"Eren, you're—" Levi started, jumping to his feet, but Eren cut him off.
"No, please—I apologize for imposing," he insisted, but his voice was shaking. His eyes watered and he bolted.
"Eren!" Levi shouted, rushing to the door before he threw Xora one last glance. She looked at him with an expressionless face, then he, too, ran.
Xora didn't know how to feel; was her first attempt at comforting another person good enough? And why in the world did Eren have tears in his eyes, even when he was smiling? Was he hurt? If he was, why was he hurt?
Why did Levi choose to leave her there?
Rising to stand, Xora stumbled from the aching in her joints, deciding that if she were to work it off and exercise, she'd heal.
Just as she always did.
Moments later, she was already striding through the halls, headed for the exercise room. She only stopped when she passed an ajar door with the hushed whispering of no other than the two men from within. It would've been the consciously right thing to do to keep walking, but one remark stole her attention.
"There is absolutely nothing going between Xora and I," Levi whispered forcedly. "She is my subordinate, and I am her superior. We are co-workers, and I have no feelings for her whatsoever."
Xora had stopped moving without thought. Her muscles froze and she couldn't move; sparks flew in her brain, but she wasn't able to feel anything at all.
"Then how do you explain why the two of you were so close just now?" came Eren's voice. It was trembling, and through it Xora could hear he was obviously weeping.
Why was he crying?
"We were just rehearsing for our roles as Rivaille and Seraphina. Her past performances were unfit and practice was necessary."
Why couldn't Xora move? She willed her body to move its feet once again—but instead, it seized up and she felt something warm trickle down her face. Finally, her body listened to her; her hand went to touch her cheek and she felt something wet. Withdrawing her hand, she saw there was a warm liquid drenching her finger tips.
What?
What was this?
The sparks in her head were now absolute chaos. Why was there such a strange hollowness in her chest that she could not place? Why did it affect her so? She stumbled from her spot and dashed as quickly as she could away from that door. There was no destination set in her mind, but when she came to, she found herself standing right outside of the fitness room.
Rushing inside, Xora speeded over to the full-body mirror on the left side of the room, grasping both sides of the frame. She was astonished to find that she... was crying.
What?
What???
Tears slipped down her face and dripped to the floor, the whites of her eyes tinted pink. She scraped at the wetness with the back of her hands and the collar of her shirt, but the tears would not yield. What was this? Why was this happening?!
Eventually, she collapsed to her knees and stared at her reflection, her eyes stuck on her empty gaze. She stayed this way for a long, long time, and somewhere along the way she'd fallen asleep, for when she awoke, it was barely dawn.
Finally her cheeks were dry, but her lids felt swollen and heavy. She groggily rose to her feet and swayed over to the bathroom within the exercise room, this one less luxurious than the one in her bedroom, but useful nonetheless. Stripping of her clothes, she turned on the shower and let it run ice-cold. Her bandages fell to the floor, her knees covered in nasty scrapes that had freshly scabbed over. Though the frigid water stung her skin, it also placed a hand over the fogged film of her mind and wiped away the blur, leaving her head crystal clear.
Time seemed to fly; she didn't leave the shower until her lips were a plum color, her skin pale. Her body was shivering, but she could not feel the cold. Xora wiped herself dry with a towel and left one smaller one wrapped around her shoulders to soak in her the wetness of her hair. When she looked through the wardrobes within the bathroom she could only find clothing designed for excercise, but had no complaint in its lack of a bodysuit.
Xora donned a fitted tank with a matching pair of shorts, keeping the towel draped around her shoulders. Frustration met within her when she looked in the mirror to find her hair stilll dripping wet, her long bangs hanging over her face.
"I am tired," she muttered to herself, rummaging through the cabinet drawers of the sink. Her hands felt a first-aid kit and within it a pair of metal scissors. She took them out with satisfaction.
Facing herself again in the mirror, she took a thorough look at herself; her wild tangle of hair hung to her waist, the color faded as it neared the bottom. Xora divided her hair into two sections and let them rest in front her shoulders, covering her torso.
"Goodbye," she whispered unregretfully, and took her left portion of hair. In one fell swoop, she snipped through the strand beneath her chin and the entire length fell to the tile. A few strands had escaped her wrath and she randomly slashed them off before proceeding to the other side, the entire piece also meeting the rest of it on the floor. There were still several long strips of hair left, to which she haphazardly chopped off.
Once done, she deposited the scissors in their original place and scooped up what was left of her hair, her face stoic as she tied it with a rubberband in a scrawled fashion. She hoped to donate it to a better cause where others could use it when she did not need it. After her freshly cut hair was done drying, she effortlessly ran a brush through it without a problem, impressed with the lack of trouble.
