Wrath, Part 2

"Let me go, you jerk!" Ella cried, flailing her arms and legs wildly in an attempt to break free from the Captain's tight grip on her jacket collar. It was to no avail, though Levi quickly grew tired of her violent struggling as he dragged her down the hallway.

"Ella!" he snapped, finally throwing her down against the wall. His patience was at an end.

Ella winced at both the harsh tone in his voice and pain that shot through her back as she hit the hard stone. She was about to complain about his rough handling, but the expression on his face silenced her. A whimper left her lips as he loomed over her.

"So," he hissed, crouching down in front of her, silver irises glinting, "you think you can shirk your duties and hide from me, Snow?"

She swallowed the dryness in her throat, staring wide-eyed at him.

"Well?" He quirked a brow, giving her an expectant look.

The auburn-haired woman felt the back of her neck heat up with panic, sputtering quickly. "N-no, sir!"

"Oh? You're back to addressing me formally, now? Why the sudden respect?" His steely gaze never left her olive green orbs, a dark tone laced in his voice despite his flat expression.

Oh, shit.

If Ella wasn't dead before, she was definitely sitting in her grave now. She had previously been holding on to the faint sliver of hope that the stoic Captain hadn't heard her bad-mouthing him earlier, but now the fear that she had been sorely mistaken slowly settled into the pit of her gut.

"What was it you were calling me earlier, Ella?" Levi mused, his brow knitting together into a menacing glower.

No...

She felt her stomach twist, a slight tinge of pink heating her cheeks as her heart thrummed against her chest. Shutting her eyes, she flinched, waiting for some kind of impact that never came.

Instead, he grabbed her chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting her face up to look at him.

She blinked, gawking at his intense expression. "C-Captain?"

"A sadistic, slave-driving asshole?" He deadpanned.

A wave of heat instantly washed over her face, turning her cheeks a bright, cherry red. Any choice of words far beyond her at this point, her mouth gaped open and closed.

Oh yes, she was dead.

She would die a slow, painful death, flayed alive by Levi's blades.

Certainly.

His expression, however, remained flat.

"Ella." He brought his face in close, until his thin lips ghosted over the shell of her ear. "You're blushing again."

And then he was gone, their proximity vanished.

Ella blanched at him. "Y-y-you...!"

Before she could finish stammering out her enraged exclamation, Levi's arms were around her, lifting her up off the ground as he stood, hauling her over his shoulder. Unfortunately for Ella, his hand had inadvertently found its way to her backside in an effort to stabilize her.

Ella didn't know how it was possible for her face to get any redder than it already was, but it did. "H-hey!" she cried, attempting to swivel around to look at him from her undignified position slung over his shoulder. "Let go!"

"No."

Her blush deepened at his simple, dull reply. "C-Captain!"

Levi looked up at her from the corner of his eye, quirking a thin, delicate brow.

"You have stables to clean, brat."

Ella wailed. "No! Put me down!" Her small fists pounded on his back as he strolled leisurely down the corridor with her in tow.

In all her flailing, she missed the ghost of a satisfied smirk twitch at the corner of his mouth.