Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Trouble With Love
"I think we should be going," Ymir said bluntly, setting her box loudly on the floor. Satoshi was too busy being pleased with himself to notice that she was glaring at him. "I suppose she's right," Christa admitted, smiling at Sato. "I'll see you later." He nodded vigorously, almost dropping the cloaks in his excitement. With that Ymir and Christa left.

"What's your ship name?" Abby teased when they were out of earshot. "Because I think I found my new OTP." Sato's face turned red. "I just said hi to her," he complained. "It's not like I...we didn't..." Abby laughed. "Calm down, I'm just kidding. Besides, I don't think Ymir's willing to give her up anytime soon.

Satoshi looked confused. "Give her up?" His face suddenly went pale. "You mean she...they're...oh." He looked as if he was about to cry. "Don't act so upset," Batgirl chided. "There's a lot of other hot girls here." Sato sighed miserably and skulked back upstairs to finish cleaning.

~

Creak.

Abby cursed the floorboards as she made her way to the kitchen. It was almost midnight, and she couldn't sleep. The room she was currently sharing with Batgirl, Niko and Aravis was too loud. Somebody was snoring and somebody else was talking in their sleep. So she crept down to the kitchen. She figured she could get a drink and sit in peace for a while.

But it seemed the kitchen was already occupied. Petra was sitting silently at the table, sipping a cup of tea. Abby had seen her around the castle cleaning, but hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her yet. Now was the perfect opportunity. She pulled out a chair and sat down across from the other girl.

"Can't sleep?" Petra asked, smiling. Abby shook her head. "Too much to think about," she sighed. "I guess I'm just really excited about this whole thing. She giggled before continuing. "Seeing Levi right in front of my eyes is so cool! What's it like actually talking to him?"

Petra's face flushed. "It's nice," she said softly. "He's not as mean as everybody thinks." Abby's eyes lit up. "That's good. Maybe he doesn't hate me, after all." She was about to ask another question, but paused when she noticed the way Petra's eyes were shining. The auburn-haired soldier stared dreamily into empty space, and it was all too easy to read her thoughts.

In that moment, Abby realized that she had absolutely no right to Levi. Petra was the one who knew him; had fought beside him. She had been handpicked as a member of his special operations squad, while Abby was just a random fangirl who got lucky enough to come into contact with him.

Jealousy stirred deep in her heart.

Next time: Training