"I don't know why you were so worried about her, shorty― She frickin' almost decapitated that thing..! If we encounter any more titans on the way to the new outpost, I'll gladly let her take care of-"
"Tch… Just do your job like the rest of us."
You listened the exchange of words with half an ear as you waited for the rest of the bunch get off from their horses. Only after merely two weeks of service in the survey corps, a time had finally come for your very first official expedition trip. Even though it had already been years since humanity was forced to abandon Wall Maria, survey corps still tirelessly scouted the area, making a multiple expedition trips a year into the former human territory in order to recover some of the most valuable lost resources and supplies. And, of course, slowly but surely gain more and more foothold within the territory by setting up a line of outposts, so maybe one day humanity could reclaim what once was theirs. This was what your first mission was also about. Ride to the first outpost was fairly smooth, apart from a few titans that wandered into your way― Nothing that you couldn't handle, though. Now thinking back to it, you maybe overdid it a bit; You butchered the beasts in a record time, before anyone else could barely do a thing.
"What you did on the way here… that was awesome!" Eren declared as he jogged over to you, a look of respect and admiration sparkling in his teal-green eyes. "You must be almost as insanely strong as Captain Levi!"
"Oh no, no… I highly doubt that, but thanks anyways. I've done my fair share of killing those creatures in the past, so I know how it's done." You gave him a demure smile. "But, in all fairness I have to say that my performance wasn't exactly flawless."
"Huh?" He blinked confused. "How so?"
"I got carried away― Staying in control and level-headed is one of the first rules of how to survive in the battlefield." You let out a small sigh and rubbed the back of your head. Letting the burning need to prove yourself to Levi cloud your judgement wasn't definitely a good thing― If you wouldn't be able to keep your head cool, you'd soon end up dead just like he had predicted. "Anger can be a good thing, its burn gives you strength to fight… But if you let it control you? Not so much."
"I see…" Eren nodded, a pondering look painted on his face. "I tend to have the same problem, so I totally get it… I just don't know how to deal with it."
You and Eren continued your conversation for a few more minutes, he telling you about his problems on containing himself― in a both human and titan form. You did your best to give him an advice, and he seemed to take your words to the heart. Since you had gotten used to being a lone wolf in the military police, you hadn't really tried hard to make friends in the scout regiment either― But since you often worked closely with Eren, you had quickly gotten to know him and his friends, they now treating you like one of their own. Overall, it took you no time to gain a pretty good foothold for yourself in the survey corps; Your military background was more than enough to convince most of your superiors… everyone else but Captain Levi, that is. You could say that he was still adjusting to the situation; Even though he didn't try to get you sacked, he wasn't clearly too happy about you joining either.
"Whatever…" You secretly scowled at the raven haired man while Hange was talking to Eren about his titan transforming ability. "It could be the best for me to try and keep my distance, for now at least." Confronting Levi after his outburst was something you were everything but excited about. You had tried to keep up a low profile, not exchanging more than a few casual words with him after that. In other words, things weren't too great between you two: Levi was mad at you and you were still hurt because of his words. "Maybe as the time goes by… maybe things settle down and we can forget the whole thing." When you instinctively glanced at him again, he happened to look to your direction as well― Turning your gaze away almost immediately when your eyes met, you couldn't help but to feel that too familiar feeling of warmth on your cheeks. "Why am I this angry at him, anyways..?" You pouted to yourself. "I've been so focused on thinking that he doesn't have faith in me, ignoring the fact that he could've just been worried― and truthfully, since my history is what it is, I can't really blame him." Even though you didn't want to admit it to yourself, the reason why you were so miffed at Levi had nothing to do with that if he had faith in your skills or not; It was something else he said during his outburst that made your tiny heart fall down to the bottom of your stomach. "It was my fault anyways… to get my hopes up, that is." As foolish as it was, you had let your guard down and allowed your feelings towards him develop into something more than just a friendship. "There's nothing between us." Only even repeating his words in your mind made your stomach sting. "I was stupid to even think he could feel the same..! Argh, just forget it, it was nothing but a silly crush!"
"Hey."
You snapped out of your gloomy thoughts just to see no-one else but Captain Levi slowly pacing towards you. Taking a second to calm your nerves, you took a deep breath before finally replying.
