Charles entered the room. It was filled to the brim with Military Police armed with guns and solemn faced aristocracy members. She took a sweeping intake of the room and her attention was completely on Erwin, who was sitting at one end of the long table. She started towards him.

"Why didn't you ask for the Military Police's cooperation?" a judge asked, sitting at the head of the table.

"District Chief, we didn't want to risk the Female Titan's associates to be informed of our movements," Erwin answered. "To ensure the success of this gravely important mission only those whose innocence could be proven were to participate."

Charles snorted. It's been awhile since she's heard Erwin speak like that. It still impressed her how convincing he sounded. Like every word that came out of his mouth was scripture and you can't help but believe them. She glanced at the District Chief. He didn't look impressed. She guessed the destruction was too great for Erwin's pretty words to make up for it.

"Erwin," Charles whispered into his ear.

The only visible sign that he'd heard her was a twitch in his mouth. His eyes were still on the District Chief but his attention was held by Charles.

"A titan was discovered inside the wall," she began.

She saw the question in his expression and she hurried to clarify.

"It looked like the wall was built around the titan. We're still unsure whether there are more in the entire length of it, but it's probable."

"The plan was to deal with her without causing damage to the surroundings, but unfortunately, it did not turn out the way we expected, and property and priceless lives of the citizens were lost. Our lack of ability was the cause, for which I profoundly apologize," Erwin answered the Chief's question without any momentary lapse.

Charles waited for him to finish, used to Erwin's implausible ability to multi-task.

"On the other hand, though, if we had let her escape and the wall had been destroyed by her accomplices the resulting damage would have been many magnitudes greater. That frightening perspective was also one of the reasons why of the two evils we chose the least and acted," Erwin finished.

"We aren't in immediate vulnerability," Charles said quickly. "Hanji told me to inform you. What do you want to do?"

"At present, she remains in our custody deep underground," Erwin tended to the Chief's concerns once again. "Since her whole body is covered in particularly hard crystal, it is impossible to question her for information."

The door opened and Hanji entered. She inclined her head in greeting and joined Erwin's side. Charles entered her line of vision after a few seconds and Hanji nodded.

"In other words..." there was a threatening and grim look on the Chief's face. "All in vain?"

"No, I do not think so. In my view..."

Erwin's voice faded as Charles stood on her tippy toes to whisper to Hanji.

"How did the questioning of the pastor go?" she asked.

Hanji's hand jerked and Charles put out her own hand. Hanji flipped it over and wrote on her palm, trying to remain indiscrete to Charles' presence for the sake of having backup if anything were to go wrong.

He wouldn't break. Even when I held him over the wall.

"Pity," Charles frowned. "Do we need to arrange a funeral?"

Hanji's lips formed a smirk, earning weird looks from the people in the room.

No, I didn't drop him.

"Why not?"

Is this disappoint I hear in your tone?

"It would be a lie if I said no."

He's a valuable container of information. It would've been illogical to kill him. We just need to pry the lid open.

Charles was about to reply when the door banged open, a breathless soldier in the doorway.

"COMMANDER ERWIN!" he yelled. "Bad news!"

"Touma!?" Hanji said, recognizing her subordinate.

"Wall Rose is...!" Touma took a breath. "Wall Rose has been breached!"

Charles' fear emitted into the room like a huge gust of air. Suddenly, they were all aware of her presence.

"What the hell?!"

"Has she always been there?!"

Armin sighed. He'd had a feeling that the Captain had been present. He held mixed feelings about her ability to conceal her existence.

"Hanji, Charles," Erwin said calmly. "I'm leaving this up to you and Levi."

Charles gritted her teeth and Hanji nodded. The taller woman headed toward Touma while Charles was rooted to the spot.

"Charles?" Hanji questioned, pausing in the doorway.

Charles gave each of the men around the table a menacing stare, then her eyes landed on Erwin.

"You better not die," she said.

Erwin's mouth twitched with a ghost of a smile. "That's my line."

Charles smirked then her eyes landed on Armin and Jean. "Aren't you coming? Your friends are probably on the front lines right now."

They rushed to her side and the door shut behind them.

_ _ _

Levi opened the door and Charles entered a spotlessly clean room.

