In The Castle

Lara was riding her horse alongside Petra on the way to the castle. Ahead of them, Oluo was talking to Eren, who seemed visibly uncomfortable. Eren looked back and notice Captain Levi staring at him with a serious expression.

Levi had become responsible for Eren and would need to watch him, to make sure he would not do anything that could kill someone. Before turning his attention back to Oluo, Eren took a quick look at Lara and felt a little comfort in his heart to see that at least one person was not looking at him as an aberration.

"I think Oluo's bothering Eren," Petra said to Lara, clicking her tongue. "Lately, he's been acquiring a weird behavior… I believe he's trying to look serious like Captain Levi."

"I've also noticed that," answered Lara. "Even the white cravat around his neck is the same!"

The girls laughed. Then, apparently, Oluo's horse stepped on a rock, which made him bite his tongue. That made the girls laugh even more.

"That served you right!" exclaimed Petra, making Oluo glare angrily at her.

When they arrived at the castle, Lara swung her tiny legs on her horse in excitement. It was a beautiful medieval-style building, with grey stones and blue roofs. But it looked very poorly maintained, indeed.

While they were putting the horses in the stables, Lara noticed that Eren was watching Petra and Oluo talking, who was cleaning the blood from his bitten tongue. Lara approached Eren.

"You're feeling a little out of place, aren't you?" she gently asked.

"Did you notice?" he lowered his head.

"Don't worry. They're amazing. Soon, you'll get used to them."

"I'm sorry, Lara… But, who are they, after all?"

"They're the members of the Special Operations Squad, commanded by Captain Levi himself," answered Lara. "We call them 'Levi Squad'. In short, they're the top 'Elite Soldiers'."

She began telling him how many Titans each of the members had already killed, leaving Eren open-mouthed.

"As you're an exceptional case and your Titan abilities are still very uncertain," she continued, "if anything… Bad happens, they're the most qualified to 'contain' you, if you know what I mean…"

Eren understood perfectly, swallowing hard.

"But, tell me something…" he turned to Lara. "For you to have joined the Survey Corps at such a young age, it's because you must be very talented… I'm sorry, I'm not trying to flatter you, but in Trost, even though I was a little groggy from getting out of my Titan, I could see how you fight as good as Captain Levi. So why aren't you in this Elite Squad, as well?"

"Thank you," Lara kindly replied, "But, although I fight well and have Captain Levi himself as my private tutor, he still thinks I'm too young for this and he promised me that he'll think about it in the future, when I get more experience in the field."

Eren agreed, slowly. He would need to be very careful to not irritate these people.

"Pardon me for asking," he continued, "but why did you come here with us? I've heard you and Squad Leader Hange were doing great experiments on the captured Titans. Shouldn't you be there?"

Before Lara could answer him, Levi appeared in front of them.

"Hey, brat. We need to clean up this castle as soon as possible," Levi looked at Lara. "And you? What are you still doing there? Let's go!"

He walked away and Lara chuckled to Eren, pointing her thumb at Levi.

"That's why I came. The Captain thinks I look like a mop."

A few hours later, Lara had already cleaned up countless windows, swept a bunch of corridors, and when she had the opportunity, she would sneak out to explore some high towers of the castle, being caught by her father, who would put her on his shoulders, while she flailed her legs in indignancy, just to be placed at some dirty room, with a bucket and a broom on her hands.

At one point during the day, Lara was cleaning up one of the rooms with Levi, while telling him about the experiments she and Hange were doing. Then, Eren popped up in the doorway.

"Captain, we're cleaning upstairs. Where am I going to sleep?"

"Your room's in the basement," answered Levi, pulling down the white kerchief that covered his face.

"The basement… Again?" replied Eren, visibly upset.

"Of course. You still don't have self-control of your powers. If you end up turning into a Titan while sleeping, we'll be able to stop you immediately, if you're in the basement at least. That was one of the conditions we were given when we took custody of you. It's a rule we have to follow."

Lara watched that scene while she cleaned a piece of old furniture, trying to hold back her laughter. Her father was wearing a white kerchief on his head and another one tied around his neck, to cover his nose from the dust. He seemed the most perfect personification of a housewife, all that was missing was a kitchen apron and a slipper on his feet.

Gazing open-mouthed at Levi, Eren was also wearing a white kerchief around his neck. Lara realized that her father was strangely shorter than Eren and the vision of them two standing there, looking at each other, didn't fail to make her think it was something comical.

Levi gave Lara a serious glare, which quickly made her turn her attention to a rusty handle, as if it were the most interesting object in the world.

"I'll go check the other rooms," said Levi, heading to the door and putting his kerchief back over his nose. "Eren, you can keep cleaning up this room with Lara."

When he reached the door, Levi turned to Lara, with an impassive look.

"Clean up this room properly and no more of your escapes to the towers, otherwise I'll disown you."

She pulled down her own white kerchief and stuck out her tongue at Levi, who, under his own kerchief, also stuck out his tongue at her, but Lara didn't see it. Levi left the room.

About a minute passed and Lara noticed that everything was very quiet. When she turned around, she noticed that Eren was staring at her, with an expression that seemed he was doing some sort of math calculation inside his head, his mouth opening and closing many times.

"What's up, Eren?" asked Lara. "Are you okay? Are you feeling something strange?"

