Yours Truly, Levi

Night Owl

The crackling of the campfire evokes memories of home. Your mother, before she was killed by Titans so mercilessly, baking bread over an open oven, your father showing you how to roast marshmallows- such a rare treat, stolen from the wealthiest of citizens- over a flame. You close your eyes and remember the warmth of the flames then, how warm and peaceful.

"Good work today, men," Captain Jason says as he sits on a log. The other men are as tired as you are, though, and lie sprawled around the fire, either sleeping or gazing tranquilly up into the starry night. You feel your body begin to tire as well, and soon find yourself sprawled out as well, despite the chill in your spine. Your eyes sink heavier and heavier, before-

"I suppose it's warm enough to let them stay here," the soft murmur of a voice breaks through your sleepy consciousness. It's Levi, and you become aware that he's standing above you

"This guy's shivering," Jason's hushed voice responds from a few feet away. Though you're groggy and still asleep, you can only guess he's talking about you.

"Leave him," Levi replies coldly. "If he gets too cold, he can wake himself up and take care of it." He steps over you, and you feel the silence wrap around you again. You should really get up and get a blanket from the pile of supplies near the shelter, but you're so tired... yawn. The cold isn't so bad... sleep is better.

But, unexpectedly, a moment later you feel the warmth of a cotton blanket being tucked around your chin, and the scent of pine and leather engulfs you. "Baka. You're going to freeze," Levi's voice says chidingly, as if he was talking to himself more than to you. But hadn't he just...?

You don't have time to wonder about it, because it is then that sleep finds you again, and you cuddle into the warm blanket and drift off once again, into a world of sleep and dreams. Such peacefulness. Such calm.

XXX

Cricket. Cricket. Cricket.

The foreign sound startles you from your sleep. You curse and shuffle around, searching blindly in the dark through your clothes for your pocket knife. It's not here! Where could it be? You dig through your loose-fitting white men's blouse, pulling off the binding from your chest in search of the weapon.

"Relax, kid, it's just a bug."

You freeze. The voice came from behind you. But who else would be awake now? You rotate your body to see who was behind you, finding yourself face-to-face with-

"Levi? I mean, Corporal!" You stumble backwards and attempt to cover your now unbound chest, which is clearly female under the blouse.

"What's your fuss?" he stands, making a tsk sound. "Go to sleep. You'll need it." He turns and walks back towards the shelter- again.

Suddenly it dawns on you how dark it is. He couldn't have noticed! You breathe a sigh of relief and flop backwards, watching him go.

That was too close! One more mistake like that, and your secret is out. Who knows what will happen then? They might kill you- or worse, take advantage of you. After all- they had been just recently complaining about not having any women on the island to fool around with...

No, you think. I won't let that happen.

As you settle back into sleep, you wonder if Levi really hadn't seen. What if he had, but was too shocked to say anything? What if he told on you? No, he seems very blunt, you say to yourself. He wouldn't have just ignored it. He would've said something, or at least seemed a little shocked.

With that as reassurance, you reaffix the blankets over yourself so as to avoid any further mishaps, and let yourself relax. Sleep comes for the third and final time that night, and  you cannot help but hope that the morning will come uneventfully.