Chapter 11: The Uprising Part 1: Compromised

"It's coming apart around the weak spot, look!"

"It looks like there's something coming out. What the hell?"

"Dear god. I, I think it's a kid."

"Hey hold on a minute; that thing just came out of a titan!"

"Ah! Dam his skin is hot."

"Kid, kid hey can you hear me?"

"Who are you, do you have a name?"

"We aren't in a position to make any kind of decision. This one goes to the top."

"Aren't you cold like that?"

"I want muskets issued to all personal, that includes civilians. Those lunatics do not get into this building!"

"The Sacrifice! Give us the Sacrifice!"

My eyes snap open and I sit up with a gasp. My breathing is erratic and I have to shut my eyes again as I calm myself down. "Matthias, what's wrong?" asks Armin.

"Just, just more memories that's all," I reply, rubbing my temples as a slight headache creeps into my skull.

"Anything clear?"

"No. More people talking about titans and something about people trying to break into a building; nothing coherent. They keep using that word though."

"Which one?"

"Sacrifice. The Beast Titan called me that, so did Annie, Reiner and Bertolt. I suppose it has some significance but Reiner and Bertolt said they don't really know what it means. If I am, or if I was meant to be a sacrifice, what on earth could possibly demand a human life as payment?"

Armin shivers, "there are stories about some of the cultures before the Titans. Some of them apparently killed humans in an effort to please their gods."

"I guess there are some things that we can thank the Titans for getting rid of then."

Armin looks at me surprised. "Actually, I've been thinking something similar. I mean, I don't think that the sacrifice it's taken was really worth it but, the Titans have given us more unity that mankind ever had in the old world. Mankind hasn't known the kind of peace we had over the last hundred years at any other time in our history that we're aware of."

"It hasn't stopped us from trying to rip each other's throats out when crisis hit though," says Eren from the doorway. "Even with the Titans bearing down on us we've still managed to fight and bicker amongst ourselves to the point where we're likely to wipe ourselves out."

"Good morning to you to," I say dryly.

"Seriously it's stupid," continues Eren unabashed. "We have the biggest opportunity for fighting back that mankind has had in over a century and these people just want to throw it all away!"

"They're frightened," explains Armin simply. "They're frightened and they don't understand."

"Don't they?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" asks Armin in surprise.

"I mean that I'm not so sure that the people behind this push for securing me, Eren and Historia don't know exactly what they're doing."

"What makes you say that?" asks Eren, his gaze intent.

"Nothing concrete," I admit, "It's just a feeling I get after Historia's story a week ago. I'd heard it before of course but there was something she mentioned in that she didn't the last time. She said that there were men in red robes present when her father had her mother killed. I'm not completely sure why but that set something inside me trembling. I don't think those men are scared Armin, and if they are it's not us that they're scared of."

My two friends stare at me worriedly. "You know, you could be right," admits Eren eventually. "Reiner and Bertolt said they were going to take us to someone. They didn't give him a name but there defiantly was someone. Right now I'd give almost anything just know who our real enemy is. It isn't the Titans and I don't think it's the government either. Something else is pulling the strings here."

"I dread to think who or what could be in control of all of this," says Armin with a shiver. "Who could create and drive the Titans whilst manipulating the central government at the same time? Who would even want to for that matter?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask in confusion.

"Well, it strikes me that if there were a being with sufficient power to control the Titans, including Annie, Reiner, Bertolt and the Beast Titan, then why waste energy manipulating the government. In fact I can't help but wonder why they've waited such a long time to attack us. On top of that why wait five years between the attack on Shiganshina and the attack on Trost?"

"Something must have changed five years ago," I realise out loud. "What happened that might have prompted a sudden change of heart on the part of our enemy?"

"Us I suppose," says Eren. "The titan shifters appearing must have had some impact right?"

"Possibly," says Armin, "but I'm not convinced that it's it entirely. We know that Matthias was around for more than likely a full hundred years before he was taken in by his foster parents, so titan shifters in and of themselves are nothing new."

Eren raises an eyebrow, "you know, I never thought about it like this before but, Matthias you're actually really old. Like, about a hundred twenty years old or something like that."

"In that case I'd say I aged pretty well," I reply with a grin. "To be fair I didn't actually get to properly live all one hundred and twenty of those years. Only fifteen of them are actually mine. But Armin, if it wasn't the titan shifters, then what was it that changed?"

