Chapter 9

Few months had passed since Nikolo returned to the line of duty along with the other former POWs who had passed the tests at first try. To the cook's surprise, Grior hadn't been among them. While he did pity the man a little, he was mostly just glad that he didn't have to deal with him and his comments. He'd heard a few others whispering something about him behind his back, but since they hadn't gotten him in to any trouble, he had decided to pretend that he didn't hear a thing. His mother no longer bothered him about resting that much, either, so life was going okay. Still, he kind of wished that he could've returned to the dorms already, but so far, he and the others from the area had been allowed, or more like ordered, to stay home when they could. Well, it's not like it was that terrible; he could deal with his family.

BANG!

Nikolo frowned, his practice shot not hitting anywhere near the target board's center. Despite a few months of intense training, his aim was still off… well, it had never been that great to begin with, but he was still pissed. He was only average at close combat, too, although he was fairly good in handling a knife.

"One more time" he told himself "Focus."

BANG!

Better, but not good enough. Letting out a sigh, Nikolo told himself to be patient. His results weren't great, but still passable. He'd pull himself together again.

"Had the MPs not been around, I could've probably gotten some lessons from Sasha" he thought, having seen the woman's shooting skills himself a few times. Unlike Grior had predicted, Nikolo hadn't forgotten the female soldier, not even close. He was as determined as ever to return to her someday.

"Someday… I hope that day could come a little faster"

XXXXX

Life was good. Levi could be a bit of a slave driver sometimes, Armin tended to get dark every now and then and Jean could be an ass when he wanted to, but Sasha was still happy. She'd settled in a routine helping the garrison around. It felt a little weird at first to work with such a large group of people and not directly under Levi's command, but she got used to it. She would've liked to be at the border with Jean and Hanji, but since there wasn't any conflict, she was seen as more useful here. But it was okay; she was getting used to it.

"But I really miss the others" she thought with a small sigh. She hadn't seen Hanji since the vacation nor Jean or Connie since the morning after their vacation ended. Armin had dropped by once, but was busy training with the founding titan and sometimes with Historia. Mikasa was in Sina, helping with negotiations with Hizuru. Not because she wanted to, but because Kiyomi insisted that she'd join them. Apparently, Mikasa didn't really care about that, but went along with it so that Kiyomi wouldn't cause trouble. The woman seemed to always be up to something.

Levi was there with her most of the time of course, and while she liked the man's company, he was boring as hell most of the time these days. They were a good team when they worked, but Levi wasn't exactly the kind of person Sasha could just have fun with… well, it was probably just the age difference talking.

"Or not; it's always fun with Hanji, even if it's just us" she thought, sweat dropping. She supposed it was just Levi then; their personalities simply didn't match well enough. And as a result of that, she was a little lonely.

"Sasha!" well, fortunately there was someone around to ease that loneliness. Turning her head, Sasha greeted her old friend "What's up, Samuel?"

"Work, work and more work" the guy complained with a heavy sigh, making Sasha snort "Teaching the trainees how to use the cannons used to be easy, but now that the war's over- "

"The brats aren't interested" Sasha finished for him "Even peace comes with its own down sides."

"No kidding" Samuel said "But as someone who almost died before graduation, I think it's okay for me to say I prefer the peace."

Sasha laughed.

"We all do"

"Especially you; peace means less food shortage" Samuel said, dodging the punch Sasha sent him. She knew full well what he was implying, that jerk "Speaking of which, how about lunch?"

"Your treat?" Sasha asked excitedly, pouting when Samuel replied: "The military's treat."

"Basic food rations, yay" Sasha muttered, getting a surprised look from Samuel "Since when were you picky about food?"

Sasha was about to say that she wasn't, but stopped herself. As a teenager, she'd been happy just hearing a promise of food, but now…

"Huh, I suppose I have some favorites these days" she thought "I'm not picky, I just like some foods more than others. And c'mon, is what we get here anyone's favorite?"

With a chuckle, Samuel replied: "I suppose not."

"Exactly, so let's go" Sasha said, deciding to get herself some extra "First one there gets a bite of the last one's share!"

She ran, laughing as Samuel called after her that she was being unfair and that he definitely wouldn't share his food.

XXXXX

Nikolo was out for a run. He could have done it in the military grounds, but they were packed with others who were training and he felt like he needed some alone time. He had gotten rather used to solitude with his time in Paradis, so returning to his old life filled with people was harder than he had expected. He could manage of course, but it took a bit more adjusting than he had predicted.

