Darkness. That was a way to describe this place, a place that was dark and cold with flooded floors. Chains rattled as Akuma's monstrous figure slightly moved but that slight movement was all she could do as the chains would not allow any more. She growled as she glared at the only source of light in the room, a candle brought by her keeper.

He sat on the wet floor by the candle and watched her dismissively. She roared as she used all her strength to lunge at him but the chains held her in place and red gates fell from the darkness above her and brought her down by the neck, keeping her in place and doing the same with her tails and arms.

"To think I had hope of something good within such an evil creation." The man stated as he met her glare with a somber smile and stood up with the candle in his hands "I was misguided but still too stubborn to destroy you...I still have hope."

The man blew the candle out and the room returned to eternal darkness.

~

Akuma shot up from her slumber and wiped the sweat off her forehead while subconsciously rubbing her neck. She looked up at the blue sky and shook her head as she dismissed her dream of the past.

After the previous week's events, Akuma had explored the caged town and ended up sleeping at one of the grasslands not far from the town. She stood up while looking up at the wall and smiled in amusement at the fact that the wall these humans had put all their trust in for protection and safety was dented by her hand print.

Akuma walked along the dirt path back into town and once she entered, she was stopped by one of the drunks that were 'guarding' the walls. He was a tall man with short blonde hair, brown eyes, some wrinkles along his face and a small thin moustache tracing above his lips. He wore the typical uniforms the soldiers wore with the shield and rose symbol imbedded on the jacket and a bottle of beer in hand.

"Hold on there squirt." Hannes said as she held onto her shoulder while she glared at him. "I haven't seen you around before, where'd you come from?"

"Your mother's house, now get out of my way!" Akuma exclaimed and Hannes fellow soldiers laughed.

"Heh, you're funny kid." Hannes chuckled as he drank more of his beer.

"What's funny is how I'm gonna kick your ass over the wall if you don't let go of me!" Akuma exclaimed as she removed Hannes' hand.

"This kid is hilarious!" One of the soldiers laughed.

Hannes laughed as he went for another drink but the bottle in his hand was gone. He blinked as he looked down and saw Akuma guzzling the rest of it down and let out a loud burp when she emptied the bottle. The soldiers were quiet in shock along with some vendors and citizens nearby.

"The name's Hannes." Hannes stated seriously.

"Akuma." Akuma stated with her own seriousness.

Hannes and Akuma met eye to eye with serious looks on their faces and after a few moments of staring each other down, the two had sat across from each other and started a drinking match with other soldiers providing more bottles of beer while some citizens cheered and others were mortified that a child would be doing such a thing.

Five bottles later and Hannes was out for the count while Akuma just finished her tenth, still unfazed since alcohol didn't really work on her. The crowd was quiet as Akuma cheered and they cheered as well with soldier picking her up and sitting her down on their shoulders.

"OI! What's going on over there!?" They heard a man shout and everyone turned to see Commander Shadis and Erwin walking towards them, Erwin staring right at Akuma and making his way specifically towards her.

"Shit!" Someone exclaimed and the crowd dispersed with Akuma jumping off the soldiers' shoulders and running into one of the alleys while using the crowd as her cover.

Akuma stopped in one of the streets which was significantly away from the drunken soldiers.

'Humans, annoying bastards but their stupidity is one to enjoy at times.' Akuma thought as she kept walking along the street with a laugh.

Akuma's ear twitched slightly and she felt eyes watching her, not just one person but multiple. She kept walking with her guard up and made sure whoever was following didn't notice that she knew they were watching her. She walked past an alley and heard sounds of a struggle, walking a few steps backwards, Akuma now stood in front of the alley.

She saw a blonde haired boy on the ground a three other boys were stomping and kicking him. Akuma stared at them for a moment and one of the boys looked at her.

"Yo." The boy said as he looked down at the blonde haired boy and back at Akuma "This doesn't concern you, get lost."

Akuma didn't move as the other boys glared at her.

"You deaf or something?" another boy asked "Get lost!"

"Please...just...g-go..." The blonde haired boy wheezed as he got another kick from one of the boys.

Akuma stared at him with a blank look 'If my stalkers are who I think they are...'

Akuma walked away as the boys laughed and continued to beat up the blonde haired boy.

"Son of a bitch!" she heard a familiar voice shout and from the alley across the street ran the boy she met yesterday.

Akuma smirked "Eren Jaeger."

Eren ran into the alley and started fighting the boys with Mikasa walking out still watching Akuma longingly. Akuma ignored her and ran back into the alley as she punched one of the boys that Eren was fighting. He flew into the alley wall and Akuma pinned him there as she started punching the life out of him.

