During a sunny afternoon, Erwin Smith stood in an underground cellar and stared at Annie Leonhardt whom had crystalized herself to prevent herself from physical capture and physical judgement from Paradis. The wires had been wrapped around Annie's crystal had been removed. Not a word was uttered from Erwin's mouth as he had thought of the times when he saw the Female Titan.

"Commander Erwin?"

Erwin slightly glanced back to the door through the corner of his right eye as he heard a feminine voice. She discovered that it was Hitch Dreyse standing by the entrance.

"What are you doing down here all by yourself?" Hitch asked.

Erwin glanced back toward Annie. "I'm just thinking... of how Marley might want us to return Annie Leonhardt to them."

"You think they want Annie back?" Hitch asked.

"Since we're in a time of peace with the world, I suspect that Marley would want all of their warriors to return home. And I believe that Annie Leonhardt would want to return home, too." Erwin said as he walked closer toward Annie's crystal.

"That's understandable." Hitch replied. "But still, though. After everything that's happened, I still can't believe that she was a spy all along. But I am going to miss talking to her." Hitch then thought of something. "Hey, commander. How do you think Marley is going to get Annie out of that crystal?"

"That is up to Marley." Erwin replied as he left the underground cell.

Hitch Dreyse temporarily watched Erwin leave the cell and was left with Annie. She then sighed and looked back to Annie. "Seriously, Annie? How are you so popular? All you do is sleep all day!"


A Few Moments Later

Shortly after holding a conversation with Hitch Dreyes about Annie Leonhardt, Erwin Smith exited the underground cellar and walked on the grounds of the Military headquarters. He then heard loud noises coming from the nose of the Military headquarters. He then saw a dozen young Survey Corp. recruits rallying toward the front gate. Erwin followed a followed the young recruits to the front gate and discovered that there were hundreds of protestors.

'It's a rally.' Erwin thought as looked at the crowd of protestors.

"Look! It's him!" A male protestor pointed at Erwin Smith.

Most of the protestors stopped yelling and focused their attention on Erwin Smith. The crowd changed their mood from roaring in confusion to cheering for Erwin Smith.

"Commander Erwin!"

"You're a hero!"

"You saved us! You saved Eldia!"

"You should be the one ruling over Paradis!"

"Tell us, Commander! What was it like out there?"

"What lies next for the future of Paradis?"

Erwin Smith had zero reaction as he heard the crowd of protestors cheering him on. As Erwin Smith was being cheered on, Mikasa Ackerman who wore a green Survey Corp. trench coat and her red scarf just happened to be in the area and chose to seize the moment by deciding to visit Dhalis Zachary.


A Single Moment Later

Not long did it take for Mikasa Ackerman to reach Dhalis Zachary's office. She welcomed herself in his office. "Commander in Chief?"

Dhalis Zachary stared outside through his large window and saw protestors cheering for Erwin. He could see that Erwin still had zero reaction toward the crowd. "Thank you very much for taking time to visit me, Mikasa Ackerman. I know that some time had passed since you had requested to visit me. Please, sit."

Mikasa had taken a seat.

Dhalis had then taken a seat as well. "Now, I've heard from a little birdie that you have requested to know of Eren Yeager's current location, yes?"

"That's right." Mikasa responded.

Dhalis then sighed. "As much as it pains me to say it... but I can't allow you to see Eren."

Mikasa gasped. "But... why?"

"Because we are now certain of the volunteers had made contact with Eren Yeager. Eren had concealed meetings with the volunteers for approximately ten months leading up Erwin Smith catching him on that night in Marley. I'm afraid that the investigations of the masterminds behind these secret meetings is now ongoing."

"Is there a way I can get into contact with Eren and make him stop seeing the Yeagerists?"

"Dhalis sighed. "Perhaps I could've accepted your request, if we had met, earlier. But Eren had maintained his silence since returning to Paradis. And no one has known what he had done in Marley, alone. Naturally, we cannot carry out the tests. Not when the volunteers have seriously violated our sovereignty. I am afraid that Zeke Yeager is controlling Eren.

Mikasa gasped again and looked at Dhalis Zachary in the eye. "What do you mean, Zeke Yeager is controlling Eren?"

"I would never share this situation with anyone else. Please, keep it a secret as well." Dhalis Zachary asked, feeling polite.

"What's going to happen to Eren? Where is he?" Mikasa asked feeling concerned for Eren.

"I'm afraid I can't reveal that information-not even to you." Dhalis Zachary replied. "I am also aware of your history with Eren Yeager and how protective you are of him. However, if I do reveal his current location, Eren Yeager would be in further danger." Dhalis Zachary blinked, then glanced to his left toward his chair.

Mikasa then followed Dhalis' eyes and noticed a weird looking chair in the office. "What is that?"

"It's nothing. I had the new recruits put it in here, because there was nowhere else to put it. That will be all from you for now." Dhalis Zachary said, then dismissed Mikasa from his office.

After leaving Dhalis Zachary's office like he asked, Mikasa just stared at the Dhalis' front door. 'But, why?' Mikasa felt confused about what Dhalis Zachary planned to do with Eren. As she were leaving the halls, Mikasa had suddenly gained a light headache when she thought of Eren, again. Mikasa's right hand clasped her right head as she grunted. 'Armin... if you were here, what would you have done? Would you agree with them? Or would you...' Mikasa then thought of her late childhood friend... Armin Arlert as she wondered the halls.

Suddenly, three Military Police officials had passed Mikasa as she wondered. The three officials stopped at Dhalis Zachary's office and one of them knocked.

"Excuse us."

