"Men...and Hanji"|002

Ama, despite all her efforts, hadn't made it far.

She did, however, find refuge in a nice tree. She added that to the list of things she now knew she could do: running and climbing. She was damn good at both of them if she dared say so herself.

Currently, she was throwing nuts at the men below her, refusing any help or advice they were giving her. Erwin was trying his best to coax the girl into climbing down but to no avail.

"Ama, please come down before you seriously injure yourself!", came his voice.

She shouted back, "You know, it's not that bad up here. I think I want to stay. Yeah, I'll stay!"

"Get down here you're making a damn mess.", She heard an annoyed voice, to which she shouted a short 'No!'

"Well, then I'll climb up there by and get you down my damn self! You're wasting our fucking time."

"If you come up here I will stab you.", she threatened.

The aggravated man scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Oh big threats, huh?", he spoke sarcastically. Ama wished those stupid, pretty eyes of his would get stuck.

"Come up and find out!" She hoped he wouldn't. She had a big mouth with nothing to back it up and quite frankly, silver eyes scared her. What was she even going to stab him with? A measly twig?

"Oi, Erwin. Move. Now."

Oh my God. He was coming up. "No, Erwin. Don't move! In fact, stay. Your stance is amazing! Be one with the soil!" She shouted down at him.

"Good Lord, someone get shitty glasses!"

The crowd below her was dispersing and she sighed in relief. They had probably all gotten annoyed at her and left, not wanting to deal with her tantrums any longer. That was fine by Ama. She didn't necessarily need to stay down there with them. No, the branches of this tree were soft. If she got hungry, it was no problem, she would just eat the nuts. She was sure there were different varieties on the tree she was sitting on. As for whether or not they were poisonous, she had a simple yet effective solution; eenie meenie mo.

Ama was so caught up with her survival plans that she hadn't realized someone had made themselves comfortable on her branch. Only when she turned to make herself comfortable had she noticed a person's face a few inches away from hers. The scream that followed could surely be heard by everyone in the Glade.

"Woah there, be careful or you may fall!", came an overexcited voice.

"What the fuck?!", Ama screamed, still in disbelief that someone had managed to climb her stupid tree without her knowing.

The voice scoffed, "I know right? Gravity. Crazy concept."

Ama wasn't talking. She couldn't talk. So much had happened in just a few hours ...or maybe even minutes, that she couldn't wrap her head around; the box, the men, her trying to escape from said men, and now this...person in her tree! Could the day get any more weirder?

"Oh good, you're not ungracefully flapping around anymore. It wasn't a nice look, sweetie.", they announced whilst clapping their hands, "Hanji Zoe! Nice to meet you"

"...hi?"

———

Hanji Zoe had managed to get Ama down from the tree.

It took a lot of convincing, however. One of the promises they had to make was that she would get a bat. Ama initially wanted a machete, you know, for self-defense, but Hanji had only given her a bat. She would have to settle with that for now. For the moment, she was just glad she had something. And had she mentioned Hanji had given her fresh clothes? They were an angel, really. A bit much, but a sweet person nevertheless.

Currently, the duo stood in a room with three other men, another one of Ama's requests. If she was abandoning her tree to talk to any of the men, it would only be with Erwin and the other boy...Eren? At least she thought those were their names. Erwin just seemed like a safe option and Eren? She didn't know why she wanted him present. She just knew she did. Hanji had made it clear that the silver-eyed man, who she had come to learn was called Levi, had to be present as well. Wherever they and Erwin went, Levi had to be present. It was a must, apparently and Ama did throw a few tantrums. He was scary.

That didn't matter for long, really, because there were way more pressing matters at hand.

"So we're...stuck?", Ama exclaimed, her voice shaky as she inhaled strongly. "Oh my goodness, I'm stuck in a forest with men!"

"Ahem."

"Sorry, Hanji. I didn't mean..."

"No offence taken Mimi." They laughed, noticing the panic on the girls face. Hanji had taken it upon themselves to give the girl a nickname and had come up with 'Mimi'. Despite her name being short already, Hanji hadn't let up and had bestowed the nickname on her. Ama didn't mind, however. She liked the name.

"What if we climb over the walls?", Mimi suggested, pointing at the map and the walls that surrounded them.

"If you haven't noticed, these walls are many feet high.", came a bored voice. It was Levi, seemingly unimpressed by the girl's suggestion. Hanji nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, Mimi. Climbing isn't an option."

Mimi sighed, "Okay, then what if we dig?"

Silence. She was met with silence. They were staring at her like she grew an extra head. Admittedly, Mimi was just spewing nonsense, hoping there was something they hadn't tried yet. Breaking through the walls? They had tried that. An SOS signal? Been there, done that. Any suggestion she had made, these men had tried but to absolutely no avail, which wasn't surprising at all. They were men, after all.

Hanji hadn't been there for long either. They had guessed their arrival had been around two weeks before Mimi's. They were smart, Mimi could tell. They were the one with the sketched-out version of the map. Erwin had mentioned that in the few weeks, they had been there, Hanji had mapped out the entire forest, which Mimi had come to learn was actually 'the Glade' and then some of the maze. It was insanely impressive. So impressive, that Erwin, who had been there for three years and thus the leader, had appointed them his second in command. So theoretically, the Glade was run by Erwin, and in his absence, by Hanji.

