That's My Cadet (LEVI X OC)

The Truth

Third-person perspective

Ichika slowly opened her eyes to see was laying in a bed that wasn't hers. She tried sitting up, but hissed at the pain in her head.

"Easy there, brat." Levi was leaned against the door, staring at her.

"Levi? I mean...Captain Levi." She slightly bowed her head to him and he scuffed at her.

"Just Levi is fine, Ichika." It was the first time he'd ever said her name and she thought it was amazing hearing it.

"Where's Eren? And the abnormal?" 

"Eren is fine, the titan got away."

"I saw her face, I know who it is." She stared at him, shivering from the coldness. She looked down and noticed she was in a light tank top that she didn't remember changing into.

"We do too, but I need to ask you something." She looked at him in confusion.

"What are those marks on your stomach?"

"She is fine, a broken leg and cuts all over her body. She lost a lot of blood, so I recommend lots of rest for the next few weeks. Someone will have to change the bandage on her leg every other day and make sure her stitches don't come out." A doctor came to check up on Ichika with Hanji, Eren, and Levi in the room she was resting in. Eren was going to step up, but Levi volunteered himself. He didn't want Eren's hands all over her.

"I will, she is the last human member in my squad," Levi said staring at Eren.

"Since she is your squad member, I have some private questions to ask." Hanji and Eren excused themselves, something about a hardening experiment. "Now, when I was changing her, I noticed these." She lifted up Ichika's top to show marks on her stomach. No normal person would point this out, but this doctor did. She pointed out marks on the sides of her stomach. "These marks are from the skin stretching, but as you can see, her stomach is flat."

Levi, for once in his life, was completely lost on what she was talking about.

"I usually wouldn't question them, but it got me too curious." She looked at Levi to see him turn his head at her. "Captain Levi, these marks are from carrying a child."

Ichika's face dropped, she knew the color of her marks were gone, but the marks themselves weren't. She remembered looking in her mirror, saying how ugly they were.

"Ugly, aren't they?" She hesitantly laughed, but he wasn't buying it.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Cap...Levi, if I tell you something, will you promise me two things?" He raised an eyebrow at her and moved closer to her, sitting on the bed next to her.

"Depends, if it's a stupid promise, then no." He looked at her with seriousness.

"Promise you keep this between us? I don't want to tell anyone until the time is right."

"Fine, what's the second promise?" She looked so beautiful in his eyes now, her long messy hair scattered over the blanket and the pillows, her beautiful grey eyes matching his, he couldn't look away.

"These marks are from about 9 years ago, I um," She began to speak, but soon stopped. How was she going to tell him? She sucked in a deep breath, might as well be honest with him "They are from my daughter." She'd never seen his face change so quickly. His eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly open.

"Her name is Sakura." She smiled at the thought of her daughter. "She's with my brother who's highly ranked in the military police."

"Who's the father?" He asked, almost cutting her off. But, the answer he didn't want was practically handed to him. She had the same look from when she sparred with Eld and her head looked down.

"It's Braun's, isn't it?" Her tears fell down her face as she looked up at him. He stood up from the bed, looking away from her.

"I didn't tell you my second promise yet." Levi puts his hand up, preventing her from continuing. He was fishing in his pocket and pulls out a crumpled piece of paper.

"This, this letter was for your daughter, wasn't it?" He turned back to her and stared at her. She lightly smiled and nodded. He walked back over to her, handing her back the letter. "Cadet, you are my last human squadmate, it is supposed to be my job to keep you safe. I will make sure you are there to give her this letter yourself." Levi knelt down beside her bed so he was at her eye level.

"Thank you, Levi, but that wasn't my next promise." She puts his hand over him that's laying on the bed and surprisingly he didn't move away.

"Don't let him take her." She finally let all the tears fall. Levi didn't know how to handle this, so he did was he did last time. He crawled into her bed next to her and pulled Ichika's injured body into his, letting her lay her head on his chest.

"Tell me about her." Levi stroked her hair and watched Ichika fiddle with the letter in her hands.

"Her name is Sakura, she was born next to our cherry blossom tree, so I call her blossom. When she was smaller, she'd always play with my hair, hence why it's so long." Levi let his fingers travel all the way through her hair, actually seeing how long it was. "I cut it once to save myself from a titan and she asked me where all my hair went." She lightly giggled to herself. "She's spent most of her life in the training camps, I had to take her with me to keep her safe, now she is with my brother. I joined the scouts so I could help assist you all in clearing the path to freedom. I'd let her run freely, let her explore the world." Levi smiled to himself, her not being able to see. "Captain, are you sure this is appropriate?"

"Levi." He corrected her  "I'm here to protect you, take care of you. Plus, I didn't want that titan boy touching you unsupervised."  She nuzzled her head further into his chest, feeling safe in his embrace.

"Thank you, for not turning away from me." She smiled into his chest and closed her eyes. His hand roamed from down her back to the sides of her stomach, lightly running his fingers over her marks that she hated so much.

"I think your marks are beautiful, they are scars of a true mother." Ichika didn't hear him because she was fast asleep. Levi stayed with her, watching her slightly stir when she slept. He kicked off his boots with his feet carefully and took off his jacket what she rolled over. He laid down fully, pulling her into his body. He'd never felt this way before, being in the presence of a mother so dedicated to her child, made him think of his. He was so lucky to have Ichika, and he'd make sure she knew that.