Rod Reiss sat alone in the chapel, head in his hands. It had been three years to the day when he failed in his duty as a king, as a father.
His wife, a more loving and loyal spouse than he had even been, his brave sons; Dirk and Urklyn and his wonderful daughters; Abel, Florian and Frieda. All of them gone, wiped out by one man, the outsider.
Even now, three years after the fact, Rod still didn't understand how that man had found them, how he had known the truth about his family and the founding titan. He claimed to have come from a land outside the walls, and had begged them to help him, to use the founding titan to "liberate the Eldian people from oppression".
But Frieda had refused, telling the man that they deserved their fate for the crimes they had committed.
The man had looked shocked, then angry and finally remorseful. He apologised and pulled out a small knife then ran it across his palm. A deafening boom and blinding light filled the cave as a 15m tall Titan appeared before them, his torso was vast, completely disproportional for his arms. Its face was the very picture of anger and rage. It let out a roar as Frieda bit down on her hand.
She tried to fight the Titan, but she was young and inexperienced, and his titan was larger and stronger. After a quick but brutal fight, the man bit down on Frieda's nape, ending his oldest daughter's life in a single instant. Not satisfied with her murder, the man then turned to the surviving members of the Reiss family, and with his fists and feet, he slaughtered them all.
And he, their husband and father, the man who should have protected them, ran like a coward.
He ran for his life, not once looking back until he had left the cave and then the chapel, he only stopped running when he reached the woods just in time to see the Titan burst from underneath the chapel destroying it with as much ease as he had to Rod's family.
He was glad he'd left his MP guards behind at his home, it wouldn't do for them to see the true King of the walls crying and sobbing into his hands. He pulled out a small cloth to dry his face and tried to pull himself together, he had a meeting with 'King' Fritz later, and it wouldn't do for him to look so unpresentable.
Suddenly Rod felt a gust of cold air brush against the back of his neck. He turned around to see one of the chapel doors slightly ajar. He furrowed his brow, he was sure he had closed the door when he entered, and it wasn't windy enough for the door to be blown open. Rising to his feet, Rod slowly walked toward the open door, his footsteps echoing in the empty church.
As he reached the entrance, he quickly peaked out, looking into the sky. It had been early morning when he arrived, and from the position of the sun, he must have been here for at least a few hours. He pushed the door shut, knowing he would have to leave soon a king's duty never ends, even a secret one.
Taking a step back, he started to turn to retake his seat on the front pew. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw something, a flash of silver being swung toward him. He tried to move out the way, but Rod was no soldier, his reactions were nowhere near fast enough. As the thing impacted against his head, he felt the briefest explosion of pain before he lost consciousness and slumped onto the floor.
Rod Reiss never saw the two cloaked figures standing behind him, one holding a knife and the other a now slightly bent silver candlestick.
Groggily, Rod started to regain consciousness, and he tried to open his eyes abut all he could see was darkness. He tried to reach up to his face to investigate his lack of sight but found his arms had been tied down to something.
A sense of panic and dread rose within him, Rod jerks his arms trying to break his bonds, but he had no luck, they were firmly secured.
"Ah Mr Reiss, you're awake. Good, I was worried I might have hit you too hard." A voice rung out, stopping his struggling.
"I have to admit Mr Reiss; I didn't expect to see you here. But I'm glad you are here, it will make everything so much easier."
"W…who are you? What do you want from me? Is it money? I'm sure we could come to an agreement"
"Mr Reiss, if I wanted you to know who I was, I wouldn't have blindfolded you. As for what I want well, I'm after something far more valuable than money. I want information." This time the voice came from his left only inches away from his ear. Whoever was holding him hostage was walking around him, trying to disorientate and intimidate him. It was working.
"I am going to ask you some questions, Mr Reiss, and you will answer them truthfully, understand?"
Knowing that without his guards there wasn't much Rod could do, he nodded deciding it was safer to do as the person said.
"Excellent, now let's start with an easy one, shall we? Where is the King?"
