Those born in the dark (Levi love story)

The day before the mission

Scarlett whizzed through the trees in her 3DM gear with great speed. It had been almost a month since they came above ground. Tomorrow was the day they were all going on their first mission with the survey squad. The last few weeks had been hard and tiring. None of them had ever been worked so hard but Scarlett was thankful for it. She felt stronger than she had ever been before, faster and more powerful. Then out of nowhere appeared a cardboard cut out of a Titan. Scarlett sighed and quickly drew both her swords. Putting her grapple hook into the tree just past it her sliced at the Titans weak spot. The nape of the neck. She had learnt that on the lesson they had with Hanji a couple of weeks ago. She had learnt a load of other stuff that seemed irrelevant. The cardboard cut out fell to the ground. Scarlett was flying straight towards a tree so she turned herself around so she handed sideways on the tree. She then used both feet to push herself off and towards the direction she wanted to go. The other three would be waiting for her. The practise mission was simple. It was all about being able to navigate in a situation where there is no one else around. The four of them had all been released at different parts of the woods, they simply had to get out. Scarlett heard a sound from above her, when she looked up she was the outline of a small girl with pigtails. She hadn't seen Scarlett yet. Scarlett smiled to herself and used her 3DM gear to vanish into the shadows. She mover herself into position and then jumped out at the girl. Isabel jumped as she saw Scarlett appear out of nowhere. Scarlett began to laugh and then stopped suddenly when she saw Isabel's cut up arm.

"What happened to you?" She asked worriedly.

"Nothing much. Just one of those stupid cardboard Titan things appeared out of nowhere, I lost my balance a little and fell into a tree." Scarlett sighed.

"You really have to be more alert, your going to get yourself killed." Isabel shrugged the comment off.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine tomorrow. Those Titans won't know what hit them."

"Yeah you keep telling yourself that." Said Scarlett with a smile.

"So are you sure we are going in the right direction?"

"Yeah of course I am. I have much better sense of direction than you do." Then suddenly three cardboard Titans appeared. One was on Scarlett side and another on Isabel's. The third was in the middle of the other two and some way back. The two of them didn't say a words, already knowing the plan. Scarlett took hers down and Isabel took down hers. Then together they flew towards the next one. Isabel sliced at the Titan's neck and looked back at her work. She scowled.

"Damn not deep enough." Then Scarlett flew past and made the cut much deeper and it fell to the ground. She rejoined Isabel.

"Thanks for that." Said Isabel.

"No problem." The two of the saw a large opening in front of them. It wasn't the exist of the forest, by Scarlett's calculations that wasn't for a while yet. They saw to male figures on the ground and some 3DM gear all over the floor around the two. One of them was leaning over the other as he lied on the floor. The one of the ground had blood pouring down the right side of his face. Scarlett recognised them as Levi and Farlan and rushed down towards them. She and Isabel landed next to them.

"What happened?" She asked running over and sitting next to Farlan.

"His 3DM gear seems to have became faulty and he must have crashed head first into a tree." Explained Levi. "We have to move him, we are out in the open here."

"Were you with him when it happened?"

"No I just found him here." Scarlett looked down at Farlan's unconscious face. She took a quick look at his head wound.

"It's not that bad, he will be okay but we need to get him out of the forest."

"I can carry him but if I do I can't fight." Said Levi picking Farlan up.

"Don't worry, Isabel and I will deal with any Titans." Scarlett saw the look of uncertainty spread over Levi's face. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Levi, trust us." At the sound of her sweet voice and gently touch Levi handed his trust over to her. He didn't trust many people but this was Scarlett. He had seen over the last four weeks that she was just as good as he was in combat. She had become much more confident in herself too, she didn't always look to Levi for the answers anymore. That fact made Levi both a little sad and happy. He was glad she knew what to do and could look after herself but he felt like he was losing her. Like he didn't see him as her leader anymore. He liked to be the one to protect her. In his eyes it was the mans job to protect the woman he loved, but the one he loved was very independent and didn't need him to protect her. He nodded at her and the three of them set off through the woods with an unconscious Farlan over Levi's shoulder...