848
Trost District

August 3rd
Day of Arrival


Morrigan threw her pack at their feet, the satchel hitting the ground with a considerable thud as it knocked into Erwins' boots.

"Open it. Take a gander at a sliver of what I had to walk through to find you people." Her voice was icy, and Erwin crouched, glancing up at her as he lifted the top flap and pulled on the drawstring top; his compatriots standing over his shoulder and sharing in a cold, painful, prickling chill down their spines as it dawned on them what caused the weight of the pack.

"There, in that pack, -and more in my saddlebags- is every piece of inscribed jewelry, every military patch, every family crest I found while walking through that desolate wasteland that used to be your territory." Her voice was the one thick with emotion now; scanning the people in front of her as she saw guilt shadowing their features.

"It's everything I could find on those people you fed to the titans." She spits these words at them, laced in a venom so striking it caused even Pyxis's mood to shift, a shadow finally covering his face as well as he came to terms with just quite what the teen had endured.

"Good. Feel something. Because I have so much more to say and I was worried you wouldn't care." She says, and Erwin looks up at her in shock, moving as though to interrupt her, but Levi was faster.

"And what do you expect us to do with these?" He said dryly, and he actually did look as though he… didn't care.

"I'd like to return these items to whomever still survives to remember the souls that used to inhabit those corpses back there. Whoever was lucky enough to be left behind." The word lucky was said ironically, and Erwin flinched, before nodding gravely.

"Let's take you somewhere to get…..cleaned and fixed up first- Hange, I believe your quarters would be best suited for her to clean up," Levi stated, and the others agreed; though Morrigan was now feeling the slightest of buzzing under her skin as she thought of actually entering the walls. For real, this time.

And as they were about to head out, they realized once again that Morrigan was not equipped with ODM gear; but before Erwin could request she climb on his back, she glanced down casually, to inside the walls, yet her eyes were scanning and calculating as she looked.

"What of my horse?" She asked, still looking and he responded that they already had Garrison regiment officers lowering the transfer lift for the animal, at which she nodded.

"And where are yours?" Her follow up question, and he pointed, all the way across Trost.

She glanced down again, then to where he pointed, then down again, and Levi quickly knew what she was thinking.

"Don't-" he started, but that was all she needed.

"I'd like to see you try and stop me." She said flatly, with a deadpan glance before leaping, running down the walls until the height of the first rooftops, launching herself upon them and sprinting; the officers staring at her go off in stunned silence as she bounded across the gaps between the buildings along the main street with little difficulty.

"What is she, a fucking monkey?" Levi scoffed, before leaping off in pursuit of the teen, followed by Dot and his escorts who left without a word amongst themselves.

Erwin and Hange stayed back for a second, sharing a long glance.

The edges of the blonds' lips had begun to twitch with something he could only compare to pride when he saw Morrigan defeat the titans without the aid of the ODM gear, but now a small smile was clear on his face when he saw her quite clearly showing off, and Hanje punched his shoulder playfully. "You are in SO much shit." Was all Hanje said, before following after the now out-of-sight teen.

'Indeed, I am…' He thought to himself, but he couldn't really bring himself to care all that much.

He had a part of himself, if only just a part, that he'd lost long ago back; and though his face still stung from her bite- and her bark was just as bad- it felt good.

She was home. In one way or another.

The teen was shockingly fast, bounding from rooftop to rooftop while still checking her surroundings, shouting quick apologies to anyone she startled, sharp laughs escaping her as she hopped over and under clotheslines and shutters, jumping through windows and entire top floors of houses as she outran the officers.

But she wasn't just screwing around.

She was observing.

Seeing humanity for the first time and taking advantage of that fact. Just as she had gone on a wild goose chase searching for these walls; she might as well get their hearts pumping a bit too. An eye for an eye, you see.
So she ducked around corners, climbing rooftops and shimmying through alleys, startling folk but giving them winks and quick lies of costumes and games amongst children which were accepted albeit hesitantly by the civilians when spoken by her soft, sweet-sounding alto.

