Today, however, was different. Today Adeline felt nervous for the first time in a long time in her life. It was like how she felt that day years ago in the Underground when her teacher had called her out for not paying attention. The thought that any move she made would have consequences, though the consequences on this day were much more dire than anything other. Today, she was excited to play with the life of another.

Years passed since the fall of Wall Maria and military had just found out about the atrocious wonder of a mere boy named Eren Jaeger who could change into a titan with a drop of his own blood. The crowd was gathered at the hearing before Darius Zackly, the military's commander-in-chief, and Eren was chained to a steel post on the polished granite floor. Everyone and anyone that was worth noting and of any importance was there including two other young trainees who were serving as witnesses—Armin Arlet and Mikasa Ackerman. Everyone there would decide that day if Eren Jaeger should live or die.

Adeline was not too big on the politics of it all. Of course, Eren Jaeger's existence was fascinating, however, the woman felt no need to have any personal stance. She tried to keep unbiased because she quite frankly did not care and neither was it her job to care.

"I will now hear the stances of the Military Police Brigade and the Survey Corpse over who will have custody over you, Even Jaeger," Darius Zackly announced. "Let us begin with the Military Police Brigade's statement."

"Your honor," the man representing the Military Police began, "I, the Commander of the Military Police Brigade, Nile Dok, propose that after thorough study and examination of Eren Jaeger's body that he be executed. While it stands true that he did play a crucial role in the re-sealing of Trost District, he stands an intelligent being with potential to rebel. That, in and of itself, makes his existence a threat. Therefore, after he imparts all that he knows of his abilities, he may die as a hero of mankind."

"Nonsense!" The blunt cry came from Pastor Nick, Priest of the Walls. "That vermin should die right here and now!"

"Pastor Nick, please," Zackly said. "Calm yourself." The old man turned to the opposing side. "Now will the head of the Survey Corps please present his argument."

"Yessir," was the reply. "I, the thirteenth commander of the Survey Corps, Erwin Smith propose that we will accept Eren Jaeger of the Survey Corps and and use his Titan power to reclaim Wall Maria. That is all."

The courtroom filled with shock at the blunt and short statement from the tall blonde man. The debate and argument continued between both sides, but it sounded more like old men bickering between themselves. Djel Sannes stood in his place not uttering a word, but leaned down slightly to whisper to the girl beside him.

"Adeline," he began, "what do you think should be done with Eren? After all, if we win, you'll probably be the one to take him out." No word came from the girl who merely watched disinterestedly with those emerald eyes. She stood straight in her own Military Brigade jacket with little sign of any expression.

It was true, Adeline was tasked with killing Even Jaeger had plans gone the direction the Military Police wanted it to. Perhaps it was the thrill of gamble they were making. The thrill of knowing that Adeline could have all the power or none of it all. No, Sannes suspected something different as an uneasy feeling climbed up into his chest and throat. He stared down at his subordinate hoping she could feel the severity of his gaze.

"None of you have even seen a Titan before," Eren spat as politely as he could. This finally caught a glimmer in Adeline's eyes. "If you're scared of fighting, then lend me your strength!" The boy's voice rose louder. "You cowards…Just bet everything you have on me!"

Sannes saw the smirk grow on Adeline's face but couldn't tell if it was from amusement that the Eren boy had just dug his own grave or if it was something else.

"Shoot him now!" Nile Dok commanded to the soldier beside him.

In a split second Adeline had vanished from beside Sannes and into the middle of the show where she held the gun pointed at Eren in place. Unfortunately, it seemed that the move was unnecessary as the Survey Corps had beaten her to it first with Lance Corporal Levi swinging his foot right across Eren's cheek knocking a tooth out of his mouth . Adeline watched with wide eyes as the short man continued to pulverize the child.

"It's just my own opinion," Levi began to say in that dark voice, "that pain is the best tool for discipline. You don't need a lecture, but training. You're so easy for me to kick around." Levi continued to beat Eren with his two legs and somewhere between the kicks Adeline was so sure the man noticed her.

