IN WHICH ARAMINTA HAS TO MAKE A DECISION!
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ARMS TONITE ∕ CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

      EVERYTHING WAS A BLUR. THE DUST CLOUD FROM THE EXPLOSION HAD FINALLY SETTLED, her friends were trying to strategize, the Colossal Titan was scattering debris in the sky, but Araminta was unable to focus on a single thing going on. All of her surroundings had blurred together, and just turned into one giant mess.

       All she could think about was Hange. Hange Zoë, her squad leader, her mentor, her... Would Araminta go as far as to dare to call them that certain word? That word they'd been thinking about the day of the coronation? The f word? Honestly, she thought she would. Hange Zoë had become like family to her.

       And they were dead.

       Right now, she was holding onto to the hair of Eren's Titan as he carried them over towards the river, but her gaze remained trained on where Hange Squad had been before the explosion. She kept waiting to see Hange's figure shoot up from the rubble, proving that she was wrong and that they had made it, but it didn't happen.

       "Araminta? Are you alright?" A voice called her out of her daze, and she looked over to see Mikasa looking at her quizzically.

        She shook her head. "Hange was there. When Bertholdt changed. I think... I think they're..." She looked down at the ground below them.

        Mikasa sighed. "I'm sorry, Araminta. I understand. When I thought I lost Eren..." She glanced up at the top of his head. "I didn't know what to do. He was the only family I had left. The thought of losing yet another person I love... It was almost inconceivable."

       "You... Love him?" Araminta asked quietly, which seemed to confuse Mikasa.

        "He is my family. Of course I love him. Just like... You're a part my family, too, now... So I love you." She admitted, and her cheeks became dusted pink.

        "Oh." Araminta said back.

It was the first time in a long time someone had told her that they loved her, and it was coming from Mikasa of all people. For some reason, those three words made her feel uneasy. Did she love Mikasa, too? Did she love Hange? What about everyone else, did she love them, too? Were they her family now?

        "And hey, we don't know for sure they're dead, yet." Mikasa said encouragingly. "Hange is smart. There's a chance they were able to get out of there before the explosion hit." She reached out to rub Araminta's shoulder, and gave her a soft smile of encouragement.

If it had been anyone else, it might have felt like empty words to Araminta. But to hear it coming from Mikasa, who she knew might have been one of the only people there that truly understood how she was feeling, made it a lot more reassuring that she thought it would be.

Okay. So, there was a chance that Hange had survived the explosion. It was a slim chance, but it was a chance nonetheless. And Mikasa was right, Hange was smart. If she was going to be able to keep going today, and retake her hometown, she was going to have to believe that Hange would be there waiting for her at the end of it all.

"Yell at him, Eren! We can't let Bertholdt get any closer to that wall!"

Finally, Araminta was able to get a better grasp on her surroundings, and she looked up ahead to see the Colossal Titan was starting to get dangerously close to the wall. Eren obeyed Jean's command without a second of hesitation, his loud roar ripping through the air.

Bertholdt stopped for a moment, then glanced over his shoulder at them. When she made eye contact with the Colossal Titan, all of her anger returned. She remembered her promise, that the Bertholdt had to die. Even if she truly had lost Hange, killing him would be the best way to avenge their death.

But he looked away, and returned his walk to the wall.

"The asshole is ignoring us!" Jean growled.

"He's heading straight for the wall." Araminta said with a frown. Wasn't his whole goal to capture Eren? So why was he just letting him go?

"So, what do we do now, Jean?" Connie asked. "If he reaches the wall — "

"We're not going to let him!" Jean snapped back at Connie. "Eren! Go tackle that lanky jerk's leg!"

Once again, Eren had no problem listening to Jean. It was funny how a few hours earlier, Eren would have probably pummeled Jean for bossing him around like that. But now that they were actually in the heat of battle, and Jean had somehow become the head of command, he obeyed his orders like it was nothing.

       "Do we actually have a plan for this?" Connie called out.

       "Yeah! With that steam he puts out, he can make our ODM gear useless. It won't connect!" Sasha reminded Jean, and Araminta recalled the last time they fought the Colossal on the top of Wall Rose.

