Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan Junior High

Levi moved.

Before Ymir can register anything else, she felt her stomach cramped in painfully as the Captain kicked her down with lightning speed. Landing on her back, she barely had time to breathe before Levi stomped on her wrist painfully and tried to skewer her through her mouth. Surprisingly, Jean of all people quickly intervened by drawing out his own blade and stopping Levi's own in a locked match. Ymir let out a pained cry, coughing up a little blood.

"What are you doing, Kirstein?!" Somewhere over the other couch, he heard Oluo hollered, and then sharp metals clanging against each other; someone—no, multiple people drew out their swords in response. Levi ignores them and used his other hand and went in for the kill.

"No, Ymir!" Christa shouted in alarm.

Eren suddenly jumped in between the path of the blade and Ymir, startling the captain but it was too late; he couldn't retract his sword. The blade went just under his chest and impaled through Eren's body. Mikasa reacted quickly with a sharp cry of, "EREN!" before lunging at the captain.

The rise in volume seemed to startle everyone into action; Christa acted first after Mikasa landed a roundhouse kick at Levi's head, knocking the Captain away from Eren who landed on Ymir, and rushed up to him. The Special Operation Squad also drew their own gear in response to the threats to their Captain's life, which prompted the rookie to stand up and readied their hands at the sword handles. None dared to make a move on one another as Levi tried to fight off Mikasa in the small room.

Armin sees to Eren's wound, deeming the titan's regeneration ability is working before yelling at Mikasa, "Mikasa! Stop!"

Startled out of her trance by the blond child, Hange followed suit, "Levi! You too! Let's talk this out!"

Erwin simply observed their behavior with a cold, distant gaze.

"What's there to talk about?!" Levi growled lowly, eyes never leaving the girl before him; she was a surprisingly dangerous opponent and it seems that the rumor of her skills being worth a hundred soldiers wasn't a joke, "Both the Colossal and Armored Titan is from the 104th Trainee class, she was there during the invasion, and at the ceremony. Kuro just said so herself; she's a titan shifter! Stand down, Ackerman! Are you going to stop me from putting down humanity's biggest threat?!"

"I have had enough with you kicking Eren around, Captain!" Mikasa shouted at the top of her lungs, "You people have one job and you couldn't even do it! Using Eren as bait, verbally abusing him, and physically harm one of your own soldiers. For all the talks about how he can help you with your missions you are just treating him like your enemy!"

Christa quickly added her own opinions, "There has to be a misunderstanding here! Ymir's not the Colossal or the Armored Titan, nor she is a threat to humanity! I've been right by her side for the majority of our time in the corp, and I can vouch for that! We were also together during Trost and she didn't leave my side even once! There's no way—"

"That's not enough to prove your innocence, recruit," Levi barked back, "Now that I think about it, you two are pretty much attached at the hips. How can you vouch for her innocence if you are one of the suspects, Christa Lenz?!"

"Christa has nothing to do with this!" Ymir bellowed from her position on the floor, wheezing from the impact of Levi's kick, 'Three—no, four broken ribs. As expected of Humanity's Strongest Soldier.'

Worse, steam is bursting from her sprained wrist, further condemning Ymir for her case. Next to her, Eren's eyes are wide and wavered between betrayal and anger. Everyone was staring at her hand in horror with the only sound being the sizzling of steam. Gunther snapped out of it first and yelled, "She's healing herself; she's definitely a titan shifter!"

"You guys!" Petra yelled at the recruits, "Get away from her! She's dangerous!"

"Tch, I knew it!" Levi turned to the group and swiftly moved to cut down Ymir once and for all.

'He's fast!' Mikasa jerked in surprise and moved herself to intercept the captain, but she was too late.

"EVERYONE, STOP THIS INSTANCE!"

A strange voice roared in anger, followed by a strong burst of killing intent that has the veterans shook a little. The recruits outright whimpered; Eren temporarily forgot about his anger to look at the source. Levi stopped himself just in time and twisted his head to who he deemed a larger threat.

Only Erwin remained calm during the chaos.

"Honestly, that good for nothing fiend," the newcomer growled in resentment that somehow surpasses Eren's rage for the titans, "Forcing me to come all the way here myself like some pizza delivery girl. The nerve of that bitch."

"Hello," Erwin nodded, and if he was surprised at how someone can appear out of nowhere, he didn't show it, "May I ask for your name, please?"

The other occupants in the room were of a different opinion. Whispers began to pick up on who the stranger was and how can she suddenly pop out of thin air like that.

'Is she Kuro?' Jean let his thoughts wandered as he clutched onto his wrist; he knew Captain Levi was insanely strong, but even with both hands he could barely kept the Captain's sword in check, and Jean was sure that the shorter man had been going easy on him.

'What a beautiful girl,' Sasha thought in reverence, 'Is she blind or are her eyes just that milky white? And her flowing dress, too. It reminds me of the moon.'

'Well, one thing's for sure; that mouth of her definitely doesn't match the delicate appearance.' Eld slid his swords back into his sheath and signaled his teammate to do the same.

"Who are you?" Levi asked rudely.

