ANGELIC – CHAPTER NINE
"Let's play a game." Jean suggested with a huff, looking down to his left at his slightly shorter companion. "Let's see who can stay quiet for the longest. . . go!"
Isabel stared up at him blankly, blinking at him a few seconds before her ears perked up at the sound of a familiar voice. "Hold on, you mean Captain Levi?" She turned her head in front of the pair quickly and jumped in her spot twice whilst clapping her hands.
"Eren!" She said excitedly. The brunette turned his head to face her, his lips curled upwards slightly before he turned to look at Jean beside her, his eyes swimming in confusion. Isabel looked between the two before sighing. "Long story."
"You're all here." Eren spoke as he looked around at the small group of familiar recruits. "Wait, if all of you are here then does that mean you're all Scouts?"
Connie stifled a laugh. "Well yeah? Why else would we be here?"
"Of course. So Annie and Marco went to the Military Police then? How come you didn't join them, Jean?" The dreaded question fell from his lips.
Isabel flinched slightly and averted her eyes, though Jean stood straight seemingly unfazed by the question. "Marco's dead." His voice was low and steady, almost as if he had rehearsed the line in front of a mirror.
"What? What're you saying?" Eren asked in disbelief. "Marco's not dead. You're just kidding around, right?"
"I wish I could tell you he died nobly or heroically. Truth is, we don't even know how he went out." Jean answered, his eyes flickering to Isabel momentarily. "He died alone, there was nobody there to see it happen."
The silver-haired girl sighed and lifted her head biting the inside of her cheek to stop her from getting upset again, she didn't have time to get upset. "It's true, Eren. We - we're the ones who found him."
"Marco's dead." He whispered to himself, almost as if he was trying to convince himself it was true.
The group of Cadets stood in silence as they grieved silently, thinking back to when their bubbly friend was once among them. Isabel stared at the ground, numbness taking over her once more as she let the words repeat over and over in her head. Marco's dead.
"Gather up, recruits! Your uniforms are here!"
One by one the recruits headed towards the squad leader and took their Scout cloaks, Isabel being one of the last to receive hers. She picked up the fabric and pulled it close to her chest as she headed back over to the group. She unclasped the button and threw it over her shoulders before buttoning it back up, letting the fabric slowly fall over her shoulders.
–
"So then, are you guys really-"
"Yes. We will be in the upcoming operation as well." Mikasa cut Eren off.
Isabel sat on one of the few crates in the supply room, kicking her legs gently in the air as she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head in an attempt to cover up the horrific attempt at recreating the braids Annie used to do for her. "Hey, Eren." Jean spoke up from beside Mikasa.
"I heard when you were in titan form you intentionally tried to crush Mikasa, you mind telling us what that's all about?" Isabel's eyes grew wide in horror and confusion, unable to believe that Eren would intentionally try to crush the girl he grew up with. Her eyes darted over to Mikasa to see if it were true, only to see the deep gash under her eye.
Eren looked as if he had seen a ghost. "You're wrong. He thought he was just swatting a fly, nothing -"
"I wasn't asking you." Jean interrupted Mikasa and turned to face her, pointing a finger at his cheek. "Oh, by the way, that cut on your cheek looks pretty deep. Just how did you get that again?"
Eren averted his gaze as Mikasa tried to hide the injury with her hair. "Apparently it's all true. When I was a titan I - I tried to kill Mikasa."
"Apparently?!" Jean exclaimed. "As in, you don't remember if you did or not? So basically you can transform into a fourteen metre tall titan at will, but when you do you don't have full control over it?"
"Not yet." Eren answered quietly. "But that's right."
Jean sighed and turned around to face the rest of the new Scouts. "Do you hear that everyone? What a fine situation this is, our lives and the fate of all mankind rest on his shoulders. I'm guessing we'll all end up like Marco. Dead well before Eren even knows it."
Isabel's face began to turn a violent shade of red as she dropped down from the crate, her eyes narrowed as she glared at Jean. She threw her arm out and yanked his shirt collar down to her level. "Considering Marco was your best friend you'd think you'd have more respect." She spat and shoved him back. "We may have agreed to be friends and work together but I won't tolerate this disrespect."
The room grew tense as all eyes fell onto the pair, Isabel was seething in anger, her fists balled as she glared at him whilst Jean stared at the wall in guilt. "Stop it. What's the point in chastising Eren now? Give it a rest."
