Soldier Child (Attack On Titan/Shingeki No Kyojin Fanfiction)

Chapter 6

"Morning!" Petra's cheery voice made the three male members of her squad smile as they approached her. Their friend, still in the form of a little girl sat with Nifa on the table Squad Levi normally did. The clothes she wore were still too big for her, the Survey Corps not having any small child size clothing whatsoever. Someone had cut the pants and sleeves of her current clothing so it fit better though.

"She wanted to sit with you this morning." Nifa explained as she got up from their table and gave the girl a fond smile."I need to get back to my squad but I'll take her again tonight. I might even be able to travel to town tonight and get some better clothes."

"Thank you Nifa." Eld smiled at her in gratitude. "I'm glad we can count on you to help us out."

"You're welcome! I'm always happy to help, especially fellow soldiers." She replied as she pet Petra's head in goodbye before turning to leave.

"Bye!" Petra waved and Nifa took a moment to do the same before hurrying off to find her squad leader. Hange was likely with Eren right now, as she requested the boy's presence for testing this morning.

"How did your day with Eren go?" Oluo asked curiously as he sat on a chair beside the young girl. If the boy had done anything wrong, Oluo would make sure he paid for it. Gunther and Eld sat on the opposite side of the table Petra and Oluo did.

"It was great! He made me sandwiches for dinner and I got to play with the horses. They were so big! And they ate grass from my hands!" She was beaming as she showed them her hands in pride. "I didn't get to ride them but I really like big brother Eren!"

"Big brother?" Oluo repeated with a hint of jealousy. "Well your three better big brothers will make sure you have even more fun today and you'll get to ride a horse." Both Eld and Gunther smiled at Oluo's words.

"What about your night with Nifa?" Eld inquired, a little curious himself. He was sure Petra would not have been much trouble for the woman.

"Sister Nifa is really nice too but I like Eren better." Petra gasped after she finished her sentence. "Don't tell her I said that?"

"Don't worry, we can keep a secret." Eld assured the panicked girl. She seemed relieved and gave him a smile.

"So Petra, what did you want to do today?" Gunther asked. All three men had a bit of time before training so earlier that morning they decided they would spend it with Petra.

"Ummm... Hide and seek?"

"Ah, what about something else?" Gunther asked quickly. Hide and seek? That was so... Childish. It would be embarrassing for a grown man to play such a game. Petra shook her head. Now she really wanted to play. She remembered how she would always get Father and Mother to play with her when she wanted them to.

"Please can we play hide and seek? Please?" The little girl pouted and tilted her head down, looking up at Gunther with wide, pleading eyes. This was a look that one of Petra's friends had taught her. He said it was called "puppy dog eyes." The effect of that look was not something Gunther enjoyed. The poor man felt guilty at the obvious manipulative look and the word "yes" was just sitting on the tip of his tongue, waiting to be said. He held strong though and said nothing.

"What's wrong? Is Mr. Serious scared of playing a little game? Are you really going to disappoint our little sister?" Eld couldn't help but grin as he faked being outraged at the thought.

"Maybe he just knows he's terrible at the game and doesn't want to lose to a little girl?" Oluo added with a smirk. With three against one, Gunther had no choice but to relent.

"... Fine. Hide and seek it is." Gunther sighed in defeat. Petra cheered while Oluo and Eld laughed. It would be amusing to see the normally serious Gunther playing a silly kid's game.

Petra's stomach growled, alerting her squad that they should get her, and themselves, some breakfast.

"Come on Petra, let's go get something to eat." Oluo said as he got out of his chair. Eld and Gunther got up as well.

"Okay!" Petra hopped off her own chair and skipped a little as she followed the men into the kitchen.

**********

As they ate their meals of apples and porridge, Gunther noticed Petra seemed a little distracted. She stared at her food a long while before she began eating, as if she was thinking hard about something. Gunther nudged Eld and pointedly looked at Petra when he turned to him.

Petra was absentmindedly chewing a slice of apple as she stared the wall. Petra liked eating apples when they were cut so she asked the soldier in the kitchen to cut hers into slices for her. He was kind enough to do so but now her breakfast reminded Petra of her parents. When her mother made porridge, and there were apples in the house, she would always cut the apples for her. Her father liked to make faces and shapes by placing the cut apple slices on top of her porridge as well. Petra tried to do it on her own but its wasn't the same.

Oluo noticed she hadn't eaten but a few of her apple slices while the men were more than halfway done their own meals. She had at one point places a few of the apple slices on top of her porridge and then picked them out again.

"So Petra, how do you like your breakfast? I think the apples are nice and juicy and the porridge is pretty good too!" Oluo attempted to draw the young girl into conversation. Petra blinked as if startled at his voice.

"... Its good." She responded quietly after giving him a glance. The young girl began to slowly stir the porridge in the bowl but didn't take a bite.

"Big brother Eld, will Mother and Father be coming today?" The men paused their meal and glanced at each other in guilt. They did not like lying, especially to their friend, no matter her state.

"Ah, not just yet Petra." Eld replied gently. He hoped she would not be too sad.

"Why not? Don't they want to see me?" Petra's head lowered so it was hard to tell her expression.

"Of course they do." Eld reassured gently. "We just sent someone to let them know yesterday. It will take a few more days, okay?"

"... Okay." Petra was quiet the rest of the meal, to the dismay of her friends, but she did end up finishing her breakfast.

**********

The game of hide and seek cheered up Petra considerably. She was quiet until the men began to discuss the best place to play. They decided to play it in the Survey Corps building but limiting it to one section where only the bedrooms and several supply closets were located. It would be safer for Petra that way and they made her promise she would stay within the limits of the game.

Petra volunteered to be the first to count and let the men hide. In the first round, Eld chose to hide underneath a bed, Oluo chose a bedroom closet and Gunther tried to hide behind a door after he stood in indecision to where he could hide and ran out of time to choose a better spot. Gunther was the first to be found in that round. Eld resorted to making noises before Petra could find him and Oluo left the closet door open so he was easier to find. The young girl shrieked and laughed in delight as she found each of the men in their hiding spots.

When it was Petra's turn to hide, the men pretended not to hear her giggling when they passed her hiding spots. The girl couldn't seem to stop herself from laughing when any one of them neared her chosen hiding spot.

After many rounds, everyone was exhausted and slightly embarrassed. Several soldiers had passed by and gave them odd looks. Gunther was the most embarrassed of the group because of this as Eld and Oluo were able to laugh it off easily. Petra just blushed and ran to find her big brothers when she was caught hiding in a supply closet by a confused Survey Corps member. She forgot about it quickly and hid there again the next round.

Deciding that they had enough, Squad Levi headed to the kitchen for water and a bit of rest before training began for the men. They would need to find Eren again so he could babysit Petra once more. Hange would likely be done with Eren by now and was hopefully working on a cure for Petra.