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↱"Of all the things you choose in life, you don't get to choose what your nightmares are. You don't pick them; they pick you."↲
-John Irving.
✺
weeks later
THE LEAVES HAD FALLEN and the promise of winter was evident by the chilling mountain breeze and the rigidity that deemed the soil unusable until the ice passed.
As the weeks progressed, Katerina found herself becoming more at home with Squad Levi and the Survey Corps.
After her initial stalemate with Levi and their unfortunately intimate encounter, she started to make a better effort to get along with the team and with him.
The untrusting Eld and Gunther had begun to seek her consult, Oluo's aggressive flirting had diminished into a sibling candor, and Petra believed she had found her new best friend.
Katerina didn't mind, sometimes her interactions were mechanical and awkward as if she was not used to engaging in conversation with human beings. She still kept the Titan-sized wall up around her mind and heart but slowly, she could feel it being chipped away with every pat on the back and every smile.
Levi, however, was a different story. Absolutely nothing had changed. Ever since Katerina got a glimpse of the kind of man he was, he had made a point of ignoring the cadet. Any interactions they had were curt and polite, even though Katerina took any opportunity she could to get under his skin. She enjoyed the reactions she got from the Captain, regardless if she would admit that to herself.
Levi didn't mind her that much, a small part of him enjoyed the way she wasn't afraid to challenge him. He wouldn't admit it to her, or anybody else, but he relished the wildfire that would consume him when she was in his presence.
Slowly and surely, the hatred that spawned between the two became a sort of mutual understanding; they hated each other, but it seemed that they were addicted to that hate.
"Ow! Watch it, Petra!" Katerina shouted, snapping her head away from the small redhead.
Petra rolled her top lip into her mouth and pulled Katerina's head back to her.
"Well, just stay still then!" she said, gathering up the loose pieces of Katerina's hair that had fallen from her grasp as she continued her intricate braid. "If you hadn't been lost in your own head it wouldn't have hurt."
