Chapter 30
"To be honest, for a moment I thought we'd have a war in our hands" Jonas admits as he takes a card, smirking. Sasha glares at the cards, feeling like she'd lose soon if this kept up.
"Me too, but everything turned out well… or at least well enough" the Eldian answers, putting down a card from her hand before taking a new one "Though it's a shame we lost our chance to put a base in Marley for the time being."
"You sound like you wanted to go" Jonas comments, lifting his gaze from the cards "Did you?"
"I did, though not right away" Sasha admits, not even hesitating on telling him "I want to stay here until Armin's time is up so that I can see him as often as possible."
"Ah" Jonas lets out. At first glance, it would look like he's just thinking of the next move on their game, but Sasha knows better. She can tell he wants to say something, but is hesitating for one reason or the other. Finally, he seems to make up his mind "…Are you and the Colossal Titan close?"
"Colossal Titan" he says. Not Armin, or even him, but Colossal Titan. Sasha supposed Jonas still had trouble seeing those with actual titan abilities as humans. It made her irritated and uncomfortable, but she knew now was not a good time to address the issue. Instead, she chooses to answers his question.
"Yeah" she says "We've known each other since we were kids; we took military training together. It's not like we've ever been best friends or anything, but we just… grew close over the years, I guess. He's like family to me."
"A simple "yes" would've been enough, you know" Jonas snorts, causing Sasha to blush "You're oversharing."
"Well I'm sorry if that was too many words for you to understand" she says, sticking out her tongue "I'll stick to one word replies to you from now on, then!"
"Like you'd be capable of keeping from babbling" Jonas laughs, tossing away a card and taking a new one. With a grin, he holds out his four jacks "You lose."
Sasha groans.
"Best out of three?"
"Sure"
XXXXX
"Why are you following me?" Nikolo asks as he runs his usual route, Ulrich right beside him.
"I'm not following you, I'm just out for a run just like you" his brother denies. The soldier rolls his eyes, saying: "You never go out for a run, let alone with me. Why the sudden change?"
Nikolo had a feeling that he knew, of course. He just figured that faking ignorant was the best move right now.
"Are you afraid I'll be able to leave you behind, oh great and trained soldier?" Ulrich mocked. His little brother snorted.
"You, outrunning me?" he says "There's no way that'll ever happen again."
"Oh yeah?" Ulrich smirks "Try to keep up!"
He takes off, and Nikolo rolls his eyes before running after his brother. He catches up, keeping the older one's pace with ease. It doesn't seem to be his brother's full speed, but he's definitely putting in more effort than the trained soldier. There was no doubt Nikolo was the faster one with more stamina, and he was not above rubbing it to his brother's face, military training or not.
"This is the pace for a nice little jog; how about we run for real?" he asks, picking up speed without waiting for an answer. Ulrich catches up soon, but Nikolo can tell that this is the max speed that his brother is still comfortable with. But it wasn't his max speed, not even close. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to ditch his brother, even if just for a little while.
"Wanna go faster?" the soldier asks, knowing that Ulrich's pride wouldn't allow him to disagree.
"Sure" he breaths out, but doesn't bother to hide his annoyance. Nikolo laughs.
"Try to keep up" he calls out before sprinting off as fast as his legs could go. Of course, he couldn't keep up this pace for long, but long enough to leave his brother behind for a while. And that was the point.
"Already out of his sight" Nikolo snorts. Knowing it'd take the man a while, he slows down enough to be comfortable, but still continues at a respectable pace.
"Just now you ran like you were being chased" Helmut says as he catches up, startling Nikolo. The soldier hadn't noticed him coming "Trouble?"
Nikolo looks behind them, wanting to make sure they weren't in Ulrich's line of sight. They weren't; all he saw was Herbert standing at an intersection, looking to the direction he'd come from. Helmut had snuck up on him from there, then.
