Hope from the Sky

by Traitor of All Traitors

Inspired by the works of other writers that took to it, this is my first attempt. Shinji and Unit-01, victims of the Twelfth Angel attack, find themselves in another world with giants that crave human flesh. Can Shinji offer his Eva's assistance in allowing mankind to cancel their extinction, or will he be joining them? Finally Finished. Bonus lemon chapter now uploaded.

17. And then there were four

Creation began on 07-19-17

Creation ended on 09-10-17

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Hope from the Sky: And then there were four

"…His last meal was last night," one of the Garrison members informed Erwin on the status of Zeke Yeager in his prison cell. "He hasn't made any attempts to try and transform into a Titan."

"That's good," Erwin said, looking over at Shinji and Kaede as they prepared the beverage spiked with the Dark Titan spinal fluid. "Make sure that he doesn't."

"Commander Erwin, sir," went Shinji, getting his attention.

"Yes?"

"Permission to speak with the current Beast Titan as his meal is being prepared."

Kaede looked at him like he was crazy right now.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Erwin asked him, unwilling to risk his life just for some new information regarding this Titan Shifter that they were hoping to strip of his powers. "If he tries to transform with you nearby and kills you, we take a huge blow."

Shinji thought about it and then looked at another Garrison member. More specifically, he was looking at their uniform.

"Do you think I could pass for a member of the Garrison?" He asked. "He doesn't know what I look like, just like the other three. It might be a good way to find out why he did what he did…from his point of view and not from what was left for us to find."

Kaede looked at the Garrison members and guessed that Shinji could probably fit in the uniform. Pretty much every person she met from the Survey Corps since she went with Shinji on the carrier to that island seemed to fit the same size of uniform, if not a little less for the smaller members, like Armin or Connie. And then she realized something something, as well: The Beast Titan didn't know her, either…and as a Titan Shifter herself, she had to keep Shinji protected from an enemy.

"Uh, I could probably fit in one, too," she uttered. "He doesn't know who any of us are…and he more than likely doesn't care about any of us, either."

-x-

He was getting tired of this treatment. All the more reason Zeke despised the Eldians of Paradis…and how he had to make them pay for their sins. Chained up and forced to defecate and soil himself because they didn't trust him not to transform into a Titan or try to escape and kill innocent civilians in cold blood.

"…Be careful with this man, you newbies," he heard someone say. "He's not friendly or trustworthy. Just make sure he gets his meal."

"Yes, sir," another voice responded, and footsteps came.

"Why does it smell down here?" A female voice asked.

"No one cleans up after him."

"Okay, that's terrible. I understand that this man isn't friendly, but could he at least be treated with some humanity?"

Zeke looked at the bars of his cell and saw three people walk by, two men and a woman; the first man he recognized, but the second one and the woman were new.

"Hello, sir," the young man greeted. "How are you?"

Zeke didn't say anything to him.

"Okay… We should just make sure you get your breakfast," the girl expressed. "And straighten you out, as well."

The young man held up the cup and raised it to Zeke's mouth.

The chained man drank and immediately realized it had a different taste to it.

"What is this?" He demanded.

"Sweet tea," the girl answered him. "Why? Is it too sweet?"

"Last time, they gave me water."

"I heard it was because of the limited resources since most of the population was relocated to the city outside the Walls," the young man explained, holding up the bowl of porridge. "Only the people of Wall Sina remain, convinced that the world out there isn't meant for us. But most of us think differently about this ever since we saw that young man. He gave us a way out of our previous lives."

"He gives us hope," added the girl. "He gave me hope."

"What is hope to you people?" Zeke questioned; he really wanted to know what motivated these Eldians to keep going on after all that they've done.

"Looking up at the sky, knowing that freedom was right there in front of our faces," the young man expressed. "The sight of the ocean for the first time. The beautiful world that is so much bigger than I had ever expected it to be."

"Learning of what was forgotten about for centuries," added the young woman. "How people could go anywhere without rules and regulations to bind them. That women were more than just homemakers or some sort of commodity in a man's world."

As they continued to feed Zeke, the young man that was really Shinji hoped that his and Kaede's ruse could keep the Titan Shifter from realizing that he was being stripped of his powers and returned to being a regular human once again.

