A puff of smoke exhaled from Zeke's lips as he overlooked the selected warriors training in the courtyard. Over a year ago, he had been there when Eren inherited the Attack Titan. The affair was far grislier than he had imagined. Grisha's intentions were to recruit Eren with him (having assumed that he would have been selected for one of the nine) but how wrong their father had been. It left him with no alternative but to allow himself to be devoured after injecting his youngest with the titan serum. Zeke couldn't even recall shedding a tear…

He had relayed the information back to the Marleyan officers, expressing to them that Eren had eradicated a known traitor and should be honored by keeping the Attack Titan. They agreed. And here they were, back on track, minus their brainwashing father. Zeke saw it as a win-win. "Watch for her legs, Eren." He advised his brother as he spectated his sparring with Annie.

"Huh?" Eren lifted his head and on a split second's notice found that Annie swept for his calf with her foot. He clumsily staggered back, evading the attack but if he thought that it wasn't a two-parter he was mistaken. The blonde lunged for him and grappled him in a headlock, tackling him directly to the ground as she so often did.

"Again?" Annie could no longer be impressed with her own skills when she continuously caught Eren out with the same move. His hand-to-hand combat was perfect but his technique on escaping a grapple left much to be desired. She huffed when his face turned blue under the strain, so she released him and leaned back on her knees. "How do you expect to survive in Paradis if you can't overcome one grapple?"

"It'll be different over there." The boy disputed and shuffled to his feet, rubbing his red throat. "For starters I won't be fighting a friend."

"Is that your excuse for losing to me constantly? Because I'm your friend?" Annie's eyes began to narrow.

Eren lifted a brow back at her. "I didn't mean it like that, and you know it."

"Well done, Eren!" Pieck clapped eagerly as she sat on the stairs beside Zeke. "You didn't pass out this time!"

"Uh," Eren's recovering cheeks threatened to turn pink next, he rubbed his neck and smiled awkwardly, "thanks?"

Reiner was left chuckling as he approached his friend, then he patted his arm for good measure. "You're a good warrior Eren, you've got all the right instincts, Annie over here just doesn't know how to play well with others. Ain't that right, Bertholdt?"

The Colossal Titan grew shy as his companions turned their attention to him, he bowed his head as he noticed Annie's waiting gaze. "I'm just glad she is on our side." He answered safely and remembered to breathe again when the blonde seemed to accept his response and averted her focus elsewhere. Bertholdt stood at the other side of Eren and smiled warmly to him. "It doesn't matter who is the strongest out of us, we are a team unit, all we have to do is focus on our mission."

"Bertholdt is right." Marcel agreed. "If we stick together then we will be just fine. We'll be back in Liberio before we know it and they'll all be singing our praises from sunset until sunrise."

Porco rolled his eyes in the backdrop. "Tch."

"What do you think it will be like over there anyway?"

Reiner inhaled deeply, losing his sense of humor. "It will be filled with those island devils in every direction. We will be surrounded by them every waking minute of the day. They are hell spawn."

Eren always admired just how passionate Reiner was to the cause, he smiled at him and gave his knuckles a playful push into his jaw. "Easy there big guy, save some of that anger for when we leave, alright?"

"You got it, Eren." Reiner managed to smile again and ruffled his friend's tousled hair. "Say, my mom is making homemade pie, how about we go and grab some?"

"No way!" Eren's eyes lit up, practically sparkling, he balled his hands in excitement. "Let's go!"

"What about our training?" Annie scoffed as she saw Eren toss an arm around Reiner's neck and the other around Bertholdt's, marching out of the courtyard.

"Oh, right, you win today. Big shocker." Maybe Eren wouldn't have been so flippant if his stomach wasn't growling at the mention of food. Annie had been putting him in the ground for nearly an hour, but he was getting a lot better at evening the score. One of these days he was going to catch up to her and then he would have the last laugh. "Why don't you join us and have some fun for a change?"

"I'm not in the mood-"

Whoosh!

Pieck suddenly grasped Annie's hand and skipped with her after Eren and the others, leaving the blonde with an imperceptible blush and no choice but to go with the girl.

"You've got a strong grip for someone as cute as a button, maybe you could give Eren some pointers." Annie mentioned.

"Hardy har har." Eren rolled his eyes. "Pieck is our secret weapon, she can just kill all those island devils with cuteness. Isn't that right, Pieck?"

"Mm-hm." Pieck shut her eyes and smiled softly, not really believing what she was agreeing to, but she was always happy whenever Eren said nice things to her.

Zeke dropped his cigarette to the ground and stubbed it out with his boot as he saw Marcel drag his brother along with the group. Even as they left from the courtyard, he could hear their laughter. It was hard to imagine that such a young group were undertaking a mission that could prove to be pure suicide. He didn't have the heart to tell them that not all of them would be going to Paradis Island. The Marleyans had considered very carefully on who they would select to recover the Founding Titan. It was a delicate operation, and they would not risk sending every warrior to the walls.

This wasn't the first night that Karina Braun had her son inviting his fellow warriors into their house, as a matter of fact she had laid out plenty of plates in advance by the table and smiled ahead of time when she heard the trio of laughter coming from Reiner, Eren and Bertholdt. They were always inseparable, more like brothers than friends.

"This smells great, Mrs. Braun!" Eren exclaimed eagerly as he raced towards the large table to grab a seat as the woman prepared to dish out servings of the freshly baked goods.

Reiner ended up tipping his head at Pieck. "Say, why don't you grab a chair next to Eren?" When he saw her face lift in happiness, he gave her a subtle thumbs-up. He always looked out for his companions in whichever little ways he could, hence why he made sure that Bertholdt sat next to Annie too, while he joined the Galliard brothers at the opposite side. Since Zeke was the oldest, he respectfully let him sit at the head of the table.

They chatted most of the night away, surrounding the table in good company. Eren and Reiner engaged in playful arm-wrestling and incited Annie to join in, until she defeated them both, while Zeke and Mrs. Braun discussed the future invasion to Paradis Island. It was one of the most relaxing evenings in Marley in an awfully long time. When it darkened further, the group congregated outside the house, talking beneath the star-filled sky. Pieck sat on Bertholdt's shoulders, gazing wondrously above, lost in her own little world as always, while the others sat on the edge of the wall.

"We are going to change the world, together." Eren declared and turned to face his companions, smiling assuredly. "I know that we have our duty, but let's promise that no matter what happens that we'll always stick together, that we'll always be a team." He put his hand forward.

"I'm with you, Eren." Reiner set his hand upon his friend's.

"Me too!" Bertholdt enthused, mimicking Reiner by bringing his hand forward. He ended up lifting Pieck down from his shoulder when she attempted to lean in to join their little group vow.

Marcel and Porco joined too. Zeke ruffled his younger brother's head, admiring his camaraderie. He set his hand in, humouring this 'unbreakable' bond. Annie was last, of course, always being more stubborn than was needed.

"I know we can do this; we've all got what it takes." Eren was second to none when it came to his determination, at times he could be hot-headed and entirely irrational, but he was growing – he was maturing day by day. He wasn't a child fawning over idle dreams and ambitions anymore, he was a warrior seeking them out to carve them into reality. "We will make it home again."

Author's note: Thank you all for the wonderful feedback, I'm so flattered to have you aboard on this journey! :D Next chapter will be coming soon, and we'll see how the warriors react as they discover who will be going to Paradis Island and who will be left behind in Liberio!