Hey guys!
I'm rewriting this story to try and regain my muse for this fanficiton, I've fallen behind on the anime series. I rewrote The Forgotten Wife and I've been playing the Attack On Titan games on the PS4, my writing muse is coming back slowly over time. I would like to get back into the AOT, it's coming to an end soon which is sad.
-I once was TheHeartlessNukia account
-Thank you for the Reviews, favorites, Alerts and to the unknown people who read my story too.
-I'm going to be changing the writing style of my fanfiction, it may take some time though since I have many chapters to change.
-My laptop's charged decided to die, so it will be slow updates until I can replace it - I'm sorry if there's any mistakes in my fanfictions!
-Please don't demand chapter updates!
Stay safe guys and enjoy!
Chapter 32!
A Few Days Later.
A few days had passed and the castle was now fixed, it was so much cleaner than it was before they had arrived there. Now that the chores had been completed Lorna had to go and assist Hange with her Titan experiments, but Hange sometimes told Lorna to read her written documents before she assisted her with anything. She wanted Lorna to be updated with her experiments, but the documents she had been given were an eye-opener.
The night when they had first arrived at the castle there had been some unpleasant news delivered by a scout in the early hours of the morning, the Titans Hange had been experimenting on had been killed sometime in the night by an unknown assailant. Lorna had no idea about it until she had read the documents, it made her wonder why she hadn't been uniformed about this incident.
Lorna read through Hange's documents and learnt a lot about the Titan experiments, but one thing confused her. Hange had captured two Titans and began doing tests on them, she even tried to communicate with them. She actually had given them names, she had called them Sawney and Beane. They were named after a human tribe that used to eat other humans, the thoughts of human cannibalism chilled Lorna to the bone.
Hange's experiments continued with depriving them of sunlight and she even chose the path of damaging their bodies which sounded horrific, she truly had lost her mind. Lorna knew Hange had a passion for Titans, but it had come to a point where her ways were classed as barbaric. They hadn't found out who had slain those Titans yet, the unknown assassin was still out there and unknown to the garrison.
Today Lorna's duties lay in the castle, she had been informed this morning that she had to clean the kitchen due to Eren spending the day with Levi and his squad. These kinds of duties never bothered her, it had been her duties way before she had joined the scouts.
Heating up some water and scrubbing the kitchen clean had been time consuming, but it wasn't long until she had finished. She was surprised though at all the dirt this kitchen had accumulated in the last few days before she had scrubbed it clean, the scouts staying here were extremely messy.
Lorna headed outside with a dirty bucket of water, the day was sunny and the sky was clear of clouds. Walking away from the castle she followed the pathway leading towards a flowered area, she didn't want to waste the water so she decided to water all of the plants instead. Pouring the water away she took a look at her surroundings, she had never taken time to admire the grounds of the castle. Placing the bucket upside down on the grass she sat down on it, she breathed in the fresh air while she smiled to herself.
Closing her eyes Lorna let the warmth of the sun warm her up, it felt nice just stopping for once to enjoy the weather. The breeze was cool and she listened to the birds singing in the trees tops, it felt like bliss on Earth. But as soon as she began to feel relaxed the bucket she was sitting on was kicked from underneath her, she fell backwards with a thud onto the grass. She didn't want to open her eyes, but she could feel many eyes on her right now.
Lorna opened one of her eyes, she saw Levi looking down at her. He didn't looked amused, but before she had a chance to say anything she was roughly yanked up from the grass by her arm. Levi's squad and Eren were with him, they dared not say anything when Levi was in one of his fowl moods.
" You're neglecting your duties once again, move it!" Levi said with an hint of annoyance in his voice. " Don't linger here any longer, get back to work!"
" Captain, you shouldn't be that hard on her!" Petra said.
" Don't question our Captain's orders, the little greenhorn probably had it coming." Oluo said with a smug expression on his face. " Run along little girl, go and play maid for the day."
" I'm older than you..." Lorna muttered.
