Chapter 7: Illusions

Following the confusion of what had just transpired in the mess hall. Commander Erwin had summoned Armin, Ymir, Mikasa, Eren, Krista, Hanji and Levi to a meeting in his office. When the group of eight were in the room with the doors locked, Kenny walked up to Armin and knelt down before him as he spoke.

"Your highness… I want to apologies for my absence. The King had requested my presence within the Military Police in order to keep tabs on them and the government. When Wall Maria fell, I honestly believed that the royal family was wiped out… it brings me extreme joy and jubilation to know that you're alive and well. I'll stay by your side and serve you as the Ackerman family was destined to." He said sternly without removing his gaze from the young prince. Before Armin could respond, Levi interrupted him.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" He said as he stood behind his uncle only making the older of the two sigh in disappointment before he stood up and turned to the Corporal.

"Listen up girly." He said as he turned his attention to Mikasa. "You too midget!" he said as he turned to Levi only for him to see the look of pure anger in his eyes but this only made Kenny chuckle in amusement. "We are part of the Ackerman family and as such we were destined to protect the royal family. This has been the case for several generations. The protection of the royal family was so paramount that we were forced to change their surname when we deflected from our Kingdom." This left everyone surprised but none more than the prince in question.

"W-Wait a minute… is t-this kingdom outside the walls?" Armin asked timidly, still unable to conceive the thought of being royalty.

"Yes, YOUR kingdom is outside the walls."

"Why d-did we leave?"

"There was a coup that threatened to kill the royal family so we were forced to leave. Had we not, you would be dead."

"Wait so you said that you guys were FORCED to change Armin's surname?" Eren said, confusion still clouding his mind.

"Yes we did." Kenny said eyeing the young man.

'I wonder if he is Grisha's kid…' Kenny thought to himself.

"Then… what's Armin's real surname?" He asked, hoping to clear this extremely confusing situation. The person to answer him was none other than Ymir.

"Targaryen." Ymir said passively. This caused everyone, save for Kenny, to look at her as though she grew another head.

"And how would YOU know that?" Eren said sceptically. He wouldn't believe squad 104's resident prankster even if he was paid to.

"Well… since I am his legal wife, I would of course have to know. His full name is Armin Targaryen and my full name is Ymir Targaryen." She said with a smirk but the look of fear was plastered on Armin's face as he slowly turned his head to face his girlfriend, and possible killer, Mikasa. The said girl however had her usual look of indifference; she then turned her attention to Kenny.

"What are we going to do with Krista… or rather Historia?" Eren, Armin and Ymir all stared at her in shock since she seemed to ignore the fact that her boyfriend was married. Kenny seemed to pick up on her underlying anger but answered her question anyway.

"Well she has been summoned back to Sina, so we must take her. I've also discovered that this kingdom has bad blood with House Targaryen but I actually don't know the reason right now but with the help of Historia, we may be able to figure it out." Everyone then turned their attention to the heiress.

"I-I will do m-my best." She said looking at Armin.

"That's my girl!" Ymir yelled as she pulled the smaller girl in for a hug, much to her embarrassment.

"Erwin, Hanji!" Kenny said as he turned his gaze to the leaders of the Survey Corps, who were surprisingly quiet throughout the whole confrontation. "I know that the next expedition is to Shiganshina. So I would strongly recommend that you get there. Forces are closing in on the young prince so I wish you all the best." He said as he dragged Historia out with him, not giving them the chance to say goodbye to their fellow cadets. Silence then fell into the room as everyone was processing what had happened. Armin on the other hand was glancing at Mikasa, waiting for his death but before he could talk to her, Erwin spoke up.

"The expedition starts in two days. Go rest. Levi, Hanji, stay here." He said sternly, leaving no room for argument with Mikasa being the first one to leave. Armin tried to catch up to but she was gone. Figuring that she needed some time alone he walked back to his room with Eren whilst Ymir went back to hers. The three of them failed to notice a figure looking at them through the window.

The day before the expedition, the Survey Corps were preparing the horses and going over the plan for the final time whilst also getting in some training. Mikasa had been avoiding Armin the whole day and it was tearing him up inside but he figured that approaching her would only anger her further so he spent most of his time in the library. During the day, Armin had noticed that Annie was staring at him more often than usual but he assumed that it must have been from the revelation of his royal status. It was odd to think that none of his fellow cadets had bombarded him with questions but then Levi told him that the Commander had told everyone to mind their own business and focus on the mission which they did. Another weird occurrence was that Bertolt had an unexpected withdraw from the expedition due to being sick. Ymir had told Armin that there was something off about him but Armin decided not to dwell on it but rather focus on the mission to his hometown.

