.˜"*°• L I T T L E M O N S T E R •°*"˜.

Missy watched as Levi set the box he had been carrying down on the floor by his feet before straightening up and crossing his arms over his chest. "Seeing as the last training exercise went so well, you're going to be doing something different today".

Missy had to stop herself from flinching at his cold, sarcastic tone as she stood up from her place on the grass.

Levi kicked the box over onto its side, the contents inside spilling out onto the floor. From what Missy could see, it was a roll of tape, a blindfold, and some type of ear defenders.

"I'm not sure I'm particularly into whatever you have planned," Oluo joked, earning a scowl from the Captain.

"Shut up," Levi quipped, rolling his eyes as he leaned down to pick up the ear defenders and throw them towards Oluo. "It's a game of cat and mouse".

"Cat and mouse?" Eld repeated, a quizzical look on his face. "So, a chase?".

"Yes, a chase," Levi confirmed, throwing the tape at Gunther. "Except you'll each have something taken away from you".

Levi picked up the blindfold and tossed it towards Missy, who caught it with one hand before studying the piece of material. It was just a black blindfold. Levi unrolled a piece of paper which had a rough drawing of a map on it.

"You'll all be starting at the black dot," He explained, pointing at the little black dot at the bottom of the page. "You'll make your way through the forest here, and then this little village. The check point will be on the other side of the village. You'll each have a flag that you've got to protect until you can set it at this final check point".

He motioned towards the four yellow flags that had also fallen out of the box. "Oluo will have his hearing taken away from him, Gunther, his ability to speak, Artemis, her sight, and Eld will be without his ODM gear".

"No ODM gear?" Eld repeated, his shoulders sagging. "It'll take me years to get there without gear".

"That's why it's a teamwork exercise," Levi sighed irritably. "Or not, I don't really care".

Eld was right. Levi had indeed returned in a terrible mood. 

"What will you be doing whilst we're trying to get there?" Gunther asked, raising an eyebrow as he twirled the roll of tape around his index finger.

"Chasing you," Levi stated, causing the rest of the squad to share a look. "You'll have a 10 minute head start, my job is to make sure you don't get to that checkpoint".

"Well, that's just lovely, " Oluo frowned. "And how is Missy supposed to use her ODM gear with a blindfold on?".

"From experience I can tell you that she works perfectly fine when blindfolded," Levi replied bluntly, turning around and beginning to walk away. "Hurry up, we don't have all day".

Missy frowned as she trailed after him. He had been referring to the time she had fought against him in blind fights. 

"I didn't know the Captain could be so creative with his training sessions," Oluo grumbled, hanging the ear defenders around his neck. 

"Fighting him blind was one thing, but travelling through a dark forest?" Missy whispered, looking down at the blindfold as she walked. 

"You're the only one out of us four who might be able to manage it," Gunther sighed. 

She chewed her bottom lip, lifting her gaze to watch Levi's back as he walked ahead. He hadn't even mentioned their arrangement. Perhaps he just didn't want to bring it up around the rest of the squad. Even still, he was in a horrid mood. What had happened while he had been away? 

Once they had reached the forest, Levi took Eld's ODM gear before instructing them all to get ready. Oluo placed the ear defenders on his ears, sending Levi a thumbs up. Missy watched as Gunther unrolled some of the tape and bit a piece off with his teeth, sticking it over his mouth so he couldn't talk. He waggled his eyebrows towards Missy, making her chuckle.

Levi watched out of the corner of his eye, letting out a quiet 'tch' noise as he uncapped Oluo's gas tanks and let some of the gas out.

"What are you doing?" Oluo asked.

"You're only having half-filled gas tanks," Levi replied. "Otherwise the rest of you could leave Eld behind and be there within minutes".