"Not really, my brother just decided to tag along for the run" he tells "But unlike yours, mine is pretty slow."
"Left him behind on purpose, didn't you?" Helmut snickers "Will he catch up?"
"Eventually, yeah" Nikolo says, getting a bit uncomfortable "So…"
"Got it" the Eldian catches on, motioning for his own brother to catch up, letting out a low whistle when the younger man doesn't notice. That Herbert does hear, and runs to join the other two.
"Talk to you later, then" Helmut says, and the two runs ahead, Herbert following his brother after giving Nikolo a nod for a greeting. As he watches them go, the soldier realizes just how fast they are for a pair of civilians. And he knows that one of the two is actually far faster than what he sees now, even faster than him. It was impressive.
Deciding to have some mercy on his brother, Nikolo lowers his speed to a calm jog, enjoying the beautiful evening.
"You did that on purpose!" Ulrich pants as he finally reaches him, stopping to catch his breath. Nikolo, also stopping, smirks "I'm not denying that."
"Do you treat your coworkers like this, too?"
"They can keep up with me" Nikolo answered. To be honest, there were many who'd leave him behind if they ran at full speed, but his brother didn't need to know that "You've gotten out of shape."
"No, I haven't; I just happen to be a civilian" Ulrich denies with a scoff "Do I need to remind you that you didn't manage to outrun me even once before you started military training? In fact, I think this might be the first time you manage to outrun me!"
"Huh" Nikolo blinks "Now that you mention it, I suppose it is."
A small part of him now wondered if he could beat his older brother in a fight now, unlike when they were kids. The answer was probably yes, again due to his military training. And this was something he couldn't test, for he could get in trouble.
"You ready to continue?"
"Of course," despite saying this, Ulrich still looked rather out of breath. Well, he supposed he'd rubbed his superiority in this to the man's face enough already… for now. If he tagged along again, then that'd be a different story. Deciding to have mercy on him for the rest of the day, Nikolo started a lazy jog. His brother joined him, able to keep up with his pace, his breathing eventually evening out. The soldier would've wanted to go a little faster now, but figured that taking it easy this one time wouldn't do any harm.
"How's work going? Any trouble?" Ulrich asks out of the blue. Nikolo raises an eyebrow, but answers anyway.
"Nothing to be concerned about" he says "Everything fine with the company?"
Ulrich snorts.
"If there wasn't, you would've already heard of it, I'm sure. You know how father's like" he says, and Nikolo chuckles "Oh yeah, you can tell from his face when the company's in trouble."
"Or when we've made a great deal" Ulrich adds, and they both laugh.
"What's so funny?" Nikolo heard a voice from behind "Care to share?"
The soldier looked over his shoulder, only to see his partner in the field. As much as Nikolo liked Thomas, he couldn't help but frown at the sight of him. The man didn't run these routes for fun, he knew. That meant he had a specific reason to be here, and from his recent actions, Nikolo knew he was the reason. He should have remembered that his brother wasn't his only problem.
He knew Thomas meant well, just like his brother did, but really, he wished they'd go about it some other way. Especially as all three of them stopped, Nikolo didn't miss the way Thomas' eyes darted to Ulrich's forearm, surprise briefly showing on his face. He'd obviously thought he'd caught his partner with an Eldian again.
"Just an inside joke among family" Nikolo replied, not letting his annoyance show, or so he hoped "This is my older brother, Ulrich. And this is my current partner in the field, Thomas."
"Good to meet someone who's watching my brother's back" Ulrich said "I hope he's not too much trouble for you."
"Not at all" Thomas answers, much to Nikolo's relief. For a moment, he'd actually feared the man would claim the opposite "He's one of the best."
Nikolo wasn't sure if the man was being sincere or mocking. He sounded like the former, but he'd been wrong before.
"Good to hear; he has a tendency to get in to trouble"
Nikolo couldn't deny that. And from the looks of it, Thomas wanted to agree, though fortunately, he kept his mouth shut. Wanting to change the subject, he asks: "Why are you running all the way here? I'm pretty sure you're not from the area."
