Souls Of Sorrow || 𝐸𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝐽𝑎𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑋 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟

Chapter 9 - You

"I'm sorry." Armin repeats, his shoulders stiff under my hand.
"No, it's not your fault." I tell him, pressing my lips together. He turns his head slowly to look at me.
"It is. Eren he...he died to save me." He whispers, a lone tear trailing down his cheek.

"I'm not strong...it should have been me. Why wasn't it me?" Armin murmurs, eyes still widened in shock.
"Armin, it shouldn't have been you. They knew what they signed up for." I tell him. He shuts his eyes tight, covering his ears as he shakes his head.
"It should have been me." He repeats.

"Armin!" I shout, pushing his hands down. He looks up at me with a teary gaze, his eyes clearly holding the pain of a traumatized soldier.
"Listen to me. You are going to be okay. You have to be." I say. I know it's hard for him to hear right now but it's the truth. I can dote on him when all of this is over.

A sharp zipping sound cuts through the air as Connie lands on the roof beside us, closely followed by Ymir and Christa.
"Hey! What happened?" Connie asks, looking around at the damage and lack of soldiers. Armin doesn't reply, his expression still unchanging.
"The whole squad was wiped out. I'm not sure how many of us are left other than the people at HQ." I tell him.

"Everyone in the squad was taken out. Except for him?" Ymir asks, giving Armin a distasteful glance. Ymir had never really liked Armin, though I wasn't sure why.
"Yeah, why are you still alive? Not that I wish you weren't." Connie says. Armin doesn't say anything.
"Don't you get it? Titans only eat people that are alive, they probably thought he was dead. If you really think about it that's the saddest part." Ymir scoffs.

"Shut it Ymir." I tell her, rising to a stand.
"Oh come now, you know it's true. Out of everyone that could have lived, it had to be him." She sneers. I glare at her, Connie doing the same.
"Okay! Everyone let's just calm down. It's no good for anyone if we fight." Christa says, jumping in.
"Look at my Christa, saving the day! You're so gonna have to marry me when this is over." Ymir laughs, wrapping an arm around Christa's shoulders.

At least those two seem to be doing alright.
"Can you two round up the remaining soldiers? I need to know how many we have left." I say.
"Do we look like errand girls to you?" Ymir raises an eyebrow.
"It's alright Ymir, it's good to be aware of what we have." Christa replies, patting the taller girl's arm. Ymir scoffs but follows beside Christa as they head off.

Three more soldiers -Mikasa, Jean and Marco- arrive on the rooftop next to Armin and I in a staggered fashion.
"Hey, are you guys alright?" I ask, glancing around. Everyone nods.
"We're almost out of gas." Jean says, knocking on his metal canisters.

"I'm almost out too, we should go back and refill." I say.
"No, the Center is surrounded by titans. That's why no one else has gone in." Mikasa says.
"What about the supply depot?" Connie asks.
"They aren't coming, those cowards won't even step foot outside." Jean grits his teeth.

"They barricaded themselves inside HQ, we're all on our own." Marco says, joining Jean as he sits down on the roof.
"So what, we start thinning the titans numbers. We can still do that much." Connie says.
"Mikasa said HQ was surrounded. We don't have the numbers for something like that." Jean tells him.
"Well we can't do nothing either." I grunt.

Mikasa heads over to Armin, kneeling by his side.
"Armin thank God. You're not hurt are you?" She breaths a sigh of relief, wrapping him in a brief hug.
"Where's Eren's squad? Were they with you as well?" She asks.

Her expression falls at his lack of response.
"Armin. Where's Eren?" She asks again. Marco and Jean both glance at me with worried looks. I rest my hand on Mikasa's shoulder, squeezing it gently before letting go. Armin's eyes start to water again, confirming Mikasa's worst suspicions.