Beyond Freedom (Attack on Titan X Male!Reader)

Chapter 4: Four

You made your way outside and were immediately struck by the grim reminder of humanity's plight.  The courtyard was flooded with refugees, many were murmuring amongst each other, their voices lacking any sort of energy, and some were sat up against the walls, mothers, fathers; some with children, some without. Your heart ached for everyone who had been evacuated, you had never seen so much hardship and suffering in your life. 

Eren's face dropped at the sight, you knew that he'd just been reminded of everyone's situation, of his situation. Wall Maria, Shiganshina, his family. His... Family? 

"Eren." 

He looked at you with the same dull eyes you first saw on him. 

"Yeah?" 

"You told me about Mikasa and Armin earlier, but... Y- Your mother... Did she-" 

He turned his head away from you and moved his gaze towards the ground, his fists clenched. You both stopped walking. 

"I'm sorry..." is all you could muster to say as he tried to stifle his whimpers, tears now streaming down his face. He moved his sights towards the clouded sky, his eyes now filled with rage and contempt.  

"I'll slaughter them... Every single one..."   

...

A few moments passed before you put your hand on his shoulder, although his tears were dried, his gaze remained unmoved from the sky above. 

"We should find Armin and Mikasa, they couldn't have gone far." 

He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and looked back at you. You just wish you had something you could say something more to help console your friend. "Yeah... I'm guessing they're somewhere around those ration stalls further up."  

As if on queue, a blond haired boy and a black haired girl came running out of the crowd gathered around the ration tents towards your immediate vicinity. 

"Eren!" they both shouted in unison as they jogged up to him, seemingly not registering your presence at all. "Armin, Mikasa..." he mumbled out, taken aback by the amount of bread that the blond haired boy was carrying in his arms. "My grandpa managed to get these for us! It wasn't easy, but he managed to get a little extra when he mentioned he had kids to feed. I guess they were too busy to question him over it..." he said with a hopeful smile towards Eren.  

"Thanks..." Eren replied with a somber tone, taking the scrap of bread bread that the boy offered him and holding it with both of his hands. "Thank you." the girl said with a smile, taking her own share and holding it in a similar manner to Eren. 

The boy turned his gaze towards you and gave a confused look for a second, before Eren spoke up. 

"Oh, this is (Y/N). He knows my dad, so I guess he's a family friend."  

You looked at Eren with a smile and turned your head towards the blond haired boy, who's confused expression shifted to that of a smile similar to your own. You turned your cheerful expression towards the girl, who gave you an inexpressive glare in return. 

"Oh! Well, any friend of Eren is a friend of ours! I'm Armin, by the way." he said "And this is Mikasa." he introduced, as he looked towards the girl with a smile. She looked away from you and back at him before granting the blond a small nod, as if giving her approval for you to be standing with them. 

"It's good to meet you! Mr Yeager used to say that you were pretty smart, but then again he called me polite, so..." you trailed off, scratching the back of your neck. His cheeks went a shade of red as he began to stutter "S-Smart? Well I don't know about that... I- I'm actually sort of a burden now you mention it..." he began to trail off, scratching the back of his neck in a manner similar to yours. Eren just gave him a deadpan look  and rolled his eyes as you could still feel Mikasa staring a hole through your skull.