Eren watched as his beloved walked away, after transforming into a pure titan. He couldn't bear to look at the sight and lowered himself to the ground.

"Hahaha, look at that" he heard the voice of the sergeant next to him "your woman's forgotten all about you! I guess she fancies that Grice fellow more now, hey?"

"Shut up!" Eren replied as tears poured down his face.

The man suddenly turned to face him.

"Did you say something?" He said, curiously.

"It was you…" Eren said gritting his teeth "…fifteen years ago… You fed my eight-year-old sister to your dogs…! It was you!"

The sergeant looked to the side with a sour expression.

"I'll take this one off your hands" he said to the officer leading the other living member of the movement "you can just head back to the ship."

What was that about? Why would he want to take care of this himself?

"Kruger!" The sergeant exclaimed as he lit a cigarette "if you're finished with your interrogation, I'd like to see this one dance."

"Huh" Eren looked at him with wide eyes "wait, what?"

"Cause I remember you too now, son" the man explained "so, I'm going to let you go out in a special way. We'll turn this guy into a three-to-four metre titan, then the two of you can fight."

"But why…" Eren asked with shock on his face "why do something like that…? Do you get some sick pleasure out of watching people get eaten alive…?"

The Sergeant looked at him with an empty expression as he drew on the smoke.

"I wouldn't call it pleasure" he said, "I just find it interesting."

Eren could not believe what he's just heard.

"Does that sound a bit crazy to you?" the man continued as he filled a syringe "well, the fact is most people wanna see cruelty. Don't get me wrong, I think peace is a wonderful thing, but something about it just feels… lacking."

"We've pushed death out of sight and mind… Now, that's no way to live. Death is aways near in nature. And some might think me abnormal for investigating such things. But to them, I'd say I faced this cruel world head on. And because I bothered to deepen my understanding of death, I can accept it when my time comes."

Having said that, the sergeant plunged the needle into the other restorationist.

"See, it's about education" he continued as he pushed his victim down the wall "my boys learned from watching their dogs eat your sister."

"Do you not…" Eren whispered "…feel any remorse….?"

"Well," sergeant started as the familiar wave of energy rushed from beneath "I guess I get what you mean. If something that horrible would happen to one of my children, my heart would break, no question."

"You poor devils… It's a shame you had to be born Eldian…"

The man pointed at the newly transformed titan standing in the cloud of smoke, below them.

"Look" he said "that is your people's true form. All it takes is just some titan's spinal fluid and any one of you will turn into a man-eating monster."

Sergeant looked at Eren with an accusatory glance.

"The whole of humanity would feel safer if you Eldians just disappeared" He said, "we wish we could eradicate you from this world!"

"You what…?" Eren exclaimed weakly.

"I have no trouble sleeping at night" the sergeant said as he threw away the cigarette and walked over "because I'm not really killing humans. If you had restored Eldia, you would be butchering us Marleyans right now. Where's your remorse, you murderous devil?"

"You're lying…" Eren said as he watched the man with wide eyes "…you've always lied, but I know the truth. Our founder Ymir…"

"Yeah" the man interjected as he grabbed his shoulder "I've heard it before."

Suddenly, the sergeant started to push Eren off the wall.

"Say, since your history's so wonderful, why don't you share it with your friend down there?!"

"No!" Eren yelled as he was desperately trying to stay upright "you can't do this to me!"

"Hear that?!" Sergeant sneered as he continued "your sister's calling…!"

Suddenly, the man was pushed off.

Eren looked towards the man who did it and saw Kruger. Then, he looked down and watched as the sergeant cried with agony, while the titan's jaw closed down on him.

"So" the officer asked calmly "was it as interesting as he said it was?"

"Wait…" Eren exclaimed "why'd you do that…?"

"Because I'm the owl, Grisha."

"Watch closely" He said as he took out a knife and grabbed the blade "and don't forget. This, is how we of the nine use our power!"

Kruger slashed right through his palm and a bright flash of yellow erupted from his spot.

"Then" Eren said as he concluded the story "he proceeded to kill off the rest of the Marleyan crew."

The boy looked at the scout officers through the bars. His insubordination costed him a few days of arrest, but personally, he didn't care. His only regret was that he didn't get to see Historia.

"So, this is what happened…" Dina said slowly "…the owl managed to get to the secret service…"

"He faked his blood tests" Eren explained and looked at the commander "does she have to be here?"

After a moment of consideration, Erwin nodded understandingly.

"If you'd be so kind…" he said looking towards the blonde woman.

Dina looked down with a sad expression.

"Yes…" she replied "I understand…"

As the door closed behind her, Levi sneered.

"Why does he have the right to displace people?" The short captain asked.

"He lost his friend just recently" Erwin replied with sympathetic voice "he has the right to be angry."

The commander looked towards the boy in question.

"I'm sorry about what happened" he said, "I sacrificed my life without the hope of ever getting it back."

