Year 840
Reina stood at attention; her fist held firmly in front of her heart and her back so straight it was aching. She could feel herself tremble lightly as her captain scrutinised her, circled her like she was new meat to prey on. Finally, he came to a halt in front of her and she looked him firmly in the eye, denying her nerves.
"Evans." He droned, and Reina raised her head slightly in feigned confidence.
"Sir!"
"You understand that I especially chose you to be a part of my squad. I expect that you will not disappoint me, as failure will not be tolerated."
"Yes, Captain Levi!" Reina answered quickly, her ego swelling a little at the vague compliment. She had been preparing for another ordinary day of training when her previous captain had found her and begrudgingly told her she was to report to Captain Levi immediately. She figured it was probably a nuisance for him to have lost one of his members, but Reina was elated.
Levi didn't like her. He didn't like the way she stood, or the way she spoke. He stared at her for another moment, trying to unnerve her, but she held her ground. He didn't like the fact that her eyes held the same dullness as his, and he didn't like the fact that her hair was long. Long hair was impractical in their field of work, and it made him think that perhaps she did not take this as seriously as he had thought.
Nevertheless, she was a skilled soldier and Levi had been watching her for a while. His decision had been made when he watched her sacrificing her life to save a fallen comrade, not an ounce of hesitance to be seen. He admired that, thought he needed someone like that on his squad. Levi liked to think he was a relatively good judge of character, and he hoped that he had not been wrong about her.
"Dismissed, Evans." He stated after a long moment and Reina saluted quickly before disappearing from his sight. She walked towards the dining hall where everyone was eating breakfast and scanned the faces, searching for her new team members. She spotted them in the far corner of the hall and, reluctantly, she approached them. She had been reprimanded by her previous captain for being unsociable with the other troops, and had been told that she needed to form bonds with people in order to succeed on the battlefield.
Reina disagreed with this theory but was not the type of person to defy orders. She didn't think it made a difference whether or not she knew her fellow soldier's names. When it came down to it, they were all human beings and, if in danger, she would not hesitate to save them. She didn't think her personal preferences influenced her, and she certainly hoped that others did not prioritise human life in that way.
"Excuse me, is this Captain Levi's squad?" Reina questioned lightly when she reached the table, standing stiffly at the table's head. Four sets of eyes turned to face her and, after a moment, the woman at the table smiled.
"You must be our new member! It's so nice to have another girl on the squad." Reina took this as an invitation to sit down, so she did so at the end of the table. "My name is Petra!" The woman, Petra, continued to speak. Reina was not listening. She had made the effort to introduce herself, somewhat, to her new squad and that was as far as she was willing to go. She had never partook in small talk and, quite frankly, hoped she never would. It seemed like a useless waste of time, time that could be spent training or researching – anything that would better her as a soldier.
Petra told her the names of each of the men at the table while Reina sat quietly, polite enough to feign interest. When she saw another head approaching the table she sat up a little straighter, the previous conversation forgotten.
"Evans. Follow me." Reina stood immediately and began to make her way towards the captain, when a burst of laughter from the table made her falter. She looked back to find one of the men, Gunther, supressing laughter. "Something funny?" Levi asked, although it sounded more like a statement when he said it.
Gunther shook his head 'no' but then, a moment later, he said, "Sorry, Captain. It's just… She's even shorter than you are!" Reina faltered, slightly because she had never been insulted and did not know how to respond, and slightly because she had never heard someone speak to a commanding officer in such a casual matter. Levi, it seemed, did not appreciate it.
"Well I hope that little joke was worth it. Laps. Now. Don't stop until I say you can." His face fell in utter despair. "That goes for all of you." Levi added, and the entire table groaned and complained at Gunther. Reina stood motionless, watching uncertainly, until Levi called her name again and she realised he was leaving.
She jogged to catch up and, once she had, she walked two steps behind him. They walked in silence down long corridors, although it didn't bother Reina. She preferred silence to small talk any day.
"If you don't stand up for yourself, you'll never get any respect." Levi's voice made her jump and she furrowed her eyebrows at his words. She didn't respond because she didn't know how to, so the conversation died as quickly as it had begun.
Levi stopped outside the door of his office, unlocked it, and walked inside. Assuming she was expected to follow, Reina entered the office and closed the door behind her. She took the seat in front of Levi's desk as he lowered himself into his chair behind it, and Reina could hardly see him over the large piles of paperwork stacked high.
"I took the liberty to look through your file." Levi stated after a moment, and Reina couldn't help but be curious. She wondered what kinds of things were hidden inside. "You have great potential but you're holding yourself back." He sat back in his chair slightly, making himself more comfortable, and crossed his arms. "Why did you become a soldier?"
