Chains [Levi Fanfic]

Chapter 6: Breakfast

Barely getting any sleep, I had to practically forced myself out of bed this morning. The bruised kept me up the whole night as every slight toss and turns made me squirm in pain. Opening my eyes was a task by itself. I had to fought hard to lift my heavy lids up and rolled over, still baring in mind the slight sore of my stomach that was thankfully, less sharp than it was the night before. I let out a soft yawn and did a light stretch before tossing my blanket aside and proceeding to wake Zoë up. Both Zoë and I were assigned to help out in today's breakfast preparations. Usually breakfast are served at eight in the morning, hence the need to wake up a few hours in advance. I was tasked to wash the dishes as per usual while Zoë would help out in the kitchen with cooking breakfast. Both of us got ready quickly and quietly as to not wake Ingrid, Anja and Isabel up, then left our bunkers.

As we made our way to the kitchen, I couldn't help but to drag my feet along the wooden floor of the corridor. Though my stomach felt less painful than it was before, I can't deny the fact that every move I made, still manages to make me flinch in agony.

Zoë who was initially walking normally in front of me, must've heard the creaking sound of the old wooden floor. Her head snapped back as her sharped gaze made its way to my abdomen.

"Is your stomach any better?" her eyebrows frowning.

"Yea.. I'm alright." I answered, unconvincingly.

It was easy to tell that I was lying as Zoë fixed her glance towards my hand that was clutching my stomach. She sighed knowing well the stubbornness nature of her friend.

"Lea...it's best that you skip today's training. You went too hard yesterday and that's why it can't heal properly!" She nagged.

Thinking back to yesterday's training, I did trained to my limit since it was the first day back. However, during yesterday's training the pain hasn't manifested itself thus I didn't realised how bad my injuries were until last night came.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy this time!" I replied with a smile.

Zoë looked somewhat relieved when she heard this, though she probably knew that I might still train as per usual. She went on by saying that she would break my bones if she have to, just to ensure that I'll get enough rest. We laughed it off as a joke, but I do take her warning as a sign that I shouldn't push myself too much this time. Not that I could anyways, with this bruise bothering me.

When we reached the dining hall, we saw some of the recruits that were also on duty. They have already started setting up for breakfast which made Zoë and I a little panicked as we thought we were late. However, that was simply not the case as everyone was earlier than they were told. Zoë and I said our greetings to some of them, before hurriedly heading off to the kitchen.

The first thing we saw when we entered the kitchen was one of the new recruits, Furlan who was busy peeling potatoes. He'd already made a bucket of peeled potatoes and seemed to only have five left to peel. When he saw us, he gave us a warm smile before greeting us.

"Morning!"

This somehow cheered Zoë and I up as so far, the other recruits have been giving us a gloomy and weary morning welcome.

"Good Morning!" We both replied gleefully.

Furlan gave us another wide grin before continuing to peel his potatoes. Zoë and I then went on our separate ways. Zoë walked over to her side of the kitchen where she was told by Chef Günter that she will need to help them toast some brioche. Günter is one of our senior officer that is well known for his cooking skills, hence the nickname Chef Günter. He's always in-charge of kitchen duties and has never complained. Actually, he enjoys them much more than trainings he said. Maybe it's because his true calling was to be a chef. The food and recipes that he prepares always made us look forward to his meals. Our other senior officers even stated that before Günter came to the survey corps, the food was "inedible". They even go as far as describing it as eating hay and mud. I can't imagine the life that they had before Günter joined.