"I don't rise from the ashes, I make them. I'm the whole fucking fire."
Erin Van Vuren
Chapter 7: From Ashes We Rise
The first sight to behold was darkness. It wasn't the normal black of night or shadows, but this darkness was the embodiment of a world without light. It felt warm, it felt like it was moving. Most children would be afraid of such a phenomenon, along with a few superstitious adults. But Cinder knew what she had gotten herself into. She found herself welcoming the darkness surrounding her, embracing the warmth it provided her, and reveling in the new feeling of strength and power.
The darkness suddenly disappeared, and it was replaced with red. The warmth was the only thing to stay, but it felt... odd. It was as if the warmth was sticking to her entire body. Cinder looked around, and saw more red connected to her. On her arms, on her legs, and under her eyes were pieces of warm red flesh. She didn't know what was going on, and she pulled on the flesh with all her strength. But even though she could feel her arms, and they were stronger than ever, the flesh wouldn't break away. She was trapped.
Suddenly, Cinder felt a firm grasp on her right arm. At least, she thought she did. Aside from the warm flesh, there was nothing holding her arm. Even so, she felt an iron-like grip holding something that felt like a hand.
That was when she looked straight ahead and saw the night sky. It was a night like any other, stars filled the darkness around her. But the next thing that came into view was a large, dark hand. Confused at the sight, Cinder began to move her fingers. As she did, the fingers on the large hand were moving. First, they wiggled. Then, they made a fist. There was no doubt about it, Cinder was controlling that large hand. And sure enough, there was another large hand holding hers.
After Eren transformed into his Titan, he quickly got back in the rhythm of being inside a large Creature of Grimm. He had transformed so many times back in Paradis that he learned to welcome and embrace the flesh connecting him to the Titan. Rather than making his way to the rest of Kuroyuri, he decided to check on Cinder. The last time he saw her, they were still at the Coordinate. The God of Darkness used some kind of... part of Eren to envelop Cinder in darkness. It was strange, he felt as if a part of him left when it joined Cinder. But now, he could see the fruits of the god's labor.
Even in the night, Eren could see the Titan was a marvel to behold.
Standing a few feet in front of him was another Titan with black skin like the new Founding Titan. At a height of about fifteen meters, the new Titan looked at itself with glowing red eyes. The left eye was partially covered by pure white hair just reaching the shoulders. One look at this creature made Eren see many similarities to Annie Leonhart's Female Titan, for it possessed a voluptuous feminine figure with lean muscles. The only differences included the eyes, hair, skin, and the several spine like spikes running down its back and the rib cage like chest.
The new Titan was a curious one, as Cinder began to move her arm. Eren assumed she was still getting a feel for the Titan body since she was waving her arm around. Once Eren gently grabbed her arm, she began to look at her hand. After wiggling her fingers and forming a fist, the Titan looked at Eren's hand and followed it to the Founding Titan's face. She seemed to relax into the grip as she recognized her first friend.
"We need... to go," Eren said as he pointed to the burning Kuroyuri. Cinder followed where he was pointing and nodded, ready to defend the first place she called her home.
An Ren rushed into her house and slammed the door to her son's room open. She found him sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Lie, get up," she quickly ordered. "We have to go."
"...Mother?" Lie Ren was still waking up, uncertain as to what woke him up and why his mother was insisting they needed to leave. Before he could ask what was going on, his mother grabbed his arm and pulled him up.
"Now, right now, okay? Let's go!"
"..."
Little Lie was wide awake now, and he was following his mother without a word. As the duo made their way into the kitchen, the front door slammed open to reveal a heavily-breathing Li walking inside. When he heard his wife call to him, the man looked at his family with worry. "An, what are you doing?!" he cried. "We need to hurry!"
"We can go to the safehouse!" his wife suggested.
"No, I saw the beast. We need a Huntsman. And you two need to leave."
"What?"
A loud shriek found its way to the Ren household, causing each member to look at the walls and ceiling in alarm. And when the sound and vibrations of large footsteps took its place, the child began to feel the urge to cry. "Mother?"
An shared her son's fears, but she was able to hide them under a comforting face as she kneeled down to her son. "It's okay," she said, attempting to calm him down. "Everything's okay."
*SLAM*
Another vibration, much closer this time, found its way just outside the house and caused everyone to lose their footing. Li was the the first to stand back up and see what was going on. Out the front window, he could see nothing but black. It wasn't the black of night, but something else. The black looked like the black of a Grimm's flesh.
