Author's Note: I'm getting back into the groove of writing! Enjoy chapter 3 and let me know what you guys think in the reviews!

Chapter 3

Cassandra stared at the bowl of soup set in front of her.

"What's your name?" the man started, taking a seat across from her. A single white flower in a thin glass vase stood between them on the circular table. She gingerly glanced over it, meeting his brooding eyes. The wrinkles across his forehead deepened as she hesitated to answer him. "You're not in any trouble." he assured. His voice was deep and intimidating, fitting for such a statuesque man. Until him, Zeke had been the tallest man she knew. This man looked to be a head taller than even her brother. She examined the dark circles around his eyes—the crow's feet that had begun to form. What had this man experienced to put such a troubled look on his face? He rubbed the stubble on his chin. "Well, you should at least eat." He stood with a soft sigh, unintentionally towering over her. His face softened when he saw her wide eyes looking up at his massive stature in bewilderment. He turned, exposing the back of his tan jacket. Cassandra tilted her head and examined the emblem. A pair of wings, one white and one blue. Her curiosity was peeked.

"Why do you have wings on your jacket?" It was the first thing she had said to anyone within the walls. He glanced over his shoulder, perplexed by her question.

"You don't recognize this emblem?" he asked. She shook her head. "These are the Wings of Freedom, the emblem of the Survey Corps."

"Survey Corps?" She tilted her head the other way, examining the rest of his uniform.

"It's a branch of the military…." He walked back over to her, kneeling down in front of her chair, and she flinched when he reached for the cut on her forehead. "Don't worry." He gently pushed back her bangs. He had a soft touch for such a large man. Even in the rough calluses of his hands, there was a tenderness. "Do you remember anything?"

"Cassandra."

"Cassandra?"

"My name is Cassandra."

"Do you have a last name?"

"I don't remember."

"How did you get outside of the wall, Cassandra?"

"I don't remember."

"Where are your parents?"

"I don't remember."

"Do you remember their names?"

"No."

"Do you remember where you live?"

"No." He opened his mouth to ask another question but stopped.

"You should eat and rest. I'm going to call a friend of mine. He's a doctor. He can help."

"Okay." The man stood and Cassandra gently reached for the sleeve of his jacket, stopping him. "What's your name?"

"My name is Keith."

"And you're a soldier in the Survey Corps?"

"I'm the commander of the Survey Corps." he corrected with a small smile. It hinted of confidence.

"How many commanders are there?" She was infinitely curious about their world.

"Three."

"Only three?"

"That's right."

"Who are the other two?"

"There is Commander Dot Pixis of the Garrison."

"What do they do?"

"They maintain and protect the walls, along with the people in them."

"And the third?" Keith took a seat, sure that her relentless line of questioning would last a while.

"The third is Commander Nile Dok of the Military Police Brigade. They protect the royal family and the citizens of the inner most wall."

"There's more than one wall?" He was surprised. She really must have suffered a great deal of memory loss. Everyone knew about the three walls.

"There are three main walls and smaller districts scattered along them, enclosed in offshoots of the great walls. Right now, we're in a district known as Shiganshina. We're on the southern edge of the outer most wall—Wall Maria. The next wall is Wall Rose, and the inner most wall is Wall Sheena."

"Wall Sheena is where the royal family lives?" Cassandra tapped her chin in thought.

"That's right."

"Can you teach me more?" she asked.

"Yea…of course. After you rest and eat." Keith pushed the bowl toward her. Cassandra nodded, taking the spoon and slowly slurping down the warm liquid. She caught a faint smile on Keith's face before he stood again and left her alone. He was a kind man.

Cassandra pushed her ear to the door, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation Keith was having with the doctor. Wall…outside…memory…. It was useless. She couldn't make out more than a few words. She scuffed her foot across the hardwood floor of the small apartment and took a seat on the couch. The door opened and Keith poked his head in.

"Are you ready?" he asked. She nodded. There was nothing this doctor could do for her. She had no memory loss. She was just a liar. "Come in, Grisha." Cassandra's brow furrowed slightly, just for a brief second before relaxing again. She was sure she had misheard Keith. She waited for the doctor to appear, her breath caught in her throat. Her face turned pale. Her eyes widened. The doctor had a similar reaction, one that did not go unnoticed by Keith. "Is everything okay?"

