At least when you cleaned nobody spoke to you really. Mostly it seemed as though they were silent in solidarity, like you were being punished. But given the barracks you remember, crowded and loud with overzealous and obnoxious 'heroes', a dusty closet with a window and your own bed seemed nice. A little bit of dust wouldn't bother you, but the smell of old dirt and whatever messes the old cleaning supplies had cut through wasnt the most exciting thing.

You wore a simple tunic and trousers, the loose fitting rags being an oddly welcomed change. When scavenging for the better part of a year and more, being so concerned with actually fitting clothing wasn't really a primary focus. Your shredded jacket was draped over your back like a badge of stubborn pride. Erwin may have politely reminded you once or twice about the newer jacket readily available on the shelf of your closet room, but you smiled sweetly and shook your head, the disgust of Levi's glare still burned cheerily into your brain when you bluntly told him you wouldn't remove your jacket or throw it away.

The small dictator seemed to hover around you with caution, like wettened fingers over a flickering candlestick. He kept a short distance at almost all time, careful not to let it be known how invested he must be in you. He wanted you to be punished and reinvested into the survey Corps no doubt, but the sweet spot you held as Erwin's childhood friend threatened his power.

Yes, at a moment he could swipe down and expunge your behavior with enough harsh words and punishment, but not without the risk of his own station and retaliation from the man he respects most. It's was like he held a genie's bottle, but the genie within bluntly denied he was a genie at all and simply refused to grant his wish. You moved meticulously about your chamber, counting the heavy stone blocks that lined the wall and muttering to yourself under your breath.

As you cleaned the small space, taking old buckets and battered mops from their corners and lining then up against the wall outside your room. You sifted through the remains, the poor state of many of the supplies implied they hadn't been touched in ages. The castle like home was old no doubt, but every other placed your managed to see seemed pristine and well kept. As your fingers caressed the warped wooden handle of a straw broom, the splintered wood became almost audible with a firm grip. You added it to your quickly growing collection.

Dust swirled in the air as you gingerly lifted out pile after pile, placing them alongside the wall until a sizeable pile of eerily stacked supplies loomed in a tall pyrimad.

You sneezed incessantly, sniffling dramatically before blowing your nose horn once more. Levi responded with a curt growl and cold look, face becoming stoney as you looked at him, wiping your nose on your sleeves and smiling. "I hope you know you'll be expected to take care of all of those." He said curtly, jerking his head vaguely in the direction of the collection you'd made in the hallway.

Though he sat in his office, placed merely eight feet across the hall with a few large paces towards his seat, his bark was so aggressive it felt like he was squealing from right in front of you. You merely rolled your eyes and returned to your bedside, looking at the wall once more. Again you counted the stones along your walls, one now freshly liberated from the large amount of abandoned cleaning.

You smiled proudly to yourself, counting in your head and estimating your new allotted space. Previously your room felt no bigger than fifty square feet, mostly occupied by the large shelving and the cot you'd slept. But having cleared the wreckage you opened about another thirty square feet. Though still filthy, layered with old water stains and thick dirt, you weren't quite done. You looked to the few pieces of furniture in the room. Dropping to your knees, you looked beneath your bed and scanned slowly along the floor.

To your distaste there was still a considerable amount of filth beneath them as well. You sighed, rolling your sleeves back and steeling your resolve. First stealing an old, torn chair retrieved from the clutter, once stacked high with wooden buckets, you took the straw end of a broken broom and beat the dirt into the air. A cloud arising. You beat it until the broom shed straw and the cloud seemed to dissipate enough that only bits of feather down escaped.

Following to your room, you brought your clothes and bed things to the chair and threw them over it with little care, returning with a determined gaze. You leaned over your mattress, clasping your hand along the far edge in unison with the closer edge. With a small grunt you hoisted the mattress above your head, setting it vertically against the wall as well.

