Promise Me | Book Three

Chapter Eighteen

Armin's POV

"What?"
I grip onto the handle of the door much tighter, and I don't know if it's to support myself or something else.
"Mikasa Ackerman is deceased, and Eren has been taken to court, once again." The officer repeats himself, and I let go of the door handle entirely and collapse to the floor.
They went through with the plan? After everything, they actually went and did it?
Eren is in court now? And Mikasa... How?
"Would you like me to escort you to the trial?" He speaks. His voice is almost patronising.
I look up to him, tears almost falling from my eyes.
"Yeah, just give me... A moment, please?" I mutter. I pick myself up, and dust myself off. "I just need to... Tell his sister."
I make my way to the room where Liesel is and sigh as I see her sleep. How am I supposed to-?
I kneel at her bed, and tap her shoulder.
"Liesel?"
Of course she won't awaken from that, but I do I want her to?
I hold both of her shoulder gently and shake her. "Liesel?"
I hear her groan and then turn over, I back away from her quickly, and try and get myself together.
"Armin?" She says, rising from the bed and lifting the covers from herself. She turns to me and the furrows her brows.
"What's wrong? Why do you look so pale?"
I choke, and I cover my mouth.
"It's just that..." I wipe the sweat from my head. "Mikasa and Eren failed the plan..."
And with that, Liesel's feet stomp straight onto the floor and she stands.
"Mikasa is... Eren's in court," I almost whisper.
"Eren's in court?! Oh my god... Where's Mikasa? Is she in court too?"
This is going to be hard to say... It's hard to even hear it...
"She's... She's..." I try and say it, but I can't. "Armin!" She shouts at me and shakes my shoulders.
"She's gone!" I shout back to her, but not quite intentionally.
There's a silence, and Liesel lets go of me. "What do you mean 'gone'?"
"Dead..."
I stare down at my feet and daren't look up.
The officer bangs on the door. "Excuse me, we need to leave, now!"
Without saying anymore, I make my way to the officer and shut the door behind me.
I don't want to see Liesel's state...
She must be heartbroken. She just found her family, and the only ones she had left... Her brother, and Mikasa.
Now, they might both be dead by the end of the day.
My friends. My best friends.

As the officer begins to escort me, I hear the door open from behind. "I'm coming." It's Liesel.
Does she even know where we are going?
I don't want to speak to her, in case I pull the wrong strings.

* * *
The previous night.

"Eren, Mikasa, you're back!" I close the book I was reading, and rush over to them to greet them. "You got out, all right? You were bailed out, right?" I question them.
"Levi bailed us out." Mikasa says. "We're fine, don't worry." Mikasa places her hand on my shoulder.
"Eren!" I hear Liesel from behind me. She embraces him and then Liesel slaps him in the face, and I look to Mikasa to how she has reacted, but she doesn't say anything. "What the hell were you thinking? Turning into a Titan like that?!"
"Hey, Lie-"'
"I don't want to hear it, Eren. You should have used that brain of yours before you got yourself and Mikasa into trouble like that, you hothead!"
Eren can't even reply to that. He just rubs his cheek shamefully. "Liesel, it's fine. At least we got out." Mikasa says, reassuringly to Liesel.
I shake my head from my daze.
"So, what happens now?" I ask. "We're going to climb over the Wall." He suggests.
"Eren, what? How do you suppose we do that?" I ask. "We sneak into HQ for manoeuvre gear and a horse. We get to the Wall, climb up then climb down the other side. It's simple."
I rub my eyes at Eren's so-called plan. "Eren, that's... That's not a safe idea. You can't just steal a manoeuvre gear from the massive HQ and think to get out okay."
"Well, what do you suggest, Armin?!" Eren begins to yell. "That we just stay here?!"
"Eren, stop yelling at him." Liesel tells him, but hell, he doesn't listen. "You know how I feel about being stuck here, and you expect me to stay?!"
I don't know what to say back to him. I feel like he is pinning me against a wall. "Well, Eren... I'm out. I'm sorry, but, I don't want to risk that."
Eren sharply turns to Liesel, for her opinion. "Same for me, Eren..."
Eren sighs to himself and clenches his fists.
When he is in this irrational and angered state, he is hard to negotiate with.
"Mikasa?" He asks, finally. "I'll come with you, but that doesn't mean that I thoroughly agree that we should be doing this." Mikasa puts her arm around him, and Eren remains still.
"Mikasa get some rest. I'll wake you when we leave." She hesitates for a while, before she wonders off to a room.
"Eren, please think this over?" Liesel asks him, in attempt to change his mind. "In not staying here... I knew I shouldn't have come back."
There was no changing him now. When Eren has a goal, he doesn't change his mind so easily...

