A Fateful Encounter: The Silent Promise: Part 3

Trust Issues:

Levi’s POV:

The tavern owner led us upstairs and showed us to where we’d be spending the night.
It was a simple room, two beds and a wardrobe against one wall, a table and two chairs by the lead lined window, a stone hearth with a pile of fresh logs and another wooden door which led to the bathroom.
“I’ll bring you both some food up, I also think I have some spare clothes of my daughters for the girl.” Said the woman.
I nodded but said nothing, looking around the room. It was fairly clean...a little dusty perhaps, but it would suffice for one night.
A few moments later the woman returned with a pile of clothes, placing them on the bed.
“Here you go sweetie.”
“Th-thank you.” Came the quiet reply, that was the first time she’d spoke in a while. She still sounded nervous but I thought nothing of it.
After the woman left I watched as the brat picked up the clothes and made her way to the bathroom to wash and change, she never made eye contact with me but I couldn’t fail to notice the state of her hands.
They were caked in dry blood where she’d injured herself trying to free her father, she’d need them bandaging up or they’d never heal properly.

About half an hour later I sat at the table looking out the window at the night sky, the only light in the room was the dim candle light from the table and glow of the fire on the hearth.
I looked over as the bathroom door opened and the brat emerged wearing the clean clothes the woman had left for her.
“Come here.” I said softly.
She hesitated at first but slowly made her way towards me, stopping at the table and staring at me. However her eyes no longer held as much fear as what they had earlier, maybe she was finally starting to realize I had no intention of hurting her.
“You need your hands bandaging otherwise they won’t heal properly.”
She simply nodded.
‘Still scared of me huh brat?’
“Sit.”
I walked over to the wardrobe and rummaged around, tucked away behind my ODM Gear I found a small leather bag that contained some bandages. I pulled a roll out and closed the door, making my way back to the table.
I sat down and unrolled one of the bandages, taking her left hand and starting to wrap it up. I could feel her e/c eyes watching me as I worked, I noticed she was no longer trembling, probably a good sign.
I finished bandaging her hand left hand, noticing she held out her right hand willingly. So she was finally finding her confidence and starting to trust me? Maybe I was wrong about her after all. Maybe her timidness was just an effect of what she saw in Shiganshina, although I couldn’t say I blamed her though in all honesty.

I finished bandaging her other hand and stared at her, her e/c eyes made contact with mine and she visibly shrank back from me. Clearly she didn’t fully trust me, but that didn’t matter. Tomorrow we’d part ways and probably never see each other again.
“Thank you.” She said quietly, pushing herself further back into her seat.
I simply nodded and remained silent.
There was a knock on the door a moment later, the brat jumped round and stared at it.
I simply rolled my eyes and answered it, as she said the woman had brought us some soup, bread and a pitcher of water with two cups, I’d have prefered some black tea but I couldn’t be bothered to ask for any.
“Will you be requiring anything else?” She asked, placing the tray down on the table.
“No.” I replied.
“Alright, well if you do I’ll be downstairs in the bar.”
I nodded, narrowing my eyes when she reached out to put a hand on the brat’s shoulder, however she flinched away from the woman’s touch.
“Don’t touch her!” I growled, sensing her distress.
The woman jumped back and looked at me wide eyed.
“I’m sorry she just...her hands are bandaged I wanted to make sure she was okay.”
“She’s fine.” I replied bluntly.
The woman nodded and made a hasty retreat, closing the door behind her.
“Tch.”
I made my way back over to the table.
“You alright?” I asked.
The brat nodded before turning her gaze to the window.
I frowned at her for a moment, she seemed hesitant to even look at the food in front of her, let alone touch it.
“Eat up before it gets cold.”

After we ate the brat went to lay on one of the beds, her small body curled up tight and she faced away from me. She’d barely touched her meal or even said a word.
I sighed and ran a hand back through my hair, clearly she was suffering from some sort of mental trauma based on the day’s events...had something happened to her before I came across her?
She’d said she had no family left, that her parents were dead. I know she saw her father die as she was hanging over my shoulder when I rescued her, had she seen her mother or siblings meet the same fate? Come to think of it did she even have any siblings?
I shook my head to clear my thoughts, none of that mattered. My only concern right now was getting her to the Cadet Corps HQ safely.

A tiny whimper filled the room, breaking the eerie silence.
I cocked my head and looked towards the beds, the brat was clearly asleep but it was definitely her the whimper came from.
Her small body shook violently as she whimpered again, night terrors perhaps?
I cautiously walked over to where she lay and looked at her.
Her eyes were fluttering furiously, her small hands balled up into fists.
“No Mom! Let go of her!” She cried out.
I frowned and sat on the bed, cautiously brushing her h/l h/c hair away from her face, however she raised her hand and swatted me away.
“No put me down, you have to help him please! He’s still alive!”
I swallowed hard, earlier events were plaguing her dreams.
“No Dad!” She screamed out, her eyes opened wide and she sat bolt upright as the nightmare became too much to handle.
I silently sat and stared at her, what the hell else could I do? I was no good at comforting people.
She stared up at me, tears shining in her eyes as he chest heaved through her shallow rapid breaths.
“You okay brat?” I asked.
That was enough to break her.
‘You idiot! Of course she isn’t alright.’
Her body shook violently as sobs wracked through her throat and tears streamed down her cheeks, the reality of the day’s events was finally starting to sink into her mind.
I sighed and looked at her, the next thing that happened shocked even me…
I slowly reached out to her and held her against me, wrapping one arm around her shoulders and resting the other on the back of her head, gently stroking my fingers through her hair in an effort to calm her down.
I frowned and rested my chin on top of her head, this was way out of my comfort zone. I was used to killing titans, not comforting frightened brats.
After a while she started to quieten down, her head was still buried into my chest but her breathing was steadier and she had almost stopped crying, there was just the odd sniffle every now and again.
“You alright now brat?” I asked softly.
“F/n.” She mumbled.
“What?”
She slowly blinked up at me, resting her head under my chin.
“My name is f/n.”