Ch. 83 - When in Marley

Weeks Later:

I rolled over in bed, letting out a low groan when I realized the bed was empty besides me. He said he'd come to bed in "just a few minutes".

Well, I'd fallen asleep, so it was safe to say it'd been a little longer than that. With another groan, I heaved myself up to a sitting position and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"I'll come to bed soon, my ass," I mumbled as I lifted the blanket up and slipped out of the bed. On near-silent feet I padded through the bedroom and to the door. The only light in the house right now was that coming from the office. As I passed through the kitchen, I glanced out the windows at the moonless night. It was pitch black outside, and still the dead of night.

Emi was asleep, but even if she awoke, we were well past the point of needing to get up to soothe her. She was sleeping through the night relatively well now and had been for many months. But it'd been a bit of a struggle getting to this point because of how often we traveled with her, so perhaps she was behind on that, but she was doing wonderfully now.

It was tough at first, for both of us, more than a year ago now, having to deal with not running to her in the dead of night. It was especially tough in the barracks when we were living in such close quarters with everyone on the coast. But we were here, now. The normalcy had gotten her back on track, and thankfully very quickly at that.

It seemed I still had one baby that needed to learn how to sleep through the night. Once I reached the office, I hesitated on knocking because the door was already ajar. Instead of knocking, I nudged the door open slowly and quietly stepped into the room.

On the desk several files were stacked up, and Levi was focused intently on the one sitting in front of him. There was a lantern by the corner of the desk that was lit, but there were no other sources of light in the room, and it was rather chilly because of the window he'd opened.

Levi was sitting, straight and stiff as a board, in his chair. There was a pen in his hand, but he didn't seem to be signing off on anything. No, it looked more like he was reading through whatever documents he had out.

Due to the sudden chill, my arms crossed over my chest to preserve the warmth I still held from being under the covers. My husband didn't seem to notice me until I was just on the other side of the desk from him. He finally managed to tear his eyes from the documents to meet my own waiting pair.

"What are you still doing up?"

"I should be asking you that," I said softly. All was quiet in the house and in the room; even speaking as I was, just louder than a whisper seemed too loud, somehow, as if it would smash the serenity of the hour. "I woke up and you still weren't in bed."

"I got distracted."

"I can see that." Then, a pause. "I got worried," I added softly. Come to bed, baby."

"Can't sleep," he mumbled, returning his attention to the documents in front of him.

"Strange, that," I said with a smile, "considering you didn't even try."

I uncrossed my arms as I stepped around the desk and came to a stop behind his chair. He turned his head slightly, as if wondering what the hell I was up to, but his eyes closed, and he let out a content sigh as I ran my fingers gently through his hair.

"Oh, would you look at that? I think you might be a little stressed, and in need of some sleep, love."

He huffed a little when my fingers left his scalp, and I stepped to the side of his chair so I could lean over to look over what he was comfortably. "Just go back to bed, Amaya. I'll be right in."

"You said that hours ago," I reminded him. "So forgive me for not believing you."

The flickering lantern light wasn't nearly enough light as I squinted to read the papers. Once my mind registered what the words were saying, my eyes widened. They were the papers detailing our trip to Marley. Incidentally, we were set to head to the coast in the morning.

We had it timed perfectly, so that when we arrived at the coast, we'd have time to be fitted for some clothing Azumabito was preparing – her workers had general estimates of our sizes, but a few pieces needed to be fitted personally – and as soon as we were done, we could make our boat. From our port, we'd be heading for a small island nation alongside a few volunteers and people from Hizuru who had come to visit Azumabito and join the negotiations.

Our port was that boat's first and only stop on its way to that other island; it was small, discreet, and wouldn't turn many heads as it pulled into the larger port. At that port, we'd board a larger ship, one that made routine trips between Marley and surrounding nations. By stopping at that other port, we could slip into Marley with a larger crowd and ensure that no one suspected we were from Paradis.

Azumabito had been incredibly careful to ensure that the crewmates of the first ship believed they were picking up Marleyan volunteers from our port but would only let that information be known if asked for it specifically. We did not want people knowing we were Eldians, and Paradisians at that.

The trip itself was very carefully thought out and several preemptive measures were made to ensure that it would go off without a hitch. All we had to do was follow the plans laid out for us and behave.

Onyankopon was to be our guide for the trip, and we'd travel all through Marley. Hange, Levi, Emi, and I would be joined by Sasha, Mikasa, Jean, Eren, Armin, and Connie. I had extended an invitation to Floch, seeing that he was one of the heroes of Shiganshina as well, but he had refused.

For Levi to be reviewing the plans now was strange for anyone other than him. "Worried about the trip, are we?"

"No," he answered. "Just making sure everything is in order."

