p style="line-height: 120%;" align="CENTER"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"CHAPTER 8/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" Clean and well rested, I walked downstairs the next day for yet another meeting. Once I had entered the commons people began to crowd around me, asking for details before Bertholt chased them off. I gave him a grateful smile. I wasn't quite ready to talk about my experience./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" I sat down next to Armin, Mikasa at my other hand. She looked at me coldly before getting up and walking down the stairs, probably to go visit Eren. I had learned that he'd had a fight with the female titan and he was still recovering from it./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" emWhy was she even here?/em/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" " Mikasa doesn't seem to like me very much," I noted to Armin. He glanced over at where she had been sitting and nodded./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Yeah," he agreed, "I'd noticed that. She hasn't said anything, but I think she's concerned about your past. I wouldn't worry about it."/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "I'm not," I said quickly, "Simply curious, that's all."/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" Eventually, Commander Erwin entered and sat at the head of the table. He looked over all of us, his gaze lingering on me./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Axis!" he called, "Welcome back. I've heard that you encountered the female titan."/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Yes, sir," I said, dipping my head, "Though 'encountered' might not be a strong enough word." Hanji snickered from her corner of the table and I smirked to myself, glad that I had at least gotten a laugh out of someone. Of course, she was really the only person who knew the whole story, so it made sense why no one else reacted./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Did you find the research site?" The commander looked at me expectantly, and I stood up, excited./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="background: transparent;""span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Yes sir!" I said, remembering what I had found, "I'd recovered some data. It's upstairs; would you like me to go grab it?"/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "No," Erwin held up a hand, "You can bring that to me later. Right now we have something even more important to discuss: The female titan's identity and a plan to root her out."/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" A murmur rippled throughout the Scouts. Did Erwin know who she was already? But when everyone had settled down, Armin was the one who spoke./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "I'm almost completely sure that the Female titan is Annie Leonhart," he said. This time, there were loud cries of surprise. I wasn't sure who that was, so the shock wasn't as big for me as it had been for everyone else./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "There are a lot of little things that prove it," Armin continued, "Including facial structure and fighting style, to keep things simple. There is a way we can confirm it, however, and if our suspicions are correct we'll need to take action. The council has called for Eren to be brought back in and handed over to the Military Police. Likely, they'll cut into to find out what makes him turn into a titan, however as his friend I don't like that idea, and as a soldier I can see that being a bad move strategically, as we would loose a huge advantage point./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "So," he continued, "I have devised a plan that will get Annie to reveal herself as the female titan and to fight her if she does. Obviously, Plan A is for Eren to fight her, but as he isn't always reliable when it comes to transforming, I have backup plans set."/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" He went on to explain to us his plan using the underground city, having the townsfolk restrain her, and what should happen if she managed to transform anyway, as well as a few different plans if the first one failed./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "What should I do?" I asked. Armin opened his mouth to speak but Levi beat him to it./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "You will be gathering as many people as are not needed for this plan and getting them all to the underground city before hand," he said, "Once I can get away from the procession leading "Eren" through the town, I can get down there and lead them all to safety. I know the ruins well, so we shouldn't get lost, however I'll need to leave to help fight at some point, so you and the citizens need to just stay where I take you. Got all of that?"/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" I nodded, groaning on the inside. I was going to be stuck with him emagain?/em Could my luck get any worse?/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Oh, and just in case," he took a sip of tea, "You're going to need to practice with the ODM gear today. Annie seems to have the ability to call other titans to her, and if it comes to it we may need to take drastic action. We don't want you freezing up in the middle of a fight now, do we?"/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" I made a rude gesture under the table. Surely he was telepathic, and had heard me thinking to myself that I had suck rotten luck? There was no other explanation./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Fine," I grumbled, "But if I die because of it, it's emyour /emfault."/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" Levi rolled his eyes and proceeded to drink his tea. He seemed to have it a lot, now that I thought about it. He drank more tea than anyone I ever remembered meeting./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" em"Throw it in the harbour!"