"Kenny." My breath was short and ragged as fear froze my body in place.

I wasn't ready to fight an Ackerman. Even if I managed to get rid of the ODM gear he possessed, I would risk serious injury on top of exposing myself.

Shit! Ymir was right. If she were here I'd at least be comfortable enough to initiate a fight. With Connie here, I would need to be worrying about his safety and figuring out a way to make him keep an earth shattering secret.

Kenny raised a finger wagging it in the air. "Nuh Uh Uh. Stay right where you are. You don't want to do anything you may regret."

I hadn't even realised that I was inching away from him.

"Eliza? Who is this man?"

"I—I…"

"My my. How rude of me not to introduce myself." Kenny gave a dry laugh. "Like this beautiful young woman said, my name is Kenny. But I go by the more colourful title of Kenny the Ripper." He momentarily removed his hat and politely bowed.

Connie's face paled, making him as white as a bedsheet. "You don't mean the Ripper from the Underground?"

"Hmm. Well I don't know any other Rippers with that title," Kenny's pout morphed into a sinister smile. "So I guess that makes me the one and only.

"Please, let them go. Take me instead," Sadies had finally knocked his gag away from his mouth slightly.

Kenny sighed and looked at the Commander. Sadies' eyes were filled with fear as they locked eyes. Kenny grabbed a gun from inside his coat and slammed it against the Commander's head and knocked him down to the floor still tied to his chair.

"Commander Sadies!"

"No, Connie!"

Connie rushed over to the Commander's side without hesitation seemingly forgetting about his fear of the Ripper. And Kenny wasn't happy about that.

The boredom in his face that was directed to Sadies morphed into fury. I winced as he kicked Connie unconscious with the edge of his boot.

"Show some respect you stupid boy. I'm not just your average criminal who you can turn your back to."

"What do you want?" I demanded.

"Hmm? Oh yes. What I want is you."

Something stabbed into the side of my neck and I immediately felt woozy.

"Wh-what did you do to me!?" I ended up falling to my knees. The swaying of the ground was too much for me.

"My friend here gave you a dose of venom strong enough to kill a hundred soldiers. But I'm pretty sure this won't kill you. It'll just knock you out long enough for us to take you somewhere safe."

My body was failing me. My limbs were getting too heavy for me to move and my mouth was too numb to form words. I could only watch as I crumpled to the ground. My vision failed as I felt multiple hands grab and lift me up from the floor.

"Take the boy too. Just in case to help us keep her under control when she…"

Ymir couldn't believe her eyes. Or rather her nose. All of the movement from the fighting and the flickering from the dying flames made it hard to make out the faces that were running out of the camp.

But her nose was still as reliable, in spite of all the ash and smoke in the area, as it was any other day. And she could smell Eliza's comforting scent among those shapes. But it smelled wrong. Foul even.

"They're taking Eliza!" She screeched. The unlucky man she was fighting earned a harsh headbutt from her which broke his nose.

"We can't let them get away!" She took off slamming everyone out of her way.

The sound of a whistle pierced the dawn. The scouts in training were left surprised as their attackers suddenly stopped fighting and began their retreat.

"Ymir?" Are you sure?" Marco called out as she ran past him.

"Positive."

"Reiner, Jean! You're both fast. Go with her. The rest of us will go check on Connie and the Commander."

The two boys caught up to the girl quickly.

"Hey, Ymir. Why don't you slow down a bit. Wait for us to come up with a plan or something," Jean tried to reason but his words weren't even registering to Ymir.

"Ymir!" Reiner grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to a stop.

"Let go of me you big brute!" Ymir started punching Reiner struggling to break free from his grip.

Reiner just looked at her with pity in his eyes but kept his grip firm.

"Listen to him. Listen to anyone other than Eliza for once in your life." Jean ordered, frustrated.

Krista only looked sadly knowing that there wasn't anything she could say. She would have to trust that Jean could speak some sense into that girl.

"Shut up! I don't care what any of you think, say or do. I'm going to go find her right now! With or without anyone's help." Ymir stopped struggling as she realised something.

"You know what, preferably without anyone's help. You would only slow me down." She glared.

"Why are you even fighting them, Ymir?" Krista came running up to the group. "Come back to camp. We'll go after them later because they took Connie too."

