Chapter 8

Revelation 13:9


First-hand accounts of those who have actually died and come back from the dead vary as to what the human brain sees in those last moments.

Accounts, of course, vary.

A bright light, dead family members welcoming them into the afterlife, the face of God, the whole of their life flashing before their eyes, nothing, something, or a mix of everything. Theories abound, perhaps the brain has this reaction as it shuts down, or perhaps there is some form of afterlife and some people see it as they transition. In truth, no one can know for sure if there is.

That said, if one were to ask Eren Yeager, he wouldn't know he had technically died twice over in the last three hours, or if what he had seen was actually real or just a figment of the imagination.

Bodies hit by rounds heavy enough to take down an elephant don't last long after the fact, yet his somehow had.

No human being had survived being swallowed whole by a titan, yet he somehow had.

All of it had happened without his knowledge of course.

In his mind, all he vaguely remembered was falling off a rooftop, distantly hearing the annoying and unintelligible ramblings of Jean, who seemed to be mad about something.

He somewhat remembered hearing the cries of a girl in the distance, calling out to him. Mikasa? Impossible, she was across the district at the time, right?

If you want to save Mikasa and Armin…

He remembered feeling a searing heat.

You need to head to the basement!

He remembered his anger flaring up. Was he going to die? He hadn't wiped the enemy of humanity from the earth yet. How could he die without at least seeing to that? Especially now that he had the weapons to go about it… then he heard the cacophony of voices.

Everything you need is in that basement.

The land beyond the walls…

Who would be stupid enough to think theres anything out there?

Lands of fire and snow, a gigantic lake filled with an endless supply of salt!

It's too dangerous, you would be throwing your life away!

We'll see it someday, I know it!

Eren!

He felt anger. He remembered how every single problem led back to the monsters trying to devour humanity, the creatures holding them in that captive state.

He wanted to destroy them all, that was his goal, it had always been his goal.

The memories became muddled, yet… pleasant somehow.

He felt powerful.

Powerful enough to destroy those that threatened him.

More powerful than he had felt when he had actually killed a titan with the new weapons.

So powerful that… that he was crushing bones and tearing chunks of flesh bigger than himself.

That he could…

That he was going to-

"Kill… all of you." he spoke aloud with a pleased smile forming on his sleepy face just as the vague memories he had been recalling faded completely into obscurity with awakening from the slumber.

Throughout medical history, doctors have needed to examine patient's vitals, the stethoscope being one of the tools used to do so, allowing the doctor and anyone with an ear for that matter, to listen to heartbeats from a patient.

Armin could only be thankful the American doctor was distracted when Eren spoke.

Unfortunately, doctors are perceptive.

"Something wrong, Arlert?" the doctor asked.

Armin immediately changed the horrified look on his face for one that was more relaxed before saying "I-I think he's awake, sir!"

The doctor noted the oddly pleased look on Eren Yeager, seeing the young man had indeed opened his eyes.

"Alright, Eren Yeager, can you hear me?" the doctor asked, grabbing a notepad and pen.

"H-huh?"

"Eren Yeager? Are you in fact, Eren Yeager?"

Eren nodded slowly as the older man spoke.

"Well that's good; he seems to at least be responsive. Ill contact the-"

Booming footsteps increased in volume from the hallway outside.

"Oh, dear God!" the doctor mumbled, dropping his things and rushing to the door, clicking it locked.

On the small, square window, a manic face appeared, gluing itself to it, obscuring any view of the hallway outside. The eyes darted every which way before settling on the boy on the bed.

"He just got out of the sedatives! Miss, I highly recommend you wait a few minutes before-"

"W-who the hell is that?!" Eren interrupted, somewhat panicked by the somehow terrifying person behind the door.

"E-Eren, I need you to stay calm. But we have to ask if you remember anything that happened earlier today." His friend said, trying to keep Eren focused on the question and not whatever was outside the door.

The young man blinked and began thinking back.

Just complimented Jean on not doing an awful job… wait, how did I get here?

"I... the last thing I remember is being on a rooftop with Jean. Then it all goes black… except…"

Now he could vaguely recall fighting, crushing things… but that had just been a dream, right?

"Do you remember getting shot?" the doctor asked.

Eren blinked, recalling that something had happened but unable to remember what it was, his hand subconsciously moving to his side, feeling that there was no injury there.

Then he heard the faint voice.

Just a small, familiar voice, screaming in the distance that he was, indeed, alive.

He's still alive!

Mikasa!

"I… I remember Mikasa, saying that I was still alive… is she okay? Where is she?"

"Next room, across the hall, she has some minor fractures on her ribs, but other than that, she should be fine. The question is… what else do you remember?"

"Armin, why all questions? Did I do something wrong?"

Armin nervously looked at the doctor.

The doctor didn't reply.

"For God's sake, if you aren't going to tell him let me do it!" the somewhat muffled voice of the frightening person standing outside rang.

The doctor took a breath and opened the door, allowing the possibly insane scientist of the Survey Corps to enter the small room.

The first thing Hanji did was look deeply into the boy's eyes.

Then she glanced at his arms.

Then she bluntly asked "Are you aware of your ability to transform into a titan?"

Eren was silent for all of one second, confused by the question.

Then he was in denial that this woman had suggested something so ludacris.

"Titan? What are you talking about?! Armin, is she crazy?"

The concerned look from Armin immediately drove Eren into stage 2, anger.

"It's impossible! I am a human! Always have been! Armin, tell them!"

"I-"

"And why on earth would I be a titan?! Do I look like one?!"

"We have proof…" Hanji replied, never dropping her friendly demeanor.

"Yeah? Where is it?"

Eren glanced at Armin who was trying to hand him a small computer with a video on the screen, the Americans guidebooks called it a tablet as it served similar purpose to the ancient stone tablets of previous civilizations, recording information. Granted, these did much, much more than the ancients could ever dream of, such as the moving image he could see on this one.

There was an American tank dragging a seemingly dead titan.

Nothing too strange about it, a capture attempt probably went wrong, maybe it was for the better, less of them to worry about.

That is until a person emerged from the nape and fell right to the floor.

Seeing his face appear as soldiers picked him up catapulted the teenager from stage 2 to stage 4, depression, in an instant.

"I… huh? I don't understand… I don't understand!"

Hanji sighed.

"We were afraid of that." the mysterious woman sighed.

It was then that Eren noted the Survey Corps patch on her jacket.

"You're with the scouts?"

"Affirmative! Now, all I need to know is how exactly did you come across such a power? Any ideas? Perhaps memories hidden away in a closet or… a basement?"

Eren blinked before understanding dawned on him.

You must reach that basement… if you want to save Mikasa and Armin…

"My father's key… but… we checked the basement, the key didn't work on the lock, and the basement just held some books!"

Hanji nodded, saying "Your young friend Armin here mentioned it. we're scouring the books you have salvaged, but we have a theory that its possible you missed something. not like you turned the place upside down looking for some, I don't know… laboratory with all the secrets of the universe or machine that explains how titans are created or…" the girl turned beat red as she began to recite possible treasures hidden within the basement.

Armin sighed, turning to the Eren and saying "Jean saw your injury, but it's completely gone now… Eren, if your father left a secret for you in there, then it has to be related to the titans."

Eren stared at his hands, frustared with his lack of understanding.

Why had he transformed into a titan?

Why hadn't he died immediately upon getting shot?

How many titan powers did he have?

"Right… we need to head back to the basement."

"Man, I am beat!" Connie breathed as he placed a large brick on a pile of broken pieces of what had once been houses and shops.

The titan horde had thankfully avoided destroying too many buildings, seemingly only resorting to it when they knew their prey was hiding nearby.

Still, there was plenty of debris to clear up, especially near the barracks.

Fences and some of the prefab buildings had been crushed by the giants, though some of the damage had apparently been caused by Eren when… whatever was within him allowed him to do whatever he had done.

All Connie knew was that a bell had been used to crush the head of a ten meter titan, and he wasn't sure how it even got there, just that it was there and it was up to Samuel and Thomas to move it.

"Hey, you guys! I got some cold water if you want any!" a pleasant feminine voice called.

The young Christa Lenz ran up to the tired members of the 104th with a fairly heavy looking backpack, and a bottle of water in her hand.

"Ah, Christa, you are a life saver!" Connie exclaimed, happy to take the refreshments.

He took the water and looked around, surprised Ymir hadn't appeared as she usually did whenever Christa interacted with someone other than her.

He shrugged, opening the cold bottle and enjoying the drink.

He heard the characteristic sound of ODM gear zooming above him just as Christa began handing some water to Thomas, the poor cadet being shoved aside by the Ymir as she landed.

"There you are, Christa! Finally found you!"

"Thomas! Ymir what are you doing?!"

"Huh? Oh… he's fine, I just bumped into him…"

The blonde got up, with a frown before saying "Could you at least wait your turn? Honestly, where have you been?"

"Cut me some slack, they wanted me handing ammo to the guys near the breach! They just cut me loose and there's been something I wanted to show you!" she said, clearly excited.

Christa sighed, saying "Honestly, Ymir can it wait? It's been a rough day…"

"Ah? Maybe you'll change your mind when you see… this!"

From within her jacket, the girl grabbed what appeared to be a small computer, which actually took a second for Christa to recognize.

"Isn't that the game computer that soldier carries around?" she asked.

Ymir grinning like a cat was all the affirmation Christa needed.

"I take it he lent it to you?"

Ymir couldn't answer before Samuel.

"She said she pilfered it earlier today. How did you manage to keep that on you throughout everything that's happened, anyway?"

Ymir slowly turned to the exhausted cadet with a glare that would singlehandedly wipe out the titans if its fury was reversed engineered by the scientists from beyond the gate.

She couldn't say anything as Christa simply grabbed the thin girl by her shoulders and began to lead her away from the cadets.

"Uh… Christa?"

"Come on… maybe if you return it right away he won't decide to report it to the Commandant."

"W-wait! He doesn't know! He can't know! I-"

One look at the eyes of the blonde girl and Ymir knew there was no arguing.

"Such a do-gooder… ever think for yourself?" she mumbled.

"Would be easier if I didn't have to keep you out of trouble…"

The late afternoon sun shone on the Armored platoon now stationed in the somewhat stepped on motor pool. The Army tankers surrounded the five elite scouts, listening to the worrisome information.

Ryan nodded to himself as the short captain from the Survey Corps finished his report.

"So, if I understand correctly, that Ymir girl may just be in charge of all this?" a driver of one of the other tanks asked.

