The next day

When they planned Erens rescue, the group took all the food they could, Which ended up being barely edible pieces of bread and a few apples.

The sun was just beginning to shine over the horizon as they ate.

Eren noticed that Annie hadn't come out of her house yet, so he went over to her.

He found her staring out the window in the room she commandeered. It was weird seeing her without her military jacket on. She just had her white sweatshirt and uniform pants.

"You should eat something you know." Eren said.

"I'm not hungry." She said not looking back.

Eren walked further into the room and held the bread to her.

"Don't be stubborn, you need to keep your strength up." When she still didn't move he just placed it on the window sill and turned to leave. "Thanks by the way." He said.

He was almost at the door when Annie spoke. "That's all I get?" She said Eren turned to see she was looking at him from over her shoulder.

"I can get you some more bread if you want." Eren said.

"I don't mean the bread. I mean that lackluster thanks you just gave. I see no one taught you proper manners."

"Eren laughed. "Never thought I'd hear Annie Leonhart lecture someone else about manners."

"Fair point." Annie said, taking a bite of her bread. Eren could tell she was struggling to keep it in her mouth. "Where the hell did they steal this from, the garbage?" She said after swallowing. "It tastes worst then what we had in training.

"It's the best we're gonna get for a while." Eren said. He watched her take another bite. He realized even while eating she looked cute.

"Didn't you want to ask me a question?" She asked.

"Yeah, I did." Eren walked over to her side and pulled up a chair next to her. There was so much he wanted to ask he didn't know where to start.

"When did you knowyou were a Titan? '' he finally said.

She thought for a while before answering. "For as long as I remember." She finally said. "If it weren't for my powers I wouldn't have escaped my hometown when the Titans attacked." She avoided Eren's eyes as she spoke. It must have been uncomfortable to speak about. He didn't know what horrors she faced when Wall Maria fell, or who she had to leave behind.

"So you have no idea where the powers came from either huh?" Eren said. She gently shook her head.

"Alright, so you had your powers during Trost right? Why didn't you use them to help us?"

Annie looked disappointed. "I know you're not that stupid Eren." She said, "You saved Trost, and all of Wall Rose, and look what they tried to do to you. I wasn't taking that chance, I'm selfish, remember?"

"No you're not. If you were, you wouldn't have saved me." Eren said. He was surprised with her lips turned into what looked like a smile, but it vanished almost as fast as it came. "If you say so." she said. "What's your next question?"

Eren took a deep breath. "Yesterday, it looked like you had perfect control over your Titan. Could you teach me how to use mine?"

She was silent for a moment, like she was searching for the right thing to say. "I don't know." She finally said. "I'm a pretty bad teacher, judging by how much you still suck at hand to hand. Although I'll admit it was fun tossing you to the ground.

Eren was shocked for a moment. Did she just try to tell a joke? He laughed. "Figures, I always knew you liked hurting me."

"We both know you liked it just as much as me." She gave a rare smirk. Eren couldn't help but look at her nice soft lips when she did. Seeing her smile was like seeing an eclipse it was so rare.

He wouldn't deny her claim though. No matter how many times she took him down, despite the pain he did enjoy her body pressed against his.

"Maybe if I ever won one, I'd enjoy it more." He said.

"Maybe another four years, you'll get close to taking me down." She smiled again. Erens heart began to beat faster.

"Come on, you have to admit I was getting pretty good." Eren said, trying to not let his excitement show.

"No, you weren't even close to my level." She waved off his words.

"I guess you're scared of another round then?"

Annie looked at him for a moment. "You really did miss getting tossed to the floor, didn't you?" She stood up, getting into her fighting position. "I'm waiting." She said,

Eren got up in his fighting stance. "If I win you gotta teach me how to use my titan."

Moments later Eren was on the ground with Annie on top of him. Her arms wrapped around his throat and her chest pressed against his back. He couldn't even enjoy the latter feeling due to the lack of oxygen in his lungs.

