Mikasa POV
The sun beat down on them as they rode atop their horses.
They rode in silence, not a single one of them saying a word as their horses kicked up dirt. There were over a dozen of them riding for the hideout. All of them still were in shock after the battle which had just taken place.
They had been halved by the casualties they suffered at the HQ, but in return, they had wiped out thirty of the government's men. Among them were MPs and Garrison soldiers.
But we would have lost if not for Eren.
She looked to Eren, who as usual, had his stoic mask on, never letting a single emotion seep through it.
Still, even with our survival, Erwin was captured, according to Eren at least. So we have lost our leader and any Scouts that were with him. And we've been branded as enemies of the government.
This cannot get much worse.
"Eren!" She shouted, breaking the silence which had followed the group since they left the ruins of HQ. "How much further is it?"
Eren looked back at her, his green eyes filled with mystery as he peered into her soul. He stared into her eyes for a moment longer before replying.
"We're nearly there," he replied as he turned back around, his voice calm and without emotion.
"How's Armin?" Eren asked after another moment of silence.
She looked back at the makeshift cart they had made for the journey to the hideout. It was filled with the dead and was trembling far too much for it to be safe, but it had somehow held itself together.
"Well, he's alive," she replied simply.
"I suppose that's all we can hope for at this point," Eren replied. "Huh, got here faster than I expected."
She looked forward and saw what seemed to be a medium-sized house coming into view. It was two stories tall and from a distance, it looked like a regular house.
This is the hideout? I thought it would be larger than this, after all, it looks like it can't hold more than ten people. And there are nearly double the number of people here.
"Eren, are you sure that the hideout can hold all of us?" She asked.
"It will hold us for a couple of days, but we'll need to find a more permanent solution until we've cleared the Scouts name," came the reply from Eren, who was still facing forward.
They once again fell into silence as they rode closer and closer to the hideout. As they neared it she was able to make out the form of an individual, who was standing outside the hideout.
They arrived at the hideout only a moment later, with the individual walking up to greet them.
"Eren," he greeted. "You made it back, and by the looks of it managed to save the newer Scouts."
"I managed to save half of them," Eren told the veteran Scout. "The rest were slaughtered by the MPs and Garrison soldiers. At least thirty were sent to kill them. It's a wonder they survived that long. And by the looks of it, they wouldn't have lasted much longer."
"What about the other Scouts?" Eld asked, his voice filled with concern. "Mike, Nanaba and the others, did they make it?"
"They were gunned down," she said, butting into the conversation. "They didn't have a second to react before each of them was shot."
Eld's eyes filled with tears as he listened to her. He probably knew some since their training. They were probably some of his few remaining friends.
"Thank you…" Eld finally said, tears shining in his eyes. "All of you better get inside. It's nearly dark and you're all probably hungry."
The Scouts merely mumbled in reply before they started moving towards the hideout's entrance.
She began to follow the rest of the Scouts but stopped upon hearing Eren's voice.
"How's Petra doing?"
"She's alive, but she won't be fighting again anytime soon," Eld replied, sadness seeping into his voice.
"I suppose it's all we can ask for at this point," Eren said with a sigh of relief as he looked around the now empty fields. Only three of them were now outside, with the rest inside the hideout.
"How much food do we have here?"
"For everyone here, two days. Ideally, there would only be five of six of us here, but we've got nowhere else for everyone else to go." Eld replied.
Both of the Scouts began walking inside as they spoke, leaving her behind without a second thought.
She watched with sadness as they made it to the door, and only then did Eren seem to remember she was there. He looked back at her.
"Mikasa, aren't you coming?" Eren called out from the door.
"Yeah, just give me a minute," she replied before turning to watch the sunset that had turned the sky a beautiful scarlet.
She heard the door close, but what surprised her was the sounds of footsteps that approached her from behind.
"Mikasa. What's wrong?" Eren asked her after walking next to her. She turned her head to look up at him, seeing his green eyes filled with curiosity.
"It's nothing," she replied, turning away.
"Mikasa, whatever it is, you can tell me. We're family after all."
She let out a small gasp in surprise. Family? That's what he thinks of me. Does he not know how I feel about him?
"Mikasa," Eren repeated, still looking down at her.
"Eren, what are you hiding?" She asked, the shock on his face only confirming what Armin and she feared most.
"Nothing," Eren replied, the lie was almost good enough to fool her, but she didn't let it dissuade her from asking again.
"You're lying," she said while turning to face him. "Tell me the truth, Eren."
"I'm not hiding anything. And there is nothing to hide. And if I am hiding something, please tell me what it is because I've forgotten."
"Eren. Please. Just tell me. Armin also thinks that you're hiding something. Everyone does. So for your own sake, for all our sake. Just tell us!" She cried, staring into his eyes.
"Mikasa. I swear to you, I'm not-" Eren tried to say, but she cut him off before he could retell his lies.
"Eren just stop!" She cried once more, thumping the bottom of her fist against his shoulder lightly. "Stop lying… And give me the truth."
Eren looked her in the eyes for a moment longer, but they showed little emotion and gave away nothing.
"Mikasa. I'm telling you the truth."
"You're not. We can see you're hiding something. But if this is all you're going to say then we're done here."
Eren didn't reply, instead, he looked away and at the sunset which was nearly finished, with the scarlet sky slowly returning to its original colour.
After a moment longer he walked away, neither daring to say another word as he left her outside in the cold.
Eren, why are you doing this to us? Why are you doing this to me?
Eren POV
He closed the door as quickly and as quietly as possible, not wanting to draw attention to himself.
