Mikasa's POV

As soon as the words left his mouth the entire room seemed to stop. I could sense Erwin stiffen beside me, stunned, and i heard Gerhardt mutter "What?" under his breath.

"I-Im Mikasa, remember? I'm your sister, we grew up togethe-"

He drew back from me. "I don't have a sister."

I blinked, willing my heartbeat to slow. No, he's joking. Or maybe he's still delusional from just waking up. I desperately searched his eyes for a sign, any sign of mirth or blurriness, but all i see reflected back at me is apprehension and confusion.

I swallow, trying to clear the lump that is forming in my throat. "Maybe we should-"

I feel a hand on my shoulder. Erwin pulls me back slightly and leans forward to address Eren.

"Eren, do you remember who I am?" His tone is much more cautious and hesitant than usual, and his eyes are full of alarm.

A frown crosses Eren's face. "No, i don't."

My hands clamp tighter around his, causing him to wince. "Eren, what are you talking about? He's Erwin, the commander of the Survey Corps. How could you not remember him?" Tears begin pooling in my eyes, threatening to spill out. "How could you not remember me?"

Looking alarmed, he pulls his hand out of mine. "I'm sorry, but i honestly have no idea who the both of you are. I just met y-"

A wail escapes my throat and i grab on to his shoulders, the tears that have been pooling in my eyes now spilling out. I feel my lips moving and know that i am yelling something at him, but I can't hear them, I can only see Eren frantically shaking his head and trying to back away from me. I feel hands trying to pull me away from him, but i ignore them. He struggles, and i see him lift a hand to his mouth.

A searing pain flares in my arm, and everything fades into darkness.

…..

"I'm sorry for injecting you with the anesthetic Mikasa, it was the thing we had on hand to calm you down." Gerhardt looked apologetically at my arm, which was still numb. "The numbness should wear off in a few hours.".

I don't acknowledge him, and after a few seconds of standing around he retreats back to his own lunch table. From beside me came the sound of footprints.

"No Armin, your leg isn't fully recovered!"

The blond burst through the doorway, ignoring the medic chasing after him and wincing as he hit his still bandaged knee on the door frame. His eyes were brighter and more full of hope than i had seen since Eren's disappearance, but they dulled significantly when he saw me.

I understood why. He probably expected to see Eren sitting at his usual spot, his comrades crowding around him while i pushed them away. Probably the last thing that he expected to see was the same sight that had haunted him for the three months of Eren's disappearance, me sitting down mourning Eren, ignoring nearly everything around me.

"Mikasa, what happened?" He looked around. "Why isn't Eren with you? Is he-"

"Eren's fine." My head snaps over to Jean, whose eyes widen in shock. How can he say Eren is fine in his current state?

"Physically! Physically, i mean." he quickly says, then winces. "However, mentally he isn't… doing that well."

Confusion flickers across Armin's face. "What do you mean?"

"He, well, he can't remember some things."

"What things can't he remember? Does he remember who we are?"

And with that i snapped.

"NO, HE DOESN'T!" Armin's eyes widen in shock, and the people in the seats beside me practically fly back. "He doesn't remember you, he doesn't remember me,he doesn't remem- member" and my words trail off into a painful sob. Armin sits down beside me and pats me on the shoulder, comforting me, but i can't being myself to look at him, instead staring at the floor, warm trails of tears flowing down my cheeks.

"Erm, is this a bad time?"

I turned around. Standing behind me, flanked by two guards, was Eren.

…..

Armin's POV

The first thing i notice is how heavily restrained he is. He is handcuffed, and attached to his face is a muzzle, probably to prevent him from biting his hand to shift. Attached to his feet is another set of chains, long enough to walk in but too short to allow him to run. Behind him are two nervous looking guards, both holding guns.

He walks up awkwardly to the table, a tray balanced precariously on his fingertips. He motions to the empty seat beside me. "Can i sit down?"

I nod, and he sits down, silently pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and handing it to me. I give it to Mikasa, and she hesitates for a while before taking it and giving an infinitesimal nod as thanks. As soon as her head dips he turns back and begins eating, his guards standing behind him, keeping their weapons at the ready. The muzzle has a small hole for him to eat, but it's so small that he has to awkwardly tear his food into tiny pieces.

An uneasy silence descends across the dining hall. Most of the soldiers are shooting Eren looks, ranging from nervous to curious. But Mikasa doesn't, instead staring resolutely at her plate with a controlled expression on her face, trying to prevent another breakdown.

After five minutes of that Eren puts down his sandwich and nervously coughs.

"So, your name is Armin?" He paused for a moment. "I mean, i just heard people call you that so i'm pretty sure it is, but…" he trails off, looking uncertain.

I blinked in disbelief. So he really doesn't remember any of us. I mean, it wasn't that i didn't trust Jean and Mikasa, but i had hoped that, well, they were wrong about his memory loss.

I nod. "Yes, that's my name."

He discreetly motioned to Mikasa. "What's her name then?" I knew that he didn't mean for her to hear it, but as soon as he said it a pained whimper escaped her throat.

"She's Mikasa."

"Mikasa." He savors the name, deliberately exaggerating the pronunciation as if he is trying his hardest to memorize it. "Then who's the guy with no hair?"

The rest of the meal is a mix of awkward silence and Eren asking me about the names of the other people at our table. The others all shoot him glances, as if they want to say something to him but are too nervous to. I can tell that he's distracted by something as well, his eyes look deep in thought and most of his interactions are half-hearted.

But i only found out what it was at the end of our meal. As we all got up he takes a breath, as if steeling himself for something, and tapped Mikasa on the shoulder.

"Um, Mikasa?"

She turns around to look at her foster brother. He coughs nervously, twiddling with the chains on his hands, and i can see a faint dusting of red across his cheeks.

"Could you come meet me in the dungeon tonight?".

Wait what.

Leola's POV

(surprise! This is the introductory chapter for the OC, Leola Asturias.)

"So you're asking us to leave him?"

I pace back and forth agitatedly in front of the campfire, ignoring the gaze of my companion.

I couldn't believe it. First he asks Eren, a novice with less than three months of shifting experience behind him, to come along on this dangerous scouting mission. Then, when we notice an opportunity to scout the interior of the wall, he sends Eren rather than going himself, even though he has been a scout for 20 years. And now that Eren was captured on a mission that he wasn't even supposed to do, he isn't even going to rescue him?

"Who knows what they could be doing to him? They could be interrogating him, torturing him, experimenting on him, or worst!" I wheeled on my companion. "Eren could be bleeding to death as we speak, and you won't even-"

"Look!" He interrupts, "Unless every soldier on those walls of theirs are both blind and deaf, i highly doubt that they would miss a 60 meter tall titan kicking a hole in their last line of defense."

He stood up and placed his hands on my shoulders. I tried to shake him off but he held firm, forcing me to look at him. "I care for Eren too, but we are in no shape for an offensive attack into the wall. There must be thousands of troops in there, and there are only two of us. Worse, we don't even know where they're keeping him."

He signed and let go of my shoulders. "I've already sent word back to the Citadel for additional aid. They should be here in less than a week." He sat down on the log, and pulled out a cigar. "Eren is an intelligent kid. He can survive that long, surely."

I'm still shaking with anger, but i knew that he's right. Neither of us are part of the army, and even if we were we couldn't just fight our way in until we found him. I turned around. Just over the horizon i could see the Wall, by now fully repaired. The same walls imprisoning my best friend.

Don't worry Eren, we'll get you out of there.