Chapter 12: Our own reasons

Eren jolted up from his slumber, his eyes adjusting to the darkness of the dimly lit room as they frantically looked around before him were two people and a set of dark metal bars standing in between him and them, he instantly recognized the people in front of him; the guy with the blond hair with an undercut, blue eyes with thick eyebrows and tall large built was Commander Erwin, the head of the Scout Regiment and next to him was Captain Levi, Humanity's strongest soldier.

"Any questions?" asked Erwin

"Yeah" replied Ed, sitting up from his own bed to the right of Eren who turned to face him, he then turned to his left to see Alphonse also sitting on his own bed "Just who you two are exactly?"

"I'm Erwin Smith, Commander of the Scout Regiment and the fellow to my side is Captain Levi." He announced, his voice was deep and radiated authority.

"W...Where are we?" asked Eren, stuttering on his words.

"It should be quite obvious, you boys are in a dungeon, you're held under the custody of the Military Police." Responded Erwin

"Can you believe it? We helped save a city from Titans and were treated like public enemy number one" said Ed in an annoyed manner "I don't expect a hero's welcome but a thank you would have been great and maybe food that wasn't moldy bread would be nice too."

"Tch, cocky little shit…" Levi remarked, rolling his eyes.

"Who you calling little, you pint sized midget with a bad haircut?" taunted Ed.

Levi raised one of his slender eyebrows at the insult; looking almost taken aback, the Military police officers guarding the cell snickered at the insult causing Levi to shoot them a look which had the guards biting their tongues very quickly. Eren was stunned that Ed had so brazenly thrown an insult at Humanity's strongest soldier straight to his face.

Alphonse attempted to defuse the situation by asking a question of his own "So what is the Scout Regiment?" he asked, a benign question but one that would avert from a confrontation.

"A good question; the Scout Regiment's responsible for exploration and the eventual reclaiming of former Human territories from the Titans by setting up bases outside the Walls" He explained "Though as of late our main priority is sealing the breach in Shiganshina District and reclaiming the lands within Wall Maria."

"What happened to the others who were with us?" asked Eren concerned for the well being of his closest friends.

"Don't worry about them; they're being interviewed along with anyone else who has come into contact with you boys." Erwin then reached into his pockets, in his right hand he held Eren's key and in his left hand he held Ed's pocket watch "I assume these belong to you; this is your key Cadet Yeager? And this pocket watch, this belongs to you Edward Elric?

"Yeah, it is." Replied Eren

"Could you give that back, it's not exactly polite to take another person's stuff without their permission" said Edward

"They'll be back in your possession in due time" assured Erwin "But first let's talk; Cadet Yeager your basement back in Shiganshina; from what I've heard there's a pretty big secret concerning the Titans am I correct? And Elrics, apparently you two were sent here from a different world to help us defeat the Titans."
Eren shifted on his bed uncomfortable "Yeah I think so, or at least, that's what my dad said."

"Yes sir" said Alphonse.

"Two impossible claims and no way of verifying them" remarked Levi "How very convenient."

"There's no need for that, we've already been through this, and they have no reason to lie." Countered Erwin "However that's all we know for now; how about you boys enlighten us on your intentions."

"Intentions?" asked Eren while Ed and Alphonse stayed quiet.

"Yes, here's the situation; we'd like to find out what exactly is in your father's basent it might be the key to defeating the Titans once and for all and the best way of doing that is sealing up the breach in Shiganshina as you three had done in Trost, so naturally we'll need the abilities you boys possess in order to do that, anyway you think about people with seemingly inhuman abilities are going to decide the outcome of this war, it's almost certain that both the Armoured Titan and the Colossal Titan are the same as you Cadet Yeager and we don't know whether there could be more people from your world being sent here Elrics, which is why I'm asking your intentions you boys could be Humanity's greatest advantage. I noticed that this pocket watch has a very intricate design, looks official and within the watch was this folded ,masterfully drawn, portrait and an engraving on the case 'Don't forget third of October ten' do they happen to link with your intentions?"

"Portrait?" asked Ed.

"This" Erwin then opened the watch, picking out a small folded piece of paper, he carefully unfolded it, held it up gaps in between the bars and revealed it to th, Ed's eyes widen when he saw it; it was a photograph of him, Winry and Alphonse it was one of the first pictures they had taken of th all together when Al got his body back. That's why she wanted me to keep it. Eren looked at the portrait, he'd never seen something so detailed it was as if someone was able to capture the moment exactly on a piece of paper.

