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.

29. Chapter 29

"Snowing is an attempt of God to make the dirty world look clean."

Mehmet Murat ildan

Chapter 29: Inquisition Part II

It was approximately five o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun was beginning to set. High above the saltwater ocean, a single airship flew in the direction of the darkened sky. It was a simple passenger airship, one that had left the city of Argus with a new destination: Atlas.

Its cargo was approximately fifty passengers, along with whatever luggage they chose to take with them. Most of the passengers were accustomed to the flight, as they were simply on their Scrolls or watching the television screens close to their seats.

One passenger, however, wasn't finding any kind of entertainment in the flight.

"Man, this sucks!" said Mercury, who was looking around his immediate surroundings. "I can name ten better things I could be doing instead of sitting here like this!"

"Aw, come on, Mercury!" said Nora, who looked behind her own seat with a smile. "So you can't work on building any weapons. But it's not all bad! The ship has that new Spruce Willis movie for free!"

"Yeah, but how much you wanna bet it's that stupid censored one?" Mercury ran a hand through his hair. "Remind me again why we took this flight instead of driving the Dark Wing like we always do?"

This time, Ren looked over to Mercury and began to explain. "Ymir told us about the long-range proximity sensors along Solitas' coast," he said. "An airship isn't as much of a threat as a stolen Atlesian all-terrain vehicle."

"We could hide it while driving in the tundra, yeah," Nora continued. "But I don't think adaptive camouflage means invisibility from radars."

"And explaining all of this to the Atlas military wouldn't exactly be the best start for the Hunt Inquisitorius, an organization that nobody knew about until now."

"Not to mention we all voted on leaving it in Argus."

Mercury slumped back in his seat in defeat. "Man, you guys suck," he said in disappointment. "Still wish we had the car."

Nora was ready to help Mercury look on the bright side, but a new but familiar voice entered the fray before she could. "Trouble while I was gone?"

"Not much," Nora replied. "Just Mercury being a total wimp."

"Aw, shut up," Mercury said as he rolled his eyes. He then turned to his present company. "You're asking me about trouble? You were in there for like ten minutes. What were you doing, taking a bath?"

A short laugh was Mercury's response as he watched a girl about his age sit down next to him. The girl had short brown hair, was wearing a brown vest over a white shirt and maroon jeans, and she was currently staring at Mercury with her icy blue eyes.

"Come on, babe," Vernal asked with a sarcastic smile. "Don't I make up for a car?"

---

Two hours ago

The Dark Wing had just left the city of Mistral, with its entire crew in check. As they were leaving, all anybody wanted to talk about was their new titles as "Inquisitors" of Mistral. Midori, however, was taking a nap while the discussion was ongoing.

"I knew I said some stuff about it before, but this actually feels kinda cool," said Mercury, who was looking over a certification on his Scroll. The certification had every detail that Councilwoman Redwood discussed earlier.

"Yeah, it's like I'm on the job," Nora included as she looked over her own certification. "No matter where we go."

Cinder was looking at her special certification as well, but she stopped when she heard what Nora said. "What was that?" she asked for clarification.

"I said it's like I'm official across the world."

"Hmm..." Cinder opened her Scroll to a blank page that she could type on. "Should I add that to the list?"

Emerald and Ren moved closer to Cinder. "I mean, sure," Emerald began. "If you want to."

"It wouldn't hurt," said Ren.

Mercury and Nora joined Cinder. "Whatcha doin'?" Nora asked.

"Councilwoman Redwood said this is gonna be a trial run," Cinder explained. "And we have that hearing afterwards. We should talk about what works and what doesn't. I'm making a list to keep track."

Everyone around Cinder seemed to be on board with the idea, but Mercury decided to offer his own input. "Uh, isn't it a little early to start thinking about stuff like that?" he asked.

Cinder looked over to Mercury. "Not really. We should talk about this while it's fresh on our minds."

"Yeah, but we haven't even started the mission yet. We're not even in Argus yet. Seems kinda presumptuous, don't ya think?"

While he still wasn't her favorite person at the moment, Cinder could see where Mercury was coming from. Nonetheless, she decided to challenge Mercury.

"Okay, so what do you think we should be doing?" she asked. "Still fawning over the licenses?"

Mercury immediately turned off his Scroll. "Okay, yeah," he admitted. "It's getting kinda stupid. How about we just, y'know, look into the SDC?"

"Huh?"

"Like, do some research and stuff. We still got a lot of road to cover before we get to Argus."

Nora immediately moved over to Mercury. "Which would've been easier if we travelled by train like I said!" she screamed.

"And leave the car in Mistral?" Mercury sarcastically asked. "No way! I already told you, cars have less of a chance of getting stolen in Argus than Mistral! Some people in the lower half just don't know when to quit!"

"He has a point, Nora," Ren included. "And we already discussed this." After he watched Nora stick out her tongue and leave, Ren offered another opinion. "And perhaps doing some research into the Schnee Dust Company would be efficient."

"Oh, I agree," said Cinder. "But I think Eren's already got that covered with Ymir." She then pointed to the front of the car, where Eren was driving and Ymir was looking at the terminal at the front seat.

"Huh?" Eren asked as he turned around. "Someone say my name?"

"Yeah, it was me," Cinder said. "We were just wondering what kinds of things you found with Ymir."

"About what?"

"The Schnee Dust Company."

Eren immediately realized why Cinder was thinking like that. "Oh, sorry," he apologized. "We're not doing research. Ymir's just hogging the screen to find out where she wants to go."

"Hey, don't rush me!" Ymir insisted. "I gotta find a place Raven might not show up!"

"Yeah, yeah." Eren turned around once again. "Sorry, guys. Between driving and waiting, I don't think I can help with research right now."

Cinder turned around. "Alright, looks like we're doing some research," she said as she began to do a simple search for the Schnee Dust Company. "I just hope Councilwoman Redwood doesn't expect results already. I mean, wouldn't she want to touch base with us?"

"Again, we're not even at Atlas yet," Mercury repeated. "Take a chill pill, guys. I'm sure Redwood will wanna wait a while before she tries to call us or-"

*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*

Everyone immediately looked at Mercury's Scroll, which was in his pocket and vibrating loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What the-?" Mercury asked as he scrambled for his Scroll.

"Okay, that's weird," said Nora, who was still listening to the conversation. She soon began to feel that things had gotten stranger when Mercury's jaw dropped.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Emerald asked as she also took note of the look on Mercury's face. It was as if he had seen a ghost.

"Is it Redwood?" Cinder asked.

"...No," Mercury said without looking up. "It's... It's Vernal!"

*SCREECH*

The car came to an immediate halt as Eren stopped the car. He also heard what Mercury had said and was just as surprised as he was. He was so surprised that he stopped the car on one of the common dirt roads of Anima and turned around. He then saw the same surprise on everyone's face, save for Ymir.

"Whoa, what?!"

"Vernal?!"

"She's awake?!"

"How is she?!"

Mercury didn't have all the answers to everyone's questions, though he wished he did. Nonetheless, he was more determined than ever to get said answers.

The first step was to calm the chaos around him.

"Guys, guys!" Mercury yelled as he moved his hand towards the group. "Lemme talk to her!"

"..."

A collective silence cast over everyone like magic; not even Ymir wanted to set Mercury off more than he had already been. She had heard of his exploits in the woods, and she knew keeping her mouth shut was the best thing to do at the moment.

When he heard nothing but silence, Mercury answered the call and pressed his device hard on his ear. "Hello?" he quickly asked. "Vernal? Vernal? Vernal, are you there?"

"That's my name," a familiar voice sounded on the other end. "Don't wear it out, Merc."

Mercury released a heavy sigh of relief as he heard his girlfriend make a joke. The mere sound of her voice was enough to make him feel all the joy life had to offer. "Holy crap, I don't believe it!" Mercury grabbed a seat as he continued to talk. "Oh, it's good to hear you again."

"Trust me, the feeling's definitely mutual."

"So what's going on? Are you okay? Are you hurt? How're you feeling?"

"I'm good, for the most part. Thanks for asking."

"You sure? Last I checked, you were in some kinda coma. Hell, I've been thinking about it every single day."

"I don't blame you. It was actually kinda scary when I woke up. But I'm good, thanks again."

Mercury turned over to everyone else. "She's okay!" he said. Everyone around him sighed the same kind of sigh he did.

"Oh, that's music," said Cinder.

"Thank God," said Eren. "Hey, let's all talk to her."

"Yeah, I wanna talk to her!" Nora agreed.

"Okay," Mercury said as he pressed his screen. "Babe, you're on speaker right now. I got the whole gang right here."

All of a sudden, everyone moved closer to the Scroll and spoke at the same time.

"Hi, Vernal!"

Laughter came from the other end, which was loud enough for everyone to hear. "Hey, guys!" Vernal said on the other end. "What's happening?!"

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it if we told you!" Nora said first.

"Yeah, I'll bet! Mercury was saying something about the White Fang on voicemail. Is that true?"

"Yeah, that's true," said Eren. "It's a really long story."

"I got one too, believe me. Waking up was kind of a hassle. But hey, everyone was telling me that you and Mercury saved me from that Grimm. It was a Chill, I think."

"Yeah, it was. You sure you're-?"

"I'm fine! Believe me, I'm okay."

The answer came quickly and harshly, which caught Eren off guard. But Vernal quickly picked up where she left off.

"Hey, Merc, sorry I missed your call," she began. "I was kinda busy."

"Hey, no worries," said Mercury. "I totally get it. Listen, we gotta talk more. Wanna meet in Kuroyuri?"

Cinder was the first to object to that. "Mercury, I don't think we-"

"Oh, sorry," Vernal said. "I'm not actually in Kuroyuri. I, uh, I checked out of the hospital a while ago. I'm actually in Argus."

"Argus?!" Mercury yelled. "Get outta here, really?!"

"Yeah, sorry. I kinda had to-"

"No, that's great news! We're on our way there now!"

"Wait, what?! You are?!"

"Yeah, we're all on our way there! We'll meet you there, where are you?"

"At a place called Glory Dawn, just getting some medicine. I'll see if I can meet you at the entrance of the city, though!"

"See you there!"

*CLICK*

Eren was the first to let out a huge sigh of relief when Mercury ended the call. "Man, that was-"

"Outta the way!"

Mercury practically jumped over Eren so he could get behind the wheel and get the car moving. When it did, the Dark Wing took off as fast as lightning and nearly knocked everyone in the back off their feet.

As they sat back down again, everyone was talking about how lucky it was for Vernal to wake up from her coma. Given that she had been possessed by a Chill during the breach at Kuroyuri, everyone was unsure how she was doing or if she would wake up. But now, the only thing everyone was worried about was Mercury killing them while driving.

"Slow down, Merc!" Nora yelled up front. "Vernal's not going anywhere!"

"I can't slow down!" Mercury yelled back. "There's no time!"

Ren decided to help Nora calm down their friend, and Cinder looked over to Eren.

"Thank God for this," said Eren. "I was wondering what could've happened after that Chill."

"You mean after you saved her life?" Cinder encouraged Eren with a smile. "Merc owes you big time for that."

Eren brushed off the compliment and looked over to Mercury. "Well... that's what I'm thinking about."

"Huh?"

"Look how happy he is. He might wanna try and take Vernal with us."

Cinder looked over to Mercury, who had the biggest smile on his face in a very long time. Eren was right to be concerned, given that Vernal wouldn't have the same privilege as they all did.

Then again, neither did Midori.

"Well... why not?" Cinder asked. "We still need to keep an eye on him after what happened in the woods. Maybe Vernal could help with that."

"..."

Eren took another look at Mercury while he thought of Cinder's idea. And looking back, Vernal wasn't as much of a handful as Ymir was. So maybe adding one more to the group wouldn't be as much trouble as he initially believed.

The Dark Wing was rather beaten up when everyone arrived at the entrance to Argus. Mercury looked around the entrance of the city's great wall, but didn't see Vernal anywhere. So he made way to Glory Dawn, which wasn't too far away.

And sure enough, Vernal was right there waiting for them all.

---

Present

"Don't get me wrong, babe," Mercury replied as he turned to his girlfriend. "With you here, now it's a party." He then let out a sigh. "But you would've loved the car. I mean, the whole reason we had the Dark Wing in the first place was to go cross-country. And we even used it when we went to fight you-know-who. I'd give anything just to drive it in Atlas of all places."

"Oh, look on the bright side, Merc," the young woman suggested. "This is, what, your third time leaving the Kingdom and getting in the world's biggest fights?" Vernal pointed towards herself. "I've left Mistral before, but the only thrills I got were marginal. Like, imagine the smallest thing known to man. Your track record's like fifty times that or something."

Mercury sighed as he tried to stop thinking about the lack of a car. "Man, I know things would be better if we got to fight whoever we're after with the Dark Wing, I'm telling you."

Ren was still facing the duo, so he shared his own insight. "You're both wrong, I hope," he said. "If all goes well, we can just find who we're looking for without resorting to violence."

Vernal scuffed at the remark. "That's no fun," she retorted.

"Maybe not, but this is a job after all."

"Yeah, but my old job always had some kind of fun in the mix." Vernal looked at her hand, which once had a tattoo of a black spider on it. Now the spot was bare.

"Remind me again why Spider let you go?" Mercury asked. "Sounds kinda stupid to fire someone like you."

"That's what I said," Vernal replied. "But Ms. Malachite always ran a tight ship. And apparently missing over a month of work in a coma isn't really much of an excuse, according to her."

"Well, that fucking sucks."

"Eh, could've been worse. I've seen other Spiders offed for a few things."

"Sheesh. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise."

"Yeah, probably."

Mercury and Vernal continued to talk with Ren and Nora for a little while longer, mainly about their previous exploits since their time apart. But Mercury was careful to avoid talking about killing Eren, as he practically begged him and Cinder to not say anything about it. Such a thing would have the strength to possibly break his relationship with Vernal.

"Hey, guys."

The small group looked over to see Emerald standing in the aisle and pointing up ahead. "Eren and Cinder wanna talk to us," she said.

Everyone soon gathered around Eren and Cinder as they began to discuss the plans for their investigation of Atlas and the Schnee Dust Company. "We have a few options to know everything we can about the company," Eren began. "Before we share them, I think it would be better if we split up again."

"Agreed," said Ren. "The SDC is large, and Atlas is even larger."

"Works for me!" said Nora.

"Same here," said Emerald.

"I'll split as long as Vernal's with me," Mercury included.

"Where else would I go?" Vernal asked sarcastically.

Cinder immediately looked at Vernal before she continued. "Are you sure you wanna help, Vernal?" she asked. "If we're caught or something, you could be in a lot of trouble."

"Eh, nothing I can't handle. Come on, I'm all in."

