The Girl With The Yellow Ribbon - Attack on Titan

Chapter Eight

"Come on, darling. You can do this." Levi holds his arms out. "Walk to me. It's just a few steps, you can do it."

Petra grips the back of the chair, her nightdress hanging limply around the metal straps that hugged her legs tightly.

She exhales deeply, gnawing her lower lip before taking a wobbly step. Then another, and another, and another.

Suddenly, she's in Levi's arms again.

"You did it, Petra!" Levi cried.

"I did it," Petra whimpers, allowing Levi to bear most of her weight. "I did it."

"Yes, and you did it so good too, darling." Levi mutters, pressing a kiss against her forehead. He sighs, and mutters into her hair: "You did so good."

Maybe she should've waited for the doctor to come back, or maybe Marie should've been there, but Petra was too filled with adrenaline to care.

The doctor had explained how her brace worked, and that it might take a while to get adjusted--but the first time Levi helped her strap it on, she was unable to wait for aid or professional supervision.

Petra Ral had just taken her first steps since the 57th Expedition, and the ache in her joints and the hot tears on her cheeks assured her that it was all real.

"Do you want to sit down?" Levi asked, cupping her face gently so she looked at him directly. While the captain was rather short, Petra was definitely sorter. "I can help you, or do you wanna try and do it yourself."

"I wanna try it myself." Petra pushed herself upward, and Levi made sure she was steady before removing his hands completely.

"Okay, you got this." Levi didn't physically touch her, but held both hands out to spot her as an extra precaution--it wasn't a far walk, and she'd already done well, but Levi didn't want to take that risk.

Again, in all her marvelous and hesitant glory, Petra walked to the bed.

"Here, let me help you sit down." Levi gingerly pressed his hand to Petra's back and guided her to sit.

Something inside Levi was startled when he touched the small of Petra's back--instead of being met by the warmth of her skin radiating through her thin nightdress, he was met by the unwavering coolness of metal.

Petra shifted uncomfortably in a feeble attempt to adjust to the stiffness of the brace.

The brace itself was large, with the center contraption being a corset-like binding around her midsection.

Now I'll be like those fancy noble women in the city, Petra joked. I'm shocked they can even breathe, with how tight they keep their corsets and all.

Levi, however, didn't think it was as amusing as she did.

Petra had no place amongst those noble pigs, Levi thought. She was utterly beautiful; none of their extravagant clothes or wealth could ever compare.

Unlike the noble women's corsets, Petra's didn't stop at just her bust--it wrapped around her shoulders to keep her back straight.

From there, metal bindings connected rods down both her legs, bendable at the knees and secured at the ankles.

Despite there being a thick layer of padding between the metal and her soft skin, Levi was sure it was quite uncomfortable--or it at least looked the part.

"I can't believe I did it," Petra mumbled to herself.

"Did what?" Levi had been so enthralled with the thought of Petra and the inner workings of her brace that he'd lost track of reality.

"Walked on my own." She laughs half-heartedly. "I haven't done that since..."

"I know," Levi wrapped his arm around her shoulders and whispered, "And I'm so damn proud of you."

"Thank you," Petra leans her head against Levi's shoulder. "I honestly didn't think I'd ever walk again."

"I knew you would, I never lost faith that you'd get better--and look! You're already doing so much better than you were even yesterday." Levi lied. He wasn't about to tell her how many sleepless nights he went wondering if she'd ever recover. He tried to keep faith, he really did, but seeing her bedridden for so long began to take a toll.

"Do you want to lay down? I can help, if you want." Levi asked, quickly changing the subject.

"No, I want to stay upright." She replied, her toe dancing across the floor. "I haven't felt the floor like this in a long time. It's strange."

Levi didn't respond, simply kept his arm around her shoulders securely--in all honesty, he wasn't sure if he was attempting to keep her steady or if he just wanted to be close.

Perhaps it was a bit of both.

"Levi?" Petra touched his leg softly. Once she had his attention, she pointed over to her bag hanging on the wall. "Will you get me my sewing kit and the ribbon Marie bought?"

Levi didn't question her motives, and did as she asked, retrieving both the ribbon and sewing kit before sitting beside Petra again.

"Thank you," She said, smoothing out the ribbon between her fingers. "The ends are fraying and I want to keep this as beautiful as it is now, so I will put a few stitches at the ends to keep it together. It's what my mother taught me to do."

Levi nodded at her explanation. He watched as she fiddled with threads, finally settling on a white one.

She unraveled the thread, pulling it to her desired length, and brought it up to her mouth to cut. Levi raised an eyebrow.

"Sometimes we couldn't find the scissors, so mama would cut the thread with her teeth." Petra said simply. "I guess I just picked up on it."

Levi hummed in response and continued to watch, but a nagging voice in his head couldn't look past the tremble in Petra's hands.

She picked a needle, held it into the light, and attempted to thread it--however, her hands shook so violently now it was impossible to keep steady.

Petra pretended not to notice, and continued to try to thread the needle to no avail. Her hands continued to shake.

Levi took Petra's small hands in his, and brought her back to reality--though the shaking hadn't stopped, the roughness of his hands soothed her in a way she didn't understand.

"It's okay, calm down," Levi whispered, running a calloused finger across her palm. "It's best not to push yourself too much. You've already done so much today, maybe this can wait until tomorrow?"

Petra sighed. She knew with the shakes it would be nearly impossible to thread her needle, or even get a half-decent stitch.

"Okay," Petra murmured, and placed the unused needle back into the pin cushion. "Tomorrow, then. I'll mend the ends tomorrow." 

---

i don't think i've ever felt physically proud of a character in one of my stories before. i genuinely almost started crying while writing Petra taking her first steps since her injury, and Levi being right by her side made it even more emotional. like, yeah, i know i write a lot of angst in most of my stories and believe me y'all are in for a wild ride with this story cause we're just taking off, but there will be moments like this where it is just sweet and fluffy. i also love writing this side of Levi? like we didn't get enough of Levi encouraging his comrades in the anime and i need more. but yeah, i'm just so proud of petra in this like while writing i became so much more attached and i love her so much more than i did before and seeing her overcome such a huge milestone is amazing. i might be getting way too attached to these characters but that's escapism for you. also most of the time if there's a plot twist or whatever, i'm just as shocked as y'all because most of the time i didn't plan it--the brace?? thought of it yesterday while talking to a friend. like "yeah she'll go home, maybe wear a brace or something... wait a brace why didn't i think of that before" and that is just the tip of the iceberg so buckle up buckaroos cause it's about to get real 

~ M