To Love a Criminal ((MIKE ZACHARIAS X OC))

Chapter 3

Erwin Smith studied his new find intently from his parallel seat in the carriage, watching as she fiddled with the strap of her leather glove.

She was looking out the window with her dull amber eyes transfixed on the moon hanging lazily amongst the stars. The moonlight filtered into the carriage and reflected off of her surprisingly tanned skin and dark hair. Her cheek furthest from the window was shadowed over, contrasting greatly from the illuminated half nearly pressing against the window. Her thin eyebrows were knitted together slightly, prompting a look of concentration to cross her face. She seemed so fixated on the sky that she neglected to notice the soldier's stare.

She adorned a long, dark brown trench coat, of which was opened up just enough to reveal a white button up underneath. She wore long, heeled boots, black pants and her black hair was short and choppy. The seemingly permanent scowl on her face reminded Erwin of a certain soldier, and he found himself wondering what relationship Levi had with their new recruit. She resembled him in more ways than one, and the more traits Erwin discovered, the more he wanted to know.

"I have a question for you," Silica suddenly spoke, voice smooth and even as her narrow eyes flicked in his direction. "Who was it exactly that told you who I was?"

"The Military Police frequently have issues with the criminals from your District," Erwin informed, recalling a certain ravenette whom wasn't too far from the horse carriage they rode in. "They call upon the Survey Corps when... problems like this arise."

He gestured to Silica insensitively with his eyes, prompting a discreet huff to push out of her nose. Her eyebrows narrowed further into a deep scowl, and from that Erwin could see how short her temper really was.

"I don't think it was a problem," she justified, crossing her arms loosely over her chest. "As a matter of fact, it was helping a lot of people."

"Is that so?"

"People from the Underground District die everyday due to lack of sunlight," she continued per the Survey Corps captain's musing. "Crime may be ten times more severe than it is above ground, but the misconducts committed help the sick people who can't afford medicine on their own."

Erwin's eyebrows narrowed considerably at that, but he couldn't argue with her reasoning. After all, he didn't know what a life in the Underground District was like; life to Silica had always been surrounded by death and famine, at least Erwin had the choice to subject himself to that. Silica was born into it. Erwin had to tear his eyes away from her to prevent himself from delving into it too much.

Silica's glare softened into a look of discreet uncertainty. She didn't know why, but their relatively simple conversation rubbed her the wrong way.

Now that Erwin's attention was elsewhere, it was her turn to study him, and everything about him seemed... off. Besides his formal posture and curt responses to her questions, he was the only one out of the other soldiers to ride carriage-style back to base with her, not to mention how he seemed to have an abnormal interest in her as a person. Despite her not acknowledging it, it was hard for Silica to ignore his previous cold stare.

The remainder of the ride to Karanes District was silent, and once the castle-like Survey Corps base was in Silica's line of sight passed the tree line, her eyes were glued to the window again. The whole scene looked almost mythical the way the moonlight retracted off the seemingly glistening stone of the massive buildings.

"This will be your home from now on," said Erwin as the carriage came to a stop. "I will have Hange give you a tour of the facility before you conference with the commander tomorrow."

"Live here?" Silica repeated whilst Erwin leaned forward to open the door.

"Precisely," Erwin confirmed, allowing Silica to exit before he stepped out behind her. "Dormitories are on the west side of the base. I will have one of my affiliates take you there shortly."