"What is it, Erwin?" Pixis asked as he took a seat.

"Yeah, could you explain why we are meeting at this hour?" Zackley exclaimed while yawning.

"Thank you all for coming here" the blonde general said.

Dina was sharing her suspicions with Erwin, and she was the actual one who talked him into organizing this meeting.

"I've been having very strange thoughts lately" the man continued "first, the queen sent me and Dina away for a mission which was doomed to failure from the start. Then, she had conducted this strange army reform, without us knowing anything."

"The queen is the queen, Erwin" Pixis said "she's the actual ruler of this place. I think that's normal for her."

"It was us who put her into power" the blonde general reminded "and did you notice how weirdly proactive she had been those past few years?"

"But isn't that good?" Zackley asked.

"With how close she is to Eren" Dina interjected "I don't really think it's just her trying to be more engaged."

"What are you trying to suggest?"

"I suggest that Freudenberg wasn't the last person who saw Eren on the island" Erwin explained "I think that the queen's consort disappeared after consultations with her. And I know for a fact that she was lying when she called us to the capital."

That slightly shocked the officers. It was a crazy theory but at the same time a plausible one.

"I think they want Eren to meet with Zeke on the island" the blonde general continued "it's a long shot, but maybe, Zeke has some secret knowledge on how to use the founder's power."

If any of the people present, weren't shocked enough, this was the final straw.

"Do you have any proof?" Pixis asked with wide eyes.

Erwin looked towards the only person in the room who was keeping quiet.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Nile just sighed out.

"Right after the two of them departed for their journey, something strange happened" he started "one of the MPs still loyal to me reported that Eren met with Yelena in secret."

Upon that, Pixis and Zackley widened their eyes.

"What was even stranger" the man continued "was that the queen personally ordered for this to be removed from the official report."

"So, they are cooperating…"

"Yes."

Erwin looked at the officers.

"They must have their own agenda." he exclaimed "whatever it is, they want to keep it hidden for as long as they can. We cannot let Zeke meet up with Eren. I want you to prepare as many soldiers still loyal to you, as you can. And if our suspicions prove to be unfounded, we won't really be risking anything…"

'So, it has come to this' Dina thought as she looked at the evacuated city.

Once the raid crew came back, Levi took the responsibility of detaining Zeke. Eren was arrested and everything seemed to be going in the good direction.

However, when they heard that Eren's arrest had been overturned after an audience with Historia, Dina knew they needed to act fast. The officers ordered an evacuation of Shiganshina, and Levi brought Zeke into the city itself. They hadn't been given new orders yet, but it was pretty obvious that soon, something deeply wrong would unfold.

In the citadel, her son was being kept. She knew he didn't quite wish to see her right now, but Dina still hoped she could talk to him. As she walked over to the cell, she tried to remember a single happy memory that she could remind him of.

However, before Dina could picture any, she found herself standing in front of the cell door.

"Why did you come here?" She heard from behind the bars.

"I did something terrible to you, Zeke" she started "but now that we're fighting on the same side, please… at least talk to me!"

She could see that the man in the cell turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry!" Dina cried out, with tears in her eyes "I treated you horribly! I'm sorry!"

"A simple apology won't make it better…" Zeke responded slowly.

The blonde female fell to the floor.

"I still love you, Zeke…" she whispered "I'm still your mother…"

Her son averted his eyes. Dina felt that something in how he was looking at her changed. His expression softened but he definitely didn't want to show it.

"What makes you think that we're fighting on the same side?" Zeke suddenly asked.

The blonde woman looked up with a surprise.

"What are you…"

"Dina!" She suddenly heard someone cry out behind her.

Upon looking back, said female noticed that it was Levi and he seemed to be in a hurry.

"What is it?" Dina asked, "did the government come to our doorstep?"

"No" the short captain answered hastily "but the Marleyans did…"

The Yeagers looked at him shocked.

"So soon…" Zeke exclaimed surprised.

As Dina was running up the stairs, she tried to think of what to do. How was this possible? They literally created an army of titans to stop their enemies. Was this not enough?

When she exited the citadel, she looked at the sky. Several airships were flying in their direction.

"Erwin!" She cried out as she neared the officers, who were frantically ordering soldiers around.

Said man turned to look at her.

"What are we going to do?" Dina asked him with fear.

The blonde general looked down. For the first time in her life, she saw panic on his face.

"I don't know" he responded, gritting his teeth "it was me who got us here... It's all my fault…"

It was getting worse with each passing second. But the worst of all, was that some of the soldiers started noticing the uncertainty of their leader. This wasn't good. If someone didn't take quick action, things would turn grim for them.

"Stop this" Pixis said firmly "it was our own decisions which brought us here. Pull yourself together."

The former commander of the scouts closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Send out a messenger!" He yelled at one of his adjutants "we are under attack!"

Erwin looked towards the approaching airships. They were almost directly over them.

"We fight!" He shouted out "this battle will decide upon our fate!"

"Today, we shall dedicate our hearts!"

In this very moment, the sky rained with enemy paratroopers.