Kaede, on the other hand, was just hoping that her Titan form would just gain a new ability that would aid more in the future operation to face the Marleyans. If there were truly only nine Titans among Titans and people that were stronger than usual, then her Dark Titan would have the power of four of these specific Titans, making her a formidable threat alongside Shinji's Eva.

Colossal, Armored, Female and Beast, she thought as Shinji gave him the spiked drink again. Rogue and Founding, too. One has two, the other has four, leaving only three others with this power.

-x-

"…I take it you were successful?" Erwin asked Shinji and Kaede as they into the office room.

"He didn't suspect a thing, sir," said Kaede to him. "If we're right about the length of time it takes to transfer the power, it should begin almost instantaneously once he drank my spinal fluid in his tea."

"Then all that happens next is whatever we choose to do with him," added Shinji, and then he noticed that Kaede seemed bothered by something. "Kaede?"

"Hmm?"

"You seemed bothered by something."

"Oh, it was just a weird feeling, like I saw that man before."

"Really, Ms. Sogen?" Erwin asked her.

"Yes, sir, but when I think of where I've seen him, I only see something that doesn't make sense to me. I see a woman…naked as the day she was born…with the most hideous smile I've ever seen possible on any face."

"Hideous smile?" Shinji asked her.

"She looked like she was smiling…or grinning, even. All I know is that she looked awful."

-x-

"…What?" Levi questioned, wanting to make sure he heard right from Hange, who returned to him with new information.

"Rod Reiss finally revealed the name of his illegitimate child," Hange repeated. "According to one of the corps members who was keeping watch over him, she recently joined the Survey Corps as of this year under a false name."

"And who is she?"

-x-

"…Gosh, Kaede," went Shinji as he examined his girlfriend's drawing that depicted the woman she was recalling. "She's as creepy as I've seen in women."

Commander Erwin looked at the drawing…and recalled where he had seen a face like that before in his past ever since he joined the Survey Corps.

"That's a Titan," he revealed.

"What?!" Kaede questioned.

"Over the years, we've seen several Titans to need to identify specific ones with code names. This was called the Smiling Titan because of the rictus grin it always had." He explained to them. "But this Titan…met its end over five years ago…when Wall Maria was attacked by the Colossal and Shiganshina had to be abandoned."

"That day Bertolt Hoover kicked a hole in the wall," Kaede expressed, recalling a few other moments of that day when she turned into the Dark Titan for, perhaps, the first time, "when people were running to get away… I saw her with her creepy smile. She was picking up a woman and about to crush the life out of her body."

"Mister Eren Yeager's mother," Shinji clarified the identity of the woman she saw.

"I think she was the first person I ever…as a Titan."

Since he wasn't there five years ago, Shinji could only assume that when Kaede had become the Dark Titan, she committed her first kill over another Titan. But based upon her own experience, her initial transformation was most likely the result of self-preservation; her Titan kills merely a consequence of her subconscious drive to stay alive.

"But…why would this Titan make you think you've seen that man before?" Shinji asked.

"I…just thought they seemed related in a weird way."

"Shinji," went Erwin to them, "what is your opinion on this man?"

"Professionally or personally?" Shinji asked him back.

"Personally."

"Personally, this man terrifies me when I engaged him in conversation. I asked why he hated us and wanted us dead…and his response was that we're evil incarnate. But I want another shot at him."

"Why, Shinji?" Kaede asked him.

"I want to know how rooted he is in this Marleyan insanity that seems to stem from a sense of twisted history and propaganda to make the Eldians out as the villains of a surrealistic story some author has yet to even finish. If he truly believes in this sick propaganda the Marleyans shoved into his brain as some form of false truth, then what they must've told him is all that matters to him…and no variation from the Eldians will sway him."

"Then…he'll most likely be executed if he persists."

"Or be incarcerated for the rest of his life instead. I know it's not my place to disagree with higher decisions, but it's difficult to do what is considered one of the most cruelest things that one person can do to another person, even if the situation warrants so."

As far as they knew, Shinji was able to disregard his personal feelings and opinions when it originally came to the previous Titans they dealt with before the discovery that they were once regular Eldians that were transformed into mindless giants with no hope of returning to humanity. But even before the revelation that Kaede had a power that could undo what was done to her fellow Eldians centuries ago, before any of them ever met Shinji, the boy was using his purple giant for another organization that made it, to defeat other creatures that were a threat to mankind, and even then, he was trying to refrain from causing harm to anyone that couldn't get away from the danger present. Simply put, while he was willing to help them return to the world out beyond the island, even face an enemy that was as human as any of them were, he couldn't and didn't even want to cross the thin line between murder and preservation when there had to be another alternative.

