Longing to Be Known | Levi Ackerman x OC

18

-Kaisa-

The following morning, I awoke to commotion and loud conversation outside of my room. My head pounds and I am incredibly irritated by the fact that I was only able to get four hours of sleep instead of six. I tear the blanket off of me and throw my hair up into a lazily ponytail before leaning my ear against the door.

"There's no need for her to come. We're capable of taking care of Eren on our own, we are the best squad anyway!" A female voice complains to someone.

Petra.

"Captain Kaisa is the only person who's on par with Captain Levi, I think it's a great idea that she comes." The voice sounds like Oluo.

"All she does is swing anyway, what good will that be? At most she'll be bait." The ginger huffs.

I rip open my door and glare at the two soldiers.

"If you're going to talk shit about me, don't do it in front of my fucking room when I'm sleeping. I've had enough of this disrespectful nonsense, Petra. Get the fuck out of my hallway—Levi will hear about this when I see him next and he'll deal with you." I seethe. I can almost feel the venom dripping from my words.

They look at me with wide eyes and Oluo starts blabbering, apologizing for Petra's behaviour and I can't help but feel bad that he's been dragged into this.

"Kaisa-" Petra begins, "Captain Kaisa." I interrupt.

"I'm sorry, I just don't feel like it's necessary for you to waste your time with us." She tries to recover.

"Don't bullshit me. You are dismissed." I point in the direction of the exit.

They rush off and instead of returning to my room, I move across the hall and begin to pound on Levi's door.

"What the hell do you want." Levi grumbles as he opens his door to face me.

His hair isn't in its usual centre part and instead is all over the place, hanging over his face. He's wearing sweatpants that are hanging loosely around his waist, revealing a bit of his v-line because his shirt is slightly raised due to his hand is hanging around the back of his neck.

I can empathise with the sleep deprived man that is upset at the rude awakening, but I don't care too much as I shove my way past him into his room. He closes the door, walks to his washroom, and I hear the faucet turn on. I sit in his chair and he walks out, wiping his face with a towel before folding it nicely and placing it on his drawer.

"What's wrong?" He notices that I am incredibly upset. 

"Control your squad members. I don't appreciate being disrespected, nevertheless right in front of my room while I'm trying to sleep." I spit.

"Who? Who disrespected you?" Levi squints his eyes at me.

"Petra. She was spewing out some shit outside of our rooms in the middle of the hallway about how all I can do is just move quickly in my gear." I start, looking down at my hands which sat in my lap. "She said that working with your group would be pointless because 'at best I'd be bait'." I barely croak out the end of my sentence. I don't know why I'm so affected by someone else's comments, maybe it's because I feel like I haven't been able to prove myself worthy of a title like Humanity's Tempest.

"When someone insults you, they insult me and the rest of the Survey Corps." He growls. "I didn't train you to be such a pushover, Kaisa. Get yourself together, I'll sort it out." He affirms me.

I'm a bit surprised at how personally he takes the attack and see that he's heading over to grab his gear and boots which are situated neatly next to his bed. "I'm gonna change, so you can either sit there and enjoy the show or get the hell out of my room." He casually says.

"I can assure you that I would rather die than see you like that." I stick a tongue out at him before I close his door, letting him get to his business.

I change in my own room before heading down to the mess hall with a notebook in hand, ready to eat some breakfast while I sketch out new ideas for the expedition tomorrow. I decide to grab a loaf of bread and head outside near the large oak trees to do my planning since the hall was filled with chatter that would only distract me from figuring out the different ways we'd be able to keep Eren in check. I take a bite from my loaf and begin spinning the pen in my hand when I realise that we'd probably run into an accidental transformation with Eren.

Since we have no real intel on him and how his quirk works, I recall the documents I read about his experience against the titans in Trost. The only thing was documented was that he transformed once he decided he would survive with the sole purpose of killing all of the titans. A lightbulb goes off in my head and I realise that a probable cause of his transformation relates to a motivation or clear concept of what he plans to do. My thoughts pop out new ideas and I quickly write down what I think in excitement—it's been a long time since I've been challenged to genuinely use my brain to figure out such a complex scenario.

"Captain Kaisa." I hear a voice call out from my right.

"Yes?" I ask, not bothering to look up as I finish writing down my last thought.

"We heard that you're not going to be with us on the next expedition, is that true?" A voice quietly calls.

This captures my attention, and I look up to see my cadets standing in front of me, staring down where I was with discomfort in their eyes. I close the book and pat the grass next to me, so they take a seat, forming a circle as they do so.

"I wish it wasn't, but unfortunately I've been asked to accompany Captain Levi's squad to look over Eren to make sure that everything is going well as a preventative measure." I answer. "But, that doesn't mean that I am automatically not your captain. You'll be divided, meaning that our little group won't exist for however long Commander Erwin believes is necessary. Don't forget that all of you are each other's allies and remember to use your head when on the battlefield—I better not come back to any of you dead!" I lightly joke at the end.

"Captain. We understand the position we're placed in, you don't need to sugar coat it for us. But, we didn't come here to whine about the circumstance—we came to ask for some advice on how you've stayed alive for so long." Tsukishima says as he pushes up his glasses.

"Observance. Noticing the slightest details can mean the difference between life and death and is imperative when having to decide whether you fight or flight. I can see that Kiyoko has cut her hair slightly as it now rests slightly above her shoulder, and I know that Mina has been training more often because her posture is better. Understanding your comrades will be the best way to ensure victory, so remember to keep them in mind when considering which decision you make." I answer.

"You are capable cadets and I'm proud to have fought alongside you in the last expedition, but now it's time for you to lend your strength to other squads that require it." I smile.

"As much as I'd like to stay here and chat, I really need to figure out how we're going to be moving Eren safely between routes as it's likely that the Military Police is going to want to collect intel on him. Thank you for coming to see me, but for now, you're dismissed." I finish. They all nod their head at me and stand up, saluting me before they walk off quietly. I don't ask about their quiet mood, but frankly, it's not my main concern at the moment—I just need to figure out how to get Eren between destinations safely.

The wind blows and the green leaves from the tree fall unto my lap when an idea comes to mind:

People can't know which one is Eren if they can't see the difference between our capes; that's how we'll transport him.

We'll make him invisible.  

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2 updates in 1 day :)) hope you enjoy! <3

much love and take care,

~cendiain