Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."

Terry Pratchett

"See you later, Eren."

Mikasa Ackerman had just done what she once believed to be unthinkable. She was holding Eren's head. Eren's severed head.

She did it.

She stopped the Rumbling.

Whatever was left of the world had just been saved.

And all it cost her was the man she loved. Despite everything he said, everything he had done... her feelings for him never changed. And all Mikasa wanted to do at that moment was show Eren how much he still meant to her. So she took his head, prayed that he was still watching... and gave him one last kiss goodbye.

Little did she know, someone was indeed watching. And smiling down on her.

"...Goodbye Mikasa."

Eren's vision of Mikasa had just changed to a dark blue landscape. His feet felt coarse and dirty. Looking down, he saw he was standing on a field of sand. He immediately turned around, expecting to find a large white tree in the distance.

He found it, but he also saw someone standing in his path.

Eren walked closer, but the person remained stationary. As he walked closer, the figure began to become clearer, but also smaller. Eren realized that he was about to speak with someone for the last time. Ymir the Founder.

Whenever he saw her, in his memories and in person, Eren noticed the first Titan was always stoic. Sad. And she had every right to be. Being connected to all of her subjects had left her a prisoner. But now, the young girl was smiling at the man. And the fact her appearance was growing dimmer by the second confirmed Eren's suspicion.

"You... are free," Eren said.

The former slave nodded, her smile remaining where it was. Eren had freed her from the turmoil of obeying everyone with the Founding Titan, working tirelessly to fulfill their every desire. But that was in the past now. Ymir had a future beyond this plane of existence.

Now, so did Eren.

She stood out of his way and pointed to the Coordinate. The tree, as well as the girl, was growing dimmer. Ymir's connection to the Titans and all of Eldia was closing. But before it did, the Coordinate would take someone with it.

Eren understood. It was time to leave.

So, he simply walked to the giant tree... and didn't look back.

But rather, his thoughts drifted away from the tree. His legs had minds of their own as his mind was filled with one thing: his friends.

For it wasn't just the memories he was forced to see that made Eren Yeager who he was.

It was his mother.

His father.

Krueger.

Erwin.

Hange.

Levi.

Sasha.

Connie.

Reiner.

Jean.

Armin.

...Mikasa.

His only regret was that he could only say a silent goodbye as he passed through the Coordinate.

And with that, Ymir the Founder was finally able to move on.

The first thing Eren felt when he started walking was pain. Rather than the soft sand he once stood on, the ground had turned into hard, uneven stone. His naked feet left him vulnerable to a harsh, grating feeling as he tried to walk. As soon as he felt the pain, he looked around to see himself on black sharp stones. The stones were as black as night, save for a few purple ones scattered around. Picking one up, Eren felt like he was holding crystal. Comparing it to the shell Annie made for herself years ago, he knew for a fact it was crystal. And it was mixed with other stones along with a red surface. In fact, everything around Eren was red. The ground, the sky, even the clouds.

"Is this... the other side?" Eren wondered as he looked around. That's when he realized something else; if this was indeed the afterlife, it was certainly no Heaven. It seemed the Coordinate had taken him to an apocalyptic wasteland.

In other words... Hell.

"Heh."

A soft chuckle escaped Eren's throat. The chuckle grew even louder as he fell to the ground. "Heh, heh, heh. Heh, ha, ha, ha, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HAH, HAH, HAH, HAH!" He calmed himself down after a minute and looked to the ground. "What the hell were you expecting?!" Eren yelled to himself. "That destroying the world would give you a one-way ticket to a better place?!" As his laughing died down, Eren fell on his back while ignoring the pain the rocks gave him. "You blockhead. You... suicidal blockhead."

The clouds above him suddenly moved apart, and revealed a white light in the red sky. Moving himself upward, he looked closer to see it was a white line.

A very familiar white line.

He followed the line, and saw another one closer to it. He followed the lines that joined with two more. Following the larger line, Eren not only saw more just like the first line, but that they all converged at a big white tree. A Coordinate.

Eren turned around and didn't see the Coordinate that brought him to the wasteland. But he knew he had just stepped out of it moments ago. Looking back at the other Coordinate, he judged his distance from it to be about fifty feet. It wouldn't be a long walk, and there was a chance it would take him somewhere else, somewhere better than the desolate wasteland. So, he stood up and began to walk.

The pain in his feet returned, so Eren simply let his powers heal him. Warm steam formed under his feet and healed his wounds, and now he could-

"Wait."

Eren stopped walking. He looked down at his feet, and there were no cuts or bruises. But that wasn't what he was concerned about. "I can't use my powers," he reminded himself. "I... died."

He remembered dying, he knew this was true. But rather than thinking of a reason behind this, he had a better idea. If he could turn into a Titan, just for a few moments, the walk to the new Coordinate would be shorter. So, he lifted his hand to his mouth and prepared to bite it.

Only to be forced back by a shockwave bigger than him.

*BOOM*

Eren felt himself hit the rocks again as he flew backwards. He felt every bruise, cut, and stab. His body stopped flailing after a few seconds and he landed chest down on the rough ground. He slowly picked himself up with his left arm, his right had been broken on the rocks. His powers were starting to heal him, it wouldn't be long before his bones would heal. However, it wasn't the broken arm that captured the boy's attention.

Instead, it was captured by the monster that caused the shockwave.

At the moment, Eren was staring at a massive, inhuman beast. It stood on all fours, its back sprouting wings, and skull face sprouting two curved horns. If the beast wasn't entirely purple and looked more like a bird, Eren would compare it to the current version of the Jaw Titan. But this thing was certainly no Titan. It was... something else. And it was pissed off.

The monster roared at the broken boy, sending it's jaws as close at it could without devouring him. It was clear this beast wanted to scare Eren, to make itself his superior. And as Eren picked himself up even further, standing on both legs, he looked the monster in the eyes. "You're big," he said. "I've killed bigger."

The monster seemed to take offense to Eren's claim, as it sent its head back and moved even closer, with an intent to kill. But Eren simply concentrated on the cuts he felt, and felt himself transform. Yellow lightning shot all around his body, and the body of a Titan took form over Eren. As soon as he felt the transformation finish, Eren grabbed the monster's upper jaw and sent a fist into its face. Once the monster was sent away and hit the ground, Eren began to realize something was wrong. The punch was quick, but it felt... weak. Not entirely weak, but different than the last time he threw a punch. Looking down, Eren saw a set of abs and flesh around his body. It seemed that rather than taking the form of the Colossus Titan once more, Eren had taken the form of the Attack Titan, something he hadn't done since he left Paradis.

"Ymir is not with you."

Eren heard a voice call out to him, but didn't see anyone else close to him. His attention returned to the monster, who had recovered from the attack, and was standing up. But rather than roaring again or charging towards its opponent, it slightly opened its mouth.

"There is no one here to lend you strength."

Under the shell of the Attack Titan, Eren's eyes widened. "Did... that thing just fucking talk?"

The only answer he received was a stream of purple fire from the beast's mouth, heading straight for him. Eren jumped out of the way and took off running, the fire inches away from him as it followed from behind. Since Eren was focused on not burning alive, the beast saw its opportunity to attack from the front, and collided into the Attack Titan's chest.

Eren felt its teeth bite into his chest and pull, tearing his abs from his waist and leaving his entrails exposed. The beast went in for another bite, but its teeth hit against stone. Removing its mouth from the Titan's chest, the creature realized that the Attack Titan had hardened its stomach. The hardening found its way to the Titan's fist and it sent a rock hard jab into the beast's face again. It flew upwards this time, but quickly recovered and stayed in the air thanks to its wings. Opening its mouth, the beast spewed more fire to the Attack Titan, making contact this time. After a few seconds, the fire stopped and revealed the Attack Titan on the ground, its body burnt.

"Hmm," the beast grumbled. "Perhaps you are not as strong as I had hoped."

The beast remained motionless above the Attack Titan's body. It was almost as if it was waiting for Eren to reveal himself. But nothing happened. Losing its patience, the monster leaned closer and bit at the titan's neck. Once its teeth sunk into its neck, the body crumbled. It looked back to see the Titan wasn't moving because it was badly burnt, but because it was just a hardened copy of the Attack Titan. It began to move its head and search the nearby wasteland, expecting to see another Titan.

The last thing it expected was to feel a force on its underbelly and be lifted off the ground.

Eren had barely been able to escape the flames and harden the entire Titan. But as soon as he touched the ground, he made his way to the beast's underbelly and planned his next attack. He knew the monster was right, Ymir and her power wasn't with him. He couldn't use the abilities he gained with the Founding Titan. But that didn't mean he couldn't use the powers he gained before meeting her. So he transformed back into the Attack Titan, grabbed the monster by the underbelly, and threw it aside. And just as it was about to reorient itself with its wings, Eren smashed his hand into the ground and released a giant white shard into the monster's chest, courtesy of the War Hammer Titan's abilities.

The abomination was trapped now, it couldn't fly off the shards with ease. So, Eren took this opportunity to attack again, punching it twice in the face with hardened fists. But just as he sent a third attack at its face, the monster opened its mouth and let the arm go into its mouth. Eren expected this to be painful for his foe, but as he moved further and further inside, his arm couldn't feel anything. It was as if the inside of the monster was a hollow void, filled with completely nothing.

The feeling of his arm being bitten off snapped Eren back to reality. He moved away from the beast and looked at his arm, completely gone. He looked back to the shard, and saw that the monster was also gone. But at the bottom of the shard, Eren could make out a figure. It looked human, save for the purple features and horns on its head.

"No," Eren said to himself. "That's impossible."

Somehow, the monster had transformed itself into a human-like figure. And now, it was doing nothing but staring up at the Attack Titan. Eren didn't bother asking why his opponent wasn't attacking, he instead sent a kick towards it. The figure didn't move out of the way, it simply let Eren kick him twenty feet away, hitting a large black and purple crystal.

Eren was shocked at what happened. He had merely acted out of impulse, he didn't expect his attack to work. But just to make sure it did, Eren moved closer to the giant crystal and knelt down. Slightly opening his nape, Eren extended himself from the Titan, while keeping his arms inside the flesh. He looked down to see a mangled purple body, completely motionless.

Seeing that his enemy was defeated, Eren looked back to the Coordinate, and it was still there. Seeing his chance, Eren began to move back into the Attack Titan's body.

*SNAP*

*CRACK*

The sound of bones breaking made Eren look back down. The purple body was beginning to move, its limbs were fixing themselves, and it stood back up. Once again, its head looked up at Eren. His initial shock at the regeneration dying down, Eren moved back into the Titan's body and prepared to slam his foot down.

In retaliation, the figure simply lifted its hand and spoke.

"That's enough."

A purple light enveloped the Attack Titan's body. It began to burn and the Titan let out a roar. But it was helpless as Eren's shell turned into dust and disappeared, leaving nothing but a human falling to the ground. Luckily, Eren landed on the ground rather than more stones. But as he looked back up, the purple figure grabbed Eren's throat and lifted him off the ground, leaving the boy staring at a faceless head.

"I'm impressed," it said with a chuckle, despite the fact it didn't have a mouth. "It's been a long time since I've experienced the... heavy thrill of brutal combat."

"Is... that why... I'm here?" Eren choked out. "To... make you... happy?"

"Actually, yes." The figure loosened its grip, leaving Eren to speak more clearly. "But it will take more than a duel to make me happy."

"Well, I got news for you, freak. I'm not your slave."

"I never said you were." The figure's grip tightened. "And unless you wish to remain here forever, you should be more careful what you call me."

Eren was only able to choke out words again. "Where... is... here?"

The purple man loosened his hold on Eren once again and answered his question. "A Coordinate, like the one that connects your people together. Only this one can connect other things."

"So... I'm not in Hell, then?"

The man burst out laughing. "Believe me, Eren. This Coordinate and your experiences on Paradis are child's play compared to what's waiting for you down below."

Eren's eyes widened, but not because of the figure's knowledge of the afterlife. "How do you know my name?"

"I've been watching you, Eren. I've seen your work, and I couldn't help but admire what you've done. But I must say your motivation was rather... dull."

"You're saying you'd rather be trapped in a pen than be free to see the world?"

"Oh, no. I was referring to the fact you wished to save your people. Now that was rather dull for my taste."

A wave of anger suddenly coursed through Eren. "Are you threatening-?!"

"Of course not. Just giving my opinion, one mass murderer to another." The figure suddenly dropped Eren.

Eren held his hand on his throat and looked up at the figure. "I don't know who you are, or what you know about me. But why are you talking like-?"

"I know genocide?" the figure assumed. "That's because I do." He slightly chuckled. "You may be the Devil of All Earth, Eren." He leaned closer. "But I… am the God of Darkness."

"..."

Eren was at a loss for words. True, he heard the people of Marley call him a devil when he was about to destroy the fort. But a God of Darkness? This was new to him. He needed to find out more. So, he slowly stood up.

"Are you a Titan Shifter?" he asked, remembering how he changed from a beast to a man.

"No," Darkness replied. "I told you, I am a god."

"Paradis doesn't have gods like... you. And from what I saw in Marley, they don't know you either."

Darkness understood Eren's skepticism. "Quite understandable. I have no claim to your world, nor do I wish to have one anytime soon."

"Alright. What do you want with me, then?"

"Much." Darkness stepped back and a stone table appeared before him. A smaller circular stone appeared in front of Eren. "Please, sit." Eren looked at the table and seat. He sat down, but not before cutting himself with another sharp rock. Darkness didn't sit, but stood on the other side of the table, arms behind his back.

"Kill me or let me go," Eren demanded. "I'd rather not spend any more time here talking."

"I understand. You've fought a good fight, spent all your energy. You wish to have a well deserved rest. But I recall an old phrase... 'There is no rest for the weary.'"

Eren got angry again. "Whatever you want from me, attacking me isn't a good introduction. And if you're going to take what you want by force..." Eren held up his hand to reveal the cut he made. "I'm prepared to defend myself."

"Well firstly, I have no intention of making you my slave. You are free, Eren. Whatever choice you make for my offer, you can make of your own free will. Secondly, I don't think you'll find any use for that."

Eren decided to cut the conversation short and activate his powers. But when he concentrated, nothing happened. Looking back at his bleeding hand, he concentrated again. Nothing. He looked back to the God of Darkness. "What did you do to me?"

"You were right to be skeptical about your powers earlier. A dead man should have lost all power of whatever Titan he claimed. But since I wished to know you better, I decided to see what you were capable of. Without the Founder, of course."

"...Of course." Eren lowered his hand, the blood pouring onto the stone. "So, you've been testing me."

"I have," the dark one confessed. "I have seen your exploits, and I merely wished to feel your power."

"Why?"

Darkness lowered his head and extended his arms, as if he was bowing before Eren. "To ask for your help." He also began to laugh, as if he was mocking the display of humility.

"I... don't understand."

The figure lifted his head and pointed to the large Coordinate. "I assume you wished to have the Coordinate send you to the other side. But you should know it has the ability to send you to another world. My world."

Eren looked at the Coordinate, and mentally thanked the mysterious man for interfering with his earlier plan. But now the truth had only resulted in more questions. "And what exactly is... your world?"

"Save for the technological advances and different species of man, it is not unlike your own world. It has oceans, continents, islands. In fact, there's one island I can actually compare to Paradis, a place home to-"

"Okay, I get the picture." Darkness turned back to the boy who interrupted him. He would normally be angered by the mortal's disrespect, but he had other plans for him. Plans that he would get to in a moment. "What I don't get is how I'm involved in this," Eren confessed.

"...Well, it's a long story." Darkness held out his hand. "Allow me to make it a short one."

The sound of fingers snapping was the last thing Eren heard before his mind burned with multiple images. The entire history of Darkness' world was flashing before his eyes, Eren didn't miss a single detail.

He saw the struggles between two brothers. Light against Darkness.

Then he saw the rise of dark abominations.

The unity of Brothers. The creation of life, of humanity.

The gift of Magic.

Gods living amongst men.

A lonely woman trapped in isolation, rescued by a brave soul.

The loss of the woman's first love.

Her desperation.

Her deception.

Her defiance.

Her curse.

Her punishment.

Her rebellion against the Gods. Her manipulation of man.

A flash of purple. Death and destruction on a global scale.

Pools of darkness. A transformation.

The return of life. But a fragment of what they were.

And the last thing he saw... this new life suffering and dying. Divided by the rage and spite of the cursed woman.

The images faded away, leaving Eren back in the dark Coordinate, with a dark figure looking back at him. "You have questions, I presume?" he asked calmly.

That was the understatement of the century. Eren just unwillingly witnessed the entire history of a world he held no attachment to. His mind continued to burn even after the images were gone, but that was nothing compared to the pain he felt in his chest. It was a familiar feeling to the young man. He had known it since the day he watched his mother get eaten by a Titan. It appeared once again when he learned the truth about his father, the truth about the Titans, and the truth about the world's hatred towards the island of Paradis. It was true, he was no stranger... to a broken heart.

But the thought of the millions of people living in a gilded cage wasn't the biggest thing bothering him.

"Salem..." he said. "She looked... acted... just like-"

"Yes, I know," the God of Darkness shared his thought. "Your Queen bears much resemblance with her first appearance." A dry chuckle escaped his throat. "I wonder what would become of her, if she were in Salem's position."

Eren couldn't help but wonder the same thing. Historia and Salem both knew the dark side of living, and they were forced to take it all in without help. However, Historia had used her pain to rule justly and selflessly while Salem only cared about making others feel her pain. But his thoughts came back to the matter at hand. "So, that's it?" Eren asked. "You want to destroy Remnant again?"

"My actions speak for themselves, you're right. But this time, no." He walked over to Eren. "All I want is to stop Salem, once and for all. And I believe you're the only one who can do it."

"Me?" Eren quickly stood up. "What makes you think I can do anything?"

Darkness chuckled before replying. "You doubt yourself now? After all you've done? Did you doubt yourself when you attacked Liberio? Or when you freed Ymir? You single-handedly trampled the world!"

"Not the whole world," Eren corrected the deity. "But... you're not wrong about everything else." Eren looked back to the Coordiante. "Why can't you get rid of her? You cursed her yourself, so take it back and let her die."

"It's not that simple, Eren." He turned back to Darkness. "I agreed to punish Salem for her deception, but I am not responsible for making her immortal. That was my brother's handiwork. And I'm sure you noticed that he can be... stubborn. It's a wonder he let me destroy those rebels in the first place."

"Okay, so you can't touch her. But why did you wait to do something?" Eren was starting to get angry again. "Did you just not give a damn? Did you get off on her beasts killing and eating people?!"

"Not exactly." The God of Darkness maintained his composure, he expected Eren to let his anger out from time to time. "Destruction is entertaining, you're right. But for starters, the Grimm should be mine and mine alone. I wasn't expecting her to find a way to create and control them. As for why I waited, there is someone else who is trying and failing to stop her." He turned back to Eren. "My brother saw fit to bring Ozma back from the dead in a noble attempt to reunite the world." If Darkness had eyes, they would be rolling in dry annoyance at the mention of his brother.

"It can't be that bad," Eren retorted.

"When I learned what he did, I expected Ozma to complete his task in about three months." He began to laugh. "That was over one thousand years ago!" He laughed even louder, while Eren was completely speechless. He knew who Ozma was based on the God of Darkness' images. He knew the man was a powerful hero, strong in both Magic and combat. But fighting and failing for a thousand years? Talk about incompetence.

"If that's true, I don't think my chances are that great," said Eren. The God of Darkness stopped laughing and turned around. "I mean, I could crush Salem in a second if I had my Titan powers. Magic or no Magic, yeah, I stand a chance. But if she can keep coming back, it's pointless. So, I'm not sure sending me to one-up your brother is a good idea."

"Why not?" the god inquired. "You would have your powers, you're right. And given what you did with the Titans on your world, I can see you would do whatever it takes to stop her. I'm not asking you kill her, but I'm confident you can find a way to stop her."

"And you're basing this on...?"

"One thing I was remarkably impressed by was your ability to take the War Hammer Titan."

"..."

"See? It's not entirely different. The previous inheritor of the War Hammer Titan had the perfect defense, coating herself in an indestructible crystal." Darkness pointed to Eren. "But you found a way around it. You did what was almost impossible. I can't see much of a difference with Salem. If you found a way around the impossible once, you can do it again."

Eren hated to admit it, but Darkness had a point. The War Hammer was practically invincible in that crystal. But thanks to quick thinking, he crushed the woman and took the power for himself.

"Fair point," he admitted. "But even if I could find a way around her curse, why would I do so?"

"Ah, yes." Darkness continued to look at Eren. And the confidence he was speaking in made it sound like his deal would result in his favor. "I forgot to mention the matter of your reward."

While Eren was still unsure about all of this, his curiosity was piqued. "Reward?" he asked. "You're going to repay me for this?"

"Of course," the deity replied. "I know exactly what I can give to you."

Eren immediately lost interest. "There's nothing you can give me that I want."

"Not something, no. But I can give you someone."

"Some… one?" Eren began to hypothetically assume what that meant. "What, you mean a friend? Or a slave?" Given his stance on slaves, Eren once again lost interest in Darkness' idea.

"No, no, no." Darkness began to move away from the table and lift his hand towards the Coordinate. Suddenly, one of the tall white branches began to move downwards until it touched the ground. "Perhaps it would be easier if I showed you. Come and see."

"Isn't that… the way to your world?" Eren asked hesitantly.

"The door is at the center of the Coordinate. Consider this a window."

Darkness gestured for Eren to come forward. While still distrustful of the purple man, Eren slowly made his way to the supposed "window." At first, he could see just white light when he peered inside. But suddenly, the light began to change into a kind of spiral. When the spinning stopped, Eren couldn't believe his eyes.

Right in the middle of the branch was a city; a large one at that. It had multiple buildings and lots of space in it. While there appeared to be a wall in the outskirts, there was also something else.

An ocean.

"Impressed?" Darkness asked confidently.

"What… What is this place?" Eren asked in return.

"The people call it 'Argus.' A city bordering the forest and the ocean. I hope you can forgive the wall. It protects the people from the Grimm, but they are not prisoners. They can come and go as they please."

While Eren was impressed by the city, he was unsure why Darkness was showing him it. "Why are you showing me this?" he asked.

Darkness pointed towards a certain building close to the ocean. It stood out from the multiple brick houses down below, while blending in with other buildings of its size. "Let us take a closer look at this place… here," he said as he touched a window. The window immediately zoomed closer to the branch until it changed into a room.

Eren jumped back as he saw the incoming window, but relaxed when he saw that there was no danger. He began to look closer when he heard something. The room appeared to be empty, but he could hear… a voice?

"Are you sure you have to go?" the voice asked. "Who am I gonna complain to about my job?"

Before Eren could ask where the voice was coming from, he heard what sounded like a woman's laughter. "Knowing you, you'll find someone," the woman said as she immediately appeared in the "window." Eren couldn't see her face, but he could see her black hair and a slender appearance. "You have such a way with people."

The invisible voice returned soon after. "I guess, but it wouldn't be the same without you!" it said. "You know how dull the office life is!"

"Oh, I know," the woman said while peering into a cabinet. "But it's not every day when you inherit your family home and get a better job in the process."

"I guess that's true. I'm sorry, I forgot all about your mom. How are you holding up?"

The woman stopped moving and put down a glass she was holding. The silence was broken by her voice once again. "I'm okay, thank you," she said. "I know it's only been a week, but still-"

"Hey, I get it. I'm sorry, I'll shut up now."

The woman laughed again. As she did so, Eren became more and more intrigued with this woman. There was something about her laugh and voice that sounded… familiar.

"That woman…" Eren whispered. "Who is she?"

"..."

When Eren heard silence from his acquaintance, he turned to face the supposed deity. "Who is she?" he repeated.

Darkness simply pointed back to the moving image, causing Eren to look once more. This time, the woman turned around and put a small handheld device to her ear and talked into it. Eren didn't care about the device, or where the invisible voice went. He cared much more about the face he was looking at.

The face of Carla Yeager.

"M… Mom?" Eren whispered in shock.

The image of his mother didn't appear to hear him, since she was talking into the device she was holding. "Sure, I can come over Friday," she said while seemingly paying no attention to her own son looking at her. "I don't leave until a week and a half, so I got a little time."

"Mom," Eren called out louder. "Mom! Mom, can you hear me?!" Eren began to press his hands on the moving image. "Mom, it's me! Eren!"

"Alright, I'll see you then," Carla said into her device. As she removed it from her ear, the image began to disappear as the branch of the Coordinate moved upwards.

"Mom, no!" Eren called out. "Come back!" Eren immediately turned to Darkness. "Bring her back!"

"To do what?" Darkness asked. "Be unaware of your presence? Go about her life while you remain here with me?" Darkness moved closer to Eren. "Or would you rather go to her? Save her from Salem and be reunited?"

Eren turned back to the Coordinate, understanding what Darkness was offering. But he still had so many questions, so many things he needed to know.

"...How?" he asked. "How is she there?"

"It's quite simple," Darkness replied. "She never made it to the other side. I allowed her to reincarnate from Paradis onto Remnant. I allowed her to do this… for you." Darkness gestured back to the Coordinate. "She is my gift to you, Eren. Go to her. Save her from Salem."

As Eren began to calm down, he also regained his senses. His memory of his mother came naturally to him, especially the last day he saw her. "I… I can't," he said. "She won't… accept-"

"Nonsense. I not only gave her life, but I also allowed her to remember everything. Just like Ozma." Darkness moved in front of Eren as he continued to speak. "She remembers you, Eren. I made sure of it. She knows you are her son, and she misses you. Very much."

Eren looked back towards the Coordinate while replaying everything he saw in his mind. "She didn't look like she remembers me."

"Perhaps it would be best for her to explain that to you. All I can offer is my word."

"..."

"But I've said enough." Darkness stood up and gestured to the Coordinate. "I need your answer, Eren."

"..."

The more Eren thought about it, the better the idea sounded to him. There was so much he wanted to tell his mother, so much that he wanted to make up for. However, to be a warrior again when his time to rest had come… was something else. It was something that nearly held him back.

"I just keep moving forward. Until my enemies are destroyed."

Eren repeated the phrase in his head, which helped him understand his current situation. Back then, Marley and the entire world was his enemy. But now, if Salem truly meant to do harm to people like his mother… she had made him his enemy as well.

With that, Eren stood up and made his decision.

"...Tell me more," he said as he sat down again.

Darkness and Eren spent the next ten minutes going over all the details of Remnant. Its Kingdoms, the Grimm, and everything Salem could do. Darkness even described a way to send Eren to Remnant without Light knowing.

"Like that?" Eren asked. "Are you sure it's safe? And smart?"

"Of course," Darkness replied. "Not only will my brother be oblivious, but it will be a perfect introduction to your powers. And it will show that you have all the time in the world to master them."

"So... I'll have the Founding Titan's powers?"

"Not all of them, but you would be like the Founding Titan. You can control other Titans, pass down your power to eight people, and-"

"Wait." Eren stood up. "What do you mean I can pass down my power?"

"Ymir gave the world nine Titans after she died. But you can willingly pass down part of your power to eight other people, making nine different Titans."

"So I won't need to fight alone. How would I pass them down?"

"We'll discuss those details later." Darkness stood up. "But I think we've gone over enough. I require an answer." Darkness approached Eren very slowly. "Eren Yeager, will you go to Remnant? And bring my vengeance unto Salem?"

"...Alright." Eren stood up once again. "I'll do it."

"Then let us venture forth."

Darkness waved his hand, and the duo immediately flew closer to the Coordinate. Eren took a moment to reorient himself, and was ready to go in. "Once you enter, you will gain the power of the new Founding Titan," Darkness reminded him. "This includes returning to this Coordinate should the need ever arise. You will also be able to bring people here and speak with me."

"I understand," Eren said.

"Have you devised a way to stop her yet?"

"I... have an idea. But I'll need to test my powers to make sure it'll work."

"Very well."

Eren began to step towards the Coordinate, but stopped himself. "I know what I saw," he said. "With my mom. If what you said is true… I have to find her first. Right now."

"Then don't let me keep you here anymore." Darkness gestured for Eren to go into the Coordinate.

And that's exactly what he did.

Chapter Text

"Man is condemned to be free. Because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does."

Jean-Paul Sartre

"Mhhh..."

The darkness was disappearing as Eren began to open his eyes. Slowly but surely, he was beginning to wake up. And now, he was becoming increasingly aware of his surroundings. And just like the Coordinate, the ground was red. However, this ground was smooth and free of rocks. It didn't seem to be regular ground. Eren was looking down on a man-made floor.

He began to stand up, and noticed something else. Rather than his own leg, Eren saw he was standing on a black leg. It was at that moment Eren felt a familiar feeling. He felt... warm. But it wasn't the warmth of the room he was in. His arms, legs, and his face had... flesh connected to it. And he could see a red light around himself. It didn't take him long to know where he was.

"I'm in a Titan," Eren thought to himself. "This... This must be my new Titan. Let's see what-"

"At last."

Eren looked up from the ground to see someone standing in the shadows. He couldn't see any distinct features, except for a white hand in the light. The hand was twirling, and black smoke rested on top of it. And from the smoke came a small hint of... a child's laughter?

Eren moved closer to the figure, leaving behind black, watery footprints. He still couldn't make out anything else about the figure, so he moved his head closer.

"Stop."

Eren stopped moving. Just as he did, the figure moved out of the shadows, revealing a pale woman in a black dress. The woman had red veins close to her face and a dark stone on her forehead. Eren knew the woman from the visions the God of Darkness gave him; this was Salem.

His initial shock died down, and he began to understand what was going on.

Five minutes ago

"Now, once you have your new abilities, it will take time to build them."

"So, I won't be as strong?"

"At first, you will be weak. But that does not mean you will be powerless."

The God of Darkness had just finished telling Eren about the important details of the world of Remnant. Now, he decided to tell him more about the new Founding Titan.

"So, what can I do?" Eren asked.

"Similar to the Titans you possessed, you will be able to heal yourself from most wounds, and exit the Titan whenever you please," Darkness explained.

"And?"

"...I do not know."

Eren lost all sense of curiosity and became impatient. "You mean to tell me you're going to give me a new Titan, and you don't even know what it does?"

"That is because I am not making your body. Salem is."

The explanation only raised more questions. "My enemy is giving me my powers? Why would she be doing that?"

"Because I told her to."

"Uh... what?"

Darkness found a strange sense of humor in the mortal's confusion, and let out a small chuckle. He also stood up and extended his hand. "Perhaps I should elaborate."

A purple fire formed just above his hand. Eren moved closer as the fire began to dissipate and create an image. The fire was showing a large figure, similar to a Titan. But unlike a Titan, the figure had black skin, white hair, crimson red eyes and spike-like spines along its back with sharp spikes from it's elbows and knees. It also bore some resemblance to Eren's Attack Titan, if the Attack Titan had lips.

"This is the Founding Titan?" Eren asked.

"Yes," Darkness answered. "Salem is creating it as we speak, out of the Grimm water I showed you earlier." The fire disappeared and Eren looked back at the deity. "I didn't make my plan at the drop of a hat, Eren. This effort has taken me months to prepare. Through dreams and visions, I inspired Salem to make the Titan. She and my brother remain oblivious to my deception."

"...Okay." Eren was beginning to understand now. "So once I go to Remnant, I'll have that Titan?"

"Yes. Salem will not only craft the body for you, but she will give you whatever power she sees fit. While I gave her many ideas for the abilities of this Titan, I cannot say for certain which ones she included."

It made a strange sort of sense, in a way. "So that's why you don't know everything it can do," Eren stated.

"Indeed," Darkness confirmed. "But I know that she is putting on the finishing touches to the Founding Titan as we speak. I, however, will be adding one final piece to the Titan."

"...Me."

Present day

Eren understood his situation well. He was on Remnant, he was in a new Titan, and now his enemy was inches away from him. He could crush her in an instant, swallow her whole. He had the perfect opportunity to make her suffer.

[Play 'DOOM Eternal-Demonic Chanting-Extended' on YouTube]

Salem began to walk towards a massive hole in the wall. "Come," the witch ordered.

Eren willingly obeyed, and followed the woman towards the hole.

Remembering his earlier conversation with the God of Darkness, two things were clear to Eren: Salem could survive practically anything and his new powers were unknown. Crushing or eating her would just make the woman angry, and would make Eren vulnerable to death. But that wasn't the only thing Eren thought about. His time in Marley had taught the warrior patience, and to know when the right time to strike was. He needed to remember that lesson now in order to survive in this new world.

Having created an extension to her castle before performing her experiment, Salem led the 16-meter Titan outside her home. She led it outside a large hole in the wall, given her creation's massive size. Staring back at the monster as she walked down the stairs, Salem felt proud of her feat. The new creature was certainly intimidating, and when she created more, they would most likely be a force to be reckoned with.

But there was only one way to make sure.

Salem and the disguised Eren continued to walk outside the castle. All around him, Eren noticed a red landscape, covered with black and purple rocks. He was starting to wonder what the rest of the world of Remnant looked like.

But he would find out later. His main focus was on what Salem was doing. And he couldn't learn much about her by watching her walk. But he could learn about the monsters all around him.

Darkness called the creatures "the Grimm." And Eren was starting to realize the black creatures definitely deserved the name. All around him were wolves capable of walking on their hind legs, giant birds in the sky, and bears that also could walk on their hind legs. These things looked dangerous, but Eren didn't know how dangerous.

But now, he was about to find out.

Salem stopped walking across the wasteland, standing in front of a pool of black, stagnant water. Eren stopped walking as well. That was when he heard a low growl come from behind him.

Turning around, Eren saw a dozen Grimm behind. The wolves were circling him, the bears were moving closer, and the birds were all perched on a rock three yards away. But the one thing these Grimm had in common was that they were all watching the Titan.

"Defend yourself," Salem ordered.

[End music]

Just then, the wolves all pounced at Eren. Some of them were biting into his leg while the others were scaling his body.

"Time for the test," Eren thought to himself. He didn't care if he was following Salem's orders, he needed to see what the new Founding Titan could do.

The first thing he did was pick up his right foot. The Grimm attacking it fell off and landed beneath his foot. They became vulnerable to being squished, and that's exactly what Eren did. Once those Grimm were crushed, Eren's attention turned to the two Grimm climbing up his body. He quickly grabbed one in each hand, and squeezed the one in his right. Just as he did, the monster let out a whisper and turned to dust. The one in his left hand was thrown into the Titan's mouth and crushed with giant teeth, also turning to dust.

The bears began to run towards Eren, but they weren't as fast as the wolves. Eren was starting to realize that everything about his new Titan felt pretty much the same as his Attack Titan. So, he decided to end the bears' lives with a quick punch to the ground. They all turned to dust at the touch of the fist, and it left a large crater in the ground.

His attention shifted from the ground once he felt piercing pains in his chest. Standing up straight, Eren could see three black spikes in his chest. He pulled them out immediately and tossed them aside. But when he touched the final one, he realized they weren't spikes, but feathers.

Steam began to escape the wounds, and Eren could feel the holes being filled. Once again, he found out he shared another power with most Titans: healing.