"H-hey Levi," Nile Dok stuttered. "What if h-he gets angry and turned into a Titan?"

"Then I'll kill him," Levi answered with no room for anything other than fact behind his words. "Sure, he took out 20 Titans in his Titan form and his intelligence poses a threat, but he's still no match for me."

That was the stone cold Levi for you. Adeline smirked at the familiarity of Levi's personality. Visions of him in his Underground days arose in fondly in her mind.

"Adeline Donovan," Zackly called out to the woman who was still gripping the gun aimed at Eren. Finally, Levi's brow twitched just in the slightest at the sound of the name. "What do you think? I hear that if Jaeger is not executed here and his blood doesn't dirty this floor for our poor janitors to mop up, you were to be assigned as his executioner. Do you see him as threat against your own abilities?"

Musically and almost inappropriately, Adeline giggled, "I thought you'd never ask, your honor."

"Oi," Sannes whispered threateningly at Adeline who was clearly acting on her own accord now.

Adeline's boots clicked as she walked towards to the boy who's cute little face was dripping with blood. The woman crouched down to meet him in his brilliant eyes. Eren couldn't help but blush at the fact such a beautiful woman was so close to him. Her green eyes couldn't be rivaled by any precious stone in the world and her black hair cascaded down like a long waterfall and was tucked back behind her ears revealing her pale forehead. A long finger stretched outwards to tilt Eren's chin just short of seductively before the broke into a fit of laughter. As she rose back up, her eyes met Levi's briefly who remained unmoving.

"The boy is pathetically weak, your honor," Adeline responded. "It's like he's never even seen a woman other his own mother before."

"Adeline Donovan!" Sannes yelled in despair.

"Silence!" Zackly shot the order Sannes.

"Your honor!" Erwin interjected while shooting his hand up to get the trial back on track. "I have a proposal."

"Yes, what is it?" the commander-in-chief questioned.

"Eren Jaeger does pose a threat with his abilities, so I propose that Even be entrusted under the control of Lance Corporal Levi and taken out on an expedition," Erwin proclaimed.

"Hm," Zackly pondered for a moment. "Do you think you can do it, Levi?"

"I'm certain I can kill him," Levi answered. "The only problem would be that there is no alternative."

"Then my decision is made."

Behind the courthouse, after the trial, Adeline faced a scene all too familiar. Sannes punched the girl with his left then his right fist. One after the other the strikes came, but Adeline didn't make a single sound. Not even a small whimper only infuriating Sannes more.

In her head, scenes of her and her mother taking one fist after another replayed over and over. Adeline felt the slight tremor in her own bones as the instinct to fight came creeping up to her skin.

"Why?" he grunted out the question. "Why? Why? Why?" Adeline took one strip after the other. "Who put you up to such an act of defiance against the king? I could have to executed for the crime you committed those years ago! Hell, I could kill you right here for defying me!"

The next blow was halted before it could make contact. Adeline looked up to see that Levi had caught Sannes's fist.

"I would be quite careful," Levi told Sannes. "You're still on government grounds. If someone else caught you things would've gotten pretty troublesome."

Sannes's eyes widened in realization at the scenario and he asked Adeline one last question, "What did the Survey Corps promise you?" Adeline gathered herself holding the blank handkerchief to her red nose. The look in those green eyes held a kind of amusement behind them despite her overall chic demeanor.

Finally she said, "An answer." She responded with a twist in her smile that had a line of blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. She slipped out of her Military Police jacket and politely pushed it into Sannes arms. "Thanks for getting me out of the Underground, Sannes-san. I won't forget your kindness." With that she bowed deeply and Sannes stormed away from the scene leaving Adeline and Levi awkwardly beside one another.

