IN WHICH ARAMINTA PONDERS THE UNIVERSE!
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ARMS TONITE ∕ CHAPTER TWENTY

USUALLY, THE STARS THAT LITTERED THE NIGHT SKY WOULD BRING ARAMINTA COMFORT. She could stare up, counting the different little lights in the sky for hours, totally entranced by the sheer amount of them. Or she would be able to pick out little shapes, making up stories based on their formations just like people would do in the ancient times.

What made it even better, though, was doing it all with Eren while taking breaks during their late night training sessions.

But now, the stars were just a reminder of her failure. Instead of her heart swelling at the sight of the glittering cosmos, it sank. All she could think about was that cart being dragged away from her, and there being nothing she could do about it. And now, all she could do was just hope that wherever he was, he was safe.

         "Hey, they're almost here." Mikasa's voice and hand on her shoulder startled Araminta, causing her to nearly leap out of her skin. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." She frowned, taking note of Araminta's reaction.

"That's alright," Araminta replied, and took a deep breath in an attempt to chill her nerves. "Has Levi given the signal yet?"

"No," Mikasa leaned over the corner, and Araminta took it as a sign to do the same. "I just could tell you were deep in thought, and figured you'd want to be prepared for when he does."

"Mm..." Araminta hummed, seeing the carriage they were expecting approaching them. Inside were the Military Police officers that were believed to be responsible for torturing and murdering Pastor Nick. Dimo Reeves had told them they would be ambushing Levi and his squad, but in reality it would be the other way around. The squad would ambush them as soon as Levi gave the signal.

"What... Were you thinking about?" Mikasa asked tentatively. Honestly, it was a bit rare Mikasa would spark up any kind of conversation with her, especially when they were in the middle of a mission, so it caught Araminta a bit off guard.

"A lot of things." Araminta sighed, her eyes glued on Levi, who was positioned across the street from them, ready for the signal to be given any minute.

"About Eren?" Mikasa glanced down at her, and Araminta's jaw tightened at the sound of his name.

"Yeah. I'm thinking about Eren." She replied honestly, her voice barely loud enough for Mikasa to hear her. Why did she tell Mikasa that? She wasn't sure. Maybe the jealous part of her said it in an attempt to show Mikasa she was interested in him, and mark her territory, but that was unlikely. More likely was the possibility she said it just because she wanted someone to confide in, and Mikasa would probably best understand what she was going through.

"Me too." Mikasa sighed, and then Levi was giving the signal, leaving Araminta no time to respond. And really, no time to even process her response.

The carriage came to a stop, as they all began to surround it. Araminta stood behind Levi, a rifle between her hands that would be ready to fire the second it was needed. Jean was next to Levi, with his rifle pointed right in the face of an officer peering out at him. And as he stared back at him in shock, Jean flipped the gun around and bashed the heel into the man's face.

"Reeves, you piece of--!" She could hear the other officer's voice inside, but it was muffled assumingely by the hilt of Mikasa's gun. His body hit the wooden floor with a thud, and just like that, they had their two new hostages.

"Sorry, fellas." Dimo said from the drivers seat, and glanced down over his shoulder.

          Once they were sure they had been knocked out, Araminta and Armin lifted up one of the limp bodies, and began to carry it into the small farmhouse they would be hiding out in for a few days. Araminta found herself staring at the way the body moved as they walked, almost like a kind of rag doll, with no sort of structure to it. Which, in turn, gave her flashbacks to the man she'd murdered, falling to the ground...

            Weightlessly.

"HO-O-O-OLM!" HANGE'S VOICE WAS A VERY WELCOMED BREAK FROM THE screams coming from underneath the floorboards. There they were, pushing the door open with Moblit close behind them. It had only been a day or two since Araminta had last seen her mentor, but after everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours, it felt more like a lifetime.

"Hange!" She greeted them, standing up from the table and rushing over to them. "Uh, Levi is downstairs, doing..." She paused, as another scream echoed through the small building. For the last hour, that was all they had heard, like a broken record playing the sounds of tortured screams over and over again. "...His thing."

"Perfect. We will talk later, there are many ideas I'd like to bounce off of you." They said with a small smile, patting her on the top of her head. "Moblit! Let's go!" The two descended the staircase, and down into the basements where their prisoners were being held.

As she sat back down besides Sasha, the memories of all the experiments Hange did on Eren came to mind, and she began to wonder if they would use what they'd learned over the years to make their torture more painful than even Levi's methods.

Sure enough, the screams started again a few minutes later, this time more blood curdling than before. Araminta's whole body tensed up, her toes curling as she began to imagine the things Hange and Levi were doing to that man. Maybe pulling out his fingernails, like they had done to Pastor Nick, or maybe even his teeth. Her jaw tightened.

"There they go again..." Jean said quietly, who looked to be in about the same level of discomfort as Araminta. "I feel like the screams are even louder now. I know it's to save these two but... It makes me sick."

