Everyone had decided on going to an American style all-you-can-eat buffet for their night out. It was the best in town and a place they visited frequently.

Once Zeke had checked them all in and decided on a table, They made their way to the buffet, each grabbed a plate and filled up.

The group had brought what family they were able. Reiner had brought his mother and younger cousin, Gabi Braun.

His mother is just what you'd expect from a middle aged mother. Kind, loving, supporting. Well, at least to him. She was a very simple woman with very simple expectations for her family. Gabi, however, she was a whole other ball game.

She was loud, bossy, opinionated, and not afraid of confrontation. But that was what Reiner admired in her. She may have been all of the above but she had a heart of gold and would do anything for anyone. She had spirit, a fire in her that is often hard to find in a person.

Gabi knew who she was. Which was a lot more then he could say about himself.

The others brought their families. Marcel and Porco brought there parents, Pieck Bertholdt doing the same. Zeke, being an orphan himself, brought along his grandparents since they were the ones who raised him and are the only living relative he had left.

He also brought along his apprentice from work, a kind young man named Colt Grice. Zeke even extended the invite to Colt's younger brother Falco, who happened to be a good friend of Gabi.

"Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm starving." said Marcel as they all sat back at the table, digging straight in to their food.

"So what do you think you'll find on the island Mr. Braun?" Asked Falco as he and Reiner returned with their plates and sat back down at the table.

"Not too sure. Maybe a few buildings, some broken pottery, maybe even a few skeletons from dead bodies."

"Reiner Braun, do not say such things whilst we eat!"

"S-Sorry mother..."

"Well I heard that there are devils on paradis," Said Gabi as she sneaked up Falco, making him jump, "because the people that died there now haught the island."

"That's stupid," said Falco as he cross he arms over his chest, "there's no such thing as devil."

"Course there are Falco," said Reiner, "how do you think Gabi came to be."

She giggled as he ruffled her hair.

This was great. Surrounded by friends and family, enjoyment all around him. Reiner loved it. It was just a shame that Annie wasn't able to enjoy it with them.

But maybe, after tonight, things would be different.

He just had to hope that he lived to see the results.

Annie couldn't move. She couldn't speak, she couldn't do anything as she stared at the man she hadn't seen in so long.

Johann Leonhardt hadn't aged well in the time they've spent apart. Despite only being in his mid forties, he had the face of a sixty year old man. He still carried his cane around, for a leg injury some years ago. His once blonde hair now only showed up as barely visible streaks in the mop of grey hair hidden under a black, wore down flatcap.

"You've grown so much. It's...it's good to see you again Annie."

Once again, it took a moment for Annie gather her thoughts as well as her voice. "How did you get in." it wasn't a question, it was a demand.

Johann immediately picked up on the subtle hint of forced restraint in his daughter's words. She wasn't happy to see him, not that he expected she would be, given the circumstances.

"A spare key. Your friend, Riener Braun I believe, contacted me and told me where you were. I have no idea how he managed to get my phone number, but He told me where to find you and where you lived. When I met up with him he mentioned you kept a spare key hidden under the flower pot outside. I knew you wouldn't have let me in yourself so..."

'That son of a bitch! When I get a hold of him...!'

Wait a minute, how the hell did Reiner even get in contact with her father,? No one knew his number but...but...

'D-did he go through my phone? But that number is old and...' and it dawned on her that he never changed his phone number. Why?

Or, a much better question, Why didn't I Delete it in the first place?!

"Annie." her father said, disrupting her from her thoughts, "I was hoping we could talk. Maybe discuss some things and clear the air?"

"Why should I consider giving you the time of day?" was her immediate response.

This definitely would not be easy, trying to talk to her. Johann suspected years of resentment buried under the surface, he sees the anger and frustration in her eyes as they bore into his very soul. They were the same shade a blue like always, a winter ice blue, the same shade of his late wife.

"All I want is to say my piece. After that, if you still don't want me here, I'll go. I promise."

Annie's body was on auto-pilot as she strolled past him and into the kitchen and sat down at the dinning table, silently contemplating.

After one long, agonizing minute of slice between the two, Annie gestured for him to take the seat opposite to her.

"Fine."

Johann visible relaxed, grateful that she was willing to listen and took his seat.

"When you're mother past away all those years ago, I was heart broken. The woman I love, my soulmate, had been killed and I couldn't have done anything to prevent it. I was in a bad place, I wasn't fit to look after you properly. That's why I sent you to boarding school because they would give you proper care and stability. things I wasn't in a fit state to provide." he said, wringing his hands together, something he did when he was nervous if Annie's memory was correct.

"...Is that really the best excuse you can come up with?"

"I understand that you're angry, you have every right to be. But please believe me I only wanted what was best for you."

"You. Left. me!" Annie growled out through gritted teeth, her grief and anger finally making it to the surface.

