Two months had passed since Historia's coronation and the ghoul had managed to sustain her diet, conserving food from criminals in society and hoping no one would notice or blame her for their disappearances. Ever since the purge in the military, humanity had made great advances in both technology and weaponry. Such as the new anti-titan mechanism, which Kaya, Levi and Hange were supervising to see if it was as successful as Hange had previously described.

"That's it, jam your big head in here." A soldier muttered from the bottom of the wall. When the titans was in close proximity, he alerted the group. "Do it now!" A rope was cut, leading a trunk of wood to fall onto the nape of the titans nape.

"Oooo, that hit right at the nape of its neck, this could be it." Hange beamed. As soon as steam started to emit from the place of impact, everyone's faces lit up. "We did it! That's a 12 metre we crushed!" The scientist jumped.

"It worked." Eren said in disbelief.

"Hell yeah it worked." The ghoul spoke in triumph of their achievement.

"Now we can kill titans without putting any soldiers at risk, we'll have down those bastards all day and night. Say hello to the executioner from hell! We did it Eren." The section commander began to yell.

However, Eren was more worn out than ever, his constant titan experiments had clearly taken a toll on him as he was now coughing blood by the side of the wall. Kaya had smelt this, but it didn't bother her, as long as she didn't try to starve herself again, she should be fine around scenes like this. Levi knelt down beside Eren and lent him a handkerchief that the ghoul could clearly recognise.

"Eren?" Hange questioned.

"It looks like he may have overused his abilities." Levi observed.

"No shit, he's been doing hardening experiments for days. He needs a break." Kaya advised.

"I'm sorry." Said Hange.

"No there's nothing to apologise for, we can't slow down just cos we're tired, right? I'm fine." He wiped his nose. "Let's make these weapons, then go to Shiganshina."

"By the way, why is Eren bleeding into my handkerchief?" Kaya asked the captain.

"Is it important to you?" Levi retorted.

"Actually yes, it happened to be one of my first steals, it came as a package deal when I stole the whole purse." The thief answered.

"Then why'd you give it to me?" He paused for a moment before realising what Kaya was about to say. "Don't even think about telling me that's classified." He ordered.

"You got me in a box here." The ghoul replied, sarcasm laced in her tone.

"Moving on, I noticed you didn't react to Eren's blood earlier. Any reasons why?" Levi asked.

"Well, it's either because I've eaten recently or because I have a strong hatred towards Eren and his dad." Kaya joked.

"I'm going to assume the first reason."

"Then you'd be right." Kaya smiled.

"Captain Levi, section commander Hange would like to meet with you urgently." A scout ran towards the two.

"On what matter?" Levi questioned.

"They said Eren had a vision." Upon hearing this, the scouts used their gear to get down from the wall and rode their horses towards headquarters, none of them knew how major or minor the vision was but they did know that it had potential to make strides for humanity.

"Hange." Kaya spoke to the section commander, hoping to receive answers.

"Glad you could make it, Eren, enlighten them of our predicament." Hange ordered.

"Well, under the chapel, I saw things through my fathers eyes and I managed to catch a glimpse of his experience when wall Maria fell. There was a soldier who was with him, and I finally know who it was, commandant Shadis." The titan shifter explained.

"Interesting." She lied. "Yeah, I've never heard that name in my life." Kaya added.

"Shadis was the 12th commander of the scout regiment, and commander Erwins predecessor. It's been a long while since I've seen him." Hange explained as they set off on their horses to find the commandant.

Kaya looked over towards the cadets and realised that they were all trembling in fear, their quickened heart rates also gave a good indication of their experience during their training. "So, I'm guessing this guy was pretty rough." The thief assumed.

"What gave it away?" Levi asked rhetorically.

"One time, Sasha ate a potato on the first day and she got forced to run until the sun set." Armin said.

"He head-but me as soon as I introduced myself." Jean accused.

"Yeah, well, Mikasa once blamed me for all the noise to save Eren's ass! That was so embarrassing." Sasha cried.