"I reiterate that we don't know for sure. But given that Eren Yeager transformed into a titan, and the Colossal Titan seemed to have planned the attack, we have reason to believe those with the blood abnormality are capable of transforming into intelligent titans. Add to those findings that suggest the nape of the titan has a collection of nerves that are similar to those found on a human body, we are suspicious enough to ask for your support."

"With all due respect, captain, these are just children…" Darnell began.

"We plan on only using you as a last resort." Levi stated, trying not to sound heartless as the lack of knowledge of how titans worked, even with modern science, made it so that a giant shape shifting into a teenager didn't seem too far off.

The emotionless stare of the Survey Corps captain was unlike anything any of the Americans had seen. There was a detachment that worried the younger soldiers, but some of the older veterans could see beyond it.

A mask to hide vulnerability.

Or worse…

Ryan crossed his arms as he considered what the tankers now knew.

Get the Abrams ready in case the armored titan suddenly strikes, and odds are, he will.

He wondered if the girl that had been so curiously staring at his Zelda game a few days prior really was, secretly, in charge of all the mindless, humanoid monsters beyond the wall.

"There he is… go on." A voice said suddenly.

Every tanker turned and saw two cadets, one blonde, one dark haired.

Ryan blinked as Ymir sheepishly approached him and offered him back his Switch.

"Uh… thanks for… letting me borrow it?" she asked.

Ryan partly understood what the girl was asking for.

Please don't rat me out.

He stared a t the clearly undamaged device on her hand.

Behind him, the Survey Corps scouts looked pale.

Had they somehow been found out?

Only one way to find out…

"So… you took it without permission?" Ryan asked.

Ymir sulked slightly before frowning and nodding.

Christa sighed.

Ryan smirked.

"Now, Missy, I'm from Missouri, we have a… sense of honor over there, and we all have it here, too! You don't take what ain't yours."

Ymir said nothing.

"Anyway, I suggest you head on out with the Survey Corps team back there, they'll take you somewhere to decide your fate."

"Whoa, wait a minute! Decide her fate?" Christa asked, suddenly distraught.

"Yeah, I just borrowed it! The damned thing isn't even damaged!" Ymir protested.

Ryan handed it back to her and said "Flip it on then. I assume you at least know that much if you stole it to mess with it or sell it away."

Ymir blinked at the accusation, but took it and pressed the button she knew made the screen glow.

Nothing.

She tried again.

Still nothing.

Panicked, she tried a third time.

"Well, sorry, kid… I guess you'll have to answer for your crimes." Ryan breathed, hiding the batteries into one of his rear pockets.

Ymir scoffed before saying "Funny, you're not too upset about it… Keep your worthless gadgets… see you later, Christa."

Christa stood dumbfounded as Ymir walked up to the scouts.

"I… um… then… t-then you have to arrest me, too!"

Ryan stared at her confused, but Levi replied simply

"Bring her along then. Let's just clear this up quickly."

The four scouts escorted the small pair as Martinez walked up to Ryan, asking "Uh… what exactly did she do to it?"

"Nothing, I just took out the batteries… hopefully she cooperates."

Darnell sighed, saying "She didn't seem like an evil mastermind… hell, she looked kind of hurt when you accused her."

"Yeah, I don't think she knows much of anything… if anything, wouldn't she be more opposed to getting arrested by the scouts?" Martinez added.

"Look at her, she thinks she's just going to get reprimanded and released. I don't think she knows they know."

"Well, that's another one down… three to go?"

Annie observed the combined force of humans clearing the debris as the afternoon sun shone down on them. Several of the non-combatants that had run to safety were there as well, looking over the damaged houses, clearing large rocks… working to fix as much as they could.

The cadets were mostly just keeping watch, patrolling the top of the wall, or using their ODM gear to reach rooftops and look where the American drones couldn't see.

She overheard several of the German workers mumble to each other in a language she didn't understand, but they sounded frustrated.

"Ich verstehe nicht, es erscheint nur ...? Keine Warnung, keine Möglichkeit, die mehr als fünfzig Meter hohe Mauer des Muskelansatzes zu sehen?"

"Schau, ich verstehe es auch nicht, aber es ist genau das, was passiert ist."

" Wie sollen wir uns auf so etwas vorbereiten ?!"

" Genauso wie wir uns auf eine russische Invasion vorbereiten, schätze ich, mehr Gegenmaßnahmen."

" Ja, vielleicht können wir die verdammte Mauer mit ein paar alten Luftabwehrkanonen ausrüsten, wenn also eine andere auftaucht ... Everything alright, miss?"

Crap!

Annie nodded, calmly asking "Just checking if you need anything from the logistic teams."

The German looked at the broken building.

"Ja, some trucks to clear out the debris would work nicely, mark this street as a… how do some Americans classify this? Yellow Waffle House… I think. Just mark it for medium damage. That's the good thing about the titans; they don't leave any bodies to clear out later."

Annie nodded, wondering why one of the codes Americans used to measure the damage disasters caused was based around a restaurant, but questioned nothing.

She was in the process of walking away when she overheard the German mumble "Huh… she kinda looks like your daughter."

She immediately turned to look at the men.

He awkwardly returned a smile saying "I mean, she's a bit younger, but…"

The other German sighed and showed her a picture from his phone.

She didn't look at it, eyeing the older man.

"Vielleicht hätte ich das nicht laut sagen sollen ... sieht so aus, als hätte ich sie rausgekriecht."

"Err… he didn't mean to make it sound creepy. But you really look like her. Find it kind of interesting how-"

"I can't do this anymore." The girl mumbled under her breath before walking away, leaving the workers confused and a little worried.

It mattered little to her, really, who cared about some strangers from another world?

But the more she walked, the longer she felt a weight fall on her, slowly crush her on both a mental and physical level.

She stopped walking for a second to look up at the still blue sky.

A pair of American Harriers flew by, more than likely returning to the main base for a refueling.

She breathed.

She looked at a group of soldiers from the 104th, some chatting excitedly, having survived their first real combat experience, others just sitting down and resting, clearly exhausted after the fight.

"Fight" she mumbled aloud.

It had been more of a target practice exercise if anything.

There had been casualties, technically.

Eren had clearly been mortally wounded before whatever cruel god dictated the universe decided that he was the one to possess the powers of a titan. Mikasa had several fractures after exerting herself, fighting titans at such close ranges, she was lucky it was all she had experienced. She had heard that some American soldiers had gotten bruised either setting up the third line of defense or during the fight at some point, seemingly accidental, but casualties nonetheless.

Regardless, the titans had been effectively stomped out of the district turned military base.

Totally, mercilessly, just like the titans had done to them before.

She stopped walking.

Annie had found herself in front of the nurse's office, and after a moment of hesitation, she opened the door.

"Seriously, kid, take it easy out there." The voice of Nurse Joy was the first thing she noticed.

She saw Bertholdt nodding slowly as he took a small bottle of what she assumed was medicine of some sorts.

"Oh, Annie… you, uh… you feeling okay?" the nurse asked.

Annie was silent as she made eye contact with Bertholdt.

She never noticed how nervous the nurse looked.

"I was… um… just looking for… Reiner." Annie stated after a minute.

"Reiner… Brown?" the nurse asked.

"Braun… he's uh… helping with the cleanup… I just finished my job and I felt a bit sick, so…" the young man said, albeit tired.

Annie nodded slowly before glancing at the nurse.

Karina blinked before smiling politely and saying "Ah, sorry. Feel free to chat! I have to sign some papers, pardon the intrusion."

With that, she retreated to her office.

Annie wasn't fooled for a second, the prefab building had thin walls, and any conversation could be heard if it was quiet enough.

But then again, she didn't really care anymore.

"We have to tell them." She said simply, surprising herself.

Bertholdt physically winced, as if the words had actually slapped him in the face.

"But… but Reiner-"

"Look around you! There's no getting out of this anymore! It doesn't matter how sneaky we are or how much damage we manage to do, it is over!" she hissed.

"You think I don't know that? I want to surrender, I don't want these people to suffer anymore, but if we just give up and tell them- or don't… we lose either way!"

"We negotiate… for our lives and safe passage home, we trade some secrets, promise to cooperate, and then we head home. Easy when you think about it… but only if you help me!"

Bertholdt was silent.

"You have to think for yourself, Bertholdt. I won't tell if you won't."

Silence for a moment.

Then, with a defeated sigh, the dark haired teenager said "You're right…"

"Yeah, I borrowed the damned thing, but why are you taking me underground?"

Levi didn't reply as Eld led the girl down several steps to the dungeon beneath the barracks.

Christa on the other hand…

"G-guys, come on… isn't this a bit much? Why the dungeon?" she asked nervously.

The scouts were silent.

"You know, she wasn't even involved, she's just saying it to share some of the blame. Naïve girl like her can't even rob a cookie without feeling guilty about it…"

Christa said nothing as Petra replied "We'll figure it out later, just take it easy and cooperate." and led her elsewhere, away from the underground prison and away from Ymir.

There were about six relatively small cells lying at the bottom of the stairs, Shiganshina never really needing to arrest many people, and Ymir was moved into one.

She blinked; confused as inside was a table and several documents on paper that was clearly used by the Americans, not the Corps or the Garrison… although odds were both branches would adopt the cheaper paper pieces and ink.

"Sit down." The short captain ordered.

The blonde scout placed a device she hadn't really seen before on the table and pushed a button.

Levi said "We are going to be recording this interview and storing it as evidence. Could you state your full name?"

Ymir narrowed her eyes as she heard the iron door close.

Levi didn't say anything, continuing to stare at her without any emotion, as if she was little more than an insect he could crush whenever he felt like.

After a few moments Ymir said "I just go by Ymir…"

Levi nodded before glancing at Eld.

The blonde scout said "Interesting, why do they call you that?"

"Why do you care?" the girl growled back.

"Just interesting, I suppose. I never met anyone with that name before."

I work with a girl named Mikasa and yet my name is weird?

Ymir glared at the calm man before saying "Look, I stole the damn toy, okay? I admit it, I did it on my own, I wanted to show it off to the others, and Christa wasn't involved, that simple. Can we move on to the dishonorable discharge or public beating or whatever punishment I'll get for misbehaving?"

Silence from the captain and his subordinate.

"Hey, shorty, I don't care how cool you think you look, staying quiet only makes you look like an idiot."

"What district are you from?"

Ymir winced before saying "Stohess."

"Remember the street you grew up in?"

"No, I moved around a lot."

Silence for another irritating moment as the captain appeared to be studying her.

"…hear about Yeager?" he asked suddenly.

