angelic | jean kirstein

chapter nine

ANGELIC – CHAPTER NINE

"Let's play a game." Jean suggested with a huff, looking down to his left at his slightly shorter companion. "Let's see who can stay quiet for the longest. . . go!"

Isabel stared up at him blankly, blinking at him a few seconds before her ears perked up at the sound of a familiar voice. "Hold on, you mean Captain Levi?" She turned her head in front of the pair quickly and jumped in her spot twice whilst clapping her hands.

"Eren!" She said excitedly. The brunette turned his head to face her, his lips curled upwards slightly before he turned to look at Jean beside her, his eyes swimming in confusion. Isabel looked between the two before sighing. "Long story."

"You're all here." Eren spoke as he looked around at the small group of familiar recruits. "Wait, if all of you are here then does that mean you're all Scouts?"

Connie stifled a laugh. "Well yeah? Why else would we be here?"

"Of course. So Annie and Marco went to the Military Police then? How come you didn't join them, Jean?" The dreaded question fell from his lips.

Isabel flinched slightly and averted her eyes, though Jean stood straight seemingly unfazed by the question. "Marco's dead." His voice was low and steady, almost as if he had rehearsed the line in front of a mirror.

"What? What're you saying?" Eren asked in disbelief. "Marco's not dead. You're just kidding around, right?"

"I wish I could tell you he died nobly or heroically. Truth is, we don't even know how he went out." Jean answered, his eyes flickering to Isabel momentarily. "He died alone, there was nobody there to see it happen."

The silver-haired girl sighed and lifted her head biting the inside of her cheek to stop her from getting upset again, she didn't have time to get upset. "It's true, Eren. We - we're the ones who found him."

"Marco's dead." He whispered to himself, almost as if he was trying to convince himself it was true.

The group of Cadets stood in silence as they grieved silently, thinking back to when their bubbly friend was once among them. Isabel stared at the ground, numbness taking over her once more as she let the words repeat over and over in her head. Marco's dead.

"Gather up, recruits! Your uniforms are here!"

One by one the recruits headed towards the squad leader and took their Scout cloaks, Isabel being one of the last to receive hers. She picked up the fabric and pulled it close to her chest as she headed back over to the group. She unclasped the button and threw it over her shoulders before buttoning it back up, letting the fabric slowly fall over her shoulders.

–

"So then, are you guys really-"

"Yes. We will be in the upcoming operation as well." Mikasa cut Eren off.

Isabel sat on one of the few crates in the supply room, kicking her legs gently in the air as she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head in an attempt to cover up the horrific attempt at recreating the braids Annie used to do for her. "Hey, Eren." Jean spoke up from beside Mikasa.

"I heard when you were in titan form you intentionally tried to crush Mikasa, you mind telling us what that's all about?" Isabel's eyes grew wide in horror and confusion, unable to believe that Eren would intentionally try to crush the girl he grew up with. Her eyes darted over to Mikasa to see if it were true, only to see the deep gash under her eye.

Eren looked as if he had seen a ghost. "You're wrong. He thought he was just swatting a fly, nothing -"

"I wasn't asking you." Jean interrupted Mikasa and turned to face her, pointing a finger at his cheek. "Oh, by the way, that cut on your cheek looks pretty deep. Just how did you get that again?"