It was the day after the trial, Kaya and her squad were making their way to a new base with the titan kid. The ghoul couldn't help but admire the scenery around her, even if Oluo's voice tried to ruin it for her.
"An architectural marvel, don't you agree? A proper royal residence once upon a time, and more recently, our former head quarters. Fancy, yes, but absurdly impractical once the scouts got down to business. Much to far a move from either river or wall." Kaya wished that Oluo would stop ruining this moment for her, she spent most her life in the underground and once she finally got to go new places, Oluo ruined it.
"This was the early days for us, you understand. Now this bobble is a holding cell, the place where we store our newest toy." Eren looked back towards Kaya and the captain in hopes of getting any clue on how he was supposed to act. "Don't be deceived green horn." The blonde scout said while leaning his head towards Erens.
"Excuse me." The green eyed boy questioned.
"Don't expect special treatment, whether you're Titan or not, don't imagine for a second we all share the good captains enthusiasm-" Just as he was about to finish his sentence, his horse misplaced its footing and caused the scout to bite his tongue.
"Maybe that'll teach you to shut your trap while on horseback." Kaya muttered.
They soon arrived at the new base, it was stunning, the ghoul thought that the vines heading up the walls gave it a mystical atmosphere. Petra continued to scold Oluo for his consistent whining the whole journey. "That's what you get for flapping your jowls on horseback." The strawberry blonde stated.
"The rookie needed to know his place, first impressions are important." The man defended.
"Your first impression to me sure was something." The ghoul snickered. She recalled the time where she ended up kicking most of the squads asses in combat training, causing her to chuckle.
"Yeah, and you made quite the impression on him there." Petra added.
"Indeed, our exchange went exactly as planned." Kaya deadpanned and wondered what his original plan was.
"What happened to you, you never used to talk like this?" The hazel eyed girl asked.
"Isn't it obvious. He's trying to be like the captain, wait till I tell him about his secret admirer." The ghoul teased.
"If you both intend to scold me like wives, then there's rather more you should be acquainted with before laying claim to the privilege." Oluo's failed attempts of flirting with them was both hilarious and disturbing, both of the girls looked at each other with a disgusted expression.
"What privilege, all I see is Oluo." She whispered to Petra making sure that the man in question could hear her. Oluos expression fell from proud to devastated.
"I'd tell you to bite your tongue but you've already got that covered. Next time I hope you bleed out." Petra said. Kaya began to wonder of to greet the newbie, knowing that Petra and Oluo would continue their verbal fight for a good few hours if not prevented.
"Whatcha thinking about." The ghoul asked him, Eren looked shocked so the amber eyed girl elaborated. "You just look deep in thought."
"Oh, I was just thinking about the squad, that's all ma'am." He quickly replied.
"Relax, I'm not your higher up, we technically have the same rank." She reassured, causing the titan shifter to nod his head. "Don't worry about Oluo, he tried to assert dominance when I first joined too. Once you damage his ego, you should be fine."
"I already know a lot about the rest of the squad, but what about you? I haven't heard much." He asked, eager to know what the ghoul was capable of.
"Well what do ya wanna know?" She replied, knowing it was going to be something of her life as a thief. She didn't mind though, her life in the underground was fun and exciting, but being a scout was more exhilarating.
"Why did you become a scout?" Was his first question.
"I was a thief in the underground, most wanted may I add. One day I was going about my business and going to get information from a high ranking military police officer when it all went to hell. I was ambushed by scouts, normally it was easy for me to get out of situations like that, but captain Levi made that difficult. I thought I had escaped until it came down to a fist fight. I won and was holding Levi hostage, but Erwin didn't care much and gave me a choice. Scouts or jail." She summed up, not forgetting the part where she won against humanities strongest.
"Wait you're the fox of the underground!?" He shouted.
"Oh, I forget that Levi kicked the sense out of you in court, you mustn't have heard my testimony." She thought aloud. She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Levi's voice from a distance. "You any good at cleaning, kid?" She smirked.
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Eren was indeed, not good at cleaning. Levi often ordered Kaya to check on him and each time she did, her expectations decreased. There was clumps of dust everywhere and the furniture hadn't even been moved. On one of her many check ups on Eren's cleaning, she moved a sofa, only to find a dead mouse. To say she was angry was an understatement, she really had to try to not accidentally activate her ghoul eyes with her frustrations.
