Quick note! From here on the narration is going to be changing from past tense to present tense, just as a heads up so that it doesn't confuse any readers. Reason? I could say that it's story wise, and it can be interpreted as such, but really I just prefer to write in present tense, the last chapter was me trying it out and I find that I honestly prefer just writing in present tense much more. That's all! Enjoy the read!
Chapter 2: More Questions Than Answers
Eren is sat at the door down to the dungeon. His hands clasped together as he stares down at the floor. Trying to remember what happened. He remembers launching at the titan and vaguely being yelled at by corporal Levi, but beyond that his memory goes blank. He woke up in a spare room, Petra was there and explained that Mikasa and Armin had to leave to go about their proper duties to keep questions from going around. She then lead him down here to wait for corporal Levi and commander Erwin who are, by what he's been told, interrogating the shifter. Petra left after that, having to meet up with the rest of squad Levi to take care of other issues. Leaving him alone here now.
His eyes focused hard on the floor beneath him, but not actually seeing it. Getting lost in his own head, Eren is fruitlessly trying to remember what happened to result in him getting thrashed so badly that he hardly even remembers shifting. Petra didn't say anything when he asked in regards to what happened. Just that he needs to talk to the commander. Thus leaving Eren with a turned stomach and anxiety in his heart. Worry about what's going to happen to him consuming his thoughts.
It is afternoon by this point, meaning Eren is missing dinner now from his recovery the whole day. Time passing slower and slower the longer he's supposed to wait for his superiors. The spare time leaves him plenty of room to occupy his thoughts with self doubt and worry about what this means. He feels that he should be excited, another titan shifter should mean that we have another resource, perhaps one that understands titans better than he does. Yet in spite of that he worries about what the intentions of this shifter are. It didn't attack anybody, everyone was alive in spite of it evidently taking him out when he attacked it. He imagines what it could have done to get inside the walls, rather if it got in here in titan form or in a human form. Yet if it wanted to spy on or infiltrate Humanity why would it turn back into a titan in the middle of nowhere right outside of the scout headquarters? Thoughts like this and more swirl around the boy's head. His mind racing to try and put things together on his own.
The door down to the basement clicks and begins to open. Eren's eyes shoot up and he's already standing at the ready. Though what comes out is neither corporal Levi or commander Erwin. "Mikasa?" He asks in confusion as a raven haired girl with the same silver eyes as Mikasa's walks out from the dungeon.
"Wrong." Levi says with boredom as he steps out from behind the girl and leans his back against the wall next to the door. Eren expecting him to glare at Eren or reprimand him for transforming without permission, but Levi's eyes remain on the girl who looks like a copy of Mikasa, scar and all. Looking past that now though Eren sees that she's not wearing the scout uniform or even the red scarf. Things that he feels he should have noticed immediately and mentally scolds himself for not noticing.
"Eren." Commander Erwin's voice voice snaps Eren's attention off the girl and to the commander as he stands in the doorway, pushing the girl aside as she looks around the hall curiously. "I understand you transformed without permission. This one time it will be overlooked as there was no way anyone could know how to react to the situation. Even the Special Operations squad froze up, and I understand that it was in reaction to it stirring at the sudden appearance of your friends. However, this is your one off, don't let it happen again." The stern and commanding voice of the commander makes Eren wince a bit in fear of the man.
Without hesitation Eren salutes the commander and with a steadfast voice states, "Yes, sir!" earning him a nod from the commander.
The girl glances at Eren as he salutes and speaks, raising an eyebrow at the boy before looking at commander Erwin. Eren spares a glance at her before looking at commander Erwin, "Sir, if I may ask a question?" He asks.
"You may." Erwin responds simply.
"Is this the shifter that we met earlier today?" Eren asks a bit slowly, feeling that it's obvious but not wanting to believe it. The idea alone of coming across another titan shifter out in the open is one oddity enough for anybody, but her looking exactly like Mikasa, scar as well, is just outright outlandish.
