Chapter 34: Our Progress
"Lower the gate!" yelled the scout as she caught sight of three riders charging straight for the castle; the chains violently rattled as the large wooden platform quickly collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud, just before horses reached it, allowing the three to enter through the gate and come to a complete halt as soon as they passed through.
"Help her, she's wounded!" yelled Levi at the scouts nearby as he quickly climbed off his horse. He stood back and watched as two soldiers ran up to Mikasa and carefully helped her off her horse, Mikasa continued to clutch at the right side of her body as stifled groans escaped her mouth.
"Riding on a horse for that long must have done a number on your ribs." said one of the scouts
"Get her to a medic." Levi ordered.
"Of course, Captain." The other replied as the two helped carry her towards the main building, he watched for a few seconds as the three rushed back inside. He turned his head off to the side to see Edward handing the reins of his horse to another scout; he walked towards Ed, catching his attention as Levi approached. Ed looked dishevelled; his hair was messy and his eyes were slightly bloodshot, no doubt from spending the whole night on their small operation and the long ride back.
"How's Mikasa?" Ed asked him.
"Medics will take care of her from here." Levi replied, a few seconds of silence pasted between the two. "Edward, about that ambush from that old guy…"
"Is there something you're not telling us, Captain?" Edward questioned "You know who that guy was, don't you?"
"Yeah, I did…" Levi admitted "Which is why I'd of preferred you'd have attacked with the intention to kill the bastard; you could have easily used your blades or your alchemy as well."
"I'm not killing anyone for you." Edward said in a hushed, yet angered, tone of voice.
"I'm not asking you to kill for me." Levi retorted "Just know that your refusal to do so will come back to bite you in the ass one day or even put your comrades in danger."
"No offence Captain, but I don't need you to lecture me on something like this." Ed replied, anger and annoyance radiating from his voice "I've handled people who wanted to kill me in the past, so I know what I'm doing." Ed turned away from Levi and walked off towards the castle himself.
"Hey, what about this crap on my hair?" Levi called out as he watched Ed walk away.
"Just wash it off." Ed replied as he waved his hand dismissively.
"Tch" Levi turned away from Ed; his eyes looking at the ground as he thought about Edward and Mikasa's encounter with…him.
Of all the people to run into… why him, why was he there? Levi thought.
Ed awoke from his bed, his nap leaving his slightly groggy; he sat up onto the edge and rubbed his eyes. He then turned his head and looked towards the window; it was late in the afternoon and the sky had already begun to darken. He got off his bed and began rummaging through a chest at the foot of his bed; as he grabbed his towel he noticed a familiar bulge into the front pocket of his folded brown waist coat, he opened the pocket and found his state alchemist pocket watch he opened the watch and took out the folded photograph of himself, Alphonse and Winry. He smiled softly at the picture and headed towards the bathroom; the room was dimly lit with candles hanging from the walls and row of buckets full of water, resting on a long table, lined up along a wall of mirrors. Ed placed the photograph on the table and cupped some water into his hand to splash it onto his face, he looked at himself in the mirror; his hair was still dyed black and he hadn't changed from the clothes he wore during the night raid. He placed his hands together and dangled his ponytail over the bucket as the black hair dye was drained from his hair.
It won't be long now… Ed thought as he watched the dye dripped into the bucket. He looked down at the photograph once more. Soon… we'll be home soon Winry, we just have to go through this first. He folded the photograph and placed it into his pocket as he left the bathroom. He threw his towel onto his bed and made his way through the castle.
Wonder how Alphonse's doing. Ed thought as he walked through the long corridor; he arrived at the castle's library and found Armin and Alphonse looking over a small stack of papers under candle light.
"Hey" Ed called out towards them, catching their attention.
"Hello Ed" Armin replied.
"How was your nap?" Alphonse asked.
"Don't exactly feel refreshed." Ed replied as he walked towards them. "You guys in the middle of a lesson?" he asked.
"We actually just finished lesson with Hange" Alphonse informed "Armin just wanted to go over a couple things."
"You're pretty keen, Armin." Ed commented; he looked down at some of the notes on the table, picked one up and began reading. As he read the contents of the note he began to feel confused; all the components that made up air with a specific focus being on oxygen. He placed the note back down, picked up another and read; this time it was about oxygen manipulation and forming pathways. A creeping sense of uneasy came over him.
This… this is…
He placed the sheet of paper down, a bit more frantically, and picked up one with a familiar looking transmutation circle on it. It was a circle with inverted hexagrams, a small flame at the top and a salamander at the bottom.
"Alphonse… can I speak with you for a second." Ed asked, yet it sounded more like he was demanding. The two walked out of the library, leaving Armin alone, and into the hallway. It was clear from the look on Ed's face that he was vexed. "When you said you'd teach Armin and Hange alchemy I didn't expect it to be flame alchemy… just what the hell were you thinking?"
"I didn't want to do it; Armin was the one who insisted on doing it." Alphonse replied.
"And you couldn't say no?" Ed asked "You couldn't have warned him about the risks?"
"You think I didn't try?" Alphonse shot back; it was clear from his voice that he was annoyed. "He knows it won't be easy and I told him that it could get him killed yet he still wants to learn it."
"Not going to be easy' is an understatement." Edward commented "Is Hange in on this too?"
"No, she wants to try a bit of everything." Alphonse replied. "I run them through a variety of different transmutations and anything specific they want; flame alchemy is something Armin's learning in both the lessons and his spare time."
"Armin's going to fail." Ed said "He's only just started learning alchemy."
"They've actually been fast learners." Alphonse replied.
"And you think Armin's capable of both learning and helping to make a type of alchemy from scratch?" Ed asked.
"That's something we'll have to find out." said Alphonse.
"Edward!" yelled a voice further down the corridor; both Edward and Alphonse turned to see a scout waving at them "Captain Levi wants to see you."