"I… yes? Guys were saying he can turn into a titan, but I don't really care."

"Why is that?"

"It isn't my business, genius."

Silence fell over them again.

Ymir looked around as nothing was said, not daring to touch the documents on the table and dig a deeper hole for herself, but something certainly didn't seem right.

She just couldn't do anything about it without effectively ruining herself.

Her eyes moved back to the table for a second.

"Hey, what are these papers here for?" she asked after a moment.

Levi hadn't taken his eyes off her, but with a simple hand movement, he flipped one of the folders open, a full page of written text lay next to a drawing of a large horned giant.

"According to papers from the other side of the gate, there is a legend talking about a being called Aurgelmir… better known as Ymir. A creator, the first being that existed."

The girl raised an eyebrow, before smiling and sarcastically saying "Why, captain, are you suggesting I am a god of some sort?"

Met again with the same, seemingly uncaring silence, the girl slammed a fist on the table, saying "Get to the point, shorty! I don't like beating around the bush and I take it neither do you, so if you have something to say then say it already!"

Levi ignored the small amount of spit that had landed on the table after that outburst, and simply responded by silently opening the second folder.

Ymir recoiled physically.

A wave of horror washed over the young girl, a subconscious reaction to a memory long buried away, never meant to be remembered. But to her petrified mind's horror, she was unable to shift her eyes away from the photograph on the table, only trembling as she stared at the captured titan, sitting alone in a cage, deep underground.

"Did you hear that we captured a titan some time ago? Not a very cooperating fellow, but… it has given us many answers." Eld whispered as Ymir covered her mouth to stifle any scream that might attempt to escape her.

Levi noticed the tears beginning to manifest on the now deathly pale girl.

"You recognize this titan." Levi stated.

Ymir didn't move, didn't blink, she simply stared at the photograph.

Now it was Levi who angrily slammed his fist on the table.

Ymir only reacted by looking at the captain.

"Who are you really?" Levi asked, revealing only for a second the silent fury he had been keeping deep down. Years of seeing his comrade's deaths had taken a toll on the soldier, and if the one responsible was not a cruel act of nature, and instead an intelligence that was actually sitting mere inches away… hell wouldn't describe what he could put her through.

Ymir slowly made eye contact.

She breathed in, bit her lower lip and said "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

The girl shook her head.

Lev forced his anger down yet again before continuing.

"Are you human?"

Silence.

"Where are you from?"

Silence.

"We could link you to the bastards that destroyed the wall and kill you in the next two minutes or you can talk and get a chance at life."

"…I have demands."

"State them." Levi replied courtly, not fazed by the girl seemingly regaining composure and too angry to beat around the bush.

"I want you to keep Christa safe, no matter what happens I want her to be safe."

Unfazed by the request, Levi simply said "If she's involved then all I can guarantee is that she won't be executed."

"She isn't, you jackass! She doesn't even know I can… that I'm one of them."

"One of who?"

"Whatever Yeager is… do you want my answers or not?"

"What do you know?"

"Do we have an understanding?!" the girl tried to demand yet again.

The uncaring silence from the captain made it crystal clear he had spoken honestly.

I can guarantee she won't be executed.

Somewhat defeated, the girl sunk into her chair and took a deep breath.

"I don't know for certain how it started, but… one day a man walked up to me and put me in a lineup of other girls. Then… then this second man came and said that… that I looked promising."

"Where was this?" Levi asked.

"Not here, but that's all I know… looked like… like it was near a desert or a beach? It was a long time ago."

Levi went silent again so Ymir continued narrating her trip down memory lane.

"The man called me Ymir, he said… said I was special, that I was blessed with royal blood or something of the sort. Talked about immortality, people prayed to me, gave me warm food, a place to sleep. They treated me like a goddess and I let them knowing full well I wasn't one." she said sounding exhausted.

Levi noted how detached the girl appeared to be then, as she stared into the ceiling.

"I went along with it for a while of course. Lying to myself over and over, years on end, until…"

She did it! She's the one who lead us astray! She said she had blood of the king and we all believed her!

"Until some… men in uniform appeared, they… they arrested everyone… they said I had lied to them, that I had claimed to be of royal blood. And I lied again and said that I was."

Levi said nothing.

"I thought I could save them, I guess… it didn't matter. They rounded us up, tied us up like cattle and dragged us through the street… I remember many people threw things at us, mostly rocks…"

Levi said nothing.

"They put us on a ship, dragged us up this stairway that lead to the top of a wall and…"

Stop, please stop!

She remembered the deathly screams of those that had followed her as…

"The men had these syringes… injections that…" Ymir sucked in a breath and continued, now staring at the photograph.

I'm begging you, please don't-

She remembered the injection hurting as it silenced her physically and mentally.

"One at a time they injected them, she was the last one that I saw before I got injected too." She said, almost whispering as she pointed at the photograph, remembering the horrifying result of her going along with lies.

"What?"

"Huh… that got you interested, yeah?" Ymir managed; her voice cracking as she spoke.

Levi stared at the photo for a second before looking up.

"The people injected turned into… into titans?" Levi pointed at the photograph.

All the girl could do was nod.

Levi eyed the girl.

He saw no sign that she was lying.

"Who did this? Where was this?"

Ymir shrugged.

"How did you turn back from… being a titan?"

"I wish I knew… I kind of remember wondering outside the walls for a long time, maybe sixty years but… I honestly don't know. I know I ate someone that could do the same, turn from a human into a titan, so… that was probably it."

Levi stared at the girl, unsure of what to think of that.

"So this is true? You're from beyond the walls? There are people there?" Eld asked.

"Where do you think the colossal titan came from? They're people, too!"

"But who are they?" he asked, trying to see if she was still connected to those they suspected.

"I don't know, it isn't like I work with them!"

Silence.

"Of course… why would you believe me?"

Silence.

"Kill me if you want but… please… just keep Christa safe…"

"Hmm, but… why are you so interested in Christa?"

Ymir remembered overhearing some cultists talking about it one day.

Yeah, we gave her a new name; put her in the military, so…

104th is the new regiment this year, right?

Yes, she should be fine as long as nothing happens… it doesn't really matter what branch she joins in, but I think the MPs would be preferable.

Ymir said "I guess she's like me in a way… she isn't here because she wants to be, I doubt she ever had much choice in the matter. Only difference is that my lies caught up with me, while she can… maybe survive."

As if someone had drained her of life, the girl sank back in her chair after saying that.

They were silent until Petra came in and said "Captain, we have a situation!"

Mikasa slowly walked down the street near the barracks, reminding herself to drink the pain medication the American doctor had given her.

"Take two of these every day, one after breakfast, one after dinner. You're lucky your fractures are minor."

Still she didn't push herself too far, unlike her adoptive brother who was practically running ahead as the task force walked toward the remains of their childhood home.

I feel so distant from him.

She had wanted to say so much to him after she awoke, but even now was struggling with the words. The young girl, always focused on keeping her small family safe, had rarely bothered to consider her own feelings, trivializing them in order to focus on becoming stronger, desperate to never lose her family ever again.

The price was that she wasn't sure she could communicate exactly how she felt anymore.

"I hear you like to read, Armin." Hanji stated then, earning her attention despite not talking to her.

Armin had nodded simply, saying "My parents used to have books on the world beyond the walls… they talked about all the land that lies just beyond our reach. Our hope is to see it someday."

The scout smiled slightly as an American Ranger replied with "Hell, get some permission and come over to Montana, we have just about everything over there. Mountains, fields, rivers…"

"Shut your trap, Mike. We're here." The second Ranger replied.

Eren was silently staring at the remains of his old home.

Mikasa walked up to him and asked "Where would Doctor Yeager hide a secret like this?"

"Only one way to find out." He replied, determined to not leave until they found whatever secret the man who raised them had left them.

Karina hadn't gotten much battlefield experience in her time in the Army.

Oh, like any nurse, she had treated a few injuries here and there, given a few shots, taken some blood samples… hell, she had served alongside Marines earlier that very day!

Still, none of that could have prepared her for two of the cadets the US had been training (and that she had been observing) suddenly confess to her that they were mass murderers.

No, not just mass murderers…

"We brought the walls down." The blonde girl had said suddenly, showing zero emotion, her eyes reflecting a level of indifference only a seasoned killer could ever hope to give off.

The tall teen looked to be on the verge of tears.

Why they were confessing all this to her didn't make much sense until-

"You already suspected something thanks to our blood tests, correct?"

Oh…

Karina could only cross her arms and say "As long as we're being honest with each other… yes, we were trying to understand why you five had… this never before seen quality to your blood, something off in the chemical composition, a-a cellular… divergence that we have never seen on earth… our earth at least…"

The blonde turned to the tall teenager and said "Told you, this whole thing was doomed from the start."

"Yeah… damn shame…"

Karina noted that the teenagers definitely regretted their actions, but like everything in the real world, it was never so easy. A child will regret stealing cookies from a jar, but especially if they got caught, a sense of embarrassment or a fear of the consequences that followed doing something bad… Karina felt the pair standing in front of her weren't surrendering because it was the right thing to do, at least… not primarily.

They had still done it, after all. Perhaps the nurse could appeal to that part of them?

"Annie, Bertholdt… I believe you know that we swear an oath to-"

"It is precisely because you swore an oath to respect your patients that we came to you. You're the only one who we can trust to safeguard our secret if you can't guarantee our demands."

Karina narrowed her eyes.

Of course these aren't normal children I'm talking to… damn it all.

"We want you to tell the Colonel that Bertholdt and I will cooperate and answer whatever questions you have, but only if you can guarantee we will return home."

"…home?"

"… This guy had an entire journal on ways of combating viral infections? Grisha Yeager was pretty advanced for his age, kid." One of the Rangers mumbled as he checked the translation for one of the notebooks.

"Have you found anything yet?" Eren asked the girl beside him, not really caring much about his father's work as a doctor.

Not if it doesn't benefit the war against the titans…

The room was now lit by several battery powered lanterns, greatly benefiting the two Army Rangers going over the shelves of books while Hanji and Armin studied the desk.

Eren was looking over one of the smaller shelves, pulling at books, while Mikasa shone light into small crevices on the wall.

Mikasa calmly shook her head in response.

"Damn it, nothing!" Eren called, not in the mood to stop and mope when they were seemingly so close to the truth.

Why did you have to hide this secret, father? What was so important?!

Mikasa glanced at Armin who was moving to the left side of the desk, analyzing the wood.

"You guys noticed this desk has some extra room that seems to just exist?" the blonde boy called.

