PRE-CHAPTER AUTHOR'S NOTE: trololololololololololol. And you guys thought it was Mikasa... (actually, it originally was, and I just realized I put a typo in the last chapter)
I'm bad at French, so please excuse my typo's
TRIGGER WARNING= There is a drug reference in this chapter. I kept it as short as possible for obvious reasons, but I'm trying to keep this as accurate to the story as possible...
A horrible accident had ensued in wall Rose. One of the soldiers in the stationary guard had become pregnant, and chose to remain on active duty as Petra had (against her civilian husband and family's advice). Following Petra's example, she adjusted her 3d maneuver gear to take less pressure around her waist and center the force around her knees. The accident that happened, though, couldn't have been predicted. A cart had tipped over, horse and all. Knowing she had a good way with animals, the soldier calmed down the horse, made sure it was okay, and managed to unhitch it. That was when she had heard a little boy calling from under the cart. With the help of a few others, lifted it up. That was when one of her friends noticed the blood on her pants. She was rushed to a nearby medical facility, where she had found out that somewhere along the line, she had lost the baby. Since the fetus was too small to perform an autopsy (that would yield useful results) on, the cause of death is unknown, but placental abruption (a condition where the placenta detaches from the wall of the uterus, suffocating the baby) from trauma is suspected.
...
"Come to Daddy, Anastasia! That's right." Levi smiled at his daughter. The seven-month-old crawled over to her father with her beaming smile, and he picked her up.
"She's just so smart, I can't get over it." Petra said as Levi handed the baby to her. The three went downstairs into the dining hall for some breakfast
They came downstairs to see everyone seem grim. The tension in the air was uneasy. What really worried Levi was Erwin's expression. His face was nervous, something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
"Eren." Levi turned to his subordinate
"Yes, Captain?" Eren perked up immedietly
"Take Anastasia into thekitchen, and make her some mashed sweet potatoes for breakfast." Levi handed his daughter to his most trusted subordinate. Eren nodded and took the baby away. Levi and Petra sat down silently at the table.
"I don't think Eren knows where the sweet potatoes are. Mikasa, how about we help find them?" Armin asked. Mikasa nodded, understanding it wasn't their place there, and got up to walk away.
"Jean, I just remembered, I was going to show you something in a book." Marco got up, and took his boyfriend with him
"Connie, didn't you say you needed help with archery?" Sasha asked
"Let's go practice then." Connie said
"Can Ymir and I come too?" Historia asked
"Sure!" Sasha smiled as the four ran off.
"Uhhhh. Reiner, how about we try to help Annie with her amnesia a little more?" Bertholdt asked. Reiner nodded, and the both of them took the blonde girl out of the room. That was when a sudden strange silence fell over the remaining five people at the table. Mike had his usual suspiscious look, while Hanji was in a surprising calm, and Erwin, in his normal demeanor.
...
"So, what do you think that's all about?" Eren asked as he got the already cooking sweet potato out of its pot, jumping a little at the heat. Mikasa was holding Anastasia, who in turn was holding her bottle.
"it must have been that woman from the stationary guard." Mikasa said quietly
"what do you mean?" Eren asked curiously, peeling and mashing the small sweet potato, adding a little bit of butter and sugar as a treat.
"I think Armin can explain better than I can." Mikasa sighed, putting the baby in her high chair. Armin was in fact, listening in on the edge of the door to the conversation, along with the rest of the trainees. They could only hear soft mumbling, though, mere whispers from the conversation in the next room. From the bits of whispering Armin could make out, A member of the military police had had a stillborn baby. She had done a lot less work in 3d maneuver gear because her boyfriend,who was also her fellow soldier, would do her work on the walls for her. She still managed to help out, though, but thought she pushed herself too far the day before her due date. After 24 hours of labor, a silent baby was born. They had tried to revive it, but no matter what they did, it just wouldn't wake up. The autopsy report revealed that placental abruption was to blame.
Eren looked over to Mikasa, who had been sick the past few weeks, causing her to lose a lot of weight mainly because she refused bed rest, and couldn't keep anything down. Now, she at least had the color back in her face. She was sitting in front of Anastasia in her high chair with the bowl of sweet potatoes In front of her.
"Here comes the birdie!" she smiled, putting the spoon into the baby's mouth. Eren laughed a little when he noticed Anastasia attempting to use her bib to wipe off some sweet potato off of her cheek. She grabbed the small pink headband that Petra had styled what the baby had for hair with.
"Now, now... we don't want to mess up that hair, now do we?" She smiled. Reluctantly, Anastasia stopped fidgeting, and giggled a little.
"Hey, Mikasa..." Eren walked over
"what is it, Eren?" she asked
Eren frowned. He was concerned at how skinny she was still, it was becoming dangerous.
"How about you take my morning rations?" he asked
"I'm fine. I've already had breakfast." Mikasa said, giving Anastasia another bite.
"Please, Mikasa."
"Eren. You need the food more than me." He took serving of bread off of the counter
"Well, I guess since I'm not hungry, and Anastasia still needs a teething toy... maybe she can just chew on this bread." Eren put the small loaf on the high chair between the baby and Mikasa. Anastasia picked it up with both hands, and stuffed it into Mikasa's mouth. She was unaware of the situation going on, she just sort of did it as a way to say
"Does this look like baby food? You eat it."