"What is it now…" Ed muttered, somewhat annoyed "We'll talk more about this later." He said to Alphonse before walking towards the scout; Alphonse nodded his head and headed back towards the library as Ed left for Levi's office.
Ed opened the door to Levi's office; inside he saw Levi sitting alone on the other side of the desk reading a letter, an empty chair on the opposite side. "What is it this time captain?" Edward asked as he sat down on the empty chair, he sounded exhausted.
"You've been summoned to the capital." Levi said as he handed Edward the letter; Edward began reading its contents. "Some of the bigwigs want to talk to you, well not you specifically they'd talk to either you, Alphonse or both but I figured since your brother is busy teaching Hange and Armin; you're free to speak on his behalf as well as yours."
A meeting with some members of the Privy Council Ed thought to himself as he read the letter.
"Think it might be a trap?" Edward questioned.
"You'll be going into the chancellery with Erwin; he'll be heading into a different meeting but I doubt this is an ambush, more likely they'll try to convince you and your brother to join their side."
"Will they?" Ed said as he folded the letter in half, his voice sounded almost amused at the idea.
I guess this would be a good as a time as ever to get them to explain themselves…
"If you want to leave it then that's fine; honestly I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to meet those fat pigs in the capital." Said Levi
"I'll go meet them." Ed replied throwing the folded letter onto the table "Got a couple things to ask them anyways."
"Alright then, Nifa will be heading to the capital to relay Historia's secret and the information we got from Annie; so you'll just tag along with her.
"So when do I leave?" Ed asked.
"You've got about an hour to clean yourself up properly and pack some clothes before she heads off." Levi replied, Ed groaned loudly at the news of his sudden departure. "Hey you're the one who agreed to it."
Eren slowly opened his eyes; his vision was blurred but quickly cleared as he regains consciousness. He lazily lifted his head up slightly from the pillow. "Eren, you're awake!" yelled a voice at his side. Eren slowly turned his head to see Hange and Moblit. "Moblit, get some hot water and a towel!"
"Yes squad leader!" Moblit replied as he sprints out of the room, Eren laid his head back onto the pillow as he quickly slipped back into slumber once more.
"And get Levi too!" was the last thing Eren heard when he shut his eyes.
"Hey" said a voice by his side as he felt a hand grab his shoulder and shake him "awake up, slacker." Eren opened his eyes once more to see Levi standing over him. "Use this" said Levi as he dropped a wet towel onto Eren's face; the towel was steaming hot, taking Eren by surprise as he quickly picked up the towel from his face and sat up on his bed. Eren began rubbing the moist towel on his face, the warm droplets of water running down his face; he looked upwards to find himself in the sleeping quarters of the castle with Hange sitting beside him, Levi sitting at the end of his bed, Historia standing at the end of his bed and Alphonse standing next to Hange.
"Good to see you back to your old handsome self again." Hange joked; she was holding a clip board up towards Eren.
"Where's Mikasa?" he asked; Eren was surprised not to see her here to check on him after her mission with Levi and Ed.
"Mikasa is being checked on by the medical team." Alphonse informed him "Her ribs have been damaged again."
"What happened?" asked Eren, concerned over the well being of one of his closest friends.
"Someone tried to kill her during the operation." Levi told him "Luckily Ed managed to get the drop on him before the MPs showed up."
"That's good, I hope she's okay." Eren commented "How did the experiments go?" he asked looking back to Hange "was I able to harden my skin?"
"I'm afraid not." Hange replied to Eren's dismay.
"Nothing… nothing at all?" he asked
"No sadly, we examined the skin of your Titan and couldn't find what might have resembled anything similar to either the armoured titan or the female titan's skin." Hange flicked through the papers on the clipboard. "Here's what happened; Alphonse transmuted some fifteen meter tall dummy titans from the ground for you to destroy. You transformed into your titan and tried to harden your fists in order to punch them, but to no avail you were unable to do so. After that we decided to run some intelligence and endurance tests instead." For a couple minutes, Hange went over the results of their tests; telling him about his odd behaviour after prolonged periods within his titan and the limit of his abilities. As Eren listened to her, he felt more and more distraught that he couldn't succeed on his part.
"So… that means my inability will only make the operation to retake Wall Maria more difficult." Eren said, sounding frustrated "I won't be able to meet Reiner or the Beast titan on an equal footing if that's the case."
"Don't beat yourself up, Eren." said Alphonse, speaking up "We can still seal the wall and beat them; we've beaten Reiner and Bertholdt before and we'll do again, even if we have to face the Beast titan too." Eren perked up slightly at Alphonse's encouragement.
"You realise the only reason we almost, key word: almost, won back at Stohess against Reiner was because we got the drop on him; if either you or Ed try to fly directly at him again then he'll squish you like an annoying fly." Eren mulled over Levi's retort, thinking back to his fight with Reiner; had it not been for Ed breaking the armour then Reiner would have certainly won.
"Just trying to be helpful, Captain." Alphonse remarked, slightly annoyed.
"Don't get snarky with me Alphonse, I get enough of that from your brother, our situation isn't completely fucked, honestly it could be worst, but that doesn't mean we've got an easy ride either. Look, I know I'm being an asshole about this but someone has to point out and complain about our fuck ups. Life in these walls is shit, even the air smells like shit; it's always been that way, I didn't notice it until I stepped outside the walls and breathed the air outside… life outside is nothing short of a living nightmare but it's got something the walls don't have… freedom."
"What Levi's trying to say is all is not lost; we may have not been able to harden your titan body but we were able to learn vital information about your titan and that's a success." Hange clarified "Also we were able to uncover some crucial information from Annie Leonhart; it turns out that humanity within these walls belongs to a race of people capable of transforming into titans and your titan, the Coordinate, has the ability to control everyone." Eren's jaw dropped at the revelation from Hange.
