Creature ; Levi Ackerman

CHAPTER VI: Trial By Fire

WALL ROSE, 850
STOHESS DISTRICT

"JUST HANG IN THERE, EREN. WE'LL SORT THIS WHOLE THING OUT."

Levi let out a sigh as they exited the dungeon, hearts heavy and spirits faded. Erwin's hands were folded behind his back and his face fixed placidly.

"Got something on your mind?" Levi said, staring straight forward. "Spit it out."

"Palid."

"What?"

"Palid. I've heard that name before. The cadet that visited Eren, albeit against orders — Evelyn Palid. I've heard it before."

"It's like you said — she's a cadet. There's a lot of brats running around here. I'd be willing to bet you've heard her name mentioned in a report before."

Erwin's gaze fell to the ground. They were now outside the courthouse, the sun's rays shining in the heat of the day. "Yet I've never seen her face before, and I know faces. Something tells me it's more than that."

Levi finally looked at Erwin, silver eyes hooded and thin lips pressed into a line. "Another one of your gut feelings?" He quipped.

"Yes. Another one of my gut feelings." Erwin fixed his gaze upon Wall Rose, which loomed over the district like a cloud of death. "I know that girl, and I will get to the bottom of it."

❈

"A DEBATE OVER EREN?" Mikasa said, sticking a potato with her fork. The metallic clanging of bowls and cups echoed through the mess hall. "What for?"

"I'm not really sure," Armin replied, blue eyes glinting in the afternoon sun spilling from a window nearby. He leaned closer to Mikasa, minding the other cadets sitting at their table. "but it might be over what they're gonna do with him."

"What does that mean?"

"It means —" Armin paused, gaze falling to his own potatoes. "— they might not let him live —"

A sudden slamming sound cut him off. Mikasa's fork fell into her bowl with a clatter and she jerked in her seat.

Eyes glassy, Mikasa pointed a trembling finger behind Armin.

Tears stung their eyes like knives; their bodies shivered as though cold. Armin stood up abruptly in the center of the mess hall and arrived to Evelyn's side at a full sprint. He looked at her for a moment, as though hardly daring to believe it.

"Hey there, big brother," She whispered, bottom lip curling.

She was scooped up in a hug that Mikasa soon joined, a weary smile on her face. Tears leaked from Armin's baby blues and rolled down the apples of his cheeks and dripped from his chin as he gaped at Evelyn, star-struck.

"By the walls — how did you — you were —"

"It's okay, Armin —" But he cut her off by pressing her face into his shoulder in another hug.

"First Eren, and now you?" He breathed, at last releasing Evelyn from his grip. Tear tracks smudged his cheeks as he wiped at them, still flustered with shock. "How did you survive?"

Mikasa stood by Evelyn's side as she shrugged her shoulders, gaze falling to her boots. Though having expected to be interrogated, what plausible explanation was there for defying death?

Armin shook his head; Mikasa gave Evelyn a singular head pat as they settled at the table left previously, armin drying more tears onto his shirt.

A moment passed in which they all looked at one another, Armin sniffling and Mikasa stirring the potatoes in her bowl.