-Kaisa-
"The evening sky never fails to impress me." I gush.
"Yeah, but you definitely do." He comments.
Levi leans back on the bars of the balcony, holding a cup to his mouth.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I pout, bringing my attention back to him.
"Kaisa, you're too dense for your own good. Learn to take a joke." Levi shakes his head. I squint my eyes back at him.
"No one can tell when you're joking because you use the same tone no matter the situation, Levi."
"That's not a free pass to be clueless." He blinks.
I roll my eyes and bring my attention back to the moon above us.
"Levi?" I ask.
"Hmm?" He responds.
"One day, I'm gonna reach the sky and fly among the clouds." I smile.
"I knew you were delusional, but I didn't know it progressed to be this bad." Levi remarks.
"What're you even doing here? Shouldn't you be sleeping or something?" I mutter.
"Had too much paperwork and decided that I'd grab a cup of tea before heading back to finish it. You just so happened to be here." He shrugged.
I knew he was exhausted. The lack of sleep began to take a toll on him and it was evident to see throughout our training sessions. He brought the cup up to his lips, tilting his head back slightly, allowing the moon's rays to softly rest on his features. I turn my head and look beyond the bars and see the cramped houses cluttered together with not a single candle lit inside of any of the rooms. I wondered what time it was, but to be honest, I didn't really care.
"Hey! Did you remember that tea leaf place we passed by on the last expedition back?" I asked with excitement.
Levi raises and eyebrow at me and stuffs his hands into his pants pocket. "I do, why?"
"I don't know, I just remembered it. I wanna see what type of tea leaves they have! I know you enjoy black tea but, I guess that's because that's all we have here, huh." I reply.
"Yellow Gold." He states.
"Hmm?"
"Yellow Gold. That's my favourite tea leaf." He casually says.
"Aren't those leaves extremely expensive?" I inquire.
"Indeed. But, I was able to have it once in my life before, and I haven't forgotten it since." He stirs the tea in his cup.
"I see," I begin, "Levi has a soft spot for something! I knew you had a soul!" I tease.
"Why are you surprised, you airhead?" He retorts.
"Whoa, no need to be so aggressive, you should 'learn to take a joke'" I smirk.
"I'm leaving now." He states. I don't reply and wave in his direction.
"Kaisa, don't be so rude."
"Kaisa"
"Kaisa"
"Kaisa!" Levi shakes my body.
I immediately push him away and reach to draw my blades to move back but instead I feel myself drop.
My body slams against the grass and I groan in response.
"Tch, first you get your titan blood all over me, then you fall asleep, and now you've gone and fallen off the horse. You really outdid yourself this time, Kaisa." Levi said as he walked over.
I finally open my eyes and see his arm outstretched to me, waiting to pull my weight up. I reach out to grab his hand, but he rotates behind me to help me up from my elbows as I used my legs to stand.
"How are you feeling?" He asks from behind.
A shiver runs down my back and I turn to the side to see his head peering over my shoulder as I try to stabilize myself. Once I'm up I take a look around me and Levi releases me from his hold. The wall stood above us as the horses were being transported over the wall—we must have just arrived.
"I'm okay. How long was I out for?" I ask, turning back at him.
"You didn't miss much action, right after you passed out Erwin shot a blue flare so I brought you back." He states.
It was then I realised I didn't know where my team was.
"My cadets! Are they okay? Did they make it out? Oh gosh, I wasn't there to help them. They're probably dead." I worry.
"Shut up. You speak so much for someone so little." He smirks.
Wait, smirked?
I brush off the thought and stare back at him in anticipation.
"They're fine. You saved one, Mina I think, before you decided to drool all over me." Levi answered.
A let out a sigh of relief and lean back onto the horse, resting a hand upon my forehead. I was annoyed, disappointed, even. My cadets must be so embarrassed to call me their captain. Who passes out in the middle of an expedition? Someone who isn't prepared to fight, that's who.
"Stop overthinking and give yourself some credit. Your cadets have been waiting for you over the wall." His voice fades as he walks towards the wall.
