Chapter 7 – All is Found

Captain Levi met me the following night. I was waiting by the edge of the creak that flowed through the Scout's old headquarters. It was a long day of training again and I was tired, and wasn't sure if I even wanted to train with the Captain tonight, but the thought of missing out on extra training and that being the reason I died on the next expedition, I would probably regret not taking an extra hour or two to train.

I sat down at the creak and used the light from the full moon reflected on the water as a mirror to tie my hair back in a braid with my red ribbon. I started humming a simple tune to myself while I worked on my hair. I know it seemed silly to care what you looked like, especially when you're in the military but for some reason I didn't want to look out of place when the Captain was around. Maybe it was his clear OCD tendencies.

The wind started to blow, and I instantly regretted not putting more layers on. I contemplated going back inside the castle to get my jacket but then ultimately decided against it. I knew that when I started to move around that I would start to get warm.

I heard Captain Levi arrive before I saw him. I turned from my position at the creak to greet him, but still remained on the ground, "Good evening, Captain." I was mumbling because I was holding a piece of my hair in my mouth so I could braid it properly. I took the piece out and added it to the braid, "I'm almost done and then we can get started." I stated as I turned back to the creak.

"I need to wait for you to fix your hair, princess?" He asked through his monotone drawl, clearly unimpressed that I took the time to make sure my hair was pulled back and wouldn't get in my way.

"Princess? All because I braid my hair and want to look presentable? I thought a clean freak like you would be more appreciative than that." I didn't really like that he was alluding to the fact that since I cared what I looked that automatically made me less than in his eyes.

"Watch the mouth, Sawyer. That's your only warning."

"Yes, sir." I huffed as I turned the other way so he couldn't see me roll my eyes at him. Just when I thought we were somewhat on good terms, he switches.

I finished braiding my hair, "Shall we get started?"

"Yes, finally."

I ignored is clearly annoyed tone and asked, "Do you want to start with combat or ODM?"

"ODM." He decided. "Combat can wait, your ODM skills are deplorable at best." He commented.

I kept my mouth shut, stifling a rude reply. "Okay then let's start with that."

I strapped into the leather straps to my body and attached the ODM gear to where they rested by my legs.

"First things first, you're too tense. You need to relax a little bit if you want your movements to be smoother and less choppy. Once you relax you can be more in charge of what you're doing." The Captain explained as he came around to where I stood and placed his hands on my shoulders to indicate that was where I was most tense.

His hands were cold when he placed them on my skin, which incidentally made me tense up even more. He applied light pressure to get me to calm down, but I don't think it worked that well. "See Sawyer? You need to calm down a little." Captain Levi removed his hands and moved back to where he was standing before.

"You're like me, you're smaller than the rest of them. You can use that to your advantage. They may have more strength on you, but you will be able to move quicker, especially through the trees." He gestured to the forest across the small creak we were stationed at. He continued, reaching for the blades of his ODM gear. "Don't worry about the blades for now, let's just worry about you being able to evade the Titans. If you can get away alive, then I think that's good enough. For now."

I nodded, signaling that I understood what he was saying for the most part. Eld wasn't as good as explaining these concepts to me, maybe it was because he was taller and bigger than myself, so he didn't really understand these concepts that the Captain was talking about either.

With his help, I was able to get from tree to tree without slamming into the trunk, much more gracefully than the other times. I was floored, I couldn't believe after one short session with Captain Levi, I was able to excel this much. I should have asked him for help sooner.

"I know the rest of the squad has already told you, but you shouldn't need to use the gear a lot when we're out on the field. We'll be able to look after you and Eren." Captain Levi reassured me.

"Do you really think he can plug up the hole in Shiganshina?" I asked as I took the ODM gear straps off of my body, along with the actual gear. I was interested to see what the Captain thought, if Eren was really all that's cracked up to be. I had a feeling after he took Trost back, he was. Which barred the question, if Eren was so great and powerful… The why the hell was I here?

"Yes." Captain Levi answered simply. "It's definitely one of Erwin's gambles, but I have faith in his plan. For the most part."

He seemed hesitant to mention that last part, I wasn't sure what he meant because at first it seemed that he was the type to follow the Commander blindly, no matter what. I looked down as I placed the ODM gear back in their lock boxes. It had gotten late; I doubt anyone would be up at this hour now. The "Listen, I wanted to ask you something while we were alone."

His strange request came out of nowhere and I felt my heart speed up a little in my chest. Whatever the reason was, I was unsure of. "What is it?"

"Are you from the Underground? Hanji and Erwin don't have to know, I won't tell them." Again, with this strange fascination. Why does he care so much about whether I'm from there or not?

I looked in his eyes, so he knew that I was telling the truth, "I'm not from the Underground. Like I've said before, I've never been. Why does it matter so much anyway?"

He diverted his eyes, he almost looked disappointed. "I should have known. A spoiled brat from Sina is all that she appears to be."

I rolled my eyes at his comment, and then it hit me.

"You're from the Underground, that's why you care so much." I bravely stated, almost smug that I had figured it out. "And it explains your accent."

The Captain huffed, "My accent?" He asked, unsure of what I was referring to.

I nodded, "You pronounce your 'c's and 't's differently than everyone else. It's just an observation." I shrugged at his curiosity.

He ignored my statement, "We can't all be as posh as those from upper walls. I have another question then. Who is your father?"

That came out of nowhere, "I don't know. He passed before I was born." And left it at that. He was getting too close to me and I didn't like it. The Captain was not privy to every aspect of my life.

Captain Levi's eyes softened for a moment. "I'm sorry." He apologized. I turned and started making my way back to the castle, I suddenly didn't feel like combat training right now. I don't know why the Captain found necessary to poke at my emotions like this. Something in the back of my mind told me that he wasn't trying to do it on purpose. I have the snaking suspicion that he wasn't the best communicator when it came to speech.

Maybe I needed to take a step back and assess. "Can I ask you some questions? You already know pretty much all about me." I tried to bargain with him.

"I doubt I know that much about you."

'How old are you?" There, starting with something simple.

His eyes shifted around, obviously not expecting me to ask that question. "I think I'm around thirty." I gave him a questioning glance. He doesn't know how old he is?

He saw the question on the tip of my tongue and answered, "As you just so astutely pointed out, I'm from the Underground. We don't have birth certificates or personal records like people from above do. That's why I thought you were from there as well." The Captain explained. We made it back to the castle around midnight. I didn't realize that it had gotten that late.

I nodded when he finished explaining his thought process. I could put together that since he didn't know when his birthday is, he probably didn't have any family members to ask like a parent or guardian. How long had he been alone?

"How did you join the Corps?" If he didn't have any records, then how was he recruited?

"That's a story for another day." He simply stated as we made our way to the kitchen of the castle. I didn't want to pry or make him feel uncomfortable in any way, so I dropped the subject. His response made me hopeful though, that one day he would feel comfortable enough to tell me, and that thought made me happy.

a/n

I have no idea how the ODM gear works so I'm trying my best at explaining it, hope it comes out clear hahahaha