Chapter V

My attempt at trying to portray Annie's character better~StainedBlackGlass

Through a flicker of faint sunlight through the corner of Armin's eye, he recognised the sunlight gleaming through the gentle waves of the ocean water. His eyelids slowly fluttered open and he was greeted by the sight of the cave he and his friends had spent the night in. Eren and Mikasa were curled up together, in blissful company. He almost envied them. He remembered Annie, she had been here with them last night but now she was nowhere to be seen. She had disappeared.

"Annie?"

He quietly called, sitting up and resting on his arm "Annie, where are you?"

He got up off his bed and swam over to the sleeping forms of Eren and Mikasa. He gently brushed their shoulders and whispered in their ears.

"Guys... wake up, it's morning"

Mikasa rolled over sleepily, exposing her breasts to him at which he blushed and covered his eyes up. He did not want to appear as a pervert to her when she wakes up and sees him staring at yawned after about a minute, then her eyes opened.

"Armin..." She said "Where's Annie? Wasn't she going to help me find something to wear over my chest?"

She looked down and immediately covered herself up with a surprised gasp of shock.

"Annie is gone, wake up Eren and we can start looking for that seaweed I mentioned"

She nodded in agreement to him.

"And find Annie?"

Armin swam to the cave mouth and brushed away some of the corals and sea plants covering the entrance.

"Yes of course, but before we do anything you need to wake Eren and I'll see what I can do about finding seaweed. Kelp would be most suitable, it's a type of seaweed I read about in my nature books"

He waved her a goodbye and left.

"Goodbye Armin"

Mikasa looked down at Eren sleeping with his tail coiled around hers. To her he looked like such a child, even with a gentle push of his shoulder his tail would wind around tighter and he'd tighten his grip around her waist with his arms.

"Eren, you can wake up"

As she spoke to him softly, she tried nudging him again only this time instead of his arms squeezing her waist, his climbed up and grabbed onto her breasts. The sensation of his hands touching her in such an area made her feel good and let out a deep sigh.

"Eren, you can take your hands off"

She spoke with a little more force which made his eyes open wide and dart around until his gaze landed on the sight of his touching her soft breasts. He took his hands away almost instantly.

"I'm sorry Mikasa, I didn't mean to"

She kissed him on the head.

"I know darling, I know"

Eren's sea green eyes searched around the cave

"Where's Armin and Annie?"

Mikasa sighed "Armin's outside helping us and Annie's gone"

Annie had disappeared into the night as the three slept, leaving behind a pearl ring underneath her sponge bed inside the cave. The pearl was of a grand value since it belonged to a princess, though the princess that they had met was a fugitive. She had abandoned her father's kingdom in order to keep a dark secret from the other merfolk who lived in Atlantis. Annie had grown tired of trying to act as a princess. She lacked the kindness and grace of any true lady of royalty. Though she tried her best to hide her true nature behind a mask, she could not hide everything. Annie swam along an abandoned reef, closing in on her destination. A place of which no mermaid or merman has ever come back from. A place in the ocean where nightmares became a reality and the sadness of the dark, murky waters would consume anyone who had the misfortune of swimming through.

"Armin" She quietly whispered to herself "You have no idea what you and your friends are up against"

(Oooooo cliffhanger!)