Hi RonaldWeasleyTheHero here and i just want to give a big thank you to every reviewer and every fan of this story for sticking with me for this long. if anyone has read the message on my profile you will know i have been suffering a condition involving my hands. i have had to take nearly a 1 year break from writing, i had to leave my job and even take a break from school due to this fact. luckily i am now on my way to recovery, my hands are pain free (for the most part) and ive taken to writing as much as i could in this last week. so i want to apologize if this chapter is a little disjointed since i wanted to get it out as fast as possible, and also if the quality is a little off, i haven't written anything in so long that im a bit out of practice. enough of this now enjoy the chapter. more to come soon.

Chapter 14: Chaos Theory

Commander Nile Dawks Office (Earlier)

Nile Dawk slowly read the contents of the paper in front of him, taking great care to soak in every minuscule detail of Erwin's so called plan. He hesitated to call this thing a plan due to the obvious fact that this required so many gambles to work that nothing short of a divine miracle would allow this to succeed. It was a series of boneheaded, and to him, sometimes nonsensical bets that could have far reaching consequences for the both of them and many others. Unfortunately, his hands were tied, Erwin had effectively grasped him in an iron tight grip and was not about to let him go anytime soon.

Damn this man.

"When is Shadis due to arrive?" Nile asked, Erwin hovering over his shoulder. Also looking for flaws in whatever he was about to do.

"In a few moments, Pixis should arrive sometime after that as well. Do you have what I asked for?"

Nile nodded and pulled his desk drawer open revealing a set of identical keys, nearly four dozen in number neatly lined up. Nile took one and handed it to Erwin who gave it a quick inspection.

"The guards in the dungeon have keys similar to this?" Erwin Asked.

"Not similar, exactly the same. There are a several dungeons scattered in or- near Wall Sina and HQ, none of them have more than maybe six to eight guards in one sector and they all get keys to the cells. I usually let the Commanding Officers at each sector have freedom to handle their part of the prisons as they please but this time I specifically told the officer there to reassign everyone working in his sector except for himself and one more.

There was a long pause, the room growing silent as they verbalized their plan. It was quickly becoming far too real for Nile.

"Any family?" Erwin asked.

Nile swallowed "A wife, child...its a newborn."

"I see..."

There was nothing else to be said.

"What will we be telling Pixis and Shadis when they show up?" Nile questioned, breaking the oppressive silence

"Simply what is necessary, They do not need to be made aware of the more intricate details..."

Nile sighed in acceptance "Fine, are you sure that this next part you can handle on your own?"

"I'm sure, so I urge you to make sure you play your role as you should,"

"I'm looking for Mikasa Ackerman. Is there a Mikasa Ackerman here?"

The busy clambering and clinking of kitchen tools and silverware stopped abruptly as all attention was suddenly focused on the vertically challenged, but surprisingly intimidating man that had just walked though the door of the kitchen.

"You all deaf or something?" He asked, noticing their wide-eyed gazes, "I said, I'm looking for Mikasa Ackerman."

The sharp, dead eyes. The short stature, and the wings of freedom adorned on his green cloak left no doubt about his identity.

It was Levi, the strongest man alive.

No one answered as the realization dawned on them, some of the younger recruits noticeably awe struck about the man who was rumored to be able to defeat over one-hundred titans by his lonesome.

Unfortunately there was one amongst them that was not so impressed.

Mikasa Ackerman waded her way through the crowd to appear in front of the man who looked up at the girl. She was tall for her age, with dark black hair cut short, a white apron strapped around her waist, presumably to protect her from whatever mess might happen while working.

Sharp eyes met sharp eyes.

'Probably thinking how short I am, just like all the rest.' Levi Thought.

Mikasa's eyes studied the Scouting legion member from top to bottom, 'Who's this shorty?' Was the first question that popped into mind, she noticed the green cloak on his back, 'A member of the Survey Corps? What does he want with me?' Mikasa asked herself,

"You're Mikasa Ackerman then?"

"Yes, I am."

"Good, take off that apron and come with me."

Without even pausing to ask why Mikasa had ripped the protective material from around her waist and thrown it to the nearest person.