Everyone turned to look at him.

Somewhat nervously, Armin pointed at what appeared to be a drawer.

"Looks like an ornamental piece, but… if you look under it, you can tell that there's definitely some room here… as if…"

He knocked below the desk.

Hollow.

"Interesting… there's no keyhole in it, though." Hanji noted.

"Eren!"

The boy glanced at Mikasa who was now staring at the bottom left corner of the wooden desk.

Tiny, to the point of almost being invisible, but still there, was a keyhole.

"Mikasa… good eye!" the teen said, somewhat excited as he quickly grabbed his father's key from his pocket, jamming it in place.

It fit.

He twisted it left.

Nothing.

He slowly twisted to the right…

*click*

Armin glanced at what he thought was just a decorative drawer.

It had been pushed forward ever so slightly.

The blonde put his hands on it, but didn't pull.

"What are you waiting for, Armin?"

"Maybe it should be you two?"

Eren rolled his eyes in irritation.

"Armin, we don't have time for that! We just got out of a major attack, and the secrets of the world could well be right within that drawer!"

The teenager actually took his hands off the wooden piece and stepped aside.

Eren however, didn't walk over.

Was this really it? Could the secrets of the world really, truly be within that drawer? He had thought about it, sure, and he had hoped his father had some amazing secret , but for the first time, the young man found himself somewhat nervous of the truth.

"God, you kids…" one of the Rangers walked over and pulled the drawer open.

"Uh… it's empty."

"WHAT?!"

Eren ran over and looked into the drawer.

True to the statement, there was nothing there.

Eren touched the empty space, confused.

Then he said "Wait… wait, what is…?"

His hand had pressed down on the wood, and it had shifted, as if it wasn't nailed in place.

He pressed it slightly more and the bottom was revealed to be false, he could remove it to reveal a hidden chamber within the drawer.

Throughout its history, mankind has kept records of itself on stone, wood, clay, paper, and eventually digital records, but books were some of the first means of people to spread ideas.

Scientific discoveries, moral enlightenments, reformations, national ideals, the Bible, just about every single one of the fundamentals of the modern age had been spread through written works.

Why else would regimes devoted to fully controlling their populations ban them?

Why else did people burn books when they didn't want dissidence amongst each other?

Why else had the king made it illegal for any books pertaining information of the lands beyond the walls to be burned or destroyed?

If ideas were bullets, books were the guns that fired them, even in the modern age, and any tyrant worth his weight in pounds knew it.

So it was fitting that before the small group of humans, hidden in the bottom of a basement, lay three of these dangerous weapons, neatly tucked into the hidden space, protected by cotton and string.

Eren picked one up, wonder lighting his eyes as he opened it, everyone gathering around him to look at what could be the biggest discover this side of the gate.

Then everyone did a double take.

For Eren and Mikasa, this simply wasn't possible. Grisha could never have access to that technology.

For Armin and Hanji, this only raised further questions. This world has cameras that can produce photographs?

For the two Army rangers in the room, it only meant one thing: things just got more complicated for us soldiers.

"Marley?" Colonel Parker asked, his face barely lit by the torches in the dungeon.

"Yes, it exists beyond the walls and the ocean." Annie said, giving an uncaring glance at Ymir who was being escorted out by two members of team Levi.

The dark haired girl looked at her with little emotion, but she could see some level of disbelief in her eyes, as if she was saying "I knew you were crazy; never thought you were mentally ill".

"There's a place you can drop us off or meet up with Marlean troops, if they're there… you can drop us-"

"Only if you give us more information and only if you help us get Reiner down here." the colonel replied coldly.

Annie nodded slowly.

Bertholdt said "I could lure him down here… tell him we found out Ymir is the other titan shifter… or something along those lines."

"Yeah, no… Ymir has only admitted to devouring one person this whole time and swore to work with us, you guys are just political prisoners."

Granted, Ymir is only working with us as long as we keep Christa safe… wonder what the deal with those two is…

Annie then said "Drug him. Give him plenty of alcohol or just knock him out with some of the sleep medicine you guys use. He can't transform in his sleep."

"I'll consider it. We are trusting you and not zip tying you to a stake on the top of the wall because you have been relatively cooperative, but do not step out of line, and don't give us a reason to literally unleash hell." the colonel said.

Annie didn't like how the man emphasized the word "literally" and the way he talked made it seem like he wasn't that afraid of them.

Haven't even told them what I can do…

Bertholdt clearly had a similar thought as he said "This was never meant to happen."

A subtle plea for mercy…"we didn't mean to kill a quarter of the local population, honest!" what a joke.

Parker didn't bother to look at them as he left.

Nurse Joy sat at the top of the stairs, waiting.

"Well, it was easier than I would have expected."

"Annie just wants to see her father again, and something tells me they really never wanted to be here in the first place. Did they say anything about Marley?"

"Not much, I gotta take this further up to confirm if we are going to give them any deals. Given their age, though, I say they have a decent chance of not getting hanged."

Not that they haven't earned it.

The sun was beginning to set by the time Kenny Ackerman found the city street he was looking for.

The paper Captain Levi had left for him was an address with the simple words "find us here".

Obviously, it had to be near the slums of the capital…

No one was around and it was getting dark.

He walked towards a particular house when a pair of footsteps got his attention.

"Kenny Ackerman I presume?"

A woman…

He turned to see a young woman accompanied by two men in cloaks.

He could see the barrel on their rifles, and he immediately recognized the weaponry from the other side of the gate.

He grinned.

"Apologies, given the ongoing situation in Wall Maria, I found myself delayed. I take it you're all Americans?"

The woman said nothing, studying him.

"You can relax, I wasn't followed… and I only cut ugly throats, with maybe a few exceptions. Your pretty little neck should be fine."

The woman chuckled and said "Ah, you're one of them, huh?"

"Pardon?"

"A criminal for hire, let me guess, a serial killer?"

"Did Levi tell you all that?"

"Actually, I had to work with guys like you in Mexico- um… another country… you don't know what Mexico is."

"Oh, don't take me for someone who simply kills for pay. I use to buy what the true king was selling."

"Head on in, let's talk about that."

The inside of the home was relatively bare, little more than a table and a few wooden chairs.

"Yeah, sorry about that. we're a bit limited in our furniture- keeping a low profile and all that."

The older man nodded as he sat down.

Then the woman sat down, her entourage remaining at arm's length, standing up in case they were needed.

"So… the king?"

"Oh, not so fast, missy. First we have to work out a sort of deal, don't we?"

The American woman smiled politely before asking "What do you have in mind?"

"A pardon for past crimes, I suppose. I still want to live my life after all… I guess the same goes for whoever I recruit in helping you guys out."

"I see… you give us intel and help us out, we don't execute you when we inevitably have to take down the King… Well, not exactly up to me, but it's not like we know what you did before we showed up."

Kenny knew she was lying about that last part, but played along.

"Right then… what do you want to know?"

"Really, we only have a couple of questions… for starters, who is the king's heir?"

Kenny winced, before laughing loudly.

"You're that far ahead already?"

"We have eyes and ears in places you wouldn't believe. honestly, we could have found out on our own but… this is easier. Now, how about you tell us who she is?"

Kenny crossed his arms and said "I don't handle her living arrangements, the church does… but I know her name is Historia Reiss, and she is currently living with the 104th your soldiers are training. Goes by the name Christa now if I'm not mistaken." the man said.

The agent nodded slowly, then asking "What is the king planning?"

Kenny scoffed, saying "You got me there, nobody understands him. He was planning on expanding my anti-personnel unit, and he has, but it's not like he gave us a war plan or anything like that."

"Ooh, anti-personnel unit… what's that about?"

"A contingency plan should the local population decide to rise up. It just regular ODM gear, but with Hand Cannons!" the man shouted, making fingerguns.

The CIA agent blinked before asking "Hand cannons?"

"Well, it's not much compared to… whatever that is…" he mumbled pointing at the man in a cloak.

"C8 carbine." the SAS officer replied without a hint of care.

Kenny stared for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Alright… how many anti-personnel forces are there right now?"

Kenny thought for a moment.

"A little over a thousand… more or less." He said, waving it away.

He then proceeded to laugh loudly as the CIA agent visibly paled.

"But you can easily cut that in half. My squad was divvied up when his royal fat ass decided to expand and train more forces… there are four commanders within their ranks. Djel Sannes is probably the one you've seen the most of… loyal bastard he is, but other than commanding some torture sessions, he has no combat experience. He has more men under his belt, rookies but… I'll give it to them, well trained. You may want to be on the lookout for any MPs you see no longer taking advantage of their position."

"Noted, but what about you? how many are under your command?"

Kenny grinned.

"Despite my squad being divvied up… I still control those who train the new recruits. Oh, they may have their own smaller squads now, they may even appear subservient to his royal pain, but when push comes to shove… they follow me."

"Really now?"

"You better believe it, miss."

"Now… this is all well and good, but… how long have you been planning on overthrowing this king?"

The slightest hint of sadness briefly appeared in the eyes of the serial killer, but the man looked away for a second.

"Rod Reiss is not the true king."

Oh what the hell?

"I mean… he is, but… it was his daughter who truly used to rule over us… then she was simply… murdered. Still not certain how it happened and Rod never gave many details other than I barely escaped with my fat life! Dumb bastard… that said, before her, his brother Urie Reiss ruled, and he… he was something… and I may not fully understand all the implications or scientific mumbo jumbo that goes into that process, but… the royal family can pass on their memories after death to whoever controls this… Founder."

The fact the killer had said it in a hush tone caused the CIA agent to feel a wave of coldness go up her spine.

She had seen plenty of evil in her time, heard worse from colleagues, yet… there was something blatantly wrong about the way the man before her had described the Royal Family.

As if, creation itself cringed away from whatever horrors were occurring on this side of the gate.

Humanity had always done purely disgusting things, but the way Kenny Ackerman described it, even if he himself didn't seem to care much for it, made the CIA agent feel a level of dread she was unsure would go away until she got to the bottom of it.

"How so?"

"They want to eat them?!" Jake half shouted as Dave slapped the back of his head in frustration.

Levi could only sit back on the chair as Hanji continued reading the journals, desperately absorbing the information as quickly as she humanly could.

"From what little I read… it seems so. Grisha Yeager describes cameras, cars, airships, all in meticulous detail which to me suggests he is telling the truth… as well as the truth behind titanization and how to pass it on."

The barrack's library was essentially empty, only the American escort of the Levi squad and the officers of the Shiganshina district were there to witness the discovery.

