AN:  With this chapter, Wings in the Dark is officially up to date on Wattpad and on the same posting rotation as Tumblr and AO3...in other words, it's not going to get updated NEARLY as fast, I was just releasing the chapters at an accelerated rate to catch up Wattpad to where I'm actually at in the story.

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*Levi's POV*

Further questions waited until the end of the expedition since they both had more important things to focus on. As such, the drawing was carefully rolled instead of folded so no creases would ruin the image, and then tucked carefully away in his jacket, feeling strangely warm to him the entire trip back.

What was he even going to do with it? He wouldn't put it in his office, and he was rarely in his bedroom...

He'd figure it out. He still had some questions he wanted to ask Y/N, first, just to get a feel of why she'd given it to him.

She'd had a point the other day, asking him if what happened was going to change things between them. Something had changed, but Levi was still figuring out exactly what that was that had changed. He had the feeling she was trying to figure it out as well.

Though, this certainly wasn't helping him figure it out.

When they were back behind the walls, Levi dismounted to walk for a little while, feeling stiff and sore in the saddle after the two days of hard riding with not much of a break, besides the short night's rest. He wasn't the only one who usually did this, though some people were usually so tired they just stayed on their horses until they were back at headquarters. Most of Levi's squad, having been at point and doing a lot of hard riding and fighting, were all on foot for the first part of the trip back. Even Y/N who, after coming to walk beside him with Zephyr following obediently on her other side, shrugged at his questioning look.

"What? Everyone else is walking, I might as well. And I still get sore and uncomfortable. Everything works the same as a normal person so long as I'm on a healthy diet," she said casually.

Levi sighed, keeping his gaze forward, the drawing a little heavy in his pocket again. Did he bring it up now, in the open? For once, the trek back didn't feel like an inappropriate time to be discussing something so lighthearted. There were minimum casualties, especially for Scout standards, during the entire trip. There was still the occasional skirmish inside the formation, it was unavoidable with how unpredictable Titans could be, but Erwin had instructed them to stay focused on the road ahead and on keeping the formation from running into Titans on the way forward. That goal had been monumentally successful.

This was huge. If they could manage to make this the standard expedition, continuing to oil the arrangement until it ran as smoothly as possible, then things were about to change for the Scouts. Even now, the whispers in the crowd they passed were different, people talking about how few injuries and dead there were despite the fact they'd been out for nearly two whole days. A successful expedition that didn't come with a heavy toll that made people question why the Scouts were even a group.

Of course there would still be the tragedies, the disasters. Nothing was certain out there. But if this arrangement could work this well when it was in a test run...

The cutback in casualties alone made it worth the anxiety Levi found himself suffering the entire time Y/N had been up ahead. As much as he'd hated it in the moment.

As such, the entire shift in tone on the way back from the usual grim and depressed mood was enough that Levi felt comfortable bringing up more lighthearted topics as he and Y/N walked side by side.

"Why did you give me the drawing?" Levi asked her, cutting straight to his question instead of wasting time beating around the bush. Sure they had a whole walk to talk, but he really didn't see the point of babbling nonsense to fill the air. If they were going to be talking, they were going to be discussing actual matters, not making pitiful attempts at chit chat.

Y/N arched an eyebrow at him, giving him a sidelong glance. "It was of you. It seemed like something you should have."

Okay...honestly, he was a little embarrassed he hadn't thought of that obvious answer. What the fuck was he supposed to say, now?

"Thank you," he said, cursing inwardly when he realized how stiff he sounded. "Unexpected, but it's very well drawn."

His tone must have given her the impression he was trying to play it off like he hadn't known she drew, because she let out a slight, soft laugh.

"I know you knew I drew. Your scent was all over my sketchbook one day, back when you were investigating me," she said knowingly.

"I didn't say otherwise, I was just saying it was well drawn," Levi grumbled, the 'just take the compliment' heavily implied in his tone.

"I suppose so," she mused, the slightest twist of a smile still on her lips.

"Don't look so smug–it's all training and meetings for you from here on out. Erwin's going to want to smooth out as many details about this formation as possible. Maybe you'll have to work a bit with Hange, too. I know he's been holding back a lot of schemes until he could do this test run, and with how well it went, all things considered."

"I'm not complaining. I came here to help, remember? That includes the minute details," she answered breezily.

"Right...just don't get full of yourself. That attitude gets people killed, even special hotshots like you," Levi deadpanned. "And no slacking in training, or any of your other duties with whatever Erwin throws at you to work on before our next full expedition mission. We've been doing a lot of test run missions to feel out your abilities and how this will work, but he's probably going to want to start on the real thing."

"You're chattier than normal, Captain. Is there something specific on your mind?"

""Pay attention to what I'm saying, you little shit, it's important!"

"I am, but I'm also making an observation."

"Tch."

When did she get so damn sassy?

Levi pulled slightly on his horse's reins, starting to pull ahead of Y/N instead of answering her question. "Just be ready for morning training, day after tomorrow. It's already been a few days and I don't want you getting rusty."