"Wait you can't just take one of our people, I wanna know who ordered this!" Someone suddenly spoke up causing the two to pause. Levi didn't know who he was, but he assumed he must have been the one assigned to look over the kitchen area.

"Commander Erwin, directly ordered this, If you got a problem take it up with him." Levi said simply.

The man frowned but said nothing further, it was hardly worth the effort to pursue this all over one recruit.

Also, she was a terrible cook.

"Anything else?"

The man shook his head, "Good,"

Levi walked out the door, and Mikasa, assuming she should follow, quickly caught up to him.

"Listen up, Ackerman. I got somewhere to be so I'll make this quick. You've been reassigned to the protection of Armin Arlert within the HQ."

Mikasa's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, feeling undeniably relieved that she could confirm his safety for herself.

'Eren should be there too.' She thought, If anyone deserved to see him, it was Eren.

"He should be at the Medical Area, there should be some guards there already on duty, but I guess we're adding you for some extra protection. You got all that, Ackerman?"

"Yes."

"Good, you know where it is?"

Mikasa shook her head "I've never been there before."

Levi sighed, "Alright kid, follow me."

Mikasa continued to follow Levi as he navigated through the halls of HQ.

"Stupid glasses woman." She heard him mutter under his breath. "Better have saved some for me."

It was uncomfortable,

That was the first thought that entered Erwin smith's mind as his heavy footsteps pounded in his ears, a hooded black cloak covering his entire body. He has been here before, in this moment, taking careful steps towards something greater, plans to set in motion to achieve what he thought was best for humanity. It always came with a price, however, and the price was always an unknown piece of himself that would shatter and fall almost unnoticeably. In this moment his senses became heightened, his body more self-aware, every sight, sound, and touch became greater all for the singular purpose of success.

And anything less than absolute success would be death.

Erwin turned a corner already taking note of the now dimly lit corridor that led into the dungeons further below.

He spotted two guards standing directly in front of the entrance,

One of them motioned for him to stop and he halted immediately.

The guard gave him a look of unease before he spoke, "You Nile's guy?"

Erwin gave a short nod, his head bowed slightly in order to hide some of his more prominent features.

Though he knew, the unfortunate truth, was that it didn't matter. But it was a safety precaution that needed to be exercised regardless.

The man motioned for him to follow and the three stepped inside the dungeons of the Military Police. As soon as he stepped in Erwin's senses was barraged by noise. Inmates screaming their throats raw and bashing against the metal bars of their cells.

"Is it always this...exciting?" Erwin asked,

The second guard shook his head, a bead of of sweat running down his forehead made it clear that he was at least somewhat nervous.

"Oh...no, its just that the slavers we bought in earlier riled them up. Believe it or not, but even scumbags have standards. Rapists, and child molesters never last long down here. Slavers too apparently.

"I see."

Erwin and the guards walked the rest of the way in silence, his keen mind taking note of every turn and corner. Every distinctive feature even down to the smallest detail was taken note of, just in case he would be in need of it later.

"Alright, this is the door the bottom of the dungeons where we're keeping the slavers, Nile told me to give you as much time as you needed but try to hurry it up. For some reason we were the only one's assigned to this sector of the prison today so we got a lot to take care of."

Erwin stamped down the sick feeling in his stomach almost as soon as it had come. "Thank you, I won't be long."

Erwin stepped inside, the guards closing the door behind him. He wondered how far underground they had ventured as it seemed to get even darker, a single torch lighting the dank, empty cells.

Erwin's ears perked as he heard what sounded like a faint conversation in the distance, without waiting any longer he followed the sound. He noticed the emptiness of these dungeons as he walked by, almost none were occupied, some were even abnormally large.

He made note of it.

'Another matter for another time, I suppose'

"Hey! Somebody there!? We're going to die down here if you don't give us something to eat!"

Erwin stopped and followed the voice. That's when he took in sight of them, the slavers all grouped together in one cell, some were slouched against the wall while others lay on the ground, all looked worse for wear. He spotted the larger one who was grasping the bars tightly, fixing him with a glare of loathing.

"Hey, buddy, would you mind telling that shitty Commander of yours to at least give us some food, or some fucking wat-"

The larger man stopped mid sentence,finally taking a good look at his attire.