"I don't give a shit about that boy!" Krista jumped back.

The surprise in Krista's face turned into anger, "Why do you even want to go save her? She doesn't even care about you." Jean shook his head in amusement. This was taking an entertaining turn for him.

Ymir winced as if someone had just stabbed her. She took a moment to take a breath and collect herself. It failed.

"I— don't care about that." Sorrow caused her voice to crack. She knew what Krista said was true. Eliza had shown Ymir constantly that she meant nothing to her. She was just a decision made in the heat of the moment. A backup plan or some henchmen to help her with her plans, whatever they were.

"You do care. You have to realise that. You're a person and she at least needs to treat you with respect!"

Ymir looked toward the hills in the distance begging them to give her shelter like they once had in her prison.

It happened all over again. She's given her life to someone else who didn't even care about her again. Those people from the village that found her and gave her a purpose, to be their god. They were just like Eliza who found her and gave her a purpose. Yet, they were different.

Those villagers gave her up so quickly at the first sign of danger. They didn't care about her at all. They only cared about the purpose she could serve. Eliza did care however. There had to be a reason why she was always closing herself off to Ymir specifically, she might never figure out the answer to why, but it was there somewhere.

Regardless, she knew Eliza did care about her in some way in some amount, or else she wouldn't have saved Ymir that day. She nearly died protecting her. There wouldn't have been any point in dying to protect someone else you didn't even know for some stupid plan if you were going to be dead in the end.

The fire of determination rekindled in Ymir's eyes.

"I don't care that Eliza doesn't care about me. Maybe it's true, maybe it isn't. But I owe. her. everything. She saved my life, she gave me meaning, and she gave me my life back. So my body belongs to her." Jean's lips curled into a smirk. "Let go of me Reiner, I need to go save her," Ymir stared the boy down, reflecting his stony gaze.

"Your loyalty is admirable," He praised. "But there's a difference between loyalty and sheer stupidity. How are you going to find her? And even though we've had little training in fighting so far, I can tell that you're both around the same skill level. So how will you fight them when they easily took her?"

"We're going to look for them. Don't worry about that. We need to organise a search party first. Sadies may be a hard ass. But he won't abandon a recruit," Jean reasoned.

"Fine. I know where camp is," Ymir glared at Reiner again.

Reiner said nothing and let her go.

"I'll go with her. Just give her some time to cool off." Jean nodded and the two boys watched Krista chase after Ymir.

"Is that girl ever even cool?" Reiner scoffed.

Kenny woke me up with a bucket of cold water. I coughed trying to get the burning sensation out of my nostrils.

"I finally found you." His eyes shone with welling tears. "You're beautiful, you know." He held a knife to my cheek playing around with its edge.

I silently willed him to pierce the skin. Come on. Just a little nudge forward. You know you want to see some blood from your helpless victim.

My expression faltered and a smirk briefly slipped onto my face. One that didn't escape Kenny.

"You want me to shove it in you, doncha?" He flashed me a yellowish smile. He leaned so close I could smell the stench of his breath. I didn't need Ymir's sense of smell to know he had some eggs and coffee for breakfast.

"I know what you are. I know what would happen if I did. But I don't think you want to do that. Not when I have him around."

I looked at where he was pointing with the blade of his. A few feet away Connie sat tied to a chair. A gag on his mouth and blood flowing out of cuts on his face. His eyes were open and staring out of his limp head blankly at the floor.

"Connie!"

His eyes darted up. I could see him shiver and he started struggling against the bonds holding him down.

"Stay still. He wants me not you. He won't hurt you…"

"Tsk tsk. Don't make promises you can't keep, girl," Kenny cackled.

He pranced over to a desk and picked up his cowboy hat to spin it around in his fingers before letting it fall onto his slick and greasy hair.

"What do you want with him?" I hissed.

"I want him as insurance. To make sure you won't level this place down to the ground the moment you get hurt. You know. I didn't even know if he was special to you or not. I was just firing blindly when I told my crew to take him along."

I glared at him as he paced around what I now recognised as a study. Bottles on a shelf caught my eye. They were filled with a clear fluid with a slight tint of white.

"Now I know you won't do anything to hurt him."

