"Welcome" Erwin Smith spoke while sitting down in one of the chairs around the round table "may the tenth secret gathering of the Scout Society begin."
As the members were taking their seats, Erwin asserted who exactly was attending this meeting. Most of his loyal comrades like Mike, Hange and Levi were here, along with others, such as Levi's squad and many, many more fellow soldiers. However, not everyone from the survey corps joined this secret society. Some of them weren't as trustworthy, while others simply didn't show interest in any unlawful activities, such as this one.
Nevertheless, the commander smiled, knowing that most of his soldiers opted to follow him in the search for truth.
"Let us start by welcoming two new members into our ranks" he said after a moment, motioning for one of the soldiers standing by the door to open them.
Into the room, walked Mikasa and a slightly nervous-looking Floch.
"Mikasa Ackerman" Erwin spoke, once the two lined up in front of the table "do you swear to dedicate your heart to search for the truth and freedom?"
"I do" the dark-haired girl replied with an eager tone.
At that, captain Levi looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Ignoring the gesture, the commander turned to face the other recruit.
"Floch Forster. Do you swear to dedicate your heart to search for the truth and freedom?"
"I do" the boy hesitantly said.
Erwin could tell that the redhead wasn't exactly sure of everything that he was getting himself into. Nonetheless, he was still brave enough to come here, even if he did it solely to help his friend.
"I, leader of the Scout Society, welcome you two into our organization" the commander exclaimed, pointing his hand at the two empty seats "please, sit around this table with us."
Currently, they were inside one of the survey corps' secret hideouts. They tended to rotate between their places of gathering, as all of the corps' properties were regularly searched by the MPs. This day, they were in Trost, as a gesture towards their new members, who were currently stationed here.
"As many of you already know, the 104th training corps has been disbanded yesterday" Erwin started, when the two recruits were finally seated "according to our predictions, less than ten percent of its members expressed a will to join the scouts. The queen already informed me of the date of the official ceremony of disbanding the corps…"
"This is outrageous!"
"It's unfair!"
"They can't just disband the corps!"
"Unfortunately," the commander interjected, raising his hand "they can. We expected this to happen, so don't act like it's some ground-breaking news."
One of the officers, Hange Zoe sighed out.
"I think most of us were aware of that" the woman said, while looking at Erwin "but the shock is still there. We were supposed to be the beacon of hope…"
"And we shall remain one" the blonde commander assured "now. I ask Mikasa to tell everyone about her story."
This put the scouts into a state of consternation. Why would their leader ask some recruit to tell them their biography? Once again, Levi looked at Erwin with a raised eyebrow. As the two officers exchanged glances, the girl in question stood up from her seat.
"Five years ago, not long after wall Maria had been breached, my friend, Eren Yeager, was kidnapped. Somehow, everyone besides me forgot all about him. His father was nowhere to be found. The memory of him disappeared along with his person, and no one aside from me remembers that there was ever any Yeager, living in the Shiganshina district."
This testimony on itself, raised more than a single doubt within the scouts' minds. The girl was supposedly the best of the 104th, but that in itself didn't prove any kind of mental capacity, which any person who went through a huge trauma during their childhood could possibly lack.
Nevertheless, Erwin decided to speak up, after she was finished.
"The theory that there is someone within the government that can alter memories is more than logical. Just think about it. If the humanity sought refuge within the wall over a hundred years ago, our elders must've heard something about the outside world from their elders. Especially, since we can't be sure if there is no humanity beyond walls…"
"Hold on!" Hange exclaimed with surprise "I know about your story, Erwin. I think many of us already heard of it. But the fact that some theory is logical doesn't make it true!"
At that, Erwin fell silent. As he was thinking, all of the people present focused on him in anticipation.
"For those of you who don't know about my father, I'll just say that the MP got rid of him, because he told me the truth about the propaganda that the government would put in schoolbooks…"
He took a single, deep breath.
"However," Erwin continued "thanks to the work of our comrades and a few of my contacts, I managed to get in touch with someone, who might just confirm all this."
Everyone looked at him with wide eyes, as the commander motioned for the guard to open the doors one last time.
Inside, walked a young man, with shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes.
"This is Armin Arlert" the commander started "he was one of the engineers responsible for the creation of the airship. Some time ago, he came in contact with the queen. Armin, please tell us what you know."
As all the eyes focused on the small boy, he gulped before speaking up.
"W-when queen Frieda visited us to see the effects of our work, something unexpected happened. When she brought her hand to ruffle my hair, I saw a memory. A memory of one, Eren Yeager."
This seemed to have shocked some of the participants. While others still seemed sceptical, the few that believed in what he was saying, focused on him even more.
"During childhood, I was a friend of Mikasa's" the blonde expressed, pointing towards the dark-haired recruit "she even lived with my family until she had decided to join the military. All that time, she would tell me of that boy who has been erased from everyone's memories. When I finally met the queen, I believed."
"You're saying…?"
"Contact with the queen somehow triggered the memory of Eren, which was repressed until then. After that day, random memories would occasionally flood my mind. Today, I am sure that the queen has the power to erase other people's memories!"
This piece of information was most shocking. Some of the scouts even stood up from their seats, demanding an explanation.
"The manipulator that erased the memories is our queen" Erwin spoke, after this moment of fervour "For whatever reason, Mikasa Ackerman seems to be unaffected by this power. Had it ever occurred, that you would suspect that your memories had been changed, try reaching out to her…"
After that, he looked towards the girl in question. She seemed determined to fulfil this hard mission, yet it didn't escape his conscience, that she was still a teenager. Anyone with such an emotional baggage, would surely crumble under all this pressure.
'Well,' he thought, looking towards his captain 'anyone but an Ackerman.'
"She is our official secret weapon against the government" the commander exclaimed after a moment "with her help, I believe we can bring it down, soon."
"Yeah…"
"I like the sound of that…"
"Thank you, newbie!"
Seeing that the reactions were mostly positive, Erwin continued.
"Mikasa. Would you like to disclose another piece of information that you currently possess?"
At that, the girl was brought out of her momentary stupor, and after clearing her throat, she spoke once again.
"We are currently after a tall, skilled, rough-looking man named Kenny."
Suddenly, a chuckle could be heard all over the room. Considering that the situation was no laughing matter, the scouts turned towards the person responsible for it.
What a shock it was for them to look at a smiling face of captain Levi.
"Oh, no need to look for him" the short officer said, trying to hold his laughter "Kenny is an old friend of mine…"