"Would I be correct in thinking that you two are agents who were sent here under the directive of your government?" asked Erwin

"No, you wouldn't" said Ed "Look I'm going to be honest; yes, I use to work for the military back in our world as something called a State Alchemist, they even use to call me Fullmetal, but I didn't join out of some great love or loyalty for my country; I just needed the money to fix a mistake we'd done in our childhood, which relates to that date, I quit a few years ago after it was solved and Al was never a part of the military. So no I wasn't sent here by the government, hell after everything that's happened back on our world the last thing they'd want is to be sucked into something like this, we're here by choice." said Ed, he thought that by being open with the Commander it would ease suspicion and prevent the possibility of being found out down the line and having to go through another conflict with this world's military. "We were sent here as part of a deal by something called the Truth or...God if you can believe it."

Eren gasped at what Ed had said, Levi's eyes widen slightly while Erwin still listened intently.

"From Ed and I's understanding and encounters with it; the Truth regulates people's ability to perform Alchemy, our abilities, and punishes those who try to play God with Alchemy." Alphonse continued "A few days ago it grabbed us and made us a deal; it'll grant us a demand which would allow us to bring back the loved ones who we lost but first we had to help you guys defeat the Titans and secure a future where you could live on for generations."

"So save our lives and in exchange you get to bring people back from the dead?" asked Levi "and I'm guessing after you've completed your mission you'll leave back to your world with all your newly resurrected loved ones in tow?"

"Yeah." said Ed.

"Hmm… A noble cause, Elrics." remarked Erwin "What about you Cadet Yeager?"

"I…" he thought about it, in his mind he relieved the moment when the Colossal Titan broke down the gate, when the Armoured Titan broke through Wall Maria, his mother was eaten and the night he made his promise, he'd kill every last Titan. "I… I want to join the Scout Regiment and kill every last Titan." Replied Eren with an almost crazed look in his eyes, his intentions weren't as noble as the Elrics but he was every bit, if not more so, determined to see it through.

"Seems like our paths have all joined onto one road; saving humanity and it looks like the best way to achieve that is to seal the breach in the Shiganshina district." Remarked Erwin. "Joining the Scout Regiment would put you on a straight path towards your objective; I wager that helping us reclaim Wall Maria and Shiganshina district would be more than enough to keep your end of the deal with this being called the Truth. But I will warn you; over the course of the four years since the fall of Wall Maria the efforts to lay a path to the breach has cost us sixty percent of our soldiers and the mortality rate of new trainees on their first expedition beyond the walls is thirty percent, mind you these are trainees who've had three years of training which you two don't have, so knowing all this I ask you; Edward Elric, Alphonse Elrics… will you join us?, is your resolve to save humanity on this earth, to see the ones you love again greater than your fear of dying?"

They paused for a moment; fully taking in the offer before them, when they'd jumped into this place and this war against the Titan they didn't have a clear objective or any clear idea of what they needed to do to defeat the Titans. Helping them recapture the area around Wall Maria would be almost the perfect way to go about it. But the survival rate did cause some hesitation; if only forty percent of people who were trained to fight Titans actually make it back alive then what were their odds?

"We'll do it" said Ed in a tone of voice matching his and Al's resolve "we'll join the Scout Regiment."

"Good to hear" said Erwin with a sly smile on his face "And final question; is it possible you can use your powers to quickly rebuild a gate in Trost?"

"Yes, we can do that." Said Alphonse

"Wonderful." replied Erwin his calm and authoritative tone now had a hint of playfulness

"Huh… well I can't say I'm not impressed with your reasons, even though I think you three are all completely way in over your heads." Said Levi "Erwin, tell the brass I'll be the one responsible for them" he moved forward and gripped the bars, scanning the three in the cell "Not that I trust them of course, it's more a matter of keeping an eye on them in case the Elrics betray us or Yeager goes rogue, I'm sure they'll trust that I'm more than capable to putting them down if it comes to that" he paused to allow his thinly veiled threat to sink in "congratulations Yeager, Elrics; welcome to the Scout Regiment."

"It's settled then" said Erwin standing from the chair "You boys will have to endure this for just a little longer, make no mistake we are doing everything in our power to see you three out of this cell."

