One Last Salute

The New Cadet

     "You stupid Brat," yelled a captain in the distance. A sudden sound of tree branches snapping and faint grunts came from the forest. The captain quickly ran into the forest and looked down angrily. "Oh hey, you must be a captain of the Survey Corps," smiled a young cadet. "It's nice to meet you I'm-." Before the cadet could continue, the captain grabbed the back of the cadet's collar and dragged him inside of the military base. As he continue to drag him, the cadet crossed his arms and looked up at the captain. "Your pretty strong for your size." The captain stopped and pulled the cadet to his face. "Look I don't know who you are, but you do not speak to me that way is that understood," the captain hissed towards the cadet. A smile came from the cadet as he leaned his face closer to the captain's. "Understood, shorty." 

     The captain began to fill with rage and tried to throw a punch at the cadet, but was stopped. "I see you two have met, please go into my office," said a commander. The captain let go of the cadet and walked into the commanders office. He then leaned against the wall as he glared at the cadet. The cadet saluted the commander as he quickly walked inside and sat down in front of the desk. "I'm assuming by the looks on both of your faces you haven't introduced each other. Cadet. Standing beside me is Captain Levi Ackerman. He is also a squad leader to Levi Squad," stated the commander. "Wow you have your own squad named after you, so heroic," remarked the cadet as he looked at Levi with a smirk on his face. "Erwin I will hit this brat  if you don't hurry up," snapped Levi. Erwin gave a small laugh as he placed his hand on Levi's shoulder. "Alright. Levi the cadet in front of us is-." "Cadet Akito of the 104th Cadet Corps also part of Levi Squad Sir," interrupted the cadet as he stood and saluted his superiors.

    Levi's eyes widened. He did not believe that cadet was telling the truth and he demanded answers. "Erwin a word," growled Levi as he dragged the commander outside of the office. "Look I know you are not happy about this, but my decision is final and you will have to deal with it," spoke the commander. "He's a brat," replied Levi. The commander pinched the bridge of his nose and looked down at the captain. "You deal with cadet's like him every day how is he any different?" "He's annoying, reckless, calls me shorty, and acts like a fifteen year old child." The commander chuckled and put his hand on the captain's shoulder. "Oh Levi sometimes I wonder." Before the captain could reply, Erwin walked back into the office and shook the new cadet's hand. "Well cadet Akito I know you will be a strong soldier and I'm glad you decided to join."Akito smiled as he shook the commanders hand. His eyes shifted over towards the captain and noticed he was looking at the ground. "Hey captain shorty why don't we walk around and get to know each other." Levi looked up and glared at the cadet. Akito smirked and walked over to Levi and wrapped his arm around his shoulder. The captain looked angrily as he pushed Akito's arm off and stormed down the hallway.

   As the two walked down the hall it was silent, but Akito was bored. "So how long have you been a captain,"asked Akito. Levi didn't respond as he continued walking. "Silent treatment...I see.. well.." Akito walked in front of Levi and pinned him to the wall. The captain froze and glared up at the cadet. As he glared, he noticed how tall and in shape Akito was. "Hey shorty eyes are up here," said Akito as he brought the captain's face up with one finger. Levi went back to glaring at the cadet,"Get your hand off me and will you stop calling me shorty." Akito put his hand next to Levi's head and leaned in closer,"No can do. besides your super short and very easy to mess with." A sudden kick came from the captain as Akito fell to the ground. "I don't know how old you are and what your purpose is to be in the Survey Corps, but if you are going to be in my squad, I am not going to deal with this child like behavior." The cadet winced and looked up at the captain, "I'm 26 and I joined because my father and brother was in the Survey Corps." Levi took his foot off the cadet and scoffed,"Then you shouldn't be acting like a child." Akito grabbed Levi's leg and threw him down and hovered on top of him. "I'm not acting like a child I'm just trying to flirt,"smirked Akito. The captain was angry as slight blush covered his cheeks. Akito looked down at Levi and smiled. He noticed the captain's blush as he got up and held his hand out towards Levi, "Mission. accomplished. Now if you want to scold me or whatever I will be in the mess hall, but it was really nice meeting you Captain and I'm glad to be on your squad." Levi pushed Akito's hand away and began walking outside.  Akito sighed and watched the captain leave, "He's gonna be difficult, but I like a challenge."

     A little while later, Levi went to the horse stables to brush his horse's mane. Being with his horse was one of the things he loved to do because it was a quiet place for him to relax and think about upcoming missions. "Hey Captain shorty the food is ready in the mess hall if you're hungry," said Akito as he walked up to Levi. The captain looked at the cadet slightly annoyed, "I will be there in a minute but next time if you see me alone leave me alone." Akito rolled his eyes and walked away. "Whatever Captain.."

    The day soon turned to night and Levi sat in his room doing paperwork as he drank his hot, black tea. Akito on the other hand decided to go to the captain's room. "Levi may I speak to you for a second?" asked Akito as he knocked on the door. Confused, Levi stood up and opened the door, "what do you want brat? Can't you see I'm busy and you should be in your room asleep." Akito walked inside and sat in a chair looking at Levi. Very annoyed, Levi shut the door and sat back at his desk and continued to do paperwork. "Well you should be asleep too shorty, but anyways I wanted to know when I can go on my first mission and kill some titans," said Akito. Levi turned around to face the cadet and crossed his arms. "Eager much? Look you can go on a mission when I say you can go. You haven't even gone through any training," said Levi. "Well I think I should be able to go on a mission and for your information I have been through training and I was in the top 5 in the 104th cadet corps. I just haven't been through Survey Corps training," Akito remarked as he got up and stood in front of his captain . Levi looked up at him then stood. "Let's see how well they trained you then."

    After their talk, Levi decided to take Akito outside the walls to see how well he would do during a titan attack. Levi was hesitant because he didn't want to risk the life of a new cadet and didn't believe Akito was ready for it. "Since you have been so eager to kill some titans I'm giving you the real experience of killing live ones instead of those phony ones they use during training." Akito was excited but very ready to show that he deserves to be on the Survey Corps and that he can kill any titan that crossed his path.

    Hours went by as Levi watched the cadet kill several titans. Levi was impressed, but the surprised look on his face turned into an angry one when a titan grabbed him. Akito soon noticed this and used his odm gear to quickly jump on the titan and grab Levi then kill it. "Let me go of me you stupid brat!" Levi said. Akito landed on a roof and let go of Levi annoyed. "I saved you idiot! You could have died! You could at least be more appreciative!"   As much as Levi hated a cadet yelling at him, he knew Akito was right. "Tch whatever lets just go back to the headquarters and I will inform Hange and Erwin of your what you did today," Levi said as he got on his horse and rode away. Akito rolled his eyes and as he got on his horse, he was very proud of himself and he couldn't wait to go on his first mission.