𝔇𝔢𝔣𝔦𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢 (𝔏𝔢𝔳𝔦 𝔵 ℜ𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔢𝔯)

CV - Midnight Sun

"Armin."

***

I shoved the name away before it set itself too deep in my head. Now definitely wasn't the time to be sentimental, and getting my head in a worse space than it already was in was the last thing I wanted right now. With my jaw set tight and gaze directed down to the ground, I draw a blade and cut the piece of clothing in my hand into strips before pacing to Hange and kneeling in front of her.

Sheathing my blade with one hand and readying the makeshift bandage with the other, I ball up a smaller portion of the shirt and hold it out, her good eye looking down at it before she took it into her own hands. Pursing her lips and running her tongue over her teeth, one of her shaky hands raised it to her bad eye and pressed against it. She sucked in a pained breath as she did so, nose scrunched in a agony as I begin working the strip of cloth around her head to secure the ball of cloth in place without her having to hold it.

"I'm sorry," I murmur, every sudden movement of her body making me flinch in return, fearing I hurt her more than I intended. "I'm sorry."

"No, no," she whispered back, her voice strained. "Might be infected, it's not you. It's everything else," I shook my head, mustering up a tight lipped smile that lasted the fraction of a second.

"We'll get you sorted when we get back home, okay?" I say, voice quiet as I finish the wrap with a knot. She blew out a quivery breath, good eye opening with her eyebrow still furrowed a little. Her eye met mine, glossed with emotion. Sadness, pity, defeat. The sight itself made my heart clench and the emotion in her eye seemed to rub off on me.

Hange needed someone now more than she ever did, even if she didn't admit to it. I leaned forward, looping my arms under hers and stretching them across her back in a long embrace. Her entire body weight was suddenly on me, melting into me like she was waiting for something like this. My ear against her chest acted as an amplifier for her raging heart, her breathing was weak, her touch vulnerable. Her face was soon buried in my hair, her hands reaching across my own figure with soothing rubs up and down my back. We sat like that for a while, the rest of the squad all watching Reiner who was blindfolded and sitting as just a torso and a head, leaning against a house.

"You know," Hange began quietly, her body shaking with a dry chuckle as she pulled away. "Shorty is lucky to have you." A statement such as that was random in a place like this. Before I could even question it, she stood up and stepped around my kneeling self, demeanour changing to a more serious note the closer she got to the bearer of the armoured titan. Wordlessly, she crouched down and began rummaging through the pockets of his pants that were barely pants anymore. A short moment passed before she pulled out a small steel case, taking some long seconds to twist it around in her fingertips.

"So Reiner," her voice was cold. A lot colder than it was just moments before. I shift myself around, seating myself on the crate Hange had just risen from, seeing the bracelet from Levi peak out from under my sleeve. My fingers inched towards the emerald encrusted Scouts crest, eyes rising again to watch the interrogation Hange brought upon the enemy. "What exactly is this steel case? You'd have to be pretty desperate to carry around something like this. Suicide pills? A bomb, perhaps?" Her words were plain, void of anything. The steaming boy coughed before he could answer, the muscle on his face exposed, enveloped with a thin screen of steam.

"A letter," he whispers, voice raspy and weak.

"A letter? What kind of letter?" Hange questioned.