Author: lil'chrome-chan

Pairing: maybe BertholdtxAnnie if you squint ;)

Rate: T

Genre: Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Tragedy, Angst

Summary: All they ever wanted was to go home together, hand-in-hand, like the old times. But it seemed even that simple wish was too much in this merciless world…

WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH!

AUTHOR NOTE: I know I'm supposed to update My Genius Sister today, but well, the amount of review still hasn't satisfied me yet so I'll wait for a few more days before updating. I just found many interesting short doujinshi from Pixiv (again, LoL) about the Titan-shifter trio's childhood and other stuff, and I have wanted to write something about this trio! Well, I did insert their pairing in my multi-chaptered fic, My Genius Sister, though, but I seriously want to write a fic centered on them, so… Here we go!

Disclaimer: I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin! Isayama-sensei does!

Home

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Bertholdt gulped. Sweat trailed down his forehead despite the cold weather. He just wanted to get out of this situation as soon as possible.

…The situation of being surrounded by bullies.

"Look who we have here. It's Bertholdt the crybaby~ You have guts to step into our territory, eh?"

"Yeah, right! Get your hopeless ass outta here, crybaby Bertholdt!"

Bertholdt tried to ease his trembling hands and looked downward, avoiding their intimidating looks. Immediately, his eyes felt hot as tears were threatening to form. But before he could really cry, the figure behind him took a step forward, and with a mere glare from her, the bullies jerked away in fear.

"Wh-what do you want, Annie?" one of the bullies asked warily.

Annie held the reputation of the scariest kid in the village. Most kids, even ones older than her, chose not to get involved with her if possible, partly because her Father was the wealthiest farmer in the village and was respected by many.

Thinking that whatever action she took here would affect her Father's reputation, Annie closed her blue eyes and let her fury ease.

"Let's go, Bertholdt…" Annie said as she turned around and walked away, leaving the park with Bertholdt following suit from behind.

Annie was silent the moment she and Bertholdt walked. She had almost felt bad looking at Bertholdt's defeated face. He looked like he was trying to say something as he was fidgeting all the time. If Reiner were here, he would have no problem speaking up. Sighing, Annie stopped her track.

"…Annie?"

"Don't look so sad."

Bertholdt lowered his head, "I'm sorry I'm so weak…"

"It's not your fault," Annie sighed.

"But… you want to play on that swing…" Berholdt mumbled guiltily.

Shifting her gaze somewhere, Annie muttered, "I don't particularly want to play on it…"

She had said that, but Bertholdt knew she actually wanted to. Remembering how her eyes sparkled upon seeing the rusty swing, he just couldn't let it go just like that. Nine years of her existence and Annie Leonhardt had never played on a swing before. That would be so sad.

An idea crossed his mind and Bertholdt quickly excused himself.

"We won't be able to hang out for the next few days but I promise I'll give you a surprise once the day has come." Smiling, Bertholdt left in a rush.

Tilting her head, Annie wondered what kind of surprise Bertholdt was trying to make. She sighed. Well then, she thought, she would just read books in her room for several days.

"Eh? For Annie?" Reiner cocked his head to the side, his hand wiping the sweat on his face with the towel around his neck.

Bertholdt nodded enthusiastically.

Putting aside his hammer, Reiner wiped his sweat once again before standing up. He looked around for some leftover wood planks his dad had casted away the other day. After examining the wood planks, he found one with suitable size. "This one's good, don't you think?" Reiner grinned at his friend.

"But… isn't it a little too big? I mean, Annie is small…"

"Oh, Bertholdt, you silly. Annie's small but she's gonna get bigger after years. I'm gonna have her keep playing on the swing even after she's not a little girl anymore!" Reiner said, half-mockingly.

Bertholdt laughed softly, "That's going to be funny."

"Nah, it's not."

"Right."

"Now, are you gonna help me or not?"

"I am," Bertholdt smiled.

Annie scowled.

She had been sitting on the grassy ground for half an hour, cold and bored. Screw Bertholdt and Reiner for making her wait this long. What the heck are they doing anyway?

