Later that evening, dinner time came and you watched the rest of the cadets talk amongst themselves. 

You envied their conversations and laughter. You wish you could be like that again. But no matter what, you found it hard to form words. 

"Y/n? Are you okay? You barely touched your food." Mikasa asked. 

You turned to her and just nodded. Lost in thoughts again. You picked up the bread from your tray and nibbled it slowly. 

"Hey, you're Y/n, right!?"

You looked next to me to see a girl with brown hair tied in a ponytail and brown eyes. 

You nodded, who the hell is spreading rumors with your name?

"We saw the way you fought back at the training grounds. It was amazing!"

We? You looked to see a boy with a shaved head and yellowish eyes. 

"Yeah. You were totally awesome. Where did you learn those moves!?"

They both leaned in close to hear, you just gave them a deadpanned look. They should know from the rumors that you're not much of a talker. 

But you'll humor them with your journal. 

"Hey, give her some space guys." You heard a sweet voice say. 

The three of you looked behind to see a boy with black hair, tan skin, and cute freckles. Wait...? Cute? You felt yourself blush a bit. 

"You're making her uncomfortable." he looked towards you. 

"Are you okay? I'm sure they didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

His eyes looked at mine expecting an answer. You looked at Armin and signaled him to hand over your journal. 

You kept misplacing it so Armin decided to keep it on him for you. 

"Ah, I'm sorry. Y/n is non-talkative. She's not trying to be rude." Armin immediately spoke. 

"Oh...oh! We're so sorry! We heard about it but we completely forgot!" the girl with brown hair quickly apologized. 

"Yeah, what she said." the shaved head boy replied. 

"We hope we didn't hurt your feelings in anyway." the boy with cute freckles stare at you with deep concern. 

"My name's Sasha." the girl said holding bread. 

"The name's Connie." the boy with the shaved head added. 

"My name is Marco. I'm guessing your name is Y/n, right?"

You nodded. 

'I like your freckles.' You wrote. 

"O-oh! Um, thank you?" Marco cheeks heated up a bit, he seemed more confused and taken aback. 

"Shit, was that wrong of me!?" 

The look on your face didn't go unseen by Marco. 

"A-ah...it's fine! I appreciate your compliment! Thank you." Marco tried to be calm. 

You stared at Marco for a few moments before turning to Sasha and Connie and I noticed some crumbs on Sasha's cheeks. 

You leaned forward and brushed the crumbs lightly away from her face, she flinched, not expecting that action. 

"You had crumbs on your face."

"Oh, thanks."

"You wanted to ask about my fighting skills?" You wrote again. 

"Yes please!" Sasha and Connie said at the same time. 

Marco, Sasha, and Connie listened closely to the words in your journal. You explained to them that your moves are naturally yet you kept notes on your tips. 

"I always study my opponents to---"

"Y/n, here. Keep eating your dinner." Armin said. 

"Hm...?...Ah!" You noticed you still barely touched your food. You got carried away. 

"Sorry, talk later."

"Awww, but why?"

"I was actually paying attention!"

Mikasa noticed you starting to eat and began to pet your head. She always did this, ever since you were young. 

"I'm sorry. Do you not like it?" Mikasa asked when you looked at her. She began taking her hand away. 

You shook your head and took her back. 

"No, I like it."

It felt weird at first, but you slowly grew used to it. 

"Has she always been like this?" You heard Marco ask behind you. 

"For as long as I can remember, yes. That was how she met me, actually."

"Ever since that day, Eren, Mikasa, and I have been friends with her. The more time we've spent with her, the more I grow concerned over her..."

"Concerned?" Sasha asked. 

"She never once said a word to any of us. I can tell she wants to say something, anything at all. But she doesn't, it's like she's scared. Something's preventing her from doing so. It makes me worried that she might have been involved in an accident that affected her way of talking. And possible her eye too." he muttered the last part. 

"..." A heartwarming feeling went to your chest. It was sweet he cared, yet you hated your situation. 

With the bread still in your mouth, you leaned into Mikasa's strokes and planted your head on her shoulder. 

You're glad you have them in your life. They were your voice in this cruel world. 

 As she continued to stroke your head, you began to poke at her sides, making her squirm. You were feeling mischievous. 

"What? Hey..." she says quietly, but you continued. 

You never seen Mikasa laugh before. Back when you were young, you would do this to Eren and Armin to make them laugh, but Mikasa never laughed around you. 

She's always serious at the time. You missed her smile. 

You continued to poke at her sides and she was trying to keep you back gently, you could see her cracking a tiny smile. 

"Y/n!...stop! It's not funny!" She said a bit louder. Your plan was working. 

But you continued, at this point she was pushing you as gently, but far as possible. Then you saw her smile. But it seemed like our little battle gained some attention and took the scene as something other than a playful fight. 

Without knowing, you felt someone grab your hair and yank you off of Mikasa, causing you to fall onto the floor harshly, almost catching Mikasa off guard. 

"Ah!" You yelped. 

"She told you to stop! What are you trying to do!? Harass her!? Keep your hands off!" You rubbed my head and looked up to see a boy with two toned hair glaring down at me. 

What was his problem!?

"Y/n!" Mikasa called my name, Armin didn't move, but he was staring at me with complete worried. He didn't know if he should get involved or not. 

You retaliate, fighting against the boy's grip. You let out cries of pain as you were pulling your hair in the process. 

