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Armin woke early on the morning of the plan's execution, feeling slightly ill. It had been difficult to sleep the night before; a hundred questions still burned in his mind, all unanswered. He had managed to force himself into a sort of restless slumber, nonetheless.

He sat up and fumbled, first for the lantern on the bedside table, then for the empty pitcher at the side of the bed. Once the light was lit, he stumbled across the room to the doorway.

His footsteps echoed in the empty corridor; his thoughts, however, raced furiously inside his head.

How was he going to pull this off? He had no real reason to trust Annie. There was always the possibility that she already suspected something...

Though if his previous encounter with the Female Titan had proven anything, she probably did. The thought did little to alleviate his fears.

Soon enough he was in the courtyard. A thin mist rolled over the cobblestone as he made his way towards the well. He was still thinking.

There had been the ominous order: Keep an eye on your friend. Why did Eren need to be watched? Had he let on something that they weren't aware of? Or was it merely because of his initial reluctance to accept the Female Titan's identity?

The pitcher was filled, thus, he made his way back to the main room. He poured the water into the basin. Armin took a breath, then leant down and cupped the water in his hands, splashed it on his face. The liquid was cool and a faint, metallic odor lingered.

Mikasa had been absent from this meeting. Did Erwin not trust her? He had lived alongside the pair long enough to sense when trouble was at hand, but there was no sign of any bad blood between Eren and Mikasa. They were all very close to one another. If the closeness of their friendship was the problem, then why had Erwin called him, and only him, down?

He looked up into the mirror and felt the dread rise in him. The Commander had trusted him with this. Clearly, he had more than enough faith in his abilities. The thought was strangely disturbing.

Armin dressed whilst the foreboding continued to fester in his chest.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

His fellows were soon up and about, though they were not as tired or anxious. Eren, however, was uncharacteristically stoic. Armin brushed it off. The plan hinged upon the three of them, after all; perhaps he had not been the only one experiencing a restless night.

Shortly after breakfast, they gathered around one table to discuss a final run-through of the plan, headed by Erwin, Levi and Hange. The worn map of Stohess was covered with markers representing the various teams; Team One was to be stationed at this street, Team Two was on the rooftops, and so forth.

"Are there any questions?" Erwin said.

No one spoke up.

"Very well. You're dismissed."

They filed out to their respective destinations. Armin was the only one who did not move.

"Armin?"

He jumped at the sound of his name, and turned to see Hange looking at him.

"Y-Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She nodded.

"Good luck."
___________________________________________________________________________________________

The sun had risen hours ago. There was still a feeling of self-awareness as Armin made his way down the winding streets towards Stohess's Military Police headquarters. He took a turn into a dark, decrepit alley near the building in question. All he could do now was wait.

He leant back against the wall and almost immediately recoiled at the soft, wet squish that met his ears. A squeak of revulsion stuck in his chest as he turned to see whatever had made the noise.

Just a patch of moss.

Still recovering from that nasty shock, he performed a last-minute run-through of what strategy he had left to him. He heard the voices of the soldiers, muffled and indistinguishable, for a lengthy amount of time. Precious seconds ticked by. Armin eventually lost count of how much time had passed, distracted by the furious pounding of his heart against his ribcage. After what seemed to be an eternity of this, the gate opened, and the MPs headed out.

Annie hung back.

The moment her head turned in his general direction, he hissed:

"Annie."

Annie froze, did a double take. Armin gestured frantically towards himself. She cast a cursory glance back at the retreating figures of the MPs before she turned decisively upon her heel and walked over to join him in the alley.

"Armin?" Her tone was more surprised than her demeanor. He nodded.

"I see you're already a full-fledged MP." Her gaze shifted to his cloak, a look of mild confusion on her features.

"This? It's a porter outfit." He drew back the cloak to reveal the gear concealed beneath. "The rain gear hides my maneuvering equipment." Annie's attention returned to his face, analyzing.

"I'll get to the point, then." Armin said quickly. "We need your help. Can you come with us and help Eren escape?" She remained impassive.

"Where is he going to run?"

"I can't tell you. We don't intend to defy the monarchy openly; we're just going to hide him temporarily. We need time to gather our evidence." A flicker of emotion crossed her face, but it was gone as quickly as he had witnessed it.

"And what kind of evidence would that be?"

She already knew. He faltered.

"Sorry. I can't say that, either." Annie nodded.

"Good luck to you, then." And with that, she turned away from him. The crushing weight in his chest now burst.

"No—wait! Don't you understand!? They'll kill him!"

She paused.

"Mankind doesn't have a chance without him, not with the way things are headed! We don't have a chance!"

Another period of silence. Armin knew by the subtle shift in her stature that his argument was not doing well to convince her. He went on hurriedly.

"I know this doesn't sound convincing, but I — I've run out of options, and we need the assistance of one of the Military Police to get through Sina's checkpoints." He stopped to catch his breath, mouth dry. "We'll try to keep you out of trouble, though I can't promise anything." He waited for her response.