"It's not like there aren't other people around at this time of the evening, but not too many" Nikolo thought as he passed by another jogger with a nod. As long as he didn't need to speak with people or to make an effort not to bump in to someone, all was good.

"It's them again" Nikolo thought as he spotted a pair of familiar Eldians. It's not like he'd ever spoken to them, he didn't know them, but he was able to recognize them as the same people by now. They still made him a little nervous; something in the back of his mind was nagging at him that those two were up to something, but every time those feelings surfaced, he forced them back down. No, they weren't up to anything, he was just being paranoid. Jean would kick his ass if he ever found out how he was acting.

"Wait… is there something wrong?" Nikolo slowed by instinct as he noticed that the two weren't moving forward. Again, his subconscious started telling him that something was wrong, and this time he didn't ignore it. Slowing down to a walk, he cautiously walked over to the pair "Is everything alright?"

He startled them; the soldier realized. There was no way they hadn't noticed him coming, but they probably hadn't expected him to stop. After all, why would a Marleyan stop to check on Eldians? They seemed to know better than to ignore him as the other one said after a while of uncertain staring: "Everything's fine, my brother here just hurt his ankle."

That man, kneeling on the ground, didn't look at Nikolo. He'd looked up briefly when the cook had spoken, but quickly looked down again. He guessed the guy's nerves didn't really handle speaking to Marleyans all that well.

"Is it bad?" Nikolo asked, crouching down to take a look. It was by instinct, really, but after realizing what he was doing, he couldn't just back out, could he? He could see the surprise on the faces of the Eldians and he'd swear he felt their suspicion, but he decided to ignore it. Even if it was two on one, they wouldn't dare to cause him any trouble even if they wanted to.

"Probably" he added in his mind. Well, he was a trained soldier, so come what may.

"It… doesn't look too bad" the one who was not hurt spoke hesitantly, fixing his armband, probably instinctively. Wrapped around his slightly too big brown jacket, Nikolo guessed the thing had the habit of sliding lower or even falling off on its own. That was no good "It's probably just twisted a little."

That's indeed what it seemed like, Nikolo realized. As long as it was wrapped up properly, some rest should be all it needed.

"Do you have anything to wrap it up with?" he asked. Again, the uninjured man hesitated for a while before unwrapping the scarf around his neck "This should do."

"Yeah, it will" Nikolo agreed, snatching the green piece of cloth before the man could protest, processing to wrap the injury.

"Sir, we have this under control, you shouldn't bother- "the man started, yet didn't even attempt to stop Nikolo physically, perhaps deeming it to be too dangerous to try "This won't take long."

And it didn't, really. This was basic first aid, something every soldier in Marley were expected to learn and know from the top of their heads. It was one of the many things beaten right down to his bones, things he hadn't forgotten even during the nine years he was stuck on Paradis.

"Done" Nikolo said, getting up and offering a hand to the man on the ground "Can you stand?"

Again, he could see the other man gaping at him, but chose to pay him no mind, wanting to make sure that the other one would be able to get up. The injured one looked up for the first time since Nikolo arrived, but didn't meet his eyes. Hesitantly, he took the hand the man was offering, letting the cook help him up. The other Eldian recovered from his shock, helping his friend, wait no, he'd said brother, hadn't he, to stay steady as he started to sway.

"You should keep from running for a while; in fact, try to put as little weight on it as possible" Nikolo reminded the guy, not sure how well an average Eldian from the ghettos would understand basic first aid.

"Right, of course" it was still the uninjured one talking "Thank you sir."

"Not a problem. Be careful on your way back" Nikolo said back, proceeding to continue his run. Only after he was good ways away from the two, it fully hit him what he'd done. It'd been risky and stupid; what if someone who knew him had seen?

"But shit, it was the right thing to do" he reminded himself, letting a small smile surface. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, but despite the risks, he didn't regret it. It was one step forward in becoming the kind of person that he wanted to be.

XXXXX

"You didn't share your lunch with me so you're definitely sharing your dinner!" Sasha whined as she and Samuel walked towards the mess hall, but the man in question just laughed "No way, I never agreed to it."

Sasha frowned, really wanting some extra. How could she get Samuel to give her some… oh!

"C'mon, as an apology for beating me up again a few days ago?" she said, choosing to go with trying to quilt trip him "It's not nice to hit girls!"

