A/N: Shout out to The Princess Andromeda for being my 250th reviewer, Jessica-Mind-Palace for being my 250th follower and otaku-life-rocks for being my 200th favorite! Thank you all so much for all the support, you guys are awesome!
Chapter Revamped: 25 March 2020
Humanity's Strongest Woman by xDollfie
Chapter 19 — Untold Secrets
Sasha remained silent while she worked her way stitching through the bullet grazes on the elder soldier. Occasionally, she looked at the superior's apathetic face to gauge her pain, but Ida did not even let out a grunt of pain and was unflinching throughout the whole process. It made Sasha wonder if she really had an incredible amount of pain tolerance, seeing that they ran out of anesthetic to numb the area.
"Is it bad?" Ida inquired in a still distant voice.
"No…" Sasha replied nervously, still taken aback by her bloodied appearance and traumatized from the events that happened recently. "Just bullet grazes… Nothing serious."
"I see…" she murmured, her thin brows crumpling together in a worrisome furrow.
She had to be more careful in the future, especially after that near-death experience. Ida only had her lucky stars to thank when her metal gears served as a coincidental shield that reflected off the raging bullet headed for her direction.
She almost died, she was so near death — but that didn't stop her from pressing on.
Sealing the final stitch, Sasha stood up and packed the first aid kit.
"Uhm, I'm done," she informed Ida in a meek voice when she noticed that she wasn't even moving. She looked like she was in a whole other world, sucked in by her thoughts.
"What?" Ida whispered distractedly. When she saw that Sasha had already packed up, she sighed, scrambling to pick up what little composure she had left. "Oh... Thank you, Sasha. You can go now, help the rest."
Taking a long deep breath in an effort to steady herself and her newfound exploding emotions, she found herself scouring the run-down stables that they had taken shelter for the night. The place was musty and dirty. But even though her environment was utterly filthy, all her nose could pick up was the scent of death.
It clung onto her everywhere she went.
"Oi." Levi's deadpanned voice came from behind her, and she turned around in haste.
"Your face..." Ida uttered in concern when she saw the dried blood. Grabbing onto his wrist, she dragged him to sit towards one of the dirty boxes.
Dipping a rag into one of the buckets of water, she began to clean off the blood.
As she focused on wiping off the dried crust of blood gently around the wound, Levi found himself staring directly at her face as if to assess her mental and physical well being.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me," Ida stated, realizing what he was trying to do. "Can't say the same for Armin and Jean though…"
If Ida strained her ears, she could still hear Armin gagging and throwing up outside the stables. Killing his first man had taken a traumatizing toll on the kind-hearted blonde and it had left an irreversible scar. Jean, on the other hand, was not looking so well either, completely horrified and still desperately trying to erase the cruel haunting imagery still fresh in his mind. He was guilt-ridden over causing Armin to kill someone in order to save him.
It was all because he couldn't pull the trigger that Armin had to bear his sins.
Mikasa entered the stables, handing the gun towards a crouched down Jean by the boxes. "It's your turn."
"How's Armin?" Jean asked in concern.
She averted her gaze away. "Still outside…"
"How are you feeling?" Levi suddenly inquired, forcing her attention back to him.
"Nevermore alive," she replied tepidly, but her face lacked emotion as she brushed the rag on top of the wound on his forehead. Nothing was detectable on her expression; it was cool and emotionless like a bronze mask. But it was her eyes that looked different. It was completely lifeless and narrowed down — the eyes of a murderer.
A strange thought crossed Levi's mind. He had expected her to be spiraling down a dark abyss of self-loathing by now, but Ida remained completely apathetic and unshakable. This was unlike her, and he couldn't help but feel that it was his presence that spurred this sudden change.
It was odd and infuriating seeing her like that. The cruel world was harsh, and Levi made it quite clear to every soldier around him that death was just a part of things and that every scout should get used to it. But seeing Ida now forcibly pretending not to feel anything and squash whatever remains of her humanity all because she was afraid of the show it infront of him left a very sour taste in his mouth.
Wasn't it already established between them that he would always be there to support her? Why was there a need to pretend around him? He had already seen it all — he had already seen her crumble and fall, so why wouldn't she confide in him?
It's as if Ida is trying to imitate his impassiveness, which Levi felt was the most depressing thought of all.
The last thing Levi wanted for her was to truly become someone like him; cruel, distant and cold. To reach such a state was a truly terrible lonely thing, and Ida had been recovering the past year — proud that her strength was used for something else better like defending humanity from the Titans instead of the senseless killing she did back in the Underground City.
However, even Levi himself couldn't differentiate the difference anymore — defending humanity, killing those who held differing beliefs from them within the Walls, wasn't it the same thing?
Ida slapped her hand together to dust off the imaginary dust, dragging him out of his bitter thoughts. "Remove your shirt, you've wounds there as well right?"
Levi obliged to her command in silence. He watched her hands carefully while she stitched up his wounds. Her fingers were calm and relaxed around the medical tweezers, something that he had not expected as well.
Ida could feel his heated gaze on her, but even though she knew what he was doing, she paid it no thought.
She was fine, truly, whether Levi Ackerman wanted to believe it or not.
She couldn't be anything else but fine.
After all, strength isn't about how much you can handle before you break. It's about how much you can handle after you break.
o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o
She moved deeper into the forest, holding onto two large empty buckets to fill at the nearby river. Huffing, Ida glared at the miscreant branches bombarding the path that she had been traveling on.
Stupid branches.
As she swatted yet another branch of foliage, Ida sighed tiredly when she finally found the river that she was looking for. She placed the two empty buckets at the side of the river and found herself focusing on the calm stream. It was a quiet riparian, yet she found herself strangely drawn to it. She didn't know if it was the clear freshwater or because of the soothing sounds that calmed her down.
Finally, she was alone.
She squatted down, suddenly feeling utterly filthy in comparison to the cool bobbing stream. She hadn't taken a bath in days. Ida smiled and reached out to touch the water, but a flash of red struck her, and she found herself halting.
Red. Blood red.
With exaggerated slowness, she lifted her hands, the crimson hue of blood contrasting against her porcelain white skin.
This was the hand of a ruthless murder.
With horror flashing in the depths of her eyes, she instantly dunked her hands into the river and began to furiously wash her hands, as if she were to wash the dried blood off her hands, her sins would go away as well. Once she was done, Ida stared at the crimson hue in the water, breathing out heavily.
The blood clouded and tainted the once crystal clear water crimson before the currents washed it away; stark crimson, translucent, until it the red finally faded into the same transparent clear water before. It was like her sins were washed away, long forgotten and gone, and Ida found a strange comfort in that thought.
Maybe…
She struggled to stand up, looking at the river with a sense of wonder. Ida wondered how it would be like to be to submerge herself into it. Would she feel better about herself then? Would it chase this miserable hollowness away from her?
Ida took off her boots. Tentatively, she stood by at the edge of the riverbank. She dipped her foot into the chilly water, shuddering inwardly at the sudden intrusion of the raw coldness into her warm body heat.
"Oi! What the hell are you doing?"
Startled, she jumped like a frightened cat and she hastily turned around clumsily. Her foot slipped under the lubricated muddy riverbank and she flailed her arms in the air for balance.
"AHH!"
"Shit!" Levi ran forward, his hand outstretched in an effort to grab onto her. He grabbed onto her wrist. Her hands clutched onto his shirt amidst the frenzy. They both tumbled in a fight with gravity's pull. Gravity won them over, she pulled him down, and…
Splash!
"Ah!" Ida gasped for air when her head finally resurfaced after the intense struggle underwater to stand up. The river wasn't all too deep for her to drown, but seeing how she was petite in height, it reached just above her stomach area.