"To save people, Sir." Reina answered immediately, no doubt in her answer. Levi narrowed his eyes.
"Even if it came at the cost of your own life?"
"Of course, Sir." Again, an immediate answer. Levi half suspected she had been questioned on this before, and the fact that no one had reprimanded her for her response annoyed him.
"Why are their lives any more important than yours?" He asked, and this time she did not answer immediately. She faltered slightly, and Levi knew he had got her. "They're not, Evans."
"I don't understand, Sir." Reina stated after a short pause.
"I admire your bravery, but I will not allow you to willingly sacrifice yourself now that you're a part of my squad." Reina stayed quiet for another long moment, before Levi saw a flash of emotion in her eyes.
"I just want to be useful, Sir." She muttered quietly.
"You're more useful to me alive than you are dead, Evans." Levi told her bluntly, and Reina looked at him in confusion. "Your willingness to self-sacrifice is holding you back and I find it unacceptable and quite frankly, disgusting. You seem to value human life over everything else but have apparently forgotten that that includes your life."
Reina was speechless. She never thought she would have been getting reprimanded for saving people, but she had no grounds to argue. They sat in silence for another moment before Levi let out a sigh and Reina looked up at him.
"That's all, Evans. Go run laps with the others." Reina nodded and stood from her chair, but paused when she reached the door. She turned back to see Levi had already immersed himself in paperwork and for a moment considered leaving wordlessly.
Then, she said, "Thank you, Captain Levi." And Levi looked up at her with his usual bored expression. He acknowledged her for a moment before directing his attention back to his paperwork, and Reina left without another word.
She only made it halfway to the training field when she felt a hand grip her arm and she turned around defensively, waiting to attack. She relaxed considerably when she saw a familiar boy standing in front of her.
"Luke, what's wrong?" She asked quickly, because it was uncommon of her brother to actively seek her out.
"Nothing, relax. I heard you got promoted to the Special Operations Squad?" Reina let out a sigh of relief but maintained her stiff posture.
"I did." Luke, her brother, broke out into a large grin and punched her playfully on the arm.
"Why didn't you tell me? That's amazing!" Reina smiled softly, but shook off the compliment. As strong as she liked to think she was, Reina knew that a large portion of her strength came from her brother. Without him, Reina suspected she might never have made it through training.
Reina was older by a year and, although she frequently treated him like he was fragile and needed protecting, he extended the same treatment to her. Both siblings were very protective of one another and, when they were together, it was safe to say that people were intimidated by them. Luke shared his sister's stoic demeanour and although they were both physically pleasing, no one dared speak to them without warrant. Their comrades had learnt this quickly during their time training, and had been repeatedly humiliated when the siblings rejected any attempt at human interaction.
Individually, they both had overwhelming strength but together, they were practically unstoppable. In fact, Reina suspected the only reason her brother had not received the same promotion as she had was their impulsive behaviour together. At first, they had been placed in the same squad. However this was quickly realised as a mistake during their first mission when the siblings had disappeared from the formation, only to be found slaughtering titans further back.
"I heard Captain Levi is rather terrifying." Luke mused and Reina shrugged. She had heard the same thing and although her legs had been shaking when she had met him, he did not seem like the cruel man he was perceived to be.
"I don't know…" Reina muttered, wanting to defend her captain. Luke looked at her questioningly because he had never known his sister to keep her opinions to herself around him, and the thought that she was hiding something made him upset.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Reina shrugged, because she really didn't know. Before the issue could be pressed any further, they were interrupted by a voice Reina was quickly becoming accustomed to.
"Didn't I tell you to run laps?" She shot up straight and turned to face Levi, who was standing a few feet away from her.
"I apologise, Sir." Reina told him immediately, then made to leave. She took a moment to squeeze her brother's hand lightly, because it had been a long time since she had last spoken to him and she missed him more than she had realised. Levi saw the tender moment and narrowed his eyes, displeased with the idea that she had defied his orders for something so trivial.
"I hope you appreciated the time with your lover, because you're going to run an extra ten laps." He told her bluntly and, although Reina was never one to argue with authority, she couldn't let such a horrible misconception take place.
"Forgive me sir, but this is my brother." Levi's stare shot to the boy, who looked back at him with wide eyes and a clumsy salute. Levi narrowed his eyes and stepped closer to Reina, who held her ground.
"Are you defying orders, Evans?" Levi asked her lowly, and Reina shivered at the tone of his voice.
"No, Captain Levi. I just thought you should know." Levi was pissed off. He had felt a sense of relief at Reina's explanation, as though he had been bothered by her romantic involvement on an unprofessional level, and that pissed him off. And because he was pissed off, he wanted to punish her.
