Hello, here is chapter 4. Hope you enjoy it.
Year 847
Two weeks after revealing the truth to her parents, Sasha Braus finds herself in the Southern Boot Camp awaiting the induction ceremony and introduction with Keith Shadis. She is not very comfortable standing here again hearing Shadis unbearable loud voice.
As Shadis destroys every trace of self-esteem in the new recruits, Sasha can't help but stare at Connie and Jean, the two people who were by her bedside at the time of her death. "They've always been there for me," she thought. She then turns her gaze to Armin and Mikasa "Their sobs are the last things I heard…It was way too loud" she smiles to herself before turning her attention to…Eren.
She stared at him "What made him abandon us like that….He forced us to kill all these people…People from countries that are not even responsible for our misfortunes…His desire for revenge did blind him that much to the point he don't hesitate to attack innocent people. Was he really following Zeke ?"... she thought with a sad face.
She was surprised by the different answers given by Jean and Connie to Shadis…"What could that mean?" she thought without knowing how to put words to it. She's never been the one to guess things from scratch.
A few hours later, while most of the recruits are preparing for dinner in the mess hall, Sasha is very happy not to have to run around the camp several times. She's just stolen bread from some dish of a rookie who hasn't settled in yet. "Those new recruits are so dumb and naive...We really were like that" she thought
She passed in front of Ymir and Krista getting to know each other…"It happened differently last time…" Sasha thought to herself, as she headed towards the barrack where the provisions are stored. "These high-ranking jerks who have access to all this good luck never enjoy their hearty feasts….They waste so much food. Nicolo must have thrown away astronomical quantities of food when the Military Police came to eat there" she thought as she entered the storage hut. The shack was medium in size, a little smaller than those in the dormitories and the dining hall, but there were still mind-boggling stocks of potatoes, bread, and beans. The saliva ran to her lips as she took in this magnificent view.
"I'm in a dream! Pinch me," she said out loud.
She was taken by surprise when her request was granted and the pain of the pinch made her shudder before she cried "Hey!", with tears in her eyes. A tall, slightly dark-faced, freckled girl with brown hair smiles meanly at her. "What? You asked for it, didn't you?" Sasha looked her up and down, obviously, the girl had followed her into the barn. Sasha stopped rubbing her arm and said "Ymir?"
Ymir took a suspicious and inquisitive look "How do you know my name?" she said, bringing her face dangerously close to Sasha's so as to look threatening. "You are looking for me, right? Who are you, a merchant from Trost, from Ehmrich?" she says. Sasha tried to keep calm and sound as dubious and innocent as possible. "Time to practice your acting skills" she thought "Uh, I heard you say that when you met the little blonde girl…"
Ymir approached, the look more vicious than ever "However, we left the refectory long before you? Are you eyeing that blonde you're talking about, Krista?" she asked.
Sasha tries to keep calm as the drops on her forehead run all over her face "Um no…I actually have very good hearing. I developed it while hunting rabbits and pheasants with my parents in my village"
"Oh you're one of those lousy huntresses that live down south, I stole some berries from one of yours in Trost. He had a very pronounced and unbearable accent running after me…Tell me, where is your accent?"
"I was right when I said that foreigners steal our food" Sasha couldn't help but think, ironically.
And there, like the golden-haired savior that everyone admired during their training, Historia, no….Krista too came into the room with two hot steaming potatoes in her hands and asked, with an adorable shy look " Uh…Ymir! It's not nice to make fun of other people's accents".
Ymir turned, stars in her eyes, as she looked at Krista. Ymir was about to make an inappropriate comment about Sasha and the way the "lousy" had a brain as developed as an oyster, but Krista buried her head in the back to silence her. Ymir told herself that it was better. Better not to talk about oysters around here. Krista looked reassuring and addressed Sasha "Don't listen to Ymir! There is no harm in coming from the countryside. You are who you are and no one has the right to tell you how to live your life." she said before handing one of the two steaming potatoes to Sasha. Sasha couldn't help but smile at the familiar yet different scene as she shoved the potato into her mouth. She couldn't help but wonder how Historia had reacted when she learned of her death and she asked herself a question that made her eyes widen. "If I went back to the past, what happened in the future that I left?" she thought.
