"…Family reunions are so weird, like 'Hey, here's this stranger you know so much about but haven't seen in years!'…And there's always some kind of baggage that comes along too…Family ain't family until someone cries…"—Edith M. Brown Diary, 850

Spring 850
Beyond Wall Rose

Crouching next to a patch of wild mushrooms along the edge of the forest path, Edith quickly set to work harvesting them. Further up ahead, she could catch glimpses of Jean, her keeper for the day, as he set about collecting what pieces of firewood he could find.

Not much disturbed the quiet setting of the forest they were foraging; a bird call here, a rustle of the canopy there; occasionally there would be a curse or two floating down on the wind as Jean pricked a finger or dropped some wood on his toe.

Despite their current situation, Edith knew that this trip into the woods was more for her sake than anything else. After the most recent expedition and Ryan's death she had been rather distant—both mentally and physically—something that she was rather embarrassed about.

And that didn't even take into account how protective Jean had been the last few days; whether out of some kind of moral or personal obligation to either Ryan or herself, she wasn't sure. But as the days drew on, it became undoubtedly clear that he felt he needed to watch over her; whether it was by merely being in the same room or by volunteering to be her keeper for the day.

Eren had even gone so far as to tease Jean about him harbouring some kind of crush on Edith, Jean denied it vehemently of course but Edith couldn't help but wonder what had caused this sudden change. Just what did he see out there? Just what did I do?

Ryan's death and the most recent expedition played on Edith's mind often, it chipped away at her piece by piece leaving her no more than a shell some days. Edith's stomach rolled at the memory, whatever she had done had not only killed her most dearest friend and lover, but had revealed bits of her past that she would rather have laid buried.

Then there were the memories of the subsequent interrogation in Commander Erwin's hospital room; ones that made her stomach sink and her heart clench. She had never more felt like a child at the principal's office than right then. How Levi had stared her down the entire time, how Erwin had refused a prosthetic on the grounds of how long recovery would take or even how Pixis & Hanji had looked her over like a piece of meat, how Norfolk had described what she had done…It was so sickening…

Quickly pushing away from the tree where the mushrooms had sprung from, Edith bent over and expelled what little contents were in her rolling stomach. Bile, snot and tears mixed together on the forest floor in a pile of roiling filth, all the while red light danced out of the corner of her eyes. Gagging on the taste in her mouth, Edith coughed and choked out the last of the bile as her stomach heaved.

Falling back onto her rump once done, Edith hastily wiped away the red-tinted bile that dripped from the corner of her lips. That's the third time this week. Edith mused, watching as the thick red substance slowly dribbled down her fingers; the skin beneath reflecting the slight glow of the unknown substance. Well, that's not quite true, Edith had a feeling she knew what it was and why it had been happening; it was the solution to the problem that she feared most.

Quickly pulling her things and herself together, Edith moved further down the forest path after Jean, making sure to keep the boy in her sights and the site of her earlier incident behind them. That was lucky, Edith paused, moving to pluck horopito leaves from the lower branches of the canopy, It's a good thing Jean was so far ahead…and taking a piss!

But although these thoughts, obsessive and addicting as they were, Edith was thankful that she had 'awoken' from her depressive slump not too long ago, or at least a little anyway. A young boy, no older than six or seven, had come to the door (somehow bypassing all of the security measures of their current hideaway) and delivered a handwritten note addressed to her from her Sisters Rose & Maria.

While the note had been nothing more than a few short words, the sudden reaching out from her Sisters had come as enough of a shock to awaken Edith from her depression. It had been so long since she had last heard from them, so why now? She was just thankful that the rest of the newly minted Levi squad had been out in the valleys keeping watch over Hanji & Eren's Titan experiments at the time (sans Jean who was snoring away at the table, having very nearly fallen asleep in his bowl).

A crack of a branch crunching underfoot made Edith pause and pulled her from her thoughts as she spun on her heel to face the noise behind her. "Edith?" Jean called from further up ahead when he realised the brunette wasn't with them. The tall boy paused in his walk, arms now free of the firewood that he had lain at his feet before moving back to stand next to the medic.

"What is it?" Jean tacked on as Edith's eyes scanned the woods around them. There!

"I know you're there, don't bother hiding" Instead of answering Jean, Edith called out to the figures hidden in the trees. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Jean tense and his hands flickered to the blades strapped at his waist.

