The Commander's Wife

5: Scout Regiment Base

The next morning I couldn't bring myself to face Erwin. Our argument last night still weighs heavy on my mind and I am undeniably embarrassed, especially when I remember that I childishly splashed him when I was upset. Now that I am refreshed, I better understand why he was so cross with me leaving. I remember how frantic he looked when he thought I was missing and I wince. He was really worried.

When I finally dragged myself out of bed, Erwin was already up, arranging our things together for yet another move. I have no idea where we were going next but since the trial is over, we couldn't stay here.

I head straight for the bowl of fruit on the table and pick out an apple. A small breakfast, although I'm not very hungry. As I take a small, mindless bite, I make sure to not let my eyes wander to Erwin, or else I would have to confront what happened yesterday. 

"Good morning," Erwin says, breaking the silence. Already, I break my concentration and look toward him. I curse myself in my mind but see that his face is soft. I also realize that there was no hint of anger in his voice, he sounded completely casual.

"Good morning," I reply hesitantly and Erwin looks at me with a raised eyebrow. He sighs, sets down some of the clothes he was packing away, and walks over to me. He grabs my hand and brings it up to his lips to leave a lingering kiss, dissolving any tension I had with the contact.

"Lydia, I love you, you know that don't you?" he asks.

"Of course I do. I love you, too," I answer. He gives me a small smile.

"I was upset last night but I don't want that to linger over us from now on, okay?" he says and I nod, letting myself smile, too. At least now the argument was behind us and we could go back to normal, or at least that's what I thought before Erwin continued.

"Alright. Now I have something important to tell you." My eyebrows furrow a bit in confusion and he leads me to a chair to sit. He kneels down, holding both my hands like he's going to give me some terrible news.

"I think you should go back to Stohess," he says and I nearly jump out of the chair to argue.

"No! Erwin, I've only been gone less than a week, I'm not ready to go back. I don't want to be away from you yet!" I say and he grabs my face in his hands to calm me.

"Listen. I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen but things are going to move quickly from now on, Lydia. Eren Jaeger can turn into a titan, something we think we've never seen before except..." he pauses, "Except, I believe we have. At Shiganshina and Wall Maria, there were two titans we have never seen before and they just vanished immediately after-" I gasp.

"You're saying... that humans attacked Shiganshina?" I whisper, thinking of the day my brother was killed.

"Yes."

"But-but why would anyone want to destroy the walls, Erwin? That doesn't make sense. The walls are the only thing that protects us from the titans outside!" I ask. My mind starts to wander to the people within the walls, people I come in contact with daily, and the possibility that they could have the same ability as Eren. It wasn't an impossibility anymore, if there was one there had to be more.

"They could be from outside the walls." Erwin's definite answer disturbs me. To think that he suspects these things that seemed so impossible, people that could actually live outside the walls.