Disclaimers to avoid stealing credits: This upcoming song is from Kingdom Hearts 2 by Utada Hikari in English. The other characters Rika and Erica are the OCs created by my Amino friend. Axel is from the Kingdom Hearts game series.
With Eren now being the official member of the Scout Regiment, he's about to be escorted to the formerly old headquarters. Axel and Rika came along because they're friends with Cecelia and she trusts them both. Levi was still skeptical if magic is actually real or not. But for what it's worth, he doesn't see anything that gives off the vibe that she's been lying to him. One of the cadets named Oruo Bozad explained to Eren at that moment when moving his horse to gallop on the side: "You know? That headquarters is actually a castle that we remodeled. But over the years, it ended up being useless for the Scout Regiment until now." Eren looked at the man and nodded, "I see..." He couldn't take his eyes off from Cecelia as she was with Rika and Axel as part of Levi's orders. Just as Oruo tries to intimidate Eren, this is when things have gotten out of control. The horse that Oruo was riding on stepped on a phone of which caused him to not only accidentally bite his tongue but also mistakenly kicked the side. This caused the horse to cry out and began to gallop out of control and forward with full speed, which caused Oruo to fall backwards fro his saddle. Out of instinct, Cecelia jumped off from her horse's saddle and started to jump from one tree to another in rapid speed. Although her speed on foot is seemingly physical because of training from adventures when growing up, it's as if she's born with the gift of a god in skills. In a matter of seconds, she got close enough and made the jump downwards. As if it's either by luck or skill if not both, she landed immediately onto the saddle and pulled firmly onto the rein: "Halt!" The horse neighed and stopped a few inches in front of the clliff that has a rather high drop. "There, there...it's okay," she said with comfort as she's patting on the horse's head. She then carefully steered the stallion to the opposite direction. The first to show up was her own horse of which is a black stallion and that's when Levi and the others as well as Rika and Axel showed up. Axel laughed as soon as the embarrassed Oruo got back on his horse: "Hahaha! Showing off much?" Rika giggled a bit and sighed: "You're still full of surprises, aren't you?" Cecelia got a bit flustered but managed to look calm and collected. Alexandra was in silent shock because a normal cadet would have used the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear to get to a rampaging horse that quickly in seconds. Abigail smiled widely and said with excitement: "Holy cow! The way you jump from one tree to another was so cool!" Levi decides to have a close eye on Cecelia from here on out. It's not that he dislikes her, but there are some things that he might not be aware about...that only she along with her friends Rika and Axel would know.
Approaching the castle, Cecelia got off from her black stallion and settled it nearby to take a look around. Placing her right hand on one side of it as she closed her eyes, she emits a bit of magic without even Levi seeing what she's doing. She gasped a bit in shock as she saw a bit of memories of the past. This castle was the first home to her parents before she was born. She quickly pulled her hand away as soon as she heard some footsteps. One cadet named Eld Gin spoke up as he and the other cadet named Gunther Schultz looked around: "Look at these weeds. This place has gone to Hell." Gunther sighed when talking to his comrade: "It's been abandoned for years. But the insides are shambled." Levi spoke up as he walked behind the two: "In which case, we have a problem, don't we? Best to grab a broom and get to work." This is when every cadet in the Special Operations Squad began to clean the entire castle. Despite that the castle is old, it's still huge from the outside and the inside. Alexandra was keeping her eyes on Axel and Cecelia giggled when Rika sneezed cutely from a bit of dust on her nose. Eren didn't look pleased that he will be sleeping in the cellar of the castle instead of a comfortable bed. Levi then explained of his decision: "It's our safest option. Your abilities are far from being under control. You might go Titan in your sleep. One of the conditions of having you in my custody at all is that I keep you under strict