Yo! Sorry it's been so long. College started for me so I haven't had as much time to write... nor as much motivation. But I have a plan for the next chapter, so I'll get started on that right away. Enjoy!

Trost, Wall Rose, Year 847

"LISTEN UP YOU LITTLE SHITS!" Keith Shadis shouted at the 98 trainees left of the original 108. Twenty didn't finish training; fifteen dropped out and five were killed in unfortunate accidents. "TODAY is GRADUATION! The ten soldiers you see before you are the top ten, meaning THEY DIDN'T FUCK UP AS MUCH AS THE REST OF YOU!" He stood before them on a small wooden platform.

Lilly sighed internally at the screaming, standing to the far right: number one. She was the top of the class, not that anyone expected any different. She stayed average until the time came for assessments, and when they did, it was like she was a whole new cadet. She soared above everyone else, both literally and figuratively. She did her parents proud.

It was a few months after the mission, and Lilly was fully recovered… or appeared to be. She took a month from training for her ribs to recover. Then she was physically okay. Mentally… well, mentally she still had some troubles. This was where Ari and Heike had done the most for her. She swallowed as the memory came back of one particularly bad night…

Lilly wasn't sleeping well… It was a week after she got back and she still had nightmares. She jolted up from a particularly bad one and looked around with some confusion, not entirely sure where she was. As she saw the bunks she relaxed, remembering that she's back at training… she's safe… She got up from her bunk and staggered outside, needing some air to breathe… She coughed and looked at the bright moonlight, a chilly wind causing her to shiver.

"Come on, get a fucking grip!" She rubbed her temples, collapsing against the side of the bunks, lacking the energy to move any farther.

She wasn't sure how long she was there before she heard the door open, and felt two sets of arms around her. She opened her eyes and saw her two blonde friends. "You… you should be in bed…"
"As should you." Heike shook her head. "But we saw you leave so we had to come help you." She nodded.

"Besides, it's pretty clear you can't do this on your own." Ari tapped her friend's nose. "This is the third nightmare since you came back. Let us help you."

Lilly looked between her two closest friends and nodded. "I will… Sorry…" She nuzzled them slightly, dropping off to sleep again a moment later, exhausted by all her missed sleep. Ari rolled her eyes and picked up the small girl, her weight not a problem, and took her back to bed.

Since then Lilly had talked to her friends a lot more, which really led to how she stood in the number one spot. She couldn't have done it without them, and she's very grateful…

If only they knew how much she's still plagued by ghosts.

Also in that time, she exchanged a few letters with Eren and Armin, assuring them that not too much longer and they'll be in the military too. In fact, just one month after her own graduation and the next training corp will be brought in. That month was for cleaning and prepping for the next group. It was a continuous entity. Lilly was happy for her friends and hoped they succeeded.

"Oh she's grown up so fast!" Hanji was in the group of civilians Shadis allowed in to see the ceremony, if it could be called that.

Hanji, Levi, and Moblit were there, the latter as sort of a representative of Erwin, and the fact Lilly really enjoyed his company. They weren't wearing their uniforms, wanting to blend in, but Erwin wasn't able to make it, mostly because, uniform or not, he'd be recognized and no one wanted hate to be thrown at him from all sides during Lilly's big day. So he remained at the base.

"Yeah she has." Levi gave a small smile as he watched his daughter give a magnificent salute. He held a letter in his pocket from Erwin for Shadis, to be given immediately after the ceremony, granting Lilly direct access into the Scouts that afternoon, instead of waiting for the recruitment drive that night and moving in the following day. He wrinkled his nose as Shadis spoke of, or, rather, shouted about the option of the ten going to join the Military Police. Fat chance, he thought with derision.

"What do you think, Moblit?" Hanji ribbed her assistant, but then she frowned as he didn't respond. "Oi! Earth to Moblit!" As he still didn't notice, she followed his gaze to the young woman to Lilly's left in the number two position, noting the girl's graceful disposition, sand blonde hair, and those sky blue eyes: Arianna Storme. Hanji had never seen love at first sight before, but she was certain this thunderbolt moment was it.

"He's gone." Levi shook his head. "Well, guess I owe Erwin some money... Bet he'd never find a girl, all the way back when you first took him in." He grumbled, causing Hanji to have to cover her mouth to keep from snorting with laughter.

