Humanity's Hope || Levi Ackerman

TRAINING WITH HEICHOU

"I wonder what Captain Levi will have us do today," Eren wondered as the two Titan Shifters sat and ate breakfast that morning, Marta wolfing down her food and only stopping to reply to him, "the castle is clean so my guess is training..."

He nodded in response, a solemn look on his face, Marta scoffed at it. "I get it, not all it's cracked up to be. You're probably wanting to be out killing Titans and winning wars already but after training comes more training." She sighed.

"Correct, Eren, you're training with 3dmg with the rest of the squad and Marta, you'll be doing hand to hand combat with me," Levi stood in front of their table.

"Hand to hand combat, Heichou?" Marta whined.

"I heard about the mess you made at Trost. Don't know how you came second in your class if you can't fight Eren." His words were true, Marta had always been not a very good fighter. The Titans couldn't fight her back so they were easier to take out, she probably couldn't have even done that if Annie hadn't given her those lessons when they were training. So she just nodded, following him outside into a dusty clearing.

They were both wearing standard uniform, without the straps and jacket bunching up at Marta's neck so the burn scars on it were more visible, especially with her short hair. Levi spied them with his steely grey eyes but said nothing. Everyone had a past but it wasn't his business to find out hers.

"Let's begin," Levi said while getting into a fighting stance.

Marta got into one of her own, the one Annie taught her and he gave her a weird look, "what?"

"Where did you learn that fighting stance?" Levi asked.

"A friend in the Training Corps."

A hm was his only response and then they were circling each other, waiting for the first one to charge. It was Marta, hoping to get him on his back quickly, but he was faster than her and she landed on the ground with a thump. This went on for what felt like hours for Marta. Maybe she was getting better though, beginning to land some punches on Levi. "I'm beginning to think you're just beating me up because of what I said the other day, Heichou."

"You're wrong, I'm not petty like that. You're shit at fighting, I'm hoping if I knock you down a few more times you'll get a little less shit." Levi replied.

Marta scoffed, landing on her front this time, hitting her head on something, grumbling as she picked herself up again. "Maybe if you actually taught me how to fight, I wouldn't have to fall to the ground again,' she swung a punch at him but Levi was too skilled for her not to miss.

"I thought your fellow cadet taught you how to fight. You need to be able to fight properly in case Eren loses control again."

"Maybe I just don't have a natural knack for fighting, you'll just kill him anyway."

"It would be better if that wasn't the case, you can't lift any boulders on your own."

"Then why am I here, and not lifting weights?" Marta wondered, she wasn't too strong either, just agile and good at killing mindless giants.

"I saw that look on your face in the court room, it would be better if you could fight for yourself first." She landed on her back again, caught off guard by Levi's words. She sat up on the ground, looking down at her feet. "I was in chains, I couldn't have fought back."

Levi held out his hand to help her up again, his eyes softening just a bit. "You can fight back now," he was right. So Marta took a chance and flipped that larger man. Levi landed on his back this time and she straddled him so she couldn't get up.

"Good advice, Heichou. I won't mention your past if you don't mention mine."

Levi reached up to feel the back of her scarred neck, pulling her face down inches apart from his. She was caught off guard again, a light blush covering her face as her teal eyes widened. Levi flipped them so their positions were switched.

"Agreed." That was all he said before he stood up and gestured for her to follow him for the second time that day. "You're injured."

Marta reached up and touched the spot on her head that began to hurt suddenly after Levi mentioned the injury. Sure enough, it was bleeding when she looked at her hand again. He led her to a room she recognized as his office at the castle and sat her down on the comfy chair in the corner. It had a blanket resting over it and the bed looked mostly untouched, its crisp white sheets folded perfectly. Marta guessed he slept in this chair instead of the bed.

Reaching into one of the wooden cupboards, he pulled out a first aid kit. They stayed relatively silent as Levi tentatively dabbed some cotton wool soaked in rubbing alcohol to her pale forehead. She was the first one to speak after hissing at the sting, "shouldn't this be healing now... with me going all Titan, you know?"

"Ask Hanji about that sort of crap," he replied.

"How come I'm not in her office getting treated right now. Does Heichou feel bad for injuring one of his cadets?" Marta asked, sarcastically.

"Tch." She smiled at his reaction, Levi finally being done with cleaning up her wound.

"Thanks, Heichou. For cleaning the wound and training today, people may think you're not all you're cracked up to be but you're a good man in my eyes." Marta saluted to him before heading out the door, not before turning around and saying, "goodnight, try not to fall asleep in your chair." She smiled.

Maybe it was the start of a friendship as Levi stared opened mouthed at the now closed door of his room, Marta was certainly not a type of woman she'd met before. No one had outright said such a thing like that to him, not even Isabel and Farlan when they were there. He knew people were usually disappointed when they actually got to know Levi, he was a hero but everyone had their quirks.

Levi was glad Marta could see past his quirks, see the good person lying underneath despite his cold, calm exterior. Usually he made the wrong decision, but not to take care of that girl because for once he felt just a bit better.

He tossed and turned in his bed for a few hours that night. Levi may not have been able to fall asleep that night but he felt just a little more well rested than usual, even if the purple bruises under his eyes said differently.