"Y-yea…give me a minute to examine her, Keith. I'll let you know when I'm done." the doctor replied, patting Keith's shoulder.

"Alright…." Keith glanced over at Cassandra. "I'll be right outside. Let me know if you need anything." He hesitated for a moment before leaving. The pair, left alone in the room, waited until footsteps could be heard fading down the hall. Grisha turned with every intention of running to his daughter, but she had beaten him to it. She threw her arms around his neck and cried into him.

"How is this possible? How are you alive? We were told you were sent to heaven! We thought you had been killed or turned into a pure titan!" Cassandra blurted out in muffled whispers.

"What are you doing here?!" Grisha demanded, refusing to release the girl from his tight embrace. Cassandra could feel his tears against the top of her head.

"Zeke sent me!" She pulled away when she felt her father stiffen. His surprise turned to anger and she quickly grabbed his face, wiping away his tears with her thumbs. "No, you don't understand. He's still loyal to the cause. He only turned you in because the Marley Public Security Authorities were closing in on the Eldia Restorationists! He sent me here to gather information for him. He's still following through with your plan. He became a warrior for Marley and he's the favorite to receive the Beast Titan." Grisha's head spun from the sudden influx of information. He shook his head and grabbed Cassandra's shoulders.

"He shouldn't have sent you here, it's not safe!"

"He sent me here to keep me safe!" Cassandra defended. "Marley is escalating tensions with other nations. Zeke was worried that another draft may be coming. He didn't want me caught up in it. …he didn't want me to end up like Aunt Faye…." There was a sorrow in her father's eyes that she was not familiar with. She could not imagine the pain of losing Zeke. It would destroy her. How her father had managed to keep going was a mystery to her. Cassandra slipped her left shoulder out of the neck hole of her shirt, stretching it to reveal the top of her breast. Grisha ran his thumb across the light scar shaped as an X on her otherwise unmarred skin. "I'm still loyal to you, too." He smiled. "I came here with a homing owl. I'm going to write messages to Zeke and send him information so that he can use it for our cause." A sudden thought occurred to her. "Is mom alive, too?" A hopeful smile touched her lips, instantly corrected by the hardened look on her father's face.

"She was turned into a pure titan." It was terrifying. Her mother was out there, somewhere beyond these walls—alone, scared, cold. It wasn't fair. Her father had to have been suffering in the same way.

"How did you survive?" she inquired.

"The Owl was an officer—Eren Kruger."

"That's…that was the name of the man who recruited Zeke. We never saw him again after that first encounter."

"That's because he had the Attack Titan. He passed it to me. That's how I was able to make it to the wall. Keith found me outside as well, and I also pretended to lose my memory." He gave her a weak smile. Cassandra hugged him again.

"You don't have to be alone anymore, father. I'm here now. I can come live with you. I can help you." There was a heavy pause between them.

"Cassandra…I can't take you home."

"What?" She pulled away and examined him, sure she had misheard again.

"No one can know we're related." he explained.

"I see…because it would raise too many red flags? Keith found both of us outside of the wall. It would seem too suspicious! Then, maybe you can just say you're taking me in to help me recover!" She smiled, hoping her revised plan would suit his needs. A pained look covered his face, and he averted his gaze from her.

"You don't understand. I have a wife. We have a four-year-old son together." The words cut her like a knife. It was a betrayal. It had only been seven years since Cassandra had seen him wrap his arms around her mother and kiss her. In those seven years he had been separated from his children, ripped from his home, seen his wife turned into a titan, and it had taken him, all things considered, less than two years to find a new woman and impregnate her? Cassandra thought the pain would kill her in that moment. It was unbearable.

"But…mom's not dead." she whispered. Tears began to spill from her eyes.

"I still want to see you. As often as we can see each other." Cassandra kept her eyes focused on the ground, unable to bear the sight of her father.

"Won't your wife ask questions?"