"I don't know. But I'd hazard a guess that whatever it was took place about two years before the fall of Wall Maria."

"Why two years?" asks Eren.

"Because two years ago two very strange and unexplained things happened: Matthias's father left suddenly and Historia was moved away from her grandparents to live with a new family. Those things must have happened within a few days of each other if the date Historia gave us is accurate. I wonder, did anything odd happen around that time for you Eren?"

"Not that I can think of. I met you two whole years before that, and I met Mikasa towards the end of that year not in the middle of it."

"What about your father?" I ask suddenly. "Did anything strange happen with him around that time that you can recall?"

Eren looks at me in confusion, "what makes you ask that?"

"Remember what the Pastor said to us: he said that our fathers could give us all the information we needed. On top of that my mom mentioned that my dad was going to meet up with someone he called 'the doctor'. You're father's a doctor."

Eren squints slightly as he tries to remember. "Yes!" he exclaims suddenly, "he went away on a long trip to the capital for three weeks. When he came back he looked rather worn, like he hadn't slept for days. It was about that time when he started working down in the basement."

"So," says Armin, putting his finger tips together and staring intently ahead, "something happened that was distinctly strange in the lives of all three of you at around the same time. I'm not prepared to believe that's a coincidence. It sounds as if both your fathers did something that changed things somehow. Since it seems like they both had knowledge concerning the Titans it isn't that hard to believe. But what on earth could two men do that could force the hand of someone powerful enough to be master of the Titans?"

"I can't imagine," says an excited voice from the veranda above us. We all look up to see Captain Hange leaning over the edge and watching us. I honestly have no idea how long she's been there for. "Actually, that's a lie," she says looking thoughtfully up at the ceiling, "I can imagine quite a few different things as it happens. Not that any of them make sense mind."

"How, how long were you up there?" asks Armin nervously.

"Oh long enough to get the general idea," says the Captain with her usual crazed smile. "I must say it's an intriguing hypothesis Corporal, I'm interested to see if it turns out to be correct." Armin turns slightly red at being called Corporal. Ever since his promotion Hange has been deliberately taking the time to refer to him by his new rank whenever they're in conversation together. Armin can't stand it but the rest of us think it's pretty entertaining.

"We've been trying to locate Eren's father," continues Hange, "but we can't find any trace of him on any records up until a few months after the fall of Wall Maria. The most recent thing we've been able to dig up is a record of him paying for lodgings at an inn in Trost. After that there's nothing, almost as if vanished off the face of the Earth."

"Trost?" says Eren in confusion, "Why would dad have been in Trost?"

"Not a clue. That was three months after the fall of Maria, which would make it two months after the last time you saw him yes?" Eren nods. I can tell from the look on his face that he doesn't like to be reminded of how his father seems to have run out on him after his mother's death. "It gets even stranger though," continues the First Captain. "According to censuses he appeared suddenly in Shiganshina in a similar way to Matthias. The only difference is that he appeared ten years before Matthias did and as a grown man and a doctor."

My mind flashes back to the image of Eren's father I saw when I thought I was going to be devoured. "Eren," I say slowly, "there was a strange feeling I always had around your dad actually. It was like I knew that he was safe to be around. Almost as if I knew him somehow. I mean, I did know him of course, but, I had that feeling from the very first time I met him."

Eren glances at me in surprise. "Oooh," exclaims Hange, craning her neck further over the railings than is probably safe. "Now that is interesting. Didn't you say you saw him in one of your flashbacks Matthias?"

I nod. "And on top of that I could have sworn a voice I heard several times in my dreams belonged to him as well."

"I don't want to jump to conclusions or anything," says Hange. "But I think it's a very real possibility that Eren's father is like Matthias; from the old world."

"What? How is that possible?" asks Eren, the disbelief heavy in his voice.

"The only way it can be," says Armin, "Eren, you may not like it but I think you have to accept the possibility that-

Armin doesn't finish his sentence though. The door into the cabin bursts open and Mikasa rushes in. "The red signal's gone up!" she gasps. "They've found us!"

