After a while of sitting on the cliff in peace, Reiner announced that it was probably best to head back and get some sleep eventually. He stood up and took my hand to help me to my feet and lead me away from the cliff back to the path that lead back. I didn't really want to go to bed yet, but I know he was right. I had learned from experience that I didn't like late nights when I had an early morning waiting for me the next day.

"You know, you and your brother do look a lot alike."

I thought that was an odd comment to make randomly, but I went along with it, "Well we are twins."

"I know. But you and your brother could pass for identical twin sisters."

"Are you saying Armin looks like a girl?"

"Uh, yeah?" he said and I huffed. "Don't tell me you didn't know that."

"I didn't know that because he doesn't."

"He does. It's his hair that does it mostly, you know. His height doesn't help, but it's mostly the hair."

"Connie's shorter than him!" I pointed out. "And so am I!"

He squeezed my hand and said, "Don't get mad, princess. I didn't mean there was anything wrong with it."

"I'm not mad," I huffed.

"You sure?"

I gave him a side glance and saw him looking back at me with his adorable smile and I couldn't help but return it. His grin grew wider and he continued, "Anyway, I mentioned it cause I wanted to ask you something, but don't get mad at me."

"No promises," I teased and rolled his eyes.

"Why that haircut? Is he trying to look like a girl on purpose? Cause that's an awful haircut, even for a girl."

I shook my head, "He doesn't try to look like a girl on purpose, and he doesn't look like one. But I never really liked that style either. There's a story behind it, though."

We walked in silence for a few more seconds before he squeezed my hand again, "Well? Are you going to tell me the story?"

I sighed and nodded, "Sure. I've told you about my parents before, yeah?"

He nodded and said, "A little bit. Just that they died when you were young."

"They died when we were three, so there isn't much else I can tell you about them. I don't even remember what they looked like, but that's not the point. Before they died, my grandfather told us that my mother always insisted on being the one to cut mine and Armin's hair. She cut our hair the exact same, in the haircut Armin still has now. Of course, it looks awful, but she thought it was adorable, and I guess when we were toddlers it did. After they died, our grandfather kept getting our haircut like that. We were so weird looking then," I laughed, remembering. "If you think we look alike now, you couldn't have been able to tell us apart then."

"I can imagine. I bet you were cute," he smiled.

I shook my head, "We were weird, Reiner. We were twins who looked just alike, and did everything together. Remember how I said we didn't get along with the other kids? Before we met Eren, we were our only friends. We used to walk around holding hands and only playing with ourselves. When we got to be about eight years old I got tired of being picked on for my haircut and asked to grow my hair out like the other girls. Armin, though, he always insisted on keeping his hair that way for mom. He was always braver than me."

Reiner paused for a minute before saying, "I'm sorry."

"For what? I said I think the haircut is horrible, too. Don't worry about it."

He nodded and I squeezed his hand this time, and I got a small smile in return. "So, you said you don't even remember your parents' faces?"

"Yeah…. I know my dad looked like my grandfather. He was my dad's dad. And supposedly me and Armin look like our mom, but we have Dad's eyes. When I try to picture them in my head, though, I can't. When I try to picture 'mom' I come up with Eren's mom. She taught me a lot of stuff mothers are supposed to teach their daughters, you know."

"That's good. It's good that you had her, I mean, and your grandfather."

I nodded and said, "He told me lots of stories about them. Like how they met, and what they did. You know, you haven't told me much about your parents either. Is it… hard to talk about?"

We were nearing the training camp, and I didn't want this conversation to be just about me. I wanted to know everything there was to know about Reiner Braun and his childhood, and I couldn't do that if I just talked about myself.

"Well, it's a little hard to talk about, but not for why you'd think. Have I mentioned them to you before?"

"You said they were separated before you were born."

"That's right. I never properly met my dad. He abandoned us. My mom wasn't quite right, though. She… she didn't want to accept that he left us of his own volition, so she convinced herself he didn't. I grew up being told that he loved us and would be proud of me, he just couldn't be with us. But then one day, I did happen to meet him, and I found out that was all a lie in a rather rude way."

I looked up at him in shock, "I'm so sorry, Reiner, I had no idea."

He shook his head, "You didn't know, it's okay."

"How did you meet him? Was that before or after the titans?"

"Oh, er- yeah. Yeah, it was after that. He left us by skipping towns, and I uh… I ran into him in one of the refugee camps. I look like him, see, except for my mother's hair, so we recognized each other when we saw each other. I was elated to find him finally, but he didn't want much to do with me."

"What a bastard. You're better off without a father like that."

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "You think?"

"Yeah. I mean, being an orphan refugee sucks, I know from experience. But that man is cruel. You were his kid, and he turned you away after all you had been through. Even if he had accepted you, you would've found out he was cruel in some other way. And look at you, Reiner! You're almost grown and turned out perfectly fine. More than fine, you're great."

"If you say so, princess," he said. We had reached the edge of camp, and we could tell that we had missed light's out, so we stayed just outside of vision from the instructor's cabin as we snuck around to the other side of the camp so we could reach the barracks without being spotted.

"Thank you," he whispered.

I smiled and said, "For what?"

"I don't know, for being you?"

