Chapter 61

The silence in the room is suffocating as Sasha sits still, her finger still on the trigger of the gun she holds in her shaking hand. She had pulled it, of that, she was sure, so how come she was still alive? Had the gun jammed? At a time like this? Sasha didn't know if she should laugh or cry; to think that receiving little extra moments to live could feel so torturous!

She didn't want to open her eyes, didn't want to see the world she'd soon leave behind, so she braced herself once more, briefly wondering if she'd meet Jonas again in the afterlife, if that kind of thing existed in the first place, that is, and pulled the trigger.

Still nothing.

Sasha didn't know if she was more confused or frustrated at this point. Would she have to fix up this gun, or would the guards be generous enough to lend one of theirs? They'd better be! She puts the gun back on the table, slowly, and opens her eyes, only to see Captain Frank staring at her with wide eyes, clear disbelief written all across his face. Once their eyes meet, he sits back down on his chair, shaking his head, his eyes never leaving her.

"I'll be damned; you were actually going to do it!" he rubs his palms across his face "Of all the things I've seen in my life, this must be the most surprising one, topping even Nikolo's love declarations…"

For a moment, Sasha listens to the man's mutterings, her still shaky hands temporarily moved to her lap, fingers digging to the fabric of her pants, but then she can no longer take it and barks over her shoulder: "Can one of you two please hand me a working gun so I can get this over with?"

The two men look startled, and while Sasha's not sure if it's due to the question itself or the fact that she addressed them in the first place, she doesn't care. She just wants the damn gun! She was tired, horrified, and could feel the wet tear streaks on her face and she wouldn't be surprised if there was snot, too. If she was going to die, she'd at least want to do it with as much of her dignity intact as possible.

The soldiers look past her at the captain, clearly waiting orders, and Sasha turns back to face him as well, hastily wiping her face to her sleeve.

"No one is handing anyone anything" the captain says before meeting Sasha's eyes again "Tell me, Ms. Blouse, did you really think I would hand a prisoner a loaded gun?"

It takes all of Sasha's self-control to not chuck the damn gun at the man when the meaning of his words sinks in. Of course, it wasn't loaded! He wouldn't take the risk that she'd aim it at him; how could she be so naïve? She should've realized, if not right away then after her first attempt!

Forehead slamming on the table, not caring if she startles the guards, Sasha mutters: "You're a horrible man, Captain Frank. A wicked one."

The man actually lets out a laugh at that.

"Impossible to deny at this point, isn't it?" he says "But I wonder, is that worse than being foolishly in love?"

Sasha wanted to flip the bird at him, or do anything else that would show exactly what she thought of his comment, but for the sake of their deal, she held herself back. No matter how cruel and wicked the Marleyans were, she couldn't let Nikolo die. No matter what she had to endure.

She takes a moment to gather herself, again, face against the table, before sitting up straight, angry eyes gazing right at the man sitting across from her that she was really starting to hate.

"So, what now? Will you shoot me yourself?" she narrows her eyes "Will Nikolo really even be safe?"

"Of course, he will; I'm a man of my word. But first, some explanations are in order" Captain Frank says, standing up and walking over to the mirror, tapping it twice. Just a moment after, Sasha can hear someone running in the hallway, and she turns to face the door just as it slams open. There in the doorway, Nikolo is now standing, clothes wrinkled and a little dirty, the man himself out of breath, looking in to the room with wide eyes.

"Nikolo?" Sasha questions, eyes equally wide. She's up from her seat before she could think about the consequences of her actions, not that she had a chance to do so afterwards, either; as soon as she's taken the first step, Nikolo crosses the distance between them, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"YOU IDIOT!" he yells in to her face, his grip too tight, but Sasha doesn't pay attention to the pain, the shock from suddenly seeing him and of his actions taking all her attention "What the hell were you thinking!?"

Sasha blinks. She had imagined their reunion many times, even seen dreams about it, and Nikolo yelling at her face had never reached her imagination, yet that was the reality. What was he even yelling about? …Wait, had he heard her conversation with the captain? Sasha pales at the thought, but surely that couldn't be-

"This here is a one-way window" she hears Captain Frank say as he taps something, probably the mirror, judging from the sound "People behind it can see us on this side, even though we can't see them. They can't really hear us that well, but Nikolo was informed of what was going to happen beforehand."

