In Which the World Falls Apart!
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Flightless Bird  ∕  Chapter Ten

Araminta had a new question to join her others.

For the most part, she had managed to answer her other three questions--well, maybe not for the most part. She could tick the old question of where do Titans come from? off of her list, thanks to the Jaegers' basement. She still wasn't confident that she'd found the best smelling flower, however she did have a new favorite, which was the belladonna lily that grew in Marley.

Her last question, though, was proving to be a lot harder to answer than the others. What is love, and what does it mean to not only love someone but to be loved in return? There were times she thought she knew the answer, but each time something happened that made her less confident in her answer, and she went back to waiting to find the answer.

The new question actually kind of tied in with that last one. If she had known what love was, at least enough to say I love you, too to Eren... would that have changed things? Would she have been able to convince him not to go through with all of this?

Unfortunately, there was no time to dwell on all the possibilities of what could have been different. Low level Jaegerists had apparently taken control of an old Garrison base in Shiganshina, and had a bunch of Military Police officers in captivity. They were on their way there now to reclaim the base.

"Are you ever going to tell me exactly what Eren said that made Armin angry enough to punch him?" Jean asked out of nowhere. They were walking up a dark staircase towards where they knew the Jaegerists were holding out, and apparently he thought this was a good time to make conversation.

Araminta raised an eyebrow as she looked over at him. "Really? You want to ask me that right now?"

He shrugged. "Why not? We've got a bit of time." He used his head to gesture up the staircase, and he was right. For some reason, whoever built all of these old buildings on Paradis really liked their stairs.

"It was nothing, he just..." She paused, huffing out a sigh. "He basically told me he fell out of love with me. And that I don't know how to love because I only know how to follow an order." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, scared of what his reaction might be.

But he didn't get angry like she thought he would--well, not explicitly angry, at least.

He barked out a loud laugh, causing the others to turn their attention to him. "Yeah, I was right. He's definitely lying and pushing you guys away on purpose."

"What makes you so sure?" She knit her eyebrows together.

"Because he still loves you?" Jean replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "That night in Marley, when we went in to tell everyone that Sasha died? You should have seen the way he was staring at you."

"How was he staring at me?"

"Like he was seeing the woman he loves for the first time in almost a year."

Armainta finally turned her head to look at him fully, and her lips fell open so they were just barely parted. For one of the first times, she couldn't come up with a sarcastic response.

"And, also, you know how to love." He scoffed, and moved closer to her so he could nudge her with his shoulder. "You love Sasha, Hange, and even Captain Levi... And you love Eren, too."

She choked on her own spit, and began to violently cough.

Thank god she didn't have the time to even try to respond to that. They reached the top of the staircase, where a young cadet was waiting for them. He was gripping a rifle tightly, and beads of sweat gathered on his forehead. Clearly, he was new to this.

"H-Hey!" He shouted once he saw the group of them, and he shakily pointed the barrel of the gun towards them. "This area is being run by Jaegerists! You can't just--"

Jean stepped towards him, then grabbed him by his collar. "We're here to help your Lord Jaeger. Are you really going to try to stop us?" He growled, and the young cadet gulped.

"N-No." He replied, and the rifle clattered against the floor.

For some unknown reason, Araminta felt her cheeks start to warm up as she watched.

Connie brushed past her, calling for the Jaegerists to release everyone from their cells and shaking Araminta out of her brief daze.

She followed him into the building, and down the hallway full of holding cells like the one they'd been in not that long ago. Military Police officers as well as various Garrison soldiers began to flood the hallway, as more and more cells were unlocked.

At the end of the hallway, she and Connie found a familiar face in the last cell. Curled up on a bench, covered in bruises and open wounds, was their old commander, Keith Shadis. He looked like shit.

Araminta's eyes widened. "Commander Shadis?" She gasped, then rushed over to his side. Connie wasn't far behind her.

"Holm? Springer? I would say it's nice to see you, but..." His weak voice trailed off, and he started to cough.

"What happened to you?" Connie asked, his peridot colored eyes darting around the commander's beaten body. It was obvious he'd been in some kind of fight--though, judging by the state of him, it hadn't been very much of a fight.

Wow, Araminta was really starting to feel bad for calling this guy ugly in her head all of those years ago.