* * *

And now I wish that I had.
I should've stopped him... Is this? Is this my fault? Because I was too afraid to say anything to him, I just let him go through with that plan?
And now we are here, taking our steps into the courtroom, to discover Eren's fate once again.
I see him there, tied to pole, on his knees, just like before.
But now, he seems hollow, dead.
I don't think I've seen him like this before.
His shirt is stained with blood and so are his hands. I can barely see his face, as his hair casts a shadow over it.
I want to tell him I am here to support him, oh, like hell I do... But I won't, and I can't.

The premier is somebody who I don't recognise; he is more young than the last. I hope his youth brings more generosity to Eren, but at this point, I can tell that he wouldn't mind dying.
"Let the trial begin," he speaks, and I clench my fists.
I need Eren to get out of this alive. I need answers... I need my friend.
"Eren Jaeger. You are an ex-soldier of the Survey Corps. You were caught sneaking into the premises illegally, and stealing a horse, says several witnesses who were awake that night.
Mikasa Ackerman. Another ex-soldier of the same branch, and your childhood friend was told to have been stealing a three-dimensional manoeuvre gear from the Survey Corps Headquarters, and assaulting a soldier there." I hear little mutters amongst the crowds, but I don't understand what they say.
"Is this true?"
I wait for Eren's response, but I don't think he is going to give one. "Eren Jaeger, is this information true?"
The longer Eren refuses to answer the premier, the louder the crowds become.
"That man is a monster!" Another man amongst the crowd yells. "The last time he were here, he said he would use his abilities for good, but the last time he used them, he used it to try and destroy the wall!"
The crowd becomes more loud now, and I want to speak, but I can't!
"Silence in the courtroom!" He shouts, banging the table thrice.
"Now, Jaeger was seen to have come here accompanied by Armin Arlert, Mikasa Ackerman and an unidentifiable woman. Are any of these people present?" He asks.
I raise my hand. "I am Armin Arlert, sir." I say. I see Liesel raise her hand slowly from the corner of my eye.
"I am Liesel... Liesel Jaeger. I am his sister, and I came with them." I can tell she was uncomfortable with sharing her identity with the court, but I know she's doing this for Eren's sake.
"Liesel Jaeger. Armin Arlert. Do you have any valuable information that could help this case?"
Me and Liesel are silent for a moment. We don't know what to say, and we don't want to say the wrong thing.
"Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman are not residents of Wall Maria. Their home is elsewhere, and so it was their right to return to it. Neither of them killed anybody whilst obtaining the equipment, and only did so to get back to their home. Not to steal, or to harm anybody." I say.
I wipe the sweat of my palms on my jeans.
The premier turns to Eren, and then writes down some notes. I hope that I did him so good.
"Does Liesel Jaeger have anything else to share on Jaeger's or Ackerman's case?"
Liesel shakes her head. "No."
The premier looks down to his papers again and opens his mouth to speak again.
"Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Jaeger were told to have been seen on the top of Wall Maria by one witness. Would this witness like to speak out?"
I look around the room, and no one seems to be volunteering.
"The one witness who was on top of the Wall..." Eren begins to speak, which catches the attention of the whole room, now.
"Was the one who killed her."
I see the premier raise his brow, and write down some more information. The crowds get louder and louder, until Eren speaks again.
"I know the person who killed her is here... Expose yourself!" He speaks with such pure anger in his voice, pure rage. I've seen him angry, I've seen him furious, but nothing as raw as what I see right now.
"The killer had a manoeuvre gear, which was not the one we took. She was shot with it... She dashed in front of it to protect me, and it went straight through her."
I can hear the uppermost pain in his voice whilst he speaks. He is no longer whole; he is broken.
Last night has scarred him.
"I will answer every question you can give me honestly, if I can know who killed Mikasa Ackerman."
When I look to the premier, he continues to write on his paper.
"All right. If no one else has any other information to add, the meeting will be adjourned, until we can find out who killed Mikasa Ackerman."
Nobody volunteers, nobody speaks.
"Eren Jaeger will be imprisoned until further investigations have been carried out. The meeting is adjourned."