the female titan stood to it's full height and looked down at the humans below, Erwin seemed to be studying the titan while Levi didn't look too fond of the huge creature before him, his eyes showing distrust and doubt.
Hanji had snapped out of shock to go through a fangirl moment that lasted about a full five minutes before clearing her throat and trying to compose herself.
"Annie! can you hear me up there?!"
the female titan did nothing but slightly open it's mouth to release a small puff of steam, it was small compared to the titan at least.
"can you understand what I'm saying?!" Hanji cupped her hands around her mouth to make her voice sound louder.
Annie rolled her eyes at the question, of course she could understand her. it's not like transformimg would reduce her brain capacity. however, she slowly kneeled on the ground and kept her gaze on the scientist waiting for an order.
a strange noise seemed to come out from Hanji, accompanied by a heavy blush. Levi and Erwin didn't seem to be bothered by it as much as Annie was, they were probably used to it.
"ooh, this is amazing, just imagine what kind of experiments i could do to study this" Hanji spoke to herself and went on about what kind of tools she was going to use and what kind of orders they could give to the titan.
"Annie, that's enough to make us believe you, go back to normal and let's go back"
Hanji's head snapped to Erwin so fast it would've probably injure the woman but she didn't seem bothered. she was more concerned about why Erwin would say something like that. didn't he know the potential of Annie's power?!
"why?!"
"i know what you're thinking Hanji, but we are not going to experiment on the kid. she is not a lab rat"
"but Erwin-"
"no Hanji, we need to go back to base, reports this and figure out what to do with the kid" Erwin said firmly.
".. fine"
they both looked up at the titan as it's body seemed to evaporate, Annie's much smaller body emerging from the nape.
x
on the way back Annie noticed that they took a different route than the one they came from, the place they had her staying at before was an old building that looked somewhat like a midevil barricade. they were heading now to a pavemented road that had a few veichles parked on the side.
"where are we going?"
"to see the commander" Hanji replied with a smile.
"why?" Annie furrowed her brows.
"to ask him what we should do with you" Levi replied coldly. he really didn't like her, did he?
Annie didn't ask any further questions, she walked slowly behind Erwin, who was holding a strange device in his hand and was tapping at it's screen with his thumb.
she saw a similar device with Hanji and Levi too, she assumed it was either pretty popular among the poeple now or it was just for military purposes and the authorities to have.
she sighed and shoved her hands into the pockets of her pants, she looked like a hobo in her dirty and torn military police uniform. couldn't they at least let her wash up and maybe offer some fresh clothes? at least give her some time to clean her own. she did stay in these for a long time after all, she didn't dare and try to take a whiff from the inside of her hoodie.
they arrived at a big building, it wasn't old like the old place they've been at, though it looked this one was built a while ago and went through various repairs.
"this is the police station" Erwin laid a hand on her shoulder.
she tensed briefly, were they going to throw her in jail? she felt sad for a moment, she really thought they wanted to help her. but that was to be expected, she was an enmy to humanity after all.
"commander pixis will talk to you then we'll see what his decision is" he didn't remove his hand and led her insider with the two following behind. "don't be nervous, you haven't done anything wrong so you aren't in trouble"
he opened a door and let her inside but did not follow, he closed the door behind her.
she took a quick scan of the room before she looked at the old man sitting on chair at a table in the middle of the room.
"hello Annie, I'm commander pixis"
he had a weird vibe to him, he had a flask in his hand and he signalled for her to sit in the chair across from him, so she did.
"Erwin told me about you, Annie" he said and waited for her to reply. she stayed quiet so he continued. "i hear that you've been through a lot lately, too much information has been said to you that you probably still can't fully process"
"i also heard of your powers, Annie. they sound incredible, unfortunately you've been using them to do bad things in your time haven't you?" he asked knowingly.
Annie gulped and lowered her head, she knew she was going to be confronted about this sooner or later.
"we've done some research in some old reports that match the time you said you were from and we were actually suprised to see your name pop up a few times.."
she was mentioned by name?! she knew what he was referring to but still didn't say anything and waited for him to continue.
