Wrath, Part 1
A bead of sweat trickled down Ella's brow. She stood, wiping off her damp forehead on the back of her hand with a short huff as she surveyed her work. The petite woman had just finished scrubbing the floors of one of the castle rooms at the Headquarters for the umpteenth time that day. Her brow twitched in irritation at the thought of her dark-haired Captain giving her chore after chore, scowling and ordering her to redo them when even her hardest work didn't meet his high standards of cleanliness.
Levi appeared in the doorway, pulling down the white cloth tied around the lower half of his face with a deft, slender finger. "Oi, Snow. Are you done yet, brat?"
Ella's lip jerked slightly with the effort it took to restrain herself from strangling the man. "That's right. Finally all finished." She forced herself to smile sweetly at the Captain, gesturing proudly at the sparkling clean floors.
He walked in, examining her work. His tongue clicked. "That will have to do for now, I suppose."
"Really?" She clapped her hands together in excitement, the slightest flicker of hope in her olive green eyes. "So, then, can I go to lunch now?"
"Have you finished scrubbing the rest of the rooms on this floor?" he inquired, grey eyes boring into her.
Her expression fell. "Eh!? The whole floor!?" she screeched, outraged.
Levi held out a mop and bucket for her, his face deadpan.
"No way!" Ella cried, anger bubbling to the surface.
His brow quirked delicately. "Would you rather clean the stables?"
"You can't be serious!"
At her shriek, Levi growled and stalked over to her, grabbing a fistful of her auburn ponytail at the back of her head to keep her still as he brought his face so close to hers that their noses nearly touched. He looked her dead in the eyes, stoic expression unwavering.
All Ella could do was stare at him in shock, her mouth agape.
"Dead serious."
Almost immediately, Ella's cheeks flushed a deep red. She tried to back away, but his hand kept her in place. The ebony-haired Captain peered at her heated cheeks, his brow raising.
"Are you blushing, Ella?" His gunmetal irises met hers impassively, causing her cheeks to redden even more.
"W-what...?" she stammered.
He reached up his free hand and flicked her forehead, instantly breaking her trance.
"Idiot."
Just like that, he was gone, his fingers releasing themselves from her auburn curls as he turned to walk out of the room without another word.
Ella stood rigid, blinking after him dumbly. After a moment, her eyes slowly drifted down to her hands, which held the mop and bucket. As the realization settled in, she could feel the rage bubbling back up to her surface, intensified tenfold by the fact that she had been so entranced by his confusing actions that she hadn't realized when he had slipped the cleaning supplies into her grasp.
Her body trembled, positively seething.
As Levi strolled off down the halls, the corner of his lips twitched up into a satisfied smirk beneath his cloth mask.
"That... that... fucking JERK!"
The door to the mess hall slammed open with the feminine shriek, turning several heads in a mixture of surprise and fear at the auburn-haired woman's enraged, deathly glower. For such a petite girl, she was an absolutely terrifying sight to behold if someone had made the mistake of incurring her wrath. Her normally cheery disposition and happy-go-lucky attitude only succeeded in making her rage even more horrific.
Hange, however, was unfazed. "Hey, Ella!" She grinned widely at her friend, standing up and waving her over to the table she was sitting at with Eren, Aubrey, Mikasa, and Armin. No doubt, she had been chatting animatedly about her latest advances on her Titan research with the interested cadets.
Ella stomped over to them and plunked herself down beside the brunette squad leader with an angry huff. She slammed her elbow on the tabletop and held her chin in her hand, startling poor Armin across from her as the dishes rattled.
"W-who's a jerk, E-Ella?" the blonde boy stuttered, afraid of her anger being directed at him.
Hange smirked knowingly. "It was the shorty again, wasn't it?"
"Captain Clean Freak," Ella ground out, "is apparently unsatisfied with my ability to mop a floor."
She relayed the story to them, her anger intensifying with every gory detail. When she was done, she sucked in a breath, clenched her fists, and let it out with a slow hiss. "So I dropped the bucket and ran like hell down here. I'm starving."
Armin's eyes widened. "B-but, Ella... Won't Captain Levi come looking for you?"
She shrugged nonchalantly. "Eventually, probably."
Aubrey giggled from beside Eren across the table. "That's so cute, Ella!"
She scowled at her dirty-blonde friend. "What do you mean 'cute'? He's a total jerk!"
"The way he grabbed your hair and brought his face so close to yours, your lips just inches away..." Aubrey sighed, a devious twinkle in her silver eyes. "That's what made you blush, isn't it?"
"N-no!" Ella's cheeks tinged with the slightest shade of pink at the implying question. "I-I did not!" she retorted.
"Liar." Hange drawled in a sing-song voice, beaming at her. "I bet you were as red as a cherry!"
"I-I was not!" she stuttered, flushing.
Aubrey smirked at her. "Oh, I see. You just wanted him to kiss you." she purred.
"Like hell I did!" Ella crossed her arms, eyebrow twitching as her anger boiled up again. "Who would want to kiss that sadistic, slave-driving asshole, anyway?" She growled, snatching Eren's bread and ripping off an angry bite out of it.
"All he ever does is order people around," she grumbled. "Clean this! Clean that over there! And when you're done cleaning, don't forget to clean the cleaning supplies!" Ella swung the small loaf of bread around at the table as she spoke, imitating Levi's stoic voice barking at them.
Armin paled. "E-Ella... you - !"
"And don't even get me started on his 'bad-boy' image."
"Ella, Captain Levi is - "
She cut her friend off, ranting on. "That guy thinks he's tough shit, but he's really just - "
"Just what, Ella?" a low, steely voice cut in. The quiet hiss from behind her silenced the woman immediately.
"Hey, Levi! Fancy seeing you here. Can we help you with something?" Hange intercepted cheerily, only to be met with his sharp glare.
Ella gulped, the blood draining from her face completely.
This was it. She was dead.
She had thought she would go down heroically, sacrificing her life to save a comrade at the hands of a Titan. But no, she would be murdered by her superior officer for bitching about him to her friends.
What a way to go.
Slowly, Ella swiveled around to face him, strong arms folded and a dark shadow cast over his glinting steel eyes.
She smiled nervously. "H-hey, Captain! We were just talking about you! Care for some bread?"
"Ella."
The young woman laughed nervously and attempted to swallow the dry lump quickly forming in her throat. In a flash, Levi had grabbed her arm, causing her to drop Eren's bread, yanked her out of her seat, and was dragging her away angrily by the collar of her jacket, Ella kicking and crying for help the whole way.
Aubrey merely waved farewell to her, too fearful of Levi's wrath to try and stop him.
Hange watched the inky-haired man drag her away, slamming the door shut behind him. A soft smile made its way to her lips.
"Why are you smiling?" Mikasa asked her in a dull voice.
The woman's grin widened. "You know, I think the shorty actually really likes Ella."
Eren blanched at the glasses-wearing scientist. "That's how he shows he likes someone!?"
"Not everyone is as good at displaying affection as our Aubrey, here." Hange chuckled.
"That's right!" The girl smiled prettily.
Eren jumped, meeping quietly at the girl's light pinch on his rear underneath the table, a light dusting of pink on his cheeks. "A-Aubrey!"
The girl in question shrugged, smirking. "Sorry, Eren. I couldn't help myself."
As Hange laughed and teased the young cadets, she couldn't help but feel a bit more light-hearted than before.
Surely, Ella would have weeks more of cleaning and stable duty to look forward to, plus a few hundred laps around the field to do.
No one could really say that they envied her as they returned to talking animatedly amongst themselves.
But it would be interesting to see how things unfolded.