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     It was six in the morning. Lissa opened her eyes and sat up with a startled expression on her face. After realizing she was in her room, she calmed slightly and solemnly looked out the window. It was still dark. Despite this fact, however, the young adult with long, brown hair and beautiful, blue eyes decided to go ahead and get up.

     Today was the day that she, Levi, and the rest of his squad went out beyond the walls. Some titans had been spotted awhile back, and it had seemed that they were making their way to the walls, so they had to find and kill any that were headed that way. What a wonderful day. On Christmas Eve, they would be fighting titans.

     Before setting out, however, she wanted to get some training in. Training beforehand always made her feel much better— unless she did horribly, then it made her even more nervous. Considering she'd learned how to fight from the great Captain Levi, however, it wasn't often that she messed up. She'd practiced with the captain for years, and he'd taught her many things. They both had known each other in the underground, and she was only a few years younger.

     After getting changed into her uniform, she grabbed her swords and her ODM gear. After getting equipped, she put her hooded cloak on, though left the hood down so she could brush through her long hair. Once she had her boots on she made her way to the training grounds.

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     Levi was also already awake by the time Lissa had woken. He'd woken up due to nightmares, or rather, things that had already happened.

     The captain planted his feet onto the floor before getting up and dressed. Though he usually had a cold, emotionless, and stern expression, his gray-blue eyes were watery. He'd yet again dreamed of the loss of his comrades. Of the loss of Petra, and every other soldier after.

     After getting himself completely ready, he wiped his eyes with a sigh before he began making his way to the training grounds. He liked to walk around there whenever he woke early to think. He also knew of a certain someone who often went there to think as well.

     He left his room and got himself a cup of tea. After drinking half the cup, he exited the building and began making his way to the training grounds. A hint of a smile graced his lips when he heard that someone was there, as he knew exactly who it was.

After he walked further into the training grounds, he stopped. It was still dark, but the moon shone just enough so that he could make out Lissa's slim, petite figure. He leaned against a tree trunk and watched as she practiced on the Titan dummies. She was almost had good as he was.

After a little while, about an entire hour later, Levi moved from where he stood and silently walked closer to where Lissa was. It was still dark, but it was beginning to get lighter out.

Lissa latched onto a trunk with her gear before propelling herself into the air. As soon as she was about to strike at a Titan, however, Levi zoomed into a tree, then he pushed off and zoomed at Lissa, his swords clashing with hers.

     Lissa screamed and nearly fell to the ground, though she caught herself and managed to land on her hands and a knee, panting not only from the workout, but from the scare.

     Levi turned around so that Lissa wouldn't see him smirk. "You're up early." He commented in his typical monotone voice. Once he managed to stop smirking, he looked over his shoulder at her.

     Lissa shot the captain a glare, though Levi knew her well enough to know that she didn't mean it and was mostly teasing. "So are you, Captain."

     Levi raised his brow. "I must have ticked you off. You usually call me by my name when no one else is around."

     Lissa rolled her eyes, but a smile threatened to break through. "You did scare me half to death, so you could say I'm slightly ticked off."

     Levi looked up at the sky. "Sunrise will be here in about an hour. The others are no doubt up by now."

     "Who all is coming?" Lissa asked. She couldn't remember— she still hadn't really learned the names of everyone. She hadn't cared to ever since the death of Petra. Petra had been one of her best friends.

     "Yeager, Blouse, Kirstein, Arlert, Ackerman, Springer, and Hanji." Levi replied as he began walking toward the building.

     Lissa followed after him. 'Okay, so that's Eren, Sasha, Jean, Armin, Mikasa, Connie, and Zoe.' She thought as she silently walked along. She supposed she did remember their names after all... she just hadn't been sure if all of them were coming or not. Then again, why wouldn't they be coming?

     Lissa sighed softly before looking down at the ground. Levi took notice and glanced back at her. "Something wrong?" He asked, doing his best to sound disinterested.

     "Yeah, it's nothing." Lissa murmured in reply.

     Levi gave her a doubtful look, though he then quickly resumed his emotionless expression as he continued forward.