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The spar had turned into more of a dirty street brawl, something that was becoming strangely common in their little matches, as it had become clear that both of them would be using these kinds of moves in vampire fights. Both of you would probably use the abilities you gained in these sessions against vampires stronger than yourselves, you'd both figured that out by now. So you both took the sparring seriously, and didn't hesitate to use dirty tricks to gain the upper hand. As long as no one would be seriously hurt, it was fair game.

There was, however, one little problem that was becoming glaringly obvious as the spar dragged on and the ultimately minor wounds Levi gave you in the course of the training started to add up. A little twitch that it took you a few rounds to pick up on because you hadn't realized you were doing it, that Levi noticed immediately...yet still waited to call you out on it.

Levi grunted as he found himself pushed up against a tree, your arm snaking around his chest from behind before he could react, a low hiss as you brought your lips close to his throat, fangs bared. By now your fangs had been this close enough that it had stopped bothering him as visibly. He still tensed, how could he not when it was, in fact, a lethal position that ended the match, but he didn't freeze up like he had that one time seeing your eyes glow red above him.

But now, your gaze was lingering, eyes half lidded, lips almost pressed against skin that was flushed with exertion after a long and intense training session, sweat creating a sheen on his fair skin, heat seeming to radiate towards your lips and fangs from where his vein was prominently displayed to you, in the perfect position to bite.

And God, how you wanted to bite him. Wanted to sink your fangs deep into his arteries and engorge yourself on the rich blood you now knew ran through his veins. Your instincts were practically screaming it at you, that scream getting louder and louder the longer the sparring session went on, the more tired you became, more little injuries you accumulated, the faster his heart pumped from the intense exercise, the more you flirted with the line.

Beforehand, the sparring sessions hadn't had this danger–not to this degree, anyway. You'd had a firm hold of yourself, and you hadn't known what his blood tasted like, just assumed it was rich. The spars had been all about training and growing comfortable with each other, there had been a decent wall of control keeping him safe from your vampiric nature.

Now it felt more like a sheer veil your fangs were about to puncture, like you were dancing on a razor's edge. Thank God you actually had some self control, and you could always tell yourself you would get it later, you could have that taste for quite some time if you could just wait for now.

But shit was it so damn tempting just to bite him in moments like this, when it was right there.

Clearly, you hesitated a bit too long before you managed to pull yourself away this time–or rather, before you actually released Levi and gave him the chance to pull away from the grip you'd put him in at the end of the spar. This time, Levi wasn't quiet. He finally spoke up.

"You'd think you were fucking dehydrated, with how thirsty you seem today," Levi tsked, grabbing his jacket off a nearby branch to signal the two of you were done for the day. He threw it over his shoulder, grabbing his canteen off the same branch and pausing to take a long drink of water, which didn't help in your efforts to keep your gaze off his neck. When he was finished, his gaze narrowed slightly as he stared at you intently from the corners of his eyes. "You keep staring at me like that and I'm going to feel violated."

Well, there was no point in hiding it–you were both painfully aware of how tempted you'd been to bite him in the past couple hours alone. Tearing your gaze away from Levi, you forced yourself to turn around and slowly get your things from where you'd stashed them while you were busy training.

"I'm sorry, I...I didn't expect it to be this hard. I'm trying to keep it under control, but it's going to take some time," you said honestly, pulling your jacket on slower than normal as you stared down at the ground. Sure, the first few days had been what you'd expected after feeding from him, especially that desire initially to just keep feeding off him until you could mentally deter yourself away from doing so by reminding yourself he had white sage in his system again. But then you'd also had plenty to distract you, and you'd been freshly filled. Now, you were weary after the expedition, and your exhaustion coupled with the small collection of injuries were starting to make your thirst of need return. Normally you'd still be okay for a little while before it started interfering, but right now, when you were around Levi so much and were still struggling with the new and intense taste of his blood? Not to mention your emotions were back to being volatile with recent events and the shift in relationship between you and Levi you still hadn't figured out, and no expedition to distract yourself for much longer, this time.

Tests were over, which meant back to a normal expedition routine with longer preparation periods in between. You had no choice but to face your issues, now. The deaths of your parents, the return of the vampire who turned you, the recent run in with vampire hunters, your recent revelation that everyone you knew was going to die all around you while you continued untouched by time.

There was plenty for you to be emotional about with your lovely vampiric emotions that were more intense than a human's by the thousands. No more distractions...

Which, with your emotions everywhere, it made control even harder to contain since your basic core self was all over the place right now.

Not a good cocktail for you to be experiencing, when considering Levi and his...position, with you.

"I'm starting to worry we won't have the luxury of giving you time to get control of yourself," Levi said pointedly, moving closer from the sound of his footsteps approaching you from behind.

You gave a short, slightly bitter laugh. "It's not like we have the luxury of options in how to go about making sure I don't accidentally rip open your throat," you retorted, your own throat tightening slightly as the trickle of fear at the what if tickled at the back of your mind. The aftermath alone was enough to stop any current lust for his blood you were experiencing, feeling cold at the prospect of being responsible for his death because you lost control.

You'd been there before. You did not want to go back there. Not now, not with him.

Levi paused, as if sensing your current volatile train of thoughts and the unsteady wobble in your emotions as the conversation continued. But it didn't deter him, ultimately.

