"I don't know where he is." If you had been walking down the road and happened to walk past a small alleyway just at that moment, you would've heard some poor soldier say that.

"How can you not know where he is? Listen soldier I need that information." And if you happened to stay by that alleyway to listen, you would've heard a second male voice demand to be answered.

"I don't know who you are, but I wish I could tell you what you want to hear."

"I am Kurt Weisingman, Top Agent of Military Police Department of Information. If you can provide no help to me, I suppose I shall have to find someone who can!" Kurt walked out of the alley and started walking down the street. It was never easy finding certain men, but Kurt had things to do.

Walking down the road, he passed a group of soldiers returned from inside Trost. Looking closer, he recognized one of them, from one of the times he had visited the 104th Trainee Corps to take a look. One of those times, he had talked for quite a while with one particular soldier who seemed to show some promise.

"Angel Blase, what brings you here?" Blase looked over to Kurt, his eyes widening as the memory came in.

"What's a Military Policeman doing here?" Angel asked, getting off the box he was sitting on and coming up to Kurt, "I don't know if you noticed but there's a war going on."

Kurt motioned Angel to walk beside him, before he set off again, "I'm looking for Pixis."

"Ah, you bring news from the Capital?"

"No, I want to help."

"You're kidding me."

"I can fight still. I may not be the Survey Corps skill level but I'm not just any Garrison grunt." Angel nodded, "Were you out there?"

"For much longer than I wanted to be."

"How was it?"

"Horrible. We lost a lot of good men and women out there. And what for? It's not like we can reclaim Trost."

"You're alive though, after coming into conflict with Titans. Not many others can say the same."

"Yeah. I am alive because others died." Kurt nodded. The two men stopped in the road, looking up at the walls and the soldiers on top. Angel shook his head, Kurt just sighed.

"Got any kills at least? A couple wins underneath your belt?"

"Just two. I played distraction mostly out there."

"Just two? I always felt like you'd take a couple more down." Angel looked at him, and paused, seeming to fall into some deep thoughts.

"Just two." He said eventually. Kurt looked at him for a second, something dawning on him.

"Man, it just kills not to be out there, fighting, doesn't it?" To Angel, it sounded like there were two voices which had spoken, the faint one from Kurt, and the intense, loud voice echoing inside his head. He'd heard it a few times now, ever since those crazy dreams he'd had. The sense of purpose which he had been filled with after having them had faded somewhat, but the strong power of it seemed to remain waiting inside him.

"Yeah... you could say that."

Kurt nodded, "I know how you feel. The enemy is attacking and we are powerless to do anything about it. I just sometimes wish we could fight them on even terms, ya know? We have ten million advantages on them but size is just the one thing we can't deal with. If only we could just get to their size and then just rip their throats out one by one, pounding away at their damn faces like they deserve. If only we could just burn them right up before us, and watch them wither away as we rage on against them, an unstoppable force opposed by nothing but mere animals, like we're some kind of Angel of Death."

He chuckled, "Angel of Death. Why don't you become that one day Angel? That'd be nice, knowing somebody out there is just just ripping them a new one. That'd be nice..." He sighed.

Angel recalled his memories and stared off into the distance.

Angelic-Type Titan.

No, He said inside his thoughts, My ancestors fought without you for generations, and so will I.

"You have tasted power already, and you will succumb to it. You fear me, but you will see that I am your destiny. "

"No..."

"What was that?" Kurt asked looked over at Angel, both of them snapped out of their thoughts.

"It would be great." Angel said, all the while shunning the beast which hid inside of him. He was a Guardian Angel, determined to protect. He would kill if necessary, but it was not the main goal which he was tasked with. The beast stalked around inside of him, kept locked in a cage right outside his thoughts. He could hear it speak to him, and he could speak to it, but it was powerless to do anything more than that. As long as Angel resisted it, it could join with the rest of him.

The beast was confusing, even to Angel. It was not exactly one figure, or form. It was something other. It was all the memories of his ancestors about something, given shape within his mind. He was trying to learn what it was, but each memory he gazed into either proved useless or only raised more questions. The beast was powerful, of that he was certain, and there was something about it which called to him.

And the creature was right. Angel was afraid of it, afraid of what it meant to join with it. If he knew one thing, it was that he could never turn back if he did.

"You will come to me. When the time is right, you will come. And I will answer the call, one more, to rain fury down upon the world, and bring black vengeance in a tide of unstoppable, wrathful power. You will come. It is merely a matter of time. "

My father and his father and many others did not turn to you, I shall do the same.

"You are not as fortunate in peace as they were. I am your survival, your destiny. I am the gift which shall ascend you. The time will come. You will need me, and I will wait."

"You'll never be free..." Angel said, aloud again. Kurt looked at him, eyes piqued in curiosity.

"What?"