"That pretty much explains why those at the very top want to capture you." Levi added he then turned his head to Historia who was standing quietly next to them "Of course we still have to wonder how this fits in with you and the royal family. But it's safe to say our lives are pretty much tied to you, Eren."
"In any case we've managed to learn a lot." Hange declared "We just got to keep moving forward." She turned face Levi "Isn't that right, Levi?"
"Yeah… thanks for the clarification." Levi replied with a hint of sarcasm.
Eren glanced at Alphonse, who was watching Levi and Hange converse with each other; he looked down onto his hand and clenched it into a fist. Am I really cut out to be one of humanity's saviours? He asked himself I'm not like them… I haven't mastered my powers… I'm almost useless. But if I keep learning then I won't be.
He unclenched his fist; opening his hand. Why did I think of my father during the experiments? Did it affect my abilities?
He thought back to the last memory of his father; leaving their home in Shiganshina on that fateful day. Father…where are you? Have you already…
Suddenly the image of a woman flashed before his eyes; she standing in her room, wearing what looked to be a nightgown and was combing her long black hair. She was a stranger to Eren yet she looked familiar in a way.
Historia? No it can't be… am I remembering this? An almost unbearable headache overcame him; he placed his hand onto his head trying to soothe the pain I can't…
"Eren, are you alright?" Alphonse asked as he approached Eren.
"Yeah, I'm fine" Eren replied
"Moving forward we need to uncover more information about the titans and the royal family, while also organizing ourselves around the information we already have." Hange explained "For now we'll put the hardening test on hold, hopefully Mina can get some information from Annie regarding the hardening ability, and we'll try to learn more about your titan's controlling ability. Our next step should be to further investigate those at the top and hopefully learn something about the Coordinate's power and the other secrets they've hidden; with both Erwin and Edward in the capital hopefully they'll be able to learn about the Reiss family, the true rulers of humanity, and why they've kept the secrets of the titans from us and why royal government seeks to undermine human progress."
Ed watched from the horse-drawn carriage as a group of children frantically ran off with a large black bag stolen from what looked to be a wealthy looking man who swung his cane at them in anger. The capital of the walls, the area was no doubt a home for the important and the wealthy; the buildings were similar to those in districts along wall Sina and the streets looked well kept. He sat opposite to Erwin and Nile who Erwin had asked to escort them to the chancellery, much to Ed's displeasure.
"A gang of child thieves, the state of the capital is worse than I thought." Erwin commented as he watched the same sight as Ed.
"It's the same as everywhere; crimes gone up and the crackdown on it have led to overcrowding in prisons." Nile said, adding more insight to the disintegrating state of order in the walls. He turned his head slightly towards Erwin. "Why'd you ask me to come with you? Isn't the kid enough company for you?" Nile questioned "This whole trip been awkward with him glancing at me like he wants to punch me in the face." he said turning his attention to Edward.
"Sorry if I'm not friendly with the guy who tried to argue for me and my brother's execution." said Ed, his voice growling slightly as he recalled the trial that occurred not so long ago.
"What would you have done in my position?" Nile questioned "Three freaks of nature show up out of nowhere with powers that could wipe out all of humanity."
"Seeing as the 'freaks of nature' helped save a city I wouldn't have been an idiot and killed off our greatest advantages." Ed responded.
"Idiot?" Nile questioned "You dare insult a superior officer?"
"Wouldn't be the first time." Ed shot back.
"That's enough, Ed" Erwin calmly injected, raising his right arm at him; Ed turned away from Nile and looked back to the window.
"It baffles me how you're still alive." Nile commented as he observed Erwin's metal hand. "I guess that new metal arm of yours serves as a reminder that you're just as mortal as the rest of us."
"I see it as a privilege to be the first to receive an automail limb, despite all the aches and pains it brings." Erwin stated as he looked down onto his hand, the light gleaming off its reflective surface. "If anything can be learned by being used as the first subject then it'll be worth it to see humanity progress."
"Good for you, you like being a lab rat." Nile said dismissively "Tell me, do you still believe in those childish delusions?"
"Yes… and after everything that's occurred, those delusions are turning into a reality." Erwin replied. "Nile… we're you aware that Minister Nick was tortured by the MPs first interior squad?"
"No…" Nile replied, slightly perplexed by Erwin's question.
"It seems they wanted to know about something, perhaps a secret he let out." Erwin replied "What could they be hiding?
"I don't have control over what they do." Nile stated "Hell, even I'm just following orders given to me, the interior MPs are different from us; we have no contact with them and there's no one who exercises official control over them, they're free to act as they wish."
"Nile… why do you think they've summoned the Elrics to the capital?" Erwin asked, Ed turned his head slightly towards Erwin. "We've assumed that they want to convince those two to join them instead and, no doubt, they'll soon come for Eren… do you think the walls would be better served if those three were at their disposal instead of the scout regiment?"
No… Ed thought, answering Erwin's question.
"It's not my place to think about that." Nile replied, looking away from Erwin.
"How's Marie?" Erwin asked, changing the subject "I hear your third child is on the way."
"She's fine." Nile replied.
"I remember you were going to join me in the scout regiment but instead you fell in love with a girl at our favourite bar and married her."
"Yeah, I betrayed you all and as a result I'm still alive to this day." Nile replied "But I don't regret it, I'm proud that I have a family." Ed glanced over towards Nile.
"I never held it against you." Erwin stated "Neither did the soldiers who died before us, we were all happy that you could leave a life we couldn't. But just because you are following orders and protecting your position doesn't mean you're protecting your family… the world we habit is changing." Erwin declared "Hope or despair; who'll make that choice, who will choose and who will you trust?" The carriage came to a sudden halt as they arrived at the large metal gates of the chancellery. Ed opened the door and exited the carriage; he looked behind him to see Erwin still talking to Nile.
