Unwanted Power: An Armin Arlert Love Story

34. Diplomacy

After about a year, the scouts were able to get one of the Marleyans ships. They were not needlessly killing people. They had them as prisoners, however, neither of them really talked, they kept glaring at everyone in the island and calling them devils.

It was a second ship that surprised them. Eren transformed into a titan to make them ground into the island. Hange tried to convince them to have tea with everyone, even tried to get Nicolo, one of the previous prisoners and a chef, to cooperate with her, but he didn't. There were scrams and the Marleyans on the ship aimed their guns at Hange, Levi and Nicolo. But suddenly a soldier shot their captain, everyone was shocked, even some of the people on the ship.

"Hange, I would like to take our invitation for tea." The woman who shot said.

From her hiding spot with the others, Lexie began standing up to join Hange and Levi. But Armin's hand was still holding tightly on hers.

"Armin..." She called his name pulling at her hand.

"Sorry." Armin apologized and let her go. "Be careful, ok?"

"Of course." She replied and quickly pecked his lips before leaving. When Armin turned to her friends. Mikasa was smiling, Connie had a smirk, Jean faked throwing up and Sasha had a big smile.

"What?" Armin asked.

"You are just the cutest." Sasha said.

"You are so corny it makes me sick." Jean added.

"Don't mind Jean, he's just jealous." Connie said.

Armin blushed.

Lexie entered the tent where Levi and Hange were sitting across a blonde woman and a man with dark skin.

"Oh good, you're here." Hange said. "This is Duchess Lexie Reiss. The head of the Council on Foreign Relations in Paradis. Lexie, these are Yelena and Onyankopon.

"It is very nice to meet you." Lexie said as she sat next to Hange.

"Wait, your royals actually take part in the military?" Yelena replied.

"Yes, yours doesn't?" Levi replied.

"Government officials make decisions, but they don't socialize with the military, only some high ranked officials."

"To be fair, it used to be like that before here too. Until I joined. But enough about me. Can I see your pistol?"

Yelena looked shocked, but gave her the gun anyways. She made sure it was not aiming at anyone and started looking at it with Hange.

"Oh, so that's who you can shoot so many bullets in a round." Hange said.

"Those guns are standard to any soldier. Marley also has a big fleet of ships up to 3 units, and they quickly developing some aerial forces too."

"Aerial?" Hange asked, earning a kick from Levi.

"Stop it, you're going to make us look weak." Levi harshly whispered at her.

"Flying ships, for attacks from the air." Yelena explained.

"They can attack us from air?!" Hange exclained.

"If Marley has such a big military force, how come they have not attacked us in the last year?" Lexie asked.

"Well, there are two reasons: First, the pure titans are a danger they cannot completely overcome."

"Ironic." Levi commented.

"And second, Marley is otherwise occupied. They are in war with other allied nations, so they cannot focus their energies in Paradis."

"Sounds to me Marley has many enemies. Is that why you rebelled against your captain? Are you some kind of agents from an enemy nation of Marley?" Hange asked. "If that is the case, you must be backed up by some powerful people."

"Unfortunately, no, Marley destroyed our homes and there's nothing we can do. We thought we were hopeless, until we met him, Zeke Jeager." Yelena said.

"The Beast Titan?" Lexie asked. She suddenly had a memory, one she got when she touched Zeke. He was talking to different people, and yes, Yelena was included there.

"He is a God, and he has a plan to free the Eldian people."

**********

Once Lexie left the tent, she went to find her friends, she found Armin talking to Mikasa and Eren.

"Lexie." Armin greeted as she hugged her and pecked her cheek. "How did it go?"

"I think they are trustworthy." Lexie said. "Marley is definitely a powerful enemy, we have to upgrade our weapons, A LOT."

"I'm sure your dad will figure it out. Maybe some of the prisoners will be helpful, we can always offer them... something." Armin thought.

"Armin, you're a genius! Maybe if we offer them a good life here, a job with us, maybe homes, they might help us. They might even stop looking at us like devils." Lexie said. "Oh, how I love you, smarty-pants." She lightly pressed Armin's cheeks, making him blush but smile.

"Why did those two help us?" Mikasa asked.

"Two reasons: one, Marley destroyed their homes, they seem to be a country that likes conflict, and also..." Lexie turned to Eren. "They talked to your brother." Eren's eyes widened a little.

"The Beast Titan?" Armin asked.

"He seems to be... somewhat of an ally."

"That's crazy." Mikasa said.

"I haven't understood it completely either, to be honest." Lexie agreed. "We'll have to see."

**********************

Hange read Zeke's requests to the high officials of the military during the meeting. He wanted help obtaining the Founding Titan, but he also mentioned that they needed a titan of royal blood to activate the Founder's ability.

"He doesn't know about Duchess Lexie's ability." Commander Zachary said.

"It might be helpful, though." Eren said. "If we have him, Lexie wouldn't have to turn into a titan and be possessed as Ymir."

"We agreed that would be a last resort." Lexie said.

"With Zeke here, we won't have to take any risks of not controlling Ymir's powers." Eren said.

"I can't believe you're trusting them. If we were smart, we'll have those Marlyan soldiers hung!" A Military Police said.

"No. If we want to protect Paradis from other Survey Ships, we need the volunteers' help. They have the technology to help us." Hange said.

"So now you're just going to trust anyone that offers to help?!" Another soldier argued.

"Commander Hange has a point." Lexie said. "We have to remember we are in an incredible disadvantage here. The rest of the world sees us as devils, hate us, and won't hesitate to kills us given the chance. We are extremely unprepared for a war against other humans." At her words, everyone got silent. "However, I agree we cannot trust everyone blindly, so I have a suggestion." She glanced real quick at Armin. "I propose we offer Marleyan prisoners the option of a life in Paradis, with jobs to be supervised by the military. If they see they can have a peaceful life, they will be more inclined to help, and they might even see us differently."

"Are you crazy?!... your highness?" A captain of the military police had an outburst.

"Sir, they have flying ships for aerial attacks, we don't even have ships for the sea, we need their help and threats are not going to work, they might easily sabotage us. We have to play the charisma game here and befriend them."

"They are our enemies."

"Because they are ignorant. They have been brainwashed since they were born to hate us, they don't even know us. We used to hate titans before learning they were just people like us being mistreated."

"Duchess Lexie makes good points. It will be easier and faster to upgrade our weapons and forces if we learn about the outside world." Historia said, supporting her cousin. "It's settled. If any volunteers give us important information and agree to help us, we'll offer them a free life in Paradis."