The ceremony was soon over, all the cadets giving a final salute. Levi pushed his way through the crowd to give the message to Shadis. Lilly stood in her position until dismissed, but as no order was given and she saw her father she ran to him. "Papa!" She called, Levi giving the letter to Shadis, the man nodding, before he turned and hugged his daughter.

"Hey brat." He ruffled her hair and flicked her forehead. "Top of the class, eh? Not that I expected any less." He shook his head. "Congrats."

"Thanks pap- AGH!" Lilly gave a startled yelp as she was suddenly hugged by Hanji. "Mama... Oxygen..." Lilly gasped, chuckling.

"Oops! Sorry!" Hanji loosened her hug, beaming, every bit the proud mother. "Congrats kiddo! Top of the class... Naturally you could go to the MPs..."

"We wouldn't hate you too much if you did." Levi gave a subtle wink. "So choose carefully."

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Papa you know what I'm picking... I think I'd be able to fully recover there..." She swallowed, still having nightmares from that mission. She then winced as she admitted she wasn't totally okay. "I mean... Shit..."

Hanji frowned and put her hand on Lilly's shoulder. "You're... You mean you're not fully recovered from the mission?" It worried her that she hadn't known about this sooner… but now as she looked at her daughter she could see the signs of sleepless nights and the thinness of not eating right… Dammit, how had she missed it until now? And Lilly's smile as she left the wall on her first real mission, her joy, would she ever see that again? Her frowned deepened as Lilly shrugged off her hand.

"I'm fine, mama." She said, obviously not wanting to talk about it.

Levi frowned, not liking this response, but he didn't push it. He knew this feeling well, as it was very similar when he himself shrugged off Hanji's helpful hand after the loss of Farlan and Isabel. As much as he wanted to argue, he would be a hypocrite if he did. "Lilly... Well, welcome to the Scouts. The commander said that you could move in now instead of waiting for tomorrow morning." He thought that would perk her up. It did.

"Really?! Oh that's wonderful! I'll go get my things!" With a flurry of movement, Lilly was off, getting ready to move into the Scout HQ officially.

Hanji chuckled as she watched her daughter run off. "She's certainly full of energy... But I thought she'd be better by now... Was it a mistake, taking her on that mission?" She swallowed and looked at Levi, worry clear in her brown eyes.

Levi shook his head. "No. It was a learning experience... And from her letters it seems like she's grown closer to her friends. And not to mention she now has experience out there... She'll get better in time." He nodded. "She's a strong girl. But… how had we not seen it sooner? How had we not seen she wasn't okay?" He glanced at Hanji, who shook her head. Both had failed to noticed, and had failed to help their daughter. Levi hoped that he would one day be able to make up for his inability to help. "I want her to be able to taste freedom again, without that sense of fear…"

††††††††††††

Lilly went to the bunks and she stretched. She was glad to be done, but she was also sad to go. She had made many memories in this camp, and that made the departing bittersweet. She grabbed her bag from the bunk and hoisted it over her shoulder.

She walked back to her parents, who were talking to Shadis about arrangements with Lilly. The girl stood back a bit, letting the adults talk. She grinned as Heike jogged over and gave her a hug.

"Suppose this is goodbye for a bit, eh?" The blonde chuckled. "You're going to the Scouts, aren'cha?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but it'll just be until tomorrow morning." Lilly shook her head and flicked Heike's nose. "So relax. It's not like I'm leaving you forever, and it's not like I needed the commander's speech to get me to sign up. I've been wanting to join the Scouts for as long as I can remember."

Heike laughs. "I know. Just let me tease you, god." She playfully shoved Lilly.

"You ready to go, brat?" Levi raised an eyebrow, glancing up as a giggly Moblit came over, holding hands with an equally giggly Ari.

"S-sorry sir! She was, ah, showing me around." He had a blush that made his cheeks a soft pink. "I'm all ready to go." He swallowed and dropped her hand.

"Good. Come on." Levi jerked his head to the cart and Lilly waved at her friends before she got in, Hanji sitting beside her, and Levi on her other side. Moblit put Lilly's pack in a storage bin, and then jumped into the wagon. With a snap of the reins, they were off.

††††††††††††

Lilly grinned as she saw the HQ. It was just like coming home, but a lot more, well, homey. She grabbed her pack from the bin and walked inside, going to her somewhat private room and setting her bag down. She starts to unpack, taking up half the space as she figured that Heike would end up sharing the room with her. Once she finished, she skipped on down to dinner, stomach growling. She was famished.

