Promise Me | Book Three

Chapter Twenty

Armin's POV

It has been a whole week since the happening... It has been as uneventful as ever. It has been the most idle it has been for a long time, and especially for the others.

They've had no luck finding who killed Mikasa, but I doubt they really care. They aren't trying hard...
There's been a few meetings, but, nothing much. I've attended a few, but they don't take my considerations seriously, so I stopped going.

Liesel is still staying at my place for now, and it looks like she will be for a long time. She has no intentions of leaving. She doesn't know where to go from here.
She's been training in the woods all of a sudden, so I don't see her in the day at all.

Eren... Eren is complicated.

"Leave me here, Armin... Don't bother with me, anymore."
That's was the last thing that he said to me. I tried to explain that he can't just give up like this, and that it was so out of his character.
I even told him that Mikasa wouldn't want this, and that her life shouldn't have been taken for nothing. Eren is barely living, despite Mikasa died so that he could continue living.

I went on, and on, but he wouldn't reply and probably stopped listening.

I unlocked his chains, so he could move.
But, he stayed in his cell, alone. I was considering dragging him out, but he'd either resist or dragging him alone would be too problematic.

Mikasa's death has impacted so heavily. It has been reported that Eren has refused to eat and drink or use the restroom; he urinates whilst he is asleep.
Although it has only been a week, his body is significantly weaker and he looks sickly.
The force-feeding process may have to take place soon if he continues, but if that doesn't work, they'll leave him to die...
I can't let that happen.
For Mikasa's sake... For Eren's sake.

But, how, is the question.
Eren has completely given up on life. His social skills have went out the window, and doesn't even care to fulfil his dietary needs or keep himself in a healthy state.
Whilst Eren has been undergoing this torment, I've been going in and out of my house: getting more news of Eren, returning home, researching and then leaving again.
I am constantly aggravated, with thoughts pecking my head constantly, and worries filling my heart every day.
It's just a constant spiral.

Right now, I'm at my desk, pressing my pencil into the paper and watching the lead split. I lift the pencil and lower it once more.
As I do this, I split the lead again, but this time a thought shoots through my mind.
I suddenly think of the basement.

Although, there may be nothing for me there that could help this situation at all, I'm being drawn to it, somehow.
Maybe there is something there that could bring Eren back to his senses, somehow. Anything.
Well, it's well worth a shot.
If there's nothing, there's nothing.

* * *

I slip underneath the barriers, as it is being treated like a quarantine zone, and legally, I shouldn't even be here.
The re-construction prohibits this, but... I need to see what's in here.

I make my way through the crumbled debris and find a familiar hole to where I can enter the underground. It reminds me of the first time we came here, searching for the answers of the Titans.
I take my lantern from my bag, and try to light the candle inside.
Once I manage this, I stumble across the rocky trail I follow.

I feel myself breathe heavier as the oxygen gets thinner underneath.

I do make it to the basement, and it is unchanged. I slip through the next set of barriers with ease.

The bookshelves remain in good shape, and the low table, in which I put the lantern on top. It lights the room fairly bright enough.

The basement is covered with dust, and I feel it stick to my throat and make me cough.
I step over things that have fallen over, like more books and odd utensils that I can't make out anymore. A lot of the floor is covered in buried brick and more debris, and then suddenly, I take one step forward to have my leg fall through something.
I felt the wood snap, and then my leg fall through. I touch something solid before I can fall much further.