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You and your friends decided to meet up to discuss the detainment of the Anti-Marleyan volunteers and the Scouts were just informed now due to working close with them. Things were tense within the military and it revolved around Eren.
Why can't all of this cease already..?
"Hey. Did that guy look like Eren when you all saw him?" Connie inquired, looking out the window into the dark sky. "'Cause if you ask me, that wasn't Eren. If whoever that was is capable of picking his half-brother over us and his own twin, then..."
Mikasa glanced at Connie, not moving her head toward him. "If he is, then what?"
"Then I say we'll need to be prepared to cut him down ourselves if necessary--"
"I won't let you!"
Connie looked back at Mikasa who had a determined and fierce glare directed at him. He gave her this stunned look, "Are you taking their side too, Mikasa? Come on."
She let out a soft gasp and looked back to her lap. "I don't think it'll come to that. Eren cares about us more than anyone else. Everyone here should know that."
Inside you felt like the battle between do and don't. If you had to cut down Eren, your own flesh and blood, you wouldn't know what choice to make. He's your last family before you're left to rot in this world. You definitely knew Eren cared about you, but what was he doing?
"Maybe that's why he's become so combative toward anyone who isn't one of us. It's because his feelings are so strong."
"No, that isn't it," Jean shot down her statement. "He's always seen your strength, but the Eren that we used to know would still try to keep you away from the front lines. But he used you in that battle. Sent Armin to destroy that port. Put [Name] against a Titan alone as a distraction. He called the rest of us important too, and he used us just the same."
"But maybe that's just because he trusts us," Mikasa replied, "I mean if we hadn't helped him, his plan would've failed."
"Yeah, and Sasha would be alive right now." Connie looked over his shoulder at you all. "Hey. What do you think Eren did when I told him she had died? Do you think he cried? Showed some regret maybe?"
"Connie, stop."
"The bastard laughed."
"I wonder what part of our friend's death that it was that he found so damn amusing. Why don't you explain, Mikasa? Why did Eren start laughing? You know everything about him, right? Fuck, his kin can't even say anything about his bullshit."
"Connie. Stop."
You didn't say a thing in this whole meeting until now. The public was trying to reach out to you about your brother's detainment in a cell. Maybe your mind was keeping itself safe by not saying anything unless needed to. You hadn't told anyone about it, even Captain Levi or the Commander. You couldn't lie to yourself-- You were scared to be seen in public by yourself.
"We need to talk with him," Armin suggested, "Just Eren, Mikasa, [Name], and me. We'll give him a chance to explain his goal."
"Are you sure that'll help?" Jean asked with unsureness in his voice, "Tell me, what if his goals are the same as Zeke's? "
"The volunteers gave us Titan serum, so we have a choice now. We can turn someone we can trust into a Titan, and then have them inherit the Founder from Eren."
After the discussion and debriefing, you all made your way back to your own rooms that you had. You plopped on your bed and stared up at the ceiling, thoughts running through your head. The room was dark and had a tall bookshelf with different kinds of books.
You heard a knocking sound against your room's door, making you sigh as you got up to sit on the edge. Getting yourself up you walked over and opened the door, seeing Armin stand at your doorstep. "Need something 'Min?"
He shook his head, "Could I come in?"
"Of course."
As you closed the door behind him, he sat on the bed and he watched you sit next to him. "You didn't say a word during the discussion. Are you doing alright?"
If you had to be completely honest, you didn't know the answer to that question. You thought as you glanced down at the floor, trying to brew up some sort of response. In the end, nothing came out other than a heavy, dissatisfied sigh.
The man scooted next to you, knee-to-knee before setting his hand on yours, on top of your thigh. He squeezed your hand gently, which made you feel slightly more relieved. "You don't need to say anything. I have a good idea of how you feel about this, [Name]. I'm always here if you ever want to talk."
"How are you dealing with this?" you tiredly ask, looking over at the boys' blue eyes. "Eren made you blow up that port... I can't imagine how you feel about that."
"I... It must've been what Bertholdt saw. He killed innocents. I killed innocents," Armin stated, gently squeezing your hand more with a thumb rubbing against your skin. "But we couldn't take any gambles... I have to say that, for the most part."
Frowning at his sad response, you looked down at the floor again. "Sorry."
"Hey, no!" he tried to reassure you, "Don't be sorry, seashell."
He placed a gentle kiss on your cheek and one on the other before quickly pecking your lips. As he did it all over again numerous times again, you felt flustered by your blondie's affection. You felt troubled by how fast his lips kept disconnecting from yours that it was like taking candy from a baby.
A couple of minutes after Armin's childish antics ceased, you found yourself lying between his legs as you embraced his body. As he read the book to both you and himself, you can feel yourself fall asleep to his voice. His voice was always calming to you when you two were younger.
"Wow... so the prince actually killed her? Some love that was," Armin scoffed as he closed the book. "Can you believe that? It's absurd how he led her on."
That was when he noticed your silence, along with your soft breathing. He looked down, seeing you fast asleep on him. He'd be lying if he said he didn't completely fold at the sight of you snoozing away, especially after an exhausting day of duties. "G-Goodness... You must be tired, huh?"