"It was in order," I said, knowing that he was, in fact, worried about the trip. "Then you went and opened everything back up."

As if realizing I wasn't about to get off his case, he slouched back in the chair, though not without picking up one of the pages to read. He had made the movement to appear standoffish, to try to show that he wasn't worried, but I saw right through that. And I took the movement as a silent invitation.

The hand of his that was holding the page was well out of the way, and his other was resting on the arm of the chair, so I was clear to slowly squeeze between him and the desk and lower myself into his lap facing him.

Despite his complaints I got comfortable on him and looped my arms around his waist. I nuzzled my face against his neck, appreciating the fact that he was rather warm despite the cold air sneaking into the room.

"Amaya," Levi sighed, "what are you doing?"

"Hugging my husband," I answered simply. "Something I wanted to do earlier, as you fell asleep. But I fell asleep and woke up alone."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," he murmured into my hair before pressing a kiss there. "Go back to bed. I promise I'll be there in a few minutes."

"You don't believe in promises," I countered quietly. "You never make one on your own."

"Well, I just did. Shouldn't that mean something to you? So go."

"No. I'll stay with you until you're done."

"Maya-"

"Don't you Maya me, Levi," I said firmly, yet playfully. "I'm staying here." He let out an agitated grunt but dropped his cheek to my head and presumably went back to reading. "The trip was planned down to the tiniest detail," I said to him after allowing him a few quiet moments. "We'll be fine, I promise."

"I know," he said softly.

"Then why are you up reading so late?" I asked, almost teasingly.

"I told you," he said. "I couldn't sleep."

"You didn't come to bed," I sighed. "So of course you couldn't."

"I suppose I should've known you'd come find me," he mumbled.

"Well, maybe I just can't sleep without you there next to me."

"You're a pain in the ass."

"I know." I lifted my head to set my chin on his shoulder. From there I could see the open window, and I narrowed my eyes at it, as if I could stop the cool air from coming in with just a look alone. "Aren't you cold in here?"

"No," he said, flipping over the page he'd been reading. "But you are."

"Well, can you blame me? I went from a nice, warm bed to a freezing cold room, of course I'd be cold."

"You're always cold," he said, without missing a beat.

"Oh, hush," I muttered against his neck. "You know, if you tell me what you're worried about, I can hurry up and tell you why it's dumb to worry about it and we can be in bed sooner."

"I'm not worried."

"Give me some more credit," I said, sitting up so I could look him in the eyes. "I know you better than that, Levi." I took one of his cheeks against my palm, and his eyes met mine so surely, but hidden within them was so much concern it almost hurt to see. "Something's clearly bothering you, my love."

"We're leaving the island we grew up on," he said quietly. "We'll be surrounded by strangers with only small weapons we can hide in our clothes to defend ourselves if we need to. And not to mention the idiots we must keep in line, Hange included."

"I get it," I said softly. "And I was worried about all that, too. But do you want to know how I see it?"

"Not really, no."

"I'm gonna tell you anyway. I think that finally, we're going to be able to see the world we were born into. Just think, these other nations were able to go visit each other all willy-nilly but avoided us like the plague. We finally get that chance, to see how the rest of the world lives."

"That's a pretty way of saying we're off to see people who want us dead."

"We have to keep hopeful," I said, shaking my head. "We have to believe that we have allies out there. I refuse to believe we don't." but... at any rate, think of how excited we all were to see the ocean. Think of how it stole your breath away, how it felt like everything we had ever done had meant something. Now, we can feel it again and again - in new countries, with new sights, with new people..."

"You're not scared?"

"No, not really," I answered. "As you said, we'll at least have some weaponry on us if we need it. I know how good you are with a knife, and I know how good I am with one. And besides, I've got El's knife, and it's never let me down before."

"Except that time you dropped it when you fell off the cart."

"I didn't fall off..." I huffed. "I thought we agreed not to talk about that."

"You said you agreed," he said. "I never said that I did."

"Asshole," I mumbled.

I sat up in his lap, gazing into his eyes. One simple look and I could see just how tired he really was, and my gaze softened - I could see it reflected in his eyes, and more so in his expression, as his own eyes lost some of their sharpness.

"You need sleep." I brushed a gentle thumb under his eye, grazing the eyebags. He closed that eye briefly before it fluttered open again, his focus never moving from me.

"I fought Titans with less sleep," he protested weakly.

"Don't act like that was healthy," I said with a roll of my eyes. "No matter how much I protested back then, you were always so damn stubborn."

"You gave up quicker back then, that's for damn sure."

"Ah, now you're making jokes. You must really be tired." I leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Come to bed love, please. We've got a long few days of traveling coming up and you'll need your strength. We'll finally be on vacation, a real one. Actually, it will be like our honeymoon."

"The one we never got to go on?"

