Equanimity » Levi Ackerman

6 | 𝔄𝔫 𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔩𝔶 𝔯𝔢𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔫

𝕹𝖔𝖙𝖊: Back to the present; the year 850.

· · ─────── ·𐂃· ─────── · ·

Present...

The weeks had flown by and Maria had taken her time to talk with Jean. She was genuinely happy in the time they'd spend together, even if it were short moments.

"I heard the Levi squad is an elite squad, how in the hell did you end up there." Maria laughed at Jean's remark. "What? You think I'm not good enough?"

"Oh come on, we both know you weren't that tough back then. You couldn't even get mad at me when I got in trouble." "You're one to talk; I remember those chubby cheeks of yours. You were a little cry baby, but look at you now; you've even joined the Survey Corps." She shrugged. "And, I must admit that was the case, but let's say I'm a fast learner." Maria laughed softly. The fifteen-year-old scoffed.

"Armin told me your Captain beat up Eren in court. Mikasa's still pissed." "Levi does what he thinks is best. His methods might be a bit- unorthodox, but he knows what he's doing." "Were you there? In court I mean." "No, I wasn't, I thought it was best to leave that to Erwin, Levi, and Hanji, and besides I don't like being in the same room as those bastard merchants." Jean hummed in response.

"Ah Maria, there you are!" Maria turned to look at Ness who came walking towards them. "Squad leader Ness." Jean stood straight to salute the man. Ness smiled and waved him to stand down.

The balding man looked between the two. "I have been looking for you all over the perimeter." "Oh, sorry. The weather is nice and since the cadets are having a break right now, we thought we could talk a little to catch up." She smiled looking at Jean who turned away his head in embarrassment. "Did something important come up?"

"I'll leave." Jean was ready to turn around and walk away, but Ness stopped him. "It's alright cadet, you can stay." Jean nodded as Ness turned to the Lieutenant. "You can rejoin your squad back at the old headquarters. I will take it from here."

"That's even earlier than I expected, is everything alright over there?" Maria suddenly felt worried for her squad.

"I don't know the details, but a message came from the Section Commander. Something about an incident with the titan shifter boy." Jean frowned, he hadn't seen Eren since before the trial started, so he was curious about what was going on. Maria, however, knew Levi and their squad was more than capable of handling bad situations.

"I think it's wise for you to go back and help with whatever is necessary." "Alright, I will leave as soon as possible." The man gave her a nod and walked off again.

"So, you're leaving?" The small woman frowned. "Yeah, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do though, I mean Levi can handle things perfectly on his own."

'If this is some kind of excuse for me to get back, I'm going to strangle Hanji.' She thought. "But you're going to be fine Jean. All of you are going to the old headquarters in a week or so." "Who said I wasn't going to be fine." The teen huffed. Maria let out a soft laugh. "Right,"

"I will go and prepare my horse then." Jean gave her a nod while she got up. "I'll see you again soon, okay?" "Yeah, be safe."

· · ─── · ·

On the way back to the old headquarters, Maria stumbled upon a marketplace in a small town nearby. Maybe she could persuade one of her friends to tag along. But first, she had to find out why Hanji had asked for her return.