SECRET AFFAIRS: PART 1
Levi Ackerman and members of the Paradis survey corp, sat comfortably within a small tavern, drinking and having their first real meal in days. The scouts had come across this tiny village in the outskirts outside of the wall. It was one of the tiny villages set far out on the abandoned lands. They'd been journeying for days and had come across it, surprised yet ecstatic to have found it.
After visiting Shiganshina where they'd learned the true history of Paradis, and then venturing outside of the walls to the ocean- the corps had begun to search the surrounding lands outside of the walls in earnest. To their surprise they'd found that the island of Paradis was significantly larger than they'd ever dared to dream, and that at some point in time, far off from the path taken by the titans to reach their walls, other villages and communities had been thriving in relative peace. Small and far enough off the beaten path to remain relatively untouched by the titans that had regularly made their way to Paradis. Some of the towns even had small trade routes with each other with simple yet efficient agriculture and harvesting in place.
This particular town was very small, but it was self-sustaining. The tavern that the corps was currently in, held the owner and two staff, as well as a small handful of locals drinking and eating at the surrounding tables.
It seemed that only one of the staff was handling the serving today. The other young woman had disappeared into the back early on, and the owner was in the bar managing the drinks and keeping an eye on any unruly patrons.
Levi looked over wordlessly at the serving woman. His cold blue eyes appearing emotionless behind half opened lids. His face straight and stoic, he regarded her silently as he sipped at his drink.
There was something about her. He couldn't quite put a name to it, but it made it difficult for him to take his eyes off her. He tracked her carefully as she moved around the room, his cautious eyes following her every movement, his ears unintentionally straining to pick up traces of her conversations.
Suddenly he found her brown eyes staring back at his. Surprised and caught off guard, he flushed heavily and quickly turned back to his drink. Hanging his head towards it and looking away from her, he brought it to his mouth for another sip, his fingers hovering over it from above and grasping the teacup carefully around its rim with their tips. As he did so, a movement to his left caught his attention. Quickly spinning around and preparing to jump back, he dropped the cup down, and choked to keep from spitting the tea from his mouth as he found the woman now camped happily next to him. Her head was propped up on her hand as she leaned an elbow on the table and stared over at him. She was flashing a cheery smile and the sparkle in her eyes caused him to utter a low gasp, his eyes widening in surprise.
What was this strangeness he felt looking at her? As he looked on speechless, she let out a small laugh and patted him gently on his shoulder.
"Are you okay? Kind of jittery, huh?" She leaned over and smiled into his face, her eyes closed in merriment as the dimples in her cheeks deepened and her teeth gleamed in front of him. "Is that a scout thing, or does it only apply to you?" She leaned in even closer, her smile dying just a bit as she peered in to look more closely at his face.
Stunned, Levi pulled back, surprised at the woman's brashness and uncertain about how to respond. He watched as she crinkled her eyes in amusement and then pulled away as well.
"Sorry!" she exclaimed, running a hand loosely through shoulder length, tightly curled, dark brown hair. "I can have a hard time with boundaries sometimes." She scratched lightly at the back of her neck and looked at him through lowered eyelashes, a hint of color staining her cheeks. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
Trying to hide his own red flush, Levi turned away from her, letting his jet-black hair fall over the front of his face. "It's fine." he mumbled semi-coherently. "You just caught me off guard, is all"
The woman once again drew next to him, this time grasping his arm lightly as she craned her neck to peer with interest into his face. "Really? I thought that scouts were never caught off guard?"
Taken aback once again by the boldness of her actions, Levi's eyes shot open in surprise and this time he hopped from his stool stepping away from her.
The woman remained seated, letting out a soft laugh and looking at him kindly.
"Okay, okay 'Mr. Scout'. I get it. I'll leave you be." She got up from her seat and gently tugged on his cloak, urging him to return to his. As he sat, she leaned in closely and softly told him, "Consider your drinks on me today. For your work as a scout and for dealing with me obviously irritating you." She gave him what he suspected was a forced smile, and after straightening and smoothing her skirt, began to walk away.
Swallowing hard, Levi thought about not saying anything, but something inside of him couldn't help but speak out. He reached out and lightly touched her hand. "No. That's not necessary." She stopped and turned towards him, a somewhat perplexed look on her face. "Sorry-what was that?"
