"So we're really going to finish this?" Jean asks, laying down on his back, under the shade of a tree , with the rest of his friends. Connie and Sasha smiles as wide as they can, them too sprawled alongside Jean, unable to contain the giggling -"Just think...no more Titans! We'll be free to explore!" Connie exlaims, Jean smirking at the thought.
Armin smiles as well, turning the pages of his book, on it drawings of a large body of water, wishing that he could be transported inside that page, see what it feels like.
"There is still the small issue of the war we are in" he adds, the smile not disappearing at the mention of their situation -"So we're not in the clear yet, technically" Connie just waves away Armin's words, scoffing loudly -" Don't think about that! This is a huge thing! Just think of all the possibilities now! Cities will get bigger! More farming, which means more food!" at the last part, Sasha shoots her hand up, closed into a fist, her mouth watering already -"More food!"
Armin chuckles softly, going back to his book, still looking at the same picture, a sigh escaping him. Jean stands up, walking near Armin, looking at the opened page -"That looks good, actually - do you think it actually is like that out there?" Armin shrugs, not looking away from the page -"I don't know - maybe. We can only know it if-" he stops, thinking for a second, and then his smile increases -"We could actually ask Ymir - she should know!"
The taller blonde lets out a small laugh, shaking his head at Armin -" You mean you only thought of that now? We have known that Ymir came from someplace else for a while and you never thought of asking her "Hey Ymir, take a look at this - is it accurate?"?"
Armin squints his eyes at Jean, trying not to let them get under his skin, while Connie and Sasha are struggling not to laugh as loud as they can -"It's not as if we've been having the most peaceful weeks, Jean - and also, she was in hiding most of the time!" Jean only laughs harder at Armin's defense, holding up a finger to make him wait for him to stop laughing -" Don't worry Armin, I'm just messing with you! I'm curios as well...maybe in a while we can actually go there!"
The small group smiles at that thought, the possibility of them actually exploring their small world instead of hiding from it filling everyone up with adrenaline.
"Where's Eren and Mikasa?" Sasha asks, looking at Armin, presuming he would know the answer. The blonde shakes his head a little, facing the girl -"No idea - they're probably just spending time together, either in the cabins or someplace else. I don't really want to disturb them...they for sure have some things to discuss"
The mention of Eren's future betrayal brings down the overall mood, the group thinking about the specifics of Eren's plan, his own betrayal to his friends.
"No wonder he was acting weirdly - not only to find out that he will hurt people, but to do that to Mikasa..." Jean comments, knowing how the brunette is probably hating himself right now, sitting against the trunk of the tree.
Armin nods, recalling how the raven handled the situation -" Even if I'm sure that Mikasa does hold some resentment towards him, she is serious when she said that she would never hate him" he finishes, closing the book, the interest of the group having shifted on another argument.
"I still don't know how she managed to stuck by him before - he was just a complete ass to her!" Sasha speaks, remembering how her friend almost broke down in front of her while asking her that -" I'm glad they're together and I know that Eren does care a lot for her..." she pauses, grimacing thinking about his behaviour months ago.
"Well something must have happened before we all met...after all, they went all the places together. And she did tell me that Eren gave her that scarf" Jean chimes in, also wondering how Eren didn't blow his chance from the beginning. He faces Armin, a curious look on his face -"Do you know exactly what happened?"
The blonde winces a bit, not sure if Mikasa would want him to explain everything -"Well...I do know what happened...but, I'm...I don't think that Mikasa wants everyone to find out. It's...it's pretty bad" he finishes, looking up to their somewhat disappointed faces -" You can always ask her if you want"
Jean shakes his head, looking towards the horizon in front of him -"No...if she wants to tell us, she'll tell us. Besides, she already told me that she didn't want to go into details"
They remain in silence for a while, everyone just enjoying the sunlight, relaxing under the tree, not bothering with training or any sort of preparations for future missions.
