Willow looks up at the modest home, hood tucked over her head as she hides her face from anyone that might catch her and recognize her. It is only a matter of time before they realize she is the Female Titan, knowing that despite what she may think about Erwin, he is smart enough to figure it out. She does not have much time, so she tugs on her hood and ascends the stairs of the humble home.
She knocks on the door without hesitation, knowing that if she allows herself time to think, she will talk herself out of it. She hears a shuffling coming from inside, along with the sound of a woman calling out that she will be a moment.
Willow takes a step away from the doorway, feeling a wave crash into her at what she thinks she is doing. This is stupid and she needs to get out of here. She turns from the door when she hears it open. "Yes?" the soft voice calls out to her and she winces as she realizes it is too late for her to turn around from here.
She turns and is struck by the sight of her. Her black hair is long and straight, falling down her back and shining in the light. Her eyes are bright blue and icy like his. Her face is strong, and her features frame her face as they did his. She looks so much like Hal.
"Can I help you?" she asks, holding onto the doorframe as she looks onto Willow curiously.
"I'm sorry, I…" Willow stumbles on her words, trying to remind herself why she is here and why she is risking everything to see this woman. "Are you Hal's sister?" she asks her with furrowed brows, hoping she says she does not know a Hal and can leave this folly plan.
The woman is taken aback at the mention of her brother's name, "Yes." Willow's heart drops at the confirmation and her throat tightens as she tries to swallow the building lump in her throat.
"I was a Scout with your brother," she divulges. "He saved my life… so many times…"
Her brows come together, and she can see the confliction in Willow's eyes. "Would you like to come in for some tea?" she asks with kind eyes and Willow responds with a pitiful nod.
She sits down stiffly in the room, feeling uncomfortable in a foreign place. She takes in every detail of the home, wondering if Hal spent his days off here, and if it was often enough for him to consider this as his home. "My name is Clara*," she tells Willow, placing the cup of tea in front of her with cream and sugar. Willow takes the cup and takes her tea plain, and Clara smiles at this, knowing Hal to like his tea the same way. "What is your name?" she asks her and Willow panics, knowing she will not be able to give Clara her true name.
"Petra," she chokes the name out as soon as she says it, feeling vile for taking her identity so shortly after taking her life.
"It's nice to meet you, Petra," she says with glimmering icy eyes that makes Willow's heart burn with regret.
"I know this must be strange, having someone you don't know appear on your doorstep, three years after the fact…" Willow begins, unsure of her true motives here.
"You said that Hal saved you," she helps Willow, clearly seeing how visibly distraught she is. "Were you on the same Squad?"
"Yeah," she breathes, watching the steam that lifts from her cup.
Clara opens her mouth when a voice from the other room calls out, "Mom! I'm going out with friends!" Willow turns her head to see a young boy, no older than ten turn the corner, struck by the sight of how much he looks like Hal as well. Had she not known any better, she would have thought he was his son. "The Scouts are back!" he announces, and she smiles up at him.
"Henry*, we have a guest!" she scolds him, and he approaches her.
"Hello, my name is Henry, welcome to our home," he says in a monotone voice, bowing in the most unwillingly formal way he can manage. He turns to his mother, "Mom, the Scouts! We are going to miss them!" he whines at her and she rolls her eyes allowing him to leave.
"I didn't want to tell him you were a Scout; you wouldn't hear the end of his rantings if he knew," she giggles, and Willow watches him leave with wide disbelieving eyes at the similarities of them.
"He looks so much like him," she breathes.
"Yeah," Clara sighs with a sad smile. "Hal adored him and treated him like he was his own. He was so good to us," she says sadly.
"Hal was…" Willow bites her lips as she thinks of him, feeling overcome with emotion as she thinks of everything that he left behind to get her to safety. She thinks about the moment that he looked her in the eyes and told her that he loved her. She wondered if that was why he was looking for her the night before their final scouting mission when she was watching him atop the stables. Would he have admitted to her that he loved her then? Why did he wait until his final moment to tell her how he felt about her? She thinks for a moment, lost in her thoughts of the blue-eyed man.
