Attack On Titan: Pure Blood

Chapter 8: 104th Cadet Corps Part 8: The Prelude to Awakening

There was a strange and uncomfortable silence in the male dormitory as several recruits glanced at Victor, who was lying on his bunk with his arms behind his head as he stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.

The tense talk he had had with Eren in the dining room had ended when Shadis entered and interrupted all conversation. The recruits retired to eat in silence, avoiding a reprimand and subsequent punishment from the terrifying instructor.

Since then, Victor had been meddling with his own thoughts. He had saved most of the pages of his journal, although some pages were unrecognizable because the ink had run off.

"Do you think he's still upset?" Marco asked in a low voice.

Jean snorted and crossed his arms, though he glanced at Victor out of the corner of his eye, feeling slightly guilty about what had happened.

"Can't you tell just by looking at it?" He's obviously upset.

"Yes... He valued his journal very much. After all, it was his brother who gave it to him. Many of us do not have a memory of our families."

"I think I can understand it," intervened Connie. "I also have a portrait of my family. It would bother me if it was ruined by someone else's fault."

"Okay! I get it!" Jean snapped, annoyed, "It's partly my fault. But I'm not the only one to blame! That suicidal bastard is to blame too! If he weren't freaking out over a damn thing, this wouldn't have happened. Dammit!"

With that said, he went to his bed looking annoyed. Though, Jean's mind raced with thoughts of apologizing to Victor later and finding a way to make it up to him. Luckily they would go to Trost when they finished the exercise, Shadis would have prepared for tomorrow. And he had an idea in mind to make up for messing up Victor's journal.

Meanwhile, the other culprit was looking directly at the boy with glasses with different thoughts hovering over his head. It was not the actions he had committed, but because of the words that Victor had spoken to him. He couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Eren, is something wrong?" Asked Armin.

The boy did not reply. Instead, he walked over to Victor, who was still staring at the bedroom ceiling.

"Hey, Victor, can we talk?" He called.

Victor glanced at him for a second, before looking back at the ceiling.

"That depends," he said disinterestedly. "Will you try to hit me again when our opinions differ? I'd rather have to spare myself, Shadis's punishments for a pointless fight. Also, Mikasa would be upset with me. And she's pretty scary when she gets mad."

"What's Mikasa got to do with all this?" Eren growled in annoyance.

Victor gave Eren a flat look, then turned to look at Armin.

"Does he mean it?" He asked. "Doesn't he really notice it?"

"It does," Armin replied with a sigh.

"Poor Mikasa ..."

"What are you two talking about ?!" Eren inquired in annoyance.

Knowing that the conversation wasn't going where he wanted to go, Eren sighed and relaxed. There was no use in being upset if he was going to have this talk with someone who, it seemed, could come to understand how he felt.

"Look, Victor... I just..." Eren frowned. It was really difficult for him to bring up that topic, and even more difficult to find the right words. "I want to talk about what happened to your mother."

The warning look Victor gave him was enough to make Eren nervous, but then his eyes softened, and he looked down sadly and wistfully.

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to talk about it," Victor answered in a low voice, "I know you are curious and interested in joining the Scouting Corps ... But I don't want to talk about my mother."