Attack on Titan: A Warrior of Devils Chapter 2 (Annie, The Cold Girl) (Patreon)

"Hey, you alright?" Mikasa asked, concerned; sitting close to him, Eren, who had a scowl on his face, turned to her.

"I know you always get riled up whenever that day is mentioned," Mikasa added, knowing Eren could act tough, but that day was still in his mind.

"Don't worry about me; I'm not your kid," Eren replied with a huff ignoring Mikasa's question, who frowned slightly at his words.

"What about your hair? Maybe you should cut them; they might get stuck in the ODM gear," Eren suggested touching a strand of her long hair.

Mikasa touched her hair with her index finger before agreeing with what he said. "Maybe I will,"

Armin from the porch noticed how Jean was looking at them; the color on his face disappeared, he looked as pale as a ghost, and the blonde boy was trying very hard not to burst out laughing.

That was until Connie walked by; Jean stretched out his hand and whipped his hand across the back of Connie's shirt.

The bald boy turned around, trying to see what he had whipped on him. "Oj, what are you doing?! What did you whip on me?" He asked with a bit of panic in his voice, still trying to see behind before Jean looked him dead in the eye.

"My faith in humanity," he spoke with dead eyes that made Connie chuckle nervously before backing away a little.

Armin burst out laughing before running over to Eren and Mikasa; they seemed to be talking about Mikasa's hair for some reason, Eren saying they would get in the way of using ODM gear; Armin wanted to point out that her scarf would as well, but kept that to himself when Mikasa simply agreed with him and not to mention Mikasa always wears her scarf unless is a hot day.

"Quite a night," Armin said behind them, making his presence known to his friends who turned behind.

"Yes, it was fine until Jean started spitting out nonsense," Eren replied, slapping his lap with a loud groan.

"He has a different opinion Eren; you can't expect everyone to think in the same way as you do," Armin reasoned with his intelligent voice; his words made Eren turn to him abruptly.

"Not you, too," Eren said with annoyance, but Mikasa stepped into the conversation.

"He's right, Eren; you almost started a fight on the first day," Mikasa pointed out, Eren simply nodded his head.

"I think the following three years will be quite interesting," Armin said with enthusiasm looking at his friends, who nodded along in agreement, especially Eren.

Jaime

Sasha was beyond exhausted by the point she was done running; her legs were moving by themselves. However, as she reached the building where everyone else was, she collapsed, no longer able to walk. Despite being in such a state, she could still hear, and most importantly, she could still smell food! 

"Ahhh!" Krista shouted in fear as Sasha lunged at her like a devil, but before she could take a bite out of the food, Jaime grabbed her tunic as she desperately tried to reach for the bread on Krista's shaking hands, who looked at Sasha horrified. Jaime struggled to keep her in place as she kept trying to reach for the bread. How is she so strong?! Jaime wondered, a little baffled as he quickly looked at Krista.

"Gave her the food, Now." Jaime intervened, shooing away the ravenous beast.

Krista blinked for a moment before quickly pushing the bread into Sasha's mouth; the girl quickly started eating so fast that Krista moved her hands away in fear that the girl would bite her fingers off. Jaime looked at the girl who kept eating like an animal, but once she swallowed half of the bread, she seemed to have come to her senses.

"We are safe, now." Jaime said with a sigh of relief before looking down at the blonde girl.

"I wasn't in any danger," Christa defended herself.

"Maybe, but she's a food demon; we should be careful; she might devour the whole camp," Jaime said seriously, something the blonde found funny, Krista letting out a cute chuckle.

"Look who's talking..."

"BREAD!" Sasha suddenly screamed and startled the two recruits. "IT WAS BREAD!"

Christa and Jaime exchanged a confused look before the younger replied hesitantly:

"Uh ... It's all I could keep," she politely informed before taking out a skin bottle from under her right armpit. But you have been running almost fourteen hours without hydrating yourself; you must drink..."

Sasha looked at the cute blonde beauty as if she suddenly found her god. She couldn't remember the last time someone was so generous towards her. She gave her food, and now she was offering her water. She must have ended up in heaven.

