Hand in Hand

29. Truth

"So, Historia lied to all of us?" Sasha asked her comrades.

Connie shook his head, his eyes wide in disbelief. "I don't think she knew." He turned to Hanji frantically. "Section Commander, do you remember when you called in Historia and me to talk about the attack on Wall Rose? She told us she barely knew her father. She couldn't have been lying all these years."

"Regardless of her true lineage, she was still taken against her will by Lord Reiss." Hanji took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes vigorously. Mumbling, she added, "Do we even call him Lord now?"

"There's no way calling that bastard a King," Jean snapped. "He can get the end of my blade before that happens."

Sasha and Connie agreed with him, their rowdy attitudes contrasting with the rest of the scouts. Armin and Mikasa sat silently away from the group, barely listening to the conversation. They had no more room in their minds for any new information. The one goal they shared was to get Eren back. Anything else only made them feel betrayed and was too confusing.

"Calm it," Levi warned. "We still have to retrieve Historia and Eren. Don't waste your energy on Reiss just yet."

(Y/n) looked around the table at her comrades. Each of them sat depressingly slouched in a chair. She let out a sigh of defeat. If only they could just catch a break.

After Levi had left her cell, it wasn't long before Moblit had rounded everyone up to the first level. Section Commander Hanji had called a meeting to discuss what Sannes had confessed; The Reiss family was the true bloodline of the royal family and the current king was no more than a fraud to protect Reiss.

For all of the Scouts, it was too much information at once. The remaining 104th felt deceived by Historia while the Captains couldn't help but let shame get the best of them. Levi and Hanji were both tired of blindly putting their faith in their Scouts just to have it thrown in their faces. (Y/n) watched her Captain sympathetically. She had never seen Hanji look so wrung out.

"What I don't get is why Reiss took Historia and Eren in the first place," (y/n) explained while yawning. It was still pitch black outside and the heat from the fire inside was making her sleepy. "Why need his daughter now after all these years, especially if he barely had a connection to her?"

"If I'm not wrong," Hanji began, "then it all has to do with that conversation between Ymir are Bertholdt, the Colossal Titan."

(Y/n)'s brows furrowed. "Eren wrote down their conversation, right? I remember reading it-"

"We read it together."

Two firm hands gripped her shoulders and she jumped in her chair. Levi had gotten up and walked behind her. (Y/n) heard her breath hitch at his touch and she quickly glanced down into her lap.

"(Y/n) and I read that letter," Levi said with his hands still on her shoulders. He squeezed them lightly before walking over to Hanji. "We know all about Bertholdt's little group of Titan Shifters."

'Since when was Levi so touchy?' (Y/n) wondered.

Her gaze stayed glued to her lap as she waited for her heart to stop pounding. Levi's touch seemed to linger deep within her body. Even as he left her cell, she stayed warm and light as a feather.

Kissing him had been impulsive and purely for her own satisfaction. (Y/n) was shocked when he had kissed her back and took control. Regardless, what happened between them made her positive that something bigger had been growing between them in the last few months. All of the bickering and worrying and confusion meant something that she soon hoped would be revealed.