Whispers & Wildflowers {Levi Ackerman} {AoT/SnK} ~Book One~

Chapter One

Chapter One
Abby

~July, Year 849~

"Ugh, Lewis! Can ya come 'ere for a sec!" "Just a minute!" I replied as I tossed one of two bags of grappling hooks onto a shelf. I grabbed for the second black bag, used my knee to give it some momentum to help lift it, and threw it on the shelf with the first bag. With a heavy sigh, I made my way to the front desk. I dusted my dirty hands on my coveralls, leaving dark brown stains of what appeared to be grease on the cloth.

"What did you screw up this time, rookie?" I asked with an exasperated sigh. The new recruit had only just started a few days ago in the warehouse, and he had managed to knock over three shelves of gear (which I was barely putting back together), mixed up eight squads' personalized skin-paring blades, and ruined a whole cart full of new uniform jackets by accidentally dropping a gallon of red paint on them. Jackson was becoming a headache. But I had to give him credit. He was at least trying to be productive (and not cause any more problems).

When I approached the front desk, Jackson was rummaging through some paperwork, sweat accumulating on his brow. He was getting nervous, frantic even. His hand shook as he flipped through the clipboard notes, nearly tearing the parchment. Four other soldiers stood silently in front of him on the other side of the desk. The ringleader of the four tapped his finger impatiently on the wooden surface of the counter, seemingly ready to catch an attitude. Oh goody, it's gonna be one of those days...

"What seems to be the problem?" I asked as I approached Jackson's side, already realizing the quote-unquote "problem". And it had nothing to do with supplies. I looked at Jackson and said as I grabbed the paperwork from his hands, "You're excused, rookie. Go ahead and finish stacking the rest of the uniforms." He gave me a look of thanks and went to the back to finish what I had just started for the morning. "You're out of uniform, soldier." the leader of this gang said, pointing at me with a glare. My uniform jacket was tossed to the side on one of the chairs next to me. My cream-colored short-sleeved blouse was slightly untucked underneath the dirty apron that covered my chest and stomach.

I smiled cheekily, sighing to calm my impending outburst, and explained, "I'm not surprised you're unaware, soldier. In the supply warehouse, we are allowed to remove our uniform jackets if we are loading or unloading supplies and gear. It's to prevent us from getting caught on anything and from overheating and getting heat stroke, especially now during the summer months." He glared at me, his face turning red like a hot poker. "But if you want to talk about being out of uniform, some of your shirt's buttons are undone, part of your collar is lifted up. Oh, and your uniform jacket is off-center. Just to name a few things."

"She got you there, Oruo." chuckled one of the other soldiers who stood next to him as he examined his squad member's outfit. Oruo quickly analyzed his uniform, adjusting accordingly to my observation. "Now before you try to lecture me more on our procedures that you have no information about, or trying to tell me how to do my job, how can I help you?"

Oruo quickly cleared his throat in obvious embarrassment and asked, "We're here to pick up skin-paring blades. We need a total of twenty-five sets." he said. "Alright, who's squad are you with? Just so I can make note of it." I asked, looking down at the neatly handprinted paperwork and flipping through the pages. "Captain Levi." Oh, so these soldiers are from the elite Special Operations Squad... I looked at each person, studying each person's individual likeness. They didn't seem so tough, so special. But what did I know? I wasn't a fighter. I stayed in the rear while they went out to fight. And these four soldiers were some of the deadliest Scouts. After all, they were hand-selected and trained by Captain Levi.