Chapter 2

"Hey Damon, doesn't that bread have some spit on it? You know what that means... An indirect kiss with Sasha! I didn't know a possible lover would pop up so quickly," Erik lightly patted my shoulder with his hand, "Don't be afraid to ask for advice. I'll always be your bro. But still, I'm so proud!"

"Enough of that love nonsense! More importantly, he smiled guys! Maybe he likes bread," Lukas added, a smirk on his face.   

"Or maybe he just likes Sasha – " Erik started before promptly being cut off.

"Let's get all the bread in the kitchen!" someone suggested.

"Everyone hand in your leftovers! It's okay; Damon will just have an indirect kiss with everyone!" Erik hollered, rounding up all the people in the kitchen.

"That's disgusting!"

As the commotion went on, I felt more included although it was chaotic. They all tried to make me feel better but they tried too hard. After all, the noise seemed to get more annoying as it went on.

"Guys, I don't love bread. Now if you could leave me alone," I muttered, walking away. As always, no one here will understand how I feel. None of them knew the horrors of watching and being restrained from doing what I wanted to do. None of them knew...

"You little sh*t, where do you think you're going? I never said you could leave," Levi growled, forcefully pushing me back. He was strong for being so little but then again, I haven't been moving around as much. I shook his hand off and turned back around, reluctantly walking towards the bickering group.

"Here, have some bread," Sasha offered, holding the small piece up with care. She looked so pitiful, so weak and naïve. I wonder why I had opened up to her just a few moments before. If she were to go out to the walls, it would seem logical for her to be eaten first. Maybe if I hadn't eaten Ria, I would've eaten her first.

"I don't need it," I harshly mumbled, slapping the girl's hand with the bread away. Everyone gazed up at me with shock. Sasha quickly scrambled for the bread and her wandering fingers finally grasped it. She stood up, her hair covering her face and her hands clutching the bread. All she did was clumsily smile at me and apologize with, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that you didn't want to have it."

"That's stupid. You all seem to be carefree about things here when in reality, there are other people out there who can't make choices. I used to be one of those people and it seems that you guys call them titans," I rambled, clenching my fists.

"But now you have a choice. You aren't a titan anymore so you can choose to eat whatever you want. You don't have to be bound by those ideas anymore and pick. Eat the bread, eat the soup, eat whatever you want. But just remember that you are a human now, someone who can make choices," a blond boy, Armin, said.

I was out of words to say. I guess I can't even argue anymore without reaching for words. He got me.

"I-I... I just don't know anymore. How am I supposed to react to this? What am I supposed to do? Am I normal? Am I still human at all?" I mumbled, shackled to the abyss of trauma yet again.

Everyone was silent. They probably didn't know how to deal with someone like me. I wasn't one of them anyway –

"You know who you remind me of?" a voice chirped. I looked up, matching the voice with Lukas.

"You remind me of Ria," he smiled warmly, "She used to be like that to. I always thought that she had some personality issues and was always overreacting over the slightest things in the past. You could say that she was really sensitive to the smallest things because the tiniest thing could trigger something in her mind. Everyone here dealt with her before so we can deal with you too. Just give it some time and you'll fit in just fine."

"I don't know what to say... but I think it's the right time to say this. Thank you," I muttered, sheepishly smiling.

"God, that was a quick mood change. One minute you're crying, whining, and complaining that no one understands or likes you and the next minute you're thanking us while smiling. This really is Ria all over again," Jean spat out, scratching his head.

"Well that's true but who can blame him? He was eating humans and had no control over it," Connie defended.

"Yeah and Ria ate humans and did have control over it..." Jean added.

"She did not have control over it!" Lukas denied, anger and regret evident in his eyes.

"Yes she did. She was a human and not a titan like this guy over here. Ria just didn't know she was eating humans which I don't understand. How do you become a cannibal without realizing it? Ridiculous," Jean barked, spitting on the ground. Lukas stepped forward toward Jean, about to pick a fight until Levi forcefully shoved him back. "This isn't f*cking something to fight over. Ria is gone, get over it."

Lukas bitterly looked at the floor, biting his lip with his eyes starting to water. "How can... you say that? Didn't you love her like your little sister? And yet you..."