"Is that not obvious enough Yaeger?" Levi responds with a question of his own. Causing the flame spirited boy to look down, a bit ashamed of his choice of question.
"Yes, and to answer further questions I'm going to tell you as much as we ourselves know. She can manipulate her body by our understanding, section commander Hange suspects that it's an advanced form of the natural titan regeneration, as though she controls how her body regenerates. By what Armin Arlert said on the journey back here, Hange believes that this also means she can control what she looks like. Along with this, as I'm sure you don't remember, she was able to turn her forearm into a blade of bone and sliced your titan in half." Eren feels a bit of an overload of information but isn't given any time to react, as though Erwin is listing off a list of things without realizing the weight of their meaning on Eren. "When we brought her in, she woke not long after being detained in your holding cell, as well as being chained with cuffs and restraints, even a rope around her mouth so she couldn't bite her tongue to transform. Yet in spite of this, before we could even begin asking questions, her hands slipped from the restraints as if they were too big for her, and proceeded to take off the rope."
"Wha-" Eren tries to interject to speak but a glare from Levi shuts him down swiftly.
"When we tried to ask her questions she simply tilted her head in confusion. For the first few hours there was nothing but questions asked and no response given beyond confusion. When we brought section commander Hange to lean in on the situation, she provided a simple, yet all together clear reasoning. Another part of Armin Arlert's report mentioned how the shifter did not emerge from the titan form normally, but instead ripped herself out after staring at your emergence in what Arlert and Hange described as: confusion. This has lead us to the conclusion that this girl is unaware, not only of being a titan shifter, but of being human all together."
Eren is dazed, rather thoroughly. His eyes wide and mouth agape in shock, confusion, a whole array of emotions that he can't hold back in spite of the commander's presence. "Close your mouth and wipe that look off your face Yaeger before I knock you out myself this time." Levi orders and in a snap, Eren is blank faced and at attention.
"Now, it is unclear as to how much of a threat she is, but considering this knowledge, her behavior, and the summations of both section commander Hange and cadet Arlert, we are taking a chance at observing her, and we will attempt to teach her to speak. The knowledge of her being a shifter will remain a secret between all who were there at the event and myself. She will be made a part of the scouts and given an alias for the time being. We'll also cover up her inability to speak by saying she simply lost her voice. Hopefully in time we can figure out something from her."
"Commander, what about her identical resemblance to Mikasa?" Eren points out a bit slowly, trying to choose his words carefully so that Levi doesn't threaten him again.
The commander looks over at the girl silently for a moment. "We're unsure if she can change her appearance-" at the words change appearance, the girl perks up, looking at commander Erwin, causing him to stop as all three of them watch her hair grow in length, her eyes change from silver to green, and the scar fade. As well as this the bone structure of her face seems to change slightly, not extremely, but it no longer looks exactly like Mikasa, farther from it. Erwin's eyes are wide, even Levi's, and of course so are Eren's. They all stare at the girl in shock, and she simply tilts her head, confused like she was before.
"I don't know what you did to make her do that Erwin, but don't do it in public." Levi says as he shakes off his shock in moments.
"Quite right. Eren." Eren snaps to attention again. "She will be joining the Special Operations squad along with you. It's the best way to keep our eyes on her, as such, you're to keep an eye on her just as much as Levi keeps his eyes on you. She'll be in the cell next to yours, so you're our first line of defense against her if something happens." The girl looks at Eren, causing him to stiffen a bit. Questions on why and how going through his head but he just nods.
"If you have anything to report at any time that I'm not present then tell me." Levi orders. Pushing off the wall and starting down the hall. "If that's all Erwin let the brat get the girl accommodated with her new arrangements."
Erwin nods before looking at Eren one last time. "If she says anything let us know as soon as you can." He drops his voice to a whisper. "I doubt that she's as unfamiliar with English as she lets on." Eren nods slowly, and Erwin departs. Leaving the two shifters alone outside of the dungeon.
Eren looks at the girl, who's been looking at him ever since Erwin said he will be the first line of defense against her if she does something. He doesn't say anything, finding that considering what the commander said, it would be pointless to try talking with her. He just goes to the door and opens it, pointing for her to follow, which she surprisingly does without resistance.
