Howdy y'all! I now have one more fandom to obsess over, and one with so little material, in fact, that fanfiction is pretty much essential for me to deal with all my feels. So here's an idea that's been knocking about in my head for exactly nine hours. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: AoT/SnK not mine. Shinzou wo sasageyo, though!

Devotion

"Watch out!"

She didn't know who had shouted and didn't bother finding out. She gasped and performed an unthinking backward flip, shooting out a wire from her gear in the next second. She swore softly as she landed on a tree.

She had been distracted and nearly paid for it with her life.

"Stop being careless," she chided herself as she leaped onto the approaching Titan's arm. Before another second had passed, she'd swung twice -the arm to the shoulder, and then to the other shoulder as she drew her blades neatly across the nape of the Titan's neck.

She rode the Titan's head as it fell, noticing that one of the men was staring at her in awe. She managed to keep a cool face as she jumped onto the ground. This wasn't her first party, still, solo kills were exhilarating every time she managed one. But she had to keep her emotions in check.

Case in point, she looked around to see how the rest of the Survey Corps was doing, but of course, her gaze immediately gravitated to him. He had been the reason for her distraction and she had nearly died.

"Rein it in, silly girl," she muttered under her breath. She forced herself to look away from him; he was riding away, and in any case, they were in the midst of a skirmish.

She surveyed the scene quickly, efficiently, evaluating squads to see where she could help. Her patch of land was free of living Titans and other members of her squad had already joined the main force.

She saw Hange just about missing the snap of a bald Titan's jaws. The squad leader was all alone, and was, as always, chattering away happily to the ravenous Titan.

With an internal sigh, she started to run toward the eccentric duelling pair, when there was a flash of steel, and blood was gushing down the Titan's neck.

Moblit was swinging from the dead Titan's chest, yelling at his boss, who was yelling back at him for interrupting their conversation. She felt a momentary flash of surprise -Moblit played the part of harassed dogsbody so well it was easy to underestimate him. But she had heard that Moblit was a formidable soldier and had joined the Survey Corps despite being in the top five of his training batch, just like her. Hange always picked the best of the best.

There was little left to do after that. The red smoke from the flares hadn't even dissipated completely but the Titans were all but eradicated. She helped Oruo, the creep, with one final kill, and they were done.

She quickly walked away and whistled for her horse, in no mood for talking. Her near brush with death had left her subdued.

She had always prided herself on her skills. Ever since she was a little girl, people had first remarked on her beauty. Not that she cared if she was pretty or not. She had always wanted to transcend the "cute" epithet people seemed determined to place on her. Sometimes she didn't mind, because she remembered her mother very little but knew she had been a rare beauty. In that sense, she could pretend they were complimenting her likeness to her mother. Almost no one actually did though, since no one seemed to have known her mother, and she was always left with a dull, hollow twinge in her gut.

But her skills were something she worked hard on, and cared about. Like the comments on her prettiness, a compliment of her skills was a compliment to her father -if he had ever signed up to the military, she knew he'd have been an excellent soldier. But he hadn't, and it was up to her to carry both her parents' legacy, beautiful and deadly in equal measures.

In the end, what was important was that she wasn't just another pretty face. She was determined to make her small world understand that.

And that hadn't changed with her newfound devotion. She wanted him to notice her (such a cliché!), not for her pretty face, but for her fighting aptitude. And here she was, daydreaming like a moonstruck fool and nearly getting herself killed. The shame of it all!

The corps rode along without incident for the rest of the day. She remained alone with her thoughts, taking advantage of her position in the Scouting Formation.

They set up camp when the clouds above had turned an astonishing shade of pink. It had set everything aglow in a rosy hue, so that even the ugliest toad looked adorable in the light.

After freshening up, she brushed her horse's mane and tail and fed it some sugared oats she had managed to sneak in her pack. She was smiling at the animal's mute delight, when someone tapped her on her shoulder.

She turned around to see Keiji, from Hange's squad.

He had on his usual deadpan expression. "The Commander wants to see you." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. Hiding her nervousness at this unexpected summons, she nodded and hurried across the camp.

Commander Erwin Smith was known by all and sundry to be a cold, calculating, and unemotional man. And yet, she wondered if the weather and the view had got to him too, as he was sitting on a table outside his tent, his legs stretched out in front of him, his heels digging into the rosy-hued grass. This was the most leisurely pose she had ever seen him in.

She stopped in front of him and gave him the customary salute. Under her clenched fist, she could feel her heart beat faster. "Sir!"

