LAWLESS


Chapter 7. Ambiguous


When Armin finished the third and last class of the day, his young students remained seated with their eyes stuck on the drawing on the blackboard. A boy with short blond hair, whose expression tended to be serious, was now showing a wide smile.

His eyes shone with resolution.

"I'll save money to board one of those hot-air balloons," he commented in a low voice to a kid wearing glasses who he sat next to. He was putting a notebook inside a satchel.

"That would be awesome, but you'll have to work and save for months… or years, don't you?"

Armin saw Falco come back to the taciturn demeanor that he wore most of the time. Both boys stood up and said goodbye to him, waving their hands.

"Have a good afternoon, Professor Arlert," Udo wished, while Falco nodded in Armin's direction with a little smile.

Was he this shy when he was that age?

"You too. See you next week," Armin replied.

He got more good wishes, goodbyes and some expression of gratitude from the other young students.

There were five established schools in Shiganshina. This was one of the schools that had more resources, so to say. Here the kid's families could, at least, buy notebooks and pencils and even send them with a snack that they could eat when they had the brief break in the middle of the morning. A few could even allow themselves books.

Armin worked in three different schools. He also taught reading and writing privately to the kids that didn't have time to attend lectures, since they worked several hours a day along with their parents or on their own.

The salon had fifteen rectangular tables and thirty chairs. Walls that once were white now had a tone more similar to beige in various spots from hands and fingertips. There also were drawings scattered about. In the low corner of the far wall was a drawing of a heart inside of which two names were written. Armin's thin lips formed a slight smile that relaxed his face, like whenever he spotted that naïve declaration of love.

He opened and closed his hands, which he had turned into a fist unconsciously. He picked up his things and put them inside his worn brown leather bag. He took a glance at his wristwatch. He still had more than one hour to take the ferry and arrive at the Heinrich University in Stohess. Twice a month he arrived on Wednesday's afternoon and returned to Shiganshina on Friday night. When he wasn't attending classes, he spent his time studying and reading in the University's library, which was the biggest in the Kingdom. There were only three libraries, one of which was the private library of the Royal family that was, of course, inside the Palace. Armin had the privilege of knowing it.

The next day, as soon as he left a lecture on Advanced Physics, he went straight to the library. There were some students and teachers reading in silence or looking for a special volume on the shelves. He was pleasantly surprised when he recognized Hange Zoe, his favorite science professor. Sadly, this semester she would not be giving any lectures.

She wore her dark hair in a typical disheveled ponytail and dressed in a white shirt, a buttoned sweater that was haphazardly buttoned and a long moss green skirt. Her glasses had slipped to the tip of her nose - something that didn't seem to bother her. She was focused on leafing through a book that she held over her forearm. When her search seemed to bear no fruit, she settled the glasses and carefully put the book in one of the spaces available on the shelves. Once she turned on her heels, Armin caught her and greeted her in a low voice.

"Armin, long time no see!" she whispered. She gave him a few pats on the back and looked up with bright eyes, "Say, did you get taller?"

"Not that I know," he replied, without hiding his joy to see her.

She brought a hand to her chin and scrutinized him.

"I get the impression that you did, how old are you? You look older."

Less than a year had passed since the last time Hange Zoe had given a lecture at the University.

"Twenty one," he said, shyly, "actually, I'll be twenty one in a couple of weeks."

"I see, when's your birthday? Will you celebrate it?" she asked, carelessly pointing the exit of the library. They started to get going.

"November third, but I never do anything for my birthday. I just spend my time with Eren and sometimes with Historia as well."

Hange raised an eyebrow when she heard the last name, then she snapped her fingers as if she remembered something.

"Ah, sure. Eren works for the Royal family, I almost had forgotten it," she smiled kindly but suddenly stopped, "Or used to work for them. I found out he ran away with a girl, have you heard from him?"

Eren has also been one of her students until a few months ago.

Armin swallowed.

"Y-yeah, I saw him recently. Everything's alright. He's still working for the Reiss."

Hange laughed between her teeth.

"Eren was always very passionate," she commented in a mischievous tone and the blond boy nodded, infected by her laughter. He didn't have to feel nervous around his teacher, despite the subject of conversation, "Though it would have never crossed my mind that he was the type to do that sort of thing."

