Because Of You

Chapter 20

"An abnormal? No she's more like the colossal titan." Eren looked back at the enemy. "Wait, so does that mean Commander Erwin was-"

"Hey! Snap out of it runt." Oruo interrupted the shifters aloud thoughts.

"You can puzzle it all together later, right now, we need you focused on pushing ahead." Petra ordered.

"Right." Eren agreed as they rode forwards until they gained enough distance to tie their horses.

Carmen knew everything now, she initially found out a few moments before they'd captured the female titan, but now, everything was there, meaning the others could piece together the information too. "I think it's obvious we came out here to capture that thing." Eld decided to speak.

"So that was the plan from the start? We weren't flying by the seat of our pants?" Eren remarked, he was taking this to heart. "I'm not complaining, I get keeping this from me, but come on, keeping you guys in the dark? You'd think you earned a little more trust than that. Right?"

"Damn you're annoying." Oruo scoffed.

"I hope you're not suggesting the captain kept the plan from us because he thinks we're a liability!" Petra dragged her swords through the air, making her frustrations known.

"I'm sorry but I am, there's just no other way it makes sense."

"Enough of this!" Oruo practically growled, he had an undying respect for Levi, and he couldn't handle to fact that Eren was suggesting it wasn't mutual. "Carmen, knock the teeth out of his skull."

"Calm down." Carmen stated plainly, she needed to stop whatever argument was occurring.

"I hate to admit it, but he has a point." The second in command sighed. "Think about it, what if Eren isn't the only titan, what if Erwin thinks one of us is a titan spy?"

Although that was true for most, it couldn't have been the case with Levi squad, because Carmen was given information prior to the expedition. Levi had trusted her to carry out his actions on his absence and thus proving none of the squad were liabilities. Unfortunately, she was the only one who knew that.

"He thinks that one of us are titans?"

"Actually, he doesn't. Because I knew about their plan." Carmen revealed, a few gasps were heard from those around her.

"You knew! And you didn't tell us?" Gunther shot at her.

"I thought you trusted us." Petra looked hurt.

"I do, but I was told to keep it under wraps for your safety." The assassin replied before continuing with her reasoning. "He doesn't think any of us are liabilities, in fact, we were left here with Eren because if their plan fails, we're the last stand against the enemy. If that doesn't show respect and trust, I don't know what does." She said, before referring to the other half of the plan. "However, you're right when it comes to the titan spy, at least that's what I believe. Though what's important is that they know it's not us."

"I reckon the only ones in the know were the survivors of 5 years ago." Eld added.

"Of course, that's got to be it."

"I agree wholeheartedly." Oruo stated. "Hear that sniffledrop, there was a good reason." He aimed at Eren.

"Right, yes, a perfectly good reason. After all, it adds up. It's the best way to narrow down the list of suspects to a manageable number. Shiganshina's probably when the spy got in." Petra nodded her head.

"Who do you think the real enemy is?" Carmen repeated a question. "That's what Erwin asked us all, the correct answer was that's it's someone within our ranks, in fact, Levi told me not to answer the question correctly, but this is the outcome he was hoping for."