"Let's face it... We're criminals now." Armin said, an empty look in his eyes as he stared at the table. They all looked up at him, a bit shocked by his words. "The enemies that we're facing... We're not killing them because they're trying to eat us. It's because their views are different."

Another cry sounded out, and that combined with Armin's words was like a punch to the gut. Suddenly Araminta was nauseous, and needed to get out of there now.

She stood abruptly, her hand leaping up to clutch her stomach and her other falling on the table to stabilize herself. "I'm sorry, I'll be right back." She told them, then ran as fast as she could out the door.

           Araminta's throat stung, and her stomach ached as she vomited, though barely anything was coming up since she hadn't eaten all day. Her abs began to cramp up from all the involuntary gagging, and she felt absolutely miserable.

The images of the bullet colliding with the man's chest, and the blood that erupted from the wound, and the way his body slammed against the ground played over and over again in her mind, and she felt herself gag every time it did so.

           After a few minutes, she began to relax a bit, and the vomiting came to a stop. Now she was left with a sore abdomen, and chapped lips, which didn't feel much better than the vomiting. Her chest heaved with each deep breath she took, trying to ease her own nerves and force herself to calm down.

          Are you really the one in the wrong? Levi had asked. Was she? Was she wrong for saving Armin? And stopping another man from taking his life? Of course she wasn't. But was there something else she could have done to stop him? Something besides murdering him in cold blood? Maybe she should have shot him in the leg. Or in the hand, just anything that would have slowed him down long enough for Armin to move.

The sound of the door closing interrupted her thoughts, thankfully, and she looked up, surprised to Jean of all people standing there. "Are you alright? I mean — of course you're not, obviously, you're sick, I don't know why I asked that. I guess what I meant to ask is, do you need anything?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck as he approached.

"I need to eat a rack of lamb and then take a nap for ten days straight." Araminta replied dryly, sliding down against the wall besides her.

Jean laughed, and walked over to sit down beside her. "Yeah, not sure what do about that. I was hoping you'd say you needed someone to talk to, because that I can help with."

Araminta looked away. "I don't need to talk about it."

"Come on, I can tell something is bothering you. We all can. It'll probably feel better to talk about it." Jean urged her, nudging her shoulder with his own.

"It's just the Universe." She finally admitted with a sigh. "I still don't know what I did to make it hate me, maybe it was sneaking an extra piece of pie past my bed time, or maybe it was throwing Alvin out the window when I got mad. I don't know..." She paused, as the nausea threatened her once again, but she managed to breathe through it. "But whatever I did must have been really, really bad."

"The Universe?" Jean rose a skeptical eyebrow at her, and she sent him a glare.

"Yes, Jean. The Universe. One might prefer to call it God, but I know there's no God, since my life is pure shit. So, if there is something out there controlling things, I believe it to be the Universe." She explained to him.

"Right. Makes sense." He nodded, though his tone was not very convincing.

"See, you don't get it. I don't wanna talk about it anymore." Araminta pushed herself up off the ground, ready to walk back inside to rejoin the others, but Jean grabbed ahold of her hand, halting her in her tracks.

         "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You pissed off the Universe, and then what happened?" He asked, and she begrudgingly sat back down.

         "I pissed it off, and now it's out to get me." She told him. "First, it was Shiganshina — "

           "You know, I don't think I've ever heard you talk about what happened in Shiganshina." Jean said, tilting his head as he looked at her.

           "I don't like talking about it. It... I don't know. I just start feeling useless all over again every time I think about it." She shook her head, thinking back to her sister telling her to run, and just leave her behind to be eaten.

I hope you find your flower.

"You're not useless, Araminta." Jean told her, and Araminta let out a soft exhale.

"I am, though. I couldn't save my sister, my dad, my mom... Eren has been taken twice, and I could have done something both times. And now... Now he might really be gone, and I... I can't do anything about it." She could feel her eyes beginning to well up with tears, and began to blink rapidly, because no way was she letting herself cry in front of Jean.

"You had a sister?" Jean asked after a moment, and Araminta's breath hitched. It had been a long time since she had talked about Marina — actually, she was sure she hadn't talked about her at all since she died, aside from passing mentions of her death. And somehow, even after five years, she still wasn't ready.

            "We should go inside." She said instead.

           "Mm, I don't really want to go back in there right now." He replied with a sigh, raising his arms to place them behind his head. "I don't know how much longer I can listen to Levi and Hange torture those guys."

          "Okay."

           "If you really don't want to talk, we can just sit here in silence, and look at the stars." He suggested.

            "Okay." Araminta pulled her knees close to her chest, looking up to see the seas of stars and galaxies above them. One time, she had wondered if someone out there was staring back at her, asking themself the same question. Now, though, she wondered if, wherever he was, Eren was looking at the same stars.

"Thank you, Jean." She said quietly, and her eyelids began to grow heavy.

It wasn't long before she slipped into a much needed sleep.

        IT WAS STILL DARK OUT WHEN ARAMINTA WAS WOKEN UP. Great! She couldn't even get a full nights sleep, and at this rate she probably never would. But, she couldn't stay mad, because there was only one reason Connie would be waking her up in the middle of the night: they knew the whereabouts of Eren and Historia.