"Listen, Mikasa." Jean turned his back to Isabel, the silver-haired girl took a few steps back and found a pair of hands on her shoulders, Bertolt looking down at her with his lips pressed together in what she assumed was his attempt at a smile. "Unlike you, most of us aren't just willing to throw our lives away for him on a whim. We need a reason. The truth. We need to know what we're laying our lives down for. Otherwise, we might hesitate when the time comes. What we want is a guarantee from Eren, show us what you're worth. Prove it to us. We're asking you to make us believe that you're worth dying for."
Jean stepped forward and yanked Eren into the air, their faces inches from each other. "You think you can do that? If you can, then we're with you. All of the way."
"Right." Eren whispered.
–
Isabel tapped the wooden door gently with her foot, hands holding the fragile china. "Come in." The voice was muffled through the wood, she took a few steps back and pushed down on the handle with the bottom of her boot and pushed the door open with her shoulder.
"Good evening, sir." She said quietly and entered the room, pushed the door closed with her back before she moved forwards and placed the tray on his desk.
Levi waved his hand dismissively and placed his pen down. "You don't have to call me 'sir' after hours." He answered and placed his hands in his lap. "How was your day?"
"It was good." Isabel answered as she picked up the teapot and began to pour tea into both of the mugs, placing the cleaner one in front of him and taking the slightly more damaged cup for herself. "And yours?"
Levi shrugged his shoulders and nodded at the seat behind her. "How are you feeling in regards to the expedition tomorrow?"
"To be completely honest with you, I'm nervous." She answered as she took a seat, fumbling with her fingers in her lap. "After my first encounter I never wanted to lay eyes on them ever again, but I also wanted to help humanity become free. It wouldn't have been right if I just let you all do the work."
His eyes flickered under the candle light, his porcelain fingers reaching out for his teacup, he pulled it up to his lips and took a sip before placing it back down onto the saucer. Levi just stared at her face, his expression unchanging however his emotions were buzzing inside him. "Is there something on my face?"
"No." He sighed. "You just remind me of someone I used to know."
"Do you mind if I ask who?"
Levi shook his head and leaned further back in his chair, kicking his right leg over his left. "As you're aware I grew up in the underground before I was a Scout." Isabel nodded. "Whilst I lived there, I had two friends who I lived with. We were very close. We joined the Scouts together, not of our choice but I've never regretted it since. On our first expedition, I split up from them and when I came back to find them. . . well, I'm sure you can imagine."
Isabel listened intently, her heart breaking for him ever so slightly. She was well aware of his troubled background growing up in the underground city, but she had always thought he'd been alone. "You don't have to answer this, I don't want to bring back memories, but, could you tell me about them?"
"I met Farlan first," He nodded, his thumbs rubbing together. "He was as smart as they come, he always wanted to make sure I didn't do anything alone. He was always there for me even when I didn't want to admit I needed help. And then, there was, Isabel."
Her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "I'm sure you can guess that's where you get your name. She was one of a kind. She was extraordinarily kind, something you didn't find very often there. The first time I met her she had risked her life for the sake of an injured bird, I used to think it was stupid, risking her life for something else, but now I think back and admire it. She was very sweet however sometimes her emotions did get the better of her."
"I don't have any regrets." He said simply. "Only one. I left them out there for reasons I don't want to talk about, and they died. I could've saved them had I stayed. That is my only regret."
Isabel sat silently as she watched him stare down at his tea. She wasn't sure what to say to him, she didn't know how to react. "I'm so sorry."
"What for?" He asked, picking his teacup up once more and taking a sip. "You weren't there."
She shook her head. "That's not why I'm sorry. I'm sorry because you said I reminded you of her, I'm sorry that I'm a reminder of her."
"Don't be. Had none of that happened, I wouldn't be here, we wouldn't be having this conversation and you'd probably have some ghastly name like. . . Prudence or something." He joked, though his face remained cold as it always did. "But don't be sorry, it's nice to have her aura around again."
Isabel nodded her head and finished the last of her tea and placed it back onto the tray along with her saucepan. "You should get some sleep, can't have you get tired and get eaten because of it, Erwin will have my head." He said quietly and copied her actions.
She tutted and picked up the tray. "Like that's going to happen. I have six titans under my belt thank you very much."
"Then I suppose you should get them out from there." He joked once more as she stood and headed towards the door. Isabel snorted quietly and opened the door, turning to face the man once more. "Goodnight, Isabel."
"Goodnight, Levi."