The last chapter was a bit racy, hope you liked it!
Eren begins his first day of training, however, he had no idea it would be one on one training with his Captain!
So, it was just revealed that Levi's real last name is Ackerman! Well… For all intents and purposes I'm going to keep using Rivaille since he and Mikasa being related might make my story weird. Hope you enjoy!
Six-o-five came much too early for Eren.
He guessed he maybe had four hours of sleep all together. He rolled out of bed with great effort and rifled through the closet adjacent to his bed. He grabbed a beige tee-shirt and a pair of green cargo pants. Comfort was the name of the style today.
Since he didn't have a personal bathroom, he figured there must be a shower room somewhere on the ground floor. He threw his clothes across his arm and set off down the stairs.
He didn't have to search long, he could feel the moisture in the air the moment he hit the bottom stair. He followed the air and found the community bathroom to the left of the stairs.
This room was not original to the structure Eren guessed. He figured it may have been some type of huge study or office before Levi had laid claim to Castle Utgard for The Scouting Legion. He didn't dwell too much on its past and was grateful for what it had become.
There were many shower stalls, at least six or seven situated to the left of the bathroom. The opposite wall was lined with bathroom stalls. The room was fully tiled in hospital-white squares. The stalls were all wooden.
There was a small coffee table beside the door with a bowl of soaps resting on top. He took a bar for himself and walked into the shower stall closest to him.
He had paid no attention to the sound of running water, and only noticed it once it had stopped. He quickly closed the latch to his stall to keep his nakedness private. He laid his clothes on the wall of the stall and turned the water on. Freezing droplets pelted his skin and he yelped in surprise. The water quickly turned warm and he closed his eyes in ecstasy.
Footsteps approached him. He casually turned his head to see who had just finished showering. The eyes that met his own froze him in place. A shiver went from the top of his spine all the way down to his feet at the sight. Levi's chilly gray eyes gave Eren a once over.
"I have no tolerance for tardiness; your training begins with me in twenty minutes out in the courtyard behind the castle. I trust you will be there on time. If not, you can run for the rest of the day outside the wall while I relax inside." He said and slipped out the door.
Eren watched him leave. His back was just as gorgeous as his front was. He had two small dimples on either side of his lower back just above the towel resting on his narrow waist. His sculpted shoulder blades gently jutted from his skin, and his back was toned and defined like his stomach and chest. With him that near, Eren finally realized that he had quite a small stature.
'He must be at least three or four inches shorter than me, and I'm only five-foot-six. What a tiny asshole.' Eren caught himself thinking. He shook his head and forgot about it. He began to soap himself up from head to toe, then rinsed and got dressed.
He searched for the kitchen for a few minutes.
"Why the hell didn't I get a tour of this god-forsaken place?!" He said angrily to himself, then finally found the room. He grabbed an apple from a table and was relieved to see a door that led outside in the back of the kitchen.
He searched around for a 'courtyard.' He finally saw what Levi must have been talking about behind a hedge of bushes. He ran towards it. Behind the row of bush was a pretty sizable dirt patch. Levi stood in the center with his arms crossed and his foot tapping.
'There's no way I'm late, I had at least ten minutes after I got out of the shower.' He thought to himself and walked slowly to Levi. He was dressed unusually, and it caught Eren's eye. He wasn't in his usual uniform, and his cravat was nowhere to be seen. His change of style made Eren uncomfortable for some reason. He was dressed simply in a white tee-shirt and black pants made of some soft material.
"G-good morning Captain." He said and Levi raised his head to look at him.
"Close call, another minute and I would have been on my way inside." He said coldly. Eren furrowed his brow, but let his expression smooth soon after. He would have to get used to his Captain's crass way of talking to people, he wasn't special.
"Umm… How can I be late? No one else has even shown up yet." Eren mirrored Levi's stance and threw his arms across his chest as well.