She walked around what seemed to be a bustling farmers market, ducking between stalls, sneaking a fruit here and there, eyes widening at the different textures and flavors; and after a while when she thought she had sufficiently won this game of hide-and-seek; and when she had had her fill of the crowded streets and loud people…. She saw a group of tan jackets ahead of her and walking in her direction. She ducked out of the way, rolling underneath a currently unmanned stall and peering from behind it cautiously.

Who she saw was not those who pursued her, but a different group. No wings or roses paired with the patches on their backs and if Morrigan remembered her mothers' words correctly, that meant they were cadets.

Wait, that meant… They were her age!

She blasted her appearance just then, for she was forced to listen in on their conversation rather than try and join it, ducked behind a stall like some kind of psychopath.

There were four of them, all with varying hair colors and styles; browsing the stalls and chatting amongst themselves and all very close as friends, though the two boys - one with light brown hair and the other dark - seemed to be bickering over something she couldn't quite hear while a blond boy tried to calm them down.

As they drew closer, Morrigan strained to listen in- her ears practically perked in interest.

"Those were definitely gunshots earlier, Eren!" The dusty-haired teen exclaimed, while the other- Eren - shook his head in disbelief, pushing the one speaking out of his personal space good-naturedly.

"Yeah, sure. I'm sure it was just a cannon firing at a titan, Jean. Now come on, we have to run these errands for Sadies or he'll have us running laps all night."

They were all distracted by a stall across the street, and Morrigan watched them with interest. The only girl had short, black hair that was cut into a choppy bob and she wore a red scarf, loose around her neck, at which Morrigan subconsciously touched her own fox tail scarf around her thigh nervously, blood not quite soaking through it.

Suddenly, the girl looks over at Morrigans' hiding spot, and the girl ducks down immediately, heart skipping as dark eyes found hers for just a moment, and she heard feet pounding towards her hiding spot quickly.

But before the other teen could look fully into the stall, Morrigan had jumped up, attaching herself to the inside of the top of the large stall, nails digging into wood as she held on for dear life- both her hands and breath as she waited for the girl to lose interest and move on, and she did; but only after a few tense, long moments and the calling of her friends.

"Mikasa! Let's go!" They shouted, and she began to turn away, eyes still scanning for movement.

"I thought I.. saw someone…" the girl said softly, before finally departing.

Morrigan stayed up there for a few minutes more, the wound on her leg beginning a slow drip, drip, drip of blood before she dropped to the ground, finally beginning to head to the horses when a bald head entered her view; though he was not chasing her. Dot was walking leisurely, with his arms behind his back ahead of her, and he did not try and grab her…. So she joined him, for she was walking in the same direction.

He explained who he was, and she listened silently, offering him a strawberry which he took with a loud guffaw; eating it with a twinkle in his eye. He knew she had no money to buy this with, yet he said nothing.

He began to speak to her, and it was distinctly different than how the others did. He did not seem to be put on edge by her appearance, and his demeanor was as though they were old friends.

He told her a general description of who Hange and Levi were in the grand scheme of things; explaining to her that Levi was harsh and stern with everyone and how Hange was… a bit of a wildcard. He explained how strong Levi was- and how he had earned the respect he had come to expect from people; and how he was going to be defensive when faced off with someone like her who didn't seem to quite care about status; and the girl listened to the man quietly as they walked through the streets, people pointing at them and whispering.

"I am sorry for what you and your mother have gone through, Morrigan." He said at last, and she felt a cold wave walk over her spine at the raw mentioning of it, but his voice sounded… genuine, the words not just leaving his mouth out of formality.

"Do you know her?" She asks softly, and the man nods twice, his eyes darkening with sadness.

"Her parents were friends of my own, I'm sorry to say that they've already passed, you won't be able to meet them."