"I had some business in around here" Thomas answers smoothly, but Nikolo just knows it's a lie "And I had some time to spare, so I thought that stretching my legs would be a good idea."
"Right" the other soldier says, but gives his partner a look that tells him he's not buying it.
Apparently, Ulrich can sense the tension as well as he abruptly changes the subject by asking: "So, which of you two is faster?"
Nikolo blinks, and he and Thomas look at each other. Thomas smirks, and Nikolo narrows his eyes at him, until he can no longer hold back his smile.
"Me" they both say in unison. Ulrich chuckles "One of you is overestimating themselves. Let's see which of you it is."
The two soldiers had no objections.
XXXXX
"Finally cleared from bedrest" Sasha says with a happy sigh as she walks out of the medical building "And I don't even have to work for a few days!"
"What a honorable, great soldier you are" Jonas remarks sarcastically as he hops alongside her with his crutches "At least pretend to be bummed about your injuries; someone in a position of authority being all cheery when forced out of duty due to their injuries will lower the moral of the military!"
Sasha paused, still not used to the fact that many considered her one of the "higher ups" these days. But even if she was one, she thought differently from Jonas.
"It's the opposite; seeing me in a good mood will convince them that everything's gonna be alright!" she told him, knowing that fear had the habit of spreading, but so did happiness.
Jonas snorts.
"Or they'll just realize you're a bit simple" he says "Tell me again, how is someone like you so high up?"
Honestly, sometimes Sasha wondered that too. Sure, she was a great shot and her abilities with the gear were undeniable, but she was not leader material. She supposed it came down to her being one of the only options; they'd lost almost the entire military segment in the liberation of Shiganshina after all.
"It's probably for the best not to tell him that though; it could make things awkward" the former hunter thinks, deciding to play it off with a smug joke instead: "My abilities only come to surface in a real life or death situation, a skill essential for a soldier!"
She grins, expecting Jonas to snort and waive it off, but instead, he just stares at Sasha with a frown on his face. She sweat drops.
"…What?" she asks.
"Nothing" he answers, breaking the stare "I suppose you're right, is all."
"Huh?" Sasha is baffled "It was a joke!"
"Was it?" Jonas asks, eyebrow raised "It would certainly match what happened a few days ago."
Unable to help it, Sasha blushes. Knowing Jonas, he probably hadn't meant it that way, but it sounded like praise.
…But it was misplaced.
"It's not like I even did anything" she says "It was the captain who saved you."
"He might be strong, but he wouldn't have been able to lift that thing on his own" Jonas countered "And it was you who found me."
Sasha says nothing to that, supposing that Jonas is right. She had to admit that the realization felt rather good.
"And besides" Jonas continues "Who's to say he would've even bothered to come to my aid had you not been there?"
Sasha frowns, casting the man a glare as her good mood quickly lessens.
"The captain's a good man; why is it so hard for people to believe?" not that she was one to talk; she'd had the opposite opinion of him when she was young, too.
"Because he doesn't show it?" Jonas suggests with a shrug "In any case, the fact is that I owe my life to the both of you, but more so you than him."
"And yet you're still not letting me decide how you could pay me back" Sasha says with a pout.
"No way" Jonas agrees flatly "You'd come up with something that'd make me wish I was dead."
"…Now I'm starting to think you think I'm even worse than the captain"
"In a way, sure" Sasha looks at him in disbelief, and Jonas grins. She glares, but it only lasts a second as she's unable to keep her own grin away.
"You haven't seen the half of it" she tells him. Jonas laughs, saying: "In that case, I hope I never will."
"Sasha!"
The soldier turns at the call, seeing Emil rush towards her in full military gear. Why was he equipped like that now? Had something happened?!
"Emil? What's wrong!?" she asks, urgently rushing to meet him half way "Why are you all geared up!?"