        "I'm well aware of that!" Jean snapped at the two. "But we have to give it a try anyway! We can figure out his weakness as we fight!"

       Araminta nodded in agreement. She trusted Jean's judgment.

        "I can kill him." Mikasa said. "Just keep him distracted. Connie!" She turned to the boy, who blinked at her in surprise. "Give me your Thunder Spear."

       "Uh — Sure thing!"

       "Let me help you. I can one of Sasha's spears." Araminta jumped in, looking over at her friend for approval. Sasha huffed, unloading her Thunder Spear to pass it to her.

       "I don't think we need both of you going up there." Jean said with a frown.

        Araminta narrowed her eyes at him. "Why not? We should use all the firepower we've got on that thing." She said as she loaded the spear. Mikasa nodded.

        "Fine. Just... Be careful." He said, and she gave him an enthusiastic salute across her chest in response. He rolled his eyes, then leaned over to mutter something to Armin as they approached the Colossal.

        Finally, they were within close range of the Titan, and they spread out to give Eren a chance to try and trip him up. It wasn't until he was wrapping his arms around Bertholdt's ankle and pushing that she realized just how massive the Colossal Titan was compared to the Attack Titan. It seemed impossible that he would be able to trip him.

        But, Bertholdt's foot slowly started to slide back, and it looked like Eren was actually starting to push him. Araminta exchanged a hopeful look with Mikasa before the two girls returned their attention to the Titan brawl in front of them.

        Unfortunately it wasn't Eren moving the foot. It was Bertholdt himself, and he lifted his leg back before swinging it forward and launching Eren onto the top of the wall.

        Araminta stared in horror at the smoke tower coming from the sight of impact, and Eren's lifeless body. "He's not moving!" She exclaimed. There was no way that was enough to kill him, right? No way. If Reiner was able to survive a sword in the neck, Eren would survive this.

        "He's still alive, though, so he's fine." Jean told her. "Let's focus on keeping the Colossal off of him."

        She wanted to argue, and wanted to fly up to the top of the wall to check on him, but Jean was right. Going up there would be pointless and a waste of gas, the best way she could help Eren was to keep Bertholdt from doing any further damage.

        "Well, screw it!" Jean suddenly declared. "Plan or no plan, I'm not just gonna sit here and do nothing! Let's take the fight to him!"

       In unison, the remaining soldiers of Levi Squad began to swarm the Colossal Titan. It probably wasn't going to do any good, but it was worth a try. And it was easy for Araminta to stay motivated. Every time she looked at Bertholdt's ugly Titan face, she saw Marina's leg crushed under a boulder, and her father's guts splattered across the pavement. And now, she saw the bright fire of the explosion that had probably killed Hange.

       So, to Araminta, it didn't matter if it worked, as long as she was trying.

        "He doesn't know about the Thunder Spears!" Jean yelled. "Sasha and Connie will help me distract him. Mikasa and Araminta, you guys will go for the kill!"

         While the three of them started to call out childish insults at Bertholdt, Mikasa and Araminta maneuvered their way behind the Colossal Titan. Once they were at just the right angle, they exchanged a nod, and took it as their signal to fire.

        Bertholdt must have been able to sense them, though. Suddenly, the same explosion of steam he used before was released from his body, sending the Thunder Spears backwards and slapping Araminta's face with a gust of heat.

        Even hotter was the three Thunder Spears going off behind Mikasa and Araminta, and she was glad she wasn't wearing her cloak or else she was positive it would have caught on fire. There was a sharp pain across her nose, though, and she realized one of the wires that had been connected to a Thunder Spear had whipped her face.

        She and Mikasa retreated down below, where they both landed on a roof with a groan. Araminta reached up to press the fabric of her jacket sleeve against her nose to stop the blood she knew must have been trickling out, and she looked over to see Mikasa gripping her arm.

       "Min! Are you okay?" She didn't even know where Jean had come from but he was kneeling in front of her, eyebrows drawn tightly together as his eyes scanned her face.