"Exactly. And I don't want you to be tired and grumpy for the whole thing."

"Fine," he yielded. He leaned forward to pack the papers back into their file and I clung to him, shifting my arms to wrap around his neck to hold on. I peeked over my shoulder to watch, and when the papers were away, he looked down at me as I cuddled into his neck. "Are you going to let go so I can get up?"

"No," I said, trying to hide my smile from him. "I think you should carry me for the trouble of coming to get you."

"Uh huh," he grumbled. With a grunt he stood, giving me a second to wrap my legs around his waist. Once settled, he lowered his hands to my bottom and began to walk.

"Oh, shit," I said before we left the room. "Levi, the lantern."

"Fuck." It took a bit of maneuvering, but he managed to bend over to put out the lantern and while we were at it I directed him to the window to close it. After that, well, we curled up together in bed, and nearly as soon as he was under the covers and his head hit the pillow, he was asleep.

"Sleep well, my stubborn idiot," I whispered once he was sound asleep. I planted a gentle kiss on his forehead, then drifted back to sleep myself.

—

"This... is a big ass boat," I said, stepping around myself in a circle.

"Are you just realizing that now, dipshit?" Levi asked, picking Emiko up and setting her against his hip.

"I didn't think it'd actually be this big just looking at it from afar," I said. I walked towards the railing, leaning over it slightly. I watched the waves crash along the side of the boat as it cut through the waves.

"Easy there," Levi said, standing next to me and setting a hand on my waist, as if he thought I'd fall off the boat. Apparently, that was exactly what he'd thought. "If your stupid ass falls in, I'm not jumping in after you."

I waved his words off and continued to watch the water rush past the boat. This ship was a far cry larger than the one we were just on. It must've been, at the very least, quadruple the size.

We stood out on the desk for a few minutes, marveling at the size of the ship and did our best not to gawk at the people that walked by us after boarding. Some of these folks were tourists, but for the most part they were traveling on business, or so Azumabito had told us.

This ship sailed a steady course between Marley and neighboring nations, making it an easy and efficient way to travel back and forth for those that needed to. Fearing that we might start to look a tad suspicious, Hange and Levi ushered us below deck at the first sign that people were watching us.

The steps leading below deck were short and narrow, the corridors long and thin and terribly confining. It was slow going for the taller people in our party, who had to duck down quite a bit to be able to squeeze through doorways. While Levi and I had no issue at all with that part, I found the halls to be a bit too suffocating for my taste.

The rooms were plain, decorated simply, with a single porthole to see outside. We were quite a few levels below the desk, so our windows were just a few feet above the waterline.

Unfortunately, even this far into the trip, I was not yet used to the rocking of the ship, nor the buckled shoes I was wearing, nor the dress, nor the hat, nor the feeling that we were outsiders hiding away in plain sight. I wasn't used to it at all, but it didn't matter.

It all had a silver lining, anyway. We had an incredible trip just waiting for us to get there, a beautiful new land on the horizon to explore with my daughter, and a fantastic view to look out at with my husband - it was almost romantic, if he could find it in himself to enjoy it.

The boat ride, thankfully for me, was over before we all knew it and the boat slowed upon coming into port. Slowly and steadily it neared the bustling harbor town of Marley. As we traveled adjacent to the coastline, we could see a small mountain range sitting just behind the town, and all the buildings we could see looked different from the ones we built for our homes.

There were several other large barges in the port, but what really surprised me was the sheer amount of people in the town and working the docks. The folks were, for the most part, dressed like we were, save for the workers.

I thought I looked a bit silly in this getup, but Azumabito and Onyankopon had assured us that we'd fit right in. I guess they were right, because even the other passengers on the boat were dressed similarly to us, with full fitted suits and hats.

Everyone was dressed modestly, like we did on Paradis, but the styling was hugely different. Perhaps it was because this was a business-oriented side of town, one always chock-full of travelers and ambassadors, or maybe it was because that's just how everyone dressed here.

I wasn't sure what the answer was, but I figured that we'd soon find out. Even Levi had replaced his usual cravat with a necktie for the time being, though I could tell that he felt terribly stuffy in all the extra layers. The fabric of our clothing was smooth and soft, but rather restricting when it came to movement.

I found myself rather enjoying how we all looked, and I felt like something akin to royalty despite the fact that this was how everyone dressed here. It was just such a change from what we normally wore, I couldn't help but walk with my head a little higher.

"So there really are towns past the walls," Connie mused, leaning against the railing of the top deck casually, "and people living in them, too."

We all stood in a line by the railing, on a rather unoccupied end of the boat as it drew ever closer to docking. Jean looked at Connie seriously. "Don't say that kind of thing around others," he reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Connie replied nonchalantly.

"At long last," Sasha gasped, grasping the railing tightly. "We will be the first who live within the walls to step foot on land outside of them."

