Chapter 21:
"Papa, why you have to leave again?" Isabel groaned as Levi opened the door.
"Erwin gave me an assignment, and I have to go. I promise I'll be home in time for dinner." Levi replied.
Isabel hung her head. "Always leaving."
Levi knelt down and patted her head. "I'll play with you when I get home. I'll even read you a couple of books before bed."
"Promise?" Isabel asked, her blue eyes pleading with him.
"I promise. As long as you're good." He ruffled her hair and stood up. "I'll see you later. Be a good girl for the cadets. Make sure they don't do anything they aren't supposed to."
"Yes, Papa. Bye-bye!" Isabel said as Levi shut the door behind him.
Now alone, Isabel pondered what to do. Currently, all the cadets were hard at work with training. As much as she would love to join them, she would be disobeying her Papa. The last thing she wanted was to get playtime or reading taken away, so she reluctantly brushed away the thought.
She skipped outside with her stuffed horse in tow, laying down in the grass not too far away from the cadets. The blades of bright green grass tickled her nose as she stared up into the sky. Puffy clouds made their way across the blue expanse, and Isabel found herself trying to look out for specific shapes. She could have sworn that one cloud looked like a bunny.
"Whatcha doin'?" A voice asked.
Isabel looked over to see one of the cadets lay down beside her. Jean. He seemed okay. Isabel hadn't gotten to know him well enough, but he got along well with Connie and Sasha.
"Looking," Isabel replied.
"At the clouds? I used to do that with my ma." Jean said, pointing to a certain one. "That one definitely looks like an apple."
Isabel nodded. "That one's like a bunny."
"Really?" Jean squinted at the puffy cloud. "Oh yeah. I can see it now."
Isabel scanned the sky for more shapes. It was a simple way to pass the time, but she found herself enjoying it.
"Do you ever wonder what the clouds are made out of?" Jean asked.
Isabel pondered his question. "I dunno." She finally shrugged.
"They look so puffy. I wonder if they are fuzzy like the stuffing in toys. Or, do they have a different type of feel to them?" Jean continued.
Questions started to fill Isabel's head. She had never given it that much thought. She just thought they would be puffy. Not much else crossed her mind.
"If you really want to know," Armin said, kneeling down beside the pair. "They are actually made up of water."
"You idiot! Clouds can't be made of water. If that was the case, it would always rain." Jean scoffed.
"No, really. What do you think fog is? Fog is just clouds that are closer to the ground." Armin explained.
Isabel's eyes widened. Clouds were just made of rain? It sounded impossible.
"Why they so puffy?" Isabel asked.
Armin pondered her question. "I...I'm not sure." His eyebrows furrowed with concentration.
Isabel stared up at the clouds with a newfound fascination. How could water make such interesting shapes? Not only that but how could it float in the sky? Isabel silently promised herself that she would find out one day.
"Hey! How 'bout we play a game." Jean suggested, jumping to his feet.
"Like what?" Armin asked.
"Like ta-"
"PLAY HORSIE!" Isabel cried, rushing towards Jean and tugging his hand.
"What? What is 'horsie'?" Jean asked.
"It's where you run around with her on your back," Eren said, walking over to the group. "Must be because you look so much like one, Horseface."
"Shaddup, Jaeger! I look nothing like a horse, you suicidal maniac!" Jean fumed.
Isabel held up her stuffed horse to compare it to Jean. She didn't exactly understand why Eren said Jean looked like a horse, but she would take his word for it.
"Please play horsie?" Isabel pleaded to Jean with her big bluebell eyes.
Jean sighed. "I guess so." He knelt down so she could climb on his back. Isabel giggled and hopped on, securing her arms on his shoulders. She handed her horse to Eren for safekeeping.
Jean rose to his feet and started off at a light walk. Isabel marveled at how high she was. As much as she loved playing with him, Papa was far too short to make her feel very tall against the other adults.
"Faster!" She commanded with a giggle, and Jean obliged, starting to lightly job through the field.
Eren joined in on the fun, running up next to them and making funny faces at Isabel to make her laugh. Armin tried his best to keep up with the group, but his endurance wasn't as great as the rest of them.
"Wait!" Isabel said suddenly, and Jean jolted to a stop.
"Are you okay, Isabel?" He asked.
Isabel nodded before saying, "Play Scout?"
Jean cocked his head to the side. "What is that?"
"Be like Papa," Isabel explained further.
"She wants to pretend to be a Scout like us," Mikasa said, who had made her appearance beside Eren a couple of seconds earlier.
"Oh...I'm sure we could do that." Jean said.
"I CALL BEING A TITAN!" Sasha cried out. "I've been working on my run." She demonstrated, running as her arms flopped wildly in the air.
"You gotta be hero titan," Isabel said, pointing at Eren.
"Excuse me?" Eren asked.
"She wants you to be in your titan form." Mikasa translated. "She must have picked up on some conversations around the Captain."
"Um...Isabel, I don't think it would be good for me to transform here." Eren said.
"Then just pretend, you idiot. Scout Leader Isabel has spoken." Jean scoffed.
Eren shrugged.
Everyone got into position, Eren as...himself, Jean as Isabel's horse, and everyone else as titans. Isabel was brimming with excitement.
"Alrighty, you ready for your first expedition outside of the walls, Scout Leader Isabel?" Jean asked.
Isabel nodded eagerly. "Let's go!"
