Author's note

I have no idea if anybody wants to read this story any longer, I'm a horrible at updating regularly, but here is a new installment.

Once again, I'm warning English isn't my mother tongue, so be ready for errors.

Part II

The price

Chapter 5

Sounds of loneliness

Ruins and ashes. Stacks of bricks drenched in blood. An unpleasant, hard to identify smell, unlike anything he knew. Screams of neighbors and paramedics ordering everyone to step back. A body of woman transported to an ambulance. Of woman he had knew all his life.

Two words left his lips.

'Mrs Yeager?'

One thought gave birth to another.

'Eren?'

After a moment of numbness frantic anxiety appeared, which demanded answers for countless questions sprouting one after another in his mind.

'Excuse me, I have to pass. Excuse me, could you move a little, please? There is my friend! Eren! EREN! I'm begging you, let me pass! EREN!

When his pleading had finally reached the right ears, he was told two things. Carla Yeager crushed by a collapsed ceiling had no chance of survival. Her son, Eren Yeager was nowhere to be found.

Three months had passed. A horribly long season without any piece of information about Eren. And about Mikasa. His two closest friends disappeared out of his life within one single day. They had been inseparable for almost 10 years. The hothead, the wonk and the dangerous one. Three outsiders who found in each other's company trust and understanding which became pillars of a solid friendship. Every day passed happily thanks to creating wonderful memories. Till now.

He had never thought that time spent in school could drag on so much…

Mikasa.

Every single time he and Eren got into some trouble (mostly thanks to Eren) she appeared out of nowhere scarring away their opponents with one ominous glance. Although, she was a calm and seemingly cold person, she was the one who restored his self-confidence at times of the greatest doubts.

Mikasa's uncle personally informed him he had to report the missing of his niece on police.

Eren.

He was his best friend. The two of them dreamed of seeing the furthest corners of world. None of them could explain the reason why distant travels had made them feel such longing and fascination since they were children. Eren never forgave people who dared to make fun of their childhood fantasies. Even if it led them to situations from which Mikasa had to save them…

No one could have told him what had happened to Eren. He was constantly visiting the police station. He demanded any piece of information he could get. The only thing he found out was fact, that the mystery of the explosion of Yeager's house was investigated by some kind of secret ops. What was worse, he also heard that Grisha Yeager, who still didn't came back from conference, was missing.

He didn't understand this reality. He was under impression he was standing in the middle of quicksand surrounded by thick, impenetrable fog. Slowly he was losing everything he hold dear and he could do nothing to make it stop. He was still thinking he didn't see one but extremely important detail, which could allow him to solve this puzzle.

What had happened in Eren's house? And why some secret ops were investigating it instead of normal police? No neighbor could tell him what had really happened that night. Only one person thought, that before the explosion whole house was flooded by a dazzling light, but this description didn't make any sense to him.

It couldn't have been a normal explosion. Not when some kind of special ops were involved. But what had happened there in real earnest? And if he managed to find it out, would it help him in finding Eren?

Blinding light…

All of sudden in his mind appeared a single image.

An explosion of green-yellowish light. A shockwave destroying nearby trees. A terrifying sound… Neither a human scream nor a howl of a beast.

The boy instantly stood up.

'Armin, what happened?' He could hear a calming voice of Mike Zacharius, the class teacher. Only this question made him come back to reality. Dumbstruck, he looked around him. The very faces he saw every day suddenly seemed familiar in a completely another way.

'I'm… not feeling well, sir.'

The teacher watched him closely for few moments after which he sniffed.

'Go visit the nurse. You don't have to came back for the rest of the day.' He said after several seconds.

'What? You are dismissing him just like that? If so I'm also not feeling well, sir!' Remarked mockingly Jean, a tall boy with a horsey face.

'Kirschtein, you can come up to the backboard and solve another exercise.' The man answered him coolly.

'Thank you, Mr. Zacharius.' Armin ushered quickly after which he hurriedly left the classroom.

A computer. He had to have an access to the school network. Earlier he effortlessly hacked in police database. It was his source of information that case of Yeagers was assigned to those 'special ops'.

In the blink of the eye it became crystal clear that they had always been surrounded by "strange" people. People he saw for the very time in his life, but inducing this irrational feeling they were somewhat familiar. But why did he realize it only now?

Sitting in the darkest corner of the back of the gym he took out his laptop and connected with the main server clicking an icon in a shape of two folded wings.

Exactly the same ones which adorned uniforms of "these" people and could be found on the logo of those "special ops".

He was overcoming all security at great pace till he got an access to the best-protected catalogue called "the awakening status". Trembling from head to toe he clicked a file with his name twice.

Armin Alert: despite a strong connection with Mikasa Ackerman, who has fully awakened, and Eren Yeager, he still didn't regain his memories.

His head started to spin.