"What did I just say," Jean grumbled.

Standing between Armin and Levi as I was, Armin and Sasha were between myself and Jean; as such, I had to lean forward to see around them to see the kiddo as I replied to him. "Best to give up on telling them now," I suggested. "They don't have quite the capacity for learning that you do."

Levi, holding Emi on the hip on his other side, reached for me and tugged me gently back by my coat. "Don't lean so far over, stupid," he muttered to me.

"You could say," Hange piped up from Levi's other side, a wide smile adorning her lips, "we're all going back to our roots on this mission. Let the survey begin."

"Well said, commander," I said with a wink to her, leaning forward to see around Levi, much to his chagrin. He tugged me back again, quicker, and more forceful this time, clearly losing his patience with me.

Our first course of action was joining the queue to step down the gangway and onto the docks. We waited as a group, and thankfully for us few girls still not quite used to the higher heels of their buckled shoes, the men of our group escorted us down easily and slowly.

Kiyomi Azumabito and Onyankopon, along with most of our luggage, had been sent ahead. They'd caught a sooner boat so that he could ensure everything was in order for our arrival, because the last thing we wanted was to make a scene here. We had some luggage with us, of course, in small cases, but we didn't need much more than that for the small time it would take to be led to where we'd be staying.

This trip was to last a month. Azumabito had been quite generous when planning it, keeping in mind that it would be our very first time beyond the borders of our island. And as soon as it had been planned, the Marleyan volunteers had taken us and taught us to swim in the off chance that we fell off the boat or if we ended up somewhere that allowed swimming. That part had confused me, but learning how to swim had been fun, at least.

The volunteers had been surprised that none of us knew how to swim like they did, but seemed to forget that some of us grew up underground, and others were born nowhere near a clean body of water, or one big enough to allow swimming. For some villages situated near rivers and lakes and ponds, they taught the kids to swim; for others, because it was otherwise nonessential, we'd never been taught.

"Keep an eye out for Onyankopon," Hange told us once we were all off the boat. "Walk as a group."

The docks were terribly busy, and I took Levi's arm to keep from getting separated as we followed Hange. I kept glancing back to ensure that the kids were still behind us. Aside from Sasha getting momentarily distracted by something she smelled, everyone was doing a good job at not straying far, despite the various sights and sounds of the boardwalk.

"Ah," I heard Hange say after a few minutes of walking, dodging both workers and travelers alike, "there he is."

Looking ahead, I smiled, seeing our guide dressed smartly, standing at the end of the docks with a warm smile. He lifted his hat from his head in greeting. "Welcome to the continent of Marley. Allow me to guide you to Miss Azumabito's estate."

Of our fellowship, it was clear that he was used to this kind of thing. He walked the streets leisurely despite the hordes of people rushing to and fro around us. I thought that the market district of Trost was busy, but even this port and the adjacent streets we were led down were far more overwhelming than that.

The sheer volume of people had to be at least triple what we encountered on Trost, even on the busier days. The seagulls were perched along fences and railings, peering down at the people, and just waiting to dive down and steal a snack. The shopkeepers were calling out their wares and their deals, some even having little jingles they recited to entice customers over.

There were people of black skin, and of white, and everything between. I hadn't realized that skin could come in so many shades, and it was strange, and I could only hope I wasn't offending anyone accidentally by staring, but I couldn't help it. The people here were beautiful, and I couldn't wipe the smile from my face even if I tried.

The men here walked briskly if on business, but otherwise rather leisurely as they chortled and guffawed at the stories that they told each other. I could pick up on bits and pieces of conversations as we walked and heard everything from business to the state of their homes and even about their families.

The women here seemed rather relaxed as they browsed the wares and saw the sights. They too laughed and exchanged stories, but from what I could hear, it was mostly gossip, things that they'd heard someone down the street do and what was distasteful or courageous of them to do.

I paid careful attention to how they walked, at the way they wore their heeled boots with such ease as they walked down the sometimes-bumpy pavement as if it were nothing. I was lucky to be holding onto Levi, or else I might've fallen.

Excitement was practically buzzing in the air here, and it was so refreshing.

"The estate isn't far," Onyankopon called back to us. "It's only a few blocks away. Let's try our best not to lose anyone on the way over!" The street we were on now was strictly for foot traffic, both sides riddled with vendors with wheeled carts.

There were women walking together with parasols, men talking over cups of what was probably alcohol, and kids dashing back and forth across the street, spending what little allowance their parents had given them, the odd dog chasing after them playfully.

And speaking of allowances, we'd all been given pocket money by Azumabito. There was a large budget stowed away for us, but for street food and trinkets that caught our eye, she'd given us all a bit to spend on ourselves.