Kenny turned and plunged his knife into my shoulder. I gasped in pain not expecting that.

I could only glare at him as my wound steamed and healed itself.

"It's a good thing I don't have to waste serum." So that's what those bottles are. But why would he want to enhance me if he wants my Titan.

"You're just like him." Kenny's "praise" gave me an idea.

"Are you talking about Uri?"

Kenny froze. His toothy smile turned grave.

"The same Uri that shrivelled up and died? You do know that it wasn't actually him you spent your time with right? Did he never tell you about the royal blood curse?"

"Don't you dare talk about him like that!" He punched me hard enough to break my nose.

Kenny sniffed, readjusting his coat and ran a hand through the hair hanging from the back of his head. His jaw flexed as he wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve.

"You don't know the grandness he possessed. He was the most powerful man within the walls and he could've brought true power into the world. If only he lived free."

"It can't be true power if he was born into it. It has to be earned," I taunted.

"And I have earned it. And once I consume you, I'll be one with him,'' manic devotion highlighted his eyes. This Kenny was crazy. Crazily obsessed with Uri.

"Hold on. You think I'm the one who has the founding Titan?"

"You don't? Which one are you?"

I hesitated in telling him. I didn't know if it would become a problem if he knew which Titan I held. But he held his blade up to Connie's throat threateningly.

"I'm the Warhammer! Don't hurt him."

"You're from the mainland!" His eyes widened.

"No. I mean yes. It's Uh, complicated," I feigned distress about the subject. "I was a pure Titan just a few years ago before the walls broke. I'm not sure what happened."

"The Warhammer. The Titan you lucked out on is one of many that belong to our mainland brethren. They won't be happy when they find out you took it from them. I would love to see their reaction as they watch one of us transform into it in front of their eyes.

"You've been a great guest. It would only be fair of me to reward you. Don't worry, I won't eat you. I want my first Titan to be my reunion with Uri. So I won't taint that moment with the Warhammer. You can keep it. But in exchange I'm going to have a little fun. Just like I did with your friend."

The door creaked open behind me and a second later I was getting a syringe stuck into the side of my neck. I focused on Connie's shape as my vision faded and I couldn't help but think back to our little moment in the forest before everything went to shit.

"You know how I come from a small village on the outskirts of Wall Rose?" I nodded. "A few years ago, our village found an opening in the wall. It wasn't big enough for someone to easily slip through whenever they wanted so no one really paid any attention to it. It wasn't dangerous,' we all thought.

"But then, one day, a few of the village kids thought they could have an awesome adventure on the other side of the wall. I'm sure they heard about the disasters that took place on the outer walls and its districts." His breath turned ragged. "My sister was with them that day. And I wasn't."

Some small memory in the corner of my mind surfaced. I vaguely recalled a day of training, not scout training, our training.

I was in my Warhammer Titan practicing with Ymir. A good distance away from the entrance to Trost. Something happened that day. I don't remember what. It was a blackout in my memory.

"Don't you think it's too much of a beautiful day to dwell on those kinds of thoughts?" I asked, trying to change the subject to something lighter.

"We've got a bunch of autumn leaves littered on the ground. Let's live a little. Have some fun." I grabbed a handful of leaves and threw them over Connie's head.

"Come on, Eliza. You know how scratchy those things are," Connie brushed them off. He tried appearing annoyed but I could see a seed of amusement on his face.

"I hear you complaining but I see you smiling."

"Ymir? Is that you?" Krista sat up looking out into the dark of the temporary barracks the scouts were using to sleep in now.

The movement Krista sensed in the dark stopped. It was quiet for a long time before someone answered back.

"Go back to sleep, Krista. This doesn't concern you."

"You're going to go look for Eliza, aren't you."

"So what if I am?" Ymir's whisper rose in volume causing one of the cadets to shift around in their bed.

"Sadies said that the scout regiment would send a squad out to look for her and Connie."

"He said that 2 days ago. 2 entire fucking days ago. I'm not going to just sit around and wait for them to find her."

"But why do you want to risk…"

"Don't start with that shit again. I gave you a chance last time but the regiment took Sadies away and told us to just sit on our asses and do nothing." Ignoring any further protests and not wanting anyone else to wake up, especially not Jean and Reiner, Ymir walked out of the barracks and into the moonlight.

