Daisy | Levi Ackerman

Chapter 13 - Two Promises

[Celine]

I managed to do what Levi asked me to do. To forget he ever asked me such a thing. I agreed with him, it was bizarre and improper for him to inquire about myself ever seeing him outside of his profession. But I badly wanted to answer him.

That I did. It was always that way. Ever since I had been getting flashbacks, I always saw him as another person, never as my Captain, never as my uncle's soldier. This formal boundary I keep between us was an act so that I could survive. I guess I was never going to have the chance to tell him that ever again.

But why did he need to know? That was the question that baffled me since that day. Why did he ever need to know if I saw him in another way? Was he beginning to think of me other than a kid he's responsible for?

I managed to shake it off. It had been two days then, and Petra still wasn't acting around me the way she used to. It was making me sad, and making me feel uncomfortable moving around with my chores inside the castle. I always finished them with her accompaniment. Now we do things separately.

I knew it in myself that she only started acting stone cold around me- as if I was only a ghost that roamed the old castle- ever since she caught me walking out of Levi's bedroom. If it was because she thought that he possessed partiality over myself, then she's greatly prejudiced. That man acts peculiar at some points by showing subtle hints of gentleness, but I think, at the bottom of it all, I'm no more special to him than all the others.

Petra was there yesterday, when the Dark Dictator scolded me about picking a daisy from a certain flower bed in the garden. I wanted to put some flowers in the dull, mundane castle just to light it up; I didn't know that he wanted those daisies to be unscathed. With the way he lashed out on me, wilting me to my very core as I saw the irritation in his eyes, I knew something about that flower bed he cultivated by himself was dear to him.

After all, grumpy old men can't be that furious over dainty white flowers, right?

It was the dusk before the fifty-seventh expedition when I was sweeping the castle steps. I heard a distant rumbling from my position, directly lighted by the fiery, five 'o clock sun. I looked towards the direction of the sound, and saw, in the distance, a small group of soldiers on their horses.

I squinted my eyes to take a better look, and spotted a short, blonde haired guy, waving at me on his brown horse. A smile grew in my face, making me drop my broom at so much excitement. I ran quickly across the grass field to meet the 104th soldiers in the middle.

"Armin! Mikasa!" I cheered, and realized that behind them were the other soldiers. I froze, just a few meters away from the castle steps- completely awed at the sight of Bertholdt, Jean, Connie, Reiner, Christa, Ymir and Sasha.

"Cel!" They all chorused, as they stopped at where I stood, their horses going just a few more steps to stop the momentum. I laughed in surprised delight, looking at all of them as they smiled, getting down from their horses.

"Cel!" Armin greeted, and I immediately pulled him in for a tight hug.

"Oh, I missed you, idiot!" I said, pulling away with a huge smile on my face that he reflected.

"It's only been two weeks!" Armin laughed.

"Too long, Cel." Mikasa said, and I hugged her as well, a soft smile on my lips.

"Too long indeed, Mikasa." I almost squealed. Hugging her gave me a good view of the castle's principal entrance, and I saw Levi standing there, his arms crossed against his chest. I couldn't read his expression.