"NO"
two voices rang through the building at 5am in the morning; Imelda had had another nightmare so had been crying in her sleep, which in tow had given Levi a poor nights rest; and now they were up at the crack of dawn, with the problem of getting Imelda into a dress.
"No, you will wear it"
Levi growled as Petra, who had very kindly, and much to Levi's gratitude, tried to catch the small half naked girl.
"No I won't, won't won't won't!"
Imelda pouted when Petra finally got her cornered.
"Yes you will now shut up and let Petra put in on you little brat."
At the word brat Imelda's eyes began to swell with tears; he had never called her a brat before, and that's what the men had called her. She sat down and began to cry into her knees; Petra, being the motherly thing she was, scooped her up and hugged the small child.
"Ssshh it's alright sweetie, Levi didn't mean it, but you're not being very helpful are you?"
She cooed rubbing her back as she sat on the bed where the dress was. It was a beautifully simple thing; the colour was a light blue which complimented her brown hair very nicely, a small white sash finished off the outfit and when they wriggled her into it she looked very sweet.
"Now don't even think about ripping it br-kid"
Levi hurriedly corrected himself as he, Petra and Imelda walked down the corridor. The little girl quickly let go of her dress, she still didn't realise her own strength.
They reached the carriage outside where Erwin and Mike where waiting. Imelda grinned at both of them and ran over ignoring Levi's command to slow down.
"Well don't you look pretty"
Erwin smiled picking her up,
"Erwin"
she giggled and hugged around his neck, she always found his smell very comforting.
"Don't I get a hug?"
Mike asked and Imelda nodded wriggling over to him and giving him a hug and a sniff.
"You two are too similar"
Levi grumbled as her arrived at the carriage looking up at the two of them,
"are we going or not?"
he asked gesturing to the door. Erwin's smile disappeared and he nodded,
"Yes, Olu is in charge until we get back"
he announced and stepped inside the carriage.
Mike went in after with Imelda who wrinkled her nose when they went in; it smelt stuffy and nasty.
"Yucky" she commented covering her nose, Mike nodded in agreement.
The journey wasn't too bad, bar the fact Imelda got motion sickness and threw up; though, thankfully out the window.
They made it into Wall Sina with about 30 minutes to spare. Levi took Imelda from the moment they left the carriage holding her firmly by the hand.
"Try not to panic okay?"
He whispered as he felt her small hand tighten around his own and she began to chew the side of her index finger. Levi nudged Erwin saying,
"Why does she have to speak, she's just a child, and with her rapid mood swings I can't see how this will be good for her."
He respected Erwin's plans and would always follow him, but sometimes he questioned them.
"I know your concern but if we're going to get these people permanently in prison or execution, Zakary needs all the proof he can get."
Erwin replied as they entered the court room; most were there and seats had been taken. The room went into hushed whispers as they stared at Imelda, whose grip on Levi's hand tightened painfully; Levi shot a glare across at the Merchants and Religious idiots who stared at the girl as if she was a titan.
"She's the only survivor?"
"How could she be? She's a child?"
"A child, the only thing you can call her is a monster"
"What did they put her through do you think?"
"Well she's with Captain Levi so she must be dangerous."
All these voices were whirling around Imelda's head, that's what they thought of her? That she was a monster, that she was dangerous? Erwin saw the child had heard and gently ruffled her hair in a comforting way. A few minutes later silence was called for as Zackery entered; he saw Erwin and then Imelda. She seems to be unharmed, he thought, but no one can judge a book by its cover.
When he sat down he gestured to the guards,
"Bring in the accused"
They saluted and opened the doors. Three men were dragged in and set on their knees in the court room; Imelda, whose hands were on the wooden divider, gripped it so tightly it splintered. The three men all were wearing the cloths they had been captured in; the left man looked solemn, as if accepting his fate, the one on the right looked utterly terrified, sweat poured down his face, with eyes wide with fear. But the middle one, to Levi's disgust, smiled pleasantly at Zackery.
"Franz Jochum, Michel Blanch and Wilbert Darcy; you, from interrogation are the three ringleaders of the foul experimentations that have been taking place for,"
he paused to look at his papers,
"Two years, do you deny or accept this?"
The man on the left slowly nodded, the man on the right said nothing but began to whimper, but the middle man spoke,
"I deny these claims"
his voice was smooth and calm, but that made it all the more worse for Imelda, who began to shake uncontrollably with fear, clutching at Erwin's leg for dear life.
"So you're saying that you did not organised the kidnappings and experiments?"
Zackery asked raising an eyebrow; Blanch nodded, his face unchanging,
"I merely gave these two men beside me the idea"
Levi knew the man was lying through his teeth, he'd been the one who had lead him and Erwin out of the building, he'd experimented on the girl, he knew it. He looked down at the child who was on the verge of tears, and Erwin wasn't looking to comfortable either; but who would be comfortable to have a terrified child who didn't her own strength attached to your leg? Slowly he crouched down and touched Imelda's shoulder whispering,
"Let go, you might hurt him"
Imelda slowly let go of Erwin's leg and climbed into Levi's arms and hid her face in his chest, inhaling his sent deeply in an attempt to calm down.
