Pillow Talk
Eren Jaeger had been locked up and shipped out before Winnigan even got the opportunity to be clued in on the events in Trost. The entire 104th corps had taken a hit, survivors shaken from their first taste of action. On this, their day of graduation, Winnigan stood frozen in line as she heard her comrade Armin speaking in a hushed tone with Annie and Connie.
“Jean really said that?”
“Who cares?” Annie quipped, staring straight ahead. Winnigan searched her face for emotion and found none.
“So you’re sticking with the MP’s? I’m starting to think I’ll go that way, too.” Connie offered from the other side of Armin.
“Tell me something, if someone ordered you to die, would you do it?” Annie sighed, as Winnigan and the others whipped their heads around to face her.
“What? Of course not,” Connie retorted. Armin and Winnigan shared a knowing look, before Annie continued.
“Well, then my advice is to do what’s best for you.”
When they were dismissed to go about the next steps of preparing for the graduation ceremony, Annie grabbed Winnigan’s arm and wrenched her into an empty hallway. In a flash, Annie had her pinned against a stone pillar. “What the fuck?” Winnigan cried out.
“I should be asking that about you,” Annie hissed. “I saw that look you gave Armin. You’re joining the scouts, aren’t you?”
Winnigan nodded. “That’s always been the plan, my— ”
“You’ll die in seconds out there. Your fighting is subpar. Your reaction time is shit. That’s suicide.” Seeing the genuine fear struck across Winnigan’s face, Annie sighed and shoved off of her, pacing away with her head in her hands. “Not you, too. Trost even got Bertholdt and Reiner changing their minds.”
"I don't care what you think, Annie," Winnigan suddenly spat, straightening her uniform jacket. "My brother died fighting titans, and I'll be damned if I don't follow in his footsteps." She pushed past Annie, who remained motionless in the hallway, her face unreadable as ever. It wasn’t unlike Annie to be cold, but the sudden outburst surprised even Winnigan herself.
…
Commander Erwin of the scouts, well known to Winnigan from word of mouth as well as letters from Pietro, was the first to address the graduates.
“…We have lost sixty-percent in four years. That is a horrifying figure. One month from now, we will conduct a recon mission from outside the walls. Recruits from among your rank will be expected to take part. I estimate a third of them will die. After four years, most will be dead.”
“Damn, this is what is supposed to convince you to join?” Annie grumbled. Winnigan shook her head and refrained from snapping again. Her gaze was trained ahead, on the light blond commander with eyes as cold as their icy blue hue.
“Now having heard this dismal state of affairs, whoever still wishes to put their life on the line and join us, remain here. But first, ask yourself can you give your heart? Can you give everything for humanity?”
“That is all. Those wanting to join other regiments are dismissed.” Did Pietro hear this same speech? Winnigan wondered nervously, fingers twitching at her sides. And he still chose this path?
In her peripheral vision, Winnigan counted the other new scouts who weren’t scared off by the commander’s call to action. As expected, Armin and Mikasa were at attention. Of course, she had learned earlier in the day that Jean, Reiner, and Bertholdt would be going as well. Despite their previous quarrel just hours before, Winnigan felt a pang of guilt when realizing that Annie had left them behind.
To her complete disbelief, however, Connie and Sasha stood shaking behind her. When Erwin exited stage left, Winnigan whipped around and enveloped Sasha in a deep hug. Tears that had been welling at her waterline broke free and Sasha broke down entirely in Winnigan’s arms.
“Sasha!” Winnigan exclaimed. “I can’t believe you changed your mind.”
“We’re doing this for Marco,” Connie replied solemnly. Winnigan’s head dipped low in understanding. Connie turned to Jean, whose face was stone. “You’ve got one hell of a way with words, man.”
“I’m saying,” Sasha chuckled breathlessly, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “Got me all prepared to ‘die for the cause’ and everything.”
Connie scoffed. “Yeah, what the hell was that recruitment speech? Does he actually want soldiers?”
