Hello, everyone, so sorry for the slow update! Thanks for the favorites, follows and reviews! :) More A/N's at the bottom.

Chapter 3: On that Day

Armin Arlert looked up from the thick book he had been reading for the past two hours with a heavy scowl on his face. "Say what?"

"I said, I've been assigned to a mission with the Special Ops Squad," Eren Jaeger repeated in a low voice, leaning forward across the table to move his face closer to Armin's. "Top secret stuff, we leave tomorrow at dawn, and I'm only telling you this because you're my best friend, and right now, you're the only person I can trust not to screw up and tell anyone else."

"Have you told Mikasa?" Armin said automatically.

"Are you nuts? Of course not!"

"Why not? Don't tell me you're having doubts on where her loyalties lie? I can tell you that I have more chances of joining the Titans than her ever betraying you."

"You know that's not the issue," Eren hissed quietly, keeping in mind that they were currently in a secluded part of the Legion's library. "I just don't want her to try doing anything stupid to stop her brother from risking his neck out there as an actual productive member of the Legion, is all. This is my chance to fulfill an important role in this war. I've been waiting for this!"

"You do know you're putting me in a tight spot, don't you?" Armin said, still frowning, before glancing back to his book. "I don't want to lie or hide secrets from Mikasa, especially if it concerns you. I still value my life, thanks."

Eren grunted from under his breath. "Grow some balls for me, will you? Listen, this special mission will take me away for just a few days. I'll tell make up a cover story and you'll back me up, okay? You're the best when it comes to lying through your teeth."

Armin inwardly rolled his eyes, trying (and failing) to ignore the pair of green eyes boring a hole in his skull from across the table. "Thanks for the compliment, but my answer is still no. You have to tell Mikasa the truth. It's not like she can do anything about it anyway, since it's an order from the Commander, right?"

When Eren didn't respond to that, he looked up again from his book, his brows furrowed. "Right, Eren?"

His best friend looked a little sheepish. "Well, actually…"

"Please tell me you didn't volunteer for this," Armin said, suddenly feeling tired.

"Well what did you want me to do anyway?" Eren said indignantly, his voice beginning to rise. "Chicken out like those MP cowards? I didn't become a soldier to keep my ass safe, you know!"

Armin shut his book loudly, the noise echoing dully in the high walls. "God damn it, Eren. Which part of, 'keep your ass out of line' don't you understand? There's a thin line between courage and stupidity you might have to be aware of."

"Are you saying that I'm stupid?"

"I'm saying that it's not wise to be suicidal."

"Gee, since when had Mikasa rubbed off on you? Stop treating me like a child."

"I will if you stop acting like one."

"You're right, I'm stupid," Eren finally said, raising his hands in surrender. His chair screeched loudly against the floor as he got onto his feet. "I'm stupid for believing that I've got your back on this. My mistake."

"Eren," Armin started, getting off his own chair as the other young man began stalking off, "I'm not yet done talking. Eren!"

Eren stopped in his tracks, but didn't turn around to face him.

"These are very, very difficult times," Armin started. "The kingdom is suffering from chaos inside and outside the Walls. There is too much death going on. If you have to do something as rash as this, you better make sure you don't get yourself needlessly killed. Let me know that this is a rational decision, not something you made out of overwhelming emotions. I need to know that you're going back from this alive and in one piece."

"What?" There was laughter in Eren's tone. He turned around and met Armin's blue eyes with a piercing glare. "There is no way anyone would know if I'd come back alive and in one piece. Get your head out of the clouds, Armin! You're supposed to be the smart guy around here. I'm ready to die if it's gonna make us win this fight."

It was Armin's turn to raise his voice. "You still don't get it, do you? I believe in you, that's why I followed you when you said you were going to join the Military. Same goes for Mikasa, too. The others—Jean, Connie, Sasha, Reiner, Bertholdt, Christa, Ymir—they also believe in you, that's why they followed you when you said you were going to join The Legion. Some of us—Marco, Thomas, Franz—even had to die for the same reasons you have now. Can't you see? From the moment you made that little speech in our class on Graduation Day, inspiring everyone to walk the same path you did, your life hasn't only been yours to keep. All of our friends, scared out of their wits, went against their better judgment just to be here with you. Stop being selfish. You were the one who brought us all here, so it's your responsibility to keep us going till the end! I can't let you die on us, do you hear me? I can't."

He took a deep breath after that, realizing that his heart was beating rapidly and that his knuckles had gone white from his sides. Eren stared at him unblinkingly, his mouth slightly open at a loss for words.

After what seemed to be a whole minute of heavy silence, the brown-haired lad finally spoke.

"…I didn't know you guys thought of me like that," he said, somewhat lamely.

"Now you do," Armin huffed, feeling suddenly embarrassed for his emotional outburst.