"Do I look like a sort of good person to you?" Her tone was weary.

Armin hesitated before speaking.

"Erm...I'd rather not put it like that. It more or less implies good and bad as a term of convenience. And, well, everyone's a bad person to someone else." Armin cringed inwardly at the way this sounded, but he had gone too far to back down now. "My point is, if you don't help us, well...that would make you a bad person to me."

The silence that followed was the longest yet.

Annie exhaled through her nose.

"Fine." She withdrew a small ring from her jacket. "I'm in."
___________________________________________________________________________________________

A bit of the tension was alleviated when Eren finally showed up. With a last glance back at the retreating carriage, he joined the three of them. But there was something off. There was not a spoken word between them, yet there was a feeling in the air, indirect yet almost tangible. He wondered whether Mikasa could sense it, too.

They set off through the dusty streets. It was only a few minutes before they had their first encounter with Military Police members. A pair stood idly to greet them.

"Who are these, then?" The first asked. Annie responded easily.

"They're with me." The other man surveyed the three of them. For a moment Armin wondered if, despite the general incompetence among the MPs, they actually were going to be caught, but to his great relief, the two quickly brushed it off. The four continued down the street.

"Armin." He realized she was talking to him. "What was your plan?"

"We would have broken through security with our mobility gear."

"Wouldn't it have been less trouble to escape before you reached Stohess?"

"Well, I figured that the switch wouldn't work without terrain as complex as the city's. Playing along with the Capital's expectations and slipping away seemed like it would buy us more time."

There was a pause.

"Alright, then."
___________________________________________________________________________________________

"There it is!" Armin whispered, gesturing to the flight of stairs descending into darkness. Annie slowed to a halt.

"Here?"

"Yes." said Armin, relief flooding his voice. "This tunnel connects to an exit close to the outer gate." He chanced a glance at the other two; they seemed to share his sentiment. He went in first; Mikasa and Eren followed close behind him. "Taking the underground passage should be much safer..."

Armin stopped suddenly, struck by the feeling that something was very wrong. He turned to see Annie, still at the top of the stairs, watching them closely.

This wasn't going to plan; why hadn't she followed them into the passage?

"Annie?"

"I can't help you if we're going that way." He did not like how calm her voice was. "The dark scares me."

Eren grinned dubiously up at her. "Coming from you? That's a laugh. Come on, we need to hurry." She did not move, and he faltered. "...Annie?"

"Yes, nothing a suicidal bastard like you would understand."

Eren seemed to be losing his nerve.

"This isn't funny anymore, Annie–"

"You know, Armin," She cut him off, and her tone was harsh. "I don't understand what compelled you to ask for my help if you never trusted me in the first place."

Terror gripped him. "You stole Marco's gear." He mumbled. "I knew it was his – I fixed it with him."

She did not deny his words. Eren and Mikasa were watching him intently. "You killed the Titans we captured."

"Perhaps. If you're so sure I killed them, why did you wait a month to do anything?"

Armin could only stare at her in horror.

"I...I didn't want to believe it." His voice was small. "I didn't want to believe that you would plan all this." He took a shaky breath, forcing himself to look at her.

"What about you, Annie? Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?"

She paused, as if considering the point herself.

"I don't know." She said finally. "If I had known you were this aware...I suppose I would have acted differently." Eren stepped forward.

"Annie, this isn't a goddamn joke! Come down here!"

Armin extended his hand in her direction, trying to retain some level of reason. If they could just keep her occupied...

"Look, can't we talk about this–?"

But Mikasa moved ahead of them, sword drawn.

"Enough." She said coldly. "This is pointless. I'll defeat you again, Female Titan."

Silence. Eren and he quickly glanced at her, then back to Annie.

Annie grinned hollowly at them, and in the brilliant contrast the shadows cast, Armin saw the very same fear that plagued him echoed in her features.

"...You don't understand." She said quietly. "I can't go down there. I've failed."

Now Eren looked to Annie with a silent, desperate plea.

And Armin saw it then, in the stricken expression of his best friend in the world. This was the reason they had called him. A wave of fear washed over him, paralyzing. Mikasa must have seen the look on his face and followed his gaze. They looked at each other, then turned back to the target.

Annie turned to address him. "I'm glad I could be a good person to you. You were right about your bet. But now" – she raised her hand to her mouth, and Armin gripped the flare gun in his – "it's my turn!"

Despite the dread clouding his mind, Armin did not hesitate.

BANG!

The Scouts emerged from every place imaginable; the rooftops, behind walls and crates. Annie had mere seconds to react; she turned, and they had her. One caught her legs, another produced a gag, while two more held her arms.

Eren gave a yell and made to step forward, but he was held back by Mikasa.

Annie flexed her hand, and there was a distinctive shnk. Armin's eyes widened in comprehension, just as Mikasa took hold of his arm.

