Disclaimer: If I owned Attack on Titan, Annie would have been freed ages ago.

❀ Correlation ❀ Session 000 ❀ Correlation ❀

'New beginnings can only start when old ends are torn away.'

Click

There was only silence as she raised the hourglass to her eyes, her reflection illuminated on the surface while white sand floated down.

30 seconds.

30 seconds until all hell broke loose. 30 seconds until the bomb ticking away on her ankle detonated. 30 seconds...and she would finally be rid of this prison.

Click

She regretted nothing. There was no fear there, because even if she was going to die, at least she would be able to pull her enemies down with her.

Slowly, she pressed her cheek against the cold iron shackles on her wrists. Seconds ticked by, and she let her eyes watch the sunrise through the bars on her window, knowing that it might be her last time seeing it. The patrol guards would be waking up soon, but by the time they did; she would be gone.

'I'm ready...'

Her eyes slid shut, peace filling her veins.

'And I'm not afraid to die this time.'

The dial spun to zero, one last speck of sand falling down before her world exploded.

Click

oOo

BRNGGGGGG

Annie winced as she jolted awake, sunlight peeking through her window, short hair unkempt and strands falling into her face.

BRGGGGGGGGGGGGG

The sound of her alarm clocks screeching caused the blond to grit her teeth. Reaching over abruptly to grab the device from the table beside her bed, Annie flung the piece onto the ground with all the strength she could muster at the moment.

BANG

Silver metal fell apart, the clocks screech cut off right in the middle of another wake up call. Annie rubbed her forehead, slowly letting her head fall back onto her pillow, her legs still sore from the night before.

For a second she lay there, the sounds of her soft breathing being the only thing she could hear as her eyes slid shut again.

But then the silence was broken abruptly by the sharp and loud sound of her ringtone.

"You've got to be kidding me." She mumbled as her cellphone lit up and the sound of Origa's Inner Universe filled the air.

Granted she loved the song, but she had barely gotten an hour of sleep last night. And now it was like the fates were mocking her.

Struggling to stretch her arm to her phone without moving from the bed, Annie grabbed the cursed thing and flipped it open, her tired gaze turning into a glare when she saw the Number ID.

She clicked the talk button despite herself.

"Mina, you better have a good reason for waking me up at 5 AM in the fucking morning or I swear to kami I will-" Annie began angrily, when a sudden breeze swept through her open window.

She muttered angrily to herself, shielding her messy head under the array blankets on her mattress.

Mina Carolina's bell like laughter cut off Annie's cursing however, and Annie could already imagine the brunettes smirking face.

"Annie, I'm sad to say this but I told you so. I did say to you that you should have slept in instead of kick boxing for the rest of the night. And when you were drunk of all things... the time zone in Trost is completely different after all." Mina quipped, her sweet voice almost lulling the blond to sleep once more before she remembered she was supposed to be pissed at her.

"Well maybe if you hadn't dragged me along to a bar last night-" Annie deadpanned, burrowing deeper into her covers.

"Oh please," Mina cut her off, and Annie could tell she had rolled her eyes. "You need to get out more in your life, and not with bad company like Reiner. You promised me that once you started over in a new city, you would do anything I want before you went away. And you had fun, didn't you?"

"Do you think being coddled by Ymir while I'm drunk is my idea of fun." Annie replied monotonously.

Mina's voice cracked at that, and it took all she had not to laugh. Being friends with Leonhardt for 10 years meant subtlety was best in times like these.

"It's not my fault she couldn't tell the difference between you and Krista, or that you both were completely wasted. Besides I thought you don't drink-"

"Someone obviously slipped something in my cider, Mina." Annie hissed.

"Not my fault. At least you weren't dragged off by some weirdo." Mina said cheerfully. "And by the way, while you're tearing away at me for waking you up, shouldn't you be getting ready for work. That bookshop I recommended to you, it opens up in half an hour."

Annie blinked once. Twice. Before it suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks. Two days into her new life and she was already about to be late for work.

"Shit. Goodbye Mina and don't call me this early again." Annie demanded hoarsely as she tumbled out of bed, reaching blindly for the clothes she had prepared yesterday and tossed off somewhere before crashing to sleep.

"Hey, if it wasn't for me you'd be late-" Mina began, her voice indignant, before Annie pressed the end button, cutting her off..

She loved the brunette, she really did.

