Regret
She'd be late for dinner if she didn't move and the higher ranks wouldn't take too nicely to it either, this she knew, but still she remained at the fence in a peaceful stare.
No matter what they were doing she found comfort and calm in watching the horses go about their day; watching them graze together, play together and at odd times settle their disputes.
With a deep breath Elle raised her head from where she'd been resting her chin on her folded arms, standing up straight and ridding the fence of her burden. She kept a grip on the wood as she leaned herself back, giving her arms a good stretch and extending the muscles as she pushed her shoulders forwards till that pull of tension forced her to relax again.
"Well, hello," She muttered to herself as a chestnut mare lumbered towards her.
The horse's head remained at a low level, knowing the woman was anything but new or exciting and therefore not worth raising it's head to.
"And how are we?" Elle questioned, her brows raising as if she expected an answer while her body slumped back to lean on the fence again.
The mare flicked her ears towards the woman and raised her velvet muzzle, nostrils flaring with the single snort she gave.
"That's good," Elle's voice droned, chin in hand and not bothered by the sprinkling of snot she'd received.
The horse was a beautiful creature, long legged and built of muscle; it was a shame it's only purpose was to gallop into titan territory carrying barely functioning humans- not including herself of course.
The chestnut mare, Elle had ridden before and it had been a thrill. The animal was keen and fiery, it kept a powerful stride that was hard to rein in and the excitement at letting it free to take it's own pace was thrilling.
"Hey, Four?" Elle asked for the horse's attention, stretching a hand out towards the animal's neck. Her fingers could just catch a smooth of the mare's glossy coat, the colour took on a brilliant amber in the low light of the setting sun.
The horse didn't pause it's grazing, only a single ear flicked round to acknowledge it heard her.
"You going to bring a horse into the stables or what?" A gruff voice bellowed.
Both the mare and Elle's heads rose up in surprise, turning to seek out the owner, "Sir," Elle greeted her now old squadron leader with a salute.
"No salutes, Hart," He waved away as he came closer, "You are not my problem anymore so I don't care." He didn't look at her, only reached a hand for the horse. He cupped a strong, calloused palm over the mare's nose, bringing her alert head down to relax.
"Have I missed dinner?" Elle questioned, unsure on why he would be here.
"Who knows?" He shrugged, smoothing his other hand up the side of the mare's cheek, "I haven't gone either."
Elle regarded the man a moment, Roscoe Beech; he was older than her and the most she knew of the man was how he quickly tired of his soldiers antics and the worst were Niki and herself.
"Why?" She pressed, searching the frown on his face and the answer was there- guilt.
"I wanted to apologise," Roscoe started, now looking away from the mare and to Elle. "I brought your names up." He confessed.
Elle looked at him for a moment, her head tilting to one side as she allowed herself some time to think, "How?" she asked.
With a deep breath Beech looked back to the mare, moving his hand up the striking white blaze on her face before letting his hands retreat from the beast. "The conversation was mainly about Martyn," He started, "Then I was asked if there were any other exceptional characters worth a mention," He took this moment to glance towards her, "Which of course was a no." He pressed and Elle gave a look of agreement.
A nod of her head accompanied her words, "There aren't many decent here, let alone exceptional." she spoke.
Roscoe gave a grunt in accordance to her words, "The only thing exceptional is how two mediocre soldiers always make it out of every scouting party without so much as a scratch." His tone was calm and level, these words being something he hadn't just said this once, nor did they sound rehearsed- just repeated.
Elle kept quiet for a moment, thinking that perhaps he would continue but he didn't, he chose to watch the mare instead. "Is that what you said?" She pried.
A deep sigh deflated his chest, "It was a comment I gave in passing, sarcastic a best," He shook his head, shoulders raising in a small, limp shrug before he looked to her and continued, "But they found it interesting." Confusion came to his face as he spoke, the outcome obviously still surprising him.
Elle regarded him and his words a moment. She wasn't angry or upset with him, it was his job to report such things after all; and it wasn't out of spite that he mentioned Niki and herself, "Why are you apologising for that, though?" She didn't understand, he was doing his job.
Roscoe lifted a hand to rub at his creased forehead, "I feel like I've signed your death warrant," His voice was low- regretful.
Elle didn't feel any where near as cut up about the situation as Roscoe and brushed off his words, "Hardly," She laughed.
