The Walls We've Built - ◈ ARMIN ARLERT X OC ◈

Chapter 27 - Betrayal

"Huh? What is he doing?" Hange booms distressed, Gen comes to my side to get a better view of the sight below. Following her is Rosette who stands a bit too close to the edge, I quickly grab her arm pulling her back but she doesn't react. She watches Eren with focused eyes, curious to see what happens next, I continue to do the same intrigue to see how this unravels.
"Is she crying?" Rosette mumbles, leaning back on the roof.

I let go of her arm and stand by her side, a sudden blinding flash of blue light shutters from Eren and Annie's titan bodies. We all squint and shield our eyes, then immediately go back to observing them. There's now a dimmer light between the two as Eren screams; they seem to be seeping together, or combining in some way, becoming one?

"They're merging?!" Armin announces in astonishment. Rosette stumbles back on the rooftop, I look at her for a split second, before turning back to the extraordinary sight. As I do, I watch a crystal like material from around Annie, anger bubbles at my core, I know that if that crystal is anything like the type that formed on her hand there is no hope of getting her out of it. Before I can react Eren's ear-piercing scream fills the air, followed by a strong gust of wind which almost pushes me off my feet. His scream only gets louder with time. In the corner of my eye I watch Mikasa gliding down to the floor below us to meet Annie.

"Eren!" Mikasa cries running over to him, but he doesn't notice her. The blue light disappears revealing Annie frozen inside a crystallised sphere-like armour. Levi suddenly appears out of nowhere, his ODM gear is engaged as slices open Eren's nape and pulls out his human body. He gets a better hold of Eren's body, cutting him free from the flesh that still holds onto him. Mikasa goes sprinting towards him, holding his unconscious body in her arms, my gaze shifts behind them to the two motionless titan corps that begin to disintegrate in clouds of steam.

I look over to Armin who nods his head towards Eren and Mikasa implying that we should go down. I nudge Gen beside me before engaging my ODM gear, following his lead. As we reach the ground, Armin runs to Eren and Mikasa, dropping to his knees to study Eren's unconscious face. Gen grabs my arm pulling me towards them, we stand a fair distance away, watching as Mikasa sobs with Eren in her arm. I look over to Gen, knowing we are both thinking about Jacob. We haven't seen him all day and now watching Eren, Mikasa and Armin all together I can't help but pray that he's ok. I'm still upset with him, but that doesn't mean I don't care any less.

We stand there for a moment longer as I analyse Eren's face before Gen pulls me away. The silence that lingers across Stohess is louder than any scream I've heard today. We walk over to Jean and the others who stand in front of the crystal ball that is now Annie Leonhart. She lies there with her eyes closed, she isn't dead but this is enough, she is no longer a threat to us, for now. The high pitch screech of a blade being drawn catches my attention as I watch Jean bring his sword down on Annie's crystal.

"Damn it!" He yells, hitting it again. "What the hell?! After all this, we get the silent treatment?! Annie! Get out here! Get out here and pay for what you've done! Come on! Don't be a coward! Annie! Annie!" He rages, I guess this isn't enough for some of us.

Pieces of his sword come flying off in every direction. I'm about to cover my face as an arm reaches out, grabbing Jean before he can continue. I watch as Captain Levi firmly holds Jean in place, stopping him from causing anymore damage to his sword and those around him.

"Stop," he says coldly, bringing down Jean's arm, "and don't kill your comrade."

Jean shrugs him off, turning around to face Rosette, "Oh, sorry" He apologises sincerely, making Rosette smile.

"Hey guys." A familiar voice calls behind us making me pivot on my feet.

I look over to see Jacob staring back at us, his uniform is intact signalling that he hasn't been injured but his hair is a mess and there are blood stains covering his mouth and face. I take a sharp breath in, both glad to see he is ok and reminded of his appalling behaviour the other night. I look over to Gen who stares at him completely stunned, almost as if she was caught off guard. She studies him intensely watching his every movement.