Xora had to admit—the ends were terribly uneven, but that did not concern her. At least her sudden thirst for a rushed burst of change was now quenched, and the trouble of taking care of her hair was gone. She left the bathroom, freshly replenished, and went straight to working out.
Time blurred past her as she merged from stretching to jogging to lifting weights to working her core. There was nothing to fill the silence of the large, dank room but the sound of her panting, the rush of her blood pumping through her veins, and her grunts of effort. Satisfication bubbled within her with every rep she made, as it meant she was making progress.
It was not until the sound of the door clicked open did she realize how concentrated she was, and that sound alone broke her focus. She had been benching, warming up on 60 kg, and that one sound alone caused her arms to plummet, the bar almost slamming into her chest. It took the remainder of her scattered strength and focus to shove the bar up into the air and back onto its stand.
With her chest heaving and sweat coating every inch of her body, Xora sat up, wiping her upperlip with the back of her hand. Clattering drew her attention again, whipping her head to the side to find Levi standing there in astonishment. What made the noise was a clipboard, a water bottle and a granola bar which had somehow found its way to the floor.
"Xora?!" he exclaimed, frozen.
"What is it?" she asked, casually striding over to a set of hooks where she retrieved a small towel, using it to wipe away the sweat around her face and neck.
"Your hair—"
"What about it?"
Levi threw her a look of mixed astonishment and exasperation, his palms splayed. "What did you do?!"
"It does not concern you," she answered bluntly. She turned to him and stared into his wide gaze coldly, sighing heavily. "Is there anything you need?"
Levi blinked a few times and opened his mouth, but shut it once more and cleared his throat. He picked up the fallen items and strode over to Xora, handing over the granola bar and water.
"I—I had not seen you all day and we missed you at our three regular meals," Levi muttered, eyes moving away once they saw her half-naked body. She did not mind. "My best guess was that you were in here, and I thought to bring you something to eat."
"Thank you for your concern. I apologize for not checking in with the rest of you earlier."
"It's fine."
Xora twisted the cap of the bottle open and chugged the entirety of its contents before tossing it in a recycling bin, tearing open the wrapper of the bar to chomp off half of it. Levi was still standing in his spot, his striking gaze trapped on Xora's every move.
"Tell me, Levi," she suddenly blurted, unable to stop herself as soon as she finished the bite of granola. "You seem to care so much more for Eren than you really show, don't you?"
"What makes you think that?" was Levi's answer as he tensed, taking a seat on the bench press.
"I happened to I overhear some of your conversation with Eren yesterday."
Levi's body went totally rigid; he was silent for an entire minute before he sighed heavily and massaged the bridge of his nose. "What did you hear?"
"We were just rehearsing for our roles as Rivaille and Seraphina," she recited. "Her past performances were unfit and practicing them was necessary."
Levi was silent for a few moments. "Was that all you heard?"
"Yes," Xora lied, unable to relay the fact that she'd heard him say much more than that.
"I can't tell why you'd assume so, then," Levi countered; he knew she was lying, and Xora gave way.
"There is absolutely nothing going between Xora and I. She is my subordinate and I am her superior. We are co-workers and I have no feelings whatsoever." The thought of the words alone made Xora's eyes strangely wet again, but she blinked swiftly to disperse the tears. There was no sense to letting anything fall now.
Levi swore under his breath.
"I..." he trailed, unable to finish his sentence.
"You don't need to give me an explanation," Xora cut in abruptly. "I cannot blame Eren for thinking there was some type of romantic relationship in between the two of us. In fact... I think I may have mistaken that, too, but I did not realize it until you made that remark. It seems so foolish now, but I may have mistaken everything that you've done for me until now as something more than what it truly was. On the journey of this mission, I've forgotten that I am only an agent of the Iridescent Empire, and that I always will remain that way."
"Don't say that," Levi said quietly, but it almost sounded as if he were begging. Xora was unable to meet his eyes; she lost her appetite, tossing the other half of her granola bar in the trash can.
"I must speak with Eren to explain this misunderstanding. Thank you for clarifying this with me, sir." Xora nodded at Levi with pursed lips. "I think you've shown me something special, even if you did not intend to. It seems to have changed me greatly. Now there is no more need to worry, for I have remembered my true standing."
Wrapping the towel around her shoulders, Xora bowed her head and went straight for the door, opening it before she left soundlessly. She continued forward and that strange feeling of hollowness came forth again, the wetness returning to her eyes once more. Her feet hesitated to spin her around and return to Levi, to talk to him and see him and feel him and know that he was there—but she did not.
She did not because instead, a hand clamped around her wrist, and a voice cut through her clouded head.
"Wait."