Disclaimer:I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack on Titan nor its characters.
"What is it do you want? Why bring me out here?"
"Even when you're blind, I still sense the familiar strong guard and 'monster' aura you have."
The raven tensed.
"Don't worry, times have changed and I don't plan to hurt you."
"Then? Talk."
Sighing, the person who led her out, alone and defenceless, turned towards the raven.
Crystal eyes reflecting on the raven's dulled grey ones.
"I said talk, Annie." Mikasa hissed, impatient.
Annie sighed in response to her impatience, a beast like her can't even keep her cool, that was to be expected anyway.
"I always saw you as my rival, and a beast. And I'm sure you at least saw me as a rival as well, unless you consider me 'weak'" Annie spoke with caution. She was sure not to mention any sentences that remind her of her blindness, even if they were metaphors or idioms. She wasn't that cruel or horrible to do so. Moreover, she didn't really consider Mikasa as someone she hated—not a hundred percent at least.
"Get to the point, I didn't let you bring me out here to hear a lecture." Mikasa snapped, which Annie only let out another sigh at, but what she said was the truth though.
Annie had just finish being interviewed or rather, interrogated by people of authority about whatever was that they didn't know about history outside the walls that she knew. Knowledge that she had learnt as a warrior. She was exhausted, to say the least. But she was relieved that she wouldn't be locked up in prison considering she did play a part in ensuring victory and freedom that the people have now.
"Of course I didn't want to give you a lecture. If I wanted to, I wouldn't have brought you so far out here so that Armin and Eren would take a while to find you." Annie grumbled. She did plan to have a private chat with Mikasa some time. It was just a coincidence that when she was taking a stroll outside—she was too. It was also pretty easy to convince the raven to follow her. All she had to do was bring up her precious friends after all, the only troublesome part was leading her out here considering Mikasa had zero trust in Annie as of now.
"First off, I want to apologize for nearly killing your friends, comrades. But you knew I didn't have a choice, right?" Annie spoke, in a genuine sincere tone.
Mikasa nodded, though she did scowl quietly. Obviously she didn't come out here for this information.
"Secondly, the reason why I called you out here, and the reason why you bothered even coming out here…" Annie spoke, hesitating a little before continuing, "As you know, Eren has like, 2 years left if I'm not wrong, Armin has like 10 years or so …" Annie shrugged. She was trapped in the crystal for quite a while, which stopped time for her a little. But she decided not to bring up the time she had left, knowing Mikasa didn't want to hear that.
Annie's eyes averted its gaze to the lake next to the two, as silence started filling the air. "And knowing you, you'd do anything to save them from such things… sadly I don't mean to raise your hopes or anything because I don't have an idea of it as well and—"
"Why did you really call me out here, Annie?" Mikasa asked, figuring her mentioning Armin and Eren to her earlier was just bait to lure her out here, alone. And as much as she hated to admit it, she was at a disadvantage if Annie were to start a physical fight with her. But, she still had the confidence to pick up where they left off from their combat back in the military that was stopped by their captain— who didn't wish any one of them to die in their own combat.
"Why… hm… you caught me red handed." Annie shrugged as she continued, "I feel guilty, alright? Those hundreds—no, at least more than a thousands of lives that I've killed... and—"
"And why are you telling me this?" Mikasa spoke, cutting her off her sentence which Annie sighed at again, at her impatience although she couldn't blame her.
"Remember what you said to me that time? Our conversation that started because you found my defence mechanism ring?" ***
*** Lost Girls reference. (It's an Attack on Titan novel and manga and now to be an OVA, google for more specific information on it.)
"Yeah…?"
"That conversation just… I don't know it's hard to explain. Our relationship is some sort of rivalry isn't it, but sometimes…"
"You wished things could've been different since you find us 'alike'? And thought we could get along?" Mikasa spoke, finishing the sentences Annie nodded in response.
"We're nothing alike, Annie." Mikasa spoke as she let out a sigh. Their conversation so far was basically useless and a waste of precious time. Plus Eren and Armin were probably searching for her. But, she couldn't blame the blonde for apologising. Odd enough, the raven did feel sympathetic, though she refused to show it to someone like her.
"But, times have change and so many people have told me to move on, so should you. So if you don't have anything else which is important to say, then please leave." Mikasa spoke simply, her tone growing a little cold.
"There is something… how's Eren and Armin doing? At least answer that." Annie asked, considering she hadn't seen them since during the small chit chat on her role during the war. "They're doing fine, why do you ask?" Mikasa questioned, a little suspicious over the fact she had brought the two up. Especially since she heard rumours that the first time Annie showed the slightest sign of smiling was when she was with Eren, plus they had trained together quite often during combat lessons back in the day. She wondered why she was concerned over such a trivial thing, but one thing's for sure. She didn't suspect that jealousy was the answer.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to eat them up. "Annie answered rolling her eyes as Mikasa clicked her tongue, in annoyance, at her 'joke'. "I'm just curious… and just between us girls, I kind of… have an interest in your blonde friend."
Mikasa tensed up immediately. "What? That joke isn't even funny, I thought you saw me as a beast? Either way you can't—"
"That's for Armin to decide." Annie spoke finally as she walked closer to Mikasa. "He's not a teenager anymore, you don't have to act like a protective sister around him or whatever, it's not like I'm bothering you or and your lovable Eren." Annie scoffed as Mikasa's cheeks blushed a little.