"Look," Eren said, averting his gaze to the floor, "I'm sorry if you feel that way, but like I told you, I have to do this. No, scratch that. I'm the only one who can do this."

Armin raised his eyebrows in question. "What makes you say so?"

Eren exhaled loudly and briefly closed his eyes, as if suffering from a severe headache.

"This mission involves my father," he finally said.

It took a moment for Armin to respond. "What?" he spluttered disbelievingly. "Dr. Jaeger? Eren, he's—"

"—dead, I know," his best friend said in a hushed tone. "The issue is not whether he's really dead or not."

"What are you talking about? I'm confused."

"Hey, it's confusing for me, too, okay?" Eren said urgently. "But for the past month, I've been having these…these…dreams about my dad. I know this sounds crazy but I don't believe they're just dreams." He paused, running a tired hand through his messy brown hair. "I think they're real memories."

Seven years ago, just before they had signed up for military school, there was a time when Eren had mysteriously gone missing. The orphanage staff, together with some Military Police officers, had gone looking for him everywhere, but to no avail. Three days of fruitless search passed before Eren suddenly showed up in the orphanage, famished and disoriented, though thankfully unharmed. It had taken him quite a while to recover from the incident, and, when asked, would claim that he had no recollection of what happened to him in the three days he had been gone. The doctors concluded that Eren's condition was an unusual case of selective amnesia, given that he had no indication of suffering from any form of head trauma. They were told that it could take weeks, months or even years for his memories to come back, if they were to return at all. Eren had seemed completely fine without his lost memories, though, and so after a while, Armin and Mikasa had stopped badgering him about it.

Today was the first time in seven years that he brought it up once again.

Armin was having a hard time digesting what he'd just heard. He sat back on his chair, mainly to support himself. "Your memories," he said slowly. "They're…finally coming back? Why didn't you tell me?"

"At first, I wasn't sure if they were real memories," Eren said hesitantly. "I didn't want to worry you or Mikasa, so I shut up about it. But the dreams got more and more vivid as time passed by…then one day, while I was on patrol duty, memories of my dad talking to me suddenly flashed before my eyes. My head suddenly hurt, as if someone was pounding it with a hammer. Reiner, who was also on duty that time, had to help me get to the infirmary. I made him swear not to tell anyone about it."

"So you're trying to tell me," Armin said after a moment's pause, "that seven years ago, when you went missing…you were actually with Dr. Jaeger? That he's still alive somewhere?"

"I don't know if he's still alive right now," Eren admitted. "But if he managed to meet me after the Fall, it means the Titan attack didn't kill him, contrary to what the Garrison claimed."

"What made you sure of that?"

"Here." At this, Eren inserted a hand in his shirt and pulled out a string hanging around his neck, from which a small brass pendant dangled. "Do you remember when I started to wear this on me?"

Armin frowned, staring at the necklace intently. "Must be sometime before we got into training school. I remember you having to do a hundred push ups for refusing to follow Commander Keith when he ordered you to take it off."

"True," Eren said. "I can't remember how exactly I got this, either. All I know is that it's something really important to me. In one of the flashbacks I've been experiencing, I saw my father giving it to me. He told me—" He suddenly paused, then shook his head, as if warding off a negative thought. "I'm sorry, but I could only tell you this much. I'm under a gag order, and who knows how many violations I've committed just by talking to you about this."

"Wait, what?" Armin demanded. "A gag order? From the Commander?"

Eren merely nodded, still not meeting Armin's imploring gaze.

"What do your memories have anything to do with your mission?" the blond boy pressed.

"I can't tell you, I'm sorry," his best friend said despondently.

Armin's mental gears were set in full motion. Suddenly, he had a very ominous feeling about this. "Alright," he said, nevertheless. "Does anyone else who's not involved in your mission know about the flashbacks you've been having?"

Eren looked at him as if he had grown two heads. "Hell no," he said. "We've had enough nutcases in this organization without me adding up to the list, thank you very much."

"Good," Armin said, a little relieved.

Eren blinked at him. "What's so good about it?"

"Just making sure that whatever connection you have with this secret mission remains a secret," Armin said. "I have no idea what's going on, Eren, and that's a first for me. If the Commander deems it necessary to withhold information regarding this operation, I can only think of one, and only one, reason: he thinks there's a spy among us who can jeopardize the mission."

Eren's green eyes were wide as saucers. "Impossible," he said simply. "We're all family here. That can't be right."

"Let's hope I'm just a nutcase myself for thinking that way," Armin said dimly. "Don't let your guard down while you're out there."

Eren watched as his best friend got back on his feet, his book in hand. "Thank you, Armin," he said, meaning it more than he could let on.

"You really have to tell Mikasa, though," Armin said seriously. "She deserves to know that you'll be out on a dangerous mission, at least."