As his wife and child were getting back up, Li carefully looked out the door to see what was going on. The screech of a Nevermore caused him to look up and feel his jaw drop. There was indeed a Nevermore right above his house, but it was struggling in the grasp of a much larger Grimm. As it turned down to him, Li could see that this Grimm was almost... human.
When Eren and Cinder reached Kuroyuri, Eren's first target was a large Nevermore that came dangerously close to the Ren household. When he stopped it from crashing onto the roof, Eren began to pull on its wings. Once he ripped them off, the Grimm fell to the ground and almost landed on a group of people running away. Realizing he had to be more careful where he stepped, Eren slowly moved on to the next Grimm he saw.
When Cinder went after the Grimm, she grabbed the first Grimm she saw, a lone Beowolf. When she picked it up to eye level, the Grimm suddenly turned to dust. She didn't know why at first, but then she realized how large she was. Her strength must have increased tenfold, and the Beowolf was an ant compared to her force. After repeating the process a few more times, she turned to Eren. She caught a glimpse of him hardening his skin to punch another Nevermore.
That was when she got the idea to use her Semblance on the Grimm. Once she picked up another Grimm, an Ursa this time, Cinder opened her hand to let the Grimm rest on her palm. At that very moment, Cinder tried to activate her Semblance.
*WHOOSH*
Rather than the surface of her palm growing warm, a large jet of fire engulfed her palm and the Grimm. The fire shot into the sky, catching the Titan off guard. Rather than it's normal black dust, the Ursa was reduced to ashes that fell off Cinder's hand.
The Titan looked at her hands as she activated her Semblance again. At a careful fraction of her power, Cinder examined the fire growing on her palms. She wasn't just heating up anything she touched, Cinder was creating real fire.
Cinder decided to test her newfound power when she heard a loud scream, louder than that of the people who were running all over the place. Cinder followed the sound to see a man struggling in the grasp of a long arm. She followed the arm to see a very unique Grimm, a humanoid figure with horns and orange mouth on top of what looked like some kind of horse. It was clear that this Grimm was uncommon, one of a kind. And something that no ordinary man could kill easily.
Seeing that the man couldn't free himself and he was getting closer and closer to the Grimm, Cinder raised her hand and felt her hands burn again. Rather than another jet of flame, a ball of fire launched from her palm and collided with the unique Grimm. As it burned, the monster let out a loud shriek of pain, which was agonizing to Cinder's ears. This pain left her vulnerable to another Nevermore clawing at her neck. Once it did, Cinder began to fall to the ground.
It was fortunate that Eren was watching her the whole time. He witnessed her fire powers and saw how they burned any Grimm to ash. Once he saw the Nevermore hurt Cinder, he forgot about fighting any other Grimm he saw and ran to catch her. He then lifted her over the wall and made his way to the woods.
Once they were out of sight, Eren exited his Titan and felt the cool night air blow in his face. Cinder's Titan was laying on its face and steam was beginning to rise from its nape. So he jumped down onto its back and pulled Cinder out. The heat surrounding Cinder's body was nothing unfamiliar to Eren, and he was able to ignore the burning pain to pull her out. Even though the young girl was disconnected to her Titan, she was still asleep. Eren decided to shake her a little to catch her up to speed, not wanting to wait for anything else to happen to Kuroyuri. After a few more seconds, Cinder's eyes began to open.
"You okay?" Eren asked as Cinder fully opened her eyes.
"Yeah... I'm okay," she answered. Now completely awake, Cinder looked down at the remains of her Titan. She then looked at her hands, still feeling the warmth from the fire she created. All she remembered from her first experience as a Titan was fire and killing Grimm. So she decided to ask Eren for the rest of the story. "How did I do?"
"You did... you did great," Eren replied, still astonished by what he saw. When he first laid eyes on the new Titan the God of Darkness created, Eren assumed she would be the new Female Titan. However, the amount of fire Cinder created threw that idea out the window. It was clear this Titan was something else, something new. All Eren wanted to do was find out what it was. "How did you do all that?" he asked. "With the fire?"
"I was trying to use my Semblance," Cinder explained as she stepped out of the nape. "But rather than just heating the Grimm's skin, I made all that fire. And I don't have to hold anything, I just needed to do it as if I was using my Semblance."
"Well, this was more than just your Semblance. Cinder, you were like a walking furnace, like a giant... incinerator."
A screech filled the air once again, causing the children to turn their heads back to Kuroyuri. The Grimm that were left weren't trying to kill anymore people. Instead, they were running away from the town, not wanting to risk their lives against the Titans. But the children didn't like that.
