Rain poured down onto the soldiers and the horses, mud beginning to cake on their hooves and ankles, "Why haven't you told them that you don't want to be a scout yet?" thunder clapped, Bernard held onto his injured elbow, bright bruises beginning to appear where he had been gripped by the titan. He was lucky not to have broken any bones. "I mean, could you do this again? Are you willing to throw yourself into chaos like this?" The soldiers who were fighting and dying here had minute of notice before they entered combat, fighting for their lives. It could happen again at any other moment in the future.

Siegfried shook his head, "I don't know what I want." Scouts did little exploration at this point, they were the titan-fighting elites of the military. The other branches focused on engaging other humans, guns had become their standard weapons. He wasn't suited for fighting like that, he wanted to fight with his head. He wanted to fight to keep the people he cared for safe. The people he loved were all military, so where did he belong?

"Nah, I want out of here." Bernard said, holding onto the reins with his better hand, "I'll do what I have to, for our family, but I'm done being cooped up here." He didn't know how to explain it, but he felt as if there were so much more to see, so many more ways to experience his fragile human life. Why simply chose this one, because he was born into it? "Ah, this is my exit." He motioned his head towards a watch tower, "Are you sure you're okay with me leaving?" MIkasa had proposed an alternate scenario for Bernard, whose injuries were creeping up on him. Armin had arranged for doctors to come down south, before they even rode off for battle, anticipating injuries and dead.

"Yeah, go to Armin. You're injured, they can keep you better safe in the back lines there." From there he would go to the walls for medical treatment, to make sure there weren't any more unexpected injuries. Cannons had stopped going off, so the soldiers were likely just cleaning up titans, or the titans were no longer close to the castle. Either was a good scenario. "I think we are safe now." What was Gloria doing right now, with Mikasa? He couldn't wait to see their mother, he had so many questions to ask, questions that were perfect for the previous Commander of the scout regiment.

"See you when we get home." Bernard smiled, slowly veering off. They waved at each other, before falling out of distance. He was alone now.

But now Siegfried was thinking, why did he want to be a scout? The life of combat wasn't for him, so what was left? Could he be in the military as someone so averse to violence? He hated blood, especially when it was outside of the human body. It made him queasy. It didn't seem natural.

He and his siblings had practice horseback riding here, as well as pretty much everything else they knew. These rolling green hills to the north of their home had many memories, as well as this one now. His peaceful universe had been destroyed by someone, probably one of his parent's old enemies. Levi had said there were many bridges they had to burn to create their sanctuary, and all of their old battle scars… their past had been a bloody one. How did they keep sane?

Eachother, friends, and family. Their bonds had kept them alive during times of war. If you didn't have the self preservation to keep yourself alive, you cared enough about the person next to you to keep them safe, and they felt the same about you. No one wanted to survive that war, but we all wanted to make sure our loved ones did. Armin had taught him that, his hollow emotionless eyes in stark contrast to the emotion he had in his voice at the time. It had been nothing but pain.

He approached the cluster of trees that surrounds the waterfall, feeling a pit drop in his stomach. Something wasn't right, nothing about this situation was right. If all of his presuppositions were correct, that the titans were brought here by someone, likely one of his parents' old enemies, where were they?

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm here for a radio. There is no serum here." It was his mother's voice, she was talking to someone, her voice tense. "There is only a long range radio." Siegfried felt his heart rate spike, someone else was here, and they weren't friendly.

He got off his horse, he had to do something. Mom! He was careful not to make any noise, he wished he had paid more attention to Jean when they were learning how to track!

Bringing his gun into his hand, he followed his mother's voice, and hid behind a tree when she came into view. Hanji had her hands raised beside her head, another woman was pointing a gun at her. He had found the enemy insurgent. To make a good shot, he would have to get closer.

"I don't believe you. Why would they send you to radio?" She was blonde, and had a pretty voice, and couldn't be much older than Bernard. If she wasn't pointing a gun at Hanji, he would have said that she was kind of cute.

