A Matter of Stature

Part 2

A Matter of Stature

Chapter 6: Welcome Home

Erwin, Levi and you went on your way with no other titan incidents. Levi stayed nearby to keep an eye on you. It was making you uneasy, but not frightened. You were in a relatively safe position and he was your unwilling bodyguard. Erwin went on ahead, with Levi purposely slowing his pace, not for your benefit, but to allow Erwin to disappear ahead. You and Levi got to a small castle, which he approached. You have never walked so much in your life, but it was nice that you were physically able to do so now, so you didn't complain. You looked at the little castle, it was not what you would call a large mansion, but it was okay. 

"Is this your house?" You had assumed that it was and didn't think you needed any confirmation, but you wanted to end the uncomfortable silence. If you were going to tolerate each other and make a somewhat believable act of a willing marriage, then you would have to get used to at least being able to have a casual conversation every now and then.

"No, we passed my house on the way here," Levi replied. None of the small, or at least small by your standards, residences in Rose had caught your attention. Though this wasn't the poorest sector, the middle class aesthetic was still a sharp contrast to the luxury of Sina. "This is the Survey Corps' base. I spend most of my time here and this is where you will live as well."

"Ok..." You didn't know what else to say. You weren't sure if this new development was good or bad.

The two of you went inside. You followed Levi as he navigated the structure and passed a loud room. You stopped and curiously looked in. There were a lot of tables there occupied by many people eating dinner, wearing identical uniforms. You recognized Erwin and the three scouts from earlier. The girl spotted you and the two boys followed her gaze to the door. 

You stood there, trapped in place by their curious eyes until Levi pulled you away. "With your abilities out of control, you could be a danger to them." You opened your mouth to protest but Levi spoke first, "even if you don't want to hurt them," he cut you off. "Your abilities are different from Eren's. He needs to bleed to transform, as did the female titan. You were not wounded when your legs transformed earlier, or when your hand almost transformed when you were signing the document."

You thought about when you were about to sign the document. You didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but you weren't paying attention. Still, you didn't want to make him trust you less. You didn't care about his personal opinion, but you were not a dangerous monster and you didn't want to be treated as one, so you didn't comment on the fact that you were too distracted to notice your hand. Thinking back on it, it did kind of hurt, though you had assumed you were simply squeezing the pen too tight. A look of realization crossed your features. "It's not completely random," you concluded, "I can't explain what triggers it, but I can tell when it's happening, it hurts."

Pain seemed to be a reasonable element in the mix. "If you were to transform, you can alert me?"

"Yes," you replied without thinking.

"If you notice it," Levi added. You expected him to be angrier for some reason, but rather than becoming more hostile, the difficult situation seemed to give him something to think about and make him more focused. Maybe it was like Erwin said, maybe you could be useful to humanity and he wanted to encourage that.