Chapter 25: Annie

Tuesday, December 1st 2015

Before this trip, I had only been on a plane once in my entire life.

This time was different, though. I was sitting next to my classmates and not my father or his friends. Or were they co-workers? I did not remember, and I did not care to remember.

The last time I was on a plane, we had moved away from New York, the city which my mother left me alone with an alcoholic monster. I was barely three years old when we went to the airport to leave for Washington state, where my father found a job (which he subsequently lost over two years ago). The memory, despite me being so young, seemed like it happened yesterday. The memory was crisp as a fresh apple. It was like a fairytale; magical, and ethereal. It all seemed like an adventure to me. A game of sorts. At the time I thought we were looking for mom because we were playing a really intense version of hide and seek. Not only were my innocent thoughts purged, but my entire life changed on that plane.

That was the day I met Zeke. The real Zeke, the one my cat's name takes after.

My father had fallen asleep after ordering one too many beers on the plane, burning away money that we needed to buy food, pay rent, and electricity with. My father was sitting in the seat closest to the aisle, and Zeke had the window seat. That was the one thing three-year-old me wanted, a chance to be able to see the outside from ten thousand feet up. It was a bright day, not that it could be dark above the clouds.

I must have sparked his interest somehow, or maybe I was annoying. Either way, Zeke and I ended up trading spots. He was the exact opposite of my father; while Zeke sported a well-kept beard, that was trimmed to perfection, my father had a six-o-clock shadow, and dark circles under his eyes. Zeke looked like the father I wanted to have. He resembled a man my mother would not leave, a man that kept track of his money. Zeke obviously was wealthy because he wore a suit that looked freshly pressed. His hair was styled as a CEO would; not a hair out of place.

With my father blacked out, Zeke struck up a conversation with me. Asked me about my family, about my dad. Zeke was very interested in him. Like, what kind of job he had, where he went to work. I did not know the answers to those questions as a toddler, but whatever I told Zeke, it kept him interested.

Zeke asked me where my mother was. That was when I started to cry, the moment I knew mommy was not playing hide and seek. As my father continued sleeping, Zeke comforted and consoled me. He asked me why I was going to Washington, and I answered him. He said that he was in charge of a day care company. Where he worked, I didn't exactly remember.

What I did remember, though, was him saying that he'd find a way to take care of me.

And he did.

Why I had been on that same plane as Zeke, the highest ranked member of the Syndicate, I did not know.

It didn't matter now, anyways. My path had been set.

"Okay, guys, can you like, move your shit? Before I lose mine? Thanks." Ymir's voice penetrated my thoughts.

"Ymir stop being a bitch," Connie muttered under his breath.

"Negatory, you bald asshole. Move your suitcase over. There's plenty of room in the cabinet," Ymir retorted. Her finger started to tap impatiently on the side of her leg, like how she always did when she was starting to become irritated.

"But I just sat down," Connie whined. "Can't you move it yourself?" Under his breath he added, "and I'm not bald."

Ymir pursed her lips in mock-thought. "You are bald, and you're a lazy shit. Get your ass up."

Connie gave a single grumble, but bowed his head in defeat, and stood up from his seat on the airplane. He brushed past Sasha, who was giggling into her hand lightly.

Connie grabbed his suitcase, which had a few zippers that were loose, and slid it over to the far side of the overhead compartment. All the while he was scowling. Once he was finished, he glanced over at Ymir with disdain.

"There, does that suit you?" Connie growled.

"You bet your monk ass it does. Thanks," Ymir grinned, which only made the vein in Connie's head throb more.

"Can you shits please sit down, and shut up?" Levi called from the front of the plane. Ymir snickered as she took a seat in between Marco and Eren. She chose the seat that was back from Connie's chair. With her stupid, little, immature smirk, she put her boots up on the side of the seat, and pushed.

"God damn it, Ymir!" Connie snarled and looked over the head of his seat. "You wanna fight?"

"I'd throw you out of this plane for a cheeseburger," Ymir laughed.

"I would do it for free," Connie said, beginning to crack a smile. Even he couldn't resist Ymir's playfulness. Connie looked over to the aisle where Mikasa, Krista, and I were. "Can you please control your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend," Krista responded promptly, and returned her gaze to the safety magazine she was reading.

And just like that, Ymir deflated like a child's mistreated balloon. She clamped her mouth shut, and not even Connie dared to poke at the bear.

With that small, mini-drama over with, I turned to Mikasa who seemed to be very distracted. "Are you doing alright?"

She looked up from her hands, which she had been fiddling with. "Yeah... I'm a little nervous about this trip, though. I don't know what to expect."

"It's supposed to help develop our leadership skills with all of the rest of the Army ROTC cadets in the country. It's a test," Krista explained.

"Yeah I already knew all that. But how are we going to be tested?" Mikasa responded with a little more bite in her voice than she usually had.

