Indefinitely - Armin X Reader

Chapter 19 | Speeches

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Pixis' speech

I was sitting on the wall, legs dangling over the great drop as I looked down at the thronging crowd below. I could see a multitude of soldiers and trainees mixed in with the civilians, however I couldn't make out their faces. I wondered how many of them were people I knew. I wondered if Jean, Connie, Sasha or Marco were among them. After all the tragedy and stress we had witnessed that day, I would have given anything to go back to the way things way used to be. The simple days where were we could mess around after training and joke about trivial things. I missed playing around with Sasha and Connie during our mealtimes, scolding Jean after he got into yet another pointless fight with Eren, and having earnest talks with Marco about what the future would hold for us. He would always talk about how eager he was to serve the king, and it was refreshing to hear someone talk with so much honesty. He was also the only one who seemed to understand mine and Eren's desire to join the Survey Corp. If Reiner was the big brother figure amongst his friends, then Marco was the little brother, wise beyond his years, although now that I thought about it, all of my friends now felt like family. But most of all, more than all of those things, I missed the simple times with Armin, whether it be training, talking during dinner, studying in the library or just relaxing in his presence; when we felt as though that these days would last forever. 

But, at the same time, I was grateful for this chance that had been thrust into our hands. Our time as trainees  was over, but this next chapter of our lives was more different than I'd ever imagined. We finally had a plan, a sliver of hope to change the way humanity lived and fought. If we could use Eren's ability, humanity could have a chance at beating the titans and regaining the land outside the walls. The life I had five years ago, or something close to it, could return.

We would finally have a way to see the outside world. Surely, it had to be better than the world inside the walls. Fields of sand, flaming water, lands made of ice, and the ocean. Surely, they had to exist. And I had to see it, with Armin by my side, as it was him who had introduced me to these wonders that made life sound so much more beautiful than it was.

Pixis was in the middle of his speech to the crowds below, and it dawned on me that I should have been paying attention. Words from a man like him were sure to inspire hope in anyone's heart. And god knows we needed it. 

Idiot. Pay attention. 

"The guilt is ours. We share the blame. All of us." Pixis was gesturing loudly, his voice echoing down the wall and engulfing the people below him. Normally I would wonder how the people could hear the words of a man standing on top of Wall Rose, but Pixis' voice was booming with a commanding tone. 

"When Wall Maria fell, it's refugees turned to us for help, and we sustained ourselves on the slaughter of the 250,000 citizens who fought to retake their homes. If Trost falls, who will you turn to? If Wall Rose succumbs, the population will flock to take shelter within Wall Sina, yet the lands within it cannot support even half the people now alive in these walls. If we are wiped off the face of the Earth, it will not be because of the titans, I assure you. No, we will have done it to ourselves. Humanity now has a chance unlike any other to seize back our city, and our land. Will you refuse this chance?"

Pixis' volume increased, now screaming passionately, and I stared at him in wonder.

"If the line is not drawn now, it will not be drawn it all. If we do not fight here, there will be nothing that can be done, and humanity will smother itself out. If we must die, let us die here!"