Chapter One: Fog

There is a sharp, sudden horrified gasp behind her as the blonde turns to find Sasha Braus watching her with wide, fearful eyes.

"Sasha, is everything alright?" Christa asks turning to face her with a pleasant smile.

"Hey, keep the line moving short stuff," the server barks with an irritable frown as she turns to attend to Ymir. The redhead hesitates before shaking her head vigorously prompting Christa to lift her tray and walk away.

Although the sun had sunk over an hour ago, the steady stream of trainees filing in from the training grounds only seems to grow larger and larger with every passing moment. Light blue eyes quickly scan the crowded mess hall, trailing the line of bodies forming by the servers' tables.

"I knew it," Sasha moans as she and Ymir slide into the empty spaces beside Christa. "They're trying to kill us."

"No, they aren't," Ymir grumbles, lifting a loaf of bread from her tray before sliding it under the table. The blonde's eyes widen slightly as she feels the freckled girl nudge her discretely with the loaf of bread.

"What are you talking about?" Christa asks turning to address Sasha with a patient smile.

"Annie's serving was also considerably small," Sasha replies with a horrified shudder. The drooling redhead follows the blonde's gaze as she lowers it to her tray.

"I see," Christa muses as she lifts her spoon. "Well, I guess I don't feel so alone now."

"Sadies only orders the staff to withhold or lower servings for certain trainees who are being disciplined or sanctioned," Mina Carolina opines as she joins the group.

"Then there must be some sort of mistake." Ymir slaps her hand indignantly on the table as she resorts to pinching the blonde beneath the table. Christa shifts away from her giving her a defiant glare as she chews a chunk of meat. "A mix-up maybe."

"Oh? How so?" Ymir asks arching an eyebrow.

"Well, a lot of people get she, Annie and Armin mixed up because they're all small with yellow hair." Mina shrugs as she leans forward to blow the steam rising from her spoon.

"That's right!" Sasha agrees, slamming her fist unto her open palm.

"But why would Sadies be punishing Armin or Annie?" Ymir scoffed. "If he wanted to punish that daffodil all he has to do is make him repeat the running drill in this weather."

"Daffodil?" They all freeze as they turn to find Annie Leonhardt watching them.

"I meant Arlert," Ymir smirks. A menacing frown twists the antisocial blonde's features. "What? Those were Sadies' words, not mine."

"How do you know Sadies' exact words?" Sasha wonders.

"I snuck a peek at his assessment reports last week." Ymir shrugs as she finally withdraws her hand from beneath the table, dropping the bread unto Christa's tray with an exasperated roll of her eyes. The blonde picks up the offering and wordlessly hands it over to a drooling Sasha who instantly devours it with a noisy growl. Ymir's lips twist in obvious displeasure.

"What did he say about me?" Mina Carolina asks twiddling her thumbs with a nervous flourish as Annie sets her tray down with a loud bang and marches away.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Christa asks reaching to brush the other blonde's sleeve as she passes.

"To get some answers," Annie replies bluntly.

"We'll come with you." Ymir offers, taking Christa by the hand as she rises from the bench.

"Huh? Why?!" Christa trembles. Annie storms off without acknowledging them.

"Because I know you. You'll bend the rules for others but you won't lift a finger to help yourself," Ymir snaps dragging the blonde after her with a vicious growl.

"So are you both not going to eat these, then?!" Sasha calls hopefully after the pair of them as they follow Annie out of the hall.

"What are you talking about?" Christa blinks as she finally straightens up.

"Why did you give that greedy beggar the bread I gave you?"

"Because," Christa pauses to slip into her dark green raincoat and shrug on the hood before following Annie unto the drizzling grounds. "If Commandant Sadies feels I deserve smaller servings because I'm weak, then what right do I have to oppose that?"

"That's not true and you know it!" Ymir barks grabbing the blonde by the front of her coat and lifting her to her face.

"Quite certain of that are we?" Annie muses quietly.

"Excuse me?" Ymir asks turning to face the loner.

"It's a perfectly logical reason." Annie shrugs. "Makes a lot of sense if you really think about it. Starve the weaklings to feed the strong." Christa flinches slightly at this and lowers her gaze with a hurt grimace, awkwardly rubbing her arm. "With food being so scarce these days we can't afford to fatten up weaklings who'll most likely only end up as titan fodder."

