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.

36. Chapter 36

"We start together. We finish together. No one left behind."

Anonymous

Chapter 36: Left for Dead

Things weren't looking good for anyone.

The God of Darkness had somehow taken control over Eren and unleashed a new kind of Hell in only a few minutes. The Grimm were all unified under the will of their creator, two surpassingly strong Pure Titans had been made out of two of Remnant's most dangerous mortals, and the only people who had the slightest chance of stopping them were slowly dying.

Nora had lost her leg to the Titan that used to be Hazel while Mercury and Emerald were bleeding out due to being crushed by Darkness and thrown onto the ground. Vernal had once again transformed into a savage Grimm, and Midori had disappeared along with Watts.

The only one who knew exactly what was going on was Lie Ren, who had spent what felt like a century defending Nora from the Grimm.

Ren didn't have a Titan anymore, just like he didn't have any more ammo for StormFlower. He was well past the verge of exhaustion, given that the cuts, bruises, and loss of blood were all making it hard for him to keep standing.

And yet, he kept moving the blades on his pistols at every Grimm he could see. Some Grimm turned to ash, some simply recovered from the cuts, but Ren didn't show any signs of stopping. He was tired, broken, and beaten, but he chose not to give up.

He didn't give up because he had too much to lose.

He didn't give up because that meant everything he did was for nothing.

He didn't give up because he was perhaps the only one who was still standing and fighting.

But most of all, Ren didn't give up because he knew Eren wouldn't give up.

Eren Yeager was one of the strongest people Ren had ever known. He had stared Death in the face over and over again, on Remnant and on Paradis as well. He had been pushed to his limit time and again, but Eren continued to fight for the people he cared about the most. His methods weren't always ethical or orthodox, but Eren didn't give up on anything he put his mind to.

Ren not only respected this, but he admired this quality. That was why he believed he owed it to Eren to try. If it were him that had been possessed by a god and causing chaos, Ren knew that Eren would stop at nothing to try and get his friend back. So Ren knew he had to do the same.

Not only that, but he wanted to do the same. Ren wanted nothing more than to get his friend back and make things the way they were. And in his mind, nothing was going to stop him. In his mind, Ren believed he was the only one who could fight and stop the Grimm from hurting him and everyone else.

And a part of Ren thought that if he believed in this idea hard enough, it would become a reality. He believed that he would able to save Eren, Nora, and everyone else who needed him.

But he was wrong.

*CRUNCH*

"AAAAHH!"

Screaming was the only thing Ren could do after a Grimm bit his lower back. The bite was strong enough to rip flesh as well as make the young man finally give in to exhaustion and a depletion of physical energy. He fell to the ground very slowly, but he fell all the same. The Grimm that bit him began to eat the flesh it had ripped off while its brethren were slowly gathering around Ren.

They didn't attack right away, that was the strangest part. Instead, they all formed a circle of sorts as they covered all sides that Ren could move in if he had the strength. It was almost like they were toying with him, which was something that Darkness had done moments ago. It seemed the apple didn't fall far from the tree between creator and creation.

But Ren was too tired to care.

As he laid on the cold stone, Ren could feel his own blood leave his body and he could see everything around him grow dark. At this rate, he was going to die before the Grimm would kill him. And that didn't change the fact that Ren had failed.

He had no idea where everyone else was, or how they were handling the situation. But between the growing darkness and the fact that nobody had come for him, Ren could only assume that his friends and allies had failed as well.

And now, all that there was left to do... was die.

"N... Nora..." Ren said to himself. "Eren, I'm... I'm sorry. I... I tried."

Ren had indeed tried, he tried so hard to help make things right. His failure wasn't his fault, it was just that the God of Darkness was stronger, faster, and even smarter than anyone could have predicted. Now they were going to pay the ultimate price for Darkness' ascension to power.

It was truly a miracle that Darkness had risen where Eren had fallen, and he had done nothing but perform miracles ever since he arrived on Remnant. So it was rather obvious that the only thing that could stop Darkness now was another miracle, one that could save everyone and give them the chance to fight back.

But Ren knew better than to wish for a miracle. Just like lightning never struck the same place twice, logic decreed that two miracles happening in the same place was an impossibility.

But today, logic was about to be defied.

"Fight."

The voice in Ren's head wasn't his own. It sounded just like Eren's, and it had just given Ren a simple idea. With this goal in mind, and with his body in the state it needed to be, Lie Ren was on the receiving end for what he and his friends were hoping for.

A miracle.

*ZAP*

*BOOM*

Red lightning appeared out of nowhere, and it lifted Ren off the ground with a tremendous explosion. Where he had just been bleeding on the cold hard ground, Ren was now standing tall while being covered in warm flesh.

He almost didn't believe what he was seeing and feeling, but Ren had experienced these circumstances too many times to believe that it wasn't real or that he was delusional. He knew that he was inside a Titan, but not just any Titan.

The Predator Titan had returned to him when he needed it most.

"It's back?" Ren asked himself as he looked around. Besides the flesh, he could see two large black arms and two large black legs as he looked down. When he recognized them as the the arms and legs of the Predator Titan, Ren was amazed. "It's back!"

*BOOM*

Ren turned around fast when he heard another explosion. He didn't know what to make of it at first, but the sight of red lightning and steam appearing drew the impression that another Titan was right behind him.

And sure enough, the Electro Titan was standing over the Creatures of Grimm.

"Nora!" Ren said with joy. "She's alright!"

Nora was indeed alive, but it seemed that she wasn't up to speed. Instead of standing upright like Ren, Nora was slightly hunched over like she was half asleep. This made sense, since Nora had been bleeding out from having her leg ripped off of her body. Unfortunately, her lack of movement made her an easy target for the Grimm.

"No!" the Predator Titan yelled as it lunged forward. With his sharp claws and longer arms, Ren was able to attack all of the Beowolves, Creeps, Ursai, and other Grimm that were all attempting to crawl up Nora's body. The Grimm either turned into ash or fell off the rock that Ren and Nora had climbed up, but they were all being removed as a threat to the Titans.

*SCREECH*

When Ren heard a shriek in the air, he looked up just in time to see large Nevermores coming close with their talons ready to grab whatever came their way first. Ren could see that the Nevermores were too high for him to strike them with his arms, but he didn't give up. Instead, he remained calm and concentrated. Earlier, he had performed a feat that had helped him take down Raven Branwen when she turned against him and his friends.

And now, as he looked at the closest Nevermore with burning eyes, Ren was ready to do it again.

*ZAP*

Two beams of energy shot out of Ren's eyes and made a direct hit with the closest Nevermore. When that happened, the Nevermore lost focus on flying and fell to the ground as it turned into ash.

When he saw the success behind this plan, Ren shot more beams out his eyes at the Nevermores that were coming dangerously close to Nora.

*ZAP*

*ZAP*

*ZAP*

Each Nevermore found themselves to be unable to dodge the energy, and they fell victim to its lethal power. Some Nevermores lost their wings while others had holes in their skulls, but they all felt the sting of death as they limply flew downwards. Ren also began to feel a sting, which caused him to momentarily cease his attacks and grab his eyes.

Fortunately, Ren's work as the Predator Titan gave Nora enough time to recover from her ordeal and find herself inside her own Titan.

"Whoa!" Nora thought to herself as she familiarized herself with her situation. The warm flesh and the sight of black arms in front of her was enough to tell her that she had her powers back. "I'm a Titan again! I can't believe it! Wait, where's Ren?"

Nora turned around fast to see that Ren had also become a Titan. He was still holding his eyes after being temporarily exhausted, but he was starting to recover. And when he let them go, the first thing Ren could see was Nora's Titan staring back at him.

Neither of them could see it, but Ren and Nora were smiling at each other as they made eye contact. Nora didn't think she was ever going to see Ren again, just like how Ren didn't think he was going to help Nora survive. But now, the odds had been defied miraculously. Now, the lifelong friends knew that nothing could divide them.

Not even the Nevermore that was flying behind Ren. Because Nora had just unleashed enough lightning to burn it to a crisp.

*ZAP*

*CRASH*

Ren turned around just in time to see what Nora had done, how she had protected him. As he witnessed the beast turn to ash, Ren immediately became grateful and determined to finish what he had started. There were a few small Grimm climbing up the side of the rock, and Ren knew that he would have to use his eyes once again.

*ZAP*

*ZAP*

Ren's eyes not only produced enough energy to incinerate each of the beasts, but they also helped him adapt as well. As he let the projectiles fly, Ren looked from left to right to see where the rest of the Grimm were. In doing so, the beams began to move with Ren's eyes. Each Grimm he saw all came into contact with rapidly moving lasers, which cut down every beast that came in their path.

Eventually, the Grimm began to retreat from the rock. They were smart enough to see that they were powerless again at an attack like this, so they chose survival instead of death.

When Ren saw what the Grimm were doing, he finally stopped using his lasers and closed his eyes. The sting from the attack returned to him, much stronger than before. This pain told Ren that he would need much practice with this feat, given that it was new to him.

As his eyes readjusted themselves once more, Ren could see that Nora was leaning over again. Not only that, but she seemed to be exiting her Titan. Fearing that something was wrong, Ren immediately moved closer to the Electro Titan and exited his own Titan as well.

"Nora!" Ren called out as he ran towards the nape of the Electro Titan. "Nora, are you okay?!"

"..."

Ren didn't get an answer from Nora, which made him worry even more. He was forced to push away the steam with his arms as he made his way to the nape, but Ren eventually reached the spot where Nora had left her nape.

She had deep lines under her eyes and some skin missing from her cheeks, but Nora didn't appear to be in any kind of pain or danger. Her leg had even regenerated, even though it was missing a shoe.

But Nora didn't seem to mind about her face or the missing shoe. All she was concerned about was Ren, and now she could see that he was also alive and well. He also had lines under his eyes, but Nora didn't mind.

She just wanted to see him again. To hold him in her arms after everything that just happened. So with a big smile and an even bigger yell, Nora did exactly that.

"YYYYYYAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!"

"Oof!" Ren groaned as he fell with Nora. Her jump and hug was enough to knock him off his feet, but Ren made no attempt to push Nora off of him.

He too was happy to see her.

"Aw, c'mere!" Nora said before she started to rapidly kiss Ren's face. Ren couldn't help but chuckle at the embrace and public displays of affection, since the rest of the world was starting to fade out and be replaced by Nora and Nora alone.

It was easy for this to happen when Nora made eye contact with Ren once again.

"I... I thought I lost you," Nora said with tears in her eyes.

"I thought I lost you," Ren repeated, since he felt the exact same way.

The duo shared a brief but heartwarming kiss before they got back up. Once they did, they couldn't help but stare at each other's Titans in amazement and disbelief.

"Wha... What happened?" Nora asked as she stared at the Predator Titan. "I thought we couldn't turn into Titans."

"I... I don't know," Ren replied as he looked upon the Electro Titan. He then recalled how he had transformed into a Titan as well. "It just... happened. My Titan came out of nowhere."

"Yeah, mine too! But before that, I thought... I thought I heard something."

"The Grimm were all over the place. You were bound to hear them."

"No, not the Grimm. It was... It was a voice. Someone talked to me, they... they told me to fight."

Ren's eyes widened when he heard this claim. "Wait... I heard that too," he said. "It sounded like... I think it was Eren."

Nora thought back to the moment she heard the voice, and she immediately recognized it as Eren's. At first, she was glad that she had definitely heard it. But now, she wasn't sure why she heard it.

"But... that's not possible!" Nora insisted. "Eren was possessed by Darkness! Right?"

Ren had no trouble recalling his last encounter with "Eren," and there was no mistaking that the person that attacked him and Nora was Darkness. "That's right," he said. "But something happened. We both heard Eren's voice, it can't be a coincidence. Something's changed, Nora."

The young girl followed Ren's logic easily, but she couldn't draw any conclusion from it. "What do you think it could be?" she asked.

"...I don't know," Ren said. He looked back towards the ground to see a clear space for him and Nora to traverse, so Ren made a decision. "Let's find out."

---

What happened to Ren and Nora was definitely miraculous, but it wasn't an isolated incident. Moments ago, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai were laying close to the door of Salem's castle. They were also on the verge of death, given that Darkness used his new Titan to crush the life out of the teenagers. And as they laid dying, Mercury and Emerald told each other that they wouldn't die alone by holding their hands together.

But now, instead of corpses, the only things in front of Salem's door were two strong and powerful Titans. And they were doing exactly what Ren and Nora were doing moments ago.

Killing Grimm.

Mercury's newly regained speed was greatly welcomed by the young man, and he showed his appreciation by moving like the wind to bite and cut at the creatures he saw. Bewolves, Creeps, Ursai, and even Beringels all fought as hard as they could against the Titan, but their strength was nothing compared to the might of the Flashstep Titan. If they weren't turned into ash, the Grimm were all forced to retreat.

Emerald was doing the same thing, though she wasn't as fast or experienced like Mercury was. Since she only had her Titan for less than a day, and she was still getting used to having it back once more, Emerald decided to rely more on her hands and feet to crush the Grimm beneath her. Though she used her mind trick once or twice when she remembered that she had it. The Grimm under her spell all struggled to control themselves as their minds burned from within, which made them easier targets for Emerald's hands and feet.

The last Grimm Mercury and Emerald killed was one they killed together. When a large Nevermore attempted to swoop down and kill them, Mercury jumped in the air and cut it while Emerald threw a fist at the bird. Their combined attack was twice as lethal, and it made the Grimm transform into ash after it hit the ground.

The Nevermore was the last Grimm to die before Emerald and Mercury. When the coast was clear, the young humans decided to take a knee and eject themselves from their Titans. Once they did, Emerald and Mercury were welcomed by the sight and feeling of their intact and healthy bodies. They had been broken and left bleeding in various places moments ago, but now Emerald and Mercury had been made whole. They had lines under their eyes and they were covered in steam, but they were alive and well.

Mercury was the first to show his gratefulness for being alive.

"YES!" he screamed as he hit his chest twice. Joy overtook the young man and caused him to jump off his Titan and hit himself again. "HELL YEAH!"

Emerald was also overjoyed that she was still alive. But rather than jumping and screaming, Emerald cried tears of joy as she looked at her hands. "We're... We're still alive," she said in disbelief.

"Em! Hey, Em!"

Emerald turned around to see Mercury running towards her. She immediately became grateful to see him alive as well, just as she was grateful that he tried to comfort her in what she believed were her final moments. She and Mercury may have had their differences, but Emerald was just as happy to see him as well.

She was even happy enough to let Mercury hug her.

Mercury not only hugged Emerald, but he lifted her off the ground and moved from side to side. He couldn't help but laugh as he held his friend and embraced life, just as Emerald also couldn't help but laugh. She hadn't been this happy to be alive since the incident with the Wyvern in Kuroyuri, but nothing was going to top almost being killed by a god.

After a minute of laughing and embracing life, Mercury calmed down as he gently put Emerald down. She had also begun to relax, and she was drying her eyes of tears.

"Thank... whoever," Mercury said with a sigh. "I think I was this close to... you know."

"Yeah, me too," said Emerald. "Me too."

Mercury immediately remembered what he did with Emerald. "Uh, sorry about that. Guess I got a little overexcited."

"No, I did too." Emerald smiled at Mercury. "I'm really glad you're okay."

"Yeah, me too. Uh, I mean you." Mercury chuckled. "You know what I mean."

Emerald playfully hit Mercury's arm. "I know, dingus."

Mercury laughed again before he asked a question. "I mean, you are okay, right? You're good?"

"Yeah, never been better." Emerald stretched one of her arms. "Literally, I don't think I've ever felt this good before. How about you?"

"I'm good, I'm good. But I mean..." Mercury turned back to his decaying Titan. "What the hell happened?"

Emerald also turned around to look at her Titan. She understood Mercury's question, given that she also couldn't turn into a Titan a few minutes ago. "I don't know," she said. "It doesn't make sense."

"You think this happened to anyone else?" Mercury asked hopefully.

Emerald was about to say that she was unsure, but another voice filled the air and answered Mercury's question.

"HEY, YOU GUYS!"

Mercury and Emerald turned around to see Nora running at them as fast as she could. Mercury immediately became happy to see that he was right, and that his friends were safe and sound. He quickly ran to catch up to Nora, and the two collided into each other as they hugged.

Emerald laughed as the friends hit the ground, but this laughter ceased when she saw Ren right behind Nora. "Ren!" she called out. "You're alright!"

"Emerald!" Ren said as he ran over to his friend. "We were so worried!"

Ren and Emerald shared a hug of their own as they reunited. He wasn't lying when he said that he and Nora were worried about everyone else, so seeing Emerald and Mercury again was enough to relieve some of these worries.

Mercury and Nora let go of each other so they could hug Ren and Emerald respectively. "Aw, man," Mercury said as he hugged Ren. "It's good to see you, dude."

"You too, Nora," Emerald said as she held her friend.

After Ren let go of Mercury, he looked around for anyone else. The battle had made it hard for him to remember certain details, but he could have sworn he saw Vernal, Midori, and Cinder at this place before everyone scattered.

"Where's Vernal?" he asked as he looked around.

Mercury needed a few seconds to remember what had happened. "I... I don't know," he said. "We got separated after she turned into a... Grimm."

"..."

The color on Mercury's face began to disappear when he remembered what happened. Everything happened so fast after he turned into a Titan, he and Emerald didn't have any time to think when the Grimm came after them once again.

And one of those Grimm could have been Mercury's girlfriend.

"Oh, no," he said. "No, no, no, no. Oh, fuck."

Emerald was the first to understand what had made Mercury so upset, given that she had been killing Grimm with him the whole time. "Merc, no," she said as she put a hand on his shoulder. "No, none of those Grimm were Vernal."

"How do you know?!" Mercury yelled. "She turned, Emerald! And we were just killing every one of them we could see!"

"No, not all of them!" Emerald made Mercury look at her. "Remember? Some of them ran away. We didn't kill them all, some got away."

This was enough to calm Mercury down a little. "...Yeah. Yeah, they, uh... they took off. I saw them."

