Author's note: So Annie has got to be my favourite character in Snk and i wanted to play around with her enigmatic self so what can i say haha? I love exploring the darker parts of the human mind so i figured why not! I also think Mikasa's and Annie's relationship to each other needs to be explored as well, i kinda wanna set an interesting foundation for their understanding of each other. Any reviews would always be welcomed as well as criticism of any kind!

Mania

Are we mass murderers? Or maybe serial killers...? Or maybe we are just simply killers. Annie wanted to ask them this but she couldn't stand any more of Reiner's rant on patriotism and warriors and loyalty. It was sickening to see how he'd fallen so deep into their bullshit... and Bertholdt wasn't any better. The brown haired youth seemed so distant at times that he might as well be a corpse like the rest of them. The answer as to what the three of them are, lies in humanity itself. Many would simply do the same thing, were they in their shoes.

After all, we are all equal in the eyes of death. We are all savages, no one is morally good in this world. Corruption exists everywhere, dwells in every corner and in every beating heart. Truth to be told, we're all going to die and frankly, Annie didn't believe in an afterlife, neither does she believe in a meaning of life. So all our sins doesn't really matter in the end, nothing does and nothing ever will. In the end, we are all mass murderers, in one way or another. She liked this nihilistic way of thinking, it brought a stark monochrome clarity to things, it made it easier to live.

Annie prided herself on her ability to disconnect emotions from her actions. It was a fine line, carved from blood and mental instability. She was never really a compassionate person in the first place, caring for other was hard. For some reason, she just couldn't put in much effort in social relationships. She was an introverted creature and mostly kept to herself.

Did all this make it easier for her to kill? Well... Annie had a skill with seeing the pointlessness in people and when you've already done it once, the following times becomes much easier until killing is only a minor muscle action, like drinking a cup of tea. Did it make her evil? Probably. Did she care? Not really. What she did care about though, was the suffocating reality of pretence. The game they had to play, where everyday, she had to become one of them. fit in with them like she was but another solider, like she couldn't just crush them like ants if she wanted to.

Annie didn't like playing pretend like that, she wasn't a good actor, much less a good liar. It was soul wrenching, asphyxiation at its finest. So she did what she was best at, kept to herself, focused on their mission, trained hard in the forest at night and ate properly. A routine she adored for it kept her world together, kept her from strangulation. Even though Annie didn't feel any sense of loyalty towards their home country, she would still do her part. As a titan, she didn't live long enough anyway and the mission gave her a sense of purpose. A guideline of which would surely lead to her timely death. It was all pretty meaningless either way, she would play her part until she deemed herself ready to die.

...

It was only a few weeks left until graduation, until she would join the military police. Annie skipped through woods, her grey turtleneck, littered with sweat as the cold air bit her cheeks. Her dark attire melted into the shadows perfectly. She made her way out of the forest to the lit up camp. The current trainees from the 104th squad, were all scattered around the camp like the ants she thought of them as. The curfew had been temporarily lifted in celebration of the holidays. Curiously enough, no snow had fallen yet but it was only a matter of time.

Annie recognised the faces of Reiner and Bertholdt, sitting by the bonfire laughing with Connie and Sasha about some nonsense. She payed them no mind and made her way over to an unoccupied hillside, a bit away from human interaction. Picking up a towel on the way, she draped it over her damp shoulders. The start were out tonight, shining down on them from the dark sky. Scintillating in uncountable numbers and framing the white demilune. She pulled her hair free, letting the blonde tresses fall down in short ringlets.

She briefly wondered if her Father sat, watching the same sky, if he even were alive. Knowing her father, he'd probably died from liver failure with the rate he drinks. A small curl of her lips, hinting at the slightest of smiles. It was not a kind smile for her fanatical father, if he died, it would surely be his own fault. Most would probably write the grin it of as creepy, just as Mikasa did in that moment.

"Annie." A feminine monotone tune cut into the stillness around the shapeshifting titan.

She snapped her head to the intruding asian so fast that a noticeable crack could be heard. Annie glared at her with silence that screamed murder. Mikasa mirrored her expression, only that she actually showed emotions. The blonde couldn't help herself as she discreetly rolled her eyes.

After a cold silence, Mikasa began her childish crusade.

"You broke Erens wrist today whilst training." Her voice was a frosty chill as she narrowed her eyes.

