butterfly rising ➪ levi ackerman

five

FIVE
a strong foundation

     SWEAT BEADED ON VALOR'S FOREHEAD, blonde hair wet and sticking to her skin. She held her fists in front of her, one close to her face and the other in front of her farther, gripping a sharp knife. She was breathing heavily, studying the man in front of her, trying to anticipate his every move.

     He lunged at her, twirling his knife before swinging it at her. She dodged it, the weapon barely missing the junction of her neck and shoulder. She hit his extended bicep with her forearm, bringing her free arm forward and throwing a punch. He blocked it, bringing his leg up and kicking her square in the stomach. She flew backward, arms flailing in front of her as she hit the dry ground. A grunt left her mouth as she landed on her back, knocking the air out of her lungs.

     The blonde's chest heaved, head resting on the solid ground below her. She cleared her throat, nose twitching as dust settled around her, disturbed by her hard fall. She blinked, eyes focusing on a hand outstretched in front of her.

     "Get off the ground, it's filthy." Levi chastised the girl, and she huffed, shaking her head as she took his hand.

     "Well, I wouldn't have been on the ground in the first place if someone hadn't kicked the shit out of me."

     "Told you I wasn't going to go easy on you."

     "I didn't ask to train with you in the first place!" She laughed, looking at him with a twinkle in her eye. As much as she complained about the training sessions Levi did with her at the crack of dawn, she enjoyed spending the time with him and she knew it was helping. "I almost got you that time." She grinned, brushing her uniform off. He let out a soft 'hmph', but she could tell by his expression that he wasn't annoyed.

     "You are improving. That's the longest we've ever sparred for." He begrudgingly agreed with her, and she raised a fist in the air.

     "Hell yeah!" Levi could've laughed at the sight of her. Soaked with sweat, battered and bruised, legs about to give out underneath her, and coated in dusty dirt, she looked like she'd just won the lottery.

     "You didn't win, Valor." He reminded her, and she nodded.

     "I know. But I'm getting there." She grinned, arms dropping to her sides. "What now?" She asked, still breathing irregularly, and Levi raised an eyebrow.

     "Laps. You did well in hand to hand combat today; we'll leave it there." He saw her eyes light up and couldn't help the warm feeling that bloomed in his chest. They'd been training together for more than three months now, every morning unless they had the day off, and even then, they usually both found themselves together. Valor had improved leaps and bounds since she'd started training with Levi, and that was saying something, as she was an extremely skilled soldier before. She hadn't yet won in hand to hand combat with the Ackerman, but she could feel herself growing tougher with every training session. The sparring session had lasted fifteen minutes before Levi had knocked her to the ground, and she couldn't help but feel impressed with herself.

     While she hadn't outright asked Levi to train with her, it was more than obvious she wanted him to. After her first expedition outside the walls, she realized being a Scout was more grueling than she had originally thought.

     It was the first time she'd ever seen a Titan. A real, live, flesh eating, murderous Titan, right in front of her. Its teeth were stained red from the blood of her comrades, curled into a permanent smile. It wasn't taller than eleven meters, with greasy black hair and long fingernails. It was the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen in her life. And the scariest.