It was the morning after the scouts last expedition, yet nothing had changed. Soldiers dead. Families destroyed. Survivors left traumatised. It hadn't disappeared throughout the night, no matter how much they wished it was just a nightmare to wake up from.

The captain stayed in bed, waiting for the 'injured' girl next to him to wake up. Normally, Levi would just send a kick to her side, however, with Levi's broken leg and Kaya's 'wound' , he decided it wasn't the best idea. Kaya had slowly started to open her eyes when she saw the light flood in from the windows and groaned, the ghoul wasn't ready for the day ahead of her.

"About time you woke up. You were tossing and turning all night, you better not have opened your wound on my bed." Levi warned. Kaya recalled the events of the previous day and remembered the wound that she needed to pretend she had for a short while.

"Relax, my wound isn't even that bad." Kaya reassured, not wanting to stand on the sidelines while the others fought for humanity.

"Really, let me take a look." The captain asked while sitting up and looking at the ghouls bandages. "You should change your bandages, don't want it getting infected now, do we?" Levi started to move his hands towards the ghoul until she flinched and slowly sat up.

"I'll go to the infirmary if it means that much to ya." Kaya said before getting out of the bed to head back to her own room.

"Quit acting like you didn't almost die!" The captain yelled, stopping the ghoul in her tracks. "Can't you see that it's a gift that you're still here? I lost my whole squad and then I thought I was going to lose you too, do you know how frustrating it is watching you not give a damn about your own life." She did it. The amber eyed girl had finally made the captain snap, he could barely keep his composure when his squad died, but with Kaya 'throwing her life away' he couldn't just stand by.

"I'm sorry. I've been acting quite selfish, haven't I? I guess I forgot to consider how you were feeling about all this, dumb move I know." She lied. In truth, the thief thought that she was helping Levi by acting nonchalant, she never realised that he was feeling that way. "Levi, you need to trust me, I'm fine." Kaya reassured.

The ghoul quickly took off the the infirmary and went to retrieve new bandages to make her injury seem plausible, she also wanted to prove to the captain that she was ok, and she wasn't giving up. The more the ghoul thought about the night before, she started to accept the idea of her telling Levi her secret more and more, the ghoul couldn't deny the fact that he'd at least have some understanding. However, the voice in her head kept warning her that she'd end up just like her parents, dead because of her own secrets.

While she was walking, the thief had managed to walk straight into another soldier, upon taking a further look, she recognised it to be Eren. "Miss Kaya, what are you doing out of bed?" Eren stuttered.

"Huh, the hell are you talking about, I'm fine." Kaya responded.

"Hange told us to make sure you stayed on bed rest so they could check up on your injury later, I could get them now if you like?" Eren explained to the ghoul.

"There's no need, I don't want that titan freak touching me." The amber eyed girl said while shoving past Eren and getting back on track.

"But Kaya-"

"Save it Eren, there's no way I'm agreeing to that." Kaya cut him off.

She quickly walked to the infirmary and grabbed the bandages before walking back to her room, the ghoul knew she could keep Hange at a distance and didn't have much to fear from them, however, she couldn't help but feel as though people already expected her. She kept questioning the fact that the head of titan biology wanted to check her wound instead of a genuine nurse, none of it added up.

The girl made quick work of her bandages and dumped her old ones in the bin, looking at Petra's bed to see no one, causing the ghoul to sigh and leave the room. Kaya couldn't stand to be there, knowing that her friend and roommate could no longer question or tease her about the silliest subjects. Instead of standing in the corridor surrounded by her own self pity, the ghoul decided to make both her and the captain some tea.

Once the tea was brewed, she carried both the cups to the captains room and opened the door with a slight smile, however, the captain looked more tense about her presence. "Hey I brought you some tea." She stated when entering.

"I thought I told you to take it easy. So what's with the sudden gesture, don't tell me you pity me." Levi said to the thief, she didn't exactly know how to react to him.

"I don't pity you, in fact, I find it quite funny." Kaya responded, the captain stared at her in confusion. "Ya know, you don't have a choice but to rely on others now, maybe you'll learn some manners."

The captain stayed quiet while the ghoul handed him his tea, she was wondering whether to bring to his attention that she knew about their suspicions of her being a titan, and eventually made her decision.

"Can I ask you something?" She said, taking her chances.

"Depends what it is."

"Why does head of titan experimentation want to check up on my health? Wouldn't a regular nurse be the better option?" She questioned, not letting the captain get in a word before she continued. "It made me start thinking, you've always suspected me of hiding something, and now it's clear that others have also came to the same conclusion. So I guess what I'm asking is, what gave you the impression that I'm a titan?" She finished.