"A-annie." Eren gasped. "I tap."

"What was that?" She said, "You're gonna have to be louder."

Annie loosened up at the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching. The door flung open and Eren got a look at Mikasa giving Annie her famous death glare. Reiner came behind her.

Annie let go and rolled off of him.

"I see you still can't keep your hands to yourself, Annie." Mikasa said.

"Mikasa." Annie said annoyed. "Why is it that mongrels like you can't mind their own business."

The tension was thick in the air as always. It wasn't the first time Eren had been caught in the middle of these two.

"Eren, get up." Mikasa said to him. "You should eat more food before we leave."

It always annoyed Eren how much Mikasa babied him. "Mikasa, would you stop we were just-"

"It's alright Eren, go." Annie said to his surprise. "After all, we're going to be spending a lot of time together soon, aren't we?"

Eren's face got hot.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mikasa said, threateningly.

"I'm going to teach Eren how to master his powers." Annie said. Eren was shocked. He was expecting her to agree so willingly after he lost. Although it was probably just to piss Mikasa off.

"Wow, thanks Ann-" Mikasa cut him off by lifting him to his feet and dragging him to the door. "Come on Eren." She said, clearly annoyed. She pushed her way past Reiner as she left the room.

"You guys go on ahead, I have to discuss our next move with Annie." Reiner said, shutting the door behind him.

Mikasa pulled him down the hall. Her powerful grip digging into his skin. "Mikasa." She ignored him. "Mikasa," Still nothing. Eren put his free hand on her shoulder and forced her around. "Mikasa!" Eren yelled.

"What?" Mikasa yelled back. He saw the anger in her eyes was mixed with something else. She always looked like that when he was around other girls, be it during boot camp, or back home in Shiganshina. It eluded him at first, but he was pretty sure he understood now.

"Mikasa, you don't have to be jealous of Annie."

Her face went from angry to bewildered. "Jealous? I'm not jealous of her!"

Eren sighed. "Mikasa, listen, if we're going to make it to dads basement and defeat the titans, I'm gonna have to learn how to use my powers, and Annies the only one who can do that, unless you're also a secret titan."

"I'm not." Mikasa that didn't look like titan training, she was hurting you!"

"I was fine." Eren said. "You can't threaten her whenever she tries to help me. Can you atleast try to get along with her?"

"I don't like her." Mikasa said, like a stubborn child.

"Can you pretend to?"

Mikasa grunted. "I'll try to tolerate her." she finally said. "As long as she stops putting you in choke holds."

Eren laughed. "That's a start, I guess."

Eren looked up at her face, and saw the scar he put on her during the battle of Trost, it was even clearer now in the daylight then before. A deep cut of regret sliced through him.

"Also." Eren said gently. "I'm sorry about what happened to your face." He reached up and ran his finger next to her scar.

Mikasa looked red, and nervous. "Oh, don't worry about it, it wasn't your fault." she said quietly.

"Of course it was. Don't make excuses for me." He said. "Also I'm sorry about what I said before the battle. I was a jerk, and when you thought I'd been killed, you thought those were the last words I'd ever say to you. I promise i'll never do anything like that again."

"It's fine, Eren." Her voice was almost a whisper now, and her face was closer in color to her scarf than her original skin.

Eren always thought she was cute in her own right, but he always thought of her as a sister more than a friend. Sometimes he wishes he didn't.

A crash coming from Annie's room distracted them.

They went back to open the door, and saw Reiner in the same position Eren was in earlier. Annie's arms wrapping around his neck like a constrictor. Her face was angry. It looked like she was whispering something into Reiners ear, before letting him go.

Reiner was gasping for breath. "What happened?" Eren asked, kneeling down to check on Reiner.

"Nothing." Annie said aggressively. Eren flinched a bit."Reiner just wanted hand to hand also."

Reiner sat up and looked at her with anger before getting to his feet.

"Eren, get ready to move, we're going to move out soon." He said exiting the room.