It was months before Reiner had another chance to interact with Krista. Late summer had drifted in early winter over those months, bringing in a cold that chilled them in their bunks, but had yet to produce their first snow. After their late return during that field test, Ymir had shadowed Krista's every move, and hadn't left her side during another field test. She sat next to her at every meal and traded chore assignments with others to maintain their proximity. Whether out of concern or to keep her to herself, Reiner couldn't tell. Not that he noticed. He had his own goals to worry about.

Reiner was quickly climbing the ranks of the trainees. His brute strength combined with his tenacity and previous knowledge was aiding him. Not everyone had trained exhaustively for years prior to entering the military. Excelling at every test they threw his way, he was surpassed only by Eren's friend- that stoic freak of nature, Mikasa. Not that he minded. The goal wasn't to be the best- just top ten. Just good enough.

Reiner was a little shocked to find he was actually enjoying his time in the camp, and he and Bertolt were gaining the other trainees trust at a rapid rate. He was, however, finding it increasingly difficult to maintain his distance emotionally from the other soldiers. They shared every waking minute together, from eating to washing to sleeping. Trainees told him the stories of their home, many of which were devastated when the wall was invaded all those years ago. When they broke the wall. The closer he got to them, the easier it became to just shove the warrior part of himself back in his mind. He smothered it during those moments so that he could maintain his composure. If he didn't, he would scream every time Eren began to rant, railing at the stories of horror and loss internally. So Reiner became the soldier during the day, if only for some respite from the howling in his mind.

Watching Krista helped calm the madness. Her goodness, her purity was an anchor in his blustering mind. She became his North Star, as untouchable as the ball of gas billions of light-years away, but just as necessary as its location in the sky. As foreign and unreachable as that guiding light. So he forced himself to be content with observing her and letting her steer him from afar. If he hadn't been observing her, he never would have noticed she had fallen during the field test that day, months after the first.

The instructors chose a different trainee to lead the drill each time, raffling through the names. Today, it was Ymir. She had scowled, eyes darting down to Krista for a moment, but in the end, protesting would do nothing but earn her a second run and no dinner. That had left Krista unescorted for the first time in months. Not that it would make any difference to him, he sternly reminded himself. He still had his own score to think of, and Krista routinely came in towards the end of the group.

"The drill today is 15 kilometers of hill running in full gear," Instructor Shadis barked, ignorant to the groans it elicited in his students. Krista deflated slightly, and Reiner grimaced. Even for him, this was no short order. Full gear was a hard demand, and 15 kilometers was much more than they'd covered in gear. Training was starting to ramp up for them it seemed.

"Anyone who returns past dinner will not receive any, just like always. You should be used to that by now," he growled, eyeing them down. Their breath fogged in the early morning cold of the yard. The day didn't promise any warmer weather as they were beginning the slow descent from late fall to early winter. "Our leader," he continued, with a sharp glance at Ymir, "will set the pace. Make sure it's a quick one."

Ymir had not let the instructor down in the slightest. The clip she kept them at was grueling, and the standard stragglers had already began to lag behind after 2 kilometers. Mikasa, Bertolt, Jean, and Annie were keeping pace with, if not ease, at least minor difficulty. Connie and Sasha lagged just behind them, too busy trading jokes about their exhaustion to be bothered with vying for first place. Armin and Eren had paired off towards the back of the pack, to keep each other company, and Krista was dead last, already panting with exertion. Reiner was more cognizant of that fact than he was comfortable admitting to himself. He struggled to maintain his spot in the middle, close enough to the front that Bertolt wouldn't give him an odd side eye, but far enough back that he could watch her. The flush creeping up her neck to bloom in her cheeks, despite the sharp cold, bore witness to her effort. It was because of his proximity that he noticed when she went down.


If it hadn't been for the root, Krista was sure she would've made it to the end just fine. It didn't matter that her lungs were burning from exertion. She could've run through her small calves cramping in the cold. The sharp sting in her nose at every icy inhale could've been ignored and pushed through. But that damn root.

