Chapter 3: The New Girl
Morning once more dawns on the Scouting regiment's HQ. There's early activity outside as scouts wake early to get work done today. Members are talking and working all throughout the HQ. The trainees from the 104th cadet corp aren't spared either, as they're put to work early just like everyone else. Endeavors ranging from training to supply gathering are being covered. Many of the scouts are used to this routine. Others, not so much.
Out in the courtyard, Mikasa lifts up three wood crates at once and carries them off. Her fellow cadets all staring incredulously as she walks off with the cargo like it's just one empty crate. The cadets are handling supplies that are meant for the upcoming expedition beyond the walls, unaware of the commander's plans to delay it in light of new information, or rather, a new information source. Their ignorance not alone, as the only ones aware of this change in plans are those same few that were entrusted with the information of the original plan of the expedition. On the surface, the scouts are bustling with activity.
In the dungeon, is a different story. While the rest of the scouts are getting up and active early, Eren is still in bed. His eyes closed as he finally begins to stir in bed. His body under the covers and comfortable like that, refusing to cooperate with a proper morning routine, still recovering energy from his transformation just yesterday. It takes a few minutes, but the boy eventually starts opening his eyes wearily. They only get part way through opening when he sees a mass in the chair next to his bed.
A jolt of energy shoots through the boy, who moments ago was as slothful as the sin itself. He flings himself up into a sitting position, which startles Isabella slightly. She jumps out of the chair and is looking around for what startled Eren. Eren just looks at her incredulously. How long has this girl been watching him? 'She's absolutely insane.' He tells himself in his head. She then looks at him and gives him a sweet smile. As though saying good morning. Eren just sighs as he's about to get out of bed to get dressed, then clicking in his head that she's not leaving until he tells her to.
As he's about to tell her to leave his cell she sighs, mimicking his sigh earlier. He groans at this mimicking, knowing full well it's going to get annoying. As he thinks this she mimics his groan too. He points furiously at the exit of the cell, and says slowly, "Out!" His tone and body making it a clear command. She looks between his finger and the exit for a moment, then leaves slowly, looking back at him at the cell door curiously to see if she was doing it right. He nods slowly, straining to not choke the easily confused girl. She just smiles though and leaves the cell. He sighs in exasperation, it was much easier on his life and patience when he was the only titan shifter.
While Eren is getting dressed, Isabella misunderstands the extent of out, and walks past her cell and to the dungeon door, opening it and walking out without Eren being at all aware. She walks through the halls, looking around curiously. She has the outfit of a scout on still from yesterday, having slept in it. She constantly scratches at it as she walks the halls, not liking the feeling of it. It's rough and chafes against her skin. Not just a particular part or one area of it, but the entire outfit is annoying to her skin. It doesn't take her long though to run into corporal Levi, who was on his way to pick her and Eren up. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees her. "What're you doing?" Levi hisses out, eyes narrowed as he glares at the shifter girl.
She looks up at him curiously, tilting her head in confusion at his question. She doesn't know how to answer so she just points as Eren did, and mimics his word from earlier. "Out!" She declares as Eren did. Her posture and tone commanding much like Eren's was earlier and it sends the completely wrong message to Levi.
He stares wide-eyed at her talking to him, mostly because he wasn't anticipating a vocal response, let alone a commanding one. He grits his teeth as he walks towards her and takes her by her collar, having to pull her down a bit. "What was that?" He asks, his voice is controlled, but terrifying. In spite of the menacing voice of the corporal, she just tilts her head in confusion. "What? Not talking again?" He asks, getting in her face, which she finds extremely uncomfortable so she tried recoiling her head back, but her neck doesn't go very far.
Before Levi can do anything else, Eren is bounding down the hall calling out to him. "Corporal Levi!" This only just barely stops the corporal from taking an action that would not have gone his way if he succeeded. He glares at Eren as he speaks to him. "I'm so sorry corporal! I told her to get out of my room because she was in it and I needed to get changed, I didn't want her there..." Eren takes in a deep breath trying to collect himself together.
"Wait," Levi says suspiciously. "Did you just say out and point to get her to leave you alone?" Levi's put two and two together already, he knows the answer before it's given, letting go of Isabella already.
"Uhm... Yes, sir." Eren answers and Levi lets out a tch. He shakes his head in annoyance as he steps away from the girl. Who has returned to readjusting her outfit and scratching at it uncomfortably.
"So she can talk." Eren freezes up, realizing why he asked that, and he looks at Isabella with worry. "She repeated your actions when I asked her what she was doing out. Though that doesn't prove she can think beyond mimicking others, similar to her... whatever she does to change her body." Eren lets out a sigh of relief in his head, at least she's not in trouble. "Yaeger." He snaps and Eren is once more at full attention. "Take her to meet the others. They'll be where we usually meet, I'm going to bring this to Erwin immediately. Understood?"
"Yes, Sir!" Eren proclaims with a salute.
Isabella looks between Eren and Levi in confusion before pointing at Eren and saying in a correcting tone, "Eren." Which snaps Levi into staring at her in shock again. Eren, on the other hand, feels all of his weight double as she just openly messes up everything every opportunity she seems to be given.
"That tone isn't something you taught her, is it?" Levi figures he probably taught her his name, but he imagines that she wouldn't know what a correcting tone sounds like unless Eren was up late into the night teaching her different tones, which is heavily doubted.
