Lara (Long-Fic Levihan | Armin Arlert X OC)

Chapter 29 - The Court

Lara walked apprehensively in a dark corridor, which had only a few torches lit here and there. Beside her, empty prison cells filled the entire corridor. She felt a shiver down her spine as she looked inside the cells, spotting the gloomy chains that hung from the ceiling.

She felt a little pain in her right calf, which was already properly bandaged, after Hange put the stitches. Mike was walking next to her, while Hange walked with firm - and somewhat - anxious steps ahead of them.

"I can't wait to meet him!" whispered Hange, because the stone corridors were very echoing.

Lara felt her body give some more little shivers, for being in such a sinister place. At one point, she grabbed Mike's arm, who looked at her with a gentle smile and ruffled her hair, as if to say that everything was fine.

They walked in through a large wooden door, which gave access to a solitary cell, guarded by two soldiers of the Military Police. Hange then did something that made almost everyone jump in fright. She walked on tiptoe and with a sudden movement, put her face between the bars of the cell where was Eren Jäeger.

"Mom!" exclaimed Lara, placing her hand on her chest. "Why do you do these things, huh?! You're gonna scare him!"

"So..." said Hange, smiling. "You're Eren, right? Are you okay? Sorry for making you wait so long. You'll finally get out of here."

Lara went to the bars of Eren's cell, who was with an expression of extreme relief and she felt great compassion for her friend.

"Come!" she said, smiling kindly. "Let's get out of this horrible place."

"But," said Hange, showing Eren heavy iron manacles. "You'll need to use these."

"Mom, is it really necessary?" asked Lara, indignantly. "He's not a monster to be tied in this way..."

"Unfortunately, yes, sweetie..." answered Hange. "Orders from above."

Eren got confused on seeing his friend Lara call that strange woman as "mom", because back in the Winter Training, he remembered very well that Lara told them she was found in a forest by the Survey Corps, because her orphanage threw her there. Wasn't she an orphan? How is she now calling that woman "mom"? He kept that in mind, but he thought this was not the proper moment to talk about maternal relationships.

Mike put the manacles on Eren, who grimaced.

"Is it too tight?" asked Lara, worried. "If you want, we can loosen it up a bit."

"No, it's okay..." he replied, downcast. "It's just the shape that bothers a little..."

As they walked off the prison floor, accompanied by two Military Police soldiers, Hange talked, while Mike leaned close to Eren to sniff him.

"I'm Hange Zoë, a Squad Leader of the Survey Corps. This is my colleague Mike Zacharias. He's also a Squad Leader."

Eren was visibly bothered by Mike's weird behavior. Lara tried to hide a laugh, for she remembered very well when she met Mike for the first time and said to him that she was not a dog to be sniffed.

"Oh!" exclaimed Hange. "He has this habit of sniffing people when he meets them for the first time, then he chuckles."

While Mike was chuckling, he looked at Lara and winked. In mime gestures, she asked him if Eren was stinking and he confirmed that yes, he was.

"Although he has these strange habits," continued Hange, in a playful tone, "he's skilled enough to be a Squad Leader after all."

Then, Hange pointed at Lara.