A/N: Hey guyz! So, it's my seventeenth birthday today, 26th June 2014. How about your reviews are my birthday present from ye, kay? ;D Also, you can now go like my facebook page KuraraOkumura's Disciples, which I created a few days ago and on which I will be posting updates relating to my fanfics for the benefit of the fans. You can also talk to me there and everything, so... Go for it. :3

And don't forget the poll I have on my profile here, to vote for what type of fanfic you'd prefer me to start posting next. Right now, two Harry Potter fics are winning, so if you want me to start an SNK fic, better go vote for those quickly! :3

Thank you for reading and staying with this fanfic for as long as you have!

~Tenshi

Chapter 7: Armin's Plan

"Jean, get down!" Armin shouted from across the length of the canyon, and Jean obeyed with the practiced instinct of someone used to working in tandem, rewinding his Gear and dropping straight down through the air. He swept up again into a winding arch, arcing the length of the canyon gracefully, landing with only a clack of heels on the stones beside where Armin was watching the proceeding of his plan. "That was a close call," said the blonde, to which Jean only nodded in response, his eyes straining over the cliffs.

The Recon Corps, or what was left of them what with a good third of them having been wiped out since the attack had begun hours ago, were spread out over the cliffs, running and flying back and forth and luring the Titans on, higher and higher, leading them to climb past the jagged drops of the cliff-walls and the wide canyons. Armin's idea had been a simple one, really, and Levi and Hanji had agreed to it almost immediately. So had the Commander, once they'd reached the assaulted HQ, found him out, and explained it to him.

The first step was this one; to lead the Titans up the cliffs, instead of stopping them as the Corps had been doing so far. They could still kill them where they saw the opportunity, but their goal was not to hold them back anymore. And so the Titans ascended, taking every step of the way towards Eren's hideout. And even without the Corps' help, it seemed the crazed creatures would have gone in just that direction anyway. Before they'd split up, the Corporal Levi had said something along the lines of the Titans being led by Eren's position, whatever that was supposed to mean. It was true that the Titans had totally disregarded the castle that served as their HQ, and if Jean was right and the Corporal and Mikasa had brought Jaeger up there as soon as they'd retrieved him from his Titan's body, then it did make sense to imagine that the Titans were aiming for the brat. And Armin had obviously come to the same conclusion, since the second step of his plan was entirely based on that assumption; and since the Corporal had neither denied nor belittled the strategist's guess, then there must have been some truth to it, because Levi obviously knew something that they didn't. How the creatures knew exactly where Eren was was beyond Jean's comprehension.

Then there was also the fact that the horde who'd attacked them comprised of about 90% Abnormals. As he'd been told by Hanji, such a high percentage of Abnormals had never been seen before, and Jean had a sinking, growing feeling that this whole mess was going to blow up in their faces too soon for his own liking.

So far, everything had gone according to plan. The Titans were following, surely and not-so-slowly, as the Corps' members led them up the jagged cliffs. Jean, Erwin and Levi were in charge of the operation, with Armin as the strategic coordinator, observing the entire thing from above and making them relay messages to each other when he saw something out of line.

Jean started from their spot on a high, jutting point of stone, when, out of the corner of his eye, his saw an unmistakable flash of a man coming up to meet them, skilfully avoiding all and every Titan in his way. Levi landed beside them, blades out and composed as ever, not even short on breath despite the fact that he'd just come up from the crux of the battle beneath them.

"We're nearly there," he said, looking at them, then pointed out to what appeared to be a small cavern higher up the slope. The spot was nearly right across from where they were, the Titans right between them. "They're here."

Armin and Jean exchanged glances, and the blonde, as the coordinator and sole strategist of the mission, turned to their Corporal. "Together," he said, his face set, and the three men launched themselves as one. They cut right through the fighting, not willing to lose time by avoiding the climbing Titans, and in less than a minute, using the Titans' massive bodies as leverage points for their gear, they were there, landing quietly at the entrance of the cave Levi had pointed out to them.

"Mikasa? Eren?" Armin called out, taking a step inside as Levi just sheathed his blades and stalked forward, swallowed up by the shadows almost immediately.

"We're here," came a voice that was unmistakably Mikasa's, clear as day.

Armin gasped and rushed forward, and Jean was left on the brink of the cave to gaze blindly into darkness. "Kirstein, quit standing around and get your ass over here," came Levi's voice. Jean huffed. Well, fine. He could have just asked nicely.

He stepped into the darkness, and a brief flash of pale skin to his right which he knew to be his Corporal's suddenly made him start. He gulped, parts of his conversation with Armin earlier as they rushed to the HQ, after leaving Levi and Hanji, coming back to him.

"What did you see?" Jean said as they flew between the trees.

"What?" Armin clipped uncharacteristically, not even sparing him a glance.

"You were staring at Levi," Jean reminded him. "I'm not stupid, Armin. You saw something, or remembered something, or – I don't know, but something happened back there to make you stare at him. What was it?"

"I didn't see anything, Jean," Armin denied, his voice nothing short of furious. Jean glanced aside at him before focusing again on the trees in front of him. What was that about? "Can we please stop talking about this?"

"No. The simple fact that you're denying it and trying to avoid the subject proves that you're hiding something. What did you see?"