"Yeah." Emerald smiled as she said something else. "And Vernal turned into an Ursa. There was a whole bunch of them that ran away."

Mercury couldn't recall what kind of Grimm, or how many, escaped from his Titan. But he trusted Emerald, so he took her word for it. "Okay, yeah." He began to dry his eyes. "Sorry, lost my cool for a second."

"It's okay," said Ren. "And don't worry. We'll find Vernal and everyone else."

Nora was about to agree with Ren, but a bunch of steam and two decaying Titans caught her eye. "Whoa!" she said as she ran to the bodies. "You got your Titans back too?!"

Mercury was relaxed enough to focus back on the situation at hand. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I don't know what happened. One minute we had no Titans, and then we did."

"It just... sort of... happened," Emerald explained. "They came out of nowhere."

"Ours came out of nowhere too!" Nora yelled. "We were on that rock up there when it happened! Ren was bleeding, I lost a leg, and they just appeared!"

Mercury noticed that Nora was missing a shoe, which told him that Nora's leg had regenerated. The lines under her eyes were starting to fade, both the signs of her Titan transformation remained.

"Weird," he said. "But not unwelcome."

"You can say that again," said Emerald, who had rejoined Nora with Ren.

Ren had a rather irrelevant question, but he believed it would help him understand the situation better. "So... what happened to you two?" he asked. "Where were you when you got your Titans back?"

Emerald pointed towards a barren spot by the castle doors. "Over there. We were laying over there, and we were hurt pretty bad."

"Yeah, thanks to that shithead Darkness," Mercury included. "We were hiding in a cave, but Darkness used a Titan to drag us out and crush us. Then he just left us for dead." The mention of Darkness suddenly made Mercury remember something. "Actually, I wonder if... Nah."

Ren turned to Mercury and gave his undivided attention. "What?" he asked calmly.

"I don't know. When I was on the ground, I think I heard something. It's weird, but... I heard Eren's voice."

"..."

When he heard silence and saw frozen faces, Mercury began to backtrack. "I mean, that's crazy, right? That's... That's impossible."

"No, Mercury," Emerald immediately disagreed. "That's not crazy. I heard him too! I heard his voice!"

"We heard it too!" said Nora. "Right before we turned into Titans! He said-"

"He said to fight," said Ren. "He wasn't just telling us to fight, he was... he was saying that we could do it."

"..."

Everybody froze as they shared the same idea. They each heard Eren tell them to fight, and the same thing happened to each of them. They had regained their Titans the second after Eren gave them the idea, and they each emerged victorious.

Not just victorious, but also alive.

Eren had saved their lives.

"But... what does that mean?" Emerald asked. "Is... Is Eren back?"

Mercury looked at the door to the castle and had an idea. "Only one way to find out," he said as he impulsively moved to the door.

"Wait, Mercury!" Ren called out. "We don't know what's behind that door!"

"No shit, man! But if Eren's behind it, we gotta find him!" Mercury began to open the door.

"But what if it's a trap?!" Emerald suggested. "What if this is what Darkness wants us to do?!"

Mercury immediately disagreed. "Really, Em? Darkness just revives us from the brink of death so he could lead us inside? No, I'm not buying it!"

The more Ren thought of it, the idea of Darkness reviving them sounded rather foolish. And Nora was the first to disagree with Emerald. "Mercury's right!" she said. "He's gotta be back! He's gotta be!"

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Mercury asked as he swung the doors open. "Let's go!" He immediately ran inside, where he was followed by Nora, Ren, and Emerald.

As soon as Mercury raced inside, he encounter a few Grimm. The Beowolves weren't much trouble for him, but a Boarbatusk caught him off guard when it rammed into his chest.

*BAM*

Mercury hit the floor with the Boarbatusk, and it prepared to do much worse than a simple hit. Fortunately, Nora had arrived with Magnhild and managed to knock the beast off her friend with her hammer.

*BAM*

When the Grimm fell on its back and exposed its belly, Emerald went for the kill by releasing her chains and stabbing the beast in the belly. Now all that was left of the Boarbatusk was dust and ash.

"Whew," Mercury breathed. "Thanks, guys."

"Dingus," said Emerald. "Be more careful, Mercury."

"Let's take it slow," said Ren, who helped Mercury back onto his feet. "We don't know how many Grimm are here."

Mercury had learned his lesson, and now he had decided to stop and think. As he did, the young mechanic had an idea when he looked back to Ren.

"Wait a sec, maybe we can find out," he said after he dusted himself off. "Ren, remember when you looked through that crystal wall with your Semblance? You think you can do it again and find out how many Grimm there are?"

Ren recalled how he was able to see the emotions of others when he couldn't see anything past the crystal wall Mercury described. When he realized that his Aura had returned to its fully charged state, the young man followed Mercury's logic easily.

"I can do that," he said. "Let me see."

"..."

Ren closed his eyes for a brief moment and focused. When he opened them once more, he saw a vast grayness that surrounded everything. But when he saw petals fall around his friends, mostly pink with a hint of blue, Ren could see that his Semblance was working perfectly.

Ren began to lead the group down the hall, where he could see more grayness. He caught a glimpse of a few red petals, which signified anger, further down one hall and even on the ceiling.

"There are more Grimm down that way," he said as he pointed down a different hall. "I think there are some above us too."

Everyone looked up at the ceiling when they heard the news. "Can you make out a number?" Emerald asked.

"It's hard to say. Maybe if I... Wait."

"..."

Everyone became confused when they saw Ren looking down another hall in silence. He had been looking at various directions at first, but now he was focused on that particular hallway.

He was drawn to it.

"Ren?" Nora asked. "Are you okay?"

Ren didn't answer Nora, since he had a question of his own. "...What is that?"

Everyone looked where Ren was looking, but they couldn't see what he was seeing. "What is it, Ren?" Emerald asked.

Ren finally answered as he pointed down the hall. "There's something there," he said. "But... I don't understand."

"What?" Mercury asked. "What's there? Grimm?"

Ren shook his head. "No. It can't be. These feelings, these emotions, they seem... seem..."

"Seem what?" Nora asked.

"...Happy."

"..."

Everyone was even more confused, given that the answer had raised more questions. The idea seemed impossible, especially in a place like this and circumstances like these. But Ren couldn't deny that someone seemed happy down the hallway he was looking at.

They needed answers, and Mercury was the first to try and find them.

"I'll scout ahead," he offered as he pointed down the other hall. "Down that way, Ren?"

"Yeah, down there," he whispered. "There's two of them. Try to be quiet, I don't think they know we're here."

"Okay."

"Be careful this time, Mercury," said Emerald. "Darkness might still be here."

Mercury nodded before he slowly left his friends. He kept quiet as he walked down the hall while his friends hid behind the corner in case something went wrong. They all looked from behind the corner at Mercury and prepared themselves. While they were mostly out of ammo, they still had their weapons.

And now that they had their Titans, they felt ready for anything.

Mercury stopped moving when he reached another corner, one that led to the hallway Ren was looking at. Just to be sure, Mercury looked back to Ren and pointed past the corner. Ren nodded to confirm that whatever he was seeing was indeed past that corner, and Mercury took a deep breath to prepare himself.

When he exhaled, Mercury quickly moved to look at the hallway. And once his eyes landed on the sight, he froze.

"..."

Everyone behind Mercury became confused once more. What was even stranger was that Mercury didn't seem concerned for his safety; what he was seeing didn't appear to make him feel unsafe, but it was definitely unexpected.

Concern turned into curiosity for Ren and Emerald, which caused them to see what was going on. Nora didn't follow immediately, since she decided to cover her friends from behind. She was just as unsure as the rest of her friends, so Nora exercised a proper amount of caution as she scanned for more Grimm.

Ren and Emerald eventually reached Mercury, who was still staring down the hallway. And when they looked in the same direction, they both had a similar reaction as him. Emerald stifled a small gasp while Ren widened his eyes in surprise.

When the surprise died down, Ren understood why he saw happiness. Standing in the middle of the hallway was Eren and Cinder, who were having a very special moment.

Just a few seconds ago, Eren and Cinder were in the Coordinate after Darkness had been imprisoned. There, the duo were able to have a much needed conversation, where they told each other just how much they meant to each other. This not only helped Eren see how foolish he was being when he considered leaving Remnant for good, but it also helped Cinder reveal a secret that had burdened her for years.

Thanks to Ymir the Founder, Cinder was able to tell Eren that she loved him, that she always had. And when he realized that he shared these feelings as well, Eren immediately told Cinder that he loved her too. Because of this, Eren and Cinder shared their first kiss with each other.

Neither of them had noticed, but Ymir had returned Eren and Cinder to Remnant. And they hadn't broken their kiss either, since they had no intention of doing so. Eren was holding Cinder close to him, and Cinder was slightly raising her right foot off the ground as they both cherished what was happening.

Nora had rejoined her friends, and she was the last to see what was happening. When she did, Nora couldn't help but let out a loud gasp of surprise. It was this gasp that finally caused Eren and Cinder to turn and look at their friends. Both of them smiled when they saw that their friends were alive and well, and they were happy to see that they had returned back home from the Coordinate.

Though they were a little embarrassed that they were reunited during a special but private moment. Unfortunately, this embarrassment intensified when Mercury asked a question.

"Cinder... please tell me that's really Eren in there."

---

Upon their reunion, Eren proved to everyone that Darkness was gone. His eyes and lack of horns were telltale signs that Eren had been freed, but Eren proved himself further by explaining that he gave his friends the ability to turn back into Titans.

He was the one who told them to fight.

Nora was the first to believe that Eren was truly back, and she expressed this belief by tackling him to ground with a tight hug. Everyone else gathered around Eren and welcomed him back, after they separated Nora from him.

Eren then explained what happened to him, how Darkness somehow took his soul out of his body and slipped into his place. Cinder vouched for Eren by explaining how she saw him bound in chains and beaten to a pulp. However, she denied the idea that she was the one who freed him, which was Nora's idea.

Eren took over once again, and explained that it was Ymir the Founder who freed him after she imprisoned Darkness from within the Coordinate itself.

"So after Ymir locked him away, I finally got my body back," Eren concluded. "The first thing I did was give you your Titans back, and I guess you all did the rest."

"Damn," said Mercury. "That's insane, dude."

"I never thought I'd say this, but Mercury's right," said Emerald. "That was a crazy story, Eren."

"Let's just hope Darkness stays there," said Ren. "No offense, Eren, but Darkness wasn't exactly... fun while you were away."

"Fun?!" Nora shouted. "He was a monster!" Nora began to flail her arms in her dramatic rant. "An ugly, horrifying monster! He made Hazel eat my leg!"

Not a lot of things could break Nora out of a dramatic rant like this, given her excitable and half-crazed nature. But when she heard Eren let out a sigh, Nora calmed down and listened to Eren.

"I... I'm sorry, Nora," he sadly replied. "I tried to stop him. I tried so hard to get him out of my body. But everything I did was nothing to him. I didn't even hurt him."

Cinder quickly hugged Eren. "It wasn't your fault, Eren," she said. "He was a god. There's no possible way any of us could have stopped him if we were in your place."

"That's true," said Ren, who looked at his steaming arm. "I think I'm still healing from everything Darkness did to me. And then some."

"Yeah," said Emerald. "Guess we got really lucky, huh?"

"Some of us more than others," Mercury said with a cocky grin. "Right, Cinder?"

Everyone had almost forgotten the moment Eren and Cinder shared. It was definitely unexpected, but given how it helped get Eren back, the moment was definitely welcome.

"Oh, yeah," Emerald said with a chuckle. "Guess that really helped, huh?"

"Yay!" Nora shouted with her arms in the air. "Hurray for love!"

"Guys..." Cinder protested as her face grew incredibly red. Eren simply chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Come on, bro," said Mercury, who wrapped an arm around Eren's shoulder. "No need to get embarrassed."

"I agree," said Ren. "Besides, it's great to have you back, Eren."

Mercury silently agreed by extending a fist towards Eren with a smile. At that moment, Eren began to feel much better about everything. Between Cinder's confession and everyone's pleasure to see him back once more, Eren could tell that things were going to get better. He had forgotten all about his wish to stay in the Coordinate for everyone's safety and well-being.

Instead, just like he returned Cinder's love, Eren bumped Mercury's fist and returned his feelings of friendship with everyone.

"Thanks, guys," he said gratefully. "It's great to be back."

Everyone decided to give themselves a few moments to bask in the warmth of their reunion. After everything they did and after everything that happened to them, they all believed they deserved a little rest.

Eren was the one who decided to end the break. And he did so the best way possible.

"Okay, guys," he said to get everyone's attention. "Let's go home."

Nora gasped with a wide smile. "Home," she repeated. "Home never sounded better."

"Yeah, no kidding," said Mercury.

"What's the plan?" Emerald asked.

"We'll gather everyone up and head to the Dark Wing," said Eren. "We'll be outta here in no time."

Everyone was about to share their agreement and enthusiasm with the plan, since they were all ready to go home. However, there was one person who found a flaw in this logic.

"Ohhh... that," said Cinder, who had captured everyone's attention. "Um... I'm not sure how to say this, but... Darkness kind of destroyed it."

Everyone gasped when they heard this. They had all heard the crash outside Salem's castle, but only Cinder knew that it was a result of Darkness destroying the car.

"What?" Ren asked.

"Aw, no!" Mercury groaned. "No, not my car!"

Emerald was starting to panic. "The Wing was our only way home," she said. "We're trapped..."

"No!" Eren yelled. He didn't do this out of desperation or frustration, but out of resolve. "No, I am not letting that son of a bitch strand us here! We're still alive, we have our Titans, and... Wait a minute." Eren began to smile. "Yeah! Yeah, our Titans! My Titan! That's it!"

Everyone was looking at Eren while he was talking, but they weren't sure what he was saying.

"Eren, what are you talking about?" Mercury asked.

"Yeah, our Titans can't fly!" Nora protested.

"No, they don't have to!" Eren insisted. "This is just like last time! When I came to Remnant, this was the first place I was at with my Titan!"

"...So?" Emerald asked.

"So, I got out of here by swimming!" Eren pointed in one direction. "If we go back to where we came, I'll swim across the water with you all on my back! I can get us out of here!"

Everyone began to feel their hopes rise once again, especially Cinder. She had almost forgotten that Eren had to swim to escape Salem, just like he swam to escape Atlas. She wouldn't have thought of a plan like this, which made her even more glad that Eren was back in her life.

That was before she suddenly remembered something.

"Wait a minute," she said. "Oh, my gosh! The ship! I forgot about the ship!"

Everyone turned back to Cinder in confusion. "Ship?" Ren asked. "What ship?"

"There's an airship here! Watts and Midori went looking for it when-!" Cinder let out a loud gasp when she remembered something else. "Watts and Midori! They don't know what's happened!"

The mere mention of Watts and Midori was enough for everyone to remember their other companions. Winter had been thrown off a cliff after Darkness overpowered her, and Vernal was roaming the lands as a mindless Grimm.

They promised to find them, but they needed to find that airship first.

"Hold on," Eren calmly said. "Where's this airship now?"

Cinder lowered her head and began to snap her fingers, trying to remember where Watts had said the airship was. "It's, uh... He said there's a hanger downstairs! One floor down from where his lab was!"

"I remember where his lab is!" said Mercury, who began to run towards the staircase. "Come on, this way!" Ren, Nora, and Emerald all followed Mercury very quickly.

Eren and Cinder were the last to follow, but they weren't hesitating or having second thoughts. The next steps they were going to take, they were going to take together. Their conversation, their shared confession, and their kiss taught Eren and Cinder that nothing was going to stop them from doing whatever they put their minds to.

As long as they were together.

"Ready when you are," Eren said with a smile.

"Let's do it," Cinder agreed as she returned the smile.

With their hands now entwined, Eren and Cinder followed Mercury and their friends together.

---

It was true that Watts and Midori had left Cinder to seek out an airship. After Watts had let them back into the castle during Darkness' vile attack, there was much panic within the walls. Midori recalled how she had been tricked, which made her feel extremely paranoid and unsure about her safety within the walls.

All Cinder could feel was heartbreak, since she believed that she was never going to see Eren again. The reprieve she had been given from fighting for her life allowed Cinder to express this heartbreak through tears.

Watts was the only one who made every attempt not to panic, so he had to restore order among the two scared girls. After he informed them of an airship that could get them out of the Land of Darkness, Watts said that he couldn't risk making the trip alone.

It seemed saving Midori and Cinder was a choice of reason rather than out of the goodness of Watts' heart.

Cinder was the one who made the decision about what everyone would do. She insisted that she could stall Darkness, but she wasn't sure how long she could do it for. She also insisted that Midori should leave with Watts, since she wasn't hurt like everyone else. Midori was reluctant at first, since she didn't want to leave all of her friends behind. But when Cinder told Midori that the battle was already over, this was enough to make the young girl agree to the decision.

When asked how she planned to distract the deity, all Cinder said was that she was going to make him an offer that he would definitely consider. The last thing she said to Midori was not to wait up for her.

And reluctant as she was, Midori carried out this order while she escorted Watts to his airship.

The ship was one floor down beneath Watts' lab, the one where his terminal controlling the Titans was. After they made a few turns and walked down a few different halls, Midori and Watts found themselves with a Mistralian airship. It turned out to be the same one Hazel had taken to Vale when he met with the White Fang; Salem had made sure that it would be returned with Hazel after his injury.

The plan of escape was fairly simple. The airship was located in a cave, and the only exit was a large hole though the natural roof of the cave. Together, Watts and Midori would fly out of the ceiling and leave the Land of Darkness far behind.

Midori only agreed to the plan as long as they would return for her friends. Watts had no intention of doing this, and only said he would just to have Midori as his contingency plan.

Whether it was karma for lying or simply bad luck, Watts quickly learned that his plan was going to fail.

The airship was able to take off at first, but something large blocked its path of escape. And that object was none other than Raven Branwen, who was still in her Pure Titan form. When Darkness entered the castle to look for Eren's other allies, he commanded the Titan to search along the outside of the structure. The reason for this was in case they were hiding in a crack or cave like Emerald and Mercury.

