During the next morning, everything had seemed peaceful within Trost District. Eren Yaeger had led his girlfriend, Frieda Reiss through the halls of the Survey Corps. headquarters towards Erwin Smith's new office. They were both dressed within Survey Corps. attire, despite Frieda having any military training. Frieda, the Founding Titan was scheduled to meet Erwin Smith the current commander of the Survey Corps.
They stopped in front of Erwin's office door and stared for a good ten seconds.
"The Commander is in here?" Frieda asked, while looking at the front door.
"Yeah. But not only him. Captain Levi and Squad Leader Hange want to meet you, as well. Especially Hange." Eren added.
"Hange... sounds like a pervert, if you ask me." Frieda muttered.
"Hange's a woman." Eren said, plainly.
Frieda gasped. "Oh. Then, I guess we'll get along just fine. Heh." Frieda chuckled, embarrassingly.
"Are you ready to meet them all?" Eren asked Frieda.
"To be honest... I'm feeling a bit nervous about this... Eren." Frieda replied.
"You're not having second thoughts, are you?"
"N-no. It's not that. I'm kind of scared that they might treat me like a monster." Frieda said.
"Don't be. You're strong. I'm sure they'll will accept you. There's no way the Survey Corps.-especially Commander Erwin would turn down a valuable asset, such as you." Eren said, as he gently lied his right hand on her left shoulder.
"You really think so?" Frieda looked at Eren.
"I know so." Eren nodded, then slightly opened the door for Frieda.
This brought a smile on Frieda's face. "Okay. I'll put my faith in you again."
"I'll be waiting out here." Eren said as he opened the door for Frieda to enter.
"Thanks." Frieda said, then kissed Eren on his lower right cheek. "Wish me luck."
Eren then closed the office door behind her and decided to wait on her. Frieda walked into Erwin's office, only to see three people standing before her. Erwin Smith the Commander, Captain Levi and Squad Leader Hange.
"You must be the King of the Walls that I've heard about." Erwin said.
Frieda slowly nodded.
Two Hours Later.
Eren had stood in the hall for two hours, watched many members of the Survey Corps. pass by and was waiting for Frieda's meeting with Commander Erwin's meeting to be over. He leaned his back against the wall, right next to a window. His left leg bent as his foot touched the wall as he leaned his back. He yawned a bit, feeling a bit tired of waiting.
Suddenly, the door to Erwin's office had opened in front of Eren's eyes. Frieda walked out of Erwin's office after having a two hours conversation with him. She looked to see Eren standing in front of her.
"Hey..." Eren waved towards Frieda.
"Eren..." Frieda quickly walked towards and hugged Eren.
"How did it all go?" Eren asked as he hugged Frieda back.
"The meeting was great! They accepted me and now I'm apart of the Survey Corps. just as you predicted." Frieda smiled at Eren. "But sorry about the meeting being long, though. I told them everything I knew about the outside world." Frieda said, cracking a small embarrassing smile.
Eren placed his hands on both of her shoulders. "Don't be. The commander has a habit of taking a long time."
"Eren?"
"Hm?"
"How did you join? The Survey Corps. that is... were you treated the same way I was, or was it worse?" Frieda asked.
Eren paused, then he turned his attention away from her, as he thought back when he was fifteen. During his time in the year eight fifty, Eren remembered waking up in shackles and being mistreated by the Military Police Brigade. The next scene that played in his mind was being kicked and assaulted by Levi within the courtroom in front of everyone.
"Let's just say... they were glad to have me join their team." Eren said.
"Really?" Frieda asked, feeling a bit concerned.
"Yeah." Eren looked around his surroundings to see at least two different Survey Corp. soldiers looking right at them, then walking off. "Let's walk around a bit. Then you can tell me everything."
"Okay." Frieda responded.
Ten Minutes Later
Eren and Frieda sat on the grass field outside of the Survey Corps. headquarters. Frieda began explaining everything she knew to Eren in the best of her memory and abilities as they roamed through the halls of the Survey Corps. As they walked, they connected elbows as other soldiers walked by in pairs and individually. It took a total of ten minutes.
"Wait, Captain Levi thought you were a guy?" Eren asked.
"Well, yes." Frieda blushed a bit, looking at the light green grass near her ankles. "Like most people, he assumed I was one, due to being the King of the Walls, after all. When I met him, I can tell he was really serious for his height-I mean, age!" Frieda stuttered a bit, as she noticed his height during her meeting.
"Yeah. Take it from Captain Levi. The strongest soldier and Ackerman within Paradis." Eren commented.
Frieda gasped. "Captain Levi's an Ackerman?" For a brief moment, the name Ackerman started flooding her mind. She then started thinking about Kenny Ackerman and that one time she met him in the Reiss Chapel. "I had no idea."
"Neither did I, at first." Eren responded as he looked at the sky.
"I guess that mean I can't manipulate his memories."
"I guess not. So, tell me about Hange. How did she treat you?" Eren begun to change the subject.
"Oh, Hange?" Frieda then started thinking about Hange. "Hange was really friendly towards me. She said that she was happy and looking forward to working with someone like me."
"That's Hange for you. Always wanting to do experiments." Eren said, as he remembered meeting Hange in a jail cell, then did countless experiments later over the years until they had reached the ocean.
"Commander Erwin assigned to Captain Levi's squad. He said that my abilities are too valuable and important to be devoured by a Pure-I mean, one of our mindless Eldian people. I told them that I don't have vertical maneuvering training and they were fine with it. As long as I tame control over our people."
