The New Chapter (Chapter 3)

There was a worrying silence after Pieck admitted that she and Porco were from Marley, and were soldiers from Marley. Porco was worried about how the members of Paradis, especially their soldiers, would respond to having Marley Warriors in their town. However, Porco and Pieck couldn't make out Armin and Sasha's facial reactions and were nervous that they were just going to kill them on the spot. While Porco and Pieck were stuck in their thoughts, the horses suddenly came to a stop, and Armin and Sasha turned around to face the two.

"OK, here's what's going to happen. We're going to take you to the Survey Corps headquarters in town so that the rest of the soldiers can interview you and determine whether or not you're a threat," Armin explained as Porco and Pieck looked at the two with a raised eyebrow. They were actually getting a chance to explain themselves in front of the people who they believed hated them the most.

"We believe that you two mean us no harm, but we want to make sure that our fellow soldiers know everything that's going on so they don't get surprised and Thunder Spear you guys to death," Sasha continued as Pieck and Porco felt shivers go down their spines. They heard from Reiner how painful and damaging those Thunder Spears that the Survey Corps had been. Porco took a couple of deep breaths before patting Armin's shoulder and responding.

"OK, that's acceptable. Thank you for giving us a chance," Pieck said as Armin looked back at him with a nod before the four of them continued their trek to the Survey Corps Headquarters within the walls. The four decided to ride there in silence until they got there, which took them over an hour, with a brief stop by the gates to give a quick explanation of the situation. When they got to the Survey Corps Headquarters building, the four got off of the horses, with Porco helping Pieck get down from the horse.

"OK, so we're about to head in. Try and be on your best behavior and bring your backpacks in, because we're gonna want to search them," Armin explained. Porco and Pieck nodded as they held their hands, and followed Armin and Sasha into the Survey Corps Headquarters. In the hallway, Porco noticed that a couple of the Survey Corps members were glaring at them, possibly hearing from the gate guards that they were from Marley. Porco glared back at them, causing Pieck to elbow him in the shoulder to take his attention off of the glares.

"Behave, Porco," Pieck whispered as Armin and Sasha stopped at a pair of double doors.

"This is the conference room. Here is where we're going to discuss your future here," Sasha explained as she opened the door, and held it open for Armin, Porco, and Pieck.

"Thank you," Pieck said as she walked through the door, and Porco repeated the word of thanks with Armin following him into the room. As Porco and Pieck were trying to find their seats around the circular table, they took notice of the many faces looking at them as they walked in. Some of the faces were rather friendly and seemed to look forward to what they had to say, but a few other faces glared at them and looked like they just wanted to skip the interview and get right to the death sentence. Porco and Pieck sat across from who they assumed was the leader of the Survey Corps, who was wearing an eye patch, had brown hair, and was brooding at them.

"So…you're the Marleyans that Armin and Sasha talked about?" the leader asked, as Pieck and Porco looked at each other.

"Not exactly. While we are legal citizens of Marley, we're actually Eldian," Pieck explained, which Porco responded to by nodding in agreement. The leader nodded as a redhead that was sitting next to the man he knew as Eren Yeager spoke up.

"So you're basically some of those pieces of shit Marleyans?"

"We're only Marleyan in name, and even then, the actual Marleyans never really saw us as one of them," Porco countered, trying to keep his temper in check as he was getting annoyed and insulted by several of the soldiers doing nothing but glaring at the two. Before the redhead could offer a rebuttal, the leader put a hand in front of his face and decided to continue talking.

"Well thank you for the clarification. Now, I think it would be easier to continue this conversation by our real names. I'm Hange Zoe, and I'm the commander of the Survey Corps," Hange introduced as she offered a hand to both Porco and Pieck. Pieck smiled warmly at Hange before shaking her hand, while Porco looked on with glimpses of suspicion on his face as he shook Hange's hand as well.

"It's very nice to meet you. My name is Pieck Finger, and this is my boyfriend Porco Galliard. We're former soldiers of Marley who escaped the country intending to move here," Pieck explained as a lot of the soldiers around the table looked at Hange with raised eyebrows. These same soldiers started murmuring with each other as a gray soldier pounded his fist on the table as he stood up and glared at the couple.

"Why are we even listening to these two!? They're the enemy, and worse than that, part of the enemy that's been hounding us for a Goddamn decade! We ought to send them to the gallows and have them killed before they can kill us!" the gray-haired man exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at Porco and Pieck. Porco stood up despite Pieck's silent protests and glared back at the gray-haired soldier.

"Connie, calm down-"

"I'm not gonna calm down, Armin! I'm literally standing in front of a couple of murdering sacks of crap and we're treating them like a couple of tourists!?"

"If they wanted to hurt us, they could've killed us when we saw them hours ago. Connie, I know you're mad, but you need to think about this," Sasha tried to explain, but Connie wasn't in any mood to listen. Eren Yeager and the redhead smirked and nodded at Connie's outburst as he continued.

"Of course I'm mad about this! I'm more shocked that you all are willing to listen to this bullshit! These two probably have some sort of master plan to try and kill us!" Connie exclaimed. Before Porco could yell in Connie's face, a short man that Porco and Pieck recognized as Levi Ackerman that Zeke and Reiner had talked about when they came back from Paradis came into the room. Levi had their bags in his hands, and threw them onto the table, causing Connie to look at Levi with a raised eyebrow.