But sometimes she could be a pain in the ass.

oOo

"Hello Miss Leonhardt." The receptionist at the front hall of the apartment complex greeted kindly as the younger woman rushed down the stairs, hair twisted into a bun and hoodie pulled all the way up.

The blond only nodded politely in return, shuffling past the few early risers who were in the hall that morning as she headed for the swivel door. On the way she accidentally toppled into an elderly woman with groceries in her arms, causing the bags to tumble to the floor.

"Oh!" The woman gasped, gray eyes startled as she tittered off balance, barely catching herself against the counter next to her.

Annie skidded to a stop instantly, her teeth gritted in irritation as she quickly mumbled an apology and bent down to pick them up.

"In a rush?" Reception Lady asked in amusement when Annie finished the task and reached for her knapsack again, ready to bolt out the door.

Annie didn't even bother with a reply as she grabbed her keys from her pocket, jogged out the building, and headed for the parking lot beside the complex.

Her motorcycle lit up and the familiar sound of the engine filled Annie with a sense of relief as she glanced at her watch. It was 7:11 AM, plenty of time for her to grab breakfast from some joint before reaching the book store.

At least something was going right that morning, and she hoped that the Arlet kid, the one Mina had convinced to give her a job interview weeks before, wouldn't mind if she ate during her shift.

He was a bit too...childlike for her tastes in appearance and in his mannerisms. Though he was taller than her, he reminded Annie of an eight year old even if his IQ went way past an average humans. When Annie had complained about his constant stuttering around her to Mina the brunette had scolded her, saying that her frigid personality probably kept scaring him off.

That was bullshit as far as Annie was concerned, because she had barely said a word to the Arlet kid and he acted like he couldn't look at her without turning red and apologizing. What on earth would he have to apologize for? The guy was probably just socially inept.

Not like she was any better, but still.

Shaking her head, Annie waited for her motorcycle to roar to life before she raced out of the parking lot, not bothering to even think of wearing a helmet. She was hungry and she was irritable, and she'd be damned if she didn't get a chicken fillet sandwich before the morning was at its high.

oOo

Around ten minutes later, Annie pulled up to the drive in line at the closest fast food joint; ARBY's. The restaurant, like most of the city, wasn't run down or crowded with shady people like the last town she had lived in. Which was a nice change, albeit a little unsettling.

Everything looked fresh and, thankfully, there were very few cars lined up. Parking behind a white Ferrari, Annie waited patiently for her turn to get her order.

While she waited, her eyes strayed to the sky as the dark gray faded away to golden horizons, the rising sun not hurting her eyes nearly as much as it had that morning. Her mood had improved significantly since then, and she was suddenly very thankful for Mina.

The last few months had been hellish, but now she could look forward to the rest of the day without any fear. The closest thing to a normal life was at her doorstep because of the brunette, and although the girl was annoying as hell when she wanted to be, Annie would never forget Mina's act of kindness when she had found herself at a dead end.

Now she had a real job, or as real as it could get with a wimp for a boss, a house that wasn't constantly being used as a hideout, and now she had a life. Annie sighed, brushing her hands against her hair briefly before the Ferrari pulled off, leaving the space by the menu stand empty. Driving ahead, Annie waited for the speaker to crackle to life as her eyes skimmed over the menu in search of the fillet sandwich she so wanted right then.

"Hello, how may I help you today?" A strangely familiar voice greeted, causing Annie to falter for a second, her eyebrows furrowed.

She quickly got her bearings though and replied swiftly.

"I'd like a chicken fillet sandwich." Annie began slowly, and as the price popped up on the screen she quickly added one more thing. "And a cold OJ would be nice too."

"Anything else?" The voice asked after a few seconds, the prices adding up on the black electric screen in front of Annie.

"No thank you."

"Okay then, thank you for your order."

Annie didn't reply but simply removed her wallet from her knapsack, taking out a few bills before riding around the corner of the building. When she pulled up to the registry window and looked over however, Annie's lips pursed as if she had sucked on a lemon.

Ymir, donned in uniform and all, glanced over and her winged eyebrows nearly rose off her head when she saw Annie glaring at her from under her hoodie.

"Well good morning to you too, sunshine." The older girl greeted with a smirk, reaching her hand out the window for the money.

The blond gave it to her silently, her eyes confused but her lips still thin.

"I thought you were supposed to be at Sina." Annie accused, watching as the freckled woman put the money away, dark brown hair brushing against her shoulders.

