Hellfire • L.A.

It Makes Things Easier

My eyes pried themselves open when I heard a door shutting. I looked up at the unfamiliar wooden ceiling through blurry eyes, and reached up to rub the sleep out of them. My whole body felt heavy, almost like it was filled with cement.

"Ah, finally. It's nice to see you awake, Commander Lux." Erwin's familiar, deep voice rings out through the room.

I force myself to sit up, wincing at the pain coming from my leg. Erwin starts towards me in an attempt to offer help, but I hold up my hand and shake my head to stop him. Once I settle back into the pillows I turn to him.

"What do you mean 'finally'?" My voice is groggy and my throat feels like sandpaper.

"You've been out for almost a week. Hanje and a few other medics assume you had some sort of head injury along with that gash in your leg. You lost a lot of blood." He sits down on the edge of the bed but is careful to sit far away from my legs.

"Oh yeah, that's right..." I search through the memories in my mind for the mission. The last thing I can remember is Levi finding me underneath all of the rubble.

I pull back the sheet covering me a bit to reveal my right leg. My knee is swollen up almost twice the size of my left knee. There's gauze tightly wrapped around the area directly below my knee, and it looks like it might need to be changed soon.

"It was pretty gruesome. I don't think any of the military police on the scene had even seen a paper cut before then." Erwin's voice has a tilt of humor to it, and I nod.

"I'm glad to have given them a show, then."

"A lot has happened since you've been out. We're having a meeting at seven this evening if you feel well enough to attend."

"I'll be there." I nod and give him a small smile. Instead of getting up and leaving like I had expected him to, Erwin stays out with his brow furrowed.

"Lux, we were all pretty worried. No one knew for sure you'd make it or not. But...Levi was a little more worried than the rest of us. He would never come out and say so himself, but I've known him for quite some time now and I know who he really is."

Erwin's words sink into me and I try and fight off the girlish fluttering in my heart. I couldn't feed into whatever was beginning to form. This is no place, nor the time, to be getting involved with anyone. Especially if that person can't seem to make up their mind on whether they actually enjoy your presence or not.

"Tell me, what exactly is your relationship with Lance Corporal Levi?" Erwin's blue eyes bare into me and try to pry an answer out. It's not a threatening gaze but I still find myself nervous to answer this question.

I bite the inside of my lower lip in thought while staring down at my patched up leg. "I suppose we've become close. Dare I say it, we're good friends."

Erwin raises his brows in surprise and I laugh slightly.

"Yeah, I know. I'm going to be honest with you commander, Levi used to annoy the shit out of me." I hear Erwin chuckle. "But somewhere in these past two months I just lost the energy to care about rivalry. Pick and choose your battles, I suppose."

Erwin smiles, nodding his head and humming. "Right. Well," he stands, "I have some business to attend to. I'll see you this evening."

Erwin walks over to the door, but stops as soon as he opens it. I hear him chuckle and whispering seemingly to himself. When he turns around to face me he's smiling brightly.

"You have visitors."

This time my brows furrow in confusion. Erwin walks out of the room and leaves the door open, and three bright faces look through the crack. Immediately I feel myself grinning at the sight of my three closest comrades.