"That's it! If I have to come and check on you're mistakes one more damn time, I'm going to shove that broom so far up your ass that you'll have to walk on your hands to clean the damn floor." She yelled at him, she was trying her best not to let her inner ghoul take over.
"Yes ma'am." He quickly replied in fear of provoking the thief. Kaya hoped he got the message and walked away to go and complain to her Captain.
The fox was beyond angry, she had tried to make to titan shifter feel welcome and tried to relate to him the best she could, however, his personality made it difficult. He kept questioning her in why they had to clean the headquarters, which made Kaya grit her teeth in hopes of not killing him on the spot. Once she found Levi she let out a loud sigh.
"I'm going to kill that brat." She simply stated. "I went to check on his cleaning and I found a dead mouse under a sofa. On multiple occasions his cleaning was disgraceful, do I have permission to get rid of him, who knows, maybe he could mysteriously go M.I.A." The ghoul continued.
"You can't kill him, if you do then we both end up in jail." The captain replied, understanding her reasoning. When the two turned towards the door they saw a familiar figure, Eren. The boy likely heard the two plotting to kill him, which explained his scared expression.
"I'm done with the upstairs sir. If I may ask, where is it that I'll be sleeping." He asked.
"Your sleeping quarters are in the cellar." The captain responded.
"The cellar? But sir again?" Eren complained.
"Get over it, you can sleep in the cellar or you can sleep six feet under, your choice." The ghoul threatened, ever since the cleaning incident she vowed never to treat him with respect again. The captain was shocked by her violent response but didn't question it.
"It's the safer option, your abilities are far from being under control, you might go titan in your sleep. One of the conditions of my having you in custody at all, is that I keep you under strict security, morning, noon and night. When we're in dream land, you're in restraints, that's the rule." Levi said which made Eren stay silent, Kaya found it funny that a boy who could turn into a 15 metre giant was scared of a man who was 5'3.
"Kaya, go check on his work." The captain ordered.
"Hell no, I'm not going through that shit again." She defended, there was no way on earth she was going back up into that filthy environment.
"Fine, I'll go with you. Eren finish up here." He said while walking away, inviting the ghoul to follow.
Once they made it upstairs, they took a quick glance at the room. Clumps of dust everywhere, windows closed, furniture still covered and there was a pile of leaves in the corner of the room. "I warned that kid that if he pulled this crap again I was gonna make him suffer." Kaya growled, she thought at least some of her threats would have sunk into his head.
"Open the windows, something in here reeks." The captain ordered.
"If I find another dead animal then that kids as good as dead." She said, following her captains orders and opening the windows, she almost screamed at the sights. There were insects everywhere, in all the cracks and corners of the windowsill. The ghoul was never a big fan of creepy crawlies and ran towards the safety of behind the captain.
"Are those-" The captain gasped, not needing to finish his sentence.
"Spiders." The amber eyed girl whispered as the two slowly backed out of the room. Neither of them spoke about what they saw or how they acted around the tiny creatures, no one needed to know their conjoined weakness. They were about to enter the room they were previously cleaning when they heard voices from the inside. The two looked at each other as they heard both Petra and Eren gossiping about them both.
The ghoul was about to give them a piece of her mind until Levi grabbed her shoulder and walked in first. "What's going on?" He interrupted, knowing exactly what was going on.
"Sir." Eren saluted with shock of seeing the two short squad members enter the room with a deathly aura surrounding them.
"Your cleaning is lamentable. Back upstairs now." The captain commanded. Eren quickly ran past the both of them while Petra stayed put and pretended she was sweeping the floor the whole time.
Once the cleaning was completed, the whole squad made their way to their new dining room. Petra treated the squad and made them all some tea, even Kaya was quick to take up the offer.
"It's safe to assume our standing orders will remain for the next week, word through the grapevine is we're gearing up for a big mission a month from now. One where a bunch of wet behind the ear graduates are selected to be our main backup." Eld, second in command stated, making the rest of the squat feel uneasy.
