Ellani stared at the little ten year old girl standing in front of her sisters, shielding them with her body. The little girl wouldn't stand a chance against Ellani, a trained soldier downed by a bad leg and frammed for murder.
"If you want to get to them, you have to go through me." the girl said not backing down despite the older and taller woman looming above them. Ellani raised an eyebrow at the dirty girl, her dark hair long and greasy and Ellani knew they needed a good meal as well as a bath. The older woman had caught two of the triplets trying to pick her pocket and chased the girls to this dank dark alley, littered with broken boxes and shattered glass. That was when this girl had dropped in using a manuvering gear. The straps having had holes poked in to strap her in properly, and stop her from falling out with her skinny frame.
"What's your name kid?" Ellani asked looking the scrawny kid up and down. The girl growled at her and her face twisted into a sneer. "You think I'm stupid or something, I know you'll get the military police." she glanced at her sisters who had stood from where they had fallen and clung to her like a life line. She could see the girl give her cowering sisters a look that they clearly missed, but Ellani deciphered it as 'get the hell out of here'.
"I'm Ellani." Ellani tried to placate the girl "You obviously have an aptitude for the gear, I could teach you more and you could come live with me." she tried, but the girl continued glaring . So it seemed she wasn't very trusting, this was both good and bad.
"Your sisters could come too, I wouldn't split you up." Maybe this girl was her ticket out of the slums, then she could get a proper doctor for her leg. Sunlight would be nice too.
One of the triplets grabbed the glaring girl "Lilla, we can't live like this." she said pleadingly.
"But Rose.." Lilla was about to argue not taking her eyes off of Ellani.
The other girl cut her off "She's offering this to us. We would be stupid to pass it up." Lilla sighed relaxing her stance. "Fine." she looked at Ellani "One wrong move and I will not hesitate to kill you." She warned.
Ellani smilled. She would make a perfect soldier, or more importantly a perfect theif.
"Of course you'd have to work for it." Ellani said casually and Lilla's eyes narrowed at her. "Stealing for me I mean. What's your names?"
"Rose, Violet and Lily Goldmen." Lily replied sadly, "The last of the Goldmen line."
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Lily gave a sigh as she woke. That memory refused to leave her mind, she didn't want to remember the darkness she had come from, but her mind had other ideas. That moment had brought her here today and she wasn't sure how she felt about that.
As usual she was the first in her squad to wake, so heaving the blankets off her she tried to get up only to find herself restrained. "Lilla." Rose had her arms wrapped tightly around the oldest triplet and Violet curled into Lily's other side, both were asleep. A small smiles wound it's way on to her face, they must have snuck in again last night and fell asleep in her bed. She didn't see why they bothered to get seperat beds, living under Trost city had taught them to stick together.
Lily shook her head at her siblings and carfully untangled herself from the surprisingly lax hold of the sleeping girls.
Lily silently dressed in the dark room, so familiar was the uniform she could dress with out looking. Finally with a ruffle to her now short black hair she doned her jacket marking her a member of the servey corps and padded down the castle corridors. She made her way to the kitchens, intent on making breakfast for her sqaud.
It had been so long since she thought of her dark origins. Ellani had taken them in and taught them how to fight and use 3D gears properly. And then Erwin turned up...
"Hey captain." a voice broke her out of her mind, not a very nice place as it was without dredging up the pain of the past. Suddenly she realised he thought she was the captain, damn. She must have taken Roses jacket when she dressed in the dark.
Lily glanced over at the owner of the voice, "Oliver." she nodded to him not correcting his mistake "You're up early." Oliver scratched his head
"Yeah, well I was awake so..."
"Hey I think the captain's..." The second voice belonging to Frankie, a blond woman with brown eyes wide in shock as she stared at the captain. "Oh, hey captain." Frankie almost shouted, beads of sweat trickling down her neck. "We...I...we didn't come from the same place." she assured.
Lily smirked "Don't worry, everyone knows of your relationship and I'm Lily, not Rose."
Rose was the captain, Lily and Violet her second in commands. They each had their own jacket to distinguish them too, Rose's had a rose climbing the wings, Lily had a lily and Violet as you guessed, a violet. Currently she was wearing Rose's.
Frankie rubbed her arm "E..everyone?" Lily nodded.
"How?" Oliver asked. Lily smiled, as if it wasn't apparent, they stood too close for just being comrades. Once she was afraid Frankie would sit in Oliver's lap when they were in a meeting, the chair wouldn't have held both of them. Instead of telling them she just shook her head and held a plate with bread and a bowl of porridge balancing on top. Frankie took it "Thanks." she said going to the mess hall, Oliver took his plate and with Lily followed Frankie.
"I heard Levi has custody over a shifter and wall Maria had fallen, I hadn't realised our expidition took so long." Frankie said "We should visite Levi and his squad." she said smirking in Lily's direction, "I know squad leader would like to see her old friend."
Levi and Lily had trained together and had been under Erwin when they had reached their current ranks, they became kind of friends though it was hard to tell by how they treated each other.
