Titans Rule, Levi Ackerman UNDER EDITING

(18) A day off?

~Amelia's POV~

"Rest?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. Did this man even know how to rest?

"As much as I'm sure we both want to be on this mission, I'm injured and you're sleep-deprived and malnourished. No offence, but you're starting to look gaunt. We need to sort these out before we even think about doing anything else," he pointed to my face and his leg.

I supposed he was right. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a good night's sleep since I'd been here. When I had, it was when I'd been knocked unconscious- which happened too frequently lately. I really had to stop doing that, I must have sustained some brain trauma by now. 

"Let's get going, then," Levi hollered me over to him as he stood in the doorway waiting for me as I was spaced out.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"Back to headquarters. We'll just get in everyone's way here." He motioned to all of the soldiers helping the refugees.

He guided me away from everyone and over to what appeared to be some stables. He searched until he found what he was looking for, his horse. I mean why else would he be going into a stable? There were two problems with horses, I couldn't ride them and I was slightly terrified of them.

I attempted to go horse riding as a child as my mother used to be an equestrian when she was younger. Sadly, I didn't share that same affinity she had with horses. They always would try to throw me off and one day I broke my wrist. Ever since then, I've never ridden one again.

Levi was guiding his horse out from the pen in which I stood and stared at him. "Are you just going to stand there and make me do all the work?" He looked unimpressed.

"Uh, sorry." I went over to them. I still vaguely remembered how to dress a horse for riding so, I let my muscle memory do all of the work. Somehow I managed to do it with a little guidance from Levi.

"Now, go and get your own horse. Do it quickly so we can get back to headquarters before it gets any later than it is," he ordered me as he adjusted the saddle to his liking.

I froze, too embarrassed to admit my fear to him. Levi looked me up and down with a disapproving look. "Your legs seem fine to me. I don't see any excuse for them not to be moving right now."

"I can't ride a horse," I admitted to him, my eyes fixated on a piece of hay under his shoe.

"Right, of course, you can't. Well, you should have just said so then. Come here," he beckoned me with his finger.

Clambering onto his horse slightly less graceful than usual with his injured leg, he got himself comfortable and offered me his hand. "Come on."

Reluctantly, I slipped my hand into his. He pulled me up with ease as if I weighed nothing. Flailing my legs, I attempted to use them to pull myself up as gracefully as possible. Eventually, I managed to sit in front of him but the process wasn't pretty. I may have ended up kneeing Levi in the stomach by accident.

"I have to warn you. Horses tend to dislike me," I made him aware of my track record. 

"Well, with the way you just mounted my horse, I'm not surprised. Your knees hurt more than I expected." He patted his stomach where I'd hurt him. "We should get going."

Levi reached his arms around me, lifting the reins and cracking them to signal for his horse to leave. I could feel the warmth of his torso on my back and his arms contract on my sides. Overall, it was a very stimulating experience and for the first time in my life, I was glad that I couldn't ride a horse.  

-------------

It took us a couple of hours of riding to return to headquarters. I guessed it was about three in the morning as we'd originally left in the evening. Levi escorted me back to my room and bid me a good night.