"Wait! How am I supposed to get up there? I don't have my gear on me! Who took it off?" I chase after him.
"Your gear broke off on the way back, I had to take a quick turn to avoid an abnormal that wanted a snack and it snapped." He shrugged.
"How am I going to get up?" I inquire.
Levi stops walking and so do I, surprised by this action. He turns around and begins to walk back towards me. I raise an eyebrow and remain where I am, but cross my arms in confusion. He appears next to me and out of nowhere my feet are in the air and I feel a pair of arms holding me, moving towards the wall.
"Levi! What do you think you're doing?!" I yell as I quickly wrap my arms around his neck to prevent me from falling.
"Tch, will you be quiet? My eardrums are gonna burst before I can help you get over the wall." He grumbles.
"This is a bit much, though, isn't it?!" I insist. As if to smack me in the face for bickering with Levi, an immense pain shoots through my entire body.
"You're injured. Your crazy hero stunt meant led you to accidently bruise your ribs from jumping and slamming in between titans." He scolds.
"They were going to die if I let them stay..." I quietly respond, a hand reaching to hold my knee.
"What did I tell you about playing hero, huh? Did you just suddenly forget everything I taught you?" His anger flowing out of him.
"Levi, I wouldn't have survived if I had forgotten everything you taught me." I point out.
Levi shoots his grappling hook into the wall above us and we shoot upwards near the edge of the wall. He lifts me above his chest and sits me on the wall before pulling himself up beside me, dusting off whatever was on him as he stood.
"Thank you." I express.
"I'm going to drown myself in bleach now." He ignores my thanks and walks off towards the dorms.
I watch him disappear down the wall and place my head in my hands as I try to remember everything that took place only ten minutes ago. I wasn't sure how I had survived for so long by myself taking down all of those titans and in the midst of it all I was preparing myself for death. But in that moment when I saw Levi's face when we killed that titan together, it felt like time slowed down. It was so uncanny that we both chose to face each other even though our momentum would guide us in the other direction.
The image burned into my thoughts and it almost feels like I'm back in that moment. When we turned and saw each other. His raven hair flowing from our jump and his green cape resembling one of a hero while he looked at my exhausted appearance.
"Captain!" I hear a group scream behind me. I don't lift my head from my hands and instead push my shame into my palms.
I decide not to face them, but it seems like I don't have a choice as I'm squished against concrete after almost falling off the wall. A bunch of weight presses down on my ribs and I let out a yelp in pain while trying to push everyone off of my bruised ribs.
"Get off of her!" A voice yells above the surface of bodies.
Little by little, my ribs were relieved as bodies were stripped off from on top of me. Once the sky came into view again, I rolled over onto my side, holding my stomach. I could feel the blood pumping through me from all the pressure I was underneath, and I don't even bother to look up as I regain myself.
"I'm sorry about them, they're just awestruck about how great you are, or so I hear." The voice apologizes.
I turn my head and see a familiar pair of teal orbs looking over me with a hand extended. I accept his offer and he helps me stand up. It's only then I realise how tall this guy is.
"Thank you um-"
"Eren. Eren Jaeger." He smiles.
"Thanks, Eren." I lean to the side and see my four cadets standing together with worry on their faces.
"Oi, try not to kill me the next time. You can thank me by working harder during training!" I smile. It hurts to stand here and I just wanna get back to clean up all of this blood as I'm still soaking.
"I'm gonna get cleaned up, you guys should too—y'all look terrifying!" I shake my head.
I turned around and stumble my way to the horse lifts to find a way down the wall until another voice calls out to me.
"Wait, Captain!"
I turn around to see the pair of teal eyes searching my features. I am incredibly confused, but I don't show it.
"N-nevermind. S-sorry for bothering."
"No worries, Eren." I dismiss the comment.
It was time to finally get cleaned up.
--
hi hey hello!
this chapter was almost 2000 words! i hope you guys enjoy :)
much love and take care,
~cendiain