Eren leads her to a cell next to his, the dungeon only being lit by torches just like this morning when he left. He opens the door into the cell and points inside. She tilts her head now like she doesn't understand. "You understood earlier, now what?" He asks pointedly, though he doesn't really expect an answer.
Then she points to his cell, then at herself. Eren looks at her, confused, before realizing that the commander said that they locked her inside his cell. She must take that as his cell is her cell. He shakes his head vigorously 'no' and points to her then into the cell again. She shakes her head and points to his cell. Eren is red in the face with frustration now, and grabs her shoulder to try and push her in. Before he can register what's even happening his wrist is locked in a death grip and twisted furiously hard. "Agh!" He shouts in pain, when he lets out that sound though the grip is lost and the girl steps back a bit.
Eren looks at her in confusion as he rubs his wrist. He'd be furious right now if not for the sudden stop and back off. She bows her head as though apologizing. She definitely isn't clueless, but if that's the case why isn't she talking? Eren doubts that they would let her off without knowing for a fact that she can't speak. He also highly doubts that they neglected to simply ask 'Do you understand me' so he's not even going to bother trying that. "This is where you'll be staying, that cell that you were in is mine." He says slowly, hoping that she'll get the message, as he doesn't know how else to get it across, pointing doesn't work, and force likely will result in him getting forced to the ground instead. She points into the room, then at herself. Eren nods slowly. She nods slowly. There's a pause. Moments go by of total silence. Eren quickly comes to the conclusion she still doesn't get what he's trying to communicate.
When Eren is about to try speaking again she walks into the cell, and sits down on the floor on her knees, looking up at Eren then tilting her head. He just stands there for a moment, unsure what to do. She seems to get that this cell is where she's supposed to be now, but beyond that for all he knows she could think that she's supposed to sleep on the floor. He considers guiding her into bed for a moment before shaking the thought, 'Why should I try comforting her? For all I know she could hate humanity?' goes through his head. He turns and walks towards his cell. He doesn't hear anything from her. When he gets to his cell he stops, growing irritated at the lack of movement from her. Then he turns and walks back to her cell, mostly against his will, and walks to her bed and points at her then at the bed.
At that moment the door to the dungeon opens and Armin and Mikasa step down the stairs to see Eren frozen in place as he points vigorously at the shifter girl's bed with her on her knees in the middle of the cell. Everyone is frozen in place except for the shifter girl, who looks back and forth between Eren and his friends. Seemingly oblivious to the awkward situation around her.
"Should we-" Armin starts only to be interrupted by Eren.
"Not a word! I was just trying to get her to lie in bed instead of on the floor!" Eren heatedly defends himself before any sort of accusations even fly. Mikasa simply deadpanning next to Armin. "What're you two doing here anyways?" Eren says a bit more calmly, though his face is on fire from being caught in such an unsavory situation like this.
"Commander Erwin sent for us to bring dinner down to you guys. Seeing as you missed it." Armin explains as he holds up a small basket of bread that Eren is only just now realizing exists.
"Are you alright, Eren?" Mikasa asks, seeming to push past the awkward entrance as she walks over to him in the cell and checks him over.
"Really? I'm fine! No need to baby me!" Eren groans exasperatedly. His eyes rolling as she checks him. He winces when she takes his wrist that had just been twisted unpleasantly by the shifter girl earlier. She lifts it up and glares at the slight mark that was still there. Eren hardly even realize that she gripped it that tight, having been too focused on the pain of having his arm twisted at such an unpleasant angle over the more tolerable death grip on his wrist.
"Did she do this?" Mikasa asks deathly cold, Armin tensing up and he has the safety of the cell bars to keep him away. The girl stands up and walks around to the other side of the bed from where the two are and sits on it on her knees. Looking up at Eren as if curious if she was doing what he wanted now. Eren doesn't get a chance to respond before having to hold Mikasa back from lunging at the girl, who simply looks at her curiously as her arms are outstretched to go for her throat, only being held back by Eren hugging her from behind and digging his feet into the ground to keep her from maiming the shifter girl.
