The days began to pass into one another more quickly as the company fell into a routine of preparation.

The handful of recruits they had gathered were improving nicely with their ODM training as well as their general knowledge of the island. Jean seemed pleased with their progress, having taken a keen interest in several of them: a sandy-haired young man named Alexi, a dark man called Orin and a blonde woman with short hair who went by Quinn.

Armin continued to gather any and all information he could from his two sources until he felt reasonably confident in their ability to both navigate the rough terrain north of Wall Maria and anticipate the Jaegerist's behavior.

He conferred with Mikasa as often as he could, relaying his findings and keeping tabs on the enemy's activity. As far as she could tell after a weeklong excursion into the Capitol, Historia and her daughter were still both alive and ultimately uninjured, though she did discover that they had been moved from their imprisonment in the Capitol to some other facility in the Northern reaches of the city. This was their first real stroke of luck, now that they wouldn't have to make it through to city center. Mikasa had done a few scouting missions but had come up empty, much to her frustration, though she remained confident in their ability to carry out their plan: Armin wished he felt the same.

Thanks to Levi's swift moving recovery, his demeanor towards Arya had warmed significantly (as much as Captain Levi was capable of such a thing) to the relief of everyone in the complex. The two of them could be found outside in both the early morning and late afternoon almost every day, working to regain strength in Levi's leg and a mastery of the hand prosthetic, both of which were coming along well. This had become Arya's condition for him being able to start some light ODM work, which she had agreed to reluctantly. Levi had the tendency to push himself too hard in all aspects of his rehabilitation, which was too be expected, and this left Arya often frowning at the training grounds in concern.

Connie and Jean worked with him as often as they could, much to their amusement. The role reversal struck them as rather funny; a term the captain certain didn't consider it to be. Levi's natural skill remained intact; all he really needed to work on was regaining his strength and balance, as well as the subtle differences in movement due to his brace and prosthetic.

Oz was still spending most of his time in the communications room, though he stopped by their compound frequently as he went back and forth between the parliament building and Kardif. On one such occasion three weeks into their stay, he brought along with him a handful of options himself and Arya had been working on to counter Levi's lack of vision on his right side. Most of these he turned down immediately due to either their ridiculousness or their likelihood of becoming more of a hindrance than an aid. The only one Arya had been able to coax him into accepting was a reflective band with one flat side that wrapped around his left bicep. This would allow him to simply lift his arm to get a basic visual of his other side without having to turn his head.

Levi was still being quite obstinate about the whole situation, certain that his partial blindness wouldn't be an issue (he was probably correct) but it seemed to Armin that even he wasn't completely immune to Arya's influence: she was a hard person to say no to. A fact that he knew all too well.

It was very late into the evening of their fourth week when Armin heard a soft knock on his door. The compound was eerily silent after the rouse and commotion it usually held during the day, so the gently knock seemed to amplify in his small room. He had been trying very hard to fall asleep for several hours, but his mind had refused to settle enough for that to happen. The summer air was still blowing in his window, warm and damp, bringing with it the thrumming sound of crickets as he padded quietly across the wooden floor. Grabbing the door handle, he eased the door open and peered into the hallway.

The hall was dark, but the moonlight issuing from the open window behind him illuminated Arya in a ghostly glow. From the looks of her tangled hair, she had also tried and failed to find sleep; her bed clothes hung like drapes over her small frame. Her eyes were downcast as Armin studied her, troubled by her silence.

Then she raised her face to him, and Armin took a small step backwards in alarm at the intensity of her expression.

Her eyes were burning in the bleached light of the moon and her features were set in fierce conviction. She met his anxious stare with profound determination, and Armin understood.

His eyes closed tightly in desperately conflicting emotions. How he had secretly wished for this, knowing that this was the best chance they had, yet it was also marred by a deep sense of regret. He did not want this life for her; for any of them.

Armin dipped his head and stepped aside to allow Arya to enter, closing the door behind them.

Dawn arrived hot and dry, and the temperature only continued to rise as the morning burned on. Jean was working with the recruits out in the square bright and early, running drills underneath a blazing sky while Connie sat nearby organizing their new equipment that Oz had dropped off the day before with a satisfied grin.