Raven had discovered an entrance to such a cave, where she was greeted with the lights of an incoming airship. And just as her new master had commanded, Raven jumped at the chance to kill Watts and Midori by launching herself onto the airship.

Unable to handle the weight of Raven's large Titan, Watts had lost control of the airship as Raven reached her hand inside the side doors. She wasn't able to grab anything, but she was able to make the ship return to the hanger very violently.

*CRASH*

It was this crash that had rendered both Midori and Watts unconscious. They had been like this for several minutes, but now they were awake and ready to see what happened.

As they staggered out of the airship in different directions, Watts and Midori recognized the sight of smoke. The airship wasn't completely destroyed, but one of the engines was burning because of the crash.

The airship couldn't fly anymore.

The second sight was rather unexpected. Along with the smoke and fire, Watts and Midori accidentally wandered into a cloud of steam as they recovered from the crash.

And the source of the steam was, surprisingly, a human Raven Branwen.

*COUGH*

*COUGH*

Raven let out two coughs as she walked out of the cloud of steam. When she did, the woman immediately fell to her knees and coughed again. Watts and Midori immediately took a step back out of fear, unsure how or why this had happened.

And according to Raven, she didn't know either.

"Why... am I... still alive?" she asked as she looked at her now normal hands.

Midori knew what she was seeing, but she wasn't going to be taking any chances. So she quickly moved her arms and ejected Scalpel's blades, which immediately caught Raven's attention. Seeing the danger she was in, Raven stood up and reached towards her waist. But when she felt nothing but air, given that she had forgotten how Winter had stolen Omen, Raven prepared to use her Magic.

But she and Midori immediately lost their resolve when they heard something.

"It's this way! Down here!"

Midori and Raven turned towards the entrance to the hanger, the one Watts had led the young girl to. They couldn't see anything, but they heard a voice as clear as day.

The voice of Eren Yeager.

Midori began to panic, as did Watts. When he heard the voice, he desperately moved back to the airship with the intent to make it fly. It was a fool's errand, but Watts was desperate for any chance of escape.

Raven began to panic as well, but she had a more practical idea when she saw a doorway behind Midori. "Get out of my way!" she yelled as she pushed past the young girl. Midori immediately fell to the floor and saw Raven run out the door. She had to lean against the wall while doing so, since she wasn't used to her human body once more, but she managed to get away.

But Midori didn't follow her.

The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps and the memory of Eren's voice, as well as his recent actions, were enough to scare the young girl very badly. Rather than extend her weapons again, Midori curled into a ball and shut her eyes. She prayed that she was dreaming or somewhere else; even being with her mother sounded better than this.

But Midori knew that there would be no answer to her prayer. In her mind, these were going to be her last moments. And she was going to spend them scared while making no effort to prolong the investable.

Soon enough, the footsteps stopped. Nothing with them, however. There was no big blast or maniacal laughter, there wasn't even the growling and snarling of Grimm.

Instead, there was a simple, calm voice.

"Midori."

The sound of her name followed by a streak of silence made Midori curious as to what was going on. She once again recognized the voice as Eren's, and she eventually looked up to see Eren standing before her. At first, Midori backed away in an attempt to put more distance between herself and Eren. But when she saw Cinder and the rest of her friends behind her, Midori began to see that there was something else going on.

"Eren?" Midori asked as she looked at the boy. She immediately noticed the lack of purple eyes and purple horns, but she was still skeptical. However, Cinder's presence was somewhat reassuring. "Cinder?"

"Midori," Cinder said with a relieved sigh and smile. "It's okay, Eren's not possessed anymore."

"..."

Midori wanted to believe this. Between Cinder and all of her other friends standing behind Eren and Eren no longer showing signs of possession, Midori wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay.

But the memories and injuries she sustained were just too hard to ignore. Fortunately, Eren understood this and expressed this understanding.

"I'm sorry, Midori," he said as he kneeled down to her. Midori flinched in Eren's presence, but Eren stood completely still. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

Nora immediately came to Eren's defense. "Midori, it wasn't him," she insisted. "And that's not Darkness-"

"That doesn't matter, Nora," Eren insisted. "Whether it was me back there or not, that doesn't change the fact that I let this happen. I threw everything I had at Salem, and that was when Darkness took his chance. And you're all here because of me." Eren turned to the frightened girl. "You got hurt because of me, I admit it. And I'm sorry."

"..."

The more she listened to the young man, the more Midori got a sense of familiarity. She remembered Eren having a similar attitude and saying similar things when they were in the Dark Wing, when he expressed gratitude and appreciation to everyone.

Eren seemed to remember this as well, and one other thing.

"I know you must hate me for what happened to you," he said. "I can live with that. But I made you a promise, Midori. I promised that I would help you get back on your feet if you ever got hurt. Just like you've been there for us, I promised I would be here for you." Eren slowly and cautiously moved a hand towards Midori. "I'm going to keep that promise, Midori. If you let me."

"..."

In that moment, everyone was very proud of Eren. Nora thought the moment was very sweet, and everyone else saw that Eren was definitely back. Cinder, however, knew that Eren was a man of his word, that he always did exactly what he said he would do. Whether it was stopping his enemies or helping his friends, Cinder was proud to see Eren keeping his word.

And so was Midori, who did more than just give Eren her hand.

"Eren..." she said as she moved closer. Rather than take his hand, Midori threw her arms around Eren and smiled. "You're back."

Eren returned the hug and made a promise to everyone. "I'm back," he said. "I'm not going anywhere ever again."

"..."

After a brief reunion and assurance that everything was okay, everyone turned to see Watts desperately trying to get the airship working. Midori explained what had happened with Raven, and how she unfortunately escaped. But that wasn't very important, given that their way home was currently burning.

Fortunately, Mercury had an idea how to fix this.

"Hey, Artie!" Mercury yelled to Watts. "Come on out here and say hi to Eren!"

Watts looked up from the controls to see that Cinder had arrived with more of her friends. And among those friends was Eren Yeager, which scared him half to death.

"You?!" Watts yelled as he remained where he was. "But how did you-?!"

"Aw, don't get your panties in a wad!" Mercury ordered. "Eren's back, it's just him. But don't you go thinking that you're off the hook for that shit you pulled in Atlas!"

Everyone could see where Mercury was going regarding Watts, but not the airship. Eren was the first to see this, and he played along with Mercury. "That's right, Watts," he said as he moved closer to the airship. "You might want to be careful around me. Who knows when Darkness will come back?"

"Gah!" Wats yelled as he saw Eren approaching. "Just stay away from me, do you hear?!"

Ren leaned over to Cinder's ear. "Wouldn't this be considered cruel and unusual punishment?" he asked.

"I think that goes for torture and abusing a prisoner," Cinder replied. "It looks like Eren's just giving him a scare."

"Yeah!" said Nora. "Maybe he'll finally stop being a jerk to us."

"My thoughts exactly," said Mercury, the man behind the initial idea. After he rejoined Eren, Mercury shared an idea regarding the airship he had with Watts. "Listen, Artie. This doesn't look too bad."

"Doesn't look too bad?!" Watts yelled. "Are you blind?! Look at the engine! It's fried, you miserable-!"

"Ahem," Eren coughed, which got the man's attention.

Watts immediately remembered to mind his manners in Eren's presence, even though he wasn't aware of Darkness' current situation. "Um... nevermind," he insisted. "I still disagree with you, though."

"No, I got you," Mercury calmly insisted. "But hear me out on this; the car we came in here is a wreck, but I might be able to salvage a few things." Mercury pointed towards the broken engine, the main problem with the airship. "If we're lucky, we might be able to fix that engine up there."

In Watts' mind, the airship was the only way home for him. He wasn't aware of the backup plan to have Eren swim everyone out of the Land of Darkness, so he nodded his head in agreement. He was still uncomfortable in Eren's presence, so Watts decided to keep his mouth shut.

Nobody had any qualms against riding on Eren's back, but they all agreed that an airship would be preferable. On their way to the hanger, Cinder brought up the fact that they still had to take Watts to the authorities in Mistral. And given their slight... detour, they were probably running late against a schedule that Councilwoman Redwood had in mind.

So it was easy for everyone to agree that an airship would be faster. Eren's Titan was simply a Plan B.

"I'll take Watts outside," said Mercury. "Show him where the Wing is. Cinder, you said it was at the bottom of the hill?"

"You can't miss it," Cinder insisted. "You might need your Titan to get down and strip it for parts, but you can't miss it."

"Got it. I'll try to be quick about it."

"I can help!" Nora suggested. "I mean, I'm always good at breaking things!"

After a brief laugh, Eren stepped forward. "And I'll find Vernal," he promised. "I'll bring her back, and we'll all leave together."

Mercury sighed in relief. "Thanks, bro," he said. "I appreciate it."

"No problem."

Everyone began to split into two groups. Mercury led Nora, Ren, and a rather nervous Watts towards the Dark Wing to get parts and tools to fix the airship's engine while Eren would take Cinder, Emerald, and Midori to look for Vernal.

Emerald and Midori took the lead for their group, because Cinder took a moment to share something with Eren.

*SMECK*

Eren was well aware of how his relationship with Cinder had evolved, but he was rather surprised to feel a kiss on his cheek.

"What was that for?" he asked casually.

"For being there for Midori, Mercury, all of us," Cinder replied as she leaned against Eren's arm. "For just being you."

Eren couldn't help but smile as he accepted the gesture. It also inspired him to repay it in kind. "Thanks for being you too, Cinder."

*SMECK*

---

When everyone found themselves outside the castle once more, the groups split up. Just as Cinder said, Mercury was unable to miss the burning pile of metal that used to be the Dark Wing at the bottom of the hill. He turned into a Titan with Nora so they could break apart what they needed while Ren watched Watts.

They also decided to carry the car up to the door so it would be easier to dismantle, even though the idea made Mercury a little sad. He had put such hard work into the Dark Wing after all.

While the airship was being taken care of, Emerald led Eren to the cave where she and Mercury were trying to hide. That was also hard to miss, given that Darkness had made the entrance a lot bigger with his Titan.

"Okay," Eren began as he scanned the area. "Emerald, what kind of Grimm did Vernal turn into again?"

"An Ursa," Emerald replied. "Mercury and I both saw it."

"Alright." Eren didn't have much Dust left in Soaring Freedom to use his swords, and the mechanism for flight had been destroyed in Salem's Grimm pool. However, Eren was able to detach his pistols from what remained of the equipment. "I think I have some ammo left in these." He turned back to his friends. "How are you all doing?"

"I have Dust," said Midori, who ejected Scalpel again. "And my blades still work."

"I'm out of arrows," said Cinder, who took out her swords from Dancing Midnight. "But I still have my swords."

"And I have my sickles," Emerald replied as she showed Eren her weapons. "I don't have ammo either."

Eren was content to see everyone armed, despite the fact that ammunition was very scarce. "Better stay close to me," he ordered. "If we run into Grimm we need to shoot, I'll handle it."

"Lead the way, Eren," Cinder said proudly. She immediately followed with the rest of her friends.

The group excavated the large cave, but they couldn't find anything. There were no Grimm, and there certainly wasn't any sign of Vernal. Emerald insisted that they check again, but a second search proved fruitless. The second place they looked was the battlefield where Emerald and Mercury used their Titans, as well as where Darkness revealed himself. Once again, there were no Grimm or signs of Vernal. Emerald insisted they search once again, but there was nothing to find.

The cave and the battlefield were the only likely places Vernal would be, so it was disheartening to see that they were both empty.

"This isn't good," said Cinder. "Where else could she be?"

"The only place I can think of is beyond the castle," said Eren, who pointed to the wasteland and pools below the structure. "There a million Grimm down there. If Vernal's one of them, it would make sense that she would be there."

"But that's like finding a needle in a haystack," said Midori. "Isn't there any place close by worth checking out?"

Cinder took a moment to think of an idea, and then she remembered something. It wasn't exactly related to Vernal, but it was a good idea at the moment.

"Over there," she said as she pointed to a part of the field. "That was where Winter fell. After, uh..."

"After Darkness turned her Grimm against her?" Eren asked. "Yeah. I... saw that."

Cinder didn't want to upset Eren or make him feel anymore guilty than he already felt, but it seemed Eren didn't care about his feelings in the matter.

After he looked down to where Winter had fallen, Eren made a plan. "I can't use my gear," he said as he looked upon the partially demolished metal. "But it looks like there's a path here. If we don't see anything, we'll have to start searching the fields."

"Is the path safe?" Cinder asked.

"It's a little narrow, but not too bad." Eren moved close to the natural wall. "Follow my steps, it should be fine."

Normally, Cinder would have been right behind Eren. However, Midori took her place as she followed Eren's movements along the narrow path. Cinder wasn't afraid of Eren taking the lead, there was just something on her mind that she wanted to handle.

Namely, something with Emerald.

"Hey, Em," Cinder said as she put a hand in front of her friend. "You okay?"

"Me?" Emerald asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You just seemed a little... not okay." Cinder pointed back to the battlefield and cave. "You were a little stubborn with looking twice, that's not like you."

"..."

Emerald didn't respond with words, but she showed her inner conflict with a subtle hum. And Cinder, who noticed this conflict, gave Emerald the time she needed to speak freely.

"Sorry," Emerald apologized. "I just... I just wanna find Vernal."

"Yeah, I noticed," Cinder replied. "You seem really worried about her. Did something happen in the cave?"

"No, but..." Emerald let out a sigh before she took a risk. "Cinder... can I tell you a secret?"

Cinder knew it wasn't like Emerald to keep secrets, just as she knew that sharing it would make her feel better. "Yeah, of course. What is it?"

Emerald looked down to the ground before she explained herself. And Cinder began to see that Emerald almost looked... ashamed.

"I... I didn't see any Grimm running away," she said.

"Huh?" Cinder asked.

"I lied to Mercury. I needed him to relax, so I lied."

"...Oh."

Mercury had told everyone that he had been killing Grimm with Emerald after they got their Titans back. And he also said how Emerald apparently saw some Grimm run away, which was the only indication that Vernal might be alive.

So to hear that this claim was a lie definitely changed things.

"I wasn't trying to hurt him," Emerald defended herself. "He was panicking after we stopped fighting, and we didn't know about Darkness, I just needed him to-"

"Emerald, calm down," Cinder calmly ordered. "Look... I can see why you did what you did, but... we need to-"

"Hey, guys! Down here!"

Cinder and Emerald looked down to see that Eren and Midori had reached the bottom of the hill, that they were standing on a narrow crevice. But rather than standing and looking, Eren and Midori were digging through a pile of rocks.

"Come on down!" Eren yelled up. "We found something!"

"..."

Cinder and Emerald quickly forgot about their conversation and joined Eren as fast as they could. Emerald stumbled once, given that her shoes weren't really made for circumnavigating narrow mountains, but she and Cinder found Eren and Midori at the crevice. And as they continued to dig, the duo explained themselves.

"We saw this thing moving!" Midori explained. "And heard a voice too!"

"What?" Emerald asked. "Moving?"

"Someone's in here!" Eren said as he moved a large rock. "They're trapped!"

Before Emerald and Cinder could reply, they heard a muffled voice from within the rocks.

"Hmp mm! Hmp mm!"

The voice was enough to make Cinder and Emerald join their friends. Nobody knew who it was beneath the rocks, all they knew was that someone needed their help. Emerald hoped that it was Vernal, that finding her would make amends for the lie that she had told Mercury earlier.

Cinder also hoped it was Vernal, but she had a different, more logical idea in mind.

As she said earlier, this was the spot where Winter had fallen after Darkness attacked her. She had been badly hurt, and the great fall she had would have surely contributed to the other injuries. However, nobody knew what had become of Winter. The extent of her injuries and her fall made everyone, including Eren, assume that she was dead.

But given that nobody had found a body, and that someone was underneath the spot that Winter would have most likely landed on, it was possible that the Atlesian was still alive.

And there was only one way to find out.

After half a minute of digging, a hand shot out from under the pile of rocks. Everyone immediately grabbed it and started to pull, but they weren't able to get her out.

"Pull together!" Eren suggested as he stopped pulling. "Ready... pull!"

Everyone followed the command and pulled together instead of separately. Once they did, they could see a person emerge from the rocks and hear a big gasp for air. The gasp was followed by coughs as the person was revealed to be a woman.

A specific woman.

"Winter!" Cinder said in astonishment. "You're alive!"

The woman was indeed Winter Schnee, who had indeed survived her fall. She needed a few seconds to breathe before she could speak, but she was very much alive.

She was afraid, however, when she looked up to see Eren standing before her.

"Aah!" Winter yelled as she scrambled backwards. She didn't have Omen with her, so she sheepishly covered herself with her arms to get away from who she perceived to be Darkness.

"No, no, it's okay!" Cinder insisted as she kneeled down to Winter. "That's not Darkness! He's gone!"

"Yeah, it's me!" Eren said as he also kneeled down. "I'm sorry about what happened, but it's me! Everything's... fine?"

"..."

A clear look at Winter was enough to confuse Eren. He was watching the battle unfold from Darkness' eyes, so he could see what the deity had done to his friends and allies. And he saw that Winter had been attacked by Grimm she had summoned herself, and that Darkness was responsible for severely injuring the Atlesian. The injuries mainly consisted of ripped flesh and muscle, something an Aura couldn't heal all at once.

And yet, Winter appeared to be perfectly healthy. Save for the dust she was covered in, Winter wasn't injured at all.

"Winter... what happened to you?" Eren asked. "You were hurt! What happened?"

Winter let out another cough before she made an attempt to speak. "Some... one..." she said before she coughed again.

"What?"

Winter pointed to the rocks as she deeply inhaled and exhaled. "Someone... still... there."

Just as Winter said this, another hand emerged from the rocks and scared Midori. Everyone looked to see the hand, which was a surprise to them all. The only person who was missing from their group was Vernal, so it was easy for everyone to assume that it was her under the rocks.