"You may call me Shiro. As I am sure Kuro had told you, your world is ruled by a governor. I am that person."

Connie stood up a little straighter in surprise, "Eh?! You are a governor?! But you look so young, though!"

Shiro hmphed, "Look does not dictate anything, mortal. You will do well to remember that. For now, everyone, please put your weapons away and get back to your seats like adults. We will talk this out peacefully and calmly like human beings and not pigs."

Before Levi can have a chance to piss off their governor with his usual rude remarks, Erwin intervened, "Levi, do as she said. Ackerman, you too. Everyone else," he suddenly raised his voice, "Put away your weapons and sit down. Ymir, put your hands up where we can see you."

There was nothing he could do if Erwin had explicitly given his orders, so Levi put his sword away after sending a warning glare to Mikasa. The number one rookie, to her credit, put her weapons away with little fuss and quickly rushed over to Eren's side. By now his wound had already healed and he's staring at Ymir with suspicion and betrayal; to think he was talking amicably to her just half an hour ago.

Ymir winced as she tried to stand up with Christa's assistance. Her wrist healed, but her ribs still have a way to go. She was thankful for the newcomer's—their governor's—appearance. No matter how strong Mikasa may be, there was a high chance Ymir would've been killed before she can make any attempts to straighten out her records.

"Right, now that everyone has calmed down—"

"Excuse me," Oluo interrupted with a steely gaze, face serious for once, "You said you are our governor, right? What the hell have you been doing these past 100 years?! Humanity is on the brink of perishing, and where were you?! Aren't you supposed to protect us?!"

"I don't have to do shit to help you, humans," Shiro sneered contemptuously, "It is not any of my business if you humans decided to screw each other over; my responsibility is to this world; not humans specifically. Make a statement that pompous again and I'll castrate you. I've been busy monitoring the Mid-East Union and Marley for the past few years, so I haven't had the time to check on you people."

'We aren't 'screwing each other over', though,' Oluo gritted his teeth, but didn't speak up at the threat to his manhood, 'Those titans ain't even human.'

'This is bad.' Ymir quietly thought to herself as she raised both of her hands up as a sign of submission, 'She is neither an enemy nor a friend, but Marley…'

"Now, Ymir. The stage is yours." Shiro sighed and rolled her shoulders, "Whether you are dead or alive after this depends on your presentation. Remember; you only have this chance."

Ymir quietly nodded, still tense and not trusting that the captain won't decapacitate her if she messes up. She made no moves to speak.

"Hey, Ymir, what are you doing?" Finally lost his calm, Eren glowered menacingly and stood up, "Explain yourself, dammit! What are you?! Are you our friends or enemies?! What is your purpose for coming here?!"

"At least let me sort this through first! I don't even know where to start; you people are so woefully ignorant that it's hard to find where to begin!" Ymir snapped back, "For your information, I am a human, I'm technically your friend and definitely not your definition of the enemy, and my purpose for coming here is because a crazy deity spirited us to this strange place. Happy?!"

The 104th recruits were stunned speechless by her outburst; they'd never heard Ymir raising her voice so loud and talking that much at once before. They could see how scared she was, standing up there as their enemy but they couldn't find it in their logic to feel bad for the girl. None of them knew who she truly was nor where her allegiance lies, and they can't afford to let sentiment fester for their enemy. But despite their brain telling them this, their heart still goes out to their fellow comrade.

The veterans don't know what to make of this situation. First, they got confirmation that Ymir, a 104th trainee, is a titan shifter but they don't know whether she is the Armored or the Colossal, and the tension between the Corp members and the recruits finally boils over with looks of distrust being exchanged across the room. With Ymir exposed as a titan shifter, the squad couldn't bring themselves to trust another one from that batch of trainee and so were they.

"How about you start from the beginning with Marley and the world?" Shiro suggested, snapping her fingers and a chair poofed into existence, "The rest of the stuff about who you are and how you got your power can wait. And don't worry—no one's going to cut you down while I'm still here." She sent a meaningful look at Levi, who tsked in annoyance.

"'Marley and the world'?" Hange whispered for once. Could she be implying that—

"Yes." Ymir steeled her nerves after getting assurance for her safety from the strongest person in the room, "Our governor—Shiro—is saying just that. You guys are not the last humans inside the walls. Humanity has not perished."

All at once, the room exploded with various reactions.

"What." Connie delivered in perfect deadpan. "I'm sorry, what?!"

'Finally, the day has come.' Erwin leaned forward and braced himself, 'Everything I've worked for in my entire life; all of them were for this moment. I wanted to give up so many times, but I could not whenever I remember those words from my father. This is it.'

"Humanity...has not perished?" Petra echoed in confusion and bewilderment.

"Is it true, Ymir?!" Armin all but leaped out of his seat, eyes sparkled in wonder while his childhood friends sunk back into the sofa, too stunned for words. "T-Then what about the ocean?! Flaming water? Snowfield of ice?! Land of sand?!" He got more and more excited at the end.

"I think you are talking about the volcano, the arctic, and the desert," Ymir answered in bemusement at his childlike enthusiasm.