"They'll come back," Eren said. "More of them will come next time."
"Then let's stop them," Cinder said as she moved past Eren. "How can I transform again?"
"Follow my lead."
Eren suddenly took off running towards the Grimm, keeping a pace at which Cinder could follow him. Once she was right next to him, the children locked eyes. Their silent understanding was evident as Cinder followed his lead, putting her hand up to her mouth. She bit down once Eren did the same thing and felt jolts of electricity around her body. Eren felt the same thing as well as his new Titan took form. He could feel himself rise off the ground, the bones start to expand, the flesh connecting him to-
*BAM*
A fist collided with Eren's partial jaw and sent the transforming Founding Titan to the ground. As he finished transforming, Eren sat up and wondered what just hit him. That's when he saw Cinder acting... strange.
Rather than going after the fleeing Grimm, Cinder turned around and ran to Kuroyuri. Cinder knew the Grimm were nowhere near the houses near the wall, but she began to burn them to ashes. Once she was done there, she moved on to the rest of the town, spreading fire to the streets and destroying another house.
"What the hell is she doing?!" Eren mentally asked himself. "Has she gone crazy?!" He rushed over to her and grabbed her arms. The fire stopped, but Cinder began to resist his grip. He pulled both her arms as he continued to question her actions. "She's gonna burn the whole town! Darkness, what have you done now?! I was never like this when I-!"
Eren stopped moving. He suddenly realized his last thought wasn't true. During his time as a Titan, there was only one time when he was doing the same thing Cinder was doing.
"Right after becoming a Titan... you swung your fist three times at Mikasa Ackerman."
Eren remembered what he was told after the defense of Trost. Although he still had no memory of attacking Mikasa, everyone he talked to confirmed that it happened. He assumed he lost control when he willingly transformed for the first time, and now the same thing was happening to Cinder. He needed to stop her before she hurt anyone.
Unfortunately, Cinder was a fighter. She broke free from Eren's grasp and launched more fire at him. He stumbled when the jets hit his chest, but he refused to fall to his knees. Instead, he grabbed her arms and pulled her away from the city. He didn't want to hurt her, but he prepared himself to do whatever it took to get Cinder out of that Titan.
Eren soon realized that might be easier than he thought, as Cinder began to recklessly kick and punch whatever was in her way. Back in Atlas, Eren had taught Cinder most of what he learned from his time as a cadet in the army. Instructor Shadis and Annie taught him potent attacks in hand-to-hand rather than just fighting with vertical maneuvering equipment. Eren decided to go with the basics when he trained Cinder, a small crash course in basic offense. But in her Titan, Cinder seemed to throw all of that out the window, as she was more concerned with destroying everything she touched.
Which left her open to a quick and efficient way to take her out of the picture, if Eren performed his planned attack perfectly.
After grabbing Cinder once again and pulling her away from the town, she broke part of the wall before meeting Eren face-to-face, who had both of his fists raised. Cinder suddenly threw a fist towards Eren, which he dodged with ease. Another fist came his way and he blocked it with his arm. Once Cinder let out one loud roar and threw her left fist at Eren's face, that was when he made his move. He twisted her arm to make the fist open into a flat palm, just before she threw another fist. Rather than returning a punch of his own, Eren slapped his hand into Cinder's throat and pushed her to the side. When she was close to his right side, Eren swung his leg into Cinder's making her stand on one foot. But with the momentum Eren created with his leg and pushing Cinder's throat, the Titan flipped in the air before landing hard on the ground.
Eren caught his breath before preparing to attack once again. However, he saw that wouldn't be necessary, given that Cinder appeared to be unconscious on the ground. His attention focused on the Grimm that seemed to be returning. Perhaps they wanted to use the Titans fighting as an opportunity to freely destroy Kuroyuri, Eren wasn't too sure what drew them back. But he knew these Grimm had to be stopped before they hurt anyone else. And Eren was starting to have an idea about how to do that.
Once he ran up to the horde, Eren slammed his fist down to the ground. Suddenly, a massive rock grew from the dirt and turned the Grimm into dust. The rock was like the ones Eren saw in the Coordinate, purplish-black and crystal-like. It was large enough to prevent any wolves or bears to climb, but the birds would have no problem flying over. He would have to deal with those later, as more Grimm came from various directions. Eren continued his strategy of creating giant rocks, in an effort to save time and deal with the birds.
"Mother! Father!"
