The Court

Lara walked apprehensively in a dark corridor, which had only a few torches lit here and there. Beside her, empty prison cells filled the entire corridor. She felt a shiver down her spine as she looked inside the cells, spotting the gloomy chains that hung from the ceiling.

She felt a little pain in her right calf, which was already properly bandaged, after Hange put the stitches. Mike was walking next to her, while Hange walked with firm - and somewhat - anxious steps ahead of them.

"I can't wait to meet him!" whispered Hange, because the stone corridors were very echoing.

Lara felt her body give some more little shivers, for being in such a sinister place. At one point, she grabbed Mike's arm, who looked at her with a gentle smile and ruffled her hair, as if to say that everything was fine.

They walked in through a large wooden door, which gave access to a solitary cell, guarded by two soldiers of the Military Police. Hange then did something that made almost everyone jump in fright. She walked on tiptoe and with a sudden movement, put her face between the bars of the cell where was Eren Jäeger.

"Mom!" exclaimed Lara, placing her hand on her chest. "Why do you do these things, huh?! You're gonna scare him!"

"So…" said Hange, smiling. "You're Eren, right? Are you okay? Sorry for making you wait so long. You'll finally get out of here."

Lara went to the bars of Eren's cell, who was with an expression of extreme relief and she felt great compassion for her friend.

"Come!" she said, smiling kindly. "Let's get out of this horrible place."

"But," said Hange, showing Eren heavy iron manacles. "You'll need to use these."

"Mom, is it really necessary?" asked Lara, indignantly. "He's not a monster to be tied in this way…"

"Unfortunately, yes, sweetie…" answered Hange. "Orders from above."

Eren got confused on seeing his friend Lara call that strange woman as "mom", because back in the Winter Training, he remembered very well that Lara told them she was found in a forest by the Survey Corps, because her orphanage threw her there. Wasn't she an orphan? How is she now calling that woman "mom"? He kept that in mind, but he thought this was not the proper moment to talk about maternal relationships.

Mike put the manacles on Eren, who grimaced.

"Is it too tight?" asked Lara, worried. "If you want, we can loosen it up a bit."

"No, it's okay…" he replied, downcast. "It's just the shape that bothers a little…"

As they walked off the prison floor, accompanied by two Military Police soldiers, Hange talked, while Mike leaned close to Eren to sniff him.

"I'm Hange Zoë, a Squad Leader of the Survey Corps. This is my colleague Mike Zacharias. He's also a Squad Leader."

Eren was visibly bothered by Mike's weird behavior. Lara tried to hide a laugh, for she remembered very well when she met Mike for the first time and said to him that she was not a dog to be sniffed.

"Oh!" exclaimed Hange. "He has this habit of sniffing people when he meets them for the first time, then he chuckles."

While Mike was chuckling, he looked at Lara and winked. In mime gestures, she asked him if Eren was stinking and he confirmed that yes, he was.

"Although he has these strange habits," continued Hange, in a playful tone, "he's skilled enough to be a Squad Leader after all."

Then, Hange pointed at Lara.

"I believe you've already met my daughter, Lara. She's the youngest person that has joined the Survey Corps, ever. And I dare say, she's as talented as Captain Levi, her private tutor," completed Hange, with a silly smile on her lips, as if daydreaming.

Lara gave him a kind smile, while Eren stared at her with a certain look of admiration. They walked for a few meters more, until they arrived at a huge double wooden door.

"Oh…" sighed Hange, looking a bit sad. "We talked for so little… We're already here."

Eren stared at the double door, frightened.

"Hey," called Lara, making him look at her. "It's alright. Everything's gonna be fine!"

"It's better if you go in without knowing anything, Eren," said Hange, with a mysterious expression.

The two Military Police soldiers grabbed the boy's arms and with violence, pushed him inside.

"Wait!" exclaimed Eren, looking back. Lara stepped forward, seeking her mother's eyes, but Hange only held the large golden handles on the double door, preparing to close it.

"We don't have a choice…" said Hange, with a sad look. "But, we'll put blind faith in you. Good luck," she finished, shutting the door at Eren's face.

The sound of the huge door closing echoed throughout the hallway, causing an ominous sensation.

"Mom…" began Lara, looking sadly at Hange, who bent down.

"I know, sweetie…" she replied, caressing Lara's cheek. "It's not nice to see a friend suffer like this. But we have to trust that Erwin will find a way to get him out of here safely."

"Do you know what's his plan?" asked Mike, approaching them.

"I haven't the slightest idea…" answered Hange, crestfallen. "He didn't want to tell anyone about it. Maybe only Levi knows everything, but I didn't talk to him since yesterday afternoon, when he joined the meeting with Erwin," she got up, wiping the dust off her knees. "Let's go in, the session will start soon."

They headed to a door at the end of the hallway, which led to a stair that went up to another door. At the top of the stairs, they walked into a suspended gallery of what, in Lara's opinion, was one of the largest rooms she had ever seen.

In fact, they were in a huge hall, which was a Military Court of Justice, with top-notch furniture and decorations. Lara walked to the wooden railing, which - much to her unhappiness - was almost the same size as hers. So she had to stand on tiptoe to actually see what was happening below.

The session had already begun by the time Hange, Lara, and Mike settled into the gallery, watching the trial. From what Lara heard, they were deciding which of the Armed Forces would be responsible for Eren, whether it was the Military Police or the Survey Corps.

Lara knew that Levi was somewhere down there and started looking for him. It didn't take long to spot him just ahead, next to Erwin. For a brief second, Levi looked up and their eyes met. Lara opened a big smile, but it soon disappeared when she noticed that her father was looking at her with an expression of pure astonishment.