Armin slowly makes his way into the cell, being sure to keep his distance as Eren repeatedly tells Mikasa to 'Calm down!' Armin kneels next to the bed, and the girl turns to look at him curiously as he sets the basket with bread in it next to her. Not saying anything as she looks from him, to it, then back to him. An eyebrow raised slightly as though she's waiting for him to do something, but he does nothing. Simply knelt next to the bed watching what she does. After a moment of them watching each other, the girl reaches over and takes a loaf of bread and rips off a bite sized piece of it before placing it in her mouth. She looks from the bread in hand to Armin, tilting her head to see what his reaction is now. He smiles a bit, and she mimics him.
At this point Eren and Mikasa have frozen, watching the two carefully. Neither Armin or the shifter notice them as the girl continues to pick off small pieces and eat them. It's dreadfully slow and quickly Eren starts to lose the patience for it. He releases Mikasa, who stands straight again, as Eren walks over, takes another loaf, earning the immediate attention of the girl as she watches him bite into the loaf without picking at it. Armin watches Eren do this, then the girl, studying what she does in silence. Mikasa, meanwhile, folds her arms and glares at the girl, not that the girl even notices or, for all she knows, cares. The girl looks down at her bread that's hardly had a fourth taken out of it from her slow picking. She then mimics Eren and bites into it, tearing off a chunk and eating it like that, her eyes going up to Eren, looking for a reaction that he doesn't give. Her eyes downcast for a moment before looking at Armin, seeming to want some kind of reaction. Armin offers her a smile, which results in her mimicking his smile once more.
Mikasa walks out of the cell and grabs a chair before coming back in, setting it down, and then taking a seat. "Eren?" Mikasa's voice sounds out, and the shifter looks over to the raven haired girl, who's eyes are wide.
"What?" Eren asks her.
Armin taps his leg, drawing his attention before pointing to the girl as she resumes her previous method of picking at her bread slowly.
"What about her Armin? If you're waiting for her to say hi, I wouldn't hold my breath." He says dismissively with a wave of his hand.
"Eren. That wasn't Mikasa who said your name." Armin explains slowly, causing the short tempered shifter to glare in confusion, before looking at the girl again. Her small pickings not even halfway through the bread still.
"Wha-" Eren starts in confusion before being cut off by the girl, using Mikasa's voice again.
"Alright?" Her voice is softer now, not looking at them as she mimics Mikasa's words from before. Mikasa has a face of disgust, finding this to be another weird addition to not only stealing her face earlier today, but now her voice. Armin looks at her, enamored with curiosity, seemingly enraptured in the oddity before him. Eren just looks outright shocked, eyes wide and jaw wide open. After a moment the girl looks up at them, confused again, and tilting her head curiously.
"Do you speak by mimicking what you hear?" A moment of silence as the girl looks at Armin. After a moment she shakes her head no.
"Then why are you speaking now? With Mikasa's voice? Rather than using your own earlier when you were being questioned?" Eren asks, a bit of an edge in his words as he interrogates the girl himself now. Which in response she seems to shrink back a bit. She shakes her head no.
"She couldn't?" Armin suggests, which earns a nod from her. "You understand yes or no questions then?" She doesn't do anything this time..
"I'm going to report this to corporal Levi, they told me to report if she says anything or something important happens." Eren says as he gets up to leave.
"Wait!" armin pleads, causing both Eren and Mikasa to look at him incredulously. "Don't. Before you ask why, let me ask what you're going to say? That she actually does understand us but just wasn't responding to them? That she couldn't talk before but now she repeated a couple words she heard with someone else's voice? We don't know what she means, or even if she understands how she's responding right now."
Eren pauses, considering these words. It's not wrong, and Armin rarely ever is, but it makes no sense to him what she does understand then doesn't understand, there's no pattern near as he can tell. So maybe she is just responding randomly? "What are you saying Armin? We keep this a secret or something? If we keep her talking a secret then not only will we be in trouble but they'll likely do something to her."