"Whoa... I never knew wood floors could gleam like that..." Charles said inspecting the floor.

"Don't get dirt on anything," Levi said, unstrapping his maneuver gear.

Charles didn't respond, captivated by the closet full of cleaning supplies that she'd discovered.          

"Waaaaa..." she said, examining a broom. "Do all your thug related dealings consist on gaining more housework provisions?"

"Stop looking around," Levi ordered, ripping the broom out of her hands and shutting the door.

Charles had already migrated into the kitchen.

"Oh ho ho ho!" Levi heard her say. "You guys don't have a bad life here!"

I can't believe Farlan convinced me that we need this contaminated vermin in our group. Levi thought as he sat down at the dining table.

Even as he thought it, Farlan and Isabel barged into the house, panting like dogs. He stared while they tried to catch their breaths.

"Welcome back," he drawled.

"Where... wheeze the... hell... pant were you?!" Farlan demanded between breaths. "We were running around... wheeze... looking for you!"

Levi rose from his seat and poured two glasses of water. "I was tracking down our newest member."

"Don't call me that!" Charles said from the kitchen.

Isabel chugged down the water and Farlan reached for his. They perked up at the sound of Charles' voice and they looked around.

"She's right next to you," Levi said impatiently.

Farlan and Isabel looked between them and they blinked. Charles was standing right in the middle with her arms crossed. Isabel shrieked like a banshee and they all had to cover their ears.

"DON'T DO THAT!" Farlan shouted. "Our eardrums will shatter!"

"Sorry," Isabel apologized, sparkling at the sight of Charles. "That never gets old! You're pretty cool."

Charles shrugged. "There's a lot of people who have my ability, I'm just the rare ones that use it to my advantage."

Isabel stretched out Charles' cheeks and Charles sweatdropped.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"She's making sure you're not a ghost," Farlan said, suddenly sounding exhausted. "Ever since that day we met you, she's kept producing these crazy theories."

"They were absurd," Levi said.

"That's mean, aniki!" Isabel said, puffing out her cheeks and letting go of Charles'.

Charles sagged in relief and rubbed them ruefully.

"What about the one where this brat was supposedly an angel come to help us?" Levi asked.

"That was three years ago! I was still a kid, give me a break!"

"Anyways!" Farlan said, ending the argument. He turned to Charles. "You've grown a lot these passed years."

"Like mold," Levi said, a cup hovering over his lips.

They stared at him.

"In a damp, cold corner of the attic," Levi added.

His friends suddenly knew what he was talking about.

"I told you that we were going to take care of it after we get Charles on board," Farlan's eyes were hooded.

Levi tsked.

"So, what do you say, Charles?" Isabel grinned. "Wanna join–"

"Like I told le-shorty before," Charles interrupted, earning a death glare from Levi. "I'm not interested."

"Don't make up your mind so quickly!" Isabel whined. "Yeah we started off on the wrong foot but we can start over."

"She's right," Farlan nodded. "With you in our group, our team will only become stronger."

"You're good as you are now," Charles pointed out. "You're the big name thugs of the underground. I'm content with mixing in with the crowd."

"Don't be so hasty," Farlan said almost pleadingly. "Give it a day. Think about it for a day and we'll be waiting here for your answer."

Charles didn't waver. "My mind is made up."

He turned to Levi. "Now give me back my apple."

Levi contemplated the fruit for a second. "No."

Charles gritted his teeth. He'd had enough of this nonsense.

"No?" he snarled.

"I'll give it back tomorrow," he said dully. "When you give us your answer."

"Listen here. I don't care that you're considered the infamous thug that nobody can take down. You promised me if I came in here to talk you'd give it back."

"We never validated that agreement. You turned me down, remember?"

Charles almost growled. He got her there. He offered that compromise and she had rejected it.

These damn overpowered people.

Charles spun on her heel and headed to the door. Pausing in front of it, her head whipped to the side to give the three a look of hatred and she raised her foot. With an almighty swing, she kicked it off its hinges.

"I'll see you tomorrow with my very obvious answer to your offer," she stepped outside. "No damn way."

_

Lizzy halted in washing the dishes when her little sister stomped into the house, halted abruptly in the middle, and screamed to the heavens about a short thug and how he could go fall down the stairs and break his neck.