"I have no idea what those terms are but yes!"

"Hold up," Jean quickly jumped in, "We are not focusing on the important detail here; humanity has not perished?! But in the textbook—"

"The textbooks are all bullshit." Ymir quickly punched that line of thought down like deflated dough. "In fact, I have the hardest time not bursting out in laughter when we were going over how the people of the Walls are the last one survived in class. In fact, there are multiple nations out there and they are all alive and well."

Hange's hands kept flying across her notebook as she breathed in wonder, "We are not the last humans alive...there are civilizations out there. I see! The titans cut off our communication routes from the outside world, so there was no way for them to know that we are at risk of—"

"And sorry to burst your bubbles, but they all hated your guts. In fact, the entire world wants the people of the Walls dead." Ymir answered bluntly. Now that she was sure Shiro will come to her aid should any of them get the funny idea to get rid of her, she doesn't need to hold back and can tell them the whole story, "They were the one who drove you guys into this corner in the first place."

"Huh?" Hange screeched to a stop on the page. That one statement from Ymir also killed the enthusiasm of everyone in the room as their faces dropped dramatically. Had the situation not been so serious Ymir might have laughed out loud at how ridiculous they seemed. Instead, she takes a look at Christa; she seems to be taking this better than everyone else in the room with a serious look on her face. 'Yep, there's the real Christa alright.'

"They...hate us?" Jean whispered.

"The people of Marley and other nations have been dumping titans onto Paradis Island—which is where the walls are, by the way—for the past century. That's why the titans seem to multiply with no ends to them and why they came from the south; the port is in that direction."

"Marley…" Armin caught on, "Shiro, you said that you were monitoring something called Marley, is that…"

"Yes," Shiro nodded in confirmation, "The nation of Marley, where the Armored Titan, Colossal Titan, and your friend here came from." She makes sure to stress the word 'friend' and includes Ymir separately to show that the girl isn't their enemy.

"But why?!" Gunther exclaimed loudly, and Ymir was sure the only thing that kept him from marching up here to get a hold of her collar was Shiro's bored, but firm gaze on his person, "Why would they do that to us?! Aren't we all humans just like them?! Why would they dump human-eating monsters to us in the first place?!"

Petra also stood up and yelled, "He's right! Why would they do that?! Do you know how many of our comrades had been killed by those t-things?!" The girl felt her voice cracked, stopping to wipe away her tears with her hand before continuing, "How many of our soldiers have been killed with the last thing they saw is those disgusting titans? The people of the world know and did nothing?!"

"Because they viewed us Eldians as devils," Ymir quietly whispered, "A long, long time ago, our ancestor Ymir Fritz made a deal with the devil in order to obtain the Power of the Titans, the ability to transform into Titans," at this, she nodded at Eren and then continues, "with that power, she cultivates the land, build bridges, and brutally massacre all other tribes, Marley included. That was about 2,000 years ago, I think, and her powers were passed onto her descendants. Together, Eldia ruled the world for a while before a civil war broke out."

"Ymir...isn't that..." On the outside, Historia seems to be addressing this question to the freckled girl, but her head suddenly feels heavy as if there was something there, but amiss, 'Ymir...where have I heard that name before? Or did I even come across it at all? It sounds familiar yet not at the same time.'

"I was named after her, correct."

Erwin used this opportunity to ask his question, "Fritz is the name of the current royal family ruling the walls. I assume that she is related, yes?"

Ymir nodded and quickly continue before anyone else can ask a question, "The 145th king felt that us Eldians had committed a grave sin by killing aimlessly and titans shouldn't have existed in the first place, so he gathered as many Eldians as possible and retreated to Paradis Island and built the walls through his titan powers, and erased the memories of the citizens, tricking them into believing that the rest of humanity had perished."

Everyone was stunned silence. Everyone's memories were manipulated?

"He was right all along," Erwin murmured shakily, inaudible enough to most people, not that they paid any attention to him anyway since they were too horrified, 'Father...you were right all along!'

"The Tybur family 'betrayed' Eldia," Ymir air quoted; from Marley's perspective, the Tyburs were the revered heroes for centuries and it felt weird to say that they are the bad guys here, "They made an alliance with Marley and ended Eldia's rule. Marley took seven of the nine titan powers during that period; one of them I assume is with the royal family, and the other is in Eren over here."

"What are the titans' powers?" Levi grounded out, clearly uneasy by the new revelation. It's great that there is only nine other monstrosities like the Colossal in total, but the majority is in the hands of Marley. Most people in the room were green in the face, but he noticed that Eren seems calm; too calm, to be exact. He filed one of his worries away since he doesn't have to put down a temperamental titan shifter in this cramped room, but it puts him on edge.

"You already saw the Colossal and Armored; I don't know any more than you do about them. It's the same for the rest, too. Marley doesn't publicize the records just in case they get into the enemies' hands. All I learned are their names," Ymir began to list off, "The Female Titan, the Cart Titan, the Beast Titan, the War-Hammer Titan which belongs to the Tybur family, the Jaws Titan which I hold, the missing Attack Titan that probably belongs to Eren, and the Founder."

