Chapter 3: Unfamiliar Ceilings

In the quiet, in the stillness, Mikasa sat on top of the world. The cool wind kissed her face, juxtaposed with the bonfire that blazed a bright orange, in celebration of the close of the festival. The radiant faces that danced around with their partners, so happy and joyous. Mikasa wondered when she last felt like that. It was for obvious fact she never felt that way since her parents were murdered. It had been quite a long time since though, a few years. Being orphaned once was one thing, being orphaned twice just slashed the wound even deeper.

Time never heals, it just numbs the pain.

The events over the years made her what she was today: emotionless, overprotective, fearless. It wasn't as if she was going to deny those traits. But when she looked to her left, the stone expression of the man beside her, she started pondering what made him turn out the way he did.

"What?" He broke her train of thought.

"Oh, nothing-" Mikasa turned her head to face forward after realising she had been staring. The fire burned bright in front of her eyes, even though so far away. "-just wondering."

The Vice-President lifted his head slightly. "About what?"

"...How you turned out...like that," she admitted.

He blinked his hooded eyes once, no notable change in his expression. "That's a funny thing to ask."

"Right. Sorry for intruding on something personal."

"But-" Mikasa's eyes flickered in his direction, quite surprised that he even gave her a reply.

"-if you were to characterise me on the person i was in the past, you probably wouldn't be having this conversation with me anymore."

Her ash-coloured eyes cane into contact with his. "I guess that makes two of us."

It was odd. With every additional word, they seemed to find something they had in common. And who knew that despite their anti-social selves, they could hold a conversation with one another.

"I think i'll take my leave now, Vice President Levi," She got up to dust the back of her skirt.

"Levi,"

"Pardon me?"

"Just Levi is fine."

She corrected herself before exiting the door. "Then, goodbye, Levi."

As she made her way down the stairs with a certain rhythm in her feet, she came across her friend that lit up when he saw her.

"Oh! Mikasa, there you are! What are you doing here? Everybody's waiting for you at the bonfire."

"Armin. Only getting some fresh air," she acknowledged the blonde's presence and gave her excuse.

"It's quite late already, we should hurry and get going. Jean especially has been quite impatient," Armin chuckled lightly at the last bit.

Mikasa gave him a half-smile before following him to the grounds.

Everything there had seemed just the way it was from the rooftop, just a whole lot noisier and livelier.

"Mikasa!" Her friends shouted through the crowds when they sighted her, though part of their words were drowned out in the celebration.

Maybe this was the reason why she went to the rooftop.

"You're late!" The brunette grabbed her hand and led her near the bonfire without her word of consent. The owner of those familiar hands turned to face her once they had jostled their way through. Eren began to dance like the others, Mikasa soon followed suit, but less mild in her actions. Although, her eyes kept drifting up to the top of the building. Was he still there, watching?

"What's wrong?" Eren innocently asked, taking note of her distraction.

"Nothing-"

"Move aside, Jaeger!" And from the side Jean came crashing into Eren, pushing him into the mob of people grooving to the music the school's brass band played for them.

"H-hey, Mikasa!" The tall boy greeted her like he usually did. Awkwardly.

Mikasa frowned a bit at the rough treatment her precious Eren had received. "Yeah," she nodded at a barely visible angle, craning her head to see whether Eren was all right, practically ignoring the person in front of her. Luckily for Eren—and for Jean—he evacuated the dance floor unharmed, and began to chat with another classmate. However, just one Mikasa wasn't quite comfortable seeing.

Annie looked indifferent and drank her pink fruit punch as Eren tried to touch on different topics of conversation. "So, why don't you join everyone else?" He signalled to the mass of moving limbs. They certainly looked carefree, almost a bit drunk.

"I'm not interested." Her head made no move to look up at him or look at her schoolmates. It just remained down as she stared at her cup. She took another sip.

"Okay then, how about we grab some food?"

The girl was silent as she yet again, brought the plastic cup to her lips.

"Okay, well, i'll be joining to others now..." As much as he was oblivious, Eren decided to drop it. Their conversation—if you could even count it as one—didn't last long as he went to reunite with the rest of his friends. The ones that took things a bit less seriously. Especially the girl whose hair was tied up in a pony tail, demonstrating the weirdest moves he had ever seen whilst her jaw chewed food that always seemed to be in her mouth.

