Answers

Chapter 10

"Did you know?"

"Know what?" she asks with a slight frown.

Well I did just ask that out of the blue, there's no possible way that she can know what I'm referring to.

"About our short life expectancy as shifters?"

"Oh..." she sighs.

"So you know about that too?" she asks, rather uninterested.

So she does know. It seems like something she has already come to terms with.

"You knew!? And you still chose to use what little time you have left to attack us people who live within the walls!?"

She shoots me a sharp gaze.

"I could say the same to you," she retorts.

I should've expected that.

"You have your reasons, just as I have mine," she says.

"That's completely different! I'm trying to save lives and preserve a future for the people that you were trying to destroy."

Her gaze hardens.

"I'd say that's worth the cost of my life."

"That's where we are different Eren. You would gladly sacrifice yourself for something greater, whereas I just did what I had to but... now I just want to return home," she responds, her face softening.

"You want to return to the people who put you in this position in the first place!?"

"You can't understand. I have nothing else and nowhere else," she states.

"Don't you want more from life? Aren't you angry with what has been forced upon you?"

"Obviously I want to live but what choice do I have?" she asks.

Why won't she fight her fate? What's wrong with her!?

"13 years, that's all we've been given when we inherited the Titan power which means neither of us has much time left."

"If it was me, I would want revenge on the people who did this to me..."

"Eren, your father was the one who gave you this fate didn't he?" she asks rhetorically.

"I don't blame him though. What else could he do? He needed somebody to carry on after him."

Maybe he could've done things differently but I believe he did the best he could for the right reasons.

"In your case, you're merely being used as a weapon. You're disposable because you are Eldian, just like us. How could your father agree to this!?"

I spoke without thinking.

Annies face darkens and she gives me a furious look.

"Don't bring my father into this," she seethes.

Gulp.

Well, she brought my dad into this first but I'll let it slide.

"Whatever. So what was the plan anyway?"

"Huh? To infiltrate the walls, regain the coordinate and wipe you all out... you already know this," she says, looking puzzled.

She was rather casual about all that...

"I don't mean that. I mean afterwards, for you personally. How did you plan to live out the rest of your days?"

She stares at me blankly.

"You must've thought about it. Was you gonna just live out the rest of your days in peace with Bertholdt?"

"Eh? Bertholdt? What does he have to do with anything?" she asks, looking even more perplexed.

"Well, erm I mean... wasn't there something between you and Bertholdt?"

"Me and Bertholdt?" she puzzles.

Is she dense?

The look on her face turns indignant as what I mean dawns on her.

"Where did you get that idea!?" she demands.

Better not tell her what I heard when I was kidnapped.

"Oh, it was just a feeling I got..."

"Well you're wrong! Not at all, not even slightly," she states bluntly.

Now I kind of feel sorry for dead Bertholdt.

"Anyway! I hadn't thought that far ahead, I just want to get back to my father. Not that it matters, I no longer have a future. I'll most likely be locked up here until I die or I'll be executed," she says in a matter of fact tone.

"I've already told you that I won't let that happen but your stubbornness isn't doing either of us any favors..."

"I'm not being stubborn. Like I said, I have my reasons," she responds.

"If you joined us, we could help each other. Maybe you could even go back to your dad one day... or would you rather have me hassle you everyday for the rest of your life?"

"... I don't really mind," she mumbles under her breath.

"What? I couldn't hear you."

"It was nothing, forget it," she says, her cheeks slightly tinged red.

"I'm tired. Let's call it a day," she commands.

Who's in charge here anyway?