"Well, whatever - now what's important is that Eren and Historia actually manage to do this thing. And then, no more Titans" Connie states, lying down on the ground. Armin sighs at that, thinking about Annie - What will be their reaction...will they want her to live?
After taking a few deep breaths, Armin faces the group, ready to ask them -"Guys...what do you think should happen to Annie?"
The mention of the girl freezes the group, the fact that they still have the Female Titan in their possession bringing them pause.
"I actually even forgot she was here..." Connie says, looking at Armin -" We've had some other things to think of...I completely didn't even think of her"
Sasha groans loudly, sitting up covering her face with her hands -" That's another hurdle in our way...pity that Eren didn't kill her..." Armin grimaces at that, now less certain that people will have some acceptance towards the girl.
"Well...it will have to fall upon Erwin, most likely...or Zachly...why do you ask?" Jean questions Armin, trying to read the blonde's expression.
" Personally, I think we should just have someone eat her...in case Eren doesn't manage to kill off all Titans, it will be one less problem to think about" he says, still looking at Armin.
"Yeah...that...that makes sense, I guess - but...wouldn't it be better to let her live? She definitely knows more about Marley than we do - she can help us deal with them!" Armin says, his tone hopeful, a tentative smile on his face
Jean furrows his eyebrow, decidedly confused by his friend's behaviour -"Maybe...but she wasn't like Bertholt or Reiner, she never actually was friend with us...so I'm not sure why she would suddenly switch sides like that" he explains, watching as Armin gulps down, his mind obviously thinking of reasons why he's not exactly right.
"True...she was never the most easy going of people...but...she was actually nice. And she always gave the impression that she wasn't doing this because she actually wanted to" Armin says, his friends looking at him like he's grown a second head.
"I'm not saying that she never believed in what she was doing, just that...her reasoning might not have been the same as Bertholt's! Do you remember what he said at the Wall? That we all deserved to die? When we confronted Annie, she never said said any of that! She was just carrying out an order to get Eren!" he continues, his tone getting progressively louder.
Connie starts to lean away from Armin, his outburst totally not typical of his strategic mind
-" What's with the aggression? We're not disagreeing, we're just saying that we are seeing things from another point of view!"
Sasha tilts her head, a sly smile coming to her face -"Can it be that you actually like her?" At that, both Connie and Jean snap their heads towards Armin, a surprised expression to their faces -"What? Is it true?" Connie asks, leaning again towards his friend.
Armin blushes, kicking himself for spur of the moment speech, looking at Sasha, his silence the only confirmation she needed from him -" Now that you mention it, she never seemed into whatever we were doing" she adds, thinking back to their interactions with her.
"And we were willing to forgive Bertholt and Reiner...it's only fair if we give the same to her" Connie says, receiving small nods from his friends.
That's one obstacle down, at least...
Reiner is standing near some trees, looking out to the horizon, in the direction of Wall Rose. He sighs deeply, the memory of his fallen friend still weighing on him heavily.
"He followed his instincts - they simply outsmarted him" Zeke starts, walking near him, stopping at his side -" Bertholt was one of the good ones"
The blonde nods softly, his attention shifting towards the 104th squadron, and he gulps down air, trying to stop himself from thinking of them as friends.
We were never friends...they're the enemy...
The bearded man on his side pats his shoulder, somehow understanding his internal struggle
-" You did spend a lot of time with them, it's only natural that you would become friends with them" he says tenderly, trying to ease Reiner's mind.
Reiner shakes his head vigorously, shrugging off Zeke's off his shoulder -" They're the enemy - that's all they are...just demons" he says, gritting his teeth at the last part. Zeke sighs softly, pinching the nose of his bridge, and sits down, signaling at Reiner to do the same.
"Tell me Reiner, do you think that they are at fault?" he asks him, looking carefully at his reaction. Reiner stares back, confusion written on his face
-" They are a race of devils...they were at fault the moment they were born" he answers, clenching his fists tightly, almost shaking from the effort.
