A Matter of Stature - Chapter 40 [ Levi x Reader ]

A Matter of Stature

Chapter 40: Simulacrum

It was raining something fierce and the constant drops of water hitting your face were getting annoying. It was hard to see where you were going, but there were so many trees around that there was a good chance your ODM gear hooks would reach one of them, even if it may not be exactly the one you were hoping for. You stopped on a tree branch and looked around, you had lost track of Levi again. How did he move so fast in the rain?

You suddenly felt the branch shake and nearly slipped off it, but Levi reached out to steady you. He had appeared out of nowhere, landing on the branch next to you, though it was thankfully thick enough to support you both. "One more time," you challenged stubbornly. Though the scouts tried to begin their missions with good weather if it was possible, the weather might change unexpectedly, or an emergency might happen on a rainy day, so being prepared to maneuver under unfavorable weather conditions was necessary. There would be a mission simulacrum tomorrow and hopefully the weather would be nicer. It would happen within the walls, so there wouldn't be any real danger, but you still wanted to do well.

"At least you're not slacking off with your training, but aren't you forgetting something?" Levi waited for you to point out the vital detail.

"Fuel," you replied. "I have enough for one more race, but if this was a combat situation, I would have to save it for an emergency only," you dutifully recited.

"And how are you going to head back after the race?" Levi asked.

"I'll walk," you had been caught with that detail, but you weren't about to admit it.

Levi shook his head hopelessly, though you got the feeling he was somewhat amused by your stubbornness. "Let's go back, we're done training for today. We'll catch colds if we stay out here much longer. Besides, it's late, everyone will be wondering where we went... and coming up with theories." He stepped closer, wrapping his arms around your waist.

"It wouldn't entirely be a lie," you smiled.

"They'll assume we spent 90% of the time kissing and 10% training instead of the other way around," Levi pointed out.

"10%? But we haven't done anything," you reminded.

"Yet," it was more like 15% really, since you spent a good while up in that tree, but you had been training hard, so it was a well earned break. The rain wasn't so bad anymore when you had other sensations to focus on, mainly Levi's kisses, his hands caressing your body, your hands enjoying his body, and other such more interesting things than the rain.

"I'm really worried, guys. I mean, who's late to dinner when there's roasted turkey and mashed potatoes with cheese on the menu?" You heard Sasha's concerned voice on the ground below.

"I don't think anything bad happened, maybe they just lost track of time," Eren tried to offer some reassurance.

"They might have gone back already and we missed them," Mikasa suggested.

"Or maybe they want to be left alone..." Armin quietly voiced.

"I see them!" Sasha suddenly exclaimed. "They're making out on that tree over there!"

"Sasha, no!" Armin immediately tried to stop her from pointing and being so loud.

"We should go back now," Mikasa urged.

"Yeah, they're fine, nothing to worry about, let's go," Eren hastily agreed and the four of them retreated in a hurry.

You watched them run off and waited a moment before asking. "Aren't we going back?"

"Why? No one will worry about us now," Levi had a point, he had a very good point, and by now he was kind of used to the scouts' theories, so why not make the best of it?

xoxox xox xoxox

Thankfully, the day of the simulacrum was sunny. You sat in a tree, your legs dangling lazily from the branch as you watch for imaginary titans in the horizon. You were a scout who had no missions to go on until business was settled at Sina. Yet with the departed Mona Lisa's products rotting in storage and dozens of merchants fighting for their ownership while some of the food could still be salvaged, the supreme court had more pressing matters to tend to than reconsider activating the Survey Corps. You wondered why some of the scouts didn't snap and go vigilante. You might have considered it, yet Levi's past experience as an outlaw didn't end all that well, but then again, he actually got caught, sort of.

Your mind drifted to Tony and you wondered where he was. You consumed every bit of news that reached your senses, but not the newspaper, nor the rumor mill had anything to say about the missing boy. You hadn't seen Artie or Melinda in a long time, and your father was still stuck in Rose, preventing him from joining the search at Sina. You had a feeling Erwin had more reasons than what it may appear to keep him there, but it was just a baseless theory at the moment.

