Choices

Chapter 28

      Eren layed in the bed later that night, he had suffered from severe exhaustion after Titan shifting. They all now knew that the way to activate the power was in his arm. So what? She had to chop it off to figure it out. And to him, the pain wasn't worth it.
     But his mind was onto the events earlier on in the evening. Four girls. Four girls. Proclaimed their for him. It sent chills down his back. Sure he had feelings for them one timw or another, especially Petra. After all that they had been through. He smiled at the thought.
     Sasha, Krista, Mikasa, and Petra. They all loved him. It would be hard to love Mikasa that way. She was his sister, and he loved her. But he would learn, she had been through to much for him to let her down now. She had helped him too much. He would make himself love her.
      Krista was another story. He loved her. With all of his heart. She was so cute and sweet. She had always been nice to him. The way she was. She was so... perfect. In every way. Her long blonde hair, her height. He laughed at how tall she was. Levi had an inch or two on her.
     Sasha. Sasha was possibly the person he worried about most. She still wasn't exactly healthy. Her weight. She was no more than eighty pounds. Maybe seventy. He hated it. She had been starving before training because of the fall of Maria. Land had been cleared out because farmland was gone. Hunting couldn't live off of hunting anymore.
     And all four of them loved him. He would learn to love them back. But he would rather people not know about him being with them. Keeping it a secret, at least at first, seemed best.
     He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
     ------
     Eren awoke to the cheerful voice of Krista Lenz. He squinted and sat up. The room was still dark and cold. When he looked aout the window the sun wasn't even up yet.
     "Good morning Eren!" She cheered.
     "More like godnight," he muttered, rubbing his eyes.
     "Ha ha," she laughed back sarcastically.
     "It's like three in the mornig Krista,"
     "I know but I figured you'd want up early," she replied, stroking her hair with both hands.
     "Not really," she sat down in the chair next to his bed.
     "Well, too bad,"her cheerful voice was obviously forced.
     He closed his eyes starting to doze off.
     "No you don't!" She exclaimed happily and slapped his head.
     "Damn!" He grunted, her slap hurt.
     "What got stuck up your ass?!" He asked.
     "Nothing yet," she said quietly to herself.
     "What?" His eyes widened.
     "Nothing," she quickly blubbered.
     "Okay," he dismissed it quickly, hoping to move on from the situation.
     "Anyway, I was hoping to talk for a while," she said.
     ''About what?" His voice was uneasy.
     "Us," she replies.
     "What about us?" He asks.
     "How will we make it work out?" She asked worriedly.
     "We'll have too," he sighed out.
     "No we don't, we can be together Eren," she proposed.
     "That wouldn't be right," was his answer.
     "So what?" Shs asked, her voice raising slightly.
     "This isn't like you Krista," Eren was becoming confused.
     "Because this isn't Krista! It's Hist-" she slapped a hand over her mouth.
     "What?" He sat up.
     "Nothing," she muttered. Leaving the room.
      "But You'rw right, it would be wrong to do that," she sighed put as she left.
     "That was weird," he muttered, laying back down.
     What the hell was that about? He wondered. She just walked in and spoke for three minutes then left. He was kind of annoyed that she woke him up in the middle of the night. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
------
     Training started, and Erwin wasn't going easy on him. Eren had already run twenty five laps and he knew that he had at least twenty five more. Erwin gave him hateful looks. And the commander had good reason. One of his soldiers nearly killed his second in command.
      The truth was that the blonde had let him off easy. Eren was lucky that he wasn't charged with treason and beheaded or hanged. Very lucky indeed. But then again the ability to shift into a Titan wasn't exactly common, so that was probably the only reason.
     Lap twenty six just passed, and he saw the other soldiers finish their twenty five. But he knew better than to stop running. Jean smirked at him. Asshole. Eren thought. Although he was in debt to Jean sadly, so he didn't do anything back.
     "ODM gear! Now!" Erwin thundered out. Everyone else hurried to go get their gear on.
     "Eren get over here!" Erwin roared out. Eren ran to him, panting when he gpt there.
     "Yes sir?" Eren asked between pants.
     "Have you learned your lesson?" Erwin asked him.
     Eren thought about it. Had he? He had served Levi what he deserved. And he would do it again if needed. In truth he hadn't, and he would tell that truth.
     "No," Eren told him.
     And then Erwin did something he never expected. Something he had never seen the son of a bitch do. Somwthing he had even seen Levi do a time or two. Commander Erwin Smith smiled. It stretched to each side of his face, his eyes brightened.
     "Well then," Erwin chuckled. "Run till sunset, and back up at the crack of dawn to run some more," Erwin walked to give the other soldiers commands.
     Eren did run until sun down. And he ran till sun down the next day too. And the day fter that, he got to train with the others. Of course it was hard to stay caught up with due to his sore legs, but he managed to stay ahead of  most during ODM training.
      -----
      Eren ate dinner next to Armin, hoping to talk with him. It had been a while since they had talked and he wanted to.
      "It's a shame Annie joined the Military Police," Armin sighed.
      "Why?" Eren asked him.
      "Well she was really interesting and... cute," he muttered the last part.
      Eren teased him for that one. But eventually the conversation got more serious.
      "But I don't understand why she used Marco's gear during inspection," Armin wondered.
      "She did?" Eren asked. Confused.
      "Yeah, and it was the inspection because Hanji's pet Titans were killed," Armin's brain was turning.
      "Maybe she killed them," Eren growled.
      "That's what I was thinking. She obviously didn't want to be caught,"
      "And word is from Dok is that she was conveniently missing when the abnormal Female Titan showed up," Armin added.
      "Well I'll see you Armin, I'm gonna head out to the latrine and then to bed," Eren patted him on the back, passing Wheelchair Levi on the way.
      "Later,'' Armin called out.
      Eren left the Dining area and headed to release his bladder. And he almost released it when Sasha was suddenly right next to him. He jumped and shouted.
      "Hey Eren!" She startled him.
      "Gah!" He twisted his body away from her.
      "Did I frighten you?" She asked. Leaning closer.
      "Yes!" He confirmed.
      "Sorry," she giggled.
      Suddenly she was kissing him, deeply. He was used to this, so he returned it for once. After she was his girfriend right? So was Krista, Petra, and Mikasa.
      They were like that for several minutes, until eventually they broke for air.
      "Thanks!" Sasha skipped away.
      "Why can't they all be like that?" He muttered to himself, heading for the latrine.
       -----
      "It has to be Annie Leonhardt," Hanji staed, smlamming her hand down on the table.
      Erwin Smith, and Levi Ackerman, sat on wither side while Hanji stood between them.
      "She used a different soldier's ODM gear, and she was significantly missing during both encounters!" Hanji shouted.
     "I'll have Dok set up an investigation and see how far we get," Erwin sighed.
     "That's not enough damn it!" She roared. Then jumped quickly out of the window.
      -----