Then, she ran to their shared room and slammed the door shut. Lizzy took a deep breath and dried the dish in her hands. She entered the room to find Charlotte buried under the faded blankets. She sank down to her knees and soothingly rubbed her sister's back.

"Ne-san..."

Lizzy kept rubbing soothing circles and listened intently.

"If okaa-san and oto-san knew I was committing crimes to survive, do you think they'd be angry?"

Lizzy dug her sister's hand out of the covers and traced words on her sister's palm.

They'd be disappointed.

Charlotte winced, still hiding her face.

"My art wasn't selling. Our music wasn't getting us enough. Unless we wanted to sell our bodies, we would've died from starvation."

They would understand.

Charlotte pulled the covers back and gazed at her sister, almost for assurance that she meant what she wrote.

"Are you disappointed?"

I actually think you became quite the badass.

Charlotte busted out laughing. "Really? Do you really think so?"

Lizzy grinned toothily.

"You sure know how to pay a compliment," Charlotte said, kicking back the blankets and standing up.

She went over to the loose floorboard and ripped it open. She lifted a sack full of money from her bag and twisting around, showed it to her sister with a closed eyed grin.

"We're almost out of this hell, Lizzy!" Charlotte said. "Just a little while longer."

Charlotte added the sack to the pile and picked up her ocarina.

"To celebrate our freedom," she raised the ocarina to her lips. "I'll play a song."

_

Charlotte strolled through the streets aboveground, passing rich noblemen and well dressed and fed woman and children. They paid her no mind and Charlotte went about undisturbed. She had a set goal in mind that day: to pick up their payment from their publisher.

After that, she needed to go back underground and meet with the baka criminals again. Although, she couldn't talk, she was a criminal as well, just a smart one.

There was a deeper reason as to why she didn't want to join them aside from the overall history and anger she's experienced because of them. One, she was moving above ground and she wanted to leave that dank garbage hole behind, and two, she had a sister to look after.

She couldn't tell them those reasons because criminals knew how fellow criminals worked. They would either steal the money that she'd saved up or threaten her with her sister's life.

A couple of Military Police officers exited the building that she was just about to enter and with the tinkle of the bell she was inside the warm, wood smelling publisher's office. Her worn out boots tapped on the floor as she walked up to the counter. She rang the little bell on the table and waited a few minutes.

If she didn't have those reasons, she would've otherwise have joined their little posse. She found it exhilarating, thinking about flying in the air with them, mocking the police as they struggled to catch them.

A couple of minutes passed and the owner didn't appear, so Charlotte rung the bell again.

Something popped into her head. Right, they still thought that she was a guy. Her hair had grown out over the years but it felt uncomfortable so she cut it. She was also taken to tying a cloth to hold her bangs back if she ever had to fight another inhabitant of the underground.

Charlotte looked down at her chest. She didn't have much cleavage either. Lizzy didn't have much too. Charlotte guessed it was the genes. But she didn't mind, she was actually quite thankful. It helped not having so much weight and it was useful for aerodynamic movements.

Charlotte tsked and rang the bell repeatedly.

"Oi!" she called. "Anyone in!"

Silence.

Charlotte cursed under her breath and let herself into the back.

"Hey! I don't have all the time in the world you know—"

Charles gasped. There on the floor, was the disfigured body of their publisher. Blood splattered the walls and pooled on the floor, bits and pieces of flesh shredded littered the ground.

There was no way this guy was alive.

Covering her mouth and nose with her hand, she made sure to keep her guard up. The murderer might still be hidden and well aware that she was there as well, the shouts and bell ringing alerting him.

She looked around. There was nothing she could do for the man but she might just be able to capture the murderer. She was just thankful she hadn't been there when—

Something shot through her brain and she felt like throwing up and crying her eyes out.

What...?

Bile rose in her throat and she tried to keep it down.

What...? What's happening to me?  

She coughed and hacked everything onto the floor of the backroom. The disgusting blend mixing in with the publisher's blood.

Why do I feel like something horrible is going to happen?

Charles wiped the tears away and felt a tugging sensation. An image of her sister's face floated to the surface and Charles' eyes widened.

"Lizzy ne-san!" she yelled, stumbling out of the room.

