"You could hear a pin drop…"

In this time of the morning the hallway was usually filled with cheerful chatter, everyone talking about the upcoming assignments of the day or sharing the latest gossips― Today wasn't one of those days. Everyone stood neatly in the line, not saying a word.

"I'm about to get lynched and you bastards know it―" You furrowed your brow as you imperceptibly scanned your colleagues. "Thanks a lot for the warning, guys..!" Betrayal had a sour taste, but even if you tried, you couldn't really blame them. "Pathetic as it is, it's the law of the human nature; Everyone's just trying to save their own skin." No-one had said a word to you, trying their best not to even glance at your direction. "All this only because they are so afraid that big piece of turd. Give me a break..." Emmett thought himself as a big bad wolf of the military police; Feared and respected criminal mastermind who ran the whole show. Only the thought made you sneer― He was the biggest bully of your regiment, sure, but that was all he was. A jackass with a huge ego. Military police regiment was corrupted as hell, a honeypot that attracted the greediest and most foul spirited people to it. If someone would tell you Emmett was the worst of them, you'd just laugh in their face.

"Good morning, [f/n]~!"

"And here we go…" You'd think that feeling the arm of the-turd-ass Emmett wrap around your shoulders would make you nervous, but at the moment you were just fighting the urge to roll your eyes. Unlike most of the folk in the room, you weren't afraid of him― You had put up with his shit this far only because you didn't have the energy to deal with the possible consequences. All you wanted was to be left alone and do your work in peace― Which seemed to be no longer an option.

"There's been some really weird rumours going around lately―" Emmett chuckled, giving an unnecessary hard pat on your back before stepping away from your side and to in front of you. "You've probably heard about them too?"

"Maybe." You sighed, keeping your gaze down.

"Maybe?" He gave you a nasty glare that already told you more than enough about what he was about to say. "Funny. Because I think you know a lot more than the rest of us." Already standing way too close to comfort, he leaned even closer to make sure you'd be forced to give him your undivided attention. "Or maybe it wasn't you who was talking with that prick middle of the street yesterday? Maybe I was mistaken? But geez, it really looked awfully much like you, you know? And you two seemed sooooo familiar with each other..!" Emmett snarled.

"I'm sorry."

"Oh? So it was you?" He mocked. "Too bad, but I don't think that a simple 'sorry' is going to make this problem go away-"

"That's not what I meant." You added calmly. "I'm sorry… For THIS!" With all your might, you bashed your head straight into his face, dropping Emmett onto his knees to the floor. For a good two seconds you saw stars yourself, but the sight of Emmett squeezing his bleeding nose and crying in pain made you quickly feel a lot better. "Oh wait― I don't think I'm feeling sorry after all! You deserved that..! And a lot more if you ask me!" You snapped at him.

"You stupid bitch!" Emmett howled as he struggled back onto his feet, face twisted in both pain and anger. "I'll end you, I swear-!"

"Oh please..!" You gave him an unimpressed look just to taunt him. "Unlike you, some of us have actually earned our places in here; So I dare you... come and try!"

"What the hell, [l/n]?!" Nile bashed his fist against the desk surface. "First thing in the morning… a goddamn fight? I'd expect something like that from Emmett, but not from you!"

"Is that so? So tell me why I'm the one who's in here and not him?" You scowled at your commander. "Oh, that's right, that jackass is the general's nephew, how stupid of me to forget that!" You sneered sarcastically.

"Not another word!" Commander snapped at you. "Do you have any idea of what kind of situation you have put me in?"

You opened your mouth to answer, but the sudden strike of pain from the split lip made you flinch. Emmett had managed to throw a few reasonable punches at you; A split lip and few bumps and scratches were small price to pay compared to what you had done to his mug― and more than anything, to his ego. Deciding it was better not to say anything after all, you just silently glared at Nile from your spot across his desk.