There was one thing about Annie, Mikasa thought, that she didn't like.

Besides having got into a hand-to-hand combat fight with her during physical education, there was something off about Annie that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Her emotionless face, inspite of Mikasa being the reflection of her, made her feel... dangerous. Especially when Eren was the one talking to Annie, she felt the need to protect him from the unknown. Fortunately, she wasn't the only one to think this. Even Armin, could sense something wasn't quite right.

For about the upteenth time today, Mikasa's name was called. The boy to pull her out of her deep thought was Armin. It seemed that he was now her dance partner after her mind had wandered off.

"Worried about Eren?" He asked, reading her mind perfectly. Of course, doing that much wasn't difficult at all. Practically 98 percent of her brain was full of Eren, albeit there was someone else in existence sneaking in, extending his stay in her mind. Her eyes drifted up once again, trying to make out a figure shroudded in the darkness.

Armin followed her line of vision to very vaguely see a short figure head stiffly for the exit. That was all he needed to conclude. She was watching Vice President Levi.

Levi watched from on top. Mikasa being dragged along by that boy, that Jaeger kid that gave him tons of trouble, from saving his ass from bullies to saving his ass from expulsion. If he could award anybody the most annoying little shit award of the year, he would gladly crown Eren with no hesitation.

However, there was another kid that got him irritated. That Jean boy that he always caught looking at Ackerman. Although he wasn't the one to scold because Levi was in fact also guilty of this. Not that he was completely head over heels with her like Jean was, it was interest. Or an infactuation, whatever you wanted to call it, it was going to be surpressed and slowly die down with a few weeks time.

Or so he thought.

"Found you!" A rhapsodic girl exclaimed before pouncing on her and locking Mikasa in her arms.

Mikasa let out a short groan before she nodded to greet, "Hanji-senpai".

"She's over here!" Hanji yelled to somebody from across the crowd. "Ditching us, eh?" She whispered into Mikasa's ear knowingly, as if not wanting the person who was approaching them to hear what she had said.

"No such thing," Mikasa winced, gave a forced smile, and lied with a straight face on. The hold on her was released the minute the girl with caramel hair was within a few metres distance. Mikasa took in a large breath of air and exhaled to regain her usual composure.

"There you guys are! What's wrong, Mikasa? We were waiting for you all this while..." Petra asked out of genuine concern that something might have happened to Mikasa along the way.

"I-"

Hanji interrupted before the oriental beauty could say anything. "The poor girl got lost."

"Oh dear. The school grounds are pretty big...and you've only been here for a few months too," Petra sympathised with the fake excuse and smiled her innocent smile like she always did.

Mikasa's head nodded slowly.

"Oh! By the way, guess who i managed to bring along!" Petra's eyes lit up and she pulled someone out of the crowd.

The grumpy expression could not have been worn better than anybody else, Levi gave a groan as if to say he didn't want to be here.

"Okay, now shoo shoo, off to the dance floor you guys go-" Hanji gestured to Petra and Levi in obvious attempt to matchmake.

"Oh wait." Hanji stopped to think. She looked at Mikasa and then to Levi, then at Petra and then to Levi again. "My, i'm in a dilemma. What should i do..." Indecisiveness started to crease her forehead as she worried over the weirdest things that her friends around her couldn't guess what they were.

"What is it?" The irascible Levi looked at the Hanji who was warring with herself.

The bespectacled girl looked up at him with a cheeky grin plastered across her face. "Nothing," she dragged the last letter before adding at the back, "wouldn't you like to know?" She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Levi raised his eyebrow, simply ignoring the girl's antics he was already used to.

"Seriously, though," Hanji started again.

"I'm just going to sit out this dance thing." Mikasa broke her silence, pointing to the walls that looked desolate.

"Really? That would really help in my decision making, thank you very much." Hanji sighed. The people around just gave her 'what the hell' looks, completely unable to comprehend the weird girl's thinking.

"Why? Come on, dance with us!" Petra encouraged her underclassman to participate in some fun.

"It's alright, i've already danced quite a bit."

"You have? Weren't you lost the entire time?"

Levi smriked secretly at the side at her inconsistent lie.

"I was lost in the midst of all the people and decided to dance a bit before Hanji-senpai found me," Mikasa said, waving and parting with her Council friends, before they could say anything further.

Mikasa gave a slight sigh as she planted her body against the building walls.