"Hate to burst your bubble Connie, but these two don't have anything suspicious in their backpacks. No weapons, no Titan serums, no weird technology, just clothes and packaged food," Levi explained as Porco and Pieck took their backpacks off of the table as Connie looked at the two of them with disbelief written all over his face. Hange nodded at Levi before turning to Porco and Pieck with a smile on her face.

"Well, since we don't have any evidence that you two are some sort of infiltrators, Armin and Sasha can continue showing you to the refugee neighborhood. Armin and Sasha will keep an eye on you of course, but there's no need to hold you two in cells," Hange explained, causing Porco and Pieck to let out sighs of relief that the two did not even know they were holding. Porco got back up to his feet and extended a hand for Pieck to help her get back to her feet, shooting an occasional glare at a downright furious Connie.

"Well, that's nice to know. Do you guys think we can leave now?" Porco asked, knowing that he was on the verge of a full-on explosive rant if he had to be in the same room as Connie and the other soldiers glaring at him for a second longer.

"Of course. Armin, Sasha, show our guests where they're going to be staying," Hange said as Armin and Sasha nodded before leading Pieck and Porco out of the conference room. Just as they left the conference room, Porco and Pieck heard some mumbling from Connie, Floch, and a third voice they didn't recognize, talking about how inviting them here was a huge mistake and that they should be in jail. Porco's blood was boiling at what was being said about him and Pieck, but he calmed down when he felt a hand on his shoulder, but much to his surprise, it wasn't Pieck's hand, it was Armin's.

"Sorry about that, Connie's whole village got turned into Titans, so he's really against us trying to be peaceful to Marleyans," Armin explained as Sasha shook her head in disappointment and mumbled something that Porco couldn't make out.

"It's OK. We didn't expect the royal treatment when we came here, and we expected to have some people hating us when we came," Pieck responded before grabbing Porco's hand. The four walked out of the Survey Corps Headquarters and headed for Sasha and Armin's horses.

"So, how far is this refugee camp?" Porco asked as he and Armin got on their horses while Sasha gently helped Pieck onto hers.

"Oh, it's not that far. It's just outside of this town, so you guys will not be surrounded by too many neighbors," Armin explained as Porco looked at Armin with a smile. A home in a quiet place with Pieck and a child sounded too good to be true. Porco got on Armin's horse and held onto him before Armin and Sasha headed their way to the refugee camp. Porco and Pieck were both riding in the backseat of the horses in silence as they imagined the new life they were about to be a part of.

After another half an hour, the horses stopped, allowing Porco and Armin to get off of their horse. Porco looked around at the scenery, noticing that this was simply a cul-de-sac with a few houses. As Porco was looking on, Pieck and Sasha came riding in, causing Porco to turn around and walk up to Sasha's horse so that he could help Pieck down gently once Sasha stopped the horse next to Armin's. Once Sasha did stop, Pieck climbed down, and into Porco's arms so that he could help her back to her feet.

"Well guys, this is where you're going to be staying," Armin explained, pointing to a house in the corner of the cul-de-sac that seemed to be near the entrance to a forest. Porco and Pieck looked in amazement at the house that neither thought they would have ever lived in given their status in Marley. Even with their status as 'honorary Marleyans', Porco and Pieck could only afford to get a cheap apartment near the Marley Army Base.

"We'll leave you guys to get acquainted with the house, and if you need help, just follow the path in the forest, and my parents can help you," Sasha explained as Porco looked back at Sasha with a raised eyebrow.

"Your parents live in a forest?"

"Yeah, they have a farm and raise some of the local orphans over there. I haven't told them about you guys yet, but they're really nice and helpful people, so they'd be more than happy to help an expecting couple out," Sasha explained as Porco nodded at the two before walking up to them, confusing Pieck who was still gazing at the house.

"Why did you guys defend us back there?" Porco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean? You didn't do anything to us-" Armin began before Porco started shaking his head.

"I meant the fact that we worked for the Marley army, and that bald asshole was right; the army we were a part of caused you guys and this town a lot of trauma and turmoil. So, why even defend us?" Porco asked as Sasha smirked at him, causing him to raise his eyebrow in confusion.

"Well if you feel so bad about it, we can always tell Hange that we changed our minds," Sasha sang. Porco's heart rate spiked at the thought of being executed, causing Sasha to laugh, and when Sasha laughed, Porco growled in annoyance. Armin lightly elbowed Sasha in the side of the arm before walking forward.

"Look, after what we read in Dr. Yeager's basement, we know that you guys aren't exactly the most willing participants and have gone through your own hardships. Of course, we're wary about you and are still upset about what's happened, but the fact that you came here in peace gives me hope that we can have a peaceful future," Armin explained as Porco looked at the two in amazement before Pieck grabbed Porco's hand, and turned him around.

"Porco! Let's go into the house! I want to see the inside of it!" Pieck exclaimed in a childlike way that made Porco look at her with a smile. The happy and star-struck look on Pieck's face was something that Porco had legitimately not seen since her first year as a Warrior Candidate. The Warrior Program really knew how to shatter their dreams and make them feel replaceable, which is something that gradually made its way into every Warrior candidate's psyche. Even Pieck, who was always trying to stop Porco from fighting Reiner in the day and telling him that they were all friends, just stopped caring one day. So seeing Pieck have a real genuine smile on her face for something other than him for the first time really made Porco happy.

"Yeah, so do I," Porco agreed before the two interlocked their hands together and headed into their new home while Sasha and Armin looked on with a smile.