"You have a bad habit of locking yourself into the first solution you come up with and refusing to think further. I suggest breaking it," he said, his tone disapproving, as if he was just disappointed in your narrow mindedness like a teacher who knew their pupil was capable of more. You turned to look at him, eyebrows raised. "Think for a moment. I know you can. There are other options, you're just not letting yourself think about them."

You huffed, a little irked that he was suddenly treating you like you were a bit slow in the head as your mind tossed around for other options. You could go back to your shit diet, though you doubted that would end well considering you'd officially tasted the good stuff. Maybe drinking from other people would help, but again, you were fairly certain Erwin was firmly off limits, and he was the only other person who knew about you.

Having a network of support that knew what you were would be great, yeah, but you didn't want the list of people knowing who you were getting too big–that was when the secret stopped being manageable. Right now, having only two people who knew severely cut down your options, but it also made the secret manageable and gave you a bit more safety.

You could experiment with the diet itself. But you were stopped short of debating that much longer as Levi sighed, folding his arms over his chest as he grew tired of waiting for you to reach whatever conclusion he'd come to.

"You need to be treated like an addict." He said rather bluntly, immediately gaining your attention and making you stare at him hard, unsure if you were supposed to be offended by that statement or not. You were a little stung, simply because in your mind it suggested you had no control. You had plenty of control considering your situation, enough it was practically a miracle. He was the damn lynchpin it seemed, him and his damn intoxicating blood that was driving you up the walls before it had even been a few weeks since you'd first tasted it. And yet you'd still managed to resist so far. You thought you were doing pretty damn good. You were certainly flirting with the hard line, but you hadn't crossed it yet...

Levi, however, continued speaking, trying to lead you along to his line of thinking, attempting to give your brain a jump start. "Hard lining it clearly is only making your self-control tenuous at best. Around me, at least. You seem just fine around the others. So, instead of giving you large doses at set, drawn out times and making you wait so long between 'fixes'..."

"Try doing frequent, smaller doses to help with the cravings until I adjust and am more used to the high quality blood, then work on having larger doses with longer grace periods," you finished, finally catching on to what he must have been hoping you would figure out and suggest. Honestly, that was probably where your mind was about to lead you before he jumped in. But there was still the one glaring problem with that proposal that you couldn't ignore. "It's a thought, if this doesn't get better. But again, I don't like the thought of how frequently that would leave you without white sage in your system."

"It's something we can figure out. It's not like you'll be taking donations from me daily, so I won't have to constantly be without. And it's more important right now that we figure out how to get you back in full control of yourself. Before something bad happens."

"It's a good back up plan," you said firmly, stressing back up so he knew you weren't going to jump on the offer. It was a plan B, not your first choice. "If things don't get better, if they only get worse–dangerously worse–then we'll give it a try. But I'd rather not. The thought of you being without it for expeditions and two, three times a month already put me on edge."

"You might have to deal with it." Levi leaned up against one of the trees surrounding the clearing, sharp gaze studying you closely. "Does that mean you agree I should stay off the white sage during expeditions? In case of emergencies?"

"Maybe...give me time to try and find some alternatives to make sure you're not entirely unprotected. It will give me some peace of mind, at least...and you'll have to agree with what I come up with if you want to go through with it."

"Fair enough," Levi returned, though he looked a little unsatisfied with the answer–you weren't sure which part. Having to wait to know, or having to submit to unknown protection measures in the future in exchange for safeguards for your wellbeing on expeditions.

He gestured towards you. "But if this gets worse, you have to tell me so we can do something about it...before something goes wrong," he said pointedly. "I could feel you wanting to bite me the past hour or so, and I'd prefer we fix that before you sink your teeth into me. Without permission, anyway."

"Well, right now, it's just as dangerous for me to be drinking from you as it is for me to be trying to resist drinking from you," you said, looking away with a slight burn in your cheeks. "Considering how hard I found it to let go, I'm not sure only a little is in the cards for me at the moment..."

I don't want to hurt you...

Levi seemed to soften his tone slightly, and you heard him shift in place over by the tree. "We'll figure something out. Just be open to other options if the current plan doesn't work. Never lock yourself into one line of thinking."

You hummed, staring off for a few more seconds before you shook yourself out of it and turned to face him, inclining your head back in the direction of headquarters. "Well...we should probably head back. The whole day's still ahead of us."

And I have...a lot of thinking to do.

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*Levi's POV*

It was Levi's turn to stare moodily out the window when he was in Erwin's office, waiting a little impatiently for some of the regular post-expedition business with the other squad leaders and section commanders to wrap up before he could talk to Erwin about what he needed to say. While he waited, his thoughts drifted to Y/N and how she was doing, his neck tingling almost self-consciously at the thought of just how much she was struggling, though she was doing well at hiding it. The only reason he picked up on it was because he was observant, and after she'd told him how difficult it was for her shortly after she fed from him, he was looking for it.

And from the sounds of things, it wasn't getting better.

But besides the thirst issues, there was something else bothering him. He wasn't sure what, but something felt off about her, different somehow. Maybe it had to do with the shift in their relationship, maybe not. He'd figure it out eventually.