"Because it's the plan, it always has been. I also only have one working eye, and a limp." How good would she really be on the battlefield these days? Too many years of consistent injuries held her down. The young woman seemed to pity her for a moment, good. Hanji had become an expert at cracking people's heads over the years, she could do it to this runt too. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen, does it matter?" She seemed to be thinking about something, planning her next move. Siegfried continued to sneak around, it almost seemed like Hanji knew he was there and was creating a diversion.

"I was hoping we would have stopped sending our youth into battle decades ago." It was pitiable, humans sending their own children into suicide missions.

"We never will. Not when people like me are breed for it, and people like your children." She pulled out her radio suddenly.

Siegfried had paused to catch his breath behind a tree, when the section next to his ear exploded, a bullet whizzing right passed his head."Found one of them." Well, he had been discovered. He popped out from behind the tree, firing the best shot he could based on where he guessed the enemy was. No surprise it was a miss.

"Hi mom." He coyly stepped out, Hanji let out a sigh of relief, he hadn't been injured. But she was surprised that her backup was her own son. He had another shot in his gun left, thanks to recent advancements they no longer had to reload after every shot. Did their enemy know that?

"Hey honey." She tried not to panic, knowing full well who she was after. They had come for vengeance, and the Ackerman name stood at the top of their hit list. Judging by his expression, his siblings were alright. Could she get to him to shield him in time? Not if he was shot at.

"Come with me, and I won't shoot your son."

Hanji wasn't dumb, she knew how this would go. She would surrender, be restrained, and then she would shot him anyway. Hanji would then be held on condition of Levi's surrender, "No, I'm sorry." Siegfried looked to his mother, his eyes pleading for direction on what to do. He had gotten her into a worse situation.

A voice buzzed over the insurgent's radio, but neither of them could make out what it said. "Sorry buddy." She raised her gun towards Siegfried, and Hanji bolted for her son. When the blonde saw movement, the weapon turned towards Hanji. Siegfried raised his weapon, firing at her, but someone zoomed by on 3DMG as the two guns went off. Both sides spilled blood on the floor. "Mom!" Siegfried rushed over to Hanji, who held her left shoulder tightly, blood beginning to stream out from underneath her palm.

Hanji took a knee, "Don't worry." She smiled up at him, their enemies having vanished. Siegfried had made a good shot, judging by the amount of blood on the floor. "She almost got me." It was alright, her son was safe. Everything would be fine then.

Hanji leaned against a tree, "Free. I need you to listen to me. You can help me." This broke him out of his adrenaline induced daze, "There's a radio, behind the waterfall, and an emergency kit. Could you help me get there? I'm going to need you to help me get this bullet out." She spoke directly, clearly. Siegfried wouldn't understand her if she said it any other way, it had to be clean and dry.

He nodded, seeming ready. "I can help. Tell me what to do." He still felt like he was going to vomit, having danced so closely with death. And… his mother was bleeding. Blood. He covered his mouth, but Hanji pulled his arm away, letting him vomit a foot away. He was going to need an empty stomach.

They walked together towards the roaring waterfall, they would have to get through the waters. "Focus on me." Hanji said, shifting her feet slowly across a ledge, grabbing a branch tightly with her good arm, "Just keep going." Siegfried didn't dare look at the rocks below, why were they hiding a radio here?!

Hanji grabbed him, using sheer strength to swing him suddenly around her, through the waters and into a damp cave. He stumbled onto all fours, believing he was going to fall. When he gathered himself, Hanji was already making her way further into the dark cave, light trickling in from the other side of the water. "Ma, what is this place?"

She looked over her wounded shoulder, more blood was coming out now, she tore more of it when she had swung him. "It's… a secret. We hide very important things here." Every word she spoke was quieter than the last, "Things from the war." Her fingers traced along the cave wall, searching for familiarity. Thankfully she had a piece of glowing titan crystal with her. Siegfried was following her now, startled by every sudden drop of water. "Are you scared?"

