Drowning in the Dark Abyss
Chapter 4
The walk wasn't a long and treacherous one but Armin refused to consider it short either. There were countless of times when Yuki stopped walking to assess their surroundings only to see a few nocturnal animals going about their usual business. Yuki had reasons to be cautious after all, she was downright, breaking rules with an unlikely companion. It was one thing to wander around the forest alone but it's another to drag an innocent looking boy who was completely an improbable culprit. It felt like a crime!
After what had seemed like a whole hour of trekking, stumbling and tripping – much to the blonde's embarrassment – they arrived to be what seemed like a ledge with an over looking view of a the small lake below. The moon lit the whole cliff and gave a sparkling illumination towards the water below; somehow, the trouble was worth it like always.
"Well, here we are! Pretty sight, huh Armin?" Yuki smiled as she sat on a fallen log, gesturing for him to sit beside her.
The blonde boy nods, gingerly sitting beside her as he smiles back.
"I-I've been here before…" he muttered as he scanned the whole area.
"You have?"
"Yes, with Bertholdt and Reiner! That was the time when Eren couldn't manage to somehow balance himself on our first test for the maneuver gear."
Yuki blinked in disbelief, she did remember the Jaeger boy struggle to pass only to realize he was working with faulty equipment but she never heard the boys snuck out the night before. She waved the thought away, passing it off as silly. Of course, if the boys got caught they would never be here and was probably thrown back into the main land.
"I never thought you'd manage to be a rule breaker, you don't seem like it" she commented as she stared ahead at the trees in front of them
"I don't really seem like it, huh?"
"Nope, people would think you're lying if you ever pulled out this feat to boast about."
Armin just nodded at the statement, after all, he was one of the person's people would barely blame for something. He looked so frail and weak that people probably thought of him as highly improbably for any ruthless act. His effeminate features and somewhat gentle manners didn't help him either. As far as he knew, he was the one to be protected; he was the one who stands there watching everything in front of him. He wasn't much of an action man. That he was strongly sure of.
"But then again, even the innocent of all faces can just be a mask to hide something more. You just can never be too sure."
Armin turned towards the girl whose expression turned somewhat into a daze, as though she was recollecting a memory at the back of her head and reliving it in front of her. Her smile faded from her lips, returning to the dull line she would usually have in front of other people. This was the face the young man was used to seeing her with, the bored eyes, the emotionless expression and the attitude that said she had lost interest in the world, this was why it surprised him and everyone else to find this side of her, if she ever dared to let anyone see it. A part of her that everyone thought had been erased by whatever horrors she has seen in the past.
Horrors…? Armin asked as his mind went back to the stories he had heard from Bertholdt and Eren. They had both seen the titans and how they devour people unlike him, but could it be that she had seen them as well? Kieth did pass by her on their introductory day and most of the people he had shouted at had no idea of what a titan looked like and had huddled into a circle around Eren when he talked about the fall of their town.
"Say, Yuki… Have you… ever encountered the titans?" he asked, cautious with his words.
The girl snapped out of her trance and turned to stare at him, her eye color changing to a cross between topaz and dark brown.
"I did. I was with my family when the fall of Zhiganshina happened and everything went into a complete chaos, a pandemonium of shouts and cries of fear and despair. After that, I resolved to join the military. When we graduate, I will enlist for the Recons then, there will be no more turning back" She stated firmly, her words blazing with the determination one can feel strongly as she spoke.
A moment of silence followed her statement as no one dared to speak. The blonde boy was shocked, too taken aback to say anything or to have words escape his mouth. She was there when his town was trampled by the gigantic fiends. Was her situation akin to Eren? He could imagine how traumatic it could have been for her and it made his admiration grow. He admired her that despite her dreadful experience she still managed to join and enlist herself as a trainee. He would have probably never have joined to be a soldier if it weren't for his friends. It would seem he was too attached to his friends that he'd dare follow them anywhere. He doubted he'll be able to continue it though, with how he was faring with the physical training.
"You probably think I'm enlisting because of the titans? A reason akin to that of your best friend?" she asked with a knowing smirk to which the boy just nodded.
"You're mistaken then. I will enlist to the Recon to slay the titans and to help them gain more knowledge of the titans, as is their mission. However, the reason why I have chosen the Recon is because… I promised… I have two promises hanging on this work alone. And I don't break promises."