Blood and Blades | Bertholdt x OC

#19. symbols

Year 850

—Continuation of Day 12—

Shallie had her face darkened as she was sorting things out in her mind, she should've seen this coming but why did it just occur to her now? She thought of all possible things that could be the reason why she had that scene played out in her head and the only sensible reason was that thing. She figured she might've used it on something after she found her sibling's bodies, she wanted to know how she found them but she knew her memories would come back sooner or later so all she could do was to wait.

"Can we go inside...?" She softly asked the boy in which he just promptly shook his head.

"This house belongs to the officials now... It'll be trespassing if we go..."

It wasn't long before Jean pulled away from the hug and cupped Shallie's cheeks, wiping her built up tears in her eyes "Do you want to go back to the headquarters?" He asked her and she nodded at him, they were too focused on each other that they didn't notice the red haired soldier who was watching them silently.

Shiyo cleared her throat, catching the attention of the two "Well, I've wasted a good 30 seconds. Can you two please move now?" She asked them making them jump away from eachother almost immediately so that the soldier could enter the property.

Jean watched as she just walked up the stairs to the door and pried it open "You do realize that you're trespassing, right?" He told her in which the soldier just ignored him and proceeded to enter the house, this alerted Jean making him look around them, searching for possible Military Police in the area before shouting at Shiyo "I CAN ALREADY IMAGINE THE LOOK OF CAPTAIN LEVI'S FACE IF HE FOUND THIS OUT!" He panicked "SERIOUSLY! YOU COULD GET IN TROUBLE WITH THE MILITARY POLICE, SHIYO!"

"Not if you're working with them." Shiyo then said as she walked back out of the house "So please be quiet while I'm in the middle of my investigation" She told him while looking around seemingly looking for something on the ground.

Shallie's eyes followed her as she walked around infront of them "You mean, you're investigating the disappearances case now?" The girl asked, catching Shiyo's attention.

For some reason, Shallie felt uneasy as soon as Shiyo landed her eyes on her, the girl stared at the soldier's piercing gaze, sweat dropping down her cheeks before Shiyo started speaking, her stoic face remains "Not really... An important family in wall Sina got massacred and the Military Police asked me to investigate it for them."

"Why would they ask a Survey Corps soldier all they way here from Wall Sina?..." Jean asked himself with a mumble in which Shallie heard.

From the start, Shallie already recognised that ginger colored hair which belongs to a clan that almost came to a tie with the Ackerman clan in strength, the Ashford clan. Both clans were known for their daring, brave, and strong traits, but two things that differed them the most was the Ashford clan's selflessness, so selfless that they'll sacrifice themselves for anyone without even hesitating one bit. They were also known for their abnormally good critical thinking and reasoning skills, that's why the Military Police were desperate to reach out to her all the way in Trost.

"When dealing with a case that includes important people, they'll desperately do anything to hire a skilled detective who is also trust worthy. I'd say they found the perfect match..." Shallie stated, insinuating to Shiyo that caught Jean's attention which made him look at her, still confused. The girl transferred her look from the soldier to him "Jean, take a good look and think about it..."

Jean widened his eyes before quickly realizing something, he immediately turned his look at Shiyo "You... You were the one who observed our training!" He asked and she nodded "So you're from the Ashford clan... No wonder."

"If you're not investigating the disappearances, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at Wall Sina? And why are there no detectives here at the newest crime scene? There should be at least one person investigating the death of my siblings..." Shallie asked and asked, bothered by the fact that no detectives were seen in the area to hopefully ask about what happened to her siblings.

As Shiyo heard that, she somewhat got intrigued by the information about Shallie being siblings with the last victims. She promptly sighed at herself before talking "The investigation of the disappearances came to a halt just recently due to lack of evidences and leads. They simply just have given up on it."

Jean held a bothered look on his face, hearing those words from Shiyo made him disgusted "They just gave up just like that?! What about the victims that lost their lives and their families who lost their loved ones?! Are they just going to close the case off without any justice and explanations on why they got killed?!"

"That's the reason why I'm here, aren't I? I handled the family's bodies and did autopsy on them, and they all had the same mark on their chest. It was their family symbol and it's seen all around their house, I figured it might be connected to the disappearances since the day they got massacred was the same day as the last victims got killed. I didn't consider it as a coincidence because the corpses both have marks on their bodies so I compared one from the family and one from the teenage victims and the same family symbol is seen on the back of the teenage boy along with other weird symbols that the family doesn't have." Shiyo told the two rookies as they listened with a horrified look on their faces "And also... I have to get an information out of that kid..." She then added.

Jean transferred his look from the ground then at the soldier "What kid..?"

She looked at the boy with a stoic look on her face as she recalled her memories at Wall Sina "When the Military Police arrived at the murder scene, they found a scared little girl inside the house, oddly enough she was unharmed and perfectly fine. The first words that came out of her mouth as they consulted her was 'I'm saved, she killed them all'. She then told us her name was Riko, she's only 10 years old." Shiyo stated while the two rookies listened. Shallie had her eyes widened in terror, seemingly thinking about the said case. It shows in her face how troubled she was and Shiyo could clearly see that.

Not long after, a soldier then came running towards them with a terrified yet exhausted look which caught the attention of the three "Shiyo! Message from Captain Levi! Commander's orders, all Scouts should head to the headquarters to prepare for departure to Wall Rose along with the Military Police!" He shouted even if he was out of breath.

Hearing the message caught the three off guard, Shiyo held her stern look "Why so sudden?" She whispered to herself before looking at the soldier "Give me the full details of the situation on the way." She told him as she began walking along with the rookies.

"Yes. Three rookies from the 104th training corps had revealed their true identities as titans, two of them was the colossal titan and the armoured titan. They are known as Bertholdt Hoover, Reiner Braun and Ymir. After an intense battle between titans, the two boys had taken Eren Yeager along with Ymir and Hoshino, no one could go after them as almost all of the soldiers are passed out." The soldier reported as the rookies listened.

Jean had a face of disbelief while Shallie on the other hand had a stoic look on her face as if she wasn't fazed at all, her face then darkened as she looked down "Jean..."

The boy noticed this so he looked at her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him so their bodies could touch as they walked "What is it, Shallie...?"

"Promise me to not leave... Okay?..."