The explosion certainly didn't destroy the entire house but it shook the manse hard enough to shatter the windows into sharp fatal pieces. Eren struggled against the tremors in vain, losing his balance and ungracefully plopping face-first. Kenny on the other hand swept up Historia and sprung towards the wall away from the glass. From the floor, even Eren could see how he kept her on the ground shielding her from the worst. Still…

"Historia? Are you alright?"

"She's fine. The hell was that?"

"Titan transformation. I don't know which."

I thought we had more time

"We have to leave, they're probably here for Historia or the founding titan."

"What of my MPs?" Historia perked up from the floor.

"Heh. Don't let that queen business get to you."

"What Kenny means is that the MPs will serve as fodder. Kenny, I'm going to transform. Are there any important nobles here?"

"There's a permanent boot-licking gaggle in tha drawing room. See ya." And he jumped out of the window, Historia tucked under his arm, without asking why Eren needed that information.

Outside the study, the house was in a panic. MPs were running to the back of the house away from the Titan and the entire front of the house was demolished. The air was thick with the dust and the form of the titan, roared, swung its hands and clipped a fairly competent soldier into the debris. The required nobles were cowering on beneath the double stairs, their fine clothing pale with dust and cement. As another soldier managed to get the attention of the titan away they got into a ridiculous race to pass the titan without it noticing.

Eren leapt from the upper floor into the chaos-

Aargh

He landed lopsidedly on the ground and his ankle flared in anger.

Yeah? Well deal with it

With the entire area surrounded by dust no one would notice a bit of stray steam and Eren had more important concerns. He rolled up his sleeves and bit into his forearm just enough to draw blood for a necessary transformation.

That hurts. Badly

He rolled his sleeves back down and attached himself to the most pompous looking noble: a fat man struggling with a ridiculous cape. He grabbed the folds of the cape and helped lift the noble's pointless fabric off the ground. The rich pork only acknowledged his existence with a scowl and they headed straight out and past the Armored Titan itself. Well, almost. Eren tripped with a loud cry bringing the noble down with him.

"I'm sorry! Please your Majesty I'm sorry!"

Reiner was trying to swat the Eldian soldiers buzzing around him with those annoying wires but he must have heard the shrill pleading and the words, "Your Majesty" since he turned. And right there in the midst of the fleeing group sat a tripped up noble in the most abhorrent of fashions and the servant boy who was begging for his life. When he turned to both of them the Noble froze and the boy begged even harder; before deciding that fleeing would be a much better option for survival than begging his master. Reiner didn't even lunge at the Noble when the fat codger screamed and the boy fell over in a piss-poor imitation of pain throes. Then the boy transformed.

Where a short human had been fleeing, a bald toothless titan in its place groaned, arms crossed as if w hugging itself. It groaned a deep throaty cry and charged him to the ground. Even as he squashed some devil beneath him his mind was ringing only one warning.

The Founding Titan of Paradis was before him.

Fully armed but unwilling to fight.

So he cast off the toothless abnormal that was straddling him and grabbed after the King of the Walls. A swinging soldier swept the king out of his grasp moments before he could imprison the devil. He scooped up a handful of rocks and flung it in their general direction. His easy aim was spot on and he hit both soldier and passenger catching their bodies in his palm before they hit the ground and…

He swallowed them.

On the ground Eren watched as Reiner swept up the noble and took the bait hook, line and sinker. For the nonce, Historia was protected by that random noble's sacrifice and Eren charged Reiner once again. A stunning backhand to the jaw took him down and he laid there waiting to see if the Armored Titan would come after him. Reiner had other priorities and he laid into the few living witnesses crushing them beneath hand and foot. Making sure no one saw anything and lived to sing about it. As much as it annoyed him, there was only one thing Eren was going to do.

Absolutely nothing.

"WHAT?!"

"Please don't shout, General Pixis." Erwin slightly bent out of the way of the wine spray. Pixis' loyal assistant nervously slid the wine bottle out of his reach.

Pixis lightly ignored her with his eyes set fully on the black book. Erwin was already getting irritable, a sure sign of sleep deprivation but he'd been far too unsettled in the carriage mulling over his close call with Zackly. What if Pixis wasn't a spy, but one of his many aides was? Could Nile be trusted? Would the king need to die? How would the King need to die? What of the Reiss family? Would a new system of government have to be drafted?

"As it so stands I'll need the cooperation of the Garrison for whatever step we-" Erwin's audience consisted of the bottle and two books. The general had his face glued to the black book and its promise of knowledge. Erwin sighed and hid his face in his palm.

This is not how I imagined this meeting.

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago since he was first told the secrets?

The truth his father died for?

Knowing Father was right didn't make the pain go away. It didn't even feel worth it.