security. Morning, noon, and night. While you're in Dream Land, you're in restraints. That's the rule." Eren couldn't say much to argue about it. It's true that he has little control of his power, so there is a possibility that he might hurt even his sister Abigail. Levi then said before walking out the door: "I'll check your work. Take over from here. I want it spotless." In the other room, Alexandra has her focus on Axel. So far, he's not pulling off anything shady or a "fast move" on her. Wanting to ease the tension, he spoke up: "So! You're the captain's sister? You must be as skilled on the field as he is." Alexandra was confused of why he's talking to her. But she decides to answer his question and replied: "Well, my brother is much more skilled on the field than I am. But I did surpass Mikasa and she's not like any other foes that I can easily take down." He chuckled and responded as he starts to polish the window: "I guess we have our own strength and faults. I mean, Erica would tell me her flaws and-" Alexandra interrupted him and asked: "Wait...you said Erica just now. Is her last name Smith by any chance?" He started to think back and then said when turning back to Alexandra: "Of course. Like I would never have that name memorized. And now that I'm thinking about it, she has been looking for her older brother but has no idea where to look. It has been quite the years since then." She then said when walking up to him: "If that's the case, I have a favor that I need from you. If you can do that, I'll assure you that I can trust you as my brother have trusted your friends." He started to think and then grinned with his arms folded in: "Alright. Let's hear it out."
In one of the rooms, it appears to be a library. Cecelia turned to her childhood friend and said: "This used to be a huge library for my parents. This was their first time together before I was born." Rika said as she flew up a bit above the ground to get to the chandelier: "I have no idea about this. Although I think that it would make some sense. Otherwise, they wouldn't have met Levi in the first place." She sneezed again after using Levitation to control the moldy books to go into the huge back to toss aside as trash. She quickly floats back down just in case anyone would walk through the door to see their cleaning process. After sweeping the floors, Cecelia sees this piano that is dusty but still in good condition. Rika turned to her friend and asked: "Are you thinking what I'm thinking that you're about to do?" Cecelia starts to thoroughly clean the piano and even its chair before sitting down in front of it. In the last room over, Levi came back as Petra starts sweeping. He turned to Eren and said with his stoic expression on his face: "Your cleaning still needs work. Back upstairs now." As soon as Eren was about to do as he was told, the castle echoed of a piano being played and these words being heard:
In you and I, there's a new land
Angels in flight
My sanctuary, my sanctuary
Where fears and lies melt away
Music in time
What's left of me
What's left of me now...
Cecelia starts to play the piano to this one song that she would hear in her dreams. Rika was sitting down on a nearby chair to listen calmly. Levi was the first to find the source of the song. He knows that it's obvious Cecelia as he had heard her last two performances. But he seems to become more drawn into it as her voice carries on:
I've watched you fast asleep
All I fear means nothing
In you and I, there's a new land
Angels in flight
My sanctuary, my sanctuary
Where fears and lies melt away
Music in time
What's left of me
What's left of me now...
Rika watched as Cecelia's fingers started to dance along the piano keys with her eyes closed. In the moment of that elegant yet dynamic interlude, she starts to release her magic all around the castle from the inside and then out. This is when her magic starts to express the past memories involving her parents from when they fell in love to the time her father Ryu proposed to her mother Sayuri when the mother was a few weeks pregnant. Those memories are of the happiest and most precious that came between the two of them. Cecelia continued to sing as her fingers played the song more:
You show me how to see
That nothing is whole
And nothing is broken
In you and I, there's a new land
Angels in flight
My sanctuary, my sanctuary
Where fears and lies melt away
Music in time
What's left of me
What's left of me now
My fears, my lies
Melted away...