"I can see why you wouldn't acquire training. Your Founder is sufficient to keep the Titans at bay." Eren said.
"Commander Erwin believes that I can bring casualties to a minimum with the Power of the Founder." Frieda smiled as she looked at the sky.
"That's good. I'm tired of watching our comrades die." Eren protested as he thought back during the events back when Annie Leonhardt, as the Female Titan was chasing him in a large forest and killing many soldiers. "Any clue about when the Survey Corps. start their next expedition?"
"Mm-hmm." Frieda nodded towards Eren. "Next month."
"I see."
"Speaking of which, where will you be, Eren?" Frieda looked to Eren.
"Right with you." Eren said.
Frieda lightly gasped as it took her a few seconds to figure out what Eren had meant. "You mean-"
"Yep. I'm also apart of the Levi Squad, too." Eren told Frieda, which made her excited.
"That's great! I'm really excited to have you along with me!" Frieda yelled with excitement and hugged Eren's waist and squeezed him tightly in the process.
"F-Frieda, you're embarrassing me...!" Eren suffocated a bit, as he noticed a few people walking by.
"Huh?" Frieda paused as she realized. "Ah!" she quickly let go of Eren, giving him a breather and blushed again. "Sorry."
"Don't worry. I've been through worse." Eren replied.
"Commander Erwin told me that you had made demands before you set up our meeting..." Frieda had brought up.
"Yeah, I did. I made four." Eren raised four fingers.
"What were they?" Frieda asked.
"The first demand I made was that you wouldn't be either chained or shackled inside a jail cell." Eren reminisced being inside of a jail cell. "The second demand was that you wouldn't be assaulted by anyone. "Eren reminisced being threatened by the Military Police Brigade, then kicked numerous times by Captain Levi. "And the third demand I made was that you would be treated equally, like everyone else. And the fourth and last demand..."
"Yes?" Frieda pressed her fingers together.
"That I get to be put in the same squad as you. So, I'm watching your back from now on." Eren raised four fingers. "
"Thank you, Eren." Frieda's eyes happily teared up after hearing that last demand.
"I mean, how can I just stand by and let someone like the Captain steal you from me? That wouldn't be fair at all." Eren rubbed his head.
"Huh?" Frieda was flustered. "H-how can you think of that! I'm with you, remember?"
"Now that we got that out of the way, we can prepare for the next expedition. With my War Hammer and Attack Titan, I'm more than enough to protect everyone in the expedition."
Frieda smiled, then thought of something. "Speaking of Titans, what do you think is gonna happen to those kids?" Frieda asked about the Warrior Unit.
Eren paused and thought back about something a few days prior.
Flashback
A few days prior, the same day Eren and Frieda had stopped the Warrior Unit, Eren and Frieda had ridden a horse attached to a big wagon, big enough to carry four people. The Warrior Unit, such as Bertolt, Reiner and Annie were sleeping inside the big wagon. He was riding a horse attached to a cart. The day was getting dusk, as the sun was setting. Eren had caught up with the Survey Corps. on a small road.
"Excuse me, Commander Erwin Smith?" Eren had approached Erwin Smith, who was talking to an adult civilian.
Erwin Smith turned from another person and looked to see an adult Eren Yeager with a big wagon that a horse can carry. "Why, yes. What can I do for you, stranger?"
"You want to know what's beyond the walls, right?" Eren asked.
"Who... are you?" Erwin narrowed his eyebrows.
"I'm a man who wants to seek freedom." Eren answered. "But never mind me. Come take a look at this." Eren asked Erwin to follow him towards the horse wagon.
Erwin followed Eren towards the wagon that was attached to the horse. He looked into the wagon and gasped as he discovered three unfamiliar kids dressed in unfamiliar clothing and had unfamiliar gear were sleeping in a wagon.
"Are they...?" Erwin began to speak.
"Yeah." Eren nodded. "They're outsiders beyond the walls." he said as he looked down at the Warrior Unit.
End Flashback
"Whatever happens depends on them." Eren said.
"What do you mean?"
Eren start reminiscing the times he had spent with the Warrior Unit. He started thinking of Bertoldt, first. "Bertoldt would do anything to live. He is taciturn. He waits until someone like Reiner makes a decision for him. And from what I've seen, he's afraid of death." Eren reminisced the time when Armin as a Pure Titan had devoured him.
Eren started thinking about Annie and the times they sparred within the hundred and fourth Cadet Corps. "Annie is apathetic. She rarely smiles and would be seen as a lone wolf. She's really strong and deadly fighter. I lost to her twice. It's unknown how she would feel about working with the Survey Corps." Eren had reminisced the times they had fought as Titans.
"And Reiner..." Eren then thought about Reiner Braun and all the times they spent together. "I doubt he'd work with Paradis. Even if it meant saving own his life. All he wants is to become a hero and Marley proud."
"I can understand how he feels about it." Frieda said.
Eren then lied down on his back, staring at the blue sky, through his arms up behind his head and gave Frieda a bit of a laid back demeanor. "Well, we can't do anything about them, now. They're in Military Police custody. It's their choice, whether they want to live or die."
"R-really Eren?"
"Mm-hmm." Eren nodded.
Frieda looked at Eren, then looked up at the white clouds in the blue sky. She lied down next to Eren and sighed. "I hope they cooperate with Paradis, soon."