"You were supposed to come back once you were done." 

You leapt up, almost falling forward into the lake as you stood. Looking up at your guest, silver moonlight only seemed to make his grey eyes all the more severe. You flushed of color, looking at the raven-haired undercut of your very own stalker. "Oh, yeah. Guess I got turned around." You said sarcastically. You voice was soft for once, seeming to confuse him. He looked you up and down, intrigued by the sight of you in an actual uniform. 

"So you really are a scout?" He asked. His eyes seemed to get caught on your cloak, recognizing its damage as what you'd been wearing the whole time. 

"I was a scout. Technically you can't prove that I'm not a corpse in the eyes of the state." You retorted. 

"You know there's new cloaks as well. You don't have to wear that one." Levi then looked at your arms where you held your other clothes. His eyes traced down to your mud covered feets and discarded boots. His nose screwed up in disgust as he looked. "How filthy." 

"What, are you talking about my cloak or me in general?" You laughed quietly. Grabbing your boots from the ground, you straightened yourself and looked back on the castle. "I'm ready to go talk to Erwin if you feel like following me Undercut." As you began to walk, he grabbed your shoulder. When you turned to meet his eyes, he seemed scarily serious. 

"Wash your damn feet before walking into that castle. You're gonna get mud everywhere." He ordered. 

You paused, thinking for a moment, then laughed obnoxiously. "What? Who cares about a little mud? I won't even track that much before it's too thin to rub off." 

"I'm sorry, did I stutter?" His tone was severe, almost chilling you. Your smile fell slightly and you tried not to frown as you walked back towards the water. Folding over yourself, you stepped farther into the lake so the water lapped up your legs, so much so that the smallest part of your pants was now getting wet. Carefully balancing up on one leg, you washed you feet haphazardly before in turn, slipping them into their assigned boots. Your boots now covered your legs, barely tall enough to stay above the water. As you removed yourself from the lake, most of the mud now gone. As you looked at Levi, mocking an expression of one in need of approval. To your disdain, he didn't seem to react at all. 

You couldn't help your frown, followed closely with a heavy-hearted sigh. "Come on." You muttered. You almost achieved Levi's own level of monotone. 

Shoving past him, you surged towards the abode with an unforeseen sense of detachment. To deny you were still thinking of turning tail and running would be a lie, but with admiral neat-freak behind you, it wasn't worth it. You wove through the castle with ease, Erwin's office door left ajar just enough that you could see him. He seemed to perk up at the sound of footsteps, looking at you through the crack and motioning you inward. 

"Ah, you finally showed up I see?" He asked sarcastically. 

"You're saying you didn't send the munchkin after me on purpose? I assumed you'd already known I was stalling, hence him sneaking up on me." 

Levi entered a mere second behind you, nose bunching in a snarl. His expression resigned back to his normal deadpan as he looked at Erwin and nodded. Closing the door behind him, he turned his back and rested it against at the frame. You promptly plopped yourself down in a chair across from Erwin, posture dissolving in a very improper fashion. Superior or no, you couldn't help but be comfortable with Erwin in the room, like family almost. "So Erwin, I assume you're going to question me? Dissect my past year among the wilds. It'd be much easier just to turn me over to the military police you know?" 

You smiled coyly, trying not to think about how true your statement was in reality. "You're not wrong. You're lucky that Erwin sees the worth in keeping you around here." Levi said bluntly. 

You fake laughter, fixating your eyes on a window beyond Erwin before continuing to talk. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out you don't want me here. Might as well have it written on your forehead." Smiling pleasantly, you turned your focus to your friend in the room and refocused. "But while I'm in town, I can at least talk to you eyebrows. What do you wanna know? I'll help you as much as I can." 

Erwin shook his head, smiling in a small way. "Thank you (Y/N), I appreciate your willingness to share. I've already told Levi about your and my history, as well as what we assumed after you went missing. From this point on, I want you to get used to him." 

"With all due respect, I was kind of hoping that I wouldn't be here for all that long..." 

"How do you mean that? You can't exactly-" 

"You know exactly what I mean Erwin. After I'm done helping you, I'm gonna leave. There's no point staying here. I'll do as much as I can to help you, because I love you like my own family, and I really did miss you out there, but I have no intention of living in the walls again." 

Levi snorted quietly, pulling all attention to himself. "You know, conspiring to leave the wall is technically a crime. With everything else you've done, you're signing your own death warrant." 

You smiled sweetly, closing your eyes so you wouldn't have to look at him. "Wow, you must be one kinky sadist Levi. You really seem to have a hardon for getting me the death penalty." 

You couldn't help but feel satisfied as his face flushed red. His mouth gaped open to respond, but Erwin cut him off before he could utter a word. "(Y/N) please. He has a point in some way. But before either of you do anything drastic, I wanted to hear your side of things. Both of us will hear your side before anything happens." 

Erwin seemed to shoot a Levi a severe look. To your surprise, that's all it took for Levi to take up the seat next to you, stubbornly looking past the window. You smiled cockily, trying not to brag. Looking at Erwin, you smiled more genuinely. "Fine. Just tell me the last thing you know about my whereabouts? You know, aside from my dying..." 

"As far as we know, you were reported to be eaten on your last mission. Your body was never recovered as you were eaten whole. Your horse returned, but all except a few excess blades were consumed with you. No insignia, no corpse, nothing." 

You processed for a moment, your face falling. "Yeah, I guess that seems about right. Whoever that guy was I saw in my last moments seemed way too frightened to try and swing back for me. I can't blame him for not turning back." 