Emerald ran over to the hand and grabbed it before she pulled, but she needed the help of her friends to get the person out. Everyone else ran over and pulled together once more, which led to the arm moving outwards. They all needed to pull again to successfully save the person underneath the rocks, but they were able to pull out another woman from the rocks.

The woman Eren and everyone else had saved fell on her face, which led to everyone seeing only her backside. The first thing they noticed was that she didn't have any clothes on, which Eren immediately rectified by giving his black and slightly torn jacket to her. He didn't hand it to her, he simply placed it on her back. But after the woman had let out enough coughing, she silently accepted the jacket and covered herself. After that, she began to stand up.

"Vernal?" Emerald asked. "Are you okay?"

The woman let out a cough again before she turned to look at everyone. "...What?" she asked. "Who are you calling 'Vernal?'"

When the woman showed her face to Eren and his friends, they gasped. They weren't looking at Vernal as they expected, the woman was somebody completely different.

The woman had short brown hair like Vernal's, but it was slightly different. She also had dull gray eyes that were looking intently upon Eren. But the real defining feature about this woman was the amount of freckles on her face.

Eren had seen this face before, and there was no denying the identity of the woman now.

"...Ymir?"

---

Some time ago

"Now you will learn, Winter Schnee."

That was the last thing Winter could hear before everything went to Hell.

Her Grimm, the ones she had summoned via her Semblance, had just betrayed and attacked her. Beowolf, Ursa, and Nevermore alike were all clawing and biting at her until her body became slim pickings. Her Aura couldn't handle the stress of it all, so it inevitably broke and left Winter to die.

That was how Winter felt when she fell and hit rock after rock during her descent.

After she landed on solid ground, Winter was completely covered in rocks, both big and small. Her vision had gone dark, either from the rocks or the pain. The voice in her head, a voice she used to think was imaginary, had gone silent. This was a rarity, since Ymir was known for how she would get on Winter's nerves with talk.

But perhaps, she too saw the futility in the situation.

Winter had been betrayed, humiliated, and defeated. She had done everything right, whereas Combat was concerned. But the God of Darkness bested her easily, which was something Winter was never used to. She was known as one of Atlas Academy's top students and model officers, but now all that had gotten her was the next meal of Grimm and dying under rocks.

It was easy for Winter to give in to the darkness, after she had given up to the God of Darkness. For Winter remembered how Ymir compared her life to a joke, that it had been wasted on being a small cog in a large machine. Winter had believed her before, but now she was ready to believe it again.

If it weren't, Winter thought, then perhaps she wouldn't be dying right now. Not when she wanted to do so much more where the Schnee Dust Company and Atlas were concerned.

But that didn't matter now. Winter didn't matter now.

And so, she accepted the darkness as the last sight in her passing. But she didn't accept what she saw when she opened her eyes once again.

Winter was still within a broken and bloodied body, and she was still laying on the ground. But instead of seeing darkness, Winter could see the blood red sky overhead. At first, she thought that she had been dug out by some mysterious force and that someone had survived.

But when she saw multiple white lights overhead, all in lines, Winter knew that something strange was going on.

It got even stranger when the sky and lines were replaced by a little girl looking down on her with pity.

"Wh... What?" Winter asked as she tried to sit up straight. But the girl quickly made Winter move down after she pushed on her head and chest. "Who... Who are you?"

"..."

The girl remained completely silent, but she offered a smile to Winter before she turned to the ground. The girl could see multiple red and black rocks on the ground, which she took and examined in her hand.

After she spent a few seconds looking at the stone, the girl moved her free hand towards something else on the ground. She was now holding a mortar bowl with a small pestle inside. After she placed the stone in the bowl, the girl raised the pestle and hit it against the stone.

*CRUNCH*

*CRUNCH*

*CRUNCH*

After a few strikes, the small rock had turned into nothing but dust. And the girl applied that dust onto Winter's body. Not just applied, but the girl rubbed and moved the dust a certain way until she was content with how it looked.

She then took another stone and repeated the motion.

*CRUNCH*

*CRUNCH*

*CRUNCH*

Winter wanted to tell the girl to stop and ask her what was happening, but she was in too much pain and too tired to say anything.

The girl repeated this pattern for what felt like hours, maybe even days. She did nothing but take stone after stone, grind it into dust, and apply that dust onto Winter. But eventually, she had created enough dust and manipulated it enough to do something wondrous.

Winter was staring at her own body once more. And rather than seeing it ripped to shreds, it had been made whole and without any flaw.

Winter wiggled her fingers, moved her legs, and felt herself all over to test and see if this was real. Once she was done, Winter could tell that her entire body had been restored by the little girl.

Winter was about to thank her, but her eyes fell upon another strange sight.

The girl had not only recreated Winter's body, but she had also made something else out of dust. Resting just a few inches away from her was another body, one that was completely lifeless and as red as the stones around it.

Winter didn't understand what she was seeing. She didn't understand why the girl had made something else out of the stone and dust. But above all else, Winter didn't seem to understand why her right hand was somewhat conjoined with the sculpture's left hand.

The Atlesian finally turned to her apparent savior to ask what was happening, but then she saw something else that was strange. The young girl had her mortar and pestle once again, but there wasn't any dust in the bowl. Instead, it was filled with a liquid that almost looked like milk. In fact, it was the exact same color as the white lines over Winter's head.

Lines that connected to a large, tree-like structure.

"What is tha-?"

Winter didn't have enough time to finish her question, since the girl made Winter drink the liquid.

When she inadvertently swallowed the liquid, Winter began to feel drowsy. She wanted to demand a reason behind the girl forcing her to drink the liquid, but she lost consciousness in an instant.

Then, the young girl watched Winter's body begin to glow. The glowing spread from her head to her toes, and even to the hand that was conjoined in the sculpture's hand. And slowly but surely, the sculpture began to glow as well.

It didn't just glow, but it also began to lose its sand-like features. Flesh and color were appearing on the body, enough to make it look like an actual person instead of a sculpture.

And by an incredible miracle, the body immediately showed signs of life when it took a large gasp for air.

---

Present

Everyone was having a hard time processing the fact that Ymir, who should have been within Winter's body, was now standing before them in her own body.

And Ymir was having trouble looking at Eren, after her recent encounter with Darkness.

"Holy crap!" Ymir yelled as she backed away. "Get away from me, you son of a bitch!"

"Ymir..." Eren repeated as he looked upon the girl he knew.

Ymir was starting to notice that Eren looked different, but she was livid about the attack. "Is that all you can say for yourself?! You try to kill me and all you can say is 'Ymir?!' What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"..."

Ymir looked upon everyone standing with Eren. "What the hell is wrong with all of you?! Get away from him, you idiots!"

Everyone was still confused by what was happening. Cinder, Midori, and Emerald were too dumbstruck to tell the girl that Eren was fine and that Darkness was gone, but Eren was able to talk.

"Ymir," he said again. "Your... Your body!"

Ymir wasn't angry enough to not listen to what Eren was saying, so she was able to speak with him as well. "My body?" she asked. "What are you tal-?"

"Ymir?"

The sound of a familiar voice was enough for Ymir to turn around and drop her jaw. When she saw Winter looking back at her, Ymir lost all emotion besides surprise. Like everyone before her, she knew that she should have been seeing Remnant through Winter's eyes.

But Winter was directly in front of her. In her own body.

When Ymir understood what was happening, she gasped as she looked at her hands. She then pulled her own hair to feel that it was real before she felt her torso and legs. When she assured herself that what she was feeling was real, Ymir turned around to see Eren holding his Scroll. He had opened the object's camera, which could serve as a reflection before a photo could be taken.

After she took the Scroll, Ymir looked at the reflection and gasped once more. She was able to recognize her own face, despite the fact that she hadn't seen it in years. A multitude of emotions swelled within her after she dropped the Scroll, and the first one she expressed was joy.

"My... My body!" Ymir yelled as she laughed. "This... This is my body! This is real!"

Eren and everyone else began to laugh as well, and Eren took a risk by slowly moving forward. He was expecting Ymir to back away once more or even hit him, but that didn't happen. Instead, Ymir did something that nobody could have predicted.

She hugged Eren.

"Eren!" Ymir yelled, completely unafraid of Darkness or anything in the world. "Eren, I got my body back!"

"Y-Yeah!" Eren said as he accepted the hug. He didn't hug Ymir back, but he didn't do anything to stop his former comrade. "Yeah, we can see that! I did too."

Ymir looked at Eren after she released him, and one look was all she needed to see that Darkness was gone. After that, she turned around and hugged Winter as well.

"Oh!" Winter yelped when she felt two arms around her. She then heard Ymir laugh as she relished in the feeling of having her own body. Winter was even starting to relish it as well.

Winter didn't know how this happened, how Ymir was alive and well in a body of her own. But she was certain that it had something to do with the little girl she saw in the place with the tree. She remembered that Eren had called it "the Coordinate," and that she had been summoned to it once before. Her understanding of the Coordinate and Ymir's own body was limited, but Winter welcomed the sight of Ymir before her.

For the first time, in a long time, the duo felt free. They may have had their differences, and their situation did bother them, but they were both happy for each other as well as themselves.

They were happy to be free.

"Welcome back, Ymir," said Eren, who stood directly behind her. He and Ymir weren't exactly friends, but he too was happy to see Ymir in her own body.

"Thanks," Ymir replied before she looked at Eren from head to toe. "And, uh, same to you, I guess."

"Don't worry, he's gone." Eren began to smile. "It's over. We won."

Winter sighed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," she said. "Fighting a self-proclaimed deity wasn't the easiest thing to do."

"So I've heard."

Ymir stepped in for Winter as she asked a question. "So that's it?" she asked. "We're done here?"

"Yeah," Eren replied as he pointed upwards. "Mercury's fixing up an airship with Watts. We should be out of here soon."

"But we need to find Vernal first," said Emerald. "We got separated during the fight."

"I don't think she's here," said Winter. "The only thing I saw was all of you pulling me from the rocks."

"Shoot," said Midori. "I guess you were right, Eren."

"...Yeah," Eren replied after a sigh. "The only other place she could be is the field, if she's still a Grimm." Eren turned to Winter. "Do you think you could help us look?"

"Of course," Winter replied. She leaned down to pick up Omen, the sword she had stolen from Raven, but she didn't create any Glyphs. "Do you happen to have your Titans back? I, um... don't feel comfortable summoning any Grimm at the moment."

"Yeah, we have our Titans," said Cinder. "You can ride on my back, just like last time."

Ymir immediately seized what she believed to be an opportunity and moved towards Cinder. "Any room for one more, hun?" she asked confidently. "I bet you like what you see, don't you?" Ymir then let out a laugh, but nobody laughed with her.

Especially Eren.

"Whoa, there," he said calmly as he moved to Cinder. "Don't get any funny ideas, Ymir." He tapped Ymir's hand to tell her to let go of Cinder.

"Yeah," Cinder agreed as she leaned against Eren with a cocky grin. "I guess you could say I'm spoken for now, Ymir. Sorry."

When she understood what Eren and Cinder meant, Ymir immediately let out a groan of disappointment. "Are you kidding me?! I just got my body back!" She wasn't yelling at the duo, it was almost as if she was yelling at the world or the force that gave Ymir her body back. "Figures."

"Don't be ungrateful, Ymir," Winter sternly ordered. "You're right about your body. Be thankful."

"Yeah, yeah." Ymir immediately heard what sounded like a snicker from Eren and Cinder. "Thanks for nothing, Eren."

---

While Eren's group had reunited with Winter and Ymir, Mercury's group was by the castle doors stripping the Dark Wing for parts. Since they had their Titans, Mercury and Nora decided to carry the destroyed car rather than go up and down for parts. Ren had elected to guard Watts in case he tried to escape, so he was watching the man like a hawk.

Though he occasionally looked over his shoulder to see how his friends were doing.

*CRACK*

"Grrrr-!"

*BAM*

"There!" Nora said as she let out heavy breaths. She and Mercury had just removed one of the Dark Wing's engines and flight mechanisms, which were rather heavy. Nora was a very strong girl, but even she had her limits.

Especially after fighting the God of Darkness.

"Good job, Nora," said Ren, who walked over to her with Watts in tow. "Should this help you and Mercury?"

"Yes, yes," Watts replied impatiently. "As long as the clumsy oaf didn't break them just now."

"Hey!" said Nora. "How about you try carrying these things? They weigh a ton!"

"And we appreciate the heavy lifting, Nora," said Ren. "But we should be a little careful with all of this. The Dark Wing is in bad shape, I don't want to see you get caught in an explosion."

"And I don't want to see our only hope fleet before my eyes," said the doctor.

Nora was appreciative of Ren's concern, but she was growing rather impatient with Watts behavior. "Jeez, what's with you?" she asked. "You know we're still taking you to jail after this, right?"

Watts was also starting to become impatient. And more then that, he was angry as well. "I don't care if you want to send me to the bloody moon! I just want to get out of here alive!"

Ren stepped between Watts and Nora as he began to ease the tension. In order to do that, he had to calm Watts down.

"Relax," he firmly ordered. "None of us will be going anywhere if the Grimm sense your feelings."

"..."

Watts knew that Ren was right, so he began to relax. He was rather anxious to leave, since he didn't want to see any more unwelcome surprises in the Land of Darkness. Between Salem's wrath and Darkness' appearance, Watts had his fill of dark and mysterious forces for one lifetime; whether they benefited him or not.

"Let's just bring everything downstairs," the scientist said as he picked up a few pieces of machinery. "We'll need her to do the heavy lifting."

Ren turned around to Nora again. "Can you handle that okay?" he asked. "Do you need some help?"

"I can help her," said Mercury. "We got this."

"Don't you have other stuff to take off the car?" Nora asked. She didn't want to waste any time for Mercury, even though some of the parts were heavy.

"Yeah, but we got time. Come on, I'll help you out."

Nora accepted the help and lifted what she previously took off with Mercury's help. Together, they followed Ren and Watts as they traversed the dark halls.

Naturally, they passed the time by talking.

"I get what Artie's saying, though," said Mercury. "I've had enough of this place too."

"Me too!" said Nora. "I wouldn't come back here even if I got paid to do it!"

"Yeah, no kidding." Mercury paused for a brief moment. "Although... you think this would make a good tourist trap?"

Nora laughed at the idea. "As if! I mean, the castle's kinda cool, but all of these Grimm and the dark atmosphere don't do it any favors."

"No arguments there. But this would make something cool for Halloween, don't you think?"

Now Nora took a pause as she thought of the idea. "Oh, my gosh, yes!" She and Mercury laughed at the idea as they continued their walk. "I think I'm gonna stay away, though. I mean, Darkness destroyed a few of the rooms and hallways. I guess he hated this place too."

"I saw that, yeah." Mercury frowned and grimaced his face. "And let's not forget what he did to the Dark Wing. Prick."

Nora wasn't one to pick up on social cues easily, but she could tell that Mercury was feeling upset about the car. "Yeah, I'm sorry about the car, Mercury," she said sincerely. "Any chance you could fix it?"

"I doubt it," said the young mechanic. "I mean, we're stripping the thing for parts right now."

"...Oh, yeah."

Mercury let out a saddened sigh. "I hate to say it, Nora, but the Dark Wing is as good as dead."

Nora indeed felt bad for her friend, since Mercury had put so much pride and work into the upgrade of the Atlesian vehicle. But she was one to look at the bright side of things, so that was what she decided to do.

"Come on, Mercury!" Nora said to boost her friend's spirits. "Don't go telling me this is gonna stop you from creating something else incredibly awesome! Like Eren said, you can create anything!"

Mercury shrugged and shook his head. "Nah, he was just saying that."

"What? No way! You made me Magnhild and all those other weapons!" Nora stopped once again. "Eren was right about you, Merc! You can make anything you put your mind to!"

Mercury smiled at the idea. Eren's speech from earlier was definitely welcoming and nice to hear, but Nora's support was helping the young man get his head in the right space.

"Thanks, Nora," he said as he began to walk again. "I appreciate that. It's just that... I don't know, the Wing always felt like my masterpiece. You know?"

"I got you," Nora agreed. "But that doesn't mean you can't recreate it from something else. If you had the time and materials and what-not, I'm sure you can make it better than ever! Maybe you can install a toilet this time!"

Mercury laughed as he walked with Nora. "Come on, we needed a shower much more than a shitter. How were we supposed to clean the Grimm off ourselves?"

"Okay, the Grimm definitely needed to be washed off. But I hate having to do my business in the woods! It's just not natural!"

"Not natural? Nora, do you know how many animals pee and crap in the woods?"

"Ew, stop! I don't wanna hear about it!"

Mercury immediately saw an opportunity to have fun when he saw Nora's mild disgust. "I'm serious! You got the deer, the rabbits, the bears... Oh, and you already know what a skunk-!"

*THUMP*

*THUMP*

Mercury stopped walking again when an unfamiliar noise reached his ears. He turned around fast towards the nearest hallway, but he couldn't see anything. He then looked down the next hallway, but again failed to see anything out of the ordinary.

"Merc?" Nora asked. "What's wrong?"

Mercury took another look down the first hall. "I thought I heard something," he said.

Nora looked down the same hall as Mercury. "I didn't hear anything."

Based on Nora's claim and the inability to see anything that looked unusual, Mercury stopped looking around and trusted his friend. "Sorry," he said. "Probably just my imagination."

"Yeah, that's what Ren always says to me. Come on, let's go!"

Mercury and Nora immediately walked down the stairs towards the hanger and broken ship. They had just about everything they needed to fix the damaged engine, and soon they would all be going home. They were very excited about the idea, and they were very excited that their quest had come to a satisfying end.

Unfortunately, this excitement came with a hint of carelessness. For if he had investigated the noise he heard, Mercury would have found Raven Branwen roaming the halls.

After she made her escape from the hanger, Raven had been wandering around aimlessly in her tired and healing state. Her main priority was finding an exit to the castle while avoiding Eren and his friends. She didn't know what state Eren was in, but Raven knew that avoiding him was for the best.

