IN WHICH EREN JAEGER IS A... TITAN?
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ARMS TONITE  ∕  CHAPTER FIVE

"YOU NEED TO PLANT YOUR FEET." Eren was on the ground once again, his nose and eyes scrunched up as he grimaced in pain. It was the third time that night that Araminta had been able to take the boy down, and the third time she had to watch him squirm dramatically against the dirt.

      It'd been a little under a year since the two of them had decided to be sparring partners after hours, and still they had so much to learn. Araminta was still hesitant with her attacks, and Eren obviously wasn't perfect at defense yet. Unfortunately the only way to improve at that was for Araminta to be the "attacker" over and over again, and for Eren to be the one trying to stop her.

      So far he'd managed to stop her a grand total of three times, making them even at that point in time. Her fingers massaged her knuckles as she stared down at him, her breaths heavy from all the physical activity. Eren seemed to be a bit exhausted as well, throwing his arm over his face as he laid against his back.

       "Can we take a break?" He grumbled, acting as though he was seconds away from death. Had she not been craving a break as well, Araminta would have snapped at him to get back up, but after already undergoing rigorous training with the other recruits all day, she really just wanted to sit down for a minute.

      So, she collapsed next to him, her arms between her spread legs and her shoulders hunched over--she definitely looked like a frog the way she was sitting. Her hair stuck to the beads of sweat on her cheeks, which she quickly reached up to swat away with a small grunt. Minus the soft sound of crickets chirping and their loud breaths, it was quiet out in the training grounds. Araminta liked the silence, it was a nice break from the constant noise that came with being around the other cadets.

       After a minute or two sitting in her frog position, she'd eventually been able to catch her breath and fell onto her back, the glittering stars speckled across the night sky coming into view. The soft glow of the moonlight combined with the enchanting little heavenly bodies above was oddly soothing, causing her to grow relaxed like she had just dipped her body into a warm spring. An exhale slipped softly from between her lips as she gazed up at the cosmos, a feeling of complete peace blanketing her.

There were moments like this where the reality of Araminta's situation seemed to melt away. In that moment, she wasn't a soldier bred for war, or a child weighed down by her excessive trauma, she was just a girl, staring up at the sky and admiring the intoxicating beauty of the universe. She wondered, if somewhere on the other edge of the galaxy, there was another girl staring back at her wondering the same thing.

       She snuck a glance over at Eren, who seemed to be under the same spell of the night sky as he had calmed down a bit as well. His cheekbones and nose were practically glowing from the moonlight beaming down on him, and she could see the reflection of the sea of stars from above in his aquamarine eyes. This was nice, she didn't often see the boy relaxed like this. The sight made the corners of her lips tug upwards.

      "If you squint hard enough, those stars together look like a cow." Eren said out of nowhere, raising his finger to point at a spot in the sky. Araminta followed the direction of his point, squinting as he had told her to do. She hummed in thought, unable to see the cow at first. But as she shifted so her head was a bit closer to his own, it began to come into view.

       "Oh yeah, it kinda does." Her eyes began to survey the atmosphere, looking for some other sort of pattern in the stars. "Look! Right there, it looks like a spoon." She directed his gaze towards it with her finger, giggling softly.

They continued that for what felt like an eternity, pointing out different shapes and patterns they found in the sky. Araminta had already forgotten the real reason they'd been out there, wishing she could stay there forever instead of returning to the real world that was exhausting and horrifying.

"Hey, right up here..." Eren angled his arm backwards, pointing at some spot Araminta had to crane her neck to see. "It looks like a flower. Like uhh, the red one, my dad used to give it to my mom all the time, he made me give one to Mikasa once, it's a, uh--"

"Rose." Araminta responded, her previous joyous mood quickly deflating. "It's a rose." She blinked, her lips relaxing into a thin line. The last time she had thought of those stupid flowers had been back in Shiganshina, when they had been taunting her from the kitchen table. Her eyelids squeezed shut as she inhaled a short, shaky breath, trying to shove away the memories.