His father could be alive right now and they'd both be theorizing and planning together. His father, someone who he could rely on. Speak to. Pixis was no friend of his, perhaps a valuable ally. A wonderful leader without a doubt. Yet in the Scouts, he himself was the Commander; The solid Pillar of Confidence and Hope. No one dared believe he needed support. Most of the poor soldiers barely got by trusting in him. To Hange, Levi, Miche, Nanaba-

I hope those two are alright

-he was another kind of support. The man who made the decisions they didn't want to. Their peerless arbitrator. Fine then, he'd put trust in Grisha's books after the man's pen had put the lie to his own words. Now others must put trust in him. He lifted his face from his hands, carefully leaned over and tugged the book out of Pixis' grasp. The old general blinked and finally looked at him.

"I haven't finished speaking, sir." From the astonishment, Pixis clearly hadn't had anyone speak to him in a superior's voice for a long while. Erwin sat back and drilled his eyes into the weathered face.

Trust in me Pixis. It's our only way

"Easy now." Grisha sat up and adjusted his glasses. The poor rebels. Kramer had gone pale and all the others were aggressively staring him and Miche down. Mathias raised his hands and came forward peacefully.

"I'll go with you…"

"Thank you." He nodded to Miche and the section commander threw up his flare gun and fired off an acoustic round.

The first giveaway of the number of soldiers coming was the distinctive sound of the ODM Gear. Instead of a slight whirring , the streets overflowed with reeling from everywhere. Grisha, Kramer and all the others snapped their necks back and forth as the sound of the cable whirring came from all over the buildings. A darkened silhouette of a scout on the roofs waved a torch and a garrison squad popped from behind a Wall leveling their guns at the meeting.

"Buh-wha?"

Kramer was sweating profusely and the thin man beside Grisha swallowed as three scouts bull-rushed him down to the ground. The gun was wrenched out of his grasp and metal cuffs were slapped over his wrist. Apart from the three in the square, shouts of shock and terror burst all over the square as Miche's scouts caught all their eavesdropping friends and bustled them up against the walls. The woman beside Kramer and Grisha's assailant were pushed face down into the pavement far away from everyone else. Ruthless Kramer got his own personal squad of overeager soldiers. Grisha was almost impressed by the speed of their arrests.

Then he noticed they brought no transport. Miche was pointedly looking at the officer in charge of the garrison Eugene, or such, who was studying the road patterns.

"Ma'am! One woman escaped!" A scout yelled down from the roof.

"Follow her!" Nanaba ordered. At her command, one of the roof-side teams followed after. Immediately they left silence fell over the small square.

Nanaba normally disliked silent places; the still before the storm. She didn't mind it as much as some certain persons did. But watching the young garrison soldiers idle and with no idea what to do while waiting for their transport was far too entertaining. One was patting down a prisoner for the fifth time, most of them had the sense to look busy by studying their surroundings (in circles), but one particular soldier was practicing his takedown tactics. One particular group stood at attention before several members started bending their knees, when that failed they switched to leaning against the walls. Nanaba was grinning openly at the recruits when the wagons arrived to pick them up and they forced their prisoners in.

"Can we move?" The titan-doctor: Geisha? (she needed to memorize his name) was looking at her expectantly. She shook her head.

"Not until we find their closest bolthole."

It took another five minutes for the signal to come in and Miche led a team to apprehend the potential threat of….

And old man and two women.

She wasn't in a good mood on the way back as the force split into the main Wagon transport and the ODM-enabled escort and they raced for town hall.

-O-

Dismantling of Rebel Brigade?

Capture of said Rebel's Ring-Leader?

Success.

Rita was apparently asleep and the prisoners were rushed into the cells down below by Eugene, a slight young fellow who was Rita's unofficial third in command. Rita herself was nowhere to be found, probably taking a well-deserved rest. Amanda, the second-in-command was locked in her office under suspicion for aiding and abetting especially since she was in charge of the patrols. Geisha was confident that Amanda would be set free soon. If she was the traitor, she'd somehow neglected to warn her compatriots through her spy ring within the corps, but the decision was up to Rita.

That felt unusually short… From restorationist to royalist, I've certainly come a long way

Down in the courtyard, the young Garrison soldiers were exchanging short tales of maneuvers and arrests, jubilant at their clean arrest of a 'notorious' criminal. No bloodshed, no uncomfortable decisions and no casualties.

Savor it while it lasts.

A/N: Yes, I know, Eren gets darker and darker, the little Quinta Arc I had planned is finished and it feels... underwhelming? Do, please leave a review, hopefully, I can figure out what's wrong from those. Like seriously though, just one review would help.

Looking forward to That Bright Dawn