"You left me on my own when I needed you the most! When mum died I was sacred and lost and angry! But the one thought at the time that kept me going was 'I still have my dad' or 'dad's gonna make this better'. But you couldn't even do that! You wouldn't even look at me for a whole week after she died, then you sent me off to a different country the first chance you got and didn't even bother looking back!"

"I know," he sounded so broken right now, just like her, "I know, and I'm so sorry. I wasn't able to get past my own pain and you suffered for it. I've failed as a father and for that, I'm more sorry than you could ever know."

Suddenly, Annie saw red in her vision. And before she could do anything, her body moved on it's own. She moved from her spot across the table and swung her fist right into Johann's face, knocking the old man off his chair and onto the floor.

But Annie didn't stop there. She bent down and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling him up from the floor. When she got him on his feet, she dragged him across the room and pinned him to the nearest wall. Despite the height difference between the two, it was clear that she was the stronger of the two.

"YOU'RE SORRY!?"

His only response a choking gasp.

"You honest think a simple 'sorry' is going to make up for all grief, all the agony, you've caused me!? I've spent the last decade thinking that I was all alone! That I had no one! And do you know what the worst part of it was!? That you made me think it was my fault! But it wasn't, it was because you couldn't be man enough to put aside your own grief just for a second to makes sure that I was okay. Because you didn't...because you didn't love me any more..."

Annie didn't even notice that she had been crying until her voice cracked.

She felt her strength fading from her arms, her grip on Johann's shirt loosening until she let go completely, her arms going limp at her sides. She looked away from his face to stare at his chest, unable to look him in the eye any more.

Suddenly she felt a set of arms wrap themselves around her tightly. Just then, all of her strength was gone completely and she collapsed into his embrace, her body still unmoving.

"I don't expect you to ever forgive me, I know I don't deserve it. Natasha would be ashamed of me for what I've done to you. I understand if you don't want to see me ever again, because if that's what you want I will walk out that door and never come back. But I what you to know that I always have and always will love, Annie Leonhardt. You're my whole world, don't your ever doubt that."

And just like that, Annie felt like a child again. Cradled in the warm and safe grip of her father's arms.

Despite herself, she wrapped her arms around him and began to cry like she hadn't cried before.

"How do you think it's going with Annie?" Whispered Reiner as he finished a second serving of Pizza.

"Not sure," Bertholdt whispered back, "I just hope nothing bad happens."

Annie stood by the sink as she used a damp cloth to clean Johann's face.

Once she had finally stopped sobbing and became level headed again, she notice the earlier damage she inflicted with her punch. She had got him right next to his eye, leaving swelling and a nasty gash just across the edge of his eyebrow. In her rage she didn't even notice the slowly bleeding wound.

Things had calmed down now. From a tense and unbearable atmosphere, a quiet and awkward one had took it's place.

Once she had finished wiping the blood from his face, she washed the rag out and set it down. She then made her way back over to the table chair, resting her head in her hands. She was exhausted, more so than she had ever been in her entire life. Both physically and emotionally, she was completely drained.

"I supposed it would be silly of me to ask if you're feeling any better now?"

Silly indeed.

Johann made made his way over to the table. He sat down on the seat next to her, looking at her with gentle eyes.

Anyone wouldn't think that she had just sucker punched an old man in the head.

She lifted her head from her hands, her eyes go straight to the cut above his eye. Now that she had calmed down, she was starting to feel a bit guilty for it. She had completely lost her cool, something she never did.

"...listen, about earlier. I'm sorry about th-." she mumble before being cut off.

"You've no need to apologies. Besides," he lifted his hand up to gently touch the skin surrounding the cut, "after everything that's happened between us over the years, this is the least I deserve."

That did little to make her feel better. But that could wait. They both needed to talk things through. If not, then all of this would be pointless.

Annie wanted at least some kind of closure to come out of this madness.

She decide that she would get the ball rolling. "Why was sending me away the best thing for me? Why couldn't you have just gone to a counsellor or something? There had to have been a better solution then just shipping me off to England."

He looked off to the side, a sad smile on his face. "Believe me, I wish that were true."

She could tell he had more to say, so she stayed silent.

"After your mother's funeral, I felt awful. I felt constantly exhausted and angry. Even the smallest little things made me angry and I lashed out at anyone around me. Do you remember the week before I sent you away? The night I yelled at you?"

It came back to her. It was late in the even, she should have been in bed but she couldn't sleep due to a nightmare she had woken up from. She went downstair, seeing as her father was still awake by the sound of the TV. She had asked him if she could sit down with him for a little while until she felt better.

He told her to go straight back to bed.

But, being still kid at the time, she perstisted and told him that she didn't want to go back up on her own. And just like that, he snapped.

He sprung up from the sofa, pointed up the stair and roared at her quick her bitching and that if she didn't get up stair he wouldn't be responsible for what happened next.