Krista, taken aback, stuttered. "Well, you can definitely count on a lot of yelling, from what I've heard."

"Seems like normal PT to me," Mikasa grunted.

I looked over Mikasa, trying to figure out what was bothering her. Something was definitely amiss. She was never moody, especially to Krista. I decided against saying anything to avoid upsetting her further. I attempted to comfort her with a hand on her shoulder, my thumb briefly stroking against the fabric of her t-shirt. She didn't even respond to the touch.

A pit formed in my stomach.

Something was definitely wrong.

It was about time, though. Things like this never lasted that long for me. They never worked out how they were supposed to, how they worked out in movies, or T.V shows, or books. My time of temporary security was up. I'm sure you're just overreacting... calm down... Focus. Put the negativity out of your mind. You have an objective, and you shouldn't have let yourself stray from it.

My own advice fell on deaf ears. I pushed the thought out of my head the best I could. Sometimes, it got a little messy in my mind. Morals were messy.

It was probably the worst decision ever to have Bert, Reiner, and Jean sit together. Their snickers and stupid jock behavior did nothing to make me feel better. They were acting like animals, and Reiner and Bert were not acting their rank, they were not acting on their training.

Armin was the only one on the plane who kept quiet. He had the window seat. His head rested in his hand, which was propped up his elbow that was up against the small window sill.

He must have sensed my gaze on him, and he dropped his hand and turned his head. He gave a small but warm smile. I tore my eyes away from the innocent-looking blonde, and felt my cheeks burn like hell. I ignored the way my stomach began to do a summersault. What the hell?

Just when I was really starting to worry about what was going on in my head, my phone buzzed. I glanced down at the notification only to see Ymir, who had forgotten she got burned by the girl she fell in love with, had started a meme war. I decided to sit this one out.

Soon after, more buzzes came, with less and less space in between them. Irritated, I unlocked my phone and put the group chat on silent.

"You guys never stop, do you?" Krista asked the eleven of us. "I could stick my phone up my crotch, turn on the notifications, and just let it buzz like a fucking vibrator!"

Jean piped up from the back. "I'm sure Ymir would like that." Reiner and Bertolt high fived him.

"And I'm sure you'd like Marco's cock in your face, Jean, but we all can't get what we want," Ymir sneered back.

"Is anybody in our Goddamn friend group straight?" Connie asked.

Eren, Armin, and Sasha raised their hands. Connie raised his own. "I see we're out numbered, here, guys."

Next to me, Mikasa's arm twitched. I blinked. Had I imagined her hesitation in not raising her arm?

The sinking feeling in my stomach was back again. Was... was Mikasa even into girls?

I shook the thoughts from my head, one last time. There were other things to worry about, better things to worry about.

Levi began to stomp down the aisle of the plane. "Cadets. You twelve are always the worst. None of the rest of the plane is going up in a riot except you shits. I am begging you. It is a four hour flight from here to Juneau. And we have barely made it thirty minutes in the plane. We haven't even taken off yet. So please, for the love God, keep your traps shut, or I'm going to make you sleep outside of the cabins without clothes."

A chorus of 'yes sir's' filled the middle section of the cabin, where we all were seated.

I could barely make out the sentence Levi grunted under his breath. "You are the cadets from hell."

With that, Mikasa gave a slight chuckle, and I joined in too.

"Classic Levi," Mikasa snorted in amusement.

Two hours later, it was pitch black outside the window of the plane. The cabin lights had turned on, and they shined a soft blue. The group chat had calmed down some fifteen minutes ago, when the meme war was won by none other than Eren, which had been a first. We were nearing the arctic circle during the month of December. It was only the beginning of winter, but it seemed like the sun had already fallen off of the face of the earth. That's how it was during the winter time in the arctic circle.

Most of our training, which started crisply at five in the morning, would be conducted in the dark of night. That was all of the information that was given to us by Commander Erwin and Captain Levi. That, and all of the cadets from across the country were going to be participating in this training excersize with us.

I worried about my cat back at home. I knew very well my father wouldn't have been the one to take care of it, so I had to find help elsewhere. I found that help in a twelve-year-old girl who lived down the street. I gave her everything she needed to take care of Zeke. She was so excited to just be able to take care of the cat. Her mother wouldn't let her even have a cat.

I told the girl I would pay her once I came back, but she insisted that she didn't want to be paid.

The guilt forming in my chest after that conversation continued to build. Such innocence that child possessed.

She didn't even know...

A/N: Oh my god! It is good to be back, guys! I missed writing. School work was unbearable, and so was playing volleyball in addition to actually applying for an ROTC scholarship myself. I finally was able to take some time to write this weekend. I should be able to update more often, I promise. The last half of the story (we are a little over halfway done!) is going to be a lot more easy to write, as it is... ah... action driven, shall we say. ~Chemistry God