/em/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" I jumped, and everyone looked at me. Another memory, like before? I began to chew on my lip as I saw what looked like dark water slosh around, almost like a hallucination. I had never emseen/em that much water gathered in one place! Or perhaps I just couldn't remember.../span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Axis!" I jerked back into the present and sank into my seat, uncomfortable with the many pairs of eyes that were focused on me. Armin frowned./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Are you alright?" he asked. I felt myself quiver with barely contained joy./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Yeah," I assured my friend, "I'm fine. I just-I'll tell you later, okay?" I leaned back in my chair, ignoring Levi's burning gaze. I had no doubt that he would show up too, as he seemed to like to do that, but I accepted the fact that there was nothing I could really do about that at the moment, So I resolved to think about it later./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" The meeting continued, and we discussed times and locations. I tried my best to pay attention, but honestly my mind was focused on the memory. Why water? Where did it come from? And why did it seem to be triggered by noticing the amount of tea Levi consumed? Why did I notice that in the first place?/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"a name="docs-internal-guid-60361811-fac7-0fb2-05f1-581d61bfeac5"/a span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Once the meeting was over, I took off for my room, Armin at my heels. I didn't turn around, but I was sure Levi was not too far behind us. Once I got in, I sat on my bed excitedly. Armin took the chair and the Captain (surprise!) leaned against the wall, one foot up./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "So, what happened back there?" Armin asked, leaning forward in anticipation. I took a deep breath./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "I remembered something!" I said, trying to keep my voice from getting any higher. Levi tipped his head back./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Congratulations," he said, a hint of sarcasm in his tone, "Care to tell us what?"/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "I was getting to that!" I retorted, "Geez. Anyway!" I clapped my hands, "So, I was riding out a few days ago, you know, to go find the research, and I was thinking about my place in this sort-of-combined-mission-thing and the fact that it was kind of centred around me. So, while I was thinking this, and feeling not a little pressured, I heard in my head "You are the axis of this operation," and then I saw /spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"emimages/em/spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Armin's eyes widened./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Did you see any of the objects in your bag?" he asked. I shook my head, and related what I had seen, going on to talk about the one with the water. When I mentioned the tea, Levi cocked an eyebrow. Well, it wasn't /spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"emmy/em/spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" fault I worked how I did./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"emI've probably always done stuff like that, /em/spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" I thought defensively, /spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"emBesides, noticing small details like that might be useful in the long run!/em/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Do you think that anything you've seen might relate to the objects?" He asked. I thought hard and shrugged. It didn't seem like it, though surely something had to be connected in some way, shape, or form./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Hey, Armin," I said, "What are the chances that I could see a memory in a dream?"/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "That depends on what you mean by that," he answered, "A straight, clear memory? I'd say unlikely to almost impossible. However, it is very likely that you can see scattered bits and pieces of a memory with the elements of a dream mixed in. Dreams tend to warp reality, so it wouldn't be easy to see right away. For example, say you dream about your experience with the ODM gear: the dream wouldn't relay exactly what happened. Instead, you might fly, or perhaps someone would grow a dog face."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Okay, great!" I said, "Because I think that's happened too."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "You're putting an awful lot of hope in very trivial things," Levi commented. I made a face and reminded myself not to smack him./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "They're all I've got," I said, clenching my teeth, "And, sir, I'd rather keep hoping than live my life in misery /spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"emlike some people/em/spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" He narrowed his eyes at my heavy implication, but said nothing. I stopped my myself from smirking, as that would've only ended badly for me./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Anyway," I cleared my throat, "I've got to go hand that notebook to Commander Erwin, so I'll see you later, Armin." I stood up and started towards my pack, but Levi held up a hand to stop me. Without a word spoken, I motioned towards it, and he removed the notebook, leaving my room with it in hand. Once he was gone, I rolled my eyes and huffed. I doubted he took it for me out of niceties: he always had an ulterior motive, and this time it was probably to kill the risk of me listening in on anything. Which I would totally do, given the / Armin looked up at me./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "I'm happy for you," he said warmly, "I'm so glad you're getting your memory back. However, there was something I wanted to ask you about," I blinked and waited for him to go on, "When you 'woke up' a year-and-a-half ago," he proceeded, "What happened exactly? How did you find The Thorn of the Rose."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Did Levi set you up to this?" I asked suspiciously, "No, that's not his style. Commander Erwin, maybe?"