More feathers entered his body, which caused Eren to look into the sky. The two birds were circling him and firing more feathers from their wings. Eren was able to dodge them quickly, and he landed in front of a rock. He had tested his fighting and healing, now it was time for a test of strength.

Grabbing the large rock with both hands, Eren began to squeeze it. He had no choice but to ignore the feathers coming towards him, but he had to make sure to move his head around. If one landed in his nape, his mission would be over before it even began.

*CRACK*

The rock began to break from the applied pressure, loosening it. After pulling again, Eren was able to lift the rock over his head. Rather than an attack by feathers, one bird swooped down and prepared to grab Eren with its talons. But now, Eren was able to defend himself. He swung the rock at the beast, and it flew to the ground. The second one attacked in a similar manner, but Eren used the sharp end of the rock to stab it in the chest. It turned to dust in an instant.

The victory Eren had claimed made him oblivious to the other bird. It had reoriented itself and grabbed the Titan by its shoulders. Eren dropped the rock and grabbed the creature's small legs. His need to keep a level head had disappeared and it had been replaced with unbridled rage. The monster was dangerously close to Eren's nape, and he couldn't let this happen again. So he broke the bird's legs, and it let out a wild screech.

Eren remained unfazed, and simply sent a wild punch in the bird's face. The monster flew with Eren's fist and collided into another rock. Pinned between a rock and a hard place, the monster disintegrated. With the final threat eliminated, Eren began to catch his breath.

Salem was beyond satisfied with the test. The monster held the same animosity as the rest of the Grimm. It was a reckless, violent, brutal monster. It seemed to have no qualms against taking life from the world, even if it was just another Grimm. Once it was released on the world, not even a Huntsman could defeat it easily.

The only downside was how long it took her to create such a monster. The idea for one came to her months ago, and it required much time and energy. What once started as a mass at the bottom of a Grimm pool had now become her greatest creation.

Her first test was complete. And now, she had a second one planned.

"Come," she ordered. Salem began to walk back to her castle, back to the large room she made for her creation. The monster followed, but with some hesitation. Once she entered the room, she found two men waiting for her, one of them was holding something on his shoulder.

"Your Grace, we have-"

Eren entered the building to see two men standing in the doorframe. One was a large man wearing a green overcoat over his black shirt. Eren could sense the fear coming from him, and the man's face did a poor job to hide that fear. The second man was thin and wearing a brown overcoat. His face, one the other hand, was one of glee and a strange sense of satisfaction. "Oh, ho ho!" he said as he walked dangerously close to Eren. "What is this?"

"An experiment," Salem replied. She rubbed the Titan's arm, and Eren shifted closer to the woman. "So far... I am pleased with the results." The witch turned back to her underlings. "Did you need something?"

"Yes," the large man replied. "We brought her here like you asked."

Eren eyes were meters above from Salem, but he could see the news her underlings gave her had brought a smile to the witch's face. "Now what?" he wondered to himself.

"Ah, yes," Salem said as she looked at her underlings. "The strongest of the others. Put her down."

The man placed the unconscious body on the ground. Eren saw the body had a feminine structure, and she was wearing a white cloak over her clothes. A red circle appeared under the body, and three long, black arms came out and grabbed her arms, legs, and the back of her head. As the last arm attached itself to the woman, she began to wake up.

"Tyrian, Hazel, retrieve the others," the witch commanded. "I have one more test for my creation."

"Uhh... Wha?"

The castle's "guest" had begun to regain consciousness, and she was slowly becoming aware of her surroundings. All she could see was what looked like a ceiling, her head was placed so that she could only look upwards. "Wh... Where am I?" she asked out loud.

"Well, hello again."

The woman moved her eyes down and made eye contact with another woman. The sight of the other woman made the captive feel a cold chill go up her spine. "Oh, Gods..."

The woman knew where she was; she was in trouble.

But the woman found her courage when she realized what else was happening. Salem was looking at her, the two women had each of them in their sights. And while Salem had control over the Grimm, the woman had a special ability of her own.

The prisoner's two silver eyes began to glow as she stared directly at Salem. Light was slowly emanating from them, and it almost looked like a bomb was about to go off.

But Salem was prepared for this.

*SNAP*

"Aahh!"

The Grimm hand on the woman's head tightened its grip and moved the woman's head back to the ceiling. And when another hand covered her eyes, the prisoner lost all focus on Salem. There was nothing she could do now.

"How predictable," said Salem with a soft laugh. "No, I'm afraid there will be none of that."

The woman may have lost her sight, but she was able to listen and talk. "Then why... am I... still here?" she asked.

Before Salem could reply, both women could hear the door open. Tyrian and Hazel entered the room, and each of them held one other person with a bag over their head. "You'll see," Salem promised before she spoke to her underlings. "Bring the others here."

The men walked over to their Queen, right past the large beast that towered above them. Hazel was trying his best to ignore it while Tyrian couldn't take his golden eyes off the creation. Out of all the beasts and monsters he saw arise from the murky waters, this was by far his favorite.

As soon as the other people came in, Salem bound them the same way she did the first woman. But she kept the bags on their heads for now, and all they could do was talk in a muffled voice. The woman she was talking to, however, regained her sight when the hand moved away from her eyes.

It was at this moment that she finally noticed the large monster.

Her voice became lost as she stared at the tall, humanoid Grimm. So rather than screaming, the woman displayed her fear by shaking even more as a cold sweat moved down her forehead. Salem quickly noticed her prisoner's fear, and she was proud that her creation passed another test: intimidating its enemies.

Salem moved behind the woman and smiled, given that her plan was going well so far. But now it was time for the hard part.

Looking at the giant and raising her hand, Salem gestured to her creation and beckoned it to come forward. Eren knew that he needed Salem to be oblivious to his true identity, so he moved forward a couple of steps.

He wasn't sure what this was all about, but he would know soon.

Once the woman had Eren in her sights, her eyes began to glow once again. With each step the beast took, the silver eyes began to glow brighter and brighter. Salem was just out of the woman's view, but she knew that the light was beginning to reveal itself. After all, she knew her prisoner long enough to know that it was instinctual.

And right when the woman's irises disappeared, Salem moved at an inhuman speed towards the door and fled the room. This was the last thing Eren saw before the entire room burst into a white light.

*FWOOSH*

Eren could feel the entire Titan's body burn as the light engulfed the entire room. Everyone was blinded by the light, but Eren was the only one being affected. As he experienced the pain, Eren couldn't help but wonder if this was part of the "Magic" that Darkness gave humanity. He had never seen or felt anything like this before, it seemed beyond what was possible for a human to do.

But all thoughts were cast aside when the light finally disappeared.

While Tyrian and Hazel were starting to recover from the blinding flash, Eren was kneeling down, his body still burning. However, the burning wasn't from the flash of light anymore. Steam was all around him, which gave Eren a clue about the power of his rediscovered power. The healing factor of the Titans not only seemed to stay with Eren, but it even seemed to be stronger than it was back on Paradis. And in very little time, he regained the strength to stand back up.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!" Tyrian smacked his knee and moved back to the woman. "Well, isn't that ironic!"

"..."

The woman looked away from Tyrian and back up at the monster, who looked angrier than before. The Grimm arms holding her and the other prisoners had turned to dust, freeing them. But that wouldn't stop the unfazed monster from crushing her where she stood. And that didn't stop Salem's large underling from grabbing the other two people before they could run.

"It worked."

Everyone looked back to see Salem floating in the air, close to the giant's body. She put her hand on its shoulder and felt the heat linger as she observed that the beast didn't seem to be in any pain. Instead, it seemed to be healing itself.

All across its body, Salem's creation was recovering from the vicious attack. The woman had failed to kill the creature with ease, her use of her Silver Eyes had failed. And where the woman found failure, Salem found success. This was her plan all along.

And it worked perfectly.

So, she decided to let her prisoner know this. "Well, that didn't go as planned... did it, Summer?" Salem asked with a smile.

"..."

Eren was slightly surprised that Salem knew the woman before her, but Tyrian and Hazel understood the acquaintanceship that existed between the two women. This wasn't the first experiment that Salem had conducted with people like Summer, but this one was the most successful.

Now she had no need for any more experiments.

As Eren began to huff and puff even more, the warrior before him knew he was ready to attack. Summer looked at the other people to see that they were still unable to move because of Hazel. Without any weapons, defenses, or even the Silver Eyes that had been rendered null and void, one thing was clear: they were doomed.

Salem understood it as well. The warriors were powerless, and their lives were now hers for the taking. Or rather, for her creation's taking.

Eren understood the situation he was in. These people, specifically the woman who just attacked him, were all prisoners and enemies of Salem. The power he just experienced hurt like Hell, but he was able to recover quickly. And now, Salem's enemies were all powerless before Eren.

"It's time," Salem stated with a smile. "Kill them all."

Eren's hands turned to fists.

The other people weren't completely sure what was happening, but that didn't stop them from panicking. Summer simply lowered her head and began to cry. "R... Ruby... Yang... I'm sorry," she whispered. "Mommy's not coming home."

The monster looked down at the crying woman, and raised its right fist. Summer looked away in fear as she heard the beast let out a roar and bring its fist down.

*CRASH*

A second passed.

Two seconds passed.

Five seconds passed.

Summer opened her eyes. She was still alive.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

She looked to her right to see Tyrian kneeling and screaming. Hazel was in a state of shock, and the other bound people were still alive. Summer then noticed the monster's fist was far away from her.

The fist was covering the spot where Salem once stood.

The maniac's attention was drawn to his fallen Goddess, which gave Summer an opening to run. She didn't care why the Grimm turned on its master, she only wanted to get back home.

Eren raised his fist to reveal a broken and bleeding Salem. He knew she would regenerate, he knew his cover had just been blown. If he was going to watch Salem and learn more about her, his actions caused that plan to be thrown out the window.

But he would be damned before he killed any more innocent people. Especially someone who had just proven themselves to be a thorn in Salem's side.

Speaking of which, Eren turned back to the captives, who were making a break for the castle's large exit. Tyrian was pinned on top of Summer and Hazel grabbed the other two, who managed to remove their bags. Deciding to help even further, Eren sent his foot towards Tyrian, and his big toe launched the man into a wall. Summer was about to make a break for the exit, but multiple beams of light hit her in the chest. Eren then felt a pain in his back, right in the middle of his spine. He turned around to see Salem as the cause of the attack, an orb in the middle of her hands.

"STOP THIS AT ONCE!" she yelled. The witch intensified her attack, coming close to making a hole in the monster's body. But Eren quickly sent his foot in her direction. Salem flew backwards, but a tornado at her legs stopped her from crashing into the wall. Eren simply grabbed her and squeezed his hand.

Salem could regenerate from any attack, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel any pain. She didn't remembered being crushed hurting this badly, and it caused her to scream at the top of her lungs. Eren continued to apply more pressure in his hand, content that the witch was suffering from her failed attempt to end his life. Nothing could stop him from this brutal attack on Salem.

Not even the small stabbing up his leg, courtesy of the witch's most loyal subject.

Eren looked down to see Tyrian climb up his body, similar to how the Grimm scaled him earlier. Two wrist gauntlets Tyrian was wearing made the feat possible, and he was moving at rapid speed. But Eren's large hand moved faster, and plucked the man off his body. Tyrian continued his assault, so Eren squeezed him harder. But the attack didn't seem to faze the maniac, as a purple light surrounded his body. "Release our Goddess, you monster!" Tyrian yelled at the top of his lungs, still stabbing the hand.

The attacks still did nothing to faze Eren, they only increased his anger. To show how angry he really was, Eren opened his mouth and roared.

"NNNNNOOOOO!"

"..."

The entire room went silent.

Tyrian's jaw dropped.

Hazel looked up at the source of the voice, ignoring the prisoners he recaptured.

Salem's scowl disappeared, her face spelled the word "dumbfounded."

Even Eren was surprised at his new found ability. Under the shell, he shared the same look as Salem. However, it quickly disappeared and formed a look of anger. Eren regained his focus and tossed Tyrian out of the room. With the assassin gone, Eren looked back to his other hand, and Salem was continuing to scream and try to break his grasp. So Eren decided to help her.

He let go of Salem for a brief moment, and used his open palm to slam her into the ground. "NO!" he screamed again.

Removing his hand, Eren saw Salem broken and bleeding again. He slammed his fist down on her. "NO!"

He slammed it again. "NO!"

He slammed it again. "NO!"

He slammed it again. "NO!"

Eren raised his fist one more time, only to see a black paste on the ground. Whatever was left of Salem was just a pile of goo.

But that didn't change anything. Eren could pummel her over and over again, but Salem would still be alive. It could take a few minutes or a few days, but she would come back. And when she did, she wouldn't hesitate to destroy what she created.

Eren couldn't let that happen.

It was time to leave.

"Come on! Hurry!"

"Keep running!"

The three prisoners of Salem finally reached the makeshift exit of the castle. When the Titan spoke and repeatedly crushed Salem, the humans found their chance to run. They were all outside now, and they were being led by Summer.

But Summer found herself unable to lead any further when she stopped to rest.

Her body was still sore from being held by disfigured Grimm hands that came from the ground, and she felt incredibly tired after performing her attack. Feelings like these were common for a prisoner of Salem, and her current allies felt it as well.

"Are we... Are we safe?" a man with dark brown hair asked. His eyes, which were the same color as Summer's, were staring at Summer as he asked the question.

"I think so," Summer replied as she looked over a rock. They weren't far from the castle, but nothing was coming for any of them. "I don't see anything." She moved back behind the rock after a few seconds. "But we shouldn't stay here long."

"I just... need a few seconds." The man was speaking in between breaths, given that he felt this was the first time he ran like this. Summer realized that her body was also not used to running for a while, so she also needed some more rest.

Their third ally, a blonde woman who also had Silver Eyes, soon asked the question on everyone's mind.

"What... What was all that?"

"..."

Summer looked back towards the castle once again. She could hear Grimm fighting Grimm, but she didn't see anyone or anything coming towards them. So it seemed there was a little time to think things through.

"Yeah," said the man. "I mean... it all happened so fast. I... I didn't think-"

"How did you do that?" the woman asked after she pushed on Summer's shoulder. She did this to get Summer's attention, which was previously on the castle.

"What?" Summer asked. "What are you-?"

"With that Grimm," the woman replied. "Whatever that thing is... it turned against her."

"We all saw it," said the man. "After you used the light, it went crazy. How'd you do that?"

"I... I didn't," Summer replied. "At least... I don't think I did. I was trying to kill it, not control it. But... Grimm just don't... do that."

Both prisoners agreed with Summer, and the man had one more thing to point out. "They don't look like humans either," he said. "Or talk."

"Yeah..." said the woman. "What... was that thing?"

"..."

Nobody had an answer for that question, given that nobody had ever seen a Grimm like that before. But they knew one thing; because of the destruction it caused, the Grimm proved itself to be the ticket for the prisoners' way out of the castle.

Now they just needed to find a way back home, however impossible it sounded.

*ROAR*

*THOOM*

*THOOM*

*THOOM*

A loud roar and the ground shaking made Summer look over the rock after she regained her balance. There, she saw the giant Grimm running out of the castle with decaying Grimm in its fists. Her fellow prisoners noticed the Grimm as well, especially when they were thrown back by the force of its feet closing in on them.

*THOOM*

Eren had killed many Grimm and turned Salem into ooze before he decided to run. Nothing more could be done unless he left the castle and regained his strength. He didn't have an exact plan, but he knew that leaving the castle was for the best.

An idea for a plan, however, came in the form of three humans that Eren noticed before he accidentally crushed them.

When Eren recognized the people below him as Salem's prisoners, he briefly flinched when they looked up at him. He had no idea what the light was that hurt him, but he knew that it was harmful to a Titan. And if he wanted to get away from here alive, he couldn't let them get in his way.

"No, no, no, no, no!" the blonde woman said as she stared at the Titan. "Wait, wait, wait, wait wait!"

"..."

Listening to the woman plead for her life and seeing the faces of the others made Eren see that they were afraid of him. It seemed very little changed about the effect of Titans, even when they were on entirely different worlds.

Given that they were prisoners of Salem and they didn't seem to be willing to attack, Eren quickly saw that the people weren't any kind of danger to him. So rather than waste any time staring at them in silence, Eren continued on his path towards freedom.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!"

Eren stopped moving once again when he heard the same word over and over again. Only this time, it wasn't coming from the woman he had scared simply by standing over her.

Instead, Summer was moving slowly towards him with her hands in the air.

"What are you doing?!" the male prisoner whispered to Summer. "That's a Grimm! It'll kill you!"

"Does it look like just a Grimm to you?" Summer asked her companion.

He didn't have a good answer to this question, but he had another question to ask. "Well... what are you thinking?"

"Maybe you're right." Summer looked back towards Eren. "Maybe I did make it attack her. Maybe... our powers can do more than we thought."

"What?!" the blonde woman yelled. "You can't try it again! That's suicide!"

"And so's staying here!" Summer pointed out. "We need a way out of here!" She turned back towards the Titan. "Maybe... that's our way."

"..."

Eren could see all of the people below him, and he could hear them as well.

"They think she made me do all of that," Eren thought to himself as he listened. He knew that he wasn't the woman's slave, but such a deception proved beneficial before. "That's... That's good. It's better they don't know I'm human." Eren remembered how he was nearly executed on multiple occasions when everyone discovered that he could turn into a Titan. He didn't need to be on the receiving end of all that paranoia again.

As he stared at the people, Eren received another reminder from his memories. The last time he saw people like these, they were also afraid. Afraid of him, to be exact. Eren remembered how he killed millions of people as a Titan, how he let the Wall Titans crush them as they ran.

But things were different now. Not only were these three people unwilling to kill him, but they were also enemies of Salem. They had to be, if they were once her prisoners.

And if that was the case... Eren knew the three people were worth saving. That was why he lunged forward and picked them up with a wave of his hand. Once they were on his shoulder, he finally took off running once more.

Each of the humans instinctively grabbed hold of either flesh or hair as they screamed. After all, being grabbed off the ground and feeling the wind nearly blow them away certainly scared them out of their wits.

"Oh, my God!" the blonde woman yelled as she held on. "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!"

"What the hell is happening?!" the man yelled as he looked to Summer.

"I don't know!" Summer yelled. Now she knew that there was no way she was controlling the Grimm. However, her initial idea was apparently underway. While she didn't know the creature's intentions, it was better to be anywhere but here. "Just hold on!"

Summer's companions obeyed the order, even though they were more confused than ever.

The only one who wasn't confused by all of this was Eren, who could hear that all three of the prisoners were latched on to him. It was a spur of the moment decision, taking these people wherever he was going. But Eren stood by it, given that it was still his mission to defeat Salem.

Even so, a part of him felt proud that he was able to save someone. He spent his last days alive as a force of destruction, but things were starting to change. Eren was saving people, he was living up to the expectations Commander Erwin and the people of Paradis once had for him.

From beating Salem to saving these people, Eren found himself doing something great for Remnant: dedicating his heart.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

*SHICK*

Eren roared in pain as he felt something stab his side. He was forced to stop running and see what it was, which was how he found a sharp feather stuck in his side.

*ROAR*

*SCREECH*

Eren turned around completely to see a horde of Grimm closing in behind him. Some of them were survivors from the castle, but the rest were stragglers who had been rallied to the cause of chasing after Eren. The feather had come from large birds in the sky, and they all fired more projectiles onto their prey.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

Eren shielded himself as best as he could as he ran once again. The humans clinging to his body also shielded themselves, but they knew they needed another plan. Running was usually a wise strategy when Grimm outnumbered people, but the size of this horde would catch up to them in no time.

Summer was the first to stand up straight and look at the Grimm. She closed her eyes, almost as if she was concentrating, but she quickly opened them when she realized that something was wrong.

"I can't use my Semblance!" Summer said. "My Aura's too weak!"

"So are ours!" the man said as he gestured to his friend. "Hazel broke ours before he dragged us out!"

The terms were foreign to Eren, but he didn't ask what the people were talking about. He continued to run as fast as he could while he narrowly avoided the sharp feathers falling from the sky. This wasn't the first time he came close to death, so he wasn't afraid.

The same, however, couldn't be said for one of the prisoners.

"I can't go back!" said the blonde woman. "I can't go back! I'm not going back!" The woman's fear was evident, and she seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack. It was this panic and lack of rational thinking that led her to attempting to stop the Grimm the only way she knew how; with the same eyes she shared with Summer.

She had used this power before, and she knew that it was the only way to kill this many Grimm. But when the light began to form, Summer was the only one who realized the idea would do more harm than good.

"Wait!" she begged as she grabbed her ally. "Don't do it! We're on top of the-!"

*FWOOSH*

Summer's cries fell on to deaf ears as Eren witnessed everything going white a second time. And while the Grimm behind him were either killed or stunned, Eren was also injured.

While she knew that her eyes didn't kill the giant creature, Summer knew that she had wounded it. She not only knew that creating the light would hurt it again, but Summer also knew that she and her fellow prisoner would be in greater danger if the giant carrying them was hurt.

The theory was proven right when both women were thrown off the shoulder as Eren fell.

*SNAP*

*CRACK*

The light disappeared as quickly as it came. Once it did, Eren was able to focus on his healing abilities and turn around.

"Dammit!" Eren yelled from within. "What is that?!"

He was more confused than ever, especially why light of all things was hurting him. Nevertheless, he scanned his eyes around the area in an attempt to find the people.

"I can't let them keep doing that!" he said. "Wait a second. My Titan can talk! If it can do that, I can communicate with them! Let them know that whatever they're doing will only get us-!"

Eren stopped thinking when he saw that his prediction came true.

When the prisoners fell, they had collided into a series of boulders on the ground. Because they were unable to protect themselves as they fell, they were injured in the worst ways imaginable.

Eren could only see two of the three prisoners, the man and the blonde woman. The man's neck and back broke upon contact with the rocks, and the woman was missing part of her skull.

They both died on contact.

"Dammit!" Eren growled as he began to stand back up. He still couldn't see the third prisoner, but he was confident that her fate was the same as her friends. He looked back up towards the castle to see ash and decaying Grimm as a result of the light.

But Eren didn't care about that. His eyes were fixated on the castle he escaped from.

"You'll pay for this," he said to his distant foe. "Not today. Not tomorrow." He began to turn around and run once more. "But you'll pay."

Eren turned around when he saw more feathers fly down from the sky. His feet moved quickly again, but not before he thought he heard a faint voice from below.

"R... Run. Just... run."

One hour later

Salem had just finished fully healing from her battle with the Titan. While Hazel and Tyrian were out searching for it, the livid witch decided to pay a visit to an acquaintance of hers.

In her damaged state, Salem ordered her underlings to find her creation and the prisoners that had escaped. Their efforts to find the Grimm were unsuccessful, but they were able to find the bodies of two of Salem's prisoners.

The third, miraculously, had survived with a broken leg and broken spirits.

Hazel had taken Summer back to the castle, where he blindfolded her and brought her to a cell. When he had finished with her, Salem took Hazel's place.

"...And here I thought I knew everything of your gift," she said. A red circle appeared under the Huntress, and Grimm arms grabbed her arms and legs. They brought the woman closer to their master, who had created a purple orb in her hand. "What did you do to my creation?"

"No... Nothing," Summer replied.

Salem moved closer, bringing her arm closer to Summer's face. "I've lost control of it. What... did you do?"

"My Queen."

The voice's familiarity caused Salem to turn around and see a worn out Tyrian. Based on the fact he was out of breath, kneeling, and stripped of his overcoat, it was clear he ran to catch up to the beast.

"Tyrian," Salem addressed her subject. "Did you find my creation?"

"N... No," Tyrian answered, looking away from his Queen. He was ashamed of himself, failing a task the woman had given him. "The beast, it... outran me."

Salem did not normally tolerate failure, especially when the task was of upmost importance. But in all honesty, she could see how an attempt to capture the beast had a very slim chance of success. "I understand," she said. "Do you know which way it went?"

"Y-Yes!" Tyrian sprung up, his spirits immediately raised. "The Grimm, it fled to the west! If I had an airship, I could track it down, and-"

"No," Salem cut him off. "That will be unnecessary." For the first time since her regeneration, Salem smiled. "There is nothing but the ocean to the west. If my creation tries to leave, it will drown. If it stays, the Grimm will find it and tell me."

Tyrian found her reasoning sound, and he dared not to question his Goddess. Instead, he turned his attention to the bound woman. An embodiment of helplessness and weakness made the Faunus giggle and move closer. "Are you finished with this one, my lady?" he asked happily.

"...Not yet." The witch regained her focus on the fallen warrior. "First, I'd like to know how all of this happened." The purple orb returned to her hand, making the sadistic Faunus smile even wider.

Summer knew things had become much more dire than before. Her last hope had literally fled from her, now she was all alone. This realization made tears escape her blindfold. "I really don't know!" she protested.

Salem knew her enemy was telling the truth, but that didn't stop her from moving closer. "...You will. Eventually."

Salem was right. There was nothing but an ocean at the west of her castle. And that's where Eren ended up when he stopped running.

A vast ocean lay before Eren. The red in the sky was starting to fade, and it was being replaced by the black of night. The red was still on the ground, but it had been replaced with sand rather than just rocks. But the water was still black. It was most likely caused by the absence of light, so it seemed safe to travel.

But Eren remained motionless in his Titan body. As soon as he stepped foot on the beach, he felt his body go stiff. He couldn't move, speak, or take his eyes off the water. All he could do... was think.

Think about the ocean.

"According to this book, the majority of this world is covered in a body of water called the ocean!"

Now, Eren re-found his new ability to speak through the Titan. Once he did, Eren spoke a name that meant the world to him.

"Armin..."

Armin Arlert. His best friend. He was the first one to tell Eren about the ocean, all those years ago.

They dreamed of seeing the ocean, seeing the outside world. It took years of fighting and sacrifice. But they did it. Together, with Mikasa, Jean, Connie, Sasha, and the Survey Corps, they all saw the ocean.

"...And beyond that ocean lies freedom. That's what I always believed in. But I was wrong. They only thing we'll find out there... is the enemy."

But that wasn't true now.

Salem, his new enemy, laid miles behind him.

And this new ocean wouldn't lead him to his enemy. No, now the only thing beyond the ocean... was freedom.

And so, Eren leapt into the water and swam.

Swam away from his enemy.

Swam to freedom.

Eren would be free to prepare. Free to grow stronger. And when the time was right, he would return, and bring freedom to all of Remnant.

Chapter Text

"History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children."

Nelson Mandela

Eren had been swimming for almost an hour, ever since he escaped Salem's castle. In that time, all Eren could do was reflect on his first failure on Remnant. Of course, his main mission was to stop Salem using his new Titan. But he felt proud to be helping the prisoners who tragically lost their lives. The moment they died made Eren feel disappointed and that he could have done more.

But a part of him felt better when he remembered that his mother was still alive. He still had a chance to save her, and he had no intention of letting that chance slip away.

Eren silently promised himself not to be the reckless child he was back home. Now, he would be as serious as he was when he started the Rumbling. He would grow stronger, and he would go back to avenge the people Salem kidnapped.

But that wasn't the only thing on his mind. Eren was thinking about the first time his Titan felt actual pain. Whoever those prisoners were, they all possessed an unreal power. It was like they were some kind of... magicians or something. Eren understood how that was possible for someone like the God of Darkness, but how was that possible for regular people?

It seemed Eren would have a lot to learn about this world, rather than just focus on his new powers.

After what felt like an eternity, Eren felt his hand hit against rocks He looked up to see that he had finally reached land. He was free.

Once he stood up, Eren remembered he was still in a Titan. As he did, Eren realized that he had a very good feel for this Titan.

It was fast.

It was strong.

And to think the power Eren just displayed was just the tip of the iceberg. It was strange for him to admit, but a small part of Eren was excited to learn more. He couldn't wait to do better. Soon he would make what Salem's followers and prisoners saw seem like child's play.

But first, Eren needed to relieve himself of the hot feeling his Titan was giving him.

"I gotta get outta here," Eren thought. So, he kneeled down and felt the skin on his back open. Eren pushed himself out of the Titan's nape and could feel the flesh on his face and limbs break. He stepped off the body and took his first real steps on Remnant.

"Aaaaahhhh," Eren said out loud as the soft wind cooled him off. Opening his eyes, he looked to the sky to see that it was dusk. The night had started at Salem's home, and it was approaching the land he was on. "Guess I should find a-"

Eren stopped talking. He placed a hand on his throat. He had only left his Titan for a few moments, and he already noticed... something was wrong.

Eren wasn't in danger or anything. And he was actually fully clothed, rather than being naked like his Titan was. But something was different. Something about him was different.

"What's going-?" He stopped speaking again, and he noticed the same thing. His voice was different. He sounded... younger.

Much younger.

He needed to see how much younger he actually looked. So he ran back to the water and kneeled. Looking into the water and concentrating, Eren could make out the image of... a child's face staring back at him.

Earlier

"Me."

"Yes. You will be the final touch."

The God of Darkness had just finished telling Eren his plan for the Founding Titan. And Eren had a good understanding of what would happen if he decided to go to Remnant. And now Eren was going to rephrase what he learned.

"So, if I go, I'll be sent to Salem's Titan," he said. "Then, I'll get strong enough to stop her. All in all, it should take about a few months."

"Actually, there's one more... detail I need to discuss with you," Darkness replied.

"Which is?"

"Your Titan won't be the only thing that will change. You will change as well."

"What? Change how?"

"...Salem will be none the wiser once you inherit the Titan. But my brother poses a problem."

"I thought you said you left Remnant together."

"We did. But as you saw, he can tell when I use my powers to perform feats such as bringing people back from the dead. In order for you to go to Remnant, I must... alter you."

"How?"

"When you arrive, I will turn you into a younger version of yourself. Change you in a way that will make my brother's ability to detect us fade."

Eren took a moment to consider what the deity had just said. He was going to change? Become younger? He was pretty sure that was every man's dream, to turn the clock back a few years. But Eren felt that he was in his prime right now. It seemed to be... necessary, according to Darkness. But he still had questions.

"Like that?" Eren asked. "Are you sure it's safe? And smart?"

"Of course," Darkness replied. "Not only will my brother be oblivious, but it will be a perfect introduction to your powers. And it will show that you have all the time in the world to master them."

Present day

"A kid?!"

Eren continued to stare at his reflection in the water, shocked beyond all belief. "A damn kid?!" he continued to shout. That was when he looked up at the sky. "You didn't say anything about this, you bastard!"

"..."

Eren calmed himself down once he realized how stupid he must look yelling into the sky. And that there was nothing he could do to change his situation. "So this is how it is? Fine." He stood up and began walking into the woods. "Guess I still have a job to do."

Eren's walk through the woods helped him calm down a little more. The solitude gave him time to comprehend his situation and believe that things wouldn't be so bad. The first thing Eren realized was that this would be for the best when he met his mother again. If he were to show up to her as a grown man, she might not recognize him. So being a child again, the same age as he was when he lost her, would make it easier for his mother to realize that Eren had returned to her.

Logic aside, Eren saw that this might be better for him as well. His childhood... well, his first childhood, was nothing but despair and confinement. The walls of Paradis kept him trapped like a rat in a cage. But now, he was free to explore. No walls, no Titans, and soon... no Salem. He could go wherever he wanted, and nobody could stop him. It was Eren against the world.

"..."

He suddenly stopped walking. Repeating that idea in his head made Eren see that it was him against the world. However, it was just him.

No friends, no family... nothing.

This realization caused Eren to start crying. His arrival to this world was filled with the need to survive and fight, Eren couldn't even comprehend the idea that he was all alone.

Eren sat down against a tree and continued to bawl. He gained everything he could want before he died. He even gained everything he wanted after he died. But he couldn't share this with Mikasa.

Or Armin.

Or Connie.

Or Jean.

Or Reiner.

Or Historia.

Or... anyone.

He wasn't scared of being alone when he was watching Reiner in Marley. Because he knew he could always return home when he needed to.

But now... Eren had no home to go to. He had no idea where "Argus" was or how to even get there. He was lost on a strange new world, and he was all alone.

And the thought scared him beyond belief.

His hands suddenly began to grow darker. It was becoming harder to see them. Eren was confused at first, but then he turned to the sky. The dusk had disappeared, and the darkness of night was coming down upon him. So the boy dried his tears and began to walk again. He needed to find a place to spend the night, he could worry about his friends later.

When Eren pondered the idea of sleeping in a tall tree to avoid any nighttime predators, the trees he was walking through suddenly turned into tall grass. He hit a fence when he took a closer look. So Eren merely climbed the short fence to see where he was. That was when he realized the grass was actually a large field of crops. He was on a farm.

And if Eren was on a farm... there might be a barn for him to spend the night in.

When he found his way out of the field, Eren discovered that his luck was starting to change. He was indeed on a farm, as he could see a large, red barn and a white farmhouse close to it. There was even an open gate as well, with what appeared to be a sign on it.

"Nettle Bank Hill"

Eren looked at the metal sign carefully, but he didn't step forward. He wasn't afraid of entering, but he was confused. The more he stared at the sign, the more trouble he had deciphering what he believed was supposed to be text.

"What is that?" Eren asked himself as he continued to look up. "Is that supposed to be... writing?"

Eren tried to make sense of the sign, but he couldn't. He wasn't illiterate, Eren had learned how to read and write back on Paradis. However, he never saw writing like this before. It was new and different, something that Eren couldn't read no matter how hard he tried.

Eventually, Eren gave up and walked towards the open barn waiting for him to come. So he walked inside, found himself a nice bale of straw to sleep on, and began to relax. Eren could leave in the morning if the need arose, but now it was time to get some much-needed rest.

Eren began to wake up, and the first thing he could hear was laughter. He opened his eyes wider to see three boys around his... new age... standing around and talking. All three wore various clothing, nothing that really stood out. The sun filled the entire room through the open windows and door. And in the frame of that door was a brown haired man wearing overalls over a white shirt. The sound of creaking floorboards caught the boys attention as the man walked up to them.

"I take it you're all accounted for?" he asked calmly.

"Just like every other day," said one of the boys. He pointed to one door close to Eren. "She just started cleaning."

"Alright, then. Get started in the field." The man walked away from the boys and moved towards the door. He slammed his fist on it twice before speaking again. "Hurry up in there!" Just as he turned heel and moved back to the front door, the man's eyes landed on Eren. "Oh. New kid, huh?"

"Me?" Eren asked.

"You're the only one here."

"Umm... okay." Eren stood up and brushed pieces of straw off himself. That was when he noticed the black jacket he was wearing over his white shirt and gray pants. The man began to walk towards the door again, but Eren stopped him. "Listen, I'm not from around here, and-"

"Well, welcome to Mistral, boy." The man didn't bother turning around as he spoke. "Looks like you're staying here a while."

"What is this place?"

"Nettle Bank Hill. My farm. Though I guess you could say it doubles as an orphanage."

"Orphanage?"

"Yep. Like I said, you'll be staying here a while." He turned around and stared at Eren. "You're a short one. Let me see your hands."

"What?"

"Your hands." The man motioned for Eren to move his hands forward. "Let me see 'em."

"..."

Eren didn't know why the man wanted to see his hands, but he wasn't looking to start another fight. And so, he slowly opened his palms and held them out. The man took hold of his left one and began to rub it, which made Eren draw back.

