The Raven

Chapter Four: Double Date

"Are you absolutely sure?" Captain Erwin asks with a raised brow after I recount the events of that morning.

"Yes, Captain," I nod once firmly and clasp my hands together in my lap. They keep shaking and I can't let him or Levi see, or else they'll know how much this has affected me. I can't let it affect me. I'm a soldier. I've seen people be eaten, squashed and ripped apart, I've killed people without hesitation. This shouldn't affect me. It will not affect me. I won't let it.

"Does this mean we're dealing with another titan shifter?" Hanji asks in excitement.

"Jean Kirstein reported that he killed it in order to save Miss Ackerman."

"He couldn't have killed a titan shifter," Levi speaks up. "We had trouble taking one down with a small army, how could that brat have taken one down so easily?"

"It wasn't a titan shifter," I say immediately.

"But you said it changed into a titan, right?" Erwin asks with a raised brow.

"She did, but it wasn't like what Eren or Annie did. This transformation was slow and painful, she never stopped screaming the whole time and her skin and eyes... they weren't fully human anymore. I thought someone had abused her but no human could do that to a child," I fight back the shudder that climbs up my spine. "Even after she changed, she showed no signs of intelligence or coordination. I can assure you, she wasn't a titan shifter."

Hanji seems disappointed while Levi and Erwin share a look. "What do you think she was then?" Erwin asks after a brief silence.

I shrug my shoulders. "I don't know, sir," I answer honestly. "I just know that I've never seen anything like it before..." I pause, briefly, going over the small conversation I had with the girl. "When I asked her who caused her skin disfiguration, she said the 'Scorpion Lady'."

"The Scorpion Lady?" Erwin repeats in thought.

"According to some older manuscripts, scorpions are small creatures that are distinctly defined by their curved tail that ends in two venomous stingers," Hanji explains, pushing her glasses up her nose. "A human can die from being stung but that depends on the type of scorpion and how much venom is injected. The manuscript mentions nothing about the victim turning into a titan though."

"She said the 'Scorpion Lady'," Levi says, looking to me for confirmation and I nod once in return. "She wouldn't have said 'lady' if she wasn't talking about a normal female of some sort."

"I agree," I say and Levi looks at me strangely. Hell, I'm slightly surprised at my own words but I shove it to the back of my mind. This is serious military work, personal matters must be ignored. "The second she said it, a female came to my mind as well but then again, I also considered that it could be an imaginary monster of hers, like the boogie man."

"How long did you have to talk to her?" Erwin asks.

"Less than five minutes, her transformation was slower than Eren's but it didn't take her that long either," I answer.

"You said her skin was in bad condition," Hanji looks at me, the light reflecting off her glasses.

"Yes, there was barely any skin left, it was red and raw and I could see her veins. And then her eyes," I shake my head, to try get the image out but it's like a brand on my mind. "They were laced with blood and black lines. When I touched her, it hurt her, as if her skin was delicate and then she started to blow up like a balloon until she was a titan."

"What about her body? What did her arms and legs look like?"

"I didn't see them, she was covered from head to toe in clothes," I admit with a sigh.