The air was loud and cold as icy rain pelted Silica in the face. She held the hood of her Survey Corps cloak over her head as she squinted against the grainy image of the Scout HQ courtyard, and watched as several other soldiers mirrored her in her sprint for shelter.
She cursed under her breath at the chill that ran up her spine, and was reminded that day of just how much she hated when it rained. Her fingers ached from being exposed to the cold, and just when she was about to pick up her pace, the sound of shouting somewhere in the distance caught her attention.
She turned her head in the direction of the sound, and squinted even harder to see through the relentless downpour. Through the mist, she could see a small huddle of younger soldiers gathered in the corner of a building, and as she stared, she thought she could hear Elijah's voice amongst the cacophony of noise.
She released her hood and it blew right off her head as she began to approach the small group, and as she grew closer, she could see that the three boys that stood in front of Elijah were no older than teenagers. She scowled at the sight of them, and scowled even harder once she heard them jeering at him.
"How in the world a pussy like you makes it into the most advanced squad in the whole regiment is beyond me," one of them said as he pushed Elijah against the wall. He let out a short whimper, but his eyes did not show if he was scared.
"Yeah, I'd bet they just recruited you to use you as Titan bait." The other guffawed, and the others joined in his mocking laughter.
Silica didn't say a word as she grabbed the biggest kid by the shoulder and slammed his face against the wall. The other two let out simultaneous gasps of surprise, and Silica took the boy she had pinned by the hair to press his cheek into the brick she pushed him against.
"Keep talking like that and the Titans will be the least of your worries," Silica spat in his ear, and she felt him stiffen as he let out a cry. She twisted his arm in a way that made him yelp. "You got me?"
"C-Captain —"
She threw her hostage into one of Elijah's assailants, and swiftly turned and kicked the other one right in the balls. He buckled under the pressure of her boot, and she spit in his face when he threw his head back.
"Get the hell out of here," she hissed. Her scowl was paralyzing. "Now!"
She shouted loud enough for her voice to echo throughout the courtyard, and the demanding sound of it was enough to get all three boys up and running for their lives.
Silica turned over her shoulder once they were gone, and lent a hand down to Elijah to help him to his feet. He slowly accepted.
"Are you alright?" She asked, sounding softer now as she tried to get a look at his face. He wouldn't let her.
"Yes, Captain, thank you..." he sounded mousey as he spoke and wiped his damp sleeve over his eyes.
"Did they hurt you?" She asked, this time growing tired of his resistance and instead grabbed him by the cheeks to turn his face toward her.
She tensed immediately upon seeing his split lip and black eye, and felt her blood boil as she wished she had beaten them to a pulp instead of letting them go.
"How long have they been harassing you like this?" Silica asked, sounding stern this time as she tilted her head to catch his eye. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"They've always bullied me, even before I joined your squad," Elijah was quick to explain. "I'm sorry, Captain. I wouldn't expect you to fight my battles for me. I am a soldier, too, after all."
Silica sighed wearily, and instead decided to wrap an arm over his shoulders as she began walking again. He followed under her guidance. "Let's get you cleaned up, at least."
Elijah looked at the side of her face as they walked, and felt timid despite her kindness as she led him toward the infirmary. The rain had let up some since their encounter with his bullies, and once they entered the building, they could see that Brutus was busy assisting Dr Reos in relocating someone's shoulder.
"Go sit over there," Silica motioned to an empty bed. "I'll be right back."
Elijah nodded without a word and awkwardly lowered himself to sit on the thin mattress. He fiddled with his fingers as he watched Silica gather cotton swabs and peroxide, and held his breath in his lungs when she sat on the stool in front of him.
"So," she said as she applied the medicine to his bloodied lip. "How long have those dick weeds been messing with you?"
"Oh, um..." he felt his cheeks redden. "I've known them since boot camp..."
"How old did you say you were again?"
"N-nineteen." He flinched at the sting of peroxide.
"You've let these boys harass you for upwards of six years now and you haven't done anything about it?" Silica looked at him pointedly.
Elijah looked down as she spoke; ashamed.
"I know you're better than this, kiddo," she said, sounding softer this time as she went into a drawer to her left. She pulled out a wrapped needle and thread. "I've seen what you can do, and I know it's better than anything they're capable of. So why do you let them treat you like you're nothing?"