The boy helping his friend against Eren moved to save his friend but before he grabbed Akuma, Mikasa ran towards him and kicked him away with a deadly serious look.

With one final punch from Akuma, the boy's head broke through the concrete building and he went limp as Eren breathed heavily and wiped the blood away from his nose as the boy he was fighting fell to the ground while the boy Mikasa kicked was already knocked out.

"It's over." Eren said as he leaned against the wall.

"Looks like it." Akuma added.

Eren glared at her "What the hell is wrong with you!? You were gonna just leave him, you heartless bastard!"

"He told me to." Akuma said with a glare of her own "And why the hell were you two following me."

"Don't look at me! It was all Mikasa's idea." Eren said as he pointed at Mikasa.

Akuma looked at her with a raised eyebrow and Mikasa blushed under her gaze while choosing not to explain herself. The blonde haired boy groaned which caused Eren to rush over to him and help him sit up.

He has long blonde hair and bright blue eyes, he wore a long blue coat with brown pants and shoes and a white shirt along with suspenders.

"You okay?" Eren asked.

The blonde haired boy looked at all three of them and nodded nervously "Y-yeah..."

"You got a name?" Akuma asked.

"A-Armin, Armin Arlelt." The boy, Armin said.

"I'm Akuma." Akuma said as he nodded towards Eren and Mikasa "That's Eren and Mikasa."

"Oh...t-thank you for saving me." Armin said gratefully.

Akuma stood in front of him and crouched down so she was face to face with him "The hell are you talking about? They may have come to save you but I sure as hell didn't."

"Oh..." Armin said disappointedly.

"Then why are you here?" Eren asked angrily.

Akuma stared at Armin and a brief flash of a kid similar to him from her memories appeared before her eyes and she just rolled her eyes.

"Doesn't matter." Akuma said as she stood up and picked Armin up by the back of his jacket's collar and brought him to his feet.

"W-well is there any way I could repay you guys?" Armin asked.

"You don't need-" Eren was about to say but Akuma's stomach rumbled.

They all looked at Akuma as she smirked "I can think of a way."

~

"Oi..." Akuma said in disgust as she stared at her food "Oi, Oi, Oi! What the hell is this!?

"Hm?" Mikasa hummed as she looked at Akuma.

"It's fish." Eren stated as he chewed on a piece.

They had found food at some nearby shops and sat on a ledge by a river with said shops across from them. Akuma looked down at the fried fish Armin bought each of them and her lip twitched in disgust as a fly landed on it.

"Why the hell are we eating this tragic mistake of a meal when there's an entire shop full of meat over there!?" Akuma shouted as she pointed to a vendor with a fat man cooking all kinds of meat.

"Ah s-sorry Akuma, I didn't have enough to afford food from that man." Armin apologized.

"Don't apologize Armin." Eren stated.

"What was that!?" Akuma exclaimed angrily but grew confused when she saw Eren glaring at the vendor.

"The man that runs that shop is a jerk. He only sells food to people in the Military Police or any higher ups, any other person who even looks remotely poor won't get a single scrap." Eren explained.

"Is this true?" Akuma asked as she looked at Mikasa.

Mikasa avoided eye contact with her with another tint of red on her face as she nodded.

"But it's not so bad, we have this at least." Armin said as he smiled while holding up his half burnt fish.

Akuma picked up her own fish and looked at Eren "Back me up alright?"

"Back you up? What are you talking about?" Eren asked in confusion.

Akuma tossed her fish into the river behind them which shocked them but she wasn't done, she stood up and grabbed Mikasa's leg which made her turn a deep shade of red in surprise while Akuma took off her shoe.

"C'mon Eren!" Akuma shouted as she ran towards the meat shop.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Eren exclaimed as he chased after her.

"Hey fatass!" Akuma shouted and the vendor turned to see Akuma throwing Mikasa's shoe at him and it made a direct hit deep into his face which made him fall over.

"Grab everything Jaeger!" Akuma shouted as she jumped over the counter and started grabbing the chicken and the steak but not forgetting to pick up Mikasa's shoe first.

Eren grinned as he did as told and when the vendor started to regain his senses, they booked it with all of the cooked meat.

"Hey you brats! Get over here!" The vendor shouted as he struggled to jump over the counter.

Mikasa and Armin watched in shock as they ran past them and soon the two followed as Akuma and Eren laughed but Akuma could sense someone was following them and were trying to stay hidden.

They had stopped at a grassland by the river which was far away from the meat shop and enjoyed the spoils of their heist. Eren and Armin were fighting over some ribs while Mikasa stood by them as she munched on some chicken.