"I doubt that they'll do anything that risks Humanity's two greatest assets. Sure it's a gamble but from what I can gather from the commander, he's the type who will risk everything on a worthwhile bet. We saw this in his gamble to have Levi beat you in the court." Mikasa tenses at the mention of this event, glaring at the ground in thought. "For now all we know is that she's mimicking words that she's heard. If we could teach her, maybe then she'll be able to communicate. She seems like the fast learner type, we might be able to get something out of her if we try." Armin looks at his friends pleadingly.
Eren sighs, taking in Armin's words. Sure, there is no risk really in not telling them, as if she does end up talking in front of the corporal or commander then they can play it off as the first time they've heard her speak. Eren shakes his head, not wanting to go with this plan, but his trust in his friend compels him to agree. "Fine Armin. If you think you can make progress with her, then go for it." Armin nods at this. Turning to the girl with a smile, though the girl is no longer looking at them, picking at her bread once more, sitting against the wall with her knees pulled up to her chest.
"Hello." Armin says calmly as he sits on the edge of the bed, looking at her. When he speaks her eyes shoot up and look directly into his. There's silence for a moment.
Eren's about to say something when the girl opens her mouth, no longer sounding like Mikasa, the voice softer and more feminine as she repeats back to Armin, "Hello." Armin's smile is wide as he makes progress already. Eren's a bit shocked, considering the combined effort of corporal Levi, commander Erwin and section commander Hange failed to even get one noise from her, and here Armin is getting her to speak in less than an hour of time. Neither of the blonde boy's friends are surprised though, Armin is a genius, sure he didn't make it into the top ten, but he's still one of the best thinkers and strategists they've ever met, if not the best.
Armin slowly raises a finger to point at himself, then speaking in a slow and gentle voice. "My name, is Armin."
The girl seems to process this for a moment. Once again silence reigns in the dungeon before the same voice she used earlier repeats back: "Armin." She speaks as she points at him. He nods with a smile.
Now he points to Eren and Mikasa as he says, "Their names are Eren, and Mikasa." Then he looks at her and watches her process again.
She's quick to repeat "Eren," as she points at him, presumably because she's already said it, then she takes a few seconds of pointing at Mikasa to repeat "Mikasa."
Mikasa rolls her eyes a bit, not really interested in watching Armin play teacher with the shifter girl. Eren on the other hand watches with interest. He wasn't sure earlier, but with Armin's progress already he's more confident now. He imagines their superiors came off as threatening to the girl, she likely closed up and refused to even attempt communication. He himself could certainly relate to that sentiment.
Armin considers for a moment, wondering if he should attempt something along the lines of information recovery, something simple to do with what he's already exposed her to. He then points to her, deciding to give it a shot. "What is your name?" He raises his eyebrows in a curious way, tilting his head a bit like she does to make it clear that it's a question to her regarding her name.
Silence once more. This time much longer than the previous silences. They all watch her carefully as her eyes seems to practically gloss over, as though she's not even looking at or even in the room anymore. Armin holds out his free hand to signal to the other two to keep quiet, which they were planning to do anyways. The silence stretching longer and longer. It feels like ages go by when in reality it's only a few minutes.
Then she seems to come back to her senses, her eyes alight again as she speaks. "Armin." She says while pointing at Armin. Mikasa drops her head in utter disappointment, Armin lets out a small sigh, and Eren slaps his palm into his face and keeps it there.
"Maybe too ambitious with that. I'll try again in a bit maybe." Armin sheepishly admits before returning to speaking simple words and sentences then having her repeat them. Mikasa and Eren stay by, watching and listening in silence.
"Commander Erwin?" Hange's voice sounds at the door to Erwin's office. His eyes looking up to see her standing there with an eyebrow raised as she speaks once she has his attention. "May I ask something?"
Erwin sits up straight as he gestures for Hange to take a seat. "Of course. If it pertains to the girl then I'm all ears."
