Andromeda woke up with the greatest feeling she had ever felt. She felt light and almost like floating, like she was flying although her feet touched the ground.
Opening the windows, she let the wondrous rays of the sun shine through her room. The weather was so nice. She inhaled the breeze and loved its scent. From a distance, birds chirped, and only now did she appreciate the beauty of their songs.
Ah.
Everything was so wonderful.
Maybe there was still time before breakfast.
Hurrying, she cleaned herself and got dressed in the Scout Regiment uniform Petra lent her. She sat in front of her mirror and inspected her face. Didn't she look puffy this morning? Her brows furrowed. That won't do. She massaged her face and once satisfied, proceeded to style her hair. Should she tie it up or let it down? Her hands searched the drawers for the ribbons Nifa had given her before. She decided to tie half of her hair up.
She looked at herself again.
Hmm...
Something was missing. She looked too pale. She needed more color on her face. Some rouge would be nice. Her lips and cheeks should be tinted more with red. But she couldn't find one. She swore. There was no choice but to pinch her cheeks and bite her lips. So she did.
Once satisfied with how she looked, she exited the room and went to the dining hall. Some of the soldiers were already in the middle of having their breakfast. The others were being called to proceed to the hall.
Squad Levi and Squad Hange sat at the tables beside each other, eating bread and drinking cheap coffee. When they saw her, they smiled.
"You styled your hair," Nifa commented. "You look good."
"Of course," Andromeda said as she took her seat. Her eyes wandered to the front of the room where the squad leaders all sat. Levi ate as he talked with Hange. Andromeda willed the man to look at her, but he continued his chatter with the other squad leader.
The vampiress frowned, disappointment bubbling inside her. She took a piece of bread and took a small bite. Gunther asked her something but she didn't hear it, wasn't able to answer. The soldier scratched his head and just talked to Eld instead.
Throughout breakfast, Andromeda tried catching Levi's eyes, but he wouldn't spare a glance at her. She wanted to shout and catch his attention. She wanted to exclaim, "I made myself this pretty for you!"
And then she paused. What the heck was she doing? She suddenly realized her foolishness. Had she really been dollying herself up for the soldier? For a freaking human? She drank her coffee and placed the empty mug on the table. Damn. Had she lost her mind?
What was happening to her?
She mentally shook her head. She should steady herself and stop this nonsense. As the soldiers exited the dining hall to proceed to the training grounds, Andromeda untied the ribbon on her head and let her hair down.
She should stop being an idiot.
Then why did her eyes still linger on the Captain as she walked out?
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Levi wanted to smack his own face. The fuck had he done? Yesterday, he actually called Andromeda by a nickname. How embarrassing was that? So embarrassed was he that earlier during breakfast, he couldn't even look at her. The woman's presence was just too much. How should he act around her now? He didn't know.
In truth, he wanted to be near her. Closer. Know the woman more. But he was unsure of how to do it. What if he fuck up and she starts to hate him?
It was so unlike him to think about this toward someone. Usually, he didn't care about what somebody else thought about him, but when it came to the woman...
Frowning, he tied the ODM gear around his body and filled it with sharpened blades. The Scouts' training for the day was practicing using the ODM gear and killing titans.
In the forest next to the barracks, fake titans made of wood were scattered. The Scouts would "kill" them by slicing the sacks on their nape.
Although they had already done this practice a lot of times, Levi re-explained to the Scouts what they would do and gave them the signal to start. The soldiers whizzed and flew through the tall trees, including Levi. He watched as the Scouts expertly performed the task.
Derek tried to strike a fake titan. He was able to slice its nape but it wasn't deep enough.
"Put more of your weight on your blades!" Levi suggested.
"Yes, Captain!" the soldier responded.
Here and there Levi voiced out his suggestions to the other Scouts. The soldiers obediently obeyed. Except An. Stubbornly, the woman whizzed around the trees too fast.
"You're using too much gas!" he told her.
The woman stopped and stood atop the nape of one of the fake wooden titans. Easily, she sliced it to kill it. She simply said, "Then they should make a gear that can carry more gas."
"If they could, they would've done that already," he told her. "The world won't change to accommodate your every whim." It was so like the woman to think that everything would go her way. Just like a shitty spoiled child.
But she was unfazed. "Not if I change it, soldier," she replied with her usual confidence and then whizzed away.
Idiot.
How could someone like her change anything? She was nothing but an overconfident amnesiac. Yet, while looking at her, Levi thought she had always burned brightly with certainty. Well... who knows, maybe she actually could.
He continued watching the other Scouts and witnessed Petra stumble to the ground. Immediately, he rushed to her aide. The female soldier had lost her footing and fell. One of her blades got broken. One shard pierced the skin on her right arm.
"I'm okay, Captain," she said as Levi settled beside her on the ground.
He examined the wound. "The metal's deep in your flesh. You should go back and have it removed. You're excused for the rest of the training."
"No, I could still continue!" the other soldier insisted.
"Go back, Petra-"
"If we are in titan territory and facing real titans, I need to ignore the pain and continue fighting!"