"That can't be right, why do something like that? The cadets have been through enough with the last Titan invasion, why subject them to that kind of danger again?" Gunther questioned.
"Surely this can't be the case." Petra expected the captain to agree with her, however, that wasn't going to happen.
"Mission planning isn't my responsibility. But it is Erwins, and you can bet the mans obsessed over every angle." Levi concluded, making the gears start to turn in the ghouls head.
"There's got to be some genius reason why he's bringing the new recruits. We just haven't figured it out yet." The amber eyed girl added.
"That's a truth, especially given how unique the situation is. The amount of people who died on the path on taking back wall Maria, then hope comes in a form no one expected, one that we're not entirely sure how to deal with." Eld said while looking towards the green eyed newbie. The whole squad was then put into an awkward silence and Kaya just sipped her tea to add to the suspense, she couldn't help but love the drama. "Most of us still find it hard to believe, so how does it work, this whole changing trick." Eld interrogated.
"Wish I could tell you, but the fact is my memory's not clear. Guess it's kinda like being in a trance. I do know the trigger seems to be hurting myself in some way, like biting my hand." Eren answered with wide eyes.
"Why don't you carry around a knife instead, biting your hand is kinda gross." The ghoul complained.
"You're not going to get anything out of him other than what the scribblers wrote out on reports, not that you know who, won't have a go at it." Levi said, sipping his tea in a awkward fashion.
"Consider it revenge from you're terrible cleaning." The ghoul spoke up. "It's only a matter of time."
"Who are you taking about?" The boy smashed his fists against the table, causing the cups of tea to rattle.
Just then a loud crash was heard from outside, followed by a scream. Petra opened the door for the known intruder and Hange made their way into the room, rubbing their head. "I'm so sorry. Good evening team Levi, how is castle life treating everyone." They screeched.
"Your too early." The captain responded.
"Kill me now." Kaya complained while pushing her face into her hands. "I thought we agreed that you'd shower more often."
"I've been busy with my babies, I would have came earlier." The said, making their way towards a spare seat at the table.
"Section commander Hange?" The titan shifter questioned.
"Hello Eren. In the event your haven't pieced it together yet, it's my job to spearhead the scout regiments research efforts. Essentially, I poke and prod our captured titan specimens, I'd very much like your help." The goggled maniac said.
"Well in what way? Like what would I have to do?" He continued to ask, the ghoul was about to tell him to shut his trap before it was too late, but remembered her vow to ignore him.
"JOIN ME OF COURSE. On a quest of scientific discovery." They said with a more than creepy facial expression.
"Well uh, I'm happy to help except I'm afraid it's not up to me. I'm under orders by the higher ups you see." Eren answered.
"Levi what's on his schedule for tomorrow." Hange demanded.
"Clearing out all the weeds." He answered.
"Excellent, it's done. Young man, tomorrow will be grand." Hange said. They grabbed Eren's hand and stared deep into his soul.
"O-ok. But just so I'm clear what exactly will I be doing." The boy asked, this was his biggest mistake yet. "Are you running experiments or something." He followed up.
Most of the squad began warning him and begged him to stop talking, but it was too late. "Ah, I knew it, you possess a singularly curious mind, don't you?" They beamed.
Kaya got out of her seat and made her way to her new room, most of the squad followed and left a confused Eren behind, not willing to sacrifice their sanity to help the boy. Once the ghoul was in her room, she saw the distance she had to travel to get to the roof and sighed. It was a much more difficult trip than the last base, however she was prepared to try.
Unfortunately, when the ghoul opened the window, she recalled her previous experience, Eren cleaned the upstairs, so that meant that the spiders were still there. The ghoul quickly activated her eyes and could then see clearly in the dark, she greatly regretted it. Since it was dark, the creatures were moving and trying to get deeper into her room. Kaya slowly backed out of her room and switched her eyes back to normal, she then ran to Levi's room, prepared to beg for help.
The ghoul knocked on the door before bursting in. "Spiders!" She loudly whispered. The captain turned towards her with wide eyes. "I can't stay in there, and I can't get to the safety of the roof." She complained.
"You've killed titans, I'm sure you can handle a few insects." The captain reassured.
