"Levi? Hanji?" Erwin called out.
They all acted on instinct. Armin picked you up out of the bed bridal style. Hanji grabbed her notes. The steps were getting closer to the bottom.
"Armin, take her to one of the storage closets. And stay quiet." Levi said in a whisper.
Armin nodded and took you to the nearest one, barely making it before he heard Erwin's voice at the bottom of the stairway.
"Hanji, Levi, what are you two doing down here?"
"Nothing Erwin. Why do you ask?" Hanji said as if nothing was bothering her.
"Well obviously you were doing something." Erwin eyed the unkept cell behind the squad leaders. They took notice of this and stepped out of his way as he walked forward. He bent down and picked up one of the notes Hanji missed. He read it, then looked at the visibly on edge soldiers.
"So," Erwin's voice echoed across the basement, "I see that you are running some sort of tests on Cadet [y/n] [l/n]. What's that about?"
Hanji was good at thinking on her feet, even if the answer didn't make sense, with that being her personality and all.
"I wanted to see if she was a shifter like Eren."
Armin noticed that you tried to shift your weight in his arms as he sat down on the ground. You slowly opened your eyes that showed just tiredness.
"A-armin? W-wha-" he cut you off with a look in his eyes of pure terror. You started getting scared yourself. Sensing this, he brought you closer to his body.
"What would make you think she is like Eren, Hanji?" Erwin questioned.
"Well, her fighting skills and stamina are amazing, but I've also noticed that she recovers from injuries very quickly." her voice got serious as if she was seriously considering the possibility of another shifter.
As you heard this you started to feel bad. Yes you were a good fighter with amazing stamina, but you didn't recover from your injuries like she thought. You just pushed through the pain, as you were expected to do, but you did it an unhealthy number of times. Sometimes so bad, you worried the higher ups that were in charge of training.
"Have there been any signs besides those to prove?"
"I was just about to go get her. I sent her and Armin to the library while I looked over the results and told them that I would get them when I was done in case I needed anything else from them."
"And the results are?"
"That's the thing. I'm not able to tell for some reason. I might need to run a few tests tomorrow."
"I see. Should I go get them for you?"
"No, no . Levi and I were just finishing up since dinner is being served."
"Alright. I'll see you two upstairs then." Erwin turned and left.
You were now cradled in Armin's lap on the floor, looking at him with a drowsy expression.
"[y/n], before this morning, how long would you sleep at night?" Armin asked curiously, but with a hint of worry in his voice.
"Around three and a half. If I was lucky, four hours." you replied ashamed knowing he would scold you, but he didn't. Instead he brought you into a hug.
The two of you sat like that for a good minute. After you realized that you were sitting on him, you stood up. Or at least tried to. You stumbled out of his grasp, your legs not being able to support you, and with a crash louder than the wall being broken, you slammed your face into the storage closet door.
"Ah shit, who put this fucking door here?" you said a little too loudly.
"[y/n], be quiet! Some of the others don't know you're down here." he looked down at your sad figure. You were on your knees with your face planted against the door.
Just when you were about to think that it couldn't get any worse, Levi opened the door. And with that you face planted onto the cobblestone floor.
"Fuck you." you said not knowing who had opened the door.
Hanji was all giggly as usual, but relieved to know that you were okay and considering what you said since you never swore.
"The hell did you just say to me, brat?"
"Aaand there's the regular Levi." Armin thought.
"Oh shit, sorry Sir." you said as you struggled to get up, only to have your legs give out under you again as you tried to give a salute.
Thankfully Armin caught you from under your arms.
"Oh my God, I'm glad you at least look okay I guess." Hanji said awkwardly.
You tried your best to give her a Levi stare, but with your state it only made her laugh harder. You could feel your nose start to bleed from the impact.
"Control your shit, [l/n]." Levi scoffed at the sight of the staining liquid.
"Levi, she can't control it, she just slammed her face into the door and then the floor." Hanji said backing you up.
"Can we please sit down." you complained.
You tried to make your way over to the cell, but couldn't get very far before Armin decided to pick you up and carry you there with Levi and Hanji behind you.
"Armin, I can walk by myself." you said tiredly. He didn't respond but instead sat you down on the bed, then sat next to you up against the wall.
Hanji and Levi took their spots from before Armin came during dinner. They gave you stares as if they wanted you to say something. With their eyes staring into your soul, you backed up against the wall even farther.
