Naive and Damned

Chapter 16: Blind Spot

Gabi

Udo and Zofia didn't notice it as she had.

Falco had always been a little weird. He stared on at seemingly nothing, loosing himself to his own mind (he even stared at her sometimes, and then denied it with a weirdly red face when she interrogated him). Gabi had never understood what he thought so hard about.

Usually, she just figured it was just him being a worrywart, one of those people who over thought about everything, even when he was scowling. The deeper in thought he was, the more he appeared to go from blank to irritated, so she knew that to just be his concentration face.

That was just Falco being Falco. Not her problem.

Until it got strange.

After training, he hung out with her, Udo and Zofia less and less, running off somewhere until it became a daily routine. He lost himself to his thoughts in the middle of training, where he would always concentrate before. Then, straight after than disregard for training, he'd suddenly try harder than he ever had. Gabi couldn't comprehend it – did he care about the Armoured Titan, or not?

Even with that, Gabi mostly shrugged it off. Falco being weird was his problem, not hers. She had her own training to focus on, and refused to be distracted by such worries. He could take care of himself, talk to her if he wanted to.

It would have stayed that way – if not for the numbing shock that the next event gave her. After all of that constant up and down – he beat her in training. He won a race against her, the best warrior candidate Marley had ever had.

To that, Gabi was furious.

Whatever was on his mind, wherever he snuck off too – was it some sort of additional training?

The next day, she confronted him. Whatever he was doing was dishonest cheating. Despite how obvious that conclusion was – no one sided with her. It was infuriating – Udo and Zofia had seen exactly what she had!

Out of options, she turned to the older warrior candidate, Colt, despite knowing it was a long shot. He was talking with Mr Zeke as she approached.

"What's wrong with your brother?" she asked curtly. They both gave her varying looks of confusion.

"What? Is something wrong, Gabi?" Colt questioned.

"Falco. Acting weird. You have to know something."

"...Well. You're not wrong. Ever since we came home... I know he's been distracted by something." Colt puzzled. He rolled his shoulders, as if relieving his nerves. "He's been all over the place lately. I can't tell if he's happy or..."

"When he gets home, is he happy then?" She interrupted, leaning that much closer.

"Yes, actually." Colt blinked at her, eyes widened with sudden realisation. "...How did you know that?"

Satisfaction curled inside her. "Just a hunch."

"Haven't I told you, Colt?" Zeke, in contrast, looked relaxed, leaning back upon the railing. "He's simply getting to that age boys like to keep secrets. It's nothing to worry over."

Colt didn't look satisfied, but didn't disagree, either. Gabi isn't quite so ready to give up. It was a secret related to training. That's important.

Still, Colt would not divulge anything that could endanger Falco – she was all too aware of how close they were. If he was up to something nefarious, she was on her own.

More weird instances kept happening. He'd hang back for extra training, and then no one would see him until the next day. What Zofia and Udo called 'hard work' she knew to be an escalation of him already disappearing into the internment zone – now, it was simply from training itself.