"Whatever," Eren said, glaring at nothing in particular. "Anyway, she'd be so busy with Jean she wouldn't even notice the whole time I'd be gone."

Armin almost laughed. "So this is what all of this is about," he said, realization dawning on him.

"What are you talking about?" his best friend said, suddenly defensive.

"Just a man to man advice," Armin said, an odd smile creeping up his face, "Mikasa would appreciate it more if you told her straight up about your problem with her dating Jean than you giving her the cold shoulder all the time."

"I didn't say I have a problem with her and Jean!"

"You didn't deny it, either."

"When Annie and I train together she has all the right to get upset about it, but apparently when she makes out with a horse-faced idiot I'm not supposed to say anything!" Eren said indignantly. "Who does she think she is?"

Armin resisted the urge to roll his eyes for the nth time. "Just get together already," he said under his breath.

"Did you say something?" Eren snapped.

"Nothing," he said quickly. "But going back to the topic at hand…seriously, Eren, take care, will you? And be sure to make up with Mikasa before you leave. You know that during these times we don't have the luxury to set aside unfinished business."

"Yeah, tell that to yourself. How's that thing with Annie going?"

Armin's cheeks suddenly turned pink. "Cut it out," he blurted out. "Nothing's going on between us. She's with Bertholdt, isn't she?"

"Between you and Bert, I'd say you're the better choice. But Annie's not me, so…" Eren chuckled as he looked at his wrist watch. "Listen, I gotta go now. Should've met with the Special Ops Squad Leader three minutes ago. I'll see you in a few days, yeah?"

"Knock yourself out," Armin said sarcastically.

Eren turned around with and walked away. As he was about to turn around the corner of a bookshelf, Armin called out to his back.

"Tell Mikasa, alright?"

His best friend only responded with a lazy wave of his hand, before he turned and disappeared from his sight.

That was the last time Armin ever saw him again.

On that day, as Armin absently drank his coffee at the kitchen while poring over the morning newspaper, he decided that he would pay Mikasa Ackerman a visit at the correctional facility to finally confess about the last conversation he and Eren had in the library one year ago, the day before he died. True to his word, he had never told another living soul about Eren's secret, even if it meant lying to Mikasa's face in several occasions. Up to this day, even Commander Smith believed that no one outside his selected group of people knew about Eren's involvement with his secret operation—his death was merely announced to the public as a result of a Titan ambush in a Wall Maria outpost he had been designated to, something that Armin immediately figured was a far cry from the truth. Eren had been given the proper military funeral, complete with a posthumous award of excellence for his invaluable service to His Majesty, and that was there to it. Mikasa had to go home with nothing but unfathomable grief and a medal that was supposed to compensate for the life of her remaining family.

Armin had to watch passively as Mikasa painstakingly tried to pull her life back together in the following days. "Multiple gunshots from a Titan ambush? That can't be right, can it, Armin?" Mikasa had said helplessly. "The night before he left…he was different. He was hiding something from me, but I don't know what. There's something more to this than what they are letting on. Did Eren mention anything to you before he left?"

"No," Armin had lied. He had almost given in under Mikasa's imploring, desperate gaze, but he had steeled himself. "He didn't mention anything to me." Eren had been right about him being a good liar.

At that time, Armin couldn't risk letting anyone from The Legion know that he had an idea on the truth behind Eren's death. With Mikasa's unstable state of mind, he was certain that once she learned of Eren's involvement with special operations, she would do something that could easily make Irvin Smith put two and two together. If worse came to worst, and they were found out, the Commander would surely have them hushed up, with methods Armin couldn't even begin to think of. He then decided that keeping everything to himself for the meantime was for Mikasa's own good…

And how very wrong he was.

Armin believed that it was his fault that Mikasa had been driven to commit her crimes. If only he had said something—anything—back then, she wouldn't have to learn the truth in a much harder way. If only Armin had better foresight, he would have predicted Mikasa's course of action—and would have prevented her from doing the unthinkable.

If only he had been strong enough, Annie wouldn't have ended up the way she did.

Annie Leonhardt did not kill Eren Jaeger, that was for certain. For the past year, Armin had been using his convenient position in the Intelligence Sector to dig further into that particular Special Ops mission Eren had been involved in. Apparently, someone had been a couple of steps ahead of him, for all records of that operation had seemingly vanished without a trace. As to what happened to Mikasa thereafter, Armin was sure that it was because she had been led on with false information. Somebody, a person who had accurately figured out Mikasa's motives, had been aware of her activities and had set a trap—and a pretty clever one at that, too.

By setting that false trail, that person had managed to hit two birds with one stone: first, they had managed to expose Annie, the Titan spy in the Military Police, without having to stain their own hands; second was that they had made Mikasa believe that she had caught the real culprit behind Eren's death, thus preventing her from further discovering the truth. It was a very ingenious trap, Armin could give the bastard that. He could only think of one person who could benefit from such a well-thought of plan…

Anyway, his mind was set. Today, he was going to tell Mikasa everything. In fact, he should've done this a long time ago. Screw whoever powerful authority was at play: it was time to set things right once and for all.

