#wanna guess where the nostalgia train stopped today? :D

[all-my-ocs-are-evil]

Half-Baked

I'm finally learning to use Clip for what is was made to do! Please do forgive the really rough colours and panels. Still trying to straighten out a few kinks ;^^

And of course my title seems to have affected my fanart and made Li a tad more aggressive than usual;^^

[ichigopanhpff]

BNHA Fic: Blink! Ch. 4

Read Ch. 3 | Masterlist

This part takes place near the end of season 3 in the anime. Once we start getting into spoiler territory in the manga (since s4 isn’t out until October), I’ll put a nice warning :D

--

“Whoa, Ren-Ren. You look tense?” Seri pointed out.

“Do I?” she replied with clenched teeth. Her back was slumped over and her hands were balled up in fists. From an outsider’s point of view, she looked like she was looking for a fight.

The two walked with the masses for the opening ceremony. Tomoe’s voice could be heard not too far back from them.

“Hey, I was calling and—Whoa.”

Tomoe was taken aback by the look on Ren’s face. A light outline of dark circles could be seen under her puffy lower lids.

“Did somethin’ happen?” she asked with a tone of concern.

“Rumor mill says two students from 1-A got into a fight last night,” Ito caught up to their pace and interjected.

“Goddamn it, Ito. You jinxed me,” she huffed out.

“Hey, not my fault the first years hero’s course are so unruly,” the boy swiftly replied in an uppity manner. “And weren’t you supposed to rope them in when stuff like this happens? Some R.A. you–”

She immediately turned around and swiftly grabbed a fistful of Ito’s shirt by the collar. At this point, she was glaring at him with the intent to knock him out cold.

“If you wanna keep your tongue, I suggest you stop using it,” she growled out in a low voice and released him with a shove of her hand before walking away.

“It’s been a while since she’s been in this bad of a mood, huh,” Tomoe noted to Seri, watching their friend walk on ahead by herself.

As the opening ceremony went on, Principal Nezu briefly mentioned the recent change in the hero world with All-Might’s retirement and the elective hero internship before giving the mic to Hound dog-sensei. All he could get out were guttural growls and howls, to which Vlad-sensei had to translate; as expected, it was about Midoriya and Bakugou’s fight last night.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Ren face palmed with eyes on both her and class 1-A. But in reality, it’s not herself or the class she’s worried about, it’s him.

Filing back into their respective classroom, the day went by as usual. When lunch break came about, she told her friends to go on without her. She wanted to be alone for a bit.

“You lookin’ glum there, Ren-chan.”

The girl turned to see a boy’s face phased on the wall. She could only stare at him blankly.

“Mirio-senpai...” she tiredly greeted. “What are you doing?”

“Practicing my walls have eyes joke. Is it working?” the boy happily replied.

“… Not really.”

Mirio’s face disappeared off of the wall and fully reemerged from the classroom through the door to the far right.

“Aw, man!” he sheepishly laughed aloud and came up to her. “Guess I gotta try harder.”

“It’s rare of you to be so free,” Ren casually brought up and placed her hands on her hips. “Don’t you have your internship today?”

“Sir told me to take a day off and go back tomorrow. It is my last year here, so I wanna make the best of it!” Mirio responded and casually flexed his right arm. “So why are you so glum?”

“I’m not.”

The tall blond boy bent down and started poking her on the cheek like a child.

“Yes you are. You’re not smiling.”

“I had a long night, is all,” Ren blurted out from annoyance, trying to swat his finger away in failure.

“Ah I heard you’re an R.A. for the first years’ hero course now,” he suddenly remembered and stopped poking her. “The two underclassmen who got into a fight were yours?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Are they strong?”

Ren took in a breath to answer and paused. Her eyes slowly traveled up to Mirio’s usual unsuspecting happy and confident grin, catching onto his real intentions with that question. Her eyebrows immediately raised with suspicion.

“Mirio-senpai. No.”

“What?” he asked innocently.

“I mean it.” She warned again and emphasized it with a pointing finger. “Don’t.”

“I just wanna get to know them.”

“No.”

“But–”

“They’re not on campus, so you can’t see them anyway,” she blurted out to get him to stop talking.

“So that means they’re at the dorms,” he concluded with his trademark smile. “Okay, bye!”

Before she could stop the phasing senior, he ran down the hallway and turned the corner. She growled and gripped her hands to her hair out of frustration and yelled in English, “What the fuck is wrong with everyone today?!”

All could be heard were the dropping of some books further down the hall. Ren slowly turned to meet the shocked face of Present Mic.

“Ah! … S-Sorry, Mic-sensei,” she meekly apologized in Japanese.

“Holy… shit,” was all U.A.’s English teacher could say.

Never in her life had she felt so physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted. The moment class finished for the day, her entire form slumped over her desk. If she had the energy, she would teleport back to the dorms. She was just tired of everything and wanted to curl up in her bed. Heaving a drawn-out sigh, her classmates surrounding her slowly teetered away.

“Rough day for you,” Seri hushed out sympathetically and patted her elbow.

All Ren could do was sigh again. There were literally no words that could be said to comfort her. Dragging her sorry state off her desk, all she muttered out was, “I’m going to the library to study...”

“Damn…” Tomoe let slip. “She really is going through it.”