"Are you a goddess?!" she cried.

She started shaking Christa and screaming, 'Are you a goddess?' She screamed when Jaime pulled her away from the blonde.

"Calm down, potato girl," he said. He had never seen someone like her before, and at that moment, he decided to give her his own piece of bread.

"Here," he gestured toward the loaf of bread in his hand; seeing more food for her caused Sasha to start drooling like a dog.

"Thank you," she screamed before she started eating it with tears in her eyes; she couldn't remember the last time someone did such a good deed for her. Jaime wondered what kind of creature she was, soon coming to the conclusion she was probably a Titan in disguise.

Sasha kept eating before she suddenly collapsed, her face falling on Christa's lap; now she was sleeping.

"Jeez, now we have a food demon amongst our midst. Thank god she's not sleeping anywhere near me. I don't want to wake up with half of my body missing," Jaime commented, rubbing the back of his head. If she could devour bread so fast, he didn't want to imagine what she would do to roasted meat cooked with onions, garlic, pepper, and mashed potatoes.

Christa chuckled in a way Jaime thought was cute, and the blonde's attention turned to the boy.

"Name's Krista Lenz," she said, extending her hand towards him but not standing up since Sasha was still resting her head on her lap.

"Jaime," he said, accepting her hand and looking at her eyes; he felt as if he had seen her before but couldn't quite put the finger, not realizing that Krista was having similar thoughts, a bit captivated by his dark violet eyes, she found them a bit mesmerizing, and quite interesting.

"Oï. What the hell are you three doing?"

Jaime moved his hand away, turning to look at the figure stepping out of the darkness dramatically.

She was tall for her age; her freckled face sported a suspicious-looking disinterested expression. Indeed, her presence in a place particularly far from the refectory and the girls' dormitory did not tally with a lack of interest.

Jaime looked up at her eyes, quite surprised by how tall she was. Damn, what are they feeding her?! He thought, scratching his cheek, comparing his own height with hers, and getting a little jealous; this was definitely the tallest girl he had ever seen.

"Well, me and Krista decided to give food to the food demon before she devours one of us, and this is the result," Jaime explained, pointing at the sleeping form of Sasha, who was now snoring a little.

"So you're doing a good deed because you want her to be in your debt?" Ymir questioned, walking closer to the trio; her eyes briefly glanced at Krista while Jaime arched an eyebrow at her words.

"That's an interesting way of seeing this, but not me; I simply helped a fellow recruit in need of help," Jaime replied, with Krista quickly nodding along.

The tall girl rolled her eyes at their words, finding it a bit pathetic. "You will soon understand people who do good deeds because they think they should are the first to get the short stick?" Ymir said, her voice getting a little angry by the end.

Jaime arched an eyebrow at her words, wondering if she knew that from personal experience.

"Maybe, but there's nothing wrong with giving someone food," Jaime said with a little shrug, no one deserves to go hungry.

"And you know how that is like, someone from the interior?" Ymir scoffed; a flash passed through Jaime's eyes.

A boy with sunken cheeks crawling in the dirt towards a loaf of bread before a hand of someone else grabbed it.

"I might be from the interior, but the place I used to live was not... a kind one," He said, his voice a little colder. 

"Ohh, did something happen to you there?" Ymir questioned with a cocky voice that was really annoying Jaime.

"That's none of your business," Jaime warned, he didn't wanted to remember that, his tone showing the tall girl not to ask more; the tall girl smirked in triumph.

"Touched a nerve, didn't I? Did you lose someone because of hunger?" She questioned with a smirk taking a step closer towards Jaime, who looked ready to beat her into a pulp.

Jaime growled in anger, hearing her mocking words, he felt his anger rising, and her smirk was really annoying him.

"Hey, stop it," Krista shouted, standing up without thinking, and getting in between the two of them; Jaime wanted to ignore her, but he looked at Krista, and his anger disappeared the moment Krista looked back at him. With a frustrated sigh, he walked back, not wanting to deal with this anymore.

