Enemies of Friends?
{Kerai's P.O.V}
It was the next day, and another night has past leaving me without sleep. I sat up in the middle of my bed cross legged. It was still dark outside, so it couldn't be no later than four in the morning.
Why I even bother with trying to sleep, I'll never know. I haven't slept for six years, I occasionally am able to fall out of consciousness but it's not sleep. If I haven't slept all night there's no point in trying anymore, might as well do something productive.
I slid off my bed and left my room. After a quick quiet walk down the stairs and to my office, I grabbed my 3D maneuver gear and headed over to the training area. Once there I strapped my gear on and began running laps around H.Q. It was quiet and peaceful, I like it. I never was one for being around people or noise, the noise part only because my hearing was slightly more sensitive than a normal person.
The crisp morning air felt like icy prickles against my face and the smell of the morning dew was a nice change from the normal smells within wall Rose. If only things could stay like this, but knowing the Survey Corps. things can't stay this way.
Come to think of it, today seems a bit off. Normally I wouldn't have bothered to get out of bed and I'd hate everything. I have my reasons for hating today, but right now I can't find one of those reasons. How odd...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ღ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Levi's P.O.V}
It was about six when I finally gave up on sleep. Every night it's the same damn thing. I either get unrestful sleep or I wake up throughout the night. From outside my window I heard some light footsteps.
Who the hell is out there at this damn hour?
I walked over to my window and looked outside to see who it was. It was that brat from yesterday, running around H.Q. I watched her until she was out of my sight before I went over and got ready for the day.
That brat is insane. Is she trying to get sick or something? Tch, Erwin wants me to apologize to that crazy thing, man he's stupid. She looks not bothered by yesterday, so why bring it up again. Plus the brat had it coming, I've never seen anyone with as much disrespect as her.
Once I was dressed, I went down stairs to the cafeteria. I grabbed my black coffee and sat down at the table. Eyebrows, shit-glasses and sniffer were already there. I sat across from eyebrows and sipped my coffee.
"So, you have to apologize to Kerai, Levi. Can I be there so I can smell your pride fading away?" Sniffer asked.
"Tch, who said I'm apologizing to that brat." I scoffed.
"Levi, you have to and will." Eyebrows said from behind his papers.
Shit-glasses and sniffer snickered and I just continued to sip my coffee. As time began to pass, the cadets began filing in and grabbing breakfast. Their chatter filled the once quiet room, they were acting as if they haven't lost anyone or were going to lose anyone. They were close to one another, which will bite them in the ass later on when they lose their 'friends'. Suddenly, their chatter died down and you could hear footsteps walking down the middle aisle. I looked up from my coffee and it was just the brat. She walked over, grabbed a coffee cup and started to brew...tea? Erwin cleared his throat to get my attention, I sighed and went over to the brat.
"Hey brat." I said once I was behind her, she completely ignored me.
I tried poking her arm and nothing happened. She continued brewing her tea, which I am guessing its Jasmine. This time I tried shoving her and again nothing!
"Hey Yana, answer me when I'm talking to you." I snapped in frustration.
"Hn, would a please kill you?" She replied and went over to the table where the other superiors were at.
I swear I felt a vein popping out of my forehead. I followed her to the table and stood in front of her so she couldn't sit down. She tried moving to the left so I took a step right, she tried stepping right and so I stepped left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ღ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Kerai's P.O.V}
Damnit Ackerman, let me by!
I tried stepping around him once again and he moved right where I was going to. He's done this now for two minutes and now I was even more mad than before when he was touching me.
"Erwin, hold my tea please." I said as I handed my cup over to Erwin.
"Just don't make a mess, Kerai." He said and took my cup and slid farther away as did the other two.
I turned back to Ackerman and tried to step around him one last time and once again he stepped in my path. I growled and he went to try to shove me again. His right hand touched my left shoulder and I grabbed his wrist. With his wrist in my grasp, I turned around kicked him in his shins and flipped him over my entire body. He landed on his back with a loud thud.
"Prick." I muttered as I sat down and took back my tea from Erwin.
"Brat." I heard him hiss as he got up.
Erwin, Hanji and Mike were silently chuckling, I couldn't help but let out a half-hearted laugh as well. For someone who's supposed to be 'Humanities Strongest' he wasn't that hard to flip over. He got up and sat on the other side of the table as Erwin and I. I sat with my back resting against Erwin's right side, Levi was grumbling something along the lines of ' does this girl even know what respect is?'
