Attack on Titan: Bloodline – Chapter 38 (June 29, 2022)
The moon rose higher and countless stars twinkled in the deep navy sky. Mikasa adjusted her rifle in her grip and sighed.
"Lorraine. Eren," she thought, "I'm coming."
Levi stood in front of the broken and beaten Military Police Officer, still attempting to squeeze every bit of information he could out of him. The man sat tied to the base of the trunk, quivering, whimpering, bruised, bloodied, and missing several teeth. Levi had been at it for hours at this point with only minimal information revealed to him.
"Ackerman," Levi pondered, "If that is Kenny's last name, then I need to know what relation he has to my mother." He folded his arms and grumbled. He thought, "What's more, if he somehow knew about Lorraine, then he must have been the one to take her. If he's on Reiss' side, then there's a strong possibility that he's taking her to the Estate, too. Is that just wishful thinking? I don't even know."
"Captain," Sasha said, lowering herself and readying her weapon, "Someone's coming. Through the tall grass." Mikasa and the others took a ready position and fell silent. Armin felt himself trembling at the thought of pulling the trigger again. Mikasa narrowed her eyes and peered out into the field, illuminated by the blue moonlight. Two figures, tall and shrouded in cloaks, waded through the brush, causing a light rustling sound that sounded loud, despite its relative quietness. The figures stopped just short of the group's location and removed their hoods.
"Hange?" Levi asked, "Moblit? What news do the two of you bring?"
Hange smirked.
"Great news, actually."
Later, as Hange and Moblit took a seat around the newly-started fire with Levi and his squad, the Section Commander began to reveal what she knew to the group.
"Take a look at this," she handed Levi a newspaper, "It's all written right there. King Fritz was not only a fraud, but a puppet; a front for the true Royal Family." Levi and the others read the paper as she continued to explain, "After we discovered that the Reiss Family were the real rulers within the walls, I had a meeting with Commander Erwin; however, it was unfortunately cut short with the news of Deemo's murder. Erwin was set to be publicly executed, following an Assembly of high-ranking government officials, labelled the number one suspect in the entire setup, but after a brilliant stunt orchestrated by Commander Pyxis, the old, false King was overthrown." Sasha, Jean, and Connie smiled. Armin, Marlowe, Hitch, and Mikasa gasped.
"And there you have it," Hange said, watching as Levi and the others stared at the newspaper, "The coup was successful. Premiere Zachary now has full control of the Capital and the government, at least for the time being, and the nobles seem to be staying in line. Furthermore, we, the Scout Regiment, are no longer criminals."
Silence. Then, cheers erupted from Sasha, Connie, and Jean. Armin and Mikasa exchanged smiles, but then Armin turned back to Hange.
"Okay," he said, "but what about the incident with Mr. Reeves?"
Hange smiled and said, "We got a public confession out of a member of the Interior Police. Reeves' son Flegel really pulled through for us. He also revealed something I think you all are probably eager to know: he overheard who he described as a tall man with a black coat and a hat – the same man who murdered his father – plotting to 'get to' Levi. He believes that Lorraine's in danger–"
"I knew it," Levi snarled.
Mikasa snapped, "Kenny Ackerman?" Levi turned to her and nodded.
Moblit asked worriedly, looking around, "Hold on, do you mean she's already gone?"
Armin nodded and explained, "Yes. While we were in town, we split up. She was taken from us then."
Levi said sharply, "She'll be okay. She's going to the Reiss Estate. I'm certain that Kenny wants to lure me in and keep me distracted so that Reiss can pull whatever stunt he wants to without me in the way. He won't hurt her. Not yet, anyway." Moblit growled. Hange adjusted her glasses.
"Then we need to get to that Estate quickly," she stated.