"Okay." Cinder moved her Scroll in the middle of the group so everyone could see the screen. "Eren and I did a lot of research before and after we left Argus, to see what kind of work the company does and how they do it."

"More specifically, how they can get and use metal like the collar we found in that Titan," Eren continued. "We found a few places to look into. The first place is one of the SDC mines. They have metal for their carts, tools, and everything else they need to mine Dust."

"Makes sense to me," said Nora. "So how do we get inside?"

"It should be simple," said Cinder. "With all the cheap labor I've seen on here, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't keep an accurate track of employees in the mines. A couple of us might get inside if we get some of their uniforms."

"What exactly have you seen?" Ren asked out of curiosity.

"There's been a whole bunch of investigations and potential lawsuits about their business practices, downgrading equipment, and working standards. But get this; all of these cases seem to vanish. Either some kinda settlement or charges are dropped."

"How many cases are you talking about?"

"So many I've lost count." Cinder ran a hand through her hair as she turned to the window. "And I thought things back home were bad."

"Me too," said Eren, who decided to take over while Cinder took a minute. "It sounds like the mines are the easy option. The second option is the SDC headquarters. It seems like there's gonna be a workplace tour going on today. If we blend in, we can see if there's anything suspicious or anything that sticks out when it comes to metalwork. The tour's filled up, but they may not notice a couple of other people."

"I could sneak us into that," said Emerald. "Who would we be pretending to be?"

"Looks like a group of students from some school."

"Combat school?"

"Nope, public school. Do you think you could pull it off, Emerald?"

"When we're passing by the security desk, sure." Emerald thought of something else. "Are they gonna be in school uniforms or something?"

"Maybe, I don't know. Kuroyuri never had any kind of public school system."

"It's true," said Ren. "Ms. Fritz had her schoolhouse, but it wasn't like the schools some children went to school in Mistral. Nonetheless, we'll just have to play this tour by ear."

"Yeah, that's right," Eren agreed. "It shouldn't be hard to blend in. We just have to find out everything we can about metalwork. Maybe there's some kind of engineering wing or something."

"So that's two options," said Vernal. "Anything else?"

"Just one," said Cinder. "It was actually Ymir's idea." Cinder pointed to the seat in front of her, where Ymir was leaning over in order to pay attention. "Can you believe it?"

"Wait, what?" Mercury asked as he chuckled. "Are you serious?"

"Hey, I'm not as dumb as I look," Ymir said as she looked at Mercury. "Sorry for trying to get you out of my life faster."

Mercury played off the sarcasm and looked to Eren and Cinder. "Remind me again why little Ms. DID is here again?"

"Ugh." Ymir stopped leaning on her chair as she heard Eren explain everything.

"Ymir decided that she wants to stay in Mantle when we're done here," said Eren. "Not a bad hiding place, or so I've heard."

"Oh, right," Mercury said as he looked back to Ymir. "Well, Ymir, true friends never say goodbye. So... goodbye!"

Ymir shook her head in annoyance. "When you die, I refuse to attend your funeral," she said.

"What's that supposed to-?"

"Come on, Mercury!" Cinder said to get his attention. "Focus!"

"Shit, sorry. What were you saying?"

Cinder pointed over to where Ymir was now sitting and informing everyone. "Ymir had a good point. She was telling us how big the SDC really is. That it has mines all across the world."

"So?"

"So, how do we know the metal came from Atlas? What if it was stolen while it was on its way to one of the other Kingdoms?"

Everyone took a moment to consider the idea, and they couldn't deny the possibility of it occurring. However, Mercury wasn't completely satisfied. "You really think that's what happened?" he asked. "My money's still on someone trying to profit off this whole thing."

Cinder sighed. "The company's rotten to the core, I'm not arguing otherwise," she began. "But the more I think about it, this whole thing doesn't really seem up their alley."

"I agree," said Ren. "It seems they prefer a more... practical approach in their misdeeds."

"Like buying land and razing whatever city is on top of it," Nora reminded everyone. "I think we all remember how that went."

"Yeah, I don't think I ever heard someone trying to control Grimm," said Vernal.

"That's right," said Eren. "But this means we'll have to stop the sneaking around and tell the police or army who we really are. When we do that, we'll tell them to show us any records of theft or cargo never reported in."

"The only problem with that is taking the whole 'Inquisitor' thing up a big notch," said Cinder. "It may not look good for us."

"Hey, it's gonna happen eventually. We went through all this trouble to get to Atlas, what's the point if we don't show it?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Mercury's right," Emerald said. "We're gonna have to use these licenses sometime."

"I know," Cinder admitted. "But still, we should hold off that option unless it needs to be done."

"We'll save it for last," said Eren. "For now, let's just worry about the mines and the tour. Sound good?" Nods and agreements were heard all around at the present moment, which made Eren content. "Alright, then."

---

When the airship finally landed in the Kingdom of Atlas, everyone got off and became aware of their new surroundings. They were still at the landing pads, so the only way to see Atlas was through the windows.

This was where everyone, save for Eren, Cinder, and Ymir were right now. The reason for this was that none of them had ever been to Atlas before.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Vernal asked as she leaned against the glass.

"This is amazing," Mercury said as he examined the exquisite buildings that were outside the glass. This sentiment was shared by the rest of his present company.

"It's like nothing I've ever seen before," said Emerald, who was looking at the multiple lights shining through the open windows.

"It's so pretty," Nora said with a wide smile.

"So impressive," Ren included.

"I always wanted to come here when I was a kid," said Midori. "I can't believe I'm finally here."

"Guys?"

Everyone looked away from the glass to see Eren slowly shaking his head. "Don't let the bright lights fool you," he said.

"Yeah," said Cinder. "Remember, these are the same people who tried to raze Kuroyuri."

"..."

After everyone shared a glance at each other when they remembered this fact, they moved away from the window in the blink of an eye and awkwardly chuckled amongst themselves.

"That's better," Eren said with a smile. "Okay, so we got the mines and the headquarters to check out." He then turned over to Ymir. "How do we get to Mantle from here?"

Ymir pointed out the window towards another landing pad. Unlike this one, it was out in the open and the home of a much more rundown airship. And the line to board it was incredibly long. "That's the only airship to Mantle," she explained. "A new ship comes every fifteen minutes to take people to Atlas or Mantle."

Cinder looked away from the window and towards Ymir. "Fifteen minutes, huh?" she asked. "Pretty good memory you got there."

Ymir paused for a moment before she answered Cinder. "Heh," she chuckled. "Winter's seen those ships take off each time she left this place. Kinda hard to forget, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Eren suddenly had an idea. "You sure you wanna go to Mantle?" he asked. "There might be some more stuff you remember about Atlas that could help."

"No way. I'm already putting myself at enough risk by being in a public space. Besides, I wanna see my new home myself."

"...Suit yourself." Eren looked over to everyone else. "Mercury, you said you were gonna go to the mines?"

"Not if I have to wait out there for fifteen minutes," Mercury whined as he pointed to the open landing pad. "I'll freeze my nuts out there before I get to Mantle!"

"What nuts?" Emerald asked with a smirk.

"Shut up!"

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at the joke, but Cinder was the first to restore order. "Alright, settle down, settle down," she said. "But Mercury, you'd probably be a good fit for the mines. I mean, there's gotta be some new mining tools down there you could ask about."

"Fine," Mercury grudgingly agreed as he looked to Vernal. "You coming too, babe?"

"Fine by me," said Vernal. "Maybe I can warm you up out there."

"Ugh, get a room," Emerald groaned as she moved closer to Cinder. "I'll stay in Atlas. You and Eren need some help blending in, right?"

"Only if those students have uniforms on," said Cinder. "So yeah, you can come with us."

"I'm going too," said Eren. "Emerald, maybe you can help one of us sneak away from the crowd if we find out anything about what the SDC does with metal. And where they do it."

Emerald nodded and turned over to Ren. "You wanna come along too, Ren?" she asked.

"Well, I-"

Ren suddenly felt someone tugging at his arm. "We're actually gonna go to Mantle!" said Nora, who held on to Ren's arm. "Cinder's right! It's not a good idea to get sucked in by Atlas' charm!"

Ren was taken aback by Nora holding his arm and her sudden refusal to go to Atlas, but it didn't seem like she wanted him to go as well. Since he didn't feel his skills would be of much use in Atlas, he agreed about going to Mantle.

"Um, looks like I'm going to Mantle," he said.

"Alright then," said Eren. He then looked over to Midori, who was being awfully quiet. "Midori, you wanna come with us to-?"

"No," Midori said quickly. "I'm going to Mantle."

"Oh. But, I thought-"

"I don't need to go to Atlas." Midori then began to walk towards the outdoor landing pad. "It's this way, right?"

"That's the way," Ymir said as she followed Midori.

Ren and everyone else looked to Eren. "I guess we're leaving," he said. "Good luck out there."

"Same to you," Eren said with a nod. With that, he walked towards the exit with Emerald and Cinder in tow.

When she saw that they were alone, Cinder moved up to Eren. "Uh, is Midori okay?" she asked.

"I was wondering the same thing," Eren admitted. "Was it something I said?" Cinder shrugged in response; she was just as confused as he was.

---

If Midori knew what she was getting herself in to, she wouldn't have been so rash about going to Mantle.

Mercury was right about what he said; waiting for the next airship was indeed a cold experience. Not even the city's artificial climate was making its way to the landing pad. And to make matters worse, they had to wait a half hour to get on an airship, given that the first one was full by the time they were next in line.

The airship wasn't too comfortable either. It was indeed a ship owned by Atlas, but there was something different about this one. It was traveling at a much slower rate than the first airship they all took to get to Solitas, and there wasn't much room. When the seats were all filled, people were expected to stand and wait for the ship to land. One would think this was a safety violation, but nobody was falling over or getting hurt. The only kind of danger appeared to be germs, given there were a lot of people sneezing or coughing.

It just seemed there were a lot of people who lived in Mantle.

When the airship landed and opened its doors, everyone practically shoved each other to get out. Midori got an elbow to her gut, but she was able to brush it off and wait for her friends. The last one to come out was Mercury.

"Oh, thank God that's over," he said as he wiped off his shirt. "How do people expect to travel like-?" He suddenly grabbed his face. "Holy crap! What is that smell?!"

Everyone followed suit and covered the lower half of their faces as they also smelled something bad.

"Oh, man," Vernal said. "It just hit me right in the face!"

"Did something crawl up here and die?!" Midori asked.

"No, no," Ymir replied as she looked towards a glowing piece of metal close by. "It's just gas."

"Aw, Nora!" Mercury groaned as he backed away.

"Don't look at me!" Nora insisted.

Ren was the first to bring order to the crowd. "No, not that kind," he said as he pointed to the metal. "Is that what you're talking about?"

"It is," Ymir replied. "It's just one of the heaters the city has. Given the fact the Kingdom sits on top of an ice cap, artificial means of warmth was made for both Mantle and Atlas." Ymir then waved the air around her to get rid of the smell. "I guess this one is broken."

"Then let's find some fresh air," Mercury said as he walked away from the landing zone. Everyone else followed, but Ren stayed behind with Ymir.

"So, Ymir, does this constitute as a welcome home party?" he asked.

Ymir looked back to him very quickly, which looked somewhat painful. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, you did choose to stay in Mantle, didn't you?"

"Oh." Ymir looked away from Ren as she began to walk. "I did, you're right."

Ren continued to talk to Ymir while choosing not to ask his first question again. "Well, you may have made the right choice. You seem to know a lot more about the Kingdom than we do."

"You're basing that off me knowing what a heater is?"

"We don't really require heating systems like that in Kuroyuri. Not like Mantle or Atlas do. Are they common here?"

"Of course. The heating grid runs in partnership with the Schnee Dust Company, and I'm sure you know how common that place is."

"...Really?" Ren paused as he thought about what Ymir said. "Have you seen that yourself? Or is it just something from Winter?"

"Bit of both. Winter was... involved with the work the company does."

"Hmm, in what way?"

"I think she was supposed to... inherit it or something? You know, when her dad kicks the bucket."

"Was?"

"Yes, was." Ymir stopped walking. "Look, how is this relevant? Can we just get on with this?"

Ren nodded once. "Of course. We should catch up." He then began to walk at a faster pace, which allowed him to catch up to everyone else. "Sorry, everyone. We were just..."

Ren stopped talking as he got a good look at what everyone else was looking at. They had found themselves on what appeared to be one of the main streets of Mantle. And for reasons unknown, it smelled even worse than the landing pad did. Everywhere around them was solid brick buildings that were either crowded with people on the front steps or covered in graffiti.

Mercury and Vernal shared a glance at each other as they reached the same conclusion; Mantle seemed to make lower Mistral look like paradise. While there were criminals always running amok in that part of the city, it was a habitable place if one was careful enough. But Mantle looked like the world had simply given up on it.

The one who seemed to be affected by the city the most was Midori, who had gotten in a horrible fit of coughing from the stagnant air. It was so bad that she had to lean against a wall as she tried to recuperate. Nora immediately put a hand on her shoulder, which triggered a response from the girl.

"I'm okay," Midori insisted. "I just need a minute."

Nora looked over to Ymir. "Which way is the Dust mine?" she asked.

"Wait, you're asking me?" Ymir replied. "How should I know? I just got here."

"You told me Winter used to be involved with the company," Ren reminded her.

"So I'm supposed to know where each mine on Remnant is?"

Ren quickly put a halt to any arguments that could potentially erupt. "Hold on," he said as he took out his Scroll. "Maybe I can find out on my Scroll."

As he began to search, Mercury's eyes fell upon a drone hovering above the street. As he looked at it and wondered what it was doing, the drone faced Mercury to reveal a camera at its front.

*SNAP*

A white flash and the sound of a picture being taken immediate set the young man off.

"Oh, what the-?!"

Mercury immediately kicked the drone and watched it fly out of control before it hit the street. As it tries to get off the road, a large truck came by and ran right over it.

*CRUNCH*

"...Whoops."

Mercury looked to his side to see everyone staring at him in disappointment. It was their job to blend in for the moment, and something such as destroying a drone would easily draw unwanted attention.

"Mercury, you idiot!" Ymir groaned. "You can't destroy military property like that!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Mercury said. "Look, let's just get moving!"

"I think that was an SDC truck!" Nora said as she pointed at the truck. It was stopped at a red light at the moment. "Maybe we can see where it's going!"

It was Nora's turn to feel Ymir's ire. "You want us to follow a truck?" she asked sarcastically. "That's the dumbest idea I ever-" She then watched as everyone chased after the truck before the light changed. It seemed that it was better than standing around and doing nothing. "Ugh, I can't believe this is happening."

"Um, Ymir?"

The woman looked behind her to see that Ren was still standing where he was. Given their previous conversation earlier, she was still annoyed at him.