        She nodded, moving her arm away to look down at her sleeve. Luckily, it wasn't totally drenched, but she was definitely bleeding. "I'm okay. It was just one of wires." She told Jean calmly.

       Jean hissed once he was able to get a good look at her face. "What? Is it really that bad?" She asked, and she really hoped she hadn't lost her entire nose or something.

        He shook his head. "No-no, it's not super bad. Here." He reached down to the bottom of his cloak, and ripped a piece of the fabric off. He used one hand to cup her cheek while he used the other to gently dab her wound with the piece of fabric. "That probably feels better than your jacket, right?" He asked with a soft smile.

       Araminta stared at him with wide eyes. She had never seen Jean like this, except maybe with Marco. He handled her so tenderly, it was such a wild contrast to the boy she had wanted to punch back when they were cadets. It gave her déjà vu to the night they raided the caverns under the old Reiss church, where she had also found herself so fascinated by his growth.

       He glanced up from her wound to meet her eyes, and suddenly he tensed up. "What is it? Is there something on my face?" He asked, just like that night.

        She smiled. "No. Nothing. Thank you for this." She put her hand on top of his to signal he could stop, and took the small piece of his cloak from him.

        Now it was his turn to stare at her, his cheeks turning a deep scarlet. Araminta missed it, though, as she turned her attention over to Mikasa.

       "What happened?!" She gasped, seeing the red patch beginning to spread from a spot on Mikasa's arm.

       "It was just a piece of shrapnel from the Thunder Spear. I'll be okay." She grunted out. "Did you figure something out yet, Armin?" She returned her attention over to Armin.

      "Huh?" The blond blinked at her.

      "Is there anything we can do to fight back?"

      The other three on the roof looked to Armin hopefully, but he just hung his head low in defeat. "I don't... I don't know."

       There was a loud bang, and Araminta looked over to the Colossal Titan, expecting to see it had picked up another house or something to throw around. Her heart sank when she saw the source of the bang, though.

       Somehow, Reiner had survived Bertholdt's transformation, and was now once again stomping through the streets of Shiganshina. "You have got to be kidding me."

       "God, what is it going to take for him to just die and stay dead?!" Jean complained. "What the hell are we supposed to do against something like him?"

        Araminta shook her head as she watched the Armored Titan begin to approach. She was seriously starting to get so sick and tired of this guy. Every time she thought he was dead, he just kept coming back. If only the people she actually cared about could be so lucky.

        "I think getting Eren out of here safely might be our best bet here." Jean finally said with a sigh. Araminta glanced back over her shoulder to the wall, where Eren was still lying, unmoving.

        "He's thinner." Armin said.

        Huh?

       Araminta followed his gaze over to the Colossal Titan, and she quickly caught on to what he was saying. Since Bertholdt had started emitting the steam, he was starting to grow thinner. "You're right!"

        "It's like Hange said!" Armin turned around to face them, and it looked like he was finally starting to form a plan. "The best way to win against the Colossal Titan is by wearing him down!"

       Jean and Mikasa still looked confused, so Araminta decided to step in and help explain it to them. "You remember their experiments with Eren, right? And he could only transform up to three times? If that's the case for a 15-meter Titan, then one as big as the Colossal Titan might be even less efficient!"

        "And then there's the steam!" Armin continued for her. "I think he must be burning through flesh and muscle tissue to produce it. Burning through everything except for his skeleton."

       "So... What are you saying? Do you have a plan?" Jean asked with a raised eyebrow.

        "I have a plan." Armin replied with a smile. "You all need to redirect Reiner away from here. Eren and I will defeat Bertholdt ourselves. The two of us can do this. Trust me."

       Mikasa nodded. "Alright, then. You leave Reiner to us and get going."

       Jean smiled. "Took you long enough. You had me thinking we were all gonna die here."

       "Enough yapping, Jean! We don't have all day!" Araminta teased, then walked over to Armin. "Good luck." She told him, resting her hand on his shoulder.

        He smiled at her. "You too."

        They wasted no time after that. They caught up to Connie and Sasha, and filled them in on the plan — the plan being to swarm Reiner and try to grab his attention. The first time they got close to him, though, Araminta prepared herself to evade his attacks, but the attack never came. Instead, he breezed right past the five of them, completely ignoring them.