"Oh, yeah?" The freckled girl growls as she releases the blonde. "So how come your serving was also reduced?"

"That's exactly what I was hoping to find out," Annie replies, unfazed by Ymir's menacing glower.

"Why you—" Christa rushes to block the taller girl's path, stretching her arms wide with a beseeching smile. "C-Christa?"

"Ymir, please. No fighting." Annie walks away.

"Why'd you stop me?" Ymir's shoulders tremble visibly as Christa takes her hand in hers, calmly leading her back towards the mess hall. "I could have taken that smug bitch."

"I didn't want you to get in trouble."

"That bitch has it coming. Who the fuck does she—where does she get off calling you a weakling when she's a notorious slacker?!"

"Being a weakling and being a slacker are two entirely different things," Christa mumbles meekly. "We all know that even with all her slacking off she's most likely going to end up graduating in the top ten percent. Honestly, at this point, it's a tossup between her and Mikasa graduating at the top of our year."

"And you're fine with that?" Ymir asks incredulously. Christa meets her gaze. "You're just going to roll over like some dog and take that kind of abuse simply because she's stronger than you?"

"I didn't say that," Christa replies self-consciously lowering her voice as they reenter the crowded mess hall.

"Let me tell you something, Christa," Ymir snarls. "Stronger is not always better. What you lack in strength and agility you more than make up for with compassion and charisma."

"Ymir, please." Christa chuckles. "Lower your voice."

"Finally, Oh thank goodness!" Mina exclaims breathlessly as she sprints to grab their sleeves, turning to drag them after her. "I'm not sure how much longer Thomas, Jean, and Connie can hold her."

"Hold who off?!" Ymir wonders.

When they arrive at their table, Thomas Wagner is clutching the edge of the bench with a dazed frown as Marco Bodt hovers uncertainly between him and Jean Kirchstein who is swearing loudly and hopping on one foot whilst clutching his other with a pained frown. Connie Springer is wrestling valiantly with a drooling Sasha who is writhing and twisting madly, desperately trying to slip his grasp and pounce on the three unattended trays of food sitting on the table before her.

"For the love of God, woman…calm the fuck down!" Connie cries out with a strained expression as he slips an arm around the tall, redhead's neck, pulling back with all his might.

"I wasn't sure if you guys were done eating," Mina explains with an apologetic frown as she moves to help Jean. "You'd barely touched it so I figured you'd return to finish it later. But Sasha went into a frenzy when I tried to stop her from eating it. Thankfully the boys were passing by and were able to restrain her."

"Greedy bitch," Ymir growls angrily as she grabs the redhead by the hair, yanking her off their overwhelmed classmate who sinks to the floor with a grateful sigh.

"Are you boys alright?" Mina and Christa ask in unison as they rush to attend to the injured boys. Thomas Wagner nods quietly whilst Jean Kirchstein abruptly straightens up and inexplicably lowers his foot. Eren and Armin cast confused glances over their shoulders at them as they walk past with their empty trays, Mikasa sandwiched between them.

"I'll get Thomas to bed, hopefully, it's nothing a good night's sleep can't fix," Marco announces cheerfully as he and Connie move to help their classmate out.

"She headbutted me! I can't believe she fucking head-butted me. I mean who does that?" Thomas asks incredulously, swaggering dangerously between them.

"Now, now. I don't think it was intentional." Marco offers with a diplomatic smile.

"Not intentional? I think she broke my nose!" Thomas complains.

"Uh, excuse me! I could use a little help here too," Jean calls after them prompting Connie to face him.

"You looked fine to me a moment ago," the bald trainee notes with a disinterested frown.

"Well, that was because Mika—Mind your damn business you dimwitted pipsqueak!" Jean snaps unnecessarily, brandishing his fist.

"What was that, horse face?! Did you break a hoof or something?!" Connie shoots back dropping Thomas' other arm to glare at the taller boy, all thoughts of assisting his dazed classmate completely forgotten.

"Horses can't break their hooves, you idiot!"

"Well, you would know!"

