Chilling Standoff

The Wolf Lady finished and passed her first test in the Marley Adventurer's Exam.Out of the 350 examinees that arrived the mainland of Eldia,only around 200 passed the first exam which was a 100 kilometer run in 30 minutes.It took her around 25 minutes to get to finish line.

She sat down on a chair at her balcony.This room doesn't belong to her,it was only temporary since she made it to the next round and will be temporary until she passes or she fails.

The room was average sized with the walls painted in a peachy color with a small oak side table next to it.The sheets and blanket were mustard yellow with a 32 inch TV across from the bed and a small bright red chair in the corner next to it.She wasn't a fan of the combination of colors,but she didn't care about it too much as she was vaping beneath the cloudy sky,wearing her pyjamas consisting of only a black tank top and navy blue jogging pants and brown slippers on her feet.She wasn't planning to go anywhere tonight because she was tired.

She stretched her limbs as she continued to listen to lo-fi music on her laptop through her black headphones via bluetooth as she was always loved lo-fi with its cool and relaxing tone,she even made a couple of amateur lo-fi songs herself a couple of months back.She heard wheels rolling through thin carpet then a knock on her door,breaking the calm silence.

"Who is it?!"She questioned as she put her headphones around her neck.

"Room service,"A female voice answered.

She closed her eyes to smell her surroundings,filtering out the strong tangerine scented air freshener that gassed the room and smelt a faint scent of beef,she got upland opened the door to see a woman with a tray with a plate covered by a steel plate dome on top of a service trolley.

She thanked the woman as she gently closed the door and headed to the small round table in the corner of the room against the wall next to the balcony doors.She lifted the cover to have a strong beefy aroma escaped from the dome,tickling her nose in delight.

The dish was a juicy and greatly seasoned medium well steak with a creamy,caramel colored gravy on top,running down on the sides of it,touching the crispy,golden fries beneath it.She grabbed a fry and ate it,it was crunchy yet soft as she kept chewing.

She was about to place her headphones to continue listening to her music until she heard another pair of faint footsteps in the hallway,they were getting louder and louder until they stopped.

'Someone's at my door again,' The wolf lady thought.

She heard a knock on her door and the aroma of dark chocolate invaded her nostrils.She sighed as she knew who's on the other side of that door.

She opened the door. "Really,Pieck?Dark chocolate?And did you just wake up or something?"

Pieck had long black messy hair,fair skin,a greek nose and dark brown eyes,her eyes were relaxed and slightly downturned, always giving her a tired expression.She was wearing a loose fitted brown sweater and gray jogging pants with fluffy tan colored crocs.

She smiled as she broke a piece off her chocolate bar. "Your sense of smell never ceases to amaze me,Ymir."

Pieck was an old friend that she knew a long time ago.She didn't recognize Pieck at first because it's been 9 years since she's lived in Marley until Pieck approached her and somehow recognized her and they agreed to become allies until they're unable to.

"I don't understand why the hell you like that shit.Dark chocolate is fucking awful,"Ymir told the shorter teen.

"Try some and you'll change your mind,"Pieck said,bringing the chocolate bar closer to the lady's face.

"Yeah…no,I think I would throw up again if I ate some more."

Pieck shrugged. "Wait, you threw up from eating this?Fascinating.Tell me what happened."

The brunette walked to the small table and started to eat a piece of steak. "So what do you want?"

Pieck layed down on her bed. "Nothing,just wanna talk."

"Well, you have other options you can talk to, like Porco or Marcel,maybe even Bertholdt."

Pieck broke another piece of chocolate. "No, I don't feel like talking to them.Porco is not much of a conversationalist,Bert is… well… Bert, and Marcel is not a girl."

"Well,there's a bunch of candidates here who are girls,"Ymir said.

"Yeah,but not my age nor who I know."

The wolf lady grabbed the fork and stabbed a piece of steak and a few fries.

"We haven't seen each other in 9 years,how did you even recognize me?"Ymir asked,curious.

"From an old picture I had back at home,"Pieck answered,closing her eyes. "Your face hasn't really changed since I met you."

"Neither did yours."

She continued to eat her food as Pieck layed down on her bed and she took another piece of her chocolate.