"Go on ahead, Edward." Erwin said; Ed walked off past the gate and towards the steps of the chancellery. He observed the building before him; the large pristine white columns held up a triangle shaped area which was decorated with a large insignia of a white cross on a black field with two swords behind it, the front of the building was decorated with large windows and around the large building was open space fenced in by tall walls with sharp pointed end railing. Ed looked behind once more to see Erwin patting Nile on the shoulder and saying a few words before walking off.
"Ready to go?" Erwin asked as he approached Edward.
"Sure Commander." Ed replied as they walked up the large set of stairs. They entered into the large building before them through some open nicely crafted wooden doors. The hall inside was covered in a marble floor, a series of white pillars held up the roof, a large stair case led to the second floor of the building and people dressed in military uniform and nice clothes walked around being escorted into different areas of the building.
"Commander Erwin and Edward Elric!" someone called out, they turned to see a man dressed in a black coat and trousers walking up to them.
"Once you're finished with your talk, meet me back at the entrance." Erwin whispered to him, Ed nodded his head.
"I'm to escort you two to your respective meetings." said the neatly dressed man with a smile on his face; they followed him up the large set of stairs to the second floor. The second floor was covered in a dark green carpet and the windows were decorated with cream coloured curtains lined the walls. They walked down the large hallway where a line of doors which led into different rooms. "This is where you're needed, Commander Erwin." said the man as they stopped in front of one of the doors and opened it for him
"Thank you." Erwin replied as he stepped into the room, Ed peeked inside; there was a large table with four old men sat down waiting for Erwin.
"Your meeting is just down that hall." Said their guide as now he and Ed walked further down the hallway. "I must say, it is great to see that you've accept the summons from some of the King's advisors." The guide opened the door for him, Edward walked inside to see three old men sitting on one side of a large table; the one on the left was dressed in strangely extravagant clothes and a conservative haircut, looked to be about Ed's height and was rather plump, the man on the right was tall with a skinny face, wore a black coat with a shirt and cravat with a conservative haircut and the man in the middle was also plump looking, short, had a round face with large blue eyes and jagged black hair and he wore black waist coat over a white shirt.
"Edward Elric, please sit down." said the man in the middle as he waved him forward. Ed stared at the man as he approached the empty chair in front of him; there was something about him that looked familiar.
Those eyes… where have I seen them before…
"It's good to make your acquaintance." said the man in the middle as he shook Ed's hand. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is"
"Rod Reiss." Ed felt his stomach drop as he heard his name; he tried to best to remain calm as he stood face to face with the true king of the walls.
That's why there was something familiar about him! Ed yelled inside his head Historia's dad…
"I'm a regional lord of an area in Wall Sina and the chief advisor to his royal majesty King Fritz." Rod finished as Ed sat down on a seat.
One truth and a lie…
"Nice to meet you, Lord Reiss." Edward replied "So… why exactly did you summon me to the capital?"
"Straight to the point, his majesty would find it most advantageous to humanity if you and your brother would lend us your strength; humanity would truly benefit from your alchemy if placed at the command of the king."
Ed narrowed his eyes slightly as he mulled over Rod's words what does he want from us? "Be a little for specific please; what exactly would my brother and I be doing? Because the way I see it I'd be taking orders from you… "Because the way I see it we'd likely be carrying out decisions influenced by the Privy Council." Ed said "So… what do you want for humanity?"
"Perceptive…" Rod commented "As you know the situation in the walls is on a cliff's edge, with your help we could establish and maintain order once again."
"Maintain order…" Ed echoed "That's not so different from what I was asked to do as a state alchemist back on my world 'obey the orders and policies of the military.'"
You want us to be your dogs…
"Well that's even better seeing as you are experienced." Rod said "Of course you will be rewarded for your service; it's been made privy to us that you and your brother had made a deal with God, saving our lives in exchange for your loved ones, no doubt helping those who govern in humanity's best interest will fulfil your obligation."
"Here's a question, why should I believe you guys have humanity's best interests?" Edward questioned.
"The royal government has managed the remnants of humanity for more than a century." Rod stated "And for that century, humanity has survived in the face of the titans."
"Surviving… would you call sending two hundred and fifty thousand people to their death 'humanity surviving'? " Ed questioned, catching the three off guard "That's a fifth of the population, a mass purge of people… if Wall Rose was breached tomorrow, would you order half of what's left of humanity to face the titans?"
"What was done was for the good of humanity." said the man on the left this time "The people were starving and our efforts to raise more food were failing, we had to make an attempt to recapture Wall Maria."
"I thought about that, but here's the thing, you guys have had some kind of industrial revolution seeing as you have factories and the ODM gear shows that you are capable of making advanced machinery; so why is it that the walls continue to use old tech for everything else? Then I saw that the automail research and production was suddenly halted." Ed paused for a second to examine their faces "For some reason the government has been stifling technological progress… why is this exactly?"
"We don't know what you mean." Rod stated.
"Don't play dumb with me, how many technological advancements has the royal government halted and for how long?" Ed questioned "Why'd the company that was given the rights to produce automail suddenly shutting the whole thing down?" Ed interrogated Rod Reiss; staring him down as he waited for an answer that never came. "The way I see it, you don't have humanity's best interest at heart; humanity is barely surviving when what they need to be is thriving."
"You're in the way of progress."
"Insolent child!" yelled the man on the right "You dare insult us, we should-" he was abruptly stopped when Rod raised his hand at him.
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Edward Elric."Rod responded "The ways in which we govern has kept humanity alive for over a century now and we believe that it is in the interest of everyone that we maintain the current course."
"That's the problem…" Ed replied before he got up from his chair. "Sorry to disappoint but we won't be accepting your invitation; we'll continue working with the scout regiment, where we might actually make a difference, and not as your military dogs." He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, catching one last glance at Rod Reiss.
