𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙩 || Eren Jaeger

𝒶 𝒸𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓁𝒾𝓏𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒶𝓁𝓀

11

«True friends stab you in the front»
—Bring Me The Horizon

____________

Waking up was like trying to benchpress 50 pounds using only her eyelids, a deep heaviness rendering her still on the floor, pinning her limbs in place and eliminating any bodily function.

The first thing she saw through half-cracked eyelids was Jean's face. It was quite jarring, and from what Jo's half-drugged brain could decipher in his expression, he was finding the sight of her lying flat on the floor of abandoned dungeons equally jarring, if not more.

After a good six minutes of slurring incoherent words, traces of the drug started to recede and Jo could finally sit up, every inch of muscle prickling as her senses awakened from their unresponsive state.

Jean kept asking if she was okay, if she had been injured. Jo did not answer. She only stared aghast at the large, gaping crater left in the wall where Eren escaped, the breeze from outside blowing in concrete ash that covered the floor like a dusty carpet.

She expected to feel bitterness, or at least a stinging regret at having been overpowered by the Jaegerists. But she realizes now, as the Levi squad and Hanji near a local restaurant on horseback, that she is filled with nothing but emptiness.

"If one of the Jaegerists was working as a nurse on the medical unit, it would make sense that Eren got a sedative from them. Perhaps chloroform..." Hanji ponders aloud.

"Bastard knew he'd have to drug me otherwise he wouldn't stand a chance." Jo mutters under her breath as they hop off their horses.

"I think it's more than that," Armin says thoughtfully. "Maybe... he couldn't bear to fight you."

Jo disagrees silently. Yes, Armin has a knack for looking at things from a different lens, and its helped bring to light obscured truths before, but this to her just sounds like wishful thinking. It's hard to believe Eren cares about her still. If he did care, he'd stop all this Rumbling crap.

Right?

He wanted to save humanity before. Before they discovered the ocean and other nations. Back in those simpler times, Eren wouldn't deny anyone's right to life. Now he's sacrificing human lives in order to save others. So what changed his mind? I mean, who is he doing all this for?

Himself, I guess. Jo mentally answers her own curiosity.

"Keep an eye out for any suspicious activity," Hanji says as they approach the restaurant's entrance.

They're here to quell what Hanji described as "a hunch" on her part. Revelations about Yelena's true intentions were aired out earlier during an interrogation with Pixis. Her and some of the Marleyan volunteers have been working with the Jaegerists to catapult Eren and Zeke's plan, which mainly involves the Rumbling, into action.

But they've been planning ahead for a long time, allowing for room to get creative. Darius Zackley's death was orchestrated by them. And other facets to this Rumbling scheme are yet to take place, but Hanji thinks she's got her finger on one.

And strangely enough, it's got something to do with the Marleyans working at this luxurious dine-in restaurant.

"Hanji?" Niccolo emerges from the kitchen doors, stepping into the lobby. He takes a gander at all of them. "What are you guys doing here? I'm busy cooking for some important guests..."