Levi popped out soon after, dripping wet and looking incredibly pissed that he was dragged down as well.
"Fuck! What the heck is your problem?!" he immediately snapped, glaring steel-edged daggers as he pushed his wet hair backward.
"Excuse me?! It's your fault that you sneaked up behind me!" she hollered back incredulously. Ida couldn't believe he was blaming her for this blunder! She swiped the droplets of water off her face, snarling at him and baring her teeth. "Why are you here anyway?!"
"I came to check on your trouble-making ass, you ungrateful brat," Levi replied coldly, making a disgusted face as he peeled away a water plant stuck to his arm, gritting his teeth in an obvious show of irritation. He hated filth. "This is fucking disgusting…"
"No one told you to come to check on me! I was just collecting water, what the hell could happen? Did you think I was going to go to a corner and bawl my eyes out or something?!" she shouted, feeling her face heat with a familiar burning sensation. Her green eyes narrowed to slits.
A few couple beats of hesitant silence passed before Levi scoffed angrily, pushing his wet hair back again with a rack of his fingers. "Tch. Don't be ridiculous."
But that pause was enough to tell Ida that he was lying.
Levi was never hesitant about anything. And now, she felt almost remorseful for her rage when she realized he was worried about her. Ida felt like she had overreacted. Truthfully, she was close to crying before he came. It was an accident, and it was partly her fault that she grabbed onto him and dragged him down anyway.
Though, she wasn't about to back down yet, especially not with that way Levi was glaring at her. "You're such a scumbag, you know that?"
"Shitty brat," he snapped back, angered. Scooping up a handful of water, he mercilessly splashed cold water on her face before growling, "Remind me again why the hell I keep you alive when all you do is cause fucking trouble."
Ida stalled for a brief moment, all sense of remorse fizzling out like a doused flame. Her fisted hands unclenched. What did that even mean? No longer remorseful, but rather angered and hurt, she gritted her teeth and dug her hand into the freezing water, splashing a series of violent splashes at him.
"Oi!" He shouted, shutting his eyes as the water stung his trained eyes.
Blocking the water with his hands, Levi retailed with his own attack. Ida scoffed in disbelief at his reaction, her hair dripping wet and the two begin their childish fight, splashing a series of cold water towards each other before exhaustion finally took her out.
Coughing as another series of water entered her lungs, Ida found her hands meeting a bundle of water plants. She tugged them out from their roots and flung them at Levi, knowing full well that it would disgust and throw off the clean-freak off guard.
"Stupid midget!"
The wet plant hit her Captain squarely at his head and stuck to his face. At that, Levi stopped, as if absolutely dismayed and horrified at the disgusting filth on him. As if the scene played out in slow motion, Levi peeled the green plant off his face and glowered at the audacious brat in front of him. "You're fucking dead, brat."
At his threat, Ida yelped, clamped her eyes in fear and started flapping her hands around the water as if to generate a water shield around her to prevent him from coming any closer. "D — Don't come any closer!"
She recognized that look anywhere, he was truly pissed — livid — and she was going to regret what she had done.
"STOP IT, YOU DAMNED PILE OF SHIT!"
"NO! SCREW OFF!"
Hissing as water entered his eyes, Levi grabbed her flapping wrist and spun her around forcibly, pulling her into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her so that her arms were restrained.
"Let me go!" Ida struggled to break out of his lock, wriggling around like a butterfly trying to break out of its cocoon.
She felt her cheeks flush, but it wasn't from anger this time, it was from embarrassment. He was so close to her, she could feel his hot breath tickling her ears and her back was pressed into his chest.
"Shut the hell up." Ida could hear the scowl from his voice. Immediately, her joints locked.
"…You're such a pain in the ass..." He grouched lowly and loud enough for her to hear. Ida was surprised that his voice was softer, gentler even.
"I — I know that already…" Ida muttered the first thing that came to her congested mind, feeling her cheeks heat up. She couldn't believe she said that. She was admitting that she was a pain in the ass! Her brain was just too fuzzy under his hold, and her heart was pumping crazily fast.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
She stopped struggling, knowing it's futile to get out of his hold. Ida didn't know how long they stood there, half-submerged in the water, completely drenched from head to toe. Despite her flushed cheeks, she felt slightly comfortable under his hold.
"Your face is red," she heard him whisper behind her in a slightly mocking tone, obviously taking amusement from her state.
She gasped out in utter embarrassment, struggling again as she cried, "Let me go!"
"Fine. I'll let you go," Levi growled back sourly, and in one fluid moment, he grabbed onto her head and pushed her underwater.
Ida gasped at the sudden intrusion of the water in her nose but she quickly regained her composure, rising back up to the surface when Levi was no longer holding her down. She coughed and wheezed, her rage filling her capacity to the brim.
"You're such an asshole! I could've died!" she screamed at him after she took a few thankful mouthfuls of sweet oxygen.
"Oh? Now you're afraid of dying?" Levi bit back harshly, leveling his hard gaze with hers. "That didn't seem that way when you're recklessly charging at the enemy like a stupid suicidal idiot back then."
She scoffed in disbelief, crossing her arms across her chest to show her obvious annoyance. Was this the reason why he was so mad at her now?
"You should've waited for Mikasa and me to back you up instead of charging in so recklessly," he snarled coldly, slight anger anchoring his tone as he continued. "What the hell were you even thinking? What distracted you back then?"
"If I'd waited for them any longer, the enemies would've reached the carriage and we'd have lost everything!" Ida shot back in her defense, unfaltering under his intimidating glower. Slight indignation colored her glare. "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"You could've died, what if the fucking bullet didn't hit your gears instead?" He tacked on, another layer of anger kicking in like a backup reserve. Although his tone of voice was calm, he looked like he was ready to annihilate something.
"I could've, but I didn't."
At that, she made eye contact with him and silence took over.
Scoffing, she tore her eyes away and moved away. Ida refused to look back at him, for fear that it would encourage that very spark she hoped to keep smothered. She knew this was coming, Levi had always reprimanded her when she was extremely reckless in battle, but she wasn't in the mood to hear another one of his indignant rants.
She couldn't understand why he was so angry — so what if she died? It would just be the end of her. It wouldn't serve as an inconvenience to the squad; they would just lose another member, that's all. She'll just be another statistic. They always had Levi, humanity's strongest and the perfect one. As long as her team had him, she was insignificant.
Levi watched as she snuffed, turning her nose up angrily. He heard her mutter something darkly to herself.
There was something off about her, Levi realized with a start as he studied her behavior. She hadn't been quite the same lately — a little antsy maybe, more guarded, not as engaging, a little more secretive, and quieter.
And... he supposed it worried him a smidge.
But nothing could have worried him more when he caught sight of his redhead subordinate on the battlefield, as reckless and impetuous as ever. Levi had the privilege of watching from afar as a flying bullet charged straight to her direction. He could see that she was paler than usual, exhaustion taking a toll on her and he remembered feeling his heart stop, knowing that it was too late for her to dodge the incoming bullet.
What would've happened if Ida hadn't miraculously survived? What if the bullet drilled through her instead of her gears? What if she died?
Death wasn't anything new to him. Levi had witnessed the many deaths of his comrades over the last few years; Farlan, Isabel, Oluo, Petra, Eld, Gunther and many more. For a few, he had held their hands painstakingly as they passed on, for some, he could merely watch in dismay and horror from afar, unable to save them, but able to avenge them.
But it was different when he thought about Ida Starke. Somehow the thought of her dying before his eyes was immensely heart wrenching — a pain on a completely different level. Levi dreaded the day when he might have to hold onto her corpse, unmoving and lifeless, never to argue with him again or smile that brilliant grin of hers.
He imagined her bloodied and lifeless in his arms and a pang of pain drilled through his chest.
