Creation began on 05-20-21

Creation ended on 05-22-21

Attack on Titan

Rise, Sasha, Rise: Surgery and Departure

"Can you answer me one question before I go in to have the bullet removed?" Sasha had asked Armin, Mikasa, Hange and Levi, an hour ago. "Eren Yeager… Do you still believe in him? Do you still trust him? After last night in Liberio…after what he did…and what we did to get him…I've lost whatever faith I had in him."

I don't blame her, thought Armin as he sat outside the hospital in Trost District. Eren has been distant with all of us. And that girl, she only tried to kill us because of what we did in Liberio.

"Armin Arlert?" He heard his name being called as a doctor walked over to him.

"Yes?" He responded.

"Your friend, Sasha Blouse, had a close call, getting shot," he informed him. "The bullet was stuck on one of her ribs. Most people die from gunshot wounds, even if it's only one round. She's lucky."

"Maybe, but luck doesn't always cover it. Last night, her heart stopped for five minutes before she revived. She must've been dead, because she believes she saw someone we both knew. Someone that died four years ago."

"Spontaneous revival is something most people don't believe in, but it has been known to happen in rare circumstances. Either way, she'll be fine, so long as she doesn't do anything strenuous for a week."

"Oh, I don't think she'll have to worry about doing anything strenuous; she's leaving the Survey Corps after what happened last night."

"She gets shot once and she's calling it quits? Her injury isn't a career-ender."

"It has nothing to do with her career. She's lost her faith in what we're doing."

"But…isn't Marley the primary enemy beyond Paradis?"

"When we do to them what was done to us by them, where is the line, anymore?" Armin remembers Sasha asking. "Even if we choose to walk away, we can't change the fact that we were involved in something that put blood on our hands, and this was the worst. You can continue down this path if you want, but I'm done with the war."

She's right, he accepted as he looked to the doctor. "Marley's only the enemy because of what they did to us nine years ago. Now, the whole world is out to get us for what was done in Liberio. We didn't have to do anything to them to make people out there see us as less than human…except we chose to do something that made them see us as less than people…and we deserve it this time."

-x-

She wasn't a fan on crutches, but until she recovered from the anesthetic used in her surgery, Sasha had to be mindful of the fact that she wasn't fully recovered yet. Plus, she was expecting a visitor; she practically had to beg for special consideration for her visitor.

"Right this way, please," she heard a nurse say to someone as she sat down on a bench.

"Sasha?" She heard her name being uttered by a man, and looked up and saw Niccolo, looking at her like he'd never see her again.

"Hey, Niccolo," she greeted as he came over and sat beside her.

"They told me at the restaurant that you were in the hospital, but they didn't tell me what happened to you."

"It's complicated. I was shot."

"Are you…"

"I'm fine now, but I can't go back to the Survey Corps. Not after last night. I'm resigning."

"Was what happened that serious?"

"In many respects, it was no different from when the Colossal and Armored Titans attacked Wall Maria nine years ago, only this time, we know better…and still acted carelessly. What happened to me…was only because of what was committed in Marley. This war is nothing but a vicious vendetta that doesn't seem to end; Marley sends people to attack Paradis, Paradis sends people to attack Marley. Where does it end? I can't be involved in the conflict any further. My near-death experience from last night has convinced me of this."

Niccolo couldn't believe this; Sasha had been shot by someone, had a near-death experience because of it, barely made it back to Paradis in one piece, and was now leaving the Survey Corps. Honestly, if she hadn't come back in one piece, he'd probably be unable to move on; she was the first Eldian that actually enjoyed his cooking and saw him as something different from a soldier in the military, something he didn't want to be when they first met. If anyone from Marley were to accuse him of having feelings for an Eldian girl from this so-called island of devils…they wouldn't be wrong to do so. He did care about Sasha…and didn't want to lose her.

"Sasha…can I ask you something that is personal…and serious?" He asked her.

"Yes, you can," she answered.

-x-

Gabi didn't enjoy this, being locked up in a cell by these island devils. Bad enough she and Falco were on this forsaken garbage heap with these enemies, but the fact that Zeke Yeager had betrayed Marley had made the loss of people that lived in Liberio hurt more. If she ever saw him again, she would make sure he paid for his treachery, long before his term ended, even if it meant she had to be turned into a Titan and eat him herself, forgoing the Armored Titan owned by her cousin.

Falco, on the other hand, was just concerned about the fact that Gabi was taking what was done by these Paradis Eldians so personal to the point where it bordered on insanity. If so, it was likely that she wouldn't stop, no matter what it took for her to end the discrimination against the other Eldians across the world because of the ones that live on a small island. The war with the Mid-East Alliance had made her a hardened soldier, just like his brother. He had to keep her safe until Marley and its allies sent reinforcements to Paradis and rescued them.

They said the woman Gabi shot would pull through, he thought, actually relieved; he had seen enough dead bodies for now. It almost looked as though Gabi had crossed the line back there and they were going to kill her.

-x-

"…Are you sure about this, Blouse?" Hange asked Sasha as the young woman finished signing her signature on her resignation forms.

"It's what's right for me," Sasha told her. "Where this war is going…isn't where I want to be. Whatever happens now…I can't be a part of any of it, anymore. Good luck to you all."

Sasha got up from the table, bowed her head to the visually-impaired woman, and turned to leave; with her signature signed on the forms, she had officially resigned from the Survey Corps. Not that many people resigned from the Survey Corps after the reclaiming of Wall Maria, but Sasha was the first to depart from it after four years…and for a different reason.

"I don't trust Eren, anymore, either, but you can't let him decide why you'll resign," Hange had told her before handing her the forms.

"It's not just Eren," Sasha explained. "It's his brother, the Liberio aftermath, and the girl that shot me. They're all factors in my decision. I don't want to die…but what happened back there… It didn't have to go down like that. We didn't have to do what we did to those people…so why did we do it? Why did we do what we did?"

Hange couldn't fault her for her decision. They were only supposed to retrieve Eren from the internment zone, but he made a mess of everything with his reckless behavior and deception. But because he possessed the Founding Titan, they had to entrust him with their future.

What future? She thought, angry over what happened. What future have we even been fighting for, anymore? Nothing makes sense no. What have we been fighting for?

And it wasn't just the fact that Sasha had resigned; there have been complaints from the Garrison that several of the more recent recruits from the Survey Corps have been acting out of line as of late, making it difficult to tell for certain who was trustworthy…and who was not. And Connie and Jean were considering resigning, too, uncertain of what to think about Eren's behavior; if they, too, had lost faith in him, it was anyone's guess as to what was going to happen.

"At least she gave me an invitation," she sighed; as of this afternoon, Sasha had been asked a serious and personal question by the Marleyan Niccolo…and she had answered him with her acceptance without any doubt in her mind.

As soon as she had recovered from her surgery to remove the bullet, Sasha would move on to marry Niccolo, who didn't want to be without her again.

To be continued…

A/N: Come on, how many of you expected that Niccolo would propose to Sasha after learning of her near-death experience?