"Hmph," the man grunted. "They don't feel like a farmer's hands."

Eren rubbed dirt off of his palm before he replied. "Like I said, I just got here," he said.

"Well, you're still gonna be here a while. You'll do well in the fields, I guess. You can-"

"Forget it."

Eren began to walk away, towards the exit of the barn. He felt refreshed and well rested, so he was planning on leaving as soon as possible.

"Hey," the farmer said as he grabbed Eren's shoulder. "Where do you think you're going?"

Eren was starting to lose patience, but he still answered. "I'm getting out of your hair," he said. "If you could point me towards wherever Argus is, I'll be out of here faster than-"

"Argus?" The farmer began to laugh as he let Eren go. "You kidding?" He pointed out to the exit of the barn. "Argus is miles from this place. You wouldn't last a day among the Grimm and bandits."

Eren knew that the man was wrong. His Titan had already surpassed the Grimm, and he was confident that he could hold his own against whatever "bandits" were outside.

But there was one problem.

"Where is it?" Eren asked.

"Like I said, it's miles," the man said. "You'll be wasting your time."

"..."

Eren and the farmer made eye contact with each other in silence for a few moments. In that time, Eren did nothing but show how serious he was about leaving. He would turn into a Titan and run if he had to, but nothing was going to stop him from leaving.

The man seemed to realize this as he looked deep at the look on Eren's face. It was a look one would normally see on adults, but the man still underestimated Eren's ability to survive.

On the other hand, it would look bad for him if a child died on his watch.

"Boy, I'll tell you what," he said. "Last thing I need is more smart asses around here. And since you'll be going my way pretty soon, I'll make you a deal."

"..."

Eren remained silent as he listened.

"I'll be selling whatever I make here to Argus in about a week," the man said. "If you're willing to work around here in the meantime, I'll take you with me and leave you wherever you need to be."

Eren knew he didn't need a guardian or anything like that on Remnant. What he did need was someone to guide him to Argus so he could find his mother. He vaguely remembered the building Darkness had showed him, so it was a good lead.

And now that he had a way to get there, things were looking better.

"...Alright," Eren finally agreed. "I'll stay for the week."

"Good," said the man as he finally walked away. "Get freshened up if you need it. I'll find you some work."

"..."

Eren didn't really need to "freshen up" or anything like that. But he decided to have a few seconds alone before he walked outside.

While he was annoyed at being treated like that, Eren realized that the caretaker was the best way to get to Argus. He would also have a roof over his head in the meantime, so it would be better when compared to sleeping in the woods.

In the meantime, whenever he would find it, Eren had an idea on what he could do on his own. But first, he made his way to the main door of the barn.

*SPLISH*

Looking down, Eren saw that he was standing on a watery floorboard. And to the left of his foot was a brush with two hands on it. He followed the hands to see a little girl with amber eyes. She was covered in dirt, and her clothes were all dirty too.

"Oh," Eren said as he realized what he was doing. Stepping out of her way, Eren watched the girl push the brush back and forth. "...Sorry."

"..."

The girl didn't seem to care what he did, not even that he was sorry. She just continued to clean the floor without a word.

"The strong and silent type, dead serious about cleaning," Eren thought to himself, a small smile forming on his face. "She'sgotta be related to Captain Levi." He turned away from the girl and walked out the barn door.

Just as he promised, the farmer found some work for Eren to do. For the rest of the day, Eren found himself working in the fields of the farm. He worked in silence with more boys his age to dig up rows in the ground, plant new seeds into the ground he dug up, and harvesting crops.

The work was hard, but not unfamiliar to Eren.

When Wall Maria was breached, when Eren was forced to flee from the Shiganshina district, he became a refugee along with Mikasa and Armin. Before he enlisted in the military with them, Eren was put to work at a farm under the watchful eyes of the Military Police Brigade. There, he did the same exact work he was doing now. It was hard at times, especially during the winter and when the food needed to be fed to more refugees like him. But over time, Eren got into a rhythm and managed to do what was expected of him.

Of course, Mikasa would always surpass expectations and help him and Armin along the way. She wasn't here anymore, but Eren was able to do what was expected of him at this farm.

Eventually, work in the field ended and the children enjoyed a brief time of freedom. The rest of the boys were huddled at a tree near the barn, minding their own business. When he saw the opportunity before him, Eren walked to the other trees behind the barn and moved deep into the adjacent woods.

He continued to walk in a straight path with his head in the clouds. He knew that he had much to discover about Remnant, but he was a little more concerned about Paradis. The girl he saw not only reminded Eren of Levi, but it caused him to remember the last time he saw his former Captain.

One of the last things he saw through the eyes of the Founding Titan was Levi and Mikasa flying towards him. He knew what was going to happen, he had seen it all before. His guilt of betraying Mikasa weighed on Eren more than gravity could, and it only increased when he saw Levi scarred, bandaged, and missing fingers. Eren had no memory of hurting Levi like that, but he had one idea of why he looked like that.

"Zeke really put up a fight, didn't he, Captain?" he wondered. His thoughts immediately turned to his half-brother from Marley. He felt Zeke die before he did, and a part of him hoped it was quick. He still couldn't forgive him for thinking of a plan so twisted as preventing the birth of future Eldians, but things would have been different for Zeke if he wasn't raised in Marley.

...Would they?

Eren stopped thinking about his past when he realized just how far he walked. He turned around to see nothing but more trees, but he wasn't lost. As long as he walked in a straight path, Eren could go back whenever he wanted.

But now, he would start practicing.

He took a look as his hand and bit into his flesh. Normally, he expected to see flashes of yellow and white, but all he saw was red lighting. But when he felt himself transform normally, Eren wasn't worried.

He suddenly felt himself rise above the trees, and heard a mighty explosion. The explosion might cause the farmer and the other children to see what happened, so Eren ducked back into the forest to make sure nobody could see him. He would only take a minute to perform his test, and head straight back to the farm.

When he first discovered his new body, Eren could tell their would be major differences in his powers. But now, he wanted to focus on finding similarities between his Titans rather than tapping into new powers he had no idea existed. The similarity he wanted to focus on was something he believed could help fight Salem. So he looked at his fist and began to tighten it even harder.

Once he did, the skin on his fist began to change from black to purple. Not only that, the purple slowly spread, making some of his fingers immovable. It looked different than before, but Eren knew that he possessed a Hardening ability.

"Yes!" Eren yelled to himself. But to make sure this was what he thought it was, Eren punched the ground, the rock on his skin making a deep, familiar impact. Eren stood triumphant over the hole as he just rediscovered his ability to harden his skin. This would be useful once he trained with it more.

But there would be another time for that. Now, he had to get back before anyone noticed he was missing.

"GAH-OOF!"

"Ha ha ha!"

The boys at the farm had gotten bored after a little while. Once they saw a dirty little girl come out of the barn for air, they all realized they found an opportunity to pass the time.

The tallest one had just grabbed her arm and threw the defenseless child against a tree. His friends laughed at the act, their approval pushed their boredom away instantly.

It wasn't the first time the girl had to suffer at the hands of the man and boys at the farm. She wasn't like the other children, and it wasn't just because she was the only girl. She was also the weakest of the group, which was why she spent her time cleaning the farmhouse and barn. The chores were long and arduous, and they inadvertently caused a rift between the girl and the rest of the children. Given that she was always inside rather than outside, she became isolated and lonely.

Rather than pity her, all of the boys took her quiet demeanor and filthy look as reasons to pick on her rather than befriend her. And today was no different.

But the girl was ready to defend herself. She pounced on the tallest boy and they fell to the ground. She threw a punch to his gut, but he didn't feel much pain. Before she could repeat the violent action, one of the other boys grabbed her and threw her to the ground.

Laughter filled the air again, and the boys walked closer to the girl. One of them kicked her gut, which caused the girl to roll across the harsh ground. They all laughed even harder when they saw her cry.

"Watch this," one of the boys said to his friends. He lifted his right foot just above the girl's face. He lifted even higher and prepared to send it down as hard as he could.

The child didn't bother to defend herself. She knew it was pointless now. All she could do... was watch.

*BAM*

The boy flew past his friends and fell to the ground as something hard hit his face. After a few seconds, he looked up to see Eren standing in front of the girl with an extended fist. The boy's friends immediately retaliated, where they were met with Eren's wrath.

*BAM*

*BAM*

Eren sent two more fists to the other boys, and they fell down as well. Once they did, he turned to the girl he just saved, who was staring at him with widened eyes and a dropped jaw. Her savior wasn't as dumbfounded as she was, and he extended his hand to her.

"Are you-?"

*BAM*

Eren stumbled back as a fist collided with his face, leaving a bruise on his cheek. He looked back to the two boys who had gotten on their feet. The tall boy joined them, but not before stepping hard on the girl's stomach. "Huh," he chuckled. "Looks like the new kid's a fighter."

Eren didn't worry about the pain on his face. Instead, he looked back at the boy who was hurting the girl again. "Is that what you're looking for?" he asked. "Let her go and you'll have one."

The boys rushed towards Eren as he raised his fists. Just as they all crashed into each other, the farmer came out of the woods with a rifle. Eren's hunch was right, someone had heard his transformation. But luckily, the caretaker went to find his rifle before seeing what was going on. And by the time he reached a large crater, the Titan had already turned to dust. So all the caretaker could do now was go home and see the children fight each other.

"Alright, break it up," he said as he walked up to everyone. The caretaker pushed everyone aside and looked at the aftermath. The trio of older boys were panting and bleeding while Eren had some bruises on his face and was also panting. While the caretaker normally didn't involve himself in matters like this, he looked back to Eren with a scowl. "First rule, new kid. You shouldn't expect to stay here and try to kill one another."

Eren caught his breath while his anger was returning to him. "I have a name you know," he said. "It's Eren."

The boys forgot about their pain and burst out into laughter. "ERIN?!" the leader yelled, mistaking the sound of his name. "Who the hell gave you a girl's name?!"

"Shut up!" Eren yelled as he charged towards the boys again. But a large arm grabbed his shoulder and threw him to the side.

"That's enough!" the caretaker yelled. He turned back to the other children. "Head on back inside, dinner will be ready soon." He then looked down to the young girl, who had just started to recover from her unnecessary beating. "You get back to work. That barn's as dirty as you."

The girl said nothing as she got up and limped back to the barn. Eren, having enough of all this, joined her inside. He pushed past the older boys as they all looked at him.

"Oh, man," said one of the smaller ones. "I think he's right, let's leave him alone."

The taller one looked down at his friend. "What's the matter?" he asked. "You scared of a guy with a girl's name?"

"Didn't you see his head smoking? He looks like he's literally about to explode."

Eren's powers were healing himself from the bruises he got earlier, so he made sure nobody was watching him. The bruises on his face and torso weren't that bad, but the real injuries were on his hands. They were still sore after throwing a few punches, like his body wasn't used to fighting.

Then again, a kid's body still has a lot of growing to do.

Eren was still reeling over the fact he had to be brought back as a child and go through a second childhood. He knew it would be helpful when he saw his mother again, but not so much for his mission. All Eren wanted to do was use his new Titan to stop Salem, but he knew that was impossible right now. As Darkness said, his Titan was new and not very powerful. It still needed training.

Then again, so did his body. Maybe he could kill two birds with one stone.

"Alright, make sure you share."

Eren turned to the entrance of the barn to see the caretaker place a tray of food in the middle of the room. As he left, the boys from earlier all ran over and took their pick. Eren simply walked over, feeling a little hungry. When he saw a piece of bread, he took it without hesitation. But he grabbed one other thing as soon as he saw it. A baked potato.

Chuckling, Eren looked over the baked potato as he walked back to his spot in the barn.

"It's best when eaten warm."

He sat down and put his bread on his lap, remembering the first time he saw Sasha attempt to eat a baked potato. "Well, I'll hold you to that, Potato Girl."

He took a bite. And then another. As he continued to eat, Eren once again thought back to his time on Paradis. Remembering Sasha was both fun and depressing for the boy, given their friendship and her untimely passing. What happened to her was something he had expected, given the powers of the Attack Titan. However, it was also unfortunate and unfair. She fought just as hard as everyone else did, she deserved to have lived after the Rumbling.

Sitting and reflecting didn't make Eren neglect his surroundings, he knew he was still on Remnant. But thinking about it all made Eren wish someone familiar would attempt to steal his potato and gobble it down.

Oddly enough, Eren got exactly what he wished for.

"F... Food?"

Eren stopped eating and looked to his right. Standing behind him wasn't Sasha, it was the little cleaning girl he saved from the boys. She was familiar to Eren, even though this was the first time he actually heard her speak. Then again, with the way she was being treated, who could blame her for not interacting with anyone else?

Fortunately for her, Eren didn't see any reason to treat the poor girl like everyone else did. So he broke his potato and gave her the larger half, which she quickly took and began to eat. She was so hungry that she forgot to say "Thank you." But Eren didn't really mind. Such mannerisms were typical of Sasha, so he smiled fondly as he lingered through his memories once again.

But he stopped smiling when the girl began to walk away.

"Wait, don't go," Eren asked. The girl turned around to see Eren tapping his hand on the floor next to him, asking her to sit.

"...Work," she responded before she turned around.

Unlike the rest of the children's chores, cleaning the barn took practically the entire day. The girl missed plenty of mealtimes as she cleaned, so eating for her was rare. She was happy to have eaten something, but she knew that her work was far from over. She was just about to pick up a brush and a bucket of soapy water, but another hand gently picked them up before she could. The sight caused her to look back at a smiling Eren.

"If I help you, will you stay and talk with me?" Eren asked calmly.

"..."

The girl softly gasped and titled her head in confusion. This was certainly an abnormal day for her. First, this boy saved her from the older children. Then, he willingly gave her some food. And now, he wanted to do her chores for her? That was the last thing she was expecting to hear.

But she was really tired and still sore from what happened earlier. So, she sat down on a box and nodded before she watched Eren clean the floor.

"The way you were doing it is difficult," he said. "If you movewith the floorboards rather than against them, it'll look cleaner." Eren never thought he would see the day when he would be sharing Levi's cleaning lessons with someone, but the past few hours hadn't really been... normal for him.

The same could be said for Eren's new acquaintance.

"Um..." the girl began. But she quickly closed her mouth.

Eren looked up from the ground. "What was that?" he asked politely.

The girl hardly spoke to anyone, and the farmer even said that she wasn't allowed to speak unless she was spoken to. But now that she was, the girl asked a question. "Who... Who are you?" she asked.

"Oh. Uh, my name's Eren. Eren Yeager. And no, it's not a girl's name." The girl slightly smiled, finding some humor in the coincidence. Eren saw this and looked back at the floor. "Alright, how about this? Tell me your name and let's see which sounds more like a girl's name."

The girl's smile disappeared. "Cin... Cinder."

Eren stopped cleaning and looked back up. "Cinder?" he asked. "That's... special."

"..."

Eren didn't know how else to describe someone having a name like "Cinder." It was actually the first time he heard someone be called that.

Cinder could see Eren's confusion, so she pointed to a fireplace that had a makeshift mattress next to it. She then rubbed her cheek and showed her hand. Eren looked at what he thought was dirt, but the girl corrected him. "Cinders," she explained.

Eren looked back at the fireplace, then her hand. He started to understand. "Wait, you sleep in front of the fireplace? You know that's how you're getting dirty, right?"

Cinder shrugged as she looked down. "It's... warm."

"..."

First it was bullying, and now it was sleeping in front of a fireplace on a poor excuse for a bed. Enough was enough.

Eren put the brush down and put his hand in the water. Seeing it was soapy, he took Cinder's hand and started to rub it. She quickly pulled back, confused about what he was doing. "It's okay," he said. "Forget about the floor. Let's get you cleaned up."

"..."

Cinder showed him her hand, and he began to clean it again. Taking a rag he saw on the ground, Eren made it wet and began to clean her face. The water almost got in her eye, so Cinder moved her head. "I'm almost done, Cinder."

After a few seconds, Eren put the rag down. Once he did, Cinder began to rub her face. She quickly discovered how smooth it felt, since it was free of any ash or cinders. It was a good feeling, and now she wanted to know how she looked. So, she decided to go find a mirror in another room. She was smiling, but she walked away from Eren without a word.

"...You're welcome," Eren said.

Cinder turned around. "...What?" she asked.

"It's what people say after you say 'Thank you.'"

"Say... what?"

"..."

Eren thought he understood just how bad Cinder's situation was at this place. But now he believed that things were even worse than before. "Sorry," he said as he moved back to the floor. "Just... forget I said anything."

"..."

Cinder went into a different room that had a mirror. Looking through the glass, she could see that Eren did a good job washing the dirt off, and she felt that her hands and arms were just as soft as her face. She smiled at this since she really liked her new look. It was a strange thing to think, but Cinder believed that she looked like a completely different person.

And she really liked that new person.

Suddenly, Cinder remembered that it was Eren who made her this way. She also remembered what Eren said earlier, about saying something to him. So she went back to the hall to see him still continue to clean the floor. "E... Eren?" she called to get his attention. Once he looked up, Cinder smiled. "...Thank you. For cleaning my face."

Eren returned the smile. "You're welcome," he said as he continued to clean the floor.

Cinder approached closer as she spoke. "And... thank you for the food."

Eren concentrated on the floor, but he paid attention to Cinder. "You're welcome."

"And thank you for... helping me."

"You're welcome."

"..."

Eren continued to clean the floor, and Cinder moved back to her original spot. She began to watch Eren, study him. The first thing she noticed was that Eren was doing a better job of cleaning the floor than she ever did. The tip he gave really helped, and it looked like it was working.

The second thing Cinder noticed was how she was feeling. It didn't take a genius to see that she was happy that something in her life changed for the better. Most changes involved more work or the other children finding new ways to pick on her, but Eren was something Cinder never knew she needed.

But it all left an unanswered question for her.

"Eren?" she asked. The young boy looked up. "Why did you do all of this?"

"All of what?" Eren asked.

"Helping me." Cinder moved closer to him, careful not to step on any of the spots Eren washed. Her question was a risk, since she didn't know if it would be temporary or permanent. But she asked anyways. "Everyone here likes to... hurt me. But you... you don't like to hurt me... do you?"

"No, of course not." Eren gripped the brush tighter as he relived other memories he had. "I just... don't like bullies. I never did."

"..."

"I actually like the people they pick on. Do you know why?" Cinder shook her head. "I learned those people are different from the rest. Special."

"Special?" Cinder immediately became curious. "How?"

"Well..." Eren knew a perfect example of one such person, but he had to choose his next words carefully. "I'm not sure if you noticed, but I'm not from around here." Cinder nodded in understanding. "Where I come from, I used to protect someone else from bullies." Eren chuckled at the memories he was describing. "Well, tried to protect."

"Who was it?"

"His name was Armin. He was my best friend."

"Why did people like to hurt him?"

"Because he was different. Armin was the smartest person I've ever met. He showed me all these books about the world, things that nobody else really cared about." Eren smiled again, fondly recalling the time Armin showed him the book that described the ocean. "His books talked about new places, all sorts of things we could see if we left home. And in a way... we did."

Cinder began to smile as well, since she got the answer to her question. Eren was happy to have answered, since he believed what he said was true. The next question Cinder asked, however, sent chills down Eren's spine.

"Were you... free?"

"..."

Eren's smile slowly faded when he thought about that question. He saw it all, he saw everything Armin described right before his eyes. However, he had to take the world's freedom in order to see it all. But these memories, however tragic, made Eren remember something he once said.

"Anyone who saw those things... would be the freest person in the world," he answered. "So yes, Cinder. I was free."

Cinder smiled even more as she listened. "I... I have books too," she confessed. "Ones that I read at night. I think... I read about all you saw." Her eyes were filled with hope and wonder, as was her final question. "Was it as wonderful as it sounds?"

Eren continued to smile back. "It was. You should see it for yourself." An idea suddenly came to his mind. "I can take you with me sometime. I'll be leaving soon, maybe you can come with me."

Cinder dropped her smile and asked Eren another question. "What do you want from me?" she asked.

"...What?"

"You wouldn't do all this for nothing. What do you want?"

"..."

Cinder suddenly saw that all of this seemed too good to be true. And Eren's silence seemed to confirm it. Hope turned to anger as she prepared to walk away. She didn't care about her chores, her plan was to find a place by herself so nobody would hurt her anymore. Crying was to be expected, but Cinder didn't have any other ideas as to what to do.

But these plans were put to a halt when Eren laughed.

"You're really smart, Cinder," he said. "You know that?" He stopped laughing as he stood up. "You're right, there is something I want. But it's not what you think. I don't want you to work harder or do anything you don't want to." Eren slowly extended his hand. "I... I'd really like to have a friend. That's all I want."

Cinder was angry when she started to reveal Eren's nature behind his kindness. She was expecting him to ask her to do more work for him, or do something that didn't sound very comforting. But when she heard the word "friend," Cinder could feel her anger sink back to the bottom of her heart and joy rise in its place. "A... A friend?" she asked.

"Sure," Eren replied without moving his hand. "All of my friends are... gone, now. I like you, Cinder, and I'd like to be your friend. Do you... want to be mine?"

Cinder took his hand without hesitation. "Yes," she replied. "Friends."

"I think we have what you're looking for."

It had been nearly a week since Eren arrived at the farm. In that time, the farmer made sure to keep to his duties and make sure the children under his watch did the same. But one day, things changed entirely.

The farm doubled as an orphanage, just as the farmer had said. And on occasion, people from villages in the surrounding area would come to adopt a child. Only a couple of villages were familiar with this farm, but the farm welcomed a prospective client from far, far away. And since he had no reason to object, the farmer led his guest towards the barn. At the moment, most of the boys were working the fields as they normally would. Two children, however, were inside today.

The farmer and his client walked into the barn to see Eren and Cinder talking and cleaning the floor. Normally, Cinder would be doing it herself while remaining silent. But Eren being by her side for the past few days had made her job, even her life, change for the better. She was more talkative and more confident to stand up for herself with the other boys than she was before meeting Eren. She didn't win every fight, but she became braver and a little stronger because of Eren.

Eren, on the other hand, was happy he made a friend in the new world. He had been able to help Cinder with her chores as well as the bullies, and he received an interesting reward for his work.

Cinder eventually shared her books with Eren, but he was forced to confess that he couldn't read them. Once again, the writing in the book differed from the writing Eren was used to. It was so strange, since the language of Remnant sounded exactly like the Eldian language. The writing, however, were completely different things.

Even though he could look at the pictures, Eren was frustrated that he couldn't read the written language of Remnant. However, given all he had done for her, Cinder was more than willing to read to him. Eren didn't pay close attention to the fairy tales Cinder read, because he was more interested in the world book she had.

It was this book that taught Eren all sorts of things about Remnant. He learned about the existence of fuel called "Dust," how the world was divided into four "Kingdoms," and a protective kind of power called "Aura." Cinder studied the book in order to unlock her Aura, which was no easy task. So rather than watch Eren struggle to unlock his own Aura, Cinder used the book to unlock Eren's Aura herself.

Eren was amazed by his new ability, as well as the fact that he could unlock something called a "Semblance." According to the book, an Aura was a manifestation of one's soul. A Semblance, on the other hand, was a power that someone could use whenever they needed to. They just had to find out what Semblance they had first.

But Eren was happy to have an Aura of his own. And for that, he showed his gratitude to Cinder by practicing it on the boys who tried to bully her. Cinder used her own Aura to help heal herself from the beatings she would receive, but fighting alongside Eren taught Cinder how to make it stronger as she fought.

So in the past few days, it was clear that Eren and Cinder had become very close friends. While Cinder was appreciative of Eren showing her how strong she was, Eren found himself to be inspired and drawn to Cinder's wisdom. Just as he said, Cinder was incredibly smart. While the farmer and the boys only cared about the place they lived in, Cinder saw a bigger picture of the world and everything in it. Since she couldn't go out into the world, Cinder made it her goal to learn everything about it. The books mainly taught her history and geography, but Cinder confessed that she mostly taught herself to read.

And she was more than willing to share everything with Eren.

The two friends both shared a special bond. Eren really enjoyed Cinder's company, and he didn't really want anybody else's. Of course, Cinder couldn't replace anyone back home, but Eren knew he couldn't spend his entire time on Remnant alone.

Cinder, on the other hand, felt something unique. She was drawn to Eren's strength, courage, and kindness. It was clear that he was one of a kind, someone that Cinder never would have imagined would come into her life.

She couldn't exactly describe how she felt, since she never felt like this before. But whatever it was, Cinder was glad that she felt it.

But nobody really cared about their friendship. The farmer cared more about business.

The farmer's client, a brunette woman in a white blouse and red skirt, walked ahead of the caretaker as she studied Eren and Cinder. The children didn't seem to notice their presence as they cleaned and made playful banter with each other.

"The girl is slow, but she'll eventually get the job done," said the caretaker. "The boy's taught her a couple of things, he knows what he's doing. Not a bad worker, but he won't be missed."

The woman walked closer to the duo, who looked up at the sound of her thunderous footsteps. Once they all made eye contact, the woman made her decision.

"I'll take them."

Chapter Text

"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves."

Abraham Lincoln

After the final preparations were made, Eren and Cinder were taken away from the farm in Mistral. The Madame who took them was leading them to a large metallic object resting not far from the farm. Eren quickly noted the similarities between the object and the flying boat he saw Mikasa and everyone else use to catch up to him. Cinder's books said it was called an "airship," and it flew just like the flying boat did.

Once the airship lifted from the ground, Eren couldn't help but stare out the window. Cinder joined him not only to be with her friend, but also because she was grateful to finally be leaving. The farm was the only home she ever knew, but she was always miserable before Eren came along. Leaving the wretched place was a blessing for her.

And she knew it was for real the moment the airship took off the ground.

"I... I can't believe it," Cinder said as she looked to Eren. "We're actually leaving!"

"And it's about time," Eren replied with a smile. "I thought we'd never leave." Ever since he made a deal with the farmer, Eren couldn't help but believe that the week was dragging on. But all of that changed the second he learned that he would be leaving earlier than he expected.

He didn't know who this woman was or why she was doing this, but the farmer promised that he told his client where Eren was planning on going.

Cinder refused to leave the window as she stared at the clouds. "I've never been this high up before," she admitted.

"I've seen ships like this before," Eren confessed, remembering what he saw in Marley and Paradis. "But I've never been in one like this." He began to smile again. "It's... incredible."

"I know. And we're going to Argus?"

"That's what the farmer said. He told her that's where I need to go."

"Good." Cinder finally looked away from the window and back to her friend. "I've never been outside the farm before. I'm just so excited!"

"Yeah, me too."

"..."

Cinder wasn't entirely sure about that. She could hardly contain her excitement, since she was smiling and practically bouncing off the walls. Eren, on the other hand, was being rather calm and quiet. Most people would wonder if Eren was okay, but Cinder had one idea about her friend's melancholy behavior.

"Are you... thinking about your mom?" Cinder asked.

Eren sighed before he replied to Cinder. "Yeah... a little."

"..."

Eren had no intention of sharing his life's story with Cinder, but he expressed great interest in Argus. When asked why, Eren willingly admitted that he was looking for his mother there. He told Cinder a few things about her, mainly how kind and protective she was. Since he still planned on keeping his promise about going places with Cinder, Eren said that he would introduce her to his mother.

And this made Cinder all the more excited, which was why she was confused about Eren's behavior.

"I'm sorry," Eren said as he quickly shook his head. "It's just been... a long time. You know, since I've seen her."

Cinder nodded in understanding. "Well... I guess that means you'll have a lot to talk about," she said. Eren silently nodded, which made Cinder feel a little sad. To lift both of their spirits, Cinder took Eren's hands in hers and spoke. "Eren... you're really lucky. That you can still talk to your mom. It's nice, I think."

Eren smiled as he saw that this was true. Not all of his conversations with his mother went well, but they had plenty of good times together. He remembered the times he made her laugh, and how she made him laugh too. Most of all, Eren remembered how he planned to kill all the Titans because of what happened to her.

And now, he was going to save the world because of her.

"And she can take care of us while we look, you know."

Eren stopped thinking when he heard Cinder talking. "Huh?" he asked. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I was talking about her," Cinder said as she pointed towards the front of the airship. "She's taking us to Argus, after all. She'll take care of us while we look for your mother. Maybe she can help."

Eren looked at where Cinder was pointing. "Oh," he said. "Oh, right. Yeah, you're right." Eren began to feel hopeful once again. If he was going to Argus, he would be getting all the help he needed.

And better yet, he wasn't going to be alone.

"You'll like her, you know," he said. "You'll like my mom when you meet her."

Cinder smiled when she heard this. She was sure that Eren's mother was just as kind as he was, and she was looking forward to meeting her. Though she didn't have any intention of leaving the woman who took her away from the horrible farm, Cinder wanted to meet Eren's mother.

"Do you think she'll take you places?" Cinder asked. "After you see her again?"

"You mean outside of Argus?" Eren asked before he saw Cinder nod.

He hadn't thought of this, even though it sounded like a good idea. Darkness had told him that Argus' wall was meant to keep Grimm out, just like the walls on Paradis kept the Titans out. But unlike Paradis, people could come and go as they wished.

"Yeah," Eren replied with a smile. "Yeah, she might."

Cinder really liked the idea. "Where do you want to go?"

"You first."

Cinder smiled as she looked out the window. "I've always wanted to see the Kingdom of Vale," she said. Cinder wasn't allowed to bring her books with her, but she remembered everything she read. "I want to see the mountains, walk its streets. And the ocean looks beautiful."

Eren immediately began to remember what Armin told him about the ocean, so he decided to indulge Cinder. "I've seen the ocean. I saw it in books first, but it's better when you see it in person. The water's cold and the sand's kind of coarse, but you don't need to worry about feeling it. Seeing it is freedom enough."

Cinder smiled as she began to feel excited again. She wanted to see the whole world, and she decided on the ocean first. Eren always talked about it, and she believed everything Eren said about it.

Especially about freedom.

Just before Cinder could say something else, the woman who took her and Eren cleared her throat to get their attention. She then handed two small necklaces to her passengers. "Put these on," she said.

Once the children looked at each other and took them, the Madame left without a word. "What are these?" Eren asked as he looked at the yellow crystal on his.

"I... don't know," Cinder replied. "Maybe they're a gift?"

"She didn't give them like they were a gift."

"I guess." Cinder started to put her necklace on. "Maybe we should do what she wants."

"..."

Eren didn't put it on, but he kept the necklace in his pocket. "I'm not sure if I met another boy wearing something like this," he said.

"Maybe it's because you're a different boy," Cinder suggested.

Eren's head shot up and looked at Cinder with widened eyes. "Wh... What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing." Cinder began to smile. "I just think that necklace would look great on a girl named Erin."

"A girl-?" Eren deadpanned when he realized Cinder was joking. "My name is not a girl's name!" He slammed his fist on his chair, but Cinder just laughed it off.

A couple of hours had passed since Eren and Cinder left the farm in Mistral. Eren had to admit that he was starting to grow impatient. He didn't know much about Remnant, but Cinder's books told him that Argus was a part of Mistral. So shouldn't he have been there already?

Suddenly, the clouds cleared to reveal a snowy tundra. Eren could see mountains as well as the ground, but he could also see that they were covered in snow. He had seen the winter on Paradis before, but nothing quite as large as this.

"Cinder, look at this," Eren said as he tapped her shoulder. Cinder looked out the window to see what he was seeing. "Should there be this much snow in Argus?"

"Um... no," Cinder said slowly. She easily saw why Eren was confused by all the snow. It wasn't winter yet, it was only spring. So there couldn't be this much snow on the ground.

Unless...

"Eren... I think I know where we're going," she said.

Eren became confused once again. "Well, yeah. We're still going to Argus... right?"

Cinder looked back to Eren. "No, I... I think we're going to Atlas."

Eren stepped back in surprise. "Atlas? Not Argus?"

"Well... we can't be in Argus," she said. "Mistral never has this much snow in the springtime. Only Solitas does. And that's where Atlas is."

Eren was starting to understand now, and he remembered what he read in Cinder's books. "And... Atlas is a Kingdom, right?" he asked.

"That's right," Cinder replied. "l've heard it's the greatest Kingdom in the world."

"Really? What makes it so great?"

Cinder looked out the window again. "Um... mostly that."

Eren followed her gaze to see a large city. Or rather, a city in the sky. Multiple buildings were on top of a large rock, hovering hundreds of feet off the ground and above another city.

"This... This is impossible," said Eren, who was unable to take his eye off the city in the clouds.

"I know," Cinder said. "I've read about it a lot, but I never saw Atlas in person. It's not Vale, but it's still better than Mistral."

"..."

Eren didn't think so.

The moment he heard that he wasn't going to Argus, Eren became angry. He trusted Cinder, especially when it came to knowing places in Remnant. So he trusted her when she said that they weren't anywhere close to Argus.

Eren had no reason to express his anger at Cinder, because the woman who took him away from Mistral was the one responsible for this. He quickly decided to get to the bottom of this, which was why he marched to the front of the airship to find the woman sitting close to the pilot.

"Hey!" he called out to her. "What do you think you're doing?!"

The Madame turned back to Eren with a scowl and a look that almost seemed like she had been offended. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"You knew I wanted to go to Argus! Why are we in Atlas?!"

The woman stood up and moved towards Eren, but she didn't look at him. Instead, she looked at a button that was on her side of the doorframe. "Go back with your friend," she said. "Then I'll deal with you."

*BEEP*

*SLAM*

A metal door slid out of the wall when the Madame pressed the button. Eren's anger intensified not only from this act, but also from the truth he had discovered.

As soon as the Madame said that she was going to "deal with him," Eren knew that he was in trouble. And when he realized that the farmer only said to the Madame that he planned to go to Argus, he didn't care where he and Cinder would be going. He didn't know what was going to happen now, but Eren knew one thing.

He had been set up.

The airship flew closer to the city, where it passed close towards the tall buildings beneath it. Cinder was currently looking at each building as she wondered why she and Eren were in Atlas instead of Argus. But she was too captivated by the lights and structures to be upset.

The same, however, couldn't be said for Eren.

"Cinder!"

The young girl jumped at the sound of her name to see Eren marching towards her. "Cinder, we gotta get out of here!" he said. "It's not safe!"

"Wh-What?" Cinder asked. "What is it?"

Eren stopped in front of Cinder. "They lied to me," he said angrily. "They lied to us!"

"Who lied?"

"She did!" Eren pointed towards the closed door. "She and that bastard farmer!" Eren began to lower his voice as he explained. "She's not taking us to Mistral."

"What?"

*WHOOSH*

*THUD*

A low but noticeable shake caught both of the children's attention. They also noticed that the airship had stopped moving and the engines had gone quiet. Eren and Cinder realized that they had landed, which caused them to rush towards the window and see what was outside.

The children could see multiple people walking around a large area, and that there were other airships landing and taking off too. They were larger and wider than the airship they were on, and it seemed that they could carry more people.

*BEEP*

Eren and Cinder turned around to see a door opening behind them. The woman they had left with was standing behind them, and she began to walk outside when the door fully opened.

And though Eren had no desire to stay in Atlas, he followed quickly.

