Chapter Text
It’s a cold winter night, the snow covers the streets and every step shows a path to follow. Two young women wait for the same delayed train in two different cities. Mikasa, seated next to a window and avoiding company, checks her watch, the fifth time in an hour; her head hurts and she wonders if her migraine prescription is enough. Every time someone enters in the station a cold air sneaks, she closes her jacket cursing the weather, herself, and her thin clothes, ignoring her phone.
The warm coming from her scarf is a relief, and she cherishes old memories until the phone rings again and the screen shows her the reality is there. The sound annoys her and she takes note, once more time, that she has to change her ringtone; she’ll need a new number and the unavoidable questions pops up in her head, will she give him the number? Would he ask her new info? She can’t go there, first she needs a place and a number, and then she will allow such thoughts. The shivering in her fingers is the result of expectation and anxiety, but she blames the winter.
She’s not running away, for half of her life she has planned this day, not this date, though; but it’s not a rushed decision, it’s not what they think. Mikasa worked her ass for five years saving, before college and grey-zoned decisions, when her life was hers. She can do that all over again, a minuscule hope in her brain tells her she’s doing right. One suitcase, an old guitar, and her jacket and scarf are her belongings, her only companions in this trip; nevertheless, her baggage can fill a room. Life used to be simpler and she misses those days. Mikasa Ackerman, heartless ice queen, smart, distant and beautiful, alone, broken and broke.
Several miles from her, another woman waits. Sasha is sitting next to the public power outlets in the station, right in the middle of chaos with dozens of people charging their devices; she’s helping with her Hello Kitty multi plug socket. Her fingers hurts, it’s cold, and she removed her gloves because playing with her phone helps her to kill time; and because is late and she couldn’t ignore the PvZ event. A bald smiley guy is next to her pulling the phone from her hands; there’s a unique sense of familiarity and closeness between them, but by the time the train arrives he had left. She looks for her headphones, removing the weirdest things from what resembles Mary Poppins bag. Her friends mock her, but they always ask for help and as a magic trick she provides gums, antihistamines, cold syrup, needle and thread, universal chargers, travel games, hammers and nails (yes, hammers), nail polish, nail polish remover, and more; the multi plug is one of the treasures inside of her purse.
She wonders if things will work out… When thing will work out. Sasha isn’t the secure type, but she believes and acts even if she wants to hide under her blankets. This new adventure is the perfect example, she could stay but her life isn’t there, neither in her home town; still she writes a short mail to her father, sending him her itinerary and telling him about the storm, her delayed (for hours) train, and the people she talks while waiting. She left her home for college, and four years later she has gone only for Christmas; her dad used to visit her once or twice a year but with her new life in a big city, farther from home, she isn’t sure when they would see each other. Sasha Braus, insecure yet determined, friendly, energetic, alone and broke.
They don’t now each other, however they’ll change each other lives.