Rags and Riches ~ Levi x OC

13. Stars

 "Captain?" Enyo didn't bother knocking as she creeped into his office. Erwin stared out the window and watched the sunset. When he turned around, Enyo wondered what he could possibly be thinking about. His eyes were much more relaxed and unfocused than usual.

"Report, Enyo."

"Oh." Enyo plopped herself crisscrossed on the chair in front of Erwin's desk and perched her shoulders back unprofessionally. "They're strong, I'll give them that. But unrefined strength..."

Erwin motioned Enyo to continue and she shook her head, grounding herself back in front of Erwin. "They're no Scouts, Erwin. Send Isabel and Farlan to the Cadet Corp. In the ten-titan race, their time was slower than Cadets in their first year of training. Levi could potentially learn here, but until he gets rid of that self-righteous chip on his shoulder, he's dead weight."

Enyo pursed her lips. "I've never seen natural talent like Levi's. He was three seconds behind me in the race—when we did it three months ago, Mike was five seconds behind. I suppose if he were trained properly, he'd easily surpass me. Maybe even Mike. But he relies too much on his pride to push him forward."

"So we need to rip his pride away?" Erwin muttered to himself and sat at his desk. "Continue."

"I know you're planning that expedition. We should leave these guys behind. They'll be titan chow."

"They'll be coming."

"But, Erwin—"

"They have amazing instincts in the field. You saw them when we chased them."

"Yeah, and we caught them. We're human. Titans are..." Enyo shivered.

"Thoughtless." Erwin leaned forward and set a pen down. "Titans are thoughtless. If they escaped MP's, I don't have any doubts what they could do with titans."

Enyo furrowed her brows. What was he brewing, she wondered, that he would throw untrained and unqualified personnel outside the walls? Of course, that was always Erwin. In the end, his judgments always proved...accurate. "At least put them in the rear-vanguard."

Erwin hummed as a response and Enyo sighed. She rose and gave a lame salute. "Get rest, Erwin."

"Yes," Erwin mused as he opened up a document on his desk.

Enyo found herself in the mess hall. Baked potatoes and burnt cheese had wafted from the hall and her stomach growled like a wild beast begging to hunt. She pranced on her feet through the line and smiled across the room at Dieter and Luke.

"The eagle has landed." Luke wiggled his eyebrows as Enyo sat. She punched him.

"That Levi guy was insane," Dieter said between bites, "He was almost faster than you."

Enyo nodded. She gulped down a bite of food and counted to three before swallowing. "His tank was nearly empty. He hit it the entire time. Sure, he was fast, but reckless. When you're miles from the interior, you can't use gas like that."

"The guy's going to suicide bomb like three titans before getting clobbered," Luke added. "He might be good, but he's no Mike!"

Enyo grunted as an agreement after shoving more potato in her mouth. They ate and talked about their day. Luke had a disturbing run-in with Hange who apparently had been fangirling over the new arrivals and their skills like crazy. Dieter was near Enyo all day, cleaning up after the titan race.

Enyo pushed a few bites away and rose. "Stars?"

"Stars." Luke confirmed and jumped to his feet. "See ya' later, Dieter."

They zipped their way up the never-ending stairs and Enyo lunged to the top floor. Her feet perched lightly and she grinned down at Luke, who stood comedically dejected just two steps lower. Enyo and Luke were now golden eyes to deep dark eyes. Her chest pressed pushed against her breathing as they stared at each other and Luke reached toward her. Enyo gulped and flicked his forehead before spinning around and walking through the doorway.

Her steps froze and she held a quieting hand up for Luke.

"See! The clouds are moving! It's not the same at all."

"Believe in us, Levi," Farlan ordered. Enyo felt weird watching the group talk, but she couldn't help the curiosity that bubbled up. "We stick together."

Oh the precious fools, Enyo had thought as she turned around and pulled Luke away. They have no idea what a titan is. 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

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