In the Attack on Titan world?

Chapter 19- an uprising

We stared at Niccolo, steam hissing in my ear.
"What?" Hange and I said in unison.
"Zeke's spinal fluid was in the wine." Niccolo explained.
My body was numb and frozen, staring down at the young boy laying prone on the floor. Blood dropped from a cut on his forehead mingling with the red of the wine.
"You knew!" Hange exclaimed.
"I guessed." Niccolo said and he began to explain what had happened.
My hands began to shake. I watched as Jean and Connie desperately tried to flush the wine from the boy's mouth.
I had to leave.
I had to leave.
My hands shook as I walked to Armin and Mikasa with a horror struck Gabi.
I walked in as she said that she didn't understand why they didn't kill her.
"Because, unlike someone we all know, we cannot do it." I replied, steam hissed as I used the hand to close the door. She turned to look at me her eyes wide.
It was at that moment Eren appeared.
Mikasa and Armin, Gabi all looked shocked.
I just stared at the boy who had become a person I no longer recognised.
He sat at the table with the three.
"So did you know Eren?" I said, my tone sharp. "Did you know?"
He looked at me, a small sliver of pain shot through his eyes before it too was consumed by nothing.
"Did I know what?"
"So you don't."
"Know what?" Mikasa asked. "What happened?"
"Zeke's spinal fluid was in the wine that Niccolo smashed over the boy's face." I said stoically. "It's possible he may have swallowed it."
I watched Gabi begin to shake. Did she care at all or was it because Falco and succeeded in becoming Zeke's successor by accident?
Eren said nothing.
Mikasa and Armin just sat and stared. I moved behind Gabi, who's back faced the window. Near enough for a getaway.
"I just wanted to talk with you." Eren said, his gaze on the table, I watched as the Snow White table began to turn scarlet with his blood.
So he had cut himself and was waiting for an answer before he transformed?
I stood my arms crossed.
"Is it going to be the same 'talk' we had Eren?" I said sharpening my tone. "Because you and I both know what side your friends are on."
He was silent.
"This no longer concerns you." He said.
My hands itched. I took a step closer to Gabi. I would protect her.
"Eren!" Armin said. "She's your sister!"
"Not anymore." Eren and I said in unison.
"He's made his choice and I made mine." I continued. "He's here to know which side you both are on." My hand rested on Gabi's chair. "The question is whether he will leave anyone alive once he hears the answer." I said shooting a glare at him.
"So Floch is here?" Armin said sadly. Eren nodded.
I stayed silent. I hoped Levi had heard about this and I wondered what his move would be. I hoped he was safe.
"I wanted to talk with you guys." Eren continued his face deadpanned. "Hange and the others are fine, we are just moving them." He continued.
"We wanted to talk with you too Eren." Armin said. "What made you attack Marley on your own? Did Zeke and Yelena really convince you in joining them?"
Silence met Armins words. I just scoffed.
"Isn't that clear already Armin?" I asked.
"I want to hear it from Eren." Armin continued.
Mikasa just stared at Eren waiting for him to speak.
The grandfather clock in the background was all that could be heard.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
It was mocking the seconds.
Then Eren finally spoke. "I am free."
Huh?
"The choices and decisions I make are of my free will." He continued.
"So the actions after meeting Yelena were all you?" Armin asked incredulously.
"Yes." That one word. One word. It was all Eren after all. I had already figured that out. After all we were alike in so many ways.
Mikasa however argued. "No! Your being manipulated! You wouldn't get children and innocents involved even if they were enemies! Plus I know you care about us more than anyone!"
I coughed surreptitiously. She glanced at me. "Aside from Layla of course." She added. "Don't you? That's why you saved me in the cabin-the reason you made me this scarf." She rugged on the one around her neck. "Is because your kind." She stood, her hands rising.
"I said to keep your hands on the table." Eren interjected. Clearly he wasn't worried about me anymore, that was the only reason mine wasn't forced on the table with the others. Instead I rested mine on Gabi's chair. Mikasa slowly sat and resumed with her hands on the table.
Eren continued. "I spoke with Zeke in Liberio, brother to brother. Zeke knows more about titans than even Marley does. Armin, aren't you still visiting Annie?  Do you think that's of your own free will?" Armin gasped at his words.
"Wh-What?"
"If memories are what shape people, a part of you is Bertholdt now. Within you is an enemy with feelings for another enemy."
I watched Armins eyes widen at Erens words. Eren spoke some truth there. We saw Bertholdt in the end as the enemy. And he too had feelings for Annie. Could it be true? Was Armin only visiting Annie because of Bertholds feelings for her?
My hands shook slightly on Gabi's chair. Then who's memories were motivating me? I had no recollection of eating anyone before Marley.
"Armin...Bertholdt has gotten into your head. You're the one being manipulated by the enemy." I couldn't see Eren's eyes, but I would imagine they were narrowed, as Armins blue ones were getting wider. I could almost see the cogs turning in Armins head. It reflected in his eyes. His mouth opened and nothing came out.
Mikasa jumped to defend Armin before I could. "Eren What are you-"
Eren cut her off. "You too Mikasa."
Huh? Ok that's new.