"For crying out-!" Ymir had to take a breath before she replied. "What, Ren?"

"...How did you know that was a military drone?" Ren asked calmly.

"..."

Ymir looked at the spot where the drone once was instead of giving an answer. "Um..."

"..."

She then snapped out of whatever faze she appeared to be in and looked at Ren. "Can't you read?" she asked. "The Atlas logo on that thing obviously means its military!" She quickly turned heel and walked down the street. "Come on, let's go find the truck."

"..."

Ren looked back to the part of the street where the drone once was. But for the life of him, he couldn't recall seeing an Atlas logo on the machine.

Then again, he didn't see any logo on it.

---

Back in Atlas, things didn't seem as hard or as obscene as Mantle. Eren, Cinder, and Emerald knew exactly where the SDC headquarters were. Their only constraint was getting there on time.

When they found a train that would take them directly to the building, Eren bought three tickets and found himself on a train that was traveling at an alarming rate; it was almost as if he was riding a bullet.

Emerald reassured Eren and Cinder that they had enough time to get to the SDC headquarters, so they decided to enjoy the fast ride. But first they had to find a seat.

"Jeez," Cinder said as she looked at the train car she was currently in. "Sure is big in here."

"I know," said Eren. "It's unreal."

"Hey, there's a spot," Emerald said as she pointed down the aisle. "Looks free from here."

Eren led his friends down the aisle as he marveled at the size of the train and its speed. He once worked on creating train tracks in Paradis and even saw the fruits of his labor. But the train there was much slower than this, and there were far less seats than this train. It seemed, once again, that Eren found something on Remnant that was far superior than anything on Paradis.

Emerald was also impressed by the train, as well as Cinder. While she too hadn't been on a train like this, Cinder's attention was caught by something else on the train.

"Heh, heh."

"Would you like at that?"

"So trashy."

"Hardly covers anything."

"Her parents let her go out like that?"

Cinder couldn't help but hear the constant whispers as she walked down the aisle, and she caught lingering glances by people all around her. As she did, Cinder looked down at the clothes she was wearing. Her jeans and tan vest were juxtaposed with everyone else's dress clothes, and she appeared to be the only one dressed like this.

Were they... actually talking about her?

"Hey, Cinder!"

The young girl looked down the aisle to see her friends waving at her to join them. The sight was enough to snap Cinder out of her daze and join her friends. Naturally, she sat right next to Eren.

"I thought you didn't want us distracted by the fancy lights," said Emerald, who was obviously joking.

"Come on, Emerald," Eren said. "I'm actually kinda impressed by all this."

"Lemme guess; you didn't have any trains on Paradis?"

"Actually, we had one. I even helped lay down the tracks for it."

"No way." Emerald leaned back on her chair to relax, but she was definitely interested in what Eren had to say. "Was it hard?"

"Oh, yeah. I was sweating bullets out there, and so was everyone else."

"Was it worth it?"

"Definitely. Having a train on the island was really good for travel." Eren looked around the train he was in. "But it wasn't anything like this though. I think ours ran on something called a 'steam engine,' or something like that."

"I think I heard about those trains. But they're ancient."

"Are there any around today?"

"Beats me. Cinder, do you know anything anything about that?"

"..."

Eren and Emerald looked to see Cinder staring at the ground, doing absolutely nothing. Eren tapped on her shoulder while saying her name to get her attention.

"Huh?" Cinder finally looked up. "Sorry, what?" she asked.

Eren and Emerald quickly realized that their conversation about trains was meaningless when it came to Cinder. Eren had a good feeling as to what was bothering her, so he made this clear.

"Hey, don't be nervous," he said calmly. "We'll find out what's going on here."

"Yeah," said Emerald. "If you're worried about being seen or recognized, my Semblance has that covered. You couldn't be in better hands."

Cinder acknowledged this fact and nodded. "Thanks, guys," she said. "Sorry, I was just thinking of something else."

"Oh, yeah?" Eren asked. "Like what?"

Cinder was starting to think that the whispers she heard were silly, and that they were minuscule when compared to her current mission. Regardless, she didn't feel like talking about it right now, so she saw an opportunity to change the subject when the train began to stop.

"Is this our stop?" Cinder asked.

Eren and Emerald looked out their windows to see that they were indeed stopping at a new place. However, Emerald didn't get up. "No, sorry," she said. "We have another three stops to go."

"Three?" Eren asked. "No, we have four more to go."

"What? I thought it was three?"

"No, we get off on the fourth stop and walk from there. That's what the map said."

"Wait, I thought we were walking from the post office?"

"We are. That's the fourth stop." Eren paused for a second. "I think."

"Yeah, I thought the post office was the third stop." Emerald began to doubt herself as well. "Hang on, I think there's a map on top of the door." She stood up from her seat and walked over to the door. "Be right back."

Cinder looked back to Eren. "This isn't our stop though, is it?" she asked.

"No, definitely not," Eren confirmed. The train began to move again, and they stayed right where they were. "You sure you're okay? You looked a million miles away."

"Yeah, I'm good. I was just thinking about something stupid."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's-"

*BUZZ*

*BUZZ*

Cinder turned to Eren's vibrating pocket, as did Eren. He reached into the pocket to take out his Scroll, which he answered.

"Hello?" Eren asked. Cinder couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, so she listened to Eren. "Hey, Ren. What's up?"

"..."

"Oh, good. Yeah, we're on our way to the headquarters right now."

"..."

Eren covered his other ear as he continued to talk. "What was that?"

"..."

Unfortunately, the sounds of people talking and the train moving made it too hard for Eren to hear Ren. "Just a second," he said as he stood up. "Hey, I gotta take this somewhere else."

"Oh, okay," Cinder said as she stood up and moved. "I think I saw a bathroom up that way."

"Thanks." Eren moved out of his seat and up the aisle. "Be right back."

As Eren disappeared, Cinder sat back down and turned towards the window. The train had left the stop and was now moving between the multiple buildings and skyscrapers of Atlas. As she looked at it all, Cinder couldn't help but be impressed by the accomplishments this Kingdom had. From making scientific breakthroughs to floating in the sky, it seemed the Kingdom had truly made up for the fact that it had lost the Great War.

But for the life of her, Cinder couldn't understand how such a place could be a home to such terrible people. Her former master and Jacques Schnee were both proof of that. And to make matters worse, the military and Huntsmen Academy operated as a single front. Cinder could only imagine how hard it would be to change that.

Then again, it was already hard enough to change things in Mistral. And there were surely a lot of corrupt and villainous people there already. It was possible that the same could be said about Vale and Vacuo.

Cinder couldn't help but wonder if she was being too judgmental at the moment. She saw corruption everywhere she went, but she had made plenty of mistakes of her own. Besides, she knew that the overall population of Mistral comprised of good natured people; even some of the authorities were considered as allies to Cinder.

Maybe there were some people in Atlas like that as well.

"Hey. You."

Cinder stopped looking out the window when she heard a voice close by. She was expecting Eren or Emerald to be back, but her present company was someone else. A blonde girl around the same age as her was standing above her seat with another girl and two boys who appeared to be twins.

"Do you mind?" the blonde girl asked as she tapped her foot on the floor.

Cinder looked past the girl to see that her apparent friends were giving her the same look and sharing the same sentiments. This only made Cinder confused, so she looked back to the first girl.

"Um... excuse me?" Cinder asked.

"You're sitting in the wrong place," the girl said.

"Yeah," the other girl said as she pointed down the aisle. "Everyone knows there's room for you back with the rest of them."

Cinder's jaw dropped as the blonde girl stifled a laugh and continued to stand firmly above her. But Cinder stayed where she was after she recovered from the shock.

"What?" she asked angrily. "Who's them?"

Before either of the girls answered, one of the twin boys leaned closer. "Are you deaf?" he asked as he pointed down the aisle. "Move it."

"You're already taking up enough room in Mantle," his brother continued. "We don't need you crowding around here either."

Cinder clenched her fists as she continued to stay where she was. "What? No!"

The blonde girl leaned closer. "Excuse me?" she asked as if she had just been insulted.

Cinder finally stood up from her seat. "Why should I move? I sat here first, I have every right to be here!"

One of the brothers took advantage of the fact Cinder was finally standing up, so he moved closer and gently pushed past the blonde. "Right this," he said as he grabbed Cinder's shoulder. He was just as strong as he looked, so he was able to shove Cinder directly out of the way and onto the floor. As she fell, the group of Atlesians laughed and began to move in.

"Hey!" Cinder yelled as she got back up. "Stop it!" She grabbed the second girl's arm and pulled her out of the way. "Get outta here!"

She was met with a heavy shove by one of the twins. "Take your own advice," the blonde said. "This is for Atlesians only, not any more trash from Mantle."

Cinder refused to back down. "You can't talk about people like that! And I'm not even from Mantle!"

"You're not?"

"No!"

The blonde moved her eyes up and down as she observed Cinder. "Well, why are you dressed like that? What is it, just for show?"

Her friends immediately laughed at the joke while one of the twins also looked Cinder up and down. "I doubt it," he said. "I'm not impressed, if you know what I mean."

Cinder grew even angrier as the laughter grew louder. When she realized that the only thing they would understand was force, she grabbed the blonde who was sitting in her seat and began to pull.

"Get out of my seat!" Cinder yelled as she pulled.

*SMACK*

The blonde sent her free hand across Cinder's face and felt her arm be released from her grasp. But when she looked back at her arm, the Atlesian grew to hate someone she just met even more.

"She scratched me!" the girl yelled. "This could get infected now!"

One of the twins rose from his seat and grabbed the first bag he saw. It was rather heavy, so he needed two hands to hold it. "Get the hell outta here," he warned. He then prepared to throw the bag right on top of Cinder. "And take your shit with-!"

"Hey!"

The tall boy looked down the aisle to see two more people who he assumed to be from Mantle. Eren and Emerald had returned from their tasks, and they were just in time to see the Atlesian about to throw Cinder's own bag right on top of her.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Eren asked as he quickly walked up to the boy.

"She a friend of yours?" the boy asked. "Well, you can join her at the back of-!"

*BAM*

Eren immediately sent his fist at the boy's face, which caused him to fall down and drop Cinder's bag right on top of him. Emerald was helping Cinder get back up, but she payed close attention to the rest of the Atlesians who stole their seats.

"Hey!" the twin's brother yelled as he stood up. "The hell's the matter with you?!"

"Get outta here!" Eren yelled. "Now!"

The boy jumped off his seat and prepared to give Eren the same kind of treatment his brother had just gotten.

*CLICK*

Everyone turned to see Emerald holding one of her weapons and pointing it past Eren. "Stop it!" she warned. "Now!"

"Holy shit," the boy said as he backed away.

"Hey, what're you doing?!" the blonde girl asked as she looked over the seat.

"I'm licensed!" Emerald warned the girl as she pointed the gun at the ringleader of the group. "And I know how to use it."

Before she could reply, Eren grabbed her arm and practically pulled her off the seat. Red lightning began to form on his shoulders as deep lines extruded from beneath his eyes.

"Leave," Eren demanded. "Now."

"..."

All three of the Atlesians scrambled away from the area and moved down into the next train car. The twin pulled his brother off the floor and helped him move down the car.

Eren and Emerald turned to look at the rest of the passengers. Hardly any of them were looking at the group of Atlesians while they were throwing Cinder out of her own seat, but now everyone was looking at Emerald's gun.

Eren immediately pulled out his Scroll and took out the license Councilwoman Redwood had given him. Not everyone could see the writing, but they took Eren's word for the matter. "We're on the Council's business," he said firmly. "Get back to minding your own."

"..."

Everyone slowly looked away from Eren and the others as they began to mind their own business once again. With that, Eren and Emerald looked back to Cinder. She wasn't hurt, since her Aura was healing her face.

But she was mad.

"I'm fine," she said as she grabbed her bag again. This was where she had packed Dancing Midnight, so she held it close beside her.

Eren knew this wasn't true, and he felt incredibly guilty for abandoning Cinder to whoever those Atlesians were. "Cinder, I-"

"I said I'm fine!"

"..."

But Cinder wasn't fine. Instead of sitting back down, she ran into a restroom that she didn't notice earlier. She locked the door and slumped down to the floor while letting pain-filled tears fall down her cheeks.

---

The trip was far from easy, but the destination had finally been reached. After what felt like hours of walking, Ren and his present company had finally found one of the main Dust mines in Mantle. And surprising nobody, it was owned by the Schnee Dust Company.

"Here we are," said Mercury. "Now what?"

Vernal looked down at the multiple miners preparing to either descend into the caves before them or finally leave after working for so long. Her experience as a member of Spider had taught Vernal many things, including how to incorporate stealth to achieve certain results.

"I can get down there," Vernal said. "Nobody's gonna see me. But you guys might need some way to blend in."

Ren looked at the entrance of the mine to see multiple shacks that were very impoverished. One such shack had miners entering and leaving practically every second. "There," he said as he pointed to the shack. "I think that's where they're leaving their suits." He then looked over to Vernal. "Think you can get some for us?"

Vernal easily understood Ren's idea and nodded. "Be right back." With that, she ran towards the ledge they were all standing on and did a somersault right in the air. She then leapt on a series of rocks in her path very quietly so she could get to the camp.

"Wow," Ren said as he watched Vernal's acrobatics. "She's certainly been busy."

"Cool," Mercury said with a cocky grin. It was obvious he found Vernal's acrobatics intriguing.

"Eh," Nora muttered. "Would've been cooler if she flew with my hammer."

The only ones who didn't comment on the acrobatic display were Ymir and Midori. While Ymir was being as standoffish as everyone else expected of her, Midori was trying her hardest to breathe without coughing. Even though the mine was at a considerable distance from the stagnant air, it was still hard for the girl to breathe.

"Are you okay?" Nora asked as she noticed how bad her friend was reacting to the air of Mantle.

"I will be," Midori said after letting out one more cough. "The air's getting better." She let out a heavy sigh. "I haven't felt this bad since before I unlocked my Semblance?"

"Are you using it now?" Ren asked as he also shared concern about Midori's health.

"Yeah, I am." Midori began to breathe normally now. "I did this a lot when I got sick in Argus. Never thought I had to do it again like this."

"Maybe you should have gone to Atlas." Ren took out his Scroll. "I just got off the phone with Eren, I could call him again and-"

"No!" Midori stood up straight and took a deep breath. "I'm fine. I don't want to be in Atlas."

"..."

It was obvious that something was setting Midori off; it was a rare thing to see, she was never one to get angry easily. Nevertheless, Ren granted her request and decided to focus on the task at hand.

If Midori's artifice wasn't a good reminder, the hard hat that had just been thrown at him definitely was.

*BONK*

"Ow!" Ren said as he grabbed his head. His Aura began to make the pain go away, but it didn't answer the question as to where the yellow hat came from. "Who threw that?"

