**Author's Note: This chapter contains the following potential triggers: being tied up and being kept in captivity (both non-con)**

"Damn it Ymir, who the fuck does that look like to you?"

"DON'T FUCKING TALK TO ME!"

"WHY THE FUCK NOT, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO FUCKED THE WHOLE THING UP!"

Sasha groaned and rolled over, something thick and dry cracking on her face as she opened hereyes. She tried to scrape it away with her fingernails, only to find that her hands were tied behind her, "Shit," she whispered automatically.

Suddenly, Sasha realized that she was still alive, and sat bolt upright. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her, she noticed that she was in a bedroom, sitting on the floor with her hands bound to a bedpost. She inhaled a deep breath, appreciating the feeling of air in her lungs like never before. I'm still alive.

After a moment she tried her luck with the ropes, but they were strong and tied tight. She should have known—though she had no idea where she was, she knew who she was with, and she knew how well they had been trained. She had been there. Slumping back against the cool wood, she listened for their voices again.

A door slammed, and heavy footsteps approached the room. She squinted in the dark and found a sliver of light near the floor—there was a door.

"What do you want to do with her, then? We can't send her back. She'd only tell them where we are."

"I don't know, I'm not the one who got her."

There was the sound of a doorknob turning. Sasha relaxed her body completely and shut her eyes. Playing dead, she felt a ray of light on her face.

"'She asleep?"

"I think."

"What do you want to do, Bertl?"

For a moment there was silence. Then, Bertholdt said, "I'm going to keep her here."

Sasha woke up to the smell of cooking meat. For a moment she was excited, ready to run to get ahead of everyone else in the line for food, but she soon remembered where she was. Her stomach sunk. Again, she pulled at the ropes. The minutes dripped by like tar in the darkness, her body cramping from having stayed still for too long.

After a time the door creaked open. Sasha watched cautiously as Bertholdt walked over to her and knelt down, setting a plate of food on the floor between them. Light from behind cast heavy shadows over him, but even in the darkness she could see that his face had changed. He hardly looked like himself at all; his eyes had lost their nervous flash, and his body seemed bigger, stronger. Even so, even tied up like this, she couldn't truly believe that he was her enemy. She had known him for three years.

"Untie me," she demanded as soon as he sat.

Bertholdt shook his head. "I can't," he said. "So I'll have to…" he looked at the food.

"I'm not hungry" Sasha interrupted quickly, trying to keep her voice from shaking. The ropes dug into her skin, and she knew that she had no control over the situation. He could kill her in a second. With her trapped like she was, he could… She grit her teeth. "Let me go," she said, straining against her bindings until the wood of the bed groaned. "I want to leave."

He cast his eyes down. "We can't do that. We can't have the Survey Corps knowing where we are." Bertholdt paused for a second, then bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Sasha."

"Like hell you are!" she yelled, kicking out at him. "If you were sorry I wouldn't be tied down!"

He caught her leg by the heel before it hit him and slammed it back to the floor, leaving a throbbing sore. She screamed in pain and surprise, and his eyes widened as if he hadn't known that it would hurt her. "I'm sorry," he blurted. "I'm sorry! But please, Sasha, don't fight me!"

He tried to touch her foot but she jerked it away, angry, terrified, pained tears streaming down her face. How did it come to this? She wondered desperately. Why didn't they just kill me?

"Don't fight me," Bertholdt said again, just barely loud enough for her to hear. "I'm trying to help you. Ymir…she could have ripped you apart when she found out. She was so angry. I'm the one who kept you alive."

Sasha saw him shifting towards her and spat in his face. "Get out of here, you traitor," she growled.

She didn't realize that she had fallen asleep again until she woke up in the bed. She scolded herself for not staying on guard, but, in the end, she knew it didn't matter. She couldn't have done much to protect herself anyway, and besides, she thought darkly, remembering what had gotten her there in the first place, she wasn't even supposed to be alive.

What the hell does it matter anyway?

Her hands were tied behind her head, her body in an even more compromising position than before.

In a bed.

Damn it! He wouldn't—

The door opened and she saw the tall boy standing there, carrying food again, "What the hell is this?!" she shouted before he could even make it through the door.

"You'll get pressure sores if you stay in one position for too long," he said simply. "I have food for you."

"I'm not hungry," Sasha barked.

He nodded silently, leaving it on a squat table by the bed. Slowly, he came and sat down on the mattress with her, holding her legs down one big hand so that she couldn't kick him again. "Are you ever going to eat?"

"Not until you let me go," she said, looking away from his worried eyes. He had no right to look at her that way. He was not her friend, he was a murderer. Still, she had never noticed before that he had such green eyes…

"I can't. I said."

"Well then kill me," Sasha said, closing her own eyes tiredly. "What else are you going to do? Keep me here forever?"

Bertholdt was quiet for a long while before he suddenly reached over and touched her face. Sasha's mouth dropped open slightly as she stared at him in shock, too surprised to jerk away. His hand was hot as fire. Leaning over her body, he brushed his lips lightly over hers, his warm breath rushing over her skin. "I told you that I saved your life, but I didn't tell you why."

Sasha held her breath as he leaned his head down beside hers, whispering in her ear, "I don't think you know how beautiful you are, Sasha Braus."

There was a sound outside, Reiner, or maybe Ymir. Bertholdt's eyes flashed up for half a second, watching the door, then he turned his gaze back to Sasha. She screwed her face up into a mask of anger, though inside, she had no idea how to feel. She was so confused. Did he really just…

"Get away from me!" Sasha yelled, her voice just barely shaking.

He watched her for a second more before he murmured, "Alright," and disappeared through the door. Again, Sasha was alone in the room.

She licked her dry lips, staring at the ceiling and waiting for the tingling in her stomach to subside. There's no way…