Chapter 3 – Puzzle of the Past

Year 845 – Wall Rose: Western Trost District

"I-I'm terribly sorry!" The boy Liette napped by the collar said as he folded his hands out of sheer fear, "M-my friend didn't mean to throw it! He was just angry you know?!"

"Armin! What the hell are you doing you low down idiot! You don't apologize, or else everyone will think you're weak!" Eren snarled back in an angry tone as he clenched his fists together.

"E-Eren! She's bleeding! You have to apologize!" Armin replied as Liette let go of his collar.

Eren turned away, "Like hell I will!" He said letting his pride prevent him from saying a single word.

Liette simply stared in slight amusement as a girl who was seemingly passing by smacked the angry young boy on the back of the head.

"Eren" She said showing no hint of expression on her face. The girl had scanned the situation profusely and understood what had occurred, "Apologize to her."

"B-But Mikasa!" Eren tried to object.

"Apologize" Mikasa emphasized. The Silver Haired Striker was quite surprised at the girls control over someone as flaring as him. But what surprised Liette the most was her starch black hair and her light ivory skin, a rare sight indeed, almost as rare as herself.

"An oriental…?" She said to herself as she examined Mikasa, "Yes definitely. Someone different from all the others. She is just like me….The only one of her kind"

Turning to face Liette, he looked down trying to swallow his pride, "S-sorry for throwing the stone."

Glancing at each person of the trio, Liette grinned as she wiped her bleeding nose with the sleeve of her military coat, "It's all fine I guess. Everyone needs to let off some steam once in a while" she said turning around about to go back to her own business.

"W-wait!" Eren said as he fixed his eyes on the patch on Liette's jacket, "You're part of the Scouting Legion aren't you?"

Liette turned around glancing over her shoulder at the patch on her shoulder, and back at Eren, "And?"

"What's it like?"

Liette was a little speechless at the kids' sudden curiosity at joining the scouting legion. She sighed, "You really want to know?"

"Yes! When I grow up! I want to join the Scouting Legion, and then I'll…. I'll kill every-!" Before Eren could finish his statement, his stomach began to growl loudly, followed by the other two's stomachs.

Curving her eyebrow up slightly humored, Liette asked, "You three are from Shiganshina District aren't you?"

They all nodded.

"The food shortage…" Liette thought to herself as she took out a rather midsized satchel. "Here, take this." Unwrapping it, she held out a large loaf of bread, and an equally large block of cheese. "It was going to be my midday snack for later, but it seems that this may feed you for a day or two."

Armin's eyes lit up as he folded his hands again, "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it" Liette smiled as she turned around again.

"W-wait! You didn't answer my question!" Eren requested, reaching towards Liette.

Stopping in her tracks, Liette didn't look back at Eren, "What the Scouting Legion is like huh…?"

"Well…?" The dark brown haired boy asked impatiently.

"It's hell" Liette bluntly said as he began to walk away from the kids, "I would advise you not to join it. But if you do, know what kind of business you're getting yourself into first."

ooo

Liette was very serious when she said that the Scouting Legion was complete hell. She didn't want those kids, who had their entire lives ahead of them, to end it all in one fell swoop and a single bite from a titan. Stopping in her tracks as she remembered those terrible past memories on one of her earlier expeditions, the horror, the cruelty, the pain, Liette sighed. She didn't hate the Scouting Legion, she just hated the reality of it.

Her legs were killing her. Sitting down at a bench, Liette closed her eyes in silent contemplation. Taking out her pipe, she lit it and smoked. Glaring down at the antique, she sighed. "Oh Roger….." Roger Dalton, her foster father, whom Liette often considered as her grandfather, gave her this pipe as a gift.

"Is this for me Roger?" Liette asked as she held the instrument in her pale white hands.

"Why yes of course my dear Liette!" Roger said rubbing her silver hair in a friendly manner, "I got it from a friend of mine. Now, don't just use it yet okay? You're a bit young. Wait a couple of years, and maybe we'll smoke together sometime eh?" He joked as he began to laugh. "I've got to go now Liette. Be a good girl and don't forget to practice for the next performance. You're one of our best acrobats, and I want you to do your best!"

