Skeleton Flowers [Shingeki no Kyojin]

✾ Chapter 13 ✾

"So, Eren... I'm really counting on you, you hear that?!"

Were the words that hung in the thickness of the air as uttered by Jean as he moved toward Eren, catching the surprised brunet by the shoulders, but he was not the only one to be thinking this way. Every single one of their friends were looking at Eren expectedly. He had something that none did – or he had something that at least one of them did, and now... everyone's eyes were turned on him.

Izanami could see why Jean was so distraught over this – he had lost his best friend to the unknown and they still had no idea who had last seen Marco alive. She looked up at Reiner, and she wondered if she would be able to take seeing him and her friends out in the danger beyond Wall Rose where all those Titans laid in waiting for the humans to arrive. She could not fathom seeing any of them hurt.

Yet the thought of more Titan-shifters being amongst their ranks, the goal of finding out who it was and to capture them for the truth... Izanami felt a strange sense of morbid curiosity. She could not begin to imagine who it could be from amongst their ranks. It was urgent to reveal the truth behind those who had seemingly decide to side with the Titans and led to the bloodshed of millions of humans –

... will I ever see those humans as humans ever again...?

This thought persisted in Izanami's mind even as she returned to the routine at the headquarters where she and Eren were under strict supervision of Levi and his Squad. It was killing them both to not be able to see their friends, and it was hard to get out of the castle once they had arrived there. In fact, the only way out of there was through Hange's love for seeing the marvel in Izanami's eyes.

"You are not taking her with yourself," Captain Levi Ackerman told Hange for the nth time as he stood between the two of them and the door. He did not the slightest bit of pleased, his arms crossed over his chest as he bore down upon them. "You've been dragging her everywhere,"

"What's the matter?" Hange asked completely cluelessly. "You've been wasting my poor Nami's brain on these household chores," Izanami did not react as Hange began to cradle her head. "I know she's absolutely gorgeous, but she is not meant to play house with you out here,"

"We are not playing house here," Levi responded. "She has been placed under my supervision and I have to keep her within my eyesight," He glanced at Izanami. "You've been exhausting her mental health with your nonsensical drafts. I know she's very intelligent, but she's not meant to be experimented with. This is my final decision,"

It was always a mess whenever Hange wanted to take Izanami along for one thing or another – and everything would boil down to an argument between them and Levi over it. Izanami could resolve anything issue but she would stand to the side like a diligent little girl and wait for the elders to come to the same conclusion as ever: Hange would take Izanami with themself.

And as it would always happen, Izanami would go with Hange to wherever they were working at. She got to see many things that she was sure that no one else would be allowed to – and she got to do something that Eren was not allowed to do: see her friends while they prepared for the expedition.

Most of the time, none of them were available or free but there were times that Izanami would run into some of them. Many times, she would only get to talk to them in the presence of Hange before they swept her away but on rare occasions, she would get to actually spend time with them.

Usually, Mikasa and Armin would rush over to Izanami whenever they would catch a glance of her. Most of the conversation was about Eren, and about how they were both doing. Sometimes, when Hange would get busy elsewhere, Izanami would get the chance to actually sit down with her friends and spend some time with them.