Around the time of Eleven Fifty-Five in the evening, Erwin Smith had arrived on the front door of the Azumabito Estates after meeting Theo Magath and holding a conversation with him. He waited patiently for someone to open the door and let him in. Soon, one of the housekeepers let opened the door and let him inside the estate.

Erwin Smith soon walked into the Azumabito Residence living room and spotted his comrades dressed in casual suits and dresses, sitting on chairs and couches. He saw different expressions on his comrade's faces. Mikasa, who sat in a black chair had lowered her head and stared at the carpet, looking depressed. Hange sat in an individual red chair and connected her fingers, together. Her right eye froze in place.

Sasha loudly snored with a smile on her face as her body slouched on a three red person couch. Connie, who sat next to Sasha felt a little drowsy as Sasha's snoring was keeping him awake a bit.

Jean, who sat on one end of a another long couch had a look of irritation on his face and Floch, who was sitting on the opposite side of Jean put on a normal expression.

Captain Levi sat properly at a fancy table drinking hot tea. His hand that held the tea cup shook a bit, as if he was restraining himself from breaking it. His eyes were narrowed as he stared at the teacup.

"I take it, something went wrong, while I was gone?" Erwin asked, which caught everyone's attention.

Connie, Hange, Mikasa, Floch and Jean gasped as they heard a masculine voice. They looked to see Commander Erwin standing in the room.

Levi just looked at Erwin with a normal expression on his face and sat his cup of hot tea down. "Well, it took you long enough to take a shit."

"Sorry that my meeting with Theo Magath took so long. I had to make sure that he and I were on the same page." Erwin said, then looked around the living room and saw that one person he knew was missing. "Where is..."

Hange stood from her chair, before Erwin could ask a question. "Before you say anything, Commander..."

Erwin glanced at Hange.

"There's something that we gotta tell you." Hange paused for a second. "Eren has disappeared."

Mikasa remained silent as she sadly stared at the rug with her hands in her lap.

Erwin's face did not faze after hearing that Eren was missing from the group.

"When did this happen?" Erwin asked.

Hange gulped. "It happened yesterday. A couple of hours after you left. We formed a single file line through a tough crowd on the way back, so that none of us could get lost. But, then... we end up losing Eren before we got out of there.

"I don't get it. How did someone as tall like Eren slip away from?" Connie asked.

Levi briefly glanced at Connie, as he asked that question.

"I knew I should've told that idiot to walk ahead of us." Jean muttered under his breath.

"We all should've kept an eye on him." Floch said.

'Eren...' Mikasa thought about Eren before supposedly slipping away.

"What do we do now, Erwin?" Hange asked.

Erwin Smith frequently stared into space as Hange continued to question him about their next move. His blue eyes had little to no worry after learning of Eren's disappearance. His face was calm and his breath was steady.

The Year Eight Fifty-Four

Many months had passed since Eren's disappearance.

A young boy named Falco Grice was running outside of the Internment Zone of Liberio in attempt to deliver a letter that was written Kruger. He had just passed Reiner Braun, whom was curious on where he was going. Falco was ran past the gates of the Internment Zone and towards a big red mailbox. He was a few miles close to it. Suddenly, he bumped into a taller and older man.

"Oof!" Falco grunted after bumping into a person. The letter that Falco was delivering had slipped from his fingers and fell onto the ground. "Sorry, mister." Falco immediately apologized as he looked up to see a tall man dressed casually.

Ten Minutes Later

On the hospital field of Liberio on Marley, there was a one-legged man named Eren Yeager with a walking crutch, dressed in a Marleyean uniform and sitting on a bench tossing a baseball within the air multiple times. His mind wandered as he tossed the ball, until the ball slips from his hand and falls on the ground. It rolled away from Eren.

"I believe you dropped this." said a familiar voice.

Eren heard a masculine voice. A voice that he has not heard in months. He then looked glanced over his shoulder to see Erwin Smith with a beard and dressed in a dark blue suit. He also held the baseball that Eren was tossing.

