『𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐬』ₐᵣₘᵢₙ ₓ ₐₙₙᵢₑ

【9】

48 hours before the wedding

"Two days before the wedding I want Jean and Ymir to go down to the dungeon for a friendly visit with four-eyes and Armin..." Jean recited Levi's plan for him and Ymir as they snuck through one of the catacombs a few days later.

The catacomb was dark causing it to be hard for them to see where they were going, even if they brought a candle to provide them a source of light. Jean would casually jump out of fear as he felt cobwebs brushing against his arms.

" Why are you so nervous, Horse face?" Ymir asked snarkily.

"Oh I don't maybe cause I don't like spiders, and my name is Jean not horseface,"

Ymir just shrugged at his comment as she made her way past the boy so that she could find the door out of the dark area. Her fingers brushed past the rocky feeling hoping to find a hollow area indicating that there was a door in front of them. It took a minute but she finally found it in hopes that no one would be walking by as she opened the passageway. As the two walked into the dungeons they were hit by a source of light in their eyes, causing their vision to become hazy for a second. Once their vision came back the two looked at each other and nodded as Jean stood by the opening on watch while Ymir went to find Hanji and Armin.

It took her a few seconds to find them but when she did, they looked at her as if they were going to pass out in the next ten or so minutes. Ymir sneekly opened up her cape to show that she brought food and water for them so they wouldn't die on her before the wedding happened. Hanji took the potato from Ymir's hand and shoved it in her mouth. Her hands felt a secure warmth as she ate the potato that was supplied to her.

"How is Annie doing?" Hanji asked as she took the last bite of her potato.

"Not well..." Ymir said, causing Armin to perk his head up to look at her in fear. "Mikasa and Sasha are keeping her sane before the wedding tomorrow, at least for as long as they can." Ymir continued on.

She turned her head slightly, facing Armin as she slid a knife under the bars of his cell. Armin looked at her confused by her action until Armin suddenly realized what Ymir wanted him to do with the harmful object in front of him. He grabbed a good amount of hair in his hand, taking the knife near his head slicing off his semi long locks. The section he cut off fell down on the floor near Hanji.

"wha- OOOOOOOooooooo let me help!" Hanji said with excitement, while taking the knife from his hand. Ymir didn't want to see the result of his hair, causing her to leave the two alone, dragging Jean out by the ear. Jean lightly waved his hand telling them "see you later" as the Catacombs door closed shut.

✰✰✰

Knock Knock

Annie heard, not wanting to answer knowing that it had been Bertholdt who was waiting for her outside of the door. She blindly ignored him in hopes that he would go away, but he never did.The door suddenly made a squeaking sound as it opened causing her to look up to see her fiance closing the door behind him. She looked into his eye's showing him that she hated him with every bone in her body, and that she would never trust him again.

"How long are you going to pretend like you're in love with that village boy, Armin?" Bertholdt asked, walking closer to Annie, small figure.

She snapped her eyes open at his words, not knowing what he meant by her loving Armin. She knew deep down she couldn't disagree with him, even if she had wanted too though. The prince in front of her smirked at her expression finding out that his future wife didn't know that she was in love. He merely said it to mess with her not knowing if she was actually in love with the village boy, but when he found out his answer he couldn't hold back from snapping anymore.

The prince didn't waste a second to pin Annie to the wall with a dagger up to her throat as he held her arms down. He slightly gave her a smirk knowing that he had some sort of effect on the princess in front of him. Bertholdt kept a steady hand on the dager, moving it up so that it could lightly rest below Annie's chin as he stared into her lost blue eyes. The princess took notice at how Bertholdt's attention was too focused on her, giving her the opportunity to escape from his grasp.

Her knee came up forcefully hitting the prince in the stomach making him wince in pain. He dropped the dagger into Annie's hands causing her to chuck it across the room where he wouldn't be able to reach it. She kneeled down looking at the prince as her hand made contact with his face earning him a hard slap that left a red hand mark. This time it was her turn to put him in his place.

"I may have to marry you, but I will never love you the way you want me to," she spat out while leaving him to lay in her room with pain.

Making her way out the door she found herself bumping into two kids who had been running beforehand. She took a look at the kids seeing that one of them was a young boy who had light brown hair and a bandage on the temple on his face, while the other was a girl who had dark brown hair that was tied up. She politely apologized and lef the two to be alone. Annie made her way to the castle garden to take a breath of fresh air to clear her mind of everything coming up within the next thirty-four hours.

She looked up at the sky seeing how gloomy it was. Her body laid on the grass that she was recently standing upon. Thinking of how messed up her life had become recently, she questioned why her, out of everyone in the universe, why did she have to be the one in a situation like this. Even if that pondered in her mind, she understood why she had been in that situation perfectly. That doesn't mean that she would have to agree with the possible outcomes that were going to happen. Annie closed her eyes, picturing the night where she first met the village boy. Her mind then wondered off on its own remembering the kiss, the one she shared with him, the one thing that made her forget the fight she had with Bertholdt. In that moment she knew that she did fall for Armin, she knew that she was in love with him...

Four hours before the wedding

"You love her, don't you?" Hanji asked the boy in the next cell.

"What? That's absurd, I don't even know what love feels like," He insisted.

"Really now?" Hanji replied sounding unconvinced as she looked at Armin.

He nodded in reply as his head was slowly placed between his knees. For the past forty-four hours all he could think about was Annie. He wished that he was next to her, seeing her laugh at the smallest things he did to embarrass himself. He wanted to be the one who got to see her walk down the aisle, looking more beautiful than he could ever imagine. Armin thought about how he would delicately kiss Annie's forehead and tuck a white rose into her hair if he were with her at that moment. He imagined how the princess would smile and blush at the slightest contact they made causing him to react the same way. As he was so deep in thought he didn't notice that Hanji was looking at him smiling.

"You know what? I think I do love her," Armin said. Hanji was about to say something in awe but couldn't due to the fact that a 5'2 captain stopped her from doing so.

"Tch, if you two are done with your conversation I have the key to let you out," Levi stated holding up the keys to the cell in his hand along with a pair of extra clothes for both of them to change into.

"Levi you came!" Hanji excitedly squealed, taking the clothes and key out of his hand.

"I would have left you here for-eye if Erwin didn't tell me to get the two of you out before the wedding started."

"Awe, looks like the captains are trying to become one of those enemies to lovers' stories,'' Ymir's voice could be heard as she walked in through the catacombs. She placed herself onto the walls as she waited for Armin and Hanji to be ready so she could take them to a hiding spot before the wedding could start.

"We're ready," Armin said, stepping out of the cell he stayed in for the past two and a half days.

"Good lets go" .