Hanji pulled her into a hug as she saw her daughter. "Oh I'm so proud of you!" She laughed and spun her around.

Lilly hugged back as much as she could, but her mother was much stronger than she looked, and the girl could only kind of pat her back as she was sure about three of her ribs would be bruised. Finally, Hanji put her down and Lilly inhaled with a small wince. "Please be gentle mama." She asked with a small chuckle.

"Oops sorry, my excitement got ahead of me." Hanji laughed and moved aside for Levi to give a small hug to his daughter.

"We need to talk about your involvement here with the Scouts." He said softly.

Lilly swallowed and nodded. "I... I know... I'm sorry I can't just make the nightmares go away. I'm sorry I'm letting you down…" She gave a small whimper and Levi just hugged her a little tighter, knowing the feeling perfectly, shaking his head with a sigh.

"I know. I deal with the same issue. Just ask your mother." He shook his head again. "So don't worry. The dreams will fade and they'll become nothing but a memory to learn by. But that's the important part: learning. Learn from what happened to make sure it doesn't happen again, or so you won't freeze up if it does." He kissed her forehead. "But that's enough deep shit. Come on, we have work to do." He turned on heel and strode off, Lilly following, the pair looking perfectly like father and daughter.

The pair started cleaning, getting everything in proper shape for the new recruits. Sure most of the work had already been done, but with the Ackermans nothing was too clean. As she worked, she sighed and looked out the window, mind wandering a little.

"You okay Lilly?" She jumped as she heard the voice of her uncle.

"Oh… Hi Erwin… Yeah I'm doing fine." She nodded to him. "Mind just wandering a little." She gave him a small smile. She rather he didn't know about… well, whatever is going on with her. That he didn't know about the nightmares. He has more important things to worry about as commander than her issues. "Thank you, sir."

Erwin sighed, hating when she used his title when they're alone. "You know you don't need to call me that. I get that it's more formal now, I guess, as you're a member of the Scouts now." He shrugged.

Lilly nodded. Seemed a good excuse to make if that's what he believed anyway. "Sorry, Erwin… Just don't want to make it seem like I get anywhere based on connections, you know?"
He nodded. "Don't worry, your father and I will make sure they know that any promotions you may get will be based on skill alone." He smiled, then sighed as one of the other Squad Leaders called him over to help them plan something. "Duty calls. I'll see you later, then." He gave her a small wave before he walked away, leaving Lilly with her thoughts once more.

††††††††††††

Lilly was eagerly waiting outside for the wagon to arrive that had her friends in it. It had been only half a day since she last saw them, but she was curious as to how many actually joined the Scouts. She stood on her tiptoes and let out a whoop as she saw the wagon. Moblit must have heard her, because he was at her side, no doubt there to welcome Ari. Lilly chuckled as he came trotting up, happy her friend had such a thoughtful man looking after her.

It took a few minutes, but soon the wagon came into view. Lilly bounced on her heels, pushing her glasses up. She glanced behind her as she heard the door open and her parents and uncles walked out to meet the new cadets. When the wagon stopped and unloaded, Lilly grinned at the sight of the number of people getting off. It was unusually high, based on what she was sure was a fantastic speech last night, as well as a fire to take the walls back from the Titans. It's been two years since then and they're hungering to get Maria back.

Lilly could barely blink before Heike gave her a big hug tackle. The smaller girl gave a small cry before she went toppling to the dirt, Heike managing to keep herself from falling on top of her. "Heike!" Lilly stood and brushed herself off with a small scowl.

"Oh lighten up, toots. Seems like you've inherited that stick up your ass from your father too." Heike snorted.

"Really? Well, guess who just earned stable duty for the next week." Levi raised an eyebrow as he walked up behind the blonde, the blood draining from her face. Lilly meanwhile was laughing loudly.

"New record. You've been here for about two minutes and you already ha-"

"Same for you, young lady, for egging her on." Levi cut across Lilly, who gave him a stunned expression.

"I didn't do a damn thing!" She protested, then she realized her mistake.

"You just mouthed off to a superior, now get going." He shooed them away and Lilly turned with a huff. Levi really just wanted Heike to have a friend to clean with, as he knew of the bond between the two girls. Lilly talked of Heike often enough.