She could’ve gone back to the dorms and locked herself into her room to do work, but she knew herself best: no work would be done at all, knowing the two delinquents were there. En route to the building, a familiar man’s silhouette wearing a wraparound gray scarf around his upper body could be seen walking toward her.

“Takahiro, just the person I was looking for,” Aizawa greeted. “Come with me for a sec.”

Letting out a heavy breath through her nose, she knew she had no choice in the matter. The two spoke of nothing en route to his office; Ren knew what they were about to discuss isn’t for anyone else to hear. It was also one thing 1-A’s homeroom teacher appreciated her discreet nature. Naturally entering the now empty 1-A classroom, the door silently slid close by the teacher. The girl looked around with a small sense of nostalgia.

“Oh you replaced that seat back there,” Ren noted. “I remember when it got scorched by Hideyuki’s quirk.”

“Right, that happened...” Aizawa recalled, scratching this scruffy chin. “You already know what I want to talk about.”

“Bakugou and Midoriya’s fight at Ground Beta.”

“Can I ask where you were when it happened?”

Not wanting to lie to someone who trusts her, Ren told the truth on her whereabouts last night and summarized it for him.

“This could’ve been done within the dorms. So why didn’t you?” the brooding man asked, clearly annoyed.

“While that’s true, there was something there I needed to show Todoroki for perspective and to help better guide his way to being the hero he wants to be,” she defended.

Aizawa heavily sighed and scratched the back of his head, looking at his former student. Knowing vaguely of Todoroki’s hang-ups about his left side, he could give little sympathy for the road she took to resolve his problems. Quietly analyzing Ren, she looked like she barely had any sleep, obviously stressed about the whole situation with Midoriya and Bakugou. She was the type to take her responsibilities seriously.

As temperamental as she was today, judging by her friends and classmates reactions, he could only assume one thing on what she’s feeling: guilt.

“While I understand your frustration in not being able to help, I hope you won’t do something like this again,” he sighed. “The responsible parties already have their punishments and they’re reflecting on it. And honestly, I don’t think you could’ve done much either without taking down Bakugou.”

“His quirk is exceptionally powerful based on the videos I’ve seen from the Sports Festival. But if he is to be an efficient and reliable hero in the future, he needs to keep his temper and ego in check.”

Ren sighed heavily and threw her head back in exhaustion.

“Is this why you picked me to be their R.A., sensei?” she blurted out. “Other than making me confront close-range fighters to improve my offense?”

“That’s what you thought?” he answered with a tone of surprise. “Well… you’re not completely wrong.  The way you strategize fights can help the first years develop their quirks and abilities way beyond what they are now. And to improve your own fighting skills.”

“You think my current style isn’t suitable,” she assumed. “You having Snipe-sensei keep tabs on me?”

“It’s incomplete,” Aizawa corrected. “You’re only using the long range fighting you’re so used to doing. It makes you predictable. You’re copying Togata.”

“It’s only natural since we trained together last year.”

“But the difference is he’s physically stronger to pull off the execution; you let too many chances slip by playing the long game,” Aizawa argued. “It may work as a defensive tactic for rescue missions, but–”

“Depending on the situation, that’ll end up being my disadvantage with a villain,” Ren concluded. “Fair point.”

“Just keep that in mind when you have your next practical. You’re dismissed.”

As Ren grabbed her bag to head out, the black-haired teacher called for her once more.

“If you’re gonna go to your spot, at least do it during school hours. Otherwise, I’ll have to put you on house arrest too.”

“Yes sir,” she sighed and closed the door behind her.

What a day.

–

Three days passed since Beta-gate, as majority of U.A. students dubbed it, Midoriya was now a free boy. During that entire time, he had been lifting weights to keep his body in shape for One For All while fulfilling his cleaning duties and thinking about his written apology to Aizawa-sensei. But what went through his head on repeat were Ren-senpai’s words.

“You’re the ones who have to earn back their trust.”

Those words were like a dagger to his heart. Not only did he and Kacchan act selfishly, they basically threw everyone’s trust out the window. He realized just because he got a little better at controlling One For All, it didn’t mean he could get overconfident about it. It’s a borrowed power, after all. And it’s not like he’s gotten a full understanding of it yet either. He’s still in the midst of his second step. Not only did he need to get physically stronger, his emotional and mental state needed to evolve with it. And he was going to start with putting his all with his fellow classmates.

While he thought today was going to be another day of school, 1-A got the pleasant surprise of being greeted by the Big Three. Ren nearly choked on her lunch when she caught wind of it. As if by instinct, she looked up to see the defeated and sullen faces of the first years filing into the cafeteria.

Abandoning what’s left of her food, she jumped out from her seat and ran out, her friends calling after her. It didn’t take her long to find the Big Three sauntering down the hallway.

She immediately teleported from her spot and launched a surprise air attack at Mirio, her fist ready to connect to his face. Being the way he is, he caught it just in time as he was saying hi to someone else and then turned around to see a disgruntled pink haired girl dangling from his grip. She looked like a rag doll being held by a limb.

Hadou bursted out belly laughing; Amajiki simply stood stationary and face palmed.

“Did you see that?! Did you see that?!” she cried aloud in between her laughter, smacking Togata’s bicep in the process. “She was gonna punch you and you just took her down instantly!”

“You should’ve known this would happen, Takahiro,” Amajiki blurted out, staring at your vulnerable form. “His sixth sense is monstrous.”