The news saddened the teen, but she was saved from having to respond by the horses coming into eyesight, and by the time they reached them, the rest of the group arrived within moments
. She'd wasted enough time that she could see Calypso being walked down the road by a soldier- who seemed to be struggling quite a bit. The mare wasn't a small one by any means, at least seventeen hands or so- and was struggling against her handler quite a bit. Morrigan rushed up- taking the lead from the man with a "thank you," and the soft cooing of the mares' name while he stared up at her in… either awe, or terror. She wasn't very good with people yet so she.. couldn't quite tell.

"Have a nice hunt?" She crowed proudly to the incoming group, practically preening with pride, and Hange released hooting laughter, doubled over while Erwin simply looked concerned and perplexed, mounting his horse without a word. Levi seemed… absolutely furious, which made her preen harder. They all seemed mildly out of breath save for her and Dot, and they began their way back to the cadet camp- which was the closest military base to the Trost district; they had given Morrigan a long green cloak- though it only reached her mid-calf. She checked the inner collar with a smirk.

'Ackermann' It read, and she could barely control her laughter. Oh, this was definitely going to be returned ruined. The man was snobbish and quite obviously did not like her; though she could partially understand why- her people skills left something to be desired- but what she couldn't understand was that stupid piece of cloth around his neck. She thought it was ridiculous. She kind of loved how ridiculous it was. She almost wanted one to prance about in herself. She wondered if you needed a specific military status to wear such an item.

In fact, she thinks she'll ask him. Might as well make friendly conversation, right?

"Levi, do you have to be a specific rank for your neck thingy?" She asks, eyes wide with curiosity- a look she hadn't given him before, paired with an absolutely idiotic question. A question he answered with a glare and a kick to his mount, trotting ahead of her and out of conversational distance.

She turned to Hange with the same look on her face, except now paired with confusion.

"What? It was an honest question!" She said, and Hange burst out laughing again, and Morrigan could see Erwins' shoulders shaking ahead in silent laughter as well.

She certainly had no idea why they were laughing, though somewhat glad they found her amusing to a degree.

They arrived at the Cadets training grounds and smuggled the girl in, Hange leading her to their quarters and shutting the door despite protests from the others regarding the safety of the action.

"The girl needs privacy, men!" Hange shouted, and the door was slammed in their faces.

Morrigan was suddenly nervous, and Hange flapped their hands about suddenly, blushing.

"Oh! You've probably never used a modern bathroom!" They exclaimed, suddenly flustered themselves as they led her to a room off to the side of what appeared to be their bedroom.

Inside, it was stone floors and walls, but with strange metal pipes going from inside the walls to over a deep wooden tub with a hole in the center, a cork plug with a chain attached to the side. There was a low spout, to fill the tub, and a showerhead directly above that was connected to a chain that allowed it to be taken down and moved from its' original position.

"These were only recently installed within the past five or so years, and invented a little before; so it's probably something your mother couldn't teach you about!" Hange explained, and Morrigan nodded slowly as she examined the things.

Hange showed her the soaps, and how to work the hot water function- something that shocked the girl, before exciting her greatly, modesty not one of her strong suits as she stood and immediately began to strip the disgusting fur clothing from her body- the material caked with muck and blood.

It was now, with her endless source of adrenaline finally seeming to deplete, she began to feel her wounds, her thigh burning once again as she unwound the foxtails from it, the fur peeling from her skin in a painful, disgusting way, and Hange looked away quickly, a flush coming to their cheeks as they mumbled about finding something in the girls' size and collecting their medical kit.

The wound was ugly, puckered, and Morrigan could see the slight shine of metal within it, the soldier having been quite a bit away with their shot, thankfully for her. But unluckily, now she had metal stuck in her leg and it hurt like a bitch.

Before Morrigan stepped into the stream of almost scalding water- she noticed a sink with a round, reflective surface above it which caught her attention, hobbling over to it and wiping the steam away with a hand that left a crimson streak of fresh blood across her reflection; it was here she caught her first real look at herself.

She looked… terrifying. Feral and horrific; with bloodshot eyes and a face streaked with brown and red- hair crusty and breath foul. She really was a wild child.