His eyes shot to her in a moment of alarm, his brows coming together and showing he was at a loss to her reaction.
She understood that Niki and her own life would hang on his conscience should anything happen; he did after all believe then to be useless. "We've gotten by fine so far," She then explained, "Besides, I'm sure the Captain won't send us out if he thinks we'll be a liability to him and others." She then gave a shrug, watching as he mulled over her words.
Elle turned away from him and watched the horses once more, giving Roscoe the peace to think on her words with out her prying stare.
With a slow and refreshed breath he felt lightened from a burden, his eyes turning to look towards the horses too, "Well, keep safe Hart." Were his departing words and Elle bobbed her head in reply, watching in the corner of her eye as he went off on his way.
Elle dropped into silence, the only sound coming from the tare of grass as the chestnut mare grazed.
She wasn't scared of being put in the elites; Niki and herself could handle themselves, plus it wasn't set in stone. If she was slow on her ODM runs and failed her combat training then she'd be sent packing from the elites the very next day.
Then Levi came to mind.
No. It wasn't surviving the elites she worried over. It was plunging back into the past.
"Hey, Four, how easy do you reckon it would be to boycott Levi?" She asked. The mare lifted her head, eyes uninterested and ears relaxed, only the crunch of grass sounding as she gnawed away at her mouthful. "I have a feeling he's going to be like a dog with a bone." Elle sighed, pushing her fingers up the sides of her nose and around her eye sockets.
She was completely and utterly done with today.
It really couldn't get worse.
The holler of her name caused an instant hush across the mess hall. Eating paused, heads turned, and eyes watched.
Elle allowed her eyes to lower to the ground, her tongue swiping over her dry lips to ready their reply but instead she gave up with a huff- there was no fight left today.
Niki perked with interest, those forest green eyes of hers locking onto Elle, ready to catch her attention when she looked up.
The look of exasperation was something the auburn haired woman had never seen before, and she was sure in that moment that Elle would turn and floor Ozan if he pushed her any further.
"Hart!" Ozan called again, his voice such a great boom that it drowned out the sound of his own chair scraping against the stone as he stood.
Ozan Hawthorn- Elle was all for keeping a low profile but if there was one person to know her name and face anywhere, it was him. He loathed her very existence and she wasn't too fond of him either.
Elle mulled the man over in her mind as she gave a slow half turn to threw a look over her shoulder and at the herculean male. He was a hefty man with shoulders seemingly as wide as his legs were long and carried such a mass of muscle it caused him to lumber rather than walk.
"Sir?" Elle clipped in question. She was in an awful mood and it had worsened as the hours drew out in the day, bring with them little surprises and this she could not deal with.
The steps he took were slow and powerful, the sound and vibrations he caused with each thumping pace was rivalled by only that of the titans. "You have missed every damn combat class this week!" He bellowed between each clout of his feet.
Elle craned her neck back to look up at him, her eyes squinting both in confusion and in focus to see the distant head sat upon his shoulders, "You're only counting this week?" she questioned.
The hiss of the various gasps around her spread across the room like a wave, others passing on her reply for those who couldn't hear and all cringing in horror.
She missed a lot of her combat classes and never took it seriously when she was in them, she didn't learn anything new and she wanted to be seen as nothing other than a shit fighter. It suited her. She didn't get any recommendations, just the passionate hate of the teacher.
Rage was clear to see on Ozan, it rose up from beneath his collar and claimed his neck, face, and scalp in such a blaze of red that the man near glowed. Great tree like veins either side his neck grew upwards and outwards a little more with each enraged pump of his heart, while his teeth ground together when his lids couldn't move any further back from his furious eyes.
Shirt or hair?
That's what flew through Elle's head as she prepared herself for the aftermath of her cheek. Ozan had a habit of either taking a fist full of shirt or hair to pull insubordinates in for a beating; nothing fancy or overzealous though.
Punch or knee?
That was the next thought, what would the punishment be.
Elle only had her tunic on, no other layers for him to grab and although Ozan didn't care about hitting a woman he did care about unintentionally grabbing their breasts- so it was her hair he took a fist full of instead.
Her brows crashed together in scowl, jaw clenched and the rest of her muscles joined in preparation as they too tensed, ready for the blow. She fought the automatic urge to grapple at his hand in her hair, instead smartly keeping her hands free to block her punishment- or so she thought.
