1st POV

.

.

"Eren."

"..."

"Eren, honey come on, look at me. I told you I was...so-..." A snort escaped me, my shoulders shaking from laughter as I tried to get a reaction from the exhausted teen leaning on my shoulder, "-rry. But come on, it was funny!"

"It...wasn't!" AH! A reaction! Finally, he wouldn't talk to me ever since we began the trip back to HQ ten minutes ago. Despite the slight drowsiness in his voice, proof of how exhausted he was after only 3 transformations, he managed to sound offended. "You...said you'd go easy on me..!

"Eh? Should've focused more on fighting instead of trying to book it."

"I wasn't running away!" Eren fumed.

"you were definitely running away." Hanji confirmed with an easy-going tone from her horse, her squad right behind her minus Moblit who was the one driving our cart. Eren flushed in embarrassment. "though I must admit I'd be terrified too if I saw an 18 meters rush at me to take me down," she laughed.

Flustered, the boy mumbled something that made me snort and look away before he could see my grin, though that was for naught since I felt him pinch my forearm...or try to. Remember, exhausted. "stop mocking me! I can't believe you did Annie's move on me! That was low!"

I turned to him with an amused look about to respond when Petra interjected curiously from behind us.

"Annie?" to them it was a new name so they were right to be curious.

My lips curled up in a smile, kinda missing the sweet-toothed little blonde.

"OH her, she's one of us-" and involuntarily blurted out before freezing in horror. 'crap-' I didn't mean to-

"one of you? What do you mean? " Hanji's head snapped to our direction, her lips twitching upward in that dangerous, borderline creepy smile. Oh no-

"erm-"

"Yeah..! She's a friend from the 104th brigade! She's really good in close combat!" Eren informed with a smile, unknowingly saving me. He got understanding nods from everyone. ALLAH BLESS HIS SOUL-"the move Colith did on me earlier came from her actually, she's the one who taught her. I know it too but I didn't think she'd use it on me. I wonder if she's okay though..." his smile faltered as he mutters in worry before yelping in surprise when the cart went over a rock. Out of instinct, I caught his wrist, preventing him from falling out of it before wrapping an arm around his shoulder to keep him secure, which got me a thankful smile from him.

'Oh sweet Eren I promise to cherish you till my death-' "heh, don't worry lil bird, I'm sure she's okay! She's tough! Pretty sure we'll see her around soon!" I forced a nervous chuckle out, getting curious glances from everyone. Bruh I almost messed up, of course I'm nervous!

"you got a problem?"

I managed to stop myself from flinching and slowly looked to the front where Levi was specifically looking at me from the corner of his eye as he rode his horse. 'ALL KNOWING BITCH ACT, ALL KNOWING BITCH ACT-'

I eye smiled, my lips curling up in a sweet smile, "no no. Why, are you concerned for my well-being sir? That's so sweet of you!"

A member of Hanji's squad, Nifa I think, choked on her spit in surprise, the others directing disbelieving looks toward me.

'is she serious..?'

They quickly glanced toward the corporal, expecting a scolding or an insult from him, but to their utter shock, except Hanji and Ilse-who sighed- Levi didn't even bat an eye and simply responded with his signature 'tch', focusing back on the road ahead. The kid, albeit tired, berated me about my disrespect toward superiors, while Hanji, Ilse and Levi squad received questions from the other members on my odd behavior. They had never seen anyone except the scientist playfully reply to the Corporal this way and walk unharmed after. After all, every scout knew better than to act funny around humanity's stronger soldier. They might be called suicidal fools for going outside yet if you ask them between going against 100 titans at once and face a pissed-off Levi, they'd go for the former without hesitation.

My presence on the cart next to Eren wasn't necessary, but after seeing the kid's miserable state after shifting 3 times while I remained transformed for hours, they concluded that I might be tired too, therefore was not to be trusted on a horse. I tried to tell them that I was okay, having barely felt any decrease in my stamina from this since I could remain transformed for weeks, this of course, only possible when I don't use any other abilities like the constant reinforcement of my entire body like I did at Trost to avoid being pierced by hooks, which greatly exhausted me, yet they had none of it. So here I was on the cart. Sorry Plume, maybe next time.