In the middle of the partying, she could see a little figure, the only unmoving and unethusiastic one. It looked awkward as Levi just stood there among the throngs of dancing people. Mikasa gave a snort at the hilarious situation.

The man seemed to have seen her amusement at his misery. The moment eye contact was made, Mikasa returned to her usual expressionless face. He, on the other hand, instead of ignoring her, seemed to be pushing his way through and approaching the girl. Not before long, Levi was nonchalantly resting against the same wall Mikasa was on.

"Back from dancing so soon?" She decided to make a snide remark.

"Shut it, Ackerman."

"Sorry, Sir," she apologised without a hint of sincerity.

"This place is so noisy," Levi clicked his tongue and looked towards the nearby trees that forested the area.

"It is," The girl agreed.

"I'm leaving."

Mikasa watched the back of him walk away before it paused. He turned his head over his shoulder and stated something as if it was ridiculous. "Why are you still standing there?" He asked.

Mikasa titled her head at a small angle in confusion.

"Aren't you coming, too?"

She found the two of them alone, once again. Situations like these seemed to be made more frequently, not as if Mikasa actually really minded.

"Something you want to say?"

"Nothing," Mikasa denied again as she stretched out and placed her palms on the green bed of leaves. The dense trees acted as canopies, which big leaves blocked the little light that illuminated from the moon. The place was again dark as night, the only source of brightness from the same bonfire quite a distance away.

Levi sat down beside her, although grimicing slightly at the dirt that threatened to soil his pants. He looked beside him. He had blatantly lied when he the told her he couldn't have romantic feelings for anyone. The black hair that framed her perfecty proportional face, her skin so pale under the moonlight that filtered through the gaps in the leaves, her plush and pink lips. They looked so soft, so inviting. So much so that he just wanted to-

Hold up a minute, Levi. He stopped himself and the thoughts that started to get a bit out of hand. At this stage he had to admit, he was interested, but this interest was starting to develop into something else that he didn't want to admit. And this thing he didn't want to admit was slowly taking over his thoughts, slowly taking over his body.

His hand reached out to brush her silky hair behind her ear. Mikasa looked up at the sudden physical contact. She didn't push him away, just stared, with those dark and alluring eyes and questioned his actions. "What are you doing?"

"There was a stupid leaf in you hair."

"Oh. Thanks."

Levi didn't say anything further. Only, in his mind did he want to push her down onto the grass and taste her lips. He didn't of course.

Shitting wild fantasies.

The sudden ring of a cellphone. The very familiar and default 'Marimba' ringtone rang through the silence. Mikasa reached into her shorts to pull out the iphone and answered it with a swift 'Hello?'

"O-oi Eren! Hello? Mikasa?" The sound of a flustered Armin on the other side of the phone could be heard by even Levi. "You see, we don't know how, but it seems Eren has accidentally consumed some alcohol. I think some of the other kids tried to sneak it in, explains the high state of them all. Anyway, so apparently Eren got drunk and-"

"Aww, Armin you have such soft hairrrrr... Kitty kitty, you're sucha cute little kitten ahahahahaha..."

"Eren! Stop touching my hair! So i'm sure you get the gist, please come and help!"

"Byeee Mika-chan!" Eren shouted through the phone and a flat sound signalling the end of the conversation followed.

Levi, who had just about heard the entire exchange, lolled his head to the back and stared up at the leaves that blocked his view of the sky. What has that stupid boy got himself into this time?

Mikasa made no hesitation to stand up right away and head over to their location.

"Thanks. For helping me bring Eren back," Mikasa addressed the Levi who had a knocked out Eren slung around his shoulder, walking up the stairs of the Jaeger household.

Once they had reached Eren's bed, Levi roughly threw him onto the sheets. The boy cuddled the warmth of the blankets, a little drool escaping down the side of him mouth.

"You weren't with him to prevent it this time, but seriously, stop the boy from doing such idiotic things." He wore his grumpy look, obviously tired from having to deal with the shit that was thrown at him. He had to shut down the party once he found out underaged drinking of alcohol was involved. The Student Council then had to identify the culprits and make sure everyone got home safely. It was now 11 at night, and Levi wasn't exactly thrilled at this fact.

"I would if i could," Mikasa sighed as she gazed at Eren's peaceful sleeping face. Her eyes were so soft and kind. Levi wondered if he could ever get her to look at him that way.

