Through Darkness Comes the Light

Chapter Four - Sins of the Military

(A/N - So...it's been uh, four years...wow. I was a senior in high school when I started writing this. Now I'm a senior in college. How time flies. Anyhoo, I know it's long over do and I doubt anyone reads this anymore, but this chapter is a whole five pages.)

Almost everything in Levi's office was spotless. Well, everything but the bookcase. Eliza stood on the step stool, but she wasn't quite tall enough to reach the upper shelf or the top of the bookcase and knowing Levi, he would have to have them both ridiculously clean to meet his standards.

"Clean freak," Eliza mumbled under her breath. She was sure he was seeing if she would fail miserably so he would have an excuse not to have her in his squad. Asshole.

Eliza grabbed the sides of the bookcase and put her foot on one of the lower shelves to give her a boost and it was just the right amount of height to be ale to see the top of the bookcase. Now, if only she could hold this position while she cleaned the last shelf and the top.

The door behind her opened with a creak; it sounded like Levi had returned. Eliza reflexively turned her head toward the door even though she couldn't see who was there. As she turned her head, it shifted her weight just enough that her foot slipped off the edge of the bookcase. The dust rag in her hand went flying as Eliza braced for impact. She was pretty sure she was going to smack her head against Levi's desk. It was going to hurt.

The impact never came. Instead, Eliza found herself caught in warm arms and surrounded by lemons. Eliza's momentum sent Levi back against his desk, but it hurt a lot less than if Eliza had smacked her head against it.

"When I told you to clean my office, brat, I didn't expect you to clean the tall things," Levi sighed.

Eliza looked up in disbelief, mouth slightly open. "You didn't say anything so how was I supposed to know?"

Eliza felt him tap her on the head with a finger. "Tch. It's called using the big pile of flesh between your ears," Levi retorted.

Eliza rolled her eyes. What an ass.

Levi gently set Eliza on the floor. "Don't roll your eyes at me, cadet, or you'll be running laps."

"At least if I was running laps, I wouldn't be dealing with your shitty attitude," Eliza mumbled under her breath.

"What was that, cadet?" Eliza could hear the eyebrow raise that accompanied that tone of voice.

"Nothing, sir," Eliza said, saluting. She hope it came off sarcastically.

"That's what I thought," Levi said. "Lucky for you, you're cleaning abilities meet my standards. Well done. You're dismissed."

"Yes, sir," Eliza replied and walked toward the door, which was luckily open. Hmm, that means Levi had to be pretty quick to save her. Eliza grinned a bit. She made sure the grin was gone as she turned and gently closed the door behind her. Before it fully closed, she said, "Thank you, Levi."

Since being Levi's assistant was supposed to take up more time than it did today, Eliza found herself without any more chores to do and at least a few hours of daylight left. Perfect, she had time to train. Eliza went to her and Mikasa's room and retrieved her gear. She slung it over her shoulder and headed back downstairs and into the fading sunshine.

The rest of the cadets were in one of the various classrooms going over the strategy for the expedition next week, so the training fields were quiet as Eliza walked through them on her way to the forest. Eliza didn't need to attend the briefing; both Levi and Mikasa were going to explain it to her verbally since it would do her no good to look at a schematic for obvious reasons.