Connection
Eren's POV
"Hey Armin, when this is all over do you want to head to the ocean?" I ask
"What, the ocean?! Of course I do!" replies Armin excitedly
"Hey Jean, are you going back to Trost after all this?" asks Connie
"Probably, what about you?" asks Jean
"Same here, I'm probably going to go back to my family."
"What about you Marco?" asks Jean
"I'm probably going to go back home too." says Marco, "Sasha?"
"I'm going hunting with my dad after all this." says Sasha with her mouth full, "What about you Annie?"
Everyone looks at Annie with eyes of curiosity except for Mikasa.
"I'm probably going to be with my father." she replies
But something about her sounded sad in a way. I wanted to live with her after all this, so hearing her say this kind of made me sad.
"Mikasa? Armin?" asks Marco
"Home." says Mikasa simply
"I'm probably going to go exploring the world." says Armin, "There's a lot of things we are missing out on."
"Eren?"
Now everyone was looking at me except Annie, which hurt me like hell even though it wasn't a big deal.
"I don't know yet." I reply
"Hey Eren you can come exploring with me." says Armin
"Thanks Armin but by then, I think I'm going to be very tired from all of this." I laugh
Everyone continues talking but I'm not listening because I was too focused on Annie that it pains me every time I though about it. I keep dozing off until Jean startles me with a question.
"Hey Eren, what do you think happened to the soldier back at home?" asks Jean
"Huh?" I startle from my thoughts, "Oh uhh, they're probably serving somewhere or just back at home."
"Yea, I never thought about that." says Connie
"Well uhhh I'm going to go to sleep so wake me up when we get there." I imply
I close my eyes and try to think about something else other than Annie, but it doesn't seem to work. So all I was doing was close my eyes for like an hour before finally just giving up and opening my eyes.
But by then everyone was asleep, even Annie but what made me even more sad was that she wasn't leaning her head against my shoulder.
I just stared and looked at her for a moment until the vehicle came to a stop. Everyone began to wake up from their naps and look around.
"Why did we stop?" asks Marco
The doors open so we file out and it looks like we are in some kind of forest on a mountain, I could see a beautiful view of the plains at the base of the mountain. Others began to come out of their BTR as well and set up a perimeter.
"Captain Ghost, why did we stop?" asks Erwin
"Apparently the roads blocked and this is the shortest route to West Virginia. The blockade looks like it's going to take a lot of firepower to move the blockade." replies Captain Ghost
"But we need the firepower just in case." says Hange
"Exactly, that's why we are reporting to HQ to find another alternative route." continue Ghost
I left and sat just on a fallen log by myself to just be by myself and think deeply in what I was doing. I take off my headgear and my headphones, put the to the side and just lean my elbows on my knees. I rub my face into my fingerless gloves in frustration. I look behind me to see Annie with Reiner and Bertholdt, talking and it seemed like those three are have fun.
I sit there for 5 minutes until Kit comes up to me and sits next to me.
"You okay?" he asks
"Yea I'm fine." I reply
"I heard that you have permission to go back home before we go to Russia."
"Yea but I declined." I say
"Yea I heard."
"What are you going to do after this war?" I ask
"Well, visit my parents, but I still have work to do."
"Where?" I ask
"Here, I got to continue to make sure this world stay in peace." says Kit
"Damn, you're not going to stop." I chuckle
"I don't know how to." says Kit, "Same goes with everyone in Ghost team."
I stare off deep into the forest with Kit for like 10 seconds, before Kit got up, pat me on the shoulder and left.
"We're moving out!" yells Ghost
I slowly get up and I walk back to the BTR. But I noticed that Annie went inside a different BTR and that just made me completely mad about it but I did not want to show it to anyone.
"Hey where's Annie?" asks Sasha when she got in
I don't respond to her question at all, I just close my eyes and lean my head back.
"Eren, are you okay?" asks Mikasa
I just nod.