"You're not a guard are you..." It was a statement not a question, and if he was not mistaken there was almost a hint of fear in his voice.

'He seems genuinely afraid for his life, his superiors, whoever they are, are not above killing them to silence them and they knew it'

Though the fact that the slaver was not surprised that someone supposedly trying to kill him could enter the farthest depths of the Military Police dungeons without being detected strongly suggested that he had allies even here.

"We are not happy." He stated,

The fear was now obvious and the other men in the cell had caught wind of the conversation and they too were now showing signs of trepidation.

"It was all that kid's fault, everything was going smooth, we even had a few clients from Sina willing to pay big bucks for the ki-"

"Stop."

The room immediately delved into silence and Erwin began to understand the level of influence that he...or should he say they had over these people.

He could work with this.

"That is not why I came down here, nor is it to execute you for your incompetence. Though I have every right to..."

He let the sentence hang in the air, making sure the message was clear and concise.

He was in control of both the situation and their lives.

"The boy you spoke of, his name is Armin Arlert. Due to what happened at the church he has become a public figure in the eyes of the people, he is causing them to start asking questions, That is unacceptable. We need him dealt with as soon as possible."

Erwin stepped closer to cell, raising his head a little to meet the eyes of the burly man, "I am giving you a chance to redeem yourselves, and this time nothing less than success will be acceptable."

"What do you want us to do?"

"Armin Arlert is here in wall Sina at the far side of the headquarters in the medical area, he is minimally guarded and most likely asleep. I want you to eliminate his guards and then kill him yourself."

The burly man chuckled "Ha, you doing us a favor, there is nothing I want more than to kill that runt."

The rest of the men wholeheartedly agreed, shouting obscenities and promises of a grisly death all aimed at Armin.

"Well there is one problem here buddy, how the hell do you plan to get us out of here?"

Without saying a word, Erwin dug into his pocket and threw the keys at his feet.

" Your instructions is as followed, you are to escape in exactly one hour, no more and no less. There are two guards posted outside you are to kill the commanding officer but you are to keep the younger one alive, is that understood?"

"Why?"

"Is that understood?" Erwin repeated firmly, leaving no room for argument.

The man nodded hesitantly and bent over to pick up the keys. That is when Erwin struck, thrusting his hand between the bars, Erwin grabbed the man by his collar to bring him closer.

"Do you understand what happens if you fail?"

The man swallowed hard, and nodded vigorously.

"I die..."

"You all die."

"I understand."

"Good."

Erwin let go and quickly began to make his way out, he met the guards at the entrance and was escorted out.

He had made his play, and he had started his gamble. If he failed, than a lot of lives than would be needlessly lost but if he succeeded...

As soon as he was out of the dungeons and away from the guard, Erwin found the nearest empty room and rid himself of the dark cloak. He took a breath of relief trying to ease the tension in his shoulders and the storm in his mind.

'I leave the rest to you, Armin'

Back in the holding cell, the slavers let out a breath as the man walked away, the larger man of the group watched as one of his subordinates came from behind,

"Was that him?"

"It must have been, though I ain't ever seen his face before..."

"You heard what they called him before he got involved with HQ right?"

The large man nodded, his left hand quickly grabbing his right to stop it from its incessant shaking.

"Yeah, Kenny the butcher."

"How long have we been here!?" Connie springer exclaimed. His back and forth pacing coming to an abrupt stop.

Sasha spared him a glance before returning back to her dreams consisting of copious amounts of meat.

"Are you even listening!?" He demanded

Sasha froze then nodded hastily "Of course I am..." she lied, and offered him an awkward smile.

Connie plopped himself across from her, laying his head in his hand. "I just want to get out of here, and do something. I'd rather be cleaning up dishes than this."

"Well look on the bright-side," Sasha began with a smile meant to be comforting "At least we don't have to do any work."

Connie sighed, " I guess...But what if they forgot about us huh? What then?"

Sasha laughed and dismissed his statement with a wave of her hand "Don't be stupid, of course they didn't forget about us."

"Oh really? Is it that hard to think that they forgot about us with all the shit going down?"

Sasha shook her head "They wouldn't."

"But what if they did?" Connie insisted.