You blinked yourself out of your daze and watched for the signal, a kite rose above the trees, you noted its location and color, a normal titan. Since the scouts couldn't go outside, a series of simulacrums were being practiced. The repetitive training with ODM gear had gotten boring and the scouts' restlessness was becoming more obvious. Concerned that everyone would fall into a pattern that reduced practicality and dulled the senses, Erwin set up a series of exercises to simulate missions outside wall Rose.

They didn't want the scouts commander making too much noise at Rose, so instead of flares, the quieter and cheaper kites were used to signal the approach of imaginary titans. "Red flare!" You called out and the words were repeated by the scouts on your neighboring trees, then by their neighbors and so on. You made your way down from the tree. The scouts were currently camping out. Sometimes, they had to make such stops to rest and allow their horses to recover. Though the simulacrum was conducted on foot, the presence of a titan nearby meant that the stop was over.

You got into formation, it was a smaller version of the formation you would be using outside and everyone was in sight and earshot of each other, though the scouts in the far left would have to shout very loudly for you to hear them, which wasn't necessary, since the messages were meant to be relayed anyway. You ran through the forested area near the scouts base, trying to stay in formation. Running wasn't exactly your forte and increased cell density might make your legs stronger, but it would also drain energy and give you extra weight to carry, so your special ability was essentially useless for speed and agility.  At least Knight would carry you if this was a real mission.

The echo of "green flare," reached you and you almost repeated it too soon, but managed to hold back your voice. Since you were using your voice to simulate the flares, pointing was used to indicate their imaginary position. You watched for the person in front of you, Sasha, to repeat the command and point, having caught sight of the person in front of her. You relayed the command and pointed in the same direction as Sasha, with Connie echoing your words and direction soon after.

You continued running until the echo of a "black flare!" reached you. You watched were Sasha was pointing and mimicked the action, echoing her words. Levi was the only one on a horse, to signify the titans' speed advantage due to their superior size. You thought Eren would have been a much more realistic candidate for that, but he wasn't supposed to transform unless it was absolutely necessary and certainly not for a practice mission within Rose. you tried not to laugh as you scattered out of the way along with your comrades, while Levi rode in on Cali, holding the black kite.

"Let's take it out before it steps on anyone!" Hange called out, you joined Connie in running behind Levi, who sat there for a moment, before sending his horse running forward. Hange ran towards him from the side, but Cali sped up, carrying Levi away. "That's a really fast titan, but it's not too big, let's catch it for my research!"

A bit tired of flying kites all day, Levi decided to get creative with his role and  turned around, running back. Though he wasn't actually going to trample anyone, you were supposed to get out of the way as if a titan was running around. You couldn't get too close unless you snuck up behind him, or else it would be declared that you had been stepped on and you would be out of the game.

"Regroup and distract it, protect the formation!" Hange declared. "Hey, titan, over here!"

Levi completely ignored Hange and ran towards Connie, who had committed the unforgivable crime of standing around with an unsure expression. The echo of "red flare," was heard, but how could that be? Levi was right there and he was holding the black kite.

Krista came running in on horseback, holding a red kite. "I'm sorry about this, but I got eliminated so I'm a titan now." Everyone was watching out for Levi, but in the battle field, you might have more than one titan to watch out for at once. Unfortunately, Connie was too focused on getting away from Levi, looking more scared than if he had seen an actual titan, and ran right into Krista's path. He froze upon realizing what he had done. "I think this means you got eaten," Krista informed gently.

"Aw, chased by an abnormal, then eaten," Connie frowned.

"Oh, don't feel too bad about it, you lasted pretty long," Krista offered some consolation.

"Titans don't talk to humans," Levi reminded, while he chased after Jean, who was gasping for breath and ready to fall over from all the running.

"Sorry!" Krista moved on to chase after you. "Here I come, (Name), I'm going to eat you!" She tried to sound ferocious, but it didn't come out that way. If it was Sasha on the other hand... She could certainly make a believable hungry titan impression.

"You let your guard down, titan! Hiya!" Hange swung her training swords, slashing at the empty air in front of her.

"Oh no!" Krista gasped, "I've been slain!" She lowered her red kite and galloped away, calling out, "I'm melting!"

