Reign Of Blood|L. Ackerman

XII

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The squad arrived at the abandoned Survey Corps castle later that day. 

The castle was immense, with winding hallways and secret passages, but looked as if it was way out of use. The outside was crawling with weeds that spread their arms across the doors and windows. The inside wasn't much better, everything was covered in a thick coat of dust and the air smelled of humid mold. 

Before anyone could get settled, Levi ordered everyone to begin an intense cleaning regimen. Katerina thought it was funny how important cleanliness was to their Captain. He wore a scarf around his neck and on his head as he went on his hands and knees to scrub the kitchen floor. He assigned Katerina the second floor, commenting that she couldn't slack off or she'd be sleeping with the horses. Rolling her eyes, she cleaned the entire second floor within an hour, making sure that everything was meticulously spotless. She didn't want to even imagine what Levi would do if it wasn't.

Once she was done, she made her way to the third floor where she knew Eren was. She wandered along the hallways until she came upon him, sloppily sweeping the sleeping quarters.

"He's going to make you do it again, you know," she teased as she entered the room. 

Eren seemed to not have noticed her and fell back from the chair he had been standing on, his face flush with embarrassment.

"Damn, Kat, announce yourself next time," he said, standing up and brushing the dirt off his pants. "And he won't. I've done a pretty good job!"

Katerina smirked as she ran a gloved hand over the door frame, her other tracing the contours of the table, she smirked when both came out covered in grey dust.

"Yes," she began, grabbing the spare broom from the corner of the room. "He will chew you up so I'll help."

They returned to cleaning the room in comfortable silence, the only sounds filling the air were the brooms scraping across the creaky floorboards. A couple of minutes later, a familiar redhead popped in from the doorway.

"How's it going?" Petra asked, clutching a mop and bucket. Katerina rolled her eyes as she plopped down on the bed.

"I'm afraid Eren here is going to have to spend the night cleaning," she teased, sticking her leg out to poke his. Eren scoffed as he continued to furiously sweep.

"It's clean enough," he snorted. 

Petra eyed the room and a smirk filled her face.

"The Captain won't be happy," she sang, setting her equipment down to sit next to Katerina.

"What is with him?" Eren questioned as he lowered the scarf that was tied around his neck. "How can a man like him be this weird? It's not as if it's not clean."

Petra opened her mouth as if to say something but snapped it shut as she rolled her lip into her mouth. Katerina noticed this and nudged her shoulder, lifting her eyebrows quizzically.

"Petra?" she started.

"I really shouldn't say! Just don't think bad of him. I'm sure he wasn't always like this."

"What is it?" Eren asked, forgetting his duty and standing in front of the two women. Petra fidgeted with her hands as she looked between the two of them.