IN WHICH ARAMINTA COMMITS MURDER!
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ARMS TONITE  ∕  CHAPTER NINETEEN

IF YOU ASKED ARAMINTA, JEAN KIRSTEIN LOOKED NOTHING LIKE EREN JAEGER. Jean's face was much longer than Eren's, and certainly much less handsome, and he was too tall. Which is why she was getting worried about this plan they had come up with. At least Armin, on the other hand, actually looked like Historia. Especially with the wig on, it really brought out his feminine features that she had never noticed before.

          Jean walked close by her side, so close in fact Araminta flinched when his hand brushed against her own. She turned to look at him with a bewildered look, and was surprised to see how embarrassed he looked.

"What are you doing?" She asked quietly, grabbing onto her hand with her other so they were laced together in front of her.

"Nothing. Sorry. I just thought--never mind, it's stupid." He shook his head, and she swore she saw a faint red glow against his skin. Araminta rolled her eyes, deciding not to dwell on his strange behavior.

"Try not to walk in such a big cluster." Levi said in a voice loud enough for them all to hear, but quiet enough so passersby wouldn't hear him. "It'll make us stand out more. Eren and Historia, just walk normal." The captain acted so naturally, as though the two really were among them and not in the back of some carriage somewhere else.

          The last time Araminta had been in Trost District, she had been hit with the realization that her mother was probably dead. Honestly, she had barely thought of her mother since that day. So much had been going on, she didn't have space in her brain for her. And now she felt bad for not thinking about her more, she was her mother, after all. But, unfortunately, it didn't look like she was gonna have any time to make it up to her any time soon.

"Why is the royal family's flag hanging everywhere?" Connie asked, and Araminta looked up to see the flags he was talking about.

"Oh! Today must be the anniversary of the King's coronation!" Sasha suggested. "Once a year, they hand out a haul of rations."

        "Interesting." Araminta muttered as they passed by a large crowd, where a man announced they would start handing out the rations.

          "King Fritz has heard of the citizens of Trost's hardships, and will donate the royal family reserve!" A military police officer's voice boomed. "That's enough for everyone! Line up orderly!"

            "Holy shit, that's a lot of food." Araminta gaped at the crowd as the squad slowed to a stop.

            "Wow, King Fritz sure is a generous ruler." Sasha said.

            "He has more than he knows what to do with." Levi replied in a low voice. "People are weak, especially when baited with food."

             With his words, Araminta glanced over at Sasha, who quickly frowned. "Hey, don't look at me!" She whined, and the group began to move again. "Just because I love food doesn't mean I will be swayed by it!"

"I'll buy you one of those bundles of apples if you really loudly yell 'shit'." Connie told her, gesturing his head towards a nearby fruit stall.

"Like you have the money to do that." Sasha snapped.

"I'll steal some." Araminta said quietly, hoping nobody would hear her baiting Sasha. Connie snickered.

Unfortunately, Captain Levi had impeccable hearing, and shot her a glare over his shoulder. "Nobody is stealing apples. Focus up." He spoke lowly, his steel eyes shooting daggers at her. She quickly ducked her head, her cheeks growing warm.

They continued their walk in silence, and Araminta turned her attention back to their surroundings. She needed to stay alert, ready for an attack that could come at any minute. Her gaze drifted to Jean, who was looking right back at her. He raised an eyebrow, as though he was asking why she was looking at him, and in return she rolled her eyes. You're the target, stupid, she tried to tell him with her eyes, of course I'm going to be watching you!

She ran into Connie's back, and looked forward to see they had all come to a stop behind Levi. His gray eyes frantically darted around, and even from all the way in the back, Araminta could sense how much tense he had become, which, in turn, made her tense as well.

"Watch out! Behind us!" He suddenly shouted, and Araminta turned around to see a horse and carriage hurling towards them. She jumped out of the way, nearly tripping over her long cloak in the process.

          "Eren!" She called out, remembering that she wasn't supposed to give away the secret disguise. "Christa! Eren!" Sasha yelled beside her, with her hand stretched out towards the carriage.