"[l/n], you are one of my most valued officers―" Nile took a deep breath, then letting out even a deeper sigh. "But this... this little… dispute between you and-"

"Most valued my ass!" You almost shouted as you sprung up from the chair. "A little dispute?!" You had no idea what you even had expected― It was clear Nile wasn't going to do anything. He even had a nerve to tell you how much he valued you, as if it meant something. "This is a joke…" You hissed between clenched teeth. "This whole goddamn regiment… it's a joke!"

"Enough!" Nile's eyes widened in surprise and anger as he heard your words.

"I agree! Enough is enough..! Run this ape circus how you please―" Furiously ripping your jacket off from your back and swatting the damn thing onto Nile's desk, you gave him one last glare before marching out of the door. "But count me out! I'm out of here!"

Levi's POV

"Are you done grubbing in the mud or should we go ahead?"

"Ha-ha, very funny."

"I wasn't joking…" Levi sighed in boredom, glancing over his shoulder at the Section Commander Hange who was busy scraping moss― or something― from the giant tree roots.

"What do you think we come here to do? Fight titans for fun?" Hange chuckled and shook her head, handing another moss sample to her assistant. "Saving humanity one titan at the time? That wouldn't work. We're here to- No, wait-! Moblit, could you tell Captain Shorty why we're here?"

"Our mission is to explore and study-"

"I know why we're here." Levi gave the duo an annoyed glare. "I just hope you could 'explore and study' a bit more faster? We're sitting ducks out here…"

"And that's why you're here!" Hange cheered happily as she struggled back onto her feet, gesturing Levi to join her. "C'mon, just at least try to enjoy yourself! I bet even you'd be amazed on what kind of secrets nature has in store for us!"

"...I'll pass." Section commander shitty-glasses covered from head to toe in mud and god knows what didn't exactly make the offer look very tempting. Letting out another bored sigh, Levi turned his gaze back to the horizon; No titans in sight. Not that he wished for a battle― No, that would be immature and dangerous... but a some kind of a distraction would be welcomed. Two more days and they'd be back inside the walls again; First time in a very long time, he actually looked forward to it. "I wonder how she's doing…" Levi muttered under his breath. After catching himself quietly smiling to himself like some simple minded fool, he quickly tried shook the thought from his head.

"Hey shorty, take a look at these acorns~! Have you ever-"

"I don't give a shit about your acorns!"

Back to Reader's POV

"6 years… 6 years of service and this is what I get? Stabbed in the back?" You hissed as you marched through the Stohess district gates and towards the inner capital. "Dawk can go to hell..! During all these years I never took a single day off, but that doesn't make me his goddamn lapdog!" As expected, after your outburst Nile had done everything he could to make you stay― It was already too late for that, his pleas falling on deaf ears. Your mind made up, you had collected the very few valuable belongings of yours and stormed out of the HQ without another word. Tugging the knapsack onto a better position over your shoulder, you continued your way through the sunny city. The reality of the situation hadn't completely sunk in yet, but you already felt a feeling of anxiety swelling deep down in your gut, making every step heavier as you proceed on your journey. For a half of a decade you had dedicated your life to the military police, making sure you had no time to even bear a thought for anything else but your work― Now you were about to have more time in your hands than you knew what to do with. Quite a drastic change to your life, to say at least. What were you going to do? Where would you go? You didn't have an answer to the first question and the second one didn't leave you up with too many options to choose from; "There's only one place where to go…"

After hours and hours of walking, you finally reached your destination: Arenaria, a village in the southeast area of wall Sina, surrounded by fields and forest. Taking a carriage instead of walking did cross your mind once or twice, but in all honesty you simply didn't want to arrive to your destination too quickly. Taking a deep breath, you made your way down the cobblestone path and towards the lonely house on the outskirts of the town. Atmosphere was quickly growing dusky; The dim glow of candles and gas lamps began slowly light up behind the windows of the village houses, but one of them remained dark. Walking across an unkept, weed filled yard, you halted at the heavy wooden door, taking one last deep breath before letting yourself in. Rusty hinges let out a low creak as you pushed the door open― After all these years, it was finally time for you to say those words you had been avoiding for so long:

"I'm home."