𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐘𝐨𝐮 || 𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐍 𝐀.

*.~ Chapter Fourteen: Saudade ~.*

Realization hit Armin hard within that second. "Hold on. That's the section Annie attacked."

"What?" Sasha turned towards him. "What does that mean?"

"Well, it's entirely possible they told Annie where they thought Eren was..." Armin threw out.

"Where are you going with this, Armin?" Eren asked for more clarification. "You can't just accuse--!"

"I totally agree." Hange interrupted the boy. "Coincidence doesn't establish relationship." She said, making Eren quiet down. "Bearing that in mind, I'm curious to know how the three interacted while training. What can you tell me?"

"I knew Bertholdt and Reiner were from the same region as Annie, but I never saw them act friendly." Armin answered.

"Same with me." Eren admitted. "You'd never catch 'em shooting the breeze."

You nodded in agreement. "When they did talk, it was pretty brief."

"Well, it's not like Annie was very social to begin with." Eren added on to your statement.

Sasha took a glance at you with a finger on her chin. "Yeah, but Y/n, weren't you one of the closest people to her back in our Cadet days?" She asked you curiously.

You nodded. "But even then, she was still a bit closed off." You explained while rethinking the times you and Annie hung out together. "She rarely talked about her background, her family, anything like that really."

Sasha pounded her fist against her palm. "Oh! I think I thought of something that struck me as weird at the time!" She held her hand up. "I, uh... heard she liked sweets!"

"I've got nothing." Mikasa spoke before speaking up again. "Except maybe that--"

"Guys." Eren interrupted. "What are we doing? These are our comrades we're talking about. Yeah, sure. Bertholdt never has a lot to say, but Reiner's like everyone's big brother, y'know? You really think he's capable of lying to us?"

"Eren does have a point." Armin admitted. "Think about it. Reiner fought the Female Titan with everything he had. Almost got himself squeezed to a bloody pulp in the process.

Noticing Armin's sudden gasp, Eren looked over at him. "What's the matter?" He asked him in concern.

Armin glanced over at Eren. "He burst free of her grip at the last minute. Afterwards, though, Annie changed her course. In fact, she ran straight toward where you were." He explained to him, putting the pieces together. "I mentioned that you might be in the center rank but there's no way she could've heard me. She wasn't in earchot at the time."

"Do you recall if he seemed unusually interested in Eren's location?" Hange asked.

The boy then realized that Reiner's behavior in asking for Eren's location was for that reason. "Oh no." He muttered quietly. "I only brought his position up in the first place because Reiner asked me where Eren might be. Something else, once he broke free, the female TItan stood there staring at her palm, possibly transfixed by something he'd carved onto it with his blades. Maybe Reiner..."

An awkward silence filled the room, while everyone stared at eachother. "What is wrong with you people?" Eren said as if everyone were crazy. "The man's been with us from the beginning! You don't just--"