There were shouts and cries as she charged out of the building. For once in her life, Charlotte was seen by the nobles of the Sina district, unable to keep her emotions in check. She elbowed through a crowd and even went as far as pushing an elderly man out of her way.

Please let me get there in time!

11 years ago.

The people clapped as Charlotte jumped off the stage. The servants of the rich house of the Smiths were having a little party in their humble abode. Charlotte had just finished with her piece and she giggled as the men gave her flattering compliments. She ran to her father's open arms and he lifted her up, swinging her around.

"That's my little girl!" he barked in happiness.

Her mother chuckled and when Charlotte's father let her down, Lizzy trapped her in a choke hold.

"You got better, little squirt," Lizzy sneered.

"Heehee," Charlotte giggled.

"Lizzy!" one of their fellow servants called. "Sing for us!"

"Yeah, Liz! Sing!"

"Wakata!" Liz smirked and she released her hold on Charlotte. "Watch and learn, imoto."

Charlotte nodded in anticipation, hugging her ocarina to her chest, Lizzy grinned at her expression.

Lizzy jumped up onto the stage with cheers and whistles. The noise died down and she took a deep breath. Their cousin started the piano and their father and uncle struck up the violins right when Lizzy began singing. A beautiful instrumental accompaniment blossomed.

"Now we've come so far from darkness,

And we'll never be apart.

So we leave for tomorrow

To start our lives again

Find me there my tiny feathers

Of my holy ancient days

You will calm all my sadness

And ring your song, only

For me."

The instruments had their solo and the room was happily peaceful. Charlotte was gazing up at her sister in pride, admiration, and glee. She giggled when Lizzy winked at her.

"Find me there my tiny feathers

Of my holy ancient days

I will calm all your sadness

And sing my song, only..."

Lizzy held the note and it gracefully faded away.

"For... you..."

A ringing silence, then applause and cheers.

Charlotte jumped up and down, clapping as loudly as possible. Lizzy finished bowing and started clapping rhythmically, everyone joining in. Charlotte went to go get her flute and a playful and energetic jig rang up in the servants' dwelling.

Lizzy was caught in a passionate dance with a boy her age and the servants made a circle around them.

Laughter and dancing, smiling faces and overwhelming happiness. Charlotte sat on the shoulder of a bulky man, playing the flute with the violins, the pianos, and cello of her other family members. Charlotte saw a boy her age gesturing over to her and she jumped off and ran over to him. Placing the flute on a table, she spun around and around with him, laughing her head off.

It was a happy time.

Charlotte ran through the crowd, playing tag with her friend the page boy.

And like every period.

She ran into something and landed on the floor with a painful thud. She looked up the leg and saw a man full of bloodlust.

The music screeched to a halt at the sight of the man and the page boy ran to Charlotte's side.

"Be cooperative!" the soldier yelled. "And nobody gets hurt."

It had to end.

_

The servants were all corralled outside in the chilly winter air. Soldiers standing stiffly around them with torches and rifles. Charlotte was on the brink of tears and she hid her face in her mother's clothes. She felt someone's hand on top of hers and peeked out.

Axel grinned comfortingly and Charlotte couldn't help but return it.

"What do you think this is about?" Charlotte's uncle whispered seriously to her father.

"No idea," her father responded. "But it doesn't look good."

"Just keep your heads," her mother chided them. "Don't do anything rash."

"I don't like these people," Lizzy scowled at the soldiers. "I have a bad feeling."

"Hey."

Charlotte looked at Axel again.

"Wanna hear a joke?" he asked.

Charlotte nodded.

"What goes up but does not move?"

Charlotte tilted her head to the side.

"Stairs."

Charlotte cracked a smile.

"What did one wall say to the other?"

"What?" Charlotte said in childish expectancy.

"Meet you at the corner!"

Charlotte broke into a fit of giggles.

This went on until Axel ran out of jokes and resorted to narrating the soldiers.

A soldier went up to another and Axel took on a deep voice.

"I want a pot roast.

Beer.

The hell with beer, I want my pot roast.

Maybe I can piss off and go get wasted like I always do.

I think I'm going to be a potato when I grow up.

Turns out my life is pointless and I should just stop wasting space.

Turns out I have a vagina and I need to grow some balls to fight actual titans.