"Kerai, you could have just asked him to step aside." Erwin mumbled from behind his papers.
"I guess." I took a sip of my tea. "Sorry about that Ackerman." I said and looked over to him.
"Tch, whatever. It was just a lucky break for you." Levi mumbled and sipped at his coffee. "Sorry about yesterday." He added.
I looked at him carefully and shrugged. "It's okay." I leaned more into Erwin.
"Hey Kerai, how come you're sitting like that?" Hanji asked.
"Why wouldn't I, it's comfortable." I shrugged.
"That may be, but you're leaning on Commander Erwin." Hanji stated, Ms. Captain Obvious.
"Hanji, don't tell me you don't know." Mike commented, sounding slightly dramatical.
"Don't know what?" Hanji asked, filled with sudden curiosity.
"She's Commander's 'little sister'." Mike used air quotes around sister.
Hanji looked at me, then to Erwin, back to me and again to Erwin. From the corner of my eye I could see Levi doing the same thing. Erwin sat down his papers and looked at Mike with that look that says 'Really? You just had to say something about that?' Hanji continued to study the two of us for a few more minutes before slamming her hand down in front of Mike.
"Don't make up lies like that. Those two look nothing alike. Plus if they were siblings don't you think they would have the same last name?" Hanji asked.
"Hey why did you think I used air quotes. She's only his technical little sister." Mike held his hands up in defense.
"Technical? What do you mean technical?" Hanji tried to dig deeper.
No one said anything, and I was staring out the window trying to keep my emotions in check. A noticeable awkwards aura surrounded our table, Hanji gulped.
"Did I ask something I shouldn't have?" She asked innocently.
"Yeah, you did four-eyes." I snapped, slammed down my cup and made my way back to the training grounds.
"W-wait, Kerai hold on." Hanji called and ran after me.
I ran over to where we had the titan props set up for maneuver gear training and took to the tree's. From below the tree's I could still see Hanji trailing after me. A wave of guilt began to wash over me for what I had said, she didn't know so I shouldn't get mad at her. I continued to go from tree to tree for a few more minutes to calm myself then I descended back down to where Hanji was. I rubbed my left upper arm, bit my lower lip and walked over to her. She looked apologetic and I looked guilty.
"Sorry." I said just above a whisper.
"Why are you apologizing, I was the one who brought up something I shouldn't have." Hanji said.
"You didn't know and I shouldn't have snapped or called you four-eyes." I said with a bowed head.
"Oh, don't worry about that. Levi called me that all the time when he's in a good mood so I didn't even notice. Would you mind explaining what about that topic is so sensitive to you?" Hanji asked with a pleading look in her eyes.
I bit my bottom lip again and sighed. "I guess you can know too."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ღ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Levi's P.O.V}
"Damn that brat is sensitive." I muttered as I took a sip from my coffee.
Mike shook his head and Erwin sighed. I eyed the two of the suspiciously, the two of them act as if they know something I don't. I clicked my tongue in disgust, they of all people should know better than to show emotion like this.
"So what is the brats problem and you need to explain what you meant before, Sniffer." I stated more than asked.
"Uh well, it's not up for me to tell. That's between Corporal Kerai and Commander Erwin. So ask one of them." Mike put his hands up in defense again.
I looked over to Erwin who looked to be composing himself again. No one said anything for a while. Sniffer shifted in his seat and eventually left. By now most of the cadets had gone to train, which meant we would have to start training soon. I looked to Erwin still waiting for an explanation.
"Kerai is my little sister-in-law." Erwin finally spoke up after so odd minutes of silence.
"How?" I asked.
"Her sister was my fiance." Erwin said and walked away.
Was? As in no longer? Did the break up or something? And if that's the case then why is she still your sister-in-law?
These questions and many more went through my head as I walked to the training area. Off towards our makeshift woods, I could see four-eyes and the brat. Four-eyes looked as if she was about to cry and the brat looked like she was in pain. Maybe there was something I was missing. Maybe her sister was dead like her family or they're not talking anymore.
Just like before, a chill entered my heart and this time it felt as if it was twisting. I shook of the feeling and went on with my usual warm up routine. Throughout the few hours we were out there, I found myself looking over towards the brat. For the most part she was sparing against the other squad leaders and members. She left earlier than the rest, most likely because she was out here so damn early. Eyebrows and Sniffer haven't been out here, they must be doing paper work or some shit. An hour or so later, the brat reappeared and walked up to me.
