Chapter 9: One awkward misunderstanding

A/N: Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, and they'll be a new chapter in January. Till then, enjoy the holidays and see you next year!

"Alex! Slow down, wait up!" Alex heard Mikasa shout from behind her, but simply chose to ignore it as she kept running in the direction of that blood-curdling scream. Lucas' scream. It still rang through her ears and mind, to the point it began to haunt her very soul. It kept replaying in her head over and over as she sprinted to the cafeteria, adrenaline rushing through her veins. And coming up to the cafeteria doors she started to see several familiar teens standing several meters below an open window.

"Alex!" She heard a voice shout, this time from in front of her. Her eyes soon began to focus and realized it was Harry standing there. With several others beside him, including Eren and Armin. The red-head ran up to him with Mikasa and the rest still trying to catch up.

"What's happened to Lucas, have you seen him?" The teen asked desperately.

"I heard him screaming and ran straight here with Armin. It was right after we'd found Ymir and Krista, but I haven't seen him so far." Harry said, a atmosphere of worry masking his face and tone.

"Eren, did you see what happened to him?"

"He climbed up the guttering a few minutes ago after we found out the door was locked, but I couldn't follow behind him because of my leg." Eren replied, gesturing to said leg.

"Oh no, what happened to it?" Krista asked, a concerned look on her face.

"I just got in a fight, that's all. It's nothing to worry about." Eren replied.

"Ever the suicidal bastard, aren't you Eren? Always thinking with your fists first." The group heard a male voice say behind them, causing Alex's head to turn in response. And turning around she saw two more faces from another world. One was covered in freckles, with hazel eyes and short black hair. And another with a brown undercut and light brown eyes, but what stood out most to the teen was his long face, reminding her of a horse's.

Then the pieces snapped together, and Alex realized that she knew their names. Marco and Jean.

"Dammit Jean, don't you ever shut up!?" Eren snapped back, angry at another of Jean's petty insults.

"Why should I?"

"Because last time I checked horses shouldn't talk!"

"Who are you calling a horse? At least I don't have an anger streak a mile long!"

"Yeah, well... You have a stick shoved so far up your ass you may as well be a javelin with a horse mask!"

"Is that so? Well, you're such a useless idiot you-"

"Goddammit, will you idiots just shut up for a second!" Alex shouted out, causing the teens to stop locking eyes and instead stare right at her, but hell she was too angry to even care at that point. "My friend just screamed his lungs out and could have been hurt. Or worse! If we're ever going to find him then it needs to be now. And I won't lose a friend tonight because you two couldn't learn to grow up and stop snapping at each other!" She yelled at them, her fear slowly devolving into rage. They stopped yelling in each other's faces in response before look away guiltily.

"Sorry, Alex." Eren said, his tone calm with previous hints of anger absent. "Lucas went straight in there to try and help my friends and now he could be hurt because of it. We'll stop acting like kids and help look for him, right Jean?" He asked the brunette. Though Jean just nodded in response, his eyes downcast and head hung low, unable to look Alex in the eye. "We'll do everything we can to find him ok?"

The red-head nodded half-heartedly in response, her mind starting to revert back to a scared and fearful state. Every fibre in her body worried for Lucas. She just hoped the group could find him in time, before who, or rather what dragged him away from her forever.


And Lucas did the only thing he could.

Scream.

The creature heard his cry of fear and pounced forward from the darkness, pushing the teen down off his feet and pinning him against the cold hard ground like a blood-thirsty lion disemboweling its prey. The creature stared at him, it's glowing red eyes aimed straight toward his chest like it was picturing his heart inside its stomach. Out of the darkness, its five-fingered claws emerged and plunges straight into his torso, ready to claw the teen's guts out and feast upon them. Lucas felt the hand go within his jacket, and mentally prepared for the end.

But it didn't pierce his skin.

Instead, the hand pulled out a cherry red apple, one that was left over from his lunch earlier today. It bit down into its brightly-colored flesh, and Lucas got a few glimpses straight into its mouth. Though the teeth within it weren't that of a blood-thirsty monster but instead appeared mostly human in the darkness. Then the hallway lit up again, the illumination from the moon passed through the staffroom window and out into the hallway. It's light once hidden by the deceitful clouds illuminated the creature. Lucas expected to look upon a monster, but what his eyes saw was something else entirely. Or rather, someone.