"No sir, but I tried communicating with her a lot last night, she might have picked up on a few things I didn't intend and just remembers them now!" Eren quickly tries to explain, his tone filled with guilt that Levi hardly even has to try and pick up on.
"She talked last night, didn't she?" He asks slowly.
Eren doesn't have a chance to answer before Isabella nods for him. A wide and oblivious smile stuck on her face. Eren falls even further into annoyance and is about ready to strangle the girl. Levi stares at her with a deep glare and distrust. "It's progress." He finally says. Eren shocked by what he says, unable to respond before he continues with, "I'll be informing Erwin of all of this. I'm sure that it was late when she spoke, I hope that means that you planned to report to us in the morning." He turns, not meaning what he said last. He knew for a fact it wasn't too late for him to report to them, and that he likely had no intention of informing them. However, Erwin said that this was to be expected, and if they were to get her to ease up around them, Eren was the only way, and that interfering would only cause her to close up again. Levi doesn't like having to let Eren off for it and most certainly doesn't like letting the girl get away with it.
"Her name is Isabella," Eren says, trying to get that out, mainly so that they give her her appropriate name rather than a fake one like they said they would. If someone calls her by the fake name and she corrects them like she just did he'd only be in even more trouble, and by extension, she would be too.
Levi stops for a moment, looking over his shoulder at this added information. At this point he's numb to getting any more upset, so he just nods in confirmation before continuing on his way. Eren sighs in relief now that that's over. He then whirls on Isabella and is about to tell her off for going off on her own, when she asks, "Eren, Yaeger?" She tilts her head in that curious way that she does, and he's stopped in his tracks for a moment. Then he quickly shakes it off and turns to lead her.
"Follow." He says in the same commanding tone from earlier and she listens, her hands still fiddling with and messing with her clothes. The noise of her scratching at and constantly readjusting the clothes is grating on his ears. Thoughts on why she's suddenly so uncomfortable in the clothes now when she was perfectly fine with it just last night.
It doesn't take long to get to the hall where the other members of the Levi squad meet, he doesn't hear anything inside, so his best guess is that they've not yet arrived. Though when he opens the door he freezes up when he sees the rest of the Levi squad sitting in dead silence, picking at their food and tea silently, though upon hearing the door open they all look at Eren, stopping their slow meal. It's a frozen standoff for a while until Isabella pokes her head over Eren's shoulder to look inside curiously. Her eyes are wide with recognition of the people.
Without warning she pushes past Eren, sending him stumbling a bit into the room from the loss of balance. She runs in and waves excitedly at the familiar faces. Nobody waves back, staring at the girl in confusion. They weren't aware that the girl had changed her appearance, having not seen Levi since they left him yesterday, in their eyes, this girl is just a crazy that Eren is dragging into their meeting.
"Who's the girl, Eren?" Eld asks.
"Is she from your cadet year?" Gunther adds.
"I didn't see her in the group you ran off to greet the other day," Oluo adds.
"Is she your girlfriend?!" Petra asks with bright eyes and a bit more excitement that should be had at the idea. Everyone gives her a weird look of confusion to go along with it. She awkwardly laughs it off and waves them off. "It was just a joke." It was not.
Before Eren could explain to them that she's the titan from yesterday and why she looks different, she looks at him curiously and says, "Eren girlfriend?"
Everyone in the squad looks at Eren and Isabella incredulously and all cry out at the same time "She is your girlfriend?!" This sends Eren for a loop, for one, Isabella's repetition of things she hears getting him into trouble again, then secondly the fact that everyone took her repetition as her confirming she's his girlfriend.
He swings his head back and groans. Then he looks at his squad mates tiredly and explains before they can press anymore. "No. She's the titan from the other day." They all stiffen immediately at that and glance at the girl nervously now. Isabella frowns a bit at this, confused as to why the nice people were suddenly closing up and eyeing her. "She changed her appearance the other day, now she's a weird mix of several people that she's seen." Isabella looks at Eren, hoping that he'll tell her why these people are suddenly not talking to her like before. She was enjoying people talking to her. "As for what she just said, she's taken to repeating other people and what they say. She doesn't really understand language so she's learning. Slowly." Her glances at Isabella who tilts her head at him with a pout. He just rolls his eyes and goes to sit down, Isabella following him and sitting next to him.
"So... She can change her appearance entirely?" Gunther asks.
"Not completely," Eren explains as he grabs bread from the basket in the center of the table. Taking a bite out of it. Isabella takes a piece of bread too and starts picking at it like she did last night. Earning her several confused looks. "She can only change some things we think. Eye color, hair length and color, scars, even her bone structure a bit, but don't know if she can change her height, weight, things like that." Isabella looks at Eren as he talks about her. Tilting her head at him curiously as he lists off the things she can and can't change. She seems to make a small nod as she nibbles on a piece of bread, as though confirming what he said. He nods to her, pointing out her nodding. "She seems to understand some words, just isn't able to formulate them on her own."