Meanwhile, Ymir and Krista were bickering
Ymir shouted "Hey! It was the lesson of life that I wanted to give her! Stop stealing them from me!"
Krista replied, "That was way too rough and tactless. It's not good to break people's self-confidence to teach them how to live!'
Ymir "And what do you know about how to live your life? Eh ?"
Krista calmed down and handed the second potato to Ymir.
"And well said, miss, I play the princesses who have the guts to fly in the reserves!" said Ymir in a mocking tone.
Krista tensed "Me, but no, I thought you would be hungry since you left the dining hall."
"I didn't ask you for anything!"
Sasha tried to concentrate, it seemed the other two couldn't hear the voices through the walls. At the same time, the oak wood used by the southern, northern and eastern training camps was among the most isolating they had seen. Even Dauper used less efficient wood during the winter and they had access to a whole lot of tree species.
She moved closer to the wall and heard a conversation.
("Connie "What do we do? Do you think we'll ever be able to go back to our future?" he said, without much conviction.
Jean replied, "What's the point, we are here, we have a second chance to do things right and we can save all the people we have lost."
Connie sighed, he suspected that would be what they should do.
"How do you want to go about it?" he said
Jean's face calmed down and he sighed holding his ears, as he does whenever events are too much for him to bear. "I don't know, everything that happens from now on depends on what we decide to do, Connie. The whole world depends on us 2 there".
Connie joked "The whole world rests on our shoulders….They bet everything on
broken arms like us" )
Sasha couldn't believe her ears, she took a minute to realize what was going on and was silent for a while "Connie….Jean….They did talk about saving all the people they lost and going back to our future…" the information seemed to take a while to get to her brain "No it's not possible!" she said aloud, calling Ymir and Krista out of their marital bickering.
Sasha took to her heels and ran through the rooms of the barrack towards the entrance, potato in her mouth. Jean and Connie jumped, startled by all the noise she made.
"Guys it's you! I can't believe it's really you!" she cried with a half-chewed potato in her mouth.
They looked at her, eyes as shocked as hers. She hoped she hadn't dreamed, she prayed with all her heart and soul that it wasn't a hallucination, that she had heard. She would give anything to make it true, even all her parents' meat stocks. She waited for a reaction, her heart sinking.
Her heart filled with unquantifiable joy when the two boys shouted "SASHA!" in return.
At that moment, her body went into automatic mode and she jumped into their arm.
Connie, moved can not contain his tears "Sasha ! It's you". Jean, who could not believe his ears and his eyes, told himself that he must surely be dreaming, after all that made no sense, Sasha had been dead for a month when they were transformed into Titans. Although he was overjoyed, he still remained a little skeptical and wanted to make sure that this was not all a dream "Sasha…The lobster…" he said.
Sasha stood up and said "It was delicious!" with tears in her eyes. Jean hugged her even tighter.
"What is this extremely embarrassing display of nonsense, you three?" says Ymir who is in front of the door next to Krista, visibly confused by what she has just observed. She even looked a little worried. Ymir when to her and wore a look that oscillated between mockery and suspicion.
"How do you three know each other?" she says
Jean, Sasha, and Connie freaked out and Connie blurted out a random excuse "WE ARE COUSINS!". What a shitty excuse! Sasha thought.
Ymir didn't seem convinced "Yet the three of you were there this morning at the introduction ceremony and in the canteen but you didn't hug each other in a touching way like you just did…Why did you wait for this precise moment for your little family reunion, you looked surprised to see them Sasha, yet the little bald guy was right in front of you at the ceremony"
The three friends froze, none of them knew what to answer. Jean panicked, his mind racing and his heart skipping a beat. He thought it would be extremely ironic to be exposed in such a stupid way. By Ymir moreover.
Connie meanwhile was perplexed, he never knew what to think of Ymir in the end, he was angry with her for having abandoned them when she could have avoided many deaths by revealing the secrets of Grisha Jaeger's basement to them. but on the other hand, he liked her. "After all, her ghost helped us stop Rumbling," he thought.
Sasha became a ball of panic, she moved in all directions while the drops of sweat run down her face.