"Hey!" he called out. "We're not done yet! Where are you taking us?!"

"Away from here," said the Madame. She stopped momentarily to see that both Eren and Cinder were following her. "You'll have your answers soon."

"I don't need answers! I need to get to Argus!" Eren already didn't trust this woman, so he had no plans to go anywhere else but Argus.

Cinder, however, had another idea.

"Eren, calm down!" she implored. "We shouldn't be arguing with her!"

Eren quickly gasped as he replayed what he just heard. "What?" he asked out of disbelief. "Cinder, she lied to us!"

"She said she would explain! Let's just hear her out!"

The woman hummed as she stopped walking. "Listen to your friend," she said. "There's no need for arguing."

"Eren, please," Cinder said in agreement. "Let's just go."

Eren became angry once again, but then he saw how afraid Cinder was. He was surprised at this reaction, how it seemed to be directed towards him. Eren thought fear would be inevitable, since they had no idea where they were going on. But he didn't expect Cinder to be afraid in a way that she would agree with the woman.

Let alone keep walking with her.

"Cinder, stop!" Eren said as he grabbed her arm. "You can't be serious!"

Cinder began to pull her arm back. "Eren, you're hurting me!" she said. Eren immediately let go and let Cinder rub her arm. "Let's just go. I don't want to be here."

Eren didn't understand what had come over his friend. "But what about finding my mom? Or seeing Vale? Don't you want to do that?"

"Of course I do! But I... I-"

"Then what are you so afraid of?!"

"I'm afraid of going back, okay?!"

"..."

Eren and Cinder had known each other for only a short amount of time, but they had never argued in that time. They also never disagreed with each other, so this was all very surprising for the both of them. However, Cinder continued to talk as Eren listened.

"You said it was about time we left, remember?!" she asked. "That you thought we were never going to leave?!" Cinder felt tears fall down her eyes as she continued to talk. "You don't know that place like I do, Eren! I was there, alone, for years! I knew that if there was any chance of getting out of there, I was going to take it!"

"..."

"I'm free now, Eren! We both are!" Cinder pointed behind her. "And I don't want to throw that away as soon as I got it! So please, please, let's just go!" She quickly took his hands in hers. "We'll find your mom, we will! But I'm not ready to go back!"

"..."

It was strange, to say the least. Eren couldn't help but feel like he understood where Cinder was coming from, but also disagreed with her. He understood how she viewed being free as being far away from that stupid farm. After all, Eren once viewed being free as being out of the walls and in a world without Titans. Either way, neither of them planned to abandon the sense of freedom they felt.

Eren understood that better than anyone.

However, Eren knew that this woman wasn't up to anything good. It wasn't Cinder's fault that she couldn't see that; it seemed that her young age came with a sense of... innocence. That she was willing to trust anyone who would be willing to take her away from the farm, for better or worse. She may have been distrustful at the farm, but that was all in the past now. Cinder was ready to trust people again, but she didn't know that she was trusting the wrong person.

Eren recognized Cinder's innocence in this matter, and he was willing to help her see the light. She was still his friend, after all, and Eren wanted to help her.

"Cinder, I don't think-"

"She's not wrong," said the Madame. Both of the children looked up to her, unaware that she saw an opportunity with Cinder's fear. "I would suggest that you don't give me a reason to believe I choose poorly in taking you here." She then began to walk towards what appeared to be a metal cart. "Come along."

Eren quickly realized that the cruel woman was trying to manipulate him and Cinder through fear. Fortunately, Eren recognized the signs of manipulation when he saw them.

Cinder, however, couldn't abandon her fear. She quickly walked towards the cart without hesitation, which caused Eren to follow.

"Cinder, wait!" Eren begged. "You don't understand!" He saw her enter the cart, but he didn't step inside with her.

"This is your last chance," the Madame said as she stood beside Cinder. "Come with me or stay here."

"..."

Whether it was fear or innocence, Cinder couldn't be more conflicted. The woman's blunt and strict nature were very intimidating, but Cinder couldn't deny that she brought her out of Mistral. And she insisted that there was a reason behind all of this.

And Eren's anger was also intimidating, but Cinder could understand how betrayed he felt. Nobody said anything about Atlas, and he was far away from his mother. Cinder didn't want to leave him, she wanted to help him like they helped each other at the farm. But on the other hand, she didn't want to go back to Mistral.

Even though she was still with the woman, Cinder couldn't make up her mind what to do. Eren, however, made up his mind quickly.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said firmly.

Cinder softly gasped before she looked up at the Madame. She still couldn't make a decision, which was why she found herself unable to move.

*BEEP*

*BEEP*

The sound of two electronic horns made everyone look up at the doorframe. The Madame was the first to look back to Eren and make a decision for herself and Cinder.

"Have it your way," she said.

*WHOOSH*

*CLICK*

Two metal doors quickly appeared and closed right before Eren's eyes. He was taken aback by this, as well as the fact that the cart appeared to be moving.

"Hey, wait!" Eren yelled as he moved to the doors. He hit them as hard as he could, but nothing stopped the cart from moving. It appeared to be linked to other carts like it, and they all moved in the same direction as the others.

"This is... It's some kind of train!" Eren realized. He remembered how he and his friends in Paradis helped build one on the island, after the Marleyan engineers they captured decided to help. This machine appeared different in appearance, but Eren knew that it was some kind of train.

The last thing he saw before it disappeared was a sad look from Cinder.

"You'll see your friend again. But first, he needs to learn what will happen without me."

That was what the Madame told Cinder when she unwittingly left Eren. Ever since the train took off, Cinder was heartbroken and somewhat ashamed. She still wanted to help Eren, since he had no idea why they were in Atlas. She had no intention of leaving him abandoned, even though she didn't think going back to Mistral was the best plan.

Her judgement and confidence about her new situation were starting to waver, especially when the Madame refused to go back for Eren immediately. Her fear, on the other hand, was rising quickly. She didn't want to be abandoned like Eren, and she didn't want to be sent back to Mistral. So she believed the best thing to do would be to stay where she was.

But there was one other thing she could do.

Cinder looked up to the ceiling of the train car. All she could see was metal, so she looked towards the window instead. When she saw the night sky, Cinder clasped her hands together and closed her eyes.

"Please..." she whispered. "Please, let me see Eren again."

"..."

The train opened its doors once again, and the woman led Cinder outside. They walked together for a few minutes, which led to Cinder asking more questions. The Madame didn't seem to pay close attention to Cinder, since she only looked back once or twice to see if she was still there. It didn't seem like she cared too much, just like the farmer in Mistral didn't care how Cinder was doing.

That, and Eren being left behind, was what made Cinder finally start to have a bad feeling about this.

The rest of the walk was long and tiring for the child, but the woman didn't seem to care. They stopped in front of another building, a little smaller than the rest but still very exquisite. The outside was made of stone and had multiple windows, showing that this building had more than one floor.

"The Glass Unicorn," Cinder read the writing made by lights on top of the door. "This doesn't look like much of a house." She took another look around the area, where she saw people minding their own business.

"Come now."

Cinder looked to see the Madame holding the door open, but not out of kindness. Reluctantly, she walked up the stairs and into the building. Once she did, Cinder entered a large lounge, with multiple tables and people. The first thing she saw was numerous people going about their business. Some were talking, some were drinking, but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Then, Cinder noticed a few glass statues around her. She recognized them as Grimm, which she saw in her books and a few times around the farm in Mistral.

Cinder continued to walk straight and ended up in some kind of kitchen. She was still looking at the lounge, but turned around at the sound of the woman clearing her throat. Once she did, Cinder saw the woman standing next to two younger ladies, a blonde with curly hair wearing a skirt and a black headband and a brunette with straight hair wearing gray pants.

Cinder's focus shifted from the older children to a basket of steaming rolls behind them. She was about to reach out for them, since she was starting to feel hungry. But when she thought about Eren and how hungry he probably was, Cinder lowered her arm in shame. Her bad feeling about the situation came back immediately.

And it got even worse when the Madame spoke again.

"You're to make sure the laundry is folded, the dishes are spotless, and the floors are clean enough to eat off of."

The Madame turned heel and began to walk away, but she stopped when Cinder spoke again.

"Wh... What?"

The Madame and her actual daughters all looked at Cinder, who was confused and surprised by the declaration. "But... that's what I did at the farm," she said.

The teenage girls slightly gasped at the reaction. The brunette raised an eyebrow at what she believed to be stupidity from Cinder while the blonde just giggled.

"Yes," the Madame said. "And that's what you'll be doing here from now on."

"..."

Cinder's jaw dropped. Between the declaration and the apathy from the two girls, Cinder finally realized that she had made a terrible mistake in coming here. Her belief that anything would be better than the farm, that anyone who took her away would be a savior, was completely destroyed. Just as all of it happened before, everything bad and horrible that happened to Cinder was going to happen again.

Only this time, she wasn't going to be alone.

"Eren," she whispered. "Oh, no."

The girls laughed at Cinder while the Madame simply smirked. "Your friend was smart to stay behind, but don't worry," she said. "I'll bring him here soon."

"..."

Fear and panic found their way into Cinder's heart as tears came down in her eyes. Any semblance of innocence she had was completely destroyed by cold reality, as she left behind one Hell to simply find another. Cinder cursed herself for feeling stupid, just as she cursed herself for unwittingly leaving Eren behind.

But it wasn't too late to stop this plan.

Cinder quickly turned around and ran for the front door. She had to push past people as she ran, but she didn't care about them. All she cared about was finding Eren so she could warn him about what was here. After that, he would know what to do. Even if it meant going to Argus, Cinder knew she would follow Eren wherever he went.

These plans, however, resulted in failure when Cinder stepped out the door.

*ZAP*

"AAAAAUUGH!"

Cinder fell to the ground in pain as she felt a sharp electric shock around her entire neck. The pain was unbearable, and seemed to travel from her neck down to her chest as it continued to burn harder.

"Now, that does feel too good, does it?"

Cinder couldn't see the Madame standing behind her, but she could hear her voice. "It was kind of that gentleman to tell me you would be trouble," she continued. "Fortunately, I came prepared." The Madame grabbed Cinder and pulled her back inside. Once they were back in the hotel, the pain on her necks stopped.

Cinder looked down on her neck, trying to find out what happened. That was when she saw the necklace, and when she pulled on it, she felt a mark on her neck.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the Madame said. "Now, I believe I made myself clear. You're to make sure the laundry is folded, the dishes are spotless, and the floors are clean enough to eat off of." She began to walk away, and her daughters put a bucket of water and a brush next to Cinder. Once they did, they laughed again as they walked away.

Cinder cried once more as she picked up the bucket and brush. Memories of her past came back in an instant as she realized that she was taken away just so she could do the same thing again.

This was going to be her life now, and it was her fault she didn't listen to Eren. But her only hope of help left her the second the train doors closed. And there didn't seem to be any sign of help coming again.

Nobody in the lounge was watching what happened.

Nobody was going to help her.

Nobody cared.

"Okay, let me get this straight. You boarded an airship headed here, thinking that it was going to Argus."

"Yes! That's what happened!"

"And you don't have a ticket to prove this."

"I already told you, the woman I came with didn't have anything like that! She's gone, my friend's gone, and I'm just trying to get to Argus!"

"And you're sure your mother is there now?"

"Yes, she is! I just need to get back to her, okay?!"

"..."

Eren had lost count how many times he told this story. Ever since he had been abandoned by the woman who brought him here, Eren's first idea was try and find a way to Argus himself. Finding out where to get a trip to Argus was the easy part, since all he had to do was ask around.

But convincing the receptionist who was aware of every flight in and out of Atlas was rather hard, given the circumstances of his arrival. Fortunately, given that she could see that Eren was a lost child, the receptionist knew that she was the only one who could help Eren. He didn't seem to pose any threat to travel safety, he was just trying to find a way home.

"Okay, don't worry," she finally said. "I'll call security now, and they'll help you be on your way."

Eren sighed in relief and exhaustion. He was tired of explaining himself and trying to find a way to Argus, but he was thankful that the first half of his problem was finally over. The second, however, needed a little more work.

"But what about my friend?" Eren asked as he looked above the receptionist's desk. "She's in trouble, I know it!"

"Are you saying that she was kidnapped?" the receptionist asked.

"I... I don't know," Eren confessed. "But what I do know is that she and I were brought here together, when I specifically said we needed to go to Argus. Whoever that woman was, she tricked us!"

The story was indeed a suspicious one, but the receptionist knew it was outside her jurisdiction. "Let's focus on getting you home first. Then we'll see about your friend."

Eren pointed to the train stop, where another train was waiting. "Can you at least tell me where that train goes?"

"All I know is that the final stop is the east side of Atlas. There's got to be over a dozen stops in between. I can help you get home, but there's nothing I can do about your friend. I'll tell security when I call them, but there's nothing we can do now. I'm sorry."

Eren groaned in frustration as he paced around the area. He was angry at the woman who brought him here, who manipulated Cinder into going with her wherever she went. But Eren was also angry at himself, for being tricked and being unable to convince Cinder that the woman had bad plans for them.

He couldn't be angry at Cinder for not wanting to give up her freedom, or being innocent enough to not realize when something was wrong. The Madame had taken advantage of her fear, and she used that against Cinder. And worst of all, they could be anywhere doing something horrible.

But through it all, the Madame had made one mistake; she didn't do anything to strip Eren of his freedom.

She may have abandoned him when she saw that he wouldn't be useful to her, but the Madame didn't have Eren locked away. The boy was free; free to do whatever he wanted and however he planned to do it.

And now, Eren planned to find his friend and save her. He left his friends behind on Paradis, but he wasn't going to do that on Remnant. He was going to do whatever was necessary to help the one person he could call a friend.

But first, Eren needed to know where Cinder was.

The first thing Eren did was sneak away and look at a map of the train line. Just as the receptionist had said, the train had dozens of stops along the way. The train on Paradis didn't have as many, so this train was clearly advanced. And it made it all the more harder to figure out where Cinder was.

Eren knew he couldn't search each stop one by one, and he didn't have Cinder's knowledge of the world to tell him where to start looking.

This was a truly desperate time; one that called for desperate measures.

As he began to calm down, Eren closed his eyes and took drops breaths. He let the sounds of the area and the people fade away into silence, and let the sights of Atlas fade into darkness.

And when Eren opened his eyes, he found himself with Darkness once again.

Using what he had learned on Paradis, Eren took himself back to the Coordinate. The red stones and the crystals told Eren that he was back at the Coordinate to Remnant, and he knew that someone was waiting for him.

"Welcome back, Eren."

The young boy turned around to see the horned deity who had brought him to Remnant. "It has been a while since we last spoke," Darkness said calmly. "So... how are you?"

Eren remained calm as he talked. "I'm... I'm fine," he said.

"And your Titan? I trust you were able to properly test it?"

"It's... fine." Eren quickly realized that he should have expected Darkness to want a report about his days on Remnant. "It's basically the same as the Attack Titan. And I rediscovered my Hardening."

"Excellent." Darkness walked closer towards Eren. "It's been a long time since I've assisted someone. Helped them in any way they needed."

Eren was surprised to hear this. "You know why I'm here?"

"Why else would you be here? I'm sure your mission is bound to come with... challenges." Darkness stopped walking when he was inches in front of Eren. "So, how may I help you?"

"I'm trying to get to Argus," Eren quickly explained. He didn't want to waste any more time. "I was in Mistral for a while, but now I'm in Atlas."

"Hmm, I see. That's a long way from Argus, Eren."

"I know, and I think I found a way back. But I didn't come here alone."

"Oh?"

Against his better judgement, Eren told Darkness about Cinder. "I... I made a friend in Mistral. She came here with me, but she's gone now. I want to help her."

"...Do you now?" Darkness expected Eren to find allies on Remnant, but he was surprised that he found one so soon at such a young age. "A new Titan, perhaps?"

"What? No!" Eren stepped back. "Cinder's just someone who helped me in Mistral! I just want to help her now. I need to know where she is."

"Hmm... if you insist." Darkness turned towards the Coordinate. "Follow me."

Rather than walking, Darkness transported himself and Eren to the tree. Once they found themselves there, Eren needed a second to readjust himself while Darkness touched the Coordinate. Eren almost vomited from being teleported, since he wasn't used to the feeling. But he was able to control himself as he listened to Darkness.

"Ah," he said. "There you are."

Eren looked up to see Darkness examining the Coordinate. But instead of a plain white tree, Eren could see moving images inside the structure. It appeared to be similar to the images he saw of his mother in Argus, but they were different. Instead of his mother, Eren could see himself and Cinder.

"That's her," he said. "That's Cinder."

"I see you've been busy," said Darkness. "Crushing Salem into paste and practicing your Hardening. Impressive." Darkness had seen this the second he touched the Coordinate, when Eren had his head down. But to satisfy his champion, Darkness focused on Cinder now.

"Yeah, that's right." Eren didn't care about Salem or his Titan now, he just wanted to find Cinder. "Can you find her?"

"It's already done."

Darkness let go of of the Coordinate, which connected to everyone on Remnant. That was how he was able to use it to find Cinder, since she was a subject of Remnant. By focusing on the connection she had to the world, Darkness was able to find her in no time at all.

"It is fortunate that you came to Atlas at night," Darkness said to Eren. "My powers were always stronger in the dark."

"I thought you couldn't use your powers because of your brother," said Eren. He wasn't trying to sound ungrateful for Darkness aiding him, he was just confused as to how he could help.

"I cannot," Darkness confirmed. "But you are living proof that we are quite safe." Darkness placed a hand on Eren's shoulder. "When you return to Remnant, I will give you a path to seek your friend. Only you will see this path, and you alone can travel it. You will find your friend soon enough."

"...Okay. Got it." Eren turned around as soon as Darkness let him go. He prepared to return himself to Remnant and find this path that Darkness set for him.

"Oh, and Eren?"

The young boy turned around at the sound of his name. "I would suggest you hurry and find your mother after your friend," said Darkness. "I would hate to think that time for growth is being wasted."

Eren understood the subtle threat behind the demand, but his first encounter with Darkness told him that arguing would be unwise. So he left in silence and found himself back in the spot he left.

At first, Eren didn't seem to notice anything different about his surroundings. But when he looked down, he could see a faint shadow at his feet. The shadow was moving, like it was made of a sort of mist or smoke. And the shadow extended itself towards an exit of this area, towards the rest of the city.

Eren knew that this was the path Darkness was talking about, that it would lead him to Cinder. Nobody else seemed to notice it, and it extended itself far across the floor. Before he followed it, Eren looked back towards the reception desk. It was the only way he could get to Argus, and his chance to leave might vanish if Eren left now.

But Eren knew he wouldn't abandon his friend. So he followed the path without a second thought.

Darkness' plan to help Eren was working perfectly. The deity stared at the Coordinate he had created to see his champion moving forward and across Atlas all in the hopes of finding his friend. Darkness recalled that everything he did on Paradis was for his friends, so it made sense that Eren would do it again here. That was why Darkness brought Carla here after all. And with Cinder, Eren had another reason to fight Salem.

The more, the merrier.

Darkness changed the image in the Coordinate when he saw Eren on the path he created. Now, he decided to focus more on Cinder. Ever since he learned that Eren made a friend on Remnant, Darkness became curious. He examined Cinder's life through the Coordinate, where he saw a sad little girl who had been raised like a slave.

She didn't seem too different from Ymir the Founder, Darkness observed. He soon hypothesized that Eren saw the same thing, and that this was one reason he decided to befriend her. Because of this, the god saw many interesting possibilities for Cinder.

Though Eren denied it earlier, Darkness believed that Cinder could become a warrior like his champion. But first, she would need a reason to become one. She would need something to hate, something to fight against.

That was why Darkness made sure it would take Eren a long time to find his friend. In that time, Cinder would become something Darkness could use as well.

And sure enough, Cinder's hate was growing strong.

[Play Jeff Williams' "The Truth"]

Just as the Madame ordered, Cinder had to take care of the laundry, dishes, and floors at the hotel she was at. But it got even worse when she had to take care of the guests as well. Helping make and serve their food was a chore, and not once did any of them show a sign of gratitude. And rather than being allowed to eat as well, Cinder had to feed herself with scraps the guests left behind.

And just as she did at the farm, Cinder was forced to clean as well. She had to wash every floor, dust the glass statues, and she had to do it without any chance of resting.

If she tried to rest, the child was immediately punished with pain.

Just as Darkness predicted, Cinder hated everything. She hated the hotel, she hated the apathetic people, she hated the white uniform she was forced to wear, and most of all, she hated the stupid collar the shallow woman gave her. It went off whenever she tried to leave or whenever the Madame pressed a button on a remote she kept with her. It hurt for minutes, even hours at a time.

More than anything, Cinder wanted to fight everyone. She wanted to stand up for herself just as she did back in Mistral, but the pain was too unbearable for her. And without Eren, Cinder knew that there was nothing she could do.

So she stayed in the hotel and worked continuously for hours. The only kind of joy she had was knowing that Eren wasn't here with her, that he hadn't become a slave like her. Though being far from Eren, without knowing where he was, broke her heart.

Rather than fight, Cinder took out her frustrations on the ground she was currently cleaning. She pushed the brush back and forth and grunted each time as her anger rose. She eventually stopped when she felt exhausted. So she wiped her brow and took deep breaths as she tried to relax.

"Nice, huh?"

"Whoa."

Cinder put down her brush and looked down to the lobby of the hotel when she heard voices of amazement. There were a few people staring at a man in a blue and bronze outfit with a pauldron on his left shoulder. He was holding a sword, and showing it off to some of the other hotel guests.

"Wow," Cinder thought as she became entranced by the sword. "He must be a Huntsman, and he must have used that sword to kill tons of Grimm." She had read about Huntsmen and Huntresses, people who risked their lives to hunt the Grimm and protect people. Cinder showed Eren her books on Huntsmen and Huntresses, and she read some of their exploits to him. And when Eren taught her how to fight, Cinder believed she could be like the Huntresses she read about.

Better yet, maybe the Huntsman below could help her.

*SPLASH*

*SPLASH*

The sound of something hitting the ground behind Cinder caused her to shift her attention away from the Huntsman. She looked to see the Madame's daughters behind her and the brunette was slowly walking towards her. The only thing was... she had mud on her shoes, and was walking all over the floor Cinder worked hard to clean.

"You missed a spot," she said as she stomped on the ground, which caused more mud to escape from her muddy shoe. Once she did, the sisters began laughing at what they just did.

Cinder, however, wasn't laughing.

*SSSSSSSSS*

A sizzling noise was being drowned out by the laughter, and none of the girls could hear it. The brush that she was holding appeared to be steaming and burning in her grasp. Cinder didn't notice, she focused her glare on the laughing sisters. That was when she growled and threw the brush on the ground with a small explosion.

*BOOM*

A cloud of steam erupted from the brush and the sisters stopped laughing. They let out a yell and fell to the ground, which caught the attention of all the guests. After a few seconds, the large cloud of steam dissipated and vanished. In its place stood a seething Cinder, who stared daggers into the sisters. But once she calmed down, Cinder looked at her hands in confusion. She could see an orange glow on both of her palms, which was the same color as her Aura.

"Did I just-?"

Cinder didn't finish her question, since she was grabbed by the Madame and dragged into the kitchen. Once they got there, Cinder felt a shock to her throat, and she fell to the ground.

"Now, that wasn't very ladylike, was it?" the Madame asked. She kept her finger on the remote for a few more seconds before she stopped. Once she did, Cinder began to breath and try to use her Aura to heal herself "I suggest you remember your place."

"..."

Cinder knew what the woman was referring to, and it was perhaps the thing she hated the most. When she was punished for the first time, the Madame said something to Cinder and told her that she was supposed to repeat it in times like this.

But Cinder didn't want to.

"Say it!"

*ZAP*

The Madame pressed the button again and Cinder continued to spasm. Once the electricity died down, the young girl uttered a phrase she despised.

"Without you... I am nothing."

After she said this, the Madame let her go to resume her chores. During the half hour she spent cleaning the floors, Cinder thought back on how she managed to burn her brush and cause an explosion. She remembered feeling very angry, and then she felt warm. Not just in her hands, but all across her body.

Cinder had never felt that warm before, and all she could think about was how good it felt. She decided to test it again, but in a more private area. So she moved to the backroom of the lobby, where multiple crates and rags were resting. When Cinder made sure that she was alone, she looked at her hands and concentrated on the warm feeling she felt earlier.

And like Magic, the warmth and color returned to her hands.

"It's real!" Cinder said with a gasp. She wasn't sure what had caused the explosion in the first place, but now she was proud to see that it came from her. Maybe she was still strong after all.

After she stared at her hands and embraced the warmth she created in the cold room, Cinder was able to put two and two together. She was able to see that along with her Aura, she had just unlocked her very own Semblance. Cinder's books told her and Eren that a Semblance was a special ability someone could use with an Aura, and that it could help with defense and offense. So it was natural for Cinder to think of ways she could use her Semblance to fight against her cruel taskmasters.

Unfortunately for her, they attacked first.

*BAM*

Cinder felt two hands on her back push her forwards, which caused her to fall on the cold hard ground. And when she did, Cinder felt a hard kick to her stomach. The attack made it hard for her to breathe, but she looked up to see that the brunette girl was standing above her.

"Mom might be done with you," she said as she stared daggers at Cinder. "But I'm not." She and her sister were looking for a chance to get even with Cinder after she attacked them. The blonde teenager was helping some of the guests, but she would be joining her sister soon.

Cinder couldn't stand up after she had been kicked, but she grabbed the girl's foot before she could be kicked again. When she did, Cinder managed to activate her Semblance once again and burned the girl's ankle. Unfortunately, her grip wasn't very strong.

The teenager was able to move her leg back after she screamed in pain. "Now you've done it," she said as she kicked Cinder's face.

*BAM*

The kick was strong enough to make Cinder bleed, and they got worse as they went on.

*BAM*

*BAM*

*BAM*

*CREAK*

The sound of a door opening behind her made the teenager stop kicking Cinder and turn around. Cinder was badly hurt and bleeding from her mouth, but she was able to see who was at the door. Both of the girls were expecting either the Madame or her second daughter, but the sight of a young boy caught them both by surprise.

"He... Hello?" the boy timidly said.

The brunette quickly stood in front of Cinder to block the sight of her condition. "What are you doing?" she asked the boy. "You're not allowed back here!"

Despite her efforts to keep Cinder out of view, the young girl could see that someone was in the room as well. Her face was badly bruised, but she recognized the boy the second she saw and heard him.

"E... Eren?" Cinder uttered as she stared at her friend.

The boy at the door was indeed Eren, who had finally found the place he had been looking for. The path that Darkness allowed Eren to see had proved useful, even though it took him a while to get here. He had to sneak into the backroom, past the Madame who had initially brought him to Atlas, but his goal was nearly complete.

Now he just had to get Cinder out of here.

The brunette teenager was surprised that Cinder knew the boy, but she began to make sense of this. "Oh, you know each other," she said as she walked towards Eren. "Mom said she was bringing two of you. She already went back for you, huh?"

Eren looked at the taller girl and spoke with a timid voice again. "I... I couldn't be all alone," he said. "I had to come here."

The teenager was pleased to see that Eren had apparently learned his place. She was sure that her mother had taught this lesson, and that it began by letting him see what would happen if he was alone.

Cinder, on the other hand, knew that Eren couldn't be here.

"Eren, no," she whispered as she tried to get back on her feet. She was happy to see him again, but she didn't want him to make the same mistake she did. And she didn't want him to be trapped like she was.

"Don't worry about her," the girl said to Eren. She was standing close to Eren now, but she refused to kneel to his level. "A couple of crates knocked her over, I came back here to help."

This was obviously a lie, but Eren didn't point this out. "That's nice of you," he slowly said. He then moved his right hand towards the back of his pants.

The brunette smiled a false smile as she prided herself in covering up what was really happening. As she looked at Eren, she couldn't help but notice that he wasn't wearing a necklace like Cinder was. Her first thought regarding this was to make sure Eren got one of his own.

"Let's go talk to Mom," the teenager said. "We'll get some help for Cinder."

Eren looked up at the girl and made eye contact with her. "Thank you..." he slowly said.

*SHICK*

"But no thank you."

When Eren formed a scowl at the teenager, he took out a knife he stole from a table he passed and stabbed it in the girl's side. He knew that she had been hurting Cinder, and Eren decided to make sure she couldn't do it again.

The girl coughed up blood as Eren quickly pulled out the knife. She immediately grabbed her wound as she fell backwards, but nothing was going to stop the bleeding.

*CRASH*

The girl knocked over a crate when she moved back, and she fell with it. When she did, Eren took his chance and stabbed the girl in the neck, which was the fatal blow that ended her life.

*SHICK*

"..."

After a few seconds of staring at the body, Eren knew that the girl was dead. His ruse of acting innocent and shy had worked, just like it did when he killed two of the people that kidnapped Mikasa as a child. Now that his plan had worked, Eren rushed over to Cinder to make sure she was okay.

"Cinder," Eren said as he helped her stand. "Are you okay?"

Cinder was able to use her Aura to heal her wounds. It had shattered since she wasn't used to using it on so many injuries, but she wasn't in pain anymore. Despite this, Cinder began to cry as she realized that she had been saved.

And she had gotten her wish of seeing Eren again.

"Eren!" Cinder cried as she wrapped her arms around her friend. Eren reciprocated the hug and felt relieved that he wasn't too late to save Cinder. Both of them knew that she was safe, and that they would be leaving soon.

But not before Cinder spoke her mind.

"Eren, I... I'm so sorry!" Cinder said as she held her friend tighter. "I-I should have stayed with you! I shouldn't have listened to that woman, I didn't mean to leave you! I was scared, and I didn't know she wanted me to-!"

"It's okay, it's okay!" Eren assured her. He let go of Cinder so he could look at her. "She knew you were scared, and she used that to make you do what she wanted."

"I know, I know!" Cinder knew that she had been tricked, and she still felt stupid that it happened. She believed she should have known better, but her wish and dreams for a better life had gotten the better of her. "I'm sorry, Eren."

"It's not your fault." Eren knew that Cinder was a victim of manipulation, that she wouldn't have done what she did if she knew the truth. And based on what he saw just now, Eren knew Cinder was a victim of torture. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm better now," Cinder insisted. When she saw the bloody knife in Eren's hand, Cinder looked at the girl he had attacked. "Is... Is she dead?"

Eren looked at the body once again. "...Yeah. Yeah, she's dead."

"Good."

"..."

As Darkness predicted, Cinder grew to hate the three women in the short time that she had been at the Glass Unicorn. She was willing to hurt them if she needed to defend herself or try to escape again, so she didn't mind that Eren took it a step further.

He did her a favor.

"What happened to you?" Eren asked. He knew that Cinder had been beaten, but he didn't know everything that happened as he made his way here. "Is that some kind of uniform?"

Cinder looked at the plain white clothes that had been dirtied and stained with blood, and she could confirm that this was true. "I'll tell you later," she said. "I think we should go."

"Right," Eren agreed. He didn't regret killing the girl who was hurting Cinder, but he knew that being here longer was a bad idea. He looked around the room, but he didn't see another exit. "We'll have to go back the way I-"

"Hey, what was that sound?"

Eren and Cinder froze when they heard another voice outside the room. Footsteps followed closely, and they were heading straight for the door.

"Hide!" Eren whispered as he took Cinder's hand. He guided her behind a crate that was close to the door so he and Cinder could make a run for it.

*CREAK*

When the door opened, the Madame's second daughter stepped inside. She had heard the sound of one of the crates falling, so she came down to investigate. She was expecting to see Cinder with a mess on her hands, something that her mother would have to deal with.

What she saw instead was the last thing she expected to see.

"Oh, my God!" the blonde teenager screamed as she ran to her sister. She began to panic as she desperately tried to wake her sister up, but all the girl managed to do was spread blood on the floor and on her hands.

Eren saw that the door had closed behind the girl after she ran inside. Since she swung it open the moment she saw her sister on the floor, the door hit the wall and the force made it close again. Eren knew that opening it again would draw the girl's attention, so he refused to move until she did.

Cinder, on the other hand, had a different plan.

"RRAAAHHH!"

The blonde girl looked up just in time to see Cinder angrily run towards her with Eren's knife in hand. He had put it on the ground when he hid behind the crates, so Cinder picked it up and decided to finish what Eren began.

*SHICK*

The knife had found its way into the girl's chest and she joined her sister on the ground.

Eren was surprised to see that Cinder had picked up where he left off. After all, most children would have very strong sentiments against committing murder. But one look at Cinder and listening to her screams made Eren see that Cinder had made up her mind.

"You're a monster!" Cinder yelled as she began to stab the girl again and again. "You're all monsters! You're just like the Grimm! And this is what happens to the Grimm!"

Eren's eyes widened.

"You're an animal, you hear me?! No! You're a disease! This is what you get, you son of a bitch! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR BEING WHAT YOU ARE! DIE! DIE!"

Eren felt a strong sense of déjà vu as he watched Cinder kill the girl. This was just like the day he rescued Mikasa from the kidnappers, how he cursed them for being the kind of people they were. Only now, Eren wasn't the only one who saw these girls as monsters. Whatever they did to Cinder had affected her greatly, and it caused her to give in to a natural impulse she had.

Eren couldn't fault Cinder for feeling like this. He may have grown and matured, and he may have stopped acting on impulse... but he shared the same feelings as her.

"NOOOO!"

Eren and Cinder looked to see that the Madame who brought them to Atlas was now in the room. She had heard all of Cinder's screams from the lobby and now she saw the young girl covered in the blood of her daughter.

"What have you done?!" she screamed as she looked at the bodies of her children. Even though she wouldn't admit it, a part of the Madame told her what had happened. Namely, how the things that were done to the child were monstrous; and now they created a monster.

The Madame tried to stop the monster by pulling out her remote. As soon as she pressed the button, Cinder moved to the ground and grabbed her neck in pain. Electric shocks began to travel throughout her body, just as they did countless times before.

But this time, Eren had come to her rescue again. He had emerged from behind the crates to smack the remote out of the woman's hand, which gave Cinder a moment of reprieve. The Madame kicked the angry boy to knock him away, and then she ran to retrieve her remote.

When she saw what had happened, Cinder ran to the Madame and grabbed her throat. She had to jump to reach this height, but she had the woman's throat in both of her hands.

*ZAP*

*ZAP*

*ZAP*

The Madame was able to press the remote and shock Cinder multiple times, but the child's grip didn't loosen.

"You were wrong," Cinder said as she choked the Madame. She turned back to Eren. "Without you... I am nothing." The Madame kept gasping for air as she desperately tried to control her slave with the collar. But Cinder merely embraced the pain as she looked back at the Madame. "But... because of you... we are... everything!"

*CRACK*

The Madame's body finally went limp. As the remote fell from her grasp, Cinder stopped feeling any kind of pain. She didn't feel pain from the collar, she didn't feel pain from the idea of these women hurting her again, and she didn't feel pain from the fear or sadness that she endured.

Instead, Cinder felt relieved and happy that she was free once again. And she was happy to see that Eren was still with her.