Ymir paused to observe everyone else's reactions and wait for the inevitable question. Eren is really worrying her because his expression is terrifyingly blank; she'd expect him to at least blow up and interrupt her a few times, but he hadn't done it so far. In fact, he seems like he's barely even breathing. Armin was an entirely different case; while his best friend was dead calm, the blond was shaking a little, eyes dilated, sweat raining down from his forehead not unlike his episode 4 counterpart, and brain probably thinking a mile an hour.

"Who are they?" Ah, there is the question she'd been waiting for. Jean, unsurprisingly, brought this up with haunted eyes. "Who are the Colossal and Armored Titans? Who amongst the 104th trainee class are they? Who is the fucker that kicked down the Walls?" 'The piece of shit who killed Marco—'

'Good. He doesn't think I'm included in that list.' Ymir quickly focused on the only good point in this bleak situation. "You probably don't believe me when I say this, but…"

"Spill it!" Connie leaped to his feet and insisted in anger, though Ymir noticed that it wasn't directed at her. "We've been mentally preparing ourselves since we learned that humankind's enemies are amongst the friends we've been with for the past three years…" Connie teared up a little, but looked up determinedly, "Who is it, Ymir?"

'Ripping the bandage off fast is best,' Ymir closed her eyes and steeled herself to get this out and over with, "Bertolt Hoover is the Colossal Titan and Reiner Braun is the Armored Titan."

"WHAT?!"

Hange couldn't help it; the mood in the room sunk even lower at the claim but she burst out, "Ha! I knew it!"

"You knew?" Sasha turned to look at her with something akin to betrayal, before reigning in. The rest of the recruits eyes her and Erwin with varied degrees of interest, but ultimately confusion. Before they get the wrong impression, Erwin quickly intervened, "We had our suspicions. Remember during episode two, we introduced you to Mike Zacharias?"

The recruits nodded shortly, urging him to continue, "He has an incredibly sharp nose, able to smell out titans before they enter his vision, and had helped out in our expeditions a lot. When he smelled the Bertolt Hoover from that world, the cried. That tipped us off, though none of you recruits noticed it."

Levi used this chance to admonished his team, "You guys, too. I'm surprised none of you saw that."

"But...that Reiner...and Bertolt.." Finally, there were some reactions from Eren. He sounded like he couldn't believe what he'd just said, "Those TRAITORS!"

Before she could stop herself because speaking for these people's enemies definitely won't leave a good impression behind, Ymir softly spoke up, "Technically not. They have never been your friends, to begin with; their only mission was to kill the remaining Eldians on this island and steal back the Founding Titan. Judging from how they are still here, they haven't found it yet?" She turned to Shiro for confirmation.

"Probably, I haven't been keeping an eye on Paradis so I wouldn't know," Shiro shrugged, "but Marley haven't made a fuss about it so I suppose not."

"On that note, I should tell you something else, Annie's with them," the recruits jerked suddenly, clearly not expecting that.

'Oh.' Armin thought blankly. 'I see. I was right. Then it was Annie who killed—' Armin felt nauseous at the thought of Marco; his friend who often talk with him about Jean and Eren while they sat under the moon together to mend their equipment, before quickly blocking his mouth with his hands and ran for the restroom.

"Annie?!" Sasha exclaimed, "That Annie? But Annie never interacts with either Reiner or Bertolt; and, and—"

"She saved me!" Connie exclaimed, moving closer and slapping his hand on his chest repeatedly to make a point, "She didn't have to do it, but she risked her life to save me during that time we were stuck in the supply building! She—"

"Hold up," Petra raised her left hand up in a stop motion and used the other to flip through her notebook, "You mean Annie Leonhart, right? The one who joined the Student Council or the Military Police?"

"Yes," Mikasa answered coldly; she had never liked Annie in the first place, and this new piece of information only serves to further the gap between them, "Annie Leonhart placed fourth in the 104th Southern Division, specialized in her unique fighting style which used her small frame to her advantage and overall not very good at interacting with others. She was also there with us during Trost and at the ceremony."

"What is wrong with this class?" Oluo whispered hysterically as he helped Petra copy down the notes.

"I don't know which titans she holds, but those three are probably Warrior Cadets. They are Eldian children picked specifically to inherit the Power of a Titan through specialized training done by Marley. The Eldians in Marley are treated as second-class—though honestly most of the time they aren't even treated as humans—so becoming a warrior is a great honor for their family and will promote them to first-class citizens. Serves as a great incentive, apparently."

"How do you know so much, Ymir?!" Christa asked, "Who are you, really? Why did you come here?"

Ymir was silent for a while. It's great that Christa didn't think any less of her—not that she doubted—but now she has to answer this question. The others were clearly interested, too. She chuckled, "Not really. These are just common knowledge in Marley that everyone knows. As for me…"

The freckled girl closed her eyes and reminisced on those days filled with pain, comfort, regrets, and horror before—"I was an orphan on the street; not too unfamiliar with the ones inside the Walls; we were hungry, poor, and nameless. Children's corpses on the sidewalk were the norm, and we formed groups in order to survive. No one was willing to let us work for the money; we were too young and frail, and we were Eldians. It was not an easy time to scrape by."

