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danipopplers · 6 years

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Mirrored Masks Ch. 1

Summary: When Reiner Braun meets Krista Lenz at bootcamp, he has a hard time grasping why a devil like her could still be so positive and pure. He watches her from afar, observing silently, before they share a chance encounter during a field run. As she slowly becomes a fixture in his new life as a soldier, can he maintain his priorities as a warrior? They both have secrets to keep, but that doesn't stop them from falling for the masks they maintain. Minor Manga Spoilers. Slow Burn. Reikuri.

AO3 FanFiction.Net

Krista panted. Deep, great gulps of air that didn’t make it all the way down to the bottom of her lungs. Sweat dripped down the strings of her limp blonde hair into her eyes. The sting of salt made her squint and blurred her vision considerably, but there was nothing to be done for it. The packs’ straps dug sharply into her bony shoulders, and she alternated pulling on them to relieve some of the pressure.

The field drills were by far the worst part of training. She was more than sure that she would come in last again this time, even behind Armin. Ymir had sauntered off ahead of her with ease hours before, snickering as she pulled ahead. The last stragglers, Eren and Armin had paired off to take a different route a half hour earlier and she was virtually alone in this stretch of the forest. With any luck, she’d make it back to the trainee barracks before dinner, but she wasn’t hopeful. The sun was already sinking into the west, the chill of early autumn already setting into the air around her.

The weight abruptly lifting off of her back was unexpected. It set her off balance and she plopped backward into the dirt. Two large boots stopped in front of her, then knees as the stranger knelt down to her level.

“I didn’t mean to knock you over. It looked like you could use the help.”

Reiner’s rugged face filled her vision as he stooped down, her pack slung over his shoulder over his own. A light blush stained the ridges of his cheekbones, but the hint of a sheepish smile tugging at the corner of his thin lips clued Krista into his unspoken apology- and amusement.

“Was it that obvious?” she grinned at him, and took the moment to swipe her brow with the back of her jacket. Unintended or not, the rest was deeply appreciated. His blush deepened at her smile, but he returned it in kind.

“Well, you are in last place.”

Krista grimaced at his assessment and he stood abruptly, offering her his large hand in aid. Gratefully, she took it.

“Thanks for stoppi-aaaAAHH!” she squealed as he hefted her up with more force than necessary, almost knocking her forward into the ground again.

“Sorry!” Reiner righted her and rubbed his neck self-consciously. “Didn’t realize you were so light.”

“Oh, not you too. Ymir keeps complaining that I’ll never make it as a soldier if I don’t gain some weight,” she grumbled and dusted herself off. The sky was shot with red and orange, denoting the lateness of the day. “What’re you doing so far back here anyways?”

Reiner cleared his throat and ignored her question, glancing at the sky as well.

“We should get going, unless we want to skip dinner,” he said and started to run on the trail again, still burdened by both packs.

“Hey, wait!” Krista scrambled to catch up with him. His legs were so much longer than hers were! “Reiner, you can’t carry my pack! It’s against the rules!”

“I won’t tell if you won’t,” he called over his shoulder, shooting a grin in her direction and she huffed, increasing her speed to catch up with him.

—

When they arrived back at the barracks, it was full dark and the dinner bell was already chiming. Krista’s legs felt like jelly, and she doubled over with her hands on her knees, desperately trying to catch the breath she’d lost an hour before. While the absence of the extra weight had definitely helped, Reiner hadn’t slowed his pace, requiring her to maintain his brisk jog. More of a flat-out run for her if she was honest with herself.

She had noticed him watching her out of the corner of his eye, and Reiner had adjusted his speed almost imperceptibly depending on how tired she must have looked. It was considerate of him, but when she’d mentioned it, he’d just snorted and kept his eyes straight forward from then on. He also refused to give her pack back to her, insisting that if she took it back they would never make it back before midnight.

Reiner dropped her pack to the ground next to her hunched form, and pulled his own off his back, letting it dangle in his fist.

“At least we made it back for dinner,” he mused, and Krista could hear the smirk in his voice without looking up. She still couldn’t manage to lift her head from its dropped position.

“Breathing...shouldn’t be...this hard,” she panted, gasping when she completed her sentence, and he chuckled.

“It’s easier if you stand and put your hands up over your head.”

“I don’t think I’ll...ever move again,” she complained, and started at the feel of his large, warm hands on her back, straightening her up. Gently, Reiner maneuvered her arms over her head until she was upright. She could feel her airway straighten, and almost groaned at the relief the fresh air provided. “Oh, that is much better. Remind me to listen to you more often!”

“Krista!” a voice barked from outside the mess hall. Framed by the light of the hall spilling onto the porch, Ymir’s stoic form strode down the stairs and stopped, her arms crossed as she eyed the pair. Her eyes narrowed to slits, watching them. Reiner dropped his hands from Krista’s sides like he’d been burnt and Krista could feel the loss of his body heat as he took a quick step away from her. She hadn’t noticed how much heat he radiated- like a furnace. She shivered in the sudden absence.

“Last again? Hurry up or all the food’ll be gone,” Ymir ordered with a jerk of her head. Instead of returning to the hall, she stayed planted, watching them. Breathing easier, Krista dropped her arms from her head and turned around, scooping up her pack before turning up to look at him. His eyes were trained on Ymir, but dropped to hers at her movement.