He didn't look up at her, just continued facing towards his drink as he mumbled gruffly. "It's fine. You didn't irritate me at all". He cleared his throat loudly. "In fact, I don't mind, okay?"
He looked from the corner of his eyes and saw with relief as the genuine smile returned to her face. She nodded quickly.
"Yeah, okay then. That's good to know!" She turned to continue off but then turned her head towards him once again. "Your drinks are still on the house though. You look like you deserve that at least." Flashing him another sparkling smile she turned and headed off into the back of the kitchen area.
Flustered, he watched her retreat and once she was gone, he looked down into his still full teacup. He watched the gently rolling tea and pondered quietly over this most recent exchange.
~0~0~0~
As he and the rest of the Levi squad gathered their ODM gear and prepared to leave the small tavern, Levi couldn't help but take a quick glance back inside, his eyes unintentionally scanning the area for a trace of the dark-haired attendant. Not finding her, he shouldered his gear, and ignoring the small pang of disappointment that touched at him, he turned towards the door. Stepping outside he watched as his squad began zipping off to the pre-determined meeting location.
Tightening his gear, he prepared to shoot for the trees when he saw a small hand reach out towards him. Turning to the side he saw the brown-haired woman coming near him. 'It's eerie how she manages to keep getting the drop on me. She's almost like a cat...'
She was taking small, hesitant steps. Her outgoing demeanor from earlier seemingly shaken and her flushed cheeks were hidden as her curly hair dangled over her down-cast face.
From below lowered lashes, she looked bashfully up at him. "I-I just wanted to apologize for earlier." She stammered, her eyes jumping from his face to the ground and then back again. Levi watched her, his face unreadable and wearing the trademark serious and unwavering expression he was so well known for.
She looked at him, and he could see her anxiety grow as she took in his expression. She bit her lip and took a small step back, turning her head down and looking back. Then with a deep sigh, she turned forward with an expression of fierce resolve.
"I just wanted to give you this. To make up for it, and to help send you on your journey."
With that, she quickly heaved a small package at him. Thrusting it into his chest with both hands and turning her head pointedly to the side as she waited for him to accept it.
Confused at the situation, Levi placed his hands on the package, brushing hers lightly in the process. His brows furrowed as he worked to comprehend exactly what was going on. As soon as the package was in his hands, the woman dropped her hands and then wiped them quickly on her apron. Turning to the door of the tavern, she avoided eye contact as she said quietly. "It was good to meet you 'Captain of the scouts' May your journey be safe and filled with good fortune." She paused with her hand on the door handle. Turning slowly, she twisted to look him in the eyes. Levi looked at her, feeling bewildered by the exchange and his inability to understand the changing atmosphere that he was feeling.
"I will truly be wishing for your safe mission Captain." She said the last words in an almost whisper and then she swiftly opened the door and disappeared inside.
Moving slower than he had in years. Levi finally got his body to respond, and he took a step forward, his arm outstretched towards her. But she was already gone- the door already closed behind her. That was probably for the best. He had no real idea what he'd planned to say anyways. Strange. He'd found himself so transfixed with her that he'd been unable to move or think straight while she'd been directly in front of him.
Frowning, he turned his attention towards the small package in his hand. Slowly he unwrapped it to find 7 small portions of pork buns tucked neatly inside. It was just enough for himself and each of the members of his squad. Curious. Of all the things they'd offered here at the tavern, the bun was the only thing that he'd found he'd had a taste for, though he'd made no mention or reaction to it. Had she noticed, or was it just happenstance that she'd chosen to select this particular item? Either way, his squad would be grateful, especially Sasha. And he had to admit that he was as well. He'd never tasted anything quite like these. He'd been impressed but hadn't wanted to express it. Though he'd listened intently as Sasha and Connie had cornered the innkeeper to find out more about the items and who had been in charge of preparing the evening's meal and food items. He hadn't found out, but now holding these freshly cooked buns in his hands he began to wonder.
He wanted to go back inside. He had no logical reason for doing so, it was just what he instinctually wanted to do. Even so, his team was waiting for him and they still had a mission to complete. Staring for a moment at the closed door in front of him, Levi heaved a breath and then turned and shot off through the trees in the direction of his team. This had been an interesting stop for sure. It was unlikely that they would ever need to make their way back into this section of the outlands again, and for some reason that saddened him a bit. He wasn't sure why, as this was the norm for them. He couldn't count how many of these tiny pit stops they had made over the last couple of years, never to return again. But this one…. He looked back again as he swung through the trees. The little village growing fainter and more distant through the leaves and forest. This one was one that not only would he not mind re-visiting- it was one that he actively wanted to make a return stop to.