"You don't have to be sorry, sir" Eren responded "it wasn't your call anyway. Besides, Armin did the same…"

The commander nodded at that.

"Do you remember anything else?" Hange asked.

The boy thought hard, trying to find any missed detail.

"What Kruger said" he started "pretty much confirms our suspicions about the power of the founding titan."

"Currently, no man can use it, be it of royal blood or not…"

The atmosphere was grim in the custody cell room.

"Well," Erwin began "I think this concludes it for today. Let us know if you two need anything."

Once all of the scouts left, Eren sat down in front of the bars.

"Eren" Mikasa spoke from the adjacent cell "how are you holding up?"

"Armin's dead…" the boy said blankly "…and it's all because of Dina…"

The dark-haired girl looked down with sadness.

"Yeah" she replied "we failed him…"

Silence filled the air as the two contemplated on what happened. Eren didn't know what to do. Armin was the person who gave him his greatest dream. He was the bravest of them all. He gave his life, and never even saw the ocean he dreamt of. Without his blonde friend, reality seemed bitter and cruel.

"So" Mikasa suddenly asked "when were you going to tell me about Historia?"

Eren jolted up when she said that.

"How do you know?!" He asked her with panic in his voice.

"Well," the girl continued "your reaction just confirmed it."

The boy slouched down with a pout.

"Relax" she spoke "I highly doubt anyone else picked up on that. I saw it because I know you. She was looking at you the way I would, some time ago…"

"Eww!" Eren retorted with a sour face "I didn't need to know that!"

"Good for the two of you" she spoke in a happy tone.

Suddenly, Connie and Jean burst through the door.

"Good news!" Jean exclaimed "the queen has overturned your arrest!"

It was indeed good news. As the cell doors were unlocked, happiness washed over Eren. He would finally get to see Historia.

It turned out that the queen changed the date of the awarding ceremony for tomorrow. When all of the survey corps troops finally made it to the capital, they could hear cheers from everywhere.

Glad civilians warmly welcomed them everywhere. They wanted to talk and hear stories about what happened. All of a sudden, Eren felt that his hero status was pretty cool.

In the palace, they waited among the other members of the military. The boy was walking around with his friends, when suddenly, he heard someone call out to him.

"Eren!"

He turned around.

"Oh" he said surprised "it's you, Marlowe…"

Right now, he wasn't really fond of the guy. Nonetheless, he couldn't blame him for just wanting to save the commander.

"What do you want?" Mikasa asked with an expressionless face.

The boy gulped when he saw that.

"I-I don't want to be on bad terms with you guys" he started.

"I don't blame you" Eren responded "we're not on bad terms…"

"I know it's untrue" Marlowe interjected.

Eren sighed at that. In a way, the boy was right. He wasn't able to put all the blame on Dina, and he felt angry at everyone involved.

"I don't know what the right call was" the boy explained "no one could possibly know if Armin…"

Suddenly, Eren grabbed him by his uniform and raised his fist, ready to strike.

"Just shut up!" He exclaimed angrily.

"Do it" Marlowe said while closing his eyes, preparing for the punch.

This threw Eren off. Momentarily, all of his anger disappeared.

"Maybe Armin could be better of a commander for the scouts…" the former MP said with a determined tone "…if you want to vent out, I won't retaliate…"

Suddenly, Eren saw that everyone around was looking. He released the boy and lowered his fist.

"Relax, everyone!" Jean exclaimed "it's all cool…"

"You're right…" the young shifter admitted "I was angry before. But not anymore."

"So" Marlowe asked while extending his hand to him "are we good?"

Eren smiled at him. Suicide bastards should stick together after all.

"Yeah."

"What are you all about?" A new voice spoke out.

It was Hitch. Eren remembered that she was the MP who was waiting at the wall in Trost.

"Oh" Marlowe replied slowly "I wanted to invite them to the wedding…"

"What wedding?" The female asked with curiosity.

"Our wedding" the boy exclaimed as he kneeled before her.

"Hitch Dreyse, will you marry me?"

This seemed to have shocked everybody.

"W-what…?" The girl in question asked while stammering.

"The suicide charge made me understand that life is too short to postpone such things" Marlowe explained "maybe it's just because I fell off a horse, but nonetheless…"

"Of course, I will!" Hitch exclaimed with happy tears in her eyes.

When he raised up, she jumped to embrace him. As the two kissed, all the soldiers around clapped and cheered for the two.

When they were finally in the throne room, Eren thought about Marlowe's words. He looked towards Historia as she was handing the medals out. Should they get married as well? It seemed a little alien to Eren, but he didn't entirely dislike that idea.

The scene played in his head for the second time as Historia stood right before him. Would he have enough guts to do it?

After she decorated him, she held out her soft hand. He liked those hands, really much, but didn't want to show it in front of everyone. With every ounce of his willpower, he restrained himself from anything more than simply kissing her knuckles.

As he did that, a jolt of electricity ran through him.

Eren suddenly saw something that terrified him to the core.