"So you were swallowed whole? You said last moments..." Levi pushed. 

"I mean, yeah. The report can't be faulted for that. I was swallowed by a titan." Erwin seemed composed with this, but Levi's eyes widened oh so slightly. You smirked. 

"So how is it you're still alive then?" Erwin asked. 

"Well, I obviously didn't see as I was in its stomach, but right as I fell in the acid, accepting my fate as my skin burned, the titan fell. I assume someone sliced its nape, but by the time I was out of its mouth, the caravan was already gone. Everyone was retreating, and all I had was broken gear and dull blades." 

You placed your uniform on your lap as you continued on, moving your hands together and pulled on the tips of your gloves. "My hands suffered the most. When I was being swallowed, I was clawing my way up to avoid being eaten. Tore into its tongue to stay up. It ripped out one of my nails, clawing the way I did, but what ruined me was the steam." 

As you pulled off the gloves, you couldn't help but flicker between them to see their reactions. Putting the gloves across your laps, you held up your gnarled hands. The flesh was lumped and discolored, swollen around your joints. Red seemed to stain your skin deeply, crawling up your arms. It only seemed to stop completely halfway up your forearm. It seemed almost like leather thrown into a bonfire. 

Erwin's reaction was far more noticeable. He flinched, reaching out to fell before retracting quickly. You shrugged, moving your hands closer to him. He flipped your palms in his hands, feeling the rough scars before looking back at you. You sat back in your seat, putting your gloves back over your hands. 

"I was too hurt to survive for the first while, so I hid out in a broken down cottage. Food was hard, especially since I couldn't really hunt in titan country, but I foraged. As I was recovering, I quickly adapted to being isolated and I had a lot of time to reinvent. Primarily I avoided titans. My only kills were a few of the small ones. Technically one abnormal but it was abnormal because its legs didn't work. I eventually moved to an abandoned town, had a mini base. I entered wall Maria the day before Captain Levi and his companions kidnapped me." 

Erwin thought for a silent few minutes. He was motionless, glimpsing at your hands in that time. "Can you still use your hands fairly well?" He asked. He tried to seem professional, but you could hear the concern in his tone. Erwin was more a softy than he'd ever admit. 

"As well as I could before. When I did find the occasional corpse, I was able to use their blades. Don't really get time for flute or sewing so the more intricate things I don't know about." You chuckled at your own humor. 

"That doesn't explain why you never returned." Levi interjected. 

Erwin moved to speak but this time you took his thunder. "Perfectly valid question Captain, but consider this. You watched someone leave you to be eaten, fall into a titans stomach and thusly accept that you're pretty much dead, then, just when you realized you could survive, you find all of your comrades left you behind. Even when you scream, and even get a few backward glances, you're left behind. You then have to protect yourself from monsters while being burnt to a crisp in some parts and straight crippled in others, then completely restructure your life to survive, not just because getting to the wall and surviving would at minimum require a horse, but also because you realize that humanity's bravest are understandably cowards in reality. I lived a better life away from the walls honestly... cities of cowards..." 

You met Levi's stare this time. "In a sense, I really did die. I just had the privilege to be reborn is all." 

Before Levi could speak, Erwin cut in. "Well, thanks for telling us the truth. I'm still not sure how we'll act moving forward. But for now, you're free to remain here. I'll put you up in a spare room here in headquarters. From there we'll figure out how to do this." 

You sat quietly, pondering on his words. "Let's be honest Erwin, it's not like I'm free to do anything else." Your voice came out quietly and biting.

Erwin grunted with a slow nod. "Sadly you're right. No matter how fond I am of you, I'm expected to uphold the law within the walls. You won't be leaving anytime soon."

This time no quippy response arose. Your shoulders slumped dramatically and you stood up. Clutching your past clothing to your chest, you let your eyes fall to the floorboards. "Yeah okay, take me to my room."

Erwin shared a look with Levi before shaking his head. "I've got more work to do here. Levi will lead you in my stead. Sleep well tonight (Y/N)."

"You too eyebrows." You glanced back towards your blonde friend and offered a small smile. Turning your head to Levi, you lifted a hand and shooed him gently. "Come on. Let's go Captain."

He scoffed at you bitterly, standing however as not to disobey Erwin. Opening the door, he held it open for you and waited for you to pass through. Erwin didn't say anything else, only letting quiet set in as a click echoed down the hall. You stopped, turning back to look at Levi expectantly. He bristled, turning his back on you and marching away.

You took off after him, keeping his pace once you caught up. You didn't speak, nor him. For a few minutes, you followed close to him. Not once did he look back at you, or utter anything. Not even the annoying 'tch' you'd heard him make so much.

When he stopped, you almost ran into him. He turned to his side where a door stood on the wall. Placing his hand on it, he twisted it open. In a quick movement, he flowed inside and looked you in the eye, closing the door most of the way. "Unless you plan on spending the night in my office, I suggest you find that spare room. It shouldn't be far from here."

Your eyes widened slightly. "Wait, but Erwin said-"

The door closed, cutting you off. You closed your mouth, fingers tightening around your bundle before relaxing once more. "Of course."

With the moon already high, you couldn't bring yourself to actually spend the time looking for an empty room. You wound through the cold stone walls, walking straight through the entrance. As you stood at the threshold, you scanned the stalls of the stables before finding the one familiar steed. He wasn't completely awake as you approached, but instead dazed.

You walked around his stall, stopping once you stood behind the back wall of his individual stall. You pressed your back to the wooden wall and slid down, relaxing as you hit the ground. You blinked a few slow times, looking up into the sky as you slowly drifted to sleep.