Hange sits down in the chair before his desk. Leaning forward to look the commander in the eyes as she asks curiously "Why is it that you're leaving the shifter girl with Eren? I can understand keeping the two potential threats together under Levi, however wouldn't it reduce our risks if we kept them separated?" Hange's eyes dance over the commander. Trying to get a read on him. The titan obsessed scout isn't opposed to the idea at all, but she wants to understand what Erwin's plan is.
"Humans are social creatures aren't they?" Erwin answers with a question, watching her perk up a bit as he continues. "Titans may not communicate but they're at their best when in herds. That being said, I'm sure titan shifters aren't much different. They're social like humans and are at their best when around their kin. My idea behind this is that being exposed to Eren as one of her own will help her to come forward. I doubt that she's incapable of speech, considering her ability to manipulate her body as we discussed, I imagine her regenerative capabilities as well are far superior to Eren's, as such, she would recover quickly if her voice was damaged. That means that she was like a wild animal surrounded by threatening creatures that were not the same as her. Of course she wouldn't socialize with us, she also wouldn't make a move that would threaten her own life further. In the end, our best chance of making use of her is to get her to trust us, and to do that we need her to trust Eren, the only one of her kind we have."
Hange is quick to process what Erwin says as he says it. Quickly she responds with: "Do you believe she might be able to track other shifters? If she does calm to the point of being comfortable with Eren will that mean she can detect or sniff out other shifters?"
"That's a hopeful idea, and I'd like for that to be the case. However, we can't place our bets on that just yet. There might be a chance that it could work like that, but it's just as likely that it won't."
"You've placed your bets on shakier ground than fifty fifty chances before Erwin." She says with a sly grin. Erwin admittedly lets out an amused grunt accompanied with a grin of his own.
"Perhaps, but I don't see cause for us to bet on such a fortuitous gift of luck. For now our bet is focused on her warming up to Eren."
This is when Hange goes from her calm and cunning personality, to her crazed titan fanatic alter ego. "Do you think if they mated they would produce a shifter? I've been thinking about it and it could be some kind of mutation that occurred in some children! Meaning that if two shifters were to have a chi-"
"Enough. I'm not discussing this Hange, I have some work to do." Erwin interrupts before she can go full on explanation and theory on him.
"You mean for the 57th expedition?" She asks as she calms once more.
"We need to delay the expedition." He says calmly, causing Hange to look at him in shock. "This new discovery needs our full attention, the 57th expedition needs to wait for us to be ready with this new asset in tow. As such I have to do some work in order to prevent the government from thinking we're trying to keep Yaeger to ourselves."
Hange hums a response as she stands. "Yes sir." She nods her head in goodbye to him, and he does the same to her. Returning his gaze to the papers before him once she's left.
"Armin." The shifter girl says once again, after the third attempt to get her to say her name. Armin shaking his head now with his head hanging low, meanwhile Eren and Mikasa groan as they hang their own heads in defeat.
"No." Armin says a bit harshly, causing the girl to slink back a bit. "Your name, not my name, your name." Armin points to her then himself, then back to her as he speaks. His friends stiffen a bit when he speaks a bit angrily to the girl, not expecting such a tone from their gentle blonde friend.
There's a long silence. Far longer than any of the times before when she was asked for her name. The girl doesn't look up at any of them. Her gaze downcast and separated now. Armin freezes up, worried that he might have just closed off their only chance of getting her to warm up to them, to understand them. He opens his mouth, ready to comfort her when "Bell, uh." comes from the girl's lips. Her gaze still downcast. This time all three of the friends are wide eyed in shock. "Bella." The girl says, putting her own name together slowly. "Isabella." The girl says with a bit of confidence as she looks up at Armin. A small smile on her face, as though she's hopeful that that was the correct answer like her earlier answers to his pointing at himself and his friends.