"Ooh, captain, look!" I heard, and suddenly I was tugged away from Levi's side by Sasha who had caught a whiff of something appetizing.

We'd been taught before the trip the currency of Marley, and since they spoke the same language we did, that wasn't an issue. Sasha excitedly bought what looked like an apple but was covered in something and skewered on a stick. "One candied apple for the pretty ladies," the shopkeeper said with a smile once she'd paid.

Sasha wasted no time in taking a bite, and as she chewed, held it towards me. I took a small, tentative bite, finding the treat to be almost sickeningly sweet. "Oh, goodness," I said once I swallowed. "It's so sweet!"

"I love it!" Sasha exclaimed.

"I'm trying to figure out what exactly they covered it with, because it's really-"

I was interrupted by a rather tall man, with deeply tanned skin and dark hair. He was smiling at me, a warm one at that, but I couldn't understand a damn word he was saying. Without even realizing it, I found myself staring at his lips as they spoke words that I just could not understand with syllables I'd never heard before. Suddenly, he presented a rose to me, and that at least I could comprehend.

He continued to talk to me, or rather as me, but I shook my head and smiled at him. He offered the rose again, and with an indulgent sigh I took it from him, but just as I did, there was a call for us to return to the group.

"Oh," I said, "excuse me." I ignored the way that Sasha was giggling as we weaved back into the crowd to make our way to where our group had stopped along the sidewalk.

"You're blushing, captain," Sasha teased.

"Am I?" I pressed a hand to my cheek, and sure enough, it was warm. "Ah, well, he was rather pretty."

"Perhaps you tied yourself down too quickly," she said with a shit-eating grin.

"I don't know about that," I laughed. "What he was saying sounded good, but he could've been swearing at me for all I know."

"I don't think so," Sasha sang. "He had hearts in his eyes looking at you."

"I'm sure," I said, rolling my eyes - but I couldn't keep the smile from my face for long as we approached our fellowship.

"Uh oh," Sasha said conspiratorially.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"The pretty man had hearts in his eyes looking at you," she reminded me, "but it seems someone has daggers in his."

Sure enough, Levi was dirtily eying the man who I had taken the rose from, but I shook my head fondly towards him before casting a scrutinizing eye towards Sasha. "Are you looking to cause trouble today?"

"Maybe," she said playfully, and I knew without a doubt that she was. I sighed almost indulgently; this girl was too much to handle a lot of the time, one of those times being exactly now. And yet, I would have it no other way.

"Blowing your money already?" Connie asked once we rejoined the group.

"Of course," Sasha chimed happily.

"And stealing hearts, apparently," Jean joked, looking at me.

"Oh, hush," I muttered, passing the boys by and heading to Levi's side.

When I was standing before him, I reached for Levi's hand, but he dodged it. Before I could even feign being hurt or let my sudden bout of offense reach my face, Levi instead took the flower from my other hand. His eyes slowly trailed not to me, but to the man I had taken it from - who was now watching our interactions closely from across the road.

If I had to, I could only describe what was happening as a standoff between the two men, and that was likely the best way to describe it, what with Levi's territorial side competing against the flirtatious nature of the stranger.

To appease my husband and keep us moving, I acted in a way probably more than a bit impulsive, but I couldn't care about stopping to think for a moment when he looked so damned upset. So, as he clearly neared the point where he'd just go and break the man's fingers for even daring to hand something to me, I acted.

Oh, yes - I acted impulsively. But honestly, I didn't feel any shame in it - how could I, when the nearly feverish kiss I pressed to his lips was met with equal fervor? It was brief, what with his distaste with public displays of affection soon rearing its head, but it made the point I wanted it to make.

When we broke away, Levi looked considerably worse for wear; his cheeks were emblazoned, his eyes wide with surprise, his lips parted as though to soon make way for all manner of chiding protests - but no worse than the man across the road, watching now with his shoulders slumped and his mouth agape.

At least I had managed to take my hat from my head and block us from view of the kids, anyway.

...Not that it mattered much, as a chorus of obnoxious wolf-whistles rose up from the obnoxious children we were tasked with watching. Before lifting the hat away, I pressed a quick kiss to Levi's cheek and grabbed his hand, tugging him along with me to lead the way for the group. The entire fellowship fell into step with us and I placed my hat back atop my head, and we were on our way towards the Azumabito estate once more.

My cheeks were still burning as we started to walk at the teasing still headed our way, but when Levi gave in and fixed our hands so that our fingers were interlocked, I eased up.

Further down that pedestrian road we walked, the walkway going along the man-made coastline. The cobblestone was smooth under our feet, a far cry from the dirt roads we had at home.

We passed a work road, and the kids were immediately distracted by... I don't know what. We all slowed to look at what appeared at first glance to be a carriage.