“Hello, Tamaki-senpai. Nejire-senpai,” Ren flatly greeted, still soaking in the flavor of defeat while swinging loosely from Mirio’s grip. “You guys look well.”

“Ah, Ren-chan.” The tall blond boy lifted his arm up so he was face to face with her. “Why were you gonna punch me?”

The vicinity of his face was so close to hers, she couldn’t help but let out a light blush with widened eyes.

“Probably because you beat up the class she’s in charge of,” Nejire deduced. “And she wanted to ask you why you didn’t hold back.”

“Took the words right outta my mouth as usual, Nejire-senpai,” the hanging girl agreed. “Mirio-senpai, if you wouldn’t mind, I’m losing circulation to my arm...”

“Oh! Sorry, sorry.”

Mirio chuckled and set his small underclassman back down on the floor. Rubbing her right shoulder to regain mobility in her arm again, she looked away with a look of grimace. “And to answer your question, I was holding back. No one was unconscious.”

She tried forming words, but none seemed to have come out with the way her mouth was moving. The fact that he used ‘no one was unconscious’ to defend his actions was okay? In a normal situation, that wouldn’t fly. But this was Togata Mirio we’re talking about here. The man who can be the next number one hero.

And the only thing she managed to get out was, “So, why were you guys even at 1-A today?”

“They wanted us to explain the hero internship to them,” the tall boy responded. “Even though it’s not required for them to take it. You’ve got a lively bunch to take care of this year, don’tcha Ren-chan?”

“That’s putting it lightly,” she sighed heavily and put her palm to her face. Her expression right now made her look more like Amajiki.

“Hey, hey. Have you applied to any agencies yet, Ren-Ren?” Nejire asked in her usual perky manner. “If you haven’t, you can always come to mine! I can put in a good word for you.”

She shook her head.

“I wanna make my quirk stronger first before I apply,” she solemnly answered. “I’m no good the way I am right now.”

“Ren-chan, you should still apply,” Mirio firmly stated, making her look up at him. “The practical experience you get is how you’ll get stronger.”

“I haven’t even nailed down a good offensive style and–”

“Are those just excuses you’re making for yourself?”

His honest but harsh statement jolted her head up to meet his blue eyes. Togata Mirio’s determination and resolve always got to Ren. It was also those qualities of his that made him admirable in the eyes of his peers and pro-heroes; she was no exception to that charisma. All she could do is stay silent.

“You’re more than good enough. So why are you holding yourself back?” he gently asked and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re strong or weak.”

“You can’t be a hero in-training forever and hesitate, Takahiro,” Amajiki added bluntly. “Doing that in the field means death. You of all people should know that.”

“Tamaki, that’s going too far,” Mirio pointed out and turned back to her. “But you know he’s right, don’t you?”

All she could do was nod, staring down at the floor and trying not to cry.

“The truth is, I’m scared...” She slowly brought her arms up to hug herself, her shoulders shaking from what she’s about to say. “Scared of what I’ll do when I find him. I… I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself.”

The three could only look at their junior, trying to find anything to say that’d be helpful. All Ren could do was let out a wry chuckle.

“I came here to punch Mirio-senpai and I get a lecture from the Big Three,” she sniffled and wiped away the crocodile tears before facing them again with a lopsided smile. “Looks like I still got some growing up to do. And I’ll take some time this week to look into some agencies to apply.”

The school bell chimed to indicate lunch was almost over.

“Ah, crap! I held you guys up! And I left my bag with Seri and Tomoe! Gotta go!”

As their junior ran off, Mirio couldn’t help but wonder: what did she mean by ‘controlling herself’?

–

“So I heard you guys met the Big Three today,” Ren casually brought up at dinner time. Tonight’s menu was oyakodon* and miso soup.

“We totally got our asses handed to us,” Kirishima groaned out and winced at the lingering pain on his torso from being punched by Togata. “It was so lame.”

“None of us could even react,” Tokoyami added with a sense of defeat. “We all went down before we knew it.”

“No one except Midoriya,” Todoroki commented and took a bite of his food.

“Seriously?! No way!” Sero exclaimed.

The hetero-chromatic boy turned to their R.A. and asked, “Have you fought any of the Big Three before, Ren-senpai?”

“Well...” she hesitated and swirled her soup with her chopsticks. “Define ‘fight.’”

“When two or more people engage in a physical altercation caused by–”

“I-I was kidding, Todo-kun,” Ren immediately stopped him. “I was being facetious.”

“Oh.”

“’Todo-kun’?” Ashido pointed out with a sly grin, nudging her with her elbow. “Aren’t you two getting cozy?”

“Anyway, back to your question,” Ren ignored the pink girl’s comment and turned back to Todoroki, to which she got annoyed at and fumed. “I technically did.”

“Technically?” Midoriya’s ears perked up. “What do you mean?”

She let out long breath and knew she had no other way in explaining this.

“So Mirio-senpai has this habit of only phasing parts of his body through a surface,” she began. “When he was practicing his quirk to get better at it, he started with his face.”

Midoriya’s face suddenly grimaced, remembering he did the same thing to him a few days ago when he was taking out the garbage.

“I was walking down the hallway one day and he did that to me as I was passing. For some reason, he thought saying hi like that would be fine. And he did...To my right fist...On his face. And I kinda, sorta ended up giving him a black eye he had to nurse for three days.”

