Chapter 4: Movements
The familiar clicking of boots caused Mikasa's neck hairs to stand on end. He was late. Ironic for someone with his sense of discipline. The large oak door she was leaning against was cold and hard, somewhat refreshing to her, soon to be disturbed by the miserable short arse himself. As if on cue, the green cloak came whirling around the corner flowing behind the stoic face of the Captain.
"You're late. I believe you said 1800 hours am I correct?"
Levi glared at her, that smirk was soon about to be wiped off her face.
"Shut it Ackerman, get inside and sit down."
Mikasa did as she was told and sat on the desk chair as Levi, himself, whirled around to the back of the desk and positioned himself carefully into the large, plush chair. They simply stared at each other for a few moments, both anticipating what the other was going to do, but, Captain Levi, a man of routine and strict rules, was first to break the silence and control the meeting the way he had planned.
"It is only day one and I have already had more than enough of your smart mouth, Ackerman, you may be talented but, by god, I can soon have you chucked out of here, and you only."
Levi emphasised the last part of the sentence in a way of baiting Mikasa out of her shell, it worked, of course. Suddenly, her breath hitched, and her eyes sharply met his as she realised what he was implying.
"Some discipline is in order; you need to learn to respect your superiors and you need to learn it damn fast. So today, you will be cleaning this entire office for me, right now. It must be impeccable, if I even see a speck of dust or one dirt particle you will re-do it until I do not."
Levi glared down at the girl sitting in his chair, her raven hair fell in front of her face slightly, masking her facial expressions, although he could guess it was blank as per usual.
Mikasa desperately wanted to challenge him further, angering him even more simply for the fun of it but she suddenly remembered the pleadings of Eren and Armin, her heart froze slightly, she had to look out for them. A tiny fear in her mind had crept in, one assuming that the Captain had learnt of her one weakness: Eren. If he had she was screwed and would be eternally enslaved to his every command if it meant Eren wouldn't have to suffer. In defeat, she bit her lip and exhaled deeply. Time to get this over with.
"I understand sir, I would like to apologise for my previous behaviour, it was incredibly inappropriate, and I ensure you, it won't happen again."
Mikasa tried her best to sound as genuine as possible by masking a sincere look in her eyes as she addressed her Captain. Levi, had to try desperately to not let a smirk creep onto his face, he had hit the jackpot, Ackerman was now in the palm of his hand, right where he wanted her.
"Good. Cleaning gear is all in that cupboard, make sure to wear gloves, a mask and a head towel, germs are nasty things Miss Ackerman."
Levi, now bored with the exchange, looked away from the girl entirely, dismissing her from his mind and returning to his paperwork as she embarked on her punishment.
"Do it over."
"But, sir, it's spotless, surely you can see that!"
"Are you talking back, Ackerman?"
"No…sorry sir, I'll do it again."
"Yes, you will, and you will the next time too but this time no questions asked!"
It was already past ten o'clock at night and Mikasa was still cleaning the office of Captain Levi. The man was very content with himself; he had a pot of his favourite tea settled beside him, his paperwork was virtually done for the day, and his office was spotless. Now, he was just enjoying tormenting the girl further, testing how loyal she really was to this Yeager kid.
"Alright, Ackerman, enough's enough, you've done well and earn't yourself a night of sleep. I'll just make one of the others finish it tomorrow, like Yeager for example."
Mikasa's eyes widened with anger, again, the jackpot had been firmly hit.
"No, it's fine I'll finish it all now."
Levi smirked as he watched the girl intently on her hands and knees scrubbing the same area of stone floor, over and over.
"You know Ackerman, having a person as your sole purpose to fight or even exist, is incredibly dangerous and foolish."
Slowly, Mikasa's gaze met his, her eyes filled with worry and above all knowing, she knew her love for Eren was risky, hence why she protected him so fiercely.
"A word of advice - let go. Not entirely, but enough so that when the inevitable occurs and by the looks of him it will occur at some point, you're not pushed to the brink of self-destruction."
{Mikasa's POV}
How had he worked out my one weakness so quickly? It was still the first day. This wasn't good, at all. But his words, they weren't his usual arrogant tone or sarcastic jeers, he was actually being considerate, for once, looking out for me, his subordinate.
