Nobody knew where the scruffy pair had come from, or even when they had first appeared. The scouts had been living in the castle for two weeks before anyone noticed the presence of the extra inhabitants, at least until the morning when Captain Levi had come into the stables earlier than usual to check on one of the horses which had been injured on one of the new cadet training exercises. Rounding the corner of the stall, the fastidious man had been stunned at the sight which had greeted him in the pre-dawn murk, stopping short and staring with uncharacteristic astonishment.
Due to his usually quiet tread, at first his presence went unnoticed as he simply stared at the odd tableaux before him. A child was standing before the normally aggressive charger, gently stroking its nose with one hand whilst presenting a sugar cube with the other. Dubbed 'the clean freak captain' he could only gape at the appearance of this strange kid. Seeming to be around nine years old, it was impossible to tell from the tangled hair and loose, filthy clothing whether it was a boy or girl. Hell, his only clue it was even human was the fact the apparition was standing on two legs.
Its companion on the other hand was some form of shaggy haired mongrel, curled up at the child's feet. For a brief moment he stood unobserved in astonished silence, then suddenly the dog apparently caught his scent and bolted up right, growling aggressively as it stood in front of the urchin, hackles raised. Startled, the kid jerked its head around, eyes widening as they saw the officer standing in the doorway.
No words were said, but Levi noticed the widening of the eyes, tensing of the shoulders, shifting of the feet as the child went into fight or flight mode. And unexpectedly, Levi felt somehow bad for intruding. He had a thousand questions but bit them back, not wanting to spook the kid further, and slowly raised his hands with open palms as a sign of peace.
"Easy there, I don't mean any harm…" he kept his voice low and soft, cautiously taking a single step forward, the freezing as the dog peeled its lips back into a snarl. The child said nothing, but rested its hand on the scruff of the animal's neck. Taking that as a sign of encouragement, the Captain gently started edging closer again, able to get a slightly clearer look at the ragamuffin and inwardly wincing at the sheer level of dirtiness. The kid was intently examining him as well, grey-blue eyes glaring from beneath a matted fringe of hair whose colour was unclear through the grime.
Step by step, Levi drew closer, making sure to seem as non-threatening as possible. He knew what the kid was probably thinking, he had experienced a similar situation once from its perspective, so long ago in a time when he called darkened tunnels home. And so, when he got within about a meter of the duo, he stopped, waiting. The child was hesitating, uncertain of what to do.
"Come on now, you know I am not a threat to you. I'm not angry to find you here or anything, although I would very much like to know how you got here. But first, how about you come with me and we can find you some breakfast?" It seemed his soft rambling was having the desired effect, the tension in the air easing slightly as the child very slowly took a small shuffle towards him.
"Captain! Captain Levi- you in here? I was sent by Petra to tell you-" Eren's yelling as he came into the stable caused both of them to jump, and like an arrow from a bow the kid spun around and sprinted to the back of the room, it and the dog vanishing into one of the empty stalls.
"Dammit Jaeger! What the bloody hell are you thinking charging around and screaming like that you little shit?!" his tone was biting as he whirled on his subordinate who just stared at him in shock.
"Umm, Captain… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you or anything…"
"Not me you sodding moron! You just freaked the hell out of that kid."
"Kid? There was a kid in here? Are… are you sure you feel alright, sir?"
The glare Levi shot him was filled with even more disgust than his customary expression, which meant a hell of a lot of hatred being directed at the cadet, who actually gulped.
"Shut it Jaeger." He went stalking down the stalls as he spoke, "there is apparently a child on this base, and a dog. They ran down here and-" He stopped short at the sight which greeted him as he came upon- the empty stall at the end of the row. Nobody was there, no child, no dog, just a pile of hay in one corner and an empty water bucket in the other.
A blink was the only reaction he allowed himself before he spun back around to the now thoroughly confused rookie. Eren just stood there, watching him with apparent worry for his officer's sanity as the shorter man strode past and started heading over to the usual muster point for his squad, before belatedly scurrying after his superior.
As he walked, Levi thought through the bizarre scene which he had just experienced, almost convinced that it had all been some strange hallucination. Perhaps shitty glasses was right and the chemicals from his cleaning supplies were making him go mad. He shook his head slightly, no, that kid had been real, and he knew it. But how had they vanished like that? The assembled squad stood to attention as he approached, the new recruits who had gathered on parade behind them taking a moment longer to register his presence before they too straightened up, Eren hurrying over to take his usual place in line.
With his trade mark cool headedness, Levi realised that no one would believe him if he said that there was a child with a dog hiding somewhere in the castle. It was pretty impressive that they had stayed concealed for so long- the castle had been cleaned from top to bottom three times without anyone suspecting that they were not alone as residents. Even as he delegated tasks to the troops and sent the rookies to the sparring grounds for practice, he kept turning over the surprise encounter. Eventually he decided that all he could do for now was wait: he knew to be on the lookout, and it was only a matter of time before their paths crossed again.