Indefinitely - Armin X Reader

Chapter 37 | Trapped

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In the tunnel

As the Female titan's skeleton and muscles appeared from thin air, Commander Erwin's words echoed in my mind.

"We believe we've found out who the Female Titan is. The name of the girl we believe to be the Female Titan, is Annie Leonhart."

No shit. 

Armin's hand was in mine as we sprinted further down the stairs into the damp, dark depths below, my heart aching over the friend I was leaving behind. My eyes strained to see the stairs below me which were drenched in blinding, yellow light from Annie's transformation, while the steps behind me seemed to explode the second we passed them. If we had been even a few moments later, we could have met the same fate as the poor souls who had attempted to capture her. 

Why does it seem that no matter how much we try, nothing ever goes to plan. All of Erwin's and Armin's meticulous planning, the pain we went through to discover Annie's true identity - did it really all amount to becoming trapped in a fucking drain? 

After that particularly eloquent thought, I proceeded to miss the next step and fall ass over tit down the few remaining stairs, coming to a stop next to Eren who was staring at the bloodied corpse left behind in the wake of what used to be a functional stairwell. Armin barely managed to stutter out a cry of warning before Annie's hand plunged into the passage way from where we had been running mere moments ago, causing a shriek to escape me. Turning to run once more, I saw Mikasa had already seized the Eren and was dragging him behind her away from Annie's searching fingers. 

"Of course she had to have another way to transform. How long has she fucking had that?" I gasped, sprinting away from the hand that was reaching for us.

"She knew I was lying from the very start!" Arming exclaimed, his voice riddled with panic and guilt. "She saw the ambush coming from a mile away! Surely there must've been a better way.."

"There was no other way this could've gone, Ar." I reassured. "We did the best with what we had."

"Save the regrets for later!" Mikasa ordered, relenting her grip on Eren. "What should we do now?"

"Get the fuck away from her?" I suggested rhetorically, however I looked expectantly at Armin. I knew he'd know what to do. 

"First, we rendezvous with Squad 3 and get above ground, then we fight the Female Titan as per Plan B!"

My legs started aching, as the panic started to set in.

Oh god, we're mice down here for her to catch at her own convenience.

"Ere, you'll help catch her in your Titan form, just as we planned." Armin continued. "All right?"

"Yeah!" Eren confirmed, looking just as freaked out as I felt. 

"It'll be alright, Eren." I insisted, wanting to help calm him down. "You'll have all of us here to support you now." He glanced at me and gave me a small, forced smile to show he'd heard me, and appreciated my efforts. 

"Hey!" Someone yelled from ahead, and I looked up to see some of the members from Squad 3 up ahead in a small patch of sunlight.

"Did capture Plan A fail!?"

"It did!" Armin yelled back. "Please switch to the backup plan!"

In a split second, the light disappeared, covered by a ginormous shadow, and the next moment a giant foot slammed through the roof over the soldiers, sending a large gust of dust and rubble hearing in our direction.