Trost was a much bigger city than Shingashina. And while bigger was not always better, Trost evidently had more scope than the secluded little town that Annie had learned to call home for the past four years. It wasn't particularly evident to her, but Reiner had been pestering her for months to consider shifting there. She lived so close to the town border, it would hardly make a difference to her day-to-day outings, infrequent as they were.

It did seem convenient to go; both her childhood friends were moving too, and the Town had much nicer doughnut joints, owing to the high student population of the nearby Trost University. What sealed the deal, however, was that it was much more convenient for all of her customers. Her customers being parents, who would have an easier time dropping off their kids to the more well connected Fitness Square in Trost. Teaching kids self-defense was not something that she had started to earn money. But now that it had become her primary income source, she decided it was best to call it quits as a waitress and expand to give more formal classes. Reiner had gone ahead behind her back and talked to the plaza owner to get her a studio room for renting on weekdays. He had argued for a better price, but it didn't matter to her.

Very few things mattered to Annie. Money was definitely not one of them. So while the city offered a better life, it was hard for Annie to leave Shingashina. The town had given her peace. Safety. And some goddamn quietness. Trost wasn't so kind. It was loud, and crowded and evidentlyfun.

"Oh come on, Annie. It won't kill you to come out for one night."

Reiner goaded as he went through her wardrobe to find something other than a hoodie. Bertholdt and Reiner had moved in the adjacent building a few months ago. As she settled in her new work routine, they had taken it upon themselves to show her around the city in whatever time that the three could get together, which admittedly wasn't much. Bert had sacked up and finally joined Nursing School after clearing the entrance test for three years in a row.

After weeks of studying, he had topped in the mid-terms. Hence, Reiner's insistence that they should go out and celebrate. As irritated as she felt with him snooping around in her wardrobe, she recognized that he was the only reason the trio managed to have some semblance of a social life. She made her way to the wardrobe and pulled out a black leather jacket and slightly ripped jeans. After she was ready, the three cooped up in Reiner's tiny car and made their way to the local bar. She wasn't a fan of alcohol, but Reiner felt it was called for by the occasion.

And she did agree; it was a big deal. Bert was one of her only two friends. And with Reiner working in a local construction firm, he was the only one getting a college education. Bert had insisted that Reiner should also join the school; that he was equally capable, if not more. Reiner had promptly declined. He still couldn't stand the sight of blood. Or books, for that matter. He was content breaking bricks and putting them together. He had once confided in her that he needed to use his hands and shut his mind down to function. She empathized. She was much of the same. It made her feel grateful to have him, even with his irritating habits.

Except for now. When she felt his boulder-like body slam into hers, and the bar seemed to revolve around her in a chaotic mess, she didn't feel particularly grateful. She could feel the regret form in her head, or it was probably a concussion. It was hard to find her footing with the alcohol in her system.

She couldn't piece together exactly what had happened. The boys had been in an argument, yes. Things seemed to have heated up, yes. But Reiner and Bert had it, and she was too drunk to help either way, so she had agreed to make her way to the car. She had almost felt sorry for the poor bastard who was going to get beat up by Reiner. Almost. Too loud for his own good, not a single thing in his stance that displayed he was a fighter. As she fumbled towards the door, struggling to find the keys in her pocket, all she caught was Asian features and a pair of steely grey eyes. And the next thing she remembered was the feeling of having fucking Reiner thrown on her.

Normally she would get up to kill the other person. Normally her hands wouldn't give up on a fight like this, her mind won't be muddled by alcohol and ventures down the memory lane. She wished she had had coffee instead. She wished she hadn't left the quiet of her room tonight. She wished she hadn't left Shingashina.

I need to leave this mess. Just let me leave this mess.

"Hey, hey. Annie, are you okay?" She felt Bert pick her up as he took her to the car.
"Mm fine. Who the fuck threw Reiner?" He pushed a bottle of water in her hands.