That was enough to explain Sasha what was happening as she realized that Nikolo did indeed known everything. Feeling her actions to be justified, she stands firm as she answers: "I was trying to protect you!"

Nikolo tightened his grip on Sasha's shoulders unconsciously. He'd figured out that much, but that just made her actions hurt more; the thought of her dying for him-

"You think that makes me happy? The possibility of the woman I love dying for me!?" he yells at her face, and it is then that Sasha's resolve breaks, tears streaming down her face, which immediately calms Nikolo's anger as well, turning it in to concern.

"I… I…" Sasha sobs, looking down to hide her face from Nikolo "I didn't know what else to do! I- I love you and I can't… I can't lose you! Being apart is one thing, but thinking you'd be gone forever, especially if it was because of me-! I-I can't live with something like that! I had to- had to- "

Sasha's sobs fill the room as she fails to speak any longer, the weight of the whole day crashing down on her at once. She was tired, she was scared and she just didn't know what to do anymore! She was so happy to see him again, and she wanted to tell him that, yet all she managed to do was stand there crying, even though he was right in front of her. It just wasn't fair!

Nikolo stiffens after he realizes Sasha stopped speaking entirely. He hadn't meant to upset her that badly; he'd only tried to get her to see the absurdness of her own actions, yet it seems he ended up overdoing it, as usual. And to think he'd thought he'd gotten his anger issues under control, especially after he left the Captain's office so calmly instead of making a scene, opting to sneak around instead. But clearly, he hadn't.

"I'm sorry" he mutters, pulling the crying woman to his chest, holding her there "I'm so sorry… please, don't cry…"

Nikolo was fully aware of where they were and how bad their situation was, but as Sasha leaned in to him, pressing her face to his shirt, he didn't have the heart to focus on other things or hurry her along. When the captain cleared his throat to get their attention, Nikolo gave him a glare, pulling Sasha closer when he felt her starting to move away, but she pushed him harder as a result, now looking at the captain as well, her red eyes glaring daggers at the man.

"You said he wouldn't find out" Sasha accuses.

"I assured you I wouldn't tell him, and I didn't, but I never said I hadn't ordered someone else to do so" Captain Frank counters. Then, he addresses Nikolo "This is your win; you were right about her."

Sasha frowns, wanting to ask what that meant, but the man keeps speaking: "You see, Ms. Blouse, once we caught Nikolo from his misadventure, I had a little talk with him. I told him he shouldn't be ruining his own life like this, that even if you helped him a little when you were both younger, if your roles were switched around, you certainly wouldn't help him anymore, not if it put yourself at risk. That staying quiet about the truth, assuming it was what Nikolo had suggested, was a miscalculation on your part, not an active attempt to keep him safe. Nikolo disagreed rather vocally, insisting that you'd do the same for him, so I decided to prove to him that you'd put yourself first, even to the point of being willing to kill him if it came down to it."

Captain Frank sighs.

"Clearly, I was wrong. I expected you to take the offer to get home right away, or after a moment of thinking at most if you had ever actually returned Nikolo's feelings, but to actually take the gun and try to kill yourself? I hadn't taken that in to consideration; I was planning to lead you to Nikolo and have you shoot at him with that unloaded gun, proving to him that you weren't worth the trouble- ah, if you'd both please stop glaring, I've already admitted I was wrong, haven't I?"

"You mean you never intended to have Nikolo killed?"

"Of course not; like I've said, it's not like he's committed treason. He brought a god damn mess to us, yes, but not one worthy of losing his life for."

Sasha feels relief wash over her. She wasn't naïve enough to think Nikolo wasn't in any trouble, but his life not being in danger was enough for now. Nikolo however, wasn't satisfied with just that. He needed more information.

"And what about Sasha? She proved you were wrong about her, didn't she? What will happen to her now?"

"…You will know, eventually" Captain Frank says, afterwards addressing his men: "Take her back to her cell."

Sasha knew Nikolo would protest against that before he even opened his mouth, the tightening of his grip on her being all the forewarning she needed.

"No, she's not going anywhere. Not without me!"