Outside the chancellery, Ed leaned up against one of the large pillars as he waited for Erwin to finish his meeting. "Edward." Erwin called out as he left the building, Erwin's eyes quickly scanned the area around them as he approached Ed. "How'd it go?"
"Commander… I met him, Rod Reiss." Ed said in a hushed tone. Erwin didn't flinch yet the look in his eyes said it all. "They tried to convince me that both Alphonse and I should be working for them instead… well the 'king' instead."
"What did you say?" Erwin asked.
"I interrogated them about why they halted the automail production and why they stifled technological advancements, they didn't have an answer; only said that what they do was in humanity's best interest." Ed explained. "The people in there don't care… the king of the walls doesn't care."
"They care more about the status and their own lives." Erwin added "Maintaining the status quo, I'd hope I was wrong about my assumptions but it seems they were spot on."
"So… it's going to happen then…" Ed said, alluding to their next option. He looked down at onto the ground and his boots.
"Indeed…" Erwin replied, he then took out a piece of paper from his jacket and handed it to Ed. "You'll head back with Nifa to the castle, make sure to give Levi this." Ed took the letter from Erwin and slipped it into his jacket.
"If we fail then it will end badly for us…" Ed commented.
"Then we best not fail." Erwin replied
Mina pushed open the cell door to see Annie standing at the center of her cell stretching her arms, the long chains connecting her to the wall rattled slightly.
"You just woke up?" asked Mina "It's the afternoon."
"I've pretty much lost all sense of time in here." Annie replied. "Guess that's what happens when you haven't seen the sun in awhile."
"I'll see if I can get you a watch." Mina said as she laid down a bowl of soup in front of Annie.
"Thank you." Annie replied as sat down on the floor and picked up the bowl of soup.
"What have you been doing?" Mina asked as she sat to face Annie.
"Nothing much; I just sleep, eat and exercise now that I'm no longer chained so tightly to the wall." Annie replied, before eating a spoonful of soup.
"You get to talk to me too." Mina added, feigning a saddened tone.
"That's only when you're not around." Annie replied with a slight smile on her face, the two then giggled at each other. "So what have you been up to?"
"Training, lookout duty and some other stuff." Mina replied "Had to watch Eren do some experiments with his titan." A few seconds of silence passed between them "Annie… your titan, how does it make that crystal armour?"
"Has Eren been trying to do the same thing?" asked Annie, his tone sounding more serious.
Shit… maybe I said too much…
Mina didn't respond; her silence was all Annie needed to answer her question. "It's an ability of my titan, each titan is different; mine is different from Eren's, Eren's to Reiner… you get the idea." Annie explained.
"So Eren never had a chance?" asked Mina, this time Mina picked on Annie's silence.
"No… guess he didn't…" Annie responded after a few seconds of silence.
"Annie… what's it like… being a titan?" Mina asked.
"It… it can be overwhelming at first." Annie replied "A huge rush of energy and power… and standing over everyone, you almost feel unstoppable."
"Go for it Hange!" Alphonse yelled, standing a couple meters away; Hange knelt down in front of the transmutation circle before her, she took a deep breath inwards, visualizing the atomic structure of the ground and what she wanted to create, and she placed her hands onto the grass. Suddenly blue sparks of lightening danced around the circle which was quickly followed by a low rumble from the earth; two massive stone statues burst from the ground before her, one seven meters and the other four meters tall.
"Yahoo!" Hange cried as she jumped into the air "Aren't they beautiful?"
"Way to go, Hange!" Alphonse cheered, next to him the rest of Levi squad were watching and cheering her as she transmuted large dummy titans from the ground.
"Sonny and Bean…" Petra chuckled as she watched Hange.
"Of course she made statues of those fucking titans…" Levi commented.
"Alright, Armin you're up next." Said Alphonse, placing his hand on Armin's shoulder "Are you sure you want to try out flame alchemy now?"
Armin clutched the box of matches in his hand; on the front of the box was a transmutation circle. "Yes… we have to put the research into practice." He opened the box and took out a match before walking off into the field, a row of straw dummies in front of him.
"They're making good progress." Levi commented as he stood next Alphonse.
"Yeah, they're fast learners and their willingness to learn more is only helping them improve." Alphonse replied, beaming with pride. "I hope they'll be able to teach others in the future."
Armin stared at the straw dummies with his concentration being on visualising a path towards his targets; he placed the match-head on the striker "Straight head… small burst of fire." Armin muttered to himself. Alphonse placed one foot forward slightly; ready to move in case something went wrong.
Armin skid the matched head against the striker and almost immediately a large explosion of flames burst from the air; it missed the straw dummies and instead set fire to the trees ten meters behind it. The force of the explosion had knocked Armin off his feet and onto the ground; Alphonse quickly ran in to help him while the others could only stand back and watch horrified as the large uncontrollable fire began to spread.
"Get some water!" Levi ordered, his squad quickly scuttled back into the castle and towards the nearby well.
Alphonse sprinted towards the fire before coming to a complete halt; he clapped his hands together before slammed them onto the ground. A large wall rose from the forest and encircled the burning trees. A massive cloud of thick dark smoke rose from the circle as the cackling sound of flames filled the air. Alphonse jogged towards Armin, still on the ground watching the scene before him in shock; Alphonse picked Armin up from the ground. "You alright, Armin?" he asked.
"Where…where did I go wrong...?" Armin muttered to himself, his voice was a mixture of disbelief and sadness. "I thought… I thought…"
Alphonse embraced Armin lightly; reassuringly tapping him on the back. "It didn't work out the way you wanted, but you came further than I had expected." Alphonse said "For that you should be proud." He moved back slightly to come face to face with him "It's alright if you want to end this, no one will judge you for it." Armin turned his head slightly and looked towards the ground.
A few hours had passed since the experiment and both Levi and Hange's squad met back into the mess hall of the castle; both Ed and Nifa had returned from the capital. Alphonse quickly noticed it; Ed had a glum expression on his face as he leaned up against the table next to where Captain Levi was sitting.