"Yes." He admitted, "You're hurt, I'm the only one who is here to help, and someone…" He couldn't bare not to know what was happening any longer, "I can't do this, I need you to tell me why this is happening? What did you and dad do that was so bad?"

"We killed." Hanji said, coming to a small stream within the cave. She rested on her knees, "We killed many, many people, because they had killed so many of ours. Because we had no choice, because we had to survive. It was our retribution. I don't regret it, not most of it." She pulled a box out of the mud, looking up to him now. "Behind you, on the wall, that's the-" She was suddenly taken over by convulsions, "Poison."

Siegfried rushed in to lay her on the ground, laying her on her side as she convulsed, "Mom?!" He couldn't breathe, this couldn't be happening. There was poison in the bullet. This had been an assassination.

He rushed up to the radio, turning it on and rushing back over to her. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?" There was no response, "This is Siegfried Ackerman, mom- Hanji is hurt, she was shot. We need help." He pleaded, waiting for someone to respond.

No one would. Her convulsions stopped as she slipped out of consciousness, he had to do something or she would die. He had to get the bullet out. He fumbled with the locks on the box that Hanji had pulled out of the stream, and got it open. Inside he found an entire surgical suite of tools, as well as another locked box inside. This smaller box was locked with a combination lock. This shouldn't be hard. He had seen bullets removed from people before, he could do this.

He slipped on a provided pair of gloves, taking out clamps. He felt his mother's shoulder for the bullet, it was pretty deep in there, wedged in her behind her collarbone. "I'm so sorry." He whispered to her unconscious form, putting the clampers inside, if she were conscious she would be screaming. Normally bullets in no danger of making contact with the heart or other vital organs would be left inside, however if this one was poisoned, it needed to come out.

"Siegfried. This is Armin, are you safe?" Finally, a response, "Bernard made it here." Siegfried dry heaved as he pulled the bullet closer to the surface, dislodging it from bone and hearing flesh tear.

"I'm alright." He wretched again, the bullet was visible now, blood rolling out of the open wound, "I'm pulling out the bullet. Mom passed out." His voice was hoarse, on the verge of tears. "She said there was poison, and got me a medical kit… Is there medicine in here?" What was behind the combination lock? Surely drugs.

"Poison?" Armin passed, presumably to communicate with those around him, "We are on out way, get that bullet out."

"I'm trying!" He paused, having the bullet completely ready to extract. More flesh was going to tear on its exit, he had to brace himself. "Gosh mom, I'm so sorry." He yanked it out and immediately got to work on cleaning the wound, shoving cotton gauze around the edges of the wound. "What do I do?"

"I don't know." He wasn't a doctor. "If the bullet is out, that's the best you can-"

"No, that's not good enough!"

"Siegfried! Until we know what the poison is, we can't do anything."

He nodded, that made sense. "I know…" Until his eyes fell onto several feet of intravenous tubing in the box, "No, it's not." He coiled his sleeved above his elbows, disinfecting his arm.

"Sieg, what are you doing?" He didn't bother responding, Armin wouldn't approve. He studied Hanji's expression, lips turning purple. The poison was already in her blood, and her liver and kidneys couldn't filter it out fast enough. "Don't do anything stupid! I'm coming right now, I've sent for doctors already." Perhaps two sets of organs could do the job, "Siegfried, answer me! This is an order! Are you alright?"

He braced himself as he slid a needle into his cubital vein, in the crook of his arm. "Don't spasm." He placed another into one of his arteries, repeating the setup on Hanji. "Armin. Please get here quickly." He connected the two sets of tubing, and red blood began to flow freely between the two. Waves of nausea consumed him, dry heaving into the stream. The radio buzzed as his world vibrated, Siegfried was seizing and slipping out of consciousness. It all went black.

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