"It's okay, you don't have to get all emotional here – " I started but my attempt to comfort and mediate between all arguing people was in vain.

"She was just another cadet who lost her life... If I mourn over her and never get over it, what good will it do? If I mourn over one cadet, shouldn't I mourn over all? It's all pointless," Levi uttered, his voice faltering although he tried to keep it still. He was still suffering but he didn't want to show it...

"You know guys, it's alright to lament over Ria's death. I mean, I was the cause of her death but... I'm sure she was a great person. You don't have to hide your feelings you can –" I stopped talking when Lukas held my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Damon, but I don't believe you have a say in this topic. You didn't personally know her after all..."

"But I do know! She had a titan friend named Erik right? It turned out that she named it over her brother. She had a friend named Clara who turned out to be a traitor. She had a father who abused her and forced her to comply with his experimental wishes. Ria had a hard life, right? She did have her humorous moments as well with you guys. There were fun times too. Like the capture the flag game, pretending to be captain, and..." There were burning stares at me. Many of them.

"How do you know?" Levi demanded.

"I just did... Some bits and pieces of her memories came to me. It was so sudden I didn't know when I got them. It's just, when Lukas said I didn't know her, I kinda lashed out with all these experiences," I confessed.

"Woah, woah, wait a sec. You're saying that after you, a former titan, ate Ria, you gained her memories? And then... you even sorta resemble her. It's the eyes, isn't it?" Connie jumped at his sudden discovery.

"Holy sh*t..."

"He has Ria's eyes..."

"Is that even possible?"

"Wait! What if he has regeneration just like Eren?" Jean whispered, looking everyone in the eye.

"If we try, won't it hurt him?" Christa worriedly asked.

"Christa don't be like that, we all know that inside you really wanna know. How about it, guys? What do we do? Break a tooth or something?" Connie excitedly said.

"I didn't know you were this type of person, Springer. Maybe next time I'll personally recommend you to the torture and interrogation group," Levi remarked.

"No, no it's not like that! I was just excited to see if he was powers or anything special," Connie denied.

"Congratulations Connie f*cking Springer for becoming the next Hanji Zoe. Seriously, since when were you so interested in titans and powers and experimenting?" Ymir lazily questioned.

"I'm telling you it's not that! Don't compare me to her!"

"Guys, if you really want to know, you can hurt me in some way. It's the best I can do since I killed Ria..." I gritted out, shamed of my actions.

"Okay! He agrees. Do we bet now? I'll bet," Ymir dropped a few coins on the table, "this much that he doesn't have any interesting sh*t to show us."

"He's not something to entertain us, Ymir. No betting but what should we do?" Lukas said.

"I think a few punches will work."

"Who's going to punch him?"

There was silence. I don't think anyone wanted to volunteer to punch me but I'm sure they all want to though. I mean, wasn't it my fault that Ria died? I'll thankfully accept all those bitter feelings people have for me. It's what I rightfully deserve anyway...

"I will."

Who was it? Who volunteered? When I turned around to match the voice with the face, I was met with steel eyes. I guess Levi is going to be the one to punch me. It's probably going to hurt but I'll feel external pain. It's been a while, hasn't it? But in a way, the feeling of pain is what makes you alive and human, right? If you're dead, you can't feel it... I've only ever experienced internal conflict all these years. I wonder; will I feel less guilty after this?

Levi slowly walked towards me until he lunged and punched me in the face. I felt like I could almost hear his thoughts. This one is for Ria. Another punch, another stinging pain. This one is for the cadets. I lost my balance and fell, slamming my arm into the corner of the table. Then I felt a violent kick to my side. This one is for me. Levi picked me up by the collar of my ragged shirt and punched me a few more times. This one is for Ria... and Ria... and Ria... I was pretty beaten up afterwards but I dealt with the pain. I could understand his longing and grief after all.

"That's enough, Levi," Lukas yelled, pulling him away from me.

"Tch." And then the corporal walked away.

The crowd then dissipated slowly, one after another leaving with glances at me. I couldn't tell what were hidden in those glances. Was it pity? Hatred? A look of you-deserved-it? Everyone left until one remained, Sasha. Correction, she did leave but returned shortly with a medical kit. You would think that the rumored kind girl, Christa, would be the one to take care of me but no, it was the bread girl.