I'll never let go Jack. Never."

The adults began sniggering, trying to contain their laughter. The soldiers looked at them weird and wondered how they could be acting like they are in their predicament.

From a signal from their captain, they aimed their guns at the servants and the laughter halted.

"The Everheart family. Please step up."

Charlotte and her family members all tensed. Their fellow companions glancing nervously at them.

"Fuck..." Charlotte's 17 year old cousin whispered under his breath.

"What do they want with us?" Lizzy asked soundlessly.

Axel glanced at Charlotte fearfully.

"If you do not surrender yourselves now, we'll be forced to resort to violence."

"You're going to use it either way," Charlotte's uncle grumbled.

After the adults and her cousin exchanged gazes, they made a move to stand.

"Don't," Lizzy said, terror and panic clear in her tone.

"Take care of Charlotte, Lizzy," Charlotte's mother said, smiling sadly. "You two are no longer and was never a part of the Everheart family."

Lizzy clamped her mouth shut and Charlotte was removed from her mother's lap. Charlotte reached for her mom's hand, dread sparking in her eyes. Lizzy pushed it down and held her in a firm grip.

"Let them go, Charlotte," Lizzy's voice cracked.

Their parents smiled at them for the last time and Charlotte stifled a sob.

"We're the Everhearts," Charlotte's father said. "Have we done something wrong?"

"Yes, actually," the Military captain said. "Will you come with us?"

"Can you inform us what we have done wrong?" Charlotte's uncle snarled.

"Unfortunately, no."

The adults tensed.

"Arrest them," the captain said, then he sneered. "The children as well."

"They aren't ours," Charlotte's mother said a bit too quickly.

"Are you sure?" the Captain asked. "Then whose are they?"

"Nobody's," their cousin said. "They're orphans."

"Then, nobody would object to me disposing them here and now?"

Somebody grabbed Charlotte by her hair and lifted her up. She cried out.

"Let go of my little sister you good for nothing!" Lizzy said, kicking the man hard in the shin.

The man winced but he didn't let Charlotte go. He kicked Lizzy aside and cursed at her very colorfully.

"Shoot her," the Captain said.

"No!" the adults cried.

The man aimed a gun at Lizzy and had Axel not ran at him and knocked him off balance, Lizzy would've died there and then. The bullet just missed her head and skimmed her cheek, digging in deep.

Charlotte struggled in the man's grip as the soldier kicked Axel hard in the stomach.

"Don't touch them!" Charlotte's father ran to protect his children.

A gunshot and their father took a few more steps before crumpling on the ground, unmoving. Lizzy screamed.

"Warren!" their uncle roared. "Why you bastards!"

"Oto-sama!" their cousin reached out to stop his father.

They both got pelted with bullets.

Lizzy was taking rattling breaths, her whole body shaking.

"Ah... ah..." she tried to speak but she couldn't. Her voice caught in her throat, it felt like she was choking on steel nails.

"Lizzy!" her mother was right in front of her. "Run!"

Lizzy felt something on her face as blood ran down her mother's forehead. The woman fell to her knees and her face crashed onto the ground. The gun was being aimed at Lizzy's head.

"Lizzy!"

Somebody grabbed her wrist and pulled her along. The servants had started a riot and they slithered through the crowd. Lizzy saw Axel had been the one to force her to run.

"Charlotte's already waiting for you at the edge of the grounds!" Axel informed the girl. "She managed to use that strange power of hers just in time. I can always see her so I grabbed her and ran. You two need to escape before they catch up!"

Lizzy opened her mouth to... do what? Thank him? Scream? But she couldn't do any of that. Her voice wouldn't come out. She had lost almost everything in that one night.

"I know it's a hard time for you!" Axel panted. "But you need to be there for Charlotte. You don't have a place here anymore. None of us do."

Lizzy stared at the back of the boy's head.

"Protect the one thing you have left!" Axel almost screamed.

Protect Charlotte...

Lizzy panted as they ran through the corn stalks.

Protect Charlotte.

They saw Charlotte huddled in the shadows of a building and sobbing her eyes out. Axel grabbed her hand and ran a hand through her hair. Lizzy slowly walked over to them and Charlotte looked up with such heart wrenching, flooded eyes. Lizzy pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back in soothing circles.

