The force of Arya's final sentence crashed around them like breaking waves, and a sense of purpose so strong it nearly shook the cobbled walls around them flooded their hearts. Levi's left hand clamped down on the edge of the table with a resounding crack as the wood beneath his fingers splintered; at the same moment Mikasa snapped the arm of her chair almost clean off, her eyes wild.
Armin leapt to his feet with a pained growl, gripping his injured chest as his own chair clattering backwards onto the floor behind him.
"She's right. I refuse to spend the rest of my life the same way I did as a kid: cowering in the shadows of titans. We do this now, and we do it together. For Hange, for Sasha; hell, even for Eren! We can't let his final act amount to nothing, not when we have the power to end it."
Their backs straightened, chins raised high towards their commander. The dim aura of the boardroom did nothing to lessen the light in their eyes that shone past the darkness that had threatened to overcome them, wrapping itself around their suffocating fear and harnessing it. It had always been their undoing; now it was their weapon.
"Well holy shit." Connie said as Jean clapped him on the back with a grin. "I guess we're doing this."
"Hell yeah we are!"
Reiner and Annie were sharing a hopeful look with Gabi and Pieck while Falco leaned back with a relieved sigh, and Mikasa reached out to grasp Armin's shoulder tightly as determination lit up her face.
"How do we find it?"
"There's gotta be something in these books that can point us in the right direction."
"If we can take a boat Southeast along the coast-"
"-pack enough for at least two weeks-"
"-what about if we-"
"THAT'S ENOUGH."
Their purposeful chatter was cut short as President Wohl stood, a hard look creasing his already wrinkled face into a twisted mask of hysteria.
"That's quite enough, indeed. I'm pleased to see that your righteous fervor is still intact, but just as with the rescue mission to Paradis, whatever you're planning cannot be rushed! You can't just go around inciting open war with the Jaegerists OR go parading into other countries dropping bombs for your own purposes!"
"Open war with the Jaegerists has been on our doorsteps for half a dozen years." Jean said curtly. "It's no longer an if: it's a when. We can either wait for the axe to fall at some unknown moment in the near future, or we can make our move now before they manage to get their hands on the Founding Titan."
Armin held up his hands in a calming gesture. "If we have to go through Southern Marly and then straight east through the unclaimed portion of the continent, then we will; no one wants discontent with the other nations. When it comes to the Jaegerist though, Jean is right. We need to find the Tree of Ymir and destroy the source before the Jaegerists manage to figure this out for themselves. After that, we can use fake intel to lure the Council and Ymira off the island and take them into our custody; cutting off the head of the snake, if you will."
"Yeah, the Jaegerist's army will fall apart without the Council!" Connie exclaimed. "There might not have to be a war at all!"
One of Wohl's advisors stepped forward, visibly distressed.
"That may be true, but launching bombs on foreign soil is a sure-fire way to tempt other nations into going to war alongside the Eldians!"
Scoffing, Reiner stood up as well and went to stand next to Jean.
"Bombing the tree won't do us any good against the titan organism anyway, so you can stop worrying about us pissing off our neighbors."
"God, that's right." Armin said under his breath, catching eyes with Reiner. "There's no way any of our weapons will be able to destroy it, even if we hit it with all the thunder spears and explosives on the planet. The full force of my colossal wasn't even enough to bring it down."
Annie sighed. "That certainly is a problem. What else are we going to do, then: launch it into space?"
The group barely had 30 seconds to think about it before Arya's soft voice interrupted them.
"Someone has to take on the Founding Titan."
The company gaped at her incredulously, unsure whether she was joking or not; though, when it came to Arya they should have known better by now.
Levi was regarding her intently; their grasped hands had left the surface of the table, though a quick glance underneath it would find them still intact, resting on Levi's lap. As if letting go of each other would somehow extinguish the new sense of drive and purpose they had found, allowing fear to cripple them.
"That's how Eren did it, right? He used the power of the Founder to remove titans from the face of the Earth. If we can't destroy the organism from the outside, then one of us will have to take on the power for themselves and banish the source like he did."
No one could argue that there wasn't any truth to this, having borne witness to the last moments of the Eldian line of titans and what it took to end it, but the thought of needing to actually use the Founding Titan brought them up short.
Could they seriously ask this kind of request from one of their own, even for the future of humanity?
"We will cross that bridge when we come to it." Armin said, a new line of worry etching into his forehead, joining the others that had settled there. "For now, we just need to find it."
"No."
Wohl's face had turned the color of spoiled milk during this last exchange, and his expression was that of someone who had finally decided to put their foot down.