"Hi. What is it?" You tried your best to sound calm and collected, giving an impression that everything was fine between you two... But you weren't sure if your performance was convincing enough.
"Uh… nothing, really." Levi looked a bit surprised by your 'straight-to-the-point' -type of an approach. For maybe a minute― which felt like an eternity― you two just stood there in an awkward silence. "How's your hand?" He finally asked, eyes nailed on the tiny pebble he kept lazily kicking around as he waited for you to say something.
"This?" You glanced down at your bandage covered hand. "Fine, I guess. It's healing pretty fast, so I took the stitches off few days ago." You shrugged, secretly pouting to yourself as you continued. "And no, it doesn't affect to my performance, if that's what you're implying."
"What? No, that's not why I asked..!" He flustered, taken by a surprise by the accusation. Furrowing his brow as he lowered his gaze, Levi took a moment to ponder what to say next― After seeing him act so uneasy, you couldn't help but to feel bad about snapping at him like that. "It's just that... I wanted to-" Levi glanced at you in a somewhat cautious manner as he spoke, but he couldn't say more than a few words before an announcement to proceed interrupted him.
"OK, guys..!" Hange clapped her hands when a signal flare rose up to the sky, telling every group closeby it was time to go. "Let's do this!" She chuckled, seemingly excited for the upcoming journey. "Oh, and hey [f/n], you're going with-"
"Connie and the others, yeah." You finished Hange's sentence, giving her a confident nod. When leaving the first outpost, all groups were to divide into the long distance scouting formation and proceed to the final destination; an abandoned military police base in the southwest region of the Wall Maria. The plan was to swipe out any titans within a two mile radius from the base, surround the place and then finish off the beasts within the base grounds by performing a nice, tidy flanking maneuver from every compass point. After the base was secured, you'd have a new outpost up and running in no time. Easier said than done, though; according to the scouts, the whole damn area was basically crawling with titans. Even though you were officially part of Hange's team, for the sake of balancing the squads you were addressed to go with some less experienced cadets. Already eager to get going, you were just about to mount your horse when Levi halted you.
"You did well on the way here, so… keep up the good work." He said, hesitating for a second before giving the most awkward pat ever onto your back. "And good luck."
"Oh..?" You blinked confused― Hearing supportive words from him was the last thing you expected! Unable not to smile at the gesture, you smirked as you mounted your horse. "Thanks. I would tell you the same, but as you know…"
"The humanity's strongest soldier can manage without a kiss for good luck. Yeah, I remember." Levi raised his brow, giving you a mischievous look accompanied by a slight smile.
"Yep." You grinned again. "See you at the base, then― And when we get that new outpost up and running, you owe me a cup of tea, OK? Yeah, I know you have a stash on you, even on the expeditions." You answered to his surprised look. "Everyone knows you do." Giving him one last smirk, you turned your horse around and dashed after your squad.
The journey across a prairie proved far more challenging than the ride to the first outpost; Your squad encountered multiple titans, but miraculously managed to take every single one of the beasts down without any casualties. The darkening clouds looming above you hinted that the weather was going to give you trouble as well― When you eventually arrived to your destination, the downpour finally began.
"Argh, isn't this just great?" Connie whimpered, tugging the hood of his cape up to cover his head from the rain as your squad made their way to the meeting spot outside the base wall. "As if this mission wasn't difficult enough without shitty weather..! And where the heck is the other squad? Don't tell me we're going to attack without the backup if they don't show up!"
"Yes, we are." You muttered under your breath. "And your attitude is really helping, by the way― Really lifts up the spirits, you know?" You gave your whiny squadmate a stoic look as you got off from your horse. "But I can't say that the weather doesn't complicate things… Only even seeing the signal flare in this storm can be difficult." You mumbled and scanned the darkened skies with your gaze― The signal to attack could come at any moment, and unfortunately it started to look like that your backup squad didn't made it. Were they only delayed or dead, you had no idea, but you'd have to go on with the mission nevertheless. "So keep your eyes peeled and be ready. I'm going up there..." You nodded at the base wall. "...and scout the area so we'll know what's ahead."