The ring.

"Run!" Armin screamed in desperation, but the looks of confusion upon their faces told him that his words were delivered too late. All became a blur. The blinding flash of light behind them was the only warning they had; the screams above were silenced in the wake of cracking stone and the deafening roar of the ensuing transformation.

Now, surrounded by the dying and chaos, the realization that Eren had allied himself alongside the target hit him, harder than any physical blow.

Oh, God.

How much had he told her? What was he going to say to him?

He had seen Eren's reluctance, brushed it off as nothing more than a trademark of his stubborn sense of loyalty to his friends, they all had...but he had never guessed that it would lead to anything like this.

Armin felt the bile rise in his throat, and he shuddered.

"Can you stand? Run!" cried Mikasa as she hauled a shaking, oddly silent Eren to his feet. Her words could not have been delivered at a better time, for no sooner had the warning left her lips that a huge, skinless hand forced its way down the tunnel, blotting out the light from above. It collided with the opposing wall and shot towards them.

The trio raced down the passageway, not daring to look behind them.

As Armin ran, his frantic thoughts became words. "She knew I was lying from the start. And she knew we were going to ambush her! I—"

"Think about it later," said Mikasa, "but tell me — what's the plan?" Armin snapped out of his thoughts to the present. She was watching him intently.

All I can do now is try and keep us together.

"Right. Join up with Team Three and get above ground, and go straight to Plan B: we fight Ann–the Female Titan." He looked at Eren. "You know what to do, right? Transform and help us capture her?" Eren gave a nod, slow and apprehensive.

Armin could just make out the tiny figures of the third Team at the end of the passageway.

"Hey! What's happening?" One shouted.

"The plan failed!" Armin called, "Move to Plan—"

But the rest of his words were lost as another deafening explosion split the air, and the members of Team Three were crushed beneath the Titan's foot. The force of the impact seemed to reverberate inside his very being. Slowly, the creature raised its foot from the tunnel, leaving a gaping hole in its wake.

The three recovered from the blast. The remnants of Team Three now lay buried under the cascade of rubble. Eren recovered first, staring at the debris as if he could not comprehend the sight before him.

"We...we need to help them." He mumbled finally. Mikasa gripped his shoulder.

"Stay back." She scowled up at the opening. "What is she doing? Does she not care if Eren dies?"

Armin shook his head.

"She made that hole betting that we wouldn't get crushed in the process. It's a crazy move, but a good one." He glanced nervously down the passageway. "...What are we going to do? She's got us cornered."

Eren spoke up.

"I'll transform. Like I did with the cannons in Trost." Mikasa and Armin looked back at him. He was pale, trembling slightly, but determined. "Come here." They huddled around him. "Hold on!" They braced themselves and Eren bit into his hand with a crunch.

Nothing happened. Blood began to ooze from his wound.

"Shit!"

Armin wheeled around to find Eren on his knees, clutching his bloodied hand. Tentatively, he began.

"You can't transform if you don't have a concrete goal, right? Try again — keep the image in your mind!"

"I am!" Eren protested.

"Are you, really?" Mikasa knelt down beside him. They stared at one another for a moment. Eren looked away to continue gnawing desperately at his hand. "...Don't tell me you think you just imagined Annie to be the Female Titan!? Think about what you just saw! She was the one who killed our squadmates!"

"Shut up!" He snapped. "I'm doing it!"

For a minute, they waited. Armin stood up and surveyed each end of the tunnel with a critical eye.

"...You know it's true, don't you? So—" Mikasa gripped his shoulder "—doesn't that mean you have to fight her?" Against his better judgment, Armin looked back at his comrades; Eren wrenched his shoulder from her grasp and continued to gnaw fruitlessly at his knuckles. Mikasa went on coolly. "Or are there some sort of special feelings that are holding you back?"

Now Eren glared at her, and there was something strange in his eyes. What was it? Anger? Guilt? An unspoken acknowledgement to her claim?

A combination of dismay and utter incredulity showed on her features.

As Armin watched the pair, something clicked into place. Sensing things were about to worsen, he quickly cut in.

"I have a plan." They both turned their attention to him. He drew his blades, using one to point down the tunnel. "Mikasa and I will run down this passageway to each entrance. Annie will have to choose to deal with one of us. While that happens, you have to get out of here! The soldiers will deal with her somehow."

Eren did not take the concept well.

"What!? One of you is going to die!"

"And all three of us are dead if we stay here. Mikasa, get in position!"

"Wait—Mikasa!" But she was already running. Armin paused, knelt down to face him.

"Eren." He said quietly. "You're my friend. I won't regard you as anything less. But I want to see what's out there, beyond the walls. That was our promise. And I'm going to see it through to the end, with or without you." He stood up, turned. "Good luck."

The urge to vomit, ever present, had returned. Once more, he willed himself not to.

There was no going back now.