Chasing Ghosts [Attack on Titan](Wattys 2014 Winner)

Chapter twenty-three- The cat and the dog

Chapter twenty-three

I stayed awake late into the night, thinking about what Levi had told me. I guess he had a hard life, living down in the dirty underground must have been hard for the clean-freak of a boy. I pulled off my coat and wires, changing into my sleeping clothes crawling into the bed and closing my eyes. I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

I awoke the next day, shifting slightly I felt stiff. I must have been sleeping in one place the whole night. Most of the time, I floundered about when I slept I opened my eyes slowly the sunlight streamed through the window and illuminated my room in gold. I sat up slowly rolling my shoulders and grumbling quietly I got to my feet and went to the window opening the glass gazing out into the dawn. I sighed quietly and stretched. I changed into my clothes then went downstairs. The mess hallways surprisingly busy, many of the trainees where gathered around something. I went over moving though the group, looking at Erwin. He was holding a paper up to the light, reading it. “What does it say!?” Asked one. Erwin turned to look at me. “The capital has summoned us.” He said “And everyone present during the fight.” He said.

I glanced over at Ackerman who sat with Petra they chatted quietly. He was still stiff and cold, even after last night’s conversation. I inhaled quietly and went over to them. “Ackerman, the capital has summoned us.” I said, Erwin was discussing perpetrations with another captain for while we were gone. Levi looked up at me and sighed quietly but nodded and stood we went outside into the dawn sunshine. I saddled up my horse, who bobbed her head in greeting. I finished up and mounted the horse waiting for the others to do the same.  They finished saddling up there horses and off we went, trotting them down the dusty path towards the center wall. I rode in the middle of them, holding my head high. We reached it after about twenty minutes going through the massive gate I'd always wondered why the gates where so massive. You'd think to keep titans out they would make the gates much smaller.  We trotted the steeds into wall Sina the rich raced around on the cobble stone roads. Children chased after golden toys that bounced away from them.

The Military Corp was waiting for us. They stopped us, I grumbled rolling my eyes dismounting the horse. One of the military guys grabbed my arm and tugged my roughly. Erwin grabbed his arm and gave him a death glare. I smirked, 'ol blondie was always there for me. The guy removed his hand “This way.” He said, fighting to keep his voice from shaking as the commander continued to glare at him evilly. We followed them to a building in the center square, a large court building with marble pillars outside to hold up a silver-looking overhang and a statue of the king at the entrance. We went inside.  I was half led half dragged into the court room. They put me in the center of the room while the others were lead to stands around the little wooden platform in the center of the room.  On one side was Erwin and Levi. While on the other where several members of the stationary guard. Lina was there, I noticed she had several wraps around her neck and face, she made it look much worse than it should have been.

A old man walked up to the podium on front of me, his face was worn with age and white hair hung from his face. He had a scruffy white beard to match. He tapped his mallet on a little wooden block. “Court is now in season, if  Lina Franmen would come to the stand. What exactly happened?” The woman walked to the stand, glaring down at me. “Well, I was observing a young Trainee Levi Ackerman. Pixis had asked me to keep an eye on him, because he was a previous thug.” Levi stood in the stands, his arms folded as he glared at the girl. Erwin beside him stood calmly.  “Then out of the blue she attacked me.” I clenched my teeth and fought the urge to yell at her. The old man pushed his glasses up his nose and looked down at me. “Is this true Ms.Rividal?” I frowned and rolled my neck slightly. “No.” I said shortly.

I looked up at the woman before me, she glared back down. “She provoked me. She told me that my Corp was useless and it would be shut down.” The old man looked at me with an expressionless stare. “She has never fought a titian her life, you don’t know what it’s like to lose so many good soldiers!” I said, on the verge of yelling. “None of you do!” I said turning to look at the stationary soldiers. They just defended the wall; rarely did they see a titan. I turned to look back at the judge he was still staring at me emotionlessly. “That still doesn't give you the right to attack her Alya.” He said. I clenched my teeth, and said nothing.

Lina smiled, thinking she had won this trial. “Erwin Smith, to the stand.” The blond commander nodded and walked into the little area were I was. He stood next to me. “What happened?” He asked. Erwin looked at me then back to the judge “Alya is a loyal and strong Captain, she would never harm anyone unless they did something to provoke her.” He said gazing into the judges silver eyes in silence for a moment. “Alya may have attacked Lina, I did see this but she would not do that without reasoning.” He defended me holding the judges very cold gaze. “Erwin, did you see how she attacked her?” He asked “She went for her neck, If I hadn' shown up it looked like she would have dropped her off the tree.” Erwin said. He wouldn't lie in a place like this, but I felt cold sweat beading down my neck. As much as that woman deserved it, I knew what  I'd done was wrong. The judge grunted quietly, looking over at Lina who had several bandages on her face and around her head “Remove your bandages.” He ordered. She opened her mouth to object but he cut her off “Now.” She removed the wrapping and looked fine. He frowned “Do not try to make this look worse then it is Ms.Frenman.” He said gruffly turning back to me. Then looking down at his paper he spoke the next name. “Levi Ackerman to the stands.” That got everyones attention.

The young man strode down beside me passing Erwin. “You were there the entire time, yes?” He asked. Levi nodded standing beside me folding his arms in boredom. He nodded “Yeah.” The judge raised an eyebrow “Can you describe what you saw?” Levi looked over at me “Well, Lina was talking for a while and Aly seemed to be trying to ignore her then Lina said something and Alya attacked her, she held her by the collar over the edge of the branch. Until Erwin showed up and stopped her from dropping Lina down. Personally, I would have enjoyed watching Lina plummet to her death.”  I looked at him expecting to see a grin, or a smile but his face was dead serious.

I winced slightly, as the crowd let out a surprised murmur “Commander Pixis. I  have a question.” The judge began, the bald man moved forward in the crowd looking up “Why did the stationary guard get involved in this, it was the military corps and Survey corps problem. Not yours.” The judge said “I've known about them harboring a Thug, it was approved by many higher ups. I want to know why you thought it was your place to get involved.” Pixis looked down at me “We wanted to secure the safety of our cities Sir.” The judge looked at him “That’s not your job.” Pixis said nothing. The judge looked down at Ackerman and I “I will assign a Military Corp captain to monitor you two for the next week, if you pass all charges will be forgiven. If you don’t, you will be put in jail for assault, and Levi you will be sentenced to death for all the crimes you have committed.”  

I nodded, as did Ackerman beside me. The judge picked up a paper of people “Tamaki Fujiinok will be the one to return with you, someone fetch him.” A young woman in a military corp suit nodded and vanished out the back door. Within five minutes, the young man appeared. A confused look on his face, he saw me and Levi and his eyes widened. “Tamaki Fujinok, you will be accompanying these two delinquents to their headquarters I want you to keep an eye on their behavior any sign of aggressive behavior should be documented. Next week you will report back to me and their fates will be decided then. Court dismissed”

 He nodded as we were lead out and back to the waiting horses. Tamaki had his and he stared at me, waiting until we were back in Wall rose to ask me what was going on. “Alya, care to explain?” He asked. Levi sighed loudly as Erwin remained quiet “Great we got your boyfriend to babysit us for a weak.” He sighed “Hes not my boyfriend!” I half yelled. Levi smirked at me “Your full of shit.” I frowned “You’re an ass.” Tamaki waited “Well, I attacked someone… a captain, when she offended me” I said. Tamaki sighed “This is going to be a long week.”