"I got in a fight with a bear," Commander Shadis joked in between more hacking.

She glanced over at Connie, exchanging a look of uncertainty with him. She was pretty sure he had the same suspicion that she had; if they were to go back to the hallway, they would see a lot of Jaegerists with bruised knuckles.

So, the decision to work with the Jaegerists was a very begrudging one. Araminta was not particularly looking forward to teaming up with these people. They might be on the same side of this battle, but they're not on the same side in this war. For now, though, they didn't need to know all of that. They just needed to believe they were on the same team long enough to get their help.

Everyone who drank the wine with Zeke's spinal fluid in it--which was nearly every MP as well as a few Garrison soldiers--was now at risk of being turned into a Titan if Zeke showed up and screamed. Each of them had been given a black armband to wear--a suitable color, since black flares used to be the signal for abnormal Titans. There was only a limited amount of ODM gear, so those without the armbands got first priority.

Pixis made some grand speech on the subject, then everyone began to disperse. As Araminta started to move away, Connie appeared in front of her. "Hey, Arie, can I talk to you really quick?"

Araminta was suspicious, but nodded. She really hoped he wasn't about to tell her he had a crush on her, too. Jean confessing his feelings to her was more than enough for her to deal with. (That was a joke, by the way.)

They wandered into a small storage room, and started to get their gear on. God, it had been such a long time ago that Araminta last wore the old ODM gear, but putting it on was like riding a bicycle. Slipping the harness on and clipping her gas cylinders into place was muscle memory.

"I wanted to tell you I'm sorry." Connie suddenly confessed to her.

She looked up at him, her amber eyes widened. "Huh?"

"I'm sorry for the way I've been treating you. I'm sure it hasn't exactly been easy for you. We both lost Sasha, and we both lost Eren, but you lost them in ways I'll never fully understand." His green eyes were avoiding her own, and a light blush dusted his cheeks. "I had no right to treat you the way I did. So, I'm sorry."

A fond smile tugged at the corner of Araminta's lips. At first, his behavior did anger her. Every snide comment and every dirty look he gave her made her want to punch him in his face. But, she couldn't hold it against him. Maybe his anger was misplaced, but it was still valid. She was angry, too. She just directed her anger elsewhere.

"I know, Connie. I've come to learn that we all grieve in different ways... Your way was to be angry, and even though it shouldn't have been directed at me, you figured that out eventually." She reassured her friend, and it was like a crushing weight was finally lifted off her shoulders. She hadn't even realized how badly she was struggling to breathe until now.

She continued, "Besides... You might not understand how I lost them, but I don't understand how you lost them, either. How am I supposed to hold that against you?"

The soft glow of the lanterns that illuminated the room reflected off of his glassy eyes. "You're supposed to be mad at me... So I feel less bad for being mad..." He joked, but it was easy to pick up on the crack in his voice.

Araminta laughed softly. "I have enough to be angry at, Connie. You're not one of those things."

"Oh, so I'm not special enough for you to be angry at?" He replied with a scoff.

"Nope. In order for me to be angry at you, you have to be either my stupid boyfriend, or his stupid brother." She told him matter-of-factly, and finished tightening her shoulder straps into place.

The room became quiet, with only the muffled voices in the hallways beyond them to be heard. Connie looked a bit uncomfortable, like he couldn't decide if he should hug her or something. Araminta parted her lips, preparing to tease him, but suddenly the same pain that previously caused her to faint ripped through her skull.

If Connie hadn't noticed and immediately rushed to her side, she would have collapsed to the ground. Her eyes squeezed themselves shut, and for a brief moment she swore she saw Eren standing in front of her. Not like the Eren she last saw, though. No, he looked more like the Eren that left her behind in Marley. Her Eren.

"Shit, you okay? Was that too much emotion for you, or something?" Connie frantically asked her.

Just as suddenly as it appeared, the pain started to dissipate. Araminta forced her eyes open, and her first reaction was to smack Connie's arm. "You are so stupid."

"What? I was just asking!"

As Araminta was rubbing her temple, trying to process whatever the hell just happened, the door to the supply room swung open.

"There you guys are!" It was Jean, who sounded relieved to see them. "Woah, am I interrupting something?"