"So are we - are we at fault?" Zeke calmly asks again, not imressed or threatened by the teens strength.
"No - we are doing what's right...we are accepting our own terrible history. We're trying to fix that" the blonde replies sternly, his sight again on the direction of Wall Rose, wishing he could go there again and ruin their plans. Zeke nods at him, enjoying a slight breeze washing over him.
"True - we are trying to fix our past. We're acknowledging it, and agreeing that our lineage was horrible" Zeke starts, Reiner watching him, sure that he is aiming at something else with this talk.
"But we did know about it - that's the difference between us and them"
Reiner just stares at Zeke, that detail coming again to throw doubt into his resolve. He looks away after a few seconds, Marley's teaching trying to overpower his own personal experience.
"How can you be responsible for something you don't even know about?" Zeke adds, seeing Reiner having an internal battle between his loyalty to Marley, and his loyalty to his friends.
"Then why are we doing this? Why did we have to do any of this" Reiner speaks up, memories of the first breach coming back to him -"We could have simply talked to them, explain what we wanted!"
Zeke lets out a small chuckle, imagining that situation pan out -"We want to invade them, after all. And we want to use as many pure Titans as possible for weapons, it wouldn't have been possible to simply talk to them" he says, Reiner still conflicted from the answer.
A woman walks towards the two, sitting down in front of them, looking first at Reiner, then at Zeke, silently wondering what happened between the two. Zeke simply smiles at her, Reiner shaking his head of his thoughts, calming down again.
"They took Bertholt...that doesn't make them innocent either" the blonde states, standing up and stretching, moving towards his tent to rest.
The woman looks at him weirdly, turning to face Zeke -" What's up with him?" Zeke chuckles at that, seeing Reiner lying down on the ground.
"He has had a tough few years. He's just tired. Don't worry about it, Pieck" he stands up as well, looking at the horizon, no signs of Titans approaching.
"We have to stay here for another 2 weeks, we might as well relax the rest of the time" he says, also making his way to the tents, when Pieck calls out to him -"So the founder is in your brother, who is also the Attack Titan, right?"
"Half brother - but yes, essentially. This makes our job both easier and complicated. Whatever. Now we have to report back about the status of this mission...we started with 8 Titans and now we have 4..." Zeke softly says, looking at Reiner, unsure of his fate.
"They're going to punish him, right?" Pieck joins in, also watching Reiner move around, trying to sleep.
The bearded man doesn't answer, instead just sighing deeply, ultimately shrugging his shoulders.
"Who knows. Now let's get some rest"
Eren and Mikasa are cuddling in her bed, Mikasa holding tightly to Eren's hands, listening to his breathing, both teen facing each other.
The raven is replaying Eren's confession, his admission of his plan to remove all Titans, and to be the only one carrying the entire weight of it. She looks at his closed eyes, his expression soft and relaxed, relieved that at least asleep he's not evidently worried about anything, allowing himself to calm down totally.
She doesn't want to think about the detail of his plan, the way that he will hurt them, insult her, to make sure that the group will hate him enough to kill him - making sure that Mikasa will hate him enough to do the deed.
I don't even know if I would be capable of doing it...
According to Eren, she will do it, Mikasa not wanting to believe that she would actually lose any amount of affection towards the brunette, unanimously deciding that, in the future, there would have been another reason for her to do that.
She stares at him again, taking a deep breath, watching as his face turns into a grimacing look, his breathing becoming quicker and heavier, Eren muttering something she can't understand.
"Eren...wake up...you're safe...wake up Eren" she softly says, squeezing his hands tighter, and when that accomplishes nothing, she nudges his shoulder, talking again -"Eren - wake up!"
His eyes shoot open, focusing immediately on the grey eyes of Mikasa, her sight bringing immediate relief, and he sighs deeply, breathing heavily, grasping her hands in his, scooting closer to her.
