Year 850
—Continuation of Day 1—
The two, Connie and Hoshino just got out of the infirmary after a brief check up on their bruises and scars. Connie had his burn marks on his face patched up while Hoshino got her burn marks, wounds and bruises tended. But despite the amount of bandages she had, the nurse still said it wasn't serious and that she wouldn't die from it.
"By the way, where's your boyfriend? He dropped you off at the infirmary and then left in a hurry, saying that he needed to meet up with Reiner." Connie asked the girl while they walked towards where the soldiers were held "That guy's always busy huh?"
Hoshino smiled at his sentence, remembering all that he's done to her "Yeah, but he always makes up for it by always spending time with me in his free time." She told Connie while she looked at the ring on her finger that Bertholdt gave her, that made Connie silent.
Connie had realized how she loves Bertholdt, and how Bertholdt loves her. They've been together for almost two years now and it amazed him how their love lasted for that long, they really are perfect for each other.
Then suddenly, they saw Bertholdt and Shallie running over to them making them stop their tracks and as soon as Bertholdt got to them, he immediately bent down, resting his hand on his knees, he had a very anxious face making Hoshino hold his shoulder, consulting him as he tried to catch his breath.
"Your titan sized boyfriend couldn't sit still knowing that you're at the infirmary. So I accompanied him here, we had to escape Reiner and Annie." Shallie said accompanied with a laugh as Bertholdt slightly calmed down, regaining his composure.
He held his girlfriend's shoulders "So what did the nurse say? Is it something serious?! A head concussion?! Memory loss?! Do you still know me?!" He asked and asked in panic in which Hoshino laughed making him look at her in confusion.
"Calm down, Bertholdt. It wasn't that serious... I'm just having trouble walking."
The three laughed at the tall one as they walked back towards the wall where the soldiers were, it seems like the generals were holding a meeting to take back Trost by attempting to seal the wall with a giant boulder. This shocked the three while Shallie was as always not paying attention, Hoshino took notice of it and turns out she was zoning out with a rather stoic look.
"Look, there she is again." Connie stated as he noticed Shallie's behaviour "She always zones out since our training days, I caught her zoning out in the middle of the fight also." The boy said which shocked the two "She almost got caught by a titan, Jean tried to save her but she suddenly acted by instincts and sliced the titan's fingers. Then we went to check up on her and turns out she was still out of it."
What Connie said brought questions, concern and suspicions from both Hoshino and Bertholdt. Hoshino stared at Shallie with a worried look, she didn't know much about her life but she knew she was bothered by something and she's determined to get to know her friend better so she could help her with anything that's bothering her in any way.
Bertholdt then wrapped his arm around Hoshino's shoulders as he pulled her closer to her which made the girl look up at him, he just smiled reassuringly making his girlfriend smile as well.
"Alright, let's go prepare our gear then!" Shallie who seemed to be back from zoning out suddenly exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Connie's neck and pulling him with her to the others "Oh, there's Marco. Marco! I've missed you! Stay with me in battle okay?!"
The freckled boy hid his flustered face shyly "Shallie, why would you say that in public?!"
"SINCE WHEN DID YOU TWO BECAME LOVEBIRDS?!" Jean asked furiously making Marco wave his hands around in front of his face defensively.
Marco's face stayed red "We're not dating or anything! We're just close friends!" The boy shyly stated.
Hoshino laughed as she watched her friends goof around with each other "To think that Shallie and Marco would be silently talking to each other in secret." She told Bertholdt in which he also laughed "And I actually thought she liked Eren before."
———
The operation to retake Trost district has started but due to the fact that Hoshino has slight injuries, she was assigned to the decoy unit along with her other friends except Mikasa who joined the elite unit protecting Eren. The decoy team has lured the titans towards the wall successfully, losing twenty percent of their troops by doing so. This fact devastated the trainees including Hoshino who didn't like the sight of the soldiers coming back up the wall with their limbs missing.
By the time they saw a red smoke that got shot up by the elite team, people started panicking thinking that their friends had died for nothing. Hoshino looked devastated while hearing those words from the soldiers, but then she felt an arm around her shoulders making her look up beside her and it was Bertholdt, trying to consult her. She just gave him a reassuring smile before leaning her head on his chest.
