"Elysia."
"Elysia."
"Elysia!"
She jumped, sitting up forcefully, and almost hitting Levi's head in the process.
Ely inhaled sharply, calming down from the shock as he took a step back and stared at the 11 year old in disgust.
"Why'd you do that?" She complained, running her hand over the top of her head.
Her hair was still in a tight bun, as she always wore it, even at night.
However, that didn't stop her bangs from being an immense mess after waking up.
"Commander Erwin and I want to talk to you. Get ready, I'll wait." He nodded, either to himself or Elysia? and left her room, slightly slamming the door.
"Weird.." She muttered to herself, but threw the covers off her body anyways.
For a moment, all Elysia did was stare into nothing, taking her time to fully wake up.
But, she flinched once more when a fist slammed on the door from the outside, creating a loud banging noise.
"Hurry up." She heard the monotone voice of Corporal Levi, and almost rolled her eyes. Almost.
"I'm coming.." She grumbled, getting up to grab her clothes.
Black blouse, black skirt and black boots. As always.
Once she had the outfit, she got to her hair.
She took out the old hair tie, that was holding her bun together at night, and grabbed a new one from the counter, just as Levi always did when he had to do her hair.
Using the mirror to quickly brush out her hair and tie it into a new bun, she put the hairbrush back into it's place, and grabbed Levi's cravat.
After wrapping it around the bun, she tucked the front strands that were falling out behind her ears and left her room.
"Can you tell me why Erwin wants to talk?" Elysia asked the older man, slightly swaying from side to side on her feet as they were walking.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I said so. And it's Commander Erwin to you."
Elysia looked up at him for a second, before turning ahead again.
"Yes.." She mumbled, crossing her arms.
It took no longer than a minute for them to arrive, and just as Levi was about to knock at the door, Elysia beat him to it and just barged in.
"Good Morning Commander Erwin~" She sang with a stoic expression on her face, walking to stand in front of his desk.
Erwin warily smiled at her, but was sure to send Levi somehwat of a disapproving glance as he stood up.
The black haired man stomped in after Elysia, glaring at her back while she tried to ignore him.
"How many times do I need to tell you, you can't just barge-"
"Levi, it's fine. I'll have a talk with her later, we have more important matters right now." Erwin interrupted him, going back to his usual, serious self.
Levi frowned, but complied, leaning back on the wall next to the door.
Elysia looked from Erwin to Levi, and back to Erwin.
"What kind of matters would that be?" She stared at the commander with big eyes.
"Well, Levi and I have already had a conversation about this, and I would like you to listen, without interrupting me." He said sternly, looking right back at her.
She sighed, but nodded anyway, going to sit down in one of the chairs.
"Good. As I said, Levi and I have come to the conclusion that you can't go on like this. You need the proper training to really join the military.
Levi and I have our own duties, and you can't depend on either of us to train you,"
Elysia inhaled deeply, ready to speak up, but Erwin was quicker.
"You are going to join the 104th Training Corps. Keith Shadis will be your instructor. After, if, you graduate you have the choice to join the Scouting Legion, the Stationary Guard, or if you graduate in the Top 10, the Military Police."
He took a pause, looking over to Levi, who had his eyes set on Elysia.
"That's it, you both may leave now."
"But why do I need to go away? I can fight, and use the ODM gear.." Elysia grumbled, as she stood in front of one of Levi's shelves, dusting off the surface.
After their talk with Erwin, he had invited her over to come help him clean his office, which was a pretty rare occasion, seeing as she sucked at cleaning.
"I already told you. If you want to join the Levi Squad so desperately, you need to graduate first." He was wiping a mop across the floor, facing the other way.
She huffed, and continued silently dusting the shelves.
Levi sighed, leaning the mop on the wall and turning around to face the younger girl, resting his hands on his hips.
"The training will be way more efficient there than what we could do here. You need it, if you don't want to die.
And it's not like you won't see us ever again. I'll escort you there, and we will manage to visit you sometimes."
Elysia didn't turn around to look at him, merely gripping the duster in her left hand tighter.
"You can go now. I'll finish cleaning myself." He grabbed his mob once more and got back to cleaning.
Elysia nodded, placing down the duster and silently leaving the room.
Levi glared at nothing as he cursed himself for what he was about to do.
He held onto the red band tightly, walking over to her door with a heavy heart.
"No?" He heard Elysia's voice respond, right after he knocked on her door.
He furrowed his eyebrows, walking in anyway.
"I said no..?" She said from her place on her bed, but Levi only glared at her.
"I don't care." He gave her a blank stare, trying to hide his hand behind his back.
He could still back out..
"Here." He held out his hand after a moment, showing her the hairband.
Elysia stared at him, raising a brow.
"Take it. You're not allowed to bring much to Training, and this is easier to put in your hair than the cravat." He adverted his eyes awkwardly.
The 11 year old couldn't help but smile slightly, raising her left arm to take it from him.
"It looks like blood." She spoke up, making Levi roll his eyes.
"If you don't want it I can go give it back to Hange right now-"
"No! It's fine. Thank you." She held the headband up to her chest with both hands.
Levi nodded. "Go to bed now. If you wake up late tomorrow I'll kill you."
Elysia stared at the objects on the table in front of her.
Her white hair was loosely hanging down, reaching her lower waist.
She looked at both her new headband, and the old cravat, being unable to decide what to put in her hair.
For one, the cravat had more of an emotional meaning to her, but as Levi said, the hairband was more practical.
