the hilt | eren jaeger

o n e - E.J.

I grabbed a tray of food, and sat far away from everyone. 

They had all annoyed me today anyways. 

The bitterness was pooling inside of me, and I absentmindedly let out a huff mixed with rage and relief.

"Ignoring them does you no good, you know that right?" A voice from behind me stated, in a calm, hushed tone.

I turned around to see a tall girl, a confident smirk placed upon her lips. 

She had to have been the one I ran into earlier, but this was my first time truly getting a look at her.

She had dark hair, along with dim eyes that showed absolutely no emotion, yet she still seemed to look sad. There was a thin scar that ran from her forehead, through her eyebrow, and down to her cheek, appearing as though it had been the result of a knife, cutting her with precision. The eye still had vision, but she was just intimidating.

It seemed like there had been a grave toll on her, one that nobody would find unless she wanted it to be discovered. 

She emitted a strong aura, and it was clear that she was not someone to mess around with. Trust, damage, they were two sides of the same coin for her, one I did not want to flip.

"What's it to you, you don't know anything about me," I retorted, not wanting to put up with any more entitled crap. 

She sat down beside me and sighed, a bored look on her face, "Eren Jaeger. Used to live in the Shiganshina District. Destined to prove that titans are beatable; destined to prove that you can make a difference in this world to make up for the fact that you couldn't save someone you loved."

She let out a breathy, sarcastic chuckle, then continued, "And worst of all, you take your anger out on other people rather than working it through by yourself. Armin and Mikasa aren't at fault here, and you know that."

I looked at her in annoyance, "I don't even know you. If you want to keep reciting all this bullshit about me like you know me, go ahead, but I'm not listening unless I think your words have any value."

"I had a feeling you'd say something like that," a slow smile creeping across her face, her lids heavy in the dimly lit room, "I'm Josephine Denman. I'm from the Haikyo district in Wall Maria."

I turned to her, shock apparent on my face.

"Did you- Did you see them that day?" I asked, quietly.

"I have my own terrors to worry about, and you have yours."

I slammed my hands on the table, causing the dining hall to momentarily go silent, before hushed chatters resumed. "Answer the damn question, Josephine," I seethed out of my barred teeth. 

"Whether I understand the grandeur of the world or not, doesn't change the fact that we are sitting in the same dining hall right now, eating the same food, training to be the same mindless soldiers who will die upon command. We are no different." She sighed out, not bothered by the harsh demeanor of her words. Her fingers began to lightly swirl about the brim of her cup, tracing thin circles as she unwaveringly stared into it.

"We're not the same, hell we're nothing alike!" I grunted out.

"Complacency gets you nowhere, Eren." She stated, as she rubbed her temple with her hand, "If you let your drive to 'fix' the world go unchecked, you'll just remain the same mindless sheep you hate to be."

"You're probably just some MP fool, driven by the greed to let others die for your comfort," I asserted, crossing my arms.

She laughed a bit, "I don't like the MP's, I never have, and I never will. Their only purpose is to protect those that need no protection. They're all useless. Even they don't utilize the threshold of their potential, of their abilities; no matter how diminishingly low that potential may be."