That night as they made camp, Levi couldn't help his thoughts continuously returning to the tavern and the mysterious woman assisting there. He couldn't determine if it was because he found something off about her or if it was something else keeping her at the forefront of his mind. It was peculiar. Typically if something was off he would have identified what it was long before now. Instead the thoughts of her just kept persistently nagging at him. Unfortunately for his squad, this had made him even more unusually broody during dinner, and most of them were more than a little relieved when he finally excused himself from their company and left to settle into his rest for the night.
However, he didn't rest at all. That wasn't abnormal for him though. He slept lightly on most nights. Always being aware and never being able to fully sleep was just something that had become ingrained in him since his time living in the Underground. Tonight however, was a little different. It wasn't being overly alert that was keeping him up. In fact, he wasn't alert at all, this was evidenced by the fact that Hange was able to easily startle him as she came in and plopped down directly next to him, completely unnoticed.
Even she was startled as she realized that she had caught him unaware.
"Levi? What's going on with you? That's strange!" She began to laugh, crawling on to all fours and then peeking eagerly into his face, angling to look at him from all different directions. "I've never seen you lose focus like this before!"
After seeing his scowl and having him angrily place a hand across her face and shove her back, Hange sat back with her legs crossed in front of her. She placed a hand on her chin as she crooked her head to the side and thought. "What is this? Hmmm… Come to think of it, you've been a little off since earlier today. Was it something you ate maybe?"
Levi flushed a bit. No, it wasn't something he ate, but the idea of eating brought back the tavern which brought with it thoughts of the woman, and then… Grumbling, he turned away from Hange.
"It's nothing. You're being strange and ridiculous again. Get lost."
Hange laughed. "Well, I think I'm on to something! You'd never let me sneak up on you like that. Not in a million years! Come on, you can tell me!" She leaned in close, staring deep into his solid blue eyes. "Unless you don't know yourself?"
She pursed her lips. "Is that the case? If you don't, I can help. When did this first start? How are you feeling? Is it just your instincts that are failing? Are you having a hard time hearing as well? Are you feeling sluggish? A fever, maybe?"
With fury in his eyes, Levi turned to Hange. She took one look at his face and hopped to her feet. "All right, well I can see you don't feel like talking about it right now. That's just fine!"
She began to walk off but turned back quickly. "But when you change your mind, you never know…I just might be able to help you out!" She quickly stepped away before he could open his mouth to reply.
Help him out? Help him out with what exactly? He was fine. He had no need of- His thoughts were cut short by a yell from camp. 'Was that … Sasha?' She was yelling about titans. Heading south? Wait, that would mean that they had to be within 100 ft. He should have heard them. How could he have missed them? Had he really been that out of it?
Hopping to his feet, Levi began yelling commands, getting all the scouts up and into the trees within seconds. Once up, they could follow the titans and watch their movements. It was late. Not only shouldn't there be any titans in this area, they shouldn't even be moving right now, but they were. As he gauged the scene Levi could see multiple 10- meter ones and at least two 13-meter ones. The tallest appeared to be an abnormal. The other titans were all following it south. Headed back the way that the scouts had come from earlier. Back towards the little outpost city. With the tavern.
Ice formed around Levi's chest, gripping it tightly. The scouts were so far away. The titans would be on the tavern in a matter of minutes and even with horses there'd be no way the scouts could catch up before they made it there….
It didn't matter. Levi didn't know why, but he was going and he had to go right now. Barking an order to his scouts, he put Jean in charge of the Levi squad and left Hange to manage her own. She looked at him oddly, but he had no time to explain. He told them that he was going to stop the rampaging titans and that they should continue on with their missions.
These titans weren't going to be an issue to the mission, so the teams could move on without worrying about them, but Levi would take care of them and ensure that they couldn't hurt anyone nearby or do any damage.
Before anyone could ask too many questions or delay him with protest, he had grabbed a horse and was off. 'Hopefully I'm not too late. I've just got to get there as fast as I can….'
He arrived in just a few short minutes to the town and the tavern. Or at least at what used to be the tavern. It was caved in on itself and there was blood and body parts strewn all around. The rest of the tiny village was the same. All of it had been razed nearly flat. A sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach, Levi's whole body went ice cold.