Looks like it's going to happen, Al… was the first thing Ed had told him when he got back from the capital.
"So you met him… Rod Reiss." Hange asked as she read the letter from Erwin.
"Yeah, he wanted us to join his side." Ed replied.
"What did you say?" Levi asked, turning his head slightly towards Ed.
"Just the polite version of 'Fuck you and everything you stand for.'" Ed replied.
"Not bad." Levi remarked.
"Does he know that we know about the secret of the Reiss family?" Armin inquired.
"No, he introduced himself as the 'King's chief advisor' the bastard is hiding in plain sight."
"And now we're clear on what he looks like." Levi said.
Hange handed the note other to Petra who then passed it towards Jean and so on; each one of them who read the note had a look on their face which ranged from shock to anxious. Alphonse knew exactly what was written on that note and he knew what Ed had alluded to just a moment ago. Armin handed it to Alphonse; he read the letter, on it was one simple yet daunting task.
Overthrow the royal government.
Alphonse handed the note back to Levi who placed it over the lit candle and left it to burn on an empty plate.
"That means… Historia has to become the Queen." Armin stated hesitantly; all eyes quickly fell on Historia. Her face had turned almost snow white as her eyes glanced around at everyone in disbelief.
"Seems like the natural conclusion to our mission." Hange added, it sounded as if she felt guilty for agreeing with it as she looked at Historia.
"I… I can't… I" Historia stammered "I can't become Queen."
"Not a lot of people would want to take the role as humanity's ruler, I accept that you're scared right now, I'd probably shit myself too. But it doesn't matter; if that's the end result then you will do your part."
"I'm unfit to be Que-"
"Doesn't matter, do it." Levi quickly interjected "You promised the Commander that should you be needed in the future then you'd commit yourself fully to it, so if becoming Queen is what it takes then do it." Both Alphonse and Edward looked at Historia with pity; for years they've known people who wanted to be Furher of Amestris or the ruler of Xing and would have done anything to achieve that goal, instead here before them was someone who was terrified about the idea of being the ruler of humanity."
"Historia, nothing is set in stone yet," Hange quickly interjected, trying to ease the anxiety "so it may be the case that you won't be Queen, just try and mental prepare yourself for the possibility for now."
"Is that her?" asked the guy watching the short blond haired girl as she went around looking at the stalls in the Trost market.
"Fits the description." Said his counterpart "C'mon, lets follow; she might lead us to the Eren." The two blended into the crowd as they watched Historia walk along the main road. Along the way they met up with more of their accomplices. Four men now began to trail her as she made her way through a narrow alleyway towards an abandoned warehouse in the rougher end on the district. They four men made sure to look as though they were minding their own business; idly chatting about the day and even a few of them walking past her, she met up with a boy who had short brown hair.
"That's Eren" whispered one of the men.
"This is almost too easy." whispered another as they followed the two to an abandoned warehouse.
"Why would they leave those two alone without protection?" questioned another. The four men snuck into the warehouse; two of them had taken out a small length of rope while the others took out batons from their side. They quietly moved around, hiding behind the large boxes stacked around the wide space; they watched as the two rummaged through a few small wooden crates. They crept up behind them…
Alphonse watched from on top of a stack of large crates as the four would-be kidnappers crept up on Jean and Armin. He turned towards Levi and Petra who were perched on other stacks of boxes, ready to pounce on them.
"Go now!" Levi ordered as he leapt from the box; he came crashing down into one of the kidnappers and quickly pinned him to the ground. Petra slammed her heel onto the temple of his nearby accomplice and Alphonse kneed the back of the third. The fourth guy charged at Alphonse with his baton; he swung it towards his head, Alphonse quickly ducked under, dodging the attack, he punched the attacker in the gut before grabbing him by the throat and slamming him onto the ground.
Alphonse clapped his hands together and placed them onto the ground; the ground then enveloped them of men as Jean and Armin tied up the others. Sasha and Mina zipped down from the roof of the warehouse and jogged towards Levi and Petra "Was that all of them?" Levi asked.
"That was all of them, sir." Sasha replied.
"Good, tell Connie that the three of you are to do a sweep of the perimeter; make sure nobody else gets to this warehouse." Levi instructed he then turned to the four men lying on the ground as both Sasha and Mina went back onto the roof. "Now… we can make this easy for all us and just tell me who your boss is." The four of them said nothing.
"Okay then…" Levi said "I guess this is how it's going to be…" he grabbed one of the men by the collar and dragged him into an empty room connected to the warehouse. "Alphonse, stay close, I'll call when you're needed." He said as he took out a pair of gloves from a bag. "Petra, bring the bag of gold to Gelgar; the address for the meeting point is in the bag and be discrete."
"Yes, Captain." Petra replied as she picked up the small brown bag and headed out of the warehouse.
Alphonse was left alone with the three captured men; he looked back at the closed door which Levi had dragged one of them into.
I may need to rearrange some faces if they don't talk, so you'll need to help patch them up after I'm done…
Levi's instructions to him before they left the castle still echoed in his head. His memory of Levi's words was quickly interrupted by the sound of muffled scream behind the door. The screaming went on for minutes "I don't know anything!" yelled the guy, his voice muffled through the door. Alphonse could vaguely make out the sound of Levi's voice before the tortured man once more began to let out a pained cry.
"Dimo, it's Dimo Reeves!" yelled one of the captured men next to Alphonse; he turned to look at them and saw a look of complete fear on their faces. None of them wanted to be tortured. Alphonse ran up to the door and pounded his fist onto it.
"Captain, one of the men confessed; they've been hired by Dimo Reeves!" Alphonse yelled. The screaming on the other side of the door came to an abrupt and was quickly followed by a whimpered cry. The door slowly opened before Alphonse to reveal a bloodied and bruised man with his head lying in a small pool of blood. Alphonse stared at the man for a few seconds, aghast at his condition and damage Levi had inflicted.
