Birdie (Levi x OC)

prologue

The small, blonde girl, all of eight years old, was at the height of her curiosity. She would sneak into her grandfather's office whenever he was out, snooping through his stacks of papers and heavy books.

Ever since she began living with him, she spent most of her time at his place of work: the Garrison Headquarters. She often read his documents, even though most of the contents were indecipherable gibberish to her. A few words, however, stood out and made perfect sense:

Walls. Cannons. Titans.

She knew these words all too well. Her grandfather worked with them.

The little girl currently stretched up on her tiptoes, reaching for the highest shelf of the office bookcase. Her small hand just barely brushed the large, green book she desperately wanted to examine. She swatted at it, unable to grip it firmly, and it tumbled to the floor with a heavy thud.

The book opened as it landed, two yellowed pages facing the small girl. Her big, golden-brown eyes were wide with curiosity.

Most of the pages were filled with dense paragraphs, but a certain diagram immediately piqued her interest. She knelt, wrapping her arms around her bent legs, and peered down at the image.

It looked almost like a person, but wrong. It wore no clothes, had large eyes, and a wide, unsettling smile that made the little girl feel instantly uneasy.

"It's ugly," she announced aloud.

Was this a Titan? she wondered. She had never seen one; she just knew Grandpa worked to protect humanity against them.

"Birdie!"

The little girl whipped her head toward the office door.

"Grandpa!" She slammed the book shut and quickly sat on it, not wanting him to know she had been snooping again.

"I was wondering where you snuck off to," he explained, entering the office.

"It's okay, Birdie," the old man laughed, instantly seeing the book she was hiding. "You're allowed to read, silly girl."

Birdie sheepishly sat up and scooted off the worn pages.

Her grandfather walked over to the book she had been reading.

"Trying to learn more about Titans?" he inquired, his eyebrows raised playfully at his granddaughter.

"I was just curious..." Birdie faltered.

"Well, what do you want to know?" the old man asked her gently.

Birdie looked at him thoughtfully for a few moments, her forehead scrunching up as she considered her question.

"Grandpa, why do the Titans eat humans?"

Her grandfather had been expecting that question. As much as he wanted to shield his granddaughter from the cruel realities of their world, he knew the curious little girl wouldn't let it go without an honest answer.

"We don't understand why they do the things they do. All we know is that they will stop at nothing to eat us," he explained. "That's why we live within the Walls...to keep us safe."

The little girl nodded. "That's why you help fix the Walls. To keep the Titans out.

"Yes," her grandfather confirmed. "However, there is a different part of the military, besides the Garrison and Military Police, that seeks to answer the question that you asked. They also explore the world outside the Walls."

"Yeah, the Survey Corps, right?" Birdie answered, having heard of them before. She'd seen them too, walking through the Garrison halls. They wore a different symbol than the red rose on her grandfather's uniform—a symbol that looked like wings, like a bird.

"Grandpa, I want to keep us safe too!" The small girl faced her grandfather, her frizzy blonde hair bouncing. Her expression was full of ambition, an all-too-familiar trait to the old man.

He admired his precious little granddaughter, who had only recently come to live with him. His eyes crinkled in a smile as he admired her look of determination.

"And so you shall. Perhaps in a few years, you can start training as a Cadet. Then...maybe you can work with Grandpa." He smiled down at his granddaughter, reaching out to take her hand.

"I'd like that," Birdie grinned, squeezing his hand.

They exited the office together, hand in hand. Birdie turned her head to look briefly back at the book still lying on the floor. The picture of the Titan on its pages was still clear in her mind.

The members of the Survey Corps must see Titans like that all the time, the girl thought, inwardly shuddering. But...they get to explore outside the Walls. They can fly over them like the birds do.

She shook the momentary dark thought from her head and looked up at her grandfather, her small hands still in his. Her mind immediately drifted back to the prospect of working with him.

Grandpa and I working together, she smiled to herself. It sounded fun.