Before we continue I just wanted to say that I updated the last chapter. I changed the way Connie died and also edited Kenny's last scene to provide more foreshadowing.

Air pelted my ears as it kept my hair out of my face. I was being pulled forward at incredible speeds and I only had a second to react to the looming figure that would be my target.

The anchors of my ODM unhooked from their place as I sailed past their previous target and as soon as they were fully retracted I shot them into the frame of my prey. I let myself fall and raised my swords preparing to land the killing blow when someone else swept by lopping off the nape of the cardboard titan.

"Sorry!" Historia called as she flew toward another fake titan.

"You're too slow today!" Ymir chastised.

"Look who's talking," I shot back. "You've only scored 3 so far while I have 5."

"Not much of a difference." I flew after Ymir and watched her take down another one before I could get close. "Now 4!"

"You're always going to be slow if you keep talking! 7!" Jean called out.

"Make sure to cut deeper Eren!" Gas hissed as Mikasa went in for another titan that Eren couldn't kill. "17!"

"4!" Armin yelled out soon after. "4 months and this is still hard to get the hang of!"

"9!"

"14!"

Reiner and Bertolt both called at the same time.

"I think we got all the titans in this area! Time to move on!" Marco announced.

I rushed ahead of the others. My gear was starting to feel lighter than when I put it on a few hours ago which meant that it was beginning to run out of fuel. But I wasn't going to fall behind Ymir and Armin.

I hooked onto the first titan I spotted and I was sure I was going to be the one to draw first blood in this new area but my kill was stolen, again.

"21," Annie announced coldly before jumping into the trees again.

"This really isn't fair. There must be something wrong with my gear."

"You never get any more than 8 kills anyway," Ymir commented. The rest of the squad had caught up now.

"She's right. Even I can beat you," Sasha said playfully. I stopped and perched on the side of a tree and watched her fly acrobatically through branches. Damn, I wish I was that good. The bitch was basically Spider-Man. I chuckled silently.

"She's pulling up averages! And the average is always more than what Ymir and Armin get!"

"It's not too late then, 5! 6! Oh no!" Armin was pulled backwards after his combo as the hooks in his gear didn't unlatch from their place this time.

"Sucks to be you!" Sasha laughed. Then she slipped when she stopped on a branch and ended up just hanging around in place.

"6! Finally." I didn't slow down after getting that Titan kill. I zeroed in on another one and successfully bagged that one as well. "7!"

"9!" Ymir smirked as flew past me followed by Historia.

"You're getting close!" She flashed a thumbs up and a cute smile.

"Are you ready to give up?" Jean asked catching up to me.

"Not in the slightest. I just had a bad day."

I dashed off. Almost the whole squad ended up stopping to watch as I tried my best to recover kills that should be mine.

In about 15 minutes I ended up tying with Ymir. 16 Titan kills each. I don't know whether to be glad that I was finally pushing double-digits or to feel indignified because it was only possible due to everyone just watching us.

"I'll bet 10 on Eliza." Hearing Marco say that boosted my confidence.

"15 on her too," Jean followed.

"17!" I announced another kill.

"Next round!" Ymir challenged.

"25."

Well, almost the whole squad had paused to look at our competition. Except for Annie who was still expressionlessly skimming through the forest cutting down a Titan every once in a while and stealing my kills in the process.

I wanted to tell her off so badly but I bit my tongue. No sense in risking interaction with the warriors. I tried to avoid them the best I could to avoid any slip-ups. So I'm not going to forgo it for a stupid game.

"18!" I almost crashed into Ymir as I stole her point. I regained my footing on a tree before coming to a heart-dropping revelation.

"Oh my god!" I screeched when my ODM gear fired an empty hiss of air.

"Eliza!" 3 different shouts rang out as I took a plunge.

Shit. I don't know if I can stop the healing from whatever injury I get from this. I don't think the scouts would accept a lame soldier to join their ranks either.

Hooks pierced the trunk of the tree next to me and a moment later I was being scooped up into the arms of Annie who carried me to the safety of the ground. of Annie.

"Oh thank god." Metal clinked from the ODM hooks that retracted when Ymir landed right next to me.

"I'm okay," I reassured her. That was a close call.

"You're trying too hard to get kicked out of the military," Jean sneered. He dropped swiftly from the trees and the others followed him one by one.

"If it was me, I would've just mixed some dirt into Sadies' coffee."

"Luckily for him, I'm not the charming Jean Kirstein." I gave a shaky laugh.

"Is anyone else hungry? Almost watching someone die builds up an appetite."

"She almost died!" Marco slapped the back of Sasha's head. "How can you think about eating after that?"

"I'll still be thinking about eating after I die," she huffed.

