As I walked out of headquarters after the meeting with Erwin, I heard Levi call out from behind me, "Oi, (L/N)."
I stopped walking and waited for him to catch up to me. When he appeared at my side, we continued walking in silence for a few moments before he said impartially, "Erwin's plan. It's not foolproof."
I let out a tired sigh and ran a hand through my hair. "No, but it's the best we've got. And if it takes down that abnormal bastard, we'll be in better shape than we have been."
He glanced over at me, his dark eyes scanning my face for a moment, before he said, "Tch. I hope Jaeger's up for it." He swore under his breath. "Damn it all, our entire plan to protect humanity rests on that idiotic brat's shoulders."
I chuckled sardonically and glanced over at him, raising my eyebrow at him as I said teasingly, "Don't give me that crap, Ackerman. I know you care about that kid more than you let on."
He scoffed. "Don't be stupid, (L/N). You know I don't care about anyone."
I stepped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks, my hands on my hips, and said quietly, "I know that's not true. You tell yourself you don't care about anyone, but in reality, I think you're just too scared to admit that you care about people, because everyone usually ends up dead." I held his dark gaze, and took a small step toward him, closing the distance between us by a few feet. I dropped my voice and murmured, "Admit it, Ackerman. You're just afraid to care for anyone. Because this whole world's gone to hell." I remembered how his fingers felt intertwined with mine, his cool skin pressed against mine. "But that doesn't mean you don't."
He held my gaze for a few more silent moments, his black eyes burning with intensity, and then he scoffed again and stepped back from me, crossing his arms over his chest as he said in annoyance, "Stop wasting time, (L/N). We have more pressing matters to attend to."
I rolled my eyes and dropped my hands from my waist as I said, slightly irritated, "Fine. Tell me what 'pressing matters' we should be attending to right now?"
He pushed past me, saying over his shoulder in a flat tone, "For one, the cadets are waiting for us at the training grounds. I told them we'd be teaching them hand to hand today, just in case something were to happen to their 3DM gear in the field. Is that agreeable with you?"
He continued walking toward the training field, not waiting for my answer. I rolled my eyes again and swore under my breath. "What an ass."
I followed after him, dragging my feet and kicking up dirt as I walked, not looking forward to a day of training the cadets. I had done it for Johnson, but he had truly been interested in learning the lost art of hand to hand. I had a feeling the rest of the cadets wouldn't think so highly of the outdated technique.
I reached the training field and the cadets were all there, standing around talking and chatting with each other in small groups. Miller glanced over and gave me a small wave as I walked onto the field, but before I could respond, Levi walked up to me, tossing me a training sword as he said briskly, "Oi, (L/N). We're wasting time. Let's get on with this."
I let out an exasperated sigh and followed him to the front of the group of cadets. At the sight of him, they grew quiet and turned their attention to us, standing straight with their hands behind their backs and their gazes forward, in formation.
Levi tapped the wooden training sword in his palm as he glared at the cadets standing in front of us and then announced loudly, "Alright brats. Listen up. We have our plan to move forward. Before we engage, I thought it wise to teach you some survival skills, mainly hand to hand combat." Several of the cadets' eyes widened in surprise at the mention of the old fighting style. Levi continued. "If something were to happen to your gear out in the field, I want you to know how to defend yourselves so that you at least go down fighting and not like some yellow bellied coward. So we will be training in hand to hand today. Have I made myself clear, brats?"
"Yes, Corporal."
Levi flicked the end of his sword toward me and said flatly, "Corporal (L/N) will be assisting me today. We were both taught and skilled in hand to hand combat when we first joined the scouts."
I stepped forward, swinging my own sword lazily at my side as I said loudly, "The scouts may not require training in hand to hand anymore like it did back when we joined, but it is still an important skill to learn and master. You cannot rely fully upon your gear to keep you safe. Gear malfunctions, hell happens, but if you know how to handle yourself with just your blades, they'll never let you down."
Levi stepped up beside me. "Now partner up. We're going to go through several maneuvers, and I expect you all to mirror us as we demonstrate. The best way to learn is to do."
The cadets scrambled to get into pairs, and once they had all partnered up, Levi turned to me, flicking his sword down to my feet as he stated, "The partner on the left. You will be mirroring (L/N)'s movements. We'll start with your stance." He swung his sword up the length of my body as he said, "Feet should be shoulder width apart, pointed outward slightly. Your line of body should be centered over your feet, not too forward or backward." I imitated the movements he was explaining as he did so, getting into the common defensive stance for swordplay. He walked behind me and laid his sword across my shoulders. It held, without wobbling, and he announced to the cadets, "You should be crouched, but still steady and straight enough in your stance, that I could lay my blade across your shoulders, like so, and it will hold. That's how you know you're in the correct position."
He removed his sword and walked back around to face me again. He turned to the cadets. "This is the common defensive stance. In this stance, the sword should be held protectively in front of your body to block the incoming blows. Always revert the impact of your opponent's blows down into the balls of your feet. That's why the shoulder width distance between your feet is crucial." He swung his sword, motioning to them all, and then said, "Left partners. Take the defensive stance."
I dropped my stance and we both walked through the squad, eyeing the defensive stances, correcting mistakes and fixing problems.
When we were satisfied, we both returned to the front of the group and Levi called out, "Alright, drop the stance. Now we'll work on the right partners' offensive stance."
