Eren

"Oh, Eren. You're awake?" Eren stares up, eyes wide open as he faces Reiner and Bertholdt while sitting on a treetop. Initially, he's confused as to why he's with the pair, but then the realization hits him like a boulder. Like with Annie, he was captured by the boys, but unlike Annie, there's no Levi, Mikasa, and Elijah to rescue him.

Grunting, he struggles to get out of his wrapped cloak, but for some reason, he has some difficulty with his arms. But he somehow manages to undo the wrap, getting his first glimpse at his stumped upper limbs, "What the hell?! My arms!"

"Eren." Eren turns to his right to see Ymir sitting nearby, holding up her right-side limbs. "look at me. I'm in the same shape as you. Guess the both of us are having a bad day."

"Ymir. Why...don't I have any arms?"

"That's my bad," Reiner calls out. "I'm the one who did that." Eren looks up, not so surprised at all. "I was kinda in a hurry. When I rushed to bite your nape, I neglected to take your arms into account."

"I see. I must've lost." Eren sighs, then returns gazing up with a vengeful glare at the Armored and Colossal Titan. With an idea forming in his head, he raises his right arm and bites it.

"Eren, stop!" Bertholdt says warningly.

"Hold your horses, Eren," Ymir says while removing Eren's partially bitten arm from his mouth. "Take a good look around us. We're in the giant forest within Wall Maria. It's not even close to any of the Walls. In other words, we're deep in Titan territory. Take a look." Eren looks down, seeing Titans waiting at the base of the tree. One of them is lying on its back as if it is waiting while relaxing as other Titans climb his body to attempt climbing the tree. "I think that one there is an Abnormal. It looks like he's just lounging around, but he's not taking his eyes off us. There's a lot of small ones down there, too. That alone is dangerous. Over that was is another big one." Indeed it is big, but the Titan also hides behind a neighboring tree. For monsters, Eren will say they have some personality. "He's staring at us, but won't come any closer. I bet you that one's a scaredy-cat. And then you got these chumps. Those dirty bastards. They're the only ones with any ODM gear on. Reiner's wearing gear he took from you. So I don't think changing into a Titan at this point is going to solve anything. Not only can they do that, but they can escape high into the trees as well. Those two aside, there are Titans all around us. Escaping out of this Titan territory would be tough, even with Titan powers. Understand? There's nothing to gain by acting up." Eren sighs in agreement. Escaping will be hard, and he has never transformed this injured. He probably could, but the best-case scenario is that his Titan doesn't have arms.

"No." They look up to Reiner. "You two can't even turn into Titans right now. So don't count on that to help you. Your body has a limit. It's taking everything you got to repair the damage."

Eren narrows his eyes. "Are you stupid? Why the hell would I trust anything coming out of your mouth?!"

"Well," Ymir says to break the tense staredown of the boys. "It's not like I know the specifics of how Titan powers work. Unlike you guys, I'm pretty clueless about it. Hey, Reiner. you said you would talk once Eren woke up. It's about time one of you says what you plan to do with us."

"We'll take you to our hometown. I realize that you're not going to listen and do as I say. But like Ymir was saying, this place is swarming with Titans. We could beat the shit out of each other right now, but when we're weak, the other Titans would just come and eat us. So until nightfall, when the Titans can't move, we have no choice but to wait here. Whether you try to run and escape from us or don't and we take you away, either way, we wait for night."

"Why didn't you stay the Armored Titan and run home?" Ymir asks. "What's the point of stopping here? Too tired and had to take a break?"

"Why don't you use your imagination?"

Eren bows his head. Let's think. If I waited for an opening and became a Titan, running away from here doesn't seem like it would pose a challenge. But will I be able to transform into a Titan in the first place? Reiner said that I can't. And I have to consider that even Reiner had to stop here to take a break. If my Titan form isn't strong enough, does that mean I'll just get eaten by the others?

"Are you simply waiting here for it to become night?"

"Maybe I am."

No, there's no way they'd wait until nightfall. They're not going to give our bodies the chance to fully recover. They'll make their move while we're still powerless. At this rate, I can't do anything. At this rate… Oh. What happened to everyone? Where are the Scouts? Don't tell me they're coming this way… If they try to help, no one's gonna make it back safely.

"What's it matter? Those Titans at the castle moved just fine at night. Won't these Titans, too?"

"The Titans here cannot move at night. You should know all about it, Ymir."

