The next day seemed to be a cleaning day for everyone was cleaning.
"Uh…" Lyla just stared dumbfounded at the sight. Wasn't this a bit of overkill? Levi handed her a rag.
"You can start wiping the table you trampled on yesterday. You should make sure you do a clean job brat or else we won't be able to have breakfast. Petra, clean the kitchen with Lyla."
"Roger that sir!" Petra came in with cleaning supplies such as a broom and a mop. Lyla was already wiping the table annoyingly. Who was he calling a brat?
"You don't look disappointed like Eren," Petra said in wonder. The young ginger-head seemed to have taken a liking into Lyla.
Was she disappointed? No. Surprised? Yes. Annoyed? Very.
"There's no harm in cleaning but I am surprised that the Captain is a clean-freak," And that he lacks manners. Lyla did not voice the last part.
They cleaned in comfortable silence until something glistened from Petra's ear as the sun shone through the window.
"Petra-san, did you pierce your ears?" Lyla said astonished. Petra was wearing earrings that looked like the emblem of the Survey Corps. She laughed,
"Oh this, I got it pierced when I joined the Survey Corps. Didn't you pierce yours?"
"Well, I didn't know how to so…" She did want to though. Petra clasped her hands together in delight,
"That's great! I'll pierce them for you. Let's do it right this evening."
At that moment Levi entered the kitchen. Both of them hastily pretended to clean. He skimmed his hand under the table. A few specks of dust fell.
"Tsk, do it again later. Right now we need to get ready for the new recruits."
"Yes sir," Lyla and Petra answered in unison.
...
...
Lyla and Eren were glad to see everyone.
"Armin! Mikasa!" Eren all but ran to his childhood friends. Lyla followed closely after getting permission from Oluo. She knew that they would decide to join the Survey Corps. After all, they wouldn't leave Eren, especially Mikasa. But she was surprised to see Jean.
"So I guess it's only Annie and Marco who joined the MP's?" She asked. At this a heavy silence fell.
"Marco's….Marco's dead," Jean stated. Lyla's eyes widened with shock. Just when?
"It seems that not everybody has a heroic death. He died when no one was looking," Jean said bitterly. Then a man who had a scarf around his head shouted,
"Cadets! Come get your new uniforms!"
Everybody swung their capes on and Lyla could swear that she could see the freckled boy smiling in one of them. At this point Eld stepped in and said,
"Now meet the Special Operation Squad."
All the members shook hands and it felt weird to be shaking hands with your own friends. Lyla glanced at Eren and could see that he found this situation amusing as well.
"Nice to meet you Eren," Armin said with humor. It was when Lyla was shaking Mikasa's hand that she felt someone sniffing her. Lyla almost jumped out of her skin. Hange started laughing and apologized,
"This is Squad Leader Mike Zacharius. He tends to sniff people. I think he likes your smell."
Lyla nodded, still a little startled. She saw Levi shove Mike.
"Don't fucking sniff other squad members," he said in an annoyed tone. Lyla laughed out at this.
"What?" the Captain snapped.
"Nothing sir," Lyla replied.
They all ate dinner in the mess hall that day and after that Lyla humored the new recruits with a short story to ease the tension. Commander Erwin had announced that there was to be an expedition in a month with the new recruits included. After that they retired.
The piercing of Lyla's ears proceeded in a somewhat heavy mood. After all they did hear there was an expedition coming up. Petra took out her earring and sanitized it as well as Lyla's ears.
"Now, it may sting a bit."
Lyla shut close her eyes. And after a faint pop, Lyla flinched, then, she felt a weight hanging on her earlobe. Petra quickly finished the other ear.
"Perfect! Want to take a look?" She offered a hand mirror. Lyla reflected her ear in the mirror, "This earring…" It was the one Petre was wearing. The Wings of Freedom.
"I'll give it to you!" Petra said with a wide smile. "It's a present to celebrate you coming into the Survey Corps and the Squad!"
"Thank you." Lyla said shyly as she fumbled with the earring.
"Don't touch it. And don't take it out for the next two weeks. Make sure to sanitize it thoroughly. Now if you like it treat me as a little sister and I'll treat you as my older sister 'cause I always wanted one!" Lyla slightly nodded at this. She actually liked the idea of having the ginger-head as her sister.
The next few days were filled with pure anxiety. Lyla could see that everyone was getting uneasy as the expedition got closer. And one day a small incident occurred.
"Ah, you'll never understand ginger-head."
"Try me Oluo!" Petra shouted challengingly. As always the two were at each other's throats from the start of the morning. Lyla stepped in and wrapped an arm around Petra's shoulder.
"Oluo-san, please don't stress out Petra this early in the morning. Please do take a care for her nerves and patience."
"Huh? She started it first."
"Oh, I'm sure she did sir," Lyla said sarcastically. Petra smiled up at Lyla and stuck her tongue out at Oluo. Then flounced out of the kitchen with Lyla where they met Captain Levi.
"Eren, Hange's throwing a fit to meet you. She wants to run a few experiments." Levi said with his usual monotonous tone. Eren quickly followed Levi out. But when they returned Eren's face didn't look good after the experiment. He actually looked quite pale and shaken. His bloody hands were bandaged.
'Now that's unusual. If he turned into a titan then that kind of injury should have been cured.' When Lyla shifted closer she could hear the Captain speaking.
"Eren, if you can't shift into a titan this whole plan of retaking Wall Maria would be jeopardized."