"Good," Levi replied as he took off the gloves "now see what you can do for him." Levi was about to walk past when Alphonse grabbed his wrist, holding it tightly, catching Levi off guard.
"Captain… don't you think you went too far?" Alphonse questioned as the two made eye contact with each other.
Levi looked away from Alphonse "Maybe… but we got the name of their boss; we've made head way towards our goal and that should be what matters." In one swift motion, Levi freed his wrist from Alphonse grasp. "Now, if you don't mind we all have a job to do and I suggest you get on with yours."
"Doors open, you can come in." yelled a man from inside the room; Levi opened the door to a nicely decorated office with shelves of books covering one side of the wall and a large polished wood desk in front of a large window overlooking the district of Trost. Behind the desk sat a large man who looked to be in his forties, balding with a thin beard and wore a black leather coat over a grey vest.
"Dimo Reeves…" Levi said
"Captain Levi, to what do I owe the pleasure of this surprise visit?" Dimo asked his tone was a mixture of courtesy and sarcasm.
Levi sat down on an empty chair on the opposite side of his desk and placed a slip of paper in front of him "Commander Erwin has ordered that you be arrested for acting against humanity." Levi said, almost nonchalantly.
"What?" Dimo yelled standing up from his chair "What- on what grounds? I've done nothing wrong!" he declared.
"We've got a confession from the thugs you hired to capture Historia and Eren." Levi stated "You wanted to take one of humanity's greatest assets from the scout regiment, undermining our efforts to defeat the titans." The only response from Dimo was the sound of his teeth grinding in frustration. "Of course… you don't have to spend your days under our custody," Levi suggested "you could tell me who you work for."
Dimo sat back down onto the chair "I'm fucked either way it seems…" Dimo remarked "Royal government got me by my neck; threaten to seize the company, leave hundreds of my staff unemployed and have me and my subordinates killed for good measure. They're making me do this."
"And if you don't follow through the interior MPs would come crashing down on you." Levi said.
"Yeah, but I guess we never had a chance against you… did we?" Dimo chuckled "How the hell do we beat people who kill titans for a living; the people in the interior can be completely oblivious to everything outside of Wall Sina."
"Yet you follow their orders." Levi replied.
"Everything will go to shit otherwise." Dimo stated. "They've got the power in this world and there's nothing I can do otherwise."
"Not unless you join us…" Levi suggested.
"You want me to betray the interior MPs and the royal government?" Dimo questioned in almost complete disbelief "You must be insane."
Levi got up to his chair and walked towards the large glass window and stood next to Dimo as he looked out into Trost district, Dimo flinched slightly as humanity's strongest soldier stood mere inches away from him. "Trost district is a symbol of humanity's victory against the titans but also its weakness against them; we only won that battle because a newly graduated cadet turned into a titan and some random God took enough pity on us to send two people with strange powers to our aid." Dimo turned away from Levi and looked out into the city. "But it's a city that's dying; even with that little act of kindness from the Elrics, nobody wants to live in a city that was attacked by titans and if the Reeves Company disappears then the only people left in Trost would be beggars and soldiers." Levi paused for a second "But what if I said we had a few new tech ideas that could not only keep this city alive but have it and your company booming? And all we need to do it make a change in government." Dimo looked at Levi with an incredulous look, Levi glanced back at Dimo "Alchemy isn't the only thing those two know."
"And what exactly would we have to do it exchange for that?" Dimo questioned.
"Just a few things; one being your full support and trust in future." Levi stated "two being that the scout regiment becomes a priority customer to the Reeves company meaning access to luxury good and products and third being your help in a mission we're planning."
"And what will that be?"
"Capturing the head of the interior MPs."
Once they'd had gotten back from Trost, Armin went back into the library and poured through his notes as he tried to find out how and where he went wrong; went a pen in hand he began editing his research and writing in suggestions on what could be improved. He leaned back on his chair and sighed to himself.
Control… he thought I need to find a way to control it.
He picked up the match box at his side and began examining the transmutation circle drawn on it.
Are there different types of this alchemy, if so, which one have I got?
He wrote a small mention next to the transmutation circle on his notes larger flame attack? What is the more precise one?
"Hey Armin" called out a person in the library, Armin turned his head to see Hange walking towards him "Still doing some studying, huh." She then sat down opposite to him.
"I'm trying to figure out where I went wrong; if it's a mistake I've made in my research or if… maybe I'm not cut out for it." Armin said sounding dishearten.
"Hey, cheer up; nobody said we'd be masters at this in the space of a couple days." Hange said, trying to encourage him "And you're basically entering a whole new field for you and Alphonse; you'll get better in time." She finished as she took out a small note book.
"What do you think of this?" said Hange, passing the small book to Armin "I've been trying to make large structure; I figured it'll help us in base building when we got back outside the walls."
Armin took the book from Hange and began reading through her notes; the pages were filled with detail diagrams of walls and small buildings alongside entire pages worth of breakdown of different materials and elements. "Hange, this is amazing." Armin exclaimed as he flicked through the pages.
"Thanks you." Hange replied with a beaming smile.
As Armin flicked through the pages he came across something which caught his eye.
Philosopher stone…
There was little written under the heading but what was had caught his interest; underneath was a sentence saying 'by-pass laws of equivalent exchange' and next to it 'something evil.' "Hange, what's a philosopher stone?"
"I don't really know," Hange replied "Ed and Al only explained the basics of it but didn't want to go any further than that; they said it was something evil and 'only a monster would create such a thing', going so far as to say they would never use one even if they had it." Armin thought about what Hange had told him; something that powerful yet they'd refuse to use it.
"Thank you, Hange." said Armin as he handed the book back to Hange.
Later that day, Armin found Alphonse him in his room; he sitting down next to a window reading through a small note book. "Hello, Armin" said Alphonse as he saw he enter through his door.