Jean spoke up finally. “I think it was smart,” Winnigan made determined eye contact with Jean, before nodding. “I mean, would they rather have a bunch of soldiers who chicken out before the first expedition?”
Winnigan cleared her throat. “Did you guys hear what he said about Eren’s basement?” Mikasa snapped to attention wordlessly. She stared daggers in to Winnigan. “That really didn’t have anything do with recruiting. It was obviously said purposefully, though.”
“Yeah,” Armin piped up, his voice squeaking as it often did. “I noticed that, too. Almost like he was trying to catch the attention of specific people to make sure they join.”
Winnigan never got to say goodbye to Annie before they departed for the Survey Corps headquarters. Reiner and Bertholdt had disappeared with her for just a little while, and Reiner later explained that the Military Police recruits headed straight for the Interior as soon as all of the recruiting speeches were complete.
“Oh,” was Winnigan’s only response.
“She told me to tell you bye for her,” Reiner said, slapping a firm grip onto Winnigan’s shoulder, rattling her small frame. “And that she’s sorry,” Winnigan whipped her head towards Reiner questioningly, her ponytail smacking Armin in the face in the process. “What?” Reiner chuckled, hands raised in defense. “I don’t know anything about your girl drama. I’m just the messenger.”
The greenhorn women’s barracks were empty compared to the handful of new recruits. The space was built to hold at *least* twenty people. Sasha took the opportunity to push two of the twin cots together, while Mikasa shook her head in disdain. “Just as greedy in the bedroom as you are in the dining hall,” she joked, a rare occasion for the otherwise brooding teen.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sasha crossed her arms proudly across her chest. “I’m going to need my beauty sleep if I’m gonna be kicking y’all’s asses in training tomorrow.”
“Whatever,” groaned one of the other new recruits, Ymir, who Winnigan had never officially met before. “The only ass getting kicked is yours if one of the higher-ups see that.”
A petite little blonde clung to Ymir’s arm, brows furrowed into a cute frown. Winnigan smirked to herself at the sight. When the blonde kicked Ymir in the shin, Winnigan could’ve sworn she saw Ymir blush.
“Ymir! Leave Sasha alone!” The girl begged, giving Sasha an apologetic glance. In a hushed tone, she continued: “You wanted to make friends here, right?”
Ymir scoffed. “You wanted me to make friends here, Krista.” The tall woman tossed her bag on the nearest cot, Krista following suit. Winnigan had already thrown her bag in the trunk at the foot of her bed and had kicked back against the headboard, spectating contentedly.
“I swear to Sina,” Mikasa groaned, unraveling her red scarf from around her neck, folding it neatly and setting it on her pillow. “If you two girlfriends push your beds together, I will not only kick your asses, but end you both.”
A devious glint flashed in Ymir’s warm, brown eyes. She grabbed Krista by the waist, pulling her into a deep, defiant kiss. Sasha gagged. Krista blabbered angered nonsense incessantly, complexion a deep red, before burying her head in her pillow.
“What,” Ymir teased. “You got a problem with two women being in a relationship?”
Sasha paled, recoiling slightly, before tossing a pillow in Ymir’s direction at full throttle. “Of course not! I really just don’t want to see or hear something I shouldn’t!”
“What if I did?” Mikasa deadpanned. “Joking. I’m just fucking with you.”
Sasha seemed to have missed the part of the conversation where everyone was playing around, because she once again came to her own defense. “If I had a problem, I would’ve done something about Winnigan making heart eyes at Annie every time she was within a half-mile radius of her!”
Winnigan felt her cheeks blush in a sudden heat. Sure, in passing, she had thought of Annie in that way. But the mission always came first, and Annie didn’t seem like the type to reciprocate. It didn’t take long to get over her miniscule crush, or at least that was what Winnigan thought.
“See?” Sasha shrieked desperately. “She’s not even denying it!”
Mikasa blew out the various candles in the barrack, picking Sasha’s pillow up from the edge of Ymir’s bed and throwing it into Sasha’s face with perfect accuracy. “Can it, Sasha,” Mikasa spat, climbing into bed. “We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”