A girl with red-brown hair, mostly in a ponytail allowing two small strips to flow down her sides. And what had once appeared as red eyes had become a beautiful shade of hazel. Clothed in a jacket bearing the symbol of the cadet corps. Lucas stare dup at her and slowly began to realize that his eyes were looking up at the girl of his dreams. Sasha Braus. She was there in that moment, with him. They continued to stay like that for a few seconds, his eyes just continued to look up in awe still unable to believe his eyes while Sasha munched away at the remnants of the teen's lunch. She then stopped chewing for a moment and slowly looked down on him, her expression changed slightly showing more embarrassed side of human nature.

"Oh, uh. I - I'm... Sorry about that. Pouncing on you, I mean. My stomach was just really hungry, and I haven't eaten anything all day. Then I smelt your delicious apple and-"

"It's ok. I understand." Lucas said smiling, attempting to kill the awkwardness that hung the air. "We all get hungry sometimes."

Sasha then breathed out a small sigh of relief. "Thanks for understanding." She said, smiling. In that one moment, Lucas' mind just left it's thoughts behind somewhere, completely hypnotized by her beautiful smile and gorgeous eyes sparkling in the faint glow of the moonlight. Then his mind returns back to its thoughts, and every nerve in his body jumped in shock as he realized three enormous facts: He'd found Sasha Braus, ranked number nine in the cadet corps and the girl of his dreams. She'd stolen his apple left over from lunch earlier that day. And that she was currently straddling his hips

Then his face went to a cherry red shade, and Lucas could feel every part of his face heat up from embarrassment. "Ummm... Sasha?"

"Yes?" She asked as a piece of apple tumbled around in her mouth.

"Could you... please... Stand up?" She then looked down and realized the same facts as Lucas, and it became her turn to blush. Her cheeks glowed to a cherry red state, to the point it looked like she had a fever. And then Sasha jumped up quickly off him before offering Lucas her hand.

"S-sorry about that. Need a lift?" She asked, her hand outstretched towards the brunette to help. He eagerly took it and she pulled him back up easily. Which was pretty surprising, because the teen weighed about twelve stone which he knew was far from pure muscle. Then again, she had been in the military for three years, and all those laps Shadis had put her through probably helped.

"Thanks for the lift." He said, a cheesy smile plastered on his face.

"Don't worry about it." She replied, smiling. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Lucas Tanner." The teen said, offering his hand out towards her.

"Sasha Braus." She replied, taking it. "Wait, you said my name earlier. How do you know it?"

The brunette froze for a second, his mind thinking up an excuse. But what was, in reality, a mere second, felt more like an eternity to him. "Eren told me about you, I'm with him looking to find you."

"Is that so?" She asked, looking sceptically at him, with a raised eyebrow hinting of suspicion. For a second the teen panicked inside, if she'd already figured him out, things could have gone badly. Trying to explain things was difficult enough for him the first time, but even then he'd prepared himself first. Lucas thought she probably wouldn't take it as well as the others had. "Fair enough." She said, changing to a smile and no longer looking suspicious. Lucas breathed out the tiniest sigh of relief. Even if she still thought something was up, he had gained some time to think of what to say in response if she asked again.

"Wait. How could you smell an apple?" Lucas asked, partially confused but mainly looking for a change in subject.

Sasha just shrugged her shoulders in response. "Beats me, I just can. Where's Eren now? Is he with you?" She asked.

"Just outside, waiting for us."

"Have you found anyone else yet?"

"We've met Eren, Mikasa, and Armin but regarding everyone else, my friends are probably looking for them."

"Who are your friends?"

"They're called Alex and Harry, we arrived here together and odds are they've found someone else by now with Mikasa and Armin."

"Phew. That's a relief." She stated, sighing out in relief.

"How were you guys separated anyway?" Lucas asked, hoping to probe for more useful information to find the others.

"We just ran after Jean was hit by some... weird cart." Sasha said though Lucas realized she, of course, meant a car. "We ran in the same direction, to these buildings. And separated to try and hide."