She allowed herself a moment of reprieve and closed her eyes to just take in the fresh night air.

Ymir was going to have to go all the way back to their burned down camp in order to find a place to start tracking Eliza.

"Nice night. So, where are you going?"

Ymir groaned. Leaning against a tree looking bored out of her mind was Annie Leonhart.

"None of your business, Annie."

To Ymir's annoyance, Krista came out blabbing Ymir's plan.

"Hey, wait up. I'll come rescue Eliza with you," she poked her head out of the door to silently call out to Ymir. "Oh, hi Annie. Are you going to help us look for her?

"Connie too?" She added after a pause.

"I suppose I don't have anything better to do."

"And why would you want to save her? I've never seen you care enough for anyone to do that." Ymir asked suspiciously.

Annie broke into a smile creeping both Ymir and Annie out due to never seeing that sort of expression on her face.

"That's a nice smile?" Krista laughed nervously.

"I don't have a reason. But if you need one then I guess you can say that Eliza interests me."

"Oh no. Absolutely not. You're staying right here, come on Krista. If you want to tag along I'm fine with it. I'm already used to one leech and I'm not interested in taking on another."

Krista giggled at Ymir's outburst. She was finally opening herself up to others it seemed.

I panicked as Kenny tipped my chair and dug my nails into the wood. A reflex as my body tried to stop itself from falling back. And as my head was submerged into the water I remembered what it was that I forgot.

I remembered the feeling of something trying to slide inside me. The invasion of my titan disconnected me and I felt that feeling of falling.

I broke the wall that day. The chip in the wall that led to Connie's sister being taken from him.

"Help!" I could imagine Connie's young pleas for help as he cradled the body of his sister. Bloody, bones broken, partially chewed and her lower torso gone.

Sasha, the only family Connie has in the series, was going to end up biting it in the future. I don't think there's any changing that without inadvertently getting even more people killed in the process.

I winced when my mind started showing me images of Sashes body lying in her own pool of blood as Connie cried over her.

To be honest, the mental torture my mind was putting me through hurt even more than the physical torture Kenny was subjecting me to at the moment.

"Your resilience is astounding," Kenny laughed. "I've been relentlessly torturing you, more than I've ever done in years thanks to your healing abilities, titan holders truly are incredibly , and yet you refuse to even attempt to transform to save your own skin just because I have your little friend here next to us.

"The poor bastard is out of it too by the way. Wouldn't feel a thing if I killed him right now. Do you want to watch me as I drain what remains of his life out of his eyes?"

"Let him go, please," I begged.

I can't transform even if I wanted to. We were in a section of the caverns similar to the one beneath the Reiss family barn. The walls were made of hardened titan skin created by the founder itself. I would crush myself and everyone else in this ample but small room.

I know Kenny knows this. Even in the crazed state of his that had been caused by Uri, he was smart enough to come up with a contingency by bringing in Connie.

He's my friend. I can't hurt him.

"I've had my fill," Kenny sighed. His face had welcomed the return of the serene expression I met him with back when he staged the kidnapping back at the training camp.

I hadn't seen it since that time. Maybe it was a few hours ago. Or maybe yesterday. I don't know. It's hard to know how much time passes when you're in a room made out of shining crystals. Being tortured by a madman also doesn't help with your sense of time. Or the fact that you're strapped to a chair watching helplessly as said madman without his cowboy hat was making his way to one of your close friends holding a strange knife in his hand.

"It's time I used this knife I picked up from some girl claiming to be my daughter." He said, brandishing it. "It's peculiar. It's some kind of crystalline blade attached to something that isn't wood or metal. Let's see how good it works, shall we?"

Kenny paused for a moment and looked at Connie as if there was something wrong.

"This isn't very sporting. Tell you what. Why don't I give you a chance to get out of here. I'll even throw in a prize for you. If you successfully escape me, I'll also let your friend go. I have nothing to worry about if you two get away anyway, I'm the world's deadliest assassin. So, deal?"

Connie sat up. He didn't have a chance at getting away. But there was hope. He had hope that he could make it out of here. So he nodded.

