Rivals (OC X Levi Ackerman)

Chapter 19

Gently, I pat Sigyn's head and feed her an apple. I tip my head back and look up at the afternoon sky, and take a big breath of fresh air.

Sasha joins me, tending to her own horse, and she gives me a smile.
"Captain."

"Braus. Are you keeping well?" I ask her, and she grins.

"As good as can be! Food rations have been getting better since we got all our livestock space back."

"Mm." I reply, with a faint smile.

She tilts her head, and looks at me with some degree of concern.
"And you, captain?"

"Huh?"

"Are you well?"

"I think so," I reply, the question catching me off guard. I brush it off, and she smiles at me again.

"Great." She says, patting her horse's head. "You've been pretty absent for a few weeks, everyone misses you. Especially Levi, he's grumpy and taking it out on everyone."

"Mm, well, I doubt that. I miss squad Levi, too. But, onwards and upwards. I need to spread my wings and have my own squad. I accepted to the title and hid from the responsibility long enough."

She laughs.
"I don't think anyone's noticed." She says, as she she puts her finger to her lips, promising her silence. "Maybe you can get away with it a bit longer. Besides, you'll do great!" And with a smile, she leaves.

I look around the empty stable, and sigh. Suddenly, I clutch my head and groan, crippled by the pain and the deafening ringing noise. I can't move, for a moment, and I feel like my head's splitting in two.

Fucking ouch.

I take a few deep breaths, and stop myself from crying. What kind of dumbass cries for a promotion?

Gently, I touch the scar on the side of my head, and for a moment, I feel incomplete, though I can't quite place why.

Levi rides beside me, at a steady pace, and watches me with, not concern, but an emotion I'm struggling to identify.

"You had fun, or what?"

"Yes!" I say, still excited. "I still can't believe it's real."

"Mm, though I would've believed saltwater was real after the first mouthful. Not sure why you drank it like orange juice."

"My tongue is a little dry." I admit, and he sighs, throwing a water bottle at me.

"I think the salt in that water dehydrates more than the water hydrates. Drink that before you die. Coming back to the walls with a casualty when there's no titans anymore would be an embarrassment to the scouts."

I grin and chug the water.

"Freyja!"

I groan at the theft of my peace, but get my act together and turn to smile at Hange.

"Commander. How can I help?"

"By going back in time and showing up to the meeting we had an hour ago." She replies, though I sense she's being half playful.

"What meeting?"

"To pick your squad."

"You must've forgotten to tell me, commander." I reply, and she sighs.

"I can deal with you, Freyja, but don't blame me."

"I'll show you." I hiss back at her, though with a playful undertone.

I pull my small diary from my jacket pocket and turn the page to today's date.

There's a moment of silence as I stare at the page, clear as day, in my own writing.

"IMPORTANT - MEETING WITH COMMANDER. DON'T FUCKING MISS IT."

I bite my lip, embarrassed, confused, and unsure of what to say.

"...so, you might be right, I think you told me. When are you free next?" I ask, too proud to apologise, but humble enough to throw some remorse into my tone.

"Right now. Move that butt into my office."

I rinse my hands off, dry them, and follow Hange to her office.

She throws ten files towards me, and I sit at the desk.

"New recruits are filling the newbie squads, so the old newbies are moving up in the world. I'm offering you 4 of the top performers."

"Thanks, commander." I say, with a grateful nod, and flick through the files.

"One of them got 8 solo kills on the mission to retake wall maria." She says, waggling her eyebrows.

"Which is now useless to me, now that there are zero titans left anywhere on the island, and possibly the world."

She sinks in her chair, sulking.
"Just making conversation."

I spend ten minutes looking through, and separate four files from the pile, to read through again and confirm how I felt. I brief through Shadis' personal reports on them.

Elias Jansen, tall, bulky, strong as anything and no nonsense. Excellent hand to hand, weapons and overall anti-personnel skills. Not scared of questioning authority.

We'll see, Elias.

Sophie Müller.

Unsure, unconfident, but damn agile and quick when nervous. Compassion for comrades, sometimes too much, but a hell of a team player.

Perfect. Like me when I was young and wide eyed, like you.

Tobias Richter.

Determined, adequately strong, knows how to use a pistol, and a brilliant strategist. Can be observed drunk if not properly watched. Can't see without his glasses.

Okay, four eyes. I'll bite.

And finally;

Amara Klein.

Trumps anyone who has ever challenged her in hand to hand. Probably a nice girl deep down. Deep, deep, down. Will follow military hierarchies like gospel, however. Loyal and hardworking.

Good values. Let's hope you're not as boring as you sound.

"These." I confirm, pushing the files back to her.

"Great! I'll get it sorted and you can meet your new little friends for a playdate tomorrow."

"A playdate?" I ask, my eyebrow raised.

"You can do a team building exercise or something. You know, ball of truth, trust balls, or wrestling. Whatever you choose."

I chuckle lightly, and get to my feet.

"I have to say, I wasn't sure you'd ever leave Levi's side." She says.

"Me and Levi never agreed on anything. I can't become stagnant, getting too comfortable in one place." I say, firmly, Levi remaining a tough topic for me.

"With that, I agree. Though, if I recall. From when you were ill, and he fished you out the snow, and when we all first saw the ocean, there was one thing on which you and Levi could agree.

"What would that be?" I ask her, my eyebrows knitted together. I love Hange, but didn't appreciate where it was going.

"Not for me to say, sweetheart. It's for you two little munchkins to figure out for yourselves." She says, with a grin, lightening the sudden tension.

"Right. Well, thank you, commander. I'm sorry to have wasted your time earlier."

She nods, and I leave. Shutting the door to her office behind me, I take a deep breath, and smile.

To new beginnings.