"Erwin Smith, may we have your report from the night you captured the scientist."
Zackery ordered as Erwin straightened up and began to retell the happenings of the week before. All through the report Levi's eyes were on the three men; the left one, he assumed he was Jochum, gritted his teeth, the man on the right, Darcy was letting out random whimpers with every sentence. But Blanch, Blanch was simply there listening as if he was the judge and not a accused in chains. What is he playing at, Levi thought, he can't have a way out of this.
"…and that's where we found the girl, she was bound up like an animal and when we approached she tried to escape. She is fearful of any one she meets, and from the reactions we are observing now"
He gestured to Levi and the Imelda who still refused to look up,
"These men are the cause of that. I'm sure with further interrogation we can discover their motives and methods."
Erwin finished, Zackary nodded and then turned to Levi expectantly,
"Is she able to speak?"
He asked and Levi nodded,
"She is but thanks to these shit heads reactions to her I doubt you'll get much out of her,"
Zackary nodded but still insisted. Levi kept in his sigh of frustration, something bad was going to happen…he knew it. He prized the girls arms off his neck and set her down and a stool so she could see over the divider,
"Go on"
He whispered as Imelda looked around at all the faces, now all concentrated on her. Then she looked at the three men, the middle man was still wearing glasses and he held a smile on his lips.
"ARE YOU INSANE"
A voice cried and everyone looked at the man on the left,
"YOUR GOING TO TAKE A BRATS WORD FOR THIS! SHE'S A MOSTER AND YET YOU LET HER WONDER FREELY IN SOCIETY, SHE NEEDS TO BE CONTAINED, OR BETTER YET DESTROYED"
He babbled on like this until guards gagged him into silence. Imelda was shaking, tears ran down her face and her hands were clenched around her dress. She looked up at the man on the podium and he gave her a nod as if to start. Trembling she opened her mouth,
"T-t-they t-took me"
She stammered,
"F-fr-from my home, a-and t-t-the-then strap-strapped me t-to a bed"
All through this her pupils were getting smaller and smaller and her body was getting more and more ridged.
"T-then a n –needle…it hurt, i-it hurt, l-like I was o-on fire."
She stopped stammering now, her eyes wide with fear,
"Needles, sharp things, titans, They showed me titans they cut off my arms and legs, stabbed me, MADE ME FIGHT AGAINST PEOPLE, TOLD ME TO KILL, GAVE ME MORE INGECTIONS SAID I WOULD DIE TOLD ME TO KILL KILL KIIIILLLLLL"
She screamed and soon her words were nothing more than cries and sobs. She pulled at her hair and clothes as if the memory was all over her. Everyone stared in horror as her voice echoed through the room; Levi was the one to snap out of the horror and grabbed Imelda around the middle and began to hall her out of the court room. She screamed and kicked and started pulling at Levi's clothes and hair. Levi gritted his teeth as he felt his hair being wrenched out of his scalp. When he got out of the room he threw the child onto the floor. There she lay still screaming and crying but didn't move as much.
"Imelda" he said loudly as if to a puppy,
"Imelda stop now, it's over, the men won't hurt you anymore, I promised you that the day we met remember, so stop this now."
"W-w-where's papa Levi, I-I-I w-ant papa Levi"
Imelda gasped into the floor as her sobs slowly began to quieten; Levi's whole body froze at the two words, she saw him as her papa? In some ways he was horrified, in other ways he wanted to rush to the child's side and comfort her; like he guessed, papa's did?
Gently he crouched down beside her and picked her up again, immediately Imelda's were around his neck, inhaling his soapy sent.
"It's alright, papa Levi is here"
He said stroking her hair. But then the girl looked up and her eyes began to water again,
"I w-want daddy Erwin too, I want h-him too"
Oh dear god Levi thought, she's already that attached after one week? Well this isn't awkward at all, his mind helpfully said. Right then the doors opened revealing the three men; Levi glared at them and placed his hand over Imelda's head gently rubbing it with his thumb as she began to tremble again. The last to leave was Erwin and Levi poked Imelda and she let out a gasp of happiness and, holding onto Levi's cravat she reached out and held onto his hand.
"Daddy Erwin"
She smiled wriggling in Levi's arm to get a hug from him. Levi saw Erwin's eyes flash with surprise, but as usual he covered it with ease as he hugged gently.
"Hello Imelda, don't worry the men are going to prison, you're safe now, we promise."
Levi nodded at Erwins words and both headed back towards the entrance where Mike had been waiting with the carriage. They explained what had happened, and purposefully left the papa and daddy out of it.
Imelda fell asleep on the way back in Levi's lap, she was curled up like a cat; and for once her little brow wasn't furrowed while she slept. Her future was looking bright; or at least, Levi and Erwin thought, as bright as it could be with her condition.