"It's been a while, Eren."

"You look different. Did you do something to your hair?" Eren asked as he stared at the top of his head.

Erwin chuckled a bit and patted his hair. "Not really. But yours does seem a bit... longer than usual."

Eren blinked as he stared at Erwin.

"Do you mind if I sit next to you?" Erwin asked.

"Go right ahead." Eren replied as he gave Erwin room to sit on a hospital bench.

As Erwin sat down next to Eren, a moment of silence occurred. Eren place his crutch over his thighs and Erwin sat normally.

Eren lightly sighed. "Have you come to bring me back to the island?"

"That is my original intentions." Erwin answered.

"Are Levi and Mikasa still here?" Eren asked.

"No. They returned home. I told them to leave me behind, until further notice." Erwin replied.

"Good. If Levi was here, he'd probably kick me, again." Eren noted. "How long have you been searching for me?" Eren asked.

"Not long. I took some time exploring Marley to see what it really had in stored. Right now, I temporarily work in a Marleyan shipyard as an engineer." Erwin told Eren.

"Those who work in shipyards make lots of money. And only Marleyans are allowed to work in shipyards. How did you pass the maternity tests?" Eren asked.

"I received some from a high ranking officer." Erwin said as he thought about Theo Magath.

"I see."

"We received all the letters that you sent to us for the past few months, now." Erwin pulled out a letter from his dark blue vest to show Eren.

Eren's right eye grew big a bit as he recognized his own handwriting on it. "How did you get that letter, just now?"

Erwin paused as he looked into Eren's right emerald green eye.

Flashback

A few weeks prior, Erwin Smith dressed in a black suit and roamed the streets of Liberio with people living their daily lives as usual. He glanced and would see a boy who would run from an Eldian hospital to a big red mailbox delivering letters outside the Internment Zone. Erwin found it a bit suspicious on why an Eldian has to deliver letters outside the Internment Zone.

End Flashback

"That boy." Erwin Smith replied, as he referred to Falco Grice.

"You mean Falco?"

"About every Thursday afternoon, he would deliver letters in a big mailbox outside the Internment Zone."

"And?"

"The Marleyan law stated that all Eldians must live in the Internment Zone. Not any Eldian can just leave the Internment Zone without some kind of pass. He must be a soldier from Marley. I found it a bit suspicious why the boy has to leave the Internment Zone, just to deliver letters. Even though there's a mailing system within the Internment Zone."

Eren looked forward towards the hospital building raised his chin a bit. "So, you've noticed."

"Yes. I've heard that boy, Falco Grice is working to become a candidate for the Armored Titan." Erwin Smith said as he watched a few patients walk by them.

"You heard right. But, that doesn't explain how you got my letter?"

Flashback

"Sorry, mister." Falco immediately apologized as he looked up to see a tall man dressed casually.

The man that stood before Falco was Erwin Smith. He wore dark blue pants, a dark blue vest, a white shirt, a pair of black shoes, a black tie and a pair of circular glasses. His hair was shaggy, his beard was unkempt and thick as it resembled his fathers.

"Don't apologize. I should've been the one who was watching where I was going." Erwin replied to Falco, then looked down at his feet to see a letter. A letter with handwriting as he recognized as Eren's handwriting.

"Is something wrong, mister?" Falco asked as he looked at Erwin.

Erwin remained calmed, then looked up at the setting sun behind Falco. "What's that?" he asked as he pointed behind Falco.

"Huh? What's what?" Falco turned around and tried to look where Erwin was pointing at. "I don't see anything."

As Falco's back was turned, Erwin bent down to see a letter by Falco's feet. He then bent down on a knee and picked up the letter that Falco was delivering. He hid the letter within his left vest pocket and pulled out another letter from his right vest pocket that he had written. Before Falco turned his body back around, Erwin stood up.

