A Promise (An Attack on Titan Fanfic: Erwin Smith)

Council Summons

To nobody's surprise, both Erwin and Isanna were immediately escorted to the Military Police subdivision in Stohess to an audience with the central council; they were currently inside a convoy carriage together with Nile, with a horse pulling their ride across the asphalt.

"Are these still necessary?" Isanna asked as she lifted her cuffed hands, the cold metal chains rattling at the movement, before she let them fall back on her lap. "My wrists feel sore."

"Quiet, Herrmann," Nile, who was sitting across her, said. "I'll take it off when we arrive."

"Why not now?"

"Because the probability of you escaping lies around ninety-nine percent, and I'm not taking any chances."

Isanna scoffed and rolled her eyes. She was a woman of lot of things, but she was certainly not the type to escape summons from the central council, more so especially after the stunt they had pulled in Stohess. After their succesful-but-kinda-failure of a capture of the female titan, she knew refraining from retaliating against the monarchy was the best way to at least minimize their punishments. It was probably what Erwin was thinking, as well.

"You're still as insufferable as ever," Nile said, frowning. "How do you even work with someone as rigid as Erwin?"

Isanna sneaked a glimpse at the blond sitting beside her. Amid the occasional exchange of words between her and Nile, Erwin on the other hand, was just silently gazing out through the window at his side, wearing a contemplative look, probably thinking of what he's going to say to the council; the sun was setting in dark shades of oranges, casting silhouettes across the buildings and houses that were lined up in an array around the city.

"How we work is none of your business," Isanna said.

Scoffing, Nile reclined deeper against the cushion of his seat and crossed his arms together. He darted his eyes between the two soldiers sitting in front of him, those same two who happened to be a part of his closest circle years ago.

Isanna decided to quiet down and stretch her patience for a few more minutes. As her thoughts drifted back to the results of their recent operation, frustration and the growing dread of facing the council began to form. She chewed the insides of her cheeks.

Damn it, the least fate could have done for them was to allow them to capture Annie Leonhart successfully. You'd think they deserved some kind of reward after all the shit they'd went through.

"I hope you two have some sort of plan out of this," said Nile, breaking the silence. "What you did was no light thing; many people died."

"Welcome to the Survey Corps," Isanna muttered under her breath, although the two men still heard it loud and clear.

Nile scowled. "And you sound so nonchalant about it too."

Something about his words blew a ruse in her.

"You think I wanted people to die? What were we supposed to do? You and your unicorns were going to put Eren down like a dog, and humanity needs him. We had to do something."

"Don't you understand, Herrmann?" Nile retorted, leaning forward from his seat. "All of this mess is because of that titan boy; this is why I didn't want to leave him in your and Erwin's hands, because I knew you'd use his powers the wrong way." He clicked his tongue, scowl deepening. "All you Scouts are always doing the nastiest things."

"That kid," she seethed in reply, "is the hope of humanity. Someone who hides and cowers behind the walls while wearing a stupid damn unicorn on his back, has no right to put down the soldiers who are always fighting for their lives in the front lines. You will never understand that, Dok, because you're just one big, piece of shitty coward."