An Ackerman's secret

37

"Oi."

I blinked open my eyes, rubbing them gently to try and adjust to the light. My head ached and my muscles felt tired, I definitely needed more sleep.

Sasha sat next to me with a potato in her mouth, grinning.

"Morning!"

I groaned and sat up, "Morning."

Everyone was already packing up everything into the carts, getting ready to leave.

"You might want to hurry up, we don't have long." She warned me.

I twisted my head over my shoulder to see Levi laying down next to me, still asleep. He needed the rest more than anyone.

"How's your shoulder?" I turned back to Sasha.

She moved it around, showing how much mobility she had in it. It surprisingly wasn't too bad. but it was definitely wasn't going to be able to aim as well as she normally did. And using her gear would be nearly impossible.

"Hurts a lot. But is definitely better than dying."

I let out a breathy laugh before giving her a small smile, "I don't know what I would have done if you didn't wake up."

"And I don't know what I would have done if the bullet hit you instead." She drew her eyebrows together.

I shrugged, "I would of survived."

She frowned, nodding, "Yeah. Somehow you always do. I swear you are not human."

We both giggled and stood up, getting our stuff together to prepare for the journey ahead of us.

"Come on you two!" Hange shouted for us as they lifted Levi onto the cart.

I made sure we left nothing behind before jumping onto the cart behind them, Sasha leaving me to sit on the second cart with the others.

Moblit left me space to sit next to Levi, which I thanked him for.

Connie sat at the front and we soon started the journey, the atmosphere seemingly calmer than the previous night.

Levi stirred awake as the cart began to move.

I smiled as he did and shuffled closer, grabbing his hand to let him know I was here.

His eyes fluttered opened while he groaned, the first thing he could see being me.

"Hi."

His gaze softened, "You look happy."

The grin on my face was hard to hide.

"Just a little. I have Sasha back, so." I slowly rubbed the back of his hand with my thumb, my eyes landing on his missing fingers.

"It's fine. I don't need them." He reassured me.

I pressed my lips together into a line, not believing him. "Will you ever be able to fight again?"

He scoffed, "Tch. How weak do you think I am?"

"I'm not stopping until I kill Zeke."

It scared me, knowing that he wasn't at his usual skill. He was vulnerable and I hated that. Before, I could go off on my own, knowing that he would be okay. But not anymore.

"Hey." He grabbed my attention, noticing that I zoned out. "Stop overthinking."

"I'm not." I lied.

He squinted, knowing perfectly well that I was lying.

"Can we really rely on the Azumabito?" Magath questioned.

"What other choice do we have?" Hange mumbled, staring off into the distance, focused on something.