"You don't seem okay." continue Mikasa
"I'm fine don't worry about me." I reply
Mikasa nods before I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6 Hours Later
"Eren wake up, we're here."
Mikasa gently shakes me awake as I open my eyes and groan.
"Are we here?" I ask
"Yea, we're about to get off." replies Mikasa
The doors open and we file out again but this time it looks like we are in a military camp that was just built on spot. The mountains are far behind us but it still looks huge from where we are.
"Are we in West Virginia?" I ask
"Yea and we are going to leave in 2 days for Canada." says Mikasa
I nod my head and look around to see a lot of activity going on around the camp, people building up tents and other things that I had no idea what was going to happen.
"You guys have permission to rest again for now, the trip must of tired you guys out." says Erwin
I walk away from everyone and into the grassy plains. I walk farther away from the camp as I just enjoyed the view of the mountain up ahead, it's almost sunset so the sun was almost done setting. I began to hear footsteps behind so I turn around to see Annie following me.
"Why are you following me?" I ask frowning
"Can't I follow you?" she asks back
"I mean, for like the past 7 hours you've been completely ignoring me so I don't know what that's about."
Annie looks down and just sighs.
"Your question just sounded like a rushed thing." says Annie
"What do you mean?" I ask
"It was way too early for it and plus, it sounded like you wanted to live with me for the rest of my life which was a huge shock so I didn't know how to respond."
"But why did you ignore me during the entire trip, let alone leaving me alone and going to another BTR for the rest of the ride." I respond
"Look I had to get it out of my head." she responds
"Through Reiner and Bertholdt? If I remember correctly Reiner told me that Bertholdt likes you not as a friend but as a lover." I reply, my anger slowly building up.
Annie doesn't respond, she just looks at the ground.
"I'm sorry Eren, I'm just not used to being wanted." she says
That completely catches me off guard because I knew that she never wanted to socialize with others. Of course it may seem like it's her problem, but her father is really the one to blame for all this.
"My father, taught me to make the world my enemy and that's what I did, but it pains me every time I see myself. I just wanted a friend, and that's where you came in." continues Annie, "I love you and I'm sorry that I had to make you go through such a hard time but I just hope you understand."
Annie slowly starts to tear up, so I approach her and hug her.
"Hey, hey it's okay, you weren't used to it, I understand." I say in order to comfort her.
"You mean a lot to me, I don't know what I'm going to do without you." she says softly
I continue to hug her as she was crying on my chest.
"I love you Annie."
She looks up at me with teary eyes, then she grabs my vest, brings me down and kisses me. I'm in complete shock as she made out with me. I kept moving my tongue around hers as we fought for dominance. Her lips were so soft and smooth, it felt good just touching my lips with her lips. This went on for 5 minutes and we stop to catch our breath.
"I love you too Eren." says Annie, "And I want to be with you for the rest of my life."
I smile as I held her in my arms.
"Let's go back, the sun's setting." I suggest
"Yea we should." says Annie
We walk towards camp but before I knew where I was even going Kit called us over to the campfire that was now burning in different parts of the camp.
Commander Erwin and his group was around one with Hitch and Marlowe, while Ghost team and the 104th are together around one.
Annie and I approached there and sat down on a log next to Kit. The only ones that aren't here at the moment are Phantom, Ghost and Marksman.
"Well we were able to successfully recapture this much of our home." says Juggernaut
"Yea, can't wait to go and live with my ma and pa." says Bomber
"You still live with your parents?" asks Jean
"Yea, is there a problem?" asks Bomber who looks confused
Juggernaut and Hacker starts laughing at Bomber.
"How did you guys get into the Sentinels?" asks Armin
"Oh Captain Ghost picked us, he was watching us train, read our profiles and yea." says Hacker
"What were you guys doing before all of that?" asks Jean
"I was a Navy Seal." says Bomber
"Same here." says Juggernaut
"I was in Delta Force." says Hacker
"I was in boot camp." says Kit
Jean nodds in acknowledgment.