Mikasa looked over at Eren, and reluctantly started eating the bread. Anastasia smiled, satisfied at her deed, and Eren gently patted her on the head.
"thanks, kiddo." He whispered, and winked at her. Mikasa looked over at Eren, irritated at him. Suddenly, a loud crash was heard
"TU VEUX ENVOYER MA FEMME ET MA FILLE AU QUARTIER SOUTERRAIN DE MUR DE SINA? » Levi shouted. Anastasia started crying in fear of the loud noises. Where was Mommy? Why was Daddy yelling? Mikasa picked her up out of her high chair, and tried calming her down. The yelling got louder and louder, though. After about a minute of arguing with Erwin in French, he heard the cries from the next room.
"Anastasia?" Petra immediately got up and walked over to the kitchen to see why their daughter was crying. Mikasa immediately handed the baby to her mother when she saw them come into the dining room.
"Petra... Did she just..." Levi quietly said. Petra nodded in response, hushing the baby. For some reason, however, she seemed to be inconsolable. Levi watched his wife trying to calm down the upset child. Calmly, he walked over to the two, and wrapped his arms around Petra.
"Anastasia..." he calmly called to her. Still, she wouldn't stop. She had never heard anyone yell so loudly, or seen anything so scary before. He had no choice. Levi took a deep breath, and did something he never thought he'd do before.
Tu es ma soleil
Ma seulement soleil
Je suis heureux quand le ciel es gris
Tu ne sais pas, ma chère
je t'adore beaucoup
s'il vous plait ma soleil ne prendre pas
he quietly sang the lullaby that his mother sang to him as a child (altering the grammar to fit a girl*). There were only three kinds of occasions during which Levi would speak French: planning top-secret battle strategies with Erwin, doing **ahem** private training exercises with Petra, and when he would get Anastasia to sleep or calm down. Of course, his lullabye worked like a charm, and Anastasia calmed down. She looked up at Levi, and smiled.
"D... d... d... da... da." She mumbled out
"what was that?" Levi asked
"Da...da..." Anastasia smiled, tugging on Levi's cravat. "Dada!" Levi looked at Petra, speechless.
"Th-... that's right, I'm Dada." Levi smiled, his eyes welling up with tears. Anastasia looked at Petra
"mmm... Ma... ma... Mama!" She smiled. Petra looked up, beaming
"Yes, Anastasia, Mama!" Petra said. Levi simply hugged the two for a little while, living in that moment. Their daughter's first words, coming at the most inconvenient time, as everything about her did.
"I wish we could somehow tell my parents!" Petra said. Levi stayed silent, smiling at his daughter's newest feat. At Petra's idea, however, he went silent. He thought. He needed to infiltrate the wall cult, or at least capture or interrogate one of its subjects. Petra's parents lived in a district where wall worship was heavy. If he could get some people over there in disguise, then it just might work.
"Petra Rivaille, you're a genius." He said quietly. Finally, he turned around, and asked
"does anyone know anything about makeup and wigs?"
...
The gate between wall Rose and the district in which Petra's parents lived opened slowly. A covered wagon holding some young people, and a couple with a teenage boy and a baby went in. this sight was not unusual. Orphaned children and young families would usually escape to outer districts to feed themselves. The people, however, seemed much less nourished, except the baby, who had more color in its cheeks than anyone else. It seemed to other people that the parents had spent most of their money feeding the child instead of taking care of eachother. The woman's hair was seemingly unkept and unusually short for a civillian's hair, but a distinct ginger blonde with grey dusting over it. The man's black hair had a similar grey dusting, and his chin was covered in stubble from a few days ago. Annoyed, he scratched at it, mumbling something about how dirty it was. The teenage boy was clean shaven, but the combination of ginger blonde hair and bright green eyes was different. People watched as the group got off of the cart, and within minutes, life returned to normal.
"hey, you three." A voice called out to Levi, Petra, and Eren. Levi calmly looked over, and three women approached them.
"What brings you to Trost?" one woman asked
"Well... we couldn't really afford to live in the interior." Petra blushed
"The same for my husband and I. I take it, you had to sell your hair, then?" the woman asked. Levi picked up on her suspiscion. He moved closer to Petra.
"Oh, umm.. I... I didn't expect anyone to bring that up... yes, I did. Anything to feed my little children." Petra giggled innocently. Before she joined the trainees, Petra was into theatre, and good at improve acting. Her specialty was undercover work, and she was even in the top ten because of it. This woman, however, was starting to try Levi's patience.
"oh, she's adorable! What's her name?" the woman smiled
"Her name is Isabel, and this is our son, Adam." Levi said as he stood next to Petra and Eren
"Exuse my husband. My husband's name is Demetri, and I'm Lilith." Petra made up names on the spot. Demetri was the name she had planned if Anastasia had been a boy, and Lilith was the name of her sister who had died
"My name's Eve. Well since you're new, would you all like to come to dinner tonight?" she asked
"We're fine, thank you. Besides, I'm sure we'll have plenty to eat for now." Levi said
"Oh, don't worry, my husband was able to get some extra money in from selling... special crops... to the interior." Eve explained. Petra looked at Levi. He definitely wasn't one to get involved with drug dealers, small-time or not. They had to play the pauper for a week or so before they can go into the woods to test the titan shifters' abilities. Levi glanced over to see Petra's face.