Samuel snorted, starting to list why what Sasha was saying was invalid: "First of all, we were sparring; we were meant to beat each other. Second, it was your idea and third, you're one of the most experienced war veterans in the whole country; a woman like you hardly qualifies as a girl!"

Sasha huffed, knowing that he was right. However, the third point was the very reason why the fact that Samuel kept winning ticked her off. They'd sparred at least once a week since their first match, and save for one time two weeks ago, Samuel always won. It hurt her pride as a war veteran, even though she knew that it really couldn't be helped since men tended to be the stronger ones on average.

"…Next time we compete, let's have a shooting match" she suggested, but Samuel flat out refused. Well, she would've too if she was challenged to something, she knew she had no chance in winning, like an arm-wrestling match with Mikasa or something.

The two walked in silence, but halfway to the mess hall Samuel spoke: "Hey Sasha?"

"Yeah?"

"Has Jean gotten over his crush on Mikasa yet?" Sasha looked at him with surprise, but recovered quickly and snorted. Her amusement didn't last though, her face growing serious.

"Well, I think he gave up after Eren died. I suppose he finally came to the conclusion that Mikasa's feelings could never be beaten, even by death. It's… kind of sad." she trailed off, her earlier good mood disappearing. Mikasa was doing fine on the outside and she had come to terms with her loss, but Sasha knew it was still eating her from the inside, slowly but surely. She just hoped it wouldn't speed up once Armin died.

"I see" Samuel said "And Jean? Think he'll find someone else?"

"Sure, eventually" Sasha said without hesitation, smiling again a little bit "It's Jean after all; he's matured and become surprisingly popular. Once he feels like looking for new love, I'm sure he'll find some."

"Yeah, I'm sure there are women who like horses and thus won't mind his face" Samuel said, actually making Sasha laugh this time "And Connie? Surely he could use some love in his life."

"Agreed, but I don't think he has his eyes on anyone" Sasha thought, again becoming a little sadder. If someone deserved some love in their life, that someone would be Connie. He'd been through so much and deserved a break…

"You know, back in the training days we used to tease Connie about his closeness to a certain girl in the evenings" Samuel spoke again "Some of us were sure they'd eventually become a thing."

"Really?" Sasha asked in surprise, excitement overtaking her as she asked: "Who was it?!"

Her excitement was met with a blank stare before Samuel just raised an eyebrow, saying: "Gee, I don't know, who was the girl who hung out with him all the time?"

Sasha frowned, thinking for a while, but coming out empty.

"There wasn't one, was there?" she said "I was with him all the time so surely I would've noticed- "she stopped suddenly as the realization hit her "Oh."

"Took you long enough" Samuel snickered "So, got any special feelings for Connie?"

Now Sasha laughed again, already knowing a sure answer.

"No, not the kind you think" she says "He's like a brother to me."

Samuel smiled along with her, looking genuinely happy, which makes Sasha wonder if she was missing something.

"And you?" Samuel asks, smirking "Got any special feelings for someone?"

For some odd reason, Nikolo's face pops up in to Sasha's head, but she shakes it off with a blush. Looking away, she stutters: "N-nah, not really."

Samuel is staring at her again, the smirk not leaving his face. Sasha didn't think she liked it "Is that a blush I see?"

"No" she says immediately, perhaps a bit too loudly as she looks at the ground. She realizes it was a mistake as Samuel says: "It is, isn't it? You do have someone in mind!"

Was there a point in denying it anymore? Not that she was sure if there was anything to deny; she wasn't sure why Nikolo's face had popped up, but she certainly wasn't telling it to Samuel.

"Okay fine, I might have someone; I'm not all that sure yet, okay!?" she yelled, giving in "Be a gentleman and don't pry in to a lady's business, okay?"

"Okay okay" Samuel said, laughing all the while "Sorry."

Again, they were quiet for a while, almost reaching the mess hall in silence before Sasha said: "It's like you brought up the subject just to try and pry about my business naturally…"

"Guilty" Samuel admitted, making Sasha's head snap up to look at him "You aren't even denying it!?"

"Nope" Sasha frowned, glaring at him. Now she felt like she should get back at him somehow… "And you? Got a special someone in mind?"

"Yup" Samuel said without missing a beat, making Sasha pause. He admitted it, just like that? If she got a name out of him, she could use it to tease him! "Who? Do I know her?"

