Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan.
Warning: Contains manga spoiler.
Chapter 1: She isn't what seems.
Eren was finished cleaning the base quarters, obeying an order from Captain Levi. He finished the task as fast as he could and headed out to the courtyard, eager to see which friends of the 104th squadron decided to join the Troop of Exploration.
He rested on the wall of the old building, waiting until the moment the new recruits arrived. He was surprised to see twenty-one people coming through the gates. He recognized some recruits, but there was a blonde girl who caught his attention, she was beautiful with big blue eyes and blond hair, Eren tried to remember to have seen her before in the brigade of recruits, but he was sure that would not forget a face like her, easily. He gasped as their eyes met and she smiled. 'She is beautiful.'
"Eren." Armin's voice made him break eye contact with her. He watched as Armin and Mikasa approached him.
Mikasa gave him a curious look. "What were you looking for?" She asked in a monotone tone.
"N-nothing." He stammered fearing that he was caught looking at a girl.
Armin looked in the direction he was looking at earlier. "Oh, she's Krista. She's amazing, didn't you ever talk to her?" He asked innocently, completely unaware of his friend's nervousness.
Eren shook the head in a movement of denial.
"Hey, guys." Reiner screamed as he approached the trio with Bertholt, not caring that they were interrupting their conversation.
"So you joined us, too." Eren said in a cheerful tone, greeting the newcomers.
"Yeah, we're going to have to look for your ugly face a little more." Jean joined the conversation willing to annoy the old rival.
"Shut up, face's horse." Eren snapped, proving that Jean succeeded in his attempt.
"Repeat that, you idiot." Jean replied, putting the face next to his in defiance.
"And there they go again." Connie's voice echoed as he and Sasha joined the group.
A few days later Eren was busy doing the tasks on the field. It was just after lunch and the scorching sun was making he feel more tired than should. He wiped the sweat from the forehead and wished that rained to have some relief. He thought seriously about abandon the task, but he knew the superiors would think of something even worse for him to do.
"I'd rather fight with a titan, alone." He muttered to himself, pulling another weed off the ground.
"Looks like you can use some help." A soft, sweet voice came up behind him.
Eren jumped up and put the hand on his chest, trying to calm the beating. He took a deep breath and tried to hide the fact that he had been caught unawares. And he cursed himself for not being aware of the surroundings wondering what kind of elite troops he was, if he could be easily surprised.
Krista Lenz chuckled, noticing his shock. "Sorry about that. I think if I was a titan I would have eaten you." She scoffed slightly with a smile on her face.
Eren looked at her for a minute before answering coolly. "All right, Krista, I'll take care of it."
The smile that adorned her face fell instantly, but she shrugged and left without looking back.
Eren watched the girl from the day their gaze met and he realized that something in her was not real. "She looks so ... fake." He murmured to himself as he watched her disappear. "No one realizes that all this kindness can't be natural." He frowned unconsciously. "Or maybe is only in my head, after all, everyone loves this girl." He thought of the latter part belatedly regretting to have her dismissed.
"Stop talking to yourself and work." The shout of an older soldier made him jump again and curse in a low voice.
One week passed after the meeting in the fields and Krista avoided him like the prague. She tried to be nice to everyone all the time, but Eren did not seem to like her. 'It's not my fault, I've never treated him badly.' Krista justified to herself.
She walked distractedly for the hallway and suddenly around the corner banged the head on a hard wall, but before to fall in the floor two arms caught her. 'It wasn't a wall, then.'
She looked up to find two penetrating green eyes. "E-Eren..." She exclaimed in surprise.
"Hey, Krista." He said in a hoarse voice.
She slipped out of his arms and stepped back. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to bump in you."
He noticed that she did not look him straight in the eyes and she had avoided him in the last week. "Um ... Krista, I ..." He scratched the back of his neck. "Why are you nervous? And why have you been avoiding me?"
'Straight to the point.' She thought. "I wasn't avoiding you, why did you think that?"