Jean bolted after the cadets, and the chase began. Some of the titans were easy to catch, but some seemed to be far too fast. They must have been abnormals.
"Scout Leader, we have to move in a new direction." Mikasa proclaimed, throwing some grass in the air to represent the green smoke that helped the Scouts to change course. Isabel nodded and Jean followed the direction of the grass.
Isabel pretended to use swords as she neared the other cadets. She beamed as Jean went faster and faster, leading her closer to victory.
"Oh no! Commander, you lost one of your Scouts!" Sasha screamed, whipping a potato out of her jacket. She sank her teeth into it and let out a distressed wail.
"Um…Sasha, that's a little too dark." Armin said, his face going pale.
Sasha shrugged. "Sorry. Just trying to make it more realistic." She munched on her potato.
"I'll take one," Connie said, reaching out his hand. Sasha growled at him in response, and he wisely backed off.
"Back to the game?" Mikasa asked.
Isabel nodded eagerly. "Back to game! Back to game!"
Jean huffed and puffed. "Okay, Commander. Hang on tight!" He bolted towards his friends, and Isabel let out a holler of delight.
"Faster! Faster!" She cried, pretending to slice the back of Krista's neck. Krista fell to the ground dramatically and faked her titan death.
They played until each of them couldn't breathe (all except Isabel, who wasn't running, of course). Sasha and Connie fell to the ground, emphasizing their exhaustion. Entertaining a three-year-old seemed to be more draining than Scout training.
"How about we go inside and get some water," Mikasa suggested. "Isabel, would you like a snack? Maybe some strawberries? Or crackers?"
"Yep! We eat here?" Isabel asked, pointing to the ground below her feet.
"A picnic sounds like a great idea!" Krista beamed. "I'll go get a blanket."
"Don't let Sasha near the food," Jean called out as he hurried back to the barracks.
"Hey! That's brutal!" Sasha called out after her friend.
Isabel laughed and took Mikasa's hand. She had no clue what a picnic was, but by the looks of the cadets, it was going to be a lot of fun.
…
"More strawberries!" Isabel cried, shoving her bowl in Mikasa's face.
"More strawberries…" Mikasa started.
Isabel sighed. "Please." She murmured.
Mikasa smiled and piled some strawberries into the bowl, which Isabel happily took. Sasha shoveled bread into her mouth while Connie and Jean tried to take the basket out of her glutinous grasp. Krista and Armin sat quietly, exchanging a rather civil conversation. Isabel sat in between Eren and Mikasa, who were more than happy to help her with anything she might need.
"Can someone pass the cookies please?" Krista asked, and Eren quickly slid the plate towards her. Krista gave him a nod of gratitude.
They all chatted amongst each other, trying to include Isabel in their conversations. Mikasa made sure to stop any quarrels before they happened. All it took was one warning look at Eren and Jean to make her point clear: "If you fight in front of Isabel, you'll regret it later." The boys wisely backed off.
"Oi, what do we have here?" A voice called from behind the group. Levi walked towards them after finishing a long day on the training grounds. He had been giving some routine training to some of the Scouts.
"PAPA!" Isabel squealed, scrambling to her feet and engulfing the raven-haired man in a hug.
"Hello, Isabel." He smirked, patting her head. "Were you a good girl?"
"Yep!" Isabel exclaimed. "I was Commander!"
Levi looked at his squad, hoping for some sort of translation.
"Isabel wanted to play Scouts with us," Mikasa said.
Levi's eyebrows furrowed. "Please tell me you didn't do anything stupid."
"We didn't trigger anything bad if that's what you mean," Eren said, giving Isabel a wary glance. The other kids wouldn't have known what to do with Isabel if something had gone wrong. He had to be her protector. Her mind was fragile, and he needed to make sure that it would be kept safe.
"What is all this?" Levi asked, gesturing to the blanket below his feet.
"Picnic! You gotta join." Isabel said, yanking him down next to her on the blanket. She quickly passed him a cookie.
"Thank you," Levi said, taking a bite. Although he didn't prefer sweets, he didn't mind a small treat. He'd had a long day after all.
The kids went back to their conversations, and Levi looked up at the sky. It was clear and beautiful today. Ever since he left the Underground, he admired the sky with every bone in his body. The vast blue expanse seemed to contain something new every day.
"Papa, you looking at the clouds?" Isabel interrupted his quiet admiration through a mouthful of strawberries.
"Don't talk with your mouth full." Levi scolded. "And...I guess so. The sky looks nice today."
Isabel nodded. "That cloud looks like this!" She held up a strawberry, and Levi nodded. It did indeed have the same shape.
"You like the clouds?" Isabel asked.
Levi nodded once more. "I like everything about the sky. Maybe one day…you'll understand why."
Isabel cocked her head but surprisingly didn't press further. Instead, she laid on her back and stared up into the sky. She smiled and hummed to herself, getting lost in her own thoughts.
Levi looked around at his cadets. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Despite the dangers that lived outside the walls, they each had something to put a smile on their faces. With a sigh, Levi let a small smile slip, grateful for the innocent moments with his squad and his little girl.
AN: Okay, I am the worst for leaving y'all hanging for a month. Life has been so crazy lately, and I haven't been able to find time to sit down and write. Don't worry, I have not forgotten about this story. The whole time I'm away from the computer, I keep thinking about more ideas for this story. On the bright side, I got a new job! It's been keeping me busy, but I absolutely love it. Love you all!