/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "There's no need to be mistrustful," Armin assured me, "I'm just curious. You've never really talked about that. Of course, if you don't want to, I understand."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "No, it's good," I sniffed and scratched my nose, "Well, let's see. I guess I'll just tell you the whole story:/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "The first thing I remember when I came to consciousness is feeling sore all over my body, though I couldn't figure out why. I actually just kind of laid there for a second with my eyes closed. I didn't want to open them for some reason. But when I finally did, there were two faces looking down at mine. It startled me, of course, and I yelled, but they covered my mouth pretty quickly./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "'Who are you?' one of them asked. That's when I realized that I didn't know the answer to that myself. I actually began to freak out a little. I couldn't remember anything, not even my own name. The two people told me that their names were Sabina and Weller, and they took me into their home. I couldn't answer any of their questions: where I was from, who my parents were, or even what my favourite thing to eat was. They gave me a loaf of bread and a glass of water, and to this day I'm not sure which one had the drug in it, just that I when I woke up again I was lying down on some sand in a torch-lit arena. That was the only place I was allowed to be without a blindfold./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "This time, I was greeted by a young man probably in his thirties. He had me sit, and asked me a lot of questions which, again, I couldn't answer. Then he explained to me what The Thorn of the Rose did and told me that I could either agree to train as an assassin, or I could be executed for knowing too much. Now, obviously I chose the first option because in truth being killed didn't sound like a lot of fun for me. Besides, I didn't seem to know anyone here, so why not?/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "I was grouped with a few other students and the training was brutal. Over the next two months, we were made to fight each other, and eventually they began to put us in one-on-one death matches. Even then, I had a strong will to survive I came out the victor every time, though there were a few close ones./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Up until this point, I still didn't have a name. When people needed to refer to me or even speak directly to me, I was known as The Amnesiac. However, once I had proven myself to the guild, their leader (who I've never seen face-to-face) told me I'd need to choose a name to make things easier on everyone. I had thought hard about it, and the word 'axis' just kept coming to mind. So that's what I chose./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "After that They drugged me again and took me to Sabina and Weller's home. After a meal there, I took off and found my own place. I didn't have much contact with humans, except about once a month when I'd buy food, or when I was given an assignment./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "My first assignment, as you may have heard in court, was to kill an urchin child on the street. It wasn't hard, and I didn't cry, but I was pretty shaken up. I went back to my home and just sort of sat there for a few days, not really doing anything until I was hungry and thirsty enough to leave. My next assignment was a lot easier on me emotionally, and it only went on from there. I had killed ten people total before I just stopped keeping track altogether./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "My last assignment was to assassinate Captain Levi. Well, we all saw how that went down. After that, I decided I was done. I didn't want to do this anymore, which is why I decided to give away everything I knew. The Thorn of the Rose did nothing for me. Even the money I used to buy provisions was taken from the homes of the dead./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Of course, my associates have spies everywhere, even in the judicial system. I knew they would kill me if I managed to escape my somewhat-formal execution, which is why I didn't leave when the titans began to attack everyone else and ignore me. I'm sure if I wasn't currently out here where they don't dare venture, they would've slit my throat long ago./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Either way," I finished, smiling to myself, "I'm here now. I know I'll never be able to wash that much blood off of my hands, but at least I'm not collecting any more."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Armin sat quietly eyes down, and his hands in his lap. He hadn't made a single noise since I started, and it looked like he was thinking it over now. I felt a little string of doubt worm it's way into my head. Maybe he was scared of me now that he knew what I'd done? I didn't want to loose my one friend! I began to chew on my lip, unsure of how to break the silence./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Armin looked up, and I was shocked to see that there was sorrow in his eyes./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "I'm glad you're here," he whispered, "I'm glad that you're on a path that will lead to your redemption, even if you're the only one who will see it. You may not be able to wash that much blood off right away, especially in the eyes of humanity, but if you keep scrubbing and scraping, eventually everyone will be able to see your true self underneath."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" I felt my eyes start to water as everything became blurry, and I blinked to clear the tears that were beginning to form./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Thank you," I said, my voice cracking, "Thank you so much."