"Hange!" Levi scolded. "You're very irresponsible, Jean would have been trampled by the abnormal by now."

"No way! Didn't you see Sasha right behind you? She totally took out the abnormal!" Hange argued.

"She didn't get close enough to make a deep enough cut," Levi argued back.

"You're just mad because (Name) gets to tag along with my team on her first mission outside," Hange argued back. She had told you that you would likely get moved around later, and probably end up on Levi's team, but for now you had to show that you could, as she put it, 'play without the coach,' since he had personally trained you. Although there was no telling when exactly that mission would take place.

"Um..." Sasha moved her swords up and down, "slash, slash?" She voiced unsure. "Dead titan?" Levi glared at her and she stepped back. "dead scout?"

"No, that's definitely a dead titan!" Hange cheered.

Before the argument could continue, the cheerful echo of "yellow flare!" reached you. The simulacrum had ended. With all the running around you've done all day, you were certainly tired. You were on watch during the last stop and it wasn't long before you were on the move again, so you really didn't have much time to recover.

You saw Eren heading over, from the direction you had come from before, looking left and right, waiting to spot his usual group. Armin came running from the right and Mikasa followed from the same direction, but further ahead. The trio greeted each other and started a quiet conversation.

"Food!" Sasha cheered. "It's almost dinner time!"

"Dinner has to be made first," you reminded her.

"Oh I'm sure it's done by now," Sasha was doing her hungry titan impression without even realizing it again.

"Um... actually, Armin, Mikasa and I are supposed to make it, and since we've been here doing the practice mission the whole time, it's not even started yet," you reminded, much to her disappointment. Sasha's face froze with a hungry expression, her eye twitching slightly in disbelief. "Sorry, I'll go get started now," you dashed off.

Eren, Mikasa and Armin had stopped to wait for you to join them, as they guessed you would, since you had the dinner duties together that evening. "I can take your place if you want. I was planning to help Mikasa and Armin with dinner anyway," Eren offered. "Isn't it your nine month anniversary today? Or was that just Hange making up stuff?"

You recalled the particular scene he was referring to, in which Hange, in Levi's absence, teased you about having a mini-Levi hidden somewhere, since it had been nine months since your wedding. "Yeah, she was making stuff up," you replied.

"I knew it," Armin quietly nodded.

Although the anniversary did coincide with the arranged wedding, albeit you haven't really been keeping close track of time. "It has been nine months," you acknowledged, "but aren't anniversaries supposed to be a yearly thing?"

Eren shrugged, "I thought so too, but Hange mentioned it, so I thought you might have plans or something."

"Not really," the four of you reached the scouts base. Levi had gone to the stables to return Cali.

"Guys, wait up!" Sasha hurried to keep up with you and your companions. "I'll help make dinner, then it'll be done faster and we can eat sooner!" She offered. The five of you went off to the kitchen to make dinner, the mission had been fake, but it was still tiring.

xoxox xox xoxox

The next day a debriefing occurred. Levi woke you up in the morning as usual. You wondered how much sleep he actually got. Sometimes if you woke up in the middle of the night, before the sun was up, he was gone, despite having been there when you fell asleep. One time you drifted in and out of sleep in the middle of the night and thought you saw him exiting the room, already in his uniform. He glanced back at you and quietly said something that you interpreted to be 'go back to sleep' but you weren't sure if that was a dream. You mostly slept through the night without waking though, as the training was very tiring.

Yet without fail, Levi would be there to wake you in the morning, to remind you that you were being a "lazy slob" and that you needed to hurry up and "wash before breakfast." Then he'd kiss you until your response indicated that you were more awake than asleep, it was very difficult to pretend to be asleep like that.

This morning, Levi had news, "we have a meeting with Erwin after the general debriefing for yesterday's simulacrum. Don't tell anyone about it," you nodded, yawning. "(Name)," you focused on him, he was using his 'what I'm saying is very important' tone. "No one is to know."

"Right, no one will know," you agreed. Once he was satisfied with your agreement, he let you go about your business getting ready for a new day, then the two of you headed to the mess hall for breakfast.

To be Continued