"You and your friends are going to be training one-on-one with their Squad Leaders from now on. It's the only way you lot can truly come to meet your potential. If we lumped you in with all the others, you could easily slip through the cracks and never become the best you could be. My job is to ensure that you become just as good as me." His soft gray eyes turned to steel. "It may take me a while."
Eren should have felt insulted, but remembered to get used to the abuse.
"Okay… Well, where do we begin?"
"With this." Levi moved so quickly Eren didn't even see him until it was too late. A hard, sharp blow made contact with the back of his neck and he knew Levi had elbowed him. He turned as quickly as his reflexes would allow and swung a fist in his general direction. Too slow. Levi ducked and swept a leg around him, catching Eren somewhere between knee and ankle. He came toppling down and landed with a hard thud.
"Fuck!" He cursed and rubbed his tail bone. "How am I supposed to defend myself if you sneak up on me like that!?" He was boiling.
"Do you think a titan is going to come up to you and ask your permission to eat you?" Levi said and came at him once more, even faster than before. Eren quickly came to his feet and held up his hands to defend his face. Levi started delivering fast, hard jabs to his arms and sides.
"No! But I don't really expect them to come up to me and start punching me either!" He yelled in response. He heard Levi let out a scoff. He could feel his temperature rise, he was burning with rage.
Levi moved in front of him and they locked eyes for a split second. The eye contact made Levi hesitate to Eren's surprise. This was his only chance at a counter; he quickly drew an arm back and let a fist fly into Levi's rib cage.
'Finally! Jesus Christ!' He thought. His celebration didn't last long. Levi recovered faster than he had anticipated. His eyes landed on Eren's once again. The same animal look he had when he was hammering into Petra the night before came across his face. He bent down and drew a fist back; he connected to Eren's chin with a nasty uppercut.
Eren flew backwards a few feet and landed flat on his back. Levi put a hand to his own chest and took a deep breath.
"That wasn't too terrible." He said before he removed his hand from his chest. Eren's head was spinning and he couldn't tell which way was up.
'Yeah fuckin' right.' He thought bitterly and put his hands over his eyes. He laid there for a few more seconds. He finally stood up and what he saw behind Levi just beyond the wall was enough to make him piss himself.
"Levi!" All he could do was yell and point. Levi swiftly turned to see eight to ten enormous titans running down the hill behind the castle at breakneck speeds. They were easily in the "extermination necessity" size range.
"Fuck!" Levi cursed and ran towards the compound.
"Jeager, there's an equipment storage building just this way! I'm going to go get my gear on, run inside and tell the others to get ready to fight!"
"There's no way I'm letting you go out there by yourself! You'll get killed, Captain!" Eren called back.
"That is an order you insolent pest!" He snapped.
"…..Fuck!" Eren yelled in frustration and threwhis hands up, defeated. He ran to the door he came outside through.
"Titans! Titans coming up through the forest behind the castle! At least ten, all larger than fifteen meters! Get your 3dmg on as fast as you can and join Captain Levi to the south of the Castle!" He bellowed through the hallway as he raced to his room to retrieve his own equipment. He buckled all the straps and fastened all the latches as fast as his trembling fingers would allow.
Images from the invasion of Shiganshina came to the fore-front of his mind. He tried to shake them away, but they were burned into his vision. 'Not… Not now.' He pleaded with himself.
He dashed out of his room, followed by everyone else. He raced down the stairs and busted through the door. He could see Levi in the distance zipping through the air to head off the titans.
"Eren!" A voice called from somewhere behind him. He turned around and was met by Armin.
"Are you okay? What's happening?" He joined Eren at a sprint and they raced for the wall.
"I was training with Captain Levi, and these huge-ass titans come out of nowhere from the forest and started down the hill! There's somewhere around ten out there!" Armin nodded. They reached the wall and released the anchors from their holsters, then scaled over the wall. They continued on foot until they caught up with the fight.