"Get a good rest, my gorgeous seashell. You deserve it."
The next morning...
Outside, the birds were chirping and the sun was starting to rise. You slowly opened your eyes as you raised your head from Armin's body, seeing the grass and trees outside in the morning sun.
"[Name], Armin. Time to get up and ready," you hear a voice outside your door, recognizing it as Mikasa. She knew that you and Armin sometimes spend nights in each other's room. "We have to go to HQ today."
You looked at the sleeping blondie in front of you before poking his nose. Shuffling his head, he started to awaken at the small yet compelling action. Armin was quite the light sleeper nowadays so it was easy to wake him up.
After he woke, he headed to his room to get changed into uniform, and you did the same. Floch and a couple of other recruits were going to be put in cells today, you assumed, which was why you and your comrades had to go to HQ. They had leaked things they weren't supposed to, to put it simply.
The HQ was in your view, along with a whole crowd of people next to the gate. You all stopped on your horses, examining the loud crowd as you dismounted and led your horses to the stables.
"What a crowd, damn," Jean commented before looking back at you and your comrades. "They're probably here from Commander Hange or something, wanting answers."
"We should concentrate on making it through that crowd for now," Mikasa suggested, tying her horse in a stable. "Let's be on guard."
"Right."
The crowd looked over, spotting you, and immediately alerted other people at the gate.
"Can you verify the detainment of Eren Jaeger and the volunteers?"
You pushed your way through the crowd and they luckily backed away. All of you decided to stay silent as the voice around you kept asking countless questions about Eren, using your name to catch your attention. It was as if you were a famous book author just wanting some tea instead of getting bombarded.
"Outta the way, please," Connie said at the back of the line, making sure people keep their distance from him with his hands.
Thankfully, you were all on time along with other soldiers.
Floch Forster, along with three other recruits were seated in the silent room as Commander Hange walked in, letting out a sigh. "So it was the four of you who leaked these rumors about Eren. Three recruits: Holger, Wim, Louise. One veteran: Floch," Hange sat in the empty chair, "Care to tell me why you did it."
"Because Eren never should've been imprisoned," Floch said with no hesitation, a clear goal in his eyes. You mentally reminded yourself of his determination towards getting Eren out of imprisonment. "He's done nothing wrong and should be freed at once. He challenged a powerful, imposing enemy, and grasped victory in the end. We now have the Rumbling-- a power that secures our right to live. He's a war hero. He saved every life in the New Eldian Empire."
...a war hero?
Somehow... you couldn't approve.
"You will all be charged with the crime of leaking confidential intelligence," the Commander declared. "Detain them in the meantime."
Mikasa led Louise to her cell, Connie led Wim to his cell, and Jean led Holger. It was pure coincidence that you had to handle Floch, who conducted this whole situation. He calmly went along with you as you guided him to his cell, surprisingly.
You shut the cell door and locked it, securing it tight to no escape. As you started to walk away, he spoke: "You're a traitor to your own blood."
Stopping in your tracks, you glimpsed over at him without turning your body to face him. "No," you spoke, "Do you want to know what the real problem is here, Floch?"
"Sure. Come on. Tell me," he urged on, looking at you through the cell with a glare. "What's the real problem here? If you could only educate me."
Turning on your heel, you walked over to where Floch stood. You gave him a dirty look, glaring up at him with bitterness and disgust. "You don't know Eren like how I know him. Every time you see me, that should be your first fucking reminder," you gritted your teeth, "Don't act like you know him inside and out. You're a simple pawn in his chess game, Floch, so don't act like you've always believed in him."
"Keep what I said in mind, Forster."
You turned away, walking with anger in each step you took. Armin was in a nearby hall, making sure no inconveniences happen. He noticed your steamed attitude as you grabbed his wrist, pulling him away and walking back up to the HQ.
"[Name], why are you--"
"It's just-- Floch! That should be self-explanatory!" You shouted as you stopped in the hallway and looked over at Armin with anger and on the verge of tears. "He's the fucking reason all those letters are flooding my mailbox and it's been so humiliating! The endless questions about Eren and his detainment are aggravating and he should be goddamn blessed he was in that cell. The public is starting to lose faith in the government and--"
"Listen to me. Now."
Armin's voice was grim as he spoke to you with his hands on your arms, making you dart your head to look up in his deep blue eyes. "Calm down. Your emotions are fickle. People are sending you letters about Eren's detainment, you said?"
You nodded, your eyes shining as tears were flooding your vision. "Yes... It's those four's fault. That birdnest-headed bastard..."
He pulled you into his embrace with his arms pulling you completely towards his chest. "Don't think too much about it, okay? I'll be here whenever you want. Now then..." Using his fingers, he directed your chin towards him before kissing you on the lips. His lips were as soft as ever and your anger diminished for the time being.
After separating, you put your face on his shoulder as a source of comfort as you hugged. That was when you noticed your stomach reverberating in need of food.
"Did you eat this morning?"
"...no."
"[Name]... my lovely, seriously? Never mind, let's go get some food after."