Eren was planning on killing the Madame before she could hurt Cinder again. But when he went to retrieve the knife Cinder had dropped, Eren was surprised to see that it was Cinder herself who landed the killing blow. And rather than just being surprised, Eren realized that he was proud of Cinder. He was proud to see that she had let go of her fear and that she had fought to earn her freedom back. He may have started the fight when he killed the first daughter, but Cinder was the one who took back her freedom.

And for that, Eren was proud of her.

"I'm glad you're okay," Eren stated honestly.

Cinder was also glad that she was okay, and free as well. But more than that, she was grateful that Eren had come back and rescued her. She may have killed the second daughter and the Madame, but this wouldn't have been possible without Eren. He saved her life, and he made her feel brave enough to fight.

Cinder quickly pulled Eren into a hug to show her gratitude, and Eren willingly reciprocated it. "We don't have to run now," she said. Cinder squeezed Eren a little tighter as these words lingered in her head. She didn't need to be afraid of the Madame anymore, and Eren didn't need to worry about being stuck in Atlas anymore. Nothing was going to stop him or Cinder reaching Argus now.

And she was right; they didn't have to run away.

"That's all you'll ever do."

Cinder and Eren jumped at the sound of a new voice. Letting each other go and turning back to the door, they saw an armed man staring back at them. He had a blue and bronze outfit with a pauldron on his left shoulder. He was also drawn to the sounds and screams coming from this room, and the sight of multiple bodies made him reach for the weapons on his back.

Cinder immediately moved back. "Eren, he's a Huntsman," she said in fear. "And he has weapons."

Eren slightly gasped when he heard this. He had read about Huntsmen and Huntresses' in Cinder's books. Namely, how they were known for fighting Grimm and being the strongest warriors on Remnant. He was familiar with their strength and mastery over Aura, but Eren wasn't afraid.

The boy simply moved in front of Cinder with his arms extended in an effort to protect his friend. "I told her to do this," Eren lied. "She's my responsibility. Take me instead."

"..."

The Huntsman merely shook his head and moved closer.

Both Eren and Cinder were disappointed to see that their efforts were about to be thwarted, that one of the best warriors on Remnant was standing in their way to freedom. Cinder was afraid once again, since she knew that a Huntsman could kill her in an instant. Eren, on the other hand, knew that there was one thing he could do if he wished to escape. He knew their would be consequences, he knew that he didn't want to do this, but he also knew that he didn't have a choice now.

Turning around, Eren grabbed Cinder's hand. "Cinder, I can get us out of here," he said.

"Kid, don't lie to her," said the Huntsman.

Eren ignored the Huntsman and continued to talk to Cinder. "I can get us out of here, but I need you to trust me."

"Wh... What?" Cinder asked.

"Trust me."

"Step away from her," the Huntsman ordered.

"We can be free," Eren promised. "But I need you to trust me. Do you understand?"

Cinder saw the man approaching closer, as well as the look in Eren's eyes. She knew that doing nothing had gotten her in a bad situation before, so she decided to not make the same mistake again. Instead, Cinder looked at Eren and made her choice.

"...Yes," she said.

"Say the words, Cinder," Eren ordered.

The young girl took a deep breath before she replied. "I trust you, Eren."

"..."

Eren looked down at the small blade in his hand, which he used to cut himself. Once he did, Eren threw the knife away and turned around. "Get out," he said to the Huntsman. "I'm warning you."

"I'm not going to let this go unpunished," the Huntsman said.

"But you're willing to let what they did go unpunished?" Eren pointed back to Cinder. "She knows you're a Huntsman. That means she saw you here, right? And you saw whatever they did to her?"

The man let out a quick sigh. "I'm not saying she got the most... fair treatment," he said. "But that doesn't justify... this."

Eren followed the man's eyes to look at the bodies before him, but he didn't agree. "They were beating her," he argued. "They could have killed her."

Eren's voice and conviction was gradually building up Cinder's confidence and feeling of self-importance, so she argued as well. "And that's not enough to understand?" she asked sarcastically. "How about you try being treated like a slave? How about you try doing all the work here and being tortured when you're not enough?"

The Huntsman sighed again. "It doesn't matter how you try to spin it," he said. "That doesn't-"

"Slave?"

The Huntsman and Cinder looked to Eren, who was starting to grow angry once again. He turned around to look at Cinder and remembered that she was wearing a uniform, of sorts. What she described sounded like what happened at the farm, but it was obvious that Cinder was referring to her time at this place.

Eren knew that nothing good was going to happen here, but he had no idea that was what Cinder went through.

"You were their slave?" Eren asked for confirmation. "That's why she brought us here?" When Cinder nodded, Eren became angry once again. Just as he told Mikasa, Eren couldn't stand the sight of a slave doing nothing but follow orders.

But now, Eren couldn't stand the sight of someone doing nothing to stop this. He hated it so much that he turned around again and spit in the man's direction.

"You're disgusting."

"Alright, that's it," the Huntsman said as he removed two iron maces from his back. "Get out of my way before I make you move."

The threat scared Cinder enough to make her grab Eren's shoulder for security. "Eren?" she asked.

The boy simply turned around and nodded. "It's okay, Cinder," he said. "Everything's going to be okay."

Turning around, Eren raised his fist and sent it towards the man. But as it was midway, red lightning began to form around Eren.

And when that happened, a remarkable transformation began.

"That went well."

"Went well?! That was the most fun I had in months!"

"I must say, even I found the experience to be... different."

"Now that's what I call an initiation!"

A brown haired man wearing a white shirt cut off at the sleeves with a green pin on it was leading three other adults through various halls. One was a pale man with a shaved head in a similar suit, but with red sleeves. The other was a tall woman with brown hair and another white suit, only she had one sleeve torn off and she was wearing sandals. They were all followed by a shorter, younger girl with buzz cut brown hair that had a blonde streak in the middle. Her suit was cut off at the sleeves as well and she was wearing pants that exposed her legs.

"Well... I'm glad I got to see you guys in action," said the younger girl. "Though, based on your reaction time with those Grimm, I think I'm a little faster."

"Not everything is a competition, Harriet," said the pale man. "That's one thing you should remember when you're in the field."

"Aw, come on, Vine!" the large woman said. "Let the newbie have one sure thing!"

"Hate to say it, Elm, but I think Vine's right," said the man in front of them. "You did good, Hare, but competition shouldn't be your top priority."

"Yeah... sure thing, Clover." Harriet looked away for a moment, but turned back once they all entered another room. A large terminal was in front of them, along with a man with black hair in a white overcoat. His coat was over a gray undercoat, black sweater, and a red necktie. He looked at the group of soldiers and saluted them. The soldiers saluted him back.

"At ease," the man ordered. Once the soldiers lowered their arms, their superior officer spoke again. "Clover, I've been keeping tabs on your mission in Mantle. It seems everything went well.

"Yes, sir, General Ironwood. Harriet proved herself to be a valuable asset in the field, and I think it's safe to say you chose a great addition to the team." Harriet smiled at the last part as Clover continued to talk. "I talked with Elm and Vine before coming here, and they support your choice." The other two soldiers nodded in agreement.

"In, that case..." Ironwood began as he walked over to the younger woman with an extended hand. "Harriet Bree, welcome to the Ace-Ops."

As Harriet shook the General's hand, the other Ace-Operatives began to applaud. She looked at them all and smiled, but quickly turned back to Ironwood as he released her hand. "Thank you, sir," she said as she stood at attention. "I won't let you down."

"I'll hold you to that." Ironwood walked over to a computer screen. "Now, the task you performed was Operative Bree's initiation. Your next mission is critical."

Clover stepped forward. "What are our orders, sir?" he asked calmly.

"The Schnee Dust Company is prepared to begin new mining operations out in the tundra. Jacques Schnee has his eyes on several caves that have been reported to hold Dust. What we need now is-"

*REEEE*

An ear-piercing ringing began to fill the room and a red light began to flash. Everyone recoiled at the sound, but they all began to readjust themselves. The large screen behind Ironwood changed from a map of Atlas to a uniformed soldier.

"Sir, we have a situation in Sector Four! Requesting immediateassistance!"

"Situation?" Ironwood asked. He walked closer to the screen and began to press keys on a keyboard. "What kind of situation?"

"There's a Grimm loose in the city! A GIANT Grimm!"

The videocall of the soldier shifted to the left as a new screen appeared to the right. The screen divided into four smaller ones, each showing multiple buildings. General Ironwood had just accessed the military's security cameras across the city. And sure enough, one of them showed a large Grimm, taller than most of the buildings in the city. It was pure black, except for white bones sticking out and red eyes. And it looked... human.

"My God," Elm said as she moved closer to the computer. "What... is that?"

"I've... never seen a Grimm like that before," said Vine.

Ironwood pressed a few more keys on the computer, and his voice began to boom on every radio in the building. "Attention, this is General Ironwood. Any and all troops and airships are to be deployed to Sector Four of Atlas immediately. Repeat, all soldiers and ships to Sector Four immediately." After the radios turned off, Ironwood turned back to the Ace-Ops. "Clover, looks like you'll be staying in the city for now. I'll be joining you on your airship, now let's move!"

"Yes, sir!"

A gust of wind at her face woke Cinder up. She could feel a small cut and blood on her head, which caused her to remember that the last thing she saw was a flash of red light and the ceiling coming down. But rather than being crushed under the rubble, Cinder was protected by something black. It did a good job, since her only wound was a small cut. Cinder couldn't use her Aura to heal the cut, but she was able to look around and see why the wind was blowing on her face.

And what she saw scared the Hell out of the young girl.

Cinder was in the grasp of a large black hand, hundreds of feet above the ground. She followed the large hand, which led to a large arm, and then led to a giant Grimm. Its crimson eyes and sharp teeth stood out and caused the girl to scream in fear. Out of desperation, Cinder tried to break the monster's grasp by pushing on its hand. When that failed, she tried to use her new Semblance to burn its skin. When that failed due to her Aura being broken, Cinder began to panic and hit the fist as she desperately tried to break free.

"Cinder."

The girl stopped punching the fist when she heard the sound of her name. When she felt something warm softly touch her neck, Cinder slowly turned around to see the monster's face close to her. It opened its mouth, which made Cinder try to back away. But rather than placing her in its mouth, the monster moved its lips.

"Trust... me," it said, clear as day.

Cinder's fear disappeared when she recognized those words. The voice was different, but she knew who said those words to her.

"E... Eren?"

The monster nodded once she asked this. To make sure she wasn't hallucinating or going crazy, Cinder looked all over the body to see nothing but black skin. Eren didn't look like a boy anymore; he looked just like a large Grimm. "What... What happened to you?" she asked. "Is this-?"

"I'll... explain later," Eren slowly replied. He suddenly realized how slow the Founding Titan actually spoke. But he knew that he shouldn't be too surprised. After all, the Beast Titan spoke very slowly as well. So Eren simply pointed to the edge of the floating city. "Right now... we need... to go."

Cinder nodded and gave her approval for Eren to lead the way, unaware that he had been leading it for a little while.

When Eren had turned into a Titan, the Glass Unicorn had been completely destroyed. The bodies of its guests and customers were either buried in the rubble or littered on the streets, and Cinder appeared to be the only survivor. Many people were drawn to the sound and sight of explosion, but the sight of the Titan was enough to make them run.

Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to save their lives.

As soon as Eren was free and as soon as he saw Cinder was safe in his grasp, Eren ran across the city. His goal was to search for an exit, and that goal was leading to death and destruction. People at his feet were crushed in an instant, just like they were when Eren commenced the Rumbling. Cars and objects were also destroyed, as well as buildings that stood in Eren's way. The Titan either avoided buildings or hit them with his arm to clear the way, regardless of whether or not people were inside.

When Cinder awoke, Eren had caused enough destruction to see that a possible exit was before his eyes. He knew that he couldn't take an airship now, but the outskirts of the city weren't far away. Eren knew beyond the outskirts was nothing but air and the sky, but he knew that he couldn't stay in the city any longer.

Especially when small airships with guns begins to fire on him.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

The bullets made contact with Eren's skin, but they didn't hurt him. After he put Cinder on his shoulder, Eren attacked back and swatted each airship like they were bugs. Some of them evaded his large hands, but Eren was able to knock a couple out of the sky and send themcrashing into the ground.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The explosions killed even more people below Eren, but he payed them no heed. Instead, he kept running and crushing everything in his path until he reached the outskirts of the city.

Cinder was safe on Eren's shoulder, and she knew that she couldn't do anything to help right now. So instead, she looked back at the burning city and the people who had died. She had to duck her head once or twice to avoid the airships and their bullets, but Cinder didn't turn away from Atlas. This was because she found herself hating the city, hating the people who refused to help her and tried to arrest her for rebelling against people who made her a slave.

Cinder didn't know if she would be willing to hurt people again, since the adrenaline from earlier had disappeared. She wasn't even sure if she would like doing it. But she had to admit that everything that happened had gotten her the freedom she desired.

So the only thing she could do... was keep moving forward. Until she and Eren were free.

Eren's long and destructive trek had led him to a large field that ended with two metal spires in the distance. When Eren first came to this place, he saw this was the final piece of land the city of Atlas stood on. Below it was the tundra, and Eren knew that he would have to run across it to escape this place. But first, he would have to make a dangerous jump and fall miles to the ground. But once he did that, Eren knew that he and Cinder would be free.

So it was worth the risk.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

As he started running on the field, Eren felt something hit his shoulder. After he made sure Cinder was safe on his shoulder, Eren looked up to see two ships in the air. Just like before, these airships appeared to belong to an army rather than a passenger airship that he and Cinder were brought on. The ships passed above him and fired at him once again, but Eren ignored the feeling and continued to run towards the spires. The airships seemed to notice that the bullets weren't having any effect on the beast, so they fired something else instead of bullets.

*WHOOSH*

*BOOM*

Cinder held on to Eren's flesh as tight as she could when she saw and heard loud explosions. She briefly covered her ears from the loud noise, but she was forced to keep her hands on Eren's flesh. "They're firing missiles at us!" Cinder yelled into Eren's ear. "We need to get out of the open!"

"Almost there!" Eren yelled. But just to make sure they would be safe, Eren picked up a large hay bale and quickly threw it at the ships. The pilots managed to dodge it, but they broke off their pursuit. Eren continued his run to the spires, and he was much closer than before. Freedom was just within arm's reach.

"We're here, Cinder! We-"

*BAM*

Eren's body collided into something hard and almost invisible. After he fell on the ground, Eren looked up to see some kind of wall, made of blue light. It disappeared after a moment, and Eren stood up. He punched the spot he just hit, and another light appeared. So, he hardened his skin and punched it again. Same result.

As he punched the wall, Eren didn't notice that Cinder had fallen off his shoulder when he fell. She wasn't hurt, but she noticed that Eren wasn't having any effect on the wall. So she tried to look for a different way to to break the shield.

*BAM*

*BAM*

With each punch, Eren and Cinder noticed the blue light reveal itself over and over again. However, Cinder was able to notice that something else was glowing blue. The metal spire closest to Eren was shining a blue light each time he hit the wall, which gave Cinder an idea. She believed that somehow, through some complex methods, the spires were keeping the shield up. If they were destroyed, then maybe the wall would go down.

"Eren!" Cinder yelled.

*BAM*

"Eren!"

*BAM*

"EREN!"

Cinder had to yell as loud as she could to get Eren's attention, but she finally got it. Eren was surprised to see that Cinder was on the ground, and he felt stupid for not noticing that she had fallen. But when he saw her pointing towards the spire, Eren could see the same blue light on the wall. He too was beginning to understand its purpose, so he started running over to the spire in an attempt to destroy it.

*BOOM*

When an explosion hit the wall, Eren looked to see more airships flying towards him and multiple people on the ground charging at him. He realized he was going to have to fight his way out, but he couldn't protect Cinder at the same time. Cinder seemed to realize this as well, so she moved towards the spire and out of harm's way.

When he was alone once more, Eren charged at the ships and people.

"We're almost to the city limits, General. ETA, one minute."

General Ironwood moved away from the pilot and looked to his team of elite soldiers. "Listen up, everyone," he said. The soldiers stood at attention at the sound of their superior's voice. "Whatever this thing is, it just demolished Sectors Four and Five of the city. Our forces at the city limits are telling us that it's trying to escape by destroying our Hard-Light shields. Our top priority is to make sure the city's shields do not fall and the monster is destroyed. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

The doors of the airship opened a minute later, revealing the Grimm standing over burning airships and dead bodies. But the General and the Ace-Ops didn't waste any time staring at the destruction. Instead, they jumped out of the ship and landed in their own ways. Vine projected two yellow arms to grab the ship and land on the ground, Clover used a fishing rod to latch onto the ship and join him. Elm and Harriet landed less gracefully, as Elm used a giant hammer to destroy the ground below her and Harriet used her Semblance to take off running towards the Grimm at high speed. The rest of the Ace-Ops didn't wait for Ironwood as they followed her.

Harriet ran to a group of soldiers, but quickly moved out of the way as a fist crushed them all. Harriet quickly ran on the Grimm's arm and came close to its face. Once she did, she moved her arms outwards. Two sets of mechanical gauntlets formed over her limbs and she sent a fist close to the monster's eye. She landed more using her Semblance before the Grimm shook its head to knock her off. Harriet fell to the ground, using her Aura to soften the impact.

"Uhh..." she mumbled as she got back up. She landed close to the generator of the shield, but Harriet didn't see Cinder hiding by the metal structure before she took off running again.

To avoid the bullets and missiles, Cinder stayed close to the generator and watched Eren fight the Atlesian army. The Titan's body had holes in it from the bullets and small missiles, but he was more than capable of fighting. He was just about to destroy another airship, but a hammer to his face and two glowing arms over his eyes got his attention. Vine had blinded the Titan while Elm hit it with her weapon, but Eren broke the grip on his eyes by grabbing Vine. Elm's feet glowed as she stood firmly on the Titan's body, courtesy of her Semblance, but Eren was still able to hit her.

"DIE!" Eren yelled as he watched Vine and Elm fall. Pieces of Eren's flesh were stuck to Elm's feet because of her Semblance, but she wasn't standing on Eren anymore. Fortunately, Vine was able to grab her with his glowing arms and land on the ground safely.

Harriet found her way back to the Ace-Ops and General Ironwood, who were staring in awe at the Grimm. "Did... Did that thing just talk?" Elm asked out loud.

Everyone in the group was trying to comprehend what they just saw and heard, and they knew that this wasn't any ordinary Grimm.

"I've counted over twenty of our Mantas and smaller airships destroyed," said Vine. "They're having no effect on the creature."

"I've called for reinforcements," said General Ironwood. "One of our capital ships is en route, the weapons it has will vaporize that Grimm. Until then, we can't allow it to leave."

Clover looked at the Titan to see that the foot soldiers were all being crushed by the Grimm's fists and feet. Their numbers were dropping rapidly, and soon there would be nothing left to stop the Grimm from attempting to escape.

"I need to buy us some time!" Clover yelled as he ran towards the Grimm. When he reached the beast, Clover was able to latch his fishing rod onto its fists and ascend upwards.

Eren had a group of soldiers in the fist that Clover landed on, but he dropped them to focus on the single human climbing up his arm. Eren's experience with Vine and Elm told him that they weren't common soldiers, and he had a feeling that Clover was uncommon as well.

Clover showed the Titan that he was an uncommon soldier by launching his hook at Eren's left eye, which partially blinded him. Eren shook his head as he attempted to shake Clover off, but the Ace-Operative did nothing but hold on as he soared through the air.

This proved to be a mistake, as Eren was able to catch Clover and prevent him from attacking once again. Clover lost his grip on his weapon when Eren caught him, and now he was moving closer to the Grimm's mouth.

"You're not prepared... to fight a Titan," Eren said as he began to crush Clover in his grasp. To finish off the soldier that was trying to stop him, Eren opened his mouth and prepared to devour the Ace-Operative.

*WHOOSH*

*BOOM*

Eren fell over again and dropped the soldier when he felt something strong and powerful hit his chest. As he recovered from the fall, Eren noticed that his chest was burning and a large amount of flesh was missing. Something hot and lethal had just hit him.

The remaining soldiers, General Ironwood and the Ace-Operatives included, looked up to see a much larger airship flying towards the wall. This airship served as a capital ship for the fleet of smaller airships, and it had some of the most advanced weapons Remnant had ever seen. One of these weapons was known as a "plasma cannon," a gun that fired beams of red energy that either damaged or destroyed anything in its path.

In Eren's case, it damaged his Titan strong enough for him to know that he couldn't fight anymore. He couldn't destroy the ship that rested miles above his head, and he couldn't withstand another blast like that.

It was time to leave.

Eren moved to the generator and saw Cinder waving at him with both arms. After he picked her up, Eren hit the generator with all his might. Some of the spire was on the outside of the shield, but the important components were currently being hit by Eren's fists.

"It found one of the generators!" Elm shouted.

"Does this thing take a hint?!" Harriet yelled in annoyance.

"They can't hold out for long against something like that," General Ironwood noted before he pressed on a communication device in his ear. "Blue One, this is General Ironwood. Your first strike was a direct hit, you need to fire again."

"Copy that, sir," a voice said to the General. "But the cannons need to cool down before we can fire again. We're almost ready."

Ironwood had forgotten that the plasma cannon was still in an experimental stage. While it was a powerful weapon, it was known to overheat whenever a red beam fired. The Kingdom's team of top scientists and engineers were currently working on a solution, an upgrade for the cannon. However, they were still months away from a finished product.

Which meant the Titan had all the time it needed.

*BAM*

*BAM*

*BAM*

As Eren hit the generator, he discovered that the red blast he had been hit with had made him lose a lot of strength. It was becoming hard for him to lift his arms and move his body, but it wasn't impossible. The healing factor was able to help a little, but Eren knew that he didn't have much time before the military fired their weapon again.

Eren looked up to see that the shield was still active. However, it was flickering on and off in a few spots due to the damage Eren had inflicted on it. And when he touched it, ,Eren was able to see that he could make the hole expand by pulling on it. The shield wasn't completely down, but it had been weakened to a point where Eren could move.

The soldiers behind him were yelling and firing more bullets at him, screaming how they couldn't let the creature escape. And with the capital ship still in position, it was bound to fire on him once again.

It was now or never.

"We have... to jump," Eren said to Cinder. None of the soldiers could hear him, so they didn't know his plan. They couldn't even see Cinder, who had lost all of her bravery and confidence.

"What?!" she yelled in fear. "No! No, I..." Cinder looked down from where she was standing to see that the ground was miles and miles below her. The height was intimidating, and Cinder was terribly afraid. "I can't do this!"

"Yes... you can."

"..."

Eren knew that he was asking Cinder a lot right now. He knew that she was afraid, that she was probably thinking that the only way she could be safe was by staying where she was. Eren once felt like this on Paradis. He was being chased by the Female Titan in the woods. His fear was almost enough to make him transform and fight, but he ended up doing something else.

At the suggestion of Petra Ral, Eren placed his trust in his comrades. As a result, they were able to protect him and keep him out of the grasp of the Female Titan. That day, Eren knew that he could trust the Survey Corps with his life.

Now he needed Cinder to know that she could do the same with him.

"Trust me," Eren implored. "You... did that before. And now... you can do it... again." Eren looked deep into Cinder's eyes as he spoke to her. "You can... count on me... to keep you safe."

"..."

Cinder was deeply touched by those words. They served a reminder as to why Eren was her friend in the first place. He saved her from the bullies at the farm, he rescued her from the Glass Unicorn, and now he was promising to keep her safe from whatever happened next.

Nobody else ever promised to do this for Cinder. Not even a Huntsman. It was at this moment that Cinder knew that the only person she could rely on was Eren.

"Get back! It's going to fire!"

The sound of the soldiers retreating and the sight of a red light overhead made Eren and Cinder realize that they would have to move now. Eren was ready to jump, and Cinder was ready to trust him once more.

"Do it!" she said as she held on to his large body. "I trust you, Eren! Jump!"

Ironwood pressed his hand against his ear and yelled. "Fire at will!"

*WHOOSH*

*BOOM*

Once again, the red beam from the capital ship made contact with the Titan. Only this time, the Grimm was falling over the side of the floating city.

"..."

Silence fell upon the remaining soldiers as they watched the fields burn and listen for anything else. They couldn't hear anything besides crackling fire and their own heavy breathing, so General Ironwood placed his hand on his ear again.

"Blue One, I want eyes on the Grimm," he said. "Confirm that the target has been destroyed."

"We have eyes sir," the voice said. "The target is on the ground."

"Has it been destroyed?"

"Standby for confirmation."

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Ironwood and his soldiers turned back towards Atlas when they heard more explosions. It was obvious that the Grimm had demolished much of the city, but they didn't know where it had come from. For all they knew, there could be more of those things causing the explosions.

"Clover, take everyone and the Ace-Ops to the city," he ordered. "Make sure those explosions aren't any more Grimm,"

"Yes, sir," Clover said as he led the soldiers away. "Back to the city! Let's move!"

Ironwood was prepared to join them, but the voice in his ear caught his attention.

"General, the target is mobile."

Ironwood quickly moved his hand to his ear when he heard this. "Say again, Blue One," he ordered. "The Grimm is mobile?"

"Affirmative. I don't how but... it's still alive. And it's running across the tundra."

"Is it attacking Mantle?"

"Negative. It appears to be fleeing the Kingdom. Permission to pursue?"

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Ironwood turned around when he heard explosions again. He was sure that they were being caused by the aftermath of the destruction, but he knew better than to take chances.

"Permission denied, Blue One," the General said. "We need eyes up here in case there are more. Move back to the city and report any sightings of more Grimm."

"Copy that," the voice said. "Over and out."

Ironwood finally moved to the nearest airship. He knew keeping the Grimm alive was risky, but he also knew it was better off being far from the Kingdom instead of being here and causing more destruction. And if there were more, Ironwood knew only the capital ship could destroy them.

With any luck, the Grimm would freeze out in the tundra.

Eren indeed survived the blast, and it was all thanks to his Hardening.

He had jumped off the side of Atlas right before the beam fired, but Eren activated his Hardening on his back the second he heard the beam firing. Because of that, Eren wasn't hurt like before and he could focus on keeping Cinder safe.

And when they landed on the ground, Cinder knew that she was wise to place her trust in her friend.

Eren then ran across the vast tundra for what felt like hours. He couldn't see any more airships trying to fire on him, and neither could Cinder. But the both of them focused on getting as far away from Atlas as possible.

Eren stopped running when he reached a place that gave him déjà vu. Just like when he escaped Salem, Eren found himself at the ocean once again. He knew that this ocean wasn't the same one as he swam in before, but he knew that he would be free as soon as he started swimming.

Before he began to swim in the cold water, Eren made sure to place Cinder on his back when he kneeled down. Once she moved and held his hair once again, Eren began to swim towards freedom.

After a few minutes of swimming, Eren decided to check on Cinder. He couldn't exactly do that with his Titan, but he had the ability to kill two birds with one stone. Eren opened his nape and let his torso escape the warm flesh, but kept his arms connected to the Titan's nape. That way, he could still make the body swim. But his main concern was Cinder sitting a couple of feet away from him with her arms wrapped around her legs. "Are you cold?" he asked calmly.

"...My Aura's protecting me from the cold," Cinder said as she looked at her friend. "I'm fine."

"Good. Are you... okay? I'm sorry if I scared you."

Cinder suddenly stood up and walked over to Eren. "I'm not scared. I feel... good."

"..."

Cinder turned around and looked at the vast sea before her. Eren once told her that seeing the ocean was a sign of freedom, and now she understood what he meant. She was out of Atlas with her best friend, and the vast ocean told Cinder that she wasn't going back to that Hell anytime soon.

"We did it, Eren," she said as she looked at the water. "We're free." Cinder then looked down at her hands. "This feels..."

"I know," Eren said. It was easy for him to empathize with Cinder, and he was happy that she was feeling what he felt before. "I discovered what you're feeling a long time ago. This is your freedom, Cinder. You fought for it. You earned it."

Cinder spread her arms out and smiled. She finally had a chance to feel what Eren always talked about. The imagination of the possibilities gave Cinder a new life... but it also gave her questions.

"How long ago?"

Eren suddenly realized what he just said and cursed his stupidity. "Um... before I met you," he quickly answered.

Cinder turned back to Eren when she noticed the hesitation. It was at that moment she noticed something else, something that was rather unexpected. So she moved closer to Eren and sat down once again. "Eren... how long have we been out here?" she asked.

"I don't know... ten minutes?" Eren assumed.

"...How long were you fighting in Atlas?"

Eren was about to answer quickly again, but stopped. He suddenly had a bad feeling as to why Cinder was asking questions like this. But if he lied now, things would get worse. "...A long time," he said.

Cinder knew that this was true, and she knew she didn't need an exact number of minutes. "Do you remember the book about Auras?" she asked. "The one I had at the farm?"

"...Yes," Eren replied.

Cinder moved in for the kill. "It said the longest time anyone's been able to use their Semblance at one time was ten to fifteen minutes. You've been like this for... way over that time. So either you broke the record, or-"

"I never unlocked my Semblance, Cinder." Eren didn't see any point in lying to her.

"..."

Cinder stepped back, shocked that Eren confessed what she realized. But now, this answer just raised more questions. "But how... Eren, what is this?"

Eren exited the rest of his Titan. It would remain afloat for a little while longer, just as long as he didn't leave it alone for too long. "Cinder..." Eren ran a hand through his hair. "There's... There's a lot I should tell you."

Cinder continued to back away, fearing the boy's movement toward her. "Are you... Are you a monster?" Cinder didn't know why she asked that, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Fear had taken over once again.

"Wha... No! Cinder, I'm human. I'm like you." Eren approached closer. "I'm just... different."

"Different?!" Cinder stopped walking. "Humans and Faunus are different! Day and night are different! But you... you're not like me!"

Each word sent a knife through Eren's heart, but he didn't let it show. "...You're right." He sat down. "I'm not like you. Not entirely."

"..."

Cinder kept her distance, but stopped walking. "Then...what are you?"

"I'm human, don't get me wrong. But... I'm not from Remnant."

"..."

"I'm not going to hurt you Cinder. You trusted me before, and I kept you safe." He gestured his hand for her to sit. "Please, trust me again. I can explain everything."

Cinder said nothing, but sat down in front of him. "So... where are you from?"

"A place called 'Paradis,' an island on my world. There, the people of Paradis fought against monsters like the one I made to survive. They're called 'Titans,' and I was one person who could change into one whenever I wanted."

"..."

"Recently, there was a war. A big one between Paradis and the rest of the world. Using my Titan, I... stopped the world. Crushed it, actually. My people won, but I was the final casualty."

"..."

"But rather than going to the other side, I was given the chance to come to Remnant, to do something nobody else could. I was sent here by a god, who said that-"

Cinder stood up and walked away with a chip on her shoulder. "Forget it," she coldly said. "Don't tell me."

"What?"

"Eren, do you honestly expect me to believe that God gave you this power? Or that you're from another world?"

Eren's feelings were hurt even more, this was the last thing he expected to happen. He wasn't lying to Cinder, but he should have realized nobody would believe his story.

And it was even harder since Cinder didn't know who to trust. She had been lied to in Atlas, that things were going to be better. The Madame used her, tried to make her into something she wasn't, and it all started with a cruel lie.

Cinder felt even more sad and distrustful when she learned that Eren had been keeping a big secret from her. And there was no way she was going to believe a story like the one he tried to tell. Now, more than ever, Cinder had enough of people telling lies.

Eren easily understood why Cinder didn't trust him, but he wished there was a way for him to show he wasn't lying.

After a little while, Cinder began to turn back to him. "You can believe whatever you want, I don't care," she began. "Once we get to wherever you're taking us, I'm going to-"

Cinder suddenly saw Eren charge towards her with an open hand, which caused her to back away in fear and close her eyes.

"EREN!"

He grabbed her shirt and closed his eyes.

When the children opened their eyes, they couldn't see the ocean anymore. Instead, they were surrounded in a red landscape with rocks all around. A white tree stood in the background, about ten yards away.

"Wha... What?" Cinder looked around frantically, trying to make sense of what was happening. "What is this place?"

"It's called 'the Coordinate,'" Eren answered. "I'm sorry for scaring you, but I had to show you that I was telling the truth." He pointed to the large tree. "That's how I came to Remnant, how he sent me to your world."

Cinder turned to look at the tree, but she looked back at Eren quickly. "What? Eren, who's 'he?' Who sent you?"

Before Eren could answer, an elated voice called out to the boy. "Ah, Eren!"

Eren looked to his right to see the God of Darkness standing before him, hands behind his back. "Back so soon," he stated. "And I see you've returned victorious."

"That's right," Eren said. "We're on our way to Argus."

Darkness turned his head to see a scared little girl, too shocked to even move. "And this must be Cinder," he said as he moved closer. "Welcome, child. I've been looking forward to meeting you."

"Wait!" Eren stood between Cinder and Darkness, afraid he might try to do something. "That's far enough. I just want her to see that I was telling the truth."

"I see." Darkness began to laugh as he gently pushed Eren aside so he could look at Cinder. "So, you didn't believe him."

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

Darkness held two balls of purple fire in his hand and moved closer to Cinder so she could feel that the heat was real.

"Do you now?"

Cinder finally spoke up after she took a step back. "Eren... is this-?"

Eren stepped towards Cinder again. "Yes, Cinder," he confirmed. "This is the God of Darkness, the one who gave me my new Titan and brought me to Remnant." Eren rubbed the back of his head when he realized how all of this sounded. "I know it sounds crazy, but I-"

"I can assure you, both you and Eren are completely sane," Darkness said to Cinder. Once again, the god gave his full attention to the young girl. "And since he came to your world, Eren has become my hands. My eyes. My vengeance."

"..."

The last word made Cinder fall silent once again, and it also made a chill go up her spine. But Eren wasn't afraid like she was.

"Cut it out!" he said as he stepped in between Darkness and Cinder again. "She knows you're real, just stop!"

"How bold," Darkness said as he lowered his head to Eren. "Do you forget who it was that helped you find her? Surely, I've earned a moment of your friend's time."

"..."

Eren couldn't deny that Darkness was the one who gave him directions to the Glass Unicorn, but he didn't like where any of this was going.

"What else have you told her?" Darkness inquired.

"That I'm from another world, that you gave me these powers, and that you sent me to Remnant," Eren explained. But before he could say anything else, Cinder grabbed Eren's shoulder and turned him around.

"So, it's true?" she asked in disbelief. "He let you turn into... a Titan?"

"Yeah... it's true," Eren admitted. "I wanted to tell you more, Cinder. But I only brought you here so you could see that I was telling the truth. I can tell you everything else... if you want."

"..."

"I can as well."

Eren and Cinder looked up at the god, who simply looked down on the children. "Allow me to show you how Eren came to be here," Darkness offered. "And why."

Cinder was beginning to consider the offer, given everything she had just seen and heard. But Eren's voice caught her attention once again.

"Wait a minute," Eren requested. "Cinder, you don't have to see anything else. If you still want to leave me, I'll-"

"Show me."

"..."

Eren was taken aback by Cinder's demand. He remembered how scared she was, before and after she came to the Coordinate. But now, there didn't seem to be a trace of fear on Cinder's face or in her voice.

