~ - - - - - - - 3 Months Later - - - - - - - ~

PIECK'S POV

Pieck had intended to see less of Zofia after that night in the library, but the opposite happened. They began to spend a lot more time together. The more Pieck found out about this girl, the fonder she grew of her. Zofia slowly became less and less shy, starting to open about herself. Pieck learnt about Zofia's love of birds; how she would save up her limited allowance to buy ornithology magazines and almanacs, how the best birthday present she'd ever received was a pair of binoculars. She would teach Pieck the difference between the bokmakarie and the four-colored bushshrike, how you could tell from the little band of red underneath their beaks, and Pieck would have to hold back tears because listening to this girl rattling off bird facts was the most precious things she'd witnessed in her entire life.

Pieck opened up about herself, too. She told Zofia about her dreams of becoming an artist. Told her about the 100's of paintings and sketches that used to adorn her bedroom walls. How she would piece together these huge, sprawling collages out of discarded wrappers and old photos, then paint over it all to create imaginary vistas or scenes from Eldian myth. Then she would tell her about what happened to all those paintings; how she had to sell them all for ~5 thaler each, as well as all her art-supplies, in order to pay for her father's medicine. And Zofia couldn't hold back her tears, sobbing into Pieck's chest for almost an hour, lamenting such an awful, awful waste.

ZOFIA'S POV

Half a year had passed since she'd met Pieck Finger. That was strange to think about. It felt like she'd known her for far longer. She felt more connected to Pieck at this point than she did anyone else in the world. She didn't really have any other friends when she was growing up, and she wasn't friends with any of her current classmates, but in Pieck she felt true companionship. It made her very happy. But it made her needy, too. She wanted to spend all her time with Pieck, not just the few hours she could spare at the end of training each day. She hated that she had to go home each day, and couldn't simply live with Pieck, or at least stay over sometime. So one day, she decided to try her luck.

"I'm sorry Zofia, you can't."

"Why not? Do you have a roommate or something?"

Pieck laughed.

"No, nothing like that, I just-"

"Well, what if you came and stayed over at my house?
I could show you all my books and photos and stuff,
and I have a bunch of these cool postcards I've col-"

Zofia felt Pieck rest a hand on her shoulder.

"Zofia, I'm- We can't do that either, I'm afraid."

Zofia felt her heart drop, like a sponge into a bucket of dishwater. It was a stupid idea, she thought. There was no way that Pieck would wanna have a sleepover with her. That was such a childish thing, adults don't have sleepovers.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

The grip on her shoulder tightened.

"Listen. It's nothing to do with you.
I would love to see your room, you know I would.
But it's... it's just not possible, I'm sorry."

Zofia tried not to be too disappointed. She knew that Pieck was telling the truth, and she had her reasons. It made her want to cry, but she instead smiled up at her teacher.

"It's okay. Don't worry."

PIECK'S POV

It hurt Pieck to deny Zofia like that, but it was something she had to do. She'd learned from her mistakes, having Zofia come to her apartment was playing with fire. And going to Zofia's room would be even worse. But she shared Zofia's neediness. She wanted to spend more time with her too.

As Zofia made her way out of the classroom, Pieck suddenly had an idea. There was a way they could spend a whole lot of time together. But she would need to call in a favour first.

Pieck could see Reiner through the small-window of the doorway, trying in vain to organize the mass of papers and manila folders that cluttered his desk. He was clearly not used to having an office. He wasn't used to having possessions at all, from what Pieck could tell. Reiner thrived on the field. He was happiest when the only thing he had was a rucksack and a bedroll. Keeping him an office was like trying to keep a wolf as a pet; he could never truly adjust to the limited space, he would always long for the thrill of the forest and the grass and the wide-open sky.

At least, that's what Pieck intuited from him. Reiner never talk about himself. She actually learned most of what she knew about him from Bertholdt, who she'd been very close with. Bertholdt had been a very sweet man. He was probably the best thing to ever happen to Reiner, Pieck thought. He was able to smash through that tough exterior, open it up for the world to see. But now Bertholdt was gone, and Reiner closed himself off to the world again. It was hard to watch such a strong man succumb to such weakness.

But she had to put these thoughts aside, lightly tapping on the glass with her hand to avoid a loud knock. Reiner looked over at her, and she opened the door.

"Reiner, can I talk with you for a sec?"

"Of course."

Pieck closed the door behind her and looked around the rest of the office. Zeke's desk was thankfully empty. But even still, she dropped her voice to a whisper.

"I need to call in a favour."

Reiner looked like he was about to protest, but then quickly remembered. Pieck had saved his life at Shiganshina. He owed her one.