Juggernaut takes out a huge tobacco stick and lights it up. I notice Bomber taking out a knife and in one swing, Bomber cuts Juggernauts stick in half. Everyone starts laughing, even Javelin.
Juggernaut just sits there in shock as he stares at his other half on the floor.
"That was my last piece was the collection." says Juggernaut
"Oh oops." simply says Bomber
"I hate you." mutters Juggernaut
"Hey I saved your life." implies Bomber
"Out of how many times Juggernaut saved your ass, hell you almost died by your own explosive." laughs Hacker
Now it was Bomber sitting there being laughed at.
"And you were dying for morphine even though there was nothing wrong with you." implies Kit who was laughing pretty hard.
This makes Juggernaut laugh so hard he falls off the log he was sitting on.
"How is that funny?" asks Bomber
I'm laughing pretty hard, even Annie who was laughing softly. Her laugh is beautiful, her looks itself, and the sound of her laugh.
"Oh yea, do you guys have nicknames?" asks Kit to me.
"Oh yea, Jean is called Horse Face." I reply
Kit starts laughing hard with the others, Jean just looks at me like he wants to kill me.
"Shut up suicidal bastard." yells Jean
Everyone from Ghost Team stops laughing and looks at me.
"Eren, you tried committing suicide?" asks Kit
"No, what he means is like, he has so much energy that he charges into battle head on without thinking anything through, which could potentially kill him." implies Armin
Everyone is in silence for like 5 seconds until Ghost team starts laughing again.
"That's a clever name." chuckles Hacker
"Bertholdt doesn't have a nickname but he has so many different sleeping positions." says Reiner
"W-w-what?" stutters Bertholdt
"That's funny bro." chuckles Juggernaut
"We even predict the weather through his sleeping position." says Connie
Hacker was laughing and pointing at Bomber again.
"Same goes to Bomber." laughs Hacker.
"Shut the fuck up man." says Bomber
That's when the loudspeaker came on and came a voice.
"Attention all personnel, we have finally retaken America! I repeat we have our home back!" yells the voice.
Everyone gets up and cheers so loud that it probably be heard from the mountain. I'm just smiling from the sight of the soldiers cheering from the news they've just heard.
Kit was crying and laughing at the same time, Juggernaut was hugging Bomber.
"After 38 years, we finally got our home back!" yells Hacker
After 5 minutes of cheering, everyone was even happier.
"Sergeant, here's some beer." says a Sentinel
"Thanks." replies Hacker
Hacker hands out some glass bottles to everyone, even to us.
"Uhhh, we're not old enough to drink this." says Armin
"So? C'mon Armin, we just gotta drink." replies Reiner, who's already drinking
Right now it's completely dark and the stars streak the sky. I take a sip of the drink, however I immediately spit it out.
"What kind of taste is this?" I ask in utter shock.
Others began spitting out the drink except for Ghost team. Most of Ghost team had their bandana's up to their nose, only showing their mouth and eyes. I see Captain Ghost making his way towards us with Phantom.
"Aren't you guys a bit too young to start drinking?" asks Phantom
"Well, we told them." says Historia
Phantom looks at Hacker with her eyebrows raised.
"I mean, they worked hard they should deserve something like this." replies Hacker
"Plus they don't like it." chuckles Bomber
Captain Ghost sits down on a log with Phantom.
"Where's 1st lieutenant?" asks Juggernaut
"He's on watch on top of the sniper tower." replies Ghost
"Captain, Sergeant Major." Kit hands both of them a glass bottle of beer.
"Thanks." replies Ghost
"Sir, how about a little story?" asks Bomber
Phantom looks at Ghost in a weird way, well I could tell she was looking at him in a weird way because of her eyes.
