Equanimity » Levi Ackerman

5 | ℌ𝔬𝔴 𝔱𝔬 𝔴𝔦𝔫 𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔞 𝔖𝔥𝔬𝔯𝔱𝔶

𝕹𝖔𝖙𝖊: Flashback to the year 845.

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Five years ago...

"Who did you drag in this time, Erwin?" Levi's eyes were set on a small honey-blonde woman who seemed to be lost in thought, not caring about the world around her. His first impression of the young woman was far from positive. She was short and slender and her curly shoulder-length locks adorned a soft and innocent face.

Erwin sighed, thinking back to when the young widow accepted to join the Survey Corps. "Her name is Maria Hirsch, we picked her up from Trost district." He intentionally didn't speak of the situation and Levi knew, though he didn't bother to ask about it either. 

"She won't last one single expedition." He bluntly stated. Erwin frowned. "She's too frail."

"Can you teach her the ropes?" "Heh?" "Can you teach her some things?" Levi scoffed. "By the looks of this girl, I'm gonna tell you; it's not worth my time."

Levi turned to look at his superior. "Why are you asking me this?" 

"Because your skills are outstanding, and she hasn't had any training yet." The raven-haired man rolled his eyes. "I think she might surprise you."

· · ─── · ·

And well; she did surprise him... During her first combat training, Maria stood on the side, not too sure of what to do. "Oi." Her eyes suddenly made contact with a pair of dull grey ones.

"Ah, hi." She breathed out quietly. Before her stood a short but, handsome young man. His raven-colored hair was styled straight and shaved in an undercut. Despite his good looks, he did not display any kind of emotion, and this did not add up to his appearance. His extremely calm demeanor and expressionless face intimidated her.

"Let's get this over with." Maria cocked her head, questioning what he meant. Levi's irritation seemed to grow with the passing minutes. 'She wasn't this dense, right?' 

"I meant, show me what you got Bambi. Fight me." This was the first time Maria got called Bambi by the black-haired male. Although she didn't quite understand how to fight him, she still did what he asked her to do. "Oh, yes of course." She mumbled with a small smile and got in a fighting stance. That was the first thing he noticed; her posture was wrong.

"Advance." Maria dashed forward and threw her right fist forward. Levi easily dodged her and flung his own back. He did not plan to hit her hard, he just wanted to see her reaction. When his fist made contact with her arm, Maria flinched - cowered back from him - while protecting her head.

Levi frowned, stepping back. "Why did you even join the Scouts?" Maria now uncovered her face, looking back at the stoic man. "You're too afraid to fight back and defend yourself. I bet you'll shit yourself when you would see a titan." He scoffed. "If Erwin took you in without training in the Cadet Corps, It would've meant you possess some kind of special skill. So, I hope you're better with 3DMG, then you are at combat."

The twenty-one-year-old just smiled back awkwardly. "I wouldn't know..." Levi let out a "Tch" and clenched his fists. "I don't care what Erwin said, I'm not gonna train a coward." He'd seen more than enough. Levi turned on his heels and walked off to find another sparring partner.

"Aww, don't take him too seriously, he's a short prune anyway." Someone butted in. Maria whipped her head to where the voice was coming from. A girl around her age placed a hand on her shoulder. "My name is Hanji, and that was Levi." She snickered. "We both joined last year- well technically Levi didn't join of his free will..."