"Nice to meet you Isabella." Armin says slowly. Smiling at her in reassurance. Though the girl doesn't look at Armin for long, before gazing over at Eren. Seeming to want a reaction from him. Eren sees her looking at him curiously, yet shrugs it off. He spares her a glance, yet he's not sure how to react. Not really considering that such a reaction alone might well shut her down. Armin on the other hand is aware, and whisper shouts at him with a hand to the side of his mouth walling it off from Isabella. "Smile for her! She needs the positive reinforcement!" Armin orders, Eren is a bit stung by the edge to his hushed voice, as though the sound of his words could stab him if he doesn't listen.
After a moment of processing he sighs a bit, not liking being forced to smile in such a way, one might think that Eren just never likes smiling to begin with how he behaves as is. He turns to look at the girl and gives a small smile and a nod. It's half assed at best, even Mikasa pinches the bridge of her nose as though even she expected a bit more effort. Armin's neck goes limp and lets his head drop in disappointment, hanging down. In spite of the two other's reactions however, Isabella smiles giddily and bounces a little in place. Eren quickly looks away when she does. Confusion corrupting his thoughts on why she'd be so happy to see his reaction.
"It's because you're a shifter too, Eren." Mikasa comments, having seen his face and quickly come to the conclusion.
Armin nods along. "She knows you're a shifter like her. Maybe because she recognizes you from when you transformed, or by sensing it right now, I'm not sure. What I do know though Eren is that she's more likely to take after you. I think that's why the commander wanted you to be around her. Be it to gain her trust through you or expose her true intentions to you. I'm not sure exactly what he might have planned. She relates to you more than she relates to anyone else because she is like you."
Eren doesn't have a shocked look like he has been having. Though in his head he certainly wants to make it. However, he does understand what Armin's saying. In the back of his mind he was aware of the connection, even possibly knew that was the reason the commander wanted him to stay with her. Though hearing Armin say it aloud to him, brought the knowledge to the surface.
Isabella looks between all three of them, going from face to face. She lifts a hand and twirls her hair around her finger. Feeling it against her skin, seeming to be thinking to herself. Mikasa still has an air of caution around her when it comes to the girl, mostly due to her hurting Eren the way she did, but for now she'll give her the benefit of the doubt. "We should get going Armin. It's late." She says as she stands up. Walking out of the cell. Armin quickly follows after her.
"We'll see you guys tomorrow! Try to get acquainted with her a bit Eren. It'll help!" Armin calls back as he follows Mikasa out the door. Eren waves to them as they leave, closing the door behind them.
Eren stands there in the middle of the cell in thought for a moment before looking over at Isabella. Her eyes on him, her lips curving up into a smile when he looks at her. He spares her another smile, not as forced but still uncomfortable for him. Not because he doesn't want to smile, but more along the lines of he's hardly done it for such a long time the feeling is weird to him.
He's about to walk out of the cell when a thought occurs to him. He turns to look at her, considering his wording, and how he wants to project it. She's looking at him curiously, smiling faintly at the fellow shifter. "Do you, uhm, have anything you'd like to say, maybe?" Eren winds up saying something far more unsure of himself than he had intended to sound.
She tilts her head at him as he fumbles his words a bit and seems to actually giggle at this. She's silent a moment, similar to how she was when trying to say her name, but then words come out of her mouth once more. "Like you." She says with her soft and gentle voice. Over the time of her speaking he swears that it's gotten softer and more feminine. Though that's hardly what occupies his mind. He's now struggling to understand what she means by like. 'Like as in friend? No she couldn't mean that, she must mean it as in how we're both titan shifters. She's only heard the word like be in the context of Armin saying that we're both titan shifters after all. She couldn't possibly mean it any other way than that.'
He nods a bit, and offers her another smile, once again making him feel off. Then he leaves and goes to his cell. Isabella tilts her head as he leaves. Seeming a bit disappointed before lying down in her own bed and staring up at the ceiling, neglecting to cover herself with the blanket and instead lying on top of it. While Eren falls asleep quickly, Isabella doesn't pass out for another hour or so, seeming to not fully comprehend her need for sleep until exhaustion crashes into her and she falls into sleep without intending to.