ɴᴏ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴡʜᴀᴛ | ᴇʀᴇɴ ᴊᴀᴇɢᴇʀ

15: 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗇𝗈𝗐?

"What will we do now, lieutenant?" Armin asks, the corners of his lips twitching into a smile at the nickname.

"We need to do something quickly. We don't know what the situation upstairs is, so Eren could be eaten for all we know," you reply.

Despite this, no one speaks up. Your eyes are focused on your comrades as you approach Jean to demand an answer, but Artur speaks up instead.

"Can we leave now?" Artur asks while his family stands behind him, looking anxiously between Nicolo and you.

Nicolo turns around and reassures him, "Sorry, just hold on a bit longer."

"I've been saying Eren's dangerous since we were cadets," Jean grits his teeth while speaking in a lower register, his gaze fixated on the floor. His hands curl into fists. "That he's a shithead who would lead us into hell. Still, I always envied that asshole for being so cool, and it pisses me off to say it, but I don't want him to die just yet."

The corners of your lips rise into a fraction of a smile. You knew how much strength it must have taken for a man of such pride and honor to say something like that. To admit a bubbling insecurity that he harbored for many years.

"Yeah. If he dies like this, I can't slug Eren in the face," Connie announces, staring smugly at Jean.

Onyankapon nods his head. "Let's go!"

He took off for the stairs, and the rest of you followed him. You hear Nicolo shout something behind you to the Braus family, and multiple pairs of footsteps join you. The torches flicker as you pass them, the flames dancing in the breeze.

"If Eren is hiding his intentions, why did he push us away?" Mikasa enquires to Armin, who is running next to her. "Why would Eren say that he hates me?"

"Well...Could it be...?" Armin trails off, lost in thought, "Anyways, Eren and I have known about your headaches for a long time. He probably said that to make it believable." You and Mikasa's heads snap to Armin. You're still slightly lost on what they're talking about exactly. You know that Eren said some horrible things to both of them and lied, but you don't know the extent of it.

"He had to come up with a lie. Once this is all over, we can ask him," Armin concludes, and Mikasa lets out a humming noise in agreement. The three of you slowed your pace down as you reached the start of the tunnel. The light filters in and illuminates the last ten stone steps, but a single person stands at the exit. You squint your eyes at the intensity of the sunlight, holding a hand above your eyes to get a better look at the mystery person.

You furrowed your eyebrows. The beige jacket the soldier had on was a...training corps? Why the hell is someone from the training corps here?

You nudge Mikasa's side to get her attention with your elbow, and her head shifts in your direction. You jerk your head to the cadet with a gun in front of you. Mikasa's lips part in an 'O' shape as she understands what you meant, and she, too, is just as confused.

"Hey! Stop!" Jean halts mid-step at his command before continuing a moment later. "This area is run by Jaegerists! You can't just-!"

Ah, so that's who he is. Fucking traitor.

When Jean reaches the top of the staircase, he grabs the Jaegerists collar in his hand and bunches it as he pulls him forward so he can't miss Jean's upcoming words. "Tell me, cadet: You gonna risk your life to stop us from helping your Lord Jaeger?"

"No..." the Jaegerist falters. Connie passes by, his shoulder bumping the shoulder of the soldier in Jean's grasp.

Connie pauses in front of the doorway and sees two more trainees. "Open up all the cells!"