She froze when Akuma approached her but got flustered when Akuma got on her knees and lifted her leg, putting her shoe back on her foot.

"Thanks, this really helped." Akuma said with a grin as she stood up and walked back to the pile of meat, she sat down and Mikasa quietly sat down next to her but Akuma noticed that she was very close to her which was a little annoying.

"So these walls," Akuma began as the group looked at her "They've always been here?"

"You don't know about the walls?" Eren asked in disbelief.

"That's why I asked genius." Akuma retorted.

Armin nodded "They have always been here, even before we were born. My grandfather told me they were built by the gods because they took pity on us so they made the walls to protect us."

"From the titans?" Akuma asked.

Mikasa nodded "Yes."

"How do you not know any of this?" Eren questioned.

Akuma shrugged as she ate another piece of steak, Eren did the same while Mikasa thought nothing of it but Armin stared at her for a moment before eating as well.

"W-was that thing real?" Armin asked.

Eren froze at that and Mikasa looked down sadly while Akuma was confused at what he was referring to.

"I saw it with my own eyes," Eren stated as he clenched his fists "That thing was real."

"What thing?" Akuma asked.

"Seriously what cave have you been living in!?" Eren exclaimed.

Akuma narrowed her eyes at him "One more of those and I'm taking you down."

"The soldiers are calling it the Nine-Tailed-Titan. A titan that's bigger than the walls with a roar that shook the world." Armin explained as he pointed at the hand print on the wall, by now the sun was setting and its rays cast a shadow that emphasized the hand print "That is the proof of its existence but some still choose to believe it as rumors and myth."

Akuma internally smirked 'A myth huh?'

"You probably haven't heard about any of this, you mole." Eren stated.

"What did you just say?" Akuma asked with a glare.

"You're asking the most obvious questions as if you've been living underground all your life, you might as well be a mole." Eren explained.

"Them's fighting words!" Akuma shouted as she lunged at Eren and the two started roughhousing.

"G-guys! Please don't fight!" Armin exclaimed in worry as Mikasa remained quiet but made sure to keep an eye on Akuma so she didn't get hurt.

Akuma and Eren tumbled as they fought and soon enough they tumbled down the slope and into the river but thankfully the river was shallow. They sat up as Eren wiped the water from his eyes, Akuma splashed him with a wave of water.

"You bastard!" Eren shouted as he splashed water back at her and they soon had a water fight.

Akuma wiped the water from her face and brushed her wet hair to the side and saw a hand in front of her. She looked to see Mikasa standing at the edge of the ravine holding her hand out so she can help her out, Armin was doing the same with Eren.

Akuma looked at Eren with a mischievous smirk and he smirked back eagerly, they nodded as they grabbed Mikasa and Armin's hands and pulled them down into the ravine with them. Akuma and Eren laughed as Mikasa fell on top of Akuma with water splashing around them, Mikasa blushed as they met eyes and Akuma gave her something she didn't expect to see Akuma give, not a smirk but a smile.

Eren splashed them with water and Akuma went back to smirking as she splashed water at him and Eren. Soon enough the group started having a water fight as they laughed and enjoyed their time together.

~

It was now night time and Akuma had been walking the group back to their homes, first with Armin and now Eren and Mikasa. They now stood in front of the Jaeger household and started saying their goodbyes.

"Well see ya." Akuma said as she started walking away.

"Akuma!" Eren exclaimed and Akuma turned to face him with a bored look.

"Yeah?" Akuma asked.

"Today was...today was the most fun I've ever had." Eren stated as he held his hand out "I hope we can continue to be friends and have fun."

Akuma looked at his hand in surprise as she thought about what he said "Friends?"

"Yeah, we're friends aren't we?" Eren asked.

"Y-yeah..." Akuma muttered.

"Great, now can you shake my hand already? I'm getting tired." Eren stated.

"Well aren't you a lazy piece of shit." Akuma jabbed.

"At least I'm not just standing around and looking at my hand like a mindless retard!" Eren shouted.

Akuma and Eren slammed their foreheads together with angry glares as they shook their hands in a vigorous pace

"How's this for a handshake dumbass!?" Akuma shouted.

"It's perfect jackass!" Eren shouted back.

They backed away and smirked at each other as Eren ran off with a wave into his house. Akuma shook her head at him and looked at Mikasa.

"We're friends to now huh?" Akuma asked as she held out her arm for a handshake.

Mikasa looked at the hand and stepped closer, she ignored the hand and hugged Akuma and relished at the warmth she missed from the day they met.

"O-oi!?" Akuma exclaimed in surprise but jaw dropped when Mikasa kissed her cheek.

