The Cadet's Origin

Chapter Twenty - A Letter

Kenna walked up to the mail room. She stood at the counter and waited for the man to go get her mail.

"Here you are, Cadet Dressler," the man said as he handed Kenna a letter.

"Thank you," Kenna said as she walked out of the mailroom. She looked at the letter as she walked to the rec hall. She drew her brows together. This wasn't Miss Mary's handwriting. Kenna entered the rec hall and sat on the couch.

"What you got there?" Connie tried to look over her shoulder.

"A letter," Kenna said as she started to open it. "But it's not who I was expecting one from."

"How can you tell?" Connie asked. "There's no name on it."

"Miss Mary has sent enough letters for me to know what her hand writing looks like," Kenna said. "This is someone else." Kenna opened the letter and caught the name on the bottom of the letter. "Oh fuck." She quickly closed the letter. She wasn't sure she was in the mood to deal with the letter.

"Something's got you upset," Reiner said as he tried to look over her shoulder.

"More like someone," Kenna said as she looked up at him. "My uncle wrote me."

"Shit," Reiner said.

"Your uncle?" Bertolt looked up from his book. "The same uncle that tried to drag you away from here? The one Reiner and Annie tackled to the ground while I pulled you away from him?"

"The very same," Kenna said.

"Holy shit, Kenna," Jean said as he looked at her. "What trouble have you gotten yourself into?"

"Very helpful, Jean," Kenna rolled her eyes.

"Why would your uncle be writing you?" Armin asked as he put down his book. "From when I saw him at the Garrison refugee camp, he didn't seem the most forgiving of men."

"He's not," Kenna said as she looked back at the letter. "Dressler's as a whole aren't a forgiving bunch. I once didn't talk to my brother for six months because he destroyed my first sketchbook."

"So...." Sasha drew out out the word as she leaned over Kenna's arm. "Are you going to read the letter and tells us what it says."

Kenna looked around her friends. They all wore looks of curiosity. It was very clear that they wanted Kenna to tell her what was in the letter. Even Marco, Armin, Mikasa, and Bertolt, who were well known for being less nosy than some of the others had glints of it in their eyes.

"I don't see why any of you need to know what is in this letter," Kenna said with a raised eyebrow.

"Come on," Connie said. "We're just curious."

"Yeah," Sasha said. "You barely tell us anything about your uncle."

"What is there to tell?" Kenna asked. "He's just a man."

"You're kidding right?" Jean snorted. "Your uncle is Lieutenant Karl Dressler. He's second only to Commander Pixis in the Southern Region. We've all heard about him in our Garrison lectures."

"Oh come on," Kenna said. "You all can't really be that interested in my uncle?" She locked in on Eren. "Come on, Eren, do you really want to know about some Garrison soldier? Don't you think he's just a coward who chose to live in the safety of the walls."

"He's one of the few who decided to make something of himself," Eren said. "He's second in command here for a reason."

"Not you too," Kenna groaned. "Look guys, my relationship with my uncle is complicated, okay. Neither of us exactly planned to be in each lives so much."