Regaining… memories?

What was going on?

'Well, well, who could expect that small, innocent Armin would be hacking school server?' He heard a familiar voice next to his ear.

The boy almost dropped his computer on the ground.

'Annnnnnnie?' Ha asked with trebling voice looking behind his back.

'Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you.' The girl responded calmly, still looking at the contents of the file opened by Armin. Her light-blue eyes as always expressed slight boredom.

'Bbbbut whaaat are you doing here?' The boy stammered.

'I suspect you started to understand what's going on here.'

'I… I still have no idea what am I supposed to think about it. Regaining memories. What is that supposed to mean?'

The blond girl gave him a piercing look.

'Can you sometimes see images? Images unrelated to your present life?'

The boy once again saw in his mind a silhouette of a creature which couldn't be a human.

'I think.. so…' He replied hesitantly.

For a second Annie's expression changed. Her gaze became more delicate, full of a silent understanding.

'You still didn't regain that awareness, did you?' She almost whispered.

'What are you talking about?'

'Soon everything'll become clear to you. For now answer my one question. Do you want to find Eren?'

The uncertainty and confusion faded giving a rise to a small ray of hope.

'Eren… is alive?'

A gaze of the girl once again became cold and inscrutable.

'I don't know. The only thing I am aware of is the place they can be keeping him. Together we can get there.' She said in a dead-serious tone.

'What? But…'

'I'm sorry Armin. I can only offer you such a deal: you'll trust me and I'll trust you. I'll take you to Eren and you'll perform your task as best as you can.'

The boy remained silent for a moment and studied an inscrutable face of his classmate. He had known Annie for two years. During that time they spoke to each other very rarely. The truth was he knew nothing about her. By agreeing to this offer, he was entering a dark cave, from which there could be no exit.

'But why are you doing it? You know my objective and I know nothing about yours.'

It seemed a whole eternity passed before her lips escaped few silent words.

'I want to meet with my father.'

Armin stared for a moment at the girl. At those light-blue eyes expressing indifference towards her surroundings. He analyzed whole situation taking into account every possible outcome, after which he slowly nodded his head.

The sea was quietly humming in the distance, as always bringing her in a mood of slight melancholy. Waves calmly caressed a sand full of variously shaped shells, but from time to time she could hear a single stronger splash of a water against nearby rocks. That was what reminded her that within few hours this peace would be annihilated by storm.

She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with a characteristic scent of salt and algae.

She loved sea. Moments like these made her realize, that world was really beautiful.

But world was not only beautiful but also cruel and ruthless.

That was why it had to change.

The mechanism, fitted in motion two thousand years ago, slowly began to bear fruits.

Now she only had to wait for the final piece to fall into place.

She smiled slightly and watched dreamily a sunset against a blood-red sky.

Hanji rested her head on her folded hands. For a single moment she tried to forget about the reality. Lead her thoughts far away from books and laboratory samples, from angry shouting coming from behind the closed doors and results of the analysis displayed on two huge monitors. For a single moment to came back to this joyous life from three months ago, before they regained their memories, before Ilse Langer died, before the world stopped being great, vast and safe. 2000 years ago they lived in a cage called Walls. Now their cage was lack of knowledge. New answers were becoming its new rods, making them aware of how narrow was the road leading to freedom.

When she heard the sound of forcing the door open, she reluctantly opened her eyes.

'Captain! Miss Hanji has forbidden to disturb her.' She could hear a voice of very tense Moblit.

'This fucking idiot hasn't left this shitty lab for five days and you are still listening to her? You usually have more brains in your head, Moblit.' Said Levi coolly.

'Because this time he was given very specific instructions, and Moblit knows very well when no one should interrupt me.' Remarked Hanji in tone in which exhaustion was mixed with dead-seriousness.

'Will you leave this shitty place on your own or shall I help you?' The captain asked her with a false courtesy in his voice, moving slowly towards her.

'In a moment.' She replied shortly, once again lifting her head to look at the results of the analysis for the last time. Unfortunately, the data looked exactly the same. During last week she did all possible calculations which could negate her hypothesis, but everything led her to one outcome.

'Until you sleep next several hours, I'm not discussing with you.' Levi continued in final tone, grabbing her forearm.

'Levi, I know the reason why titans were asleep for those 2000 years…'

'What?' The man remained still.

'I compared you know what sample of DNA to DNA of the Walls' titans.' The woman said in exactly the same tone interlacing fatigue and dead-seriousness. 'They are almost identical to the omission of certain differences between individuals. However, there is one significant difference. Surely you remember that our old friends had one weak point. In contrast, the present inhabitants of the Walls are deprived of this feature. In their genome for 2000 years had been appearing countless mutations which result in a rise of monsters devoid of any weakness.

She sighed heavily.

'Levi, this time when they wake up, we won't be able to fight them.'