| Paradi |
Volume 3
Ch. 42 Annie Leonhart
Pov.
-Kara-
I can't believe this shit..
The commander cut me out of this mission because he says he doesn't want to put me in danger until we find out what exactly our enemies want from me..
"Hey.. Kara" I hear Petra at the door as I lit my cigar
"What's up?" I nod
"I just… I wanted to thank you…"
"For?"
"The advice.. you gave me… a-about Levi? Last night I made the first move a-and…" she blushes
"Oh.." I smile
A while back we would fool around every now and then
That was until I recruited Levi
She was dying to tell him how she felt for a while now
She's a terrible flirt when it comes to someone she genuinely likes, so I told her to just go for it
"Yeah.. it's nothing"
She smiles
"Alright then, see you in a couple days" she waves
"Yeah…" I sigh
I stood there in silence before finally heading out
"Oh hey Ka-" before Krista says another word I pull her aside
"W-wait I-I have to get ready"
"You're not going"
"What?"
"Cause I'm not going"
"Oh…"
After seeing the rest of my squad off I took Krista out for breakfast. Then I got us a nice place to stay at
I threw my clothes aside
I lay back on the couch before Krista joined me after putting a movie
"Ahhh this is so comfortable" she wiggles her naked butt
"The Aristocats?"
"Yep" she smiles "I love this movie"
"Well I don't" I cross my arms
"Oh hush you big baby"
…
-morning-
I sit up
Krista was hugging me tight, with her head resting on my abdomen
I carefully move her aside
I throw on some joggers before sneaking out back
I harden my fist before smashing it against the wall
The crystal like hardening around my fist shatters like glass before I do the same with my other fist
I repeat the process for hours until I decided to see what was up with Krista
"That's so stupid I can't believe you did that!" Krista shouts
"What do you mean? It was a simple mistake." Ymir crosses her arms
"What's this?" I ask
"Ymir got 'arrested' for public intoxication just before they left for Trost"
"It's a real shame Annie was around to put me in cuffs, honestly" Ymir sighs
"Military police, huh?"
"Yeah," she nods
"She was 4th in our class, and the only one of us that went for Military Police"
"The only one not stupid enough to turn down a cozy spot in the interior" Annie grumbles
"Not so cozy without a place to stay" Ymir teases
"They're not done renovating, that's all!"
"Oh, right. Is it okay if Annie stays with us a couple nights? She could use a place to stay until they're done" Krista asks
…
"Sure, I guess…"
"Yay, sleep over!" Ymir throws her arm around Krista
"W-wait Ymir, only-"
"Where the hell do you expect me to go?!"
"W-well…" Krista thinks
"Now, let's go out. The three of us, like we used to. What do you think?"
"Used to?" Annie asks
"Ohh…" Krista looks up at me as if asking for permission
"Do whatever you want" I shrug
"Alright!" Ymir claps
The three of them went out for a bit
I trained outside until they got back with lunch
After I ate, I went through the 104th trainee files
It was a bit odd that Annie was the only one that decided to join the MP's
But then trying to get as far away from danger isn't unordinary
Then there's the two who come from her hometown
Reiner Braun and Bertolt Goover
From the looks of it, he's like a big brother of the group. Bertolt Goover isn't much different
A report reads that Annie saved Connie's ass back in Karaness
Our enemies wouldn't go as far as endangering their lives for one of us
"Hahaha, c'mon stop being boring!" Krista laughs upstairs
"This is ridiculous, why're you making me wear this?!" Annie growls
"Whoa, look at the size of these jugs!"
"Stop being weird, Ymir!" Krista shouts
…
I don't see why our enemies would bother themselves with any kind of relationship
Plus there's Wall Maria, if it were them they'd have to be no younger than Eren and Mikasa
There's no way Marley would entrust this power to children
Unless..
No…
If they had a fourth card they would've played it
A move like that would've guaranteed their victory
What if..
"No…" I sigh
I'm probably overthinking all of this
After about an hour or so I head into the kitchen for a beer
Annie was sitting on the little dining table outside fidgeting with her nails
Krista and Ymir were still screaming and laughing upstairs
I pop another beer open and I join Annie's outside
"Ow, d-dammit" she curses as I pull the slide door open
She turns her head
Her eyes dart around my body
I couldn't tell if she was admiring my physique or the scars plaguing my skin
It took her a couple of seconds to realize I was offering her a drink
She takes the drink and I sit down across from her
She goes back to picking at her nails after taking a little sip
"Marley. What do you think about Marley?" I finally break the silence
…
She stops what she was doing and looks up at me
"What about it?"
…
I shrug
"We were Umm.. brainstorming. Baby names, I guess"
"Baby names?"
"Yeah. I said Marley sounds like something I'd name a dog"
"Isn't it.. like… way too early to think about a baby?"
"Maybe.. but you never really know when the right time will be.. or if it will ever come…It's not uncommon. In the scout regimen there are two types of people; those who join because they don't have anything to lose and the idealist"
"Take Van for example, the stupid kid. I'd call him a kid even though we were the same age, but he was so small and scrawny you'd wonder how the hell he could ever take down a Titan"
"He was an idealist. He wanted to rid the world of these titans. Not for himself, but for his family"
The boy said he made a promise to a girl he's known all his life that they'd get married the moment he became a soldier. Took a couple months, but the kid actually went through with it
"An idealist, huh?" She asks
"Mhmm, determined to change the world, but just as determined to love his people"
"He was afraid, deep down he knew there was a possibility he'd die just like everyone else." She says, "He wanted to leave something behind before it was too late to even try."
