The Innermost Sins

Chapter 9

Armin had been dismissed by Hanji within the hour after Levi dragged Mikasa and Eren off to who-knows-where, and needless to say, he had no idea what to think. The sudden realisation that there could be a child was a heavy burden to bear, so when the Section Commander returned and told him to return to regular training, warning him not to say anything of the incident to anyone, he made his way back to the barracks with his head swimming.

Things had been tricky before. Maintaining a "relationship", or whatever Eren and Mikasa classified themselves as had been tricky. Trying to hide it from everyone else was tricky. But this...? If he had guessed correctly...it wasn't tolerable to think about. A relationship was bad enough to try and cope with, but at least it was relatively harmless. Whereas, if there was a child...

That night, neither Eren nor Mikasa made an appearance at dinner, and by the time curfew was called and the lights were put out, the bunk adjacent to Armin's was empty. He was frightened. To have been discovered by Levi of all people- Hanji, he assumed, would have been at least semi-supportive. There was, after all, too much scope for new research in the situation for them to be angry. But anyone else- particularly Levi- probably wouldn't be so lenient. The fate of his friends was ominous. He hoped, he prayedthey were alright; that he would see them both in the morning, and it was all a big misunderstanding; and Mikasa wasn't pregnant, and there was no need for this anxiety welling within him- they were just being punished for breaching the rules and it would all return to normal, platonic comfort after this...

"Hey...Armin?" A hiss from the next bed over issued.

He rolled over, propping himself up on his elbows and passed a wearied hand over the lower half of his face. "What is it, Connie?" he asked dejectedly.

"Where's Eren?"

Armin sighed and sank back into his pillow, the familiar agitation worming up from the pits of his stomach once more. The bitter taste of a lie spread over his tongue.

"I don't know."

...

The next morning brought a collective groan from the male cadets in the bunkhouse as the door banged open and Section Commander Ness's voice bellowed, "Asses out of bed- it's evaluation day!"

"Shit," Jean moaned into his pillow, gruff voice muffled. "I completely forgot...evaluation."

"Remind me, what's evaluation day?" Connie looked up groggily. Drowsiness still ringed his bleary eyes as he turned to Armin expectantly.

"Fucking hell, Connie, does anything stick in your head?"

"It's like an aptitude test," Armin sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand as his gaze fell on Eren's bed next to his. Its sheets were still pulled taut over the mattress, and alas, no sign of having been used. Eren was still gone. Then again, he had expected as much. However, it didn't stop the all-too familiar sinking feeling of dread.

"Basically, they want to see how much we've improved after the last few months since joining the Survey Corps," Reiner explained. He stood up, raising his arms above his head and stretched, mouth yawning open languidly. "It's something to do with preparations for missions, or whatever bull crap they've come up with to cover the fact up that its hours of them pummeling our asses into dust."

"Oh great," Connie grumbled. "That's why they're getting us up at the crack of dawn. Brilliant."

Eventually, after prodding Bertolt out of bed, they all managed to stir and start getting ready, dressing and fixing the straps of the maneveur gear's harnesses, all quietly sombered by the lackluster anticipation of whatever today's evaluation may bring.