"Come on. You've practically run every time I show up." He said firmly.
She took a deep breath. "You're always so sincere, Eren. So you answer me why do you not like me?"
He widened the eyes not expecting this kind of attitude from the nicest girl in the pack. "I don't like ... it's not that ..."
"Is there a problem here?" Ymir appeared, interrupting the conversation.
"No Ymir. It's just a private conversation." Krista said waiting for her to take a tip.
"Private conversation, eh?" She narrowed the eyes.
Krista gave a shout of surprise as Ymir grabbed her hand and dragged her for the hall. "You can finish this later."
"Wait..." Krista shouted in protest, but Ymir did not let go.
Eren looked at the scene before him and breathed in relief. He did not want to tell her what he thought in her face.
The entire squadron was sent on a mission outside the walls. It would be the first time for the recruits beyond the protection of the walls. It would only be a recon mission, but all went wrong when a blond female titan emerged and attacked all relentlessly.
Unfortunately everyone broke the formation at that moment. Jean was having an internal discussion about who in the group where he was staying behind, after he, Armin and Reiner fought against the titan, resulting in the loss of horses and the wound to Armin's head.
Suddenly Armin exposed his decision to stay behind since he was wound and was going to mess up more than help, at which point Jean saw someone approaching and breathed in relief from having reinforcements. "You can inform Captain Erwin personally, Armin." Jean said with obvious relief in his voice. "There's someone from the squadron coming toward us. Is the.."
"Krista." The three of them shouted in unison.
"Ride fast. The right wing was... " Krista shouted at them as she handed the horses' reins.
"We know." Jean interrupted her. "Hey, it's my horse." He exclaimed in surprise when he took the reins from the horse that belonged to him.
"He came to me and was so wary. Did you fight with titans? "She turned to Armin. "Armin you're hurt." She said with concern.
"I'm fine." Armin reassured her.
"Why did you come to us, even with the danger sign?" Reiner asked.
"I saw the horse and I was around. I thought you guys might need some help." She said sincerely.
"You aren't only loved by people, but by animals too. Lucky for us, you're around." Reiner said with admiration.
"This is good, guys. I'm glad you're safe." She said with tears in eyes.
'She's an angel.' Jean thought.
'A goddess...' Armin looked at her admiringly.
'Marry me.' Reiner said to himself.
Krista entered the boys' dormitory waiting that place to be empty, since she was in charge of cleaning. She gasped in surprise and blushed to see Eren lying in the shirtless bed. "Sorry, I didn't know there was anyone here." She covered the eyes and returned to the door ready to leave the room.
He looked at her, acknowledging her presence. "Are you in charge of cleaning today?" He asked as he sat on the bed.
"Yes. I thought everyone was training." She said with embarrassment and bit the lower lip trying not to blush again if she looked at him.
"Do you want some help?" He got up and took the broom out of her hand.
"O-ok." She replied unsure of how to act in front of him after all the unsuccessful meet that they had.
Eren began to sweep the floor and after a few seconds of silence he tried to start a conversation. "Armin told me that you saved him and the other guys."
She stopped wiping the window for a moment and looked at him. "I just returned their horses."
He smiled at her genuinely and for the first time he saw sincerity in her. "You're a good girl, Krista." He said hoping that these words could redeem the way he acted with her before.
"Yes, Krista is a good girl." She whispered softly and returned to the task of cleaning the window and letting the subject fall.
Eren heard what she said despite her saying it in a whisper and was intrigued by that statement. He stopped sweeping and cautiously approached her. "Why did you say that, as if Krista was somebody else?"
She widened the eyes, surprised that he had heard what she said and looked at him for a few seconds, not knowing what to say until an awkward silence fell on them.
"Krista, you're a good girl." Eren moved closer to her until he was in front of her and insisted on the earlier statement hoping she would change the mood.
She looked at him and her eyes filled with tears. "I don't want to be Krista anymore." She said in a whisper and regretted having broken in front of him.
