How long had she been here, judging from the count she'd been keeping in her head she had to guess it was somewhere around 59 days more or less so at least close to two months. Two months, since she'd allowed the people in the capes to cut her free from the nape of her titan's neck and they had taken her 'prisoner', housing her in this place. What was this place exactly, judging from the hard stone floors and walls, not to mention the cold irons around her wrists and what she was sure made up the door she would guess it was a prison of sorts. But at least they gave her a bed and food, though those hadn't always been guaranteed. In fact they had been taken away a few times by the man and woman who kept coming to ask her questions. She never answered, only bowed her head towards her hands. Hearing the frustration in the man's voice and just the tinge of disappointment to the woman's. She wondered if the expressions on their faces matched their tones, though if she asked she was sure they wouldn't answer but just probe her with more questions.
Her head turned up at the sound of a door opening. A small frown crossing her face she stood up crossing the floor as long as the irons around her wrists would allow her to move. Standing near what she'd figured was the window when she was first brought here, she felt the air around her. It wasn't as warm as it had been earlier but it wasn't cold like it would be at night meaning it had to be close to late afternoon or even around the time of sunset. It was certainly to late in the day for the man and woman to come by and question her, so she wondered who could have come into the prison. Hearing the creak of the iron doors across from her own she made her way to the bars, her hands clasping them tightly while her face pressed between them to listen. It was the man and woman again, but there was someone else, another man it seemed.
"Place her carefully on the bed, Levi cuff her arms. Hanji check the bandages around her head." The man ordered his voice a rich warm baritone but it was commanding all the same. She found herself wondering who they had brought in but didn't dwell on it for long when she heard the door close again. Quickly withdrawing from the bars she moved back trying not to trip over anything. She sat down on the bed bowing her head as she heard them pause between her cell and the other person's.
"She hit her head pretty hard," that was the woman's voice, it was always so overly energetic even when she did sound disappointed. "However, she should be fine by the morning, if anything she'll just have a killer headache."
"Alright, keep on eye on her and let me know when she wakes up, I have some questions I want to ask her." There was that other man's baritone voice again. Then it fell silent and she could almost feel the three gazes that had turned their attention to her. "And you two go ahead and try that idea, see if you can't get this one to say anything at all."
"Yes sir," this time it was the original man she was used to hearing and the woman at the same time. She heard three sets of footsteps turn and head out of the door down the hall. Her face turning up towards the iron bars she knew where before her. Her clouded eyes reflecting their shine in the light of the dying sun outside.
Her head, why did her head feel like it was being bashed in with a hammer. Elizabeth groaned as she slowly opened her eyes only to squeeze them shut from the harshness of the sunlight streaming in through her cell window. Wait, cell window, why was she in a cell. Her eyes shot open as she sat up letting out a groan as the pounding increased in her skull. Her hands reached up to grip her head only to find they were restrained at her sides. Looking down she noticed the iron bracelets around her wrists attached to short chains that upon following she found attached to the wall behind her head. It all slowly started coming back to her, her entrance into the Survey Corps headquarters, her fight with the commander and two captains, her attempt to flee... Damn the Commander had managed to stop her on her escape. She must have hit her head on the wall when he grabbed her and was brought down here. Her eyes flashed over to the cell door though to her disappointment she wasn't in a cell with barred door that would allow her to look out. In fact the door was solid metal with a small barred window on top though she wouldn't be able to get up and look through it as short as the chains on her wrists were. She looked down at her lap with a frown as she tried to think, if only her head wasn't pounding so hard.
"Oh good, you're awake," her eyes flashed up towards the door as the woman from the previous day, Hanji, entered the room. "Erwin has been waiting to speak with you, but I suppose it won't kill him to wait a little longer hmm." She chirped as she moved over to the bedside a roll of bandages in her hand. Elizabeth flinched backwards as Hanji reached towards her head. "Oh, you should be careful we really need to change your bandages you injured yourself pretty badly."
"I can do it myself," Elizabeth muttered only to have the woman laugh.
"I'm sure you can but that would require releasing your hands, and I can't do that." Said Hanji with a rather to cheerful smile as she began unwrapping the bandage from around the young woman's head. "Oh you have quiet a bump on the back of your skull," she said lightly brushing her fingers over the injury causing Elizabeth to hiss in pain. "Oh sorry, sorry," said Hanji re-wrapping her head with the new roll of bandages. "Hmm well the Commander will be down in a bit to see you and I've got an experiment to get to." She turned to leave the room as the young woman frowned in disgust at her happy demeanor.
