Chapter 11: Words matter.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait! The exams are finally vanquished and providing they don't come back to haunt me I'll be writing for the rest of the month. Hope you enjoy this long-awaited chapter, and see you guys soon! And just a heads up, from here on out there will be spoilers for both seasons one and two. I'll wait until season three's finished to do anything with that part of the story.

"Are you definitely sure it's ok if we stay here?" Marco asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah, it should be fine, providing Sarah's ok with it." Lucas replied.

"Who's Sarah?" Reiner asked the teen.

"My guardian, she helps look after me." The brunette responded, before rising out of his seat and leaving the room. "If you need a minute, then feel free to stay behind for a minute. I'll go up and prepare a room for you guys." He called out into the room before some of the group started making their way up the stairs, lagging slightly behind him.

"How do you light up the house like this?" Armin asked looking at the lights, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Because of something called electricity, it was invented around two hundred years ago. I can explain it another time if you want." Lucas replied, before reaching the guest room's door. He clamped his palm around the doorknob, before thrusting the entrance open. His hand then found the light switch before flicking it down to reveal the room in a flash of white light. Said room wasn't exactly fancy, only having a modest set of furniture, but still had more aesthetic than the average bedroom's standard. The white walls and crisp bed sheets gave off a relaxed feeling as the group stepped through the door.

"It's not much, but it's better than nothing." Lucas said, looking behind himself to see most of the group, save for Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie, who were most likely still in the room downstairs.

"Thanks... But is there enough room for all of us?" Marco asked, looking towards the collection of beds. Considering there were only seven beds before them, it would have been more than natural to wonder about space.

"Don't worry about it." Lucas said, slightly smirking as he walked up to the bed closest the door before thrusting his hands beneath it. They then retracted, revealing a flat mattress on wheels concealed under the standard bunk, though stripped of its bedding.

"There's fourteen altogether, seven standard and seven lower down." He pointed out, indicating towards said beds. "I'll grab the bedding from the attic storage, but you'll need to sort out sleeping arrangements between yourselves."

"But where are you gonna sleep?" Jean asked.

"My room's upstairs; Alex and Harry usually sleep up there when they come round." He said, beginning the walk to the bathroom for bedding. "If you need anything, I'll be on the third floor, first door to the right." He called back, before going back down the creaking old stairs, squeaking as if to a musical beat. Continuing to walk down the corridor, he started making mental notes of what he'd need and where from. However, before reaching the linen closet, the teen overheard a conversation emanating from behind the opened sitting room door. His desire for knowledge got the better of him, resulting in his ear becoming lightly pressed against the door.

"What are we supposed to do now Reiner? If we really are in another world, what's our goal from here on out?" He heard presumably Bertholt ask.

"I can't say for certain, but for now we should just play it by ear." Reiner responded, his voice low and tone stern.

Of course, the teen had already guessed that the shifters would bring their own set of problems, they could end up changing everything for his world along with theirs. Granted Eren didn't know about his own ability at that point, and Ymir could still be considered an ally. As she'd never directly opposed the Survey Corps in the show.

But the Warriors three carried massive complications. Annie would have gone on to kill some of the most elite scouts if not for her leaving the timeline, including the Levi squad. Though there was still a small chance the others could come around. However, Reiner and Bertholt. They'd destroyed a good chunk of Humanity before, and even if they did show regret he doubted the others would be quick to forgive.

Lucas knocked on the door lightly, before walking in. Annie barely notices him, while Bertholt straightened up slightly and Reiner took on a passive smile.

"You doing ok Lucas?" Reiner asked him.

"I'm fine, just seeing if you're ok." The teen lied, seeing an opportunity to try and gain some more info.

"Thanks, man, I appreciate it. Would you mind if I ask you something?"

"Ask away." Lucas responded.

"Would everything from 'our world' be complete fiction? Including what's beyond the wall?" Reiner asked. While most would have assumed he was simply enquiring out of curiosity, Lucas realized exactly what Reiner was asking. If his 'hometown' still existed, or whether that was gone too. Granted the brunette didn't actually know much about his origins, the fact he was asking about it definitely speaks volumes. Having read the manga would have come in real handy around about that time. As he, like most of the people at his school, had only seen the anime.