Her escape, however, was proving to be much harder than she had anticipated. All of the hallways looked the same to her, and she was completely lost. She would normally try to stop and think logically about her situation, strategize about the best way to escape, but she was like Watts; she was having a hard time keeping herself together.

"I have to get out of here," she told herself over and over again. "I have to get out of here."

Raven descended down another flight of stairs, a different one than Mercury and Nora had traversed. She only went down one floor, and she continued to roam the never-ending hallway. She stopped, however, when she finally ran out of breath. When she did, Raven noticed a doorway that stood out. It looked like the door had been destroyed, and Raven believed that someone had either broken into or out of the room.

Raven believed it to be the former, that breaking into a room could potentially lead to an exit. And so, she quickly moved to the doorway and stepped inside. But while doing so, Raven tripped and began to fall. She reached out for something to grab on to, to stop her from injuring herself.

And she did.

*SHICK*

Raven managed to stop her fall, and she was simply kneeling rather than laying on the ground. She wasn't hurt, but she immediately became uncomfortable.

Namely, she was uncomfortable with the feeling in her hands.

Raven looked at her hands to see that they were covered in a cold and black substance. It felt like that, and it gave off a very strong odor. Along with that, Raven noticed that there were little black strands in between her fingertips.

Strands that looked like flesh.

At first, Raven didn't see what it was that had prevented her fall, but now she could see it as clear as day. Resting before her was a large, black sack that was on the wall of the room. Raven looked around the room to see that there were more sacks just like the one she had mistakenly grabbed. There were even pieces on the floor that looked like one of the sacks had burst.

While she noticed the multiple sacks, Raven neglected to notice that she had dug into the sack she had grabbed. Just as she noticed that it was twitching and shaking.

Raven understood that she had made a terrible mistake after the sack exploded.

*BOOM*

Raven fell to the ground when she became covered in the contents and outer layer of the sack. She could see more tar-like liquid around her eyes, which caused her to wipe them clean as she tried to comprehend what had just happened.

Her vision was slightly obscured, but Raven could see the shape of a person standing before her. She normally wouldn't ask for help from others, but Raven began to lift her hand towards the figure and hoped that she would be helped off the ground.

But those hopes slowly began to fade when Raven saw what appeared to be talons in her hands. And they completely disappeared when she heard inhuman groans from the person.

"Hrrr... Hrrr... Hrrr... HRRRRAAAAAAAHHHH!"

---

Outside of the castle, Eren made a plan with everyone who had joined him. Using the three Titans they had, they would take the most likely route Vernal would have gone with the other Ursai to the fields below. Resistance from the Grimm was to be expected, but they didn't have much of a choice. They would kill Grimm if they had to, but they would be very careful around Ursai.

And if they were lucky, they could find Vernal's Ursa. They even believed that they could find an unconscious Vernal if her transformation had worn off. But there was only one way to find out.

This was the first time Cinder had transformed into the Incinerator Titan since its previous absence, given that she went to see Eren in the Coordinate immediately after she regenerated her wounds. And like everyone else, she welcomed its return and the enhanced strength it gave her.

Eren had also regained his Titan, which had reverted back to its original appearance. Emerald and Mercury had told him how the Founding Titan under Darkness' control looked more demonic than human, that its face was entirely skeletal with no flesh. But now, Eren was able to restore the Titan to its original form. And now he was ready to put it to work.

After Eren and his friends descended down the part that Vernal most likely would have went down, they all immediately saw that things weren't going according to plan. It wasn't that anything was going horribly wrong, like some combat strategies usually did. But rather, things were going well.

Too well.

Eren and his friends were able to scale down the outside of the crystal structure that served as Salem's castle, and they were immediately met by the Creatures of Grimm. When they saw that the Grimm mostly comprised of Beowolves and Creeps, they took off running to either crush or avoid the monsters. Because of this, they were all expecting retaliation and another conflict to ensue.

But nothing happened.

All of the Grimm simply stood watching the Titans and seemingly minding their own business. Eren and his friends needed a minute to see this for themselves, but nobody could believe. The Titans had just trampled about a dozen monsters, but the Grimm were doing nothing about it.

Nothing at all.

Eren decided that he needed to see this with his own eyes, so he exited his Titan and looked at the first Beowolf he saw. Cinder and Emerald also exited their Titans, and they only needed to take a few steps to reach Eren themselves. Midori, Winter, and Ymir all came off the back of the Incinerator Titan and saw the same thing as Eren.

The Grimm weren't attacking him.

"Are you seeing this?" Eren asked when he saw that everyone had joined him.

"Yeah..." said Cinder, who was just as dumbfounded as Eren. She could see that Eren was right in front of a Beowolf, but it wasn't doing anything. "What's up with that?"

"It's not just them," said Emerald, who was pointing towards a few large crystals. "Look at those Nevermores."

Everyone turned to see two large Nevermores staring at them. But just like the Beowolves and Creeps, they were perched on the crystals minding their own business.

It was so... unnatural.

"Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Ymir asked Winter.

"Nobody's ever seen a calm Grimm," said Winter.

"I've seen a few," said Midori. "When Salem kept me as her prisoner. They would stay around her before they did whatever she said."

"But Salem's gone," said Cinder. "And she's human again. She shouldn't be able to keep them calm."

"This isn't right," said Eren, who took out his pistols once more. "It has to be a trap."

"They might be waiting for the right moment," said Cinder, who took out her swords.

"They might be," Winter agreed. "See that Alpha over there? If it's as smart as Grimm studies show, it'll definitely be waiting for an opportunity to strike."

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," said Midori.

"Yeah," said Emerald. She began to raise her hand to her mouth. "Maybe we should turn back into our Titans."

"Just a second," Eren requested when his eyes fell upon a pack of Ursai. "That pack looks pretty calm, and Vernal might be one of them." Eren raised his pistols at an appropriate height as he moved closer to the pack. "Go ahead and use your Titans, I'll be just a-"

*GROWL*

*SNARL*

Eren turned around fast when he heard the familiar sounds of angry Grimm. When he saw that two Beowolves were growling and preparing to lunge at Cinder, Eren immediately moved back to her.

"Hey!" he yelled as he pointed his pistols at the Grimm. "Get back!"

"..."

Eren didn't know why he chose to yell at the Grimm, it seemed to be out of an impulse. And oddly enough, the Grimm seemed to be listening to him. As soon as he moved to Cinder, they stopped growling.

And they were even moving away from Cinder.

Eren felt a little relieved when he saw the creatures move away. "Are you okay?" he asked Cinder.

"Yeah," Cinder replied as she began to calm down. The sudden growl and snarl had caught her off guard. "Sorry, they just scared me."

"Yeah, me too," said Midori. "It's like they just snapped."

Eren didn't take his eyes off the Grimm that nearly attacked Cinder as he moved away again. "Okay, definitely turn into your Titans," he told Emerald and Cinder. "I'll just check out that pack and-"

*ROAR*

*GROWL*

More Grimm began to act as they normally would, and they did this to Winter and Ymir this time. Winter had managed to retrieve Omen, so she pointed it at the beasts in order to defend herself.

Eren quickly came to her aid, but the Grimm began to back off again.

"...Okay, what the hell?" Ymir asked as she looked at the Grimm. "What's up with this?"

"I have no idea," said Eren. "That's twice now."

"We should probably leave," said Cinder. "Think of something else."

"Agreed," said Winter. "Eren, you should come too in case this happens aga-"

"..."

"Wait a minute..."

Winter's suggestion for Eren to stay was beginning to make the Atlesian see a pattern. Like everyone around her, Winter noted how docile the Grimm seemed to be acting when they arrived at the wasteland. She then took note of their sudden return to aggression, which stopped as soon as one thing changed.

Eren's presence.

"Winter?" Ymir asked as she tapped the woman's shoulder. "Come on, let's go!"

"Yeah, we'll find another way!" Cinder insisted as she began to leave with her friends.

"No, wait!" Winter commanded as she moved a hand to the group. "Stay where you are." She then used her other hand to point towards the pack of Ursai. "Eren, go that way for a second."

"What?" Eren asked after he looked at the direction Winter was pointing at. "Why?"

"I think I have an idea. Just take a few steps."

Eren took a look at his friends, who were also unsure as to what Winter was thinking. Ymir simply gave a shrug, so Eren decided to give it a try.

"...Okay," he said before he began to walk. Once he took a few steps, the closest Grimm to the group began to grow aggressive.

*GROWL*

*ROAR*

"Come back, come back!" Winter ordered.

Eren quickly returned to the group, and the Grimm began to calm down again. He was about to ask Winter why she had told him to go, but he became distracted by Cinder's voice.

"Oh," she said in amazement. "But, that's not... Eren, do that again."

Eren took another few steps away from the group, which lead to more aggression from the Grimm. And when he went back to his friends to see the Grimm cease hostility, Eren began to understand the same thing Winter and Cinder understood.

But just to be sure, Eren repeated the same experiment one more time. And sure enough, the same results happened again.

"Whoa," said Emerald, who started to understand as well. Midori and Ymir began to draw the same conclusion, which led them to staring at Eren.

"It's not a trap," said Cinder. "It's not the Grimm, either."

"It's... It's me," said Eren. "I mean... is it?"

"It is you," Winter confirmed. "Eren, you're making the Grimm docile. You're... You're immune to them."

"..."

The truth about Eren began to sink in for everyone. They didn't know what to make of it, whether it was a blessing or a curse, but they definitely knew that Eren was immune to Grimm.

After he fully understood the situation, Eren decided to try something else. Rather than simply calming the Grimm with his presence, Eren looked at the nearest Grimm and pointed to a spot close to him.

*SNAP*

When the Beowolf saw Eren point to a spot and heard Eren snap his fingers, it immediately moved to the spot and remained completely motionless. Eren and his friends witnessed this and became even more amazed.

Eren was no stranger to controlling Grimm. After all, he had learned to create Grimm from his blood and then make them follow whatever order he gave. He could even command Grimm that came into contact with his blood through the power of the Founding Titan.

But this was different.

Eren didn't create this creature, he was sure of it. He was also sure that he hadn't cut himself and thrown his blood onto the beast. He didn't do that to any of the Grimm that were docile around him. And yet, there was no denying that Eren was the reason behind this behavior. They weren't waiting to trap or attack the humans, the Creatures of Grimm were simply waiting for orders.

Orders from a man they perceived to be their leader.

"Darkness," Eren immediately concluded. "Darkness made this happen."

"It had to have been him," Cinder agreed. "There's no other explanation."

"But that doesn't make sense," Midori insisted. "Darkness is trapped in the Coordinate, right? He must be angry with Eren, he wouldn't let him continue to control the Grimm!"

"...Maybe his power was stronger than he thought," Emerald suggested. "We don't know what kind of effect, if any, Darkness had on Eren while he was in his body."

"It might be more than that," Winter suggested. "I learned at the academy why Grimm always seem to destroy everything, but never themselves or each other. They recognize that they're the same species." Winter pointed at Eren. "They might still recognize Eren as their leader. Darkness or no Darkness. I mean, he was in your body, Eren."

Ymir rolled her eyes. "Some people get all the luck," she sarcastically said.

Eren was somewhat interested in this advanced control over the Grimm. He never had any intention of making slaves out of anyone or anything, but he couldn't deny the rank he held over the Grimm. Perhaps they believed him to still be Darkness, or someone as "sacred" as Darkness.

Still, Eren wasn't sure if he wanted this newfound power. And he had a reason to disagree with Ymir.

"Not all the luck, Ymir," he said. "We still haven't found Vernal."

"Oh, right," the girl said. "I mean, that shouldn't be too hard for you now. Right?"

Emerald immediately agreed with Ymir. "You know, Eren... Darkness did change your Titan when he was controlling it. Maybe he did more than just change it."

"Yeah," said Cinder. "If he made the Grimm recognize you, maybe he had a lasting effect on your Titan too."

"..."

The more he thought about it, the more Eren liked the idea. Up until now, he had no idea that something Darkness had done led to him gaining a rank of importance among the Grimm. And given what Emerald and Mercury had described with his Titan having a demon's head, it wasn't entirely crazy to say that Darkness had done other things as well.

Maybe it unlocked other abilities.

"...It's worth a shot," Eren agreed. He then lifted his hand towards his mouth. "You'd all better stand back."

Everyone gave Eren some space, but not too much to make the Grimm want to attack them again. But Cinder didn't move right away.

"What are you thinking?" Cinder asked.

"I'll try to see if I can track Vernal as a Titan," Eren replied. "If that doesn't work, I'll make one of the Grimm track her. That might be a little harder, we don't really have anything with her scent."

"That's true. Anything I can do while you try?"

Eren pointed back up to the castle. "Maybe you should take everyone back up there. The faster we're all together, the faster we can leave."

"Okay. Good luck, Eren."

"Thanks."

After Cinder bit her hand and transformed into the Incinerator Titan, she and everyone else took their leave. Eren was now alone with the Grimm, who once again waited for new orders from the person they believed to be their leader. But now, Eren didn't have anything he wanted the Grimm to do.

Not yet, at least.

*BOOM*

After he bit his hand, Eren transformed into the Founding Titan once more. He stood proud and tall over the rest of the Grimm, who still did nothing in his presence.

Eren knew that trying to have the Grimm track Vernal would be more practical, but he also believed it would be harder. He didn't have a reason to think he or anyone with him had Vernal's scent, so the idea would indeed be saved for later.

But more than that, Eren was curious about the Founding Titan once again.

Back when he first had it, Eren rediscovered his Hardening and discovered an ability to create Grimm of his own. They were interesting and welcoming powers, both of which indeed helped him in his quest to stop Salem. But Eren believed Cinder and Emerald were right about brand new powers being discovered.

After all, Cinder had told Eren how Darkness transformed Raven and Hazel into brand new Pure Titans. He would find them later, but first he needed to find Vernal.

And the best way Eren could think of doing that would be what a hunter did with its prey: tracking.

Eren closed his eyes and concentrated on Vernal. His new connection with the Grimm made him believe that finding her would be easy, he even thought that he could even guide her back to him.

And in just a few seconds, Eren discovered that he was right on so many levels.

As soon as he began to concentrate, something happened within Eren. He began to see things that he wasn't imagining or picturing; he could see Grimm all across the fields, but they appeared to be through the eyes of the Grimm themselves.

He saw through a Beowolf roaming the land, through a Beringel emerging from its pool of birth, and through the eyes of a Nevermore flying free in the clouds. He could see it all, through the new connections the Founding Titan gave him.

Eren couldn't help but be amazed by this new power. He wished he had discovered it earlier, before he stopped Salem, but he couldn't focus on that now. Now all he could focus on was Vernal.

This focus soon delivered a rich reward for Eren. He was looking through the eyes of an Ursa now, and he could see that a human was laying unconsciously in the middle of the land.

"Vernal," Eren thought to himself. When he opened his eyes again, with this objective in mind, Eren immediately saw something else. Right before his eyes appeared to be a line of sorts, a line that led across the wasteland.

A line he believed would lead him to Vernal.

Eren remembered a similar experience he had in Atlas, when he needed to find Cinder after he got separated from her. Darkness had helped guide him that night, he had found a "path" that would lead Eren to where Cinder was being kept. And now, it seemed that another path was leading him to Vernal.

Perhaps it was the very paths of the Coordinate, since Darkness told Eren that it connected to everyone on Remnant. It seemed those paths were materializing themselves outside of the Coordinate.

Eren immediately followed that path and passed multiple Grimm as he did so. About a minute of following this path led to Eren finding the unconscious Vernal, who was dangerously close to an Ursa's jaws.

"No!" Eren yelled to the Grimm. As soon as he did, the creature immediately moved away, obeying the command from its "leader." The other Ursai moved away as well, which led to Eren gently picking up Vernal with his large hands.

Which then led Eren to seeing Vernal's chest slowly rising and falling. She was alive.

Eren exhaled a sigh of relief when he saw the sight of Vernal breathing. He didn't know if she was hurt or not, but Eren was sure Midori could examine Vernal and help her if need be. And more than that, Mercury would be elated to see his girlfriend was alive and well.

"Come on, Vernal," Eren thought to himself as he walked back towards the castle. "Let's go home."

---

When Eren told Cinder to take everyone back to the castle, he did this at a very good time. By the time Cinder had reached the spot where everyone had originally split, they were greeted by Mercury, Nora, and Ren. They had all come back to the wreckage of the Dark Wing with Watts to gather a few more parts they needed to fix the airship.

"Hey, everybody!" Nora greeted with a wave.

Cinder waved back before she looked over to Mercury. "How's it coming, Mercury?"

"Not bad," the mechanic said as he wiped his brow. "We got most of the broken pieces out and replaced them. We just need-Whoa!" Mercury was looking at the direction of a brunette girl wearing Eren's jacket. "Who's the chick?"

Ymir immediately looked up at Mercury with a scowl. "It's me, you moron," she replied without much care.

"Wait, Ymir?" Mercury looked over to see Winter next to Ymir. "Holy crap, Winter? You're alive?"

"I am," Winter replied casually. "We both are."

"That's really Ymir?" Ren asked as he moved towards Winter. "But... how did this happen?"

Winter couldn't help but shake her head. "Believe me, I have no idea."

"Me neither," said Ymir. "But hey, I'm not complaining."

"Neither am I," said Mercury, who couldn't help but notice that Ymir's only clothing was Eren's torn jacket.

*SMACK*

"Ow!"

"You pig," said Emerald, who had just slapped Mercury's head.

"Thanks, kid," said Ymir, who shared the same feelings as Emerald. "Don't you have a girlfriend?"

The mention of Vernal was all Mercury needed to get his head back on his shoulders. "Wait, where's Vernal?" he asked Cinder. "Did you guys find her?"

"Eren's still looking," Cinder said as she pointed down towards the wasteland. "He has an idea to use his Titan to find her."

"Yeah, and listen to this!" said Midori. "Eren's immune to Grimm now!"

"Say what?!" Nora yelled in surprise.

"Yeah, they were all calm around him," said Emerald. "He even controlled one of them down there."

"But Eren can already do that," said Ren. "When he throws some blood on them, he can control them."