"Nightmare?" she asks kindly, watching as he gulps down air, whatever that dream was still having an effect on him. He nods, closing his eyes and taking one deep breath, opening them again and focusing on the girl in front of him.
"Yeah...it was...everyone just...hated me" he says, Mikasa furrowing her eyebrows in concern, immediately moving her head closer to his -" It would never happen...you did the right thing...everyone knows that it must have been awful to see that. We don't hate you" Mikasa starts to comfort him, seeing it having the slightest amount of effect, his green eyes focusing only on her, knowing that Eren is listening intently to her.
The couple stays in silence for a while, each using the other's presence as support, resting for the day, trying to forget the trials ahead.
Eren shift his body until he is lying on his back, putting one arm over his forehead, the feeling of the dream still strong in his mind. He looks at his side, Mikasa smiling at him, herself lying on her side, and he reaches out to shift some hair covering her face.
"Eren...can I ask you something?" Mikasa asks, Eren immediately recognising the tentative tone she's using, guessing that it wouldn't be an easy question to answer, but he nods nonetheless.
"If we hadn't confronted you...if we didn't force you to tell us what you saw - would...would you have done it?"
The brunette flinches at the question, himself not entirely sure of the answer -"I...I don't know...I would hate to hurt you like that...but...maybe" he answers, knowing that the raven must be hurting even more right now.
"I...I obviously did - will do it, because then I will have to show myself that...-"
"But now you don't have to! You don't have to carry this all on your own! You are not alone!" Mikasa interrupts him, getting louder with each word, wanting to be reassured that Eren won't commit those acts, and then she gets quieter, looking at her hands.
"Would you really have been able to tell...to say-" Mikasa doesn't need to finish for Eren to understand what she means, causing Eren to look away from her eyes, shame rising through his body.
"I...I..."
He can see tears collecting in her eyes, only increasing the level of distress that both can feel, Eren still unable to answer -"I...I don't know!"
The brunette also lets some tears fall, and he sits up, leaning against the headboard, grabbing his head and crying softly -" I don't know what I will do! I just...I want all of this to end! I don't want you, or Armin, or Jean, or the others to suffer anymore! I don't want to stay here, inside these walls!" Eren's speech becomes more garbled, his crying not allowing him to speak clearly
"I only know one way of doing this..."
Mikasa also sits up, scooting to Eren's side, and leans against him, hugging her knees -"Sorry...I was was thinking selfishly again...honestly I don't know what I would do in your place..."
They remain like that for a while, neither speaking, only listening to the other's breathing, using it to calm themselves down.
"Jean told me that I was just the messenger, once - that it was because of the hope that a Titan ally could bring..." Mikasa hugs him tighter, her tears silently spilling out of her eyes -"But...now I'm not simply only that...I'm...I'm the executioner"
"You're still the messenger, Eren..." Mikasa speaks up, one arm rubbing his shoulder -"You just have to deliver a different kind of message"
The couple look at each other, smiling warmly, Eren leaning towards her face, planting a small kiss on her lips, then staring at her eyes.
"I...really care for you" he blurts out, blushing deeply at his awkward declaration, the raven chuckling at his embarrassment.
" I really care for you too"
Armin wakes up, seeing the sun coming through the window, and he breaks into a smile -
Today...maybe today she'll be free...He gets out of bed, grabbing his change of clothes, heading out to freshen up in the bathroom, noticing the silence around him, evidently the only one awake and moving.
He still knocks on the door, just to make sure, entering when no-one answers back, taking as little time as possible, his excitement getting the better of him.
After getting dressed, he exits the room, seeing Connie, barely awake, making his way to the bathroom as well, lifting an arm to wave at the blonde -" Hey, Armin...big day today"
Armin chuckles, not sure if Connie is referring only to the removal of all Titans or also to Annie, answering the question when he sees the smirk on Connie's face, blushing a bit as a result.
