AN: I'm sorry that it's been so long. My holiday break was kind of... Crazy. In fact, I'm grateful I'm even alive to post this chapter *awkward laugh*. I put a lot of work into this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy it.
There are a few little fun references in this chapter like from Doctor Who and Welcome to Night Vale. Also, the song about dancing is Indila's song Dernière Danse (which that last word does sound a bit like dance.)
School is starting again and at least one of my courses (Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion) is going to be extremely time consuming apparently. I'm not sure how my French Culture and Civilization will be yet, so I'm not certain how often I'll be updating. Please be patient with me.
"There's no end to lengths I'll go to find her again. Upon this my dreams are depending. Through the dark, I sense the pounding of her heart." -Coldplay
Levi pulled his cloak tighter around himself as a sharp wind blew passed them. He silently debated asking Kiara to sing for him again. It would ease the boredom of riding through the white snowstorm and hopefully be distracting from the cold. Levi would probably never admit it aloud, but he had missed her singing during the years she had been mute.
Kiara had continued to play her lyre and the handpan Levi and Isabel had found on one of their missions, but it wasn't the same as hearing her smooth voice confidently singing words that he sometimes couldn't understand. Kiara had said that they were French or something that had to do with Danishes? He could never remember. Though, the strange words fell from her mouth only when she sang.
Levi sighed softly and decided to just ask Kiara to sing one of her French songs about dancing. He enjoyed that one.
"Where did Kiara go?" Nanaba asked from slightly ahead of him, breaking him out of his thoughts.
Levi froze on his horse. What? He whipped his head around. Kiara should have been right behind him, but there was no one there.
"Erwin!" he shouted, kicking his horse to move faster to catch up with his captain.
"What's wrong?" Erwin blinked, looking at Levi and then behind them. "Where's Kiara?"
"I don't fucking know! She was next to me before this storm started!" Levi snapped. "We have to find her!"
"Levi, if you break away from the formation now, you'll only end up lost. Maybe another group has found her. We'll meet up at the fortress. If she isn't there, then we'll figure out what to do from there." Erwin frowned. "Right now the best course of action is to stick together until this storm clears."
"What if she's freezing to death?!" Levi demanded, looking absolutely livid.
"Then, you'll only be joining her in death. You know she wouldn't want that. Trust me, Levi. We won't abandon her. We are just going to go about this smartly."
Levi was ready to protest, but he just grit his teeth and fell back to his original spot. Kiara had mentioned seeing a lot of white and searching for something in her dream last night... but she hadn't been scared. He had to hold onto that. Kiara would be fine. She had to be.
Fuck. Why had this happened right after they had finally begun their relationship?
"THE FUCK YOU MEAN MY SISTER IS MISSING?!" Kyori screamed at Erwin, grabbing his stupid string tie thing and dragging him down to her eye level -an impressive feat in itself given the man towered over Kyori by fifteen inches.
"Listen, Kyori, the snow storm is just starting to die down. We don't want you to get lost, too. We need to discuss our options with Commander Shadis," Erwin tried reasoning, already certain that it was hopeless. He had seen how headstrong the young woman could be.
"No! Fuck you and your stupid logic and your ridiculous tie! She could die before you assholes get around to helping her! I'm going to go find my fucking sister and I will kill anyone who tries to stop me!" she snapped, shoving him away from her with all her power and making him stumble just slightly- another impressive feat considering Erwin was built heavily with muscle and Kyori's frame was so slight.
Warnings about insubordination died on Erwin's lips as Kyori stormed off, knowing she wouldn't listen. He had to admit, he liked watching her leave. Kyori had a nice sway in her hips when she was pissed. Erwin sighed, remembering Kyori was apparently only interested in women, and rolled his eyes. "Someone find Hange! Get her to stop Kyori. She's going to get herself killed if she goes out alone."
Nanaba rushed to obey the command, looking for the androgynous scout. When she finally found Hange, the brunette was arguing with Moblit about something that had to do with flat boards.
"Captain Hange! Kyori is trying to search for her sister!" Nanaba reported quickly and inefficiently.
"What? Where's Kiara?" Hange looked up from her chest.
"She went missing about two hours before we reached the fortress. We think the snow storm caused her to lose her way."