Levi shuffled through his attire and pulled out a piece of white cloth. He held it out to Adeline as an offering, but refused to make eye contact with her. "Your face," was all the man said. Adeline thanked him and took his offering. She wiped her mouth and nose from the blood.

"I'll wash it and return it to you later," Adeline reassured the man.

"Tch," Levi scoffed. "Keep it." Levi too walked away from Adeline. She would remember that Levi had saved her from making an immensely regrettable decision. He had saved for the third time in her life. The one thing Adeline couldn't hold down was her little schoolgirl smile.

Levi sat in a room with Erwin, Eren, and two other squad leaders on the Survey Corps—Hange Zoe and Mike Zacharias. It didn't slip Levi's eye that there was a seemingly random bag placed in the corner of the rather empty room. Everyone stood stunned as Hange revealed that the tooth that had been knocked out of Eren's mouth had already regenerated in his mouth. The moment of silence was quickly broken by a soft knock on the door.

"It's me, commander," Levi recognized the voice as that of Adeline Donovan's. "Adeline Donovan," Confirmed.

"Come in," Erwin said. The door swung open to reveal Adeline's bruised face."I see Sannes didn't take the news very well."

"I just let him blow off some steam," Adeline explained with a smile. It was an expression Levi had never seen before on the girl's face.

Adeline saw Eren and immediately jumped to the boy. She grasped the boy's hands in her's and her eyes sparkled with tears, "Are you okay, kiddo? Ah! You're so cute! I'm so sorry you had to go through something so awful today!"

"N-not at all," Eren responded whilst wondering if this really was the person meant to kill him had things turned out for the worse.

"Although I am a little disappointed," Adeline's expression suddenly changed to a dark one. "I would've had so much fun murdering you." Eren gulped.

"Ahem," Erwin coughed to get Adeline's attention. "Eren, you'll have to excuse Adeline. She did a huge favor for me to help win your case over and even sacrificed her career as a member of the Military Police."

"You did what?" Eren asked with surprise.

"Now, now," Adeline waved her hand as if to swat away any suspicions. "I certainly didn't do it for an adorable brat like you. Dead or not, your existence doesn't matter to me. Even if this world goes to shit and we all get eaten by Titans, I wouldn't really care that much. If that's how the world is supposed to end then let it end that way." Eren furrowed his brows at the woman who seemed to not unstained the gravity and importance of the situation at large. His life had just been up for gamble and she was claiming that she didn't care.

Adeline stood up and walked towards Erwin and held her hand out to the commander. "I think it's time for my reward, commander." Adeline's tone was demanding.

"Mike hand me the bag over there," Erwin instructed.

"Yessir," Mike said and immediately grabbed the bag and gave it to Erwin.

Everyone watched as Erwin pulled out a large reddish brown book with a golden drawing of the sun above stretches of land. Adeline's eyes sparkled with childish curiosity and a conman's greed. Erwin placed it back in the bag it come from and handed the whole thing to the woman.

"You'll also find your new attire in there," Erwin informed. "Welcome to the Survey Corps."

"Wait," Eren suddenly said. "I know that book."Adeline raised her brow at the boy. "A friend showed it to me once," Eren continued. "He said it was his grandpa's. It's about the outside world, isn't it?"

Adeline stood over Even threateningly and warned, "I'm not obliged to answer any questions to you. Be grateful for what I've done for you because that's as far as my kindness can extend."

Eren gulped down fear. Levi had to admit that Adeline had surely grown up over the past few years. She did not grow much taller, but body appeared fuller and more womanly. Her facial features just a tad sharper, but still maintained an overall youthful roundness. Levi would have been lying if he claimed that he had seen any of this coming his way.

The woman walked out, the sound of her boots against the floor glaringly loud in Eren's ears as she left in a trail of deathly silence. He wondered if such a woman could strike such fear within him with the sheer use of words, volume, tone, and expression, then Eren would not try to imagine the physical pain she would try to cause Eren. She might have been just as deranged as Hange Zoe.