Eren sat in a corner, Mikasa holding his hands and refusing to let go, though he didn't seem to notice or care.

"It goes in line with what Ymir said, doesn't it?" Petra asked.

Levi could only nod.

"Yeah, and it confirms what Annie says about coming from some other country… and that means…"

"Yeah, this gives us a dilemma because it not only means they are telling the truth about Reiner, but that the rest of the world wants us dead." Hanji replied solemnly, closing the second journal.

Matt stared out the window as the cadets were out in the fields, enjoying a celebration of a successful holding of Wall Maria.

Just kids…

"I can probably grab Reiner in my… titan form, keep him from transforming…" Yeager said, breaking the slience.

"Eren-" Mikasa began before Levi cut her off.

"Kid, do you even know how to control that thing? And even if you did, how exactl y do you plan on sneaking a fifteen meter tall walking tank behind someone who has been making you all think he was your friend while in reality he was out to not only kill all of you, but devour you if he got the chance?" Levi asked.

The teenager promptly went silent.

Stupid, Eren! Stupid!

Here he was, in front of mankind's strongest soldier… and he put forward the dumbest suggestion imaginable.

"We could kill him." Matt suggested, albeit quietly.

Silence.

"Just saying… don't see any other real option with him."

It was Commandant Shadis that objected.

"Assume he has the same durability Yeager has. A round designed to kill titans didn't finish the job, and Eren was not aware of his abilities. Reiner on the other hand, is. How would you take him out without causing more damage to the district?"

Matt shrugged.

"I guess we could drug him, knock him out and drag him underground. Even if he transformed underground, he would be stuck, unable to move, same as our other cooperating prisoners." Colonel Parker stated.

"You want to keep him alive." Levi said.

"This… Marley… it must hold them in some high regard. From the descriptions in the book, they are woefully behind us technology wise, but still… even in the 1890s prisoner exchanges were a thing, especially for political prisoners."

"Colonel, all due respect, he tried to destroy the wall twice! He… he got so many people killed, it- it can't be allowed to go unpunished!" the teenager protested.

Images of his mother disappearing into the toothy grin of one of them flooded his mind.

"He'll be punished for it, trust me. We still have to capture him."

"I may have a solution."

The group turned to look at Armin Arlert, now with a serious looking Christa Lenz standing next to him.

"Arlert?" the commandant asked.

"Reiner was constantly looking at Christa, right?" Armin asked.

Nobody said anything as Christa's face turned a reddish pink.

"For the sake of this suggestion, let's assume he was." Hanji mumbled.

"Well… Colonel, your nurse has some drugs that can put a person to sleep relatively quickly, right?"

The colonel nodded.

"And some of those medicines can be put inside a drink, right?"

"You want to spike Reiner's drink?"

"Essentially, sir." the teenager replied, smiling slightly.

Nobody spoke.

"…well, if it works… where does Christa come into play?" Levi sighed, resigned.

"Oh, she gives the drink to him so that he doesn't suspect anything."

"…Christa?"

The girl sucked in a breath before speaking up.

"Look, if he was already worried the higher ups knew about his identity then he will clearly be suspicious of anyone not a fellow cadet offering him anything, especially with him not talking to… to Bertholdt for a couple of hours…"

I still can't believe he is responsible for-

"I see… we can't just have Bertholdt go out and give him the drugs, so we just hit him with someone he likes."

"Exactly." Armin replied.

"Still, are you up for this? He could suspect somehitng."

She simply said "I want to help my friends, and if capturing him helps her remember who she used to be or anything at all, then… then I'll do what I have to."

"Will it work?" Levi asked.

"Annie said it would… hell, she suggested it would be the best way to catch him without screwing things up for everyone."

Silence fell on them again.

"Tell Kane to get some of the Marines ready with the thermobaric rockets they used, if you have any left, and keep the tankers on standby… the rest of you will watch from a distance and be ready to pick him up. He's the last one, and I expect him to be suspicious already."

Everyone nodded and left the room.

Hanji passed a page and mumbled "You guys go ahead, ill be in here… guys?"

She sighed when she noted that everyone had gone without her, so she pushed her desire to keep reading aside and moved to help capture the enemy.

"Kanpai!"

"Yeah to whatever that means!" Connie called as he tried to mimic the Japanese engineers, gleefully celebrating surviving a major battle in their table at the mess hall, a strange bottle on the table.

"I wonder if theirs tastes better." Mina mumbled as she stared at her fizzling cup of what the Americans called "non-alcoholic" beer.

Mina wasn't sure if it was expected that Sasha would be the one complaining about it, though.

"It does nothing for disinfecting the insides! Just tickles your tongue and leaves you wanting more!"

"Good grief, can you avoid saying things like that out loud?"

"If this is supposed to be a party after a successful mission, I say it's incredibly rude of htem not to bring actual alcohol! The Orientals over there get to have some, yet we can't?! They didn't even fight!"

"Shikashi, soreha watashitachi ga anata no tame ni hoka no subete o shūsei suru mono kamo shiremasen." One of the Japanese engineers said just loud enough for her to hear.

"I can't understand any of that!"

The man only chuckled in response.

"Rude bunch, the lot of them…" she mumbled, sipping her nonalcoholic drink.

"At least the food is good, I didn't know you could make a fish taste so good!"

"You like that uncooked cadaver?"

"I-"

"Hey, have you guys seen Bertholdt?"

All eyes on the table turned to Reiner who seemed like he was lost.

"I think he went to the nurse earlier, he looked kind of exhausted." Connie replied.

The young man nodded then.

"Figures, he was pretty exhausted after today… how are you guys doing?" he asked then, sitting down.

"Discussing how Mina enjoys raw fish."

"It tastes fine!"

"It tastes different. You want fine, stick to the regular menu, if you want good, check out the cooked meats they have."

The dark haired girl let out an exasperated sigh.

"Let the girl enjoy her food, Sasha… different isn't necessarily bad, you know. like say… what do you guys think of Eren being a titan?"

The table went silent as the cadets considered the knowledge.

"Are you all actually surprised? The guy was strange from the very beginning, only talked about killing titans… let's be honest, if anyone was a titan, it would be him." a somewhat bemused Jean said from his table, a few feet away.

Reiner laughed wholeheartedly, stopping when no one else laughed and saying "Not funny, Jean."

"Right… anyway, I don't know, it's so bizarre. How can Eren go from being about our height to… well, the size of a house and still be alive? Aren't there some natural rules or something that violates?" Mina asked.

"Honestly, I couldn't care less. It's not like he attacked any of us. Hell, he even helped the team that went to pick him up." Sasha added.

"Which raises the question of who shot him." Connie said.

All eyes turned to Jean.

"Oh, as if! I may hate the guy, but I would never just shoot him." the young man protested.

"I guess the Americans would have to look at ammo expenditure, maybe check fired shots and recorded titan kills, compare it with the amount of bullets anyone has missing… maybe you could find it out like that?" Reiner suggested.

"Yeah, but if I remember correctly, everyone participated in the Alamo defense, so anyone could just say that they used the missing bullet. Whoever took the shot must have known as much." Connie said.

"It's an unsolvable mystery that we'll just have to live with, like who put the stars in the sky and why Mina likes raw fish… anyway, I'll arm wrestle anyone for their steak!" Sasha said excitedly.

"Ah, have mine. I need to check on Bertholdt." Reiner mumbled.

"Ooh, what pose do you think he's doing if he's asleep?" Connie asked.

"My money's on him sleeping on his head." Jean said.

"You guys make your bets, I'll be back in a few to let you all know." Reiner said beginning to leave.

"Oh, Reiner! Glad I caught you!"

He turned to look at the adorable blonde haired girl.

She seemed exhausted, but she was handing him a cup of… wine?

"It isn't much, the kitchen didn't let me use a lot, but… I… I made this for you."

Reiner felt his heart skip a beat as he nodded, almost unquestioningly taking the glass and gulping it down.

Tasted sweet.

"Thanks, Christa… you really know how to get a guy's spirits back up!"

The girl simply smiled a little.

Reiner walked away from the celebration, heading back to the barracks.

Connie blinked, and wondered why Ymir hadn't showed up given her track record.

He got distracted by the Japanese singing something in their possibly drunken stupor, and didn't dwell on it.

Ilse watched through binoculars as the blonde titan shifter walked down the mostly lonely barracks, making his way to the nurse's office.

"Honestly, I would never suspect it. He's just so… calm."

Jake mumbled "Those are the most dangerous, the ones that can kill you and then pretend to grieve with the rest of your family."

Ilse frowned, but spoke into the radio "Target just passed us… still seems lucid."

"Copy, stay put." Levi replied.

"You think those books are true? There are people beyond the walls, prospering and advancing more than us?"

Jake shrugged.

"…you think they can be negotiated with?"

The American frowned.

The two remained silent, but then Jake said "People do a lot of crazy things because of belief… maybe they would be just fine with us and negotiate, but… if I had to be honest, I'll admit I'm not very optimistic on the situation."

Ilse then asked "But… the US will probably still support us, right?"

Jake glanced at the young girl.

He remembered one of his great uncles, a Vietnam War vet, angrily shouting at the television as a certain president was sworn into office when he was still in middle school.

People like you are why Vietnam was lost!

Grandpa?

He remembered the rant vividly as the old man was still furious over the conclusion of the war.

American losses had been a little more than 60,000 compared to the North losing a million men!

Adding to it the casualties from ARVN, South Korea, and Australia put the total K/D ration at around 3 to 1, with many arguing it was actually higher given the excessive use of napalm and the unorthodox means with which the communists fought their war, so an exact number could never be estimated.

Those Vietnamese aren't even really communists anymore! They abandoned every major communist policy in exchange for open trade with the West! Oh, but to people like Mister Change over there, they defeated our military… stupid bastard…

Jake had read about the war in Vietnam, and while US forces had never really lost an engagement throughout, the sheer amount of wounded boys, lack of progress, and the sense of pointlessness in the conflict changed the views of many young Americans at the time.

Add to that the Tet offensive actually managing to capture a few key cities, and the public had enough. They no longer cared for the war, and despite every city being recaptured within days of the attack, the public's mind was made up: not one more pointless death.

Politicians had pushed for the war to end, and while a certain president had managed to reach a a peace settlement with the North, history showed that it wasn't meant to last.

Those damned hippies in congress never honored their part of the deal! Cowards! The lot of them, cowards! We abandoned an ally and nobody talks about it!

"Jake?"

The soldier returned to the present and eyed the younger girl.

"Nah, don't you worry about it. We're allies after all. We help you, you help us… symbiotic relationship."