"What?!" exclaims Hange, vaulting over the railings. To my surprise she tucks herself up into a neat roll as she lands, flipping back her feet neatly afterwards. She dashes out the door and we follow her. Sure enough, drifting sparsely on the thinly clouded horizon is a single red streak of smoke. There are several lookouts posted to warn us of anybody approaching the area and if any unauthorised members of the military appear it's to be assumed that we've been found out. The smoke signal isn't exactly subtle, but it's likely that subtlety isn't going to get us anywhere now.

"How did they find us?" asks Armin under his breath. "No one knew about us except the Commander and few of the most trustworthy Scouts. Their backgrounds were all hand checked so there's no way they'd turn us in."

"Worry about that later," says Hange. Her personality has snapped away from the excitable scientist to the serious soldier. "For now we need to evacuate. The signal's high enough that everyone should be able to see it, so we don't need to worry about running around rounding people up. Head for the stables and get mounted up. I'm going inside to make sure we don't leave any clues behind as to what we were up to."

We turn and hurry around the front of the house. We run into Connie and Jean on the way. "Was that what I think it was?" asks Jean.

"Exactly that," says Armin. "We need to get to the horses and get out of here as fast as we can."

"That's not going to work," says Jean through gritted teeth. "Someone's let the horses loose and now they're scattered all over the place."

"What?!" I gasp. "How?"

"Isn't it obvious?" asks Jean. "We've been ratted out from the inside; there's another traitor amongst us."

"B-but, we checked," stutters Armin in shock. "The only other members of the 104th to be issued with plans that had Eren on the right wing were me and Connie. And Connie you were with Jean the whole time right?"

"Yeah," says Connie nodding. "Besides, I don't have any connection to Annie, Reiner or Bertolt outside of the Cadet Corps."

"Talking won't solve anything right now," says Mikasa, "We need to take action and we need to do it now. Armin, what do you say we do?"

"I, I'm not sure," says Armin. "I know I have a level of command now but I'm not in charge. We need to find Captain Levi or Captain Hange."

"Well you're in luck," says Levi from behind us. We all turn to see him along with Historia and two Scouts trudging up the bank down towards the forest. "Why's everyone just standing around here, didn't you see the flare?"

"Yes sir but someone's set the horses loose," explains Jean.

"Shit!" spits Levi. "I doubt we can make it away from whoever it is on foot." His gaze becomes even sterner (something I didn't think was possible), "it's probably going to come to a fight then. I expect all of you to be prepared to kill if necessary."

"Wait, you mean, kill people?" gasps Jean.

"You're a soldier aren't you?" says Levi. "That's what soldiers are for; you fight and if you have to you kill."

"But, but they're human beings aren't they?" splutters Jean. "We can't just kill them."

"Then the odds are they'll kill you," replies Levi, pressing his face up close to Jean's. "It may not come to it but I expect it will. You will be prepared to kill in order to ensure Mankind's survival, is that understood?"

"Y-yes sir," says Jean. I can tell he isn't really sure about it. I'm not sure myself actually. The idea of taking someone else's life, of depriving them of all the days they had left to experience feels horrible. I think though, if it came to someone killing one of the people I cared about or me killing them I wouldn't hesitate. But actually going after someone with the intent to kill? I don't know if I can do that.

"I want everyone to equip Omni-Directional Mobility Gear ASAP and regroup out here," instructs the Captain. "After that we fall back to the trees and attempt to ambush the new arrivals."

The group breaks up in a rush as we find ourselves scrambling up stairs and pulling open cupboards to reveal 3D Gear. Hastily I clip mine into place and pull two full cylinders of gas down from the storage shelf. I hand those two to Armin behind me and then pull down two more for myself. We quickly slot these into place before dashing outside again.

The Captain is waiting for us along with Eren, Jean and another one of the Scouts. "Come on," says Levi, "we need to-

He's suddenly cut off by the whirling zip of an ODM line and the loud crack of a gunshot splits the air. I spin round to see two dozen figures come hurtling out of the forest. On their backs is a strange kind of apparatus and gripped in their hands are pistols of some kind. They move between the trees with a kind of agility I've never seen before by anyone using Manoeuvre Gear bar a handful of the most skilled soldiers. As I watch on of the men raises one of his weapons and fires. The sound of the shot rips through my ears and there's a brilliant flash. The Scout standing on my right lets out a cry and falls dead to the ground as the enemy pours out of the forest.