WARNING: Spoilers up to chapter 129.

Here and Now

"Catch"

Annie did so, easily catching the water canteen Connie threw to her. It was fortunate that it was her legs that weren't working yet instead of her arms.

"Thanks" she simply said, fully expecting Connie to walk away to do whatever one would do during an unnervingly slow boat ride that the whole world's future depended on but instead, he sat down next to Annie, leaning against the wall. When he didn't say anything, Annie started wondering if she should break the silence. Did he come here waiting for an apology? Explanation? Annie would be lying if she said she didn't owe him both of those, and she couldn't say "now's not the time", either. It's not like they had anything else to do than sit around and wait, after all.

"Why did you save my life back then?" Connie asks before Annie can make up her mind to speak, and she looks at him in surprise "In Trost. Reiner saved my life too not long after, but… his mind was all messed up by that point, you know? He could no longer tell who he was from time to time, so that explains it. But you've kept your sanity, so why would you save me? We were enemies."

Why indeed. She'd gotten in trouble for that, she'd had to-

…Well, no use thinking about that.

"I don't know" she replied honestly "Instinct, I guess."

"Instinct?" Connie asks "Instinct got you to put your life, your mission and whatever the hell you fight for in the line?"

"Yes" Annie said, turning to look at him "Is there a point to this?"

"Maybe not" Connie said with a lazy shrug, surprising her "You don't even know yourself. Guess I'm not the only idiot around here."

Annie snorted.

"Wouldn't go that far" she said "I might not be the smartest, but I'm still on a completely different level than you."

"Lower or higher?" Connie asked. Annie blinked, seeing the answer as something obvious. As Connie snickered, she realized he'd been kidding. Of course, he had.

Connie turned his face away from her, watching the clouds instead. Annie did the same, silently wondering how much the last four years she'd missed had changed the man. Not that she'd ever known him all that well to begin with, but in her memory, he was always so loud, so lively, and now…

"He's a soldier that this world has molded" she knew "For better or worse."

She honestly had no idea which. On one hand, she knew that the old Connie wouldn't have been able to cut down people the way this one had, and it was kind of sad that he now could. On the other, had he remained as he was, he wouldn't have been able to save her and Reiner back at the harbor. They'd be dead.

"Thanks" she said before she could stop herself… not that there was any reason to do so "For having our backs at the harbor."

"No problem" Connie says "Right now we need you assholes as much as you need us."

Normally, Annie wouldn't take it well to be called that, but she supposed that if anyone had the right to it, it was Connie.

Silence again, but once more it was the scout who broke it: "I used to really, really hate you guys; you know."

Annie raised an eyebrow.

"Past tense?"

"Don't get me wrong, I still don't like you" Connie said "But… the intense hate is gone. I can never fully understand why you guys did what you did, but you believed you were doing the right thing, right? I can't- "

"Not really" Annie interrupted, but this time she really should've kept quiet. Well, too late now.

"Wha?"

"I never thought I was doing the right thing" she might just as well tell him "When I first came to the island, I didn't care about right or wrong. I just wanted to get the job done so that I could go back home to my father. When we broke another gate five years later, I knew it was wrong, but did it anyway. Completing the mission was the only way to see my father again."

She should've stopped there, she knew, but she didn't. Looking in to Connie's eyes, she said: "I know it was wrong, but if it'd really be the only way to return to him, I'd do it again."

She could see the emotions swirling in his eyes. She could see him raising his fist, one that she could easily block, perhaps even dodge despite the condition she was in, but chose not to. If he wanted to punch her, then he could, just this once.

She didn't flinch away or close her eyes as the fist came down towards her face, which was why it surprised her so much when it hit the wall right next to her head instead of her face. She was confused; while Connie had never been an ace in close combat, there was no way in hell he could've just missed for any other reason than doing it on purpose. As for why he'd do so, she had no idea.

"Seriously? You didn't even blink?" Connie asks before pulling his fist back, leaning against the wall again with a sigh "You're so fucked up."

She supposed she couldn't deny that.

"Not that I'm sure if I'm in the position to say that" the soldier continues "Just a few days ago I was ready to do something horrible, all for the sake of my mom… or more like my own sake; it's not like she asked for it."

"But you didn't" Annie says "That's the difference between us."

"Is this some weird way of complimenting me?"

"I'm just stating the facts" Annie said dryly "Not that any of it matters; winners write the history, therefore whoever wins this damn thing was the good one."

"…But we're on the same side right now" Connie points out "So if I turn out to be one of the good guys, so will you."

"We're on the same side for now" Annie pointed out "If we manage to stop Eren, who knows what happens after."

"…"

"…"

"…Yeah I don't really want to think of complicated stuff right now" Connie finally said "Let's just focus on stopping our suicidal turned homicidal bastard right now."

"Sure" Annie says. She didn't really want to think of the possibility of what came after, either. Just one step at a time and it'll work out…

"Or we die, but then it's not our problem anymore."