*Avi sits at home, bored, up to her neck in a sea of schoolwork. Suddenly remembers this story. Checks email. Sees insane encouragement for more. Avi decides to do the write-thing*

A/N: And guESS WHO'S BACK, BITCHES! Yep, that's right! Another chapter!

Sorry for the delay… Again, I don't have much motivation (not cuz of you guys, ya'll are great!) to work on this, or anything, really, and I'm suppose to be working, but… whatever. I'm also kinda over my whole anime phase… Sorry. But, anyway, enjoy!

*Note: I am well aware that Hanji's gender is ambiguous in the Manga, but I'm going with the Anime's way for female pronoun(s)—Not that I prefer it better, no, I love ambiguous Hanji, but I'd murder myself and this story if I tried "their/they" pronouns for our favorite scientist. So, she's fem in this. Sorry if that's upsetting to anyone.

~Avi

Their stranger had finally woken up.

He was a short thing—a young boy, from first appearance. Hanji was certain he was dead, but the twitch he gave showed his fighting chance for life, so the scientist ordered her fellow solders to load him on with the wounded, not the dead. But that was hours ago.

"Oi~ You awake, little man?" Softly chirped Hanji, sitting down next to the injured stranger who begun to stir.

Following their most previous– and rather terrible – expedition, the Survey Corps had been separated by a god-awful storm. Hanji managed to find a good handful of others— Mikasa, Armin, Krista, Ymir, Mike, Oluo, Petra, Eld, Günther, and a few others. Whoever else survived, they were unable to locate, but Hanji had faith they'd go to HQ instead of wait around for the others.

Mikasa, the poor dear, nearly had a meltdown. Her one main concern, the only one higher than Armin, was Eren. Hanji wanted to join the girl too, when she'd hastily announced she was going off to look for her adopted brother, but they had to get moving. If Eren survived, he'd be headed to HQ. Mikasa didn't listen, and the men amongst them had to drag her back kicking and screaming, "What if he's badly hurt and can't move? Can't scream for help? What if he's alone!?"

Hanji didn't respond. Eld and Günther were the ones terribly hurt, as well as the other unidentified solders, so they had to get moving. The horses needed tending to too, and Hanji didn't think her little crew could carry, give or take, five wounded warriors back to HQ in the rain.

But Mikasa managed to slip away… and quickly found not Eren, but a strange little boy.

The raven had found him curled under a tree, amist a pile of odd objects. Mike gathered those, while the others checked the boy out.

No one knew him, and no one cared to, for the boy was as good as dead, if not already. They were just about to toss his body on the cart for the deceased when suddenly, the mud-covered child let out a sigh, and a stretch of muscles. Oluo and Ymir paused and let the body down, looking at the scientist for assistance. Hanji was ready to mark it off as postmortem movement, but the way the little male moved was curious. So like a good doctor, Hanji took his pulse.

It was… strong. Very strong. The kind of pulse a stocky, thick-muscled fighter thrumming with adrenaline has.

The boy was quickly moved to the injured cart, instead.

Finally having Mikasa calm (thanks to Armin), they set out for HQ. Krista, after helping with the other's injuries, helped Hanji in examining the boy. It wasn't hard to clean him of mud with it raining and all, but at least they got a better look at him.

Thankfully, the rain started to subside.

The child wore white cargo pants, a white dress-shirt, a too-large sleeveless tailcoat, a loose red tie, all with a… (sword case?) strapped to his back. They cut open his top— dignity be damned when in war, and all. —He was short, where Hanji thought him just small, he turned out to have… most excellent muscle development. Petra blushed at the boy's pectorals, Ymir whistling something like "kid's got meat", and Oluo stammering about "nature gone wrong". Shrugging off the other's comments, the two women went on patching his wounds.

Hanji tugged the rest of the boy's shirt off, revealing his shoulders and upper arms.

"Look at this," Krista said in bewilderment, pulling Hanji's attention away from the bandages in her hands.

There, on the boy's right shoulder, was a red tattoo. It was circular and intricate, and Hanji made it out to be dragon of some sort chasing its tail.

"A dragon tattoo?" Mike piped up, shuffling closer from his side of the cart. Besides Hanji, Krista, and the other's occasional comments, it was eerily quiet. Silent vigil in honor of the dead.

Mike was the first to ask a question.

Some looked sick upon the thought of having normal conversation.

"Hmm. Curious!" Hanji nodded, not minding Mike's question. She continued to bandage up a cut on the boy's left arm.

"A dragon… A dragon, like this sword hilt?"

Hanji blinked owlishly, turning toward her comrade again. The man opened a sack resting on his lap, softly explaining the things he'd found beside the boy.

It was then he pulled out a green sword hilt, forming a dragon's head and tail curling at the end. The dragon had ruby eyes and a spiked nose, and its body was made of dark emerald. Beautifully made, and probably once a beautiful weapon, but all that was left at the end was the fragments, albeit sharp, remains of a blade.