"Oh yeah," I suddenly remembered. "Thanks for the save." I turned to thank Annie for the help but she was already scaling the trees again.

"Don't ever do that again," Ymir ordered.

"I know. I almost exposed us. But thankfully Annie made sure that it wouldn't be the case. And even if she had let me fall, no one would know that you're one of us too." I tried to satisfy her worries.

" I'm more worried about you. "

A loud high pitched whistle distracted me from what Ymir was about to say.

That was the signal that training was over and for us to start heading back to the grounds.

"Finally! Last one there has to give up their plate to the winner!" Sasha practically drooled all over us as she took off.

"Someone's going to have to carry you back to camp since you exhausted your reserves for that little game."

"And I bet you're going to be so kind as to give me a ride back?" I batted my eyes at Jean.

"Ha! As if," he laughed before taking off.

"I don't have the skill to carry you and go back." Marco rubbed his neck sheepishly.

"I can carry you if you want…" Reiner took a step forward but I immediately shot him down.

"Oh no. You don't have to."

"Yeah. I can carry her just fine," Ymir stepped up to the guy and stared him down.

"But do you have enough fuel to carry extra weight?" Historia made a good observation.

"You can take my fuel. I think I can manage to use the least bit of fuel to get myself back. My tanks are a little more than half full. So it should be enough to get both of you there."

Marco and Ymir swapped tanks. Ymir was taller than me so I was able to cling to her easily. I wrapped my arms around her neck locked my legs around her waist and held on tight as we jerked up into the trees.

"Looks like you can't live without me," Ymir joked.

"You're too full of yourself," I groaned.

"You did great, Ymir!" Historia chirped.

"Thanks. I'm just stating the facts. I give you the rush in life. Make it more interesting. Without me, you'd have to go back to boring days waiting for something to happen."

"Everything was still boring with you around."

I was preparing for another rebuttal to come out of Ymir but she clamped up instead.

"Whatever," she sighed.

"Listen up, Cadets!" Sadies barked at us. Every scout was lined up in squads. We stood at attention waiting for whatever it was that Sadies was going to announce.

If you looked closely you would be able to see a patch of soft pink skin where he was burned on his neck.

"As you all know it's been a year since our camp was attacked. We've come a long way since then! Not only have you all begun hand to hand combat training, but you've also improved with your ODM manoeuvring.

"I'm afraid that there isn't going to be much for me to teach you in a few months. I have announced this to our King. And to make sure you're all progressing alright, he has agreed to send in the current Leader of the scout regiment.

"We will only have today to train. So make sure you are all sharp and ready for tomorrow. Erwin Smith shall be arriving tomorrow by noon. That is all."

We all saluted Sadies and dispersed.

I silently watched Annie head over to the training grounds. She rarely sparred with anyone so I don't know how she even practised her fighting. Isn't there supposed to be a difference between a living breathing person who moved around unpredictably compared to a piece of wood or open air?

Don't get cocky. Remember how deadly she is, Eliza. I forced myself to remember. But seriously. Any good fighter needs an actual person to spar with every once in a while.

"Come on, let's get started." Ymir motioned for Historia to follow her.

That girl had no fighting sense but Ymir was thankfully willing to teach her something. I didn't even have to say anything. But unfortunately, it meant that my usual partner wasn't available and I was going to have to look for someone else.

"Hey, Eliza. You wanna practise together?" Marco offered.

"Yeah, why not?" I smiled.

"This isn't much of a fair fight. You use your legs too much," Jean critiqued as I landed a kick to Marco's side.

Marco winced and stumbled back clutching his injury with one hand while keeping his other hand that clutched a cardboard knife ready to meet me.

Today was the day after my close call and Annie being a hero. And we were practising disarming our enemies. It was almost noon which meant that Erwin would also be arriving sometime soon.

"It's a form of close combat. And if you think it's difficult dealing with something like this while fighting on the ground, just imagine how much more difficult it'll be while we're zipping through the air."

"Tch. We're training to fight titans, not other people."

"Then what's the point of learning how to fight?" I challenged.

"For those who stand a chance in getting into the military brigade. Isn't that why?" Armin offered. "The Interior has to deal with criminals like the Ripper and other low lives."

That conversation had provided a momentary distraction that brought me off my feet.

Marco's sudden cry startled me into confusion and all I could do was throw a weak punch that he was able to duck and proceed to barrel into me and knock me to the ground. He held the fake knife up to my throat making me raise my hands up to surrender.

I almost laughed at the irony of the situation.

"Oh," I gasped. "You definitely know how to sweep a girl off her feet."

"It was a good fight." I accepted Marco's hand and he helped me up.

"Yeah. You're getting better at using the environment to your advantage."

"Hey, what's that shit stain doing? That moron is fucking crazy to pick a fight with her!" There was a tone of amusement in his words which he followed up by quickly running over to what he'd spotted.

