Girl in the Rain
Request/Idea: SilverHerron
Her eyes were locked upon the sky above her, the dark grey cloud just barely visible from the break in the leaves, showing her the lightning as it streaked across the dark sky. The warm rain dripped down onto her face, mixing in with the sticky blood that trailed down the left side of her face. Brushing the warm, sticky wetness off her face, she looked at the dark red blood that now colored her pale hand. The red was diluted from the rain as it rolled off her hand to the grass below her shoes before seeping into the damp ground. It hurt. Her head throbbed wildly with pain and with confusion. The world around her split into two fuzzy illusions. There was a reason she was out here. Or so she thought. She wasn't sure. She didn't know. She didn't know where she was.
Her body shifted causing something wet to smack against the back of her leg. Glancing over her shoulder she saw what it was. A wing. Hanging down from her back was a wing. It hurt. Stinging pain ran up and down the bone. She wanted it to go away. Why did she even have that thing there? She tried to move it. Only causing more pain for her body. She winced, a whimper drowned out from the roaring thunder above, each boom causing her to jump, and allowed the broken wing to hang there.
A loud roar in the distance caught her attention. She turned her eyes to her right. Deeper into the forest…something was going on. Familiar, muffled sounds of something that she couldn't place. Her mind buzzed with more confusion when she couldn't place what the sounds were despite knowing she knew them from somewhere. It wasn't a welcoming sound either despite its familiarity. The forest wasn't welcoming either. The clouds above had made it the forest around her very dark and ominous. Vibrations moved through the ground and up through her worn shoes. Ripples vibrated in the puddles of rain at her feet. Dark, tall shadows moved through the trees making her tilt her head at them when she looked up. One looked in her direction before following the rest of the shadows. Did it not see her? Was she invisible? Something inside of her told her to run from them. But she didn't.
More thunder clapped above her. The sound made her jump and squeak in fear. The desire to run flooded her small body. With no debate, she ran towards the familiar sounds deep within the dark forest and the large shadows that had walked by her. She ran and ran. Her shoes slipped on the wet grass and mud as she went. She saw them again. Only for a moment. The dark shadows moved farther ahead of her before they disappeared from her sight. Loneliness settled into her chest. She wanted to scream out for help but didn't know whom she was supposed to cry for. Thunder cracked again, making her jump once more and run faster. She ran from the thunder. She ran more towards the familiar sounds, towards the tall dark shadows she knew she shouldn't go near. Still she did. Something was pushing her forwards into the unknown.
…
Erwin sighed as he stared out over the dead bodies of his fallen comrades. The battle was over. Their mission, like them all, ended with them losing a lot of soldiers. And they didn't have much to show for it. They managed to take down a total of fifteen titans today. He was hoping that they could take down a few more, but it wasn't possible. Now it was time for them to return back to the safety of the walls. Their shelter. Their home. Their prison.
A drop of rain fell upon his cheek causing him to look up at the dark clouds through what little sunlight they had left from the cloud cover. Such a perfect end to a miserable day, he couldn't help but think. The storm brewing above them was like a physical appearance of the storm of frustrations swirling around in them all. If there was only some way they can cut down on soldier deaths while taking down more titans. He rubbed his forehead and looked over at his men. Some were sitting down with bloody bandages around various parts of their bodies while others were loading their fallen and injured comrades onto the wagons.
"No! It took my leg!" a soldier screamed. "Curse them! Curse them all!"
"Take it easy, man," another soldier said. "It's over. Just relax now."
"I'll kill them!" the first soldier shouted. "I'll kill them all with revenge hotter than the flames of Hell!"
"He should be thankful that's all the titan took," Hange said as she walked over to Erwin. She kicked a stone away from her. "Man! I was hoping to get some specimens today! So many titans of different shapes and sizes! They all were so beautiful!"