"Hide from what?"

"That thing that ran straight into horse-face. That... monster would have followed us if we hadn't run!" She said defensively. The odds were, her instincts had kicked in shortly after Jean was hit telling her to run, and the others had followed her. Her instincts were reliable after all, and her friends knew that.

"The guy inside probably made a mistake hitting him."

"Maybe..." She said, a hand to her chin as she thought. "Well, if you're ready then we should go and find them."

"Sure, but knowing them it's probably going to be hard to find-"

"Goddammit, guys will you shut up for a second!" Lucas heard a loud, feminine voice shout from outside.

Sasha jumped back from the sudden sound. "Who was that?" Sasha asked.

"Alex, I think." Lucas replied.

"Why is she shouting?" She asked.

"I don't know. She's usually very cheerful, you don't see her get angry often." Lucas answered, confused as to why his friend could sound so angry.

"Maybe she's worried about you."

"Probably." The brunette stated. "We should check on her, odds are she's worried."

"That's probably the case. I'd probably end up shouting if my friend was in trouble." She said, looking towards the moonlit window. The pair walked over and looked down into the courtyard. Lucas' mouth gaped open in utter shock, as looking down he could see both Alex and Harry, along with Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. They'd also managed to find Krista, Ymir, Reiner, Bertholt, Annie, Marco, and even Jean all while he'd been stuck in-doors getting pounced on.

"Hey guys, I'm up here!" He shouted down, turning everyone's heads towards him. Alex's face lights up in relief while Harry breathed out a short sigh.

"Lucas!" Alex shouted up. "Are you alright? We heard you scream!"

"Don't worry, I'm ok ! And I've managed to find Sasha inside."

"Why did you scream like that?" Harry asked from below.

"uuugghhhh..." Lucas hesitated, reluctant to share that rather awkward memory no matter how much he secretly enjoyed it. "I thought something jumped out at me, just made a small mistake!"

Harry and Alex looked up, skeptical of him at best. "You're sure? It's unlike you to scream like that." Harry said, disbelieving his rather weak lie.

"Yeah, sure." Lucas replied, attempting to sound convincing. "We'll make our way down to you, then it's just a case of finding Connie!" The teen then turned his head in Sasha's direction. "How did you get in?" He asked, hoping to find an easier way to get down then climb.

"I made my way up that pipe there." She said, gesturing to said pipe. "You?"

"Same." The brunette replied, slightly disappointed. Lucas shuffled out to sit on the edge of the windowsill, and prepared to climb back down again. It was bad enough for him the first time, but even then it was just Eren looking. Now? Everyone would see if he seized up, even for a second. Even placing his feet, the teen's mind kept looking for anything to help him get down easier. But all he could see was a useless pool of water and that dreadful pipe.

"Wait, do you see that pond?" She asked, pointing out to the five meter deep pond about ten meters from them. Lucas had always thought it was pretty stupid for the school to have; a massive water feature in the middle of the school, surrounded by idiots who thought algebra was just combining Maths and English. The last thing they needed, was something for them to fall straight into.

"Yeah, what about it?" Lucas replied, though his mind slowly started to form an idea while they talked.

"How deep does the water go?"

"About five meters I think. Wait, why?" Lucas asked her, confused as to why she'd enquire about something like that. But before he could see her intentions, or even glance at the mischievous look on her face she put her hands on his back, and pushed the teen outwards towards the pond. It wasn't that far away, and her push was more than enough to help him reach the pond without a scratch, but the brunette still screamed reflexively on the way down.

And then his body hit the water like jumping head-first into a brick wall. In the struggle of the nights darkness, and the sting of algae in his eyes Lucas pulled himself back up to the surface, shivering from the night's coldness. It was still June, but the cold with no sun and drenched in water made it feel more like December. He grabbed at the nearby edges, and as he was pulling himself out of the freezing cold pond, only one thought could fill his mind.

'How could she tell I was starting to think that?'

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry about missing the deadline, my life caught up with me and I found it hard to finish on time. Hope this makes up for the wait. And sorry if you feel it was a stupid twist, but I figured that pouncing on/at someone with food is a Sasha thing to do (we all remember episode four!) Hope you enjoyed, and see you in the new year!