"Kyori's going to try to find her? Good luck stopping her," Hange snorted, shaking her head.
"Captain Hange! Kyori could end up lost too! She's in your squad! You need to stop her!" Nanaba frowned. "Moblit, please, do something!"
Moblit gave a long suffering sigh and grabbed Hange's arm, dragging the woman through the fortress towards the stables where Kyori would most likely be headed. Even if she wasn't, they would need horses to catch up with her. "Honestly, keeping you and Kyori out of trouble is a full time job. Do either of you know what self preservation is?" he asked wearily as they ran.
"Nope!" Hange cackled, now running of her own free will. She was fast on her feet.
Moblit only groaned in response and ran to keep up with Hange.
"You don't think my little ball of rage is actually going to go out searching for Kiara alone, do you?" Hange asked, growing a little nervous. She absolutely adored Kyori and the way the younger woman could work with her and still seemed to like her even when Hange wasn't paying attention to her.
"That's not even a question. The twins are really close. I would be surprised if Kyori didn't go out searching." Moblit ran harder to match Hange's increased speed.
Hange cursed under her breath. She needed to find Kyori before she left. At the very least they could put together a rescue squad so their chances would be higher. "Speaking of, where's Levi? Shouldn't he be freaking out about now, too?"
"I haven't seen him." Moblit frowned as they burst outside, looking for crimson in white surrounding them.
"Fuck. The titans are still active too. Maybe not as active as during summer, but still... Kyori could die out there from more than just the cold." Hange yanked her fur lined hood up.
"Did you find her?" Nanaba asked breathlessly as she and Mike joined them.
"No. We might need to organize two rescue parties." Moblit reported. "I would advise three to four man teams. Hange, Lynne, Luke, and I will make one team. Tell Erwin that it's advisable to take you two and Dita. Since the weather has calmed down we can use flairs. Yellow means we found someone. Black means there's an emergency."
Hange blinked at Moblit, but shrugged. The plan was sound enough for her. "What he said. Go inform Erwin and Shadis of the plan. Moblit and I are going to find Lynne and Luke and take off first."
Kyori had raced out of the fortress on foot long before Nanaba had reached Hange. She didn't question where Levi was -she didn't have to. Levi hadn't shown up with Erwin's squad. That could only mean she wasn't the only one searching for her sister.
Kyori was glad for all the times she had worked on running with her sister. She was still fast. Fast enough to keep pace with the horses so long as they were trotting. She contributed that to the damn injection she received as a baby.
She used it to her advantage now. Kyori would be damned before she let her sister die. Her small body ran through the packed snow expertly, ignoring the way the cold seemed to suck the air from her lungs -or maybe it was her panic from losing her sister that made her breath freeze in her chest.
For the first time, Kyori was grateful for being forced to train naked out in the cold every winter for nearly eight years. She could hardly feel the cold air around her. In fact, in all of her warm scouting gear, she felt hot. Dimly, she made a mental note to wrap her sister in her cloak when she found her.
She blinked as she saw a form approaching her from the distance. A frown formed on her lips. It wasn't a titan or a human. It was a horse without a rider. Kyori ran towards it, praying it belonged to her sister.
"Whoa," Kyori said, holding up her hands as she met the horse. It was Kiara's alright. Kyori remembered the white markings on the blond fur. "Where's your rider?"
The horse cocked an ear and seemed to glance behind him as if answering her question or wondering how his rider had appeared before him. Kyori let him sniff her hand and offered him an apple from her bag quickly. The horse ate it greedily.
"Do you think you can bring me back the way you came? I need to find my sister," Kyori explained urgently. Isabel had always insisted that horses could understand them... Kyori hoped that was true now.
The horse seemed to resign itself and Kyori quickly climbed on. She steered the horse back in the direction he had come. She spurred him into a gallop, desperate to find Kiara.
Levi hadn't been able to just sit idly by on his horse. Despite trying to trust his captain to know what was best and to believe in Erwin's words of wisdom, he couldn't just abandon Kiara. As soon as no one was looking, he broke away from the group, using the snow storm to cover him.