Right now, however, investigations into what was going on with Y/N were being temporarily put on hold so he could fill in Erwin on what was going on. Maybe Erwin would have some ideas for him that Levi hadn't tried out yet. The man did have a skill at seeing things others didn't.

Though, Erwin was hardly around Y/N except for when she needed to be briefed on expedition stuff. Everything he knew about Y/N came from what Levi told him, and Levi had to be mindful of that, lest Erwin get the wrong picture of her because Levi was always coming here briefing him on just problems or something like that.

Erwin dismissed the other leaders in the room, pulling Levi partially out of his musings as the other people in the room started filing out the door either silently or in discussion with others. Levi didn't say a word, maintaining his position by the window and waiting a few minutes after the door shut, as well, just to be safe.

"I've read your reports about what happened on this past test run. So far so good–I already have Hange working on another flare color or two for her, to help with the nuances you pointed out. I was thinking the two of them should get together and see if they can come up with some improvements to Y/N's gear to help make things...smoother, for her. She has a much different fighting style than the rest of us, and that might require modifications to her gear to help her in the field."

He'd expected something like this–it was practically inevitable that Erwin would eventually point Y/N to the brilliant if a bit eccentric woman who kept pestering Levi about capturing Titans to study. Hell, this was the easy part of the conversation. He was confident Y/N could work the extra space into her schedule to go talk to Hange every now and then, and he was certain the woman would be capable of handling herself around Hange, ideally able to keep her secret under wraps. If Levi could pick up on something odd about her, though, Hange would be able to. Hopefully not, the less people who knew about Y/N's vampirism the better, but it was still a possibility Levi would be keeping in the back of his mind to prepare for if they were going down this route.

"If it's what you think best," Levi said indifferently. He'd tell Y/N to seek out Hange when she was ready the next time he saw her. But he wasn't here to talk about gear modifications and flare signals.

"Well...now that I've told you that, do you mind telling me what you're actually here for?"

Levi finally turned away from the window, putting his back against the wall with arms folded tightly across his chest, head slightly bowed as he fixed Erwin with a rather intense look. "Now that she's had a taste, Y/N's finding it hard to resist biting me, white sage or no. She hasn't, but...she's struggling."

Erwin leaned back with a frown, his own expression turning serious, maybe even a little dark. "Are you telling me because you want to put distance between the two of you and need official reasons?"

"No," Levi said quickly and sharply. "That won't do anything to help her adjust. It might even make it worse. I'm telling you because we might be experimenting with ways to...ease her temptation."

Erwin quirked an eyebrow at Levi, a suspicious glint in his eyes. "Such as?"

"Well, right now, she just wants to let time tell and try to adjust the difficult way. I suggested that if she's still struggling after a while, or if it gets worse, we try small, frequent doses until she adjusts. She wasn't too keen on the idea, for her own reasons, but it's an idea, if she gets worse."

Erwin's fingers tapped lightly against the desk, lips thinning slightly. "Be more specific. How is she struggling, how bad is it, how can you tell?"

Levi let out a slow sigh. "She's described it as a constant urge when she's near me. Mentioned even after she left after feeding off me the first time she couldn't shake thoughts of the experience–taste and the like. I've caught her staring at my neck a few times before she caught herself. Considering proximity and everything else that happens when we train, I'm impressed with how well she's controlled herself so far. But she has admitted it's difficult for her to resist every time. And I can see as much. She's...more easily agitated, a little less in control of herself in other ways, since she's so focused on not biting me so often. Restless. And she's in her own head more often than I think she should be."

Erwin was studying him closely, Levi could tell, but he ignored it, letting him probe to his heart's content so long as he was still focused on what Levi was telling him, about the touch and go situation Levi and Y/N were starting to find themselves in. Erwin needed to know in case something happened.

"Do you feel like you're in danger?" Erwin asked seriously.

Levi hesitated. He wished he hadn't, but he had to. She came so very close to biting him more than once, and it had been one hell of a show of trust–to himself as well, since he hadn't realized it was starting to run this deep–that Levi hadn't freaked out with how close she came. There had been once he could have sworn he felt a fang graze his skin without breaking the surface, which had been nerve wracking, but he hadn't panicked. As much a he was aware of the danger, he had enough trust in her and her own self-control that she wasn't going to hurt him. Not fatally, anyway.

"No. Not yet, anyway. Like I've said before, she's got tremendous control, and all of her awareness. And she has enough of her wits even with the temptation that I believe even if she did lose control and bite me outside our arrangement, she'd be able to pull herself off. Eventually. Maybe with a bit of coaxing," he said, relenting the specifics at the end so that he didn't give too much of a blind reassurance.

Erwin sighed, his expression shifting to worry as he let out the slow exhale. "I'd still feel better if you had some kind of safeguard when you let her feed off you."

"I keep white sage on me just in case things get far out of hand. But you're not putting another person in the room. It'd be pointless, anyway, since I'm the only one who has a chance against her."

"Be careful, Levi. And listen to what she's telling you. If she says it's too much or too dangerous, back off. The last thing I want is to lose both of you in some horrible mishap," Erwin said, frown deepening.

"We're being careful. We talk through any change we might make, too, so there's no rash decisions being made when you're not looking. We're not idiotic teenagers, Erwin."

