It was still late at night, majority of the party were awake, both grieving and worrying of the events they'd faced. Marleyans and Eldians alike, everyone was terrified, but the ghouls head rested on a different situation, one where she was happy, when everyone was. Before their future went to shit.

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It was a sunny summers morning and the scouts had arranged a infiltration mission onto Marley. It was their first mission overseas, but there wasn't an ounce of nervousness amongst them. Connie, Sasha and Jean were all leaning on the edge of the boat, looking at the sea and towards the land they were about to adventure. Jean occasionally having to shush the others for accidentally slipping up and revealing too much about their real lives. Each of them dressed formally to sit under Marley's radar. Eren and Mikasa were at the front of the boat, ever since they'd first discovered the sea, the two had acted more strangely to one another.

The other four scouts stood further away, peering at the enemy territory they were about to stroll upon. There was no need for nerves, in fact, the port looked magical, heavenly compared to what they were used to, especially for those who lived in the underground. Everything looked too good to be true. And they were all for it.

"If you think about it, this is sort of a return to the scouts' original mission." Hange stated, eyes still glued on their destination. Armin soon smiling along with their perspective. "Let the survey begin." They said in determination.

Kaya was still stood in awe, she never expected this when she heard about Marley. But her vision may have been bias, due to Marley being responsible for their imprisonment inside the walls, partially.

"Kaya?" Levi brushed her hair out of her eyes, attempting to see what had her so fixated that she ignored what blocked her vision.

"Hm?" She replied, finally averting her eyes away from the port. It was like he could read her mind, a skill he'd developed over time. Kaya was distracted and a look of envy was masked behind her adoration of the beauty.

"What's on your mind?" The captain asked.

"You?" She raised a brow, awaiting the response to her effortless and transparent lie.

Levi's lips curved into a small smile, but he soon took his usual worried expression back. "As much as I'd love that." He began. "You're lying. So what's actually going on up there." He pointed towards his own head.

"It's stupid." She sighed. "I don't get how these guys get to live like this, while we were deprived of sunlight our whole childhood. It isn't fair." She muttered, making sure no bystanders could hear her complaints.

Levi understood her point, he too, was envious. "I see. But soon, we'll have our own port, decorate it real nice like this place." He assured. "There won't be any boundaries to or from the underground, Historia promised us that."

"How come you always know exactly what to say?" She smiled.

"Because I know who I'm talking to." He placed his palm over the ghouls hand, both of them resting onto the side of the boat. It was clear that they'd reached a point in their relationship where neither enjoyed any time apart, and considering Kaya recently received a new squad, their time together had decreased. Forcing them to cherish moments like these.

Soon enough, the boat arrived at the harbour and they were instantly met with cheerful music, welcoming the Marleyans and secret Eldians home.

"My friends." Onyankapon greeted. "I'd like to welcome you to the continent of Marley. The Azumabito have been waiting. May I escort you?" He took of his hat, beckoning them to follow.

"Hey Onyankapon." Hange waved, both of them laughing at Onyankapon's theatrics.

"It's so good to see you all here. What does everyone think about the biggest port in the country?" He bragged.

However, everyone's attention was soon captivated by a car, something none of the islanders had ever seen or heard of in their lives.

"A horse!" Connie declared in confusion. "Or wait, is that? What was that?"

"Nah, no horse ever looked like that. I think it was a Maeleyan cow." Sasha speculated.

"It must have been a car. I've definitely heard about those." Hange confirmed before blaming their hands towards their mouth, reinforcing their loud voice. "Hey! Car!" Hange shouted, followed by a bunch of muffled yells from Connie and Sasha. All three of them resorted to chasing the vehicle.

"Better get them on a leash." Levi said to Onyankapon. "They'll try to give it carrots if they manage to catch it." He said in all seriousness.

"It's true, I watched them try and feed a train potatoes before." Kaya assured. "But in the end, Sasha ate them."

"I'm sure they won't, give them more credit than-" The man tried to argue but a look of shock overcame him. "Wait are they buying carrots?"

Kaya could only laugh, until Onyankapon managed to regather the group. A task that honestly deserved a much greater pay.

"Those idiots, I told them not to draw attention." Levi scowled towards the three buying ice cream, their reaction being as loud as ever.

"They stick out, but they won't look like island devils if they act like overgrown kids." Hange countered.

"You've got the overgrown part right." Kaya stated, jealous of their height against hers.

Suddenly, she felt the presence of someone behind her and Levi. Judging by their breathing, they were large and possibly too excited, something that was a little terrifying. But what scared her most was it's voice.

"Hi little fella." He crouched down, judging by Levi's gasp, he was shocked too. "And little miss." He must have focused on the ghoul now. "Got some tasty candy for ya. Would you like to try it?" He pushed a lollipop towards their faces, Kaya had to fight the urge not to vomit at the human food.

If someone had said that to her in the underground, she would have immediately retaliated and the result could have easily been death, but here, she wasn't allowed to cause a scene, regardless of the creep. It was evident that Levi was fighting the urge to fight too, the look on his face was a mixture of anger and confusion, mainly because someone had mistaken him for a child, yet again.

