Rags and Riches ~ Levi x OC

4. Just a Little Help

"Ten more minutes," Enyo groaned when the horn blared.

    Hange grumbled against Enyo's head and the two girls slowly started moving. Enyo grunted and hissed in pain when her legs moved. They hurt more than anything she had ever experienced in her life.

    Hange grasped onto Enyo like a child sleeping with its doll and Enyo achingly shook her off. When Enyo finally managed to sit, her neck screamed in pain. She couldn't reach the ground to pull her boots on and her body was so incredibly stiff. In the end, Hange helped Enyo get her boots on.

    "No breakfast?" A boy, no older than seventeen, gasped. "But—"

    "Grab your packs and follow me!" Commander Zacharias rode a horse, already disappearing. Enyo cursed. If she had a horse then heck yeah she'd have no problem keeping up with the commander.

    Enyo's pack didn't budge from its spot when Enyo tugged on it. Were there more rocks in it than before? Upon inspection, it was the same—maybe even less—than the day prior. Enyo huffed and hefted with all her might and managed to get the bag to scoot along the ground.

    Enyo veered dangerously backward and forced it on her back. Her hip popped loudly and a large hand found its way to her upper back.

    "If you can't hold it, you shouldn't be here, Scout."

    "Good morning to you too, Sunshine," Enyo wheezed as she forced her foot forward. Mia, Haley, and Hange were already gone. There was a boy, Enyo recognized him as one of the two who had come with her from the Royal Capital, who struggled like her, and Luke. She took a deep breath and groaned loudly when she took another step. And another. Her teeth grit together and she made the tiniest movement forward before slamming against the ground. She dug her manicured hands in the ground and pushed herself forward. Freedom.

    Luke furrowed his brows and watched Enyo pursue Commander Zacharias. He sighed and his large hand grabbed Enyo's pack and slipped it right off her shoulders. When she looked at him with her soft golden eyes in a perplexed creased arch, he plastered a playful grin on his face. "I'll help ya' out. Our little secret?"

    Enyo wished she could refuse, but with Commander Zacharias disappearing in the distance and the other cadets close behind him, she crumbled. "Please."

    Luke slung her pack over his shoulder and jogged slowly next to her. She breathed heavily and her eyes squeezed shut when sweat dripped down her face. Her lips were smooth. Hair with no split ends. Anyone could see that someone had put a ton of money into Enyo's appearance. This was a woman who was raised to be in a position of power, not a lowly footman in the Scouts.

    She heaved. And heaved. Enyo's body seared and screamed and begged her to stop. Take a bath and muck out the dirt from her feet and go home. But there was no home. Farm or the Scouts. That's what she had to keep reminding herself.

    But still, if she had managed to make it in the Scouts, what could she do? She was tiny and weak. She couldn't even dream about killing a titan. She would be titan food like Zacharias predicted. The Wings of Freedom were a hopeless dream for someone like her.

    "Even..." Enyo pushed herself forward and wiped sweat off her face. "Even if I...I can only serve humanity by being eaten...I'll buy humanity those few seconds!"

    The following day came too quickly for Enyo's liking. She plopped out of Hange's bed like lead dropping out of a blacksmith's hand. Her throat closed up with a cry of pain and she had to think hard to determine if she'd broken something through the throbbing pain.

    Commander Zacharias shoved them to an ODM gear training station. He explained that ODM gear was the military's greatest weapon against titans. If you could use the gear, you were one step closer to surviving a titan attack. Enyo had briefly heard about ODM gear from an academy teacher years ago, but Enyo couldn't remember much from that lesson.

    "If you can't hold for three minutes by tomorrow, you will be expelled."

    Enyo's face paled. When Zacharias fled, Enyo fell to her knees. She was going to be expelled, there was no doubt about it. It didn't matter how hard she intended to work—this was it. Enyo gulped as Elias buckled and completely fell over. When he stood, blood dripped from his sun-kissed face and Enyo gagged.

    If she could move her legs right, she would've been gone. Her heart thumped loud and her throat dropped low when Flynn, the cadet in line just before Enyo, latched himself in and held a thumb up for the go ahead. Harris cranked the gears and Flynn rose in the air. His gaze was steady and his body stayed in place.

    Then the wind started.

    Flynn slowly rocked back and forth and back and forth and then his arms flailed about. He slammed hard into the ground with a loud crack!

    Enyo dragged herself to the ODM station. She felt tiny. Everyone's eyes stared at her as if they all belonged to Captain Dawk—too long to stare at a child. Too judging. Like she only had a sole purpose in the world. The wind slammed against Enyo's back as she clipped into the gear.

    "Shoulders back, pathetic child," Theodora snapped. Enyo's feet landed in a straight line in front of her and the book on her head remained still. Theodora held a wooden spoon.

    "Chin down!" Enyo twitched when the wood bit against her thigh. "How many times do we have to go over this?"

    Enyo tensed her muscles and stood straight. Her chin was low and her shoulders were wide and back and she gave a thumbs up to Harris. The wind rushed through Enyo's hair and all she could think was, this is freedom.

    Her eyes danced across the other cadets and she grinned foolishly. See? She wanted to tell them. I'm more than a trained mistress!

    One minute passed. Enyo's core seared but still, she held on. She was good at something and if she needed to stay up for an hour to prove it, she would. Two minutes, and Enyo started to laugh. Tears streamed down her face when she realized yeah, she could do it.

    Three minutes and Harris lowered Enyo, who landed elegantly on her feet and took a few steps forward before collapsing on the grass. She beamed with a massive smile up at the clouds.

    At dinner, Enyo pushed her potatoes around her plate. Someone lumbered over her and she cleared her throat. "Luke, thanks for earlier—"

    "I need help!" The voice was frantic and most definitely did not belong to Luke. Enyo looked up to see a boy with a long face and an ever longer nose and short cropped hair. His shoulders were broad and his massive hands waved in panic. "I can't be sent home! Please! Help!"

    "Moblit," Luke greeted when he sat. "Asking the most talented cadet for help?"

    "I'm not talented."

    Luke grinned. "I need help too."

    Enyo looked between both boys. Luke shoved his roll toward her, "please! No one else did it for three minutes!"

    "Okay, okay," Enyo shoved his food away. "Meet me outside when you're done, I'm already full."

    Enyo left most of her food sitting on the table as she darted outside. The cool wind rushed through her hair again and Enyo grinned to herself.

To make it out of here as a soldier, she'd have to put extra work in. And work she shall.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

There she goes! Fly, little Eagle.

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