      "They got snatched again!" Connie exclaimed, with a fake shock in his voice that caused Araminta to give him a warning look.

        "You need to work on your acting." She whispered into his ear, then took off running after the carriage along with Mikasa. They were supposed to rescue Armin and Jean from the kidnappers, which hopefully wouldn't be too difficult.

          They'd ended up taking them to some sort of warehouse, and Araminta and Mikasa were not far behind. They used their gear that was hidden under their cloaks to quietly propel themselves up onto the top of the roof of the warehouse. Luckily, there were a few windows lining the top, so they could get a clear view of the scene below.

         "Yeah? You like that? Let me hear how much you like it." Araminta heard a voice say, and looked to see a man currently groping Christa--well, Armin. She cringed as she watched him feel up Armin's chest, while Jean was forced to watch and do nothing about it.

          "God, poor Armin..." Araminta whispered, and began to remove her cloak so her gear was more accessible. "I'm going to go update Levi." She told Mikasa with a sigh, then flew in the direction of her captain, who was up on another roof.

         She landed down next to him with a huff, her hair falling in way of her face. "How's it going inside?" Levi asked, as she began to tie up her hair behind her head.

         "They're going to figure out Armin isn't Christa if we don't hurry soon. I feel horrible for him." She frowned, remembering the tears in her friend's eyes as some strange man groped him.

          "I see." Levi replied.

           "How's your leg? Is it feeling any better?" Araminta queried, remembering he had been injured the same as her back in the forest of giant trees.

          "Hm, I can move well enough. It's not so bad anymore. And your wrist?" He asked, looking over at her over his shoulder.

          "It's fine. Barely hurts." She replied, turning her hand in front of her to test her range of motion.

           "Good, good..." Levi responded softly. "You know, these kidnappers are nothing more than a group of amateurs. Why would they use guys like this? Anyways, I think you guys will be able to handle the rest on your own. I'm going to head towards Eren and Historia." He stood, and Araminta mirrored his actions. "Oh... But before I go, there's something I should tell you. I want you to tell the others, too."

           "What is it?" Araminta asked, furrowing her eyebrows together.

          "You need to be prepared. From now on, you're not going to be fighting Titans. You're going to be fighting other humans."

           Her stomach twisted. "You mean... We're going to have to kill people?" She blinked at him, her voice barely above a whisper. The thought of killing someone else... It made her feel sick.

          "Just be ready for anything." Levi said, and then left her all alone on the rooftop with her thoughts. She stood for a moment, mulling over what he had said.

Fighting other humans.

          Finally, she cleared her throat, reminding herself she had a mission to focus on. With a sigh, she returned to the warehouse, where Connie and Sasha had joined Mikasa in preparation to rescue Armin and Jean.

"Hey, what did Levi say?" Mikasa asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"He said we can handle it ourselves, he went to check on the others." Araminta informed them.

        "Well, it's all clear in there if we're ready." Sasha told them before Araminta had a chance to tell them what Levi said. "Arie, you and Mikasa can go in now and ambush them, Connie and I will come in from above."

         Araminta's lips quirked upwards. "Arie?" She asked, trying not to laugh at the nickname. Sasha rolled her eyes.

         "Yes, I've been wanting to find a special nickname that no one else calls you, but we can discuss that later! Go!" She urged them, so Araminta obliged her, lowering herself down inside the building along with Mikasa. Jean and Armin were quick to notice them, but thankfully knew to stay quiet as to not alert anyone of their presence.

         The guard noticed them very quickly, and parted his lips to shout, but Araminta was quick, landing a punch right in his throat and knocking him out clean. He about fell to the floor, but she caught him before he could make a sound, and dragged him behind one of the nearby crates. She then rushed over to Jean, using her blade to cut his ties loose as Mikasa did the same to Armin.

        Before they had the chance to run, there was the sound of footsteps approaching, so Mikasa and Araminta ran to hide behind the large crates filling up the building.

