There was still a lot that the ghouls needed to discuss with Annie but they knew that they were still in a dangerous area. So, the members of Anteiku made their way over the walls without any major issues, once they got out, they were informed that they would have to go back in to clean up the bodies. Touka managed to get out of it by showing another soldier her wounded shoulder, causing her to be sent for medical treatment.

"Aren't you worried?" Annie asked Kaneki as they were cleaning up the streets, "About Touka, aren't you worried? If she heals too quickly, the soldiers might get suspicious"

"Not really, Touka's healing isn't as dramatic as mine, she would need normal medical treatment for injuries like anyone else, is that not the case with titan shifters?" he asked in response

"No, watch" she instructed as she brought one of her blades to her wrist, slitting it, blood began to pour before stopping after a couple of seconds. Looking at her wrist, Kaneki noticed steam coming from the afflicted area, but other than that, there was no sign that she had been injured

"Impressive" he observed, their healing was about as fast as his, if not faster

"So if you can heal so quickly, how could any titan shifter be defeated?" Kaneki wanted more information about titan shifters

"We can heal from serious injuries, we can even regrow severed limbs, but it all takes energy, we can't keep healing over and over again" she educated the ghoul

"So I assume that Reiner and the others are no different?"

"Yeah, but Reiner and Bertolt can concentrate their healing, like me, so they could slow it down to fit in with the humans, or speed it up to be able to continue fighting quickly"

"I see" Kaneki said, stuffing another body into a bag, before turning a corner to see a large number of corpses littered in the streets. The scene made him pause for a moment, bringing his hands together, he prayed for them, a habit from when he used to join Yomo for food runs. Annie looked out at the sea of corpses before her, and she froze, her face filled with despair as she spoke "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" she felt a pat on her back as Reiner spoke to her "Don't apologise, just do your job, this is a part of war"

"War? This isn't a war. In war, both sides come under attack. This is just a one-sided murder!" Kaneki felt angry, he clenched his fists hard before continuing his job

"In a couple of days, we're to decide which regiment to join, I assume you'll be going with the Scouts?" Annie spoke, her voice was calm but her face still showed signs of despair

"Yeah, that's right, what about you?"

"I've been ordered to join the Military Police, so that I can gather information from within the interior, Reiner and Bertolt will be joining the Scouts to keep an eye on Eren"

"You still haven't told us what exactly you and the others are looking for in this place"

"I'm aware, I'll tell you and Touka later on, when we're all together"

"As you wish"

With that the two continued to clean up the streets, Kaneki was able to eat a bit from the corpses without anyone noticing, but he couldn't sneak any out with him to give to Touka.

"How's your shoulder?" Annie asked the girl who was currently sat up in a sick bed, having received treatment

"Fine" Touka responded, winding her arm back to prove her point, causing her to flinch in pain

"Touka, don't push yourself" Kaneki asked of her, stroking her back gently

Touka sighed in response, "Fine, I'm sorry. Anyway, Annie, didn't you say that you had something important to tell us?" she changed the subject

"It's what Reiner, Bertolt and I have been searching for, we call it the coordinate"

"The coordinate?"

"First, a bit of backstory, there are nine titan shifters in total and one of them has the ability to command titans to do their bidding"

"So they would have command of all those titans beyond the walls?" Kaneki remembered the attack on Trost, the sheer number of titans was insane and there were probably far more out there "They'd have an army of giants at their disposal" he feared the idea of someone having that much power

"That titan is what is known as the Progenitor titan, or the coordinate, which we are searching for, on behalf of our military" Annie declared

"What makes you so sure that it's even here?" Kaneki questioned her, "If someone like that lived within the walls, wouldn't they have stopped the titans from attacking humans? After all, what benefit is there to being behind the walls besides defence from titans?"

"I'm not sure myself, but I was sent out here because when Reiner and Bertolt first arrived, five years ago, they had another comrade with them, who ended up getting eaten by a titan. I was sent here as their replacement. You said that you think Ymir is a titan shifter, didn't you? I think that she may have possession of that titan" Annie explained

"Wait, you've lost me, how would Ymir have gotten control of that titan?" Kaneki asked, thoroughly confused

"Oh? You don't know? The titans are humans, they belong to a race called the Eldians, once injected with the spinal fluid of a titan, we turn into one ourselves" Kaneki and Touka froze up, horrified by the idea of becoming one of those things, "Also, if a titan eats a shifter, they gain the ability to turn into that titan"

"So, you think Ymir was the one who ate that soldier?" Touka was still trying to process all the information she had been given

"Yes"

"Then let's ask her" Kaneki suggested, causing Annie and Touka to stare in disbelief at him,

"Are you an idiot?" Annie asked him

"NO YOU'RE BEYOND AN IDIOT, YOU'RE A COMPLETE MORON!" Touka yelled at him

"Why not?" Kaneki asked innocently

"Because there's nothing to stop her from running away! Or she might decide to turn into a titan and try to kill you!" Annie scolded him

"Christa" Kaneki replied calmly, "Ymir doesn't want to abandon Christa, so she won't run away, and it's doubtful that she'd be able to take on all three of us"

"But she might not cooperate with us" Touka informed him

"That's up to her, she would be very useful as an ally if we want to stop Reiner and the others"

"This is a big gamble, we're not sure of what she'll do" Annie doubted their plan

"Well, it's not like we need do it now" Kaneki stretched out his arms in a yawn

"He's right, we can think about this some other time" Touka concurred, "For now, I think we all need some rest"

"Oh, yeah, did you here? They managed to capture two titans alive, they have them ready for experimentation" Annie stood up to leave, "We've been ordered to kill them, to prevent the Survey Corps from learning too much"

"When do you think you'll be doing this?" Touka asked her

"Are you going to interfere?"

