The Swords We Yield - ◈ ARMIN ARLERT X OC ◈

Chapter 9 - Acting normal

(Warning in advance - this is a long chapter but a very VERY good one [Well in my opinion at least])

Once we reach Eren and the others, we stand in a field of dead titan corpses and a rubble of blood stained bricks.

"What the hell happened here!" Eren exclaims standing in front of Connie, Bertholdt and Reiner, the three boys look at eachother lost for word. I turn to Armin who stares back at me concerned, without discussion we both pick up our pace into a fast jog to reach Eren and the others.

"Even if we wanted to explain what we have been through..." Reiner trails off, "I don't think any of us would even know where to start." He scoffs looking over to Bertholdt with focused eyes. I catch their exchange of glares and subtle head shakes. Reiner notices me staring at them and looks at me with wide eyes, "What?" He grunts at me, borderline aggressively.

"Nothing!" I mutter defensively unsure of his reaction.

"YMIR!" Krista yells stumbling past Connie, we all exchange confused looks and follow Kirsta down the hill of rubble. I take in a sharp breath at what I see next.

"Is that Ymir?" Armin breathes beside me, I stare down at the motionless corpse of our comrade, her left leg from the knee down is missing, her right arm is gone, blood covers her fragile body as she lays on the ground silently. She is either dead or very close to it, I think to myself.

"It can't be...is she really..." Armin trails off unable to form the word dead in his mouth.

"Ymir!" Krista sobs falling to her side, "Just as I promised, my real name is Historia." She cries, holding Ymir's body in her arms.

"What the-" Eren begins but Mikasa quickly comes up behind him covering his mouth. He struggles against her hold, "Shut up Eren, we obviously missed something here." She scolds him quietly. He quickly swats her arm away watching Ymir and Historia.

"Well, Mikasa is right, we obviously missed something here! So can one of you three please tell us what exactly happened!" I exclaim in a hushed tone. Connie looks at me with wary eyes before replying "Well, how do I put this..." He begins rubbing the back of his head, "Ymir transformed into a titan as the castle tower was falling... she saved us." He states sternly. I stare back at him with a black expression, all this time ymir has been a titan! All this time and she hadn't bothered to mention it to anyone?

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Rain falls covering the stone a dark musky grey. We stand atop wall Rose watching as Ymir in a stretch is pulled up, I stand with Gen as we watch steam coming from her unconscious body.

"That's it" A scout calls next to us, "Bring it up slowly" He instructs as Armin and Jacob continue to pull the ropes of the pulley system.

"Steady the ropes please." Moblit exclaims next to us, watching as Ymir's body reaches the top.

"What's the verdict?" Eren asks as he walks past us to Adam standing on the opposite side of the wall. I watch him as he passes us, he holds his shoulders high as he strides to Adam. I quickly turn away, after releasing how long I have been staring.
"Hey, are you ok?" Armin ponders coming to my side, I nod my head swiftly looking at him with a small smile.

"Yeah" I breathe, "I'm fine, just a bit fatigued, that's all" I trail off looking into his eyes as he stares back at me attentively.

"Do you want some water?" He asks, gesturing to the boxes of equipment behind us near Hange and Krista.

I shake my head, "Really Armin I'm fine, take care of yourself too ok?" I smile gently resting my hand on his shoulder. He stares at my hand before looking back up at me, he nods his head reassuringly.