He had no way of knowing for sure which way Kiara went, but Kiara had been to his right. He doubted he would have missed her passing him, so he started riding back the way they had come, veering slightly right. He avoided the other squads, not wanting to be stopped.
He kept riding, cursing the cold. He didn't understand how Kiara had been able to train in just shorts and tank top up until last week. She had claimed that constant hard exercise was ample to keep her warm... But she was on a horse. She was probably just as cold as he was.
He sighed irritably as he reached a forest. He would only get lost here. Shit. Taking a steadying breath that hurt his lungs, Levi dismounted from his horse and started on foot, leading his horse by hand.
Searching for any signs of hoof prints, he started walking quickly along the line of trees. He was certain that Kiara had somehow made it to this forest. He just had to figure out where she had entered it from.
Kiara jerked awake as she felt something large and hot wrap around her. She didn't even remember falling asleep.
"What-t the actual fuck-k!?" she screamed, fighting against the hand squeezing her. "Shit! N-Not again!"
Kiara looked up at the titan holding her. She, because it was clearly a female, had chin length blonde hair and blue eyes... Blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence. "You.. You aren't like m-most t-titans are you?"
The titan blinked as Kiara tilted her head. She was so cold that she didn't care if she was eaten at this point. She couldn't even feel her body trembling. The titan's hand was warming her though. "C-Can you sp-speak? I mean I'm n-not eager t-to be eat-t-ten, not-t that I want-t hypothermia either."
The titan shook her head.
"At least-t you s-seem to understand m-me. I'm K-Kiara. No sur-surname that I know of-f."
The titan continued to eye her with confusion, bringing her to her face to study the redhead. Kiara rested her elbow on the titan's hand, cupping her chin as she relaxed. She was nervous being held like this, but she was too cold and tired to give a shit if she died. Even if the titan didn't eat her, she was certain she would die from the cold. At least the titan's hand was hot on her cold body.
"So, since you're c-clearly an intelligent-t t-titan, wh-where do we g-g-g-go from here?" she asked through chattering teeth.
This seemed to spurn the titan into action. Suddenly the titan was running with Kiara, holding her tightly in her hand. Kiara groaned, the movement making her nauseated, but only clung to the titan's thumb. She didn't feel like she was in any immediate danger, except from passing out.
Kyori didn't take long to find the spot her sister had been, at least if the horse had led her to the right spot. She could clearly see marks from Kiara's boots in a nearby tree, so she assumed it was.
Kyori immediately used her 3DMG to scale the tree and frowned. Her sister was nowhere to be seen. "Kiara? Where are you?!" Kyori cried out as loudly as she could.
She froze as her gaze fell downwards to the snow. There were clearly titan footprints leading west. Kyori cursed under her breath and dropped to the ground. There was no blood... Not even a sign of a struggle.
Kyori hopped back on her steed and galloped after the footprints. They weren't very fresh, but they were a start. She refused to acknowledge that her sister might have been eaten.
Levi growled low in his throat when he reached the northern edge of the forest without any sign of Kiara. He must have missed any signs of her or she must have entered further south. Shit. He should have kept his eyes on her.
He turned himself and his horse around, storming through the snow. He kept his eyes peeled for any sign of a disturbance in the foliage or snow, urgently trying to find his lover.
Erwin sighed from on top of his horse. He had only known Levi and Kiara for half a year, but he liked them. They were in his squad. He cared about them. It was why he let them sleep together against protocol. It was why he let Levi into his office to warm up after training outside in the cold nearly every day.
It was why his eyes were peeled now, searching for any trace of them in the white landscape surrounding his impromptu rescue squad.
"Mike, can you smell anything?" he asked, growing frustrated. They had reached the place they had estimated Kiara had veered off course, but the snow had completely covered any tracks.
"You think I can sniff them out?" Mike raised an eyebrow, but sniffing the air anyways. "I'm pretty sure that the wind blew their scents away."
"Keep trying, please. We might get lucky." Erwin sighed again, ignoring Mike's comment that he wasn't a bloodhound and observing his surroundings. There was little chance the redhead had gotten turned around enough to head north to Wall Maria again.
