After a calm dinner, Montagne excused herself and went to her quarters, telling us that should we need anything, we could simply wake her up. Reiner left just a few minutes later, the captain allowing him to go since he was in charge of all the chores in the house the next day. Only Levi and I were left, sitting at the dinner table, him sipping on some black tea and I fidgeting with a piece of bread, wanting to break the thick silence in the room.
"You're not going to eat the bread?", he asked between sips. "You're ruining it like that. Don't spoil food, Martha."
"Oh, right. I am going to eat it, sir..", his voice startled me and I ended up putting the whole piece inside my mouth, having nearly choked on it. He eyed me up but said nothing, lowering his sight again and onto the white and blue porcelain cup.
"Are you feeling well, sir? Maybe you should go rest as well... I'll finish up here on my own."
"I'm fine.", he answered, not moving and placing the teacup down on the place gently. "What? Is it the first time you see me in gauze wrappings?", he questioned.
"No... I mean, I don't know sir but that's not it... It's just, it was a pretty strong hit and you hit your head pretty hard. I just find it strange that you're fine already.", my answer came distractedly as I piled the plates onto my good arm and placed them gently on the sink, preparing to do the dishes.
"You shouldn't worry about that shit.", he replied from the table. "Worry about how we're going to leave this place."
"Yeah... about that, sir... The letter Amy gave us... Reiner couldn't find back at the house. I don't know how we'll get past the guards... We don't even have enough money for a decent bribe..."
"I have that letter in my room here."
"What?!", I was very surprised, hearing this and stopped scrubbing a plate to look at him. He had his usual posture: feet on the now empty table, leaning back against the chair. The only difference was his head, now half wrapped with bandages, as well as his upper body up to his neck. He straightened himself up, looking at me with his neutral face as if I was surprised for nothing.
"I've been carrying it in my boot ever since we got in. I couldn't risk something like this happening and we getting stranded in this shit hole."
"Sir, I'm so relieved to hear that..."
"You could've thought about it as well, Martha. I expected you'd do something similar."
"Well, I thought it would be safer in the house, sir. That way, if anything happened to either of us, the others could still leave as they pleased."
"Eh... doesn't matter now.", he concluded, "Should've have that shitty brat doing the dishes instead...", he mumbled.
"I can do them too, sir. He'll have plenty of work tomorrow. About today... who were those people?"
"My uncle and his scum. I wasn't expecting him to take such small prey under his shitty wing..."
"Who? The man we were supposed to get the money from?", at this point, the captain got up and gently placed the cup and plate near the sink, sitting back on his chair and pulling his fringe back with a subtle sigh.
"Yes. We won't be able to get it from him now."
"Yeah... I'd figured as much, sir. So... what now? We go back home empty handed?", after all this trouble, to return with even less money than we'd arrived with... Erwin would definitely be disappointed.
"No way we're leaving and letting that shit-eating old man laughing.", the captain spat. "I know where his main shop is now. We can jump them there and take whatever we can."
"Hm...", I nodded, getting started on the last piece of porcelain left in the sink.
"What? You'd rather go back?"
"Hm.. no, sir, I mean.. It's not my decision, it's yours but I think going back now would be bad. It's just that... look at us, Reiner is the only non injured person. What if it's heavily guarded or something? I'm concerned about our safety, that's all."
"I understand. But I also know him and his ego is bigger than that military police fucker, Dok. He won't be expecting us to make a move on his turf so soon. He probably thinks we're curled up somewhere, pissing and shitting ourselves, just asking to be found.", he spoke so harshly of this man... maybe he was mistreated as a child? I knew his mother was a prostitute but I knew little else about his childhood.
"Hm... well.. If that's your decision, sir. I'll follow through. When will we make our move?"
"I'll have to check something tomorrow first. Maybe tomorrow night."
"So soon? We aren't even close to top shape, we'll get overpowered easily if they expect us."
"We'll talk about it tomorrow. If you want, you're free to stay here and not go."
"No, I didn't say that, sir. I'll go wherever you go, that's not up for discussion."
"I really don't need a babysitter, Martha.", he sounded annoyed so I fell silent for a moment, not knowing what to say. "After so long in the Corps, I'd think you'd be used to these situations by now...", he commented, still reclined in the chair.