"Damn it! He's just ignoring us!" Connie cursed.

"It looks like he's focused on Eren." Jean spoke with annoyance.

"Then we'll just have to kill him!" Mikasa exclaimed.

She gave the other four barely any time to respond before she was zipping after Reiner and firing a Thunder Spear into the unprotected muscle on the back of his knee. He tumbled down to the ground within seconds, but not without taking out a row of houses first.

"Mikasa, have I ever told you how grateful I am to have you on our side?" Araminta let out a sigh of relief. She couldn't imagine what it was like for their enemies. For them, they were scared of giant Titans with extraordinary abilities. For their enemies, they had to worry about Mikasa and Levi, which she imagined was much more scary.

"Hey!" Jean called after Mikasa angrily.

"If we can't distract him, we're just going to have to finish him off right here, right now!" The ravenette shouted back at him. "Our job is to protect Eren and Armin!"

Jean narrowed his eyes at her. "Yeah, I know that. But we've only got three more Thunder Spears!"

"We're just going to have to make those three work then!" Araminta told him.

"Right! Because there's no way we're gonna win if we don't fight!" Sasha added on.

In the distance, Araminta heard a loud rumbling, and watched as Eren's Titan began sliding down the wall, leaving Armin all alone at the top. He collapsed in front of the gate with a thud. She cursed under her breath, wishing she could go over there and help, but she didn't want to ruin whatever plan Armin had.

Instead, she needed to focus on Reiner. Because win or lose, everything had been leading up to this moment, and this was where things had to end.

"Min, come with me!" Jean called to her, and she gave him a curt nod before following. She and Jean would go in to stab Reiner's eyes — or at least make him think that's what they were doing. They were just acting as bait, so Sasha and Connie could use two of their Thunder Spears to blow off his jaw. Just as Reiner started to swing at them, Connie and Sasha moved in, then lodge their spears into the sides of his jaw. Then, Mikasa would use their last spear to shoot at Reiner's nape from inside his mouth.

At least, Sasha started to launch hers.

Araminta landed on a roof, taking a moment to catch her breath. She waited for the third explosion to come, from Mikasa's spear, but it didn't.

Instead, she heard Connie call out her name in a blood curdling scream.

While Reiner was knelt down, Araminta zipped across the street to the rooftops on the opposite side, where Connie was cradling Sasha. When he had tried to swing at her and Jean, Reiner must have launched a bunch of degree into the air, some of which had punched Sasha in the stomach.

Her mouth went dry, as she took in just how much blood there was. Maybe Shiganshina was just meant to be a city of tragedy. It was in this city Araminta had lost her sister, then her father, then Hange, and now she might lose Sasha, too. If she wasn't certain the Universe hated her before, she was definitely sure now.

With shaky fingers, she reached out to brush the hair out of Sasha's bloodied face. She was still breathing, and that was all that mattered. Araminta swore that when they made it out of this alive, she was going to buy Sasha all the meat she could afford.

"Mikasa, don't! It's too risky!" Connie suddenly yelled, and Araminta took a pause from inspecting Sasha's resting face to look over her shoulder. Mikasa was standing straight ahead of Reiner, looking like she was seconds away from launching the third spear.

"No! It's perfect!"

That voice... Araminta knew that voice...

Maybe the Universe didn't hate her after all.

Like a guardian angel, there was a flash of green, and another Thunder Spear was flying into the other side of Reiner's jaw, causing it to fall open.

"Hange!"

Once they had landed down on the roof, Araminta nearly tripped from running too fast across the roof top and threw her arms around them. They seemed to be a little caught off guard, raising their hands into the air, before relaxing and hugging Araminta back.

"I thought you were dead." She whispered into Hange's cloak, and their mentor chuckled.

"Don't worry, Araminta. It takes a lot more than a giant explosion to get rid of me." They reassured her, and Araminta realized they were petting her hair. Once again, she was reminded of when her mother would hug her. But this time, the familiarity didn't scare her. Instead, she let herself relax at their touch.