Erwin sighed, looking away, though he still seemed to be focused on something–likely whatever was running through his head at the moment. His fingers stilled on the desktop for a moment, the corners of his mouth momentarily pulling down in a frown as he turned around to face Levi more fully.

"Her emotions are more sensitive and deep than a normal human's, correct? And that can affect her impulses and dietary needs?" Erwin asked, and since Levi was fairly certain it was rhetorical, he just raised a questioning eyebrow, waiting for Erwin to continue with whatever the hell this train of thought was supposed to lead to. "Maybe it's not just your blood, though that's certainly a factor. Maybe it's her emotional state as well."

"Her emotional state?" Levi echoed, mind suddenly going back over the past few days to try and pick up where Erwin was going with this, to spot what Erwin was thinking of. A lot had happened, yes, but Levi had given her space, and for the most part she seemed to have regained herself. She was a bit off, but Levi had been under the impression that was because of the whole blood thing and their sudden shift to an undefined relationship.

"With everything that's happened, what have you two actually discussed?"

Levi sighed, thinking back to when she'd gotten the news of her parent's deaths and going from there. "Her immortality...she told me she was jumped by two hunters and had to kill the younger one to get away before losing consciousness again...We discussed this arrangement between me and her more afterwards than beforehand–beforehand I was just thinking it was necessary and I wasn't going to let her head back below ground to wind up near-dead again. We've talked more about it here and there as issues and such come up. Though she did obviously brief me on the effect my blood's had on her."

Levi finished talking, and Erwin raised his eyebrows, as if he was expecting–or rather, hoping–Levi was going to say more. He didn't, of course, and Erwin sighed, shaking his head.

"So it's been all about blood, hmm?" Erwin asked as he turned away. "Not any of the recent deaths, or the vampire who turned her, or what to do about the hunter who saw her face...convenient."

The sarcasm was dripping from him, and Levi scowled, looking away as Erwin continued in a scolding tone. "I think you two need to try talking again. It seems you missed a few details."

"I figured I'd give her space to talk about it on her own time, and she'd come to me when she was ready and if it was important," Levi said with a slight tsk at the end.

Frankly, so much had happened he hadn't been thinking about some of the finer details, like what was going on with the hunters–she hadn't been worried about it, it seemed, though the fact they might have a vengeful hunter looking for her had been lurking in the back of his mind while they handled the more pressing, immediate matters. There had been a lot of dealing with issues in the moment, as they happened, and that first priority kept being blood, or the expedition that they just came back from. Not to mention, some matters it was clear she didn't want to talk about, like the vampire who turned her, or that she just needed to get her mind off before she spiraled into her own thoughts, like all the thoughts the death of her parents had brought.

But it was a lot to deal with at once. Especially for someone who felt so much deeper and stronger than the average human. He needed to get her talking, even if conversation wasn't always his strong suit. The last thing he wanted to do was say the wrong thing with such delicate matters. Maybe, if he just gave her the opportunity and the environment to talk...she might be willing to. It was worth a shot. If it didn't work, he could stumble about his less graceful, upfront confrontation to get right to the heart of the matter, but he would try nudging her into talking to him, first.

"I appreciate you've been trying to handle the situation delicately, Levi, but she's struggling. And if she's struggling, it's best if you get to the heart of why so that you both can solve the problem," Erwin said pointedly.

"All right, I get it, I'll talk to her," Levi said shortly, pushing away from the wall and walking towards the door to leave. He paused with his hand on the door, hesitating for a moment before he decided to give a bit of voice to his fleeting concern earlier. "I know I'm always coming in here with problems regarding her, but...she's a good person. And a valuable asset to the Scouts. The good far outweighs the bad with her."

Levi heard Erwin shuffle a few papers, and he was starting to think he wasn't going to get a reply, turning the knob before Erwin finally answered him.

"If you vouch for her now, especially after how intensely you hunted her before, that's all I need to hear."

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"Oi. Saddle your horse–we're taking them for a walk."

Y/N looked up from where she had just finished brushing Zephyr by the pasture fence, surprise written on her face as Levi walked by her a few meters away, leading his horse by the reins in full gear, heading for the exit to the pasture to wait for her.

"Wait, what–why are we–?" she asked in confusion. Zephyr tossing her head at Y/N's agitation and pawing at the ground before the mare followed Y/N a few steps in Levi's direction.

"You've been smuggling them treats again, right?" Levi asked in a blunt, rhetorical manner, seeing her cheeks start to turn pink. "I can tell. They're starting to put on weight. Hurry up, I won't wait all day."

Completely unprepared for the sudden escapade with the horses, she scrambled back to the stables with Zephyr to get the mare ready for a leisure ride, leaving Levi to wait by the pasture gate, mounting his stallion and letting the black steed paw or shift impatiently at the ground for him as they both waited for the two to join them. Occasionally Levi patted at the stallion's neck to calm him back down, letting him occasionally wander in a loose circle along the dirt path or in the grass along the edges while he waited. At last, Y/N appeared, Levi's stallion lifting his head and nickering at Zephyr, who returned the gesture and reached out to scratch at a spot on the other horse's neck with her teeth as Y/N brought them even with each other.