Iida, Ochaco and Midoriya faces drained of blood and could respond with a look of horror, mouths ajar and all; Todoroki remained stoic upon the reveal.

“Just how hard did you hit?” the green haired boy blurted out.

“It was a ‘scared to death plus adrenaline pumping in my body’ strength, so… pretty hard.”

Between the four of them at the table, she was sure they made a mental note to not scare their R.A. As dinner ended and everyone cleaned up after themselves, Ren suddenly remembered something.

“Ah, Todoroki-kun, Bakugou-kun,” she called out, prompting the two boys to turn their heads. “Come by my room in half an hour.”

“Why do I haveta go with this half-and-half bastard?” the ash blond boy barked out.

“It’s about your provisional lessons, so please kindly tolerate his presence,” Ren replied with an acidic saccharine tone and a matching smile. “Unless you don’t wanna be heroes, that’s fine too.”

“Whatever,” Bakugou scoffed and made his way back to his room.

With the day winding down, the R.A. sat at her desk, struggling with her Hero Law homework. No matter how many times she’s read the same passage, she couldn’t come up with a concrete way to explain the clause about full-fledged heroes turning vigilante. There were just too many loopholes!

Last time she turned in her assignment about the general dos and do nots of a hero within the word of law, she got chewed out for being too far-fetched with her theory of ‘in the event police are indisposed, the hero can take the law into their own hands and deliver justice.’

Groaning, Ren slumped over her desk and bumped her forehead at the edge of it. A soft rap at the door roused her back up and looked at her clock; it was time for the meeting. Prompting the person to enter, the door opened to show both boys showed up on time. This was the first time Bakugou had seen her room, second for Todoroki.

It was dimly lit with smaller and softer lights glowing from her desk and the shelf by her bed. Piles of school books stacked neatly on her desk with an open notebook with scribbled notes. Floating wooden shelves hung above her desk, holding random figurines, photos and books. Soft instrumental music could be heard playing from the laptop perched on top of an aluminum stand. A small, collapsible floor table separated the three.

She stood from her seat and turned on the main light with a pulling line. The ceiling lamp flickered on, making her eyes flinch from the sudden onslaught of brightness to her orbs and blinked a few times to readjust. Prompting the two boys to sit on the floor, she turned the music off and grabbed some papers from her desk before sitting down across from them.

“Aizawa-sensei gave me a copy of your evaluations from the exam,” she stated. “I’m not gonna repeat what’s already been said, so I want you two to tell me what you think you did right and wrong on and what you plan to do to improve on your shortcomings.”

Todoroki looked pensive while Bakugou had his arms cross, looking agitated as usual. The silence was thick and super uncomfortable.

“O...kay, I guess we’ll do this the hard way,” she sighed. “Bakugou-kun, you had zero compassion during the rescue phase of the test. Not only did you not reassure victims, your aggression towards them was what led you to failing. I get all you wanna do is blow shit up and beat up villains, but there’s a time and place for that.”

“That phase was fuckin’ garbage!” he huffed out and slammed his fist on the table. “If it weren’t for that, I would’ve gotten my license already.”

“But you didn’t, so here we are,” she pointed out tersely. “Let me ask you this: what if your parents were in that disaster zone? Would you still say the same thing?”

Her words suddenly made him look up straight up with widened crimson eyes, her expression unchanging. His anger was slowly stirring his insides. A vein could be seen slowly protruding from his temple.

“Look, you’re obviously not an idiot, but if you can’t do a simple search and rescue with a team, then what kind of hero would you be in the eyes of citizens?” she questioned. “You already have a reputation around U.A. for your shitty attitude and I’d like for that to not go beyond these walls for your career’s sake.”

The usual loud and proud boy was now quiet and reflective; his usual scowling lips formed a small pout. Thinking back on his internship with Best Jeanist and how everyone else had gotten further than him during that one week, he knew he had to change his ways; it was his fragile ego that veiled his eyes and heart from accepting that part about him, the part that’s awkward with approaching things in a non-violent way.

Being used to the status quo, things that made him step out of his comfort zone really scared him. He doesn’t like being taken for a fool or messing things up.

Bakugou Katsuki doesn’t do either one of those options.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean for that to come off lecture-y,” Ren let a short breath out of her nose and rested her arms on the table. “Just… keep that in mind and make baby steps, okay?”

“… Fine,” he muttered, not making eye contact with her and rubbed the back of his neck.

Shocked at his sudden change in demeanor, she quietly thanked him for listening before turning her attention to Todoroki.

“Todoroki-kun, you’re already aware of where you went wrong...”

The bi-coloured hair boy nodded and stared at a random spot on the table, unable to look at her directly.

“Because of my inability to cooperate with Inasa from Shiketsu due to personal reasons, we put the disaster victims and other heroes in jeopardy with our quirks,” he confessed. “Had I realized this sooner and worked with him, we could’ve suppressed the villains and then assist with evacuating the rest of the injured much more efficiently. I will do my best in remedying this during the supplementary classes and work on building a better relationship with everyone. I’ll definitely get my license this time.”

“That’s the spirit,” Ren encouraged with a small smile. “Don’t get me wrong: you’re both capable heroes. You two have really strong, compatible quirks with your bodies and you have full awareness of its power and limitations. But. You need to learn to rely on others,” she emphasized the last sentence.