"Okay!" Liette said enthusiastically as she stuffed the gift into her pocket, "Stay safe okay Roger?"

"I will!"

ooo

Liette had lost track of time as she wandered aimlessly. Somehow, she had managed to find herself walking towards the Barracks of the Stationary Guards who were formerly assigned to the Shiganshina District. She herself wasn't assigned to a barracks and instead, temporarily living at the medical facility, but she was sure she would get transferred within a week or two.

Everything was quiet until she heard the sound of grunting, followed by a thud that was muffled by the grass. Turning the corner of the brick wall that separated the living quarters from the training yard, she saw a soldier who was practicing something.

It was a girl whom Liette recognized, it was the girl that she had saved two days before. To be honest, Liette didn't even manage to catch her name, let alone her appearance. The girl had dusty blonde hair that was tied up into a neat bun. Her lightly tanned peachy skin indicated that she got a very fair amount of day work as her slim cheek bones showed that she loses weight often.

"Hup!" The girl grunted as she ran about a meter, before jumping forward, extending her hands pressing them against the ground. From there, she hinged her wrists to propel her body in forward, continuing the motion. After her wrists rotated her body, her feet touched the ground a bit short, only her heel touched the ground before they slipped due to a lack of friction with the dewy grass.

"Ah!" She squealed before the back of her head hit the grass, "Ugh…" She laid there in the grass, slightly frustrated.

"She's doing a tumbling technique…" Liette smiled as she decided to give the girl a hand. "You're pushing your wrists too late." She said as she stepped next to the girl on the floor, extending your hand out, "My name's Liette by the way. I believe we've met before."

"Kristell…." Kristell was quite surprised to see the girl who saved her life standing next to her with her hand out. "Um… thank you Liette" she said after grasping Liette's hand, getting herself back up to the ground.

"Fine day for tumbling, isn't it?" Liette joked as she planted her hands on her hips, with a slight smile on her face.

"Umm…" Kristell murmured slightly embarrassed, "Yea. I've been, um, trying to make my muscles stronger so that what happened back then won't happen again."

"I think running will help you more than tumbling" Liette said crossing her arms.

"O-oh! Really? Because I'm not very good at picking what to do. I'm kind of a dimwit" Kristell laughed at herself as she knocked herself on the head.

Liette opened one eye to look at Kristell, "Now now, don't go bashing yourself. Knowing how to tumble is a very useful skill." She said as she demonstrated, spreading her legs in preparation to run. Kicking her right foot into the dirt as she jumped forward, pressing her hands onto the ground, rotating and stepping lightly onto the ground again.

Thus, she repeated the same process about three times as Kristell watched in amazement. Liette was moving with such precision and grace, that it looked as if she were dancing between the sky and the ground. Kristell slightly felt embarrassed for Liette because her dress was slightly drooping downward when she was upside down to reveal her undergarments, but thankfully, there was no one around. Frankly, she believed that Liette did not seem to care very much, as if she had done this kind of thing numerous times before.

On the fourth flip over, Liette's feet touched the ground followed by a voice wincing pain that radiated from her knees. Bending them quickly, Liette had realized that her feet were not fully in contact with the ground, and like Kristell a few moments before, Liette slipped on the dewy grass landing back first.

Kristell rushed over to see if something was the matter. Liette was just lying there with a calm expression on her face. Getting herself up to a sitting position, she rubbed the back of her slightly throbbing head and knees. "Sorry about that, but unfortunately, my knees sort of gave out last minute"

"Was it from rescuing me?!" Kristell was slightly alarmed, "Because if it was, I'm sorry! I'm very sorry!"

Liette shook her head as she shook the grass from her hair, "It was my own fault." Still sitting there, she pulled the skirt of her dress up to examine and rub her sore knees.

Kristell glared at Liette's ghostly white thin legs out of astonishment, but something caught her eye. There was a distortion in the skin along the calf next to the knee, it wasn't large, but it was noticeable. "Where'd you get that scar?" she asked out of curiosity, pointing.

