Praise
"E-excuse me?" A small timid voice spoke up, causing Elle to look over in a mild interest at whose attention was wanted, and to her surprise is was actually her the girl was looking at.
"Can I help you?" Elle gave a light shake of her head, her brows coming together the slightest to show her confusion.
"Oh, no." She gave a small shake of her head as a smile came to her lips. "I-I just wanted to say thank you!" the youthful blonde finished, her bright eyes near burning into Elle, while all she could do in response was look at her stupidly.
"Why?" Elle shook her head, quite clearly lost on the matter and having never seen the girl before she was positive she'd never done anything to merit any thanks from her.
"Olly told me everything." She then assured but all that got was a slow head shake from the older woman to show she still wasn't following. "About the expedition last week!" She then pressed, trying to helpfully give Elle the answers.
"I don't know an Olly." She stated, lifting her shoulders in a shrug as her eyes drifted off else where as if the answer to this encounter was laying near by.
"I know you didn't want anyone to know-" The blonde began, her head bowing a little as she spoke and instantly it clicked. Elle's gaze turned back to the girl and she tried her best to keep a neutral expression, but she was annoyed- so Olly was the injured teen's name, which she guessed made the little blonde Ellie. "-But I just wanted to say thank you for bringing him back!" She then peered back up at her, her expression sincere in her thanks.
"I honestly have no idea what you're on about!" Elle gave a short laugh, deciding to stick with denying any involvement in the incident. "You must have the wrong person!" She then shook her head as she moved around the girl to continue with her work, making a point of not engaging with her any further in conversation and managing to be so confident in the matter that Ellie started to doubt herself.
"Olly, was it?" Came the clipped tone and instantly the injured teen's head perked as he looked towards the door and the irritated woman that came striding in.
"O-oh hey?" He greeted in a fluster, his eyes looking about in a moment of alarm.
"What part of 'we weren't there' and 'leave us out of it' did you not quite get?" She hissed when she came to his bed side, preying over him like a harpy and forcing the poor teen to slink down the mattress to create some distance.
"I-I-" he stuttered. The need to defend himself rising but fear of the furious woman made him unable to find excuses.
"Who else have you told?" She demanded, her eyes in a harsh glare that near made him sweat as he furiously shook his head.
"No one!" He assured, waiting as she narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion before accepting his answer as the truth and backing off to give him some space. "You better keep it that way or I'll fling you over the damn wall myself!" She almost growled as she jabbed a finger at him.
"B-but why?" Olly had to question, he was a little perplexed at the whole request and just didn't quite understand. "Martyn as gotten so much praise because everyone thinks it was him that-"
"So?!" Elle interrupted harshly, folding her arms and giving a head shake that was full of attitude.
"It's wrong." He murmured meekly, a small pout coming to his lips as he thought both Elle and Niki had been served some injustice by not receiving any praise from the incident during the titan capture while Martyn received all the credit, kind words, respect and commendations for the act.
"No it's not." Elle stated simply, because to her and Niki it wasn't, they didn't want their involvement to be known. "But do you know what is wrong?" She then continued, raising a brow as she waited for him to give a small meek shake of his head for no before she continued. "Lying to your superior officers, giving a false report, withholding information and then going back on yourself and dragging in every single person involved that also lied!" she stressed in such a deadly calm voice that it made him gulp with dread.
"I-I won't say again!" He whispered, a tear nearly coming to his eye he became so panicked.
"Good, let's hope your friend keeps her mouth shut too, or she'll join you over the wall, alright?" She then forced a tight smile on her lips to which he nodded furiously fast in reply. "Good, now get well soon." She then spoke as her departing words, turning on her heels with that irritated, tight smile still on her face as she strode off, leaving Olly to only then be able to take a normal breath once she'd gone.
Elle couldn't deny the unsettled feeling in her stomach that came with dread, she knew it was a lot to ask the group to keep both Niki's and her own involvement quiet, but after the survivors had been questioned and neither of them had been approached they both assumed they had been blissfully kept clear of the entire incident, but now that had been rattled.
She didn't want to tell Niki because she knew the woman would kick off, but of course she would tell her. They were sisters of circumstance and she owed so much to her for her own survival and shaping into the harsh world she'd found herself in. It would be disrespectful of her to keep such information from her, if everything turned on them and their involvement was known then it was best they were both prepared.
"Who pissed on your strawberries?" The auburn haired woman commented dryly once she spotted her friend approach with a look of unfiltered irritation. She paused her half hearted sweep of the mess hall and leant on the broom in a mild interest to what story would come from the other woman.
"The injured kid told someone we were the ones that brought the group back on the titan hunt." Elle spoke in a serious hush, watching as her friend's face shifted from amused intrigue of Elle's pissed off demeanour and to a deep fed up loathing as she gave a slow roll of her forest eyes and sucked in a deep breath to force herself to calm down.
"Shit!" She then growled before her furious eyes came back to Elle. "We should have pushed them into the mouths of the titans!" She hissed, standing up straight and throwing the broom towards the wall to rid her hands of it's burden.
"Don't be stupid!" Elle scolded, a scowl setting on her brows.
"We would have nipped over the base wall completely unnoticed if it had been just us!" She pressed as she motioned between them.
"And what?" Elle scoffed, "Left them all to die?" She questioned as she threw her arm out to motion to nothing in particular.
"Yes!" Niki shrugged, giving a light shake of her head as if it was the easiest thing to answer.
"I couldn't do that!" She defended with a shake of her head. Niki was a hard, unforgiving character and she would do anything to keep herself safe and although Elle had learned a lot from her she wasn't as harsh as the auburn haired beauty.