He'd taken down two of the 10-meters on his way in, but now he looked up at a 13-meter titan, happily munching away at the bottom half of a man who was still screaming as he hung out of the giant's massive grinning jaw. Anger beginning to overtake him, Levi zipped up and quickly took down the titan. Unfortunately, it was too late for the man and Levi was forced to leave his gurgling, blood covered upper remains lying on the ground where they'd fallen from the titan's mouth.
Urgently, Levi continued to look around the area searching for signs of survivors. He swiftly killed the two remaining smaller titans, who's hands and mouths were already smeared with blood and human innards. Seeing no moving people in or around the remains of the tavern, Levi took off after the final remaining titan. The abnormal 13-meter that had led the rest here. It was heading towards another think clump of trees beyond the south border of the small town, someone held in its hands screaming. Levi could see the outline of an aproned skirt kicking from beneath the bottom of its hands. Kicking his horse into high gear he galloped at full speed after it.
Pushing his horse to its limits, it wasn't long before he closed in on the abnormal. Standing on the galloping horse, he jumped off and latched on to the lumbering Titan. Levi swung up and onto it, landing just after the Titan clamped solidly down on the woman, leaving nothing but her kicking legs falling to the ground below. Stunned, Levi watched as they landed with a dry thud on the ground, blowing up dirt and rocks around them and causing a slipper to go flying off from one of the feet. He looked dully at the slipper as it landed. It was familiar. He'd seen it earlier. On her.
A blinding fury overtook him. He couldn't source it nor did he try. For him, everything went red and an intensity overtook him that didn't quite belong to his body. He moved only by instinct and not even by will.
Time evaporated and blurred as he moved with blinding speed. Stopping, he looked up to find himself on the ground, covered with dissolving Titan blood and pieces of a chopped, sliced and utterly eviscerated 13-meter titan, beginning to burn and dissolve behind him.
Blinking madly, Levi looked down at his hands. He didn't remember any of it. It was as if he'd stepped out of his body. He turned up his nose at the dissipating Titan. That pissed him off. He wanted to remember it. Wanted to have the memory of every single cut and tear that he'd made through its rotting body carved and ingrained into his mind. Heaving with exhaustion, it crossed his mind to wonder exactly why he cared so much? Hadn't he just met her? Only spoken a handful of words? He'd had those he was much closer to die on him many more times over, and in much more gruesome and painful ways. Why did he feel so affected by this particular death?
Shaking out his weapon and sheathing it, he gave his head a hard shake as well. He didn't know and he wasn't going to dwell on it. He just knew that killing this titan hadn't done it for him. His body was still coursing with anger and regret. Taking a knee, he put his head onto a hand and held it for a few moments, before slowly and gingerly reaching out with a shaky hand to pick up the dropped shoe from the ground.
"Hey…Hey, are you alright?"
The voice was little more than a whisper and it sounded both terrified and relieved. The sound of it surprised him, but it was also instantly soothing to his nerves. Whipping his head around, Levi turned towards the sound of it.
Tentatively peeking her head from around a tree, just inside of the forest where the titan had been heading, was the woman from the tavern. Puzzled, Levi looked in brief confusion at the shoe in his hand, and then promptly dropped it, standing up and beginning to walk briskly towards her. She stood slowly- trembling and barefoot- but upon seeing that it was indeed him, and that he was okay, Levi could see actual relief wash across her face and in that moment his senses came back to him.
"Wait! Stop!"
He called out to her as he saw her start to speed up and begin running towards him. There had been a reason the titan had been going towards that forest, and it hadn't been just for her. He'd heard the noise but his brain had been too focused on his own grief and anger to register it. There was another titan somewhere nearby.
Just as she turned her head and started to scream in fear as another smaller titan came diving forward, its mouth open wide and ready to devour her whole- Levi harpooned through a tree and swung by, easily grabbing her and pulling her up with him into the high branches. They stood there, watching the titan pull itself up and then run to the tree to chase them. It stopped at the base of the tree, throwing what could only be described as a tantrum. Stomping around angrily at missing the meal it had so clearly set its sights on.
Levi automatically froze and tightened up as the woman's slender frame gripped him tightly. Standing next to him barefoot, she was just slightly shorter than he was. Her hand wrapped around his back, clinging to his shoulder and then another around his front pulling him fully against her body and holding him firm and close at his waist. Her head buried itself into his neck and she sobbed openly as her body shook.