The final Thunder Spear went off, and Araminta pulled away from the hug to see Reiner being launched into the air, out of the nape of the neck, meaning Mikasa had successfully ignited her spear in the right spot.

And even better, the roof they stood atop of began to rumble, and Araminra looked in the other direction just in time to watch as the Colossal Titan fell. After five years of dreaming of getting to see the demise of the creature that had killed her family, she was finally getting a close hand view of him being taken down.

Finally.

In the distance, she could see a figure plop down on a rooftop, dragging other person behind him. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she suddenly had the insatiable urge to go find Eren.

"Connie, take care of her, okay?" She instructed her friend, who nodded quickly. Before darting off, she pressed a kiss to her fingertips, then pressed them against Sasha's soft cheek.

Now that the rest of her friends were accounted for, she needed to make sure Eren and Armin were safe as well. As quickly as she could, she used her gear to zip through the air, towards the rooftop she had seen someone land on moments earlier.

But, in the corner of her eye, she saw movement. It was that ugly Titan with the big pack of cargo strapped to its back. This time, though, there was someone riding on it, and based on his smoking limbs, he must have been another Titan shifter — the Beast Titan, probably.

Most importantly, it was galloping straight towards the rooftop.

Araminta cursed under her breath, and did everything in her power to quicken her pace. If whoever was on the rooftop was unarmed, she needed to be there to help.

When she spotted a mop of brunet hair, she let out a sigh of relief. It was Eren, scrambling to his feet, and now that she was closer, she could see him lifting up Bertholdt, and holding up a blade to his neck.

She finally made it to the rooftop just seconds before the other Titan, landing down next to Eren and immediately whipping out her own blade. He jumped at her presence, but as soon as he realized it was her, he returned his attention to the quadruped Titan and its rider.

"Just try and come closer!" Eren hissed. "Make one move to try and take him and I'll slit his throat!"

The blond man's eyes were trained on Eren, and suddenly they softened. "I... Found you... Eren Jaeger, right?"

Eren growled, sinking his blade into Bertholdt's neck just enough to draw blood.

"You don't look a thing like your father." The Beast Titan spoke, which made Eren gasp.

"What?"

"Believe me, Eren. I get it. I know how you feel. The both of us are just victims of your father. I'm sorry but he's brainwashed you."

"What are you talking about?" Eren asked slowly, his eyes narrowing.

"Zeke." A deep voice spoke, and Araminta flinched as she tried to locate the source. "Look at her ears. It's the Tybur girl." And in a moment of both horror and amazement, she realized it was the ugly Titan talking.

"Ah, yeah... I'm sure Willy will be very interested to know she's well..." The blond man replied, and Aramita tightened her grip on her blade.

"Shut up! Don't look at her!" Eren snapped, eliciting a small whine from Bertholdt as he barely deepened his sword into his neck.

Zeke, she supposed was his name, opened his mouth to respond, but something caught his eye. "That bastard... He followed me all the way here... He's like a monster..." He muttered, and Araminta followed his gaze to see a figure standing on the top of the wall that she could only assume to be Captain Levi.

"Let's call it a draw, Levi." Zeke groaned. "We're in no shape to fight now. Bertholdt... I'm sorry, but this is the end for you." With that, the Titan he rode on began to turn away, but Zeke had one last thing to say.

"Eren! Someday I'll come back and save you from this!"

And with that, he was gone.

Araminta stood frozen for a moment, trying to process what the hell Zeke had been talking about. Not only did he know Eren, but he also knew his father — quite well, apparently. And what had he called her? The Tybur girl? What the hell was a Tybur? The only thing she could think was it sounded similar to her father's name.

There was a zipping sound, and suddenly Levi had landed down onto the roof next to them.

"I used the last of my gas!" Levi explained, then turned to face them. "Quick, one of you, give me your gear so I can chase after him!"

"Right!" Araminta watched as Eren hurriedly started to take off his gear, but then she heard a cough coming from behind him.

She'd been in such a hurry to get there, and been so preoccupied by their enemies, she hadn't even seen it. But now she did, and her heart sank all the way down into her stomach.

