Unwavering | Annie Leonhart x Male Reader

15. The Scout Regiment

"Reiner! Get the fuck out of there, there's one right behin-" Before the boy could heed your warning the Titan's fist had already found its mark, sending his body careering helplessly towards the ground "... Goddamn it!"

Narrowly avoiding the jaws of another, you tried futility to reach him before he hit the hard stone streets of Trost. In the end, all you could do was watch as he crashed to the ground, a stomach churning, series of cracks telling the story your brain fought to ignore. A tornado of rage erupted inside you as you charged straight at his attacker, malice in your eyes before hearing the only thing in the world you still feared.

"Y/N, please! Help me!" Annie's scream hit you  like a knife to the heart, your stomach leaping up into your throat as you turned to see her locked in the grasp of another Titan.

Everything melted away into darkness, meters turned to miles as you opened your gas valves wide, the only thing that mattered was getting to her in time. Only a blade's length away now, everything stopped and you hung suspended in nothingness as your eyes met with hers from inside the Titans mouth.

"You... You said you'd come back..." The sound of her whimpers twisted the knife you already felt as you struggled against yourself to reach her "Why... Why did you have to leave?"

A sea of red exploded in front of your eyes just before your blade could connect, sucking the life from your body as you broke apart. Shock, sadness, or a lust for the end; one or all took over as you released your controllers, plummeting straight towards the earth below you.

And then... You woke up.

Exploding upwards from your bed, you were cast out of the nightmare as quickly as you'd fallen in. Gasping for breath and on the edge of a nervous breakdown you clawed towards your nightstand, finding a glass of water and quickly downing it in hopes of shaking yourself back to reality.

"Every fucking night... This shit has happened every night since we left Trost." Pulling yourself up, you opened your nightstand drawer and pulled out that same letter your'd read a hundred times by now "I said it, I knew it would be hard but this is unreal. I've never had nightmares this vivid before, why now?"

Setting down the glass, you held the letter towards the light and felt a wave of calm slowly creeping back in.

'So, I'm writing this the night after we... Well, you know... And right now you're just laying in bed looking at me like I'm some kind of alien, like always. I just wanted to remind you how wonderful you are and how thankful I am that you had the courage to do what I couldn't that night we met. I've never written anything like this before and I already know there's no way I could ever express how much I care about you in words but I wanted to try anyway. But yeah, please read this whenever you miss me and just know I miss and love you so much. I can't wait to see you again!

Forever yours,
Annie '

You had exchanged several letters since then but that letter specifically seemed to have most profound effect still; instant peace. You gently slid it back into the drawer before rolling back over, trying with everything inside you to manifest some kind of dream to match.

* * * * *

Ten days had already passed since Trost, twenty left until the 57th exterior scouting mission was set to begin, but Commander Erwin had no plans to let those days be a cake walk. The training was already more intense than anything you'd experienced in years, at least since your first stint with the Scouts, but remembering your courtroom antics, both Miche and Levi had clearly decided you were going to be put through hell and back with weights on.