Uncomfortable and unaccustomed to it, Levi stood stiffly, allowing her to hold him, but unable to offer more than a solid pillar for her to grasp. As the titan continued to grab for them and shake the tree, Levi finally took his hands and gently grasped her shoulders. Bending down slightly he looked her in the eyes.
"Hold still, okay? I've got to take care of this and I'll be right back". As scared as she obviously was, he expected her to put up some type of resistance. He braced himself for her to pull and cling to him. For her to scream that she didn't want to be left alone. To tell him to leave it, and for her to fall into full hysterics about him going away even for a moment.
Instead, she met his eyes and her red and swollen ones, blinked hard and then she nodded slowly, while carefully detangling her arms from around him. "Okay then. Go get rid of it. Please. I'll wait right here for you."
He looked at her, pleasantly surprised to have gotten it wrong. So much so that he surprised even himself. He nodded sharply and then without a thought, he leaned forward and briefly pressed his lips squarely against the middle of her forehead. Placing an arm quickly around her shoulders he briefly pulled her to him and then let her go. "Alright then. I'll be right back." And then he was off without a backward glance.
It only took him less than a minute to dispatch of the new titan as well as a lurking friend that he had nearby. He returned to find her sitting on the tree branch, curled against the trunk, hugging herself to it and waiting patiently, if not a little fearfully.
He took her hand and helped pull her back to her feet. "It's all good now. They're gone."
He looked around the area. The remains of his horse lay a few yards away. Smashed and trampled by one of the offending titans. They were going to be in trouble. Their transportation was lost and he had no simple way to transport the two of them long distances. "WE just need to find a safe place to hunker down and take refuge and we'll be okay."
She looked at him, saying nothing but looking straight into his blue eyes unflinching.
"Thank you. You saved my life Captain." She paused, wiping at her face. "I don't know where the rest of your squad is, but without you I wouldn't have survived that."
Levi frowned, " I don't know, you seemed to have done a pretty good job to me. Out of that whole town, you seem to have been the only one that had managed to escape mostly unscathed."
He surveyed the land. "We won't be able to rejoin my group tonight- They're rather far back- at this point they've probably moved well beyond your town, and without the horse, we no longer have any form of transportation. So we'll focus on safety for now and then come up with a plan to find them tomorrow." He paused and then turned back towards her, his face stern.
"And it's Levi. The name that is" He muttered.
The woman nodded "Oh, okay. I'm Zelda. Thank you Captain Levi, for saving my life-"
"Just 'Levi' is fine" He interrupted, a light flush creeping up his neck at the sound of his name falling from her lips. He turned away and began to once again search the area, in an attempt to not have to look into her deep brown eyes.
She brought her fist to her mouth and coughed lightly, turning her head away. "Yes, of course… Levi"
Turning his eyes and looking sideways, he could see the reddening at the tips of her ears. 'Strange' he thought. 'What does she have to be embarrassed about? '
It was still dark, but the moon shone brightly in the night sky. Scoping out the area from the vantage point of the trees, Levi was able to spot an area safe enough for camping- an abandoned church that the scouts had passed earlier that morning.
Carefully leaving Zelda up in the tree, he gathered the supplies that he could salvage from the horse, and together they prepared to make the small trek to the location. He needed to conserve on fuel, but it was too long and too dangerous for them to walk the entire way, so they would need to use his ODM gear to travel through the trees and quickly cover more ground.
Levi once again pulled her close to him, acutely aware of the soft scent wafting from her and the softness of her body pressed so firmly against his. He swallowed hard and tried to focus on the task at hand. This became infinitely harder, as she once again wrapped delicate arms around him and held him tight. This time there was no shivering, but she clung to him as though he was the last and most precious of her possessions, and he found himself struggling to give attention to anything else around him. Sighing in resignation, he squeezed her more tightly against himself, ensuring that she was firmly in his grasp and that she would feel secure as he carried her through the remaining forest area. As he did this he heard her let out a small sigh and he felt the tension in her lithe form relax in his hands. She'd just entrusted herself to him and given her life to him completely. The weight of this did not slip by him unnoticed.
