Levi stood at the starting platform edge of the ODM course, gazing into the wooded area of trees. He’d run this course at least a couple hundred times in all his days as a Survey Corps captain, but today felt different.

He adjusted the controls of his gear, methodically adjusting the triggers and checking the gas left in the tubes. He was set.

He then took a step off the platform, plummeting towards the ground rapidly, letting the world pass him by before he raised his hand, fired his cable into a nearby tree, and with all the grace and strength of a wild eagle, pulled himself up and out, propelling himself forwards. He could feel the air that rushed by him, could make out the blur of trees he passed by, and from somewhere below he heard the sound of excitement.

An almost-noticeable smile came to his lips as he spun around, soaring up into the air and then back down again, diving like a falcon in search of its prey. Here he felt as if he could be free, weightless and without care. Here in the air, he felt as if he had finally learned to grow wings. These wings had set him free from the Underground. They’d given him a chance to be more than a thug, more than a soldier. When he could fly among the canopy of trees overhead, he felt as if he was right where he needed to be.