"There will be plenty of time for that later," Erwin said just before the rain started falling down on them again. The smell of the rain washed the tainted smell of iron from his nose, irritating him. He pulled his soaked hood over his head and longed to put on some dry clothes and drink some hot tea. It had been raining all day. They all were soaked and tired. "Anyway, let's get going. It looks like the storm is going to pick up again."
"Right," Hange said, walking off towards her horse. "Time to head back to the walls."
"Yeah," Erwin said. He turned and headed off for his own horse that was calmly waiting for him. These horses never feared anything. Not the large beasts called titans, and not the loud claps of thunder above them. They were the best bred and born in the world. So he thought. Before climbing on, he stroked the chestnut mare's neck before slipping his boot into the stirrup and hauled himself up, the wet leather seeped into his nose replacing the blood and rain. It wasn't the best smell in the world, but he preferred it from the smell of blood. With a wave of his hand, he ordered the Survey Corps to head back. "Move out!"
For the next couple of hours the only sounds that passed between their group was the thundering of their horses hoofs and the occasional chatter of the Survey Corps that he managed to hear through the rain and thunder. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. Yet something felt off about the world around him in the moment. Carefully scanning his eyes over their surroundings, he looked to see what would possibly put him on edge. He didn't see anything other than what they always saw: trees, rain, open spaces of fields. He looked up when the sun broke through the darks clouds. "Well, it looks like it's going to clear off after all."
Trees snapped violently. The ground under his horse shook when several titans bolted out of the forest they had been riding along side. A curse passed over his lips. He jerked his horse to the left, just missing the long nails of the titan that charged at him and his steed. Looking over his shoulder, he saw one kicked over a wagon carrying some dead bodies and reached for a soldier. Everyone scattered into positions to attack better. A soldier was snatched off his horse, his cries of desperation and fear fading into the pandemonium of the surprise attack. Before anyone could do anything the titan sunk his teeth into the soldier, cutting the man's scream off.
"Crap!" Erwin cursed again. Firing his ODM gear, he locked into a tree and took to the air. Launching himself towards a titan's back, he sliced its nape. Blood spurted out of the wound, sizzling away with the rain washing it down to the ground. He spun around towards another titan, taking a quick glance at his team to see how they were doing. They had already lost about ten more soldiers just within a few seconds. Gritting his teeth, he swung towards another titan. More blood filled the rain soaked air, blocking his view of seeing another titan swinging its hand towards him. The large hand slammed into his body, sending him flying back into the forest. His grappling hook jerked out of the tree with a loud snap. The trees around him blurred in his vision as his body spun around in what felt like multiple directions. He knew he needed to get back in control. But with his unclear vision and his pounding head from the hit, he wasn't sure if he could get a hook to bed into a tree correctly.
Without much thought, since he had no choice, Erwin launched another grappling hook. He heard the sharp whoosh as the thing left its home. Instant dread filled his body. The hook broke through the bark of a tree on its side. It didn't make a direct hit. The bark snapped. His body flew into a tree. Bouncing off of it, he fell to the ground with a painful jolt. When his body stopped rolling he laid there trying to determine if anything was broken through the adrenaline rushing in his veins. After a few seconds, he found that no bones were broken. He was only mostly shaken up from the ordeal. Opening his eyes, he found that his vision was still blurry. Thunder and the sounds of the battle persisted, going on without him there. But there was no way he was going to be able to fight like this. You can't hit a target that you can't see.
Thundering footsteps of the titans came closer to him. Branches snapped off as they passed by, carelessly falling to the ground with sloppy splats. He had to get up. He had to move.
Forcing himself to sit up, he tried to push passed his blurry vision. Something moved in the forest. He tightened his hold onto his swords that he managed to hold on to while spinning wildly. With a few blinks, he tried to make out what was moving towards him. It looked to be smaller than a titan so possibly one of his men coming to help him. However, he knew if it was one of his fellow soldiers they would have called out his name already and asked if he was okay. It was something else. But what else could it be? Possibly another titan of a smaller side? Could that be possible? Titans seem to always be throwing them for a loop.