Bertholdt had told her to sit there and don't look back before they allowed her to. She figured that Reiner did something silly again and didn't want to be seen before he was done fixing himself or something alike. Sighing, she rested her chin on her knees. How long did they intend to make her wait? She was bored she wanted to hit something.

Groaning, Annie rose from her spot and talked loud enough for them to hear without her having to turn around, "I'm going home!" and she took a step forward.

"Wha—wait! Annie—uwaah!" Reiner yelped, followed with the sound of something big hitting the ground.

"Gyaah! Reiner!" Bertholdt yelled in alarm.

At the sudden commotion, Annie turned around almost instantly, eyes wide at what she had expected to see. Reiner was lying on the ground, face first, and Bertholdt was kneeling right beside him, panicked and sweating. Annie expected that Reiner had fallen from the tree branch right above him when he was tying the rope. Her blue eyes trailed down the rope, no, ropes, that were attached to either side of a wood plank.

She blinked. Then she looked at Reiner who was grinning while rubbing his bleeding nose.

"…Surprise?" he said.

Her eyes was watery, and she quickly looked away to hide them. "You're ridiculous…" she muttered.

Despite what she had said, the two boys knew that she was actually happy. The boys grinned at each other and each gave a high five of victory. They then walked to her sides and took her hands, leading her to the swing that had just been completed a moment ago.

"Bert said that you wanted to play on the swing, so…" Reiner scratched his cheek sheepishly.

I didn't, Annie thought. What I really wanted wasn't to play on swings…

A single tear fell on her lap after she had sat on the hand-made swing, made by her two best friends. It quickly alerted the two as they exchanged confused look and tried to cheer her up.

"—Eh!? Annie, why are you crying?"

"Oh crap, I told you she wouldn't want this!"

"Bu—but!"

As the two continued arguing, Annie had held out her hands to pull her two friends into a hug. They were undoubtedly taken aback at first. However they eventually found themselves smiling.

…What I wanted is to stay by your sides…

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The situation had taken turn to the unexpected after they had witnessed Eren emerged from the Rogue Titan's nape. Their former plan was for them to graduate as one of the top ten and move into Wall Sina as the Military Police and to execute the next plan on breaching further into the walls. However now that Eren had shown them what they had never expected, one of them had to join the Scouting Legion in order to keep an eye on Eren.

He might just be the one they've been looking for.

"I'll join the Scouting Legion," Reiner spoke up after a pregnant silence.

"—Reiner!" Bertholdt quickly disapproved. "Being alone outside the wall… even though you're the Armored Titan, there's no guarantee you can survive outside alone!"

"I'm not alone, Bert. I still have our comrades; Jean, Connie, Christa, Sasha, and there's even Mikasa…"

"I'm not referring to them!" Bertholdt yelled. His heart clenched. Ever since joining the military, another personality had emerged inside Reiner. He would sometimes lost track of their true objective and treated everyone as his comrades.

No, those comrades would never understand Titan-shifters like them.

Once they spoke the truth, those comrades would look at them as if they're looking at Titans themselves. As if they were looking at cold-blooded murderers who felt nothing about annihilating the humankind.

"You can go with Reiner, Bertholdt…"

It was Annie who spoke.

Bertholdt turned to look at the petite blonde, eyes wide in shock. "Then… how about you, Annie?" he asked, fighting the trembling in his voice.

Annie closed her eyes, calmly, and said, "I'll be fine. In fact, the place I'm going to is much safer than yours. One person is enough for this mission," she opened her sapphire orbs to look at him. "You two should keep your eye on Eren. And we'll meet again after everything's over."

"That's true," Reiner nodded.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Bertholdt sweated, "No… how can you agree like that, Reiner? Annie is going to be alone there…" he muttered.

"What are we supposed to do, then?" Reiner groaned.

