A/N- I Still Function!

…and I'm sorry for the inactivity lately. I'm ganna try and get the story rolling though, I'll probably start doing some time skips soon to move things along, we're not jumping that far ahead right away though.

Also, do you guys want me to try adding more music to this story or scrap it entirely. I'm kinda experimenting with it right now by adding what I listened to while writing.

Anyway, enough from me, happy reading.

music options:

Attack on Titan OST : "Omake-Pfadlib" (1) start - (-1) stop

Custom Robo OST : "Forest of Nostalgia" (2) (-2)

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Wings Of Freedom

Chapter 30

-x-

Eren sighed as he and Scarlett stared up at the grey, cloud covered sky "guess we won't be flying today" Eren commented and Scarlett gave a disappointed groan before walking back into the tree with a huff.

Eren watched her go for a moment before looking to the rest of his friends.

Mikasa had taken a brake from training to get to know her Dragons a little better. She was currently trying to coaxes her lazy black Dragon into practicing his flying, while the grey one eagerly hopped off of tables and chairs, hoping to at least glide, only to fall under the weight of it's heavy wings.

Eren couldn't help but glare for a moment at them. Their harassment of him had lessened, but he still felt a little bitter about it. Though a smaller part of him couldn't help but begrudgingly marvel at their creativity, especially at such a young age and without opposable thumbs.

Eren shook himself from that train of thought though, as he looked to Armin, who was sitting cross legged, in front of his own Dragon, who he'd been talking to a lot since he spoke his first words. Right now Armin was giving his Dragon a sizable list of names to choose from, though Eren did notice the boy still looked a little meek at times when talking to his Dragon and it just made him all the more curious what he sounded like. After all, the Dragon had been nothing but a bundle of cuteness and curiosity since hatching. If not for his stony complexion, he would have been a total puff ball.

Eren brushed that train of thought aside too though, as he looked back outside with a bit of worry.

Roy and Thalia's week was up and they should be on their way back by now. He just hoped they weren't going to get caught in the coming storm or forced to set down somewhere, by it.

More then that though, Eren wanted answers. He wanted to know what his father knew and what he wanted him to find in their basement. He wanted to know what was going on with those things in their necks.

Eren sighed as he let his head drop a little and scratched at his increasingly pointy ears. They had been developing faster since the incident in that other place, and that made them itch pretty badly, as well as ring occasionally as he grew accustomed to the enhanced hearing that came with them. His eyes also stung and things seamed brighter occasionally as his vision sharpened and he often found himself surprised by his own strength now, especially when he was able to keep up with Mikasa. He wasn't ridiculously strong or anything yet but it was a noticeable and abnormally fast development.

Eren shook his head to try and clear some of those mildly irritating feelings before turning to go back in and join his friends.

RRRAAAHHH!

Eren paused in his steps as he and everyone else in the tree heard the Dragon's roar, out in the distance. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and moved to the entrance to see Thalia out in the distance, quickly growing closer, and Scarlett gave her own roar in response as the other Dragons fallowed suit, though not quite as powerfully as the oldest among them.

The kids all felt relief upon see Roy and Thalia come in for a landing and they made way for the large Dragon, who landed with a thud "hay Roy! Thalia! Nice to see you guys!" Eren greeted them. The Dragon turned her gaze from the coming storm to the young boy and her hatching "it is good to see you too young ones" she said, but their was a slightly tense undertone to the otherwise happy greeting.

The kids took notice as Thalia laid down so Roy could more easily hop down with the bags of supplies he had sling over his shoulders and the kids were a little surprised to see his hair still blond. Armin set that line questions aside though, as he noticed the Rider's downcast eyes, as he stood back up from the crouched position he had landed in "hay Roy, how did it go? Did you find anything?" Eren asked, hoping to brake through the tension they felt in the air.

Thunder rolled in the distance and Roy tensed a little, though not at the lightning. The Rider didn't look at Eren for a moment as he remained silent. Roy soon steeled his nerves though as he set the supplies down and turned to face Eren "yah, we found out quite a bit actually and…" he paused for a moment and took a breath "we found your father but…" he trailed off.

