"Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car."
Elywen White
Chapter 17: Hitching a Ride
Kuroyuri disappeared from everyone's sight in a matter of minutes. Eren was sad to see this happen, but he knew he was exactly where he needed to be. Not just on the path to stop Salem, but surrounded by friends as well. Cinder stuck to him like glue, but made sure to keep her eyes on Winter Schnee. Ren and Nora were walking together, as were Emerald and Mercury. Each pair was off doing their own thing, leaving Winter with the voice in her head.
"Where are we even going?" Ymir asked. "There's no point in all this walking."
Winter didn't want anyone to hear her private conversation, so she mentally talked to Ymir instead. "You heard Eren," she said. "We're going to find the home of the Grimm."
"Why do I get the feeling you were being sarcastic?"
"Because I am. Science has proven that the Creatures of Grimm have no home or place of origin. Trust me, I asked these questions a long time ago."
"So where do they come from then?"
"They're all around us, like the force of nature they are. That's just the way of things, I suppose."
"Which brings me to my first question; why are we doing this? Eren hasn't exactly given us any reason why he could help us."
Winter mentally sighed. "I'm beginning to think the same. He seems to be more interested in how this happened, rather than undoing it."
"Damn straight. Which is why I'm saying we should go when we have the chance. I can untie us in a matter of minutes, you still have your... Semblance! Right, that's what the word is."
"There's still a lot you don't know about us, even after being with me so long."
"Is that a problem?"
"I never said that. I was just making an observation."
"I was only with you when you needed it. And lemme tell you, you needed it."
Winter sighed once more. "I suppose."
Ymir grunted at the notion. The cold indifference Winter showed was to be expected, but Ymir was expecting a little more than that.
"Um, you're welcome," she said.
Winter took notice of this and made her own counter. "So now I've struck a nerve?" she asked, remembering how her companion did the same thing before.
"I could have just watched that guy kill you, you know. But no, I went out of my way to make you take action. Which is saying a lot, for me."
"No surprise there. From what I remember, you were never the role model."
"My point stands."
"Maybe you're pathologically stubborn."
"Maybe you're just stupid."
Winter was growing tired of the conversation ever since it started. So now she decided to end it as quickly as she could.
"The reason I'm following Eren is because he's dangerous," she said. "He and these people he surrounds himself with. Somebody has to stop him."
"Maybe," Ymir agreed to an extent. She saw the damage Eren inflicted on Atlas and the Grimm, but it was something she found herself impressed with. Given the fact she wasn't a fan of this world, Ymir didn't care what Eren did to it. "But I'd prefer to be outta here before you do something."
"This can wait."
"The hell it can!"
Ymir found it hard to believe that Winter was putting their situation second to stopping Eren, given that she wanted it to stop. Winter sensed these feelings as well as hearing them, so she knew exactly what to say.
"My personal feelings don't matter," she declared without hesitation. "The status of Subject T-01 has been a military operation since before I joined. If I can, I am to report its status and bring it back to Atlas alive. If not, I have permission to terminate the subject. And from the looks of it, I have about three more subjects to take into account."
"Let me get this straight," Ymir demanded. "You have a voice in your head that's not your own, one that can take control whenever it wants, and you wanna keep it in longer just so you can kill someone who has the slightest clue as to what the hell's going on."
"You have a better idea?" Winter asked.
"Yes! Once we get outta here, we make Eren help us by force! Not kill him!"
"He's a threat to Atlas, maybe even to all of Remnant. I have my orders, and I intend to see them through."
"Orders? Oh, God. Are you able to do at least one thing for yourself?"
"There's a bigger picture here."
"No, there's not! It's just you against the world. It always has been."
"Are you talking about you or me?"
"Both. Speaking of, we both know I'm right."
Winter stopped thinking for a minute before making another comeback. "I thought having an unknown voice in my head was bad," she said. "Now I have an unknown delusional voice in my head."
"We'll see."
"She's been awfully quiet."
Eren looked up from the map he was reading to see Cinder looking at Winter. She was still tied and walking at the same pace as him. And Cinder was right; while everyone else was talking with each other, she hadn't said a word. Eren was expecting her to ask how he can help with Ymir or where they were going. But he didn't hear a word.
"Yeah," he said. "But she's following the rules. That has to count for something."
"Maybe," Cinder said, who couldn't help but wonder what Winter was thinking. Or if Ymir was doing the thinking while Winter just walked. Regardless, she continued to watch the Atlesian like a hawk. But that didn't mean she wanted to stop talking with Eren.
"Eren, can I ask you something?"
Eren looked up from the map again. Confident that they would reach the village soon, he put it away and focused on Cinder. "Sure," he said calmly. "What is it?"
"You said you talked to everyone and said they would come with you," Cinder reminded him. "How did your talk with Emerald go?"
"Emerald?" Eren looked over to Emerald, who was trying to convince Mercury that she didn't steal anything from him. Given that she was distracted, Eren decided to confide in Cinder. "It didn't take a lot of convincing for her to decide to come with us."
"Why's that?"
"She said that... she knew you would be going. And that was good enough for her."
Cinder sighed before asking another question. "Anything else?"
"She said she had other reasons, but didn't say what they were. I'm sure you're at the top of her list."
Cinder groaned when she heard this. "Everything that happened made me forget I wanted to talk to her in the first place. Gods, I suck."
"Hey, hold on." Eren moved to meet Cinder's gaze. "I think saving Kuroyuri is a good excuse to forget about Emerald for a little while. That has nothing to do with you."
"Still." Cinder kicked a rock on the path in frustration. "I can do better."
"Well, now we have the perfect time to talk to her. There's more than one thing we can do out here."
"I don't think she'll listen to you."
"So?" Eren wrapped one arm around Cinder and pulled her close to his side. "I'm still gonna help you."
Cinder smiled at the promise as well as the partial hug she received. She was just about to thank Eren for the comfort, but another voice caught both their attention.
"Eren."
The two turned around to the source of the voice, which was Ren. "There's a sign up ahead, he said. "Are we there yet?"
"Hang on," Eren said as he took out the map again. After looking it over, Eren looked back at the road sign. "Yeah, this is the place. There's an airship that's been here for a while. People come here to rent it out from time to time, but I heard it could be bought for the right price."
"I think we got the right price here," Cinder said as she held up her wallet.
"Hey, is that the ship?" Nora asked as she pointed up to the sky. Everyone followed her finger to see an airship begin to gain altitude.
"Shit," Mercury said as he stared at the ship. "Guess that throws our plan out the window, huh?"
"Now, hold on," Emerald said as she moved in front of everyone. "Maybe someone's renting it like Eren said. I'm sure if we go to the town, we'll find out who rented it and for how long."
*BOOM*
The airship suddenly exploded once the outline of a smoky trail hit its wing. Everyone watched it fall to the ground as they heard gunfire coming from the village.
"Or they were attempting to escape whatever the fight's about," Mercury suggested sarcastically.