"Where to?" she asked, and in response, Levi clicked his tongue and pressed his heels lightly into his stallion's hindquarters to urge him forward, starting them at a casual walk along the path away from Headquarters.

A comfortable silence filled the air between them as they rode side by side, the pace relaxed as she followed Levi leading them out of town and into a stretch of open land with no clear path that Y/N could see, though Levi knew exactly where he was bringing her. He'd discovered this quiet place on one of his leisurely rides making sure his stallion got the exercise he needed.

At one point, Y/N brought Zepher up to walk in step with Levi so she could comfortably look at and talk to him, curiosity in her eyes. "So, is this one of those walks that's just an excuse to talk?" she asked, fairly bluntly for her, too.

Levi glanced at her out of the corners of his eyes. She was an observant little shit, wasn't she? Picking up on that when they hadn't even arrived...or was he getting that predictable? He'd only done this once with her, he'd figured he could get away with it again.

There was no point in lying, though. That was what this was about, and it would help her talk if she had time to reflect on some of the things they might need to talk about. "That's up to you," Levi replied simply, staring straight ahead as they walked.

"That's helpful."

Levi shrugged. "Erwin's under the impression we haven't talked as much as we need to. So if there's things we need to talk about, that's up to you."

He was still under the belief some of the things they needed to talk about were things she needed to bring up when she was ready, which was why he was giving her the chance to choose what to talk about instead of Levi pressing her for some of the sensitive topics she might not be ready for.

She settled back into a quiet contemplation after that, the two of them finishing the rest of the trip in silence before Levi spotted their destination in the distance, taking a sudden right to bring them closer to it. Y/N was pulled out of her thoughts at that point, quickening her pace to keep up with him until they came to a gradual stop at a riverbank, a few trees providing shelter from the sun. Under those trees was where they brought the horses, letting them simply graze to their leisure and taking off most of the tack so they could relax. Y/N finished first, taking off her boots and heading down the sloped bank towards the water itself before she stepped into the shallow part of the water, pausing to roll up her pant legs so she could go a bit deeper. Levi didn't rush as she wandered away, going about getting all the tack off at his own pace before he strolled down to the bank as well, though he stayed out of the water, lingering on the grass instead.

Y/N stretched her arms high into the air, face tilted up to the sun with her back to Levi so he still couldn't see her face. She stayed like that for a few moments, rolling her wrists, popping her neck, taking slow, steady breaths, looking for a few moments like she was completely relaxed. Her arms dropped back down to her sides with a quiet sigh after those few moments of relaxed silence.

"Things we've neglected talking about, hmm? I suppose the topics can't be avoided forever...what's Erwin worried about, specifically? Or rather, what are you worried about the most right now?" She turned to face him, her expression suddenly serious, and a slight dullness to her eyes. "I suppose Erwin still wants to know more about our vampire intruder. Or maybe you'd prefer I said something about losing my parents on the same day besides it was inevitable. Maybe you're both worried about me killing a hunter the other night, and no one's said a word about it."

Levi folded his arms over his chest upon hearing her borderline confrontational tone, meeting her gaze, unflinching. "I already said you should deal with recalling the vampire when you were ready. And what happened to your parents is your business, I'm not going to pry. But the hunters we do need to talk about. I only have a vague idea of what happened, and theories of what could happen next."

The fact she got confrontational when he'd barely started to prod had been enough to tell him that yes, they needed to talk, because clearly something in there was bothering her enough to make her bristle at questions.

She clicked her tongue, turning away from Levi again and wrapping her arms around her middle, head now tilted down at the water flowing around her lower legs. Another few moments of silence passed, the water lapping gently against the shore between them as Levi waited patiently for her to speak, deciding to come a few steps closer until he was a step away from the water.

With a tired sigh, she finally began to speak. "They got the drop on me. I don't know how they picked me out, I didn't exactly stick around to ask questions, but as soon as they had confirmation I wasn't human, they tried to do a quick incapacitate and kill. I had two arrows in me before I could figure out an escape. The one that's still alive, probably the more experienced one, was too far away with the state I was in for me to pin down where he was exactly so I could avoid him, but the other one, I knew where he was, but he was between me and my escape. I knew I was going to remove the obstacle, but I don't think at that moment I was thinking of killing him, specifically. He was young. I don't think I saw any hate in his eyes, either. It might have occurred to me with a bit more time to think since they both saw my face, but at the time I was focused on escaping. When I reached where he was, though, he tried to stake me. I barely managed to move in time, all he had to do was twitch to hit the mark, so..." she sighed again, shoulders drooping slightly. "I killed him before he could kill me. A snap decision, really...I didn't have to think about it, I just did it...Maybe I just didn't have the time to consider anything else, but...I jumped right to that decision..."

Her head turned slightly as she spoke, and Levi caught a glimpse of a frown on her face before she turned away again, her voice getting lower and lower as she spoke. She crouched down so her rear was just above the surface of the water, a hand lowering to dip into the water and rise with some cupped in her hand, before her fingers spread and she watched it all flow back down into the river. She looked small and fragile in her pensive state, even though what she was talking about was violent death and fighting. He didn't know what was going on in her head, but judging by the topic and her current tone, it wasn't good.