Through your struggle, you managed to get a few elbow jabs at the boy, but they were weak due to your position. You began to try kicking away, unaware of the direction you were kicking. 

You accidently landed a kick at Mikasa, but she wasn't much affected by it, showing no sign of pain. 

"Crap! Sorry, Mikasa!" you thought. 

The boy witnessed that and got even angrier. 

He ended up grabbing you by the collar, yanking you once more. 

"I told you to get away from her!"

"What the hell!?" Eren grabbed the boy by the collar and yanked him off of you. Making fall back onto the floor, Mikasa holding your arms steady. 

"Leave her alone, she didn't do anything wrong! I don't know if you're cranky because you haven't had your hay yet, horseface. But don't you dare touch Y/n again like that!"

Horseface?

"She was harassing your friend. What was I supposed to do!?"

"If anyone is harassing, it's you. Keep your hands off of her!" Eren pushed him back. 

"Y/n! Are you alright!?" Armin asked from behind.

"Hum..." You nodded and looked at the boy. 

But Horseface? Since when did Eren come up with that name? 

"Don't you push me!" the boy shouted while pushing back Eren harder. 

"Do something about it then!" Eren shot back. 

"Eren, calm down!" Armin said. 

"Is there a fight happening?"

"Not these two again..."

Oh no...

You knew Eren long enough to know where this was going. 

"Apologize to her!"

"For what!? For being a person who only wants people to give her attention?! You think I hadn't heard the rumors. Oh everyone has by now! She brings out this fake facade of her being 'mute' just so she can get attention from others like your suicidal maniac brain! Now I see why you two are friends. She has you wrapped around her finger too!"

That made Eren snap. 

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Eren began to throw a punch. 

"Eren!"

"Eren, don't!"

Silence...

"What--?" Eren's eyes widened. 

"Y/N!!" Armin gasped. 

Eren arm had stopped, his fist only a few inches away from the boy's face. A slightly smaller hand gripped his arm in a firm hold. 

It was you...

No one saw you got up...how the hell did you stop the swing?

"Y/N?!" Eren shouted in confusion. 

No one noticed, but you let out a small breath of relief. 

It would be worth it, as long Eren didn't get in trouble. Although the boy did deserve the punch, Commander Shadis would have raised hell if a full out brawl came out.  

Meanwhile, the boy was in shock. In his perspective, it looked like you stopped the punch for him (when really it was for Eren's sake). 

Why...? Why would you do that?

After he treated you so horribly just now...

...

It was then that he realized how stupid he was acting. 

"Y/n! Are you stupid?! Why would you--" Eren stopped mid-sentence as you gave him a hard slap on the shoulder. 

"Ow! What was that for!?"

What the hell does he think!? He's the idiot here!

He didn't need your journal to understand the face your response. 

'Don't start things you know that would just cause more trouble.' 

You looked back at the boy, to whom Eren called horseface. 

You narrowed your eyes at him slightly, your glare was enough to send shivers down his spine. Both in fear and...something else. 

You glared at him; he got some nerve. Personally, you would beat his ass. But you weren't about to be a hypocrite and get in trouble. 

Instead, you just scoffed and rolled your eyes to face Eren again. 

Eren looked away in defeat in muttered 'sorry' and stepped aside. 

You went to go back to your seat until Mikasa quickly walked past you. 

Crap, was she going to hit him too!?

Luckily, she didn't. 

"You own her an apology." she said in a serious tone. 

"I--I" He stuttered and blushed under Mikasa's harsh gaze, his eyes flickered to you. 

"Eren is right. She didn't do anything wrong. You acted out of line and not only assaulted her but humiliated her."

"Mikasa..." you thought. 

"Apologize...now." sounded like a demand. 

It went quiet as everyone's eyes were on the boy. He looked around, noticing Marco looking back at him with a disappointed look. 

He sighed, knowing he was in the wrong. He turned to you. 

"...I'm sorry. What I did was completely out of line. You have every right to be angry with me." he continued. 

"And what I said before, I didn't mean it. People actually respect you more than you think. And so do I now." he chuckled a bit. 

You approached him hesitantly before punching him playfully. 

"Ow!"

"Shitty apology, but I'll take it."  you thought. 

He chuckled, smiling awkwardly at you. 

"My name's Jean..."

Jean?...like John?

You nodded in acknowledgement. 

"Also--um...you have pretty eyes--I mean eye!" he corrected himself. 

You began to grimace a bit. Jean saw that as you might have taken offense to that. 

"I-I'm not insulting you at all! You really do have pretty eyes! It's because of your--"

Eren having heard enough intervened again. 

"How about you just shut your mouth, horseface!?" he said pushing Jean's shoulder. 

"Get your hands off me you suicidal maniac!"

....seriously!?

Not wanting to deal with this, you went back to where Armin and Mikasa were. 

"Sorry, Y/n. For not getting in to help..." Armin apologized. 

You gave him a warm smile and your head slightly. 

'Don't worry about it.' you signed. 

You turned to Mikasa. 

'Thank you Mikasa.' 

"He harmed you, you deserved an apology." she replied. 

You both turned to Eren and Jean still yelling at one another, it was starting to escalate. 

"I should probably stop him..." Armin sighed before getting up. 

"We should probably go." Mikasa sighed as she pulled you gently away from the scene and led you out of the mess hall.