They were all three saved in extremis by Krista, the savior with golden hair. "Ymir, this is family business, why do you have to waste such a touching moment? Come, let's go." she said with a shy voice. The three time travelers held back their sighs to avoid looking even more suspicious. This tensed Ymir who wanted to investigate further, she turned on her heels to follow Krista but one last question came to her mind suddenly. She turned her face to the three lads and said, "You there, long-faced boy, what does Sasha find so delicious?" she asked, not quite sure what she heard Jean say.
Jean tensed up and spent a few seconds looking for a word that looked as similar as possible to the word lobster. He closed his eyes in anxiety and said "Hamsters, Sasha loves the hamsters she finds in Dauper Forest." he said, surprising Connie and Sasha who were wearing disgusted expressions. Fortunately for them, Ymir didn't notice their reaction, too busy doing the same."Eeew. Worse than those Wall Maria refugees and their love for rats." she said, turning on her heels to join Krista, who had moved away in the meantime.
Jean, Connie, and Sasha waited for her to leave to resume their reunion. Connie exclaimed "Ymir is still as much of a pooper as last time…"
Jean added "We'll have to be more careful, imagine if it had been one of the three... This camp would already be nothing more than a giant crater." looking all around him.
Sasha exclaimed "I'm so glad to see you! I thought I was alone!"
Connie hugged her again while Jean smiled. "Looks like the gang is back together again," says Connie.
Jean asked, "Sasha, what's the last thing you remember? " with a serious and questioning air. "From the last time we saw each other." he added. Sasha let go of Connie and looked at him "I remember being shot by the person who infiltrated the airship." she says.
Connie and Jean looked at each other and remained silent. They looked down. Sasha's face saddened and she looked down too "I died then that's right…."
Connie and Jean didn't answer, way too sad for that but it was clear enough for her. "And the kid, what happened to her next?" Jean and Connie didn't have time to answer before she realized something "Wait if you're here with me too, you're…." she said without ending her sentence. Too shocked by that reveal. Jean stood up and said, "We'll tell you everything. But not here. Let's go".
"Where ?" Connie asked obliviously. "In the woods, we will also whisper, it will avoid unpleasant surprises."
The three of them went deep into the woods surrounding the training camp and took care to check that no one had followed them. We shouldn't risk that one of the 3 Warriors, Ymir or Eren eavesdrop on their conversations thought Jean.
They advanced as night fell over the camp and by now the other recruits are likely all asleep. The three of them sat down against a tree and sighed. They were silent for 1 minute before Sasha broke the silence "Come on! Jean, Connie! Tell me what happened next?" she said, a hint of excitement and concern in her voice.
Jean and Connie looked at each other, understanding in their eyes, and it was Connie who started the ball rolling. "After…..your….well you see..., the airship landed on Paradis. Zeke was placed under Levi's surveillance while Eren was imprisoned… The volunteers were arrested because the Garrison suspected them of having conspired with Eren to organize the raid on Liberio."
"The Volunteers were in on it too?" she wondered
Jean answered for Connie "Only Yelena. She and Zeke had it all planned out. They poisoned the wine crates that arrived with their ship with Zeke's spinal fluid, and this giant perch mink forced Nicolo to serve it to all the high-ups, Pixis, the Military Police, etc." Sasha's eyes widened, her face contorted as she realized the implications of what she had just heard. "You didn't take any, right ?….". Jean and Connie looked at each other and they knew they were thinking exactly the same thing "No…Well not like that…"
"No. Niccolo made sure that none of our friends came into contact with this wine by accident, and anyway, we were not Yelena's targets." says John.
Sasha's face softened when she heard that, he had saved her friends… She wanted to ask how he had reacted to her death but she preferred to leave that for later and first become aware of the decisive events that followed her death.
"And Eren in all this?" she asked, worried.
"He escaped from prison and conspired with Floch and several new recruits to plot a bombing of Premier Zackley's office. Mikasa and Armin were almost hit by the explosion….And with the hit of the wine, they quickly took control of the army. They were called the Jaegerists. The whole army was gathered in evacuated Shiganshina and our group was locked up with Niccolo and your family in the fortress in the center.
