Eren was readying his horse for the next big operation. Wall Rose had apparently been broken and a grand evacuation was launched. He didn't really know what to think about it. Maybe there was a way to use his power to close the hole?
Suddenly Hange entered the stable along with Armin.
"What's going on?" Mikasa asked as she stopped fastening the saddle.
"Change of plans" Hange said, "from now on, we'll be focusing on capturing the enemy first."
Eren and Mikasa were flabbergasted.
"B-but why?" He asked the woman "shouldn't we focus on fixing the wall?"
Hange took a deep breath.
"Dina said that there was no way the wall could be broken without waking up the titans who reside inside" she explained.
Eren was surprised. Dina was usually right when it came to evaluation of information, but how could she be so sure?
Seeing that no one was saying anything, Hange continued.
"She warned us about the titans' ability to harden their skin. The walls are essentially the same kind of hardening. Dina says that if anyone broke through the actual walls, the colossal titans inside would activate and trample everything that stood in their way."
Eren widened his eyes in shock. Within the walls was possibly the greatest destructive power that ever existed. It was quite the irony, considering the same kind of power was currently protecting them. He looked towards Armin.
"If Dina's information is to be trusted" Armin started "then we should act upon the notion that the walls hadn't been broken. We could use the turmoil the evacuation had caused to our advantage. Going for Marcel's friends is the best way to go."
Eren pondered on everything he just heard. There was just one thing that didn't make sense.
"Hold on" he exclaimed "if the wall hadn't been broken… then how did the titans get inside?"
Hange gulped on that. She looked left and right, as if to check if anyone unwanted was close enough to hear what she was about to say.
"Dina… She says that some shifters possess the ability to summon titans."
Eren and Mikasa looked at Hange with shock.
"Summon… titans…?" Mikasa asked.
"Apparently" the woman continued "the truth about titans is that… they were once humans."
Eren was at a loss of words. Titans were the same as them? How could that be?
"How does she know all this?" Mikasa asked.
"Dina is related to the royal family" Hange explained "her information will be the key to our survival."
"Where is she now?" Eren questioned the female officer, with a hint of worry.
"Currently, she's being held under arrest" the woman replied, "commander Erwin is supervising her personally."
When Eren heard that, he calmed down. He knew his commander was a man who could be trusted.
"It's more for her protection, really" Hange explained "when word gets out that she is of royal blood, the king may try something..."
"Right now," Armin interjected "finding the enemy should become our priority."
"Where do we go?" Eren asked "they were stationed close to the wall. Surely, they must've moved when the evacuation started."
"I have a pretty good idea where to find them" Hange said pulling out a map "when the scouts encounter a situation like this, we follow an established protocol. In this case, that would be to warn every border village between the districts Krolva and Trost. Once that was done, the next thing to do would be to localize the breach."
"Okay" Eren exclaimed "where are you going with this?"
"Let's assume the enemy rode closest to the wall" Armin explained "that would be best for them, since if they were somehow found out, they could just hop outside. Considering the time we got their message, they would have had to spend the night somewhere. After all, everyone needs rest."
"The only logical place for them to spend the night, would be somewhere close to the wall. Somewhere right in between the two districts."
"Utgard castle is where we'll find them."
"Krista!" Eren exclaimed as he swished through the air, holding the girl "are you hurt?!"
"I'm fine" she replied looking him in the eyes "actually… my name is not Krista."
"Uhm…" Eren's train of thought stopped at that "you sure you're okay?"
The blonde pouted at that.
"Just put me down already!"
"Okay, okay…" Eren said looking ablush.
He looked at the rest of the scene. Looks like the survey corps arrived just in time. Bertholdt, Reiner and Connie were also saved from the fall. The scouts swarmed the titans, killing them one by one.
Eren looked for a safe spot to place the blonde girl down. When his feet finally hit the ground he let her stand up on her own.
"Thank you Eren" she exclaimed as she hugged her savior.
The blushing boy was frozen in place upon that. He wasn't exactly the best with girls, but Dina taught him to be a gentleman, so he hugged the blonde back.
"Not a problem, uhm…"
"Historia" the girl said as she pulled back.
"Okay" Eren smiled at her "nice to meet you, Historia."
The blonde smiled back. Right next to them Mikasa landed, with Connie holding onto her.
"Do I get a hug too?" Connie asked the dark-haired girl, grinning from ear to ear.
"Just forget it" Mikasa said while putting him down.
"Gather round, everyone!" Hange yelled "we're heading to the wall!"
As they were walking, Eren thought about the reason they were here. The enemy was with them. Their plan was to get to the wall, and from there, reach Trost. If the enemy found out about Marcel, things could turn bad, quickly.
"Ouch"
"Are you okay, Reiner?" Eren asked the boy as he helped him up.
"No!" He cried out as he laid down on the top of the wall "a titan chewed through my arm!"
"So even someone as strong as you can get like that…" Eren stated.
"Just how much longer is this going take?!" Reiner angrily exclaimed.
Eren looked at the rest of the scouts. They were pretty far away from him.
"Not much longer" Bertholdt said "compared to what we've been through already, I can say that we're closer than ever!"
The situation was turning sour. If the enemies made their move right now, they would have an element of surprise.
"Yeah" Reiner responded, "You're right!"
"Actually" Bertholdt exclaimed "we can already go home!"
"Okay, hold on" Eren's patience ran short as he turned towards the two "what the hell are you talking about?"
Bertholdt and Reiner were looking at him with serious faces.
"Eren" Reiner said, "we have something to talk about."
"Five years ago, we destroyed the wall and began our attack on humanity."
"I'm the armoured titan and he's the colossus. Our goal was to wipe out all humanity, but now, there's no need to do that anymore."
"Eren, if you come with us, we won't need to destroy any more of the walls. Do you understand?"
Eren was looking right at the enemy.
"What?" He asked "wait up! I don't understand."
"I'm telling you to come with us" Reiner replied, "it's sudden, but you need to come now."
"Right now?" Eren asked "where are we going?"
"I can't tell you that…" Reiner said "but well… I guess you could call it our hometown."
The light-haired boy looked at him with a small smile.
"So… What do you think?"