Hange took her leave for her quarters and the rest of the members gravely sipped their tea.
Lyla patted Eren's shoulder. "Don't worry too much. I'm sure there was another reason why you couldn't trans-" her words were cut off by a defiant bang.
"Lyla!" the Captain shouted out.
Lyla was flung to the ground by the force. She blocked her face from the smoke and when she removed her arms she saw a terrified Eren and the other members surrounding him with pointed weapons. Lyla immediately threw herself in between.
"Everybody calm down! He didn't do it on purpose…!"
"Lyla, get away from him!" Petra shouted.
"No, the ones who should stay away are you guys! Can't you see he's terrified?" Lyla shouted back. Eld asked in an authoritative manner, "The time when you can turn into a titan is only when your life is in danger. Why did you-"
"You people are being a threat already!" Lyla cut in. Hange was screaming in excitement as she came closer and Levi joined in to calm down the squad. Everybody backed off a step or two since the Captain said so but they did not give up on staring at Eren with a weary gaze as they continued to interrogate him. Eren was trying with all his might to pull his hand out of the titan and the members were shouting at him. Hange was jumping up and down like a maniac at this point.
"Why did you transform!?"
"Oluo I said to back down!" Levi said in a sharp tone. This time it was Gunther's turn.
"Are you trying to threat humanity? Can we believe in you? How do we know that you're on humanity's side? Prove it right now that you're not a threat!"
"Gunther!" Levi again shouted out. The commotion went on.
"ENOUGH!" Lyla shouted in frustration and instantly silence fell. Everybody including Levi stared at Lyla with wide eyes. Lyla climbed up the titan's body.
"Lyla, get down!" Levi almost growled. The titan's skin was burning but Lyla didn't care. She also didn't listen to her Captain.
"Lyla I told you to get down!" there was a warning edge to Levi's voice now. However Lyla proceeded climbing and when she reached Eren, she yanked his arm out. She viewed the soldiers below her.
"If Eren wanted to hurt you he had a week's time to do so. Why would he attempt to do it now and with an incomplete transformation? This is just an accident." She pulled Eren up. "I believe Squad Leader Hange would be able to identify the cause of this since she is the one who knows best about titans. Let's go Eren."
Eren sighed heavily as he sat on the stairs with Lyla, "I didn't know what it was like to be confronted like that."
"Everybody was just surprised. They would presume the worst of all things," Lyla patted his back.
"Of course. That's why I handpicked them," Levi appeared and leaned against the wall. "But they actually believe in you more than you think brat."
Moblit came and announced, "Squad Leader Hange would like to see all of you." He led the way and Eren followed.
"Well it seems that four-eyes had figured it out," Levi said as he pushed himself off the wall. "You know, I'm quite impressed. It's good to stand up for your comrades, even if it's a brat like that. Though I don't appreciate you disobeying me –twice,"
Lyla's eyes widened as she realized what she did. "My apologies sir, I didn't mean to-" words fumbled out but the Captain held up his hand to stop her. Then he said,
"How are your hands?"
"Sir?" Lyla said in a confused look. Levi gave a tsk and took hold of her hands. They were an angry color of red.
"Tsk, treat them later after this."
"Yes sir."
Levi went through the door which Moblit was holding open.
"Took your time Four-Eyes, had trouble taking a shit?"
Lyla eyed her captain with raised eye brows. Was that supposed to be a joke? However, Hange didn't seem to mind,
"No, I took my shit just fine. Actually, it took some time to explain to the higher-ups," she pulled out a tea spoon. Lyla and the other members eyed the tiny tea spoon in disbelief.
"Eren's titan form was grasping this spoon between his thumb and index finger. Hard to say it was stuck there in coincidence and there's no damage done to the metal," Hange said.
"Come to think of it, I was trying to pick up that spoon before I transformed," Eren spoke thoughtfully. Hange started to explain her theory.
"It seems that there is another key in turning into a titan other than just hurting yourself," she picked up the tea spoon. "Picking up the tea spoon, killing titans, blocking the cannonball, moving the rock. You need a purpose in order to shift into a titan. Well that's what I think."
So he just turned into a titan to pick up a tea spoon. What the… Lyla gave out a sigh. Then Gunther spoke up.
"So you didn't do it on purpose?"
"Yes," When Eren answered the members shared glances and started biting into their thumb. There were short cries of pain.
"This is quite painful."
"How do you bite into your skin like that?"
"We are so sorry Eren, consider this as our way of apologizing."
Lyla stared at them in surprise then glanced at Levi. So is this what he meant? She slightly shook her head and bit into her thumb as well. Everybody looked at her in surprise.
"I should apologize too. I wasn't able to prevent you from having such an experience Eren. Besides, we're a team no matter what. What the team is responsible for, I am responsible for as well,"
Lyla draped an arm around Petra and smiled.
'I'll protect you.' Lyla thought to herself.
...
...
That night Lyla had a nightmare. She dreamed of the whole squad getting killed during the expedition. Lyla bolted up from the bed all sweaty. She gave out a sigh of relief as she realized she was at her own room. The events from today seemed to be stressful than she thought. She looked at the clock, it was striking 2 o'clock a.m.
Lyla slowly slid out of her bed. Perhaps a cup of cold water would cool her head down. She headed towards the kitchen only to find an unexpected individual occupying the area.
A/N Haha, sorry that I updated a little bit later than usual. Things sort of popped up. Hope you enjoyed!
