Love within the Walls

Where Is She?

At night, when she took comfort in the Commander's strong arms, Ren sometimes wondered how she had gotten there. All she remembered was being with Erwin, a little drunk.

It just happened, She supposed.

When she woke, Erwin had already left, as usual. Smiling at his punctuality, she dragged herself out of bed and got dressed. After getting her pants and undershirt on, a knock on the door surprised her.

She was decent looking enough, she thought as she opened the door. Erwin stood in front of her and after getting over initial confusion, she couldn't help but stifle a giggle at Erwin's actions.

"..What's funny?" He asked, lowering an eyebrow.

"You do realize you were knocking on your own door?"

"It's only courtesy. Say I walked in and you were indecent?" He explained, giving her the faintest of smirks.

Feeling a blush rise to her cheeks, she laughed and stepped aside to let the man into the room. He walked to the center of the room with his back facing her and stood silently for a moment. This caught Ren's attention and immediately she knew where this was heading.

Today was an expedition, after all.

She walked up behind Erwin and wrapped her arms around his chest. He once pointed out that her arms were just the right length to reach around his torso. 'A perfect fit,' he said.

Erwin sighed and turned to face her and held her toward his chest.

"Please be careful.."

Erwin was protective. In a position where being selfish was not an option, Ren was the exception. She hated distracting him. But Erwin always sought her right after the end of an expedition and she would never forget the anxious spark in his eyes that leaked out of his stoic mask.

"You know I will. You be careful too, okay?"

"I will." That was all that was exchanged as they left each others embrace. A quick kiss on the lips was his farewell to her as he left to attend his duties.

Letting out a sigh herself, she turned away from the closed door and proceeded to put on her uniform.

---- ----

One wrong step.

One wrong step and she was sent flying as she saw a blur of the sky and grass.

"Ren!" Simon shouted.

His voice sounded fuzzy already.

---- ----

As the Survey Corps reentered the walls, many wore faces of grief at the loss of friends, but Commander Erwin wore a neutral expression. It was common for deaths to occur, and if he was being calculative, the number of fallen soldiers was significantly smaller than average estimates. Only sixteen dead. An astonishing low number for the Survey Corps.

Only those close to Erwin could see the apprehension in eyes.

But they knew enough. They knew how much Ren's safety meant to their commander.

Erwin didn't expect to see her until he got to headquarters seeing as she was the leader of another squad, but the waiting only heightened the nervousness within him. More than once he's considered putting her in his squad, but she quelled those thoughts herself. She had a squad to lead.

It wasn't until all the paperwork for the expedition had been completed that Erwin began to head to his sleeping quarters which had become her unsaid meeting place after expeditions. Whenever he opened that door after a long day, she was there.