He Told Me to Live

41 | Future

I gazed upon the quiet docks of Odiha and started my way below to tell Hange, only to bump into her going up anyway.

"Ah, Y/N. I thought you were sleeping."

"I couldn't. There's a lot of people on the boat so the sounds and vibrations were bothering me."

"I see."

"I'm going to see if Cinder got any sleep."

She nodded and went on deck while I went to the room that Cinder and I shared before I simply walked out of it, losing all hope that I'd be able to rest on the ship.

He slept quite lightly if he was sleeping at all as when I opened the door, he sat up.

"Could you not sleep?" I asked while picking up the blanket that had fallen off his figure.

"For a while, at least. Also, wasn't I sleeping on the floor?"

"Yes, but since I couldn't sleep, I put you on the bed."

He stared at me, eyes scanning my figure, then at himself, eying his muscles and clearly not lightweight body. "I forget how strong you are sometimes."

I sat down on the floor and looked up at him. "You seemed tired. More than me."

"Well, prison isn't the greatest place in the world."

"Right. Sorry."

Cinder waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. Two years went by in no time."

I looked down, remember how close I was to going to prison when I was 15 for multiple murders. Then Erwin saved me. Why couldn't I do that for Cinder?

Cinder and I felt a slight vibration, which told us that the ship had docked. I opened the door and rushed to the deck, where Hange told me to survey the area before anyone else got off.

I jumped off the deck and landed on the dock. My eyes scanned the area, listening to the boat bump into the dock, the waves rushing near the shore, and I nodded to Hange. "All clear."

The door of the boat was lowered and the passengers began leaving.

Jean, Connie, Reiner, and Armin were assigned to bring the flying boat into the warehouse.

I went into the boat and searched for Levi, who continued to slumber in the same room as Yelena, who had caught a fever, likely from stress.

"Y/N, could you help out with the gear?" Hange asked.

I nodded and began lifting the boxes of ODM gear off the boat with Mikasa. She stared at the top of the box she was holding with a conflicted frown. "What's the matter?"

"Huh?"

"You look troubled." I put down my crate of maneuvering gear. "Is something the matter?" I paused. "...Is it about Eren?"

"No, no..."

"I've interrogated 104 people in my life, you think I can't tell that you're lying?" I took the crate from her and placed it down next to the one I had carried. "Did Eren do something while I was gone?"

She looked down, her face flushing, probably in embarrassment. "Do you know a lot about Ackermans...?"

I nodded. "Why?"

"I was wondering... do Ackermans choose a host? Then get headaches when they're going against them?"

I shook my head. "Not that I know of. Otherwise Levi would've had a host."

"You're sure his isn't you or Hange?"

"No. He doesn't complain about headaches. And we've been in our arguments, same with Hange."