"We need to talk"
"What about" he questioned.
"About why you're holding back in training" she told him, having figured it out a few fays ago.
"I don't know what you mean" he replied, trying to play dumb.
"Don't play dumb with me!" She snapped at him, tired of him trying to help her, after regaining her composure she continued, "Sorry for snapping at you, just tell me why you hold back in training, I know you do it for me, but I want to know why?"
"What do I say" he thought, getting more and more panicked by the second, he didn't want to lie to her, but he may just have to.
"I don't know, make something up!" Frieda replied with.
"Alright Krista it's because I uhh... I um" he stuttered out, struggling to think of an effective lie.
"Don't stutter, think of something fast!" Frieda told him.
"It's harder than it looks, she needs to believe it as well" he repiled with his thoughts.
"It's okay Nick, you don't have to be nervous" Krista said while giving him her signature sweet smile, "I won't judge you at all."
"Okay. Thanks. It's because I uhh... I like you" he blurted out.
She looked at him for a second, as if she was processing what just came out of his mouth, "I don't think you do"
"What? Bu... but I do" he quickly spoke, trying to get her to belive what he was saying.
"No. You don't" she stated.
"How would you know?" He asked her.
"Because unlike most of the people who have a crush on me, you don't stutter at all when you talk to me. Ever."
"Shit, shit, shit, she's seeing right through me, help me Frieda" he pleaded with her, desperate for some help with the situation.
"How?, I don't know what to say?"
"Aren't you going to say anything Nick?" Krista questioned, she could see him starting to sweat at her accusations, she could also see he was becoming extremely uncomfortable.
"Krista, why are you here?" He asked, trying to turn the conversation against her.
"I'm here to help people of course, why do you ask?"
"Because I don't think thats true"
"What do you mean?" Krista exclaimed, she herself now becoming nervous.
"What are you doing Nick?" Frieda asked.
"Trust me babe, I got this"
"I just think that if you really wanted to help people, surely you would volunteer at an Orphanage or a Hospital for refugees. Isn't that right Krista."
"I don't know what you're getting at but if you think that-"
"Is Krista Lenz even your real name?"
She was frightened now, after running away from her problems for the past few years, they were catching up to her again, she made a move to leave, but was stopped when Nick pulled her back and stood in front of the exit.
"Calm down Krista" he spoke softly after seeing how distressed she was becoming, "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to know the truth, I promise I won't tell anyone."
"You promise you won't tell anyone"
"I promise"
"Even Ymir can't know"
"Okay, just please tell me"
She sighed and took a deep breath, preparing herself to tell the truth to him after he had figured out that Krista wasn't her real name.
"When I was little, I lived on an estate in wall Sina with my mother and my grandparents, my mother would never talk to me and would spend most of her time reading or leaving in a carriage late at night."
"Why didn't your mother talk to you?" He asked.
"She thought that I was a mistake, and that I ruined her life. I would read books on how mothers would interact with their children, so I decided to jump on my mother to see how she would react to it." She said without the usual smile on her face.
"And how did she react, I take it that it wasn't a positive reaction" he assumed, given how her mother never talked to her.
"You could say that, after I jumped on her she threw me off of her and she said she wished she had the bravery to kill me before I was born."
"Holy shit", he whispered, "I don't know what to say"
"But after that I was happy, because it was the first time my mother had ever interacted with me."
"And your mother, where is she now?"
"She's dead"
"Oh, If you don't mind me asking, how did it happen."
She grimaced as she remembered what happened the night she was given her new name, "She was killed shortly after the wall fell, my father came to us, telling us that me and my mother were going to live with him from now on, but then a group of soldiers showed up asking if we were related to him. My father said that we weren't, and then the leader killed my nother right in front of me, he was about to kill me before my father suggested I take up a new name and forget about what happened."
"What did their leader look like?" He asked, but he already had his suspicions on who it was.
"He was tall, he had sort black hair and he also wore a hat"
"That must be Kenny Ackerman" he thought to himself.
"I always hated him, he was too full of himself" Frieda spoke for the first time during the conversation.
"Do you know him?" Krista asked, looking a bit saddened at the memories.
"Yes, but that's all I'm going to say right now, it's best we keep this to ourselves, okay?"
"What, you know him!?"
"I said that was all I would say"
"You know the man that killed my mother, who is he" as she spoke she moved forward and grabbed his collar trying to pull him down to her eye level. He remained still, not affected by her actions at all.
