Hand in Hand

13. Suspicious

It had been one month since the rescue mission to retrieve Eren Yeager from the Armored Titan. Since then, no missions have been conducted outside the walls. The scouts couldn't afford to lose any more cadets. Many had asked for time off to visit their families, and Commander Erwin felt he was in no position to deny their requests. The ones who didn't ask for time off stayed behind to help clean and take care of the Survey Corps Trost District Branch.

Hanji had been adamant about making sure Erwin stayed on bed rest. During the first week back, he mostly slept and only woke up during the day for a couple of hours at a time to eat. Along with his arm and a large amount of blood loss, he had lost almost all motivation to work. His only entertainment was when (y/n) brought him his meals. She would make sure to sit and talk with him until he fell back asleep. Now, a month later, he was finally back on his feet.

"The divine Commander returns from the dead!" Hanji yells.

(Y/n) and Levi turned their heads to see Erwin walking into the room. A meeting had been called regarding the night before the rescue mission. All scouts of higher rank that had not taken leave, as well as captains and section commanders, were asked to attend.

Erwin closed the door behind him and walked into the main office at the Survey Corps Trost District Branch. Sitting down he said, "Ah yes, I'm finally awake and walking. I only wish this meeting wasn't so early in the morning. Sit down everyone, I'd like to get started."

(Y/n), Levi, and Hanji, along with other notable members all took their seats at a long rectangular table that stretched from one end of the room to the other.

"So," Erwin stared, "We're hearing from two scouts today?"

"Yes, we are," Hanji confirmed, fixing her glasses and looking at her paperwork. "First, we'll hear from Connie Springer on what happened at Utguard Castle before my squad and I got there. He says they saw a titan they had never seen before. He called it the Beast Titan."

"And the other?"

"Historia Reiss; better known as Christa Lenz."

"The royal girl," Levi chimed in, taking a sip of his tea.

"Oh!" Hanji exclaimed. "I almost forgot. I'll also be reading a letter written by Eren. It is of a conversation he recalled between Bertholdt and Ymir when they were captured by Reiner and Bertholdt."

"Why can't he be here with us today?" Erwin asked. (Y/n) looked across the table at Hanji and choked down a laugh.

Hanji snapped her fingers at (y/n) before turning to Erwin and politely saying, "Yes, well Eren is sort of stuck in bed at the moment. You see, and it isn't fully my fault, but the experiments I've been conducting over the past month on his titan form have taken just a tiny bit of a strain on him... maybe."

'The "maybe" you added doesn't make it any better Hanji,' (y/n) thought to herself.

Erwin nodded reluctantly. "I see. Alright then, (y/n), would you please let in Connie Springer?"

"Of course," she said, lightly touching his shoulder as she walked past him with a smile.

Levi tensed in his seat. 'Since when was she so close to Erwin?'

(Y/n) walked to the door and opened it, turning to the left where Connie was waiting outside eagerly. "Connie, we're ready for you."

Connie walked over and sat next to (y/n). He nervously looked around at all the scouts and his legs began to tremble. Turning to Erwin he said, "I'm Connie Springer of the 104th Cadet Corps, sir!"

Erwin laughed and replied, "Yes I think we know. Why don't you start by explaining, what you call, the Beast Titan?"

"How do I start?" Connie muttered. "It was at Utguard Castle, before the mission to retrieve Eren. Before titans started attacking us, that thing just appeared."