I guess today was the day that Eren challenged Annie to fight him. And I wasn't going to miss this either.

"She's not holding back," Marco said as we watched Annie destroy his knee.

Eren refused to stay on the ground and brought himself up, steadying himself for another blow. Annie proceeded to rush in and toss him onto the ground only stopping to pluck the cardboard knife out of his hand.

"You could've held back a bit you know," Marco scolded, striding toward Annie. "That was an incredibly dangerous display. You could've seriously hurt him. We're supposed to be training, not trying to kill each other."

"Focus on getting into the interior police. You won't make it outside these walls with your mentality." Everyone fell silent at her words. Even Eren, who was the most passionate about killing titans, didn't say anything to challenge her.

Someone started to applaud her. "Nicely said, Annie."

"Don't tell me you're trying to scare away your victims, Erwin."

We all turned to see Erwin Smith clapping his hands with a serious gaze that matched, no, it surpassed Annie's usual expression. And next to him sharing a glum look was Pixis if I remembered correctly.

"Stand at attention, recruits!" Sadies bellowed.

We all formed our sets and waited motionless for them to begin.

"I will keep this very brief as I want to observe you all as you train.

"Pixis and I have come to see if we can convince the potential top 10 recruits to join our ranks. We know that some have their hearts set on joining the interior police who will serve and protect our king. But in reality, we really need their skills to further the goals of humanity. Not to serve the will of a singular man."

"What's this guy doing? He can get in serious trouble if he gets caught talking about treason," Jean hissed.

I leaned out as far as I could to elbow him in the ribs, "Calm down you drama queen. This is Erwin Smith. One of the 3 men at the top of the military. He's not risking anything."

"Tch," He scoffed.

"Do make this brief, Erwin," Pixis sighed. "You tend to start rambling whenever you talk about the king and I need to get going to make it on time to an appointment I have in the morning."

"As I was saying. Only 10 among you will have the opportunity to join the MP tomorrow."

A second of surprised muttering was roused from us. We were actually approved to hold our graduation tomorrow? I could feel the ground swaying. This was it. Today would be the last day of normality. Tomorrow would mark the starting line to the end of my life.

"I urge the 10 to join our cause. The future of humanity lies in the hands of those young men and women and the decision they will make. Don't put the future of your safety in the hands of those beneath you. Make the choice and do the work so that you may prevail and your resulting victory will cement the survival of your lineage.

"Do not fear death. Use the skills you have honed in these past 3 years to force death to fear you instead. Do that and you will not die a number. You will survive and outlive your mortal body. Become a soldier of the people!"

The night was quiet.

Only the mess hall was lively with all of the cadets celebrating their pending graduation ceremony which would be in a few hours during the darkest moment of the night just before daybreak.

Eren and Jean were busy trying to slug each other and providing their company with some entertainment in the process. Jean was able to get in a few surprise hits.

It got to a point where Eren was knocked over the table where Annie sat. She looked unamused at the situation.

Just before Jean was set to charge at an unsuspecting Eren, the boy clutched a stone that was set on the table and effortlessly dodged the attack as if he knew it was coming and ended the fight with the body slam Annie used against him earlier.

Eliza and Sasha were outside having a private conversation as they had started to do every night for a few months now.

Ymir wasn't indulging in the celebration either. She was sitting by the barracks observing the two girls. She didn't even look away when the commander strode by on his way to quell the brewing argument in the mess hall.

She frowned as she watched Sasha laugh nervously with Eliza when the commander glared at the girl.

Ymir felt uncomfortable at the jealousy that was building up inside of her. There had to be something that she could do to get rid of it. If only she could push herself to say something to Eliza about how she felt. But she lacked something. And she hated that she couldn't figure out what it was.

Stowaway those feelings, for now, she told herself when she spotted Annie come out of the mess hall and a couple of minutes later Reiner and Bertolt, the inseparable duo, followed after her.

They appeared very suspicious when they cast a quick glance as if to make sure that no one would follow them as they disappeared off the campgrounds.

Ymir made sure to stay a long distance away since she was confident that her senses would let her keep track of them. And with her abilities, she didn't have to worry about stumbling around blindly and making noise that would alert the trio she was stalking.

"I'm done with this."

Hearing Annie conspiring with these two boys she never interacted with reminded Ymir of Eliza and how she always avoided them like the plague. But it didn't raise any flags for her.

It also brought her back to the days when she spied on them. It's been a year since these three met up in secret and broke the routine that Ymir had set back in those days.

She forgot how comfortable it felt to spy on people. It gave her a sense of power. Power that she could actually use unlike the Titan abilities that she's forbidden from using.

