With Trost finally secured and the eradication of the trapped Titans firmly underway, the focus of the military was once again directed towards Eren.
By now a contingent of MPs had arrived and was already making threats and demands for Eren's immediate execution. Fortunately, Commander Pixis intervened and informed the MPs that Eren would not be executed like some common criminal. He was the only reason humanity had retaken Trost, and as such, he at least deserved a fair trial to determine his fate.
After some back-and-forthing the MPs relented; and along with several scouts and garrison troops 'arrested' Eren's still unconscious body and bundled him off to a prison cell with the Hermina district within Wall Sina to await his trial.
Both Armin and Mikasa had been told by the MPs to await their court summons, as they were now considered key eyewitnesses of this 'crime'. Armin had been concentrating too hard on not rolling his eyes at the arrogant MP, that he had missed Commander Erwin having a private discussion with Pixis.
When the MP eventually dismissed them, he also missed the Commander's eyes flickering towards him then back to the smiling Pixis, with a pensive look on his face.
The sun was starting to set when the cannons finally stopped firing. It had taken several hours of constant bombardment to thin down the horde enough to allow the scouts to finish off the stragglers, but they had done it. Trost was now fully secured and titan free.
An extensive clean-up operation would be required before human habitation could resume; bodies and severed limbs needed to be identified and buried, fire-ravaged ruins needed to be pulled down and homes had to be rebuilt. But for now, with the last beams of light slowly sinking behind wall Rose, it was decided that the battle-weary soldiers needed to rest and recuperate before anything such an operation could begin.
With the influx of troops around Trost, the local barracks didn't have the capacity to houses everyone, so the military temporarily requisitioned hundreds of abandoned homes in and around the district so their exhausted forces would have somewhere to sleep for the night.
The 104th training corp (those that still lived or weren't stuck in a hospital bed anyway) had been assigned to a block of houses just inside Wall Rose, just in sight of the Trost outer gate.
There were so many missing faces, people he had once again befriended and once again lost; Nack, Franz, Tom, Ruth, and dozens more. All killed in a battle that should have never happened.
Not even the sight of additional survivors made him feel any better; Mina's petite body shook like a leaf in the wind, only Thomas's supportive arm around her shoulder stopped her from collapsing, and Hannah…
Hannah just looked broken; her posture was slumped and defeated, and the light had completely left her eyes; leaving them dull, hollow and unfocused. Armin hadn't heard her make a single sound in hours; her shallow breathing was the only sign she was still alive. The bowl of broth in front of her was untouched and long since gone cold, and he doubted she even knew it was in front of her.
He wondered if saving someone counts if they are left broken and dead inside?
No longer able to take the pain of seeing all his comrades traumatised faces, he left his own barely touched meal and retreated to his room.
It was modestly sized, larger than his old bedroom when he lived with his Grandpa, with two beds push against the side walls. From the general décor, and the occasional toys lying around, he guessed this room belonged to two girls; siblings or twins, likely no older than 12 years old. He hoped they made it out and were safe.
The adrenaline which had been continually coursing through his body had started to fade, and the tiredness and pain it had been pushing away came flooding back. He let out a pained groan as he gingerly sat on one of the beds.
Slowly he untied his combat boots and slipped them off, before taking his cadet jacket off and dropping it on the floor. He looked down and grimaced, an entire day of intense combat had taken its toll on his once-white undershirt.
Blood, tears, soot and sweat had left it filthy and stained. He may not be as obsessed with cleanliness like Captain Levi, but he decided this shirt was definitely beyond saving and would be binned as soon as possible.
He finally got a good look at his arms and frowned. His right hand and forearm were still wrapped in Mikasa's scarf, but the rest of his exposed skin was covered in scrapes, cuts and bruises. In his four years as the Colossal titan, he had nearly forgotten the constant small injuries they usually acquired in the field. He was almost expecting to see wisps of steam seeping from the cuts as they slowly stitched together.
He partially rolled up the soiled undershirt, to check if his torso was as bad as his arms. All he found was more cuts and more bruises, nothing too deep or severe but painful none the less. The occasional sharp stabs of pain when he breathed was a good indication he had bruised ribs, which could take weeks to heal fully.
He was fortunate he wasn't more seriously injured since he had been thrown around in a back alley by a titan. The fact nothing was broken was nothing short of miraculous.