Ilse noticed the man seemed uncertain, and considered pressing him on why.

"Reiner is down, Rangers are moving in." the radio crackled.

It would have to wait then…

Reiner groggily opened his eyes to look at the stone ceiling above him.

Where am i? What happened?

"Huh… you slept like a baby." A bored voice said.

"You would think someone who murdered so many would have some trouble sleeping, but look at you, clean conscious no matter what, huh?"

He turned to look at the two Scouts.

He sat upright once he realized he was in a prison cell.

"I-I can't remember what happened last night- what did I-?"

The woman with what he first thought were glasses walked right to the cell and stared at him with a maddened glint coming from her eyes.

"So… do we beat around the bush, or do we just call you the Armored Titan?" she asked.

Reiner felt the color drain from his face.

The scouts knew?! With certainty? Had Eren turning into a titan given them the proof they needed?

Angrily, he lunged at the cell bars, powerful arms outreached in an attempt at grabbing the woman's throat.

She pulled away in the nick of time.

"Whaa! You are exactlylike Tiny! Levi! Remember when we tried to feed him some regular meat and he snapped at me? The resemblance is so-" the excited woman was cut off by Reiner screaming suddenly.

"If you know what's good for you then release me!"

Levi huffed before getting up and leaving, making a point of showing the keys to the cell as he walked away.

Reiner then glared at the woman.

"You don't know what power I hold… you have no way keeping me here you damned devil!"

The woman simply stared at him with an almost inquisitive look.

"Does the name Sonny sound nice?" she asked.

Reiner winced.

"I mean, its the name of a cannibal, but I figured someone like you would like it. you look like a Sonny, not so much a Bean… but what do I know? never had a subject that could speak back to me, after all. So! Bean? Sonny? Beeeeeaaaaannnn?"

"Lady, don't think you hold any upper hand! I am a Warrior of Marley, and I will not stand-"

"Progress! You called me lady instead of devil! Oh, we are going to be such good friends!"

Reiner wanted to destroy the iron bars in front of him.

He obviously could do it, in theory, but he had no idea how deep underground he was, and transforming into a titan would likely trigger a collapse, killing him. not even armor could save him from oxygen deprivation.

However, he considered it a plus if it meant not having to stand there and listen to the maddened woman ramble about titans.

"Okay, that's enough." A voice he somewhat recognized walked down hall, stopping Hanji from continuing her rambles.

Reiner tried to see who it was, but had to wait for the man to walk in front of the cell.

Colonel Parker!

"Son, I do hope you understand the hole you just dug for yourself."

Reiner shook his head, angrily demanding "How… how did you know?!"

"Doesn't matter. You have two choices now, cooperate and we'll see what we can do for you, or don't cooperate and be used to test how far a giant can go against a force with total air supremacy."

Reiner was stunned.

The Colonel actually stepped closer to the cell.

"We're focusing on you, right now, we know about Marley, we know about Eldia, we know about the God damn race war you have against each other, but until we can establish contact with whoever lives beyond the wall, we have to focus on you and your friends."

Friends? No… had he-?

"So, Reiner, if that is your real name… surrender or… death? What exactly does the proud warrior do?"

Silence, but the look of defeat washed over the young man like a wave.

"I don't know what they put you through, but it doesn't matter anymore. No matter your choice you will spend the rest of your life inside a cell like this, but if you want a chance at salvaging anything out of your mission, then I suggest you side with the victor… or keep that honor of yours and serve a nation that will kill you for being born in the wrong family."

The cold look the older man gave him was the final push Reiner needed before appearing to shut down completely, sound and sight disappearing as he simply collapsed onto the wooden bed he had been sitting on.

The Colonel left then, Hanji whispering "Sleep tight, test subject number two!"

Reiner heard them walking away, but was rudely awoken by a familiar voice.

He sat up and saw the darkened glare of Eren Yeager.

A part of him thought he could try and manipulate the teenager, get him to help him out, as Eren was on the opposite side of the cell, but the look of rage in the teenager's eyes shot that idea down immediately.

There was silence.

And silence…

And silence…

And then-

"I thought killing you would be the better alternative… wanted to convince them that killing you, as an example, in front of every citizen of the walls as you looked at the families you destroyed would be the only way to end your miserable life…" the teenager said in a quiet but furious voice.

Then, his eyes widened and he seemed to smile slightly as he said "Oh, but this is much better…"

"Eren-"

"Don't talk to me, you've done enough of that… just… sit. Quietly. As we destroy everything and everyone you held dear, like you did to Armin and Mikasa and my father and my mother and everyone before me!"

The teenager leaned in and whispered with profound hatred dripping from every word "You tried to steal our freedom… now you get to watch as we steal yours..."

Silence fell again as Eren stared, unblinking, at Reiner.

Reiner had nothing to say. What could he say? "Sorry for killing your mom, come over to my house, my mom makes excellent biscuits!"

Without saying another word, Eren left.

He walked up the steps, exiting the dungeon, not even going to bother with giving Annie or Bertholdt the same speech, knowing full well the pair had likely heard him.

The first rays of sunshine hit him before he made it to the top of the stairs.

Mikasa waited for him there, looking emotionally crushed as she didn't make eye contact.

Armin wasn't making eye contact either, but he managed to say "So… did he tell you anything about the curse?"

Eren scoffed, saying "Doesn't matter… eight years is plenty of time to strike back. Our situation hasn't changed much."

"It isn't true…" Mikasa said.

Eren gave the girl a pitiful look, noticing the how stiff and vulnerable she looked.

He had no words that could comfort her, the journal his father left them made it clear: 13 years after becoming a titan shifter, he would die. Assuming his father had done it five years prior, it left him a little less than eight years to live.

That simple.

Armin was more optimistic.

"Mikasa, we have better technology on hand now! Maybe… maybe we can find a way to cure it, or get rid of it."

"Y-yeah! who knows? Maybe there's still something we can do about it!"

"Hope is nice, but let's be honest, Yeager, this world is cruel and merciless."

The trio turned to look at a bored Ymir.

"Y-you can't know for sure there's nothing we can do!" Armin fired back.

The girl simply gave a resigned shrug.

Eren shook his head, saying "Regardless, we can't let this affect us too much! There's still work to do and… and it's our duty to get it done! Anyone who lags behind has only themselves to blame!"

No one spoke.

"Hey, kids… if you're set to go, we'll be waiting by the entrance." One of the Americans said, walking into the room.

They didn't speak, but Eren nodded and walked outside.

Out on the hall, several backpacks provided by the Marines lay on the floor, initials sown on the backs to identified who they belonged to.

Armin picked up his, but Eren stopped Mikasa before she could grab her own.

He had noticed the girl winced as she moved to grab her pack.

"Mikasa, did you drink your medicine?"

She didn't say anything.

The boy didn't change his expression as he picked the heavy pack for her, throwing it on his back.

"If you're just going to give up then feel free to stay here. I need you to be ready to fight, not to give up." He half whispered, half growled.

The girl only nodded slowly.

"Kid, take it easy on her. She just got the news you're terminal." the American sighed.

"Having her give up now would only make it worse for us."

"Maybe, but… take it easy, you two." the Marine said, continuing down the hall.

People grieve in different ways…

Almost outside, the trio saw as Ymir stood dumbfounded, seeing Christa sitting between Captain Levi and Hanji Zoe, waiting for them at the exit.

"Christa! What are-?"

"We'll tell you at the main base." Levi stated in a matter that made it clear no one would be speaking on the way to Hill Zero One.

Ymir glared at the short man, but then glanced at the girl.

"It's alright…" the blonde breathed.

Ymir considered threatening the short captain, but refrained in the end.

Outside, a squadron of UH-60 Blackhawks remained on the ground, rotors moving as the cadets looked on.

Matt kept his M4 slung on his back, safety on.

His job was to keep the cadets at bay, which they weren't a protesting mob, they knew hwo to follow orders, but better safe than sorry.

"Do you at least know why they did it?" Mina tried asking him a question for what he figured was the tenth time.

Just like all the others, he didn't answer.

"Forget him, Mina… odds are its classified info…" Samuel sighed.

Matt eyed the young man, then said "Did you know there's a famous actor back home that's got the same exact name as you?"

"Yeah, the Rangers mentioned it one time. They said we would watch one of his movies… something about snakes?"

Matt grinned ever so slightly.

He would like to warn the cadet of the film he might get to watch soon, but new experiences are important, right?

"Matt, the old girl is all set; are the VIPs in the Hawks yet?"

Matt glanced behind him, seeing Kane lead the cadets out of the dungeon and into the UH-60.

"Yup, five for five." he replied.

"Alright, we'll standby with the rest of team Levi until the birds take off. We'll meet up with Commander Erwin at Hill Zero One."

"Copy."

Matt watched as the cadets waved at the four comrades heading to Hill Zero One.

There was an air of melancholy, but also excitement.

This was progress, after all.

Though the American had to wonder what the odds were of having so many important pieces in the game of chess that was this world in one regiment.

It made some sense, as most of the cadets and shifters had joined around the same age, which put them in the same regiment, but still.

We had three titans sleeping in the same room… what are the odds of that happening?

Matt felt a chill go down his spine as a dark possibility hit him.

Did someone plan this?

Right now, it didn't seem so far-fetched.

Nothing did.

He watched as the cadets got into one of the UH-60s and moved away as the powerful engine began to lift the bird into the sky.

The sun shone brightly through the glass windows, something Pixis always appreciated of the royal hall. It was just nice to look at.

It, unfortunately, wasn't enough to ease the palpable tension between the American representative and the now revealed to be true king of the walls.

"To clarify, you want us to just… surrender all the titan shifters to your court for immediate sentencing?" Kelly asked.

"Correct. We cannot trust them to be telling the truth." Rod replied.

"Of course not, we believe one should trust but verify, after all. So far, the evidence seems to favor them."

"They have a right to defend themselves in court."

The US representative was silent for a moment.

"Your majesty, I appreciate you trusting us enough to come forward, and on behalf of the United States of America, we thank you for cooperating with us."

Rod smiled politely.

"However, we still have many questions about the genocides committed by your predecessors; we have countries on our side of the gate that want answers, and many within our own nation are concerned of rising hostility from within the capital."

The smile vanished.

"What do you mean?"

"We haven't received any substantial evidence that the aid we sent to the underground city even made it, your promise to begin modernizing hasn't occurred at all, and we have heard rumors you have forces on alert in case we need to be dealt with. Your majesty, if we are overstepping some boundaries, please let us know so that we can avoid needless bloodshed."