“There’s only so much you can do by yourself. Everyone thinks heroes are all about the one-on-ones, flashy moves and taking down the bad guys with it. That’s not what makes a hero; they’re heroes because they also do the little things that make a bigger impact.”

The two boys listened intently to their R.A.’s constructive criticism, absorbing what knowledge she could bestow upon them. Even though she was only a year older, the words she spoke made her sound like a sage who’s trained many heroes before them. The clacking of Ren straightening the stack of paper in her hand brought his attention back to the present.

“Okay, I think we’ve covered everything,” she finalized. “Aizawa-sensei just wants me to do small follow ups with you two after each class. Just come on by whenever you can for that.”

Bakugou and Todoroki nodded and stood up, excusing themselves out of the room. The moment her door click closed, she let out a long sigh and leaned back.

“That was easier than picking an agency to intern at,” she said to herself aloud.

--

*Chicken and egg rice bowl.

Read Ch. 5

[moricatlibrary]

“Red String of Fate” (YumiHisu)

In a world in which one can find their soul mate through a red string of fate, Christa Lens confronts hers for the identity of her soulmate...

A short YumiHisu drabble (goes along with the same AU I made for this short eremin drabble)

cuz I really wanted to get to know these girls better<3 I apologize up front if I get anyone out of character here, I don’t know Ymir and Historia as well as I know Eren and Armin but I did my best and I still think it turned out cute so here is this blurb, enjoy if you can^^<333

In this world, everyone is well aware of one phenomenon which is simply a coming-of-age right of passage: the red string of fate that leads to one’s soul mate. When one closes their eyes, the glowing red string appears against the black matte of nothingness. Titan paths might still be a mystery to these Eldian children yet, but at least one metaphysical, extradimensional path is common knowledge among the humans in this world and is as mundane as a sneeze or a sunrise...

"THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP! I thought my heart was gonna burst right out of my chest! It was really terrifying by this point!" Hannah exclaimed, enthralling the various soldier girls in training at her lunch table, though more than loudly enough to disturb the neighboring tables too...

Ymir listened on with a sardonic look on her face, pursing her lips in amusement for what she deemed a hopeless little sap's story.

"So I finally stopped where the string ended, burst open my eyes, and THERE HE WAS!!!! FRANZ KEFKA!!! My soulmate, right there in front of me, with his eyes closed, and his cheeks blushing, like a cute little lamb!!! And he said 'Are you my soulmate?' in the most precious little voice, I thought I was going to die! And I screamed 'It's me, Hannah!' and we embraced, and live happily ever after, the end!"

The miscellaneous girls at the table unanimously swooned, with even Mikasa letting out a shy, hidden sigh in Eren's direction at the thought of meeting her soul mate like that... 

'Christa' normally would've 'aw'd the loudest, but just felt too conflicted, in all honesty...

Mina, on the other hand, felt empowered and inspired. "What a story! Can you imagine opening your eyes to find a handsome guy like Franz standing right there in front of you, waiting for you to embrace him?! Talk about a dream come true! Eh, Christa?"

The angelic blonde girl's eyes widened and with a hard swallow, she finally found her voice and character again. "I-it is a lovely thought..."

"Well, I rather don't care what some red string says. I wouldn't mate with anyone who doesn't know how to serve up perfectly saturated pork ribs." Sasha interrupted before taking a ravenous bite of her dry bread.

"You never know, Sasha!" Hannah replied. "I never dreamed Franz would be the one for me and yet there he was! And here I am happier than I've ever been!"

"Pfft-- low standards, much..." Ymir snarked, receiving an annoyed growl from Christa under her breath.

Too giddy to mind Ymir’s rudeness today, Hannah ventured on. "Well, who would you want then, Sasha?"

"The cook's son. He knows how to make perfectly steamed bratwurst. Nothing could be better than a man with a butcher's apron!" She proclaimed sweetly with a hearty swallow. "Hey, what about you, Christa?"

"U-uhm-- I don't know..." she blushed, and quickly dodged the question. "What about you, Mikasa?"

Now Mikasa was blushing.

"Oh, please." Mina interrupted. "We all know who she wants, but who do you want? You're easily the most desired girl in the whole unit! Which lucky guy do you have your eyes on for being at the end of your string?"

"Umm... I don't know, really, I think everyone here is really nice! I guess if I had to choose, ummm..."

She looked up and received a meek glare from Mikasa to choose literally anybody but Eren and finally settled on... "R-Reiner? He's easily the most reliable and sweet, and I'd say we have a lot in common."

"PAHAH--" Ymir chortled. "AHAH-- You definitely have a lot in common, babe!"

"B-but I trust omniscient fate to leave me the right person at the end of my string! S-so I'll be happy with whoever I get. What about you, Ymir?"

"Nah, I don't care who's at the end of my string, I already know who I want." The freckled girl purred as she drew the little crystal eyed girl into her arm.

Mikasa let out an annoyed hum at Ymir's gross disposition, prompting eyerolls from Annie... Meanwhile, Franz finally walked in with a big bouquet of flowers for Hannah.

"Franz!!!"

"Ah, mein schatz!!!" the tall man cried and ran to hug his girlfriend to the exaggerated sound of Eren gagging from his own table. "Were you telling everyone how we met? I told all the guys this morning during our uniform drills!" he said, with his voice suddenly dropping into a mumble. "They were all quite jealous, honestly."