And for good reason.

Cinder didn't know what was going to happen to her, but she knew that she was done being afraid. Fear had led her to being manipulated. Then, it led her to doubt her only friend, the person who came to her rescue. But now, Cinder knew that being afraid was only going to lead to more uncertainty and a bad future.

So Cinder was done being afraid. Now was the time for courage.

"Show me what happened to Eren," Cinder demanded. "Show me what he wanted to say."

If Darkness had a mouth, he would certainly be smiling. "As you wish," he said as he lifted his hand.

*SNAP*

Cinder's head became filled with memories and past events from Paradis and Remnant. Darkness showed the young girl Titans, war, and genocide at the same time. And most important of all, Darkness showed Cinder Salem.

A few seconds after Darkness snapped his fingers and Cinder's eyes widened, Eren looked up at the god. "You're welcome," the god said before he disappeared.

The environment soon changed back to the ocean. Once it did, Eren knew that he had to return to the nape of the Titan so he could continue to swim. But he didn't take his eyes off the expressionless girl.

Eren knew Cinder had just witnessed the same things he did and then some. He also knew that any doubt she had before going to the Coordinate was gone. All of this left the girl's questions for the God of Darkness answered. But not her questions for Eren.

"Cinder?" Eren called out after a few seconds. "Are you okay?"

Cinder looked towards Eren and spoke after what felt like an eternity. "...Yeah," she replied. "Yeah, I'm... I'm okay."

"..."

Cinder wasn't hurt or anything, but her mind was racing with a million questions. Rather than asking them at the same time and demanding answers, Cinder calmly approached Eren and spoke to him.

"So... it's true?" she asked. "You're... from another world? And this?" Cinder looked at the Titan. "This is a part of you?"

"...Yeah," Eren replied. "After I... died, Darkness gave me the chance to come here. The first Titan I used was my father's, but this one was made just for me."

"So you died?"

"That's right."

"Died like... really died?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you stay dead?"

Eren was confused and slightly hurt by the sound of the question. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Darkness gave you a choice," Cinder explained. "You could go to... whatever afterlife these Gods made. Why did you come here instead?" Cinder moved close enough to Eren so she could sit down before him. "Is it because your mom is here?"

"Yeah, that's right." Eren stopped swimming and fully exited his Titan. "Darkness told you about Salem, right?" Cinder slowly nodded. "That means you and I are the only few people who know about her. Hardly anybody knows the kind of danger they're in, my mom included."

"..."

When he saw that Cinder understood this, Eren decided to share a bigger picture with her. "I didn't understand his methods at first, but looking back on what Darkness showed us... I think Ozma's plan is to keep Salem at bay," he explained. "He can't kill her, but he can make sure she can't win. Stopping her..." Eren looked down at his Titan. "That's where I come in. I have a plan, but I need to strengthen my new Titan."

Cinder understood, but she didn't nod like before. "How long will that take?" she asked.

"I don't know... a few months? Few years?" Eren put his hands down. "But I have all the time in the world to regain the strength I had on Paradis." Eren took a few steps away from the nape and looked out towards the ocean. "Once I do, I'll stop Salem. I'll free Remnant."

"..."

Cinder stood up with Eren and looked deep into his eyes as he turned around. She understood everything now, and this understanding led to a decision that she made rather quickly. So when aqua and amber met and stood at a standstill, Cinder said one thing to his plan.

"No."

Eren blinked and titled his head. "...No?" he asked.

"No, Eren," Cinder repeated. "You won't stop Salem."

"..."

Cinder moved closer to Eren and blocked his path to the Titan's nape with a serious expression on her face. He immediately became worried about her next move. She continued to move closer, and Eren cautiously balled his fists. He didn't know what was going through her head, but Eren knew that he had to be prepared. He didn't want to hurt her, but he knew that he had to reach the nape of his Titan again.

Fortunately, Cinder gave Eren a good reason to release his fists. She reached out and gently took his hands with a smile.

"We will."

Eren's fists disappeared, but his confusion didn't. Only now, Eren was confused about something else. "Huh?"

"Eren, I'm sorry I didn't believe you," Cinder sincerely apologized. "But I believe you now. And if you're going to fight Salem, I'm going to fight her with you."

Eren immediately stepped back. "Cinder, no. You can't possibly want to do this."

"But I do. I fought with you in Mistral and Atlas, remember? Maybe this is why I learned how to fight."

"But you can stop now." Eren moved a finger at Cinder. "You're free, Cinder. Don't you remember what you told me you were going to do?"

"..."

Cinder remembered.

"You were going to see Vale, do whatever you wanted to do. You can do that now, Cinder. You're free."

"No, I'm not." Cinder gestured her hand to the ocean. "Nobody is. Remnant is living under Salem's shadow, she has the world on her fingertip." She looked back to Eren. "There's no freedom for me without you, Eren. Even after we stop Salem."

"But you're not strong enough," Eren pleaded. "I've seen some of the things Salem can do, she'll fry you before you know what hit you."

"Darkness said you can pass down your Titans," Cinder reminded him. "If you pass one down to me, I can fight with you."

"But-"

"Eren, stop it!" The boy jumped back as she yelled. "I don't care what else you say, I don't care if this might kill me!" She walked closer to him. "Salem's not all high and mighty you might think she is! She's just a girl who's mad at the world because something bad happened to her once upon a time!" Cinder turned into the sky and continued to scream. "Well guess what, freak?! Something bad happened to me too! And you don't see me trying to conquer the world!"

"..."

Cinder took a few quick breaths as she recomposed herself. Turning back to Eren, she made her point again. "I want to help you, Eren. And I don't want to see the rest of the world without you. I mean, sure, you killed people so you could gain your freedom... but I did too." She took his hands again. "Don't you see? I'm just like you, Eren. We're the same."

"..."

She was right. Cinder was just like him. Eren knew this was true, and knew she wouldn't take "No" for an answer.

Eren walked back to the nape of the Titan and began to think. Maybe Cinder could help him fight. She wasn't ready now, but Cinder had the qualities of a warrior: initiative, willingness, and a dedication to see her fights through to the end. Cinder would make all of Eren's friends proud.

But there was one thing stopping him from saying "Yes."

"Cinder, I... I can't ask you to do this," Eren said. "You would have to kill with me, maybe even for me. You'd have to follow me straight into Hell." Eren looked down into the Titan. "I can't... I won't let you be my slave."

Cinder wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm not your slave, Eren. I'm your friend."

Eren's body tightened at the word. Cinder felt this, and had a feeling she upset him. But she continued making her point.

"Eren... I know you had friends back home," Cinder reminded him. "You had a family too. I'm not trying to replace them, but... I still want to be your friend." She felt tears drip onto her hands, but she didn't stop talking. "You were always there for me when I needed you, and now it's my turn to do the same. Because from what I've heard... that's what friends do. You did it for Armin, for Mikasa. And I really want to-"

She stopped talking when she felt two hands take hers. Eren turned his head around and spoke from his heart.

"Mikasa was... important to me," he said. "She was... more than my friend. I'd give anything to be with her right now, to tell her how much I love her, to grow old with her. Everyone else you saw, they were... they are my family." Eren stood up and looked at Cinder. "But you're right, Cinder. That's what friends do." He started to smile again. "And I know I lied, I know I didn't tell you everything, but... I still want us to be friends."

Cinder gasped. She expected to hear more attempts to talk her down, but this was more than she could have expected. She didn't know it before, but a confirmation like this, a confirmation of friendship, was what she wanted all her life.

"You mean it?" she asked with a smile. "Really?"

"Really," Eren confirmed.

Cinder pointed behind her. "Even after what happened in Atlas?"

Eren nodded slowly. "That wasn't your fault, Cinder."

"And... you forgive me? For not believing you?"

"Of course I do. Trust me, I understand." Eren's face became a little red from telling his story. "I, uh... probably sounded crazy, huh?"

"I mean, yeah. A little." Cinder briefly laughed with Eren as they reminisced on how Eren explained himself. "So... does that mean-?"

Eren gripped her hands tighter and smiled. "If you're serious about helping me, being my first Titan... let's do it."

Cinder quickly squeezed his hands in joy. "Let's do it."

Chapter Text

"We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance."

Harrison Ford

"And then what happened?"

"Then we realized that it was time to actually stop learning about the world and start seeing it. After we met Kiyomi Azumabito and talked it over, a few of the Survey Corps left the island for the first time."

"And you went with them?"

"Yeah, I did. Mikasa and Armin came too. And together, we finally got to see the outside world."

"Wow."

After they met with Darkness and talked things over, Eren and Cinder decided that they were going to stay together. They had gone through too much together and seen a lot together to simply go their separate ways now. And after all, Cinder found herself sharing Eren's goal to stop Salem and free the world.

When Eren partially entered his Titan again, something he learned he could do from his experiments on Paradis and the invasion of Liberio, he continued to swim. Not only was he trying to reach the mainland, but he was also trying to get to Argus. Cinder remembered reading that Argus was the link between the Kingdoms of Atlas and Mistral, and that it was a city near the ocean.

If they were lucky, they could find themselves near or at Argus when they reached the mainland.

As he swam, it became obvious to Eren and Cinder that the voyage would take a while. They naturally found themselves passing the time by talking, which led to Cinder confessing that she had only seen part of Eren's memories rather than his entire life's story. Darkness saw fit to explain the major events of Eren's adventures, from the death of his mother to his own demise.

And so, Eren decided to tell his own story in his own words. He told Cinder about his mother and father, his hometown of Shiganshina, and what drove him to joining the Survey Corps. Even before his mother had died, Eren knew he wanted to join the Survey Corps. He told Cinder how he knew that people could eat, sleep, and survive well inside the walls.

And how he could compare that to living like a caged animal.

Cinder knew what it was like to grow up inside a cage, since she could never leave the farm in Mistral. And her recent experiences, however brief, helped Cinder learn the meaning of the term "gilded cage." So it was only natural for her to agree with Eren, especially how stopping the fight against the Titans would mean everyone else who did died in vain.

Eren then shared everything else about himself since the day he graduated from the 104th Training Corps. The first thing he decided to share was how the Eldian writing system was different from Remnant's. Using his own blood, which he discovered to be as black as Grimm, Eren wrote his own name on his hand to show how different it was to Cinder.

Cinder was amazed by the differences, and she quickly discovered that it was only the tip of the iceberg. Walls, Titans, and people that could fly without a Semblance. Cinder was amazed and taken away by it all.

And as she listened to his story, as she listened to everything he lived through, Cinder found herself more and more inspired by Eren. The memories she saw already told her that Eren was a strong and capable warrior, but hearing everything he believed in made Cinder see that she was right earlier; that there was no such thing as freedom without him.

Cinder also believed that in a strange way, Eren's story was the greatest story she had ever heard. She had read multiple books at the farm, but Eren's story felt so real, so extraordinary, so... human. It was long and tragic, but it was also beautiful to her.

The only thing she regretted was that the story had a very sad ending.

"The Rumbling did what it was meant to do," Eren said as he swam. He had finished telling Cinder about how he stayed in Marley, attacked Liberio, and activated the Rumbling that would destroy the world. "Everyone knew that I was the one who started it, that I had killed around eighty percent of humanity."

"..."

Eren had been talking for a while, but he didn't mind sharing his story. It was nice to have someone listen to him, and Cinder had told him multiple times how she understood and agreed with what he believed in.

Eren couldn't remember the last time someone had said such things to him. It was a blessing to hear them.

Only now, at the end, did Eren feel unable to finish his story. "I, uh... I guess you saw the rest of it, right?"

"Uh-huh," Cinder confirmed. "Mikasa and everyone else finally caught up with you and attacked you. And when you died-"

"The power of the Titans died with me." Eren looked ahead once again. "And with Armin still alive, humanity will be saved. I'm sure of it."

"..."

Eren quickly realized how strange that sounded. Not because he didn't believe Armin would fail, but because Eren recently discovered that humanity existed beyond his world. This time, the fate of mankind rested on Eren's shoulders instead of Armin's. And this time, Eren would have to save a world rather than destroy it.

Eren had been so obsessed with finding his mother, with getting out of danger multiple times... he never actually stopped to think how daunting the task really was.

Cinder quickly noticed the discouragement on Eren's face. She knew that his story on Paradis had ended, and now a new one was beginning. Along with the end of the story, Cinder knew that Eren's friendship with everyone had also ended. He could never see Armin, Jean, Connie, Historia, Reiner, and Mikasa ever again. Darkness showed Cinder that Eren was able to say his goodbyes to them, but it wasn't the same as seeing them again.

Cinder almost lost her friendship with Eren, so she knew how heartbreaking such a thing was. To have a friend only to lose them in the end was the worst thing she could imagine, maybe even worse than dying. And more than that, Eren had to die knowing that he would be hated by the rest of the world. Not Paradis, not the Eldians, him. Eren's actions and death made him worthy of hatred.

But not from everyone.

Cinder quickly threw her arms around Eren, despite the fact that he was still attached to his Titan. The strands of flesh were hot and very uncomfortable for Cinder, but she refused to let go of Eren.

"Cinder?" Eren asked without returning the hug. "What-?"

"I'm sorry," Cinder said as she held Eren. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. I'm sorry you had to do what you did alone." Cinder squeezed Eren a little tighter. "And I don't care what anyone might say. Whether it's about Paradis or Atlas, I don't hate you. I will never hate you."

"..."

The child's words awoke something within Eren. As he smiled and returned Cinder's hug, Eren began to feel hope. Not just with defeating Salem or finding his mother, but hope that things would be different on Remnant. Some things were similar, namely the fear people had of the Titans and their destructive capabilities. But Cinder's hug and affirmation of friendship reminded Eren that people believed in him too. And now he had the chance to do good with the power of the Titans.

In a way, Remnant was similar to Eren's world.

"I guess it's true what they say," Eren thought to himself. "The more things change... the more they stay the same."

When Cinder let him go, Eren began to swim again. "Thank you, Cinder," he said. "That was... really good to hear."

"You're welcome," Cinder said sincerely. "I really am sorry, though. I wouldn't know anything about your world, but what you did sounded... hard."

Eren nodded as he swam. "Yeah. It was. The things you need to do are always harder than the things you want to do."

"...Do you regret it?"

Eren turned back to Cinder. "That's... actually a good question. I talked about it with Armin before, that it's... complicated."

Cinder moved closer to Eren and sat down as she listened.

"Even if I didn't know that everyone would stop me in the end... I would have flattened the world. I know that now."

"..."

Eren looked down as he continued to talk. "It's like... I wanted to do it... and I had to do it. At the same time. I don't know why it's like that though. Sometimes I think it's because that's how I was born, and sometimes I remember what the Attack Titan does. It always moved forward, it always strived for freedom." Eren turned around to look at the direction to Atlas. "It alwaysfought for freedom."

Cinder silently turned to Atlas and remembered how Eren fought to escape the Kingdom. And since his goal was to free himself and Cinder, then Eren proved himself to be a worthy inheritor of the Attack Titan.

"So it's hard to say if I regretted it or not," Eren said. "It's even hard for me to determine if I did it of my own free will. I can't tell if everything I did was my own choice or the effects of the Attack Titan. I can't help but wonder... what I am."

"..."

Eren was about to reflect on all of this and find the answer he sought. He would either find out if he really was free or if he was simply deluding himself. If he was a liberator or simply a slave.

But Cinder's words came faster.

"Eren... the Attack Titan is gone," she said. "It died when you died, right?"

As Eren looked up to Cinder, he realized that this was true. But it wasn't as simple as that.

"I-"

"And you believed in everything you said before you got the Attack Titan. Your dad was still alive, and he still had it. You were the one who wanted to join the Survey Corps, not the Attack Titan. Don't you think it would have told your dad to join if it made him a slave?"

"..."

Cinder smiled as she pointed out to the ocean. "Eren, you're even moving forward right now. You're making your own choices, just like you did on Paradis. You're choosing for yourself." Cinder put a hand on Eren's shoulder. "If that's not freedom, then I don't know what is."

"..."

Once again, Eren became grateful for Cinder's presence and her words. Once again, these words were something that he needed to hear. He had known Cinder for a very short time, and she was already proving herself to be a great friend for Eren.

She was one of a kind.

"Besides, look where we are," Cinder said as she turned around again. Her eyes fell on the water before her, which stretched as far as the eye could see. "You were right, Eren. The ocean is amazing. And remember what you said was beyond the ocean?"

Eren looked at the ocean in front of him instead of the spot where Cinder was looking. Once he did, he saw something that made him almost distrust his eyes.

"...Lights?" he asked.

"Huh?" Cinder asked as she looked at Eren. "I don't remember you saying anything about lights. I was talking about-"

"No, Cinder, look!" Eren said as he pointed forward. "Look at those lights!"

Cinder did as she was told and found herself staring at a group of lights. The lights weren't from the moon or the stars, but there was something glowing just behind their reach. Upon closer inspection, Eren and Cinder saw tall structures that shined. It took a couple of minutes for the children to realize that they were buildings that either created the light or reflected them on windows.

This was a city. But not just any city.

"Is that-?" Eren asked.

"I think it is," Cinder replied with a smile. "I think it's Argus!"

Eren didn't think so. He knew so.

After all this time, after spilling so much blood and sweat, Eren had finally reached the city of Argus. Here, he would find the only family he had on Remnant. Eren swelled with pride as he looked upon the city and watched Cinder smile with joy. The first part of his journey was finally over.

The next part, however, would be difficult. Eren knew that he would have to work on training his Titan, he knew that he would have to make it grow stronger and faster to stop Salem. And he knew that he would have to help Cinder the day she would receive a Titan of her own. Cinder had started learning how to fight, but she had a long way to go.

Eren didn't know what his future exactly had in store for him, but he knew that he wasn't going to be alone. With Cinder and his mother by his side, Eren would have something worth fighting for. And he would stop fighting until he won... or died.

Unfortunately, death was starting to grow closer.

"Uh, Eren?" Cinder called to get his attention. "It's starting to get a little wet here."

Eren turned around fast to see what Cinder was talking about. The water he was swimming in was starting to rise on the Titan's back, at a slow but steady pace.

Suddenly, Eren felt the Titan's body begin to submerge into the water. That was when he realized that the water wasn't rising, but rather than the Titan was sinking. It seemed that the damage he took at Atlas had finally caught up with him.

"Oh, no," he whispered as he felt the body sink deeper. "Cinder, come by the head! Grab the Titan's hair!" Cinder did as she was told, but not without question.

"What's going on?!" she asked nervously. "Are you getting tired?!"

"No, it's everything from Atlas! The body's giving up on us!" Eren prepared to move into his Titan all the way. "Hang on, I'll get us to the city!"

Cinder took one look behind her to see that the Titan's body was decaying at a fast rate. In fact, one of its legs was on the verge of falling off. She was on the verge of panicking, but one look towards Argus gave Cinder an idea.

"We won't make it to the city!" she said as she pointed to the right. "Swim towards that cliff!"

Eren looked at where Cinder was pointing to see a cliffside that met a large forest. It seemed to be part of the mainland, but it also looked to be a considerable distance from Argus.

"That cliff's too far from the city!" Eren argued. "If I can just-"

"Eren, your leg is about to fall off!" Cinder pointed out. "We don't have much time!"

"..."

Eren turned around one last time to see that Cinder was right. Black blood, steam, and flesh were all in the ocean behind him. The healing factor was trying to salvage his body, but all the swimming had only made healing impossible. And with the multiple holes in his chest, Eren realized that the Titan was sinking at a very fast rate.

The cliff was the only chance at survival.

"Okay, hold on!" Eren said as he fully rejoined his Titan. Once he did, Eren swam as hard and as fast as he could. His arms crashed into the water as he moved, and his legs were also helping him move faster.

But not after they fully left his body.

Cinder nearly slipped as Eren's backside moved deeper into the water, but she was able to catch herself. However, swimming even further would only make the inevitable come faster. Fortunately, Eren could see that he was close to the shore, and it was possible for him to make the rest of the trip.

But not from inside a Titan.

Eren partially emerged from his Titan and looked to Cinder. "The body's done for," he said. "We'll have to do the rest ourselves."

"Ourselves?" Cinder nervously repeated. "But... Eren, I can't swim!" Given that she had never been to a body of water before tonight, Cinder had never received any swimming lessons.

"It's okay!" Eren said as he finally abandoned from his Titan. "Here, watch me!"

"..."

Eren was expecting Cinder to say that she didn't know how to swim. Not many people on Paradis knew, since the ocean was outside the walls. As part of his training, Eren was forced to learn how to swim in the rivers and ponds inside the walls. According to Instructor Shadis, a soldier had to be prepared for anything.

And so, Eren used the remaining time the Titan had to teach Cinder what he knew.

"Just reach out, and pull back," Eren instructed as he swam near the sinking Titan. The instructions and demonstration combined together to give Cinder proper instruction. "See? Reach out, and pull back."

"..."

Cinder carefully watched Eren as the Titan sank deeper into the water. When it had reached her knees, Cinder knew that she had to stop being afraid and trust Eren once again. And so, she gently lowered herself into the ocean and kept her head above the water.

"Okay, you're doing great!" Eren said. "Now reach out and pull the water back!"

Cinder did as instructed and found herself moving in the water. She inadvertently splashed some of it on her face, but Eren showed her how to move her arms in the water. And in no time at all, Cinder began to swim with Eren towards the shore.

As Eren predicted, he and Cinder were close enough to the shore to make the swim themselves. However, Eren realized too late that it looked closer when he was inside his Titan. So the rest of the swim was long and arduous, and Eren had to grab hold of Cinder when she felt her energy leave her.

But eventually, the duo found themselves right at the base of the cliff. As soon as they did, Eren and Cinder were forced to give in to exhaustion and fall into a deep sleep.

Ever since Eren arrived at the world of Remnant, he had only one goal. He was aware that the mission given to him by the God of Darkness was to defeat Salem, but that wasn't Eren's current goal. His goal was to find his mother, who had miraculously been brought to Remnant before him. And from the moment he laid eyes on the distant city of Argus, Eren knew that he would turn it upside down until he found her.

But little did he know was that she was going to find him instead.

"Do you really have to be special? Do you really need people's recognition? I don't think so. At the very least, not when it comes to this child... He doesn't need to become great. Why would he have to be better than everyone else...? Just look at him... Don't you see how cute he is? He's already great. Because he was born... into this world."

*BEEP*

*BEEP*

*BEEP*

*BEEP*

*CLICK*

The sound of an alarm clock had awoken Carla from sleep. When she turned it off, her hazel eyes turned towards the window and the sunny day before her. The sights, the warmth, and the recollection of a dream she just had were all enough to make Carla smile.

"A good dream," she said as she got out of bed. "Let's hope today's just as good."

Carla soon moved into a morning routine of making her bed, changing her clothes, and fixing herself a quick breakfast before she left her home. In the city of Argus, Carla lived in an apartment complex a little different from the other buildings. Most of the residential areas were made of brick and joined together, but she lived in a slightly taller building with the exterior being made mostly of windows. One could see the building material dividing the windows from each other, but the first thing one would notice when looking at the building was the windows.

However, Carla knew that she would not be living here for much longer.

As she stepped into the kitchen and made herself some coffee, Carla looked upon a vast amount of cardboard boxes stacked up and scattered across the area. The sight of these boxes reminded Carla that her days in Argus were limited, that she would be leaving very soon. She wasn't being forced out or evicted, but a new chapter in her life had just begun; a chapter that would take her far from Argus.

Carla still had a little time left to live in Argus. Work, on the other hand, would be ending today.

After Carla finished her coffee and a small bowl of cereal, she stepped out of her apartment and made her way to the exit. Once she did, Carla welcomed the warm sunny day and made her way to a trolley car. This was the main method of transportation in Argus; a trolley car connected to rails on the ground and cables overhead would move up and down the streets taking passengers wherever they needed to go.

Carla's commute wasn't very long, and she would normally pass the time by looking at her Scroll. Today, however, she looked upon the scenery of Argus. This would be one of the last days she would see its mighty wall and vast ocean, as well as the airships that flew overhead. The city was a joining force between the Kingdoms of Mistral and Atlas, which was why there was an Atlesian military base near the ocean with multiple ships. Carla had lived in Mistral all of her life, whether it was Argus or her hometown. She had visited Atlas before, but it wasn't the type of place she would like to stay at.

Mainly because its emphasis on military strength and life was too strong. Carla always preferred the simplicity towns and places that Mistral had to offer.

One these places was the multi-story building that Carla had arrived at.

Carla had been to this place multiple times, since it was her current place of employment. The name of the building was Glory Dawn, and it functioned as a medical clinic to the city of Argus. Most people would describe Glory Dawn as an "urgent care," a place that focused on the delivery of urgent ambulatory care outside of an emergency department one would see at a hospital. It had also earned a reputation of bringing in and caring for children who had lost their homes and families to accidents or Grimm, children who were abused both physically and mentally, and children who lived on the streets their whole lives. It wasn't exactly an orphanage, but a place of care and healing for everyone. Healing was either long or short, but everyone who left the place would always feel better than they did when they arrived.

Carla had been working at Glory Dawn for years; it was the main reason she chose to live in the city of Argus. She wasn't a nurse or a doctor, but her role at Glory Dawn was vital. She worked in management and administration, and it was her responsibility to oversee the general administration of the building and other provider facilities. She was a part of a team whose central goals were to prioritize patient safety, as well as to ensure the financial and operational sustainability of Glory Dawn.

Carla wasn't the leader of this team, but she had earned a reputation of being one of the best members. Her personable attitude made her well-known among the staff, and her work ethic was especially helpful to the patients and staff alike. She wasn't knowledgeable in medicine, but she made sure the patients had everything they needed. It was this work ethic that made Carla nearly irreplaceable.

So everyone was sad to know that today would be her last day of working here. To lighten the mood, the leader of her team arranged a little going away reception for her.

That was how Carla found herself talking amongst her coworkers in a room with a banner and multiple snacks and drinks. The nurses and doctors were mostly busy, but they were able to spare a few minutes so they could say goodbye.

*DING*

*DING*

*DING*

Everyone turned to the center of the room to see a man named David Gelb standing with a glass in hand. He was the leader ofGlory Dawn's administrative team, the man who hired Carla in the first place. Once he had everyone's attention, he spoke with a natural authoritative yet humble voice.

"Well, I guess this is one way to break up the day, huh?" he asked sarcastically. Everyone laughed at the joke before he spoke again. "I know we all look happy, but I think speak for all of us when we say we're gonna miss Carla."

Everyone in the room turned their eyes to Carla, who smiled and briefly waved at her friends and colleagues.

"Glory Dawn wasn't exactly in its infancy before you came along, Carla," David continued. "But boy, did we grow fast. Your eye for details and work ethic saved our skin more times than I can count, but I think I know what we're gonna miss most." David briefly chuckled to himself before he continued. "It took me a while, but I think I figured out what it is that we and the patients like about you. The way you've been working, it's like... you have a mother's touch, you know? Calm, but efficient. You just know how to set things straight. You know what's what, and that's that. I just hope that touch doesn't leave with you."

Everyone began to applaud and invite their colleague to give a brief speech. And so, Carla stepped forward and nodded to her boss with a smile.

"Thank you, David," she said gratefully. "You know, I haven't actually thought about it until now, but that might be a good way to think about it. I mean, I've had a few days when I've told myself 'Oh, my Gods, I'm turning into my mother.'"

Everyone laughed once again before Carla continued.

"But it wasn't all bad. My parents taught me everything they knew before I came here, so it all came in handy. And honestly, I didn't think I'd make it this far." Carla looked at her hands and fumbled them a bit. "I'm sure you're all aware that I'm one of the few who's not a native to Argus. And that I grew up outside the capital of Mistral. Not a lot of people leave the villages, and I had a feeling that I would be like them." Carla briefly chuckled. "A part of me always thought that I was going to be just a housewife or a waitress at the very least. Who knows? Maybe I was in another life."

Laughter filled the area once again, and Carla naturally joined in before she shared the rest of her story.

"But no, my parents had other ideas. They were able to afford an education beyond the outskirts, along with everything they taught me about management back home." Carla raised her glass. "I know you didn't know them very well... but my parents taught me that the sky was the limit. Even for someone like me. And all of you showed me what I could do with what I learned. So here's to them... and to all of you."

It was true that nobody knew Carla's parents, but that didn't stop them from joining in her toast.

"Cheers!"

With the speech now over, Carla rejoined her closest friends.

"Great speech, Carla," said Felicia, a woman with blonde hair. "Your parents would be proud."

"Yeah," said Miguel, an older man with graying brown hair. "Uh, what did you say they did again?"

"Well, it's actually what I'll be doing now," Carla explained. "I'll be taking over their farm back home."

"Farming, huh? Never took you for a farmer."

"I wasn't. That was mostly my dad. He worked the fields with all the help he hired. My mom was the brains of the business, and she made it her mission to teach me everything she knew."

"Wow, I guess David wasn't kidding about the mother's touch," Felicia joked. "You nervous at all?"

"Well, that's what I was saying earlier," Carla replied. "I was a wreck when I came here. I always kept telling myself that this was a mistake, that I should have just stayed where I was back home. But looking back on it all, I think I really grew here. I mean, I'm looking forward to going back home, but everyone here helped me grow. That I can actually do this, you know?"

"That's great," said Miguel. "And by 'everyone here,' I'm sure you're just talking about me and Felicia, right?"

"Says the guy who kept forgetting to mail our checks the first month he came here," Felicia joked.

"Be nice," Carla said after she stifled a laugh. "We all had to learn everything here." Carla looked out the window. "I'm just happy I'll be taking what I learned back home."

"Right," said Felicia. "As long as you're not letting anyone be a Huntsman or Huntress, right?"

"Oh, Gods, no."

Everyone laughed at the joke. Carla always expressed her disinterest in being one of the people who risked their lives fighting the Grimm, despite the fact that it kept everyone safe. In her mind, Argus and her hometown were the safest places she knew.

There wasn't a need to risk anything.

"Uh, I think we'll be seeing a lot of 'em soon," said Miguel. "I mean, with what happened in Atlas last night?"

"Unbelievable," said Felicia. "And here I thought it was the safest place in Remnant."

Carla was the only one who wasn't following the conversation. "What do you mean?" she asked calmly.

"You didn't hear?" Miguel asked. "Atlas was attacked last night."

"What? Wait, you mean Mantle?"

"No, the city of Atlas," said Felicia. "I heard a lot of Grimm came out of nowhere and attacked it on the inside."

"No, you got it wrong," said Miguel. "It was just one Grimm. That's what the news said."

"One Grimm? Okay, let's not forget what the news showed us. There's no way a single Grimm could have done all that."

"Wait a minute," Carla said. "So the city, the floating city, was attacked by Grimm?"

"Yeah, it was all over the news," said Miguel. "Crazy stuff, you should check it out."

"Yeah... I'll do that." Carla looked past her friends to see that everyone was starting to leave. "But I looks like that'll have to wait."

Felicia turned around while Miguel looked at a watch he was wearing. "Yeah, we should probably get to work," he said. "Good party, though."

"Yeah," said Felicia. "Don't forget to say goodbye to us, Carla. You know, before the day's over."

"Don't worry, I won't," Carla replied. "I'll see you later."

As she walked through the halls and towards her very own office, Carla began to think of a multitude of things. First off, the idea of the Grimm attacking Atlas was intimidating. So much so that Carla believed that moving back to her hometown would be for the best. The farther away she was from Atlas, the better.

The second thing Carla thought about as she arrived at her office was how touching David's speech was. She knew her work at Glory Dawn was important, but it was always better to hear how much she had been appreciated for being who she was and doing what she was doing. Once upon a time, she would have said work like this was impossible for her. But she overcame this belief with time, and soon she would be taking what she learned back home.

The last and most important thing Carla thought about was something that David said; about how her work ethic almost had a mother's touch to it. Carla agreed, but not because she applied what she learned from her own mother.

Carla was a rather special person. Not just because of what she did, but also because she had a secret. Her secret wasn't a crime or something she was worried about coming out, but it was something that most people wouldn't believe or understand. Carla was someone who either enjoyed or suffered from extreme dreams. The dreams were in great detail, and they all seemed to center around Carla herself. Most of them were good dreams, but Carla always suffered from a recurring nightmare about a monster that Remnant had never seen.

Her dreams had affected her since youth, and it had gotten to the point where they were forced to rely on sleep medication and seeing a specialist. Unfortunately, the specialist's answers only raised more questions for Carla. But eventually, the dreams became less frequent and more tolerable.

Before this happened, however, Carla found herself relying on a trick, of sorts. A coping mechanism. This was easy because her dreams seemed to focus on one other person besides herself. Every time she dreamed, Carla would always be with a little boy. She would always be caring for him, no matter what he did or said. Because of this, Carla found herself linked to the boy, she began to have a connection with him.

It was easy, since the boy always referred to her as "Mom." In the dreams, Carla took this role very seriously, and found herself still caring about the boy after she woke up. Because no matter what, he would always be a part of her.

The life she had in her dreams, to be exact, would always be a part of her.

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

Carla snapped out of her daydreams when she heard knocking at her office door. "Come in," she quickly said. The door opened to reveal a man around the same age and height as her, but he had red hair and green eyes. He was wearing a white coat over his shirt and pants and he looked at Carla with a neutral expression.

"Hey, Carla," the man said calmly. "Think you could help us with something real quick?"

"Of course," Carla said. "What is it?"

"Yeah, here's the thing. We got a couple of new patients earlier today. Someone found two kids at the point of exhaustion come out of the woods."

"Two kids?" Carla didn't even know who they were, but her heart was already breaking. "Oh, no. Grimm survivors?"

"We don't know. Hira was supposed to find out, but I think she only made things worse."

"Why, what happened?"

"..."

A few minutes ago

It was true that two young children had been brought to Glory Dawn. Eren and Cinder woke up on the beach beneath the cliff they swam to, but they were still incredibly exhausted. And scaling the cliff to begin their journey to Argus was even harder. Eren's Titan powers had healed any wound he received last night, and Cinder's Aura did the same for her.

Alas, an Aura or Titan's powers couldn't prevent physical exhaustion. In fact, over-reliance on both would only increase exhaustion.

That was how Eren and Cinder once again passed out, but they were at the edge of the city this time. They were found by two patrolling officers, where they were immediately taken to Glory Dawn for help. They assumed they were either runaways or survivors of a Grimm attack, but they decided to let the proper specialists determine that.

Cinder was the first to wake up, and she immediately took a liking to her surroundings. Instead of a broken barn or a cold backroom, Cinder found herself on a soft bed in a white, sunlit room. There was one window behind her, which was where the sunlight was coming from. She saw that there was another bed right beside her own, which was where Eren was resting.

"Eren?" Cinder called out as she began to get out of the bed. "Eren, are you-?"

*CLICK*

The sound of a door opening caught Cinder's attention. She turned fast to see that a woman had entered the room. She wasn't like any woman Cinder had seen before. Rather than dirtied clothes or the clothes of a wealthy-socialite, this woman was dressed in a light-blue shirt and pants. She was also wearing gloves and a mask over her face. Right behind her was a tray on wheels that contained a variety of tools. The first tool was a clipboard with two pieces of paper on it.