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" For the first time in eighteen months, I felt the awful weight that I had been carrying on my shoulders lighten and disappear entirely./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" Clean and well rested, I walked downstairs the next day for yet another meeting. Once I had entered the commons people began to crowd around me, asking for details before Bertholt chased them off. I gave him a grateful smile. I wasn't quite ready to talk about my experience./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" I sat down next to Armin, Mikasa at my other hand. She looked at me coldly before getting up and walking down the stairs, probably to go visit Eren. I had learned that he'd had a fight with the female titan and he was still recovering from it./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" emWhy was she even here?/em/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" " Mikasa doesn't seem to like me very much," I noted to Armin. He glanced over at where she had been sitting and nodded./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Yeah," he agreed, "I'd noticed that. She hasn't said anything, but I think she's concerned about your past. I wouldn't worry about it."/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "I'm not," I said quickly, "Simply curious, that's all."/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" Eventually, Commander Erwin entered and sat at the head of the table. He looked over all of us, his gaze lingering on me./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Axis!" he called, "Welcome back. I've heard that you encountered the female titan."/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Yes, sir," I said, dipping my head, "Though 'encountered' might not be a strong enough word." Hanji snickered from her corner of the table and I smirked to myself, glad that I had at least gotten a laugh out of someone. Of course, she was really the only person who knew the whole story, so it made sense why no one else reacted./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Did you find the research site?" The commander looked at me expectantly, and I stood up, excited./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="background: transparent;""span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Yes sir!" I said, remembering what I had found, "I'd recovered some data. It's upstairs; would you like me to go grab it?"/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "No," Erwin held up a hand, "You can bring that to me later. Right now we have something even more important to discuss: The female titan's identity and a plan to root her out."/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" A murmur rippled throughout the Scouts. Did Erwin know who she was already? But when everyone had settled down, Armin was the one who spoke./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "I'm almost completely sure that the Female titan is Annie Leonhart," he said. This time, there were loud cries of surprise. I wasn't sure who that was, so the shock wasn't as big for me as it had been for everyone else./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "There are a lot of little things that prove it," Armin continued, "Including facial structure and fighting style, to keep things simple. There is a way we can confirm it, however, and if our suspicions are correct we'll need to take action. The council has called for Eren to be brought back in and handed over to the Military Police. Likely, they'll cut into to find out what makes him turn into a titan, however as his friend I don't like that idea, and as a soldier I can see that being a bad move strategically, as we would loose a huge advantage point./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "So," he continued, "I have devised a plan that will get Annie to reveal herself as the female titan and to fight her if she does. Obviously, Plan A is for Eren to fight her, but as he isn't always reliable when it comes to transforming, I have backup plans set."/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" He went on to explain to us his plan using the underground city, having the townsfolk restrain her, and what should happen if she managed to transform anyway, as well as a few different plans if the first one failed./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "What should I do?" I asked. Armin opened his mouth to speak but Levi beat him to it./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "You will be gathering as many people as are not needed for this plan and getting them all to the underground city before hand," he said, "Once I can get away from the procession leading "Eren" through the town, I can get down there and lead them all to safety. I know the ruins well, so we shouldn't get lost, however I'll need to leave to help fight at some point, so you and the citizens need to just stay where I take you. Got all of that?"/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" I nodded, groaning on the inside. I was going to be stuck with him emagain?/em Could my luck get any worse?/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Oh, and just in case," he took a sip of tea, "You're going to need to practice with the ODM gear today. Annie seems to have the ability to call other titans to her, and if it comes to it we may need to take drastic action. We don't want you freezing up in the middle of a fight now, do we?"/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" I made a rude gesture under the table. Surely he was telepathic, and had heard me thinking to myself that I had suck rotten luck? There was no other explanation./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Fine," I grumbled, "But if I die because of it, it's emyour /emfault."/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" Levi rolled his eyes and proceeded to drink his tea. He seemed to have it a lot, now that I thought about it. He drank more tea than anyone I ever remembered meeting./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" em"Throw it in the harbour!"