Erwin pulled his feet under him. With the strength he had left he forced himself to his feet, only to drop back to his knees. His body trembled when the ground vibrated with the footsteps of a number of titans coming towards him. Through his blurry vision he managed to see them make their way out of the wet forest and towards him. Faith in his team was all he could do right now. He still couldn't fight in this condition. The thundering of his heart replaced the thundering of the titans' feet on the ground. Or so he thought.
Instead, the titans had stopped approaching him.
Rubbing the back of his hand over his eyes, some of the blurriness finally went away, clearing things up a bit. He could see that their attention was on something else. The smaller blur he had seen before the titans had come here. The smaller blur had moved closer to him at some point. And it looked to be the size of a child, of a human child. But that couldn't be right. Why would a child be out here in titan territory? Out here from the safety of the walls? His heart clenched when the child, assuming it was a child, didn't seem to care or notice the titans were even there. He shouted, "No! Get out of here! It's not safe! Run!"
The child didn't.
Crackles erupted in the air. One titan shifted, the shadow outline of the child vanished. The titans moved to attack the child, to devour the child.
"No!" Erwin forced himself to his feet, ready to fight the titans half blinded. Before he could take one step, a bright light flared out around them. His eyes automatically closed from the brightness. With no sight at all now, all he could do was listen to the shrieks of the titans before everything went quiet but for the rain falling down on the leaves. It was an eerie sound that sent a shiver up his spine. His ears remained alert to the world around him. Listening for more titans to come but none did. His vision finally cleared. When it did he was shocked to see so many titans now lay dead on the ground. There had to be at least twenty titans dead. There were twenty of them. Their bodies still, oddly burnt to a crisp, and dissolving in the rain like they always did. And standing in the middle of them was a child. Without thinking about it, he walked over to her. He gasped at what he saw.
Her hair was a dull red from the rain that had wet it. Her eyes were cast down to the ground and clouded over with grey. Her white dress was torn and dirty, no doubt from being in the forest and from the rain plus a little blood that came from a wound on her forehead. But what shocked him the most was the black and red wings nestled on her back, the outer layer black while the inner layer was red. One was hanging limp from her back like it was broken, the tip barely reaching the back of her knees.
Erwin watched as the girl's knees buckled under her and she fell to the ground. Just before her small body hit the soggy ground, her wings disappeared in the blink of an eye. Stepping closer to her, he knelt down to check on her. Gently, he rolled her over onto her back noting the bleeding black and blue bruise on her forehead before he reached for her neck to check her pulse, but veered off when his eyes spotted something else unusual about the girl. She had horns. Or at least what was left of horns. The little black stubbles poked out of her red hair looked to have been cut or broken in some way. They looked to have some kind of writing on them that he's never seen before, or couldn't recall seeing at the moment. "What happened here? Did she just kill all of these titans? How is it possible that a child could kill so many of them? What was that light before?"
"Erwin!" Hange's voice rang out through the rain and forest. "Where are you?!"
"Sir! Are you okay?!"
"Say something!"
Erwin put up his swords then took off his cloak. Throwing it over the girl, making sure to keep her horns covered with the hood, he picked her up in his arms then stood up just as some of his team arrived.
"Geez! What the heck?!" Hange shouted. "What happened?!"
"Sorry," Erwin said. "I got taken off guard. When that titan hit me, my vision went blurry for a while so I was unable to return to you all."
"I see. For a while there we thought you were dead. Who's that?" Hange pointed to the girl in her commander's arms.
"I don't know," Erwin said. "She was just wondering out here."
"In titan territory?!" a soldier exclaimed. "That's insane!"
"Is she hurt?" Hange asked, looking the girl's stained and slightly bloody face over. "This cut needs to be taken care of."
"Only from the cut on her forehead," Erwin said. "I think she just passed out. But never mind her for now. We need to get going before more titans show up."