"Yeah, a rose! You know, I always thought the dandelions or whatever they're called that grew in the paths were prettier." Eren rambled, having not noticed her change in demeanor yet. Dandelions were not prettier than roses, and definitely didn't smell as good, but she did appreciate the slander against roses.

"Mhmm..." She hummed, shifting around on the dirt. "We should go back to sparring. I think that was a long enough break." She pushed herself up, which seemed to catch the brunet by surprise.

"What?" He sat up instantly, narrowing his blueish eyes at her. "What's wrong?"

Araminta did not want to talk about it. Yes, she trusted Eren, and it would probably be beneficial for her to talk to someone about what had happened to her instead of bottling it up the way she had been, but talking about it came with reliving the memories and the horrors that she'd stuffed down already. One day she would be forced to let them up eventually, but that day wasn't today. But, she also knew she couldn't brush him off completely, so she huffed, placing her hands between her legs and beginning to fiddle with them.

"Sorry, it's just... Roses remind me of that day. And I don't like to think about that day." She quickly pulled her knees up to her chest, staring down at the dirt and gravel through her eyelashes. Once again things had fell silent, the chorus of crickets the only sound left behind. Oh god, she should have just stayed quiet and not brought it up, instead she'd opened her mouth and now she'd made things awkward.

Her cheeks grew hot out of embarrassment, and she was filled with instant regret. He was quiet besides her, and she didn't dare look over to see his reaction. It was then she realized that he probably didn't like thinking about that day either, and she had just brought it up and forced him to think about it. Way to go, Araminta, you probably just lost your sparring partner!

She quickly cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, God, I know you probably don't wanna think about it either and--"

"You know, the last conversation I had with my mom before she... It was some stupid argument about me joining the Survey Corps." Eren randomly confessed, leading Araminta to jerk her head up to peer over at him. He had found some little pebble on the ground, gaze locked onto it as he rubbed it between his middle finger and thumb.

"What?" Araminta asked dumbly.

"Mikasa told her I wanted to join, and we had a dumb fight about it before I ran away from the entire conversation." He shook his head, still staring down at the stupid pebble. "And then... Mikasa, Armin and I, we were together when the Colossal Titan showed up. Armin joined the evacuation, but Mikasa and I wanted to find my mom." He paused, eyes growing wide. Araminta wanted to comfort him, to pat him on the shoulder or pat his hand, but she couldn't bring herself to move.

      "Some boulder fell on top of our house, it was completely destroyed. And her legs were crushed... And there was a titan approaching... God, Mikasa and I tried so hard to move the debris, and to save her. But then Hannes--you know him, that old drunk Garrison soldier who was always playing poker or whatever--he was too much of a coward to fight the titan, instead he took me and Mikasa and just ran, leaving her behind..." He sucked in a shaky breath, and at first Araminta thought he was about to cry, but as she inspected his face she realized he was angry. "I couldn't do anything. We couldn't do anything. She was picked up, and-and devoured right in front of us, and I was useless."

       As she listened to him, Araminta completely understood. The same useless feeling was all she could think about after it had all gone down, the way she'd done nothing when Marina had been eaten, and the way her father pushed her out of the way and she just let him. The feeling of being useless was like a plague, infecting her and still clinging onto her wherever she went. Maybe that's why she was so reluctant with everything, because no matter what she'd still feel useless.

        "I'm sorry..." She whispered, staring at his fingers as he continued to play with the little rock. "But... Why are you telling me all this? You didn't have to..."

        His fingers stopped, and the pebble fell softly against the dirt. "I just... I hate thinking about that day, too... But I hope that one day you'll be more comfortable with talking about it. You don't have to, but I know the burden of carrying all those memories around. I just want you to know that I'm willing to share that burden with you, whenever you're ready." His cheeks were dusted shades of red and pink, barely apparent under the dull moonlight.

       Araminta didn't know what to say. It was true, she hated carrying the trauma of that day around with her, but to open up and be vulnerable about it... That was a whole other subject. But Eren had just opened up to her, he trusted her. She definitely wasn't ready yet, but she trusted him too, and knew one day she would be able to. Her nose was running--whether it was because of the fact that she was on the verge of tears or from sitting in the cold too long--so she sniffled before sending him a small smile.

