Melody stood on the deck, tapping her foot against the wooden surface of the floor impatiently. She stayed behind at sunset like Levi ordered, while everyone else except Hanji went to bed. The poor brunette woman was currently up in the crows nest, starting the endless cleaning she was given as punishment for laughing at the falling incident earlier. Melody looked up at her as she wiped the outside of the crows nest with a wet cloth that had sudsy water dripping from it down onto the ground bellow. Melody averted her attention away from her, and began to look around for the short captain, frustration filling her from how incredibly long he was taking at what ever he was doing. "Where the hell are you Captain Short Ass?" she grumbled impatiently. "Tch, you're one to talk" came a voice from behind her. Melody twirled around to face Levi himself, who had his usual annoyed expression. "Took you long enough" Melody complained, turning back around so that her back was facing him. Normally she wouldn't be so impatient and grouchy, but it was Levi, so this was an exception. "Tch" was the only answer she got, before she felt her wrist being grabbed and tugged forward as Levi began pulling her towards the front of the ship ,where there was more space and less barrels and canons to bump into. Levi stopped here, with Melody behind him. He then let go of her wrist and turned to face her again. "Here" he said, handing her a very clean and polished sword, that looked extremely new and well made. The handle was curved, with a bright gold colour to it and glimmering diamonds dotting the surface. It looked like a sword that should belong to an extremely rich sailor, not a trainee pirate.
"Why are you giving this to me?" Melody asked curiously. "How am I supposed to teach you to fight if you don't have a sword idiot?" Levi scoffed, shoving the sword into her hand. "Why can't one of the others teach me, and why so late?" Melody interrogated, not pleased that Levi was going to be her coach and at such a late time. "It's me because the other men have already had to teach those other three brats, and I doubt you will be able to learn anything from Petra and Hanji if they are constantly chitter chattering to you". "I don't chitter chatter" Hanji shouted from up above. "Shut up and get back to work Shitty glasses" Levi commanded sending his glare up into the crows nest where the crazy pirate sat. When Hanji was back to what she was supposed to do. Levi turned to take his black tail coat off. He folded it up neatly and place it on top of a nearby crate, before taking his black tricorn hat off, allowing locks of his raven hair to fall over his face slightly, and placing it on top of the folded clothing. He pushed up the sleeves of his spotlessly white shirt, revealing toned arm mussels, before tightening his cravat. He pulled out his own sword from its holder. It was as equally polished and well made as Melody's, with a black handle that had various carvings on it and a single sapphire at the very end. He positioned himself into a fighting stance, raising his sword up so that it was pointing towards Melody and his feet shoulder width apart.
"Give me your best shot" he ordered, his face remaining calm and expressionless. Melody stood where she was like a statue, nerves pumping into her like venom. She had seen Levi fight before, and there was no doubt that he was as lethal as a full pack of wolves. She on the other hand, was experiencing this for the first time, and was only lethal whenever it came to her own safety, the incident with the sails earlier was proof of that. "Tch, are you just going to stand there all fucking night or are you actually going to do something" Levi berated, his eye twitching impatiently. Melody snapped out of it and prepared herself to fight. She pointed her sword forwards , clutching it in both hands and began charging towards Levi. He quickly dodged her as if it was nothing, tripping her over with his foot. She fell forward into the ground, her face implanting itself into the floor. She turned herself onto her back in an attempt to push herself back onto her feet, only to have her nose meet the tip of Levi's sword as he looked down at her, as if she was an idiotic, misbehaving child. "First of all, you don't charge into your opponent, it only makes your attack more obvious and easy to avoid" he began, pulling her up to her feet, his voice surprisingly calm despite the fact that Melody had messed up. "Second of all" he continued. "Your stance is all wrong. Your body shouldn't face forward to your opponent, it should face sideways like this". He went behind Melody and turned her body so that it was sideways to where he was previously standing. "Your head should still face them though". He placed his hand gently underneath Melody's chin, turning her head to face the right direction. "Only hold your sword with one hand". He gently pulled Melody's right hand away from her sword and placed it back by her side. He pulled the hand where her sword was in front of her. "And your legs should be shoulder width apart". He used his feet to push Melody's in the right position. He stepped back in front of her and examined her.