"They didn't." Sasha muttered, but the statement seemed hollow.

Connie continued, "And what if we they never even remember that we're down here?" Connie paused then smirked "What if we starve?"

Sasha stood with a gasp, fear coursing through her veins. "T-they wouldn't let us starve."

"But what if they did?" Connie countered.

"They wouldn't!" Sasha could pick a million ways to die, and starving would be among the last ways she would choose to go.

"But what if they did!?" Connie retorted his voice a bit louder than before. "Do you know what starving is? Imagine having nothing to eat for the next...six hours!"

Sasha squealed at the horrifying thought.

"But increase that by like...five times! Do you know how many hours of not eating that is? It's like..."

Connie paused and began to do the math with his fingers. "1...9...17..28...Whatever! That's like a lot of hours without eating, Sasha!

"Alright, fine!" Sasha shouted, "Let's get the hell out of here! Please!"

Connie smirked, silently admiring his own genius as he watched his best friend hurry towards the door.

'You still got it springer.'

"Its locked."

There was a pause as Connie stared at Sasha and she stared back.

"Well...unlock it!" Connie told her. Gesturing frantically towards the general direction of the wooden door.

"It doesn't unlock from this side, dummy!"

Connie groaned in frustration while Sasha began to weep.

"Alright," Connie said suddenly, his visage becoming one of complete seriousness "We're going to bust it down."

Sasha stopped her sobbing long enough to look up at him "Really? But won't we be doing property damage and stuff, and won't we get in trou-"

"Do you care?" Connie interrupted.

"No." Was the immediate response.

"Good." Connie chirped.

He beckoned her over and got into position, both with their shoulders down preparing to barrel into the wooden barrier that stood between them and freedom.

"Alright on three. 1...2..."

"Wait!"

"Oh for the love of-what!?" Connie demanded.

"Is it 1-2-3 go, or 1-2- and then go on 3?"

Connie felt his eye twitch, "Just go!"

Without another word, both Connie and Sasha let out a burst of speed before making successful contact with the door.

A loud crash followed soon after, as wood gave way to Sasha and Connie's combined attack.

"Yes!" Sasha cheered, as she began to untangle herself from the mess of limbs that her and Connie had become.

Connie poked his head from the rubble, "Did we do it?" He saw the fallen door and then finally the hallway. "We did it!"

Sasha grasped his hand and pulled him to his feet. " Now lets get the hell out of here before somebody sees us." She said.

"Yeah, lets go."

The duo sprinted down the hallway, elated at the fact that they were no longer confined to the room.

Now they can finally...finally.

Finally?

Sasha came to a stop.

"Connie...where are we going?"

She only received a blank stare in return.

The Commanding Officer of the guards looking over the dungeon let out a sigh of boredom while leaning against the door, his subordinate nearby doing the same. His shift was going to be over in a few hours and the first thing he would do was go home and eat a nice long meal made by his wife. He had received some fresh bread from the neighbors so he and his daughter would be fed well tonight.

He grinned slightly at the thought, and stood straighter, the promise of a future meal and sight of his family invigorating him for the moment.

Unfortunately his excitement was cut short when a small high pitched whistle sounded from behind the door. It was feint but it was noticeable.

"Hello?" He called cautiously, he motioned for his partner to go on alert and the younger soldier stood to attention. He had been on edge nearly all day due to the odd way things had been assigned, him and one other were the only one guarding this section of the prison which held some high profile prisoners that had been the talk of the walls. Even though it had been suspicious, it was not his job to question things.

"Whistle"

There it was again!

In an instant he had reached for his rifle strapped across his back but it was a moment too late as the door was suddenly smashed with great force from the other side. Before he knew what was happening a large beefy hand had wrapped around his throat leaving him unable to scream. His eyes grew wide with fear as the hand began to squeeze. The strength behind it leaving no doubt in his mind that with a little more pressure his neck would surely snap.

"Ack!" He said, the only sound he was capable of making due to his constricted throat.

"Shh!" The large man told him, putting his index finger to his mouth "Listen buddy, just tell us where the Armory is and we might let you live."

The guard could barely make out the muffled sound of his subordinate struggling against his captors.