"I should have imagined it," Armin murmured, scratching his nape.

"Do you know the girl in question?" she seemed interested.

He remembered Mikasa and blushed, "I've seen her a couple of times."

The teacher watched him from the corner of her eye.

"And what do you know about her?" when she asked, her voice sounded a bit higher-pitched.

Armin rested both hands on his bag, which he had put on his lap. His fingers drummed on the leather.

"Not much, to be honest. I know her name is Margot, that she is eighteen years old and that she is…" intimidating, he thought, "and that she is a charming girl."

Hange adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose, even though she didn't need to, and nodded. Armin noticed a slight smile that he tried to attribute to how funny and unusual his friend's situation must seem to her.

"I bet she's charming," Hange said while contemplating the water fountain situated in the center of the yard. Her smile grew bigger.

As they continued talking about other topics, Hange gave him a granola bar that she made herself, which the boy was afraid would make him lose some teeth. It was very tasty, at least.

"The oatmeal cookies turn out very hard as well," the woman apologized, "but I soften them with a bit of milk. Tell me, Armin, how are you doing with your young students?"

"Very well! Today I had my last weekly class with the eleven and twelve year old kids of the South Shiganshina school. Though I've heard some teachers complain about how difficult the kids are, they behave for me."

"It's possible that the other teachers are very boring conservatives that also happen to be not so creative at teaching like you," she put a hand on the shoulder of her old student, "I have no doubt that your lessons escape the monotonous and typical. Variety is attractive to young people."

The boy opened his eyes slightly and smiled.

"Oh, thank you. I hope so," he said after a shy sigh, very grateful for the words of recognition and support from a person he admired, "Do you come to the University and to the library often?"

"Not as often as I would like to," she admitted, "my research and other personal obligations consume almost all my time, but I try to come once or twice a week, when I can and when I have to do it," suddenly she turned her sight at the sky as if she realized something. She let out a surprised gasp and asked for the time, standing up, "I have to go. I'm very glad that I was able to share some moments with you, Armin."

"Same, Professor."

"I hope we get to see each other soon around here," she said as she took out another granola bar and gave it to him, "Say hi to Eren for me whenever you see him." She gave him a smile and a last pat on the back before leaving, almost running.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Mikasa covered her mouth after a yawn. The house calls to the rich patients were turning insufferable. Thankfully, the tea and cookies that they served her while waiting for Eren to finish this last visit were delicious.

Hopefully he would finish examining the old woman soon. She was the fourth wife of a man that had widowed twice – a suicide and a heart-attack – and whose third wife left him for another man. Such a drama.

"It's curious because, in general, it's women who survive the men," Eren had said to Mikasa in an amused tone, shortly before arriving at the big house. It was situated away from the center of Trost, in the middle of a beautiful wooded area.

Despite the hangover with which he had awoken a few days ago, Eren had been in a good mood, he was even talkative. It was a good thing, of course, since he was talking for the both of them. Mikasa has never been good to start nor keep conversations. In her defense, it could be said that it wasn't like she had many options to talk casually or make friends with the exception of the people related to her clan.

Despite Eren's positive attitude, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Mikasa to continue pretending that they were a couple. She didn't dare to grab him by the arm now, and was even less inclined to take his hand. She was embarrassed at the thought of it, even.

They've been sharing the same room for three nights already, tonight being the fourth. Sometimes she felt her lungs lacked air to the point that last night she had to abruptly leave the room wrapped in a blanket. She spent a long time seated on a sofa in the small room that was next to the reception, since it was dark and empty at that hour. The fireplace was off and, only when she felt that the blanket wasn't enough and that she bit almost every nail while ruminating on various thoughts, she decided to go back to the room and to get into her bed. She found Eren sleeping soundly, feeling a certain relief that made her able to quickly surrender herself to sleep.

She chewed a cookie that had strawberry jelly and fine sugar sprinkled on top of it. It was so good.

Through the blurred window she could see that the rain had stopped and that the sky was beginning to brighten. Soon the sun would set and the next day the medical visits would end. Of course, Eren would dedicate some of his time to visit the ill that weren't on his official agenda: those who couldn't pay.

