Creature ; Levi Ackerman

CHAPTER III: Dead Girl's Lie

"No!" Armin yanked himself from Connie. They stopped, exasperated. "Wait! I have an idea."

"What is it, then?"

Armin glanced at them all, from Mikasa to Evelyn to Connie and the abnormal titan. He fixed them with a new determination. "You two are the only ones who could pull this off, so it's your choice," he began, extending a finger towards the abnormal titan, who continued to blow apart many others. "This may sound crazy, but I think he might be useful."

"What? You mean — the titan?"

"He only attacks his own kind. He seems to have no interest in us," Armin persisted. "What if, somehow, we could steer him to HQ and let him loose on the other titans? Look, we know he's taken out at least one already. We could use him as a weapon!"

"You've got to be kidding," Connie thundered. "How the hell do you think we're supposed to steer that thing?"

"Well," Armin turned to look at the titan as it unleashed another roar. "something's telling me he's acting on instinct. I'm almost sure if you take down the pair he's tangling with now, he'll go look for others. That'd lead him straight to HQ. We're not steering him so much as luring him. I think it'll work; I really do."

"Think? You're asking us to risk our necks on a stupid gut feeling?" Connie's voice edged into hysterics.

"If I'm right about this," Armin countered, "we could put down the siege on headquarters in one fell swoop!

Connie stared. Mikasa nodded.

"It's worth a shot."

"Huh? Seriously?"

"It's better to take a gamble on Armin's gut feeling than wait around to be slaughtered. If there's a decent shot, why not take it?"

"So, basically, we're going to recruit a titan?"

"Yes. Exactly."

Connie froze. Then he smiled. "We'll look like morons if we screw this up."

Armin glowed. "Yeah. But if we don't, look how many lives we'll stand to save —"

"Guys," Mikasa split the conversation. "if we're going to do this, we need to do it fast. Evelyn's not doing so well."

Armin's joy soured. He silently chided himself. "Yes, of course."

With that, Mikasa took a running leap off the roof, Connie yanking Armin behind her.

"HELP! WE NEED A MEDIC!"

By some stroke of wild luck, Armin was right. They had burst into HQ in a shower of glass and triumph, hope rekindled and burning. But Mikasa's front side ran red with Evelyn's' blood.

They had stumbled onto one of the upper floors now, amongst a few dozen other cadets who managed to survive until that point. Armin cried out, struggling to hold up a half-conscious Evelyn behind him.

"Please! Anyone — she's dying!"

"Hey," a large, calloused hand came upon Armin's quaking shoulder. Reiner guided him to a corner of the room. "Calm it down. I found a few rolls of gauze and a needle and thread when we explored the place. We'll fix her up."

Armin's face broke into a watery smile; the tears building up in his eyes traced his cheeks. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Reiner shook his head. "What would you be without us? We're comrades, aren't we?"

"Right!"

Reiner gently took her from his arms and propped her against the wall, using Armin's jacket as a pillow again. Her breaths ran fast and shallow.