Isabella looks around at everyone at the table, looking at their suspicious gazes and she slinks back into her seat a bit, sinking into it as she picks at her bread. Not liking the looks she's getting. Eren watches her carefully. He understands how she's feeling right now, he remembers being overwhelmed by the Levi squad his first time meeting them. It's likely twice as hard on her in his eyes, she's not made any sign to be an asset to humanity, at least he's shown his interest in helping humanity, her, on the other hand, hasn't done anything to alleviate any scrutiny that might be directed at her. Not only that but she seemed to have liked the Levi squad, but then they realized what she is and she's receiving the scrutiny he got when he was surrounded by fellow soldiers who saw him as a monster.
Oluo then slams a hand on the table, leaning towards Isabella menacingly. Everyone flinches at the unexpected noise, except Isabella who looks at him curiously, tilting her head as she does. "So, you actually incapable of speaking or are you just keeping quiet and playing pretend?" Oluo is posturing again. Everyone sighs exasperatedly with this behavior from him. Isabella looks around as everyone sighs, then mimics their exasperation. Putting an insulted look on Oluo's face as everyone else holds back snickers at the response from the girl.
"Don't even bother Oluo," Eren says, trying to ease the blow by explaining further. "She's just going to repeat your own words at you like questions. She doesn't get what we're saying completely, just a basic understanding." Oluo just grunts as he returns to his food.
"She seems to have taken a liking to you at least, Eren," Petra suggests, pointing to her and when Eren looks she's still sunk back in her seat a bit but she's looking up at him curiously, still slowly picking apart her bread.
Eren waves his hand dismissively as he gets more answers out there for his squad mates. He was never told not to discuss these things with them, at least not to his memory, so keeping them updated is the best option in his eyes. "Supposedly it's because she knows I'm a titan shifter like her. So she's more trusting with me is all, since I'm like her." The others nod as they hear his explanation, it was a valid answer.
"Girlfriend?" Isabella tilts her head at Petra, trying to understand the word still. Everyone but Eren and Petra snickers at this. Petra just reddens in embarrassment at what she's now stuck Eren with. Eren just holds his face in his hand and leans the elbow against the table, trying to wake himself up from this nightmare.
"Uhm. Well... Are you asking me what a girlfriend is?" Petra slowly asks the girl, and she nods in response slowly, after taking a moment to consider what she said. Petra scratches at the back of her head, hoping that someone will save her by taking the attention off the question.
Her hopes are answered when Levi swings open the door into the meeting hall and walks in. Petra sighs in relief as everyone looks at Levi instead of her now. Levi takes his seat, speaking as he does. "I see you've all met our new join," Levi says. "Good. Saves me having to do introductions." Isabella looks at Levi and opens her mouth to speak but Eren swiftly claps a hand over her mouth before she even has a chance to ask Levi what a girlfriend is. "Get your hand off Isabella's face Yaeger. It's unsanitary for the both of you." Eren swiftly pulls back his hand. Isabella frowns a little at the loss of contact with him. It was nice. Having her fellow shifter pay such attention to her.
"Yaeger?" She asks Eren, everyone else focusing on their breakfast and pointedly ignoring whatever the girl does. Now they at least have a name for the strange shifter thanks to Levi letting them know. Eren hadn't even realized he never told them her name.
"That's my last name," Eren answers Isabella, hushed in his voice as to not bother his fellow squad members. "Eren Yaeger is my full name."
"Full name?" She repeats at him.
"Your first name is given to you by your parents." Isabella seems to flinch at that word, causing Eren to raise an eyebrow and go silent for a moment. He doesn't realize that the others took notice of it too, slowly continuing. "Your last name... is your family name." She winces as though she's been hit in the head. A hand reaching up to rub at it. This causes everyone to freeze, watching her carefully as she seems to nurse a headache that appeared from nothing.
A full minute seems to pass with nobody even moving a muscle. Everyone just carefully watching Isabella as she rubs at her head as though comforting a bruise there. Then she looks up and looks around at everyone in confusion as to why they're staring at her.
Eren reaches out slowly and rests his hand on Isabella's shoulder and she whips around to look at him curiously. "Isabella," her head tilts, waiting for him to speak further, "are you alright?" She pinches her eyebrows together in confusion at the question. Seeming to not understand why she wouldn't be fine.
"Forget it, Yaeger. She clearly won't have an answer." Eren looks at his superior, shocked that he's telling him not to dig for information. Baffled more so by the lack of worry he has for her. If not for her well-being then for the information that she can provide. If something's wrong with her Eren feels they should figure it out, not leave it alone.
Isabella looks at his hand still on her shoulder. Eren follows her gaze then swipes it back to himself. Isabella looks down a bit when he pulls it away so quickly before returning to her picking at her bread, which is only half finished at this point. Nobody seems to notice the downcast look, except for Petra. Her eyes glint with mischief for a moment before she returns to her tea in silence for the moment.
Levi doesn't see the downcast look Isabella had for a moment, but he takes notice of Petra's mischievous spark in her eyes and takes note to inquire what she's planning before the day is through. Everyone else continues talking as they were before. The only silent ones being Levi, Eren, and Isabella. Isabella listening intently to the talks around her, picking up on some words and seeming to recognize others.
After some time Levi dismisses the non-shifter members of the squad to perform their tasks for the day. He looks at Eren and Isabella as he stands, speaking passively, "You two are going to help the rest of the cadets from the 104th with supply moving. We have a large influx of supplies for the upcoming expedition. Need to make sure everything's stored and accounted for." He turns from them, prompting them to both rise, though Isabella only rises because Eren does.