"WHAT? But what were they doing there? "she exclaimed a little too loudly.
"It's hard to explain, but don't worry… From what we know they were all safe and well on the island." Connie exclaimed reassuringly. Sasha calmed down and asked "But why is Eren doing this, why did he ally himself with his brother? What do they want to do with the Founding?" with a neutral air and yet worried.
Jean replied "That bastard Zeke had always wanted to use the Power of the Founding Titan to sterilize all Eldians, making the ethnicity disappear after a century." he said ceremoniously and with spit.
Sasha could absolutely not believe her ears, and God knows she hears well. "STERILIZE US ?! But he is completely sick!" she says way too loudly.
Connie "All the people he killed in Ragako and Shiganshina, not to mention those elsewhere….He did it for this delusional crazy dream." he said as his face contorted.
Sasha, looked at him, she understood the hatred he had towards Eren's brother, after all this man had cowardly transformed the whole village of Connie into Titans without any consideration. She reassured herself by telling herself that this time, they would manage to prevent it. But a question torments her mind after this revelation. "And you're telling me that Eren was okay with that? But that doesn't make any sense," she said to herself before getting up.
"Eren has always done everything to protect us, and now he is putting us in danger, causing my death, and wanting to sterilize us all?!" she said aloud. Connie and Jean were a little surprised by this reaction which greatly reminded them of something.
Jean finished "It's not, he was pretending to walk with Zeke and Yelena."
Sasha sighed, resumed her sitting position, and replied, "So he was pretending to be through in order to get with the 50-year plan? He was always with us. " with a smile of relief on her face.
Connie and Jean did not answer this question but Sasha could understand that things were clearly not so happy. She asked no more and let Jean continue.
"Right then, Marley launched an attack with a few airships and their three titans. Eren was stuck and cornered even having 3 titans inside him wasn't enough and Marley was leading the fight until the Beast Titan arrived and turned the infected people into a Titan. They devoured all the Marleyan soldiers. We took advantage of the surprise effect with Mikasa and Armin and neutralized Reiner and the Cart." he said before pausing to give Sasha time to digest the information. Sasha exclaimed "And what happened to the Jaw Titan?"
Connie replied "The Liberio boy who was with the one who killed you had accidentally ingested adulterated wine and was transformed into a Titan at the same time along with the other soldiers. He devoured the host of the Jaw." he said, omitting the part where he tried to feed the child to his mother. Sasha tensed "And how could this have happened?"
Jean answered him "Let us say that the sad circumstances made that…;"
Connie wanted to avoid saying right away that Niccolo had broken a bottle on this child to avenge her by targeting Gabi….Especially since he's got the worst part that awaits her… Better to leave the family part for the end. he thought.
"Our intervention allowed Eren to get in touch with Zeke. He thus took control of the Founding Titan and brought down the three walls of Paradis, thus unleashing the Rumbling on the world…." he said seriously and stoically, not without a hint of sadness in his voice.
Sasha couldn't believe her ears "WHAT? No it's not possible Eren would never do that." voice and trembling hands.
Jean added, "He thought he had absolutely no other choice and that it was the only possible way to save the island…."
"Eren is gone to destroy the world….." she repeated, not being able to believe what she had just heard. She leaned on the tree trunk and silence invaded the forest, neither of the two boys former men had dared to say more. Jean says to himself "And still, she doesn't know the rest….Nor the part at the restaurant." he said to himself, closing his ears. Seeing Sasha, alive and well in the flesh reacting to Eren's solitary actions, back in the training camp in 847. It feels so reassuring and depressing at the same time. Life is so ironic, he told himself.
After this long silence which was starting to be a bit awkward, Sasha asked "What happened next?".
Connie looked at Jean and he nod. Connie explained "As the titans headed for the mainland, we had to eliminate the people that Zeke turned into titans" not without sorrow in expression and in voice. Sasha noticed this and didn't say a word, lowering her gaze.
Connie continued "Then Hange and Levi allied themselves with the Cart and Marshal of the Marleyan Army, well what was left of it. We succeeded in reuniting Onyankopon, Yelena, Reiner, the two children… Oh and Annie too who had just been freed from her crystal by the fall of the walls." he said.
