Once Jean and I made our way back, we were soon approached by a female soldier dressed in uniform with a green cape.

"Good evening, are you Eri Sotomayo?" said the woman.

"Uh Yes. Is there anything I can help you with?" I asked.

I looked at her green cape. There was the winged logo.

She's from the Survey Corps.

She was also familiar looking.

It seemed as if I met her before.

"My name is Hange Zoe, I am from the Survey Corps. I'm here on behalf of Commander Erwin Smith who wishes to see you." Hange said.

"What?"

The Scout Regiment wants to see me? For what? I asked myself.

"There are some things we would like to discuss with you." She said.

I looked at her and nodded my head.

"Understood." I said.

I turned my attention to Jean.

"You go ahead Jean. I need to go." I said.

He nodded his head with understanding and walked back to where everyone else were.

"Follow me." Hange said.

With that, I followed her through the city and headed towards a secluded area.

"This is our current headquarters." Hange said.

She was pointing at an abandoned looking building.

It wasn't too big or small, just an average sized building.

Hange and I went inside and walked up to the top floor.

There was only one room here.

Hange knocked the door.

"Come in." I heard someone say from inside.

She opened the door and I stepped inside.

"Eri Sotomayo?" Said a man with blonde hair, sitting at his desk.

I assumed he's Commander Erwin.

To his right, there was a short man, black hair with the meanest look ever.

"Please, sit." Erwin said, pointing at an empty chair in front of him.

I saluted towards Commander Erwin and took a seat.

"Forgive me for calling you here so sudden." Erwin said. "I am Erwin Smith, Commander of the Survey Corps. This is Captain Levi Ackerman."

He pointed at the short man.

"And this is Captain Hange Zoe. They are both my Elite subordinates."

I looked at Hange once more and realized who she was.

She was my mother's research assistant!

She's the one who told me of my parents passing.

"I assume you realized who I am judging by the face your making." Hange said with a smile.

I fixed my posture and blushed in embarrassment.

"Yes. I do. You were my mother's research assistant Captain Hange." I said and bowed towards her. "Thank you for having the courage to approach me about my parents."

"Your parents were wonderful soldiers. Your mother worked with Captain Hange and your father was an Elite soldier, working with Captain Levi." Erwin said.

I looked at Captain Levi and he nodded his head in agreement.

"Your father did not die in vain." Levi said.

"Thank you." I said.

"Eri. I called you here because we would like to speak to you about your mother's research. Captain Hange." Erwin said.

Hange cleared her throat and stepped forward.

"When you mother and father died, I found her notebook during our expedition. She had many information about titans which caused me to continue her research. I would like to know if your mother had said anything to you about titans." Hange said.

I looked at her with a frown.

"Unfortunately, no. My mother kept her information private. All she did was give me this locket before their last expedition." I said.

I took out my locket from my shirt and showed it to them.

"She told me there was some important information inside it but I've been unable to open it." I added.

Hange's eyes lit up when she saw my locket.

"That's it!" She shouted.

"What is it Captain Hange?" Erwin asked.

"The notebook had the word 'locket' written in it. I wasn't able to understand what she meant until now. Eri, that locket needs to be opened." Hange said.

At first, I was skeptical.

This locket was the only thing I have as a remembrance of my parents.

I have a strong feeling mother wanted me to do this.

I took off the necklace and handed it to Hange.

It's now in the right hands Mom.

"Please do. I'm glad my mother's work was not left behind." I said with a smile.

"There's another thing I would like to discuss with you." Erwin spoke. "Now that you're in the Military and graduated from training, have you chosen which branch to join?"

I looked at the three of them with confidence.

"Of course. I want to join the Survey Corps. I want to follow my parent's path." I said.

"Hn. Confident kid." Levi said.

"Excellent. You have the determination of your parents. I like that in a soldier." Erwin said.

Hange smiled at me with her thumbs up.

"I know your ceremony has been pushed back for two days. For the time being, would you like to be Captain Hange's research assistant?" Erwin asked.

I was shocked to hear this.

"I could use you as my helper." Hange said with a smile.

This was what I was waiting for!

"Y-Yes!" I said, hiding my excitement.

I stood up from my chair and saluted. "Thank you for the offer Commander Erwin. I accept."

