They all departed in a flurry of motion, leaving the governing officials in stunned silence. Once they were free from the boardroom, Armin swayed dangerously on his feet as the little strength he had left disappeared, and Mikasa reached out to steady him.
"Are you sure that was a good idea, Armin? Without their support we are truly on our own."
"Honestly, I think it was a terrible idea." He admitted, fighting off a wry smile at Mikasa's surprised face. "But they weren't going to let us leave if I didn't make a stand. I'm still not sure if they will let us go, so we better get moving."
Turning down the hallway back towards the medical wing, the two came upon Arya, who was rooted to the spot on the edge of the corridor. She glanced at them as they passed, the sweat on her face giving away the panic that was rising inside her. Now that she was no longer in contact with the strength Levi provided for her, her previous fear had come rushing back to the surface.
"I… I can't do this." She whispered shakily when they stopped next to her. "I'm not like you. I'm not some great warrior meant to save the world. I'm just a person: this is your story, not mine. I know what I said back there must have sounded confident, but it was confidence in you, not myself."
Armin opened his mouth to try and ease her worry, but Mikasa beat him to it.
"You can and you will, Arya. The Scouts have never been about what we can do on our own, but rather what we can accomplish together. Now, I believe our commander has issued us an order, so let's get moving." She made to lead Armin away, but he held his ground, eying Arya speculatively.
"You go ahead, Mikasa. I want you to find Levi and meet me back at my quarters; I need to speak with you both privately."
Giving him a long look, she eventually relented, transferring the unstable Armin into Arya's outstretched arms and taking off in the direction Levi had gone with Jean and Connie. The other two made their way back slowly, and once Mikasa was out of earshot Armin sighed heavily.
"You know, for a long time I felt exactly as you do." He said gently, giving her a sideways glance through his labored breathing. "Like I was the weak link in the chain, not worthy to stand next to my friends in all their righteous glory and skill. I was never the protector, just the one who needed protection. I still feel that way sometimes, but I'll tell you what: none of them ever believed that. To the others my strength was obvious, even when I couldn't see it. They trust me to lead them now, even when all else fails and any hope we have is lost. I don't feel like I deserve it most of the time, but I guess that's not for me to decide. I see the same in you, Arya."
She had been watching him with rapt attention, but dropped her eyes abashed at his kind words.
"You sound so certain."
"Because I am." He said honestly, and Arya's cheeks reddened. "Your levelheadedness has saved us countless times, and against all your fears you still believe in us; and we believe in you. You're a Scout now, and for better or for worse that means being a part of something larger than yourself and trusting in your fellow comrades. You don't need to fight for a place among us, because you have been part of this from the start, whether you believe it or not."
They had arrived outside his quarters now, and Armin detangled himself from Arya's helpful support and leaned heavily against the door frame just as Mikasa and Levi came into view around the corner.
"You're stronger than you know." He whispered, meeting her doubtful eyes again. "I hope you see that one day."
Turning slightly, he held out his arm to allow his guests to enter; Levi giving Arya no more than a terse nod as he swept by them, and Mikasa let out an exasperated snort that seemed to say something along the lines of "hmph, men".
After bidding her farewell and closing the door behind them, Arya ambled away, wrestling with her frantic thoughts and concerns. Levi's comment about their fallen companions had stuck out to her, as she was beginning to wonder the same thing.
If I had known back then what all of this was leading to, would I still have said yes to them?
Her fear said no, but Arya supposed it didn't really matter what she would have done if she had known; there was nothing left to do now but follow the path that was laid out in front of them, and hope to God that they would come out of it on the other side. Though even as she went about her room, gathering up any belongings that may prove useful to them in a dazed fog, a small voice in the back of her mind begged to ask the question:
How deep does this rabbit hole truly go?
Although it quickly became apparent that the Marlyean government didn't intend to detain them after their blatant insubordination, the newly reformed Scout Regiment was eager to remove themselves from the Parliament building and the watchful eyes of the senate. There was little to no protest as they gathered supplies and weapons for the journey, storing them in several wagons alongside the fleet of horses that would carry them South into the unclaimed portion of the continent, thought they could still hear the whispers.
Highlighting their concern over leaking information from the higher-ups, within five hours of their meeting Jean was approached by both Quinn and Alexi separately, each of them intent on joining the expedition team. Despite his reservations, they had both proven themselves able and willing soldiers, and soon after they could be found aiding Connie and Reiner with the supply wagons, matching grins on their faces.
President Wohl was still trying in vain to convince Armin to forgo their course of action and remain in Veritas as ambassadors of the state, but their two additions meetings were met with the same impasse as the first. The solidity of their plan remained the same, yet all the drive and preparation in the world couldn't make up for the fact that they had no idea where they were going.
While the rest of their team gathered what they could, Armin and Oz poured over the Marotsara texts in meticulous fervor, intent on finding anything that would point them in the right direction. All they needed was a theory; just one indication of a possible location to Ymir's Tree or a Children of Light settlement, so that the next few weeks weren't spent wandering aimlessly in some unknown land.
Arya was quick to voice her wariness over Armin's ability to travel under his current condition, especially with such a lengthy journey, but her concerns were going mostly unheeded. He assured her that all he needed was enough space in one of their carts, and with her assistance there was nothing to worry about; a phrase that Arya found ironic at best.
Historia's involvement in their mission incited another wave of protests from the Marlyean government, though unlike her attempts at forming another rescue party for Ymira, there was little they could do in way of stopping her. She had no intention of sitting idly by this time, not with the prospect of getting her daughter back so close and having what remained of her leadership team in the iron grip of the Jaegerist High Council.
