"Ashe."

Honora cringed. So much for getting to her first debriefing 'on time'.

"Get over here."

It had been exactly a month since the selection tests. They'd spent the past weeks being trained in the ways of the Scouting Legion—tactics, formations, procedures. Three days before, she was overjoyed when she finally found out that she actually made Squad Levi.

In fact, even Sosuke and Lang had made it. The only person from Team Fight that didn't was Luke. And he was carted to the next best squad, anyway. Captain Mike Zakarius had to be better than this germ phobic…irritable…

She stopped her hateful thoughts. The only reason why she was being so prissy was because of her lack of energy; that was no real reason to suddenly start hating on her captain.

"Captain." Dead tired as she was, she pulled an admirable salute. It seemed like she was always tired these days.

Two days into his squad. Two days and she was already pushing herself over the edge. She caught the barely contained laughter of Lang and Sosuke—Aren't they just the best friends one could have?—and she scowled. "You're late for debriefing." Her captain hissed and it made Honora want to look away in shame.

She was an upstanding soldier. She knew it. But if that was so, why was she performing subpar than her usual standards?

Because I'm fucking dead tired. "I apologize, sir." Honora kept her face as stern as possible. His sharp blue eyes passed over her form; for a moment there she thought he was going to order her to run laps. But instead he said nothing as he continued the debriefing of their squad's duties that day.

It surprised her that she'd been assigned to do nothing—she quickly found out what that meant when the small meeting ended. She was about to go when Levi called out in his normal, stoic tone: "Ashe, you aren't off the hook."

Lang and Sosuke gave her their customary goodbyes with a snicker. She turned away from them and approached her impatient captain. "Yes sir?"

Levi crossed his arms. "My office. Now."

Honora nodded. A few minutes later, she wasn't surprised to find that his office was no bigger than Erwin's, having only a desk, a couch, and a small table with a chair pushed into the far corner of the room. And of course, the place was obscenely clean.

He motioned to the tiny table that looked like it could barely fit a normal-sized human being. "Sit." She awkwardly went over to the corner, banging her elbows on the wall behind it more than once. It was a good thing she was small—a person as big as Sosuke or even Lang would've broken the chair down with their weight.

Out of nowhere Levi produced a stack of papers. He dropped it on her tiny table. "Sort this. When you're finished, place it on my desk." He said with a stale tone.

She nodded, loyal as ever. Though to be fair, even she wasn't looking forward to sorting paperwork. Hell, Honora didn't even know the people of the Scouting Legion had to do paperwork. Something as mundane as signing papers wasn't usually associated with the only military division that faced the titans on a regular basis.

Yet she sifted through the papers listlessly. It didn't matter that the most powerful captain in the squad scrutinized her every move, she had to sort these damn papers before he snapped.

An hour had passed and she had successfully sorted everything into four stacks according to urgency. She chanced a glance at her captain who was sitting behind his desk only a meter away, reading a book. Was this how captains spent their time when they weren't on expeditions? She piled the stacks crisscrossed so she would know where to separate them and slowly moved over to Levi's desk.

It was peaceful, she absently mused, when they weren't trying to stay alive while battling titans. When was the next expedition? Not like she was looking forward to it…but if it gave her a taste of what the titans were like, then she would have to brave it.

"Oi, Ashe." She snapped out of her reverie. She was embarrassed to find that she'd been standing in front of her captain's desk for more than a few minutes with probably the most zoned-out expression he'd ever seen.

She colored immediately, trying not to look her captain in the eye as she moved to arrange the stacks on his desk. "Sorry sir." She distractedly said underneath her breath. What the hell is wrong with me?

His gaze then turned intent.

She may have been off doing who-knew-what during the nights; hence her less-concentrated-than-usual state. He reminded himself that something had possessed him to pick her for his squad. He had seen the ruthlessness, the skill, the willpower that made her even remotely qualify for his standards.

She was no teenager that decided to join the military on a fucking whim. She was 23 years oldand now part of his squad. But if she wanted to keep it that way then she had better stop reporting in looking like the walking dead.

"Captain, your tea…" He uninterestedly looked at Lang, another punk he had added to his squad, who just come in. He was capable, not nearly as capable as Sosuke or Honora, but capable. He wouldn't piss his pants even if it was because of his cocky attitude. And god knew how much he needed those kinds of people on his squad.

It wasn't the Special Ops Squad for nothing, the brats that wanted to join his squad should know. He took a sip of the tea Lang brought in.

He put down the teacup immediately. He directed his distasteful gaze at Lang, who redirected his to Honora on seeming reflex. "This is water, you idiot. Ashe, teach Shun how to brew some damn tea." Honora nodded, taking the tea cup. Her expression was thoroughly obedient—though he could detect a hint of annoyance directed at the red-haired idiot—and walked out of the office, Lang in tow.

"How can you not know how to boil leaves?"

He quickly tuned their voices out. Minutes later, Honora returned with a cup. She set it down in front of him and turned to look away, but he knew full well that she was gauging his reaction as he set the cup to his lips.