There was a beat of silence as nothing moved, the woods still rustled in the wind and birds still chirped in the trees, but the figures in the trees seemed to wait until they had locked eyes with Edith before they dropped from their perches. When the pair rose to their full height in front of the duo, Edith felt her breath catch in her throat.

"Who're you?" Jean demanded, blade raised towards the two who appeared unmoved by the threat; he had moved to stand slightly in front of Edith clearly showing that he meant to protect her from the two unknowns before them, though he only clutched to the hilts of his blades.

As Edith let her eyes trail over the new scars marring the taller brunette to her left and then to the alchemic tattoos adorning the sleeves of the blonde to her right; she in turn felt their gazes rove over her small form and her metallic prosthetic in particular. Much had changed between the three in the years passed, but they still recognised them for who they were.

"Hello Sina, it's been a long time" Maria smiled sadly.

"State your name & your business here!" Jean continued, blade still raised as he shifted on his feet, tense and ready for battle.

"Cease your whimperings, foolish child" Rose turned to Jean and placed a gentle hand on his forehead. When hand met forehead, Jean collapsed to the ground in a boneless heap where he lay fast asleep.

"Jean!" Edith cried rushing forth to check on the other boy.

"Hush your cries Sister, the boy sleeps, nothing more" Maria stated in reply of the unspoken question, before both she and Rose turned to face Edith. In turn, Edith rose from her crouch and stepped closer to the pair at some point during the interaction.

"You sent that child to me" Edith stated, her gaze now solely on her Sisters despite the unconscious boy at their feet.

"Aye, we did" Maria nodded.

"Why?"

"We needed to deliver a message to you, Sister" Rose added.

"…Why now? It's been ten years, so why now? Why the sudden need to reach out?"

Both Maria and Rose shared a look between them, one worrying their lip between their teeth and the other raised an eyebrow in silent question before they turned back to her. "It's…about the Council, Sina" Rose began.

"What…about the Council?" Edith asked warily eyeing the two.

"The Council caught word of your birth last Spring" Maria continued. "They performed a mass Communion on the night of your birth, Sister"

Edith sucked in a sharp breath at that; Communion was only given on specific holidays and outside of those days? Bad news. "Everyone was in attendance, even the Council themselves" Maria ended.

"Everyone…?" Edith breathed sharply, tears gathered in her eyes "E-even…even the Blades?"

"Even the Blades" Rose replied solemnly.

"Shit" Edith sniffed, wiping away the tears that ran down her cheeks and splattered to the ground beneath her feet.

"There's more, Sina" Maria continued softly.

"More?" Edith glanced up with teary eyes.

"The stars are aligning, Sister, paths are connecting and precious times draw near" Edith nodded her acknowledgement, still upset at the sudden news her Sister had told her about the Church. Sisters, teachers, friends, all of them gone just like that.

"It is time for us to leave, but know that we are always with you Sister" Rose stated as the approaching voices of their squad drew near to the boundary of the woods in which they hid. She moved forward and clasped Edith's forearm in a gentle grip and in returned Edith gripped hers. Metal holding flesh. The two then pulled themselves together until both of their noses and foreheads gently embraced each other.

"May the Goddess bless you" Rose whispered with eyes closed.

"And also with you" Edith replied before stepping back and repeating the same process with Maria. Edith stood and watched as they disappeared into the trees, melting back into the shadows of the forest before she turned to the boy still sprawled on the forest floor.

Taking care, Edith pulled the blades from Jean's tight grip (he was lucky that he hadn't landed on them when he had collapsed) and set them aside before rolling the boy over onto his back. She moved to remove the waterskin at her hip and poured the cold water over his face, effectively waking him from his sleep.

"Hey!" Jean cried with wide eyes, jumping to his feet as if he had just awoken from a bad dream, "Eurgh! W-what happened? Why…does my head hurt?" He clutched his aching head in his hands.

Next to him, Edith rose to her feet. Furiously Edith tried to scrub her eyes free from the tears now falling freely, tracing tracks down her cheeks and pit-pattering onto the forest floor below. When Jean had recovered somewhat, he turned to the ginger who was busying herself with the bag of herbs she had dropped earlier. It was clear she was trying to hide her face from the boy in an attempt to appear focused on the task at hand. "Edith? Are you okay? What happened?"