"But sometimes, you come across someone that doesn't view any alternative measures to such an extreme," Erwin reminded him. "How will you deal with the girl in the other Eva that damaged Wall Maria and endangered the civilians if she returns?"

"I'll do what I feel is the lesser of the two evils," he responded; he wouldn't kill Asuka, no matter how much he or others felt that she deserved it, but he wouldn't let her continue with the sense of brutality she could unleash upon the people if she was ordered to harm them by NERV.

No, he would cross the line set against NERV…and cripple them.

"And what is the lesser of the two evils in your eyes, Shinji?" Kaede asked, wanting to know his agenda against Asuka.

"Take away her sense of purpose," he explained, not wanting to go further than so unless he had to.

-x-

"…What is that you got there, Eren?" Armin asked his friend, noticing that he had a small vial of something written in a language the blond-haired boy didn't recognize.

"Something that Rod Reiss had in a bag that was full of these vials," Eren explained. "I had asked Shinji if he could translate what this language was that's written on it, and he told me that it says 'Armor'. If he's right, because he's one of the only few able to read these languages because they're the kind he grew up learning in his world, then if I took this, my Titan would have hardening capabilities."

"Like the Armored Titan."

"And the Dark Titan, if Ms. Sogen truly has taken the power of the Armored Titan from Reiner."

They and some of the higher-ups in the Survey Corps were on a small field that they learned recently was called a basketball court where people could threw balls that bounced into hoops. Standing under one of the hoops was Krista Lenz, or rather a girl they had been led to believe was named Krista Lenz ever since they met her during the training corps days. But with the revelation that Rod Reiss finally provided to them under much pressure and interrogation, they knew the truth now, and this girl wasn't who they thought she was. The name Krista Lenz was nothing more than an alias, a false name for a girl forced to cast aside her true name.

Rod's illegitimate heir, the girl he was trying to keep the rest of the world from knowing about…was named Historia Reiss…and this revelation made her existence another priority for them to deal with.

She had been found out…and they needed to get her side of the story to understand why she had been enlisted in the Survey Corps instead of living with her father's family or was with him the night Eren's father massacred most of the Reiss family for control of the Founding Titan.

"We just want to know how you got here," went Levi to her.

But Krista…or Historia was silent; she didn't want to talk about her past. She couldn't, and not because it was difficult…but because she was told not to.

"She won't talk to you," said none other than Ymir to Levi, getting everyone's attention. "What do you expect her to say? That she was threatened with execution if she told anyone?"

Suddenly, the ground shook a bit, and some of the corps members thought it was Titans again before the shaking ceased; they had to assume that, if there were no civilians screaming or trying to run away from danger, it was just the Eva returning from the Walls with the veterans and news of the Titan suppression operation using the Dark Titan.

"We'll postpone this conversation until later this evening," said Levi as he turned to go see the returning group from the Walls, "and we will get to the bottom of this."

-x-

"We've managed to cover up the damaged sections of Wall Maria with sheets and piles of dirt," Erwin relayed to Levi by the docks overlooking the ocean. "We've even managed to usurp the power of the Beast Titan from its previous holder and incorporate it into the amalgamated powers of the Dark Titan. The civilians we restored from the Titans inside the wall are still within the Trost District until we go back for them in another two days. The Garrison members stationed there are still keeping watch over the former Beast Titan."

"This is good news," Levi responded; any news with zero casualties was good news, and any news about an update on the progress with the Survey Corps, Garrison, or their allies was also good news.

"You have ascertained the identity of Reiss' heir?"

"Yes, we have. Unfortunately, she refuses to divulge any information as to why she was using a false name or why she joined the Survey Corps."

-x-

Shinji and Kaede were surprised to find out who Rod Reiss' daughter was one of the Survey Corps' most recent members, but to find her in a makeshift prison cell like she was some sort of prisoner, simply because she didn't want to explain herself, seemed wrong. For the boy, it just felt like she was accused of something that wasn't her fault. For his girlfriend, it was a type of disrespect to one that wanted to help the people by performing a public service that offered barely anything in return…and she knew this to be almost true.