The Paradis natives were still partial to the use of their reloadable blades and scabbards over guns despite the lack of titans to use them on, Although Oz did admit that they were very effective at close range. Using that, he redesigned their older dual-style handle that acted as both sword and firearm: adjusting the short sight outfitted just above the steel receptacle so that could be used both with the blade attached or on its own. He replaced the heavier steel with a metal alloy similar to the kind that the Medical Institute used, which was significantly lighter. This change requiring a larger holster and a change in harness design, but still allowed for easy maneuverability.

Levi had been up the moment the sun had risen, seated on a bench a short distance away from where Connie sat, adjusting his prosthetic and preparing for another morning of exertion.

"Come on, Recruits!" Jean said loudly from the middle of the square. "You're gunna have to be faster than that with the reload if you don't want to get shot! Go from the top, this time I'd like to see" – But the rest of his instructions died in his throat as the recruits all turned to stare dumbfoundedly somewhere off to his left. Frowning, he looked around to find the object of their gawking, which didn't take long.

Arya was striding over to them from her room full dressed in an ODM harness, which wound around her tiny figure tightly. Her hair was braided in several plaits that were secured at the base of her neck and swung back and forth all the way to the middle of her back. Underneath her harness she wore white pants and a black long sleeve shirt that was a stark removal from her usual doctors' smock and blouse. Connie's mouth dropped open as she walked up to him and grabbed a full set of the new ODM gear, then loped gracefully over to Jean. Setting the equipment on the ground she immediately snapped to attention, much to Jean's confusion.

"What the hell are you doing, Arya?" He asked, bewildered.

"I am not familiar with using blades and their scabbards, Commander." She said briskly, in perfect soldier form. "I will require some balance and usage training, which is why I've come to you, sir." Her hands snapped to a salute as she kept her eyes forward, looking as if she had never left the Elites. Jean looked at Connie, who gave him a helpless shrug. Levi had been watching this development from where he sat with bemusement and let out a low chuckle at Connie and Jean's uncertainty.

"Why would you need to know how it works?" Connie asked, equally as confused as Jean.

"Because she's coming with us."

Armin had come to stand just off the training area, looking somehow both pleased and disappointed at the same time. All eyes turned from him to Arya as she continued to hold her position without a single flicker of emotion crossing her resolute face.

There was a stunned silence, followed by a large exhale from Connie.

"Oh, thank God." He said, smiling brightly. Arya didn't react to his relieved sigh, thought the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.

Jean gave her a long appraising look before he mirrored Connie's exuberance.

"It's about damn time, soldier." He muttered before giving Arya the first friendly look he had ever passed her way. As much as he wanted to ask her about this sudden change of heart, he knew that this choice was much too significant for a simple answer. There was also something off-putting about the set of Armin's mouth as he watched her from the edge of the field that stayed his questions.

Levi was unsurprised by this change, having pegged her for it weeks prior. Though he found, with surprise, that the concept of Arya officially joining the mission to Paradis made him…uneasy. Good people shouldn't have to run off to war to defend the happiness they ached for. Even though he had tried his very hardest to ignore it, he knew that Arya was good, all the way down to her bones. It was one thing for a person like him to take arms up against the enemy in times of strife, but a whole other problem to watch someone like her take on that burden. A commitment formed in Levi's mind as he watched Arya stand at attention: just as she had offered him a chance at redemption, he would see to it that she was as well prepared for the trials ahead as she could be.

With a slight dip of his head, Jean picked up the ODM gear next to Arya and began to fasten it around her waist.

"What was your rank before you left Paradis?"

"Arya allowed herself the slightest of smiles.

"Captain, sir."

"Well okay then. Pay attention to the weight distribution, captain. The main belt is meant to support the weight from behind, and these clips here attached them to your outer thigh. The scabbards are designed to be lightweight, but if you've never operated one before they can be distracting. Your gas canisters will attach here, the knob facing outward. Hold the hilts in your hands; they are heavier now than even you or I were trained to use. I want you to do a few laps of the courtyard with all your gear attached to get a feel for it. Now, hop to it. "

Just as Jean had transitioned back into his Commander role, Arya held fast to hers. Setting a reasonable pace, she took off at a jog around the courtyard, eyes forward. The recruits looked on dubiously as she progressed, as if unsure if it was a joke or not.