"Well, I haven't gave one in a long time." replies Ghost
"Tell us about one of your war stories." says Marco
"Sure why not." replies Ghost
"Since when did you start telling stories?" asks Phantom
"Don't remember." replies Ghost, "Anyways I want to talk about boot camp."
Flashback 3 years ago
"HURRY YOUR ASSES UP! WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!" yells one of the instructors for our camp.
It's my first day at boot camp and there's 1 head camp instructor and 4 other instructors, 2 male and 2 female. One side is filed up with males while the other side is female.
Right now we are changing into our camp uniforms which consists of a light green colored shirt, camo pants and military boots.
"Hey bro, I thought the girls would be in a different location." says a guy next to me.
"I thought so too." I reply
After I was done I stood in front of my belongings with the same guy.
"What's your name?" whispers the guy.
"Ajax, Ajax Kan." I reply
"I'm Malvik Tront." he replies
We stand there until everyone else was finished and in front of their belongings while the instructors yelled at random people's faces.
I look in front of me to see a fairly tall asian girl who looks mad about something. She looks dead at me in the eye, making me look away from her.
"IS EVERYBODY DONE?!" yells one of the instructors
"Yes sir!" we yell back
All the instructors take up their posts and the head instructor comes in. He's a big man who looks like he's in his early 50s, he is buff and tall about 6'4. He was wearing the same thing as us except with a military cap.
"Listen up cadets, I am your head instructor, you will call me Instructor Villan or sir is that understood?!"
"Yes sir!"
"Now before you even enter the training areas, ask yourself this question." continues Instructor Villan, "Why are you here?"
Instructor Villan goes up to a random guy, bends down so he's face to face with him and yells,
"Why are you here?!"
"Secure the safety of our country." whimpers the guy
"Don't give me that bullshit! Drop and give me 50 now!"
The guy quickly drops and starts doing push ups.
"You." says Villan but this time to a girl, "Why the fuck are you here?!"
"So that I can make my parent proud sir!" yells the girl, but her voice sounds like she wasn't sure of her answer.
"Parents?! Ma'am if you were sent her that means you're parents don't give a shit about you!" yells Villan
"Bro, look serious, he aims for those who are look scared." whispers Malvik
"You?! Why the fuck are you talking?!"
Villan walks up to us and stares down at Malvik.
"If you have something to say, then say it right now!"
"Sorry sir!" yells Malvik
"Oh are you huh? Well I don't give a shit unless you tell me what you just said!"
Malvik seems to be thinking about some random bullshit to come up so I intervene.
"Sir, it's my fault, I talked to him first."
Instructor Villan looks at me and approaches me.
"Oh is that so?" asks Villan
"Yes sir."
"Then tell me, why the fuck are you here?!" asks Villan
"To ensure my parents death weren't for nothing!" I yell back
Villan straightens up from leaning forwards but continues to look at me.
"You're parents were killed in action?" asks Villan
"Yes sir." I reply
"Is that why you are here?"
"That's not the only reason why sir." I reply
"What are the other reasons?"
"I want to protect the things I cherish sir." I reply
"And what are the things you cherish the most?" asks Villan
"The people of this country, the same people who are out there, fighting to protect citizens." I reply
Villan nods his head and turns away from me. I sigh in relief and loosen up a bit.
"Listen up. You cadets are here for a reason, and that reason is to become a soldier. A soldier fights and kills for what they believe in, to protect what they love, to kill what they hate." says Villan, "You are the few, with the courage, too make history and that's what makes you a soldier, that's why we as proud Americans continue to fight this war. Is that understood?!"
"Yes sir!"
"Today we will train you cadets in hand to hand combat! Fall out and meet me in the field in 5!"
"Hey man, thanks for the save." thanks Malvik
"No problem man." I reply
"But were your parents actually soldiers?" asks Malvik
"Kind of, not marines but special forces." I reply
"I'm sorry man." says Malvik
"It's okay man, they died with honor."
We ran outside and Villan paired up us with different people, different gender, different age gaps it didn't matter the difference. I won every fight against the person I was paired with, until I got paired up with the same Asian girl that stared me down.
