Historia/Christa POV
She stood at the sink in silence while staring out into the fields beyond the window.
She was supposed to be cleaning up some plates, but her mind was elsewhere.
Ever since the attack on HQ she had been like this, doing everything in a daze.
The sight of dozens upon dozens of her comrades had shocked her to her core.
Though Trost had been bad, it was nothing like this.
They had been killed by their own people, put to the slaughter like a bunch of cattle.
But her Christa personality had persisted through it all. Picking up where she would have broken down.
But even that had it's limit.
I wonder what life would have been like if it had never happened?
What life would be like if I had just been left on the farm to do as I please. I can only wonder, I suppose.
She was brought out of her thoughts suddenly by the sounds of footsteps behind her.
"Hey," the voice of Eren said, filled with more emotion than usual.
"Oh, Eren," she said, surprised at the Titan shifter's arrival. "Why are you here?"
"I was just wandering around. Nearly everyone treats me like an old man, so whenever I try to do anything it's always the same reply. 'Oh Eren. You must be so weak from transforming. Let me get that for you," Eren replied.
Seems like I'm not wrong. He is in a far better mood than usual.
"Anyway, do you want any help?"
"I suppose I could do with another hand," she told him before turning back to the pile of unwashed dishes which lay before her.
Eren walked over to the other sink in the kitchen and started washing another plate, almost as if he was a normal teenager, and not a soldier trainer for war.
"So what did you and Ymir talk about?" She asked after a moment of silence. "I heard her shouting at you through the walls, so whatever you talked about must-have angered her quite a bit."
Eren chuckled softly at her remark but didn't answer immediately.
"It was nothing serious," he finally said. "Just some questions about her past."
"Why did you want to know about her past?" She questioned, breaking away from her usual sweet and unquestioning persona.
"There was no particular reason," Eren replied, still refusing to answer her directly. "I just wanted to know where she came from, and stuff like that."
"What stuff?" She questioned further.
Eren gave a sigh at her response, but quickly gave in and answered her question.
"Annie, Reiner and Bertholdt all came from a village inside wall Maria. They said that only they survived their town's slaughter and therefore only they can confirm whether this was true. There are no records of that town or them ever existing, but the military attributed it to the fall of Shiganshina and wall Maria."
"Ymir told us a similar story. She lived within wall Maria and when the titans attacked everyone she knew died, leaving her as the only survivor. I thought the stories sounded similar enough that perhaps she too was a Titan Shifter, perhaps an ally of the other shifters."
She let out a small gasp at the statement.
Is Ymir a Titan Shifter as well? But if that's true then-.
She was cut off mid-thought by Eren continuing his story.
"But. After listening to her story I know she's not their ally. She is definitely with us."
"Well, that's good to hear. For a minute there I thought you were going to tell me that she's Shifter and that she's been working with Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie."
Eren stopped suddenly at her words, his arms half in the sink as he washed a plate.
"Yeah. Just me thinking things through way too much. Thinking Ymir was a shifter," he said with a shaky chuckle. "Why in the walls would I think that?"
"Eren… Is Ymir," she started while turning to face him. "A Shifter?"
Eren remained quiet and refused to face her.
"Eren answer me," she said, repeating her question. "Is Ymir a shifter?"
Eren finally turned to face her, and now looking down at her the shifter replied.
"Look, Historia-."
Both of them stopped suddenly, eyes wide and shocked at his words.
How…? How does he know my old name? My real name?
They stared at each other in complete and utter silence, not a single one of them speaking a word.
"Eren," the voice of Mikasa says from the door, breaking their minute long silence.
"Hanji just got back from the capital. She and two other Scouts were able to make it out of there without being captured."
"That's good news," Eren replied after coming out of his shock. "I presume she wants to speak to me?"
Mikasa nodded in reply before leaving quickly, not bothering to tell him where hanji was.
Eren turned back to her slowly.
"Well, I better get going. Got to go speak to Hanji, you know how she'll want an update about any new memories," Eren told her quickly, trying to play off his misnaming of her.
She nodded simply in reply, still too shocked to say anything else.
"We can talk about this another time, okay," Eren told her.
She once again only nodded in reply, then she turned back to the table, refusing to look at him again.
As she heard him leave she could only think how much of that Mikasa heard.
-
Mikasa Pov
She walked through the silent corridors alone, trying to stay as quiet as possible.
It had been hours since Hanji had returned, and through nearly all of it she had been talking with Levi, Eren, and Eld.
But now nearly everyone was asleep, giving her the perfect opportunity to speak to Hanji and Levi, without fear of being caught mid-conversation.
She needed to speak to them. After all, everyone else seemed to be fooled by him, all except the higher-ups. They seemed to see right through him.
Why Eren. Why do you force me to do this?
Though she had some suspensions beforehand, after today she knew that she wasn't imagining things. Eren was hiding things from them, though what he was hiding was beyond her, it was only a matter of time before they got something out of him.
First had been her outburst at him, and though he tried to hide it, it was clear that he was holding something back. Then she had spoken to Armin not too long ago about Eren's conversation with him. And then Eren called Christa 'Historia,' while they were preparing food.
Though she didn't want to, she had to tell them, before it was too late.
Walking up the stairs quickly, she winced at every creak which emanated them. That was all that was needed to wake someone, and for them to discover what she was about to say.