Missy felt her shoulders tense up as he made his way toward her, reaching out a hand to wrap around her gas tank and yank her towards him. She felt her throat go dry as he unscrewed the tank and let some of the gas slip free. He was so close that she could smell the faint scent of vanilla on him. She stared at the floor by her feet, desperately avoiding his eyes. He capped her tank back up and motioned towards the blindfold in her hand. 

"Put it on". 

She nodded, wrapping the blindfold around her head and tying it under her ponytail. She lifted it so it was just above her eyes, not wanting to have to be blind before the actual exercise began.

"This exercise is not only about teamwork, but about how well you can adapt to certain conditions. The upcoming mission will be the most dangerous one any of you have yet faced, therefore we need to be ready for anything. You might find yourself with broken ODM gear, or having to fight in the dark, or in places where it is almost impossible to communicate with your squad," Levi explained, taking a step back. "Take this seriously. Help each other. I highly doubt any of you will get to the checkpoint, but I want to see you give it your best shot".

▪────────────  ⚔  ────────────▪

"Fuck," Missy hissed, feeling the sharp edge of a tree branch scrape against her face. "This is ridiculous".

If Missy had to guess, she would say she had been in the forest for about an hour now. The game had gone smoothly at first with the four of them helping each other maneuver their way through the tree's, bushes and rough terrain. Although, as soon as their ten minute head start was up, everything went downhill.

Levi had advanced quickly, and with no remorse. Eld had been taken out almost immediately, which meant the other three had to scatter to avoid being next.

Unfortunately for Missy, they had all been split up, and she was currently making her way through the treetops completely alone.

Her first few shots at using her ODM gear without being able to see had been absolute disasters. Her body was most likely littered with cuts and bruises from the amount of times she'd missed her shot and fallen through the thick clusters of tree branches. She'd figured out a rhythm though, thankfully, which had helped her gain speed with less accidents. If she aimed at a certain angle each time she swung, she was able to latch onto the thicker tree trunks and pull herself upwards. She probably looked hilarious, swinging through the trees blindly, occasionally headbutting low hanging branches and stumbling over her own feet, but she had made it further than she thought she would.

Her other senses had been her main savior during this whole ordeal. It wasn't a secret that she was able to use her senses better than others, but having her sight taken away from her had seemed to enhance her hearing, smell and touch even more than before.

She shot her wires forward, feeling them latch onto a tree before jumping from the branch she was currently perched upon, swinging further through the forest. The smell of chimney smoke had been getting stronger the further she advanced, which not only told her she was going the right way, but also that she was nearing the village on the other side of the forest.

"Nearly there," She whispered to herself, taking a deep breath before swinging again.

She came to a stop once the smell of smoke was almost on top of her, using her ODM gear to lower herself to the ground. She sighed in relief once her feet touched the floor, the sounds of distant chatter telling her that she had reached the end of the forest and was now on the outskirts of the village.

She lifted her arm to feel around for the yellow flag, which thankfully was still tucked within her belt. She was so close. She just had to make it through this village and then she was done. She pushed a few strands of hair out of her face, cursing the fact that she had lost her hair tie during one of her many falls through the trees. The one time she really needed her hair up, and she had lost her tie. Some might call that karma, but Missy was more worried about how much of her hair had been yanked out of her scalp from the sharp, thin, branches of the forest.

Her body went rigid as she heard a small sound from behind her in the forest. It sounded like a twig snapping. She listened for a moment, but didn't hear anything else.

"I need to keep moving," She whispered, picking up her feet as she walked further into the village.

Instead of going through the middle of the village, and probably catching the attention of all the people who lived there, she attempted to keep to the outskirts. People would probably think she was crazy for walking through the village with her ODM gear out and a blindfold over her eyes. Not to mention the fact she probably had enough leaves and twigs in her hair to house a family of birds.

She reached her hand out to her left, running it along the rough brick of the houses as she walked. She was focused more on what she could hear around her: the sounds of people talking, firewood being chopped, children laughing, and shoes thudding across the cobbled floor.

