What Lies Beyond || AOT Boys x Reader

Chapter 22: Hearts Still Beating

AHHHHH IM SORRY FOR THIS CRAP AND HOW LATE THIS CHAPTER IS ALSO NEXT CHAPTER YOU'LL FIND OUT WHO BEAT UP FOSTER. Also do you guys like Foster? Should I keep him in the story?

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The Mess Hall was dark, darker than usual. Candles were scattered here and there on the worn tables, but the warm orange glow could not expel the gloomy shadow that hovered over each and every soldier that lingered here.

Everyone spoke in hushed whispers, afraid of speaking to loudly. Talia couldn't blame them. The wounds, mental and physical, were still too fresh to pretend they never happened.

Talia clenched her arm hard enough that she surely left bruises as she glared into the scratched wood of the table.

She felt sick to her stomach yet again after glancing over to her uneaten meal. Talia couldn't stomach anything lately, not after the Expedition. Not after what happened to you and her brother.

Though, she slept easier knowing that her brother only broke his collarbone and a couple of fingers. You however were a different story.

Talia remembered finding you, soaked in blood and barely breathing when the Survey Corps returned home. She was too shocked then to react as the famed Corporal and Eren Jaeger wheeled you off to some secluded area of the castle. And that was the last Talia saw of you; half dead and drenched in your own blood.

But now, now she was reacting. Every time she tried to choke down a spoonful of stew, flashes of you and the images of grinning titans flooded her mind. Talia couldn't escape it no matter how hard she tried.

It didn't help either when she found out exactly who caused your injury.

Foster Lyndon, the preppy boy from Stohess.

Now when she heard his name or caught a glimpse of his fiery red hair and freckled face, she had to resist the urge to punch his pretty white teeth down his throat. Although, it seemed like someone else beat her to it. And she had and inkling to who did it.

The said boy currently sat alone, at the end of Talia's table, picking at his stew with his spoon, eyes trained on his food. His tongue ran over the painful looking split in his lip and sighed deeply. A deep purple bruise circled his left eye and Talia would have felt bad for him if she could forgive him for what he did to you.

The red head must of felt Talia's hateful stare and glanced up at her. His lush green eyes shone with guilty tears then looked away from her, his brows furrowing.

Talia bit her lip, tasting the coppery taste of blood, and snatched her tray from the table. She couldn't bring herself to eat it anyway and Foster sparked her growing rage.

As she passed him, she stopped behind him, acidic words forming on her tongue.

"(F/n) should of let you die."

Foster cringed and curled further into himself. Oh, he knew that long before Talia and others hissed those words to him. He himself even began to believe it.

"Im sorry." Was all he could mumble in response as the blonde stated daggers into the back of his skull.

Talia huffed and stomped away, her boots clicking loudly on the stone. She dumped her tray and the ceramic utensils into the washing bin, causing a loud clang and left the spacious room without looking back.

Foster chewed his lip and sighed. He wished Talia would forgive him.

Never had he been this isolated from others before now, all because of a mistake he had no control over. It didn't seem to matter what actually happened- his black eye was evidence enough.