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The pale haired boy invited himself to sit on Commander Erwin's horse, back to back with the commander, cross legged and facing the short ravenette that rode behind them.
"So Killua. Were you waiting for us?" The commander asked.
"Kind of. Hange only said that you will most likely come, but you took longer that I expected. A month was kinda too long." he said.
The blonde laughed," Sorry to keep you waiting, convincing the higher ups took longer than necessary."
"I can't say I was looking forward to your arrival." he confessed.
Captain Levi raised a brow at that," And why is that?"
Killua shrugged spreading his hands wide and gesturing for the forest that surrounded them," Who would want to live in side a prison when they can be free?" he asked in a flat tone.
"You are certainly right. No one would want to live in a prison if they can help it." Commander Erwin said.
Killua leaned against his hand," Damn right." he muttered," You guys can't relate since you never tasted what freedom is like."
He remembered the life he used to live back with his family, the lack of freedom and the feeling of being continuously watched. He didn't escape from a prison to be sent to another. He also didn't break his sister out of that prison just to put her in a more spacious one.
"So how did you brats do it?" Levi asked.
Killua shrugged," We hunt for some of our food and grow some of it. We bring drinking water from the well inside the town south east from here. If we need to move something big or do something risky then we do it at night." he sighed," As long as the titans can't smell us or see us then we might as well be as insignificant as any other animal in the forest."
" Impressive." The commander praised.
" It's really not that hard." Killua said jumping off of the horse he was perched on," We are here." he said.
Levi and Erwin looked around the area for a moment before jumping off of their horses. They both looked up ,lookin for the house they heard so much about.
"You won't be able to see it, it's pretty high." Killua said and pointed behind him," You might wanna see the garden first." he said, walking ahead of the pair.
" Welcome back, Big Brother!" Alluka said, standing up to greet her brother. The pale haired boy smiled fondly, patting her on her head.
She turned to the older strangers ," You must be Hange's comrades, I'm Alluka. Nice to meet you." she said with a smile.
"Levi! Commander Erwin! Check this out!" Hange yelled running over to the pair with a tomato in her hand.
"I see that you are as energetic as ever." Commander Erwin said with a smile.
"More like driving us crazy." Killua muttered earing a scolding glare from his sister and a hum from Levi.
"Yeah, living with these kids has been such a delight!" She said, throwing her arm around the younger girl," You don't know how much I learned from Alluka over here."
"Oh Please, if anything then it was me who learned a whole bunch, Hange." The ravenette said.
"That's good to hear." The commander said," As much as I would like to see everything here, we don't have enough time. I believe you've seen everything around here." he said.
"Oh don't you worry sir. I didn't even miss an inch!" Hange said.
"You didn't even head into the forest." Killua said dryly.
"The forest doesn't matter. What matters is you kids!" she said pulling Alluka closer to herself.
"I only see two of these brats, weren't they supposed to be three?" Levi said, looking around the garden.
Alluka smiled at him," Gon isn't back yet." she said.
The black haired male clicked his tongue," We don't have all day, we have to get going." he said.
"Now, now Levi. We can make use of the time by looking around a bit." The commander suggested.
The younger girl nodded," I'd like to take as much of the harvest too, if you don't mind." she said," I have been working really hard on them, it'd be sad if I have to just abandon it all."
The section commander grinned brightly at her," Don't you worry, Alluka my dear. I can help you collect them until Gon comes back. We will need them as evidence too."
Killua sighed putting his hand behind his head," Well if they are going to do that then I might as well show you the tree house." he said.
Levi and Ervin followed closely behind the pale haired boy back to where they left their horses. He untied a rope from the tree steam and looked over the pair that were following him.
"You guys keep up with your ODM gear." he said wrapping the rope tightly around his hand after passing it below his foot, as if on cue he was yanked up wards with a giant stone rushing to the ground in his place.
Killua had concluded that it would be best if they all acted like children with normal physical abilities. He said that it would be best to hide their Nen abilities from the people until they learn more about them.
"Amazing, to think kids built this." the commander muttered following the pale haired boy with their ODM gear.
They landed on the balcony of the tree house and looked about them in fascination," Who would have thought, there is an actual house up here." Levi muttered.
Killua rolled his eyes," What did you expect?" he asked.
Levi shrugged," Something like a primitive tent." he answered honestly.
The pale haired boy scoffed walking into the tree house," Wipe your shoes on the entrance, Gon worked hard on cleaning this." he said.
Smiling to himself the commander obeyed," Alright." he said.
"There really isn't much to see," The pale haired boy said," We have two rooms and a storage. The kitchen and the bedroom." he said.
There wasn't much to the bedroom, it only consisted of a bed a bookshelf and a couple of rolled hammocks. The kitchen wasn't spacious either, but it held all the important utensils and tools.
"I see, so you lived on the bare minimum." The commander noted.
"There wasn't really any need for extravagancy." he said," Not that we wanted it anyway." he said.
"Killua!" Gon yelled, using a zip line to get to the balcony of the treehouse," I'm back!" he yelled, landing with a grin on his face.
The pale haired boy scowled," Did you really need to scream, you idiot!?" he seethed.
The green haired boy jogged into the house," You won't believe what I -" he stopped mid sentence when his eyes met with Erwin's. He grinned at the man," Hey, I'm Gon." he said extending his hand.
The scout commander shook his hand," Erwin Smith, it's a pleasure to meet you." he said.
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"Man, I can't believe we had to leave the tree house." Gon said, with a sad tone," Living there was so much fun."
"I know right. It's so sad." Alluka said sitting in the carriage next to her brother.
Killua had his hand behind his head as he nodded," Let's not forget that we will be going to live inside the walls, we might as well kiss our freedom goodbye." he said.
The trio sat in silence for a while, listening to the carriage roll on the ground. They were all sad, they loved the tree house and wanted to live inside it for a little while. After all they had built their life from a scratch there.
Gon perked up," Wait, Levi and the others go out of the wall, may be we can too." he said.
The pale haired boy shrugged," Sure let's be scouts and fight the Titans, why not?" he said.
Petra, who was riding her horse next to the carriage frowned," Wait, are you sure? It's dangerous." she said. She was surprised that the boys made a decision as big as joining the military on a whim, people needed to think stuff like that through.
"Don't worry about us, Petra. We can handle ourselves." Gon reassured, turning to stare at the woman," Say, how do you become a scout?" he asked.
The honey brunette glanced at Oruo who was riding across from her," Well you will have to graduate from your military training and then choose to be a scout." she said a bit uncertainly.
"Training? For how long?" The green haired boy asked.
"Three years."
"Three years?!" Gon echoed," Can't we just take some sort of exam and become scouts?" he asked.
"I...don't think so." she said.
Killua hit his friends head gaining his attention," You should probably ask the commander and not her." he said.
The green haired boy turned to look at the blonde that was riding in front of them," Say, Commander Erwin, can you do something about the three years? I wanna be a scout as soon as possible."
"Quit squeaking." Levi ordered.
Gon pouted," Why do you always sound so mad? All I did was ask a question." he muttered.
Hange slowed her horse down to ride next to her commander," I'm not exactly against it." she said gaining Erwin's attention.
"And why is that?"
"Those kids mastered the ODM gears in two days and they are physically strong enough to handle it. They are naturals, we could use someone like them, trust me I know talent when I see it. Gon and Killua are already fifteen, so their age won't be an issue either."
The commander hummed," I'll see what I can do."
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