These visits were more appealing to Mikasa, for she could see Eren in action. He was very kind to people, especially to children, with whom he had a lot of talent. They stopped crying quickly in his presence and after his warm words. Maybe the key was that Eren never lied to them and the children responded well to his honesty.

Mikasa recalled the case of a nine year old kid that lived with his mother in a tiny house.

"This injection will hurt, but thanks to it you'll leave bed soon," Eren had said to the little one hiding under a bunch of dirty blankets, who didn't stop bawling: I don't wanna, I don't wanna, I don't wanna, at an impressive speed. "I promise that in a few days you'll be feeling better and you'll be able to go out to play with your friends."

"I don't wanna, it scares me," the boy grizzled, making a fuss under the blankets and sniffling.

The kid's mother looked at Eren, embarrassed because of the resistance of her son, but didn't say anything. They had agreed that she would not intervene while he tried to convince her child.

"I used to be scared of needles at your age too," the young doctor admitted, "I was able to overcome that fear little by little. One day I even got a tattoo."

"A tattoo?" the kid's head suddenly popped out of the blankets.

"Yeah, do you want to see it?"

After a nod, Eren carefully unbuttoned the upper half of his shirt, showing him whatever he had on his chest. Mikasa, who had been leaning in a wall, couldn't help but try to get a look as well, though she regretted it midways and stepped back, feeling how a brief warmth invaded her cheeks.

"Is that… a circle? Oh, a snake…? I like it," the kid murmured, smiling weakly, "Tattoos are done with needles, right? My dad used to have some too."

Eren didn't answer right away.

"I see," he muttered. "Yes, they're done with needles."

The kid seemed to weigh something mentally. He had a coughing attack and his eyes became flooded with tears.

"I'm tired of feeling bad," he sobbed, wiping the tears with his forearm and cleaning the snot with the spotted and tattered sheets, "and I wanna… get a tattoo… someday."

Eren exchanged a few more words with the boy and asked him to roll over and lay on his stomach. As expected, the kid whimpered after the painful penicillin injection, but in general he took it very well. When they said goodbye, Eren received a hug from the little one and from the grateful mother as well, to whom he promised to come back the next day before starting his return trip.

They were ready to abandon the humble house when the little patient made a gesture at the doctor for him to come closer. The kid whispered something in his ear and Eren's eyes widened. Both of them let out a knowing giggle.

"Yes, I've already noticed that," admitted Eren, glancing at Mikasa sideways.

When they left, the girl asked what it was that the kid said to him.

Eren sketched a sly smile. "He told me that I had a very beautiful girlfriend."

Mikasa was taken aback and her face got lit as a lamp. She climbed into the carriage that was waiting for them as quickly as she could and turned her glance. Her face was so hot that her eyes got moist.

How could she lose control of her expressions so fast?

"What's wrong?" Eren asked once he got into the carriage and sat next to her. "Your ears are red," he commented, as casually as someone who's talking about weather.

Mikasa flushed again at the memory, but smiled while she was about to take the last cookie left on the silver tray. She heard two masculine voices echoing from the stairs. She cleaned her fingers with a serviette and straightened her dress after standing up.

The old man thanked Eren for the visit. Just as he did when they arrived, the man barely paid attention to Mikasa. He said goodbye to her in a cordial way, at least.

"This was the last one for today, right?" She knew it was the last patient, but she needed a confirmation.

"Yeah, and I'm already exhausted," Eren left his briefcase in one of the seats of the carriage and rubbed his eyes, "does it bother you if I ask Gustav to go directly to the hostel?"

"Why would that bother me?"

"I don't know, in case you wanted to go somewhere else. I've noticed that staying in the room is not of your liking," he murmured, "something is troubling you, isn't it?"

Mikasa brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'll take a nap once we arrive," he said, as he didn't get an answer.

"It's fine," she said, "I can go out to take a walk so you can sleep peacefully."

Eren leaned his head in the padded backrest and turned slightly towards the girl.

"I thought you've already realized that I can fall asleep anywhere, even if there's noise and movement," his voice sounded tired as he settled in the seat and crossed his arms. He stayed quiet for some moments and added, "These last nights I slept better than usual. I think it's because I'm not alone."

Mikasa tried to focus on the road's landscape while she brought a cold hand to her cheek. What was this all about?