Their formation had had Kiara to Levi's right, bringing up the rear. She was supposed to be two horse lengths behind Levi... Erwin narrowed his eyes. He knew that wasn't likely to be the case. The woman was still skittish on a horse. In training, she usually stuck to Levi's side. It was unlikely that Kiara had done as she was told today. She had probably been no further than five feet from Levi. If Kiara had strayed east, she would have likely run straight into Levi.
That left south and west. Going directly west without it being intentional was unlikely. She would have had to turn and follow a straight path... but she wasn't at the fortress that was south of here...
Erwin looked to his left, his eyes scanning the western horizon. He could barely make out a forest spanning it. It would be easy to get lost there...
"We're going to make for that forest going southwest," he instructed.
"Kyori! Little ball of rage!" Hange called like she had been for an hour. Her voice was hoarse from shouting and she had already attracted two titans to them that Lynne and Luke had taken care of.
"Captain Hange, you aren't going to find her by screaming. You're just attracting titans," Moblit chastised her.
"How can I not scream?!" Hange yelled, tears seeping slowly out from behind her goggles. "Kyori is gone!"
"You've lost plenty of friends and squad members before! Keep your head!"
"I love her! This isn't just like losing a friend, dammit!" Hange snapped, making Moblit roll his eyes. It was pretty obvious Hange was attracted Kyori, but he had a feeling that Hange was just speaking in the moment.
"Either way, you won't find her if we keep getting slowed down by titans," Luke pointed out, trying to help Moblit prove his point.
"Hey, I found someone!" Lynne shouted from ahead of them, already shooting a yellow flare into the sky.
They had been following Kyori's footprints along the tree line. A while ago, the footprints had changed to hoof prints, indicating she had found a horse to ride.
Hange's head snapped up as she spurred her horse faster. She jumped right off it and tackled Levi to the ground. "Shorty! Have you seen Kyori?!" she demanded, pinning him to the ground.
"What the fuck?! Get off me, shitty four eyes!" Levi snapped, feeling snow soak into his hair.
"Have you seen her?" Hange persisted, tears fogging her glasses.
"No! What the hell?! You can't even keep track of Kyori now?! I thought only Kiara was missing!" Levi kicked Hange off of him and stood up quickly.
"When Kyori found out Kiara was missing, she took off," Moblit explained, dropping on the snow next to Hange as Luke chased down her horse. He helped Hange to her feet, frowning faintly.
"And what are you guys doing out here? Rescue?" Levi sneered. His worry over Kiara, and now Kyori, was making him pissy.
"That's exactly what we are." Erwin's squad came up to them quickly, all looking cold and irritated.
Levi glanced up at Erwin in irritation, folding his arms. "I'm not apologizing for trying to find her."
"I don't expect you to, but you and Kyori are both being punished for insubordination. Shadis is pissed." Erwin frowned, dismounting and placing his hand on Levi's shoulder.
"Tch. I don't care. Help me find them, Erwin." Levi glared up at him.
"We are going to. We'll do everything we can to recover Kiara and Kyori."
Mike frowned and looked around, sniffing the air. "Captain..."
"What is it?" Erwin turned to look at his lieutenant.
"I... think I caught Kiara's scent," he murmured, "It's really faint and... it's mixed with a titan's."
Everyone froze at those words, looking over at the tall blond man. Kiara's scent was mixed with a titan's... before anyone could say anything else, Levi grabbed Mike's cloak roughly.
"Where?" he hissed, glowering up at him.
Mike snorted and removed Levi's hands. "Not far. Watch yourself. You only get in more trouble."
Levi glared and stepped away. Logically, he knew that Mike had said those words for his benefit, but he didn't care if he got in trouble. He just wanted to find the last of his family.
Mike nodded once when he saw Levi attempting to control himself and led the way into the foliage, tuning Hange's ranting out like he always did.
"Here. She climbed up this tree," Nanaba said, pointing out the scuff marks from Kiara's boots.
"I smell someone else too. Their scent is stronger. Maybe Kyori." Mike frowned. There was hardly anyone else it could be.
Hange blinked, taking off her goggles and cleaning them. "Kyori was through here?"
"These were probably her tracks," Lynne pointed to a set of hoof prints leading farther west. "Why would she go that way?"
Dita, who had followed Levi up the tree, answered in a grim voice. "Because there are titan tracks going west."