With this, she allowed the tub to fill with water halfway, sitting down upon a stool placed in IT and catching the towel Hange threw at her through a doorway and demanded she wrap around herself before they would reenter. The girl complied, and Hange dug around in the cabinets next to the sink, pulling out glass vials and washcloths, dumping a few of the vials into the water and swishing it around, an oily sheen sticking to the water and a soft, sweet scent lifting the air.

"What's that?" Morrigan asked softly, and Hange smiled.

"Bath oils, and soaps to help get you clean. I'm sure there's a perfectly good person under all that dirt." Hange jokes and Morrigan smirked.

"I dunno... I might be a feral animal through and through, Hange." She shot back teasingly, causing her new… ally to bark out a laugh that rang through the bathroom; Morrigan found that they enjoyed the sound.

"Well, then we still might keep you, seeing as we keep Levi around despite his quills." They quipped, and Morrigan released a snort, turning from Hange and reached over to switch the water source from the tub spout, allowing the water to start spraying over her suddenly sore and aching legs, her feet soaking in the steaming tub.

"Oh… fuck the forest." She groaned as she began to wash her legs with the steaming washcloth she dipped into the sudsy water, the bath soon turning a crimson-tinted brown as months of dirt, mud, and gore were washed from her skin, and Hange pointedly looked away as the girl did so, no emotion upon their face as they gave the girl privacy; handing over a bar of sweet-smelling soap and washcloth; which Morrigan took and began using to wash her body after some slight instruction.
It smelled yummy- almost like she should eat it - and while Hange wasn't looking she may or may not have licked it - the thing had little black dots in it which Hange told her were bits of vanilla bean. It was another thing she had never experienced before, and she really liked it. Well, the smell. It tasted awful.

She had to have Hange help wash her back, and the squad leader accepted hesitantly, using a separate cloth to wash the girl's shoulder blades and spine, wiping the grime and dirt away to reveal porcelain, freckle-splattered and scar covered skin, her shoulders having the highest concentration while it pittered off along her spine and lower back; the contrast from the color she was before shocking, to say the least.

It took three whole tubs and rinses, a whole one exclusively for her long, tangled hair which when finally clean reached the young woman's' waist in dense, thick waves of dark strawberry blonde which she braided loosely down her back, tying the end with a thin strip of fur.

Her body was dotted and dashed with scars and bruises, no part of her body unadorned with patches of black and blue, her body hair fair and sparse which Hange remarked upon with a joking hint of jealousy; which Morrigan kind of didn't understand but wasn't going to question.

She wore the towel as Hange sat her back down upon a stool in the next room, a black pack unrolled on their bed as they gestured for her to sit down; which she did hesitantly.

"I have to remove the bullet from your leg, and stitch it shut." They explained apologetically, and Morrigan nodded tersely, their joking tone in the bathroom not translating over to this situation.

Hange gave Morrigan a belt to bite down on, and when the girl gave the go-ahead, they began the painful process of digging a bullet out of ones' leg.

As Hange had expected, they needn't restrain Morrigan, for she bit down on the belt and laid back on the bed, eyes clenched and still as stone as Hange worked, eventually pulling out the metal and washing the area with alcohol, the girl releasing a pained shriek -muffled through the leather of the belt while Hange apologized in a panic.

And after stitching up the hole and wrapping it in real bandages, Hange departed the room to give the girl some privacy to change.

The clothing Hange brought for her was simple- black underwear, a pair of beige scout uniform pants, a loose black button-down shirt, and boots that also belonged to the uniform. Morrigan assumed there wasn't much to offer in way of variety at a training camp.

The teen donned the attire, the shirt being a size or so too big and being tucked in, Morrigan buttoned it past below her collarbones and Hange taught her how to roll the sleeves up past her elbows. Pulling the boots on was little trouble, though walking in them might be. Though the heel was little more than an inch; the girl had spent quite a long time barefoot and it was going to take some adjusting.

She and Hange exited the room after about two and a half hours or so, and the latter led the girl down a few halls and through to a large room with a tall table, a table at which sat Erwin and the others, including a couple of people more.

