FicWad

Lia had managed to get by without any serious injury, and just a few mild lacerations. Kikka had made it her personal mission to keep an eye out to ensure Levi and Lia weren't communicating, but she found herself frustrated as her subjects would disappear daily. When she confronted Lia about it, the girl merely shrugged and hid behind a book.


The two women had been spending a fair amount of time together. Kikka insisted Lia needed "her protective services, you fragile porcelain doll." This amused Lia, rather than offending her, and she had herself a friend at long last. She no longer ate meals in isolated silence, but often in a fit of giggles. Though she had only three real contacts in her military branch, she was beginning to feel like she was part of a team.


Seeing as she had gone an entire week without falling or hitting anything whilst airborne, Levi felt it might be time for some blade practice. The idea was somehow more intimidating to her than actually doing hands-on combat with her tutor. However, this would be the most important bit of practice she could have. Training had been so-so, and she had managed to hit her target, but she was not confident she'd be able to repeat it time and time again.


In what seemed like no time at all, Kikka was recruited to assist, and Lia was perched in a tree, trying to steady her breathing before the assignment began. A few hundred paces away, Kikka was positioned at rope controls for a dummy Titan. Levi stood beside her, waiting for the chance to animate the large wooden model to make the practice pad more difficult to cut.


Kikka glared at him with heavy disapproval, and he did a fair job of ignoring her for a while. "I don't like you," she said finally.


"Don't care," he shot back.


"You're kind of a shitty guy," she mused. "I hope you know I'm allowing all of this." She motioned to the current training activity. "But I'm watching you. No funny business."


Levi sighed and stared upward at the dappled sunlight in the leaves. Lia is bound to get here shortly. I hope, he thought. Sure enough, he could hear the winding of vertical mobility equipment in the distance. Kikka gave a hard pull on her rope, and he did the same with his. Slowly, the target began to turn.


Closing in on the objective was a lively and excited Lia. Her blonde hair flew behind her like a heavily braided tail, and her hazel eyes were alight with anticipation. She veered to the left to try to obtain a better angle while the target was in its current position. With bated breath, she poised her blades and braced her wrists.


With a twist of her body, she felt her blades meet resistance but slice through their mark. A large chunk of padding flew from the nape, and Kikka's whooping came blasting from below. Lia felt her heart soar as she gradually made her way to the ground. Grinning, she ran over to the pair of them.


"All right, Lia!" Kikka thumped her on the back. "Does this mean you haven't gotten a kill yet? Oh, you just wait! It's the best feeling in the whole world." Levi stared at her for a moment, so as to make sure her enthusiasm was quite over with, before turning to Lia.


"Again," he said simply. "And take care of that hair." Lia blushed furiously and pinned it back into a bun. She shot back into the trees and they took position. Time and time again, they ran through the paces, Levi twisting the fake Titan more aggressively with each round.


After about six target pad replacements, Lia was out of breath. She landed on the ground, dropped her blades, leaned on her knees, and panted. Levi picked up the slashed bits of cotton squares and began heading back to the base. Kikki plodded over to Lia and gave her a nudge.


"He might make a fair soldier out of you yet! I'm excited to see how you'll do on the real front. Sure wish they'd hurry up and get us out there again. I'm bored! It's high time we did some fightin'!" She punched in front of her a few times, and Lia weakly laughed as they started after Levi.


She could not understand her friend's enthusiasm of facing the monsters that lurked beyond the walls. After seeing one, she was content with the idea of never witnessing another. She would have to, of course, but Kikka acted as though it were a sport. The pixie-haired warrior had gotten four kills and six assists thus far, and she had a reputation for telling others off for "stealing" her Titans.


"So what's on for tomorrow then?" asked Kikka, her arms crossed behind her head casually as though she were lying down.


"Rest, hopefully. We've been at it for days! I'm still sore from hand-to-hand yesterday." Lia rubbed her skull in remembrance. "My bun came loose again, and Levi tugged it before yelling at me. I swear, if he chastises me one more time about it, I'm going to punch him in the face." She sighed heavily. "I probably hear it four times a day! It's my hair; I don't know why he thinks it's so bad. It's not hurting anyone, but he keeps saying it's a hazard." She motioned quotations with her fingers on the last word. After a bit of silence, she noticed Kikka was smirking at her. "What?"


"Do you ever get...hands-y?"


"It's hand to hand combat; of course we do," she responded as though it were the dumbest question someone could ask.


"No, I mean..." Kikka dropped her arms and leaned in closely so she could lower her voice. "Do you kids get a bit touchy? Hands-on? Feely?" Lia yelped and jumped back in horror, and Kikka guffawed.


"N- no! Of course we don't. Levi and I aren't...why would you ask that?" responded Lia breathlessly, hiding her red face and brushed stray tresses behind her ear out of bashfulness.


"Well..." Kikka raised a raven-colored brow. "You're attracted to him, are you not?"


"He's a jerk," Lia grumbled darkly.


"That's not what I asked. I think you have it in for him though," her friend responded knowingly. Lia mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "hate him," and, "if I didn't need him so much." Kikka harrumphed and added, "'Fine by me if you decide to hate his guts. He's a rotten bit of fruit if I ever saw one."


Lia remained silent, lost in thought while staring at the back of Levi's self-groomed head. She couldn't have the idea going around that the two of them were something of an item. Undoubtedly, he would halt his assistance immediately if that were to happen, and even though she had improved a considerable amount, she was still just par with the basic trainee. It sure as hell beat being bottom-of-the-class level though.


"Why can't I just be a natural like him?" she wondered aloud. "I'll bet he was at the top of his class."


"Levi didn't go through the Training Corps like the rest of us," her partner replied bitterly.


"No Training Corps?" she echoed incredulously.


"Erwin recruited him straight from the Underground. He was self-taught on stolen equipment, apparently. None of us really liked it, but we couldn't deny he out-stripped over half of the recruits we get. He's lucky he's not on military arrest. I suppose we are too."


Lia turned her shocked face back to him, her mind buzzing. He was this great without formal training. Incredible. It seemed she was learning more and more that she had never known about her coach. Although they saw each other every day, he never spoke of himself, and she hadn't given much thought to what was unsaid. Now she felt herself burning with curiosity and want of more information.


When they reached headquarters, it was alive and bustling. People were taking items from place to place, carrying things to wagons while others saddled horses. The girls looked around, rapidly taking in the action. Kikka whooped and knocked Lia on the back for the second time that day.


"It looks like we're going to kill some Titans! Yahoo!" She scampered off to pack her things. Lia flagged down a nearby teammate to get confirmation and find out what protocol was.


"We leave shortly; I don't know where you three have been," he told her. "We are going to supply a small base a few kilometers outside of the walls. See Erwin about your position; we have a lot of wagons this time." She obeyed immediately and rushed forward for orders.


There was to be no trolley for her that day, but she would be riding alongside one in a small group. She felt this way, she at least wouldn't be a sitting duck, but still she pondered if it might be better to be the one surrounded by protection. Just as she was turning to go ready herself, she bumped into Levi.


"Hurry up. We're not gonna wait for you. You're with me."


"Why?" she complained loudly.


"Because you're a bit of an idiot yet and I don't trust your independent coping skills. I told Erwin to assign us to the same wagon. Now hurry up and go." She scowled at him but listened and stalked off to the barracks.


"He sure thinks he's something, acting like he's in charge of me. I don't care how talented he is; he's still a grunt just like me," she said to no one as she angrily threw items into a rucksack. With one last glance into the room, she wondered if it would be her final time seeing it. She then took a deep breath and set out to join the rest of the troops.