Levi leads the way out and through the halls. Eren follows behind him, followed by Isabella following Eren. Isabella doesn't make the slightest peep, looking around her instead, seeming to be fascinated with the structure. Eren glances over and watches her eyes sparkle with amazement. He feels a small grin form on his lips, then quickly shakes it off. Facing forward again, he watches Levi lead them out of the building and out into the courtyard.
The first thing that Eren notices is all of his companions from the 104th cadet corp lugging boxes of supplies around all over. He feels himself deflate a bit at the prospect of carrying boxes around all day. Isabella, however, doesn't even seem to see the people in the courtyard, looking up at the sky in wonder. To her, this is the first time she's seeing the sun with her own eyes. The same sky that she was looking at just yesterday through the lens of a titan body. Eren watches her, a thought coming across his mind. 'She's been stuck in a titan form the same way we've been stuck inside the walls.' It causes a pang of sympathy in his chest. It constricts his insides at the thought of himself being stuck inside his titan form for as long as he can remember. Only seeing things through the eyes of his titan body, only ever experiencing the world through that shell. He wonders if she's been beyond the walls, seen the ocean and outside world. Would it be worth seeing if he could only see it through the eyes of his titan? Would it carry the same weight?
"Hey!" Levi snaps at Eren and it pulls the shifter from his thoughts, standing at attention facing his superior. "I'll be around keeping an eye on you two. Make sure she doesn't screw things up." Levi's curt in his orders, and Eren nods in understanding. Levi then gestures for Eren to get a move on. Eren grabs Isabella's wrist and pulls her along. Though it only took his touch to gain her attention. She follows after him, letting him lead the way down.
"Eren?" Armin notices the boy first, and at his mention of his name, everyone looks over to see Eren pulling along a girl to them.
"Who's the girl, Eren?" Connie calls out as he approaches.
Eren looks at Isabella and hopes that she'll keep her mouth shut like she's supposed to around the others. "Her name's Isabella," he explains. Looking around as the cadets seem to pause their work to look at the new girl.
"Never met her before. What's she doing here?" Sasha inquires, slowly seeming to pull a piece of bread out of a crate and stuffing it into her cloak.
Mikasa walks over, returning from putting away a stack of three boxes. She has a momentary glare at the girl before pushing it aside. Her distrust of her isn't to come out around everyone else. "She's not from our year. She was a member of the garrisons, but after the battle of Trost she requested a transfer to the scouts." Eren explains.
"What kind of idiot transfers to the scouts after witnessing what the Titans can do?" Jean scoffs. Everyone looks at him. He then realizes what he himself did, and shuts up quickly, grumbling as he carries a box away.
"What's her name?" Christa asks excitedly.
Isabella is about to answer, but Eren answers before she can speak. "Isabella. She's not really a talker so don't try it, she'll just give silence in return." Isabella looks at him incredulously, as though he just slapped her.
"Aw." Christa sighs, upset that she won't have another girl to talk to. Ymir is glaring at the girl. Already aware of the lie, she just shrugs it off though, preferring not to go against orders and get punished for it. Ymir lifts up two boxes and nudges Christa as she walks. "Oh! Coming!" Christa exclaims as she picks up a smaller box and follows after her.
"She's going to be helping us with stocks then?" Armin asks. Watching her curiously. His eyes reading her, curious to see how she'll behave during this chore. He figured already that she would follow along with whatever Eren would be doing, but he wonders what she'll do beyond that.
Eren nods in confirmation. He walks over to the large piling of crates that were delivered to the HQ. He sighs a bit, not really wanting to deal with the menial labor. Mikasa walks over and picks up a stack of three boxes and walks off with them. Eren gawks at the sigh, much like everyone did earlier in the morning when she did it the first time.
Isabella watches Eren stare at Mikasa carrying off three boxes. She pouts a bit that she's taken his full attention. She then walks over to the crates, Eren not noticing her, whereas Armin is watching curiously. Isabella gathers together four boxes, placing two side by side and then one on top of each. She then wraps places her hands on the opposite sides of the two bottom boxes and lifts them up, lifting four boxes with relative ease. Armin's jaw goes slack as he watches her somehow one-up Mikasa. Slowly everyone else catches the sight as Isabella holds up four boxes. The boxes hide her face from most everyone, but she's looking to the side, waiting for Eren to look at her like he did with Mikasa. It takes waiting until Mikasa has disappeared into the stables with the boxes for him to shake off his shock, grumbling to himself, before he feels a pair of eyes on him.
He looks over at Isabella, and he stares wide-eyed at her holding up one more box than Mikasa was. Not the same inferiority thoughts as with Mikasa flowing through his mind, but instead worry that she's showing off more than a normal human should be. Worry that she'll expose herself with such a ludicrous display of strength with her feminine frame. Sure Mikasa doesn't on first glance appear to be as strong as she is, but the odds of someone else also being capable of such strength in a small frame is simply impossible.
Isabella though has gotten what she wanted and turns to carry the boxes away. She doesn't know where she's taking them, but she follows after where Mikasa went. Everyone's left gawking at the girl as she leaves. Several people pausing carrying their own boxes when they spot her. Levi is glaring down at the scene, having gathered why Isabella behaved in such a way. He shakes his head in annoyance, whispering "Brats." to himself as he takes his leave to talk with Erwin.