She realized she was still gripping onto Connie, and shoved him away. "No! I got another headache and he caught me before I passed out again." She explained to Jean, swiping at her sleeves to straighten them out.

"We were having a really vulnerable conversation, it was a lot for her to handle," Connie said, and she swatted at him once more.

Jean rolled his eyes. "Glad to see you finally made up," he smiled, but then his smile dropped. "Wait, you had another one of those headaches? That's not, like, a symptom of becoming a Titan or something, is it?"

Araminta shrugged. "I don't know, I don't remember Armin having headaches like this, but maybe it's just a War Hammer thing..." She really hoped it wasn't a symptom of that. If she was enduring these skull splitting headaches and still unable to turn into a Titan, she would be really pissed off.

He suddenly reached out to run his fingers through her hair and gently massage her scalp. The gesture caused her to flinch. "You feel alright to go kick some Marleyan ass, though?"

She nodded, and ignored the way her heart beat against her chest as she pulled his hand away. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm not sure about Connie, though. He seems extra stupid today." She reached up to ruffle his barely there hair.

"Fuck off?"

It was nice, she thought. Being able to joke around with them, like there wasn't a clash of Titans unfolding outside that could potentially decide the fate of the world. Any distractions were short lived though, when another explosion shook the floor they were standing on.

"Let's find Armin and Mikasa and get out there," Jean proposed, and the two nodded in agreement.

When they made it outside, the sky was on fire. Marleyan airships were falling towards the ground, leaving a trail of flames and smoke in their wake. And as though she was some sort of god watching the destruction of the Earth, Yelena watched with her arms outspread.

One by one, the airships crashed into Wall Maria. "The gate's been blocked!" Armin exclaimed, and Araminta looked to see that one of the airships had indeed collided with the gate, bringing down rubble.

"Zeke brought down their ships!" Yelena informed them. "The moment that shall change history is now upon us!"

Zeke?

Araminta's eyes widened when she noticed the Beast Titan perched high on the wall, and Eren's Titan form stumbling toward him. Then there was the Armored Titan, tearing his way through the city to get to the two brothers.

"Umm... It kind of looks like Reiner is the one that needs help." Connie observed.

"Fuck! What is Zeke doing here?! There's no way Captain Levi just let him go freely!" Jean pointed out, a frustrated growl in his voice.

"Hey!" Araminta directed her attention to Yelena. "Where are Levi and Hange?" She hadn't seen Hange since the restaurant, and she hadn't seen Levi in days. If something happened to either of them...

Yelena kept her focus forward. "It seems Zeke has beaten them." The blonde replied plainly. Then, she glanced over her shoulder at the group. "He and Eren agreed on a time and place to meet."

"Huh? No way!" Connie shouted, his eyes widened in a panic.

So, all of this had been completely premeditated. Eren and Zeke had made their plans weeks ago--if not longer than that--and it was all coming together in their favor. Araminta once again found herself wondering about that night in Marley. Would Eren have met up with Zeke, and came up with this ridiculous plan? Would he have left her in the dark through all of it?

She was shaken out of her daze when Armin stepped in front of the group. "We don't have a choice! Eren and Zeke are the only ones that can save us! We have to help the Jaegerists!"

As he spoke, Yelena slowly turned around, towering over Armin and staring down at him with one of the most unsettling expressions Araminta had ever seen on a human being. Everyone else seemed to be just as horrified; there was a collective gasp and Armin swallowed hard when he met Yelena's gaze.

But then she just smiled. "Please help Zeke and Eren. I believe in you." She said in a soft voice.

Araminta had half a mind to tell her to go fuck herself, but she bit her tongue. She instead followed the others over to the edge of the building, the sight of all the destruction inflicted on the city--the city that, by the way, was just barely recovering from being destroyed nearly a decade ago. It felt like that day all over again.

Connie gazed out at Eren, and all the Marleyan soldiers surrounding him, he hissed. "There's still no chance of you turning into a Titan, is there?" He looked over at Araminta.

She pricked her finger on her ring once more, but nothing happened. "I guess not," she huffed a defeated sigh.

There was a hand on her shoulder, and she looked to see Mikasa standing close to her. "If you need anything at all out there, just say the word and I'll be by your side."

