Chapter One: Blank Stares

The thud of a human body hitting the wall was loud enough to make the bed-ridden Hanji cringe as her research assistant yelped with a mixture of surprise and pain. The woman turned to where the two men had been, or at least where she thought they'd been, her whole body quivering nervously. A chillingly angry voice cut through the silence that had filled the moments after Moblit had been thrown against the wall.

"What do you mean… How could you have let this happen, Berner? She's your squad leader, dammit," Levi growled at the younger man as he pressed his back up against the wall of the infirmary. Though he wasn't actually being held up off the ground by the other Squad Leader, after all he was about 13 centimeters taller than Levi, Hanji's research assistant still felt as though his life was hanging precariously in the balance.

"I… There was nothing… I did what I could, Captain Levi, sir… I just…" Moblit stuttered flinching as Levi raised his voice again.

"You did what you could? What the hell was that, Berner? Standing there and watching it happen?" Levi was furious and frustrated and Moblit could faintly make out some other emotion lingering just behind his superior officer's eyes. Hanji cleared her throat causing both men to turn and face her, expressions falling as they looked into her eyes.

"Levi, there was nothing Moblit could have done. There's no need to be so hard on him. He and my squad handled the situation perfectly. I was the one who screwed up," Hanji smiled reached out one hand, as though she were searching for her friends. Levi's hands lowered from Moblit's collar and he moved over next to the infirmary bed, taking Hanji's hand in both of his. She reached her free hand up, concentrating on trying to find his face. She thought she'd had it when Levi cried out in pain.

"Dammit… That was my eye you just poked!"

"Ah, sorry! Sorry… I'm still trying to get used to this," Hanji winced sliding her hand down a couple of centimeters to rest it on his cheek. Levi's face fell as he watched her struggle to look in the right place.

"You really are blind, aren't you?" his voice cracked a little and Hanji flinched as she squeezed his hand.

"Well, for now, yes," she said cheerfully, "As of right now, there's no telling whether the blindness is permanent or not. I could be back to normal before you know it! And, hey, at least I made it back okay. This could have ended a lot worse, you know."

Levi knew; he knew all too well. She could have been brought back amongst the bodies of the fallen. In fact, when Levi had seen Nifa leading Hanji's horse back through the gate after the Corps had regrouped, his mind had immediately jumped to the worst conclusion possible: Hanji was dead and had left him in this hell all by himself. Thankfully, Nifa had noticed him staring and had told him Moblit had taken her to the infirmary before Levi completely broke down.

"Hanji, how the hell did this even happen?" Levi asked, gently tracing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. Hanji sighed and ran her free hand through her hair.

"Well, we were setting up the traps to capture a couple of new test subjects when a group of five Titans showed up out of nowhere. We all had to split to take care of one each. So, naturally, I decided to try and lure the biggest guy to the traps we'd already finished setting up. However, I underestimated the length of his arms and he slammed me into a tree. I must have hit my head on a knot or something because I don't remember anything after that. The next thing I remember is waking up here and hearing the doctors telling Moblit that, once I woke up, I was not allowed to go back to sleep. They think I might have a concussion and that there might be more extensive damage to my occipital lobe, causing the blindness. However, they won't be able to actually tell me anything definite until the swelling in my brain goes down and they can take a better look." Levi scowled as Hanji spoke and, by the end, was turning to her assistant to ask about the staying up all night thing only to find that the younger man had bolted.

"Tch, damn brat…" Levi growled. Hanji smiled.

"Give him a break, Levi, he's just as worried about this as you are," the woman was raising her hand to place it back on his face when Levi caught it. He brought her palm to his lips, simultaneously inhaling the faint scent of her hair on her fingers as he kissed her palm. The actions were just as much a reassurance for himself that she was still there with him as they were to comfort her. Hanji laughed, "Trying to keep me from poking your eye again?" Levi smirked in spite of himself and gently brought her hand to his cheek.