Levi studied her carefully from behind for a few moments before he ventured trying to give her a bit of wisdom he'd learned once not too long ago.

"You made a choice in the moment trying to make sure you got out alive, and what you did let you get out of there alive. Hesitating would have given him the chance to finish you off. Leaving him alive might have led to them working together to re-find and kill you. Maybe you wouldn't have been able to make him move another way, maybe another way would have taken too long and he would have killed you before you could move him. Who knows, maybe he would have looked at you and seen a woman, not a vampire. We don't know. And we won't. Retrospect lets you look at things in ways you didn't have time to look at them in the moment. You didn't even have time to think of another way without risking death, so you went to the first choice you could think of to make sure you got out alive. That's all you had time for. Besides, right or wrong, the what ifs, none of it matters. You already did it. Not like you can take it back."

Funny, the human giving the vampire who had been in this world twice as long as them advice. But she needed it right now. It seemed regret had been eating her up inside the past few days and he hadn't taken the time to notice.

Fuck. No excuses, even if they had been pretty damn occupied between all the stuff going on with blood and the expedition. He should have picked up on this, sooner, no matter how good she was at hiding it.

She was still crouching down in the water, gaze probably fixed down at the river rushing by but unfocused, lost in her own thoughts. With her few beats of silence, Levi started to contemplate shrugging off his boots and wading into the water after her to snap her out of it, physically.

"You're right," she said abruptly, but her voice was still low and quiet, still reflective in a dark, moody sort of way. "But what bothers me isn't what I did. I probably would do it again in the same situation. Just trying to survive, right? Seems it's like that down there for vampires as much as humans."

Levi's head cocked to the side at that, gaze fixed on the back of her head.

"What bothers me is how easily I did it, and how long it took me to second guess it. I'm sure some would say I acted like a true vampire down there."

As if the words weren't enough to tip him off, the bitterness in her voice sure did the trick. "You're thinking you're a monster."

"I mean...I am. Sometimes I can make myself forget, but...I'm not even human. I'm a creature that's supposed to be bound to the dark and feed off humans to live a few days longer for the rest of eternity." Her grip seemed to tighten around herself, fingers clenching into the fabric. She stood up and turned slightly, however, when the sound of water being disturbed sounded behind her, surprise flickering across her face to see Levi with a disgruntled look on his face crossing the water boots and all to march–or rather, wade–up to her with stubbornness in his eyes and a deep-seated worry for her mental well being stirred up in his chest.

"You haven't been human for a long fucking time. But you have more humanity than most of the people in this fucked up world. The fact you're even worried about it is a good sign, some people it never occurs to them to question their humanity. That's the important part." He came to a stop beside her, letting out a frustrated sigh as he stared straight ahead, feeling her eyes on him as he spoke. "And last I checked, you're in the sunlight with a Scout Regiment symbol on your jacket, and I'm the one who occasionally has the inconvenience of keeping a bandage on my neck covered."

Levi's gaze finally wandered over towards her, eyebrows raised but gaze burning. "Someone should get it through that thick skull of yours that you're not lurking around in the Underground anymore, and you won't have to again. I thought vampires were fast?"

She seemed taken aback for a few moments, leaning back slightly as she stared back at him before a short laugh burst past her lips...then another, and another, until she was full-body laughing, though Levi couldn't tell what for, exactly. Frankly, it was more like that was how she was choosing to cope, or react to his words–but it wasn't out of a rejection of what he'd said, at least. That was a different laugh. This one felt like some tension had cracked and she was just letting it out.

Still, it almost felt like she was laughing at him, and he looked away with a disgruntled 'Tch' sound, folding his arms over his chest and very aware of the water filling his boots as he stood beside her in the river feeling thrown off by the switch from what the mood had been moments prior.

"No, wait, wait, don't get mad, I'm not–I'm not laughing at you," she eventually said after noticing his displeasure, a hand gently brushing his arm to get his attention while the other wiped at tears in her eyes–and they weren't all mirthful, but they weren't sad, either. "I just wasn't expecting how you put that. I promise, I'm not slow, I just...I suppose that's one way to try and cheer someone up!"

Levi let out an annoyed sigh, dropping his arms and turning to walk back to the shore. "Idiot."

You're not a monster. Not in the way you're thinking. No, you're not human, but that doesn't make you naturally evil. You're...

Her fingers brushed at his wrist, clinging slightly and drawing his attention back to the present, her hand dropping away once he started to turn to look at her.

"Levi...Can we keep this off the record? I get you have to keep the Commander up to date with what's going on with me, but I'd rather not–"

"He just needs to know we talked."

She nodded, her hand lifting to tuck a few stray strands of hair out of her face and behind her ear as her gaze shifted away. "Thank you."

Levi's gaze flickered across her face, and then he continued making his way to the bank, where he shook off his soaked boots and tried to find a good place to dry them. He loosened the straps of the harness on his legs, as well, since he was in full uniform, not partial like Y/N, and the tight leather would really hurt if he kept it like that while he was soaked from the knees down. He just needed to let those parts dry on their own, though. It was the boots that were going to take a while.