Eren slowly opened his eyes, waking up from his sleep, it must have been hours, maybe even a day since him, Ed and Alphonse spoke with Commander Erwin and Captain Levi. He shifted his head to the left to see Alphonse lying down with his head facing the wall still asleep, he then shifted his head to his right to see Ed biting down into a piece of bread, the chains on his shackles clanked to the movements of his arms. He turned to face the guard by the cell

"Hey, can I have some water?" he asked the guard.

"No" was the reply "You're not getting anything, you monster."

Eren was taken aback by the insult, slightly flinching.

"Asshole" muttered Ed.

"They gave you some more bread?" said Eren.

"Yeah, it's mouldy, but I'm hungry." Replied Ed as he bit down into the piece of bread again.

Eren as he sat up on his bed, his eyes slightly widen when he saw that Ed's left foot was encased in metal, upon closer examination Eren could see the screws and details; his foot was either encased in metal or it was made out of metal.

"Staring at my leg, huh?" said Ed, startling Eren, he then placed the half eaten piece of bread on the dresser next to his bed and with both hands rolled up his trouser sleeve to reveal that his leg up to his knee was replaced with some kind of metal prosthetic. Eren was amazed at what he saw; he then looked down at his own leg, the one which had been bitten off by that Titan during the Trost evacuation, and looked back at Ed's leg. During the time he'd never of guessed that Ed was missing his left leg; he was fast and didn't move with a limp, their world must have advanced technology far beyond what he could comprehend. "It's called Automail; metal prosthetic which works just as well as a real limb." He demonstrated by wiggling his metal toes. "Of course the surgery and recovery was hell, coughed up blood for a couple months and it aches whenever it rains."

Eren wondered what could have happened to Ed for him to have the lower half of his leg replaced by this metal prosthetic, then he remembered Ed mentioning something about fixing a mistake he and Al made "Sorry if I'm prying, but is your leg related to that accident you told Commander Erwin?" asked Eren innocently.

Ed thought about whether he should tell him or not, it was a personal story and a painful one at that, but they were going to be working with Eren closely for the foreseeable future until they plug up Wall Maria so building a relationship would be a good idea and being open to the guy would be a start plus he was on the same boat as them; the three of them would be considered freaks in this world and it's not like he could judge them for committing a taboo in alchemy when he and Al were the only ones on this planet who could perform it. "Yeah… we did a stupid thing involving Alchemy, it cost me my leg and my right arm at the time." He said raising his right arm up; Eren looked at his arm, it looked like a normal human limb.

"It cost me a lot more" said Alphonse, causing Eren to shift his head towards him, Alphonse was now sitting up, a mug of water in his hand, he had woke in time to hear his brother talking about his Automail leg and Eren's question "We carried out something called human transmutation...we tried to bring our mother back to life." He said solemnly "She died when we were young and our dad was away at the time, so it was just Ed and I by ourselves, it went wrong and... we ended up making a huge mistake."

"It took something like five years trying to set things right, we put ourselves through hell and it almost got us killed at times but we succeeded and got everything back; I got my arm back and Al got, well... everything back." Finished Edward, he looked down at his leg and tapped on it. "Well...I got almost everything."

Eren was speechless after hearing their story; the loss they had to endure and their journey to rectify their mistake, they may have not faced monstrosities like he did but these two had been through their own hell, he felt humbled that they would tell him and slightly guilty for prying into their life and for being the first to hear this; they had agreed that they'd sit down and talk about this with everyone.

"My… My mother" stuttered Eren "When the titans attacked our home she... she didn't make it." Tears threaten to escape Eren's eyes as he recalled those terrible events as his hands gripped the blanket over him. "A family friend managed to save Mikasa and I but not her... a titan was coming and she just told us to run... I saw her get..."

"Eren...you don't have to say anymore, we understand." Ed interjected.

Ed and Alphonse listened to Eren story, horrified by what they had just heard; no one should have to see their mother die in front of them at such a young age but to see your mother killed in the most horrible way possible... they remember feeling powerless as they saw their mother's body on the floor one night, they couldn't imagine how Eren felt when he saw his mother being eaten.

"That's why I hate them… They took everything from me, everything from all of us who live on this world; our families, our friends, our homes… our very freedom, that's why I want to kill them and I won't stop until I've put every single one of the into the ground." He said, driven by his bloodlust.