How many were there?Five? Maybe six? It didn't matter, his sight was starting to blur. Had one of them just taken his gun? He couldn't feel the weight of it on his back anymore.

With great effort and little to no options. He managed to give a slight nod under the man's unrelenting grip.

"Good boy..."

As soon as he was let go, The guard gasped and began to breathe heavily, his lungs demanding the oxygen it had been kept from.

A thumping sound followed soon after, and the guard watched as his companion's body fell limply to the floor.

He choked, unable to look at the sight.

"Now, if you work with us then maybe you won't end up like your friend here."

The guard nodded his head slowly, "It's a-around the c-corner, second door on the r-right," He informed them hoarsely.

With shaking hands he reached for the keys across his waist. "H-here you'll need this to get inside..." The large man snatched the key and the guard whimpered and curled into himself, thoughts of his family running through his mind. "Please don't kill me." He begged,

With one large hand he was once again grabbed by his neck and lifted off the ground "Please!" He begged louder, visible tears now streaming down his face. He would abandon his shame and dignity if it meant he would live another day.

There was a brief pause, that only lasted a few seconds.

But for the guard who was on the crossroads of life and death.

It felt like a hellish eternity.

Then the man smirked and that is when the guard knew.

"Wait! No, please! Sto-" Before he could finish, the large slaver had brought his other hand on top of the guards head and with a lightning fast jerk of movement snapped his neck, ending his life.

He sneered disdainfully at the corpse at his feet. "Should have bought us some food..."

"You guys didn't kill the other one did you?" he asked, addressing his men.

"Nah, just knocked him out..." One of them answered.

"Alright boys!" He shouted, feeling his excitement grow at his new found freedom.

"Today, we kill that little runt!"

"Sasha would you just tell me where we're going already!" Connie demanded, as he followed his brunette companion around the halls of the HQ, "If we get caught, I'm blaming you..."

"Well...lets just not get caught then." She replied, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

The duo rounded a corner just in time to hear the footsteps of some nearby Military Police. With her lightning quick reflexes Sasha pulled Connie into a nearby room just in time to avoid being seen.

"Sasha, if you wanted to throw me into a dark room, you should have bought me dinner first." His self satisfied smirk only earned him a roll of her eyes.

As the Officers approached Sasha hurriedly clamped her hand over Connie's mouth to prevent him from talking further, "Shut-up, they're walking by..." She whispered harshly then held her breath as the footsteps came closer.

"You know they got a poker game going down at the lobby?"

"No, do you want to join in?"

"Sure why not, I just got payed, so might as well double it.!"

"Or. You know, lose everything like every week..."

Once their voices started to fade, Sasha opened the door to peek outside. She looked both ways and then gave Connie the all clear.

In an instant they were back to sneaking around the halls.

"Sasha," Connie began, keeping his voice quiet in case more Military Police happened to be nearby "Please tell me where we're going."

She halted in her steps to face him, a bright, luminous smile on her face, "The stockroom, where all the food is kept." She answered serenely.

Connie gaped "You can't be serious..."

"Of course I am." It was as if she was shining.

"But if you wanted food, why didn't we just go to the kitchens!?" He growled, make his frustration quite clear.

"No, there would be too much people there, we wouldn't be able to steal anything, the stockroom is where the grub is stored, if we go there now, we'll have it all to ourselves." She giggled sweetly to herself.

Connie groaned, "We did not bust a door down, just so you could stuff your face!"

Her radiant aura faded at his response, she scoffed at him and crossed her arms. "Well, do you have a better idea?"

"Yeah! As a matter of fact I do!" he returned defiantly.

She fixed him with a glare as she waited for his suggestion.

"Um...I...lets see." He sputtered.

Sasha continued to glare,

He growled and grabbed his head in frustration, finally deciding he had had enough Connie pushed forward to take the lead "We're going to the Stockroom!"

"That's what I thought!"

"Shut-up!"

"Alright here we are,"

Mikasa and Levi finally arrived at Armin's room. The Asian girl gave a nod of acknowledgment to each of her peers. She paused as she noticed Annie's presence but gave her one too. Surprisingly, she returned it.

She noticed the rifles strapped To Krista, Ymir, and Annie's back and faced Levi before he could march away "Sir, I'm not armed."

