Author's Note: A Few Chapters left.

Many soldiers within the Survey Corp., Military Police Brigade and Garrison regiments had ridden in carriages toward Shiganshina District. Erwin Smith had received reports that wine containing Zeke Yeager's spinal fluids is being transported from a restaurant within Shiganshina.

Niccolo worked and spent most of the day in the kitchen. He had taken a bit of a break when his fellow coworker, Griez had informed him that the Survey Corp. had arrived at their restaurant. Nicolo, then left the kitchen, temporarily to see if the rumor was true. As he walked toward the front entrance, he discovered five Survey Corp. soldiers such as Connie Springer, Jean Kierstein, Sasha Blouse, Mikasa Ackerman and the Commander, Erwin Smith standing in the front halls. "It's you all..."

Nicolo's words caught the attention of the Survey Corp. soldiers in the front entrance.

Sasha Blouse gasped in an optimistic tone when she laid eyes onto Nicolo. "Nicolo!" She ran toward Nicolo and hugged him. Her arms were wrapped around his back in a tight embrace.

"Sasha!" Nicolo blushed a tiny bit as he looked down at Sasha who hugged him.

"Good afternoon, Nicolo." Erwin said.

"Commander Erwin?" Nicolo replied as he made eye contact with Erwin. "Why are you all here?"

"We have a few questions about the detained volunteers. Hopefully, this won't take long, and you can remain about your day."

Nicolo's body had stopped moving for a moment as he knew what Commander Erwin was talking about. "Oh. Okay." Nicolo's eyes then averted to the left and had spotted a door which led to a large restaurant room. "If you all don't mind waiting in this room..." Nicolo had kind fully removed Sasha's arms from around his upper waist and led the group of Survey Corp. soldiers and Erwin Smith to another diner room where they walked into. "I will get with you all, shortly." Nicolo said.

"Hey, Nicolo?" Connie called for Nicolo's attention.

"Hm?" Nicolo turned to Connie as heard his name called.

"This place is only reserved for the Military Police, right?" Connie asked as he slowly turned his head left and right to see the diner room to be nice and clean.

"Yes. It is." Nicolo nodded.

"This place looks really nice." Mikasa said as she had complimented the diner room that she stood within.

"Um, yes. We have to keep the entire restaurant for our guests. Otherwise, we wouldn't have any customers-if this place were to be filthy." Nicolo replied to Mikasa.

"I'm sure Captain Levi would love eating in this place." Jean murmured.

Erwin glanced at Jean's backside as he had mentioned Levi.

As the soldiers were occupied, briefly. Niccolo tried his best to sneak out of the diner room. One step at a time. 'Okay. The soldiers are distracted. Now, I just need to return to the kitchen and-'

"Hey, what is all this wine?"

Nicolo's entire body had stopped moving when he heard a feminine voice. He stood at the doorway.

"Move, Sasha." Jean said as he passed Sasha and stared at the bottles of wine on a rack. "Wait a second..." Jean then grabbed one of the wine bottles from the rack and held it. "This is the wine from Marley that all the soldiers are talking about... Apparently, only officers get to drink this stuff."

Connie turned his head to Jean. "Hold on... aren't we soldiers, too?"

"Yeah. We went through hell and back just to try and save this island. We at least deserve a sip of this." Jean said as he stared at the dark wine bottle.

Nicolo gasped. His teeth clenched and his pupils drowned in fear.

"Nicolo?"

Nicolo gasped in horror when he heard Sasha's voice. He then slowly turned his upper body around to the right and shockingly saw Sasha holding a bottle of wine in her hands.

"Do you think that this wine is good to drink?" Sasha curiously asked Nicolo.

Nicolo's eyes had grown a centimeter bigger, and his brown pupils had shrunken a millimeter. The visual of seeing Sasha carrying a bottle wine. Knowing that its liquid had been tainted with Zeke Yeager's spinal fluid... had horrified him. Nicolo didn't want to imagine Sasha as a wild and Pure Titan. "D-don't touch that!" Nicolo yelled as he swiped the wine bottle from Sasha's hands.