"You can't be done with this." Annie reacted quickly when Reiner started moving toward her and knocked him to the ground and proceeded to twist his arm behind his back.

"You can't tell me what to do. In case you haven't noticed, Marcel never came back to us. We don't know where he is and without a leader, this plan of ours is doomed. So open your fucking eyes, Reiner. It's over."

Annie let go of him and stood up to leave.

"So that's it? What's your plan then? Go to some Forest? Hole yourself up and wait to die?" Reiner demanded.

"No. Your stupid plan put us on the military's radar. If we desert our post unexpectedly, especially if we're at the top of the class, we'll be hunted down like dogs.

"They didn't even allow civilians to go over the walls. They were marked as traitors to the crown and their flying invention was shot down from the air. So what I'm planning to do is take the opportunity to live the rest of what remains of my life in the interior."

"W-wait! Annie! Don't leave us, please," Bertolt began to beg.

Annie sighed. She was realising what she was about to do. "Don't contact Marley. They're going to arrive in a few weeks. If we don't talk to them. If they believe that we died. Then maybe our families will be spared."

Bertolt yelled with his eyes tight shut, "We're still going to be at the gates by tomorrow! We'll wait for you." His body quivered and it looked like there was something else he wanted to say. But Annie kept walking away.

Reiner stood stoically with his arms crossed and a disapproving glare cast at Annie's retreating figure.

"She's weak. She has no right to call herself a warrior."

"We're still going to be there tomorrow, right Reiner? We need to stick to the plan. For Ido? And Elizabeth?"

The change in Reiner's demeanour struck like lightning.

"We can't do this! I can't do this! They're our friends Bertolt! We can't just slaughter them like lambs." Tears poured out. Reiner fell to his knees and slammed his fist onto the ground.

"We need to save the rest of humanity. We're the last survivors. It's our duty to protect them, Bertolt."

"Reiner," Bertolt whispered in horror.

His friend's mind was fracturing and it was made worse by this break. It hurt him to see his friend become this.

"I need to tell Eliza about this. She'll know what they're talking about," Ymir whispered to herself.

Was this for nothing?

Quiet.

The plan. The plan was crumbling. How could this happen? What caused their disillusionment? Did Annie not care about her father?

If Annie didn't care anymore it would mean that Bertolt would follow her. And if he followed her he wouldn't help keep his friend focused on the picture. Reiner wouldn't have the resolve to lead them either.

"Are you going to let this happen?"

I looked up at Ymir. "Are you sure you heard them right?"

I tried my best to keep my voice as low as I could. It was dead quiet in the middle of the night. Sasha was nearby sleeping with a roll in her hand and lying on the stairs. The other cadets were passed out inside the mess hall.

In about 2 hours they would all be waking up and on their way to the ceremony.

"Positive. I can't exactly mishear anything, you know that" she growled back.

"Sorry. It's just. It's a lot to process."

"Do you know what it means?"

I don't want to plunge my hands into this and risk creating a disaster. But if Bertolt isn't going to trigger the events of Trost, then someone will have to take his place.

I don't even know if the Warhammer could break the gates though. Are those things man-made? Or was it part of the crystallisation of the Colossal Titans? Why can't I remember this stuff? Did they ever explain it?

No. Don't spiral out. Make a plan. Set some goals and stick to them. There is no time to question things. These events have to be triggered as soon as possible.

Okay.

Goals

Trigger the destruction of Trost

Make sure you aren't traced by Erwin

Fine.

"I need to go."

"Huh? But what about the ceremony?"

"I don't have time for that. Look, there's a lot you don't know. And maybe I'll explain it to you. But right now I need to do something. Tell them I had an emergency to attend to. But only if they ask."

I didn't wait for her to respond. I took off running towards the stables where I would find a horse.

My destination was the outer walls of Trost. 2hrs away from the camp.

I know I could make it there quicker and with less risk of detection if I waited till we were dispatched to the walls tomorrow. But if I was going to do this undetected, I need to use the Hidden Titan's powers.

I need Elizabeth Tybur's help to accomplish this.

A/N:

Heitor: Yeah. I now realise that Connie's death was underwhelming. So I went back and changed some things. I don't think it's much better but it's different. And it works. As for Eliza using her powers. There's something there. Kenny knows about it, maybe one of the warriors knows about it too. But Eliza is gonna have to learn through trial and error or observation.

I was going to make Kenny's suspicions obvious at a later chapter but I haven't gotten around to finishing it yet so I'll just insert it at the end last chapter. Sometimes Titan names are taught to a shifter when they eat them, at least they do in my alternate universe. But it's rare when they don't share a bloodline with the previous titan shifter.

Krista is definitely relieved that at least one of her friends survived. But I don't think she liked it when she proceeded to get very close to Ymir, the person she's crushing on.