She bolted up the stair and spent the rest of the night huddled under the blanket, crying herself to sleep.

And for the first time in her life, she was afraid of him.

"When I saw that look on you're face I realised for the first time in my life, You were scared of me. No child should be frighten of their own parent. When you ran back to your room and I had realised what I had just done, I knew that you weren't safe around me. With the state I was in I didn't know what I would do next."

He was starting to get choked up. He looked back to he and gently put his hands over hers. She didn't pull away.

"I-I didn't want to hurt you Annie. I knew that if you stayed with me I would do something I'd regret and I didn't want that. So-So I got online and enrolled you into the best school as far away from me as possible. When I left you it broke my but I knew you would be taken well cared of. After that, I got help. I Went to counselling, I visited Natasha's grave so I could properly grieve and I surrounded myself with good people."

"Then you didn't you call me when you got better?" asked Annie.

"I don't know. I suppose it was the guilt of what I did, the thought that you would hate me for sending you away was what stopped me from coming to get you. And the more time passed, the harder it got to face what I had done."

He had done it to protect her. It still didn't help ease the pain she felt over the past decade, it did provide her with answers.

"It hurt me,"She began, "It hurt me when we got of the plane and you just left me at the school gate without looking back. I hurt that whenever I wrote to you, I didn't get anything back or when you wouldn't visit me over the holidays. I felt like I wasn't loved any more, like I had no parents at all. I didn't want to be around people because I believed that in the end they would let me down just like you did. I was anti social and bitter, I guess a still am in some aspect."

This is the most she's properly spoken to someone since she was a child. It felt oddly good to get this all off her chest.

"But...I'm doing just fine here. I have made friends, despite my anti-social tendencies. I've got a well paying job that I actually enjoy..."

"I've heard. Your mother would be proud of what you've accomplished here, just as I am.

She couldn't help it. She could feel the smile forming on her face, even if it was just a small one.

They still had a lot to talk about, to sought through. But this, right here in this moment, was as good a place as any to start.

"I can't forgive you, not yet."

The old man took his daughter's hands in his in an effort to bring her some comfort. "It will take time. But I'll wait, I'll wait as long as you need for you to forgive me. And if and when that day comes I'll always be by your side."

To that, she gentle squeeze his hands back and thanked him.

The day finally arrived for them to set off for the island. They stood at the docks as they all watched the sun slowly begin to rise above the horizon, a beautiful sight before they set off into the unknown.

In the chilly morning air, the group only awaited on one more to arrive.

Reiner and Bertholdt were starting to get nervous. With only twenty minutes before they depart and with Annie nowhere in sight, the were beginning to think that maybe their earlier plan had been a terrible idea.

The others had noticed her absence as well.

"I wonder where she is? " pondered Pieck as she adjusted her duffle bag over her shoulder.

"Same here. Annie's never this late to the meet up spot." said Zeke. He turned to Braun and Hoover, seeing as the were her closest friends, well, he assumed they were at least. They had an odd dynamic.

"Hey Reiner," he called over the the blonde, "any idea where she is?"

Why did he look so nervous at the question?

Before he could answer, the heard the sound of a car approaching. From around the corner came a taxi, coming to a stop just a ways from the group.

And from the from the front seat, came their missing companion.

And she didn't look pleased.

Before anyone could inquire as to her earlier whereabouts, she made a be line for Reiner. He looked like a man about to die by the time she reached him.

"Annie Wait, let me explain-!"

She punched him right in the stomach.

Reiner toppled over, landing on his knees as he clutched his stomach, groaning in pain.

"Annie!?"

"What the hell!?"

"Pfft, nice hit."

Reiner lifted his head up, daring to look her in the eye. "This for going behind you back about Johann?"

She nodded.

"And that I took your phone?"

"Yes."

He let out a painful chuckle as he struggled to his feet. "Yeah, guess I should have expected that. But going by the fact that a punch in the gut was all I got, things went well?"

"...You could say that."

The others looked on, confused as to the the hell just happened.

"Well," began Zeke, "If you two have settle your...disagreements...Are we all ready to depart?"

Annie looked to him, a spark in her eyes that he had not seen before. Whatever had happen between her, Reiner and the Johann person, it seemed to have brought a bit of life back into her eyes.

She nodded to him, her and Reiner walking over to the rest of them.

They were ready.

Well that was quick. I wanted to get the next chapter up before I went back to college.

Now about Gabi and Falco, I wanted them involved now simply because I don't see them fitting anywhere else into this story, at least not right now. And yes, I know that right now Gabi is now probably the most hated person in the entire manga, more so than Flotch, but I couldn't not giver her a place in this story.

Anyway, thank your for reading and I look forward to your feedback. Your comments give me the encouragement to improve and write.

See ya!