"We won't meet at my house. We'll meet in town somewhere. Somewhere discrete." He gently wiped her tears, tilting her face up toward him. She refused to let her eyes follow. The pain penetrated her too deeply, eating away her relief, her happiness, and anything else that she had felt upon initially seeing him.

"Okay…." she squeaked out, still unable to resist her father's dominance over her. She didn't want to be his secret. She wanted to be his daughter. She missed Zeke. He was never ashamed of her. He never hesitated to wrap her up in his arms, even in public. His love for her was unapologetic. She just wanted the same from her father.

"You always were the most reasonable little girl." Grisha cooed, kissing her forehead. "We'll meet again soon. I swear." Reasonable…. So, this was reasonable. She wasn't aware. She had only her childhood to draw from as reference. Maybe it was different in the real world. Maybe she shouldn't have expected so much from her father. It hurt to think about, but maybe she was unreasonable. She sat in silence with an apathetic look on her face as Grisha cleaned and bandaged the wound on her forehead. He told her how much he loved her and how happy he was to see her again, but none of it seemed to reach past her ears. She had never felt so empty before, and it showed. She was devoid of emotion. There was no worried crease along her forehead, no gentle furrow of her brows on the bridge of her nose, no dimples in her cheeks from a smile. 'Be reasonable.' A voice whispered to her. She remembered it. 'You'll lose him again if you push too hard.' It said again. Cassandra began to recognize it as Fear. It had visited her when she was younger—when she thought she would never live up to her father's expectations. It had whispered to her in the darkness of night. After the capture of their parents, Zeke had banished her fear back into the shadows, but it seemed to know that he was no longer around to protect her—no one was. So, it stalked out from under the umbra, offering her its company once more. Cassandra gladly obliged it. It was her only friend in this unfamiliar place. A soft knock on the door interrupted her father.

"Is everything okay?" Keith asked, poking his head in.

"Yes, she's perfectly healthy. There's not a lot I can do for the memory loss, but physically, she's fine." he smiled at Cassandra, begging her with his eyes to corroborate his story.

"Yes. I don't remember anything." she said in a monotone voice.

"I need to head home. Carla's been watching Eren all day. I'm sure she could use a break." Grisha said, patting Keith's shoulder. "It was nice to meet you, Cassandra." Carla... His wife's name is Carla. His son is Eren. The names should have bothered her, but they didn't. She supposed it was difficult to pain an already broken heart. She remained silent until he left, sitting upright on the couch.

"Where should I go?" she asked Keith in a soft tone. Her voice cracked.

"What do you mean?" Cassandra took fistfuls of her skirt, tightening her hands until her knuckles turned white.

"I don't have a home. Where should I go? Is there a shelter?" She glanced up at him, surprised by the way he was looking at her, as if he still didn't understand her question.

"You can stay here." he offered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I can't inconvenience you like that." she replied, refusing his kind gesture.

"I'm not home most days. It would help me to have someone around to take care of the apartment. Can you clean?" Cassandra nodded. "Then you're welcome to stay here."

"Thank you…." she mumbled. Something resembling happiness bubbled up inside of her. It was a weak, dim feeling, but one that remained with her, filling just a tiny bit of the emptiness inside of her.

"I have business in Wall Rose. I'll be back tomorrow morning." Keith said, placing his hand on her head. "You've had a long day. You deserve some rest. Sleep well, Cassandra." Comfort. That's what she felt. She watched Keith leave, and opened the window of his apartment, leaning out to whistle. The large owl flew through the opening, landing on the circular table. Its sharp talons clacked against the wood as he hooted at her. She smiled at Hal, hugging the warm creature. It gently nipped at her ear and hair as a show of returned affection.

"Are you ready to fly back, Hal? I have so much to tell Zeke." She fished out the tube from her shirt and attached it to Hal's leg, preparing two letters. One that would be kept by Marley's intelligence agency, and the other—a blank page—that would be kept by Zeke. Only he would be able to recognize the invisible ink and read it. To everyone else, it would just be a useless piece of paper. She wrote out the two letters, sending them off with Hal. Wings of Freedom…. So, Eldians on this island were no different than Eldians in Marley. They were both trapped behind walls. They both longed to fly free.