He looked at her in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"
"Forget it!" She wiped the eyes as if she had never cried and then wiped clean again by trying to ignore him.
He took her hand and stopped the movement. "Tell me."
She debated herself about speaking the truth for somebody, but she thought that could not stand this loneliness anymore. "Can I trust you, Eren?"
"Yes." He said with conviction and she thought could really trust someone so sincere like he.
"I'll tell you something I didn't tell anyone else." She said in a low voice.
"Not even for Ymir? I thought she was your best friend." He asked skeptically.
"She is. But you don't tell Mikasa everything, right? She's also your best friend." She retaliated
"Mikasa is more like a sister. Armin is the best friend, and I don't tell him everything." He said with a smile.
She smiled back and decided that if she did not tell him now she would go crazy. "My name is Historia Reiss."
Eren inclined the head and looked at her with a confused face.
"I changed my name when I was a kid, but I will not tell you the reasons because I think you already have too many problems to have mine included." She continued.
"So you were forced to change your name. And Krista is a good girl, kind and gently who always smiles for everybory." Eren looked at her as if unraveling a mystery. "I never really liked Krista." He bit the lip, contemplating his next words. "I want to get to know Historia."
She felt a weight lifting from her shoulders and was grateful that he understood everything without her having to say. She could not stop the tears from escaping of the eyes. "You need to keep a secret, Eren." She begged.
"I promise." He wiped a tear that ran down her rosy cheek. 'So soft.' He thought while allowing the fingers to linger longer than they should on her skin.
Krista felt burn where he touched and let out a sigh, she took a last step forward and wrapped the arms around his waist. "Thank you Eren. I don't really like Krista either." She unburden and allowed herself some contact for the first time since she was born.
He was stiff at first, but after a few seconds it was inevitable to return the hug, he found himself squeezing her small body even closer and bringing her closer to him. "Show me your true self."
She smiled even though he could not see it because her head was buried in his chest. "I've been Krista for so long ... I don't know what Historia is..."
"Ahem." The couple was interrupted and looked towards the sound of someone scratching the throats, they saw Jean, Reiner and Connie looking at them.
"Did we interrupt anything?" Jean asked in an amused tone.
Eren frowned at the annoying question. "No. We were cleaning."
"It should not be easy to clean in that position." Connie pointed to them with a smile and they realized they were still holding each other.
"Oh." Krista blushed as she realized that was still in his arms and noticed that he still did not have a shirt.
"I'll finish cleaning here." Eren offered to try to free her from the obvious embarrassment. "We finished this conversation later." He whispered in her ear before letting the girl go.
She nodded and walked away from him. "Okay. Thanks for everything, Eren." She smiled genuinely at him and passed the boys down the hall, running to the own room.
"Wow, who would have thought you had it in you?" Jean mocked just after Krista left the room.
Eren narrowed the eyes to him but said nothing in return.
"Are not you going to fight back?" Connie asked with wide eyes showing obvious surprise.
Eren sighed. "I have nothing to say to this idiot."
"That's surprising." Jean said with a wicked grin. "More than you having fun alone in the room with the cutest girl out here."
"Urgh." Eren groaned angrily and jumped toward him deciding that a punch would keep his mouth shut, but Reiner intercepted the blow, stopping the impending fight.
"So... you and Krista?" Reiner asked, narrowing the eyes.
Eren recognized that look of jealousy and decided to appease the situation, not wanting to lose a friend for a misunderstanding. "She's my friend. Now get out of here or stay in the bed. I need to clean." He screamed angrily and picked up the broom again as the boys climbed into the beds without complaining. Eren sighed knowing it would be gossip in the corridors from the moment Connie left the room.
Armin entered the room with an alarmed expression on his face. "Eren, Captain Erwin is calling for you."
Eren dropped the broom and followed Armin to the corridor, grateful for the escape. "What is it?" He asked Armin in a low voice when they were far enough from the room.
"It's about the female titan. We have a suspicion." Armin answered in an even lower tone.