AN: Aaaah! Please forgive me for being so late than usual in updating. I had a literature report that I had to do in a rush and I was panicking because I was handling college stuff since I'm graduating this year so again, please forgive me. Thanks to those who reviewed and will review! I hope you guys enjoy this.

CHAPTER XVI:

EXPEDITION II

The next day, Celeste dragged herself to the dining hall after taking a bath. She barely got any sleep because she had nightmares about the next Expedition. When she entered the hall, Petra was preparing breakfast. Judging from the dishes in the sink, the others already woke up and had breakfast.

"Good Morning, Celeste." She greeted as Celeste sat down on a chair.

"What's so good about the morning?" She snapped. "Can I have some coffee, please?"

Petra made Celeste some coffee and handed it to her. It took her 3 minutes before she remembered; Celeste's paranoia gets worse with coffee (1).

"I thought you aren't allowed to have coffee."

"I'll make an exception. I don't want to fall off my horse later on." Celeste said as she drank her coffee and ate her breakfast. Petra stared worriedly at Celeste, since she's never acted this grouchy. She was basically as grouchy as Levi always is. It was high time that they talk about the Red Anomaly. They knew for a fact that what she saw terrified her. She almost broke Hanji's hand for God's sake!

"Celeste, what did you see in the Anomaly?" Petra asked. She knew from the start it was a bad idea and she was right; because the moment she asked, Celeste broke the cup in her hand. The shards embedded themselves in her hand and Petra immediately wiped the blood away with a piece of cloth.

"I'm fine." Celeste insisted again as she picked the shards off in her hands. Celeste turned her watch face twice and sealed the wounds off with ice.

"You obviously aren't fine, Celeste. Now tell me what's wrong!" Petra demanded as she forced Celeste to sit down again.

"Tell me what's wrong! Please!" She begged once more. Celeste put her bloodied hand towards her face as the tears streamed down.

"I saw the most terrifying Alternate Timeline of my life! I was never born! I saw how the 57th Expedition could've gone. I saw you die with the others while Dad just left you guys to die. Then I saw him give an order to dump your bodies as Titan bait!"

Petra stared at her daughter and hugged her tightly.

"I'm here, Celeste. I'm still here. You're here; we're both alive." She told her as Celeste cried in her arms. The way she spoke made Petra wonder if the Red Anomaly chipped away a part of her sanity.

"It's his fault." Celeste mumbled as she wrapped her arms around her mother's waist.

"No, it's not. We all knew what we were getting ourselves into when we joined the Legion. It's not your father's fault, Celeste. Now, go get washed up so we can go."

Celeste nodded and wiped her tears away before heading upstairs to change her shirt. When she was done, she headed to the stables to let Clara out.

"Celeste! Come on!" Armin yelled for her. She hopped on Clara and they sped off to Karanese. When they got there, people were giving her weird looks.

"See that girl? Ice Princess Cassandra. It turns out she's actually Captain Levi's daughter, Celeste."

'Never underestimate the power of gossip.' She thought. Celeste looked at Petra, but she simply shrugged.

"Shit. Who told them?" She muttered to herself. Finally, the gates opened and they rode out of Karanese. It was pretty much the same; reinforcements were taking down the Titans that can't be avoided, as usual. They kept riding until, of course, something happened. Celeste heard footsteps behind them. When she turned around, needless to say, she almost screamed like a 4 year old girl because the Armoured Titan was running towards them.

"AH SHIT!" She yelled again. They also looked back, wondering what the hell she was cursing about.

"Keep going forward." Levi said emotionlessly. Celeste prayed that this Expedition ain't another luring operation. God forbid that it is because she's going to have a chat with the Commander.

"WHAT? For fuck's sake, someone else is going to die if we lead it to where the others are!" Celeste argued. Just then, the Titan tried to swipe at her and Eren.

"FUCK! Did he really just try to swipe at me?" She asked.

"Damn. It seems they know your abilities already." Mikasa answered. So, Ymir was able to inform them after all.

'I swear to God I am going to kill that freckled Titan when I get out of this alive.' She thought angrily. Then, they saw a horde of Titans coming at them

"I don't think avoiding them is going to work this time. And I think our Reinforcements are pretty much dead already." Celeste pointed out to them

"Levi, what do we do? There aren't any buildings or tall trees around." Petra said. Turning her watch face twice, Celeste shot out a row of tall spires of ice.

"Will that work?" She asked before sending a hook towards one spike. A titan tried to make a swipe at her but she cut its fingers off before latching on its nape. Turning her watch back once, she coated her blades with fire and spun around (2) before hitting its nape. Immediately after that, she threw the blades at another Titan's eyes and replaced them mid air. Then she latched on its arm before moving to its back using ice and then shot another hook to the nape and stabbed it there. She noticed Petra and the others taking some Titans down as well, using the spires she made. Celeste went off to aid them immediately. Once all the other Titans were taken down, they called for their horses once again. Celeste hopped on Clara as they went on their way.