"You're needed in Erwin's office." She said and started to walk back.
I followed her into the office, inside Sniffer and Eyebrows were standing over a strategy table. The brat closed the door and the two looked up from the table at us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ღ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Kerai's P.O.V}
"Thank you for joining us, Levi." Erwin greeted.
"Tch." Levi scoffed.
I sat down on the couch behind the strategy table and crossed my legs so my feet weren't on the floor. Mike came over and joined me and Erwin leaned on the table. The three of us had just been going over the strategy for our practice expedition to get the new recruits a taste for a real one in a month. It's a new idea, if it's to work it will detaramaize them so they won't freak and die on the real one.
"As you know it one month we have yet another expedition and we have really new recruits. Seeing as how when we go on these with the new recruits we lose most of them because they freeze up. So, to detaramaize them and increase their rate of survival we are going to put them through a trail expedition just outside of Wall Maria." Erwin explained the plan to Levi, who looked broadly at him.
"When does this trail expedition begin?" He asked after rolling it over in his mind.
"We want to leave tomorrow." Mike said enthusiastically.
"If we do, we will need to have everyone up around five and prepped to leave by six. Otherwise we'll leave all of tomorrow for prep and leave the day after." I said.
The room fell quiet, each of us deep in thought. Probably the biggest question we were sharing was will this work? We were going to risk the recruits in hopes that they'll grow a pair and man up. In all honesty, it's not that much to ask of them plus it's what they signed up for. No one forced any of us to do what we do, well except Ackerman. Erwin kinda completely forced him to join.
"So, who's telling them about the 'expedition'?" Levi asked after a few minutes of silence.
"You." I suggested.
"Tch, why don't you tell them brat." Levi Retorted.
"Because I don't want to, plus I am still your higher up and I say you do it. Erwin, Mike and I were planning this so seeing as you're the only one who wasn't apart of it you will tell them." I barked.
"Easy Kei, save that aggression for the titans." Mike tried keeping the peace.
I growled under my breath and Ackerman 'tched' yet again. I swear that prick only knows that sound. Erwin was pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, how he didn't see having Ackerman and I in the same room leading to a fight I don't know. There was a quick excited knock on the door followed by Hanji entering before anyone could tell her to enter.
"I heard something about titans." Hanji said excitedly.
The four of us looked at each other, then Mike, Erwin and I looked to Levi. He looked at the three of us, back to Hanji and back to us.
"The fuck are you three looking at?" Levi asked.
"I already told you, you are telling everyone about the expedition." I reminded him.
" And I told you no."
"Want to go you Prick?!" I said getting up off the couch.
"Tch, I could kick your ass any day kid." Levi snapped back.
"I. Am. Not. A. Kid. You damn short ass prick!" I yelled and launched myself at him.
He went to attack back but Mike and Erwin grabbed me before I could stretch out his eyes. Hanji rushed over and held Levi back who looked more pissed off than normal. Both of us were trying to get free to kill the other. Mike had to let go to help hold off Levi and Erwin had a firm grip around my arms and upper waist. No matter how strong their grip was, we struggled.
"Let me at him, he deserves to have his ass handed to him." I snapped and thrashed in Erwins grip.
"Tch, like a small brat like you could land a finger on me." Levi retorted.
"Why you!" I managed to get an arm free and reached for Levi's eyes.
He pulled back seeing as how close I came and Erwin back up and the others too.
"Kerai. What would Kanako think of how you're acting." Erwin snapped.
I stopped reaching for Levi's eyes and felt myself become weighted down. I stopped struggling and let my body go limp. A lump formed in my throat and Erwin sat me back down on my feet.
"She wouldn't be happy with me." I said just above a whisper.
"Then don't act that way." Erwin said in a soothing voice.
He let go of me but quickly got a hold of my shoulders before I could hit the floor. I felt limp, my eyes were watery and my heart felt heavy. By now I shouldn't feel like this but I still do. Erwin knew it was a low blow but it was the only way to get me to stop. Apparently Hanji let go of Levi and was now standing next to me looking at me. She had a look of sympathy and it ticked me off. I didn't want people to show me sympathy, I didn't need it nor want it.
"Don't look at me like that, Hanji." I said and walked over to the window.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ღ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Levi's P.O.V}
Shit-glasses had let go of me and I was able to shrug out of Sniffer's hold. The brat was staring out the window and looked as if she was on the verge of crying. I felt my gaze softening the more I looked at her. Once again that odd feeling came back. Part of me wanted...to comfort her? And the other part of me still wanted to kick her ass. She was complicated, annoying, stubborn, aloof, aggravating yet somehow...cute. The room had grown an awkward silence. Shit-glasses still doesn't know about the expedition and no one is talking.