In her bubble of concentration she had failed to sense the person stood directly in front of her, realizing too late as she collided with their hard chest.

"I'm sorry," Missy apologized, holding her hands out in front of her and stepping back a couple of steps in order to give the person some space. "I didn't-uh- see you there".

"Tch, coming from the woman who's supposed to have the best senses around".

Missy's blood ran cold as she recognized the voice of the person she had just bumped into.

"Levi?" She whispered quietly, taking another step back.

"I'll give you 10 seconds to run," He replied, crossing his arm's over his chest as he looked her over. "Not that it'll do you much good, but you're the last one left in the game, so might as well have a bit of fun".

She had hardly let him get his last word out before she sprinted past him, her hands out in front of her to protect her from any obstacles.

Its not enough, she thought to herself, I can't outrun him like this.

In one last attempt to get away, she shot her ODM gear up towards a house, pulling herself up onto the roof. The village of Sosetta was a small village, with it's building's very close together. She had been here once before during her cadet training, so she knew this. She should be able to jump across the tops of houses.

It was risky, but she had come too far to just give up and let Levi catch her.

She ran up and down the slanted roof's, jumping as far as she could once she reached the bottom of each slant, successfully placing her feet onto the next. It was working, she was doing it! She let out a sharp exhale as she felt the wind whip through her long hair, running and jumping, running and jumping. That was until she heard the sound of footsteps closing in behind her.

"Shit," She whispered, picking up her pace as her heart thrummed against her rib cage.

"Go Missy!" She heard Eld yell from somewhere in front of her. "You're so close now!".

"He's right behind you Artemis!" Gunther shouted. "Keep moving!".

Missy let out a mix between a breath and a nervous cry as she moved her legs faster. The last thing she had expected to be doing today was running across the tops of houses, blindfolded, as Levi chased her.

She let out a strangled noise as she felt someone grab the ends of her hair, yanking her backward harshly. Levi had managed to come up behind her and grasp the ends of her long hair, stopping her movements and flipping her onto her back on the roof of the last house.

Missy desperately tried to catch her breath as Levi pulled the yellow flag from her belt. He wove his fingers under the black blindfold which covered her eyes and pulled it down, exposing Missy's blue eyes to the brightness of the sky. She blinked a few times until her sight adjusted on Levi's face, frowning down at her.

"You failed," Levi stated, standing up straight and jumping down from the roof.

No way, Missy thought as she sat up and looked at her surroundings, it was the last house, the checkpoint was right ahead...

Eld, Oluo and Gunther were waiting below the house, looking just as worse for wear as she must have.

"You all failed miserably," Levi muttered, pointing toward the three men before turning his attention to Missy. "You might have been successful if you had kept your damn hair up like you've been told too".

"I lost my hair tie," Missy replied with a sharp tone, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I've heard that excuse before," Levi replied, turning away from her. "You're inability to follow simple instructions is going to get you killed one day. You would have been the only one out of this squad to succeed, yet you let your stubborn childishness get in the way. Did you even listen to me when I said this upcoming mission will be the most dangerous thing the Scouts have ever done? Do you listen at all when I speak to you?".

"Her hair was tied up when we started, Levi," Gunther defended, putting a hand on Missy's shoulder. "I don't think she meant to lose it this time".

Levi scoffed, narrowing his eyes towards his squad member. "Are you going to make excuses up for her after she's been killed by a Titan, too?".

"I-".

"Get back to HQ and reflect on your own performances today," Levi snapped before Gunther could reply. "Think about what you could have done better, and stop babying Artemis. She doesn't need looking after, she needs to listen to orders".

Missy's eyebrows furrowed as she watched the rest of her squad start to walk away, their shoulders slumped. She stepped forward to follow them but was stopped by a hand grabbing the hood of her green cloak.

"Meet me on the training field in forty-five minutes," Levi muttered. "We need to have a little chat".