Rod remained silent for a moment, studying the woman.

The he laughed slightly.

"Wouldn't you keep some forces on standby if a superior force marched into your nation? We want to preserve our way of life, miss, we do not want any bloodshed. I will ask my advisory to get you what information we have. However, we need to try these traitors immediately."

Kelly was about to say something, but Rod cut her off.

"I know, it may seem harsh, but it is necessary. We executed those human traffickers you people captured immediately as soon as they confessed because we need order if we want to keep from going extinct."

Pixis felt the left corner of his eye twitch at the blatant lie.

"Now, at the trial we can hear if my predecessors lied to me, to everyone, but until then I need to show my people that we rule with justice, swift and true."

"Okay, that's enough." Kelly sighed.

Rod stared at her, confused.

"We are fully aware you arrested people for even talking about the world beyond the walls, you executed them for trying to explore, you made it illegal to even have books on the matter, and anyone talking about it was silenced."

The advisory looked on, shocked at how disrespectful this woman was when talking to their king.

"Do you have evidence of this?"

"It is literally in your law books. Maybe this isn't all that enforced, but let's face it, the people that would break these laws aren't around anymore."

Rod sighed, and said "Regardless… you asked me earlier if you were crossing any boundaries, yes?"

Kelly didn't reply.

"There is a degree of respect you must show the king, miss. I understand, there isn't a lot of information, it's frustrating, but… can we agree that neither of us wants bloodshed?"

Kelly nodded.

"Good, that's good… what can we do about getting a trial on the traitors?"

Kelly said "I will talk to my superiors and get back to you when I have an answer."

Rod smiled and said "That's all I ask. You are dismissed."

Kelly nodded, and Pixis escorted her out.

Rod maintained a pleasant expression until the American and Garrison commander closed the door after them.

His eyes narrowed then.

"Your majesty, can it be true? Humanity still thrives beyond the walls?"

Rod simply said "They are lying… this is all the proof we need. The idea that mankind still exists beyond the walls is ludicrous. We know the truth, do we not."

"Your Majesty, I must object."

All eyes turned to Deltoffe.

The older man sighed and stated "Remember, you are no longer in possession of the Founder. How can we know for certain she is lying?"

"Deltoffe, you met the previous Founders! How can you doubt their words?!" the king demanded, actually sounding angry.

"I never once doubted them, but now that I doubt, I am unable to ask them anything!"

Rod narrowed his eyes and said "Which is why we need to recover these traitors immediately. One of them has the Founder within them, remember? Once we get them back… you can ask to your heart's content."

Deltoffe nodded slowly.

Rod simply stared at him then, any outsider could tell the true king was thinking of whether he should do something drastic or not.

"Deltoffe, you are a dear friend. Have faith." Rod said, placing his hand on the older man's, gripping it tightly, encouraging him.

Deltoffe never felt nor saw the brief electrical discharge. He simply forgot everything that had happened in the meeting, all the information of the land beyond the walls, the fact humanity had not been destroyed.

He simply nodded as Rod walked to Aurille, grabbing the man's hand and shaking it.

"Have faith."

"Have faith."

"Have faith."

Have faith in me.

In less than twenty seconds, all the data and information gathered by the functioning nervous system of the Advisory was erased as easily as one deletes a file on a computer.

One of the smartest people in the history of planet earth once said "Science without Religion is lame, Religion without Science is blind" in reference to the conflict between the search for tangible knowledge that defines science, and the seemingly blind faith that defines religion. The man had suggested that in reality, both needed each other to some extent.

In one swift move, Rod had wiped knowledge from the minds of his followers, leaving them blind to everything except what he told them.

After a moment, Rod calmly stood before them and spoke up.

"Now, Deltoffe… get Pastor Nick to check up on Historia. We need to prepare her, soon."

Deltoffe only nodded in response.

Dell Sannes led a pair of his more experienced MPs towards the church of the cult of the walls.

Crow kept a calm demeanor as he eyed him from a rooftop.

"Kenny was telling the truth, ma'm, looks like he is moving down the main street in order to reach the church. I see them only carrying their ODM blades, no guns."

"Got it, be ready to drop him."

"Copy."

He made sure not to move much as he obsereved the Interior Police officers walk towards the church.

Oh there were people around, certainly, but even pedestrians had blind spots.

"Sparrow, you and the Delta boys set?"

"Affirmative."

Crow watched as the CIA woman stood smoking on the street corner.

It was almost eerie how all three of the MPs actually turned their heads simultaneously to look at her.

He knew it wasn't lust in their eyes, however.

These men had not seen her before, but stopping to check up on what they presumed was a hooker wasn't in their to-do list. It was just an odd curiosity.

The woman grinned and then, just as they passed her, she started shouting in her thick, southern accent "I heard a little birdie say that King Fritz is actually a stand in for the real king!"

The three MPs stopped dead in their tracks and glared at the woman.

Several civilians turned their heads, some stopped what they were doing, and Crow felt reminded of old western films.

"Would you like to apologize for disrespecting his majesty?" Djel pretended to ask her.

She grinned, and loudly said "Another little birdie told me that the interior police are planning to assault the Americans because they won't bow down before the true king!"

"Silence you-"

"Another little birdie told me the Advisory worship a supposed god they call the Founder! Now ain't that just the craziest thing you've ever heard?! But it's true! As true as the name of the True King is-"

Djell drew his blades and approached the woman.

"Eek! They plan to kill me for speaking the truth! Oh, won't somebody help me?!"

In response, the civilians on the street vacated the area, moving into the nearby buildings and closing the doors, or just running as far away as they could.

Djel said "Who have you been speaking with?"

The CIA agent simply gave the man a devilish grin.

"Right… Ralph."

The man smirked and approached the smiling woman.

"Now!" Crow hissed into his radio.

From a nearby alley, hooded figures quickly ran out in the open and ambushed the Interior Police Officers.

Sannes barely whirled around in time to see the hooded figure slam a fist into the side of his skull, knocking him out cold.

NATO doctrine involved a sort of "decapitation" strategy when dealing with the enemy: take down the commanding officer first.

This left the remaining troops without direction, easier to deal with, and precisely why most modern armies tried to allow for a level of flexibility between combat troops.

The Interior Police were nothing like a modern army.

The second Djel went down, it was every man for himself.

The remaining MPs drew their swords and tried to attack the Delta operatives closest to them, no coordination, no strategy, just trying to reach their target and kill despite being outnumbered. This wasn't necessarily a terrible strategy, as the attackers appeared to be unarmed, and the MPs had blades and ODM gear.

*pop*

Crow sighed as the MP crumbled to the floor, more than likely dead. While suppressors didn't cut the noise of a gun much if at all, out in the open, it was easier to mask.

He made sure to pick up the empty shell casing off the floor as he stood up.

Leave as little evidence as possible.

The second MP named Ralph winced and stopped his attempted attack, instantly realizing that he was alone facing ten guys, one at least armed with a weapon he could not counter.

He made eye contact with Crow just as he began stepping back from the advancing figures.

He noticed the rifle.

"A-Americans?" he asked, worried.

"Stop where you are." Crow ordered.

The MP glanced at his knocked out commander and his dead comrade.

Frustrated he lifted his hands in surrender.

"Good, that's good." The woman he had been about to arrest said, the evil grin never leaving her pale face.

"What do you want with us?!" the MP demanded.

"Just removing the head." the CIA agent said with a sigh, two of the cloaked figures surrounded him and tied him down with some bizarre plastic rope the man had never seen before.

He stared as two of the men dragged the body away and another poured water on the spilled blood.

"What… what do you mean by removing the head… exactly?" Ralph managed to ask after a moment.

The woman only smiled at him.

Ian tapped his foot impatiently as his men interviewed the civilians.

After too long a wait, one of them approached him and said "They say some men in dark cloaks knocked them down and took them."

He glanced at the street, unsure of what this was.

"Could be some ne gang that escaped the Underground." the MP suggested.

Ian was silent for a moment, but then spoke up quickly.

"Mark them down as dead and close the investigation"

At the look of confusion from his subordinate, the young officer said "The Americans were asking questions about the interior, and we can't have them thinking we have no control over it. if they do, then how long will it be until some of them sneak in here and try to start a coup from down there?"

The other MP still looked unsure.

"Look, Sannes was telling me that until we're rid of them, the Americans cannot be allowed to suspect that something is wrong in the capital, King's orders."

The other MP nodded and continued on his way.

This was one of our Commanders, one of the few people in charge of the Interior Police forces! Damn it all!

Ian clenched his jaw and muttered "We'll pay them back… soon enough."

"The targets were fully cooperative, haven't really resisted down there."

General Connor said "Glad to hear it. I was worried approving this mission would blow up in our faces."

"We're ready to take out the King, too, if you would like."

"We aren't at war yet, let's just focus on keeping them from trying anything."

"Understood, general. We hear the representative is with you reviewing the new information?"

He glanced at a tired Kelly who was reading the translated information Ilse had written down.

"Yeah. The president wants a report, and he will be happy to hear you guys got one of the heads of the anti-personnel forces."

"We aim to please, General."

"Anyway, you guys do your thing and keep an eye out on the situation over there."

"Is the heiress doing okay?"

"Shaken, but… she seems to be handling it alright so far."

"General, if I may…"

"Yes?"

"The people here aren't like the ones in Iraq or Afghanistan. They have some trust in the king, so it may not be entirely wise to push for a coup, even if the Military officials agree."

"I think the president agrees… I'll get back to you."

"Understood, General." She said, Connor placing the radio into place, ending the conversation.

The small office was silent until Kelly spoke up.

"What do you think?"

"Kenny is siding with us thus far, we have the Shifters in protected areas, and you made it extremely clear to the self-proclaimed new king that we are not here to serve him. he would have to be a complete retard to try and attack us now."

Kelly was silent.

"Of course, that a what we thought of the Germans in the winter of 1944… sometimes you aren't fighting a rational enemy and have to think outside the box." He mumbled, glancing out the window.

He saw a seemingly invested Ilse Langnar showing off the newest arrivals from across the gate to the Shiganshina trio while the Army and Marine escorts kept an eye on them. The Shiganshina trio looked positively blown away with the machines they now got to see in person, well, with the exception of the Asian girl who seemed to be as depressed as the short Captain he had to interact with on occasion.

He turned to look at the new arrivals himself.

Four F-35s, a fleet of UH-64 Apaches, and more on planes on the way…

He glanced at his paper requesting more aircraft, specifically long range airplanes, but those were for the finished runway.