"Come on, let's finish up quickly before curfew." Ymir sinks unto the bench with a small sigh pulling her tray towards her before freezing as she spots Annie's tray beside her. Christa watches the back of the taller girl's head slowly but surely turn towards the antisocial girl's food as she reaches out to pick it up. Ymir rises from the bench, Annie's tray in hand and calmly walks towards the disposal bins located at the far end of the hall where a small line of trainees are forming. She turns to make small talk with Reiner Braun who is standing in line behind her before hurling Annie's untouched food into the trash. She dumps the now-empty tray unto the pile of used trays with a pleased flourish before returning to their table with a triumphant smirk.

"Why'd you do that?" Christa asked quietly as she rejoined her.

"I told you, bitch had it coming," Ymir rationalizes slowly before tearing off a piece of bread and tossing it into her mouth.

"That wasn't very nice." The blonde's small hands shiver with indignant anger as she lowers her eyes unto her own tray.

"Well, neither was she."

"You can't go around hurting people that piss you off."

"Why not?" Ymir shrugs. "If she can go around being a smug bitch, why can't I—"

"I think she was upset you called Armin a daffodil," Christa snaps angrily.

"Huh? What does that have to do with anything?" Ymir wonders, clearly taken aback.

"I've caught her watching him every now and then." The freckled girl's eyes widen slightly at this. "I think she has a crush on him and didn't like how you spoke about him."

"Even if that's true, what does that have to do with her calling you a weakling?"

"She probably figured it would hurt you a lot more if she went after me instead of you." Christa shrugs. Ymir considers her words quietly for a few moments before finally turning away with an annoyed grunt.

"So," Mina asks returning to pick up her now-empty tray. "How did it go?"

"We didn't go," Christa informs her with an awkward smile. "But I think Annie still went."

"Oh, why didn't you go?" Mina blinks with a confused frown. "Wouldn't it have been better for you to plead your case with the Commandant directly?"

"Reiner thinks it's some sort of stupid training exercise," Ymir blurts out as she finishes her soup with a loud slurp. "His boyfriend Bertholdt's serving was also considerably lower tonight."

"I see," Mina gasps taken aback. "That would make sense, Bertholdt's a model student. I don't think I've ever seen the Commandant yell at him or really harass him like he does with most of us. He and Mikasa are the only ones in our year who bear that distinction."

"That's true," Christa admits with a bemused blink.

"Yeah, he's even gotten on Reiner's case a couple of times for not following orders," Mina adds.

"I wonder what kind of training exercise it is." Christa muses later as she and Ymir walk over to put up their plates.

"It's probably one of those lame teamwork-building exercises or assessments," Ymir shrugs with a disinterested yawn as they put on their raincoat hoods.

"I wonder if Annie was on to something earlier." The freckled girl turns to eye her with a bemused smirk. "Think about it. If they wanted us to go without food the servers could have easily denied us."

"That would be too cruel." Ymir scoffs.

"Maybe we were deliberately given a third of our servings because the Commandant wanted us to pool our resources together and choose which one of us was more deserving of a full meal." Ymir halts suddenly at this.

"I take that back," she says quietly. "That sounds a lot crueler than sending three trainees to bed hungry."

"Maybe it was a test to see who we would choose as the most valuable," Christa continues with a disheartened sigh.

"I think you're over thinking this," Ymir opines. "Reiner's not exactly a mental powerhouse so we probably shouldn't take his word for it. I still think it was punishment for something. Annie and Bertholdt I get—"

"Huh?" Christa arches an eyebrow at this. They had reached their dormitory and quickly slipped out of their soaked clothes before gathering their things and heading towards the girls' bathroom for a quick bath.

"That bitch's always slacking off, maybe Sadies finally had enough of her shit and decided to punish her," Ymir explains as they carry their buckets of water towards the bathing area.

"But why punish Bertholdt too?"

"Come on, you've seen the way he's around her." Ymir scoffs. "Always watching her like some lovesick—"

"Ixnay on the Aienbay." Hannah Diamant warns beneath her breath as she passes by. They both turn to watch the girl with identical confused expressions. Ymir opens her mouth to call out to the girl when she notices Annie dumping a pail of water over her head mere meters away.