"Hange, Mike, Eren," Erwin called out once Adeline had safely left the room catching everyone's attention once again. "Leave the room and get some rest. There's something I would like to discuss with Levi alone."

"Yessir!" the three affirmed and walked out of the room single file.

Levi and Erwin were left in the room alone together. Erwin knew the number of questions that Levi must have had, in fact, Erwin had never even seen Levi so surprised. To anyone else, Levi's face held zero expression. However, Erwin had grown accustomed to the stoic man and knew him better than probably anyone else.

"How long," Levi began his question, "did you know she was in the military?"

"Not long," Erwin answered earnestly. "She's actually quite new, but Sannes seems to have helped her climb the ladder. It seems that he appeared in the Underground around a similar time as I did when I found you."

"Why her?" Levi continued.

"I'm not so sure about that. It's the one thing that catches me off. I have no real idea why or how she was personally selected by Sannes and there's no information on her life before coming to surface." Levi tsked. "All I know is that Adeline is good at her job. Very good." Levi cocked his head to the side questioningly. "Adeline Donovan deals with death sentences and executions. I've only heard rumors that she doesn't hesitate or flinch when she does it. She even volunteered to kill her own friend on her own team who had verbally defied the King."

Clearly, the scaredy-cat little girl from the Underground was no more. Levi pressed on with the questions ,"What does she want with that book?"

"Beats me completely. It was the compromise we made: to join which was to stand up for Eren if the opportunity arose for that book and a safe transition into the Survey Corps. I can only assume that Sannes has something over her."

"And you didn't tell me because you wanted me to act on my own accord."

"Precisely."

"Do you trust her?"

"Not in the slightest." Erwin paused for a moment. "She does her job without question. If ordered to something even if it's painful, she will do it. I can imagine that even if she's not trustworthy, she will perform well in the Survey Corps. Granted, she'll have to be good at killing titans more so than humans."

"So," Levi came to a conclusion, "I guess, you want me to keep an eye over her, am I right?"

"Precisely." Erwin earned another scoff from Levi. Erwin chuckled making Levi glare at his superior.

"What's so funny?" Levi's voice nearly snarled.

"I'm going to talk to as a friend now," Erwin explained himself. The man walked closer to Levi. "I have to admit that Adeline is very pretty. I can't help, but wonder if a hardened soldier like you would ever fall victim to that face of her's. Her personality too seems…charming." There was little confidence in the word "charming" because Adeline was not necessarily just "charming."

"Do have that little faith in me?"

"Of course not. I just wonder."

The short, dark man dismissed himself and made his way back to the street. The sun at this point had set and the stars began to dimly peak out from dark grey clouds. The streets had quietened down with the exception of the bars that held drunken men trying to grope the pretty waitress.

Levi's senses were second to none. He was a top class soldier so when noticing Adeline perched on top the rooftop he was standing under, Levi was not so much surprised. What did catch him off guard her the shimmering as they came down those pale cheeks. It was probably the second time he had witness her cry.

The past few years had certainly been a bit kinder to Adeline who sat on top of a roof with a flashlight looking up at the shining stars floating effortlessly in the midnight sky. Each star was blinking as if there were a pattern Adeline had to figure out. The woman drew imaginary lines between each star to form any kind of shape. It was a marvelous sight she would never stop gawking at. All those years in the Underground, trapped and held back from her basic human right to just look up at the sky had surely done a number on her. She clutched the book Erwin had given her firmly in her lap as a tear rolled down her face. Droplets fell to onto the open pages that revealed the possibility of an endless starry sky that stretched to terrains never before seen to mankind. While the book held the opinion that what Adeline was witnessing at that moment could not be called true freedom, but, for her, it certainly was close.

"Are you looking at this?" Adeline asked seemingly no one. "Do you see it Jane? Do you see the sky? It's so beautiful. I wonder how far it goes."