She paused to look at him, and her brow furrowed when she realized his eyes were brimming with tears.
"What is it?" She asked whilst patting his arm.
"I-I'm sorry," he apologized immediately and began wiping his eyes. "Y-you just remind me a lot of m-my mom right now. This is so embarrassing."
Silica felt a pang of sympathy and offered him a lopsided smile.
"Don't worry about it," Silica sounded calm as she waited for him to finish ridding his face of his tears. "But I can't be around to defend you the way I did all the time. I want you to be confident enough to defend yourself when others can't do it for you."
"I-I know, I j-just f-freeze up," he began to break down, and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't seem to stop crying. "I-I'm sorry, Captain."
Silica sighed as she opted to sit beside him, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders as he buried his face in his hands.
"You have nothing to apologize for," Silica reassured. "We'll work on it. It'll be okay."
Elijah whimpered as she pat him on the back, and tugged on his sleeves as she moved back to sit across from him. He slowly lowered his hands from his face, and when his gaze met Silica's, she smiled warmly at him.
"Let's fix that lip now, yeah?" She suggested whilst holding up her thread.
"Y-yeah..." Elijah agreed, and as Silica patched him up, Brutus had eventually finished his task with Reos and approached them.
"Aw, man, Eli," he said as he stopped behind Silica. "Did you fall off your horse again?"
"I —"
"His 'I fell off my horse' excuse is a load of crap," Silica cut Elijah off without looking up. "Apparently he's been being bullied this entire time and never told us."
"Wait, what?" Brutus looked genuinely shocked. "Who the hell is messing with you?"
"A couple of boys from his old trainee division." Silica replied. Elijah could only pout as she sewed the gash in his lip.
"Elijah!" Brutus threw his arms up in the air, and Elijah held his hands up in surrender.
"Now you're both sounding like my parents..." Elijah mumbled defeatedly as Silica and Brutus both looked at him with identical expressions of disappointment on their faces.
"Maybe they were onto something," Silica pointed out as she cleaned up the materials she had used. "It would do you good to listen."
"Yeah, what she said." Brutus agreed with a nod. He crossed his arms over his chest.
"I think I could defend myself," Elijah said as he picked at his nails. "If they didn't come at me all at once..."
"You're trained to take down Titans but you can't take on three wimpy teenagers?" Silica asked exasperatedly. Brutus nudged her with his knee.
"For you or me it'd be easy, but you gotta remember Eli is a wimpy kid himself, too," Brutus reminded. "It won't be as easy for him."
"Thanks, Brutus." Elijah frowned at him.
"Consider that payback for putting your bets on Sil the other day." Brutus replied, squinting.
"That's an easy issue to fix," Silica spoke as she stood up, severing their eye contact with each other. "Don't worry, kid. I'll teach you how to defend yourself no matter how many people you're up against."
"U-uh, Captain —" Elijah spoke up to protest.
"No, no if, ands, or buts about it," Silica shut him down. "Six years being bullied is six years too many, and we're gonna fix that."
"You lit a fire under her now." Brutus grinned at Silica's enthusiasm.
"Captain, you really don't have to go through the trouble." Elijah tried to reason with her, but at that point she wasn't even listening.
"No sense in trying to get yourself out of it now," Brutus slugged him in his bicep as he sat beside him and he yelped. "She's stubborn as hell. Once she's got her mind made up, then that's what she's gonna do."
Elijah's open-mouth stare transferred from Brutus and up to Silica, who only nodded in confirmation, and he immediately deflated as he looked at his lap.
"Captain Delaney," the sound of Dot's voice made Silica's spine straighten, and she whipped her head around to see that he was standing in the doorway of the infirmary, smiling at her. "I've been looking for you."
Brutus, Elijah, and Silica all simultaneously stood to salute him as he approached, and he chuckled softly as he motioned for them to relax. "No need for the formalities."
"Commander," Silica gently bowed her head as she let her hands fall to her sides. "What brings you to base?"
"I've come to follow up on our agreement," Dot spoke subtly, but his eyes were knowing. "Do you have a moment?"
"Of course." Silica nodded briefly.
"Sil?" Brutus looked at her with a risen brow.
"I'll fill you in on the details later," she promised as she looked between him and Elijah. "Take care of Eli while I'm gone."