"Yeah, but this was different," said Midori. "No blood, no using his Titan, they were all just following whatever he did and say. It's amazing!"

"It really is remarkable," said Winter. "I've never seen Grimm do that before around another person."

"Yeah, so Eren's gonna try and use that to find Vernal," Cinder explained. "He wanted us to come back so we'll all be ready to leave soon. Speaking of which, you got everything handled right here?"

"Just about," said Mercury. "We just need to remove something else, and we'll be in business."

"Not so fast."

Everyone turned to Watts, who was looking less than pleased with the idea. "I'm afraid Mr. Black and I have hit a bit of a snag," he said as he pointed to the piece he needed. "We need a specific tool to get this compartment off."

"What are you talking about?" Mercury asked skeptically. "I told you, my crowfoot wrench should be in the back."

Mercury had managed to recover some of his tools after he recovered the Dark Wing. The car was a wreck, but his tools weren't destroyed.

Or so he thought.

Watts showed Mercury that he had indeed found the wrench Mercury needed, but part of it was broken off. "You mean this crowfoot wrench?" he asked as he showed the damage.

Mercury's eyes widened as he looked at the broken tool. "Uh oh," he said as he understood the problem.

Watts tossed the tool aside and offered a solution. "Not to worry, I should have another tool like it downstairs. It'll just take some time, that's all."

Mercury gestured a hand to the castle. "Lead the way."

Watts did exactly that, and he was even picking up the pace. Cinder and Winter were surprised by the rush he was in, but the surprise disappeared when Mercury shared the fact that he just wanted to get out of the Land of Darkness alive.

This feeling was shared by just about everyone.

The group found themselves back in the room where they found Watts' terminal for controlling the Titan. Given that it was also a lab, Watts had numerous tools for just about any project Salem asked of him.

"Wow," said Cinder, who was examining the room. She wasn't with Eren when he found the terminal, so this was first time she saw the lab. "This is pretty big."

"You're speaking like you've never seen a lab before," said Watts, who was looking for his tools.

"I have," said Winter. "This is more or less the same as a common lab in Atlas. Though I have to admit, it must have been hard to make at a place like this."

"Indeed it was."

Watts normally would have gone into a long-winded speech about his lab, which would have been tooting his own horn. But given the fact that he wanted to leave as soon as possible, Watts focused more on his tools.

The scientist had plenty of technological tools, but nothing that the mechanics of the car required.

"I'm not seeing a wrench in here," said Mercury.

"Check the next room," said the scientist. "I need a few things in here."

Mercury looked around the area, but he didn't know what Watts meant by the "next room." And neither did anyone else.

"Which room?" Ren asked as he looked around with Mercury.

Watts was about to tell everyone off, but then he realized what he needed to do. "Oh, wait a minute," he said as he move towards the wall. After he moved to a specific spot, Watts pressed against the wall and opened a hidden door. "Salem had an adjacent room built in my lab. You should find tools in there."

"Oh, okay," said Mercury, who wasn't entirely impressed by the hidden room. But when he saw multiple computers in the room, Mercury was curious by what he was seeing. "Jeez, how do you have Internet with these?"

"There's Internet?" Nora asked as she rushed towards the room. "Lemme check my Basebook! I gotta see if that picture finally downloaded!"

After Watts picked up a few things and put them in his pocket, he turned towards the adjacent room. "I'm afraid you won't find any Internet in there," he said. "Those computers mainly store my notes and research."

Mercury pressed a button on the computer, which showed a holographic image of what appeared to be Salem's castle. "Why do you have Salem's castle here?"

"I have other computers across the castle. Salem relied on her Grimm for a security system, but I have systems for fire suppression, life support, and-"

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

"Hazardous anomaly detected."

*WOOOO*

"Quarantine activated."

*WOOOO*

The doors being closed by glass, flashing lights in the lab, and an announcement of a "quarantine" all took everyone by surprise.

"What the hell?" Mercury asked.

"What's going on?" Midori asked.

"The hell is this?" Ymir asked.

Cinder shot a dirty glare at Watts when she saw that the glass doors had trapped everyone. "Watts," she said sternly.

Watts was just as surprised as everyone, but he had an idea as to what happened. "Don't look at me!" he said as he turned to Mercury and Nora. "You're both locked in there, what did you do?!"

"Nothing!" Mercury denied.

"I didn't touch anything!" Nora quickly assured Watts.

The scientist groaned as he took out his Scroll. "Did you at least get your wrench?"

Mercury turned to see a wall of tools behind him, which indeed had a wrench he was looking for. "Yeah, I got it."

"Alright, I'll get these doors open." Watts began to type on a Scroll he had on a table, an attempt to end the quarantine lockdown he had installed. However, his Scroll was refusing to shut down the system; it seemed adamant that there was something wrong.

"Is there a malfunction?" Ren asked as he looked over the scientist's shoulder. Winter had the same idea, which led her to look with Ren.

"No," Watts denied. "The quarantine software looks fine. Hang on, I can at least get the doors open."

While Watts was busy trying to open the doors, Midori got everyone's attention with a question.

"W-Wait," she said. "Do you hear that?"

*SNARL*

*GROAN*

Everyone in the room with her, including Watts, all heard what sounded like an animal. They all turned their eyes to the ceiling, which was a mixture of metal and stone, and listened to the noise closely.

*SNARL*

"I hear it," said Ren, who pointed his guns to the ceiling. Mercury was able to find more ammo for him in the car, so now he was ready for an emergency.

"Me too," said Winter, who readied herself with Omen.

"Uh, Cinder?" Nora asked from the other side of her glass.

Cinder put her hands on the hilts of her swords, but looked over at Nora. "Take it easy," she said. "Watts, get those doors open."

"I'm almost there," Watts said as he fiddled with his Scroll.

*GROAN*

*SNARL*

Emerald also had bullets in her guns, but she was growing uneasy. "There's something in here with us," she said.

*CREAK*

Mercury quickly looked to the ceiling of the other room when he heard something above and saw dust fall. "Up there!" he warned as he pointed to the ceiling.

"I see it!" Ren yelled as he opened fire on the ceiling. Everyone turned to see what he was firing at, in the hopes that it would ease the tension.

But all it did was make everyone miss something crawl out from a large vent in the floor; something that stabbed Ren and hoisted him in the air.

*SNARL*

*SHICK*

"AAAAAHHH!" Ren yelled in pain as he felt two sharp objects pierce his flesh.

"Oh, God!" Mercury yelled as he saw his friend be attacked.

"Holy shit, what the hell is that?!" Emerald yelled as she looked upon a creature with a distorted body. The body had skin as black as a Grimm, and two arms that looked like they had carved bone for hands.

And it walked like a man.

"Ren!" Nora screamed as she saw the figure drop the young boy. "No!"

Midori normally would have panicked in a situation like this, but when she saw the creature walk towards Emerald, Midori seized her chance to help Ren with Healing Wish.

Emerald, on the other hand, saw a chance to kill the beast where it stood.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

Despite shooting it multiple times in the torso, Emerald could see that she was failing to kill the creature. And so could Mercury.

"Get out of there!" he yelled to his friends. Just as he did, the glass doors finally opened.

"I got them!" Watts yelled as he took off running. "We have to go!"

Everyone followed Watts, and Midori was able to lift Ren on his feet. Cinder was the last to leave, since she had the creature's attention. Before it could stab its clawed hands into her as well, Cinder caught them with her swords and pushed back as hard as she could.

"Merc, Nora, run!" Cinder ordered as she held the beast back. Nora initially froze when she saw her friend in danger, but she followed Mercury when she saw him run.

They both tried to catch up to their friends, but the appearance of more Grimm, and another one of the creatures Cinder was fighting, made them take a different route and disappear down the halls.

Nobody knew what had just happened, or where the apparent Grimm came from. But one thing was for sure.

They were in trouble.

---

"Lemme get this straight. You're like, one with the Grimm now?"

"You could say that. I can control them without having to throw blood on them or anything. Whatever Darkness did to me helped with that."

"Jeez. And here I thought you couldn't get any weirder."

"..."

"Lighten up, Eren! I'm kidding! What you did just got me out of a hell of a bind. So thanks a lot for doing it."

"Sure thing, Vernal."

After Eren reclaimed Vernal from the Grimm, he began to take her back to the castle and the rest of his friends. She regained consciousness, however, and Eren needed to convince Vernal that Darkness was gone. At first, he talked to her after he put her back down and exited his Titan. But when she became convinced that the deity was gone, Eren decided to talk to Vernal while climbing back up to the castle.

He was still able to partially exit his Titan, so he talked to Vernal this way while he continued to climb. Vernal was on Eren's back and impressed with what had happened, but somewhat concerned about one certain detail.

"And you're sure Mercury's okay?" Vernal asked.

"Yeah," Eren replied as he continued to climb. "He's been talking about you nonstop, actually. Can't wait to see you."

Vernal couldn't help but smile at the news, even though she would normally put on a rough exterior. "That's good to hear. So what are we doing now?"

"Fixing an airship to get us home. Now that Salem's not a threat anymore, we can put all of this behind us and go back to Kuroyuri."

"...Oh."

Eren immediately sensed that something was wrong, so he stopped climbing and made eye contact with Vernal. "Something wrong?" he asked calmly.

"Yeah..." Vernal replied. She took a seat on the Titan's shoulder and looked down at Eren. "I don't think I can go back with you guys."

"What? Wait, is this still the whole 'Grimm changing' thing? Vernal, it's not that big of a deal."

"Maybe not to you guys, but it's a big deal to normal people. Remember what I said about that nurse? And how I was chased out of my only job?" Vernal frowned as she leaned her chin on her hand. "I just can't help but see how going back to a city like Kuroyuri is gonna make things better."

Eren disagreed, and he had a good idea to show this disagreement. "So what? You're just gonna avoid people and places? Live off the land like an animal or a Grimm?"

Vernal sighed. "I don't know, Eren. But I just can't see how staying with you guys in a place like your home is gonna make things better."

Eren could see where Vernal was coming from, but he still disagreed with her. He was chastised for being a Titan at first, but everyone eventually accepted him for who, and what, he was. He had help, of course, from the Survey Corps and Hange's experiments.

It was these experiments that gave Eren an idea.

"Look, Vernal... there's a lot that neither of us know or understand right now," he said. "You can turn into a Grimm, and I can control them. It's scary, I know. But that doesn't mean that it can't help people or be as much of a hinderance we might think it is."

"How would you know?" Vernal skeptically asked.

"Remember what Mercury said about me being from... somewhere else?" Eren looked at his Titan. "When people found out about this, they had the same reaction your boss from Mistral had. But when I had the chance, I showed them how much it could help everyone." Eren looked back up to Vernal. "Maybe I can do that again. Maybe we can work together, see what we can do despite our... abnormalities."

Vernal liked the comparison Eren was drawing, that he had an experience like her own. "I guess," she said. "It just feels so... bizarre."

Eren nodded slowly. "I know what's it like to think you're a monster. To be isolated from the people around you."

"..."

"Let me help you." Eren pointed up towards the castle. "Let Mercury help you. We can beat this."

"..."

When Vernal looked up with Eren, and thought about her boyfriend once again, Vernal knew that she had too much in the world to give up because she wasn't entirely human.

Especially since there were people willing to accept her.

"...Fuck it," she said. "I'm in. Let's do it."

Eren smiled as he firmly nodded. "Alright. Let's do it."

Eren began to climb once more, after Vernal secured herself on his shoulder. She once again became grateful for Eren's surprising wisdom, given that she indeed felt like a monster that was isolated from others. She didn't want to say that in front of people, she didn't want to be any more vulnerable than she was now.

But to Eren, she didn't need to be that vulnerable. Maybe the same applied to Mercury as well. So Vernal decided that she would go back home with her boyfriend and her friends.

After Eren reached the top once more, he exited his Titan and walked towards the two wooden doors. Vernal walked with him, and got a good look at the Dark Wing.

"Whoa!" she said as she looked at the damage to the car. "Jeez, you weren't kidding!"

"I wish I was," said Eren. "It was good while it lasted."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Vernal only knew about the Dark Wing for a short amount of time, but she knew how much pride Mercury put into his work.

He did make her weapons, after all.

*SNARL*

Eren and Vernal froze when they heard a sound on the other side of the wooden doors. "What was that?" Vernal asked.

"Probably just a stray Grimm," Eren said as he opened the doors. "Darkness had a few of them in here on his rampage. I'll take care of it."

When Eren and Vernal stepped inside, they saw how much damage the Grimm had done to the place. This was new to Vernal, but Eren had seen it before.

"Jeez," said Vernal. "Redecorating much?"

"Darkness hated Salem," Eren explained. "I guess he hated this place too."

"Well, that's one thing we have in common."

"That makes two of us. The airship should be-"

*SNARL*

Eren and Vernal looked ahead of them when they heard a familiar noise. They both saw something dark deeper into the hall, which caused Eren to take the lead.

"There it is," he said. "I'll get rid of it."

Eren was right about to tell the Grimm to go away, but then he noticed something off about it. The creature was on all fours, crawling around in the dark like a Beowolf or Creep would. However, it didn't look like it had much fur or a tail.

In fact, the shape of the Grimm almost looked... human.

"What the-?"

"RRRAAAHHH!"

*BAM*

The creature leapt at an incredible distance and pounced onto Eren. The young man couldn't help but fall over when the body crashed into him, and he immediately came into contact with sharp claws on the creature's hands. The claws would have been sharp and strong enough to rip and tear flesh from his body, if Eren hadn't activated his Aura upon the first scratches.

"Holy shit!" Vernal screamed.

"Get it off!" Eren yelled as he shielded his face with his arms and Aura. "Get it off!"

Vernal sent a kick into the creature's gut, which was strong enough to get it off Eren. Before it could recover, Vernal pulled out her twin guns and fired multiple shots at the beast.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

The shots were enough to make the creature bleed, but not kill it. Vernal continued to shoot it, but her enemy leapt into the dark and disappeared from sight. The blood that she spilled, however, indicated that it might not survive for long.

"Eren, you okay?" Vernal asked as she helped him off the ground.

"Ugh," Eren groaned as he accepted the help. His Aura was helping him heal the minor injuries he had, which came right before he could activate it when that... thing attacked him. "I'm fine. What kind of Grimm was-?"

*SHRIEK*

Eren and Vernal looked just in time to see that another abnormal creature had arrived. Unlike the one that crawled, this one was standing upright. It had the same coloration as the other creature, which gave off indications as a Grimm. However, it had a major distortion on its face, it was almost like a large patch of swelling was resting on its head and shoulder.

And it only got stranger when it engaged in attack.

*THWIP*

A rope-like substance wrapped around Vernal in an instant and pulled her towards the beast. She tried to fight and break the rope, but she couldn't escape in time. As soon as she got close to the creature, it began to claw and scratch at her like the other one did to Eren.

But the creature didn't ensnare Eren in its trap. And now, the young warrior was prepared to defend his friend like she defended him.

Eren still had his own pistols within what remained of Soaring Freedom, so he was able to pull them out and shoot at the creature. Vernal was covering most of its body, she was almost like a human shield. However, the large patch of swelling was exposed and vulnerable, so Eren shot there.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BOOM*

Eren was glad that he practiced firing a gun on Paradis as well as on Remnant, since his aim was true with every shot he fired. And after a few seconds, the swelling exploded and let a cloud of smoke escape.

Unfortunately for Vernal, the smoke was like poison.

*COUGH*

*COUGH*

When Vernal's skin began to burn, along with her throat, she ran out of the cloud and coughed loudly. She only stopped when she kneeled to the ground and vomited, which finally allowed for clean air to enter her lungs.

"Vernal!" Eren screamed as he ran to the girl. "Are you okay?!"

*COUGH*

*COUGH*

"I-I'm good," Vernal said as she stopped coughing. After she cleaned some bile off her mouth, Vernal took Eren's open hand and felt herself come off the ground. "Did you get it?"

"I think so." Eren looked at the cloud of smoke, which was starting to merge with the ash of a decaying Grimm.

Vernal was still wrapped in the rope-like substance, so she began to take it off to free herself. But when she got a closer look, Vernal became horrified as she dropped the object.

"Shit, is that a tongue?" she asked in horror as she examined the object.

Eren also examined the object, and he could see that it looked like an elongated human tongue. And when he looked back to the decayed creature, Eren could see why the object was indeed a whip-like tongue.

Resting on the ground was a pile of human bones.

Vernal saw the same thing, and couldn't help but feel afraid. "Oh, my God," she whispered as she stared at the corpse. "Is that... Is that-?"

Eren stood in front of the bones. "No, don't touch it," he said. "Oh, no. She had another one?"

Vernal became even more horrified. "Another what?"

Eren turned around and explained himself. "Remember that Hound we all fought together? There was a skeleton just like this one underneath it. And it had the face of a Faunus beneath it."

"..."

Vernal didn't know what to say as she listened to Eren and stared at the bones. A million questions rang through her head about how this was possible and if there were any others like this one. However, there was one question that Vernal allowed to linger in her mind.

Was she going to be like them?

*BANG*

*BANG*

*WHAM*

"Don't stop! Keep running!"

Eren and Vernal looked down one of the halls when they heard gunfire and a voice. The voice was enough to make Vernal snap out of her trance and become active once more.

"That sounded like Mercury!" she said as she took off running.

Eren immediately followed Vernal and found himself at a familiar staircase. After they descended down a few floors, Eren and Vernal almost crashed into Mercury and Nora.

"Whoa, whoa, hey!" Eren yelled to get the attention of his friends. They were focused on something behind them, but now their attention was on what was in front of them.

"Eren!" Nora yelled with glee. "You're here!"

Mercury was about to say how good it was to see Eren, but then he saw who was with him "Vernal!" he shouted as he ran and hugged her.

"Merc!" Vernal said as she returned the hug. "Sorry about the transformation, I-"

"No, no, don't worry about that!" Mercury looked her over to see how she looked. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, fine. You?"

"All good. Just a little rattled." Mercury looked over to Eren and tapped his shoulder a few times. "Thanks, bro. I owe you big time."

