Chapter Text
If it had not been for the turbulence, they would've surely been dead by now. They would have also been dead if Mikasa hadn't promptly put her hand over Eren's mouth when he fell on his side, and restrained him.
Honestly, it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that he'd try something stupid in a situation like this. The guy had zero sense of self preservation. Hadn't they already learned that during their year long mandatory military service.
No, it shouldn't have been surprising at all. Yet he still found himself startled when Eren lept off his seat while the hijacker had turned away from them, telling off a mother in his gruff voice for not being able to keep her baby quiet.
He had meant to, without a doubt, snatch the man's gun. And to be fair to Eren, he could really see that working. The hijacker had left his flank wide open, he was a novice without a doubt, and his grip on the rifle could only be described as relaxed at best. Plus it's not like they wouldn't have joined the fight if he was not able to take it right away, together they would've surely overpowered him.
Sadly that's where the logicality of his plan (if you could call it that) ended. Cause while they could have taken care of one distracted hijacker, there were five more to deal with and they would've had no qualms about opening fire and killing half the plane at the slightest hint of trouble.
Afterall they were almost all Eldians here, going home after spending their vacations in the mainland. What value did the life of the spawns of devil have except as a bargaining chip to these people . And it's not like the value of that bargaining chip would decrease in any way if they killed a few of them. On the contrary, it might even increase it, since everyone on the other side of the negotiation would be a lot more concerned about the life of the remaining passengers and be ready to give in to any of their demands.
All except one.
Armin was sure that they would've already landed in Liberio airport if it wasn't for "that" demand. The most outrageous of the few that they had proclaimed shortly after taking control of the flight.
The release of Commander Gross.
The most disgusting war criminal of the Marleyan Civil War. He had been handed over to Eldia by the victorious government of general Theo Magath last year as a gesture of goodwill. Because the crimes he had commited against the Eldian people far outstripped those he had done against the government of Marley.
He was the reason that the city, that they were circling over, did not have any Eldians. Alive ones that is, as for the dead, there were fifty thousand of those rotting in the mass graves that he had ordered to be dug in the city's outskirts. Fifty thousand lives that he had taken in a single day. Most of them were shot, mercifully. Others hadn't been so lucky. There were reports of mobs beating people to death, rapes, burnings and people being fed to zoo animals alive. One of the reports was so gruesome that it was said even the most horrible of Eldiophobes denied its veracity even as they celebrated the rest of the massacre.
That of Faye, a six year old girl, who was thrown in front of hungry blood hounds owned by Gross himself while their owner watched from a distance.
He wondered if the hijackers believed what had happened to her. If they felt anythings as they read about how she had died.
"Armin, are you okay" Annie whispered from besides him, snapping him out of his thoughts.
He slowly nodded.
They were closing in on the city now, had they agreed to free him?
She took his hand ,giving it a light squeeze.
"We'll be alright. Don't ever doubt that"
Her top was raised a little from reaching across the armrest to hold his hand, exposing the pointy ends of a bright yellow plastic fork that they had gotten along with the cup noodles they had had for lunch. As potent a weapon as any when wielded by someone as skilled as his girlfriend.
"I had never doubted that" he thought with a smile