"I'm just...lamenting sir. On how we can't push the titans back, only stall for time." Kurt nodded.

"I feel the same." Just then, two things happened. First, the sound of a cannonball firing full force came rushing down street, the air smashing into the two men standing there. Second, a bolt of lightning came down at the same time, striking towards the origin of the cannonball. Kurt and Angel looked over at the sudden point of attention, the two of them both curious for different reasons. Kurt, being an Intelligence Operative, was simply naturally curious. Angel, on the other hand, could fathom a guess about what happened. There were two possibilities, and he liked neither of them.

"We should-" Angel began.

"Check that out?" Kurt finished. The two men nodded to each other, launching into the air together towards the point of interest. They came down on top of a rooftop overlooking the scene, witnessing a sight which shocked Kurt and put a mild bit of surprise into Angel's face. Kurt knelt down, staring intensely at the titan skeleton, "That is certainly a titan skeleton, isn't it?" Angel agreed.

"But what it's doing here, I have no idea." He said, even though he had a couple of guesses.

The two watched as the smoke cleared, the soldiers down in the yard shuffling around nervously, and the Commander looking a little odd, "Interesting." Kurt said, "Something of great relevance has occurred here. Pay close attention." Angel nodded.

The smoke around the skeleton began to clear. But before it faded away, a familiar face stepped out from it. "Armin Arlert." Angel identified.

"104th?"

"Yes sir."

Arlert said something, and the smoke around the titan continued to clear as he seemed to give a passionate speech. From up on the roof, the two men were unable to make out his words, but they could tell based on how he was standing and his physical movements, alongside the reactions of the soldiers, that he was saying something powerful. Through the smoke, it became possible for the men to make out the images of humans within the thick veil.

"Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman."

"You can make that out?"

"Just enough." Kurt nodded.

"But what is going on here? There's something incredibly curious about this situation."

"Should we intervene?"

"No, let it play out. We'll step in if things get really bad, until then we gather information."

"This the typical style of what you do?"

"Getting involved without knowing what's happening won't do any good. You've gotta understand if you want to solve." Angel nodded.

"So then, Master Kurt, what's going on?"

Kurt smiled, "If I knew that, wouldn't I already be taking action?"

"So then if you don't know what's going on?"

"Watch, and examine."

"But what can you learn from up here?"

"Many things."

"So what do you know, then?"

Kurt smiled, "That titan down there, the dead one, it was protecting those three children. The cannonball shot was fired at them, but the titan intervened. Notice how its skeleton is laid. It's in a defensive posture above two children, with a third one having emerged from the smoke."

"But where did it come from?"

Kurt frowned, "That I can't tell. Notice the ground imprints. It clearly hadn't been around for much or hadn't moved much, and it is a formidable size. How it managed to get here is a hard question, and how it managed to hide is an even harder one."

"But why protect those children?"

"I told you the cannonball was fired at them."

"Yes, that's the reason it protected, but what motive did it have?"

Kurt frowned, "That, I wish I knew. This is certainly a confusing situation, and one which we are unlikely to find all the answers from up here for. But look," The Commander was raising his head, most likely indicating to fire again. Yet, a bald man was walking towards the Commander from behind, even as he raised his hand, "That's General Pixis. I'd recognize that shine from anywhere. We'll approach him after he's done here."

Angel and Kurt watched, trying to pay attention to the many things going on. Pixis got the arm of the Commander as it came swinging down to give the order to fire. The Commander was stunned, he pulled back, as Pixis and his gentle smile entered the scene.

A couple of things seemed to happen. Pixis reprimanded the Commander, and then spoke for a second to Arlert. What he said, and what was exchanged between them, is unknown to us. Neither me nor Kurt could hear what was said, and we glanced between each other wondering as to the new situation. Kurt mentioned based on the movements of the people within the area going on that it was certain the situation had been remedied. He motioned me to follow him, as he headed off to catch Pixis as he left.

As we went down, he looked over towards some of the other buildings, noticing a group of four standing atop one. On closer inspection, he identified it as Annie, Reiner, Bertrolt, and Jean.

"What's Angel doing with that man?" Reiner asked the other three.

"Who even is that?" Jean inquired.

"He looks familiar, doesn't he?" Reiner replied.

"He must've visited the 104th at one point, I guess." Jean said.

"Yeah, but that still leaves the question of why Angel is with him." Reiner rubbed his face in thought, "Hm..."

"That would be Kurt Weisingman." Annie said.

"Who?" Reiner and Jean asked in unison.

"The head of the Intelligence Division of the Military Police." She answered.

"So why is Angel, of all people, with that guy." Bertrolt interjected.

"Maybe he's joining them." Jean said, "I know I would love to."