"Most likely." The teen replied, causing Reiner's smile to slowly fade away. "But don't worry! Now you've finally got the chance to escape the Titans, once and for all! Now, you can choose your own fate." He said, putting an emphasis on 'fate'. Granter, Lucas knew he did technically choose to destroy humanity, but there was still some good left in him. There had to be some way he could fight with the survey corps, not against them.

"Sounds good." Reiner said, a tired smile on his face. "I think I'll head to bed, which room is ours?" He asked.

"Go up the stairs, down the hallway and first door on your right. You guys are sharing a room if it's ok."

"It's fine. You coming, Bertholt?"

"Y-yeah." Bertholt replied, slightly sweating.

"May as well sleep, not like there's anything else to do." Annie muttered, her expression stoic and bored. The group moved to the stairs while Lucas continued to the linen closet. He grabbed several bedsheets and duvets, though was only able to carry three of each at once. Meaning much to the teen's dismay, it would require several trips to gather them all.

Several minutes later, Lucas found himself stood at the guest room's door. Everyone having discussed there sleeping arrangements, though Jean had gotten into a heated argument with Eren over Mikasa and who would sleep next to her. Said raven-head flushing profusely at the phrasing Eren had used to describe 'sleeping with her'. In the end, the shifter had taken the bed near Armin, and Jean above Marco while Sasha offered to bunk with Mikasa. Everyone else found a bed and settled down into their normal clothes, only taking their boots, jackets, and belts off.

"Now I know things may look difficult." Lucas began. "But in the morning, I'll have a plan for our next move and we can just go from there. Till then, just focus on getting some rest."

"What time should we wake up?" Marco asked.

"Anytime after eight should do." Lucas responded. "I'll aim for breakfast to be finished for eight-thirty, that gives you half an hour to come round."

"What's for breakfast?" Sasha asked, to no one's surprise.

"I don't know... Is everyone ok with bacon and eggs?" Lucas asked the room, causing a few smiles to appear. But the looks of happiness soon changed to that of confusion and disgust, as everyone looked over to see Sasha was drooling heavily onto her pillow over the thought of food.

"Delicious... Juicy... Meat... hehe." Sasha practically salivated out, causing some people's skin to start crawling.

"I'll take that as a yes then, Alex and Harry are upstairs as am I if you need anything. Goodnight guys." Lucas said, about to close the guest door.

"Wait, Lucas?" Eren called out before said teen left.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you, for helping us I mean. We owe you big time." Eren said, slightly smiling.

"Your welcome. Goodnight." Lucas said fully closing the guest room door before he started heading back downstairs, grabbing a dormant laptop on his way from off the kitchen table before heading into the front room.

The teen sat down, grabbed a can of diet coke and fired up his computer. Ready to do some research into how his new-found friends had found their way into his world. And maybe a few funny videos in-between. His hand grasped the mouse with an air of confidence, ready to begin what would surely become a long night.

Five hours and several google searches later, Lucas hit yet another dead end in his research. Having searched practically everything, science communities, mathematics institutes, engineering forums, hell even Fanfiction and Tumblr! And yet still, there wasn't a single clue as to how they'd got here or why they ended up where they did. He was just about prepared to give up, but then suddenly heard several knocks at the door, three gentle hits against the old oak that heightened his fear before it finally came back down.

"Come in." The teen muttered quietly, closing the near-dead laptop down before putting the piece of technology to the side. Leaving the room lit by a single lamp, its dull glow illuminated the almost empty room along with the small amounts of early sunlight that passed through the curtains. The door slowly creaked open, shattering the silence like glass. Through the door walked in a girl, about his age with red-brown hair in a messy ponytail.

"Hey Sasha, you ok?" Lucas asked, before yawning slightly from fatigue.

"What are you doing up? It's five thirty in the morning." She asked, her voice and tone visibly concerned.