Hanji told herself to look at it later, but barely a minute after Mike had pulled the hilt out, their boy moved.

Everyone froze as the boy snatched the hilt away from Mike as if it was a dearly important heirloom instead of a piece of useless junk. He clutched it to his chest, eyes dark and unseeable under his mop of matted blonde hair, and he growled out, so very softly, "This sword is mine. It's the only thing left for me to atone for," seconds before passing out again.

Mildly horrified, Krista and company went on tending to his wound. Mike kept his other "keepsakes" to himself.

No one spoke until he came around officially, this time.

HQ was just up ahead, twenty minutes tops, and Hanji was dozing off curled in on herself, getting some much-needed rest she'd been avoiding for days. The stranger suddenly stirred and stretched, jerking all eyes on him. The doctor moved to him, then, and cooed him awake.

He then sat up, yawned, and opened his eyes—revealing a wide pair of emeralds.

He looked… innocent. Too innocent. Not at all like the dark and solemn person earlier.

"Hey," he said simply, glancing around and meeting every soldier's gaze with his own before looking down to examine and pick at his dressing, openly curious about them. Hanji slapped his hand away from it, yet the blonde had enough gall in him to look amused by this.

"Touch it and you loose a finger!" she ordered warningly, wagging a finger at him. But a smile broke out next, and Hanji was all over him with questions.

"You must tell me everything about you! What happened to you? Where're you from? What do you do? How old are you? Do you know your measurements? Wha—"

"You smell like a pig," said Mike.

"Brat, where did you get a tattoo? Aren't you too young for that!?" Snapped Oluo.

"Have you seen a brown-eyed brunette!?" Interrogated Mikasa.

Krista, Ymir, and Petra were the only ones not to badger the boy. Petra was ready to quiet everyone down and give him space, but Krista beat her too it, and squealed out ferociously at the others.

"The boy's just woken up! Let him breath!" Krista said passionately, silencing the others to apologetic murmurs.

The blonde man-child nodded in the petite girl's direction, giving her a thumb up even. "Thanks!" he said with a lopsided grin. "Thought you guys were gonna clobber me with words…"

Hanji pawed his shoulders and face, checking for any sign of injury she possibly could have missed. She hadn't. The boy remained loose-limbed throughout the doctor's rough check-over. "Well! Where are my manors—my name is Dr. Hanji Zoe, but just call me Hanji. We found you out cold in the Forest of Giant Trees! Care to share your story?"

"Forest of Giant Trees?" the boy said, musing over the name. "Hmm. Never heard of that place before!" He looked around at the moving landscape, the horses, their cart, and without meeting anyone's gaze, asked, "Where am I?"

"Ah…" Armin, speaking up for the first time, went on, "We're outside of the walls… I know some people have tried leaving to live out here, but I didn't think it was possible… a-are there more of you? I-I mean, do you have family or friends with you?"

The boy tapped his chin with the dragon hilt's sharp end. His eyes remained wide and unchanging, solely regarding the coconut-haired male. "I got my crew around here somewhere."

"Crew?"

"Yup!" the boy beamed proudly. "All seven—well, six, or five, of us, really. Escanor and Merlin come and go. Oh, and there's Elizabeth!"

Mike leaned in and took a good whiff of the blonde. The stocky child hardly seemed moved by the other male's antics. "You smell like death."

At that, the blonde went still—stiller than he already was. He didn't react to that right away, but tilted his head as his eyes become unfixed yet sharp. That look went away quickly, however. "Okay, dude."

"Oh, don't mind them," Krista said, brushing a golden lock of hair from the boy's face. He seemed to like the attention from her tenderness, and at this, Ymir gave him a watchful glower. "How about you tell us your name?"

The boy hummed at the young woman's brief petting before answering. "Meliodas, if ya really wanna know."

"Meliodas…" Hanji tried it on her tongue. A foreign name… Strong and perplexing just like him! It fit, she decided. But she must know more! "Nice to meet you, Meliodas! Oh! And welcome aboard the Survey Corps!"

"Survey Corps?" Meliodas tilted his head.

Everyone raised an eyebrow at this, but Hanji stared at him seriously. He seemed to have perfect memory, in no pain, so probably no concoction… So that only meant that Meliodas was definitely not from here. Hanji grew giddy at the prospect of cracking this kid's head open to study what's inside. If Meliodas was indeed someone living outside of the walls, how on earth was he able to hide, or run, from Titans? He said there were more of others like him, too! Uneasily, the others shrugged it off and introduced themselves to Meliodas. He nodded and smiled, shook hands and such with each of them, but was overall an attentive invalid foreigner. No one asked further questions on the reason(s) of his injury, his tattoo, his dragon hilt, where he's from, his "crew"…

"This is yours," Mike said after they all shared names with Meliodas, reaching into his sack. The others sighed in relief as they begun passing under a canopy tunnel of trees. Mike pulled out an orange and white cloak, hardly ruined by the weather.