"There's no sign of a struggle or any blood. If a titan had engaged with Kiara or Kyori, wouldn't we have seen something?" Luke asked, frowning.
"I'm not sure," Hange murmured and took a step forward, surveying the area now that she had calmed down. "It could have swallowed her whole. Kiara's been missing for nearly four hours now. In this cold, she could have been too weak to fight. She might have even caught hypothermia and fallen asleep... There wouldn't be much struggle then..."
Levi shot Hange death glare and kept looking down from the branch he was perched on. It was devoid of any snow in a shape that seemed to indicate someone had sat there for a while.
"I doubt it..." Dita frowned, looking down at the tracks. "Look at the way the tracks are spaced out. The titan ran away. There's a chance Kiara escaped and it chased her or it ran with Kiara."
"Is there really? Even for an abnormal it would be unusual for it to just run away with her." Hange looked up confused.
"Maybe Kiara or Kyori ran away with a horse and the titan chased them?" Nanaba suggested.
"No, the tracks from the horse are fresher than the titan's," Erwin interjected, examining the tracks.
Levi frowned, leaping over to the closest tree west of him. There were no signs of anything having disturbed the snow. Kiara would have ran from tree to tree in an attempt to escape. Unless she climbed higher in the first tree.. But he hadn't seen any sign of her boots going any farther up than twenty meters. It was unlikely that she had made it up farther without leaving any evidence behind... Levi swallowed and let himself drop to the ground.
"Levi... I'm sorry, but the only logical conclusion I can draw from the evidence is Kiara was taken out of the tree by the titan. She didn't put up a struggle because she was too cold. The titan swallowed her whole. Kyori figured this out or saw it and chased after the titan on horseback," Erwin murmured, putting his hand on Levi's shoulder.
"I think it would be more of Kyori figured it out and chased after the titan... But why would the titan run?" Hange bit her lip. "That makes no sense unless there were more humans over there..."
"The best we can do is follow the tra-" Erwin started.
"Kiara. Is. Not. Dead." Levi's voice was quiet and oddly calm.
"Levi..." Erwin sighed. "The most we can do is track the titan and the horse. Kiara may be alive, but you need to prepare for the worst. We can only follow the tracks for a few miles. Then, we have to turn back."
Levi grit his teeth and glared up at Erwin. He knew Kiara wasn't dead. It wasn't possible. He would have felt it if she wasn't in this world anymore.
Kyori raced after the tracks of the titan she was hunting. She couldn't see the titan through the forest she was galloping through, but she was going to get revenge if the titan had killed her sister. Her twin was alive though. She had to be. Kyori would know if her twin was dead.
She was so focused on chasing the titan, she flinched when she heard a loud crashing noise from her left. Her horse reared up skittishly, but Kyori clung to the animal. "Hey, calm down. We need to keep going!" she told the horse sternly.
The horse wasn't impressed by her and quickly tried bucking his rider off as a huge titan with strange armor-like skin crashed through the trees. Kyori lost her balance this time, but didn't care. She was already shooting her hooks into the nearest tree and pulling herself to it.
Kyori swung herself around the titan, feet barely skimming the snow on the ground as she retracted her hooks. She shot one out again, aiming for the titan's shoulder where she landed lightly.
"Sorry. I hate to do this because your skin is definitely interesting and worth studying, but I don't have time for you. I need to find my sister," Kyori growled, drawing her swords and jumping into the air.
She twisted through the air as she came down in a fit of fury, her blades running through the titan's neck... Or at least that was the plan. Her blades broke on contact with the hardened skin of the titan. She felt a sharp stinging on her arms and face, but ignored it.
The titan seemed to sigh as it let out a steaming breath and reached behind it, grabbing for Kyori with a growl.
"What the fuck?!" Kyori narrowly dodged its hand, trying to figure out just why her swords had broken without leaving so much as a scratch on the titan.
Growing more irritated, the redhead put away her triggers and pulled out her sai instead. She quickly elongated the twin blades and slammed them into the titan's hard nape, only to have her sai shatter. She felt the force of the impact shake her arms painfully.
