The villagers are restless. It shows in the hollow, roiling depths of their pupils, and Eren has a feeling that his appear similar. The difference is that his eyes are carved by betrayal.

He's been antagonized by humans before, so fighting them is not an entirely novel concept. But he's never been on opposing sides with someone he's devoted his being to.

Not to mention that, one day…

"You're seeing someone."

Eren starts and whirls around from the washbin. Reiner coughs at him with the strangest expression of embarrassment and disapproval.

"What the hell, Reiner?" he whispers agitatedly, darting his eyes around to see if anyone else is in the lavatory with them.

"The thing is…" And now Reiner looks decidedly awkward. "Bertl told me. About you and that candy shop."

"What are you, spying on me?" Eren hisses, the tips of his ears reddening despite himself. "And who says I didn't just go to buy something?"

"You hate sweets. And you didn't come back one night." The other boy huffs. "Well, that isn't my point. Eren… You know that the head officers are getting worried about the vandalism and the beating. Hell, even the boys are, and they're taking things into their own hands by sniffing around. And—well, rumor has it that a resistance force has sprung up around this area. Some of the suspected members have been seen around that shop."

Eren wants to ask just who those suspected members are, but his nerve fails him. As usual, his mind threatens to shut down and let his tongue take over, but he realizes that he has to tread carefully now that he doesn't know who to trust.

"Are you asking if I know anything about it?"

"No." He almost breathes a sigh of relief. Then Reiner continues. "But others might. So you should think carefully about which side you're on."

Eren's lips curl into a snarl. Memories of a past life flash through his mind.

"What do you want me to say?"

Reiner begins to grow more animated as well.

"Everyone wants to save his own hide; I'm not above that. And maybe you don't consider us friends, but—just who is more important to you? Your comrades or that man?"

Eren's eyes swim in wounded white. His voice tears two ways to rebuttals, so he can't utter a sound.

"Fuck off," he finally mutters, veering off into the doorway of the lavatory. His eyes immediately jump to the space below his bed. His father is a fucking clairvoyant, wherever he is, and he desperately wishes that he were here to help him puzzle out this moral conundrum because he is fairly certain that his father will accept him unconditionally. He can't say that for anyone else, especially not Rivaille, who is even more elusive than the mirage of the past.

It's difficult to admit that the singular entity who's been on his mind for the past few months is so foreign. He recognizes that this Rivaille is not the one he remembers, but they look so similar. Sometimes even their mannerisms are the same; that is when pain wells up in Eren's chest as a warning that he shouldn't hope for more. And yet, he stays steadfast to the renewed promise he'd made on that day of epiphany—he will guard Rivaille unthinkingly, unflinchingly. A German no longer, he is Eren Yeager, and he has been given another chance to fulfill the vow of a past life.

Indeed, things would be easier that way.

Knowing that Rivaille is not the captain has caused him to question his own authenticity. Through a fog, he remembers that Eren Yeager lived in a town walled by fear, nurturing in his heart his life's goal of eradicating the race of titans that had murdered so many. But he has broken free from the constraints of home; his mother is not dead, and the enemy is another sect of mankind. Certainly the situations Eren Yeager had been exposed to are much different from those of his own life, be it the people they met or the experiences they had (he can vaguely sense that Eren Yeager had a violently tumultuous childhood, and the feeling is enough to make him shudder). One could even conclude that they are different people entirely.

If this is so, then… does he even have the obligation to save Rivaille?

He can't forget his grievous childhood. He can't forget his nationality. He can't forget Klein who wants to be a doctor or Hoffman who is still recovering or Reiner and Bertholdt who regard him with such frightened eyes. There is much at stake here; saving one means giving up the other. If he and Rivaille are so different from the people of the past, perhaps their ties are cut as well. Something niggles at the back of his mind: a wisp of a thought that the past and the present are too distinct to reconcile.

For some reason, he was allowed to keep his memories over different lifetimes. Surely there is a purpose for that, and he is almost certain that it has to do with Rivaille. Yet his fate had landed him in the most difficult of circumstances—wartime on the opposing side, laden with loyalty to comrades and country. Eren doesn't know what to do.

Ultimately, it is this uncertainty that stops him in his tracks when he finds the person he least wants to see at the base the next morning, cuffed and surrounded by soldiers.

"Rivaille!" His voice is too loud and too wrong. Everyone looks at him. The head officer narrows his eyes.

"Do you know this man?"

Eren's tongue is drier than the stale bread in his hand. He wonders if he can charge at the men, break Rivaille out, and spirit him away. His fingers clench around the piece of rye, which he erratically guesses can temporarily blind a soldier if thrown hard enough. But he spies his comrades in his peripheral vision. They stand stock-still, shocked. He swallows painfully, finally looking at Rivaille.

The man appears indifferent, as usual. There are no traces of a scuffle; could it be that he came willingly?

"Yeager." The head officer's voice commands his attention. "Do you know this man?"

"You can't take him," he blurts, stepping forth only to have his path blocked by his superior. "He—"

"Don't you get it yet?"

The cold, clear voice stops him in his tracks. Rivaille is staring at him, frigid in his apathy.

"…What?"

"I said, don't you understand?" When he merely continues to gape, the man blows air from his nostrils in one irritated huff. "It's time to face up to the truth."

He wishes that, if only for a moment, the world consists of only the two of them so that he can attempt to comprehend what Rivaille is saying. However, the officers, finding an opportunity in the silence, start hustling Rivaille away.

"Stop it!" he shouts, flailing hard against the solid wall of the head officer. Somehow, he gets away and sprints.

"Yeager." A commanding voice stops him. He doesn't turn around and only stands there, clenching his fists against his sides.

"I have to get him."

"Would you sacrifice the lives of the troop for his?"

He doesn't answer. His fingers feel arthritic, but he keeps digging his nails into his palms. Dimly, he watches the amalgam of Rivaille and the two officers get farther away by the second. They don't look back once.

"Yeager?" This time, the head officer's voice is gentle. Tears of ire rush to Eren's eyes. He watches Rivaille disappear because they will never meet again.

"…No, sir."