Meliodas snatched that up, too, but his expression grew happy, and he buried his face in the white velvety inside. He loudly breathed its scent in. Hanji, even sitting right beside him, nearly missed what he muffled into the fabric. "I'm sooo sorry for hating you"—it sounded like.

The scientist looked up, then. They had finally arrived at HQ.

Meliodas pulled away from his cloak to peek at the fortress looming ahead. He looked curious like a young child, but stayed still and relaxed. "This is it?"

"You betcha, little man!"

"Hmm. Cool. But, I can't stay."

Hanji's eight eye twitched. She'd expected him to say as much. The brunette gave Meliodas a glance-over, seeing not only a well-fit boy wrapped up in bloody bandages, but a case waiting to be opened for discovery. There was so much more of him than meets the eye.

Hanji smiled broadly. "I understand, sonny! But you must heal up first. How about you stay with me—"

"Oh, no he won't!" Krista tutted, fussing over Meliodas's hair once more. He ignored the little blonde this time, paying more attention to his cloak. "He'll stay with the other boys—that is, after he's all better. Like with Armin—Armin, don't you have an extra bed in your rooms?"

Armin jerked to Krista's suggestion, stuttering for an answer. "U-Um, yeah, I think?"

Hanji waved their petty "protection" of Meliodas off. She'd sneak in and badger him for knowledge in the sick room, if she had to!

~.~.~.~

Meanwhile in the Forest of Giant Trees…

The room smelled like spirits and hearty food.

Levi came to with as much speed as a turtle in molasses. It was odd, he faintly thought through hazy consciousness, he typically woke up without delay, unless he was pretty banged up—

Aaaaand then the pain made itself know. Fuck.

The steel-eyed captain winced as a throbbing acute pain pulsated around his hips, ribs, and head. His migraine buzzed, and vision was shitty at best. All Levi saw when he opened (and then quickly shut) his eyes was a semi-circular room furnished with wood and plaster walls. Levi didn't exactly care where he was right now, nor did he care to remember, but Death hadn't claimed him yet, so he welcomed the pain instead of fighting it. It reminded him he was alive, at least.

Soft footsteps echoed in the warm, quiet room he was currently resting in. Someone slight and slim with a shy yet poise gait came tiptoeing into the room, the soft pitter patters of stockinged feet nearing to the captain feigning sleep.

He rapidly began to remember why and how he was in so much pain.

The storm. The tavern. The girl in shitty garb. A talking, clothes-wearing Titan.

Levi reacted on instinct. Hardly a second passed as the captain's reflexes thrust his arm out and grasp the hand approaching his being. A shrill squeal of surprise escaped the female, and she meekly pulled back in alarm. How pathetic.

The raven sat up and opened his eyes, glaring daggers as he took in the slim thing before him.

It was the girl with the platinum hair. The one who stuttered incomprehensible nonsense with weepy eyes. She'd changed from that horrid outfit of hers, now donning a pale salmony, long-sleeved satin dress that came a little below her knees. Levi tightened his gasp on her wrist, wrenching her forward so that she'd be trapped between his knees. He clasped one hand over her mouth, the other around her neck.

"Where am I?" he groused lowly, hardly above a whisper. Everything fucking hurt, and damn it, Levi was not in the mood to be arguing with the Grim Reaper while weaseling information out of this one-eyed wench. Out of spite, he tightened his hands on her.

"Mmmm—!" The girl protested and muffled a scream into his palm, fear dilating her wide, wide eyes. Only her left eye was visible: a pale powder blue alight with fright. The other, purposfully covered by that ridiculous shade of hair of hers, was discolored. He could tell as much through her fidgeting. Levi sighed and loosed his hand, letting her speak. "B-Boar Hat! You're at the Boar Hat!"

Captain Levi glared harder, if possible, but relentlessly loosened his hold on her – though, not before grasping her wrist to prevent the girl from bolting. It wouldn't get him anywhere to scare the girl to death.

"The Boar Hat? What in fuck's name is that?"

She sniffled, protectively crossing her arms around her middle. "A bar, sir."

The man sighed. This girl was clearly too naïve for her own good. Too soft. "Well," he huffed, "where's Eren?"

"Eren?"

"The shitty brat with me."

The girl's eyes lit up. "Oh! Yes, he is here, sir. He's upstairs and unconscious."

"Alright. Lead the way, wench. We need to get our asses back to HQ—" Levi paused. He needed to figure out who these freaks were, first. Eren could wait a moment. "What kind of shit operation are you running here? Experiments? Drugs? Explain the Titan."

Visibly shivering, she gulped and gave him a bewildered expression. "A T-Titan? What's a Titan?"

Levi froze. What did she mean, 'what's a Titan'!? Even fucking babies knew what a titan was! He demanded, "Who the hell are you people?"

The girl met his gaze, but for the first time, she looked brave. "My name is Princess Elizabeth, and I'm traveling with a band of knights called The Seven Deadly Sins."