This surprised Sasha who concluded, "You allied to try to stop Eren, right?"
"Yes" answered Jean. "Did you manage to get along?" she says
"Yeah it went well," Jean said, trying to avoid mentioning the moment he jumped on Reiner and smashed his face, before kicking Gabi. Connie stared at him and understood. They were both ashamed of the things they had done after her death.
Connie continued "Then we headed to the Port and decided to head to the mainland to get the plane ready with the Azumabitos. We understood that Eren had already ravaged a large part of the continent at that time, Liberio included." he said with an air of annoyance. Connie took great care not to tell Sasha that he had shot and killed Samuel and Daz, whom they had struggled to save in the past. Sasha's eyes widened, and her mouth widened too, "So you're saying that this family of refugees from the Middle East are….."
Jean and Connie remained silent, and their silence was more than enough response for her. "Even the kids…" she said as the memory of her
shoving the bottle of booze into the market kid's mouth… "It's not possible, how could he do that ?"
Jean replied "He thought he had no other choice…Or rather we were unable to offer him any other alternatives…If only we had stopped him from running away on the day of that damn conference," he said, full of regret.
Sasha said nothing, impatient to hear the rest. Jean continued "We were forced to go to the mainland to prepare the plane, we had a little lead on the Rumbling but because of Floch, who came tumbling down and shooting at the aircraft, we got caught up and there…."
Sasha glared at him and Connie decided to continue instead of Jean "Hange sacrificed himself to slow the march of the Titans and allow us to take off…"
Sasha couldn't believe her ears "Commander Hange….Nooo….", a tear in her eye. "Hange named Armin as successor before passing away" added John.
Connie finished "Then we traveled to the South of the Marleyan Continent, to a mountain range called Slata where we fought Eren and the titans he summoned. We managed to cut it off from Zeke, who had Captain Levi behead him, thus stopping the Rumbling."
"But at this point, most of the world was already in ruins, I don't know exactly how many people we saved…." added Jean.
"After that ?" Sasha insisted, forcing him to continue as black night hit the area.
Jean continued "Eren transformed into a Colossal Titan and an absolutely disgusting giant creature came out of his neck….It looked like a centipede."
Connie "It's possible that this stuff was none other than the origin of the titan power."
"Eeew…Gross" Sasha said, trying to soften the heavy atmosphere of this conversation.
"This creature emitted spinal fluid gas and turned us into titans…The only ones who managed to escape it were the Shifters along with Captain Levi and Mikasa"
Sasha was speechless…."It's not possible, it doesn't make any sense. You're not dead?! You didn't die ?"
Jean "We don't understand the situation either, it's the last thing I remember before waking up 2 days ago in my house in Trost. We may have died then if you end up here too."
Connie added, "Me too."
Sasha exclaimed, "2 days ago, me it was two and a half weeks ago!?"
Connie "Two weeks?" he said, noticing that Jean was as surprised as he was.
Jean says "What have you been doing for these two weeks?"
Sasha, getting anxious, how could she tell them that she had told everything to her parents, two random farmers-hunters from Wall Rose. No, she wasn't going to tell them….How Jean was going to react…And Connie was going to call her stupid…
"I spent two weeks depressed in my bed imagining that I was all alone…" she says after all a good lie is one that contains a bit of truth.
Jean questioned her "You didn't tell anyone?…"
Sasha tried to hide her anxiety. She hoped that with the night, the drops of sweat running down her forehead wouldn't show too much. "No, I'm not that stupid," she replied, trying to sound as natural as possible.
Connie "Are you sure?"
Sasha "Like I just told you. I didn't tell anyone."
Jean "Anyway, even if we don't really understand why all this is happening to us, but we have a second chance….A chance to do everything right again and save so many people…"
"But not the inhabitants of Mur Maria…." Connie said.
The three looked at the ground, knowing that indeed they couldn't do anything for them. They stared at the stars for a few seconds before Sasha broke the silence "So what are we going to do then?"