"Historia, it's for your own good that you don't know about him"
"I didn't tell you my name, How do you know me?" She was panicking again at tgis point, wandering how he knew her name.
"Shit, I just fucked up" he thought.
"Your father told me about you before I joined the cadets" he lied, hoping she would take him for his word, " He knew you were joining and wanted me to know just in case I made the connection between you."
"So you knew this whole time?" She asked him.
"Yes"
"Did he ask you to help me with my training?" She asked, getting skeptical of his reasoning for doing so.
"No he didn't, I did it on my own accord, I wanted you to have the choice to choose what you did with your life, instead of being forced to do something you didn't want to do." He explained to her.
"So he really doesn't care about me then?"
"I don't know whether he does or doesn't, It's up to you to decide whether he cares or not."
There was a period of silence as they were both contemplating what the other party had said to each other.
"Do you think that you were a mistake?" He suddenly asked breaking the silence.
"I don't know" she truthfully responded with.
"Well then, I'll be the first to tell you that you weren't a mistake. My mother believed that there were no mistakes in this world, that everything happens for a reason, who knows what the future holds, you may end up saving the world one day"
For the first time in a while a genuine smile found its way onto her face instead of the forced ones that her Krista personality required of her as she lunged forward and pulled him into a hug.
Tears of joy had started to come out of her eyes as she held on tighter and buried he face into his neck, the happiest she had been for most of her life.
"Thank you" she whispered into is ear as he held her close to him, feeling proud of the genuine happiness he had just given her.
"See I told you I had it covered"
"Thank you Nick, for making her happy again, she hasn't been this happy since I saw her all those years ago" Frieda said, smiling at the interaction between her half sister and her lover.
"What the hell is going on here" a voice came from behind them.
"Oh, it's you" Nick said as he turned and saw Ymir standing in the doorway.
"Shut up lover boy, what are you doing to Krista?" She asked, the jealousy clear and evident in her voice.
"He didn't do anything Ymir, he just made me happy, that's all" Krista responded with, putting her facade back on show.
"Right, just don't try anything lover boy"
"Don't be mean Ymir, he's really nice if you would actually get to know him"
"Yeah and have him confuse me for his pillow, no thanks" she said while chuckling at her own joke.
"Ymir!" Krista scolded as she elbowed her.
"It's fine Krista, I'll be on my way"
After he left he skipped dinner and went straight to his bunk that he had to himself after Thomas had vacated it. He laid down under the sheets, hugging his pillow as he drifted off to sleep.
(Later that night)
He had just pushed Frieda up against the wall, his lips rushing towards her neck, which she had tilted to the side to allow him to access it better, he sucked hard on her neck, eliciting a loud moan from the woman against the wall, he trailed his lips back up to her jaw, gently kissing the outline of her jaw intil he moved up to her cheeks, trailing kisses along her face until he reached her nose. He softly pecked her nose before attacking her lips yet again, he ran his hands through her hair while he shoved his tongue inside her mouth, tasting her sweet insides, he used the hands in the hair to pushe her against him, forcing his tongue even farther as she moaned heavily into the kiss.
He pulled away to take off his shirt, she used her fingers to trace along his abs, gently tracing the outline of his defined muscles, then she put her hand on his face, pulling him in for another round of hot, passionate kissing.
He was woken up by someone shaking him awake during the night, "Who the fuck just woke me up" he angrily thought.
"Nick, wake up" a hushed voice said, he turned around to see Historia gently shaking him awake, his eyes softened at the sight of her.
"Why did you wake me up?" He groaned out, still tired from the days training.
"Well, some of us are taking part in some games, so we can get to know each other better, and I thought you should come too, so everyone can see how nice you really are"
To say he was annoyed was an understatement, he was having a great time while asleep, and someone had decided to ruin it to get to know each other better.
"What type of games?" He asked, wandering if they would be drinking.
"Reiner never said, he just had some bottles and glasses with him"
"Fine" he huffed out, "Who's playing?" He asked.
"There's Me, Reiner, Bertholdt, Eren, Connie, Sasha, Mikasa, Armin, Ymir, Jean, Marco, Mina, Emily and Annie."
"How did you get Annie to agree to this?" He wandered out loud.
"Reiner said he had his way"
He got down off his bunk and they made their way to the back corner of the bunkhouse where they had all set up.
"Nice of you to join us lover boy" Reiner teased.
