"I'm not exactly human." Kaya announced. At this moment, everyone's interests were piqued, they'd suspected it but they never thought the thief would admit it.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Jean asked.

"I look human, act human and talk your language, but I'm actually something called a ghoul." Immediately, Mikasa dropped the bucket she'd been carrying towards Armin, she knew something, and Kaya could tell.

"My father told me an old folks tale about ghouls, I didn't know they were real." The ravenette put her arm out in front of Eren and used her free hand to clench her weapon.

"If I wanted you dead then I'd have done it already. You can't kill me with weapons like that, that's why when you attacked me in the chapel, I caught the blade."

"Tell me, is it true?" Mikasa asked, fear in her eyes. "You know what I'm talking about."

Kaya looked at Levi, Mikasa had figured her out and now raised a question that she couldn't avoid. Judging by her increased heart rate, Mikasa already knew the answer to her question. The captain intertwined his hand within the ghouls, the act alone allowed the squad to know the intensity of the situation. Kaya took a deep breath, she had to do this, even if they did end up hating her. Her identity couldn't be avoided any longer, the time was now.

"It's true. I can't control it but I can try and maintain the urge by eating regularly enough. Previously, I tried to survive on the bare minimum, but you all saw how that turned out on our trip to the underground, right?" Kaya explained, Mikasa's heart rate slowed from its panicked rate, maybe there was hope after all.

However, realisation struck Armin like lighting, a hand went around his mouth as he recalled the event. Everything was piecing together in his mind, dots were connecting and to him, everything became clearer. He remembered how Kaya dived towards Connie with teeth bared and red glowing eyes, at first he thought he was seeing things, but now he knew the truth.

"In the underground." Armin began. "You tried to eat Connie, didn't you?" The other scouts gasped at his assumption, Kaya only nodded.

"I tried to fight it, but in the end, I lost. I'm so sorry." Her gaze was fixed towards the ground. Everyone was scared out of their minds, no one knew what to say, nor what to do. They feared that if they made the wrong move then the ghoul could've easily overpowered them.

"You're acting as though she hasn't saved each of your lives more than she's put them in danger." Levi began, bringing the attention towards him. "When Eren was kidnapped by Annie, Kaya saved both Mikasa and Eren. When Utgard was attacked, she saved Ymir and Historia. During the mission to bring back Eren, she saved Jean, Armin, Erwin and countless more. She even went through the trouble to save Connie instead of chasing the cart just earlier."

The statement alone made all the squad feel a sense of guilt, however, it impacted Eren more than the others. In every situation mentioned, Kaya had saved Eren, and although the two had many differences, he could relate to her in ways the others wouldn't understand.

"What I've gathered is that you don't have a choice, right?" Jean was first to speak.

Kaya nodded, happy that this might be a key point in their understanding. "I can't stomach human food, or anything that isn't, you know. My body just refuses it, spits it back out. Not only that, but it weakens me immensely."

"The legend said that ghouls only feed on the pure. In other words, children." Mikasa accused, Kaya had no idea where that assumption came from but she had to shut it down before it got out of hand.

"Hell no, I don't know what voodoo book that came from but it should probably stay there. I only eat criminals, or fallen soldiers." She defended.

"In a way, you're kinda like me and Armin, only you were conscious. We didn't have a choice either." The shifter sympathised.

From the ground, a light grumble was heard. "Did you get any powers or did you just draw the short straw?" Sasha asked, perking the interests of everyone else, including Hange who had already read the book.

"Well, I'm enhanced in most my physical abilities. And I've got this thing called a kagune." She activated her gift, allowing those around to marvel at its uniqueness and abnormality. Some of the squad had already seen it when she emerged from the cart titan, but they never had the chance to get a close look at its pattern and colour, some even had the bravery to touch the weapon.

"It's beautiful." Mikasa muttered in amazement, the ghoul in question heard and let a smile flutter onto her face.

To both her and Levi's surprise, everyone had reacted reasonably, if not better than so. Never before did Kaya think that she would be glad Eren was around. Of course, some were still skeptical on the matter, mainly Armin, but that didn't deteriorate the good outcome of the rest of the group.

With the limited time they had left before the garrison were to help them recuperate, Hange took the opportunity to interrogate their underground friend on a topic they'd been predicting for months. Although they specialise in titan anatomy, Hange was still a genius in general and picked up signs of a bond blooming on Kaya's early days in meeting Levi, even if it was solely formed because of a rivalry.

"So..." They quirked a brow.

"Oh, that went well, don't you think?" Kaya assumed that was the point the scientist was making, but she was totally out of tune.

"That's not what I'm getting at dear." They corrected. "Were my eyes deceiving me or did I see you and Levi hold hands, and hug, and kiss?" They speculated.

"First of all, you only have one eye. Secondly, yeah, we may have done all of that but what's it to you?" The ghoul reversed the question back towards the culprit.

"You know, Moblit always told me how he thought you and Levi would make a good couple. Before he got to know you, he said you were both a scary and short combo, a match made in heaven, don't ya think?"

"In that case, maybe Moblit should become a matchmaker." Kaya joked, smiling until she realised her mistake. "I'm sorry, I keep forgetting they're all gone. It all happened so quickly, thousands of us massacred in under an hour."

Hange knew the feeling, they were experiencing the same stage of grief, denying that what happened was true and hoping to wake up from the nightmare anytime soon. "He died saving me." They said. "When Bertholdt transformed, he shielded me and pushed me into a well. He sacrificed himself, for me." They continued, feeling the guilt pour from their eye.

Kaya embraced Hange into her arms, not knowing what to say just yet. "Don't give me any of that he'll reside through me crap. Staying alive won't honour his sacrifice." They cried.

"No, but it'll stop it from being meaningless." Kaya said, hoping to help her friend. It was easier encouraging the newer scouts, they were more gullible to everyone's comforting lies. Truth is, it didn't matter if the death had meaning or not, they were still gone.

"Who gives a damn about that!" Hange scolded, gripping Kaya's shirt. The ghoul could've easily won a fight against Hange, but it wasn't worth it. The section commander was obviously grieving their friends death, so the thief took a deep breath and kept a stoic face, not letting Hange's breakdown get to her.

"If you give up, then what was the point in Moblit's sacrifice? Granted, I wasn't as close to him as you were, but I still thought of him as my friend. I don't want him to die in vain." She tried to convince. Her words showed some effect, Hange had lowered their gaze and had loosened their grip on Kaya's collar.

"Hange, Kaya, prepare to leave. The garrison finally showed up." Levi alerted, ruining the moment they were sharing.

"About time." Hange regained their composure.

"Been waiting so long I could've knitted Mikasa a new scarf." Kaya joked, ignoring the tension between her and Hange until they wanted to further discuss it.

Authors note : : : I was thinking on changing the cover because the one I chose isn't exactly how I picture Kaya. So I found some art produced by @noroma02 on Twitter and recoloured the eye to make her look like a ghoul.

I apologise if it's a character from another show bc if it is then I haven't watched it :)