"[y/n], listen." Hanji began, "We really want to know why you tried to do that." Instead of responding, you curled up into Armin's shoulder, as if trying to hide behind him.
"Arlert, get up." Levi said as he stood up himself.
Doing as he was told, Armin pried you off of him with a sorry look, and followed Levi up the stairs.
You had your knees curled up into your chest with your head down, letting out soft sobs. Once Hanji heard the basement door close, knowing that Levi took Armn to get dinner, she completely broke down as well.
"Goddammit [y/n]! Why did you try to do it?" you looked up at Hanji's figure. Her arms were balanced on her knees and here hands behind her glasses, covering her eyes. "Maya and I were so close. You are one of the only things we have left of her. Everyone loved her, including me and Levi. She was special to him, and you are too. Do you know how bad it would have been for all of us here if we lost you too? It may not seem like we're the best people to talk to in times like this, but if you had a problem, we're always here for you. Why didn't you say anything?"
You sat there in shock. You didn't know what to say, so you acted. With all of the strength you could gather, you climbed off of the bed over to Hanji, and sat down in front of her on your knees with your head down. She jumped out of the chair and onto the floor, hugging you close.
"I'm sorry I didn't say anything. I'm sorry I did it. I'm sorry i couldn't protect her. I'm sorry I-"
"No, you have nothing to be sorry for. Okay?" you nodded.
"Yes ma'am."
"Good. Let's get upstairs. I'm hungry from having to watch you do nothing for about 14 hours."
"14 hours?! And nobody brought you anything?"
"Well, Levi and I used Armin, Eren and Mikasa as our little servants for today."
"What did Erwin say about all of this?"
She made a face of trying to choose her words carefully, but then made a face of 'forget being careful'.
"I may not have told him about it."
"WhAT?! How does he not know?"
"Well I kinda told him that I was running an experiment on you."
"Which was about the shifting?"
"How did you know?"
"I woke up in Armin's lap on the floor of a closet. I figured something was up."
"Oh." she paused. "Also the only people that know about last night are us, Levi, Armin, Eren, Mikasa, Jean, and Reiner."
"Okay. That's more people than I thought but I'm happy that it's just them."
She pat your head and got up. "Let's get something to eat." Hanji reached out her hand to pull you up. You grabbed it letting her help you.
It felt weird to walk but you were able to get up the stairs and into the hallway without any major trouble.
"So, how come you kept snuggling up with Armin downstairs?" Hanji asked teasing you.
You felt your face growing warm. "You don't like him, do you?" she was wearing a goofy smile now. You were at a loss of words at this point. "I'm just gonna take your silence as a yes! OOO the blackmail possibilities!" she sang as she ran towards the dining hall.
You didn't know what she was going to do, but you didn't want her doing it, so you took off after her. You started to catch up to her, surprised at how well you were able to move now. She had made it to the dining hall before you, but you weren't long after her. You didn't want to seem weird so you slowed to a walk before entering calmly. Then you panicked when you saw Hanji over by where you and your friends sat. Before you were able to sit down someone much larger than you grabbed you from behind and hugged you. Looking up you saw Reiner.
"I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you."
"No, Reiner, it's fine. Please don't apologize. You did nothing wrong. Okay?"
"But-" you turned around and hugged back.
"I mean it. It's okay." you both let go of eachother.
Jean came up to you next. As he hugged you, he said, "Are you okay? If we would have known, we would have helped you."
"Again, Jean, I'm okay. Really."
"Promise?"
"Promise." you let go as he spun you into Eren's arms.
"Are you sure?" If you ever need to talk, don't you dare hesitate. Otherwise I'll go titan on you." he finished that sentence with a wink and let you go.
"If you do that Jaeger, you know I'll have to kill you." Levi said from behind you.
Eren just rolled his eyes and sat down on Armin's right, across from Jean and Reiner.
"I hope you know that we really do care about you, brat." Levi said as he pulled you into a hug.
Armin felt something in his chest after watching everybody hug you. He didn't like everyone touching you, so he just stared down at the table.
"It may not seem like it, but ever since I've met you, you've been like a little sister to me because of Maya." Levi whispered so only you could hear.
Tears threatened to roll down your cheeks as he said this. "Thank you Sir." He let go of you, nodded, and gave you a faint, yet sincere smile, then turned to walk over to the Superiors' table, Hanji following him like a puppy.