Shingeki no Jiyu

XVII

       Mike shot back up, panting, "What the fuck are we supposed to do?"

      "She's snapped completely, her mother's death has pushed her over the edge. This is the power of Brant Yelts," Keith shielded his eyes from another pulse of lightning, extending the Titan's form further. "Fighting with force clearly won't work, so we'll have to change our approach."

      It was a gamble to Keith, but he couldn't risk trying to kill Adria—he knew her motives better than that. Even in an inhibited state, there was only one emotion Adria ran on which fuelled her secondary feelings like anger or sadness; love. He knew Adria was an emotional creature and wanted to exploit that, her emotions could be used to send her off the deep end of have her tranquil. His Majesty knew that Viktor's death put her in a vulnerable position and decided to put the final nail in the coffin. While Keith was at a loss of what to do without Viktor as he had been Adria's trump card for a while, his eyes shifted to Erwin.

      His blonde undercut flailed wildly around his eyes as he stared up at Adria, his expression unreadable.

      Keith had kept his subordinate on a tight leash but wondered if he let Erwin ingrain his way into Adria like a parasite, Viktor's loss could be controlled. He'd stopped Erwin on numerous occasions jumping to Adria's side, intercepting small tokens of affection and reminding Erwin of his place—though, in hindsight, he should have cultivated the obvious attraction as a back-up in case Viktor were gone.

      From the moment she'd shown worth as an adolescent, Erwin was fascinated. Keith knew there were other motives behind Erwin's devotion, but he facilitated the behaviour. He allowed Mike and Erwin to watch over Adria and Viktor during their training for the precise reason to manipulate Adria. Her lustful glances had not gone unnoticed, nor did the rumour-mill of the Survey Corps. Keith had heard countless trivia of Erwin and Adria's assumed intimacy, while there was no substance to back up their claims, Keith could understand their perception—whenever they were in a room together, perhaps without even knowing, Adria and Erwin gravitated together much to Viktor's displeasure. Whenever Viktor was unavailable, Erwin was there in his place.

       Keith grinned darkly, "Erwin, you need to woo her."

      He took a step back in confusion, "Commander? I don't believe this is the appropriate time to discuss feelings!"

      Adria's Titan obtained a lower half as her animalistic scream continued; they were running out of time.

      "I don't want to repeat myself, Smith," Keith folded his arms. "Do it."

      Keith was hedging his bet that the outburst would affect Adria in some way, like how Viktor's first transformation erased that portion of memory. He theorised that through the sheer amount of power emanating from her body and how lines of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth and nose proposed a physical toll—if she were to lose a portion of her memory, Keith was going to exploit that and use Erwin as her new catalyst.

       He understood Erwin's hesitation, every obvious advancement he made in the past had been reprimanded harshly. But Keith gave a warm smile and nodded amidst the chaos.

      Erwin disarmed himself and went down on both knees, appearing subservient as possible. Keith noticed in silent delight that the storm clouds had stopped their movements and the rain had dulled to a light shower.

      "Adria!" he called up to her. "I know you have lost so much and your distrust in others is warranted, but do not lose your light! You're not alone in this. . .remember I lost everyone I cared about too, until I found you. Your passion and determination inspired me to push through even on my worst days, I admire you for that."