Quietly closing the door, Carmen needed to think her actions through. The plan was to get out and find Levi, but she figured it wouldn't be that simple - especially when she was weaponless. If she had knives, the enemy would be gone in seconds, instead, she would have to get in close quarters to fight the. How troublesome.

As she tiptoed barefoot along the floors of the prison, she made note to locate all of her equipment. Not only did she need her gear back to go and help Levi, but she also needed that list. Without it, everything she did was in vain.

The first enemy approached to her right, idly chitchatting about her presence along the way. Carmen rolled her eyes, she didn't want her worst moments to be idolised by teenagers.

"I am surprised she has not escaped yet." One of them spoke. "They have us doing extra patrols but I doubt that they will hold any significance."

"True." The other added. "Maybe she is just weaker than we anticipated."

Both girls were proved wrong when Carmen dived from around the corner, making her presence known to the other dolls. However, before they could react, she ducked down and tripped one, making her land on the floor. As she was recovering, Carmen contemplated letting her live but her moment of weakness was cut short when the other dolls wrapped her arms around Carmen's neck.

"I told you we could take her." The doll announced as she slowly lowered Carmen to the ground. The blonde feigned her subdued state until the doll released her.

"You were wrong." Carmen muttered, punching the girl square in the face. Her next move was quick, ducking under the second dolls attack and swiftly grabbing her. Once she had her trapped, she used the momentum of her attack to pull her towards a rusty candlestick - it impaled her neck with ease.

"No." The final doll said with a lack of sympathy. "You..."

She didn't allow the doll to finish her sentence, it was easy to predict the word 'monster' falling from her mouth. So instead, she got close and sent a rapid uppercut towards the girl, who's teeth shattered on impact. Doubling over in pain, Carmen took the opportunity to snap her neck - putting the girl out of her misery.

"I'm not a monster." She spoke, trying to convince herself that what Levi told her was true.

The next few dolls faced the same fate, a brutal death at the hands of their predecessor. It was only fitting, they aspired to be like her, so it only made sense that she should be the one to set them free - even if she hated it. None of them truly stood a chance against her, one managed to get a punch, but ended up lying on the floor with the rest of her enemy's who were in her way.

"Where's my stuff?" Carmen finally asked one of them, the weakest of the bunch and one of the younger dolls. "I might let you live."

The doll in her grasp trembled, knowing exactly what Carmen was capable of. "You are not human." She stuttered as Carmen scoffed.

"Which is exactly why you should give in and tell me." She threatened. "I can either kill you with your comrades, or I can guarantee that you suffer a fate worse than death. How would you like it if I handed you back to the MP's?" The statement made the dolls eyes go wide, she knew what had to be done.

"Death is greater than failure." The doll realised as Carmen slowly nodded her head. "So if I tell you, will you let me die?"

"Painlessly." Carmen agreed.

Reluctantly, the doll finally spoke. "Everything is with your horse in the stables." She answered.

That was good news, it meant that as soon as she killed Helga, she could escape quickly and recover the list. However, if Helga was armed, then fighting her would be even worse than she had thought.

"Death is greater than failure." Carmen whispered as she turned back to the girl and embraced her, cracking her neck while she was distracted. Sighing, she released the doll and placed her delicately on the ground, it was a mercy killing, but it still hurt. "I'm sorry." She muttered while she got back to her feet, continuing her warpath.

Dolls fought and fell as she crossed them once again, she tried to block out their words, either begging for mercy or insulting her as she took away their lives. It wasn't easy killing the dolls with her barehands, but with the government ordering that weapons were not permitted inside the prison, she had to compromise.

She was so close to the exit, leaving a trail of bodies behind her until she finally saw the looming figure she had hoped to run into. It wasn't human, that she knew, instead it was a creature of death. The tall figure stood in the moonlight, letting it envelop her while a deadly smile plastered across her face. A disgusting invitation to fight.