I tried to play off my red face by flipping my hair and whispering, "I try."

"One day, I want to hear all about how your parents met, and about your granddad, and Eren's mom, and every other thing there is to know about you," he whispered as he kissed my forehead. He was saying exactly what I had been thinking about him before, and a feeling of happiness overwhelmed me as I smiled up at him.

"Only if you promise to tell me more of your stories. Maybe more about your mom?"

"I'll suppose I can try," he said, and I smiled got on the tip of my toes to get one last kiss from him before we said goodnight.

When I woke up the next morning, I sat up and stretched with a smile. I got out of bed easily and was ready for the day before Mikasa was even halfway dressed. We still got up an hour earlier than everyone else to exercise before breakfast, although I had refused to do it that winter in the mountains. The cold had made me cherish sleep and I didn't particularly care about going out to run or train in the snow.

Mikasa was probably surprised that I woke up on my own at all after a few months of waking up with everyone else, and was even more surprised to see me so awake and energetic. On a normal day I wasn't normally fully awake until halfway through our workout, but that morning I was able to get going easy.

"What's gotten into you?" she asked.

I smiled at her and said, "I don't know. Just ready for the day."

Mikasa shrugged, "Alright then."

That day we only ran laps together around the perimeter of the camp. I'd guessed we had ran about eight to ten kilometers before going to rinse off before breakfast. By the time we got to the mess hall for breakfast, a few people had already arrived. I got a cup of coffee and a plate and sat at a table already claimed by Mina and Annie, who were becoming closer friends lately. I think they had similar sense of humor, and clicked through that.

"Good morning, Mina! Good morning, Annie!"

"G'mornin'," yawned Mina, who was never fully awake before eight.

Annie nodded at me as Mikasa sat down across from her next to me. "You seem happy this morning? What's that about?"

"I'm always happy," I smiled back.

"No you're not," said Mikasa.

Annie nodded, and it was probably the first time I had ever seen her agree with Mikasa, "You're never happy this early in the day."

"I just woke up in a good mood," I said defensively. "Do you know what those are, Annie?"

She rolled her eyes, and Mina snorted into her cup of coffee.

"Oh, I've heard of them before," Annie said with a sarcastic tone while nodding her head solemnly. "I generally try to avoid them. They say when you get into a 'good mood' you turn into a ditsy blonde with a big, annoying mouth."

"You're blonde, too, you know," I said, but I still smiled and laughed with Mikasa and Mina. I liked when Annie joked, even when it was at my expense.

Eventually we were joined by Christa, Ymir, and Sasha, and the rest of the mess hall filled with all the other cadets. Mostly everyone seemed content with returning to the same old routine instead of being up north in the snowy mountains. Of course, the same old routine wouldn't be the same without the two resident hotheads going at each other.

We were a few tables down from where the boys sat, so I didn't catch what exactly started the fight. I did happen to be facing them, so I could see Jean and Eren stand together, glare at each other for a moment, and then lunge. This time they both got in a few good punches before Reiner stepped in between them and forced them apart. Reiner was bigger enough than the both that he could shove them both off him and away from each other. After the fight was over, I could see Reiner giving them both disapproving looks and a short lecture about fighting at meals. This was also apart of the same old routine.

After breakfast, I found Reiner and Bertholdt in the crowd headed towards the main courtyard. "Good morning," I said cheerily.

"Good morning," said Bertholdt with a nod while Reiner just smiled at me.

"How was the library?" I asked Bert, who shrugged.

"It was all right. How was your walk?"

I hesitated, but realized that Reiner had probably told him that he came back late because he went on a walk with me. I wondered if Reiner had told him about what we had talked about. I hoped he hadn't told Bertholdt about kissing me. Bertholdt was the reason I had asked we not be obvious about it. I didn't want to hurt his feelings if I didn't have to. Bert was Reiner's best friend, though, and probably didn't think that telling him was a problem.

"It was all right," I answered. "A little boring, really."

"Oh? Reiner didn't think so," he responded.

Reiner cleared his throat and changed the subject, "Eren and Jean, huh? When do you think they'll ever quit?"

"Never, hopefully, it's the most entertaining part of my morning," I said.

Bert gave a little laugh, "Eren and Jean will never get along. You might as well stop trying."

"I don't care about them getting along, I just want them to stop throwing fists at each other every time they're within two meters of each other. It's ridiculous. They're going to get in trouble with Shadis," he grumbled.

"You were should let them," I said. "It'd make my day. And who knows? Maybe if you let them beat each other senseless and then get in trouble with Shadis they'll quit fighting for a while."

"I thought Eren was your friend?" asked Bert. "Why would Eren getting beat senseless and then getting in trouble make your day?"

"Because he's my friend."

"Jeez. Don't know if I'd want to be your friend then."

"Too late! You're already my friend!" I playfully punched Bert's arm while Reiner laughed.

Not long after that we had to line up at attention while Instructor Shadis addressed us, and we fell back into the same old routine for the last year of our training.

A/N: College has definitely managed to keep me busy this month, and so has being home for Thanksgiving. However, I was able to work on this chapter here and there. Hopefully y'all like it, and hopefully I can start working on this more frequently again after finals. Happy late Thanksgiving!