Lily looked at her food "I haven't talk to him in years and nor do I want to. So leave it at that Franchesca." she told her firmly as she griped her spoon so tight her knuckles were turning white, Frankie gave a sigh but nodded. It was Levi's fault, he was such an ass and Lily hated that she still cared. But her anger always won out. So many years had passed that she lost count and hardly remembered what Levi looked like now.
She had to admite though, her curiosity was peaked by the shifter. A human that turned in to a titan, that was worth dealing with her once friend.
"Don't think you have a choice." Violet yawned as she walked in with her own plate "Erwin sent a message yesterday saying he was coming here to talk to us. Rose seemes to think he wants us to join the rest of the survey corps." she plonked down next to Lily smiling "Oh and Rose said you're dead, you stole her jacket again."
Lily stood as Rose entered the hall with Lily's jacket balled in her fist. "Swap." she said throwing Rose her jacket and catching the one thrown at her head. "So Erwin will be coming to see us I hear." Lily tells Rose who freezes.
"Look Lily, we didn't tell you because..."
Lily sighs "No, I know. I do have temper sometimes, but I still needed to know." She was pretty sure her temper had died down since they had first joined the servey corps. She hadn't punched anyone in a long time, so she'd say that was good.
Alexander and Terry walked in with Maria tagging behind the two older soldiers, her blue eyes glanced at Violet and she changed direction to sit with her. Alexander sat beside Rose with a smirk "I can't wait to see you punch Levi. I've heard stories from Terry." he looked towards his tall friend in a knowing way. Terry had also been a member of Flagon's squad before they moved to Erwin's. He was the most trustworthy person Lily had met, besides her own sisters, and he would be in charge should all three triplets be called away.
Terry gave a sigh "I told you that was in training. He gave as good as he got." the man assured Alex and caught Lily's eye as if to say 'but we all know you'. Like she starts all the fights.
She gave him an eye roll to convey her agravation at his accusing expression. A quick glance around showed that Rin had been missing from the enesemble. They all knew that Rin wasn't the type to be late, so that left one explination. He had a habit of watching the trees surrounding then at odd hours, as if a titan would come crashing through and devoure them all.
That was something she could relate to, for the first few months in what was then their new home, she had sat for hours just watching the area for danger.
Lily stood to leave, her bowl left on the table for Maria to take and clean like she loved to do; it was what made her feel useful, being the newest recruite. Violet smiled "Going to find Rin? He'll be on the highest tower as usual." she said kindly, she also knew what it was like to fear attack at any minuet. Lily nodded silently and left for the highest tower. The sky had already taken on the pink hue of morning, the stars having faded a while ago with rising of a new day.
Her gaze shifted from the sky to the dark shadow of Rin hanging off of the tower wall by his gear.
Lily cursed herself for not thinking of bringing her own gear.
"What lies on the horizon, Crow?" she called, as where their customery greeting when in the presents of friends or alone. Rin jumped down, using his gear for a soft landing next to Lily and a smile graced his lips. Grey eyes held mirth and the prescents of dew dripped from his brown hair told her how long he had kept watch.
"I spot eyebrows and his dog." he replied "Better lower the bridge." he remarked. They did not have a drawbridge, but he had meant something different and was not something Lily was happy with.
"I will if he does." was all she muttered before moving to open the gates expecting Rin to take her lead. By the time they were open the squad had gathered outside in full battle gear, all except Lily. She took her place beside Rose on her left, while Violet stayed to her right.
Rin leaned over to her "You should have put your gear on." he whispered, She shrugged and turned fully to him.
"Then they would assume I was afraid of them." her responce earned a chuckle from the man behind her.
The small party rode in to the courtyard, Rose stepped forward to welcome Erwin while Terry took their horses to the stable. Violet as well as the rest went to greet Hanji, Levi and a boy she didn't know.
Lily stayed where she was.
Erwin walked towards Lily and saluted her with a small smile tugging at his lips. Lily noticed his salute was wrong, he used his left hand instead of his right."Only you would greet us without your maneuvering gear on. It's good to see you Lily."
she crossed her arms at Erwin's approach, Levi hot at his heels with that cold expression he always wore. "That's stupid." Levi remarked "A titan could smash through the wall like with wall Maria, then we'd all be in deep shit." Ah how she had missed Levi and his love of sentances he could use shit in. The kid stood behind Levi stood in a salute, he looked like he was about to pop a vessel.
Lily gave Levi a cold stare "Well I don't do it to impress you. Any way I have enough experience at getting the gear on quickly." she nodded to the kid "Stand down kid, you'll pop something. What's your name anyway?" The boy relaxed and drew a breath, but before he could answer Levi stepped in.
"This shitty brat is Eren Jeager. The shifter and horrible cleaner." Lily looked the boy up and down. He didn't seem like much of humanities last hope, more like a teen who still had some growing up to do.
Rose had gone to Lily's side along with Violet, "Nice to meet Eren, I'm Rose." She smiled warmly at the boy. "This is my sister Lily, and this is my other sister, Violet." Rose had pointed at them both, then proceeded to introduce their whole squad to the boy.
Lily had turned back to the commander with narrow eyes "Let's cut the crap, you're here for a reason not a house call. Tell me what you want."
Erwin smiled grimly at her bluntness. He moved his cloak for her to see his missing right arm, "I'm afraid this might take a while."