"Since you don't seem to know anything, probably nothing yet" he answers as they reach each other "I was called here for back up just in case, along with others from my squad."
Sasha sighed in relief. That made sense. But-
"…So why are you wearing the gear?" she asks "Who told you to wear it?"
Emil looked a little sheepish.
"No one, actually" he says "We were told to be prepared, so we thought that better safe than sorry. Everyone geared up. It's not like it'll do any harm, right?"
Well, she supposed not-
"You're shooting yourself in the leg here, brat" Jonas says as he finally manages to limp over with his crutches "No matter how you look at it, you don't need that titan killing thing here. You'll only make people anxious, which will likely lead in to trouble."
Sasha nodded along as understanding dawned on her. It was so obvious; she should've thought of it herself. She needed to get Emil and his friends to store their gears away as soon as possible, hopefully before too many Marleyans saw them.
"Where are the others?" she asks Emil "You need to put away your gears immediately."
The young man looks down.
"…I take it we really messed up?"
"Kinda, yeah" Sasha agrees, putting a hand on his shoulder "But so far there shouldn't be any harm done, so it doesn't really count, does it? Just don't let Jean or the captain find out."
Emil grimaces.
"Yeah, that wouldn't end well…" his gaze lands on Jonas "You got a new partner? What happened to Samuel?"
"Oh, he's not my partner" Sasha says "We're both currently off-duty for getting injured in the fire and were taking a walk, is all."
"But I thought it was a building under Marley's command that burned" Emil says "What were you doing in there? I thought Eldians weren't even allowed in!"
"You sure know a lot for someone who isn't usually assigned here" Sasha says "Did Connie tell you these things?"
Technically, he shouldn't, Sasha knew, but Emil was a soldier too and it wasn't top secret, so maybe it was okay? She'd have to confirm it from Jean. And give Connie an earful if it was not.
"Yeah" he confirmed "So what were you- wait, don't tell me the fire was your fault?"
Sasha blinked before the words sunk in.
"What!? No!" she hisses "How can you even think that?"
Emil holds his hands up.
"Hey, no offence, I know you'd never do something like that on purpose" he says "But you can be a little clumsy and goofy sometimes, so- "
"Not that clumsy!" Sasha snarls, taking the boy, who's taller than she is, in to a headlock "Respect your superiors, kid!"
"Ow ow ow!" Emil complains, but he's laughing "Sorry, ma'am!"
When Sasha finally let's go, Emil asks again: "But in all seriousness, how did you end up in there?"
Before Sasha can answer, Jonas joins the conversation, much to her surprise.
"It was my fault" he says "I got stuck, so she came to get me out."
Emil turns to look at him in surprise, and Sasha bets the boy had forgotten he was there.
"Then what were you doing there?"
"My job" Jonas answers without missing a beat "In case you can't tell, I'm a Marleyan."
"Ah" is all Emil manages to say, his surprise clear on his face.
"Of course, he can't tell" Sasha tells "You're not wearing your uniform and you're hanging around me. If I didn't know it myself, it wouldn't even occur to me."
"…Point taken" Jonas says, chuckling "Most of us don't have the nerves of steel needed to deal with you."
"Wha-!?" it's a joke, Sasha knows, but she's still annoyed.
"Actually, that applies to us Eldians as well" Emil snickers "I too have a hard time with the task from time to time."
"Hey!" Sasha protest as the two men share acknowledging, knowing smirks. Sasha huffs.
"I see jerks exists among both groups, too!" she says, sticking out her tongue at them. Jonas just smirks at her, but Emil laughs openly.
"Sorry, sis" he says "Though you always did have a talent for getting along with Marleyans."
"She did?" Jonas asks. Sasha finds it odd that she doesn't hear surprise in his tone, nor does she see it on his face.