Isabella passes walks over to Mikasa as she sets down her crates. Mikasa turns and looks at Isabella carrying four crates, her eyes widening in momentary shock before she glares at the girl as she sets her boxes down with Mikasa's. Isabella doesn't notice and turns to return to outside, planning to rejoin the others until Mikasa steps in front of her. She stops in her tracks and tilts her head at her, curious as to what she's doing.
"Isabella," Mikasa speaks smoothly, though her eyes are daggers despite her calmness, "I know Eren might have let you off for the things you did, but my eyes are on you. If you make any wrong move against Eren, I'll not hesitate to kill you." Isabella winces a bit at the word kill. Though the delivering of the rest of the warning doesn't seem to have phased her. Isabella shakes her head, trying to shake off the spike of pain in her head. Mikasa doesn't regard it, simply turning and leaving herself now. She delivered the message, she doesn't care too much about the extent that she processed it.
Mikasa exits the stables, walking back to the crates that have thinned immensely since they started. Eren struggles to lift up one of the larger crates and Mikasa walks over, reaching out to take it off his hands but he jerks it away, "I've got it! Go get one of the others!" Eren snaps at Mikasa, and at this point she just shrugs it off, getting used to the response he has. She doesn't persist as she knows it only riles him up, and he never lets up, if anything he gets more defensive when she persists.
Time passes slowly as everyone groans and begrudgingly haul boxes around for what has come to be an hour of time. It's at this point though that Armin looks around and takes notice of a missing person, his eyebrows knitting together in a slowly escalating surge of worry. Eren walks over and is about to pick up another box when Armin calls over to him. "Eren!" His sudden attention-grabbing call makes the tired lad jump in his skin a bit. He looks over at Armin with wide eyes and a look of 'could you have warned me first?' "Do you know where Isabella is?"
Eren rolls his eyes, "Armin seriously? She's just over..." He cuts himself off as he looks around. Finally realizing as well that Isabella is missing. He silently curses himself and looks at Armin and in a hushed voice starts rapidly talking. "We need to find her! Where could she be! Levi's going to kill her if she's run off!"
Armin raises an eyebrow at the small detail he's missing. "He's going to kill you too you know?" Armin's voice mirrors Eren's hushed tone, making sure that nobody is listening as they walk away from the crates a small distance.
"That's not the priority right now!" Eren hisses out. He's caught off guard by his own words of worry, prioritizing Isabella over his own life on the line. He shakes his head, refocusing, not planning to dwell on that line of thought right now. "Do you have any idea where she might have gone?"
"I remember the last place she went was the stables so maybe somewhere in there? Or she might have gone back to her cell? I don't think she knows about any other locations really." Armin glances around, thankful that everyone's too focused on their tasks and getting them done as soon as possible to take any level of notice towards the two and their conversation.
"I'll check the stables then, you go check her cell?" Eren's already turning to go to the stables when Armin grabs his wrist and turns Eren to look at him, a confused look on his face.
"Why am I going to her cell? Aren't you her neighbor?" Armin asks in a rushed voice, his words kind of melding together, making them sound like one word a few times.
Eren just shakes his head. "Just go! The faster we find her the sooner we're all back to happily going about our usual routines again!" Armin loses his grip as Eren rips his arm free and swiftly strides to the stables. Armin just groans and rolls his eyes before making his way into the Headquarters, his destination the dungeon, which would do better with having the name of shifter quarters at this point.
Eren enters the stables and starts to look around. His search taking him first to the boxes that were taken in earlier by Mikasa and Isabella. No sign of the girl or where she went, though Eren quickly sees that only two of the boxes that Isabella brought here were actually meant to be here. He shakes his head and moves to the stalls next, looking inside of each one, even the ones occupied by horses. Still, nothing to be seen in regards to Isabella or her whereabouts. He growls a bit, low and only audible to himself. His mind racing for where she's possibly gone. If she's taken off on them all of a sudden then Eren's just going to feel like a fool for even beginning to trust her. Yet in spite of that idea, he feels himself doubt the possibility all the same.
Just as he takes a step to leave and see if Mikasa has any ideas he hears a faint squeal and subsequent crash above him. He winces slightly at the sound but makes no hesitation in sprinting off to the stairs at the back of the stables. He'd forgotten in his rush to find clues to her whereabouts that there even was a second floor to the stables, where most things were stored. He tenses at the thought she'd hurt herself on one of the appliances up there.
He stands at the top of the stairs now and looks around, not seeing her from where he's standing, and he starts to worry he just heard it in his head until he sees movement behind some crates. He darts over and past the crates, turning in a flash to look down at Isabella. Her back against the crates, rubbing at her forehead, which has turned very red due to a fair amount of blood. Eren freezes for a second, panic locking him down for an instant before he slides up to her on one knee. He pulls her hand away, wet with blood from a cut on her forehead. He sighs a bit in relief, head wounds always look a lot worse than they really are, though he doesn't understand why she hasn't just healed it over. He looks at her face, half bloodied by the wound. Her eyes squeezed shut as though she's fighting a migraine. Eren places a hand on her shoulder, "Isabella! Hey!" He speaks softly but he's firm, shaking her lightly to try and get her attention.