"He sounds pleasant." Kaya thought aloud before recalling a conversation she held with Petra. "Hey Hange, didn't you join the scouts because you had the hots for Shadis." She teased. Everyone deadpanned and shot their gaze towards the section commander, waiting for an answer.

"How do you know about that?" Hange wondered.

"You mean it's true, that's why you joined the scouts?" Eren asked in bewilderment.

"I thought you joined because of your fascination towards titans?" Said Armin.

"Pathetic." Levi muttered, Kaya just rolled her eyes, he clearly didn't have the best sense of humour.

With in no time, the squad reached the training grounds of the 104th cadet Corps, meeting commandant Shadis in the flesh. "Commandant Shadis." Eren alerted. Kieth turned his head, he already knew why the scouts were there, Kaya could tell by his quickened heart rate but the commandant tried to keep his composure.

"What's the matter Brouse? Not gonna sit?" Shadis said to the brunette once they were all seated in his office. Sasha stood in the far corner of the room, hoping Shadis wouldn't notice her.

"No, I'm quite fine standing here sir!" Sasha looked straight ahead, not daring to face Shadis.

"Let's see, if I recall, back in the day I'd call you in here a lot whenever I was about to chew you out. It's only been a handful of months, yet I barely recognise you kids." He replied.

"So, commander Shadis, or wait, commandant Shadis now, we should be prepping to retake wall Maria but why do you suppose we came to speak with you instead?" Hange inquired.

Kieth looked around the room, meeting Eren's gaze before responding to the question. "Eren, you look like your mother in almost every way, however, the daggers I see with in your eyes, those are your fathers."

"Suppose that's why I'm not overly fond of Eren." Kaya muttered to Levi.

"Tell me about him." Eren stood from his seat. "Tell me everything you know."

"I don't know much at all, not in the grand scheme of things. That said, I'll tell you a story that has no value whatsoever to humanity. The story of my past, as nothing but a bystander." Keith began. "20 years ago, near wall Maria, I found him standing outside of the gate to Shiganshina. Was it the truth, or a lie? He said he couldn't remember why he was outside the walls, all of his memories had been lost, everything aside from his name. Grisha Yeager. We let him out of prison, didn't see the reason in keeping him there. After a while, I'd say be became friends he used to ask me about the scouts, told me I was a chosen one, that was the first time anyone had told me that, but I knew that those walls were far too cramped for me. If only I was commander, I could show results, as idiotic as these people are, I'd accomplish so much that even they'd understand and then everyone would have to acknowledge me. As I moved up the ranks, so did doctor Yeager, he moved up from being the nobody outside the walls to a hero who saved humanity from the plague, he fell in love and married Carla, I couldn't do anything but watch. Few months later, the scouts were out preparing our base outside the walls, we had to retreat, we lost many lives that day all because of me. Someone special, a chosen one. When we arrived back, I ran into Carla, doctor Yeager wasn't around often but it seems while I was gone, they had a child. It's true, normal people can't accomplish a thing, special people do exist all this means is that I was never one of them. It's such an obvious fact, so why couldn't I see it?" Kieth wondered.

The squad sat patiently while the commandant continued his tale. "Next thing I knew, wall Maria had fallen and I found Grisha in the chaos of the crowd. We made it to the refuge in wall Rose and found you there. Grisha kept telling you to avenge her, in a way, it looked like he'd given up. He took you to the woods and told me not to follow, but when I saw a light so I followed it. After I found you, I carried your body back to the shelter and left. And that, is everything I know."

"So that's it? I see." Eren added.

"At least now I know the real reason you chose to resign. Not to atone for all the soldiers you got killed, but because you realised that you're not a special snowflake, just a delusional self-centred child." Hange insulted.

"Lay off him Hange." The captain advise, but got ignored by the angered scientist.

"You had no right to keep all of this to yourself, just to spear your own ego. We pledged to give our lives and our hearts for the good of mankind." Hange stood and saluted.

"Please let it go commander. The commandant was right, just like him, I was never special, looks like, I was just the son of a man who was. That's all there is to it." Eren sighed in defeat.