A chill ran down your spine, the corner of your gaze once more catching the stare of dark eyes. You didn't move his way, fighting your own instinct to look his way as well, but you knew. Levi was watching you, and he seemed confused no less. You took the end of a broom shaft and wound it loosely in your grip. Winding back, you snapped the broom against the mattress with an alarming amount of dust. As though a bomb set of, the muffled smack releasing an almost disgusting amount of filth into the air. Winding back again, you whacked once more, another poof falling from the furniture. You worked silently, grunting quietly as you made each and every blow, watching the grime flying into the air before settling on the hallway floor in a fresh layer.

As you lowered your makeshift bat, panting slightly, you could feel the firm grip of a rather annoyed child crush your shoulder. You turned quickly, pushing off the grip and making eye contact with your assailant. Not a child, you found, but rather the flamed eyes of your favorite captain, a scowl on his face and jaw locked in his livid state. Through clenched teeth he pointed to the ground, not breaking his gaze.

"What in the hell is this?" Levi growled, his sharp tone taking you off guard.

You looked at the newly 'clean' bed and the pile of filth on the floor. "I imagine it's dust." You said bluntly, balancing your hand atop your broom and tilting your head. "You know that neat freak. Got a problem?"

"Why couldn't you have done this outside?! You got this hallway absolutely filthy!" He snapped. In your head you imagined him stamping his foot stubbornly, clenching his fists in a childish fist and whining in a high pitch wale.

You shrugged, stifling your wayward thoughts, and motioned to the pile of trashed cleaning supplies. "I'll need to clean the hallway later anyway, why bring this all the way outside to beat it if I'll be sweeping in here anyway?" You smiled, humming to yourself, "Work smarter, not harder."

"You've made a mess! This eyesore can't just sit in front of my office all evening. Deal with it!" He snapped.

Levi stomped back to his office, growling himself as he slammed the door. As he marched you noticed a bright white cloth tied around his head, covered most of his undercut. You rolled your eyes stubbornly, growling to yourself. "It won't be that long you impatient bastard..."

Setting back to work, you waddled your shelf from the room and unloaded the rest of the furniture into the hallway as well. From the small amount of supplies you'd grabbed that wasn't mostly broken, you collected a broom and swept across your empty room. With a brisk pace you swept the floor and brushed it into hallway. Throwing water over the floor, you lowered to your knees, and scrubbed at the clumped mud and odd stains left behind. You worked meticulously as you cleaned boards, but as it was supposedly to be your prison you might as well make it nice from the start.

When the floor no longer seemed held together by dirt and your back was sore from bending unnaturally low, you stretched towards the ceiling and listened to the symphony of your popping bones. You retreated to the hallway, giving your furniture a cursory wipe before rearranging your room given your limited new space. The extra thirty feet was surprisingly freeing. It was barren, with few personal items and minimal sheets and clothing left behind, but at least your room was no longer caked with old junk.

A gentle knock on your door drew a small yelp from you and you spun rapidly, one arm shooting upward defensively. Petra returned your frightened squeak, throwing her hands defensively before laughing kindly. "Hey!" She chuckled. "I see you finished up your room. Hopefully Levi approves it first try."

You relaxed, offering a small grin. "Approves? Me? Fat chance. He won't give me anything as long as the hallway is gross. You should have seen him earlier." You flopped down on the bed, looking at her tiredly but grinning. "What brings you to my cozy closet? What's going on?"

Petra straightened with a grin, making an expression as though you'd surprised her with your question. "Oh! I was going to ask if you'd eaten recently. We haven't been seeing you at the table and I was beginning to get worried about you."

You chuckled and nodded, sitting up. Jabbing vaguely in the direction of the Commander's office, you grinned. "Yeah, Erwin has been delivering rations in the mornings. He usually checks up on me then to make sure I'm adhering to Levi's orders. And to see if I'm doing alright."