Her eyes then snap open n her body tensing up, then her gaze shoots up to look at him. Her eyes are wide. Then she lets out a long breath of air. Eren worries that she was holding that in longer than she should have been. Then her cut quickly seals on its own. The blood remains though, only slowly steaming off her body. Eren lets out a sigh of relief that he hadn't realized he was holding in. "Sorry..." Eren's eyes widen in surprise, hearing her soft voice as she winces again, pressing a hand to her forehead again before pulling it away and shaking her head free of the pain.
"What?" Eren's confused now. Numerous questions run through him. Most importantly as to what's causing her all these headaches. Eren's eyebrows knit together in confusion and worry, the two emotions warring to see which is more prominent in this situation.
Isabella shakes her head. "In... con... venience..." Her words are slow, but Eren knows for a face that she's speaking original words now. Hope for what she could tell them shooting to the stars for an instant. The thoughts are halted as he sees glistening in her eyes. His heart seizes for reasons beyond his own understanding when he sees this.
"Why are you crying?" Eren asks, his voice clear with more worry than confusion now.
Isabella looks at him in confusion instead. She reaches up a hand and wipes her not quite as bloody eye and looks at her hand, inspecting it for the tears he's referring to. She shakes her head. Her mind going blank, no understanding of what caused them or even what the emotion was that caused them. She looks at Eren's gaze, which has devolved to one of confusion instead of worry. The confusion both at himself and what she is saying. "Sor... ry..." Isabella says softly as her blood turns into a mist in moments.
Eren is caught off guard by her sudden standing, considering that his hand had never left her shoulder and he forgot it was there, causing him to be slightly yanked up. Isabella looks at him in surprise as he lets out a slight yelp from her sudden yanking him up unintentionally. She holds her arms out around him, as though shielding him, as she looks him over, making sure that she hadn't harmed him in some way. He stiffens, watching her tensely as she looks him over. Once she's sure that he's fine she pulls herself away from him and smiles at him.
It takes Eren a couple of seconds to recollect himself. He gives her a small half grin, it lasts only a moment but it makes Isabella smile wider. Though Eren doesn't catch this, already leaving, speaking to her over his shoulder, "Come on, we still have work to do." Isabella nods as she quickly catches up to Eren and walks with him back out to rejoin everyone else. A number of curious glances are cast their way when people see them returning together, though Eren, ever the ignorant one to social contexts, doesn't recognize them. After a small while, Armin returns from his search and a wave of relief courses through his system upon seeing Isabella back with Eren, glad in spite of the fact that he wants to strangle Eren for sending him to the basement.
Eren has to do a bit of convincing with Isabella to get her to start carrying two boxes instead of four at a time, explaining to her that it isn't a competition of who can carry the most boxes. She tries to convince him that she can handle three like Mikasa, but he's persistent, and she relents quickly to his wishes.
While they work, Eren tells her about the other cadets, trying to get her to know some of them without needing to meet them face to face. She tilts her head most of the time, not understanding his descriptions too often and needing him to reword himself several times. She finds everyone interesting, and in spite of his best warnings and trash talking, she finds Jean to be amusing, while Eren doesn't understand why, she simply finds it funny that someone is trying to posture against Eren.
Armin observes from the sides as he takes notes on inventory and checks things off the lists. His mind working hard, as it always is. Wondering what made Isabella a titan shifter like Eren, and most importantly, why she doesn't seem to remember being human. His mind repeatedly going back to the sight of her titan form ripping herself out. The screams of pain she let out as she dug into her own nape. The confusion at seeing Eren coming out of his titan. 'How much does she actually know?' Is a recurring question in the boy's mind.
Ymir's eyes are only ever glaring when she sees Isabella. She both knows what she is, but also doesn't at the same time. She knows that she's a titan shifter, but she doesn't understand how that's possible. Her own thoughts are stuck circling around the girl. It annoys her immensely as she'd rather be focusing on Christa, nothing else.
Mikasa keeps a vigilant gaze on the girl and Eren, watching for even the slightest sign of aggression or danger to be given off by the oblivious Isabella. The level of innocence in her leaves a bad taste in Mikasa's mouth, the thought of Isabella looking like Mikasa when she came out of her titan form sends a shiver up the raven-haired girl's spine. It was unnerving, and not something that she ever wants to see again.
From a couple of floors up in the HQ, Levi watches the cadets carefully. He doesn't trust Isabella or her goals, whatever they may be. It's too convenient that she doesn't remember how to speak, let alone anything of being a human for that matter. The only conclusions in his eyes are that she's always been in titan form, or whatever made her a titan shifter caused her to repress a whole lot more than just the event itself. Erwin and Hange said Eren likely repressed whatever the event was that gave him his titan shifting powers, so it wasn't impossible that Isabella suffered from something far more intense, but similar all the same. Tch escapes from his lips as he shakes his head. Preferring the simple days of just worrying about killing Titans and maybe capturing a few, not babysitting them.
"Isa... Bella... My is name... Nice... Meet... Armin?" Isabella's voice is soft, stuttered, and unsure of herself and her speaking. In the dimly lit dungeon, sitting on her bed, Armin, Eren and Mikasa gathered like the night before. After Eren told him about her starting to use words that she hasn't heard, Armin wanted to hear for himself as soon as possible, and continue his lessons and practicing with her.