Her left foot snagged on it after kilometer four, sending her sprawling face first into the dirt. The frigid temperature and the trainees' boots had packed the ground tightly, leaving nothing but a hard, flat surface for her to face plant into. Outstretched palms broke her fall, just barely, but she could still feel the way her face scraped into the dirt, tearing at the soft flesh of her cheek. As her chin smacked against the ground, her teeth bit down on her tongue. Blood bloomed in her mouth.

Ouch.

"Krista! Are you ok?" a deep, panicked voice called to her before a large set of boots filled her blurry vision. Then knees as the speaker knelt in front of her. Déjà vu.

"We have to stop meeting like this." Krista smiled softly up at the concerned face of Reiner, before turning to spit out the blood pooling in her mouth. Very dignified. If only her relatives could see her now. He let out a nervous chuckle, and slung his pack off his shoulder.

"Well that answers my question," he replied, and gently he reached over to right her. Even through her winter jacket, she could feel the heat of his hands on her arms, pulling her to an upright position. She hissed in pain as she sat back on her legs, and shifted to pull them out from under her. Nothing felt broken, but her left ankle felt funny. The sting in her palms and face were more pressing though, throbbing insistently as they demanded the bulk of her attention.

"What hurts worst?" Reiner asked, eyes roving over her face and form critically. It was clinical, devoid of a hint of arousal, but Krista felt her face heat anyways. Thinking of someone like Reiner looking at her like that made her stomach clench pleasurably. In response to his question, he held up her scraped hands to him, and stuck out her bitten tongue. She watched his eyes widen at the sight before he let out a sharp bark of laughter.

"'Oo asthed," she pointed out, tongue still poked out of her mouth, before retracting it with a giggle. "My palms took the worst of it I think," she amended.

Carefully, Reiner took her hands in his and turned them over to face palm up. Her icy hands fit entirely inside of his heated ones and she hummed in gratitude at the temperature difference.

"I can bandage these up for you," he said, turning to dig in his bag. "But I can't do anything about the tongue, I'm afraid."

His eyes flashed with amusement as he shot a quick smile her way. He transferred both of her hands into one of his, and unrolled the bandage one handed, using his teeth to tear off the edge. With great care, he gently wrapped her palms, one at a time, and tied them up neatly. The throbbing decreased as he worked, settling to a dull ache by the time he completed his ministrations.

"Oh, that feels much better," Krista sighed.

"You…have one more…" Reiner reached out a hand to cup her face. It took all her self-control to not lean her frigid cheek into his scalding palm. Goosebumps swept up her arms at the sudden heat. She remembered how warm he'd felt the last time he'd helped her too. Maybe he just ran hot? A faint blush stained his cheeks as he tilted her head to the side to run a thumb over the gash. Krista started at the contact- she hadn't felt that scrape with her hands protesting so loudly.

"I can't bandage up that one, but I could clean it…if you want…" His voice dropped off to almost a whisper as he held her face. He stilled, eyes flickering to hers, waiting for her reaction. Silently, she nodded. She hadn't noticed his eyes before. They were golden. Tawny and burning, like the sun. The intensity of them suited him, she thought. Reiner seemed like an intense person.

Krista felt the loss of his hand when he removed it, but his eyes shifting away from hers was like a broken spell. She released the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, blinking a few times to clear her still foggy vision. After a moment of digging, he pulled out a small flask, shaking it.

"It's supposed to warm you by drinking it, but it works just as well for this," he explained with a grin, which she returned it on instinct. The strong scent of liquor made her scrunch her nose as he doused the cloth in the foul smelling liquid. Reiner was going to be last with her again, judging by the time he was taking to bandage her up, but when she mentioned it, he simply shrugged and wiped the cloth against the scrape on her cheek. She winced at the sharp sting, but didn't cry out. Enough people thought she was too weak and useless to be a soldier- the idea of him thinking it also bothered her.

If he noticed her flinch, he didn't comment on it. Instead, he returned the items to his bag and stood in one smooth motion. She was struck again by deja vu as he held down his large hand to help her stand. He must've noticed the eerie similarities as well.