Araminta felt a surge of deja vu, and she reached to lace her fingers together with Mikasa's. "You know, that's what you told me before our first battle, back in Trost," she laughed softly.

Mikasa nodded. "Of course. I remember." She gave her one of those oh-so-coveted Mikasa smiles, and squeezed her hand.

"Hey, can you stop staring longingly into each other's eyes so we can get going?" Connie pushed Araminta's shoulder, and she immediately turned to kick him in the shin.

Unfortunately, falling off of the fifty meter tall wall was not an experience unfamiliar to Araminta. Fortunately, though, this time she wasn't the one living through the experience. No, she was quietly watching from a rooftop about a hundred meters away as the Beast Titan plummeted towards the ground.

It happened so quickly. The five of them had retreated to some nearby house to try and formulate some kind of a plan, and then the Cart Titan fired at the Beast and took out a good chunk of his shoulder. Araminta couldn't really see where he had fallen, but the impact of his body against the earth shook the roof beneath her.

And Eren continued to struggle towards his brother. He never was the type to give up easily, was he? That was one of the things she liked about him. Now, she wished he would just stop.

The Jaw Titan appeared, catching Eren's heel between his teeth, but it did little to slow Eren down. He turned around and began beating down on the Jaw Titan's nape, only stopping when the Cart Titan took another shot at his wrist and blew his hand off completely.

Her chest tightened when Eren stopped moving.

She was suddenly knocked over when a body collided with her's, and she heard an explosion nearby. It was Armin, who seemed to have just barely saved her from getting shot at by some Marleyan soldier, and the explosion must have been one of the others firing a thunder spear.

"We've gotta get out of here! This area's too dangerous!" Jean shouted over the chaos.

Armin helped Araminta back to her feet. "First, we need to take out the Cart Titan!" The blond called out, pointing up to the wall where the Titan in question was currently fighting off a group of soldiers.

Another shot went off, and Araminta was barely able to zip out of the way without it hitting her. Below, a bunch of Garrison soldiers rode through the city on horseback, and she heard one of them yell about flanking the rear.

She, Jean, Mikasa, Armin and Connie regrouped. "He's right," Armin said. "We can't take them all head on. We'll have to sneak up behind them."

"We take them all out, and then we go for the Cart." Araminta agreed as she locked one of her thunder spears into place, so it would be ready to fire when she needed it.

They all exchanged nods of understanding, then set off.

Every thunder spear she fired and every life she took had to be carefully calculated. If anything went wrong, if they made a single bad move, it could very easily result in Eren dying and Paradis being lost to Marley forever. Because lord knows if they got their hands on the Founder, they would never let it go.

They were getting closer and closer to the wall, and to where the Cart Titan was still fending off random soldiers. Araminta quickly recognized one of them to be Floch. She had to remind herself that they were fighting on the same team right now, and that it wouldn't do her any good to zip up there and blow his head off--because believe her, she would love to do that. Maybe after they got Eren safe, then she could shoot him.

Her gaze drifted off to Eren, and she mumbled a curse under her breath when she saw that Reiner had him pinned onto his back. She hailed down the others, and they met on another rooftop between them.

"A few of us should continue to pursue the Cart, and the others can go try to keep Eren safe from Reiner," she suggested to them.

Armin nodded. "Yeah, I agree. I think Mikasa and I can handle the Cart Titan, and you three can--"

A loud, ear-piercing roar ripped through the city, cutting the blond off. It was reminiscent of when they'd caught the Female Titan in the forest, and she screamed out to summon a bunch of Titans. And she was sort of right to be reminded of that.

The city was lit with bursts of lightning all over, and as soon as Araminta realized what exactly was happening, she very loudly cursed. Zeke had screamed, just like he'd done in Ragako all those years ago, and everyone who ingested his spinal fluid was turned into a Titan. So, not only were there hundreds of Marleyan soldiers to deal with, there were also Titans now.

"God fucking damnit!" Araminta slammed a fist against her thigh. "It's like it's never ending!"

Jean huffed a laugh devoid of any humor. "Tell me about it..."

"We can't let this slow us down!" Armin insisted. "We just have to keep going, and try to avoid the pure Titans the best we can. You three go protect Eren, okay?" He shouted at them, his voice carrying an almost commanding tone to it.