"what we initially wanted to do was treat you like the criminal you were.."
Annie gripped the fabric of her pants tightly, this was it. this is as far she goes.
"but that time has passed now, it's been too long since the titans even exsisted, so Annie" he said firmly and she flinched at his tone.
"we cannot punish you for something that happend over eleven hundred years ago"
she snapped her head up to look at him in disbelief, her eyes widening, did she hear him right?! he said they weren't going to punish her! but why? did they want something in return? she didn't have anything that she could offer and she was not going to be a solider, not anymore.
"what?! why?" the question slipped out her mouth before she could stop herself or reconsider her words.
"as i said, it would be pointless to punish you for something that happend centuries ago, and our laws forbid us to do anything against you anyway since you are a minor. for now though, you'll be going to get a chance to live as a normal child like everyone else. that meanst you'll be living with someone until you are legally an adult-"
"i can take care of myself" she interrupted hurriedly, last thing she wanted was some stranger coming into her life and boss her around.
"i trust that you do but its the law, no one below 18 is to live alone without adult supervision. understood?" he replied.
"yes" she muttered.
"good. you'll be reciving a monthly allowance from your caretaker. other than that, you'll be going to school like other teenagers, study, get a job if you want"
she scoffed, she went through all that before already, she didn't want to go to school again but understood why she must.
"and one last thing" he suddenly turned serious and his eyes seemed to bore into hers. "you must not use your powers under any circumstanc. at least don't get caught" he finished with a playful wink.
she sat stunned, what did this old geezer mean, don't get caught?
"we're done here for now, run along and go get the paperwork for your enrollment in school, your monthly allowance and meet your new caretaker, they'll be taking you to get anything necessary that you'll need"
"thank you" she bowed her lighlty, this man was giving her a chance to live a new life, thanking him was the least she could do.
"no need for all that, now run along" he waved her off.
x
Annie left the room and was met by a lady who had been waiting at the door, she was given a folder and an envelope. the lady told her the folder contains an ID, a passport, a few necessary certificates and paperwork and her school enrolment papers. while the envelope only contains some cash for the allowance pixis was talking about.
the lady told her what necessary arrangements that she had to go through before she was fully registered as a citizen. then led her to a room where she would meet her 'adult caretaker'.
Annie's hand stayed at the door handle, what if they didn't like annie? what if annie didn't like them? would that even matter? she hoped it was someone she could at least tolerate.
taking a deep breath and turning the handle, Annie slowly opened the door to reveal Hanji, Levi and Erwin sitting at a couch waiting.
"you guys again?!"
"what seems to be the matter, Annie? do you not like us?" Hanji teased.
"i..it's not that" she replied. "i just thought I'd be living with only one person"
"well you're stuck with us now" Hanji beamed. "we're the ones who found you after all"
Annie didn't know how to reply to that, she just stood and stared until Levi stood up.
"let's go then, we have things to do"
x
they were supposed to take annie shopping for new clothes as she only had one outfit and it wasn't really fit to go out in as it drew attention, but Levi had refused to go anywhere with her until she took a shower and cleaned herself.
Annie wasn't really complaining, she felt relived to finally be able to get a decent shower and get rid of the filth that stuck to her body for a long time. she remembered the battle that went down at Trost, how she was easily defeated and taken down.
it felt good to be able to wash all that away.
after a long day shopping with two awkward men and one over excited Hanji, they went to have her tested at a hospital to release a medical record, she had to get a few shots but that didn't really matter to Annie, she faced much worse, what's a few measly shots?
last but not least, she had to go through a few tests since she haven't gone to any school and didn't have any gpa records.
x
Annie laid in her new bed at end of the night, this is where she'll be living from now on. she didn't know what to feel about all that's been happening lately. she felt overwhelmed.
Hanji led her to this room after getting dinner and gave her a small pep talk about how she should look forward to this new life, maybe she should.
but something still felt wrong to Annie, like something was missing and she couldn't figure out what it was.
Annie closed her eyes and buried her face into her pillow, she tried to fight the tears that were leaking from the corner of her eyes but they wouldn't stop.
was all of this really happening? is she really getting a second chance?