"I promise I won't yank you too hard this time," he smirked. In a mirror of his rescue months ago, she almost fell again as he helped her up. Unlike last time, it was not a result of his strength, but her weakness. Krista gasped as white hot pain lanced its way up her left leg from her ankle. Reiner's grip on her tightened in response, and he slid his other arm around to her back when her knees buckled.

"I guess it wasn't just some scrapes."

"I thought my ankle was hurt, but my hands were too distracting for me to notice," she explained meekly. Holding the foot in question out, she glared down at it like it had personally offended her. Reiner maneuvered himself to crouch again in front of her, sliding his hands down to around her waist to steady her as she wobbled on one leg. Sparks flared down the trail his hands traced down her body, and she willed herself to ignore them. He was just being careful. He was just providing medical attention. What was wrong with her?

Reiner gave her ankle an experimental roll. Krista hissed at the movement, and almost pitched forward. She placed her palms his shoulders to keep her balance as he examined it. His shoulders reached almost past her waist, even with his head bowed. The tips of his ears pinkened as she watched from her vantage point. Was he blushing?

"It isn't broken, but I think it is sprained," he explained, tilting his head up to look at her again. Tawny gold eyes searched her face. "Do you think you can walk?"

With a brave nod, Krista attempted to put weight on the limb. Had Reiner's hands not already been ghosting at her waist, she would've fallen for sure. As it was, she felt his large fingers tighten around her in assurance. Her breath hitched at the sensation.

"You should just go on without me, Reiner," Krista muttered. She was disgusted with herself for failing- again- but she wouldn't be the cause of him failing too. "I'll wait here. Just tell someone I'm here when you get back to camp."

Reiner stared at her, mouth slightly agape and blinked. Once. Twice.

"You shouldn't take the point loss just for me. If you hurry, you could probably even catch up with the group," Krista continued. Why was he looking at her like that? It was like she was suddenly not speaking the same language as him.

The world tilted as Reiner stood, sweeping her legs out from under her as he did so. One arm slid between her back and her bag to grip her side and the other clutched her under her knees. He took extra care to not jostle her foot. Cradling her close to his chest- his very large warm chest, she couldn't help but notice, he started off down the trail again at a surprisingly fast pace.

"What're you doing?" Krista squealed in bewilderment. She didn't try to wiggle away, for fear he might drop her, or trip like she did. Besides, he was so warm. She could already feel the tingling indicating her frozen body was beginning to thaw and was reluctant to give that up so soon.

"Carrying you," Reiner replied simply.

"But this is against the rules," she protested weakly. The urge to nuzzle her way closer to the warmth was difficult to ignore with the icy wind whipping around her form as he moved.

"We have almost ten kilometers to go before we reach camp. By the time I made it and sent someone back for you, you'd probably die of exposure. Besides," he grinned down at her, "they may give me extra points for pulling the hero card. Who knows?"


Reiner willed his heart to still as he held her tiny form close. When she'd snuggled closer to him after a few kilometers, his heart clenched painfully. She was just looking for warmth, he told himself. When she fell asleep with five kilometers to go, he was sure that his heart would burst in his chest.

The trust she was showing him as she slept so silently in his arms was breathtaking. Him. The enemy. The traitor. Not that she knew any of that, to be sure. But she was still trusting him. Krista had such a pure, good heart. Surely she could sense the evil inside of him? And yet she slept.

Speech had failed him when she'd told him to leave her there, wounded in the cold. She wasn't wrong, he'd probably earn a resounding failure when he showed up last with another recruit in his arms, but he couldn't bring himself to care about that. At least not at the moment. At the moment, she was warm and soft and small. He was just pleased to have her in his arms, even if it was under special circumstances. His goal was to become an excellent soldier. His goal was to graduate at the top. Bertolt would chastise him when he returned. Annie would scoff at his sentimentality. And he would continue to lie to them and himself that this was nothing more than a ploy to earn sympathy and camaraderie from their fellow trainees, all to further their infiltration. But his pounding heart knew better.

When the lanterns from camp began to peek through the trees and the dinner bell could be heard echoing towards them, Krista began to stir. She rubbed her face back and forth against his chest, mumbling, causing his chest to constrict painfully. Sleepily she opened her eyes, and started at the sight. His chest in her face must not have been what she expected to see.