Levi got to the library room and looked over to see what's going on. Rika was peacefully sleeping because of the soothing music as Cecelia softly finished the song:
In you and I, there's a new land
Angels in flight
My sanctuary, my sanctuary
Where fears and lies melt away
Music in time
What's left of me
What's left of me now
Cecelia got spooked as soon as she sees Levi but managed to keep herself calm to avoid setting him off unintentionally. He enters into the library and asks her, "What's going on? And why did you stop cleaning?" She answered as she stood up from the piano's seat: "I saw this piano in this room that is actually a library. I read in my parents' journal that this castle used to be their first home until they moved somewhere else and handed it over to the Scout Regiment." He said as he checks on the progress: "I see...and it looks clean enough. Better than how Eren had done his work. Still, be sure that you don't slack off so much. You brought up the condition of me being your superior officer and I agreed to it. Those are the rules you brought up, did you not?" She was silent of which indicates that he isn't wrong abut it. He then said before he walked out the door: "We're heading back to the headquarters. Gather your friends because we're leaving in two minutes." Just as he said that, there was a sound of fighting going on about. From outside, a cloaked figure with the hood covering the face is pushing away from Alexandra and Petra. From the body figure, the "intruder" is a young woman with two Keyblades called the Diamond Dust and Ice. Just as Alexandra was about to attack, Axel interfered by pulling her back. This is when he said this when trying to diffuse the situation: "Alexandra! It's okay! That's Erica! She's Erica Smith! Your friend Erwin's sister!" The figure seemed to recognize him as she removed the hood. Having the long blond hair and icy blue eyes, she has the feminine figure that's like Erwin himself. Even Levi couldn't believe his eyes as soon as he sees everything unfolding. Axel then turned around and asked as he hugged her: "What are you doing here, Snowflake?" That's a nickname he would call her by time to time. Erica said when looking up into his eyes: "Larxene found out that I'm not a Nobody, so I have no other choice but to flee before Xemnas would put my powers to 'better use' as he would call it." Cecelia turned to Levi and responded: "I'll explain everything on our way back to headquarters."
As the sun is setting, Erwin seems to be focused on the upcoming mission. But at the same time, he's also trying to find his lost sister with any leads. So far, he has come up empty but he never dreamed of giving up on finding his only surviving family. Miche turned to the side to look at Erwin before speaking: "Don't mean to be rude. But shouldn't we focus on the mission at hand? Not to mention of what that we don't know what Ryu wanted us to do now that his daughter is here." Erwin replied as he was looking into some paperwork: "Our main focus is to make useful on Eren's ability. He's an asset, not a foe. The last thing we want is the Military Police to throw us off track." Miche sighed a bit while looking at the commanding general: "And you still haven't given up on finding Erica, have you?" Erwin was surprised that Miche has caught on quite well as he grinned: "Your nose is as sharp as ever. Not bad." At this moment, the door opened up and that's when Axel walked in on the two: "Hey there! Just got to the headquarters with the captain and his squad in tow. So! You two must be Erwin Smith and Miche Zacharius." Erwin stood up from his chair and answered, "Yes. That is my name. I'm assuming that you are friends with Cecelia?" Axel nodded his head and said with a bit of a grin: "I sure am. And you better be sure to pinch yourself to be sure you're not dreaming. I have someone you have been searching for all this time." Erwin is confused about what Axel meant by that, but he looked onward as Axel stepped onto the side. His icy blue eyes widened as soon as Erica waved with a small smile: "...Erwin?" He couldn't believe what he is seeing in front of him, but there's no denying that it's his young sister as she ran over and hugged him in a sisterly way. He asked Axel when looking up: "You know my sister all this time?" Axel lightly chuckled while rubbing the back of his head: "Well, she told me that she have an older brother named Erwin. I was just an idiot of not asking her what her brother looks like until I was talking to Alexandra. Can you believe the lucky stars?" Erwin walks up to Axel and holds out his hand: "I don't know who you are personally enough. But seeing that Erica trusts you openly, I can give you the benefit of a doubt. Axel...thank you for bringing my sister back home." Axel grinned and shook the general's hand: "No problem. I don't back down on my word on someone that I trust the most." This caused Erica to blush but smiled in relief. As for Cecelia, she was looking at the sunset as she couldn't help but feel as if something bad is about to happen if she ever lets her guard down.