"Don't mention it." Eren suddenly remembered what he saw. "What's going on here?"

"We were attacked!" Nora screamed. "By some... some freaks! I don't know what they are!"

"We were down in Watts' lab getting some tools for the ship, and they jumped us." Mercury explained further. "Did you see one of them?"

"Two," Vernal replied. "One attacked Eren, and then me."

Eren noticed that only Mercury and Nora were on the stairs. "Where is everyone?" he asked. "Where's Cinder?"

"She's... down there," Nora said as she pointed downwards. "I think. We all got separated when we ran, Cinder was holding one of them back for us."

Eren became worried, which manifested in disbelief. "And you just left her there?"

"..."

Nora immediately felt guilty when she heard the tone in Eren's voice, and so did Mercury. But Mercury quickly came to the scared Nora's aid. "Whoa, wait a second," he said. "Cinder told us to run. When we tried to go back, more of those freaks jumped us."

"They got Ren," said Nora. "I mean, Midori was able to help him, but... I don't know where anyone else is."

Vernal took a step forward and offered a plan. "We'll there's more of us now," she said. "And we can kill them, just like Eren did. Let's find everyone and get the hell out of here."

"...Okay," Eren said as he began to relax. "Okay, yeah. Nora, can you-?"

"I'll lead the way," Nora quickly replied. "It's the least I can do." Nora showed Eren her weapon. "But I don't have any ammo for Magnhild."

"That's okay." Eren showed Nora his guns. "I'll cover you."

"I got ammo," said Vernal, who also raised her guns.

"I reloaded when we got the car back," Mercury said as he tapped his boots. "We got your back, Nora."

"Okay," Nora said as she turned heel. "Let's go."

On their way downwards, Mercury talked about the kind of creatures they called "the freaks." The only ones Mercury saw walked like people, but they had long arms with bone-like daggers for hands. Eren talked about the one who pounced on him like a wild animal and Vernal talked about the monster that ensnared her in a tongue.

"A tongue?" Mercury asked in disbelief.

"Gross, gross, gross," Nora said as she covered her ears.

"At least you didn't get caught in it," Vernal said to Nora.

"Aw, man," said Mercury. "What the hell are these things?"

"The one I killed upstairs," Eren began as he pointed upwards. "There was a human skeleton inside of it."

Mercury stopped walking, and so did Nora. "Wait, they're people?" Mercury asked. "How the hell can they be people? Look at them!"

"People?" Nora asked. "Wait, you mean like that Hound thing we saw?"

"Yeah," Eren replied. "I guess that wasn't the only thing Salem made."

"At least she can't hurt anyone anymore."

"No, she can't. But it looks like she left us to clean up her mess."

Mercury scoffed at the idea. "Fucking bitch," he said. "If I have to see anything like those freaks after today, it'll be too soon." Mercury looked over to Vernal. "Right, babe?"

"..."

Vernal didn't answer Mercury right away. After doing nothing but listen about people being Grimm for about a minute, her feelings of disgust were intensifying. She was even becoming paranoid with the idea.

Vernal didn't bring it up at first, but now she did.

"Why are you asking me?" she spat.

Mercury was surprised to hear an answer like this, but then he remembered what he had just said. "Oh, no... I didn't mean-"

"Forget it," Vernal said as she pushed past Mercury and Nora. "Let's just get this done."

Mercury immediately went after Vernal while cursing himself for what he had said. "Vernal, wait!" he said. "It's not safe-Look out!"

*SPLAT*

*SSSS*

Mercury pulled Vernal back just in time to avoid a green substance. Instead of hitting Vernal, the substance hit the wall and began to melt the stone.

Everyone immediately understood that the substance was acid, and that the source came from another freak. Like the others, it stood and walked like a person and had the skin of a Grimm. But unlike the others, it had long black hair and a wide-open mouth that spit even more acid.

*SPLAT*

*SSSS*

Everyone was able to avoid the acid once again, and Eren got in front of Nora to protect her. He had plenty of bullets, and he could fire them without stepping into the acid. Vernal did the same thing as Eren, but Mercury decided to do something else.

*BANG*

He used his weapons to propel himself off the ground, away from the acid, and kick the monster in the head.

*BANG*

*SNAP*

The kick was strong enough to break the creature's neck, which made Mercury satisfied.

"Down one freak!" he said proudly.

Vernal was impressed by this feat, as well as the fact that Mercury had saved her life. The anger and paranoia she felt were immediately forgotten, and she thanked her boyfriend for saving her.

Nora wiped her forehead free of sweat when she saw the danger had passed. "Thanks, Eren," she said.

"No problem," Eren said as he stepped forward. "That stuff could have melted Magnhild."

"I know." Nora groaned as she looked at the decaying Grimm and her weapon. "I hate being this useless, though."

"Don't worry, Nora," said Mercury. "As soon as we're back home, I'll get the hammer locked and loaded for you."

Eren saw a chance for Nora to feel useful and better about herself. "Was this the freak that got Cinder?" he asked.

"No, that was new," Nora said. "The one that got Cinder looked like-"

*BAM*

*ROAR*

"Like that!"

Eren turned around just in time to see what Nora was looking at. Coming from behind was another freak, one with large arms that had bone-like daggers for hands. Its face was greatly distorted with a mouth like the freak Mercury had killed, but its stomach had been torn open as well.

It almost looked like there were little arms in its stomach.

Nora pushed Eren out of the way in time and blocked the daggers with Magnhild. She had seen what the freak did to Ren, so she was able to stop it from doing the same thing to Eren.

She was able to do more than that as well; after Nora pushed the blades back, she swung her hammer right at the freak's face.

*BAM*

The strike didn't kill the freak, but it made the monster stagger long enough to make Nora run behind her friends.

"Shoot it, shoot it!" she yelled as she got out of the way.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

Eren, Mercury, and Vernal all fired at the Grimm and expected to see it dead in no time. But the monster only walked closer and closer without showing any kind of damage or pain.

"It's not working!" Vernal yelled.

"Move back, move back!" Eren ordered as he took a few steps back. His friends did the same thing as they all tried to kill the monster, but it still kept coming.

And even worse, there were more.

*ROAR*

*ROAR*

Everyone looked to see two more of the same monster coming towards them, so they tried to attack them as well. But when the bullets failed again, Eren tried to control them like he could with the Grimm outside. However, this failed as well; it seemed that Eren couldn't control Grimm that were once people.

As the freaks came closer and closer, everyone was having trouble thinking of a plan of attack. They could fight, but they couldn't kill what seemed to be invincible. Hope was starting to flee from them all.

Until a miracle occurred.

*SWISH*

*SWISH*

*SWISH*

A blade came from behind the creatures, which cut off their arms and heads. As soon as they were robbed of these limbs, the freaks limply fell to the ground; dead as doornails.

And their killer, the savior of Eren and his friends, was none other than Cinder Fritz.

"Eren!" Cinder yelled with a smile. "You're back!"

"Cinder!" Eren said as he felt his concern and worry disappear. The new couple shared their reunion with a hug, and they felt the same kind of joy Mercury and Vernal shared a few minutes ago.

"Cinder?" Nora asked as she got a look at her friend. "Cinder! You're alright!"

Cinder let go of Eren so she could see her friends. "You made it!" she said as she looked upon Nora and Mercury. "I was hoping you would-Vernal!"

"Hey!" Vernal said as she welcomed the sight of a familiar face. They hugged each other out of relief, since they were worried about each other.

Cinder's worries had finally vanished when she saw her friends again; especially Eren.

"I knew you'd find her," Cinder said to Eren with pride. She then looked over to Mercury and Nora. "I'm glad he found you too."

"We kinda found each other," said Mercury. "But yeah."

Nora began to frown as she looked upon Cinder. She was covered in ash and what appeared to be blood, and Eren had reminded Nora that she had left Cinder alone.

"I'm sorry we took off," Nora said. "Everything was happening so fast, and-"

"Don't be sorry," Cinder said calmly. "I told you two to run. All I could do was hold that thing back."

Eren looked back at the dead freaks. He was greatly impressed with how Cinder managed to kill them, given that he had failed to kill and control them. "That was amazing," he said. "How did you kill them?"

"Yeah, our bullets didn't do shit!" said Mercury.

"I know, I saw that in the lab," said Cinder. "You have to cut off their limbs. That's the only way to kill them."

Nora looked at the creatures before she looked back to Cinder. "Does that really kill them?" she asked. "Or just make them stop moving?"

Vernal looked back to see that the Grimm were beginning to decay. "Nope, they're dead," she said as she saw the ash. "That's three more freaks down."

"Freaks," Cinder repeated. "Is that what you've been calling them?"

"I've always been good with names," Nora jokingly replied.

"They're more than that, though," said Eren. "We've killed a few before we found you, Cinder. We saw that they're-"

"They're people," Cinder finished with a sigh. "Yeah. I've killed enough of them to see that for myself."

Eren became concerned once more. "You've been killing them all on your own?"

"No, I've had help." Cinder took Eren's hand and gestured towards the stairs. "Come on, I'll show you who I've found."

Eren and his friends followed Cinder downstairs, only one floor down. There, they found the bodies of a few more freaks that had been dismembered. They also found the airship, which was thankfully still in one piece.

And they also found some friends and allies.

"I'm back!" Cinder said to get everyone's attention. "Look who I found!"

The heads of Winter, Ymir, and Watts all looked to see that Eren, Mercury, Nora, and Vernal had all arrived. Ymir and Watts remained silent, but Winter decided to talk to everyone.

"Eren," she said calmly. "It's good to see you're back."

Eren nodded slowly. "I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier," he said. "If I knew about... this, I would have done something more."

Winter shook her head. "I don't know if anybody could have known about this." She turned around and walked back to the airship as she explained everything. "It was all going fine at first. We just needed to get a tool Mercury needed for the airship. That's when they attacked us."

"I got the tool," said Mercury, who pulled out a wrench. "I just didn't have the time to get what I needed from the car."

Winter easily understood this, but didn't address it. "After Watts and Ymir were injured, we fell back to the airship. That's when we found Cinder."

"I had the same idea as Winter," said Cinder. "I couldn't let those things destroy the ship."

"What happened to Watts and Ymir?" Nora asked.

"We discovered too late that we were being... stalked. By things that didn't look remotely human. One of them charged at Watts and slammed its head into his side."

"It feels like I've been kicked by a mule," the scientist complained. "And I'm still using my Aura!"

Eren pointed to his fellow Eldian. "And Ymir?" he asked.

"After I killed the ones stalking us, something else came," said Winter. "They were some kind of... small horde, but they were..."

"They were what?"

After she coughed, Ymir stood up and answered for Eren. "Kids," she said. "All that was left were the bones of damn kids."

"..."

Winter had a hard time processing this, since she had to protect Ymir from the horde. Cinder was very saddened by this, even though she had no contact with a horde like that. Nora, Mercury, and Vernal couldn't help but gasp when they heard that the monsters were not only human, but also children.

But Eren was mad.

Mad enough to get answers from the only person he knew had them: Watts.

*BAM*

"Aaah!" the scientist screamed as he felt Eren send a knee to his injured side.

"Eren!" Winter shouted at the sight of the violence. This was akin to prisoner abuse, something that she couldn't excuse.

But Eren could.

"Salem's been making Grimm out of people!" he shouted at the scientist. "Even children! Did you know about this?! Did you?!"

"...No," Watts grunted while giving Eren a dirty glare. He believed this would be enough to make the young man back off.

He was wrong.

*BAM*

"Aaaaaugh!" Watts groaned as he felt another knee to his side. This time, it was enough to convince him to share the truth. "Okay, okay, yes! I knew she was involved with something concerning people! Humans and Faunus, both of them!"

"Eren, that's enough!" Winter said as she grabbed the boy's arm. But Eren simply shook her off as he continued his interrogation.

"You didn't just know!" Eren accused. "Working with Titans was bad enough, but you helped her with this, didn't you?!"

"No, never!" Watts defended himself. "I was only involved with my own projects, never with Salem's experiments! I swear!"

Eren grabbed Watts and pushed him against a wall. "What experiments?" he asked harshly.

"Salem would always send Tyrian and Hazel to kill Huntsmen and Huntresses that gave her trouble," Watts reminded Eren. "But on occasion, she asked them to bring a few back to her. She would take them away from any of us to see! I always thought she was killing them, but I was wrong! I don't know anything more! But Hazel would!"

"Eren, stop!" Winter demanded again. But Eren didn't let Watts go.

He was even considering the idea of killing him.

"Eren."

The warrior finally turned around when he heard Cinder's voice. After she put a hand on his shoulder, Cinder convinced Eren to let Watts go.

"Remember what you said to me when I wanted to hurt Watts?" she asked. "You said that doing it would throw any chance I had at changing the world. I'm on the right path in Mistral, we both are. You told me we had to play by their rules sometimes. One of those times is now, Eren."

"..."

"This is the story I started... but I'm not going to finish it without you."

"..."

Cinder's presence, wisdom, and promise all made Eren calm down and finally release Watts. He had told the same things to Cinder when she was about to do something she would regret, and now she just did the same thing to him.

She helped him.

"...I'm sorry," Eren said. "For almost ruining your chance."

"It's okay," Cinder assured Eren. "We're okay."

"..."

Eren looked at everyone around him, who were beginning to calm down. Mercury, Ymir, and Vernal were rather neutral to Eren's tirade, but Nora and Winter were concerned. Nora didn't want to see her friend go down the wrong path, and Winter wanted to restore order to the situation.

But it seemed Cinder had done that for her.

"...Who are we missing?" Eren asked as he focused on the task at hand.

"Ren," Nora immediately replied.

"We're missing Midori and Emerald too," said Mercury.

Eren nodded slowly. "Let's find them," he suggested. "Then we'll worry about the airship."

"I should stay," said Winter. "I've been able to protect the ship."

"I should probably stay too," said Nora. "If we run into any more freaks, I can't really shoot them when I need to." Nora showed Cinder that she was out of ammo.

"I'll go," Cinder immediately volunteered. "I was looking for everyone anyways."

"I'll come too," said Mercury. "If we're lucky, I should be able to get that piece off we need and then bring it back here."

"I'll go if Merc goes," said Vernal.

Eren was about say that he would go too, but something stopped him. "Maybe I should stay," he said. "I'm starting to run out of ammo for my guns. And I don't have my swords."

Cinder was about to say that Eren had a point, but then she had an idea. "Hold on," she said as she approached the bodies of the freaks she killed. Cinder looked at two arms she dismembered herself, and then cut them some more with her swords.

*SWISH*

*SWISH*

Cinder picked up the shortened arms and showed them to Eren. "Would these help?" she asked.

"..."

After he took a moment to study the weapons Cinder had created, something that not even Mercury had thought of, Eren took his new "swords" and practiced swinging them.

"You're a genius, Cinder," Eren said proudly.

Cinder's cheeks grew red at the compliment. "Ha, ha," she laughed. "Thanks. So you're coming?"

"Looks that way. Let's go."

---

Along with the results of Salem's experimentations, the normal Creatures of Grimm were roaming the halls. They were searching for anything and everything to destroy, despite the fact that the God of Darkness had left them.

Nothing could change the destructive and animalistic instincts of the the Grimm. It was these instincts that the experiments now unfortunately shared.

One Beowolf believed that it had found something to destroy. After it stopped walking and took a few sniffs in the air, the beast began to look around for what it thought it sensed. But when it saw nothing, the Grimm moved along.

As soon as it disappeared, Emerald revealed herself when she stopped using her Semblance.

"Phew," the young girl sighed in relief. "That was close." After she looked up and down the hall, she turned around to see Midori and Ren resting on the ground. "The coast is clear. How's he doing?"

Midori helped Ren stand up, since she had spent much time helping him with the wounds he received from the strange monster. He wasn't bleeding anymore, and his wounds had completely healed.

"I'm okay," Ren said as he gently moved away from Midori.

"I had to use some Aura for my Semblance, but I have a lot left," said Midori, who looked over to Ren. "I see your Titan powers were working too."

"They're getting there. They took a little longer than usual this time. Thanks for your help, Midori."

The duo joined Emerald and looked across the empty hallway. Then, they walked down the hall as they tried to think of a plan.

"We should try and regroup with everyone," said Ren. "We'll be safer in numbers."

"Yeah, but where is everyone?" Emerald asked. "I didn't see where they all went when we split up."

"They might have gone to the car," said Midori. "I think we're closer to the entrance of the castle."

"They might have gone to the airship too," Ren pointed out. "That's our best way, everyone would try to protect it."

"But Eren might still be outside," Emerald believed. "Cinder might have taken everyone to find him and get his help."

"Yeah!" Midori agreed. "He can control Grimm, he should be able to help!"

Ren accepted the logic of both his friends and followed it. "Okay, outside it is," he said. "Let's check it out."

As they made their way back to the entrance, everyone kept their eyes open for anything. Emerald and Ren had to use their Semblances to hide themselves a few times, but their path wasn't blocked or hampered by anything.

And yet, everyone was immensely afraid. First, they had to deal with Salem. Then, Darkness unleashed a surprise attack and nearly killed everyone. Now, new kinds of monster were on the loose. Everyone was having doubts about the possibility of escape, as well as survival.

Midori was scared because she had been a prisoner in this castle before. And now she felt like one again. Emerald was scared because she didn't know where the rest of her friends were. And Ren was scared because he couldn't deny the threat these creatures possessed. They were hopeful that they would find Eren, but their fear was much stronger than their hope.

And yet, Ren couldn't help but speak when he heard whimpers.

"Don't worry," he said. "We're gonna get out of here. Try not to cry, okay?"

"...Who are you talking to?"

Ren stopped walking and turned around to see Midori. "Weren't you crying?" he asked calmly. "I thought-"

"Me?" Midori asked. She gave Ren a rather perplexed look. "I didn't do anything."

"Me neither," Emerald said after he turned to her.

Ren almost believed that what he heard was simply his imagination, but then he heard it again. "Wait... do you hear that?" he asked his friends.

"..."