She glared at her choices, before deciding what she wanted to do.
Levi raised an eyebrow at Elysia, staring at the back of her head.
"Isn't that uncomfortable?" He asked, after he was done doing her hair.
She had asked him to put the cravat over her hairtie, making it almost
appear invisible in her snowy hair, and tie the red bow over the usual bun.
"No, why would it be?" She turned around and thanked Levi.
He plainly looked at her for a second, before turning around and leaving her room.
"Hurry up."
Elysia tugged on her hair quickly, pulling out a few strands from the front before she ran to catch up with her friend.
"Erwin registered you under the name Ackerman. If you run into any problems, just say you've been adopted. Also, no doing that thing with your eyes-"
"Yes, yes, you've told me. I won't do anything." She send Levi a grin, to which he nodded his head.
"Get in." He pointed towards the carriage.
"Hey, you!"
Elysia watched from behind, as Shadis yelled at a cadet from a few rows in front of her.
"Sir!"
"Who the hell are you?!"
"Armin Arlert, from Shiganshina District!" The boy yelled back, saluting.
Elysia was deep in thought.
Armin... Armin... Arlert?
She started pondering, and you could see the gears turning in her brain as she zoned out.
Armin Arlert? Holy shit
In the end, she was glad that Shadis hadn't called on her as she turned around, because she wasn't sure she would've been able to properly respond.
She was trying to keep a straight face as best as she could.
Armin is here... Does that mean Eren and Mikasa are back too?
"Who the hell are you?" Shadis leaned into another cadet's face.
"Jean Kirstein, from Trost District!" He loudly spoke back, saluting.
"Why are you here?!"
"To join the Military Police Regiment and live in the interior!"
His statement made Elysia want to roll her eyes, but she did her best to keep that monotone look on her face.
"Oh. You wanna live in the interior, do you?" Shadis taunted, to which the boy stupidly replied with a "Yes!".
His happiness was cut short, when he was headbutted by the Instructor, and fell to his knees in pain.
"Who said you could sit?! If you can't handle this, you can forget about the Military Police! Who the hell are you?! Why are you here?!"
He started yelling at another Cadet.
"Marco Bodt of Jinae, on the south side of Wall Rose! I want to join the Military Police Regiment and give life and limb to the king!" The freckled boy replied.
"I see. That's a fine goal, indeed. Go ahead and strive for it. But just so you know... The king doesn't want your lousy life or limbs. You're next! Who the hell are you?!"
He yelled at a short, bald boy.
"Connie Springer! I'm from Ragako Village on the south side of Wall Rose!" The boy saluted. With his left arm.
"You have it backwards, Connie Springer! It was the first thing you were taught! This salute expresses your resolve to give your heart to the people! Is your heart on your right side?!" He picked him up by his head, holding him firmly and pulling at his eyes.
That was, until another cadet caught his attention.
Shadis let Connie drop to the ground, staring wide eyed at a brown haired girl.
"Hey, you. What do you think you're doing?" The girl, who was happily eating her potato, didn't respond to him, but instead took another bite.
"I'm talking to you! Who the hell are you?!" He got up in her face.
"Sasha Braus from Dauper Village, on the south side of Wall Rose!" She saluted, with the potato in her hand still.
"Sasha Braus... What is that you're holding in your right hand?" He slowly spoke.
"A steamed potato, Sir!"
Elysia was more or less astonished by this girl. She was either really brave, or didn't actually know what was going on.
"I found one in the cookhouse that was ready to eat, so I couldn't help myself!"
"You stole it? Why? Why did you decide to eat it now?" Shadis asked, probably more in shock than anybody else there.
"I felt it would be a waste to let it get cold, so I elected to eat it now." Sasha replied, as serious as one could be about a potato.
"No, I don't understand. Why did you eat the potato?"
"Are you asking me why people eat potatoes, Sir?"
There was silence, heavy silence. Elysia almost started laughing, but managed to stop herself.
Sasha suddenly broke the potato apart, leaving it in one significantly bigger, and one smaller part.
"Here's half of it for you." She took the smaller half and handed it to him.
"Half...?" Shadis looked at the potato.
After the whole thing was over, Elysia went back to the girl's dorms to change into her regular clothes.
That, and she was hoping to see Mikasa somewhere.
"Mikasa?" Speaking of which.
She heard a voice call out the name, grabbing her attention.
When she looked over, she saw the same blonde boy from earlier, talking to a brunette boy and a pretty girl.
She looked at them talking to each other secretively, not looking at anyone.
It was them. It was really them.
"Armin, Mikasa, Eren!" She yelled out, running at the trio with a high speed.
The first one to turn around was Mikasa, who had a shocked expression on her face.
"Ely-"
Before she could continue speaking, Elysia jumped into her arms, nearly making them fall over.
"You guys are back! And you held your promise... And you didn't change at all." The white haired girl almost yelled out at her childhood friends, who were all staring back at her with wide eyes.
"E-Eri-Chan?" Eren spoke up, seemingly in shock.
She nodded her head up and down, letting go of Mikasa.
"It's been so long." Mikasa whispered to herself, before she started dragging the younger of the two with her, hastily leaving towards the girl's dorms.
"I- Uh- Bye guys, I'll catch up with you later." Elysia managed to squeak out, before Mikasa harshly tugged on her arm, making her walk next to her.
She didn't see the bewilered looks on either of the boy's faces, as she started conversing with Mikasa.
"Where have you been?"
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