"I'll be going then," he announced after taking in the benign face made, striding out the door, down the stairs and to the front door again. Mikasa quickly followed him to show him off. And just before she completely closed the door to send him on his way, she gave him a small smile. "Thanks again, Levi."

The door shut behind his back.

A few days had passed since the not so successful close of the Sports Festival. The Student Council was busier than ever, even busier than during the preparation stage. This meant that Mikasa, who still hadn't finished catching up with the work Gunther left for her to so conveniently do, just got piled on with another ridiculous load. It frustrated her more so because the amount of time it consumed left no spare time for her to watch over Eren. He had been surviving on instant noodles (so had she) for the past few days and that didn't make Mikasa pleased in the slightest.

"A healthy growing boy should eat proper meals!"

"It's all right! It'll just be for a while, right? Anyway, i can't always depend on you to cook for me. It's not as if we'll be living together forever."

And then it struck her. She wasn't going to live with Eren for the rest of eternity. At one point in each of their lives, whether or not they found another person, they would each go their separate ways.

Now this brings us back to the present Mikasa. A Mikasa in a very sorry state.

She walked into the Student Council Room after yet another exhausting day. Her pale skin this time was as white as a sheet, not attractive in the slightest. Dark circles rimmed her eyes and light purple veins designed her cheeks. In one word, she looked sickly.

Mikasa yawned for approximately the twentieth time today before plopping herself at her desk to continue her mountain of work. Everyday was like this and Mikasa lazily cursed in her brain the one's who brought the alcohol in to cause her so much misery. She quickly ran out of swear words as her brain gradually began to shut down. Like dream bunnies slowly eating away her brain to lull her to sleep.

She slapped her cheeks and shook her head violently, leaving little red behind to at least give some colour to her cheeks.

No, wake up and finish your work. Sleep time is at 3 a.m.

Taking a piece of document to the shelf together with a cup of tea she brewed herself at the absence of Petra, she passed Levi's seat. As she reached up to stuff the file in between the many others, she felt herself suddenly getting light-headed. The blood wasn't circulating to her brain and she felt herself falling backward, her fingers weakening with no more strength to grip the cup, everything happening in slow motion.

Oh dear.

"Oi!"

The last thing she head was a shout from the Vice President.

He was busy minding his own business, the workload was tough. Even Levi was starting to take on the toll. Petra had already fallen sick, and Hanji, God knows how, was actually almost done with her work.

A red scarf had passed him by. Levi kept his face glaring at the sheet of paper. He didn't need anymore distractions. But the body that donned the red scarf was soon falling backwards in an unnatural motion.

"Oi!" Levi called out to the fainting Mikasa, sliding himself underneath her just in time so her head wouldn't collide with the ground and give her a concussion. The moment they crashed onto the floor, the cup did also. Shattering white glass shards flew everywhere, one seemingly cut the right cheek of Mikasa.

Levi lay under the weight of her body, he stared at the ceiling, as if in a daze himself. He hadn't lied down since day break. The chamomile tea started soaking up into the rug. Levi cursed.

An unconscious girl and and dirty rug.

The door creaked open. "Hey guys-" Hanji couldn't complete her sentence when she saw the scene before her eyes. "Well, that escalated quickly," she commented with raised eyebrows before trying to shut the door again and give the two their privacy.

"Wait, you idiot. She fainted." He said irritated at his fellow council member for jumping to conclusions and grunted as her carefully plucked himself from under Mikasa.

"Oh dear," Hanji opened the door once again and began to assist Levi immediately.

"You take her to the infirmary, i'll clean the mess up," Levi looked at the situation in disgust, all ready to get out his rug shampoo and wash away.

"You can't expect me to carry a person. You do it, i'll clean up." Despite the sense Hanji made, she still had a cheeky glint in her eyes like there was a hidden intention behind her words.

Levi rolled his eyes, complying without much protest. He princess-carried Mikasa without much effort, being a living proof that short men could still be strong.

"If you win, you live. If you lose, you die. If you don't fight, you can't win!"

Mikasa gripped the dagger in her hand. She was trembling. She was scared. The boy in front of her was going to be killed, just like her parents. She couldn't save them, but there was a chance she could save the boy in front of her, and those chances all rested in the dagger she held. So shiny, sparkling in the sunlight that penetrated through the glass window.