"Why are you here?"Pieck looked at her.

The wolf lady looked at the slightly older teen's dark brown eyes. "Because I want to live better.I have no place to go and ain't no way I'm going to spend the rest of my life doing odd jobs and stealing for cash until I end up dead or get thrown in prison."

"No, why are you here?"She repeated.

Ymir looked at the laying girl for a brief second before understanding what she meant.

"I just…don't want to get distracted,that's all."

"By what,or should I ask… by whom?"

Ymir crossed her arms. "That's none of your business."

She then thought about her,she missed her golden blonde hair,smooth looking fair skin,her large sky blue eyes and her lovely heart shaped face but then she thought about someone else.A boy a year younger than the brunette with his reckless and outgoing nature with a grin that somehow always made her grow a small smile.She wondered if they're both okay.She then shook her head.

'No, I can't worry about them.Not now.They're both strong and I have to believe in them,' She thought.

The raven haired girl smiled. "Something on your mind?"

The she-wolf scoffed and crossed her slender arms. "Nope."

Pieck got up from the bed and headed to the front door but turned to the tall teen.

"You sure you gonna stay inside for the rest of the day?"

She sighed,leaned back and played with her dark brown hair. "Well, I was gonna, but now after that meal,I feel like going for a walk."

"Then I'll join you,"Pieck said,smiling. "We'll continue our conversation from there."

She rolled her brown eyes,grabbed her headphones and took out a dark grey sweater from her black bag and put it on before putting on her pair of all black Nike Air Max 90s.

The two girls walked down the hallway.The walls were sandy yellow with the carpet floor being an apricot color with dark brown polka dots in the shape of rhombuses.They pressed the elevator button and waited.

"Geez,who designed this hotel?The interior designer must've been off his rocker,"the brunette thought as she looked around her surroundings.

"So,what do you think the next test is going to be?"the taller teen asked.

Pieck shrugged. "Don't know,it will most likely be a team event."

The teens entered inside the elevator as its doors opened,only one person was standing inside.He looked to be around her age and was slightly shorter than her with pale skin,shaggy black hair and light blue eyes.He was just wearing a simple white Adidas tracksuit and black Under Armour running shoes.

As the elevator headed down,it felt colder for some reason and she didn't know why.At this point,she could see her own breath as she exhaled.She looked Pieck shivering and then looked at the dark haired teen.

"Hey,stop trying to freeze up the damn elevator,we don't wanna be popsicles,"she said angrily.

The boy glared back as the doors opened. "Quit whining,it wasn't even that long."

The wolf lady growled as he walked out the elevator.The main area had a receptionist desk on the left side with the entrance to the restaurant on the right and the revolving door across from them.

"Great, I'm starting to regret going out," she grumbled.

"We have to be careful with him,"Pieck warned."He's one of the dangerous contestants here and he's probably the type of person to put anyone in an ice cube."

She already knew that from the beginning of the exam from just from the look of him.Her suspicion was confirmed in the speed test when he created a whole mountain of ice that encased the majority of the examinees with some nearly dying of hypothermia and had to go to the medical center to recover.Luckily,she and Pieck weren't hit by the glacier,especially Pieck.It probably would've killed her with her sensitivity to cold temperatures.

"Yeah… i'm already aware of that,"the brunette replied.

The two girls headed outside with the sun shining down on the tall girl's sun-kissed skin.The sky was orange mixed with a faded purple making the dark clouds being tinted in purple and the lighter ones tinted in a light orange.

She took out her dark blue vape pen and started to smoke as they walked down the street.

"You should stop smoking,"Pieck said.

Ymir shrugged. "It's not smoking,it's vaping.And I'll be fine.My lungs will heal back to normal."

She exhaled the smoke out of her nose looking like an angry bull,looking at the sunset sky.

After walking a couple of blocks down,she saw an old cathedral, the walls being white but now light orange because of the sunlight and with a light brown roof being near black because of the same reason.

'That cathedral looks familiar…' She thought as she closed her eyes and let the gentle wind flow through her short dark brown hair.

"I want to get a higher view of the sunset,come follow me,"Pieck said as she pointed at the tallest condo building around with a rooftop garden and then wrapped her tongue around Ymir's slender waist before camouflaging and hopping to the building.