       "Thank you. I appreciate it..." She paused, shifting her gaze to meet his own. "It's getting pretty late, and I'm already sore from today's training, should we just call it a night?" She asked, tilting her head to the side so her cheek resting on her forearm. Eren blinked, looking away before nodding.

        With that, Araminta begrudgingly pushed herself up off of the surprisingly comfortable dirt and onto her feet. She glanced down at Eren, who seemed a bit distracted by something or other, and reached out her hand, silently offering to help him up. He looked up at her, his cheeks still rosy, before putting his hand in her own.

"I'll tell you all about it one day, okay?" She muttered, patting his shoulder once he was finally standing up.

"I promise."

850. THE BATTLE OF TROST

ARAMINTA WAS DEFINITELY AN IDIOT. That had to be the only reasonable explanation for why she had done what she had done. Only a stupid person--or maybe a suicidal person--would have thrown themselves into the situation she was in. Standing next to a boy who just emerged from a Titan's dead body, in front of a group of Garrison soldiers with their guns pointed towards them.

      "I'll kill em," were the first words Eren had finally muttered, and he'd said them with a haunting smile on his lips. Yep, she was definitely stupid. She stared down at him with her nose wrinkled up, what the hell was he talking about?

       "Eren..?" Armin had been the first to speak up, staring at the brunet who seemed to have finally emerged from the half asleep/half awake state he'd been in before. Araminta glanced down at him from beside Mikasa, her jaw growing slack.

        A smart person would have just gone with the others—with Reiner and Annie. But no, instead she had gone with the guy who everyone believed to be dead hours earlier. Was this her punishment for caring about him? A gun aimed straight for her face? If that was the case she'd rather not care about anything ever again.

But for now, she couldn't help but continue to care, even if it meant she would probably die soon. "Hey, Eren, can you stand? Or-Or even think straight right now? Because those guys have guns, and--"

"Tell them everything you know, Eren, I'm sure they'll understand!" Armin jumped in, gripping onto Eren's shoulders and giving them a shake. And for the first time that day, since she thought he'd died, his teal eyes drifted up to meet her own.

"Araminta..?" He blinked up at her, still looking absolutely exhausted. Oh, she wanted to slap him, and curse him out for putting her in this situation, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. He just looked so sweet all groggy like that, she'd forgotten how crazy and angry he usually was. The last time she'd seen him that day had been when he was fighting with Jean, so this was definitely refreshing.

"Did you hear that? He wants to kill..."

"Yeah, he wants to eat us all alive..."

Araminta narrowed her eyes at the crowd of soldiers, leaning close towards Mikasa. Were they all stupid? If any of them had ever spoken to Eren just once, they would all know how ridiculous this whole thing was. There was one man standing in the middle--their leader, she assumed, he looked very familiar--who was staring at them looking somehow both angry and fearful at the same time. On top of that, he was very ugly--like, Titan level ugly. For the second time in her life, she was wishing she had laser vision so she could burn his ugly face off.

"Cadets Jaeger, Ackerman, Holm and Arlert! Your actions constitute treason! I'm conducting an inquiry to decide what to do with you!" If Araminta wasn't worried about a soldier blowing her brains out, she would have rolled her eyes. "If you don't tell the truth, or you move from that spot, we will fire the cannon without hesitation!"

Her eyes drifted up to the side, noticing for the first time since they'd come down the other side of the wall the huge cannon pointed directly towards them. Oh. They really were treating them like war criminals. Instinctively, she grabbed onto Mikasa's arm, her fingers digging into the canvas of her jacket. She thought after she'd made it up the wall she would be safe from death, but now it'd boiled down to her either dying by either gunfire or cannonball.

       "Answer directly! What are you?! Are you human--or Titan?" The man spit, very reminiscent of Commander Shadis. Araminta glared at him, before looking down to Eren. He was human--she knew he was human, she'd known that from the moment she met him. No monster would have that glint in his eye when he talked about his dreams, or that overly human emotion that was anger.

