Amaranth

Chapter 36: Clematis

A few hours later, Annie's friends entered her hospital room. She gave them a hopeful look, but they all unanimously shook their heads. Her head lowered in disappointment, but she showed no other signs of acknowledgement.

"How's it going?" Bertholdt asked, breaking the silence.

"Fine I guess," Annie shrugged, "As fine as you can be after getting hit by a car."

"Did you ever figure out who the driver was?" Historia asked Annie's father who was seated in the corner of the room.

"We're looking," he assured them, "but it's hard since we didn't get a good look at the car."

"I told you it was red and small," Annie reminded him, seemingly annoyed which surprised their friends. None of them had ever heard Annie talk to her father in such a way except Bertholdt and Reiner.

"That's not a good description, Annie," her father said calmly.

Her friends could practically see the veins on her forehead, and they guessed that the unexpected series of events had stressed her out more than any of them could've imagined. In that moment, as if things couldn't get any worse, Eren's phone rang.

"I- uh... gotta take this," he said while looking at his phone and pointing out the exit to the door.

"I wonder who would call his lonely ass," Jean teased, resulting in a slight glare from Armin.

A few minutes later, he re-entered the room and said he had to run out somewhere with his car, but he'd be back later. "The hell is he doing?" Ymir mumbled under her breath.

"Who knows," Jean responded, "It's Eren. He does a lot of weird shit." To their surprise, Armin nodded along with the rest of the group.

"Anyway, how's recovery?" Historia asked Annie.

"It's whatever," Annie shrugged, "I gotta stay another night in case my brain bleeds or something."

"Sounds dangerous," Armin commented.

"Probably," Annie admitted.

"You don't sound too worried," Jean observed.

"I'm not," Annie assured them, but no one believed her.

"Would you say the same thing if Mikasa was here?" Ymir asked boldly, resulting in Historia elbowing her in the crotch. "Hey, that was more aggressive than normal!" Ymir complained.

"You're being inconsiderate," Historia scolded her.

"I was just trying to get her to be honest," Ymir grumbled.

"If Mikasa were here," Annie began, and everyone saw the mixture of feelings on the blonde's face. The group sat on the end of their seats, waiting for her to finish her sentence, "If Mikasa were here, I'd tell that asshole to stop being such a fucking coward."

"Oh, it's still a sore spot," Ymir whispered in a strained voice to Sasha who did her best not to laugh.

"Should I pass on the message?" Armin offered, hoping to calm the injured girl.

"Please," Annie said, very obviously angry.

"Maybe Mikasa should stay away a little longer," Ymir whispered to Sasha again, and Sasha really did laugh that time.

"What's so funny?" Annie asked impatiently.

"Oh, uh, Ymir was telling me about... um... about how... how... oh! How chickens can fly," Sasha lied poorly.

"No that can't dumbass," Ymir said while elbowing her friends, "Don't make me look like an idiot with you."

"Actually, chickens can fly, babe," Historia told her girlfriend, "Some can fly about 10 feet in the air for a few seconds."