This chapter contains content that some of you may find distressing, for this reason reader discretion is advised.
October, 1944
It took less than two hours to drive to Dachau. It was evident that the people of Mittenwald had betrayed them when the soldiers came looking. Annie could only hazard a guess as to what they had done with Armin and the others, as for her, she knew exactly what, or rather who, awaited her return. She was swept down the long corridors, Bertolt Hoover silent at her side as he led her to the man she thought she would never have to face again. The existing knot in her stomach constricted even further, twisting and churning almost painfully when the sound of classical music emitting from behind the closed door met her ears. The musical piece was eerily serene and attempted to create a calm atmosphere, one that starkly juxtaposed with the internal conflict going on within her and the rattling of her heart.
Bertolt's awkward height made it so that Annie needn't even look at his face the whole time, something for which she was thankful for. As the young man raised his hand to knock on the door, there was a moment's pause when she could feel his eyes on her. She wasn't even sure at that point if he was being sadistic, or generally felt sorry for her. In her mind, the former was most likely. It didn't take long for a response once Bertolt's knuckles had come into contact with the wood,
"Ja?" Annie swallowed upon hearing her father's irritated voice,
As usual, Bertolt didn't utter a word and took that as an invitation to step inside the office, but the girl refused to cower behind him and instead pushed her way forward so that she would be the first person her father set eyes on. A cloud of smoke hit Annie as she entered the room, it reeked of tobacco and she wrinkled her nose in distaste. Kommandant Leonhart didn't look up from his desk where a large stack of paperwork sat, at least not until the girl addressed him directly,
"Vater." she announced as clearly as she was able to muster. Her heart was beating like a drum, echoing in her ears and almost completely drowning out the sound of the music coming from the phonograph.
Cold blue eyes set on the girl and he rose to his feet, towering over her. The kommandant then turned to the lankier soldier, "The others?" he questioned stoically and was promptly met with a response,
"Detained, sir."
With a wave of his hand he dismissed Bertolt, who before departing clicked his heels together and saluted, closing the door behind him with a light thud.
The man's eyes were now on his daughter once again and the room suddenly felt terribly suffocating. Without a word, he walked over to the phonograph and lifted the needle, causing the music to come to an abrupt halt. Annie stood still, bracing herself for the wrath that would come her way any second. He turned and took several long, heavy footsteps towards her, unspeaking. She was waiting for him to scream at her for being treacherous, but he just continued to stare down at her coldly, the silence lingered on for several more moments.
Perhaps he's waiting for me to apologise? I need to come up with something—
Her thoughts were abruptly cut short when the back of his calloused hand collided with her cheek; the sheer force alone was enough to knock her off her feet. Annie fell to the floor, startled by the impact. Perhaps she had seen Mikasa's slap coming earlier, but despite how cruel he could be, her father had never so much as laid a finger on her before. The blonde clasped the side of her face, it was swelling quickly; as she overcame the initial shock, the pain started to become real. It took her several moments or so but the blonde composed herself, brought herself to her feet and straightened out her skirt. Annie's crystal like eyes met her father's again and now she could see the rage boiling beneath a thin layer, ready to erupt.
"How dare you!" he spat.
Annie slammed her eyes shut. Even as her father continued to lash out at her, yelling profanities she was certain the whole corridor could hear, her mind went back to Armin Arlert and the others. She knew there was no escaping her father at this point, but she was determined to do all that was possible to help them, even if it got herself killed.
"Look at me!" he barked, and the girl reopened her eyes. He continued the ferocious verbal attack on her until she finally yielded, no longer able to stand the loudness of his voice bang against her ears.
"I'm sorry, Vater," Annie forced the words through gritted teeth, doubting she sounded sincere at all, "I was mistaken." she bit down on her lip.
"Did you sleep with him?" the man suddenly asked, Annie paused. "Did you?" he repeated, she looked at the veins on his forehead bulging out like worms crawling under the skin and sighed,
"Calm down, Vater. You're going to give yourself a heart-attack." she muttered, avoiding eye-contact but with a still face, carefully masking her emotions. After that line, she half expected him to give her another clout.
