Already Gone

Chapter 20: Are We Still Friends?

The sun settled in the middle of the sky and around noon, maybe a minute or so earlier, Liesl and the others had set out to where the Jaegerists were gathering. Talks of a flying boat, or as the Marleyan's called it, an airplane, was the fuel for their upcoming attack. If Floch and the others destroyed the airplane there would be no chance of getting to Eren, much less stopping the Rumbling. The margin for error was so obsolete that even a stray bullet or a wrong turn could end in failure.

"We have to kill everyone in one shot," Annie says, tying the strings on her sweatshirt.

"Wait for a second," Connie spits back, eyes widening.

It was clear from the moment they all sat around the fire that the dichotomy of their thought processes would prove to be a problem. Annie, as well as the other Marleyan's, had no reason to protect Eren or any of the other Eldian's. Whereas Mikasa, Armin, and the other Scouts would do whatever they needed to ensure Eren's safety and that the other Eldian's survived. The only thing they agreed upon was the fact that they needed to save the world no matter what.

"We can't go into an all-out war, the Azumabito's would get killed," Mikasa explains.

Annie is less than pleased with this statement, scoffing slightly as she glared up at the others. A foot or so away Pieck and Liesl sat side by side, listening to the squabbles of their new comrades.

"Even your titan looks exhausted." Liesl chuckles, gesturing to the carcass that Pieck had withered free from.

"You don't look any better," she replies, lips twitching into a smile.

It was an awkward interaction, the burdens of their past sins weighing down on their shoulders Yet neither girl spoke of what had happened, the betrayal, the anger, sorrow. They shoved it deep within their subconscious and pretended that life had continued smoothly up until this point.

"I haven't slept since my thirteenth birthday," Liesl jokes.

"Isn't that the birthday where Zeke brought you those flowers you were allergic to?" Pieck asks, fighting back the urge to laugh as she recalled Liesl's puffy face.

"I forgot all about that! I was covered in hives for days," Liesl replies, leaning over herself as she laughs loudly. Pieck joined in, chuckling weakly.

Their quiet laughter died down, much like a fire, slow at first and then all at once, leaving nothing but cold air. Pieck shuffles her body so that she faced Liesl completely, her slanted eyes looking at her helplessly.

"What are you going to do."

Liesl had been asked that numerous times in many different ways, the arch of a brow, the frown of pity, questions about her well-being. Everything that the others said to her, or how they looked at her, was all alluding to that one singular question.

What are you going to do?

"I was going to marry him," Liesl explains, voice barely above a whisper.

"We were going to live near the harbor, decorate our home with curtains and flowers. I was going to give him a son, maybe a daughter, a family. Then we'd grow old together, watch our children grow up."

Liesl hadn't realized it but she was crying, tears trickled down her cheeks and fell onto her hands. They burned her eyes and pooled in her palms like a small ocean. She hadn't the slightest clue why she was sobbing, her chest didn't feel heavy nor did the stomach churn She felt completely calm.

Yet the tears continued to fall from her lifeless eyes.

"We wouldn't have had a lot, but that would've been fine for me."