It was satisfactory; Honora had probably brewed it herself. "You bring my tea in instead of Shun." He murmured and she nodded. He set the cup down, but his gaze remained on her.

She was hyperaware that he was staring at her, and it made her heartbeat speed up at an unnatural pace. She struggled to control her breathing—she couldn't look her captain in the eye lest she screw up right in front of him. Why was he staring so intensely?

"You look like shit, Ashe. Whatever it is you're doing at night that's worth missing sleep, I'm ordering you to stop. I won't tolerate shitty performance either."

While in no way has her performance ever been shitty yet, it was a warning. Honora nodded stiffly, wondering if she could be able to do just that.

.

At dinner that night, Levi observed the faces of his squad. They were seated at a table right next to Hanji's squad of psychos, eating dinner. There were five of them all in all, excluding him.

Sosuke Rhodes, Honora Ashe, and Lang Shun, the newest additions. He'd watched them during their selection tests, and their performance was acceptable enough. Sosuke and Honora in particular had managed to rise above his usual notions of 'brats who can't handle themselves' by going to 'brats who can somewhat handle themselves'.

But they'd have training tomorrow, and he'd further test just how much he could push them.

.

Lang, Sosuke and Honora listened attentively to their two senior squad members—Axel Beltran and Frantz Gallahan. They were teaching the three of them tips when battling titans, and the junior members didn't demur in taking note.

Despite what the three junior members thought, they were relatively close in age. Axel and Frantz were the same age, 26, while Sosuke, Honora and Lang also shared their age, which were 23. Frantz was more than happy to teach them the secrets to "surviving out there".

"If we're fighting titans on flat land, do you guys know what to do?" Frantz asked. He had a friendly demeanor, with short, spiky brown hair and matching brown eyes. He looked at Honora and Sosuke, expecting them to be the one to answer.

Axel, on the other hand, was a different story. He had a frosty exterior, long, silver hair tied back and even colder gray eyes to boot. He regarded the new recruits indifferently, "You'll hardly survive out there if you don't."

Honora shook her head, mildly tired with Axel's inadvertent insults. "We do, actually."

"And we'll be more than happy to demonstrate—" Sosuke started, but things had quieted down once Levi arrived with harnesses.

"You three," He threw down the equipment. "You're taking a test. You may have gotten into my squad, but I won't allow some piss-poor fighting once we're actually out on missions. Get your gear on."

They arrived back minutes later, stances stiff as boards but armed to be ready as they listened once more to their captain. "As part of my squad, you're expected to be faster, stronger and smarter than normal soldiers. Don't meet up to that and I'll kick your face in."

Levi nodded to Axel and Frantz. The two senior members immediately went to explain what they were going to do—after all, they'd gone through the same type of hell when they themselves had been put into the squad for their first time. Once they'd finished, predictably, the reactions of the three junior members were nothing out of the ordinary.

"WE'RE WHAT!?"

Even Honora couldn't believe it. She clenched her fists in disbelief. How the fuck are we even supposed to win against those odds!?

Sosuke continued with his outburst, however. "YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS-!" Lang laughed nervously and draped an arm around Sosuke, who had taken to yelling in front of Frantz's face. "C-calm down, Sosuke…"

.

They were once again within the forest of giant trees, zipping past oversized branches. Honora, Sosuke and Lang had slipped into a kind of grave, concentrated silence as they navigated in a small triangular formation with Honora leading this time.

Their test was simple: take as many flags as you can within an hour. It was somewhat similar to the test they'd taken a month before; the only difference was that they only had to take flags, though they'd been stuck in the most random of places within the forest.

Also that to win, they had to beat the rest of Squad Levi. The captain himself included.

"There's no way we're going to win this…" Lang groaned. True, their chances were small, considering that Honora, Lang and Sosuke were green and had no experience compared to Axel, Frantz and Levi.

But there was a spark of determination in Honora's eyes. "Do you actually believe in that, Lang?" She snapped.

The redhead was obviously taken aback. "Having poor chances isn't an excuse for giving up. Whatever happened to fighting, or Team Fight for that matter?" Honora looked back at Lang and gave him a deadpan expression. "Because I will never stop."

That seemed to perk up the dreary atmosphere. Sosuke laughed uproariously while Lang returned the grin. Realizing that they'd reached the center of the forest, Honora stopped and perched herself on a high branch as her teammates then did the same to trees in opposite directions. "We'll have to do better than average if we want a better chance at winning. We split up now. Search the higher places first then the underbrush. Clear?"

"Crystal!" With a nod, the remaining members of Team Fight took off to their assigned search areas.

.

Honora had been earnest when she said those words. She wouldn't stop fighting, whether it be for herself or to impress her captain. If it was one thing that her captain did not tolerate, it was shitty performance.

And shitty tea.