"I have been more than lenient with you and your team, Mr. Arlert, given what you have done for humanity, but this has gone on far enough. The future of Marly is too unstable as it is, and I will not allow you to further jeopardize this country in the name of this ridiculous quest. As long as this supposed "second Founder's" location remains unknown then the world will carry on as it has. We can further rebuild our nation so that if war does land on our doorstep, we can be ready."
"You would allow the titan's source to continue being a threat to the entire planet before risking the state of your leadership?!" Mikasa said menacingly, taking a step toward the leaders of Veritas, but Armin held out his arm to stop her.
"I refuse to let your warmongering and ideas of grandeur endanger the Marlyean people any further!" Spit was flying from Wohl's mouth, his eyes nearly deranged from the intensity of his panic. 'This meeting is over, and I expect each and every one of you to put this foolishness out of your minds permanently."
The rest of Wohl's men were nodding fervently along to his words with the same brand of bubbling fear in their eyes, looking restlessly between their adamant President and the iron will of Armin's command.
It was the same kind of terror that Armin and Mikasa had seen many years ago on the faces of the men and women who had accused Eren of being a threat to the walls after his first time changing into a titan. They had found themselves in a stalemate back then just as they did now, neither side wanting to forfeit their right to live any more than the other.
Whether or not their choice had ended up being the right one or not, this wasn't something they could be swayed into forgetting. The stakes were too high: countless generations depended on what they did next, and the weight of humanity's future balanced on the edge of a knife as Armin took a moment to decide which way it would fall.
The tension was palpable, but when he finally set his sight upon the governor, his eyes were as hard as stone.
"I'm sorry, President Wohl, but no."
The cabinet members blanched, and Wohl opened his mouth in what was assuredly a long-winded tirade, but Armin was faster.
"I understand if your administration and the government of Marly doesn't want to condone our actions from here on out, but they are actions we must take regardless. As you have said, my team and I have accomplished much, both for and against the world we now inhabit, but it looks like we have one more mission left before our time is done. We will take our leave in three days' time; after that we can sever our ties so that Marly doesn't have to bear the consequences of the choices we make."
The entire assembly of officials gawked at him, and Wohl immediately began to backpedal; losing access to their relationship with Armin's team posed its' own threat to their leadership. Without this bridge between the Marlyeans and Eldians, further civil unrest was practically guaranteed.
As the cabinet members tried to reason with him, Armin was looking at his people intently. It was no longer important what Marly had to say in the matter, as far as he was concerned. If six years of unfaltering dedication to the stability of the mainland wasn't enough to sway the government into assisting them, or at the very least letting them leave amicably, nothing would be. If was necessary to go against the will of both Paradis and Marly to ensure that no one else would have to go through what they did, then so be it.
Some internal, ironic thought struck him as amusing as he regarded them, a dry laugh escaping his lips over the jabber jawing of the senate.
"Looks like no matter what we try to do, we always end up coming back to the Survey Corps main objective, don't we?"
Jean scoffed. "I guess we do. "Seek out and explore the world beyond the walls for the betterment of humanity." If only Hange could see us now."
"You're forgetting the Scouts other goal." Levi replied quietly, having finally released Arya's hand and moving to join Jean with a hard look on his face. "Kill every titan we find."
Armin nodded thoughtfully, suddenly turning his back to the still frantic senate and fixing his troops with a steady look. Even with his injuries he exuded a commanding air, and without a second thought they all snapped to attention where they stood, ready for whatever came next.
"We didn't set out from the cadets to become heroes; that term has never sat right with me. There was only one goal I had in mind, one that has taken me way too long to remember. There may be only a few of us left, but I think it's time we took back who we once were, along with anyone else who shares in the same hope. It doesn't matter where our stories began, only that they lead to the same end."
He looked long and hard at each of them in turn, reading the willingness and fortitude of his people with triumph.
"So in that spirit, and in honor of our fallen comrades' memory, I hereby reinstate the Survey Corps Regiment; it may not be the same as it once was, but we will hold ourselves to the same dedication as all those who came before us. A group of brave men and women whose mission is simple: explore the world beyond the walls and bring about the end of titans once and for all."
The atmosphere buzzed around them as Armin slammed his fist over his heart with a fierce expression.
"Scouts, fall in!"
Every hand flew into a salute, old members and new additions alike, mirroring the ferocity of their commander.
"What do we do in the face of death and destruction?!"
"Dedicate our hearts!"
"Begin preparations; we leave in 72 hours. Dismissed!"