"Look, Liberio is in sight!" Marcel says pointing at the horizon.
"Finally I can get off this god forsaken ship." Leo says blaming the sea sickness instead of his seething hate towards the people around him. For the last few days all he saw were people dying left and right thanks to his 'comrades in arms'.
"Hey Leo, how about we go celebrate our victory. We'll be working together so I though..."
"No way."
"Is there a problem?" Zeke asks hearing Leo and Marcel argue.
"Hell yeah there is a problem!" Leo answers angrily.
"Is this about..." Marcel pulls back a little.
"We're all honorary Marleyans here. You better cut this shit out!" Rainer comes in defending Marcel.
"Dog with a different collar come barking at me? You traded your lives for golden shackles. You've improved your family lives, just how many other Eldians are dying on the side of the street without you carrying whatsoever. No, you're even worse than dogs, you bite one another without any sense of comradeship showing no sense of belonging yet clubbing one another over the head for crimes not even the titan shifters can remember. Have you seen the genocide the Eldians committed? No, you're just animals baring their fangs and being shown off as a prized possession at the instruction of their master. You alone conquered a nation yet you have no power whatsoever so gravel at my feet dogs and keep away from me!"
"What is going on over here?" Magath shows up hearing shouting.
"And what's worse. Every single one of you could kill me in so many different ways it's not even funny yet you are too broken to even stand straight." Leo spits on the floor in anger. "Look at this poor excuse of a nation Marley has become because of you. From slayers of titans to putting them on the front line and even then they still cower under the power of modern artillery! Marley doesn't even have the excuse of rebellions or internal strife since a handful of titans can keep a continent wide nation under their boot. I could start whipping you all right here and you would thank me for it!"
"Now you're crossing the line." Annie says bothered by all Leo said.
"What are you going to do Lionheart? Are you going to stand up to your name? Who's name is even that? Not yours for certain!" Leo struck a cord reminding Annie how she was abandoned at birth and how her biological parents must have abandoned her for being half Eldian. She grabs Leo by the collar and is just about to throw him off the side of the ship before Magath stops her.
"Lionheart! Did I just saw you assaulting a Marleyan soldier?" Magath says knowing all too well he can't be on her side.
"Zuege, you'll get a disciplinary note later too. The Warriors earned their place in our society as honorary Marleyans."
"Demons." Leo says getting back on his feet and leaving.
"What an ass. I hoped he would have been different." Rainer says as the group closes around itself. Leo's words hurt them deeply and now they were licking their wounds.
"He's right though. Why don't we rise our fists against Marley, take over the continent and rule as kings for as long as the titan powers are still dominating? Marley, the nation that defeated us is weak and no longer capable of overthrowing the titans. What's stopping us?" Zeke asks leaning on the handrail.
"Why? Is obvious isn't it? We can't repeat the mistakes of our past. We must achieve... we must redeem ourself through our actions." Pieck answers.
"Well, I haven't found a way to change the past yet and no other past Beast titan did so I guess that's all we can do isn't it? Damn him though, he really spoiled the mood. I was feeling great up until this point." Once they docked the Warriors and Leo didn't meet. They celebrated their victory and had fun for the whole night while Leo was back to his old habits.
"Who owns the Warhammer titan? Why can't I remember? Eren, why didn't you gave me those memories? What are they locked behind?" The library held no answers just as the state archives and the military command. Nobody had any informations on the Warhammer titan.
"Wait! I'm looking in the wrong place. I shouldn't be looking up at titan research but history. In Marley their propaganda and history is one and the same!" The Tybur family! They were the first to ally with Marley in the titan wars and held control over the Warhammer titan ever since. It didn't specified where they lived though and obviously it didn't specified who the titan owner is. After his continuous back and forth between the various buildings Leo was finally ready to call it a night. He couldn't sleep much this time either. Two days from now four Warriors will be sent to Paradise and start their onslaught against the people he held so dear.
"This body is so young yet I feel like I've live a thousand lives already. Give me some respite already, I can't stand seeing another person die again and again in my head with me unable to do a thing. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry but I just can't help you yet! The Tyburs, I need to find the Tyburs and capture the Warhammer titan. How am I to do it though, how can I..." Leo stands up and turns on a light in his room.
"I have their memories, I have everyone's memories, Erwin's, Armin's, Eren's although they are fragments they can help me. What would you do commander? How would you advance?" Leo starts imagining all of them in his room.
"You'll need allies first. The Eldians on the continent have been whipped into submission but there are southern nations that have been conquered recently and still want to rebel." Erwin says inside Leo's mind.
"It is a gamble, but, if a revolt happens, which inevitably will once the news of the Warriors splitting reaches the furthest corners of Marley; we could rally the revolutionaries to our cause!" Armin adds.
"When the scouts reached the ocean for the first time we haven't seen friendly faces, just another wall keeping the enemy at bay. Bring friendly faces to Paradise, find a way to save the world as well as the Eldians!" Eren says before the visions disappear.
"Man... I must be going crazy." Leo says dropping on his back after this exhausting conversation with himself. For half a month after Annie, Bertolt, Marcel and Rainer left nothing happened but as Armin foresaw in Leo's mind, revolts started on the souther border of Marley, right along the border with the mid-eastern alliance. Leo, along the specialist unit and the Warriors have been deployed in those areas to pacify the revolutionaries before they can start a chain reaction which could lead to the fall of Marley as a whole.