"But we're not. This is just training. You're injured. Go back." One of his hands gently held the wounded arm.
Petra suddenly placed her other hand over Levi's, smiling at him and slightly blushing. Instantly, Levi felt uncomfortable. Why was the soldier doing that? He looked into her eyes and saw that she was staring at him lovingly. Comfortably. Like something intimate was normal between the two of them.
W-why...
Fuck.
Had he... led her on? Before?
Shit.
He took his hand away. "You should go," he told her as he avoided her eyes.
The female soldier looked confused but she said "Yes" and walked away. Levi noted that from now on, he should guard his actions toward Petra. Giving her false hope would be cruel. He was not that much of a bastard.
He continued observing the training. When he reached one corner of the forest, he heard someone scream.
Derek. He recognized the voice. The boy was the youngest of the Scouts. He was from a farming town west of Wall Rose. Although very young, he was good enough to be assigned to Hange's squad.
Hurrying, Levi flew through the trees and saw Derek sitting on a rocky ground. In front of him was a big brown bear. Its fangs were bared and it was ready to attack.
Before Levi could come close to the young soldier to help him, An passed by from above with so much speed she looked like thunder. She landed between Derek and the bear, shielding the boy away from harm.
The bear growled. An held the blades before her and as the beast charged, expertly sliced its throat to death. Levi got to the ground and approached the two. "Are you-"
"Fool!" An faced Derek and scolded him. "You give your damn life to fight against those freaking titans and yet you cower in front of a damn bear?"
Derek stood up. "I-I don't want to kill it... It did nothing wrong."
"The pig we ate nights before did nothing wrong but you savored it without guilt and full of delight." She motioned at the bear. "It was going to kill you. In this world, you are either a predator or a prey. You're hungry, you eat. You kill or get killed." She pushed the boy toward the dead animal. "Find someone else to help you. Tonight we feast with meat." She noticed Levi and commanded him to help the young soldier.
As a few soldiers carried the bear, Levi stole a glance at An and caught her staring at him. She looked away.
"You saved Derek," Levi hoped she heard him.
The woman did. "He's a fool," she replied.
Should he try to strike up a conversation with her? This close, he could freely talk to her. Hadn't he been waiting for a chance like this? "An-"
"I'll see you later." She avoided him again. The woman went beside Nifa and started conversing with her.
Levi stared longingly at her back.
How fucking pathetic.
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Andromeda's mind was filled with images of Levi. And she hated it. She just couldn't stop thinking of the man.
Damn.
She had tried acting normal near him but when he called her name, she found herself escaping from him once more. Hadn't she decided earlier to not be an idiot and stop acting weird toward the human? Damn human.
Though not sure, she walked to the stables and counted on a nice ride to clear her thoughts.
Of course, Levi was waiting for her there.
Andromeda exhaled and decided to proceed to Nox, her mare. She ignored Levi. The man was leaning his back on his black stallion, strong arms crossed near his chest.
"I'll ride with you," he said.
She didn't reply, just readied her horse and mounted its back. Nox galloped out of the stables and Andromeda made the mare run as fast as it could, hoping that Levi would give up and leave her alone.
But the soldier was able to easily catch up to her with his own black stallion. "An!" he called her with that damn nickname.
No one had called her name so dearly before. Very slowly, she felt her insides melt. She was growing soft inside, warming up to this man she barely knew. Just because he kept on occupying her mind. Kept on actively trying to catch her attention.
She rode even faster, Levi just behind her. Soon, Andromeda got tired of being chased. It wasn't like her to continuously run away. She had always faced anything thrown her way head-on. She bit her lower lip and halted her horse. Levi stopped too. They were in the meadow of wildflowers they had been in before.
Andromeda got off the mare and walked toward the soldier. "What the heck do you want from me?" she asked him directly.
The man was caught off guard but he regained his composure. "I know you feel it between us."
"F-feel..." Andromeda stuttered. "I don't-"
"Don't lie." He walked closer to her. She took a step back. "You're doing it again. You're dodging it."
"I'm not dodging anything."
"Another lie." He stared into her eyes with so much intensity Andromeda felt weak.
She caught her breath. What the heck was really happening between them? It seemed like there was always this sizzling electricity connecting them. Always present. Always there. "What the heck do you want me to do?" she asked.
"Let me in," he softly said as he inched even closer.
Andromeda thought she might lose her mind.
Yes.
She wanted that.
She wanted to let Levi into her life so much.
What harm would it do anyway?
Right?
The vampiress steeled herself as she finally surrendered to whatever this was between Levi and her.
She would be a fool to keep on lying to herself. She wanted the human soldier and there was nothing wrong with owning him. Many vampires and vampiresses in Aurum owned a human or two. Besides, she could always throw him away once she got tired of him.
She sighed and flipped her hair.
Then, she walked toward the man. Placing a hand over his chest, she said as her eyes squinted, "Levi Ackerman, Okay. I will let you in." Then, she sat upon Nox's back and before riding away declared, "From now on, you are mine."