Anyway, I gladly responded to Hanji's squad questions, their poorly concealed curiosity about my complexion was honestly funny, and I was pleasantly impressed by their overall politeness about it since they did not straight up attack me with far-fetched questions like "did your parents bathe you in mud?" and man, I couldn't even be mad at the fella 'cause he was genuinely curious. Though Eren had no such qualms, crazy kid.

Anyhow, I finally got their names even if I knew like, half of them already but an introduction couldn't hurt.

First was Abel, the blond wearing similar goggles to Hanji, who died in season 3, his head blown off by one of Kenny's goons, as well as Nifa who shared the same fate-something I should actively avoid. They're so sweet. Next was Lauda, who I had mistaken for a woman because of the name and ponytail. He wasn't offended the slightest since it apparently was a common occurrence so we were good. Then we had Keiji, who was a tall tan dude with a buzzcut, at least taller by 5 inches than me. He seemed like the impatient kind of nigga who'd tell you to hurry your ass up or else. Dunno what happened to him in the anime though. And finally, Rashad who had a short honey blond haircut and a rather long face. He wasn't ugly or anything, but not my type, though he seemed like a nice fellow.

Sweet Nifa informed us that there was one more, though he remained in the main HQ because of an injury, he'll be back before the expedition. His name is Utz and was commonly found in the kitchens, a fellow cook then! Hmm...guess I'll have to wait before meeting him.

As we conversed, HQ finally came into view under the gradually setting sun, and boi did my stomach start backflipping in anxiety that in a fit to calm down, I started humming.

"...If I lose it all, slip and fall

I will never look away

If I lose it all, lose it all, lose it all

If I-"

"what's that you're singing..?" the teen next to me inquired with furrowed brows, being the only one who heard. It didn't sound optimistic in the slightest. Shocking, coming from me. He noticed that something was wrong with me since yesterday and every time he tried asking about it, I swiftly dodged the bull-'too soon' he paled. 'definitely too soon.'

"hopefully not your theme song." I mumble absently, eyes peering through the passing scenery.

"Huh?"

I nearly missed Eren's response as a feeling of being watched seized me up. Shuddering, I looked around in hope of finding the source of my sudden unease, eyes lingering around only for the feeling to vanish as soon as it came, leaving me more confused than before.

'the fuck.'

Arrived at HQ, we parted ways with Hanji's squad. It was decided that titan training would happen twice a week and that, only after Hanji and I had a staredown that I won, 'cause crazy woman wanted to test us five times a week, which anyone with enough common sense obviously rejected after seeing the kid's state. Eren tried to interject but a look from me made him back down. Yeah he better, ain't letting him exhaust himself, hell no. Like a kicked puppy, she went to walk away and...ugh, can't stand sad people ight, so I pulled her aside, making sure nobody could hear before reminding her of the 'others' experiments. As expected, she bounced right back into her goofy self and this to everyone's, except those in the known, surprise. In the end, everyone went their way, and as expected by plot convenience, Eren and I found ourselves in the stables with a not-so-happy Oluo watching after us.

"Leave it to me Eren, you need to rest." I grabbed the shovel out of his grasp, smiling. "Plus we know you've never been a fan of stable duties hm, so let mama Coco handle it!" Yes. It was intentional.

He made an unhappy sound in response, attempting to take it back but I took advantage of my height by holding it above us with one hand while the other was on his head, keeping him back. "No! Lemme do it! I can't have you do all the work! Stop using your tall privilege!"

"Yeah, no let's not."

"But Colith-"

"Quit messing around like morons and do your job, punks!" Oluo spat in that haughty tone of his, fed up with our banter. "The stable won't clean itself. Hurry your asses up! I don't plan on babysitting you two brats all day." He finishes with a sniff, sipping...whatever that was in his mug.

I said nothing, slowly lowering the shovel in the dung one of the horses left behind, getting a good chunk of it in the process before I felt a tight grasp on my wrist that stopped me in my tracks, compelling me to glance at a frantic Eren with a raised brow.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He whisper yelled through gritted teeth in alarm, though it was quiet enough that Oluo didn't hear.

"Whatchu mean?"

"I-" he quickly shook his head before hissing "Don't 'whatchu mean' me! I know that look! Whatever you plan on doing, don't!"