"Just wait here. It's cooling off." He left without saying much. Probably to check on Reiner. They must be good, the Asian. She, Annie wagered from her fragmented thoughts. Assuming it was her that hit Reiner. Not just hit him, threw him. Oh her. Reiner wasn't the best, but he certainly was good at hand-to-hand. Leaps ahead of Bert, who wouldn't be of much help in case the fight didn't cool off.

'He could get hurt. They could get hurt.'

She drew in a sharp breath of air at the thought. Her head cleared up as she exhaled, although she couldn't be sure of her coordination. Get up. She'd handled worse in the past. She got out of the car and made her way to the bar, her steps becoming steadier, her thoughts becoming sharper, and an almost animalistic rage taking over her, as adrenaline sobered her up.

She burst into the room to find the Asian and a short guy with shaved hair holding back Reiner, as he tried to grab at the fool who had hit on her. The fool, 'Eric, was it?' was also being restrained, by a guy with weird hair, though the guy couldn't restrain him from shouting profanities at her friend.

"You fucking bastard! I'm going to kill you! Fuck, Jean, let me at him!"

She ignored Bertholdt and a short blond guy, who seemed to be trying to talk down the argument to no avail. She went straight to the short guy holding Reiner and punched him in the face. He screamed as his nose snapped and blood gushed out of it. Reiner did his best to get the taller girl in a hold, and it gave Annie enough time to turn to the bloody bastard who had started all this-

"Learn to take no for an answer."

- and put another solid punch in his face. He crumpled on the ground, covering his face as blood coated his hands. She turned just in time to dodge a hit from the Asian. She looked livid, but instead of trying to hit her again, she went to the boy on the floor and fussed over him.

"Eren! Oh god, let me see it."

He tried to push her away, even as the blond guy helped him up. Bert and Reiner huddled around her as they watched the Asian woman cautiously. Reiner still looked angry, but his face was scrunched up at the sight of the blood. He was bleeding too. It simmered her down a little bit, his discomfort. It seemed like a good time for them to get out, although she wanted to repay the woman for her earlier slamming. The trio walked out of the bar even as they saw a few guys helping the injured boys into a shiny silver car.

"Come on, let's get going before the Police comes." Reiner said quietly as the boys got in the car. A little to her side, she could hear the Asian protest, something about accompanying the asshole. Her voice was strangely soft for her stature. She looked around as the faint sound of sirens resonated from afar. Her eyes fell on Annie, and something in them was set on fire. She made her way towards the blond, grabbed her by the lapels of her jacket and pushed her into a lamp post. Reiner and Bert tried to scurry out of the tiny car, but she could hold her own against the woman.

"Come on Mikasa, let's get out of here!"

The woman, Mikasa, ignored the voice and held her gaze as she defiantly stared back, at the challenge for her to make a move.
She tried to push her off but the woman slammed her back onto the post, pushing into her and bringing her face threateningly close to the blond's. Her breath was a little ragged on Annie's face. The sirens, a lot louder now, blared nauseatingly, smoke filled her lungs as Reiner fired up the car engine, and the combined assault on her senses set every nerve in her body on fire. There was a cold kind of fury in the grey eyes that stared at her, and it prickled at the skin of her back. She had seen them before, she was sure. She felt a combination of fear and instinct take over, and as self-preservation coiled her in, she pushed her legs up and braced her back against the post to kick her captor with every shred of her strength.

Mikasa was thrown off, and she landed roughly against the hood of a black sedan. Her features showed that she was stunned and in pain. She looked up to stare at Annie again, her gaze just as murderous, with a hint of contemplation. Her friends that surrounded the car now, looked at Annie with wariness.

"Jesus, for fuck's sake. Let's go!" The guy with the weird hair, Jean shouted as he helped Mikasa off the hood. But she never broke the eye contact. Not as he backed her to the rear, not as she climbed into the backseat, not until the last moment when she disappeared into the back of the car.