Speaking of which, why can Ymir turn into a Titan? I don't think she's like me, who knew nothing about it. Is she on our side? I don't even know what her goal is yet. She's hard enough to understand as is… I've made up my mind. Right now, what I need is information. I need to figure out everything I can from these guys. And then I'll make my escape. To do that, I'll need to suppress all my emotions and for my body to heal.

Mikasa

Eren...please be okay. I'm coming for you.

"Mikasa. Hey, Mikasa! Mikasa!" Finally hearing Hannes call for her, Mikasa turns around to the approaching Garrison soldier. "Stop pushing so hard. You're drifting near the vanguard. It'll ruin the whole formation. I know how you feel, but...didn't I tell you? Eren won't get taken away without putting up a fight. Don't you agree? You know he'll never give up. So it's up to us to stay calm and be there when he needs us. Just like we did back then."

Mikasa turns away, holding onto the scarf given to her all those years ago. Hannes is right. Eren will be all right with Reiner and Bertholdt, so while he fights them now, she, Hannes, Armin, and Elijah are en route to rescue him. Hold on, Eren... We're coming.

Eren

Time has passed, with Eren's wrists now beginning to regenerate. Not much has been said in a while. Information is something Eren would like to get, but considering he's never been the one to be level-headed, it's a hard process to be like Armin. If he had Armin's brain and Elijah's eyes, maybe he could do this.

Elijah... Ever since the day they became friends, Eren knew his goal was strictly to kill the Armored Titan. How hard is he taking the betrayal? Eren could imagine it being the same way he is. If the Scouts are coming, they're coming for Ymir and, well in Mikasa's case, himself, but Elijah... Unless he's been talked out of it, he's coming to kill Reiner himself.

"Reiner," Ymir speaks to break the silence. "You got any water? If I don't get some soon, I'm going to dry up and die."

"Even if it's a matter of life and death, there's nothing we can do, given our situation."

Ymir sighs. "He's completely right. The situation couldn't be any shittier."

"Speaking of which, ever since the Titans showed up yesterday morning, we've been working our asses off. With nothing to eat or drink and not even a wink of sleep. Fortunately, the Wall wasn't broken or anything. So I think we deserve to take a break for once. We'll see about getting promoted later."

"Renier..."

He turns to Bertholdt. "Huh? What? We've done plenty enough to deserve it. I think we've performed outstandingly, considering all we've been put through. I know soldiers like us are expected to fulfill their duties, but I think we've all earned it."

Soldiers... he called us, "soldiers." But what about being a warrior? Something weird is going on with Reiner, like back at the Wall when he transformed...like he was a different person.

"Reiner, what in the world are you talking about?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" He says back to Ymir. "I'm not saying we go demand to be promoted to captains or anything."

"That's...not what I mean."

"Oh, yeah. Where did you all get that cannon from? That really saved my ass. It's a good thing Christa helped me after that. To be honest, I think she has a thing for me."

"Hey."

"Now that I think about it, Christa has always treated me especially-"

"Hey!" Eren stands up, facing Reiner with disbelieving eyes. "You bastard. You gotta be kidding me."

Reiner looks back with hurt innocence. "Huh? What are you so angry about, Eren? Did I...say something wrong?"

Fuck suppressing my emotions, Reiner wants to play his games. "If you want to die, just keep talking!"

"Hold on, Eren." Ymir pushes Eren back. "This isn't normal, no matter how you look at it. Isn't that right, Bertholdt?" The boy who is the Colossal Titan remains quiet, but it is enough to answer Ymir's question. "If you know something, quit with the silence and come out and say it. Or did Elijah fail to make you more confident in yourself long back then?"

Reiner, still confused, looks up to his ally. "Huh?"

Bertholdt looks to Reiner with those timid eyes. "Reiner. You're not...a soldier, remember? You and I...we're warriors." Off that one word, Eren and the others witness Reiner beginning to crack like it's a word coded to change Reiner's behavior. It just does that.

"Right." Hey says more calmly, back to the persona Eren's been with for most of the day. "That's...how it is." Or at least he seemed calm until he sat down and held his face...crying?

"Huh? What's he doing?"

"More or less, I think I've figured it out. I thought it was strange. Why would the guy who broke the Wall risk his life to save Connie? Why would the guy who Elijah wants to kill the most become one of his treasured friends? Everything he does is contradictory, but he doesn't realize it himself. I don't know why he ended up like this, but probably... He was originally a warrior whose goal was to break the Wall, but after pretending to be a soldier for so long, he lost sight of who he was and couldn't tell which one was real. No... Unable to bear the weight of his sins, he convinced himself he was a soldier protecting the Wall to maintain emotional balance within his own heart. And in the end, he believed it. As a result, his heart was split and his memories broken. This must not be the first time Reiner's talked and made no sense, judging by Bertholdt's grim expression." Ymir smiles, knowing she hit the mark. "It's amazing, really. For someone excessively honest like you to-"

"Enough!" Reiner glares down, his eyes twitching. "Shut your mouth."

