Chapter 36
Armin Arlert
Erwin had done the deed and informed the victims of the fall of Wall Maria of the decision of the Inner Walls. He dealt with all the complains and anguish of the people while I trained my body to the best there was.
Because I need to protect them as much as possible, as I will be the only one who actually knew how to fight in the group of innocent, defenseless people.
Erwin had ordered the whole Scouting Legion to help me train the civilians in the period of one week. They were taught on how to use their gears and swords, but Erwin and I know for sure that it will be near to useless. All those knowledge will disappear in the face of fear and Titans.
Even during this period, Amanda had never even disobeyed me once. She even informed the people of the use of my inventions. How to activate a Pac-man and how to shoot a Ditto canon, but the use of Jigsaws were not allowed by the Inner Walls for the sole reason of them being rare and expensive.
The whole week, the whole Scouting Legion's time was spent on training the civilians, in the hopes of increasing the survival rate. And during this time, I could feel that the people were slowly losing hope.
"Alright, people!" I shouted to gain the attention of the soldiers and civilians. Slowly, the training ground was filled with silent. "I thank you for all the hard work you have given today. Tomorrow, we will give our best! I'll be truthful and say that there is only a slim chance of surviving this, and I know that some of you are scared shitless! But please remember your children! I will not ask you to do it for the sake of humanity or shits like that. Heck, I don't even care of humanity! I ask you to do it for the sake of loved ones, understand?"
A small portion of the people gave a war cry, but a large portion kept silent and looked on the ground. Some even wept openly at their dismissal of life.
"You all are dismissed. Rest well. Say what you need to your families and return back here before dawn."
And all of them slowly dispersed, each dreading the sure 'March to Death' tomorrow.
0o.o0o.o0
Armin was thoroughly confused. And Armin being confused was an extremely rare occurrence. He and his grandpa were exceptionally close, maybe even closer than he was to Mikasa and Eren. When he return back from the labor that victims of the fall of Wall Maria needs to do, he will always be welcomed by his grandpa, but then, he rarely saw his grandpa on this week.
Sure, grandpa returned once the sun set, but where was he during the day? Armin should've at least seen a glimpse of him. Another weird thing was that he had not seen the other adults of the Fall of Wall Maria during the days. All of these adults, his grandpa included, returned at the same time, each day with additional bruise.
But when asked, his grandpa only chuckled weakly and ruffled his blond locks fondly.
Armin had suspected that maybe the Inner Walls were sending these adults to work somewhere else, but this does not explain about the bruises they get. Armin had also suspected another thing, though he truly wished that what he had in mind was not true.
He didn't want his grandpa to be sent to Wall Maria to fight the Titans.
He considered the live stocks and food present and knew that the victims of the fall of Wall Maria were consuming too much food and space. The easiest way for the Inner Wall to get rid of these victims without dirtying their own hands were to send them to Wall Maria to die a 'heroic' battle. If he considered the gloom of the adults and snippets of the adult's conversation, this might be very possible.
He just refused to believe it. After all, what are the chances that he was right?
"Grandpa!" Armin shouted in shock, as he did not expect the elder to return quicker than the days before, when his grandpa started to disappear. He was just returning to the refugee camp after today's share of work when he came across his grandpa. Eren had injured himself and Mikasa had dragged him off somewhere to attend his wounds.
"Armin?" the older man turned to face Armin. "Ohoho, such coincidence. Care to take a walk around with me?"
Even without grandpa offering, he would walk by his side to make up for the lost of time this week. They walked along the canals as they passed by the people and enjoy the evening breeze and the reddish sky. Armin had liked the peacefulness, until his grandpa dropped the bomb he truly feared.
"Armin," started his grandpa, "this might be the last time we are together."
"Grandpa?" Armin held his breath, hoping that the reason is anything other than the monstrosity in his mind.
"For the past week, the older victims of Wall Maria had been training to fight the Titans, and tomorrow, they were going to send us out. This might be our last meeting."
Nononono!
"B-but grandpa! They can't do that! You all will die! One week isn't enough time to train to fight! A-and-"
"Armin," his grandpa called. There was a moment of silence as Armin calmed down. "I'm sure you understand."
"I know," said Armin, "But it's unfair. I don't want you to die."
It was a really sad and childish excuse, and Armin knew it, but his heart skipped a beat when his grandpa suddenly laughed.
"Really Armin, you are clever and I'm proud of that, but you are still childish from time to time!"
"G-grandpa! I'm not childish! And I am not that clever!"
"Say all you want, Armin," his grandpa grinned as he ruffled Armin's hair. "Wait here for a moment, I'll go back and take something."
Armin nodded. His grandpa turned to walk where he knew the refugee's camp was, leaving Armin by the side of the canal.
"I can't help but overheard your… conversation."
Armin turned to face the source of the voice and saw a ponytailed brunette with goggles covering her eyes. He was rather shocked that a stranger would initiate a conversation with him, but he answered the stranger politely all the same.