"Atta boy," Kenny gave him a crooked smile. "The exit's that way," Kenny pointed through a criss-cross of columns.

The man sliced through Connie's bonds and Connie looked at his wrists massaging the markings the ropes left on his skin. Then without warning, Connie slammed his head into Kenny's nose and bounded away, slipping through the interconnecting crystals.

"That little shit." Kenny turned to look at me while covering his nose with the hand he was holding his gun with. "I lied by the way. The exit is behind us."

He zipped away with a hiss of his gear. Useless adrenaline rushed my body. I couldn't move. I couldn't fight. I was tied down to a freaking chair.

I watched it all slowly. Connie had managed to climb onto an elevated platform in the chamber next door. Kenny put on a show as he yawned and stretched.

His ODM gear burst to life and hooked onto the crystals. Kenny sailed over the columns at frightening speeds heading towards Connie. I flinched as he drew his knife but missed when Connie's footing slipped on the crystals.

"Tch… these are useless against other humans," Kenny grunted. He stared at Connie for a moment and glanced at the swords sheathed in his gear as if he was contemplating switching weapons.

"I'm getting you out of these things. We'll have a better fighting chance if there's two of us. Maybe one of us can even take away his ODM gear," Connie said as he came running back toward me.

This was useless resistance. That's Kenny Ackerman. Not even a titan can take down an Ackerman. Even with the handicap he was placing on himself.

What happened next was so fast. I barely registered the hiss of the ODM gear when Connie's eyes widened.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw Kenny standing behind my friend, a bloody knife in his hand.

"Take care of Sasha." Blood streamed down Connie's lips as he uttered his final words and collapsed on top of me.

"She'll have to take care of herself before she does that," Kenny cackled. "Now I'm gonna take the Warhammer out of the equation for at least 10 years. Less competition for me," Kenny thought out loud as he threw Connie's corpse to the side.

I felt fuzzy. Like I was floating up in the air while being dragged down. I was in shock. I hadn't actually expected Connie to be killed. And yet I was seeing his corpse with my own eyes.

If only I could've used my powers. Titan creation or even shifted. I would've been able to conjure something up to cut through these ropes. Overpowered Kenny with something not even an Ackerman can dodge.

It was all over now. I sped up my own demise.

"Your healing abilities are going to make this take a while. But if I keep at it, inflicting grievous injuries, you're going to run out of energy. So if you don't want this to be painful, you're going to have to lose your will to live."

I gasped when Kenny lopped off my right hand. However, something unexpected happened a second later. Spikes, columns, and spears erupted from the walls of the room separating me from Kenny and Connie's body. One of those constructions even crashed through the chair I was in freeing me in the process.

I recovered quickly from the shock and bolted out of there leaving Kenny crying out furiously. I ran past Kenny's subordinates who looked shocked to see me making a run for it. A few reacted as soon as they saw me and started giving chase.

The good news was that this cavern was bigger than the one I was cooped up in. Big enough to at least partially form a Warhammer Titan to slow them down.

Titan energy whipped around me healing my missing limb first before the top half of a titan's torso blasted into existence throwing everyone that was after me off of their feet.

I painfully tore myself out of the titan and continued running out of the crystal caverns. I didn't know which way was out. But I lucked out in going in the right direction in the end and I came running into a staircase. Following it up, I ended up bursting out into a warehouse in the underground district.

This must be where Kenny found out about me. That scratch that healed, someone that knew about titans must've seen me and told Kenny. If it was Kenny that saw that, then I would've been taken away at that very moment.

I was regretting the appearance I gave myself as well. The purple hair was going to be painting an obvious target on my back. But even if I didn't have it, these gold eyes I got from the Hidden Titan's powers would do the same if someone saw me up close. I haven't seen a single person with the same colour eyes.

"Don't let her get to any of the walls. They're made out of hardened titan flesh. Keep her away from that!" I heard Kenny's voice come from down the stairs.

I was back on my feet running as fast as I could trying to put as much distance between us as soon as I could. The ODM that those people had were going to outspeed me in a minute.

I pushed my way past a crowd of people as I entered the main square. None of these people would think to help a member of the scouts. Government lackeys, they would say if they were anything like the criminals from my world.