“Thanks for the help today, Reiner,” she smiled sweetly, and he grinned back, lopsided and sheepish. “Hopefully, I won’t be so dreadful next time.”

“I didn’t mind,” Reiner admitted, eyes darting back up to the mess hall quickly. “I…liked your company.”

“Oh...me too.” Krista felt her face heat, and turned quickly so he couldn’t see it. Not that he would be looking at her anyways.

“Well, thanks,” she called hurriedly and scampered over to where Ymir stood waiting like a silent watchdog. She didn’t notice the way Ymir and Reiner stood with gazes locked. Their eyes didn’t break until she had made it into the mess hall. With a smirk, Ymir turned on her heel and followed the tiny blonde back inside.

—

He shouldn’t have been keeping tabs on her during their field test. He shouldn’t have stopped to help her. He shouldn’t have enjoyed spending time with her and he certainly shouldn’t have admitted to it. He was here to graduate- becoming a soldier in the interior was his only goal. Should be his only goal. But he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy every second he’d spent in her presence that evening.

Rather than enter the mess, Reiner made for the barracks. He didn’t want to spend the meal exchanging territorial glares with Ymir over his plate. He knew he shouldn’t rise to the bait. He had no claim to Krista. It didn’t matter that they spent this evening together when she’d spent almost every day with Ymir since training began three months ago.

Krista and Ymir hadn’t known each other before enlisting, or so they said, but Ymir had doggedly trailed Krista’s every step since the first night. Not that Reiner had noticed. It was just that…he hadn’t seen another girl like her before. Someone so relentlessly optimistic and positive. She practically shone with an inner light that made his heart ache when he looked too close. How could someone still be so pure in the fucked up world they inhabited? Here, of all places? He was enchanted by her. It was just an infatuation that would fade with time, he was sure of it.

Running on autopilot, he dropped his pack and stripped his gear. Despite teasing Krista about missing dinner, seeing her leave with Ymir had left a sour taste in his mouth. He didn’t think he could choke down a bite. With a sigh, he flopped back onto his bottom bunk in the corner. When they had moved in, Bertolt and he had commandeered the corner bunks next to the door. They had a window to themselves, and more privacy than the other recruits. Privacy was a hard thing to come by in the cramped and decidedly masculine barracks, and as such, was a hotly traded commodity. He’d taken the bottom bunk, and strung up a sheet over the outside so he could close it for sleep.

Or now, he thought as he pulled it shut. He didn’t want to be disturbed when the other recruits came back from the mess. They’d all chat and socialize for a while after eating, he knew, and he didn’t feel up to it. When the door banged open 20 minutes later, their loud, energized voices filled up the small wooden room, echoing into his tented seclusion.

“Missed you at dinner, Reiner,” Connie called, slapping his hand open palm on the outside of the sheet. It ruffled inward at the intrusion and from behind it Reiner rolled his eyes. Not a moment’s peace.

“Wasn’t feeling up to it,” he replied, but he didn’t get up or remove the sheet. He slung his arm over his eyes and hoped that the devils would leave him be. He couldn’t maintain his mask in this mood, he’d just grouch at them and ruin the big brother persona they had already began to ascribe to him. He and Bertolt were two of the oldest there, and the younger boys were already looking up to them.

“Can I join you?” Bertolt stuck his head around the sheet near his feet, his brows drawn in worry. “I brought you some food.”

Reiner relented and pulled himself up, sitting cross-legged at the back of the bunk as Bertolt awkwardly arranged his lanky limbs in a mirrored stance at the other end. From inside his jacket, he pulled out two dinner rolls and a small hunk of hard white cheese.

“Krista helped me sneak it out,” he explained and Reiner couldn’t ignore the way his chest tightened at the thought. She’d noticed he wasn’t at dinner. Had she alerted Bertolt to that fact? Was she planning on bringing him the food herself? The idea strangely helped his appetite return. Rather than reply, he tore into a bread roll with his teeth and chewed vigorously.

“She was going to bring it herself, but Ymir put her foot down. You know how she is,” Bertolt continued, ignorant the effect his words were having on his partner. “Krista said it was to pay you back. Did you help her during training today or something?”

“Something like that,” Reiner replied, still chewing. While Bertolt appreciated the efforts he went through to blend in, he was sure he wouldn’t appreciate him breaking the rules for another recruit. They only had one goal after all. Reprimands and docked points did nothing to aid in that goal.

“You must be tired to have skipped dinner. I’ll let you rest.” As awkwardly as he’d arranged himself, Bertolt uncurled his legs and exited Reiner’s bunk. The creaking above settled as Bertolt found a comfortable position to fold himself into for the night.

Reiner quickly polished off the rest of his haphazard meal, and settled back in the bunk, one arm curled up under his head as he stared at the slats above him, lost in thought. As the rest of the barracks drifted off to their bunks for the night, the sound slowly died down to murmured whispers and soft snores, and Reiner Braun turned the blonde angel’s motivations over in his mind late into the night.

—

A/N: What do you think? This is my first Reikuri story, but I just had to write them because they are too darn cute! Besides, this tiny canoe of a ship needs some more content, don't you think? Please feel free to like and reblog, I live for the feedback and interactions! I have a 2 week publishing schedule, and I've already finished through chapter 5, so we'll see how long I can keep that up! I hope you enjoy the story!

