In Love With A Monster (Armin X Annie)

~Chapter Thirteen~

"It's good to see you." Were the first words Reiner spoke to her. Annie was still disassociated, her mouth was dry and no words could seem to make it out even if she wanted to speak them. She felt like she was in a nightmare, like she was asleep and needed to wake up."It's been half a year and you have nothing to say to us?"

His cockiness always made Annie mad, it made her livid in fact. Sometimes she thought it was a persona, something to impress everyone else and show off to them how much of a 'dedicated soldier' he was, but it wasn't much of a persona rather than a lie he had created in his head. She almost didn't want to speak to them, she wouldn't have said a single word to them if not for the fact she had questions to be answered. Annie looked at Bertholdt, he sat in the corner, quiet as per usual. He never bothered to say hello or make sly remarks like Reiner, he was still the same anxious boy as always. Nothing new.

"How did you find me?" She asked, she didn't bother to look at either of them, simply seeing them again was bringing back all the painful memories she had been repressing the past few months. Reiner took a look around the house, he was clearly admiring it and didn't take a moment of hesitation to make himself at home, plopping himself down on a chair and resting is feet on the table as if he owned the place.

"Not a hello first or a how is the mission going? Not a 'sorry I ran away without a word or way to find me'? It was difficult trying to find you, by the way." He chuckled as he bit down on an apple he clearly snagged from the kitchen on his way inside. Annie wasn't having any of it, she knew she didn't have to bare this shit anymore and wouldn't if she had anything to say about it.

"Watch your fucking manners." She walked over to him and shoved his feet forcefully off the table, wiping off the mud that had flaked off his dirty boots. "Can you answer my goddamn question." She snatched the apple out of his hand, she didn't want him to feel welcomed where he clearly wasn't.

"We saw Armin in Trost yesterday." Bertholdt finally spoke up from behind the two of them, Annie turned to face him. She knew Bertholdt would tell her everything, straight up while Reiner would try and play mind games. "We followed him and saw him come here."

Annie knew she had a reason to be worried, she knew all her anxiety meant something. Of course someone was going to see him and it just so happened to be the worst two people who possibly could. "What are the chances it was you two specifically who saw him..."

Reiner laughed, "We'd never be as lucky, it was that airhead Sasha that saw him. We told her we would check it out and then told her that it wasn't him so no one else would follow us here. We had a hunch the two of you were hiding away in the same area." He got up from his seat. "Anyways, it's good we found you because we've got to go, grab your stuff. We are leaving now."

Those were the words she feared would come out his mouth. Annie knew she had to tell them she wasn't leaving, she didn't want to go but she knew that it wouldn't be easy for her to convince them to leave without dragging her by her feet to.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She didn't want to see the looks on their faces when she told them. "I'm not leaving..."

"What, why?" Bertholdt walked towards her. "Annie we have to do this. What about your father, he's waiting for you to come back!"

"I know that but I can't do this again... I just want to live a normal life where I'm not hurting anyone. I can't do it anymore." She sighed.

Reiner said nothing, he didn't even move at first. He just stood staring bullets into Annie, his 'funny man' persona was up. He didn't seem so happy anymore. When Annie's words finally registered in his head, he stomped his way over to the stairs and made his way up, Annie and Bertholdt swiftly followed behind. The two of them kept yelling his name, telling him to stop and come back downstairs, even Bertholdt could tell he was about to be rash and do something that would make Annie angry or upset and that's the last thing they needed her to be right now. Reiner barged his way into the bedroom, he flung the door open with such strength the doorknob left a hole in the wall behind. Annie grabbed at his arm before he was able to wreck anything but he shook her off easily. He started rummaging through her belongings, he pulled out her drawers, grabbing handfulls of her clothing and throwing them onto the bed. He proceeded to pull out all her belongings from the wardrobes, shelves, dressers, anywhere else he could find.