AN: Hey, guys. It's me again! Here we are at Chapter VII! I hope you guys enjoyed the previous chapters. Thanks to those who reviewed and will review to this chapter. This is just a chapter that would lead up to the next Expedition. Kinda like a filler chapter. Still I hope you guys enjoy this!

CHAPTER VII:

SIDE EFFECTS

Cassandra woke up once again in her bed at the former Legion HQ. Her head hurt and her eyes weren't adjusting. Everything was so blurry.

"What the hell?" She asked herself. Cassandra tried to get up but she didn't know where she was going. Unbeknownst to her, she was walking towards her window. Which was open.

"Help! Where-OH, SHIT!" Cassandra yelled as she fell on her back to the ground. Her room was on the second floor so that pretty much hurt.

"Cassandra!" She heard someone yell for her.

"Down here!" Cassandra answered as she slowly opened her eyes again. Her eyes finally adjusted and she could see Hanji and Petra's faces looking down on her from her room. Cassandra slowly sat up. Her clothes were still the same clothes she was wearing when the titans attacked; a white dress shirt, covered with blood thanks to the beating she received from Captain Jackass (she really can't lay off the nicknames, can she?), white pants, boots and so many belts that would probably be pleasurable to someone who practices S&M.

"Are you alright?" An emotionless voice asked her. All of a sudden, Mikasa was looking down at her.

"Yeah." She answered as she stood up. Her head was ringing and her muscles felt weak forcing her to lean against the wall. Just then, Hanji and Petra came running.

"You're up. How are you feeling?" Petra asked.

"Bad. My head hurts." She answered. Hanji put a hand to her forehead.

"Your fever's subsiding." Hanji told her.

"What happened?" Cassandra asked them.

"When you summoned that wall of ice to block Trost's gate, you collapsed. Levi brought you back and your fever was so high that you were out for 2 days. It's already afternoon." Petra answered. Cassandra looked at her with a questioning look; Captain Asshole actually brought her back here.

"Yes, Levi brought you back to us." Hanji told her, almost as if she sensed that Cassandra didn't believe her.

'Huh, maybe Captain Shorty does have a heart.' Cassandra thought to herself.

"I'm going back. Might as well take a bath too." Cassandra said as she walked away. Once she was cleaned up, she got dressed yet again. Her head still hurt and Cassandra's muscles still felt weak. She was in her room, lying on her bed. She wasn't called for anything yet anyways but that just added to her boredom.

"Maybe I should visit Clara." She decided and she stood up. When she walked out the hallway, she saw the Captain walking towards her.

"I see you're up and about." He said emotionlessly. Cassandra knew how much he wanted to bash her skull in the wall.

"Yeah." She answered. Levi crossed his arms and just stared at her coldly.

"Got something else to say?" Cassandra asked him as she shoved her hands in her pocket.

"Do me a favour; try not to get yourself killed out there."

"I'll do my best, Captain."

"My wife seems attached to you. I wouldn't want her heart broken all over again." He said, with one hell of a poker face.

'Oh, so he does care.' Cassandra thought.

"Sure." She answered, countering with her own poker face. Her poker face was on par with Mikasa's. Levi walked away from her and back to his room.

"Captain Levi." Cassandra called for him. He turned around immediately.

"Thanks. For bringing me back here." She said. Levi clicked his tongue before walking away yet again. Cassandra slowly headed downstairs and to the door. She made her way to the stables and sought out Clara.

"Hey, Clara. Who's been taking care of you while I was conked out?" She said. The horse neighed in reply. Then Cassandra noticed that Clara doesn't have any water and food anymore. She immediately moved to grab the grains for the horses and a bucket of water.

"Sorry, buddy, but I don't have any sugar cubes on me right now. Maybe if I could find an anomaly I could get you some." Cassandra told Clara. Cassandra felt so lonely at times. In her time, she was never this lonely. She had her cousins to talk to and her friends in the racing community but here, she had no one. And here she was, talking to a horse. When she was done feeding Clara, Cassandra's head felt like it was splitting. She collapsed on her knees and she felt her nose bleeding and it was. It went away yet again immediately.

"What the fuck was that?" She asked herself. Cassandra stood up yet again and walked out the stables after saying good bye to Clara. As she was walking away, she ran into Petra.

"Oh, hey." Cassandra greeted her.

"Cassandra, are you sure you should be up?" Petra asked her.

"I'm fine." She answered.

"Oh, well do you want to go on a walk?" The older woman asked. Truth be told, Cassandra still felt a bit weak but maybe a walk would do her some good.

"Yeah, why not?" Cassandra answered. What surprised her was that Petra clung to her arm all of a sudden but nevertheless, she smiled. Cassandra enjoyed the woman's company to be honest. Enjoying someone's company other than family was new to Cassandra, who was a bit socially awkward in her time. Her head was always at racing so it was difficult to talk to the kids at school. They kept walking in silence. When she was 15, she was a bit shorter than Petra. Now, 3 years later, she was a couple of inches taller than her and the Captain (1). Yeah, that was probably another reason why he hates her. The Captain most likely has height issues. Cassandra spoke up as she noticed that troubled expression on Petra's face.

"You seem troubled. What's wrong?'

Petra perked up at the younger girl's question. She was a bit hesitant to tell her.

"Uh…well…I-"

"Say no more. I get it. It's the Captain, ain't it?" Cassandra intervened.

"How did you know?" She asked. The younger girl let out a laugh before answering.

"Well, if someone you know is this down and married to a jackass with height issues, it wouldn't take too long to figure out what troubles them. Hell, even a 3 year old could put two and two together."

"Well, yes. We are having our problems. Last I heard, every married couple has them. We've had problems since…"

"Celeste?"