It was obvious that the trainee was rage-full. Hers was a quiet stormy rage, which would reach its peak with just enough prodding. Annie had never liked Mikasa. She didn't care enough to hate the asian but she did strongly dislike her. Her whole being revolved around Eren Jaeger, she was much like a persistent puppy, like an annoying mother to the boy. No wonder he treated her as such... Mikasa's one redeeming quality were her skills in battle but even those could not be counted on if Eren was in the vicinity. All her attention would return to him when it really should be on more pressing matters. Because of that, she risked the safety of the whole squad just because she can't stay focused on anything other then a scrawny boy with temper tantrums.

It was pathetic and weak and Annie resented weakness. The asian were swarming with weakness, it was so strong that she would let her life be ruled by someone else. She was nothing more than a puppet that couldn't stand on it's own two legs without the strings that Eren provided her with. Mikasa truly was the ultimate insect in Annies eyes and so she didn't deserve to be graced with an answer.

The blonde barely spared her glance as she wordlessly shrugged her shoulders, looking back at the moon.

"Do you think it's funny? Huh?" the grass made complaining noises as Mikasa's heavy boots came closer.

She planted herself in front of the seated blonde, shielding her view. Annie stared blankly up at her but her insides were seething with annoyance. Down below, Christa noticed the deadly aura around the two trainees on the hill, she nudged Ymir in worry and it soon spread to everyone else. The 104th training squad quietened down at the scene, it was common knowledge that Annie and Mikasa didn't like each other.

Annie twisted a little on her silver ring before standing up, meeting a pair of charcoal black eyes with her own apathetic gaze.

"What do you want me to do? Un-break his wrist?" She bit out, sarcasm coating her tune in poison. "He only have his own stupid inexperience to blame."

Mikasa's expression could at best be described as dumbfounded before i melted into an angry snarl.

"You didn't have to hurt him! You were only sparring, how the hell is he supposed to train now that you've crippled him like that!?" Her sneer spoke of an inner turmoil and her voice carried accusingly over the wind.

"Don't tell me you see him as a cripple for a broken wrist? Do you even know what a cripple is?" Annies tone was a silent one as it echoed of something dormant, unhinged and unstable. 'A cripple is what i will do to you if you don't scurry away like the cockroach you are.' -The blonde almost playfully fumed in her mind.

Mikasa wasn't very observant.

"You have lowered his changes at hitting a higher rank at graduation." She said instead, just as vengeful as before.

The blonde flashed her a the tiniest of grins, it was over before anyone had time to really take it in. She didn't often show emotions but her dislike for the asian was now too big to ignore. She briefly wondered what Mikasa would do if Eren died, who she would become... Though, she wasn't interesting enough to dissect like a lab rat.

Annie heaved a sigh, she already felt how pointless this 'conversation' was becoming. With another disinterested shrug, she turned around to walk down to the camp, a long, cold shower on her mind. Mikasa wasn't done, it seemed. A hand clutched onto the blondes shoulder, an iron grip which spurred her on to react with her engraved impulses.

She grabbed her wrist, twisting it furiously until a sickening crack could be heard. Mikasa didn't make any other sound but a choked gasp. Annie knew better than to underestimate the Ackerman and so she reacted swiftly, leeching on her surprise to effectively immobilise her with a kick to her stomach and simultaneously land a strike to the side of her neck. If the blow was strong and precise enough, it would shock her carotid artery and jugular vein and she would lose consciousness. No matter how much a robot she may seem sometimes, Mikasa was still a human and when her eyes rolled back and she fell limp in her arms, it was just proven all the more.

Mikasa looked almost peaceful as Annie lowered her to the ground, intending to leave her to the others. She had only sprained her wrist, so it wasn't broken or anything. It struck her then that she was actually quite beautiful... if only her lacking personality matched her appearance.

"Annie! What the hell?!" loud yelling engulfed her as the trainees surrounded her.

"She's only sleeping." Was all the blonde said as she turned around and walked calmly away to the showers.

No one dared to go after her as they fretted over their unconscious squad mate. The stares she felt on her neck was hard to ignore though. Still, Annie surged with adrenaline, with power, with the same feeling she always got when her hands had done more harm than good. Her lean lips cleaved themselves into a malicious grin, pearly teeth peeking out like fangs in the dark. She felt as if little by little, bit by bit she was slowly losing it. A scarring, paranoia coiled itself around her insides and a scorching thought invaded her volatile mind: Do they know?