"Sorry, my bad!" a familiar voice yelled from below the ledge everyone was standing on. A few more hard hats and some mining uniforms soon followed and Vernal jumped back up to join her friends. "Sorry, I couldn't see where I was throwing."

Ren stopped rubbing his head and easily saw that it was an accident. "That's okay," he said as he looked at the things Vernal brought. "Wow, that was fast."

"Thanks. I think I actually set a new record." Vernal looked at her Scroll and stopped a timer she had running before she looked back to everyone else. "So, here's the thing. I managed to slip a few of these rags away, but not enough for all of us."

"So some of us have to stay up here," Mercury said as he looked at the uniforms. "No problem. Any volunteers?"

"I'll go down," Ren said as he picked up one uniform. "I think I'll be more useful down there than up here."

Nora picked up a uniform that was covered in black sludge. "Eww!" she groaned. "I don't wanna go down there wearing this!"

"I'll trade with you." Ren held out his uniform, which was somewhat cleaner, to Nora. "It would be best to have as many people down there as possible."

"Yeah, I guess I'll go too," said Mercury. "Babe, you wanna tag along?"

"I would, but-" Vernal paused for a moment as she wiped both of her arms furiously. "I think I need a minute." She then began to rub her legs.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I think..." Vernal grunted as she crouched down. "Sorry, I just... I got a bad cramp from running and jumping." Vernal looked up to Mercury and grinned. "Don't forget to stretch."

Mercury chuckled. "Maybe you should go-"

"Walk it off?" Vernal stood up and began to walk away from the group. "Way ahead of you there. Back in a few."

When Vernal disappeared from sight, everyone turned back to the remaining suits. "I guess I'll take the last one," Mercury said as he took a ripped up suit and a hard hat. "Midori, you don't mind staying up here, do you?"

"I think I should stay," Midori replied. "Sorry, I don't think going near a mine is a good idea for me right now."

"Nah, it's cool. You stay." Mercury landed his eyes on Ymir. "Lemme guess; no?"

Ymir leaned against a rock wall behind her. "Yes," she replied.

Everyone else immediately became confused by the response. "Wait, you wanna go down there?" Mercury asked.

"No." Ymir rolled her eyes. "I'm saying 'yes' to your 'no.'"

"...Oh."

With that, Ren, Nora, and Mercury all put on the uniforms Vernal had stolen for them. After she put on her hard hat, she looked over to Ren. "How do I look?" she asked.

"Perfect," Ren said as he pulled the zipper on his uniform. "We'll blend in perfectly with these."

Mercury was having some trouble putting his uniform on. "Uh, I think mine's a little too big," he said.

"Oh, there's a strap on the side," Ren noticed. "Maybe that can help."

Mercury pulled the strap and immediately felt his uniform become tight enough to wear without a problem. "Okay, I'm good."

"Me too," said Nora.

"Alright, then," Ren said as he prepared to walk towards the camp. "So, we're going to go across the camp and see if there are any signs of new metal tools. We can ask where they came from and if anything is missing."

"What if there aren't any new ones?" Nora asked.

"Then we'll ask when the mine will expect some more," said Mercury. "Right, Ren?"

"Exactly. And one more thing; be careful not to get close to the mine entrance. If we do, we might get on the next elevator downwards."

"Got it."

"No problem."

Ren fixed his hard hat as he began to walk down to the mine. "Good. Let's do this."

A few minutes passed before Ren, Nora, and Mercury found themselves at the mining camp. Multiple people dressed like them were walking around holding pickaxes and mined Dust. The Dust went into various crates which were then put on trucks leaving the camp. The other shacks appeared to be a food station and a foreman's office. The food station was serving bowls of soup and a piece of bread for each and every miner.

The one who seemed to be captivated by the food was Nora, but not because she was hungry. "Is that really enough to feed someone?" she asked.

"I don't think so," Ren sadly admitted.

Mercury also noticed something off. "Sure are a lotta people here," he said. "Shouldn't they be stopping by now?"

Ren looked at how busy everyone was. He was immediately reminded how working on the Fritz farm always ended much earlier than this. Anything more would be considered working overtime. "Maybe they're just working extra hours," he said.

"Ha! I wish!"

Everyone turned to see another miner behind them, who had just gotten some soup for himself. "You guys new here or something?" he asked. "Well, don't expect to leave anytime soon. And don't expect something extra."

Nora looked at her friends and shared the same expression she saw on their faces. "You mean... you're still on a regular shift?" she asked the employee.

"Yep, since seven this morning." He then took off his hard hat and wiped his brow. "Shift here ends like it always does; at nine o'clock sharp."

"Wait, really?" Nora's jaw dropped after she asked the question. "You must be exhausted!"

"Well, what're you gonna do?" The miner noticed something off by the question. "What, did you guys just get here?"

"Uh, something like that."

Ren immediately saw an opportunity with the miner. "We're inspectors," he lied. "We're here to inspect this mine's safety and working conditions."

"Uh... aren't you a little young to be inspectors?"

Nora took a closer look at the man before her, specifically his gray hair. "Aren't you a little old to be a miner?"

"Nora!" Ren whispered. The last thing he wanted was to insult the man who could help them on their mission.

"Heh, heh," the man chuckled. He didn't seem to mind about being called an old man. "Yeah, I guess so. But when you need to pay your kid's tuition, you'll understand." He then pointed to the shack they just passed. "Foreman's in there. You can talk to him."

"Actually, before we do, could we ask you a few questions?" Ren asked.

"Fire away."

Ren took note of the pickaxe the miner was holding. "That pickaxe looks a little old. Does it still work?"

The miner looked at the tool. "Yeah, the edges are pretty dull. But it hasn't broken on me yet."

Mercury stepped forward and extended his hands. "Do you mind?" he asked. The miner handed him the pickaxe and Mercury examined the metal and handle. "I think 'dull' is an understatement. This looks like it won't cut anything after a hundred strikes." Mercury wasn't one to use mining equipment, but the metal told him everything. "Don't you wanna get it replaced?"

"If it makes my job easier, sure. But this thing's in the same shape the rest of our tools are."

"So they're definitely not new?"

"I wish they were. Last time we got new tools, that was about six months ago."

"Jeez, pretty outdated." Mercury handed the tool back to the miner. "That doesn't seem fair, though. Why can't you get new ones?"

"You'd have to ask the foreman, sir. I just mine Dust."

"Got it. Thanks for your-"

"Hold on," Nora insisted. "What about inside the mine? Are there any more metal tools or supports down there?"

"Nah, they're more or less the same as this," the miner said as he tapped the pickaxe. "And our supports down there are wooden." He then looked around his immediate area before he spoke in a whisper. "Think you could maybe talk to him about those things? They look like they're gonna fall at any second."

Nora shared a concerned glance with her friends. "We'll bring it up," she promised. "Thanks for your help, sir." With that, the miner left the trio alone. "Can you believe that?"

"Outdated tools, wooden supports about to fall," Mercury thought out loud. "This place sounds like it sucks."

"And not the best place for clues," Ren surmised. "If the metal here is just as old as he said, it wasn't taken from here."

"Maybe it was supposed to come here. But it was stolen along the way."

"That's possible. Not replacing tools like these wouldn't be very logical. Not when more work could be done at a faster rate."

"More like too much work," said Nora. "We never had to work that long back home."

"Seems like Jackass Schnee doesn't know when to give his people a break," Mercury included. "I wonder how much he charges per hour?"

"Hopefully enough for people to pay their bills," said Ren. "I wouldn't be surprised if it's less, though. But we can't worry about that now."

"Right. We should talk to that foreman. If there's nothing to say about metal or new tools, we'll leave." Mercury lead the way back to the foreman's shack, while he hoped things would be just as easy as the chat with the miner.

While she knew the metal for the Titans took priority, Nora wanted to help the rest of the miners. She still planned to mention the failing wooden supports, even if it risked exposing herself as an ordinary girl instead of a mining inspector.

If only she could do a little more for these people.

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

Nora stopped walking when she was stopped by another miner. This one was a woman who appeared to be younger than the previous miner she was talking to. She also appeared to have long brunette hair.

"Um, yes?" Nora asked.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but notice the helmet you're wearing," the woman said as she pointed to Nora's hard hat. "If it's not any trouble, would you mind trading it with mine?"

Nora took off the yellow hat and looked it over. When she compared it to the hat the woman was wearing, she didn't notice any difference. They both had headlights on the top and they didn't appear to be broken or damaged in any way.

"What's wrong with yours?" Nora asked.

As the woman took off her own helmet, her long brunette hair seemed to rise upwards. The hair revealed itself to be a pair of rabbit ears which also revealed the woman to be a Faunus.

"This one hurts my ears," the woman replied. "But yours has the right notches for them."

Nora looked at the helmet again, and then she saw that her hand was covering a piece that appeared to have been cut at an angle. The other side also had the same cut; it seemed to be the perfect fit for a Faunus.

"Oh, I see!" Nora exclaimed. "Yeah, here you go!"

The Faunus smiled as she gratefully accepted the helmet. "Thank you so much," she said as she put it on with a smile.

"No problem. Sorry, I had no idea those were there."

"Everyone misses them. I had a helmet like this one earlier, but someone took it."

Nora stopped smiling. "Oh, that's horrible!"

"No, it's okay. I think they just mistook it for theirs. Still..." The Faunus couldn't help but sit down on a crate of Dust. "All this work is exhausting."

As soon as she sat down, the woman felt much better. Nora sympathized with her need for rest, given the fact that she didn't look like she could handle a miner's job. Unfortunately, not a lot of people seemed to care about this.

Especially not the soldier who was walking by Nora and her acquaintance.

"Hey!" the soldier yelled as he kicked the Dust crate. The woman immediately stood up and faced the soldier. Underneath the face mask he was wearing with his own helmet, the soldier rolled his eyes. "Worthless Faunus," he muttered under his breath. "If you're unhappy, I'm sure there's someone who can replace you!"

"Yes, sir," the Faunus quickly said as she began to walk away. "Sorry, sir."

The soldier who came out of nowhere was content with his work, but Nora was far from happy. "Hey, what the heck?!" she asked the soldier.

The soldier looked back to Nora. "Shouldn't you be working too?" he asked callously.

"So I could get yelled at for taking a breather? No thanks!"

The soldier immediately grabbed Nora's arm. "One more word from you and I'll throw you right outta here!"

Nora freed herself from the soldier's grasp with ease. "Touch me again and I'll kick your butt!"

"Hey, hey!"

Nora and the soldier turned to see Ren and Mercury walking with another miner, but one with a much cleaner uniform. It was almost as if he hadn't been working in the mines at all.

"What's going on here?" the clean miner asked.

The soldier pointed at Nora. "One of your girls just threatened me after I put a friend of hers back on track," he replied calmly.

"Hey, I'm here to inspect problems like you around here!" Nora replied.

The miner chuckled. "Yeah, these friends of yours tried telling me the same thing," he said. "That's the worst ruse for getting out early I've ever heard."

"I'm not trying to leave! I'm trying to find out what's wrong with this place!"

"Nora, stop!" Ren pleaded. "This isn't helping!"

"You're right," the man said. "But I know how to help." The miner looked to Nora. "You're fired. Get her outta here."

The soldier grabbed Nora's arm. "My pleasure, sir," he said. "Come on, Faunus-lover."

The foreman turned back to Ren and Mercury. "And you two? Get back to work before you join your friend." With that, he left the two boys alone.

"Well... that didn't work," said Mercury.

Ren let out a sigh as he shook his head. "Nora," he groaned.

"Hey, come on, man." Mercury nudged his friend's arm as he began to walk around the camp. "Nora's not like that unless she's provoked."

"I know, I know." Ren grabbed a pickaxe off the ground. "I just wish she knew how to choose her battles. Maybe we need to meditate more."

"Let's worry about that later. I think I got a Plan B." Mercury took one pickaxe of his own and immediately broke it by slamming his foot on it.

"What are you doing?!" Ren asked as he looked at the tool.

"Giving us an excuse to talk about the metal again." Mercury replied. "Now we can see if there are any better replacements around."

Ren settled down as he understood Mercury's plan. "Oh, I see. That could work."

"It will. Come on, let's see what we can find out."

---

After passing three more stops, Eren, Emerald, and Cinder finally got off the train. As they did, they all carried the bags they kept their weapons in and made their way to the headquarters of the Schnee Dust Company.

Cinder, however, was walking at a much faster pace than her friends while remaining completely silent.

Emerald, while upset that Cinder was keeping her at a distance, took this chance to share her concerns with Eren.

"This is bad," she said. "I don't think I've seen her this mad."

"Oh, yeah?" Eren spat. "She should be mad." Eren stopped walking and clenched his fists. "Damn it, I'm mad too!"

*BAM*

Eren punched the closest wall that he saw. "Who the hell do those people think they are?! Making her feel like shit because they were too lazy to find other seats?! If I ever see them again, I'll-"

"Easy, Eren!" Emerald said as she put a hand on his shoulder. "We have to be there for Cinder. And I don't think she noticed we're not with her."

Eren looked away from the wall to see that Cinder was way ahead of both him and Emerald. Seeing that she was right, Eren started walking with Emerald again to catch up with Cinder.

"But you're right," Emerald continued. "You should be angry. That was the worst thing I've ever seen happen to someone. I don't think I'd wish that on my worst enemy."

"It's not just that, Emerald," Eren insisted. "If I hadn't left, I could have stopped the whole thing happening in the first place."

"Hey, nobody's blaming you. I left too, you know."

"Yeah, because I made you forget what stop we needed to get off at."

"Eren, nobody's blaming you. Those stupid Atlesians threw Cinder out of her seat, they would have tried it with both of us too."

"Maybe. But that doesn't change what happened back there happened to Cinder." Eren let out a exhausted sigh. "Now she probably hates me."

"..."

Emerald wanted to say once again that nobody was blaming him for what happened, but there didn't seem to be any hope of breaking Eren's stubbornness. Perhaps it would be best to let both of her friends cool off.

But Cinder needed a lot more time to recover from such an ordeal.

After they walked around three blocks, everyone saw a large building with an even larger gate around the whole area. The building looked like any other building in the city, but it was wide enough to cover three blocks. It was almost as large as Kuroyuri.

And the large white snowflake at the top of the gate seemed to spell that this was the headquarters of the Schnee Dust Company.

"Looks like this is it," said Eren. He was taken aback by the size of the compound; the last time he had been in Atlas, he didn't have a chance to see something like this.

Emerald was also staring at the compound, but her attention was suddenly caught by a group of people who were starting to walk inside the open gate. They were all wearing gray uniforms, with some kind of emblem on the left side of their chests.

