This takes place a few months after the fall of wall Maria and I imagine that the Scout Regiment was desperate for members. Even desperate enough to go back to the Underground District…
"What is your name?" the tall blond man spat. He towered over her small figure huddled in the mud of the Underground Districts streets. "My name is Erwin Smith," he said as he crouched down to her level "Will you tell me yours?". Automatically she spat in his face.
"Like I'd tell you!" venom dripping from her tone. The next thing she knew her face was slammed into the mud puddle by one of the men who were where restraining her boots. She managed to lift her head a bit "Ivy," she said "Ivy Shiner" One of the Scouts raised his hand to his face where a black eye was starting to form after he had fought with her. He let forth a little laugh at the irony of her name.
"Alright Ivy tell me where you got this 3DM gear" Erwin said as if he didn't think that Ivy was her real name. He got only silence in response "Can you tell me where you learned how to use it?". Still no reply and so Ivy found her face slammed into the cobbled road again. She rose gasping for breath and blood pouring from her nose.
"I found it" she said, "and I taught myself to use it. Theres only one way out of here and thats up. So I might as well give myself an advantage."
"Ivy, I'm going to make a deal with you. I, Commander Erwin Smith of the Scout Regiment will give you citizenship to the upper districts, and in exchange you will join the Scout Regiment."
"What if I refuse?" she asked doubtful of any deal with the military "'Sides who says I want to join your group of suicidal fools anyway?"
"If you don't join us, Ill have to hand you over to the Military Police, and judging by your rap sheet they wont be all that kind to you."
"Ha, the Military Police? I'd escape those lazy bastards before you can count to three.". One of the Scouts in the back snorted. She couldn't see his or her face because they had their hood up, but they where awfully short looking.
"No doubt that you could escape them, but who's to say we wouldn't come after you again?"
"Whats in it for me? Other than fulfilling my death wish that is?" Ivy asked, just as her stomach let loose a terrible sound, a protest of hunger.
"You will get regular meals" Erwin offered.
Ivy thought back to all the meals he had missed, all of the nights she had gone to bed hungry only to wakeup and be hungrier. The thought of regular meals seemed luxurious. Her stomach rumbled again. "Fine" she said "I'll take it." Commander Erwin motioned for the Scouts to move out with the exception of the few that where with her. The hooded one that had laughed flew by on their 3DM gear. Ivy was lead to the surface by the Scout that she had given the black-eye, Commander Erwin and a few others. When they reached the surface she hissed at the sight of the sunlight as it blinded her, she raised her cuffed hands to shield her eyes. "How can they stand it?" she thought "Its so bright." she then remembered that these people had grown up in the sun. They where used to it. Before her eyes could adjust she was put in a darkened carriage with Commander Erwin Smith and a figure sitting in the shadows. Ivy started to feel her nose, "Defiantly broken" she thought and she began to fix it in the reflection of the glass.
"Tch brat let me fix that" a voice said as a hand reached out from the shadow and fixed her broken nose and than handed her a rag to soak up the remaining blood that was dripping from her nose.
"Thanks" she said as she looked at the person it the corner, his voice was oddly familiar, a stray beam of light illuminated his face for a split second and she automatically recognized him, he looked exactly the same, the only difference being the clothes he wore and the fact that his skin now had some pigmentation to it. "Levi?" she asked, her face in the same emotionless mask that it had been when she was captured.
"Ivy are you seriously wearing my old clothes?" Levi said his right eyebrow raised slightly.
"So what if I am Ackerman." she said, no hint of hostility or any emotion in her voice.
He scoffed, "Well you'll defiantly need new ones, those are far to large for you." Ivy had no response to that and stayed quite the rest of the trip, looking out of the window watching the world go by.
"This is all one city, there is so much here, and to think that there is even more" she thought. By the time the carriage had arrived at its destination of the Scout Regiments base night had fallen and for the first time in her life Ivy Shiner saw the stars and moon and she was amazed at their beauty. She leaned over to Levi and asked him "So are these stars?". He looked at her with a mix of shock and sadness. He remembered that Ivy was like him, born and raised in the Underground District and only left it for the first time ever when the Scouts got them.