Mikasa backed away with a nervous blush and she ran into the house without another word.

"What...WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Akuma shouted.

~

Akuma walked through the lit up streets of the walled up town and reached a courtyard with a fountain in the center with benches around it, she sat on a bench and sighed.

"Oi! You can come out now, I know you've been watching me all day." Akuma called out to the empty courtyard only to receive no response and she growled in annoyance "Do I have to make you come out!?"

She heard footsteps come out from of the alleyways and soon enough Erwin stepped out of the darkness and joined her on the bench.

"Should I be surprise that you knew...Nine tails?" Erwin asked.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Akuma asked with her usual swagger but internally she was shocked that he knew.

"That's my theory at least." Erwin said as he began to explain "From my observations you seem to have no idea what is going on with the world, you have heightened senses and abilities that no normal child should possess and the fact that the Nine-Tailed-Titan disappeared after we found you just adds on to my theory even more."

"It disappeared huh? Could be a coincidence." Akuma stated seriously.

"Could be but then what remains unexplained is what you were doing outside the walls." Erwin said.

"My family and I used to live outside the walls but they were killed-"

"Impossible." Erwin stated.

"What?" Akuma asked.

"I've been a Scout for a long time and every time I go outside the walls, the only thing to be discovered would be the titans." Erwin explained as he smirked at her "Try again."

Akuma glared at him but then shut her eyes, when she opened them though, they were different. They were now fox eyes and when she smirked, she had sharp teeth with a red aura emanating from her and thick black whiskers lined along her cheeks.

"You got me." Akuma stated in her original voice "Now what are you gonna do about it Erwin?"

Erwin tried to keep his calm demeanor as he gulped nervously "I've noticed that you have some sort of attachment to those children."

Akuma chuckled "You gonna blackmail me by using them as some sort of hostages? Don't bother, I don't care about those brats. They're a means to an end."

Erwin smirked 'Are you sure about that?'

"I have a proposition." Erwin stated.

"Oh?" Akuma asked in amusement.

"You clearly have the power to destroy humanity but you don't because of one thing." Erwin explained as best he could and hoped what he would say would not anger her.

"What's that?" Akuma asked in interest.

"You're curious." Erwin stated.

"Curious?" Akuma asked with a sneer as she knew that Erwin was absolutely correct.

"What are your opinions on humanity Akuma, if I may ask?" Erwin asked.

"Humans..." Akuma spat in disgust "Low lives that have no respect for the natural order of the world and use their hubris and greed to benefit themselves while they destroy their fellow man just to become the strongest in some form, you all disgust me in every way imaginable. Killing you would bring me nothing but joy but I'd rather watch you suffer from the eventuality of these titans doing my job for me!"

Erwin contemplated on her words as he stared at her for a moment and stood up "I don't blame you for having those opinions on us and I won't try to defend our actions but I feel as if we can change your mind."

Akuma laughed in amusement "Really now? How are you going to do that soldier?"

"By appealing to your curiosity. No matter how much hate you may have for us, it's clear that you are still curious about us and our ways. Seeing you with those children gave me proof that you are capable of change and I feel my preposition will benefit all of us." Erwin spoke.

"You gonna tell me what it is or keep stalling?" Akuma asked in annoyance that he watched her make 'friends'.

"Continue to live as a human and befriend more and more people until you grow to the age where you are eligible of becoming a soldier and join the Survey Corps." Erwin stated.

Akuma scoffed "And what? Defend you from the titans? You're delusional to think I'd ever do that."

Erwin shook his head "As a soldier, I can provide more information on the inner workings of this world and it will show you the light and dark side of humanity vividly."

"I already know the light and dark side of humanity" Akuma remarked with a glare "Vividly."

"Maybe it will change your view on us or maybe it won't, I too am curious at seeing your growth and how you affect this world Akuma." Erwin said "The Survey Corps will be returning to Trost tomorrow; our commander has some changes awaiting us."

"So you wanted to talk to me before you left." Akuma stated with her voice returning to normal and her facial features becoming more human once more.

"Well, do we have a deal?" Erwin asked.

Akuma thought about it for a moment and chuckled at the interesting prospects this would bring as she smirked at him "You've got yourself a deal Erwin."

Erwin started to walk away from her but stopped from her question.

"Erwin," Akuma called out as he turned to face her "What gave you the balls to actually have a conversation with the 'Nine-Tailed-Titan'?"

Erwin smiled "If I have the opportunity to make peace with an enemy without battle then I will take it, I did it for our survival, I did it because I still have hope."

Akuma widened her eyes in absolute shock at his words while he continued to walk away.

She rubbed her neck and muttered solemnly "...Hope huh?"