Nicolo's outburst had caught the attention of the other Survey Corp. soldiers such as Erwin Smith, Mikasa Ackerman, Jean Kierstein and Connie Springer.

"Nicolo?" Sasha blinked in confusion for a second. Not knowing what she did wrong.

Nicolo had gasped as Sasha stared at him, confusingly. He realized he had broken character. Then, he turned his head left and right to see other soldiers staring at him, suspiciously.

Jean calm fully walked toward Nicolo. "What was that about? It was just a little joke. No need to overreact."

"Yeah. What's your deal?" Connie questioned Nicolo.

"Tch!" Nicolo grunted as he noticed all eyes within the dining room were locked onto him. 'I messed up!' Nicolo then looked at Sasha, who still stood and stared at him, feeling a bit confused. Nicolo slowly cracked a fake smile on his face. "T-this wine..." Nicolo held the wine to his face level. "Is expired. You don't want to drink this." Nicolo said, trying to act calmly as much as he could as he faced Sasha.

"Oh..." Sasha blinked. "Sorry."

"Really? You're screaming over some expired wine?" Connie asked.

"L-look! I forgot to replace the expired wine on the racks, okay? I didn't think that anyone would be coming, today." Niccolo replied, then turned his body away from the Survey Corp. soldiers. "Now, if you all excuse me... I must find some fresh wine." Nicolo then exited the room with the Survey Corp. soldiers staring at his backside.

As Nicolo had exited the diner room, Erwin Smith could tell that Nicolo was acting suspicious due to reading body languages. He had thought to himself in his mind on why Niccolo had swiped the wine bottle from Sasha. He continued to remain silent from the moment he entered the diner room.

Outside of the diner room as Nicolo was walking toward the kitchen where he worked... he couldn't help but think of what he had just done. 'Why did I do that? Why did I have to yell at her?' Nicolo thought of himself swiping a wine bottle from Sasha's hands. "I'm such an idiot!"

A Few Minutes Later...

A few minutes had passed, and Nicolo has yet to return. Erwin Smith, Jean Kierstein, Mikasa Ackerman, Connie Springer and Sasha Blouse sat round tables and patiently waited for Nicolo to return. Jean and Connie talked to each other while sitting on diffrerent individual tables.

"What the hell was Nicolo's deal? It's just wine." Jean asked.

"Yeah. He acted kind of strange all of a sudden..."

Erwin stared at the bottles of wine on the wine on the wine rack in the room. He thought of Nicolo's early reaction when he swiped the bottle from Sasha.

Sasha leaned her chest, her arms and her right head on an individual desk. She felt a bit bored about waiting for Nicolo to return. She liked Nicolo and his cooking.

Outside the Restaurant...

Eren Yeager, Floch Forster and a dozen members of the Yeagerists had stood outside of a restaurant where Niccolo had worked and stared at the building. Eren had worn a different attire-diffrent from his Marleyean attire when he disguised himself as a wounded soldier. Eren had worn a white long-sleeved shirt, black pants and a large black jacket. His hands had dug within his pockets and his dark brown hair was tied in a bun. Floch and the Yeagerist had all worn Survey Corp. trench coats and held rifles in their hands.

"They're inside." Eren said.

"Should we occupy the restaurant, Eren?" Floch asked.

Eren slowly blinked, then glanced at the front door. "Yes." Eren then walked toward the restaurant, slowly.

Floch Forster then used a hand gesture to tell the Yeagerist soldiers to enter the restaurant. "Everyone, follow Eren!"

"Yessir!" The Yeagerists had replied as they followed Floch. Who followed right behind Eren Yeager in the restaurant.

Meanwhile...

Suddenly, gasped when she heard the sound of over a dozen footsteps. She pressed her chest up from the table while her hands were still on it. "Guys! Someone's co-"

But before Sasha could finish her sentence, a door had been kicked open by one of the Yeagerists. And in the next second, ten Yeagerists rushed in the diner room and pointed the muzzle part of their rifles at their former comrades. This action had alerted the young Survey Corp. soldiers and Erwin Smith.

Jean, Connie and Mikasa had risen from their tables.

'Miss Mikasa!' Louise thought as she pointed the muzzle part of her rifle at Mikasa.