        "You're absolutely, without a doubt, sure this is Eren and Christa?" She heard a voice speak up.

         "Yes, they match the description." Another man said, and they walked right past Araminta and Mikasa without even noticing them. "Wait... What happened to our guard...?"

        That was their cue.

         Araminta lodged her hooks on the opposite side of the wall, bending her legs as she was propelled across the room and landing her knee right into one of the man's faces. Mikasa took out another man, lifting him up by his neck and slamming him hard onto the ground. Good god, that girl was strong.

         Panicking, the other two men frantically reached into their pockets to pull out their guns. One of them raised his weapon and pointed it at Araminta with shaky hands, but it was quickly knocked to the floor by Jean. Mikasa slammed her fist into the red haired man's jaw, sending him spinning through the air and colliding with the ground with a large thud.

         Tying them up was very quick. Apparently, getting bested by a group of fifteen year olds was very discouraging. They didn't put up much of a fight as they began tying their hands behind they backs.

       "Don't you dare move." Jean hissed at the man he was tying up, and Araminta couldn't help but giggle at that. "What?" He asked, turning to look at her.

         "Nothing. You just sound so bad ass when you say that." She teased him, finishing up the knot of her own tie as she did so.

         "Shut up." Jean told her, but he couldn't hide the smile on his lips. Araminta smiled as well, sitting up as she sat on the man's back.

There was a zipping sound, and Sasha and Connie were down in the floor besides them all. "God, you guys moved so fast, we didn't even have a chance to join you." Sasha said, looking over the four men pressed against the floor.

"Connie, was it just the four?" Mikasa asked, her hand pushing the man's face against the cold floor.

"Yeah, that's it." Connie replied. "Nobody else in the area."

The man Mikasa was holding down suddenly reached into his pocket, pulling out a gun and pointing it towards his head. Before he got the chance, though, an arrow was shot into his hand, rendering it useless. Sasha stood with her bow, loading another arrow into the string.

"Who knows where I'll hit next if you move again." She sneered at him, and Araminta could hear him whimper at her threat.

"Okay, we've got them all tied up, now we've got to go meet up with the captain." Araminta instructed, standing up to get a good look at everyone. "Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, but he sent a message, too."

"What? What do you mean?" Armin asked.

"From now on, our enemies are going to be other humans. We need to be prepared to take someone else's life."

      LEVI WAS NOT WHERE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. The rooftop he was supposed to be on was empty, except for the dead body of Nifa, and her blood splattered across the roof side. Araminta cursed under her breath, realizing something had gone horribly wrong. But, Levi's dead body wasn't littered on the roof, so hopefully he wasn't dead--not yet at least.

         "Shit, we need to find Levi, Eren and Historia!" Araminta announced to the others, who were currently staring at Nita's body in shock. They had seen dead bodies before, but never had they seen someone killed by another human. She hated to rush them, but Eren was currently in danger, which was putting her on edge. "Come on, let's move!"

          Mikasa didn't hesitate to fly off, and the others weren't far behind. They soared through the air, eyes scanning the city for some sign of their comrades. And finally, they spotted them.

         "Hey, I see Eren!" Connie yelled, and Araminta followed his line of sight to see the boy in question. He was currently unconscious in the back of a cart, sprawled out atop Historia. Thankfully, close behind was Captain Levi, who was fighting off a group of people using gear the same as them.

          "What the hell?!" Jean asked loudly. Araminta watched as Levi dodged a bullet fired at him, and instead used his blade to slice straight through the man attacking him. The way he moved so effortlessly, using the gear as an extension of his body rather than a tool, he really was proving himself to be humanity's strongest soldier.

           He propped himself up on the wall of a building, turning to see the seven of them flying towards him. "Chase the cart!" He shouted, and Araminta gave him a curt nod.

           "Listen up!" He told them, after pushing himself off the wall and flying in front of them. "They're used to fighting other people. They've already taken out three of our own. If we're going to have a shot at getting those two back, we cannot hesitate! If you get the chance, you kill, got it?"