"Ah- I'm sorry for the disturbance. I get too emotional earlier and raised my voic-"
"That's not what I meant," the stranger cut him in; "He is going to be sent to fight the Titans, isn't he? Your grandfather, I mean."
"Ah- y-yes."
"Is that so…"
The stranger sat by the side of the canal, and patted a spot nearby, as if inviting him to sit. Armin did so, still feeling a little suspicious of this stranger that appeared out of nowhere, but still trying to be polite. Both stared absentmindedly at the flowing water.
"You understand, right?" the stranger asked, "Why the Inner Walls sent all those victims away?"
"I do, just, hard to believe is all. It was because of the shortage of food and living space, right?"
"And you don't hate the Inner Walls for it?"
"I'm angry, but they justified their reasons. No matter how wrong it is, they did it for the rest of humanity."
The stranger hummed in though. "You really are one clever brat, aren't you?"
And the silence lapsed once more.
"Hey, hey." The stranger called to get his attention. "If you are leading tomorrow's expedition, what will you do?"
"I-I don't know?" Armin said, though it sounded too much like a question. He was flabbergasted by the sudden weird question, but his mind whirled for the answer he thinks is right. "I'll do my best, because there's no other way? I'll protect who I can protect. I'll think of ways to use trickery against Titans, because they are not trained enough for a direct face off. But I can't say I'm able to do it. I might freeze off in fear."
The brunette was silent as she considered the action and smiled. "You are younger, yet the mind is bright all the same. Asking you is a right thing, I guess."
Armin feels like the brunette was comparing him to someone, though he was not that sure.
There was a thick silence as the stranger stared once more into the canal. Armin took this time to observe the stranger, who oddly seems rather familiar to him. The stranger was wearing a yellow shirt and white tights with boots, nothing special to help him remember by. He tried to recall where he had seen that ponytail and goggles. That's when it hit him.
"You are one of the youngest Scouting Legion members!"
"Whoa, there! How did you even know!" Then said stranger looked down on her clothes, "I'm not even wearing my uniform jacket!"
"I-it- I just," Armin gulped nervously, obviously thinking that it was wrong of him to be knowing of the brunette soldier status, "I remembered you from around 2 years ago! You seemed so young and small compared to the other soldiers!"
'And of course anyone will remember someone who wears goggles every time! With or without military jacket!' was left unsaid.
"Hmmm?" the stranger blinked before she snapped her finger, "Oh yes! I saw you with a criminal looking brat! Where is he, anyway?"
Criminal looking brat?
Armin blinked.
Is that Eren's nickname?
"Eh, Eren is injured so he had someone to attend to him."
"Oh? Pity," she pouted, "I guess that's to be expected for a criminal looking brat…"
Isn't that rather cruel? How could you just throw cruel random nicknames to people!
Armin was pulled away from his disbelieve when an unfamiliar voice called out.
"Hange!" a blond mad strode to their direction, "I know you are worried for tomorrow, but you need to rest! I won't have one of my strongest soldiers die because they don't have enough energy!"
Armin's companion just scoffed. "I'm not that strong. And I promise I won't die. I still have many things that I know will be useful to you, anyways."
"Hange," now the blonde man said sternly, the way someone would scold a child, "go to your bed and sleep like log, the way you usually would before expedition."
Hange – now Armin know the name – wanted to protest, but was cut off by the blonde.
"This is an order as a commander, Hange."
"Oh, geez, fine. I'll go back to the HQ and sleep, just got to say goodbye to some brat."
At this, Hange's blonde friend looked pointedly at Armin's direction, and Armin suddenly felt nervous at the taller blonde's scrutiny. The taller man suddenly nodded.
"Alright, I'll leave you at that," he said as he left, "but if you didn't return, I'll send the whole Scouting Legion to chase you."
"You heard that, blondie," said the brunette once her companion left, "I'm going to say goodbye and leave you. So before that, mind telling me your name? My name's Hange Zoe."
Armin reasoned that it will be fine to give his name to this stranger as this person was with military. "A-armin Arlert."
"Armin Arlert?" Hange repeated as a smirk appeared, "Weird name."
Armin blushed.
"E-eh, are you a man or a woman?" Armin asked. This particular question has been disturbing him since the first time he met the brunette. Body wise, the brunette is slim like a woman, but the rest? Male's outgoing attitude and androgynous voice tells Armin otherwise.
The brunette looked at him with wide eyed shock, before smirking mischievously and patted Armin's hair.
"Why, I am a man of course. I just have a slim body is all, don't let it fool you."
Armin looked at the brunette suspiciously, not sure whether to trust on the brunette's words or not. In the end, after a fierce battle of trust inside his mind, he decided to believe that the brunette is indeed a 'he'.
"Kay then, I'm going," said the brunette. He walked down the street and left Armin to wait for his grandpa. By the time his grandpa returned, he held a hat in one hand. He placed said hat on Armin's head and take a hold on Armin's hand and walked back to the refugee's camp.
"Take care of that hat," his grandfather says, "it belongs to your father and me."