Annie opened the door to the porch, only to see Krista standing there.

'Curious.'

She shut the door and sighed. Krista turned around, looking at Annie with an intent but concerned look.

"Where exactly are you going Krista?" Annie asked, in a relatively quiet tone. "Surely not to go after Mikasa?"

Krista turned back around and replied, with an unsure dedication, "I am."

"That would be foolish, you know that. She can handle herself just fine anyway." She paused for a moment.

Krista didn't respond.

"I'm going to see what's going on at the watchtower. That's a better idea, no?"

Annie walked past Krista, not sharing a second glance. She stepped off the porch into the thick snow.

'This weather is ungodly. It's never been this bad befo-'

She walked a good distance before being interrupted. "I'll come with you Annie!" Krista yelled, doing a jog towards her.

Annie halted and turned to face her. "Why?" Annie wasn't surprised, but it still piqued her interest.

"It's dangerous! You're right, Mikasa can handle it, but what if you can't?"

"If I can't handle it, what makes you think that you can?"

"I think if we go togeth-" Annie cut her off.

"Yet you were going to go after Mikasa alone, were you not? You didn't know I'd come through that door."

"I- I was thinking about it." She was becoming increasingly meek.

'I don't know what her trip is. Is she trying to play the hero? Sacrifice herself for no reason? Trying to find a good reason to die? I know damn well that girl can't handle this. I'm fortunate enough as it is for my tita-'

Interrupting Annie's train of thought, Krista recollected herself and continued. "Just let me do something to help. Even if I can't handle it… maybe I could do something beneficial despite it."

Annie watched her, making sense of her irrationality. Her face never moved, maintaining her stationary composure.

Krista's face turned a little more serious for a second, before slowly settling into a blank frown. She looked down, waiting for a response.

'This is unlike her. She is always kind and helpful, but this is pushing it. Unless-'

"Your facade is cracking." Annie said, staring her dead in the eyes.

Krista's heart nearly stopped. Her eyes were frozen open, and her posture was rigid. As soon as Annie said that, her head flew up and all that could escape her lips was a weak, breathy, "What..?"

'Well I'll be damned. That reaction says everything.'

Annie couldn't help but hold back a smirk because of her own intuition. "Truthfully, I suspected it for a while. A genuine treasure such as 'Krista' just doesn't exist in this world. Nobody with the experience you, I, or anyone else in this hellhole have attained would turn out like you. You're fake."

"N-no…" Krista had a tight frown, and was stuck staring at Annie.

'I don't know who she is, but she isn't offering help entirely out of empathy and kindness. A kind fool in her shoes would've attempted to stop Mikasa as soon as she was preparing to leave. And empathy will only contribute so much to how she acts.'

"Well? I know who you aren't, but I don't know who you are. My lips are sealed."

Krista didn't respond.

'If I leave her be, there's no telling what she'll do. Only I have the know-how to keep an eye on her as she is.'

She let out a long sigh, and the breath was easily visible in the cold. She took a moment to think about what she was about to say.

"You want to be beneficial? Come with me. Just don't lie straight to my face and say it's for my sake. You know damn well what this is about." She paused. "Make yourself useful."

Krista managed to steady herself and collect her thoughts. "And if I can't handle it?"

"Then you will die." Annie said coldly.

Krista made a slight nod and walked up to Annie, stopping just in front of her. They looked each other in the eye, unflinching and dark, as if to test each other's integrity.

"And if you can't?"

"I can."

For a moment longer, they exchanged glares.

Annie slightly turned and gave Krista a side-eye. "We're wasting time." And then she began walking, Krista following shortly after.

'It's easy to see how she has everybody fooled. Her deceit is only a stretch of what she really is rather than a complete alteration. She is a kind person, sure, but not that kind. Not that stupid either. It's very puzzling. What's her game?'

Annie pondered it for a while as she remained walking. Krista was following behind, keeping her pace as to maintain a little distance. The path they followed was accompanied by a line of torches on either side, each spacing some 20 feet apart. The watchtower wasn't visible in the distance through the fog and snowfall, so this path was the most reliable method of reaching it. The mutual recognition of their situation kept them both quiet, as did their disregard for chatting. They didn't speak for the longest time.

'I do wonder what Mikasa is up to. That Ackerman in her and that bond with Eren probably lead her straight to the male barracks in search for him. The door would be locked, but she wouldn't stop there; either by kicking it open or knocking. Either way she had to have woken up the people there. Surely she filled them in on the situation.

That makes me wonder though, what the hell would Reiner and Bertolt be doing right now too? In his soldier delusion, Reiner must be doing his best to lead and help out. Bertolt would likely follow suit as best he can.

Those 3 better do something productive. I'm not sure who else would exactly be useful in this weather as it is. Krista is definitely struggling, no matter how hard she tries to hide it.'

They weren't little over halfway there, but Krista was starting to fall behind little by little. The sky was slowly filling with dense, dark clouds. The sun was completely covered, with very little sunlight shining through. Accompanied by the snowfall and fog, it may as well be nighttime. The visibility would be far worse if not for the torches. The winds were picking up, and it was getting noticeably more frigid as well.

Krista slightly misstepped, and the wind made her lose her balance. "Shit!" She fell on her right side, holding herself up with her arms. "Shit…"

Annie turned around and walked a little bit closer to her. "Are you hurt?"

"No…" she averted her gaze.

"Then get up. It's not that much further."

Krista glared at her, but it was more-so out of misdirected anger of her situation rather than Annie's cold response. She was right anyway, it's not much further. And staying down would only make her colder. She had to get moving to warm up.

Slowly, she picked herself up, and got to walking again. She was going slower than she had been before, but Annie slowed her pace too so that now Krista didn't get left behind. In fact, Annie was walking by her side now.

"Annie… you don't even… seem tired…" Krista said, almost out of breath, and shivering. "...or cold."

Annie wasn't entirely sure how to respond. It was true though, she wasn't nearly as tired or cold as she should be. Of course she wasn't in perfect condition, but she wasn't nearly as worse off as Krista was.

"Don't be wasting your breath and energy. I'm not going to carry you give out." Annie said, not once breaking pace or attention to the path. Krista bit her lip and looked ahead, attempting to moderate her progress.

Annie looked up, and noticed torches seemingly floating in the fog. The watchtower. They were getting close enough for it to be visible, though it was still farther than it seemed. Krista noticed it too and smiled out of relief.

'Whatever is going on up there, we're about to find out.'