"That's the group of students!" Emerald said as she pointed to the people walking inside.

Eren understood this and smiled as he began to feel his luck change. "We got here just in time. Emerald, we just need you to fool that security guard."

"Let's keep to the back, then." Emerald began to walk over to the gate while Eren followed her.

But they stopped when they saw Cinder wasn't following them.

"Cinder?" Eren asked as he stopped walking. "Cinder, we're here. Let's-"

"I'm not going in there," Cinder declared as she sat down on a metal bench close to the building.

"..."

Eren and Emerald looked at each other as their concerns about Cinder grew. Her reasons for wanting to stay outside were understandable, but they were also getting in the way of their current objective.

However, Eren figured out a way to make a compromise, as well as correct a mistake he made earlier. Instead of joining the other students, Eren walked over to the bench and sat right next to Cinder.

"Okay," he said calmly. "I'm not going in either."

"What?" Emerald asked.

Cinder let out a sigh as she turned to Eren. "Leave me alone, Eren," she said. "I know you gotta go in there."

Eren shook his head as he looked up to Emerald. "This might be better," he said. "You'll be alone, it'll be easier for you to look around and disguise only yourself."

Emerald looked down as she thought about Eren's logic. It was acceptable, but she still wanted to help Cinder as well. "Well, I wanna stay too," she protested. "I mean, if it'll help."

"It won't," Cinder said. "Both of you, go inside and find out about the metal."

"..."

Cinder wiped her eyes. "Please. Just leave me alone." Cinder was about to dry her eyes again, but she felt that one of her hands was caught in something. When she looked down, she saw Eren holding it gently.

"I did that once already today," Eren said. "Until we leave this God-forsaken Kingdom, I'm not leaving you alone again."

"..."

Cinder easily remembered how hard it was to change Eren's path, whatever he decided to do. She had seen him stay his current course multiple times without ever changing his mind when it was set in stone. There were times when he had done this for her sake as well, and it always made her happy.

But now, as she felt a warm feeling on her cheeks, Cinder began to realize how much she needed Eren to do anything but change his mind. Now, she needed him more than ever. And so, she leaned her head against his arm in silence as she embraced the feeling of companionship.

Emerald smiled at this display of camaraderie and affection, and she was happy that Cinder had begun to accept the friends around her once again. She almost wished she could make Cinder feel this way, but it was clear that Eren was doing a good job.

And it was also clear that she could help in another way.

"I'll go in alone," she said as she accepted Eren's decision. "But I should go now, unless you need my help out here."

"Go where you're needed, Em," Eren said politely. "I'll keep you posted."

"Same to you." Emerald quickly looked down. "Be back in a bit, Cinder." With that, she left the duo alone and disguised herself as one of the students on the building tour.

"Do you... wanna talk?" Eren asked.

"Not just yet," Cinder replied. She leaned closer against Eren's side. "I just... need this right now."

"..."

"..."

Eren remained completely still as Cinder laid motionlessly on his side. This had happened multiple times, usually when she had fallen asleep. It also happened when Mikasa fell asleep too, so Eren was accustomed to the feeling. But this was the first time he let someone lay like this when they were awake. Did it really provide the same comfort? Was he really helping her?

While he respected the fact that she wanted some peace and quiet, Eren had a feeling that he should be doing more. His intuition was telling him to say or do literally anything else but stay still. Whether it was speaking words of comfort or turning the whole Kingdom upside down until Cinder's tormentors were punished, Eren prayed for an opportunity to do more if it meant making his best friend heal faster.

Thankfully for him, after a few minutes of silence had passed, Cinder finally spoke.

"I hate this place," she said. "I hate everything about this Kingdom."

"I know," Eren replied. "I'm sorry, Cinder."

Cinder continued to vent as she leaned against Eren. "And we just thought it was just the SDC? I mean, how can people be so... so horrible to one another like that?"

"...Sorry, Cinder. I wish things were different, I really do."

Cinder finally moved off Eren as she wiped her eyes one more time. She also wiped her nose as she tried to hold her emotions back, but she could break at any second. She appreciated the comfort of Eren's company, but there was something else she needed.

"Eren... has this ever happened to you before?" she asked.

"...What do you mean?" Eren asked.

"When you left Paradis. You went straight to Marley, right?"

"Oh." Eren nodded. "Yeah, that's where I went."

"How long were you there?"

"...A long time."

Cinder wiped her eyes again. "So you saw how Eldians were treated there, right? Did... Did some of that ever happen to you?"

"..."

Eren remembered one time when he was subjugated to abuse in Marley; while he was among a group of shell-shocked Eldian soldiers, a Marleyan played a cruel joke on them by screaming as if a bomb had exploded. The Eldians immediately believed they were still in the midst of battle, and they all fell to the ground while they knocked Eren down too. He wasn't as traumatized as they were, but it was obvious he was the subject of discrimination at that point.

"Yes," Eren confessed. "I was thought of as a lesser person." He then took a pause when he realized; that wasn't the correct way of putting things. "I... wasn't even a person to them."

Cinder felt the exact same way when she thought about the Atlesians who threw her out of her train seat. "What did you do?" she asked. "You were there for... so long. How did you... cope?"

"..."

Her friend's silence wasn't doing Cinder any favors at the moment. "Eren? How did you-?"

"I didn't."

"..."

Cinder fell silent as Eren explained himself. "I never had any kind of... coping mechanism, when I was at Marley," he said. "I hardly opened myself up to anyone. And when I did, I mostly listened instead of talked. I saw, heard, and felt things done to people that shouldn't have happened at all. It was as if everybody could do one thing together; hate the Eldians."

"..."

"But the one thing that made me stay, the one thing that kept me going... was the fact that I knew everyone was going to die. One way or another... I was going to change the world."

"..."

Cinder always knew how hard it was for Eren before he died. And now today, she got a share of how the Eldians were treated, she was sure what happened on the train was the exact same. However, she forgot that Eren chose to keep everything about his plans a secret. Now it seemed he kept his own feelings a secret as well.

But through it all, Eren had succeeded. Like he said, the young man who sought freedom ended up changing the whole wide world.

"I want to change the world too, Eren," Cinder confessed. "I'm on a right path in Mistral, I know it. But this? I always heard the Faunus had a hard time in Atlas, but I never thought people from Mantle had it the same way. And I'm not even from Mantle!" Cinder shot off the bench and slowly paced in front of Eren. "I mean... do places like Atlas require a different kind of change? Like the White Fang? Like Marley?"

Eren immediately saw what kind of parallels Cinder was drawing, and he had to admit that it was a good question. The situation in Mistral was hard enough, but Cinder was changing minds already. Atlas, however, was clearly different. These people believed that the system or society wasn't broken, so there wasn't a need to fix it.

The only way one could bring about change... was by force.

Eren slowly stood up and faced Cinder again. "Cinder... I don't know," he confessed. "I'm sorry, but I don't have all the answers. I know what I did, and I knew what the consequences were." He then took her hands in his. "Whatever you try to do in Mistral or anywhere else, you have my full support. But if you were to take my advice once in your life, take it now; don't do anything you'll regret later on."

"..."

The piece of advice was simple, but fair. What Cinder was suggesting was bound to have some kind of consequence. It could ruin her reputation in Mistral before it even began. The SDC and the White Fang could be argued as self-defense, but her idea would be extremely different.

Even worse, Cinder could end up how Eren did. On Paradis, all of his friends chose to fight him no matter how they benefited from the Rumbling. If she wasn't careful, Cinder could lose Nora, Ren, Emerald, Mercury, maybe even her own mother.

If that were true, what would she have left to fight for?

"Thank God for you, Eren," Cinder thought as she leaned in for a hug. As she felt an embrace returned to her, Cinder realized that her experiences in Atlas were impairing her judgement. It had already happened to Ren and Mercury, so she had to make sure it didn't happen to her.

"Better?" Eren asked.

Cinder let go of Eren and looked back to him. "I... I wanna go home," she whimpered.

"..."

---

*COUGH*

*COUGH*

*COUGH*

While she was waiting for her friends to return, Midori was unfortunately in yet another fit of coughing. The air around her had only gotten worse as time moved on, and her Semblance was on the verge of breaking her Aura. It may have lasted a long time, but even Midori had her limits.

Her only present company was Ymir, since Vernal hadn't returned just yet. While she was one to keep to herself and block out everything else, the woman couldn't help but listen as the coughing sounded even worse.

"...Are you okay?" she finally asked.

Midori looked up at Ymir, who was walking over to her. "I... I think so," she said. "The air here is just... terrible. Is it always like this here?"

Ymir stopped walking. "No."

"..."

"At least... I don't think so."

Midori took a deep breath as she tried hard to not cough again. Ymir, however, pressed on with her questions. "Does this happen often?" she asked.

"It happened a lot when I was a kid," Midori explained. "My Semblance helps, but I think I'm about to run it dry."

"Sorry, I didn't... I didn't know it would be like this." Ymir looked up into the sky, specifically at the city of Atlas. "Why didn't you want to go to Atlas with Eren?"

Midori scuffed at Ymir. "I don't think I wanna be anywhere around Eren right now."

"What? Why?"

Midori sighed. "Look, it's none of your business, okay? So just-" Midori had to stop talking when she started to cough again.

Now it was Ymir's turn to sigh. "Look, I don't care why you're angry," she said. "But it's clear you let that anger affect your judgement. Try not to let that happen again."

"..."

Midori had to admit that her companion was correct. She was angry with Eren and Cinder, but it seemed to have led her to a terrible place that wouldn't allow her to breathe. She could be in Atlas where she could still have her health.

The surprisingly friendly advice from someone she hardly knew seemed to guide Midori's next action; she began to explain herself.

"I guess it was a stupid thing to be angry about," she began. "I just... didn't expect to be at Glory Dawn again."

Ymir was looking away from Midori after she shared her advice, but she turned around again. "I'm sorry, where?" she asked.

"Glory Dawn. I was resting in the car while we drove to Argus, but I saw we were there when I woke up. I thought I was gonna get kicked out or something."

"What exactly is this... Glory Dawn?"

"A medical center in Argus. I heard that's where we were picking up Vernal. But... my mother works there too."

Ymir began to grow intrigued by the story. "Your mother. Did you... not want to see her?"

"No. I ran away from her, actually."

"Why?"

Midori coughed again. "Mostly because of this. My mom was so scared of me being sick and dying that she became overbearing. I was practically trapped in my own house so I couldn't catch any germs. Her words, not mine."

"..."

"I got sick of it after a while, so I left. I didn't tell her where I was going, though. I didn't plan on seeing her again."

Ymir began to understand. "So you were afraid of seeing her again."

"And that's why I was mad. I mean, I shouldn't be mad at Eren for it... should I?"

The older woman thought back to the drive to Argus. "It didn't take a genius to see that emotions were at a high that time," she said. "Nobody was thinking about anything but seeing their friend again. This also affected their judgement. Even how considerate one should be to another."

Midori was confused when she heard such a sentiment from Ymir of all people, but she began to understand how everyone's thinking was affected by Vernal's arrival. After all, they were happy to see her.

"Still..." Midori began. "I don't want to see my mom again. Not if she'll be overbearing again. Or lock me away in the house that should be a home."

"I..." Ymir took a breath. "I understand. My mo-"

"..."

"I mean, Winter's mother wasn't like most mothers either. At first, she was. But, with Jacques being Jacques, the stress of being with him finally broke her."

"How?" Midori asked.

"Well... a glass of wine here and there soon turned into a bottle of wine here and there."

Midori began to draw a picture of this description in her head. Needless to say, it didn't look very good. "...Oh," she said. "Is she... still like that?"

"The last time I saw her, yes." Ymir quickly corrected herself. "I mean, through Winter's eyes. It was hard for her, as well as the rest of her family."

"Well... at least she has a family. Trust me, being an only child wouldn't help in situations like her's or mine."

"No. I suppose not."

"..."

"Hey, guys!"

Midori and Ymir turned to see Nora running towards them. When she stopped to catch her breath, Nora spoke again. "I really... need... your help!"

Both girls listened in silence as Nora explained what happened, and how "Winter" might be able to fix things. So all three of them moved down to the mine and arrived at the entrance in no time at all. As soon as they did, they saw three soldiers standing guard at the gate. One of these soldiers was the one who escorted Nora out of the camp, and now he was ready to do it again.

"I thought I told you to never show your face here again," the soldier spat as he began to raise his gun. "Do I need to tell you again?"

Nora was about to tell the soldier off once again, but Ymir gently pushed her aside so she could speak to the soldier. "Stand down, Private," she said as she walked closer. "She's with me, and we're here on official Council business."

The soldier was ready to throw another ordinary citizen out of the mine, but he stopped thinking in such a manner when he sensed some familiarity with the woman's words. As he took a closer look at her, the soldier's eyes widened under his faceplate. "Specialist Schnee?"

Ymir came to a halt. "That's correct, Private. Now step aside, all of you."

The soldier was too surprised to do anything but stand still. "Ma'am, nobody's seen you in weeks! What happened to you?" He then looked the woman up and down. "Why are you dressed like a citizen?"

"That is none of your concern. Do I need to tell you to let us in again?"

All three soldiers immediately stepped out of the way and apologized very quickly. Ymir led her allies into the camp, but not before she looked back to the first soldier. "Do you know where this mine's foreman is?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," the soldier replied.

"Take us to him."

The soldier obeyed and led all three of the mine's guests back to the foreman's shack. As they walked, Nora and Ymir noticed that there were even more soldiers across the entire mine.

"I didn't see this many when I was in here," said Nora.

"This isn't right," Ymir whispered. But she stopped thinking aloud when they reached the foreman's shack, where the soldier who was escorting them knocked on the door. It was answered by the same miner who had "fired" Nora, and he recognized her instantly.

"Didn't I tell you to get her out of here?" the foreman asked impatiently.

"Yes, sir," the soldier replied. "But there seems to have been a misunderstanding." He then stepped aside for the foreman to see who was among the new guests.

When he saw the closest woman to him, the foreman gasped. "Ms. Schnee!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Um, good evening, ma'am!"

"I suppose it is," Ymir said. "There seems to have been a misunderstanding here tonight." She then gestured to Nora. "It seems you threw out my fellow inspector here while she was doing her job."

"I, um, I..." The foreman needed a few seconds to collect his thoughts. "I apologize, ma'am. It's just that she and her friends looked very young for mining inspectors. But if she told me that you were here-!"

"Yes, I imagine things would be different." Ymir looked over to the soldier once again. "See to it that Nora finds her friends and brings them here."

"Yes, ma'am," the soldier replied. "I think I saw them go that way." He immediately led Nora back towards the rest of the camp. When they were gone, the foreman continued his business with who he believed to be Winter Schnee.

"What exactly are you inspecting here, ma'am?" he asked nervously.