The cruel imagery stuck onto him like splinters that needed special tweezers to get out and Levi completely detested this feeling.
He hated how he always seemed to be worried about her, he hated how he felt anger whenever she did something stupid and dangerous, he hated how she always had something over him, making him feel so vulnerable, weak, and empty.
What made her so special to him to make them feel this way?
"I'm leaving, you can stay here and shit yourself for all I care," Ida murmured darkly, breaking the silence and waddling through the water in anger, but suddenly, Levi held her back.
"What?" she called snappily when she saw that Levi was holding onto her wrist. "You need help getting out or something?"
His eyes narrowed as he stared directly at her, scrutinizing her with immense intensity. She was nothing special really; weak but strong, cold but soft-hearted, confident but afraid, reckless but smart.
So why…?
Why did he feel so emotionally jaded whenever he thought about her?
"Check on your new set of gears when you get back, I don't need you to be a hindrance to the squad because your gears are fucked," he found himself saying, though it wasn't really what he wanted to say.
Ida rolled her eyes, pulling her hand back. "I know that already."
She waddled out of the river, picking up her boots that she left on the riverbanks.
"You're filling the damned buckets up and bringing them back," she said, pointing to the empty buckets by the river. "I'm not doing it."
Levi scowled, getting out of the river as well. "Heck no."
She pushed her wet bangs away from her face. "It's your fault that I got into this mess anyway!"
She had expected him to retort with more angry words. Instead, Levi was silent. His scowling eyes were pinned on her profile and his eyebrows creased together. Then, he averted his eyes away and Ida saw a nerve jump in his neck when he tightened his jaw.
"What?" she prompted, mystified with his reaction.
"Tch." Levi moved towards her and unclasped his wet cloak. Her eyes went round in shock when he draped it over her shoulders and buttoned it tightly around her neck.
She was still thunderstruck at his behavior when Levi took the buckets and filled them up with water. He trudged past her, carrying the pails. "Let's go back."
Ida was bewildered. Was the fight over? Did she win? She at least expected Levi to argue with her until one of them gave up — herself being the likely candidate. It was out of character for him to let her win. However, as she watched silence cloak over his lips, she knew that she 'won.' She wasn't too smug about it though. He was probably tired of talking to her.
The true question was: why did Levi suddenly give her his cloak?
"What's up with the cloak?" she asked, intrigued as to what caused this sudden turn of behavior. She trailed behind him.
It took awhile for him to reply to her. "Your shirt is see-through."
Ida stopped her walk at that revelation. The heat of her blood scorched her cheeks beyond all measure. Oh god! How utterly embarrassing!
"You saw, didn't you?" She glared at him, but Levi merely faced her with an aura of calm.
She scrunched her nose at his silence before huffing. "Tch. Bet you enjoyed it."
The words flew out of her words. Ida mentally slapped herself. But no point taking it back now. That would also make it worse if she became awkward about it.
Levi grimaced at her tease and looked away tersely. She watched his jaw tightening and it surprised her. Could it be? Did he actually feel something for her seeing her like that? Impossible.
"Pervert," she breathed.
Levi migrated his scowling eyes back to her. "If I were a damned pervert, I would've done things far beyond your shitty imagination."
She raised a brow. "Really? What is in the scope of your imagination I gather?"
"I would've continued what happened at that Wall," he deadpanned. He gave her a pointed look. "Or would you like to try it again, Starke? I wouldn't mind that."
The air between them filled with familiar tension when silence followed. Unbelievable, she thought. First things were weird between them because they'd kissed. Now it was weird because they wanted to kiss! Her cheeks were so hot Ida felt like she was having a fever.
Good god. Get a grip on yourself, Ida! This is your Captain! Not some random man she can enjoy a playful verbal flirtatious spar with!
Levi hissed underneath his breath when he broke their eye contact and started trudging back to where the rest of the squad was. This time, Ida followed him quietly, utterly hating the awkward tension she had gotten herself into.
"Thanks for the cloak…" she murmured quietly, berating herself for her behavior.
"Mhm."
Needless to say, both of them got curious looks from the rest of the squad when they came back completely drenched. But from how things were looking and having caught sight of how red Ida's face was, they dropped all questions, knowing better than to ask.
o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o
"Go and get some rest, I'll take over from here." Ida approached Jean and Armin standing guard outside the stables, gesturing for them to hand their guns over. "You guys probably had a traumatic day, so go and sleep it off."
"Thank you," Jean muttered, placing his rifle to her extended palm. "Armin, let's go."
Armin did not respond to Jean. He was far too engrossed in his heavy cloud of thoughts. Ida frowned when she saw this and raised her voice. "Oi, Armin."
"A — Ah!" Armin jolted, startled by the sudden sharp voice piercing through his train of destructive and depressing thoughts. "Sorry... I got a little distracted."
"Well, wake up," Ida told him brusquely. "It's a good thing that I came out to check on you guys, what are you thinking standing guard while you're distracted? The enemy would probably blow your head off without you even noticing."
She chewed her lower lip when she saw Armin's crest-fallen expression, realizing her mistake for being too insensitive with choice of words. Shit.
Admittedly, she actually respected Armin for remaining this composed and coming to terms with killing his first person this quickly. "…What's with that look on your face? Still brooding over it even after what Levi told you?"
"I guess…" Armin smiled sadly, pulling himself off the wooden box he was sitting on. "No matter what Captain says, I can't help it... I can't… forget the look on her face when I killed her…"
He paused when he felt a warm hand on his forehead, ruffling through his blonde locks. "Then don't," Ida advised, a certain warmness mixed into her rough tone. "Sear it into your memory forever."
Armin blinked. "Huh?"
"Don't forget the faces of those you've killed, because, they certainly won't forget us, the ones who killed them." Her lips twitched up slightly, almost sadly even. "And you too, Jean. Don't screw up again."
"I understand..." Jean migrated his guilty gaze to the ground.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go and rest in the stables," Ida slapped Armin in the back and pushing him towards the stable doors. "Go, it's late."
"Come on, Armin." Jean turned his heels to the door and Armin trailed after him, but a loud shock infused gasp stopped them in their tracks and made them snap their head back sharply in caution.
An intruder?
Ida was frozen solid when they turned around. Every muscle in her body poised rigidly. Her rifle was held close to her chest and Armin could see her grip on the metal tighten — she looked absolutely positively terrified.
"Uh… Ida-san, you ok?" Jean inquired cautiously, absorbing her shock.
And just like that, Ida went from being a mature, philosophical, composed woman to a panicking, blundering idiot in a span of a few seconds.
"AHHHHHHH!" She finally shrieked, her voice cracking under the intensity of her scream. Dropping her rifle to the ground in the epitome of pure shock and horror, she charged towards the panicking scouts at full speed without a second thought.
"WHAT?!"
"Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!" Ida instantly bolted behind Jean immediately with a fast sprint, holding onto his shoulders while she frantically moved him around as if to use him as a human shield.
Jean did not appreciate being moved around so violently. "Kill what?!" He demanded, irritation anchoring his tone. What had gotten her so worked up suddenly?
"YELP! IT'S A SNAKE!" Armin gasped out loud when he caught sight of the slithery smooth reptile slithering among the grass, just one foot away from where Ida stood a few seconds ago.
"S — SNAKE?!" Jean's eyes widen in horror. Instinctively, he jumped behind the composed young blonde exactly like how Ida did to him. He popped his head behind Armin, fear coloring his expression and screamed, "ARMIN! KILL IT!"
Armin was completely thunderstruck. "What?! You're scared of snakes too?!"
Ida retorted in a panic, "HE'S A HORSE! OF COURSE, HE'S SCARED OF SNAKES!"