Mikasa stared at Louise for a moment.

"H-hey! What are you all doing?"

"We all are on the same side!" Sasha said as she raised both her hands in the air.

"Sorry. But I'm afraid that things can't go the same way it used to be, anymore."

A masculine voice had caught the four Survey Corp. soldier's attention. They all glanced at the door where they had entered from and stared at it.

"That voice..." Jean muttered.

"Is that?"

Suddenly, Floch Forster had walked inside the diner room with a rifle in his possession. He stood and in front of his fellow Yeagerists and stared at his former comrades.

"F-Floch?" Jean gasped.

"It's great to see you all, again." Floch said as he looked at Jean. "I wish I had time to chat, but I am a bit busy. I would like to say something." Floch demanded that Erwin take Floch to Zeke Yeager's location. "But first..." Floch then snapped his fingers and looked behind himself to his Yeagerist comrades. "The two of you-I don't care which two." Floch then pointed his right index finger at Mikasa Ackerman. "Take Mikasa to another room."

Mikasa gasped.

Two Yeagerist soldiers quickly moved their feet toward Mikasa while atill aiming their rifles at her head. Louise did not move an inch as she kept staring at Mikasa.

"Hands behind your head, Mikasa!" One of the Yeagerists demanded as the other Yeagerist soldier had walked behind Mikasa.

Mikasa raised her hands behind her head

Jean's body had begun to react as he worried for Mikasa. "H-hold on a second! What are you going to do with Mikasa?" Jean asked.

"He would like an audience with Mikasa." Floch answered.

"He?" Sasha asled.

Mikasa gasped. 'He? Wait... is he talking abo-' Mikasa's thought process was interrupted when a male Yeagerist shoved her from behind.

"Move it!" The Yeagerist soldier said as he shoved Mikasa's back forward. Telling her to follow them out of the diner room.

Jean gasped and had gotten angry as a Yeagerist had placed his hands on Mikasa. "Hey! Keep your dirty hands off of-" Jean ran and stretched his right arm out to one of the Yeagerist soldier was shoving Mikasa out of the diner room. Suddenly, a gunshot had fired. The sound of gunfire made everyone in the room stop moving for a moment.

It turned out that Louise-who looked serious had fired a gunshot toward Jean. Causing a bullet to fly pass Jean's face and hit the wall. Grazing Jean's right cheek. Luckily, his right ear had not been damaged.

Sasha and Connie felt scared for Jean as they saw the cut on Jean's right cheek.

"Jean!" Connie yelled.

An individual Yeagerist soldier moved closer to Connie and pointed the muzzle part of the rifle at Connie's forehead. "Don't move!"

Connie froze in fear as he stared at the muzzle.

"Take Mikasa out of here." Floch demanded.

"Let's go, Mikasa."

Mikasa did not say a word as she had left the diner room and followed two Yeagerist soldiers. Leaving Jean to grumble as he watched Mikasa leave.

After the door had shut, Floch turned to his former comrades. "Now that Mikasa is gone, let us continue with the subject at hand." Floch told his former comrades, then solely glanced toward Erwin Smith. "Commander Erwin. You're going to take us to see Zeke. I assume that you know where he is."

Erwin blinked once and stared at Floch. He then thought of Premiere Dhalis Zachary and visualized his corpse. "I assume that you and the Yeagerists were responsible for both Eren Yeager escaping custody and the Premier, Dhalis Zachary's assassination when the bombing occurred?"

Jean, Connie and Sasha had gasped.

"So, you've figured it out. I expect no less from the Devil of the Survey Corp." Floch said, then remembered seeing Erwin in a dying state, four years prior outside of the Shiganshina walls as he stood over Erwin's unconscious body.

"And since Eren is now free, that means, you must have either killed or incapacitated Hange." Erwin said.

"Wait. You attacked Hange?" Jean asked.

"May I ask what of became of Squad Leader, Hange's wellbeing? I know that Eren Yeager had been placed under strict security since returning to Paradis."

Floch remained silent for a moment. "You're right. We did have to deal with Hange in order to get to Eren. And some soldiers who were ordered to watch Eren."

