"Hey! Gil! Get your ass over here!" A scout Captain by the name of Leon shouts as he gestures the boy over.
Gil stands up, whipping the sweat off his brow as he walks over, his shirtless torso glistening in the sun. Once arriving he asks, "What's up Uncle Leon?"
"Tch. Damn brat, why don't you put a shirt on?" He grumbles.
"Nah I'm good." He replies with a smirk.
"Then why don't you put those muscles to use and take this box of smoke signals to the supply carts." Leon chuckles dismissing the cocky brat.
The other scouts in the area all chuckle amusedly. It has been about a year since Erwin introduced everyone to Gillian, his son.
At first it was a shock to the people, but they quickly got over it and got used to the boy's presence.
The boy brought everyone together within the scouts. He always gets along with most everyone and his way of treating them all as family really helps the scouts all grow closer.
"Fine fine I got it." Gil chuckles as he picks up the box and starts carrying it over to the cart.
"You know, brat we are going to miss you when you go to the Cadet Core in a few weeks. I won't have a little brat to make do all my manual labor." Leon jokes while lounging against the wall.
"Yah, it is going to be strange for you to not be here. I won't have someone to tease anymore." Petra fakes pout as she walks over and reaches up to mess with his hair.
As Gil sets the crate down, he turns to her with a wide grin stating, "That's true. You tease me about not having a girlfriend, but your the one who can't work up the courage to confess to Uncle Levi."
The others all bust out laughing as Petra turns bright red. "W-what are you talking about brat?" She shouts snaking hun in the back of the head.
After a brief moment of the ruckus, a sharp voice cuts through the crowd of soldiers, "What's all the noise about?"
"It was Gillian's fault sir!" Petra and Leon both shout at the same time while saluting.
"Eh?" Gil asks, looking at the two with a betrayed expression before asking, "How could you?"
"Oh? It was your fault again brat? I guess I have to beat some more sense into you again." Levi threatens as he begins to walk forwards.
Taking up his defensive stance, Gil groans knowing what is coming next.
*Woosh!*
The wind blows by his face as Gil leans back just in time to avoid a kick to the face from Levi.
Stepping forwards he tries to throw a cross at Levi, but the shorter man easily sidesteps it before countering with a knee to Gil's gut, sending him crashing to the ground.
With the breath knocked out of him, Gil groans breathlessly, "Uncle Levi.. Why so hard?"
"I was bored." He states calmly with a tiny grin.
"Aw too bad, you lasted longer than usual. Good try Gillian!" One of the scouts shouts.
"Yah! You didn't get one shot this time!" Another more feminine voice shouts.
After a few more jeers from the crowd, Captain Levi turns to them,l before barking, "Get back to work. We are leaving in a few hours. We don't have time to mess around."
"Yes sir!" The scouts shout after a quick salute.
"Gil. Your father wants to see you in his office." Levi states patting him on the shoulder.
"Yes sir." Gil groans before standing up and walking into the building which has been acting as the home base since wall Maria fell.
Nodding to a few scouts and exchanging some greetings as he heads up to Erwin's office, he smiles as he enters.
"You called?" He asks.
"That's right. Please sit down." Erwin requests.
Sitting down in the chair across form Erwin, Gil sighs, an excited smile spreading across his face. "Is it time?"
Erwin nods, "Indeed. Now that you've fully adjusted to life here it's time for you to join the cadets. If we need to utilize your abilities without seeming too suspicious, we can't wait any longer for you to become an official soldier."
"Yes father. I have waited for this for years. You remember the promise you made me though, right?" He asks with a grin.
Erwin chuckles "Of course. If you place top three, I'll make you a small squad Lieutenant right off the bat."
"Cool." He mutters, excited at the thought.
Erwin can't help but smile proud of his son. In this past year, the two had really become father and son. The boy absorbs knowledge like a sponge. Not only that, but the boy showed good leadership qualities.
In difficult situations that Erwin presented him with, he always made calm decisions that would focus on the maximum effect at the cost of minimum sacrifice.
"Prepare yourself…. Tomorrow you join the 104th Cadet Squad."