"The thought may or may not have crossed my mind," the Captain joked before his face fell again. "Hanji, what are you going to do if this isn't just a temporary thing? What if you can't ever see again? What if…" he cut himself off, not wanting to say his last thought.

"Well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. There's no point worrying about it right now." Hanji sighed, "By the way, you don't have to stay here. I'm sure you feel disgusting and want to take a bath and sleep today off." Levi shook his head, forgetting for a moment that she couldn't see the movement.

"No," he sighed, "I mean, yes, I do feel downright filthy, but I have more pressing matters on my mind."

"Levi, is that concern I hear in your voice?" Hanji asked smiling and poking his cheek. Levi scowled as he dropped her hands and replacing them with her face, staring straight into her unseeing eyes.

"Yes, Shitty Glasses. It is concern you hear. You are blind, possibly for good, you have a concussion and can't fall asleep and if I leave you alone, you'll most likely talk yourself to sleep. Either that or get yourself into some other kind of trouble because you will conveniently forget that you can't function normally without your vision," the short-tempered man growled. Hanji could feel the heat from his nose and blushed at how close he felt to her.

"I'm pretty sure they won't let me just walk out of here," she laughed quietly.

"Well, I'm not taking any chances with you." Levi released her face and she leaned back into the pillows. He watched her stare off into space for a few moments before whispering, "Erwin's probably going to come by soon. He'll want to know what happened. And how long you'll be out of commission." Hanji nodded.

"Well, I'm obviously out of commission until I get my sight back," she sighed and Levi could tell she had left out if she got her sight back, "I should be cleared to leave the infirmary once they confirm whether or not I have a concussion, though. As for what happened, well, I'll tell him the truth. There's no real reason to hide it, anyways."

As the female scientist was finishing her sentence, the sound of footsteps reached her ears and the scraping of Levi's chair against the tile as he stood up to salute told her what her malfunctioning eyes couldn't: Commander Erwin had finally arrived. She turned her attention to where she thought she remembered the door being and smiled.

"Good evening, Commander," she chirped. She was looking a few feet too far to the right, unnerving the 13th Commander of the Scouting Legion slightly.

"So, Moblit wasn't kidding when he said you were blind then," Erwin murmured as Levi cringed at the pain in his superior's eyes. He placed a hand on Hanji's head and turned her to face the Commander head on.

"You overshot it, Shitty Glasses," he said quietly. Hanji's face faltered for a minute before she reached up, taking Levi's hand and intertwining her fingers with his. The action didn't go unnoticed by Erwin, who raised an eyebrow at the short Captain. Levi just shook his head and gave him a glare that simply said, 'Don't.'

"So, what exactly happened? Moblit said you hit a tree?"

"Ah, yeah, well, sort of," Hanji quickly told Erwin what she's told Levi earlier. Even though he already knew the story, Levi cringed all the way through, his grip on Hanji's hand tightening with every sentence. She got so lucky, he thought. She could have gotten herself eaten. She should be dead. Yet, he couldn't help thanking the god he wasn't sure he believed in for the fact that Hanji was alive and sitting there next to him.

Eventually, Hanji finished answering Erwin's questions and the Commander stood to leave. Levi rose with him, saluting and watching as Hanji saluted from her bed.

"Hanji, I'll check back in with you in a few days. Levi, you should get some rest. You've had a long day and I'm sure…"

"With all due respect, Erwin, I'll be staying with Hanji. I don't trust her to stay out of trouble like this and it's my job to take care of her." Levi cut the blond off curtly. One of Erwin's eyebrows rose curiously, but he didn't say anything as he left the infirmary. Levi sighed and flopped back into the chair. Hanji turned to face him looking down at his chest.

"So, you ready to stay up all night?" she asked.

"Yeah, what do you want to spend the night doing?" Levi resisted the urge to tilt her face upwards so she'd be looking at his face.

"Let's just talk, okay?"

"Sure. We can do that."

And so, they talked, about random things, avoiding the topic of her vision, until the sun rose. And until the sun rose, Levi couldn't help thinking the thought he'd hidden from her earlier.

What if this changes everything?