Chapter 81 - Attack

                                    

                                          
Indeed, in the time period of about one month that had passed after Levi went with Zeke and the soldiers to the Forest of Giant Trees, everything started to go downhill.
A group of rebel soldiers and civilians emerged, led by Floch, to reunite Eren with his brother Zeke and create the New Eldian Empire, and then activate the Rumbling. They were outraged by Eren's arrest and began to speak out for him to be released from prison. So they secretly started working with a loyal follower of Zeke, named Yelena.
	Apparently, about ten months ago, Floch, Yelena, and Eren began working together and after that, Eren started behaving completely different, like he's behaving now. With all this rebellion, Hange began to receive a lot of pressure from the press and the population, because in their view, Eren was the hope of the people and they were unfairly keeping him in prison, besides that the Shiganshina District was being evacuated without people knowing why. However, Hange argued that because of what happened in Liberio, the rest of the world now had a much more negative view of Paradis than before, and that even though Armin had not turned into the Colossal Titan and destroyed Liberio's Port, only the massacre that Eren caused had shaken them all enough to be hated even more, and an imminent war was at the door at any moment.
	All this pressure contributed to the fact that now, Hange constantly felt severe pains in her belly and her health started to get worse considerably. Now, she visited the infirmary almost periodically.
	Lara and Armin did their best to help her in any way they could, but the burden of responsibility inevitably would fall on Hange. Because of that, one night, in her Commander's Office, the three of them talked a lot and came to the conclusion that it was time they needed to come together and help each other. So, it was agreed that from now on, Lara would move to the rank of Captain and Hange's right-hand woman, and that Armin would become the Squad Leader in Lara's place, becoming responsible for it. Hange obviously continued to be the active voice and responsible for everything, but she felt much more relieved, at least emotionally and psychologically, to know that she could count on her daughter and son-in-law to help her in every possible process.
	All the situations they were going through, along with the pregnancy hormones, made Hange feel a huge emotional roller coaster, now that she was about six months pregnant.
	And, of course, Hange finally "revealed" to Lara and Armin where Levi, Zeke, and the thirty other soldiers were located. The couple did their best to show surprise at the information. However, it was agreed that Armin would still need to pretend he didn't know anything, because if something happened to Hange or Lara, he would be their backup to help Levi. However, even though Hange had told them everything, Lara and Armin didn't tell her that Levi had already informed them of his location, to avoid any further problems for Hange or Levi, for sharing this confidential information.
	What also relieved Hange was that, constantly, she and Levi wrote letters to each other, trying at least, in written words, to show their love and support, through three soldiers who came and went from the Forest to deliver the supplies. However, Lara and Armin had to spend a few late nights with Hange in the infirmary, due to her blood pressure now always reaching a very high peak.
Armin and Lara weren't having the engagement of their dreams either. They practically didn't have a peaceful time to really be together. It is a fact that they were constantly in each other's company, but not under favorable circumstances for anything romantic or similar. In addition, at seeing her mother go through so much stress, Lara herself also started to get very anxious, making her have strong headaches and, if it wasn't for Armin's good heart and solicitude, she would also have spent some nights in the infirmary as a patient, and not as a companion of her mother. Armin was taking care of Lara with great love, always trying to bring her some medicine or a calming tea to help her with her stress. Besides, he also gave Lara relaxing back massages when she didn't even ask for it, which made her affection for her fiancé only grow more.