"Jean is still in his room, I think - but Eren will probably be out...I don't even know if he managed to sleep" Connie says, before entering the bathroom, the blonde going outside the cabin, imagining that the commanders would like to do their experiment as soon as possible.
Armin is surprised to see Historia and Ymir outside, watching intently the door to the cabin -"Your majesty...Ymir...what are you doing here? Aren't we going to do it in a less conspicuous location?"
"No, we're still using one of the cells - you can never be too safe, apparently. We're here to find the blockhead before he decides to do something stupid, like not kill all Titans in a sensible way" Ymir sternly replies, walking near the blonde
-" Have you seen him?"
Armin shakes his head, trying to not get too much intimidated by the Queen, her glare almost burning a hole in him -" No, I haven't seen him since yesterday - he might still be with Mikasa" at that, Ymir smirks, raising one eyebrow.
"Ymir, save the comments - today is not a good day for them" Historia curtly warns her, the freckled girl rolling her eyes -" Don't worry, nothing is going to happen to me"
"Who said I was thinking about that?" the shorter girl replies, immediately looking away from Ymir
-" I'm just anxious for the experiment to finally happen...no more Titans...no more..."
Ymir sighs deeply, and makes her way towards Historia, bringing her in in a bear hug, allowing her to drop the image of the monarch for a while, whispering soothing sounds in her ear.
Armin smiles at the sight, trying to not make any sounds as to not disturb the couple, focusing instead on finding Eren. The door to the cabin opens, Jean and Connie exiting, joining Armin after seeing him.
"We're doing it here?" Jean groggily asks, noticing Ymir and Historia, still hugging each other. Armin shakes his head, facing him -"No. They're here to make sure that Eren actually will do this, but I have no idea of where he is" Armin replies, Jean raising one eyebrow at the last part -" Don't tell me the blockhead ran away"
They turn their heads towards the women's cabin, the door opening revealing Sasha coming out, a big smile on her face. She meets up with the rest of the group, and after a few quick hellos, she sighs contentedly -"Finally...no more Titans! We'll be free!"
"Sasha, sorry, have you seen Mikasa? Eren is-" just as Armin is about to ask Sasha about Eren's whereabouts, the door to the women's cabin open again, Mikasa and Eren coming out, holding hands, the brunette evidently anxious about their test.
"You were in there?" Armin asks him, managing to contain himself and not giggling like Connie and Sasha, or smirking like Ymir. Eren and Mikasa blush at the attention, the brunette waving everyone off -"We just slept, nothing happened" he then notices Historia and Ymir, confusion coming to his face -" We're doing it here?"
"No, we came to pick you up, blockhead - just in case you were thinking of ditching us" Ymir answers, looking around -"If everyone is here, we can go now - the higher ups are already waiting in the cells"
The 104th squadron makes their way towards the cells, everyone not willing to speak, seeing as the other are worrying about possible repurcussions.
Will she still be here...please, if there is a god, don't let us separate...
Is Eren actually able to do it? Does he actually want to do this?
Is she going to freak out if she will be free again? I hope she doesn't start running away...
I don't want to kill you.
Mikasa is still holding on to Eren's hand, staring at the ground in front of her, making sure to occasionally squeeze his hand, signalling her continued support, knowing he must still be feeling extremely stressed.
The group eventually make their way in front of the military building, Levi in front of the main doors, waiting for them to arrive -"Finally you're here - I had half a mind to come get you. Come on, Erwin and Hange are already down" Levi sees Eren's expression, and he waits for him to get closer, giving him a small nod -"You have to do this - but I'm sorry it's always up to you to solve things. Do your best"
Eren nods absentmindedly, following the person in front of him, entering the building and down the stairs leading to the cells.
Hange sees them arriving, excitedly waving at Eren and Historia -"Ok! Come on, now it's up to you!"
Eren and Historia detach from the group, entering a cell, sitting down on 2 chairs, put there previously by Ymir, facing each other.