#reikuri #reiner braun #reiner x krista #reiner x christa #reiner x historia #reinerxhistoria #Historia Reiss #krista renz #rarepair #attack on titan #snk #fanfiction #mirrored masks #ao3 #fanfiction.net

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kwnblack · 8 years

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Newer version of this drawing here.

So. About SNK’s pairings.

I ship ReinerxHistoria ( I don’t care if she is a lesbian or with Ymir or whatever, Reiner and Historia are perfect together, period) and BertholdtxAnnie (well, obviously) with all my heart.

I mean, wouldn’t be awesome if these two couples got married and stuff and had kids? EH? Wouldn’t be awesome? Also season 2 is coming out

*internal screaming*

I REGRET NOTHING

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jeztereddin · 7 years

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Top favorite ships

ArminxAnnie Top fav MikasaxAnnie 2nd top fav LevixHange ErenxMikasa HangexAnnie YmirxHistoria YmirxArmin ConniexSasha JeanxMarco ReinerxBertholdt YmirxAnnie These are my favorites I actually ship pretty much everyone and anyone together kinda like one big orgy if you wanna think like that idk, I’m more of a dork an fluff person though but I do know good smut when I see it XD LEAST FAV SHIPS ErenxLevi BertholdtxAnnie ReinerxHistoria I still ship these just dont care much for em. .

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heichouanniesan · 10 years

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I edited it Because i love this ship Match made in heaven

#reikuri #edited by my self #reinerxhistoria #reiner x christa #reiner x krista #SnK #aot #sweet couple

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annieshakespeare · 5 years

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Spirited Away crossover 😍😍😍💕💕💕 credit by Artist (tell me if you know^^) #rivetra #rivetrafeels #rivetrafriday #rivetraweek #rivetraweek #levixpetra #shingekinokyojin #erenjaeger #zekejaeger #shingekinokyojin #jeankasa #snk #aot #eremika #ereani #ereria #erenia #erenxhistoria #bertholdtxannie #reinerxchrista #reinerbraun #reinerxhistoria #reinerxannie #erenxmikasa #attackontitan #attackontitanedit #rivetra #leviackerman #erenjaeger #zekejaeger #shingekinokyojin #shingekinokyoujin #springles #levixpetra #aruani #jeankasa #snk #aot #eremika #ereani #ereria #erenia #erenxhistoria #bertholdtxannie #reinerxchrista #reinerbraun #reinerxhistoria #reinerxannie #erenxmikasa https://www.instagram.com/p/BlUsrJQHRc9/?igshid=1bm4jmixwsh2h

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danipopplers · 6 years

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Mirrored Masks Chapter 4

Tell me what you think!! You can also read it on AO3 and FF.Net.

The snow fell in large white chunks, quickly coating the frozen ground below in white, obscuring all manner of dirt and hoofprints. Without sound or warning, the winter storm had snuck up on them, slowly blotting out the sky and erasing all landscape markers. And the animals were all still out in it.

Krista felt the panic bubble up her throat, but she swallowed it down. This camp was practically in the south compared to where she had been raised. She’d dealt with snow before. She’d been raised on a damn farm! She could do this. She rounded on Reiner, who was still frozen in place, staring out the barn door in shock.

“All of the animals are still out there. We have to get them back here before we lose all visibility, and we have to act fast, or we’ll get trapped here until it passes ourselves.” She grimaced at the thought. The barns weren’t heated, and didn’t keep human food on hand. At least she had asked Reiner to help her today, otherwise she’d be stuck in this mess all alone. He blinked down at her a few times as she issued her orders. “You finish up the stalls, then go see if you can herd to pigs into the other barn. Don’t forget the piglets- there should be eight. The chickens will hole up in their coop during the snow- they know enough to get out of the cold- but you have to lock the coop once they’re all inside.”

“And what are you going to do?” he asked incredulity.

“I’m going after the horses and cattle,” she said grimly. The swoop of Reiner’s eyebrows down into a frown would’ve been comedic if the situation wasn’t so dire.

“Like hell you are! You’ll get stuck out there!”

“They’ll get stuck out there if I don’t go!” she retorted, leaning back from his vehemence. This was her chance to prove that she wasn’t weak- to the other soldiers and to herself. She wasn’t going to pass on this, no matter how deadly the situation. “I know where they like to hang out in the pasture, it’s not far from here.”

“Then tell me where to go and I’ll do it!” Reiner snapped, glaring down at her. He crossed his arms over his broad chest, his tone beginning to escalate.

“You’ll just get lost. And they know me. They won’t come to you.” Krista turned away, heading for the stables equipment room. There were plenty of horse blankets and saddle pads in there- she could borrow one for the journey. Her thoughts turned fatalistic as she weighed her chances of return. “Besides, those animals are worth more than my life to the military.”

“Well, they aren’t to me,” Reiner growled, tailing after her. She could feel her stomach flip over at his confession, but there wasn’t time for that. Every second they spent arguing was another second the animals could get lost in the drifts. She shook out a blanket and wrapped it snuggly around herself and over her head, tucking the ends into her belt so her hands still had free range, and secured a single lead around her body like a sash. Reiner’s bulky frame filled the door, heaving shoulders silhouetted by the snow outside. She paused for a moment, soaking in his concern. Slowly, she came to a stop in front of him, and placed a hand carefully on his chest as an act of reassurance. She tilted her head up to look at his shadowed face and closed expression.