"Miss Lenz," Shinji addressed the mystery girl, choosing to be accepting of the current situation with her identity. "How are you doing today?"

On a cot, Historia was facing away from the two, not bothering to turn and face them. Or even speak.

"She's not very talkative right now," explained Ymir to them; she was in the cell with Historia, having volunteered to surrender herself when Historia was put in the cell for her would-be insubordination. "What really brought the two of you here?"

"It's really his curiosity that brought the both of us here," Kaede answered her. "I'm just here because I can't go home right now."

Of course, this was a lie. Kaede simply didn't trust Ymir, despite not even knowing who she was. Not only that, but she was embarrassed a bit by the new addition to her Dark Titan guise after she decided to see what had changed with it and help Shinji cover up the damaged sections of Wall Maria.

"What brought me here," Shinji expressed, "is wanting to get why people are so hot about a young girl that I heard was able to turn many a head…just by looking at her. I mean, what is the situation with her? Is her father really the former monarch of the Walls? Is she the last of his children still living? Does she know something that could help the Eldians further? If she's able to do that, then she'd be another harbinger of hope for the people."

"And you honestly believe in that hype?" Ymir asked him.

"I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't believe in such a long time ago. What was hope to a guy like me that didn't have any relationships that were stable? There was no hope…and I was just a guy that was exploited by his old man that wouldn't say one kind word to him. 'If you're going to do it, do it. If not, then leave.' That's what he told me the day I saw him after the last time I saw him over three years ago. And…I really hated him for what he wanted me to do. Fight for mankind, probably get killed in the process…or just leave without so much as an explanation for why the jerk picked me over someone that was more qualified. Even though I did what was ordered of me and fought at least seven-and-a-half Angels, and I say that because the last one I just fought, but was unable to defeat because I wind up getting landed here, my relationship with my father was practically nonexistent. He was nothing more than a stranger…that most people didn't really like. Even if I did go back to my world, it'd be much worse than it was before I unexpectedly left…and I don't really want to go back. Ever. Call it what you will, say that I just run away. I've heard it enough times that it becomes a broken record. I prefer it better here."

"And your old man and that girl in the red giant that wasn't the Colossal Titan, all they care about is getting some of the Titans and your purple giant? They don't give a care about you?" Ymir asked.

"I'm sure we can all agree that if it's between a potential resource that could bring unlimited power to an organization that wants to crush all opposition…and personal relationships with no indication of any reconciliation between the individuals involved… They'll be more interested in power than relationships if it gets them whatever it is they want."

"But…you have power," they heard the blond-haired girl say to him. "You have power…and you use it to help others. Look at what your presence here has done so far. We're done with life behind the Walls, we know the truth that mankind isn't on the brink of extinction from the Titans, that the Titans were once human, and that another nation is out to get rid of us all because of the power of the Titans. How long do you think it will be before these…Marleyans find out about you? How long do you think it will be before they decide to try and come after you for your purple giant? They might try to persuade you to side with them…or take control of the giant from you and use it for themselves."

Shinji looked at Ymir and then at Kaede, not denying this as a possibility, but then responded, "The day I betray each of you on Paradis and side with the people of Marley will be the day I succumb to the threat of losing all that matter to me…but I hope that day won't ever come. The Marleyans that see Eldians as children of the Devil or whatever they choose to call you, they can lose their hold on whatever bits of the world they have on it. Hell, they can even try and bribe me with whatever they think they can use to convince me to side with them for…and I'll still choose the Eldians over them."

Historia turned to face him and wondered why, when the situation seemed unlikely to be resolved through proper channels, he still chose to try and see a possibility that could resolve the crisis that existed for them. He seemed so…out of character…but was willing to put up with it. It seemed crazy…and he didn't even belong in their world…and yet chose their world over returning to his.

"What is it that keeps you here?" She asked him.

"What keeps me here?" He questioned. "At first, it was because Dot Pixis of the Garrison and the people of the Survey Corps asked for my help in retaking Wall Maria and what was beyond the Walls from the Titans they all thought was the enemy. Then, it was the fear of going back to my previous life, like there was even any guarantee of that ever happening. Heh-heh. Now, what keeps me here… What makes me want to stay here and see this thing to its conclusion…isn't even a 'what'. What made you decide to join the Survey Corps and fight for others? If there is even a 'what' in your reason."

