Save Me (Levi x OC)

Chapter 24

Levi stood up nonchalantly, and our entire squad just watched him walk away from the table for a bit until he turned back, staring directly at me. "Well, Alex, are you coming or not?" He raised his eyebrow at me in question, and I launched out of my seat between Hange and Mikasa.

"Y-yes Levi! I'm coming!" Behind me, the cadets gaped in amazement that not only did I call the captain by his first name, but he'd allowed me to do so, but I barely even noticed as I half-jogged to catch up with Levi. They whispered among themselves for a few seconds before making their way back to the table that all their friends sat at, leaving Hange alone. Although I did feel slightly bad for Hange, considering she was by now one of my closest friends and I didn't want to leave her alone, but I knew she'd probably use the alone time to just think of more theories about the titan's origins. 

As Levi sped through the cafeteria, I had to walk considerably faster than normal to even stay more or less beside him, but only once the cafeteria's doors closed behind us did he slow down, leading the way to the commander's office. We walked down the hall, passing countless doors one after the other until we were greeted by a door slightly darker than the rest that had an old, polished plaque on it that read "Commander Erwin Smith". Funny how such a strong and powerful man has such a bland, plain name. Levi knocked on the door a few times, the sound crisp and clean, and from within the room, the commander's deep voice rang out, telling us to come in.

Levi pushed the door open, walking in. I followed him, taking this time to study the office. It was only my second time being in it, and I hadn't had time to thoroughly scan it during today's meeting. The center of the room had the large, rectangle-shaped table that I'd previously sat at, chairs neatly pushed in behind the designated seats. At the far end of the table was Commander Erwin's desk, papers scattered along it, as the commander himself sat at the head of the table, his head resting against his hand, his eyes piercing into first Levi's, then mine. He looked stressed out, as if he was mere seconds away from collapsing under his work load. Nevertheless, he signaled for Levi to explain the reason behind our visit.

"Commander Erwin, as you are aware, this is Alexandra Martinez, my second-in-command," Levi stated, glancing to his right  and giving me a moment of introduction, and I saluted, proud of my position to be beside him. "I was feeling unwell today, so she attended the meeting in my stead. However, after tending to me and making sure I'd gotten better, she briefed me on our current situation. She has mentioned her suspicions of Annie Leonhart, and has come up with a plan to make the capture possible. If you'll allow it, Alexandra will now explain her plan."

Commander Erwin nodded in approval, and I swallowed, fighting off my nerves, before explaining my plan once again. I made sure to state that Armin would first approach Annie alone to lower her guard, and then corner her with Mikasa and Eren by his side for backup. I also explained how it would be optimal for the scouts to join forces with the garrison and the military police for this mission, so that capable soldiers would be able to detain Annie in case she chose to shift. The method would be the same as we'd done in the forest during the expedition, but this time, instead of trying to cut the titan's nape open with our swords, we'd simply get Eren to transform into his titan form and bite Annie out of the Female Titan's neck.

I finally finished my explanation, and when I was greeted with silence, I awkwardly looked down at the floor, my hands automatically hiding behind my back. I didn't think Levi would notice, but he grabbed my left hand with his right, giving it a firm squeeze as if to say 'you did well, so you shouldn't worry so much about it'.  I blushed slightly at his gesture, but I fought the feeling off, and chose to instead focus my attention on the commander, who seemed to be lost in thought, trying to calculate the best way to approach my plan, and searching for any potential flaws. After what felt like hours, Commander Erwin pinned me down with a stare that made my heartbeat drop for a second.

"Very well. I will discuss this plan with the other captains tomorrow and notify you of the outcome. Thank you for your dedication to this mission. You're free to go."

"Yes sir," I called out, turning to leave only to realize that my hand was still in Levi's, and I felt my cheeks heat up once again, but I didn't pull my hand away. Levi also noticed, because he immediately let go, and we both awkwardly shuffled out of the commander's office. Once the door closed behind us, Levi turned to me, his hand reaching to scratch the back of his neck.

"Sorry about that. You- you just looked a little panicked," he stammered, his face getting redder by the second, "and I wanted to remind you that you were doing great. I'm sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable."

"Ah- no, no, thank you! It really helped me!" My words came out as a jumbled mess as I waved my hands awkwardly in front of my face. "It was really nice of you to worry about me!"

"Tch. Of course I'd be worried about you." He started to speed back in the direction of his own office, and I almost had to jog to keep up with him. I tilted my head to the side, confused as to what he meant, but didn't bother asking him about it. Only once he was in front of his office did he finally come to a stop. "You did well today. I'm proud of you." I grinned at him, overjoyed with his praise, but tried my best to keep my cool. He then pushed his door open, giving me one last look. "Take some time to rest now. You deserve it."

I nodded, my smile still glowing on my face as I skipped down the hall towards the direction of my room. For a second, I considered finding my squad to confirm that they were alright with the plan, or to visit Hange and discuss some of her theories, but decided to just go to my room instead. Although it was still somewhat early, I changed out of the scouts uniform into my personal clothing, taking a few minutes to inspect the now-faint gash on my thigh. The wound was healed to the point that a bandage wasn't necessary, and the chance of it reopening was pretty low. Still, I'd probably wrap it up again tomorrow morning and keep the gauze on for at least another day, just to make sure. 

I'm lucky that the shard didn't make it very deep - my only concern was severe blood loss. Having changed out of the uniform and into a comfortable set of a large shirt and warm pants, I pulled Petra's old journal from my bottom drawer and sat onto my bed, leaning my back against the wall for support as I flipped through the pages, mostly skimming the writing, but occasionally stopping to read and re-read certain points. Although I suspected that most of what Petra had written was inaccurate, some of her ideas seemed plausible, and I spent hours poring over them. Eventually, I must've fallen asleep, because the next morning I awoke in the same position, my neck and back stiff from sleeping in the awkward position. Petra's notebook lay in my lap, opened to one of the pages that I'd already dismissed.

I got up, groaning softly as I stretched, trying to get rid of the stiff feeling in my muscles before wrapping my thigh with gauze one last time and changing into the uniform that I'd put on yesterday just before dinner. I gave myself a few seconds to collect my thoughts, and then remembered my main goal for today.

With a determined mindset, I stalked over to my door, pulling it open and marching down the hallway. It's time to make things right with my sister.