The Artist's Despair

Chapter One - Safe House

Dear Readers,

This is the third book in Kenna's story. Kenna's story starts with The Cadet's Origin and leads into The Scout's Hope.  The link for The Cadet's Origin is provided. Whether you are finding this story first or have been with Kenna since the beginning, thank you so much for your support.

-Queen of the Nerds

Kenna kept her eyes focused on the back of Sasha's head as they walked through the forest. Everyone was quiet as they trekked through unkept trails and backroads. It was clear to Kenna that Captain Levi was taking them the long way to wherever they were going, but she had no idea why he was doing this. Kenna kept her hands on the strap of her backpack as Captain Levi had them head up a hill through another patch of bushes.

"How much longer do we have, Captain Levi?" Jean asked what they were all asking.

"As long as it takes us," Captain Levi said without even looking back.

"Great," Jean grumbled.

"Just ignore it, Jean," Kenna whispered as she glanced over her shoulder. "He can't make us walk for forever."

There were no more words spoken as they made their way through the countryside. All of them knew that after that, they wouldn't get any satisfying answer from Captain Levi. As they walked, Kenna was starting to become more and more aware of the rumble in her stomach and the tiredness in her legs. After what seemed like hours of walking, they finally saw a house through a tree line. They all stopped for a moment as they looked at the house. It was a two story house that had two watch towers at the front of the property. Kenna bit the inside of her cheek as she saw them. She wondered if the Scouts were really worried that Reiner and Bertolt would come after them again. Surely, they wouldn't.

"Let's get inside," Captain Levi said as he started to walk towards the house.

Kenna and her friends followed Captain Levi into the house. The door opened up into a dining room and kitchen area. It was pretty nice for a house that seemed to be all but abandoned in the middle of the woods.

"There are room upstairs," Captain Levi said as he looked at all of them. "There should be enough for each of you to have your own room, but it would probably be better if you doubled up in the rooms."

"Why..." Eren tried to speak.

"Pick out your rooms," Captain Levi instructed them. "After you're finished unpacking, come down for dinner. We're just going to have our rations tonight. We'll see if we're able to get some warm food tomorrow morning."

No one argued with the captain. They all headed upstairs and picked out their rooms. As they got to the upstairs landing, groups of two started to split off. Mikasa and Sasha. Eren and Armin. Jean and Connie. Historia and Krista were left staring at each other. Historia's eyes seemed dead as she turned around. Kenna turned the opposite direction. She walked towards the end of the hall and found a small little room. Kenna placed her bag on the bed as she started to take the contents of her bag out. There wasn't much there to unpack. Her few civilian clothes went into the small chest at the foot of her bed. Her sketchbooks and pencils went on her nightstand. Kenna bit the inside of her cheek as she looked at the sketchbooks. She carefully grabbed one as she sunk to the floor. Her back was against the bed. She opened the pages.

The first page she opened to was a picture of her, Reiner, and Bertolt. Kenna remembered the day she drew that picture. She had had Sasha be a stand in for her as she drew the pose. Reiner kept trying to make her laugh. Bertolt kept hitting him on the back of his head to make him stop.

The next page she looked at was less painful. It was just a drawing of Connie. By the walls, he had begged her for hours that day to draw a picture of him. He begged even harder for Kenna to give him muscles bigger than Reiner's.