The chaos Kuroyuri was enduring didn't just affect the buildings. Every citizen had run in various directions, screaming and panicking. Some were hurt, but most were able to escape the Grimm and avoid the giant monsters that seemed to kill every Grimm they saw.
However, people like Lie Ren had become separated from their families and were alone to fend for themselves. Unable to find his parents and with more Grimm coming his way, Lie ran as fast as he could without a destination in mind. When he began to run out of breath, Lie jumped under a bridge to rest. The Grimm weren't after him, they made their way towards the town exit. But that didn't stop the boy from feeling scared. The Grimm may have gone, but the other giant had begun to set fire to the town. And he had no idea where his parents could be, or if they were still alive. The mere idea of being left to fend for himself made Lie start to cry.
And he wasn't the only one.
About twenty feet away from him, the boy could see a figure crouched under a house. He recognized her as the little girl who he met earlier, the one who had nowhere to go and no one to help her. Lie Ren began to empathize with her, as he was in the same position as her. He continued to cry and sob, unsure of what to do or where to go.
"Sometimes the worst action to take... is taking no action at all."
"It's easy to get scared with things like that. But sometimes, it's worth the risk to be brave."
He couldn't explain it, but Lie began to play those words in his head a few times. And all of a sudden, he stopped crying. He seemed to have found a new resolve. Things weren't hopeless, and there was something the boy could do; he could be brave.
Just as he discovered that truth, a light began to shimmer around his body. As it did, his skin and clothes changed to a dull gray. But the boy felt incredibly calm. And brave enough to stop hiding and run towards the little girl who needed his help. As he moved under the building, he made his presence known by touching her shoulder. "Hey!" The girl gasped and recoiled, but calmed herself once she realized the boy wasn't going to hurt her. "We have to be brave," Lie calmly told the girl.
A Nevermore suddenly landed on a house close to the children and let out a loud screech. It then lowered its head close to the ground. The girl whimpered for a moment, but then threw her arms around Lie. He didn't expect her to do this, but Lie quickly embraced and returned the hug. Once he did, the light shimmered around his body again. But this time, it spread across the scared girl. After a few seconds of searching, the Nevermore couldn't see anything. It couldn't sense any sign of negativity in the area, so it moved on.
The color to their bodies returned once the Nevermore flew into the night. The girl let go of Lie as he looked around. Even though there was no sign of any Grimm close to the house they were hiding under, she was still on edge. "I'm scared," she confessed to her savior.
Lie looked back to his companion and made a confession of his own. "Me too." Although this was true, the boy's fear no longer stopped him from taking necessary action. Such as moving away from the house to retrieve a small weapon he saw on the ground. His friend grabbed onto his arm for security, not ready to be alone again. "It's okay," Lie assured her. He crawled out of the bottom of the house to take the hammer. He then crawled back and offered his friend a new source of security. "We'll keep each other safe," he promised as he held out the hammer. The girl took it and began to smile. She wasn't as scared as she was before meeting her savior, and she was grateful to whatever force sent him her way. "What's your name?"
The girl looked up with a genuine smile. "Nora," she replied.
Lie began to smile for the first time since he was separated from his parents. "My name's Lie Ren," he introduced himself.
"Ren... That's a nice name."
The children crawled out of the bottom of the house, where they were met with a large footstep. They looked up to see one of the giants staring down at them, lowering his hand. Nora backed away and Ren stood in front of her, ready to defend them both. However, he was surprised to see the giant's hand softly land a couple of feet away from them with an open palm. Ren looked back at Nora, who was still scared but also equally confused. Taking command, Ren cautiously touched the Grimm's hand.
It didn't move to counterattack.
"Ren?" Nora whispered. "What's it doing?"
"I don't know," said Ren. "But... I don't think it's going to hurt us."
"I won't."
Ren's jaw dropped at the sound of the voice. He didn't bother looking around for a source, he knew the voice was overhead. And when he looked up, the giant spoke again. "It's not... safe here," it said.
The children began to lose their newfound bravery, but Ren continued to do his best to protect Nora. "You...you're not like the others," he said, still afraid of what might happen.
"No."
"What are you... What are you going to do to us?"
The giant lifted its hand and pointed behind the children. "The people... are that way." It lowered its hand again with an open palm. "I will take you... to them."
The palm was close enough to step on, but Ren didn't move. Nora was eager to take the opportunity and leave, but Ren stopped her. "N... No," he said. "You're a Grimm."
"Please," the giant requested as he knelt down closer. "I don't want to see... anyone else hurt."