I tsked. "Just, lemme throw that doodoo on him!"

"What?! No-are you crazy?! We'll be booted!"

I deadpanned. "Eren sweetie, we're assets."

"What do you-oh..." He blinked as he realized that booting will...probably never happen to us, though he frowned, "Yeah well, it doesn't mean you can throw horse crap at people you don't lik-"

"The nerves of that wench to try and act like she owns the place, tch! Why isn't Captain Levi punishing her?! I'm sure she bewitched them all!" Oluo's mumblings reached our ears, interrupting the teen's reproach.

I watched as Eren seemed to consider it for a second before his eyes met mine. He huffed then snatched the shovel away. "Still no! I don't want us to get in trouble!"

"Admit you considered it."

"I did no such thing. Now let's get to work, he's right, we're wasting time doing nothing!" He turned around, about to start the task only to pause as he found the ground now devoid of any filth. "huh?"

"What work?"

The teen turned to me only to find me leaning on a stall, petting one of the horses like I didn't just use my powers to clean the entire stable while he wasn't looking. Even the smell disappeared.

"..." His face went through many emotions before settling on weariness. He let out a long-suffering groan while shaking his head, deciding to stop questioning reality. "I'm...not even going to ask how you did this." He mutters, placing the shovel somewhere before yelping in surprise as I hooked an arm around his neck.

"Aw, don't be like that! Look, there's even hay." He followed the direction I was pointing at with a deadpan.

"...I'm starting to think that you might really be a witch."

" yeah yeah, whatever. Now ket's get outta here~ I'm hungry." I chirped, heading outside as he let himself be pulled along.

"Say Colith,"

"Hm?"

"Do you think there's something behind the next expedition? I know we're not heading directly to shiganshina so what are we exactly heading out for? Commander Erwin was onto something and it's been bugging me for a while..."

I hummed, " hm..well, you needa understand that first, to reach Shiganshina, we'll have to create a new path as y'know, the one they had with Trost is out of commission. As for what Erwin meant...hm, remember what he told us in the cell about the colossal and armored titan?"

"It's 'Commander'- you know what, leave it" he sighed, " but yeah, he said that ..there might be a chance that they're hiding...among us?- what's so funny?" The teen's eyebrows creased as I struggled to keep a straight face.

"N-nothing!" It took me a sec to calm down before continuing. " but yeah, there might be impostors among u-pfft!"

All Eren could do was stare at me with a puzzled look as I cracked up over something he obviously couldn't understand. Poor baby. It wasn't even that funny but come on, the way he said 'among us' so seriously got me.

"A-anyway, don't get so worked up, ight? We'll get through this!" I waved off his concerns.

"You'll get through what?" Be both halted to look toward Oluo who was eyeing us in suspicion, back on the wall in an attempt to look cool, perhaps. Turns out we were now outside.

"'Sup Bootleg!" I waved.

"Stop calling me that, brat!" His cool facade crumbled and gave place to a snarl.

Before I could further taunt him, Eren cut me off with a nervous laugh, successfully de-escalating the situation. Smart kid. "W-we're done with our task, sir!"

Oluo glanced between us before huffing. "Hmpf, guess there's still hope for you brats after all-"

We stopped listening as our attention got picked by the sound of numerous approaching footsteps and looked to see a bunch of cadets walking by in front of us. The teen released a small gasp as he saw Mikasa and Armin in the bunch before turning to Oluo who had been babbling about how great Levi was- I mean I fully agree with him but damn. Hardcore fan is he.

"Sir, may we go talk with our classmates?" Eren politely requested, barely keeping his excitement from showing.

"Tch, get going."

"Thanks bootleg~ now Eren-"

"Now hold on a sec." He cut me off, holding a hand up as he specifically glanced at me with an arrogant smirk. "I'll let you two go IF you call me 'sir'." He looked so victorious that I snorted.

"How about no." I gave him that Daenerys smile before pulling an apologetic Eren along, ignoring the copycat's outraged squawks to 'get back here' that was cut short by a cry of pain after he slipped on a conveniently placed pebble under his foot. Me? Now come on I would never!

Eren didn't even glance back as he grabbed my hand. The joy of seeing the two giving him the strength to drag me with him. "hey Mikasa, Armin!"

