hopeless | jean kirstein

3 | you owe me

Taryn woke up with a jolt at the sound of something crashing. Countless thoughts raced inside her head as she sat up, peeling the layers of blankets off of her. Did the Titans breach Wall Rose? Were we going to die?

She felt herself starting to panic. As she moved to climb off her bed, she looked down and found Sasha writhing on the floor, muttering things like 'meat' and 'gotta eat'. Turns out the girl was just having a nightmare and fell out of her bed in the process.

She let a sigh escape her lips in relief. Hopping out of the comfort of her mattress, she crouched down beside Sasha and started shaking her awake. "Sasha, you have to wake up now."

"Meat!" She wailed in response, though her eyes were still closed. Taryn moved to shake her again when someone suddenly spoke up from the corner of the room.

"Finally. You're awake." Came a voice. Startled, she turned and saw Mikasa coming out of the bathroom, already clad in a fresh pair of uniforms. She eyed her and Sasha before walking over to where they were located at.

"Oh, Mikasa, it's you." Taryn stood up, facing the girl. She looked around and saw that there was nobody here but them. She wondered where the other girls went. "Where are the others?"

"Gone." Mikasa replied, though her choice of words made Taryn feel uneasy. Mikasa must've sensed her discomfort as she quickly added to her statement. "They left to get breakfast."

Though they were about the same height, she couldn't help by feel intimidated by her as they maintained eye contact. What shocked Taryn the most though was the possibility that Mikasa had waited for her and Sasha to get up. Why the girl did so, she didn't know.

"Did you, uh—wait for us?" She managed to say, cringing at herself the moment the words left her lips. Stupid, just because she was the only one left doesn't mean she waited for you. She was just assuming things, and now the other's gonna think she's some egotistical bastard like Jean. "Sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"I did."

This made her stop in her tracks. "Why?"

"No reason."

Taryn blinked at her, attempting to figure the girl out. She didn't know why she was so tense around her for no reason. Maybe it was because she was intimidating, or maybe it was because Jean liked her and she wanted to make a good impression.

Even so, she found that Mikasa was actually quite nice, despite the cold and calm demeanor she had displayed last night.

They didn't say anything after that until Sasha grumbled in her sleep again, breaking the silence. "Meat...bread...meat..."

Her words caused Taryn to chuckle, and even a ghost of a smile could be seen on Mikasa's lips.

"You should get dressed. I'll wake her up." The other girl suggested.

Taryn sighed. "I've been shaking her awake for a while now and it didn't work. I doubt anything will wake her up if she managed to sleep through falling off her bed."

"I think I've got the solution," Kneeling on the other side of her, Mikasa pulled out a potato from somewhere and began dangling it in front of the sleeping female. As if sensing the food, Sasha's eyes immediately opened, her body jolting awake as she her hands frantically began waving around for the food.

She snatched the potato from Mikasa's hands and took a huge bite, only to spit it out a moment later. "It's raw!"

"There will be a lot of food at breakfast," Mikasa said, standing up and reminding the two girls before that they need to get going. "I'll be outside."