"After all that happened... I don't know, sir. Sometimes I think I am but you scared me quite a bit, I wasn't even sure I could carry you if you had remained unconscious."
"Good thing I did wake up then.", he replied, getting up and standing by the door. "I'm going to bed, you're staying here?", I was still thinking about holding his limp form in my arms, I didn't even think about it at the time but I was so worried that he'd die as well. His voice snapped me out of my trance.
"I don't know. Isn't it better for someone to keep watch for the night?"
"It's safe here. You should rest and take care of your wounds. Come to me if you need any help."
"Right. Thank you, sir. Have a good night."
Afterwards, he left me alone in the kitchen, closing the door to his room behind him with a soft sound. I sat at the table, thinking about our next course of action. Maybe it was best to do as he said but I really couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching our every move. The last thing I wanted to happen was to wake up to a bunch of strange men in the house, capturing us or worse. However, even after sleeping so much during the afternoon, I was too tired to even keep my head up so I decided to take the captain's advice and go to bed.
As I left the kitchen, a soft voice called me in from one of the rooms. Opening the door slightly, I peered in.
"Sir? What's the matter?", he was shirtless, sitting on the edge of the bed, torso and forehead still wrapped in bandages.
"Come here, I need help with this shit.", he answered, looking at the door.
"With what?", I asked, as I entered the room and approached him.
"I can't take this off on my own and I need to change them.", he replied, signaling at the torso bandages.
"Oh... shouldn't I get Montagne then? She's the one who knows about this stuff the most, from what I've seen.", to be honest, I just felt a bit uneasy, being alone with the captain in such revealing clothes, after what had happened... Even if he didn't remember, I did. The drag of his teeth across sweaty skin... ok, ok enough with these thoughts.
"Let her rest. She's already done enough.", he said. Well, I guess I had no choice then.
"Okay. Scoot over please, sir. Turn this way.", he moved a bit so I could sit on the bed beside him, and as our eyes accidentally met, I felt my pulse racing so immediately I lowered my gaze and focused on undoing the bandages and distracting myself. "Am I hurting you?"
"No, it's fine.", he answered, but I could see the slim dip between his eyebrows furrow just a bit whenever he had to move so the bandage could unravel. More than once, my face was dangerously close to his shoulders and neck, and it was goddamn near impossible not to feel the skin heat up, looking at the pinkish kiss marks he still had. Wait... had he seen them already? Maybe not... how was I going to explain that to him if he asked...? Oh, this is bad.
"There, all done. I'll be going now, sir, if you don't mind.", I was halfway up when he grabbed my wrist and stopped me. I thought I my heart was going to crawl its way up my throat and run for the hills, my ears were ringing. I could only imagine the massive blush on my face as I looked at him and he placed a small pot of ointment in my open hand.
"You're not done. Put this wherever you see black or purple.", he said, his expression never changing.
"Okay...", I moved behind him so I was facing his back and the skin was starting to become a collection of yellowish and blackish tints everywhere. "So... everywhere, basically."
"Pretty much...", he replied. Extending a hand back, he requested I give him some of the ointment so he could do the front himself. Thank the Walls for that. Feeling his twisting back muscles, every time he moved even slightly was already torture enough. I hadn't felt like this in a long time, my mouth almost watering at the sight and touch of it. He had a couple of tiny half moons in his neck and only after a moment, I realized it might've been me, from earlier. He must've sensed the hesitation in my movements. "Yes, even those nail marks."
Oh, so he knew. I could die of embarrassment right about now, just remembering what had happened. I got over with it as fast as I could and, after wrapping him up again, I got up, leaning strongly on the side of the bed. Unfortunately, the smooth covers made me slip and I ended up on the floor, falling on the arm with Jaeger's bite.
"Ah, motherfucker...", I cursed the goddamn bed for sabotaging my escape like that, clinging to the sore arm.
"Just how did you manage to do that...", Levi asked from where he was. "You okay?"
"I don't know. I'm fine... It's just my arm, it's hurting a bit."
"Let me take a look.", he extended a hand to touch me but I involuntarily recoiled.
