{Chapter Twenty-Eight: Reaper}
Theresa was quiet as she scrubbed the windows, hanging from her 3DMG on the wall.
She, Connie and Sasha were scrubbing the windows, inside and out. Below Theresa was Bertolt and Jean, weeding and sweeping the courtyard. Krista and Ymir were taking care of the stables. Eren was supposed to be cleaning the attic. Theresa didn't know where Mikasa, Reiner or Armin were or what Levi had them doing.
The captain had taken over the schedule for the day. So right now everyone was cleaning, and they had training afterwards. And then after lunch was more training, reviewing the expedition that would happen shortly after Ghoul returned, more training, last-minute cleaning, supper and then bedtime. Normally Theresa would've whined about the schedule, but she was too busy thinking.
Thinking about what, she'd lost track. Her mind had wandered from thing to thing, subject to subject, until she was little more than a lost traveler.
Green eyes blinked slowly.
The window she was on looked clean to her, but knowing Levi, he'd have her do it ten more times before he agreed.
The amber-blonde sighed. Resting her feet against the wall and leaning back, she held everything between her knees while taking off her jacket. If she dropped anything, it would mean that much more work, but the sun was angled directly on her and she was wearing that heavy heat-absorbing jacket. She needed to take it off and tie it around her waist for a minute.
Miraculously, she didn't drop anything. She normally wouldn't have found this so surprising, except that she was out of it today.
Theresa sighed again.
When she had been just a little girl, she had always wanted to be a seamstress, or run a flower-shoppe. Everyone had said that she had too much energy for that. And now she was a soldier... what next? She'd been a child, a savage, a soldier, a noble-lady, and a soldier again. What could she be next? Perhaps she'd become a savage again, steal Ghoul from the MPs and become a fugitive of justice. They'd run away outside the walls, to the ocean. They'd find an underwater grotto, like the ones Ghoul always told her about, and live there, where the Titans couldn't reach. Perhaps that was next.
She blinked, realizing that the window she was cleaning might as well have been a mirror now.
With a dry chuckle, Theresa slid the window open, deactivated her gear, and slithered inside to start on the inside of the window. The room was cleaned already— spotless. It smelled of soap and aftershave, leading Theresa to the assumption that Mike had cleaned it. He had always smelt like too much aftershave to her, but perhaps it was just that his cologne didn't sit right with her tastes.
Carefully putting everything down so she didn't recreate any messes, Theresa began scrubbing at the window-panes.
Mike's sense of smell was good, she heard. She had yet to actually get to know him, but he seemed like a rather easy-going guy. How good was his sense of smell, she wondered? Could he tell people apart just by using his nose? If that was the case, and the rogue Titan-shifters were part of the military, couldn't the Scouts employ him to sniff them out, or would the Titan-scent drown out the people-scent? Theresa knew that Ghoul's senses were sharp, but Mike seemed to beat him in the scenting-area if what everyone said was true...
Speaking of Ghoul, how was he doing?
Theresa's hand went to the locket around her neck in a manner almost identical to Ghoul. She stopped rubbing at the window, the pad of her thumb swiping back and forth over the locket's feathers. She knew that Ghoul had trusted Eren with his knife... The shifter had tried to give it to her, but she'd refused. Ghoul had given it to Eren, and with Eren it would remain until the outsider came to retrieve it.
... If he didn't, then the emerald-eyed brunette was to throw the dragon-hilted blade into the ocean when he broke free of the walls...
Theresa sighed again, going back to scrubbing at the window.
The foam of the soap-bubbles in the bucket made her think of how Ghoul had once described the ocean during a storm. He said the water went from calm blue to steely gray in the blink of an eye, the wind whipping up huge waves and driving them against the shore, the water frothing and foaming. How like the foam in her bucket were the stormy, froth-tipped waves of the ocean? Chances were not a lot, but it was all she had for comparison until she saw it herself.
"There," she muttered, "No longer a window, but a mirror."