Erwin coughs, gathering attention -"Ok. At first we'll focus only on making the first contact with Ymir - we don't know who will be able to make that contact, so both of you, focus your energy on talking with her. You'll concentrate on eliminating the Titans later"
Eren and Historia nod at the taller man, facing each other, inhaling deeply, before holding hands. Both of them close their eyes, breathing deeply, both not moving.
The rest of the group stays in silence, all of them intently staring at the two, making sure to breathe as quietly as possible as to not disturb them. Mikasa looks at Eren, a worried expression on her face, feeling a hand coming to her shoulder, Armin besides her, also worried about Eren, but still smiling at Mikasa to at least attempt to comfort her.
Ymir...Ymir...Can you hear me?
Eren is focusing all of his attention to repeating that line, still seeing nothing but the back of his eyes. He opens one of them, staring at Historia, the girl evidently still concentrating, her breathing becoming somewhat quicker and heavier.
Suddenly she exhales, letting go of the hand
-" Nothing. I didn't hear a thing" Levi loudly scoffs at that, walking forward -"Of course, brat, try it for at least a minute. Even Eren took days before totally controlling his Titan, I'm guessing this will take longer"
"Hey! Don't take that tone with her! She's doing her best!" Ymir interrupts, glaring at Levi, who responds in kind -" I'm just stating a fact in here! Keep at it - you won't be able to do much if you give up after 5 seconds!"
"Ok ok, everyone relax now" Hange speaks up, taking the attention from the two -"Eren, Historia, Levi is right. This won't be an easy task - just relax more, and spend at least a couple of minutes, ok?"
The duo nods, gulping down air, and again hold hands, this time much more relaxed and calm. The atmosphere around them reflect their attitude, the only exception being Mikasa and Armin, worried about their friend.
Please Eren...be careful...
A few minutes pass in total silence, the group simply watching Eren and Historia hold hands, when this time Eren drops his hand, shaking his head defeated -"I can't...I don't know if I can"
Erwin sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, exhaling slightly -" Ok. Eren and Historia - this is the only shot we have. You can't give up that easily. It's either this, or do nothing until Eren unleashes hell on earth" he pauses, staring down the brunette -"We don't have another choice"
"Historia, maybe you take charge this time. Your royal blood should at least activate the Founder - focus only on connecting with it. You saw Freida's memories like that, correct?" Hange says, looking at the small Queen, who nods, grabbing Eren's hand again.
They stay like that for a few minutes, neither breathing heavily, just relaxing. Jean leans away from the wall, standing up and stretching his arms -"This is pointless..." he gets immediately slapped by Mikasa, who shoots a glare at him, silently telling him to stop talking.
Suddenly both Eren and Historia's eyes open, breathing heavily, the blonde speaking up -"I saw...I saw Freida...she...she was talking with me! In the memory, I mean...but...but that's it - nothing else"
Erwin exhales, closing his eyes, leaning against the wall, while Levi scoffs again, lightly kicking the wall with his foot.
"What if...what if we're missing one piece of the puzzle?" Armin speaks up, catching the attention of the group.
"What do you mean?" Erwin asks, knowing that Armin is usually correct in his assumptions, thus willing to hear him out first, before stopping with experiments -" Well, Eren used his powers when he was touching a Titan, right? What...what if that's the only way?"
Erwin furrows his eyebrows, thinking about the idea, while Armin continues -"For all we know, there is a way for him to use the founder while only touching Historia, but at the rate we're going, we may never find it - Eren was also protecting himself and Mikasa, so maybe it was also a matter of danger, which is clearly not present here"
"Maybe we need a Titan with royal blood" he finishes, looking at Historia. Ymir glares at Armin, not liking the implications of this new development -"Are you really saying that she needs to become a Titan" the blonde teen doesn't answer, his answer obvious to everyone in the room, merely whispering -" Sorry"
Eren looks at Historia, the girl looking at the ground, not moving or speaking, and then faces Mikasa, the raven stressed out by all of that happening. They share a look, and Eren manages to smile a bit, reassuring slightly Mikasa.