"Will you help her?" He questioned, pointing at Sasha sleeping on the ground, wondering if he himself should carry her to the girl's domain.

"Well, nothing in this world is free; allow me to help her back at girl's domain," Ymir said, walking up to Sasha, she and Krista helping Sasha up, who was still sleeping.

"What's your reason for helping her?" Jaime questioned, crossing his arms in front of his chest; he eyed the tall girl up and down suspiciously.

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she looked at him over her shoulder. "This way, she will be in my debt, so if I ever need her help, she will have to help me," Ymir replied with a little annoyance; Krista frowned slightly at her words.

Jaime understood the reason behind it; he had met people like her before. "That's understandable to me; what's your name?" Jaime questioned her, who looked surprised to hear his words, thinking he would disapprove of her intentions.

"Ymir,"

"Jaime," he said before turning around and walking away.

"Good night Krista, Bad night ugly freckles," he said with his own smirk walking away, waving his hand at the blonde girl who smiled; Ymir groaned in annoyance, knowing he would probably call her that for the next three years.

"Good Night," Krista quickly said, smiling, as she and Ymir lifted Sasha, her arms around their shoulders, letting a sound as they carried her to the girl's domain.

"Damn it, she's heavy," Ymir complained as they carried her away.

"Don't say things like that to him; he just wanted to help," Krista said disapprovingly at the tall girl, who rolled her eyes.

"It was a simple joke," she replied, dismissing her worries before looking at Krista from the corner of her eyes.

"What does it matter to you? Do you know him or something?" She questioned; Krista surprisingly didn't say anything; she didn't know him, but couldn't help but feel as if she knew him somehow.

Boy's Domain

"Hello there, shorty," Jaime greeted him with a proud smirk on his face, finally someone else was shorter than him.

Connie groaned in annoyance. "Look who's talking, if I had my hair. I would be taller," He moaned in annoyance, as Jaime sat in his bed near his. Putting his bag just under his.

"Nope. I'm still four centimetres taller, that's a huge difference," Jaime said, showing the difference with his right hand. His thumb and index finger showing the difference.

"Jean, is four centimetres really that important?" Connie asked innocently turning to the nearest boy who groaned loudly, covering his face with a pillow.

"Four centimetres! it depends on what you two are comparing," Jean replied with a little smirk, earning a chuckle from many cadets that were still awake. Connie was even more confused, while Jaime rolled his eyes before laying on his bed.

"Good night, shorty," Jaime said.

"I'm not short!"

Tomorrow

They had been sleeping without a care in the world. When a voice was heard yelling at them...

"WAKE UP, MAGGOTS," Keith shouted right at their faces causing almost all of them to scream back, some thinking they were getting attacked, some not understanding what was happening.

Connie tried to run away while screaming, completely forgetting that he was laying on a bed and not in a field somewhere, causing him to fall from the bed, letting out a groan of pain as he tried to stand up while rubbing his nose.

Eren, Jaime, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Armin stood before everyone else, only wearing their night clothes; Armin was still rubbing his eyes, trying to make the sleep go away.

Everyone slowly stood up; some were still trying to wear their clothes and not salute in front of the instructor with only night clothes.

Jaime grabbed his dark shirt, his hand going through the sleeve.

Jaime was about to ask the instructor what they were supposed to do since the latter had been silent, not really giving out any orders.

When Jaime peeked over the instructor's shoulder, only now noticing that it was pitch black out there, it wasn't uncommon to be woken up earlier than usual, but never like this. The sun wasn't peeking over the mountain, Jaime didn't have a watch around him, but he knew it was around 3 AM! And it seemed the others were noticing as well.

"Instructor, why did you wake us so early?" Jean asked, trying to sound as respectful as possible, but his voice showed clear annoyance; it was one thing to train the whole day and run around like a slave carrying heavy items, but waking up early so was straight-up cruel.

Keith glared at Jean, who backed away a little, Marco beside him sending him a concerned look.