/em/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" I jumped, and everyone looked at me. Another memory, like before? I began to chew on my lip as I saw what looked like dark water slosh around, almost like a hallucination. I had never emseen/em that much water gathered in one place! Or perhaps I just couldn't remember.../span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Axis!" I jerked back into the present and sank into my seat, uncomfortable with the many pairs of eyes that were focused on me. Armin frowned./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Are you alright?" he asked. I felt myself quiver with barely contained joy./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" "Yeah," I assured my friend, "I'm fine. I just-I'll tell you later, okay?" I leaned back in my chair, ignoring Levi's burning gaze. I had no doubt that he would show up too, as he seemed to like to do that, but I accepted the fact that there was nothing I could really do about that at the moment, So I resolved to think about it later./span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" The meeting continued, and we discussed times and locations. I tried my best to pay attention, but honestly my mind was focused on the memory. Why water? Where did it come from? And why did it seem to be triggered by noticing the amount of tea Levi consumed? Why did I notice that in the first place?/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"a name="docs-internal-guid-60361811-fac7-0fb2-05f1-581d61bfeac5"/a span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Once the meeting was over, I took off for my room, Armin at my heels. I didn't turn around, but I was sure Levi was not too far behind us. Once I got in, I sat on my bed excitedly. Armin took the chair and the Captain (surprise!) leaned against the wall, one foot up./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "So, what happened back there?" Armin asked, leaning forward in anticipation. I took a deep breath./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "I remembered something!" I said, trying to keep my voice from getting any higher. Levi tipped his head back./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Congratulations," he said, a hint of sarcasm in his tone, "Care to tell us what?"/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "I was getting to that!" I retorted, "Geez. Anyway!" I clapped my hands, "So, I was riding out a few days ago, you know, to go find the research, and I was thinking about my place in this sort-of-combined-mission-thing and the fact that it was kind of centred around me. So, while I was thinking this, and feeling not a little pressured, I heard in my head "You are the axis of this operation," and then I saw /spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"emimages/em/spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Armin's eyes widened./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Did you see any of the objects in your bag?" he asked. I shook my head, and related what I had seen, going on to talk about the one with the water. When I mentioned the tea, Levi cocked an eyebrow. Well, it wasn't /spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"emmy/em/spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" fault I worked how I did./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"emI've probably always done stuff like that, /em/spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" I thought defensively, /spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"emBesides, noticing small details like that might be useful in the long run!/em/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;" span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Do you think that anything you've seen might relate to the objects?" He asked. I thought hard and shrugged. It didn't seem like it, though surely something had to be connected in some way, shape, or form./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Hey, Armin," I said, "What are the chances that I could see a memory in a dream?"/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "That depends on what you mean by that," he answered, "A straight, clear memory? I'd say unlikely to almost impossible. However, it is very likely that you can see scattered bits and pieces of a memory with the elements of a dream mixed in. Dreams tend to warp reality, so it wouldn't be easy to see right away. For example, say you dream about your experience with the ODM gear: the dream wouldn't relay exactly what happened. Instead, you might fly, or perhaps someone would grow a dog face."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Okay, great!" I said, "Because I think that's happened too."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "You're putting an awful lot of hope in very trivial things," Levi commented. I made a face and reminded myself not to smack him./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "They're all I've got," I said, clenching my teeth, "And, sir, I'd rather keep hoping than live my life in misery /spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"emlike some people/em/spanspan style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" He narrowed his eyes at my heavy implication, but said nothing. I stopped my myself from smirking, as that would've only ended badly for me./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Anyway," I cleared my throat, "I've got to go hand that notebook to Commander Erwin, so I'll see you later, Armin." I stood up and started towards my pack, but Levi held up a hand to stop me. Without a word spoken, I motioned towards it, and he removed the notebook, leaving my room with it in hand. Once he was gone, I rolled my eyes and huffed. I doubted he took it for me out of niceties: he always had an ulterior motive, and this time it was probably to kill the risk of me listening in on anything. Which I would totally do, given the / Armin looked up at me./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "I'm happy for you," he said warmly, "I'm so glad you're getting your memory back. However, there was something I wanted to ask you about," I blinked and waited for him to go on, "When you 'woke up' a year-and-a-half ago," he proceeded, "What happened exactly? How did you find The Thorn of the Rose."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Did Levi set you up to this?" I asked suspiciously, "No, that's not his style. Commander Erwin, maybe?"