        "I don't understand your question!" Eren shot back, which seemed to catch the man in charge off guard. He muttered something to himself, his eyes locked onto the four of them. 

        "You monster! I dare you to say that again!" He began to bark, and it was then Araminta had noticed Mikasa's blades were pulled out of her gear, at her sides protectively. "We'll blow you to smithereens! We won't give you a chance to show us your true form!" Araminta mirrored the girl next to her, clipping her blades into place and holding them out, ready for action. She wasn't quite sure what she was going to do against a group of soldiers with a mix of swords and guns, not even to mention the cannon pointed at them, but she hoped she looked intimidating enough.

"True form...?"

"There are many witnesses! They saw you appear from inside a Titan!" Okay, that part was true, but that didn't make Eren a monster. They were all too quick to jump to conclusions--though apart of her really couldn't blame them, they were all scared, trying to make sense of what had happened. She just wished they had all the information, then they wouldn't be in this situation. "We allowed an unknown creature like you to pass into Wall Rose! You may be cadets of His Majesty's forces, but eliminating any risk swiftly is the appropriate action! I am not wrong!"

Her grip on the blades tightened as she listened to his words, ready to smash them into his face. In that moment, she swore she couldn't despise anyone more than the man in front of her--minus the Titans, of course, but they didn't really count. "The Armored Titan that destroyed Wall Maria could appear anytime! Humankind is on the brink of extinction! So do you see?! We cannot spare the soldiers--or the time to deal with you!" No, frankly Araminta could not see.

She remembered when the Titan that Eren inhabited first appeared, and the hope she felt when she watched it fight. Where were all the witnesses who saw that? The soldiers who saw the Titan tearing apart other Titans with all its strength? Why weren't they talking about that? Instead they talked about the boy who emerged from its corpse, hurling insults and threats at him. Araminta could not see how their best plan was to shoot them down, rather than try to understand.

"I will fire a shell at you without hesitation!" Man, did this guy ever stop talking? A short blonde girl besides him started talking, and though Araminta couldn't hear what she was saying from where she stood, she imagined it wasn't good. She glanced over at Mikasa, who looked completely ready for combat, then down to Armin and Eren, who looked just as confused and scared as she felt.

"Captain! It would be easy to just kill them now!" Some random soldier called out. Araminta had to bite her lip to stop herself from yelling something stupid at him. "If we blow him to bits while hes still pretending to be human..."

"My special talent..." Mikasa had stepped forward, narrowing her eyes at the ugly man. "Is slicing off flesh. If need be, I'd be happy to show you all." Oh, Araminta was glad Mikasa was still as cool under pressure as ever. Araminta wished she was more like her, more badass and ready to fight. "If anyone wants a taste of my special skill, step forward now."

The man looked stunned. Good. Araminta rose her chin, lifting one of her swords to show some sort of solidarity. She wasn't as good with a blade as Mikasa, and definitely not as experienced as the large group of soldiers around her, but if it came down to it, she would fight. There was no way she was going to let them kill Eren before even tried to understand. Stupid, close-minded Garrison soldiers--she would probably go for the ugly one first.

"Hey, guys, what the hell's going on?" Eren asked, looking between the three of them. Araminta looked over her shoulder as Armin jumped to his feet, looking like he was panicking a little bit.

"Mikasa! Araminta! What good will fighting other humans do?! Where are we going to hide within these walls if something happens?"

"Honestly, Armin, hiding and living arrangements are the last thing on my mind right now. What is on my mind right now is beating the shit out of that ugly man right there." Araminta admitted, while shifting one blade in her hand and staring into his sunken, beady little eyes. Armin gasped from behind her, apparently he'd never heard her so violent before--which wasn't surprising, since usually she didn't talk like this out loud. But, she might be dead in a few minutes, so might as well get it all out now.

"I will take on anyone to keep Eren from getting killed. I don't need any other reasons." Mikasa replied simply.