“Trust me. I’ll be back before you know it.” He searched her face for a moment, before turning slightly to allow her out of the room. A large hand closed over her elbow as she passed.

“At least let me come with you,” he pleaded in hushed tones, molten gold eyes boring into hers. Softly shaking her head, she removed his hand.

“Someone has to take care of the animals here. We both have jobs to do. Trust me,” she repeated, before spinning on her heel and sprinting out into the snow. ---

He’d let her go. Like a damned idiot, he’d let her go. Out into a fucking snow storm. Alone. What was he thinking? He allowed himself only a moment of self-loathing before turning distractedly to his assigned tasks. Krista was out there risking her life after all. The least he could do was follow her orders.

Abandoning the last 3 stalls, he started with the chickens. The snow outside was decreasing visibility by the minute, and if it weren’t for the barns proximity, he might have gotten lost on the way. A fresh wave of panic for Krista threatened to overtake him, but he swallowed it down. Krista has asked him to trust her- he was simply going to have to.

Their coop backed up into the second barn, making it easy to find. The hens had already taken shelter in their little house. They squawked loudly in protest when he stuck his head inside to count them, so he simply locked it down before moving onto the pigs. The pig pen was up against the other side of the barn, and the furless things were huddled together in one corner for warmth. Considering he could already feel his insides quaking with cold, he didn’t blame them. Each pig had a steadily increasing coating of snow on their backs.

There wasn’t an entrance from the pen directly into the building that he could see. He’d have to take them one by one. The problem was, the pigs were big. No one had warned them that pigs were at least the size of a normal human. One was almost as big as he was. He went around to open up the barn, sighing as a gust of warm air bowled into him. The side barn was much smaller than the stables, not used for housing animals as much as it was for storage. There was only one stall, luckily not occupied by any of the boxes and barrels that lined the walls, filled with stale musty straw. That would have to do.

Grabbing the length of rope hooked along the wall, Reiner made his way back to the pen. He’d start with the large one first. It seemed to be the leader, judging by its size and the way it shifted in front of the others to face him when he entered their space. They were cold and scared, and he had little desire to test if pigs could eat a person as well as a titan.

Carefully, Reiner approached the largest animal, looping the rope around its neck. It snorted at him, and began to yank on the rope, quickly panicking itself and the others. Squeals stamps filled the small space, quickly lost in the echo of the frozen air. The creature dug its cloven hooves into the rapidly freezing mud, squealing when Reiner tried to tug it towards the gate. Reiner heaved, succeeding in dragging the pig to the exit, before shutting the gate on the others. Piglets screamed below the other two pigs, calling out for their missing family member.

Reiner slumped against the stall door after he finally managed to shove the pig through behind it, exhausted. Krista had been right- the animals didn’t know him and it was proving a chore to get them to listen to him at all. Thinking of Krista churned his stomach with anxiety, and he hauled himself to his feet to finish the job she’d assigned him. We both have jobs to do rang in his ears.

The other pigs proved easier than the first had been. They were small enough that they couldn’t yank against the rope as much, and without their leader to bolster their confidence, they followed him with little complaint. The piglets squealed like they’d been stuck as he chased them down one by one in the deepening snow, but they quieted once they were all deposited in the stall with their mother. All eight- he’d carefully counted them as he went.

The wind picked up as he was finishing, whistling ice in through the cracks in the wooden slats. The stables almost couldn’t be seen from the barn as the snow continued the fall. Before he left for the stables, he made sure to crack open the thin sheen of ice growing ominously atop the water trough of the stall. ----

Wind and ice swirled around Krista as she trudged through the quickly rising snow. It was already to her ankles, without showing signs of letting up. At least they still had three more hours of daylight. Guilt gnawed at her insides as her mind flitted back to Reiner’s desperate face as she’d left. There was nothing to be done for it, though. There hadn’t been another choice. And if someone was going to sacrifice themselves, she’d rather it be her than him.

Krista tugged her makeshift blanket-coat tighter around her face, trying to avoid the sting of the icy wind. Her nose had stopped transmitting feeling fifteen minutes earlier. It would be a surprise if she still had one after this. By her estimates, she still had another few hundred meters to go before she reached the pond. Located at the other end of the pasture, the small natural pond was surrounded by a clump of trees and long cattails. It wasn’t very deep, and in the hottest parts of the year, Krista would often find several of the animals wading into the deep water to cool off. Since it was the only available water source outside of the troughs, and the only place where the trees stood close enough together to offer shade, it was a favorite of the cattle and horses alike. She just had to get there first.

A particularly large gust of wind almost knocked her off her feet, but the resulting stumble kept her upright. She had promised Reiner she would be back. She had asked him to trust her. She had to make good on that. She continued on step by step. One foot in front of the other.

Through the howling white swarm, she could just make out the blurred outline of trees. The sun had all but disappeared since she set out, but Krista’s had a decent internal compass, and she had allowed it to steer her way. It apparently had paid off. The pond was up ahead, and that meant the animals would be too.