Mimi had also learned that the box she came in was a transporter for food, clothes, tools, medicine, and sometimes weapons. She didn't know what the weapons were for, but she would probably find out soon enough, seeing as she was getting a detailed explanation from Erwin.

"So if the box is meant for supplies...why did I come in it?", she asked, her voice full of curiosity.

Erwin hummed, "Every month, the box brings a new person along with the supplies.", he explained, "At first, it was just men. Then the box came with three people. That was the first time it changed its routine. Apparently, with you came the last supplies we're ever going to get."

Ama listened attentively. She noticed that at the mention of the box bringing up three people, Erwin glanced at Levi, and the shorter man tensed, visibly uncomfortable. Was he one of the three? Or did he maybe know the three people very well? It didn't seem like she was getting an answer to that question, however.

"Amongst the three was the first woman to arrive, unfortunately, she's not with us anymore."

Mimi had almost assumed it was Hanji they were talking about, however, she remembered they mentioned how they preferred being referred to in a gender-neutral manner. Additionally, Hanji was very much alive, so it couldn't be them. Curiosity got the best of the girl. She couldn't help but ask;

"What happened to her?"

This time, it was Levi who answered, his voice strained and his body language visibly tense. "Death."

Taking this as a sign, she dropped the topic and turned her attention back to Erwin, not wanting to overstep her role any further.

"Death in the Glade is a sensitive topic. It's not something we like to talk about a lot.", the man offered sympathetically, to which Mimi offered a simple yet respectful 'I understand.'

Erwin went on to explain a few things. In the Glade, everyone had a chore they had to stick to. They worked all day long, the only regular break being for lunch. The jobs had their keepers, and each of the keepers had a seat on the council. Newbies spent a day working with each of the keepers. At the end of orientation, it would then be decided on which job they would take up. There were ten main jobs in the Glade;

There were the Builders, with the keeper being Connie Springer. The job was quite self-explanatory. They built new places and were responsible for upgrading the Glade. The Bricknicks had a similar job, the only difference being they were mostly tasked with repairing buildings. Their keeper was a boy named Jean.

Then, there were the Cooks. The keeper was a woman. This calmed Mimi's nerves, as she was now sure there were more women in this Godforsaken place. The keeper went by the name of Sasha Braus. Erwin briefly warned her about the girl, making sure to tell her that she did not play when it came to food, whether it was hers or not.

The Slicers were kept by Reiner and the Track-Hoes by Bertholt. Reiner was in charge of the blood house, meaning he was in charge of livestock and the slaughter of animals for food. Bertholt, however, was responsible for gardening.

The Med-jacks were self-explanatory and were ran by Hanji. Hanji was the only Glader who was the keeper of two jobs, the second one being the job of the Map-makers. Due to their intelligence and ability to strategize, Erwin thought it was only logical they would be the keeper of the Map-makers. They were good with herbs and natural medicine as well. They were the only person with good knowledge of medicine. There had been another keeper before them. They had been fired from their job however and been demoted to the Sloppers. The reason being their lack in medicine and unreliability. They were now the keeper of the Sloppers. Those were the Gladers who were bad at every other job.

The Baggers served as bodyguards and dealt with dead bodies. Mimi had already forgotten the name of that keeper, however, as she wasn't interested in dealing with corpses whatsoever.

Lastly, the Runners. Their keeper was Levi Ackerman. They were the only Gladers to enter the maze and they ran through it every day. They were responsible for gathering information about the walls and what was inside them. At the end of the day, they would return to the map room to sketch any new path they might have seen. Every runner was responsible for their map and most importantly, their safety. Together with the Med-jacks, the Runners had the most important job in Mimi's eyes. They were their best shot at escaping the Glade.

Brown eyes met silver briefly, before looking turning away to gaze back into blue.

"Now, there are a few rules. Not many, just three major ones.", Erwin started. He said that to ensure the safety and harmony of the Gladers, there were only three rules and it was with utmost importance that they were broken. If they were, there would be punishment.

"Never go outside the Glade if you're not a Runner", he started, raising a finger to emphasize his point. "Always do your part and lastly, trust. Never hurt another Glader. For this to work, we need to trust each other."

Trust.

Could she trust these people she had just met a few hours ago? She gestured to Levi with her head, "he doesn't seem to trust me."

"I don't trust anyone.", came his short reply.

She scoffed, " 'We need to trust each other' my ass. What if he kills me in my sleep?"

"Take your trust and shove it up your ass further. If I kill you, you die. Simple.", he countered, now turning back to Erwin, "Smith, I'm leaving. I need to clean the elevator box."

Erwin shook his head at the man, "Levi, how many times do I need to tell you? You don't have to."

"That's why I said 'need', Erwin. Let me be happy."

And with that, Levi left the tent without so much as a simple goodbye. What a ray of fucking sunshine he was, she thought to herself as she glared holes in his back. She could tell that the two of them would not be getting along.

"You look like you're constipated, Mimi. Is that your attempt at being intimidating?", came Erwin's voice, genuinely concerned as he placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Embarrassed, she glanced at Hanji, gasping when they were laughing at the statement. She grumbled a short 'I'm not constipated', before crossing her arms and casting her eyes to the side.