"Of course, that is what you had asked us to do"

Annie cracked a small smile before continuing "Tonight. I'm going to kill them, I'll be trying my absolute hardest" Annie challenged her recently created allies

"If you didn't there'd be no point" Touka accepted the challenge

"Well then, see you then, Anteiku" Annie walked off

"Are you sure we can trust her?" Kaneki questioned once he was sure she couldn't hear him

"No, but she was willing to be eaten alive in order to get us to help her, even if that was a lie, I'm not going to ignore it" Touka resolved as she walked in the same direction as Annie went

"You're too kind, Touka" he jogged a bit to catch up to her,

"I don't want to hear that coming from you!" she complained as they walked to where a large bonfire was burning the bodies of their former comrades

They found themselves at an old castle in the pitch black observing two captured titans, a 4m and a 7m class. They didn't seem too affected by the large metal spikes driven into their bodies, preventing their movement.

"We should have got Annie to tell us when she was going to strike, sitting out here for hours is boring" Rabbit complained, kicking a pebble at her feet

"It can't be helped, plus this is sort of our way of telling whether she can be trusted as an ally" Eyepatch reasoned

"I know that already" she kicked another pebble, "It still sucks"

"Well we won't be waiting much longer, look" Eyepatch pointed towards the three approaching figures using ODM gear

"All three of them, huh?" Eyepatch observed

"Best we get started then" Rabbit launched herself towards the two captured titans where she clashed with one of the attackers, one which she recognised as her ally

"Yo, Annie"

"Rabbit"

Rabbit forced her opponent away as Eyepatch launched himself towards the other two. Able to see their faces, Eyepatch immediately recognised them as Reiner and Bertolt, judging by the shocked looks on their faces, they hadn't expected any interference. Not bothering to use his kagune he kicked the two of them away as Annie continued her vicious assault on Rabbit, only to have each strike of her blades blocked by Rabbit's limbs, it was really frustrating for her. Rabbit's taunting her certainly didn't make it any easier "Is that all? Come on, try harder!" Annie could practically hear the cocky smile beneath Rabbit's mask

Eyepatch was the first to notice, he heard it coming from inside the castle, Reiner and Bertholt heard it shortly afterwards, calling out to their ally to retreat before flying off as fast as they could. She barely heard them, but upon hearing the order to retreat, Annie followed after her two allies, giving the ghouls a friendly wave before she left which Rabbit returned. The two ghouls gathered together, Rabbit began "I guess they were bound to notice the fight taking place outside eventually" she spoke as she saw the inside of the castle light up and figures moving around inside and outside "We should probably get going now, right?" she looked to Eyepatch for conformation

"Agreed, but I would like to try something first" Eyepatch searched the approaching soldiers for one who seemed like they were in charge, his eyes locked on a woman in her late twenties, pushing her way to the front of the soldiers as she screamed "SONNY! BEAN!" she rushed towards the two captured titans

"You're okay, thank god for that!" the woman kneeled in front of the titans as she cried hysterically, causing the ghouls to just stare at her in disbelief "Maybe she's not the one in charge" they reasoned internally

"Section-commander Hange, please get back! You're too close to them!" one soldier called out, "Wait, so this nutjob is actually a high rank?!" the ghouls began to doubt their faith in the Survey Corps

"Oi! Rabbit! Eyepatch!" at their names being called the ghouls looked through the crowds and saw a blonde man walking towards them, "Those are the names you choose to go by, correct? Mine is Commander Erwin, leader of the Survey Corps"

The two ghouls stared at him for a moment, trying to work out why he would admit to such a thing in front of them, "Is it alright for you to admit that to us? What if we were after your head?"

"If you had come here with the intention to kill me, I would already be dead, wouldn't I?" His voice was loud but calm

"I guess so, so would you mind a certain request of mine, Mr Commander?" Eyepatch asked

"If you'll answer my questions"

"That's fair enough, what do you want to know?"

"You interfered with the operation in Trost and helped Eren to wake up, why would you do that? What is your end goal?"

"Our goal…?"

"To live" Rabbit interrupted, "That is all we want, to live our lives with our friends, unfortunately, the titans have already taken some of our friends from us, so we consider them to be our enemies"

"Well put, Rabbit" Eyepatch complimented her, genuinely surprised by her eloquence

"Oh I see…" Erwin seemed deep in thought

"So can we do some experiments with you?!" Hange yelled out to the two of them, "I've read the reports, tentacles and a wing! Oh, and that eye, it's black and red and pretty!"

