Lara (Long-Fic Levihan | Armin Arlert X OC)

Chapter 3 - Lara's Story

Lara drank it and replied she was already feeling better.

"We're here to help you, okay?" said Erwin, trying to calm her down. "Let's take it slowly, shall we? First, do you know where you are?"

The girl looked around, analyzing the wooden interior of the cabin and then at the window. The rain was getting stronger. She shook her head negatively.

"Right," concluded Erwin, kindly. "Do you remember how you ended up here?"

Slowly, Lara nodded. But the feeling of horror wanted to come back to her heart.

"Can you tell us what happened to you?" asked Levi, looking gently into the child's eyes, then paused. "If you're not able to speak now, we'll understand."

"I can," she confirmed, slowly gazing at the three soldiers around. "My name's Lara and I'm ten years old."

"What's your last name, dear?" asked Hange.

"I... Don't have a last name or a family name," the girl replied, downcast. "I'm just... Lara."

"How is that so?" asked Erwin, raising his hands in confusion. "You don't have any other name?"

"I'm an orphan, Mr. Smith," replied Lara, looking at him with melancholy. "I don't have any family in this life. The people who raised me thought I didn't deserve my family name, because of my parents."

A loud thunder rumbled in the distance. Levi squirmed in his chair, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry..." said Erwin, in a low tone. "Please, proceed."

"As far as I was told back in the orphanage," continued Lara, looking out the window. "My parents were terrible and much-wanted thieves and murderers of Karanes District. When I was a newborn baby, during an escape from the Military Police, the carriage had an accident." She took a long pause, "I was the only survivor."

Lara was now staring at her hands.

"The Police found me in the rubble and obviously threw me into an orphanage in the District. When I say I was thrown, it is in a literal sense. They wrapped me in my baby clothes and put me next to the garbage, 'cause someone always passed by to see if there was any leftover food and, eventually, they would notify someone from inside the orphanage. They didn't even bother to ring the bell."

Hange stared at the girl with her mouth slightly opened, not believing her ears.

"I know that a lot of people have the impression that orphanages help abandoned children and everything else..." continued Lara, moving her arms. "But the truth is, that they can't wait to see us go away."

Erwin looked at the girl, frowning. She was very, very young... But spoke like an adult. He had never seen anything like that. Surely, she had to mature faster than other kids.

"I'm sure that what happened to me is what we, children from the orphanage, 'affectionately' (said no one ever) call the 'Offering'," continued Lara, with a serious expression. She sighed, closing her eyes, and proceeded, "The 'Offering' is when one or two children, chosen randomly, are thrown off the Walls. Someone crazy enough gets paid to take the victim outside, during the night."

The wind and rain beat hard on the window.

"The reason is quite simple: the orphanage has no money and needs to save on something, if you know what I mean. Isn't that funny? The orphanage has no money to maintain us, but it has money to pay someone to send us to death," Lara chuckled sarcastically. "For them, it's better for a person to take a risk outside the Walls, than to put an end to the child inside, with an excuse like, 'If someone finds out, imagine what a scandal!'. It's certain that the government would immediately cut the 'assistance' the orphanage receives each month."