"Oh uhh hey my name's Ajax, what's yours?" I ask
"None of your business, just give me your best shot." she replies, getting into fighting stance.
'Well I gotta go easy on her.'
I sprinted towards her and I do a flying push kick, but she swiftly moves to the side, puts her arm underneath the leg I'm kicking with and flips me in midair. I landed on my face on the dirt, I groaned from the shock of pain through my body.
"Seriously? After the shit talk you gave us back there, I thought you were actually something, but now, you're fucking useless." she says
I get up and get into fighting stance, I threw a hook punch but she blocks it and twists my arm. She grabs my wrist and twists it, forcing me onto my knee while she standing, holding my wrist.
"You're not going to last a second out there. Let me give you an advice." she hisses as she twists my arm even more making me wince in pain, "If you want to protect the things you cherish, you need to sacrifice other things in order to keep the things you cherish alive."
She kneels down towards my face so that I can look at her. Her eyes were menacing as she was still holding my arm.
"Even if it means sacrificing your life." she hisses
She looks at my arm and then me, I was wincing in pain and clutching my shoulder so that I don't dislocate or anything. But I had an idea, so I quickly did a front flip and landed on my back. Since I did a flip it untwisted my arm giving me the chance to kick her face, but she rolls back just in time. Once I get up she sprints towards me and jumps onto my shoulders, and flips me forwards as she leans backwards. I land on my back so hard, it knocks the wind out of me. Next things you know I pinned again with her on top of me, her shin on my neck.
"I don't think you're ready, at all. You don't know sacrifice." she says
End of flashback
"Wait is the girl that beat you Phantom?" I ask
"Hell yea." replies Phantom who seemed to be smiling from the story.
"Sounds like how Eren and Annie got together." chuckles Reiner
I turn to look at Annie and see that she was smiling a bit from Reiner's comment.
"How did you guys get so close after that?" asks Sasha
"That's a story for next time, right now get some rest." says Ghost
"Wait sir, I have a quick question." says Armin
"Go on." says Ghost
"How come you were never able to kill Recon?" asks Armin
Everyone was quiet and the laughter from other soldiers can be heard very loudly.
"She was a, friend." replies Ghost
"But she's the enemy." replies Armin
"It's like saying Eren betrays you." replies Ghost
"But those who can't throw away the things that are important, can never hope to change anything." replies Armin
"You're right. I can't change the world." says Ghost, "Recon's right, one of us has to die."
"What?" asks Phantom
"We're the reason why this war is continuing, either one of us has to die or one of us has to turn themselves in. I can't kill her but she can kill me."
"Now that's some bullshit." says Phantom, "I'll kill her myself."
"Last time I remember, you lost." says Marksman
"That doesn't mean shit." replies Phantom
"I'll kill her then." replies Marksman
"Stop, I'm going to kill her one way or another." says Ghost, "I can't let her continue this war, so I'm going to kill."
"But you just you couldn't." says Annie
"I know, if I fail one more time," replies Ghost, he takes out his pistol and aims it at his temple. "Then I'll have to end myself."
Phantom immediately gets up and snatches the gun out of his hand.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?" asks Phantom
"I'm not turning myself in, that's basically killing myself." says Ghost
Phantom grabs Ghost and drags him away.
"Go to sleep." says Marksman
"Yes sir." replies everyone
"Wait we're sleeping outside?" asks Connie
"Yea, we're going to be on patrol so goodnight guys." says Kit
"Goodnight" replies everyone else
"Armin, did you really have to ask him that question?" asks Sasha
"Sorry it just came through my head." says Armin
"Armin, you need to know when to ask certain questions and when not too." says Ymir
I lay down on the floor while leaning on the log with Annie next to me, leaning on my shoulder.
"Goodnight Eren." she whispers as she kisses me on the cheek
"Goodnight Annie."