Grisha and Carla met up with their son at the gate to the Wall Maria, which surprised them. After all, he had supposedly gone ahead to the Ackermens, right? "Eren, aren't you going to see the Ackemens with us?" Carla asked. Eren, who had frozen upon seeing them (her), snapped out of it and shook his head, before trudging past them through the gate into Shiganshina. Carla and Grisha watched him go with concerned looks on their faces, before Grisha turned to go.

"There's food on the table if you're hungry!" Carla called out, and before she could turn to join her husband, she was suddenly embraced by Eren, who clung tightly to her.

"...Thanks, mom."

Where those tears in his eyes?

She never got to examine that thought closer, as Eren turned and disappeared into the District. She watched until she could no longer see him, then turned to join Grisha. "Truly, that boy… I might never understand him...

Eren frowned in thought as he wandered the streets of his home District, purposefully avoiding any and all streets he knew Armin frequented. Was he making the right call, leaving them uninvolved? Surely, with Armin's intellect and Mikasa's skill, they could find a better solution?

No. He didn't deserve, or need their help. The less they knew, the better. He knew what he had to do.

Although, the plan was going to have to change a bit.

After a while, Eren found himself in front of a jewelry stall in the well-off part of Shiganshina. He approached the stall owner, who scowled. "Scram, kid! I don't have time to deal with thieves today!" the man huffed. Eren, unphased, decided to test something.

How adept was his lying?

"Hey, mister!" he chirped as childishly as possible. "I heard that you buy pretty stones here!"

The man scowled again, but his interest was obviously piked. "Not just any pretty stone, brat. I only take the best…" The man trailed off, gaping at the palm-sized diamond that Eren had pulled from a pocket. He goggled at it, and quickly ushered the Shifter inside. "Where did you-" Reaching for the stone, he scowled when Eren pocketed it out of reach.

"I wanna lot of money! The stone is pretty, see?" Eren grinned, passing of the image of an enthusiastic child perfectly. The man blinked, then reached for a chest nearby and pulled out a small sack of coins. "Here, kid. Take this, and gimme that." He shoved the bag towards Eren, who only took a step back.

The stall owner growled something about 'smartass brats' and grabbed three more bags, then emptying the coins into a larger satchel. "This is all I'll give you, kid. Take it or leave it."

Eren tossed him the diamond, took the money, and left. The man looked at the diamond, then looked at the door where the kid had departed.

"Since when were nine-year olds such hagglers..?"

...

...

...

Eren's next stop was the Garrison.

"Hey, mister! How much for some ODM gear?" Eren asked as he approached an MP.

The soldier he had spoken to stared at him, and was about to tell him to scram just as the stall owner had, before the kid waved a very full satchel of coins his way.

After making the soldier promise to keep the transaction to himself, Eren found himself burdened with two tanks of gas and ODM gear to lug home, something very hard to do since he wasn't a soldier yet.

Which is why he thanked Ymir that he still had the Warhammer. With it, it was just a simple task to find a secluded alleyway and create a tunnel leading home.

After stowing away the gear underneath his house, he began to create a small holding room, (similar in size to his father's basement), figuring that he was probably going to capture at least one of the enemy Shifters. When that was done, he stumbled into his home, at the food left by his mother, and promptly collapsed into bed.

Note to self, use of the Warhammer is very tiring in human form.

Then he fell asleep.

The next few months were spent building up his physique and ironing out the kinks in his plan and in relative isolation. He cut off contact with Armin almost immediately, simply explaining to his grandfather that he was working some things out, which he accepted.

Since then, he had gone to great lengths to avoid Armin, and it had worked; he had hardly seen the blonde-haired Shifter since he had Returned, and all of those sightings were just glances from his peripheral vision.

He hadn't gone to the Ackermen's since the day he woke up, and he was content to let it stay that way. His father had come home one day and told him of the birth of Yuuki Ackermen, Mikasa's sister. He had been elated when he had heard that.

At least something good had come out of all this for Mikasa. She had gained a sibling and retained both her parents. It made him feel better about leaving her be.

Not that it hurt any less.

He had watched her, however, from a distance, usually when he was practicing with his ODM gear. Replenishing it's gas tanks was somewhat an annoyance, but he was thankful that either; a) the Garrison soldiers/MPs were too corrupt to resist his bribes or b) Hans was too drunk to actually notice, stop, of remember him coming in and filling his tanks.

So he trained, and grew used to having the body of a child again, and, as all children do, he continued to grow,

(He secretly yearned to regain his former height.)

Summer turned to Fall, and Winter to Spring, and before he knew it, the year of 845 was upon Paradis.

It was time for his plans to begin.

He started with a forged letter by 'Grisha' to Commander Keith Shadis of the Survey Corps, using his former mentor's trust in his father to delay the upcoming expedition in the Summer because of a suspected sabotage by one of the noble families. It was false, of course, but it would delay the Scouts from venturing outside the Walls on the day the Warriors arrived, saving numerous lives and, if he was lucky, giving Shadis time to consider his resignation.

As luck would have it, not six weeks after sending the letter, the headlines of the newspaper was the promotion of one Erwin Smith to Commander of the Survey Corps. The 49th Expedition Beyond the Walls is moved two weeks behind it's original scheduled date.

After that, life continued as it had since 844, until the day of the Fall of Maria.

"Eren, when I come back… I'll show you what's in the basement."

Eren shrugged inwardly. I already know. "Really?!" he said aloud. Grisha nodded, kissed his wife goodbye, and left to do his grisly business. As he was about to step through the door, Eren ran up to him. "Wait! Dad, take this!" He handed Grisha a letter, handwritten by him. "Don't open it until you get to Trost, okay? Promise!"

Grisha smiled, promising to uphold his word, hugged Eren, kissed Carla once more, then departed. There was no argument about Eren wanting to join the Scouts this time; they had not come, so there had been no massacre to witness.

Eren watched him go, watched until he disappeared from his sight, then went to go prepare his gear. This time, he vowed, I'll save them all.

He quickly strapped his gear and went to the front door, Carla staring. "E-eren? Where did you-"

"Mom."

All pretense of the child that Eren was not was gone; in it's place was the cool, collected Eren that he had been for years now.

"Mom. Go to the Ackermen's place. If you hear the Walls breaking, run for the docks and get a boat to Trost. Dad'll be there waiting."

"Ere-"

He left, then, leaving his mother behind, hopefully not for the last time. Carla would try to chase after him, but in the end decides to trust her son, and she departs for the Ackermens, taking a few prized possessions, hoping that they might have some answers.

As Eren took to the roofs, two sets of eyes followed him. They didn't bother him, however, allowing Eren to fling himself unimpeded towards the outer Wall.

The Shifter steeled himself for the battle to come. He looked back at the District that was his home, and took in the sight.

Then the Attack Titan moved forward.