CHAPTER 2

Dawn. Just as the first light peaked over the wall, I was once again forced to kneel. This time, however, I was facing two huge titans; one was about six metres tall, the other clearly ten, and both were butt-ugly.

So that's what they look like.

A crowd had gathered to watch my execution, faces full of mixed curiosity and horror. I searched until I found Captain Levi. He was staring at me again, bored as ever. What was he thinking? Next to him, a girl wearing glasses seemed to be trying to talk the ears off of anyone who would listen. I couldn't hear her words, but she looked a little too excited about the whole ordeal. The people behind her seemed to think so as well, judging by their expressions. If I wasn't about to die, it might've been funny.

An official-looking guy yelled out a command, and movement broke out. Everything seemed dull and muted to me. I didn't quite register anything. All I could really tell was that they released the titans on me, and somehow kept them away from everyone else. I waited in a world that seemed to move too slowly and too quickly all at the same time. Nothing made sense, and everything was blurry. I awaited my death.

But nothing happened. The titans didn't seem at all interested in me, and instead lunged for the crowd. The fwish of ODM gear sounded and soldiers began to fight them back, though they didn't seem to be attempting to kill them. Bad move on their part. A titan grabbed a boy with long blonde hair and brought him toward it's mouth.

I'm easy prey here, I thought, confused, Why are they leaving me alone?

That's when it happened: a fifteen metre titan appeared out of nowhere from behind the group that had gathered to watch. More chaos than before broke out as people scattered every which way, scrambling to get out of the way of the mystery titan. Just as I thought I'd seen everything, something even more odd came to pass: the titan reached out, grabbed the boy from the other titan, and straight up swatted it away, proceeding to set down the blonde boy with unbelievable gentleness.

Through the midst of the pandemonium, I caught the fwish sound again, and a second later I was flying through the air by the back of my shirt. I tried to twist my neck to see who had grabbed me, and to my utter disbelief, I saw the unmistakable monotonous expression of Captain Levi. He practically threw me onto a rooftop before going back to join the fray. So many bizarre things were happening, I would've thought myself to be dreaming, if I didn't know better.

I couldn't really contribute to anything, so I sat back and watched the mess with reserved interest. It occurred to me that I had every chance in the world right now to escape, but it also occurred to me that I couldn't return to the Thorn of the Rose. I had betrayed them, and they saw that as punishable by death. There was no doubt in my mind that one of their many well-placed spies already reported back to them my treason. I was definitely safer up here for now. So that's where I stayed.

Eventually, the two smaller titans lay dead, and everything seemed to calm down (except for the girl with the glasses, who seemed hysterical), and the most amazing thing occurred: the big magic fifteen metre titan collapsed, and from the back of it's neck emerged a young boy.

"Now I've seen it all," I muttered to myself. I noticed that I seemed a little too calm about the whole situation, and realized that my skin was very pale and clammy.

I'm in shock, I noted, Huh. That's new.

I looked over the edge of my sanctuary and saw Captain Levi talking with the titan-boy. I could barely make out what they were saying.

"-noticed something weird about the assassin," titan-boy was saying. So it was about me. Go figure.

The Captain said nothing, instead simply gesturing for the kid to continue. The boy had a grave look on his face.

"She doesn't have a scent," he said. Mutters sounded around him, though Captain Levi's expression didn't change in the least. All he did was nod and walk over to the Governor, out of my range of hearing. They spoke for a moment, and the Governor flipped out at one point. He began pointing at me wildly, and he seemed to be shouting. After a few more minutes, the Captain turned in my direction and, using the ODM gear, flew up to the roof.

"You're coming with me," he said, making a grab for the back of my shirt again. I ducked out of the way, backing up a few inches. The Captain's face almost betrayed exasperation.

"Hang on, what about my execution?" I demanded, "I mean, not that I'm complaining, but this is all very confusing."

"It's been canceled," was Captain Levi's reply. He attempted to grab my shirt again, and once more I dodged his grasp.

"Hold up!" I shook my head, "What do you mean, 'canceled'? What's going on?"

Captain Levi growled in frustration, and aimed a fist at my head. I dodged it, and then realized that he had kicked out at my legs at the same time. Before I could blink, I ended up flat om my back, vision swimming. The Captain rolled me onto my belly with his foot, grabbed the back of my shirt, and shot off. I dangled in his grip, mentally willing myself to become heavier. No such luck. Despite my dead weight, he still seemed to be holding up very well, which pissed me off for some reason.