"Yeah…"
A man who has, a woman, loving parents, grandparents, siblings, everything, risking his life to try and change the world
The absolute definition of bravery or is it… selfishness?
At the end of the day he wasted three years of his life
Survived a couple hours after the fall of Maria and died a meaningless death
That's it..
The truth of the world we live in
…
The more we talked the more I convinced myself she couldn't be one of them
We had a couple beers and talked for a while longer until I had to join Krista in bed
"Kara?" She whispers
"What?"
"The other night, you called me.. Historia… why?"
"I.. I don't know. A bad dream… I guess…"
"Oh…" she sighs
…
"Krista?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you… why did you change your name?"
"W-well.. I told you already, didn't I?"
"Oh… y-yeah." I sigh "I forgot"
I pull her in tight, before falling asleep
-1 month prior
Pov.
-Kara-
"Papa? Is that you? Are you home, Papa?" A child shouts from her bedroom
I shut the lights as I hear her door creep open
Waste his entire family…
The whole night is a blur
I'm not sure what was going through my head if anything at all
I just.. I knew what I had to do…
I heard the child sneaking down the stairs
She was about four years old
She walked right passed me
Didn't even notice her dead sibling cause it was so dark
She began patting around for a chair until she finally found it
And I watched as she dragged it over to the fridge
It takes her a couple of seconds to get on the chair, but she finally managed
"Oof" she grabs the jar of cookies
After setting it down on the counter she moves the chair out of the way and opens the fridge
Using the light of the fridge she finds herself a sandwich bag and she stuffs maybe about 20 cookies inside
After struggling to zip it up about half way she grabbed a cup from the sink and managed to pour herself milk
"Oh, poo" she grumbles at the mess she made
She tosses a towel on the floor before closing the fridge door
She takes her milk and bites on the bag of cookies as she began patting around trying to find the stairs
Once she finally did she made her way up
Occasionally she would drop some cookies but she would just stuff then into her mouth as she went
She stopped a couple of times to drink some milk but eventually she made it back to her room
I stood there in silence for a couple of minutes until I found myself on the bed sitting across from the same child
Her eyes widened
I thought she'd scream or something
But the words that came out of her mouth..
They…
Petrified me
"Wow. Are you an angel, mister?"
…
"Mommy says angels are very beautiful"
…
"You think I'm… beautiful?" I ask as she stuffs another cookie into her mouth
"Mhmm-Mhmm" she nods as she gulps down some milk
What is she saying?
Doesn't she know I'm here too…
"Should a little girl like you be eating these many cookies?"
She squeezes the cup of milk in between her legs
"Mhmm-Mhmm" she nods "I'd eat the whole jar if I could, but mommy will get very angry" she licks her fingers
"Momma said I can get a few cookies if I can't sleep at night"
"You can't sleep at night?"
"Yeahh.. I keep seeing big scary monsters in my dreams o-or people walking around the house at night time"
"Oh.. well… have you tried to think about anything else besides ghosts and scary monsters?"
"What? What do you mean, mister?"
I smile
"Look." I get up to her bedside "c'mon" I pat the pillow
"Oh, hehehe" she giggles before laying back
I carefully tuck her in
"Now shut your eyes" I whisper
"Okay" she squeezes her eyes shut
"Try to picture yourself a lake"
"A lake?" She asks
Seconds later a beautiful smile stretches across her face
"Now try to imagine it getting bigger.. and bigger. So big that it's impossible to see the end of it."
"Woww, mister." She says in astonishment as I carefully began drawing my Katana
"Imagine your most favorite people playing with you inside the water"
"Hehehe" she giggles
"You play and play and play and play. All day long," my blade Chong's the moment I removed it from its sheath "so much that your legs began shaking. You were falling over after every step because you were soo exhausted."
"Mmm" she frowns
"But you weren't sad, you were happy because you've never had this much fun in your life"
"Hehehe" she giggles with a huge smile across her face
"As you laid back under the umbrella you began thinking about all the great memories you had with your momma, papa, big brother, big sister…"
"My other big brother, my other big sister, and you too mister!"
"Yeah… and me too"
"Hehehe" she giggles
"You wanna know what mama always tells me?" She asks as I rest the tip of my blade on her chest, right where her little heart would be
"She always tells me not to be scared because babies like me can only see angels" she says
"Angels… is that right?"
"Yeah. She also says to be very careful, because the most beautiful angel in the heavens is also the most scary and evil" she quivers
"You want to know his name, mister? Maybe you should be careful too."
I don't respond
My hand began trembling at the handle
I don't want to do this
But I have to…
Right?
It's the only way..
I'm sure of it…
"His name is…" I dig my blade through her chest before she could say it
She opens her eyes and looks up at the ceiling
She still had that same beautiful smile across her face
"A-ma-ter-a… su" she says with her final breath
…
-to be continued