"Great, now you've learned the basics. Your intelligence has now grown to the size of a flea". Melody frowned at the insult and could hear Hanji laughing her head off in the crows nest. Melody gritted her teeth in annoyance, darting her eyes back to Levi's. "Now lets try that again. Give me your best shot" Levi ordered again. Melody quickly obliged, swinging her sword close to Levi's head, only to be blocked by his own sword. She stepped back and swung her sword again, this time towards his leg, but that was blocked too. She aimed for his chest, but was blocked again. 'Dammit he's too fast' she thought, giving a small growl of frustration. This continued for a while, with Melody constantly swinging her sword towards her captain, only to have him easily block it every time. It soon got to the point where Melody was getting quicker in her attacks, quick enough to scratch Levi on the right cheek at one stage, because of this Levi decided to step it up a notch by fighting back rather than just simply blocking her. This took her by surprise, and soon enough she was back to being overwhelmed by his skill. It became a full on sword fight, with Levi clearly having the upper hand like he always did. Both dodged each others swings , stepping forwards and backwards in attempts to catch each other out. Hanji stopped her working and gazed down at them in aw, while at the same time having a weird smirk on her face. Melody could feel herself getting better and better, but just when she thought she might actually have a chance of at least ending in a tie, she quickly found herself getting tired. She sloppily swung her sword one last time at Levi, which he speedily dodged, by stepping to the side and behind Melody, without even breaking a sweat. He gave her long hair a hard tug, making her collapse onto her back. She gave a groan, and attempted to push herself up, only to have her nose meet the tip of Levi's sword again.
"Not bad for a beginner" he admitted, gazing down at her with his foot placed on her stomach. "You cheated!" Melody accused. "I was simply proving my point about doing something about that freakishly long hair of yours. That exact same thing could of happened while attacking the Garrison and you wouldn't stand a chance" Levi lectured. He offered his hand to help her up, but she slapped it away, getting up herself. She went over to lean on the crate Levi left his coat and hat on, in an attempt to catch her breath. Levi walked over to place his hat back on his head, and his jacket over his shoulders. Melody looked up, noticing that the sunset was replaced by beautiful twinkling stars. Melody continued to look at them, while the heat from the exercise gradually faded away and was replaced by a cold chill. Her breathing calmed down, creating puffs of mist every time she breathed out. She thought back to how Jean and Marco would pretend they were smoke breathing dragons with her on nights just like this when they were little. She noticed how the cold feeling she had, had grown deeper when she thought about them, so she shook them out of her head. She looked back over her shoulder, and was surprised to see Levi still standing there, staring rather intensely at her face.
"Can I help you?" she asked, trying to make it obvious that she was not in the mood to have him around. He simply gave a "Tch" allowing a large puff of mist to come out of his mouth. He turned around, taking a few steps away before stopping not too far from the door of his room. He turned his head slightly to look at Melody again. "You look tired. Go get some sleep. You can sleep in, in the morning, but I still want you to stay behind again in the evening so we can continue your training " he stated. He turned his head back and continued to walk towards his room. He stopped and opened the door, but stopped his actions when Hanji shouted from high up "CAN I SLEEP TOO!". "Fuck off and get back to work Shitty glasses" he ordered, stepping in his room and slamming the door behind him. Hanji gave an "Awww" and went back to work. Melody gave a light hearted chuckle as she walked passed the crows nest, finding Hanjis childish behaviour amusing for the first time that day. She went down the steps and continued on to her room.
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The Adventure on-board the Maria
أدب الهواةWARNING: certain characters swear a lot in this story and there will be violent chapters with a little bit of blood, and other mature things Melody was a normal girl, who worked at the Rose Tavern, in the harboured town of Trost, alongside her frien...