"Oh, right." He unstrapped his firearm from across his body and handed it to her. "Take mine,"

She was about to protest but he waved her off, "It doesn't matter, I hate using those stupid things anyway."

"Thank you."

He walked away without a word

"Can I go in and see him?" Mikasa asked, not wasting another second.

"Go right ahead. We went in too, even though we weren't suppose to."

"Ymir!" Krista scolded.

"What?"

"We disobeyed direct orders, you can't just go around telling people..."

"It's just Mikasa."

"That's not the point!" Krista pouted and Ymir simply snickered at her facial expression.

Mikasa finished securing the Rifle to her back before making her way towards the door, Annie stepped aside and she silently thanked the blonde.

"Wait," Annie said speaking for the first time since she arrived., causing Mikasa to stop,

She turned back, "What is it?"

Annie looked on the verge of saying something but her mouth stayed shut,

"Do you want me to tell him something?"

"I..." Annie shook her head and sighed "Nothing, never mind."

Putting the confusing interaction at the back of her mind Mikasa opened the door to peak inside.

She heard the feint sound of his steady breathing before she saw him,

He was laying down on his back with his eyes closed, a vision of relaxation and peace, his chest rising and falling with each inhale and exhale.

A great sense of relief washed over her, as the tension in her body was finally let go.

He was okay.

She closed the door earning her a questioning look from the rest of the girls present.

"He's sleeping."She explained.

They all remained silent as the minutes began to tick by, It was not an unusual or uncomfortable quiet, as their time as trainees demanded they spend time with each other whether they liked it or not.

"Well," Ymir declared "I'm going to go do a sweep, you ladies have fun."

Wait, I'll come with you!" Krista said immediately volunteering herself,

"Actually," Annie spoke up, "We'll all sweep, Mikasa can stay here and guard the door, and the three of us can sweep a different part of the area, we'll knock it out faster that way."

"Anything to make you do less work, huh Annie?" Ymir taunted.

Annie simply grunted and began to walk down the east hallway.

"Ugh!" Connie groaned, "How much longer, Sasha!?"

"Quiet! You're too loud...And it's not like I knew where I was going."

They crouched and peeked around a corner, Sasha who was running point proceeded to give him a multitude of hand-signs.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Im saying-" Sasha once again showed him her hand-signs, a hint of frustration in her voice."That it's all clear and that we should move across the hallway."

"Why didn't you just say so..." Connie deadpanned

"Because this way we don't have to speak and nobody will hear us."

Connie paused as he thought about it. "That kind of made sense actually...'

Sasha puffed out her chest "Yeah, of course it did!"

For the third time Sasha did her signs.

Connie nodded in understanding before they both stealthily creeped around the corner. Sasha raised her hand to get him to stop He was about to ask her why before she clamped a hand over his mouth effectively silencing him.

She pointed down the corner and Connie's eyes widened as he spotted a military police officer casually strolling towards them with a bag in his hand.

In only a few short seconds he would be on them and it would no doubt spell the end of their adventure.

Sasha hastily began to give him a series of signs all of which Connie studied with intense focus.

He nodded once, a look of complete concentration on his face.

Connie stood up and rounded the corner standing face to face with their enemy completely ignoring Sasha's look of shock and confusion.

The extremely confused officer furrowed his eyebrows at the strange development.

"Umm...hi?"

The Officer took in the sight of the young person in front of him. Short, bald? And why was he smiling like that?

That's when he turned around and started to run.

The officer blinked as the strange kid took off, taking a while to process the sudden turn of events.

Wait why was he running? Did he do something? Innocent people didn't have anything to run from.

Crap...He had to chase after this kid didn't he?

"Hey, wait a second, stop right there!" The officer began to make chase, unfortunately for him however

he had not accounted for the strange young cadet to have an accomplice.

As soon as he passed the corner time seemed to slow. The last image he saw before the world went dark was a teary eyed brunette holding what looked like a boot in her right hand.

"Sorry!" She Squeaked.

And Swung.

With a sharp thwack, the boot made contact with the Officer's head and he dropped.

Sasha gasped and sunk to her knees, already sobbing over the body of Officer who had no doubt perished due to her strike.