"Sometimes I wake up at night anxious because of my dreams, but I listen to your breathing and it helps me calm down," Eren recognized, "Mikasa," he called her hesitantly, and she squinted at him holding her breath, "A couple of times I've heard you sobbing and stuttering things while you sleep…"

"I've woken you up?" she asked immediately, releasing her breath.

"The first time I heard you after I woke up by myself. The second time you were almost screaming," he explained, slightly embarrassed, "That was last night. I tried to calm you down by taking your hand and talking to you, but I ended… lying beside you and hugging you," the girl widened her eyes and Eren held up a hand, as if he was trying to avoid a slap that didn't come, "that was the only way you stopped crying. I fell asleep for a few hours… I guess. I returned to my bed as soon as I woke up because my feet were freezing. I wondered if you knew about this and if that's why you've been acting a bit weird with me, so I wanted to clear things up. Uhm… I'm sorry, I was just trying to help."

"No, I didn't k-know…" Mikasa shook her head, feeling her own heartbeats inside her ears, "I d-didn't know that y-you…"

Eren nodded slowly.

"Relax, I'm not going to do it again. I understand that it could seem inappropriate to you."

Seem inappropriate? Was it not something he considered inappropriate?

They didn't talk any further until they reached the hostel, where Mikasa said she would go for a walk and disappeared until nighttime.

Once she thought she recovered control over her emotions, she decided it was time to come back to the room. She found Eren sitting on the bed with his legs crossed, reading a newspaper. He was wearing a navy blue scarf, a sweater and wool socks. A small package of paper rested on the bedside table between their beds.

"That's for you," he announced, noting the place Mikasa's glance was heading. He left the newspaper aside, stood up and grabbed the package, "as a way of saying sorry."

She raised an eyebrow, receiving the gift. A pair of warm fingers brushed her skin and she tried not to think too much about it. She passed by and sat on her bed.

"Your hands are freezing," the boy pointed out.

"Thanks…" Mikasa mumbled after a few seconds of silence, ignoring his comment about her hands, "You have nothing to apologize about though."

"Of course I do, aren't you angry?" Eren sat near her.

"No. I just needed to walk for a while."

He shrugged at her response. A while has been three hours.

"Open it," he suggested as he realized she was holding the gift between the open palms of her pale hands, without doing anything else, "I hope you like it."

She carefully tore the paper. Inside of it was a hair pin in the shape of a flower. The base was of silver and the petals consisted of some pretty amethyst insets. It was almost like the one Mikasa had stolen on their first day in Trost, except for the superior quality and value.

"Eren…" she began, closing her hand around the cold metallic piece, "thanks, but…"

"It's nothing," he opened her feminine hand gently. It was still freezing. He took the ornament and placed it in her dark silky hair. He'd never done something like that. "It looks good," he concluded, contemplating his work with a smile that soon would disappear.

The youngest of the Ackerman had her glance fixed on a dead point. In a mechanical way, she touched her hair where she felt the weight of the pin and took it out, slowly, as tears slid through her cheeks.

Eren blinked, confused, wondering how it was that he fucked it up.

"Hey…"

"My mother used to put flowers in my hair when I was a child," she murmured, inexpressive. Except for the tears, there was no signal of pain on her demeanor. "In winter we played by making weird hairstyles for each other and we decorated them with this kind of pins," she moved the stone and metal flower swiftly between her fine fingers, "Seriously… I don't understand why you do this… Thanks, though."

Eren nodded unconsciously as he appreciated what Mikasa had just shared with him, for it could not be easy for her.

"I do it because that's what boyfriends do, don't they?" he replied suddenly with a teasing smile.

Mikasa rolled her eyes and wiped the tears with the back of her hand. She didn't feel inhibited as other times, maybe because of the amusing tone he had used. He must have remembered what she had said to him days ago. So annoying.

"Oh, sure, I almost forgot it," she said, trying to dim her own smile.

"In fact, I think you had forgotten it," Eren corrected her as he stretched carelessly on Mikasa's bed.

She raised her eyebrows slightly at what was said and the attitude of the boy, who was laying down on her bed and with his head resting on her pillow. She felt him behind her.

Seated and quiet in her place, she gave him a quick glance.

"What do you mean?"

"Your mattress is definitely more comfortable than mine," and the pillow smelled like Mikasa's hair.

