Broken Hearts, Severed Limbs (Levi x OC x Erwin)

|4| Ilse's Notebook I

Her whole body ached. Her muscles, completely worn out once more. The swords in both her hands almost felt too heavy. Heavier than they were supposed to. Her sweat soaked her clothes, forcing them to cling onto her body and she groaned when Levi repeated once more that damned word that she had gotten so tired of hearing.

"Again,"

Fuck off.

"Don't I get like... a five-minute break or something?"

"Titans won't give you any five minute-breaks," Levi frowned.

His hands, crossed against his chest and that dead expression on his face was always there as he watched her repeat the moves that he had been teaching her every single day ever since she stopped being bed-ridden. She had agreed to this since there was no other way she could convince him to let her join the Scouts, for real, this time.

"How about... two-minutes?"

Levi groaned. No matter how much he pushed on her limits, that sarcasm was always there to get on his nerves. He knew he should have gotten used to it by now. "Don't waste my fucking time, Nat. Again," he persisted and she groaned before she got back in her stance and repeated the moves that he had shown her once more.

She hooked her ODM on the fake titan, before she slit off the wooden nape once more. She landed back down on her feet, holding the swords exactly as Levi had shown her, in a perfect stance. She turned around and searched for approval on his face. Levi nodded and she knew it was her cue to finally catch her breath.

Her fingers let go of the swords and she dropped on her bum. The cold grass and the cool breeze that brushed her sweaty form let her know that she'd have a cold to deal with afterwards, but she barely cared at the moment. She fell back, lying down and staring at the sky. The pink, orange colours of the dusk merged into a beautiful purple. She drew in a couple of deep breaths, filling her nostrils with the scent of the grass, the trees and the soil beneath her.

Finally. Another long day of Levi's ruthless training had passed. Just before she was about to let out a loud sigh of relief on the thought of Levi no longer being there, she noticed him approaching her and staring down at her.

He sighed. "What are you doing?"

"Taking a break,"

"Get the fuck up,"

"What?! No! I need to-"

"Nat," And then he gave her that dead look. The one he'd give her when they were little and she caused trouble. He never really scolded her, he'd just throw her that look and she'd instantly know that she would either have to comply to what he said -because it was for her own good- or force him to murder her by not complying.

Nathalie groaned as she stood on sitting position. She was about to press her weight on her feet to help herself up, but she stopped when he took off his jacket and settled it on her shoulders, shielding her back from the cold breeze. Now that was surprising. Nathalie found herself staring at his unbearably indifferent face searching for the slightest clue of emotion. She failed to find it yet again.

"Oi! What are you staring at? Do you think I got the time for your whining if you catch a cold?!" Levi said grumpily, but she could always tell when he was forcing the grumpiness and when he wasn't.

"Right," She agreed, even though he could tell that she had other things in mind, and she was only agreeing to get him off her back.

He turned around and started walking away. "Get the fuck up and let's go inside,"