"Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception."

~Carl Sagan


"Um... Actually, about that... I actually have a pretty good idea of who they may be," Hanji interrupted as she pulled a set of papers out of her cloak, "These are the files for two members of the 104th that I requested for after we began to suspect that Annie Leonhart was the female titan." This piqued my interest as Armin asked what we were all thinking.

"Who did you get files on?" he asked in confusion before his eyes widened, an expression that crossed his face when he had a bad suspicion.

"There were two cadets that are supposedly from the same town as Annie," Hanji stated plainly before saying the names of two men that I was not particularly surprised to hear, "Reiner Braun and Bertholdt Hoover." At that, Eren jumped up and, of course, started yelling about how ridiculous that was.

This led to a conversation between the Shiganshina trio and Hanji. I listened silently as I was shocked to hear Armin say that Reiner was very interested in knowing Eren's location during the Expedition where the female titan attacked. And after he, Armin, and Jean were attacked, Reiner had apparently barely escaped the female titan. Afterwards, the female titan looked at her hand and then ran in the direction of the position Armin had guessed Eren was in. When this was explained, I felt my blood began to boil.

"So my friends died because you couldn't tell when someone was acting that fucking suspicious?!" I demanded angrily, "You heard Reiner ask me countless times about the inner workings of the Scouts during training. Do you ever recall me telling him anything? No! Because that shit was suspicious as fuck!"

Was I being irrational and emotional? Probably. Did I care at the moment? Hell no! So much had happened in the past few months, and I was tired. Tired of the grief. Tired of the pain. Tired of the betrayals that seemed to be coming from every inch of the goddamn Walls! The squad that I had worked through so much shit with, the people who I had grown to love and respect and had grown to respect me despite my past, were gone in the blink of an eye. And I never even got to thank them for everything or to say goodbye. Not to mention, I had to be reminded of one of my worst experiences from my time in the Underground... I was on the verge of losing it.

A warm, calloused hand grasped onto mine, intertwining our fingers and giving my hand a firm squeeze, surprising me and causing me to snap out of my funk as I looked to my right to see Levi staring at me with a hard expression, but concern showing in his steely eyes. I pursed my lips as I tried to calm myself down or at least fake that I was okay. As hard as this all had been on me, Levi had had it just as bad if not worse. It wasn't fair for me to burden him more with a mental breakdown right now.

"Hey, Emmryn! What the hell gives you the right to act like such a bitch to Armin?!" Eren snapped at me earning a harsh glare from me, "At least he was there! You were too busy getting taken down by some untrained scumbags! You may have went through some tough shit, but the get the hell over it! It doesn't give you a right to act like such a distrusting bitch!" At that, I felt Levi's grip on my hand tighten in a way that was almost painful, letting me know that he was nearing his limit with his patience. I decided to speak up before this got any worse. If Levi got involved, this situation would only deteriorate further.

"Eren, call me what you'd like. Say what you'd like about my past. I really no longer give a shit, but me being a distrusting bitch as you say, isn't going to hurt anyone. How many more of our comrades have to die before you're willing to risk hurting someone's feelings to save them? Or our lives that expendable to you?" I responded, my voice even, despite the fury that my words held, "I've always respected you, Eren, from the moment we met in the Training Corps. Sure, I thought your hard on for killing titans was a little odd, but I could see where you were coming from. I want to be able to put my life on the line to protect you, but I won't be able to do that unless I know that you are aware of just how much is resting on your shoulders."

At that, the Shiganshina Trio stared at me in a stunned silence. I had never talked that much around them at the Training Corps, so they were rightfully shocked that I said so much at once. Armin was the first to speak.

"Emmryn, I'm sorry for the loss you faced on that expedition and my role in it, but you need to follow your own advice and control your emotions on all of this. Snapping at Eren or Pastor Nick is not going to bring anyone back or fix anything," he stated, his stare intense and unwavering for a moment, but as the silence grew, his expression started to get more nervous. I saw Eren staring at Armin in shock, and Mikasa glaring at me. I couldn't help but let out a small puff of a laugh causing them all to look at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was. Hell if I knew at this point.

"I was wrong about you, Armin. You really do have a pair big enough to talk back to me when I'm feeling a bit unstable and carrying a gun," at that I saw him gulp, but I gave him a reassuring smile, "I respect that a lot, and you had a great point. I'll keep that in mind from here on out. The Scouts only have room for one overzealous hothead, and I do believe that that position is already taken, eh Eren?" At that Eren looked at me distrustingly before letting out an irritated sigh before smirking at me.

"Alright. Fine. I'll let it go this time, but I still think you all are crazy for suspecting Bertholdt and Reiner," he stated bluntly, before I shrugged and leaned against Levi's shoulder briefly closing my eyes and breathing in his familiar smell of tea and soap.

"Only time will tell Eren. If I'm being honest, I can only hope that you're right this time."

Song: Control by Halsey