Chapter 26
Eren looked at Armin's face to see if he could tell if they were lying. Armin looked impassive; like he was holding back his emotions. It was one of the first things they had learned in training. Armin had been bad at it until he had overheard Jean talking to Marco about how he couldn't believe some people hadn't gotten the hang of using the cables on their 3DMG. Marco had told Jean that he was being disrespectful, but Armin had already gone to cry on his bunk. Eren remembered Mikasa telling Armin that he was smarter than Jean and that he should show him. She helped him wipe the tears off his face and take a deep breath. Armin walked over to Eren and said how he couldn't believe how some people couldn't remember the exact size and location of a titan's weak spot. After several days of fighting, Marco managed to get the two of them to talk it out, and since then they had been good friends.
Unlike Armin, Historia looked like she was willing to believe Ymir over anyone else. She looked as ready to go to Hell and back for her as Eren was for Armin or Mikasa.
Mikasa, like Eren, was looking to Armin to see if he thought Ymir, Reiner, and Bertholdt were lying or not. Mikasa caught Eren's eye with a questioning look. He shrugged. He could tell just as well as she could.
"So how are we supposed to know if you're the ones telling the truth?" asked Jean.
"Because we were the ones who wanted you to find out the truth. We were the ones who took you to the fourth wall," said Reiner, looking adoringly at Historia.
"I would trust Ymir with anything," said Historia.
"Ymir saved us at Castle Utgard," said Connie.
"But then Reiner and Bertholdt captured both Eren and Ymir," put in Levi.
"We were trying to tell them about the fourth wall so they would come with us," said Bertholdt.
"I knew a little bit about it," said Ymir. "But I didn't know what was really going on."
"We had Annie inside Wall Shina to try to convince some of the people in there, but you found out she was the female titan and forced her to encase herself into a crystal to survive," said Reiner.
"Reiner, I really want to trust you; you were always nice to me when we were still in training, but you lied to us too much to really be considered trustworthy since then. You're right, neither Isayama Hajime, nor Grisha Jaeger have much going for them as well, but you've lied to us, too. Take us back to wherever you wanted us to go, and we'll decide if we can trust you," said Armin.
They followed Reiner through the forest of giant trees away from Wall Maria.
"Before you get there, there are more of us. People you haven't met yet. We are warriors, willing to do anything to get people to listen to us about the fourth wall and to save them from everything that's inside," explained Reiner.
"That's what I don't like about it," muttered Bertholdt.
"We expect everyone to help in some way, whether it's to go into the walls to pose as soldiers or civilians, or to find out what's going on Outside. People will expect you to help out right away."
Reiner led them into a clearing in the trees. A concrete door loomed out of the gathering darkness. He typed in a code and pushed it open. He led them through another door.
"Welcome to our headquarters."