"Nikolo- "Sasha tries, but gets cut off by the captain.

"Fine with me; I don't feel like dealing with you right now anyway. Take both of them to the cells."

To Sasha's relief, and probably not only hers, Nikolo didn't protest after that, though he did keep himself firmly between Sasha and the soldiers, glaring at the one that tried to cuff the woman's hands. She was very surprised when they didn't insist on it and just let her walk side by side with Nikolo, both of them unbound, one of them leading the way, the other trailing behind. The change in their attitudes baffled Sasha, but she reasoned it to be because Nikolo was a Marleyan like them and they felt compassion and kinship, having been as strict with her as they had been just because she was an Eldian. Or perhaps also because she was from the island, but the point stood.

When they reach her cell, the soldier who'd walked ahead opens the door, and Sasha goes in obediently, not thinking much of it, only looking behind her when she hears it slam closed, much too fast for another person to have had time to enter, and Nikolo's loud yell of protest confirms to her that he wasn't in the cell with her even before she turns around.

"No one said you'd be in the same cell" one soldier tells Nikolo flatly, blocking his view of Sasha by standing in front of the door "You're going to the one across from hers, either on your own or with some help. You get to decide, but make it quick."

Nikolo glares. He should've known something was wrong; they let him come along way too easily. But there were only two of them; maybe he could take them on, get the keys, and-

"C'mon man, haven't you caused enough trouble for us all already?" the other soldier complains "Just go in to the cell behind you; it's right across from hers, so you'll be able to hear each other just fine, and the doors have small windows, even if the bars on them limit your line of sight. But hey, that's better than pissing off the captain by making a racket here and having him order us to take you back to the other side of the base, right?"

Nikolo is still angry, but tries to not let the anger control him, for that tended to end very badly, and this time Sasha could get involved, too. Forcing himself to calm down a little, he eyes the two obstacles in front of him. The one trying to reason him was young, around 18 maybe, barely starting out as a soldier he'd assume, and probably wouldn't be much of a challenge. His partner, on the other hand, had clear muscle, and was around Nikolo's own age. Of course, age and power didn't necessarily talk about experience nor skill, so there was a chance Nikolo could take him on, but then what? He was being an idiot, letting his anger completely cloud his judgement again. Right now, the best course of action was to do as they told, no matter how much he hated it. But at least he would now know where Sasha was and would be able to talk to her, at least after these two left them alone.

"Right, sorry" he wasn't, not really, and they could probably tell, but he forced the words out anyway to clear the air before moving in to his cell.

"Wise choice" the older soldier comments before closing and locking the door. Then, he shakes his head as he says more to himself than to anyone in the vicinity "Can't believe the Devil's the one causing less trouble…"

"Watch your-!"

"Nikolo, just let it go!" Sasha hurries to interfere, finally able to see through the bars since the man had moved away. She hadn't dared to say anything earlier, not wanting to annoy the soldiers, but now seemed like the right time "Don't make things worse!"

Thankfully, Nikolo did shut up, and the two soldiers left without an incident, the older one complaining about Nikolo listening to a devil more than them, the younger one just laughing, saying something about the power of love, not that either Nikolo nor Sasha paid him much attention. Once they were gone, an awkward silence followed with the pair staring at each other through the bars, neither saying anything. It was strange; there was so much Sasha had wanted to say for so long, yet now that she had the chance to, she didn't know where to start.

Nikolo had a similar problem. He wanted to tell Sasha so many things, he wanted to tell her how happy he was to see her again, but couldn't. Yet unlike Sasha who didn't know why she couldn't get a word out, Nikolo did: he knew that first and foremost, he needed to apologize to her. About getting her to such a mess, even though indirectly. About taking so long to keep his promise, technically having not done so even now. About making her worry. But he didn't know how to apologize for a mess as big as this. So, he just stares at what little he can see of Sasha, her beautiful, always so beautiful, face partly visible through the bars.

Suddenly, the silence is finally broken, by no other than Sasha's loudly growling stomach. Nikolo can see the heat crawling up her face, and for a moment, such a familiar sight makes him feel like they hadn't been apart for years after all. He chuckles, and an all too familiar pout on the woman's face soon turns it in to laughter.