Sighing, Annie jumped from one of the wooden boxes she used as a seat and walked toward the tallest among them, "Calm down, Bertholdt, I'm going to be fine…" she reassured him, tiptoeing to reach his cheek. "I'll do everything perfectly. And then we'll go home together…"

"Annie…" Bertholdt whimpered as tears had already beginning to form.

Stroking the taller man's head, Annie whispered, "It's okay, it's not your fault…"

Looking at his two friends, Reiner frowned. He didn't actually want to do this, but he had no other choice than this. Eren was a tiny bit of hope they could find and he couldn't bear to lose it just yet. They might be able to return home if they did everything perfectly; just a little more, he convinced, just a little more until they could go home.

A little gamble and a little sacrifice were all they needed in order to fulfill that dream.

I'm sorry for leaving you alone, Annie… We'll definitely go home together…

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Bertholdt felt his jaw trembled when he saw the greenish thing before him. The thing was around his height, with solidity indescribable with words. No matter how hard he tried to destroy it, he couldn't do as much as a scratch. His knuckles were swollen and bloody, but he couldn't care less.

Beside him, Reiner was also panting, his own knuckles in the same condition as Bertholdt's. Shit, he thought, if only he could turn into a Titan and just goddamn crack the damn thing, it would be so good.

What stood before them was the harsh reality they didn't wish to face. The small figure of Annie Leonhardt, cold and unmoving, caged inside the greenish, transparent crystal made by she herself as a suicide attempt—all for the sake of protecting their secret. Despite her peaceful complexions, there was no doubt Annie was aware of the consequences of crystallizing herself. The worst case would be she would have to spend the rest of her life as a human fossil.

No, Bertholdt thought, he wouldn't let this happen to Annie.

"I'll take you out of here, Annie…" he said to the crystallized Annie before him, rubbing gently at the part of the crystal where he could see her face. "We'll go home together…" he sobbed.

Yeah, just wait for me, Annie…

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Squeezing his hand tighter to share him her warmth, Annie bit her lower lip in attempt to hold back her whimpers from escaping her mouth and tears well up at the corner of her eyes, threatening to fall at any time. She had to fight to keep her hand from trembling or she was afraid he would notice.

Across her, Reiner was holding Bertholdt's other hand. The blond was reassuring Bertholdt that everything would be okay.

"…Reiner…" he breathed "…Is Annie safe…?"

Reiner looked at Annie for a while, asking for confirmation. When Annie had nodded, Reiner went back to face his best friend. "Yeah…" he managed to hide his trembling voice, "…you saved her, Bert. She's smiling now, thanks to you…" he whispered.

True, Bertholdt did almost everything to get Annie out of the crystal. Annie was still wet after being out just of the crystal and her hair damp and let loose, framing her beautiful face under the moonlight. Her sea blue eyes glistened by her tears as she clenched her teeth to prevent them from falling, only to fail. Tears streamed down her cheeks and landed on the man's cold face.

"…It's dark here… I can't see a thing…" Bertholdt whispered quietly.

Almost immediately, Reiner leaned in to listen better, "Yeah? Yeah, what is it, pal?" he said with a smile despite the tears in his eyes. Annie did the same.

"…I'm sorry… I can't go home with you guys…"

"No, Bertholdt, it's not your fault…" Annie stroked his hair almost lovingly, her lips trembling slightly at the thought of losing one of her only friends.

"…You're always… so kind… Annie…"

Shaking her head, Annie finally cried openly, "No, I'm not…" she whimpered.

"…Annie… don't cry…"

Reiner frowned at Annie, silently telling her to stop crying and make Bertholdt worry. Annie nodded knowingly. She knew she shouldn't cry. She should let Bertholdt rest in peace, without any burden. However, her action betrayed her:

"Don't die…"

Bertholdt desperately wanted to grant Annie her wish. But then again, it was impossible. As his eyelids grew heavy, he felt his consciousness faded away. Never once had he felt as sleepy as now. The last things he heard were Annie and Reiner's frantic voices asking him to hang in there.

That time, he saw a dream…

…A dream of the three of them, walking home, hand-in-hand, leading Annie to her favorite old swing.

The End