"No need, sir. I'm fine."
"Stop being annoying and let me see your fucking arm. That's an order.", I had no option but to obey. He pulled up my sleeve, revealing the bandage, and unraveled it. "As I thought. This shit opened a bit again. I'll go get something for it. Stay here.", he left the room after. The bite was mostly closed by now, only open in a small place, but it wasn't bleeding very much. I laid back on the bed, my head finding the soft pillow and upon inhaling deeply, the scent of the captain surrounded me in a pleasant cloud. Levi would soon return so I let my eyes close and rested for a bit.
Slowly, my conscience returned and a warm hand was pressed against my forehead.
"Sir...?", I asked, opening my heavy lids. He ws sitting beside me on the bed. His bed... His... bed..?! I fell asleep on his bed. Oh dear lord, this is too innappropriate...
"Are you awake?", he aske, speaking in a quiet voice.
"Yeah... Sorry I fell asleep here... I know you hate things like this. I'll change the bedding at once.", trying to get up revealed itself a difficult task, since the moment I sat upright, the room began to spin.
"Martha, you have a fever. Lie down.", he said. How long had I been sleeping for? Outside, there was no moon to tell from, making everything more confusing.
"I'll go to my room, don't worry. Oh... my arm is still bleeding...", as I noticed this, my eyes traced all the way back to the bed, where there was a small blood stain where I'd been resting. "I'll clean that up tomorrow sir... I just need to... sleep for a moment.", my body felt sluggish, probably from the fever, but I managed to get up and reach the door frame, holding onto it and trying to walk out. The last thing the captain needed was another problem to deal with, I just needed to sleep it out.
"Lay down here, don't make such a fuss over it.", he ordered and, despite how bad I felt to be intruding, my body gladly flopped onto the bed.
"I'm sorry for being such a nuisance.", I sighed, voice muffled my the smooth bedding.
"Doesn't matter, really. Give me your arm so I can patch it up.", he did so silently, just the stillness of the room ringing in our ears. After he finished, I rolled over, stomach up and covered my face with a hand, avoiding the lamp light that appeared near blinding for my tired eyes.
"Thank you, sir.", I muttered, turning slightly to him, who was sitting near my head.
"Let me check up on these bruises.." he answered, leaning a bit over me and I suddenly felt his gentle touch on my exposed neck. He began inspecting each purple mark carefully. With each passing moment, I became more aware of his almost caressing manner and it woke me up like a shot of lighting up my spine. I sat upright crawling back until my back hit the headboard, feeling my pulse racing and my breathing harsh and difficult. He seemed startled, just frozen there, with his hand still a bit extended but recoiled it almost immediately after.
"I-I'm fine, sir. I can do that by myself..", I managed to blurt out. I felt ridiculous, running away from his concerned touch like it burned. Before I could say anything else, he handed me a glass of water that had appeared on his bedside table.
"It's for the fever. Drink it and go to sleep.", his tone was firm, he even sounded a bit cold.
"And you?-"
"I'll sleep on the couch. Just drink it and sleep.", he insisted. After thanking him and drinking the liquid, I waited for him to leave the room and undressed, sliding under the covers and inhaling the scent of the captain. Sweet, soothing pine, it made me blush at first, but it wasn't long before I was fast asleep again.
I woke up with loud voices on the street, the usual noisy bustle of the Underground never failed to snatch me off sleep's warm embrace. The captain wasn't on the couch when I passed by the living room and a soft conversation and the rustling of plates came from the kitchen.
"So, how do you feel,Martha?", Montagne asked, sipping some tea.
"I'm better, thank you.", a slight smile flourished on my lips before turning to the corporal. "Sir, I'll go change the sheets right away. Montagne, I accidentally stained the bed with some blood from an open wound last night, do you have any others I can switch these with? I'll wash them nonetheless.", I stood near the door for a moment, expecting instructions as to where the clean sheets were, but the woman kicked one of the chairs away from the table.
"After breakfast. Sit down.", she said, downing a piece of buttered bread.
"But I-"
"Obey our hostess, lieutenant.", Levi intervened, eyeing me sideways with a cool expression. Without any chance of protest, I sat down and began eating some toasted bread with cold tea.