"Well Mina made Krista make me promise to keep a close eye on you." Ymir replied, turning to lean her elbows on the counter, chin in hand as she glanced behind Annie to the few cars that had lined up behind her.

"So you took a minimum wage job to do that?" Annie asked disbelievingly, eyebrows raised. "You could have just applied at the shop I'm working at then...Not that that's an invitation."

"I doubt I would be able to enjoy myself with only a snot nosed blond kid and a big nosed midget to keep me company." Ymir snorted, smoky eyes looking as if they were ready to light on fire with laughter as Annie's already narrowed eyes went even narrower.

"Fuck you."

"I've got Krista for that. Go get your sandwich Ann."

oOo

"Mina, you better have a good explanation for siccing the devil herself on me." Annie said when the brunette finally picked up the phone a few minutes later as she pulled out of the restaurants driveway and drove in the direction of the shop. Now that the sun was high, the streets were filling up and Annie sighed when the light ahead of her flickered to red.

"...I thought you told me not to call you this early." Mina replied after a second, her voice hesitant but amused. Annie would have rubbed her temples if her hands were free. Mina just had to be difficult didn't she?

"Mina." Annie began in a warning tone as she pulled her motorcycle up to an empty space beside the sidewalk, seeing the familiar 'Trost Books' sign a block ahead. "Ymir is the last person I want spying on me."

"She's not a spy." Mina protested, her voice indignant again. "She's just there to protect you."

"I can take care of myself."

"I know that. But I wouldn't be as concerned if you had picked a different name to go under. What were you even thinking?"

"Mina, I haven't used my real name in years. They wouldn't expect me to-"

"But it's still risky." Mina replied in a brisk voice, annoyance seeping into her tone.

Annie sighed as she dismounted her motorcycle and put her keys away. She glanced at the several buildings lining the street, her eyes pausing on a figure in black headed in her direction before she took her knapsack and began to make her way through the bustling people.

"Please, just send her away. If I'm going to start over I don't want loose ends trailing after me." Annie said softly.

Mina didn't reply for a long time. And Annie felt herself frowning when she realized her friends hesitance, and she stepped aside when the figure she had noticed earlier approached, assuming he would just walk past her.

"Mina, I'm serious," Annie started again in a firmer tone when the man left her range of vision. "I want Ymir gone-"

Annie's voice trailed off in surprise when she suddenly felt a hard force make contact with shoulders. She felt herself be shoved to the side, and almost instantly she crashed against the brick wall of the building beside her.

On reflex Annie raised her arms to take the hit instead of her face, letting her phone and bag drop to the ground as her skin made contact with the hard brick wall beside her.

Sharp pain exploded in her arms, but she ignored that, grabbing her things from the ground and standing to her feet before she spun to look at the perpetrator; hoping the bastard hadn't run off.

Her eyebrows raised when she saw the figure she had stepped aside for standing there, the rim of a leather hat masking part of his face. He didn't even look at her when she pushed herself off the ground. But she didn't care.

Reaching over with her free hand to yank the rim of his jacket, Annie forced the man to face her. A startled expression crossed his face, eyes meeting hers for a second before he nonchalantly looked over her shoulder. Annie's eyes went to a strange red mark on his neck for a fleeting moment before going back to his eyes, which hadn't turned from their line of vision from behind her.

She didn't bother to see what he was looking at and instead pulled harder on his jacket, trying not to seethe since he was so much taller than her and barely affected by her presence.

"Hey." Annie snapped, an angry shadow passing over her eyes. "What the hell was-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence when the man suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her aside.

The blond stumbled again when he released her. And she didn't have time to react when he took a gun from his jacket.

Annie didn't see the black weapon in time to stop him from sending a bullet straight into his heart.

A.N: Heyyo.

This story is going to be lightly inspired from the manga 'Eternal Sabbath', which I haven't read in years...but it decided to shake hands with my muse a week ago.

The song Inner Universe by Origa, mentioned early in the chapter, also contributed to my muse as I wrote this. I think everyone knows where I got the idea for 'ARBYs'. Updates will be slow and I hope you enjoy this enough to stick around for the journey Annie will be going through.

It's a personal headcanon of mine that Annie would be the sweetest and kindest person if she had lived a normal life with the love she's always deserved (imo). But an irritated tsundere Annie fitted while planning the story...

Thanks for reading.