She sunk the dagger into the man's back. She could feel it, the way it pierced into his flesh. All she saw was crimson oozing out from where the sharp metal struck.

"Mikasa..." A weak, injured voice called her name.

She looked up from where her blade was stuck and realised, it wasn't in the man's back any longer. It was right through the abdomen of the boy. Her beloved Eren.

"Eren...?" Her voice shook. Her hands shook. She let go of the dagger with trembling hands, her eyes not able to tear off from the red that was being soaked up by his green shirt.

"Eren... Eren..." She kept crying out, "No... This can't be... EREN!"

Her eyes flew open. She breathed out a sigh of her relief at the reality she lived in. Eren wasn't dead. It was just a dream. One she had too many times. She stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, as her eyes slowly drifted to her surroundings. A bedside table, verdigris-coloured curtains, white washed walls. She had been here many times, but that was all because of Eren. She herself never fell ill or sick to find herself in the infirmary.

She heard the soft clanking of equipment as she turned her stiff neck to see a blur shadow moving behind the drawn curtain. Levi pushed the curtain to one side to reveal himself. He carried gauze and what looked like a bottle of disinfectant in his hands as he said void of emotion, "You're awake."

"Yes, i am," she said in a similar way before getting into an upright position and swinging her legs off the bed that she thought she didn't belong in.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Levi glared at her.

"What the hell else? Getting out of here. I have work to do," she hissed back, determined to resume the moving of her pen.

"You lay back down, Ackerman," he ordered her with a stern voice.

"I said i had work to do," she seethed, exasperated, just before her body betrayed her words and her legs buckled beneath her. She grabbed on to the nearest thing for support—Levi.

"I told you to lay back down, Mikasa." Levi brought her back to the bed as he pushed her unwilling body downwards. Ugh, she crumpled my shirt, he attempted to flatten out the crease marks she left behind.

He set the things in his hand down by the bedside. "I think i've said this before, but you're stubborn." He pinned the struggling arms of Mikasa above her head with one arm and used the other to push her thigh down.

"I don't need rest," she scowled at him, "I'm perfectly fine."

"Oh, yeah?" Levi smirked at her incredulous stubbornness, "What can you do if i did this?"

He lowered himself until she could feel his breath tickle her skin. He stuck out his tongue as he licked the ear lobe of her left ear. He could feel her body tense up as he trailed his lips down her neck and along the collarbone of her slightly unbuttoned shirt. He heard her give a soft moan as Mikasa grit her teeth hard.

"So, what can you do?" Levi asked in a soft whisper once again as he looked at her who completely useless under his hold with unwavering eyes.

All she could do was glare at him. Her face was completely red, with anger or embarrassment, that one was unknown.

Levi smirked. He released her. "If you don't like that then lie down and sleep, stop being such a stubborn bastard."

He went back to preparing the items to clean the scarlet line across her cheekbone. On the inside, however, Levi felt the need to punch himself in the face. Who does those things to the girl he likes?

"It's going to sting," he told her with short noticed as he wiped the cream over the wound. His chest hovered over her as he dextrously continued to cover it up with tape and gauze. Her face was unchanged as she endured the pain.

"It's already 6 at night." It seemed as if he were the only one talking, which was precisely the case. "Don't you dare go back to the council room. I'll call Jaeger to come and pick you up. Until then, you sleep."

Mikasa's eyes were closed but she was only half asleep. She wondered how much time had passed and when Eren would come to take her home. She had already suffered quite a lot, both her body and her heart. Nobody, nobody, had ever touched her like that before. The warm sensation on her skin still lingered, but the one thing that irritated her was the fact that she couldn't say she entirely hated it.

Her brows began to furrow before she felt a finger placed on her forehead to undo those angry lines on her face.

It surely hadn't been just a few minutes, but was Levi still there to watch over her? All this thinking eventually made her consciousness ebb away, the only thing she thought before completely blacking out was thanks, Levi.

A/N: Hi everyone! So this is my first note to you guys, i would just like to say thank you for supporting my fic! I know there are quite a few errors here and there mainly because i'm really lazy and don't really proof read a chapter before uploading it, but i have tried to correct chapter 1 and 2 today. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! My exams just ended so i'm a lot more free now, hopefully i can get more writing done within this period. Anyway, i usually forget to do an author's note so i won't do it for every chapter. Please look forward to the next chapter for more Rivamika action! :-)