Through Darkness Comes the Light

Chapter One - Lemons

A knock sounded on Corporal Levi Ackerman's office door.

Levi sighed. "Enter."

The door opened and Commander Erwin walked in. He had a file in his hand and walked over to Levi's desk, dropping the file in front of Levi.

Levi stared at it a moment before picking it up. He opened it and quickly scanned the contents. He looked up at Erwin, who was standing in front of Levi's desk with his hands behind his back. "What is this?"

"You know what it is," Erwin replied.

Levi slammed the file down onto his desk in a rare show of anger. "All I know is that you've assigned a blind scout to my squad," he told Erwin coldly. "What the hell am I supposed to use her for, Titan bait?!"

Erwin smirked at him, crossing his arms in front of him. "I think you'll find a better use for her than that."

Levi rolled his eyes. "I doubt it."

Erwin shrugged at Levi. "Well, you won't know until you meet her. She's down at the training yard."

"So?" Levi asked.

"So you and I are going to go down and greet her," Erwin told him.

"And what interest do you have in her?" Levi asked.

Erwin grinned at Levi. "She's an old friend of mine."

Levi groaned. "Fine. I'll come down."

"You never really had a choice, Levi," Erwin told him.

Levi glared at him. "Trust me, I know."

Levi got up from his chair and followed Erwin out of the office. They walked down to the training yard with Levi grumbling the whole way.

As he and Erwin approached the training yard, Levi noticed a large group of Survey Corps members gathered around. People were offering encouragement and cheering at something. The group parted to allow Erwin and Levi through.

At the center of the yard, a girl with long, wild dark brown hair was sparring with Jean Kirstein. The girl blocked an overhand strike from Jean and countered it with a punch to his abdomen. Jean doubled over in pain and the girl twisted to the side of him, hooking her ankle around the back of his and sweeping his legs out from under him. Jean landed on his face in the dirt with a mix of cheers and grumbles from the crowd.

The girl bent down and helped Jean to his feet. Then she stepped away and brushed her hair out of her eyes. Then she turned her head toward Erwin and Levi, fixing her clouded eyes on both of them. She walked over toward Erwin and Levi and stopped about a foot from them.

"It's nice to see you again, Eliza," Erwin greeting.

"I wish I could say the same to you, Erwin," Eliza replied with a grin.

"How did you know we were over here?" Levi asked curiously.

Eliza turned toward him. "Erwin smells like lavender, like always, and you smell like lemons, if you were curious."

"Eliza, this is Corporal Levi Ackerman," Erwin told her. "I've assigned you to his squad."

Eliza held out her hand to Levi. "It's nice to meet you, Corporal."

Levi shook her hand stiffly. "The same to you."

Eliza looked at Levi curiously. "I doubt that. You don't want me here because you don't know what to do with me. You're trying to figure out what having a blind member of your squad could do, how many of your comrade's lives I could endanger." She gave Levi a half-smile. "Don't worry, I don't really want to be here either. Erwin called in a favor I owed him, so here I am."