Startled, the two turned around, wondering who called them so suddenly before their eyes comically widened to the size of saucers.

"He-whOA-" I didn't even had time to blink when two bodies crashed into us, almost making us fall backward, though I managed to keep us all upright. "Ayo-"

Armin and Mikasa's arms were tightly wrapped around us, hugging the life out of Eren and I. Thankfully I was tall enough to not feel uncomfortable. As for Eren...his face was quickly turning purple.

"Waitwaitwait-y'all gonna un-alive Eren at this rate!"

They realized that I was right and promptly let go, allowing Eren to gasp for air as Mikasa fretted over him.

"Are you okay? oh my God I'm sorry!" She quickly apologized.

Eren waved her concerns off, "it's...okay!" He inhaled once more before a smile tugged his lips upward. "It's been a while! How have you been?"

"Yeah, I missed you two so much!" It was my turn to hug the shit out of them, though I was mindful of my strength, "You two okay?" I immediately went mama over them, checking for any injury, an act they were used to. Mikasa's face was devoid of any scar, which I counted as a victory! Yosh. "Did anyone bother you after the trial? Did they hurt you? Did they try anything?" I bristled, gaze turning fierce, "just gimme a name, I'll find them! Inch'Allah they finna get hell..."

Armin laughed nervously in an attempt to placate things down as he noticed how serious I was, "s-shouldn't we be the one worried instead..?"

"That's beside the point, anyway, did they?"

"No. No one bothered us, they even left us alone." Mikasa reassured with a soft smile, gently grabbing the hand I had on her cheek. "Thank you for worrying Colith." She had been worried all week long, afraid that they might've done something awful to us after what she witnessed at the trial. Not to mention how they both had trouble sleeping ever since, but after seeing us Alive and well and aside from Eren who looked more tired than usual, everything seemed alright which was enough to alleviate their worries.

I squinted before nodding in acceptance, "Good 'cause I would've raised hell."

"Don't you think that's taking things a little too far?"

"Says the one who almost pounded someone yesterday" I replied in a flat tone, causing the two to glance at Eren with raised brows.

"THAT'S 'CAUSE HE WANTED YOU AS HIS WIFE! AND IT'S NOT HAPPENING." Eren fumed, unknowingly getting people's attention. He was about to add something else but froze, the colors draining off of his face as he realized what he's just done. He tried to tell me to shut up by quickly shaking his head but it was too late.

"AH! MY HEART'S ALREADY TAKEN!" like a dumbass, I didn't realize soon enough what he meant until I felt the grip on my hand tighten exponentially.

"Colith."

Ah fuck.

"Yes, Mikasa...?" Squeaking, my head slowly turned toward her, gulping at the sight of the eerie expression on her face. "Wait, kid, I can explain-" Armin and Eren choose to wisely take a step back, leaving me between her clutches. 'TRAITORS'

"Is it that short guy?"

"You mean Captain Levi?" 'EREN YOU RAT-'

"I should've known...I won't let him near you...!" She glared, " I heard he tried to kill you. This is unforgivable! I won't let him get away with this...!"

Unbeknownst to us, said short guy walked in, stared at us with an unimpressed look, before walking away with his horse.

"Subhanallah, damn calm down he's just kidding! It was an accident! I was the one who got in the way." I quickly shook my head, thinking back of the Ethel incident. "Plus it was a random soldier who I rejected, no big deal. Right Eren?" I forcefully hooked an arm around the rat's neck to keep him from escaping-Armin snorted- Haha, we're in this together. "right Eren?"

'Oï don't throw me under the bus even if you don't know what a bus is!'

"She's been hitting on him-!!" I quickly clamped a hand on his mouth in panic. 'CHILD-'

"HaHA now now, Eren stop exaggerating! Mikasa, he's obviously lying. Come on, shouldn't you be mad on his behalf instead of focusing on my love life?" I tried to divert the attention from me, succeeding as she blinked before turning to the puzzled Jaeger.

"Did something happen?" The two glanced back and forth between Eren and I with renewed worry.

The boy blinked in confusion, removing the hand on his mouth to answer. "huh? Not really? What are you talking about?"