"A multitude of things across the mines," Ymir explained. Nora had already told her about the conditions of the metal tools here, so she knew what to ask. "Specifically, how production seems to have slowed down. After looking at the tools you have, I believe poor working equipment is responsible."

"I see. I'm very sorry, ma'am. I-"

"I don't expect apologies, sir. I expect results. As do General Ironwood and my father. Therefore, it would be in your best interest to prepare upgrades to the mining equipment. New metal, mostly."

The foreman was still nervous, but he was honest. "That's impossible, ma'am!" he insisted. "I can't get new tools or new metal here."

"Why not?"

"Because I already tried. The requisition I made's been on hold for over a week. Corporate just told me that they don't have enough material to make new tools."

Ymir appeared to be mildly surprised by this declaration. "Not enough material. As in not enough metal?"

"I can't say for sure, I only know what corporate told me."

"I see. Did they mention any theft or foul play in this matter?"

"No, ma'am. Just that they couldn't get us more tools."

"Was this just for you? Or the other mines in Mantle?"

"The other mines. I asked if we could borrow some tools, but the foreman from the next mine said they were in the same spot as us."

Just then, Nora returned with Mercury in tow. Midori acknowledged this with a smile and a wave, one that Mercury returned. "Where's Ren?" she asked.

"In the mines," Mercury replied. "He said we should split up as we investigated everything else."

The foreman remembered what he was told about inspection, so he was quick to think of an appropriate response. "I assure you, Ms. Schnee, this mine is up to every working standard known to man," he said confidently.

"Oh, yeah?" Nora asked as she pointed to her escort. "Then why do soldiers like him think it's okay to harass workers when they need to take a breather?! And why are there only wooden supports in the mine right now?!"

Ymir turned back to the foreman. "Wooden supports?" she asked.

"Um, yes," the foreman stuttered. "That would be in relation to the lack of metal, I'm afraid. But they're as strong as they come."

"Well, I'm afraid that's not all I can see wrong here." Ymir looked back to the soldier. "And I don't mean just your treatment of these employees. Why do you have almost a full platoon of soldiers here? This is highly irregular for the Atlas military."

"Oh, it's not irregular anymore, ma'am," the soldier replied. "Mining protocol changed a few days ago. Lieutenant Infrigidando's orders."

"..."

For reasons they didn't know or understand, the color from Ymir's face completely disappeared. Her eyeballs looked like they were going to fall out of their sockets and her wide open jaw didn't show any signs of closing back up again.

"Did you say... Infrigidando?" she finally asked.

"...Yes, ma'am," the soldier replied. "She made this decision-"

*BOOM*

Everyone felt a strong vibration after a loud sound traveled across the whole mine. The shaking was enough to knock everyone over, but only momentarily. Naturally, everyone looked around to find the cause of the noise.

It seemed other miners and soldiers found it first, as they were all running to the mine.

Ymir quickly got up and ran towards the Dust mine where she was followed by everyone else she was with. When she found herself at the mine, she had to push past a few people to see a cloud of dust and rock dissipate right before her eyes.

"What happened?!" Ymir asked a miner.

"I don't know!" the miner replied. "We just heard it!"

As the cloud disappeared, a couple of miners emerged from the cave. One was being helped by another, since he had an injured leg. Ymir quickly ran over with Nora to help and see what happened.

"We saw it just in time," the first miner said. "The mine supports... the mine supports were starting to break."

"The whole thing caved in," the second miner said. "My foot got caught, but I'm okay."

The only one who wasn't okay at the moment was Nora. "Ren was in there!" she yelled back.

"We gotta get him out," Mercury quickly said. "How do we-Wait, Nora!"

The cry fell on deaf ears as Nora ignored her friend and ran into the mine. There were rocks all over the place, but there was just enough room to squeeze past two large ones. As she did, the scared girl moved past more rocks as she cried out Ren's name over and over again.

The journey through the mine wasn't easy, and Nora was breathing in so much dust that she could hardly move at all. But right when she was about to lose hope, she heard the sound of rocks moving and people talking.

"We gotta get out! We gotta get out!"

"Hurry! Hurry!"

"It could move at any second!"

Nora heard the voices more clearly as she pressed her ear against another rock. This one was large and heavy, but Nora's full strength wasn't gone just yet. So after she found a firm grip on the boulder, she pushed with all her might.

"Hey, it's moving!"

"Is it coming down?!"

"No, somebody's moving it! Hello, can you hear us?!"

Nora yelled back as loud as she could. "I can hear you!" she said. "Hold on, I'm gonna get you out!"

"Hurry!" the voice said. "There's a big Grimm in here with us!"

"Don't tell her to hurry!" another voice said. "Help her, for God's sake!"

Nora felt the rock move once again, but from the other side. As she finally pushed it away, a few more rocks began to fall. But they weren't large enough to block the way out, or the way that the other miners needed to escape from.

"She did it!" the first miner said as he looked behind him. There were about five others behind him, and they all scrambled to move out.

"One at a time!" Nora warned. "There's not much room!"

"But we have to get outta here!" a second miner said. "There's a giant Grimm back there!"

Nora watched the other miners leave, but didn't see any sign of Ren with them. "Ren!" she called back to the small cave.

"No... ra!" a loud voice called from behind.

Nora instinctively went into the cave, since she knew only one person was in there that knew her name. But as she did, she wasn't prepared to see what she was looking at.

The Predator Titan was right above her, crouched down and trying to stay absolutely still. On top of its head and back was a large boulder that looked like it could come down at any moment. There was indeed a Grimm in this cave, but it was saving everyone's lives.

Now, more than ever, Ren needed someone to save him.

"Ren, get outta there!" Nora yelled up to the Titan. "The whole place is gonna come down!"

"I... can't!" the Predator Titan groaned. "My nape... is blocked!"

Nora grew even more worried when she heard. "It's-It's okay" she said. "I can help!" But even though she said this, Nora didn't have the confidence that she could pull this off. She knew the anatomy of the Titans, how the person inside would always emerge from the nape. But with Ren's nape blocked, he was as good as trapped.

Then again... there was another side to the neck.

"Ren!" Nora cried out. "Can you exit through the front of your neck?! Instead of the back?!"

Ren paused for a moment before he answered. "I... can't... move!" he said as he referred to his body inside the shell.

"Keep trying!"

Nora looked around the area as she tried to think of another way. But all she could see were rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Some Dust might blow a way out of the neck, but it seemed that the Dust in this spot was mined clean. And there didn't seem to be any signs of help coming.

Nora nearly tripped while she paced on the ground. When she looked back to see what it was, Nora saw a piece of metal sticking out from the rocks. When she dug it out, the metal revealed itself to be the front end of a drill. It didn't seem to be damaged and Nora was wielding it with ease.

And it seemed to be just the right size to cut a hole into flesh.

"Ren?" Nora called as she looked up. "Stay completely still."

Ren looked down to see Nora holding the powerful drill. Needless to say, he wasn't liking where Nora was going with this. "Nora... what are you... doing?" he asked.

Despite the low tone of the voice, Nora could tell Ren was nervous. She was nervous too, but she had to see this through. "Hold still!" she repeated.

*WHIIIRRRR*

"Nora, no!"

Nora raised the drill as high as she could, which was enough to reach the neck of the Predator Titan. Black blood and flesh sprayed everywhere, especially on Nora. But despite the horrid odor and taste of it all, Nora pushed the drill deeper to make a hole large enough to pull Ren out.

"Stop!" Ren yelled. "Stop, it's... too close!"

The machine was loud, but Ren's warning was louder. Nora turned off the drill and threw it aside so she could reach up and pull even more flesh out of the hole she made.

She stopped ripping and tearing when a hand grabbed her own.

"Got you!" Nora yelled as she pulled. Her strength was starting to fail due to the elements of the mine, but Ren pushing himself out helped her. When he was free, he fell to the ground with Nora.

Nora cleared the muck out of her eyes to see Ren was on top of her and staring at her. When the two made eye contact, Nora felt hot and awkward all over.

"Um... hi!" she said with an awkward laugh.

*RUMBLE*

Ren was the first to get up when he heard a familiar sound. He looked up to see that his Titan was still in place, but it wouldn't be standing for much longer. "Come on!" he said as he grabbed Nora's hand.

"Let me go first!" Nora said. "I'll guide us out!"

Ren knew there wasn't much time to argue, but he wasn't exactly sure how comfortable he was with Nora as a guide. But as he followed her through each crack and crevice of the collapsed cave, his doubts were set aside when he could finally stand up straight.

Two more miners had cleared part of the way with drills of their own, but they followed Ren and Nora when they saw the cave was going to collapse some more.

*BOOM*

More rocks fell into the cave where Ren previously was and knocked more rocks with it. But thankfully, everyone was out safe and sound.

Multiple people crowded around Ren and Nora as they all made sure they were okay. Half of the people were asking if they were hurt, but another half comprised of the people Nora helped escape. They were thanking her for her selfless act and apologizing for leaving Ren.

"Guys!" a familiar voice called out. "Guys, are you okay?!"

Ren and Nora turned to see Mercury and Midori running towards them. "Holy crap, you made it!" Mercury said with glee. "Are you good? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"We were so worried!" Midori said. "Are you hurt? Should I use my Semblance?"

Before either of them could reply, the group was joined by Ymir. "We have to go!" she said quickly. "Now!" She took off before anyone could argue otherwise. But as they moved out, they could hear the mine's foreman talking with a soldier.

"We have to shut down for the day," the foreman said. "It'll take weeks to clear that mess out, and we don't have the tools for an excavation."

"The military will lead the excavation sir," the soldier said. "All you need to concern yourself with is getting everyone out of here. You heard what those miners said, there's a Grimm in that cave."

"Yeah, I heard. But a human kind? We don't have another Titan on our hands, do we?"

"Let's hope not. But I already informed Lieutenant Infrigidando, she'll be the overseer for this operation."

When everyone found themselves outside the camp, Nora let Ren down so he could catch his breath. "Ren, are you okay?!" she yelled. "Say something!"

Ren let out a heavy cough before he replied. "Nora..." he began. "That was... without a doubt... the most reckless... and insane thing... you've ever done to me."

Nora immediately felt guilty about her decision, given that it almost killed Ren. She wanted to say a million things to him, but he beat her when he had one more thing to say.

"But I... am so glad you did it."

"..."

Nora laughed as she relaxed from the shock and despair of the situation. Mercury helped his friend stand up and take off his mining uniform. "Good to have you back, buddy," he said.

"Hey!"

Everyone looked to see Vernal standing by herself with a dropped jaw. "What the hell did I miss?!"

---

By the time Emerald had left the Schnee Dust Company headquarters, Nora had called Eren and told them they were ready to leave Mantle. Based on what Emerald had said, she believed it may be best for everyone else to meet them in Atlas.

Cinder had no objections, although she wanted to leave Atlas as soon as possible. But the more friends she had around her, the more safer she would feel.

No matter how hard she tried, the harassment she cruelly received on the train rang through her head. One shouldn't think about such things, and Cinder was made fun of a couple times while she was growing up. But never, in all her life, was she treated as she was simply because of the clothes she liked to wear. A lot of people back home never judged her for wearing something practical at comfortable for farming. And yet, even the common people of Atlas held themselves in such high standard that they had no regard for people they considered their inferior.

And if this was how she was treated, Cinder couldn't imagine how bad it was for the Faunus.

Through it all, Eren and Emerald were trying to make her feel better. Eren felt like he helped Cinder open up again, but now he felt he could do more since Emerald was here.

"It's okay, Cinder," Eren began. "It's over now, and it won't happen again."

"Yeah, and we'll be leaving soon," Emerald continued. "I'm sure all your fans in Mistral are gonna welcome you with open arms."

"And once we're done, we're never coming back here again."

"Amen to that. Good riddance, Atlas. And good riddance to that guy you socked, right Eren?"

"If I ever see him again, he'll get more than a punch to the face."

Cinder chuckled as she dried her eyes. "Thanks, guys," she said sincerely. "But, uh, I'm not just upset about what they said." Cinder stopped walking. "I just can't believe some people think like that. And no matter what we did, we didn't change anything."

"Progress takes time, Cinder," Emerald said. "I mean, remember how much of a pain I was when I first started at the farm? I was a thief, for God's sake!"

"That's right," Eren included. "And remember that time we had to fix the entire fence around the farm? That took weeks to finish! We can't expect change on just one day, you know?"

"...Yeah." Cinder began to see things in a better perspective, even though her feelings were still hurt. "Yeah, that's true. But really, is there something wrong with how I dress?"

"No, of course not!" Emerald insisted. "I mean, our outfits look the same, don't they? If there's something wrong with your clothes, then there may as well be something wrong with mine! And I didn't hear anyone trashing me." Emerald turned to Eren. "Right, Eren?"

"Yeah, of course!" Eren eagerly agreed. "Cinder, I can count on all our fingers how many people I've seen wearing something like you're pulling off. Trust me, you dress like every guy I know."

"..."

Eren couldn't see the shock on Emerald's face when he finished speaking, but he could see the look of disgust on Cinder's face as she looked at her clothes again.

"I... I dress like a guy?" Cinder groaned as she walked away from her friends, but at a much faster pace. She then disappeared around a corner.

"Eren!" Emerald whispered to the dumbfounded boy. "A guy?! Are you kidding me?! What were you thinking?!"

"...Oops," Eren said as he cursed his own stupidity. He meant no disrespect for Cinder, but he didn't choose his words very wisely at the moment. After he followed his instincts and caught up to Cinder, he immediately began to apologize. "Cinder, I'm sorry! That's not what I meant, I was saying that-!"

"..."

Eren stopped talking when he saw a new look on Cinder's face. Where there was once a display of disgust and self-pity, Cinder had replaced it with what appeared to be awe and wonder.

"Cinder?" Eren asked as he tapped her shoulder.

In response, Cinder raised her arm and pointed in front of her. "Um... what's that?" she asked.

Eren followed her finger and soon found himself in awe as well. About ten feet in front of them was a large statue, one that depicted a crouched man carrying a large sphere on his shoulders. At closer inspection, the sphere was revealed to be a globe; one that showed all the continents and landmasses of Remnant.

It also revealed that the man was Eren's Titan.

"What the-?" Eren whispered as he looked closer.

Emerald soon found Eren and Cinder and began to join them. "Guys?" she called out. "What're you looking at?"

Cinder was the first to turn around. "We... We found something!" she said as she pointed to the statue.

Emerald looked at what Cinder was pointing at and soon found herself in awe just as well. "...Whoa," she said. "What's this doing here?"

"I don't know," Eren confessed. "I was expecting something about looking out for Titans, but this... is something else."

Cinder looked down at the base of the statue. "Look, there's a plaque," she said as she pointed down to a golden plate with writing on it.