Levi had already made quick work out of three, their hideously deformed bodies piled on the ground. They soon began to dissipate. Eren could now get a head count, there were eight left. All disgusting, all deformed, all huge.
Eren released another shot into the sky; it connected with a titan's shoulder and zipped him through the air. He made a quick turn mid-air and shot another well-aimed hook for the center of the titan's back. He reeled towards it with his blades raised high above his head. He came down hard and fast, making contact with the beast and sliced its nape clean off. The monster was felled with an earth-shaking thud.
Eren looked around, quickly assessing the situation. There were six left now. Armin was quickly approaching a particularly frightening looking titan. Eren saw Armin stop in his tracks. The titan had made eye contact with Armin. He recognized this particular titan from Shiganshina, but Eren couldn't quite place it. Then, it hit him. This was the same beast that had swallowed several people from his home town right before his very eyes. The same demon that ripped a small girl in half and eaten each piece in front of Armin. This was the first titan the quivering blonde had ever witnessed kill someone. He lost his grip on his blades and they clattered to the ground beside him. The titan swatted a couch sized hand at Armin, effectively picking him up.
"ARMIN! ARMIIINNN!" Eren screamed at his very best friend. Armin slowly turned his head toward Eren. He saw the tears running freely down his face. He saw the profound fear deep in his eyes. He was petrified. Armin closed his eyes and screamed louder than Eren had ever heard him scream.
The titan's wide mouth unhinged and it brought Armin close to its gaping maw. Eren took off as fast as his feet would carry him toward the titan. Armin could feel the titan's grip loosening around him as he prepared to drop him down to his stomach. He began kicking fervently and continued shrieking at the monster.
Just then, Jean swept down from a tree toward the pair.
"ARMIN!" He yelled and drew his blades above his head. In a split second, the titan's hand was severed from its arm. The beast was sent stumbling back. Jean quickly let an anchor fly. He struck the ground and came down toward the titan at blinding speed. He prepared to strike again and sliced the head of the titan clean from its shoulders.
Armin hit the ground encased in the titan's hand with a bone-crunching thud. He quickly escaped the grip and ran to pick up his discarded blades.
"Thanks Jean!" He called once he had retrieved them.
"Don't thank me! Help me!" Jean called back and was already in the air speeding at another titan.
Four left now.
Eren pushed down his nausea and took to the skies once again. He glanced around and saw Mikasa taking on a particularly large titan alone. He joined her and asked what he could do to help.
"Take out its Achilles tendons! We can get him once he's immobilized!" He bade her orders and swung down low, aiming for its ankles. Eren made contact, but was then distracted by a particularly blood-curdling scream. His head darted around, trying to find the source of the sound.
He saw Captain Levi whiz through the air, and took out a titan with a quick slice. He then saw The Captain land on the ground near where the titan stood. Eren was confident Mikasa could take care of the incapacitated titan they were working on.
"I'm going to go see if I can help The Captain!" He called to her. She nodded and took the titan out in a flash.
Two more.
He took off toward The Captain. Once he saw why Levi had paused and retreated to the ground he pushed his legs faster than he once thought they could take him. He came upon Levi and fell to his knees beside him. Levi was holding Petra's head gently in his lap and had a firm grip on one of her hands. Her torso was crushed, and she was bleeding profusely. Though Eren hadn't seen it, he surmised she must have gotten trapped in a titan's bite then cut out by Levi.
"I can't feel my legs Captain." She whispered to him. Eld darted through the air; another titan fell not far from their position knelt on the grass.
One more left.
"Don't try and talk Petra." Levi hushed her and brushed stray hairs from her face.
"I know I'm going to die here, so I may as well talk while I still can." Her voice sounded crinkly around the edges.
Her breathing hitched and a hacking cough came up. She sputtered blood from her mouth and grimaced in pain. Tears began streaming down her face.
Mikasa sliced through two Achilles tendons, and Oluo zipped by and carved a hunk of skin from the back of the victim's neck.
