A Different Path

Chapter Twenty-Three

   'Shit, talk about bad timing.' Levi thought to himself. "I don't know." He said while adjusting his gear.

"I know you told me I was left outside the door as a baby, but you really didn't see anyone? I mean, not even-"

"No, quit asking." He snapped, he wanted this conversation to be over. Lilith could tell so she stopped talking. Levi felt bad for not being able to answer her question, but he was truly clueless. Almost eight years later and they still had no idea who the hell Lilith's parents were.

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After Levi was done getting ready, Lilith took hold of his hand and the two met up with Furlan and Isabel. The four talked until Levi's squad leader interrupted.

"Get your blades out, you're up first." Levi did as he was told. He held the grips as he normally did, one facing front, one backwards. This was what felt comfortable to him.

"You punk, what do you think you're doing holding it like that!?" The leader barked at Levi. "They weren't designed to be held like that! You wanna die the second you step outside the walls?!"

"You might end up that way..." Levi said quietly.

"What did you just say to me?!" Flagon was ready to sucker punch Levi in the gut.

"All that matters is slicing through that back of a titan's neck, right? Let me do that however I want." Levi zipped off into the forest, leaving Lilith, Furlan, and Isabel at the entrance. Not saying bye to any of them.

"Wait up, brat!" The angry squad leader yelled before zipping off after Levi.

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Levi flew through the forest waiting for a dummy titan to be flung out in front of him to slice. A few seconds into thought, it happened. A dummy titan was pulled out and Levi readied his blade and cut through. His cut was insanely deep. A scout from behind saw this, 'these thugs with no experience are doing better than trained soldiers?!' he thought to himself. He wasn't gonna let this be. While Levi was about to double back to get another cut, the scout flung forward, cutting one of Levi's lines, this made him nearly fall to his death within seconds, but luckily Levi's reflexes reacted before he could.

"Don't fall behind!" The scout chirped. Levi was ready to slice through him when he noticed a blade left in the nape of the titan dummy.

"Watch out!" another scout shouted. The mocking scout was about to lose an eye if he tried to cut through the nape again. Before the scout got too close, Levi cranked his gas and shot towards the engraved blade, cutting it perfectly out of the dummy's neck.

"How... was he so fast...?" the cocky scout asked between breaths. The scout squinted his eyes at Levi's hands to see something odd. "And he did it all underhand?!" The scout continued to grow angry, he thought to himself, 'there's no question his fighting seems flawless, but I know he won't stay disciplined for long...'

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After about three hours, Levi made his way back to the entrance of the forest. Furlan was up after Levi so he left a few minutes after him. Isabel was at the entrance with Lilith and the squad 4's leader. She was practicing landing on her horse from the air and zipping off after mounting. Normally this scared the horses, hence the practice, but Isabel's horse was oddly calm.

After landing on her horse again, she looked at Lilith who was sitting at a picnic table a few meters away. She made her way towards the kid.

"Hey, you alright?" Isabel asked the quiet girl.