Time now continued to pass by quickly and peacefully, mainly due to the military recovering from the major purge and instead assisting with the less-stressful activity of mining. The glowing ore from the UnderGround Chapel incident was found to be an extremely useful light source, now commonly used more often than the usual candles and open flames. In relation to that, Eren undertook many hardening experiments to understand this new Titan ability of his. With time and in conjunction with the Corps eccentric scientist, a new anti-Titan weapon was created and implemented across the Walls. Of course, Hanji dramatically dubbed it as the Executioner from Hell and was eager to show it off. Nothing less than a public demonstration was enough for her.
As such, we watched from the safety of the Walls as Titan by Titan were lured into a narrow crevice by a seemingly helpless soldier. Little did the giants understand that there was no way to reach the human, who was protected by numerous strands of Eren's hardened crystal. Once the Titan's head was wedged into place, the Corps would manually drop a heavy log onto the nape, effectively killing the creature. Give it a few minutes and the Titan was all but smoke in the air and the mechanism was reset, ready for the next prey.
Despite Eren clearly suffering from the constant experiments, the man was a trooper and looked to the benefits of his hardening ability. With it, Titans by the Walls would slowly diminish and without the risk of losing human lives. As that was going on, the higher military ranks were preparing for the prospective retaking of Wall Maria, fueled by the new power Eren held.
It wasn't until Levi slammed my office door open one day that I remembered that Humanity was far from being free. Admittedly these last few weeks had made me drop my guard. I shrieked and almost drowned my paperwork in coffee.
"Holy Wall Maria – Levi!" I instinctively grabber my teacup saucer and raised it."What the hell do you think…you're…"
My words faltered as I registered who exactly was at the door. I slowly dropped my arm from its' ready-to-throw position, the porcelain saucer clacking safely back onto the wooden desk.
"Eren?" my eyes moved to the 104th and then back to Levi. "Levi? What's going on?"
With a flick of the Captain's head, the two headed back into the corridor and I hurried after them. As I finally stepped in line with the Captain, he read my mind and began explaining.
"Eren remembered something from his Titan memories. Hanji and my squad are heading out to meet Keith Sadies. I figured it would be a good idea for you to come along."
"Commandant Sadies? Titan memories?" I glanced back at the brunette soldier, who simply blinked at my action.
"Long story, not important. We're going with Eren's information as we go along."
As we entered another office, everyone was already there. Levi's squadron was scattered among the room, Hanji hovered near the desk. Sitting at the desk himself, was Commandant Sadies, head of the 104th cohort training. His tanned face was turned towards someone; his eyes naturally piercing through the poor person.
"What's wrong Braus? Not sitting?"
The terrified Sasha stood up even straighter than a tree trunk. "No sir! I am quite fine standing here, sir!"
His eyes next move over to Eren, who had just sat down on his seat.
"Eren…you resemble your mother so much. However, the emotion lurking deep in your eyes belong to no other than your father."
Eren perked up. "Tell me everything you know about him. Everything you know!"
At this, Sadies sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I know nothing…in the grand scheme of things. But I can tell you a useless story about myself being a mere bystander."
The next daylight hours were filled with Sadies going through his history…and of Grisha Jaeger's.
A few days had passed since the revelation of Sadies and word spread quickly through higher management."Hazura."
I blinked and turned towards the voice, my fingers paused in the turning of the page. Hanji flicked her head towards the corridor silently and I obeyed the simple command. With the information that Sadies had given us earlier, the military were quietly springing into action. I followed Hanji through the streets of Wall Rose, before we entered a non-conspicuous building. With Wall Sina and the MP still undergoing major changes, Wall Rose was safer for any discussion regarding Humanity's mission. I closed the door and turned to survey my surroundings. At the end of the dimly lit room was a single round table, surrounded by drawn dark blue curtains. The eyes of Dhalis Zachary, Dot Pyxis, Erwin Smith and Levi Ackerman turned to us entering.
"Sorry we're late." Hanji apologized as we approached. She pulled something from her military coat and placed it on the table. "We figured it would be wise to have the leader of the Special Operations Squad an idea of what the situation is."
I saluted at the group and Zachary nodded in acknowledgement. Afterwards, he began, interlacing his fingers in thought.
"Well? Have we discovered what's in the container?"
At this, Hanji flipped open the little box and a glass syringe sat inside, its purple liquid swirling in its confines. My eyes widened slightly at the mysterious liquid. it was nothing like I had ever seen before and held an almost mystical movement to it. Hanji sighed as she pulled back, crossing her arms.
"We only know is that the injection of this liquid will turn a human into a Titan. Except, with our technology we can't dig much deeper. From what Eren and Historia have told us, it originates from some sort of human bodily fluid. However, it vaporises in contact with air so analysis is difficult. Whoever made it must have had far superior technology to ours but I can't even begin to imagine how the Reiss family could have done it…"
"In that case, we should use it to our advantage." Pyxis suggested.
Zachary hummed in thought. "But who to entrust it to?" His eyes shifted to Erwin.
"No." Our Commander promptly stated and gestured to his missing arm. "I am merely a wounded soldier. This box should go with one of our most elite soldiers with the best odds of survival." He then turned to me. "Rina, although elite, your position as Special Operations is enough to put you in the most dangerous situations at best."
I nodded in silent agreement. We all turned to Levi.
"Levi – will you keep it?"
"If it's an order, just say so. Why ask the question?" Levi stated. I rolled my eyes at his bluntness. Erwin continued as if nothing happened.
"We can't predict the situation and so we'll be relying on you to make the decision on the fly – when and who to use it on. Can you do that?"
"And you…what will you do when this dream of yours comes true?" Levi answered with his own question. It was one of the rare times I saw the Commander hesitate.
"I…don't know. I probably won't know until it happens."
Seemingly satisfied, Levi stepped away from the table. "All right – I'll take it."
The meeting soon dispersed and Hanji, Levi and I trailed our Commander out.
"The logistics of retaking of Wall Maria have been finalised." Erwin informed. "We begin our mission in two days time. The soldiers should enjoy these last nights before heading back into this battle. Hanji, Levi, Rina – gather the squad heads for a meeting in my office before sundown today. The sooner the word is spread, the better."
"Yes sir."