It wasn’t long before huddled masses of large shapes came into view, scattered under the tree clumps. Tails whipped furiously around their owners, and ears laid flat against their heads in an effort to stave off frostbite. The poor babies. Her heart broke for them, but she was here to fix this. She could do this. Just like any other day of leading them back inside.

A loud snap cracked through the air, and Krista froze in place. Experimentally, she pivoted one foot. It slid, and she was rewarded with a soft crackle echoing up towards her. Dread clawed up her throat as she looked down at her feet. The pond had already began to freeze over, thin layers of spider web ice reaching out from the bank. With the snow, and her hurry to reach the animals, she hadn’t noticed that she had stumbled onto it.

She wracked her brain to remember what she was supposed to do in this situation. This was an entirely new experience for her, but that didn’t hold true for the rest of the kids in the small farming town she came from. A boy had been sucked under the ice and drowned three years before she’d enlisted, she recalled with a grimace. What a horrible way to go, and not one she cared to emulate.

Carefully, Krista crouched on the ice, anxiety spiking with every crunch and crack. She couldn’t be too far out into the pond, and even if she cracked through, it wasn’t deep enough to drown. At least she didn’t think so- she wasn’t exactly the tallest person. More like shortest in the whole camp. And the plunging temperature almost guaranteed she’d succumb to hypothermia before making it back if she got wet. As it was, her chances of making it back before hypothermia set in dry weren’t looking good.

How long would Reiner wait before coming out to look for her, she wondered?

When she reached low enough that her hands could touch the ice, she placed them down, fingers spread wide to absorb the weight she shifted to all fours. Wincing at the burn of the ice on her hands, she slid each limb forward, individually and incrementally. Left foot, right hand, left hand, right foot. Inch by inch. The ice burned, and the wind threatened to knock her off balance.

Finally, her hands dug forward into snow drifts with hard, solid dirt below. She scrambled up the bank, chest heaving with relief. The adrenaline that had been coursing like white fire through her veins slowly dissipated. She couldn’t spend much time recovering though. The hooves stamping behind her jolted her back to the present, and she heaved herself up to standing, willing her heart to still.

Putting two frozen fingers to her lips, Krista whistled loud and long. The few horses and cows closest to her twitched their ears and turned to stare, but the sound was lost to the wind for the rest of the animals. She could work with this though. She approached the closest horse, running her hand soothingly down it’s flank as she approached its nose. When she reached its face she almost gasped in relief, stroking the long grey face. Stormy. The biggest of the horses, and the leader of the group. The other horses would follow single file if she could get him to listen.

“Hey, sweet boy,” she cooed, stroking his soft snout, allowing warmth to seep into her voice. “You must be so cold out here.” Carefully, she pulled the lead over her head. He started at the sight, and shied away with pawing stomps. Stormy was more temperamental than the other horses- hence the name- but he’d listened to her before. He could again.

“Oh no you don’t,” she hummed, keeping the musical lilt. Horses didn’t know what you were saying; they only cared about tone. She raised the rope length again, and took a small step towards him. “Come on, you big baby. Let me get this lead on you. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

One large black eye blinked at her, ears twitching forwards and back in annoyance. She stroked his nose, shushing and cooing as she brought the rope up to his face. The eye tracked the movement. He shook his head once in defiance, but she continued patiently. With a practiced hand, she slid the rope up and over his ears without breaking contact or alerting him to it. He snorted, but didn’t yank on it when she began to walk him forward.

This was the moment. The other animals would either follow his lead, or she’d have to try another plan. Not that she had one. Hesitantly, Stormy followed her out of the safety of the trees and into the building snow drifts. His wide hooves cut thick paths through the snow, leaving trails behind him. Krista risked a glance back behind him.

It was working! The other animals were slowly leaving the clump of trees to follow after him, single file as they hunched against the wind. She could only make out about five back, but she could see at least one dairy cow- Annabell, it looked like- and more horses. As long as they stayed in a neat line, and followed Stormy, they would all make it back alright. Provided Stormy continued to follow her.

The storm had already erased any trace of her original journey to the pond. She couldn’t see more than two or three meters ahead of her, although with nothing but swirling white, it was hard to tell if it was even that far. Her hands ached from the cold, but she kept them wrapped tightly around the lead rope. Mentally, she counted back. How long had she been out here? An hour? Two? It was impossible to tell without a visible sun, but she knew she had to get them back soon. If they were caught out here after the sun went down...she didn’t want to think about it.

She trudged forward for what felt like hours, pushing her way through the snow and occasional hail. One foot in front of the other, trusting her instincts- and Stormy’s- to guide her back to the barn. On a clear day, it would’ve still been visible from the pond at the other end of the pasture. Now she could barely see her hand in front of her face, let alone the building. The horses whinnied in disapproval everytime the wind gusted and the cows bellowed in fright, but the fact that she could hear them at all was heartening. That meant they were still following her lead, at least. She hoped none of them got lost in the storm. Turning back was no longer an option. She clenched Stormy’s rope tighter.

Step by step. One foot in front of the other.

#mirrored masks #snk #attack on titan #reiner braun #reiner x krista #reiner x christa #reinerxhistoria #reiner x historia #krista lenz #Historia Reiss #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction.net #archive of our own #ao3

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danipopplers · 6 years

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Mirrored Masks Chapter 3

And chapter 3 is up! You can read it on AO3 or FF.Net as well. Tell me what you think!!