"Yes those are stars" he said "And they have names"
"Names?" she asked "how can they have names?"
"Well you named the stalactites" Levi said in response.
"Yeah but I was like 9 and only I knew there names, you make it seem like everyone knows the stars names" she retorted
"Well they were named by someone hundreds of thousands of years ago." he explained. Erwin watched their interaction with some caution, he was amazed with the way that they could go in and out of being comfortable with each other. Some moments they would appear to be at ease with each other and others the tension was tangible. Ivy he noted seemed to regard Levi with an attitude reserved for someone who had betrayed her. Levi he noted was also acting cold. Well colder than normal. Ivy was soon directed to the female bunks where she was to sleep, and Erwin went off with Levi to talk to him about Ivy.
"I didn't know that you knew Ivy Shiner" he started saying
" Yeah I knew her." Levi said, clearly not wanting to talk about it, "We kind of took her in and raised her."
"You raised her?" Erwin said somewhat shocked, he had never seen Levi give a second thought to kids.
"We, Farlan and I, were doing a job and we accidentally crashed theses old perverts who were auctioning her off to the highest bidder. Mind you she was probably only 8 or 9 at the time and she looked like she hadn't eaten in days. So while Farlan disposed of the pervs I wrapped her in my coat and carried her out of there. Poor kid, I don't think that anyone had ever been nice to her in her life."
Erwin raised his eyebrows in shock he knew that the Underground was rough, but selling kids as old mens sex slaves, that added a whole new level to it. "So you fed her and raised her and then you left her?" he asked.
"Pretty much, she was 13 when you took us and shows capable of taking care of herself, but the shock of all three of us leaving without even saying good-by must have been devastating. I don't even know how I'm going to tell her about Isobel and Farlan…" Levi trailed off as he fell into thought.
"Well tomorrow we are going to run her on the practice course and see how she does. So see you in the morning" and with that Erwin Smith left Levi Ackerman alone with his thoughts and his tea.
Across the courtyard in the women's bunks Ivy Shiner was the only one awake, she was used to sleeping for short intervals of time so that she was less likely to be attacked in her sleep. Also there was no deference between night and day down there, it was dark all the time. Ivy rolled over to her bedside table and lit the oil lamp and began to read. She eventually drifted to sleep and was woken up very early the next morning by the blare of a bugle. She blearily followed some of the other girls to the mess hall for breakfast. They where all dressed in the Scout Regiment uniforms the Wings of Freedom displayed proudly on each of their backs. Ivy was still dressed in Levi's old clothes when she arrived at the mess hall she was handed a small loaf of bread and a mug of tea. She took a sip of the tea and suddenly became very aware of the shear amount of people that where in the room. "Shit" she thought "Where am I supposed to sit?" looking around she saw an empty corner so she went and literally sat on the floor and began to break off chunks of her bread and dipping it in her tea so it was both more palatable and would last longer. She was so engrossed in her ritual that she didn't notice Levi was standing over her until he cleared he throat.
"Tch, brat Erwin wants you in his office now." Ivy quickly drank her remaining tea and pocketed her remaining bit of bread and followed him out. Ivy was shown to Erwin's office where he handed her a uniform and boots.
"If theses don't fit you we can get another size" Erwin told her as she was shown to a little room where she could change. It took two tries to find a pair of boots that fit, and three times to find pants. Luckily the shirt, jacket, and harness fit perfectly the first time although she did have to have help from Levi to fix the harness correctly. Once Ivy was suitably dressed Erwin said, "Great, now you have to introduce yourself to the members of the Scout Regiment that are present at this time."