        "Talk with them! No one here understands the situation, that's why fear is spreading around like an epidemic!"

        "They don't even want to try to understand, Armin! That's the problem!" Araminta looked back at him once again, noticing the pleading look in his blue eyes. Her voice cracked as she spoke, and she realized how truly scared she was. Though she felt composed on the outside. and mostly on the inside, there was fear weaving its way through. Fear of being blown up for defending her friend, before she even had the chance to accomplish what she wanted. This whole situation was ridiculous.

       Pain seared through the back of her head, and she hissed quietly, planting her feet to stop herself from falling over. She was still hurting from before, and the stress of the situation probably wasn't doing her any favors. "I'm going to ask you one more time!" And his barking definitely wasn't helping either, the sudden noise making her head throb. "What exactly are you?!"

        Once again, Araminta was looking towards Eren expectantly. She knew the answer, all three of them did, but she just needed to hear him say it, to confirm it out loud. Yes, Araminta was incredibly stupid for landing herself in this situation, but there was a reason she was here, ready to give her life if she had to. It wasn't only because she cared, but also because Eren had given her hope... Hope for their future in defeating the Titans.

         So, when he shouted "I'm a human being!", she couldn't felt more relieved. The other soldiers did not seem to share that relief with her, however. But why? He had answered their question honestly, why did they all still seem so on edge?

Everything next was a blur. In almost slow motion, the leader raised his hand into the air, his sunken eyes pointed towards the ground. Araminta gasped as she watched, knowing what was going to come next. Mikasa was yelling, grabbing onto Eren and lifting him off the ground, meanwhile Araminta stood still and stared up at the cannon pointed towards them. There wasn't enough time to escape like Mikasa was trying to do, they wouldn't be able to make it up the wall in time.

By the time the commander had lowered his hand back down, Armin was holding onto Araminta, trying to drag her away. The cannonball was hurdling towards them, there was nothing left for them to do. Stupid. If she had gone with the others, she wouldn't be seconds away from her death. She didn't want to see the object that would kill her, she didn't want to see her own death flying towards her. Instead, she squeezed her eyes shut, turning to bury her face into Armin's arm.

       If this was the moment she died, she was going to be so incredibly pissed off. All because these people were too big of cowards to try and understand the situation, they were going to murder four teenagers. Araminta had barely begun to live, barely begun to fulfill her life's purpose, and this was how she was going to die? She was going to give God a piece of her mind if she ended up not surviving this.

       But then something happened. There was a flash of light, reminiscent of when the Colossal Titan had appeared, though she assumed it was the cause of the cannonball making an explosion. Except she wasn't dead, which meant something had stopped the cannon. Slowly, she peeled open one of her eyes to see what had happened, her face still tucked tightly against Armin's arm. It was smoky, and Araminta could barely see anything in front of her. But, as it began to clear, she then noticed something had snaked around behind her and all the way around. Several things, actually, and they strangely resembled...

        Bones.

         The three of them were inside of a skeleton, a huge, falling apart skeleton. Araminta tilted her head back, her eyes widening as she realized the magnitude of the structure surrounding her. From outside of the cloud of smoke, she could hear scattered shouts and gasps of the Garrison soldiers. It seemed everyone there was just as confused as her.

"The last thing I remember... Is the sound of the cannon..." Armin whispered from beside her, a stunned look resting on his face. "And then came a loud shockwave and the heat... We're inside a huge skeleton--"

"Eren protected us." Mikasa snapped, narrowing her eyes. "That's all we need to know right now."

"Are we... Inside a Titan...?" Araminta wondered quietly to herself, eyes traveling up and down the different arcs and pieces around her. She was fascinated, reaching out to run her fingers across the coarse surface of one of the bones besides her. Grossly enough, there were some burning pieces of flesh hanging off the edges, the smell making her stomach turn. Still, she felt herself begin to smile.

How interesting.

      "Hey!" Araminta turned away from the bone, looking over her shoulder to see a familiar figure running around the outside of the rib cage. "Are you guys alright?" Eren came into view, shouting loudly at them. Araminta nodded, crossing her fingers together in front of her.