"The King? He's in the royal palace in Mitras. Why do" before Rod could finish, he was punched so hard across the face both he and the chair he was tied to fell over with a crash. Moaning and spitting out blood Rod barely heard the voice over the throbbing pain in his face.
"Tut, tut. I told you to tell me the truth, Mr Reiss. My good friend here doesn't like being lied to, they've never had any patience for liars. But don't worry, I won't bother asking again, after all, I know exactly where the King is. He's currently blindfolded and tied to a chair. Isn't he, your Grace?"
Rod's head was now reeling both in pain and shock, 'How?! How could they know about that? Do they work for the outsider? Are they here to finally finish me off?'
"You see Mr Reiss; I'll know when you're lying to me because I already know the truth: I know about the true royal family, I know what you do in that crystal cave of yours, and I know what's inside the walls."
"Now, let's try this again." Rod was suddenly pulled off the floor as the chair was uprighted, "I want to know where you keep the Titan spinal fluid, and how do you create it?"
"W... what are you talking about? I'm not the king!"
An exaggerated sigh was the only warning Rod got before a fist slammed into his stomach, once, then twice and then a final punch to the face breaking his nose with a sickening crack.
The force of the impacts caused Rod to throw up, a putrid combination of bile and blood now covering his shirt, he gasped, trying to force oxygen into his winded body in between pained coughs. But before he could do or say anything else a new sensation cut through the haze of pain; he felt something cold, hard and sharp resting just beyond the knuckle of his right little finger.
"Don't make me repeat myself, Mr Reiss, now answer the question."
Through a mouthful of blood, Rod spat out "You're insane. You're a monster."
"Not yet, Mr Reiss. Now, last chance to give me an answer."
Rod grit his teeth, he was not a brave man, not even close, but he couldn't fail his family's legacy, not again. He could endure some pain right…. Right?
"So be it."
There was a second of stillness as the knife slammed down on his little finger, severing skin, muscle and bone as if it were paper. It was almost an out of body experience as Rod felt his little finger being cut off and blood began pouring out the gory stump. The stillness ended abruptly as the agonising pain forced his consciousness back into his body.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" his tortured screams shattered the silence of the chapel.
Sometime later
Armin and Mikasa walked out of the chapel, small bag in hand, filled with several injections of Titan Spinal Fluid. Armin's theory that the Reiss's must have been producing the fluid for a long time had been correct; they had found nearly a dozen injections stored within the crystal caves. They now had enough Fluid for all the shifters on the island and then enough for the next generation of shifters if they were still needed.
Armin felt detached and emotionless as he walked toward the clearing where they had left their horse, he wondered if this is what Hanji and Levi had felt like after they tortured that MP, listening to it had been incredibly difficult at the time, it made him feel sick to his stomach, yet now after he had actually tortured someone, he just felt empty.
Armin truthfully hadn't expected to find Rod in the chapel, he thought the chapel would be empty, and they would have to search blindly through the caves. They were 'fortunate' to find him, the information they have acquired from him had saved them a great deal of time, and they had learnt how the royal family harvested the spinal fluid over the generations.
He looked over at Mikasa, seeing how she felt. To most people she looked to be as stoic as ever, no hint of what they had done showed on her face. But Armin had known her for years, and he could see the slight clench of her jaw and the tension in her steps. She was clearly uncomfortable with Armin's choice, his decision on what to do with Reiss after they got what they wanted. She understood, of course, it was a necessary evil, but that didn't mean she had to be happy with it.
"Come on, we've made good time, but we need to get back before anyone notices we're gone."
He nodded in agreement, his mind already planning out how they would deal with the traitors. Annie would be the 'easiest' to deal with, her self-imposed distance from Reiner and Bertholdt and the other 104th cadets would give them more opportunities to get her alone and take her out.
They had one year and five months before the shifters attacked Trost. While that may sound like plenty of time, Armin knew they would be working on a tight schedule. Their plans would have to be perfect, covering every potential outcome and preventing any consequences. A single mistake, a single slipup, and the traitors would know their cover had been blown, and Paradise would be doomed.
So, Armin did what he did best.
He planned.