ɪɴᴛᴇɴꜱɪᴛʏ [ᴇᴅɪᴛɪɴɢ]

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜɪʀᴛʏ-ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴ

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"She asks me "What have I become?", and I'm looking at her like I know this one."

——————

Like I had said before, for the past 4 years, I haven't visited Annie's crystal at all.

I just couldn't bring myself to.

But as I stood outside Cellar 0 that held Annie Leonhart, I knew that to overcome this hurdle, I'd have to visit her.

I opened the door, instantly receiving a wave of deja vu from when I was last here all those years ago.

My eyes were instantly met with her crystallised form and I walked in.

"Long time, no see. Feels like ages since I've seen you." A familiar voice called from behind me.

I turned my gaze slowly to Hitch, who was stood in the corner with a newspaper in her grasp.

"Hitch. Hey." I waved slightly, causing the girl to scoff and approach me. She wrapped her arms around my slightly taller frame and hugged me.

"I've missed you, your grace." She mocked.

Hitch and I have become quite decently acquainted. She's a nice girl.

"So, what brings you here?" She stood back, a hand on her hip as she gazed at Annie's crystal.

I just watched her and spoke.

"Pretty self explanatory, don't you think?" I joked stoically, also fixating my gaze on Annie.

She was the same as she was all those years ago.

"Yeah, yeah. You can't blame me for forgetting you two were best friends. It was so long ago. I was rather surprised too when I found out that such a big shot like you was friends with someone as aloof as her. Everyone in the military knew you as the woman who had killed 30 Titans in the span of two hours in the Battle for Trost." She indirectly congratulated me, causing me to hum.

"Not anymore. She isn't my friend now." I sighed, not even sure as to how I was even feeling anymore.

Did I really hate her, or was I just forcing myself to?

"Keep telling yourself that." Hitch hummed, walking to the exit.

"I'll be out here giving you privacy or something. Make sure you visit me more frequently too!" Hitch called with a wave, shutting the oak door behind her.