"Exactly." Petra said. That story wasn't exactly a secret. From the normal citizens of Wall Rose to the nobles of Wall Sina, everyone knew the tragic story of Captain Levi and Petra Ral, a married couple who lost their daughter too early. It was no surprise if even a newcomer knew about it.

"Levi blames himself too much. After that, he never wanted kids. I didn't either. We thought that if we couldn't even protect our first child, how can we protect our second child?"

"I'd blame myself too. I mean, I lost my little girl on my watch. I'd never forgive myself if that happened." Cassandra said. Even though she and Captain Levi had some animosity between them, Cassandra pitied the man. To lose a great gift like a child at 3 months is heart breaking.

"Miss Petra, I'd like to give you a piece of advice. I know it would be weird for an 18 year old giving an older lady advice but I don't think I can sleep without saying this. This advice I'm going to give you made my adoptive parents' marriage work for 16 years. When they found me, they couldn't have kids and they've been married for 2 years, so here's my advice; make it work. One of you should swallow your pride and apologize. Don't go to bed angry at one another. In times like these, you never know if you're going to make it back alive after the next Expedition or the next time the Titans attack so don't stay mad each other for too long. You might regret it."

Cassandra saw that Petra seemed to have contemplated her words. As if she was taking them by heart. She thought that frowning doesn't suit the woman's face. I mean Petra looked like she was still in her 20s so her face was still angelic. Like it never changed during the past 18 years.

"Hey, wipe that frown away. It doesn't suit that angelic face of yours." The 18 year old said.

'Smooth as a baby's bottom.' Cassandra thought. If she was a guy, she'd be winning the hearts of girls all over the world. All of a sudden, Petra smiled at her.

"Thank you, Cassandra. I'll try your advice." Petra said. Cassandra smiled back at but her headache came back. She didn't want Petra to drag her back to the Headquarters.

"We-we should head back." Cassandra suggested, all the while trying not to show the exhaustion and pain in her voice.

"Of course, it's kind of getting late." Petra said. The sun was setting and night would creep upon them soon. They walked back to HQ. They entered and Petra kissed Cassandra's cheek.

"Thank you. Why don't you get some rest for a while?" Petra suggested. Cassandra nodded and headed to her room. She immediately keeled over in pain once she was in the privacy of her room. Cassandra fell to the ground and crawled over to her bed. She hauled herself up. Her own hands felt like ice to her skin. She cocooned herself in her blankets and bed sheets to counter the coldness she felt. All of a sudden, her left wrist started hurting. When she inspected it, Cassandra's eyes widened and she nearly screamed in horror. Her watch was foggy and the bottom of it had ice that was attached to her skin. The ice led to her hand and it seems to have stopped at her arm. She can still turn the watch face even though there's ice in it.

"What the fuck is this?" Cassandra asked herself. She grabbed her left hand racing glove and wore it to conceal her hand. Thank God she always wears long sleeved shirts. That way her arm is concealed. Cassandra lay back on her bed, wondering what caused her hand to go like that. All of a sudden, it hit her. Cassandra remembered the time she received the watch 5 years ago.

"Uncle Damon? I heard you were calling for me?" 13 year old Cassandra asked as she walked in her Uncle's study.

"Yes I was, Cass. Were you busy?" Uncle Damon asked as he tinkered with something on his desk. Cassandra shoved her hands in her pockets before replying.

"No. Not really. Daddy and I were just studying the Paris Circuit. So I'll know where to go at the next race."

"Is that so? Come here then. I have something for you."

Cassandra approached him and he handed her a watch.

"Wear it and turn the watch face once." He instructed her. Cassandra did so immediately.

"Point it there and think of fire."

She pointed the watch at a dummy in the office, closed her eyes and thought of fire. When she opened her eyes, her watch was spewing fire. She broke her concentration and the flames disappeared. Cassandra did the same with the ice feature. The gun mode was pretty easy to use.

"Just a warning, Cass. The Fire and Ice features are very taxing to the human mind and body. This is just a prototype so I don't recommend over usage as side effects could occur since it affects your brain. It could kill you if you ain't careful. Side effects are headaches, blurry eye vision, nosebleeds and weakness. The ice feature could turn your body to ice but I'm working on fixing it. So be careful." Uncle Damon told her.

"I will, Uncle." Cassandra answered him.

When Cassandra shook herself from that memory, she felt the headache return. Cassandra felt her nose bleeding and they were. Blood was dripping to her sheets. All this was a side effect of the watch.

"Cassandra, dinner's ready!" Armin yelled from outside her room.

"Alright! I'll be right out!" Cassandra replied. Damn shota. Cassandra wiped all the blood from her nose. She stood up and staggered to the door. Cassandra exited the room and walked past Armin.

"Cass, you're going to love Petra's tea." Armin excitedly said as they walked to the dining hall. She staggered towards the staircase. Her headache was getting to her and she felt cold. Thankfully, Armin couldn't notice the waterfall of blood from her nose that only normally stems from a crash or a powerful blush.

"Are you okay?" Armin asked her.

"Yeah, I'm just-"

Then, Cassandra lost her footing and fell down the staircase. When she got to the bottom, everything went black.

AN: Late update than usual, I know. Forgive me. This might be the last update I'll make for a while because I don't know if Boracay will give me time to update but I'll try as much as possible. Now, I'll explain what the number means.

1 – Yes, since I'm pretty sure everyone knows who Cassandra really is, I'll tell you guys that Cassandra is taller than Petra and Levi. Petra's dad is taller than them so Cassandra gets her height from Petra's dad. But not that much.

Alright! This is Chapter VII! I hope you guys enjoyed this. Thanks to those who will review and reviewed to the previous chapters.