"Yes, sir!" they all shouted before heading back towards the rest of their team and horses.
"Hange," Erwin said once the others had walked far enough a head of them.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Check the girl's head," Erwin said.
"Her head? Did she hit it somewhere else?" Hange stepped closer and tugged down the hood. A startled gasp escaped her mouth when she saw the stubbles sticking out of the girl's red hair. "What the heck?! How is this possible?!"
"What's up? Is anything wrong back there?" a soldier asked.
"Oh, no! It's nothing! Everything's just fine!" Hange said. She waved to the man until he turned back around. "What the heck is wrong with her?! This is an incredible discovery! The girl looks completely human yet she has horns! How is this possible?!"
"I don't know," Erwin said. "But it was her who took down the titans."
"You can't be serious!" Hange said. Her eyes shot back to the dead titans on the ground. "There's like twenty of them! She's just a child!"
"I know." Erwin nodded. "But she did something while I still couldn't see."
"What did she do?" Hange asked.
"I'm not really sure, but she released some kind of light blast or something," Erwin said.
"That's strange," Hange said. "Are you sure about all of this?"
"No, not really," Erwin said. "But who else could have taken down those titans? No one else was around."
"That is amazing!" Hange said, eagerly reaching for the girl's horns. She ran her fingers over the broken ridges multiple times. "I can't wait to study her! You have to let me do some experiments on her! I wonder what they're made of! How strong are they?! How did they break?! Will they grow back?! How long will it take for them to grow back?!"
"Hange, focus," Erwin said.
"Right, right, first things first. So what are you going to do with her?" Hange inquired. She scanned her eyes around the forest. "Do you think her parents are still around here somewhere?"
"If they are, they're dead or will be soon," Erwin said. "I highly doubt her parents would have just left her to wonder the forest on her own unless something terrible was happening to them. It's really a miracle that she's survived being out here as it is."
"I wonder how long she has been out here," Hange said, looking over the girl's body and clothes once she moved the cloak aside. "Her dress doesn't look that badly damaged. So she probably hasn't been out here for very long. Maybe a few hours? A day at the most?"
"As for your other question," Erwin said, "I'm going to keep her with me."
"What?!" Hange halted in her tracks. "Why would you do that?!" She regained her composer and ran back to his side. "Are you insane?!"
"No, I'm not insane. I see promise in this little girl," Erwin said.
"But you don't know anything about her or if she actually did something to the titans," Hange said. "And what if she did? Would you even know how to control what she did?"
"The only thing we need to know right now is that she needs help. We can't, in good conscious, just leave her out here for the titans to kill. Once she wakes up she can explain to us why she was out here, who she is, and what she did to the titans," Erwin said.
"And the reason for keeping her?" Hange probed.
"Because if a small child like this could take down twenty titans at once, imagine what she could do when she gets old enough to fight against them with us," Erwin said.
"You are insane," Hange said. "You know the higher ups aren't going to go for this. You're going to have to look for the girl's family."
"And where do you think I should look?" Erwin tossed her a glance. "There's no way she and her family snuck out of the walls. No one in their right mind would do that, especially with a child. Even if they did manage to sneak out you know they would be dead long before they could make it back. The only way out of the walls is to go through the gates or climb over the wall. Opening the gate would be too obvious. So, assuming her parents did sneak out, they would have to climb over the wall at night to keep from being seen."
"Well, yeah, I guess you have a point with that," Hange said. "Then where did she come from? From somewhere outside the walls, but where?"
"That'll be something else she can tell us when she wakes up," Erwin said.
"And until that happens?" Hange asked.
"I'll keep her with me," he said.
"That means?" she asked.
"I'm going to adopt her," Erwin said.
"What?!" Hange screamed. "As I said before, you are insane! You can't take care of a child! You have your job to do! That's a lot of pressure as it is!"