For a split second, Eren was excited, but it died quickly as he saw the sympathetic look in his mentor's eyes. A look he had seen too many times "and, he's alright…right?…" Eren asked with a strained voice, already suspecting the answer.

(1)

Roy sighed before kneeling down to Eren's level and reaching into his pack to pull out a pair of broken and bloodstained glasses…A familiar pair of broken and bloodstained glasses…

No… Eren thought desperately as Roy held them out to the boy who only starred for a moment. Numb to the world around him and the surprise gasps of his friends.

Eventually, Eren hesitantly held out his hands under the glasses and Roy set them into his trembling grasp as he stared at them and the first drops of rain began to fall outside "dad…but…but we just talked a few days ago…" Eren muttered in shock as memories of his old life flashed through his mind is my entire family really gone… he thought with despair as tears began to fall.

A small roar in his mind and a mental nudge from Scarlett, broke Eren from his stupor enough to notice her neck rapped around him more clearly, along with the comforting hand on his shoulder and callused hand gripping his.

Eren then tore his eyes from his father's glasses to see Roy connected to the arm holding his shoulder and Mikasa to the hand holding his, with Armin right behind her and the other Dragons surrounding him.

Eren's eyes widened slightly as the realization hit him and he gripped his father's glasses as tightly as he dared without braking them further "you're not alone Eren" Scarlett voiced his thoughts and he choked up a little yah…my family's right here he thought as he let the pain of loosing his last direct blood relative, wash over him and settle into a persistent ache.

The pain wouldn't completely go away, not for a long time, but at least it was manageable, here, surrounded by the people who now mattered most in his life.

(-1)

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(2)

After giving Eren some time to process every and calm down and after setting the supplies aside to be shorted through later, Roy sat down with everyone in the upstairs living area, where Thalia's head was level with them, gathered around the fireplace as it rained outside.

Eren had been silent the whole time, as he sat there on the couch, still holding his father's glasses, with Scarlett's wing draped over him and her head in his lap.

Mikasa sat next to him, covered with her own Dragons, while Armin sat next to her with his Dragon sitting next to him on the floor. All of them were giving Eren concerned looks but soon turned their gaze to Roy, sitting across from them "so…what else did you find?" Armin hesitantly asked.

Roy rubbed his face as he leaned forward in his chair "nothing good…" he began "firstly, we confirmed that everyone else in the Walls, has these parasites in them, and worse yet, we discovered that the crown and the higher ranking nobility know of them to a degree. They don't actually know of the parasites themselves, nor do they really understand what they are fully capable of, but they know some of what they can do and how to trigger them" Roy explained.

Eren finally lifted his gaze up to Roy with a dark look "and what else exactly has the crown been doing to us?" he asked with venom dripping from his words as his emotionally overworked mind absorbed everything.

Roy adopted his own look of anger as his Dragon growled behind him "the royal bloodline apparently has a unique connection to these parasites. The full depths of which the nobles don't know and I couldn't investigate further, partially because the parasites make it increasingly difficult to invade the minds of others the higher ranked they are among the nobility, but we do know that the king can control these parasites to a degree, and through them he can erase and alter the memories of any and all infected with the parasites, except for a few noble bloodlines, which we believe to be partially connected to the increased difficulty in probing their minds" he explained grimly.

Eren was the only one who didn't display any sign of shock at Roy's words. His mind already too overwhelmed to show anything other then simmering anger at the moment.

Armin swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat "so…your saying that at any moment…" he trailed off with a little fear while his hand absentmindedly gripped at his nape and his Dragon put a wing over him.

Roy quickly waved his hands in the negative though "no, you all have been exposed to your Dragons' magic for long enough that it can't effect you anymore" he explained and watched as Armin and Mikasa seamed to deflate with relief "though…it might not really matter ether way at the moment" Roy added as his own anger gave way a little to a pondering expression.