Oluo barged passed Lorna, she watched the rest of the squad follow after him. Eren stayed for a moment, he had gone to fetch the bucket for her. He soon asked her if she was okay, but Lorna told him to go with the others before he got into any trouble. He hurried after them and it wasn't long until they were entering the castle, she slowly walked back to the entrance of the castle with her empty bucket in her hand.
Lorna saw Hange standing near the entrance of the castle, she had her hands on her hips and she was scanning her surrounding area. Lorna was beginning to wonder if Hange was looking for Levi's squad, she did mention that she was going to do some experiments with Eren today. Lorna greeted Hange with a smile, but she seemed not to notice her at first until Lorna spoke to her.
" Good morning, Hange!" Lorna said.
" Oh yes, what a good morning it is!" Hange smiled. " Today is the day I finally get to study Eren, I'm going to find out what makes him tick!"
" That's great, will you be needing my assistance?" Lorna asked.
Lorna was hoping that Hange would say yes, she wanted to go with her and make sure she didn't do anything too extreme with Eren. She told Lorna that her duties lay here in the castle and she didn't want to go against Levi's orders, she mentioned that she had seen him kick the bucket from beneath her not long ago. Lorna felt quite embarrassed over it, but Hange told her not to take it to heart.
" Okay, I'll see you when you return then." Lorna said.
" Ta-ta!" Hange said.
" Goodbye." Lorna said.
Lorna watched Hange making her way to the pathway where she had last seen the squad, it wasn't long until she was all alone. The grounds were quiet now and no one was around, all she could hear were the bird's singing. She sighed to herself and walked through the entrance of the castle, she had to complete all of her chores by the end of the day.
The Evening.
The day had passed quickly and Lorna's duties were now complete, this day had been an eye-opener for sure. When she was in the kitchen a few hours ago there had been a commotion from outside, she had heard voices and hurried footsteps outside of the kitchen. She had taken a look through the nearest window, there had been stream raising from the field where Levi and his squad were located. It was revealed to her later that Eren had partly transformed into his Titan form which pleased Hange.
Most of Levi's squad had retired for the night and Eren was asleep in the basement, the castle was peaceful. Taking a moment for herself Lorna sat in the Dinner Hall and wrote in her journal by lantern light, she had been documenting everything that had been happening throughout the day for Erwin. She wrote anything of importance to report to him about Eren.
Hearing the hall's door creek open Lorna looked over her shoulder, she saw Levi entering the hall. He was alone for once, she turned her attention back to her journal and continued to write. She listened to his footsteps echoing while he walked towards her, she jumped slightly when a teacup was place down next to her. Levi looked over her shoulder, she knew he was here to either checkup on her or to see what she had been writing about in her journal.
" Where's Eren?" Levi asked.
" He's asleep." Lorna replied. " He's exhausted, you've all been hard on him lately."
" You're too soft on that brat." Levi said.
" There's nothing wrong with showing kindness to others." Lorna said with a sigh. " Maybe you should try it one day, I swear you use to have emotions when we lived in The Underground City!"
" Lower your tone!" Levi frowned.
" Are you frightened that people may learn where you came from?" Lorna asked. " You shouldn't be ashamed of your past, they're nothing but a memories now."
Levi didn't answer Lorna, he stood there in silence until he sat down next to her. She felt his gaze on her while she continued to write, she pretended not to acknowledge him until she had finished writing in her journal. Lorna glanced at him before she picked the teacup up and leaned back against the chair, she took a slip of her drink before she felt him pull something from her hair. He was holding a small leaf between his thumb and finger, he then placed it down on the table top.
" Why are you here?" Lorna asked.
Levi ignored Lorna questions as he took the lantern from the table, he got up from his seat and told her to follow him. She watched him walking towards the door of the Dinner Hall, she placed her teacup on it's saucer before she followed after him. He led her through the castle, the dimly lit corridors were quiet since everyone had retired for the night. Leaving the safety of the castle she continued to follow him, he was leading her far away from the headquarters.
" Where exactly are we going?" Lorna asked.
" Not far." Levi replied.
" How far is not far?" Lorna asked.