If that had been all we saw, I'd have believed that's what it was and nothing more. But there were no horses hitched to it, but there were people in the seats behind a large pane of clear glass and it was moving. My next instinct told me that it was an animal, but I'd never seen an animal like that. It was impossibly smooth, without hair or legs, but wheels like a carriage, and it looked to be made of metal.

"That horse...! Huh? Is that a horse?" Connie asked.

"No," Sasha denied. "Isn't that a cow?" She nodded in affirmation. "It's a kind of cow!"

"It's a car!" Hange cried out, a grin on her lips. Oh, we'd been told about those. I wasn't expecting it to look like that, but we had indeed been told about machines that people could drive, like a carriage, but it didn't need horses. "We heard about them before coming! Hello, car!"

Just as I was about to open my mouth and say hello to it as well, there was a rather indignant hmph aimed our way by some passerby.

"This is bad," Armin said quietly. "They're staring at us."

"Yeah," Jean agreed, "they must think we're bumpkins." There was a definite blush on Jean's face, and he tugged his hat further down on his head as if to hide his face.

"Huh?"

"Pretend we don't know them..."

Levi, Emi, and I stayed near Onyankopon as the idiots gawked at the car. I was curious too, but all too aware of the looks we were getting. So much for not making fools of ourselves, then.

"If we don't stop them," Levi mumbled, "they're going to try to feed carrots to that lump of iron."

"Ha!" Onyankopon barked out a laugh. "Oh, please."

"You know who we're talking about, right?" I asked Onyankopon, looking at him incredulously. He'd been around the kids enough to know that they would absolutely do as Levi predicted. And when we turned to look at them... they already were.

"...They're buying carrots!"

"Shit," I said as I jogged towards them as quickly as I could in the skirt and heels. "Don't you idiots dare-!"

It took a few minutes, but finally the dumbasses had been pried away from the car, and no carrots had been bought to feed it. The car in question drove off, and we were back on our way once again in the direction of the estate.

"Maybe we should've bought leashes," I said to Levi and Onyankopon, just as Sasha and Connie stopped at another food cart. This one advertised several kinds of cold treats, but this was already Sasha's third time stopping at one of these carts. Even so, we stopped to allow the kids to buy what they wanted. "She's gonna spend all of her money today," I sighed.

"Ice cream is worth it, I think," Onyankopon said with a smile. "You should try it, captain. You might like it." I gave in only after requesting that he please just call me Amaya, because surely calling me captain would raise questions among those we passed. He agreed, and we joined the line, and when it was my turn, I bought a cone of what Onyankopon told me was vanilla ice cream.

Without knowing how else to eat it, I took a big bite, but immediately regretted it. I hadn't even taken a huge bite, but my entire mouth felt like it was freezing solid, the sensation slowly encompassing my entire head and into my brain. A surprised squeak escaped me as I tried to fan my mouth, whatever good I thought that would do.

Onyankopon chuckled. "Brain freeze?" Assuming that he knew what I was agonizing through, I nodded frantically as I swallowed down the treat that was admittedly tasty but slowly freezing me from the inside out. "Press your tongue to the roof of your mouth."

I did, confused, but without other options, I didn't really have much to lose. Gradually, the icy feeling died down and I could feel my body heat taking over again. I let out a breath of relief and beamed up at him.

"Thank you," I said gratefully.

Levi only watched on as all this happened, a smug smirk on his lips. Emi began reaching for Hange then, asking for her auntie, and Levi handed her off to the commander.

"Most people just lick," Onyankopon advised with another chuckle.

"Oh," I murmured, looking back at the ice cream. I tried, and I was able to appreciate the flavor of it. "Yeah," I laughed, "that's a lot better!"

Onyankopon began to talk to Hange and me about the other flavors of ice cream and odd things he was hoping to show us during our trip. I was so focused on what he was saying as we all enjoyed the ice cream and the beautiful weather that I didn't notice another person approach us.

It was a man much taller than Levi and me, with his face painted entirely white save for two vertical red lines, one over each eye. A wide, exaggerated smile was on his painted lips and I wasn't quite sure what to make of his getup.

He wore baggy clothes adorned with stripes, a silly looking vest, striped pants, and a hat to match. He was holding a lollipop, which I knew only because we'd passed by other stalls that sold them.

I think he was trying to be friendly, but for some reason my fight-or-flight response was triggered as I looked at that stranger. The stranger stood directly behind Levi and began talking to him. Because, you know, that was a good idea. Though I suppose he didn't know any better, but... he'd learn. And quickly, at that.

"Hey there, son," the man said in a sing-song kind of way, as if speaking to a child. Levi's eyes widened, and he glanced at me, as if to ask if this really was happening to him. The man ducked down slightly to Levi's height, his smile only growing in size. "You." It was with a sweet tone, but it was... threatening, in a way. Levi turned to look at the man dead-on, but he did not flinch at Levi's narrowed eye. "Wow, you look so cool! Are you kids playing gangster?"