"Ok. Let's see what we have in here" Hange starts, wanting to recapitulate everything -" Eren and Historia probably won't manage like this - Historia needs to be a Titan, since Eren already managed to do that before. The options are, Eren, which defeats the point, Erwin, which isn't ideal, we just got you back" she pauses, looking at the commander, facing Ymir next -"Ymir, but I guess that Historia wouldn't want that, and Annie"
Armin snaps his head at Hange, immediately speaking up -" Wait a minute - I don't know if I'm correct! I might be wrong here! We don't even know if we can do this, even with a Titan, why should we doom Historia to die in 13 years!"
Everyone get taken aback from Armin's outburst, Jean sighing loudly once more, looking at the shorter blonde, slightly shaking his head at him-
Jeez Armin...don't be the unreasonable one now...
"Calm down - we're just brainstorming here, we're not deciding anything now" Erwin interjects, not understanding the shorter blonde's fit -"Plus, you're forgetting that Annie is encased in a block of crystal that we can't break. So, even if we had decided something, it probably wouldn't be Annie" Jean chimes in, Armin blushing right after, ashamed to have let his personal feelings control him.
"But unless we do get another Titan of royal blood, there's not many options either" Levi starts speaking, looking at Armin, gauging his reaction -"So if you don't have anyone better-"
"We do have another Titan of royal blood!" Mikasa loudly interrupts, looking at Eren -"Your brother! He's a royal, and a Titan! We could use him!" she explains, looking around the room.
"That would be ideal, but we have no clue of where they are. For all we know they already left" Levi says, scratching his forehead -"I don't think we can waste days or even weeks hoping that they are still here, and that we can find them"
"True" Erwin agrees, facing Levi -"But we are doing this thing" he continues, waving at Eren and Historia -" On a gamble that it might work - maybe we can try a different combination"
Levi sighs, knowing that it will be difficult to convince Erwin to not do something -"And how do you suggest we find them? We have no idea of their whereabouts, even generally!"
Jean snaps his fingers, turning towards Ymir -"Marley must have had a dedicated spot where they would bring Eldians, it would make sense - if you can remember where exactly you were brought, we might be able to find them!"
The freckled girl thinks over it for a few seconds, trying to see if she can actually remember specific events from decades ago -" I may have a general idea, but we don't know if they changed it in the meantime" she speaks, Levi already dropping his head in resignation.
"Let's say that we do find them. Then what? We ask them to cooperate with us?"
"We force them to - after all, we outnumber them. If they had more people, they would've used them in the battle for Wall Rose" Hange explains, counting on fingers the opponents -"We have Reiner, but Eren managed to subdue him a couple of times - the Beast, but you" Hange pauses, facing Levi -"Basically brought him down on your own. Then we have the other Titan, which is roughly the size of yours" Hange points at Ymir.
"And lastly" Erwin interrupts, pointing at himself -" We have the Colossus. We have the upper hand, Levi"
The shorter man sighs, seeing that he wouldn't be able to change their minds. He leans away from the wall, making his way towards the cells door, opening it and stepping out -"Ok, if you're sure - this means that we stopped with this experiment, right? We can go?"
Erwin nods at him, turning back to the others -" Now we have to organise everything for the mission - dismissed"
One by one, everyone leaves the cell, leaving only Historia and Ymir in there. The taller girl sits in front of Historia, the other girl not having moved or talked during the while exchange of ideas -" Is everything ok?"
The blonde nods, looking up to Ymir -"I don't want to become a Titan...I don't want to lose you" She admits, grateful for the fact that she is able to hold on to her tears.
Ymir chuckles at her, smiling softly -" I told you, nothing is going to happen to me - and apparently you're not becoming a Titan, I'd say your safe in that department"
The two girls giggle, Historia standing up, moving to hug the taller girl, allowing herself to let some tears spill - this time, of happiness.