The Devil is Watching You

•37•

(NOT EDITED)

"I take it he's not always like that," you break the silence after sitting in the quiet carriage for twenty minutes.

"No..." Armin shakes his head. "I don't know who that is."

"Do you think he lied about me being an Ackerman?" You question, hoping that it's all just him playing some sort of joke.

"I-" he starts, but takes in a weak breath. "I think he's right. It explains a lot, it really does. Specially since you lived in the outskirts of wall Maria where most people go to live in peace away from others. Mikasa's family lived out there as well. But he said needed you alive... I don't know what he wants with you."

"He said that I was supposed to bring the nations together... that's why I was chosen. But—" you grab your skirt in your fists and clench your jaw. "I don't want to. I know it's selfish. But I want nothing to do with this war, Armin. I've hated every moment of being a warrior for Marley. That's why Bertholdt always tried to keep me from the chaos... but now I'm in the middle of it."

"I don't want this for you either," he looks up from the seat beside you and stares into your worried eyes. "I'm going to figure out how to get you out of this. It's not your duty to be the peacemaker. I won't have Eren use you. Not like how he's used us."

"Armin..." you stare at him longingly, wondering
just exactly how he's going to save you from whatever Eren wants.

It goes quiet again... Mikasa is silent, her face full of sorrow from the words Eren had spoken to her. True or not, they hurt her pretty badly. The person she loved most has ruined her.

Then there's Gabi... She hasn't looked at you since she found out about your secret past. With how she is and her loyalty to Marley, it comes at no surprise how betrayed she feels. However, she's just a kid and doesn't understand just how complicated the situation is.

In fact, you don't even understand what's going on or what you have to do with Eren's plan. You guess is that he wants to use you to unite Paradis and Marley, but that seemed almost impossible.

And you don't want to... it's not fair to have the war resting on your shoulders. You want no part of this. All you wish is to live in peace and never have to see the repercussions of war ever again.

Your leg starts to sting again, so you lift your skirt up, exposing the wound on the side of your right thigh. It's really bloody, but it's not too deep or life threatening.

"You need to get that cleaned," Armin looks down at your exposed leg. "It could get infected."

"Yeah," you nod. "I'll see if I can take care of it when we get to wherever we're going."

Armin frowns and then looks out of the window. I pull my skirt back down and and rest my head against the side of the carriage.

~Flashback~

"Sweetie," my mom sits beside me on the bed, her hand resting on my thigh. "You know I love you more than anything, right?"

"Of course," you grab onto her hand and smile cheerfully at her.

"One of these days... You're going to have your life change. You won't be a little girl anymore, you'll be stronger. Strong enough that you could accomplish many great things."

"Why are you acting weird, mommy?" You frown.

"I just want you to know that you don't have to fight..." she caresses your face. "You worry about yourself. I want you to live a long happy life."