Arya was quite right, of course. Her rib only had a small fracture and bruising that she deftly wrapped and iced, committing herself to taking it easy for the remainder of their stay.

Between the week and a half they had left in the compound and the probable few weeks they would spend traveling to and from Paradis, she was expecting very little issues with healing; however she would go on to note within a few days that the pain had all but disappeared, which came off as strange to her. She hadn't had more than a scrap or two since she left the island, so she had grown unfamiliar with the way her body healed. Maybe it wasn't nearly as bad as she had feared, or God forbid she might have a touch of whatever magic the captain used to recover at such astonishing speed.

Actively ignoring what had happened while Levi and herself fought together was the steadfast strategy she was sticking to; a strategy Levi seemed happy enough to reciprocate. it did no one any good to try and pick it apart now, not with such a looming future fast approaching. She had a hard time remembering it at all, despite a very detailed recap from her friends that sounded more like a play than real events. Arya could remember moving past Levi and pushing Connie and Quinn back, but anything after that was blur until she woke up surrounded by people.

Levi had been giving her a wide berth since the fight, refusing to meet her eyes whenever they happened upon another. Arya couldn't fathom why he chose to ignore her again as if she was somehow to blame for what happened. Working in coordination with a teammate didn't seem like a bad thing to her.

One step forward, three steps back. She thought sourly as she wandered out of her room and crossed the empty field to the tree. Easing herself down gently in a small hollow between the roots, she leaned on the trunk and closed her eyes against the afternoon sun.

Tomorrow was their last day before they shipped out, and tensions had started to build. The whole compound was weighted under the pressure of what they were about to do, mostly keeping to their own quarters and talking in hushed voices.

Arya had spent most of the morning with Armin, locked away in his room. He planned to hold one final meeting the following morning, in which they could finally share their plotting with the team now that all the details had been ironed out.

What was once just a difficult decision to join their forces had morphed into this whole endeavor riding on her success, which did nothing but increase the prickle of panic in her chest.

Exhaling deeply with only a couple small winces, she tried to stay her anxiety. She could do this; she would do this. What was the point of being free to live her life when her people remained in chains? How could she stand with the Heroes of Humanity if she couldn't find enough strength to do this for them? For everyone?

Arya had never been much of a drinker, but right now she could have made easy work of the mostly full bottle of liquor that sat in her closet at home.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Arya looked up into the branches above her, startled. A boot and part of a calf could be seen dangling over the edge of one of the largest hanging branches halfway up the tree, swinging back and forth lazily.

She scowled at the ground, slightly upset with herself that she hadn't noticed him before he spoke. "I couldn't imagine why that would interest you."

"That's not much of an answer." He chided; grin evident in the inflection of his voice.

"God, I really do need a drink." Arya mumbled, tugging at the frayed edges of her shirt grumpily. Could she not have one moment of peace?

"Is that what you were huffing about, or it that related to my pestering?" He was laughing at her now, and Arya's cheeks warmed.

"Both." She said hotly. "Besides, why the hell do you care?" She didn't mean to sound quite so bitter and accusatory, but his apathetic treatment of her paired with the stress of the mission was a potent mix.

"That's a good question." Levi said, thoughtfully. "I'm not sure I could give you a proper answer, though I do have my own question for you."

Arya sighed as deeply as her rib would allow. "Honestly, captain, I can't keep up with you. You've gone from hating me to indifference to protecting me and then back to avoidance all within a six-week period. I don't have the time nor the energy to deal with that now, not with everything that's about to happen. So, either we are civil and at least mildly accepting of one another, or you can leave me the hell alone."

There was a pause, followed by rustling leaves and a soft thump as Levi landed gently on the ground next to her. His expression was unreadable as he observed her sitting there on the dusty ground against the trunk, considering what she had said.

She was certainly right; there were bigger things to worry about than what had happened during their training, and going back and forth between avoidance and curiosity wasn't going to do them any favors either. Before he had felt Arya's pull, had he not wanted to make sure she was well prepared for the trials ahead of her? Instead, what had he done: ignoring the woman who had healed him and offered him a chance to return to himself when she had been nothing short of necessary to his recovery?