"Your name?" the woman asked calmly.

"Wh... What?" Cinder asked.

The woman didn't look up at Cinder. "What's your name?"

"Oh. Um... Cinder."

The woman wrote on the first paper before she turned to the next one. "And his name?"

"Eren. Eren Yeager."

This time, the woman looked up at the children. "His name is 'Erin?' That's a girl's name."

Cinder knew Eren would be unhappy to hear that. "No, that's his name. Spell it with a second 'e.'" The woman looked down and scribbled the name on the paper. Once she was done, Cinder asked another question. "Where are we?"

"Where we can help you," the woman replied. "How long were you out in the woods for?"

"I... I don't know. An hour?"

The woman sighed as she looked at the tray. "That's still a long time. Who knows what you could have caught on your way here? And that close to the Grimm?"

"We weren't close to any-"

"Never mind that." The woman picked up a needle from the tray. "I need you to hold still."

The sight of a needle immediately caused Cinder to become afraid. "What is that?" she asked. "What are you doing?"

The woman was planning to take a blood sample from Cinder, but she didn't say anything about that. "Hold still," she repeated as she moved closer. "And this will be as painless as possible." She immediately took hold of Cinder's arm, but the child resisted.

"Wha-No! No, stop it!" Cinder screamed as she fought against the iron grip. "Get away!"

"We need to find out how sick you are!" the woman argued. "Now hold still!"

"I'm not sick! You're hurting me!"

"That's because you're fighting me!" The woman was acting rather impulsive for someone who was supposed to be helping Cinder, but she kept telling herself that it was for a good reason. "You're worse than my daughter," she muttered under her breath.

For what felt like the millionth time, Cinder had met someone older and stronger than her who wished to do her harm. It seemed to be a pattern of sorts, and Cinder didn't know if that was her fault or the world's. Fortunately, her continuous screams and fighting had awoken her best and only friend.

A friend who recognized the sounds of despair and quickly moved to action.

"Hey!" Eren screamed as he grabbed the tray. The woman had made the mistake of keeping the tray close to him, and now he used it to swing at the woman's face with all his might.

*BAM*

*CRASH*

The woman dropped her needle as she fell backwards, which caused her to panic. "Security!" she yelled as she grabbed her head and ran.

Present

After he hit her in the head with a tray, Eren watched the crazed woman flee out of the room and leave him behind with Cinder.

"Are you okay?" Eren asked his friend.

"I... I think so," she replied as she looked at her arm. Some blood was dripping from the hole she received from the needle, but she healed the wound with her Aura. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Eren looked around at the room he was in. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. I just woke up here. Are we in Argus?"

Eren looked out the window to see more buildings outside. When his eyes laid on a part of the ocean, he could tell that they were indeed in Argus. "Yeah, we are," he said. "Look. You can see the ocean from here."

Cinder joined her friend by the window to see the ocean that she once swam in. "Wow," she said. "It's amazing."

"Yeah," Eren agreed. "But let's stay focused. We should we leave while we can."

"Oh, right." Cinder moved away from the window. "I just hope that's the last woman I meet that wants to hurt me."

"She will be." Eren affirmed this not just because he planned to protect her, but also because he still planned on finding his mother. He was sure that she would treat Cinder better than anyone else she had met.

But first, he had to find her.

Eren moved to the door of the room to look at the window built into it. Once he did, he could see that the woman was pacing back and forth while wrapping a bandage on her head.

"She's still there," he said as he turned back. "And she's not alone."

"How many people are there?" Cinder asked.

"A lot. And I'm not even sure what this place is."

Cinder looked around the room to see beds and a bathroom close by. "Well, it looks a lot better than the farm or the Glass Unicorn." She turned her attention back towards the window after Eren said that the exit was blocked.

Eren found himself looking at the materials on the ground that he inadvertently scattered. He saw bandages, scissors, small cylinders, and needles that once rested on the tray. When he saw this, Eren thought back on the last time he saw someone have things like this.

"Hey, Cinder," he said. "I think this place is where doctors work."

"Doctors?" Cinder asked. "What, like a hospital?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"How do you know?"

Eren looked at the needles and bandages. "This stuff looks like something my dad would carry. Whenever he needed to visit or help someone."

Cinder remembered that Eren's father, Grisha, was a doctor. But rather than confirm Eren's theory, she looked out the window and found a possible escape route. "Eren, we don't look that high up," she said. "We might be able to climb out from here."

"You think so?" Eren asked as he looked out the window. "We could give it a try."

"We have to. This looks like the only way out."

Eren looked back towards the door and knew that Cinder was right. "Okay," he said. "I'll go first. My Titan powers can heal me if something goes wrong. Just follow my steps and we should be-"

"What were you thinking?!"

Eren stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a familiar voice. When he turned around and saw nothing, Eren immediately thought that his mind was playing tricks on him.

But then he heard it again.

"You can't just expect someone to cooperate like that, what's the matter with you?!"

Eren realized that the voice he heard was coming from the hallway. The voice belonged to a woman, and it seemed that she was scolding someone for certain behavior. Eren was drawn to this voice almost immediately; he heard it a hundred times before.

He knew who it belonged to.

Eren slowly moved to the door once again, much to the dismay of Cinder. "Eren?" she called out. "Eren, what are you doing?! We have to go!"

For the first time, Eren found himself ignoring Cinder. Instead, he looked out the window to see that the woman who had grabbed Cinder was joined by a man and another woman. He didn't know the man, but he recognized the woman in a heartbeat.

Carla had followed her visitor, a man named Tomas, to the area where Hira was currently resting. She was holding a bag of ice on the left side of her face, given what had happened with the boy she was trying to treat. She had called for help, which led Tomas to see what was going on.

Seeing an injured woman, a member of the staff no less, was enough cause for alarm. But between his knowledge of Hira and the sight of two scared children backed against a corner from inside the room, Tomas was hesitant to rely on Hira's explanation. Instead, he sought out Carla to help deal with the mess.

"I was doing my job," Hira explained. She had told Carla and Tomas what had happened in the room, but neither of them were willing to take her side.

"Your job is to scare the crap out of kids?" Tomas asked sarcastically. "What did you think was gonna happen?"

"Who knows how long they were out there? It's protocol to have them tested and evaluated before anything else!"

"Not like that, it's not! Just because you're scared of getting sick doesn't mean you get to do anything without patient consent!"

"Do I need consent from someone who thinks it's okay to hit people in the head on a whim?!"

Carla immediately put this argument to rest. "Hold it, hold it!" she demanded. When the duo fell silent, Carla scolded Hira again. "While I don't condone what happened to you, Hira, the comfort and consent of our patients are our top priority here. Whoever those children are, they're probably scared more than ever thanks to what you did! And this isn't the first time we've gotten complaints from your patients."

"..."

This was true. Carla didn't work in the human resources division, but she was aware of the complaints Hira got from patients and staff alike. She wasn't necessarily a hypochondriac, even though most of her fellow staff called her one. However, Hira chose to combat sickness and disease through her own means. Because of this, Hira was known to act on impulse and cause discomfort in most of Glory Dawn. Complaints and situations such as these usually happened once a month, but Carla was still unhappy.

"Hira, this has to stop," Carla firmly demanded. "I'm giving you a choice. You can either work full-time at the desk and reception, or you can't work here at all. Now which is it?"

Hira was no fool, and her fear of disease wasn't strong enough to make her abandon her work. "I'll be at the desk," she said as she stood up. "But at least consider restraining that boy, he's completely mad!" With that, she finally walked away.

Tomas was about to follow, but Carla stopped him. "I'll be reporting this to David," she said. "He can handle it from there."

"Thanks," Tomas said as he calmed down. "Still would've fired her, though. But that's just me."

Carla understood these sentiments, but she wasn't ready to fire someone on her last day of work. Her approach at this was firm, but fair. Almost parental, in a way. Besides, if her boss wanted to fire Hira, she wasn't going to stop him.

Right now, she had more important things to worry about.

"Let me call Rachel," Carla said. "She's dealt with kids like this before, I'm sure she can help." Rachel was another member of Glory Dawn's staff, someone who dealt primarily with mental trauma and disorders. And since these children most likely came from a Grimm attack, trauma was surely to follow.

"Oh, I think she called out sick today," said Tomas. "No big deal, I think I can take it from here."

When Carla turned towards the room, she could only see one child through the window. Cinder was staring at Carla, and she was immediately taken aback by the coincidental experience. What she saw in Eren's memories told Cinder that the woman she was staring at was his mother. She knew Eren's plan was to find her, but neither of them had any idea that she would be finding them instead.

And it only took the child a few seconds to see how this coincidence was for the best.

Cinder had seen Carla through Eren's memories, but seeing her in person was different. The first thing Cinder noticed was that she almost looked like her; they both had black hair and near golden eyes, and Cinder immediately thought that she was pretty. She then thought how different she was from other people when she saw Carla gently smile and wave at her.

When Cinder waved back, Carla made a decision.

"Let me warm them up for you," Carla offered. "I'll help them see we're here to help."

"Are you sure?" Tomas asked. "I only needed help with Hira, I got it from here."

"They might be a little wary of doctors and nurses right now."

"Yeah, that's true. But one of them attacked Hira, I don't want you getting hurt or anything."

"I'll only be a minute."

Carla was slightly nervous about doing this, since what happened to Hira was true. However, one look at Cinder made Carla feel that she should help.

"Eren, she's coming!" Cinder said. She wasn't entirely afraid anymore, but she was still a little anxious.

Eren, on the other hand, was unable to process his emotions.

The moment he saw Carla, Eren was in shock. That shock soon turned to joy, but the joy then turned to fear. He had been so focused on finding his mother, making sure that she was still alive and well, Eren didn't have the time to actually think about what would happen next.

Darkness had promised Eren that Carla remembered him, but Eren couldn't help but wonder what exactly she remembered. Did she remember their last conversation? Their last argument?

Did she remember how he abandoned her?

Eren then remembered his initial hesitance about coming to Remnant. He believed that Carla wouldn't accept him, not after everything that he had done. And especially not what he was; how could she accept that her son was the very thing that killed her? The very thing he once swore to destroy?

"Eren? Are you okay?"

Eren snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Cinder. She could tell that something was wrong, but she didn't know what it was. And when he tried to explain himself, none of his thoughts were clear.

"I... Um... She... I don't-"

Eren became so overcome with emotion and thought, it had become more than he could bear. Panic came as soon as he heard the sound of a door opening, which caused him to run into the bathroom and close the door.

"Eren!" Cinder called out as she tried to follow him. She knocked on the door three times, but he didn't open it. "Hey, what's the ma-?"

"Hello."

Cinder quickly turned around to see that Carla had opened the door. Anxiety overcame her again, but not quite like the fear she had for the nurse or the woman from Atlas. Carla recognized the signs of anxiety, so she kept her distance.

"I don't believe we've met," Carla said calmly with a smile. "I'm Carla. And, you are?"

Cinder also kept her distance from Eren's mother, but she replied. "Ci... Cinder," she introduced herself.

Carla continued to smile as she nodded. "Nice to meet you, Cinder. May I come in?" She was still in the doorway, and didn't want to overstep whatever boundaries the child had.

Cinder nodded, given that finding Carla was the whole reason she and Eren came to Argus. Though she still kept her distance from the woman.

"Did Hira frighten you?" Carla asked as she stepped inside. "I'm awfully sorry, she wasn't supposed to be like that to other people." Carla smiled again. "But you don't have to be scared of me. We're all here to help you with whatever's bothering you."

Cinder looked down at the tools Eren had knocked down. "Is... Is this a hospital?" she asked.

"Yes, actually." Carla remained perfectly still as she explained. "This is Glory Dawn, and we function like a hospital would. We help treat anyone who's brought here that's either sick or hurt. Not me, though. I'm not a doctor."

Cinder was immediately drawn by Carla's honesty. So much so that she wanted to test it even further. "Was I... brought here?"

"You were, yes. I believe someone found you and assumed you needed help. Do you remember coming here?" Carla watched Cinder shake her head. "Do you remember coming here with someone else?" Carla remembered that someone else was supposed to be here, but she could only see Cinder.

"Um... he's in there," Cinder said as she pointed to the bathroom. "I think he got scared."

Carla sighed as she looked at the closed door. "I'm so sorry about what happened. I know we just met, but I want you to know that what happened to you should have never happened in the first place. We're supposed to help people, not hurt them."

"..."

Once again, Cinder was drawn to how upfront and honest Carla seemed to be. She was still reluctant to trust people, save for Eren. However, there was something about Carla that told Cinder that things would be okay.

"In fact, I think I know how to help you and your friend," Carla continued. "You look hungry. Are you hungry?"

*GRUMBLE*

Cinder looked down at her stomach when she heard it growl. Carla easily noticed this, which caused her to laugh a little. "I knew you were," she said. "Would you like me to get you and your friend something to eat?" Cinder nodded slowly. "Then I'll be right back."

Carla stepped out of the room to see Tomas waiting for her. He was looking at a couple of papers on a clipboard that Hira had left behind, but he gave Carla his full attention when she approached him. "How are they?" he asked.

"Better... sort of," Carla sadly replied. "I just talked to that poor little girl. I think I got her to trust me."

"Oh, that's good. What about her friend?"

"He's locked himself in the bathroom. I think Hira scared him half to death." Carla sighed. "You did the right thing coming to me."

Tomas let out a heavy sigh before he gestured towards the direction that Hira had left in. "Mental, that one. I'm telling you. How did a hypochondriac get hired in the first place?"

Carla shook her head. "I have no idea." She quickly refocused on the situation at hand. "I'm going to get some food and water for Cinder, the girl in there. I'll get something for her friend too, but could you send someone to look them over properly? I'll tell them what's going on when I get back."

"Yeah, of course," Tomas said. "I don't think I have the time to do it, I got a few people to check in on before I can discharge them."

"That's fine, you go do that." Carla looked at the clipboard in Tomas' hands. "Are those for them?"

Tomas had forgotten that he had been holding the papers. "Oh, right," he said as he handed them over. "Uh, here you go."

"Thanks," she said. "I take it Hira didn't completely fill it out?"

"Looks like she only got their names. Sorry, I gotta go." Tomas began to walk away and wave at Carla. "Good luck at your new job, Carla. Take care of yourself."

"You too, Tomas." Carla smiled as she waved back. When he disappeared from view, Carla made her way towards the cafeteria to fulfill her promise to Cinder.

And along her way, she looked at the information Hira had taken before her departure.

"Let's see... who are you?" she asked herself as she walked. She wasn't a doctor or nurse, but her instincts told her to help the children as best as she could. In order to do that, the first thing she needed to do was find out who they were.

"Okay... Cinder." The paper with her name was on top, so that was the first thing Carla saw. "Don't worry, we're going to take good care of you. Now, who's your friend?" Carla carefully moved the paper upwards so she could see the second report. And just like the first one, it possessed a single name.

"Eren Yeager"

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

"Eren? Eren?"

The sound of the door closing and his friend's voice were enough to assure Eren that he and Cinder were alone again. So he opened the bathroom door and stepped outside to see a confused Cinder.

"Are you okay?" she asked him. "Why did you run and hide like that?"

Eren sighed as he leaned against the wall. "I... I wasn't ready," he confessed.

Cinder quickly smiled. "It's okay! She'll be coming back." She walked back towards the bed and sat down on it. "She said she was gonna get us something to eat. You were right, by the way; I do like her. She's nice."

Eren nodded, but he didn't return the smile. "I heard. Thanks for covering for me."

"You're welcome." Cinder gestured for Eren to come to her. "I'll be quiet when she gets back. You two have a lot to talk about, don't you?"

Eren remained perfectly still. "...Not that much." Eren rubbed the back of his head to relieve an awkward itch he had. "Look, Cinder... we can't tell her everything that's happened to us. We can't talk about Salem, about the Titans, and especially about the Rumbling. She can't know, okay?"

But it wasn't okay for Cinder.

"Wh... What?" she asked. "But... all of that's why you're here. To save her from Salem."

"That's not going to change." Eren looked out the window. "But there's a lot I know she won't understand. I don't know if anybody would." This was a logical thing to assume, but Eren was more afraid about how Carla would react if she knew what he did.

Cinder understood the logic, but she didn't agree with him. A part of herself believed that the reason behind Eren's decision was how she reacted when he tried to tell her the truth. Given that reaction, it seemed only natural for Eren to be afraid of telling anyone else.

"Eren, I'm sure she'll understand," Cinder encouraged him. "It might take some time, but she might come around. And you're still her son."

Eren quickly spun around. "So I shouldn't worry how she'll react, right?" he asked in a disagreeable tone. "Then does that mean you were going to tell her about what happened to the people who enslaved you?"

"..."

Cinder lost her voice when she heard Eren's argument. Not just because she was surprised to hear something like this, but also because of her plan. She hadn't thought of it until now, but Cinder knew that she wasn't going to tell anyone about that. She saw how the Huntsman reacted, so how could anyone else possibly understand?

That was when Cinder realized that Eren felt the same way about his secret.

Eren sighed when he saw that he had gotten through to Cinder. "Don't tell her, Cinder," Eren requested. "Please."

"..."

Cinder didn't say a word, but her promise to remain silent came in the form of a slow nod to Eren.

Even though Eren was sure that Cinder would keep his secret, as well as her own, he was still incredibly nervous about seeing his mother again. He realized how nervous he was when he felt sweat move down his forehead in multiple places. In order to fix that, Eren moved back into the bathroom to wash his face. He recognized the sink before him, and that it worked similarly to a sink on Paradis. So after he closed the door again, Eren began to wash his face.

As soon as one door closed, another one opened.

Cinder looked to see that Carla had returned with what she promised. When she took her first steps inside, she placed a tray on the table that had food and two cups of water. Cinder smiled at the kind woman and took a drink from one cup. Carla smiled back for a moment, but the smile disappeared when she turned back to the bathroom.

"Cinder?" Carla said to the young girl. "You said your friend was in there?"

"Mm-hmm," Cinder replied as she drank her water. When she finished, she talked normally. "He's still in there, but I think he's ready to talk now."

"Okay." Carla looked at the clipboard in her hand, which was shaking from nerves. "Cinder... there's something... I need to know. It's about your friend."

"..."

Carla took a deep breath before she asked her question. "Is his name... Eren?" she asked. "Eren Yeager?"

Cinder nodded. "That's right," she said. "That's his name."

"And... And you're sure about this?"

"Uh-huh."

Carla cleared her throat. "Cinder... this is... I need you to be absolutely sure about this. His name is Eren Yeager?"

"That's what he told me."

"..."

Carla finally put down the clipboard and held her hands together. Unfortunately, this didn't make them stop shaking. In fact, her entire body was shaking from chills she had gotten ever since she read the boy's name on the piece of paper. She nearly became hysterical when she read it.

She had heard the name a hundred times, she had heard herself say the name before. It only happened when she slept, but Carla knew the name even when she was awake. Of course, she was incredibly skeptical about what she was currently believing. It sounded crazy, it sounded like something that would be coming out of a fairy tale.

However, Carla didn't waver from her current point of view. In her mind, she had a very good reason for believing what she currently believed. But she needed proof to validate her idea, she needed proof to tell her that she wasn't going crazy.

And as far as she knew, there were two people that could tell Carla what she needed to know. She was talking to one of them now, and she was already doing a good job of confirming her beliefs.

"Cinder... do you think you could describe your friend?" she asked. "Could you tell me what he looks like?"

"Sure," Cinder said after she took a bite from a delicious apple. "Eren has-"

"Wait."

Cinder immediately stopped talking upon command. Carla didn't want Cinder to stop talking because she was afraid of the truth. Instead, Carla had a better idea to discover the truth.

"Your friend... is he about the same height as you?" she asked. "About the same age?"

"I... I think so," Cinder replied. She never asked Eren how old or how tall he was, so she wasn't entirely sure if her age or height was the same as his.

Carla decided to go into specific details now. "And... he has dark hair? Hair that stops at his forehead?"

"Yes." This time, Cinder was confident in her answer.

There was one feature about Eren that Carla had seen countless times, something that always stood out to her whenever she dreamed. She knew the detail well, but now it was time to see if Cinder knew.

"And... what color are his eyes?" she asked.

Cinder knew this detail well, since she also saw it countless times. "They're blue," she said. "Well, sort of blue. They look a little green too, but they're almost the same color as the ocean."

"..."

Carla's shakes and chills came to an immediate halt.

She knew exactly who was behind the door to her right.

Cinder's confirmation was the last piece of information Carla needed to know that she wasn't imagining things or making connections that didn't exist. It was impossible, it defied any sense of rational thought, but it was true.

The boy behind the door was the boy from Carla's dreams.

As soon as she put all of the pieces together, Carla realized that her conversation with Cinder was over. She still planned on helping the girl, but there was something else she had to do first.

Carla stood up and approached the bathroom door very slowly. As she did, she took note of the shadow moving at the bottom, which told her that someone was still in there. The woman's nerves and chills returned instantly, but they weren't enough to make her have any second thoughts. She knew who was behind the door, but she needed to see who it was as well.

Carla needed that more than anything in the world right now. That was why she calmly knocked on the door and spoke.

"E... Eren?" she uttered. "Is... Is that you?"

"..."

Eren had been listening carefully on the other side of the door. Because of that, he knew that she was starting to put the pieces together. But when she spoke directly at him, Eren couldn't help but gasp as his eyes widened.

Carla heard this gasp. It sounded just like the loss of breath she had when she read Eren's name on that paper. And yet, Eren couldn't find it within himself to answer her. It was clear that she knew who he was, but she could never imagine what he was.

But Carla didn't leave. Instead, she leaned against the door as she talked.

"I... I think I know who you are," she said. "I've seen you. I've seen you hundreds of times in my life. And... I think you've seen me too. I think we know each other."

"..."

Carla suddenly realized how odd this might sound, so she decided to explain herself rather than be counterproductive. "Ever since I was a child, I've had these... dreams. Dreams where I always took care of a little boy. A very special boy." Carla smiled a little. "He didn't like everything I said. He didn't always agree with me. But... I still cared about him. I... I loved him. I still do."

"..."

"One day... we were separated. In a way I wouldn't expect anyone to understand. All I had to prove it were my dreams. And I think... I really think I've seen you in them."

Hearing this caused Eren to lean against the door as well. Tears began to fall down his face as he listened carefully, where he could hear crying and more talking.

"I know you must be scared. Confused. I was too, when I found out. And I... I still am."

"..."

"I... I want to help you," she said. "I will help you. Even if you're not who I think you are. And it's okay if you're not. You can forget what I said."

"..."

"But please. I... I have to know." Carla found herself gently pressing her forehead against the door. "Eren... it's really you... isn't it?"

"..."

*CREAK*

Carla immediately moved away from the door when she heard the knob turn. When it fully opened, Carla found herself staring at a young boy just as tall as Cinder. Once she made eye contact with the boy, who also had tears in his aqua eyes, she knew any semblance of doubt and uncertainty had faded away when she looked at the face she had seen countless times before.

But even still, Eren confirmed what she believed to be true.

"Mom... it's me," he said.

"..."

That one word was everything Carla needed to hear. She had said nothing about being the boy's mother, but she knew that was what she was in her dreams.

And she knew there was nobody else she would rather be the second she saw Eren.

Neither Eren or Carla could find themselves to say anything else. The emotion that came over the both of them caused them to do nothing but let tears fall down their faces and embrace each other for the first time in years.

The joy and relief Eren and Carla shared from their reunion was a blessing for both of them. They both knew that they had so much they wanted to tell each other, questions they needed to have an answer for.

But first, they needed to find the time to do it.

Tomas had sent someone to give the children a proper examination, and they were greeted with Eren and Carla hugging. Carla explained that she knew Eren and Cinder, though the latter part was a lie. She planned to take Eren home with her, and she knew Cinder would be more than welcome to join them. She needed time to get to know her better, but it was clear that Eren trusted Cinder and considered her a friend.

After the brief explanation, Carla allowed the physician to give Eren and Cinder a proper checkup. Carla stayed in the room to give whatever support Eren or Cinder needed, since Hira had made a poor first impression. No bloodwork was done, and the children seemed completely healthy.

Their only affliction was hunger, which was solved by them sharing a meal together. Carla had stepped outside to take care of a few things so she could spend more time with her son, so Eren and Cinder were eating together in the room.

Cinder finished her food first, so she broke the silence. "How do you feel?" she asked. "About all of this?"

Eren swallowed a bite of food he had before he answered. "Better," he said. "Much better." He looked at Cinder with an awkward smile. "Uh, sorry about leaving you like that. I kind of panicked a little."

"That's okay. I think she needed a minute too. She was gone for a long time when she left. She came back and started asking about you a little later."

"Yeah, I heard. How did she know my name?"

Cinder became confused. "Well... she gave it to you? Right?"

Eren quickly saw the misunderstanding and laughed. "No, I mean, how did she know someone named 'Eren Yeager' was with you?"

"Oh." Cinder laughed as well when she realized her mistake. "The nurse who came in before her asked for our names. I gave them and she wrote them down. Your mom must have seen it there."

"..."

Eren had no memory of this, but he believed Cinder. He probably would have done the same thing as her, but that didn't change what Cinder had done.

"That means... it's because of you," Eren said.

"Huh?" Cinder asked.

"My mom came... because of you."

"Oh. Um, I don't-"

"She knew who I was, she knew what to say because you told her."

Eren was making eye-contact with Cinder while he pointed this out, which was starting to make her uncomfortable. "Eren, are you-?"

Without warning, Eren hugged Cinder. "What just happened was one of the best things that happened to me," he confessed. "I probably would have hid longer and missed my chance if it wasn't for you. Thank you, Cinder. You're a... You're a good friend."

A strong heat and red color rose to Cinder's cheeks when Eren said this. Eren was the only friend that she had, and she knew he was the best one she would ever had. Whenever she had gotten herself into trouble, Eren was always there to help. From Mistral to Atlas and then back to Mistral, Eren did nothing but prove how good of a friend he was.

So to hear that she was also a good friend was completely unexpected. It only took a few seconds for the compliment to not only mean the world to Cinder, but it also caused her to doubt herself.

"Really?" Cinder asked. She eventually returned the hug, but she still doubted herself. "But... this was just one time."

"No, it wasn't," said Eren. "You taught me to read Remnant's writing, you taught me about each of the Kingdoms, and you even unlocked my Aura." Eren stepped back and activated it, which was another lesson from Cinder. When light surrounded him, Eren felt a little stronger along with feeling amazed. "I mean, I still need to learn how to use it, but I know it's going to help me. It's like... I can actually start to believe in myself. That wasn't something I could always do back home." Eren looked up to Cinder and smiled. "You helped me, Cinder. You really did. Thank you."

Cinder smiled as the heat to her face rose once again. Now she knew that there was nobody she would rather be than Eren's friend. The feeling was so strong that she gave Eren another hug, one that he reciprocated.

*CLICK*

Eren and Cinder broke their hug when they heard the door open. Carla once again stepped into the room and closed it.

"There," she said. "All of that should buy us some time." Carla had just returned from running a few errands and doing some work earlier than expected so she could use the extra time to reconnect with her son.

Eren stood up from the table when he saw his mother. "...Hi," he said with a smile.

"Hi," Carla said in return.

"..."

"..."

Eren and Carla hugged each other once again out of instinct. Tears came close to falling once again, but the mother and son fought them back as they let go of each other. Carla led Eren back to the table where he was eating with Cinder so they could talk some more.

"I'm... sure you're confused," she said. "About all of this."

"I think I'm more... surprised," Eren replied. "Mostly that... you remember me. After all this time."

Carla put a hand on Eren's cheek. "Eren, sweetheart... how could I ever forget you?"

Eren appreciated the gesture and words, but they didn't exactly answer his question. "Well... we're both somewhere else. Somewhere... we weren't before."

Carla easily remembered this was true, and she knew that she had some explaining to do. However, there was one factor that was making her skeptical about sharing her answers with Eren.

His friend.

"Cinder, I don't mean to be rude," Carla began. "But do you think I could talk to Eren alone?"

Cinder looked at Eren with an unsure expression, but Eren assured her that being alone wasn't necessary. "She knows," he said. "About us."

"That you're from another world," Cinder finished for Eren. "I won't tell anyone, I promise. And... I believe you. Both of you."

Carla paid more attention to the first part of that sentence. She didn't know if Cinder was like her or Eren, but she didn't seem to say anything about being from another world as well. Carla then assumed that Eren had told her, that he had shared this secret with a complete stranger.

But there wasn't anything she could do about it.

"I think... that's about right," said Carla. "About me and Eren, that is."

Eren was taken aback by two things. The first was that his mother was taking the idea well; as well as anyone could, that is. The second was something Eren picked up in Carla's tone.

"You sound a little... unsure," he said. "Are you sure you remember everything?"

"Well, yes..." Carla began. "But also no. Let me explain."

"..."

Eren and Cinder gave Carla their full attention as she spoke.

"What I've seen, what I have... I wouldn't exactly call them 'memories.' Ever since I was a little girl, I've had dreams. They're not like fantasies or make believe, they're not flashes. They've been telling me a story. About another life." Carla turned to Eren. "A life where I was your mother, and you were my son."

Eren leaned closer. "Dreams?" he asked. "Since you were a child?"

"Yes."

"How long have you lived here?"

"All my life. I was born in a small town in Mistral called 'Kuroyuri.' My parents were both farmers, and wealthy ones at that." Carla turned to Cinder. "Perhaps you've heard of Ambrose Farms?"

Cinder shook her head and remained silent. However, hearing the word "farm" was making her nervous. But Carla didn't notice this as she continued to talk.

"As I was saying, I've been having dreams for as long as I could remember. Some were good, but the others were bad."

Eren had a good feeling what the bad dreams were. "Was it... that day?" he asked. "When the Titans invaded?"

Carla shuddered at the sound of the word. "Titans," she said. "It's been a long time since I heard that word."

"I... I'm sorry."

Carla nodded before she talked again. "Yes, it was that day. But I also dreamed about being sick for a while. It was hard, and I was eventually healed by a doctor." She turned to Eren again. "That doctor became your father."

Eren nodded. "Grisha. Grisha Yeager."

Carla remembered this name from her dreams, so she knew that Eren was telling the truth. "Being sick and... that day... were my worst dreams. Sometimes I woke up sick and covered in sweat. My parents and friends tried to tell me they were only dreams... but they always felt so real." Carla wiped her forehead of sweat. "Then I had to hear that they might have been real."

"What happened?"

Carla let out a sigh as she recounted an experience she had as a girl. "Having all those dreams started to have an effect on my health," she said. "I was never getting enough sleep. So, my parents took me to Mistral, to see a therapist who could help me."

"A therapist?"

"Yes. That's another kind of doctor we have here. They deal with the mind rather than the body." Carla looked back to Eren. "Eren, do you know anything about Auras and Semblances?"

"Oh, yeah." Eren showed his mother that he had an Aura of his own. "Cinder actually unlocked it for me. It's incredible. But I haven't found my Semblance yet."

Carla was more concerned about Eren's understanding rather than a possession of an Aura. "Well, this therapist had a Semblance of their own. She could see into the memories and dreams of a person, to see what was afflicting them."

Eren was beginning to understand. "So she was able to help?"

"Well... sort of." Carla looked down again. "What she did only raised more questions. I'm not sure how she did it, but... her Semblance told her that my dreams were more than just dreams. She honestly believed that they were memories."

Eren understood once again, and he said something that he believed would help. "Mom... those were memories," he said calmly. "I'm sorry they hurt you. Really, I am. But... they were memories." Eren tapped his head. "They're my memories too."

Carla nodded. "I know, I know," she said. "The therapist couldn't block out my dreams, but she made them less frequent. It was the only thing she could do to help me. And it did. My dreams didn't bother me like they used to."

"But... you still had them."

"...Yes. Yes, I did." Carla looked down at Eren again. "They wouldn't be going away. But they were much more tolerable, and growing up helped with that."

Eren understood Carla's story now, as well as what Darkness meant when he said that his mother remembered him. Since it was clear that she remembered everything, Eren needed to tell her something.

"Mom... I'm sorry," he said. "I don't want you to live through it again, but... I'm sorry about that day." Eren began to tear up again. "I wasn't strong enough to save you. I couldn't get you out of the house."

Carla knew what Eren was talking about, and it caused her to tear up as well. "Eren..."

"I found out you were here, but I didn't know you remembered it all!" Eren couldn't hold back the tears anymore. "I just wanted to find you! I wanted to know if you were safe, I didn't want you to be hurt! I didn't know about the dreams, I didn't know you had to live like that! If I knew... if I knew what was happening, I would have done something! I would have said-!"

"Eren, Eren!" Carla quickly wrapped her son in another hug. "Never mind that now, please. What happened was terrible, it was the worst thing I can imagine. But dream or not, it's better now. Safer, too. Believe me." She made Eren look at her. "Besides, my dreams weren't all bad."

"They... They weren't?"

"No. I had dreams that showed me other things too. They showed me something that acted like a light in the dark."

"...Really?" Eren dried his eyes. "What?"

"You."

"..."

Carla gently squeezed Eren as she continued to talk. "I don't know what happened to us, Eren. Or why. Some people here would call it 'reincarnation,' but I never believed it. My parents didn't either, but it doesn't matter what it's called. We're together now, and that's that. If we did share a life together before today, even if it ended tragically, then I'm happy we got to share it. And I'm so happy we get to share it again." Carla nuzzled her chin on Eren's head. "My little boy. We're both special, Eren. Because... we were born into this world. This beautiful, wonderful world."

"..."

Eren found himself clinging to his mother like a baby. Everything she had said meant the world to him, it was all something he had been waiting his whole life to hear. Eren felt truly happy, and there wasn't anything that would take it away from him.

But more than happiness, Eren's felt his resolve return to him. Now, more than ever, Eren was resolved to complete the mission the God of Darkness had given him. He didn't know when or how, but Eren knew that he would stop Salem. He wouldn't let her take this freedom from him. He wouldn't let the witch take anyone or anything from him, whether it was his mother or Cinder.

He was going to fight. No matter what.

"There," Carla said as she wiped Eren's eyes. "All better."

Eren smiled. "Thank you," he said. He then turned to Cinder, who was rubbing his back while his mother was hugging him. "Thank you too."

Cinder smiled in silence and let the mother and son continue to talk.

"Mom... are you... alone here?" Eren asked. "I mean... is Dad with you?"

Carla frowned a little bit before she looked at Eren neutrally. "No," she said. "It's just me. Well, just us now."

"Yeah. Just us."

Eren's question gave Carla an idea. "What about you?" she asked. "Is Mikasa here? Or Armin?"

Eren shook his head. "No, it's... just me," he said. "Well, us." Eren looked at Cinder. "She's been with me ever since."

Cinder nodded. "It's true," she said. "Eren and I met about a week ago, in Mistral. He told me everything, and then-"

"A week?!"

Eren and Cinder jumped at the question and looked to see a surprised Carla. "Eren, you've only been here for a week?" she asked. "For seven days?"

"Well... yeah," Eren replied honestly. The confusion as to why this was a problem was clear, but Carla appeared to be more confused than him.

"But... how?" Carla asked. "Eren, you're the same age as you were before! How could you only be here a week and look like... this?"