Once they all confirmed their understanding, they split up. Araminta, Jean and Connie zipped away in the direction of Eren and Reiner, but as they did so, the Cart Titan took another shot, and this time they blew his head off completely.

"Jeez, no way he survived that one!" Connie shouted, his voice barely audible over the sound of the wind in Araminta's ears as well as the Titans roaring below and destroying buildings.

She wasn't too sure he survived it, either. But, this was Zeke they were talking about. If he and Eren already planned all of this, she was sure they had come up with some sort of plan for this as well. Or he came up with something on the fly, which also wouldn't surprise her.

A Titan suddenly reached up and grabbed her leg, yanking her out of the sky and slamming her down on a roof. God, she couldn't even remember the last time she'd fought a pure Titan. It must have been a couple of years ago, at least. She heard Jean call out her name as she stood up, but she waved him away. She could handle killing a little ten meter on her own just fine.

What bothered her, though, was how familiar the Titan's ugly face was. She wasn't really sure where she recognized it from, but she knew it was one of her fellow soldiers--a Military Police officer, probably. It had been a long time since they first realized that the Titans they were killing were really just people, but that didn't make it any less nauseating to kill them. Especially when they were people you recognized.

The Titan reached out for her again once she was up on her feet, but she was able to dodge it easily. She shot her grappling hooks into a building behind the Titan, then flew off the rooftop. Once she had a good enough angle, she spun around and fired a thunder spear into the Titan's nape--well, not before whispering a small "I'm sorry" that she knew it wouldn't understand.

Now that she'd taken care of that, she continued on after Jean and Connie. There was a lot going on in front of her, though. Reiner still had Eren pinned to the ground, but now there was a pure Titan gnawing at his nape. At first she was confused because Reiner wasn't really putting up much of a fight, but then she realized: it was that little Warrior Candidate boy who Niccolo hit over the head with a bottle of the wine.

To add to the chaos, there was a tower of smoke where Eren had beat the hell out of the Jaw Titan, and the holder of the Titan was staggering away from the corpse. He was in awful shape, and looked like he could barely carry himself. Was he trying to run away, or something?

The pure Titan turned its attention over to him, and it dawned on her. She watched from the roof of some house as the Titan ran towards the Warrior and ate him up like he was his first meal in months.

Reiner was pissed.

He sat up to let out a loud, pained roar that ripped through the city. Eren started to sit down as well, but Reiner immediately shoved his fist inside his mouth, knocking him back down to the ground. It looked like the Armored Titan had the upper hand, but it didn't last for long.

Eren crystallized himself, locking Reiner's fist into place, then Araminta watched him somersalt out of his Titan form.

"What's he...?" Araminta wondered as she watched him break into a run, until she realized he was running toward the decaying corpse of the Beast Titan--toward Zeke. "Shit! We gotta cover him!" She yelled to Jean and Connie, although she wasn't even sure where they were.

She didn't wait for an answer. She leapt off the house, the wind fluttering through her hair as she fell to the ground. She managed to catch herself at the last second, and landed to the stone street gracefully. She was a couple dozen of meters away from Eren, who was running like his life depended on it--and, well, it did.

It didn't take long for Reiner to break free of the hardened crystal, and once he did, he reached out to grab Eren. Araminta spun around to fire a thunder spear at him, but Jean and Connie beat her to it.

She was between Eren and Zeke, so he was running in her direction, but it didn't seem like he noticed her watching him. Maybe that's because she was frozen like a statue, unsure what her next move should be. What if he really did follow through with Zeke's plan, and sterelized all the Eldians? Or what if he started The Rumbling, and scorched the Earth with the power of the Titans? Should she stop him? Should she help him?

I'll always stick by your side, okay? No matter what.

Do you promise?

I promise.

God, why should she even honor her promise to him? After he had let her down so many times? After he told her he didn't love her anymore, and that she was just some kind of a slave to orders? Why should she give him the courtesy of following through on her promise?

Maybe this was what love was. Maybe the fact that she was willing to set aside those things, to stay by him and follow him, in spite of everything he'd done...

Then, she saw her.

That same little girl that had shot Sasha was standing behind a great big rifle, and she had it pointed straight at Eren.