"I can handle this just fine. She needs someone to take care of her," Erwin said. "Also, I don't want you to mention anything about what I've said here today to anyone. And you aren't to mention her horns either."
"Okay, but won't that be hard to do once people noticed her horns?" Hange said. "It's not like you can keep them hidden forever." She reached out and fingered the nubs again. "I wonder what these strange lines are. Are they words?"
"We can keep her horns hidden with hoods and hats," Erwin said.
"We?! What do you mean by that?!" Hange demanded.
"You're going to help me train her and keep her healthy," Erwin said. "We can't trust anyone else with her care."
"Moving a little fast there, aren't you?" Hange asked. "How can you do this? What if her parents aren't dead? What if she somehow managed to get over the wall herself and came out here? What if she still has family waiting for her to come back?"
"I'm not stupid enough to just take her in immediately. I'll conduct a proper search for any living relatives. But, if there is no one around to take care of her, then she'll need someone else to step up and take the job. If someone else gets their hands on her they might kill her because she's different from the rest of us," Erwin said. "She'll be safest with us."
"Ack! There it is again! Us!" Hange said. "Why do you have to drag me into this?! Please don't pull me into this!"
"You're already in it because I know I can trust you to keep her secrets," Erwin said. "I know this girl will be a valuable asset to our cause in taking down the titans."
"Geez, you have such a one track mind. I still think you're moving way to fast with this. But, fine, if you say so," Hange said, knowing it would be no use to arguing with this man. "I'll do what I can to help her and see what I can learn about her eccentricities."
"Good. It's all been decided then. I want you to keep a close eye on this cut. Don't let it get infected," Erwin said.
"Whatever you say," Hange said, sighing. "She's your baby. Honestly speaking, I never saw you as a father. I hope you don't run her into the ground will all your military training, if you really get to keep her that is. And I'd like to say one last time that I still think you're pushing this a bit fast though. She's a child." She eyed the girl's pale face, hidden in the shadows of Erwin's hood. "How old do you think she is? Possibly around five years or so?"
"I'll do what needs to be done to make her the best soldier we have ever seen," Erwin said just as they exited the forest. The remaining team had reassembled, one of them holding onto his horse, all waiting for them to return. Like he knew he would, they all asked questions about the girl. "We found her out in the woods. Don't worry about her. I'm taking full responsibility for her from this point on."
"Let me bandage her head before we leave," Hange said. She rushed over to grab some medical equipment before going back over to Erwin and the girl. Using their bodies to shield her, she cleaned up the wound as best as she could then wrapped the bandage around her head and pulled the hood back over her. "There that'll do for now. Just be sure to keep the hood on her head. It'll help keep her you know what hidden as well as keep some of the rain out of the cut."
Erwin, with the girl tight in one arm, grabbed the saddle horn and swung himself up into the saddle with practice ease.
"Shouldn't she ride in one of the wagons?" Hange asked, now on her own horse, rode up beside him.
"No," Erwin said. "I want to know when or if she wakes up during the ride back." Lowering his voice, he added, "And I don't want to take the risk of someone else seeing her horns if the hood falls of."
"Right. Just be careful with her," Hange said. "She could have a concussion with that hit on her head."
Erwin nodded. He knew he had to be careful with her. He would make this ride back as smooth as he possible could, assuming no more titans appeared along the way. He would be in trouble if more showed up. Riding and fighting with a child in his arms was never part of his plan.
"And I'd love to hear what you're going to say to the higher ups about this," Hange said. "What's your plan?"
"I don't have one just yet," Erwin said.
"Well, you better get one before we get back," Hange said.
"Don't worry." Erwin nodded. "I will. Let's move out!"
