"So" Dina started as she was being led towards the Trost barracks "you really meant it with that arrest?"
The scouts were silent. They finally reached a door to a canteen. To Dina's surprise, someone was already there.
"Minister Nick" she asked the official sitting at one of the tables "are they detaining you as well?"
"He wanted to come along" the soldiers explained "he was saying something along the lines of wanting to talk with you…"
The minister watched the scouts as they exited the room, leaving the arrested alone. Dina took a seat at the table he was occupying.
"Well," she began "what do you want from me?"
He seemed to be deep in thought. After a moment, he finally said:
"…Are you really of the royal blood…?"
Dina closed her eyes. Did he want to spy for the king? Rumours spread fast within these walls, and she was sure that the military police already knew about her descent.
"Why do you want to know?" She asked him suspiciously.
A moment of silence passed between them.
"…The royal family is an exception from my vows…" He spoke.
This confused Dina. Just what was he trying to do?
"Are you trying to help me…?" She asked him slowly.
The official looked down.
"…I am a humble servant of the king…" Minister Nick said "…I've come to know many things… but some of it… just scares me…"
He looked her in the eyes.
"I don't want to break my vows" he exclaimed "but maybe… with you around… the course we're headed towards will change…"
'He just wants to secure his position in case of a new regime taking over' Dina thought.
Under normal circumstances, she would call that cowardice. However, if it meant learning some information about the king, she would be glad to listen.
"Okay" Dina finally said "I really am of the royal blood. And I do want to overthrow the king. Could you tell me something that would help me?"
Minister Nick sat in silence. After a long moment, he said at last:
"…There is a girl… as far as I know, she was with you in the training corps… she is important to the crown…"
Dina widened her eyes. Could he possibly mean that…?
"…She was sent there under a fake name…" He continued "…you may know her as Krista Lenz…"
"Minister Nick was found dead this morning inside the Trost district barracks" Hange said.
The new squad Levi along with the research division was sitting at a table, discussing the current events.
"I don't know the cause of death, but I know he was murdered."
Dina was shocked by this. She didn't know the king would start acting so quickly.
"Nick was tortured by the interior first squad of the military police, then killed."
"So, the king already knows he told us something…" Dina interjected.
Silence filled the air.
"How were they torturing him?" Levi suddenly asked.
"Huh" Hange looked at him "well, they tore his fingernails off…"
"How many?"
The research division captain was flabbergasted.
"You saw him, didn't you?" Levi asked again "how many?"
"I don't know" Hange replied "I only saw him for a moment, but all the ones I could see were torn off…"
Levi looked down at the table.
"If you're going to talk" he started "you talk after one. If you're not going to talk, it doesn't matter how many of your nails they rip off."
"He didn't say anything…" Dina concluded.
"We can't know for sure" Levi said, "but there's a strong possibility that the MPs don't know about our plans."
"Alright" Hange finally said, "I think that's it for today."
"Eren, Dina" the woman exclaimed turning to them "let's do the tests."
Since they were currently stationed in a survey corps hideout, the experiments had been conducted in absolute secrecy. Within the mountainous terrain, they found a ridge with many caves. The forest surrounding it assured the scouts they would not be disturbed by anyone.
"Okay, Eren" Dina said to the boy "let's start."
"Y-yes miss Yeager..." he replied stiffly.
The blonde was confused with his behaviour.
"Eren" she started "just call me Dina. Nothing has changed between us."
The boy didn't seem completely convinced, but nodded, nonetheless. He was still confused about her being the first wife of his father.
"Great" Dina exclaimed "now transform, please."
He walked away and bit on his hand. The familiar explosion of energy made everyone but Dina flinch away. In a split second, a titan was standing in front of them.
"How did you call it?" Hange asked the blonde as she strode closer.
"This is the attack titan" Dina explained "before Eren, Grisha was in possession of this power. Right after the attack conducted by Marley, my husband passed it over to his son using a serum he made on his own."
"And you don't know how to make it" Hange said.
Dina looked towards the woman.
"Why would you need it anyway?" She asked smugly "are you planning on having someone eat one of us?"
"It would come in handy if we ever caught one of the warriors…"
ROAAAR!
The chatting women cringed as they heard the roar. As Dina looked at Eren's titan, only now did she realize that it wasn't fully formed.
"Well, we don't have to worry about secrecy anymore" she said "Eren! Can you hear me?!"
Suddenly the titan fell over, lifeless. The two women ran closer to see what exactly happened. Eren was hanging loosely from the titan's back.
"He's way more attached to it than earlier!" Hange exclaimed as she grabbed him from behind.
"What happened?" Asked Mikasa as she ran over, the rest of the scouts following behind her.
"The exercise is over" Dina said, as she grabbed onto her blade to cut him out "Hange! Stay back!"
The research division captain jumped away when Dina cut through the flesh that connected him to the titan.
As they rode back to the hideout, the blonde was deep in thought.
"You really care about him, don't you?" She suddenly heard Hange ask her.
"Grisha entrusted me with his wellbeing" Dina responded, "I'm simply respecting his last wish."
"With all the ruckus we're causing, the military police will find us really soon" the female officer said "Eren's going to be in danger."
Dina laughed at that.
"They will have to get through me first!"