There, sprawled out across the rooftop, and burned so badly to the point she could barely recognize him (and she was surprised the smell hadn't caught her attention before), was a body she could only assume belonged to Armin.

       What shocked her even more, though, was the fact that by some miracle, he was still alive.

       Eren forgot all about giving Levi his gear, and ran over to the body, collapsing to the ground so he was bent over him. "Yeah! Hell yeah! Armin's still breathing!" He cried out.

       A fourth — or fifth, if you counted Armin's barely living body — person joined them on the roof, and Araminta looked over to see Mikasa. Her gray eyes were glossy as she stared at the sight before her.

      "Keep going! You can make it!"

      "That's... Armin?" Mikasa asked quietly.

      "Captain! Get the syringe!" Eren screamed. "Turn Armin into a Titan, then we can have him eat Bertholdt! Hurry up and inject him!"

       Araminta watched as Levi slowly dug a small box out of his cloak, and held it up. Mikasa gasped, then hurriedly shot a red smoke signal into the air.

       Levi was as about to hand the small box over to Eren, but something stopped him. At the edge of the roof, was a Scout Araminta had never seen before — she assumed he must have been apart of the former Garrison soldiers that joined the Scouts for this mission — and strapped to his back was the barely breathing Commander Erwin.

       It took seconds for Araminta to realize the reality of their situation.

       They had two people on the brink of death, and only one syringe.

       "Captain! I finally found you!" The soldier cried. "He's hurt! His stomach is gouged, and his insides are all torn to shreds! The blood just won't stop! I thought that injection might be able to help him, but... What do you think?!"

       Eren watched Levi, his hand still held out to accept the box, but their captain pulled it away and held it to his chest.

       Araminta helped Levi and the other soldier lay Erwin down onto the shingles, and Levi held a finger below his nose. "It's faint... But he's breathing... Erwin. You're alive."

       The air became tense as the four younger soldiers stared at Levi, waiting for him to say something. Araminta felt sorry for their captain. No matter what decision he made, it was going to upset somebody on that rooftop. She had no idea what she would do if she was him.

       "You know what has to happen." Levi finally spoke. "We have to give the syringe to Erwin."

       Eren didn't like that answer. He immediately stood up, looking down at Levi with his eyes filled with tears. "You can't. You told me you'd use it on Armin."

       Levi stated back at him with narrowed eyes. "I'm going to use it to revive the person who can save humanity."

       Araminta heard the unsheathing of a blade, and turned around to see Mikasa gripping her sword, watching Levi uneasily. She took a step backwards, closer to the other soldier.

       Whatever Eren and Mikasa were about to do, she didn't want to be apart of it. Yes, Armin was her friend, too, and under any other circumstances, she would do whatever she could to save him. But she had to think rationally. Was fighting her superior the way to make the best decision for humanity?

       "Do you two have any idea what you're doing?" Levi asked quietly. "It's Erwin... The Commander of the Scouts... And you're telling me to watch him die?"

      "There's no time for this. Get out of my way." He started to move, but Eren stopped him, gripping onto the syringe case with gritted teeth.

       "Eren..." Araminta called out his name, hoping there was something she could do to help him look at the situation more clearly. But, she also knew Eren, and she knew the chances of stopping him were slim to none.

       "Eren. Check your emotions." Levi said calmly.

       "Sorry, Captain. Can't do that." Eren replied. "Why didn't you just give Armin the injection right away?!"

       "I was thinking about Erwin. Considering the chance that he might be alive."

       "But you couldn't have known that Floch would carry the commander here! There's no way you could see that coming!"

      "You're not wrong, Eren. But the fact remains, he's here now, so I'll try to revive him."

       Eren growled and tightened his grip on the syringe case, then tried to pull it from Levi's grasp. Their captain wasted no time slamming his fist into Eren's face, knocking him onto the ground.

       That set off Mikasa, who started to yell and tackled Levi down onto the roof. She used one hand to hold her blade to his neck, and the other to pin his hand holding the syringe to the ground.

       "Stop!" Floch desperately yelled.

