Shorter Than Me

21 Levi

Guiin is gone and I'm standing once again by the stables. Elles is standing there alone.

"Where is Captain Ecyn, sir?"

"She took a leave of absence. I'm training you in her place," I tell her.

She rolls her eyes. "Why did she take off so suddenly?"

"You will address your superiors with the proper respect."

She stands up a little straighter, though she probably doesn't notice. "Yes, sir."

"It's none of your business why she left."

She stays silent. She obviously has respect for me. It might be my reputation or my intimidation. It's probably both. I don't know if I can teach her to have respect for Guiin, but I can influence her. I can insult her.

"Did you know I trained Guiin? Now she's training you. What were you ranked?" I say it a little mockingly.

"I was number four, sir."

I make myself look a little surprised, raising my eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

She narrows her eyes at me. "Yes, sir."

I glance at the equipment building and watch the last pair of Scouts exit. "Can you use maneuver gear?"

"Yes, sir." She looks angry at me. Good.

"As well as a fourth-ranked trainee should?" I keep pushing her.

"Yes, sir." She manages to keep a straight face.

"Guiin wasn't in the top ten. She still learned how to use the 3DMG better than most."

"Then maybe I'll get better than her, sir."

"I doubt it." I give her a disdainful look before turning to the equipment building. She follows me. I put my maneuver gear on and wait for her. "Hurry up. Even Guiin was faster than you on her first day."

She just glares at the ground and finishes tightening all the straps. She follows me into the forest. I don't want to say anything. I don't even want to train her. She seems spoiled and stuck up. I hate people like that. She's probably some rich person from inside Wall Sina. I just keep comparing her to Guiin, waiting until she blows up.

"I started teaching Guiin specific maneuvers, but you're probably not even ready for that. Do you want to try running? That sounds easy."

Here it comes. "I'm not incompetent! I can do things, maybe not as well as your precious Guiin, but stop comparing me to her!" Her hands clench into fists around the handles.

"You're not incompetent? As I recall, Guiin could hold a temper. She knew authority when she saw it. She only makes a mistake once. She learns."

"Well I'm sorry I'm not as perfect as your precious girlfriend!"

I slap her across the face to shut her up.

My heart died when I wrote that.

"Sir," I order.

She just looks at me with a mixture of surprise, anger, and defiance.

"Sir," I repeat.

"Sir," she replies through gritted teeth.

"Now apologize for your lack of respect and maybe I won't have you thrown out of the military."

She struggles with the order for a few seconds. "I'm sorry for being disrespectful, sir." I notice her obvious reluctance. I really don't like her. Guiin should have chosen someone else, like Hanji. I don't know if I'll end up killing Elles before Guiin gets back.

Guiin told me that I can do whatever I want except kill her, critically injure her, break any bones, sprain anything, or pretty much hurt her in any way that could stay hurt for more than a few days. She looked awkward giving me orders and telling me what to do. She should get used to giving orders. She'll have her own squad someday.

They grow up so fast. Haha. It probably took me five days to write this whole part.

So, will Levi be able to keep his spite from killing Elles? What will happen with Ecyn? Will Elles stop getting on everyone's nerves?

Please vote and/or comment if you liked it and throw your phone, tablet, laptop, whatever against the wall and stop reading this forever if you don't like it. Thanks for reading! :D