"Araminta! Jean! Come quick — " Connie had flung open the door, yelling at the top of his lungs and causing Araminta's eyes to flutter open. He was staring over at her, his hand clasped over his mouth as though he was holding back a laugh. "Oh my god, Sasha, you need to get out here and see this." He barely managed to get out, forcing down laughter in between.

"What are you laughing at?" Araminta asked groggily, her eyes slowly scanning the area to see what the hell he thought it was so funny. But then she noticed her hand was touching Jean's, and his tired groan was way too loud in her ear.

"Aww! You're cuddling!" Sasha appeared in the doorway, giggling loudly. Yes, somehow in her sleep, Araminta's head had ended up on Jean's shoulder. She cursed under her breath, sitting up and pushing him away from her.

"Pervert! Taking advantage of me in my sleep!" She hissed, and he looked horrified as he scrambled away.

"Me?! You're the one who fell asleep on me!" He snapped in response. "I would never willingly cuddle with you. Especially when you smell like vomit." Araminta gasped, having half the mind to punch him in his stupid face.

"Ew." Connie commented, and Araminta shot him a deadly glare. "I mean, vomiting is a normal bodily function, there is nothing to be ashamed of, 'Minta."

"Shut up." She grumbled, standing up. "What happened? Did they find out where Eren is yet?" She asked eagerly, and pushed Jean back down to the ground as he started to stand up.

"Dunno. They said it was important, though, and we all needed to hear it." Connie said with a shrug, then walked back inside. Sasha waited by the door, joining Araminta by her side as they walked inside.

"Soo... You gonna tell me what that — "

          "No." Araminta prayed Hange and Levi had good news so this little moment wouldn't haunt her for the rest of the week — because lord knows Sasha would not let her forget about it unless she had something more interesting to occupy her mind.

Hange, Levi and Moblit stood with their backs against one of the walls, and Araminta was unable to read their expressions. Good news or bad news? She wasn't sure.

         "So..." Hange began, as the six filled the room. "We all know Historia was revealed to belong to the Reiss family, who allegedly knows the secrets of the walls. As it turns out, they know these secrets because... They are the true royal bloodline."

"What?! The Reiss's are the Royal Family?" Araminta echoed, her eyes wide. This whole time, she had been in the presence of royal blood. It was a lot for her to wrap her head around.

"Yes. In other words, Eren and Historia are most likely wherever Rod Reiss is." Hange continued, and on cue, Moblit placed a poster against the wall and flattened it to reveal the man in question: Rod Reiss. And boy was he an ugly man.

"But... What does the Royal Family want with Eren?" Araminta asked, though based on Hange's sullen expression, she was afraid she didn't really want to hear the answer.

         "Eren told me something... About a conversation he'd overheard when Bertholdt and Reiner kidnapped him..." They spoke slowly, and avoided Araminta's stare, as though they knew she wasn't going to like what they had to say. "In order to gain the power of the titans... We strongly believe you have to consume someone else who already has the powers... In other words--"

           "They're gonna eat Eren?!" Armin exclaimed.

           "What?!" Araminta practically exploded, immediately feeling herself begin to panic. "We can't let them eat him!"

          "Relax, kid. We aren't going to let it happen." Levi said, rolling his eyes at her.

           "Wait, how do we know this?" Mikasa asked, skepticism lining her features. Araminta nodded in solidarity.

            "He remembered a conversation between Bertholdt and Ymir, where they implied she had eaten one of their comrades. She also implied she had lived as a Titan for decades outside the walls. wandering around until she ate their comrade. When a Titan eats someone, they stay a Titan. But, when a Titan ate one of their comrades, someone who possessed the ability to turn into a Titan, she became a human again. So, in other words, if a Titan eats someone with the Power of the Titans, they revert back into a human. And furthermore, they obtain the power of who they eat. The last time we battled Reiner, he was throwing titans at Eren. But, we found out Eren has the power to control Titans with just his scream. He was trying to snatch the power with those Titans. In that case, Eren is just a vessel who is bound to be replaced. Basically, if the government has a Titan of their own, they'll be the one to eat Eren."

           Mikasa, overcome with emotion, stood and stomped over to the door, but was stopped by Levi placing a firm hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. Even if you go on a rampage, they're not going to give him back to us."

           "Anyways, we head for the lands of Rod Reiss." Levi announced, turning to face the rest of them. "Get ready to leave at once."

           "Yes, sir!" They shouted in response, then began to disperse.

Levi hadn't been talking to her directly, but he was right. Rushing in there and freaking out wasn't going to save Eren. Keeping a level head and taking the time to think and come up with a plan was what was going to save Eren. She didn't have a moment to spare panicking about what might happen to him.

All she could do is hope they would have a plan formed before he ended up in the stomach of a Titan.

woah can you believe there's 20 chapters
now... crazy... and jean and araminta
moment...? ir doesn't mean anything don't
worry 😅😅