I bit my tongue to keep from laughing aloud. I could almost feel the temperature in the area rise as Levi's anger simmered. It was already bad enough when people who knew him made fun of his height. But for a stranger to do it? This man was on thin, thin ice, and he was smiling all the while.

"Ah, yes, the kids wanted to dress up and come to the port for the day," I explained hurriedly to defuse the situation. "Come along, children!"

Even as I looked back towards the kids, all holding ice cream, with my free hand I held Levi's shoulder and pushed him along with me. Hange, barely stifling her own laugh, and Onyankopon, who was just stunned by what happened, followed along. The four of us adults continued to walk, and the kids followed, leaving the strange man far behind as we continued along.

We had a few peaceful minutes of walking, and at some point during that time Emi had reached for me and Hange handed her off to me. I'd have let her walk, like I knew she wanted to, but there were too many people here and I didn't want her to fall. When the crowd thinned a bit, then she could walk with us, but for now, I set her on my hip and kept my other arm looped with Levi's.

I was so engrossed in the sights of the area that it genuinely scared me when Levi abruptly let go of me, only to lash out and snag the wrist of a child and yank his arm upwards – not enough to hurt, but enough to get the attention of the people in the immediate area.

Looking into his hand, I realized what had happened: the kid was a pickpocket and had robbed Sasha. Or, at the very least, he'd tried to. If Levi hadn't been keeping a keen eye out, he probably would've gotten away with it.

"Hey," Levi said lowly, "that's not your purse."

"A pick-pocket!" One of the nearby men proclaimed.

"Another one of those immigrants," another one spat.

The kid tugged his wrist from Levi's grasp once he'd taken back the coin purse, and the crowd of furious men stepped in, surrounding the poor thing. Brow furrowed, and a concerned purse of my lips, I rose onto my toes to see over the shoulder of one of the men as they shoved their way past us quite rudely.

Immigrant or not, thief or not, no one should be ostracized like this poor kid. He was a child, nothing more. Misguided, sure, but not bad. The poor thing looked so scared, surrounded by men much taller than him like that. From where I stood, I could just see his eyes, wide with fear. He wasn't even defending himself, the poor thing.

But in his eyes, I could see so much of Caden, it hurt my heart to see. This was just a poor kid who had tried to provide something for his family, his friends, or even just for himself. I'd been like him once, and so had Levi.

"How'd you come here?" One man demanded.

"He can't understand us," another one scoffed.

"I bet he snuck onto a ship."

"Levi," I murmured, holding Emi tighter in my arms, "we have to do something. The poor thing, he..."

"He's like us," Levi said back. "Yeah. I know."

"Why don't we toss him into the sea?" One of the men suggested.

"No," another piped up, "let's smash his right hand."

"Let's hang him up somewhere everyone can see and let him dangle there."

"I bet that'll help discourage these sneaks."

My eyes widened and my anger multiplied at each passing suggestion. Other men in the crowd yelled out their thoughts too, getting cheers from some and different ideas from others.

This was disgusting. To think, I was impressed with the people here, just a moment ago. To find that they were no different from us... that they were so willing to hurt a child to set an example to others... I had half a mind to toss them all over the railing and into the water, myself.

Across the circle, Sasha leaned in over the shoulder of a still-grumbling man. "What...? That's going too far!"

"Don't even try," I barked out, shoving my way between the men after handing Emi to a surprised Hange. "You won't harm a hair on his head, so help me."

"I have my purse back!" Sasha cried out. "It's fine!"

"This isn't your problem, missy," one of the men sneered.

"If we don't set an example by punishing him," another grumpy-ass man stated, "it'll be a problem for all the merchants making a living here."

"Who knows," another shouted. "If he's an exiled immigrant, he might even be one of those Subjects of Ymir!"

My heart nearly stopped in my chest and I could do nothing but hope that my reaction hadn't reached my face. I could almost feel the way my face paled and everything in my body seemed to come to a screeching halt.

"Every country's been running blood tests all over the place recently," one of the men explained. "It'd be no laughing matter if we let devil's blood slip into our communities."

The child was trembling now, he was so scared. He clearly couldn't understand the language, but here they were, terrorizing the poor thing. My blood was nearly boiling at this point, I was so upset.

More people called out to discipline him, to make an example out of him, but I shouted back, not really caring about how much of a scene we were drawing because I was not going to allow them to frighten this child any more. But before I could do anything more than shout, Levi grabbed the child, hoisting him up with a hand around his torso.

"Hey," one rather gruff looking and sounding man began, "what're you doing?"