"After I yelled at her, this is what your mother said back. Why should anyone have to be special? That just isn't the way I like to look at things and when it comes to my child, I don't care if he grows up to be great. My son does t have to be better than anyone, after all, just look at him, he's so cute. I think Eren's special enough already, for no not her reason than that he was born into this world." Shadis paused. "And you, just like your father wanted, chose to set your life ablaze and let it burn to ashes outside the walls. I tried, but in the end, it all came to nothing, I couldn't change a thing. I'm merely a bystander."

After the scouts had all the information that they'd came for, they left Shadis. Most of the group resented him for keeping such information to himself, but others like Eren, could understand why he did it and even gained a little more respect for the commandant.

"So, we learnt near to nothing from this visit." Kaya got onto her horse. "Other than the fact Grisha came from beyond the walls."

"People being born special? It's absurd." Hange scowled. "He should have told us this all sooner."

"Think about it, nothing he said had any impact on our advancements whatsoever. Even if he continued to stay quiet, it wouldn't have any effect." Levi countered.

"Who knows? There's no way we could predict what could've been. I say we focus on retaking wall Maria, the expeditions right around the corner and we can't let ourself be get distracted by some depressing story." Kaya encouraged.

"Speaking of distractions, I'd like to run some experiments on you." Hange suggested.

Kaya was lost for words, she hated being in close proximity to Hange, never mind getting experimented on. She'd seen what Hange did to Sawney and Bean, there was no way she was gonna let them do that to her. "Did you not listen to a word I said? I'm gonna have to pass on that offer." The ghoul defended.

"But I wanted to check out your rate of healing, or what weapons will work on you. Or even try to find out the extent of your abilities." Hange pleaded.

"Keep it down, someone's gonna hear you." Levi threatened.

"Pretty please, I've been so caught up with Eren that I completely forgot about you. I promise it won't hurt." The scientist continued, beginning to shout and draw in attention from the squad.

"Okay okay, just please shut up!" The thief gave in, she could've said no but that risked Hange accidentally exposing her in front of the squad and the ghoul wasn't about to risk it.

When they arrived back at their base, Hange grabbed onto Kaya's hand and dragged her towards their lab. "Hey slow down, um, can I get a little help?" The ghoul begged her captain. Levi just shook his head, he didn't have time for Hange's shenanigans, Kaya only agreed to it because she felt as though her existence was threatened.

"Too late to turn back now Kaya." The scientist persisted dragging the ghoul.

Once they were in the lab, the duo met with Moblit, who looked as though he was writing paperwork on Hange's behalf. "I hope you don't mind, but Moblit is my assistant and a very close friend of mine, he'll be staying throughout the process." They dictated.

"What? I don't think that's ideal considering I haven't even told the squad yet and me and Moblit are more acquaintances than friends. No offence." Kaya turned towards the soldier.

"None taken." Moblit answered.

"No need to worry, I've already explained the situation to him and although he had his doubts, he's accepted your species." The scientist said as they rummaged through their drawer to take out some of their knives.

"Excuse me?" Kaya questioned. "You told Moblit?"

"Of course I did, he's my right hand man. Now let's try this." Hange stabbed Kaya without a moments notice, luckily, the ghouls resistance shattered the knife before it could pierce her skin. "Did you see that Moblit! The knife just shattered! Take notes!" They continued, looking even more crazed by the second.

"You do realise that I could be killed for this? Not everyone is as open to this as you and Levi, did you even think to ask me before you outed my secret?" The thief began to shout in frustration, her red eyes had activated which only amazed Hange further.

"Moblit, take a sketch of her eyes, that's incredible." Hange said, not caring what Kaya had to say.

"Section commander, maybe you should listen-" Moblit advised but was cut short when Hange demanded he sketched Kaya's eyes.

"This is such bullshit!" The ghoul stormed out of the room. She felt utterly betrayed that Hange had gone behind her back and told Moblit. Granted, they were close friends, but that didn't give them the right to tell Moblit without asking Kaya first. The ghoul was so frustrated that she wasn't even paying attention to her surroundings and walked face first into Erwin Smith. Erwin was about a foot taller than her, so the embarrassment hit her like a wagon.