"Tomorrow we're going to send the new recruits on a trial expedition to get them used to being in the face of a titan and danger." I said, breaking the silence.
"Eh? You mean we get to see titans before the actual expedition?" Shit-glasses suddenly lit up with excitement.
"Yeah." With that she went off on one her her titan rants.
I don't see why she's so fascinated with those filthy creatures. It's almost to the point she worships them as some of the people worship the Walls. Sniffer and Eyebrows went back to the table to review the strategy, Shit-glasses was going off about titans, leaving the brat still staring out the window. Without my consent, my body moved closer to the brat but I stopped just behind her. Her reflection was so clear in the window, I noticed she was holding herself around her waist as if she was about to shatter. Her watery violet eyes meet my grey eyes in the reflection for a minute then she looked away. I leaned close to her ear so only she would hear.
"Sorry." I whispered to her then left to inform the cadets of tomorrows expedition.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ღ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Kerai's P.O.V}
My eyes were wide with disbelief, Levi Ackerman just said sorry voluntarily. I turned around to look at him but he was already gone. No one else seemed to notice what had happened, that or they pay no attention to it. I left shortly afterwards to go get some tea, in the mess hall were a few cadets scared out of their wits and Levi sitting at the normal table. I poured myself some Earl Grey tea and in a second cup I poured some black coffee. With the glasses in hand I sat down at the normal table and handed him the cup of black coffee. He gave me a questioning look then nodded his head and sipped at the coffee. We sat in silence for a while and strangely enough it was...comforting. It was really weird but I let myself become comfortable.
"How did you know I like black coffee?" Levi asked after some minutes of silence.
"Um, I just guessed. I noticed you drinking it earlier." I said quietly.
"I see, did you do something to it?" He asked, looking at me skeptically.
"No, why?"
He looked at me in slight shock and, I may be mistaken, a light blush formed on his face. Levi glanced at his coffee and back at me. The silence began to come back but was quickly brushed off.
"It's really good. Better than normal." I almost choked on my tea.
Once again, Ackerman was being nice to me. I blinked several times before looking at him. He was looking out the window and that blush was definitely there. I felt my own face heat up and I looked away. I started feeling awkward, this guy who I was ready to kill not half an hour ago was causing me to blush.
"Thanks." I mumbled after some time.
"No problem." He muttered into his cup.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(time~~~~~ღ~~~skip)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everyone was at the stables, preparing for the practice expedition. I had just reached the stall where my horse stays. Her name is Tsubaki, she's a beautiful tan Arabian horse with a black mane. Tsubaki wasn't actually my horse to begin with, she was Kana's. After she left Tsubaki wouldn't cooperate with anyone, but when I finally came to be part of the Survey Corps. she listened to me. She perked up when I opened her stall gate and walked forward. I placed my hand on her neck and lead her out to where the other leaders where. Each of them had their horses ready and equipped. I strapped my gear to Tsubaki and climbed on. Levi gave me a weird look as if to ask aren't you forgetting something?
"What is it Levi?" I asked.
"Aren't you forgetting your saddle?" He asked with that same look.
I blinked a few times before answering. "No, I've never used a saddle. I ride bareback, saddles are annoying and a pain in the ass." I explained.
"Why?" He asked with what looked like honest curiosity.
"It's just the way I learned." I shrugged and clicked for Tsubaki to move forward.
We waited for another ten minutes before we finally made our way to the edge of Wall Rose and eventually Wall Maria. A total journey time of five hours and eighteen minutes. Some cadets had been trying to go back, but the leaders and I kept them here and told them that this was for their own good. We finally left the 'safety' of Wall Maria and were out in the wild.
"Alright. Remember cadets, this is just a trail. You will only engage five titans and each group will have one of us in it so nothing will go wrong." Erwin yelled. "When you spot the titan shoot up the yellow flare, if something is to go wrong use the red flare and once you have defeated your titan use the green flare." Erwin yelled as we broke off into our groups.
"Alright, lets go cadets." I said and started to pull off toward the right.