'???' "eh? Did you get brain damage from being kicked?"

"Kicked?-"

Mikasa's face turned downright monstrous which startled Eren who looked more confused as I spoke. What? Shouldn't she be furious for what Levi did to hi- "Oh" I halted, face going blank, causing the three to look at me weirdly.

Oh la boulette.

Levi's discipline...never happened since yours truly wasn't having it. AW MAN, WHAT'S UP WITH ME FUCKING UP RECENTLY!? FIRST ANNIE, NOW THIS? COME ON COCO STOP MESSING UP! THAT AIN'T YOU. Ok that's me but that's beside the point! Regardless, altering the timeline might make recollection difficult-Le gasp- imagine I go spouting shit about Is- yep, that's a recipe for disaster I ain't willing to take.

"Ah!" they startled at my gasp that turned into a laugh-which didn't sound nervous at all-, "Twas probably a dream I had, don't think about it." I waved my hand, praying that they won't call bullshit on it and thankfully, they didn't.

I briefly met Armin's contemplative gaze and paled-pleasedon'noticepleasedon'tnoticepleasedon'tnoticepleasedon'tnotice- kid's too smart for his own good, no wonder he put two and two together about Annie. Hopefully, he won't...who am I kidding, I raised this boy, of course he will though before he could inquire about my weird attitude, Connie's voice broke through our conversation, successfully diverting their attention from me.

"hold on hold on, we just got here and someone already wants to marry ya and I wasn't invited?"

This lil dude's timing couldn't've been more perfect!

"LIL BRO!"

"BIG SIS!"

I will not mention that we involuntarily recreated that spiderman meme while screaming "Whooooo!!!" like a bunch of idiots.

This got nearby people's attention and funnily enough, no one found it necessary to stop us. Sasha even joined in, before doing a double take with wide eyes. She immediately tackled me in a hug while bawling after realizing I was actually alive and her reaction time, boi, still amazes me to this day.

"I THOUGHT YOU DIED-SNIFF!- I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE ALIVE...!" Sasha cried as she clung to me like a leech. I could only chuckle helplessly while patting her scalp, whispering "yoshyosh" to comfort her. Our friends and more cadets surrounded us, attracted by the noise.

"Eh, What about me?" Eren points to himself in disbelief.

Sasha's cries stopped. She turned to him and said bluntly. "Can you cook?" Eren opened his mouth to respond but nothing came out, "that's what I thought."

"Pfft! She did you dirty, Eren bwahaha" Connie threw his head back in a cackle, aggressively slapping the grumbling Jaeger's back who stumbled a bit but got caught by Mikasa. A few people chuckled too. "So you only like her 'cause she can cook? I can't believe this idiot!" he wheezes, missing Sasha's annoyed glare.

"shut up! She's the best! Right, Colith? You're the best! I don't like you just because you can cook! Don't listen to that midget!" She looks up at me with wide innocent eyes.

"Whatchu call me?!" Connie bristled.

I let the bickering duo do their thing and turned to the others who started asking if we were alright. Historia still kept her good girl act by fretting over us, yet I knew her worries were genuine since she came to hug me tightly. She was closely followed by a 'bored' Ymir who patted my shoulder since she was too cool to admit that she was worried too. I still noticed relief in her eyes tho. How sweet. Reiner went for a hug too, glad that I was okay but a frightened look came across his face after I saw him glance past me, deterring him from doing so. Confused, I looked behind only to see Mikasa avert her eyes somewhere else. I sigh, this child really.

My eyes then fell on Bertholdt who seemed to look anything but comfortable, poor baby, so I reminded him of our rendezvous in hope of cheering him up which was a bad move apparently since everyone straight up glared at him, assuming it was a date! Even Reiner looked like he was about to attack him. Oop!

The lack of Annie must mean that things still followed Canon which annoyed me, causing me to briefly send a nasty look toward the sky. I'll have to fix that.

Poor Eren barely got any attention. Heh, that's what happens when you only socialize with three people, though he received praises for what he did at Trost from random cadets, which made me happy. Turns out a lot more joined the Survey Corps. Huh, found it weird that there were more people than usual, I guess that's a good thing! Though I haven't seen Mina and Thomas in the bunch.

"So, where are the others?" I asked.