The horses pushed forward. All their eyes were scanning nervously and carefully for another titan attack. A couple hours into the ride the little girl in his arms moved just as thunder boomed above. Looking down at her, he watched as her face scrunched up in what appeared to be fear while her hand reached for his shirt. Her tiny hand clutched the wet fabric. His mind spun with so many questions about her. There was no possible way this little girl could have survived out here on her own when several well trained soldiers fell all the time against the titans. Yet she clearly did just a little while ago. How was it possible? How long had she been out here? Where were her parents? Did she even have parents? Did she come from behind the walls and no one ever knew about her gifts? What did she do to those titans in the forest? What type of abilities does she have?
Maybe Hange was right. Maybe he was moving far too fast with this. He should slow down a bit. First thing first was to get back to safety. Then he could worry about were the girl came from and who she is.
…
She woke up. Warm sunlight was shining into the room through the open curtains. She sat up and looked around. It was an unfamiliar plan room with only the bed, a nightstand, and a dresser inside of it. Seeing her reflection in the mirror over the dresser, she lifted her fingers and touched the bandage around her forehead that was making her skin itchy. The sounds of boots thumping on the floor made her look over to the door. Her heart pounded in her chest when it cracked open. A tall man with slicked back blonde hair walked in. Her fingers curled around the blanket. Her little heart strummed in her chest.
"You're finally awake," he said. "You've been sleeping for two days straight."
She blinked at him. Who was this strange man talking to her?
"My name is Erwin Smith," Erwin said. "You're currently in my room at the Survey Corps headquarters with in Wall Maria and Wall Rose." He took a step forward but paused when she scooted back on the bed with a clear hint of fear and uncertainty in her blue eyes. "It's all right. No one here is going to hurt you. I found you outside of the walls. You were in a forest when titans attacked. Do you know why you were out there?"
She didn't answer.
"Do you know where your parents are?"
She dropped her eyes to the blanket.
"Will you tell me your name?"
Still she said nothing.
Erwin went silent. His mind wondering back to what Hange had said in the forest. The girl might have a concussion. Or she could possibly have amnesia. He asked, "Do you remember anything?"
She lightly shook her head.
"I see," Erwin said, crossing his arms over his chest. He stood there for a few minutes before taking another step towards her. He paused when she jumped off the bed and tucked herself into the corner of the room. "I see. Looks like I'm going to have to earn your trust before anything else happens."
"Knock, knock," a female voice said while the door opened again. "I'm coming in."
"Hange," Erwin said.
"She's awake, huh?" Hange nodded. "That's good."
"Maybe," Erwin said.
"Has she said anything yet?" Hange asked.
"No, but she shook her head when I asked her if she remembered anything," Erwin replied. "She's being a little skittish."
"Oh, you know, I bet she's hungry," Hange said. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small loaf of bread. "And that's why I brought this." She handed it to Erwin. "Here. Give it to her."
"Right." Erwin took the bread and walked around to the other side of the bed.
The girl watched him warily. She scooted over a few inches when the blonde man moved closer to her then stopped. Confusion spun around in her head. She didn't understand anything that was going on. Nor did she understand why this man was holding his hand out to her with something in it.
"Here you go," he said. He bent down and held the bread out to her. "Eat this. You're probably hungry after sleeping for so long."
She looked at his hand, the bread, then up at his face.
"It's all right," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you. We're your friends. Do you understand?"
The girl dropped her eyes back down to the bread. Her stomach rumbled.
"Go on," he insisted, poking his hand and the bread out closer for her.
Swallowing, she slowly moved towards the man just enough to snatch the bread out of his hand and pull away. She peaked up at the man and woman before turning her attention to her treat. Bringing it up to her nose, she sniffed it before taking a small bite of it. She chewed it. It was a bit stale but satisfied her empty stomach. After she had finished the bread she looked around and fidgeted on the floor.
"What's wrong?" Erwin asked.
She fidgeted more.
"Is there something you need?" Erwin asked.
"Uh, Commander," Hange said, "considering she's been sleeping for two days it's probably safe to say that she needs to use the bathroom."
"Oh, of course," Erwin said. "Hange, take her then."
"Are you sure?" Hange asked.
"Yes," Erwin said, standing up.