Just as Eren attempted his plea, a loud screech filled the air. Everyone turned to see the Nevermore from before fly down with its talons reaching for the children. But Eren was quick enough to grab both legs with one hand and prevent it from flying away. "Hurry!" he yelled to Ren and Nora as he moved his other hand closer. "More might come soon!"
Not wanting to wait for more Grimm to come, Ren and Nora jumped onto Eren's hand and felt themselves come off the ground. Eren was careful to make sure the Nevermore was as far away from the children as possible. "Dammit, where do they keep coming from?!" he asked himself, wondering how all these Grimm kept coming.
Just as he asked that question, Eren's eyes began to glow. Both the Titan's eyes and his eyes changed into a yellow glow as images flashed in Eren's mind. The first image was the bird ripping its wings out of stagnant black water. The rest of the body came to the surface and flew into the sky, leaving the Land of Darkness. Eren then saw all the people that fell victim to the ruthless Grimm, with no survivors in sight. The last thing he saw was the Nevermore fly to his Titan, and then stop.
"What... What was that?" Eren wondered. He suddenly snapped back to reality once the Nevermore began to move closer to Ren and Nora. So he quickly threw the bird on the ground, smashing the house and turning the Grimm into dust. He then wasted no time as he made his way to where the rest of the town's people were. And true to his word, Eren found them huddled a few feet outside the wall. Some cried as they saw the Titan, some prayed, and some begged for mercy. But everyone went silent once Eren moved his hand to the ground.
Ren and Nora quickly jumped off when they saw how close to the ground they were. Before he could do anything else, Ren felt two sets of arms grab him and hold him tight. He looked up to see his parents hugging him and crying, relieved to see their son alive and well.
Eren saw that what remained of Kuroyuri was free of both people and Grimm. He realized the next thing he had to do was check on Cinder, see if she managed to control her Titan once again. To prepare himself for another fight, Eren found himself reliving his days as a trainee in the army. He was focusing on the combat methods Instructor Shadis gave him, but he also tried to remember what he learned from fighting Annie. After all, it was her move that saved him from Cinder.
But once he saw Cinder begin to exit her Titan, Eren knew there wouldn't be another fight. He instead offered his large hand to Cinder, like he did to Ren and Nora. She jumped on it without hesitating, understanding that now was the time to leave.
After going to the woods and exiting his Titan, Eren led Cinder back to the farm where they found Dina and her workers out of the storm cellar. Rather than lying about where they were, Eren exaggerated. He said that he led Cinder back to Kuroyuri to help however they could while leaving out the presence of new Titans. Dina scolded them for being so foolish, but she was more concerned about their continued safety. So the workers volunteered to take watch shifts during the rest of the night. This left Eren to his thoughts about the new Titan that walked and fought with him and the seemingly new power he discovered about the Founding Titan.
Eren and Cinder woke up the next morning to find Dina at the front door. She was talking to an older man in a gray robe, who had his hands folded in the opposite sleeve. "Are you sure that's what happened?" Dina asked.
"I am," said the man. "After those... things helped defend the town, they disappeared. Nobody knew what they were or where they came from, but they're the reason we're all standing here. Well, except the... female."
"That's... completely impossible." Those were the only words that came out of Dina's mouth. She knew what the man was talking about, she had heard similar descriptions of monsters before. But the existence of them couldn't happen all of a sudden.
"Believe what you choose, Ms. Fritz," said the robed man. "I just wanted to see if you and anyone else who stayed here are alright."
"We're all safe. The storm cellar protected us from the Grimm."
"Thank the Gods. Also, we'll be having a town meeting around noon today. You should come, hear what we all have to say."
"Are people considering moving?"
"'That's one of the ideas being thrown around, you're right. Still, you should come. Hear what everyone has to say."
"I think I will. Thank you, Mr. Mayor." Dina closed the door and made her way into the kitchen. Once she saw Eren and Cinder looking at her, she froze. She didn't think about it until now, but the Titan-like monsters weren't the only new and unexplained things in Kuroyuri. Eren still had to find an explanation about how he had come to Remnant in the first place. But there was no way Eren could know about the Titans being here.
Could he?
"Good morning," the children said.
"...Good morning," Dina addressed them as she walked over to her pantry. "Did you sleep fine?"
"Uh... yeah," said Eren, who was rubbing his eyes. "As fine as we could."
"I understand." Dina began to prepare breakfast for everyone. "Last night was scary for all of us."
"Ms. Fritz, has this ever happened here before?" Cinder asked. "A Grimm attack?"