"Now, everyone fix your beds; within an hour, I want everyone outside at the training yard," he shouted, earning confused and angry looks from everyone.

Soon they all started complaining about why wake them up so early, only to be immediately silenced by Keith, who shouted at them.

"SILENCE. An Hour Later, Everyone Outside. No Exceptions," He shouted, silencing everyone, giving a warning look at everyone. They all looked down the moment his cold eyes made eye contact with them; some even backed away.

After saying what he wanted to say, Keith turned around and left the big room the moment the door clicked, signaling that it was closed...

"Man, what the hell is his problem?" One moaned in annoyance before falling back on his bed as if he was dead.

"Ohhh, Samuel. Don't sleep; he will kill you if you are late," Connie warned him, trying to get him to stand up, nudging his shoulders. Samuel simply turned around, not answering his friend, dismissing him with a wave of his hands.

"Only five minutes," he said, with his eyes closed, already half-asleep.

Connie stopped trying to wake him up, and many others followed Samuel's example, falling back to sleep almost immediately. Jaime ignored them and decided to wear the rest of his uniform.

Same for some others. Jaime knew there must be a reason that Keith decided to wake them up an hour earlier than needed.

"Jaime?" Armin gave him a confused look seeing him wearing his socks and then his boots.

Jaime turned to him, still trying to fit his feet in them. "I lost all my sleep. I might as well take a walk outside," Jaime said with a little shrug; Armin nodded in understanding.

Jean yawned loudly; his eyes felt heavy, but he didn't dare to lie down; he knew the moment he would do that, he would most likely fall asleep, which wouldn't be a good thing. Whenever the punishment was cleaning the bathrooms or whatever else, he wasn't in the mood to suffer any punishment.

"Wait for me," Jean called out behind Jaime, who nodded, deciding to wait outside.

Jaime opened the door and walked outside; it was complete darkness. He wondered how long before the sun peeks over the horizon, a gentle breeze passed around him, sending shivers down his spine. The sound of crickets and birds reached his ears as he walked through, soon reaching the training yard.

Hearing the door made Jaime turn around to see Jean, whose eyes were still half asleep.

"First time waking up this early?" Jaime questioned, deciding to start a conversation.

"Yes, not really a morning person, but I think Shadis will try his hardest to make everyone hate the morning," Jean replied before they started walking around the courtyard.

"You said you knew the Military Police, right?" Jean questioned him as they were walking.

Jaime quite liked that Jean was straightforward and not dancing around the bush.

"Yes, I heard you yesterday; you want to join them?" Jaime asked, but more like a statement, yet, his voice didn't sound mocking or angry, which wouldn't be the case if he was more like Eren, something Jean appreciated.

"Yes, I want to live in the interior. Is there anything I should know before joining them?"

"Well, the one in charge do nothing all day; they scratch each other's back, drink in broad daylight, gamble, some even gamble on how many from the Survey Corps will die in the next expedition, and only actually work when it benefits them," Jaime spoke without much emotion, not showing that he disliked them.

Jean stopped walking when he heard his words. "Benefits them? You mean, they're-"

"Corrupt, Yes. They're, the majority of them, some try to put things right, but in that place, those that try to fix things take a warning first before suddenly disappearing if the first one doesn't work," Jaime spoke seriously, warning the other one on what he should expect if he went through with it.

Jean let out a nervous chuckle, hoping Jaime was joking, but from his words and face, he knew he wasn't joking.

"Ohhh," Jean murmured, looking dejected from what he heard before quickly gaining back his composure.

"It doesn't matter. I want to live in the interior; I guess both of us can strive for the top ten positions to enter the Military Police," Jean said with a smile before slapping Jaime's shoulder, who shook his head.

"I will join the Survey Corps," Jaime said with a little shrug.

"Why?" Jean asked, flabbergasted, thinking someone like Jaime could do well there.