It was a matter of minutes before they started seeing the giant boulder getting lifted up and carried towards the gaping hole of the gate, no mistake it was Eren in his titan form that's doing it. As Shallie saw this sight, she immediately jumped down the wall and flew over to Eren. Jean who tried to stop her also went after her along with Connie and Marco.
Shallie flew at high speed, taking most of her gas away but a decent amount of it was left which was enough for her to slice the titans that were near Eren and those that are lured away by the elite team.
Jean, Connie and Marco stared at the girl who's currently slicing the titans left and right "Look at her go..." Jean mumbled with impress in his voice "She's amazing..."
Marco gave Jean a look before turning his attention back at Shallie "She would be one of the best like Hoshino and Mikasa if it weren't for her random zoning out episodes."
After Eren sealed the border off, two other titans that managed to slip past Shallie's eyes have reached Eren and the other two, she tried to fly back towards them but that was where her gas ran out which made her fall but Jean managed to jump down, flying towards her and caught her on time. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, protecting her as they went stumbling on the floor and ended up in an awkward position.
Shallie opened her eyes to find herself still in Jean's arms, he slowly loosened it up making her lean back a little and saw him lying on the floor below her. His hand on her waist and in the back of her head, and Shallie just sitting on top of him.
"Hey there's no time for that you know!" Connie shouted from the top of the house but one thing that Shallie noticed was Marco was nowhere to be seen.
She immediately stood up, roaming her eyes around the place, looking for Marco before looking back at Connie "Connie! Where's Marco?!"
"He probably went back towards the wall! In any case we need to get back! It seems like the situation's been taken care of!" He shouted at the two before jumping off the house and flew towards the wall with his Vertical Maneuver, leaving Jean and Shallie.
The boy walked towards the girl and held her shoulder "Shallie, come on." Jean called the blonde girl in which she looked at him and nodded before wrapping her arms around his neck as a support "Hold on tight, don't fall okay?" He told her, grabbing her waist and then flew using the Vertical Maneuver along with Shallie clinging on him.
—Day 2—
The Trost district has been sealed off, earning the first victory of humanity against the titans. The cleanup took a whole day with the help of the Survey Corps, and so the trainees have been assigned to join the clean up unit to dispose of the corpses.
Hoshino's injuries have been healed and she was assigned to join the clean up unit, she hated seeing corpses more than anybody else but she focused on finishing the job and getting out of that hell hole as soon as possible. She carried a sack of torn limbs with Connie and handed it to Mikasa who loaded it to the carriage "That's about it in this part. I'll go check on Jean and the others." She told them before walking towards the part of the town where the others are assigned. As she turned to a corner she saw Jean and Shallie staring down at a corpse making her confused so she walked towards them "What are you guys doing? Let's hurry up or they're going to start lecturing us again..." She said, standing between the two as she peeks at the corpse on the ground. Her eyes widened in terror, recognizing the dead body "Marco...?"
The traumatic memories started coming back to her again, she's experienced this feeling before, her brother promised her that she won't experience it again but here she is, staring at her friend's corpse with a blank expression. She was unsure how to react, is she sad? Is she terrified? Is she scared? Angry? Of course she didn't know. This has happened for the second time now and still she can't express her mixed emotions in that exact situation.
Bertholdt who was looking for his girlfriend then came, witnessing the corpse that's on the floor. He stared at it wide eyed before turning his look at his girlfriend who's currently out of it, re-experiencing her trauma. That sight of his girlfriend haunted him, it filled him with guilt making him grab her hand and pull her in his arms so she wouldn't have to witness that sight anymore.
Shallie on the other hand crouched down to the level of the corpse before slowly reaching her hand to touch Marco's left face. It was seconds before she gasped and backed away from the corpse making her fall back on the ground, clutching on her head as she winced in pain, this alerted Jean making him crouch down also to consult the blonde girl "Shallie–! You okay? What's wrong?"
She stayed silent, not answering Jean. She then slowly turned her look up at Bertholdt with her horrified look.