𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝐻𝑜𝑝𝑒 {𝐻𝑎𝑛𝑗𝑖 𝑍𝑜𝑒 𝑥 𝐹𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟}

13. One Lie After Another...

"𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚜; 𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖"
- Norodom Sihanouk

<Y/N's POV>

The walls... a pen.

Humanity... cattle.

That has been the basic rule of human existence for the last one hundred years. Titans eat humans. And humans in comparison are powerless to stop them, but we fight nonetheless.

The walls whether you considered them a gift from some higher power or a man-made way of protecting the species either way they kept us safe from titans.

So now what are we supposed to believe about our existence? Now that we know the very thing that was protecting us from extinction, was the very thing that was going to cause it.

Yesterday after Erens fight with Annie

"You did good kid" I whispered into Erens ear as he fell into a comatose state in my arms. His body going limp from exhaustion.

I placed Eren gently with Mikasa as I made my way over to Hanji and the rest of the soldiers that had gathered around to witness the aftermath of such a brutal battle. The casualties and carnage were indescribable in number.

Buildings and homes were destroyed. Families, slaughtered beneath their feet. How can Eren and I say that we fight for humanity when this is the result. Human causality and carnage as the only result. I mean sure Annie's out of commission and can no longer plot against the government, but really what do we have?

A frozen Annie who can't give us any useful information? A city destroyed by Erens hands? And no answers as to who Annie was working with?

I make it over to the others and Jean is attempting to chip away at Annie's shell with a less than pitiful amount of success. After a few seconds of that Levi stops him from continuing his anger-fueled efforts and I become less interested in all of this with each passing moment. But even so I can't help but think about a few gaps in all this.

"Annie, why did you do all this. What were you hoping to gain?" I ask almost silently.

I can't say that I'm too torn up about her betrayal or even that I care about it at all. We were never friends. Hell, I can't even say that I liked her at all. But, I know that the people I do care about are hurt, and that's all I need to know.

Well the mission was ultimately a failure and I'm bored now...

I turn to walk away from all the commotion. When a  panic is made by one of the soldiers.

"What the hell is that?!" I turn to face the small group of soldiers who are pointing towards the wall. I follow gestured hands all the way to the wall. And what I saw was more than a little shocking...

Today

After I was called into debriefing on what exactly happened at Stohess I made my way to Eren's room. He's still in recovery from yesterday. I stand outside his room not exactly too eager to go inside.

If I'm being honest with myself I truly don't like being near Eren. And it's not because he's an idiot with half a brain cell either. It's more like when I'm around him the only thing I can think about is what he needs. what would keep him safe. I don't like that. I don't like that sensation of not being in control of myself.