He seemed to be thinking hard, but Sasha couldn't tell if he was wondering if she knew the girl or if he should tell her or just keep his mouth shut.

"Well…" he said, and Sasha leaned closer in order to hear since his voice had dropped "I'll tell you everything if you tell me who you had in mind just now."

Sasha blushed again, not even considering the offer "Nope" she wouldn't speak about Nikolo. With a shrug, Samuel said: "Suit yourself."

The conversation ended. They'd already reached the mess hall anyway. However, this got Sasha to think about things she had managed to bury in the back of her mind for the most part for the last two months. Whydid it have to be Nikolo's face that came to her mind?

"Ugh, here I go again"

XXXXX

The next morning on duty, and so far, Nikolo didn't seem to have gotten in to any trouble. That was good; no one had seen him yesterday.

"To think that doing something so small has me so nervous… it's pathetic" he thought, but quickly shook his head. No, being weary was necessary, it was common sense. While showing a little sympathy to Eldians shouldn't get him killed, it could certainly cost him his job. And if he wasn't a soldier, getting back to Paradis would become even harder "But still, doing nothing is not okay… I can help out when it doesn't involve any unnecessarily big risks for me, right?"

That made Nikolo feel a little better about himself. Yes, it'd be fine to just help when it wasn't too dangerous. No need to put himself in to any unnecessary danger.

"Attention!" and he had other things to worry about right now. Standing in attention, Nikolo waited to hear what his superior had to say.

"As I'm sure you all remember, we now have peace with the de- people of Paradis,now officially called the Nation of Eldia" Nikolo didn't miss the man's slip; he'd almost called them devils. That and the subject in itself made the cook tense; could it be that the peace had already been broken!?

"We all have our own opinions about that I'm sure, but we can all agree that finally having peace is worth some sacrifices" the officer adjusted his military jacket, continuing on: "And that we should do our all to uphold that peace."

Nikolo swallowed. None of what the man was saying sounded bad, in fact it was the opposite, but with Paradis involved he couldn't be too sure.

"It has been decided, together with the Nation of Eldia, that an embassy of Marley will be located to the island. Therefore, some soldiers are naturally needed to protect it" Nikolo couldn't believe his ears. Of course, he had thought that if the peace really did last, an embassy would be built, but he had never expected it to be so soon. Was this his ticket back? Were the soldiers now gathered here going to be sent to Paradis? "Some very skilled individuals have already been ordered to make their preparations, but they aren't enough. Therefore, we need some volunteers who will be sent there three months from now. If any of you are willing to go, inform me before the day is over. That is all, dismissed!"

Nikolo was about to go volunteer, already taking a few steps, but stopped himself. No, seeming too eager could get him in trouble, better play it safe. He had time, so the best thing to do would be to go before lunch was over. Yes, he'd do that.

"Three months… wait for me for three more months, Sasha."

XXXXX

"With my little eye, I spy something red"

Samuel rolls at his eyes, pointing at the red rose at his chest "Too easy."

Sasha puffs her cheeks, saying: "Well then, you come up with something better."

Samuel takes a moment to think, and Sasha uses that moment effectively by munching on her sandwich, taking a note of her surroundings and trying to come up with something harder for her next turn.

"With my little eye, I spy something sweet" Sasha thinks about it. Sweet? Nothing among her lunch had sugar, so that wasn't it… his lunch? She leans in to check, startling Samuel and making him lean back, but there's nothing there, either "Someone else's lunch?"

She makes a quick scan around them, but no one seems to have anything sugary with them. Sasha frowned; she had to admit this was a bit trickier one, but she wouldn't back down.

"Sweet sweet sweet… what else is sweet than sugary treats?" she notices Samuel's smirk, making her annoyed. She'd get to the bottom of this for sure "How did that one song go again…? Something about roses… ah, right. Roses are red, violets are blue. Honey's sweet but- "

"I got it!" Sasha exclaims, enjoying the surprised look on Samuel's face. Head spinning around, she starts looking for a beehive. Those had honey, so it did count "Clever, but not clever enough!"

However, Sasha's cheer soon fades as she realizes that there aren't any beehives around. Was that not it after all?

"…Well?" Samuel asks after Sasha looks at him again, making the woman blush in embarrassment. She'd gotten it wrong "Erm… another hint?"

"Too hard?" Samuel asks with a grin. Sasha huffs again, saying: "Just give me a hint, okay?"

