𝔉𝔞𝔱𝔢 ||𝔏𝔢𝔳𝔦 𝔄𝔠𝑘𝔢𝔯𝔪𝔞𝔫 𝔄𝔘||

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Sᴇᴠᴇɴᴛᴇᴇɴ » A Nᴇᴡ Aʟʟʏ

After our little conservation ended, a buzzer blared - signifying that the prisoners were to be let out for lunch. At first, I was muddled about what to do until Reiner and Bertholdt explained the whole works to me.

Our trio sat down together at a vacant lunch table. Bertholdt took the right, I took the middle, and Reiner sat on my left.

"So this is Day One for you, huh?" Reiner asks, taking a chomp of his sandwich right after.

"Mhm," I nod my head, swiping a finger across my face to check for any crumbs that went astray.

"How'd you end up here?" Bertholdt inquires, his brows furrowed.

My throat pulled the food down its tube, leaving my mouth clear. My eyes wandered to my torn sandwich, pondering how I should explain this. "Well -- it started out with the daughter of the CEO, Mr. Ral." I begin.

At this, both Reiner and Bertholdt both winced, sucking in sharp intakes of air.

"Ooh yeah, she's a nasty two-faced bitch." Reiner shakes his head.

"Pissing her off or getting on her bad side, is like sealing your fate for bad luck," Bertholdt adds.

"Okay, so then what happened?" Reiner queries, getting us back on track.

"Well, then -- I found a bracelet in a shutdown lab, which happened to be my father's. It's where he worked before he died because the company also happened to kill him. There was a note acquired to it that said not to trust the system or any of the bracelets they gave me. Because theirs was all a lie, and the one he made for me wasn't."

"Okay, so hold on -- so what you're saying... is that the system not only killed your dad - but matched you up with someone who actually isn't your soulmate? Like, did you even like them romantically at all?" Reiner assumes.

I give my head a shake, making their eyes slightly increase. "The main point of the story is - I'm in here because the person she got matched up with, wouldn't leave me alone."

As the next part of my explanation spills from my mouth, I muffle it with a mug to the lips. "Who is actually my true soulmate."

"What?!" Bertholdt exclaims, nearly choking on the balls of rice he was processing.

I only nodded, leaning back in my chair, my feet taking place on top of the table as I chewed on a meatball. "So, how'd you two end up here?"

Reiner and Bertholxt exchange hesitant glances before turning their attention back to me. "Well, we kept doing dangerous things, which of course goes against the rules of our society here." Bertholdt arched around Reiner, leaning closer to me.

"Not only that, but the main reason we're in here is that we delved a little too deep into the secrets behind the bracelet system." At this, immense curiosity perked up within me. My chair slammed loudly back onto the marble cafeteria floor, as I positioned an arm on the table, my head resting upon it.

"Really?" I drawl out, and they both nod. "Interesting," I mutter.

Once more, the buzzer blared throughout the cafeteria, and I already knew that signified for us to return to our cells.

The three of us made our way down the hallway, sliding back into our cells. Once we were back in them, I walk over to the wall, barricading Reiner and Bertholdt apart from me. My hands curl around the cold, black bars of iron. "So, what secrets do you guys know?" I inquire.

Reiner strolls up, his face close to his side of the wall. "We know that the system is rigged. At least for some people, it is." He begins.

My brows furrow, "why is that?" I inquire.

"Because Petra whines and throws fits, trying to have her way whenever something is not to her liking. I would know this, because we were childhood friends at one point." Bertholdt answers, exhaling deeply.

"Explain," I urge.

"So, when she found out that Levi wasn't her soulmate at a young age, she couldn't stand to have things the way they were meant to be. She threw a fit, demanding to have the bracelet that matched someone else up with Levi. She took yours. She's had a weird obsession with him ever since she first laid eyes on him at a similar age, and decided he'd be the only person she'd ever like until he was officially hers."

I felt my teeth grit in anger, my knuckles turning white as I clenched the iron bars.

"That bitch," I growl. "Wait, so since I got matched up with Eren - did we basically just switch bracelets or something? Is Petra actually Eren's soulmate?" I question.

"Not exactly, they just made a bracelet that had Eren as the soulmate, so they randomly decided it was for the person who was originally supposed to be with Levi. Your dad didn't like this, so he made one for you in secret."

My expression dimmed, faltering into sadness. "Before he died, he did say that he was going to help me find my soulmate..." I comment.

"Not only did it happen to you, but other people as well. Some who are elevated in this society had access to the background of the system. So they got to pay the bracelet designers to have the bracelet they wanted. Even if it was the person they wanted, but it wasn't who they were actually meant to be with." Reiner continues.

I throw my hands back, slamming against the iron bars, a stinging sensation burning up my palms. I pace around the room of my cell, "why is this society so fucked up?!" I shout angrily, my chest growing hot.

Bertolt cuts in, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders. "Everybody fights for what they want."

"Guys, I'm pretty worried about Levi. Last night, he thought it'd be fun to pull a prank on an Offeree. But then things turned for the worse, and so as we were escaping, Levi got hit by all the bullets flying out, then he fell off the ledge and down onto the grass. At that moment, I didn't care about my safety, I just fucking ran to where he was. And then... I find him unconscious, or so I think. I'm worried about what happened to him. I had to leave him or I would have ended up here sooner." I explain.

Reiner and Bertholdt's expressions were struck with empathy and melancholy once I finish my story. They exchanged glances at each other, and then both of them simultaneously whipped their faces back to me. "We're going to get you back to him." Bertholdt states.

"How?" My eyes widen, every fiber in me ready to get out of here.

"We're all gonna break out of here." Reiner smiles.