"Hey!You know how much I hate getting your saliva on my clothes!I don't have many clothes,Pieck!"

"I understand but this is the only way we can do it without getting in trouble,"Pieck explained.

"Can they see us?"

Pieck shook her head. "Nope,as long as we keep physical contact,we should be fine.I've trained my camouflage enough to not only make my clothes invisible but objects and other people too."

"Impressive."

Pieck continued to climb as Ymir was just hanging around,smoking her vape pen.

"How long can you keep this up for?"she asked the climbing girl.

Pieck made a ribbit before answering. "I mean,long enough to reach the roof."

Ymir chuckled at her ribbit causing the frog girl's face to redden in embarrassment but the tan skinned girl could see her face because of the reflection of the building.

"My bad,it was funny."

Pieck chuckled too as they continued to climb up to the roof.Pieck eventually climbed over the building,now on top of the roof.

The rooftop garden looked beautiful with the lush patches of grass surrounded by a row of puffy green bushes with few wooden benches spread out here and there,screwed down to the roof with a small greenhouse in the corner of the garden with a couple of patio tables in the middle being only a few feet apart.

The frog girl retracted her tongue back into her mouth and sat down at one of patio tables.Pieck's face went sullen making the taller teen noticed her body language with her averted gaze and sudden silence to conclude that she was a bit upset at Ymir's laugh at her croak.

"Don't worry about it," she said,patting Pieck's back. "It's just an animal thing that we sometimes can't control.Just like me with my nails."

"And your body hair,"Pieck's frown turned into a soft smile. "I noticed a few wax strips in my bathroom garbage when you crashed at my house for a bit before the test."

"Yeah,well I ran out of removal cream so I had to use wax strips till I got some more.I used to have to wax myself two to three times per week to calm the growth down but ever since I got that removal cream,I'll be lucky to even have to wax myself weekly," Ymir explained.

"That removal cream sounds great,how did you come up with such a product?"Pieck asked,curious on how she solved her body hair issue.

"It was a close person who showed me it.I remember it pretty vividly,"Ymir answered before reminiscing about that day.

2 years ago

Ymir was sitting on the couch in her old apartment,searching for better ways to remove hair from her body.Waxing takes too long,shaving isn't effective enough and the hair removal creams she bought were cheap and hardly aided her situation. 

"Hey,what are you searching up?"Her brother appeared behind the couch. 

Ymir got startled and quickly slammed the laptop shut. "What the-?!Nothing,now fuck off!Geez,don't sneak up on me!"

"Well,I noticed a stash of used wax strips in the bottom of the bathroom garbage.Is something up with you?"

"No,there isn't.Don't worry about it."

Her younger brother raised an eyebrow. "Well,I stood here for like 5 minutes and you were looking up ways to get rid of body hair."

Ymir sighed. "Fine.I recently a couple of months ago,I started to notice my body hair growing very fast and I'm trying to find ways to get rid of it.I think it's a side effect of my power."

"Oh,what are the ways that you tried?"

"Waxing and shaving.Waxing is more effective,despite it being a pain in the ass.Plus,it takes too long."

"Isn't there like,hair removal creams to help?"

"I tried,but that cheap shit at the dollar store doesn't work…"

"What about the expensive shit from a mall?" he said,pulling out a 700 ml bottle of hair removal cream.

Ymir looked at it in shock before taking and analyzing the pink bottle. "Where did you get this?"

"At a store in the Ehmrich District," he answered.

"How much did this cost?"

"It was like,70 bucks."

"Why the hell did you buy this?!" she shouted. "We're already tight on money as it is!"

Her brother gave her a smile. "Because I noticed you were struggling with your body hair and I wanted to help you."

"Take it back and get a refund,"She demanded but her brother pushed it back to her.

"No,it's yours."

"No,I will find a better and cheaper product.Take it back."

He shook his head. "No."

The brunette gritted her teeth,exposing her sharp canines. "Take.It.Back."

"No,i bought it for you.Just try it-"

Ymir's fuse went off before yanking him by the collar of his scarlet colored tank top,staring furiously into his eyes. 

"Stop being so stubborn and listen to me!We're short on rent,it's due in a week and that seventy bucks is more important than my issues,so get a refund.Now!"

