Once In A While

Chapter 12: Criminals

With swift movements, I let myself inside the cabin once again, followed by Jean who shut the door gently behind us. I informed the captain that the area was safe, and he dismissed me with a nod.

Turning back to the isolated corner of the room I had found earlier, I spotted Jean sitting there, absent-minded. Seeing as how I had planned to attempt to fall asleep, even for a small amount of time, I opted to join him.

"May I?" I asked him in a whisper only he could hear, gesturing at the spot next to him.

He nodded;

"You don't have to ask." He whispered back, and I made myself as comfortable as I could next to his larger build.

We didn't exchange any words for a while, until he asked me,

"Did you sleep at all?" With concern in his voice.

"No, not really." I said softly, immediately acknowledging my tiredness growing larger and larger as the minutes passed by.

"You should..." He told me, sounding very tired himself. I couldn't blame him. Three hours of sleep after all we went through wouldn't make up for the lack thereof for quite a while.

"You need it as much as I do." I murmured, gesturing to my lap.

He sighed, and I knew had there been others to see us, he would probably nag about it; say that he wasn't a baby. But no, there wasn't anyone near us, so he complied, laying his head on my lap.

I ran my fingers through his fluffy hair, which seemed to relax him, closing his eyes in contentment. I could tell that he was stressed, for obvious reasons; instead of opting for the easy, luxurious lifestyle of the military police as we originally had planned, here we were, hiding as criminals.

"It's going to go okay, right? We've been through a lot already, we'll probably figure our way through this once again." I rumbled, words scattered from my thoughts.

"Hope so..." He replied, in a sleep-like state.

I smiled down at him, combing his hair while thinking of nothing in particular.

"Sleep, you've had a long day." He finally told me softly, as sleep took over him, and I hummed in response, leaning back at the wall and eventually falling asleep myself.

---

"So they plan to eat Eren?" Armin asked in shock.

"Yeah. Eren remembered a conversation between Ymir and Berthold. Based on it, we can speculate, that Ymir was a mindless titan, until she consumed someone from Reiner's group. We've never seen a titan turning back into a human by eating one before. That said, Reiner's comrades aren't normal people, and there are different rules for titan shifters. My thought is this; if a titan eats someone with the power to turn into a titan, then it transforms back into a human, obtaining the powers of the Titan's previous owner. My point is, if the government has a titan of their own, they'll use it to eat Eren." Hange explained her theories to us, as we sat at the table.

​​​​​​ At the mere mention of Eren being devoured by someone, Mikasa quickly got up and sped towards the exit, before the captain stopped her in her tracks;

"Calm down. I know you want to get Eren back, but going on a rampage won't help that. Anyway, we're heading for Rod Reiss' estate. Prepare to leave at once." The captain ordered us, and we all got up to prepare for our next move.

-----

"The Scout Regiment has murdered a civilian! Some of them have evaded capture. These people are dangerous! If you spot any of these people on the posters, report them immediately!" A military police cadet announced, as his colleagues were handing out flyers to the people.