While he was doing that, Y/N continued in a steadier tone of voice behind him, moving away from the emotional reflections of what happened and back towards logic and concerns of repercussions that Levi had mentioned briefly. "As for worrying about the one that's still alive...I'm sure he'll have a vendetta against me, and this time I really didn't see anything, so I don't know what he'll look like, but...I'm strangely not as concerned. I mean, I would be, he'd sure as hell be a threat, if he found me. But they were underground. They ran into me underground. He'll probably tear apart the Underground trying to find me, might not even consider checking above ground–at least, not anywhere he'll find me. He won't be looking for me in the sunlight–he reasonably will think I'm constrained to the night and Underground like any other vampire. It's a perk this necklace gives me, it protects me in more ways than one."

"We're still in the public eye, though, Y/N. What if he sees you by some stroke of bad luck one day?" Levi asked pointedly.

"Well...we'll deal with it then. We don't have any leads otherwise. We'll just have to remember there's a hunter out there that knows what I am and what I look like, and has a personal grudge against me. Unfortunately, if he does see me out and about, we probably won't see him coming."

That sent a chill down Levi's spine. He didn't like that one bit, but she was right. They had no way of finding this guy, no way of identifying him. Maybe they could have searched obituaries in the newspaper for any suspicious young deaths if it had been above ground, but it was the Underground she'd killed the younger one in–people died all the time in the Underground. No one would blink twice, let alone bother to report it in a newspaper.

Maybe he should stay close to her, just in case. If they couldn't see the hunter coming, then maybe, at the very least, they could be ready to react.

Fuck, what if she was hurt really badly and he couldn't feed her his blood cause he had white sage in it? What if something like that happened? They needed to come up with some fail safes for when they were inside the walls. He'd have to do some thinking, run this by Erwin, see what the other man came up with.

But that was for another time. He needed to think about it, first, and come up with some solid ideas...and hear out Erwin's thoughts on the matter, how best to protect and help her in an emergency with hunters.

And right now, he needed to focus on her and what she needed. Things she needed to get off her chest, whatever they ended up talking about.

Sighing once his boots were off and pants and straps were drying, Levi found a patch of grass on the bank in the sun to sit down in, propping himself up on his hands and leaning back on them, head angled up to the sky, eyes half lidded as he took a moment to enjoy the warmth of the sun and the breeze through his hair.

"Well, if that's all you need me to talk about for now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take the time to live a little," Y/N said, breaking the momentary spell of silence and causing Levi to open his eyes more and look in her direction again. She was wading deeper into the water without a care that it was soaking her clothes, reaching the point the water was close to her waist and suddenly coiling before Levi could ask what she was doing. She leapt into the air as much as she could when she was already in the water, kicking off the river bed to do so and launching herself sideways into the deeper part of the water. The resulting splash reached far enough Levi had to recoil from the shore, scowling as she came back above water with a laugh.

"Oi, watch it, I'm trying to dry off!" He chastised, though it was half-hearted once he saw the more relaxed look had returned to her features, a slight sparkle in her eyes as she turned to face him. Levi's scowl deepened to hide the sudden tightness in his chest that confused him, looking away. "Idiot."

"Come on, Levi, relax a little–you could join me instead of judging me," she coaxed, and Levi turned to give her a level stare.

"Hell no."

"Aw, don't be a killjoy, Levi, I'm just trying to lighten things up."

"Then leave me out of it, if it's going to involve you doing stupid shit."

"Sometimes it's the stupid shit that's so fun."

"You say that, now. Wait till you get the flu cause you had to ride back to headquarters in soaked clothes."

A sly little smirk played across her lips. "Actually, I won't. Vampires don't get sick."

"Of course not."

Y/N hummed, leaning back and allowing herself to float atop the water with her face upturned to the sky. That couldn't possibly be relaxing in the uniform, even without the harness. Surely the dead weight was annoying?

Whatever. As long as her mood really was getting better, and she wasn't going to get sick or do something that got her hurt, he wasn't going to stop her. Though he'd certainly call her out on the immaturity of her bullshit.

One of the horses wandered over and nuzzle Levi's side as if to ask for attention, drawing his attention to the horses that had been grazing and doing their own thing while the two of them talked. Gently, he ran his hand along the horse's muzzle, mind flickering back to the drawing she'd done of Levi with his horse during the expedition, once again wondering if that was really how she saw him, and what that meant.

"Levi?" She suddenly asked from over in the river, Levi's gaze flickering towards her while his fingers absent-mindedly brushed through the horse's mane. "I'm also going to start trying to remember...what he looked like. At my own pace, so it probably won't be anytime soon, but...I'll be trying."

He? The hunter? They'd already discussed how she'd never gotten a look at the hunter, so what the hell was that supposed to mean?

No, wait, not the hunter. The vampire, the one who turned her. She was going to start trying to remember what the vampire looked like. That wasn't what he expected to hear, either.

"Don't push yourself too hard," Levi warned her, some of his concern leaking into his voice.

"Like I said, I'll do it at my own pace, I just thought you should know."

As comforting as it was to know she was going to try to put a face to one of their unknown threats...he was also worried about what that might mean for her.

He couldn't stop thinking of how terrified she'd been the moment she realized who that note was from, and it was enough to let him know whatever memories she'd buried were...damaging, to say the least.