The hiss of ODM gear and the whirring of its wires grew closer as I turned corners toward the entrance of the underground. I wasn't going to make it, it was still so far away.

Sounds of items crashing and pained screams pierced my sorrows. Turning to quickly look behind me, I watched as 2 of Kenny's henchmen fell to the ground being buried in boxes and barrels while the rest of their comrades flew past them toward me.

"Are you sure this is where they took them?" Annie scrutinized the citizens of the Underground district.

"I'm positive this is where they brought Eliza. I just don't know where to start looking. This place is crawling with criminals."

"Maybe we can ask someone if they've seen something suspicious?" Krista thought.

"This whole place is suspicious," Annie scolded. "How are you so naive?"

"She grew up on a farm, lay off her," Ymir growled back.

Krista didn't seem to mind the interaction though. She was just trying to find ways of contributing to the search party. There really wasn't much she was useful for. She didn't know how to fight like the two girls. She didn't know how to track as well as Ymir. And Annie's understanding of situations was miles in front of Krista as seen right now.

"I still think we should've at least brought Marco with us," Annie repeated, referencing a plan that she shared back at the Barracks.

"We don't need anyone else. It was already hard enough getting you to follow me when I was trying to track Eliza down. Even though, if I may add, you're the one who wanted to tag along. You still had the gall to question me. Anyone else would've been dead weight making themselves even more difficult to carry."

While the two were arguing, Krista had actually gone over to a man in tattered clothes lying nearby.

"Excuse me, Sir?" She approached him confidently, giving him a cute smile. "I was wondering if you had seen or heard about anything suspicious happening down here? Specifically about men in scout ODM gear?"

The man's eyes widened. "Yes. Now that you mention it," he coughed hoarsely. "There was a squad of people flying over the buildings. Went toward the centre," He pointed.

"Thank you. I know it's not much." Krista dug around in her pockets and pulled out some coin. "But here. You were a big help."

"Thank you so much angel," The man expressed his appreciation as he cupped the money in his hands.

"Uh, guys? I figured out where they took them!" Krista bounced happily over to Ymir and took her by the hand.

They heard the sound of ODM gear hissing upon their arrival. Ymir was the first one to spot Eliza running in the direction they came from but on the other side of the square. Etches on her eyes indicated that she recently transformed but they weren't deep and would be gone in a few minutes. All Ymir had to do was keep Annie and Krista from getting a good look at her face in the meantime.

But before that, she had to give Eliza the opportunity to get away from her kidnappers.

"We need to stop those people," Ymir told Annie as the people from the camp's attack flew over them.

They both threw off the cloaks they possessed revealing their own ODM gear.

Hooks broke out and pierced the buildings nearby in order to reel them into the sky to initiate their chase.

Krista unveiled her ODM gear as well but she didn't join them up in the air. Instead, she took a different route. She swung herself from corner to corner wrapping around quickly over to a building in Eliza's path.

Thinking quickly she grabbed some rope that was attached to a net holding crates and she ran off the building using her ODM to swing herself over to another building, its roof shorter than the one she come off from.

She tied the end of the rope to a pipe so that it would hang loosely and she pulled it just when Kenny's men came by. 2 of them managed to fly over the rope harmlessly. But several others crashed with so much force it snapped the pipe out of place.

"Yes!" Krista celebrated her accomplishment. "Just like in the books I read as a child," Her eyes sparkled as she reminisced.

Ymir and Annie raced after Kenny's scouts. The element of surprise was on their side as they didn't bother to look behind them in their blinding intent to capture Eliza. They wouldn't even think that there were other people possessing ODM gear who might attack them from behind.

Ymir targeted the straggler. Unsheathing the swords from the gear, she shot its hook into the scout's back and propelled the swords into her, spilling blood in the air and getting some on herself.

Annie shot forward, twisting between the other two scouts. She sliced the cables from one sending them plunging to the ground then engaged the last one.

The scout knew better. He was barely able to dodge one of her strikes and wasn't fast enough to avoid the one aimed for his shoulder. The blade sunk into his skin but his gear pulled him out of harm's way before Annie could finish the slice.

He realised that he was the last scout still chasing the girl. He didn't know if the others were dead or just stalled but he wasn't going to fight these two warriors on his own. So with a grim face, he retreated making sure that he slipped into an area too small for ODM gear.