"Dedicated to those who lost their lives to the Grimm.

May the monsters feel the weight of the lives they stole on their shoulders."

"Well... that's one way to put it," Cinder said as she finished reading.

"Kind of makes you think," said Emerald. She then looked up and down the street. "I wonder why they put it here. This looks like any other street I've seen."

Eren found himself looking over the general area where the statue was located. When he saw the street and the buildings, the young man found himself to be surprised once again. "Cinder?" he asked. "Did you notice something familiar about this place?"

Cinder turned away from the statue and looked up and down the street. She had to repeat the action once again to see what Eren was seeing, but the truth was undeniable. She had only seen it once, but she was able to recognize the street for what it was.

"Oh, my Gods," she whispered in fear. "This... This is it."

"Huh?" Emerald asked as she looked away from the statue. "Whoa, are you okay?"

Eren moved closer and took Cinder's hand in an attempt to calm her down. "We'll be okay," he believed. "But we shouldn't be here."

"What do you mean? Where are we?"

Eren wanted to answer for Cinder again, but the frightened girl spoke. "This is where I was taken," she said. "This-This is where..."

Eren could feel Cinder shaking as he held her hand, so he began to move even further away from the street. "Cinder, they're dead," Eren reminded his friend. "Look at me." Eren soon made eye contact with Cinder. "They're all dead, Cinder. They can't hurt you anymore. Nobody here is going to hurt you anymore, I promise."

"..."

To say that Cinder had been traumatized from her experiences at the Glass Unicorn was an accurate statement. Despite the new family she had made, Cinder never had any therapy or any kind of treatment for the experiences. Her mother was always supportive and willing to offer time to listen, but Cinder never confronted her fears head on.

It was why she felt like she was going to die here.

But between the look Eren was giving her, the embrace he was sharing with her, and the promise he was making to her, Cinder could feel her fears begin to subside. She was ready to thank him once again, but Emerald spoke first.

"Wait, this is the place?" Emerald asked. "This is where people made children their slaves?!"

"This is the street, yeah," Eren confirmed. When he saw that they were alone, Eren began to explain himself. "They must have built the memorial when I destroyed the hotel. It was right over... there."

The space Eren was pointing to was completely different. Rather than a hotel with marble columns at the front, it appeared to be just like any other building. It was tall, with hundreds of windows on the side, and it appeared to be an apartment complex instead of a hotel.

"That's not it, is it?" Emerald asked.

"No," Eren replied. "Something completely different. I just hope they learned their lesson about child labor."

"Same here," said Cinder, who had regained control of her nerves. "But we should get-"

"Greetings, friends!"

The trio turned towards the sound of a new voice, one that led to a rather big surprise. A large group of people were making their way towards the same statue they were standing at. The group consisted of about twenty people, and they were being led by a man wearing a black suit and glasses.

This was the first time an Atlesian of all people greeted Eren and his friends with apparent respect. It was strange, but Eren responded accordingly. "Um... Hello," he said after a moment. Cinder and Emerald remained silent.

The older man walked up to the statue and smiled. "I'm so glad you came," he said. "It seems we've done nothing but grow these past few days."

Eren looked back to his friends, who did nothing but shrug at him. He shared this confusion, so he decided to express it. "What do you mean?" he asked.

The man stopped smiling. "Oh, wait a minute. Were you just here to look at the statue?"

Eren turned back to the depiction of his Titan. "We found it by accident. We didn't even know this was here."

"It's not in a very noticeable spot, you're right." The man turned back towards the group of people behind him. "But my friends and I gather here every week at this exact time. We spread the word, I assumed you were here to join."

Eren clearly saw how a misunderstanding had been made. "I'm sorry, we were just looking." However, he wasn't sure why a group this size would want to come at this time of night when the street was practically empty. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, we come and reflect on the Titanic Retribution," the man explained. "And hope that God above is watching us with pride."

The earlier misunderstanding had been cleared, but this answer raised more questions. "What?" Eren asked in disbelief, "Wait, let's start over. What did you say your name was?"

The man smiled again. "Oh, how rude of me!" he said with a laugh. He then extended his hand. "I'm John Suspiria, Professor of theology at Atlas University." Eren shook the man's hand without introducing himself. "I'm also the founder of our organization." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece a paper. Eren took the paper and read the title.

"Lux... in... Tenebris?" he asked. "Am I reading this right?"

"Indeed you are."

One of the members, a younger woman, spoke up as she moved forward. "We were all equally affected on the night of the Titanic Retribution," she said. "But John and his research actually set a lot of things straight."

This was the second time Eren heard that phrase, and one look at the statue gave him an idea. "You mean the night the giant Grimm attacked?" he asked.

"That's the one. If we weren't in Atlas to see it for ourselves, people in Mantle saw the aftermath on the news."

More people began to step forward. "My apartment was destroyed while I was at work," another woman said.

"I left the Dust mines to help rebuild the streets," said a young Faunus.

"...I lost my brother," said an older man. "And my nephew."

"..."

Eren's silence and the stories from each person gave Cinder the idea that maybe this wasn't really the kind of people they should be talking to. "Eren," she said. "I think we should leave." She gently pulled on his arm and felt him following her lead.

"Oh, wait just a second," John implored. "I know this sounds sad, and our beliefs aren't exactly... mainstream. But we're actually joined by someone important tonight." He then looked around the crowd. "I think he's further back, but his story is actually why I formed this group to begin with. Why we actually believe the Titan did something good when it attacked."

"..."

To say that this belief wasn't very "mainstream" sounded very valid at the moment. Eren remembered hearing nothing but screams and gunfire when he turned into his Titan. Chaos engulfed the city of Atlas that night, so how was it possible that something like this... this cult could be formed out of it?

For some reason, Eren was willing to find the answer.

"...I'll stay," Eren decided. He then turned to his friends. "You go meet Ren and everyone else."

Cinder looked back to the people. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"I'll just listen for a minute. I'll catch up with you later."

"..."

Cinder was also unsure how a group like this could be formed from the night she and Eren escaped Atlas. While she didn't want to know, it was clear Eren's mind was made up once again. And it seemed unlikely that she could change it.

"Call me when you're done," she asked. "I'll let you know where we are."

"Okay," Eren agreed. "I'll see you in a bit." After he watched Cinder and Emerald leave, Eren turned back to the leader of this group and expressed his curiosity. "So, tell me more."

"With pleasure," John replied. "First off, allow me to welcome you to our group." He held Eren's shoulder. "As Maria mentioned, we were all affected on the night the Titan attacked." He then spoke in a louder voice. "Okay, everyone! I think we should start by sharing our work with..." He looked back to Eren once again. "I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

"...Kruger."

John looked back to his friends. "We'll be sharing our work with Kruger here! I hope you don't mind if I start!" Everyone either nodded their heads or told John to go ahead. With that, he walked closer to the Titan statue. "The day after the Titan struck, all I could see was pain, sadness, and death. I think I speak for everyone here when I say they saw the same thing."

"..."

Eren remained silent as everyone nodded once again. When the nodding stopped, John spoke again. "Among these things, I also saw that everyone wanted to know one thing: why?"

"..."

"Why did this Kingdom suffer such a tragedy? Why did a Grimm appear out of nowhere and lay waste to everything we built? I also wanted to know why, but nobody could offer any kind of rational explanation. No breach in security, no sign of foul play. And that's when it hit me. The Titanic Retribution... was an act of God."

Eren suddenly heard murmurs amongst the crowd. It was clear that the other people agreed with his theory.

"Being a professor of theology, my job is to study and analyze the multitude of religions that have spread across the world of Remnant. Needless to say, I'm also a man of religion. So, I dove into my work and tried to find some kind of rationalization for the Titan. While scientists and the authorities handled this in their own matter, my studies was the only method I knew how to find answers. And while I was asking myself how the Titan came to Atlas, I tried to look at a bigger picture. Not just why the Titan was here, but why all Grimm are here."

"..."

The last part made Eren recall a conversation he had with Winter of all people. Before they went to the Land Of Darkness, Winter had said there were attempts to study and learn about a possible origin for the Grimm. But this work was abandoned long ago, and the Grimm were simply regarded as a natural part of life.

So Eren was curious as to where John was going with this.

"I've studied many religions where I work," the professor continued. "Whether it was reading scripture or visiting different places of worship, I thought I had seen it all. Until one day, I alone found a place of worship unlike any other. A place that described gods unlike any other; the kind that walked among men."

"..."

Eren knew Darkness' story prior to meeting Salem, how he had created the world with his brother, the God of Light, and chose to live with the people they created. He didn't think evidence for it existed, so he was curious as to whether any of these ramblings were true.

"Can you prove this?" Eren asked after he raised his hand.

"Of course!" John replied excitedly. "After I made my discovery, I published my findings and theories in my first book. And you can even find this place off the coast of Vale."

"It's true," a Faunus whispered to Eren. "I saw the place myself last year. It exists."

"There were two gods during this time," John continued. "Both of which, in my opinion, were two sides of the same coin. Their names, corny as they may sound, were Light and Darkness."

Now Eren knew he was thinking of the same gods as John. He wanted to ask how he was able to find this "place of worship" as well, but John had more to say.

"When I read about the God of Darkness, I didn't know what to think," he said. "It sounded like something out of a fairy tale, but all the facts were laid out for me. And then I realized that he must exist for a reason. If he was responsible for all the darkness and negativity in the world, there had to be a reason. When the Titan attacked us, we were at our most vulnerable. We were greedy, selfish, and unkind to one another. And the Titan came to punish us, to show us that this darkness inside ourselves is real."

"..."

"For me, it was the fact that I refused to teach in Mantle. I thought its citizens weren't worth my time. But now, I teach younger students how to read and write."

One man spoke up. "For me, I believed the Faunus were lesser beings," he said. "But now, I've made enough friends to see no difference at all."

Another man spoke up. "For me, I had a falling out with my brother," he said. "I don't like to talk about it, but... he might still be here if I hadn't started our fight."

John smiled and looked at the people who shared their stories. "Thank you, both of you," he said. "It's hard, I know. To look inside yourselves and see where you failed, where you let people down. But don't forget that it was the Titan's wrath that taught us to be better. There are rumors surrounding other Titans in Anima, perhaps they share our same blight."

Eren remembered everything he did as a Titan when he was at Anima. Either someone from Kuroyuri shared the story about Titans or a survivor from the Branwen Tribe shared what happened; maybe it was Raven herself. However, the fact remained that he would have to be more careful.

"So... you think that the God of Darkness... brought the Titan here?" Eren asked. "To show people their... faults?"

John approached Eren again. "My friend, to this day, Atlas has no idea how the Titan came to be here in the first place," he began. "Our efforts to fight it may have caused it to leave us alone, but its message was clear. Atlas has lost its way. We have lost our way." He then looked back to his group. "But now, we can pick ourselves up and be truly worthy of living in the sky."

Short applause followed this declaration, along with a new voice that was unmistakably male. "May I go next, John?"

Eren looked into the crowd, but couldn't see exactly where the voice came from. However, it seemed to be familiar to John, as he smiled once again. "Ah, perfect timing!" he said as he began to wave his hands. "Everyone make some room, please." As everyone began to drift apart, John guided Eren with him. "This is why we came out here tonight. Our latest addition is a... unique case."

"..."

Eren had no objections to hearing someone else speak, but he wasn't sure why he needed to move aside. "Please, come up," said John.

As everyone stopped moving, an older woman with greying brown hair began to walk forward. In front of her was a wheelchair, which she was pushing. Its passenger was another man, relatively the same age as her. He also had greying hair, but it was mostly black. On his face was a series of scars, and one of his eyes appeared to be blinded.

Eren couldn't put his finger on it, but the aging old man looked somewhat... familiar.

As the woman stopped at the statue and turned the wheelchair around to face the crowd, the old man spoke again. "Hello, everyone," he said slowly and somewhat awkwardly. "I'm sure you all know my wife, but I'm new here. My friends call me Rhodes."

"Hi, Rhodes," said another man.

"Welcome to the group," a woman said politely.

"Riley's told us so much about you," another woman said.

The man called "Rhodes" smiled at the notion. "Thank you, thank you," he said as he continued. "And Riley's told me a lot about you." He then looked up to his wife. "Thank you for bringing me out here tonight."

"Thank you for coming," Riley said with a smile. "This really means the world to me."

Rhodes patted his wife's hand before he looked back to the crowd. "Like the rest of you, I was also affected by the Titanic Retribution. And as you can see, my affect was... severe."

"..."

Everyone besides Eren nodded and whispered amongst themselves as they listened to Rhodes. "That night, I was hurt so bad that I ended up in a coma. I woke up about a month ago, where Riley and my doctors told me a building had fallen on me. I was lucky to survive, and even luckier that nobody gave up on me. Ever."

"..."

"Riley told me everything she did while she was looking after me, for seven years, no less. From helping the poor to working in Mantle, even meeting all of you. You were there for her when she needed it most. You all shared what it was that makes you think the Titan came here. Now it's my turn."

"..."

"You see, I was a Huntsman before I became paralyzed. I went out there, risked my life against the Grimm, and did what I thought was right. But despite all that, my greatest failure... was ignorance."

"..."

"Rather than going to Atlas Academy for missions, I met a friend of mine at a hotel who would always give me the missions that paid the most. While I waited, I would always see..." Rhodes had to clear his throat, as if there was a giant lump in it.

The man's wife leaned down and patted his shoulder. "It's alright, dear," she said. "This is a safe place."

Rhodes nodded and looked back to the group. "While I waited, I would always see... see these children working there," Rhodes confessed. "Their stepmother took them in and put them to work, and would control them with this... shock collar. And I just watched her."

"..."

Eren's face turned white as he looked at the man. Now he knew why Rhodes looked familiar; he was the one who tried to stop him and Cinder from leaving after she killed the owner of the Glass Unicorn. And if memory served him right, Rhodes was willing to kill him and Cinder if they fought back.

Eren felt a multitude of feelings associated with the former Huntsman. His first feeling was anger, since he was willing to let everything happen and only act when a monster was killed. The others ranged from satisfaction of knowing that Rhodes couldn't do anything else as a Huntsman to pity about his current condition. He looked broken and beaten, similar to how Eren looked when he stayed in Marley.

But what should he do now?

Eren asked himself what he could do now that he knew who Rhodes was. Should he leave while he had the chance? Should he call him out for letting the family hurt him and Cinder?

What was the best option?

"I'm sorry."

While he was in his own world, Eren didn't notice that Rhodes was still talking. And he wasn't expecting Rhodes to apologize of all things. Once again, he was curious as to where this was going.

"If I could see those children again, I'd tell them how sorry I really am," Rhodes continued. "They took the only chance they had to escape that wretched place, and I wanted to arrest them. They just needed help, and I did nothing." A tear began to fall from Rhodes eye. "I deserved to have a building fall on me, but those kids... those kids deserved to live."