"In that case why don't you, humanities strongest, go and get rid of them." She defended.
The captain sighed and went to check in his windowsill, lucky for him, there were no bugs. "Guess you got the room that Yeager was cleaning." He said.
"You can't even call that cleaning." She shouted, the captain did nothing but roll his eyes. "That's it I'm going to the roof." She said. The ghoul made her way towards the window and looked for an opening to get to the roof. The guttering was old and looked as though it was about to give way at any minute, that wasn't an option. She could head the the attic and go through one of those windows however she had no idea how to get there.
"It's not safe to go to the roof, if the spiders bother you that much then just stay here." The captain said, getting annoyed with her antics.
"Whatever." She scoffed while retreating onto his bed. The captain looked confused, he had expected he to take the sofa.
"No. That's my bed." He claimed.
"Listen, that brats given me nothing but hell all day, I think I deserve the bed." She demanded while taking off her boots, gear and scouting jacket. Next she got into the covers without breaking eye contact, daring him to go against her.
The captain let out a light tch noise and made his way to the sofa across the room. Soon later, they both fell asleep, for once Kaya had spent the night under a roof, ever since the ghoul came above ground, she had stayed on the roof and stargazed, however today she couldn't. Not only were her stars taken away from her, but because of Eren she had to stay with the captain, her fear of spiders was restricting. After her angers disappeared, she went into dream land.
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The young ghoul was in her home with her mother and father, happy as they ever could have been. Her father was reading her a book about ghouls, while her mother was making them all their special tea, all seemed normal. Apart from the fact it wasn't. The young amber eyed girl could tell something was wrong, yet she couldn't pinpoint it, she was questioning why her dream was so strange until she heard a knock at the door.
Her father led the young girl towards her mother, who then led her into a secret room, under a trapdoor. At first she was confused but when listening, she heard the voices from the other room.
"Hello, I'm doctor Yeager, I don't believe we've met." The unknown voice asked. "May I come in?" He asked.
"Of course, would you like some tea, I was just brewing some." Her mother asked the stranger.
"No thank you, I've come to discuss a personal matter." He replied. "I want you to come with me to the Reiss family church tomorrow at dawn." He demanded.
All three of the ghouls were confused until her father spoke up. "Why should we do that, we've never met you before, besides we don't have clearance to go above ground." He said in a threatening tone.
"I think you'll agree when you see this." The stranger said. There was a bang on the table and it was obvious that something had just been placed there. "Before you react violently, I'll have you know that I've arranged it so that if I don't make it out of here, you all get exposed for the monsters you are."
"Where did you get this?" Asked the girls mother, on the verge of tears.
"I'll explain everything at the church tomorrow, I'll meet you at the south stairwell at midnight, don't be late." Dr Yeager demanded before leaving the residence.
The next part of her dream was a blur, she heard her parents screaming and everyone was panicking, their voices of misery became louder and louder until...
"AHHHHH." Kaya screamed while trying to catch her breath, she looked at her surroundings and remembered where she was. "Dr Yeager?" She recalled from her dream. 'Was he the cause of this?' She thought.
"Why the hell are you screaming brat?" The captain groaned before looking over to see a shocked girl. "What happened?" He asked in a softer tone.
"Just a bad dream." She shrugged off and lay back down.
"What kind of bad dream causes you to jump up and scream?" He pried.
"I didn't expect to jump up and scream, it was out of my control." She defended. Kaya didn't know why she woke up that way, the last thing she remembered was her parents screams.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.
The ghoul looked over at him to see if he was being genuine, he was. However the ghoul couldn't tell him, if he finds out she's a ghoul then her whole life is ruined, that drew her memory back to the point in her dream. The stranger said he had arranged that if he died, everyone would find out, Kaya couldn't let that happen. "No thanks, it was just a stupid nightmare anyways." She replied.
Levi nodded his head and soon went back to sleep, but Kaya tried to formulate a plan. She needed to find out if this man had any relation to Eren, maybe she could find out more about him from then on. The rest of the night was sleepless for the ghoul, she was too worked up about the developments of her situation. Every now and again, the captain would toss and turn to look at the girl, she payed no attention and decided to keep thinking about her next move.
She needed to find Doctor Yeager.