Back to you (Levi x Reader)

Strike to hard

*PSA: no walls have been broken down. I mention a character, but just imagine him as a regular citizen and soldier for the sake of the story :)*

(Your POV)

I was awoken by the harsh pounding on my door. "(Y/N)?! Are you in there? Training is about to begin!" A familiar voice shouted behind the door.
I got up, still half asleep, and went to open the door. I rubbed the sleep away from my eyes and Levi barged in the room.
"(Y/N)! Get dressed quick! Erwin is going to kill you if your late!" Levi yelled as he rifled through my clothing drawers.
I stumbled over to him and yawned, "wait what? What's going on?" I muttered.
Levi gave me my clothes and shook me to try to wake me up, "Your going to be late for training (Y/N)!"
And then I fully awoke. My eyes widened, "Oh shit!"
I carelessly threw off my clothes in front of Levi and began to haul on my scouting uniform. I didn't mind, but Levi averted his eyes when I suddenly pulled off my clothes....what a gentleman...

We rushed down the hall to the training grounds. Getting there just in time as Erwin just finished addressing the scouts.
They all lined up just like before in neat rows and lines.

I stopped just before we stepped into the grounds to stretch quickly and put on my game face. "Just one second..." I told Levi as I was stretching and readying myself. "Ok, lets go." I said with a smile.
We both walked like bosses onto the grounds. All eyes turned to us. Both of us had the same blank, determined expression.

I walked beside Erwin and he gave me a nod to begin the training. I moved forward to speak to the scouts and Levi stayed silent by Erwin's side.

"Good morning scouts. I appreciate your patience over the last few days." I took a gulp and began,
"I will start off by asking you all a simple question. You will raise your hand for a yes, and stay quiet for a no."
They nodded, understanding my question. And then I asked very bluntly, "How many of you believe you can succeed me in combat?" The whole grounds were still with silence. I stared at them for a second and then spoke again, "very well...How many of would would like to beat me in combat?"
I assumed that most of them were quiet because they were scared. But the more time that passed, the more hands went up. About 10 hands total went up for my last question. "Soldiers that have raised their hands. Please move up to the front." I noticed that they seemed a bit scared. Probably thought they were in trouble. Eventually, they moved up to fight in front of me. Some of them looked like they were fearless, some of them looked like they were going to piss their pants.

I walked along in front of each soldier and glared at each one. I walked back and forth along them twice silently before saying a word. "Out of these soldiers here. How many of you believe you may succeed me in combat? Be honest. That's an order."
They all gulped. Only 1 soldier raised his hand. I walked towards him.

Tall
Muscular
Confident

"What is your name soldier?!" I order to him.
His gaze lay straight ahead. Not glancing once at me below him.
"Reiner Braun, ma'am" The tall blond man said confidently.
I nodded and stepped back to address the entire crowd.
"Reiner Braun. He believes he could best me in a fight. Out of all the many of you in front of me, only 1 singular soldier believes he could win." I stopped to catch my breath.
"If you are against a titan, how do you think you performance would be altered if you strongly believed you couldn't win? Would you give up? Would you run away? Or, would you believe in yourself and try to fight it?"
I looked to Reiner. His gaze still stared dead ahead, ignoring me. "Reiner Braun here, he just bravely admitted that he would fight. For all I know, he could be lying right now. But that is precisely the point. Even if it is a lie, you MUST believe you can do it. Fake it til you make it."