"We need a plan," replied Jean. "So in the first place we have to take care of preventing…"
Connie stretched for a long time and yawned very loudly. This bothered Jean, he had always found that Connie was sorely lacking in manners. "Jean, Sasha, how about we take advantage of our evening and our reunion to rest... It's already pitch black." he said, not without his eyes drooping with fatigue.
"You fool this is the most crucial moment right now!" Jean got angry. Sasha laughed, she felt like she had gone back to the good old days when everything was simpler. She then thought of all the people who matter to her and a question came to her mind "How did my parents, siblings, and Niccolo react to my death?" she asked, thus breaking up the argument between Jean and Connie.
Connie and Jean looked at each other, it was the hot topic, with Hange's death, Eren's plan and the events at Salta. The drama at the restaurant could upset Sasha and they don't want to rush her more than necessary when they have just got her back. Connie opened his mouth to respond "So…." and then suddenly he was interrupted by Sasha who looked around and suddenly and violently put her hand over his mouth.
"Sssh…." she says as she watches everything around.
"What's the matter ?" Jean exclaimed, prompting another "Sssh" from Sasha.
She tried to concentrate to listen to what was going on around her.
("We should rest easy, I spotted this spot earlier." ) said a male voice a few dozen meters away.
"I hear Reiner's voice in the distance…..They're approaching." she says
Connie, Jean, and Sasha panicked and ran to hide heading for the woods in the greatest calm.
They very briefly saw the silhouettes of Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt heading toward the exact place where Sasha, Connie, and Jean had gathered. Seeing that, Jean said to himself that it clearly hadn't gone far, how ironic, he thought. "So that's where they met in secret," he thought. They headed for the barracks as quickly as possible.
Annie thought she heard a noise and said "Did you hear that?". Reiner and Bertholdt stopped and focused on the presumed sound but didn't hear anything. Fortunately, Sasha, Jean, and Connie were already far away by then. "Probably just a rodent," Reiner said, "And then the other recruits get ready to sleep." Annie remained standing, stoic looking in the direction of the noise as the two boys settle down.
She stared at the woods and then left to join them.
Near the barracks, Jean, Sasha, and Connie recover, breathless from their frantic race to escape Marley's warriors.
"We'll…..have to….be much more careful," Jean said, taking breaks to catch his breath.
"Yeah, we did….a narrow escape," Connie added.
"If I wasn't there, you would have triggered a disaster!" exclaimed Sasha, who obviously had more running stamina after everything Shadis had put her through in training in her previous life.
Connie yawned loudly "I suggest we go sleep over there before I collapse here…."
Jean says "Yes, we'll talk tomorrow about what we plan to do. Good night Sasha….And glad to see you back with us."
Sasha smiled and replied, "Nice to be back."
They left each other and each one headed for their barracks, trying to avoid waking anyone up. Connie flopped onto his bed and fell asleep immediately. As for Jean, he tried to fall asleep, but so many questions and so many fears invaded his mind, thus preventing him from falling into Morpheus' arms.
All of a sudden, a voice called him "Uhm Jean is that it?", whispered a voice that Jean knew only too well and could not forget. Marco. "I know we haven't talked too much but I noticed you and Connie were missing, are you okay?" he said
Jean tried to keep from smiling so as not to look suspicious, but couldn't.
"Don't worry…..Marco? That's it. We just met a pretty nice girl. A real mass eater. " he pretended not to remember too much, to avoid awakening his suspicions, as if he could ever forget his name anyway. He would save him, he promised himself after all.
"Oh Ok, if you ever need anything, I want you to know I'm always here to help" he said, a smile on his face. He turns his talons to go back to sleep before he realizes he forgot to say something and adds "Oh! And your speech at the introduction ceremony was really inspiring." with a bigger smile on his face.
"Thank you." Jean thanked him.
Marco smiled and went back to sleep quietly before the day tomorrow. Besides, no one wanted to be caught by Shadis while wandering around after curfew.
Jean meanwhile finally managed to get rid of his doubts, talking with Marco had reminded him of what he was fighting for. Now that Sasha, their Sasha was back, he was going to do anything to save the others, no matter what. It didn't matter how or why the three of them ended up here, or even who or what was responsible. He was going to take this chance and not waste it. He would save them, he would save them all.