Flying through the trees Levi moved easily and nimbly, even with her in his arms. Zelda held on to him, but only so she wouldn't fall. Levi could tell she wasn't worried or scared about being dropped or hurt. She seemed to have no concerns, and complete faith in his ability. He looked briefly down at her. She was gazing in appreciation at the scenery around her as they moved through the air; her eyes open wide in awe as they swam in all directions trying to take it all in. Levi looked forward and focused again on his destination.
She was an interesting one. Most others would be terrified at this moment. Either squeezing their eyes shut, or gripping him with all their might as if their very life might depend on it. Probably both at the same time. But Zelda did neither.
She calmly held on and took in the moonlit surroundings as she soared through the air in his arms. Once Levi finally reached their landing point, he gently set Zelda's feet on the ground and began to take stock of the area.
"We're going to need to stay here for a while. The sun will be coming up in a little while and there's too many titans still roaming and too much ground for us to cover before then. We'll sleep hidden away here through the day and we'll wait till nightfall tomorrow and then we'll find and re-group with the rest of the squad. I'll bring you back to the inner gates of Paradis so that you can get situated there."
He paused and looked over at her. "I'm sorry about the tavern and the village. I know you probably lost a lot of people." He swallowed and then feigned looking out over the terrain. "Did you have…uh, family…back there?" He gave a stuttering look back over his shoulder at her, his mouth still set in a grim line.
Zelda's brown eyes were full of grief as she turned sadly back towards the direction of the tavern and tiny town. Slowly she nodded. "Yeah…". Levi tensed up at her words. 'She had family. Was that a husband and kids?' She wasn't wearing a ring, but many in the smaller towns, especially the tiny outposts, couldn't afford them or create them, and so often didn't have them.
He tentatively opened his mouth to offer comfort, but she continued.
"Or, at least they were like family to me. The owner of the tavern and his daughter pretty much raised me. Mae was like a sister to me." She raised a small hand and wiped a tear away. "Other than the two of them, I've been on my own since I was young. They were all I had." She turned watery eyes to look at Levi and then forced a quivering smile to her face.
"Mae was always protective of me. She died saving me y'know. I'd never seen a titan before and when they came I was so stunned I just stood there for a moment. It was Mae who pushed me out of the way and got me running." The tears started to fall heavily from her face. "We were just in the process of switching shifts in the tavern when it all happened…". Zelda stared through the tears blurring her vision at the torn and dirty slippers covering her feet. The slippers that Levi had recovered from the mutilated appendages near the forest as he'd collected his supplies. The ones he'd thought had looked so familiar.
Levi turned his body to face her, contemplating the best way to help. 'So the two I saw earlier in the tavern had been her only family. And she had to watch from the forest as that abnormal titan devoured her 'sister' in front of her. She's on her own now?' The town had been so small. From what he'd seen the titans had left little to nothing of it standing. There was nothing left for her to return to there. Stiffly, he stepped over to her and pressing his lips together, he placed a hand on hers, as he uncomfortably shifted his eyes off to the side. Her hand was soft, and he immediately felt bad for placing his rough and battle-worn hand on top of it. He was preparing to remove it, when she placed her other on top of his and squeezed; her silent crying finally giving way to quiet sobs of agony as she dropped against his shoulder and began to weep into it.
Alarmed and unfamiliar with the display, Levi fought his initial urge to step away. He allowed her to keep hold of his hand, and after a moment of the slender woman crying on him, he finally raised his other arm and awkwardly patted her on the back with it. As he did this, her sobs began to slowly die down and as she calmed, she leaned her head back to stare at him with tear shod eyes.
"Thank you again, Levi. I-I was considering giving up back there until you came. The only thing keeping me moving was thinking about what a wasted sacrifice Mae and Tom's lives would have been if I just laid down and let myself be killed." She smiled a genuine smile at him. "Thank you for helping to make their sacrifice mean something."
To his embarrassment, she then put both of her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. She leaned her face into his neck as she did it and he could feel the softness of her hair on his face and of her cheek upon his skin. He could feel himself growing hot with embarrassment but fought off the urge to disengage himself. It might have been a display that he was unaccustomed to, but he had to admit that the sensation itself was not unpleasant. Her height matched his and the feel of her body purposely bringing itself closer to him, made him feel both wanted and needed in a way that was dissimilar to simply being a savior. He was certain it wasn't her intent, but even-so it made him feel regarded as a man, and that feeling stirred something raw deep within him.
As she finally stepped away, Levi again pointedly looked away from her and then shifted his focus on getting her a comfortable area to rest inside of the church. She looked curiously at him as he did so, then asked quietly. "Are you always this serious?"