We landed on the ground, where soldiers immediately surrounded and restrained me. My hands were tied behind my back, and I was roughly shoved into a carriage. I looked up to see myself face to face with a pretty young girl with black hair.

"If you try to escape, I'll kill you," she said softly. I raised my eyebrows. Never had I heard a threat made in such a quiet, unassuming tone. I tipped my head. Something was...odd about this girl. She was scarred inside.

"If you don't mind," I said, matching her quiet demeanor, "What's your name?"

She looked at me, surprised, and stared for a moment before answering: "Mikasa Ackerman."

I'd heard that name before! Actually, when I had been given my mission, my superiors had mentioned her as someone to be wary of. She was top of her class as a soldier cadet, and almost as deadly as Captain Levi. If I was in a better position, I could probably best her in hand to hand combat. However, she had the upper hand here, and I had the common sense not to try anything.

"I won't attempt an escape," I promised, "Just answer me this: what's going on? Where are we going, and why am I suddenly allowed to live?"

"I don't know," she said, "I'm simply here to watch you." After that, she refused to say a word, and we suffered the ride in silence. I had no windows, and Mikasa was watching me like a hawk, so I didn't dare attempt to look out the door to see where we were going.

I did notice, however, a grave silence fall over everything about half an hour out. No one spoke, and it seemed even nature was silenced. I had a feeling I knew where we were, even without visuals: We were inside Wall Maria. I had never been there, as far as I knew. I'd heard the stories, though. It had been a massacre. I could almost smell the faint stench of blood on the air, though it was probably just my imagination.

After waiting for forever, we finally came to a stop. I was led out of the carriage into a wooded area. Up ahead was a fortress of stone. It seemed shabby on the outside, but the indoor appearance was remarkably neat. I watched Captain Levi as he swiped a finger across the table and scoffed in disgust.

"Hanji," he called. The weird hyper girl with the glasses pricked up, "This place needs dusting. Get the supplies."

Hanji leaned close to the Captain, a smug look on her face.

"Now don't tell me that it's that dirty," she jeered lightly, "I swear, you get more snobbish every day."

"Just do it," the Captain growled. The corps split off into smaller groups and spread around the fortress. Moments later, I saw the soldiers wearing gloves and aprons, dusting and scrubbing down each stone.

This is ridiculous, I thought. A rough hand grabbed my arm and began to drag me toward the nearest set of stairs.

"Hey!" I yelled, "Let go of me! What-"

"You are part of the Survey Corps now," was the reply, "You get to help clean too."

Captain Levi pulled me up the stairs, and showed me to a room. Before I knew it, I too was donning an apron and gloves, with a rag in hand.

"This is where you will sleep," he instructed, "I want it spotless." And with that, he left. I stood, rag drooping to the floor. The famous Captain Levi was a clean freak. I could understand a little touching up now and then, but this was crazy. There was barely any dust anywhere, and not only that, but we seemed to be going through a deep cleaning.

I sighed, and began to clean.

The Captain came back about a half hour later, and I scrambled up from off the bed. The look I got seemed to be more disproving than usual, but, really, who could tell?

"Slacking off is not acceptable," he said, "At attention!"

"I'm an assassin,not a soldier!" I protested, "Like heck I'm saluting you!"

And down I went. Man, he's fast I thought to myself as I recovered from the kick, Nuts. I looked up at him from my position on the floor.

"You are a member of the Survey Corps now," he said again, "So you either accept that you are a soldier or you die by my hand for either murder or desertion. Take your pick; I don't really care." He drew his blades and crossed them at my throat, "But decide now, or I'll decide for you. And I almost guarantee that you won't like my choice."

Glaring daggers, I slowly got to my feet and gave him a crisp salute.

"Sir!" I gritted my teeth, "I will cooperate, sir." Captain Levi gave me a brisk nod and lowered his blades, sheathing them. This was all very new to me. I couldn't remember a time I had been on the receiving end of anything sharp since I had joined The Thorn of the Rose, and I didn't like it one bit. The second the Captain turned around, I stuck my tongue out at him, (childish, I know) and made a face.

"Your cleaning could use some work," he noted, glancing around the room, "I want it spotless by the time I return."

I bit back a growl as he left again. This was getting awfully repetitive and boring. I almost wished that I had been eaten by now. At least then I wouldn't need to be bothered with him.