"Why is he making this face?" wondered Lara. She looked at her mother, who was trying to make visual contact with Levi, and the girl noticed that they started doing something common between them: communicate with their eyes.

"What are you doing here?!" asked Levi.

"Huh? Watching the court session, of course," answered Hange.

"You two weren't supposed to be here, especially Lara!"

"Why not?"

"I can't explain now!"

When she realized her parents were done talking, Lara nudged Hange, also communicating with gestures, asking what was going on. Hange shrugged, implying that she also didn't understand why Levi was so concerned.

Even though he was attentive to everything that was being said around him, Levi couldn't help but keep looking at Lara and Hange all the time. His heart was racing and he felt his hands sweat, but he had to look completely cold and impassive. Yesterday at his meeting, Erwin had ordered Levi to do something, that honestly, he didn't want either Lara or Hange to witness.

The session went on unfolding itself and when Lara least noticed, a very heated discussion had begun. Erwin had said that he intended to use Eren's Titan ability to seal Wall Maria, but a man objected, saying that they should close and fortify the gates. But, Levi argued back with class (or the lack of it, as he called the man a "pig"), that the Titans wouldn't wait for anyone to close the gates to attack again and that there were many people starving, because of the lack of lands. Lara had to hold herself not to clap at her father's words and her mother gave him a proud smile.

Then, at one point, the judge said that in the mission report to recover the Wall of Trost stated that when Eren was in his Titan form, he tried to kill Mikasa. She tried to defend him before the judge, claiming that Eren had saved her in other times in his Titan form.

Lara watched all this in astonishment, feeling great pain in her calf, from having to force herself to be on tiptoes. She and her mother were on such a connected level of relationship, that at the same time, they looked at each other in a meaningful way and started to come up with theories about Eren's Titan in their minds, because from what they could tell, Eren himself seemed very surprised when he found out that he nearly killed Mikasa in his Titan form.

Everyone's mood in the courtroom was getting more and more uneasy, because, at another point, someone revealed that when Eren and Mikasa were children, they killed three men in cold blood. Everything was getting so troubled, that in the end, they came to think that Mikasa herself was also a Titan.

With this, Eren started to desperately defend Mikasa and the discussion began to take on catastrophic proportions. Lara's heart was pounding fast, feeling her cut on her calf throbbing. When least expected, Eren started cursing some men, who immediately pointed a gun at his head.

Then, something happened that Lara couldn't believe it.

Without anyone noticing, Levi approached Eren and kicked him in the mouth, causing Lara to see - from up there in the gallery - the boy's tooth fly away.

With an expression of horror and feeling deep pain, Lara watched her father beat up her friend. Levi kicked Eren hard in the stomach, pulled his hair, and kneed him in the face. You couldn't hear a peep in the entire courtroom, only gasps of shock.

"No…" whispered Lara, shaking all over. "Daddy… Why…?"

Hange shook her head in denial. "This is not happening," she thought. "Why are you doing this, Levi?"

Instinctively, Hange pulled Lara closer, wrapping her protective arms around her daughter. Lara hid her face on Hange's belly, only hearing the exclamations of pain that came out of Eren's mouth. She felt her mother shaking too.

With her eyes closed, Lara began to have flashes of memories from when she was at the orphanage. She remembered the countless times she'd been smacked by the tutors, sometimes for simply spilling a cup of juice on the table by mistake. She wondered, why do kids get scolded when they spill a cup of juice, and adults don't? It's the same situation for both. But, she had her thoughts interrupted when she heard Levi say to Eren:

"It's just my personal opinion, but pain is the best tool for teaching discipline. You don't need to be educated with words. You need training. Anyway… You're low enough to kick easily."

Lara looked over the railing again, but only to hide her face once more as seeing Levi continue beating up Eren with much violence. One of the Military Police soldiers asked Levi to stop, claiming that Eren could transform into a Titan at any time now.

"What are you talking about?" replied Levi, kicking Eren one more time and grabbing his hair to turn the boy's head at the Military Police soldiers. "I thought you were going to dissect him. As you heard, when Eren was transformed, he killed a bunch of other Titans. If he were an enemy, he could cause more trouble than we could ever imagine. Though he still can't oppose me. On the other hand, how about you? Think of it, you who persecute him. Can you really kill him?"

Lara dared look again, because apparently, Levi had already finished beating up Eren. Then, she saw Erwin raise his hand to ask permission to talk:

"Sir, I have a proposition. Eren's Titan ability includes too many uncertainties and unknown elements, and that is extremely dangerous. So why not put Eren under Captain Levi's supervision and send them on a recon mission outside the Walls?"

"With Eren accompanying you?" asked the judge.

"Yes, Sir. Whether he can control his Titan ability, and whether it can be of benefit to humanity, will be decided based on the results of this said mission."

"Supervising Eren Jäeger, huh…" pondered the judge. "Can you do this, Levi?"

"I can most definitely kill him," he replied, looking at Eren, who was bleeding and crestfallen. "The problem is that this will be an all-or-nothing situation."

Lara realized that Mikasa was so disturbed that Armin had to hold her back. She had a look of complete rage at Levi.

"I've reached my decision," said the judge, at last. "Eren will be under the Survey Corps' supervision!"

The court session ended with a few murmuring as Eren was led to another room. Levi went to meet Erwin, who nodded, as if to say "good job", but Levi gave him a furious glare.

When Levi looked up at the gallery, he saw a scene that brought great sadness to his heart: Hange and Lara, hugged as if protecting each other, staring at him with the purest expression of fear, and Levi thought that he would never forgive himself for causing this feeling to the women he loved most in his life.