Her eyes lowered as she studied him, "I know this isn't the situation for it, but I haven't yet seen it, and you don't strike me as someone who smiles very often. Is that right?"
He looked at her but didn't reply. Continuing to move around and working to get them out of the range of the titan's senses, he looked briefly her way.
"Hey, right now we need to focus on getting prepared for the coming day. If we can get deep enough in here, we should be able to go unnoticed by the titans as long as we're quiet throughout the daytime hours." He then turned and continued moving through the building. Quietly Zelda nodded and followed in silence behind him.
Suddenly Levi heard movement and he could see a large shape casting a shadow from outside. It was second nature to him – he had moved before he'd realized it, running behind Zelda and wrapping one arm tightly around her pinning her arms to her side and holding her at the side of the waist, his other hand quickly snapping over her mouth as his head leaned next to hers, his mouth at her ear. "Shhh" he said lowly. "Don't make a sound. Don't move."
He felt her body go stiff as a rod and she didn't so much as nod. They stood there in that position, both unmoving statues, for an unknown length of time. It felt like forever and Levi was unnaturally surprised at her poise and ability to follow his directions so simply and for so long without a word of protest or question. As he pulled his senses from listening out for the titan outside and again re-focused on their current situation, he realized that Zelda seemed to be breathing heavily. He could feel her heartbeat as well, it felt erratic and out of sync. 'Is she okay?' He'd been so focused on keeping them safe from the titan that he hadn't been focused on her. Maybe he'd been covering her mouth too tightly or crushing her body and hadn't realized it? Still being careful to not make too much noise, Levi quickly but carefully shifted his eyes to her, his serious face intent on making sure he wasn't causing her distress.
His breath caught when he saw her. She was staring directly at him. Her eyes were trained on his face, they were slightly widened and wavering in what almost looked like…. Fear? 'Is she scared of me?' He wondered briefly what could have changed. She'd been perfectly content with him before- what could have made her fear him all of a sudden? Frowning, he again twisted his eyes back towards the openings of the building, ensuring that the titan threat was gone before he turned his head towards Zelda. She was still staring at him, her expression only describable to him as one of fright, but once her eyes caught his, they wouldn't leave them. He'd seen many people frightened of him before, and her face might have been exuding fright, but her eyes didn't have quite that same look. He just couldn't put his finger on the word to describe what he was seeing there.
Uncertain of what was wrong, and feeling that the threat had disappeared, Levi slowly pulled his hand across her midsection, unintentionally running it over her stomach and then holding it at her waist. The hand across her mouth dragged itself down and off as well, inadvertently tugging and pulling her bottom lip along with it, leaving her mouth slightly parted as she continued to look wide-eyed up into his face. Levi could feel a tremor pass through her body as he removed his hands, and his brow furrowed in confusion.
'She doesn't seem to be overly preoccupied with the titan, so what's with the shivering and the odd looks?' With a swallow and a heavy breath, he dropped both of his hands and took a large step back.
"I think we're safe now."
Zelda remained standing, her eyes still on him. Slowly she blinked and then nodded. After a pause, she took a small step forward and reaching out lightly placed a hand on his chest. "I guess I owe you another thanks." She blushed. "I'm not sure I'll ever be able to repay you enough for all of this."
Levi stalled. Her hand on his chest, it was…. He opened his mouth to speak, but she abruptly turned her back to him.
"So what do we do now? Are we stuck here for awhile?"
He looked at her. "Yeah. At least for awhile."
"Okay. Do you have a plan?"
Levi stood there. "No, not yet. I'm working on it though. The lack of transportation will make it hard, but the squad will probably come looking if I haven't returned by tonight. I have a few flares, so I'm thinking we shoot one today and another in the night where they can see it. We may have to hope for the best." He glanced at their surroundings.
"Staying here might be for the best as well. Without extra flares, if we try to move, it will just make it harder for them to find us. Not to mention we at least have some cover here. Unless the titans realize where we are, we should be able to stay relatively safe as long as we don't draw their attention."
He twisted his head to look at her and she met his gaze and robotically nodded her head in return.
"I understand. Though-" She bit her lip and hesitated. "I wonder, if you didn't have to deal with me, would you have to go through this? I think you'd be fine to maneuver out of this on your own. It's me. I'm the reason you can't."