They were friends now, Reiner supposed. He wasn’t sure what else to call it. Krista actively sought him out now, so he supposed that made them friends. She waved and smiled at him when he passed her by in camp. She asked him for help when they were cleaning their vertical maneuvering equipment. She even sat with him when Ymir had morning meal duty. It was almost more than he could take.

He could feel his preoccupation with her growing with every sweet smile she directed his way. Everytime she said his name, his heart clenched. He was supposed to be focusing on becoming a top tier soldier in the military. Yet, every smile ripped through his chest, blasting a hole in his warrior core and replacing it with honor and duty and...something else he couldn’t name. At least not yet. Instead of fading away, his infatuation was growing stronger. It was cementing itself inside the cracks in his soul and worming its way into his mind. He wanted to be the soldier she thought he was. To be worthy of her. Krista was gentle and kind, and it made him want to be too, instead of the monster he knew himself to be.

She didn’t tell anyone about that night. Whether out of her own embarrassment, or simply following his lead, he couldn’t be sure. She didn’t mention him carrying her, or her falling asleep in his arms. Part of him wanted to tell the entire camp that he’d held that angel in his arms- that she trusted him- but a larger part of him wanted to keep that memory to himself to treasure in private.

Her increased interactions with him had not gone unnoticed by the squad either. They drew side eyes and ribbing when they spoke together in public, to Reiner’s bone-deep embarrassment. Zeroing in on his blood in the water, his crush was becoming a hot topic of teasing in the boys barracks. They delighted in the light mocking, and Connie had taken to fake swooning whenever he walked through a door, much to his chagrin. Reacting to it made it worse, so he tried to suffer in silence.

Ymir routinely shot daggers his way at meal time, particularly when Krista chose his company to eat with- which admittedly wasn’t often. She often tried to steer Krista in another direction when she saw him coming, and more than once, she’d interrupted their conversations to drag Krista off for whatever urgent matter she had thought up in the moment. Reiner was sure she had a stockpile of them waiting in her head for moments such as those. Krista seemed oblivious to the hostility, and continued to seek him out daily.

The other soldiers weren’t the only ones who had noted the difference either. His fellow warriors were beginning to take note of their closeness as well. Bertolt watched them interact closely, and while he didn’t attempt to stop him, Reiner could see his eyes tighten every time he indulged in her. Annie, however, was more vocal about it. Well- as vocal as Annie could be.

“Why are you even bothering making friends?” she had hissed at him during hand to hand. She had subdued him into a headlock, so she could reach to whisper in his ear. “You know that never ends well.” Reiner had shaken her off with a glare and a well placed heel, but the words had rattled around in his head for days. He’d even ignored Krista’s wave the next day, and hadn’t stopped to talk with her. The hurt look on her face had been too difficult to bear repeating the behavior.

Slowly he began to seek her out as well. He began to initiate some of the conversations. She seemed to welcome them, and her happiness at seeing him couldn’t be faked- could it? She seemed to really enjoy his company. He sincerely doubted that, but she’d even said so herself. How could someone as pure as her want to speak with someone as monstrous as himself?

—

Winter was creeping into the camp at a relentless pace as the weeks after that fateful field test wore on. The camp had yet to experience their first true snowfall, but light flurries served as a reminder of what was coming. All the windows were iced over each morning, and fogged breath trailed after each recruit like titan smoke. The cold was adding difficulty to their daily chores, but that didn’t mean the workload had lessened. There were still meals to prepare, wood to chop, equipment to maintain, and animals to care for. Krista’s favorite job by far was the latter.

The training camp was in possession of two dozen horses, ten dairy cows, three pigs (one of whom had recently had an out-of-season set of piglets), and a smattering of chickens, ranging from a dozen to as little as four depending on how fast the foxes were that season. The civilian population was not wrong in saying all the best food was wasted on the military. It was an exorbitant amount of livestock for a camp that housed around a hundred people. Granted, the horses weren’t for eating, but the other animals amounted to a small fortune each. And they each required their own food and care according to their species needs. It was exhausting work for most. But not Krista.

Farm blood ran deep, and she was no exception. She’d been raised tending to animals on a small farm inside Wall Sina. Animals had been her friends when the other children were cruel. They had been her escape from an indifferent mother and absent father. Creatures were kind and simple. It didn’t take much to understand them, and they offered their love without conditions. Something that Krista had had precious little of in her life.

It looked like snow on the morning she was assigned livestock duty. The grey clouds were heavy and dense in the sky overhead. Icy moisture permeated the air and whipping wind stung her cheeks pink, but Krista didn’t mind. While she would have to feed them and clean out their stalls and pens like usual, the cold weather also assured she’d have to stable the animals for the night as well. All of them. It was no small task, even for one of her experience. And with Ymir assigned to bunk cleaning duty, she knew just who to ask for help.

“Reiner, hey!” she called, waving the giant down. He stopped and turned at the sound of her voice. His face didn’t change, but Krista was getting pretty good at reading his stoic expressions. Whenever she called to him, his eyes crinkled at the corners and warmed, thawing his yellow eyes to molten gold. She liked to think that it was just for her.

“Morning, short stuff.”

She giggled at the name, reveling in the butterflies it elicited in her stomach. He was slowly becoming accustomed to speaking to her, and the more often she sought him out, the more comfortable he was around her.

