A Bonds of Steel and Blood sequel.
Reinae Agnar thought she had left the darkness of the Underground City behind when she joined the Survey Corps, but some shadows refuse to fade. As she struggles to balance her duties with her burning vendetta and...
Facing her now former squad was hard. She'd come to their table in the Mess Hall in the morning and could see it written on their faces—they knew. Levi was not there. Reinae couldn't decide if it made her relieved or upset.
"Did he tell you why?" Eld asked, hiding the sadness behind curiosity.
"Because I go rogue so often." They all listened with open mouths as Reinae explained what had happened during the meeting since Levi seemingly only notified his squad that she would no longer be a part of it. "He made me independent, but because of regulations, I became captain."
Eld, Oluo and Gunther had no words. They had become her family in the past three years. It was as hard for Rei to leave them as it was for them to have her gone. Petra was the first to smile, placing her small hand on Rei's.
"Congratulations, Rei," she said with her kind voice. "I'm sure you'll be a great captain."
The red-haired woman scoffed, shaking her head lightly. "I highly doubt that."
Her friends laughed, the tension that loomed over them breaking. Eld hugged Rei over her shoulder, sighing nostalgically.
"Just don't forget about us, okay?"
"Not in a thousand years," Rei said jokingly, poking him with her elbow, but her answer was sincere. And they knew it.
"Are you still coming to practice?" Oluo asked hopefully.
Reinae bit her lip. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. The first step could be stopping by Erwin's office again so he could explain what the hell a captain does. or finding Carter and Isaac. The latter sounded less draining.
"I have some other things to take care of." Reinae smiled apologetically to her disappointed squad. "But I'll see you at dinner."
When they left towards the training grounds, Oluo and Gunther patting her back, Petra squeezing her hand, and Eld giving her another over-the-shoulder hug, Reinae remained seated by the table, staring after them. She refused to let herself be sad—there had been enough of that the day before. So she stood up, a determined expression on her face as she went to the kitchens.
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It was pure luck that Carter and Isaac were both on helping duty in the kitchen that morning. She found them scrubbing the pots in which the cooks made porridge. It was a tedious process since the cooks didn't care if the bottom of the pot burned. While Isaac patiently worked, Carter complained loudly the entire time. They were a funny duo—a copy of Aiden and Jasper, just in a different font.
"You missed a spot," Rei said when Carter put a pot on the clean pile, a small, burnt speck of porridge still on it.
Carter and Isaac looked up, their faces stretching into grins.
