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“We need to kill Armin Arlert.”
Annie hated the way her spoon paused halfway to her mouth.
She hated the way it felt like the blood in her veins froze on the spot at those words.
She hated the the way her heart leapt into her throat.
But as always, she schooled her expression, slowly lowering her spoon, and glanced sideways at Reiner and Bertholdt.
“You’ll have to fill me in on that one.”
Reiner scowled even harder. “He’s dangerous.”
Despite herself, Annie snorted. “Armin Arlert? Armin “Fell flat on my ass from the recoil of a rifle” Arlert? The kid who ranked near the bottom of the class at graduation? He’s dangerous?”
Annie didn’t actually believe her own dismissiveness. Anyone with a half a brain in their skull and at least one eye in their head could see that Armin was brilliant, a strategic prodigy. But at this point, pitifully, she was looking for any reason, any excuse to not go down this path.
Growling in irritation, Reiner braced a hand on the table and leaned in closer. “Because, at the end of the day, he’s the one who blew our plan to shit at Trost. Eren becoming a Titan was one thing. It was out of left field, sure, but we could handle it. But it was Armin who came up with the plan to seal the breach in Wall Rose. Five years of planning up in smoke.” He leaned in even closer, almost touching Annie. “We can’t risk it.”
Annie, much to her own frustration, didn’t have an answer to that one. Reiner was objectively right. To their long, long mission, Armin Arlert had the potential to be an existential threat. Based on what she had heard, the blonde boy had deciphered more about Eren’s Titan powers during the battle for Trost than Eren himself did. If he lived to observe Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt in their own forms, there was a substantial non-zero chance that he would figure them out.
Annie sighed, trying to mask the ache in her chest with faux-irritation. “And I assume you want me to do something about it.”
Reiner nodded. “During the scouting mission, you need to find Armin and kill him while making your way to Eren.”
Annie fought the urge to throw up her hands. “And how could I possibly do that? Scouting missions change on a dime. There’s no guarantee I’d even find him or he’d stay in the formation long enough.” She turned more fully towards him, feeling some kind of momentum in her argument. “And on that note, why don’t you deal with it yourself? You’re the ones who’ll be undercover in the Scouts.” If this was going to happen, she didn’t want to be the one to do it.
“Because with all three of us being out there, the risk of exposure is higher. I won’t gamble on that. And the best chance to do away with him is to do what we did with Marco.” Annie flinched at the memory, her face twitching imperceptibly. “If his body is found, it needs to look like a Titan got to him.”
She was trying to think of anything that would convince her partners this wasn’t a good idea.
“You’re smart. Figure it out.” Final. Absolute.
Before she could protest, Reiner stepped away, pulling Bertholdt along with him.
Her gaze slowly returned to her now suddenly unappetizing meal.
She tried to fight the image of boyish blue eyes in her mind, so intelligent yet so sympathetic. Capable of exhibiting such fear yet such overwhelming joy.
She tried not to think of his friendly, soft attempts at companionship with her. She hadn’t rejected him, but still kept him at a distance. That way, she could admire him without risking hurting him.
Annie held her eyes shut.
And when the time came, out in the field, when she found him, completely by chance, ironically enough, when in her Titan form he was a mere insect lying prone in the grass, looking up at her with those eyes…
…she couldn’t do it.
She let him go.