"Ari!" Moblit grinned as the blond stepped out of the carriage. Her face lit up as she saw Moblit and she hugged him tightly.

"I know it hasn't been long, but it's so good to see you again!" She chuckled and then quickly backed off as Levi raised an eyebrow. She didn't want to him to have a bad first impression of her.

"You two going to stand around all day or are you going to get work done? Berner you should know better. Go find Shitty Glasses. I'm sure she has some work or other for you." Levi dismissed the new couple. They saluted and ran off. "Give me a damn headache." He grumbled as they walked away.

He went back toward the HQ, passing the stables to see how Heike and Lilly were doing. He peeked in through the window and raising an eyebrow in surprise. The girls were actually cleaning while chatting away, Lilly explaining how life in the Scouts worked. Out of the corner of her eye, Lilly saw her father and blushed, but he gave her a small wink, to which promptly flipped him the bird, causing him to snort and walk away.

"You sure it's a good idea to give your father sass? He's got a pretty intimidating rep. I mean, he just gave his own daughter stable duty for a week." Heike looked a little wary. All the cadets knew of Levi Ackerman, of his fame. But Lilly just shook her head.

"Yeah, he has that reputation, but he's not a complete hardass all the time. And unlike what some of the rumors say, he certainly wouldn't hurt anyone for giving him some sass." Lilly shook her head. "Not to mention I'm the only one who can tease him besides my mother without him giving me a death threat." She giggled.

"Fair enough. Come on, lets finish up, I can smell the food and I'm starving." Heike laughed and the girls finished up and left for the mess hall, the dinner bell ringing loudly.

††††††††††††

Lilly stood in front of Erwin's desk, hands behind her back, and looking every bit the perfect soldier. She had been summoned by her uncle, him saying he had some special job for her. Erwin gestured for her to sit and she does so a little nervously. "Levi and Hanji told me that you're still not recovered from the last mission… Is this true?" He raised an eyebrow.

She honestly thought about lying… but as she looked at her uncle's blue eyes, she can't. Not when he's looking at her like that, with so much genuine worry and concern. "Yes sir." She swallowed, worried she might be taken off-duty. Did he really think she's so fragile? But then again, isn't she? She bit her lip nervously.

He sighed and nodded, worried that might be the case… it often was with new Scouts. "Very well… I'll have you help Shadis in training new recruits. I talked to your parents and they figured it'd be the best plan for now." He nodded.

"Y-Yes sir." Lilly couldn't help the lump that formed in her throat. Great. Back to training when she just graduated a couple days ago. Perfect… fucking useless… She must be dragging them down so much if they want to send her away so soon. She wasn't good enough. A million and one things ran through her head on all her shortcomings

Erwin saw her spirit fading and hoped that the next bit of news could cheer her up, a smile on the verge of breaking out. "I think I heard a certain Mr. Eren Jaeger is in the training corp. you'll be assisting… A friend from Shiganshina?" He raised an eyebrow, knowing full well that he was.

Lilly's head jerked up at the sound of the name. Could it really be him? She nodded. "Y-yeah he is. I haven't seen them since I joined training…"
"Excellent. Shadis expects you there in two days." He nodded. "So don't get too comfortable." He chuckled, Lilly joining after a moment.

"Got it. Thank you, Uncle. I wish I could stay here with the family, but…" She bit her lip.

"I've clarified all that as well. I'll try to get you a couple days off every month to come here, and also the week of Levi and your birthday." He smiled at the way her brown eyes lit up.

"Thank you." She gave a small smile, before she went over and gave him a small hug. "And thank you for doing what you can to look after me… I'm not all that great at it." She pulled from the hug and cleared her throat. "Sorry… That wasn't really befitting of a soldier."

"You're welcome." Erwin smiled and nodded his head. "It's fine. I always enjoy hugs from my niece. You're dismissed… but if you want to stay and watch me do paperwork instead of going where your father can yell at you, that's fine too." He laughed, Lilly soon joining.

"Yes sir." She grinned and saluted, before she left the office and began packing, looking forward to what was laying ahead.

Well, there it is. As I said, I have a plan for the next chapter. I know a couple more people are following this, and don't forget to write reviews! And please have more to the review than just "write more". That's maddeningly unhelpful. And a small inquiry: If I wrote different sorts of fics, would you read them? I have ideas for a PotC one, a RWBY one, and an RvB one. Just looking for some feedback!