"Well, we usually had to deal with the occasional small Grimm. But last night was... different. Or so I've heard." Dina placed bowls of food in front of the children and one for herself. "Eren, Cinder... do you know what happened last night? Did you see any of it?"
"Only some of it," said Eren. "Like we said, the city was in chaos."
"You shouldn't have gone down there."
"We know," said Cinder. "We were just trying to help."
"Well, you weren't the only ones." Dina looked at Eren with a serious demeanor on her face. She didn't care if she caused discomfort in the household, she needed answers. "Eren, you heard about the giants, didn't you?"
"The ones who saved the town?" Dina nodded. "Yeah, we heard about them. I think I caught a glimpse of one, it looked like-"
"A Titan."
"..."
Dina leaned a little closer to Eren. "Eren, please don't lie to me. You know them better than anyone. Which is why I need you to tell me the truth. Eren... do you know if the Titans followed us here? If they came with us?"
"..."
Eren and Cinder looked at each other, unsure how to answer. Surprisingly, Cinder was the one who took the initiative, and decided to slightly exaggerate about what they saw last night. "Well... Eren and I-"
*KNOCK*
*KNOCK*
Everyone turned to the front door as two knocks echoed through the room. Dina sat up and walked over to answer the door, finding Lie Ren and a little girl with red hair standing on the other side. "Lie?" Dina addressed the little boy. "This is a surprise. Is your mother here?"
"No, Ms. Fritz," the boy replied. "It's just us. We were wondering if Eren and Cinder were here."
"Yes, they're in the kitchen right now."
"May we talk to them? It's about last night."
"Wait, you saw them? Where?"
The girl spoke up this time. "We saw them... in the crowd," she said. "Yeah, they were mixed in with everyone and helping out!"
Dina knew most of the children in Kuroyuri, but this young girl was different. "I see." Wanting to be polite, she smiled down at the girl. "And who might you be, young lady?"
"I'm Nora Valkyrie," she introduced herself. "I'm new here."
"Well, it's very nice to meet you Nora. I hope last night didn't give you a bad first impression of Kuroyuri."
"It's better than what's outside the city. Besides..." Nora quickly pulled her friend into a hug. "Last night was how I met Ren!"
"Yes..." Ren choked out as the hug got tighter. Once Nora let go, he took a few sharp breaths. "I found her alone and helped her hide from the Grimm. We've been together since last night."
Lie Ren's bravery was unheard of to Dina. But that didn't stop her from feeling proud of him. "That's very brave of you, Lie. I'm sorry, why did you say you were here?"
"We were hoping to talk to Eren and Cinder. Do you mind?"
"Do your parents know you're here?"
"Of course."
"Come right in." Dina stepped aside for the children to walk inside. They found Eren and Cinder in the kitchen, their bowls empty. Dina was the first to walk inside. "Eren, Cinder, you have visitors."
The children looked up to see Ren and Nora looking at them. "Lie? What are you doing here?" Cinder asked.
"I was hoping to talk to you about last night," he replied. "About the way you helped."
Cinder and Eren looked at each other in confusion. Lie and his new friend seemed to be acting as alibis for their actions last night, but Cinder didn't recall seeing him last night. She was in her Titan before going back to the farm. Before she could say anything else, Eren asked another question.
"Talk about what, exactly?" he asked.
"Ummm..."
Ren was at a loss for words. Not that he was caught in a lie, there really was something he wanted to say to them. But he wasn't sure if talking about Kuroyuri's attack with Ms. Fritz was a good idea.
Surprisingly, it was Nora who came to the rescue.
"Is there supposed to be smoke in that field?" the young girl asked as she stared out a window.
Everyone turned around, but Dina was the first to go to the window. "I beg your pardon?" she asked as she joined Nora at the window.
"You don't see that smoke?"
"I don't see anything."
"No, it's definitely there. I think something's burning."
"I'll go check it out." Dina quickly left the house to go check the fields. Eren and Cinder looked out the window as well, but couldn't see any smoke. There didn't seem to be anything burning, so Eren got back to his original question. "What did you-?"
Ren quickly pulled out a knife he had beneath his shirt while Nora took out her wooden hammer. "We know what you are," said Ren, who pointed the knife in Eren's face. He turned back to Cinder. "Both of you."
"..."
Author's notes: thanks for reading what we made so far, I hope you're enjoying it. Please don't hesitate to leave reviews, feel free to tell us what you think. Also, don't forget to support The Avenging Titan as you would support me.