Armin was tired, and in pain, so all he wanted to do was lay down, close his eyes and fall asleep. So, it really shouldn't have surprised him when someone knocked on the door, because apparently, his luck is just that bad. He let out a long sigh and told whoever it was to come in.
The door was pushed open, and two people quickly slipped inside.
Armin quickly rolled down his undershirt as Historia and Mikasa entered the room; not out of privacy or embarrassment (he had seen all his comrades in various stages of undress before, and they'd seen him. Privacy was a luxury the military didn't provide.) but simply because he didn't want more fuss about his injuries.
Mikasa was holding a small roll of medical bandages and a pair of scissors, "I found these in the bathroom," she stated as she sat next to him. "Pass me your hand."
He didn't argue as he held out his scarf covered arm and let Mikasa diligently go about rebandaging his wounded hand.
If Historia noticed the scarf, she didn't mention anything as she graceful sat on the spare bed, facing the duo.
"How did this happen, Armin? I thought we had more time." The secret royal looked drained and slightly disgruntled as she wrung her hands together.
He shook his head, "I don't know Historia, I just don't know. We must have done something to make Shadis take us to Trost."
"How can we change things if all it does it cause more problems?" she sounded frustrated, and Armin didn't blame her. What use were memories of the future, if they couldn't act on them?
"That just a risk we must be willing to take. We change what we can to prepare ourselves for the future, and perform damage control for things we can't. It's not a great plan, but it's better than doing nothing."
Historia uttered a curse under her breath, surprising Armin. He had never heard the seemingly angelic blond swear before.
"I really thought this would be easier… So, what do we do now?" she muttered.
"Our immediate concern has to be the trial. Even if everything goes the same as before, which we can't assume, and Eren is handed over to the survey corp, we might be stuck as cadets if we are not permitted early graduation. While that might give us some openings to deal with the traitors, it would also give them more chances to target Eren without risking their identities being revealed."
"So that's our best worst-case scenario. Eren in the scouts and us stuck as cadets? Can we work with that?"
"We will make it work." Having neatly rebound Armin's hand with a proper bandage, Mikasa had finally entered the conversation. "The biggest threats to Eren is his recklessness and the traitors. We can't do much about the first without constantly being at his side, but we can deal with Reiner and Bertholdt. So that what we should focus on, regardless of whether we graduate early or not."
She may have been blunter than Armin had been expecting, but she was right. They couldn't constantly babysit Eren and deal with the hidden threats. If that situation occurs, they will have to trust the scouts to keep Eren safe for them. He gave Mikasa a small smile and nodded his head in agreement. "We have to prioritise, and the long-term safety of Paradise must be paramount."
Historia looked back and forth at the pair; her curiosity peaked by their words. "You two seem… different. Something has changed between you two."
The duo looked at each other with confusion, wondering what Historia was getting at. When they looked back at the blond girl, Mikasa asked her "What do you mean?"
"Well, the last time I saw you two before all this happened, was before you went to Marley to retrieve Eren and Zeke. I know it's been a while since then, but it's still quite noticeable."
She ran a hand through her long hair, debating how to explain what she wanted to say politely.
"Well, I don't mean to be rude Mikasa, but you use to be quite… attached to Eren. In fact, both of you were, so it's surprising that you're not focusing on directly defending him. What changed?"
The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees, and a stony silence followed. It left Historia with a distinct feeling she had crossed some invisible line and broken a taboo.
"Historia don't. It doesn't…" Armin started to speak, wanting to avoid dredging up such painful memories.
"Eren killed children." Mikasa's voice was cold and hard, which sent a shiver up Historia's spine. "During the festival in Liberio, he transformed in the basement of a building and dived into the stands holding the Marleyan army officers, which sent rubble flying into the crowds. Crowds filled with helpless civilians from all over the world; men, women, children…" She looked away, the memories of those countless bodies, crushed by wreckage or by the stampede of panicking people desperate to flee, were dragged to the forefront of her mind.
She swallowed thickly before facing back towards the shocked Historia, "When we got back, Eren was arrested by the government and separated from us. We pleaded with General Zackery to let us talk to him, to try and find out why he did what he did, but he refused. He was assassinated less than a minute later with a bomb, by a faction known as the 'Yeagerists' who believed Eren was the true leader of the Eldian race and wanted him released immediately."