          "Yes, sir." Mikasa said lowly, her eyes growing dark as she looked at the cart in front of them. Levi gave them a nod, then fell down into an awning, which was barely tight enough to give him a good bounce. He shot one of his hooks into the leg of a soldier guarding the cart, using the gear to pull him off.

          "Armin, Jean, Araminta! Secure the cart, we'll cover for you!" He ordered them, and the three of them nodded in response. They flew down onto the cart, and the woman steering the car was quick to turn her gun on them. Luckily, though, she was knocked off by another soldier that Levi had messed up. Jean pulled out his blade, pointing the tip directly at the woman's face.

          "Don't move!" He shouted, but she didn't listen. She turned and knocked the sword out of his hand, raising her gun up towards him. Araminta gasped, standing up and preparing her sword to swing.

           "Jean, move!" She practically screamed, but her voice was muffled by the sound of a gunshot. Thankfully, though, it wasn't the woman's gunshot. Rather, it was Armin's, who had picked up a gun from the previous driver and fired it on the woman. Araminta watched in horror as blood began to spread across her chest, and she toppled over onto the ground.

          Before she even got the chance to process it, another soldier was flying towards them, his own gun pointed at Armin. It was like her mind had a body of its own, as Araminta grabbed the gun that had fallen onto the floor of the cart, and aimed it at the man. Without hesitation, she fired the bullet, killing the man in front of her.

         Her body went numb.

          She just killed someone. Killed them. He was dead, permanently dead, all because of her. She had quite literally just robbed him of his life. Her stomach was in knots as she stared down at the gun in her hand, the tool she had just used to murder a man.

          "Shit! Jean! Armin! Araminta!"  She heard Levi call out, and suddenly she was in the captain's arms being dragged out of the cart just in time to avoid being blown to bits by gunfire. The two of them toppled to the ground, and rolled across the stone pavement. Araminta's blades were knocked out of her hands, sliding across the ground away from her.

With a groan, she propped herself up onto her elbows, looking up to see the cart was getting away. It was getting away. Her breath hitched in the back of her throat, and she pushed herself up off of the ground, running towards Mikasa. The two were fully prepared to chase after the cart, but Levi was faster than them, putting his arms out to block the two of them.

"Don't do it! Fall back!" He told them, and while Mikasa began to fight him, Araminta fell to her knees, watching as, once again, Eren had been taken away from her. Her breaths grew shallow, and she could feel herself starting to panic.

"Hey, it's okay." She heard Sasha say, and her friend knelt beside her to comfort her. "It's gonna be okay, we're gonna get them back." She rubbed Araminta's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down, but it didn't really help. Not when she had just watched one of her best friends be dragged away, and not been able to do anything about it.

She was completely and utterly useless.

LEVI WAS BLEEDING. BAD. In the midst of his fight with the man he informed them was called Kenny the Ripper, he had gotten slashed in the arm, creating a deep wound that was in desperate need of being stitched up. Araminta, despite her injured pinky, was the best suited person to do the job. She had studied her fair share of first aid during their time in the cadet corps, and she had also watched Historia stitch up her own hand.

So, here she was, holding onto Levi's bare bicep and cleaning out the wound. And she was a hot mess. Listen. This was the first time she had been around a man that was shirtless, and definitely the closest she had ever been to a shirtless man, for that matter. The teenage girl in her was very flustered as she did her work, her entire face on fire.

"What's wrong?" He asked the others, who were all staring at the floor with dead looks on their faces. "Did this grimy place kill your appetites?" Kill. The word was like a punch to the gut.

"No..." Armin said slowly. "Jean, there's something I don't understand..."

"What's that?" Jean asked in return. Araminta, who had finished cleaning up the wound, set her small piece of cotton down and reached for her needle.

"When I shot that gun to save you... I honestly didn't think I made it in time. I'm sorry, but... Why was I the one who shot first?"

"That's..."

"Because the other person hesitated." Levi answered for him, as though he had been the one behind the barrel, not Jean.