Flashback

Within Stohess District, Hange questioned Eren's motives while they were in Marley. "That night in Liberio... what were you doing in that basement under the stage? If we hadn't found, then... what were you going to do? Were you really going to attack Marley and ruin the peace and stability that Erwin and everyone else worked hard to build?"

A few seconds passed and Eren did not directly respond. Then, he turned the side his head, slowly toward Hange and slowly opened his mouth.

"Eren?" Hange stared at Eren for a few seconds and noticed that Eren was preparing to bite himself by raising his right hand to his mouth-which would result in Eren transforming into a Titan. This of what is to be action frightened her. Fearing that she would die when Eren transforms in close range. "No! Don't Eren!"

Eren suddenly brought his right middle finger and right thumb to his mouth and made whistling sounds.

"Eh?" Hange's body had then frozen when she heard Eren whistle. 'A whistle?' Why would-' Within the next second, the door behind Hange suddenly had been kicked open. Hange heard the sound of the door be kicked open and turned around. But as soon as she turned, Floch Forster had rushed toward her with a rifle. "Flo-" But before she could fully call Floch's name, Floch Forster had struck Hange across her right face with his rifle. Causing Hange to fall on the ground and lose consciousness.

Both Eren and Floch stared at Hange while she lied unconscious on the floor for a moment.

"Were you followed?" Eren asked Floch.

"No." Floch shook his head no.

"Good. Tie her up. We're leaving." Eren said as he begun to exit the room, he was being held in.

"Right." Floch responded after watching Eren leave the room.

End Flashback

"And yes. Hange is alive. But she seemed like she won't be on duty for a little while." Floch told Erwin an excuse.

Erwin glared at Floch. Erwin Smith no longer saw Floch Forster as the soldier who saved his life in Shiganshina. Erwin thought of Floch to be delusional.

Meanwhile...

Two Yeagerists were roaming the halls of a family restaurant. Escorting Mikasa Ackerman to Eren Yeager. One Yeagerist walked in front of Mikasa, leading the way and one walked behind Mikasa with a rifle pointing at her back. They walked in a hall for a minute, until they had stopped at a white door.

As Mikasa followed one of the Yeagerists, she couldn't help but think about Eren.

Flashback

Eren's friends such as Mikasa Ackerman, Jean Kierstein, Connie Springer and Sasha Blouse had all sat in a fancy room together. There was nothing but utter silence as they all thought about what happened in Liberio that night. They thought about what could've happened, if they hadn't caught Eren Yeager in time. Mikasa held a cup of tea in her hands.

"I'm glad that the food in Marley was really tasty." Sasha said, breaking the silence in the fancy room.

"Heh. Of course, you would say something so idiotic, Sasha." Jean commented as he looked at Sasha.

"WHat I'm saying is not idiotic. I'm speaking the truth. Marley did have tons of tasty food..." Sasha replied.

Connie suddenly looked at Mikasa who just sat and remained silent in a fancy chair. "Hey, Mikasa."

Mikasa replied by looking at Connie.

"What the hell was going on in Eren's mind?" Connie asked, which gained the attention from both Sasha and Jean.

"I don't really know what you mean by that." Mikasa replied to Connie's question.

"You know... Eren just ditched us out of the blue-in an enemy country. Then, weeks later he sends us letters-telling us that he's going to attack Marley. While in Marley." Connie said.

Mikasa blinked, once.

"What's wrong with Eren?" Connie asked.

Mikasa's eyes met Connie's gaze for a moment and thought of his question. She then looked down at her lap. "I don't know. I have not spoken to Eren, since we lost sight of him in Marley."

"I see... so what you're telling us is that ever since Eren left us... and during that night at the festival... you weren't able to make any kind of contact with Eren? Even to this day?" Jean asked.

"Yes." Mikasa nodded. "I even asked Hange, if I could patrol and watch over Eren, but she refused. Saying that having both me and Eren together would be too risky." Mikasa said.

Connie sighed, then rose from the chair he was sitting on. "Well, I'm glad that Eren was caught."

Mikasa silently gasped and looked at Connie.

"I mean, if the Commander hadn't used himself as bait that night, then, there's no telling what would've happened." Connie said as he looked at the window.

