𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑 [𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘪 𝘹 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳]

chapter 4

you woke up and instantly groaned at the deep throbbing pain coming from your neck. you took in your surroundings and realized you'd stupidly fell asleep against the stiff wall from the night before. given the angle of light streaming across the floorboards, it was late morning.

today was the day you were supposed to start training with levi's squad but honestly you could care less. you wanted to avoid him as much as possible given the events of the night previous.

his actions were entirely uncalled for but what surprised you the most was the fact that you were frozen and unable to respond. usually you were quick to distance yourself from others and stand your ground but the situation was different than any you had experienced before.

what a strange man. you wondered what erwin saw in him to call him a friend.

you already knew a few people in levi's squad, eren being one of them. you'd overseen some of his training with hange when he'd been working on his hardening ability. sometimes you sat with him in the dining hall if your friends had been busy so you'd been introduced to a few others on the squad.

you weren't nervous about meeting your new squad, you knew your abilities were on par with the strongest soldiers in the scout regiment. the only aspect you were dreading was the constant presence of captain levi.

given your previous few interactions over the past few days, it seemed as if the whispers you'd heard about his reputation were true. he held his cadets to high standards and was rudely blunt and unsociable.

you stood from your spot with a groan and started heading to where you hoped they'd be training.

__

by the time you reached the training field, it was likely around noon. as you went to talk to levi, you were intercepted by eren.

"you should know that everyone on this squad wants to kill you right now," he forced out, panting from exertion, "apparently somebody got caught breaking curfew last night but wasn't brave enough to show up to training this morning, so the captain thought it fit for us to take the punishment for you."

you felt angry glares boring into your back like daggers. shit.

eren ran off to continue his laps and you walked the final distance to meet the captain in the center of the field. he'd been talking to a tall man whom you'd recognized as erwin as you got closer.

you really needed to have a talk with him.

you were annoyed as erwin walked away when he saw your figure coming closer to speak to levi. you rolled your eyes at his actions. how rude.

you wondered why he was going so far out of his way to avoid you, usually erwin was someone that faced his troubles head-on.

"captain," you finally started, "i didn't mean to wake up so late, please let my squad stop running laps and let me do them instead," you begged.

levi stared blankly at you for a moment.

"fine," he said, to your confusion. usually it was impossible to sway him at all.

he placed two fingers in his mouth to form a loud whistling noise, signaling your squad to meet in the middle of the training field.

as your fellow squad members gathered, you could feel the weight of their glares return to your back.

"you're all dismissed for lunch and training today is done so fuck off and do whatever brats do nowadays," he said in a bored tone.

everyone around you perked up in excitement and eagerly rushed off to take advantage of their unexpected day off. you didn't move from your place standing near the captain.

he turned back to you once the squad was mostly dispersed.

"you'll run laps until i say you can stop," he said with the same bored tone. your eyes widened at his bluntness before you nodded and moved to start.

___

despite the frigid air, it wasn't long until you were sweating and panting from exertion. a few laps in when you'd realized that you hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday, having skipped dinner last night and forgotten breakfast in your panic this morning.

your body felt like it would give out at any moment. you'd been running for what felt like hours and the sun had gradually been moving across the sky as time passed, yet your brain was so exhausted that your concept of time was shot.

levi and erwin had long since moved indoors, likely to go to meetings and finish paperwork from the last expedition. maybe they'd forgotten about you altogether.

you felt light headed and kept tripping over your own feet. your sole focus right now was making sure that you didn't fall down but you weren't sure how much longer you could manage that. your stomach was growling and felt hollow and empty as your body consumed the last of it's remaining energy.

eventually the black dots bombarding the edges of your vision became too much to fight off and you feel the sharp pain of your cheekbone colliding with the cold hard ground.

___

your slow return to consciousness is eased by a steady rocking motion, similar to waking on a boat traveling over a steady current of gentle waves.

when you open your eyes it's dark and your vision is blurry, the rocking motion you'd thought was the remnant of a dream still hasn't ceased.

the first thing you realize is how much your body aches, every movement is met with the painful protest of your muscles begging for a break. the second thing you feel is the painful growling of your empty stomach. you let out a soft noise of pain and discomfort and burrow further into the warmth of the sturdy object holding you.

you feel the object stiffen below you and gain more awareness of your surroundings. you look and see the the faint outline of a steady hand looped under your knees and feel the warm presence of another on your ribcage as you're carried.

you look up but your blurry vision makes it hard to distinguish who's carrying you. you don't really care anyways. all you want to do is burrow yourself into the familiar warmth of your bed and surround yourself in a thick layer of covers to keep out the chill.

you make yourself as comfortable as you can manage in the grip of whomever is carrying you and close your eyes again, the soft noise of a contented sigh passing your lips. a few moments pass and you sink deeper into a place close to sleep.

"this is why you shouldn't skip meals," a deep voice says lowly, almost like he's talking to himself. it's familiar.

you frown in confusion, having mostly forgotten about the events of the past day, exhaustion making you nearly delirious.

"levi?" you mumble, the overwhelming pull of sleep making your brain groggy before you slip into nothingness again. the last thing you recall is the comforting scent of pine that makes you dream of your home in the mountains.