Levi's heart rate quickened and the ghoul quickly rephrased her words. "If you thought that was some sort of threat then it wasn't, unfortunately, I'm not a titan. I'm just a girl who gets herself in pretty messed up situations."

"If that's the case then let's see your wound. If what you say is true then it should still be there, but if it's gone then I think it's safe to assume you're a titan, is that clear." The captain ordered.

"And if I refuse?"

"We both know that you won't. Let's face it, you'll either show the wound or you'll just kill me now, I am in my weakest state anyways, so it's not as though it'll be difficult." The scout continued, thinking he had the ghoul backed up into a corner.

The ghoul smirked a little and thought back to a few moments prior, the pain she put herself through was finally about to pay off. The fox of the underground had predicted something like this ever since she saw Eren in the hallway. As soon as she got back to her room, she did something so pain inflicting that she had to bite down into a pillow to limit the screams. Kaya had taken her own kagune and tore out her flesh, trying to make the wound look similar to how it was before and waited for the bleeding to slow down before she left for Levi's room.

"Fine, but I did warn you, it's not a pretty sight." She said while unbuttoning the bottom half of her shirt and taking of the bandages from her fresh wound, she had to admit that it was pretty painful. When she revealed the battle scar she had received, the captains eyes widened.

"You we're right, that is disgusting." The captain said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Did Erwin put you up to it?" Kaya questioned while rewrapping her torso.

"Actually, I refused to be a part of it. But when you came in here acting as though his suspicions were true, I had to see for myself." He answered honesty.

The ghoul let out a hum in response and took a sip of her tea, enjoying the silence. However, the ghoul still wanted to read her book but she didn't have the guts to go back into her room and feel the guilt build back up inside her. The amber eyed girl needed something to get her squad off her mind, so she took her chances at trying to join the mission.

"I'd like to be part of the mission to capture the female titan, even if it's just a minor role, please." The ghoul asked.

"No." He simply replied, not even giving her the opportunity to reason with him.

"Listen, either I go as part of the scouts, or I go as a rogue and potentially compromise the mission. Your choice?" Kaya threatened.

"How about you obey orders or I'll lock you in a cell until we get back from the mission."

"You think a cell could hold the fox of the underground captive? Damn I didn't know how much you underestimated me." The ghoul joked. "If you're going on the mission then so am I. Final offer." Kaya didn't really care if she played a minor role in the female titans capture, as long as she got what she deserved and Kaya helped bring her down.

"Fine but you're going to have to dress eloquent, we are representing the scouts after all." Kaya smirked and nodded her head. "My job is to visit the commander of the military police with Erwin and try to convince him to contribute to the capture of the female titan."

"I guess if it means I can be part of it, then it doesn't bother me that we're going to have to be nice to military police." The ghoul joked. "Just to be clear, I don't have to go to the titan maniac for a checkup now, right?" She asked, hoping that she wouldn't have to put herself through the pain once again.

"No, but that doesn't make their suspicions of you go away." Levi answered.

"I can live with that." The ghoul stated, taking another sip of her tea.

Kaya shortly finished her tea and then left Levi's room, moving across the hall to her own room. The thief had only been above ground for a few months and didn't have the chance to go on a shopping detour, so she was going to rummage through Petra's wardrobe to see if she could find anything. The ghoul opened the wardrobe door and a wave of guilt hit her, she couldn't wear Petra's clothes, not after what she did.

The amber eyed girl then backed away into the corner of her room and slid onto the floor. "Dammit, how could you be so stupid, you could have saved them." She scolded herself, trying to keep the tears contained.

After she regained her composure, the ghoul decided to track down Eren, hoping his friend Mikasa could loan her an outfit. She soon found him and put her hand in front of his mouth before he could tell he about her bed rest. "No, I don't want to hear that right now. Where's Mikasa?" She said, getting straight to the point.

"Why do you want to know where Mikasa is?" The boy questioned.

"She owes me a favour for saving her life, now hurry up and tell me."

"She's in her room with Sasha, it's right next to mine." The shifter informed.

Kaya quickly shoved past him and walked towards Mikasa's room before knocking on the door. The ghoul heard shuffling from the other side and waited for an answer, however it took longer than she had thought. The ghoul had been waiting outside the door for about 5 minutes and she had knocked several times but no one made any attempt to answer her. As usual, the amber eyed girl took out her needle and picked the lock before entering.

When she opened the door she saw two girls and behind them, was all the missing food from the pantry. "So this is why you were taking so long, I thought you would have quit stealing food when Levi and I caught you. Guess not." Kaya observed, causing Mikasa to scowl.

"No that's not it at all! We didn't steal this!" The brunette defended, her heart pounding rapidly.