The girl watched them. She watched as the woman walked over to her.
"Hello there," Hange said, holding out her hand. "Will you come with me? I'll take you to the bathroom."
The girl hesitated before placing her hand into the woman's hand. Letting the woman guide her off the floor, she followed her like a scared little puppy. Glancing around at the world around her as if she was trying to figure the place out. She was unaware of how both adults were keeping a close eye on her. The woman led her into a larger room then into another door that led to the bathroom, both rooms plainly decorated.
"Here we go," Hange's said. "Do you need help?"
She shook her head before using the facilities. Pushing up on her toes, she washed her hands and caught the woman's eyes in the mirror. Her little body flinched. Her eyes went back to the water. Once all the soap was off her hands, she turned the water off. Sinking back to her feet, she noticed the shirt she was wearing. Placing her wet hands on it she pulled it away from her, noticing it was huge and practically falling off her small body.
"That's one of my shirts," Hange said. "The commander was going to let you wear one of his but it was way bigger on you than mine. If you stay with him, he'll get you some clothes that will fit you. But we can't do that until we know who you are. Can you tell me your name?"
The girl let her hands fall to her sides.
"Where are your parents?" Hange placed her hands on her knees and bent lower to the girl to study her eyes. "Can you tell me why you were outside of the walls?"
The girl looked around the small room.
"That's okay," Hange said standing back up. "If you don't feel like you can tell me you don't have to. Let's go back to the bedroom shall we?"
The girl instantly turned back to the door. With her tiny hands she opened it and left the room with the woman following her. This time she led the way back into the bedroom. Once there she climbed back onto the bed and pulled the covers up over her head and laid down on her side, unaware of Erwin watching her every move before heading out of the room to talk to the woman.
The girl looked back over to the door. It was still partially open so she could still hear the adults' voices as they spoke to each other.
…
"Have you been able to find anything out about her?" Hange asked.
"No," Erwin said. "And there has been no reports of a missing child. I believe she really is all alone."
"So that means you're going to keep her?" Hange asked. "How is that going to work? You can't have a child running around the headquarters here, especially if she really does have the powers that you saw."
"I've already talked to our superiors," Erwin said.
"Seriously?! When?!"
"Yesterday," Erwin said. "I told them I found a young girl who possibly has amnesia and asked for permission to take care of her while I search for her parents."
"And now that you're pretty sure she's on her own?"
"I told them there have been no reports of a missing child, but I'm still looking," Erwin said.
"No way it can be this easy," Hange said.
"It wasn't," Erwin said. "I had to do a lot of talking to convince them that this girl could be a valuable asset in the future. I believe training her from this young age to fight titans will be a lot more affective than having men and women choose to come into our Corps."
"You didn't tell them about her horns and wings, did you?!" Hange gasped.
"Of course not," Erwin said. "I told you that I wouldn't do that. That will only remain between the two of us."
"And what about the girl? How are you going to keep her quiet about that?"
"I'll just have to explain it to her that showing those to people are not a good thing," Erwin said. "It might take a while but she'll come to understand, especially as she gets older. Until then I'll keep her as isolated from other people as much as I can."
"Well, I still think you're out of your mind for doing this," Hange said. "But I trust you and will do what I can to help."
"Good." Erwin nodded. "There's going to be times when she's going to need a woman to talk to."
"As long as I get to participate in her training," Hange said. "I want to see this power of hers you spoke of. With that she might be a very well be an affective tool against the titans depending on what is it and how she uses it."
"Did you learn anything from her while you took her to the bathroom?" Erwin asked.
"Nothing much. I still believe it's possible she has isolated memory loss," Hange said. "She didn't have any trouble using the bathroom at all. But I won't know for sure until she starts talking to us."
"Understood," Erwin said. "We'll give her a little more time for her to talk."
"All right," Hange said with a heavy sigh. "You're the boss here."
