Chapter 3

   “Wake up.”

   Huh? I awoke inside a dusty jail cell with dim light seeping through the metal bars. The corners were crowded with cobwebs and the air was dusty and moist. It almost felt like I was breathing with ash in the air, clouding my vision. Why? I looked up and saw Levi standing on the other side with his arms crossed.

   “Why am I in here?” I asked innocently.

   “You’re to be confined in here until the court trial,” he answered, staring down at me.

   “When is the court trial?” I interrogated with by voice wobbling.

   “Today.”

~*~

   What’s happening? Why is everyone here? This place is strange to me. The ceiling had paintings of people I’ve never seen before… How do I know all this? Some strangers put handcuffs around my wrists and a bar that come down on the chains to the floor so I couldn’t escape. It was unusual… but this place has a bit of familiarity. How do I know this place? There were many people lined up behind these long, wooden tables and there was a grand window with light shining through. Who are these people? I scanned people’s faces to see if I knew anyone and I saw Levi and Lukas. They were staring straight ahead in a stiff, standing position so they couldn’t see me when I smiled at them.

   Suddenly, a man walked in wearing a jacket with three symbols. Survey Corps, Garrison, Military Police… How did I know that? He took it off, rolled up his sleeves, and sat down. Pushing up his glasses, he looked down at me sternly and declared, “Let us begin. I am to interrogate you and then decide your fate that rests entirely in my hands. This all depends on one criterion; is it good or bad for humanity? Now, what is your name?”

   “Ria,” I stated proudly with my new name given by Levi. I was finally identified after all.

   “I heard from members in the Survey Corps that you were found in a forest outside the walls, correct?” he said, asking for confirmation.

   Assuming that he was talking about the forest with Erik I replied, “Yes.”

   He gazed down at Levi and Lukas and demanded, “Levi, Lukas, tell me everything you know about Ria.”

   “She was crying when I first met her and didn’t know what a titan was. Apparently she was friends with the titans I killed and said they gave her food which were humans, cared for her, and lifted her up into the branches. This indicates some sort of intelligence in the titans that she lived with. Even though she lived with titans, she showed some humanity by panicking when she realized that she ate humans. She didn’t have a name, thus the name Ria was given by me and she understands the human language. She knew what a hug was, had feelings, and seems like any other human to me.”

   Lukas hesitantly peered over at Levi, not sure if he was done or not, and announced, “Also, she tried to piggy back ride heichou which resulted in him kicking her off. I saved her and she seemed to not want to talk about titans.” Was that detail really necessary?

   A brown haired girl with glasses laughed a little, probably at the thought of me piggy back riding the serious Levi. But she was a little too excited there, I’m not sure why but the excitement started after Levi mentioned titan.

   “Let us get to the proposals from the Military Police,” the man boomed.

   “I believe that she should give us all the information about the titans and then execute her. She is an unknown object from the outer walls and is trespassing on our territory. We already made a big risk in bringing her within the walls which causes grave danger to all of us. Her identity is unknown and by what we’ve heard so far, we do not think she will do much to help humanity. In fact, even if we let her stay, she would just be a burden because she might side with the titans and doesn’t seem useful. As part of the Military Police, I think that we should eliminate anything that risks citizens getting hurt. That is all,” a man wearing the Military Police uniform proposed.

   “Hmm. Let us hear the proposal from the Survey Corps.”

   A man with blond hair spoke up, “If she is friends with all titans and titans do not attack her, we can use her to succeed in expeditions outside the wall and help protect the walls as well. That is all.”

   “Who will be in charge for her then?” he asked.

   Levi answered, “I will and I will train her too. She can’t just sit there as bait for titans while my soldiers die. And we can’t go on protecting her forever because there will be a time when no one is there to save her when a titan decides that she’ll make a nice snack. I believe I am one of the only ones who can successfully train her along with Lukas and if you are willing to make sacrifices, making a gamble is our only bet. Those pig faces over there are just saying things out of desperation.”