"Plan's changed," Nora said as she unleashed Magnhild in its hammer form. "Come on!" She immediately took off running towards the village. Everyone immediately took out their own weapons, save for Mercury. He managed to complete his weapons, a pair of boots with firing mechanisms that would fire by a certain movement of the foot. So he quickly took off running, careful not to fire the weapons.
The only person who didn't run was Eren, who quickly grabbed Winter's shoulder and put an arm in front of Ren. "Watch her," he requested. "This shouldn't take long." Before he joined his friends, Ren grabbed his shoulder.
"...Call if there's trouble," he said quietly.
"Trust me," Eren said as Ren released him. He then took off towards the village, which multiple people were running away from. Guessing that these were its citizens, Eren grabbed one of them and asked a question. "Where's the fight?!"
"Take a wild guess!" the man sarcastically said as he pointed back towards the village.
Eren took the hint and began to run towards the village. The first thing he saw were multiple houses being looted and burnt. Rather than waste fuel or ammo, Eren swung his swords at each of the looters. Two fell with a single blow, and a third was cut down when he tried to grab a mother and her baby.
"Have you seen a group my age run through here?!" Eren quickly asked. "We saw the fire, we're just trying to help!"
"O-Over there!" the woman said as she pointed in the direction of the town square.
"Everyone went that way!" Eren said as he pointed down the road. "Try and catch up while we deal with the rest!"
"Thank you!" The woman quickly ran away while trying to calm her child, leaving Eren to find everyone else.
The first person he saw was Emerald, who was struggling in the grip of a large man. Before Eren could fire a shot from one of the pistols from his equipment, Mercury swung his leg and kicked the man in the face. Blood and teeth fell on the ground with him as Emerald caught her breath.
"Eren!" she said with a smile. "Was wondering when you'd come and help!"
"Oh, so I do all the work while he gets all the glory, huh?" Mercury asked as he rolled his eyes.
Emerald was going to snap back at his carefree attitude, but Eren quickly cut her off. "Is this it?" he asked. "Just a smash-and-grab from these guys?"
"We didn't see any Grimm," Mercury said. "But I think these guys are the real deal."
"How so?"
Mercury moved the fat man to his side to make Eren look at a symbol he was wearing on his jacket. Both boys grunted at the symbol in disgust.
"What's the matter?" Emerald asked.
"We've seen these clowns before," said Mercury, who kicked the man once more.
"The Branwen Tribe," Eren said as he put his gun away. "They attacked villages like Kuroyuri before."
"But we're miles from home," Emerald pointed out.
"We shouldn't be surprised. They probably left their camp when Nora broke something."
"What did she break?"
"The camp. And their leader."
Emerald dropped her jaw and looked at a pile of bandits next to a broken house. "That... might explain why she was angry."
A loud yell in the distance caused everyone to look beyond the broken house. They immediately took off running to find Nora swinging her hammer at every bandit she could find while Cinder was in the sky, firing arrow after arrow. But a shot from one bandit hit one of her equipment's hooks, causing her to fall.
Fortunately, Eren was able to use his equipment to fly up to Cinder and catch her bridal style. He then flew to a building to set her down. "You okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Cinder said as she felt her cheeks grow warm. Her attention shifted from Eren to a loud yell from below. Both teenagers rushed over to see Nora and Emerald swinging their weapons at more bandits. Another girl tried to grab Emerald's weapons, but Mercury took her down. Once Eren and Cinder rejoined everyone, the town square was clear of bandits.
"There's no way that's all of them," said Cinder, who turned her bow into swords.
"I think I saw some more run down the street," said Mercury.
"Yeah, me too," said Nora, who hadn't even broken a sweat since she started fighting.
"You sure?" Emerald asked. "I thought I saw some in a couple of buildings."
"Let's split up," Eren suggested. "Mercury, Nora, and I can chase after the ones down the street."
"Emerald and I can search the houses around here," Cinder suggested.
"Let's get to work."
The sound of heavy duty boots thudding on the tiled floor echoed throughout the store. Various products such as food and pharmaceuticals were strewn about on the floor or in leather bags.
"Come on, move you're ass!" a bandit hollered to his allies. He had a shaved head and wore a sleeveless vest with the Branwen Tribe wings emblazoned on the back.
"We're going as fast as we can, Vlad!" a voice in the back shouted.
"You know, we wouldn't be in such a hurry dealing with fuzz if only Scott disabled the alarm!" a female voice chimed in with some snark.
"I already told you! I cut the power that was linked to the alarms! This stupid shit must've had a backup or something." The one called Scott kicked a downed man with short greenish-black hair in the gut, knocking the wind out of him and sending him into a coughing fit.
"Raven would've taken your hide for forgetting a basic thing as double checking the security of a target."
"Yeah? Well Raven isn't here. Either dead or in the wind. Along with the others. We're on our own."
"These morons are the feared Branwen Tribe?" the innocent man on the ground internally thought as he tried to regain his breath. "What a joke. Come on Kazu, get a grip!"
Things started off as a pretty normal day for Kazu Kusuri. While not on the same level in size and scale as places like Argus or the new and improved Kuroyuri, Maykr was still a fairly big and bustling village known for making things from food to tools. His store "Kusuri All Goods" was a real popular store in the village that sold pretty much anything from food, to medicine, to hardware. He even had a small little garage at the side of the building that served as a makeshift vehicle repair shop if needed. He got a steady stream of customers coming in and out each day to buy his products and was well liked by everyone.
It was around the time for his lunch break however that Kazu noticed something... felt off. He kept feeling the strangest sensation like he was being watched, but whenever he looked around, he saw nothing was amiss. That feeling only seemed to get more noticeable and intense as time went on and Kazu began to notice several individuals coasting outside in the general vicinity of the store, which only served to make him more paranoid that something was up.
Then the power went out and suddenly he was knocked to the ground from behind. Seconds later the store was stormed by at least six bandits. Two were watching the doors, three others were raiding the store of products and Lien, and the last keeping an eye on him. Luckily for him, and unluckily for the bandits, he had a backup alarm installed that would go off if the primary alarms were forcefully disabled for any reason other than a power outage. The cops began arriving right on time and encircled the store, preventing the bandits from leaving.
The downside however was him being stuck as a hostage, forced to watch as these moronic bandits tore apart his store to steal all manner of valuables that would be useful to them. Along with having to hear them whine and bicker with each other.
"Whoa, ho! Despite the setback, we still struck gold just from this store alone!" Kazu was pulled from his thoughts as he heard one of the bandits.
"Just imagine what the rest of this quaint little village has to offer." Kazu turned to the only female of the group who said that, a sinking feeling forming in his stomach as he heard that.
"Well you don't need to imagine Syn. I just sent a message to Mace, and he's bringing the whole crew here," Vlad informed her and the others.
Kazu felt his breath hitch, his insides turning to ice. What did he just say? There were more bandits coming?