As she was escorted into the court yard Ivy felt her stomach clench with nerves, she had never liked to be in front of a crowd and now she had to be. When they arrived the Scouts where standing at attention waiting for Commander Erwin to speak, as well as to see their new member. Erwin spoke for a short while, but Ivy heard none of it, she was too busy staring at her feet hoping she wouldn't barf all over the crowd. Then it was Ivy's turn to introduce herself so with her arms crossed and her eyes focused she said "Ivy Shiner" and quickly turned around and left. "Well shit! I'm sure they all think I'm a coward now, I mean I cant even say my name in front of a crowd, how am I supposed to fight titans?" she thought to herself. She heard someone coming up behind her, but she didn't care enough to stop. That was until she realized whoever was running had no intention of stoping turning around she saw the one with glasses barreling down the pathway and her? he? they? looked like they were not going to stop. Ivy barely had time to get out of the way before Glasses crashed to the ground at her feet. She gave the person time to catch their breath.
"Hi! My name is Hanji Zoe!" she? said excitedly.
"Oh, ok, well I'm Ivy" she said as she held out her hand both for Hanji to shake as well as to help her back up.
"Look we don't have much time, but I'm supposed to take you over to one of the training courses. Mostly its just so we can see how you use 3DM gear, but also to see your reflexes and response time." On the walk over to the training course Ivy dug the remaining hunk of her bread out of her pocket, figuring it was nearly lunch time, and besides she was hungry.
"Oh… yeah, I see…" Ivy responded slowly as they rounded the corner to the training course. Levi, Erwin and some other guy where already standing there waiting for her. Erwin nodded as he heard them approach.
"Hello Ivy, I'm glad that Hanji was able to catch you after you ran off like that. But anyway, this is Alexander, and he is in charge of this course, Ill let you put on the 3DM gear and then we will tell you how you can kill a titan."
"I already know how." Ivy said with a straight face.
Everyone looked shocked, even Levi raised his eyebrow in amazement. "Wha- How?" Erwin asked.
"Easy, I asked." Ivy said as she stood up and adjusted her gear, she held her swords in her hands and was about to take off when Alexander said slyly
"You do realize that your holding those wrong, right?"
"So what if I am you piss baby." and she took off into the woods.
"Ha!" Hanji said "She holds her swords like you Short-Ass"
"Oi shut it Shitty-glasses!" Levi retorted as he pushed her away and leaned over to Erwin, "She's using so little gas, instead she's using her momentum to get her places. Quite clever if I do say so."
In the forest Alexanders men were adjusting the wooden titan models, no way where they going to let this street rat show them up. "She's coming!" one of the men yelled and the men began to move the titans. They saw her fly by and double back, and she attacked the model with precision that only a few senior Scouts had. She moved on and got the others with the same surgical precision. When she landed outside of the forest her face was red and beaded with sweat. The men who had been controlling the models soon came out of the wood and went over to Erwin, Levi and Hanji to discuss what they had seen. Ivy plopped herself down on a patch of grass and began to examen her blades to check for any damage.
"It was amazing to see her Captain" one of them said.
"Her cuts where so precise, are you sure she isn't a seasoned vet?" another asked
"Yeah, 'cause she knew exactly what to do. She only fumbled a bit" Ivy listened to what they were saying about her when Erwin called her over.
"Ivy, can you please tell us why you don't use much gas?" he asked
"There isn't much in the Underground, so you have to make it last. It wasn't like I could go and steal it from the MP's weekly" she said disinterestedly
"And the blades, why do you hold them like you do?"
"Thats how I hold a knife" she said bluntly "Now keep questioning me like this Commander and you'll get more than you bargained for."
After more small talk that Ivy only half listened to, the other squad members began to go off. Levi turned and was about to leave with Erwin when Ivy reached out and grabbed his sleeve. "Where are Farlan and Isobel?" she asked "I'd think I'd have seen them by now, unless you didn't tell them."
Levi stopped and sighed "Ivy please walk with me."
"Levi whats wrong?" she asked
"Just come on brat." he said as he began to drag her.
"Brat! I'll have you know I'm 18 now. Wait brat… that was what Farlan called me… Levi what happened?!"
Levi lead her along a small path in the woods, "Farlan died Ivy, Isobel too, they've been dead for nearly five years now."
"Dead?" she asked, her voice cracking a bit "come on Levi thats a cruel joke even by your standards."