As she reached the top of the stairs she saw the flickering light of a candle emanating from Levi's room, where she had hoped they would be.
As she reached the door she heard their voices come from the room, growing louder and louder with each step.
Upon reaching the slightly open door she waited a moment before knocking, doubt swirling in her mind.
If I do this, I could sentence him to death. Everyone knows about the transferring of Titan powers, and if I tell them that even me and Armin doubt him, this could kill him.
But if I don't, then Eren may do something far worse. He hasn't been himself in years like someone has possessed him. Or maybe he saw something, he barely sleeps nowadays anyways. So perhaps that was the cause of his change.
But it doesn't matter. I have to do this. For everyone's sake.
She knocked on the wooden door three times. Every knock seemed to last for a minute, reminding her of the bells from Shiganshina, which rang out every day.
So much has changed since then.
"Come in," the monotone voice of Captain Levi said from within the room.
She opened the door slowly, every part of her telling her not to do this, to keep Eren alive. To keep her promise to Carla.
But it was already too late.
It had been too late for him since the training. When he started his secrets and his lies.
She locked eyes for a moment with Captain Levi as she entered the room, then her eyes shot over to the other person in the room.
Just as I hoped. Squad leader Hanji.
They locked eyes for a moment, with Hanji probably trying to understand why she was here at this hour.
"Why are you here?" Levi said simply while leaning back in his chair.
She took a deep breath before speaking, every word nearly impossible for her to say.
"I'm here. To talk about… Eren," she finished quietly.
I'm sorry Eren. But this is for your own good.
Both veterans stopped at her words. But after a moment of staring at each other, their eyes locked and a silent understanding passed between them.
"So, you're here to talk about the brat. What about him?" Captain Levi questioned, taking the role of interrogator.
"Well, I have-," she started, still wavering under the pressure of giving Eren up. "Armin and I have suspicions about Eren being a traitor," she blurted out.
The two Scouts who sat before her seemed shocked for a moment, but Captain Levi immediately jumped back into questioning.
"What do you mean traitor?"
"Well, not a traitor. But he's hiding something, and lying about so much more. After my talk with him today… I am sure that something is wrong with him."
The two Scouts before her once again locked eyes, and this time it was Levi who remained silent.
"Mikasa, you and Armin are not alone in your worries. Erwin, Levi and I all share suspicions about Eren. Though we had yet to confirm them with you here, we can finally put down any doubts that we may have. Now, tell us everything."
So it isn't just us then. Even commander Erwin thought the same as us.
She sighed, mentally preparing herself for what she was going to do.
"During our first day of training, something changed in Eren. It was instant. Before we had been brought in he had been normal, the same he had been since we were children. But after our introduction with our instructor, something changed. He seemed older, and for the first couple of days, there was something in his eyes."
"We don't need to know about things this far back," Levi said, cutting in just as she took a breather.
"Levi, this could all be important to understanding what happened. So for once please be silent," Hanji told Levi. "Now, please continue."
"Thank you," she responded. "It looked like there was a sadness in his eyes, and after the introduction, he acted like he hadn't seen us in years. During our ODM training, he already knew what to do, when we first put on ODM gear, he put his on like he had done so a hundred times before. And when we got the air he had already mastered it, just like fistfighting."
She took another breather, the eyes of the Scouts never leaving her as she told them everything.
"During our younger years we constantly got into fights, but whenever he fought it was always just him swinging his fists around. But during those fights, he used moves and skills I had never seen before. But at night was the strangest. He rarely slept. And when he did he would often wake from nightmares screaming. Sometimes he would even shout our names in his sleep."
"About halfway into our training, we went on a training exercise. And during that exercise, a group of bandits caught our group and took all our ODM gear and kidnapped Eren. When we went looking for them we found Eren alone with steam rising above him. He told us that an avalanche had killed them and knocked the cart off the road."
"He had miraculously survived and that was the end of that. For him at least. Though we asked about the lightning and the steam he never answered us. That was the end of odd things during training, but during the battle of Trost, he disappeared after the Colossal Titan broke through the wall. He said he was knocked out, but Armin and I didn't believe him. Though we didn't question him."
He returned during the battle and helped us refill our ODM gear while taking on the titans outside. However, it was like his ODM gear. He had mastered his titan form and after slaughtering the titans he then plugged up the hole. You have seen everything else since then. Up till today, that is."
"So, what happened today then?" Hanji questioned after listening to her lengthy talk.
"Well, I confronted Eren about hiding something from us, and the look on his face when I asked him said it all. Though he refused to admit it, the conversation had confirmed my fears. I talked to Armin earlier about it as well. Apparently from him, he still refused to talk about our conversation."
"Mikasa, thank you for all of this. You are dismissed. Levi and I will discuss all that you have told us."
She nodded and quickly left the room, closing the door behind her as she walked away from the room.
Tears brimmed in her eyes as she heard Hanji and Levi's voices from within the room, no doubt discussing what to do with Eren.
Eren, please, I'm so sorry. But I have to do this.
She reached the stairs and quickly walked down them, but in her regret and tears, she failed to notice a figure standing in the corridor behind her.
They watched as she walked down the stairs. They didn't move a muscle, they didn't even blink.
But their green eyes blazed with fury at her betrayal
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Sorry for the chapter being later than usual, I had some technical issues.
Chapter 22 will be out next week, and if you can please review, it really helps push me to write more.