It wasn't long after Hanji left that the door opened again this time revealing the Commander himself. He smiled politely when she looked up at him but his eyes were cold and calculating as he looked her over.
"How is your head feeling?" he asked as he grabbed a chair that was placed near the door dragging it across the floor only to settle with it right beside her. His eyes still watching her carefully as if he was waiting for something to happen.
"It's like being struck repeatedly with a hammer," she said with as bored of a tone as she could muster all the while watching him with just as guarded eyes. He smirked as he leaned forward in the chair.
"I can imagine, I must apologize for shoving you into the wall so hard," He said. She shrugged a little leaning against the wall.
"Hmm well I suppose if you didn't pursue a fleeing assailant you wouldn't have done your job as a solider now would you," She gave a small smirk as she met his gaze. Though his own had disappeared as he went back to studying her, noting the way she moved her head carefully when she looked at him. She seemed to wince a little, though it wasn't because of him so much as it was because of the sensitivity to her scalp.
"Yes I suppose so, you know you fight quiet well have you been trained formally?" he asked as he leaned back in his chair.
"Yes, I guess you could say I've had formal training," she laughed a little as he frowned.
"May I ask what's funny about that question?" He raised a brow crossing his arms as she shook her head. "I see." He was silent for a few moments in deep thought, debating to ask where she received her training from and continue the easy conversation or to jump straight to the point about why she was here. She continued to watch him as he thought, his eyes kept glancing towards her own and she smirked.
"Why don't I just help you decide, just ask me why I came here already," she said. He blinked a bit in surprise but didn't really let it show as he nodded.
"Right, well you said before that you believed we had your sister here, correct? That's why you're here?" he asked.
"I don't just think Commander, I know you have her," she stated with a rather annoyed look on her face. "In fact if I'm not mistaken she's probably somewhere in your prison here. Perhaps in the cell even next to mine."
"So you're related to the shifter," asked Erwin though it was really more of a statement and she nodded.
"Yes, the one you captured is my younger sister, tell me has she spoken to you at all? You've had her for two months already, I can only imagine you must have questioned her this whole time. Trying to find out what she knows, what she is capable of," she said smirking as if she could already tell the answer to her own question.
"If you've known we've had her this long why haven't you come to retrieve her sooner?" He asked, choosing to ignore the taunt in her voice.
"Well, would you try to break into the survey corps without a plan? I mean look I had a plan and you still beat me. It would have just been a disaster with no plan." She shrugged folding her hands in her lap as he gave a small smirk. "So now answer this, how long do you plan to keep me here?" He seemed to think about it for a minute before answering.
"Just about as long as we consider it worth it to keep your sister, after all it wouldn't do well to release one of you to soon." He stated simply. She frowned and the room fell into a heavy silence again as she finally broke her gaze away from his looking towards the door. His eyes still looking over her face judging her reactions.
"I'm not like her,"she muttered.
"What's that?" he asked.
"I'm not a shifter, that's what you think," she said looking at him a small mischievous smile suddenly crossing her face as she turned her body to more fully face him. Granted she had to keep one arm behind her back to do so. He sat up straighter very aware of her movements as she leaned towards him. "Of all the people Erwin I would expect a little trust from you at least. We've known each other for so long." His face remained emotionless though his eyes betrayed a hint of his confusion as he met her gaze.
"We only just met yesterday, I am not sure that qualifies as long enough to earn my trust," He stated and she laughed.
"Oh dear me mister blonde man, how time has made you forget. It's a shame really, everyone always told us we were quiet the pair. But I'm sure if you think on it hard enough, you'll remember. After all even you said you could never forget me." Her laughter died away as she leaned back again a small teasing smile on her lips as the pair held the others gaze. Each studying the other, him trying to decipher what she was going on about and her simply waiting for him to figure it all out.
"So what exactly am I supposed to do again," asked Eren as Hanji excitedly dragged him down the hall of the dungeon, Levi close behind them. The overly eager woman looked down at him with a bright smile causing the boy's stomach to drop a bit. Whenever Hanji got this way it generally spelled disaster or mild concussion for him.
"Oh we are going to place you with the other shifter, you'll be in charge of getting her to talk. You can take her outside with you and even to eat later on," said the woman as she adjusted her glasses with one hand. This stunned the Eren causing him to stop mid step almost backing straight into Levi who quickly stepped around him and turned to glare at him.
"What's wrong with you?" asked Levi as Eren glanced between his captain and the scientist.