If Armin and Mikasa realised that something is up, it's only a matter of time before Erwin and Levi find out too. And considering Erwin, it'll only be a matter of time before I'm replaced with someone more trustworthy.
He let out a sigh of irritation as he leaned against the door in the empty hallway. It seemed like everybody else was in other parts of the house, likely tending to the injured and eating.
He walked away from the door and to the kitchen, catching a glimpse of the lonely Mikasa outside.
As he came closer to the kitchen the voices of his fellow Scouts grew louder, and as he expected once he walked in there was half of a dozen of them running about in the room.
"Eld!" He called out through the noise, trying to catch the attention of the veteran Scout.
Eld surprisingly heard him through the noise and quickly walked over to him.
"Eren, what is it?"
"Has Captain Levi returned yet?" He asked, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible.
"No, he hasn't," Eld replied. "What do you need for?"
"I just need to ask him some questions, that's all," he replied quickly.
"Well last I saw of him he was still back in the city. He said he was going to check for survivors," Eld told him with guilt on his face. "We shouldn't have left without him."
"You don't need to worry," he responded. "He'll be fine. He's probably already on his way back."
"Yeah," Eld replied, hope filling his voice. "He's probably on his way back now."
"So, where are the injured?"
"They're upstairs. I'm assuming you'll be able to find them. Unless you need some help," Eld told mockingly.
"I think I'll be fine," he replied before walking away from the veteran Scout.
At least I was able to save him and Petra. Gunther and Oluo died due to my failings. I should have known Rod would make a move like this. With Bertholdt captured it was only a matter of time before he told them everything.
He made his way up the creaking stairs quickly, the groans of pain emanating from the rooms in front of him.
He walked into the first room and what he saw would have made anybody wince at the sight of the injured.
But not him. He had seen all this and worse in his past life.
He had caused more injuries and deaths than anybody could count.
His eyes darted around the room as he searched for Armin, but to no avail. But what he did see was the bodies of his comrades, who had and were dying in agony.
"Whom are you looking for?" a voice asked from behind him.
When he turned he saw Mina standing at the door, miraculously she had not been injured during the fighting even though she had thrown herself headfirst into it.
"I looking for Armin," he replied quickly.
"He's next door, though he may not be awake," Mina answered,
He nodded his thanks and then walked out of the room and into the one next door, ignoring her warning.
He spotted Armin quickly amongst the injured, his blonde hair like a torch in the night.
He felt a tinge of sadness for his friend who now lay before him. He had bandages all across the left side of his body with his blood soaking through dressings.
Dammit, Armin, you just had to get injured, didn't you?
"Armin, wake up."
Armin's eyes fluttered open at the sound of his voice, and upon seeing him they shot open and became filled with joy.
"Eren?" Armin said in surprise. "How did you get here?" Wait, where are we?"
"I arrived just after you were injured. I then finished off the MPs and took the Scouts here," he explained.
"So where is 'here'?"
"'Here' is a scout hideout north-west of the HQ."
Armin stayed silent for a moment after his reply, his eyes darting around the room as he searched for something. Or someone.
"Where's Mikasa?" Armin asked randomly and suddenly.
"I think she's still outside," he replied with a shrug. "She wanted to be alone."
"Why would she want to be alone?" Armin whispered to himself, but it was loud enough for him to hear.
"Eren, why-. What did you say to Mikasa?"
"I-," he started.
"Eren," Eld said suddenly, cutting him off mid-sentence. "Captain Levi has returned. He wants you in the kitchen immediately.
"All right, I'll be down there in a minute," he replied quickly, glad the Eld had come in at that time.
Eld gave a quick nod then left the room, leaving him and Armin in the room of the injured.
"Armin, I'll be back in a while. We can finish this later," he said while standing up.
"Yeah… Sure, we can finish this later," Armin replied with a hint of sadness in his voice.
He walked away from Armin quickly, sensing his old friend distrust which was now directed at him.
He walked away from the rooms filled with the injured and dead, their groans echoing through the house.
"So," Levi said upon looking at him. "You managed to get the Scouts here?"
"Yeah, I did," he replied as he walked further into the room. "Where were you?"
"I checked for survivors," Levi replied before taking a sip of tea. "Then I went found out which Scouts were arrested at the capital. From what I found out Erwin and most of the squad leaders were arrested while we were being attacked."
"As expected these attacks were coordinated, and it's only by luck that the 104th cadets were killed as well."
"What do you mean luck?" He asked while pulling out a chair to sit on. It was only the three of them in the room, everybody else had been removed on Levi's arrival.
"The MPs were meant to attack in sync with the other attacks. But due to the incompetence of the Garrison and MPs, they attacked far too late."
"I suppose that's what happens when you have incompetent leadership," he replied. "Anyway, you said most squad leaders were caught, but not all of them. So which ones escaped?"
"Hanji and a couple of subordinates," Levi replied before taking a sip of his bitter tea. "No one knows where they went. So we'll have to hope that they come here, which is unlikely considering everywhere else they could go."
"Well then, what do we do next Captain?" Eld asked slowly.
"Before you say anything Captain, I have a plan which may be usable. So before you start with your plan, at least listen to what I have to say."
"Go on," Levi prompted after taking a sip of tea.
"Well, after seeing many of my father's memories, I think I've figured out who the real power in the government is."
"Who is it then?" Eld asked impatiently.
He's probably bent on getting revenge. I don't blame him, I would have done the same thing last time.
"They call themselves the Reiss family. But if my father's memories are correct, then they are no regional lords. They could be the true royal family."
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As always I'm open to criticism and I'll be happy to take any suggestions on how to make my writing better.