ᴛᴏɢᴇᴛʜᴇʀ ʇou ꜰᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ

67

Back at HQ, I silently watched Hange, along with Levi, gather other leaders of each squad and lead them towards Erwin's office.

I was staring at their retreating backs for too long and failed to notice that Armin was waving his hand in front of my face.

"(Y/n)? Hey, are you okay?" Armin spoke up.

I blinked a couple times before focusing on him. He has a frown on his face while Eren and Mikasa stood next to him with the same look on their faces.

"Are you okay?" Armin asked again as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm... I'm fine. Just tired is all, don't worry." I said and looked away, rubbing my neck with a small smile.

"Are you sure? You've been awfully quiet and you flinch a lot more than usual. Is everything okay?" Mikasa asked and grabbed my hand.

I bit my inner cheek and took deep breaths, I swallowed a lump in my throat and nodded. I can feel my eyes starting to water but I held it in.

"Yeah, yeah, I- I'm fine. Like I said, just tired. I haven't really had a good sleep after those training sessions and experiments." I said and pulled my hand from her. I took a step back and avoided eye contact as I rubbed my arm.

I covered my face with my hands and took another deep breath when I felt my chest tightened. Letting out a shaky sigh, I slowly removed my hands from my face and forced out a smile.

"(N/n), I don't think your-"

I placed my hands in front of Eren, cutting him off. I sighed with a smile then grinned.

"Really, I'm fine. Just... give me space for now, I need to clear off my mind. We have a meeting later with Hange-san about the new weapon Marlowe can't stop talking about last night." I told them.

"So uh- I'll just go take a breather, and I'll meet you guys later, yeah?" I said and looked at them.

They didn't respond and just stood there with worried looks on their faces. I sighed for the nth time today and pulled them in a hug.

They soon hugged back and the four of us embraced each other in a comfort silence.

I smiled to myself and let out a chuckle, I can feel my cheeks heat up as tears formed in my eyes. I pulled back and wiped my tears off my face and sniffed.

"I just need some alone time, alright? I pro... I swear I'll be fine. I'll catch up with you guys in the classroom." I said with a grin.

"You can't just say that after crying." Armin pointed out with a frown.

"Me? Crying? I'm-" sniff "-I'm not crying. I just poked my eyes, that's all." I said and wiped my face.

"I gotta go now, see ya!"

Before any of them could speak, I dashed off the hallways and made sure they weren't following me. I slowly stopped running and sighed, silently walking towards Erwin's office.

I placed my back on the wall and peeked in to see Hange and the others walking out of Erwin's door as they talked. Fortunately, they walked on the other side of the hallway and I sighed in relief.

Once they're out of the hallway, I silently walked towards Erwin's door and placed my ear on it. I can hear Levi and Erwin's muffled voices through it.

"I don't care if I end up dead. I'll even act as bait." I heard Erwin say, muffled but I can still understand what they are saying.

"That's why the chain of command is in place. When I die, Hange will take over. And another will come after her." Erwin continued.

The image of Erwin dead and Hange's burnt corpse appeared in my mind. I shook them away, not wanting to cry and continued listening.