"Took you longer than I thought it would." Helga laughed. "You have gotten weak." The woman held her dagger like a trophy, watching Carmen's eyes trail towards it. "Oh, this?" She shook the item. "Don't worry, I won't be needing this. In fact, I'll have one of the dolls take it." As instructed, a young girl - no older than 10 ran towards Helga, taking hold of the sharp weapon before before running away.

"Don't act like you're better than them." Carmen insulted. "You have no idea what a doll has to do to earn her title. You had all of your power injected into you, we actually had to work."

Helga's upbringing truly infuriated her, how could someone so unbroken be so strong? It didn't make sense to her. Instead, it meant that all the shit she went through was for nothing, because it could be achieved by someone as lazy as Helga.

"So, that weak commander told you?" Helga taunted, it was obvious that the only reason she told Erwin things was so that he would relay them to Carmen. Nevertheless, it was helpful to the blonde woman, anything she knew about Helga could be used as a weakness. "I'm glad he's been cooperating, he's been very compliant this whole ordeal you know, you might say he and I share a goal."

Confused, Carmen waited for the woman to continue her monologue, she didn't want to cut her short until she discovered what she was referring to. It didn't take a genius to gather that Erwin had compromised the scouts, but given that he was being tortured, she didn't exactly blame him.

"And what's that?" The assassin asked, hoping Helga would enlighten her.

Helga chuckled, getting into a fighting stance. "We both want you dead."

Without hesitation, Helga dived forwards, her armoured knuckles making contact with the stone floor as Carmen dived out of the way. The bigger woman winced at the impact, meaning Carmen had an advantage. She just had to think of a plan.

Upon her next swift dodge away from Helga, she realised her opportunity. Helga was much like the armoured titan - physically superior, armoured, and predictable - which meant that Carmen knew exactly how to defeat her. It would be difficult, but Hange had given them tips when possibly facing the armoured titan.

Aim for the unarmored sections, and strike with as much force possible.

Helga continued to smile as she once again tried to punch the blonde, only this time, Carmen didn't run away. Instead, she ducked under the punch, grabbing the metal incased arm and driving her knee under Helga's shoulder. It was vulnerable to attack, and with the strength Carmen exerted, the crack of Helga's arm was music to her ears.

"You bitch!" Helga groaned, but didn't stop fighting. She pivoted around on her foot, sending her knee into Carmen's ribs, only Carmen didn't cower upon impact. She grabbed the armoured knee and dug her fingers deep inside the back of them, she could feel the flesh tearing, the blood spilling and her hands ripping apart the back of Helga's knee.

As soon as the bigger woman tried to fight back, Carmen moved away. Despite Helga's quick counterattack, she could see her knee buckle under the weight of both her muscles and her armour.

"What have you done!" Helga accused, trying to stop the blood from spilling from her leg.

Carmen didn't answer, instead, she ran back towards Helga, picking out her next target. The woman's Achilles heel. As she approached her, Helga tried to send her elbow towards her, but Carmen dropped to the ground and wrapped her body around her legs. While Helga tried to kick herself free, Carmen dug her nails into her heal and tore as much of it as possible.

Helga screamed in agony until she finally reached down and grabbed Carmen's neck. At first, Carmen ignored the grip, but after being dragged up from the ground and held roughly in the air, she needed to act.

She tried to strike Helga's arms, but they were armoured, then she went to hit her legs with her own before facing a similar problem. Despite her efforts, she had finally been caught. Defensively, to try and stop her neck being broken, she gripped Helga's hands.

"You! This is all your fault!" Helga yelled. "They'll kill me now, I'm useless like this!"

Carmen struggled to say anything in return, her throat closing up completely.

"They'll put me down like I'm some rabid dog! I'm tainted! You ruined everything!" Tears began to well in Helga's eyes, Carmen honestly felt sorry for her.

