Author's Note: Good God, I'm just pumping these out one by one when I definitely should be studying. Thanks for keeping me sane, guys!


Chapter 4


"Hey, Yan." Furlan smiled, holding open the door for his comrade. "How'd your treatment go?" Yan carefully stepped into the house, taking a seat on the couch and rubbing his sore legs.

"It was strange." Yan replied.

"So, they still want to charge you a leg to fix the other?" Furlan half-joked, taking a seat across from him.

"She paid me…." Levi stopped cleaning his knife and looked over at Yan.

"Who paid you?" Furlan asked.

"The doctor." Yan clarified. "She told me I needed to take six months off to rest, and when I told her I couldn't, she gave me five hundred and injected me with medicine to help my legs. She said she needed to give me two more injections, and then she needed to look at my legs again, so I have to go back tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that. She said my legs are weak because I'm not eating the right food or enough food, and there's no sun." Furlan stiffened. "What's even more bizarre is that she told me she'd bring me a lot of food. Fruits, vegetables, meats…."

"How does a doctor have the money for all of that?!" Furlan asked.

"What's more suspicious is why she would do all that for a stranger." Levi added. "…did she say?"

"Kind of…. She knew what I did for a living when she was trying to find out what was wrong with my legs, but she asked me questions in a way that I wouldn't have to admit to it. She told me she wasn't with the Military Police, and I shouldn't be scared to tell her things. She just needed to know what I did so she could figure out what was wrong with me. She got really emotional when I told her I couldn't afford to take six months off. I could see her almost crying. She told me not to feel guilty for having to do what I had to do to survive, and that my circumstances weren't my fault. …she said something else, too." Yan turned and met Levi's gaze. "I thanked her, and said I didn't have much, but if I could ever do anything for her…. She said she needed to find Levi."

"Levi?! For what?" Furlan also turning to stare at him.

"She didn't say exactly. Just that she was also backed into a corner by circumstances out of her control." Yan thought about Miria's face, how frightened and broken she had looked. How quickly she had turned to hide her distress and tears from him. "She looked really scared and said she only had five days. Though, I guess by now, she's down to four."

"What do you think?" Levi questioned, glancing at Furlan. Furlan rubbed his jaw in thought.

"It's hard for me to think anything with such little information. If she knew about Yan, she would trace him back to me, not you. Plus, it's not like that medical mess is set up for information gathering. Anyone outside our gang who knows where you are has a hefty warrant on their head. They wouldn't put themselves that close to the Military Police even if they were dying. Besides, even if they did, there's at least twenty doctors there. There's no guarantee they'd end up in her tent."

"Yan ended up in her tent." Levi corrected.

"Luck of the draw." Furlan assumed. "What did you think of her, Yan?"

"She seemed like a really kind and caring person. I believe her." Yan smiled, thinking about her stethoscope. "She even warmed her equipment before putting it on me, so it wouldn't be too cold."

"Sounds like you're in love." Furlan teased. Yan's cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"N-no! Nothing like that. Besides, she looked really young."

"Yea? How young?" Furlan asked.

"Maybe around fifteen."

"Go see her tomorrow and try to find out what she wants. Get as much information on her as you can. If nothing else, you'll get medicine and food. Report back once you know more." Levi returned to cleaning his knife. Despite his cool demeanor, Yan knew this must have been stressful for him. Being on any authority's radar was never a good thing.

"Yes, sir." Yan replied.


Miria stood outside of the room taking deep breaths. Nile couldn't help but to snicker.

"It's not funny." she hissed through gritted teeth. Another deep breath. "Just get through this. Last patient. Just get through it." she whispered to herself as she fanned her white shirt, hoping the red cough syrup wouldn't stain. She opened the door and picked up the spoon and medicine bottle that she had left on the dresser. Her determined gaze was met by the young boy she had been treating for a cough. "Listen. You don't like me, I get it. Lord knows I definitely hate you, but the sooner you drink this, the sooner I can leave, and the sooner you can feel better and go back to playing." The boy said nothing, and Miria slowly poured the syrup into the spoon. She lifted it toward his mouth and he swatted it out of her hand and onto her shirt…for the third time. Her fingers twitched, begging to strangle the life out of him. Miria stood up calmly and walked toward the door. She opened it and motioned Nile over.

"You have something…uh…" He pointed to her shirt, face, and hair." "…everywhere." Miria put on a forced, if not slightly psychotic smile.

"Nile…if you don't come in here and pin this little, rich, spoiled fucker down while I shove the remainder of this bottle down his throat, glass and all, I'm going to be become extremely unpleasant." Her voice was sweet and melodic, but tainted with threats.

"Yea…I'd hate to see you unpleasant…. Let me handle it. You know, I have a couple of hell raisers of my own at home." Nile said with a cocky smirk. Miria opened the door, politely beckoning him in. "Alright little sir!" Nile took the spoon and poured in some cough syrup. "Open wide and say ah!" The boy opened his mouth and Nile put the syrup in. "There you go!"