"Are you sure that's a good decision? We lost a lot of people from the retaliation group from Kuroyuri."
That's right, Kazu heard about that. Hell the whole of Mistral has probably heard of that by now. The village that everyone knew as the "New Argus" had successfully repelled a full scale invasion of bandits from the Branwen Tribe. Not only that, but they sent in a small team of skilled fighters, or even native Huntsman & Huntresses, to hunt down the remaining members. The result was the complete annihilation of the Branwen Tribe.
Or so he thought.
"Even with the loss of Raven and the majority of our numbers, we'll be able to pull it off." Vlad reassured Syn and the others who were also skeptical. "Unlike Kuroyuri this village doesn't have any major defenses like a large wall or mounted cannons."
"Still... I'd feel a lot better if we had-"
*SLICK*
A gash suddenly appeared on Syn's neck, with blood spewing out.
"Syn!"
Syn held her throat in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding, falling to her knee's hacking and gurgling.
"Oh fuck! Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh, fuck!" One of the bandits ran forward ripping his jacket off and bundled it up against her neck. "What the fuck just happened?!"
"I don't know! Her neck just split wide open!"
"Bodies don't just split open!"
"Quick! Someone go look for some-"
*BANG*
*BANG*
*BANG*
Three of the bandits, one of them being the one putting pressure on the gash on Syn's neck, all fell to the ground. Their faces frozen in surprise with bullet holes right between their eyes.
"Shit!" Vlad and the remaining bandit quickly drew their weapons up, frantically looking around. "What the fuck is going on?!"
"Oh we're going to die... we're going to die, we're going to die!" Loosing his cool, the youngest member bolted away screaming.
"Kid, wait!"
*SHING*
The sound of a blade ringing echoed throughout the store as the youngest bandit was suddenly, without warning, decapitated. His body and head falling down with an audible thud and splat as blood began spilling on the floor.
Vlad swallowed, stopping bile from rising up. He was a bandit, but even he could still be surprised and unsettled with sudden and rather violent death. Looking behind him, he saw Syn with a glassy eyed look, completely still. She was dead. He was the last one standing.
Bringing his pistol up, he quickly began sweeping the store with a scrutinizing gaze. Someone was definitely in here killing his crew. There was simply no other explanation for how Syn suddenly had her throat slit wide open out of nowhere. Nor, how suddenly three of his fellow bandits were dead with bullets in their skulls, or how the youngest of the crew lost his head. It wasn't the store man as he was still on the ground holding his gut, and the police still hadn't made any moves so it couldn't have been them.
Then who was it?
Vlad felt his heartbeat speed up as his area sweep grew more frantic, his composure starting to waver as a ringing soon began formed in his ears. Finally he couldn't keep himself calm anymore.
"WHERE ARE YOU?!"
A jingling sound was heard and Vlad felt something wrap around his leg. Looking down he saw some sort of chain. Suddenly the chain went taut and Vlad was sent falling to ground and was dragged across the tiled floor. Regaining his bearings, Vlad looked up and saw two teenage girls standing above him. One green haired, red eyed, and mocha skinned. The other black haired, amber eyes, and flawless milky skin.
"Right here," the amber eyed teen taunted before raising her foot brought it down hard, everything, going black.
"Ugh..."
Emerald fell over and held her head. Cinder looked away from the man and helped Emerald stand back up. "Whoa, are you okay?" she asked. "I didn't see anyone hit you."
"Sorry, Cinder," Emerald apologized. "I can handle one mind, but this many is a stretch."
"Hey, don't worry. You did good, that was all of them." Cinder looked over to the downed man and left Emerald to regain her bearings. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Kazu waved her off. But Cinder wasn't having any of that at the moment.
"Come on, let's get you outside."
"Wait." Kazu raised a hand to halt her approach. "I overheard them mention something."
"What was it?" Emerald asked, still shaking her head.
"There are others coming... for the whole village this time," Kazu grimly said.
The two girls looked to each other, with surprise and a hint of dread on each of their faces.
"So that's it?" Emerald asked as she kicked one body. "These people are part of the Branwen Tribe?"
"They were," Eren corrected him. "Before their camp was destroyed."
"And it looks like their numbers are smaller," said Cinder, who had just finished counting the bodies outside the shop. "Maybe the rest of are small too."
"One can only hope," said Nora, who pointed down the road. "Either way, everyone said they came from the opposite direction we came from."
"Then we can count on them coming the same way." Cinder pointed to two buildings down the road. "I could hide in their and take them down from the high ground."
"Nora and I can take the ground." said Emerald as she pulled out her two guns.
"I'll stay too," said Eren. "I shouldn't waste anymore fuel than I already have."
"Uh, guys?" Mercury asked with a slightly extended hand. "Aren't we forgetting the obvious?" He pointed his extended hand in the direction of the crashed airship. "We still don't have an airship."
"Um... yeah," Nora agreed. "So?"
"So... don't you think this is a bad idea?" Mercury asked. "If we take care of who knows how many more bandits, we'll lose more than we gain. Not to be a dick or anything, but I don't know if we should be staying to do this."
Nora and Emerald were taken aback by Mercury's apparent apathy, but Cinder was starting to see where he was coming from. "Well, of course we'll be using more of our supplies," she said. "Fuel, ammo, we may use a lot. But we can't just leave everyone defenseless."
"I don't think they're defenseless," Eren said as he picked up a rifle from the ground. "These bandits were pretty well equipped. Why not give the townspeople all these guns and use one or two of us to help them out? We won't be losing too much."
"Yeah, but we won't have anything," Mercury pointed out. "No airship, less ammo. This doesn't seem like the best idea."
"So what?" Nora asked. "You're saying we should just call it quits? Leave a job half-finished?" Nora poked her finger at Mercury's chest. "We're not like the Huntsmen August knew, Merc. We're not leaving."
Mercury sighed. "Well, even when you put it like that, I don't know if-"
"Uh, guys?"
Everyone turned to Emerald, who was pointing down the dirt road. At the far end of the road was a cloud of moving dirt, and something shining in the center of it. "Whatever we're doing, we gotta do it now," she said.
"Shit, shit," Mercury said to himself. "Okay guys, come on. Stay or go?"
Nora looked back to Mercury. "I already said that we're-"
"Idiots."
This time, all eyes landed on Eren. But instead of staring down the road, Eren was looking back to everyone with a smile on his face. "We're all idiots," he said with a dry chuckle. "Cinder, Nora... we're not hiding from Emerald or Mercury anymore." Cinder and Nora looked at each other quickly. Suddenly, their jaws dropped while a gasp escaped from their throats.
"He's right," Nora admitted.
"Why didn't we think of that earlier?" Cinder asked. "Man, Eren's right. We are idiots." She quickly turned back to her other company. "Emerald, Mercury, go find everyone. Tell them to lock their doors and stay away from the windows."
Emerald quickly obeyed and made her way back to the village. Mercury stayed to ask a single question. "What are you gonna do?"
"What we should have done five minutes ago."
The vehicle that Emerald had spotted was a large car, filled to the brim with more survivors of the Branwen Tribe. At the moment, while the rest were sitting down and getting their weapons ready, the driver had a Scroll to his ear.
"Ugh, dammit," the driver said as he put the Scroll down. He then turned to a younger woman in the passenger seat. "Vlad's not answering. And I didn't see a signal from the village, did you?"
"No," the girl said as she looked away from the window. "Something's gone wrong. Imma hop out, see if I can get a look."
"Well, take some flares. Remember, red is to turn back, and green is to keep-"
"Wait, what's that?"
The driver and girl looked back to the road, where they saw a body laying down. Just as the car was making a full stop, the body became surrounded in red lightning.
*BOOM*
A fierce explosion sent dust and a shockwave towards the car, swerving it out of control. It suddenly landed on its side, knocking most of the bandits out of their seats.
"Aw, what the hell?"
"What just happened?"
"Get off me!"
The driver felt a warm substance move down his face as he removed his seatbelt. Drying off the blood, he looked back to the rest of the crew, to see what their situation was. Before he could look out the window and see what happened, everything moved once more. But this time, things were moving upward.
"What the hell?" the driver asked as he turned to the woman next to him."Why did you push the-?" His speech, however, was cut off once he saw that the passenger's attention and fear was caught by something in the window. When he turned in the same direction, he too was caught in fear's grip.
Two large, red eyes were staring into the front window. The eyes were attached to an even larger dark face. And that face was staring viciously into the car, at each bandit unfortunate enough to cross the Titan's path.
The Founding Titan immediately began to shake the car up and down, breaking windows and opening a back door. Everyone in the vehicle screamed as they fell to the ground, either dying on impact or receiving cuts and bruises.
*BOOM*
Another explosion from the south led to everyone looking upon another Titan, one that raised its hands out and created fire. The flames moved around the group of survivors and made themselves into a ring. Once the shape was complete, the fire rose high enough to make any attempt to escape impossible without being burned in the process.
*BOOM*
While nobody could see it, courtesy of the ring and their own panic, another Titan had formed. This one also raised its hands, but towards the sky this time. The clouds began to turn dark and rumble in fury. Red lighting travelled down its body, from its face to its legs. And in that time, the same red lightning was formed in the sky, causing the clouds to flash a dark crimson.
Before anyone knew what hit them, the same color struck the bandits where they stood, making their deaths instantaneous.
As soon as Eren, Cinder, and Nora left their Titans, they all took a good look at the car they had just acquired.
"Whoa, check this out," Cinder said as she stepped inside.
Eren obeyed and laid his eyes upon a very large interior. Across the walls of the car were numerous seats. He counted at least fifteen on each side and sat down in one of the chairs. "Not bad," he said.
"Oooooh!" Nora gasped as she looked at a red button on the wall. "What does this button do?" She began to move her finger closer and closer to the red button.
"Um, I wouldn't push that," Eren said as he moved closer. "We don't know what it-"
*BEEP*
Just then, a piece of metal shot from the wall and hit Eren in the face. The impact caused him to fall to the ground and groan one word. "Does..."
Cinder helped Eren off the floor and watched his Aura heal him. "We do now," she said as she watched a cut on his nose disappear in an instant. "You're getting better with that."
"It's not too different from my Titan abilities." Eren stood up and looked at the metal. After moving to the side, he saw numerous rifles resting vertically in the metal rack. "Wow. This is new."
"What kinda car is this?" Nora asked.
Just then, Emerald and Mercury came aboard. Mercury quickly got a look at the guns, the seats, and the tires when he poked his head out the door.
"All terrain tires, a gun rack, and a shit ton of chairs," Mercury observed. "Looks like this is some kind of army transport."
"Atlas army?" Emerald asked.
"Only army I can think of." Mercury moved to the driver's seat. "Even has some kind of computer. Lemme see what I can find." Once the screen turned on, Mercury saw what appeared to be a technical readout of the large car. "Looks like it has half a full tank, tire pressure is normal... Even a two way radio."
"Does it work?" Cinder quickly asked. "Is anyone from Atlas hearing us?"
Mercury pressed a few buttons, but only heard static. "No, it's not working." He looked closer at the screen. "Hang on, it says we need... 'a higher vantage point?'"
"What does that mean?" Eren asked. "Like up a hill?"
Nora's eyes widened when she had another idea. "Or maybe up in the air?!"
"..."
Everyone looked at Nora very slowly, completely thrown off by the idea of a flying car. They knew Nora was one for imagination, but there were times when her mind would lead to nothing but ridiculousness. At times, they would find it humorous and a way to relieve stress. But this was one of the days when everyone chose not to encourage her.
"Yeah... no," Mercury said as he looked back at the computer. Everyone else nodded as they looked back to Mercury, while Nora rolled her eyes and grunted in slight annoyance.
"Merc, check that folder," Emerald said while pointing to an image on the screen. Once the boy obeyed, everyone saw a screen of writing and multiple pages.
"Looks like this rust bucket has an owner's manual," said Mercury. "If we're keeping this thing, I can probably fix it up with this."
"Hang on." Cinder looked closer at the first page, but it was too small to read. "Mercury, click on the first page," she ordered calmly.
Mercury pressed his finger on the first page, which displayed the writing more clearly and larger. Once he did, he began to read it in his head. "Whoa. Looks like this thing's some kinda prototype. Mainly the all terrain."
"Any weak spots?" Eren asked.
"More like reinforcements. Hang on, check this out." Mercury leaned closer as he scrolled through the other pages. "It says to get that higher vantage point, I gotta push a button... here." Mercury pressed a blue button next to the gearshift.
*WHOOSH*
Suddenly, everyone felt the large transport move. However, it wasn't moving forwards or backwards. Instead, the car was beginning to lift itself in the air, and everyone could see it through the window. While the majority of its passengers were too awe-struck to say anything, Nora jumped up and down with a smile on her face.
"I told you, I told you!" she said in her usual excited manner.
"Holy crap, this thing can fly?!" Emerald asked as she looked out the window.
"Mercury, get us back down!" Eren ordered, unsure how high the car would be able to ascend. His friend quickly pressed the same button and began to descend.
"Whoa," Cinder said as she brushed a piece of her hair from her eye. "Let's not do that again."
"Wait a minute." Eren moved closer to the computer. "Mind if I take a look?" he asked Mercury.
"Knock yourself out," Mercury said as he moved aside. Just as he did, Eren looked through the various pages on the screen before landing on one. Mercury looked closer and saw the page was about the car's apparent ability to fly. "What're you thinking, Eren?"
"I'm thinking... we just found our airship," Eren said as he looked at everyone. "This thing just needs some fuel and can't fly too far off the ground. But given we need to fly over some of the ocean, I think we can make it to Salem now."
Mercury put the keys in the ignition. "Okay, let's take this thing on the road!" he said proudly.
"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa," Nora said quickly as she moved closer to the driver's seat.
"What?" Mercury asked as he looked up at Nora.
"I wanna drive," Nora quickly said.
Mercury shook her head as she began to turn the keys. "I wanna drive," he argued.
Nora quickly took the keys from Mercury. "I wanna," she argued back.
Mercury quickly stood up and reached for the keys. "Would ya-?!"
"Hey!"
The keys slipped from Mercury's grasp and fell to the ground. He quickly dived to grab them, but he was immediately tackled by Nora. The two immediately began to wrestle each other for the keys, both of them desperate for a chance to drive the car. Nora was pulling on Mercury's hair while screaming that she always dreamed of driving while Mercury said he would give her a decent amount of money if she dropped the idea.
Eren, Cinder, and Emerald simply watched the argument and wrestling match.
"They are, without a doubt, the dumbest people I've ever met," Emerald said with a sigh.
"You know... we never actually decided who would be driving this thing," Cinder said. "I don't know how to drive."
"I guess we could let them figure it out," Eren said as he sat down.
Cinder sat beside him and smiled. "I've got nowhere else to be."
"Same here," Emerald said as she joined her friends, laughing at the pointless wrestling match in front of her.
"Is he serious right now?"
Winter and Ymir were still being watched by Ren. At first, he was silent and was guarding them with his weapons out of their holsters. But once the gunfire in the village turned to silence, he simply sat on the ground and closed his eyes.
"He is," Winter thought to herself. "He's meditating, most likely for battle. I've seen one of Atlas' Ace Operatives do something similar. While he was meditating, Operative Zeki could hear the slightest movement from his opponent."
"Is that right?" Ymir asked. "Well, let's put this guy to the test. Mind if I take over?"
"Are you going to be untying us?"
"Yep."
"Then by all means."
Winter felt her consciousness fall backwards, as if an invisible force was pulling her away. Everything became black for a moment before her vision was restored. But the vision was smaller, and Winter felt she had a lot of space in her own head. So she simply watched as Ymir began to pick at the metal rope around her wrists.
"Stop it."
Ymir looked back to Ren, who still had his eyes closed. But he seemed to know that Ymir was trying to untie herself.
"Not bad," Ymir thought to herself. "But I could hear the rope around the fingers." Her eyes turned to a rock on the ground. "Alright, let's see you hear this." Ymir turned back to Ren as she reached for the rock.
*CLICK*
Ren was quick on the draw with one of his pistols. "Move it back," he demanded, still keeping his eyes closed.
"...Okay," Ymir thought as she moved back. "He's good."
"Not as good as Operative Zeki," Winter noted. "But yes. His reliance on his other senses his notable."
Ymir took note of this, and Ren's capabilities surprisingly gave her an idea. "Let's give him something else to hear, then." She moved her fingers around the rope again, but spoke out loud. "What are you even doing here?"
"What does it look like?" Ren asked.
"Beats me. You're the one with your eyes closed."
Ren opened his eyes and looked back at Ymir. "I'm making sure you don't try to escape."
"Oh, that's right." Ymir rolled her eyes. "While you could have been helping with whatever happened to our ride."
Ren quickly glanced to the village, hearing no more gunfire. "It's over now," he declared.
"Right, but in who's favor?" Ymir wondered, even though she was confident in Eren's success. Despite what she remembered about him, she knew being in the top-ten cadets of the 104th would keep him alive. "What's say we check it out?"
"No. Wouldn't want to waste any more time."
Before Ymir could speak again, Winter called out to her. "You're making him angry," she said. "Think you can get us untied with him distracted?"
"Just you watch me," Ymir noted as she continued to move her hands around the metal wire that was connected to circular discs. "Oh, so I'm a waste of time, then?"
"Conversing with me is the waste," Ren quickly spat out, keeping his hands on his weapons.
Both Ymir and Winter noticed how his anger escalated. Ymir took the opportunity in a heartbeat and continued to talk. "Why are you so angry?" she asked, letting go of the metal wire. "I'm not trying to escape again."
"Don't worry about it."
"Oh, I'm not worrying. You should be worried, and maybe Eren too."
"You don't scare... What's that supposed to mean?"
"Guarding a prisoner isn't the hardest thing in the world. Hell, you just gotta make sure you have a level head on your shoulders and don't listen to them. It's been only two minutes and you've failed to do both."
"..."
Ren briefly glanced to the side, noticing that Ymir was right. His meditation wasn't helping with how angry he was feeling, and he was only growing angrier by the second as he stared into Ymir's dull gray eyes.
"You stopped moving the wire," Winter noted.
"I can't untangle the metal," Ymir said to Winter before talking to Ren. "But the thing that bothers me is why Eren chose you. He could have chosen the runner of your group, or that dark haired girlfriend of his."
"Let me take over," Winter said. "I see where you're going with this, and I think I know a way out of here."
"Quiet," Ren ordered.
Ymir obeyed and let Winter take over. And since their voices were too similar, Ren still believed he was talking to Ymir. "So what's so special about you?" Winter asked as she hid her hands under her legs. "Are you supposed to be good with this? Are you patient?" After a moment, she moved her hands out again.
"You don't know anything about me," Ren argued.
"Okay, not patient then. Well, not before meeting me at least."
"Something happened before he met us," Ymir noted, seeing through Ren's anger without flaw. "He lost somebody."
"You lost someone," Winter noted, taking Ymir's advice and observations. "When Kuroyuri was invaded. A friend? Family?"
Ren quickly took out his gun and pointed it at Winter's head. "That's enough!" he said.
"Don't stop now. He needs to be unarmed."
Winter agreed and continued to ramble on. "When you lost your family... something changed, didn't it? Something that was there before, something Eren respected. Something you lost..."
"Because he's ashamed."
"Because you're ashamed." Winter suddenly realized what it was. "Because you let your family down."
It was at that moment that Lie Ren lost all of his self-control. He quickly hit Winter's head with his gun, not noticing her Aura blocking out the pain. He then tossed his gun aside and violently punched Winter again and again.
"Now!" Ymir cried. "Do it now!"
Winter obeyed and placed her hands on the ground. A large white Glyph appeared and began to spin. When Ren turned to see what it was, he was met with a sharp strike to his face, courtesy of a white Beowolf. The Grimm then picked him up and threw the boy against a tree. It then struck its claws against Winter's restraints to break them.
"Are you still there?" Winter asked as the white Grimm disappeared.
"You're not rid of me yet," said the voice in the Atlesian's head. "But I can't speak for the green guy over there."
Winter looked over to the tree and saw Ren on the ground. His body was slightly twitching, but it wasn't getting off the ground. Confident and content with her victory, Winter began to walk away.
"Not bad for a first try," said Ymir.
"That almost sounded like a compliment," said Winter. "You weren't so bad yourself. You practically read him like a book."
"It's what I do. You could learn a thing or two from me."
"And you from me. That boy was a perfect example of what I was talking about earlier."
"You mean with feelings?"
"Right. His feelings made him act recklessly. They just jeopardized his mission."
"No shit. But there are some feelings that do the opposite."
"Maybe. We can talk more about that later. Right now, we need to find a way to call reinforcements and keep an eye on Eren."
"Lead the way."
Winter continued to walk, but suddenly had another idea. Realizing that the town might have a working relay tower if they had a ship, the Atlesian turned around and moved back to Ren. Gently moving her hands across his torso, she quickly pulled out a Scroll and leapt back. Seeing that Ren wasn't doing anything made her comfortable enough to stay still and use the Scroll.
"It's not my Scroll, but this should work," Winter said as she entered a phone number into the machine. After a few seconds, she heard a voice on the other end.
"Unidentified caller, this is the Atlesian military base in Argus," said the voice on the other end. "Identify yourself."
"This is Specialist Winter-"
*BOOM*
Winter was blown back by a strong force, which caused her to drop the Scroll. After she recovered from sliding on the ground, Winter turned to see a cloud of steam around a large humanoid body. It wasn't as large as the body Winter saw at Kuroyuri, but she knew that Ren had just transformed into his Titan.
"Are you kidding me?!" Ymir yelled inside Winter's head. "Run!"
Seeing that she didn't have her weapon, Winter took the advice and started to run. But as soon as she did, Ren took chase.
And within the blink of an eye, the Titan's skin began to turn transparent. With invisibility on his side, Ren knew recapturing Winter would be inevitable.
"Okay, so you use this pedal for the brakes, and this one for the gas. I'm just showing you in case something happens to me."
"Sounds good. You sure you can drive this thing, Mercury?"
"Oh, yeah. Here, let me show you."
Mercury sat down in the driver's seat and turned the keys in the ignition. As the engine roared to life, Mercury pushed his foot on the gas and began to drive. Showing an unusual amount of caution on his part, Mercury took the large vehicle out slowly and down the dirt path. Everyone began to take their seats, with Eren taking the passenger seat next to Mercury. Nora, who was still upset at not getting a chance to drive the impressive vehicle, sat across from Cinder and Emerald with crossed arms and a pout on her face.
"Mercury, let's get Ren on our way," Eren said as he took a seat. "Drive back the way we came."
"You got it."
As the teenager continued to drive, Eren looked at the rest of the vehicle, taking note of the various seats and shelves for weapons. "Man, this thing is huge."
"I know, right?" Emerald said as she looked down the rows of seats. "This thing's supposed to be some kind of Atlas transport, right? What's it doing in Mistral?"
"I think I have one idea," said Cinder, her amber eyes staring at a snowflake symbol just above Nora's head. Everyone followed her gaze to see the symbol and immediately shared her disgust.
"Looks like Jackass Schnee called in some troops," said Mercury. "This is actually freakin' tragic. His boys lost this thing to bandits?"
"This was supposed to be some kinda prototype," said Eren. "So, I think it's safe to say he wasn't happy."
"Good," said Emerald. "Next time, he'll think twice before trying something like this."
"If I were him, I'd think twice before leaving the house with facial hair like his," said Nora, who decided to lift her spirts with jokes. "He looked like someone threw a snowball to his face."
Mercury looked at Nora through the mirror. "Nah, he looked like he just left a party," he said. "If you know what I'm talking about." He immediately pretended to snort an invisible substance off the steering wheel, which caused his company to laugh. However, Cinder wasn't laughing or looking at Mercury. "Cinder, you okay back there? My joke wasn't that bad, was it?"
"No," Cinder said. "Well, actually yes. But it's not that. I just... I couldn't really help but think of home when I saw that stupid snowflake."
"..."
Everyone else began to think back about Kuroyuri, how life was good compared to their present situation. As each of them began to reflect on it all, everyone began to miss a certain thing. Nora missed An Ren, Mercury missed Vernal, Emerald missed a new lifestyle, and Eren missed the time of peace he had found at his new home. He knew the day to leave everything behind would come eventually. However, that didn't mean he was ready for that day to come so soon.
Back in Kuroyuri, Eren had no worries. The town had the occasional small Grimm he or the defense team could handle, and he wasn't trapped like he was in Shiganshina. He could see the rest of the world whenever he wanted, and the Grimm were far more tolerable than Titans. And the friends he had made life worth living, rather than simply a need to survive in a world filled with hate. While he knew dealing with Salem would change everything for the better, Eren knew that Cinder was having a hard time seeing the bigger picture.
So he reached back to put his hand on her shoulder and talk to her. "Hey," he said calmly. "I never said what I wanted to tell you earlier."
"Huh?" Cinder asked, unable to understand what her friend meant.
"Before the Grimm invaded, after I talked to Darkness."
Cinder snapped her fingers as her memory came back. "Oh, yeah! Was something bothering you back then?"
"No, not really. I'm just bothered that I didn't say it then. But there's something I really wanna tell you now."
"Okay. What is it?"
Eren didn't have much time to prepare, given that he decided to speak his mind at the present moment. "I'm just... really happy for everything you did for me. When I was at my best or some dumb brat. You were always there for me. I mean, Mom and Ms. Fritz were there, but you... you've been my best friend. Since I couldn't say it earlier, I just... wanted to say thanks. And sorry if I ever made you feel that wasn't true."
A small heat appeared on both Eren and Cinder's face. While Eren felt somewhat awkward about speaking his feelings, Cinder was happy to hear those words. So she hugged Eren and pulled him tightly. Before anyone could say anything else, Nora walked over and playfully hit his arm.
"Eren!" she said with a wide smile. "You big softie!"
"She's right," Cinder said with a laugh. "Had no idea you-"
"Uh, guys?"
The large car suddenly stopped moving, given that Mercury had pressed on the brakes. Everyone looked back to Mercury, who was staring out the windshield.
"What's going on?" Eren asked as he moved to Mercury.
"Wasn't that where we left Ren?" Mercury asked as he pointed forward. Everyone followed his gaze to see a stream of rising smoke, right where everyone last saw Ren.
"Oh, man," Emerald said.
"That can't be good," Mercury included.
"Ymir, what did you do?" Eren thought to himself.
"Merc, step on it!" Nora yelled as she grabbed his seat and shook it. "Ren could be in-!"
*SLAM*
An unseen force landed right in front of the truck, shaking the earth before them. Everyone except Mercury fell over, so he was able to see the Predator Titan appear out of thin air. The beast looked inside the window and studied the driver. Recognizing him, Ren kneeled and exited his Titan.
"Guys, open the door!" Mercury ordered.
Nora was the first to react and quickly opened the door without question. When she saw Ren dragging an unconscious Winter aboard, Nora smiled and moved so he could get inside.
"That was just your Titan, Ren?" she asked as she sighed in heavy relief. "Oh, thank Gods, I thought you were hurt or..." Ren silently moved past Nora and threw Winter's unconscious body in an empty seat. He then moved past everyone and sat in the back.
Emerald leaned closer to get a better look at Winter. "Hey guys," she said. "She's not wearing those handcuffs from earlier."
"Looks like she tried to escape," Cinder said as she stood up. She quickly moved the bar on Winter's seat and locked it, making sure she couldn't get out.
"I guess it would have happened eventually," Eren said with a sigh.
"You're not wrong," said Emerald. "But the only surprise is.. that it took her less than a day to try!" Emerald quickly ran up to Mercury and extended a hand. "Pay up, Mercury!"
"Aw, dammit," the driver said as he reached into his pocket. He then pulled out two pieces of Lien. "Alright, here you go. Buy whatever you want."
"Hey, don't be a sore loser." Emerald waved the pieces of money as she smiled. "Next time you'll think twice before-"
"What do you think you're doing?"
Mercury and Emerald turned around to see Ren hovering over them, staring at the Lien in the girl's hand. His intense stare caught both of them off guard, but Mercury was able to find his voice.
"Oh, nothing serious," he said. "Emerald and I knew the Atlas chick would make some kinda escape plan. I thought she would wait a day or so, but Emerald said it would take less than that. One thing led to another, and we decided to put some money on it."
"You made... a bet?" Ren asked. "As to when she would try to escape?"
"Yeah," Emerald said as she looked at the money. "I was always good with betting, so I thought I'd put Mercury in his-"
*SMACK*
Emerald felt a hard slap to her hand and watched her winnings fall to the ground. As she shook her hand to relieve the pain, Emerald looked back to see Ren starring daggers in her eyes.
"What else have you two been thinking of?!" the young man angrily asked. "Did you think that I wouldn't be able to catch her in time?! That I would be that incompetent?!"
"What?" Emerald asked in surprise, unable to believe he would assume such a thing. "No! Ren, why would you-?"
"Hey, calm down, man!" Mercury said as he stood up. "It's just a stupid bet, what's the big deal?"
"That's just it! We're out here to stop Salem from conquering the world, not playing games!"
"Ren, that's enough!" Eren said as he pushed Ren to look at him. "It's over. You caught Winter, just like I knew you could. Don't worry about it."
"..."
Ren walked over to his previous seat. Nora was tempted to follow him, to see if she could comfort him. But Cinder put a hand in front of her and slowly shook her head. So she simply sat down and watched Emerald sit down as well.
"Em, hold up," Mercury said as he reached to the ground. He picked up the Lien Ren smacked away and held it out to his friend. "This is still yours."
"Keep it," Emerald said as she sat down. "I don't want it."
"..."
The young warrior obeyed and started moving the large vehicle again. His focus on the road caused him to miss the dirty glare Emerald was giving to Ren. She had been paying attention to the large chip he had on his shoulder ever since he punched Eren in the face. Her worry about his mental state had changed to a sort of apathy, given that she felt hurt by the idea she would want to talk behind the backs of her friends.
"Don't worry, Emerald," said Nora, who sat next to her. "I'm sure he didn't mean it."
"I dunno, Nora," Emerald replied. "He hasn't slapped anyone before, right?"
"Well... no, but-"
"Look at him now." Emerald didn't take her eyes of Ren, who was still staring at the ground. "He really wants to hurt something right now. Last time I saw a look like that, some perv had his hands wrapped around my neck." When she heard a gasp come out of Nora's mouth, Emerald turned around and sighed. "Look, just... tell him to keep his hands to himself."
"..."
While Nora and Emerald sat in silence, Eren was in the passenger seat, watching Mercury continue to drive and give instructions. "Alright, so you're gonna take this next-"
"Left, I got it," Mercury said. "Yeah, I can see the map you gave me."
"But you're keeping your eyes on the road. And you haven't driven something like this."
Mercury rolled his eyes and looked to Eren. "You ever driven a car before, Eren?"
"No."
"Well, with cars, there are these things called 'backseat drivers.' You ever hear of those things?"
"No."
"Well, I have. And believe you me, I seriously don't need one right now."
Eren paused for a second before he delivered a relevant comeback. "Well, cars also have angry drivers sometimes. And from what I saw on TV, they don't always do a good job driving."
Mercury admitted defeat with a heavy sigh and turned back to the road. "Sorry, man. I'll... I'll chill out, okay?"
Eren looked back to the road as he continued to talk. "Are you getting worked up about Ren?"
Mercury nodded. "Total dick move," he said. "One minute, me and Em are just having some fun. Next minute, he thinks he can slap her hand and call us assholes. We weren't even talkin' about him!"
"I know, I know. Look, he just needs some space. Trust me, I know."
"Huh?" Mercury moved his head towards Eren as something came back to him. "Oh, yeah. Your mom, right?"
"That's right." Eren turned back to Ren. "When she died, I was just like him. Cried like a baby, but I was all kinds of mad. Looking back, I think I tried to take it all out on a guy twice my size."
"Better some guy twice his size rather than a girl who's shorter than him."
Eren had to admit that Mercury's point was a good one. Which was why his plan was to give Ren as much space as he needed until he was calm enough to let people back in. If it happened to him, it could happen to Ren. And Eren had another thing to think about; how much Mercury seemed to be concerned about Emerald.
"I think you're proving yourself wrong, you know," Eren said calmly.
"About what?" Mercury asked.
"Being a hero."
"What, you mean saving that town from those goons?"
"That and looking after Emerald."
"Wait, what?" Mercury asked when he quickly glanced back at Eren. Just as he did, the car hit a few bumps and began to swerve.
"Eyes on the road, Merc!" Emerald called out.
"Sorry, sorry!" he called back. With his eyes on the road, Mercury talked again. "I'm not sure what you're thinking, Eren, but it's not like that."
"I don't think so," Eren argued. "First it was knocking that fat guy's teeth out. Then, it was that girl who almost stole her weapons. And now, it was with Ren. I don't know what's gotten into you, but you're doing good. With looking after-"
"Uh, that's not what I meant," the driver quickly said. "I mean, yeah... I've been sticking close to Em. But I'm not being a hero, I'm being smart."
"Smart? How do you figure?"
"I'm not sure if you noticed, but Emerald's not really like us. I mean, she can definitely take care of herself on the streets. But that fight back there? And getting shot back home? It's gotta be some kinda God-magic or something that's been helping her keep up with us."
Eren was not only understanding Mercury's point of view, but also seeing that he was right. "You don't think she should be out here with us," he said.
"Not really, man. Last time I thought someone like her was ready to do what we're doing, she got possessed and tried to kill me."
"..."
Eren hadn't heard Mercury talk about Vernal ever since they left Kuroyuri. Ever since he knew him, Eren saw that Mercury hid some deeper feelings behind a cocky smile and some bad jokes. Nora was the first to see it, and the observation was shared by everyone. There had only been a few times when Mercury decided to let it out, and Eren had a good feeling today was going to be one of those times. And rather than push his friend, Eren sat back and let Mercury speak.
"I know you lived longer than us, and from what Cinder said, you don't get scared easily," Mercury said. "Ever since you helped off my old man, I hadn't really been scared easily. But after Vernal tried to kill me... I can still hear her shouting my name, still feel that cold grip around my throat. It's just..." Mercury looked back to Eren. "It's some scary shit, man."
"No arguments there," Eren agreed. "But be honest with me; are you scared that something like that will happen to Emerald too?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Mercury chuckled as he continued to drive. "My dad always said it was stuff like this that makes a man a coward. Never thought that he'd be right about one thing."
"Well, you're right about one thing too."
Mercury looked back to Eren with a dropped jaw. But Eren's explanation made Mercury lift his jaw and feel better about himself.
"You're right about me living longer than you. In that time, I've seen plenty of cowards. But I don't think what you said is the right way to describe one. Mikasa, one of my friends, told me about a time when my home was invaded a second time. Someone was blocking the evacuation gate with a cart too big to fit. While he kept trying to get that cart inside, both civilians and soldiers were being killed by Titans. He didn't know it, but he was sacrificing time and lives for himself. You're doing the opposite; sacrificing your time and energy to make sure Emerald doesn't get herself killed. Not even Ren could call that being a coward. Despite his mood, he's one of the smartest people I've met. And that's saying something."
"Huh..."
Mercury's eyes looked on the road, but his mind drifted to the short speech Eren just gave. He started to feel better, having let out some of his thoughts. But sadly, his opinion of Ren wasn't changing very quickly. So he continued to follow Eren's map to cope with how he was feeling. Everyone else was simply mixing their own business.
Cinder, however, was staring out the window while beginning to gain a strange sense of familiarity in her surroundings.
"Hey Eren, have we... been here before?" she asked. "This is looking really familiar."
"Actually, we have," Eren confessed. "A long time ago." Eren looked at the map and saw where he needed to go. "Mercury, we need to go down this path, and then-"
"Wait, what about that one?"
Eren looked at Cinder, who was pointing down a fork in the road, one that led somewhere else. "We're not going that way," he said as the vehicle began to drive down the path he wanted to go.
"No, wait a minute," Cinder said. "Why shouldn't we go this way? I think it's gonna lead us somewhere."
"Cinder, you don't want to go that way. Trust me, we're gonna-"
"Whoa, hang on. I don't wanna go? Not we?"
"..."
Cinder's gut feeling was telling her that something was both familiar and wrong. She couldn't ignore the temptation that she was feeling, but she also couldn't ignore how concerned Eren seemed to be about going down that path.
"Guys, where am I supposed to go?" Mercury asked, having stopped the car out of confusion.
"Hold on, Mercury," Cinder requested. "Eren, what's the matter?"
Eren sighed as he began to explain. "Look, I just don't-"
Cinder quickly turned around. "I'll be right back," she said to everyone else while opening the door. "I gotta go check something."
Eren was the first one to protest. "Cinder, just hang on-!" He was cut off by the sound of Cinder's equipment going off, which made her fly through the air by latching onto the trees. He quickly turned back to the young driver. "Wait here!" he ordered as he quickly took after Cinder.
Despite his best efforts, Eren wasn't able to catch up to Cinder. She knew that he was behind her, so Cinder turned her head and yelled. "Come on, Eren! It shouldn't be far!"
"Cinder, stop!" Eren demanded. "You won't like what's there!"
"What are you talking about?" She turned back towards the path. "How bad can it... be?"
Cinder immediately stopped flying as her eyes landed on a small structure. Quickly landing on the ground, she took a look at a decaying barn and a broken farmhouse. The barn had broken windows and broken doors while the farmhouse looked like a tornado had hit it. But no matter how damaged it was, Cinder was able to recognize this place; it was the farm she grew up in, the one where she was an orphan and forced to work and suffer abuse by just about everyone.
Eren landed next to her and began to explain. "I didn't mean for this to happen," he said, trying to apologize for keeping her in the dark.
"..."
"This was the first place I came to after leaving my Titan, leaving the Land of Darkness."
"..."
"I wanted to show everyone where we would go once we got our ship. Make a straight shot to Salem's home."
"..."
Rather than talk to Eren, Cinder began to walk towards the broken home. Eren quickly stood in her way.
"Eren, move," Cinder requested.
"No, we don't have to be here," he said. "Let's just-"
"Eren, I have to do something."
"Huh?"
Cinder began to push on his shoulder. Eren, though reluctant, stepped out of her way. Suddenly, Cinder pulled out her swords and made a bow. Quickly reaching into her gear, she pulled out an arrow and fired it. Once it hit the barn, she pulled out another and fired again. Then she pulled out two arrows and fired them simultaneously.
Eren saw how angry she was, and tried to make her stop. "Cinder-"
She pulled out two more arrows and fired them with a yell. Not even watching where they hit, Cinder pulled out two more arrows and fired.
"Cinder-"
Cinder immediately pulled out her last three arrows. Struggling to form a good grip on three arrows, Cinder screamed and cried as she finally got them into her string.
"Cinder!"
She let them go and watched them hit the barn. Just as she took her eyes off them, Cinder pressed a button on her bow. All the arrows began to flash red and give off a sharp beeping noise.
*BOOM*
Eren and Cinder watched as the barn exploded into a million pieces, courtesy of the arrows Cinder fired. Eren silently watched the place burn to the ground while Cinder fell to her knees. Eren moved closer and saw tears falling down her cheeks.
"...Are you okay?" he asked calmly.
Cinder looked up at Eren. "I feel... a little better now," she said as she began to dry her eyes.
"You... You're not mad?"
"I was. But I think I let it all go on this place." Cinder looked back at the barn. "I know, this is where we first met. But... I still-"
"Hey, no. I get it." Eren kneeled down in front of her. "This place has a lotta bad memories. That's why I wanted to avoid it. And I had a feeling you'd want to come here if I told you it was here."
"I never knew this was where you first came to. After you escaped Salem."
"It didn't seem relevant at the time. But with our plan, it was revenant now. A little, just a little." Eren wiped some of Cinder's tears. "I didn't mean to trick you, I just didn't want to see you get hurt."
"Pain's something I learned to live with. Besides..." Cinder stood up and looked at the burning building. "I used to have dreams about tearing this place down." She turned to Eren, who was looking at the barn.
"I guess dreams do come true," Eren said with a chuckle while looking at the burning barn.
Cinder smiled as she saw the orange light flicker on Eren's face. "They do when you're here." To show her gratitude, Cinder moved closer and kissed Eren on the cheek. When he turned around with a surprised look, Cinder began to walk away. "Come on. Let's go make your dream come true." As she walked away, Cinder failed to notice the red color and soft smile on Eren's face.
Author's notes: Happy New Year, everyone! So sorry this chapter took over a month to publish. Well try to make the next one come out sooner. Hope you're enjoying the story, see you next time!