"Nothing! Will you leave it, dammit! Has it even crossed your mind that it mightn't actually be any of your-" Armin stopped abruptly, but it was too late.

"Any of my business?" Jean finished for him, his voice quiet and bitter. "Fine. I get it. Never mind the fact that you're after admitting that you saw something. But Armin, the look on your face-! Armin!" Jean cut off mid sentence to shout his friend's name, the blond having suddenly twisted unsteadily in mid air and finished his flight on the ground, sprawled on his stomach.

Jean turned back and dropped to his side, and was just grabbing at the smaller boy's shoulders when Armin shook his hands off violently, pushing himself up on his hands shakily. The blond coughed, wiping the back of a hand across his mouth to get rid of the dirt he'd had in it, then whirled around to sit on his ass, pushing Jean's help away more brusquely than necessary.

Armin put his hands up to cover his face, seeming more tired than anything, and mumbled, "He hash a'hickee."

"What?"

Armin took his hands away from his face and repeated, more clearly this time, "He has a hickey."

Jean stared. "A hickey." Armin nodded in confirmation, and Jean blinked. "A hickey? You're telling me our Corporal, whom nobody's ever seen express the slightest of interest in anyone, has a hickey? A love bite?"

"Yes."

"Armin, if you're fucking with me-"

"I'm not, alright? And I'm pretty sure it's Eren," the blonde finished, standing up and avoiding Jean's gaze as he brushed dirt from his uniform pants.

Jean's jaw fell, then snapped closed again. "JAEGER?"

"Well, think about it. He – Eren – was absent for nearly the entire afternoon two days ago. And yesterday morning…" Armin blushed at that, still avoiding Jean's gaze. "Well, he was limping."

"Have you considered that maybe they just had a fight?"

"Jean, I know Eren. He never took his shower after training, remember? He has something to hide. Maybe bruises. Or something else."

"Well, people get bruises from fighting, don't they?"

"He wouldn't be hiding them if he got them from a fight with Levi."

There was a silence, and then Jean groaned, turning away to stare at the ground bemusedly. "Shit. So you're telling me Jaeger is getting it on with the Corporal Levi. What the fuck?"

"I don't know, all right?! It's just a hunch. This is why I didn't want to tell you anything! I'm not sure! I've got no proof! So don't go around saying something like that when we're not even sure if it's true!" Armin shouted irritably.

"Fine, fine. I won't. I wasn't going to anyway, so calm down. I just find it hard to believe that the same guy who beat him up and knocked one of his teeth out in public gets Jaeger on his hands and knees for pleasure. Actually, maybe it's not that hard to believe. D'you think the Corporal likes to inflict pain when he gets it on?"

"Jean!"

"Oh, relax, Armin. Have some fun already."

But even as they flared out their Manoeuver Gear and shot into the sky to continue heading for HQ, Armin somehow couldn't shake off the tinge of jealousy that he'd heard in Jean's voice when he'd been joking about Eren and Levi.

Of course, Jean didn't realize he'd sounded even remotely jealous at the time as he replayed the memory in his mind. Or if he had, it certainly wasn't Levi he'd been jealous of. Certainly not.

But as he stared into the darkness at the flash of pale skin he'd glimpsed in front of him, he still couldn't help but feel a tiny, tiny bubble of resentment emerging in his gut. It wasn't jealousy. Not quite. But it certainly didn't make him like that brat any more than before. Or was it even directed at Eren?

"Ackerman," Levi's voice said in the darkness. Jean didn't know how the hell those two and Armin saw anything in the darkness, because he couldn't even see a foot in front of him. "Give him to me," Levi said.

"I can take care of him-"

"Mikasa," the other man interrupted irritably. "No, you cannot. I can. Now hand the brat over."

Was that…possessiveness? Jean shuddered. He was probably just imagining things. Or at least he hoped he was.

"Yes, Sir."

There was shuffling in the dark, and then Levi emerged with Jaeger slung over a shoulder, obviously passed out. "Still standing there, Kirstein? Follow me. Stay close. I mean that. Mikasa, too. The three of us are the best we have right now, with Eren out." Jean bristled at this reminder that he had ranked below the brat in the final stage of their training, but was completely ignored by the other two. "I want you two close to me at all times. Working on the assumption that the Titans out there are trailing and following Eren – whatever the reason –, by smell or other, we do as Arlert said. We keep close to the ground – zigzag between their legs, as low as we can go, and pass Eren around between the three of us. If all goes according to plan, the Titans will try to reach for us, thus upsetting each others' precarious balance and creating a snowball effect that will weaken them at least long enough for us to take them out once they stop…rolling. The rest of the Corps, along with the Commander and Hanji, will wait back precisely for this. We three will be alone. Eren's survival will rest in our hands." Levi was saying this mostly for Mikasa's sake, as Jean had already heard the plan from Armin the first time he'd voiced it. "Now come on. We have no time to lose. Cadet Arlert, you stay back with Erwin and the Corps. You'll be part of the second wave."

Levi jumped out, Eren on his shoulder, Mikasa and Jean hot on his trail.

Straight for the Titans massing at the bottom of the hill.

And Jean really hoped that Armin's plan would work.