(a/n: thank you for the review and all the favs/follows!)

Episode 7: Oddly Familiar

それがすべて始まった場所

"Listen up," Adair clapped his hands, drawing the attention of the cadets. He walked to the large table at the end of the room, spreading out a large chart on it. It was a map of Paradis Island.

"We are not going to attack the island right away," he announced, "We need to infiltrate amongst them, know their strategies and lifestyle, and after a certain point, attack."

"What?" Connie furrowed his eyebrows.

"Out of our two hundred cadets, a hundred will be disguising themselves and approaching the innermost part of the island. Before the rumbling, the part I'm talking about used to be behind Wall Sina, the Stohess District. Then, the other fifty cadets will infiltrate Mitras, where the royal family resides," Adair pointed at certain spots on the map that he had spread on the table.

"What about the rest fifty?" Hange questioned.

"The rest fifty will remain on the outskirts to usher our ships in - if we need assistance."

"So where will we all be?" Sasha asked.

"The fifty cadets on this very airship as well as the investigation team will be in the Stohess District. Erwin, I leave you in charge of the fifty here," Adair folded his map and looked out of the window.

"We are almost there," he announced, and faced the cadets.

He slammed his fist onto his chest, right over where his heart was, and yelled out an enthusiastic, "Dedicate your hearts!"

The cadets slammed their fists over their hearts too, and Adair walked out of the space where the cadets were. Once he left, Armin sunk to the floor.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jean and Mikasa rushed to his rescue, lending him their hands.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Armin avoided their hands and stood up on his own, "Just a bit nauseous."

Sasha and Connie were stuck to the window, watching as their airship hovered over the large cover of the ocean, and hints of land were visible not-so far away. Levi, on the other hand, was talking to Erwin, and Hange nudged them, saying, "The island is visible! Let's go to the windows!"

Jean, Armin, and Mikasa heard the call too, so along with a few other cadets, they secured their positions near the windows, and nobody could tell why their hearts were beating so fast… as if they could jump right out of their cages.

Sasha kept a hand over her chest, breathing heavily, and Connie noticed her discomfort, so he spoke, "Oi oi, it's probably just the anxiety of reaching the battleground."

"Yeah, it's probably that," Mikasa repeated, feeling dizzy herself. What was it about this island that made them so jumpy?

The airship finally neared the land, and minutes later, the ground was right below them. The ship descended to the ground, and looking around, theirs was the first one to reach Paradis. The stairs to the entrance unfolded, and with their weapons hidden, they walked down the flight of steps.

They were on the shore, and all they could see around them was a cover of sand, and water crashing at the edge of the land.

Mikasa and Armin stared at the ocean from the shore, instead of looking at the land before them. It felt as if they had walked on this sand before; felt the tides wash up on their feet, and heard someone say something to them here:

"Those enemies on the other side of the ocean… if we kill them all, does that mean we'll be free?"

Mikasa held her head. It throbbed against her skull and made her picture a similar scene; with a boy that stood before her and pointed at the ocean, muttering those words she had just heard. His brown hair was reaching down to the end of his nape, and as the wind blew past him, he turned around…

…But she couldn't see his face. It was a blur.

Her head ached even more, and that was when Armin placed a hand on her shoulder and slowly let out, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…"

"Why does it seem like we've been here before…?" Armin dared to ask, and Mikasa looked up at him.

"You feel the same too?"

Armin nodded. The two turned around to face the land, and the question remained in their minds.

What was about Paradis that made it so oddly familiar to them?

(a/n: it'll get better, i swear)