"That's... Not possible..." Kyori gaped at her aching hands and arms, narrowly avoiding the titan's other hand. Her blades had been made of the strongest metal and were unbreakable.. Until now. They were her prized possessions next to her ocarina and a guitar Farlan and Isabel had given her before her eighteenth birthday.
"How in the fuck am I supposed to kill you? Acid?" the redhead demanded hotly, swinging around to the front of the titan's face and glowering at it as if it had personally offended her with its hard skin.
To her surprise, the titan shrugged. It stunned the young woman into silence. When the titan reached out this time, it captured her in its fist. Kyori frowned and struggled against the hold, growing pissed. "Hey, if you can understand me, put me the fuck down," she ordered, slamming her fist into the titan's thumb angrily.
The titan shook its head, seeming to sigh again. Kyori blinked, staring up at it open mouthed for a long moment. "So... you can understand me."
The titan nodded and Kyori realized that while it was holding her firmly, it wasn't doing her harm. "Are you about to eat me?" she asked wearily. "I don't fancy the idea of being eaten, but as far as deaths go, I guess it has an element of symmetry. Going feet first down a slimy tunnel does anyways..."
Despite her babbling, the titan was shaking its head. "Okay... So, that's good... Have you seen my sister? She looks exactly like me only with shorter hair probably in a braid."
The titan stared at her for a moment before sighing again. It nodded, looking as weary as a titan could look. "Where?! Can you bring me to her? Is she alive?" Kyori demanded, brushing blood out of her eyes.
The titan rolled its eyes, literally rolled its eyes, and tapped Kyori on the head hard enough to knock the woman out.
Kiara groaned as she woke up again, immediately sitting up from where she was lying on a cold dank floor. The first thing she noticed was that she couldn't see. The second was that she couldn't move her arms. At least she wasn't freezing anymore.
"Ah, you're awake," a sympathetic male voice said. Kiara felt someone kneeling in front of her, helping her to sit up properly.
"Why the blindfold and binds?" Kiara asked dryly, testing the metal bonds gingerly. They weren't coming off anytime soon.
"A safety precaution. We can't have you escaping and giving enemies information if you're not favorable to our mission."
"Then, why keep me alive?"
The man seemed to hesitate and Kiara tilted her chin up in defiance, challenging him.
"You are Kiara Saxon, right?" the man asked slowly. "You look like the girl I met."
"I'm Kiara. I have no surname." Kiara frowned.
"You have a twin sister, yes?"
Kiara blinked against her blindfold. "Yes. Kyori... What the hell? How do you know about us?"
"I met you once when I was eight. You and your sister were four. I remember the catalyst accelerating you both. I was supposed to receive it too, but after the first success, the laboratory was attacked by Elyian terrorists. Nothing, including the scientists, was saved from that fire."
"I... I really don't know what you're talking about." Kiara swallowed nervously. She couldn't think properly. "Why do you need us?"
"Did you get amnesia or something?" the man demanded, sounding irritated.
"Actually... yes." Kiara tilted her head. "I don't remember anything from before coming.. here," she said carefully, blocking out her memories of the past eight years. She had a terrible feeling about the man. She didn't want him to know anything and her lying hadn't improved much.
Kiara frowned when the sound of a cell door being opened echoed around her.
"Sir, we found the other twin. I had to knock her out. She was irritating me." A new voice said as there was a soft thumping noise next to Kiara.
Kiara immediately started struggling to get closer to the noise, hoping her sister was okay. She could feel in her heart that the noise she had heard had been her sister's body falling to the ground.
"She's still alive. The catalyst won't let you two die so easily," the first voice muttered. "Good thinking to try searching for the other twin."
"I figured they would be close together. They're supposed to be helping us infiltrate these walls, right?" The second voice sounded like a child's voice almost. A male child nearing puberty probably, Kiara reasoned, trying to collect herself.
"Yes. I'm positive that these are the Saxon twins. They look just like their mother, Sayuri... Just as small and deadly too. There is no way this is a mistake. They even have red hair like Harry." The man seemed to sigh. "However, this one claims she has amnesia. I still don't know if I believe her or not."
"Walls keep us safe," Kiara cursed, finally settling down as she felt her leg bump into Kyori's foot. "I am not lying! I don't know who you are or what you're talking about!"
