Friend or Foe... (AoT Reader Insert)

Chpt 25: Never Truly Gone

It took an entire day to clear out all of the Titans that had made their way into the Trost District. Cannon fire rang through the city for hours on end. Once there were no longer a large amount of Titans in the city, verteran soldiers were sent in to slay any lingering Titans.

While this wasn't something I'd call 'good news,' I had other things to be concerned about. More specifically-

"(Y/n), what happened to your eye?"

Christa gazed at me with concern. If I looked closely, I might've even seen a bit of curiosity.

"There's nothing to worry about," I smiled, "this is... actually something that happened to my father."

Christa tilted her head, "but it's... slightly lighter than before. Does it have something to do with genetics?"

"It's something like that..." I mumbled.

"What was that?" Ymir asked, propping her own head onto my own. She was strangely warm and I didn't feel the need to flinch at her contact. It was... familiar.

Regardless of the familiarity though I pulled away and smiled, "oh, yeah... it's probably genetics or something! I know a few people from my hometown that had this same... issue..."

"Are you sure about that?" Ymir asked, as her eyes narrowed in on me. There was a sudden coldness in her gaze that I hadn't seen in a long time. It was almost as if she were looking for something that she hadn't noticed before.

Was I being too obvious?

"Positive!" I answered, trying my best to smile.

There was a pause of silence.

Christa shifted her weight from either foot, her gaze cloudy as she looked between Ymir and I. She rubbed her hands together and swallowed deeply before opening her mouth slightly. She quickly closed it again though before she could say anything else.

"Is there something you want to ask, Christa?" I asked, turning my body slightly to face the small blonde.

"Oh!" She flushed, "well... I was just wondering, and you definitely don't have to answer this if you don't want to... but..." she paused as if pondering on if she were going to ask her question. "Does it hurt?"

"My eye?"

She nodded.

I gave her a practiced smile, "not one bit!"

"Are you sure?" She cautioned, her warm gaze not wavering for a moment.

"Of course! I hadn't even noticed that the colour of my eye had started to change until I saw my reflection in a window the other day!"

Ymir opened her mouth to say something in response but was cut off by the appearance of a certain shaved boy.

"(Y/n)!" Connie called from across the way, waving with a childlike joy. I smiled as he approached, but felt that smile wavier as the boy continued forward with no signs of slowing down.

In an unseen turn of events (though perhaps slightly predictable), Connie had somehow managed to trip over his own feet and tumbled into me.

I probably should have moved out of the way rather than holding my hands out to help him.

Any pain I felt upon impact disappeared almost immediately. It was only when I opened my eyes that I realised how close Connie's face really was to my own.

There was a certain look to the shaved boy... a cross between curiosity and awe, perhaps? In any case, there really wasn't much time to ponder on what the boy's expression might have meant. Not when it felt like every person in the courtyard was staring at us.