The night became dark as the clouds covered up the moon. Armin held out his shining ore lantern to see the track. It seemed like they were getting close to Shiganshina.

What a crazy time to live. One day they were overthrowing the government, and the other they would spend risking their lives to retake wall Maria. The blonde boy looked at his friends.

Mikasa seemed calm, but Armin knew her enough to tell that inside, she was anxious. Eren on the other hand, wasn't doing such a good job at hiding his emotions. His hand holding the lantern was shaking visibly.

"Eren" he heard Dina say as she walked over "are you scared?"

"What?" The boy in question asked faking a surprise "of course not!"

"Your hands were shaking" Armin stated.

"It's because of the cold…" Eren said trying to avoid the talk.

"Eren" Dina said again "everyone's anxious. You don't need to act tough."

The boy looked at the woman. She smiled at him and motioned to her own hands. In the light coming from the crystals, Armin could see that her hands were shaking as well.

"See?" She asked him "no need to be ashamed. You are brave Eren. Way braver than any of us. You can do this."

"Don't say such stuff in front of friends…" The boy replied looking down with embarrassment "anyway, we should focus on the mission!"

As he said that, he strode forward with newfound resolve. Armin saw that Eren's hands were no longer shaking.

"Amazing" he admitted "you have such a great way to get through to him…"

Dina looked down with a grin.

"It was never intentional" she replied "I was just taking care of him…"

"He always listens to you" Armin "just please, don't abuse his trust…"

"I won't."

An awkward silence fell between the two.

"Dina" Armin started after a while "perhaps I've misjudged you…"

"It's okay" the woman replied, looking at him with a warm smile "you had every right to suspect me."

"I'm sorry for that" he said, "I may not like you that much, but I shouldn't have accused you."

"It's not your fault" she responded with a sigh of relief "people make mistakes."

Making up with Dina was something Armin has been trying to do for a long time. It didn't matter if he liked her or not, she was one of the most important people in his best friend's life and he had to accept it.

Yet, something about the woman always seemed to repel him. Up front, she seemed like a good, caring person, but inside, he knew she was hiding something. Something belonging to the past, something that brought her here.

As the sun rose above the horizon, the scouts switched to horseback. Armin looked at the very town he once would call his home.

"The sun is starting to rise!" The commander yelled "be careful of hiding titans!"

"Begin the operation! All troops switch to vertical maneuvering!"

When Armin heard that, he launched himself up. The day finally came when he would come back here. Not as a boy, but as a man. As he neared the top of the wall, he thought if everything would be just the way he remembered.

Along the rest, Armin reached the wall. Immediately, he started running, trying to scope the whole area from above.

Suddenly he came across a weird sight. A charred spot. As if somebody lit a fire right here.

'Ashes from a campfire?' Armin thought as he looked at the black streak, leading to the edge 'they must have rushed down the wall'

He looked towards commander Erwin, standing on the wall, just over the inner gate. Armin raised a signal gun and fired. That gained the attention of his superior, and said man walked over to him.

"What is it?" He shouted.

"Someone lit a fire, right here!" Armin exclaimed as he ran to the edge of the wall "I'm coming down to investigate!"

As the commander nodded at him, the blonde boy jumped down.

What he found there, confirmed his suspicions. A small camping set was laying on the soft grass. Armin walked over and picked the teapot up.

'What is this drink?' He asked himself as he sniffed the cups 'smells good…'

As he wrapped his investigation up, he suddenly heard a loud sound coming from the outer gate.

'It must be Eren.'

He launched himself back up.

"I have a report!" Armin yelled to the commander as he reached the top of the wall.

"I found a full camping set scattered on the ground. They seemed to be drinking something that resembled tea. The pot had gone cold, but there were four cups left behind."

"It seems there were more than three people on the top of the wall" the blonde boy said as he finished the report.

"Was it an iron pot?" Commander Erwin asked.

"Yes."

"That's odd" his superior started "we made full use of our horses and our vertical maneuvering equipment to get here at top speed. They should have had two minutes at most between the time they first heard or saw us when we arrived. There's no way a freshly used pot would have cooled off in just two minutes."

Armin thought the very same thing. And in conclusion, this meant that…

"Our enemies knew that we were approaching at least five minutes in advance, which means they had plenty of time to prepare for us."

"We should assume they had scouts…" Armin added.

The commander looked at him with consideration.

"Arlert" he started "your mind has saved us from dire straits time and time again. Now, we need your abilities more than ever."

Suddenly the blonde boy felt the whole weight of the situation.

"Take as many men as you want" the commander said, "and search the area around the inner gate for enemies."

When he said that, he motioned for all the nearby soldiers to come.

"Nothing unusual discovered in the whole area, sir!" The squad leader reported as the scouts reached the commander.

"You will continue your search under the command of Arlert!" Erwin exclaimed.

"Yes, sir!"

Momentarily, the soldiers turned towards Armin.

"We've searched every nook and cranny of that wall!"

"What are your orders?"

At this moment, the blonde boy felt more anxious than ever.

"Split into two groups!" He started nervously "and search the buildings around the inner gate, both outside and inside the district. If you find anything, report by acoustic shell!"

"Yes, sir!"

As Armin hung down, to look at the whole area, he started to think.

Eren's team was coming their way. They were going to seal the gate in a few minutes. But why did their enemies stay hidden? Were they waiting for Eren to become exhausted once he sealed the second hole? If that were the case, they would have to be nearby.

'Where could they be…?" He thought as he looked up.

Suddenly, he got an idea.

He raised his gun again and fired a signal.

Once he got to the top, he became surrounded by soldiers.

"What is it?"

"Did you find them?"

"Where are the enemies?"

"Not yet!" Armin yelled at them "Everyone, search the wall!"

The soldiers looked surprised.

"We've already told you, that…"

"They're inside the wall!" Armin cried out.

Some of the scouts raised their eyebrows at that.

"Inside the wall?"

"There must be a space inside it where humans can stay for an extended period of time!" The blonde boy exclaimed.

"How do you know that?"

Armin looked down. He didn't have any proof, yet he wanted them to possibly risk their lives.

He looked towards the commander. Erwin had determination written all over his face and gave him a reassuring nod.

"In the past, they've used their titan powers in the most improbable way" Armin started "we know that the walls were made with one of those powers. If we ever want to gain the upper hand, we have to think outside the box!"

That seemed to convince the scouts. Upon that, Erwin fired a flare to halt the operation.

As the soldiers hung from the wall, trying to find hollow spaces, Armin felt uneasy. That decision of his, may have been a wise choice, yet something was still bothering him. He was putting the lives of others on the line.

"Over here!" Someone yelled as he fired an acoustic shell "I found…"

The soldier never managed to finish the sentence, because a sword ran through his abdomen.

As Armin looked at the sight, he saw that Reiner emerged from behind a fake part of the wall. Just as he did that, Captain Levi fell down on the enemy with his sword slashing right at Reiner's throat.

Before he managed to hurt Reiner, a second person came out of the hollow space, blocking the blade's path. As Marcel took the slash to his abdomen, yellow sparks could be seen all around.

"Captain!" Armin yelled as he jumped away "run!"

Just as Levi managed to escape, a familiar wave of energy erupted from Marcel.