"Its not a joke Ivy, I buried what I could find of them here." he said pointing to two small graves among the many sure enough one headstone read 'Isobel Magnolia' and the other read 'Farlan Church' also listed where their ages, a small quote and their service to the Scouts. "This is the graveyard that we set up for those soldiers who have no living relatives." he told her, remembering that she had always found that kind of thing fascinating.
"Thats nice." she said, "but why did they have to die? I mean I didn't even get to say good-by…" she lowered herself to the ground "I should have known, I mean I was a fool for thinking that they were still alive." Levi sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her. "Wow, Captain Clean, what about your pants, aren't you worried you might stain them?" she asked sarcastically.
"I think they can take a few grass stains, I'll just clean them extra hard tonight." he replied in the same sarcastic tone. He looked at her face and saw no tears. This had not been surprising to him because Ivy had never been known to cry. He then said "Hey, lets go get some tea in my office ok?"
"You aren't going to tell me that anyone else I like is dead are you?"
Levi looked offended "You like other people?!"
"Ha! No, I was just joking you."
"Tch tch Ivy you had me worried" he said as they walked out of the forest and up to the officers dorms. They walked in silence for a time, Levi walked up the stone steps and opened the heavy wooden door. Ivy quickly followed him in. She followed him up to the second floor where he opened another door which lead to his office. Ivy was impressed, she had always known Levi to be a bit of a neat freak, but his office was sparse, hardly any personal affects were on display, minus the stack of paperwork, the desk was clean. Behind it was what Ivy thought to be the equivalent of a small library, the back wall was filled with books. Off to the side, under a window was a small wood stove with a tea kettle at the ready. There was even a cabinet filled filled with tea, tea cups and a teapot.
"Ttch Levi, its everything you wanted isn't it? I mean its clean, and you've got all the tea you could possibly want." Ivy said looking around.
"Please, have a seat. I did invite you for tea, and I do intend to have some." and he began the usual clatter that comes with making tea, delicately measuring out each spoonful of tea into the teapot while the water boiled. He fetched two teacups and saucers from the cabinet. When the kettle whistled the quickly turned and poured the water in the pot and let it steep for 3 minutes. He and Ivy didn't speak during the process of making tea, Ivy was too busy admiring his book collection from afar. Levi handed her a cup of tea and that brought her back to earth.
"Sorry" she said "its just you have more books than I've seen in my entire life." and took a sip of her tea, holding her cup the same way as he did.
"You think I've got a lot of books? You should see how many Hanji has, then again most of hers are on titans…" he said as he sipped his tea.
"Hanji, she's the one who came after me?"
"Yes, thats Shitty-Glasses"
"She seemed nice"
"She's crazy as hell and completely obsessed with titans, but her heart is in the right place." Levi told her. The two continued to drink their tea in silence until the dinner bell rang. "Shit its that time already?" he asked.
"Yeah I guess so. Oh I forgot to ask, what squad am I in? I know most Scouts eat meals with their Squad and well I figured I should meet them instead of eating alone again."
"Of course, let me see, Erwin gave me that paper somewhere…. Ah here it is, looks like you are not in any official squad, I'll ask Erwin about that, come with me" he said as he walked out of the room and down the hall to Erwin's office he knocked on the door, "Erwin" he said "I have to ask you about Ivy's position"
A muffed voice said "Come on in" and Levi opened the door, Erwin's office was far messier that Levi's, papers were covering the desk, books that he used regularly were within reaching distance of his chair and the strong smell of coffee permeated every surface. "So you where saying something about Ivy?"
"Yes" Levi said bluntly, "the squad that she is in is not listed." he showed Erwin the paper.
"Hmmmmm let me see.." he said as he shuffled his papers "ahh yes, it appears that I haven't placed you in a squad yet…."
Who's squad should I place our dear Ivy Shiner in? Please help me to decide because I have no idea. I don't want to put her in Levi's squad just yet. That will be later… I hope. Also shiner is an old slang term for a black-eye which she conveniently gave one to a Scout member.