He had read her file, so he knew that she enjoyed anything physical, whether it was hand-to-hand combat training, 3DMG training, or simply running laps. Notes from her previous captain had even gone so far as to say she thrived on it, so Levi thought he would punish her a different way.
"Come with me." He told her after a moment, and she looked at him in confusion. She wanted to ask if she still had to run laps but figured he was not in the mood to answer questions, so she followed him quietly. He led her back in the direction of his office but instead of leading her inside, he knocked on the door three doors to the left. A moment later, a woman with brown hair and glasses who Reina identified to be Captain Hange appeared.
"Levi! To what do I owe the pleasure?" She asked with a grin, and Levi's scowl worsened. Hange looked passed Levi to see Reina standing behind him, and she leaned forward to examine the girl. "Who's this?"
"Reina Evans, 98th Trainee Squad." Reina saluted, although she was still unsure why she was there. She had, of course, heard about Captain Hange and her extensive research on the titans. She admired her for that, because Reina had tried her best to study the giant creatures in hopes to learn more about them – about how to weaken and kill them, but one could only learn so much from textbooks. Hange was different, having gained primary research on the titans through her years of studying them. Reina certainly admired her in that sense.
"I see your office is a mess, as usual." Levi told her, his eyes scanning the space behind her. Reina also looked over Hange's shoulder at the office in curiosity, and took note that it was significantly less organised than Levi's. "Take this one for a while." Levi spoke again, taking a hold of Reina's arm and pushing her forward towards Hange.
"Sir?" Reina questioned in confusion, and Levi reluctantly looked at her.
"What?"
"I thought I was supposed to be running laps." Levi narrowed his eyes but let go of her arm, taking a step back away from Hange's office.
"You'd enjoy that too much. This is your punishment, instead." He told her bluntly, before turning and walking away. Reina continued to stare at his back as he disappeared into the distance, until Hange grabbed a hold of her and pulled the girl into her office.
"So you're the new member of Squad Levi, are you?" Hange asked with a curious smile, sitting back at her desk and beginning to write notes. Reina paused for a moment, unsure, but then decided that Levi had left her there to clean Hange's office so it would be best if she began right away. She started picking books off the ground and placing them into Hange's large bookshelf in an organised manner.
As it turned out, spending a few hours with Hange had been highly beneficial to Reina. Most people groaned in complaint when Hange started talking about titans, but Reina was fascinated. She wanted as much information on them as she could get, and this was the best opportunity she would receive to learn about them.
When Levi returned that night, he found Reina nowhere in sight.
"Where's Evans?" He asked, and Hange looked up at him in delight.
"She was absolutely brilliant! Will you let me borrow her again sometime, Levi? She cleaned my entire office and she asked me about titans!" Levi narrowed his eyes, but looked around the office and saw that it was considerably cleaner. She had even organised the mess of books Hange owned, Levi saw.
"I don't like her." He stated matter-of-factly, and Hange frowned.
"She reminds me of you, a little. Although her icy exterior is much easier to breach." Levi scowled at her, then turned and left. He was angry that Reina had cleaned the office to perfection and, if anything, had seemed to enjoy it. He decided he would need to think of another way to punish her, and stalked back to his office with cruel ideas floating around inside his head.
He had only just sat down at his desk when there was a knock at his door. He didn't respond and hoped whoever it was would go away, but a moment later the door opened and he saw Reina standing there. She was holding a tray with a cup of tea and a bread roll on it.
"Explain yourself." Levi sighed, because he was quickly growing tired of this girl.
"I came to apologise for my actions today, Captain Levi." Reina told him, still standing stiffly in the doorway. He eyed her a moment longer before speaking again.
"What are you holding?" He finally asked.
"Tea and bread for you, Sir." Levi grit his teeth because he didn't want her to do something like this. He figured Petra must have spoken to her, because there was no way she could have just guessed how much he enjoyed tea. He motioned her forward and she walked up to his desk, placing the tray down. She saluted quickly before turning away and walking out of the office, closing his door behind her.
Levi stared at the steam floating from the top of the tea for a moment with a scowl before he picked it up, bringing it to his mouth and taking a sip. She had infused it perfectly and had allowed the hot water to cool to an ideal temperature and he thought it might have been the best-made tea he had ever tasted.
No, Levi decided – he definitely did not like her.
a/n
I just wanted to say a massive thank you to the three people who left reviews for the first chapter, and to the people who followed and favourited this story! I certainly wasn't expecting such positive feedback so quickly but I appreciate it so much, it's amazing!
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