"Thank you, Montagne.", just thanking wasn't even enough, it felt like it would never be enough to repay her kindness. "You've been the best hostess anyone could hope for."
"You flatter me. I'm glad I could be of use to Levi's friends.", she smiled back. After all was finished and eaten, she showed me where the clean sheets were kept and where the washing board was. I changed Levi's bedding, apologizing once again for having soiled it, which he dismissed nearly immediately every time. The blood stain wasn't too hard to remove and it was only a couple of hours later that we gathered on the living room, waiting for Levi to brief us in our next task.
"Our target is this place here", he pointed at a small house marked on the map.
"How do you know?", I asked him, only to be shut up by a glance.
"The day I went scouting, I passed by this old shop. It used to be a tea house but now it was closed. Apparently the owner died."
"What was his name?", Reiner asked.
"That's not important... Feng.. something, I don't give a shit about it."- Feng? The Feng? What in the world... I held on to that thought for the rest of the conversation. Levi knew Ray's guardian?...
-Meanwhile on the other side of the Underground District-
Marina stood still, hiding inside a large iron chest half filled with old fabric scraps. Auntie had returned the night before, slamming the door with such fury, the little girl could swear it didn't close properly anymore.
At first, she just sat on the only couch inside the house, staring at nothing but then, taken by some violent thought, she'd get up and look for something to smash or kick or punch. It didn't even cross Marina's mind to leave the chest, fearing auntie would be angry at her for sneaking inside her house.
It was so strange seeing her like that. Big sister was never angry... well, the only times the girl had seen Elaine angry were when she rescued her from that filthy old man and when she saw Martha inside their house. Was she okay...? She said she'd be just behind her and meet up as soon as possible...
Marina watched closely as auntie paced around the house, spewing an incredible amount of profanity with such vigor that her face never got paler than bright red and veins could be seen sometimes, if the light hit the skin at the right angle. It was like this for one or two hours, the girl wasn't really sure, but after that, auntie started crying, sitting down on the windowsill, with a cigarette hanging loosely from in between her fingers, her face always half covered by the hood she rarely ever took off.
Soon after, auntie took out a bottle of some strong smelling liquid and began downing it like cleansing water, without even flinching. As she grew slower from the drink, she started to get angry again, this time screaming at the walls.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?! Huh?! Take away my father and now her?!", was one of the things she kept repeating.
It wasn't very long before she was out cold, still holding on to the nearly empty bottle. Marina felt bad, seeing her like that. She'd never seen auntie so angry before and so, after she was sure the woman was asleep, she crept out of the chest, covered auntie with a blanket and brought her a glass of water and some leftover bread, after taking off the moldy bits of it. She also took the time to eat whatever she could find, it'd been a while since she'd eaten anything.
After that, she crawled back into the iron chest and closed the lid, making sure to leave room for air to enter. Hugging her legs, she curled up into a tiny ball, wishing her bunny was there to protect her and trying to fall asleep.
The following morning, the girl woke up to the sound of auntie gagging out of the window and cursing her wretched drinking habit. She seemed to be talking to someone but no one ever answered and Marina was too scared to even open the lid to see what was happening.
"Come out of there.", auntie ordered after a while. Marina nearly jumped, her tiny heart pounding out of her chest and her breath becoming quick. "I know you're in the fucking chest, kid."
She had no choice but to leave her hiding place and stood in silence for a moment, waiting to be punished for sneaking in.
"What are you doing here?", she asked.
"Ellie... said I should hide here... she stood back to fight some people she said were mean..."
"Since when have you been here?"
"I'm not sure... maybe... yesterday?"
"Hm... come here, Marina.", auntie extended her arm to pick up the kid, placing her on her lap. "I want you to forget that you saw me angry... Some bad people did bad things to me and I was upset."
"It was scary...", the girl sniffled.
"There, there, dear...", she comforted the girl with a blanket expression. Ugh, what nuisance, to now have a small child to take care of. She should just kick her out of the house at once. "I have a favor to ask you."
"What is it...?"
"You need to take care of the house while I'm gone.", she could just abandon the kid there and never return. She didn't even care for the place either way. "Do you think you can do that?"