"Eren…" she muttered, "I thought you were done with pretending we're a couple."

"Nah, at the end it wasn't as terrible as I thought," he confessed, settling himself like a cat that's about to take a nap, "bed swap?"

She felt tempted to tell him no, but remained silent. She moved to lay down on Eren's bed.

The mattresses were the same.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"It's good you're finally here," said Moblit, relieved at the sight of Hange. "The commander got impatient and asked me to see Frieda . He's already in the basement."

"Oh, that's fine," Hange replied, out of breath due to her haste. She had to look for her horse in the surroundings of the University. After moments of frustration, she ended up finding him near a pond that was at least two kilometers away from where she left him at the beginning. The animal swatted flies with its tail and drank water. When he saw his rider, he walked towards her and put his nose closer to her as a way of greeting, shaking his head.

Hange went down the stairs that reached the basement of her house, with Moblit coming right behind her. The place was lit and Erwin Smith was waiting beside a big rectangular container made of clay. His long fingers caressed his chin in a contemplative act.

"Erwin, I'm sorry for being late," Hange said as she took a look at the corpse inside the container, "What do you think about it?"

"Have you examined her teeth?" he asked in a calm voice, inquisitive blue eyes scrutinizing the dead girl.

"Yes and I doubt that a member of the Royal family would have such neglected teeth, much less Frieda."

The commander seemed to agree. There were photographs of Frieda where she appeared to be smiling, but there was nothing that showed her teeth in great detail.

"Otherwise," Hange pointed out a bunch of papers resting on her desk, "the height and general appearance come very close to the medical records that I've been checking, however they do not fit in a hundred percent. We have no certainty that this is, in effect, the body of Frieda Reiss."

"We need to speak with Eren Jaeger as soon as possible," Erwin said minutes later, after giving a quick look at the available information, "I'll speak with the Ackerman."

"Then we'll continue with the search?" asked Moblit, though with the determined glow in the commander's eyes he already knew the answer.

"Yes. Frieda Reiss is alive and we will not stop until we find her," the man stated.

He sat next to the desk and looked through the documents until he found the death certificates of the three younger children of the king and his wife. The three years old Florian, two years old Urklyn and Abel, a baby of only five months, didn't manage to survive an outbreak that affected a big portion of the population of the island. Back in the day, the king's kids and wife were in charge of the more prominent doctors of Paradis, though they were not able to save them.

Since his offspring were dying, the king fell into despair until he received news of a young doctor in Shiganshina district that was able to save a large number of residents. He urgently called for him to save fourteen year old Frieda and sixteen year old Dirk. Both older children were still alive. The king also needed the doctor to treat himself and his brother Uri, who had started showing signs of contagion.

The doctor in question, of course, had been Grisha Jaeger.

Grisha left a record of all the treatments and deaths that happened in the Royal family, including the deaths of the three kids and the King's wife, followed by the accidental death of Dirk, the suicide of Uri Reiss and, most recently, the alleged suicide of Frieda Reiss five years ago.

Thanks to the information granted by Jaeger to the Ackerman, the Legion found out that the Royal family was prone to develop a rare mental illness called 'dementia praecox'. There was evidence that the king's father and Uri Reiss thought to be under the influence of a God that sent them visions, messages and commands. As this occurred, the physical appearance and the social abilities of the affected deteriorated in a dramatic way.

From now on, the search for the princess would consist of the scarce asylums of the Kingdom since, curiously, Frieda had developed the same illness after the death of her uncle Uri.


N/A: I REALLY appreciate every review I got for the last chapter, seriously guys! I remember that in just one day I got like 10 and I was like ERMAHGERD, wtf is happening? Is this real life? The English speaking fandom is actually reacting? then I thought it was probably the effect of my (lol) super frustrated post on Tumblr about how people barely left comments/feedback on the English's updates and how that was discouraging me to the point I didn't felt like translating my story anymore, since I felt it wasn't worth the time and effort. I was extremely frustrated back then mostly because many people read it and a very, very small amount of them left a comment and blah blah. I hope I don't feel that way anymore because it sucks and I really want to complete this fic before Isayama destroys us all.

Thanks so much for reading and for your encouraging words. I hope you enjoyed this update!