“What were you assigned this morning?”

He shrugged casually, an easy roll of one broad shoulder. “Equipment maintenance.”

“Would you want to blow it off for me? I have a load of work with the animals today. Normally I’d be able to-”

“Sure,” he agreed easily, cutting through her stream of explanations.

“Are you sure? You could get in trouble,” she reminded him. He never seemed to mind getting in trouble for her, but that didn’t mean she had to like it, even if she was explicitly asking him to do it. The corner of Reiner’s mouth quirked up on one side.

“Hey Jean! Can you cover for me at equipment maintenance?” he threw over his shoulder, eyes sliding from her face to the boy walking a few meters behind them.

“Oh sure! Put it all off on me!” Jean grouched back, but nodded his head in agreement.

“Thanks! I owe you.” He turned back to Krista with a smirk and raised eyebrow. If it weren’t for the frigid temperature, she might have melted into the dirt. “Easy.”

Krista rolled her eyes- more for his benefit than hers as she was utterly charmed- and turned on her heel towards the stables. The animals were kept several hundred meters away from the other buildings, though their fields did butt up against a few. The stables and barns themselves were kept farther away, about a kilometer and a half. It wasn’t the safest choice, but whoever had built the camp was more interested in the smell than the security. Since the camp was already in the middle of nowhere, there really wasn’t a risk of bandits, just other animals.

“So what am I helping you with?” Reiner asked, matching her pace casually with his hands in his pockets. Meanwhile, she was taking two steps for every one of his, trying desperately to not jog. That would be humiliating.

“I normally have a lot of work to do with them anyways, but with this weather…” She looked up at the heavy clouds, her brow creasing in worry. “We’ll have to make sure we get them in for the night before it snows.”

“We have to make it back before it snows too, you know,” Reiner mused, observing the sky with her.

“Yes, I know. As much as I’d like to have a sleepover with them, I think we’d better not,” she giggled. They talked the rest of the walk, with occasional lulls into comfortable silence. She had to skip a few times to keep up with Reiner’s long strides, drawing a laugh from him each time. She didn’t really mind his laughter. It wasn’t mean or cutting like the others who had laughed at her in her past. His laugh sounded almost charmed, buoyant and light. Kind.

When they arrived at the stables, several of the cattle began to walk towards the part of the fence closest to her, swinging their low heads back and forth in welcome. She stopped to scratch a few large floppy ears before heading into the buildings.

“Hello, my lovelies,” she cooed into the stables, and was answered with a chorus of whinneys and hoof stamps. The stables smelled of hay, and manure, and warmth, and love. She breathed in deeply, eyes closed with the nostalgia it invoked within her. The stables always centered her. It was a safe place. She was pleased she could share it with Reiner. Shyly, Krista opened her eyes and glanced over at him, only to find him staring at her intently with a strange look on his face.

“What?” she asked, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear self consciously.

“N-nothing,” Reiner stammered back. He averted his eyes to glance around the stables, granting Krista a glimpse of red tipped ears.

“These are the stables,” she said unnecessarily, with a sweep of her arm, and began to walk down the row of stalls, stopping to rub the nose of each horse as she passed. “This is Cinnamon, and Ginger, and Cocoa. They’re sisters. This one is Stormy- he’s a big boy. This is Poppy and Lily…” She continued down the line of horses, naming them off as she went until she got to the end. Reiner trailed behind her, bewildered.

“I didn’t realize they all had names,” he admitted and Krista scrunched her nose up in derision.

“They aren’t supposed to, since we use them for dangerous military operations. But I thought they deserved names,” she shrugged. It had been her tiny act of defiance in the face of the military. If animals were her friends, then they deserved to have names. Reiner grinned at that, head cocking to the side as he looked down at her.

“Makes sense to me. Now you dragged me out here for my help. What’d you need?”

—

Krista had not been kidding when she said livestock duty was a lot of work. It was grueling, long, and complicated. Reiner was amazed she’d been able to work the job on her own in the past, let alone preferred it. It was exhausting, but Krista was showing no signs of stopping. Miraculously, she maintained her chipper addittue the entire time. She really seemed to be in her element- happy and glowing. It was mesmerizing.

She’d put him to work immediately, mucking out the stalls that were vacated as she led the horses to the fields in an orderly line that would make school children weep. Reiner was no stranger to hard work, or livestock care, but it was a mountainous task she had set him on. Or at least he’d thought so. When she stopped him at mid afternoon for a snack break, he still had three stalls to go. Meanwhile, she had already milked the cattle, gathered the eggs, and fed the pigs.

“Still haven’t finished?” she teased. Her eyes twinkled with amusement, causing his heart to sputter momentarily in his chest. Krista held up her basket for his inspection as she neared him, grinning. Inside were 5 brown speckled eggs. “Not a bad haul for the season.”

Reiner, who wouldn’t particularly know, nodded wisely. She giggled and placed the basket in a corner, before turning back to him and jerking her head for him to follow her. Intrigued, Reiner leaned his shovel on the wall of the stall he was still working on. When he turned back, she was disappearing around the corner at the end of the stalls.

The stables were the largest of the two barns, one long hallway with barn doors on either end and stalls along the sides. Since it was the largest, it also had the most storage in the loft as well. Most of the hay and alfalfa was stored in the second story, with a free standing ladder leading up into the small hole in the ceiling. A small hole that Reiner was now staring up at quizzically, wondering if he would fit.