Levi thought about his own past; while he never had to worry about being singled out for being from a different race, his time in the Underground is not dissimilar to Ymir's own and can relate. The only reason why he came out on top was because of Kenny who had been there to help him in the beginning, but the man left anyway. He hadn't heard any news of him since.

Mikasa, on the other hand, could sympathize with Ymir's story. Both her mother and father were outcasts from the general population; her mother with her Asian descent and her father being from the Ackerman family. Works were hard to come by and her family went through a lot of troubles to secure shelter. 'Ironic. The people of the Walls were prejudiced to their own and it turns out the entire world was out against them all this time.'

"One day, a man found me and took me home. He gave me warm food, a drink, and shelter. It turns out he wants to build a cult of people who worships Ymir the Founder to resist against Marleyan propaganda. I was given the name 'Ymir' and became a false goddess for a time. The cult also consisted of people who don't believe in Marley's story about how Ymir was the incarnation of the devil."

'Odd. The titan Ilse met also said lady—no!' Hange's line of thought abruptly shut down for a moment before starting away with double the speed, 'Think. The titan Ilse met said 'Lady Ymir, welcome.' and 'Ymir's people'. Ymir looks a lot like Ilse. There was a cult in Marley. Marley has been dumping Titans on Paradis for a century—'

"Then, one day, we were discovered—"

"Hey, Ymir…" Hange interrupted with an uncharacteristically serious tone, "Where do titans come from?"

'She caught on surprisingly fast.' Ymir tensed; she had wanted to save the worst for last, but the scientist had caught on already for some reason. "What do you think?"

"That's right, where do they find titans from?!" Eld wondered, "Catching a load of titan before dumping them on Paradis is too much trouble and hard to do without casualties. Where exactly do they come from?"

Oluo agreed, "Yeah, and it's not like they have the necessary equipment to reproduce."

Petra smacked him for that comment.

"Ugh...I had wanted to wave the worst bit for last…" Ymir sighed.

"You mean the part about Reiner and Bertolt being traitors aren't bad enough?" Eren glowered.

Mikasa added, "Annie, too."

"And the whole world is against us." Armin groaned.

"Right, here it goes: only Eldians have the ability to turn into titans, or simply, all titans were once human."

"What?" One can hear the sound of Levi's stomach hitting rock bottom. Humanity's strongest soldier looks as if he will fall on the sofa any moment but stood his ground. The same cannot be said for the others. Connie took a step back and fell onto the floor.

"W-We can be turned into titans?!" Jean sounds winded like he couldn't believe the crap that came out of his own mouth. "T-Then, all those titans in Trost—"

"Yeah."

"And those in Wall Maria—"

"I know."

"A-And Eren—"

"Oh, he's human alright."

'All those titans we took out—' Mikasa pursed her lips, 'No, that's not it. If I hadn't taken out those titans in Trost, then they would've devoured our people. I did the right thing under those circumstances. But still…'

'The titans..were humans?' Eren's eyes were wide and his jaw dropped, 'The titans that killed mom, Thomas, Nack, Milieus, Mina, and everyone else...they were once human? They are my enemies, sure, but now I have other enemies. Just what is going on? Who's the real enemy? Who do we need to kill in order to get out of this cycle?!'

On the veterans' side, they were noticeably worse off than the recruits. The 104th trainees had to face reality earlier than most Survey Corp soldiers, sure, but they never had to make a living out of slaughtering titans and keeping tally on who killed the most as if it were some kind of trophy. They'd never had to murder countless titans outside the walls while being all gleeful and making it seems effortless to inspire confidence in the younger and more inexperienced members, nor they ever had to carve out the titans' flesh in the name of furthering a step to mankind.

'What the hell have we been doing all this time?!' Gunther grounded his teeth together, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall, he clutched his fist so tight that fingernails dug into his skin and drew blood.

'Sonny...Bean...all those titans I've experimented upon…' Hange felt like throwing up, 'All those time I poked them in the eyes, sliced their skins apart, skewering through them, pulling out their tongues,...they must have felt pain, right? But even so, I—'

'I cannot say I regretted it,' Erwin's face was set in a mask of grim determination unlike the grief-stricken face of his subordinates, 'All that I've done so far is for the purpose of uncovering the hidden truth regarding this world we live in. I've tried my best to minimize casualties while furthering as much as possible with the resources we have. There was nothing I can do. I cannot feel guilty about striking down those titans.'

"I know what you are thinking." Ymir sympathized, but if she let them pity themselves for too long, they will never get out of that pit, "But trust me. Speaking from experience, those times were hell. I had wanted for someone to put me out of my misery for all those years...it was like an endless nightmare—living but not at the same time—"

"Wait, experience?!" Christa raised her voice in alarm, "You mean...Ymir—"

"That's right." Ymir smiled faintly, "Our cult was discovered by the law enforcement, and we received the worse punishment of all; to be delivered to Paradise and turned into titans. That was more than sixty years ago."