The cadets followed in suit, Levi's team was also heading left. We rode for a few minutes before the titans were spotted. A ten meter titan and a forteen meter titan were approaching from our left. I looked to Levi who nodded in acknowledgement, I then looked back to my cadet with the flare and signaled for him to shoot the yellow flare. Once he did the others grabbed their blade handles and were waiting for the command to engage. I nodded and jumped off Tsubaki launching my grappling hooks into the arm of the ten meter titan. The cadets took off to disable the titan, I went for the nape of the neck. Once the cadets had successfully disabled the titan I sliced its neck almost too deep. Never the less the titan fell and began to disintegrate. I looked over to Levi's group, they had also gotten their titan down. I whipped off my blades and put them back into their sheath. From the corner of my left eye I could see more titans approaching. I jogged over to the cadet with the flares and shot up the grey one. The cadets looked confused and began asking for an explanation.
"Listen a few abnormals have appeared, you cadets need to head back to the regroup point. Levi and I will deal with these titans, go and don't try to get involved. You've done your part now let us do ours." I explained and commanded.
"Yes Sir." They saluted and rode off on their horses.
"You ready Levi?" I turned to my co-captain.
"Always ready to kill these disgusting shits." Levi unsheathed his blades and took to the air.
I followed his actions and distracted the titan Levi was going for. He easily took the beast down and started after the other. I too began to kill off the abnormals. Together we've probably taken down about five abnormals but there were still two left. All the sudden there was a twist in my stomach as if something wasn't right. I turned to see Levi finishing off one of the abnormals but the other was going to crush him. Time seemed to slow as I ran towards him. I extended my hand out to try to push him away.
"Levi." I screamed as I jumped and pushed him out of the way.
Once he was out of the way time seemed to resume. I quickly drew my blades and sliced off the titans leg and he fell to his right. I used my grappling hooks to get to it's neck fast and sliced the nap of its neck. The abnormal disintegrated and everything seemed to be okay. Levi got up and walked over to me.
"Are you okay, Kerai?" He asked.
I was taken back, this was the first time he used my name. Normally he called me brat or kid but this time he used my name. I blinked a few times and my face began to heat up again.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine." I said and sheathed my blades.
In doing so, I felt a sharp sting in my left side. I looked down and saw my white shirt being stained with my blood. I placed my right hand over the source of blood and pulled it back, judging by the amount of blood it's been bleeding this entire time. Levi looked at me, but I tried to play is off. I whistled for Tsubaki to return, while waiting Levi had grabbed my wrist and was forcing me to look him in the eye.
"You need to get that patched up or else it will become infected." He said.
"It can wait until we get back to H.Q." As if to tell me I was wrong another sharp sting was sent up my side.
"I doubt it." He said.
Both our horse came back and Levi grabbed a first aid kit from his. He grabbed my wrist again and dragged me over to a rock. I sat down and that sting was back. He opened the kit and took out some antibiotics and band aids. What he did next was something I was not expecting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ღ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Levi's P.O.V}
How did she not notice she was bleeding until now? Even then she acted as if it was nothing. Not only that but Kerai saved me from being squished by that abnormal. I thought she hated me.
I grabbed the cloth and poured some of the antibiotics on it. I reached over to her and undid the first few buttons of her lower shirt. She pulled back and winced from moving too quick.
"The hell are you doing?" She growled.
"What do you think? Moving the clothing to clean the wound. Now stop moving, the more the move the more you bleed." I said and finished undoing the buttons uncovering her waist.
"J-just don't get any ideas, b-baka." She stuttered and looked away.
I looked at her to find her blushing. I let out a quiet chuckle and pressed the cloth to her wound. She winced and bit her lip to keep from screaming. I dabbed the cloth a few times, her pale skin now had a slight red tint to it from where the blood was. I put the antibiotics on the pad and wrapped the bandages around her small waist. Once they were secured, I rebuttoned her top and helped her up. She wobbled slightly and looked light headed, probably from blood loss.
"You alright." I asked.
"Y-yeah, just kinda dizzy." She admitted.
I looked at her, her eyes were slightly closed. Judging how they kept fluttering I assume she would pass out on the journey back and she was riding bareback. I decided it would be safer for her to just ride back with me. Ever so carefully picked her up bridal style and sat her sideways on my horse, then I got on myself. She looked like she wanted to argue but didn't. Instead she leaned her head against my chest and let her eyes flutter shut. I clicked for my horse to move and her's followed in suit. On the ride back I kept looking down at her wondering if she was okay. In all my life I never thought someone so annoying and stubborn could make me want to be near them. When I first saw her I thought of her as my enemy but now I was seeing her as my friend...maybe even more.