With her hands, she caressed Helga's grip on her neck, stroking her hands in a calming way. "Y-you're... human." She croaked out. It was everything she had wanted to hear since leaving the dolls, but for some reason, Helga's reaction wasn't similar.

"How dare you!" Helga dropped Carmen to the ground, watching her quickly get back to her feet. Before she could fully compose herself, Helga wrapped both her muscular arms around her, trapping Carmen's arms by her side as she was crushed by her strength.

"Take it back!" Helga demanded. "I'm not a weak, fucking human!"

Shocked, Carmen looked into Helga's vengeful eyes, her uncertainty fading away. With one swift motion, Carmen pushed her head towards her neck and dug her teeth into it. Biting harshly, she tore away whatever she could.

At first, Helga dropped her, then she brought her hands towards her own neck and tried to stop the blood from gushing out. Carmen stood in silence as she watched her enemy crumble to her knees, the metal caps clinking against the floor.

"You said Erwin wanted me dead." Carmen tried to say while she still could. "Was that true?"

Helga looked at Carmen, her eyes wide and pained, she couldn't answer, her vocal cords were torn. Slowly, Carmen approached her and crouched down, reaching for her neck. "I can make your pain go away." She promised. "Just tell me."

Tears landing on the floor, Helga slowly nodded her head. It was enough for Carmen to appreciate and snap her neck swiftly - putting another body out of its misery.

The information was severe, if Erwin wanted her dead, then she shouldn't let her guard down. However, first and foremost, she needed her list and ODM gear. So, she began to run to the stables, having the interior of the jail memorised since childhood. It was easy to find the small area, and she gathered she had already dealt with the majority of the dolls because she only saw a rare few.

The stable was abandoned, no one expected that she would make it far enough to reach her belongings - most probably thought Helga would finish the job. Working fast, the woman geared up and recovered all her weapons, slotting them all where they belonged before checking to see if the list was still preserved. Relief washed over her when she saw Sannes' untidy handwriting on the page.

Just as she was about to mount the horse, she heard some hay crunch behind her, instantly, she turned to meet the culprit. Holding a knife unsteadily, it was the girl Helga had ordered to run away. She looked younger closer up, but it was evident that she had already made her first kill.

"Put down the knife." Carmen said calmly, not seeing her as a threat. "I don't want to kill a child."

The young girl stuttered before shooting back a response. "Y-you... you killed them all. Every last one of them." She accused, Carmen nodded in response.

"I'm sorry." The blonde apologised, knowing it wasn't enough. "You can come with me." She offered. "You don't have to be a doll anymore, you can be free." She extended her hand towards the child, slowly so she didn't appear as a threat. "If you stay here, the MPs won't forgive you."

"Shut up!" The doll yelled. "You do not know anything. You deserter!"

"I do." Carmen replied. "I know everything, because they did it all to me first. So please, take my hand and none of us have to get hurt ever again." It was evident that Carmen's offer had turned into a plea, in a way, she felt responsible for the girl.

Hesitantly, the girl walked to Carmen and took her hand. It was unexpected for the older, she thought that the defensive girl would have put up more of a fight. "Where are we going?" She wondered.

"A friend of mine is in trouble, I need to make sure he's okay." Carmen answered, the young girl nodded. "It's going to be dangerous, so be careful." She helped the girl onto the horse, a sense of relief washing over her as she realised she was saving the girl. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Margret." Carmen smiled at her softly, one of her first genuine ones.

"I'm Carmen."

"I know."

It was so abrupt, nothing could have prepared Carmen for the sudden change in Margret. One moment, she was holding Carmen's hand, and the next, she had tried to drive a knife into her heart. Luckily, the assassin's quick reflexes allowed her to intercept the blade with her forearm, protecting the vital organ.

The trust between the two had been swiftly broken, Carmen had no choice but to take the knife from her arm and send it across the girls throat. "I'm so sorry."

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Anyways... hope you all had a holly jolly Christmas...