With the immediate threat gone, Armin got a hold of his senses again and pushed the many scenarios and speculations he had regarding the knew information aside for the time being "what do you mean?" He asked and Thalia decided to add her voice to the conversation as Roy sat their and pondered "while investigating, we discovered some references to the Titans when in regards to the king's power. At first we were at a loss as to what they meant since we couldn't dig very deep without being discovered, but then I remembered how we couldn't invade the minds of the Titans and how it felt similar to when we tried probing the parasites" she began.

Armin's eyes widened as he put the pieces together "don't tell me" he said with even more shock "yes" Roy finally spoke up again "we tested this theory and confirmed it. The Titans have these same parasites in their napes, and what's more, it appears that all thought is being routed through them which is why the nape is their weak spot. This also means the Titans are just puppets running on basic instinct until the parasites receive a command from the king" he answered with some of that anger retuning.

CRACK!

Everyone turned to Eren to see he was gripping the arm of the couch so tight that it had cracked slightly and a little blood was leaking from his hand, completely unnoticed by the boy it belonged to "so…you're saying the king not only wants us trapped in here for whatever perverse reason…but can also control the Titans if he wanted to…" he said with a deceptively calm voice that Mikasa would be proud of, as his eyes were veiled in the shadow of his tilted head, making his dark presence seam even more menacing.

Roy simply gave a grunt and a nod as he let the kids think long and hard over the situation. The king really did have all the power. The walls and all it's people, along with the Titans, were like playthings that he could mess with and discard whenever he wanted, and they could do nothing about it, lest the king steal their memories that anything was ever wrong, and this realization angered Eren more then he ever had been before, causing his grip to tighten even further until Scarlett nudged his hand with her snout and he loosened his grip a little.

Armin was in a similar state of turmoil as his powerful mind went over all the possibilities, regardless of wether he wanted to know them or not how many times has this happened? How many memories has he stolen and how much of our lives and what we know of the word is true? he thought. It did explain a lot of things though, like why the survivors who "took refuge" behind the walls when they were first erected, didn't pass down stories and knowledge of their previous lives, because no matter how strict laws might be, people would still tell stories to their children. It also explained how Mikasa's family could retain any sort of knowledge from their old culture, since they weren't the same race and, like Roy, probably didn't have the parasites when they first came here.

That did leave one question gnawing at the back of Armin's mind "why?" he muttered before looking back to Roy and speaking clearly "why hasn't the king done anything? If he can control the Titans and manipulate our memories, then why doesn't he do it and make it like the attack on Shiganshina never happened?" he asked.

Roy and Thalia both seamed to take on pondering expressions again "that's where things get weird. We had the same thought and looked as deep into the matter as we dared and discovered that the current king, the one everyone knows and hears from, and all the ones before him, are all fakes. The real kings and queens of the walls rule through them in secret and, here's the best part, apparently someone assassinated the current queen and stole whatever power let's them control the parasites and killed a number of her heirs, leaving only a few members of the royal family alive. We're not sure exactly how many, but it's enough to make the nobility nervous" Roy explained.

A mix of emotions played across the kids faces as they absorbed that. Everything from confusion and shock, to guilty satisfaction at the queen's death, but that left the question "who did it and why? And why don't they use the power then?" Armin asked "or better yet, how did they do it if the king is so powerful?" Mikasa added, finally deciding to add her thoughts on the matter.

Roy sighed "we don't know who or why they did it, but might know how and why they haven't used it. Apparently only someone with royal blood can properly use whatever power the queen held, meaning whoever stole it can't do anything with it. As for the how, as we said before, there are some noble families that are immune to the memory altering abilities, so maybe that's how they managed to get so close, but really we just don't know enough to say for certain" Roy explained.

Thalia then brought her head in closer "we did discover something else pertaining to the noble families though" she began "while investigating, we discovered that the Ackermann family was formerly a noble house" she explained and the kids all look to a slightly stunned Mikasa with surprise "Mikasa's from a noble family?" Armin asked in surprise and Roy nodded "former nobility, or at least former until a few years ago. Apparently the Ackermann family was unique among the nobles and acted as the king's sword, but rebelled against the throne and were ostracized after their rebellion failed, the details are a little fuzzy though. But now they seam to be in the crowns good graces again" he explained.