"That's probably the exact reason they keep their faces hidden, to make sure you don't find out who they are and try to experiment on" a cold, calm voice joined the conversation "I can't say that I blame them, knowing you, four-eyes, you'd kill both of them with your weird experiments"

"Hey, their not weird"

"Ah, Levi, you're here" Erwin welcomed the new addition, "So this is Captain Levi, humanity's strongest soldier" Eyepatch observed the man with a cautious eye, not wanting to be caught off guard by him.

"I believe it's our turn" Rabbit commented, "Hurry up and ask what you want to ask, stupid Eyepatch" she subtly gestured to the soldiers that were starting to cut off any and all possible escape routes

"Yes… may we speak with Eren Yaeger?" his question echoed in the minds of all the soldiers as they tried to work out what Eyepatch was planning

"Is he going to try and kidnap him?"

"Eren's working with him, I knew he couldn't be trusted"

"There's no way the commander will allow that"

Erwin silenced the crowd of soldiers as he responded, "Fine"

"Erwin, are you sure about this?" Hange asked him, suddenly serious

"If we don't fulfil our side of the bargain, how can we expect them to trust us? Levi, go get him"

A familiar scent reaching her nose, Rabbit intervened "No need, he's already here" she picked him out from the swarm of soldiers, he was wearing a Survey Corps cloak with the hood up. Captain Levi let out a tch, "There goes the plan to bring out a fake Eren. He's not even supposed to be out here, that idiot!"

"Eren… would you like to join us at Anteiku?" the question caused all of the soldiers to be on their guard, if this were to go unfavourably they'd have to deal with both Anteiku and a fifteen-meter intelligent titan.

"Join… Anteiku? Why would I do that?! I know next to nothing about you people!" Eren complained

"That's fair enough, I guess" Eyepatch's single visible eye was fixed on Eren and it gave him the chills, "But remember this much, Eren… Should the time come when you are to be put to death by this lot, once they give up on you and try to eliminate you… We will welcome you into Anteiku with open arms"

"Time to go, now!" Rabbit warned Eyepatch

"Right-" Eyepatch could barely dodge out of the way of the blade that came straight towards his face, Levi was here.

"He's fast!" Eyepatch and Levi were caught off guard by their opponents speed, but Levi persisted in targeting his mask, if they knew who he was then it would be of great benefit to them.

Eyepatch could barely keep up with Levi's furious assault, no sooner than once one strike finished another began. Having no time to release his kagune, he focused all his nerves on dodging Levi's slashes, he couldn't find any openings to counterattack.

Rabbit and all of the soldiers were just in awe of the sheer speed of Eyepatch and Levi as they fought, looking away from the fight, she noticed all the soldiers who had been cutting of their escape were frozen, staring intently at the spectacle before them. Taking advantage of the opportunity, she unleashed her kagune, sending shards towards the two. Levi was able to launch himself a safe distance away, Eyepatch wasn't so lucky, he took several shards to his body, ripping through him. Unfazed by his injuries, he activated his kagune, picking up Rabbit bridal style, he held her close to him as he used his kagune to send himself flying through one of the few openings in the Survey Corps' barrier.

"Hey, what are you doing?! I can move fine on my own, thank you very much!" Rabbit struggled in Eyepatch's arms

"Sorry, but endure it for a while, this is quicker than us both running and, like you said, we have to get going now"

"Damnit, if you tell Annie about this, I'll kill you!" she could feel her face warming up beneath her mask

"I'm aware"

"They chased you for three hours straight?!" Annie was considerably amused by the ghoul's retelling of what happened after she had left

"Yeah, I really should have expected as much from the survey Corps" Kaneki's voice was filled with fatigue and he had considerable bags under his eyes "Thanks to them I didn't get much sleep"

"It's your own fault, I told you to hurry up but you didn't listen" Touka was positively glowing

"How come you're perfectly fine while he looks like he' at death's door?" Annie asked

"Because Touka fell asleep while I was carryin-" Kaneki was interrupted by Touka's elbow slamming into his side

"Touka, you really are unnecessarily violent" Annie observed

"Shut up" she spat back "It's still his own fault"

"True, why would you ask Eren to join us out of the blue like that?!"

"I wanted to know where he stands, I also wanted to see how much they value Eren"

"Considering how they sent Captain Levi to kill you, I'd say that they think he's pretty important" Annie reasoned

"Evidently" Kaneki let out a yawn

"You'd better not do that later" Touka warned

"Why?"

"How sleep-deprived are you? Did you completely ignore the announcement earlier? We have to go get our ODM gear for an inspection, they're looking for the ones who tried to kill the captured titans" Touka scolded him

"What? Annie are you gonna be alright?" Kaneki grew concerned for his comrade

"Yeah, I have a different set of ODM gear that I'll show them"

"Good, we'd better get going then"

This chapter came a bit later than I intended, it's shorter too, sorry :(
I won't be posting any updates for about a month, I've got exams coming up, sorry :(
I would like to know what you think of this chapter though, wwhat did you think of Levi and Kaneki's first encounter (I use "first" for a reason)