Lorraine growled tearfully through her gag, struggling against her wrist restraints as she was dragged across the darkened field towards a small church, the grassy plain only illuminated by the light of the moon and a single torch, held by Caven. She was tired from her efforts and her tongue was dry and she still tasted its light foulness. Despite the lingering pain she felt in her right arm from her fall onto it earlier, she still tried to pull away from Kenny, his grip only tightening the more she struggled. He groaned, mildly annoyed with her persistence. As the trio stepped into the church, they were greeted by an older, decently well-dressed man.
"Lord Reiss," Kenny said with an air of arrogance in his voice, "Here's your ticket to keeping Levi Ackerman out of the way, just like I promised ya." He chuckled, jerking Lorraine's arm upward. Rod looked at her approvingly for a moment, then his face turned serious.
"Excellent work, Kenny. You're sure about this?"
Kenny said, "Pretty damn sure. He'll be preoccupied with me and my soldiers, trying to get his kid back, buying you and Historia some time." She looked around, but Rod leaned down and grabbed her chin gently.
"I-Irene…?"
Lorraine stared up at his glassy, blue eyes and wrinkled face. He gazed at her for a moment, then shook his head, letting go of her face and allowing her to pull away.
"Apologies. This whole ordeal has taken quite a toll on my mind. Your eyes are just like…." Kenny raised an eyebrow as the man stood back up and adjusted his shoulders, clearing his throat.
"Put her down with Jaeger for now," Rod said.
"Roger that."
Lorraine was tugged down a set of stairs leading to what she thought would be a basement, but it was actually a giant cavern made entirely of luminescent, blue crystals. Her eyes were assaulted by the sudden light coming into her view. Before she had the chance to really take in her surroundings, she was dragged towards a small holding cell beneath the stairway. Kenny grabbed her by the shoulders and roughly shoved her into the metal cage. She stumbled, then fell to her knees, scraping the skin on them open on the rough ground and her dress' material.
Beside her, Eren stirred awake and growled to her. She looked up. He sat up and used his legs to crawl to her side. She whimpered and tried to talk to him, though they could only communicate in a series of grunts through their gags. Tears filled her eyes and Eren leaned down, gently pressing his forehead to hers in an attempt to comfort her.
"If Eren's here, then I can only guess that Captain Levi and the others will be here soon," she thought, looking around, "but where is Historia?" She saw soldiers patrolling the crystal cavern. There were thick pillars flawlessly grown between the floor and ceilings. Eren stayed close to her, only able to attempt to break his chains and struggle against his gag.
"They'll be here. Eren and Historia were their number one priority, after all. Then again, what if Levi shifted his focus because of me?" She felt tears prickling her eyes.
"No. He would never lose sight of the priority. That's just not the Captain Levi way."
The Scouts rode along one of the small, dirt roads marked on Hange's map, all filled with determination. Moblit and Jean lead the way, torches in hand, while the others followed, Armin driving the carriage. Mikasa sat aboard the cart with Levi and Hange.
"Hange," Mikasa said, her voice wavering slightly, "You're sure this is the way to the Estate?" Hange nodded.
"Erwin gave me this Scouts' report from an investigation of Lord Reiss' land," she said, holding up a small, leatherbound journal, "It details a certain event that occurred five years ago on the Reiss Estate." Armin looked up from his position at the helm of the carriage.
"Five years? That was the year Wall Maria was breached."
Hange nodded once more and said, "Yes. That's right. It was the very day, as a matter of fact. I'll summarize the most important parts from the very beginning." She opened the book and explained, "So, as far as regional lords went, Lord Reiss was fair and well-respected by the people. He had six children at one time, as seen here in this picture." She handed Levi a small sketch. His eyes widened, but only for a moment. He stared down at it as Hange continued, "The most well-known of them was his eldest daughter, Frieda. She was a down-to-earth girl who was beloved by many. Even the peasants adored her. Five years ago, however, disaster struck." Levi closed his eyes and passed the photo to Mikasa, who sat beside him.