        "Eren... What is this?" Armin asked.

        "I don't know! But this thing is going to vaporize soon, the way Titan corpses do. We need to get clear of here!" As Eren turned to face the crowd of people, Araminta looked back at the bones, noticing they were indeed beginning to disintegrate. "They're either still watching us or preoccupied by something else. For the moment, the Garrison isn't taking action. They're probably going to continue their attack eventually."

"Do you think this is how the real Titans are formed? Just... Out of thin air?" Araminta questioned, wrinkling her nose as the smell worsened.

"Is that really important right now?" Eren sighed. Araminta glared at him. Of course it was important. The corpse she stood inside was a huge clue about the truth of the Titans. Yes, there was probably still a chance of her getting shot in the head, but she was still very interested.

Before she had a chance to protest, he grabbed onto her wrist, dragging her away from the skeleton after Mikasa and Armin. "After what they've seen..." He trailed off, looking over his shoulder as he walked. Araminta followed suit, looking up at the remainder of the Titan. "I seriously doubt that talking to them will do any good."

         The four of them came to a stop, facing the spectacle before them. It was giant, even if it was only half of its usual size. Smoke had already began to slip off of it, the bones glowing as they vaporized. "But... I did recall one thing..." Araminta gazed over to see Eren's fingers wrapped around the key that usually hung around his neck. "The basement... The basement of my home! My father said I'd understand everything if I went there. I became... This way because of something my dad did. If I can get to the basement, I'll learn the truth of the Titans!"

        All this time... One of the answers she'd been searching for was hiding in her hometown this whole time? And it was in Dr. Jaeger's basement?! She genuinely had not seen that one coming. "So... We just need to get to Shiganshina?" She rose an eyebrow, glancing at the key. He ignored her, stepping towards the remains of the Titan he'd been in control over moments earlier.

      "Damnit!" He slammed his fist down on one of the bones, his other hand balled up tightly. "If he knew all of this stuff, why did he hide it? So many soldiers risked their lives trying to find this! And he kept it hidden in our basement?! What the hell was he thinking?"

         Araminta shared a glance with Mikasa and Armin, feeling a bit worried about Eren. Small chips of the skeleton were tumbling down, clattering against the cobblestone pathway they stood on. Any second the whole thing would collapse, and if they didn't get far enough away it might take them down with it. "Eren..."

        "And where the hell has he been the last five years..."

        "Eren, we need to move." Araminta said flatly, while Mikasa grabbed onto his shoulder. "We have other things we need to do right now." He stared at her, like a deer caught in headlights before shaking his head and forcing himself to focus.

         "Right..." He walked besides her away from the Titan, which surely enough was already falling apart. The skull lost all of its support, hurdling down towards the ground and smashing into a million little pieces.

ARAMINTA DID NOT KNOW WHO THIS PYXIS GUY WAS, but she had never been as thankful for a man as she was for him. Just as Kitz, (yes, she finally remembered who the hell he was), was about to call on another cannon fire, he had shown up out of nowhere and put a stop to all the madness. He was apparently the highest ranking commander of the Southern Territories which luckily included Trost District.

Once Kitz and the other Garrison soldiers had cleared away, the four teenagers had retreated up to the top of the wall with the commander. It seemed he was plotting some sort of idea as he paced back and forth, a metal flask between his fingers. Araminta stood behind Armin, once again finding herself massaging the back of her head. God, it felt like this day was never going to end.

"I should've known I wouldn't find one..." The commander finally spoke after what felt like an eternity of his pacing, stopping to glare down the edge of the wall. Araminta tilted her head to the side, a little bit confused to what the hell he was saying. "You know, I wouldn't mind being eaten if it was by a hot, knock-out female Titan." Oh. She rolled her eyes. As it turned out, this guy was weird.

         "So... Fill me in on everything I need to know." He turned to face the four of them, the sun beaming down behind him. They exchanged looks with each other, before nodding in agreement. Even though he was weird, he had so far proven himself to be trustworthy.

