The Adventure on-board the Maria

Alone on the Maria

Melody leaned at the side of the ship, watching as the rest of the crew ran down the peer towards Kitra. She couldn't clearly see the foreign town, since the crew stopped the ship at a distance, so to avoid it being spotted. According to Hanji, who was currently on another one of her over excited rambles, the main tactic the crew used was to find away to sneak in and blend into the crowd without being noticed, then snatch what they needed and killing whoever witnessed it. Sounded very similar to the way Melody got on the ship in the first place. Melody soon found herself in a daze, her face in the breeze, as it blew the herbal smell coming from Kitra towards her, blowing her golden locks behind her head. Hanjis voice became nothing but a murmur, as Melody continued to look around her, at the small town of Kitra in the not so far off distance, at the white sandy beaches along side it, at the crystal blue waters beneath the ship, at the dry wooden peer and at the various sea birds soaring through the clear blue sky, as the bright sun shone down making the day surprisingly hot for December. When Melody had observed everything in sight, she soon found herself turning back to Hanji and whatever she was talking about. "...so there I was with Shorty, surrounded by guards, covered in blood, and with only his sword to fight with. How we got out there, I have no idea because I passed out from over excitement, but it was pretty awesome all the same. Don't you think so Repunzel?" said the brunette. Melody look at Hanji, getting annoyed from her new nickname. It had only been a few minutes since Levi had called her that, and Hanji was already insisting on calling her that along side 'Little one'. It wouldn't of bothered her that much if it weren't for the fact that they were both nicknames given to her back home. "Don't call me that" Melody grumbled quietly, but Hanji didn't hear her, due to the fact that she was now humming one of Melody's songs, extremely loudly.

A few minutes of silence passed, excluding Hanji's obnoxious humming. Said crazy woman, soon stopped humming for a moment, and began looking up as if in thought. Her eyes widenedslightly, as if she had remembered something, and she jumped away from where she stood holding her hands up. "Wait here" she requested, before running off and disappearing into the captains quarters. Melody remained where she was, looking in the direction she had left, slightly unsure on what was happening. Soon Hanji reappeared with a massive grin on her face, appearing to be hiding something behind her back. "I was going to wait until the actual day, but then again this is the perfect time for me to get it without Shorty catching me" Hanji began, still leaving Melody confused. "What are you talking about Hanji?". Hanji's grin widened. "Happy early eighteenth Birthday" she cheered pulling out a bottle of wine out from behind her back. Melody looked at Hanji, shocked from the unexpected gift. She couldn't believe anyone actually remembered. It didn't exactly mattered that it was something she couldn't drink for two days, she was still heart warmed by the idea that Hanji got her a gift. "Thank you Hanji" Melody breathed, her voice barely audible with happiness. "You're welcome Repunzel. Now go hide it in our room while you still can" Hanji ordered shooing Melody away, with a grin still evident on her face. Melody then went back down the steps and walked to her room. She opened the door and looked around to see if she could see any good hiding spots. Unable to find any, she simply stuffed it down the side of her bed.

Melody walked back out of the girls room and down the hallway, only to stop in her tracks when she spotted something that caught her interest. The cleaning supplies. It had been a while  since she had the chance to clean around the place, and now that her shoulder bone was fixed she could do so without any difficulties. It just so happened she knew just where to start. The cell. She would finally be able to clean up that filthy dungeon she was forced to call home for two months. It would definitely take a while, considering how dirty it was when she left, meaning she would have something to distract herself for a while, for once. She began walking again, going to tell Hanji what she was going to do. She stepped into the fresh air again, looking around to find Hanji sitting on a barrel, observing her scrapbook. "Hanji" Melody called out, causing the brunette to avert her eyes from her book. "I'm going to clean the cell" she said. Hanji gave her a weird smile, as if she had just realised something brilliant, pulling out a pen to write. "Sure, go ahead, I'll be writing in my scrapbook while your at it. You just gave me an idea for something to do research on". "Really, what is it?" Melody asked curiously. "Not telling you" Hanji sang. "It's top secret". Melody frowned at that answer. "It better not be about me" she ordered, before walking back to the closet with the cleaning supplies in it.

When Melody got there, she pulled out a mop and a bucket full of water, a broom, a peace of cloth, and a duster. She stumbled down the hallway, towards the cell, finding it hard to carry everything in her small arms, but she just about managed. She reached the room and placed everything in the corner. She looked around, realising someone had already beaten her to cleaning the place, though by the looks of things, it had been a week or more since then, since dust was beginning to build up again. Melody examined the now cleaner room, giving a low sigh. She looked at the outside of the cell, noticing how it was now filled with more chests, presumably from the Titan, she looked at the bent bars, where Reiner had broken in to kidnap her, she looked at the corner, where the others used to stand guarding her, and last but not least, she looked at the small corner, where she used to lay,  with a blanket wrapped around her to keep her warm, always hiding behind it whenever Levi showed himself. Melody couldn't  help but remember how scared she was of Levi. A little part of her still was, but being around him more often and experiencing many other scary things, like the Titan crew ,had made her a little stronger. It had been four months, four months since she had been thrown into that cell, four months since she met Levi and the rest of his crew, four months for her to befriend all these new people, four months since she was a timid waiter at a bar, who only ever talked to her friends and family without getting nervous or uncomfortable, with the exception of Flegal, four months since she left home. Home. Just the mere thought of it made her want to burst into tears. She wanted to know how her family were, how they had been coping without her. She missed them so much. She missed Sasha's huge appetite, she missed Nanaba waking her up in the morning, she missed Ymir's grumpy attitude, she missed Historia's cute little face, she missed her father, with his bushy eyebrows, she missed the kindness of Marco, she missed the short temper of Jean, she missed Mike's strange ability to smell his surroundings, heck she even missed the annoying names Connie gave her, which was something she never thought would happen. She snapped out of her depressing thoughts, reminding herself what she was there to do. She grabbed the broom from the floor, and began brushing the floor, cleaning her thoughts away.