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Chapter 2

No prior warnings.

Swears but that's about it

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I

llyria successfully managed to avoid most people for the remainder of the day. She wasn’t feeling particularly sociable after training. She headed to the showers and cleaned up, the recent events playing in her mind. She was still pretty annoyed, but she realised she was more annoyed at what the captain had said as opposed to what he had did. And she was mad at what he’d said, because she knew he was right. And that pissed her off.

After showering she sat in her room, writing in her journal and then began cleaning the room. She liked keeping her space clean, but she was known to go on what was affectionately termed ‘mad ones' every so often, especially when she was overwhelmed with emotion.

She changed everyone’s bed sheets and put all the laundry in a basket ready to be washed later. She cleaned the windows, wiped down every conceivable surface, scrubbed the bathroom and then dusted, swept and mopped the floors. Just as she was finishing up, Historia entered the room. She was ridiculously apologetic about getting her into trouble but Illyria dismissed it. It wasn’t Historia's fault. They spent a couple of hours together and Illyria felt her mood lift. Teasing Historia always managed to bring a smile to her face.

When they headed down to dinner, they sat in their usual spot, at a table that consisted of Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Amir, Historia and herself. Eren smiled warmly at Illyria, taking his seat opposite the redhead.

“Hey, how you feeling?” he asked softly and Illyria shrugged nonchalantly.

“Alright, bit sore, nothing special.” Historia smirked.

“The bedroom is spotless!” she exclaimed, giggling light heartedly and Illyria nudged her playfully. Eren smiled.

“Been on a bit of a mad one has she?” Illyria rolled her eyes.

“I’m right here you know?” he just chuckled and began eating his soup. Illyria swallowed a mouthful of the watery, almost flavourless green soup in front of her and continued chatting to her friends. Historia's eyes fell on her.

“So, you need to go to the captains office after dinner, right? You think he’s going to give you stable duty again?” Illyria shrugged, not really caring what her punishment was.

“Maybe he will assign you to clean the castle?” Armin piped up. Eren looked thoughtful.

“It has been a while since he has had to distribute a punishment, I bet there’s a lot of cleaning to be done.” Illyria sighed. She should have just kept her mouth shut, or made up some sort of excuse as to why she wasn’t training properly. She could have always said she didn’t feel well. That would have got her out of the difficult situation, without any repercussions. But she just hated the thought of being dishonest.

“I honestly don’t care. Whatever punishment he wants to give me, I’ll take without argument. I mean, let’s be honest, cleaning isn’t exactly a punishment for me anyway is it?” It was true, cleaning was often a welcome distraction for Illyria.

The rest of the dinner passed without incident, occasional laughs and the typical banter ensued and then Illyria stood, stretching slightly. She bid goodbye to her friends and headed to the captains office, knocking on the door lightly.

“Name and business?” the voice on the other side of the door was calm and even. Illyria gave a small sigh. Let’s get this over with.

“Illyria Light, sir. I’m here to receive my punishment.” There was a slight pause before she heard him grant her access. She opened the door and stepped through.

To her immediate right was an armchair and small table with an oil lamp. An armoire positioned against the wall. To her left was a bookcase filled with books. She stepped further into the room, her heels clicking on the wooden floor. A sofa to her left with a small wooden coffee table in front and another smaller table to its side with another lamp. Opposite, was a desk, a cup and teapot adorning it. Directly in front of her, was another chair and the captain was sat at his desk, his back to a huge window as he scribbled on some paper in front of him.

She stood in front of the desk and saluted, taking a moment while he was distracted to look at what was on his desk. An oil lamp flickered, paperwork... that was about it. He glanced up at her briefly.

“Sit down.” He said, eyes returning to the paper in front of him. Relaxing from her salute, Illyria took her seat in the chair opposite him. She watched him for a moment, his focused eyes following the pen as he wrote on it. His face was as stern as ever, black hair hanging slightly over his face. His brows drew closer together for a moment, causing a light crinkle in his forehead but then he relaxed again. Illyria looked to his hand, fingers gently but firmly gripping the pen as he continued, apparently not fazed that she was even sat there.

He had really nice hands. Long, slender fingers with perfectly trimmed nails at the tips. His hands were not particularly big, nor were they too small, but they looked surprisingly feminine which was surprising to Illyria, considering she was aware of just what his hands could do.

“Having fun there, Light?” Illyria jumped, snapped out of her thoughts. Levi had lifted his eyes to glance at her, noticing she was staring at him. She looked away instantly, fidgeting with her fingers and he lifted his head, dropping down the pen and pushed his paperwork to the side.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Levi leaned back a little in his chair, relaxing, one hand coming to rest on his desk as his other arm draped around the back of his chair.

“Yes. Your effort in today’s combat training was below-par, at best. And your attitude unacceptable.” Illyria blinked and looked into his silver orbs.