Suddenly the sound of a door opening and shutting interrupted them and the three of them turned to face the metal bars were greeted by two individuals, who, by the looks of the insignia on their brown jackets, were part of the Scouting Regiment. One of them was a woman who looked to be about their height, had dark brown hair done up in a pony tail, wide light brown eyes and wore thick rimmed glasses and the other one was a man who was as tall, if not taller than, Bertholdt but this guy also had a large build, with blond hair parted in the middle and a dark moustache and beard. The two looked at them for a few seconds before the woman rushed up to the bars of their cell, gripped the bars and stared at the three of them intensely for a few seconds

"Gah!" exclaimed Ed, startled by the unusual introduction while Eren and Alphonse moved away

"Hello" she said in an overtly friendly manner. "Eren Yeager, Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric if I'm not mistaken, sorry for the wait boys but it looks like we can finally get you three out of here." The three of them smiled at the good news "Though you'll need to put on these, also Elrics these ones were specifically designed for you." She handed them three pairs of handcuff, one had a metal chain in between the shackles while the other two had a metal rod in between the shackles.

They seem acutely aware of the fact we perform alchemy by clapping our hands thought Ed as he was put in shackles with his hands behind his back.

On Wall of Rose above the entrance into the newly reclaimed Trost District, Commander Pixis and Commander Erwin discussed the trial of Eren, Ed and Alphonse.

"I'm confident you are aware of the Military Police's plan to assume custody of Cadet Yeager and the Elric brothers, yes?" Asked Commander Pixis.

"Yes, I was briefed on this yesterday, they plan to hold a debate on the subject" replied Erwin.

"The decision is ultimately Zackley's to make on whether those three end up in the Scouts or the Military Police" mentions Pixis

"Zackly?" questioned Erwin "Chief Darius Zackly?"

"Yes and I'm guessing that the factors he will weight up are whether these boys are either assets or threats to our survival and whether they can be trusted or not." Stated Pixis, he took out his canteen from his side "If it's the latter then those boys will executed, on the spot if need be." He said grimly as he swirled the contents of his canteen around for a bit "Those boys were instrumental to the Trost recovery operation and it would pain me to see them die; I know that team leaders Ian Dietrich, who was in charge of their protection during the operation, Rico Brzenska and Mitabi Jarnach will vouch for them if called upon however there is fierce debate within Garrison ranks over those three boys and I fear picking a side would deepen any divide that are forming; so my hands are tied, the most I can do is disagree with the MPs, tell me, do you think you can win the argument?"

"As it stands the case for the Elrics can be made although I don't know if Nile Dok might have something up his sleeve to use against them and for Cadet Yeager that's going to be difficult, but nonetheless we still have a proposal prepared and argue the case for all three of them joining the Scout Regiment." responded Erwin "How'll that will work out will be based on how the debate unfolds."

"Thinking on your feet huh…" said Pixis curiously.

"Thinking on our feet is how we've always done it in the Scout Regiment." Replied Erwin.

Outside of a beautifully constructed building Nile Dok, the Commander of the Military Police, along with a squad of his Officers awaited the arrival of Commander-in-chief Darius Zackly for the court case over the fate of the Eren Yeager and the Elric brothers. Over the past few days news of these three had spread across Wall Rose and Wall Sina sparking intense debate over their existence and their purpose to humanity; emotions and passions were high as protests and riots from the regular citizens erupted across the districts and even within the Capital itself in support of the three against those within the elite of society, the gun owning Aristocrats, the clergy and members of the central government who believed the three to be nothing but a threat to the Walls.
Fear of a civil war breaking out over these three was becoming a terrifying possibility.

"Savior…" he muttered with a hint of disdain in his voice, his arms folded while tapping his left foot impatiently "Angels… what a bunch of nonsense, the common folk will believe just about anything."

"If these rumors get out of hand then it's very likely we'll have a rebellion to deal with." Said one of the Military police officers

"No, that won't happen; the legend of these three will die here" he said "It'll be a cold day in hell before I let a group of freaks and spies get added into the ranks of the Scout Regiment." He then spotted the approaching cart of the Commander-in-Chief

"Form ranks!" he ordered as the squad lined up with Nile at the front, the cart to the door was opened and out stepped the Darius Zackly.

"All Hail to the Primer!" he announced as he and his men saluted.