"Leadership fell to Commander Pixis, but before we could even figure out what to do next, we found out that Eren had escaped from prison. We travelled to Nicolo's restaurant to question some of the Marleyans and Volunteers that worked there, to try and figure out the Yeagerists intensions. When we arrived, we discovered the two kids who snuck aboard our airship and shot Sasha and uncovered the Yeagerists plan. They had spiked bottles of expensive wine with Zeke's spinal fluid and given it to most of our senior officers, who could now be turned into mindless titans whenever Zeke wanted."
"Before we could even fully comprehend the sheer scale of this disaster, Eren turned up…" Mikasa's hand clenched into a fist, as her voice tapered out. Without thinking, Armin placed his hand over hers, looking at her with concern. Slowly, Mikasa relented and interlaced her fingers with his and squeezed his hand.
"He told us to sit down and keep our hands on the table. We asked him what he was thinking; why he attacked Marley on his own, why he broke out of prison, and if Zeke and Yelena were manipulating him. He denied it and turned on Armin, telling him that the Colossal Titan was controlling him and that he was the one working for the enemy. Then he told us about my family bloodline and its history, that we were 'experiments' created to protect the Kings and Queens of the old Eldian empire."
"He told me the only reason I cared for him was because of this. That Ackerman's imprint on certain people who we class as 'hosts', and that forces us to defend them. I told him that wasn't true, that I cared about him because he saved me, not because of some 'bond' I didn't have a choice about. But then he told us about the headaches I experienced, that they were side effects of me subconsciously fighting this bond."
Armin took over, seeing the pain in her eyes intensifying with every word she spoke. "Because of this bond, Eren claimed Mikasa was no better than cattle, that she was a slave with no free will, and finally he told us he always hated her because of it. I was so angry at him; I couldn't believe he said such horrible things. I just saw red and punched him across the face."
He skipped over the bit about Mikasa reactively slamming him down on the table, he didn't hold it against her, and it didn't need to be brought up. "But I was never a fighter, so it wasn't long before Eren got the better of me, and we were arrested by his followers. We were taken to a prison cell in Shiganshina and the next thing we know we woke up back in bootcamp."
Historia's mouth was agape, and she looked utterly horrified. "My Gods… I'm so sorry; I didn't know."
"No, you wouldn't. It's not something we like to talk about for obvious reasons."
Historia was busy trying to digest everything she had just heard. She may have been the Queen, but living on her farm had kept her isolated from the rest of the walls. She had heard that Liberio had been attacked and that Eren had been jailed when they returned, but that was it. Everything else was news to her, and it horrified her.
The last few times she had seen Eren before her return, he had been kind and considerate. He stood up for her against the rest of the government and Hizuru when they wanted her to inherit the Beast Titan. He had refused Zeke's plan outright.
That was the Eren she knew, the Eren she had fought alongside with in the scouts. The man who would stand up for his friends no matter what.
Yet now she had been told that Eren had brutalised his closest friends, slaughtered civilians and led a coup using tainted wine and bombs. It made her feel physically sick.
"Wuh…" she tried to speak but found she couldn't get the words out.
Armin looked miserable when he spoke, "Why?". She nodded, not trusting her own voice.
"We don't know; it might have something to do with him holding multiple titans for so long. If what he told us about the influence of previous shifters was true, then for nearly nine years Eren had a constant war in his head between the Founding Titan, and the memories of the Karl Fritz who wanted all Eldians to be exterminated, and the Attack titan who wanted to free them."
"And between that endless mental battle, Zeke's manipulations and the stress of our situation, Eren may have lost control of his own mind." Historia breathed out, noticeably paling as she realised what Armin was suggesting.
"There must be some way to stop that?!" she practically shouted out.
"That's what we are doing now. By dealing with the traitors in the shadows and seizing their powers, we can relieve the pressure on Eren; it will give us a position of strength when negotiating with other powers and, between the three of us, we won't go into the future blind and naïve. We won't let Hizuru take advantage of us, and we won't let Marley build up a global coalition against us."
Historia abruptly stood up, more determined than ever before. "I'm going to find Ymir. I'm going to tell her that if we graduate that I'm joining the scouts, and I promise you I will convince her to join us. Together, all of us, we will save him."
"Thank you, Historia." Mikasa gave her a tiny smile, offsetting the pained look in her eyes at reliving such raw memories. Historia noticed she was still lightly squeezing Armin's hand as he rubbed his thumb in a small circle on the back of her hand. She smiled back at the girl before pulling the two of them into a quick hug; the two of them were so close, and she hoped that one day Ymir and she could be like that.