Satisfied with that, she opened the widow back up and scaled the wall to the next window— the large stained glass one that you only saw out of if you were in the attic. Peeking through the colored glass, she saw Eren swiping cobwebs out of a corner. Grinning, Theresa rapped sharply on the glass.
Eren very audibly yelped, even with the glass between them, dropping his duster and whirling around. His head snapped to and fro for a minute before he spotted Theresa hooting outside the huge circular window. Picking the duster up, he scowled and brandished it at her.
Theresa watched through a pale lavender glass as Eren went back to work. The glass was bubbly and somewhat swirled, contorting the purpled world behind it. Stretching her neck up a centimeter, she was now peering through a green glass. This one was less textured than the purple below it. It colored the world in mellow green that made Theresa think of summer. And it suited Eren, with his green eyes and dark brown hair.
What color was she, Theresa wondered as she began scrubbing the window, meticulously cleaning each little glass panel. Was she green? Yellow? Something else?
As she came to a rather large piece of blue, she pictured Ghoul behind it. Yes, a deep blue like this was his type of color. Blues, purples and shades of black. Of course, she already knew that...
Behind the window, Levi had come into the attic. He was looking about the room and talking to Eren. The Titan-shifter looked a little dejected, making Theresa guess that he was saying to do it over again.
Of course, she was looking through a pink glass when he came up.
Eren and Levi looked up as Theresa began to laugh again.
"What the hell is she doing?" the captain growled.
"She's been scrubbing the window like a madwoman... I guess she just thought of something funny or something..." Eren mumbled.
The shorter male t'ch-ed, striding over to the window. There was a panel of clear glass on the right that opened up, and he stuck his head out of it. "What the hell are you laughing at, Reaper?" he demanded.
"Little inside joke." she answered with a smile, dipping her rag into her soapy bucket again.
"Really. How well are you working?"
Theresa rocked back on her heels so she was at a sharp angle with the ground. Inside, Eren gulped— It looked like she was gonna fall!
"Well, considering how OCD you are, probably not hard enough, but I just finished that window there. It looks more like a mirror now."
Levi narrowed his eyes.
"Don't tell me to stop and take over for someone else, this just got fun!" Theresa pleaded, sticking her lip out in a pout and making puppy-eyes at her superior.
"If that's the case, every single window better be spotless when I check them." Levi warned, retreating back inside. Theresa gave a cheeky grin, then went back to scrubbing at the window-panes.
"She's faring pretty well for being so concerned about Ghoul." Eren noted.
"Oh?" Levi asked, cocking an eyebrow at the cadet as he crossed the room.
"Yeah... Just the other night, she was telling Krista how worried she was that Ghoul would hurt himself, and she was pining like a lover. But she seems to be... Well, almost be Theresa again."
Levi was quiet, turning to look at the window. Theresa was scrubbing circles onto a purplish piece of glass, her face thoughtful. Noticing him looking at her, she smirked, waving a little bit. He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Make sure you do this whole thing over again, and do it properly this time." he ordered as he grabbed his broom and went downstairs. Behind him, he heard Eren groan.
He hadn't actually noticed any of Theresa's reported quiet behavior. Was she forcing smiles and laughter to prevent worry about her? Was she spending sleepless nights staring out the window of the cadets' room thinking about Ghoul, then plastering a fake happy attitude over her concern for everyone else watching? It was mostly the cadets who saw this. They were the ones who told others about it.
Levi sighed in annoyance. Why did he even care so much about the brats?
... Well, Ghoul had his traumatic past that made him fear people in general, but Theresa was an obnoxious whiny brat who got into too much trouble.
Perhaps it was that, just as he reminded Ghoul of Sylvia, his dead sister, Theresa shared a few qualities with Isabel. Not many, but enough to be reminiscent. Just like Ghoul said with him and Sylvia.
That could be it.
Closing his eyes, Levi took a deep breath.
If Theresa was bottling shit up inside, that wasn't good. For her health or for those around her. He'd need to corner her later and give her a talking to...