Fear of the highest level blinded her and as if it wasn't possible, her complexion paled even further when the creature moved closer towards them and she clamped her eyes shut tightly, hiding behind Jean who was also currently hiding behind Armin.
The three scouts frantically moved around like a human train, with Armin at the very front, Jean in the middle and Ida right at the back.
"I'M NOT A HORSE!"
"SHUT UP! BE A MAN AND KILL IT!"
"JEAN! I CAN'T CHASE IT AWAY IF YOU KEEP HOLDING ONTO ME!"
"OI! What happened?!" A stern highly irritated voice sounded behind the three panicking idiots.
Ida snapped her head around, yelping in relief when she saw a scowling Levi, looking insanely irritated as ever with that same frown of his. He had his blades out in preparation for an emergency after he heard the commotion from inside the stables.
She didn't know what came over her, but she literally pounced on him.
"Levi! Oh, thank the gods! Kill it!" Ida instantly jumped onto him with flailing arms that mimicked a frightened flapping duck and clung onto his neck for protection as she tried to wrap her legs around him like a koala.
"Shit!" Levi angled his dangerous razor-sharp blades away from her, lifting them up in the air as he tried to maintain his balance on his feet. Ida had almost knocked him over with her surprise attack.
He was the clean freak, right? Levi should know what to do with a frightening pest!
In a panic, she found herself tugging onto his hair in distress, "QUICKLY KILL IT!"
"Kill what?!" Levi shouted back angrily.
He observed his surroundings, turning around hastily with Ida clinging onto him as though her life depended on it. He was almost frantic, and emotion was ridiculous to him, he was always so composed most of the time. But seeing how panicked and frightened Ida was, he had thought something big had happened.
"THERE!"
"WHERE?!"
"Uh… Captain… It's gone..." Armin pointed out composedly amidst the entire panic attack happening in front of him.
"Eh? The snake's gone?" True to his friend's words, Jean opened his eyes, instantly relaxing when he saw that the snake was gone. He knew, without a doubt, that the frightening reptile had escaped into the bush. He exhaled a loud breath of relief and moved away from Armin, cursing when he realized how cowardly his reaction was.
Thank god Eren wasn't here to witness it, he would've teased him about it for the rest of his life.
"You brats caused all that noise… for a shitty snake?" Levi asked incredulously, in disbelief that he had jolted awake from his nap, ran out the stables frantically with his blades, all because a bunch of wimps started shrieking their lungs off at the sight of a stupid snake.
A throb of annoyance and disbelief flowed through Levi's veins when the scouts' silence gave him his answer.
"Is it… safe?" Ida asked tentatively, peeling her eyes open. She sighed in relief when she saw that the snake was no longer there. "Oh thank god!"
It took her a moment to realize that she was clinging onto an extremely pissed off Levi, his scowl as formidable and intimidating as ever as he jabbed her with acidic glares, and she gasped.
Shit! What am I doing?!
She flushed bright red and tried to detangle herself from him, but Levi had already dropped her to the ground in spiteful anger. He scoffed in disbelief as his intelligent mind sped up to process the absurdity of the situation. Another surge of pulsating irritation washed over him when he realized just how ridiculous this situation was.
"Oof!" Ida landed on the ground on her bum, glaring at him with utmost hatred and indignation.
"Your obnoxious shriek probably scared that damn thing away," he snarled and then he moved his heated, steel-edged glare towards the two younger males. "You're going to give away our location if you start generating so much fucking noise."
"Sorry…" Armin and Jean uttered sheepishly. "We panicked because Ida-san started screaming."
Those traitorous brats! Ida gasped, her hand still on her chest as she tried to calm down her frantic heartbeat. She hadn't expected that they would sell her out like that!
Before she could retort, she felt Levi's glare on her and she peered up sheepishly at him from the ground.
"You fight huge man-eating monsters for a living and you're scared shitless because of a dumb snake?" he questioned, disbelief coloring his tone.
"It's not my fault!" Ida defended, hitting the ground like a protesting child. She matched his formidable glare with her own, determined to not look like a fool. "It could be poisonous!"
Levi hissed exasperatedly, rubbing his face in an effort to dissipate his anger. He was completely flabbergasted that this dumb woman was named 'second strongest' after him. It must be one of her natural talents to shift from a formidable soldier to an idiotic shitty brat so quickly.
All he could do is stare at the idiotic woman and her pathetic attempt to maintain her non-existent pride. "Tch. You're completely ridiculous."
o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o
He felt something shaking him.
Levi groaned in his light sleep, voicing his discomfort. The freshly stitched bullet grazes were stinging, and it had taken him quite some time to fall asleep. Sleep was a luxury that peril times like this. He was no doubt sleep-deprived and now was one of the rare times he allowed himself to take a nap.
So who was this idiot shaking him awake now? Who dared to do such a thing?
Forcefully, he tugged open his heavy lids and found herself staring straight at a pair of glistening green eyes. He could recognize that pair of eyes anywhere and he hissed out in annoyance, rubbing his face as he scowled. "What do you want now, Ida?"
He grunted when Ida poked his face again, letting out a low string of unrecognizable words from the back of his throat, sounding groggy and very displeased to have been woken up in such a fashion.
"Levi… Levi…"
"What?" He snapped angrily, narrowing his tired eyes at her in utmost annoyance.
"Can I…" she paused as if debating if she should continue.
"What now?" he demanded, his impatience growing at her hesitance.
"Can I… nap here with you?" Ida finally requested in a small voice, biting on her bottom lip.
Levi raised a brow. Her request threw him into a twister of mystification. "Why? Can't sleep at a filthy stable like this?"
He had made himself comfortable propped up on the wooden wall on a bed of hay in one of the empty stalls, arms crossed and sleeping while sitting up. Levi refused to have his hair touching the filthy ground.
Her eyes glossed over when she laid her desperate gaze on him. "No… I just can't… Really sleep without waking up..."
He had to admit, she looked damn adorable — all sleepy-eyed, pouting, with messy red hair sticking everywhere. It stirred something inside of him, a primal instinct of sorts. He noticed how her eyes glistened, almost as if she had just teared up.
"No, go somewhere else," Levi replied grumpily, crossing his arms again.
"…Fine." she sighed, crestfallen at his blunt rejection.
It only then did he realize how tired she looked, probably woken up by nightmares or kept awake with guilt — it had affected her, he concluded. She was affected by the horrifying gruesome images of death, and what she had done. The trauma was clear in her eyes. It appeared to him that she was reliving all that happened.
And she was finding some form of serenity in him once again.
"Tch." He hissed, rolling his eyes. Damn this. He could hardly suppress himself around her, not forgetting what had happened back river today, and so it wouldn't do him any good to have her around more than necessary.
But before he could stop himself, his lips parted and he heard himself saying, "Whatever. Just don't wake me up again."
Her heart warmed at his approval, well, at least that was what she knew he was trying to say — it was just placed in a certain 'Levis language' that Ida understood well.
"Thanks," she smiled softly.
With a contented sigh, Ida collapsed on the bed of hay, gingerly landing her head on Levi's lap as her pillow.
He bristled, frowning. "Oi, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"It's uncomfortable to sleep here," came her simple reply. "I miss my pillow."
"Well, it's uncomfortable for me to have you huge ass head on my lap. Get the fuck off me." Levi tried to shake his legs, but Ida persisted and only made her head heavier, securing her position.
"…Shut up and just let me."
Levi exhaled sharply, closing his eyes to control his brimming irritation.
God damn it, this woman was driving him mad. Did she not realize the mounting tension between them? Ida wasn't that dense. This was inappropriate on all levels. He was her Captain and she was his direct subordinate — that was all they could ever be. At the state the Survey Corps was in, these were peril times.