"Intelligence Division? Angel really isn't that kind of guy." Reiner noted. Jean shrugged. Annie slightly rolled her eyes, barely paying attention to the guesswork the two liked to do while she watched intently what was going on. She had been interested in Eren, but the introduction of Angel to the scene was sure to make it even more interesting.

'General Pixis?" Kurt said to him, as Pixis had his back turned to him and was walking away, "Kurt Weisingman, Head of Intelligence. Do you have a moment?" Pixis turned around, his giant smile evident.

"Of course. I know you Kurt. We talked for a brief moment a while back, can't remember what for though."

"It was a discussion over the proper way to bake a strawberry pie, with all due respect sir. You disagreed with me about my methods." Pixis smiled.

"Ah, I recall that now. Well tell me, have you come to thank me for teaching your the proper way?" Kurt hung his head.

"...no." Pixis's smile turned into an inquisitive look.

"Well whatever you've come to talk about tell me if my way proved better." Kurt's head remained hung.

"...yes." Pixis's smile returned.

"I thought it would. Now tell me, what have you come to talk about." Kurt's head rose.

"Trost." Pixis nodded. "I hear you've been having quite the problems with the city."

"You heard right. It's never easy fighting titans."

"I know, that's why I'm here to help." Pixis nodded.

"You struck me as a good man, Kurt." Pixis and Kurt began to walk off together, I looked over towards Eren and Mikasa, who were looking at quite oddly, "Oh! I almost forgot, I need those three." Pixis interjected. He motioned to Eren and Mikasa to follow him. Kurt looked at me.

"And what of you Angel? Shall you be leaving now."

"I really don't know." I replied.

"You've come all this way." Pixis interjected again, "Might as well finish your journey."

"Sure." I nodded, even though I wasn't sure about what to think of Pixis. He seemed nice, but nice and trustable were not the same thing. Regardless, Kurt knew more than I did and he seemed to hold a deep respect for the man, and Kurt was a pretty important man in his own right. So if Kurt was willing to trust this man, and I trusted Kurt enough not to make stupid decisions, then it's logical that I can trust Pixis as well.

Eren and Mikasa and Armin all cautiously came to follow Pixis. I think perhaps the sight of me alongside an unfamiliar Military Police officer was a bit much to handle, especially after what had just been said.

"Eren, this is Kurt Weisingman." Pixis told him as he approached, "He is a very good man, although misguided about cooking. While we walk, tell him what you told me." Eren just nodded.

Kurt approached the boy, "I am very interested in what has happened here. And it is great to meet you, young man." He offered his hand. Eren took it gently and barely shook it. Kurt and Pixis returned to their walking, the four of us following behind, Mikasa and Armin directly next to Eren and me following up the back.

"Well, I...sir, you're gonna have to trust me about this. It won't be easy, that much I can promise, but just trust me. So the thing is, I can turn into a titan. A really, powerful titan that is exceptionally good at killing other titans, much to my satisfaction. And I can control it, and leave and be fine."

"The skeleton was yours?" Kurt asked.

"Yes." Eren replied.

"Figured as much. The way the body indicated it came up around you, which was impossible without killing unless some other circumstances lied around it. The only possible explanation was that it had been created, to block the cannon shot."

"I...ok."

"Sorry. Continue."

"I didn't realize I had this power. I honestly don't know where I got it, but I was in the battle of Trost."

"I am sorry."

"Don't be. Anyway, I...was eaten by a titan. But it didn't kill me. It took an arm and swallowed me pretty much full. While I was there in I, uh, got sort of really angry and just, sort of...transformed."

"Into a titan?"

"Yes. But it was a really strong one, and I went into a kind of blood rage and just went around killing titans. Eventually I woke up, in the courtyard back there, and I don't know. I don't know how it happened, and I don't know why it happened. But I know I can control it."

The group was moving up onto the walls now.

"Eren..." Pixis said, "Can you control the titan?"

"What?"

"Can you control the titan?"

"Absolutely."

"Then I think we have a plan to retake Trost if I'm thinking right..."

"What?"

"Eren will you help us take back Trost?"

"I don't know... I just gained this power and probably don't know how to use it correctly. Something could go horribly wrong and everyone would die."

Pixis looked at him, "Look at me Eren. What do you see? You see a drunk perverted old man, but behind the whisky breath, dementia, and decade old stains, is a mind that always seeks to win. A mind capable of finding light on even the darkest of nights. And right now, I see a bright star burning in front of me. One that can guide us out the abyss and into the light. Look behind you. There lies everyone that has ever been. Everyone that has ever been, and everyone that you will ever love. The combined might of our military has no chance of stopping the titans, but you do. And not only do I believe in you, so does your sister and best friend. Hmph, wars have been won on much less. I would not ask it of you if you don't believe, but I do, so what will it be soldier?"

"I...I'll do it."

"Then it's settled." Pixis smiled, straightening his back, "We attack."