"I don't see anything except the sun." Falco said as he turned back around.

"My mistake. I believe this letter belongs to you." Erwin presented Falco the a letter that he had switched out.

"Huh?" Falco paused, then checked his bag to see no letter in it, then his pockets. "Oh!" he then took the letter from Erwin. "Thank you so much, mister!" After taking the letter, he tried to move towards the big red mailbox. "Well, I have to get going, now!" Falco smiled and was ready to walk off.

"Oh. And one more thing I have to ask. Then I'll let you go."

"Um, okay? What is it?" Falco asked.

"I'm looking for an old colleague of mine who shares the name, Kruger. Have you seen or heard of him?" Erwin said.

"Kruger? You mean, Mr. Kruger?" Falco questioned.

"So, you know him?" Erwin asked.

Falco nodded. "Mm-hmm. He lives in the hospital. But, he's badly hurt, though, and is recuperating from war."

"I see..."

End Flashback

"So, Falco told you where I was, eh?" Eren said.

"Yes. I suspect the boy has little clue of who we are and where we came from." Erwin said.

"What was in the letter that you switched mine with?" Eren asked.

"Something... appropriate." Erwin simply answered. "Come back to Paradis. Things would be better if we all worked together." Erwin insisted that Eren return to Paradis.

"I'm not going back to the island. At least, not yet. There are still some things I have to do, before I go back." Eren denied Erwin's request.

"Listen. I know that things are dire between Paradis and the entire world... but, I have a plan that will get us all through this." Erwin said as he held

"What plan?"

Meanwhile, Zeke Yeager was roaming the streets of Marley. He planned on visiting Eren at the hospital, yet again, this time to play catch with his half-brother. Zeke held a big brown baseball glove in one hand and a white baseball in the other.

"I hope Eren's in the mood to play catch." Zeke said in a normal tone as he walked towards the hospital in Liberio.

As Zeke walked towards the hospital gate, he suddenly spotted a man dressed in a dark blue suit sitting next to and talking to Eren. Zeke hid half his body behind the brick gate and stared at the pair.

'Who in the world is that?' Zeke wondered as he stared at the man dressed in dark blue. He looked at the man's face closely, until he recognized the eyebrows that the man in dark blue had. He then gasped as he remembered something. 'Could that be...'

Flashback

In the year Eight Fifty, Zeke was in his Beast Titan form and was facing a number of Survey Corp. soldiers who charged towards him on horseback. He hurled large debris of rocks like throwing multiple baseballs at once. He remembered seeing Erwin collapse after getting hit by flying rocks.

End Flashback

Zeke then hid his entire body behind the brick gate and disappointingly sighed. "Looks like their commander survived..." He then slowly walked away from the hospital. "Sorry, Eren. I guess I have to play catch with you, later."

"And now I've just told you my entire plan." Erwin had explained his entire plan to Eren.

"Do you really think it's gonna work?"

"The chances of it working is slim to none. So far, it's the best option we have right at this point."

"Just because you expose yourself to the world, saying that you want to co-exist, doesn't mean that Marley and the world would forgive our actions. This is survival of the fittest and Paradis doesn't have the tech or resources to survive in this world." Eren judged Erwin's intentions in a dark tone.

"I understand. But, if Paradis wants to continue co-existing with the world, we have to hit them where they least expect it. We'll never when Marley or another country would attack us, again." Erwin gave Eren a serious look.

A large bell tower begun to ring.

"Visiting hours are over." Eren informed Erwin. "You might wanna leave before the nurses catch you."

"I understand." Erwin stood up and looked at the bell tower. "Let's continue chatting about this, tomorrow."

"Will do." Eren said as he sat and stared at Erwin's backside as he was leaving the hospital. After he left, Eren gave a serious look at the baseball in his hand and had thought of somethin in his mind.

Meanwhile, Falco Grice happily delivers a letter to a big red mailbox by a Marleyan post office.