"You mean...you've been wandering around the walls for sixty years?" Armin whispered in incredulity, "As a titan?"

'How is she still sane?' Connie gritted his teeth, feeling something for the brash girl—it wasn't quite pity, nor anger, just plain sadness that he can't relate to—, 'Going around aimlessly in the shape of a giant human, but not quite. Not being able to talk to anyone about it, having to consume human and it's not even for the sake of survival!'

"How did you turned back into a human?" Hange questioned, "Is there a way, after all, we can—"

"That's right!" Sasha startled, "You turned back into a human, right? Is there a way to turn titan back into humans? We can help all those who got turned into titans—"

"I'm sorry, but that's not possible. And I don't advise you to do so either; the people sent here are either anti-Marley patriots or were horrendous criminals in the past. There's no telling that they'll side with you, either; they could sell you out to Marley for a chance of going back; it's just this island against the entire world, after all."

"That makes sense," Petra breathes out in regret, "I've been meaning to ask for a while, but what is an 'island'?"

"Oh, an island is just a mass of land surrounded by water; usually an ocean."

'The ocean! It was so close all this time!' Armin gasped in wonder.

Oluo egged on impatiently, "But how did you turn back into a human?"

"You eat a titan shifter and get turned back."

At once, all eyes snapped to Eren in various degrees of incredulity, to suspicion, and then horror. "Now..." Ymir slowly said to make sure her statement isn't taken in the wrong way, "I'm not sure if it's possible for a human to consume a titan shifter and get their power that way—you usually get turned into a titan beforehand—but where the hell did you get that power from, Eren?"

"Did you...uh, you know?" Eld looks like he regretted asking that question, but someone has to say it.

"No, I don't. I don't know about this any more than you do." Eren gritted his teeth, before blinking and abruptly turning to the governor, "Shiro, do you know?"

"I do." She nodded, "Your father was a titan shifter from outside the wall."

"What!" Eren yelled. "Dad...Dad's from outside the walls?! He's a Marleyan?!"

"Of course not, dumbass!" Jean shrieked, "Only Eldian have the ability to turn into titans, remember?!"

"Well, this is surprising," Ymir duly noted, "but that explains a lot. He probably hid the truth about the world in that basement of yours."

"That means—Dr. Yeager is dead?" Armin whispered, 'Because Eren had consumed him and become the new titan shifter—'

Erwin nodded in understanding, "I see. So that's how it is. But there's still the question of how did you get turned into a titan in the first place."

"My dad...the day Wall Maria fell, he went to the interior, and we haven't heard from him since. If there's a timeframe for him to turn me into a titan, then it's probably after we descended the refuge boat right up until the attack on Trost."

"No, that's not right. We are under heavy supervision since we were from Shiganshina." Armin analyzed, "I think it's even before we enter the military; now that I think about it, you heal unnaturally fast even then, Eren."

"But still, why did he do that?!" The titan shifter gritted his teeth.

"Ymir, what about you?" Hange questioned, "Did you consume one of the enemy shifters?"

"Yes, a friend of Reiner, Bertold, and Annie, Marcel Galliard." She admitted, "I came by their group right before the attack on wall Maria. That's how I knew who they truly were."

"Why didn't you say anything?" It wasn't quite an accusation, but quite close, and the look on Mikasa's face didn't help either, "Why did you keep silent all this time?"

Everyone quieted down. They didn't want to speak up just in case they seemed like they accused her of something beyond her control, but Ymir could have done something. Tell someone. More lives could've been saved. They were willing to listen to her reasonings, and they knew she was their friends, but the doubts still linger.

"I…" Ymir stopped and really questions herself. Why didn't she say anything? "Well, I was worried, for one. You all saw how they treated Eren, and he was the one always yelling about killing all the titans. Imagine what the royal family would do if they found out that a titan shifter from the outside got in? They'd most likely feed me to another loyal subordinate and erase the memories of those who saw me."

"That's...true. I didn't even think about that." Eld blinked, 'That's right, the government is our enemy, too. They took away our memories and tried to hinder the Scouts' activities numerous times before.'

"Another reason is that I felt indebted to them." Ymir sighed, wondering if it was a good idea to disclose this much, "If Reiner and his group hadn't come here, then I would still be wandering around the island, waiting for some Scouts to come and kill me—" some of them flinched when they were mentioned, but quickly kept a neutral facade, "—so I pretended that I didn't know them to repay the favor."

"But the name 'Ymir' held significance! And they must know that, too," Armin insisted, "There's a chance they already knew. Why didn't you change it?"

'You prying midget,' Ymir thought in mild annoyance, but since she'd already divulged a lot, she might as well spill the rest of her unpleasant memories, "And the third reason is that I was no one. Unwanted. Unneeded. And then that man found me and gave me a purpose; however, when the authority caught us, they pinned the blame on me and said that I mislead them by saying that I have the blood of the king. In the end, I played along and told them that it was true, hoping for a lighter sentence for everyone else."

'Humans.' Mikasa's mouth twisted in disgust, 'With the right motivation, they will do anything to benefit themselves without regard for other people—though I am the same, am I not? If it was for Eren and Armin's safety, then I would gladly sacrifice everyone's life—including my own—in a heartbeat.'

