The lobby was completely silent. Not even the soldiers' breathing could be heard.
Sasha looked up. There was a big hole in the ceiling, right above her head.
She ran her hands over her body. Sasha was alive.
Ahead of her, she saw Lara still thrown on top of that little girl.
Somehow, Lara had managed to shove the rifle barrel upwards and the shot hit the ceiling of the lobby.
Lara then quickly snatched the girl's rifle and threw it towards the soldiers ahead. Jean caught it in the air, mouth agape.
Lara and the little girl stared deeply at each other, eyes wide.
The silence was broken by a shout.
"LARA!!!" It was Armin. He pulled her, who still looked a little flustered. Just as Hange used to do, Armin began to inspect every inch of her, looking for any injuries.
"Baby!" he exclaimed, desperate, "Are you okay?! You got hurt?!"
"I-I am okay, yeah..." she replied, blinking her eyes in confusion, "W-What are these kids doing here?"
That was the question on everyone's mind in the lobby.
Lara turned to Sasha, who looked like she had seen a ghost.
"Sasha... How are you? Did you get hurt?"
She was unable to answer at first. Gradually, Sasha shook her head.
"I didn't... I'm fine..." tears came out of her eyes, "Lara... You've saved my life..."
Then, everyone looked up at the hole in the ceiling above her head, and as if they were connected, they all thought the same thing. If Lara hadn't shoved the rifle barrel, the shot would have hit right in the middle of Sasha's chest, killing her right away.
Instinctively, Connie and Jean stepped in front of Sasha, as if to protect her from any other shots that could come from any other imaginary direction.
Then, chaos took over the lobby. Shouts of hate, questions, and exclamations came from all soldiers. The two children were leaning against the wall, looking scared and cringed, especially the little blond boy.
"Lara..." Armin took her head with both hands, amidst all that fuss, with tears coming out of his eyes, "When I heard that shot, I-I thought... For a second, I thought... That I had lost you..." he kissed her forehead, embracing her tightly. Lara hugged him back with the same intensity.
"I'm fine, babe, I swear," she replied, still panting. Her heart was racing very fast. Just like Armin's.
Levi's words echoed in his head, said only the day before: "Don't wait until you see her passed out in your arms, to take some action. Don't leave it to the last minute, because of the fear that I know that also lies inside you."
Armin felt affliction take over his heart, for having come so close to this scenario worthy of a nightmare, and then, he pulled Lara and pressed his lips against hers, with an expression of pain, still holding her face. He didn't care if people were looking or not. What mattered was that Lara was there with him, alive. Her lips were warm, not cold, like a corpse's.
She gently stroked his face and they touched their foreheads. None of them noticed, but the little blond boy watched them the entire time.
"We need to sort this situation out," said Lara. She turned to the soldiers, asking for silence.
Her tone of voice didn't come out that loud, because she was still a little shaken by what had just happened, then, she got startled to hear Armin shout at the top of his lungs:
"BE QUIET!!!"
Immediately, everyone looked at him, astonished. Armin never raised his voice.
Lara gave him a little smile of thanks.
"Is anyone hurt?" she asked.
Gradually, everyone shook their head negatively.
"Good," replied Lara, and she got down on her knees to stay at the same eye level as the children.
The little blond boy stared at her with lots of fear and seemed like he was about to cry at any moment. The little girl, however, had the look of the most extreme and purest fury. As calmly as possible, Lara looked from one to the other and said:
"Hi... My name's Lara and I'm a Squad Leader of the Survey Corps from Paradis island. Are you two okay? Could you please tell me what you're doing here?"
"DON'T SPEAK A WORD TO ME, DEVIL!!!" shouted the little girl, her eyes bloodshot.
Lara got so startled that she almost fell backward. When she understood what the girl had said, her expression changed to that of someone who got deeply offended.
Everyone in the lobby widened their eyes and held their breath. Of all people they knew, the one who was most completely repulsed by this vicious name-calling that the Eldians received, was Lara.
She sensed that Armin wanted to come closer, but she signaled with her hand for him to stay where he was. Lara took a deep breath and ran her hand over her face, then looked at the little blond boy.
"Let's try it with you then," she did her best to give him a kind smile, "Could you please tell me your name?"
The little boy looked from Lara to his friend, who was shaking her head negatively, asking him to be quiet. However, he answered, almost in a whisper:
"My name's Falco... She's Gabi..."
Lara finally managed to give a genuine smile.
"Nice to meet you, Falco. Could you tell me what you're doing here?"
When he was about to answer, he was interrupted.
"She killed my friend!!!" Gabi pointed to Sasha. "That devil must die!!!"
