A Date in Town

A few days after the sisters arrived in the walls. Both of them, Erwin, Hanji, Levi and Armin were called to the new commander's office. Mike wanted to know all that had happened. Eren and Mikasa were also included in the discussion. Once all was told, they decided they needed to talk about what they would do about it all.

"This mostly involves you two, what do you think we should do?" Erwin asked Arcadia and Eclipse.

"Well, if you don't know where most of them are, then we shouldn't do anything, right?" Eclipse started, and then looked at her sister.

"There isn't enough information to make any real plan. It'd be foolish to blindly try anything." Arcadia finished, agreeing with her sister.

"I agree. We'll wait until we have more information." Mike told them. They all agreed and went about their day. Arcadia and Eclipse stayed in the castle, talking about the events of the past week. They were having a hard time adjusting to all of the sudden conflicts and changes. They knew they would get through as long as they had each other and their new friends.

~*A Month Later*~

The sisters have now spent a month with the Survey Corps. They got along well with them, though there were a few people who didn't exactly like them or get along with them, but one look from Erwin or Levi and the person would change their attitude towards the girls. Since Eclipse and Levi were injured, they spent most of their time with each other in the infirmary. They were mostly healed, but it was suggested that they don't move around all that much, so they were forced to stay put. While her sister stayed with Levi mostly, Arcadia stayed with a few people. She spent most of her time with Erwin, Hanji, Mike (since Erwin and Hanji were usually around him) and the remaining members of the 104th Training Corps (Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Jean, and Marco. Sasha and Connie were dead.) She also visited her sister every day, but tried to avoid Levi. He mostly always had tea and she hates tea, so naturally she avoided the drink and those with it.

Arcadia enjoyed staying up late and sleeping in. Normally they all would let her sleep in, but not on this day. Erwin woke up around 9am to wake Arcadia up. He promised her that he would take her away from the castle and show her the world within the walls. It was a surprise, so Arcadia didn't really know she was going to wake up early. Erwin dressed in casual clothes, not feeling the need to wear his uniform. He made his way to Arcadia's room, which wasn't very far from his. He knocked on the door, hoping she wouldn't throw anything sharp at him (She had a habit of attacking those who bothered her while she slept. People were just as frightened to wake her up, as they were to wake Eclipse and Levi.) When he got no response, he knocked again. This time, Arcadia opened the door. She had her blanket wrapped around her and she looked quite annoyed.

"Erwin, what are you doing waking me up so early?" Arcadia questioned, glaring a bit.

"I'm taking you to the town that we've been talking about going to." Erwin simply responded. Instantly, Arcadia's face lit up.

"Really?!"

"Yes."

"Yay!" Arcadia hugged him, excitedly. "I'll put some clothes on and be right out." With that the door closed. Erwin couldn't help but wonder if she meant change from her pajamas or actually put clothes on. He put that thought out of his mind, and listened to Arcadia arguing with her clothes. It seemed like she was having a hard time choosing what she wanted to wear. Arcadia decided to put on a black and red dress that Hanji had gotten for her. She wasn't sure where Hanji had found it, but she was glad to have something from the walls to wear. She opened the door as she put on her shoes.

"You ready now?" Erwin asked as he looked at Arcadia. She looked back in her room, hesitating.

"I think so, but is this alright to wear or should I put other clothes on?" Arcadia questioned, unsure about it. Erwin shook his head.

"You look beautiful. I mean your outfit is fine. You don't need to change." Erwin told the girl, trying to cover up his compliment. Arcadia heard it, but didn't mention it for his sake. She smiled and nodded her head.

"Then I'm ready to go. Will we be on horses? How will we get to town?" Arcadia asked, as her and Erwin walked down the hallway.

"A carriage. Technically it's the commander's for official uses, but Mike is letting us borrow it."

"That's nice of him." Erwin agreed with her. The rest of their walk to the carriage was in silence. Once they got to the carriage, Erwin helped Arcadia inside and then got in after her. Arcadia suddenly turned to look at Erwin. He noticed that she seemed like she had a question.

"What's on your mind?"

"You were the commander, but because you were stuck with Eclipse and I, your friend took over. Are you alright with that?" Arcadia clearly had wanted to ask that question for a while now.

"I'm glad that Mike is the one who took over. I know he'll do a good job. It isn't like Mike is stopping me from putting my input in, so I'm still involved with decisions." Erwin responded, sounding like it was an official answer, not really answering what Arcadia really asked.

"Erwin, feelings. How do you feel about no longer being the commander?" Erwin looked away from Arcadia.

"My whole life has been about my military career. I choose this over a woman I once loved." Arcadia looked at Erwin, shocked. I don't understand why that hurt a bit, Arcadia thought to herself. "Now that my military career has taken a step back, it's making me rethink some things." Erwin finished, looking back at Arcadia. He saw a certain look on her face, but couldn't quite place it.

"Do you regret any of your choices?"

"No. regret is something that I do not feel."

"Ah, okay." Arcadia said, nodding her head.

"What about you? Do you regret taking us in that day?"