"The Ackerman's were originally and intentionally designed to protect Eldias king. Back then you were faced with a life or death situation, you heard my order. Fight." I saw Mikasa eyes change. She must be thinking back to when Eren told her to fight in the cabin. She and he had told me all about it.  Eren continued. "In that moment instincts awoke from within you. By mistake you thought I was the host you had to protect." Mikasa eyes were now wide, and her gaze was on her hands on the table.
"No."
"No what?" Eren questioned her words.
"It wasn't a mistake." She said not meeting his eyes. The her gaze lifted. "Because it was you Eren! I became strong because of you!"
"Ackerman's with awakened abilities get sudden headaches apparently. It happens when their old self resists being forced to protect their host." He paused. "Sound familiar?"
Mikasa's eyes went wide. Clearly it did. She had suffered with sudden headaches.
I couldn't listen anymore to Eren, instead I walked to the window. Did this mean the same as Levi? The man I was in love with? He too suffered sudden headaches, but always blamed it on the stress of being a captain and in charge of all the brats- his words not mine.
Armins words cut through my thoughts. "Enough Eren!"
I turned back, moving swiftly to the table.
"Do you know who I hate more than anyone?" Eren asked, his gaze on the table. "Those who aren't free. Livestock."
"Eren!" I shouted over Armin. "That is enough!" His eyes flickered to me for a second.
"Layla isn't livestock, not a slave she knows." He carried on. "So I don't hate her as much as." He paused and looked back at Mikasa. "As much as you Mikasa. Seeing you always pissed me off and now I know why, I can't stand the sight of a slave who obeys orders without question."
I watched Mikasa's eyes filled with tears.
I clenched my first and punched Eren in the head, aiming more for his jaw.  He slumped onto the floor, his eyes hardened as they look at me. "Your such a bastard you know that!" I screamed at him. "How dare you! Mikasa has done nothing but care for you like her brother, same as me. And this is how you repay her?! Call her a slave, livestock and that you have always hated her?! You have no balls Eren, you have turned into the one thing you hate! Titan and a man who has become this monster! I should know monsters right!" I clenched my fist onto my chest. "I am one! I always will be a monster! And you all proved to me I wasn't. There are days where I believe the world would be better off without me, even now. But I never acted because I had you all! My family! The ones who told me time and time again you believed in me. That you cared for me." I knew I was shaking. "For you to turn around and call our sister, our friend a slave. Well Eren you have fallen far! I have watched my own life be taken from me by force." I referred to the rape that I had shoved aside to protect Historia and him. "My life Eren, all for you and Historia!" My hands shook. "It's why I don't let Levi too close." I knew tears were forming but I refused to let them fall. "That has affected me more than you could all have dreamed of. So I will not stand idly by and watch you call her a slave!" I pointed at Mikasa. I was surprised that she hadn't grabbed me and stopped me as she did Armin. Armin too had lunged to punch him and I hadn't noticed. She had stopped him. I punched him again for good measure. For Armin and Mikasa.
This time he fought back. I matched him evenly, Armin however did not get that opportunity he had a punch to his stomach and was thrown into the wine case at the back of the room. I moved Gabi to the side.
At the noise of shattering china, Jaegerists stormed in guns pointed at us.
I moved Gabi behind me. As I watched the two friends fight. I blocked out Erens words.
He punched Armin over and over again. Mikasa and I could do nothing but watch.
She tried to get Eren to stop but it was futile.
When Armin fell to the floor I moved. I grabbed Eren by the throat.
"That's enough." I growled. Eren just watched me. His eyes flickered with an ounce of fear.  "If your going to fight someone, and it being a fair one." I growled tightening my grip. "How about you fight me?"
"Jaeger?" The Jaegerists said.
"I'm alright." He choked out. Then he answered me. "No."
"No!" I growled louder. "Because you know out of the two of us I would win in a fight!" My fingers closed in tighter on his throat. He gasped slightly and I heard the cock of a gun. Loosening my grip I let go of his neck as he sucked in a deep breath. "Get. Out." I growled. "I am done seeing you breathe in the same air as my friends and family. Go and be the monster you have become Eren. And think. If you are not being manipulated, then your motivations- are they truly yours? Or are they your fathers?"
His eyes widened at my words. He knew I was right.
He had eaten his father. He got up and left. Not even a glance backwards at us. "We won't tell you where Zeke is Eren. This fight is over. Now leave." I added. I watched him pause for a moment. "I won't let you take them. So I suggest you all leave." I said pointing at the three in the room.
Eren looked back at me then. "Zeke is probably with Levi. If I find him I find Zeke."
My face hardened. I would not show his bastard my emotion. The Jaegerists left. Mikasa went to Armin and hoisted him up.
"Layla." Mikasa muttered.
"Wait Mikasa." I added. I waited for the door to close.
When it shut. I grabbed Gabi, threw her over one shoulder and helped Mikasa with Armin on the other.
"Why?" Mikasa and Gabi muttered.
"Blood doesn't make us who we are. Our actions do." I replied, moving towards the window. Armin would heal thanks to his Titan ability. I watched them leave from that window. A Marleyan on one shoulder and a wounded comrade on the other- a deflated one on my other side.