“What’re you waiting for?” Krista’s head appeared at the hole, eyes dancing with amusement and giggled. She was fast, and light on her feet- he had to give her that. Even with all his training, he hadn’t heard the ladder when she’d ascended. Her head disappeared again above him, and he scrambled up the ladder swiftly, wedging his bulky frame through the opening.

The loft was surprisingly beautiful, in a soft sort of way. The light filtering in wasn’t as bright as Reiner suspected it usually was, due to the overcast day, but it still maintained its air of magic. Golden hay bales piled up to the slanted roof, surrounding the opening. Small walkways were carved between them so that one could make their way deeper to alfalfa and grains, branching out like the narrow mouths of mazes. The bales linked up like blocks, giving the impression of massive staircases winding endlessly upward.

Krista was already perched up two levels of hay, legs crossed neatly. She giggled as she watched him wiggle through the gap and waved to get his attention. On the straw next to her, she’d already laid out their snack for the day. Even if they were military, they still only got two full meals a day. The benefit of working one of the harder jobs was that you were provided with a midday snack to make it to dinner. Unfortunately, only one of them had been assigned this difficult job and had the food to show for it.

“I know you didn’t get a snack for today, so I thought we could share,” she explained shyly and Reiner felt his chest tighten. She was so generous. Is she this way with everyone or is it just...with me? With an apologetic smile, she held out a crusty wheat roll in one dainty hand and a small, wizened apple in the other. “Not a great choice for today, but you can have first pick?”

“I don’t want to take your food, Krista,” Reiner hedged, looking from the food, to her face. Even perched higher up, their faces were almost the same height. She was so small, surely she needed this more than him? He could feel him mind drag itself back to carrying her. Even in full gear, she was a feather.

“Don’t be silly,” she smiled widely, eyes creasing at the corners. “You’re doing this job too, right?”

Without giving him a moment to consider, she tossed the roll his way. Instincts kicked in before he had time to make a decision, and his hand reached out to snatch it out of the air. With an innocent blink of her large, blue eyes, she bit into her apple, chewing loudly to prove her point. Reiner chuckled at her and sank heavily down onto the bale below her.

“You’re deceptively stubborn, you know that?”

She snickered, and nodded, still crunching through her bite. Taking her cue, he bit into his own snack. They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, munching quietly. Wind whistled through the wooden slates, bringing in wisps of cold with it. Reiner simply soaked up her presence, content just to be close to her. That’s all he was supposed to do anyways. Just observe from a distance. What did it matter if that distance happened to be only a few centimeters…?

“Thank you for agreeing to help me today.” Krista’s voice brought him back to the present.

“I can’t say no to you,” Reiner teased, ignoring the way his stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought. It was becoming more and more true.

“Still...it was really nice of you,” she continued. Carefully, she stepped down from her bale to sit next to him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention. A brush of her sleeve against his forearm sent chills up his spine. Every inch of his skin was intimately aware of her proximity.

“You’re a nice person, Reiner.”

“No, I’m not.”

The words were out before he could call them back. The urge to physically reach out his hands and stuff the words back down his throat was overwhelming. Krista, who didn’t seem to notice his inner turmoil, giggled.

“Of course you are. You always help me out when I need it. And there was that time during the field run…” She trailed off and he risked a glance in her direction. He could see her cheeks darken as she gazed down at the apple core in her hands. “Not everyone would stop and help someone so weak.”

There it was. Finally. Weeks after the fact. Without ever having spoken of it aloud, she’d just brought it up like it was nothing. Although, they’d been in the company of others since that day. They hadn’t been alone like this since then. The loft suddenly felt stifling hot, despite the cold creeping in. Reiner had to remind himself to breathe.

“You aren’t weak,” he whispered. His gamble paid off as she looked up at him, large, watery blue eyes meeting his. She smiled up at him sadly, as a shadow fell across her face.

“Sure I am,” she sniffed, and he watched with rapt attention as she gracefully swiped away two tears dangling from the edges of her blonde lashes before they fell. “You had to carry me all the way back. If that isn’t weak, I don’t know what is.” She laughed then, a short, breathless thing that caught in her throat. Reiner hesitated, before plowing forward against his better judgement.

“It wasn’t your fault. You’d hurt your ankle after all. How else would you have made it back?”

“Then I’m glad you were there.” A small, cold, soft hand slipped into his rough one- a reward for his gamble. Her fingers wound around his own as they dug matching finger-shaped gouges in his heart. His mind shattered into pieces around him, his mask solidifying into something real. He could be a soldier. He could be that for her. As quickly as she had entwined her hand in his, she was pulling away, leaving him with nothing but a small squeeze of his hand that he felt echo deep in his chest.

“We should get back to work,” she said softly, and hopped up, dusting herself off casually, as though she hadn’t just left him behind in tattered pieces. He hoped his helplessness wasn’t visible on his face as he watched after her lithe form. He was directionless now, blowing in the wind- she, his anchor.

He followed her numbly down the ladder, as though in a daze. At the bottom, she stood in place, staring out the end of the stables with muted horror on her face. Panic surged in him as he followed her gaze towards the door.

Outside, snow had begun to fall.

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