"E-Excuse me? What do you—"
"We'll talk about this another time when you're calmer around me." Annie sighed, seeing that Mikasa was still a little blunt with her feelings. "Is there any questions for me though? I've dragged you out here for my selfish reasons." Annie spoke, considering if she did wanted to know any information on Titan shifters she was able to provide what knowledge she had knew about them.
Mikasa thought for a while as she felt Annie's presence nearing her which caused her to tense a little but relaxed considering she was sure she wouldn't hurt Mikasa—if she wanted to, she could've already. "Well… will you answer any question?" Mikasa asked quietly which seemed to stun the blonde a little seeing that she didn't sense any of her coldness in her words, and assumed the question was either something about Eren—since he was always the trigger for her vulnerability—or so Annie assumed, or it was something else she probably wouldn't know how to answer. "Yeah… if I know the answer." Annie responded, keeping her cool as her crystal eyes found itself on her dullen obsidian ones, and couldn't help but soften hers in sympathy.
"How… did I become blind?" Mikasa asked as she felt Annie's eyes fixating at her as she turned towards the direction where she had felt her sympathetic aura which had surprised her enough. "Everyone's been telling me they don't know or made up stories that don't make any sense… Eren told me he was elsewhere so he didn't know, but that's a lie since formations can get messed up and I don't even remember anything. Armin only told me that I'll know someday… I don't understand why they're all treating me like some sort of lost child..." Mikasa grumbled, elaborating the circumstances to Annie although it did sounded more like a rant or vent rather than a clearly elaborated explanation.
"They… didn't tell you why?" Annie said, kind of shocked as even she knew what had happened. And to be frank, many people knew except a few who were stationed or placed somewhere else during the attack. "There must be a reason why, sorry Mikasa but that's something—"
"You said you'd answer me." Mikasa spoke, though she didn't sound frustrated, she sounded desperate for answers instead.
'Poor girl.' Annie thought silently. At least in her opinion, Mikasa deserved to know regardless how 'cruel' or 'despondent' the truth was. As much as she wanted to tell Mikasa, she was sure if she did, Eren would probably start a fight with her despite the fact he seemed more 'tamed' as compared to before. And Annie didn't want that, plus she believed she deserved to hear it from Eren himself. Or Armin. Anyone but her.
"Look… Mikasa I—"
"Do you know... how much it hurts? Being consumed by this darkness? The fact you can't even see your precious friends when it's time to say goodbye? Do you know how that feels? It's painful. I'm going insane at the fact that I don't even know the damn cause of this curse…" Mikasa said, trying her best not to break, especially in front of someone like her. Although her trembling body said otherwise. "I can't see anymore. I'm useless. Even if the war's over and no one needs help anymore, I still feel useless at the fact I can't even save Eren or Armin."
"Huh? Save Eren and Armin? What do you—"Annie was about to question till Mikasa had cut her off.
"I can't even save them from being… so sad. They try to be happy in front of me but, even though I can't see. I know. I know that they hate seeing me like this, blinded. What's worse is that everybody thinks like they know how I feel, what I need, what I want. Like I'm some sort of transparent piece of sheet! I'm not. I know that they know and that you know what caused this…" Mikasa spoke, her blood boiling as her voice showed some anger and agitation in her tone. "Did… Eren cause this..?" Mikasa asked quietly which caused Annie a little bit overwhelmed at her sudden flow of emotions—and especially, her question.
"What… makes you think that?" Annie asked.
"I'm not stupid... tell me!" Mikasa screamed. Feeling Annie's presence close to her, she reached out her hands and felt her and was quick to find her collar before grabbing it tightly with brute force.
"TELL ME." She screeched as Annie soon found herself losing air quickly, but was stunned at the fact she managed to do that, considering she was blind and all. And she looked so vulnerable a few moments ago, what happened to that? She was basically suffocating Annie.
"You're… really a beast." Annie breathed. Though she didn't attempt to fight back, out of sympathy Mikasa had already let go of her collar by then, realizing she let her emotions get the best of her. "I'm sorry… I just…"
"It's…okay." Annie reassured as she tried to catch her breath and regained her balance. "I'm sorry as well… I can't tell—"
"Why… Why can't anyone tell me… is it because it really is Eren—"Before she could've completed her sentence, Mikasa felt a sharp pain piercing through her mind at the sudden thought that her theory on Eren causing this was true. She was trying to remember, but mentally it was causing her brain pain as it tried to lock that information far away. It was obvious that she was in pain when Mikasa had collapsed to the ground, her body trembling more than ever.
At the sudden sight, Annie grew concern and worry as she rushed over to the fallen raven. "Mikasa! Breathe…" Annie said not knowing what to do or say to help the raven calm down.
"Everything hurts!" She screeched even louder, which caused a whole flock of crows to fly off a tree—No wait, that wasn't the raven's doing. As Annie turned her attention to the distracting flapping and series of loud caws for a brief moment, she noticed a familiar pair of emerald and ocean blue eyes. And the fact that it seemed the owner of the emerald eyes had punched that tree which was probably home to the birds and was the cause that scared them away.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Eren hissed as he stormed his way to Annie while Armin rushed over to Mikasa to check her pulse.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MIKASA?!" Eren roared as his fist was about to shoot a punch at Annie, who braced herself for the worst— not even bothering to defend herself in the few moments before Eren was possibly going to break her face and skull.
Author's Note: I apologize for some grammatical errors in this chapters and the previous ones. I'll be sure to update/change them tomorrow. Updates may be a little slower (A day or two late) Due to personal issues that'll clear up in a week or so.