"I lived a life lying to myself constantly, trying to make myself believe that I was needed by becoming someone who I was not, that I wasn't a worthless child, but look how it turned out." Ymir laughed bitterly before directing a meaningful look at Christa, "When I woke up again, I have the chance to start a new life, another chance to be myself; a person with her own wills and interests. Then I decided that I won't lie to myself anymore. I wanted to take pride in my own name, be my own person, and live a life without regret."

'That's why she never held back,' Sasha blinked back a tear, but it was futile, 'That time...she wasn't just trying to be an asshole. She truly gets it. She didn't want me to waste my time by speaking in a tone other than my own. She helped me. She may be rude and arrogant, but at least it was her own voice.'

"And if you brought the fact that you are a titan shifter up, you'd be forced to work for us if you got out alive." Hange quietly finished, "I can't say that won't happen for sure."

"Right." She nodded, "I think that's all from me."

Levi spoke up, "What about the other nations and our standing with them? All we've been hearing about so far is Marley."

"Eldia had inflicted some form of pain or others on all nations in the past," Ymir reluctantly continued, "so they all have grudges and will gladly band together to get rid of us if need be. The only reason they didn't is that the titans are here, roaming around the walls in a protective shield. I'd say you'd have the most luck with Hizuru since they've allied with Eldia in the past, but there's really no telling. Best to assume that we are on our own and plan around it."

"Darn, talk about irony." Gunther chuckled humorlessly. "The enemies we've been hunting all this time is the only thing stopping everyone from getting killed."

'Strange.' Erwin thought, 'Marley is the one responsible for leaving the titans on Paradis in the first place. Why would they do that if it hinders them from killing us all? If they control the number of titans released at the same time, then they could've massacred us all. Is there something I'm missing? If so, then the most likely answer would be—'

"Ymir," the Commander spoke, "Do you know what is the Founding Titan's power?"

"Not much. Ymir Fritz is basically compared to a devil in Marley's propaganda, which is untrustworthy at best. Some power of the Founder we know for sure is that it's the strongest of all and allows humans to turn into titans that will obey the shifter's will, and erase the subjects of Ymir's memories."

"Erasing memories…" Erwin paused, "This is quite the bad news. If we are to return and disclose all of this informations to the higherups, all of our memories will be erased."

"That's right." Hange temporarily stopped writing to think of a solution, "How about we keep all the things Ymir told us—and by extension, Ymir herself—a secret and only divulged what we learned through these episodes?"

"And then we can find out who is the royal member currently possessing the power of the Founder. I see what you are thinking there, Hange." The Commander noticed everyone staring at him and sent a questioning look back, causing them all to turn away.

"You seem oddly calm by all this, Eren," Mikasa whispered to her brother; he hadn't been causing as much of a fuss as she'd thought after all that they've learnt so far and naturally she was worried.

"I'm fine," he replied automatically, understanding what she was getting at, "Nothing changed much for me, we just have another enemy to look out for. In fact, I'm a little glad that they are humans just like us," Eren's eyes glinted dangerously, "all the more convenient to cut down."

"I agree."

'Truth to be told,' Eren let his mind drifted, 'I thought I saw something else for an instant there but then it was gone. I think it was a person; a girl who looked a lot like Christa for some reason and an old man with a beard. Who the hell are they? I think they are important, but I don't know. This is so confusing.'

"That went pretty well," Ymir spoke to herself after everyone started to talk amongst themselves about what they'd just learned.

"I agree," Shiro sighed tiredly, "I almost got a heart attack when that dumbass Kuro decided to reveal who you are. Honestly!"

Shiro grumbled about her annoying colleague once more before turning serious again, "Alright, my job here is done. I'm just here to moderate you guys just in case any of you tried to kill Ymir before she gets to finish with her explanations; since this place doesn't belong in the living world, people who died here do not meet a pretty end since they can neither go to heaven nor hell. Try not to get anyone else killed."

Levi's steely gaze softened just a little. Had Shiro not been here, then he really would have shredded Ymir into pieces before she can get a word in even if these cadets stood in the way. They do not possess the resources to capture a shifter alive, especially if they didn't know that she wasn't either the Colossal or Armored.

"Also, do not expect anything else from me. I don't know what kind of impression you have of us governors from Kuro, but it is not my job to pick a side in this useless human squabble. I won't help you, nor I will help Marley. You are on your own. That Kuro might fucks this up by sending you people here, but I'm not going to mess this system up further. When you are done, leave."

"I see. Thank you for telling us." Erwin stated diplomatically.

Even though none of them verbalize it, they didn't like Shiro as much as Kuro, who had helped them to get here and learned all about this. Sensing their displeasure at her blunt truth, Shiro imparted a notice, "And don't think that Kuro has your best interests at heart, either. She is likely just using you for her own amusement. Don't blindly trust anyone, especially if they are on this side."

Then, she disappeared. One moment she was there and the next the space was empty. No dramatic gush of air or sound, just a vacant space. Connie even walk up and tried to feel the space before deciding that yes, it was empty.