"..."

"My point is, I learned my lesson. This city, this Kingdom, this world... needs to change. I don't know how I can help bring about this change. But I think being here, with all of you, would be a good start." Rhodes smiled. "And all I can say is... thank God for the Titan."

"Thank God for the Titan!"

All of a sudden, Eren heard clapping and cheers from everyone else he was standing with. They were all shouting the same thing Rhodes said, like they were truly thankful for what happened all those years ago. Eren was now convinced that he was among people who had lost their minds, who viewed his actions as divine salvation. Truly, this was crazy.

But then again... the former Huntsman had a very interesting story. And the story John had shared wasn't entirely off from what really brought him to Remnant. And above all else... the people who hurt Cinder and the ones who did nothing needed to be stopped. They deserved to die, to have their freedom taken from them so Cinder could achieve hers.

Maybe... Maybe Eren did do something good that night. Maybe these people, however lost they seemed, had indeed found some light in the darkness.

"I couldn't have said it better myself."

A voice from behind made Eren turn around, where he was welcomed by another surprise. Instead of the crowd of people behind him or the street he once knew, Eren was staring at a land of red ground with black and purple crystals all around him.

And a purple, faceless figure standing before him.

"Darkness?!" Eren shouted as he stumbled backwards. He realized too late that nothing was behind him, which caused him to fall to the ground.

The dark deity chuckled at Eren's slight misfortune as he walked closer. "Hello, Eren," Darkness said sincerely. "I must admit, I am pleased to see you amongst my friends."

Eren thought back to the street as he stood back up. "How long were you watching me?!"

"Long enough to see your recent exploits. Not bad, overall. Killing Salem's mad Faunus, subjugating would-be conquerors, and my personal favorite, meeting my supplicants."

"Wh-What was all of that?"

"Weren't you paying attention? Those people were my followers."

Eren turned around again, though he didn't see any more people worshiping or praying. "Wait... you made them believe all that stuff? You made those people worship you?"

"No, Eren. You did."

"..."

Darkness moved closer and swiftly wrapped his arm around Eren's shoulder. "Yes, it was a surprise to me as well. I wouldn't have imagined anyone finding peace or solace after your attack on that rock they call a city. But it seemed one thing led to another, and Lux in Tenebris was born."

Eren recalled the story the professor told again, and observed how it seemed to have affected Darkness. He did seem to be happy with everything he heard, since it was clear that he had been watching Eren.

"So... you've been listening to them pray?" Eren asked. "You've been watching them all this time?"

"I have," Darkness confessed honestly. "I learned their history the same way you did, when I first heard them pray."

"What else have you been doing here?"

"Oh, nothing too impactful. Though I have been watching over them and interfering when I can."

Eren looked back to Darkness. "I thought you didn't want your brother to know about me being here."

"I don't. I come to them when they are at their most vulnerable and susceptible. In their dreams, mostly." Darkness then reminded Eren of a unique experience. "It was how I made Salem create your Titan, remember?"

Eren remembered what Darkness told him on the first day they met. It seemed to have worked for Salem, and it seemed to be working on all these people. It worked so well that they were loyal to Darkness.

It was scary enough for Eren to change the subject.

"Why did you bring me here?" he asked.

"To help you," Darkness replied. "In more ways than one."

Eren gave the deity his attention once again. "You know who's making those harnesses for Salem."

"Yes. And I know you are very close to finding him yourself. However, his work is almost complete."

"I saw the Titans Salem sent in Vale. She's making more of them, isn't she?"

"She already has, Eren. They are all based on your Titan, but she has enough to fill Wall Maria. I trust you remember its size?"

"..."

Once again, Eren's memory didn't fail him. It wasn't the full might of the Rumbling, but that many Titans capable of fighting would be an unstoppable force. Based on the look on his face, Darkness could tell that Eren understood.

"You must go back to my former home, Eren," Darkness advised. "You were wise to dispose of Salem's acolytes, but she can always find more." Darkness leaned closer to his champion. "You must stop her once you leave this place. I will protect you with everything I have. For you are worth protecting, Eren Yeager."

Eren nodded. "You have to do the same for my friends," he said. "I already know they won't let me fight her alone."

"Indeed. Like I said, you have inspired others on this world. But for now, Salem is our end goal."

Eren nodded again. "I'll do whatever it takes. After I find the person who can control the Titans."

"I know you will. Defeat him if you must, but I would advise you to spare his life. He may be of some use to you."

---

After Eren parted ways with the group of fanatics that worshiped Darkness, he called Cinder. He apologized for leaving her alone, but Cinder said she was fine since she was with Emerald. She also told him that she found Ren and everyone else at a cafe. With directions she provided him, Eren found himself outside a cafe with everyone else.

"Hey, guys," Eren greeted everyone with a smile. "Sorry I'm late, I got caught up in something."

"Yeah, Cinder was telling us," said Vernal. "What was it again? Some kinda following or something?"

"Its not important." Eren grabbed himself a seat. "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing on my side," said Emerald. "I was gonna tell everyone what I learned at the SDC, but I was too busy hearing how Nora saved Ren from a collapsed mine."

"Wait, what?!" Eren looked to Ren. "Are you okay?!"

"I am now," Ren confessed. "I didn't think I was gonna make it. But Nora used an... let's just say unorthodox way to help me out."

"Yeah, it was pretty scary," Nora said. "But I think we should avoid Mantle for now. It's not really good for Midori here."

"It's true," Midori said. "The air down there is like poison."

"It is?" Cinder asked. "That's terrible." She then looked down at the table. "Then again... Atlas isn't much better either."

Midori took a smell of the air around her. It smelled rather sweet, given they were all at a cafe. "I don't feel sick here. I should've come here with you guys, actually."

Cinder sighed. "It's not the air, Midori. Let's just say there are no angels in Atlas. I don't think there ever were."

"What do you-?"

Eren moved closer to Cinder as he cut off Midori. "It's in the past now," he said. "We should probably talk about what we learned."

"I went into the headquarters alone," said Emerald. "My Semblance helped me gain just about every clearance in the building."

"We went to a mine together," said Ren. "I think I'd better let you all explain, though." Ren stood up and moved away from the table. "Eren? A word in private?"

"..."

Eren was willing to follow, but he didn't want to leave Cinder alone once again. But she gave him a nod in approval, since the company of her friends gave her the reassurance she needed that everything would be fine. And so, Eren followed Ren to talk in private.

Mercury lead the discussion about the mines. "So it turns out that the metal we found in the Titans didn't come from the mines," he said. "The tools they have down there are complete and utter bull crap. They were using dull pickaxes and wooden supports for the mines down there."

"That's what made it cave in!" Nora explained. "The miners warned us that would happen too!"

"Okay," Cinder said. "So it wasn't coming from the mines. Do you think it has anything to do with the mines?"

"Maybe," said Midori. "Ymir found out that the mines in Mantle were expecting new tools a while ago. The foreman even asked for more to pick up the pace."

"He told me personally that the Schnee Dust Company didn't have the material to make new equipment," said Ymir. "Based on what you told me about the Titan you found, I'm sure that you found the material inside that nape."

"So we thought that maybe some of the higher ups are keeping the metal for themselves," said Nora. "That's my idea, at least."

"That might not be it," said Emerald. "After I broke away from the students, I used my Semblance to make myself look like Jacques Schnee."

"Jackass Schnee," Mercury corrected with a chuckle.

"Shut up." Emerald cleared her throat. "Anyway, I talked to a couple of people in security and operations management. They told me that what I described was actually brought up to the board of directors a week ago."

"Really?" Ymir asked. She suddenly kept her mouth shut when some of the group turned to her.

"What'd they say?" Mercury asked.

"Apparently, all of their materials are stored in some company owned warehouses in Mantle and Atlas," said Emerald. "They have their own security force and some Atlesian Knights that report directly to the company. But the ones guarded by the robots turned up with some missing material."

"Metalwork?"

"You got it. But no Dust was stolen, so the issue wasn't really brought to the public. More security got sent to the warehouses to keep a closer eye on things."

Out of the whole group, Cinder seemed to be the most content. "So now we know why the mines aren't getting their material," she began. "And what happened to the metal that was found in the Titan." Cinder then formed a smile. "This explains a lot."

"No it doesn't."

Everyone turned to Ymir, who was looking right at Cinder. "Winter's been to those warehouses before," she said. "If memory serves me right, it's not easy to just walk in and steal anything in there, metal or Dust. There's only one way in and out. And somebody would have to notice."

"Yeah, I thought so too," said Emerald. "I did a lot of stealing before I met all of you, so I know there had to be some kind of security in those places. But when I talked to one of the security guys, they said the cameras in the warehouses were under repair."

"Was this in Mantle?"

"Yeah. And one of the places guarded by robots only."

Ymir leaned back in her chair. "This... doesn't make sense."

Emerald sighed. "Yeah, that's what I thought." She then turned to Cinder. "So what do we do now?"

Cinder took a moment of silence to think of a plan and what the best course of action would be. They could visit this warehouse to see if there was something overlooked by the SDC, but that wasn't very likely. They could also stakeout another warehouse, but it was more of a long shot. If the thieves got away with enough metal before, why would they need more of it?

"They'll need more metal."

Everyone turned to see that Eren and Ren had returned from their own conversation. They had just heard the final pieces of the meeting, but Eren had an idea what to do. "We killed a lot of Titans in Vale before we came here," Eren reminded everyone. "Salem's gonna need to make more to replace them. And in order to control them-"

"She needs more collars!" Cinder realized. "So someone's going to steal more metal again!"

Ren nodded. "The question, however, is where." he said. "It seems they may try to steal from Mantle again, but warehouses in Atlas may have more metal. It would be riskier, though."

"Maybe we should go to one guarded by Atlesian Knights only." said Midori. "Emerald, you said that was where the metal was missing from, right?"

"Yeah, that was where it happened," Emerald confirmed. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I feel stupid for taking this long to figure it out... but I think I know who stole the metal."

All eyes fell on Midori as she shared this idea. Given that they didn't have a clue as to who the thief was, they were open to any idea.

"You do?" Ymir asked.

"Who?" Nora followed.

"Well, I think you all remember how I was kidnapped by Salem," Midori began. Everyone nodded, including Vernal. Mercury shared their battle against Salem with her, but excluded the fact that they could all turn into Titan. That was why she didn't interrupt Midori. "And this all seems to be right up one person's alley. Arthur Watts."

"Who's that?" Cinder asked.

"A scientist working for Salem. I'm pretty sure you met him before. He was there when you first fought Salem."

Nora suddenly remembered a third person who was fighting with Salem. "Wait a minute," she said. "Was he wearing a suit? And did he had a really big mustache?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"He's a scientist?"

"Yeah. I saw his lab a few times when I was trapped at Salem's castle." The memories caused a slow chill to crawl down Midori's spine. "I never knew what he was working on, but he was definitely in a lab."

"Sounds like our guy," said Mercury. "And Eren's right. If he hasn't already, he'll be stealing more metal."

"I know where another warehouse with Atlesian Knights is," said Emerald. "That might be our safest bet."

"We better get going," said Cinder. She immediately stood up and watched everyone else follow. "Lead the way, Emerald."

Emerald obeyed and started walking ahead of everyone. "We can take a train close to the warehouse," she said. "My Semblance should hide us from the security at the entrance."

"The important thing is that we stick together," said Eren. "We had a pretty bad experience with some Atlesians already." Cinder looked down and rubbed her arms as the memory of her harassment played again. Eren acknowledged this and spoke again. "And if they're not looking down on other people, they're a little... weird."

Cinder looked up from the ground. "You mean those people at the statue?" she asked. "What were they all about?"

"I'll explain later. But the point is, I think it would be best to keep our distance from Atlesians. And we can't go around trusting everything we hear from them."

The majority of the group was confused by this sentiment, but Ymir was the first to bring this confusion to light. "Doesn't that seem a little harsh?" she asked. "Even for you?"

"Under normal circumstances maybe." Eren looked at Ymir with every step he took and every word he spoke. "But I think you're living proof that we can't trust everyone here... Winter."

"..."

Everyone stopped walking and turned towards Ymir when Eren made his declaration. As they did, they saw the woman's jaw wide open and sweat forming on her forehead. Everyone shared the same confusion and uncertainty about the situation, but Ren was calm and collected.

This emotional state allowed him to build up on Eren's point.

"You can hide your emotions," the young man began. "But I could see how nervous you were since we left Argus. Not only did you know that drone was military, but you seem quite adept in the policies of the military. And the people within it."

"..."

Before any of his friends asked a question, or before the accused could defend herself, Eren spoke again. "I never knew Ymir personally, but I knew her eyes weren't blue," he said.

"..."

Everyone looked at the woman's eyes, which were indeed ice blue. They hadn't noticed this change before, but how often does one look at another's eye color?

With her back against the wall, quite literally, and the facts laid down flawlessly, the woman could only utter three words in response.

"I can explain."

---

Author's notes: hey, everyone. Thanks for being so patient, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I hope you're all excited for the next part of AoT Season 4 and RWBY Volume 9. I don't have too much to say, but I recently saw that I could do an "email opt-in" for my favorite stories on this site. Feel free to do the same if you want updates on the story.

And with that, here's something from AT:

Hey guys The Avenging Titan here. We hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Things are slow at the moment, but rest assured they will ramp up quickly.

Now we have laid down some groundwork for future elements of this story, in the form of "Lieutenant Infrigidando" as the soldier said, and Lux in Tenebris. Infigidando will hopefully be introduced next chapter, but rest assured the character will not be a throwaway and will play a big role in the future.

Next is Lux in Tenebris. Bet some of you weren't expecting people worshiping a Grimm/Eren huh? The name translates to "Light in the Darkness" in Latin. But as explained by Rhodes in the chapter, unlike most times this phrase has been used, where Good/Light will always emerge from and triumph over Evil/Darkness, the meaning for this group is that even good can come from the Darkness. Without giving away spoilers, this will be a major theme going forward, and hopefully you will see what we mean.

But there is also some sad news as well. Last year we had some big names sadly pass on, and unfortunately we have lost another. Annie Wersching, the actress who did the performance-capture and voice for Tess in Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, has passed away on the 29th from cancer. The Last of Us was a milestone in storytelling for gaming, and Tess was ranked #5 on CBR's "10 Most Beloved The Last Of Us Characters, Ranked". On top of that, she also made appearances in Frasier, Supernatural, Star Trek: Enterprise, Charmed, Timeless, The Vampire Diaries, Extant, Runaways and The Rookie to name a couple.

Annie Wersching

March 28, 1977 – January 29, 2023

May she rest well in the great beyond.