Erwin stood at the head of the table, discussing with his fellow military commanders, informing those uninvolved of what had happened and what they were to do. With him now were Levi, Pyxis and his escorts, Keith Sadies, and Commander-In-Chief Darius Zackly who had arrived just moments before from the Military HQ

He had already explained the situation to the fullest extent he could while awaiting his… daughters' return. The thought was scary to him- how he could go this long with a daughter yet unknowing…. And now he had to explain, well... His daughter.

"My relationship with Flora began in the Cadet Corps…." He began, and the other men nodded, urging him to continue.

"We were always quiet about it; not appreciating how others would pry about anyone's relationships as if they were their own. It was something that went on from our teenhood into our early twenties - something that I truly did see lasting forever. Until we were separated and I lost an entire half of my soul."

His words were quiet, and Hange and Morrigan hesitated outside the door, the girl placing a hand on Hanges' wrist and stopping them, opting to listen where they were, the door concealing them as it was only cracked.

"It was the sixteenth excursion outside the walls- we were supposed to just be out for a small time, but it went off the rails almost immediately, a few kilometers outside the walls we were surrounded by abnormals- they were picking us off like pigs to the slaughter- we were on the run for days, until we eventually lost them in the forest; or so we had thought." His voice was beginning to strain, and Morrigans' nails began to dig into her palms painfully.

"They came from the trees- we had managed to take down the climbers but when we were done we were forced off by a handful of 13 meters- and by the time we were safe enough to do a headcount, it was too late. We were too far gone to even try and think of going back for anyone, no matter how much I begged."

"We had made love the night before. Knowing that one of us could die the next day, but pretending we were invincible."

Erwin's head was in his hands, hair gripped between his fingers as his voice broke upon the last sentence, and the meeting room was silent as the group listened sadly.

"I didn't know she was pregnant- how- how could I have known?" He shouted into his arms, and there were a few tense beats of silence before he continued, voice slightly muffled.

"And now she's gone."

No one at the table knowing what to say, Morrigan finally released Hange, and they entered. She came in quietly,so as not to startle anyone though she saw some expressions change, and though her father did not look up from where his head lay in his hands she continued towards him. Her steps were near silent as she walked to his shoulder, cocking her head slightly before speaking.

"Get your head out of your hands." She whispers, though her voice was stern; and he finally looks up, staring at her face as if for the first time; as did the rest of the room in shock.

Gone was the feral animal that had been a wildfire and terror to the Garrison regiment and others, and in its place stood a tall, regal young woman; with high cheekbones and piercing eyes, her lips full with a delicate yet determined set to her jaw that overall… created a quite striking face for a teen, pieces of hair framing her face, pulled out from her braid by Hange to give a more flattering appearance, though the quickly purpling bruise upon her cheek and lip was anything but.

"That's my mother you're speaking about. I said I didn't know where she was, not that she was dead. Now have some dignity." She said cooly, and his face hardened. She could tell no one had talked to him like this in a long time, if ever; yet she couldn't find it within herself to care.

After a few tense beats, the Commander-In-Chief stood, offering his hand to her. "Miss Allaway, thank you for joining us." He stated, his hand at which the girl gave a blank stare, blinking at it slowly in confusion. It took them all a beat before Levi scoffed.

"Grab it and shake." He said patronizingly, and she complied, gripping the man's hand firmly and shaking it up and down once, twice, three times… four….fi—

"Not that long you idiot!" Levi snapped, and she released the commander's hand, before turning her gaze onto Levi, her head turning oh-so-slowly as she looked down at him from across the table with a curious expression and wide, doe-like eyes.

"Who are you?"

She said innocently, and the Commander-In-Chief believed that time for introductions- going through names and ranks- the whole time of which Levi glared daggers into Morrigan's head, which turned, actually paying attention to the Commanders' words though Levi could see a smile ghosting around the girls' lips.

She was mocking him! He thought she was on the horses, but now he was sure of it!

And he was right, she was now. Now that she knew how funny it was. Maybe Morrigan was going to learn a lot not just about others, but about herself as well while here.