He was harshly snapped out of his reverie when his flatmate, Jean Kirschtein, suddenly entered the kitchen, looking fresh out of bed. "Oh, Armin," he said while rubbing the sleepiness off his eyes, "you're up early today. Going somewhere?"

"Oh, the usual," Armin replied smoothly, setting down the newspaper and sipping from his mug.

"The library again, huh?" Jean said as he opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk. "Can I come with?"

Armin had to stop himself from choking from his coffee. "What for? You hate the library." Only he knew of the truth about Mikasa. All of their friends—including Jean—were made to believe that her absence was due to a year-long intensive training in the mountains for a newly formed elite squad. Her involvement in Annie's capture had been hushed up as well—the Military Police had taken all the credit for her exposure.

It had been a whole year of lies and pretenses for Armin, and he thought he couldn't bear it any much longer.

He was going to put an end to it today.

Jean shrugged. "Can't think of anything to do on my day-off." Then he suddenly straightened up. "Hey, Mikasa's birthday is coming up! I should get something for her." He nodded to himself. "That's right, that's what I'm gonna do today. Do you know when she's coming back?"

"It should be pretty soon," Armin said with a weak smile, feeling sorry for his oblivious friend.

"What should I get her though?"

The happiness that she deserves, Armin thought bitterly, choosing not to respond out loud. With everything that's happened so far, he wondered if he would ever see the day that Mikasa would genuinely smile again.

Probably not.

"I'm sorry, sir, but Ms. Ackerman is no longer staying here."

"What do you mean?" Armin said sharply.

"She has been discharged three days ago," the receptionist responded apologetically. "Has she not been in touch yet?"

"No," he said flatly. "Is Dr. Zoe in?"

"She is. Would you like to talk to her?"

"Yes, please."

Armin had to wait for five minutes before Hanji Zoe emerged from a doorway leading further inside the building. "Armin!" she said excitedly once she spotted the blond young man at the lobby. "How've you been?"

"Never been better," Armin responded, coming up to the doctor and shaking her hand in greeting. "I wasn't aware that Mikasa's been discharged."

"Oh yes, that. It was quite a pleasant surprise! Imagine how happy she was when she got the news."

Armin immediately cut to the chase. "Where is she now?"

Hanji gave off a warm smile, her eyes crinkling slightly behind her glasses. "I'm not privy to the details of her whereabouts, but I expect that she'd get in touch with you soon enough."

Armin knew that that was an outright lie, but decided to play along with it. "I really hope so. Everyone's so excited to meet her again."

"Oh, it's been a long while indeed."

Somehow, Armin had the odd feeling that someone had outsmarted him. Again. Suddenly, she had the urge to yell at Hanji's smiling face and shake her until she spilled the beans. Were they playing him for a fool?

"Well," he said instead, his face a perfect clean slate. "I think I should get going now."

"It's a beautiful day. You should go out and do something for yourself," the doctor agreed. "I'll see you around, yeah?"

Armin nodded. "See you around, Doctor." He had turned around and was walking for the main doors when Hanji spoke again.

"Oh, and Armin?"

Armin paused in his tracks and looked at her over his shoulder.

"Keep safe." Hanji's smile widened at that.

He smiled back. "You too," he replied, before he resumed walking.

Dr. Hanji didn't tell him to take care. She told him to keep safe, as if Armin was already in danger.

And he knew that, indeed, he was.

Whew! Poor Armin! I hope some of your questions got answered in this chapter. :) Anyways, please review, your feedback helps me write faster. :3

Also, I know by now that some of you might have already heard about the Category 5+ Super Typhoon Haiyan hitting the Philippines a few days ago. The devastation caused by ST Haiyan is telecast all over the globe, and words can't even begin to describe the suffering of my fellow Filipinos. Death toll has risen to about 2,000 as I type this, and is expected to even rise up to 10,000. Remaining survivors are rapidly dying of thirst, starvation and famine because typhoon-afflicted areas are still barely accessible by land. People are fighting tooth-and-nail to get their hands on the limited supply of relief goods that the government and other organizations have managed to get there in time. Both power and telecommunication are down. There is nowhere to put the dead, so they are piled up in the streets like logs. Law and order are barely existent. To say that it is Hell on Earth is the biggest understatement of the year.

I ask my readers to please help my country rise again from this tragedy. Please spread the word about the real situation of my kababayans. Donating cash or in kind also goes a long, long way. Sorry for dampening the mood with this long post, but I can't just sit here without doing the best I can to alleviate Filipinos from their misery.

Bangon, Pilipinas!

See you in the next update! :D