   “If that’s the case then… The court trial is over! Ria will go into the hands of Levi and I expect great successes from you,” he proclaimed.

~*~

   I was walking down a hallway with Levi and Lukas with them leading me to the training area. We stepped outside and I saw this contraption with wooden beams that had two wires coming down from the top of it.

   “This is where you will practice with 3D Maneuver Gear and your balance. If you fail here when the assessment comes, then we will be handing you over to the Military Police – ” Levi got cut off because the same girl with brown hair was skipping in joy towards me.

   “Oh it’s just you, sh*tty glasses.”

   Levi and Lukas just stepped back a little, letting the girl come over to me. Her eyes were wide with curiosity as she grasped both by hands and shrieked, “I’m Hanji Zoe, Ria. Now tell me everything you know about the titans! You lived with the titans? What happened?”

   “Uh… yeah I lived with Erik, my titan friend. I’ll tell you later,” Hanji looked dejected so I quickly changed my answer to, “I’ll tell you everything!”

   I guess that was the cue for Levi and Lukas to leave because right when I said that, they left like they had nothing to do with me. Hanji’s glasses flashed white in the sunlight as she muttered, “Really?”

   Nodding, I continued speaking to her, “So about Erik he – ”

   “What did he look like? What class was he? How tall, 10 meters, 6 meters or maybe he was a 3 meter titan? Did he become inactive at night?” Hanji’s questions kept droning on and on with her moving her fingers around while her cheeks were a bit red with drool coming out of her mouth. I answered them as best as I could and a long time passed before Levi and Lukas decided to come back. Now I understood why they wanted to leave but before they came back, I was getting a little excited along with her because maybe titans were her friends too! However, when she started talking about her experiments, I felt extreme pity for those two titans and asked to visit them sometime. She immediately responded with yes.

   “Oi, sh*tty glasses, are you done harassing Ria? I need to do some training here, you know. Go back and talk with your titan friends instead about your obsession,” Levi commanded.

   “Levi,” she said in a voice with authority, “my glasses are perfectly normal. Anyway, Ria let’s talk again later! You do have training to do, good luck!” And with that she left walking out and it wasn’t until she passed by Levi that I realized how tall she was.

   “Ria, put this on,” He tossed me a uniform to wear along with some black belts, “and you can change in that room inside there.

   Following his orders, I walked over, shut the door, and started putting on the clothes. What kind of sense of fashion do they have? Are these black belts supposed to be attractive? I did enjoy the rest of the outfit because I felt superior and powerful. I walked outside and that was when Levi started teaching me.

   He attached one wire to one side of my belts and the other to the corresponding belt. After barking a couple orders here and there, he cranked up the contraption and I was slowly lifting off the ground. So the belts were for this… I’m so stupid. Soon I was off the ground and floating in midair but after a couple close calls where I almost fell, I got the hang of it like that. I was doing fine until something flashed by in my mind and I remembered something and then forgot it the very next second. That’s when I lost my concentration screaming and hit my head on the floor. I guess you can say Levi was annoyed by dragging me back inside so I could get my head checked. But even if that moment of remembrance made me hit my head, I felt like that something that I remembered was important. I tried hard remembering it but all that was left lingering in my mind after that was the question: How do I know the 3D Maneuver Gear?

~*~

DUN DUN DUUN! I am sorry for ending everything with questions I just think it was a good cliffhanger. I love my cliffhangers. Anyway I also apologize for the filler chapter but it had to be done. Hopefully this chapter was interesting enough! Vote if you enjoyed the chapter and comment anything your heart desires… but I hope you comment down constructive criticism or predictions or that you liked the chapter! I really appreciate it that people are actually reading my story and if you vote or comment, that makes me really happy. You guys have no idea how much I freaked out when someone commented and voted. I was so happy I didn’t even care I was going to my first day of school. Enough ranting and um… Hope you vote and comment and bye! Thank you for reading the chapter and this really long note if you read it all!