Ozan brought his head back with a deep in-hail, stretching up to his full height and back a little to obtain maximum distance before hurling his great cranium down and thrusting hers forwards to meet it.
The mighty crack that sounded near deafen the room, jaws grew slack and winces were shared as if they too felt the pain; watching in horror as the woman teetered back from the assault.
She was unsteady, her arms floundered for balance and feet failed to keep up with the momentum the head-butt had caused.
Various gasps and shouts sounded as she landed on the bench behind her. The young ones she'd nearly squashed were barely able to slide out of the way as she crashed between them and pushed the table back when she fell against it, forcing it into the stomachs of those sat on the other side.
"Hawthorn!" His name was barked this time, but he didn't recognise the voice and so he didn't move.
He stood like a volcano that had just erupted, hulking in size, scolding red and slowly simmering as each great pant forced the rage from his body- but he'd still be easy to tick off.
Elle's eyes swam with the pain, her head lolling like a drunk as she tried to pick it up off the table while her arms grappled with the two poor souls either side of her as she used them for balance in helping her up from her slump.
The head-butt came as a surprise.
"Fuck," Niki muttered slowly from where she was watching, the piece of bread that had been forgotten about half way towards her mouth now making it's destination as she took a bite. Elle's best bet was to stay down, but she knew the woman was petty enough to get another dig in even if it killed her.
Elle's hand shook as she raised it towards her head, confused as to why her face felt wet before the blood on her finger tips gave her the answer, a short humourless laugh then following, "I was wondering when you were going to change it up," She spoke as she peered up at the man, her eyes working hard to focus on him while a slow grin worked it's way to her lips, "because you punch like a bitch."
The two sat either side of her made quick work of abandoning their seats, scrabbling up and getting themselves clear of the scene and even causing a few others to do so too.
Things were going to kick off.
Without her supporting peers either side of her Elle slumped down again, her elbows needing a few attempts to find the tabletop behind her before she was able to pull herself back up into a proper sit and wait for the next punishment.
Ozan lumbered towards her, his steps slow and booming and she guessed this time it would definitely be a punch. He'd want to show her the strength, make her eat her words- regret them.
Again she prepared herself, body tensing and brows forming a ready wince as she watched him come for her and had the action not been right in front of her she would have missed it.
The blur of speed and surprising strength of the short male.
As Ozan's raging eyes bore down on Elle he was unaware of the new presence that easily caught up to his slow march.
The black crop of hair ducked past Ozan's left, getting just in front of the great height of a man and planting his left leg firmly as he then turned with power and precision. Using both the full turn of his body and Ozan's own forward momentum, Levi didn't hold back any strength as he brought his right heel around and into the bulking man's abdomen.
A great 'gawf' sounded as all air left Ozan in a rush and his body lurched forwards, his great heigh being reduced to half as he doubled over while Levi brought his right foot down with a stomp; his balance was impeccable as he then shifted his weight to next bring a swift left knee up and into the muscular man's face.
Ozan Hawthorn fell back and to the ground like a mighty tree. All watched in awe at the beastly man as his body hit the stone floor and with such force that it cause a few in the mess hall to grip their tables to keep themselves steady.
Eyes shifted from the defeated mountain, to the shot Captain and back.
Surely they had missed something?
What they witnessed couldn't be truth?
Again Niki sat at her safe observing distance, unwilling to get involved and bread once more forgotten on the way to her mouth as she gave another low and slow, "Fuck." she was both immensely impressed and terrified.
Elle's slack jaw came to a fast close when those coal eyes flashed to her, her throat clenching with a sudden fright she struggled to gulp down.
Retreat. That's what her mind screamed at her as her eyes darted away from the Captain and she pulled herself up onto dizzy legs. Her head swam with the pain but she fought against it as best she could till it teamed up with her unfocused sight and sent her clattering back onto the bench.
Levi had seen movements like hers before; in alcoholics. As he watched her leg kick up in the air as her back met the bench he couldn't help but think, all that was missing was a bottle in those flailing hands of hers.
Clearing the distance between them, Levi then fisted his hands into the front of her tunic and pulled her up into a sit. He was a little rough as her forced her to turn and shoved her back so she could slump against the table again, "You're a mess." He sneered and she snorted.
That cold smile he was quickly becoming to hate came to her face as she looked up at him, "Count it as my evaluation and leave me here then." She uttered lowly.