"I was against this idea because I felt that they only wanted to hurt you. It was to release their pent up feelings so I hope you don't hold any hard feelings for them," Sasha chatted, opening up the white box. I nodded back, acknowledging her kindness.

"I'm sorry for all I said and did to you earlier. I was just moody I guess," I sheepishly mumbled, slightly wincing at the pain.

"It's okay but you know, I miss Ria too. But in my village, I was taught to not hold any useless grudges like these. It just eats away at you and in the end, you'll still feel bitter about it. Oh and I... kind of ate your portion of food," Sasha said, wiping my is injuries with a wet cloth.

"Um, you're going to have to take your shirt off for me to treat your wounds. Don't worry, I'm quite skilled in treating wounds!" she reassured.

Sighing, I took off my worn out shirt and glanced at the bread girl. She walked over to the sink in the kitchen to wet the cloth again and quickly returned. Sasha applied the cool cloth onto my cuts and bruises while I cringed at the sharp pain. She noticed this and apologized, saying, "If this were alcohol, it would hurt more, you know. I couldn't get a hold of the alcohol though because that's for more devastating injuries."

"Are you saying my injury isn't important?" I chuckled, surprised at the sound of my own laughter.

She stopped cleaning my injuries and stared at me, retorting, "If this wasn't important, I wouldn't have treated your cuts and bruises with what I have in the first place!"

Putting my hands up, I surrendered mumbling, "I know, I know!"

Then, the bread girl moved on to applying medicine onto my wounds. "You should be grateful because at least I got you some medicine. I'm not fond of people who don't appreciate kindness, you know."

"Thank you, I humbly accept your kindness. Oh, how can I ever repay you?" I acted out with exaggerated hand movements. "Is that what you want me to do?"

Sasha simply ignored me as she started wrapping my torso with thin cloth and continued to do so to areas on my arms and legs. After she was done, she fixed the cloth into place with a little bit of tape here and there. I started to stand up, thinking she was done until she grabbed my arm.

"Aren't you done?"

Sasha stood up as well and she scrutinized my injuries that now had cloth wrapped around them, trying to figure out what was missing. As her gaze reached my face, she pondered for a while as inspiration finally found its way to her mind. The bread girl clumsily placed a bandage on my cheek and gave me a goofy smile.

"Now you're all treated! I might be overdoing it but you're an unnourished former titan so I have to expect everything. And as I thought, you didn't regenerate at all!" she revealed, skipping towards the exit.

"Well, I don't think I'm that special to have powers such as regeneration, so..." I trailed off, smugly smiling at the clumsy girl.

"I think people are still special even if they don't have amazing powers or stuff. Don't you think you're special enough to have received some treatment for your wounds?" she added, exiting the dining room, leaving me hanging without any time for a reply. Hm, I guess I am special then.

I too decided to leave, walking through the plain halls. I didn't know where my room was so I guess you could say I was lost. But as I was aimlessly wandering around, I caught sight of someone. There, sitting out on the front steps was Levi. The mere sight of Levi, or heichou as he prefers to be called, wasn't surprising but his action was intriguing. It was raining so at first glance, it might not be noticeable but at a closer view, I could see a tear escaping his eye.

I might sound terrible right now but I have to say, that scene was a little touching, heartbreaking, heartwarming, I don't know what to call it but it was meaningful. You know why? Because someone like Levi, someone like him who always kept things to himself was actually letting his feelings out. I guess he really did miss Ria after all...

~*~

There! I did it! I made a new chapter >.< If someone was waiting for this chapter and reads this, I am really thankful. A lot of people probably gave up on this sequel XD Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for reading this! I promise this time, I'll update more often. I mean it's summer so why not? Anyway, this chapter was filled with lots of dialogue (actually every chapter I write is usually filled with dialogue) so sorry about that. I kinda ran out of ideas for this chapter so I apologize if it wasn't entertaining or didn't make any sense or whatever. There's probably a lot of spelling and grammar errors too XD Dedication goes to MeiSakamaki for reading all my stories >.< Well, thanks for reading and I'll see you next chapter! ^.^