"With the fall of Wall Maria having plunged the world into chaos, bandits raided and set fire to the only chapel around. Unfortunately for them, the entire Reiss family had gathered there to pray."
Levi looked up at her, his sapphire eyes glistening lightly, though his face remained stern.
"The entire family was massacred, save for Lord Reiss himself and presumably his youngest daughter, Irene. Only Rod and Irene managed to escape with their lives, though due to the odd circumstances that followed, we can't be sure of Irene's fate."
Levi crossed his arms over his chest. He sighed. Mikasa glanced up at him.
"What's on his mind? He's never had this look in his eyes before. It's almost like something about that picture bothered him."
Hange said, "This incident occurred just a few days before the Interior Police killed Historia's mother, a former maid of the household named Alma." She took back the picture of the family and set it back into the leatherbound book, concluding, "So, we know that in the immediate wake of losing his family, Rod Reiss sought out Historia. It is for this reason that we can't be sure if Irene actually survived."
"I see," Levi stated bluntly, "Since she is of Royal Blood, it would make sense that if he was the only survivor, he would need her. Unless perhaps the Reiss bloodline holds some other secret."
Hange nodded and said, "It's possible, but I'm not sure yet. What really stood out to me, at least, was the fact that large parts of the chapel were completely destroyed. The chapel was built from stone. It would take a lot of time and effort to destroy it." She gripped the journal.
"If it was bandits," she said, "they'd have taken what they could and gotten out quickly. Also, we can presume that Lord Reiss was the only witness, unless Irene were alive. At no point, though, did anyone confirm his story. Almost immediately after this incident, Lord Reiss rebuilt the chapel using his personal fortune."
Levi asked, "So what was his rush?"
Hange took a deep breath, then said, "When you really start to think about it, the story could only make sense if it involved a Titan attack." Mikasa and Armin gasped. Jean and Connie, riding nearby, gripped their torches and gritted their teeth. Sasha gulped nervously. Marlowe and Hitch exchanged worried glances. Moblit, at the forefront of the group, nodded, his brows knitted together. Levi sighed.
"It may turn out that I'm jumping to conclusions," Hange said, "but it's suspicious enough to merit an investigation. It's the best lead we have."
Levi balled up his lower fist, arms still crossed, and he clenched his jaw together tightly, his mind still racing. He kept the image of the woman in the Reiss Family portrait at the front of his thoughts and he stared out into the forest behind Mikasa, who stared at him, confused.
As Lorraine and Eren slept lightly, exhausted from the day's events, Caven and another Military Police soldier unlocked the cage, awakening them with the sound of their keys and the metal bars coming into contact. Lorraine opened her eyes slowly, but she saw the man's hands grabbing Eren by the shoulders. Eren jolted awake and screamed through his wooden gag chained around his head to Lorraine, who stumbled to try and help him, though Caven shoved her backwards, sending her falling backwards onto her butt.
"Wait! Where are you taking him?" she thought, "You can't! Stop it!"
As Eren continues to struggle and scream, the man receives a sharp blow to the nose from Eren's head as he thrashes. Caven, after locking the cage once again, pulls back her arm and gives the boy a sharp blow to the back of the head, knocking him out and allowing them to take him away. As they dragged him away, Lorraine continued to snarl and shout through her cloth gag, feeling her throat growing more scratchy and sore, but it was no use. Eren was gone. She collapsed to her knees, feeling the solid ground and roughness of her dress scraping open her knees once again, but as she looked up through her tear-filled eyes, she saw a young woman walking through the crystal chamber.
"Historia?"
The blonde was dressed in a loose, white robe with a dress underneath it. She looked solemn, but with a face of determination and resolve. She tried to call out to her, but Historia only glanced her way with a gasp, then continued on her way towards the same chamber where Eren was being taken. Lorraine had a horrible feeling in her gut that she just couldn't explain, but she knew she had to save Eren. She just knew he couldn't be taken into the other chamber.