"Yeah! I think so! I'm sure I'll be really good.", the little girl smiled.
"Ah, that's my girl.", the other contorted what was left of her lips into a crooked smile. "Now run along, I'll be working today and I can't be disturbed. Go upstairs and don't come down until I say so, got it?"
"Okay! Auntie, you're the best, you're not scary at all!", the little girl giggled, hugging the woman's neck tightly, before running up the stairs.
"Ugh, finally I'm alone again. What a stupid child, she'll get herself killed, being so gullible in people...", the woman scoffed, lighting up another cigarette and covering her eyes with her arm to try and reduce the headache she felt.
After an hour, she received a visit from someone, a younger looking woman, very pale, blond hair and a soft voice, but they had a heated argument, that escalated in a frightening way for the eavesdropping little girl. She'd sat on the top floor and was looking through a whole in the wood at the scene bellow.
"What do you mean you lost them?", the younger woman questioned.
"Exactly that. I can't find them anywhere. But they can't have gone far, they're nearly dead after the fights."
"Which ones?"
"Martha and Levi. The other kid was nowhere to be found either."
"I see. Well, why didn't you follow them?"
"As if I'd do that!", auntie scoffed, starting to get annoyed.
"I'm fucking paying you to!"
"I can't follow anyone if I'm dead, idiot bitch!"
"What did you just call me? You f-", this nearly turned physical, if auntie hadn't restrained the blond girl, face down on the floor.
"I wouldn't advise that, Boss. You know I'm stronger than you. I could even kill you if I felt like it..."
"What the fuck's gotten into you today?! Just try and touch me anymore and I'll crush you.", she got free and got up, straightening her clothes and composing her updo. "I came here because I thought it was urgent but if it's just to deal with pent up frustration, I'll be leaving now."
"Ugh, shut up kid, you're not that important, I'm nearly twice your age. I called you because, the people following them are also looking for me, they want me dead. So I can't do my job properly. Just thought I'd give you a heads up on the lack of information until they make a move."
"Get me something. Their time here is almost running out. It will be much harder to deal with them on the Outside.", she left without further chat, auntie punching the door behind her.
"You idiot! Taking out anger on her?! It's like you do want to die... useless scum... maybe he was right about me all along..."
-Montagne's place -
"Sir, are we doing this tonight or not?", I asked, redoing his back bandage again.
"Doing what?", he seemed a bit space out.
"The heist, robbery, whatever you want to call it. Are we doing it tonight or not."
"You think you can handle yourself?", he turned and before I could move, he had taken hold of my chin with two fingers and made me move so he'd get a better view of my neck. "I could've swore I didn't bite you with such force...", he muttered.
Hearing this, blood rushed up to my cheeks but I felt like I could die of embarrassment. He... REMEMBERED. Oh dear, why cruel world, did you have to let Levi regain that memory.
"Are you feeling well, Martha, you look a little red...?", he commented, letting me lean away from our close stance.
"Fine, sir. I just... think it's reaaally stuffy inside the room, mind if I open the window a bit...?", fuck fuck fuck fuck, I swear, he can hear my pounding heart, this is not happening. Why am I even freaking out, it was just an act... or was it? He seemed to into it... it's fucking hard to tell if he actually liked it or not...! urrrgh, hormones calm the fuck down... I should've taken up the guy once in the bar for stuff like this... then I wouldn't be fantasying about the captain...
"Well, we're done here. You can leave. And, to answer your question, I've decided that we need another day to fully map out our plan and rest a bit more. You still look a bit feverish, ask Montagne for something to take care of that."
"Certainly, sir..", as soon as I closed the door behind me, I felt a deep sigh coming from my gut. A quiet chuckle came from the living room couch, where our hostess was sitting.
"Well, if the look on your face is anything to go by..."
"Please, it's nothing like that. Levi is my captain and just that."
"If you say so... But you do look a bit feverish, let me take your temperature...", after comparing our foreheads, she concluded that I was indeed a bit too hot and helped me settle in with a cold wet towel to lower the fever.
The next day was the day; we'd attack the shop and steal from the vaults. And then, off to the Outside.