"And he's so short!" I seethed out loud to myself, "Maybe that's why he's so grumpy-he's got Short-Man-Syndrome. Is that your issue, huh?" I felt anger burn in my chest, "Small body, so you've got to prove to the world that you're strong? Is that it?" I picked up a broom I had propped up against the wall and cracked it against my bed. The force splintered the handle, and I got a twinge of satisfaction at the minor destruction I had caused. That was something I had picked up on over the past year-and-a-half: if someone was dead, I had done my job well. The sense tended to shift to inanimate objects when I was angry, so breaking things was very fulfilling to me.

"Angry at Captain Levi?"

Startled, I spun around and pointed my broom at the speaker. It was the young boy with the blonde hair that had almost been eaten earlier. He held up his hands and stepped back, letting me know that he wasn't a threat. I relaxed a bit, still gripping my broom.

"What's it to you?" I snapped. The boy flinched, and I felt a bit bad. I forced myself to put the broom down and to stand in a relaxed manner.

"You're that boy that almost died earlier today," I said. He gave me a wary smile.

"Yeah," he said, "But I'm still here, so I've gotta move on. That's how it is in the Scout regiment: people will die-it's inevitable. But the living need to carry on and progress. Hopefully one day we'll stop the deaths."

I nodded hesitantly. He sounded very optimistic. And here I had thought that all traces of that had vanished 100 years ago when humanity was forced to gather behind walls. Silly me.

I sighed and crouched, fingering the broom. That was another habit I'd learned. Crouching made it easier for me to spring up at a moment's notice, while still allowing me to grab my weapon quickly. This one worked especially well when I had something I couldn't fit into a pocket or a sheath. A staff (or in this case, broom) for example.

"Do you mind if I come in?" the boy asked. I shook my head motioned towards the floor near to me. He sat down cross-legged.

"What's your name, kid?" I asked, mostly out of politeness. The chances of this kid dying tomorrow were very high, so what use would a name be to me then? Might as well not get attached.

"Armin Arlert," he replied, 'And you're Axis, right? Did you choose that?" I nodded, "What made you want that one?"

My eyes widened. I guess I shouldn't have been terribly surprised-someone was bound to have asked that sooner or later. I had been asking that very question myself since the day I chose it.

"I don't know," I muttered, trying to keep the longing out of my voice, "I think-I hope-that it has something to do with my past, and that a glimmer of a memory slipped through-just enough to give me my name."

"I like it," Armin said, "It's unique and it stands out."

I allowed myself a tiny smile. "Thanks." We sat in silence until I heard footsteps. Panicked, I shot to my feet with the broom in hand, and began to sweep. Armin looked startled, but only for a moment until he recovered his wits and started to wipe down my window sill.

"Arlert!" The Captain again, "What are you doing in here?" Armin jumped into a salute, dropping the rag he had been using.

"Sir!" he yelled, "I was finished with my duties, so I thought that I'd see if the newcomer needed any help! I've been assisting her, sir!"

The Captain narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. He stared at the two of us for a moment before saying, "It looks much better." and walking away. I tightened my grip on the broom.

"I wish I'd killed him," I growled, "Or he killed me. Either way, I wouldn't need to put up with him." Armin gave a short laugh-failing to hide his nervousness. He was probably trying to decide if I was joking or not.

Of course, you idiot, I scolded myself, I'm a skilled assassin,with as many as six confirmed kills. It's a wonder the kid even approached me! I've got to watch my tongue.

I looked out of the window at the setting sun, and then back at Armin.

"You'd better get to sleep, kid," I said, "See you." He seemed taken aback by my abrupt dismissal, but didn't say a word about it as he left. Just as he reached the door, I called out to him.

"Hey, Armin?" He stopped in the door frame and turned back to me.

"Thanks," I said, "For coming to talk with me. That meant a lot."

Armin smiled in return.

"Of course!" he said brightly, "I enjoyed it!" He turned around and walked away, green half-cloak swishing behind him, "Goodnight Axis!"

I smiled faintly. I wouldn't sleep for hours yet, but I almost wished that I could fall asleep right now, because what a better way to end the day than with a new friend? However, knowing me, in the few hours I would remain awake while everyone else slept I would find some way to drastically change the mood. I was very good at that, after all.

Sighing, I walked over to my bed and sat, staring out of the window at the stars. The night was beautiful, especially out here. I just wished it would pass more quickly.