Though there were no official rules between fraternizing within squads, it was an unspoken advisory that there shouldn't be any, especially between superiors and subordinates. Being a scout Survey Corps was a hazardous profession, one that required unbiased judgment in order to remain objective and a cold heart to stomach the high dead counts.
When Levi had composed himself, he opened his eyes. Instead of ordering her off his lap, he found himself positively drawn to her peaceful relaxed face; eyes closed, lips slightly parted and contented. He saw how she was holding onto the bracelet he had given her as she sighed right in front of his eyes.
He watched the slumbering subordinate on his lap — her hair tousled wildly, sticking up in various odd angles, plastered to the wet skin of her face in some places. Not her most beautiful state, but he was glad that she was here in front of her. A strand of red hair was caught on her mouth and Levi pulled it away carefully with a single finger.
Ah, just damn this.
Ida was just as stubborn as he was when it came to getting what she wanted, and so Levi bitterly decided that he could just deal with it for once.
He didn't know how long had passed, but Ida was asleep by now. She had fallen asleep quickly, seeing how they didn't really get that much sleep these past few days. The same couldn't be said about Levi though, he was awake. Wide awake.
With narrowed eyes and a frown of disdain, Levi simply watched her sleep knowing well that he was fully awake by now. Usually, he wouldn't find it entertaining in any way to watch someone sleep, but this time, he found himself strangely intrigued.
"…Levi…"
Blinking in surprise at the slumbering girl on his lap, he barely heard her soft call. Was she in pain?
"Ida?" he called out in a whisper. His hands had extended, in something of a cautious manner, before he had even realized it.
Levi was torn, a state he hardly found himself in.
Here was his subordinate, sleeping on his lap and whispering his name for whatever reason. Was he supposed to leave her like this? He didn't know. Waking Ida had always been a very bad idea, she had quite the temper when angry, so he didn't want to dislodge her for fear that the sudden action would startle her awake — he didn't want to deal with her rage. Therefore, Levi supposed that he could sleep like this. After all, they had shared a bed together before, and on more than one account at that — this wasn't exactly anything new.
And so, Levi gingerly — or as gingerly as the roughened Captain could manage — pushed her hair back from her forehead and placed a palm on her head, figuring that it helped her sleep better.
"Ida-san!" Sasha came towards the stable stall, peeping her head into it. "Do you want to eat— Oh!"
Her eyes were wide with fear when she found her Captain scowling at her intimidatingly, a lone finger on his tightened lips in a warning gesture to shut up. The message was clear to the brunette: let Ida sleep.
Sasha nodded her head understandingly, finding herself glancing at the intimate position that her two superiors were in and sped away quickly in silence, deciding that she could eat Ida's share as well.
o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o
"Where will we be heading now?" Ida inquired, walking alongside Levi.
Levi's face was as apathetic but he moved forward with an air of determination. "It depends, we've to count on our shit luck that Mikasa and Armin managed to grab someone who looks like they're in charge. Those small fries wouldn't even know anything."
The Central Military Police had been dispatched to scout the area for the runaway fugitives Survey Corps members and their squad had managed to capture two wandering scouts. But alas, they were nothing more than new recruits. Levi concluded they knew nothing about what their superiors were doing, so questioning them was futile — a sentiment that Ida agreed with.
She looked at the identification booklet in the palm that Levi had taken from the recruits — Hitch and Marlowe were their names.
"Are we infiltrating the Military Police headquarters?" she asked. "I doubt that even an in-charge officer would reveal their location to us."
He stopped at their carriage, watching Sasha and Connie preparing for immediate departure. "As if we have a damned choice. We're running out of time. This is all we can do for now. Even I can't say which plan is correct, we can never predict the results in this kind of situation."
She sighed tirelessly, mumbling to herself as she rubbed her temples. "Ah… we really fucked up big time. I wonder how that Titan brat is doing…"
"Probably shitting himself," Levi said sardonically.
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and Ida bumped into him.
"Ow!" she cried, rubbing onto her forehead. "What's up?"
"How are your wounds?" Levi suddenly inquired sternly in an abrupt change in the subject, turning his heel to face her. He crossed his arms.
Ida raised a brow at his sudden inquiry but her lips twitched up into a smile. "I'm fine, don't worry I'm capable of fighting if the need arises."
"It's been bothering me, so just drop the damn act and just spit it out. You're not telling me something."
Her smile evaporated instantly, taken aback by his sudden question. Ida didn't like the tone of his voice that he was using — it almost sounded like he was accusing her. She noticed how haunting his cold eyes were — like they were searching her for an answer.
She had always known that Levi was a sharp man, nothing could ever get past him under his watchful eye, but she was so sure that she had composed herself around him.
She started picking on her nails casually, not meeting her gaze with his. Ida decided to carry on playing dumb. "Why would you ask something like that?"
"Because you look like you're badly constipated for the past couple of days and you've been lost in your bloody cloud of thoughts," Levi deadpanned coldly. "If it isn't your wounds or constipation that has been causing you to make that shitty expression, it's something else."
Ida just didn't like how he was questioning her and she began to get slightly nervous. Why did she get the feeling that he knew something? Thankfully, she was able to put on a straight face when she deadlocked her eyes with him in a challenge, refusing to cave in.
"I'm just worried about Erwin," she lied.
"Tch. I see..." Levi looked away, but something told Ida that he didn't buy her excuse at all. But she couldn't be too sure, he had always been hard to read.
Ida could see his marvelous brain working by the way his eyes moved a little, a thing most people didn't notice. She did, Levi was remarkably intelligent when he was forming a plan.
She felt her heart winched painfully as a reaction, completely hating herself for telling such a lie to him. It was agonizing to say at the very least, but it was for the best.
I'm sorry. It's better if you didn't know anything.
Sighing, Ida busied herself by scouring the vicinity for any approaching enemies or signs of her squadmates returning. Her jaw tightened when she saw Jean approaching the area they were. Their captive Military Police Soldiers Hitch Dreyse and Marlowe Freudenberg following slowly behind, unbounded.
Her frown only deepened when she saw the right side of Jean's face was bleeding and bruised. Did the scouts attack him?
As quick as lightning, Ida sprinted forward, grabbed her blades and pointed the sharp end of her blade at Marlowe's throat threateningly.
"Ah!" Marlowe cried in surprise, raising his hand in the air in surrender.
"You," Ida spat through gritted teeth.
"Wa — Wait!" Jean hurriedly addressed her, a hand on her shoulder in an effort to calm the situation. "They're with us now!"
She contemplated his answer for a moment, her blade never dropping. Ida raised one eyebrow, both in question and as an invitation for him to keep going. She was curious about what Jean meant by that.
"Ida," Levi's smooth voice sounded behind her, his tone telling her to drop her blade and calm down.
In an exaggerated slowness, she pulled her blade back hesitantly and turned to Jean for an explanation. "What's up with your face? It's busted."
"It's nothing…" Jean replied, touching the side of his bruised face where Hitch had hit him with a wooden stick when he had tried to test Marlowe's determination in helping out the Survey Corps by threatening him with a fake attack. "They said that they wanted to help us."
"I see…" Ida hummed. "Go get it treated before it gets infected."
She turned her attention back to the nervous, sweating captive scouts. "So, you're with us rebels now, eh?"
"You aren't rebels, we know the truth! Dimo Reeves was killed by the Central Military Police, not the Survey Corps!" Marlowe hurriedly replied, hoping that it was the right answer that she wanted to hear. A determination was coloring his orbs and Ida took notice of that. "Let us help you, Captain Levi!"
"Jean, are you certain that they could be trusted?" Levi inquired rather harshly.
"Yes." Jean poised himself rigidly. "I'd be liable for anything that goes wrong."