       "You know just as well as I do, that without Erwin's leadership, humanity can't beat the Titans!" Levi shouted at her.

       "He's right, Mikasa! Don't be crazy! There's too much at stake here!"

       Mikasa turned her glare to Floch, who cowered under her gaze.

       Araminta didn't know what to do. Did she fight two of her closest friends, and risk making them hate her forever by choosing to let Armin die? Or did she help them in uprising against their captain, and letting their own commander die?

       Eren finally sat up from the edge of the roof where he'd been knocked down from Levi's punch, and Araminta could barely listen as he started to list off all the of the times Armin had helped lead them to victory. All she could focus on was the syringe box staring straight at her, taunting her.

       Oh god, this was a horrible decision, and she was going to regret it. But things were getting too tense, and she had to do what she could to defuse the situation. 

       While the three of them were distracted, she ran up, pried the case out of Levi's grip, then raced the to the other end of the roof before they could react.

       Mikasa slowly looked up at her, jaw tightening. "Araminta. Give us the case. Help us save Armin."

       Araminta held the case close to her chest, taking another step back.

       "No, don't do it, Araminta!" Floch shouted. "They're just being selfish! Do you think you're the only ones who've suffered through all this?!" He pointed over towards the wall, his hand shaking. "Not that you asked, but there's not a single soldier left alive on the other side of that wall. The Beast Titan threw crushed boulders at everyone. That field is soaked with the blood of my comrades. Commander Erwin was the only survivor I could find.

      "He came up with a plan. Found a way for us to strike back at the Beast Titan, and so we did. My comrades were smashed to bits, just as he planned. I'm sure the last thing they felt was fear. All-consuming fear...

       "When I found him out there, I almost put him out of his misery. But then I realized that would be mercy, and he needed another chance to taste this hell! Because the only way we're going to beat the Titans is if we have a devil, and that's what Erwin is! So give me that syringe — !"

       He leapt towards Araminta, and she took another step back, her heel nearly sleeping off the edge of the roof. Mikasa also jumped up to her feet, prepared to slice through Floch's arm, but she was grabbed by none other than Hange themself.

       Araminta realized their other comrades had finally caught up to them — Hange, Jean, Connie, and even Sasha, who still looked to be passed out, but she was still breathing, so that was good — and now they would play a part in the decision, too.

        "Holm." Levi took a step towards Araminta, holding out his hand. "I'm ordering you, as your captain. Give me the syringe."

        "No, don't do it!" Mikasa screamed, fighting against Hange's grasp, but their grip on her was too tight.

        Araminta made the mistake of looking over at Eren, who was staring at her with those beautiful eyes. Some of his teeth had been knocked out from Levi's punch, and his eyes were still glossy with tears. His eyebrows were drawn closely together, as he gave her that pleading look.

       Then, she looked back down at the roof, where three bodies were laid out. Armin, who was burnt to a crisp while helping take down the Colossal Titan. Then there was the Colossal Titan himself, Bertholdt, who had his limbs cut off, and looked like he had basically given up at that point. And finally was her commander, Erwin Smith, who had been pummeled by stones to give Levi a fighting chance at killing the Beast Titan.

      There was no way she could make this decision. She wasn't qualified to choose. If she chose based on her feelings, she would probably save Armin. He wasn't her best friend in the whole world, but she still cared about him deeply, and after today, she was pretty sure she would call him a part of her family.

      But, if she chose logically, it would have to be Erwin. He was their commander, so of course he would be the first in line. And after Floch's speech, she was starting to understand how much he meant to humanity, and being able to defeat the Titans.

       There was only one thing she could think to do.

       "I'm sorry." She whispered, with her eyes trained on Eren. "I'm sorry."

       She gave the syringe to her captain, then stepped aside so he could do what needed to be done.

       Now, she didn't dare to look at Eren.

       Araminta retreated to the other end of the roof, where Connie was sitting with Sasha. In an attempt to distract herself from Mikasa's cries, and Hange's pleading, she lifted Sasha off of Connie's back, and instead let her lay against her own, giving his spine a chance to rest.