Armin lets out a small sigh at the poor word structure of her sentence, it actually kind of hurt him hearing it. But this was fast progress, far beyond his expectations, which rightfully worries him as he considers the possible meanings of this. He turns and looks at his friends, an embarrassed smile on his face as he explains, "Her sentence structure right now is... For lack of a better word, abysmal. But it's good progress, if not somewhat concerning."
Eren raises an eyebrow at Armin, not fully catching his meaning. "What are you saying, Armin?" Despite himself, he finds his worries lying with her safety, what kind of danger she might be in by what Armin is saying, not nearly as focused on the danger she presents.
"I originally thought that she was simply always in titan form, that she was a titan shifter that was originally a titan and had no understanding of being capable of being a human, but this disproves that. The simple fact is that she knows English. She was human at one point, long enough to learn how to speak, but for some reason, it's been repressed, forgotten to the depths of her memory." Armin's quick to deliver his thoughts, if not for spotting the confused worry in Eren's eyes, he would have kept going.
Eren's eyes are on Isabella, who doesn't really understand most of what Armin said, purely because he said a lot and she needs time to process even simple sentences. Such a long explanation and theorizing wasn't something that her mind could keep up with, especially with his quick voice in saying it all. She wonders if it was on purpose, was she not supposed to understand what he said? She shifts on her bed, her back resting against the head of it and she pulls her knees up to her chest, falling in on herself, and her own thoughts. Eren tenses at the sight and Armin follows his best friend's gaze to see the curled up Isabella and his eyes widen with a slight panic.
"Isabella, are you okay?" Eren's voice comes out before Armin can even think of saying the words, the two watching the girl worriedly, she then winces at the question, pressing her forehead to her knees for a moment before nodding a bit. Mikasa all the while sits in the corner by the grating of the cell. Her interest far from the conversation, only watching for signs of danger from Isabella still. Her trust in the girl not wavering from its low standards.
Armin watches as Isabella rubs her forehead against her knees harder. Not understanding what's wrong. On the other hand, Eren remembers how his words earlier in the day about family and parents had struck her the wrong way. For once in his life, the boy's mind works quickly and puts together that his question had rubbed her the same way that his words did this morning. "I think it's time to wrap up for today," Eren says, standing and walking to the cell door. Armin is taken off guard by this slightly, whereas Mikasa is hesitant to leave Eren alone with her, but she knows arguing with Eren on anything never works out in her favor.
"If you say so, Eren." Armin rationalizes, standing and waving goodbye to Isabella, who doesn't even see it. Armin's eyes soften a bit at the sight of her strain, but he understands what Eren's doing. He looks to Mikasa, who's already out of the cell and walking to the door without a word. His eyes narrowing in confusion, she's silent all the time, but this silence seems forced to him. Something to keep an eye on he decides. "Take care of her." He whispers to Eren, nodding to Isabella. Eren stiffens at the request but nods in affirmation that he will. Armin gives him a small smile before taking his leave. "We'll see you later, Eren."
With that, the door to the dungeon was closed, leaving Eren standing at Isabella's cell door, while the girl is curled up into herself, rubbing her head in evident pain. He watches her silently for a minute. His memory pricking at how he found her in the stables, how similar the two scenes seem to be. The question at the back of his mind though going to what it was that she was told to cause that fit then. He shakes himself awake, going over to her, kneeling down beside her bed, looking her over worriedly. "Isabella?" He asks softly, trying to tread carefully.
At his voice she pauses. Looking up and then over to him. Her lips slowly spread into a small smile upon seeing him. He returns the smile faintly. "Do you need anything?" His words remain soft and careful, not wanting to push her deeper into whatever is bothering her. She shakes her head 'no,' and she seems to relax a bit. Her mind slowly leaving whatever it was that was biting at her. Eren lets out a soft sigh of relief at the sight of her loosening up again. "If you need anything... Even if it's just to talk... Or if you have questions, I'm here to help you. After all, we're both-"
"Shifters..." She finishes for him, a light smile on her lips, looking at the boy with a fondness that he doesn't recognize. He returns a fraction of the smile, and in Isabella's eyes, it's enough. He nods to confirm what she said, before standing.
"It's probably a good idea to get some sleep. You know where I am if something happens." He then takes his leave, not wanting to dwell with her alone longer than he needs to. Not out of resentment like the other day, but because he feels it would be improper. Especially so with her in bed. Isabella, on the other hand, doesn't want him to go but says nothing of it. Slowly she lies down, looking up at the ceiling in total silence, her eyes beginning to close when sleep takes her, everything is silent.
It's dark. Pitch black darkness is all that Isabella can see. Yet in spite of this complete darkness, she swears that she can see it moving, shapes moving and forming in and out of her vision. It's silent. Not silent the same way where everything was silent as she slept, but silent as though there is supposed to be noise, yet despite her hardest straining to hear, she hears nothing. She tries to move but finds herself incapable of it. She tries to speak, words that her friends had taught her. Yet her mouth doesn't move. She tries to remember, but her mind goes blank.
"Isabella." A voice pierces the darkness, it's male she believes. The voice is familiar, but at the same time foreign. It scratches her, she feels her skin crawl at the sound of it. Then she realizes that the feeling of her skin crawling is actually her skin being felt. An aching pain drives itself into and throughout her body. She tries to, wants to desperately let out her wails of pain, but she still cannot do anything. "Silent... Trust..." The voice speaks again, and with each word that she registers she feels the ache grow.
