," She locks away those troubling thoughts. "I'm glad you're ok."

"That's a joke," Xion mutters.

"What do you mean?"

"You heard me?"

"Of course I did, I'm right next to you," Petra can't help but laugh at her surprise.

"Oh, I guess I'm used to people ignoring me. Everyone besides my friends do."

"They sound like good people."

"Better friends than I deserve," Xion brings a gloved hand up to eye and wipes it. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be talking about personal problems with a stranger."

"Why not?" Petra forces her to look at her in the eye. "You'll never see me again after this. Just vent, I'll listen."

"There are a lot of people hurting," Blue eyes grow somber. "They're hurting because of me, and I can fix it, but I might die in the process," She looks back down. "The thing is I'm selfish. I don't want to lose my friends or the memories of our time together, but I'm hurting even more people in the process!"

Petra can't hide her shock at the gravity of the situation. She was too young to be have such a burden to care.

"I don't know what to tell you Xi," Petra sighs. "There's the greater good, but no one can demand someone to forfeit their life. Sacrifice is a choice. Weigh your options and then when the time trust your gut."

"You act like it's so simple."

"I know it's not but sometimes," Petra was interrupted by a knock. "Who's that?" She got up and open the door to see the Captain standing with his usual tired face.

"Excuse me," She smiles gently at the younger girl before stepping outside.

"What was that?" Levi doesn't waste any time beating around the bush.

"Who," Petra corrects. "Found the girl passed out. I had to help her."

"We have an expedition tomorrow. You need to be focused."

"I couldn't leave her alone," Hazel eyes narrow. "Don't try to blame last night on me."

"I'm not saying-"

"It was a mistake we both made," She interrupts his train of thought. "We were both unfocused and gave into a moment of weakness. The best thing to is to just move on from it."

"I wasn't the one to bring it up," The Captain grumbles.

"Then don't criticize me for being a decent human being," With that she went back into Xion's room. However the girl was nowhere to be seen. When Petra got closer to the empty bed, she found only a seashell.

Did my words help?

It seemed she had been caught into two critical situations today. Petra just hoped she had said the right things in the end.


A.N. Not so much rivetra as Petra comforting Xion (from the video game series Kingdom Hearts she actually has the ability to visit different worlds so it kinda makes sense) but I was having trouble fitting anything else with the SNK World