The Swords We Yield - ◈ ARMIN ARLERT X OC ◈

Chapter 3

I help Gen to her feet as the scout sits huddled on the floor next to us, hunched over trying to catch his breath.

"Come on, Jacob looks like he could use us." I say, pulling her past the mob of angry scouts, Gen nods her head in response. We reach the bottom of the pole calling to Jacob above, but he doesn't dare look down at us, if they see him looking at us we will be the ones who they go for, forcing him to come down.

"All of you need to calm down!" I scream, unaware of where Adam has gone.

"Move out of the way, love, it's not like you can do anything to help your buddy up there." An older scout demands, people really need to stop testing me today, I glare at him.

"Alright listen up, we need to get him down. Everyone grab the pole and try to force it to fall!" The man yells again making everyone cheer.

"Oh! So now you all listen? Nice, really nice guys!" Gen exclaims. The man looks at me again, "Move." he spits staring me down.

"No." I challenge, standing my ground. "Come on, don't make this harder than it needs to be. Move out the way and I promise we won't kill him." he laughs trying to force me out the way. "We will just bash him up just enough that he wishes he was dead." He sneers under his breath. The fists at my side can't stay still any longer, my nails dig into my palms. That's it. I throw my fist into his face making him stumble back into the people behind him, he holds his nose as blood drips from his hand.

"You son of a bitch." He grunts, looking up at me.

"You'd be surprised, but that's not the first time I've been called that today." I growl at him.

The loud familiar sound of a smoke signal being set off catches everyone's attention. We all look back to where Adam was standing to find not only Adam, but Moblit and, oh god. Commander Erwin. The yells and screams around us fade into mere whimpers and mutters. I watched as black smoke filtered through the air and the smell filled my nose, flooding my mind with memories of Armin, Jean, Reiner and the Female Titan. I quickly shut my eyes trying to force away the images, the memories of pain and defeat.

"I am beyond disgusted with the behaviour I have just witnessed." Erwin's voice echoes through the otherwise silent courtyard. "It brings me great remorse that I had to send off a signal use to alert comrades of the most threatening type of danger to get your attention. We are the scouts, the regiment with the bravest and most talented soldiers. But here, all I see is a group of weak frightened individuals that have turned on themselves, for what reason? I'm not entirely sure." He mutters looking at everyone before finally settling his gaze on Jacob who still sits atop the light post. "As your commander, I never would have expected such disappointing behaviour from such highly regarded people. Adam had to pull me from a very important meeting to try to control you all." He sighs before continuing, "I have enough on my plate as it is and don't need to deal with such immature disrespectful behaviour. Although the way he went about it was uncalled for, Jacob-" Erwin stops himself, "tried to do the responsible thing by containing this outbreak. But after your reaction to an order given by someone other than myself, well, well I'm not even sure most of you know what it means to be a true scout." He finishes tugging down on the sleeves of his jackets. "Given what I have just said, I command all of you to listen respectfully and patiently as Officer Berner finishes explaining the pressing situation at hand." He states in a stern tone. A shiver shoots down my spine as I look at Jacob, he is already staring down at Gen and I.

"Well you heard him!" I hear Rosette's voice call from further in the crowd, crap, I forgot she was with me. Adam clears his throat, regaining everyone's attention. They all slowly move away from the light post and return to where Adam is standing. Jacob waits a moment until everyone is far enough away before making his way down the pole, as he gets closer Gen puts out her hand to help him.