"It's not funny, okay!?" she protests, but can't bring herself to be truly mad at him. Even if it was at her expense, hearing his laughter was better than the silence. And she'd missed it. A lot, she now realizes.

"Do they give you enough to eat? They're not starving you, are they!?" Nikolo asks in alarm, and the good mood is gone as soon as it came.

"No no, I just missed breakfast due to all that happened… I think? It's kinda hard to keep a track of the time" wanting to lighten the mood again, she jokes: "Think they'd let you in to their kitchen if we asked nicely enough? The food here is usually kinda bland."

Nikolo chuckles. Of course, they ended up talking about food first, even with so much other things to talk about, too.

"I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that" he answers. Then, knowing it needed to be done, he says: "I'm sorry. About never coming back, about being part of the reason you're in this mess, about- "

"Stop it" Sasha says sternly "It's not your fault; you know I have a tendency to get in to trouble on my own- or with Connie, but this time it was definitely on my own, Connie wasn't around. Actually, Jonas told me about the trouble you got in to, and that's kind of my fault, isn't it? I should be the one to- "

"Stop. None of what's happened is your fault" Nikolo insists, watching Sasha's clearly disagreeing, guilty face through the bars, and the sight twists in to his heart like a knife. She had nothing to be guilty of. He was now a better person thanks to her, and he didn't regret that "Was it Jonas who told you about… my troubles? He told me you two had become friends, not that he said it directly, but it was still pretty clear."

"Yeah…" Sasha smiles, but it's a sad smile. Nikolo thinks that bringing up Jonas might've not been the best thing to do, yet it turns out he was the ice breaker they needed, for they started talking about him. Nikolo tells Sasha about their work in the interment zone, about their trips to different bars and restaurants after work, making Sasha's stomach growl again as he describes some of the foods they'd eaten, Sasha had insisted he'd do so, and about anything that comes to mind about the guy. In turn, Sasha tells him about their first conversation, and Nikolo laughs despite already having heard the story from Jonas, thinking how it's so very them. She tells about the mundane tasks they'd ended up doing together, about how fun they'd had, and about Samuel and Eric. Bringing up their names sours the mood, but Nikolo lets Sasha speak about them without changing the subject, realizing that she needs to let it out. Once she ran out of things to say, Nikolo changes the subject by asking how Sasha's family is doing.

"Everyone's doing just fine… oh, and guess what? Kaya and Connie are dating!"

Nikolo had not expected that one, and he tells her as much, making Sasha laugh as she admits she hadn't either, but right after she assures him that they were good for each other. And that's how the conversation turned to the topic of family, first Sasha's, but eventually to Nikolo's as well, and he realizes it was a topic he never told Sasha much about. Wanting to fix that now, he gives her the whole run down about his parents, siblings and grandfather, telling what they were like before he left to the island, and then what had changed in the nine years he'd been gone.

At first, Sasha fears that talking about his family would make Nikolo sad, especially about how they'd moved on with their lives while he was gone, but to her surprise, she sees no signs of it as he talks about his younger brother's law studies, about the marriages of his sisters, especially of his younger sister's, the pride in his voice clear as day as he talks about her bravery and how well she was doing despite being disowned by the family. He didn't tell details of why such a thing happened, and Sasha didn't ask, instead listening to the talk about Nikolo's niece and nephews. And about his older brother. While he complained how much of a jerk the man could be, he couldn't keep the fondness from leaking out to his voice.

Sasha herself may be the eldest child, but she believed she could imagine what having an older brother was like. After all, she had Jean.

She didn't realize she had said that out loud until Nikolo paused, staring at her, and she blushed, hoping that he wouldn't catch it in this dim light.

"Don't tell him I said that"

"Why not?" Nikolo asks, laughing when Sasha pouts at him. In reality, he could imagine all too well why she wouldn't want Jean to hear it. There just were some things that were obvious, but weren't meant to be said, especially not to an older brother figure, or in his case, an actual older brother, who'd always be ready to remind him of it whenever the situation suited him.

"Your secret is safe with me. How is he doing by the way?"

