To Seek Freedom Or to Seek Home

Chapter 7 - New Scents

A few days later, a MP soldier stepped in and called Mikasa, Armin, and myself gave us the order to attend and act as witness to what I could assumed was Eren's deliberation. I gave a nervous glance to Reiner and Bertholdt, the latter rubbing my knuckles as I stood quietly. Both whispered 'good luck' and I left with the MP soldier and the other two.

Once we were inside the courthouse, I stood beside Mikasa and Armin, no expression on my face as I watched Eren be pushed forward by a gun and chained to a pillar.

What I wasn't expecting, was to suddenly be sniffed by one of the survey corps section commanders.

I jolted towards Mikasa in shock, biting my lips together to hide the shocked yet amused laughter and smile that wanted to come out. This was definitely not the time nor place to laugh out.

The man, who the person next to him introduced as Mike Zacharias (and they introduced themselves as Hanji Zoe), apparently had a tendency to sniff new people. They said that typically Mike wouldn't have done so in a place like this, he obviously had respect and self restraint, so I must have caught the man's interest.

I quietly introduced myself to them both, but Mike eyed me as if I had three heads. That definitely caught Hanji's attention and they looked at me curiously, as if trying to visually find what had made Mike look at me so oddly.

Before they could say anything though, the premier walked in and we went silent out of respect.

Almost immediately, I felt bored. Court stuff was never fun. I noticed Mike and Hanji both walked away, and a few moments later came out on the balcony where nine other MPs stood.

I hated Nile Dawk the moment he spoke.

He spoke of Eren like he was an object rather than a person. And by association, he'd think the same of Reiner and Bertholdt. That pissed me off.

I was tempted to speak up, but also very much didn't want to have to deal with the legal trouble nor the suspicion it would raise for me, as welll as Bertholdt and Reiner. With a few words I could ruin their mission and I desperately didn't want to do that.

Completely the opposite of Dawk, when Commander Erwin spoke he spoke of Eren as if he were simply a dangerous human (which he was). The blonde commander earned my respect as he spoke, and I hope that showed in my eyes.

The struggle not to speak against the MP side got significantly harder when one of them, who didn't even look like he was soldier at all, interrupted Erwin.

I enjoyed the insults Levi threw their way, only to glare at Rico when the premiere spoke of the report.

Mikasa spoke truthfully, and as gossip broke out I took the chance to speak myself.

"However, premiere, he saved Mikasa's life twice before in titan form, as well as saving the lives of dozens of cadets during the original Trost incident." I spoke, and my voice was full of authority. I made way for Mikasa to speak again, nodding at her. I placed a hand on her shoulder as well, reassuring her.

"Shortly after Trost fell, I was nearly killed by a titan but then Eren came. He stepped in and protected me. The second time, he transformed to shield Armin and me from cannon fire." She spoke.

"On the third occasion, back during Trost, he only targeted other titans and was lead towards headquaters. There, he took down titan after titan while we were able to retake headquarters and refuel. Not once during that incident did he cause the casualty of a soldier. We emplore you to take into consideration both sides of this." I take the reigns once more, only speaking truth.

Not two seconds went by before Dawk called for an objection. Immediately my brow twitched. I was so close to shoving my boot in this man's mouth.

"I have reason to believe that personal feelings play a large part in their testimony. Let the records show that Mikasa Ackerman was orphaned at a young age and was subsequently taken in by the Jeager family." He spoke, and every word made me more irritated.