A/N: Long time, no see. It's been like what, five years since I posted the first chapter? I've been rereading a lot of my old fics and I decided I really wanted to continue this one. The concept is really interesting and there's a lot of ways I could go with it.

Jean lets his backpack flop the ground with a loud thunk , not caring much about the condition of his textbooks. He stumbles further into his house, headed for the kitchen. His mind is reeling. What the hell had happened back there? His hand grips the handle of the refrigerator door for a solid two minutes until a voice breaks through to him, causing him to jump a foot in the air.

"Jean?" his mother is standing there, concern written all over her face. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" She asks, stepping closer to her son.

"Oh," he says, removing his hand from the handle. His palm is sticky with sweat and he wipes it on his jeans. "I zoned out, I guess."

She nods, humming. "Okay. Are you staying in tonight?" Her voice is soft. It's been much softer than usual since Marco…

Marco.

What the hell had Mikasa meant when she said Marco had failed at protecting him? As far as Jean could tell, he was fine. He doesn't need protecting. Well, maybe from that werewolf looking thing he had seen her fighting, but in normal situations he has no issue keeping himself safe and out of harm's way.

Did Marco fight those things too? How did Jean never know? He'd known Marco since preschool, so there's no way. Mikasa had to be wrong.

"Jean?"

"Sorry, it's been really hot out and the school doesn't have AC," he says, "I'm staying in tonight. I might draw, I've had a few ideas."

Jean's mom's face light up the moment he mentions drawing. It really had been awhile. Since that night. "That's great!" her smile is bigger than Jean's seen it in a while. "Let me know when you get hungry and I can throw some dinner on."

"'Kay," he says, and his mom retreats back upstairs. Jean finally opens the refrigerator, reaching in and grabbing a pitcher of lemonade. The sugary concoction was the one and only thing that has gotten him through so many hot Trost summers.

He races up the stairs to his room, plopping down at his desk. He sets the lemonade far from his laptop, not wanting it to spill all over. He opens the internet, humming somewhat impatiently as it takes its time to load. Even the internet is being affected by this never ending heat. Great.

When it finally does load, Jean doesn't quite know what to do. Should he try to google what he saw? How we he even google that? Girl with scarf that turns into sword fights werewolf looking creature?

Yeah, probably wouldn't get any results from that one. Instead, he settles for googling Mikasa's name. Her last name was Ackerman, right?

Not much really pops up. He finds her facebook profile, but it looks like it hasn't been updated in a few years. Her picture must old because her hair is much, much longer and she doesn't look quite as tall. After some stalking, he finds out her birthday is February tenth and she's originally from Shiganshina. It's a small suburb not far from here, but he stills wonders what would bring her to downtown Trost. Why was she protecting himof all people? And why did she kiss him so suddenly? There was anything romantic about the situation. Normally he would be ecstatic about someone so beautiful taking an interest in him, but this felt all wrong.

Regardless, he still runs his fingers over his lips. What would it be like to actually kiss her?

He shakes his head, dropping the thought. After today, he should have no interest in her.

But still, he can't help but wonder.

Saturday afternoon rolls around, and with that, Sasha. She shows up on Jean's doorstep at noon, snacks in hand. The sprawl out on Jean's living room couch, taking in the amazing thing known as AC. They both eat quickly with hardly any conversation, but it's comfortable. This is how they've been for a while. Things have changed a lot since the accident, and neither of them had the same spark they used to.

Sasha wipes her hands on her shorts, completely ignoring the fifty thousand napkins stuffed in the take out bag. "Are you ready to game?"

"Mm," Jean hums, still working on his fries. No one can eat as fast as Sasha.

She turns towards him and grabs a fry.

"Hey!"

"Shh, I bought them. It's okay," she says, her voice mocking a hypnotist.

Jean rolls his eyes.

"But really," she says, her tone much more serious, "something is bothering you, but I can't tell what it is."

Jean stuffs another fry in his mouth, not quite knowing how to answer. What was he supposed to tell her? Sasha was probably one of the only people who would believe, but he still thinks he would sound too much like a nutcase. Swallowing, he says, "It's really messed up, Sash."

She leans closer to him, curiosity written all over her face. "What?" she asks eagerly.

"You know that new girl in our algebra class yesterday?" he pauses as Sasha nods vigorously, all of her attention focused on him. "Well, I ran into her on my way home and it was… weird, to say the least."

Sasha's brows furrow, "What happened?"

"You're going to think I've gone insane."

She shrugs, "Tell me anyways."

"...Fine," he says, a large sigh slipping through his lips, "I heard fighting coming from an alleyway. It wasn't like normal fighting though, there was screams and growling, like an animal. I peeked my head around saw this massive monster, kind of like a werewolf, I guess? And there was Mikasa, with a sword, going at that thing. She killed it and then turned her sword into that red scarf she was wearing in class. She told me that Marco was my like guardian angel or some shit, and that since he was dead, she was his replacement? And then…" he trails off, playing with one of the few fries he had left.

"And then?" Sasha pushes.

"And then she kissed me. But it wasn't romantic or anything like that. I don't know what it was, really."

Sasha, nods for a moments, her eyes wide as she takes in this information.

"Do you believe me?"

"...You really didn't know, did you?" She asks. Her voice is hesitant and he can't really read the look in her eyes.

"Know what?" he says incredulously.

"Marco was your guardian angel."

A/N: So, what do you think? It's going to take a bit to really get into it, and I think Jean is going to spend a lot of time confused in the beginning. I'm happy with it so far, and hopefully I can make future chapters longer.