Liette hastily pulled her dress over her knees upon hearing this, "W-what scar? I don't have a scar, none here!" She said, losing her composure. It seemed that she was very embarrassed by it, self-conscious.

"There was a scar on your leg around here" Kristell indicated the area on her own leg.

Liette gasped as she covered her legs with her arms, "There's no scar!"

"Uhm… err.., o-okay, whatever you say…" Kristell said before she was about to drop the subject.

"W-wait…." Liette murmured hugging her knees, rubbing the area where her scar was. She felt that Kristell was trustworthy enough, despite knowing so little about her. Hesitating a bit before speaking, she said, "I was an acrobat when I was young, and when I was practicing one day I slipped and fell"

"So that's why she's so skilled" Kristell thought to herself taking a seat next to Liette, continuing to listen to her speak.

ooo

It's been about a month since Liette was adopted by and introduced into the circus. It wasn't hard to get adjusted to this new style of life, but neither was it very easy. Liette herself was quite shy, but gradually began to open up to the new faces and people she met. While she went out of her way sometimes to acquaint herself with her new "family", she kept her main goal in mind: acrobatics.

Every day, Liette would spy on the acrobats while they practice in the main tent through a partition in the tarp. Even though she would always watch, she never attempted to see if she could participate in acrobatics with the others, mainly because she couldn't find a way to ask. In total, there were three females and a male on the acrobatics team, all of them were skilled in their own certain aspects.

One day while resuming her usual observation of practice, a voice said from behind her, "Hello!"

Instantly turning around and closing the partition, Liette bent her legs upward and hugged her knees, innocently saying, "H-hello", pretending that she didn't do anything like any child would.

It was a woman, a younger one by that, maybe around 27 years old. She had a slim, yet femininely muscular body that was visible through her skin tight body suit. Her brownish orange hair was tied back in a tight knot. She had a kind expression on her face, a very nurturing and heartwarming smile.

"I'm Norma, you must be Liette. Pleased to meet you" Norma said squatting down to talk to the small Liette.

"Nice to meet you too" Liette said in reply as she glanced at the partition in the tent.

"What are you doing here?" Norma asked as she held a hand out to make a vision crack in the tent.

Liette shook her head, pretending that she wasn't doing anything, "N-Nothing!"

Smiling because she knew Liette was lying, "You were watching them weren't you?"

Looking away in slight guilt, Liette moaned a bit before nodding her head.

"Do you want to learn?"

Temporarily averting her guilt, Liette turned to look at Norma with a slightly puzzled face, "Learn what?"

"To do that of course!" Norma replied pointing at the acrobats, jumping and flying about on rope and swings.

Liette's eyes lit up with delight as she asked, "R-really?"

Norma nodded with enthusiasm, "Why yes! I'm the leader of the acrobatics team. If you want to join us, I can teach you the stuff you need to know"

The silver haired girl's spirits lit up like the morning sun as she smiled out of joy. "Thank you!"

ooo

Four years passed. Even though Liette showed no natural talent for acrobatics, Norma and the others tried their best to help Liette improve her skills and practice. Liette surely showed enough passion and motivation to get herself through hours and hours of practice, much to the discontent of Norma, and especially Roger.

"You shouldn't force her to practice so much, there's only so much a child's body can handle." Roger said as he took a sip from his tea.

"I'm not forcing her to do anything. She's the one that's forcing her. I've tried to tell her to get some rest, but she insisted that she keeps on practicing." Norma replied with concern as they sat in Rogers's office tent.

Roger looked up from the document he was reading as he hastily put it away, "Please try to get her to rest. I'm worried she might hurt herself"

Norma mumbled an 'mmmmhh', "I'll try talking to her later on"

"Roger! Norma!" A male said urgently sticking his head into the tent.

"What's going on Nelson?" Roger said standing up in response to the urgency. Norma followed similarly in a worried manner.

