Follow Lara's journey, an orphan girl of just ten years old, who joins the Survey Corps. Having Levi Ackerman and Hange Zoë as her tutors, her life takes on a new meaning as the relationship with these two soldiers grows. And, as time goes by, she d...
Lara was extremely happy to see that most of the friends she had made in Winter Training had joined the Survey Corps. All soldiers would stay at the castle for a month, and then go on a test mission, where in fact, no one really knew what was its point, other than going to and coming back to a specific settled place, returning safe and sound.
At first, Lara noticed that many of her friends were still quite traumatized by what they had been through in Trost, often finding them crying in a lonely spot or just wandering around with a look of fear.
Because of this, Lara did her best to comfort and guide her friends through this moment, and within a few days, she had become the "Official Adviser" of the new cadets, who always came to her to get something out of their chest or to seek solace.
"I think you should start charging these friends of yours for every advising session," said Hange, one night at dinnertime.
"Your mom's right," said Levi, grumpy. "You were late for training twice in a row this week because of your new hobby."
"It's not a hobby, dad, it's a necessity."
"Still, I think you should charge them," said Hange, her mouth full of food. "'Cause it's been taking up a lot of your time and it's getting in the way of your studies with me."
"I agree," said Levi, poking Lara in the ribs. "And this time, no more asking for chocolate candies as payment. Ask for real money."
"Ha, dad! You're tickling me!" laughed Lara. "But, look, I already earn a good monthly income by working for the Survey Corps. There's no reason for me to make extra money."
"Speaking of monthly income," said Levi, now looking at Hange, "have you been taking care of Lara's salary, as I instructed you?"
"I deposit everything in her saving account," replied Hange. "It's a low-risk investment."
"Saving account?!" exclaimed Levi, indignant. "This is ridiculous, the interest rates¹ of saving accounts pay almost nothing!"
"Since when you're the master of investments, Levi?" asked Hange, looking bored. "You told me to put her money in an investment, and I did."
"Okay," he replied, impatient. "But I thought you had a bit of knowledge about these matters."
"You know very well that my thing is Titans," said Hange, waving her hands.
"Dad, if you do know a lot about investments, it's because you're very rich, right?"
Suddenly, Levi seemed very interested in the plate of food in front of him. Hange and Lara looked at each other, chuckling.
"Dad, you look like you have a lot of money saved..."
"I just take good care of the salary I earn," he replied, staring at Hange. "Unlike other people..."
"Now I'm curious," said Hange, also staring at him. "How much does a Captain of the Survey Corps earn?"
"Enough for me to live relatively well," answered Levi. "And don't change the subject. What exactly do you do with Lara's monthly income?"
"As soon as she receives it, I hand it all over to the bank manager and let him do the investment for me," replied Hange, shrugging.
"You what?!" exclaimed Levi, now clearly annoyed. "I can't believe you're doing this! I'm pretty sure he gets a nice fee just to make this service for you," he then turned to Lara. "Baby, what do you think about it? Since it's your money..."
"I think nothing about it," Lara took a sip of her orange juice. "To me, you both are speaking another language."
Levi rolled his eyes, huffing.
"Hange, from now on, I'm the one who will take care of Lara's money."
"Oh! Thank God!" replied Hange, lifting her arms. "I just hated having to go to the bank every single month to get that line, in addition to having to look at that dumbhead receptionist."
"Gee, mom... Why don't you like her?"
"Ah," shrugged Hange. "She keeps looking at your father when he's walking on the streets. that ridiculous woma–"
All of a sudden, Hange turned very red and began eating at an unusual fast speed. Levi lowered his head, running his hand over his face and Lara remained the rest of dinnertime laughing at the two of them.
Lara spent the rest of the month between training and helping Hange study Eren's transformation into a Titan, where he once accidentally ended up transforming while picking up a teaspoon that fell on the ground, leaving all the 'Levi Squad' soldiers very shocked and in alert, but thanks to Levi's intervention, Eren remained safe and sound. The boy just had to bear Hange's euphoria, who couldn't stop screaming in excitement when she saw that Eren had turned a piece of his arm into a Titan form, where his giant hand was holding the teaspoon.
During training, Lara taught many techniques to kill Titans to her friends, which still surprised them a lot to see someone so small and so young have such knowledge. Lara also learned a lot from them, including some more fighting techniques from Mikasa. However, Lara noticed that Mikasa and her father didn't get along very well, precisely because he had beaten Eren up in that court. But, Mikasa was always very kind and helpful to Lara, even having moments when she asked for the girl's advice about her feelings towards Eren, where once Lara advised Mikasa to call him less by his first name.
"Lara," called Connie, one day at training. "A veteran soldier told me that when you were rescued by the Survey Corps and were in Shiganshina, you sneaked out of the HQ and killed a twelve-meter Titan, with just a broken piece of a sword, and your eyes closed! Is that true?!"
All of her friends looked at her in astonishment.
"Ah!!!" Lara exclaimed in indignation. "I can't believe they still tell this version of the story! Who told you that?"
"It was Squad Leader Mike Zacharias," answered Armin, shy. "He also told that to us, isn't it, Eren, Mikasa?"
"That Mike..." snorted Lara. "He's doing this to tease me, just 'cause he lost some fights with me a few days ago."
Lara explained to them how she did sneak out of the Shiganshina HQ, found a nice storage of meat (which made Sasha's mouth water), and killed a three-meter Titan. Although it was a small-sized Titan, that fact didn't fail to make her friends from being impressed by her feat, for someone only ten years old at the time.
After that whole month, the day of the mission finally came. This time, a large number of soldiers were chosen for the mission, leaving the streets of Karanes District filled with Survey Corps' horses and carts.
The bells rang at the gate and Lara was almost in the front line, accompanying Hange, Erwin, and Mike, while Levi was a little further back with his Squad.
"We have to lure all the Titans away from the gate!" shouted one of the soldiers. "Thirty seconds to its opening! Humanity's now about to take another step forward! Show us what you're made of!"
At this moment, all the Survey Corps soldiers raised their swords in the air and gave a great battle cry, making Lara feel goosebumps of emotion.
When the gates opened, Erwin exclaimed at the top of his lungs:
"FORWARD!!! Now commencing the 57th Exterior Scouting Mission! ADVANCE!"
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¹I wrote this based on Brazilian Saving Account in general, which, just like Levi said, its interest rate is ridiculously low 😂