Erwin quickly coughed to get everyone's attention, "In light of the situation at hand, we have no reason to withheld everyone from the true nature of the 57th expedition anymore."

"Erwin, are you sure about this?" Levi raised an eyebrow. Even if no one in this room is suspected of being the traitor anymore, telling them secret information is a little…

"It's fine, Levi. Now, everyone, the real reason why we insisted to take custody of Eren is..."

"You handled that better than I thought," Kuro tilted her head to the side to dodge the upcoming bullet, "There were 38 scenarios out of 124 that ends with Ymir being killed; that's about a 31% chance."

"What the hell are you trying to do, making Ymir reveal the truth of the world to them?" Shiro scowled, "If left alone, then everything would've been fine." She jerked her head to the screen Kuro was watching which now has a bullet lodged on the upper right. On the screen was Floch, who was falling down the ocean.

Kuro scoffed, "Yeah, right. 'Fine' by your definition, you mean."

"As long as the world itself still stands, I could care less about casualties."

"..."

"..."

"You might want to go back," Kuro asserted, "not to Marley, but to Karanes District. Something interesting's about to happen."

"...those three?"

"Yeah."

"THIS IS AMAZING!" From the top of the wall, Annie heard the old man from Trost—Commander Pixis—yelled, "She really has boobs! And they are really nice, too. Firm-looking, and just small enough to fit a titan's palms. Shame that there ain't any nipples—oh, and that ass, too! Are you drawing that down, Anka? This is amazing! I can't believe female titans really exist! Do you think she'll eat me will she ask her nicely, Gustav?"

"Probably, sir," Gustav mumbled in awe—not in a perverted way, mind you. He was just really surprised to see an actual female titan for the first time. "Forget that Commander, you should take care of the absurd amount of titans down there. Everyone else is panicking."

'I might just do it right now, you pervert!' Annie mentally strangled the Commander of the Garrison while trying to fight off the wall cannons. They are not lethal, but really annoying to dodge in order to avoid regenerating; she doesn't have armors like Reiner to shake it off, so she has to make due with the walls of meat she called upon.

This morning, the ever punctual Annie left the walls early ahead of the Scouts to avoid commotions brought by the excited populace and hid quite a distance away from the path where Reiner and Bertolt told her the Scouts will be going through. When they did not show up after hours of waiting, she left that spot and went back to check if anything is amiss.

Annie had been surprised to see nothing; no horse tracks, no human sounds, and more importantly no smoke rounds even as she neared the wall, so she picked a spot far away from the gate—thus fewer soldiers—to get back up the walls and out of her titan when a soldier discovered her location. His screams alerted the others, and all of them rapidly fired at her. In a panic, she'd screamed to attract the Titans—though she didn't order them to cannibalize her since it's not safe for her to sneak away using her gear—to distracts the soldiers long enough before she can escape. However, it had been harder than she thought.

This had been the first time anyone ever saw a female titan, and naturally, these people wanted to capture her for further research purposes. They were especially more determined to do so ever since Eren sealed the gate at Trost, thus marking the first victory in their century-long war. Now, these foolish devils felt compelled to further push humanity's attacks on the titans with the effort to capture her.

'These island devils,' Annie growled as her left arms got blasted off when the soldiers brought out even more cannons, 'What the hell are Reiner and Bertolt doing?! Where are the Scouts?'

Her leg almost healed all the way, so she just need to buy a little more time to run away; then, she can rest and recover somewhere out there—maybe at the Forest of Giant Trees; she'd brought rations in her pockets just in case she needs to be out for longer than expected—and wait for Eren to show up. With him captured, she can finally go home.

'I will be able to finish my duty as a warrior of Marley,' Annie solemnly vowed; by now her leg had healed enough to run a distance. She quickly ducks from the incoming cannonballs and turned the other way, the healed hand moved back to cover her nape, leaving the dominant hand to swat away the annoying soldiers.

'Reiner, Bertolt, I'll leave the rest to you guys.'

HEYYYYYYYY IT'S BEEN A YEAR HOW'S EVERYONE DOING?! XD

This chapter was tough to write about since I've no idea how people's gonna react if they were told 'oh see you thought humanity's dead but surprise surprise! They aren't. Btw they all hate you and want you dead. And did I tell u your hated enemies were human once?'. Some parts might sound unconvincing to you, but it makes sense to me, so yeah.

Truth to be told, I put off this fic for a while once school started and eventually forgot about it since I only tried to keep up with the monthly manga and officially entered into the BSD fandom, but last month I got around to rereading this and all the comments have been incredibly supportive on me getting back into writing this. 's writing format had changed a lot, too (I'm usually on AO3 these days) so this may or may not looks weird to you—I'll fix it later. Dunno if anyone's still gonna come back to this or not (and if not I'M SO SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG AND MAKE U LOSE INTEREST IN DIS FIC—) just hoping you are still part of the SnK fandom ^-^

How was the chapter? Please leave a review—it'll make my day as much as waking up in the morning with the news of AoT season 4 trailer slapped in my face XD