"It's the only way I can achieve my dream. I want to see the whole world outside the wall. All the beauty it has to offer and find the answer to a question I have wanted answering for a long time," Jaime confessed with passion in his words before he started walking again, leaving behind Jean, who was shocked, rubbing his head, not understanding what dream Jaime couldn't achieve without joining the Survey Corps.

Later

Jaime managed to complete his training for the day before everyone else from the boy recruits. Despite the training he had with his mentor, he still found it a little difficult to complete all of them, but that was nothing compared to everyone else who was still struggling, some more than others, especially Armin from Shiganshina, who seemed on the verge of passing out, and Shadis breathing under their necks and telling them they all suck wasn't helping with their courage to keep going.

"Cadet Jaime, you can rest for now." But Jaime wasn't in the mood to rest. He decided to approach the cadets who were struggling the most. Jaime gave a few advice here and there when Shadis wasn't looking, hoping to help them with their push-ups. 

"Drop your knees a little. It will be easier for all of you, and there's no need to touch the ground with your forehead every time you do a push-up, unless you want to make love with it," Jaime advised in a hushed tone, as the Shadis were not paying attention to them.

Eventually, they all completed their training, but none of them said anything to him; the opposite. Many looked at him as if he had done something wrong, except for Armin, who smiled a little nervously as he approached Jaime.

"Thank you for the help."

"No worries. We all might be from different places, but we are all human, so we must help each other." Jaime said dismissively, earning a curious look from Armin, who seemed to be thinking deeply about something. 

Later

Jaime was using a towel soaked in water to clean his face; they had ten minutes to rest, and some that hadn't finished yet, were still running around like slaves. The dark-haired boy heard a bit earlier that at the end of the first week, they would try ODM gear for the first time; those that fail would be sent to the fields to work. When the instructor wasn't looking, he helped Jean, Marco, and Connie with their training; surprisingly, Sasha didn't have that much trouble. Same for Eren, who seemed determined, something Jaime quite liked; it was always good to strive with all someone had to achieve their goals.

Jaime's eyes turned to the short blonde girl who was leaning against a wooden pole alone. Away from everyone else, not even close to anyone.

Seeing that she wasn't doing anything, Jaime decided to walk up to her.

Reaching her, the girl heard his footsteps and turned to look at him; the dark-haired boy for a moment was shocked. From up close, her eyes were even colder.

"What do you want?" She questioned with annoyance, her eyes quickly showing that he wasn't welcome.

"I couldn't help but notice you did the training without much trouble; it was quite impressive," Jaime started, he knew he wasn't the best at talking with girls because of his first ten years, but he knew enough to get her name...Right?

"My name's Jaime," he said, extending his hand for her to shake; she briefly glanced at his hand before looking up at him.

"Got bored alone, there are still kids you can help since you seem good at it," Annie said annoyed, not understanding why he was talking to her.

"Yes, and you did your training before everyone else, and I believe you even went a little slower on purpose," Jaime shot back at her, showing her he had noticed her lack of trying.

This caused the girl to narrow her eyes slightly at the dark-haired boy, someone would perhaps back away from her intense gaze, but Jaime stood in his position, not showing fear.

"I saw you were helping those recruits; why bother helping? It is better to mind your own business," She said, ignoring his words about her lack of trying to give her best; her eyes eyed him up and down. She found him a little interesting, especially the fact that he was the only one who was from Wall Sina.

Annie found his eye color quite strange and unnatural; the small cut above his right eyebrow was definitely made by a sharp weapon, perhaps a knife.

"Perhaps, but there's nothing wrong with helping people; after all, the ODM gear test six days later will determine if it was all for nothing. If they fail, then it was for nothing. Still, if they succeed, they might become just what humanity might need to keep moving forward," Jaime reasoned, he didn't know anyone that well, but he knew anyone could become a great help in the future, have a hidden talent that just needed the right circumstances to blossom into something more, and he was giving a helping hand to those that needed.

Annie's eyes widened slightly at his words before quickly returning to normal.

"Maybe," she said with skepticism before she walked past him.

"My name is Annie, by the way,"

Smirking in triumph. "Good to meet you, Annie,"