Connie Ran back over to where she was and in an instant she was on him, fury written all over her face.

"What the hell did you do that for!?

"Do what!?" Connie asked defensively, genuinely confused by her question. He had, after all only did what she had told him to do.

"You went out there and totally almost got us caught!" She shouted tearfully, and proceeded to start weakly slapping him across his body, no real intention of hurting him. "I signed it to you and you said you understood, why didn't you do what I told you?"

"I did exactly what you told me!" And surprisingly, Connie began to replicate the long series of hand-signs that she showed him earlier perfectly.

Sasha observed and nodded "Yeah, and why didn't you that!?"

"I did! I stepped in heroically to bait him away, while you went on ahead and found the stockroom, after I lost him I would loop back around and we would reunite and steal all the food we can!

Sasha groaned and grabbed her head in frustration "Connie...that is not what I said."

"I said..." Now it was Sasha's turn to redo her long hand-signs while Connie observed quietly.

"And what did that mean?"

"Go back..."

"Oh."

"Sasha?"

"yeah?"

"Did we ever decide what the hand-signs meant?"

"I don't think so...

"I see."

"No more hand-signs" Sasha said, "Agreed?"

"Agreed."

The Military Officer suddenly groaned from his spot on the floor, taking slow movements in attempt to sit up, without thinking twice Sasha gave him another whack to the head bringing him back to the realm of unconsciousness.

Connie groaned when Sasha's sobs returned with force.

He took a moment to observe his surroundings in case any more Officers showed up.

He spotted the bag that the Officer was carrying earlier and noticed some strange things spilling out of it. He squinted in an attempt to get a picture but could not quite make out what kind of objects he was staring at.

He stood up and began to walk towards causing Sasha to stop her tears and look at him strangely.

"Where you going?"

As he came closer, it started to become clear what he was looking at, and his heart started to race with this realization.

He finally got close enough and knelt down to pick up one of the first things that had spilled out of the bag.

A beautiful bright red apple.

He had never seen one look so good. It was almost unnatural.

"Connie?"

Sasha called out to him, but he ignored her and decided to take a hesitant bite out of the fruit.

His world froze as the taste overcame his senses.

It was the most delicious apple he had tasted in his short life. Who knew apples were suppose to give out a wonderfully surreal crunching sound when you bit into them.

Before he knew it Connie was devouring the fruit as if his life depended on it.

"Sasha!" He called out between bites "Sasha, get your ass over here!"

"What? What is it?"

It took her only a few seconds to reach him and her audible gasp when she arrived was all he needed to hear.

Without a word he handed her his half eaten apple and she bit out of it without hesitation. Her eyes glazed over in pure bliss and he laughed at the sight.

"You know what this means right Sasha?"

She nodded frantically, enthusiasm practically pouring out of her.

"It means we're close!" She squealed in delight and began to help him gather the remaining contents of the bag that had spilled out.

"Let's hurry up and get out of here." Connie instructed, scanning the surrounding aera cautiously.

The duo left the hallway and began to search through every door and peak into every nearby hallway looking for the storage area.

"Connie!" Sasha called out, her voice rising an octave in her excitement "I found it! I found it!"

Connie raced over to where she was, almost tripping over himself in the process.

When he finally arrived and took a look inside the room he stopped to stare in awe at the sight before him.

"This...Sasha...this is...this is."

"Heaven" She finished.

"Quick, give me the bag" Sasha demanded and with no time to waste the duo went to work.

Sasha quickly went for any sort of stored meat she could find while Connie constantly paused to admire the colors of the many different types of fruits and vegetables.

The apples were so red.

The bananas were so yellow.

He didn't even know what some of them were but he didn't care once he took a bite of it.

He let a sigh of satisfaction as the taste overwhelmed him.

"Hey Sasha what is this one called?" He asked her, she was the resident food expert between the two of them, and she did grow up in a hunting family after all.

She looked back at him. "Hm? Oh that's a pear."

"A Pear." Connie whispered the name as if it was a prayer, holding the small oddly shaped fruit over his head.