"Sir, are we sure that they didn't go native?" A bored female voice asked.
"That's a very good possibility... You will all have to be careful about that after the plan. Also, be careful of giving anything of yourselves away. I doubt they will escape from their shackles and cell, but just in case they do, we can't risk the mission being jeopardized because they recognized you."
Kiara glowered through her blindfold. She would escape with Kyori, but it was clearly going to be difficult getting information to relay to Shadis. She gingerly tested the metal shackles holding her hands behind her back. They were tight enough that Kiara was certain that she wouldn't escape them even if she broke her thumbs and had hot oil. Her legs were shackled together too. Neither gave much room for leeway. She had no idea how long it would take to escape.
"All of you, go get a meal prepared. You're on the front lines, so stay out of here. If they escape before we turn them back to our side and recognize you, we'll be screwed royally." The man seemed to doubt his ability to hold on to the twins at least... but that was just going to make it harder to slip past his defenses. Kiara sighed in annoyance.
There was the sound of a several pairs of feet leaving and then the clanging sound of a cell door being closed. After a long moment, the man spoke again.
"Listen, you may have amnesia. You may not. You were on our side though before you were set on this mission."
Kiara frowned, shaking her head. "I would never betray the people living in the walls. I don't care about your reasoning or anything. It's not moral."
"What has your family ever known about morals?" The man snorted. "We have every reason to believe that you two killed your parents. Not mention I've seen your parents punishing you. Fucking perverted freaks."
Kiara frowned, looking affronted. She was more certain than ever that this man had them mixed up with another pair of sisters. There was no way that they had killed their own parents and she doubted that her parents would have harmed her in a perverted way... but you can't remember before you came to the walls, a voice whispered in her head, Kyori took your memories... and probably for a good reason.
"We... didn't kill our parents," Kiara growled.
"How would you know?" Kiara felt the man's breath on her face as he whispered softly.
"Because she didn't kill anyone. I did." Kyori's voice came from Kiara's left sounding livid and groggy.
"What?" Kiara turned her head in the direction of her sister's voice.
"So you admit to the murder of two people." The man's voice sounded amused and slightly triumphant.
"I admit to defending myself and my sister from sexual abuse," Kyori hissed. "I was ten."
"Ten and capable of murder. Those freaks really raised twisted children."
"Kyori... What is he talking about? What's going on?" Kiara frowned, feeling sick at the direction the conversation was going. "And you, don't you fucking dare call my sister or me twisted or I'll cut your balls off."
There was a pregnant pause, making Kiara shift uncomfortably. "Kyori... What happened before I can remember?" Kiara tried again, her eyebrows furrowing.
"You don't want to know. All of it was my fault and you don't need to know about it." Kiara heard her sister sit up. "I am guessing you want us alive. Get us some fucking water. We're going to become dehydrated soon."
"For now, it's in the best interest to the cause to keep you alive and get you on our side." The man hummed softly. "So, this time, I will abide by your request. It will do you good to figure out you can't escape in any case."
The man stood up and soon enough, they heard the cell open and close. Kyori wasted no time in removing her blindfold by using Kiara's shoulder to push it over her eyes.
Kiara blinked as she felt her sister's mouth on her temple, teeth closing over the fabric covering her eyes. Kyori tugged the fabric off swiftly. The two sisters carefully looked each other over silently, making sure neither was injured. Kyori had several deep lacerations, but they were already stitched up. Other than that, they appeared to be unharmed.
"Kiara... I'm sorry for this, but I can't let you remember anything while we're here. I'll let all of your memories go once we escape, but these people are going to try everything they can to get information out of us." Kyori spoke in a hushed whisper.
"Wait! Kyori, I don't want to lose them again! Please!" Kiara looked horrified as she pleaded with her sister.
"Kiara, don't be a damn child right now! I'll return them as soon as we escape! It's dangerous! Do you want to risk it?!" Kyori hissed.
"Risk what?!" Kiara glared at her sister, her heart pounding in her chest.
"Giving them information," Kyori responded softly, "and getting everyone killed."
"But..."
"There's no time, Kiara. Trust me." Kyori scowled, not looking very trustworthy.