"N-No!" he stammered, shaking his head quickly. "It's just… The… Did I hear it right? Captain Levi said something about… Disowning you? Does it… Does it mean that he's your…?"

"Father? Yes, Captain Levi's my father," completed Lara, smiling.

Eren shook his head negatively, blinking.

"But, but," he continued, "didn't you tell us back in Winter Training that you were an orphan? I do remember you told us that your parents died in an accident, when you were a baby," Eren held his chin. "But, there's something else… On the day of my trial, Squad Leader Hange introduced you to me as her… Daughter."

Lara gently smiled.

"You're right. My biological parents did die, when I was a baby. Captain Levi and Hange are my adoptive parents."

"Adop...tive?" asked Eren. "Why didn't you tell us that as well?" he then became thoughtful for a moment. "Wait, so that means that… Captain Levi and Hange Zoë are… Married?!"

"That's the exact reason why I didn't tell you that they're my parents," answered Lara, while cleaning an old lamp. "They're not married… Yet. And this fact causes a certain confusion in people."

"What do you mean? I'm not understanding…"

As they diligently cleaned up the room, Lara told her whole story of how she went from having Levi and Hange as her tutors, to now having them as her adoptive parents. Eren heard everything open-mouthed.

"And how's the sensation of having a broken rib?!" he finally asked.

"The worst of all. 'Cause you can't put in a cast in there, so I had to stay on bed rest for several weeks."

"But, so…" Eren seemed a bit cautious, as if he was afraid of asking, "Captain Levi and Hange Zoë don't have any sort of relationship? Because from the little I've seen them together, I haven't noticed any kind of intimate closeness."

"Oh!" exclaimed Lara, laughing. "That's because they know how to hide it very well when they're in public, so much so that they even call each other names in front of people. But…" she acquired a dreamy look, "when it's just the three of us, I have the happiest moments of my life. I know that every kid should say this, but I have the best parents in the world…"

Eren smiled.

"But, what about you?" he asked. "Do you want them to be together?"

Lara looked deeply at Eren and let out a sigh.

"That's my biggest dream in life. If one day they really get married, my happiness will be as complete as possible," she then gave a playful smile. "I don't know when that will happen, but I'm trying to do my part."

"What are you doing, exactly?" asked Eren, curious.

"Well…" Lara held her chin, thoughtful, "I usually try to give them some hints here and there. But, in fact, the whole thing requires a lot of praying, 'cause God Almighty! Only Him to solve it!"

They both laughed and now Eren was cleaning the headboard. He turned to Lara.

"But… It's a bit weird to imagine Captain Levi as a father and, from what you've told me, even being a little… Cheerful? I'm sorry to say this, but to me, he seems like such a–"

"Cold and calculating person?" completed Lara. "A totally heartless man who doesn't care about people's feelings?"

Eren blushed, embarrassed.

"Sorry…"

"You don't need to," she gently smiled. "You're not the first and won't be the last to think like that of the Captain. I had plenty of time to live with enough closeness with him to know that deep down, my father's just a person who's been through a lot in this life and who just wants some peace and quiet, but people insist on keep bothering him, that's why he gets so angry sometimes."

"I think it's impressive how he follows the orders of his superiors, without questioning."

"Indeed, he's a very loyal and committed man with his duties."

Eren smiled at Lara.

"You're pretty good at reading people's feelings. I myself have a lot of difficulty knowing what I'm feeling sometimes…"

"Thanks, Eren. Feel free to talk to me or to get something out of your chest whenever you want, I'm your friend."

He thanked her and, as if he had remembered something, he said:

"Lara, when we were in the Winter Training, you told us that, for being an orphan and for your biological parents being… Well… Thieves and murderers… You actually don't have a family name. You said you're named Lara, and that's it. But now that you're adopted by Captain Levi and Hange Zoë, did you get their family names?"

Lara was cleaning the wardrobe and turned to him, with a contemplative expression.

"Look, Eren… The way I ended up being adopted by them is not what we usually read in Fairy Tales books, with everything cute and organized. My adoption was more by word of mouth, nothing legal under the law. On my birth certificate, I'm still just called Lara, but sometimes I find myself wondering if I had their family names. Just imagine…" she opened her hands, as if drawing in the air, "Lara Zoë Ackerman!"

"Wow!" Eren whistled, smiling. "It's quite a name… It gives an impact!"

"I know, right?!" she also smiled. "I don't talk about any of this with them, 'cause I don't wanna bother, for I already give them a hard time on raising me and they devote themself a lot to it. If it's for me to have their family names, this day will come."

"I'm sure it will."

"But, come on," Lara looked at him. "In my opinion, your name also sounds interesting: Eren Jäeger. It makes me wanna scream JÄEEEEGER!!! It seems like a battle cry!"

They both laughed a lot.

"My mom used to tell me that Jäeger means 'hunter'," said Eren, with a nostalgic look, while thinking about his mom with fondness.

"Maybe that's who you are, a Hunter. You'll hunt down all those Titans for us and help humanity. You're one of us now," Lara smiled.

"Yeah… You're right… Maybe I am…"

"We're counting on you, Eren."

They went back to cleaning up the room. But none of them, especially Lara, noticed that from the corridor, Levi overheard their whole conversation.