"Who said he was a pick-pocket?" Levi asked smoothly, turning his head to look back at the man in question. "I just said that wasn't his purse."

The kid still looked afraid, probably thinking that he'd still get punished in one form or another. I leaned down slightly in front of him, and he looked up at me with wide, scared eyes. When I smiled at him, he seemed to relax, if only just a bit.

Levi gestured with his head to Sasha. "The purse is his older sister's."

"She refuses to buy her little brother snacks," I said with a fake, indulgent sigh as I stood up straight and accepted Emi from Hange. "You know how boys are, don't you, gentlemen?"

"Yep," Hange chimed in, trying to defuse the situation, "they're got a real complicated family situation... isn't that right?"

"Y-Yes! I'm sorry about my little brother!" Sasha said with a bow as she played along. The men were seemingly enraged by our little act and didn't seem to buy into it at all. Shit.

"You expect us to buy that?"

"Uh oh," I hissed, clutching Emi tighter as Levi pushed his way out of the group. I followed quickly as other members of the crowd joined in and shouted after us.

"Let's go," Levi ordered, increasing his pace with the child still tucked under his arm.

"Come along, kids!" I called back as we started to jog. Seeing that a small group of the men were after us, we sped up more, the men holding their hats as we women held up our skirts so we could run.

As silly as it was, running along these foreign streets to Goddesses only knew where reminded me of those times underground, when maybe our job didn't go too well, because our acting wasn't entirely believable or our lies weren't exactly foolproof. Sometimes, such instances would lead us to doing what we were now: running, though usually we'd just use our gear for our escape.

Only, this time, we had no idea where we were going, other than that we continued in the direction we'd originally been  going, so hopefully we were getting closer to our destination rather than further away or even passing it entirely.

Just thinking about it now, for a long time Farlan had granted me the "official role" of being the head on missions where we needed to sneak our way in with a little bit of roleplay. He'd called me the esteemed actress of the gang, and something about that memory brought a smile to my face.

It was strange, really, but I didn't mind. I didn't mind the running, despite the slight pain in my feet from running in heels. I didn't mind the running, despite not being able to appreciate what we were passing by for lack of time to stop. I didn't mind the stupid smile on my face, despite knowing damn well that I looked like quite the fool.

No, I didn't mind anything at all, because I was no stranger to running, or to mild pain, or to be running away from someone, or to looking like a fool.

We kept running until we lost the men and then some, finding ourselves accidentally towards the outskirts of town. Nearly all of us – except for Levi and Mikasa, of course – were winded from the amount of running we'd just done.

"Holy shit," I heaved out, lowering Emi to stand on the ground on her own as I worked to regain my breath. Levi put the kid down and he was gone in a flash while Levi checked to ensure we still had everyone we were supposed to.

"... Where'd the kid go?" He asked.

Hange, crouched by his side, answered him, pointing towards the top of a nearby mound of dirt. "Over there," she said through ragged breaths.

And there he was, standing triumphantly atop the hill, a coin-purse in his hands.

"Huh?" I asked. "Didn't you...?"

After a slow blink as he tried to comprehend what had happened, he rushed to check all his pockets. He patted each one, and once each one was checked, an annoyed sigh escaped him. "Well... the Azumabito gave me that as allowance, anyway..."

I chuckled as the kid turned and headed down over the other side of the hill and out of our sight. "Clever kid."

"A brat, that's what he was," Levi muttered.

I crossed my arms and smirked at him. "Thieves who are foolish enough to help other thieves end up broke," I recited. It was something he'd told me years ago, back when I'd only just joined him and Farlan. "You'd have thought we'd at least be smarter than him."

"We're getting old," he said to me. "Damn kids are getting craftier than us."

"Still," I shrugged, "the poor kid was terrified before you grabbed him. If compensation for that is but one coin-purse, and we managed to save his life too, I think it's worth it, especially because you're the one who called attention to it."

"It wasn't your money, now was it?" He grumbled. With a roll of my eyes I reached into my pocket and tossed my own purse to him.

"There. Better now?"

He tucked the money into his pocket with a nod. A cheeky smirk adorned his lips as he fixed his jacket, and it took almost all I had in me to not reach into his pocket and take my money back. A few feet away, Onyankopon called out that he knew where we were, and that we weren't far from the estate, but we should get going.

"Try not to lose that money too, love." I took one of Emi's hands into my own, and with my free hand reached for him. He took my hand, linking our fingers together. "I'll protect us from thieves, don't worry."

"You're a brat," Levi sighed. "I hope you know that."

"Yes," I said happily. "I certainly do. But you love me anyway, don't you?"

"I certainly do," Hange chimed in.

"Tch," Levi uttered as Hange dashed to my side and I took her in for a tight, overly-dramatic hug, like two long-lost lovers. "I hate when you two work together to annoy me."