She questions what she would have done had he told her in an environment that gave her time to respond. A lump grows in her throat as guilt builds in her chest at the idea that the sentiment was not mutual for her. She shuts her eyes at the thought, battling tears from falling on her cheeks.
Maybe it was her attentions placed on Levi instead, or possibly that she saw him as a brother first, and a sick part of her is almost grateful that the Armored struck when it did and never gave her the chance to tell him otherwise.
"He was so brave," Willow divulges finally, bloodshot eyes looking onto the raven-haired woman.
"Were you there?" she asks, seeing the hurt building in her chest. "On his final mission?" Willow nods, unable to say anything to her. "Captain Levi came by to give us the news," she tells her, and Willow tenses her shoulders. "He told us that if it wasn't for Hal, he and his Squad would have been killed by a Titan."
Though Levi had it wrong. It was because of Captain Levi and his Squad that Hal was killed by a Titan. Willow supposes it's all about perspective.
"Hal told me once that he gave his compensation to you; to keep you and the boy here," Clara looks at her with shocked eyes, unsure how to respond to the intrusive comment. "I know the death gratuity is not as much as you were receiving with his monthly stipends," Willow states bluntly. She places a hefty purse on the table with more coin than the woman has probably seen in her lifetime. "I want you to take this and get the idea of joining the Scouts out of that kid's head," Willow demands harshly.
Clara looks down with pressed eyes at the purse on the table, and the mysterious woman sitting across from her. "I don't understand," she states, shaking her head slightly. "But you're a Scout," she says trying to rationalize what Willow is saying to her when realization strikes. "Wait… but the Scouts only just returned to the city," she begins as her eyes dare to look onto Willow's. "Then how are you here now if they only just arrived?"
"Hal is the only reason I am alive today," Willow tells her, keeping her eyes on the black-haired woman, but refusing to answer her question. "And the Scouts are the only reason that he is dead today," she says sternly. "If you want your son to outlive your own life, then you will get that silly delusion of joining the Scouts out of his head and have him do something more meaningful with his life," she says harshly to deliver her point. She lifts herself from her seat, placing the teacup carefully on the table. "Thank you for your hospitality," Willow bows her head respectively and leaves the home before the woman can respond.
Willow departs the modest home, tugging the hood over her head as she joins the gathering crowd in the streets that come to watch the pitiful return of the broken Scouts.
After the dreadful return to the city with their tails between their legs, Levi makes his way to his office where he slams the door shut, leaning over his table as he looks down at his papers. He places his fingertips on the table, stabilizing his shaking hands as he takes in unsteady breaths. Levi releases an involuntary sob as the image of Petra's lifeless face staring back at him penetrates his skull.
A single tear saturates the paper that holds their position within the Long Distance Scouting Formation and Levi's body quivers with rage. He slams his hands on the table, clawing at the papers as he viciously swats them from the table, the sound of paper flying in the air cries out over his quiet sobs.
Their image stains his memory as their blood saturates the forest floor. He thinks about their lifeless faces, each one of them staring up at him with emotionless expressions that display their disappointment in him for not being there to protect them against her. If he was there, if he didn't deviate to replenish his supplies, he would have reached them in time, and he could have fought alongside them. Even if it was a fruitless venture, he would have fallen with them.
Levi's hands shake as another wave crashes into him, knocking into him and bringing his leg to a quiver at the overwhelming feeling of helplessness. His hands land onto the table once more, trying desperately to stabilize himself as he attempts to stay afloat as the wave goes to pull him under and drown him in his grief. His chest collapses and he desperately sucks in air, trying to bring his head over the crashing water that threatens to sink him in the crippling realization that he is trapped in a hurricane without a means of survival.
His chest compresses as he takes hold of the edge of the table with wild hate in his eyes. He lifts the table and sends it hurling across the room with a deafening crash as papers and drawers smash at his force. He buries his hands in his face as their faces penetrate his mind, haunting him with their dead eyes. Every last one of their dead eyes look onto him as he out survives them, standing on their fallen backs.