Connie was about to take another bite when Sasha suddenly started to move, the brunette with her usual speed and lightning quick reflexes was on the other side of the room to close the door as fast as she could while making minimal noise. Then, she grabbed him and dragged him to the farthest corner of the room. Connie didn't need to be a genius to realize what was going on as he immediately clamped a hand over her mouth as she did the same to him.

Someone was coming.

They waited with bated breath as sounds of footsteps started to become more audible. The footsteps got

nearer as the seconds passed and by now they could easily make out that there was more than one.

"Do any of you know where we're going!?" A deep and angry voice shouted.

"Sorry Boss," One of them replied.

The footsteps suddenly came to a slow and finally ceased, unfortunately for Connie and Sasha they did so right in front of their door. Connie shared a look of panic, their hands still clamped tight over each others mouths. owner of the loud voice let out something a kin to a grunt "We don't have long, I wanna kill the kid and get the out of HQ before anyone realizes we're gone."

They Shared another look at the word 'kill' and continued to listen.

"We'll circle back if we have to boss, at least we got the rifles from the armory. Damn, I can't wait to get a piece of that kid."

A sharp thumping sound could be heard soon after that statement was heard, and both Sasha and Connie had been in the military long enough to recognize the sound of someone getting hit.

"I want to make something clear to you, to all of you. When we get to the Arlert kid, I get the finishing shot you hear me.

Connie and Sasha's eyes widened as a shiver of fear and worry ran through them at the sound of their friends name.

Their hearts started to beat rapidly in their chest as the gravity of the situation dawned on them.

The sound of footsteps hit their ears once again and thankfully they started to fade way.

As soon as they were gone they let go of each other's mouth and the duo simultaneously let a breath of relief.

"Sasha..." Connie began, the seriousness of his voice reflecting the dire situation they now faced "They said Armin, those guys are after Armin Sasha."

Sasha swallowed hard and gave him nothing in reply except for a short nod of her head.

"W-we need to do something." Connie continued, the shakiness of his voice only made the statement seem hollow.

She swallowed and nodded again. It was as if her mind had frozen and was no longer able to form any sort of verbal reply to her friend.

"Sasha, what do we do?" Connie asked.

Sasha bit her lip trying to come up with a solution. "We need to go get help, Connie. If they get to him then..then."

Sasha shook her head, "Okay, we have to find someone like a soldier or something and tell them what we heard."

Connie nodded in agreement but a thought came to his mind "But what if they get to him before we can get any help?"

"What are you saying? That we should go after them?"

Connie looked down "Well...one of us should...at least." He muttered, but he was sure she heard as the brunette suddenly looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

"No! I won't let you!" She said adamantly.

Connie felt himself get slightly angry at her retort "Sasha, look, you're much faster than me, you can get someone to Armin much faster than I can!" he shouted,

"And what are you going to do! Besides get yourself killed!" She said sharply.

Connie growled, this was so frustrating, why couldn't she just listen! Couldn't she see that he was just trying to protect her, because there was no way in hell he was going to let her go, it would kill him if something happened to her.

Unwilling to argue with her anymore Connie stood up. "Look, for every second that we spend arguing, those scumbags get closer to Armin. As far as I'm concerned this is the best plan we got, if you got any other ideas then I'm all ears but if not then this is what we go with." Connie finished and walked into the hallway.

She followed after him her head head bowed and defeated, she had the distinct feeling that he was not going to back down on this, and despite everything he was right. This was the best option "Alright...fine, but be careful okay?" She said softly.

He laughed awkwardly, "Well you know what they say about geniuses dying young."

Sasha promptly smacked him in the back of the head,"That is not reassuring you idiot!"

"Ow! Sorry."

There was a moment of silence between them. "I'm going to be mad if you die."

"What are you talking about." Connie pounded his chest, the very picture of confidence "I'm a genius remember."

"Alright, now go, Sasha. Try to find Shadis if you can, and make sure he brings back-up!" He told her and then she was off, putting on a burst of speed that impressed even him.

As Soon as she was gone, Connie's confidence disappeared his mouth suddenly dried up while his limbs began to shake.

"Fuck..."

and done, I'm in the process of writing the next chapter, and hopefully it will be done sometime soon. once again thank you everyone for the support and the reviews. =). Also i want to clear something up in case anyone gets confused, Erwin is not kenny the ripper, they just think he is.