"I doubt you would even enjoy the answer."

"Let's say that before I ended up here, there wasn't much enjoyment in my life. Whatever your reason, I try not to be judgmental unless I find a reason for such."

Even Ymir had to admit that this guy was hopelessly, hilariously foolish in his reasons for being here, for wanting to remain here in a world full of Titans instead of returning to his world where Titans were nonexistent. But probably not out to make a name for himself or convince others that he was some sort of god or reincarnation of somebody from a long time ago. No, she was probably convinced that he was just a simple, lonely boy with no happiness from his past and no real hope or interest in returning home in his future, just some dwindling light that promised him just one thing and one thing only.

-x-

"Based on the readings from the new satellites we were able to send into the portal," said Maya to Commander Ikari, reporting to him on the latest update on the Angel, "the Angel has relocated itself over an expanse of urban areas and hasn't demonstrated any hostility so far."

"It hasn't attacked any buildings or people present?" Gendo asked.

"No, sir," went Ritsuko to him. "It just seems to be ignoring the people that are there."

The faux-blond then set down some satellite photos on his desk. They were of the location the Angel was at, almost similar to the dwellings of a World War era.

"And what of the Eva?" He questioned, needing to know of the status of Unit-01.

"It and the Third Child remain stationed on the island they were found residing on with the people there. And along with this new discovery."

Ritsuko set down three more images, all depicting the Dark Titan in various stages. One photo showing it looking more feminine and with a thicker torso area. Another showing it getting attacked by other Titans smaller than itself. And the final photo showing it with a pelt of hair, sort of like a collar, around its neck and shoulders, thick hair covering its wrists and lower knees, like gauntlets and boots, respectively, as though the giant were somehow adapting, evolving over time.

"When were these taken?" He demanded.

"The first two were taken yesterday," she explained. "The third one was taken earlier this afternoon. It seems this girl that can turn into the giant is somehow able to mutate it over time."

"It almost looks like she's trying to make the giant she turns into look like some sort of fashion design model," Maya gave her opinion on the Dark Titan.

This discovery only enforced Gendo's desire to have the girl to their world for experimentation. The sooner they began studying her and finding out how she was able to do what she could, the better it would be for NERV when they gained the power to create their own Titans and give the Evas greater strength against the Angels. He even kept one of the vials of the serum to create Titans in his desk that was of the strongest variety. The strongest person in existence deserved only the greatest of power.

-x-

"Are you sure you can do this, Asuka?" Kaji asked the Second Child as she got ready to go back to the other world for the girl Shinji was suspected of being involved with romantically.

"Hey, if we get the girl and bring her here, that baka will have no choice but to return here, and when he does, he'll bring the Eva back with him," the redhead answered him. "He'll do it. And I want to know what a girl like this could ever see in a fool like him."

-x-

Shinji nor Kaede ever spoke during Historia's revelation about her past, the boy never thought to question the validity of her memories of her childhood until she finished, not even for the sake of making himself heard. During the time Historia shared with the couple and Ymir her past, all were silent and only listening.

But this didn't stop Historia from feeling like her past wasn't one worthy of any recognition or worth any measure of remembrance. Of course, her background was only from her point of view, so there was probably many details that even she knew nothing of. She only ever interacted with her mother two times in her life, and the only times her mother ever said anything to or about her…were full of resentment directed towards her, not that she ever thought much of it. And then, there was her father…and what came afterward that led to her present in a makeshift prison cell.

"…And that's how I ended up joining the Survey Corps," she finished revealing her past. "Nothing much left for me to tell."

Shinji inhaled a new breath and responded, "Nothing that is from your point of view, that is. But I sympathize with your suffering, Ms. Lenz. It's unforgivable, the way you were treated by people."

Even Kaede had sympathy for the girl. She thought what her step-grandfather did to her was the worst thing any child could suffer, but then, there was what happened with Shinji, and those like Ms. Mikasa, Mr. Armin, or the current Rogue Titan, Eren Yeager. To think that her father is a man of royal lineage…and her mother had been a servant girl to the Reiss family…and the girl had no meaningful relationship with either parent.