Brutus silently complied as he watched her leave, and Silica followed closely behind Dot as he led her outside. It had finally stopped raining, but the air was still crisp.
"So?" Silica looked up to him as they walked.
"So," Dot smiled at her. "Are you ready to meet your family?"
Silica's face lit up at his proposal, and Dot laughed gently at her enthusiasm as he motioned for her to follow him toward the carriage he had presumably arrived in. She followed closely behind him, and suddenly felt overwhelmed when he opened the door for her.
She paused mid-step as a lump formed in her throat, and for whatever reason, she found herself intimidated.
"What is it, Silica?" Dot asked with a hand on her shoulder. The contact struck her back into reality, and she quickly looked at him.
"It's nothing." She brushed it off and proceeded to climb into the carriage. She could feel Dot's concerned gaze on the back of her neck, and tried to smile when he sat across from her.
"Are you nervous?" He guessed anyway.
"I..." Silica opened her mouth to deny him, but quickly closed it again. "Yes. I'm sorry. I'm not usually this timid."
Dot chuckled as he sat back in his seat. "That's alright, my dear. We'll bring you out of your shell."
"Who am I meeting today?" Silica's curiosity ate at her as the carriage proceeded to move.
"Your grandmother," Dot began, looking up in thought as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Annalise. Your uncle Moritz, and his two children — your cousins — Fiona and Lake."
"Cousins?" Silica perked up at the prospect.
"Indeed," Dot nodded. "Lake is just a teenager, but Fiona is relatively close to your age. Perhaps you'll make fast friends."
"How old is she?"
"Twenty-four."
"What's everyone like?" Silica fiddled with her sleeves in her lap.
"Annalise will probably remind you of your mother," Dot went on, smiling at her interest. "All of her good qualities, anyway. Moritz is a bit aloof, but he's a good man. Fiona takes after him quite a lot, and Lake is a very bright boy. He just graduated from the cadet core last year. I believe he'll go far as a Garrison solider."
"So he's in the military, too," Silica hummed as she listened. "What does Moritz do?"
"He was once part of the Garrison as well, however following the death of his wife, he retired and now owns a ranch raising horses in Utopia District," Dot explained. Rain proceeded to beat against the windows of the carriage. "Fiona has since been working under him as well."
"A military family?" Silica asked, and Dot nodded. She gestured toward the red sash he wore with his uniform. "I'm guessing you're pretty high up there?"
Dot chuckled at her blatancy. "I suppose you can say that. I am the Chief Official of the Southern Territories."
"So the highest ranking officer in the south?"
"Right again, my dear."
"Interesting," Silica turned to look out the window just as the trees they rode passed billowed in the wind. "All of this still feels a bit surreal."
"I'm sure it does," her grandfather sounded understanding. "If it helps, everyone is just as anxious to meet you."
"Has everyone known about me as long as you have?" Silica glanced at him as she spoke.
"None of us found out about you until you were a few months old," Dot looked sad. "Annalise had made a spontaneous visit underground to see if she could bring her home. If not for that, we never would have known."
"Why was Agnis so adamant on keeping you away?"
"I was never very sure of that. She had always pushed her boundaries to see what she could get away with as a child, but something changed inside her when she met your father," he sighed at the memory. "She was rebellious, but always careful. One day we woke up to a note left from her telling us not to look for her and that she wasn't coming home. She was only sixteen. We didn't know anything about him or how she lied to him about how old she was until Annalise found her that day."
"She just one day decided to leave?" Silica felt guilty at the idea.
"I suppose," Dot tried to smile. "We still don't know much of who your father is."
"You're not missing much," Silica's face hardened at the thought of him. "She threw everything away for a real scumbag."
"That goes without saying," Dot agreed. "To this day she still avoids us. I'll never understand what could have happened."
"I like to think she's sorry," Silica spoke her thoughts out loud. "In my mind she's a kid that never grew up."
Her words struck something in Dot, and the remainder of their short ride was had in silence. Silica couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to someone about her mother who really knew what she must have went through. She felt validated for the first time in her life, and it felt as if it healed something inside of her.
The carriage came to a slow stop a few moments later, and Silica looked out the window toward a house that sat on a vacant hill. The grass surrounding the property was long and blew in the wind, and the house had a fenced off front yard.
"We're here," Dot smiled at her as he moved to open the door. "Are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be."