The Swords We Yield - ◈ ARMIN ARLERT X OC ◈

Chapter 10 - Superstitious

"Okay then." Jacob mutters letting go of Gen, "That was..." He begins "odd, even for you two." I stare at Gen who hides her red tinted face in her cloak. Jacob stares into the distance completely oblivious, as per usual.

"Are you sure you're ok, Zariya?" Armin says beside me, making me jump as I forgot he was there. I look at him with new eyes as I see him frown with a tilted head, I quickly look away from his eyes, worried that I might be staring.

"Yeah, completely!" I laugh nervously trying to stop myself from continuously looking at him, what if he knows? It could ruin our friendship!

As Armin opens his mouth to speak again I quickly bud in, "Hey! Look over there it's Jean and the others! Let's go say hi!" I exclaim walking in their direction, I grab Gen's wrist as I reach her. "Come on, let's go! It will be fun!" I breathe flusteredly. "I have forgotten how to behave like a normal person and it's all your fault!" I aggressively whisper to Gen as we approach the others, Armin and Jacob following not far behind us. Gen hides her laughter as I jab her in the side. While we are still a far distance away I notice Jean watching Rosette as she stands with Krista, Historia, I mean. He watches her with the most gentle eyes I have ever seen on his face. His face is completely at peace as he admires her caring for historia, there is not a single tense muscle in his jaw, he is simply mesmerised by her.

"You ok there Jean?" I ask smugly as we reach him.

"Huh? What?" He asks, shaking his head before looking down at me, I stare at him in return with a wide smirk on my face. "Oh just shut up will you." He mutters annoyed but unable to stop smiling.

The familiar sound of ODM gear approaches us from below as Mr Hannes clings onto the wall beside us, " There is no hole." He breathes in disbelief. My shoulders drop in relief, but my stomach churns with uncertainty.

"What?" We all mutter confused and unsure. He lands on the wall standing up in front of us, dusting himself off before continuing, "You all heard me, there is no hole." He repeats again.

"Hannes, what do you mean there is no hole? There has to be! How else do you expect those titans got in! Unless they miraculously learnt how to climb overnight!" Hange demands laughing.

"What's going on?" Rosette whispers behind Jean and I, she lightly tugs his jacket to get his attention. Jean looks at me with a neutral expression across his face, good luck trying to explain this one Jean! I quickly turn back around to face Hannes leaving Jean to fend for himself.

"Mr Hannes and his troop said that they were searching all night for the breach in the wall but never found one," He whispers, I watch him from the corner of my eye as he leans down to Rosette's ear. She quickly looks up at him in disbelief, been there.

"Well, that's impossible! Right? They had to come from somewhere, surely they couldn't have just appeared inside the wall?" She shouts back in a whispered tone. Jean just shrugs, standing up straight again turning back to face the other.

"Hmm..." Hange thinks to herself, making me zone back into what they are discussing. "If there's no hole in the wall, we don't have a choice. Let's go to Trost District and wait on standby." She announces with one hand to her chin the other wrapped around her torso.

I watch as the older scouts walk away, is that it? This whole journey for nothing?

"I don't buy it." Jacob states out loud just what I was thinking, I turn to face him and Gen on the opposite side of me, leaving Jean and Rosette.

"What do you mean you don't buy it? There is nothing to buy!" Gen laughs looking up at Jacob.

"I agree," I mutter, staring at the ground, as I look up they are both staring at me confused, "oh with Jacob I mean, something has to be going on, there can't just not be a hole." I exclaim, gesturing to the wall. Armin walks past me to Mikasa and Eren standing behind us. Gen and Jacob engage in their own discussion as I watch Armin talk to Mikasa and Eren. Mikasa notices my gaze and nods her head, I smile in response as I see Reiner approach Eren, standing beside him.

"Eren." Reiner grunts, making Eren snap his head in his direction, and Bertholdt comes to Reiners side suddenly.

"Hello, Earth to Zariya?" Gen calls me, making me look at her. I glare at her as she stares back at me, "That's the second time in less than an hour, stop looking at Armin with those rose coloured glasses of yours!" She laughs, I stiffen as she mentions Armin's name, elbowing her in the rib jolting my head to Jacob discreetly.

"Oh relax, I already know." He mentions, casually.

"You told him!" I grunt, smacking Gen aggressively.

"Hey! Don't hit Gen! She didn't tell me anything I know because I have these things called eyes." He says in a smart ass tone. I stare at him blankly as he watches me waiting for a reaction.

"You think that was really funny don't you." I say neutrally.

"Well," he scoffs, tilling his head, "it was, wasn't it?" He laughs.

"It really wasn't." I state, shaking my head.

"But-" Jacob begins in front of me as I notice Eren, Reiner and Betolt are no longer behind us with Armin and Mikasa.

"Hold up, where did Eren and the others go?" I ponder on my tippy toes, looking over Jacobs shoulder.

"Guys get a move on. We are heading out!" Armin shouts besides Sasha, behind me.

"Well you heard him, home time kiddos!" Gen calls chipperly, turning on her heels to follow Armin.

"Don't ever call us that again," Jacob begins unmoving, "ever." He finishes. He turns back to me with a concerned expression across his face, "You okay Zariya?" He asks quietly. I continue to watch Eren, but more so Mikasa infront of us, she stands completely still a fair distance from him but close enough that she would be able to hear what they are saying.

Turning back to Jacob I respond, "Well you must obviously think something is wrong you just called me 'Zariya' for the first time in four years." I laugh trying to brush off this uneasy feeling in my stomach.

"I just-" He mutters looking back at Eren, Reiner and Bertholdt, "Something is off with those three." He says turning to me again. He lets out a short sigh, "Don't worry about it I'm just being superstitious," He laughs, "Let's catch up to the others." He states following Gen's lead.

I look back at Eren, "I definitely agree." I mumble for no one to hear, turning around and walking away. My fringe falls in my eyes as I jog over to Jacob, I quickly blow the hair out of my eyes as I reach him.

"What do you think is going with them?" I ask him slightly out of breath.

"I could not tell you, all I know is something is going on." He states, staring ahead of us unphase.

"Well?" I gasp, eager to hear what he has to say.

"Something not good," He mutters looking back at Mikasa, "Not good at all." He finishes keeping his eyes on Mikasa. I turn around to look at her as well, I am confronted by the sight of Mikasa pouncing at Reiner with her sword ready to attack him.

"Mikasa!" I yell jolting to go after her, Jacob quickly wraps his hand around my forearm preventing me from moving forward. I snap my head glaring at him as I do. "Jacob, what the hell are you doing, let me go!" I scold him trying to escape his grip but there's no hope. As much as I try to make myself believe that my strength matches Jacob, deep down I know that at the end of the day, I am yet to meet a single person who is on par with him.

"EREN! RUN!" Mikasa screams as she drags her blade through Reiner's hand, I quickly turn away as I catch the glimpse of Reiner's hand being cut straight down the middle.

"BERTHOLDT!" Reiner screams in agony.

"Run!" Jacob yells at my side pulling me away from the others. Suddenly everyone is running past as towards Eren and the others, I see Armin's bright blonde hair stand out in the darkness.

"Eren!" He cries desperately, sprinting to his side. The next thing I know, the unsettlingly familiar sound of lightning crackles down from the sky blinding us.

"Jacob!" I scream, searching for him in the empty, uncertain, light. My heart sinks inside me as I am vigorously thrown off my feet but a powerful force.

What have we done? All this time we have been searching for our enemies but all along they have been right here beside us, standing with us as our comrades to fight the evil in this world, but throughout all this time it's been them. Suddenly the darkness consumes me whole.