"…I know, but I can't, no one will ever understand it. But Eren, is my life and soul, my reason to breath, without him I'm nothing."
Levi's eyes widened slightly at the sudden confession from the usually cold, emotionless girl.
Why was I opening up to him so much? Did he really care at all or was he just making sure I was a good enough soldier for his squad? Definitely the latter, there was no way he could care for me.
"You owe him your life. I can understand that, most people can, he's your only family left, most people can understand that too, and he's your first love, most people can definitely understand that one."
The tone Levi used was much quieter, much more sincere as he looked attentively down at his subordinate, still scrubbing the floor.
I've never seen a side of him like this before, so endearing, so understanding, and is that pain I just saw flash across his face? Is he speaking from personal experience? Could the blunt and emotionless Captain Levi, really have an affectionate bone in his body?
{Narrator's POV}
"Yes, well, you see then."
It was the truth, Eren was everything to her, even romantically, she would never tell him that, not yet anyway, however it was clearly becoming increasingly obvious, so perhaps he knew already.
"You did good today, kid. Go ahead, clean yourself up and head to bed. I expect to see you bright and early for day two of our training."
Levi gestured for her to get up and head to the door, an almost sincere look in his eyes, which was quickly resorted back to the classic, bored expression.
"Thank you, sir. See you tomorrow."
Mikasa, simply nodded in return to her Captain, his eyes intently watching her as she tided away the cleaning things and headed for the door, she was in the corridor in no time, hastily making her way back to her dormitories, grateful for experiencing a rare glimpse of a different side to the Captain.
{Levi's POV}
It felt oddly empty once she had gone, her scent had almost disappeared, and I felt a lack of warmth from my large desk. How did one subordinate have such an effect? But I can feel her pain, I can relate to her, we are one in the same. It felt strange to have such a connection with another person on such a personal level, he hadn't met anyone from the Survey Corps who could share even one of the lousy experiences he had, had, but now here she was. All muscle on the exterior but broken inside. I wanted to fix that.
Wait, what?
Where the fuck did that come from?
I was getting too attached and it was day one, her intrigue had sent me over the edge.
A few months went past of the 104th cadets rigorously undertaking their training within the Survey Corps. Mikasa continued to obey every command of Captain Levi and made impeccable progress under his instruction, much to Commander Erwin's delight.
"Levi, she's ready."
Levi and Erwin were hunched over his large circular oak table in the centre of his office, it was used primarily for expedition planning and other discussions. In front of the men were pictures of every member of the Survey Corps divided into their relevant squads.
"I'm not sure. Another month maybe?"
"No. We can't afford to waste any more time, the government are already on my case, as it is, for the initial delay."
"Tell them to go fuck themselves, we can't expect to achieve anything if we take rookie soldiers out who have never seen a titan."
Levi pinched his temples with his forefingers.
"Levi, you know I would never do such a thing. I have positive reports from all squad leaders, including you, they have to start at some point, the more spontaneous the better. Gives them less time to worry and they can attack the challenge head on, we won't be going far."
"Tsk…don't come crying to me when half our cadets are wiped out."
Levi slammed his hands down on the solid table, he knew Erwin had no other option, but an expedition this soon during their training seemed like a suicide mission.
"Levi, I trust you will prepare your squad accordingly."
Erwin, looked down at the smaller man beside him, his body hunched over the table, his fists still bunched up, turning his skin white. After a few moments of contemplating the instructions he had been given Levi, abruptly, stood up and walked to the office door.
"I'll go and prepare them for death."
Before Erwin could comment Levi left the office, slamming the door as hard as possible, trying purposefully to rip it from its hinges. This wasn't ideal by any means, they weren't ready, he knew mistakes would be made and lives would be lost, that was part of the job. He'd accepted what it meant to be a soldier a very long time ago and he watched countless comrades be ripped apart in front of his eyes or have them sob into his shoulder as their dearest friends were taken before them. This time was different, he didn't want to send her into that scene yet, he knew what would happen and for some reason he wasn't ready to face that.