Instead, a low, incredulous chuckle escaped the man's mouth, "I was right," he shut his eyes for a moment, "you slept with that…filth!" he hissed, icy eyes back on Annie once more. He turned away from her at that, apparently too disgusted to even look at her.
The girl subconsciously placed a finger over her lips, retracing where Armin's lips had been the previous night. The hairs on her arms and neck rose at the mere memory of it, "Nein." she whispered several seconds later, afraid that if her father believed it to be true, he would kill the boy straight away.
The man seemed to deliberate for a while, in the meantime the dead air became heavier, "Get your uniform on." he barked the order, breaking the stillness of the room. He then began to walk towards the desk to light up a cigarette, his back still facing her, "I'll have a guard escort you." the man sat and took a long drag from the cigarette, he then shot a look to Annie who hadn't moved, "If anyone asks where you've been for the past month, say you've been ill. Be thankful I'm not sending you to the dogs for what you've done."
Annie nodded, unbeknownst to the kommandant, the inner workings of her mind was already plotting against him. She wondered why the man hadn't had the heart to have her killed after bringing so much disgrace on him, but decided she'd rather not dwell on it.
The girl turned to the side and stared blankly at the wall, rather that, than look at her father any longer.
"Did you really think we could lose, foolish little girl?" he spoke once more,
Out of the corner of her eye, Annie could see his mouth curl upwards into a crooked, cocky grin. She knew he was referring to both the war and her running away.
But Vater, you're blind to see that you've already lost…I'm no foolish little girl. I have seen the truth of this war.
The phone suddenly rang, derailing her train of thought. When Kommandant Leonhart hung up, he announced that he would be leaving and that she was to follow until they met with a guard who would take her back to her room.
"I'm going to deal with your little Jew lover." he rose to his feet again, still smiling. Annie's blood curled.
"Don't—" Annie bit back the urge to plead with the man, knowing it would only make matters worse. She gave him a stiff nod instead, her face expressing nothing of what was going on inside. Annie knew that the only way she would be able to see Armin and his friends again was to deceive her father and pretend to be one of them. That meant giving a false display of remorse and bluffing until he believed her to be the heartless, devoted girl he had always praised her for being. Though, she admitted that it was unlikely he would be fooled twice.
"Don't worry, I have no intentions of killing that boy, Annie." the man left the room at that and she followed in his shadow, "At least, not for now." he muttered the last part under his breath, going unheard.
"It's all over." Mikasa mumbled in despair. Eren and Armin were gone.
Ymir rolled her eyes and sighed, "You can't give in that soon." she stated, it was as though she wasn't even fully aware of the situation they were in, but that was far from the case. Ymir was just good at remaining calm in trying situations; Mikasa herself was usually renowned for that as well, but what she faced now was beyond even her limits. She was prisoned in the place she feared the most and was quickly falling apart.
"Do you not understand?" trepidation was apparent in Mikasa's soft voice as she spoke. "We are going to die here." the girl was gripped by fear, anguish painted across her face.
"We are if you continue with that attitude." the taller woman stated matter-of-factly, far too blasé in the Asian's opinion.
"How…" the darker haired girl trailed off, "How can you be so calm, knowing that Krista was left behind?" tears sprang to the girl's eyes and Ymir felt her heart dip at the mention of her lover.
"I'm not calm." Ymir murmured, "I'm just trying to be, for my sake as well as Krista's."
"I see," the Asian girl brought a hand up to run through her hair, forgetting for a fraction of a second that her silky black locks no longer existed, having been shaved off unceremoniously shortly after arriving – the two girls had also been stripped of their clothing, forced to wear a shirt and striped pants, and were given badges, though not the same. Mikasa wore a red triangle, symbolising her status as an 'enemy of the state', whereas Ymir was given a brown one after she was identified as being of Roma origin, or as they had put it 'a gypsy'.