"No, I think it's pointless to regret events that happened. Not like it'll make a difference after all. I learned that when I was younger and it's always stuck with me."

"There's a story there, isn't there?" Erwin seemed genuinely interested in it, so Arcadia nodded her head. It wasn't something that she talked about often, but she would tell him anyway.

"I jumped off the treehouse onto a titan as a kid. Eclipse jumped with me, but we figured out quickly that even though the titans weren't interested in us, they didn't like random people jumping all over them. Eclipse and I managed to save each other, but we were pretty badly hurt. I regretted it for a while, but my dad told me that regret doesn't change what happened, so there is no point in it. Regret only leads to doubt, which does more harm than good." Erwin nodded his head at her words.

"I agree with that." Erwin noticed that the carriage stopped. "We're here." Erwin got out of the carriage and then helped Arcadia out. He and the carriage driver already talked about that he was to come back at sundown. So the carriage driver rode off once the two were out and away from it.

"So where are we going first?" Arcadia questioned, extremely excited.

"Let's start by getting some breakfast." Erwin offered his arm to Arcadia, and she took it. Erwin led her off to find some food that she never had before. The two of them ate some food, before wandering around from shop to shop. He told her about things and explained how certain things were made. Arcadia loved every moment of it. She would occasionally drag Erwin to a specific thing and be excited about it. There were a few things that Erwin had to buy for her because she never had it, like a certain piece of clothing or jewelry. Since the two were still walking around practically holding hands, a few people called them a couple, which resulted in some flustered explanations. Though not all was alright; the two began to notice that there were two people who had been following them around for a while now.

"Erwin…?" Arcadia began, looking up at the man she was still holding on to. He looked down at her.

"I know. If they get any closer then we'll deal with it," To Erwin's words, Arcadia nodded. The two went about their adventure. They had some lunch and then dinner when the time came. Soon, it was coming to sunset, so the two went to find the meeting place they had set with the carriage driver. He wasn't there yet, so they sat on a bench to watch the sunset.

"Erwin," Arcadia and Erwin watched two people emerge from the shadows, the same two people that had been following them. They could now see that it were two members from the Wall Cult.

"You've brought evil here!" One of the men hissed as he pointed at Arcadia. "How dare you bring this here! It deserves to be killed!" Arcadia was shocked and afraid now and Erwin was angry. Before Erwin could do something, the other man pulled the yelling man back into the shadows and disappeared. Erwin could only turn to Arcadia to make sure she was alright. Arcadia was just shocked; no one had ever reacted like that towards her before.

"Arcadia, are you alright?" Erwin saw the shocked and hurt look on her face. She was still looking towards where the two men had stood. She slowly turned to look at Erwin.

"I think he knows who I am." Was all Arcadia could say. Erwin nodded his head. The carriage chose that moment to arrive, so the two of them got in.

"If I had any idea that someone would have said that to you, I wouldn't have brought you out."

"It's fine Erwin. I'm glad that you brought me out. I've had a really good day." Arcadia turned to Erwin and smiled. "Thank you Erwin." Erwin was a bit shocked at Arcadia. Someone just called her evil and told her that she should die. How can she be thanking me right now, Erwin thought to himself. He and Arcadia sat in silence for a moment before Erwin made his move. Staring into her eyes he saw something that reminded him that he was still alive and still a regular man. Before they knew it, Erwin had his lips pressed to Arcadia's. She instantly responded to his advance, kissing him back. The two kissed and as it got a little hotter, the carriage stopped. The two separated, blushing.

"I apologize, I've overstepped-" Erwin was cut off by Arcadia kissing him. The two ended the kiss quickly.

"I've been wanting that to happen for a while." Arcadia told Erwin.

"I should have done that sooner then."

"Yeah, you should have." Arcadia and Erwin left the carriage and went to his room to talk and have tea. "So Erwin, was this a date? Hanji told me when two people go out like we did, that it's a date"

"Yes, it was." Erwin replied, smiling at Arcadia.

"Good. Let's go that again soon." Erwin agreed and handed her a cup of tea. Arcadia only tolerated tea sometimes. The two ended up in Erwin's bed, not for any sexual reason, but because they wanted to be comfortable as they talked about their day and other random things that came to their mind. They ended up falling asleep beside each other, Arcadia in Erwin's arms.

Later, it was around the middle of the night, when Arcadia woke up to Erwin still next to her. She was glad that they had kissed and then talked about their feelings. Erwin had been weird about it, since it was the first real time he's ever spoke of such things.

"Hello Arcadia." Arcadia shot up to see someone standing at the foot of the bed.

"Who the fuck are you?" Arcadia turned to Erwin to wake him up, but she was stopped by the person.

"He's unconscious. I made sure that he won't interfere with this." The guy began walking to Arcadia. "To answer your question, my name is Bertolt."

"Stay away from me!" Arcadia yelled. She tried to get up, but he moved faster than her and grabbed her. He dragged her off of the bed and threw her on the ground. She hit her head on the wood the bed was sitting on, knocking her unconscious. He picked her unconscious body up, and with that Bertolt disappeared with Arcadia.