Sasha widened her eyes.
"Gabi!" Falco grabbed his friend's jacket, desperate. "Keep quiet! Can't you see we're surrounded?!"
"Look what you all did down there!" shouted Gabi, pointing to the airship door, with tears in her eyes. "Because of you, my friends are dead!"
Lara felt great sorrow get into her heart and she lowered her head, covering her face. She had a lump in her throat, and when she faced them again, her eyes were red and teary. For a moment, the children were startled by the unexpected reaction of their "enemy".
"I..." began Lara, with a very downcast voice, "I simply... Don't know what to say to you. I really don't. This whole situation is just... Horrible. I'm very, very sorry."
"Being sorry won't bring them back..." Gabi also had a lump in her throat.
"I know..." replied Lara, with a choked-up voice, "I know, Gabi... And that's what hurts the most..."
They looked at each other for a few seconds, in silence. Then, they heard Floch shout from among the soldiers:
"We must kill them right now!"
Some colleagues followed him. Lara felt her blood boil and glared at him.
"Are you crazy?!" she exclaimed, standing up in a jump, even forgetting her injured foot pain, "They're just children!"
"Very well trained, apparently!" replied Floch, angry. "What are you gonna do? Adopt them too?!"
Lara opened her mouth, indignant. Some soldiers looked from one to the other, perplexed. Armin had an angry look in his eyes and if Jean hadn't intervened, he couldn't tell what he would have done.
"Hey, idiot!" exclaimed Jean, who was beside Floch, "Is that way to talk to a Squad Leader?! Wanna be punished for contempt? Keep your mouth shut, you moron!"
Before Floch could answer, they heard a voice from behind the soldiers across the lobby.
"What the hell is going on?! What's all this fuss?!"
It was Levi, and he looked furious.
Everyone held their breath, even Floch. The soldiers yielded the way and Levi went to Lara and the children.
"What are these brats doing here?" Levi tried to keep calm when talking to his daughter.
"I'll explain later," replied Lara, also trying to keep the same tone. "Please, ask Onyankopon to stop the airship, I'll lower them to the ground."
Levi looked from the children to Lara, and then to Armin, who nodded in agreement with her.
"Right. You got two minutes, we are almost leaving Liberio."
A short time later, Jean, Connie, and Armin were helping the children down with the help of the ODM gear. Before they were out of sight of the edge of the airship door, Lara looked at Falco and Gabi.
"I hope from the bottom of my heart that this ends soon. I wish you to be well and safe. Goodbye."
Gabi didn't say anything, just lowered her head. Falco, however, gave her a simple sad smile and blinked slowly. Without his friend noticing, he mouthed a "thank you". Lara smiled back and also mouthed an "I'm sorry". After seeing that they landed safely on the ground and got rid of the ODM gear, they pulled the wire back and closed the door.
Sasha quickly came to Lara and hugged her tightly, crying into her shoulder in gratitude for saving her life. She hugged her friend back, letting a few tears fall, too.
When they let go, then it was Connie and Jean's turn to hug Sasha as well, who was still in tears. The other soldiers got back to doing their racket, sometimes complaining that they hadn't arrested the children, sometimes celebrating that they were going home, sometimes talking about the rescue operation, etc.
Seeing that everyone was too distracted to pay attention to Armin and Lara, they both went to a corner of the lobby, next to the room door where they had reconciled, and gave a big hug.
Armin embraced Lara as if she were the most precious treasure in the world, kissing the top of her head. They rocked back and forth, trying to calm down from all the stress they had just gone through. Armin once more held her face.
"Are you really alright, my love?" he asked in affliction. "Are you sure you didn't get hurt?"
"Don't worry," Lara closed her eyes, while he gave her a kiss on her forehead, "I didn't. I'm just feeling a little pain in my foot, I think I need another dose of medication."
"Sure, sure..." he said, stroking her face with his thumbs, "As soon as we get home, I'll take you to the infirmary, okay?"
Lara gave him a sad smile in thanks. Even though she was calmer, she was still feeling a little shaken by the whole situation they were going through.
"Let's go to the cockpit. I wanna see how my mother's doing. This environment will not do her or the baby any good..."
"Yes," replied Armin, looking deeply at her, trying to give her a kind smile. "Let's get home as quickly as possible, 'cause I want everyone to know soon that now, I'm all yours."
Phew! Good thing no one got hurt, right? 😊I hope you've enjoyed this chapter 🥰 But I'm curious to know, how you guys think Lara and Armin's relationship will be from now on? I'll love to hear your thoughts! ♥