Sasha tells him about Jean's promotions, about his relationship with Hitch and the planned proposal that, according to Sasha, better have happened already or else. She mentions what Connie's been up to, about Mikasa's temporary move to Hizuru, which definitely comes as a surprise to Nikolo, and about her worries of Commander Hanji possibly tiring herself out with too much work. She brings up Captain Levi, who Nikolo doesn't hate but can't say he's missed much, either, and how the man never changes, both in good and bad. And then she brings up Armin. Nikolo had known he'd come up sooner or later, but his mood still darkens as he apologizes for not making it there to say goodbye.

"He believed you'd come back eventually, you know. To the very end. He was the one who encouraged me to have faith when- "Sasha snaps her mouth shut suddenly, painfully, when she realizes what she was about to say. She hopes Nikolo didn't catch on, but the look on his face is all telling even in this dim light.

"I'm sorry" Sasha says, knowing she should've come clean about her doubts and apologized from the beginning "It's not that I didn't, that I don't trust you, but as more and more time passed, I just- "

"It's fine, Sasha, really" Nikolo says, and he means it. It hurts, he can't deny that, but he understands "Honestly, I would've probably had doubts if our roles were switched. And as time went on, I too had some, uh, a bit less than pleasant thoughts."

"Did you think I'd forget about you?"

"What? No, not like that, I just- "Nikolo stops. It would be too embarrassing to admit how he'd feared someone else could've snatched her while he was away, wouldn't it? Like some jealous, possessive loser… well, he had to admit the jealous part, but the other two, he'd rather not.

"You what?" Sasha prompted, but when the silence lingered, she tried to figure it out herself. Chewing on her lip, it was dry, and she realized she should stop doing it, but continued anyway, for a moment, she went through her own less pleasant thoughts, as Nikolo had put it, over the years. Of him not coming back, of him forgetting her, of- oh!

A teasing smirk rose to Sasha's face, and the confused look on his face told her Nikolo definitely didn't miss it.

"Were you jealous? Did you think I'd get interested in someone else and get married while you were gone?"

Sasha grins as she sees Nikolo blush, or so she thinks; she can't be completely sure with the poor lighting.

"You did!"

"…Maybe a little. But can you blame me? I mean- you're- well, it's you!" he defends himself with a blush, and Sasha feels her own face heating up too due to his words, but she'd like to believe it wasn't as red as his. Wanting his, and her own, attention away from the color of her face, she decides to tease him a little more: "Well, now that you mention it, a certain man did confess his love to me while you were away~"

"What?! Who?!" Nikolo demands immediately. That, unknown to him, was exactly the reaction Sasha had wanted, but he misses her cheeky grin, too busy listing the possibilities in his head. Jean and Connie, who he would've originally thought to be his biggest competition, were out with almost absolute certainty, but Sasha had many other friends, too, and while Paradis' military's male to female ratio wasn't as one-sided as it was in Marley's, there were still far more men in it than women. And it's not like he was necessarily even military, or from Paradis' military- wait, was she talking about Jonas? Surely not, that would've come up when they talked about him… wouldn't it?

Looking at Sasha again, he saw her amusement, and narrows his eyes as a thought occurs to him: "Did you just make that up?"

"What? No! What, you don't think it's possible?" she was pouting again, and it was as adorable as ever, even though they weren't teenagers anymore but full-grown adults. How could a mature, in the physical sense of the word at least, woman look so… cute? So innocent?

"I was just asking; you can't deny that pranking people, including me, is one of your hobbies" Nikolo sighs "…Do I know him?"

Sasha shrugs.

"Maybe? I'm not sure if you two met, Samuel was- "Sasha stops midsentence, the memory of the man she'd once been so close with despite not being in love with him hitting her like a titan's fist. Samuel was. He was, but not anymore. He was dead, died not all that long ago, at least partly because of Sasha, and here she was, using him for a joke. It made her feel horrible.

"Sasha?" Nikolo questions, seeing the change in the woman, but not sure what had caused it.

"Samuel was…" Sasha forced out. Suddenly, she felt like she had to tell Nikolo the whole thing "Samuel was the one who killed Jonas."

And with that, she proceeds to tell him everything. About how he and Eric were there with the two of them most of the time. About how much fun the four of them always had, about how they were friends, even Eric who originally feared them. And about the fire, of how Nikolo's letter had burned, yet how she didn't find out until later that it had been from him to her. She told him how happy they both, her and Samuel, were when the two of them actually came back, and how Jonas had gone as far as bringing Samuel the souvenirs the man had jokingly asked for.