"... As long as we're not imposing." Levi said
"come to think of it, we do need to find my friend's house. Would you happen to know where the Ral family lives now?" Petra asked. Eve suddenly looked grim
"The Ral's?... I thought the news had hit wall Sina by now, let alone wall Rose." She said
"What happened?" Petra asked, concerned. Eve looked up
"Well, the wall cult was going around finding the families of those two members of the survey corps that had a baby. They found out the father's family was killed about twenty-five years ago..." she hesitated. Petra grew nervous. She started shaking a little in fear, her palms sweating.
"T-then w-..what happened to the Ral family? Mr. and Mrs Ral, and their two young sons?" Petra started feeling sick to her stomach.
"Oh, they were all killed. Said they didn't know anything. You don't tell the wall cult you don't know anything. Last I heard, they were found tied to chairs burned alive." Levi looked over at Petra, who stood there frozen in horror. Her face didn't show it, but he could tell. Her grip on Anastasia loosened. To be careful, Levi took her out of her mother's arms.
"Oh, wow. How terrible. I hope they're informed soon. Say, has their house been sold yet?" She asked casually.
"I don't believe so. I think it's abandoned. It says they left it to their daughter." Eve said
"Well, Demetri, I think we should pay our respects before we go." Petra said monotonously.
"Alright." Levi calmly said
"wait, didn't you just say you were moving into town?" Eve asked
"You see, the Rals were going to take us in, but we can go to my parents' home. It's in a different district, but we can manage the trip." Petra said as she started walking. Without a word, she started walking slowly towards her old home. Levi and Eren followed close behind, and the other cadets hid amongst the crowd, she looked down to the end of the street, and saw the house. Slowly, she started picking up speed. Step after step, she wanted to see if her parents and brothers were there. She reached the door. Her mother's white lilies were still in full bloom. The door was locked, and the spare key was under a flower pot. She unlocked the door.
"MOMMY? DADDY? LEN? GEORGE?" Petra ran inside. The kitchen was empty. It had been stripped of the pots, the pans, Petra's mother's china passed down from previous generations... every single thing had been stolen be her family's kidnappers. After a search throughout the house, it was proven. Every single heirloom, everything she had seen her mother dress up in; every dress, every tie of her fathers, every baby picture of Petra and her brothers ... it was all gone.
Petra remained silent for the entire trip back. She didn't look at any of the squad members, Levi, or even Anastasia. She was silent. It wasn't until she was alone in the bath with Levi that she started crying. They both had just finished cleaning the makeup off of their faces and washing the temporary dye out of their hair. Petra looked into Levi's beautiful blue eyes. He looked at her with regret. Regret that he couldn't protect her family. regret that he couldn't stop the wall cult. She looked into his eyes, and started sobbing softly, then gradually, her sobbing got heavier. Levi pulled her in close to him, and she started bawling in his arms. He didn't say a word. Remembering his own parents' death, he did what he wished someone else had done. He held her closer, stroked her hair, and just let her cry. They stayed like that for about an hour. Holding in all of that grief and letting it all out at once just killed Petra. Finally, when her long sobbing fit calmed down, and she ran out of tears to shed, she took a few deep breaths, and looked up at Levi.
"I-... I couldn't-."
"There was nothing you could have done." Levi said, smoothing out her hair again.
"I promise you though, I will kill every last one of them for you." He said sternly. Petra didn't like the idea of revenge, but her family had died a horrible, unjustified death. Silently, she nodded. They got out of the tub, dried off, and changed into pajamas. Sure enough, Eren was there in their room, keeping Anastasia company and making sure she was alright.
"Thank you Eren." Petra said.
"I gave her some mashed carrots for dinner, I hope that's alright." Eren said
"That's fine as long as you washed them first." Levi sighed.
"I did." Eren said as he left. Levi and Petra got into bed together. Levi holding Petra close again, feeling the softness of her flannel night gown.
"Your first mission since you had Anastasia's next week. You ready?" Levi asked in a hushed tone.
"I've been ready." Petra smiled at her husband, and snuggled up close to him.
...
Annie was lying in her prison cell. The only one awake as Eren came downstairs.
"Hey, Eren. Why do you get to see the baby and I don't?" she asked
"I don't know. I guess it's a trust thing, or maybe Captain just has faith in me." Eren said. That word. Faith... she remembered something. Her father said it.
"Annie. Have faith that you'll always be welcomed home." A familiar voice... Her father's voice...
That was when her memories came flooding back.
POST-CHAPTER AUTHOR'S NOTE: I cried writing this chapter... Now to finish an essay. If you guys like this story, the fanart contest is still going on. If you want to do it, simply draw anything you want pertaining to my story, and submit it to my tumblr. My url is currently .com
Ok, I hope to see some submissions :D