Erwin stood up from his seat and saluted back.

"Excellent." He said. "Captain Levi. Do you have any questions for Eri?"

Levi was leaning against the wall the entire time and fixed his posture.

"Yeah. Do you know Eren Jaeger?" Levi asked.

I was surprised by his sudden question.

"Y-Yes. Eren is a friend of mine." I said.

"What do you know about his titan form?" Levi questioned.

"Well, I don't really know much. When I first saw his titan form, he practically saved me when I was trapped at the Supply Headquarters. At that time, I didn't even know that it was Eren. I just thought it was a titan with intelligence that has no interest in eating humans and only attacks other titans." I answered.

"How did you discover that it was him?" Levi asked.

"It wasn't until we had our gas tanks refilled and retreated back to the inner wall. We found the titan's body decomposing and Eren came out from the nape of it's neck. Beforehand, I was notified that Eren was eaten alive by another titan. So finding him like that was a mystery to me." I said.

"Very well." Levi said and nodded his head.

"Okay. Thank you for coming in Eri. You will be assisting Hange with her research starting tomorrow morning. Rest for the night and report to her right away." Erwin said.

I saluted towards the three as they saluted back.

I stepped out of the office and made my way back to where Jean was.

"I'm proud of you Eri." Jean said.

I told him the conversation I had with the Survey Corps.

"Yeah. So starting tomorrow, I'm helping Captain Hange with her research." I said with a smile.

"I see. You spending the whole day with her right?" Jean asked.

"Yeah. What will you do then?" I asked him.

"I'm going to Jinae. It's Marco's hometown. I'm going to personally tell his family about his death." Jean said.

I grew sad.

Marco's family will be devastated.

"I just realized something. I never knew where you guys grew up from." I said, a frown on my face.

Jean looked at me with a surprised look.

"I guess we never told you. Marco and I told each other about our life before the military." Jean said, looking at the ground. "You never told me where you grew up from either."

"I feel like a terrible friend." I said sadly.

"Don't be." Jean said as he held my hand. "I'm originally from Trost District."

My eyes widened.

"Trost District!?" I shouted. "B-But..."

"It's nothing to worry about." Jean said calmly. "I only live with my mother. I heard she evacuated safely. That's all that matters."

I could tell from the tone of his voice that he doesn't have a good relationship with his mother.

"How come you never mentioned to me about your mother?" I asked.

Jean kept quiet and looked at me.

"That's because I resented my previous life." He said.

I was shocked to hear that.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"I hated how my life was before joining the Military. My mother was spoiling me. She's too caring and always intrudes my privacy. One day, I got furious at her and yelled at her. I even told her that I hated her. After that, I went to the military and met you guys. I haven't seen her since then." He said.

I was truly surprised to hear this.

"W-Wow Jean..." I said, a bit speechless.

"Yeah. Stupid of me right?" Jean said sarcastically.

"Yeah. It is stupid." I said, giving him an angry look.

"E-Eri!" Jean said, surprised that I agreed.

"Your mother loves you Jean. I'm pretty sure she's been worrying about you every single day. She's probably worried sick even more when Trost District was under attack." I lectured him.

"I know." Jean said and sighed. "I did thought about visiting her sometime soon."

"Then that's what we'll do." I said.

"W-What!?" Jean yelled, surprised at my sentence.

"I'm serious. Whenever we have free time, we're going to visit your mom. I promise to show you my home if I get to meet your mom." I said with a sinister smile.

Jean looked at me as if he wanted to protest but then sighed.

"You win Eri." He said in defeat.

"Alright!" I shouted in excitement.

I hugged Jean and smiled.

"It's a promise." I said.

He looked at me and lightly smiled.

"Yeah. Promise." He said.

"Okay. We should get some rest. It's going to be a long day tomorrow. Please give Marco's family my biggest condolences." I said.

"Of course.. I'll see you." Jean said.

With that, he pecked my lips and walked off.

The boys resting area was on one side of the street while the girls were on the opposite.

I smiled, turned around and made my way inside the building.

I picked a random bed and laid on top of it.

A lot went through my mind.

I had the image of Marco's body stuck on my mind.

I shed a few tears before wiping them away.

I closed my eyes and slept.