"...Relax..." The voice is distant, yet in her face, smooth yet rigid, calm and despite it is angered. She doesn't understand anything, but she knows that more words are being said, she feels it deep inside herself, and yet despite her efforts to hear more, only some things register in her mind. "...Pain... Are... Okay?..." She recognizes the question. Eren asked her that question... Right? Her mind is muddled. She feels that she remembers something but she's forgetting just as easily.
"...Quiet..." The voice doesn't change tone but she knows it's a command, despite it sounding like everything at once she feels that she knows what the context of the words is, but she doesn't grasp it in spite of this knowledge. "We... Parents... Lost..." She struggles more, trying to move, trying to open her eyes, thinking they must be closed and that's why she can't see anything.
"...Your... Family..." She wants to cry, she wants to feel tears run down her cheeks. She doesn't comprehend why she wants such a feeling, but she demands it of her body, receiving no response just like every other time she tries to do something. The only active part of her being her mind, which even that is in immense turmoil, suffering through the pain, suffering through the words, suffering all in silence.
There is a long silence, her mind still alight with struggle. She doesn't understand why it's silent now. Confusion adding itself to the many things whirling in her mind. She doesn't know if she preferred the voice or silence. It's agonizing to her. Then as if in answer, she feels a piercing against her chest, "Kill." The voice returns with just a single word, and Isabella feels gripped with immense fear, wanting to be released from this nightmare. A pressure grips her shoulders, and she jolts at the feeling.
Light comes into her world again. Her eyes opened to look up at Eren, who's holding her shoulders tightly, pressing her into the bed. His eyes worried far beyond any of the times before. Just as quickly as the nightmare had taken her, it disappears from memory. Her eyes confused at why Eren is here, why she's awake now. Why her heart is racing. She had lost her blanket, it isn't on her body anymore. She wonders where it is.
"Isabella?" Eren's soft voice is smooth against her ears. It relaxes her slowly as she looks up at the shifter. Her eyes softening, a powerful difference to Eren's intense and worried gaze. He reaches up with one hand and wipes tears off her cheeks. She didn't even realize the wet tears had fallen from her eyes. When did they fall? Why was she crying? Their minds synchronize with these questions, not understanding at all what had tormented Isabella in her sleep.
"Hi." She says quietly. Her voice more sure of itself when she speaks. Her gaze on his, which is on hers. Eren feels himself tensing in his skin, realizing that she doesn't recall what she had been doing in her sleep. She's oblivious to her crying, to her tossing and struggling against unseen forces. She doesn't remember begging the pain to stop, for her to be killed instead of tormented. She's oblivious to how he had tried t stop her sooner but she threw him aside like he was a blunt blade that outlived its usefulness.
He looks down at her, worried for the girl beyond anything right now. She could have hurt herself if he hadn't intervened, and worse, if she did, she might have transformed and caused a massive ruckus. But those possibilities weren't on his mind when he came into her cell, his thoughts were purely on waking her up so that she wouldn't be in any more pain than whatever it was that her own mind was putting her through. Thankfully for them being in the dungeon, he was the only one to hear her, everyone far from being around them, let alone close enough to hear through the thick dungeon walls. Eren struggles for a moment with his words, what he wants to say because the wrong word could send her back into whatever it was that she just experienced. She clearly has no recollection of it, and he wants to keep it that way, but he also wants to reassure her. "You're safe with me Isabella." He promises her. His words genuine, and his voice steady.
"I feel... Safe with you..." She speaks softly, looking up at him with a sweet smile. He smiles down at her. Feeling that he accomplished what he wanted to at that moment. Despite this though, he remains there with her, holding her shoulders in silence for a full minute before he starts to wake up from himself. He feels his insides strain at being where he is, not knowing that Isabella is feeling the same strain, but the two process it differently from the other.
Eren stands from her bed, letting her go, causing Isabella to deflate a bit. He walks to the cell door, looking back at her, giving a small reassuring smile. "Get some sleep, I'm sorry for waking you." He wasn't sorry, but she shouldn't know why he is. In her eyes, he had woken her up to tell her something, and she had hopes for what it was, not that she didn't appreciate what he said. Perhaps she's simply wrong in what her mind is thinking. Just because they're the same, doesn't mean that he'll feel the same as her. She nods slightly, understanding his words, but wishing all the same that they had been different words.
Isabella lies back down, Eren returning to his cell and doing the same. In his mind, he doesn't understand why he feels so strained when around her. He knows that he cares about her safety, and when she's in danger he wants to get angry and protect her, but he doesn't, he has a reaction far different from his reactions when his family and friends are in danger. No clue in his mind as to why. 'Do I not actually want to protect her?' Runs through his mind, questioning how he feels about his fellow shifter, this distressed and terrified soul in a world of people that don't trust her and would sooner kill her than befriend her. He thought he could relate, but he's in far better standing than she is by absolute leagues. He has his friends, his family, and a show of his loyalty to Humanity. She is foreign and threatening in every meaning of the word, and if anything, she's scarier than Eren is in every way. Should he want to protect her? Or is he ignoring his instincts in wanting to keep her safe, and she actually is a threat to everyone? Eventually, the two fall asleep, both of their minds chaotic with questions and little if any answers. A silent rest falling over them both for the rest of the night after exhausting their thoughts on the other.