Mikasa silently gasped and looked back as she saw the three officials enter Dhalis Zachary's office. After the door closed, Mikasa had made up her mind and decided to eavesdrop on Dhalis Zachary's conversation. She walked back to Dhalis Zachary's office door as quiet as she could and tried to listen carefully. 'I need to know what the Military is planning to do with Eren.' She heard some words coming from Dhalis Zachary and two of the MP officials. And then she suddenly heard a ticking sound almost like a clock inside Dhalis Zachary's office. 'Everything sounds fine, for now. The Commander in Chief is talking as usual. That's good. But why do I hear a-' Suddenly, ticking within Dhalis Zachary's office stopped ticking which alerted Mikasa Ackerman. Mikasa grunted, then ran from Dhalis Zachary's office as fast as she could until she felt a bit of rumble as Dhalis Zachary's office had burst into flames. Mikasa had already jumped down and covered her head from the rubble. She slowly got up to see Dhalis Zachary's office roaring in flames. She panted a bit until she told herself that she needed to leave.

Outside of the Military Headquarters... many of the protestors, Survey Corp. soldiers, Military Police and Erwin Smith saw Dhalis Zachary's office catch on fire on the top floor. Suddenly, a corpse had flown out of the burning office and landed onto the pavement next to Erwin.

Erwin did not say a word as he stared at Dhalis Zachary's amputated and mutilated corpse on the pavement. He then looked up at Dhalis Zachary's burning office. "Everyone! Hurry up and put out that fire! Search for any survivor! We cannot let the enemy win!" Erwin had ordered all Military Police and Survey Corp. soldiers to forget the protestors and to put out the fire.

"Yessir!"

"Right!"

Many soldiers from both Military Police Brigade and Survey Corp. parties responded as they had abandoned the gates and ran inside of the Military Headquarters.

"Um, Commander Erwin?"

Erwin slowly turned his back and looked at a male protester from across the gate.

"What do you mean, "We cannot let the enemy win?"

Erwin paused as he looked at the male protestor.

"When you say enemy... are you talking about Marley?

"Yeah. Do you think that explosion... was Marley's doing, Commander?"

"Did Marley betray us?" A Female protestor asked.

The crowd begun roaring with questions toward Erwin Smith.

"Everyone. I can assure you that this incident was not caused by Marley-as we had signed a peace treaty." Erwin spoke to the crowd of proestors.

"Than why did the Premiere's office just explode?"

"The high Government officials from Marley, nor any other country were aware of Premiere Dhalis Zachary's existence. This has to be the work of someone within our ranks. Someone from within Paradis is trying to destroy the Chain of Command by assassinating political leaders like the Premiere! But I swear to you all that we will not let the Premiere's death be in vain! As we will find those that were responsible for the bombing, and we will bring them to justice!"

After a moment, the crowd begun to change moods once again as they begun to take Erwin's side after being persuaded by words. It had taken a

"Dedicate your hearts!" Erwin Smith shouted as he saluted to the crowd of protestors.

"Dedicate your hearts!" After a moment, the entire crowd who support Erwin Smith chanted multiple times and saluted back.

As the crowd cheered and chanted, "Dedicate your hearts!" in front of Erwin, Mikasa Ackerman finally ran out of the headquarters, unscathed. She noticed Erwin had solute to the crowd and the crowd was saluted back to him.


Later That Night

Both the high-ranking Survey Corp. and Military Police Brigade soldiers had all dressed in green trench coats with their respected Brigade on their backs and shoulders. They stood in a meeting room talking about the incident that happened earlier that day. Mikasa Ackerman stood in the meeting room as well.

"We believe that a bomb was planted in Premiere Dhalis Zachary's chair. Four soldiers, including him were lost in the attack." Roeg, one of the high-ranking Military Police Brigade soldiers said as he read the reports. "The culprits and their goals are unknown."

"We have yet to catch the culprits of the bombing." Erwin replied.

"Are there any other factions?" Roeg asked.

Mikasa silently gasped then remembered something. "There was a chair in his office."

"Hm?" Roeg looked at Mikasa.

"Before that thing went off... the Premiere told me that some recruits brought it in because there was no other place to put it." Mikasa confessed.

"What recruits? Which Brigade? Nile Dok asked.

"He didn't say where they were from... but before I entered the Premiere's office, I saw some recruits run away from the headquarters. I think they were apart of our Brigade. The Survey Corp." Mikasa stated which gained some gasps in the room.

"Are you certain of this?" Erwin asked Mikasa.

"Yes." Mikasa nodded.

Nile Dok opened his mouth. "Speaking of Survey Corps.-"

But before Nile could finish his speech, a soldier from the Garrison Regiment Brigade had pushed the doors open. "Forgive me, but I have urgent news!"

All of the soldiers from both Survey Corp. and Military Police Brigade had turned to the one Garrison soldier who burst into the room.

"What is going on? What is so urgent?" Nile Dok asked.

"We just got a message from Squad Leader Hange Zoe from all the way in Stohess District." The Garrison soldier said. "She was assaulted by soldiers from the Survey Corp." This caught the attention of Erwin and Nile Dok. "And... Eren Yeager has escaped from custody!"

Mikasa's eyes grew in shock after learning the news.

"Send messages to every District within Paradis! Tell them to mobilize all soldiers and find Eren Yeager!" Nile Dok shouted and demanded his soldiers to leave the room and warn other Districts about Eren Yeager's escape.

"Yes, sir!"

Mikasa stood still as her mind was caught in a whirl after learning that Eren had escaped from Stohess District. "What the hell is going on..." Her eyes had blurred a bit, temporarily.

Erwin stared at Mikasa, momentarily as he can see that Mikasa is not in her right mind.


I think we all know who helped Eren escaped. ;)