Not Forgotten

Competition

Real quick: I have an art page now where I post a few times a day if anyone is interested. If not, I'll be posting a drawing at the beginning of each chapter from here on out. Also, sorry that I took so long to write and the first thing that you are met with is a shill.

The day was hot. So hot that not even the captain was particularly interested in training us into the ground that day. He had let us skip our morning jog today. We were all lounging around in the meeting room, fanning ourselves with makeshift fans made out of old paper and some paste. The captain had gone off to god knows where for a meeting. A few of the guys had gone off to swim in the nearby river but no woman in her right mind would trust Oulo enough to indulge. At the moment, Nanaba, Nifa, Eld, Lynne, and I were all in a circle, all of us fanning one another. All of us except for Hange, of course, who sat back in her chair with her feet ont he table while Moblit vigorously fanned her, sweat beading down his face.
Finally, the Captain returned. We all shot up, standing at perfect attention. "Apparently, I need a second in command." The captain said. "Erwin said that I should pick one of you to do that."
"But sir," I spit out, "why do YOU need a second in command?"
"There are multiple reasons why I would need someone like that," the Captain responded, "I might be somewhere else or on an assignment somewhere else and I would need someone to be in charge to make sure you brats don't skip out on your training. I could also be injured and unable to fight. And last, but not least; I could be killed."
For some reason, that felt like an epiphany: Captain Levi Ackerman could die. It didn't seem possible. Ever since we first heard of him, the Captain seemed untouchable. We viewed him less as a man and more as an unstoppable Titan slaying god. This seemingly just occurred to all of us. All of us except for Oulo who burst out laughing, apparently taking it as a joke.
"Captain, I never want to meet the Titan that could kill you." Oulo said.
"If I'm so strong, why are you here?" The Captain asked. Oulo didn't seem to understand and neither did I. "Do you brats really believe that you were my favorites? I have already lost two full squads before you. Olivia, Liam, Sophia, Jackson, Ava, Noah, Lucas, Harper... all of them are gone because I wasn't strong enough." The Captain was putting on an emotionless mask, but it was easy to see that it hurt just to say these names. "Anyway, none of that changes the fact that I need someone I can count on to be alive and able to fight when I am not. I will be holding various competitions to do so. These competitions will include various events such as ODM maneuverability, hand to hand combat, swordsmanship, assembly and disassembly of ODM gear and rifles, leadership, intelligence, riding, swimming, and throwing."
It was an intimidating list. These nine events would determine who became the right hand to THE Captain Levi making them the successor to the Captain to become the commander of Squad Levi. These were tasks designed to have at least one task that everyone specializes in. The Captain specializes in all of them. The idea seemed to be to find the one who is closest to Levi in every skill.
"The first challenge will start in two days. Use tomorrow to train." The Captain said. Then he went to his chambers and disappeared.

Writers note: I know that this was a pretty boring chapter, but I am setting up for the first big arc of the story. I will try to move the story a bit faster than I have been so we can get to the good bits as soon as possible but I don't want to zoom past all of the character building for the sake of more interesting plot.