"Ne-san...!" Charlotte wept into her sister's shirt. "Don't leave me! You can't leave me okay?! Promise me you won't die!"

Lizzy opened her mouth to speak but it caught in her throat again. She kept rubbing her little sister's back, unable to verbally promise what she was begging her to swear.

I'll protect you, imoto. Until my time comes.

_

Charlotte stampeded through the streets, already in the underground. She forced her legs to go faster, she forced herself to forget the pain growing inside her chest.

Please let me get there in time!

Somebody grabbed her upper arm, halting her in her rampage. She snapped around to confront whoever had dared to stop her.

Levi considered her enraged, aggravated face and instead of letting her go, tightened his hold.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Let me go!"

"Tell me what's happening."

Charlotte growled, quite literally growled. "My sister's in trouble! I need to help her!"

Levi immediately let go and Charlotte didn't hesitate to run like the wind toward her house. She heard footsteps behind her and glanced back. Levi was close on her heels, his passive eyes meeting hers for a fraction of a second. She decided that it would be helpful to have him there and didn't say anything, except speeded up, pushing away her supposed limits, the strain on her muscles, and the mental barriers. Her mind was focused solely on getting to her sister.

She was nearing the last corner when a gunshot rang into the air. Charlotte slowed to a halt and her expression fell into that of despair, panting hard.

"No..." she whispered under her breath.

She ran around the corner and ran to her house. She ran straight into the open doorway and her vision blurred. Blood was pooling out of her sister like a dam had burst. Her eyes were wide open in fear, frozen in that moment as if the universe were spiting Charlotte with the truth.

Charlotte took shaky breaths, suddenly finding herself by her sister's side. She smelled smoke but she didn't care.

"Ne-san..." she barely whispered. She reached for her sister's hand and grasped it tightly. "Ne-san..."

She felt wetness in her eyes and a tear drop shattered onto the floor, a few more collected on her sister's face.

"Ne-san..." Charlotte tried to force her sister's hand to trace letters onto her palm. "Talk to me."

There was a growing heat and it became hard to breathe. Charlotte didn't care.

"Don't do this to me..."

A crackle of flames.

"Come on," Charlotte's voice cracked. "Stop kidding around."

The heat became unbearable and smoke entered Charlotte's lungs.

"We were supposed to live above ground."

Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut.

"You were supposed to sing again."

_ _ _ Flashback

The terrible screeching of a violin reached everyone in the vicinity. They all blocked their ears and winced. Lizzy tried to assist Charlotte at her first attempt to play the violin but the horrible noise kept up, and even intensified.

"Ah!" Lizzy said in frustration. "This is impossible!"

She turned to look at her parents.

"Are you sure she's not adopted?! She has no talent whatsoever!"

"I thought it sounded beautiful," Warren said, winking at Charlotte.

"You're deaf aren't you, oto-san!" Lizzy scowled playfully at Charlotte. "That was the sound of the devil!"

"Hey, stop patronizing my fiancé," Axel said, lounging in the corner of the room.

"Eeeeh?!" Lizzy said menacingly. "Fiancé? Who said you could marry my sister?"

"I am going to marry him!" Charlotte gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.

Her parents laughed exuberantly.

"Huh?" Lizzy smiled teasingly. "You are, are you?"

"You heard that, didn't you, ojy-sama, oba-san?" Axel was suddenly filled with happiness, grinning like a maniac. "It's official!"

Lizzy punched him on the head. "Don't get too cocky, brat! If you want to marry Charlotte, you have to get through me first!"

"Eeeeeeh!?" Axel pouted. "But that's impossible!"

The adults laughed and Charlotte giggled. Lizzy and Axel joined.

_ _ _ end

"Get up!"

Charlotte was rooted to the floor, next to her sister's body. Levi gritted his teeth. The house was going to cave in soon and the fire was continually growing stronger.

Levi grabbed Charlotte and half pulled half dragged her outside.

She became dead weight and Levi pulled her onto his back and ran. He had glimpsed the Military Police setting fire to the house after Charlotte had barged in. He had to get away before they caught them.

He felt his collar grow damp and tears slid down his neck. Charles bawled silently all the way to Levi's house.