“Excuse me, sir... attitude?” he cocked an eyebrow at her, his fingers gently starting to drum on his desk.

“Do you think I missed the eye roll? The blatant lack of respect? The tone in your voice when you addressed me?” he questioned and Illyria sighed heavily. She had been quite defiant today. But she was just angry! Usually she regards the captain with the utmost respect. He is her superior after all. But more so than that, Illyria felt he deserved the respect regardless of if he was her superior or not. He was humanities strongest solider, Illyria probably didn’t even know half of what he had done for humanity, for their world. Respect was the least he deserved in her eyes.

While Illyria contemplated her thoughts Levi’s fingers drummed harder on the desk, alerting her that he was quite patiently waiting for a response. She licked her lips.

“Apologies sir. I let my anger get the better of me and forgot myself. I’ll take whatever punishment you see fit without quarrel. And it won’t happen again, sir.” Levi faltered, not expecting that sort of response from the woman before him.

Illyria was quite the antagonist when she wanted to be. She could be hostile and confrontational. He had been witness to her combative nature several times, when she had argued with her fellow comrades, seeming to take an inexplicable dislike to Sean for some unknown reason. Her anger, when pushed, was explosive, but it was rare. He was also acutely aware of Illyria’s problems during the three year cadet training with Shadis, who claimed she had an ‘insubordinate attitude’ and was ‘undisciplined and rebellious in nature’. Illyria, had a problem with being told what to do. She had a problem with authority. And she had a huge problem with being made to feel inferior.

It had been a rough adjustment for her. Learning to play well with others had been difficult, but she was getting there. However, that didn’t exactly make the captain want to go easy on her.

“Rehearsed responses aren’t going to help you this time, cadet.” He replied, noticing how her eyebrows drew together in a small frown at his words. Yet she remained silent. He gave a sigh.

“However... it’s going to be difficult to punish you.” He commented casually, eyes softening slightly as his lips formed a small smirk. Illyria blinked.

“Sir?”

“Well cleaning isn’t exactly a punishment for you, is it?” he quoted her previous admission at dinner, word for word, and her eyes widened again. He had heard her? How?! She scoffed.

“I swear you hear everything.” She muttered, mostly to herself as she looked across the room to the sofa, folding her arms over her chest in a sulk. Levi’s smirk grew.

“Luckily, I have a solution.” Illyria looked to him, her face screaming how unimpressed she was with the entire situation. Levi continued, undeterred, his fingers toying with the pen that was on his desk absentmindedly.

“I have an event that I need to attend in a few days. And I need a date. So you will be accompanying me.” Illyria froze. What was that? Surely she couldn’t have heard that right. He had sounded so casual. Like he was talking about an expedition or commenting on the weather. Surely she must have misread. She stuttered.

“I’m-I’m sorry sir, I don’t think I heard that right, can you please repeat the...”

“No you heard me.” Levi was looking straight in her eyes as he slowly nodded his head, confirming what he had just said.

“You will accompany me to this event.” Illyria was completely dumbfounded. Levi sensed her utter confusion and so continued talking, standing up and moving around to stand in front of Illyria as he spoke.

“The event is an annual celebration for all the commanders, leaders and captains from all regiments and nobles alike. Anyone of high status has to go. Its incredibly dull and boring.” He leaned against his desk, his fingers gently gripping the edge as he watched Illyria’s expression. She was still in awe, her mind racing. Just what was the angle here?

“Everyone is on their best behaviour. Polite, well mannered, respectful. As you will be accompanying me, you will be representing the scout regiment, so must also be on your best behaviour.” Illyria looked up at him and he smirked.

“Personally, I can think of no better punishment for you... than to stand in a room full of your superiors and other pompous bastards, and have to be compliant and courteous.” Illyria’s eyes narrowed as it dawned on her just what he was suggesting. She grit her teeth. Fucking asshole.
She faked a smile.

“Thank you for the offer but I must respectfully decline, sir.” She chirped and Levi scoffed.

“I didn’t ask you, cadet. I told you.” Illyria's smile faded. Great. She sighed and shook her head.

“And if you don’t behave as you should. If you are belligerent or disrespectful in any way, there will be consequences.” She glared at him and he smiled back, folding his arms across his chest. She groaned.

“You’re sadistic, you know that?” his eyes took on a look Illyria had never seen before. Her heart raced. As quickly as that look had appeared it was gone again and he gave a half hearted shrug.

“I’ve been called worse. Dismissed.” And just like that, he pushed himself off the desk and walked back to the other side of his desk, sitting himself down, full attention back on his paperwork. Illyria sighed and stood, throwing him another half arsed salute that went unseen by him as she walked out of the room.

Once back out in the hallway she ran a hand through her hair and leaned against the wall, banging her head against it several times in frustration.

“Fuck!”

This was not going to go well.

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Bit of a slow build.

Also a bit of a filler chapter

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