Mikasa seamed thoughtful for a moment "that would explain a few things. I remember my father mentioning that his family left the capital because they were looked down upon and had it hard in the city" she explained.

Roy hummed in acknowledgment "yes but that's not all we found out. You see the Ackermanns weren't just unique in that they were the king's sword, but the parasites in their napes were different" he began "this is why your's was active when you bonded with your Dragons. It took a while but we managed to track down one of your distant relatives and did some poking around. As it turns out, when subjected to extreme amounts of stress, this particular breed of parasites awakens and grants an instinctive knowledge of combat to it's host, while suppressing fear and other distracting emotions while fighting. Additionally, they seam to remove the mental blocks Humans naturally have to prevent us from using our full strength and injuring ourselves, while also negating those very side effects through some means we can't yet identify" Roy explained.

The kids were yet again stunned by the revelation "so, that's why Mikasa's so good at fighting?" Armin asked and Roy gave a thoughtful hum "mostly, at least at first. But as Mikasa herself has noted, she's been a little more expressive since bonding with her Dragons, meaning the influence of her parasite has at the very least diminished. Wether or not this means she will loose those benefits, only time will tell, but the fact that her fighting abilities have shown no signs of diminishing yet is a good indicator that she has at least retained some of that skill and helped to commit it to muscle memory through the training you've all been doing" he explained as best he could with the information available to him "as for why she doesn't seam to get the benefits of resistance to mental attacks, I can only assume it's partially do to her mixed ancestry" Roy continued.

There was a moment of silence as the kids proceeded everything they heard. Eventually, Eren looked back down at his father's broken glasses before looking beck to Roy "what happened?…" he asked with a quiet voice before fixing his mentor with a hard look "how did my father die?" he asked, more firmly this time.

Roy looked down with a grimace "it would appear, that your father was eaten by a Titan" Roy began and Eren grit his teeth as his anger rose yet again "but…something was off about it though" Roy interrupted Eren's potential outburst before looking the boy right in the eyes "while investigating the area, we found a Titan shaped crater but couldn't find any traces of how the Titan got there or that anyone slayed it. It's as if the Titan just appeared out of thin air and then died on it's own. And what further complicates things is that this all happened within Wall Rose" Roy explained.

The kids' initial reaction was horror at the prospect that a Titan had gotten that far in "the wall was breached!?" Eren exclaimed but Thalia snorted in his direction "no, we searched the wall thoroughly and found no breach. It is like we said, the Titan seams to have simply appeared out of nowhere like the Colossal and Armored Titans and then died on it's own" she explained.

The kids just sat their flabbergasted. It seamed that when they got answers, they were usually horrible and depressing and just brought about more questions.

Scarlett bumped her head against Eren and flooded his mind with as much positive feelings and support as she could to quell his turmoil. As a result, the boy finally released a sigh and a great deal of his tension with it "so what do we do now?" he asked, while finally letting go of the armrest and looking at his bleeding and splinter covered hand.

Roy stood from his own chair and kneeled in front of Eren, where he quickly healed his hand "well, this complicates our plans greatly. Not only do we now need to find a way to overthrow the king, but we also have to worry about whoever stole the kings power and their motives, should they find a way to use it. Fortunately we have a great deal of time in which to prepare and I may have made a potential ally in the military, so in between training you all, I can head out during supply runs to see what kind of subterfuge I can stir up" Roy explained.

Mikasa gave her usual nonchalant expression, though it was noticeably strained, if only slightly "so we continue as we originally planed for the time being" she said and Roy nodded "yes, we focus on getting you guys trained up while me and Thalia search for more information when we can" he confirmed.

Another small moment of silence passed before looks of grim determination set in over them "right, then let's get to it" Armin said as he stood up and his Dragon gave a small roar of agreement as they steeled themselves for the trials to come.