"It's not just unforgivable," she shared her opinion, "it's inhuman. Has anything of this sort ever occurred in your world?"

She was referring to the existence of illegitimate children with no relationship ties with either parent, but Shinji knew none like this. The boy knew for a fact that there were many people that had at least one parent in their lives, but he doubted that there were any like this girl.

"Not of the sort that Ms. Lenz is," he explained. "But they don't have any ties to royalty or were targeted for assassination because other people didn't want them to have a claim to something someone else had. Illegitimacy isn't really a crime. Surely, there are dozens of people around here that have at least one parent that isn't married to someone else they were involved with."

"Not that we really know of, Shinji," Kaede explained; most of the people she ever spoke with or heard from had both their parents and the ones that didn't were because they had been killed by the Titans over five years ago.

"But getting back to the subject of this matter, the guy that is your father by blood has been stripped of his authority over the Walls and the people, but this act has left a measure of instability within the ruling government. Only the people of Wall Sina remain within the Walls with just a handful of the Garrison. Because of the necessity of a monarch for the Walls, there needs to be someone able to lay claim to the throne and restore order to the people. Excluding your father, that leaves only you, Ms. Lenz, and that makes you the one best suited for the position."

"You want her to be queen?" Ymir asked.

"Me personally…or the Survey Corps? There's a big difference between who wants what to happen and who feels is what needs to happen."

"Touché."

"But to answer your question, it's what the Survey Corps want. I have no say in why they want Ms. Lenz to be the queen of the Walls. If anything, it helps to end one situation and help advance the possibilities of dealing with another situation. So far, nothing within Wall Sina has caused people to break out and cause a riot or war, but Commander Erwin wants to prevent that from ever happening."

"It sounds more like they need a puppet," Historia suggested.

"You a puppet?" Kaede asked. "That would imply you have no will of your own, no capacity to make your own choices, for better or for worse. If someone tells you to jump, you do just that. You don't even ask how high. Except you do have a choice, you know. You can be the queen and decide what others do for the good of the people. I mean, Hell, you can make it the law that experimentation on people is punishable by life in prison, or drafting kids into the military is against the law unless they're eighteen. Or even dissolve the monarchy and give control of the Walls over to a government assembly that can do right by the people. I mean, do what you think is the right choice, not what is expected of you by people older than you that need you to do something you might not agree with."

Historia looked at Kaede and uttered, "I think you're hardly one to talk, miss, and you're the Dark Titan. Why don't you do it instead of me?"

"You're only half right, Ms. Lenz," Shinji defended his girlfriend. "She's the young lady with the power of the Dark Titan. What she believed to be a negative for her, she's turning into a positive and helping people. And last time anyone bothered to check, her family has no royal blood or political clout in their possession. She couldn't take the throne, even if she wanted to."

"And I don't want it," Kaede added. "That's nothing more than a daydream, a child's fantasy. One I don't even delude myself into recalling."

"What about you, then, Mr. Ikari?" Historia suggested. "Haven't you ever wanted to be a king of your own nation?"

"Tempting, Ms. Lenz, but I'm not the monarch-type," Shinji confessed. "I'm no leader. Still, it's your paternal heritage that ties you to the monarchy. No matter how it's viewed by any that don't agree with your status, it's your birthright. And you're the only person I've met here that I haven't had a degree of conflict with that has what is called in my world the divine right to rule. It's a…god-given right you have to rule the Walls."

"God-given, huh?" Ymir asked.

"Yes, god-given. It goes back generations, right back to the very first ruler. There are many different monarchs in history that go back through time and forward into the unknown future. Depending upon how many descendants a ruler has…and depending on how many children they have that go out into the world over the years, any number of those people with royal blood, either on their mother's side or their father's side, anyone with a common ancestor has a right to claim their family's throne…should they choose to…or if they can take it. You don't have much belief in such, do you?"

"The world is still a cruel place…with no space for simple beliefs."

"Question, then," said Kaede to Ymir. "If you believe the world to still be cruel and unrelenting… Why are you always with Ms. Lenz…or Ms. Reiss? It's like you knew who she really was before the Survey Corps did."

"Everyone has their reasons."

"But what are yours?"

Ymir didn't answer her, but Shinji started to get suspicious and got up.

"We'll be right back," he uttered, taking Kaede with him out of the room.