"…Let's just go" Edith rasped, refusing to meet his concerned eyes and moved back towards the log house in which they were camped.

Returning to the cabin, Jean and Edith quickly set about placing their items aside, just in time for Eren and Historia to emerge from the kitchen and Hanji's squad to return from their errands in Trost.

"Now, what's this about?" Levi questioned, taking note of Hanji's forlorn expression.

"I'm sorry, Pastor Nick…he was murdered…Today in the Trost barracks" Informed Hanji.

"Do…do you know how he died?" Edith questioned, not quite meeting Hanji's eye.

"…Why? Do you know something, Brown?"

"It's just…it's-it's not…unusual for the Church to…take care of their own" Edith shifted in place as she crossed her arms, trying to hide her shaken hands.

"Church? Do you mean the Wallists or the…what was it Faeries? Spriggans?"

"It depends on the killing…each one has their own…signature I guess"

"And you're familiar with these…signatures?"

"I'm more familiar with ours…but unless the Wallists have changed theirs recently…"

Hanji and Levi narrowed their eyes at the young medic, the silence stretching on as Edith shifted in place, unnerved at the sudden attention she was receiving. Although the members of the new Levi squad knew some of her background involving the Faeries and the Order of Ymir, it was mostly just the basics. Though Edith had an inkling that the likes of Armin and Jean were starting to cotton on that there was more to the picture.

"Anyway, Nick's death was anything but peaceful" Hanji continued, making a mental note to catch up with Edith later, "The interior Military Police tortured Nick and then murdered him" Edith sucked on her lower lip as her brows furrowed in thought. "I figured the Church would wanna get their hands on Nick when they learned he was cooperating with the Scouts; that's why I hid his identity and had him stay in the barracks…I never imagined they would use soldiers to kill him…This is my fault, I should've been more careful"

"They tortured him? For information, right? Did they just want to know what he'd passed onto us?" Armin mused.

"Most likely" Levi agreed, "But these are the interior MPs we're dealing with, so you can bet there's something deeper than work here. Now, how many nails was the good Pastor missing?" Levi turned to Hanji.

"Huh?" Hanji perked up.

"How many? You saw right?"

"I only caught a glimpse of him, but all the nail beds I saw were empty"

"People who talk, talk after one. If they don't, ripping off more won't make a difference—" Edith interjected absentmindedly, mindless of the eyes on her "—Usually, if one method doesn't work, they'd switch to something more painful. I wonder why they continued with the nails? Maybe to make it look like he'd gone insane and killed himself?"

"You really think they'd do that?" Armin questioned.

"Well, it's happened before" Edith shrugged in reply.

"What? When? I don't remember hearing about that" Hanji interjected.

"No, I s'pose you wouldn't" Edith shook her head, "The Wallists have a lot of influence within the Walls—especially over the last few years. Besides, from what I remember it was mostly poisonings"

"From what you remember?"

"Well, the Church functioned as a school, so we had lessons. Obviously" Edith replied, the 'duh' going unsaid, "Anyway, if Nick is dead, then the MPs won't know that we know about the Reiss family, right?"

"Right" Levi nodded, "But, the government is up to something and we've got a target on our backs"

Before anyone could say anymore, a messenger burst in through the door to deliver a single note to Levi. No sooner had Levi opened and read the message, did the small cottage become a flurry of activity as everyone quickly gathered up their things. Every nook and cranny, every drawer and cupboard and even the woodpile outside, was inspected to see if any trace of them being there had been left behind.

By dusk, they had gathered up on the ridge overlooking their previous encampment, just in time to watch the MPs bust the door down and tear the place apart. "Whew! That was close!" Connie sighed, watching the scene with rapt attention, "What if they had caught us? Would they rip our nails off too?"

"They'd probably do worse" Edith murmured under her breath, but if Connie's wide eyes were anything to go by, not quiet enough.

"How did Commander Erwin know they were headed here?" Armin asked.

"The Government's passed down some new orders" Levi sighed, "There's been a freeze on all Scout activity outside the Wall. We're to hand over Eren and Historia"

"What?"

I s'pose that makes sense. With Eren as the only Titan on our side, and Historia with a possible link to the Reiss family, it makes sense to want them back. Edith nodded minutely as the messenger explained that Commander Erwin had been rounded up by the MPs like a common-day criminal. That too, actually— everyone knows if you want to kill a snake you chop off the head.