"I was so happy back then… those two, who originally scorned and feared us, they came back, they volunteered for it… and they remembered us… at the time, I thought that everything was going to work out, I was so optimistic… but then… if I hadn't asked Jonas to stay and talk that night, then he- he- "Sasha hiccupped, no longer able to hold back her tears. She tried to wipe them away hastily, but more just kept coming, and it made her feel worse; she didn't want to give Nikolo any reason to worry about her.

And worry he did. At the moment, he was internally cursing the fact that he'd let the soldiers lock him up in this cell instead of insisting on staying with Sasha; if he had, he could be there with her now, and hold her, try to comfort her.

"But if I would've kept insisting, they could've dragged me off somewhere else entirely. At least this way, we can talk to each other" he reminded himself.

"It's alright for you to cry" he tries, though he knows he's no good at this "And you don't need to talk about it if it's too hard. I've already gotten a rough version of what happened, anyway."

Sasha shakes her head through her tears, avoiding Nikolo's pitying gaze. She couldn't handle it right now.

"No, I-I want you to know, I don't want to risk any misunderstandings about what happened. If… if you're okay with hearing it."

"Of course," Nikolo says immediately. It was the least and the only thing he could do.

Sasha starts talking, and despite having wanted to see Nikolo for so long, she sits down on the floor in front of her door soon after. She felt a little dizzy, but started feeling better after a while, and not just physically. Being able to let it all out helped, but she realizes that having someone to talk to at all for the first time in… she doesn't even know for how long was the real reason.

Nikolo just listens, continuing to stand on watch even after Sasha sits down, fortunately telling him beforehand that she needed to sit down, for otherwise he would've certainly worried that something was wrong. Not that he didn't do so anyway; he was worried she hadn't gotten enough to eat, perhaps not enough sleep, and there was no telling what had been done to her while she had been stuck here. But he knew better than to ask about that now.

After Sasha finishes telling about the night Jonas died, she gives Nikolo a short summary of everything that happened to her after that, purposely leaving out the bullying, she still refused to call it anything else, the Marleyans had done. What she doesn't know is that Nikolo can tell from her hesitance at times, and from what he knows of his own countrymen, that she isn't telling him everything, but he chooses not to push, not now.

When Sasha finishes that as well, a heavy silence lingers for a while, but then, Nikolo gets the idea to get rid of it by talking about a random adventure from his childhood. It was an embarrassing tale from when he was nine, one that he and Bianka had sworn not to tell anyone about after it happened, and he'd kept the promise without fail until now. And yet, here he was spilling Sasha the beans about how once, when very bored, they'd dressed up in each other's clothes, Bianka having somehow even managed to find Nikolo a convincing wig, and gone out to town dressed like that. It was supposed to be just a little joke to ease their boredom, but when they came by the old ladies in the neighborhood, including their maternal grandmother, still alive at the time, they'd cooed about how adorable "Bianka" looked in her long, pink summer dress and big sun hat, one that Nikolo had hated but which his sister had insisted he put on, and how handsome "Nikolo" was wearing their father's hat, Bianka having tucked her long hair under it. They'd managed to get away unrecognized, but that in itself had been the part that had ended up mortifying the pair of nine-year-olds. Bianka was upset to not be pretty enough to be able to pass as a boy, and it had been a hit to Nikolo's masculinity that he'd actually been able to disguise himself as a girl, though not one he had much time to dwell on as he'd been busy comforting his crying sister who, once safely at home, had ripped off the clothes she'd borrowed from her brother, angrily screaming at Nikolo how she was way more adorable than he was.

By the time Nikolo got to the point of the story of how he and Bianka had done a pinky swear to never talk about the incident to anyone, he could hear Sasha laughing in her cell. And to Sasha, laughing like that felt good. She couldn't recall the last time she'd truly had fun!