I stepped forward as he dropped back, letting my sword fall to my side as I announced, "Alright, right partners. Here we go. You'll be mirroring Ackerman's movements during the drills today."
I stepped over to Levi, who had already positioned his feet for the offensive stance, and tapped each foot with my training blade, glancing over at the cadets as I said, "Your feet should still be shoulder width apart. It's the best way to keep your balance. However, when you're on the offensive, you should have one foot farther in front of the other, like so. It's almost as if you're frozen in taking a step." I removed my blade from his feet and drew it up the air in front of his body. "Next, you need to make sure your shoulders follow the same pattern. Whichever is your dominant sword hand, that shoulder needs to be swung out in front of the other, matching your feet. You hold your sword in your dominant hand, in front of you, as you take your blow." I walked around him as I continued to explain his stance. "Shoulders should be kept relaxed, don't tense up and pull them up around your ears. That throws off your balance. Same as with defensive, absorb any impacts down through your body and into the soles of your feet. It helps you remain in stance and hold your balance."
I turned to the cadets, who were watching us closely, and said, "Alright, right partners. Take the defensive stance."
The cadets moved to do as they were told, and once again, Levi and I walked through their ranks, correcting anything amiss that we could see.
When we both returned to the front of the group, Levi swung his blade up in front of his body, and taking the offensive stance again, called out, "Tch. Fine then, brats. That's all you need to know. Let's begin the exercises." He scanned his glare over them, as if in warning, and then said dangerously, "And if any of you fall behind, consider yourselves titan fodder and leave before you waste anymore of my time."
I took on the defensive stance, holding my blade up protectively in front of my body, and Levi took the first swing at me. He moved slowly so the cadets could follow his movements, swinging the blade up and over his head before bringing the steel down with a clang against my own sword. We held the position for a few moments, our blades resting on each other, and then he pulled back, before lunging forward, his blade pointed for the gap left by my sword along my ribs.
I took a step backward and brought my blade up from underneath his to parry his blow before it could touch my body. I shot him a grin as he gave me a glare and then I called out to the cadets, "That was a less direct attack. He was shooting for the gap left by my blade, but if you're prepared, you can bring up your own sword in time from underneath the swing to counter the blow before it touches you." I held the position for a moment, our blades still connected, his resting on top of mine, and then I said, "And, if you're lucky, this is where you, left partners, get to go on the offensive for just a brief moment. With your opponent's blade resting on top of yours, you can shift forward and push their blade back toward them, possibly throwing them off balance and gaining a blow."
I slid my sword toward him, the steel creating sparks as it ran along his blade, and pushed him back a bit, our swords crossed in between us, our faces close. I could feel the sweat gathering on my forehead. It had been too long since I'd actually trained with someone who knew what they were doing. It felt good.
I could see the beads of sweat on Levi's own forehead, his slightly increased breathing hot on my face, as he growled under his breath, "Don't get too cocky, (L/N)."
I grinned at him as I dropped my sword back down to my side and took a step back, saying jokingly, "Why? The way I see it, you're a lot older than you were when we used to spar. I think I could take you on easily."
"Tch." He shot me a glare and then glanced over at the cadets, who were practicing the last move we had just shown them. "Oi, brats." They glanced up, stopping what they were doing, and I could see they were all out of breath. Hand to hand wasn't for the weak. Levi brought his sword up in front of his face again, his dark eyes flicking back to me as he took stance again. "I'm going to show you a crucial move. Watch closely." He took a step toward me and I raised my blade defensively, ready for his attack. "We're fighting titans out there. Not people. So you need to get behind them if possible. And I'm going to show you exactly how to do that."
He lunged toward me, and for the purposes of the teaching experience, I didn't block his blow. I made a mock show of trying to deflect him, but let him use the movement of his swing to carry him forward.
In a blur, he was behind me, his blade held against my neck, his chest pressed against my back.
The cadets' eyes were wide. They stood, swords dropped to their sides, staring at him as he said, slightly breathlessly, "Being able to get behind your opponent is your main focus in this battle. If you can do so, you've won."
He reached up to wipe the sweat from his forehead with his free hand, his cool steel still held against the damp, warm skin of my throat. I could feel his chest rising and falling against my back as he caught his breath, and the skin of his arm that was wrapped around my throat, holding the blade to my neck, was unusually warm due to all the activity. Even though I'm sure he hadn't meant for it to happen, I was pulled close to him, his lips next to my ear as he addressed the cadets, his breath hot against my already sweaty skin.
"Oi, Ackerman." I used his usual salutation slightly sarcastically before saying, "Care to let me go now? I think they get the point."
I was bluffing. I didn't actually want him to pull away. The feel of his steady presence against my back was even more comforting than the feel of his hand in mine earlier. And that was saying something, because I had the cold steel of a sword pressed to my neck.
"Tch." He scoffed quietly in my ear and then murmured to me, "You were wrong earlier, (L/N). I'm not afraid to care about people. I'm just afraid to care about one."
He pulled back from me, dropping his sword from my throat and calling out to the cadets, "That's training for today, brats. Practice for another hour on your own, and then get cleaned up for dinner. You're all disgusting."
He stalked off, dropping his practice sword into the weapons chest as he left, not looking back at the cadets, or me.
I stood there, frozen, still feeling his cold blade against the skin of my throat, his words ringing in my ears. What the hell had just happened? And why was my heart pounding in my chest?
One thing I knew for sure, it wasn't from the exertion.
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