/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "There's no need to be mistrustful," Armin assured me, "I'm just curious. You've never really talked about that. Of course, if you don't want to, I understand."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "No, it's good," I sniffed and scratched my nose, "Well, let's see. I guess I'll just tell you the whole story:/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "The first thing I remember when I came to consciousness is feeling sore all over my body, though I couldn't figure out why. I actually just kind of laid there for a second with my eyes closed. I didn't want to open them for some reason. But when I finally did, there were two faces looking down at mine. It startled me, of course, and I yelled, but they covered my mouth pretty quickly./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "'Who are you?' one of them asked. That's when I realized that I didn't know the answer to that myself. I actually began to freak out a little. I couldn't remember anything, not even my own name. The two people told me that their names were Sabina and Weller, and they took me into their home. I couldn't answer any of their questions: where I was from, who my parents were, or even what my favourite thing to eat was. They gave me a loaf of bread and a glass of water, and to this day I'm not sure which one had the drug in it, just that I when I woke up again I was lying down on some sand in a torch-lit arena. That was the only place I was allowed to be without a blindfold./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "This time, I was greeted by a young man probably in his thirties. He had me sit, and asked me a lot of questions which, again, I couldn't answer. Then he explained to me what The Thorn of the Rose did and told me that I could either agree to train as an assassin, or I could be executed for knowing too much. Now, obviously I chose the first option because in truth being killed didn't sound like a lot of fun for me. Besides, I didn't seem to know anyone here, so why not?/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "I was grouped with a few other students and the training was brutal. Over the next two months, we were made to fight each other, and eventually they began to put us in one-on-one death matches. Even then, I had a strong will to survive I came out the victor every time, though there were a few close ones./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Up until this point, I still didn't have a name. When people needed to refer to me or even speak directly to me, I was known as The Amnesiac. However, once I had proven myself to the guild, their leader (who I've never seen face-to-face) told me I'd need to choose a name to make things easier on everyone. I had thought hard about it, and the word 'axis' just kept coming to mind. So that's what I chose./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "After that They drugged me again and took me to Sabina and Weller's home. After a meal there, I took off and found my own place. I didn't have much contact with humans, except about once a month when I'd buy food, or when I was given an assignment./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "My first assignment, as you may have heard in court, was to kill an urchin child on the street. It wasn't hard, and I didn't cry, but I was pretty shaken up. I went back to my home and just sort of sat there for a few days, not really doing anything until I was hungry and thirsty enough to leave. My next assignment was a lot easier on me emotionally, and it only went on from there. I had killed ten people total before I just stopped keeping track altogether./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "My last assignment was to assassinate Captain Levi. Well, we all saw how that went down. After that, I decided I was done. I didn't want to do this anymore, which is why I decided to give away everything I knew. The Thorn of the Rose did nothing for me. Even the money I used to buy provisions was taken from the homes of the dead./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Of course, my associates have spies everywhere, even in the judicial system. I knew they would kill me if I managed to escape my somewhat-formal execution, which is why I didn't leave when the titans began to attack everyone else and ignore me. I'm sure if I wasn't currently out here where they don't dare venture, they would've slit my throat long ago./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Either way," I finished, smiling to myself, "I'm here now. I know I'll never be able to wash that much blood off of my hands, but at least I'm not collecting any more."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Armin sat quietly eyes down, and his hands in his lap. He hadn't made a single noise since I started, and it looked like he was thinking it over now. I felt a little string of doubt worm it's way into my head. Maybe he was scared of me now that he knew what I'd done? I didn't want to loose my one friend! I began to chew on my lip, unsure of how to break the silence./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Armin looked up, and I was shocked to see that there was sorrow in his eyes./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "I'm glad you're here," he whispered, "I'm glad that you're on a path that will lead to your redemption, even if you're the only one who will see it. You may not be able to wash that much blood off right away, especially in the eyes of humanity, but if you keep scrubbing and scraping, eventually everyone will be able to see your true self underneath."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" I felt my eyes start to water as everything became blurry, and I blinked to clear the tears that were beginning to form./span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" "Thank you," I said, my voice cracking, "Thank you so much."/span/span/span/span/span/p
p style="line-height: 120%;" align="LEFT"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="background: transparent;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';" For the first time in eighteen months, I felt the awful weight that I had been carrying on my shoulders lighten and disappear entirely./span/span/span/span/span/p