Sasha suddenly felt a shiver and grabbed her own shoulders as she felt a bit cold. "I honestly don't want to think about what would've happened that night."

"Yeah. We were lucky to find Eren in that basement. All that matters is that Paradis Island is not warring with the outside world and that Eren is home." Jean said.

Mikasa looked at each of her comrades, the glanced down at her cup of tea.

End Flashback

"Okay. That's enough." The Yeagerist in front had stopped at a door in the right hallway. "In here."

Mikasa stopped when the Yeagerists did and stared at the doorknob on the door.

"Get in there. Now." One of the Yeagerists ordered Mikasa to go inside the room.

Mikasa slowly walked inside of the room empty diner room where there was nothing but tables and chairs, windows and the wine rack by the wall. The Yeagerist who escorted Mikasa had quickly shut the door behind her. Leaving her to look back at the door.

"Hello, Mikasa."

Mikasa gasped when she heard a masculine voice, she was familiar with. 'That voice... could it.' Mikasa turned her body back around to see Eren Yeager walking toward one of circular tables. Her eyes had widened in shock as she couldn't believe whom she was seeing. 'Eren!'

Eren had sat down at an individual table and looked to Mikasa. "Please, sit." He then raised his right hand up and showed Mikasa his right palm. Which was bleeding.

Mikasa gasped as she knew what Eren's hand injury meant.

Meanwhile...

Floch Forster and the Yeagerists continued to hold Commander Erwin Smith and three experienced soldiers such as Jean Kierstein, Connie Springer and Sasha Blouse hostage. Erwin Smith and Floch Forster exchanged words to each other in conversation.

"I see... Eren plotted the bombing..."

"Yes. He was afraid that the Premiere would plot on a non-suitable host would

'How the hell did these guys know that we were here?' Jean asked himself.

Suddenly, Nicolo and Griez had rushed in the diner room to see what was going on. Griez stood behind Nicolo.

"I heard a gunshot! Is everyone okay?" Nicolo asked, feeling concerned. He then gasped to see Yeagerist soldiers aiming rifles at the four Survey Corp. soldiers. Including Sasha. Nicolo looked shocked for a moment to see Sasha in danger. His teeth clinched. "Sasha!" Nicolo extended his left arm out toward Sasha. But then stopped, when he felt the muzzle of a gun had made contact with the back of his lower head. This caused Nicolo's body to freeze.

"Don't move."

Nicolo gasped when he heard a familiar voice. "G-Griez?"

Griez remained silent as he had pointed a gun to the back of Nicolo's head. His left index finger was near the trigger.

"D-don't tell me, Griez... you brought the Yeagerists here, didn't you?" Nicolo asked as small orbs of sweat begun forming. "Why?"

"Nicolo. You've seemed to have gotten too close with Eldians during the past three years. Especially with that one." Niccolo said as his eyes glanced at Sasha who still had her hands raised. "I knew the day would come. I'm glad I didn't tell you to contact them."

"Did Yelena put you up to this?" Nicolo asked.

"Hm?"

"Put him up to what?" Connie asked as a Yeagerist soldier had tied Connie's hands with rope. The same thing happened to Sasha and Jean.

"That's enough chatter." Floch said as he looked at his pocket watch he held. "You all will be relocated." Floch said as he stared at his three former comrades, while being arrested by the Yeagerists. Jean, Sasha and Connie were being taken out od the diner room as prisoners. "And as for you, Commander... you and I will be paying Zeke a visit." Floch said as he placed a hand onto the back of Erwin's right shoulder.

Erwin Smith did not react when two Yeagerist soldiers had tied rope around his wrists. He heard that would be leading Floch and a group of Yeagerists to Zeke Yeager's location. In his mind, he had thought about Levi, the soldier he entrusted his dreams to.

Meanwhile...

Levi Ackerman stood on a large tree branch. Watching and observing Zeke Yeager's every move from hundreds of feet above Zeke's head. As Zeke sat on a square barrel and drank coffee in a mug... Levi's cold eyes locked onto Zeke and he felt irritated that Zeke can act so calm, despite being around Levi.

"Just any minute, now." Levi muttered.