"You wouldn't be liable for anything if our heads get blown off by your misjudgment," Ida countered sharply, flipping her long scarlet braid over her shoulders.
"Ida Starke!" Marlowe called, panic mounting in his voice. "I know which checkpoint has the weakest security! Give us a chance! We're very clear that the Survey Corps is fighting for the sake of humanity!"
With folded arms, she glanced at Levi speculatively, waiting for his decision. His eyebrows were furrowed down like he was thinking of something. "Fine, I accept your help. Jean, go call back the rest, we're leaving."
She trailed after him when he left to claim his horse, "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes," he said coolly. "It's time for us to be the aggressor."
o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o
She plunged her blade directly into her aggressor's leg, hearing him scream out in agonizing pain. Gritting her teeth, she violently pulled her blade out in a swift single movement. Blood spurted from the fresh wound.
"Don't even try to move one step from there. If you try to follow me, I'll kill you," she spat to the groaning guard on the floor. She moved forward and roughly grabbed the hiding man from under the office table.
Sparing one last glance at the groaning guard, she shrugged. "Well… It's not like you can walk anyway…"
Tugging roughly onto the collar of her captive, Ida dragged him out of the room and into the compound, ignoring his pleas to be released.
"Levi!" Ida shouted, catching him hanging by his steel wires on a nearby tree. His blades were tainted scarlet red. "I got the fucking asshole in charge! It appears he's with the interior police!"
He effortlessly landed in front of her. Ida landed a hard kick on the officer's back and the man went tumbling onto Levi's grasp.
"You've done well," Levi stated flatly, looking at the captured officer with immense contempt. "Let's go."
The pair headed to their meet up point with their new prisoner. The recruits' reflexivity pointed their rifles when they heard the rustling in the forest.
"It's me," Levi announced flatly, dragging their prisoner and unceremoniously dumping him on the grass before him.
Armin looked mortified. "Captain, he's—"
"With the interior police, I've got a few questions for him."
Ida found herself anxiously counting the number of heads, praying that they didn't encounter any patrolling Military Policemen.
"Everyone's okay," Levi said, noticing how anxious Ida looked. "But, as we expected, those two weren't here. Let's move out."
The moment they had reached a good distance from headquarters, Levi wasted no time in kicking their prisoner and launching into a brutal and violent interrogation session. "That's a nice mustache you've got there. Where are Eren and Krista? You should talk while you still can."
Ida watched the hostile conversation happening calmly, rolling her eyes dramatically when the officer tried to talk his way out of here. The answer was plain on his face — the officer knew that Levi was planning to torture him and he was hoping to avoid the epidemic.
She felt her sizzling anger rage viciously within her when she heard the news from their captive that Erwin was going to be executed, her hands itching to punch the living daylights of the damn bastard for saying such a thing.
"Do you understand, Levi? There's nothing more you can do. Let me do the talking, we could work something out." The officer stood up, gingerly landing a hand on Levi's shoulder.
"Nah, I think I'll pass." Levi's voice was as cool as ice. "Just tell me where Eren and Krista are."
"So you're going to watch your comrade die?!" The officer sounded desperate, almost flabbergasted in disbelief that Levi was willing to sacrifice his subordinates. "If you don't surrender, we'll be killing off your captured comrades one by one!"
"Priority is given to some more than others among the Survey Corps members," Levi replied in a dull monotone. In a flash, he took his hold on the officer's wrist and twisted it cruelly, causing the bone to crack. He pinned the grunting officer to the bark of the tree. "And we're the fools that have gathered even after acknowledging such rules. Plus, if we were to surrender, I don't think they would be lenient enough to let the rest go. They're hell-bent on exterminating each and every one of us."
"ARGGH!" The officer screamed out in agonizing pain, falling to the ground when Levi released his hold on him.
"Damn, you're noisy." Levi sadistically mused, relishing in the man screams as he applied more pressure with his boots on the officer's broken arm. "Where's Eren and Krista?!"
Unable to withstand any more of the torturous agonizing pain, the officer finally caved in. "I — I don't know! I'm telling you, Kenny Ackerman is a careful man!"
"Well, that explains a lot, he really wouldn't talk, more so if it's something important, but you should have a few ideas. Let's keep this up until you remember, shall we? You've got a few bones to spare, don't you?"
The officer's eyes widen in the purest form of horror, knowing full well what was install for him. "Y — You're a mad man…"
"Someone coming from that side!" Sasha hollered.
At that abrupt distressed call, the squad instantly prepared themselves for a battle, dodging behind trees and concealing themselves in high grass. Their guns and blades were glistening under the moonlight, poised and ready for use.
Sasha aimed her bow, her brown eyes narrowed down with eagle's accuracy. "Multiple targets!"
The officer started laughing, mocking and contempt dripping like honey from every amused chuckle. "I told you, Captain... It's too late."
Ida gritted her teeth as the tall grass began to rustle violently; shaking and quivering, twigs cracking with the weight of a foot being placed upon them and leaves crunching. She nodded towards Mikasa by the corner, signaling her to fire when their attackers came into range. Her hands were already on her hand grips that were plugged into blades.
"Wa — Wait! Don't shoot!"
That voice…
Ida could recognize that stupid voice anywhere — it was loud, boisterous, chirpy and high-pitched as if it almost never seemed to tone down from excitement. Levi took notice too and he immediately stood up, signaling his team to back down.
As if on cue, the one and only bespectacled squad leader pushed through the tall grass, dropping the hood of her cloak. "Man, you all are always so tensed up! I could've lost my precious head there!"
Connie and Sasha instantly relaxed their weapons. "Squad Leader Hanji?!"
Ida groaned in a mixture of relief and annoyance. She dropped her blades to the side, advancing forward to acknowledge the noisy female. "What are you doing here? How did you find us, Hanji?"
"It's thanks to these two." Hanji gestured towards the two-hooded figure by her side, and the concealed figures dropped their hoods as well, revealing it to be the two captured police scouts just now, Hitch and Marlowe. The grin on the Hanji's face spread. "And is that any way to greet someone who traveled so far to bring you news?"
"News?" Levi inquired brusquely, the same ice-cold and intimidating scowl on his face.
"Ah!" Hanji caught sight of the heavily injured and dejected officer by the tree bark. "You've made a friend as well, you should've invited me to join in the fun!"
Ida rolled her eyes at how easily distracted Hanji was. "Spit it out, shitty glasses," she demanded abruptly. "What happened?"
Hanji dug into her cloak, rummaging through her pockets and extracted a newspaper article. "Here ya go." She proffered it out for Levi to take.
Levi grabbed the newspapers speculatively and flipped through it, his squad gathering around him for a peek.
"Erwin's plans had succeeded, Commander Pixis and Nile Doks had sided with us in rebellion! This is a special edition from the Belk Agency, it reports that the Central Military Police had killed Dimo Reeves and framed the Survey Corps. Also, the truth of how all the news had been manipulated by the Royal government and finally, the testimony of the Central Military Police members on how King Fritz is a fake and the true king is a noble secluded from the world! Everyone knows the truth now!"
Hanji paused her narration, her triumphant smile spreading wider across her face.
"...And hence, the Survey Corps has been exonerated and our actions were deemed as self-defense! The Royal Government is now under Commander-in-chief Zackley's control! At present, there has been no resistance to our rebellion! We're free again!" Hanji ended her explanation, evoking an eruption of loud cheers from the squad.
Ida felt her throat close up and she had to fight back the urge to celebrate with the rest of her younger squadmates. They were hugging each other, cheering with tears of relief — she had wanted to join them, but she wasn't sure how she felt about the news. Relief, she was sure — relief that Erwin had succeeded and was alive. Anxiousness, though, seemed to top everything else and her face slowly morphed into a hard expression.
"…You guys…" Levi closed up the newspapers. "Just what means did you use?"
