*THUD*

Eren whipped his head around. 

"Y/n!?" 

You stood a few feet away from him, panting out of breath. Your face was sweaty and your legs wobbled as you tried to keep your balance. 

"Are you okay!? What the hell were you thinking!?  You shouldn't even be standing!" he said. 

"Don't try to lecture me about being careless!" you thought. 

You looked around frantically, looking for Armin. 

Your eyes landed on his figure, you rushed over to him. 

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Eren called out. 

You fell to your knees as you examined Armin's form. He was still hot to the touch, his clothes soaked with sweat from the heat. 

You hissed as you can make out pretty bad burns, but he looked okay. You let out a sigh of relief. 

You wobbled, feeling immense relief. 

"Woah..." Eren caught you as soon as you started to lose your balance. 

He rested your head against his shoulder, his hand reaching for your face. He wiped it gently. 

"...!!" You quickly realized how close he was. 

"You still had blood on you." he explained. 

"Oh..."

"Got to hand it to you. You're definitely more experienced than me. When I first transformed, I felt so weak and tired. Transformations take a lot of energy out of you." Eren said. 

'Another reason why I'm better than you.'

Eren chuckled. 

"Still cracking jokes at a time like this?"

You nodded. 

Eren turned his attention to Armin. 

"I should have known this would happen....but we stuck to his plan anyway. Out of all the events we faced...why didn't he run away when he had the chance..." he turned back to you. 

"If it wasn't for you, he would have been completely burned. That was your plan all along? We were just distractions?"

'It worked, didn't it?'

Eren sighed. 

"Yeah...it did." he defeatedly admitted. 

You wanted to continue to pester him, but you heard loud thumping from far away. 

The cart titan jumped on multiple houses and made its way towards you, you quickly went to defensive mode and braced yourself. 

"Dammit!" Eren cursed. 

Eren was quick to act too, as he grabbed Bertholdt's unconscious body and held his blade up to his throat. 

At this point the cart titan was right in front of you, its red glowing eyes staring at the both of you as you noticed the male riding on top of it. Your eyes slightly widened. 

Is this the man who possesses the Beast Titan? Your eyes grew blank as you had a sense of familiarity when seeing him. 

....

"Just try and come closer! Make one move to take him and I'll slit his throat!" Eren threatened. 

"I've found you two...Eren Yeager and the traitor Y/n L/n, right?" the blonde male said. 

You looked away slightly. 

"Guess his sacrifice was in vain after all." 

It was good Eren wasn't facing you, if he had saw the look of rage that was evident on your face. He would have started asking questions. 

You played it cool, trying to lose up your tightened up knuckles. 

"I don't know what he's talking about. I don't know who he is..." you thought, trying to convince yourself. 

Eren gritted his teeth and pressed the blade into Bertholdt's neck, making him spurt out a bit of blood.

"Eren, you don't look a thing like your father." he said to Eren.  

"What?" Eren asked. The man turned to you, studying your face. 

"Looks like the little sapling is growing into a tree..."

"..." you only stared back at him, trying to hide the tension in your expression. The man turned his attention back to Eren.

"Believe me. I get it. I know how you both feel. Eren, we're both the victims of your father. I'm sorry you two, but they've brainwashed you guys."

You heard Eren gasp. He turned towards you, but you played it off as being confused and shocked. 

"No, that never happened. What happened never happened. Out of sight...out of mind!"

"What are you talking about?!" Eren asked. 

He could have answered, but he abruptly looked up and you can see the fear in his stature. He groaned. 

"You're kidding! He chased me all this way!? What a monster..." 

Guess Captain Levi took care of him a while ago. 

"Let's call this a draw, Levi. I'm in no shape to fight now. Bertholdt. I'm sorry, but this is the end for you." he began to leave. 

"Eren! Someday, I'll come back and save you from this!"

At this point, your heart was beating fast from your chest. You've forgotten how to breathe for a second, letting out a shaky sigh. 

"Ummm...(ﾟｰﾟ;) I'm confused..."

You and Eren watched him run away, with the cart titan carrying him. He just ran away just like that!

Captain Levi managed to land near you two, he grunted. 

"Captain!" Eren said. 

"I ran out of gas! Quick! Give me your gear so I can chase him!"

"R-right!"

"Hurry!"

As Eren was trying to take his gear off, you heard a cough. 

It came from Armin.

 You looked at his form as you saw a familiar pool of red form around his mouth. 

No....

You started to panic as you went towards Armin's form, he started to spaz as you examined his body. 

You couldn't find anything on his body other than the burns that was causing this. 

He had internal injuries. 

He was dying...!

Eren who also heard the cough saw your panicked form. Realizing what was happening. 

"ARMIN!!" he shouted. 

He said he was fine! He said he was fine!

Armin continued to cough up blood, he began to gurgle. You felt for a pulse, it was weak!

'He's not breathing!' you signed. 

"Armin! Come on! Breathe! Keep going! Don't give up! You can make it!"

"What happened?" Captain asked. 

"Armin's not breathing!" 

Eren tried pressing on his chest, you shoved him. 

"Hey!"

'It won't work! He has internal injuries! You could kill him!' you signed. 

"Then what do we do!?"

You froze as you tried to think of something. None of you have the equipment to help him. There's no one to help!

'I don't know...' 

The voices around you became muffled as you stared forward. You didn't even notice Mikasa arriving to the scene and witnessing all of this happening. 

 She too was crying. 