"Yeah, she did. She was the first to become friends with one of the war prisoners that was made to work as a cook here" he says "He even fell- "
"Emil!" Sasha yells out, eyes wide. There was a high chance that Jonas wouldn't believe anything the young man said and even if he did, he might not tell anyone, but she couldn't take the risk. She couldn't let anything that was said here to be something that could put Nikolo in danger "You talk too much."
Their eyes lock, and while Sasha can't tell if the younger soldier realized what he had been about to do wrong or not, he clearly understood the message as he steered the conversation to a safer direction.
"Has there been anyone we know on Marley's ship?" he asks "Like Mr. Nikolo or that asshole Grior?"
"Unfortunately, not and fortunately, no" Sasha says with a sigh, causing Emil to snicker. The woman, having her eyes on Jonas to see if he looks suspicious, notes that the Marleyan looks thoughtful. She feels uneasy, but hopefully it's nothing. It doesn't help that he's giving her a weird look, though.
"Anyway" she says a little louder than necessary, wanting to distract the Marleyan "Jonas, this is my sort-of-brother Emil, also in the Survey Corps, and Emil, this less-of-a-jerk-than-he-could-be here is Jonas, who I've been working with for a while."
"You need to work on your introductions" Jonas deadpanned "I can't even decide if I should take that as an insult, compliment or as an attempt to pick a fight."
"Probably all three" Emil says, and Sasha makes a face at them. Distraction: successful.
"Well, was nice meeting you, but I'm gonna go tell the others to ditch their gears."
After Emil has left, Jonas turns to Sasha.
"And what's this about you making friends with Marleyans?" he asks "Thought I was your only one."
Sasha turns to him, gaping, and he bursts out laughing. She pouts, but can't help but join him, stopping abruptly as she realizes: "So, you consider us friends?"
He groans, and she grins.
XXXXX
The air between them was a little tense, but Nikolo wasn't mad about losing to Thomas in speed the other day. No, this was about how the situation had come to that in the first place. It would probably be safer to pretend that he hadn't noticed anything, but he decided that it had to be brought up.
"I noticed that you checked Ulrich's forearm when you met him" he finally brought up after their shift "You thought he was an Eldian."
Thomas was quiet for a while, but ended up admitting it.
"Yeah, I did" he said "I've caught you out there with Eldians before, so can you blame me?"
"For thinking so, no" Nikolo answers "What bothers me is why you were there in the first place. I honestly can't think of any other reason than to keep an eye on me."
"…"
"Are you saying that's not the case?" Nikolo asks when the man doesn't comment on it. Thomas sighs.
"No, it is the case" he says "I want to trust you, but I can't help but worry."
"I'm not going to cause you any trouble, seriously" the soldier sighs "Besides, Jonas will be back soon, and then you'll be stationed elsewhere and won't have to deal with me anymore, not for a while at least."
"You know that's not what I meant!" Thomas snaps, and Nikolo takes a step back in surprise. It was rare to hear the man raise his voice "Yes, I also worry that you'll get me in trouble, but it's your safety that I'm mostly concerned about!"
"…Sorry" Nikolo said "But I assure you, I'll be fine. Even if something did go wrong, which it won't, it's just my career that would suffer."
"Unless the Eldians stab you in the back" Thomas mutters, but for the sake of their still continuing teamwork, Nikolo decides through gritted teeth not to comment on it. Instead, he changes the subject.
"Do you know where you'll be stationed next?" he asks.
"Yes, actually" he answers "I'll be staying here."
He what?
"You'll be teamed up with your old partner again, but since one of the officers here is retiring, a spot was left open" Thomas explains "Since I already have an understanding of the basics, I'm taking his place for the time being."
Right, that cranky old dog. Nikolo had known he was ready to retire and had briefly wondered who might replace the man, but hadn't paid it more thought.
"Well, guess we won't get rid of each other that easily, then" he says "Glad to be able to continue working with you."