"That's because you're soft!" Niki shook her head with a frown, her eyes drifting down her body and back up in a judgemental look. Elle wanted to argue that statement, she could feel her hackles raising at the other woman's words but she knew it wasn't something worth the argument, at least not this time. "Deny it as much as you want Elle but you still cling to the hope of redemption, like every good little act will take you back to the days when you had no worries in the world, all sweet and innocent!" She crossed her arms over her bust while Elle gave a huffed breath that mixed both the feelings of tiredness and annoyance; it was an accusation she'd received many times before but as bad as things had gotten for Elle they were never as bad as to turn her heart and spirit completely to stone like Niki's past had to her. "That life is gone and it's not who you are anymore so move on! You have no one left to look after you, and you have no one you have to look after!" Niki tilted her head and gave a pause as she waited for her friend to look back her way, knowing she was stung more by that truth than anything else she'd said, and once she did she continued. "You're like me, Elle, you have no one." She pressed. "And when you have no one who is it you rely on?"
"Yourself." Elle uttered begrudgingly.
"We've gotten by and kept our selves safe by watching our own backs, not others." Niki clipped, "You need to try a little harder to keep it that way!" she nodded towards the other woman.
"I wouldn't say I was watching anyone's back." Elle fought back, "I simply let them follow us."
"So the injured boy you carried, you weren't watching his back?" Niki flicked up a brow in challenge.
"No, I was watching my own!" Elle countered, "Try as you might to come up with other alternatives but we wouldn't have been able to get rid of that group with out them realising and turning on us so the only thing we could do was let them follow!" She stated before holding up a hand to pause her friend's attempt to interrupt. "Now imagine the upset and outrage of the group had we willingly left someone behind. Do you really think they would have stayed quiet about that once we all got back to the base?" With that Elle looked at Niki pointedly, pressing for her answer but of course the other woman refused to, knowing she'd been had on that one. "No, they wouldn't have." Elle then spoke the answer for her to further press her point.
"Yet the kid has still opened his mouth!" The auburn haired beauty scoffed.
"And he won't again." Elle assured.
"Who'd he speak to?" She then asked, a dangerous look coming to her eyes but Elle shook her head.
"What ever you're thinking off, it's a stupid idea." She warned.
"How would you know?!" She hissed back, but Elle didn't flinch, far to used to receiving the brunt of her fury.
"Because the kid obviously cares for her, he asked about her when he was injured and we were fucked!" She rolled her eyes, "So if you do anything to hurt, scare, or upset her, then I don't think he'd feel so inclined to keep quiet!" She stated.
"Oh please." Niki scoffed.
"So if I did something to threaten Erwin in some way because of a little indiscretion on your part, you wouldn't retaliate?" Elle gave a quirk of her brow and watched as her friend flashed her a vicious look, "Point proven."
"So we trust his little whore?" She scowled.
"Yes, and make him feel uncomfortable enough that he makes sure to keep her reined in." Elle nodded.
"Ugh, just uncomfortable?" The auburn haired beauty groaned, "How boring." She then uttered, she was pissed and wanted something more than making someone feel uncomfortable to get rid of her anger.
"I'm going to talk to Martyn and get him on side." Elle then huffed as she turned and walked off.
The more of them to pressure the youngsters to keeping quiet, the better their chances at keeping their involvement hidden, but as she wandered in search of the oh so cheerful Martyn she struggled against the throbbing head ache that accompanied the anger she was trying to suppress.
With a groan she lifted a hand to rub at her forehead, the pain growing as irritation started to mount with each minute that passed and she couldn't find him.
"Oh, hey?!" a voice called, "Hart right?" they waved for her attention and she turned her fed up expression their way- it was a copper haired male she didn't know, she knew his face but that was it.
"Yeah?" she both answered and asked, wondering what he wanted.
"Squad leader wants you in his office!" he stated, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder and with a look of defeat Elle simply accepted her fate.
Elle worried and her mind flew through possibilities and outcomes with each step she took. She assumed the cat was out of the bag but she still held onto a little hope it was something else. She'd come in under the time limit for the ODM forest training again, she could be pulled on that, there was also the extra combat classes to get her fighting skills up that she'd been skipping.
Elle wasn't a shit soldier, but she didn't want to be in the public eye and neither did Niki; they got them selves to a suitable level where they could protect themselves and not have to rely on their team mates but played that fact down. They kept themselves as underwhelming recruits who were easily over looked and simply blended into the crowd, they weren't known as the soldiers to be recommended or praised for their skill, they were invisible.
With a sigh of dread Elle raised a hand and knocked on the wood door, waiting for the authorisation to enter before she made her way in, being careful to keep her expression calm as she swung the door open, instantly spotting Martyn stood in front of their squad leader's desk and watching as he turned to glance back at her. A look of fear and confusion was on his face and she knew he had no clue what was going on either.
"Sir!" She saluted from where she stood next to the open door before stepping into the room once he waved her over and she remained calm and collected until she stepped past the door and the extra person in the room that had been hidden from her view until now came into her peripheral vision. Her curious eyes turned their way but her face remained forwards and lucky it did.
The way her heart froze in pure dread and horror once they made eye contact near stopped her feet as well as her pulse. Elle knew a flicker of terror came to her face the moment they locked eyes, she could see the recognition flash in his, then came the shock, surprise and relief, before horror and instantly she looked forwards again to rid herself of the emotions that flickered through those dark eyes, instead willing her entire being to calm as she carried herself the rest of the way till she stood next to Martyn, a cold sweat starting to creep up her back- this was worse, so much worse.
Levi now knew she was in the Survey Corps.