Emerald and Midori listened carefully upon Ren's request. At first, they expected to hear familiar snarls and groans, just like they heard in Watts' lab. But this time, they could hear something different.

They almost didn't believe it at first, but Emerald and Midori could hear what sounded like crying.

"Someone's close by," said Midori. She was growing sympathetic to the person who was crying.

"It sounds like a woman," said Emerald. "Is it Winter?"

"Let's find out," Ren suggested as he took the lead.

Once again, the small group traversed the halls to find the source of the crying. Ren used his Semblance once more to camouflage himself and his friends from a Beringel, but nothing stopped them on their path.

As they walked, the crying got louder and louder. Everyone knew they were close, and Ren was able to pinpoint the source of the noise.

"Over there," he said as he pointed to a room. The crying was definitely coming from within that room.

After she made sure there were no Grimm in the halls around them, Emerald took a step closer to the room. "...Hello," she called out. "Hello?"

Nobody answered Emerald, but the crying continued. "That doesn't sound good," she said.

"We should find out who it is," said Midori. This time, she took the lead and began to walk into the room. "Hello?"

The crying got even louder, which made Midori's heart ache.

"It's okay," Midori insisted as she stepped inside. It was too dark to see, but Midori could see the shape of someone sitting on the ground and crying. So she reached out her hand and attempted to use Healing Wish. "It's okay, I can-"

Ren quickly grabbed Midori and put a hand over her mouth. As soon as he had her attention, Ren pointed to the walls to make Midori see something.

And when she saw it, Midori became horrified.

On each of the walls were hanging pieces of a black, flesh-like substance. Ren didn't know what they were at first, but then he realized that they looked familiar. In fact, he was able to see that he had been to this room before; with Eren, Nora, Mercury, Vernal, and even Midori.

This was the room where they all saw what appeared to be cocoons of some kind. But instead of a circular shape, the cocoons were hanging like drapes over a window.

Something had hatched from them.

"That's where the monsters came from," Ren realized.

"Hrr... Hrr... Hrrrrr..."

Everyone looked back to the ground where the person was sitting. But now, instead of sitting and crying, the person was standing up and growling. That was when Ren realized that whoever this person was, they too had emerged from a cocoon.

They were Grimm now.

"Don't. Make. A sound," Ren whispered as quietly as he could. He then released Midori's mouth, and the young girl did exactly as she was told.

Emerald was the first to move backwards when she recognized the danger. Ren and Midori joined her, very slowly. They were almost out of the room, and they planned to move as far away from it as possible.

But when Midori felt a hand grab her leg, everything fell apart.

"Gah!" Midori yelped as she fell down. She couldn't help but make the sound, since she didn't expect a hand to grab her.

And she couldn't help but scream when she saw a bloodied Raven Branwen trying to pull her.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!"

The creature in the center of the room finally stood up and turned to Ren and Emerald. They could see that the creature was feminine, and it had long hair that rested on its shoulders.

It also possessed sharp, abnormal talons on its hands. And now, out of sheer anger, it was going to kill Ren and Emerald.

"HRRRRAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"RUN!" Ren screamed before he took off.

The creature stepped over Midori and gave chase to Ren and Emerald. Midori would have gone after them as well, but her foot was still caught in Raven's embrace.

Raven even crawled onto Midori's lower body, which led to the young girl seeing what kind of state the monster had left her in. Her face was covered in blood, one of her eyes had been gouged out, and her entire torso was exposing muscle and bone.

She tried to get Midori to help her, to make her do anything that would save her from a painful death. But all she could do was wipe her bloodied hand against Midori's scared face and fall limply against the floor and the girl.

And with a final breath, Raven Branwen died.

"..."

Midori didn't know how to react. She was a good medic, she was used to seeing gruesome injuries that needed her immediate attention. But today was perhaps the first day Midori had seen a dead body.

Midori didn't know if she was supposed to cry, or scream, or do anything to show any kind of pity. But she felt hollow inside; like she couldn't do anything at all.

This hollow feeling, however, disappeared and led the way to shock and surprise. This happened because Midori's vision became engulfed in a bright light.

Suddenly, Midori began to see things that didn't make sense. She saw what appeared to be people with weapons killing Grimm, all at a building resting on a high cliff. One of those people looked a little like Raven, but he was a man. She then saw a young child that looked like she had just been born, someone who disappeared shortly after.

When Midori's vision returned to normal, she immediately kicked Raven's body off of her as she tried to process what had just happened. She couldn't make sense of what she had seen, but she could make sense of what she could hear.

"AAAAAHHH!"

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

Midori got to her feet and looked outside the room to see Ren shooting at the monster. Emerald was pinned underneath the beast, and she was being attacked furiously. Her Aura was protecting her, but it was starting to break from the the monster's talons.

The only break Emerald got was when the monster hit Ren and knocked him back with great strength. But then she felt the creature's wrath once again.

Midori knew that she had to do something, but she didn't know what. She began to run towards her friend with an open hand, hoping that she could stop the beast from killing Emerald.

"Emerald!" she screamed, hoping that something would happen.

And it did.

*WHOOSH*

Midori was immediately knocked backwards when she felt a force hit her. She didn't know what it was, and she became even more confused when she heard a small explosion.

*BOOM*

When the young medic looked up again, she could see that the beast was off Emerald and laying on the ground. And Emerald was finally able to get back up.

"Emerald!" Ren yelled as he helped her stand. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Emerald said between breaths. "Yeah, I'm okay." She then turned to Midori with a look of relief. "Thanks, Midori! Great shot!"

"Huh?" Midori asked as she looked at her hands. "Was that Scalpel?"

"Guys? Guys!"

Everyone turned to see someone calling to them, which led to them finally seeing their friends. Eren, Cinder, Mercury, and Vernal all heard the sounds of a fight, and they immediately followed it to see their missing friends.

"Cinder!" Emerald said as she began to run over. "You're here!"

"And so's Eren!" said Ren, who followed Emerald.

Eren and Cinder greeted their friends, and they were extremely relieved that they weren't too late to help. Mercury and Vernal also felt relieved, and they both turned to Midori so they could offer her their hands.

"Midori, you good?" Mercury asked as he extended his hand.

Midori decided to forget what had happened and accept the hands Mercury and Vernal were giving her. "I'm okay," she said as she felt herself get off the ground. "Thanks."

"Where's Nora?" Ren asked. "Is she okay?"

"She's with Winter and the airship," Eren explained. "She's fine."

"What about all of you?" Cinder asked. "We heard screaming and gunshots."

"Another freak?" Vernal asked.

"Yeah," said Emerald. "This one jumped me and Ren and started scratching me. It almost broke my Aura."

"Wait, I think I saw that one," said Eren. "It jumped me too."

Emerald looked at Eren. "It lured you in with its crying too, huh?"

Eren immediately became confused. "What? No, it wasn't crying. It just screamed and jumped me."

"Really? You didn't hear any crying or anything."

"No, nothing like that. Wait, what did this one look like?"

"Oh, it looked like, uh-"

"HRRRRAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Everyone turned around just in time to see that the creature had recovered, which caused Emerald to panic.

"That's it!" she screamed. "That's it, run!"

Eren didn't run right away, he instead fired his guns at the monster that was charging at him. Mercury and Vernal fired too, but the beast kept charging towards them.

"Bullets don't work!" Ren warned everyone. "Get back!"

Mercury and Vernal immediately moved back with Midori, Ren, and Emerald. But Eren and Cinder took out their blades and made a plan.

"Cut off its limbs!" Cinder yelled as she charged at the monster.

As soon as the duo made contact with the freak, they discovered that the plan was going to be easier said than done. The monster's arms were flailing all over the place, which made it hard for Eren and Cinder to cut off its arms. They were forced to go on the defensive against its talons, which cost them some Aura.

*SNAP*

One of Eren's makeshift blades broke when it made contact with the monster's talons, which surprised him. But after he dodged another strike, Eren made the choice to stab his remained blade into the creature's leg.

*SHICK*

"HRRRRAAAAAAAHHHH!" the monster yelled. It was hard to tell if this was out of pain or nature, since it was the same yell that the monster yelled before. But it was clear that Eren had made the beast angry, and it swatted Eren like a fly.

*BAM*

After Eren hit the wall, he became amazed by how strong the monster was. None of the other freaks he encountered had strength like this, and Cinder was the next to feel this strength.

She managed to strike the creature's arm, but it used its other arm to scratch Cinder and make her fly to the wall.

*BAM*

Eren immediately knew that this battle couldn't be won with blades or guns. He began to think that it required a challenge of strength, one that he could match with his Semblance. However, Eren took the monster's talons into account; he couldn't go charging into a fistfight against claws like those.

But hope wasn't lost for Eren. When he saw that he was bleeding, the young warrior had an idea.

Eren remembered his last encounter with Rod Reiss, how he couldn't defeat the specter in a fistfight. Instead, he used his abilities to drain Rod Reiss of his Grimm, just like he did with Salem. Eren realized that if his opponent was part Grimm, he could do the same thing again.

And so, after he used his blood to create a small Beetle, Eren launched the parasite at the back of the creature's neck.

*THWIP*

*SPLAT*

The monster stopped charging right before it could strike at Vernal. It then stood at a standstill as it grew weaker and weaker by the second. It began to flail its arms once more in an attempt to break the bond, but it eventually lost all of its strength.

"HRRRRAAAAAAAHHHH!" it shouted. "HRRRRAAAAAAAHHHH! HRRRRAAAAAAAHHHH! Hrrr... Hrrr... Hr..."

*BAM*

Everyone looked to see that the creature had fallen, and that it wasn't going to attack anyone again.

As Eren felt his strength return to him, he immediately ran over to Cinder and offered his other hand to her. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"...Yeah," she replied. Cinder wasn't critically injured, since her Aura was able to heal her bumps and cuts. But she accepted Eren's hand with a smile and made a joke. "My hero."

Eren chuckled at the joke, but returned to reality when Mercury made a joke of his own.

"Jeez, get a room!"

Everyone had gathered around Eren and Cinder and relaxed when they sensed no danger.

"You sure you two are okay?" Midori asked. "I still have some Aura for Healing Wish."

"Save it for yourself," Cinder replied. "I'm all good."

"Me too," Eren said as he lifted his hand. "But thanks."

Vernal became curious with the Beetle Eren had attached to the monster, as well as his healing wounds. "What's up with that?" she asked.

"Oh, this?" Eren asked in return. "I'm draining it of its Grimm. Pretty soon, that thing will die."

"Is that what you used against Rod Reiss?" Ren asked as he remembered the duel he had with the Chill-like man.

"Yeah. I drained him of Grimm, just like I did with Salem. Salem didn't die from it, but Reiss turned into a pile of bones. I'm sure the same's gonna happen for that thing."

"Uh, Eren?" Mercury said to get his friend's attention. "That's not what's happening."

"Huh?"

"Look."

Everyone looked to see that Mercury was hovering over the creature and pointing at it. And just like he described, it wasn't turning into a pile of bones.

He wasn't even sure if it was dying.

Eren was right about draining the creature of Grimm. But instead of turning into bones, the body was transforming. Its skin was no longer dark as night, it was instead a fair complexion. The bone-like talons on its hands were starting to disappear, along with any other signs that made it look like a Grimm.

Eventually, the body had transformed from a monstrosity into a woman. She had black hair, and she appeared to be wearing a corset that had a skirt at the bottom. Her clothes were in complete tatters and the corset was partially untied, but the clothes were still evident. She didn't have any shoes on, but her legs no longer appeared to be that of a Grimm's.

Everything about the woman was human.

"Whoa," said Vernal.

"Oh, my God," said Cinder.

Eren didn't say anything at all; he couldn't believe that this had just happened.

When Ren noticed the woman's chest moving upwards and downwards, he kneeled down to her and put two fingers on her neck. He could feel something slow and weak, but it was definitely a pulse.

"She's breathing," he said before he looked up to his friends. "She's alive!"

"She's alive?" Midori asked.

"I can't believe it!" said Cinder.

"What do we do?" Mercury asked.

Eren was still dumbfounded that his attack hadn't killed the woman, but instead had seemingly reverted her back to a normal state. Before he could say anything that sounded like a decision, Eren watched Ren pick the woman up off the ground.

"Ren, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Taking her with us," Ren asked. "She's hurt, she needs help."

"But she just tried to kill us!" Emerald protested. "She's dangerous!"

Ren disagreed. "Look at her! She's not a Grimm anymore. Even those talons are gone!"

Everyone looked at the woman's hands to see normal fingers with normal fingernails. So it became a little more clear that the woman wasn't much of a threat.

"Ren's right," said Vernal. "We gotta do something."

Nobody else said a word, but they began to follow Ren back to the airship with the woman in tow. Vernal was the first to do so, since it was clear that she wanted to help the woman as well.

After all, she knew what is was like to be part Grimm.

Eren and Cinder were the last to follow, mainly because Eren needed a minute to regain her bearings. "I can't believe that happened," he said. "I can't believe she's still alive."

"Me neither," said Cinder. "Who do you think she is?"

"I don't know. But she's lucky. Really lucky."

"Definitely."

Eren shook his head for a second and snapped out of his daze. "Come on, let's go."

Eren and Cinder immediately followed their friends, unaware that the answer to Cinder's question was in a few rooms behind them.

The cocoons that stored the freaks were starting to wither away and turn into ash. Some of these cocoons began to drop certain items that people had on them, from clothes to personal items.

One such cocoon dropped a white cloak and an old Scroll. The Scroll was on the verge of breaking, but it flashed a few times before its power finally gave out.

On the very last flash, a picture of the woman appeared with an identification on it.

Name: Rose, Summer

Place of Issue: Vale

Authority: Beacon Academy

---

Author's notes: hi everyone! Happy New Year! Hope you're all doing well.

Firstly, I can't thank you all enough for your patience and support. I know you've all been waiting so long for a proper Chapter 36, and now your patience has finally paid off. AT and I know you believed this chapter was overdue, and so do we. But our work with the rewrites kept us very busy, and we were able to improve the story as we hoped.

Thank you for your support with the rewrites, AT and I really appreciate it. Your support helped us see what worked out and didn't work out, and we made the story even better. Now, we have a few touch ups to do here and there, but our major focus will indeed be on Chapter 37. We're gonna keep this new arc going, don't you worry.

Other than that, AT and I have a couple of things for you. First off, before you ask, Salem's experiments were indeed based off the monsters from the video games Left 4 Dead and Dead Space. It was fun to write about, hope you enjoyed them!

Secondly, some of you were curious about the ages of our characters. AT and I discussed the ages together, and here they are:

Eren Yeager

Chapter 1: Canon Age (Age 19)

Chapters 2 - 10: Age 10

Chapter 11: Age 10 - 17

Chapters 12 – 35: Age 17

Cinder Fritz

Chapters 3 – 10: Age 10

Chapter 11: Age 10 – 17

Chapters 12 – 35: Age 17

Lie Ren

Chapters 6 – 10: Age 10

Chapter 11: Age 10 – 17

Chapters 12 – 35: Canon Age (Age 17)

Nora Valkyrie

Chapters 6 – 10: Age 10

Chapter 11: Age 10 – 17

Chapters 12 – 35: Canon Age (Age 17)

Mercury Black

Chapters 10: Age 9/10

Chapter 11: Age 9/10 – 18

Chapters 12 – 35: Age 18

Vernal

Chapter 11: Age 9/10 – 18

Chapters 12 – 35: Age 18

Winter Schnee

Chapters 14 – 35: Age 24/25

Emerald Sustrai

Chapters 13 – 25: Age 17/18

Midori Kusuri

Chapters 19 – 25: Age 18/19

Lieutenant Irae Infigidando

Chapter 30: Age 25

Feel free to let us know what you think. Your support and feedback is always welcome and appreciated. It's how we were able to do the rewrites for the first 10 chapters.

Also, I have a note from a good friend of mine. You may have seen Servos New Head in the comments, but he's actually been volunteering his time to be my editor for my stories (this one included). Without him, I would have left multiple grammar errors and spelling errors (mostly autocorrect) in my stories. To show our appreciation, AT and I gave Servos a chance to share a little message he wanted to share with all of you.

"Hello there! I'm Servos New Head, you might know me as the weirdo who frequently post SpongeBob memes in this fic's review section. At the same time, I'm also the person who holds the vital position of post-editor. Yes, thanks to me, the grammar crimes of Talons and Avenging Titan in "A New Path" (ANP) are corrected where America's contemporary public school system failed.

I just wanted to take this moment, at the start of this story's second act, to say two things. First, how thankful I am to be part of the making, even after the fact, of this story. When I first met Talons via PM in May of 2021, I was just a regular dude reading his stories because I really enjoyed them. So, upon being asked to fix a few errors I pointed out in a review, I thought I was just doing someone a favor. I never believed it would lead me to becoming his long time (read: suffering) post-editor, and friend.

So, to Talons and AT, thank you for being so welcoming, and putting up with the jokes in my reviews. While to all the readers thus far, my sincere gratitude for the love you've given to the story. Thanks to you, ANP has reached 670 Favs, putting it in the top 600 (out of over 10,600) RWBY crossovers on this site!

Which brings me to my second point: I'm asking all of you to get the word out about this story so it can get over the 1,000 Fav mark. Now we only need-(sounds of calculator being used), carry the two-330 more Favs to reach that goal, and I think we can make it happen. So, canvas far and wide, tell all your friends on this and other fanwork sites. Send chain letters, make flyers and tape them to all the dogs in your neighborhood. Hell, rent ad space and put it on a billboard in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Let's do it!

That's all from me, I have to get back to editing this cha-Talons get that determiner out of that sentence mister! AT! Put that preposition right back where it belongs!"

Thanks for the kind words, Servos. I hope you and everyone else enjoyed this chapter (and I hope AT and I didn't make too many mistakes for you to fix, haha).

That's all we have for now. Once again, thank you all for your patience and support, you have all been a terrific audience. We hope you enjoyed the chapter, and be on the lookout for Chapter 37! Don't forget to leave a comment on your way out. Thank you all so much, see you next time!