Wonder if the President will allow the Air Force to send in some A-10s…

He smiled slightly at the sense of wonder coming from the eyes of the kids.

"Kelly, I like these people… if what lies beyond the walls wants them destroyed…"

The US representative said nothing as she continued to review the information she had available.

The American president sucked in a breath, trying desperately to ignore the pounding within his forehead.

"Alright, just so that we're clear..." he glanced at the Japanese ambassador and the Secretary of Defense before turning once again to the computer monitor with both General Connor and US representative Kelly on the screen.

"From the top, please."

General Connor shifted some papers around and said "According to our… newest additions, titans didn't just appear a hundred years ago, the first known case happened millennia ago, when a young girl named Ymir supposedly made a pact with the devil. Given the information found within the basement as well as testimony from our own Ymir… the story seems to be consistent in that Titans were used by this Ymir person to create a vast empire."

"Details are, of course, sketchy, but this Eldian Empire seemed to rule over most of the world until a little more than a century ago. In that time, the original Ymir split her power amongst nine members of the royal family; these are the titan shifters we have encountered." Kelly added.

"Right, so… then what? It just… collapsed? Like the king made it collapse?" the president asked.

"From what the Warriors are saying, the king just retreated with a large contingency of his citizens behind the walls he created using millions of colossal titans. This supposedly led to a large scale war between the different royal families within the empire that ended when one particular family assisting the Marleyans in capturing almost all the other titan shifters, flipping the power scales and granting control of the empire to the oppressed Marleyans."

"And that was about a hundred years ago?" the president asked, trying to ignore the fact that the walls surrounding his soldiers were literally composed of millions of the gigantic version of the monsters they were trying to kill.

"According to what we have here, yes." Kelly breathed.

The president sighed.

Things are never so simple.

"So we have an oppressed people suddenly gaining control over the same powers that oppressed them. I take it they were fair and responsible with their newfound powers." He said sarcastically.

"Ymir wasn't so sure on the details, but… if what Annie and Bertholdt say is true, then this book isn't lying about the current state of affairs."

Civilians remotely related to the ancient empire were only allowed to live within designated zones, only allowed outside if they had certain papers, and if they broke the law, punishment was not prison time or even heavy fines. Man, woman, child… they would be put on a ship, sailed across the ocean, dropped off on the island, and injected with titan spinal fluid, transforming them into the monstrosities known as titans, forced to exist as a man eating beast for eternity.

"This is just as bad as Nazi Germany…" the American Representative mumbled.

"And yet not at all. We are dealing with one race that oppressed another for centuries, and now the tables have been flipped. It isn't fair, but it isn't as simple as… well, anything." the Japanese ambassador replied in a tired voice.

General Connor nodded, saying "Hell, even Nazi Germany wasn't just acting out of hatred for no reason. The post war treaties caused a lot of suffering amongst the already beaten down population back then. That said, this level of brutality is something we have never seen before. Most genocides on our side of the gate result in one side slaughtering another, not one side mutating the other in order to maintain control over the planet."

The president was silent.

"Mister President?"

The man leaned forward in his seat and spoke slowly.

"Alright, let's focus on one thing at a time. The true king, Rodd Reiss… how do we know he can't just erase or manipulate the memories of everyone now?"

"Information is sketchy, but according to both Ackerman and the given information in the journals, this… Founder can only manipulate those with Eldian blood, Ackermans being the sole exception. Which leads us to the fact that all races here, not at least partly Eldian, were slaughtered in the last century in order to maintain the illusion that humanity beyond the walls was gone." she added gravely.

"Why on earth would he want to keep that illusion up so badly?" the Japanese ambassador mumbled to himself, just to keep his mind off the possibility that people over there related to his own in some way, had been practically annihilated for no reason.

Kelly could only shrug.

"Alright, we deal with him first. Connor, the king is demanding we send the captured shifters to the capital in order to give them a trial?"

"Yes sir, Mister President."

"Alright, let's give him what he wants."

"Sir?" Kelly asked.

"They can have their little trial, show the population how serious they are about punishing their enemies, but the result matters little as they belong to us now. We need to make that much clear. They can judge them, but once the trial ends, they go back to Hill Zero One, and the trial won't happen until we are satisfied with the information they have given us. Tell them that exactly."

He took a breath.

"Connor, when the day comes, ready a mechanized unit to escort these children to the capital, get Colonel Parker to send some Army forces as well, they want witnesses I believe. I sent you some more aerial assets, put them to good use… hell, go ahead and surprise me! Give them a show of force bigger than the last one!"

The President felt like the Secretary of Defense would chew him out for making a decision like this, but he had basically ordered the General to keep the kids away from the capital until further notice, so the plan could still change.

"But Mister President, if what the shifters say is true, the King may want to capture them in order to… literally devour them, as one of them may be the lost Founder."

"Exactly why he won't get them. Not only do we have the Founder, we have the heir to the throne. Put the princess- uh… Historia under armed security, we want her safe and comfortable. And if the king tries something… keep the Special Forces over there hacking away at their interior forces, Commanders, commanding officers, anything short of the king himself. We don't want any bloodshed, but we can't just let him walk all over us, so keep that chain of command hurting."

Connor nodded slowly.

"Mister President, I need to advise you that planning to overthrow a sovereign state-"

He cut her off.

"Overthrow nothing. We simply tell them the truth of the situation, and they can either accept it or not. Just keep in mind that we have multiple sources confirming they want us gone and are allocating forces to do just that."

Silence.

"I told you, we aren't playing games anymore."

"I recommend you inform our other allies beforehand. If this blows up, the backlash will most certainly affect you." the Japanese ambassador replied.

Affect everyone involved, too…

"Yeah, Connor, alert our people in the capital, too. Also, uh… see if we can locate this port the self-proclaimed Warriors mentioned. Maybe we could use it as evidence if the locals doubt the information."

"Yes sir, mister president."

The man nodded, feeling uneasy as he did so.

Despite the theories about him, he wasn't someone who wanted war; he didn't even like the idea of overthrowing openly hostile governments.

It was too much work, it wasn't good for the economy, and if it wasn't solved properly the nation would only become a black hole as it absorbed resources but never became better.

He didn't want to make the same mistake his predecessors had, yet sometimes it seemed like there was no other choice.

He tried to take comfort in the fact that if push came to shove, he would be overthrowing a man that was perfectly okay with murdering whole groups of people for simply existing, that there was no way these people could fight back against armored vehicles and machine guns, but he found himself hoping the true king simply surrendered and went along with his orders to allow the US to take custody of the shifters.

Like that would ever happen…


A/N: Welcome to the "Revelation 13" Arc!

Yeah, I had been calling every chapter after some kind of military phrase or terminology (Contact for chapter 1, Combined Arms for chapter 2, etc.), but i think this arc warrants it as things finally come to a head on the island of Paradis.

Speaking of, this chapter felt rushed, but I just don't see it happening with modern elements. Many of the Attack on Titan mysteries were kept mysteries because of technological limitations, so the second one mystery got solved (how come Eren is a titan) everything else would just kind of fall into place and answers would abound, but I worry it elt rushed or unrealistic, or overloaded… let me know if it felt like that at all. Really appreciate the feedback you guys give me.

Anyway, on to the Reviewer response!

Guest- introducing new technology to Paradis, like television, cell phones, modern restaurants, etc.?

Rod has been kinda putting a damper on that, but given the situation… eventually.

Guest- US launching satellites?

I plan to addressed in this arc, as building a rocket platform would take too long and be kind of expensive, I think some old fashioned methods will have to be used… probably.

Guest- US learning that this is actually an alternate earth?

I think some of the earth side characters theorized about it, and with the presence of Asians, I think most people are beginning to assume this is some alternate earth and not simply another world.

Guest- what was the abnormality discovered in the cadet's blood?

I want to say that it has to do with the chemical composition, as for it to allow for any one Eldian to have access to regeneration of almost supernatural proportions would certainly be noticeable, dormant or not, but I am unfortunately not a doctor or a scientist, so I apologize for not giving you a better answer.

Guest- is the gate permanently connected to our earth and AOT earth without side effects because Rory "gave it to us"?

Yeah, kind of. Rory mentioned that (like in the Gate canon) the gate can connect two worlds, but as both worlds continue to drift apart, side effects occur which can be disastrous. The implication in chapter 6 was that our reality and the reality of the Attack on Titan world were on a sort of "even trajectory" so the side effects would never manifest. Keep in mind that Rory is trying to help realities by connecting them to each other, unlike Hardy who did it out of boredom. Now, this could be going against some rule in the Gate canon, and if it is, do let me know, but I believe Lelei managed to do something similar in the web novel later on, so it didn't seem too farfetched. Do let me know if I'm off, though.

Guest- Who is the President? Donald Trump or someone else? What's his name?

That's actually kind of complicated.

On one hand, I want to avoid politics as much as possible, but this is a "what if" scenario analyzing how a world changing event, albeit a small one, would realistically affect our own world if it happened around the present day, so it makes it impossible to leave politics out of it completely, and if I want to be realistic, I have to ask myself what our real world leaders would do in this scenario, yes, including President Donald Trump.

On the other hand, Gate fics tend to get a bit too political, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but oftentimes they dive into the realm of either glorifying too much or condemning too much and I personally find it extremely annoying when a story I am reading tells me "this guy/country sucks because his/their politics suck" and I really want to avoid doing the same thing. Not here to preach to the reader, and if it ever feels like I am, let me know.

My solution all the way back in chapter 1 was to just not name any major figures in politics, and I have tried to keep it up in order to avoid falling into the trap of writing a sort of "political fanfiction", that way I can avoid writing real people doing things they may never do in real life.

Problem is, I want this to also be as realistic as can be as I have confirmed that the Gate opened sometime in late 2018 and the fic is currently taking place sometime in early or mid-2019, so it's already kind of alternate history.

Best I can do is say that whoever is in office has similar policies and attitudes of our real life leaders, and may or may not be the actual sitting US president from our world. (crappy answer, I know, but Your Mileage May Vary).

TL;DR- let's assume that whoever is in office has a similar policy/attitude compared to our real life leaders and leave it at that. If you want to talk politics and my personal take, PM me.

Okay, so that's about it for this Reviewer response. I apologize for not answering questions about the future of the story, like when will the US find the OIL or how the US will treat the shifters, but I do plan on answering them as the story continues, so stay tuned!

That said, thank you al so much for reading! If anything felt off with this chapter, do let me know, I love all the feedback you guys have been giving me, and I hope you enjoy this next part of the fic.