"Whaa….Reiner?"

"Morning sleepyhead," he chuckled, and then grimaced internally. Sleepyhead? Who said things like that? It was even dark outside! Idiot.

"You carried me this whole way?" He knew he must be hallucinating the awe in her tone, but her face looked so sincere. Her large, blue eyes shone with gratitude. Unconsciously, he straightened and puffed out his chest, tugging her closer.

"It wasn't that hard. You don't weigh hardly nothing," he replied, and jiggled her a bit for emphasis. She yelped in surprise, winding her arms around his neck in response. He could feel the blood rush to his face at her proximity. It was impossible not to smell her scent this close, sugary vanilla and sunshine. Damn it.

"Is that the camp?"

"Yeah, we're close. We should be there in a few minutes."

"You should let me walk the rest of the way," Krista murmured, and Reiner could feel his fingers clench around her small form. She wasn't wrong. They would both get in loads of trouble if they returned to camp in this state. As it was, they'd be lucky to avoid a lecture and get to eat at all. They were both popular enough with their fellow soldiers that they were almost guaranteed some scraps, but it was never as filling as the full meal. He was, however, reluctant to let her down.

Reiner continued to run in silence for a few more minutes, pretending to mull her proposition over. The lights glowed brighter as they neared the finish line. When they could nearly make out the entrance, he slowed to a stop, and set her down gently. She swayed in place for a moment, testing the feel of her weight on her foot. He knew he looked absurd with his hands hovering anxiously around her, but he didn't want her to fall again. With nothing more than a grimace, she stood on both feet.

"I think I can walk from here," she said and grinned up at him. "Thank you for carrying me."

"It was no problem. Are you sure you can handle it?" Reiner knew he sounded nervous, but there was nothing to be done for it. For some inexplicable reason, the idea of her in pain bothered him immensely.

"I'm sure," she replied, and began to walk gingerly towards the lights. She favored her left foot heavily, but she was making it. Each step had less of a limp than the one before.

"At least let me carry your gear-" Reiner tried but Krista shook her head insistently.

"You've done enough Reiner. I'm fine, I promise." The way she smiled was so sweet it made his teeth hurt. She was an angel. He'd gotten to hold her in his arms for hours, and she was thanking him for it? Marry me.


Dozens of eyes swiveled their direction when they finally made it into the dining hall. Most were curious, a few were teasing, and at least 3 pairs ranged into hostile. They'd simply deposited their gear outside the door in their haste to make it to eat on time, and were the last ones in. Together.

"Look who finally made it back," Ymir sneered, eyes narrowed at Reiner from her position at the end of her table. Krista shot him an apologetic smile as she made her way over to her spot next to Ymir.

Bertolt had the decency to look concerned as Reiner dropped heavily onto the bench across from him. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin were seated at the table as well. That was for the best- Bertolt couldn't reprimand him in the open with them here. He could feel Annie's eyes boring into him from the other side of the room. She never ate with them. It was considered safer that way. Less suspicion. Besides, he and Bertolt were the ones that were truly friends anyways.

"Why'd you get back so late?" Armin asked politely. "Eren and I thought we were the last ones until we noticed you and Krista missing."

"Yeah Reiner! Why were you and Krista last?" Eren teased. It earned him a sharp elbow from Mikasa, and Reiner took the opportunity to tear into the bread with his teeth, allowing him some time to consider his answer.

"She hurt her ankle and needed some help on the way back," he replied after swallowing. He said it calmly and without emotional inflection. No mention of carrying her. No mention of his growing infatuation. No need for details. He hoped Ymir wasn't giving Krista the third degree at their table, although he was more than certain she was.

"I'm sure if you explained that to Instructor Shadis, he'd give you at least partial marks for the test," Armin offered, but Reiner shrugged, taking another bite. The points didn't bother him at the moment. The test had gone pretty damn well, as far as he was concerned.

"You're becoming quite the hero," Bertolt commented quietly. Reiner froze mid bite to glance up at him. Bertolt's eyes bore into his, soft and insistent. An unspoken warning. Reiner huffed.

"Don't worry Bertolt. I'm not."