"Yeah, haven't seen Annie, Marco, and Jean, did they join the MPs? That must mean the others joined the garrison then." Eren concluded.

Bro, if by saving Marco I fucked things up with Jean never joining the scouts, imma lose my shi-

"Hey, guys!"

"MARCO BOI!" poor Armin stumbled as I rushed past him, catching a startled Marco in a hug who could do nothing but sputter in surprise, "my freckled buddy, You're alive!"

"Oï." Ymir voiced in mild offense, getting a comforting pat on the back from Historia who seemed amused by the situation.

"I-i shouldn't?" He squeaked in confusion.

"So I can't hug her but he's allowed to have this? Where's the justice when you need it?" Reiner grumbles as he watched me shower a flustered Marco's face with kisses as if I didn't expect him to be here, which was fair enough but wasn't that a bit excessive?!

"Marco's an angel of course." Everyone stated in sync like it was obvious, even my beans agreed, the "you aren't" was left unsaid which made Reiner's shoulders drop in despair, getting a consoling pat on the shoulder from Bertholdt.

"Colith...?" I paused, glancing above Marco's head to see who called me only to spot a startled Jean, and to my surprise, Mina and Thomas who looked like they've just seen a ghost. So they joined too!

Eren gasped, having not heard of the duo in a while, and proceeded to shout. "Guys!"

"Hey! How have you been?"

This seemed to bring them back from whatever thoughts they were in, "how have we...how have we been?! For the love of Rose- we saw you die, How did you survive ?!" Thomas exclaimed, aghast, his countenance screaming shock. He pushed Jean out of the way as he and Mina marched to me with barely concealed incredulity.

"What about me? I almost died too!" Eren called out in the back to the newcomers in hope of getting a reaction. Marco was the only one to acknowledge him with a greeting tho which got the others an offended "what friends you are!" In response.

"Haha. Oops."

"Don't " Haha Oops" us!" They cried out in distress to which I laughed nervously before pulling them into a quick hug that startled them. Honestly, I wasn't cruel enough to brush off their worries. They both stiffened.

"Sorry for the scare tho, please accept my apologies." I leaned back, "Thomas, Mina, you did great." I head patted them before halting as tears welled up in their eyes- 'oh boi-' and hurriedly went to reassure them. Seems like my stunt really scared them. I...shouldn't play with people's feelings like that. I'd have to properly apologize later. The two then reluctantly joined the others as I turned to Jean, a relieved smile gracing my lips at his sight, so he still joined!

"It's so good to see you, Jean boi. And here I thought you'd go for the MPs! Haha, guess I managed to corrupt you into the suicidal fools club! Welcome!" I laughed heartily, slapping his back repeatedly which causes him to stumble a bit. Whoops.

Jean stammered a little before a blush coated his cheeks as he met my eyes. So I was okay...ignoring the glare he was receiving from the suicidal bastard, nothing seemed out of place. He coughed in his fist. "How c-could I a-after what they did to you...there was no way I'd join them after that." His expression turned sour, "They went lower in my esteem, couldn't see myself joining anyway.." He huffed, crossing his arms.

I blink, turning to the others with a bemused look, "y'all heard about that?"

"Duh who didn't?!" Connie scowled "I can't believe you got shot!" My trio flinched at his words, which earned him a 'i like u cut g' type of slap from a glowering Jean who had taken giant strides to deliver the slap while calling him an idiot. Damn, he's fast.

"Connie! That's so insensitive of you! Can't you see that it might be a sore subject for her?" Marco reprimanded him like the responsible person he was before sending me an apologetic look. The bald kid uttered a quick 'sorry' after realizing his words. Yup gotta work on that self-awareness before someone decides to punt his ass.

"Nah man, leave my lil man alone, it ain't that big of a deal, see?" I went to pull my cloak up only to be stooped by a tight grip on my wrist, which naturally compelled me to glance at the owner of the hand. A frantic red-faced Jean, "What?"

"I-i think we get it! N-no need to prove it...!"

"Huh? I would've loved to see, if you know what I mean." Reiner said with a coy smile.

"See? This is why no one trust you around her." Ymir said in disgust, inching away with a judgemental Historia in her arms. "Come on Christa, I'll protect you from this pervert. Any sane person wouldn't let this weirdo near their kids."

