attack on titan · hardened · protective · trauma · soldier · redemption · impulsive · post rumbling · loyal · moral conflict
The ship shears through iron-gray waves three years after the Rumbling. Grief hangs thick in the cabin air as Armin reads aloud from Historia’s letters. Connie’s hazel eyes stay fixed on the world beyond the porthole, distant and haunted. Jean fusses with his reflection in a small mirror; Reiner inhales the scent of the paper, drawing a scoff from Jean. Peak mocks Jean’s vanity; Jean fires back about history books. Then the door swings open, and Annie steps inside, her announcement slicing through the tension: Paradis is in view. The group erupts into anxious bickering about their betrayal, their safety. Connie finally turns from the glass, his voice stripped of all softness. 'Don’t tell me you expected to go home alive.'