"I'm gonna stitch you up now." Araminta told him quietly, not wanting to disturb the conversation. He nodded, and she watched his jaw harden as he prepared for the needle.

"It's true." Jean said with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Armin, I should've done what I had to do.

"I know what it is... I bet the person I killed... I bet they were a nice person. Someone that was much more human than I am. I pulled the trigger so easily... I did... I'm..."

Araminta had to try her hardest not to think about Armin's words, and think about the person she had murdered. She had a sharp needle pierced in her captain's skin right now, she couldn't let herself be distracted by her guilt. She would probably start crying, and then she wouldn't be able to see as well. For now, she couldn't think about it.

"Armin, you've got blood on your hands now." Levi spoke up. "You can't go back to--" he paused, his body tensing up as Araminta began the next stitch. "--you can't go back to who you were before."

"Why would you say that?" Mikasa spat.

"You need to embrace the new you. Just think, if your hands were clean, Jean wouldn't be here right now." Mikasa didn't have a retort for that, and instead fell quiet. "I'll tell you why you pulled that trigger. Because your comrade was about to die. Armin. Thanks to you getting blood on your hands, nobody on our own squad ended up dead. Thank you."

Araminta took his words to heart, realizing he was thanking her as well. She had saved Armin, right? So why did she feel so guilty about saving him? She did what she had to do, and she protected her comrades. There was no shame in that. Right?

"Captain Levi, I... I thought it was wrong to be fighting other humans... And I also thought it was wrong for you ordering us to do it. I was afraid of hurting other people. But... I'm the one who was wrong. Next time, I'll shoot." Jean said.

"I never said anything about who was right or wrong." Levi replied, as Araminta wrapped up her last stitch. "I... I don't even know myself. Are you really the one in the wrong?" He asked.

Araminta tied up the end of her thread, and began wrapping the cloth they had around his bicep. Her blush had died down, as her mind was now preoccupied by other, much more important things. Are you really the one in the wrong? No matter how hard she pondered the question, she couldn't come up with an answer.

         "Thank you." Levi mumbled to her once she had finished her wrap, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. She gave him a small smile, and began packing up the medical kit as he pulled his shirt back on over his bare skin. "Now then... It's about time we hear what he has to say." He announced, looking over to the man they'd had tied up in the corner the whole time.

         He sauntered over to the man, and swiftly pulled off his mouth gag. "Wait! I'm just an old man used for moving wagons around the--"

         "I've met this man before." Mikasa spoke up. "In the city, people were calling him boss." She walked over, pointing down at him with a grim look.

          "Yeah, I know. Dimo Reeves, right?" He asked her.

          "Tsk!" Dimo Reeves exclaimed. "We were just following orders the Military Police forced on us. And we failed, big time... They'll plunder the Reeves company for all its worth. They won't stop with me and my dumb son. They'll make sure all my employees die in so-called 'accidents'."

         "So you'll die without a fight?" Levi, who was usually short, towered over this man, his hands placed firmly on his hips. "Trost should have collapsed by now, but it's preserved. That's because the Reeves people brings people and work together. But if the company was gone for good, just how few would be able to survive the winter?"

        "Are you suggesting that I team up with you?" Dimo asked, acting as though the words were poison against his tongue.

         "All we need to know is where Eren and Historia are." Levi replied. "If you're supplying the military police, we can figure something out."

         "But can you stop my city and employees from dying of starvation?" Dimo countered.

         "I can't guarantee it." Levi replied honestly, kneeling down so he was at eye level with the man. "However, you can trust that we will move towards that end."

         The man stared at Levi for a moment, before letting out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. I'll help you."

AHHH i'm sorry this took so long!! i
lost my inspo for a minute there but i
found it again!!! i hope you guys
enjoyed the brief fan service i included
<333 all i am saying is if i was a 15
year old girl and my toned, hot captain
was shirtless in front of me i would
probably be blushing too idk.

ANYWAYS i hope y'all enjoy this i
actually had fun writing it which is
always a good thing!!! ily all don't
forget to leave a vote <333