-x-

Zeke thought these Eldians, these…Subjects of Ymir…rather foolish to unlock his restraints after another day in his cell. He might've been deprived of his knife and small blades to cut himself, but he still had his teeth, and once he sank them into his left wrist, he would have them at his mercy and take the Founding Titan from them!

Crunch! He felt the skin break under his canines and incisors, drawing blood.

But the transformation that should've came just seconds after doing so…didn't happen. He was still in the cell, now with a bite mark on his arm.

That's not possible, he thought; his mind had been clear with his objective, but nothing occurred. I'm still within my term! My Beast Titan should respond! Respond!

He bit into his wrist again, but only caused himself further self-harm. Somehow, his power as the Beast Titan must've been suppressed by the Eldians. Maybe because of that purple giant he saw that day at the city. One way or another, he had to inform the Marleyans. He had to let them know this…thing the Eldians had on their side was just as much of a threat to their nation as the last remnants of Eldia was.

-x-

"…None of them really knew much about Ymir," Shinji told Kaede when he returned to the rooftop of the building used to house Historia and Ymir separate from the former Colossal, Armored and Female Titans.

"Same with me on my end," the girl responded. "With the sole exception of the fact that she's always with Ms. Reiss, nobody from the training corps that joined the Survey Corps could tell me anything about her. Although, during the battle for Trost, Mr. Springer did mention hearing Ymir asking Historia to marry her when things settled down."

"Armin mentioned the same thing to me. Beyond that, there's nothing in the form of records on this lady. I mean, they have nothing on her; no known relatives, no village or district that she grew up in, not even a last name."

"So…she's a private person?"

"Private…or there's more to her than what she doesn't say to people, which would make her a secretive person, one that doesn't say much of anything about themselves to anyone."

"Secrets that we keep from others…and secrets that are kept from others."

"Huh?"

"Just something my father once said to me when I was little, about how there are only two forms of secrets. There are the ones we keep…and the ones that are kept from us."

"Do those kept secrets include a cost, Kaede?"

"Yeah. Except everything has a cost to it, including secrets and truths. They're not for free. I mean, look at how my keeping the truth about the Dark Titan cost me a bit. Before I met you, I wanted to stay as far away as possible from men…because I hated my step-grandfather for what he did to me. I hated what I thought I had become, that I needed to hide it at all times to protect myself from getting killed. Until you changed everything with your presence."

Then, just because of a new, random thought, Shinji gasped.

"What if she's like them?" He suggested.

"What?" She asked him.

"Like Bertolt, Reiner, Annie and Zeke Yeager," he clarified. "What if Ymir's a Titan Shifter, too?"

That was quite a farfetched assumption, even for Shinji, but not too farfetched for Kaede to assume was beyond the realm of possibility. Since nobody within the Survey Corps had any information on this Ymir that related to her background, her past, and the girl wasn't exactly speaking much about herself, what other alternative was there but to simply assume that she was able to generate a Titan body and masquerade somewhat as a false enemy?

"But, Shinji, there is no evidence to the contrary," she told him.

Shinji sighed and accepted that they had no proof of the girl being a Titan Shifter.

At least not yet.

-x-

Had Asuka truly taken the time to just admire the Earth-like beauty of this universe these Titans inhabited, she would've probably been enthralled by observing the planet like so many before her.

"How can we expect this girl we're going after to cooperate with us?" One of the men in front of her asked another.

"Based on the uncooperative behavior of the Third Child," he answered. "I mean, this kid turns down a chance of a lifetime to return home, and for what? He chose to stay with some people he doesn't know, to fight an enemy they can't hope to beat, and might have a girlfriend based solely on the way he said her name. You all have the girl's photo, right?"

"Yes, sir," a third man uttered, holding up a photo of this Kaede girl. "I can imagine how the Third Child would be involved with someone like this. I mean, look at her. Not a bad sight."

Hearing this only infuriated Asuka. To think that some other girl that never did anything as important as her was considered beautiful was an insult to her pride. If she had to, when she caught the girl and had her brought back to NERV HQ, she would cut her face and restore the status quo; there was only room in any existing universe for one beautiful and important girl, and that was herself.

She is not prettier than I am, she thought, wanting so badly to crush the girl and take out the Angel.

To be continued…

A/N: Can anyone guess what the title truly means for this chapter?