Wanting to return the favor, she started telling of her and Connie's adventures from their training days, ones that also involved Jean more often than not. She told him about the times she and Connie got caught fooling around during hand-to-hand combat training, there were lots of those times, and got yelled at by instructor Shadis because of it. She told him about a cooking competition that once happened between her and Jean, which she lost despite using meat from her own catch, and complained about never realizing to ask Nikolo to avenge her. That made the man chuckle, but he ended up laughing so hard that it hurt when Sasha told him of the time, she and Connie forged a love letter to Jean which was supposedly from the stone-faced Annie Leonhart, and how they'd watched as Jean had pulled her aside one day to turn her down. The blonde had, of course, not had any idea of what was going on, and once Jean realized it too, he went beet red, which was when Connie, or it could've been Sasha herself, she didn't remember all the details anymore, had given away their location in the bushes with some uncontrollable laughter. Jean had chased them all around the compound after that, which wasn't new, but after Annie kicked both their asses with the ever-bored look still on her face the next day during hand-to-hand combat exercise, they agreed to never involve her in their pranks again.

They swapped stories like this back and forth, and Sasha was glad to learn more about Nikolo's family and childhood, and embarrassed when she found out that some of the funny stories she planned on sharing Nikolo already knew, having heard them from Jean or Connie, occasionally from Armin and even from Mikasa. According to the later, she not only snored but sleep talked as well. Sasha hadn't even known of the later, and the embarrassment of what all her long-time roommate might've heard left her speechless for a moment, but when Nikolo laughed and admitted that he'd been caught doing so too, she relaxed, only to get flustered again when the man told her that, according to Mikasa, she tended to mumble about meat and food in general in her sleep.

"Well excuse me, but food is a must for survival!" she snapped, turning her head to glare at the door she was leaning against as she listened to Nikolo's chuckles "And what's your sleep talk about, Mr. I Don't Dream of Food?"

Being met with silence, Sasha frowns. Either Nikolo hadn't been told what he'd said, just that he sleep talked, or it was something embarrassing. Probably later since if he didn't know, he had no reason to hide that. A grin spreads on her face as she gets up to look through the bars, a little disappointed when she doesn't see Nikolo, but it doesn't change her plans.

"Don't wanna say? It's something embarrassing, isn't it?" she teases, imagining how Nikolo's face must be turning red right about now "C'mon, tell me! I deserve a little fun after being bored out of my mind for so long!"

Was that dirty? Yes. Did she care at the moment? Not really.

Sasha watches the opposite cell's unmoving door, waiting to hear Nikolo's voice from behind it, embarrassedly claiming that it was none of her business, so when his face actually appears to her line of sight, it surprises her. His embarrassment is clear from the troubled look on his face, his lips pressed together, but in a different way than when he's angry, his eyes giving away the difference.

"According to my old roommate Thomas, I sleep talk about you."

Sasha instantly flushes. Perhaps she shouldn't be so surprised; it made sense considering what had been confirmed today, but for him to say it so bluntly, so out of the blue-!

"Oh" is her intelligent reply to that. What was there to say, anyway? As she considered it, doubt came to her mind as a certain possibility occurred to her "…You don't scold me in your sleep, do you? You know, the way you always did when I snuck a taste of something?"

"What? No!" Nikolo answers right away, but then stops to actually think about. Hand on his chin, he mutters: "…Or do I? Thomas didn't really give any details, so maybe it's possible…"

For a moment, Sasha just stares, but then, she laughs. Nikolo looks at her then, and seeing her smile so wide ends up being infectious and he laughs, too.

They tell each other more fun stories, at times laughing so hard that they double over, and Nikolo can't recall when he'd last had so much fun. He'd had good times with Thomas and Jonas, with his unofficial jogging team and his family even, but laughing this hard? He didn't think he'd done so since leaving the island. Were the things they now talked about really this fun, or did the overall joy of seeing Sasha again make everything seem better? Or was he finally going insane?

Not that he could bring himself to care much. He was here, with her, and right now, that was all that mattered. All that he needed. In a way, despite them being stuck in cells, unable to even hold hands, he hoped these moments of laughter would last forever.

A.N: Finally, the reunion! To be honest, when I originally started writing this story, their reunion was meant to be very different, with Nikolo actually returning to Paradis where Sasha waited, but the ideas I got along the way didn't match with that. But I think what I've done so far and have in mind for future chapters is better than my original plan.

In any case, next chapter will be up on 15th day!