Thanks to the intel provided by the Braus family, who was currently under refugee status in the capital, they learned that most of Historia's governing branches had survived the initial capture and had been placed in internment camps, though their status after the battle of Mitras was murky at best. This information did little to ease their minds, but it was better to know all the same, on the off chance that they were able to pull all of this off.
When Connie wasn't helping Jean or Reiner with supplies he could be found with Artur, Lisa and Kaya, assisting in relocating them from the congress building to a quaint apartment owned by none other than Niccolo, who possessed no desire to join them on what he considered a fool's errand, but had offered his home and hearth to the Braus' without a second thought.
When evening arrived on their second day post meeting, the moon rising warm and full over the stables where the team had gathered, the atmosphere was undoubtably tense. They were as stocked and ready as they would ever be, but it was looking more and more like they would be leaving with no destination in mind; a notion that had them all milling about nervously.
Gabi was sitting on top of a large stack of haybales in one of the far corners of the stable when Falco finally found her, hauling himself up laboriously and falling into a heap next to her.
"Jesus, where do you get the energy all the time?" He said through his wheezing, and Gabi offered him a small laugh in response.
"It's not my fault you let yourself get so out of shape."
"A fact you have no problem reminding me of, it seems."
She laughed lightly again but sighed afterwards, making Falco lift himself up to look at her curiously. She was curled up with her knees to her chest, looking down at something clutched between her small hands that she was trying to not let him see. Placing his own palm on top of hers he gave her a questioning look until Gabi eventually relented, opening her closed fist to reveal what she was holding.
"I didn't realize you had kept it." Was all he could say, running his fingers over the red Eldian armband that Gabi was showing to him.
"It's not mine, just one that I found a few years ago during the cleanup operation in Liberio." She muttered, stuffing it back into the folds of her jacket and throwing her arms over the top of her knees. "I thought it served as a good reminder of everything we had to go through to get to where we are now; but I guess it was kind of hard to let go of at first."
Falco nodded solemnly, scooting back to put his arm around her slumped shoulders.
"I know." He said, rubbing his free hand up and down her arm soothingly. "But look how far we've come since then! Did you ever think that one day would become Scouts of Paradis?! I can just about see your disgusted expression now."
She smiled at his attempt at levity, but it didn't touch her eyes.
"It's just… even back then we knew that if we helped stop the Rumbling, there were always going to be people who hated us. We've come a long way since our days in the internment zone, but that's still the truth behind it all. It doesn't matter what they are called: Marlyeans, Jaegerists, devils… it seems like no matter what we do we will always be the enemy to someone."
"Yeah, that's probably true." Falco said. "But I don't think that is special to us, honestly. Even when the Island of Devils was our main opponent we were still at war with other nations; not to mention the resentment and hatred we faced from Marly."
He leaned his chin onto Gabi's arm lightly, looking sympathetically over her distraught face.
"But we are the good guys now, Gabs. The REAL ones this time. We're part of a team that's only goal is to keep humanity safe, and not for our own selfish reasons. Besides," he continued, lifting her face to his and kissing her briefly, "even if we have to run and fight for the next ten years, we will be okay as long as we have each other."
"Gross."
Falco shoved her playfully, and this time her laughter was genuine.
"Hey lovebirds, get down here. Armin and Oz are coming." Reiner called up to them, and the two scurried down the mountain of haybales and out from under the stable eaves to where the rest of the group had gathered, watching Oz push Armin quickly across the yard in his wheelchair.
"We got it!" Oz cried, sliding to a stop just before barreling through the line of people who had been waiting patiently for them. The entire team lit up when they heard this, and Jean knelt in front of Armin's chair expectantly.
"Come on brainiac, out with it! Where are we headed?"
Armin's face was flushed and sleep deprived, yet he was grinning from ear to ear, brandishing several loose pieces of parchment in his hands.
"Unfortunately, the location we found isn't for the Tree itself, but at this point I'll take what we can get."
"What's it for, then?" Annie asked, leaning over the back of his chair to peer at the messy handwriting on the page he was holding.
"Well, if our translation was right, it's for one of the oldest Children of Light temples still left on the mainland. There were a couple others we found as well, but they are all above the Fort Salta line."
Or more simply put, wouldn't have survived the Rumbling.
"It's very deep in the unclaimed territories," Armin continued, "basically straight South of here, but it looks like we won't have to go the whole way on horseback. I got in contact with Kiyomi, and the Azumabito offered to ferry us and our supplies down to the end of the channel. From there we can head South; shouldn't take us more than a couple weeks."
Jean nodded curtly. "Everything is packed and ready to go; we could leave in the morning if we have to."
"Probably best if we do." Mikasa chimed in, having just arrived from the direction Oz and Armin had come. "I overheard Wohl and his lackeys arguing over whether or not to detain us again."
Armin shook his head in exasperation. "Better if we get a move on sooner rather than later, then. Where's Arya?"
"She wasn't in her room or the kitchens, so I assumed she was down here with you."
A quick glance around made it clear that she wasn't, and the Scouts looked between one another anxiously. Between the stress put on them from the government and the threat of Marlyean extremists, her absence could spell any number of horrible things; things that sent a shiver of unease down their spines if they thought about it too much.
As the group split up to try and track down their wayward doctor, the space that Levi had been quietly occupying near the edge of the stables had suddenly become empty.