The vicinity was clear of any threat.
Eren helped Petra to Levi's back and they zipped over the wall.
Levi dashed inside the castle and laid her on the nearest soft surface, a couch in the great room. He crouched down beside her and rubbed the back of his fingers along her jaw line. The members of all squads filed into the great room.
"Captain…" She forced with great effort. "Did I serve you well?" Levi's face contorted with pain and he closed his eyes.
"Of course Petra, you're one of the best. You will continue to serve me as well. That's an order." She forced a half smile.
Oluo stood in the doorway to the great room with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. His face held a look of pain Eren didn't know he could form. Eren understood, and that made him sadder than he was before.
Tears escaped Oluo's eyes and he couldn't hold back anymore. He quickly walked to her side. He exchanged a glance with Levi that the group didn't quite understand. Levi planted a soft kiss on her forehead and he stood, then backed away. Oluo kneeled beside her and held her hands in his.
"Oluo?" Her brow furrowed in confusion.
"Yes… I'm here."He dropped his head in shame, over what, was unclear. "Petra… I'm so sorry I wasn't there to help you. I didn't see… I couldn't tell what happened… It all went by so fast..." He was rambling, and Petra didn't understand him. She looked to Levi for some explanation, but he didn't have one. She winced, and the light behind her eyes began to fade.
"PETRA WAIT!" Oluo placed a hand on her shoulder to try and rouse her back to life. Her eyes flickered open, she gazed at him.
"Petra… I'm so sorry… I should have told you! And now it's too late… You'll… I… Petra, I love you so much. Petra! I love you! I should have told you ages ago, I love you so much it hurts… I could never be who you needed… But I loved you all the same." He was choking back sobs now and placed a hand over his mouth.
A smile crept across Petra's lips that wasn't forced in any way.
Mikasa turned away from the scene; she couldn't bear to watch any longer. Jean was standing behind her and she buried her face in his shoulder. He was stunned, but wrapped his arms around her all the same. Hushed sobs filled the room, and people joined hands with the person closest to them.
"Oluo... I've always known." She managed to croak out. She took in a ragged breath and placed a hand on the side of his face. She pulled him in for a soft kiss.
Oluo pulled away and Petra's eyes closed gently. Her grip on Oluo's hand loosened and he lost all composure.
"PETRA, NO PLEASE. PLEASE DON'T GO!" Oluo screamed at her and tried shaking her again. Her head gently bobbed from side to side, and she gave no reaction. Oluo buried his face in her shoulder, he wept uncontrollably.
Levi bit his bottom lip and he swiftly turned then left the room.
Eren heard a door open and close; he went to go follow The Captain.
Eld knelt down beside Oluo and placed a hand on his shoulder. Oluo reached for his own shoulder, and placed his hand on top of Eld's.
Eren glanced around for Levi. He finally spotted him walking toward the edge of the wall with a shovel in hand. Levi placed the tip of the shovel on the ground and gave it a hard stomp, driving it into the ground. Eren watched him dig angrily, almost violently for a few moments. He decided to retrieve a shovel for himself.
He walked beside Levi and began to dig as well.
Levi hadn't noticed he came outside until he drove the shovel into the dirt. He looked up at Eren. Eren met his gaze. He was shocked when he saw the pools of liquid filling the bottom of Levi's eyes. Eren gave him a reassuring nod and looked back down to the task at hand. Levi willed the tears to sink back into his eyes.
They continued to dig in comfortable silence until they were mid-thigh-deep in the hole.
"She told me she loved me last night. Did you hear that part?" Levi asked.
A look of astonishment came across Eren's face. His lips opened to speak but no sound passed his teeth.
So I realized when I'm writing action stuff like what happened in this chapter, I get a little anxiety even though I control what happens lol.
Sorry about Petra if she was your girl! I love her too, but someone had to go… Poor Oluo :(