Amazingly, this is the first time Eren recalls anyone successfully shutting Ymir up. "Sorry about that. I might've pried too much."

Eren scoffs. "You've gotta be kidding me. Why are you pretending to be the victim here? What's your deal? That day, what the hell were you thinking when you talked to us? Tell me, Bertholdt. I'm talking to you, you damn lackey! I told you everything...while you looked at me right in the eyes. About the day my mother was eaten alive. Isn't that right? Thanks to that piece of Wall you kicked that went flying straight into my house, my mother couldn't escape or run away. You remember, right? I told you my story. What were you thinking? What were you thinking when I told you? And Reiner...when Elijah told you that a piece of the Wall that you broke through crushed his parents, that he lost everything because of you, what exactly were you thinking? What the hell were you both thinking?!"

"...Back then," Bertholdt sighs. "I thought...I felt sorry for you."

"Oh... I see... You guys... You guys...are neither soldiers nor warriors. You're just murderers. You're psychotic mass murderers who've killed countless innocent people who never did anything wrong!"

"You don't think I know that?!" Reiner shouts. "I don't need you to point that out to me!"

"Then don't pretend to have emotions like you're one of us! You guys aren't even human anymore! It's you two who've turned this world into a living hell! Does that make you happy, murderers?!"

"What are you after by calling us murderers? Do you want us to regret it? Do you want us to apologize? Would that give you satisfaction? The people you thought we were no longer exist! If screaming will make you feel better, then scream your damn head off!"

"...That's right… I'm still...too naive. I gotta do what I can. Do what I can...to make you guys...suffer and die in the worst way possible. You've got it coming."

Ymir sighs at Eren's insanely smirking face. "You can't be serious."

"Huh?"

"Quit it, Eren. If you keep saying childish crap like that, I've got no hope for you."

"Huh?"

They share a staredown before Ymir looks away from Eren to Reiner. "Hey, Reiner. What's the deal with that monkey?"

"Monkey? What do you mean?"

"Hmm? You don't know? That's surprising, given how much you two stared at it with stars in your eyes like two little brats. That monkey."

"What's that? A monkey?" Eren figures they're talking again about Utgard Castle, but he doesn't recall any mentions of a monkey.

"Just listen. That monkey Beast Titan is what caused this recent fiasco. It made Titans rise up from within the Wall. I wonder if he was trying to assess our strength. That's where these guys are trying to get. If you guys get to him, you'll be able to go back home, right?"

Eren turns on Ymir. "You...knew this? What do you know? Tell me everything!"

"Just wait. I've got circumstances on my own."

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Eren, if you think killing these two will bring an end to everything, you're gravely mistaken."

"Huh? Then who's the enemy?"

"Enemy? If I said that, the-"

"Ymir," Reiner interrupts. "Do you think there's any future for this world? If you know so much, think about what you want to do. It's not out of the question for you to join our side."

"And trust you? Yeah, right. You two don't even trust me."

"Wrong. We can trust you. Because your one goal is to protect Christa. When it comes to her, we should be able to trust one another. You might think I'm joking, but is it that hard for you to believe that we might want the best for Christa as well? Or...would you rather put your hopes in Eren and rely on him over us?"

"Huh?" Why are they suddenly talking about Christa? What does she have to do with it?

"You're probably thinking your best chance is to use Eren to escape from here. Because if you're taken by us, there's little chance for your rescue. To be honest, that's pretty much true. Even if you come with us, we can't guarantee your safety. But if it's Christa we're talking about, we might be able to do something for her. Will it be your petty life...or Christa's future? It's up to you to decide"

Eren can see Ymir is bothered by Reiner's words, but he doesn't buy it one bit. There's no future for this world? Why's that? What's this about a monkey? What's going on? "Hey," he says to Ymir. "Hey, say something! Who's the enemy? Ymir!"

She looks to Eren. "Who knows."

"It's settled, then. Too bad, Eren." A distant pop gathers their attention as multiple streaks of green fly skyward. Reiner and Bertholdt gasp as the former realizes their time is running out. "Dammit!"

"Shit! Damn you, Ymir." Disgusted by Ymir's betrayal, Eren faces the other traitors.

There's just one hour left until sunset.