"I said no!I bought it for you,so use it!"He shouted back,standing strong against the rage in her eyes.

It was a battle between siblings.Ymir tried to stay unwavering to his counter, but she lost the battle,letting go of his shirt and standing up with her back turned against him. "Why?Why are you so persistent in taking it back?"

"Why are you stubborn about accepting it?I got it for you because you're struggling with your body hair and I want to help out,"he grabbed her shoulders and forced her to turn around,making her eye contact to rotate towards him.

"Ymir,I'm here for you.We're family,remember?You're always putting my well-being before your own and I want to show that I care about yours too,so here,take it ...please.I'll find another way to make up for the seventy,I promise."

He picked up the bottle and gave it to her before showing his older sister his signature grin,sharing the same sharp canines as her.Ymir smiled and sighed in defeat before suddenly pulling her younger brother into a hug.

"Thank you."

"It's no biggie," he said. "I've got your back,remember?And that's more than just fighting at your side.Whenever,you have a problem or just need someone to talk to,I'm all ears.I care about you and i wanted to show that-"

"You do show me that,you little,stubborn bastard!"

Ymir's small smile grew into a big grin before wrapping her right arm over her brother's shoulders and the siblings started to laugh together as she gave him a friendly noogie. 

Ymir smiled at that memory.If it wasn't for him,she probably would've had her room's bathroom garbage filled with wax strips by now.

"You never told me that you had a sibling,"Pieck said,surprised.

"Well,i do."

"Where is he now?"

"He's taking a the same test,except he's doing it on Paradis,"Ymir replied.

"Proving your self-reliability?"Pieck guessed.

Ymir nodded."Mine and his."

She suddenly felt the wind getting slowly aggressive forcing her to make her fingernails on her left hand to grow stronger and sharper before stabbing her claws into the roof, prior to grabbing Pieck with the other hand before the wind started to get violent making the chairs and tables fly off the ground and follow the aggressive path of the wind.

Ymir tried to hold on but she felt her grip slipping,so she dug her fingers even deeper to the point that half of the length of her fingers were punctured into the roof.

The wind started to relax, dropping the two girls back on solid ground with the rooftop garden being destroyed with benches yanked out from the ground,the bushes now disheveled and the greenhouse completely gone. 

"What the hell?!I didn't know it was going super windy today,"Pieck said.

Ymir yanked her hand out of the stone tiles. "Because it wasn't.It has to be him."

The two girls heard a loud horn blasting throughout the area..

'That's coming from the port…what the hell is happening?!' she thought as she stopped.

Pieck turned towards the brunette. "What's wrong?"

"Let's head towards the port.I heard a boat horn in that area."

"Alright well,we can get there faster if we do this."

Ymir started to strip down revealing her tan,slender figure.The raven haired teen closed her eyes,putting effort to give her privacy.Ymir slowly turned into a wolf and told her friend that she can open her eyes.Pieck picked up the brunette clothes before sitting on top of her.She headed for the port with Pieck started to laugh as the wind blew past her face.

"This is fun!Why aren't you in wolf form more often?"

"Because it tears up my clothes and I can't afford to waste more money on clothes," Ymir explained.

When they reached the roof of a building closest to the port,they saw a large crowd around the railing,looking towards the water.She turned back into her human form after Pieck got off her back,putting her clothes back on.

They looked to see the water completely frozen with a large cargo boat jammed in the jagged ice as well as a man standing on top of a tornado with a load of debris swirling around inside it including the greenhouse,the chairs and benches. 

Ymir saw that the man on top of the tornado was Bertholdt who was focusing on the teen standing on the ice.It was that same teen in the elevator with the white tracksuit.

"What are they doing?!They should know that using their abilities is illegal!"Pieck said.

"It looks like a standoff," Ymir assumed,analyzing the situation as she finished putting on her clothes.

Bertholdt threw a bench at the other teen before he created a sword of ice and slashed downwards,splitting the bench in two.Bertholdt threw another bench and a table with the teen on the ice forming a thick wall,blocking the oncoming debris.

A whistle was blown,coming from one of the officers that showed up.

"Stop what you are doing and both of you stand down!Now!"