"Calm down, I'm here to ask a favour." The ghoul reassured. "I need clothes, preferably something fancy." Kaya stated.

"I'll do anything! Please just don't tell anyone about the food!" Sasha pleaded. The ghoul stared at the brunette who was now on her knees begging.

"On your feet cadet. Man, you're overreacting." Kaya laughed, she was concerned to the fact Mikasa hadn't said a word to her since she arrived. Did she know?

Kaya soon picked out a white shirt and a black corset, the ghoul was never a fan of skirts and thought that they limited her movement and abilities, so she decided to go with a suit. "Thanks for your help Sasha, don't worry, your secrets safe with me." The ghoul added before leaving the brunettes room.

Her next step was to find a suit to wear and she had a pretty good idea on where to get one. The ghoul waited patiently until the captain left his room, before sneaking in and carefully looking through his wardrobe. She knew it was wrong to steal, and she knew he would find out about it, but she didn't really care. The ghoul knew that the captain wouldn't mind, considering they were the same height and knew she didn't have many belongings to begin with.

The thief searched the wardrobe and had finally found the perfect blazer. It was navy blue and fit her perfectly, after searching some more, she found the matching pants and smirked in victory. Not wanting to be caught, the ghoul put everything back in its original place and quickly retreated to her own room. The amber eyed girl looked at the masterpiece she had created in the mirror and was happy with the results.

The ghoul was still checking out her style when she heard a knock at the door, Kaya instantly lost her cool and pushed the door closed before the person could enter, not wanting to get caught for stealing so early on.

"Kaya what's with the door, you're supposed to be resting!" Her superior yelled, the thief recognised the voice and let Hange in her room. "Huh, hey is that Levi's suit, where did you get that?!" The maniac yelled. Kaya leaped forwards and put her hand over Hanges mouth after telling them to shut up multiple times.

"I borrowed it." The ghoul bluntly stated after she had shut her door. "Anyways, what do you want?" She inquired.

"I came to check up on you, me and you have always been good friends." Hange said as she wrapped her arm around Kaya's shoulders. "So you'd tell me if anything was bothering you, right?"

"I'm not buying that. Just get on with it already." The ghoul groaned as she leant against the door.

"Ah getting straight to the point I see, well then I'm going to be realistic with you. You shouldn't be alive right now." Hange said, scaring the ghoul a bit.

"You're right, it should have been me. Not my squad. So'd you come here just to say that or what."

"No, that's not what I'm getting at. A quarter of your stomach was tore apart by the female titan, everyone says it's a miracle you're alive but I think not. There's got to be some sort of explanation." The scientist continued.

"I can't deal with this right now, I know that if someone should have been spared then it shouldn't have been me." Kaya chuckled trying to mask her sadness. "I'll talk to you about it once I capture the bitch who killed my squad." The ghoul stated, she knew it was probably a mistake to say that to Hange, after all, their one of the smartest people she knows.

"Very well, I can see that you're injury is improving, faster than Levi's for that matter. How is it?" The goggled maniac asked.

"It's fine, Levi took a look at it earlier and I put new bandages over it a few hours ago."

"HUH?! Levi saw your injury, he didn't even tell me!" Hange practically screamed.

"Yeah, after I found out your shitty plan to try and see if I was a titan. Telling Eren wasn't one of your smartest moves, he gave it away too easily." Kaya responded, letting loose a slight laugh at Eren's incompetence.

"Man, I thought we had a solid plan, I'll be running extra experiments with Eren later." The scientist muttered. "Anyhoo, I'll be on my way, catch ya later Kaya."

"Yeah, see ya around." The ghoul replied before shutting her door after Hange.

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Night time came faster than the amber eyed girl thought, the ghoul used to love night time because it gave her a chance of seeing the stars. But now, it was nothing but a reminder of her comrades. The thief put on some comfortable attire and walked across the hall to the captains room again, not even bothering to knock upon entry.

"I'm back." The girl said while she sat down onto the captains bed.

"Figured you would." Levi acknowledged.

"When can I go back up to the roof, just like old times. I haven't been stargazing in a while." The ghoul said as she stared at the plain ceiling.

"Hopefully this war will be over soon, we'll eradicate our enemies and learn as much as we can about the titans." The captain said, his voice filled with hope.

"What will you do then, when you no longer have to be a soldier?" Kaya asked.

"Open a tea shop, you?"

"Never really thought about it too much, I guess I want to explore the world." She replied. Ever since the ghoul saw how big the world was above the underground, she got a taste of what her life could have been, but that only caused her to want more. Kaya soon fell asleep and mentally prepared herself for tomorrow's mission.