Shorter Than Me

22 Levi

I stand by the stables, waiting for Elles to be done running around all the buildings for the fifth time. She reaches me and manages to stand up straight when she stops. That's an improvement. Her breathing is heavy, and she stares at me with tired eyes. I look back with a disdainful expression. I turn around. "Come on."

I can hear her following me. She's breathing loud enough for every titan in the world to hear her. Once we get far enough into the trees, I tell her to take her blades out. "Fight me."

She looks surprised, but doesn't say anything. I lunge toward her and she backs up and away.

"You can't out-maneuver me, you can't even touch me, so what's the point of doing this?" I demand.

"I don't know, sir." She's still in retreat. I could catch up with her, an inexperienced new recruit going backwards, but I just follow her, pushing her backwards.

"It improves coordination, balance, and skill with the blades." I hit her leg hard with the flat side of the blade. "Even Guiin fought back at this point."

That pushes her over. She attacks me now. In order to keep the blades from damaging each other, I use the flat side to deflect and attack. She's using the sharp sides, but can't hit me at all. We do this for about fifteen minutes, then take a minute-long break before starting again.

We go on for two hours. I hit her countless times while she hits me only three times. Two of them were by accident, one of them I let her get in order to hit her even harder.

She doesn't say anything the whole time, even when I yell at her to go faster and say even Guiin did better.

Even Petra did better. But Petra was more skilled. She had been in the Scouting Legion longer and had been on a few expeditions. She had just asked me to help her with some things. We were just friends at that time, but we were pretty close. She could read me pretty well, and I could read her down to the letter.

"Sir," Elles asks when we're standing on the ground.

"What?"

"Why do you keep comparing me to Guiin, sir?" She knows why I'm doing it. She knows the more I say Guiin is better, the more she'll believe it.

"Why not? Guiin is the ideal Scout. Respect, superior skill, she became a captain after only a short time in the Scouting Legion. Maybe she should be your role model."

"You want me to think she's some kind of supernatural amazing person."

"Sir," I remind her.

"Sir."

"Do you respect her?"

"You're making me not respect her. Does she need someone like you to make her seem like she's more than she is? Why can't she show me herself? Did she just run away and let you make up things about her?"

I fix her with a gaze I've perfected. Just as expected, she looks a bit unnerved by it. "Elles, you have a problem. Do you know what it is?"

She just looks at me expectantly.

I take a few steps forward and glare at her eyes. "You keep forgetting to call me sir."

She takes a step back.

I take a step forward again to close the gap. "Why is that?"

She moves back again. "I'm sorry, sir."

I keep pushing her back. "Answer the question."

"I don't know, sir."

"You don't even have an idea? Guess."

"I can't. I don't know, sir."

Eventually she runs into a tree and I hold my face six inches from hers. She looks intimidated even though I'm shorter than her. "Think for once."

I can tell her mind is racing, trying to find an answer. I watch her eyes harden, going from fear to anger. I can tell her fist is coming, but I don't move. When it connects with my cheekbone, I move my body to absorb some of the impact and grab her arm at the same time in case she tries to run. I spin her around and hold her in place by her upper arms.

"You just attacked your superior officer. Do you know what usually happens after that?"

She's surprised I don't attack her back. "What?"

"Dismissal from the military forever." I release her and step back. I point. "Headquarters is that way. If you want to leave, you know the way."

With that, I jump into the trees and follow where I pointed, leaving her behind. I don't know if she'll leave or not, but I don't care. I won't tell anyone, though. I'll get a bruise, but no one will pry too much about it.

***

"Levi! I heard you were training another recruit!" Hanji follows me down the hall. "Is she better than Ecyn?"

I ignore her, but she starts walking next to me.

"Levi! What happened to your face?"

"Same thing that happened to yours. Fell off Wall Rose."

"Ouch," she complains. "But seriously. You're not the kind to fall and hit your desk or something. And it looks like a fist mark." She gasps. "Who hit you!!!!! Was it the recruit you're training?"

"No."

"Who?" She waits for my answer. "Levi!!!!!"

I ignore her again.

"I'm telling Erwin!!!!!" She runs away.

***

"Was it a person?" Commander Erwin asks.

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Fierra Elles."

"Why did you let her hit you?" He knows she couldn't have hit me without my consent.

"So she could leave. I gave her the option of leaving."

"You know she has to be removed from military service."

"With Guiin's consent."

"Yes."

"So just wait until Guiin comes back and she can decide. She won't make Elles go. But Elles might leave on her own."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Why did she hit you?"

"She has difficulty finding respect for others."

"Ah." He nods as if that's all the explanation he needs. "But is she getting better?"

"Maybe."

"Alright. I won't tell anyone about this. But if Hanji gets it out of me, you can't blame me."

"Yes I will." I walk out.

I'm horrible at POV transitions. Sorry haha. This part is dedicated to peaunutbutterjelly because she has helped me so many times get out of writer's block. I am so grateful to her. (She also has a really good LevixReader oneshot I just read.)