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     Lissa mounted her black gelding, whom she'd named Eric, after her father. She patted his neck before looking over at the captain when he mounted his own steed.

     "Let's get a move on, brats." Levi said once everyone was ready to leave. He then began leading the way.

     "Why does he always have to call us that?" Connie muttered.

     Lissa, having heard him, chuckled softly. "That's just Levi for you. I honestly believe that it's a sign of affection."

     "That's a really odd way to show affection for someone." Connie replied.

     Hanji looked back at Lissa and smirked. "So does that mean he really likes you?"

     Lissa blushed. "What do you mean?"

     "Come on, don't be stupid." Eren said, rolling his eyes. "Captain Levi calls you a brat way more than he calls any of us brats."

     "Well... I-I guess I was just wrong, then." Lissa stuttered quietly, avoiding eye contact with the others.

     Jean smirked. "Hey, why ya blushing, pip-squeak?"

     "No reason." Lissa replied with a huff. "And don't call me pip-squeak."

     "Lissa is the only person I know who's shorter than Captain Levi." Sasha commented.

     Lissa groaned in annoyance before kicking her horse forward. From that time on, she rode up front with Captain Levi to avoid conversation with the others.

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It had been several hours. So far, there had been no sight of titans, but everyone was fairly quiet and alert so they could be ready for anything.

Lissa was still slightly behind Levi, the most quiet of all of them. She was lost in her thoughts once more. She was dreading coming upon any titans, as she didn't want to lose anymore comrades. She didn't know if she could handle another death.

She snapped her head up when she thought she heard something. A Titan suddenly sprung up from the ground, having been hiding beneath grass, dirt, and stones, and grabbed at Captain Levi.

"Captain! Look out!" She cried out before springing forward and forcing her horse to push his forward. His horse stumbled and fell over, but Levi had managed to jump off right as it had begun to fall to its side.

Lissa shrieked when she was grabbed by the titan. She hadn't really been thinking when she sprinted forward. She just hadn't wanted Levi to get hurt or worse. She watched in horror as the titan lifted her closer and closer to its mouth.

With that, the captain sprung into action. He quickly made his way toward the titan's nape.

The brown haired woman squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for piercing pain and then nothingness, but she then opened her eyes when she felt a falling sensation. She opened her eyes right as she was caught by Captain Levi. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, shakily clutching him as her heart beat rapidly.

     Once Levi landed on the ground, he looked at you, still holding you bridal style. "What did you do that for, Idiot? I could have handled it."

     Lissa's face turned slightly red, perhaps from embarrassment, or perhaps from shock. She was about to say something, but a cry of pain escaped her lips when Levi set her down. She'd put pressure on her right leg, but the pain made her collapse: rather she would have collapsed had Levi not caught her.

     Levi looked down at Lissa's legs, then his eyes widened briefly before he returned to his neutral expression. "Your leg."

     Lissa looked at Levi, then she looked at her leg and her eyes widened. She felt light-headed, as if she could pass out. It had a very deep bite in it, one part exposing some bone.

     "We need to get you back." Levi murmured, looking around. He mentally cursed when he saw that most of the horses had bolted.

     Hanji walked forward. "Not too far from here is a castle. Some of us could take her there, and then those remaining could go get some help— and some other horses."

     "No. I will stay with her. The rest of you go back to the wall and get help." Levi ordered. He then gave them a look that said, 'don't you dare try and change my mind'.

     Hanji hesitated when she saw that look before she nodded. "Yes, Captain! We'll be back as soon as possible." She replied.

     The group got onto the remaining horses, Eren and Mikasa sharing one, Sasha and Armin sharing another, then Connie and Jean sharing another one, leaving Zoe with one to herself, before they took off.

     Levi, once they began to take off, helped Lissa onto the remaining horse before he mounted behind her. "Don't you dare pass out on me, Greswald."

     "I'll try not to, Ackerman." Lissa replied, squinting in an attempt to stop her vision from being so blurred. However, despite trying so hard to not pass out, everything eventually became black.

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