Not Another Average Soldier (Levi X Reader)

Chapter 10: Training With The Best Of The Best

     You woke up full of energy. It was time for your first day of training as part of Levi's squad. You, Eren and Mikasa had convinced Erwin to ask Levi if Armin could be a part of the squad too. He accepted, seen as his squad was, shall we say... lacking members.

     When you were all ready, the four of you made your way outside to the courtyard. Levi was standing there ready to leave and you noticed that Hanji was also stood near him, enthusiastic as always. No wonder the Captain looked annoyed already. Erwin was there too, he must not have work to do today. "Good morning soldiers." Erwin said as he spotted you heading over to them. You all saluted the three in front of you. "At ease brats, let's get going." You heard Levi say some-what harshly. He wasn't looking at any of you. In fact, he had been staring at the floor since you arrived. Probably thinking about how it needed cleaning. The four of you relaxed and Hanji gave you a smile. She looked glad to be training with you. But it also looked like she was up to something...

     Everyone gathered their maneuver gear and mounted their horses, then you were off. The Elite Squads had their own training grounds, it was a patch of woods east from headquarters. It was actually the old training ground for the Survey Corps but a new one was made. Erwin insisted on keeping this one up and running though as it was still useful. Once you arrived you tied up the horses and fuelled up. "Oi, Jaeger," You heard the Captain talking to Eren. "Uh- Yes sir?" He replied. "You are to stay within thirty meters of either me, shitty-glasses, or Erwin. Got it?" "Yes Captain." Said Eren nervously. Eren always lost all his confidence while talking to Levi. You guessed it was because he was still slightly afraid of him after that beating he got in court. You were one of the soldiers present at his hearing and he got beat pretty bad. The Captain even kicked out his tooth. Someone told you that Hanji went back and picked it up after the ordeal was over. That's pretty much what you expected from her.

     The trees in this training ground were so dense, for that reason as our first training exercise we had to maneuver through the forest. It was to test our agility. After all, we needed to be faster than even the strangest of abnormal titans. Seen as Levi was now our squad leader, he gave us the brief. "Alright Cadets. You are to maneuver thought the forest until you fall. This is not only to test your agility, but your persistence and general skills with your gear. When you believe you've taken all you can handle, you can go join Hanji, back with the horses. Understand?" Instead of gazing at the ground, he was staring us down with those steel eyes of his. "Yes, Sir." We all saluted. "Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'll be joining in on this task. The last one standing is the most able with their gear." And with that he shot off. There was a slight moment of shock between the four of you as you exchanged glances that read "who's going first?". You decided you were sick of waiting so you too took off, into the trees. You were shortly followed by Eren and Mikasa, then Armin seconds later. As you were flying into the forest, you glanced back at Hanji and Erwin. It seemed as if they both has their eyes on either you or Levi. "What're they up to?" You asked yourself quietly.

     You wanted to prove that you belonged in this squad, so you gave your all. Darting through the trees at lightning speed. You'd lost sight of the others but occasionally caught a glimpse of the Captain, just ahead of you, flying fast and dodging the branches of vegetation around him. He was the best when it came to maneuver gear. Once you asked Hanji which training squad Levi was part of. The answer you got was definitely not what you'd expected. According to her, Levi had never received military training. She didn't tell you much else though. You'd been thinking about consulting Erwin on the matter, and now that you were part of Levi's squad, you had even more reason to.

     You found yourself catching up with Levi, you were around 4 metres back. As you began to close the gap in the hopes of overtaking him, you noticed his steel eyes shoot over at you and then quickly back ahead of him. Then he began to speed up. He was testing you. He shot a hook into the highest branch of a tree and leaped over it, front flipping in the air as he did so. Then he ducked down through the vegetation and started to dodge and weave branches. You ducked down too and followed. You weren't going to get left behind. Suddenly he darted to the right and swung around another large tree, heading back in the direction you'd both came. As you saw him fly past at great speed, you too doubled back. You were gaining good speed as you shot through the undergrowth. Levi was still preforming fancy manoeuvres to get around branches and bushes that were in his path. You were close to the forest floor so you decided to get higher. At this point you were around 6 metres behind Levi. And closing the gap quickly. You raced forwards, as fast as your gear could take you. 5 metres... 4 metres... 3 metres... 'Come on!..' You thought as you concentrated on your goal. You were so intent on catching up to him that you hadn't noticed your surrounding. The forest was growing thinner and thinner. Then Levi suddenly slowed down as he reached the end of the trees. You being so close, collided with him and you were both sent tumbling onto the ground in a heap.

     You opened your eyes to see Levi beside you. He opened his eyes at the same time and quickly got up, dusting himself off. He looked angry... "(l/n)! You need to learn to control both your speed and your competitiveness. Understand, brat?" He snapped. As he spoke he was glaring at you. You quickly got up and stood straight. "Yes sir, sorry sir." You replied apologetically. He then walked off to join Erwin who had watched the whole thing. Hanji was desperately trying to cover up laughter. Shortly after, Eren, Armin, and Mikasa walked over to you. They must have come back earlier. "(f/n). Is Hanji okay?" Asked Armin. "Yeah, what's so funny?" Eren added. "Well... Basically I crashed into the Captain." Armin seemed shocked that you were still breathing and Eren was confused. Mikasa, silent as usual. You knew she didn't like Levi one bit, not after how he had treated Eren. Yes, despite them being some-what related, she hated him. Although you knew they must be related because they shared the same name, you wondered how. They weren't closely related and didn't look alike. The only similarity was the legendary fighting skill that came with the Ackerman name.
    
     Not long after your crash and you explaining what had happened to your three friends who somehow missed it, you all mounted your horses and headed back to base. "Well then." You said to yourself, "That was a complete disaster."