Levi remembers her eyes too. He remembers the way her blue eyes searched for him as stray strands of curly golden hair entangled before her face. She was still alive when he looked onto her. Her eyes were not dead, but full of life… full of fear. She was begging him in that moment to return to her, to fight for her, to pick her up and flee with her. But he did none of those things and he instead left without her, and the vision of her watery eyes begging him to return to her haunts his memory to this day.
He hears a click as he releases another involuntary sob stabbing at his chest. "Woah, what a mess," he hears and a frown pulls down at his lips with Hange's entrance. "You are going to need a broom—" Hange freezes when she is struck by the sight of Levi in the corner of the room with tense shoulders hiding the sorrow on his face behind the black strands of hair.
"Come on in, why don't you," Levi deadpans as he sniffs away his sob, still hiding his bloodshot eyes from her as his shoulders tense and he turns from her.
"What are you doing?" Hange asks, fists clenching at her sides as her nerves build.
"Rearranging," Levi exhales with gritted teeth as he snatches one of the drawers from the floor and places it in the corner of the room.
"Do you need help?" Hange asks him, unsure how to respond to his hostile stance.
Levi reaches for another drawer, "I never liked this desk," he tells her. "It's not the wood or size. Just what it symbolizes."
"Maybe we can get you a new one?" Hange questions as Levi's bloodshot eyes reach hers. She releases a gasp at the sight of him, seeing the red puffed eyes and stabbing glare that conveys just how hard he is taking the news.
Hange blinks at Levi as her mind tries to make sense of the image before her. He's never allowed anyone to see him in such a vulnerable fashion, and despite all their years together as Scouts, Levi hates that she sees him this way, but he can't bite back the pain of another Squad fallen this time.
"Is there a point to your intrusion?" Levi sighs already exhausted by her presence.
Hange shifts her weight, continuing to clench and un-clench her hands at her sides nervously. "Erwin has called on us."
"He can wait," Levi presses, unable to meet with the Commander or anyone for that matter right now.
"He has some interesting information regarding the Female Titan," Hange states quickly and nervously, not allowing the Captain to speak over her. "She is sentient like the Armored so she has to be a shifter like Eren, and with the way her body was moving it is clear that she is more agile than the Armored, though I am willing to bet not as built for first grade assault. Armin has some theories and the Commander shares the same sentiments, and with everything that happened today, I believe the best thing is for us to come together collectively and—"
"Would you shut up!" Levi roars at her and Hange's eyes widen at Levi's wild outburst. "For fuck's sake, Hange where do you get the energy?" he asks her more as a rhetorical question and she sees this. "How can you come in here like this—so eccentric—you're fucking exhausting!" he yells out at her with wide eyes.
Hange looks at him with broken eyes and Levi looks away, knowing that he hurt her. Levi releases a built-up sigh trying to gather the words to apologize to her, but not finding them. "Alright," he sighs, knowing that he will not be allowed to forget his squad.
He cannot forget the fallen, because as soon as he forgets them, he puts humanity at risk, knowing that without their death and pain pushing down on his chest, he would have a moment to breathe. And to have a moment to breathe allows him a moment of hesitation.
Levi follows Hange to Erwin's office, head down and mind elsewhere. He closes his eyes and thinks of himself somewhere else in this moment. Maybe somewhere warm with the sun beating on his face.
Levi's eyes open when Hange opens the door to Erwin's office. He scans the room to see the Commander, Section Commander Miche, and Armin waiting for them. "Looks like the gang is all here," he sneers in an indifferent tone, masking the pain of drowning just moments before. He situates himself on a chair in the room, feeling the ache in his ankle flare as the numbing of sorrow and grief leaves his body.
"Armin," Commander Erwin speaks up, "Please continue."
"Thank you, Commander," the blonde boy continues, "As I was saying, the Female Titan approached me, and removed my hood. When she realized that it was me under the hood, she turned away from me, and continued towards the Command's location," he says and Levi half listens to what he is already speculating on. "Reiner, Jean, and I further encountered her, and she held back an attack when I mentioned Eren to her. It was clear that she had no intention of killing me or the others," he informs the Commanders. "Which is strange considering how quickly she was willing to kill some."