"Nile! Cover his mouth!" Miria shouted frantically.

"What?" Nile turned toward Miria a second too late. The boy sprayed out the medicine, along with his spit, all over Nile's hair, in his ear, and down the left side of his face.

"Let me handle it!" Miria mocked in a deep voice.

"Come here, you little bastard!" Nile pinned down the boy and forced his mouth open, though not without a few bites to his fingers in the process. "Miria, hurry!"

"Pin him down! He's squirming too much!

"Fuck the spoon, just pour the bottle out!"

"Nile! I was just venting, that'll kill him!"

"Hurry!"

"Ah!" Miria grabbed the boy's face and did her best to pour out the correct amount. They both worked together to hold the boy's mouth shut and tilt his head back as he squirmed. "Swallow it!"

"What're you doing!?" Miria and Nile looked up at the source of the accusing voice. The maid stood there, observing the two adults pinning down a young boy in his bed, shocked by their actions.

"O…uh…d-don't worry. I'm with the Military Police and she's almost a doctor." Nile offered nervously. Her eyes moved from one to the other.

"It's cough medicine…." Miria added.

"Rub his throat to get him to swallow." the maid said. She closed the door and walked away.


Miria and Nile sat in the carriage, completely exhausted and sticky with syrup.

"I did not feel good about doing that." Miria finally said.

"Don't feel bad. That was a demon spawn." Nile wiped his ear for the third time, shuddering, probably at the thought of how deep the spit might have gone in.

"Yea, hopefully it knocks him out long enough for him to forget the whole ordeal. We can't go back there." Miria watched Nile rub his sleeve on his neck and groan in disgust. "Why is it that the children I treated in the Underground, with no parents, no privileges, no education, no food, and no home training could be so well behaved, but that boy was such a monster despite having all of those advantages?"

"Yea, I wonder who else was like that she was little."

"Who?" she asked, puzzled.

"Miria, no one in the Military Police liked escorting you."

"That's not true! I was a joy to be around!" she defended.

"No, you were a monster just like him. We drew straws when you came up on the list."

"That's so mean!"

"One guy quit and joined the Survey Corps." Nile said through fits of laughter. "He said he wasn't afraid of titans anymore." Miria playfully punched Nile's arm, but eventually joined in.

"Okay, so, what changed, wise ass? How come you like me so much now?"

"Well…" Nile's smile slowly faded. He stared at her and opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. Mom…. "Life just changes people, I guess." They sat in silence for the remainder of the ride, and when Miria entered her house, her hatred for her father was reignited. I'll never forgive you for what you did to her.

"How was your first day?" her father asked as she passed by him to head up the stairs. He didn't bother looking up from his newspaper or moving from his spot on the couch.

"It was wonderful! Thank you so much for letting me go, father!" Her melodic and excited voice was in stark contrast with her stoic face.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." Miria shut the door of her bedroom and leaned against it. Just a few more days. That's all she needed to endure.


"Yan!" Miria said excitedly, pulling the boy toward the patient's cot and sitting him down. "How are your legs feeling?"

"They've felt a bit better. Thank you again for the money. I was able to buy better food, and more of it. I rested yesterday and there's less pain in them today."

"Good! I'm so glad!" She placed a large bag next to him. "I've put fruits, vegetables, clean water, fish, chicken, and beef in here. Eat until you're full, three times a day. Don't worry about rationing it, I'll bring you another bag tomorrow and the day after." Yan looked through the bag and gasped.

"This…this is too much. I can't—" Miria placed her hands on Yan's.

"I don't have any need for this food, you do. Let me help you."

"Thank you." Miria smiled, kneeling down and prepping Yan's legs for another injection. "…what do you need Levi's help with?" She looked up at him, trying to read his expression. What do you know?

"Can you keep a secret?" She returned her attention to the syringe in her hand.

"Yes."

"I have a business proposition for him. I'm in danger, and I need his help hiding in the Underground."

"You want to move down here?"

"It's a really bad situation. If I don't disappear down here, I don't know what will happen to me. I know my pursuers would never find me down here, and there's no risk of them coming down to look for me." Miria wrapped up Yan's legs. "But I'm sure you're not unaware of what would happen to me without protection…what happens to any woman here without protection. Levi is the most feared person in the Underground, and from everything I've heard about him, murder, assault, larceny…there's never been so much as an accusation of a crime against women. I have items that I know he'll value, and if he can just keep me under his umbrella, that's all I need."

"I'll ask him." Yan said softly. Miria's eyes shot wide open. She placed her hands on Yan's knees and swallowed the lump forming in her throat.

"Really? You can do that? You know him?" Yan nodded and Miria hugged him. "You're saving my life."

"No, just providing you with the tools you need to save your own life." Yan replied with a small laugh.