      "Arie? Is that you?" Sasha whispered into her ear.

      Araminta smiled, reaching up to pat her friend's cheek. "Yes, Sash. It's me." She said softly.

       "What's going on? Why's Eren crying?" Her friend asked groggily, and Araminta shushed her.

       "Don't worry about it. Go back to sleep." She told her, and she felt Sasha nod into the crook of her neck.

       "Everyone get off the roof!" Levi suddenly shouted. "I don't want Erwin to transform and eat any of you by accident!"

      Araminta took that as her cue to stand, wrapping Sasha's arms around her neck so she could get a good grip on her. Her gaze drifted to Armin's body, and guilt filled her chest. Was this really the end for him? Was this the last time she was ever going to see her friend?

       With a sigh, she gave him one last smile. "Goodbye, Armin. Thank you for everything." She whispered, and felt her eyes start to water. Before she realized how much of a mistake she had made, and went back to fight the syringe out of Levi's hand and risk treason, she zipped off the roof.

      She landed down next to Connie and Jean, and immediately leaned forward to rest her forehead against the shingles. No matter what came next, she knew she didn't want to watch it. Had she done the right thing, by entrusting the syringe to Captain Levi? Or had she just made a horrible mistake that was going to haunt her for the rest of her life?

       As if he could read her thoughts, a hand rested on top of her own, and she looked to the side to see Connie giving her a weak smile. "You did the right thing, Minty." He told her.

       She smiled back at him. "Thanks, Connie. I appreciate that." She instinctively reached up to rub the fuzzy top of his buzzed head, and this time, he didn't fight her.

       She finally dared to look at Eren. She was expecting him
to be angry at her, and avoiding making eye contact with her at all costs. He wasn't, though. He was looking back at her, and she was surprised to see how soft his gaze was. He wasn't mad at her. He was mad at the world for forcing them to have to make this decision in the first place.

"I'm sorry." She mouthed the words to him, just one more apology to make sure he knew how awful she felt.

       He shook his head. "It's okay," he mouthed back to her. Then, he said something else, but she didn't recognize the words on his lips. She tilted her head to the side, prompting him to tell her again, but before he got the chance, something weird happened.

On the roof, Hange was laying Erwin's body over their shoulder, and then they carried him away to another building. At first, Araminta thought maybe they had just decided to do the transformation on another building. But Levi was still on the other roof, and he still had the syringe.

Their captain looked over at the six of them watching him curiously, and gave them a nod. Then, he lifted Armin's arm, and Araminta watched breathlessly as he inserted the needle into his burned skin, and injected the liquid.

There was a light. Then there was a Titan in Armin's place — Armin's Titan. Then the Titan was lifting Bertholdt's body up off of the roof, and the boy seemed to finally have regained consciousness at the worst possible time.

As he was lifted into the air, he began to cry out loudly, begging for someone to help him. Araminta felt sympathy for him, she really did, but she also couldn't forget what he had told them earlier.

You're not devils. But you can't be permitted to live.

If it was one of them, being eaten by a Titan to save one of his friends, she knew he wouldn't save them. So, as much as the sound of his cries churned her stomach, she just had to remind herself it was all to save Armin.

There was a splatter of blood, and Armin's Titan form had finally put Bertholdt out of his misery, and eaten him.

The Beast Titan had escaped, along with what they were calling the Cart Titan, and Reiner too, but today had been a success. Hange was alive, Sasha was alive, Armin was alive, and so were all of Araminta's other comrades. Except for Erwin, but as Levi would later explain, it was for the better. Erwin deserved the chance to rest after all of these years.

They had reclaimed her hometown. Now, all they had left to do was return to Eren's childhood home, and finally go down into the basement to see what secrets were awaiting them down there.

If she had known how much it would change everything, she wasn't sure if she would go down there again.

GUAUAJEKEJEJ NEXT CHAPTER IS
THE LAST CHAPTER OF THIS BOOK
AND THEN WE'RE ONTO BOOK 2 /
S4 WTFSHEJEOWJWJRB

guys i genuinely did not think i would ever
get to this point omfg please be so proud of me.