"What's happened to him!?" she asked. 

"He has internally injuries" 

"What do we do?"

"He needs medical attention!"

"There's no one left! Even if we move him, there won't be enough time!"

When you attacked Bertholdt from behind...he fell and must have landed hard. Possibly on his back...

This is your fault...

Eren had enough of waiting around.  

"Captain! Get the syringe! Turn Armin into a titan! Then we can have him eat Bertholdt! Hurry up and inject him!" Eren begged. 

The injection!? But there really is no other way...

You wanted to believe Armin could live...but you knew this was too easy. 

In the pit of the moment, Captain Levi was about to hang over the injection when newcomers arrived. 

It was an injured Erwin and Floch!

"Captain Levi! I finally found you! It's the Commander! He's badly injured! His stomach is gouged out and his insides are completely torn to shreds! I can't stop the bleeding! I thought the injection might help him, but...what do you think!?"

....

There it was...

Floch laid the commander down carefully. You gestured Eren to keep his hand on Armin in a certain place to add pressure while you went to check on the commander. 

Floch was right about there being internal injuries. He was breathing, which was good. You continued to examine him, wondering if there was something. Anything you could do!

You let out a devastated sigh as you shook your head. There's no way you could stop it. But you can try to keep him stable for a short while. 

You took off your jacket and tied it around the commander's exposed wound. Carefully tightening it so there would be no further damage. 

"You could do that?" Floch asked. 

"Only if you know what you're doing."

You gestured Floch to hold Erwin in a certain angle so he can breathe better. Upon tending to Erwin you couldn't help but sense defeat in him. 

Like he didn't want to be alive anymore...

You didn't notice Captain staring at you, almost impressed and mildly suspicious on your sudden knowledge of the human body. 

When did you learn how to do that? Could you always do that, and he just never noticed?

But this wasn't the time to question any of that right now. 

"Y/n! Help! He's getting worse!" Eren called you over. 

"You know what has to happen. Erwin gets the shot."

You held your head down, your hands curling up into fists.  

"You can't! You told me you were going to use it on Armin!"

"I'm going to revive the person who can save humanity."

You wanted to fight. Wanted to do something, but what can you do? No way you were fighting the captain. 

Eren and Mikasa, on the other hand, stood their ground, already prepared to fight back. 

"Do you two have the slightest damn clue. This is Erwin, Commander of the Scouts. And you're telling me to watch him die. There's no time for this. Just get out of my way."

Eren was quick to grip onto the injection. Levi still remained stoic. 

"Eren...check your emotions."

"Sorry, Captain. Can't do that. Tell me, why didn't you give Armin the injection right away!"

"I was thinking about Erwin, considering the chance he might be alive."

"But there's no way you could have known he was coming."

"You're not wrong, Eren. But he's here now and I'm going to revive him."

Eren gasped and tried to get the injection away from him, but Levi knocked Eren harshly away. You gasped and Mikasa was quick to act and lung towards Levi, knocking him down. 

"Y/n! Help us!"

"Don't bring her into this!" Captain shouted. 

Little by little, everyone arrived at the scene and the decision was heartbreaking for everyone. You all wanted to revive Armin, but Hange, Floch, and Captain knew that Erwin was still needed to lead the Scouts. 

But you just watched, you couldn't do anything. Your eyes flickered from both the commander and Armin's form. 

There had to be a way to save both! Armin needed that syringe for sure. Maybe there's something you can do for the commander!

You hurried over to the commander, hoping to find a way to make him stable. 

However, you stopped. Sensing something that felt all too familiar. 

The sensation...the feeling of defeat. 

Commander Erwin has given up on life. He wanted to die. 

"..." Your movements paused as you slowly brought your hands away. 

You began to pity him, feeling sympathy for him. 

You understood how he felt. You felt the same way too for a long time. 

But the feeling ultimately faded away once you met all of them. 

You wouldn't be here if you hadn't met Armin. 

So...Armin can't die!

Soon, you felt yourself get picked up. 

"....!!" You gasped. Who was moving you!?

"I'm sorry, Y/n. We have to go!" You heard Jean tell you.

Your thoughts began to scatter as you panicked.  

"No! NO! I'M NOT LEAVING HIM HERE!"

You tried to fight back, but Jean held onto you. 

"I know, Y/n. I know. I'm sorry. But we have to go."

No, you wanted to believe that you did help. That you did do something! Something has to work!

Jean managed to get a grip on you and zip away, You fought back, but you gave in and just cried. All Jean could do was hold and try to comfort you. 

"Armin...Commander...I'm sorry." 

Was this the last time you'll see Armin?

*Time Skip*

"...!!"

You watched as the pure titan Armin picked up the dismembered Bertholdt. He screamed and cried out for help. 

"Guys! Guys! Please! Help me! Save me!"

But you remained where we were. You gripped onto Jean's shirt as Bertholdt was brought closer and closer to Armin's mouth. 

You instantly buried your face into Jean's shoulder as you tried to block out the sounds of Armin eating Bertholdt. All Jean could do was stroke your hair as you shivered. 

Armin's titan fell and you all went towards it, you watched as Armin's figure slowly came out of the nape. You felt tears begin to pour from your eyes again. 

He's alive...

"Armin..." You thought tearfully.

But that meant...

Commander Erwin is dead.

Through your immense relief, you felt guilt over wash you. 

You felt it. Commander wanted to die!

But why do you feel so terrible?