…
The girl pulled the blanket tightly around her. She had no idea what those two people were talking about or what they wanted with her. Her fingers wondered up to her broken horns on her head. She had no idea where they had come from but she knew they were always there.
Sleepiness began to over come her as she lay there in the now quiet room. It caused her eyelids to grow heavy. As she drifted off to sleep one word slipped softly off her tongue. A word that was familiar as it was unfamiliar. She said, "Titans…"
…
Erwin walked back into the bedroom after getting some extra bedding from the supply closet, his eyes immediately dropping to the girl sleeping in his bed. She was still fast asleep right where he had left her a few minutes ago. In fact, she had stayed right where she was all day. She did nothing but silently stare at the bed or curiously glance around the room. She never said a word the whole time she had been awake today. It made him wonder how much of her silence was out of fear and how much was possibly just the way she was normally. With the powers he knew she had it was possible that she was just naturally quiet. A whole lot of people would be if they had the same abnormalities that this girl did, unless there was something more sinister at play. Surely someone else out there knew about this girl's abilities. They could possibly try and take her back. What would he do then? If they calmed to be her family then he wouldn't have much choice but to give her back. But what if they were mean to her? How could he let her go?
Erwin dropped his newly gathered blanket and pillow on the floor. He walked over to the bed and sat down on it. For several minutes he just stared at the girl asleep in his bed. Her hair was a couple shades brighter than it was when he found her in the forest now that it was dry. The bruise on her forehead was still shining from when he changed the bandage earlier. It would probably take a while for it to heal. And the cut would probably be with her for life or take a few years to fully fade away. They were lucky it didn't get infected. Who knows how long she had been wondering out in those woods before he found her? Or, did she find him? He wasn't sure which it actually was. And he knew he probably never would know which it really was. He was just grateful that she had shown up and saved him whether it was intentional or not. He was now living to fight another day.
Pushing all that from his mind he focused on trying to figure out a way to get this girl to speak to him. But what could that be? She was a child not an adult so speaking to her like an adult wouldn't work at all. So what would? Then it hit him. She was a child. So a toy should do the trick. The only question is what type of toy. A baby doll? Did she even like baby dolls? Perhaps a teddy bear? He couldn't recall a single kid who didn't like a teddy bear. The decision was made. Tomorrow he would pick her up a teddy bear.
He started to push off the bed and paused when she rolled over on her side, facing him, her broken horns now fully in his view. He was also going to have to pick her up a hat to cover her horns. Then another question hit him. What happened to her wings? He knew, despite his blurry vision, that he saw that she had wings. Bird like in shape but seemingly too small to actually fly with since the good wing was tucked up against her back. He needed to keep them hidden from the people as well. Since they weren't showing at the moment he figured it wasn't an immediate concern like her horns were. And whatever attack she used on the titans. If it was so easy for her to take down so many in one shot, then he could easily imagine that amount of damage she could do to humans. Getting that under control moved fast to the top of his list.
First thing first was gaining her trust, then getting her to understand the importance of keeping her horns, wings, and powers a secret, and then to train her to use her powers to destroy the titans.
Erwin pushed off the bed. Walking back over to his blanket and pillow, he spread them out then laid down. He didn't particularly care for sleeping on the floor but didn't want to crowd the girl. Eventually he would take back his bed and get her a bed of her own. Which brought up another issue, she needed a room of her own. His current one only had one bedroom, a bathroom, and a small living room. He was going to have to move to another room that had two bedrooms. But that could wait until later. After all he still need to give it a little time to see if anyone filled a missing child report. The girl could still have a family that's looking for her or not aware that she's missing yet. The though sent a wave of dread coursing through his veins, though he didn't know why. It caused him to stare up at the ceiling, thinking in the moonlit room for over an hour before sleep finally fell upon him.
…
Author's Notes: I'm still new to AoT so I might get a few things wrong. If I do tell me what it is and I'll fix it. Some ages have to be changed for this story to work but it's only a minor thing.