Reiner gasped, "First of all! I'm an amazing babysitter I'll have you know that my cousin Ga-" Bertholdt coughed loudly, which got the blond to rethink his words quickly. "Huh- I mean,that's funny 'cause the same goes for you! I'm sure no one would be dumb enough to let their wallet hang out with you around." Reiner shot back.

"Ooouuuuh" both Sasha and Connie whistled.

Ymir's eye twitched. "Alright, that's it-"

Ignoring Reiner and Ymir's bickerings poor Bertholdt and Historia were attempting to placate, I shrugged as Jean let go of my wrist, "Oh well, turns out we got titan healing!" This obviously got the three shifters to stop what they were doing to listen.

"What?! Really?!" Connie turned to Eren with wide eyes, "Dang! And I thought this wouldn't get weirder..!" He got a vague shrug from the Jaeger.

"Then you can heal from anything?" Historia asked curiously.

"Pretty much yeah! that's how I got through this one! So yeah, no harms done, I'm alright! Anyway, if y'all are here, then that must mean that only Annie chose the MPs?" I decided to go for the clueless approach.

Reiner grunted, "Yeah, that fool went with them," he informed with a scowl, "I can't believe she still choose those scums after what happened." He crossed his arms, shaking his head in disappointment. "Guess some people don't give a damn about friendship." For a second there, he would've fooled me by how convincing he sounded if I didn't know it was all an act. Unless my man was already dissociating- egh. Poor Bertholdt seemed so tired of this situation.

Erem hummed before turning to Marco with a quizzical look "what about you, wasn't it your dream to serve under the king? What made you change your mind?"

Marco chuckled sheepishly, massaging his nape, "that...was the plan initially, but I changed my mind last year." He directed his gaze to me, "Also, I wanted to speak with Colith about something, which is mostly the reason why I joined the scouts."

"Hold on- lemme get this straight. You joined...just because you wanted to ask her something?" Jean expressed seemingly baffled by his friend's lack of self-preservation. Marco nodded in response, oblivious to the disbelieving looks he was getting. WHO ON EARTH DOES THAT?!

I blinked, "Marco dear, you know you could've sent me a letter right?"

There was a stunned silence as everyone glanced back and forth between us before Marco eye smiled, and scratched his cheek adorably, seemingly unbothered by the gravity of the situation he was in. "I guess I'm a scout now then, let's do our best and try not to die!" Jean facepalmed,

"BWAHAHA, DID THIS DUDE SERIOUSLY JOIN THE SCOUTS FOR A QUESTION?!" Connie cracked up before he got bonked by Sasha, "OW- WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?"

She averted her gaze "your cranium looked very bonkable, so I acted on it. Also, you're annoying."

Connie's brain took a second to process her words before he fumed, uncaring if that got more people's attention, mainly other scouts, "SINCE WHEN D'YOU KNOW SMART WORDS, YOU DUMBASS?!"

"HUH? YOU THINK I'M AN IDIOT LIKE YOU?!"

"WELL THAT 'IDIOT' STILL GOT PLACED 9TH, RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU! SO THAT MAKES YOU STUPIDER !"

"HUH?! WANNA FIGHT?!"

"SQUARE UP!"

"I'm amazed over the fact that he didn't bother denying it." Armin chuckled along with some cadets as they watched the two idiots wrestle before they all jolted at my voice.

"ANYHOW! SHOUT OUT TO EREN FOR RETAKING TROST." I randomly yelled while lifting the startled teen's arm to get people's attention. Least to say, the cadets immediately did so with passion, pumping their fists up as louds roars of happiness escaped them to the point where

it got nearby soldiers' attention too. It wasnt like humanity had a victory of this scale against titans everyday! Plus there's no way imma let the kid's efforts go unnoticed ight. Was I doing the 'THAT'S MY SON' thing? Definitely. Embarrassed, Eren tried to tell me to stop but that was for naught as I added "FOR THE OCCASION, I'LL BE IN CHARGE OF DINNER!"

This got out of hand ngl, In fact, even the scouts who had a taste of my cooking yesterday cried in joy at this point.

Hm, I should think of opening a restaurant.