The Commander was reading from a parchment. He raised his finger with his eyes still on the parchment, and so she waited.

He was finished in less than ten seconds.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I've asked for you. I won't waste either of our time with small talk." As abrupt as ever. "We have been watching you, and evaluating you. I'm happy to say that your performance has been excellent." She wanted to point out that he certainly didn't look very happy, but decided to take the praise without comment, rare as it was.

"I'm forming a new squad within the Survey Corps. We're going to call it the Special Operations Squad. But I think a more common name for it will be…" His eyes shifted to a point past her shoulder. She wanted to see what he was looking at, but years of training forbade her from looking away from her Commander.

"The Levi Squad, I hear," said a voice behind her, and she felt her breath catch in her chest. Levi, the man himself, strode up to the table and leaned on it, his eyes boring into her face.

"Yes," Erwin had one of his infrequent smiles on his face. "As you can imagine, Captain Levi here will be heading the team. Unlike the other squads, the members of which we keep shuffling every now and then, this is a permanent position. We would like you to be a part of this team."

"M-me?" She was surprised she still had a voice.

"Petra Rall," Levi said, examining his fingers, and she repressed a shudder at hearing her name. "You have been on two expeditions so far and you have… how many kills was it?"

"Twenty-three, sir."

"Twenty-three kills."

"But," Petra said, feeling obliged to add, "only four solo kills."

Levi looked at her again, and again she felt a shudder pass through her body. "At the end of my second expedition, I too had four solo kills. Don't underestimate yourself. I chose you for a reason."

He had chosen her. He had chosen her. She felt like crying.

"We will be making the announcement at dinner tonight. I think you are already familiar with the other members chosen for this squad." Erwin looked down at his parchment. "Eld Gin, Gunther Schultz, and Oruo Bozad." The creep made it, she thought giddily. "I think you'll work well together, and are all good enough to keep up with Captain Levi-"

Levi straightened and took a step forward, which made the Commander stop talking abruptly. "I hope you're happy with this decision?" Levi asked her. His voice was untempered by emotion and his face expressionless. Yet she felt her cheeks flush as she exclaimed, "Happy?! I… I'm honoured, Captain!"

"Good. I value your dedication to our cause." He nodded, then turned away, a clear dismissal. She looked to the Commander, who also nodded. Though she hated that this exchange had to end, she still felt giddy and felt new meaning infuse her salute.

"I dedicate my heart!" And my life, all to you, Captain Levi.

Erwin watched Petra Rall's small frame flit through the camp. He liked her earnestness and her excellent work. Yet he had his doubts.

"Are you sure you want her?" He asked Levi, who was also watching her.

"Do you doubt my choice?" Levi asked, and Erwin could hear the thinly-veiled temper in his voice.

"I told you I would leave the choice to you. I trust you."

"Then what's the problem? You doubt her skills?"

"Far from it. She is easily the best in her squad. I doubt her… dedication."

Levi finally turned to him. "Well I think she's dedicated enough. What are you trying to say?"

"Certainly, she is dedicated." He paused, choosing his words carefully. Levi angered quickly. "Question is, what is she dedicated to? Or rather, to whom?"

Levi narrowed his eyes. "This is beneath you, Erwin."

"I want to avoid unnecessary complications in my squad."

"My squad, my people, my choice. There will be no complications. You'll get your perfect team."

"I'm taking your word for it."

"Understood." Levi pushed away from the table and dusted his pants. "Now, keep your busybody nose out of my team."

Erwin nodded. He watched as Levi tutted and walked over to a team with a haphazardly-constructed tent.

Complicated indeed.

So this is clearly based on the anime, since Petra seems to be more dedicated to her career in the manga, rather than Levi himself. I got this idea since I was thinking about writing a fic from Mikasa's POV (I know, so original), and then realised that I could use a lot of it for anime!Petra.

So, Petra is like seriously underrated. She has the highest officially-stated number of kills in the serious. That's right, 10 solo kills and 48 assisted kills, which is insanely amazing. It's assumed, obviously, that Levi, and maybe Mike and Erwin have higher kills to their credit, but no one's ever mentioned the count. So sweet, kind, cute Petra, is the reigning Queen of kills. Which is why the beginning of this story fits her as well as it would have fit Mikasa, according to me, at least.

Also, it is canon that Petra and Oruo were in the same training batch. So "creep" is a term of endearment... maybe?

Hope you liked it, please review if you did!