He looked over at her, his face emotionless and unreadable. "That's not true, and it's not relevant." he said. "This shitty situation is the one that we were dealt and we'll both get out of it. That's all there is to it. Don't waste your time worrying about anything else. Got it?"
He gave her a stern look and waited until she replied.
"Yea-Yeah. I suppose so." Zelda gave him a timid nod and then turned to face the wall. Sitting down, she tucked her knees to her chin and wrapped her arms tightly around them. Levi continued to watch her for a moment before going over and standing nearby.
"There's still a couple of rooms in the back. Let's go explore them while we have the outside light. Hopefully we can find at least a few edible items so we don't have to survive on the couple of scout rations I have on me."
He saw her eyes begin to widen and her mouth drop at his comment, and he quickly cut her off.
"Don't start that again. Even if we don't find anything, the rations I have will be enough for the two of us. I don't expect to be here too long. I have a capable team and if worse comes to worse we'll just have to move." He looked hard at her. "We'll be fine. Trust me"
Zelda closed her mouth and said nothing, she followed closely behind Levi as he again led the way through the remains of the abandoned church. Luck was with them as after some searching they found a few canned items hidden under a section of a back room floorboard. They were there along with a thin blanket and a candle. Levi collected the items with disdain. 'Emergency preparations, I suppose. I'm not sure how long or how far they really thought that they'd get with this though…'
From there Levi and Zelda explored the rest of the church as best they could, but they were unable to find anything else of use. Opening one of the cans, Levi offered it to Zelda as they sat crouched in the corner of one of the tiny interior rooms. She accepted it graciously and began to eat, but halted as she realized he wasn't eating anything himself.
"Why aren't you eating? There were a few cans, aren't you going to have one?"
Levi was sitting with his feet planted on the ground in front of him, legs open. His elbows rested on his kneecaps and his head hung down between them. Without looking up, he shook his head.
"No. I'm good. Just eat and keep up your strength. No need to worry about me."
Zelda was silent, but hearing shuffling, Levi looked up to find that she had scooted over and directly in front of him. Unsure of what was happening, he opened his mouth to question her, but was met with a forkful of the canned contents that Zelda held in her hand. Eyes bulging, Levi attempted to lean back, and push the fork from his mouth, but Zelda sharpened her eyes at him.
"You need to eat too. Actually much, much more than I do. What do I need my strength for? You're the one doing all the work and heavy lifting. Eat." She said it with authority, and Levi couldn't help but stop his movements and stare at her. Then her serious expression melted, and a gentle smile appeared over her delicate face. "Please."
He could feel a thump in his chest. A small ache. 'What is this? This feeling? Looking at her, I-' He was distracted from his thoughts as she placed the can down and used the hand that wasn't holding the fork to his mouth, to gently touch his hand, as she looked at him with kind eyes. "Please eat something too, Levi. I refuse to sit here and eat if you won't as well. I don't mind feeding you if that's what it takes, but I really need you to have some food. Will you please?"
Frustrated, Levi sat silent, the fork of food still in his mouth and a number of thoughts rolling around in his head. He wasn't used to being second-guessed or to changing his mind once he'd made a decision on something. He'd told her that they'd be fine, but he wasn't actually positive about that. He didn't know how long they might be here and he didn't want to blow through their food reserves. However, the genuine concern that was on her face right now was enough to make him rethink his food position. And looking at her expression right now, he didn't at all doubt her words about not eating if he didn't…
Grasping hold of the fork and her hand by default, Levi ate the food from it. Once he had swallowed it, he spoke to Zelda. "Fine. I'll eat a little something now, if only just to make sure that you eat. But from now on, no pushing things on me once I've told you something, okay?"
She smiled at him- a bright, shining smile and once again he felt something strange in his chest as he looked at it. "Yes! I understand. As long as you eat, I'll be happy." She paused, a mischievous look twinkling in her eyes. "Did you want me to feed it to you though?"
Levi flushed and he quickly retrieved the can from where she'd placed it on the ground. Deftly slipping the fork from her hands, he turned his face from hers to hide the reddening in his face. "No. I'm sure I can manage." he muttered under his breath.
Zelda laughed lightly. 'The sound of her laughter… it's refreshing…' Levi turned back and looked at her, working to disguise the undeniable interest that he was feeling. He wasn't certain what it was about her, but she made him look at and feel things differently than he had ever before.
END OF PART 1