"It's real good." The demon practically growled into their ears. The two couldn't take it any more, so they turned around to meet the ugliest thing either had seen. And they killed titans for a living.

The beast was tall and wore a mismatched suit. One side being striped in yellow and red, the other plain purple. His face was covered in white paint with a red smile outlining his lips and stretching to his cheeks. Upon his eyes were two sharp lines of blue drawn on his eyelids. It looked demonic.

"Sharp outfits you got there kids." He complimented. "Are you two playing husband and wife?" The clown joked.

"Should we just walk away?" Kaya whispered in confusion, wanting to avoid speaking to such a mess. Levi nodded his head and took her hand, guiding the ghoul through the crowd and away from the creep.

"We never speak of this again." He basically ordered, but Kaya wasn't ready to drop the subject quite yet.

"Cmon little fella, how can you expect me to forget a face like that?" Kaya teased. Instead of responding, Levi rolled his eyes. "You looked like you were about to snap, I mean really snap." She joked.

"You act like you weren't the exact same, little miss." He retorted, his heart beat slightly raising at her assumption.

Slowly, she leaned towards him, resting her head on his shoulder and smirked. "I can hear your heartbeat, Captain." She joked. "What ya thinking about?" She then asked, it was obvious he was reliving the experience with the clown, but Levi would never admit that.

"You?" He replied, mimicking her previous question dodging technique.

"I'll pretend to believe that." She kissed him on the cheek and began searching for the group again. Each of them still surrounded the ice cream man. That's when both the scouts noticed a little boy, he was young and had a determined look on his face, something was wrong.

"Cmon." Levi hurried towards the group, dragging the ghoul with him until they reached the crime scene. Instantly, he grabbed the boys hand, recognising that he'd stolen Sasha's purse. "I don't think that purse belongs to you, does it kid?" He asked, to which the kids eyes widened in fear of the man who was nearly taller than him. But considering he'd just been caught red handed, it was a reasonable approach.

"Thief!" A Marleyan merchant yelled.

"Well, look at that, another enemy immigrant." Another chimed in, Kaya was beginning to think they should have just let the kid rob them.

"How'd you get into Marley?"

"Bet he stowed away on a ship."

"He can't understand us can he? We can toss him into the sea." Another threatened.

"I say we smash his hands, that'll stop him from picking pockets."

"Why don't we string the little rat up somewhere so everyone can see him?"

All the islanders were shocked at how quickly the cheerful Marleyans turned livid, threatening to kill and torture a kid. It was made clear when Sasha spoke out.

"Don't hurt him okay. I got my purse back, so why go that far?" She lifted the purse.

"Young lady, this is more than about just a purse. All us merchants on the port are trying to make an honest living." A man shut down her attempt.

"On top of that, this kid could be a subject of Ymir. Sightings have been picking up everywhere I've the past years. Now we know the devils have been blending in with the rest of us. People are losing sleep over it." The scouts shared mixed looks, some were angry, some were scared but none of them could expose their true identities, so they took the insults one by one.

Suddenly, Levi released Kaya's hand and casually walked towards the boy, swiftly picking him up and holding him under a singular arm before continuing his stroll. His nonchalantness almost made him go unnoticed.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

"I never said he was a pickpocket. All I said was that the purse didn't belong to him. He owes his big sister an apology for his little prank." Levi lied, but the other scouts' acting skills weren't as practiced as his.

"That's children for ya, but what can you do? Right it's a family thing." Hange's face mushed together, trying to contain the pressure they were under.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry my little brother acted like an idiot everyone." Sasha bowed.

"Smells like bullshit!" Another merchant yelled, far too close to Kaya.

"Tell that to you're toothbrush." She scowled and noticed the man beginning to raise his hand towards her.

Levi realised too, he also realised how close the merchants were getting to his comrades, so he made a decision. "Run." And just like that, everyone bolted.

The ghoul took the opportunity to grab the hand of the man closest to her and drag his arm forwards before raising her knee. A crack indicates that she was safe to go, which truthfully, could have been done without conflict. "Have a nice day." She waved and sprinted after her squad, using her enhanced speed to catch up effortlessly.

It didn't take the trained soldiers long to reach the edge of town, guaranteeing their safety along the way. However, some were a lot more exhausted than others, which was made clear when the majority of scouts had to rest.

"Anyone see where the brat ran off to?" Levi asked, not fazed by the run.

"Uh- oh, he's right there." Hange breathed heavily.

"Oh look, he managed to rob you." Kaya smirked, slightly proud of the kid. However, Levi was less enthusiastic and quickly checked his pockets to be sure.

"Well then, so much for the Azumabito's pocket change." The captain let the culprit run free, causing the ghoul to stifle a laugh. "What's so funny?" Levi asked, a little humiliated.

"A 8 year old managed to steal from humanities strongest." She laughed. "I'm so proud of him." Levi sent a judgmental glare, but he couldn't stay mad at her, even if she was making fun of him.

However, regardless of the fun, the scouts had a mission. They couldn't lose focus.

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Authors note :
Part 2 of the flashback will be next chapter

Also possible new cover