"Oh, I hope they all find someone who makes them as happy as we are!"

Annie had heard more than enough and took herself back outside to the training grounds while their mushy storytelling continued, not catching Bertholdt's ever watchful eyes on her. 

"You know, I think I actually knew right from the start I wanted to be with you..." Franz continued, prompting a fearful thought from Christa, who was still smooshed in Ymir's musky arms. "I couldn't explain it, maybe it was the way you said 'good morning' to me like I was your childhood friend instead of just a shy soldier you hadn't even met yet, but right away I felt in my heart that I wanted to hold you tight."

"Ohhhh, Franzzzz!" Hannah swooned, (not even noticing Sasha steal the bread from her tray). The pair began to kiss shamelessly, to the sound of Mina's 'aw'ing, Eren's gagging, and Ymir's scoffing.

"Tch. Straight people." The freckled masculine girl then took a swig of her water, while her little blonde crush stared off into space...

Being all alone in the woods was the only and closest way Christa could ever come to just being herself... To the sounds of the birds chirping in the blue sky above her while she rested on a log, she did her best to think straight with all her suffocating filters clouding her mind... What to do?

She slumped to the ground and sprawled out with her back over the log, staring with empty eyes at the clouds above. She was actually not interested in a single boy she'd ever crossed paths with... It didn't matter how handsome or how sweet or desirable he was; she just very simply was not interested in the slightest. This was about all she knew thus far, rather afraid to question herself any further lest she stumble upon something forbidden to nice girls like the good and righteous Christa Lens... but all that talk of Hannah meeting Franz was making her sweat...

Franz knew from their first meeting that they should be together? How could something so complicated as finding a mate for life be so simple? Christa couldn't even stomach coming into contact with half the men in their camp. And yet Franz knew where his heartstring would lead him just after saying hi to her! And what made that so scary to her, was that, of all people, she felt something very similar when she first met Ymir...

"Christa!" A golden voice chimed, breaking the silence of the forest as its master sprinted into the clearing where Christa had hidden.

She rose up to find a breathy Armin Arlert coming her way, and easily relaxed. "Hi, Armin. Do you need something?" She asked, sitting up in the "proper" and dainty way of a lady.

Armin stopped before the log, hunched over and gasping for breath while he gave her a big handful of decorated envelopes and papers. "Love letters... for you..."

Christa took them with a less saccharine smile than usual.

"Most of them are from Ymir and Reiner, as always, but the rest are from Dak, Samuel, Thomas..."

Christa's smile became rather somber... She wanted to just let the letters fall to the ground, but seeing as someone was watching her she set them neatly to the side.

"You must get so many that it's exhausting, huh?" Armin huffed with a smile, trying not to complain about how sick he was of being the designated messenger for the ‘Christa suitors club’ by every straight guy in the camp. "It's okay if you don't wanna read them. No one would blame you for growing weary of it."

"Hmm..." she sighed. And decided to confide a little in Armin, who was the only boy in the camp she really trusted... "Armin? Do you like girls?"

"Ah-- I guess... Well, what do you mean?"

"Well, you're in love with Eren, right?--"

"SHHHHHHH!!!!!!" he seethed in a panic. Ymir and Christa had analyzed this truth out of him long ago, and though Armin felt like he could honestly trust them at this point, it was still something he treated with utmost urgency with them, even in this forest where he knew they couldn't be heard. Realizing he'd shushed the goddess of the 104th training unit, however, he blushed and tried to recollect himself. "S-sorry... I tend to only consider him when it comes to my potential soul mate but... Even so, I really don't have an interest in girls."

"Oh..." Christa's eyes darted to the side in thought.

"Why?"

Her glassy eyes looked back into his deep ones... "Armin, can I confide in you?"

"O-of course. That's only fair, heh."

"...When you look at girls, you feel nothing. But what do you feel when you look at boys?"

"I feel... intrigued? Amused? Fascinated? Not so much for anyone versus him but... if I didn't know him then I'd say a pretty decent range of those feelings."

"I see... Sometimes... I-- feel that way about girls..."

Armin's eyes widened. "Oh..."

"Is that wrong?"

The male blond let out a gentle chuckle and took a seat on the log beside her. "No, not at all. It's okay if you like girls. I'm sorry they're not the ones sending you all these annoying love letters now."

"It's alright..." She gave him a truly genuine smile, and moved on to the next scary question on her mind. "Armin... How did you feel when you first met Eren?"

Armin's gaze wandered to the grass as a warm smile appeared over his lovelorn face for the nostalgia coming back to him. "I felt my like my heart would never stop beating. I found someone who understood me and gave me a reason to smile. I thought... it would be grand if I could be with him all the time... Why?"

She gulped. That was exactly how Ymir made her feel on the day they met... And just as Franz described meeting Hannah. She closed her eyes for a moment to see her red string's glow throbbing the more she thought about it. "...Do you know who your soul mate is?"

"No... I don't wanna know..."

"But what if it's Eren?"

"And what if it's not?..." He concluded with a tense smile in his lips creasing his nervous cheeks. "Do you know who yours is?"

"..."

"Understood. Well... Whoever it is, I guarantee you they'll adore you. You're far too wonderful to go unloved." he promised as he stood up. "So if you ever do decide to follow that red string, I just... hope it's someone you can love right back... I'll see you later. I think Ymir wants to send you some flowers or something."