"Hey Al, what are you reading?" Armin asked.
"Just some stuff I've been doing on medical alchemy." Alphonse replied as he slipped the book into his trouser pocket. "What'll like to talk about?"
"I read through Hange's note book and found out about something called a 'philosopher stone'." It wasn't hard for Armin to tell that Alphonse had quickly become uncomfortable when he mentioned it. "What is it exactly?"
"It's something you don't need to know." Alphonse replied.
"Why?" asked Armin "Why don't we need to know about it? From what little Hange wrote about it, it said the philosopher stone could by-pass the laws of equivalent exchange and the only other thing was that it was 'something evil.' Would you at least consider making one?"
"No I'm not going to consider it." Alphonse replied in a stern tone. "Because it is something evil."
"Alphonse… the people we're fighting don't care about that." Armin stated "What Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie did five years ago was evil an yet they still did it, what the interior MPs did to pastor Nick was evil an yet they still did it and what the royal government did to those two hundred and fifty thousand people, my own grandfather included, was evil an yet they still did it."
"Do you know what a philosopher stone is made out of?" Alphonse questioned a hint of anger in his voice. "People. The souls of people; trapped and used for nothing but alchemic energy, I'm not going to condemn anyone to that kind of fate."
"I'm not asking you to make one right now, I'm asking that you don't disregard the option so readily." Armin stated, his tone mimicking Alphonse's. The two stared at each other for a seconds before Armin spoke again "Have you ever used one?" he asked.
Alphonse hesitated for a second before answering "Yes…" he admitted "We didn't have a choice in those moments."
"So you admit there were moments where both you and Ed had no other choice but to use them." Armin replied "Don't you think that same thing might happen here?"
"We'll find another way." Alphonse responded, looking away from Armin.
"I once told Jean something; if we are to defeat monsters then we must be able to abandon our humanity and if we refuse to throw away anything then we won't be able to change anything." Armin stated. "You yourself even said that humanity advances if we could break free from rules and laws."
"That is not what I meant!"Alphonse exclaimed "I meant pushing the boundaries of established principles and not being forced to choose between terrible options and instead finding another way."
"I guess we have different interpretations on what it means to move forward." Armin replied.
"Is this really what you're planning on doing Erwin?" Pixis asked as he rubbed his face with his hand as he pondered over Erwin's declaration. "You really plan on overthrowing the royal government and the king?"
"Yes" he replied, his tone was resolute.
"You realise what this means? You could start a civil war inside these walls and damn all of humanity to ruin; if you were to remove the king do you think everyone will rally behind you?" Pixis questioned "The powers that have governed the people for over a century is not widely hated; yes the situation is terrible but yet public support for them hasn't collapsed because everyone within these walls are bound together by a terrible fate, we are all cornered by the titans and forced into this cramped world, to go to war would mean destroying what will we have left."
"How could you ever go against that and how could you ever change this world without spilling a bottomless lake of blood?"
"We can." Erwin declared "We'll replace the current king and get the support of the vast majority of people. The only thing that will stand in our way is the interior MPs and the royal government itself."
"Was it the scout regiment that let out classified information?" Pixis questioned, yet he knew full well what the answer to that question was. "That was reckless, Erwin."
"It was a gamble that paid off." Erwin replied "Neither the interior MPs nor the government will go after us, at least for now."
"And you have information that would turn the people against their king?" Pixis asked, curiously.
"Yes, over the course of these couple of days new information has been revealed to us; the first was revealed to us by pastor Nick who said that the current royal family who sit on the throne is nothing more than a pretender king and the real king of these walls is Rod Reiss, a regional lord in wall Sina and the second comes from our captured shifter Annie Leonhart, who confessed that Eren's titan has the ability to not only control titans but also the vast majority of people within these walls and as you'd know someone in the capital has been trying to take Eren from the scout regiment since his appearance in Trost, it's all too likely that the reason is to acquire the power of the Coordinate." Erwin paused for a second to allow these revelations to sink in "This also confirms my father's theory; one hundred and seven years ago, the first king of the walls had altered the memories of what was left of mankind to better control them."
"This… this changes things." Pixis remarked "We had first believed that they wanted to kill those three in the courthouse, we resisted because it was foolish to put the hopes of mankind to death. This means they wanted to capture Eren but found no need for the Elrics."
"If seems as though they had." Erwin replied, lowered his head slightly as he recounted those events "Just recently they had been summoned to the chancellery with me to meet with members of the Privy Council; Ed went to meet them and was faced with Rod Reiss who introduced himself as the King's advisor."
"And what did he say?" Pixis asked.
"They wanted to use the Elrics as nothing more than enforcers for their rule and argued that things must remain the same as its how we've all survived up until now." Erwin replied "They don't care for humanity, not even the king cares for us." Erwin eyes looked back up at Pixis "My father was killed for trying to discover the truth and they killed him to protect the status quo. We cannot hand over Eren to them."
"Erwin, if you plan on replacing the king of the walls, how and who will take his place?" asked Pixis.
"Discovering the identity of the true royal family has led to an important revelation" Erwin announced "Rod Reiss had an illegitimate daughter who happens to be a member of the scout regiment; we will tell the people the truth of this world they've lived in for century and install Historia Reiss as Queen of the new regime."
Hi everyone,
So this chapter took longer than I expected…
Big thank you to Rainsfere for the idea of the Elrics meeting with the royal government; it was both fun and really interesting writing that segment of the chapter.
In light of recent events,
Football's coming home… in either 2020 or 2022. (;_;)
In all seriousness, I'm proud of the England team for reaching the semi-finals; as someone who was not into football that much and had fallen out of love with the England team as a child it both weird and awesome feeling that as an adult I'm no longer apathetic about the national team playing in tournaments but excited and even humming along to all the chants when they're playing.