"It's not us that did it." Hanji's jovial smile was almost too big for her face. "The choices of one person at a time have changed the world."
"Tch..." Levi deadpanned, handing the papers back to her. "Hanji, my apologies. The three had you had entrusted to me have died."
"But…" Hanji's eyes were downcast, but she perked up and gave him an empathetic smile. "You succeeded in eliminating their forces right?"
"Not all of them, their boss along with Eren and Historia are still somewhere else. This revolution is at a standstill if we don't find them quickly."
"As for the whereabouts on Eren and Historia, we have a lead," Hanji announced, taking out a small envelope from her pocket and holding it up. "It's definitely not confirmed, but… it seems we've no choice but to place our bets on this."
Levi grabbed it from her.
"I see…" His tone was unbidden, his face carefully neutral as if he didn't care for the noise generating around him.
Instead of scanning the report, Levi found himself focusing on a lone female by the corner of all the commotion, distracted.
Ida didn't move an inch, her face never broke its cool façade. Her visage was still a stoic mask and her mouth was set firmly, refusing to dip into a scowl. She almost looked strangely impassive in the face of such great news — almost as if she didn't care.
But Levi knew better.
Ida rubbed her bracelet almost sympathetically. Thinking about it now just made her chest ache painfully and she had to resist holding onto the tree for support in order to catch her breath.
She looked at her squad, emotional pain put aside, with a determined gleam in her green eyes.
o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o
The squad had taken shelter at a nearby cabin in Stohess District. Seeing that they were no longer fugitives, but instead, soldiers who had exposed the darker corrupted side of monarchy, there was no need for them to go into hiding once again.
Ida could see how relieved Levi was to finally settle at a place that wasn't completely filthy like the stables and everyone was in a cheerful mood for the time being. Well, everyone but her.
She was distracted, she was bothered, and she was disturbed.
"…This is the information that was acquired from the interrogation of some of the Central Military Police that I had captured in Trost," Hanji smoothed out the creases of the paper, bringing the candlelight nearer to her. "Apparently, the lead is that they are hiding Eren and Krista in the Underground City…"
"That would've made sense, seeing how it's easy to excess the area since the Underground City is under Wall Sina, and they could restrain Eren if he were to transform." Ida pointed out. She peered at the frowning man beside her. "What do you think?"
"…The Underground City is too damn big, and neither is it organized." Levi sounded, irritation infused in his tone. Ida had expected Levi to be in a better mood from the surprising brighter events that had happened, but it didn't seem that way, in all Levi sounded more pissed than usual. "It would take us days."
"On top of that, there's a chance that they would have already done something to Eren…" Hanji murmured softly, a deep frown of thought embedded on her countenance.
"We'll leave tomorrow." His grey eyes had taken on a new sort of burn to them as he spoke, like a single flame lighting in the darkness of the night.
At that conclusion, Levi stood up and the wooden chair creaked in protest. Without a second glance, he stormed out of the room.
Ida relished in the dead silence after Levi had gone. Even Hanji sounded surprisingly quiet after he had left. And so, she drank her hot tea in the silence, grateful for the tranquil time alone.
Though, with Hanji, she always did seem to have the tendency to disrupt the serenity someway or another.
"What's that?"
Ida groaned tiredly as she waited to hear exactly what the Titan lunatic was making a huge deal about this time. Frankly, it appeared to her that there was nothing visible on her character worth making any kind of deal about. She had been very careful with her expressions and actions.
"What?"
Hanji launched herself at Ida's wrist. "Who gave it to you?"
She flushed darkly and irritation clouded her tone. "There isn't one with severed Titans' heads as charms, Hanji," Ida roughly tugged her hand free of her grasp. "Shut up, you're noisy."
"That's not what I'm asking!" Hanji was staring at the gorgeous candy charm bracelet. It illuminated beautifully under small candlelight and her sharp observant eyes sparkled with mischievousness when she caught sight of it.
Knowing well that Hanji wouldn't shut up if she didn't get an answer, she reluctantly gave a reply, but Ida wasn't quite ready to divulge her secret just yet. "I bought it for myself."
Hanji backed away a little with a scowl, gazing at her disapprovingly. "Please, from the way you spend your salary on sweets—you're broke. In addition, you'd never buy any jewelry or wear them. You're too much of a tomboy. You certainly wouldn't buy one for yourself, so someone had to have bought it for you," she concluded crossly as if challenging Ida to attempt to lie to her again.
"Tch. Fine, someone gave it to me, happy?" Ida conceded bitterly, wanting nothing more than for Hanji to shut up. She held her hand to her chest, feeling oddly possessive over the object and she didn't want anybody else touching it again.
"Who? Levi?"
Ida didn't realize how stupid she was until her mouth was open and the truth was out. "Yeah."
Hanji's jaw nearly unhinge as it dropped open in disbelief, but her shock quickly changed to delight, and she grinned that infamous fanatical smile that seemed a tad bit too wide for her face.
"So, he finally made a move on you!" she concluded in utter amusement, gawking.
"He did not make a fucking move on me." Ida huffed in annoyance, rolling her eyes away as she mentally cursed herself. "We're in the same squad, and we're a team. Partners, not a couple, so drill that in your damned Titan-filled brain."
Deciding that she didn't want to hear any more of Hanji's rambles, she quickly stood up and made her exit. "Is there any alcohol lying around?"
"I saw some in the pantry!" Sasha quipped back from down the hallway.
Great, she thought wryly and wretched the door open to the kitchen. Hanji fixated her brown gaze on the closed door. Her speculative eyes narrowed in thought before she grimaced in knowing.
Those two were utterly hopeless, she concluded.
As if her thoughts conjured him up, Levi suddenly came back into the room, scowling in displeasure when the person he was looking for was no longer in her seat. "Where's Ida?"
"Went to the pantry to get some alcohol to celebrate," she told him.
Levi frowned. He didn't know why he felt uneasy at Hanji's words. His intuition told him something was not right. Ida was acting strange. She was keeping something from him. Besides, there was an unsettling feeling at the bottom of his heart that he couldn't ignore no matter what.
Hanji watched silently, but intently, as various emotions splayed across Levi's sturdy hard face—irritation, bitterness, displeasure, curiosity, it was constantly changing. And she supposed it was why she found the subject of her little 'matchmaking project' so intriguing.
When Levi crossed his arms over his chest, lips tightened, brows furrowed, and hooded eyes narrowed, Hanji knew exactly what was running through his mind.
"You seem to care quite a lot about her," she hummed speculatively from the table, amusement injected into her tone.
His scowl deepened. "She's under my responsibility," he replied with absurdity mounted in his voice.
It was normal for him to know everything there was to know about his subordinates. In fact; it would've been abnormal had he not.
Hanji released a disbelief snort, amusement dripping like honey from her tone when she said, "Yeah, yeah, your damn responsibility…"
Her words trailed off in such a way that it surprised Levi if only a little. A few rare beats of silence, and then she decided to divulge her knowledge on him, "So is that the reason why you gave her that bracelet? Pretty out of your character if you ask me, Erwin and I didn't even get anything for our birthdays."
Levi's sturdy face fell into a grimace. "I didn't ask for your damn analysis, shitty glasses."
Hanji could only smile at him again, that secretive, knowledgeable smile that usually made people squirm due to its brilliance.
o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o
With trepidation heavy in her gait, Ida Starke trekked through the darkness in silence, breathing heavily through her mouth. Even her grip on the lone candle was trembling. She could feel her stomach plummeting further down with each heavy step she took. When she finally reached her choice of destination, she wasted no time in unlocking the bars.
"Yo."