"What is your meaning behind that?" Commander Erwin presses him and Levi wonders if he's come to the same conclusion that Levi has, but allows Armin to puzzle it out, curious at the boy's ability to solve her identity.
"She could have avoided killing Dita and Luke," Armin tells him, "Just like she avoided killing me and Jean." He shakes his head, "Though I was not there personally to see what she did to Levi Squad, she could have reached Eren, snatched him, and ran faster than anyone could have reached her. Especially if she got him out of those woods and into a clearing where we could no longer depend on our ODM gear." Armin glances over at Levi who turns his head to look at a little girl walking down the street with her father hand in hand.
"But she chose to bide her time when retrieving Eren. As if she was taunting them," Armin says looking away from Levi since he refuses to look onto him. "Reviewing the casualties of today, everyone that was killed was a Scout who joined at least five or so years ago, with no Scout death from a class within the last three years."
"So, it was personal," Commander Erwin questions Armin.
"At first I thought it was to get Eren, but it seems that way so, yes," he says looking up at the Commander. "It's clear her intentions were to take out the Levi Squad and other earlier members of the Regiment. I am positive that if Hange Squad or Miche Squad were positioned prior to the cannon fire, they would have met the same fate." Armin frowns, "She was clearly adept in ODM gear, as seen by her evasion from the steaming carcass she left behind without anyone's notice. So, I can only come to the conclusion that she is a current or former Scout, having graduated between three to five years ago."
Levi watches as the little girl tugs on her father's coat, pointing at a Scout in uniform excitedly. The Captain frowns as her father visibly shakes his head and scolds the girl. Though he is unable to hear what the father tells her, it is obvious enough what he says.
"Thank you, Armin. That is a perceptive observation," the Commander tells him, proud of the boy's skills.
"You know who it is then?" Armin asks him with wide eyes. "How?"
Commander Erwin looks over at Miche who sighs, "When the Female called out to her hordes, sending the Titans in to devour her, she released an aroma that I have not sensed in years," he says with confliction in his eyes.
"What was the scent?" Armin asks leaning in.
"Daisies," Levi breathes out, closing his eyes at the memory.
"Huh?" Hange questions, looking more confused than shocked. "Daisies? Isn't that how you described…" her face begins to pull down in disbelief, "No, that's not possible," she reasons with herself as she firmly shakes her head.
"Is it, Hange?" Levi challenges her, eyes finally on hers. "We never found her body; assumed the Titan's got to it," he tells her, glancing over at Erwin. "No one better has a vendetta against the Scouts—namely my squad—for what happened in those woods."
"But that does not make sense," Hange continues, "she was hurt just before her last mission and didn't regenerate like Eren does, but clearly can now. So, she was transformed after her death?"
"She had help," Levi concludes, "Someone created her as a Titan, someone equipped her with ODM gear, someone falsely told her Eren was located at the right wing spotters, which is why she came from that direction."
Armin's heart races as he comes to his own conclusion, "Someone within the 104th Training Corps," Armin continues Levi's sentiments, and they look at him with shocked eyes as it hits him. "When she was moving to kill Jean, I yelled out, testing her. I told her that she killed Eren to draw her away from the attack, but I didn't use his name. I called him a 'Suicidal Maniac'. That's what the Cadets of the 104th Training Corps called him. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard me call him that. She knew that was his alias, so someone must have told her that."
"Good instincts, Armin," Commander Erwin nods at him. "Miche," he turns his attention to his Section Commander, "get me every Cadet's name from the 104th Training Corps that had a copy of the mission with Eren's position in the right wing spotters."
"Yes, Sir," he nods.
"That being said," Armin asks, "how are you going to draw out a ghost? She has waited three years to get her revenge on you. How are you going to find her?"
"She isn't finished yet," Levi speaks up, looking back out the window. "She still has one more body to add to her collection."