The day of the expedition was here and everyone was ready to go as they waited for the gate in Cananes to open and allow their pass. Eren and Armin were stationed in the middle of the formation at the rear with Corporal Levi and his elite unit, which included Mikasa. Armin was wishing that he could talk to her last night but she was nowhere to be seen. He had been wandering around with his book of the outside world since Eren and Annie had decided to have sex in the room he shared with Eren. He was extremely tired but he knew that he had to be focused. As he made his way to his horse, he stopped next to Mikasa's with her not even glancing at him which only made his heart hurt even more.

"I know you're mad at me but… I love you." He said softly as he mounted his own horse and stared ahead. He may have lost Mikasa but today had bigger things at stake. With a loud command, the Survey Corps were off.

Shortly after leaving through the gate, everyone broke into formation. Armin and Eren were under the protection of the Corporal so they had to stay with him throughout the expedition. Armin knew that looking at Mikasa will not help so when he looked at Eren, he could see the widest smile he ever had on his face.

'It's great to see that Annie has such a positive effect on him but I'm certain that the look on his face was due to last nights… activities. Lucky guy.' Armin thought with a sad smile on his face. He shook his head of all the jealous thoughts he was having and focused on the mission but something was amiss. They had been riding for well over 20 minutes and the forest of giant trees was in sight but something big was missing.

"Where are the titans…?" he mumbled to himself as he craned his neck from left to right. It was then that several dozen black flares were shot into the air. What was worrying was that these flares appeared from both left and right flanks and were closing in on the elite group.

"What the fuck is going on?" Eren yelled as he started sweating bullets.

"Focus on getting to the forest! Move faster!" Levi yelled as the group sped up to the forest. Armin decided to take one last look to both flanks and when he did, he was left speechless.

"Levi! Look to the flanks!" he yelled and when everyone did, they had the same expression as he did. A 15 meter female titan was running towards them with a whole hoard of abnormal titans running behind her on the left flank and when they looked to the right their faces grew pale because they saw the armoured titan running towards them. Eren was the first one to regain his senses and was about to turn into a titan but Armin interrupted him.

"Eren don't! Let's first get into the forest!" Eren was reluctant but complied. The group just entered the forest and could hear the footsteps of the incoming titans. They knew that it was a matter of time before they would be intercepted but they couldn't afford to stop right now. Things became dire when they heard loud footsteps coming from the front. Armin was the first to notice that it was the Armoured Titan.

"Corporal Levi! I'm going after the Armoured Titan! Eren, Mikasa stay here! Lead the Female Titan away from me!" He said as he jumped off his horse and shot a grappling hook into a tree as he propelled himself at great speeds towards the beast. Just as it was a few metres away, Armin bit down on his index finger and morphed into a titan that immediately speared the Armoured Titan away from the group so that they could pass. Mikasa was about to follow Armin but Levi had other ideas.

"Don't go! He has intrusted you with the task of protecting Eren. He may know that I'm capable of protecting him myself but he insisted you stay to ease his nerves. When he finds out that you aren't with Eren, his fears are going to cloud his decision making." This caused Mikasa to frown but she complied and rode with the rest of the group.

'Armin… please don't die. I want to apologies and tell you that I love you…' She thought sadly. She then turned her head behind her and the group to the sight of the Female Titan slowly closing in. Just as the Female Titan was about to attack the group, the scene of the rest of the Survey Corps perched on tree branches came into view. Various arrows attached to steel rope were shot at the titan and pierced through her. When the last of the arrows were fired, the Female Titan was restrained with her hands cover the nape of her neck. The elite group landed on the surrounding tree, having strapped their horses. Everything seemed calm even though the Titan was staring straight at Eren with eyes that showed sadness.

"Where the fuck are the Titans that were following her!?" he said as he prepared himself for battle. Just then a few trees fell as Armin skidded across the ground with the Armoured Titan not too far away from him. Armin got back up with a little difficulty but when he was up, the titans that followed the female titan came out of every direction heading towards Armin. It was clear that there was no way that he would be able to escape unless he got out of his titan body but he was paralyzed with fear. This was the end of Prince Armin of house Targaryen.

"ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" A loud roar came from Eren's small human body but it was then that all the titans stood still for what felt like forever before they turned around and walked away like nothing happened. Armin used this opportunity to attack the Armoured Titan. He punched the titan in the stomach with his left hand, and then used his right hand to quickly pull the body out of the nape of the beast but when he saw the human body in his grasp, his titan eyes grew wide in disbelief. He turned it towards the Corps so they could see who it was.

"No way…" Ymir said.

"Reiner!" Everyone said.

End

Chapter 8: It's no longer your Kingdom!

I know it's really early for me to have Eren use 'The Coordinate' but from now on, things will be heading down a different path.

LOL I love Game of Thrones so I thought it would be fun to add some of it to this story.

I don't own ANYTHING!