The captive Military officer that they had captured just hours ago looked up weakly at her call. He was chained in a dirty underground cell underneath the house, badly beaten and bruised. Steeling her nerves, she sat down on a dusty box, a bottle of aged wine in her hand.
"You know who I'm, right?"
The officer could only glare at her with an equal mixture of hatred and fear before he weakly spoke in a crackly hoarse voice, "I — Ida Starke…"
"Well, of course, you know who I am. Your bunch of friends had my damn face drawn and distributed throughout the walls as a damn fugitive," Ida said nonchalantly and popped open the bottle, taking a long chug. "…You know, you had me feeling really fucked up when you said that they were going to hang Erwin… It made me… Want to rip your tongue out..."
At that cruel and vivid description, the officer's eyes rounded in fear and he backed himself onto the dusty wall in terror. Ida felt like laughing, more sarcastically than anything else. "Don't worry, I won't do that, not until you talk at least."
"I've already told Captain Levi, I don't know anything! Not even a clue!" He hastily replied, shaking slightly in terror.
Ida slouched forward and pointed the tip of her bottle at him. "You see, the problem is, I don't want to know about where you idiots are hiding Eren and Krista."
"Then... what do you want to know?"
"You know who my parents are, don't you?" Ida threaded on, taking another swig of the liquor in her hands. She gasped in satisfaction and cleaned off the remaining drops with the back of her hand. "And you also know… That the government is hell-bent on exterminating every single one of us…"
She watched carefully as he took a long gulp to soothe his dry scratchy throat. "…You know, I was busy slashing a bunch of your comrades yesterday in Stohess… When something really alarming came up… Your comrades certainly were hell-bent on blowing my squads' heads off, but it was different for me…"
She eyed him almost menacingly and he didn't like how she was scrutinizing him. Her gaze was pressurizing, making him extremely uncomfortable.
"Say, do you have any idea who wants to capture me alive?" she finally asked, getting to the point.
Ida watched as his eyes widened further in realization and his body recoiled in a half flinch. A reaction, she thought wryly. He knows something. The officer gritted his crooked, broken and bleeding teeth in response.
"Can't talk? Are you thirsty?" She inquired, almost pleasantly. The silence that overcame them was stifling, leaving behind an eerily chill. She gestured to the bottle of wine in her hand to him. "Here, you hadn't had anything to drink right?"
The officer was stunned, he certainly was thirsty, parched to say the very least, but he was doubtful in retrieving her gesture. He eyed on the bottle dubiously before he outstretched his unchained hand towards it.
With a sadistic smirk, Ida suddenly poured a stream of wine onto the floor before he could reach it.
"There's your share." she spat in such a frightening cold tone, that it paralyzed that officer in front of her as if the blood in his veins had turned to frozen slush. "Now, if you don't tell me everything you know this instance, I'll give you a nice little beating so horrible you'd beg for me to finish."
Ida Starke was terrifying when angry, just as the rumors stated.
"Hah, it's a rare thing when a woman lives up to her reputation." The officer snarled at her, venom dripping from his sardonic words. He was adamant on keeping his pride; he will not let this woman break him, his ego wouldn't allow it. "I won't tell you even if you were to do that!"
"Oh…?" Ida quirked a brow. "It seems as if you were asking for me to kill you now."
That obvious threat left sand grits in the officer's mouth and made his stomach churn uncomfortably. He knew it was no idle threat — that sadistic, ferocious look on her face, it told him all he needed to know. This woman was capable of killing him.
"You're… all crazy!"
"Yes, I guess I'm crazy." Ida chuckled, smiling a twisted almost deranged smile. "…People will do crazy things when pushed to the corner… You'd go crazy too if you know what sort of insane things I'm planning to do."
At that, he knew she was dead serious. "I — I don't know anything!"
She made a depressed face, leaning back on the bars. "Ugh, I hate it when people simply don't comply. It's so troublesome."
Ida took out a small knife from her pocket, twiddling it around her fingers casually as she eyed on him. "…You know, since we've pretty much taken over the central government, it doesn't really matter if I get the information from you or not, your plans have been foiled. It would only serve as an inconvenience to me if you don't speak up now… So… You wouldn't mind if I kill you now, right?"
"Wa — Wait!" The officer backed up against the wall when he saw that glistening blade.
"Who is it?! Rod Reiss?! Kenny Ackerman?!"
"J — Jaron! Jaron Starke is the one who ordered your capture! We had orders to capture you alive to bring you to him!"
At that disturbing revelation, her twiddling halted, her breathing hitched, and Ida almost seemed to have frozen completely as her mind sped up to process the words. Then, she began to laugh, but it wasn't a happy laugh, it was a crude, sad laugh that came from the despaired.
"Here." She wiped the prickling tears from the sides of her eyes and placed the bottle of liquor in front of him before moving away. "Drink, I won't take it away."
The parched man hurriedly took the bottle, taking massive gulps. The alcohol burned his throat, but he didn't care — he was too thirsty. Ida stood up when he finished, wiping the dust calmly off her pants.
She regarded the officer on the floor with a glare. "Might I warn you that if you ever deemed it necessary to speak about our encounter here to anyone — even Captain Levi — I'll skin you alive myself. Is that clear?"
"Y — Yes!" The officer conceded, frightened at her icy tone. He looked at her with quivering lips. "Just what… are you trying to do?"
Her eyes were downcast, hosting a sadden glint in them. "…A gamble."
Little did she know, there was another person within the vicinity who was also pondering over the very same question as the prisoner was, only that he never allowed the words to leave his lips. The burning questions that he had, they all died on the tip of his tongue, every single one of them, and he swallowed them back bitterly.
So… This was her secret that she's been hiding...
His brows clashed together in a formidable frown. His rigid back was pressed on the brick wall and his hands clenched into fists so tightly, he could feel his nails digging into his palm.
Levi had no particular reason to feel betrayed — no right, being more like it. While the thought of Ida hiding something from him made him… annoyed at first, the thought of her plotting something behind him just made him feel as if he were being betrayed, like he was stabbed in the back.
He was never one to eavesdrop. Levi had no qualms in confronting someone straight on or even demanding and threatening someone to get information out of them. But somehow, this trait of his did not apply to the redhead. Levi had to force himself to calm down, to not charge inside and he tried, futilely, to lessen the scowl from his hardened face.
He'd seen her cry, heard her sobs, smelt her salty tears, held, supported, and guided her through everything. Though she hadn't known at the time, and she still didn't know at the present time, he had been there, always. Levi had secretly witnessed and felt her pain — because he knew what it was like to bottle everything up.
Because he, too, was very similar to her.
But the difference between them was that he had never shown her his more vulnerable side — one capable of feeling, of expressing, because he knew all too well that Ida had always admired him for his strength.
But even so, as her Captain, as her partner, he wanted to share her pain.
If only she would let him help her with the burden.
It's not my damn problem, he reminded himself harshly. She can do whatever the fuck she wants. It doesn't matter to me. She doesn't matter to me. She's not different from anyone else. She's just another shitty brat.
He was the strongest, the prized soldier, the elite of the elite. The strongest can never fall, not like this, not this far, not this deep. Levi wouldn't allow it, he wouldn't allow one woman to disrupt his goals and to crack the shell that he had so painstakingly put around him in the past years. He had responsibilities, to the lives of his squad who followed him, to the fate of mankind, to all those that had died in battle.
He won't be ignorant of that responsibility, he couldn't afford to. Not now, in fact, he never could.
What does it matter to him if she was gone? Nothing. Just another subordinate, just another person…
However, saying something was always much, much easier than acting it out.
And with her untold secrets finally revealed and his suspicions confirmed, Levi just didn't know how long he could continue playing nonchalance.
Thank you SNKrista for giving me the suggestion of making Levi watch Ida sleep. Hope you enjoyed it. Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions.