Attack on Titan: A New Path

by The Court of Talons

Ozma and Salem have been at war for millennia. The fight has taken many lives and taken many years. The champion of the Brother of Light has failed countless times to complete his task. Now, more than ever, Remnant needs a new protector. It needs a man who knows the cruelty of life. A man who doesn't falter in doing the unthinkable. A dark guardian. Remnant needs... Eren Yeager.

31. Chapter 31

"The battle is fought and decided by the quartermasters, long before the shooting begins."

Erwin Rommel

Chapter 31: Ingenuity

For Eren and the rest of his friends, their departure from Atlas was a welcome one. They had just landed at the Argus military base, where custody of Arthur Watts was officially handed from Atlas to Mistral. Eren and his friends were the representatives of Mistral in this case, even though they weren't quite ready to hand over Watts just yet.

Now, more than ever, they had to deal with Salem once and for all. And the first step of that goal was reclaiming the Dark Wing.

"Hello, beautiful," Mercury said as he laid his eyes on the giant car. He had left it in a parking a garage behind a locked door that he knew the code to. Now that it was back in his possession, Mercury smiled and walked inside. "Ah, there's no place like home."

One by one, everyone stepped inside and welcomed themselves back to the comfort of their home away from home. Eren was leading a handcuffed Watts inside, who was taking in every detail of the vehicle Mercury had called "home."

"Good Lord," he said as he looked at the exterior. "Is this an Atlesian transport vehicle? How on Remnant did you manage to steal it?"

Eren shoved Watts' back and made him move forwards. "None of your business," he said as he moved inside. "All you have to worry about is what we tell you."

Cinder immediately backed up Eren and stepped aside for Watts to come aboard. "Got it?" she asked as she gripped the sword on her side.

The act served as a reminder for Watts that he had been beaten and that now he was a prisoner. The situation was extremely unpleasant for the scientist, but he played along for the sole purpose of staying alive. "Very well," he said as he found himself a seat. "The sooner we get to Mistral, the better."

"Oh, you're still on that?" Ren asked as he joined Eren and Cinder. "I thought you were supposed to be smart."

"What?" Watts looked back towards Eren. "What do you mean?"

Eren turned to Mercury. "Set course for the Land of Darkness, Mercury," he said. "It's time we finish this."

"My pleasure," Mercury said as he ignited the car's engine. As promised, he happily drove the Dark Wing and began a course outside of Argus.

Most people would dread the idea of going to such a place. Even before its creator departed from the world of Remnant, the Land of Darkness was a cruel and desolate place. As they felt the movement of the car on the road, everyone began to have their own unique feelings about the matter.

Ren was sitting next to Nora at the moment, and he could tell that she was growing nervous about another battle with Salem. To show her that she wouldn't be alone in this fight, Ren simply took Nora's hand in his and smiled. When Nora saw this, she smiled back and leaned against Ren's shoulder.

Mercury didn't let his feelings show at the moment, he simply kept his eyes on the road. But he was nervous about bringing Vernal with him to the Land of Darkness. Even though she had been told about Salem and her attack on the city of Kuroyuri, Vernal refused to go anywhere else. When Mercury asked her why, Vernal stated that Salem was the reason she fell into her coma. And now she was ready for some payback. The recollection of this idea helped Mercury regain his confidence, so he drove on in silence.

Emerald and Midori kept to themselves for the most part. While Emerald seemed to be focused and at peace with the current destination, Midori went into the shower-room for some privacy. This was where she told herself again and again to get a grip on the situation, that she could go back and help her friends.

Eren and Cinder were still watching Watts, but they remained close to each other. Even though they weren't showing it, both of the friends were worried about their fight. Eren had failed to stop Salem before not because of his abilities, but because he didn't account for the fact that she might be able to control the Grimm while her mind was alive. Cinder, however, remembered how close Eren was to dying at Salem's hands.

The odds of survival for him, and everyone, weren't very well at the moment.

When Watts finally realized that they weren't on any course towards Mistral, he realized that his captors were indeed serious about going straight to Salem's domain. As soon as the realization came to him, Watts decided to convey his own feelings of the situation.

He began to laugh.

"You're actually doing it?!" he asked while laughing. "You're actually going to fight Salem again?! And how did the first time work out for you again?"

Cinder angrily grabbed Watts by the collar and pushed him against the wall. "You're lucky we need your help," she said through grit teeth.

Watts saw another opportunity to gloat in the faces of his enemies. "And why would I help you?" he asked with a grin. "You can go ahead and kill me if you wish, but I'm smart enough to know that Salem will do much worse to me than that. So, at the risk of sounding cliche... you got nothing on me."

Cinder was still reeling over her experiences in Atlas, and her concerns about Salem were doing nothing but grow. This wasn't doing any favors for her anger, and it was making her patience wear thin.

"Cinder."

The sound of her name and a hand on her shoulder made Cinder turn around to see a calm but determined Eren standing behind her. "I'll handle this," he said.

"..."

It was easy for Cinder to put her trust in Eren, so she let go of Watts and allowed Eren to take over. "Come here," the young man said as he took the scientist by the arm and moved to the back of the Dark Wing. This spot was more or less a private one, since a small curtain could be moved between it and the rest of the car.

While he was still angry at having been beaten by Eren Yeager, Watts was extremely curious about the man. Just a short time ago, he had cut off his own arm like it was nothing. And now, that arm had been replaced and Eren appeared to be as healthy as a horse.

And he did escape from Salem's clutches in one piece.

"You were right," Eren said. "You'll find yourself in a lot of trouble by helping us. But Cinder's also right; we need you alive if we're going to take her down."

"Hmm..." Watts hummed as he tapped his chin without a care in the world. "You seem to be laboring under the delusion that I'm going to do what you say."

Eren didn't respond to the man's behavior, but he responded to the idea of being delusional. "I'm not."

Watts rolled his eyes. "And you brought me back here for what? Is this the whole 'bad cop, worse cop' routine?"

Eren shrugged one of his shoulders. "You could say that. But Cinder's not the bad cop; Salem is."

It was easy for Watts to see that Eren was referring to himself as the "worse cop" at the present. And he was sure that he wouldn't be helping someone fight the most powerful person he knew. And yet, Watts couldn't help but humor the young man before him; perhaps he could learn something useful about Eren.

"Oh, is that so?" he asked. "Tell me more."

Eren immediately saw that his patience was about to pay off. "Sure," he said calmly. He then took his free hand and firmly grasped Watts' head before he closed his eyes and concentrated.

"Listen up."

Watts had sought knowledge about Eren Yeager ever since they met, and now he was about to get his wish.

After everything went black, the first thing that Watts saw was a large behemoth of a man peering over a giant wall. Then, he witnessed a massive explosion and chunks of debris flying everywhere. He then saw Titans, but not like the Grimm he had seen his master create. These Titans were demented and cannibalistic, but they also appeared to be... human.

Watts then saw a group of people fighting these monster Titans; some succeeded using weapons like Eren Yeager's, but others were eaten alive.

Watts then found himself in what appeared to be in a Titan's jaw, and then seemed to be devoured alive. This was where he heard a familiar voice: Eren's.

"I'll exterminate you! Every single fucking one of you! I'll do it with my own hands!"

After Watts witnessed an incredible transformation and a new Titan emerge into the fold, he stopped any attempt he had to determine what was happening. He had just found out that the man who had turned into a Titan itself was Eren Yeager, and it seemed all he could do was watch as the man's life unfolded.

More images passed before the man's eyes, images of Eren being powerful and ruthless against any Titan that came in his path. There were times when Eren fell short and succumbed to his own anger, but he kept getting back up and continuing to fight.

And then, Watts learned first hand what happened to people who made Eren their enemy.

A city that declared war on Eren and his people were quickly exterminated, and a Titan that could make weapons out of anything had become Eren's next meal. Chaos and destruction surrounded the boy who had just become a man, and he did nothing but spread this everywhere he went.

He went so far as to influence his own father into spreading this curse.

The worst part about all of this was... Eren didn't show any fear. This wasn't some arrogant boy who bit off more than he could chew. This wasn't a person who quivered in the face of death countless times. This was something... much worse.

This was a monster.

A monster who had also been given the power to crush an entire world under his feet.

"I'll exterminate them. I will wipe them off from this world. Until none of them remain."

If this power wasn't enough, the last thing Watts witnessed was Eren being gifted the power of a god; a god that manipulated Salem into giving him those powers.

And if Eren was just like the monster Watts had seen, he knew Eren would stop at nothing to accomplish his goal. And he would unleash all kinds of Hell to do it.

---

After he had gone through the disturbing events that Eren called his own memories, Watts realized that the group of warriors wasn't playing around when they meant that they were planning to stop his master. And given what he had just seen and heard, Watts came to believe that this boy might even be more dangerous than she was.

Once Eren had explained who he was, he gave Watts a choice. Either he would help them fight and stop Salem, or he would watch as Eren took his life here and now. The choice was a simple one, but not easy. Watts had seen firsthand what Salem did to anyone who betrayed her, and he was already on her bad side with the lack of help he provided during the first invasion. To do it again and fail would surely mean a slow and painful death.

On the other hand, this young man was like nobody Watts had ever met. If he was truly someone not of this world, if he was truly sent here to do a god's work, then Watts knew that having an enemy like him would lead nowhere good. The God he served might even make the afterlife worse for him too.

And when Watts analyzed and rationalized everything presented to him, he knew that Eren actually had a chance against Salem.

"...I'll do it," Watts finally declared after what felt like an eternity of silence. "I'll help you."

"..."

Watts was currently staring at Eren and Cinder, who had also remained silent as they waited for him to make up his mind.

"But... you already knew that, didn't you?" Watts asked.

"You're a lot of things," said Eren. "But you're not stupid."

Watts could also see that Eren wasn't some arrogant glory-hog like every Huntsman and Huntress he had met. He now knew that Eren had dealt with Tyrian and Hazel because they were of no use to him. Watts was the only one who Eren actually needed, and the scientist had no choice but to give his captor whatever he asked for.

"What is it you want?" Watts asked calmly.

"Everything," said Cinder. "Everything you know about Salem right now."

Eren nodded as he briefly pointed at Cinder. "How many collars did you make for her?" he asked Watts.

The scientist took a second to recollect the exact number. He had been working on this project for a few weeks, and there were about twenty collars made each week. "Around sixty," Watts answered truthfully. "There would have been more, but you found me before I could deliver them."

Eren leaned over to Cinder whispered to her. "How many Titans did we kill that night?" he asked.

"There was the one that almost killed Mercury..." Cinder said. "I wasn't keeping count when they surrounded us."

"Me neither. But I wanna say..."

"Ten?"

"Yeah, ten. At best." Eren turned back to Watts. "Where are the Titans now? Still in Vale?"

"Her Gra-" Watts stopped himself when Eren shot him a dirty glare. "Er, I mean, Salem sent some abroad, yes." Watts remembered the reason why she did this. "She said she created them to hunt. When I programmed them to hunt you, they left."

Eren and Cinder shared a short but surprised look at each other. "You sent them after us?" Cinder asked. "How did they find us?"

"Some of the Grimm that survived your attempt had caught your scent," Watts explained before he turned to Eren. "And we found some of the blades you left behind." He then gestured his head to the left.

Eren turned to see that Watts was looking at Soaring Freedom. As he looked at the weapon, Eren recalled the number of Grimm and people he had fought with the reliable equipment. He also remembered that each time his blades had gotten stuck or too weak to use, Eren ejected them and replaced them.

But he never bothered to reclaim the blades.

Eren now realized that he had unwittingly left a calling card after every fight he had ever fought. Back on Paradis, there was never any sense in reclaiming a lost blade from dead Titans. They were easily replaceable once the gear was brought back into the walls, and Mercury had been able to make more blades with the equipment he had brought from Kuroyuri.

Because Eren had been in this habit for years, he had done the same thing on Remnant. Salem had found him, and anyone else who found his blades could trace them back to him. From the Branwen Tribe to the White Fang, everyone would know that the owner of the blades was responsible.

Eren couldn't worry about the bandits or Faunus right now, but he could worry about Salem. "You said Salem sent some away," he said. "What about the others? Are they still with her?"

"As far as I know," Watts confirmed.

Cinder could see this was going to be a problem, but she had an idea how to solve it. "You made all those collars," she said. "There has to be a way to turn them off. Make the Titans run wild."

Eren liked this idea, but he had a better one. "Or destroy them," he said. "While the Titans are wearing them."

Watts took a minute to think about this. "I can't," he said.

Cinder moved closer. "You mean you won't?" she asked.

"No, I mean I can't. The collars I made for each Titan are connected to a terminal at Salem's castle. When I transmit a command from the terminal, it's received by every active collar. The only way the Titans can be stopped is if you cut their connection to the terminal."

"You said it was at Salem's castle?"

"And I won't be able to reach it now that I'm working with you. Not without a ruse, at least."

Cinder leaned over to Eren this time and whispered. "A ruse might be good," she said. "Salem's gonna expect us to break in again, but maybe Watts can lower her guard."

Eren began to think of a good ruse that could keep Salem busy. "Maybe bringing Midori as a prisoner would help," he whispered back before he turned back to Watts. "We can give you a ruse to get inside. What else do you know about Salem's castle?"

"What exactly do you want to know?" Watts asked.

"Salem was prepared for me... for the Titan to return. She had Grimm hidden in her castle to fight me. There was this snake, one with eight heads combined to one body."

"Ah, that." Watts knew what Eren was talking about. "It's a King Taijitu. Well, four of them actually. They're linked by a Tentacle Grimm."

"Where did Salem summon it from?"

"There are many rooms and places inside the castle, most of which are locked. Salem allowed me to visit every unlocked place, but never anywhere that was locked. I only knew what she let me know. That Grimm could be anywhere, really. Maybe even inside the mountain her castle rests upon."

"Is there a way inside? Somewhere Salem won't notice?"

"Well, your method of breaking and entering was superb. But if you must change it, the only place she may not notice is the highest room of the tallest tower."

"What's in there?"

"Just an atrium. I've been in it before. My lab is just five floors down from it."

Eren began to think of anything else he could ask Watts, but he couldn't think of anything else at the moment. Instead, he was thinking that this might be enough information to make a plan on getting inside. He was ready to share this plan with everyone else and ready to explain what else Watts would be doing.

"Wait," Cinder said before Eren got up. She could sense that Eren didn't have anything else to ask, but she had just thought of one more question. "Who else is in the castle?"

"Excuse me?" Watts asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Salem found time to replace Tyrian or Hazel. Who else is inside?"

Eren quickly knew that this was a good question to ask, and that it would play a good role at breaking into Salem's castle again.

"Nobody," Watts replied. "There are Seers roaming the halls, but nobody else is-"

"Wait, Seers?" Eren asked. "What's a 'Seer?'"

"A Grimm that sees everything. It's like a jellyfish, but with a glass dome for a head. Salem uses it for security and contact across the world. That's how we've been communicating with each other, all of us."

"What about people?" Cinder asked. "Does she have anyone else working for her?"

"She does." Watts raised a single finger. "To my knowledge, there's only one more person Salem has working for her. A young lady, I believe."

"Who is she?" Eren asked.

"I never met her. All I know is that she's in Vale, preparing for Salem's next plans."

"Which are?"

"Total invasion."

Eren and Cinder felt that they had asked enough questions for now. Now they had to use the knowledge they gained to make a suitable plan with the others. As they began to leave the back of the Dark Wing, Eren looked back to Watts one more time.

"If you so much as think about anything while we're gone, just remember what you just saw," he warned as he left.

"..."

When Eren and Cinder had reached the front of the car, they told Mercury to stop so they could explain everything they heard from Watts.

"So that's what we need," Eren said as he finished explaining everything. "A way to get Watts inside to stop the Titans and to get in through the tallest tower."

"Last time we broke inside, we had those Lancers," said Cinder. "We might be able to use them again to get to the tallest tower."

"We might," Ren agreed. "But the buzzing is easy to notice. Maybe we can use a Nevermore instead. We saw a lot of them when we went last time."

"And if Salem's really there alone, I can use my Semblance on her to hide all of us," Emerald pointed out. "I won't tire myself out easily."

"That sounds good," said Eren. "It might take me some time to create a big Nevermore, though. I've only made small ones." Eren suddenly had another idea. "But if we get close to a Nevermore, I can throw some of my blood on it and make it fly to Salem."

"So a Nevermore it is," said Mercury. "What about Watts' lab? Can we really trust him to turn off the Titans or whatever he's gonna do?"

"We may not have much of a choice," Ren pointed out. "He's the only one who knows how to control them and work whatever terminal he was talking about. We need him on the inside."

"And the only way we can do that is with a ruse," Cinder said as she turned to the person to her left. "Midori, do you think you can pose as Watts' prisoner?"

"Me?" Midori asked. "Um... I don't know."

"..."

Everyone seemed to understand that Salem would have a good reason to keep Midori around once she was back in her possession. But Midori remembered everything that had happened to her while she was at that castle; needless to say, she wasn't looking forward to going through that again.

"I can do it," said Nora, who moved closer to Midori. "Let me be Watts' prisoner. Salem doesn't know I'm a Titan, and she'll want information about all of us."

"Nora, are you sure?" Ren asked. He then moved one of his hands towards hers and grasped it. "That could be really dangerous."

Nora gently squeezed Ren's hand back and smiled. "I'm sure. I can turn into the Electro Titan if things go bad. In the meantime, I'll just talk her ear off." Ren and Nora shared a small laugh at the joke, and Ren nodded in approval at the plan.

"Hey, maybe we can keep an eye on her," said Midori. "Ren, you said your Titan makes you invisible, right? Maybe you can climb up the tower with me along back."

"You'll need a weapon for that," said Mercury. "Now that we got the Dark Wing back, I can make your weapon. You'll need some practice with it, but I can build it."

"Sounds like a plan."

Eren stood up to get everyone's attention. "This is perfect," he said. "We divide and conquer when we get to Salem's castle. Ren and Midori will keep an eye on Watts and Nora while the rest of us attack from above."

"..."

Everyone nodded in approval of the plan, but Eren suddenly noticed something wasn't right.

"Wait... where's Vernal?" he asked.

Everyone looked around and noticed that Vernal wasn't with them. Fortunately, Mercury was able to give an answer. "She said she needed to step outside," he said. "I tried to make her wait, but she said she had to go. Probably just had to use the bathroom or something."

"Oh, okay."

Emerald nudged Mercury's shoulder. "Remind me again why you didn't install a toilet when you had the chance?" she asked sarcastically.

"It was either a toilet or a shower," Mercury responded back. "I for one like to be clean before I fight." He then let out a chuckle. "What, you like being a dirty girl?"

*SMACK*

Emerald once again defended her honor by slapping Mercury's head. This had been a habit every time Mercury said something bad about her, and she hoped the pain would help him learn. But it only seemed to give him a new reason to keep making jokes.

"Okay, cut it out," Eren ordered. "Mercury, building Midori's weapon is a good idea. Let's drive a little further and set up camp when we get to the beach we flew over last time. Then we can get to work."

"Got it," Mercury said. "Just gotta wait until Vernal gets back."

"It seems like the only problem we have left is Watts," Ren said as he pointed to the back of the Dark Wing.

Nora quickly grabbed Magnhild and transformed it into a hammer. "He wouldn't be a problem if he's unconscious," she said. "Or I could break his legs!"

"Hang on," Eren said as he gently pushed Nora's hammer down. "I think I have a better idea."

---

The Dark Wing arrived at its current destination, a beach that separated the continent of Anima from the Land of Darkness, about two hours since it left Argus. There, everyone began to prepare for their next, and hopefully final, battle with Salem.

The majority of everyone chose to spend their time outside the Dark Wing, where sparing and practicing took place. The only ones who weren't outside at the moment were Mercury and Watts, who were both looking at a series of tools and a tool-bench.

"I need the armorer's wrench," said Watts, who was holding his hand out towards Mercury. He was currently looking at a sword in front of him.

"Do I look like hired help?" Mercury asked as he looked away from his own tools. "Get it yourself, asshole."

It was true that Watts was used to have people assisting him in situations like this. While he rarely had to deal with insubordination, Watts was one to deal with it very harshly. He was ready to show Mercury how he chose to deal with it, but the sight of Eren in the Dark Wing made him fall silent.

"Watts, you're not in charge here," he said as he walked closer. "So don't go around acting like it."

"..."

Eren turned over to Mercury next. "Mercury, just give him what he needs."

"Okay, okay," Mercury said as he took out the tool Watts had requested.

Eren leaned down and whispered in his friend's ear. "But don't be afraid to lay down the law if you feel the need."

"Read my mind, Eren. And if you want me to look at what he did, just say the word."

Eren nodded as he stood back up. As he did, he watched as Mercury and Watts attempted to work together at the task he had suggested. Mercury was hard at work at building Midori's weapon, Scalpel, and he was just about finished. Hearing him talk about this earlier had given Eren the idea to make Watts work on weapons as well.

After hearing how Watts had used his own blades to track him and his friends, Eren had realized that now was a time for a change. Soaring Freedom needed an upgrade, it needed a change for the better.

Eren wasn't exactly sure what he had in mind, given that he had believed that Soaring Freedom was perfect before today. All he really needed was to remove the need to replace blades, to make the swords strong enough to kill Grimm, people, and Titans without having the blade break. Perhaps this would remove the need for the large metal at his waist.

Having Watts do this work was strange in hindsight, given that nobody trusted him yet. But Eren needed someone to keep an eye on him, and putting him to use wasn't much of a bad idea.

And as Mercury suggested, Eren would test his weapon and look it over for booby traps. Just in case.

But right now, Eren decided to focus on other matters. In order to do that, he needed to step outside and find someone to talk to. It took a few minutes, but he had found a young man meditating by the trees.

"Hello, Eren," Ren said as he opened his eyes.

"Hey, Ren," Eren said calmly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"No, that's alright." Ren tapped the ground beside him. "It's been a while since you and I meditated together. Care to join me?"

Eren also knew that he hadn't meditated with Ren in a long time. "Maybe later. Right now, I was hoping to get some advice about something."

Ren tapped the ground again, but in front of him this time. Eren gratefully took the offer and sat down in front of Ren. "What seems to be the problem?" Ren asked calmly.

"We have a good plan to break into Salem's castle," Eren began. "But I'm having trouble with the rest of the plan. With, you know... stopping Salem."

Ren couldn't help but display his confusion at the statement. "I don't understand. Your plan to encase Salem in crystal seems to be the most logical course of action. Given her inability to die, that is."

"That's what I want to do. And I almost did it the first time we fought her. But right when I was about to do it, I saw something wrong with the idea."

"Oh?"

"You remember what I told you about Annie? How she made a crystal around herself for protection?" Ren nodded slowly. "Well, she was still alive in that thing. It didn't look like it, but she could hear everything going on. Her mind was still alive."

Ren remembered that Eren had mentioned this before. He may have been upset and bitter about his father dying at the time, but Ren's memory didn't fail him.

"I see," he said. "You're afraid that Salem's mind will be alive in the crystal. And given her control over the Grimm-"

"Right, exactly!" Eren confirmed. "She can send as many Grimm as she wants to anywhere in the world she wants. She might be able to create them too."

Ren understood the reasoning behind Eren's fears. "It seems we're at a disadvantage here. We don't exactly understand how Salem controls the Grimm."

"I always thought she could do it after she fell into that water."

"Maybe. But I always thought it had something to do with that stone in the middle of her forehead. When you showed me your memories, I saw what Darkness showed you about Salem. Did you notice that she didn't have that stone at first? When she emerged from the water?"

Eren had to admit that he didn't notice that at first. Much of Salem's appearance had changed since that, Ren was right about that. But these were just theories; Eren needed facts if he was going to defeat Salem.

"That's true," Eren began. "But I can't say for sure how she's controlling the Grimm. I just need her to not be able to do that when she's... crystalized." Eren believed this was the best way to put it. "Do you have any ideas how I can get past that?"

"If there's a way to break Salem's control over the Grimm... I know nothing of it," Ren replied. "Maybe you need to think about it some more. Perhaps there was something Darkness showed you before, something that might give you a clue."

"...Yeah. I could think about it. Maybe I could meditate here?"

"Be my guest." Ren closed his eyes. "Just remember everything I taught you. I'm here if you need me."

Eren mimicked Ren's action and posture as he took a deep breath. He remembered what he had been taught, how he needed to shut out every outside distraction. One goal of meditation was to clear the mind and make it like a blank canvas, but Eren chose to focus on what Ren had suggested.

Eren's mind flooded with the events that Darkness had shown him the first day they met. He saw Salem fall into the pool of Grimm again and again, hoping to find some indicator as to what gave her control of the Grimm in the first place. He used this and his own experiences with her to try and draw a connection, but nothing seemed to be giving itself away. Eren remembered seeing her eyes and veins glow when she summoned Grimm, but this could be anything.

Perhaps Salem had taught herself how to control Grimm, like how Eren taught himself to summon Grimm.

Eren decided to give up on finding a cause to Salem' control over the Grimm. Instead, he began to think of ways he could break this control. Ideas ranged from breaking Salem's crystal into multiple pieces so she couldn't be whole again to burying her somewhere that nobody could ever find her. But Eren kept dismissing these ideas when he couldn't see how this would break her connection.

And so, when he saw that he was out of options, Eren decided to take a desperate measure for this desperate time.

He travelled to the Coordinate to speak with Darkness.

"Welcome back," the God of Darkness said to his frequent visitor. "So soon, no less."

Eren stood up from the coarse and hard ground to be on a similar level to the deity. "You know why I'm here?" he asked.

"I know you're almost ready to fulfill your destiny." Darkness looked back to the glowing Coordinate. "I would say it took you long enough, but I've seen others take longer to do things. And I like to think I'm a patient god."

Eren mentally sighed as he watched Darkness give himself a pat on the back for something stupid, and he also got straight to the point. "I'm almost ready, you're right. But I need your help. Right now."

Darkness turned around and put his hands behind his back. "Of course, anything I can do."

Eren thought the immediate acceptance was odd, but it was easy to play this off as Darkness being ready to see Salem defeated once and for all. So he got back to the point.

"I need to know how Salem does it," Eren continued. "I need to know how she can control the Grimm. Like you."

"...I see," Darkness replied calmly. "May I ask why?"

"When I freeze her, Salem's mind will still be alive. She might be able to control the Grimm after I beat her."

"Understood." Darkness slowly approached Eren. "Salem's abilities were a surprise to me as well. The portion of Grimm makes her think and feel like my creatures. The control, however, seems to be self-taught. I believe you've been teaching yourself about Grimm as well."

"So... you can't help me?"

Darkness quickly raised a finger. "I never said that. You know better than to doubt my abilities."

"..."

Darkness saw that he had the young man's attention, so he began to explain himself. "I can help you break Salem's connection to the Grimm, Eren. But only you will be able to do so."

"What do I have to do?"

The purple man opened his palm before Eren. "Before and after you came to Remnant, I kept a close watch over Salem. I've seen everything she has said and done in her life. One of these things will be able to help you."

Darkness moved his palm closer to Eren, who could see that there was something on it. When he got a better look, Eren could see a small beetle resting in Darkness' hand. This beetle, however, was black and white instead of its normal colors. And it also had a pair of red eyes.

"What is that?" Eren asked.

"An experiment of Salem's," Darkness explained. "You recall Ozma? The human originally meant to stop Salem?" Eren remained silent as he listened carefully. "I haven't been watching him as closely, but I have learned of some of his exploits. It seems, for some reason, he chose to split the Magic he possessed among his fellow humans. As to who or why, I do not know. All I know is that he's weaker than when he originally came to Remnant."

"So what's this for?"

"Salem wishes to gain this Magic for herself. To increase her power, I imagine. The Grimm you see before you is drawn to Magic; it latches on to a person and drains them of their power. Breathtaking, really. Truly a shame I didn't think of it earlier."

"..."

*CRUNCH*

Darkness quickly crushed the Grimm-Beetle like the bug it was and listened to it squeal in pain. "Too bad Salem was the one to create it," he said as he watched the ashes escape his hand. Darkness hated Salem with a passion, and seeing her continue his work only increased this hatred tenfold.

"So... that can help me break the connection Salem has to the Grimm?" Eren asked.

Darkness had forgotten that Eren was still with him, so he focused back on the boy in his presence. "Not quite," Darkness explained. "Again, the Beetle you saw drains Magic. In its present form, it should be able to help you weaken Salem if need be. And trust me, you may need it." Darkness waved his other hand and showed his palm to Eren again, this time showing a small crystal. It looked like a Dust crystal, but it was of a much darker color. "Salem has also used my former home to increase her natural powers. The first age of humanity sought this item to make their Magic stronger, but they never survived direct exposure. I made it that way, after all. It was amusing to watch their ambition drive them to their doom."

"..."

"But with Salem's curse, she used another one of my creations to her advantage, to live with Magic stronger than anyone's." Darkness held the crystal closer. "Beware of this substance, Eren. Beware... of Dark Dust."

Eren took the warning seriously, and he took Darkness' earlier mention about the Grimm-Beetle with hope. "So, that bug can drain Salem's Magic," he said. "What about her connection to the Grimm?"

"Use your imagination." Darkness lowered his hand and pointed at Eren. "Perhaps a Beetle could find itself stronger when connected to the new Founding Titan? Perhaps it could be powerful enough to drain Grimm as well as Magic?" Darkness moved his finger towards Eren's forehead. "Sometimes one must give strength in order to gain it. Goodbye, Eren."

With a simple tap on his forehead, Eren felt himself leave the Coordinate in a flash.

*WHOOSH*

When Eren opened his eyes, he fell backwards and found himself back at the border of the trees and the beach. He scrambled back to his feet and took sharp breaths as he readjusted to his current surroundings.

"Are you okay?" Ren asked as he opened his eyes. Eren looked like he had seen a ghost.

"I'm fine," Eren insisted quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine." He began to dust himself off as he explained himself. "And I think I know what to do with Salem."

"Excellent work. Oh, Mercury was looking for you." Ren pointed back towards the Dark Wing. "He came by earlier, but you were still meditating. It was actually impressive how you tuned him out."

"Huh?" Eren knew he wasn't as good of a meditator as Ren, so he believed that Mercury had been looking for him while he was at the Coordinate. "Oh, right. Thanks." He began to walk back towards the Dark Wing, where he saw everyone practicing and sparing with each other again.

But now, he saw a new face training with the others. And a brand new weapon too.

"Midori?" Eren asked as he watched the young girl fight. At the end of her fists were two metal blades that she swung with care and grace.

"Hey, Eren," Midori said with a smile as she moved her arms. "How do you like my new weapon? I'm gonna call it 'Scalpel.'"

Eren looked at the blades on her arms and nodded. "Great. How do they feel?"

"Pretty good. It hurts a bit to retract them and bring them out, but it's fine." Midori began to punch the air with her blades as she tried to get used to the feeling. "Besides, this is just a prototype. Mercury wants me to practice hand-to-hand combat with it and let him know what else he needs to do."

"Nice work. Oh, have you seen Mercury? I heard he was looking for me."

Midori pointed back towards the Dark Wing, but almost hit Eren with her blade while doing so. "Oh, sorry! I gotta get used to this!" Midori retracted both of the blades into the metal she had on her arms and shoulders. "He's in there, by the way."

"Thanks."

Eren made his way into the Dark Wing, where he found Mercury and Watts still at the tool bench together. "Hey, Mercury," Eren called out. "Nice job with Midori's weapon. It looks like it'll do a number on the Grimm."

"Well, you haven't seen nothing yet, Eren," Mercury said as he looked up from the tools and bench he was sitting at. "Take a look at this, we got something for you."

Eren obeyed and saw Soaring Freedom resting on the table before him. The flying mechanism looked the same, but there didn't appear to be any blades in the metal or the hilt of the weapon.

"Uh, what am I looking at?" Eren asked since he didn't see any difference from earlier.

"Your new swords," said Watts, who picked up the hilt of the blade and handed it to Eren. "I would be grateful if you moved away and pulled the handle just above your fingers."

"Yeah, do what he says," Mercury requested. "I don't think I wanna be in the way either."

"..."

Eren took two steps back so he was out of reach from Watts and Mercury. As he did, he looked at the handle that Watts was referring to. This was something Soaring Freedom shared with the vertical-maneuvering equipment back home, it was simply a hand-guard that made keeping a grip on the swords easier.

Eren reached out with his fingers and gently grasped the small handle just past the hilt. As he did, the handle moved backwards with the grip and demonstrated something new.

*SNAP*

*HISS*

The hilt Eren was holding suddenly sprouted with a blue light, one that stopped moving when it appeared to be at the length of Eren's previous blades. In fact, it was also in the shape of a blade.

"Whoa!" Eren yelled as he jumped back when he saw the new blade. He soon saw that he was in no danger, so he began to look at the new blade in awe. He then began to slowly swing it around.

"That blade is entirely made of Hard-Light Dust," Watts explained. "You won't need to eject any more blades, and this will be twice as effective."

Mercury wrapped his arm tightly around Watts' shoulder and gave one of his sarcastic smiles. "When Artie here had the idea of replacing the sword with Dust, I looked around and found some Hard-Light Dust the Atlesians left behind before the car got stolen," he explained. He could tell that Watts didn't like his new nickname, but it only gave Mercury the motivation to use it even more.

"I think I changed my mind," Watts said sarcastically. "Could you kill me now?"

Eren turned off the blade by letting go of the handle. "Not if you can make stuff like this," he said with a smile. "You guys work on it together?"

"It was all my idea, mind you. Your friend simply provided the tools and additional labor."

"Jeez, and I thought Emerald was a kiss-ass," Mercury said. "We're not done yet, though. We're working on breaking down the metal around the waist since you don't need more blades anymore. And a way to show how much Dust you have left."

"Thanks," Eren said with a smile. "But hold on for a second; I gotta show Cinder how this looks."

---

Between working on the prototype of Scalpel and upgrading Soaring Freedom, Mercury and his unexpected partner had worked themselves hard and to the bone.

Mercury took the latter part quite literally, as a serious cut on his hand made him see bone.

But after using his healing abilities to heal the wound, Mercury decided that a break would be necessary. While he promised to keep an eye on Watts in case he attempted any sabotage or worse, contacting Salem, the young man was more tempted by the thought of spending time with Vernal. His girlfriend had been patiently waiting for some alone time ever since they reunited, and Mercury was doing the same.

And so, Mercury attempted to kill two birds with one stone by moving Watts far in the back and talking to Vernal near the front.

"So tell me again, how did you break into that castle when you fought Salem?" Vernal requested. Her knowledge of Salem was limited, mostly about her origins and the Titans that Mercury had kept hidden. But she was extremely curious after she learned who was responsible for her coma and the Grimm roaming freely on Remnant.

Mercury knew how to keep quiet about the Titans, so he decided to bend the truth a little. "Well, you know how I took down that Wyvern back in Kuroyuri?" Mercury reminded Vernal. "I did the same thing and broke in through the front window. Must've been about fifty feet up in the air."

Vernal knew that Mercury was one to exaggerate and brag, but she had heard about how he and Emerald killed a Nevermore while it was in the air. "No way, I don't believe it."

"I remember it like it was yesterday. I broke in through the window and scared the crap outta everyone. It was fucking awesome. Here's how it went down." Mercury stood up and placed his fists on his waist, which was far from how he looked that day. He also spoke in a deep voice, which was also an exaggeration. "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all outta bubblegum."

Vernal couldn't help but laugh out loud as she fell backwards on the bed she was sitting on. "Aw, I can't believe I missed it!" she yelled between laughs. "Okay, okay, what happened next?"

"I, uh..." Mercury lowered his hands and spoke normally now. "I don't remember everything," he said. "We all got inside and took on all of those guys we told you about. But between the fight they put up and the Grimm that swarmed to the castle, we had to get out and pick them off one by one."

Vernal faked a yawn at the idea. "Wimp."

"No, I'm telling you, babe! All kinds of Hell broke loose there! Seriously, on God!"

Vernal laughed again and slightly moved upwards. "On God, huh?" A smile formed upon Vernal's lips as she gently grabbed Mercury's collar. "How about... on me?" Rather than wait for a response, Vernal pushed Mercury onto the bed and began to kiss him.

Mercury embraced the feeling and held Vernal close to him. Moments like this were common in the relationship they had, but it had been a while since either of them had the chance to do so. "Man, I've missed you babe," Mercury said as Vernal broke away for a brief moment.

"Bet I missed you more," Vernal joked as she kissed her boyfriend again.

The act was done again and again for a minute before Mercury asked a question. "You think the doc's watching?"

"I hope so. If he gets caught, that'll be hilarious."

Mercury silently agreed as he continued to enjoy himself. As he said, he had missed Vernal more than anything. While a moment like this was something he had been craving for a while, it was nice to know that she was doing much better than the last time he had seen her.

Or so he thought.

In situations like these, it was normal for Mercury and Vernal to explore each other with their hands. Right now, one of Mercury's hands hand ran across Vernal's right arm. There, he felt a tattoo that Vernal had gotten a long time ago. But also, he felt a bandage wrapped tightly around her arm. And there seemed to be something coarse under the bandage.

"Gah!" Vernal yelped as she practically jumped off Mercury. As she did, Vernal firmly grasped the bandage and began to rub it. "Merc, don't touch that!"

"Whoa, whoa, sorry!" said Mercury, who stayed right where he was and put his hands up. "I was just-!"

"I didn't say you could do that!"

"I'm sorry!" Mercury had done this with Vernal for what felt like a hundred times, and he never overstepped his boundaries. But he couldn't help but not understand what exactly he had done wrong, given that he had rubbed her arm like that before.

However, he was able to notice that something was wrong with his own hand. It was faint and small, but there appeared to be a black residue on Mercury's right hand.

What was strange was that Mercury had completely cleaned his hands of dirt and grime before he talked to Vernal.

"What the-?" Mercury asked as he looked at his hand before he turned back to Vernal. "Babe, what's wrong with your arm?"

"Nothing!" Vernal said as she let go of the bandage. "It's... It's nothing, okay?"

None of this was okay for the young mechanic, as he noticed something else about his girlfriend. "Are you alright? You're sweating."

Vernal didn't seem to notice that she was sweating, but she raised her hand on her forehead and looked to see cold sweat on her hand. She was about to answer, but she suddenly grabbed her stomach and slightly bent down. It looked like she was about to be sick, so she quickly took off out of the car.

"Wait, Vernal!" Mercury yelled on deaf ears.

Vernal had ran so quickly towards the trees that she didn't notice that she had just ran right past Ren. The young man had just finished his own meditation session, so he opened his eyes just in time to see Vernal pass him.

As he watched her run, Ren took note at how quickly she was running. What struck him as odd was that she seemed to be running away from something, almost out of fear. But when Ren turned to see what she was running from, he didn't see any Grimm or anything else that looked dangerous.

All he saw was Mercury.

"Ren!" Mercury said as he stood still. "Did you just see Vernal?"

Ren pointed behind him. "She ran that way," he said as he stood up. He then watched Mercury look past the trees and bushes as he attempted to look for his girlfriend. When he saw how concerned and confused Mercury appeared to be, Ren easily sensed that something was wrong. "Is everything okay?"

"I don't know," Mercury replied honestly. "We were just messing around in the car, and she just took off running." Mercury stopped looking in the forest and back towards Ren. "And she... she's been acting kinda weird since we left Atlas. I mean, is that just me?"

"I think I've noticed something off about Vernal as well. More specifically, how she's been running off every now and then."

"Right? This is like the fourth time she's done that today!"

"Was it something you said or did?"

"I don't know. I mean, I asked about something on her-"

"Guys! Guys, come quick!"

Mercury and Ren heard someone close by calling out to them. The voice belonged to Eren, and he sounded extremely concerned about something. Seeing that Vernal and her behavior would have to wait, Ren and Mercury ran back towards the Dark Wing. There, they found everyone except Watts and Vernal surrounding Eren.

Ren didn't need to use his Semblance to see that his friend was worried about something. But nothing could prepare him for what Eren said next.

"Winter escaped!"

Calamity quickly spread across the group of warriors. They all believed that Winter escaping was the thing she would do in Atlas, but they knew for sure her knowledge of the Titans and Salem put them all at risk.

What they didn't know was how Winter could perform a feat such as escaping the Atlas military on her own.

"What do you mean she escaped?" Cinder asked. "What happened?"

Eren looked upwards and extended his right arm. As he did, a small Nevermore flew down from a tree and landed directly on Eren's arm.

"Is that the Nevermore you made?" Ren asked. "To watch Winter?"

"Yeah," Eren confirmed. "It spent all day flying back here to warn us. Its memories showed me that Winter was boarding an airship after we left. Just a few seconds later, that Lieutenant was screaming that Winter escaped."

"But how?" Cinder asked.

"I don't know." Eren let the Nevermore fly off his arm and towards the tree again. "But that's just half the problem. It wasn't just looking for us here. Nevermores can track any kind of prey they lay their eyes on. And this one just tracked Winter right back to us. And she's not alone"

"Here?" Nora asked. "On the beach?"

"Who'd else be with her?" Emerald asked. "Another prisoner?"

"I don't know," Eren confessed. "But we can't let her or her friend follow us."

"Say no more," said Cinder. "Let's get our weapons." She immediately ran into the Dark Wing to get Dancing Midnight, but was greeted by an unpleasant sight. "Hey! Who left Watts here by himself?!"

Watts was tinkering around at the workbench, looking at one of Cinder's arrows. But when he heard his name, he looked to see an irate Cinder. "Well, weren't those two seconds of peace fun?" he asked sarcastically as he waved the arrow.

"Give me that!" Cinder swiped the arrow out of Watts' hand. "Last thing we need is you screwing around with something like this."

"And upset your leader more than I have already? No thank you." Watts had heard the phrase "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" before, but upsetting Eren would be much worse than Cinder.

The young warrior stepped aside to let everyone else gather their own weapons. "Take a good look at them, guys," she warned. "Just in case." Watts rolled his eyes and began to organize the tools on the workbench.

"My bad," said Mercury, who was waiting outside the car. "Vernal took off in the woods, she got upset or something." Mercury suddenly remembered that Vernal had indeed ran off into the woods. "Oh, shit! Winter's still out there, she could run right into Vernal!"

"Mercury, wait!" Eren called out before Mercury could run. "We gotta stick together if we're gonna find Winter."

"You guys go on, I gotta find Vernal!" Mercury took off running in the direction Vernal had gone off in.

"I'll go with him," said Ren, who also knew where Vernal had run off. "Be careful with Winter."

"You too," said Nora, who hugged Ren before he left.

---

As promised, Ren joined Mercury as he moved into the forest looking for Vernal. He couldn't help but call our Vernal's name a few times, but Ren put this to a stop.

"Mercury, stop!" he said as he put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We might be drawing attention to ourselves, we have to be quiet."

"Let them come!" Mercury argued. "As long as Winter's not with Vernal!"

"That won't help! We need the element of surprise here, we still don't know who else is with Winter. They might be stronger than just the two of us."

"..."

Mercury growled in annoyance at the situation he found himself in. Ren was right on all accounts, but that didn't mean that he liked following along with this plan. He had nearly lost Vernal before, and he wasn't in a mood to lose her again.

Ren understood this clearly, even without his Semblance. Since he needed Mercury to work with him, along with the fact that he wanted to help his friend, Ren decided to empathize with Mercury.

"Trust me, I understand how concerned you are," Ren began calmly. "Right now, I really wish I was with Nora. I'm not sure what I'd do if she got hurt."

"Yeah, sure," said Mercury. "Look, no offense, but this is kinda different than you and Nora right now. I mean, with what's going on with me and Vernal."

"Hmm... I wouldn't say that. They seem somewhat similar now."

"Why's that?"

"..."

Mercury turned to ask Ren again, but he suddenly understood what he was saying. "Wait a sec... you and Nora? Finally?"

Ren couldn't help but briefly laugh when Mercury asked the second question. "That's right," he confessed. "We decided to give it a try when we were in Atlas."

"No way, that's awesome!" Mercury said as he began to feel better about his situation with Vernal. "About time, too!"

"Indeed. After she saved my life in the mines, I just knew that I wanted what we have to change for the better."

"Yeah? How's that been going?"

"It might be too early to say, but all I can say is that we're happy. Both of us."

"I'll bet. Ever since we met, Nora wouldn't shut up about how she wanted to be your girlfriend. How about this?" Mercury tapped Ren's shoulder. "Any time you need relationship advice, I'm your man. I mean, no offense, but I think seven years is long overdue to get started, you know?"

"That's... one of the things I've told myself since we started." Ren suddenly became embarrassed by the notion. "Maybe we should focus on Vernal."

"Yeah, you're right." Mercury suddenly had an idea. "Maybe I could use a refresher or two, actually. I really don't know what made Vernal so upset."

"Did something happen in the car?"

"We were just fooling around like we usually do. But after I touched a bandage on her arm, she totally freaked out. I didn't mean to piss her off, I just don't get what made her mad."

"Has this happened before?"

"Not really. We took things pretty slow. It was actually at her own pace. I mean, after what happened to her with that creep my dad was working for... could you blame her?"

Mercury was referring to how his father worked for Councilman Charles, who operated as part of a human-trafficking ring in Mistral. Unfortunately, Vernal had been one of his victims, and Mercury still hated everything Charles and his dad did together.

Ren had learned about this on the news when Charles was arrested, and he knew that Vernal had been found and given the help she needed. So it was easy to understand what Mercury was talking about.

"Of course not," Ren agreed. "What happened to Vernal was terrible."

"Yeah, I know," said Mercury. "I just wanna make sure nothing else happens to her." As he said this, Mercury noticed something ahead of him. He took a closer look to see that it was a pile of black liquid.

And a human footprint was right on top of it.

"What the-?" Mercury looked closer. "Shit, is that Grimm?"

"I think so," said Ren, who was starting to have a bad feeling about this. "Is that Vernal's footprint?"

"It has to be," Mercury said as he looked up. "Look, there's more! What's going on here?"

"I don't know." Ren took out his guns. "Let's find out."

---

Eren, Cinder, Nora, and Midori had left in a different direction than Ren and Mercury. While Emerald volunteered to stay behind and make sure Watts did nothing unordinary, everyone else was being led by Eren's Nevermore to where they hoped they would find Winter.

As Eren had said, Nevermores had a unique aptitude for hunting their prey. Once it locked eyes on whatever it wanted to find, it was very easy for the Nevermore to claim it for itself. And now, it was flying overhead and being watched closely by Eren. Midori had joined Eren in the hopes of testing Scalpel's abilities even further.

Despite the fact the two groups were far apart, a similar topic of conversation was shared between them. Namely, Nora had just told Cinder that she and Ren had decided to pursue a more romantic relationship.

"Nora, that's great!" Cinder said with joy. She knew such a thing was an important thing to Nora, and now she was happy the dream had come true. "So, what happened? Tell me everything!"

"I still can't believe it," said Nora. "It happened when we were on that airship in Mantle, right before we found Watts. I was feeling a little down about things, but Ren turned it all around when he mentioned how I saved him in the mines. And then..." Nora formed a huge smile. "Then he kissed me!" She then let out a small squeal as she replayed the memory in her mind. "And I thought I would have to make the first move, ha, ha, ha!"

Cinder couldn't help but laugh a little as well. "That's great," she repeated. "So, uh... how's it been going for you two?"

"Hmm..." Nora tapped her finger to her chin as she thought about an appropriate answer. "Well, I think it's a little too early to explain everything. But I'm really happy all of this happened. Ren just makes me happy." She suddenly stopped smiling. "I hope I'm making him happy too."

"Nora, you said he kissed you. I'm sure you make him happy."

Nora smiled once again. "Yeah, you're right." Suddenly, Nora took note of how far ahead Eren and Midori were ahead of her, and how their attention was towards the sky. She saw her chance to ask something to Cinder, even if it probably wasn't something she wanted to talk about. "Hey, feel free to say no, but... did you wanna talk about you and Eren?"

Cinder stopped smiling and stopped walking as well. "Um... Eren?" she asked. "I, uh... I don't know." Cinder couldn't help but feel embarrassed as she nervously rubbed the back of her head. "I mean-"

"Sorry," Nora apologized. "Forget I said anything, let's keep up." She took back after Eren and Midori and moved through the woods. There wasn't much of a path at her feet, but Nora could see Eren and Midori were ahead of them.

Cinder followed, but she decided that maybe it was time to address her own feelings. "It's okay," she assured Nora. "I've actually been thinking about it too." She walked forwards again as she continued to talk. "I think I'm gonna stop it."

"Huh? Stop what?"

"You know, feeling differently about Eren." Cinder looked ahead at Eren. "Back in Atlas, all he cared about was how I was doing. After what happened on the train, all Eren wanted to do was make me feel better. He was there for me, and I think he always will be. I mean... am I being selfish? Wanting more after everything he did for me?"

"What? Selfish?" Nora couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Cinder, you're the least selfish person I know. That's a crazy thing to think!"

"I don't know, Nora. Don't you remember what I told you about Eren and Mikasa? How he still wants to be with her?" Cinder let out a heavy sigh as she remembered how Eren told Armin Arlert how he wished Mikasa would remember him for the rest of her life. "I shouldn't be getting in his way. And I shouldn't be trying to get more out of what I already have with him."

"Well... yeah. Yeah, I remember. But didn't you say you wanted to tell him?" Nora quickly realized that she misremembered something else. "I mean, you had to tell him?"

Cinder couldn't help but sigh again. "Yeah, that's what I said. But I changed my mind. I'm just gonna let things be. You know what I mean?"

"..."

Nora could understand how someone could change their mind after a certain amount of time. However, changing someone's personal feelings wasn't as easy. And something was telling her that Cinder may have changed her mind, but it wasn't likely that she changed her feelings as well.

"Nora, stop."

Nora immediately stopped walking when she heard Cinder's order. When she turned to see what the problem was, Cinder pointed ahead to see that Eren and Midori had stopped walking as well. The Nevermore wasn't in the sky, it was now on a tree branch and practically screaming its head off.

"She's close," said Eren, who prepared to use his new weapon. He didn't activate the Hard-Light energy just yet, as he hoped it would give him the element of surprise.

Cinder and Nora quickly rejoined Eren as Midori extended the blades on her arms. Cinder and Nora reached for their own weapons as well and chose to use them in their arrow and grenade-launcher forms. None of them could see any sign of Winter, but they didn't lower their guard.

*SNAP*

Everyone turned towards the sound of a stick breaking in the distance. While she couldn't see anything, Cinder decided to fire an explosive arrow in that direction. Perhaps it would give Winter and her friend a warning and clear out some of the woods.

"Steady..." Cinder whispered as she raised her bow. She moved a few steps ahead of the group so they could be ready to act. "Steady..."

"Look out!"

*BAM*

Cinder was suddenly tackled to the ground by a person who came out of nowhere. She couldn't see who it was, but she could see that something was about to hit the spot right where she was standing.

"Whoa!"

*CRACK*

The object Cinder saw turned out to be a bolt of lightning, one that struck right where she was originally standing. Fortunately, Eren and everyone else saw it and were able to get out of the way just in time.

Cinder stared at the act of destruction in awe as she realized that the attack had come from above rather than the forest. Even if her Titan powers could heal damage from a bolt of lightning, she would have been defenseless against another attack.

In other words, the person who tackled her had just saved her life.

"Whoa, that was close," Cinder said after taking a few breaths. "Thanks, that thing almost-"

Cinder lost her voice when she looked down at her apparent savior. Not only was the other woman on the ground bleeding excessively across her body, but she was also familiar to Cinder.

It was Winter.

"Cinder!" Eren called out as he ran over to her. He was joined by Nora and Midori, but they stayed quiet as they shared his concern. "Cinder, are you okay?"

Cinder found her voice again as she took Eren's hand and stood up. "Guys, look at this!" she said as she looked back down to Winter.

Eren obeyed and saw a shocking sight. "Winter?" He also saw the amount of blood covering her body and what appeared to be broken fingers. It was clear that something, or someone, had attacked her quite recently. "What happened to you?"

Winter was too weak to stand up, but she was still able to talk. "She's here," the former soldier warned Eren. "She-"

*WHOOSH*

A wave fire now made its way towards everyone, and they could feel the burning sensation quickly. Winter stayed where she was so the fire couldn't touch her, but everyone else engaged their Auras to prevent any further pain as they ran away from the fire.

When it died down, everyone could see another woman had joined them. Unlike Winter, this woman appeared to be strong and carrying a sword at her side. She was dressed entirely in red and black and her face was covered by a mask that resembled a Grimm.

But Eren didn't need to see the woman's face to guess her identity. He had seen power like this before, the ability to summon elements on a whim. He knew only one person capable of this feat.

"Raven."

The woman was indeed Raven Branwen, and one look at her was telling everyone that she was out for blood. If the use of elemental powers wasn't enough, then the quick lunge with her sword was.

Eren quickly activated his new Hard-Light swords and barely blocked the attack. While Raven didn't succeed in hurting him, the force of her attack was enough to knock Eren back a few feet. Raven prepared to attack again, but had to dodge a hammer-swing from Nora.

"Not this time!" Raven yelled as she sent a series of strikes right at the young girl. Her Aura protected Nora against the strikes, but a fireball to her chest caused her to fall back.

"Nora!" Cinder yelled as she got up. When she realized that Raven was very proficient with close-range combat, Cinder took to the air with her gear. She then fired two arrows at Raven, both of which exploded when they made contact with the ground.

Raven quickly dodged the projectiles and sent more fireballs at Cinder. While the young girl was quick on the draw to dodge each ball, a lightning bolt from Raven caused her to fall from the sky.

Midori had stayed away from the fight at the moment, so she could help Eren.

"I'm okay," Eren assured his friend. "Get Nora and Cinder!"

Nora, however, didn't need any assistance at the moment. When she saw what Raven could do with the elements, even though she couldn't understand how, the young girl managed to think of a plan.

"You call that lightning?!" Nora yelled at Raven. "All you did was hit her hook! What makes you think you can hit someone like me right now?!"

Raven was always someone who kept her ego in check, but she didn't back down from the challenge. She was confident a quick jolt would make the annoying redhead shut up.

*ZAP*

When she saw a cloud of dust in the spot Nora was standing, Raven quickly drew her attention back to the others. While she was ready to use her sword with a new blade she had drawn from her hilt, Raven couldn't help but hesitate when she saw all of her enemies were doing absolutely nothing while they were standing still.

They were up to something.

"RRRRRAAAHHHH!"

A wild scream behind her caused Raven to see Nora had emerged from the cloud of dust. Not only was she in the air with her hammer, but she appeared to be surrounded in pink electricity.

*BAM*

A very powerful strike, more powerful than the one she had received a day ago, struck Raven right in the head and launched her backwards. Raven had used her Aura at the right time to protect herself, but the Grimm mask she was wearing had been completely destroyed. When she realized she had underestimated the eccentric girl's intelligence, Raven decided to teach Nora a lesson.

Nora settled on launching all of her grenades at Raven before she struck again with her hammer, but Raven had thrown herself in the air and cut each projectile and evaded the collective explosion.

*BOOM*

When she landed on the ground, Raven dodged another strike from Nora. But as she did, Raven quickly moved her sword to make contact with her hand. Her Aura may have protected her flesh, but the swipe was strong enough to knock Magnhild out of her grasp.

Now defenseless, all Nora could do was watch and scream as Raven decided to burn her alive.

Eren, Cinder, and Midori watched in horror as Raven began to turn their strongest friend into a pile of ash. To stop this from happening, Eren and Cinder shared an understanding as to how they could stop her.

They needed their Titans.

Eren and Cinder moved apart from each other to give each other room, and then they both bit their hands after leaning forward with their gear.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The new Founding Titan and the Incinerator Titan both appeared behind Raven. When the latter sent fire of her own to make Raven stop burning Nora, the former ripped flesh off its arms and threw them in Raven's direction. When they hit the ground, the flesh turned into small pools of Grimm that spawned Beowolves and Ursai.

"There you are," Raven thought as she stopped moving. "Let's bring you two down a peg." Raven closed her eyes and lowered her sword when the Grimm and fire came closer. An invisible wall of wind surrounded her and stopped either force from meeting her head-on. The wind revealed itself when a sharp frost touched the grass and monsters. Some of the frost began to move close to Raven and move upwards as it took form. Once it stopped, Raven reached out and took hold of a new weapon; a sword made completely of ice.

When she opened her eyes, Raven sent the wind forwards and upwards to move the Grimm back and stop a large fist from crashing down on her. It was Eren's fist, and he couldn't help but move with the strong force of the wind. This movement gave Raven a chance to fly forward and stab her sword right into his arm.

"Dammit!" Eren thought as he witnessed his failure. "Gotta try to slow her down!" Eren concentrated on his arm as he felt Raven take her sword out. Black blood formed from the wound, and Eren used this to his advantage. This time, he challenged Raven by creating Creeps and Sabyrs that all too gladly pounced and charged at her.

*SWISH*

*SWISH*

*WHOOSH*

A combination of sword strikes and the elements gave Raven an upper hand on Eren's arm. However, a few bites and scratches forced Raven to protect herself with her Aura. This gave Eren the confidence that her Aura wouldn't last forever. All he had to do was think of a way to deplete what remained and make her weak.

*WHOOSH*

Another wave of fire came into existence, but it was much larger than Raven's. And it had just enveloped Eren's whole arm along with Raven and the Grimm. Eren didn't feel too much pain, but he knew his arm would be burnt when he emerged from his Titan.

Cinder seemed to know it too, given that she appeared to stand down after she unleashed the fire on him.

"It's okay, Cinder," Eren thought as he watched Raven fall to the ground. But in another action, right as her Aura began to shatter completely, Raven flew forward and cut the Founding Titan's legs right off its body. Eren and Raven fell downwards and Eren's legs began to turn into Grimm.

Seeing that he wasn't going to be of much use as a Titan now, Eren emerged from the nape and crawled away from his body. As he did, Midori and Nora took their chance to join the fight. Midori knew she didn't have much experience fighting, but she knew she had to do something.

She had managed to send a few strikes at Raven with Scalpel, but Raven dodged them easily. Each strike was either slow or sloppy, and it made Raven even more confident in her ability to win. And so, with a mighty heave of her frozen sword, Raven knocked Midori out of the immediate area. She was smart enough to know that she had to block the strike, but she still felt pain when the sword hit her and flew her all the way to Eren.

As she recovered and used her Semblance to heal herself, Midori angrily hit the ground and watched as Nora turned into the Electro Titan to help Cinder. It was only when Eren touched her shoulder that Midori spoke again.

"I'm sorry," Midori apologized. "I just-"

"It's okay," Eren assured her. He knew that Raven was far out of Midori's league, and nothing less than Titans could stop Raven.

Midori stopped feeling sorry for herself when she saw the state of Eren's legs. "Oh, my God!"

Eren looked down at the stumps that had once been his legs and understood why Midori looked scared. "It's okay! They'll grow back." As his body began to grow back once more, Eren saw that the process would take a while. "You, uh... think you can help?"

Midori placed her hands on Eren's body and concentrated on her Semblance. With the combined power of the Titans and Healing Wish, Eren's legs began to regenerate much faster than they ever would have before.

"That's enough," he said as he saw his knees once again. "I'll take it from here."

Midori obeyed and turned back towards the fight. "You're right," she said as she looked at the battlefield. "I think they're gonna need it more."

Eren turned in Midori's direction to see what she was looking at. Fire and electricity swarmed the immediate forest and spread to some of the trees. It was fortunate that they were all far away from civilization, but the only thing that didn't seem to be affected was Raven. She was still using her elemental powers to ward off the attacks and she was still using her sword, which didn't appear to be melting, against the two Titans.

"That's impossible," said Midori. "How is she still fighting?"

"I don't know," Eren replied as he felt his feet return into being. "I could have sworn her Aura broke. Did you see it break?"

"I think so. Was it red?"

"Yeah, it was." Eren could now say for certain that Raven's Aura had broken. "I don't get it. How is she doing all of that without an Aura?"

"I don't know. It's like... magic."

"..."

When Eren heard that word, after it repeated multiple times in his head, two specific memories returned to him. The first memory was the first day he actually met and fought against Raven. When he experienced her power for the first time, Eren was able to compare it to what he experienced with Salem when he first came to Remnant.

The second was something Darkness had recently told him.

"You recall Ozma? The human originally meant to stop Salem? It seems, for some reason, he chose to split the Magic he possessed among his fellow humans."

Midori was right. If the power Raven had was indeed a piece of Ozma's Magic, a piece he split among others, then there was only one way to stop her.

"That's it!" Eren said as he propped himself up. "Midori, I know what to do. Do you think you can lure Raven over to me?"

"You mean right here?" Midori asked as she looked over to Raven. She had the upper hand in the fight against Cinder and Nora. Her frost-sword had completely melted now, but Raven was now using her own katana to fight. "...I can try."

Eren understood Midori's reluctance. The fact that Raven could hold her own against three Titans, including the Founding Titan, spoke volumes of her power. And the way she faced them reminded Eren too much of Captain Levi's prowess.

But the only one way to stop Raven was to take this gambit. And Eren needed help.

"Let me help."

Eren and Midori turned around to see Winter standing behind them. Or rather, attempting to stand. She was still badly wounded, most likely from Raven. In fact, she almost looked like she was on death's door.

And yet, here she stood while risking her own life to help.

"Your heart's in the right place, Midori," Winter continued. "But my Semblance can help draw Raven to Eren. Heal me and I'll do whatever it takes to get her here."

"..."

Midori turned away from Winter and looked at Eren for approval of the plan. Truth be told, Eren wasn't sure what to do. Taking a risk like this was worthy of respect, but Winter proved herself to be anything but an ally. If she were to be fully healed, if she was able to help with Raven, nothing would be stopping her from attempting to place them under arrest.

But on the other hand... Eren had no choice.

"Do it," he said to Midori.

The young medic nodded before she took hold of Winter's arm and concentrated. When a green light shined on her body, Winter felt her cuts and bruises heal very fast. The healing had given her enough energy to use her Aura, but she didn't do that just yet.

Eren took the time Midori had granted him and Winter to perform an action of his own. Remembering what Darkness had shown and told him, Eren bit into his palm again and watched the black blood flow into a very small puddle. It was just the right size to make the Grimm Darkness had shown him, so all he needed to do now was concentrate on what he needed to make.

This process had gotten very easy over time, ever since Eren accidentally created a Beowolf when he was a child. Each Grimm took a specific amount of time at first, but Eren simply needed to practice over and over to make the creature he needed. So now, it was taking a while to make the Beetle just as Darkness had shown him.

The time, however, was worth it when Eren saw what he had created.

"Oh... Gods," Winter whispered in disgust. She was looking at a small beetle that was colored black and white. She had seen the insect emerge from the Grimm pool, but she had never seen a Grimm like that before. "What is that?"

"Our way of winning," said Eren, who picked up the small Grimm in both his hands. "I hope."

"..."

All of a sudden, the Beetle moved onto Eren's right hand and bit down. Eren slightly twitched at the pain, but he was forced to grit his teeth and growl as the creature began to burrow its way into Eren's palm. The sensation was new and very uncomfortable to Eren, and he was beginning to wonder if Darkness had tricked him. Once the pain stopped, Eren began to feel better.

"...I wasn't expecting that," he confessed as he looked at his palm. The Beetle was inside, but it poked its small head out for Eren to see.

Winter and Midori had seen the Beetle's work, and they were beginning to have doubts about the plan. "Are you sure about this?" Winter asked.

"...No."

Winter wasn't sure about this as well, but she didn't back away from the challenge. Instead, she put her own hand out in front of her and created a large white Glyph. The Glyph suddenly spawned Grimm of its own; a horde of small white Nevermores flew from the snowflake in the middle and charted a direct course to Raven.

Raven had just cut off Cinder's arm and Nora's leg after she navigated the fire and the lightning. But when she saw the horde of Nevermores, Raven was forced to go on the defensive and raise her arms to her face. The Nevermores scratched at her skin, but it was a very minor pain. The only thing it seemed to do was anger her further. And so, Raven killed the Nevermores in two swings of her swords and charged yet again.

"Here goes nothing," Eren thought as took a deep breath. As soon as Raven flew past him, she raised her sword with a yell and prepared to cut down both Winter and Midori. Eren simply raised his hand towards Raven and prayed that Darkness hadn't been lying to him.

His prayers answered in the form of the Grimm Beetle leaping out of Eren's skin and latching itself on Raven's exposed neck.

Suddenly, Raven stopped her sword mid-swing as a sharp pain on her neck manifested itself. It felt as if something had bit her, which was exactly what the Beetle had done. Nobody could see it, but the Grimm had indeed struck Magic in the veins of Raven Branwen. And once it tasted the essence for the first time, there was nothing stopping the small Grimm taking more and more for itself.

Raven felt incredibly weak as the pain intensified. She dropped her sword and reached for her neck, but she failed to rip the Grimm away from her flesh. She was able to let out a scream, but it faded to silence as more and more of her energy began to drain from her body.

Eren, Midori, and Winter watched in awe as the smallest Grimm known to man continued to feed on one of the most powerful people they had ever known. Eren was free of any pain since the Beetle had left his body, but he focused more on the Beetle doing what it was meant to do.

"It works," Eren observed. "It really works! This is it!" His awe had been immediately replaced with pride and hope in his ability to defeat Salem. While he did have to get the idea from Darkness of all people, the experience paid off after all. Now all he had to do was make the Beetle strong enough to drain Magic and Grimm.

*WHOOSH*

Eren's present feelings came to a halt when he saw that Raven hadn't succumbed to the draining entirely. Instead, she seemed to be using whatever power she had left to form yet another fireball. And now that she had, one look on Raven's face told everyone that she wouldn't be going down without a fight.

*BAM*

The fight seemed to have disappeared when Winter sent a strong punch straight into Raven's face.

Raven couldn't help but fall to the ground and extinguish her fire when she was punched. She was still weak, but she was able to look up and see Winter standing triumphantly over her with her hand still curled in a fist.

In that moment, when she realized what she had done, Winter felt good. This was something she had wanted for a long time. She wanted to do this on the first day she met Raven, the day when she forced her to act as a means of drawing information from Eren. Even more so, for torturing her after she had used her Semblance to take her away from Atlas.

Today, Winter finally had her revenge on Raven. And yet, she didn't seem to be content with a simple punch to the face.

She needed to do more.

*BAM*

Winter decided to send a kick to Raven's face this time, one that was strong enough to knock her backwards before she could get up.

"Did you think it would work?!" Winter yelled as she sent another kick to Raven's face. "Did you?!"

*BAM*

*BAM*

"Did you think you could just kidnap me, use me as bait, and get what you wanted?!"

*BAM*

"You think you can make me your slave?! You think you can just control me through fear and pain?!"

*BAM*

*BAM*

"How does it feel, Raven?! Go on, tell me! Let me know what's it like to be just like me!"

*BAM*

"You failure! You fraud! I hope you burn in Hell!"

*BAM*

*BAM*

*BAM*

*BAM*

"Winter! Winter stop!"

Eren and Midori grabbed on to Winter and pulled her away from a bloodied and beaten Raven. Her face resembled that of Winter when Cinder initially found her, and now it seemed that Winter had gotten even once more.

"It's over," Eren assured her as Winter breathed heavily and attempted to recompose herself. "It's over."

"..."

While Eren knew that a violent beating until death was something that Raven undoubtedly deserved, Eren was starting to see that she could be useful in a certain way. The Beetle that had been feeding on her Magic had finally stopped, but it simply turned into ash afterwards. It seemed that Eren had a lot to learn about the Beetle and its capabilities.

Having a test subject like Raven would be very helpful.

Eren decided to put these plans on hold when he saw the Incinerator and Electro Titans begin to disappear. In their stead emerged Cinder and Nora, who were each helping each other move closer towards Eren.

"You guys okay?" Eren asked as he let go of Winter and joined his friends.

"We will be," said Nora, who looked at the stump that was once her arm. "Once we get all our fingers and toes back."

Cinder briefly chuckled as she took comfort in the idea that the fight hadn't stripped Nora of her sense of humor. She also took comfort in seeing Raven laying on the ground with a bloody face. She couldn't help but wonder what had become of her.

"Is she-?" Cinder asked as she pointed to the limp body.

Midori let go of Winter and carefully leaned down to Raven. Then, she put two fingers on the side of her neck. "She has a pulse," she said as she stood up. "It's weak, but it's still there."

"So... should we finish her off?"

Eren looked back to Cinder for a moment before he turned back to Raven. "...Maybe," he replied calmly. While he still believed having a subject like Raven would be useful for testing the Beetle's capabilities, Eren knew that she was still a very dangerous woman.

Perhaps killing her would be for the best after all.

"No."

Everyone turned to Winter, who refused to take her eyes off of Raven. "Let's not resort to murder," she said. "What's done is done."

"..."

While everyone had some form of disagreement with Winter, nobody could tell what caused this change of heart. After all, Winter was the one who landed the finishing blow in this fight.

If Ren was with them, he would have been able to share the truth with his friends. The truth was that Winter was feeling very ashamed of herself at the moment. The past week had been nothing but trauma and humiliation for her, and it was clear that the beating she gave Raven had shown this. While she had emerged from this experience with the ability to stand up for herself better than before, Winter was still ashamed of herself.

She was never someone who believed in vengeance or the concept of "an eye for an eye," but what Winter had just done filled her with a new kind of spirit. It was enough to make Winter curse herself.

For how good it all felt.

"Why'd you do it?"

Winter looked away from Raven to see Cinder walking towards her. Cinder's leg was still healing, so she slowly limped towards the Atlesian so she could talk to her.

Winter never liked Cinder, that much was true. But if there was one person that she didn't like at the moment, it was herself. Her actions had proven that she wasn't the same as before. While she couldn't think of a solid answer, Winter did her best to give Cinder one. After all, the least she could do was explain herself.

"I... I had to," Winter said as she lowered her head. "You may have fought her, but I had to be in the same room as her. You have no idea how-"

"No, forget Raven," Cinder bluntly demanded. "Screw her."

"..."

Cinder finally stopped in front of Winter and began to talk again. "You said you were gonna be used as bait, right? After Raven got to you?"

"That... That was the idea," Winter confirmed. "She used her Semblance to get me out of Atlas when I wasn't expecting it. Does... that matter?"

Cinder paused for a moment. "Sort of." Nobody could see it, but Cinder swallowed a lot of pride just now. "I was wide open in that field. And you were in no shape to fight. So... why did you do it? Why did you save me?"

Winter understood the question now, but she still wasn't able to give an answer. "I... I don't know."

Unfortunately for the Atlesian, Cinder didn't accept the answer. "Yes, you do."

"..."

"Ever since we met, you and I have done nothing but argue about everything. The lightning was your one chance to end it all. So why'd you save me? You probably would've said you won."

The idea Cinder presented began to serve as a source of inspiration for Winter. "...Maybe. Maybe I could say so. I could say I won... everything but the argument."

"..."

Cinder and everyone else remained silent as Winter continued to talk. "I never liked any of you, that's true. You have got to be the most violent, stubborn, and ill-mannered people I've ever met." Winter could see that everyone was either confused or insulted by the claim, so she drew their focus away from their own anger. "On the other hand... you're also perhaps the bravest and most selfless as well."

"..."

Once again, confusion spread across the small group of friends. They had known Winter for some time, and today was perhaps the first time she had ever said anything nice about them.

"After all this time, after everything that's happened... I think I see that ridding you from the world would be a mistake," Winter continued. "Not just in your fight against Salem, but everything else you want to change too. The Huntsmen, the SDC... even me." Winter looked towards Cinder to make a specific point. "Cinder, it never occurred to me that I never apologized to you. For helping my father nearly raze Kuroyuri."

"...Oh," said Cinder, who had broken the silence. She was starting to feel rather awkward about Winter opening herself up like this. There was a time when she wanted nothing more for Winter to see the errors of her ways, but she didn't feel the satisfaction she believed she would.

Instead, she simply wanted to hear more.

"Is that why you saved me?" Cinder asked. "To apologize?"

"No," said Winter. "I saved you because your death wouldn't bring any good to Remnant." Winter looked over to Eren next. "Or yours. Or anyone else you call your friend."

"..."

Winter quickly saw a chance to defend herself when she noticed how doubtful and skeptical everyone seemed to be. "I cut ties with my father after you left. And given that Raven made me a fugitive, I think I've lost any chance at changing the system from within. For the first time in my life... I have nowhere to go."

Cinder and Eren shared a glance at each other before Eren spoke. "So what?" Eren asked. "You wanna leave again?"

"I think... I can ask the same of you, Eren. You've all been gone from Kuroyuri, your home, for a long time. Remember when I said I wanted to go home? Well, I don't think I was the only one at the time."

"..."

One look from everyone, with truly opened eyes, showed Winter that everyone around her was carrying a tremendous burden. It was much larger than anything she had to do with Jacques or the military, and Winter couldn't see it until now. Now she could see that defeating Salem was the only thing that could allow Eren and his friends to go home again.

"I understand how you came to be here," said Winter. "That you all chose to leave your home to stop Salem. And now... I'd like to help you if I can."

Everyone showed confusion and doubt yet again, but Nora was the first to address it.

"Say what now?" she asked in disbelief.

"I'd like to help you fight Salem," Winter repeated. "And then you'll never see me again. Me or Ymir." The Atlesian understood the skepticism from everyone, so she presented an idea that could prove her usefulness. "If not in combat, perhaps military strategy can aid you." She then pointed down towards Raven. "If she still has... whatever all that was, maybe you can take her to Salem's castle. Or just outside of it."

"Raven just did a number on all of us, even with our Titans," Cinder pointed out. "How do you expect her to fight with us?"

"I don't. But imagine this; if she were to wake up in the middle of a million Grimm, Raven's first reaction would be to save herself. Against that many, she would have to use... what we saw. If that were to catch Salem's eye, where do you think we could be at that moment?"

"Breaking into the castle," said Eren, who followed along with the idea. "Not a bad plan, Winter. But we have a plan already."

"I understand your reluctance, but if you were to give me a chance-"

"We already did, Winter. You used that chance to challenge me." Eren let out an exhausted sigh. "Even if what you said is true, I don't think we're in a position to trust you."

"For me to sell you out?"

"For you to help all of us get home alive."

"..."

*BOOM*

Everyone quickly looked to the sky when they heard another explosion. Raven was still on the ground, so it obviously wasn't caused by her. Instead, they could see the remnants of red light and electricity overhead.

Someone else had turned into a Titan.

"What the-?"

"What's going on?"

"Is that Ren?!"

Eren didn't have all the answers to these questions, and he didn't have any for the one he asked himself now. Fortunately, he had Winter to ask. "Did Raven bring any one else to ambush us?!" he asked frantically.

"No!" Winter insisted. "I mean, not that I know of!"

Eren had to remind himself that Winter was a pawn in Raven's plan, not her partner. This reminder served as a reason for Eren to trust Winter and make a decision.

"Can you guys move?" he asked Cinder and Nora. When both of them nodded, Eren made the decision to investigate the origin of the sound. Surprisingly, Winter had asked if she could come as well. Since he didn't want to argue or keep anyone waiting, he reluctantly agreed.

Eren and Cinder were the farthest ahead of everyone due to Soaring Freedom and Dancing Midnight grating them the ability to travel in the air. Trees turned into a brown haze as the duo travelled faster and faster, almost in competition with each other. The two friends had practiced something like this when they had the chance, to see if they could tap into the gear's true potential. Each of their friendly races ended one way or the other.

This time, however, they happened to reach a clearing at the same time. There, they found multiple trees on the ground and Ren leaning against one of them.

"Ren!" Cinder called out as she landed on the ground. Her first instinct was to run towards her friend and see if he was still alive. "Are you okay?!"

"..."

Eren joined her and looked at Ren. Steam was moving from his wounds, specifically his missing arm, but he was also bleeding excessively. In fact, it looked like Ren had been dealt the same kind of damage that Winter sustained from Raven.

"What the hell happened?!" Eren asked as he looked at the state Ren was in. "Did Raven get to him before us?!"

"She couldn't have!" Cinder answered. "I mean... I don't think so." She was starting to have doubts about what Raven could and couldn't do, given that she possessed extraordinary abilities without a Semblance.

"REN!"

Eren and Cinder turned around to see Nora, Midori, and Winter and joined them in the clearing. Nora ran ahead of Midori and Winter and practically shoved Eren and Cinder aside to see how Ren was.

"Ren, are you okay?!" Nora screamed. "What happened?!"

"He's unconscious," said Eren. "We just found him here."

"Midori, he's hurt!" said Cinder. "Can you boost his healing?"

"Stand back!" Midori ordered as she got closer to Ren. Once all of her friends complied with the order, Midori put her hands on Ren's chest and concentrated on her Semblance. A green light soon enveloped the young man as Midori worked. "I don't know everything about how Titans heal, this might take a while."

"What happened?" Nora repeated. "Did Raven come here before she found us?"

"We don't know," Eren replied as he stood up. "For all we know, she's working with someone else."

"Wait, something's wrong," said Winter. When everyone looked at her, Winter pointed back at Ren. "If Ren's right here... then who turned into a Titan?"

"..."

*CRASH*

The answer to Winter's question came in the form of something emerging from the forest. Two trees had fallen down to reveal the Flashstep Titan emerging from the woods and standing high over everyone on the ground.

"...Mercury?" Cinder whispered in shock.

When he looked down at the people staring back at him, the Flashstep Titan froze. It was almost like Mercury was surprised to see everyone here with him, and he wasn't sure what to do.

Suddenly, he took off in a different direction than he had emerged from at lightning speed. Along the way, he had kicked part of a tree that fell down earlier. The wood had moved just as quickly as the Flashstep Titan, and it moved directly towards the group of humans.

Eren and Cinder jumped out of the way and the tree completely missed them. But once they recovered, Mercury was gone.

"What the-?" Eren asked as he stood up. "Was that on purpose?!"

"Why is he a Titan?!" Cinder asked as she rejoined Eren. "He's not supposed to be a Titan!"

"..."

When they remembered this fact, as well as the circumstances behind Mercury not being allowed to use his Titan, the duo turned around and looked at Ren's injuries. Nora looked back at them and shared the same idea. There were some doubts in her mind, given that none of this made sense. But Eren and Cinder didn't share the same doubts.

"We gotta go after him," said Eren.

"We'll move faster alone," Cinder agreed. "Nora, stay with Midori and Winter, we're going after Mercury!" With that, Cinder immediately ignited the fuel in Dancing Midnight and disappeared into the woods. Eren prepared to join her as well and he was confident that he could catch up to Cinder.

"Eren, wait!"

Eren stopped right where he was as he turned around to see Midori with Ren and Nora. "Don't go!" she begged.

Eren looked back in Cinder's direction and saw that she had already gone. While he would have preferred to be with Cinder, Eren chose to exercise caution for the moment as he ran over to Midori. "What is it?" he asked.

"Something's wrong," Midori said as she took her hands off Ren. "I don't think Mercury attacked him."

"What? What do you mean?"

Midori moved her hand towards Eren to reveal faint traces of a green liquid. "I found this on Ren's chest. Some of it's in his wounds. I think it's some kind of venom."

Nora was also looking at the substance on Midori's hand. "What are you saying?" she asked.

"Ren wasn't just hit; he's been poisoned."

"..."

Eren and Nora shared a glance at each other and shared the same thought; they had made a terrible mistake with Mercury. Whoever or whatever had poisoned him was still out there, and Mercury might be trying to find it.

"Cinder's out there," Eren said as he turned back. "I gotta go after her!"

But before he could run after his friend, Eren felt a weak grip on his pants. He looked back to see that a now-conscious Ren was holding on to them and pulling on them. He was trying to stop Eren from going, and he was struggling to whisper a good reason.

"Death... stalker."

---

Cinder had lost count as to how many times she had pushed herself forwards through the woods. Trees, grass, and leaves all became a big blur as Dancing Freedom allowed her to soar through the air.

Despite the forest becoming one big blur for Cinder, she only kept her eyes in front of her to find Mercury. After all, his head start with the Flashstep Titan had already made things difficult. She didn't know what she was going to do when she found him, but she was past the point of rational thought at the moment.

Almost being killed twice in the same day wasn't a welcome experience for the young woman.

*CRASH*

*THOOM*

Cinder stopped flying when she heard the familiar sound of trees breaking. When she landed on a sturdy branch, she saw that her luck had come around after all. Standing in the middle of another makeshift clearing was the Flashstep Titan. It didn't seem to hear her or sense her presence, given that it was doing nothing but break more trees in the forest.

*CRASH*

*THOOM*

Cinder had no idea what Mercury was doing to the forest, but all she cared about was finding out what possessed him to attack Ren. Fortunately, with his back turned right at her, Cinder saw the perfect chance to talk to Mercury personally. With yet another leap and another movement of her legs, Cinder activated Dancing Freedom's hooks and swooped right towards the Flashstep Titan.

And with her two swords, Cinder cut the nape of the Titan and watched blood and flesh spray the area.

*SWISH*

The strike was enough to not only reveal Mercury inside the nape, but it was also enough to make the Flashstep Titan stagger around as it began to fall. Cinder was prepared for this, as she pulled Mercury out of the nape and made one last jump with her gear.

*CRASH*

Cinder and the Titan came to the ground at the same time, along with Mercury. Cinder almost prided herself in her ability to strip Mercury away from his Titan, given that this was the first time she had done something like this. It was almost like Eren and the Survey Corps killing the Pure Titans outside the walls of Paradis, and it was similar to the night she helped Eren fight the new Grimm Titans Salem had made.

She couldn't help but wonder if Eren would be proud of her.

"Cinder, what the hell?!"

Mercury's voice returned Cinder to reality and made her remember why she was here. When she looked back to Mercury on the ground, he continued to speak. "What's wrong with you?!" he yelled.

"What's wrong with me?!" Cinder asked in surprise. "What's wrong with you?! You just tried to kill all of us back there!"

"What?!" Mercury began to stand up. "What're you talking about?!"

"You kicked a tree right at me and Eren!" Cinder moved a piece of her vest to show a scratch that she had received from the tree. "I didn't do this to myself, Mercury!"

"Hey, that wasn't on-!"

"And what the hell are you doing with your Titan?! After Eren specifically told you not to use it anymore!"

When Mercury looked back towards his Titan after he saw the scratch on Cinder's torso, he was beginning to see how bad this looked for him. "Look, Cinder, I can explain-"

"And what about Ren?!" Cinder tightened her grip on her swords as she pointed one of them at Mercury. "I saw the state you left him in! If he wasn't like us, he'd probably be dead!"

"Hey, whoa, whoa, wait a second!" Mercury raised his hands in defense as he saw a chance to defend himself. "You got it wrong, I didn't do that!"

"Oh, bullshit! We all saw the mess you left behind!" Cinder pointed towards the fallen trees. "It looked just like what's going on here!"

Mercury once again looked at the trees and saw his situation wasn't getting any better. But that didn't stop him from trying to explain himself. "Cinder, you gotta believe me! I didn't hurt Ren, I was trying to help! I had to turn into my Titan, to defend myself! There was a Deathstalker!"

Cinder was still angry and skeptical with Mercury, but she entertained the idea of a large Grimm hurting Ren. "A Deathstalker?" she asked as she began to calm down.

"Yeah, you know? Huge scorpion Grimm?" Mercury said as he described what he saw. "But... But something was wrong! It was... I don't know, it was different or something! It was completely fucked!"

Cinder was still calm, but her doubts were starting to rise again. "What? What are you talking about?"

"It... It was like..." Mercury was having a hard time putting his description into words. "It looked like a Deathstalker. It was big, dark, had a pincher, but something was wrong! It was a scorpion, but... but it looked like a person too!"

"...What?"

Mercury growled in frustration. "I don't know, I can't explain it! It had one pincher, but it's other arm looked human. And it stood and walked like a guy! Something's seriously fucked up with it!"

"..."

If Mercury had simply stopped at the word "Deathstalker," there would have been a better chance at Cinder believing him. But after the wild story he had just shared, she had lost all faith in him. While she couldn't explain his actions behind destroying trees, Cinder could easily see how Mercury could have attacked Ren.

And the memory of him attacking Eren helped assert Cinder's point of view.

"Cinder, I'm just trying to help!" Mercury said once again. "You gotta believe me!"

After she let out an exhausted sigh, Cinder began to shake her head. "No, Mercury," she said. "I don't."

"..."

Mercury felt incredibly hurt by the short declaration, and fear began to envelop him as he watched Cinder combine her swords into a bow and pull out an arrow. "Whoa, what are you doing?" he asked as he backed away.

"Stop!" Cinder yelled as she raised her bow. "Don't try running again, Mercury." She then moved her head back towards the way she came. "We're going back to talk to Eren. Then we'll figure out what to do."

"You can't be serious! I didn't do anything wrong!"

Cinder pulled back on her string. "Then why did you run?"

Mercury's fear was written right on his face, and the nervous sweat running down his forehead showed this as clear as day. "Cinder, please! You're making a mistake!"

"I don't want to hurt you, Merc. Just do what I say."

"I'm not the enemy, the Deathstalker is!"

"Stop lying! We all saw what you did!" Cinder then lowered her arrow towards Mercury's right leg. "Don't make me hurt you."

"Cinder, just wait! Please!"

*THWIP*

*WHOOSH*

A familiar sound had made both Mercury and Cinder look back towards the direction they came from, and they saw that Eren had joined them.

"Cinder, wait!" Eren said as he landed about six feet behind her. "Don't shoot, he didn't do it!"

"Huh?" Cinder asked as she relaxed her grip on her bow.

*SNAP*

*HISS*

"Look out!"

Cinder turned towards the sound of a stick breaking and the sound of some kind of animal. As to what kind it was, she didn't know; the creature had leapt out of the woods and sent a powerful strike to her head and torso.

Eren and Mercury, however, could see the Creature of Grimm before them.

True to Mercury's unbelievable word, a unique kind of Deathstalker was standing on top of Cinder. When it stood up and let out another ear-piercing hiss, Eren and Mercury could see that it indeed walked like a person. It was much larger than an average man, but it was standing on two legs. It also had one pincher and one deformed human arm, as well as a black tail with a golden stinger. Its face looked more animal than man, but it seemed to be a blend of both scorpion and human.

Eren launched himself towards the deformed Grimm and swung both of his swords, but the creature launched itself away from Cinder and up against a tree. Mercury quickly joined him and watched the Grimm climb up the bark.

"You believe me now?" Mercury asked Eren, even though he wasn't the one who doubted the story.

"...Yeah," Eren said in disbelief. "What is that thing?"

"It's gotta be a Grimm. When I saw what it did to Ren, I figured I had a better chance at fighting with my Titan."

Eren looked down at Cinder, who appeared to be bleeding both blood and venom from the Grimm's stinger. Based on this and the remarkable speed the monster possessed, Eren knew Mercury had a point.

"It's just watching us," said Mercury, who appeared to be engaged in a staring contest with the Grimm. Eren looked back up to see that this was true. "Why isn't it attacking?"

"It's waiting," said Eren, who once had a similar experience with a Titan back on Paradis. During the cleansing of the island before the war with Marley began, Eren was familiar with abnormal Titans, some of which waited for their prey to make the first move. "It wants us to see if we fight or run."

Mercury began to feel afraid once again, and he prayed that his friend could get both of them out of this situation. "You're right. What do we do?"

Eren looked towards his right hand, but he didn't move it. "If we're really quick, I can throw some of my blood on it. Maybe I can control it."

"Okay." Mercury shifted his eyes to the left to see more of the clearing he made. "I'll distract it, you throw the blood. Ready?"

"Ready."

With help from his weaponized boots, Mercury shot himself away from Eren and landed in the part of the clearing. Just as he touched the ground, the Grimm jumped straight towards Mercury with a snarl. Fortunately, Mercury was prepared for it to join him; he fired his boots once again to launch himself away from the pincher and stinger.

This proved to be just enough time for Eren to bit his hand and throw some of his blood onto the Grimm.

With the blood and Eren's connection to Grimm now one with the scorpion-like Grimm, it began to scream as Eren attempted to mentally connect with it. It also violently scratched at its head while Eren concentrated as hard as he could.

But the Grimm was still standing.

Eren had fallen to one knee as he growled in pain. "Hey, what's wrong?!" Mercury asked as he looked down at his friend.

"I... can't control it!" Eren said through grit teeth. "It's... fighting back!"

Mercury looked back at the Grimm to see that it had shaken the blood off its face. And now that it was free of any control from Eren, it ran forward and swiped its tail at the two young men. But Eren was able to block it with his Hard-Light swords.

"Hit it!" Eren yelled as he pushed on his blades. He then watched Mercury move past him and kick his leg in the air.

*BAM*

*BANG*

As soon as his leg made contact with the Grimm, a bullet shot out from Mercury's weapon and made the creature fall backwards. But the attack didn't seem to do too much damage, since the Grimm stood upright and prepared to attack again.

*WHISH*

A metal arrow flew between Eren and Mercury before it embedded itself in the Grimm's shoulder. As it howled in pain and began to remove the projectile, the two boys turned around to see Cinder on one knee while trying to ready another arrow. She was having difficulty, given that her injuries hadn't fully healed yet.

"Get... outta here!" she said as she tried to load another arrow.

Eren was ready to protest that he wouldn't leave Cinder behind, but Mercury had grabbed his arm and began to run. Eren was dragged along, and Cinder was left alone to fight the beast. She fired another arrow, but she missed and watched helplessly as it exploded.

*BOOM*

The unharmed Grimm made another swipe with its tail at Cinder, and she fell down with ease. But rather than go in for the kill, the deformed creature jumped over Cinder and followed the trail Eren and Mercury left behind.

*SNARL*

Eren and Mercury had put some distance between themselves and Cinder, but the familiar sound had told them that the Grimm wasn't far behind. And when Mercury looked behind him, he could see that the creature was in the trees again and following them.

"It's gaining on us!" Mercury screamed as he continued to run.

"I don't get it!" Eren yelled as he also ran for his life. "How did it stop me from controlling it?"

"That's your first question?! Does that really matter?!"

"Yes, it matters! Either I can't use my powers, or that's not a Grimm!"

"Uh, it sure looks like a Grimm to me! Come on, man, we're smarter than this! There's gotta be something we can do!"

Eren tried to think of a better way to fight. Naturally, Titans seemed to possess the ability to crush a thing like the deformed Grimm behind them.

"I can try my Titan!" said Eren.

"I already did!" Mercury protested. "I couldn't land a single hit on it, and it just climbed all over my body! We gotta-Look out!"

*HISS*

The deformed Deathstalker had landed right in front of Eren and Mercury and moved for another swing of its tail. The boys barely dodged it and realized that their only chance of survival was to fight. Eren decided to use his guns and Mercury kept his distance while firing his boots. Each bullet hit its mark, but the Grimm didn't seem to be fazed or hurt in the slightest.

"The skin's too thick!" said Mercury. "Our bullets are useless!"

"Only one thing to do!" Eren said as he put away his guns. His two Hard-Light swords came into being as he kneeled down right in front of the creature. Just as he expected, the scorpion-like Grimm made an attempt to poison him. But with the help of his Volant, Eren launched himself up in the air and avoided the deadly stinger.

And he swung his swords just quick enough to cut the tail in half.

The creature let out a scream of agony as it moved back and swung its damaged tail. Eren landed just behind the Grimm to avoid the tail, but he was unable to avoid the venom and blood that sprayed from the wound. And with the Grimm shaking its tail back and forth, Eren's face was hit with a mixture of blood and venom.

"Eren!" Mercury yelled as he watched his friend fall to the ground. In a rage, he charged at the creature with an intent to kick it right in its face. But the Deathstalker's pincher had caught his leg and threw him against a tree. Unfortunately for the young man, Mercury didn't have enough time to get away from the pincher yet again.

*SNARL*

Now stuck against the tree and the deformed pincher, Mercury grabbed the limb and pulled as hard as he could. But all he could do was watch as the Grimm's face came closer and closer to his own.

"Get the fuck away from me!" Mercury growled as he started punching the scorpion's face. "You wanna kill me? Well, you gotta do better than this!"

*ROAR*

"..."

As soon as the creature let out an ear-piercing scream, it suddenly closed its mouth and looked at Mercury. Mercury couldn't help but look back, and he saw that something had changed in an instant. Instead of displaying anger and resent, it seemed to have calmed down as it stared at the boy.

Suddenly, the deformed Grimm ripped its pincher away from Mercury's neck and walked backwards. As it did, it began to hit itself on the head and scream incoherently. Mercury listens closely, and tried to make something out.

He almost didn't believe it... but it sounded like the creature was saying the word "no." Over and over again.

Eren, who was still recovering from having venom thrown on half his face, looked up towards the Grimm when he heard the same thing Mercury had heard. The two boys moved together and watched as the beast hit its head even harder. Mercury looked at his healing friend to see the horrible scarring on half of his face, but Eren's injury was the furthest thing on his mind.

"Please tell me that thing didn't just talk," Mercury said as he began to feel fear once again.

Eren couldn't say what Mercury wanted to hear, given that he also deciphered the word "no" from the beast's rambling. "I heard it," Eren said as he covered the half of his face that was burned. "It's talking."

Despite him being afraid now more than ever, Mercury tried to think of a way this was possible. "Did she do this? Did Salem make this... thing to find us?"

Eren focused less on his pain and more on the more human features that the Grimm possessed. "If she did... she used a person this time."

"...So what do we do?"

"..."

Eren's first instinct was to fight and kill the beast in front of him. His face was still healing, but he could still fight. And given that the hybrid in front of him had lost its main weapon of offense and defense, Eren knew that he and Mercury had a better chance of killing it now. It would have to be with swords, given that the creature was immune to bullets.

Or maybe... he could use something else.

"Perhaps a Beetle could find itself stronger when connected to the new Founding Titan? Perhaps it could be powerful enough to drain Grimm as well as Magic?"

This day had certainly been one of danger and opportunity for Eren. His first test with the Grimm Beetle Darkness had shown him had worked miraculously. While he didn't know if Raven's Magic was still with her or not, the results were undeniable. If he could do the same thing again, but make a Beetle drawn to Grimm instead of Magic, there wouldn't be a need for another prolonged battle.

"I got an idea," Eren said as he cut his hand once again. "Watch the Grimm." As he watched black blood fall on the ground once again, Eren concentrated on the puddle and watched as another insect crawled out from the muck.

"Ew," Mercury groaned as he looked at the Beetle. "Eren, what the hell is that?"

"Something I used to stop Raven from killing us," Eren quickly explained.

"Wait, Raven's here?"

"Never mind that now. We have to stay focused."

Mercury looked back towards the Grimm to see that it was starting to regain some of its self-control. As he prepared to fight it once again, Eren grunted as the Beetle once again entered his skin. But this time, Eren tried to make a new connection with the Grimm. At first, all he wanted it to do was drain Raven's Magic. But now, just as Darkness had advised, he needed to connect with the Founding Titan on another level. Fortunately, as long as Eren drew blood, the power of the Founding Titan was his to command.

The connection Eren had to make wasn't an easy one, since he didn't have any idea how to do it. But when the Beetle was once again in his hand, Eren focused on the power that surged through his veins. He could use this power to create and control Grimm, as well as turn into a Titan. But now, he was trying to connect with the Grimm on another level.

Eren didn't feel any different than he did before, when he first used the Grimm Beetle. And the Deathstalker seemed to be ready for another attack.

"Eren!" Mercury yelled. "It's getting ready!"

Eren knew that he was running out of time, and that he was failing to connect to the Grimm. Salem had years of practice and training to get where she was today, and Eren only had less than a minute. Replicating her work was impossible.

However, Eren had experience of his own. In battle, he had learned to think outside the box when the situation called for it. He couldn't connect to the Grimm... but maybe it could connect to him instead.

"...Join me," Eren commanded the Grimm.

Suddenly, Eren felt like the inside of his arm was being repeatedly stabbed. He didn't know what to expect from his command, but it wasn't this. Then again, it wouldn't be happening without a reason. If the Grimm had heard his command, perhaps this was the connection Eren sought to create.

"Eren!" Mercury yelled again. "Look out!"

Eren looked up to see the Grimm had leapt straight towards both boys with the intent to kill. Mercury was prepared to kick its face once again, but Eren had other ideas. As he pushed Mercury aside to get him out of harm's way, Eren raised his right hand and felt the Beetle emerge from his palm. Only this time, instead of jumping away, the Beetle looked like it had formed some kind of web between it and Eren's hand. A black, tar-like string was connecting the two together, and now the Beetle had latched on to the Grimm's face.

*CRASH*

Partially blinded by the small Grimm, the hybrid Deathstalker crashed into another tree close to Eren. Eren took this chance to focus on the link he had made with the Beetle and was focusing on the creature before him. Snarls and screams of pain reached his ears as the creature began to spasm on the ground.

As Eren held his arm out, he began to feel stronger. He couldn't explain it, but he could feel a new life enter his body. It gave him strength and rejuvenation, and it even allowed his face to heal faster. Mercury noticed this, as well as the fact that black ooze began to fall on the ground the Deathstalker was on.

"It's working!" Mercury yelled as he shook Eren's shoulder. "Dude, whatever you're doing is working!"

Eren ignored Mercury's joy for the sole reason of not losing his focus on the hybrid Deathstalker. If he made the smallest mistake now, the Grimm might attack again. And so, he kept draining the Grimm of its vital essence.

As the Grimm disappeared, Eren couldn't help but notice the human-like features in its place. He was confused by this, though he was sure that the Beetle was doing what he wanted it to do: drain Grimm.

"Look at that!" Mercury said as he pointed to the liquid. As he did, he could see that the hybrid's legs were looking more human now than scorpion. "I think whatever you're doing is... making it human again."

"You're right," Eren agreed. "Let's see if I can get it done fully." The process of draining Grimm was making him stronger, and he began to feel a sense of ease with it now.

"You okay, man?"

"Yeah. This is getting easier."

The process was so easy that Eren could focus less on the Grimm and more on the person he was helping. The person had stopped screaming and squirming as well, as if they had stopped fighting. Their legs were visible now, and so were pieces of garments that the two boys hadn't noticed earlier.

"Are those... jeans?" Mercury asked. "Those look like... brown jeans."

Eren nodded as the Grimm melted around the person's torso. "Hey... that looks like a vest," he said as he pointed at a ripped and torn piece of clothing. It was indeed a brown vest, similar to what Cinder usually wore.

Mercury silently agreed as he looked at the person's arms. The pincher on their right arm had disappeared and it was replaced with a human hand. When Mercury was satisfied with this, he looked at the person's left arm.

More specifically, at a black tattoo of a bird on the person's left arm.

"No..."

Eren looked away from the person he was freeing from the Grimm's corruption when he heard Mercury whisper. When he faced his friend, Eren wasn't expecting to see fear and disbelief written all over Mercury's face.

"No," Mercury whispered again. "That's... That's impossible!"

"Mercury?" Eren asked out of concern. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Eren, I know that tattoo!" Mercury pointed back to the person to see that their face had almost turned back to normal. Eren looked back as well while he was listening to Mercury. "That's not some random guy Salem caught, that's... that's..."

The hybrid's face had been cleared of any resemblance to a Deathstalker now. Instead, it showed the face of a young woman with short brown hair.

Which was enough for Eren to share Mercury's disbelief.

"...Vernal?"

---

When Eren and Mercury returned to the Dark Wing with Cinder and Vernal in tow, everyone was waiting for them. Nora had shared her side of the story, where she had helped fight Raven and how Winter was off to the side guarding their new prisoner. Ren, on the other hand, was able to share how he and Mercury were attacked by a new kind of Grimm while they were looking for Vernal.

But when they all heard that the new Grimm was actually Vernal, hardly anyone could believe it. Fortunately, Mercury had Eren to vouch for him and make everyone believe him.

Even Cinder knew he was telling the truth.

Right now, Mercury was right beside an unconscious Vernal in the Dark Wing. He had generously given Vernal his bed for her to rest in while everyone tried to figure things out. Nora, Midori, and Emerald had all decided to watch Raven and Winter while Ren and Eren watched Watts work. The doctor had a few medical tools on hand before he was captured, including a small microscope-like looking glass that he could hold on his eye and see things at another level.

Right now, he was examining a bandage that Vernal was once wearing before she... changed.

"Alright," said Eren. "What can you tell us about all this?"

Watts turned around and became upfront with Eren. "It's fascinating, really," he said as he tapped his microscope. "The tissue sample you gave me in your friend's bandage appears to contain a trace of Grimm in her DNA."

Ren moved closer towards Watts so he could hear better. But based on what he heard, it seemed impossible to believe. "You mean Vernal's been... been infected by Grimm?" he asked in disbelief.

"It would appear so." Watts looked back to his looking glass. "And in her case, it seems to have triggered some kind of mutation in her DNA." Watts looked back up to Eren. "But what I can't understand is how this agent was introduced into the girl's bloodstream."

"I think I know."

Everyone turned around to see that Mercury was ready to offer his own insight about the cause. "Remember when we had to fight all those Grimm at Kuroyuri?" he asked as he walked closer. "We did a number on them, but Vernal took a bad hit. She got possessed by that Chill and fell into a coma." Mercury stopped walking when he was with Eren and Ren. "I think... that Chill did more damage than we thought."

"A Chill?" Watts asked. "Surely, you're joking. Nobody has ever survived a Chill's possession."

"I think you'd know when I'm joking, Doc." Mercury leaned a little closer. "And don't call me 'Shirley'."

"..."

Mercury slapped Watts on his shoulder. "I'm kidding." He then looked back to his friends. "But really, do you guys know what I'm saying?"

"It makes a strange sort of sense," said Ren. "Eren saved Vernal from the Chill, but it may have left a mark on her."

"Maybe it wasn't a regular Chill," Eren suggested. "Ren met Rod Reiss in Kuroyuri, it might have been him who possessed Vernal. Or maybe one of those Chill he could make on his own." Eren suddenly had a bad thought. "Or maybe... some of the Founding Titan's powers changed Vernal when I punched the Chill out of her."

"What on Remnant are they babbling about?" Watts thought to himself. "There's never been any kind of survivor from a Chill attack. However... why does the name 'Reiss' ring a bell?" Watts fully turned around in his chair and focused on the situation at hand. "You said this bandage was worn prior to her changing back. I'd need a fresh blood sample to see if your actions have fully cured her."

"Let me check the first aid kit we found here," said Ren. This was one of the first things everyone found when they obtained the Dark Wing. "Maybe there are some needles we can use."

"Good idea," said Eren. "Merc, how's Vernal doing?"

"Still resting," Mercury said. "Should I wake her up? I mean, I don't wanna see her in another coma or anything. But I-"

"Let's just leave her be." Eren gently pushed on Mercury's shoulder. "Maybe we need some air too." He then guided Mercury outside, away from everyone else. "I actually wanna talk to you first."

"Um, shouldn't we be inside? Vernal might wake up."

"This'll just take a minute." Eren cleared his throat before he started talking again. "First off, Mercury, I owe you an apology. We were wrong to think you attacked Ren when we saw you use your Titan."

Mercury was still worried about Vernal, but he started to feel relieved when Eren apologized. He also began to feel a little proud of himself as well. "Oh... thanks, man," he said with a smile. He really appreciated the apology. "So, I'm not in trouble? For using my Titan?"

Eren shook his head as he rubbed his eyes, which he did as an act of disappointment in himself. "No, nothing like that. You were totally justified when you used your Titan. If I didn't always heal right away, I'd have the scars to prove it."

Mercury chuckled at the idea. "Yeah, same here. So, does that mean I can start using my Titan again?"

"I think you've spent enough time in the doghouse." Eren stuck his fist out towards Mercury. "Good to have the Flashstep Titan back."

Mercury bumped Eren's fist with his own. "Good to be back, man. So, when do we kick Salem's ass?"

Eren looked overhead to see that the sun was beginning to set. "Between the drive, Raven, and helping Vernal, I think we've had enough action for one day. We'll spend the night here and leave first thing tomorrow."

"Sounds good. Let's see what we can whip up for dinner."

Eren stopped Mercury from walking away. "Just a second," he requested. "Before we all get together, I actually have a favor to ask."

"Oh, okay," Mercury said calmly. "What's up?"

"I need you to talk to Cinder."

Mercury briefly froze. "...Say what now?"

Eren pointed away from the Dark Wing towards the trees. More specifically, towards a spot where Cinder was sitting while she was cleaning Dancing Midnight. The only problem with this was that she was rubbing the same spot over and over again.

Cinder was never one to shy away from her friends, unless something was troubling her. And given what Eren had told her when he came back for her in the woods, Cinder grew incredibly quiet and reclusive when the truth behind Mercury's actions were revealed. One would think she was still recovering from the poison, but Eren knew better; he knew Cinder was feeling guilty about what happened.

"Can you just talk to her?" Eren asked. "You know... bury the hatchet?"

Mercury looked away from Cinder and took a sharp breath. "Uh, I'm not sure that's a good idea," he said. "She doesn't wanna talk to me."

"Maybe not," said Eren. "But she's sorry about what happened. Trust me, I can tell."

"No offense, Eren, but you weren't there." Mercury recalled his previous meeting with Cinder before Eren showed up. "You know she was gonna shoot me? I tried to tell her what happened, why I turned into my Titan. But she didn't listen! She told me herself that she didn't believe me! And now I'm just supposed to forgive her?!"

Eren slowly moved his hands up to ease Mercury's behavior. "Look, I get it. I wouldn't want to be shot either, especially when you're telling the truth. But she wasn't the only one who didn't believe you."

Mercury lowered his voice, but he was still feeling angry at everything. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Did you see how everyone reacted to your story?" Eren asked. He was referring to how Mercury exchanged his story with everyone else once they returned to the camp. "Emerald's exact words were 'That's impossible.' And Nora was there when we saw Ren. When we came back, she was holding Magnhild so tight her hands were turning red."

"...Really?" Mercury began to feel even more hurt by this silent accusation from Nora. "You saw her do this?"

"Yeah. She was having the same idea as Cinder at the time. Mercury, I was wrong to think you attacked Ren. I admit it. But if I were in Cinder's place, or if I was hearing this for the first time... I can't see myself believing something like that."

Mercury took a moment to reflect on everything he said and how everyone reacted to the story. "...Fuck," he groaned.

Eren was wise to express his own feelings on the matter. Mercury seemed to realize how crazy he sounded when he was explaining himself. And as he remembered how he sounded and how the situation looked, Mercury had a few more things to say.

"...I guess running did look kinda bad," he began. "But... did I really kick a tree towards you?"

Eren nodded. "Cinder got a scratch from it," he said. "But that's in the past, Merc. We all believe you now. So, this favor... I gotta ask."

Mercury was close to being convinced by Eren. Between being believed by everyone and admitting that he had made some mistakes, he was almost ready to talk to Cinder. However, there was one thing holding him back.

"I guess I can talk to her," Mercury decided. "But only if she apologizes. I mean, sure, everyone knows that I was telling the truth. But you're probably the only one who apologized. You think she'd be willing to do that?"

Eren took a second to think about it, but another voice answered for him.

"Let's find out."

Eren and Mercury turned to see that Cinder was standing right behind them. While he didn't know how much she had heard, Eren felt somewhat guilty about talking behind her back.

"Cinder, I-"

"No, it's okay, Eren," Cinder insisted. "I want to talk to Mercury."

Mercury was still on the fence about talking to Cinder, but it seemed unavoidable now. Eren understood this, and he began to walk back into the car. "I'll keep an eye on Vernal for you," he promised. "And I'll let you know if she wakes up."

"...Sure," Mercury agreed. "Thanks, Eren."

Eren silently nodded and took his leave, which left Cinder and Mercury alone.

"So, uh..." Mercury awkwardly began. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Not all of it," Cinder claimed. "I started listening when you raised your voice."

Mercury started to relax as he leaned against the side of the car. "Alright, then. You gonna apologize?"

"Well... yeah, I guess."

Mercury's moment of relaxation passed with this answer. "You guess?" He moved off the car and closer to Cinder. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Cinder was starting to grow irritated as well. "Well, weren't you listening to Eren? How would you expect me to react about some story of a Deathstalker that looked more human than Grimm? After you ran away from Ren? Did you hear what you were saying back there? Seriously, what was I supposed to think?"

"Oh, I don't know! Maybe you could trust your friends when they say they wouldn't hurt anyone instead of threatening to shoot them! Is that so hard?!"

"You tell me, Mercury!" Cinder jabbed a finger at Mercury. "You weren't the most open-minded person when you thought Eren was trying to kill you! Which he wasn't!"

Mercury groaned as he slapped himself on the forehead. "Oh, my God! Are you still on about that?!"

"Of course I am!" Cinder lowered her hand. "You tried to kill him in his sleep! Who the hell does that?!"

"And I said I was wrong! Why can't you do the same?!"

"I'm not saying that I was right about distrusting you, I'm just-!"

"You're not doing shit, Cinder!" Mercury yelled as he pointed at her this time. "Other than still hating me for fucking up! I apologized to Eren, and he forgives me! He's even giving me a second chance, so why the fuck aren't you?!"

"Because you never apologized to me!"

"..."

Anger had turned to confusion for Mercury. He didn't understand why Cinder thought she deserved an apology, and he was shocked that she had the audacity to demand one.

However, Cinder's abilities in public speaking soon changed his mind.

"I don't care what you think about me and Eren, but I'm not trying to sleep with him like you said," Cinder began, quiet enough for nobody else to hear. "He's my best friend. He means more to me than you could ever know. So how do you think I should react when I learn someone almost killed Eren? What if I just woke up the next morning and found out that he was dead? While I was asleep?!" Cinder took a second to catch her breath before she started talking again. "If I lost Eren... I don't know what I'd do." She then pointed at Mercury once again. "I mean, what would you do if Vernal didn't make it out of Kuroyuri?"

"..."

"And I told you that Eren didn't attack you, but you didn't believe me," Cinder finished. Her closing, however, seemed to work on both ends of the matter. Cinder could see that she may have gotten through to Mercury, but she realized that she had made the same mistake a few minutes ago.

Did that mean she should forgive him?

"Well... you shouldn't have been talking behind my back."

Cinder snapped out of her introspective issue and listened to Mercury. "What?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

"Don't listen to Mercury," said the young mechanic. "He's just being an asshole right now."

"What are you-?"

"It's like what happened to Ren, but worse."

Cinder's eyes widened when she understood what Mercury was doing; he was repeating the same things she had said about him while she tried to calm Eren down.

"He's losing it, Eren. I don't think we're safe around him right now." With that, Mercury was finished making his point. "Everyone wanted me to apologize for yelling at you. And I had to listen to all that?"

"You... You weren't supposed to hear that," Cinder insisted.

"Oh, yeah? Well, you weren't supposed to think that."

"..."

Cinder lowered her head in shame when she saw that Mercury was right. But despite the victory he had just won, the young man couldn't help but feel unsatisfied. Almost killing Eren had left a larger impact than Mercury believed. Maybe everyone else held Eren in the same regard as Cinder did, and maybe they still held a grudge for what he almost did to him.

Cinder and Mercury could see that there was no winner in this argument. Neither of them were truly right or wrong in this case; both of them had their own unique faults and both of them could be blamed for recent mistakes.

Now all they had to do was admit it.

"I'm sorry, Mercury," said Cinder. "I... You're right. I should have believed you earlier. And... I should have been a better friend too. Better than I have been for the past few days."

"Same here," Mercury admitted. "I was... I was a total dick to you that night. I was just... totally pissed off. That was the only thing I cared about."

"Me too." Cinder leaned against the Dark Wing and slumped down to the ground. "I don't know what it is, but whenever I get angry or hold a grudge... I can't really let it go. I mean, you saw that with Winter and the Huntsmen. I don't know, maybe it's because of what happened to me in Atlas. When I was a kid." Cinder quickly recanted this statement. "No, that's not an excuse. I mean-"

"No, no, I get it." Mercury sat beside Cinder. "I've never been someone who forgives and forgets either. I mean, I still hate my dad. And he's dead."

"..."

"I should've listened to you about Eren, Cinder. I mean, he's the reason my dad's right where he belongs."

"I should've listened to you about Vernal," Cinder agreed. "I mean, the Deathstalker."

"You're not wrong with how bad it made me look. You know, running away."

"Yeah, but... I shouldn't have threatened to shoot you either."

"Agreed."

Cinder shared a small laugh with Mercury before she started talking again. "But really, I should have remembered that you're on our side. That we all want to stop Salem together. My head's just... not been right for a little while."

"Cinder, you're preaching to the whole damn choir right now," Mercury admitted. "I, uh... I should get something off my chest." Mercury stood up and began to pace around the immediate area. "The night that Grimm attacked me... that was like the fourth time I almost died in the same week. First it was Tyrian at the castle, then Tyrian in Mistral, then Hazel in the Forever Fall, and then the Titan. I think... I think almost dying like that... got to my head."

"...Oh."

Cinder had to admit that she never thought about Mercury's experiences like this. He was always one to brush things off and move on to the next, but almost dying four times in the same week? There were bound to be some kind of effects. And the Titan was bound to be the thing that broke the straw on the camel's back.

"Mercury, I'm sorry," Cinder said as she stood up. "You should've said something, we could've helped."

"Nah, it was my own bullshit," said Mercury. "And it's not an excuse for how shitty I've been. I should've been dealing with it better."

"That's not true." Cinder sighed before she talked again. "I should have been a better friend to you. No... I can be a better friend. I will be." Cinder extended her hand towards Mercury. "If you forgive me, that is."

Mercury believed Cinder when she said this; he couldn't recall a time when she ever went back on her word. But instead of a handshake, Mercury had a better idea. "Come on, bring it in!" He then wrapped his arms around Cinder and smiled. Cinder smiled as well and returned the generous hug.

And as they embraced the display of camaraderie, Cinder and Mercury promised themselves that they would be better friends. To each other and everyone else.

*TAP*

*TAP*

*TAP*

Cinder and Mercury released each other when they heard the sound of something gently hitting the side of the Dark Wing. There, they found Eren looking right at them.

"Sorry," he said sincerely. "Is this a bad time?"

"No, we're good," said Mercury. "You came at a good time, actually."

"Perfect, even," said Cinder. "We just finished up what we needed to say."

"Oh, good," Eren said as he mentally sighed in relief. "Vernal's awake, I thought we should all hear what she-"

"Oh, man!" Mercury moved quickly into the Dark Wing. "I mean, thanks, Eren! I gotta check on her!"

Eren watched Mercury run inside as fast as the Flashstep Titan itself before he walked back inside. But a soft hug from behind made him stop dead in his tracks.

"Thank you, Eren," Cinder said as she gave Eren a gentle squeeze. "You're the best."

"..."

Eren smiled at the notion and leaned into Cinder's embrace. He then led Cinder back into the Dark Wing, where most of the camp was waiting inside. Winter was still among them, as she chose to safeguard Raven instead of leaving once more; she would be sure to get her chance to talk to Eren again.

Inside, Eren and Cinder found everyone huddled around Vernal in bed. Mercury was kneeling by her side while everyone else stood. Watts was the only exclusion, given that he was looking at a small amount of blood through his microscopic glass.

"I'm sorry," said Vernal, who buried her face in her hand. "I'm sorry, everyone. I didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"It's okay, Vernal," said Mercury, who was holding her hand while kneeling. "It's over. Nobody's hurt."

"Yeah, we're okay," said Eren.

"Trust me, we've been through worse," said Nora.

"No, you haven't," Vernal insisted.

"Sure we have," said Cinder. "Besides, it's not your fault."

"Yeah, babe," Mercury agreed. "This was outta of anyone's control."

"That's not true," said Vernal. "I could've done something."

"How? It's impossible, Vernal. You had no idea that-"

"No!" Vernal hit the mattress with her free hand. "I was stupid to do this to you!"

"..."

The collective silence helped Vernal begin to calm down as she explained herself. "Guys, Mercury, I... I wanted to tell you. I meant to, I swear."

Everyone shared a glance of concern amongst themselves, and Ren was the first to ask the question on everyone's minds. "Wait a minute, you... you knew about this?" Ren asked. "That you're... not well?"

"You mean change into a monster everyone wants to kill?" Vernal bluntly asked. "Yeah. Yeah, I knew."

"But... how?" Mercury asked. "When?"

"It happened..." Vernal took a deep breath as she tried to explain herself. "It happened a couple of days after I woke up. The doctors at Kuroyuri wanted me to stay a little longer, so they could see how I was doing. But one night, I couldn't sleep. I felt... cold. And sick."

"..."

"When I called for a nurse, I saw my arms were... different." Vernal saw that both of her arms were normal now, but she still remembered the first time she saw them turn into something else. "They were black. And covered in hair. Like... Like a-"

"A Grimm," said Eren.

Vernal nodded slowly. "I passed out from the sight. But when I woke up, I was... I was covered in blood."

"Blood?" Midori asked.

"...Not my blood."

"..."

Everyone looked at each other out of concern once again, but Vernal continued to talk. "When the doctors and security guards found me, they thought I had been attacked," said Vernal. "They said that a Grimm broke in. A Beowolf. It... I... killed two nurses and a doctor that night."

"..."

"I didn't know what to think. I wasn't even sure if I was dreaming or what happened to me was real. But I didn't like staying at the hospital, so I left. And I prayed to God that it was just a dream."

"When did you find out?" Eren asked. "That you weren't dreaming?"

"On the road. To Mistral. I... changed again. A Beowolf, again. I didn't hurt anyone, but I... I knew what was happening. I remembered running into the woods, just destroying everything. Plants, trees, even a few animals that looked at me dirty. I couldn't control myself, I was... I was just like the Grimm."

"..."

"I didn't know what to do or where to go, so I went back to Spider. I thought at least I could get my head wrapped around everything or find a doctor that could help."

"Did you?" Midori asked.

"What do you think?"

"..."

Vernal quickly regretted her rash behavior. "Sorry, I just..." She buried her face in her hand as she let out an exhausted sigh. "Things got better, but not when I wanted them to. I transformed again, into something else in front of my boss. I was a Sabyr, I think. She and Spider almost killed me after I went on a rampage, but I escaped. I figured I wasn't welcome back there, so I struck out on my own."

"Doing what?" Emerald asked.

"Trying to control myself. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I actually found out that I could... I could..." Vernal was having a hard time putting her thoughts into words. "You all remember how... athletic I've been? Since I found you?"

"What, you mean the acrobatics?" Mercury asked. "That's because of your, uh... condition?"

"Yeah. I found out that doing stuff like that wasn't just easy, but it helped make the Grimm disappear. Like it faded away. But it always came back."

"Was it coming back earlier? I mean, with the bandage?"

Vernal sighed again. "Yeah, that's right. It was growing again, so I covered it up. I thought I could control it, but... I was wrong." She gently squeezed Mercury's hand. "I'm sorry."

Everyone believed Vernal was telling the truth, but they couldn't believe that she had hid all of this from them. "Vernal, why didn't you tell us?" Eren asked. "What if you turned into something bigger than all those Grimm? Something bad could've happened!"

"Yeah, look what happened to Ren!" said Nora. "He could've died because we didn't know about this!"

"Whoa, guys!" said Mercury, who stood up. "Let's just take it easy here, we can-"

"No, it's okay," said Vernal. "They're right, Merc. I should've told you." Vernal looked back towards her friends. "All of you. But I was scared. And I thought I could control it." Vernal sighed when she drew a connection between her past and today. "After what happened with Spider, I thought you wouldn't want me here. And being alone, it was just..."

"..."

Everyone was waiting for Vernal to finish, but Vernal didn't see the need to describe her own feelings about this. She didn't see the need to stay any longer when she was obviously dangerous.

"No, forget it," she said as she stood up. Her clothes were in tatters, but she didn't care. "I shouldn't have come here. I'll get outta your hair."

"What? No!" Mercury immediately protested. "Vernal, you don't have to leave!"

Eren had calmed down from earlier, and he too didn't want Vernal to leave. "Hey, just wait a second!" he said as he blocked the exit of the Dark Wing. "Maybe we can help you. I mean, we got you back, didn't we?"

Mercury joined Eren by the exit. "Yeah, and we got the doc back there! He'll get something going, he can help!"

"No... I can't."

Everyone turned around to see that Watts was looking back at them. He was previously sitting while looking at a sample of Vernal's blood, but now he was looking directly at everyone when he made this declaration.

"Can't?" Mercury angrily asked as he stormed over to Watts. "Or won't?"

"..."

There was no deceit or malevolence behind Watts' words, given what he found in Vernal's blood. And he had been working hard so his life would be spared from the monster that was Eren Yeager. But based on everything he saw from Eren and Vernal's blood, Watts believed honesty was the best way to go about things from now on.

And he started with his analysis of Vernal.

"This mutation I found..." Watts began slowly. "It's unlike anything I've seen before. It's unlike anything anyone has seen before."

"Why?" Mercury asked. "What's wrong with it?"

"The Grimm in her blood, it's... bonded to her entirely. It's as if the girl's entire body had been genetically engineered, turned into something else. Any attempt to eradicate it from her system would be fatal."

Everyone became shocked and concerned by this, but Mercury was the first to deny it. "No, that's bullshit!" he said. "We've seen what you can do, just make a cure or something!"

"I can't!" Watts argued. "This would take years of work and a whole team of medical professionals! Mind you, I do have my work cut out for me; but I'm not God."

"So it's hopeless then," said Vernal, who had just gotten back everyone's attention. Mercury was about to argue with Watts once again, to demand that he do something other than talk; but now, he couldn't help but focus on his disheartened girlfriend. "I shouldn't have come here," she said as she pushed past Eren and walked outside.

"Vernal, wait!" Mercury implored as he moved through the cramped space. Eren moved aside so Mercury could catch up to Vernal, and he too moved outside to see what he would say.

"Just leave me alone, Merc," Vernal begged. "Just go away!"

"No, wait!" Mercury said as he stood in front of her once again. "So maybe we can't get cure you, but that doesn't mean you have to leave!"

"But Eren's right! I could've killed someone because I wasn't careful! Because I thought I could bite off more than I could chew!"

"Babe, you just made a mistake. But now we know, now we can help you."

"No, you can't." Vernal looked down at her arms as she reflected on the monstrosity she transformed into. "Merc, this isn't something you can just wish away or control. I'm... I'm a freak."

Mercury felt incredibly sorry for Vernal. While he didn't think of her as a freak, he understood how people could see her this way. After all, the people of Kuroyuri were up in arms when they found out that Eren and Cinder were Titans, even though they protected the town. More than anything, Mercury wanted to show Vernal that he didn't want her to leave. That he wanted to help her control her condition and learn to live with it.

Fortunately, Mercury was able to think of a way to show her that this was possible.

"Vernal, listen to me," Mercury began calmly. "You're not a freak. If anything, you're in the best company possible right now."

"The best company?" Vernal asked. "Mercury, I'm practically half Grimm. There's no coming back from that."

"Yeah, but you're not alone. I know what that's like."

Vernal groaned in frustration. "Don't do that, okay? Don't pretend to understand what I'm going through!"

"But I'm not! Believe me, I'm not!" Mercury was ready to show Vernal what he meant, but he knew it wasn't going to be easy. "I... I haven't really caught you up on everything. Since Kuroyuri."

"...What are you talking about?"

Mercury began to step away from Vernal. "I told you about Salem. How she controlled the Grimm that attacked us. And you heard it from everyone else. So, you believe me, right?"

Vernal was starting to grow calmer, but only because she didn't understand what was going on. "Uh... yeah?" she replied. "Babe, where are you going with this?"

"I, uh... I got something else I need to tell you. Well, show you, actually." Mercury stopped walking when he believed to be at a considerable distance from Vernal. "Just remember what I said, okay? Let me show you that you're not alone." With that, Mercury bit into his hand and began his transformation.

*BOOM*

Eren and his friends couldn't hear everything Mercury and Vernal were talking about after he exited his Titan, but they were confident that Vernal would be okay. And they had a good feeling that she would be staying for a while.

"Oh, no."

The good feeling disappeared when everyone looked to see that Watts had included himself in the observing party. "There are even more Titans now?" he asked out of disbelief. He knew about Eren being a Titan, but he didn't know the exact number of Titan Shifters on Remnant. "Are there any more Titans I should know about?"

"..."

Eren, Cinder, Ren, and Nora raised their hands towards Watts. Not to compromise vital information, but to simply have fun with the temporary ally. Emerald rolled her eyes and Midori simply giggled at the look on Watts' face.

"We're doomed," Watts groaned as he looked at the number of hands.

"Salem's doomed," Cinder corrected the man. "Play nice, and you might survive."

"Yes, yes." Watts walked back inside. "I'm well aware of my role here, ma'am." Everyone followed inside to keep an eye on the scientist, where Watts saw an opportunity to satisfy his curiosity. "What about you two?" Watts pointed at Emerald and Midori. "What's your excuse?"

"No excuse," said Emerald. "I just wanna help."

"And I want to make sure Salem won't hurt anyone ever again," said Midori. "And the same goes for you too."

Watts had recognized Midori ever since she had been taken away by Eren. "Don't take my work with Salem personally, dear," Arthur said. "I was just following orders." Before he could argue further, Watts pointed outside. "What about the Atlesian? And that prisoner you have out there?"

"Not a damn thing," Eren said. "That's enough questions."

"..."

Watts turned around in silence as Eren turned the other way. As he did, Cinder leaned closer and whispered carefully. "What are we doing with Raven?" she asked.

"I'll explain later," Eren promised. "But I need to know about her Magic. To see if I can fight Salem." Cinder was beginning to understand, and she was ready to trust Eren and help him if need be.

"Magic?"

Eren turned around to see that Watts had heard him whispering. He was about to shut the scientist down once again, but another question resulted in Eren being the one who was silenced.

"You found a Maiden?" Watts asked in surprise.

"..."

Everyone looked at Watts and gasped at the question. Objects dropped to the ground as they fell out of people's hands. But the one who was arguably the most surprised by the question was Midori.

"Did you say... a Maiden?" the young medic asked. "You... You know what a Maiden is?"

"I... Yes, of course," Watts replied. He was starting to grow nervous about the quiet stares; it was as if they were saying that he had made a horrible mistake.

Midori suddenly turned back to her friends. "He knows what a Maiden is," she repeated. "That's why I was at Salem's castle. She wanted me to be her Maiden!" She then looked back to Watts and screamed. "What did Salem want from me?! What's a Maiden?!"

Watts backed away to regain some of his personal space. It seemed he had made a mistake, given that everyone's silence implied that they all wanted an answer as well. However, Watts couldn't understand why this knowledge wasn't shared with Eren or anyone else. There was only one enemy of Salem who knew the truth about what a Maiden was, and he surely would have shared this information with his allies.

Unless... they weren't with him.

"Wait a minute," the doctor requested. He understood that asking another question, after being told not to, would be a risk. But as a scientist, Watts needed to ask questions to satisfy theories he had. And now, he had a theory about Eren he needed to confirm. "Why... Why did you want to stop Salem again?" he asked Eren.

"What's it to you?" Eren responded.

"I just... don't understand how you can call Salem your enemy, and not know anything about her ambitions."

Eren walked closer to Watts and leaned forward. "Maybe you should talk about them."

Watts cleared his throat as he attempted to relax. "Well then... it seems your world is about to get a whole lot bigger."

"..."

---

Author's notes: hey everyone! Thank you so much for being so patient with us as we got this chapter done. As you saw, we had a lot to cover before we begin Eren's rematch with Salem, but we're all set now. Now we can see who wins and who loses next time. Hope you're all excited!

Here's a note from AT:

"Hey guys, The Avenging Titan here. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has followed this story, for we have now reached it's 2nd anniversary! Not only that, but as Doctor Strange once said, we're in the endgame now... for Act I at least but still an endgame none the less.

Anyhow before closing off, I just wish to share two things. First off, as mentioned last chapter, I will be posting a World of Remnant style companion story sometime after the end of Act I of A New Path. Now I only had the idea of the story in my mind, but after talking to Court we have chosen a perfect name:

Attack on Titan: Beyond the Path.

Quite a fitting title isn't it? This story follows Eren on "A New Path" and my story will be one that is just "Beyond the Path" so to speak. Again, this is a post-Act I thing so don't expect it to appear for a while. But I do hope that it will be something people will enjoy.

The second thing I wanted to mention is sadly a tragic one. Once again the awful years that is the 2020's has claimed yet another life, and that life is one Lance Reddick who has passed away due to natural causes. Lance Reddick has been in numerous media over the years from films such as White House Down and John Wick, to TV Shows such as The Wire, Fringe, and a post-humous appearance as Zeus for the upcoming Percy Jackson series. However Video Game fans may better know him as Commander Zavala from Bungie's hit series Destiny, who has played the role for roughly 10 years now. I remember seeing images of players gathering around the character in game and having there characters sit next to him, or stand by him with various respectful emotes honoring the actor. That really was moving.

"What we have built is only the beginning, a symbol of what we can achieve." - Commander Zavala, Reddicks iconic character.

Lance Solomon Reddick

June 7, 1962 – March 17, 2023

May he find peace in the Light's embrace"

And with that, it looks like we're about done here. As AT has said, thank you all for favoriting and following the story. We really hope you're enjoying it, and feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. Have a great day, and we'll see you next time.