"Why that—" Ymir growls through her teeth as she watches the antisocial girl begin to gather her things into her bucket. "So, it's good to know that someone frightens you." She calls out to Annie.

"What?" The loner asks, gathering her blonde locks into a messy bun as she turns to face them. Christa nudges Ymir with a nervous smile.

"I was talking about the Commandant," Ymir smirks leaning forward with her hands on her hips. "I thought you were going to ask him about dinner."

"I did." A chorus of surprised gasps fills the room as the other girls turn to watch them with shocked expressions, abandoning their feeble attempts at feigning indifference.

"Bullshit!" Ymir spits angrily. Annie merely stoops to pick up her bucket before turning to walk away. "Oh, yeah! Prove it then. If you really went to confront the Commandant what did he have to say?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Annie returns casting a smug smirk over her shoulder.

"I would actually," Ymir presses taking a step towards the smaller girl. Christa steps between them once more with an appeasing smile.

"Then go ask him yourself." Annie challenges before walking away. The bathroom erupts with excited chatter as the girls breathlessly debate whether or not Annie had been telling the truth.

"You should do it Ymir," Hannah urges as she and Christa slip into their nightwear.

"Do what?" The freckled girl asks as her eyebrow twitches irritably.

"Ask the Commandant."

"Do I look stupid to you?" Ymir growls.

"But don't you want to know why poor Christa's getting punished?" Mina wonders.

"Of course I do!"

"I don't think it's punishment," Christa opines meekly. "I think it's a training exercise like Reiner suggested. Why else would Annie and Bertholdt be fine with it?"

"You think Bertholdt asked too?" Sasha gasps. "The Commandant seems to respect him and Mikasa a lot. They've never been grilled or chewed out like the rest of us have been."

"Doubt it. He's more of the suffer-in-silence type," Ymir scoffs. "If anyone would ask it would be that meathead Reiner."

"I'll bet Reiner did. He's fearless and very protective of Bertholdt." Mina agrees.

"We should probably go ask them, then," Ymir suggests nudging Christa with a mischievous wink as the blonde moves to climb unto the higher bunk.

"Are you insane?!" Christa gasps prompting the freckled girl to roll over into a fit of laughter. "We'll be expelled if we're caught breaking curfew to sneak into the boy's dormitory."

"That is if we get caught." Ymir amends. "Besides, Hannah knows a shortcut. Don't you Hannah?"

"Huh?! Why do you think I—" The freckled ginger stutters.

"Come on, we all know you sneak off at night to see your precious Franz." Ymir taunts pursing her lips with exaggerated kissing noises.

"For the last time, Franz and I are not dating!" Hanna snaps, falling unto her bed with an indignant huff.

"What do you think, Mikasa?" Mina asks as the stoic Ackerman climbs into her bed.

"About what?" Mikasa asks quietly as she shifts into a more comfortable position.

"Do you think my precious Christa is being unfairly punished for that witch's—" Ymir pauses to point accusingly at Annie's sleeping form. "—slacking off. Or do you think it's some sort of stupid training exercise like that meathead Reiner." Mikasa turns quietly scanning the faces watching her expectantly before settling on Christa's.

"You want to know what I think?" She asks addressing the blonde who nods meekly. "I think you need to get as much sleep as possible."


Author's Note: I'm anime only so please no spoilers or discussions about future plot developments if you decide to leave a review. I'm currently on season three episode nine of the anime series so I still have a long way to go.

What does "ixnay on the unsgay" mean and what's the origin of the phrase?

This is slang combined with Pig Latin.

"Pig Latin" is a children's game for disguising words. There are a few slight variations on the rules, but all the versions involve taking the initial consonant sound from a word and moving it to the end, then adding "-ay."

For example, "boy" becomes "oy-bay" or simply "oybay."

To translate this phrase back to regular English, you reverse the process and end up with "nix on the guns."

"Nix" is a slang term that means, generally, "don't do that," or some variation. In this context, you would be telling someone not to bring the guns, or not to use them, or in some other way "nix" them.

source: What-does-ixnay-on-the-unsgay-mean-and-whats-the-origin-of-the-phrase