Christa feigned a smile and nodded. "Thanks, Armin. Bye."

Armin waved and strolled back out of the forest, leaving Christa there alone with her thoughts once more.

She closed her eyes to watch the red string glowing and dancing in its ethereal way, debating whether or not she should follow it and let destiny dictate how she lived her life...

The next day at lunch Christa strolled into the dining hall with a look of distress and took a deep breath... "Everyone?! I have an announcement!"

Seeing as Christa's sweet little voice was too low to be heard over the murmuring crowd, Ymir took a deep breath of her own and belted, "OI, EVERYBODY SHUT UP!!! MY CHRISTA IS SPEAKING!!!"

All the soldiers then turned their attention to the little blonde girl in the sunny doorway to hear what she had to say, minus Eren who simply continued eating with his back to her direction...

"Uh... You... You're all very sweet and dear but... you can all stop sending me love letters now! Last night, I followed my red string to my soul mate!"

Ymir perked up at that and listened on with widened eyes...

"...So from this day forth, I hereby swear myself to... Reiner Braun!"

"Haaaaa?" Reiner bellowed in surprise, a bright blush flushing over his cheeks.

Ymir couldn't speak... She sat frozen, unreadable, and never even minding the cadets staring at her...

Whilst Armin frowned sadly for Christa from his seat in front of him, Eren turned around, raising an angry eyebrow at the popular blonde...

"More tea, my sweet?" Reiner asked politely.

"Oh, yes please! This is so lovely. I'm quite lucky to have found you, Reiner." Christa beamed in her cloying way while Reiner poured her some more tea.

The pair sat together at the picnic table outside, just beside the main training grounds where students were chatting amongst themselves during the AP maneuvering exams taking place at the climbing grounds. But rather unsurprisingly, Ymir was nowhere to be found...

While Armin and Mikasa were discussing the exam, Eren glared at the blond couple sitting pretty at the table...

"It really is, and I'm sorry to cut lunch so short, but-- I hope you'll forgive me, this was such short notice, after all, and Bertholdt really needs my help with his AP exam..." the tall powerhouse of a man apologized.

Christa pretended she wasn't relieved. "Oh, I'm so sorry to see you go! But I hope the test goes well! Tell him I said good luck!"

"Sure thing! Have a good afternoon, my lady." and off to his buddy he went.

Christa let out a shaky breath, picking up her tea with jittery hands to take a nervous sip while she tried to ignore the empty ache inside her chest... She closed her eyes, not really minding her red string, though its glow had gone very dim in its ghostly dance... She didn't want to look up or at anyone... not even when she heard angry footsteps approaching her.

"Oi. You." the guttural voice vibrated through the air and into Christa's reluctant ears.

She opened her eyes to find Eren Yeager, blocking the sunlight as he towered over her with furrowed eyebrows and a frown. "Ah. Yes?"

"I don't know what you're trying to pull here with Reiner, but it looks to me like you're just using him..."

"I-- What a cruel thing to accuse me of..." she whimpered, her big crystal eyes becoming glossy and wet by sheer flawless habit...

"Oh, don't even... You and I both know this is just for show. And I don't know what your deal is or why you'd wanna do this, but hurting someone as true as Reiner like this would be a cruel thing to do." the raven haired boy scolded calmly. "So if nothing's keeping you from dating who you actually want to date, I think you should get out of this and set things right."

She looked into those stone cold grey eyes with her own, concealing the storm in her heart for not knowing what to do at all... "Why would you think so little of me, Eren? Reiner is my soul mate. This is what's meant to be. I like him a lot. I mean to make him very happy..."

"Cut the crap, would you? You and I both know you're into Ymir! I don't know why the hell your string would send you to Reiner, or why you'd want to lie about it, but it seems to me that there's a fluke in here somewhere. So do the decent thing and drop the fakery."

Christa's somber eyes looked desperately into his while her lips formed a slight, odd smile. "Eren, do you know I think you're very lucky?"

He raised a fuzzy eyebrow. "Hä?"

"You're free..."

His confused eyebrow furrowed. "Whatever that means... Free or not though, I wouldn't pretend to be something I'm not to hurt the people I care about. That's truly cruel, and not the way of a proper soldier."

Christa pursed her lips. "I'll be glad to see you open your eyes... I don't mean to hurt anyone. How long do I have to hurt though?..."

Eren's face finally unscrunched and he sighed, taking a seat on the other side of the bench. "You shouldn't have to. Everyone has the right to be free. You know, romance is a waste of time, in my opinion. And I dunno what's hurting you when everyone seems to love you for whatever that get up of yours is, but if you wanna be happy, I'd start by being honest with yourself. And then with Ymir. Armin and I agree there: Honesty is the best place to start. Because truth is the key to freedom."

"Ironic that you say that..." She muttered wistfully, still with that odd smile. "Say. How do you feel about Armin?"

Eren froze and blushed. "What do you mean?"

"You two seem as close as Ymir and I are. Don't you like him? What's stopping you?"

"--I don't have to take this." he grumbled, standing up from the bench with his face re-scrunched and now reddened. "Just fix this thing with Reiner and get right!"