Levi frowned inwardly at his own short-sightedness. While he had been wrapped up in his own childish frustration at the possibility of feeling, for a lack of a better word, connected to someone other than himself, Arya was busy preparing for an excursion that some would label impossible. Had the last six years changed him that much that he was willing to allow his squad to fight his battles? When had he stopped considering himself a member of this team, one of the last surviving members of the Scout Regiment?

The battle wasn't over, not for everyone, and certainly not for them. Abdicating was not in his nature before, nor was it something he planned to do now. He would be dishonoring the memory of all those who had fallen if he continued down this path, and memory was all that he had left.

Yet Levi knew that he would have to be more than what he once was: the world was different now, the enemies having changed as much as he had. At any rate, the least he could do now was not act like a prick to the woman who had, for all intents and purposes, saved him from himself.

He nodded pensively before he spoke.

"Thank you, Captain Halbrand. If it wasn't for your efforts, I wouldn't be standing here right now, in more ways than one. Standing here in front of you and acting like an ungrateful ass, no less." He knelt beside her, looking carefully at her rather stunned face. "I've been occupied with incredibly trivial things compared to what you are about to take part in, and my frustration has been quite unfairly directed towards you. There is a significant possibility that this may be the last few days we will have to interact with one another; doing so in animosity would be…unjust."

He broke eye contact with her and dipped his head. "I hope you can accept my attempt at an apology; they aren't something I often give."

At that last sentence Arya laughed, and Levi raised his head and looked at her, bemused. She was shaking her head in disbelief, yet humor was dancing in her warm eyes.

"An Ackerman apology… I'd probably be a fool to turn that down, huh?" Smiling, she gave him a relenting look. "Okay, okay, I forgive you. No more hostility, alright? From both of us. It's last things we should be worried about right now."

Sitting forward, she was suddenly less than a foot in front of his face, looking at him softly. Part of him wanted to pull back from her closeness, but he stayed motionless, taking in the golden flecks around her iris's that danced like the sun-soaked leaves above them. "I won't pretend to know the difficulties you have faced in your life, captain. But I would very much like to not be one of them." She shrugged. "So… friends?"

Levi gave a dry laugh. "I don't really do "friends", Captain Halbrand."

Arya shrugged again and held out her hand. "It's Arya. And there's a first time for everything, right?" He chuckled quietly at her enthusiastic expression and shook her hand reluctantly without answering. Her hand was warm and soft in his, and his previous worries and qualms didn't seem as detrimental as they had before.

Movement from the other side of the courtyard grabbed Levi's attention then as he held Arya's small hand in his.

"Looks like you might have a chance to get that drink after all." He said, nodding over to the group that had gathered near the gate at the far end of the compound. She looked over and studied them for a moment, then turned back to him happily.

"Could you help me?" She extended her other hand out and he lifted her gently to her feet just as Connie and Armin started walking in their direction.

"Hey!" Connie called out as they closed the distance, smiling hopefully. "A few of us are going to go grab lunch somewhere that's not the commissary kitchen; maybe get a drink while we are at it. Have a little down time before everything goes to hell, ya know. Wanna come?"

"That's if you're feeling well enough, of course." Armin looked much more relaxed than he had been that morning; the prospect of a chance to unwind was a powerful thing and something they all needed desperately.

"Absolutely, just let me grab something from my room and I'll be right behind you." Arya called back to them. They both waved in acknowledgement and went back to wait with the handful of people milling about near the entrance gates. Levi was eying them speculatively.

"I hope they don't plan to make a fool of themselves again."

Arya wasn't sure what other time he was referring to, but that wasn't the question she planned on asking him.

"Care to join?"

Levi turned to regard her dubiously. "I don't think that invitation was intended for the both of us."

She scoffed, waving her hand in the air dismissively. "Who cares if it was, I'm asking you now. Besides, if taking a break isn't something you're able to do, consider it a chaperone mission; lord knows I can't keep them all in line myself." She walked away to her room before he could answer, returning a moment later with a small coin purse in her hands that she tied to her long skirt belt and a large-brimmed straw hat upon her head. Arya stopped a few paces away in the direction of the waiting group and looked at him expectantly.

"Even a living legend such as yourself needs to eat, right? Come on."

With that she turned from Levi and headed towards the main gates while he hesitated. A group outing was not exactly on his list of interests, but he had made a deal to reduce hostility; rejecting Arya's invitation didn't serve much of a purpose. Huffing dejectedly, he grabbed his cloak that had been hanging from a lower branch and stalked after her.