It seemed to break a charm. Annie rushed to Reiner's car, even as they saw a prowler turn into the lane. Reiner quickly drove them out of there, arriving at her place after a tense getaway. They settled in, quietly eating some food that Bert ordered in. Bert stitched up a large cut on Reiner's forehead as she iced her bruises. Reiner stole a little bit of pasta from her container as he spoke-

"You're a legend Leonhardt, you know that. Just when I thought you were too wasted to walk, you punched those douchebags open."

She chuckled at that, and after that the atmosphere dissolved into a much lighter one, where they talked about their plans for Sunday. Mundane things. Brushing off thoughts of the evening and the fight. They'd probably talk about that later. It had been a long time since any of them got into a fight, and she suspected they were as unwilling to get into it as she was. She bade them goodnight as they left for their apartment. With the quietness that followed, she was left with her unsettling thoughts, playing the event over and over in shortening circles. And by the time she finally managed to fall asleep, all she could think of were those grey eyes.

-XXX-

"Mikasa, will you relax for a second, please."

Jean gently pushed her to the couch in the emergency room. She went further back to lean against the opposite wall. Armin was tending to Eren, and Dr. Smith was taking care of Connie. Sasha had driven them straight to Armin's Medical College. Dr. Smith liked Armin enough to tend to his friends personally, without asking for details. He was his star student, after all. And a great conversationalist.

"Shit. Armin, will you be a little careful?"

Eren winced in pain, and Mikasa frowned at his discomfort. Jean closed his eyes to find some patience, but Eren had been getting on his nerves for the entire evening. They had gone to the bar to formally meet Sasha's new boyfriend Nikolo, who went to culinary school at Trost Uni. But Eren had become obsessed with the pretty little blond that was perched on one of the high chairs at the bar. And when Connie had annoyingly joked that he had as much of a chance with the blond as Jean had with Mikasa, Eren had made it his mission to get the woman's number.
It had gone downhill from there. Jean could see that the woman preferred to be left alone with her friends. But Eren had been too drunk and enthusiastic to catch the hint.

"You should have left her alone when she refused."

Eren looked up at that, a sharp reply waiting on the tip of his tongue. But before he could say anything, Armin interrupted-

"He's right, Eren. And grabbing her arm was crossing a line. You'd let it go if someone did that to Mikasa?"

Eren deflated. He looked up at Mikasa, who seemed disappointed by the description of events, but not particularly surprised. It hurt him more that she had probably concluded that it was his fault. And shit, maybe it was? He still wanted to punch the blond guy who had pushed him, but he would have done the same, wouldn't he?

"I… but she was…new.. just…very good-look"-
"I agree. She was beautiful. How does that justify anything?" Armin sounded exceptionally cross.

Her expressions were usually always impassive, and while her face did not show it, but Mikasa did feel a little bit of surprise at the blond's confession. Perhaps his anger was more than just disappointment in Eren's behavior.

She had given up on expecting Eren to be on the right side of an argument. Given up on justifying his actions. All the same, she couldn't let him get beaten to a pulp. It still nauseated her though, his actions. That he would bother the woman because she was beautiful, as Armin had reiterated. She could never judge these things for herself. What even was this beautiful? A magnet that people used to justify their unwanted attractions?

Mikasa knew she was beautiful. She had been assured of that when she was nine years old. She had her mother's face.

"She's a looker. Too young for my taste, though."

She turned to leave the room. To get out of her thoughts, but it wasn't very successful. Eren was safe. That is all that mattered. And with that sense of security, she felt her need to hurt the beautiful blond seep out of her bones. But it did leave her with a cold sense of uneasiness. She was definitely more than that. Mikasa curled a hand over her abdomen, where the kick had landed. It had been a while since she had felt pain like that. She considered getting herself checked by Dr. Smith, but it still made her uneasy to show any vulnerabilities. To show that she was, in fact, capable of getting hurt.

It did hurt though, all through the night. The muscles of her abdomen pulsating under a rapidly forming bruise. It fetched away all semblance of sleep, and with sleeplessness came thoughts of its cause. Blue eyes, inked in fear. They kept her up.

Sometimes Mikasa wished that no one was beautiful.