It seems he is about to since he opens his mouth, but before Samuel can say anything, Sasha shouts out: "Jean!"

"What?" Samuel asks, leaning back with a disturbed look "No!"

Sasha laughs.

"Not the game, Jean's here!" she points behind him and Samuel turns his head, both of them seeing the squad leader walking towards them, giving a wave "What's up?"

Sasha's answer to that is to run up and hug him. Sure, it'd only been two months, but without Connie and the rest of the squad around either it felt like ages.

"It's good to see you!"

"Yea yea, you too" Jean says, hugging her back "Long time no see, Samuel"

"Way too long" the man agrees, also coming over, but he doesn't hug Jean like Sasha does "What brings you here? Got repositioned?"

Sasha lets go, also wanting to hear why he was there. She had to admit that she'd like it if he was here to join them.

"Not at all" damn "I went to pass on a message and since it's peaceful at the borders, I decided that a little detour wouldn't hurt."

"Irresponsible, aren't you?" Sasha asked, laughing "Or did you just want to see me that bad?"

Jean snorted.

"Not a chance, potato girl" he said "But I do have some information that you might want to know, which is also why I took the detour."

"What is it?" naturally, Sasha was interested. If Jean bothered to take such a detour despite being on duty, he must've considered it important, but since Hanji hadn't directly ordered him here to her and Levi, she didn't think so. The brunette was curious to know what got caught in-between.

"The negotiations with Marley have gone well, and they too want to build one of those embassies on our side of the border" Jean said, Sasha nodding along. It made sense she knew; they'd all been taught that those kinds of things were important when it came to politics with the outside world… not that she ever bothered to remember the details "They've already sent some of their soldiers here- "

Sasha's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that Nikolo was back already? The thought made her oddly giddy.

"-And I went through the names, no familiar ones among them" Jean continued, and Sasha felt her smile fall a little. And was that a little smirk she saw on Jean's face?

"But you know, they did say something about sending more soldiers here in three months. I just thought that might interest you" the man finished with a shrug, but now Sasha knew he was smirking. Still, she appreciated that he came to tell her "I'm sure you and the captain will be officially informed later, but I just came to give you a heads up. That and I wanted to see that dumb and hopeful look on your face."

Sasha felt her face heat up as her smile fell again, this time all the way.

"What are you trying to say, jerk?" she said, crossing her arms "I do not look dumb!"

"Uhhuh, sure" Jean said, crossing his arms "Just make sure no one mistakes your cheeks for tomatoes."

Had Sasha been holding something, she would've chucked it at Jean. But she wasn't, so she just ended up sticking her tongue out at him.

"Really mature of you" Jean said with an eyeroll, starting to leave "I'll see you in three months!"

Sasha almost pointed out that she hadn't said she'd come, but kept her mouth shut. She'd go and they both knew it.

"What was that about?" Samuel asked after Jean had gone.

"Just our favorite horse being a jerk" Sasha answered with a shrug, turning back to her much taller companion "Now, where were we?"

XXXXX

"You volunteered to go back, didn't you?" Nikolo almost jumped, but managed to control himself. Turning around, he saw Grior casually leaning against the wall right across of the entrance to the military grounds and in plain sight. He must've really been lost in his thoughts since he didn't notice the man before he spoke.

"And what if I did?" Nikolo asked. He hadn't seen Grior at all in the past two months, so he was a bit shocked to face him now, but he reminded himself to keep his cool. He couldn't lose it in front of Grior; the man would just get him in trouble for it.

"You know you won't be chosen, right?" he asked, walking towards Nikolo "Even if there aren't enough volunteers, they can just order some to go. They won't send someone there who just got back, in fact it's the opposite."

Nikolo raised an eyebrow, not entirely getting what Grior was saying "Opposite?"

"They're keeping an eye on us, Nikolo" Nikolo froze "All of us who made it back alive."

Well, that made sense. Of course, Nikolo had known that they wouldn't be treated like all the other soldiers right away, but he'd assumed they'd just be careful. But what Grior said… was he being followed? Was his mail being read? Was his family being interrogated!?

"Or is Grior just trying to put me on the edge so that I'd mess up?"

"Just be careful" Grior told him "Walls have ears."

A.N: So yeah, apparently Isayama decided to kill off Grior, too. Well, no matter, not in this story… but Grior really is a jerk; there's no way around that one.