She steadied her weight skillfully as she reached out oh-so carefully with an open palm. She clamped it shut once she felt the texture of fabric upon it, taking yet another flag for Team Fight. She shifted her weight once again to swing herself away from a tree trunk and shot a hook at one of the branches not too far, spotting another flag.

As she felt herself being pulled toward the flag, her heart stopped as she saw another figure approaching, dangerously quick.

At this rate we're going to collide…! Honora aimed a shot at a different tree branch, abandoning the flag. She watched the figure—quick as lightning and spinning like a wheel, take the flag. She gasped as it passed by her like some unstoppable force unknown to man.

In a flurry of cloth the spinning slowed and it revealed her captain, a sick smirk on his face as they both made eye contact. "That was piss-poor, Ashe." He taunted, before taking off.

By the end of this interaction, Honora had been staring at the hands grasping the handgrips of her 3D maneuver gear with a clenched jaw. Piss-…poor?

She grit her teeth. "What the fuck does that even mean!?"She muttered angrily. She stood up, nearly stomping her boots on the oversized branch she'd managed to redirect herself to. He'd known he'd be too fast. We weren't even going to collide because he knew he was fast.

If it was also one thing Honora knew about herself, it was that she wasn't "piss-poor".

Without another glance at where she'd last seen her captain, she took off. She marveled inwardly at how amazing he was, and since he'd so generously demonstrated his technique in front of her…

She smirked and drove herself as hard as she could into the task masterfully mimicking Levi's manipulation of the 3DM gear.

.

It was sunset when they'd ended. Honora dumped all of the flags she'd managed to collect right next to Sosuke's and Lang's, which was 18. Put together with Sosuke's 14 flags and Lang's 11, they had 43 flags in total. Much more than any of the three expected.

Searching the higher branches had been a pain, what with having to dodge all of the stiff tree branches and the awkward angles that the flags had been put in. Now, all she wanted to do was sit down a moment. Which she did, on the grassy path leading to inside the giant forest.

She was abruptly pulled up moments later by her arm. She hissed in pain, but held back a more vehement protest once she recognized Sosuke had done it because their captain had finally arrived. He looked to be in a good mood—considering his face held none of its usual annoyance and only looked bored.

"The three of you lost."

Sadist. You're a sadist, captain. A corner of her mouth twitched, no wonder he was only bored. But as she stared at her captain again, she realized he wasn't finished.

With a drab tone he continued, "You punks pass the test either way." And there it was.

Honora silently sighed in relief. The two idiots flanking her, Sosuke and Lang, burst into shouts of joy, doing small victory dances, while Honora remained stationary and bowed her head. Frantz congratulated them and even Axel offered a small smile, forgoing his normal mask of indifference.

Levi watched his squad interact with crossed arms. He was satisfied, to put it bluntly. He didn't mention it, but those three had actually come closer to beating them than any of the previous times he'd imposed the test on his squad. He wouldn't put much stock in Sosuke, Lang and Honora in future expeditions if they hadn't.

He looked up from his position, instantly finding her. Her head was bowed as Frantz and Sosuke clapped hands on her shoulder, but Levi could see why.

She suddenly glanced up and they made eye contact—her face harbored a cocky smile before she turned away.

.

Honora knocked on her captain's office. There was a "Come in" and she opened the door, finding his office as clean as two days ago. Even the stacks of paper resting on his desk were orderly. She approached her captain who was bent over paperwork.

"Captain." She greeted with a measured tone, extending his customary tea. Eventually she knew, she would get used to bringing him tea in the mid-morning and afternoons. It wasn't as hard as Lang claimed to boil leaves.

He reached to grab the cup by its rim, and took a sip of the tea he was beginning to become accustomed to. They made eye contact once again, and this time, Levi caught the snide glint without a second glance.

He put down the cup in his hand. He waved to the stacks of paper placed on the left of his desk with a smirk on his face. "Ashe, make yourself useful." He observed her reaction and was pleased when she nodded without a single word, taking the papers in her hands and doing the same thing she'd done two days ago.

At least she doesn't look like shit today, He said to himself, observing the way she'd carefully brushed her hair and tied it back again. The bags under her eyes had lightened somewhat in color and her complexion had gotten better as well.

It slightly amused him they way she'd painfully—and quite loudly—bang her elbows on the wall behind her and only take it with a slight scrunch of her nose, or when she would accidentally knock down the papers she'd managed to stack with another slip of her elbow and respond with an inaudible growl. She was obviously tortured with the small workspace yet she shut herself up like a mute person.

But he kept those thoughts to himself as he had another sip of his tea.

.

A/N: I can't wait to write the next chapter, 'cuz that's when Sosuke, Lang and Honora are finally gonna meet the titans. Teehee.

Sarafinja – Me too. But I think I'd enjoy Honora being in Levi's squad more than anything, 'cuz that way Levi could taste Honora's tea. =3

Special thanks to LilLaoRyo704, SUPAfast JeLLyFisH, and to animefangirl0219.

Well, waddaya think!? Are Sosuke, Lang and Honora gonna piss their pants when they meet the titans at last!? Please review!