"That was easy. Once we're on a level playing field they don't stand a chance. I bet they're not even trained to use those blades," Ymir scorned.

Kenny unsheathed his blades as soon as he saw that only one of his scouts was coming back, and empty-handed no less.

He was about to leap into the air to go after the prize himself when he felt a hand clasp his shoulder.

"Let her go, Kenny."

A pudgy middle aged man with a fuzzy thin moustache was giving him a warning look.

"But she has a Titan from the mainland. Stolen from the family that closed us up in this pig pen," Kenny sought to bring the man to his side but his words weren't getting him anywhere.

"We know where to find her. By letting her go back to where she was we can keep her in front of our eyes where we can watch her every move. It's better to keep one of those titans under our palm than to scatter it elsewhere to become a problem in the future."

Kenny sighed. He knew the wisdom in his words. Besides, he needed to stay in this man's good graces.

"I understand, my King Reiss."

Reiss nodded happily knowing that Kenny wasn't dead set on creating problems and left.

"I'm so sorry sir. But she got away. There were others. Scouts from the camp. They managed to find out where we were and they brought their own ODM gear." The scout Ymir and Annie let run away, dropped down next to Kenny and started sharing his report, one that Kenny listened to closely.

"We were no match for them. This gear isn't meant for fighting other people. Not to mention that they caught us off guard. I accept any and all punishment you deem fit! I lay down my life!" The scout kneeled in front of his master and closed his eyes tightly expecting his head to be looped off.

"Not necessary," Kenny rasped. "You're correct, we're at a great disadvantage with the ODM gear we repossessed from the scout regiment. We're meant to fight other humans who are unpredictable in a fight, unlike the mindless beasts these are used against.

"I'll be coming up with a plan to give us the edge for when we clash with the scouts again." Kenny produced a flask of Titan serum from his vest alongside a cigarette.

"Excuse my insolence but, why didn't you use the serum? That girl was a Titan shifter. You could've acquired her power. Hasn't that been your lifelong dream?"

"It is. But I have a different kind of power in mind. I'll become one of them one day. You'll see but hers wasn't meant to be mine."

I didn't stop running until I emerged into the sunlight. The sun was in the middle of the sky marking midday. It was so nice to have the glow of the orange star on my skin instead of the eerie supernatural glow of those crystals.

I fell to the grass seeking to soak in all the light of the star. A cold winter breeze went by making me shiver and blowing away the last wisps of steam from my healing hand. I still hadn't healed the groves on my eyes from transforming though.

What happened back in the cavern was strange and I had no clue what caused it. I looked at my hand as I raised it to block the sun from shining on my face.

The books never said anything about titan shifters having abilities in their human shapes. The only one that was even insinuated to have that ability was the founder.

I need to find out more about titans. And I think I know where to look. The church of the walls would have access to some of the most restricted subjects within the walls. That's how they know about the colossal titans that are hidden inside the walls.

I'd have to wait until the walls of Trost fall so that I can use Hange's beloved Wall Pastor to get me into their library.

"Eliza?" Ymir called out to me. "Oh my god. Eliza! You're alright!" She came running and launched herself at me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Was that you back there?" I asked, remembering Kenny's scouts that fell underneath a pile of crates.

"Yeah. We had to sneak out in order to search for you because that shithead of a king wasn't doing his job right." I was zoned out, I didn't even notice that Ymir had her hands cupped around my face or that I winced at her touch.

Instead, I was thinking about what she said. It made sense that the King wasn't allowing a proper investigation to take place since Kenny was involved. However, this meant that the King would find out about me and the scouts. As well as the continued presence of the warriors.

He would be searching for a way to defend against them while searching for the Founding Titan.

This was giving me a headache. But I guess it was more bearable than what I just went through.

"Headaches aren't that bad." I looked around searching for who it was that said that before I registered what Ymir said.

"Wait. We?"

"Ymir!" My eyes widened as Historia and Annie came into view from the underground entrance.

Ymir was stunned and felt her face grow hot when Eliza jumped onto her and buried her face into her neck. She was almost knocked down but she remained on her knees and caressed Eliza's hair.