Levi couldn't make out the words she was saying, but decided to give the girl some privacy tonight. His job could wait another day. So, the small man simply walked away back home.

Erwin Smith sat in the same room as before thinking about the events that had taken place starting with how he had come across the woman named Adeline Donovan days before the trial of Eren Jaeger. How she had snuck her way into his office at the Survey Corps headquarters—an entire wall away from her own station.

"Do I know you?" Erwin asked unfazed by the girl sitting his chair playing with a fountain pen between her fingers.

"No," she responded as-a-matter-of-factly. "But I know you. Erwin Smith, the great commander of the Survey Corps." The smile on her face was deceivingly innocent. "I want to strike a deal with you."

"What makes you think I would strike a deal with someone who has no respect for her higher ups," Erwin argued.

"Because you can't win the trial," Adeline answered immediately silencing Erwin with the accusation. "And it just so happens, I'm on good terms with Darius Zackly and I'm an expert at manipulation. I can't tell you Zackly's personal opinions because I really don't know. However, I can tell you now, Zackly has no intention of letting that Even Jaeger get off so easily. Especially not with the government and the Military Police lighting a fire under his ass."

"Aren't you a part of the Military Police?" Erwin inquired. "Your jacket sure says so."

"Was," Adeline corrected. "That is if I get what I want." Erwin waited for further information. "I want two things. First, I want to join the Survey Corps. Safely. Djel Sannes has a pretty tight hold on me, and I know you can help. In exchange, I can make sure that Titan-kid gets out of this alive."

"How do you expect me to you out of the grasp of Djel Sannes?" Erwin inquired.

"There's a piece of paper is somewhere in his home," Adeline informed. "It's a report from the Military Police in the Underground—where I'm from." Erwin held on to that bit of information. "It's the truth about my life and how I really came to the surface. If you find it and burn it, then there's no evidence that anything happened."

Erwin didn't care for backstories, so he continued his questions, "And how will you ensure that this case is our's?"

"As I said," Adeline further argued her stance, "I'm on good terms with Darius Zackly and this works well since I've been given the job of taking out Even Jaeger if work in the favor of the Military Police Brigade." The smile that graced her face before, had fallen into a serious look. "From what I hear, Eren's nothing more than a kid clearly not a match for anyone in any higher rank. I can get Zackly to ask me, the true executioner, something to help your own case." Erwin chuckled softly, so Adeline continued. "I also hear that kid has problems falling in line. Eren Jaeger could easily jeopardize your case and dig his own grave. It's a simple thing I'm offering, but this simple gesture could mean taking back Wall Maria."

Erwin didn't really need the girl's help at all, he just needed luck on his side. Although he had to confess that the woman sure had balls to break into his office and strike a deal with him for a spot on the Survey Corps. She was, needless to say, interesting. It was pure curiosity for the woman that Erwin would agree to her proposition. She was so willing to abandon the Military Police Brigade and Erwin liked that.

"Why would you want to give up life in the Military Police Brigade? Even if Sannes his grip around you, life there must be a lot safer and profitable than life as a Scout."

Adeline wasn't inclined to answer that question as she just stared at Erwin blankly.

"Fine," Erwin agreed. "If you can prove that you can persuade Darius Zackly without getting caught, I can work something out with Zackly for your transition into the Survey Corps. Now get out of my chair."

Adeline raised her hand to stop the blonde man, "I said I wanted two things." Erwin raised his chin in slight annoyance but would hear her out. "I want a book about the outside world."

"That's-" Erwin was cut off.

"Illegal," Adeline finished for him. "Punishable by death, I know. But I have questions that need to be answered." That was more like it. Erwin liked that look in her eyes. Her eyes were looking in a similar direction as he was. At last, this strange woman had gotten his respect and he knew exactly why Adeline wanted to join his Scouts.

The tall man walked up to his desk where Adeline appeared to be sitting too comfortably and he held out his hand. That night ended with a handshake to seal the agreement.