In the end, neither Armin or Mikasa made it to breakfast that day; they spent that time desperately trying to throw together a rough idea of what the hell was happening. Armin came up with a theory that somehow their memories had been sent back to their younger bodies the only explanation as to how was that it had something to do with the 'Paths' mentioned in Grisha's diaries which connect all Eldians across space and time.

The next question was what they would do now? They knew all about the fake king, the titan shifters, Krista real identity, and what was waiting for them outside the walls. But even with this knowledge, would the two of them be able to save their friends and people?

They needed a plan before they could deal with the magnitude of challenges facing them, so they agreed to play along with the other cadets for now.

Before they could continue their discussion, they were interrupted "There you two are! You missed breakfast" Eren threw them both a bread roll "Had to fight off potato girl to get these, so you best be thankful." His laughs slowly died out as he looked at the faces of his two dearest friends.

"What's wrong? Has something happened, did Horseface doing something?!"

"N-No, nothing happened. We're fine, honestly Eren."

"Rubbish! You both look pale and…"

"Armin said we're fine Eren. Come on; we have hand to hand combat training" Mikasa interrupted before grabbing Armin and headed off towards the training field. Clearly, Eren's hurtful words from the day before (or in several years) were still on her mind.

When they reached the field, Shadis had paired everyone off to practice their grapples and throws. Jean with Marco, Reiner with Bertholdt, Armin with Mikasa and Eren with Annie. That last pairing caused Armin and Mikasa to tense up, and they had to stop themselves from stepping forward.

While they were both upset with what Eren had said and done to them, they both still cared deeply for him and seeing him being placed within arm's reach of the traitorous Female Titan was a disturbing notion. Eren, who was oblivious to the danger he was in, threw himself into training headfirst like he always did.

They knew Annie wouldn't reveal herself as she had no idea about Eren's own ability, but it wasn't much comfort for the two time-travellers. They kept an eye on them as they moved to a quieter corner of the field to continue the discussion about their situation.

"We can't let them hurt anyone Armin. We have to stop them" her eyes darting towards the traitorous trio.

"I know, but we can't just kill them."

A flash of anger spread across Mikasa's face "Armin, they've already killed thousands of people, they destroyed our home, and they're going to kill even more if they have the chance" she hissed.

"I know! What I meant was that we can't just kill them, because if we do that their powers will be given to a random new-born child. We're going to need their abilities if we are to stand any chance against the outside world."

She calmed noticeably at that "Fine, so what do we do?"

"Well…" Armin looked deep in thought "we'll have to deal with them one at a time and to make it look like an accident. If they become suspicious and think their secret is out it could be disastrous."

"Firstly, we need to get some titan spinal fluid so that we can secure their shifting abilities."

"How are we going to get that? We can't exactly jump over the wall and round up some titans to get some from."

Armin looked around double-checking no one was listening in "Historia's father. Her family have been passing the founding titan down for a century, and we know he had at least two injections, so there is a good chance he has some more or knows how to make it. The Reiss's chapel is in the North beyond the Orvud District."

Mikasa looked pensive "So we will have to wait until we do our winter training in the north or go AWOL for a few days to get it. Going AWOL would be quicker and give us more time to plan, but we could get kicked out of the military if we got caught."

"ARLERT! ACKERMAN! STOP CHATTING AND GET FIGHTING!" roared Shadis from across the field.

"We'll talk later." Armin said as he put up his fists.

One week later

Keith Shadis stared into his glass of wine, as he swirled the liquid. It had been six months since the 104th cadets started their training, so it was time for his first bi-annual report to his superiors. He had to inform them about the number of dropouts since training began, the strengths and weakness of the remaining recruits, and who he believed would be in the top 10 when they graduate.

Most of the dropouts had done so within the first two weeks, not being able to deal with the stress and strain of military life. Of the remaining recruits, he wasn't sure who would reach the top 10; however, there were a few cadets who stood head and shoulders above the rest either due to their physical prowess or intelligence.

So far, his finest cadet was, without a doubt, Mikasa Ackerman. She was a natural at almost everything; hand to hand combat, survival training, 3D manoeuvrability training. She rarely made a mistake, and on the few occasions she had they had never happened again, she had almost superhuman strength and stamina and could follow orders to the letter.

She was, in short, the perfect soldier. However, for reasons unknown to Keith, it seems that in the last week she had somehow become even better, she flew through the air with a finesse that would make most experienced soldiers jealous. He had seen her pull off mid-air stunts that he doubted anyone outside the veterans of the scouting legion could do and yet she did all of this with an aura of bored repetitiveness that came with years of experience.

Keith had no idea what had caused this sudden improvement, the only thing seemingly different about her was that rather than being Yeager's shadow, she had become Arlert's. While the three of them still ate and trained together, there was definitely some divide between the three.

Yeager pushed himself as hard as he could, slowly but surely improving. He would interact with the other cadets, both positive and negative interactions, making friends and rivals to push himself even harder.

But Arlert and Ackerman held back. They didn't ignore the other cadets, but they made no great effort to widen their group of friends. They trusted each other and would follow each other's orders and commands in team activities without question. He knew they came from Shiganshina and lived as orphaned refugees for two years before joining the military, and it wasn't unexpected for them to have some level of co-dependency after what they had been through.

The issue was that this new attachment had suddenly started when Ackerman underwent her improvement… and she wasn't the only one.

While Ackerman had gone from outstanding to magnificent Arlert had gone from being a mediocre soldier at best to top 10 material (maybe the lower half but still one of the best). While he lacked the finesse of his female friend, he was no slouch in the air. He times the bursts of his gas to give him the best results, completing obstacle courses only using a fraction of the gas used by the others.

But the most significant change had to be his personality; when he joined, Keith fully expected him to drop out within a week. He was physically weak, shy and easily pushed around when his friends weren't present. Yet he had stuck it out ignoring the jibes and insults from other cadets while stubbornly pushing on through his own inadequacies, it was… admirable.

But now Arlert was more assertive, confident and had a natural ability to strategise and plan. He now had an air of authority around him, which he lacked two weeks ago.

But what truly stood out about both of them was their eyes. Keith had heard that the eyes are the windows to the soul, he had never brought into that crap, but when he looked at them, he could see both of them he could see pain and suffering beyond imagining, more than any other Shiganshina refugee, more than any 13-year olds should have ever experienced.

When he first looked into their eyes, for the first time since he left the scouts where he had seen friends and comrades torn apart and eaten, he felt truly disturbed.

Keith knocked back his drink and placed the glass on the table.

'These three years will be very interesting.'