"Well… I'm glad she's alright," Krista's voice harboured dismay though Ymir didn't bother noticing. She was too busy basking in Eliza's show of affection.

"Where's Connie?" Annie questioned.

"Oh yeah, what happened to Connie? Did you two split up so that he could get away while the rest of those people chased after you?" Krista wondered with optimism. Her eyes focused on the entrance expecting the boy to come running out at any moment.

"Are there any other entrances to this place? It's awfully big for it to have only one." Eliza stiffened and curled up more into Ymir's arms.

"He didn't make it," Eliza whispered. Annie and Krista moved in closer asking her to repeat what she said a little louder.

"I said he didn't make it!" Her voice cracked. "He was killed in front of me right before I was going to be killed next. They enjoyed torturing us and breaking him before they did that though. He lost the will to live by the time he was killed."

Half of Eliza's face moved into view as she unintentionally rested her cheek on Ymir's chest. The grooved scars of her transformation had disappeared leaving soft pink skin that was already shrinking past visibility.

"Thank you, Ymir. I was so scared that I was going to die. But you saved me," Eliza whispered.

As she started fading, being won over by her exhaustion, she realised that there was something missing. Her finger felt barren. It'd been robbed from the only trinket she had left of the Tyburs, her family on the mainland.

That Ring she was missing currently sat on a wooden desk glinting. It was reflecting the light from the flickering flames of the candle next to it and it was caught by a mirror in a room in front of it. That's where Kenny the Ripper stood shaving the unruly beard and moustache on his face.

"A Tybur on the island. And more titans hidden among us. This should be interesting." His gaze fell on a book accompanied by the dagger.

His eyes were renewed with purpose. There was an enemy to be fought, a goal to be reached, and someone that awaited to connect with him past the barriers of life.

Goals: Kenny Ackerman

Reunite with Uri

Locate Marley

Power

A/N: It's still Sunday for me! I'm not that late! It took me a few hours to finish up this chapter before posting it but here it is.

So, I originally planned to have Marco join Ymir's group in rescuing Eliza. Ymir was going to go through the whole, "you save her because she needs you right now" thing. But the thing is that Ymir still hasn't gone through the development to become selfless.

She's supposed to have the selfish aspect she has in the anime but dialed down a bit because she hasn't gone through the same experiences as her counterpart for obvious reasons.

There's also a few things that I ended up changing and replacing or just deleting. I wonder if I'll ever get around to posting those things.

I'm not popular enough to open a if I even wanted to and post those over there. Maybe one day. Of course if I do that a lot of stuff would not be pay-walled. I enjoy sharing my content with as many people as I can.

I also have to say that this turned out to be my favourite chapter ever. Not because of the beginning, but the action was awesome to write. I loved it because of the Hurt/Comfort of an ending.

And now you know why I was focusing so much on Connie these past few chapters and trying to develop him as much as I could. So that I could kill him off and get some emotion from it. Or so that people can feel bad for Eliza at the very least.

COMMENTS

ILikeFoxes828: Oh wow. I'm so sorry about that. I don't know what I would do without electricity and without my fan in the middle of winter. I'm not telling about the who's end game or not though. But like with all fiction. I can't stop any ships from happening. That's the best part of fandoms.

Heitor: Heitor my good Pal. I'm happy to be back. I hope that I don't go on an extended hiatus like the last time. Max would be 2 weeks of waiting between chapters I hope. If everything goes well then it'll be shortened to updates every Sunday as long as I finish by then. Thanks for the beta reading though man. I always act on those as soon as I can whenever you note the errors in your comments.

As for Annie, let's just say that she was gathering some much needed tools for self defence. Nothing beats homemade crafting after all. I felt like I was a bit overdramatic with Kenny's Line last chapter. Girl with golden eyes you are my prize. Rereading that makes me want to barf XD and yes. One of Kenny's loyal followers saw her do that and snitched on her.

I've never been a fan of love triangles but I see why the CW enjoys them. It adds so much juicy drama. Satiates my soul. But I see this chapter as the beginning of Eliza's change in attitude toward Ymir. The brink of death makes you appreciate a lot of things. Maneaters is a cool name though. Makes me wish they went with something along those lines in the manga or anime.