Wings in the Dark

Chapter 15: Glimpse of the Depths

*Levi's POV*

An entire day passed where Levi didn't hear anything from Y/N. He didn't dare go to her room to check up on her and draw attention to her absence, or weaken the credibility of his claim that she was sick and it was infectious so she was staying in her room. If she was infectious, he was the last person who'd walk into her room without being covered up head to toe in his cleaning gear and gloves. He had to trust that she was recovering behind the closed doors of her quarters, and that he'd hear from her soon enough. He spun the lie whenever someone asked about her absence, since by now the other members of his squad were returning and getting back into their usual routine, which by now Y/N was a part of. So of course they noticed when she wasn't there, and were bound to ask him where she was if she wasn't running around acting as an aid and doing training.

Erwin had noticed the absence, as well, which meant that the two of them ended up meeting so Levi could tell him what happened and what was going on with her.

Of course, after they'd seen how strong she was, seeing a vampire stronger than her that almost killed her had been a bit of a reality check. They were lucky that the vampire that had infiltrated their ranks had good intentions--what if an older vampire with malicious intentions, as Levi had thought she might be, found its way into the Scouts? What were they going to do, then? They were taking white sage, but it was just a deterrent from being bitten or compelled--there were plenty of other ways to kill a person if that was the goal. And apparently Y/N was not evenly matched against the other vampires out there. They couldn't depend on their own vampire to fight off another one--not one on one, strength verses strength. They needed to come up with contingencies in case they were ever faced with a vampire threat.

And maybe he should have encouraged her to keep talking when she'd started teaching him how to fight a vampire. All he'd really been told was that it was about leverage and fighting smarter not harder when it came to vampires--he hadn't given her the chance to say much else. That, clearly, had been a mistake.

It looked like they were both going to be teachers. Not that he would tell her. He was still the instructor here, and he wasn't going to lose that stable position in their strange relationship.

Erwin had suggested as much, as well. With his strength and speed, Levi was the best candidate right now for someone to be prepared to handle vampires. So when Y/N got better, they needed to start practicing handling other vampires together. Maybe running into other vampires wasn't going to be a common occurrence, but it would be foolish not to prepare for it all the same.

Now she just needed to recover, wake up, and feed so they could get back on track.

The second day passed with Levi starting to get worried about how long it was taking for him to see her emerge from her quarters. He had to hold Petra back from bringing her herbal tea to help her feel better, spinning some bullshit lie that she already had tea in her room he'd brought her earlier and she didn't need more. It was the best excuse he could think of off the top of his head at the moment, but it worked, and that was what mattered.

That night he went in to check on her after everyone else had fallen asleep, to at least reassure himself that she was in fact healing and he hadn't accidentally left her to die in her room. She was still pale as death, but she was breathing now, and it seemed her wounds had almost entirely healed--there was just a bit of scarring that would probably go away by the time she woke up. It also told him that she was probably going to wake up tomorrow.

Good. He wouldn't have to be worried about her recovery anymore. And he wouldn't have to cover for her absence much longer.

On the third day, he was doing most of what was usually in his daily routine, except for what he usually did with Y/N. Instead of sparring and training with her, he used the time for more of his own training and to exercise his horse--and to take care of her horse in the meantime and made sure Zephyr stayed clean, fed, and watered, with plenty of time out to pasture for exercise. Someone had to take care of the horse while she couldn't.