She had realised that in her last life she had taken Ymir for granted, not knowing what the tall, freckled girl had meant to her until she was gone. She wouldn't make the same mistake this time, and she openly reciprocated Ymir feelings rather than brushing them off with a small blush. She knew some people would never approve of their relationship; the church of the walls would hate it, they preached enough about it being 'unnatural and sinful', but most people wouldn't care.
With resources being stretched so thin after the fall of Wall Maria, they weren't going to complain if people like her and Ymir were together. After all, they couldn't have children, which meant there would be fewer people needing those limited supplies.
But ultimately, she didn't care what others thought. She loved Ymir, and nothing on this Earth would change that, not the titans, nor the church.
Armin watched as Historia left the room, leaving the two of them in comfortable silence. Subconsciously he continued to rub small circles on Mikasa's hand as they both thought about that day once more. It had been difficult and unpleasant, but deep down, he was glad they had told Historia; it had been a dark cloud hanging over them that seeped deep into their minds. He didn't know if talking about it would stop the frequent nightmares they both had about that conversation, but it made him feel a tiny bit better.
"I never thanked you for that." Mikasa uttered from his side, still staring at where Historia had been sitting.
"What for?" he asked, turning his head to look at her.
"For defending me."
"You don't need to thank me for that. It's the least I could have done for you."
She moved her spare hand to Armin's face and tucked a strand of blond hair behind his ear. "I like your long hair. Do you think you'll keep it?"
He smiled, glad to move on to a more comfortable conversation. "I think so. It makes me look younger, but it does keep my ears warm."
Mikasa let out a quick laugh, and Armin felt his heart soar. She had such a beautiful laugh, and it was so rare to hear it. He hoped someday she would laugh more often, and he hoped he would be there to hear it.
She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder, leaving them once more in companionable silence. There was no way of telling how long they stayed like that; the sun had long since set and only the slowly melting candle was the only way for them to tell. As the candlelight started to flicker and fade, footsteps could be heard outside the door as the other cadets started going to bed.
Mikasa pulled her head off his shoulder, looking towards the door separating them from the others. "I should go, we'll have to be up early tomorrow, and both of us need sleep."
For a brief, mad moment Armin wanted her to stay. This room had a spare bed, and they had slept in the same room many times before both as children and during their time in the military, but this was different. Those times had all been due to necessity; either for strength in numbers when they lived on the landfill after Wall Maria fell or during an operation where space was limited.
None of those issues were present now, so there was no reason for Mikasa to stay; she had her own room and bed to sleep in, and neither of them was in any immediate danger.
But he still didn't want to see her go.
Reluctantly he let go of Mikasa's hand so she could stand. He tried to ignore the sudden feeling of loss at the separation. "Oh, yeah, of course. Goodnight Mikasa."
"Goodnight Armin." She said as she slowly left the room.
When the door closed and he could no longer hear her retreating footsteps, he groaned and rested his head in his bandaged hand.
'What is happening to me?'
Several Hours Later
Mikasa laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. She could hear muffled sobbing and whimpering from the other cadets passing through the thin walls of her room. It was to be expected, of course, as many had lost friends or loved ones. They had seen them torn limb from limb, crushed like grapes in a titan's hand or simply swallowed whole, as they screamed for help.
Even she had been badly shaken after her first battle with the titans; she had woken up in the middle of the night, sweating and dry-heaving, having to fight back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. Now she would have to listen to the other cadets go through the same horrible nightmares again.
There was a sudden scream as someone had cried out a name, their voice thick with grief. It wasn't the first name yelled out this night, and it wouldn't be the last.
She rolled onto her side and tugged up her scarf, so it covered her mouth. She had quickly washed it after leaving Armin's room to clean off the dried blood, but it still smelt like him. It was… soothing.
She ignored the sounds of fear and grief and instead focused on that smell. It, like the boy himself, was comforting; it brought a semblance of tranquillity to her troubled mind. As the sounds started to fade into the background and were pushed out of her mind, Mikasa allowed her eyelids to droop and slowly drifted off to sleep.
For the first time in as long as she could remember, she had peaceful dreams. Dreams of a place with no war and no titans. A place where enemies didn't surround them on every front, and they could live free, where families could be rebuilt and raised anew.
A place which for the first time was filled with blond and blue, rather than brown and green.