On the Night of the Festival
Ten minutes before midnight, since Eren Yeager had been caught and had been taken to the air ship. While the Survey Corp were almost ready to leave, they had encountered into a small problem. Ten minutes before the Survey Corp. could peacefully leave Marley, Floch Forster and two scouts had caught Zeke Yeager hiding inside a secret room on the airship, attempting to reach and free Eren Yeager and had been quickly escorted towards the Commander of the Survey Corp.
"Well, if it isn't Marley's favorite bearded bastard." Levi said as he gave Zeke a cold stare.
"I wouldn't say that I'm happy to see you, either Levi. Due to our previous encounter." Zeke replied to Levi's taunt, then back when he first met Levi, four years prior outside Shiganshina.
"You mean, when I stuck a blade in your mouth and almost fed you to one of our own? Then yeah." Levi said.
As Levi kept talking with Zeke, Erwin took a moment and thought of most of his fellow, but now deceased colleagues that he worked with him in the Survey Corp. And for some reason to Erwin, the first comrade to appear in his mind was his old friend and comrade, Mike Zacharius. He hadn't seen Mike, since the Survey Corp. failed to capture Annie Leonhardt outside Wall Rose. Weeks after hearing the reports and rumors of Wall Rose being breached, Erwin automatically assumed that Mike was dead. But the truth is, Erwin did not know how he died.
"I really thought that I was going to die, right then and there." Zeke said.
"Trust me. What I did to you, then, was nothing compared to what I plan on doing to you in the future." Levi said.
"Don't glare at me like that, Levi." Zeke said as he stared into Levi's eyes. "What are you going to do if I piss myself right now? But I have to admit. You really are strong for an Ackerman." Zeke complimented Levi's strength. "Considering how much you really want to kill me."
"I'm the type to save the best parts of my meals for last. So that I can savor the flavors, slowly." Levi said as he and Zeke had continued staring daggers at one another.
"Enough." Erwin said, breaking up the conversation. "Tell us. What are your intentions, Zeke Yeager?"
Zeke Yeager looked to Erwin as soon as he called his name. "It is nice to see that you are still alive, Erwin Smith." Zeke then glanced down to see his right arm.
"Hey. The commander asked you a question. So answer it." Levi said.
"So, you've finally done it. You managed to make peace Paradis and the entire world without spilling a single ounce of blood. Impressive. Not many brave men can pull off that kind of feat." Zeke had commented Erwin.
Erwin did not reply to Zeke.
"I'm about to spill your blood again, if you don't answer his question." Levi threatened Zeke and then drew out his blade halfway but was stopped by Erwin who threw out his right arm, blocking Levi's way.
Zeke spotted Erwin's right arm, then started to think back, four years prior. He remembered seeing Erwin leading a charge against him with a single arm in the air. "I see you have a new arm. Which means..." Zeke had a short flashback of when he first met Eren and found Bertoldt being held hostage. "Bertoldt Hoover is no longer with us." Zeke assumed.
"I was unconscious and on the brink of death." Erwin replied, then remembered being struck in the left waist and passing out.
"I see."
"What is your reasoning for being here?" Erwin asked.
"I simply came to see what your next move would be." Zeke answered Erwin's question.
Erwin stared at Zeke for three seconds, then looked to Floch.
"We caught him sneaking in the cargo room and trying to free Eren Yeager. Luckily, we stopped him before something bad happened." Floch had informed Erwin and Levi.
"Really..." Levi continued staring at Zeke after listening to Floch. "You must got some balls to go this far."
"What? Am I not allowed to see my own brother?" Zeke simply asked.
"Not unless you want to come closer to death." Levi told Zeke.
"You have some kind of request?" Erwin asked Zeke.
"Just one. Let me go with you to Paradis Island. I can keep a close eye on Eren and council him. So that he won't get into any further trouble." Zeke requested.
"No." Erwin replied, almost instantly.
"Hm?"
"We already have colleagues who does that. And also, we personally cannot trust you-especially after the damage you've caused." Erwin said.
"Are you still upset that I killed your comrades that day?" Zeke asked.
"Not at all. But I did learn something about you while we were in Marley. Not long ago after we arrived, Captain Levi, Squad Leader Hange and a few colleagues of mine attended to a major sport, only known to Marley called baseball."
Flashback
Two days after Eren's disappearance, the eight Survey Corp. soldiers from Paradis, included Commander Erwin Smith, Squad Leader Hange, Captain Levi, Jean Kierstein, Sasha Blouse, Connie Springer and Mikasa Ackerman had snuck into a large and crowded baseball stadium in Marley and watched the game. Connie had a big bag of popcorn and Sasha had two hotdogs. Jean drunk a bottle of water and Mikasa had vanilla ice cream to try and help get over Eren's disappearance.
Erwin Smith saw a baseball player pitching a baseball numerous times, taking out at least two players in one minute. As another baseball player with a bat was coming onto the diamond, Erwin carefully watched the baseball pitcher move his body to a certain angle, then watched him pitch the ball towards the player with the bat. Erwin's eyes grew a bigger as he visualized the Beast Titan throwing in that same manner.
End Flashback
"Back then, when I lead a charge against you, I realized that you weren't just trying to kill us. I saw the way you carried those big chunk of rocks, then pitched them toward us like baseballs. You were toying with us like you were playing an actual game of baseball." Erwin stated.
"You figured it out, then." Zeke said. "Tell me. Are you going to avenge your comrades by killing me?"
Erein chuckled a bit, then slowly shook his head no. "No. I have no intentions of killing you."
"Then, let me go with you to Paradis." Zeke demanded, again.
"No. We have no reason to trust you, whatsoever." Erwin said.
Zeke sighed. "I knew you would say that. Well, time for Plan B." Zeke then reached for his pocket.
"Hey, don't move!" Floch demanded as he and two other soldiers had their index fingers on the triggers of their rifles.
"Hold it." Erwin ordered Floch and two soldiers.
Zeke pulled his hand out from his pocket and grabbed a white envelope from it.
"An envelope?" Levi questioned as he stared at the envelope in Zeke's hand.
One of the soldiers who pointed their rifles at Zeke swiped the letter from his hand and gave it to Erwin. "It's a letter!"
"Not just any letter. It is a letter that is signed by General Theo Magath and the Marleyan higher ups. It allows an Eldian like me to travel anywhere in the world I want to go. Including Paradis Island." Zeke stated.
"Tch!" Levi grunted as he had detested the thought of Zeke coming to Paradis.
After taking a moment of reading and seeing Theo Magath's signature, he looked at Zeke. "This is Theo Magath's handwriting." Erwin stated. "How much do you really care for Eren?"
"Enough to reach down in the fiery depths of hell and pull him out." Zeke said plainly, then pushed his glasses close to his nose.
Levi then looked to Erwin. "Are you really gonna let that bearded freak come with us to Paradis? The bastard could slip from our fingers at any time and possibly help activate the Rumbling."
"Believe me. I have no interest in starting the Rumbling." Zeke said.
Levi looked to Zeke with disgust. "I'm not talking to you, beardy." Levi then looked back to Erwin. "We're better off starting and finishing our own problems without him."
Erwin looked to Zeke, then at Levi, then disappointingly sighed. "Fine." Erwin told Zeke. "You can come with us to Paradis."
Levi irritatingly rolled his eyes.
Zeke cracked a smile. 'Don't worry, Eren.'
Major things will happen. I like to say that there are less than ten chapters left to this story.