'Including the kills in the last Expedition, 20 solo kills and 22 team kills, all in all that's 42 kills.' Celeste thought to herself. Not enough to match her mother's record though. 18 years ago, her mother had 10 solo kills and 48 team kills. That's the highest kill record one person has mustered in the entire Legion History. Up until now, she still held it.

'Must've racked up quite some kills when I was gone.' She thought. Finally, nightfall came and they were forced to set up camp once again.

"That was pretty impressive what you did back there." Armin praised her as they walked back to their campfire with their dinner.

"Thanks, man." Celeste answered as they sat by the campfire.

"Hey, Celeste, if you don't mind me asking but what did you in the future? You said there aren't any more Titans there so what do you do there?" Eren asked as he sat down with Mikasa. She pondered on where to start but she immediately thought of what to say.

"Hmmm…Let's see. How do I explain this? Well, you guys remember that hunk of metal I was in 3 years ago? Well, in the future, we call that a car. Anyways, I have another one of them in the future but it's special. What I do in the future is car racing. I get in one of those cars and I race with 24 other people. All in all there'll always be 25 participants in each race."

"Is it dangerous?" Mikasa asked her.

"Very. But I guess that depends on your skill as a driver. Sometimes, you just can't avoid a crash. Especially in Death Races and Perk Racing." Celeste answered as Petra and Levi sat down beside her.

"What's a death race?" Armin asked her. Celeste scratched her face in wonder before answering.

"Uh…death races are one of three of the very dangerous types of races. You don't kill people but you can actually take them out. The first death race I participated in happened when I was 13. I crashed and gained this scar." She explained as she showed them the scar on her collarbone. "You can use guns there to take them out. Same with Brawl Racing. Perk Racing, however, is a different story."

"What's Perk Racing, then?" Petra asked curiously. She never thought that Celeste's profession in the future was as dangerous as fighting Titans.

"Hmmm…there are 5 types of racing; Normal, Death, Perk, Brawl and 3 stop racing. Now, Normal is just plain racing. No take outs, no guns just whoever gets to the finish line first after 10 laps. I already explained death racing. Perk Racing is decided with a roulette. If the roulette lands on 'Weapons allowed', you can have weapons obviously. That's the beauty of it. If it's 'Defences down' it's still pretty dangerous. What takes the cake is 'Weapons allowed with Defences down'. You could die there with one wrong move. Thankfully, no one has yet just injuries here and there." She explained to them.

"Well, that's only three. What about the last two?" Eren asked her. With a sigh, Celeste spoke up again.

"Brawl Racing is point based with only three laps. In Brawl Racing at one point, you'll make a stop in a battlefield. You'd have to fight and take down 8 racers for the first two laps. Until it'll get to the point where there are only two racers left. It wouldn't matter who gets to the finish line first after three laps but the points you've accumulated from taking down the racers decide the winner. It's up to you what weapons you want to use. I myself have never participated in one. 3 Stop Racing is a race where at one point you'd have to stop and switch to a motorcycle, which is more dangerous. After that, you'd have to stop again to use your car. Runs 10 laps as well."

"When did you first start racing?" Petra asked her.

"Uhh…12? Yeah, pretty much 12. Last race I've been to when I was 15 was a death race." She answered. They were all shocked. That young and already handling a dangerous profession?

"That young and you're already a champion?" Armin asked in a surprised tone.

"What can I say? I'm good at what I do." Celeste answered before standing up.

"Well, I'm going to hit the sack. Night." She greeted.

"Be careful not to get swiped by the Armoured Titan." Levi told her.

"Hey, fuck you, Captain!" She yelled back at him before continuing on.

"I didn't you were into incest, Celeste!" He teased her.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Let me rephrase that; Go fuck yourself!" Celeste replied. Petra decided that it might be time to wash the girl's mouth with soap. She gave Levi with an annoyed look but he just shrugged and kept his face as emotionless as possible. Standing up, she followed Celeste into her tent. When she entered, Celeste was almost asleep and curled up under a blanket. Poor kid. She must've been tired. Thank God she was able to talk Levi out of assigning her in lookout duty again. Petra crawled to the girl's side and patted her shoulder.

"If you're here to scold me, he started it." Celeste mumbled sleepily. Petra chuckled and kissed the girl's forehead.

"That's not it. I just came to say good night." She replied.

"Night, then. You're welcome to stay if you want." She mumbled yet again. Deciding to take her up on the offer, the older woman took her shoes of and lied down beside her.

"Good night." She repeated. Immediately after that, they both fell asleep.

While Levi was searching for Petra after talking to Irvin, he decided to check on Celeste first. To his surprise, he saw his wife sleeping with the girl. Levi watched them both; he didn't know if Celeste has forgiven him for all the beatings he gave her back then but he wanted to earn it. More than ever. With that said he took his boots off and kissed both their foreheads.

"Good Night." He whispered before falling asleep beside them.

AN: I know it's crap but please forgive me. I'm very sleepy right now but I hope you guys still enjoyed it. Now here's what the number means;

1 - I read somewhere that sometimes people get more nervous than usual when they drink coffee, so I used that fact for Celeste's paranoia.

2 – Celeste's special attack is the same as Levi's but her blades has fire on them.

Thanks for reading and reviewing! Good Night!