As they are crossing the country, Leo keeps signing on his map places where the Tybur family could hide. If he gets the chance he will have to investigate, first the Capital then other large cities, most historically tied with the previous Eldian kingdom.
On the battlefield Leo had to deal with his troublesome character. As a very skilled sharpshooter he was assigned as a member of the Cart titan's mounted artillery. Their first duty together was a test run of the new experimental titan harness which contained two mounted machine-guns on the sides, a sniper rifle in the front and a mortar in the back alongside armour for Pieck's face.
"This is going to a simple recognisance mission. We know the enemy's position and have encircled them however as of late a new fortified location has appeared not far away from the battlefield. Previous scouting has shown how the enemy's defences are still on their way and the position is very vulnerable. We'll test out the powers of the Cart titan's new artillery by having you five scout the area, attack the enemy from behind and take their position while we act as a distraction." Magath gives them the order and everyone mounts up. Leo surprisingly isn't the sniper but the left side gunner on the weapon platform.
"This is going to give me such horrible motion sickness."
"Would you rather carry your machine-gun on foot Zuege?"
"I would rather crawl through mud and point a gun at the enemy than ride on... what even is the cart titan? I know it is a titan but what is going on with that elongated face?"
"Yo, Pieck, isn't Zuege here right though? Why doesn't your titan resemble you at all?"
"Concentrate on the mission and I'll tell you why my head is like this when we get back to base."
"You're the boss ma'am."
"Now hold on tight, I'm going to start running." Pieck says before galloping around the enemy's position. They run around, through the hills around their target before getting in position to charge. The main unit was holding the enemy occupied while Pieck had a direct line of sight with the enemy's back. She knocks on the weapon platform giving them the sign it was time to charge. The four knock back and Pieck starts running towards the enemy. As she runs something suddenly clicks under her feet. An explosion blows out Pieck's legs and she falls to the ground while out of nowhere high calibre rounds start cleaving the rest of her body to pieces.
"Where is the enemy's position? I need coordinate!" The mortar soldier shouts.
"Return fire damn it! Pieck, Pieck, are you alright? Transform into a titan and shift the weapon platform around, we need full..." A cannon round hits the broad side of the weapon platform taking out the right side machine-gun.
"Damn it all to hell." Leo says before jumping out of his pod and heading to the other side rifle in hand. He doesn't reach the ground before a second shell hits the mortal pod creating a huge explosion. Just as the explosion is about to kill Leo and the sniper Pieck transforms into the Cart titan and take the brunt of the explosion head on. Shrapnel flies everywhere and Pieck's titan body is shredded. A piece of metal hits Leo cutting his right arm and another piece hits the sniper in the leg. Leo's wound was deep but not life threatening as for Pieck and the sniper. Pieck's body was filled with metal and the sniper was crawling on the ground under heavy enemy fire. Leo is the first to get up after the explosion and grabs the sniper to safety behind the damaged weapon platform. Just as he grabs the sniper his eye starts tearing up and for an instant he saw a glimpse of Grisha patching up a man skewered by a bull. It wasn't much but Leo got the information on how to stop the bleeding. He tightly wraps cloth around the bullet wound creating a makeshift tourniquet from what he had using his left hand and teeth.
"Are you alright? Can you hold a gun?" Leo asks as the sniper gets out of shock.
"Yeah, yeah. I can still fire."
"Then fire at those cannons, take out whatever you can, just give me some cover."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to pull Pieck out of her titan form then remove the metal. If she recovers she can turn into the Cart titan and take us as far away from here as possible."
"You can count on me! I'll take down those bastard even if it kills me!" As the sniper says that Leo grabs a piece of metal that exploded and starts cutting at the nape of the Cart titan. He stops as soon as he sees Pieck's body and starts pulling her out of the titan. With his left hand still shacking he starts removing metal piece after metal piece but once the last shard was removed Pieck still didn't woke up. She was bleeding profusely from her mouth and nose. A piece of metal was logged in her lungs and her body healed before it could be removed. Leo takes throws the piece of metal away and pulls out his pocket knife.
"Holy hell, holy hell, holy hell. I need to cut her open and remove the metal piece from her lung. No! Wait, what if I turn into a titan and eat her here and then? I can make up a story on how she was blown to pieces. No, I can't the enemy will turn me into titan paste if I turn into a titan now. What if I become a fifteen metres titan and I suddenly give them the perfect target for their cannon fire. I have to pull the metal piece out." If Leo made even the tinniest mistake he could kill her if he isn't careful.
He takes the knife and holds it steadily before pushing into the skin and cutting underneath the ribs. He had to push his hand through her ribcage and find the metal before it was too late. Luckily he could tell where it was by a bump on her torso around the left ribs. Leo takes a deep breath and bites his tongue to keep quiet. Pieck's body was trying to heal the wound and it was releasing such incredibly hot steam it was like placing his hand in boiling water. Remaining calm he pushes his hand forward until his fingers could feel the metal shard. He grasps it firmly and pulls it out.
"Zuege! We're in deep trouble! They're aiming their cannons at us again and I have no more ammo." Leo already tied Pieck on his back and rushed to the sniper.
"I have no more room on my back but I have a shoulder to spare." Leo grabs the sniper and they start limping away waiting for Pieck to wake up. Not long after they fled their position two cannot shells blow away whatever was left of the weapon platform but luckily for they they jumped inside some bushes and were well enough hidden. Not long after Pieck's operation wound closed up she turned into the Cart titan taking them all back to safety.