The harsh reminder struck Mikasa to the core and she didn't hold back the tears as they began to flood down her cheeks. She brought her legs up to meet her chest and bawled into her knees. Ymir frowned and reluctantly moved closer, hesitating only for a second or two before wrapping an arm around her,
"Be strong, Mikasa. If you stick this out for a little bit, just until the war ends, you'll see Eren again…" Ymir groaned, knowing all too well she wasn't suited for this position. She didn't want to show that she cared.
"I wonder what they did with Eren and Armin," Mikasa spoke through broken sobs,
"They'll be with the other men." Ymir said arduously, Mikasa continued to cry.
"My father died in a prison," she went on, "I do not wish to suffer the same fate."
Ymir stayed quiet, seemingly lost in thought; her own family had been imprisoned for being Roma years ago. She had been lucky to escape capture that time around and felt bitter for winding up suffering the same fate in the end. She heavily doubted she would ever see them again and although she thought of them often, it never became any less painful to remember. Their existence had most likely been wiped off of the face of the earth, and even though she knew the harsh reality of it, sometimes she hoped that maybe one day she would meet them again. But perhaps it wasn't to be in this lifetime.
"You won't. We'll get out of here alive." The freckled woman announced with a sudden surge of determination. She had lost her family once, she wasn't about to lose Historia. Her thoughts wandered off and honed in on the beefy soldier who had spared the petite girl, the reason to why he did such an act plagued the young woman even well after lights out, when it was still and quiet, except for the snores and groans of other inmates and Mikasa's muffled weeping.
Reiner Braun led the two boys to be classified and while Eren was told to march on to be stripped and shaved, Armin was held back. The darker haired teen was sent down a different path, uncharacteristically quiet. It was only when the blond boy was almost out of sight that Eren began to protest against the confines of his cuffs and the two guards flanking him. Without being able to see Armin, he became fully aware of the predicament he faced. The separation from his best friend had left him feeling completely torn and he thrashed and screamed after him, "Armin!"
The boy could be heard long after he disappeared from Armin's field of view and he prayed to God that Eren would try to conform, shut up for once and spare himself from being beaten or butchered.
"Eren…Mikasa…" their names came out in the sound of a whimper as tears pricked in the corners of his eyes. Armin was smart enough to work out why he wouldn't be going where Eren and the other male prisoners were.
I must meet with him, right? The soldiers would have killed me back at the barn if he hadn't wanted me alive. Armin thought carefully, and the image of Annie's father loomed over him in his mind. That cursed image had haunted him for a decade. He wants to see me; he wants to deal with me himself.
Armin peered up at the brawny soldier beside him and furrowed his brows, "You know this is wrong. I know you do." his voice was surprisingly even considering the circumstances.
"Be quiet, Arlert." Reiner commanded without even giving the boy a glance, Armin complied, not wanting to reveal anything about Krista, but mindful that the solider must have consciously protected the girl. After all, she had been in the house when they had stormed in.
As the minutes ticked on, it dawned on the boy that he would most likely be dead within the next half hour and although the horror of it was almost crippling, he still persevered with his friends in mind, "I don't care about myself. But please," he begged, "Please let my friends go."
"I admire your courage, Arlert but there's nothing I can do. It's not my fault, are you forgetting it was little Annie who sold your friends out?"
Tears spilled over and the boy cursed, "No! She's…Annie's a good person."
"Ha, Annie is a soldier. No, I think it's more accurate to label that girl as a warrior. She's as cold as ice, just like her father. She's done her duty and that's all there is to it."
"You're wrong!" Armin raised his voice, "I knew about it, she confessed…she no longer wanted to follow through with it."
"Perhaps that is just what she wanted you to believe. Don't underestimate her."
"You'll see." he trembled with both fear and rage, "You don't know the real Annie Leonhart." the boy choked back another sob and straightened his posture.
Annie is a good person. She won't just sit by and let this happen. I know her, I've seen into her soul.
Both young men momentarily froze when they heard the sound of hefty, boot-clad footsteps approaching them from a distance.
"Ah, he's here. This is goodbye, Arlert."