Chapter 18 – Annie (Arc 5)

Jerking herself out of the way, she quickly glared back to the sky, cautious and aware that she was in danger. But she had a feeling that the beast above her wasn't aware that it was targeting a beast of even greater danger than itself.

As it plummeted from the sky, a blur of icy white and frozen blue, Annie leaped out of its path, watching as it hauled itself out of the nose dive, opting to gracefully land on the other side of the path, it's talons softly digging into the ground. As it landed, Annie couldn't help but think that it was beautiful. Dangerous, volatile and ready to kill her, yes, but still somewhat intriguing.

Its tail hummed in anticipation as it's spines stood on end, ready to attack, legs poised as if a wolfs and wings reared like sails. It wasn't until her wandering eyes had reached its face that she realised the cause of its current state.

Cracked blood sat on the region beneath its eye, with fresh crimson started to leak out of the deep jagged wound. It's sharp, pointed teeth, stained with still warm blood and it was then that Annie pieced together the story just as she had managed to figure out her own past. This would've been a slave dragon to the Hunters, used as bait to draw in other dragons judging by its bruised ankles and jaw. Her glassy pupils roaming further, she discovered a new twist in the plot of the dragon's past which evidently lead to their present situation; It must have attacked them, been injured and escaped, evidently taking at least one of the bastards out as it ran as she noted the slickness of the blood on its fangs. As much as she hated to do, she realised that she would have to make herself not look like a threat. Make sure that it knows she's not looking to hurt it or whatever it was that old drunk teacher had said back in that classroom.

Gods damn this… She thought as she tucked the weapons slowly next to the small of her back, she saw the dragon's head twist and turn as if perplexed. Allowing her eyes to return to it, Annie saw that no threat had reduced, simply an addition of confusion, cursing herself and her soft approached training as the dragon lunged forward at her.

She made a quick breaking dive to her right, landing on the stony side of the path, wincing as she felt something similar to some small bone break in there. Crap. Looking down, she tried to figure out what the actual issue wa-

Double crap.

Her eyes now being pulled away from her body and towards her Dragon Fire Gear, now broken as a result of the impact, cursing as she pulled the release cord on the weighty equipment, she knew that she couldn't redraw her weapon yet, lest the dragon become even more enraged. But she also knew that she refused to die this day, dropping, then jolting back up as the dragon's tail span towards her, darting side to side as it fired its quills, each evasion taking her closer to her target, who now roared, each reverberation cutting into her bones; if this damn lizard didn't calm down it'd have to find out why she was given the title Dragon Slayer she thought. But after hearing that cry, and seeing the glint in its eye, she realised this thing wasn't going to back down. Shit.

Her hand threw itself around her body quickly, her blade cutting through the air like a dragon itself until she realised that she now held the tip of the blade at it's already damaged eye, ready to pierce its brain and put it down.

Something of a pity… it was rather beautiful, she supposed; Before quickly cursing her hesitation, glancing up and seeing that it had been able to position its wing's knife like talon at her throat, halting himself just short of the pale girl's exposed throat.

As the two froze, both fighting for breath, they appeared calmly observed their situation, realising that they were locked in a two-way checkmate. As Annie's eyes looked downwards and made contact with the Nadder's she allowed her lips to part and let the kind of words that she thought only Armin or someone like that Marco guy would've ever used slip through.

'You're just like me. Aren't you." She faintly whispered, traces of remembrance, sadness and understanding infecting her words.

As the dragon stared back at her, it's cold pupils flickering over her poised, tense form, seeing the pain inflicted upon her held back in her teeth's gritting, the control of her strength in the frozen stillness and control of the knife in her hand, the distrust painted in her icy eyes.

"Those bastards. Hunters. They took everything from me… And now they've done it to you too…" She continued, her chest still pounding as her heart slammed against her ribs, forcing her words to slowly halt as she fought for control of her lungs.

As the two continued to breath raggedly, the dragon slowly retracted it's wing, not quite trusting the human in front of him, nor quite sensing that she'd be a threat. As the talon pulled away from her throat, Annie slowly reached and brought her knife back into its resting place.

She knew that whilst the Nadder would not attack her, she knew that it did not trust her. Taking a step back she began to speaking,

"I know you don't trust me. You're distrustful of humans a whole" Her words now coming out of her mouth without fully registering them. "Ha! Maybe you're right to be! We're pretty shitty on the whole" A somewhat irritated grin forming on her face as she realised; She'd spent way too much time with Ymir, the damn girl's sarcasm had rubbed off on her.

As the laughter she had projected died down, a tense silence filled the air between them. Too damn tense, she thought. As much as it pained her to say it, if only for the amount of time that her bunkmates would rave about it to her, she'd have to… ugh… Well, here goes nothing…

"I… I want…" She said, before realising that she needed to be gentle with the dragon or it might freak out and kill her and all that,

"Rather…I would like to help you… It's your choice. I'm fine with it either way but you need medical attention, a place to stay and some damn company you lonely reptile" Seeing the Nadder's eyes narrow at the comment, she continued, "And I need a comrade to ride with. Someone who can fight. Someone who won't run at the first sign of danger. Someone who's out for revenge against the same bastards I am… So I'd think this is a good deal for the both of us to work together."

The dragon's confused glint grew in its eyes again alongside it's doubtful pessimism as it looked up and down Annie again, scouring for any hint of a lie hidden in her body's language; yet finding none. Then, and only then, did the Nadder swiftly turn away from her eyes and looked back over its shoulder cautiously, jerking its head towards the ocean before beginning to stalk in its direction.

Annie, seeing the resolve in the dragon's eye, took a moment for her brain to process the importance of what she'd done before walking to follow it. Whilst yes, she was proud of what she'd just done, she quickly noted that the dragon's cold pissed off exterior could be an issue in what was to be a trusting partnership.

Huh. So this is how Artlet must've felt this whole time. She's going to have to give the runt more credit for his endurance than she has been.

As the two chain broken slaves made way for the water, she turned to the Nadder, telling him that she needed a name to call him by, as her stared daggers back at her, she remembered her old nickname "Ice Queen' Letting a smile flicker through her eyes, as she told him

"Oi. I need a name to call you… How about Frost? That good with you?"

No reply. Just as expected. But matter how much the cold, enigmatic dragon thought he'd kept it hidden, Annie was able to see the glimmer of excitement dance through its body as it's quills twitched.

And so, as the Frozen Titan and the Frosted Dragon stepped into the dirt in the training grounds of the Academy, she allowed herself a small sigh of relief as she had been able to make it back without any real injuries.

After her brief moment of introspection, she purposefully returned to her quarters, telling the dragon to wait outside, but deciding firmly against restraining it. As she finished packing her spare worn out clothes, she moved to place her blades by her bedside, as was now near ritual for her, she couldn't help but notice the small note left softly on the pillow reading 'Welcome back!' So the little runt had gotten a dragon before her, recognising the boy's softer hand. Tch. She should've expected no less from his mind, she thought with a smile.

But as the implications of the note dawning on her, her eyes widened and her jaw tightened as she sprinted back outside to get to her dragon befor-

Too late.