Kiara hesitated, feeling her heart break. "Don't let me do anything to hurt them?" she asked, biting her lip. She wouldn't be able to bear it if she hurt Levi or jeopardized any of the scouts... but was forgetting them really the best choice?
"I promise," Kyori murmured. She pressed their foreheads together and focused on sealing all of her sister's memories. Every. Single. One.
"Oh god." Lynne murmured, riding at the front of the group. She drew her horse to a halt and climbed down.
"What is it?" Levi snapped, rushing forward. His stomach dropped. Only a couple miles from where they had first spotted the prints were clear signs of a struggle. Blood splattered in the snow. Signs on a tree where someone had used their 3DMG. A dead horse... Kiara's horse. Levi recognized it. It had been stepped on.
He climbed off his horse and wandered over to the dead animal. The last of his family was gone. He couldn't believe it.
Hange drew up beside him, her hands coming up to cover her mouth as she surveyed the scene. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.
"They're dead," Erwin's voice was calm and collected, but he was clearly upset. Levi wasn't sure if he was upset over losing two assets to the corps or because they had lost Kiara and Kyori as people.
"We don't know that yet," Nanaba spoke up, surprising everyone. "It's only blood... It's not like there is body parts or something."
The argument sounded weak, even to Levi. There was blood everywhere... while he trusted Kyori and Kiara were strong enough to deal with titans, there were so many variables and the evidence was right before him.
He still couldn't believe it. He loved Kyori. He was in love with Kiara. He should have known if they were gone. He had felt his heart being torn out when he watched Farlan die and when he found Isabel's head... but was that just because he had seen it with his own eyes?
"Levi, we can't risk going farther. It's going to be dark soon and colder. We have to head back." Erwin sighed heavily, preparing for a battle with shorter man.
To his surprise, it wasn't Levi that kicked up a fuss. Levi was too stunned to fight at all. He was lost in his own thoughts.
"We can't just abandon them!" Hange shouted, rounding on Erwin furiously. "What if they are alive! Kyori is in my squad... I won't just leave her behind!"
"Hange," Moblit grabbed her arm, "Kyori wouldn't want us to search for her at the risk of losing more squad members. We don't even know if she is alive or dead. We need to get back before someone freezes to death."
Hange glared up at him, pushing her goggles up to her hair to prevent her tears from fogging them. "But what if she's alive?! I can't just abandon her!"
"Captain Hange Zoë! You need to calm down!" Moblit ordered, folding her in his arms to comfort her. "We can't risk going farther. We'll go back. If we get clearance, we can try finding them tomorrow. For now, we need to go back."
Hange struggled against Moblit's hold for a moment before slumping against him, biting her lip to keep from crying aloud. She had to be more composed than this. She had a squad to lead.
"Levi," Erwin said gently once Hange had calmed down. "You're going to need to be cuffed. You disobeyed direct orders. Shadis is planning on punishing you already."
Levi shot Erwin a dark look, his steely eyes narrowed. "I need to keep searching."
"You can continue your search next time we leave the walls. I'm sorry, but that's the best I can do and that is if Shadis decides going west will benefit us." Erwin sighed, not wanting to fight with Levi. "If you cooperate now, you might even get clearance to look tomorrow. I'll try to talk to Shadis."
Levi glowered, clearly not happy with Erwin, but after a moment, he held his arms out to be cuffed together. "How am I supposed to ride like this?"
"You'll ride in front of Mike." Erwin sighed, enclosing Levi's wrists in cold metal that bit into his skin. Levi rolled his eyes and allowed Erwin to help him up onto Mike's horse. He couldn't have climbed the horse by himself with his hands bound tightly together like this.
"I'm trusting you, Eyebrows. Help me find them tomorrow on the ride home." Levi glared down at his captain, daring him to argue.
"I'll do everything I can, Levi."
AN: As a last note, I have a head canon that the setting for SNK takes place on an island between Denmark and Germany. Mostly because of all the German names and the recent chapters where they finally get to the goddamn basement. So, Kiara and Kyori are originally from Denmark and were taught a few languages because who the hell knows for sure what the people in the walls speak? They travelled from Germany to the walls. I might show more of their childhood later. I'm not sure yet. If you have a comment or suggestion, feel free to leave one! I live off feedback.