Everything felt like it was playing out in slow motion. Araminta was moving before she even took the time to think about it. She was pretty sure she yelled out his name, in an effort to grab his attention before it was too late. He glanced to the side, and his teal gaze briefly met her own. She stretched her arm out towards him, like maybe she could reach him if she really tried.

In an instant, the bullet ripped through his neck, and his head was flying through the air.

Her throat burned from how loud she screamed.

She didn't even have time to process the very likely possibility that he was dead. Because somehow, by some miracle of Ymir Fritz herself or something, his decapitated head landed directly in Zeke's outstretched hand.

If the moment before had played out in slow motion, then this one was playing out in hyperspeed. She couldn't even keep track of everything that was happening. She was knocked backwards by some gust of air, and slammed into a brick wall. There was a blinding light like all the other Titan transformations she'd witnessed--however this one was much more powerful than those.

By the time the light had subsided enough for Araminta to open her eyes without being momentarily blinded, the air was filled with dust and debris. Pieces of stone were crashing to the ground all around her, and she realized it was all coming from the wall.

The wall that she was much too close to, by the way. She forced herself up onto her feet, and used her gear to take her away from the crumbling walls. As soon as she was a safe distance away, though, she turned around to watch.

This was The Rumbling, right? This was the thawing of the Colossal Titans that dwelled within the walls, and the beginning of their march across the Earth? So, that meant that Eren had control of the Founder.

There were two light thuds next to her, and she glanced over to see Jean and Connie had joined her.

"So, what the fuck is that thing, Miss Scientist?" The gray haired boy asked.

Oh, yeah. The elephant in the room--although, this thing was probably the size of hundreds of elephants put together.

Where Eren and Zeke had been was now the biggest Titan Araminta had ever seen. Judging by how high it loomed over the Colossal Titans, it had to be at least two hundred and fifty meters tall. Not to mention the width of it. There was a pair of legs, and then there was a spine that curved forward and stretched out, accompanied by an array of bones to create a ribcage. She was pretty sure she could see a head all the way at the front, with dark hair that draped down, but it was hard to see from how far away it was.

"I'm pretty sure that's the Founding Titan," she replied.

"So, that means Eren's got the power, right? Because he couldn't have started The Rumbling without it." Jean looked down at her, his dark eyebrows scrunched together.

Araminta nodded, her gaze drifting off towards the Founder. She wished she had her sketchbook on her, or some kind of camera to capture a photo of it, because it was magnificent. Terrifying, but magnificent. "I think so. He's probably going to go crush the alliance forming in Marley."

Something didn't feel right, though. Why wouldn't he have just told them this was what he was planning? Why all the secrets, and the lies?

She stood up, and began to glance around to survey the damages. But she noticed something, and she frowned. "Why's he taking the Titans in Wall Maria, too? If he's just going to Marley, there's no reason he should need that many Titans..."

Jean stood as well, following her gaze to where Wall Maria no longer stood. "What's that idiot doing--?"

Hear me, Subjects of Ymir.

Eren's voice intruded Araminta's mind, and she froze.

"What the hell? Did you guys hear that?" Connie shouted. "It sounded like Eren!"

My name is Eren Jaeger.

Araminta blinked, and the red sky was now a deep blue sea above them, littered with what looked like stars of some kind. She was no longer on a roof, she was standing in sand that seemed to stretch on forever. Jean and Connie remained by her side, the former of the two grabbing onto her hand.

I'm using the Founding Titan's power to address all Subjects of Ymir. I've undone the hardening of Paradis Island's walls, and the Titans within have begun their march. My goal is to protect the people of Paradis Island--the place where I was born. However, the world wants to exterminate my people, and not just the people on this island. They will not stop until every last Subject of Ymir is dead. I refuse to let them.

The Titans will trample every inch of this world beyond this island.

Her heart stopped beating.

Until every single life beyond our walls is wiped out.

AND SO IT BEGINS... LOL... tbh this chapter is Not my favorite i was having a rly difficult time writing it but it's fine. bc we're in the RUMNLING ARC LETS GOOOO!! everyday we get closer to the end of this fic... which i DO intend to finish one day btw... hopefully next chapter won't take quite so long lel...

(hint: commenting and voting will rly motivate me to write more lol...)