The Threat of Joy ○Levi Ackerman○

Chapter 7 - The Tree

A week had gone past since their first training day. Each day since Levi had spent a few hours with Elizabeth either going over the recon mission or training in hand to hand combat. She had bruises all over her and her cut had started to heal.

This was her first day off, and she had spent her day alone just outside the castle. Elizabeth was sitting under a tree, watching the sun drop behind the horizon when she felt someone sit next to her. When her eyes landed on the tall blonde, she smiled,

"Good evening, Reiner." She said softly. He gave her a small smile back,

"Hey." He replied, watching as she turned to look back at the setting sun. A few geese flew overhead and there was a small breeze. It was peaceful, serine. He had two small buns he'd snatched from the kitchen, and held one out to her, causing her to look up at him. "I never see you at lunch so I thought I'd grab you one." He explained, handing it to her. Elizabeth grinned and took it,

"Thank you." She took a bite, and looked away from the tall blonde again,

"You know, it's weird not seeing you as much as we used to. Everyone misses it." Reiner told her,

"Hopefully it'll go back to normal after the mission." She replied, shrugging her shoulders. Truth be told, she missed her friends as well.

"I hope so. You know, you look weird with so many bruises. I don't think I've ever seen you with one." Elizabeth laughed, and shook her head,

"You should have seen me before I joined the training cadets. I looked like a homeless rag doll." She commented, causing Reiner to chuckle. The pair sat there, and finished their bread rolls. Once they did, Reiner stood and held his hand out to her,

"Dinners almost ready. I know you might not be hungry anymore but it'll be good to catch up with everyone for the evening." Elizabeth nodded at his words and took his hand.

They slowly made their way to the dining hall, and when they entered food was already on the table and they were all eating. Elizabeth noted that there was a few barrels of alcohol in the corner, one was prepped up, already open while someone filled their jug with the yellow-brown substance.

While Reiner went and sat with Bertolt, Elizabeth sat between Sasha and Armin. She didn't eat much else, and nor did she drink. But in the hour after they had finished dinner most of those left in the hall were drunk. Eren, Reiner, Connie, Sasha, Ymir, Christa, Jean, Oluo, Petra, Gunther. They were all loud, and the Levi squad had come over to their table and joined them. All of them were chatting and laughing.

Surprisingly, Levi was still there, yet he remained at his own table, drinking black tea by himself and just listening to them in boredom. Elizabeth stood, and walked over to sit at his right. His feet were prepped up the the table to his left and there was a tea pot, still hot, now in front of where Elizabeth sat.

"Why aren't you drinking?" He asked the girl, taking a sip of his tea. She shrugged, leaning her head on her propped up hand,

"Never really enjoyed it." She replied shortly, watching as he finished his tea. He stood, and pushed his chair in, when he began to walk away, Elizabeth watched him until he stopped and looked back at her. He nodded his head towards the door, urging her to follow.

Without much thought, Elizabeth did so. As she left, Armin watched her with furrowed brows, as did Petra. The girl was drunk, yet sober enough to have rational thoughts. The captain seemed to take a liking to Elizabeth, more so than he had any of them. How was she different? Armin had the same thoughts, yet he brushed it off.

Elizabeth let Levi lead her out of the castle, and back to the tree she was at a few hours ago. He sat down and waited for her to do the same. Both of them sat there in silence for a bit, enjoying the cool air and clear sky. It was peaceful, as it usually was. Elizabeth had found her spot, and it was her escape. She'd always found somewhere that she could be alone and clear her mind, in their currently location, here was great.