"It's Liette! She overworked herself, and h-her legs gave out when she was balancing on the beam and she hurt her knee." Nelson said, equally as worried, "She's bleeding a lot, we need to get a doctor to see her!"

ooo

"The doctor said that he managed to bandage up the gash on her leg. Though, she won't be able to perform until the wound heals up" Norma said sighing with relief as she sat down by Roger's desk. "It's a good thing that she didn't hurt anything else, right Roger?" She asked maintaining an optimistic attitude.

Roger did not return the optimism. He stared angrily at Norma with flaring nostrils, "How could you let that happen to her?!"

"W-what do you mean Roger?" Norma asked, slightly scared at his angry reaction.

"That gash! It's bound to leave a scar!" The ringmaster replied angrily, slamming his fist on his desk, "A blemish…. A blemish on my Liette….my beautiful Liette…"

"R-Roger…" Norma murmured as Roger fell into some sort of sorrow.

"J-Just leave me…alone Norma. Just go" Roger replied rubbing his temples with both his hands. It seemed that Roger was angry at something, but Liette's wellbeing in the future wasn't his main concern.

ooo

The sun had set, and night had come down. Liette bid her farewells to Kristell after giving her some pointers to further assist her in learning how to tumble. Her legs were throbbing still, but she ignored the pain as she stopped in the middle of the path next to the maul of grass at the facility.

Normally Liette didn't like to talk about her past, but when she felt pressured to, or when she felt that someone was trustworthy enough to, she would tell them.

Rambling about her past in her head over and over again as she crept up the stairs, and into her room, right at the end of the hallway.

Taking a well needed seat after lighting up the fireplace, Liette looked up towards the moon that was shining through her window. Hearing the sizzle of the match go off as she lit up her pipe, she sat there, relaxing her body and mind alike.

"Tumbling….. how….nostalgic…." She murmured as her drowsy mind closed her eyes.

A twelve year old Liette had suddenly woke up in her tent. It wasn't a dream that woke her up, nor was it a noise, but rather, a strange feeling in her stomach. Getting herself up from her bed, she glanced out of her tent, rubbing her eyes. She couldn't go back to sleep, and she wondered if Norma was still asleep. Briskly walking barefoot through the wet grass, she peeked into Norma's tent, hoping to sleep together with her. It was a normal thing that Liette did when she couldn't sleep.

Norma was like a mother to Liette, always calm, always caring, and always patient. That smile on her face gave Liette a sense of accomplishment and joy.

Slightly disappointed, she began to search around for Norma's whereabouts, which eventually led her to the backstage practice tent, "Anyone…?" Liette whispered, waiting for a reply, "Does anyone know where Norma is?"

There was no reply. Curious to see if anyone was in there, she opened the tent to let herself in. The lamp was fully lit, so Liette thought that they were there working or something.

"I couldn't sleep, so I was wondering if…." Liette said as she gazed around the tent. There was a hand sticking out from behind a stack of hay. Liette thought that someone was sleeping on the pile of hay because it was so soft, and accidently stayed there. Going to investigate, she was about to take grip of the hand before she saw who's hand it was.

Staring in complete horror, Liette couldn't take her sights off Norma's empty eyes. Her body was limp and cold, lifeless and heavy. There were numerous bruise marks around her neck. "Norma…. Norma!" She said desperately, shaking the most important person to her, trying to wake her up. "Norma! Please! Wake up!"

Liette began to cry, "W-wake up… please…! Don't… l-leave me alone in this world!" Letting the tears drop over Norma's body, she gave up after realizing that there was nothing but a corpse in front of her. "This cycle…. It never….ends!" she cried out.

A/N: Flashback heavy chapter. I want to really explain most of the important things about Liette's background before I move onto the more plot twisting things. I still have a more things to explain concerning Liette's time with the circus, as, things are much bigger than what they seem.

Anyway, tying in with the events of the canon story will occur later on, for now, things will mostly take a turn into a story that will be devised by myself, taking place during the five year time skip.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, as, I am trying my best to develop Liette into a very likable character. (Like being self-conscious about her scar!)

As always, stay tuned for another chapter and don't forget to leave a review!