So, Eren began to narrate the story, starting from the very beginning. He did most of the talking, with Armin jumping in a few times here and there, while Mikasa and Araminta kept quiet. Araminta had never been a big talker, especially not around her superiors like this. She would much rather keep quiet and listen to others than join in and accidentally say something stupid--because she did that a lot.

Behind Pyxis, Trost really was already in shambles. With big towers of smoke protruding up in the air, and the occasional titan appearances that she could spot, it was really starting to look like they may never be able to get it back. But, Araminta held out hope. This wouldn't be like Shiganshina, no this time they had an upper hand--they had Eren. A Titan-killing Titan.

After what felt like centuries later, they had finally finished filling in the commander. He had faced away from them again at some point, gazing over the district in front of them dramatically. The sun was starting to begin its descent across the sky, though if Araminta had to guess they were still a few hours away from sunset. It was pretty, if there wasn't a field of destruction in front of her she would probably enjoy it more.

       "I see... So, we'll know everything if we get to that basement." Pyxis thought out loud, a statement to which Eren nodded.

        "Yes... Do you believe me?" He asked, while still kneeling down against the top of the wall. He looked tired, probably more worn out than she was currently feeling. It seemed that shifting into his titan form or whatever really sucked the life out of him.

       "Since you have no concrete proof of this, I'll just keep that in mind for now." He looked over his shoulder so they could see his face, reaching up to tap his temple. "However, I think I'm a good judge of when someone is telling the truth. So, I will guarantee your lives."

        The four of them relaxed in unison at the sound of that, and Araminta was grateful to know she wouldn't still be accused of being a war criminal after this.

        "Cadet Arlert, was it?" He shifted his attention to the blond, who straightened up quickly.

        "Yes, sir!" He saluted, placing his fist over his heart the way they had been instructed to do.

        "Earlier you said that if we used what you call 'Titan power', it could be possible to retake the city. Could you elaborate on that?"

         "What I was trying to say in that moment was that Eren, who can become a Titan, could carry that large boulder by the gate to seal off the breach. It... Was just something I thought up on the spot." He bowed his head, looking embarrassed. "I was just hoping you would see how Eren's power could help us."

The commander hummed in thought, turning around so his back was once again facing them. It was a good plan, she thought. She had seen the boulder in question earlier in the day, right after the attack had gone down. It was big, big enough to fill the gateway. But, it might be too big for Eren's titan to carry--she hoped that wasn't true.

"O-Of course, I said it as a last ditch effort to save our lives!" Araminta looked over to Armin, who seemed to be a bit panicked by the attention.

"'A last ditch effort' of saving your lives, hm? Now those are words I can believe." Pyxis took a swig of his flask, an action that bothered Araminta more than it should have. She hoped he wasn't drunk right now, while they were in the middle of plotting how to take back the city. He began to walk towards them, screwing on the cap to his flask before burying it back in his pocket.

"So, Cadet Jaeger..." He knelt down in front of Eren, so he was eye level with him.

"Sir?"

"Can you seal the hole?"

Eren looked taken aback. "Huh? Well, I... I really don't know. I really don't know any more about myself than they do." He gestured over to the three of them. "That's why I might be able to, or I might not be able to. I don't want to make any promises I can't keep."

"Yes, you're right, forgive me. That was the wrong question to ask. Will you do it? Or will you not? Which will it be, Cadet?"

Eren sucked in a breath, his eyes widening. The commander shifted his gaze to behind them, and Araminta quickly turned around to see what he was looking at. At first she saw nothing significant, there was just the small buildings beyond Wall Rose, until she realized he wasn't really looking at anything in particular. The future of humanity, and everything beyond the wall they stood on was riding on whether Eren would be able to lift the seal the wall or not.

"I'll do it." Eren declared, lifting his gaze. "I'll do it! I don't know if I can seal the hole or not, but... I will do it!"

idk what to say abt this chapter, not a lot
happened but if i combined it with the
events of the next chapter it would be well
over 10k words so forgive me sjjsjsjs