"You're putting me in charge of the female titan? I couldn't even get control over Annie without losing and causing a lot of destruction and death. What if it comes down to that again? What if I can't fight her off or control her? You can't really be serious... I mean," the boy stumbled back as a hand smacked him across the face, hard, causing his cheek to sting. Levi folded his arms as he glared at the young recruit.
"Listen here you disgusting brat, you are not completely in charge of her, I along with a good number of the other high ranked officers will be keeping tabs on you both. We won't hesitate to kill either of you if things start to get out of hand again," Levi said frowning. "But four eyes here has a theory that we're testing out." Hanji nodded excitedly.
"Oh yes, you see Eren, I've been thinking ever since the moment we caught her, how strange it was that this shifter didn't try to kidnap you." Said Hanji going off into a quick winded rant to explain her state of mind, "She purposely followed our troops, tracking you specifically and when she finally came upon you she only stopped for a quick whiff. She has led on that she knew we were waiting for her there yet unlike Annie she didn't try to escape once captured through any means. In fact I couldn't help but notice her head turn in your direction quiet a few times on the ride back to headquarters. Granted we know she couldn't see you it's like she was sensing you were nearby and was keeping tabs on your location. I think you might be the key in getting her to talk and answer our questions." Gasping for breath she looked at the brown-haired boy grabbing his arm again the smile having never left her face. Eren bit his lip still unsure about the idea but was not willing to question his superiors for fear of being hit by Levi again.
Once they approached the cell he could see the small figure of a female on the bed to the far right her dark hair cascading over her face when suddenly her head snapped up and turned in their direction. Eren hesitated as Levi opened the door and stepped inside with Hanji, the girl seemed to be staring past the two captains straight at the green-eyed boy behind them.
"Oh don't be shy Eren come on in and meet our guest," chirped Hanji as she pulled a key from her pocket and approached the bedside. Gripping the girls wrist and unlocking the chains around her wrists as Eren entered the cell. Hanji helped the girl up from where she was sitting. "Now Eren you know what you're supposed to do, so we will leave you two alone for now."
"Don't mess anything up brat," muttered Levi to Eren as he and Hanji turned to exit the cell. Though both the boy and girl could figure the pair wouldn't go to far from either of them. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Eren looked at the girl before him. She seemed to be staring back at him, her clouded gaze concentrated on his face. Scratching the back of his head, he shifted uncomfortably allowing the awkward silence to stretch on for a few minutes more before he heard her mutter something. Her voice soft and a bit hoarse from weeks of no use.
"umm.. I'm sorry what did you say?" he asked.
"I asked if we were allowed to leave now?" she said tilting her head to the side, "I assumed that we must be able to since they removed my chains."
"Oh uh, yea..yeah, we can go anywhere around headquarters or uh outside but.. uh I mean nothing to far away." He stuttered out.
"Okay, may we go out then, I've been down here for too long," she said as she moved towards him. Her movements easy-going as she glided across the room towards him, he couldn't help but feel curious about how she could maneuver without any help to find where she was supposed to go.
"How do you do that?" he blurted out turning red as he realized his own error. She paused and turned her head towards him, "I.. I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." he felt flustered as she started laughing.
"No it's alright, I've been asked that before, in fact your captains have asked me multiple times, though I think they were referring to when I'm in my titan form since I can't see then either," She laughed and Eren couldn't help but smile, only to react in surprise when she suddenly gripped his arm. "If you take me outside I'll answer your questions, and then you can go report them to those other two."
"Wait what how do you know..." he asked.
"Because I am not so dense as to believe they were just letting me out with the other shifter to be nice," she shrugged tugging on his arm to head out the door.
"How do you know I'm another shifter? I mean I could just be some guy they brought down to question you more," questioned Eren following her as they headed down the hall.
"It's your smell," she said, "You don't smell quiet like the other humans do, but you don't share the same scent as the full on titans either. Believe me it's not hard to figure out." Eren frowned, what did she mean his smell.. was it the same way that he'd heard about how Mike was capable of sensing things through smell.
"Probably, you'd be surprised how much stronger the other senses are when one is gone, or even how much stronger they are when increased by your second form." She said taking him by surprise, not having realized he'd spoken out loud. Her free hand shot out in front of her as the pair continued to walk gripping the handle to the door that would lead them up and out of the dungeon completely she turned to face him after opening it a small smile on her face. "After you."
Author's Note: First I'd like to apologize for the slow going and choppy story so far, it'll get better flow and excitement once I get farther along in the story for now I'm just trying to get it set up to go where I would like to. Anyway, please READ AND REVIEW, let me know what needs work or what you liked or didn't like. Thank You.