"Can I help you miss Kaya?" The commander asked.

"Nope, just trying to angrily walk away from Hange." Kaya scowled.

"Any particular reason why?" He pressed. Kaya raised a brow, she'd almost forgot about Erwins suspicion of her and it hadn't crossed her mind that he still assumed she was a titan after all these months.

"Quit interrogating her Erwin, she's not a titan, I thought we were past this." Levi joined in the conversation, rescuing Kaya from Erwins questions.

"Are you certain? I noticed you two have gotten a lot closer lately, I wouldn't want your views on Kaya to misguide you." Erwin whispered to Levi, ignorant to the fact Kaya could hear his every word.

The ghoul cleared her throat before confronting the commander. "I'm right here and you're terrible at whispering. So I'm gonna do us all a favour and walk away. See ya." She announced before leaving the captain and commander clueless.

There was two days left before the expedition and she needed all the rest she could get but her main reason for leaving was because she couldn't exactly stay mad with Hange. Kaya knew how close the section commander and Moblit were, so him finding out would have been inevitable, however she hoped Hange would at least ask her permission before spreading the word of ghouls existence.

"I should probably apologise tomorrow, hopefully they apologise too because they were also in the wrong." The ghoul muttered to herself.

"Have you seen Eren?" Mikasa asked the ghoul, snapping her out of thought.

"He's probably sleeping, it's been a long day." Kaya answered.

Mikasa nodded and walked in the direction of Eren room, but was stopped when Kaya grabbed her arm. "Dont touch me." Mikasa warned.

"Listen, I don't know what your deal is but you've got to stop. Why are you being so hostile towards me?" The thief tightened her grip.

Mikasa didn't answer and tried to break free from Kaya, however none of them were going to give up so easily. "If this has anything to do with Eren then I'm sorry but how is this any of your business?"

Mikasa stopped fighting and paused for a moment, the look in her eyes almost displayed envy and Kaya wasn't awfully fond of it. "Are you jealously me?" Mikasa's heart rate quickened, giving Kaya her answer. "But why?"

"Eren talks about you, a lot. Says you're real strong and he admires you." Mikasa replied.

The ghoul grimaced at the thought of her and Eren being anything more than friends, he was so much younger than her and he was Eren. Disgusting. "Woah there, you realise Eren is like 15 and I'm in my late 20s. That'll never happen." The thief waved around her arms to make her point exceptionally clear to Mikasa.

"So? He still likes you." Mikasa stated.

"Well I think I've made it clear that I don't like him, so nothings going to happen there." Kaya continued to protest against the ravenette's assumption.

"Really?"

"Positive. Besides, admiration and love are different right? So I'm sure he doesn't have a crush on me, he'd have to be a little weird if that were true." She added. "What about you, does he not admire you?"

Mikasa shook her head, feeling embarrassed by her actions towards her squad member. "Maybe it's because you baby him." Kaya suggested. "Don't get me wrong, it's sweet, but I'm sure it's gotta be annoying. How's he ever supposed to learn when someone's always taking away all of his troubles. I see you guys in the hall, every time Eren and Jean have a disagreement, you always intervene. They've both gotta learn their lessons."

"Thank you. I apologise for my attitude earlier, please don't tell anyone." Said Mikasa.

"No worries. Isn't this the first time we've held a conversation without arguing? This is definitely going on my list of achievements." Kaya noted. Although Mikasa ignored her comment, Kaya was grateful that she and Mikasa managed to establish some common ground and that they might actually be able to form some kind of friendship.

Authors note—— sorry that Shadis speech is such a mess, I honestly had no idea when he was talking to the squad or talking to himself so I kinda just improvised.

Also, I wasn't too happy about how Mikasa and Kaya made up because I feel as though it's a little bit too cliche that they'd be arguing over a boy. But on the other hand, Mikasa wouldn't be too bothered by Kaya unless Eren was involved so it is quite the predicament. If anyone has any ideas of other reasons for their hostility and how they overcome it then I'm more than happy to change it.