"No reason." Lucas evaded, attempting to avoid the question. "What are you doing up?"

"Honestly?"

"Honestly." Lucas said prompting Sasha to sit down on the couch beside him.

"I can't sleep, I'm too worried about my dad." She said, quietly. "When he finds out I've gone, he could worry about me."

"Don't worry. I'm sure he'll be fine." Lucas brushed off, in an attempt to lighten her worries.

"Yeah, but the problem is... We're not exactly on speaking terms at the minute." She answered, looking downwards almost in shame.

"It's ok. No matter what, he'll always love you. That's what dads are for." Lucas reassured, despite feeling an internal sting from talking of fathers due to the memories of his own.

"Thanks, Lucas." Sasha replied, hints of a smile on her face. "It helps. And since we're talking, could you tell me why you're really awake right now? You kind of dodged the question." She enquired, causing a pang of hurt to start making itself known.

Lucas sighed heavily, before beginning his story. "Ok... I'll tell you. But can you keep it between us for now?" He ask Sasha before she answers with a gentle nod. "I'm partly up to try and research how you got here, but mostly because I don't really sleep much anymore."

"Why not?"

"Well... It all started about three months ago, my dad was making his way home from work. It was just a business meeting, nothing special." Lucas said, his voice and tone started to tremble with his words weakly crawling their way out. The teen gasped for air and tried to continue. "It was that night my mom and I waited and waited for him to get back, but he never arrived."

He involuntarily paused, drawing in a very shaky breath, only to feel moist tears starting to drip down his cheek before he could even get any words out. "In the morning, the Police carried out a search and finally found him. Or rather, what was left of him." The tears started falling more heavily down his cheeks, like sad little streams, but the teen couldn't care any less about them or the water they wasted. All he wanted in that moment was to cry, pour out everything that had been bottled in for so long. "He'd been shot, straight through his forehead. But they'd left his wallet full of cash on the side of the road. There'd been no reason to kill him. No motive, no purpose, they'd just shot him down for the sake of taking him out-" The brunette tried to continue on in a desperate attempt, but found himself unable to do anything except cry.

The tears flooded down Lucas' face and the quiet cries completely seized up his vocal chords. Leaving the teen in a desperate state of self-pity and sorrow. He didn't bother wiping the tears away from his face, or even try to quieten the growing cries. All he could focus on were those horrible, horrible memories that had caused so much pain and suffering. So focused in fact, that he didn't even register Sasha moving towards him until her arms wrapped gently around his shoulders.

"None of that was your fault Lucas." Sasha said softly in an attempt at comfort him.

"I know it wasn't. I know." Lucas tried to say between his uncontrolled sobs and cries. "But he's still gone regardless, now I'm all alone. Plus my Mom practically hates my guts!"

"Why would she..."

"My dad left everything to me in his will," He interrupted. "But not a fraction of it to my Mom. She had a meltdown and was forced into therapy." Lucas explained, his crying and sobbing having devolved into hiccups and weak cries. "Say what you want about my Dad, there's no way anyone will convince me that's not my fault. I'm what made her go mad, it's because of me that she's-" He continued to cry out, but only for mere moments.

As in one slick motion, Sasha motioned herself and his head around to the point she was looking into his tear filled azure eyes. "Lucas, look at me." She said, her voice a strange combination of soft and stern. "Never blame yourself for that. You had no control back then, there was nothing you could have done so don't try and take all the guilt yourself. Ok? You don't have to anymore." She said, silencing the teen's cries.

"O-ok..." Lucas uttered weakly, before pulling Sasha's body into a warm embrace, clinging to her for dear life before he started to cry out again. Though much more gently than before. She returned the hug, wrapping her arms gently around his neck bringing him close. Before he knew it, Lucas' exhausted eyes fell down, covering his world in a pitch black darkness and plunged him into a deep sleep.

A/N: Hey! Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter, just don't be mad about it being slightly short and mildly boring. I'm uploading two chapters at once as a huge surprise and a thank you for hanging in there through my exams.