"What are we playing?" he asked, avoiding Reiner's teasing.
"We're playing Truth or Dare, if you don't answer or do the dare, you have to take a shot, alright, lets get started, Connie Truth or Dare"
"Dare" the boy replied, not wanting to back down from a challenge.
"I dare you to... sniff Annie's hair"
The boy looked in Annie's direction to see her glaring at him like she was death herself, Connie, valuing his own life, took a drink instead of the dare.
"Eren, Truth or Dare." Connie asked him after downing the shot.
"Truth" the boy replied with, earning a few boos from Jean and Reiner.
"Do you have your eye on anyone?" Connie asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
"What do you mean?" Eren asked, oblivious to the question asked of him.
"I mean do you have a crush on anyone", Connie clarified for him.
"I've never thought about that, I was just so dedicated to training that I never thought about it."
After a few more rounds with some people like Sasha being dared to raid the food store and Mikasa being dared to take off her scarf, which she didn't do, Eren now asked Nick the question.
"Nick, Truth or Dare"
"Truth" he said, not wanting to do anything stupid.
"Have you ever had a crush on anyone?" Eren asked, using Connie's question as he couldn't think of his own.
"Just the one girl" he simply replied with.
"Who is it" Connie interrupted with.
"Thats not how the game works Connie."
"Just you wait then" he replied with.
"Annie. Truth or Dare."
"Dare" she replied, wanting to keep the tough girl act up.
"I dare you to... kiss Reiner" he said with a smirk on his lips.
He had never seen anyone down a shot of alcohol so fast in his life, even Eren hadn't seen the drunk soldiers in Shiganshina drink that fast.
The whole corner if the room burst into laughter, partly becausd of Annie's speed at drinking the shot, and partly because of Reiner's instant rejection.
"Alright then Meier. Truth or Dare" she asked, wanting revenge on him.
"Dare" he replied with.
"I dare you to kiss your crush" she told him, trying to embarass him like he just did to her.
"I can't do that" he told the group, while making no motion to drink the shot in front of him.
"Why not?, you scared or something" she repiled, tring to agravate him.
"She's dead" he responded with, a dead look in his eyes.
There was complete silence in the room as no one, not even Ymir dared to speak, the tension only growing as the time went on.
"Alright how about a different game?" Reiner suggested.
"Okay" Nick replied, "As long as it's fun"
"Okay, how about, never have I ever, you guys know how to play." Everyone nodded their heads, at least aware of the concept f the game.
"Okay then" Reiner started, "Never have I ever... been in a street fight"
Eren, Mikasa, Reiner, Jean and Nick all drank a shot.
"Okay" Connie started" Never have I ever gotten a marking on my body"
Mikasa and Nick drank their refilled shots.
"What are your markings?" Krista asked, intrigued by it.
"Mine is a clan marking done so that we don't forget who we are" Mikasa told the group.
"What about yours Nick?" Jean asked him.
"It's a tattoo, it hadn't been done since the walls were built, until I asked for it."
"Can we see it" Armin asked, his inquisitive mind getting the better of him.
"I don't think that's a good idea Armin, it might get a bit akward once you all see it."
"C'mon, it can't be that bad" Jean stated.
"Yeah come on Nick, show us" Sasha demanded.
"Should I show them, it would likely create a very akward atmosphere if Mikasa sees it."
"I Think you should" Frieda stated, "There aren't a lot of Ackerman's left in the walls, you need to stick together."
"Okay thanks Frieda"
"No problem love"
"Okay I'll show you, but please don't make it akward"
"We wont" said Connie.
He stood up and turned around so he was facing away from them, he was still quite nervous about showing them but he shook it off and lifted his shirt off so they could all see his tattoo.
"Is he realated to me?" Mikasa thought as she looked at the beautifully done tattoo on his back.
"There's another Ackerman", Annie thought, "Looks like he's been holding back during the ODM training if Mikasa's skill is anything to go by."
"I never would have guessed that him and Mikasa could have been related" Armin mused.
"If he was related to her then why didn't he say anything sooner" Eren angrily thought while clenching his fists.
The silence created by the revelation was more than akward, to say the least, so he quickly put his shirt back on and excused himself to go back to sleep and avoid any further questions.
(The next day)
Nick was making his way to the mess hall for breakfast when he was grabbed from behing and hauled behind the mess hall.
He saw his would be attacker was Mikasa, he looked at her not knowing what to say until she broke the silence.
"We need to talk."