You could tell your cheeks were rosy with happiness as you spoke about Erwin. He was one of your closest friends after all. Petra's expression painted with confusion, softening as she took a seat next to you on your small cot. "You and Erwin are close huh?" She asked. "I know he doesn't have any family, so did you two date or something?"

You laughed loudly, faking a gag motion before slapping a hand on Petra's back. "Good God no! He's like a brother to me! Ha! He's way older, but his dad used to teach me when I was little, before he disappeared. I was barely old enough to talk, but his dad treated me like a daughter. And Erwin looked out for me so we both felt kinda lost when his dad died. He obviously got hit way worse, but we stayed close. He's the reason I joined the Survey Corps."

"Oooooh! That makes so much more sense. Now that you explain it, I understand way better. But if you've known him for so long, how are you just now meeting Captain Levi? Wouldn't you have met before?"

You shook your head. "I've heard of Levi yeah, but after joining the Corps I was assigned a unit that rarely got to see Erwin. Just a face in a crowd. I don't know if any of my unit is still alive, but in the rare moment Erwin and I had together we used it to catch up, not talk about work."

Petra nodded. "I guess that makes sense too." You looked at her for a moment and looked up towards the ceiling. Your eyes traced the stone blocks above you as you thought.

"The Levi team isn't as bad as I thought though. You're nice, and so seem the others. Maybe except that Olou guy. But Levi just seems so entitled! And he's such a hardass! If he really dislikes me so much he should've just left me outside the wall. It was scary but at least I didn't have to deal with the idiotic laws put up by the fat cows in the capital."

Petra stammered for a moment, gazing at you. Her mouth gaped for a second, but she snapped it shut, seeming to retreat into thought before forming any new questions. "Well I'm glad you like most of us at least. It makes teamwork a lot easier. It's amazing you survived alone for so long."

You scoffed a laugh. "Yeah, that's what I keep hearing at least."

You looked down at your hands, pulling up your leather gloves and flexing your fingers back and forth.

Petra remained quiet for a moment, you returning the favor as you each gazed into the face of nothing. You pondered telling her more about you, the truth of time out in the titan zone. Technically it shouldn't be all that surprising really.

"Titans never get any less scary." You said quietly, smiling in a soft way. "Even the thought of being within a few hundred feet of a 5m still terrifies me."

Petra glanced at you, her eyes darted down towards your hands. You saw the burning curiosity within her, but you couldn't summon enough reason to tell her your tale so soon after sharing it with Erwin and Levi. You popped your knuckles gently, folding your hands over one another and massaging the skin.

"It's being alone that hurts the most you know. I was left behind, and that stung, but once it settled that I really had no backup, that no one was coming to get me, that's when I changed. I had to. And it got me this far."

Petra's eyes softened, smiling towards you in a sympathetic way. "You keep talking about leaving, going back into Titan territory. Do you really want that?"

You could feel yourself tense. You wanted to laugh casually, but you couldn't even summon a fake one. Your smile looked sad and distant, dissolving with a sigh as you gloved your hands once more. Pushing your hair back from your face, you shook your head and uttered, "I want to be far away from here."

Petra took the hint. She didn't press you farther. Rising from your place on the bed, you gesturing politely towards the door and nudged your friend. "Anyway, I have to get all this mess in the hall out to the rubbish. I truly don't have the patience to deal with another lecture today and after several straight days of cleaning I'd really like to go outside. Even if his majesty will only let me on a short leash."

Petra snickered, walking from the room and turning her back as she walked away. "I'll see you in training then! I'm interested to see what you've got!"

You smiled in response, watching her leave before crouching down to start collecting your mess. With arms loaded with chunks of broken brooms, battered buckets and odorous remains of rotten wood, you wove to finish your job. Levi, peering through the opening in his door, seemed happy with the sight.

In his eyes he saw the slow process of domestication take place, though your quick friendship with Petra worried him of a possible bad influence. In the coming days he'd get to push you as far as he wanted, getting to truly see if you had any actual potential as a part of his team.