Christa stared down at the table while Eren marched away and thought for a long time on what to do... Armin may have approved, and Eren may have approved, and Ymir clearly would've approved, but the world had always told her that it was improper for a lady to be with another woman... ergo, the red string of all-chaste fate would never lead her to Ymir... Had she actually followed her string instead of lying about it, she was sure it would've lead to someone like Reiner anyway. But Eren was right. Whoever it did lead to sure as hell wasn't gonna make her happy if it weren't Ymir... So what was she to do? She was stuck...

Christa broke up with Reiner by dinner time and wandered the campgrounds alone for the rest of the night... Reiner was heartbroken but Bertholdt was happy enough to let Reiner literally cry on his shoulder while he stared at Annie ignoring the gossip. Eren gave Christa a nod of approval and empathy, along with Armin... but even without the guilt, she still felt awful... And though Christa had been avoiding her anyway, according to Sasha, Ymir was apparently still nowhere to be found for the rest of the day...

The tiny blonde's glassy eyes welled up with genuine tears for the first time in many ages as she strolled in the starlight... Not that Christa herself was aware of that. Very little made sense to her anymore for how trapped in her identity she was, but when Ymir was around, frustrating as she might be, everything just felt... real. "Honesty..." echoed Eren's words in her mumbling mouth. "If only it were that simple for me... Nobody loves Historia..."

For one night only, Christa Lens decided to be Historia Reiss, if only to be honest with herself for a few short moments… She took a seat on the log by the lonely camp fire, slouching and carelessly watching as her red string halted its motions and dimmed its glow to near nothingness behind her eyelids… Historia Reiss didn’t really care how she hurt Reiner. Reiner had been bothering her with endless love letters for far too long for that. Historia Reiss wished Armin would wise up and make himself useful instead of just tagging along with his suicidal crush to his death. Historia Reiss thought Eren was a complete idiot and that freedom to speak that he took for granted was fleeting with his moronic death wish. Historia Reiss thought men were about as interesting as the bowl of cabbage soup they served for lunch. Historia Reiss thought women were beautiful, endlessly intriguing creatures. Historia Reiss didn’t really care either way what happened in the war. Historia Reiss wanted to kill herself to be free of the world’s rejection and expectations of her. Historia Reiss thought Ymir was the most incredible person she’d ever met… with her beady eyes wide open to how the world worked and her fierce smirk endlessly mocking every single idiot she came across, and her voice shouting it openly. Ymir was alive inside and burning with a fire to live life. Historia envied that so...

"I guess there is simply no happiness for some people..." she mumbled in the fire's direction as she stared into it, hypnotized by the orange and yellow flames flickering into the smoky night air. "Ymir... Where are you?..."

"Right here, min pus."

The sudden sound of Ymir's croaky low voice shooting through the silence like a bolt of lightning sent Historia into the air as she jumped out of her seat on the log. She turned around, clutching at her heart, still as Historia Reiss and thus very honest. "YMIR, YOU SCARED ME TO DEATH!!!"

Ymir, to Historia's blushing surprise, had her eyes closed and a sparkly, albeit villainous, grin on her face. "I followed my red string all afternoon! And it lead me right to you! You tricky little kitten, you're not straight for Reiner! Fate says you should be with me!" She raved happily, and made a motion with her arms as though she were dropping the rest of her string on the ground before opening them wide. "If you're done pretending to be gooey goddess of the whiny dicks in this camp, you can just walk right into these arms! Ready and waiting for ya, babe!"

Historia broke into a sweat, trying to find the right reaction amidst her conflicting feelings and remained silent...

"...Eh? What's the hold up? The all-powerful God or whatever you wanna believe in says you and I are meant to be, so what's keeping you there?"

"...You're a rude girl with a horrible personality, Ymir." came the blonde's monotonous response as she stared into Ymir's fierce beady eyes.

"...Uh huh?"

"You're incredibly overbearing and indescribably obnoxious."

"Got me there..."  the freckled girl replied, with her smile and arms relaxing a little.

"You’re careless, and mean, and self-serving, and invasive, and unkempt and you have the face of a classic hag."

"Wow... Pretty bold to be that honest when your soul mate is revealed of all times." Ymir's arms and smile drooped a little more while her face blushed... "So?"

"You're a painfully, painfully, honest woman to be around..."

"...So?"

Historia sighed... and let out a smile. "I love you."

"Eh?--" Before Ymir had a moment to think, Historia's arms were suddenly wrapped tightly around her neck while her soft pink lips kissed her rough rosewood ones... As Historia pulled away to look at her, now held close in Ymir's warm tawny arms, Ymir was almost speechless. "Y-- Don't-- you want to check your string to see if I'm really your soul mate?"

Historia grinned angelically, despite the sinfulness that Christa would project on this. Ymir was here and everything was clear again. Everything was real, honest, and true... Everything felt okay. And she was genuinely happy. It was only like this when Ymir was around, and Historia finally, finally, decided she wanted to keep it that way. "Nope. I already know who I want to be with. So screw it all."

And suddenly Ymir was pulled down to Christa's lips again.

Though Historia decided not to look at her string, it always glowed and throbbed when Ymir was around and it glowed brightest when Ymir was happy. Whether she knew Ymir was her soulmate or not didn't matter in the slightest to her anymore. The rest of the world may have controlled Christa Lens, but Historia Reiss chose her own soulmate. And choosing to forge her own path into Ymir's arms was a choice Historia Reiss never ever regretted...

<3