Levi didn't answer Lorna this time, he held the lantern firmly in his hand to light their way. The grounds beyond the castle looked different at night, there were over hanging tree branches and owls hooting from the nearby woods. After awhile he took hold of her wrist while he partly dragged her away from the pathway into the woods, she tripped over a tree root which startled some birds in the tree tops above them.
Keeping up with Levi's walking pace was a struggle, but Lorna managed to keep up with him until they came to a clearing in the woods. He let go of her wrist and continued to walk forward, but Lorna stopped to admire her surroundings. There was a brook with a small waterfall, she could see the odd firefly dancing amongest the reeds. It was beautiful from what she could see from the light of the lantern.
" What is this place?" Lorna asked.
" A chosen grave." Levi replied.
" Are you planning to murder me?" Lorna asked.
" Not today..." Levi replied.
" That's good then!" Lorna said before she gulped hard. " You had me worried for a moment there."
Levi stopped near the brook's edge and placed the lantern down on a flat rock, he then stood there in silence. Wandering forward Lorna continued to look around while she walked, she couldn't take in how beautiful this part of the woods was. She stopped next to Levi and looked down at the running brook, she could see lily pads near the edge of the embankment.
" Who's grave are you planning to place here?" Lorna asked.
" If you cast your mind back you asked if Isabel and Farlan had a grave, this is the place I'm choosing for them to be laid to rest." Levi replied. " Their bodies may not be buried here, but this is a place we can come and remember them both."
" Why didn't you ever tell me you were planning this?" Lorna asked.
" You never asked." Levi replied.
" You could have at least told me, you know how much I loved them." Lorna said.
" I know." Levi said.
" I think you forget sometimes that we were like family once, do you never think of The Underground City anymore?" Lorna asked, she crossed her arms. " The people we once knew, the Landlord of The Muddy Cat. The rundown house we once called home with it's creaky floorboards, the days when Isabel and Farlan would tease each other rotten like naughty children."
" The carnage and thievery, the diseased corpses lining the streets." Levi replied.
" Do you not remember anything else besides that?" Lorna asked.
Levi spoke with Lorna about the darker side of The Underground City, she remembered too well what it could be like in the alleyways. Blood curdling screams echoing from the alleyways at night, the poor begging for food on the streets. The three hanging men came to her thoughts, their lifeless bodies upside down while some rope held them in place by their feet which made them sway side to side. Blood dipping from their hands and one of the men had a gaping wound on his stomach, the darker side of The Underground City was disturbing.
" Did you ever return to The Underground City?" Lorna asked.
" No..." Levi replied.
" Why not?" Lorna asked. " Surely there must have been citizens alive down there after the fall of Wall Maria, did no one even try to find them?"
Levi didn't answer Lorna this time, he remained still and kept his gaze on the brook. She watched the water flowing, the sound of the brook was comforting. She looked at Levi standing silently next to her, his facial expression was blank. Brushing her fingers tips again his hand she cupped hold of it, his grip tightened around her hand in return.
" Levi, you're not alone anymore." Lorna said softly. " You don't have to act tough around me, you can show me your emotions without your squad around."
" To show emotions would show weakness..." Levi said.
" And who told you that?" Lorna asked.
Lorna sighed to herself when Levi ignored her question once again, she knew words wouldn't change his ways. Turning her gaze back towards the brook they stood there in silence, she felt peaceful and sad at the same time.
It had been sometime since she had thought about her lost friends, she missed their laughter and arguments over silly little things. She sometimes wondered what had happened to The Underground City after Wall Maria had been breached, did the citizens of the city get buried alive and cut-off from the surface. Lorna's thoughts were interrupted by Levi's voice, he was telling her that they should be heading back now.
Lorna gave him a nod and glanced at the brook before she followed after him with the lantern, it wasn't long until they were back on the pathway once again. She listened to the gravelly sounds the pathway made beneath her boots before she heard Levi say something, she couldn't make out his words at first.
Levi told her that they were leaving the castle in a few days time, they were venturing out beyond the safety of the walls at the end of the week. He said a plan had been devised by Erwin and it would be dangerous, they were going on a long-distance scouting expedition into some unknown territory.