And he meant it, too. While Thomas had been a bit of a pain in the ass lately, he was a good soldier and a good friend.
If only he wasn't such a worrywart.
XXXXX
"Didn't think I'd go back home with crutches" Jonas complains "My friends are either going to freak out or tell me that I was asking for it by volunteering for this. Or both."
"Sounds like you have some great friends" Sasha snickers, seeing him and Eric off together with Samuel "You're not returning to work right away, are you?"
"I probably will" he says with a grimace "Paperwork can be done as long as my dominant arm works, unfortunately."
Again, Sasha laughs.
"I hate paperwork, too" she said sympathetically "Fortunately, I don't have to do it all that much."
"Pretty sure that's just to save the rest of us from the extra effort of fixing it" Samuel tells her, and the men share a laugh at her expense. Sasha pouts.
"Jerks"
"Always" Jonas says with a grin, and for the slightest moment, Sasha considers kicking his legs out from under him. Would be easy with him still using the crutches.
"Better not; he might actually get hurt" she thinks "But if I see him again someday, I'll push him in to the ocean… or something."
Hopefully Marley and Eldia would be in good enough terms by then that it wouldn't cause too much trouble.
"You know, unlike Jonas, I didn't volunteer to come here; I was ordered to do so" Eric tells them, rubbing the back of his head "But to be honest, this wasn't all that bad. I had fun, even."
Sasha smiles, and she can see that so does Samuel. They'd been working with these two a lot of the past three months, and she knew they were both glad they had managed to get along, despite some rough patches.
"Before or after you stopped having nightmares?" Jonas questions, and Sasha's smile falls as Eric glares at his partner. Looks like he wasn't lying.
"…After" the Marleyan admits "You're an asshole, Jonas."
"You only noticed that now?" Samuel asks "Maybe Sasha isn't the dullest pen in the box after all."
Now the three share a laugh at Eric's expense, though Sasha can't bring herself to find it that funny, still down about what she'd just learned. Damn that Jonas; there went her good mood!
"But it's good to know it, I suppose… though if I'd known sooner, I might've been able to do something about it" she thought. Briefly, she considered asking Eric when exactly had his nightmares stopped, but quickly dismissed the idea. Talking about it would only sour the mood, she was sure.
"All men aboard!" came a shout from the ship. Looking ahead, Eric says: "We better go now, or we might miss our ride."
"Would that be so bad?" Sasha nudges him with her elbow "You just said you like it here."
"Not enough to deal with the trouble I'd get from both my and your superiors if I missed my cue to leave" he laughs "But perhaps enough to volunteer to come here again."
Sasha beams; that was the best news she'd heard in months! Wide smile on her face, she turns to Jonas, looking at him expectantly.
"What?" he asks, eyebrow raised "Are you expecting me to say the same?"
"Are you going to say the same?" Sasha asks, her smile not wavering. Jonas chuckles.
"I came here voluntarily to begin with, you know" he says "Nothing's changed."
"Yes!"
"Except next time, I'm taking along some earplugs" he says and Sasha pouts, knowing full well what he's getting at.
"I wouldn't mind a pair of those either sometimes" Samuel tells him, dodging Sasha's hand that's about to swat him just in time "Bring some souvenirs next time?"
"Deal" Jonas answers with a laugh. Again, Sasha would love to swipe his legs from under him, but since he's injured…
"Next time for sure, Marleyan or not" she swears as she sticks her tongue out at Jonas, who salutes back with a smirk before starting to hop off with his crutches.
"See ya, hopefully" Eric says before following his partner.
"Yeah, see ya" Sasha calls after them, hoping that she really would see them again, even though she hadn't been able to reunite with the first Marleyan she'd made such a promise with yet, either.
"Hopefully not in the battlefield" Samuel mutters.
He gets an elbow to his gut for that.
A.N: As an answer to a guest review: yes, I do update this monthly. I aim for the first day of every month, but that doesn't always work out.