"What do you need?"

"I need you to tell Zeke that you want to swap inheritors with me.
I get Zofia, you get Falco."

Reiner looked confused. The inheritors of each titan form had been decided months ago, before the candidates had even arived at the academy. Pieck had been given Falco because Zeke saw his as the "weakest of the candidates", in his words. Pieck didn't hate Falco, he was a fine kid and a lot stronger than Zeke gave him credit for, but the idea of training him for the next 5 years sounded so boring to her. They'd already started 1-on-1 sessions, and they had been mostly spent in awkward silence. Reiner looked puzzled.

"But it's already been decided..?"

"I know, just tell Zeke you need to swap."

"Well, what am I supposed to tell him?"

"I don't know, tell him..."

Pieck tried to think of Zofia's weaknesses, but that was hard. She could spend hours talking about her strengths; how quick she was to learn, how determined she was to get stronger, how hard she'd thought to improve every aspect of herself, how smart and thoughtful and observant she was, how sweet and kind she could be, how beautiful she looked, with her face that seemed to be perfectly- Okay, now she was getting distracted. There was one thing that she knew would be considered a weakness by Zeke, but she felt gross even suggesting it. She tried desperately to think of something else, but nothing came to mind. She had no other option.

"...tell him you don't like the idea of the Armored Titan being a woman."

Reiner looked understandably shocked.

"B-but Pieck, I don't think that at all..?!"

"I know that, Reiner, but it's the only thing I can think of that will make Zeke change his mind."

Reiner closed his eyes for a seconds, deeply sighing. He looked like he was thinking hard, trying to come up with some other excuse, but his search came up just as empty as Pieck's had.

"Okay. I'll talk to him."

"Thank you, Reiner."

Pieck began to walk out of the office.

"But I'll have to ask Zofia first."

"Huh?"

"It's only fair. This is her future we're talking about. I can't do this until I know it's what she wants too."

"Of course it's what she-"

Pieck stopped herself. Reiner had a point. She hadn't asked Zofia about this. She'd just assumed Zofia would be okay with giving up the Armored Titan, all so Pieck could spend more time with her. That was selfish of her, putting her own temporary enjoyment over something that would change the entirety of Zofia's life.

"-you're right."

She began to walk out of the office a second time.

"And, Pieck?"

"Yes?"

"I know it's not my place to say this, and I'm sure you know what you're doing, but...
Be careful, okay?"

If anyone else had said that to her, she might've been angry. But Reiner was the one person alive right now who knew exactly what she was going through. So she took those words to heart.

"Thank you, Reiner."

ZOFIA'S POV

It took Zofia longer than she'd expected to answer Reiner's question. She'd wanted to inherit the Armored Titan since she was a child, so giving it up wasn't a decision she was able to make lightly. But as she thought about it more, she wondered why exactly she'd wanted to be that specific titan.

And her conclusion was that it was because, well, every kid wanted to be the Armored Titan. It was like a superhero to Eldian kids; this huge, strong being that could break through any wall and lift any boulder. When children would play make-pretend on the street, everyone always wanted to be the Armored Titan. There was even a comic in the local paper, in which the Warrior's were lead valliantly by the corageous Armored Titan. It was one of the few comics that weren't outright banned, as Marleyans wanted little Eldian children to idolize the Warriors, to proudly declare that they wanted to be the Armored Titan when they grew up. And it had worked, apparently, on Zofia.

The Cart Titan did not get the same treatment. There were dolls and action figures of the other titans, handmade by toymakers across the ghetto, but they never made any of the Cart Titan. Children rarely ever wanted to play as the Cart Titan during recess, and even if they did they usually wouldn't last long, because crawling around on your hands and knees hurts after a while. All the other titans in the comic could inexplicably talk, for the sake of an easier narrative, but the Cart Titan lacked this ability and instead barked and whined like a dog. It was religated to a comedic side-character, and only ever appeared in combat when it was being ridden like a horse by the Armored Titan. It became incredibly obvious why Zofia had instictively wanted to become the Armored Titan, because no kid would want to be the sidekick when they could be the brave, noble protagonist.

But the more she thought about it, the more she realised that maybe the Cart Titan was the best fit for her. The fact that she would be able to spend more time with Pieck obviously factored into it, but there were other factors too. Speed and endurance were definitely her greatest assets, with raw strength and combat being clear weaknesses. And, if she was being honest with herself, she didn't want to be the "protagonist" of the Warriors. She didn't have the charisma of someone like Zeke, or the imposing stature of someone like Reiner. But she could, one day, have the kind of strength that Pieck has. At least, that's what she hoped.

"Okay, I'll swap with Falco."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm sure."