Eren quickly remembered that Carla had been on Remnant her whole life. So looking like an adolescent child who had only been on Remnant for a week was indeed surprising, and hard to explain. Fortunately, Eren was able to think of a lie since he wasn't ready to talk about Darkness.

"Oh... that," he began. "I, uh... don't exactly know. What happened to you makes sense, but... not me."

"What do you mean?" Carla asked.

"I mean, I didn't have a second family or other parents. One minute I was with my friends, then I woke up here. Like this." Eren rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know how."

Carla immediately became puzzled. "That's strange," she said. "So... you've been here a week? All alone?"

"Well, I had Cinder." Eren looked to his friend. "I found a farm where I could sleep, and I met her there." Cinder remained silent, since the last time she spoke only led to more questions and confusion. "We left the farm to find you."

Since Carla couldn't explain the circumstances of her presence on Remnant, she didn't try to make sense of Eren's presence. "Okay," she said. "I'm sorry, I was just-"

"No, it's okay. I understand, really."

"Okay. If that's the case, would it be okay if I asked you how you... Um..."

"How I came here?"

"..."

Eren was ready to share this answer with his mother, even though it required some exaggerating. But he was going to tell her everything he could that didn't involve the Rumbling, the God of Darkness, or Salem.

And he knew the best way to start.

"So... do you remember what happened right before Dad left?" he asked. "How I, uh... said I wanted to join the Survey Corps?"

This was one of many dreams Carla had about Eren. And since the details of her first home stuck with her in these dreams, she knew exactly what the Survey Corps was.

More specifically, how dangerous it was.

"Oh, Eren... you didn't," she said in disbelief. She immediately grabbed his hands. "Please tell me you didn't."

"Um..."

Carla sighed as she discovered the truth. "Eren, I told you it was dangerous! It's just like being a Huntsman or Huntress! What were you thinking?!" Disappointment immediately turned into concern for Carla. "Were you eaten? Did one of those Titans kill you?!"

"No, no, it wasn't like that!" Eren insisted. "Honest!" He was telling the truth, though it was clear Carla was having a hard time believing that.

Fortunately, Cinder was able to help.

"He's telling the truth," she said. "He, um... He told me." Carla already knew that Cinder knew who Eren was, but she didn't know everything Eren showed her. "Eren, do you want me to tell her?"

"Tell me what?" Carla asked.

"..."

Carla turned back to Eren, who was starting to look disheartened and depressed. When she remembered the circumstances of all this, Carla immediately became worried. "Eren... tell me what?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

Eren let out a sigh. "I... I wasn't killed by a Titan, Mom," he said. "I died... I died fighting in a war."

"What? A war?"

Carla always remembered the peace inside the walls, that the only fighting going on was between the humans and the Titans. So the idea of a war was strange to her, and it became stranger when Eren answered her next question.

"A war against who?" she asked.

"...Everyone," Eren replied.

"..."

When Carla fell silent, Eren explained everything that he had learned about the world he left behind. He told his mother about the reality of the Titans, how they were people with the ability to turn into Titans through blood and science. He then told her about the people responsible for their creation, how the country of Marley used the Titans to fight their wars and stay in power. And how they treated the Eldians, the same people living in the walls, worse than simply second-class citizens.

Eren then told Carla how the war unfolded the day the Colossus Titan broke through Wall Maria. He told her about his adventures on Paradis, how he helped dethrone a King and how he helped retake the wall that had fallen. He even told her how he fought in the war and how the Global Alliance failed to conquer his home.

All while careful to keep his identity as a Titan and the Rumbling a secret.

When he was finally done, Carla took time to process everything that she had just heard. She thought her dreams were bad enough, but all of that was simply too much to believe.

But she did.

"They... wanted to kill us?" Carla asked. "All of us? That's why the Titans broke through the wall?"

"We were the descendants of the Eldian Empire," Eren repeated. "In their minds, that made all of us enemies. Devils. People who didn't deserve to live."

"This... is..." Carla began to bury her face in her hands. "I don't even know what to say right now. I really don't."

Eren was very sympathetic to Carla's feelings. She had no idea that she was once a Subject of Ymir, that people's minds were being erased by the Founding Titan. Eren had to tell her about the Nine Titans, but he didn't go into specifics about the Coordinate or Ymir. He simply referred to them as "special." And how Marley exploited these features to further their own agenda.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Eren said sincerely. "I'm so sorry about all of this. Are you... okay?"

"..."

No.

Carla was not okay. Everything she had just learned made her feel like all of the gravity in the world was pushing down on her, crushing her. She had felt like she had just died all over again.

And yet, just like the times in her dreams, there was one thing that she had that was making her happy.

"It doesn't matter now," she said as she gently held Eren. "We're together now. We're far from that war, and we're safe here." Carla felt a tear fall down her face again. "Oh, Eren. You were so brave to fight like that."

Eren hugged his mother once again. "It was hard," he said. "And scary. But... I didn't fight alone."

Carla smiled as she looked at Eren. "I still can't believe Armin of all people joined with you. Mikasa I can understand, but Armin?" She couldn't help but laugh. "He was always so frail."

Eren laughed as well. "Yeah, but you know how smart he was. It helped us out when we needed it."

"I'll bet. And your other friends? What were their names?"

"Jean, Connie, Sasha, Reiner, and Historia." Eren had forgiven Reiner for what he did, and he let Reiner know this before he died.

"And you're sure they're all still alive? I mean, I know you died too, but-"

"I'm sure. The last thing I saw was them still alive. Well... Sasha wasn't there. She was shot when we were trying to escape after a mission."

"Oh. I'm... so sorry."

"Thanks." Eren let go of his mother. "So... does that answer all your questions?"

"I think so. About what happened to you, at least. But, Eren, there's one thing I don't understand."

Eren became briefly concerned, and he wondered if there was something he may have missed or given away in his story. "What's that?" he asked.

"How did you find me?"

"Huh?"

"You said you were trying to find me. Ever since you came here. But how did you know I was here? Did you have any dreams too?"

Eren immediately took the chance that Carla had given him. "Oh, uh, yeah! Yeah, something like that. It was before I woke up, actually."

"Really? What did you see?"

"The ocean and the big wall were the first things I saw. Then I saw you somewhere. It looked like a house, but it was inside a building." Eren pointed towards the window. "Buildings like that."

"Oh, yes!" Carla immediately understood. "That's where I live, you're right. Well, I won't be living there anymore."

Eren became worried. "Why, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong. I'm moving back home soon."

"Back home?" Cinder asked. "To Kuroyuri?" She said the name of the town slowly, since she wasn't sure if she was pronouncing it correctly.

"That's right," Carla replied with a smile. "We found each other at a great time. A couple of days later, and I would have been gone."

"Why are you leaving?" Eren asked.

"A new job, actually." Carla stopped smiling. "Do you remember when I said my parents were farmers? Well, my father was the farmer. My... My mother ran the business." She then let out a sigh. "She recently passed away."

"...Oh. I'm sorry."

Cinder was sorry as well. "Was it the Grimm?" she asked.

"Oh, no," Carla assured the child. "Nothing like that. It was just old age." Carla wiped her eyes. "It was her time."

"..."

Eren and Cinder gave Carla a moment to recuperate. It was clear to Eren that her parents on Remnant meant just as much to her as the parents she had on Paradis. Eren never met them, but he knew how much they meant to her.

"Anyways, she left the farm and its assets to me in her will," Carla explained. "So, I'm leaving Argus and going home so I can pick up where she left off. To continue the tradition."

"Tradition?" Eren asked.

"The farm's been in my family for generations. And it's very well known in the outskirts. We've even done business with the capital of the Kingdom."

Eren immediately saw how important this was to Carla, but he was a bit surprised to learn that she planned on managing it. She was a simple housewife on Paradis, not a manager. But it didn't seem like something worth questioning.

"When are you leaving?" Eren asked.

"A couple of days," Carla replied. "This was just my last day of work." She suddenly gasped and jumped out of her seat. "Work!" She looked up to a clock on the wall. "I'm still at work!" She had lost track of time due to her much-needed conversation with her son and his friend.

But she had to go now.

"Eren, I'm sorry, but I have to get back to work," she said before she left. "As soon as I'm done, I'm taking you and Cinder straight home with me. Is that okay?"

"Yeah," Eren replied. "Yeah, that sounds great."

"Y-Yeah," Cinder agreed. "Thank you."

"Oh, you're welcome, sweetheart." Carla looked up at the clock on the wall. "It'll be a while until we can go, but I'll check back whenever I can. You can just rest up until then. You two look like you've been through a lot."

"We have," Eren and Cinder replied at the same time. Cinder giggled at the coincidence.

"I'm sure. But don't worry, you're safe now. And you'll love Kuroyuri when we get there. My house has the biggest field, there's a pond where you can swim in the summer..." Carla let out a chuckle. "Oh, and just wait until you meet Dina."

"..."

The color on Eren's face disappeared at the sound of that name. "What?" he asked. "Sorry, what?"

Carla stopped smiling for a moment. "Didn't I mention her?" she asked. When she saw Eren shake his head, Carla smiled again. "It's funny, I actually met her at my therapy. She had bad dreams too, we talked about some of them... and we've been best friends ever since." Carla looked at the clock again. "I'm sorry, I really have to go. I'll see you in a bit."

*CLICK*

"...Wow," said Cinder. "Just... wow."

"..."

"Did you hear all of that, Eren?" she asked. "It sounds... It sounds unbelievable."

"..."

Cinder was lost in the sea of possibilities, both good and bad, about her near future that she didn't notice Eren's silent demeanor.

He was so happy to have said everything he did to his mother, and his resolution to stop Salem was stronger than ever. But when he heard the name "Dina," Eren found himself at a crossroads. He only knew one person with that name, and the circumstances of her meeting Carla seemed too much to be a coincidence.

"It... It can't be her," he said to himself. "...Can it?"

As promised, Carla took both children home after her last day of work finally ended. She was forced to tell a white lie that she was bringing them home after they were discharged. This was true in Eren's case, since Carla still considered him her son. As for Cinder, Carla promised that she would have a home in Kuroyuri. She would open her home to Cinder if that was the case; Carla had done the same for Mikasa, once upon a time.

In the couple of days Carla had left in Argus, she showed Eren things that not even Cinder's books told him about. The first thing she showed him was something Eren saw in Darkness' vision. When she was asked about an invisible voice that disappeared, Carla showed Eren where the voice was coming from; an object called a "Scroll."

Carla explained that a Scroll was a primary means of communication with people across the Kingdom. She explained how she could "call" someone and they would have a conversation miles apart from each other. Eren was immediately impressed by this technology, as well as the fact that it was capable of taking photographs of him. Cinder had heard of Scrolls before, but she hadn't seen one before she met Carla.

The second thing Carla showed the children was called a "television," an object that displayed moving pictures for information and entertainment. Eren was impressed once again, as was Cinder. Both children were drawn to the moving pictures, so Carla showed them different channels they could watch.

One of the last things Eren learned was taught by both Carla and Cinder. When he saw a man with horns on his head like Darkness on the television, Eren became afraid and confused. But Carla and Cinder explained that he was a "Faunus," a person with animal features on their bodies. Eren was surprised by this, and he wondered what caused them to be like this. Carla didn't have the answers, but all she asked was that Eren didn't use their features as a reason to discriminate them.

"Was that what Darkness meant?" Eren wondered as he listened to Carla explain how some humans looked down on the Faunus for being who they were. "When he said there was a place like Paradis? People like the Eldians?"

Eren put this question and the others he had aside as the days passed. Before moving day came, Carla showed Eren and Cinder the city of Argus. She showed them the multiple places for essentials and entertainment alike, such as a grocery shop and a movie theater.

The last thing Carla showed them was the ocean, which was Eren's favorite part. He had explained to Carla that he saw it with Mikasa and Armin before, but this time was different. This time... it was better.

Eren knew he would miss Argus, but Carla assured him that Kuroyuri would be much better. The only one who doubted this was Cinder.

Cinder was happy to meet Carla and be with Eren, but she was nervous about leaving. Ever since Carla revealed that she was the daughter of farmers and that she planned to take over the business, Cinder was reluctant to leave. She only admitted this to Eren, who did everything he could to assure her that nothing bad would happen to her.

Carla, on the other hand, knew that something was bothering Cinder. She didn't pry into what was going on, but she knew the child was upset about something.

And this finally came up on moving day.

"Eren, put that down!" Carla said to her son. "For the last time, those boxes are too big for you!"

"I carried bigger stuff than this on Paradis!" Eren argued. "I'm fine, I can help!" Eren picked up a box and began to carry it, even though he stumbled a bit. He cursed himself for not having the same strength he did on Paradis, and he knew the only way he could develop it again was by working.

But Carla prevented that by picking up the box out of his hands.

"I appreciate the help, Eren, but the moving men will be here soon," Carla said as she put the box back down. "And I don't care how old you say you were, all I see is my ten year old son."

Eren relented when he saw that Carla was in the way of the other boxes. "Okay, okay," he said as he began to walk away. Both he and his mother were starting to see how things were starting to become like they were back home. Eren was a little more agreeable than he was on Paradis and he wasn't getting into fights, but the similarities were still there.

Still, Carla had to admit that it was nice to see Eren try to be helpful instead of confrontational. He may have looked like a little boy, but his mind had certainly matured. And so, Carla decided to give him a simple task.

"You know what would be helpful?" she asked.

Eren stopped walking when he heard his mother's voice. When he looked back at her, Carla gestured towards a melancholy Cinder. "She's been really quiet ever since the day started," she said. "Do you know what's going on?"

Eren only needed one look at Cinder to realize what his mother was talking about. "I think she's just nervous about moving," he said. "She was really excited about coming here."

"That's understandable, but that doesn't really look like nerves." Carla took a quick glance at Cinder again. "Was it something I said?"

"No, it's not that." Eren saw Cinder get up and move to a different area of the apartment; she hadn't even noticed that Eren was talking to his mother about her. But this gave Eren a chance to explain things a little better. "Mom... let's just say this isn't the first time she's lived at a farm."

Carla remembered that Eren had met Cinder at a farm, but she was still confused. "I remember. Wait, did something happen to her at the farm?"

"Well... nobody was really nice to her there. She's just scared that things will be like last time."

Carla looked back towards Cinder. "How long did she have to stay there?"

"A while. She was there before we even met. Her whole life, I think. It was the only home she knew and... she doesn't want things to be like that again."

"No, of course not." Carla smiled at Eren. "Thank you, Eren. I think I might be able to help."

Eren was willing to let Carla help Cinder, but he had a simple request. "Could we just keep all of that to ourselves?" he asked. "Cinder doesn't like to talk about it."

"I won't say a word," Carla promised. "Thank you, Eren."

"What are you going to do?"

"Come and see."

Eren followed Carla to Cinder, who was still keeping to herself. "Cinder?" Carla asked to get her attention. Once she had it, Carla smiled at the child. "Are you upset about us moving?"

Cinder's first reply was a shrug. "I... I don't know," she said as she moved to the ground.

Carla kneeled down to Cinder's level. "I know how scary it is. Leaving one place that's so amazing to find yourself somewhere else. It almost sounds like going to an entirely different planet."

"..."

Carla thought that this was a good example, and so did Eren. But Cinder didn't really express anything other than her gloom, so Carla tried again. "I know I've said you and Eren will love Kuroyuri, and I really think you will. I can't show you it right away... but I can give you something I got from Kuroyuri. Maybe it will help."

When Carla turned around to look at her boxes, Eren noticed that Cinder immediately backed away and put two hands to her neck. She had removed the necklace the Madame gave her at Atlas, but she remembered the last time she was "given" something.

"Hey, it's okay," Eren assured his friend. "Nobody's going to hurt you."

"..."

"Let's see..." Carla said as she dug through one box. "Here we go!" She pulled something out of the box and hid it behind her back before she turned around to Cinder. "Do you remember how I said my therapy helped with my dreams? Well, before that... I had something else to help me. Something my mother gave me years ago. I always found a reason to keep it with me, in case I ever got scared again. But I think you need her more than I do."

"..."

As Carla moved the object from behind her back, Cinder grew a little more nervous and skeptical of accepting something. However, her fears disappeared when she saw something completely new and harmless.

Instead of another shock collar, Carla had slowly pulled out a rag doll. It was something that Carla slept with every night she had bad dreams, and it only served as a memento to the woman. But this time, Carla hoped it would give Cinder the same comfort it gave her once upon a time.

Cinder put her hands down and moved closer to the doll with an observant look on her face. She examined the doll's triangle nose and sewn smile, which refused to disappear. The doll was old, but Cinder was entranced by it. She stopped walking when she was arms length from the doll, and was about to reach for it. But she stopped when Carla spoke again.

"I called her 'Vasilisa,'" she explained. "I had her when I was about your age. Dina actually has a doll like her too." Carla looked at her possession and smiled. "I always liked seeing her smile, day and night. It actually helped me sleep better after my bad dreams." Carla held out the doll further. "It's okay. Take her."

Cinder slowly took the doll and looked at the smile again. Carla's words replayed in her mind, and she began to realize how nice it was to see a constantly smiling face. The doll was smiling more in a few seconds than Cinder was all week. It was almost as if nothing was going to make Vasilisa unhappy.

"It's even better when you hug her," Carla included.

Cinder took the advice and hugged Vasilisa, embracing how soft she felt. She began to smile as she hugged the doll, and so did Eren. He wasn't interested in dolls or toys, but he was happy to see that Cinder was happy.

Once she stopped hugging the doll, Cinder began to hand it back to Carla. "Keep her," she said with a smile. "I think she looks better with you."

Cinder couldn't agree more.

Chapter Text

"The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr

After all of her belongings had been safely packed on an airship, Carla said her goodbyes to Argus and waited to land in Kuroyuri. She would normally spend trips in an airship reading or watching the news on her Scroll, but Eren and Cinder had her full attention now.

Carla was still reeling over the fact that her "dreams" were proven to be some kind of reality and that the young boy from her first life was resting next to a young girl he met along the way. They all seemed to be sharing the same destination now, and nobody was leaving any time soon. Carla didn't regret her decision to take the children back home with her, especially Eren. However, she was uncertain as to where this encounter would lead.

Eren felt the same way. He was happy to have found his mother where Darkness said she was, but he couldn't shake an awkward feeling he had in his gut. He found himself at a crossroads the minute he finished telling Carla most of his story. Since he left out important parts, Eren was in the middle of an important decision. The idea of telling his mother the truth as to why she was reincarnated and his reason for being on Remnant found its way into Eren's mind. He was starting to wonder if hiding it all from someone who trusted him was wise.

Then again, he had to hide everything from his friends and force them to turn against him.

Eren didn't want anyone to turn against him now. That was why he shared his story with Cinder the moment she had doubts about his intentions with her. When he did, their friendship became stronger than ever. But Eren couldn't help but think the same wouldn't happen if he told Carla the truth about himself.

Cinder shared Eren's awkward feelings. She left behind two homes that did nothing to prove themselves to be the worst life had to offer, and she was in no way ready to face another one. She had every confidence things would go wrong somehow, like they did at the first farm she went to. The doll she received from Carla was a nice present, it was even starting to make her happy again.

And yet, doubt naturally found its way into her mind.

Eren could tell Cinder was still unsure about going to another farm, so he deiced to put his own worries aside and help her. "Don't worry," he whispered into her ear. "Third time's the charm."

"..."

Cinder's faith in things changing for the worst still existed, but it wasn't as strong as it was a few moments ago. Having Eren around would help, just like it did the last two times.

Carla looked over at the two and frowned sadly when she looked over at Cinder. The poor girl had to suffer through things that no child should have to go through, whatever it was. Cinder and Eren never told her the details of her life prior to two days ago, but the experiences were clearly traumatic and strong.

Regardless of this past, as well as the fact that she didn't know Cinder too well, Carla vowed to make sure Eren and Cinder weren't hurt when they arrived in Kuroyuri.

Carla was brought out of her thoughts as a chime echoed from the airship's speakers. After she took a single look out the window, Carla smiled and looked over to the children. "Hey, you two," she said. Eren and Cinder looked over at Carla pointing out the window. "Kuroyuri is just up ahead. You can have a good look now."

Eren and Cinder undid the safety belts they were wearing and approached the windows. As they turned their gaze down, their eyes widened and a silent gasp escaped both their mouths.

When Carla told them about Kuroyuri, she said it was quite the colorful and bright place. Cinder could now see that the description was very accurate. The town was bright and colorful like Carla said and filled with simple raised houses, the design of which reminded Eren a lot of some of the buildings on Paradis. A canal ran through the town and it was surrounded by a small wall with circular entrances. It had a main avenue leading from the entrance and towards the main square. In the center of the village was featured an open area with a large cherry blossom tree where merchants set a small market place. There were also many other types of stores situated in that area. And just like the village itself, many of the citizens wore colorful outfits.

When the airship landed in a clearing close to the town, Carla directed the children and the movers towards her house. As she did, she kept an eye on Eren and Cinder as they took in every little detail.

"Well, what do you think?" Carla asked.

"Wow..." Eren whispered. While he had been astonished by the sight of the floating city of Atlas. Kuroyuri seemed so peaceful and captivating. It was a little small, but Eren was enjoying what he saw.

"This place is beautiful," Cinder said as a warm feeling filled her heart. The farm she lived in before meeting Eren was too dark and earthy, and the Glass Unicorn had too much pain and misery for Cinder to enjoy any of the beauty that might have been in the building. Here however was different.

"Eren. Cinder. Welcome to Kuroyuri."

Carla had led the movers and the children out of the main town and towards a hill. Eren and Cinder could make out what appeared to be a gate, a barn, and a white house at the top of the hill. There was also a field at the top of the hill with multiple crops, and this served as a sign that Eren and Cinder were at Carla's farm. Cinder began to grow nervous again, which caused her to grab Eren's hand. Eren easily noticed this, but he smiled and simply held it to help ease her worries.

He had a second idea on how to do so, which led him to talking to his mother.

"So, Mom, you said this farm was in your family?" Eren asked. He was far from the movers behind him, so he could talk about anything without anyone hearing.

"That's right," Carla confirmed with a smile. "It's been around even before my parents were born. I learned later on that the house was actually one of the first things built here when Kuroyuri was founded. Well, that and the walls."

Eren noticed that some of Kuroyuri's walls extended towards the farm on the hill. There was also some fencing, but the walls were evident. "Did you have to work on it too?"

"Hmm... sometimes. My father needed my help with a few things here and there, but all of the hired help we have does the majority of the work."

Eren could see that a few people were working around the land before him. Some of them were even smiling and waving to Carla, since she knew them well. Carla waved back and smiled as well while Eren whispered over to Cinder.

"You hear that?" he whispered. "Nobody ever made my mom do something she didn't want to do. It's not going to happen to you."

"..."

Cinder began to feel better once again, and it was thanks to Eren this time. After she showed her gratitude by smiling and leaning on his shoulder, Cinder heard Eren ask another question.

"So does Kuroyuri have any other places like this?" Eren asked. "Anything beyond the town we walked through?"

"Nope, that's about it," Carla replied as she opened the gate to the estate. Once she did, she let the movers in and directed them towards the main house. "You can set everything in the living room, I'll sort it out from there."

"Yes, ma'am," said the first man. He and his partner carried the boxes, which was very small in quantity, inside to the open house.

Carla looked back to Eren when she saw the movers at work. "I know the town's a little small," she said. "Much smaller than Argus. But you'll like it here, Eren. I'll give you a proper tour once we settle in."

"Okay," Eren agreed. He had indeed noticed how small the town was, and that it was probably a little smaller than Shiganshina was. He didn't mind the walls as much, given that he had seen people enter and leave like they did in Argus. So there was much more freedom here than there was back home.

And that made Eren happy.

"Hey, welcome back, Carla!"

The sound of her name caught Carla's attention, along with Eren's and Cinder's. When they turned towards the direction of the voice, they all saw two men dressed in similar clothes and covered in sweat walking towards them. Carla smiled at the men and spoke to them as if they were old friends.

"James, Peter!" she said. "Good to see you!"

"How was the flight?" the first man asked.

"Not bad. I'm just happy to be home."

"Yeah, I hear ya," said the second man. "It's great to see you-" He suddenly turned towards Eren and Cinder. "Who are they?"

Carla looked behind her to see the children. Cinder was growing a little nervous, which Carla easily noticed. "I'll introduce them to everyone later," she promised. "They'll be staying with me and Dina."

The first man had one idea as to why this was happening. "Victims of a Grimm attack?" he asked.

"Not exactly. They just have nowhere else to go."

"Poor kids." Neither of the men questioned this decision, and for good reason. "Well, your folks took Dina in, so I shouldn't be surprised."

"Thanks for understanding. They're both a little nervous about all of this." This was somewhat true, since Cinder wasn't exactly sure about staying on farms.

"Ah, they don't need to be nervous," said the second man. "I'll go introduce myself. James, you should catch Carla up on what's going on."

"Sure thing," James said as he watched his friend leave. "I know you just got back and all, but-"

"It's fine," Carla insisted. "I'm gonna have to get to work sometime." The two shared a brief laugh before they got down to business. "How's everything looking?"

"Not bad. Our harvest just got started, got enough for the people here and about two of the closest villages. We might need some time to work the field and plant more crops, but most of our haul isn't expected until next month."

"I'll schedule the work when I'm settled in. There haven't been any accidents, have there?"

"No accidents, but we had to fix the wall a few times." James pointed in the direction of the wall. "I hate to say this, but we've gotten a few more Grimm attacks than normal."

"We have? How many?"

"Five last week."

"Five? That's three more than usual!"

"I know, it got us spooked too. But don't worry, things have been pretty quiet this week. The usual volunteers managed to do their thing. Li's a pro with that bow, I'm telling you. But he got a little tired during the fourth and fifth attacks."

"I'll go see how he's doing later. Anything else?"

"Uh, nope. I think your mom had a few notes for you inside, just in case."

Carla chuckled. "Typical Mom. Thanks a lot, James."

"My pleasure."

Carla watched the worker walk towards the large barn. As she did, Carla could see that Peter was joining him. Eren and Cinder were waving at him, and the two of them were smiling.

Peter was sure to be polite to the children when he met them. He even shook their hands, which led him to saying that both Eren and Cinder had the hands of a farmer. Given the work that Eren and Cinder had to do at the previous farm, the palms of their hands were harder than children their age. And when Cinder said she didn't want to be a farmer, Peter quickly recanted his statement and said that there was bound to be something at Kuroyuri that she would like.

"He was nice," Cinder said before she fell silent again.

"Yeah," said Eren. "You got a lot of workers here, Mom?"

"About half of the men in Kuroyuri work here," Carla explained. "The rest have other jobs in town, but not as hard or physical as farming. You might have seen them at stands or other shops in the city when we came here."

"I saw those stands. I think one of them had-"

"Carla! Carla!"

Everyone turned towards the house to see a woman at the house waving to them. This woman had short blonde hair that reached above her shoulders and light eyes. She was wearing a similar attire to that of Carla's, a blouse and an ankle-length skirt. The only difference in her appearance was that she was wearing a red shawl over her blouse.

Cinder could tell right away that she didn't know this woman, since she had never been to Kuroryuri before. Eren and Carla, however, knew her all too well. Eren recognized her as the woman from his father's memories, the first woman he loved and married when he was in Marley.

Carla, however, recognized the woman as a lifelong friend who she had been waiting to see.

"There you are!" Carla said as she wrapped her arms around the woman. "It's so good to see you again."

"You too, Carla," the woman said as she let go. "How was the flight?"

"Not bad. A little long, though. I was itching to get home."

"I can see why. Everyone's been talking about you all-" The woman stopped talking when her eyes fell upon Eren and Cinder. Her confusion about their presence was brief, however, and she smiled at them. "Oh, hello. Where'd you two come from?"

"..."

Eren didn't reply as he stared at the woman intently. Cinder followed her friend's lead and stayed silent as well.

Carla quickly took the chance to introduce everyone. "They're with me, actually," she explained. "Eren, Cinder, this is Dina Fritz. She's the friend I told you about the other day." She then turned to Dina. "Dina, this is Eren and Cinder. They'll be staying with me, I'll tell you why later."

"Oh," said Dina, who accepted the explanation without question. She then extended her hand towards the young boy. "Pleased to meet you, Eren."

"..."

Eren continued to stare at Dina in silence. He remembered the first time he laid eyes on her, as a human and as a Titan. So many thoughts ran through his mind, like how she was the one who killed his mother and how she was a victim of Marley's ruthless nature.

The one feeling that was invoked from Eren was confusion. He found it very hard to believe that the woman who had eaten his mother was now known as her best friend, as if nothing had happened between them. Carla had mentioned that Dina also had dreams like hers, so he believed that she was bound to remember some things.

Wasn't she?

Eren was also confused by her presence. He was under the impression that Darkness had brought back only his mother, yet someone else from his world was here. Was this Darkness' doing? If so, what was his plan?

"Go on, Eren."

The sound of his mother's voice brought Eren back to reality. Dina's hand was still sticking out, so he followed his mother's request and shook it.

When Dina shook Eren's hand, she began to stare at him very carefully. "Um... I'm sorry, but... have we met before?" she asked. "You look... very familiar."

"..."

Eren didn't know what to say. He was expecting Dina's reaction to his presence to be the same one his mother had. There was no mistake at this point, Eren knew that this woman was his father's first wife. And yet, she didn't seem to remember him like Carla did.

Then again, Dina was a Titan the last time Eren saw her.

"Um... I don't think so," Eren said. "This is my first time here."

"Oh, I see," Dina said. "Then I guess not."

Eren was slightly relieved, since he didn't want to be close to Dina at the moment. But he would have to be careful around her.

Dina couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen Eren before, but her attention was on Cinder now. "It's nice to meet you, Cinder," she said as she stuck out her hand. When Cinder shook it in return, Dina noticed that she had the same hesitation Eren had with her.

Fortunately, she saw a way to relieve any uncertainty the child had.

"Oh, I love your doll. Where'd you get it?"

Cinder looked down at Vasilisa. The doll was still giving her a sense of comfort, and it was nice to hear that somebody else liked it. "Um... she gave it to me," Cinder said as she gestured to Carla.

"I think I outgrew Vasilisa," Carla explained. "And she looks better with Cinder, don't you think?"

"Oh, so much better," Dina said. Cinder formed a small smile on her face while she stared at Vasilisa, which Dina took to heart. She still wanted to make the children feel welcome, so she continued her efforts with Cinder. "You know, I have a doll like Vasilisa."

Cinder looked up at Dina. "Really?" she said out of curiosity.

"Yeah!" Dina gestured towards the house. "Would you like to come in and see her?"

"O-Okay."

"I'm about to head inside too," said Carla. "We can all have a look together."

Eren said nothing, but he could tell that Cinder wasn't comfortable with going anywhere without him just yet. And since he had nothing to do outside as well, he joined his friend and his mother inside the house.

The first thing Eren noticed was how much space there was in the house. It was much bigger than his home in Shiganshina; that house had two floors, and the first floor was a kitchen and dining room all in one space. This house, however, had a single room for different things to do.

Eren could see a large kitchen with multiple utensils and what appeared to be a stove. There was also an oven, but it appeared to be built into the wall instead of being a part of the stove.

He then saw that the dining room was outside the kitchen, and that there was a large table that could fit about seven or eight people. There appeared to be a living room like the one Carla had in her apartment, with a couch, two chairs, and a spot where the television most likely was.

"Okay, there are the boxes," said Carla, who looked at all the boxes that the movers placed in the living room. She was content to see that all the boxes were placed carefully and that they were all here, so she looked down to Eren with a smile. "Eren, my bedroom is upstairs on the right. You can have the room on the left."

"Okay," Eren agreed. "That's where Cinder and I can sleep?"

"She can have her own room if she wants. I have a couple of guest bedrooms up there."

Eren's eyes widened. "Wait, how big is this house?"

Carla laughed at the idea. "I know, it's pretty big. Do you like it?"

Eren looked around again. "...Yeah. Yeah, I really like it."

"Great! And there's enough space in your room if you want to put some things in there. I think there's only a bed and a lamp at the moment."

"Thanks." Eren looked around again at the size of the house, but he stopped being curious when he noticed something. "Wait, where's Cinder?" He quickly looked around again in a panic. "Cinder?! Cinder!"

"Eren, it's okay!" Carla put a hand on Eren's shoulder to help him relax. "She's probably with Dina right now. Come on, I'll show you."

Carla led Eren around the house, and they stayed on the first floor. When they passed the living room, Eren could see that there was another room that he didn't see earlier. It appeared to be a den of sorts, and Eren immediately heard laughter inside of it.

When he looked inside, Eren could see that Cinder was right where Carla said she was. And rather than being beaten or forced to do more work, Cinder appeared to be playing with her new doll. Dina was in the room with her, and she was showing Cinder the doll that she had.

"Anya's just as old as Vasilisa is," Dina explained. "So Carla and I have been taking good care of them both. I'm sure you'll take good care of her too."

Cinder could see that the dolls were both old, so she told herself that she would have to be careful with Vasilisa. She liked Dina's doll, which was named "Anya," but she liked Vasilisa a little better.

However, Cinder forgot about the dolls when her eyes fell upon something else.

"Are those books?" Cinder asked with wide eyes.

Dina turned around to look at a large bookcase in the room with multiple books, both big and small. "Oh, yes." Dina replied as she got off the ground and put Anya away. She was surprised to see that Cinder was smiling at the books, since most children rarely did. "Do you like reading?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Me too." Dina walked over to the bookcase. "Have you read any of these before?"

Cinder looked at the titles of each book. It was her goal to see if any of these books were the same as the ones she had at the farm, since she wasn't allowed to take them with her. Cinder missed the books very much, which was why she was happy to see one of them on the first row.

"That one!" she said.

"Oh, that's a good one," Dina said as she pulled out a world book. This was the same book that Cinder had read to Eren in order to teach him about the world of Remnant.

Eren once again saw how happy Cinder was, which was a genuine surprise to him. He couldn't recall seeing her this happy, except for when they left Atlas and decided to stay together. Then again, Eren had forgotten how much Cinder loved the books she had at the farm.

"You have a lot of books," Eren said to his mother.

"Oh, those aren't mine," Carla explained. "They're all Dina's. A person like her needs them, after all."

"How come?"

"Dina's a teacher. Well, a tutor, actually. We never had the space to make a school here, so everyone's mostly homeschooled. Dina has a few clients who want their children to learn more, so she teaches them more advanced academic topics."

After she took a brief glance through the book, Cinder noticed that Eren and Carla were in the doorframe to the room. "Eren, look!" she said with a smile. "This is the same book I showed you before!"

Cinder ran up to Eren to show him the book, and he could see the similarities. "Oh, yeah," he said. "That's the same book, you're right."

"I know! And we didn't finish it! Do you want to read it again?"

Eren knew that he had much to learn about Remnant, and hearing about it from Cinder made the chore sound enjoyable. "Sure, let's do it."

Carla looked down at Cinder and pointed towards the staircase. "I was just telling Eren where the bedrooms are," she said. "Why don't you pick out a room with Eren?"

Cinder softly gasped. "You mean... I get to have a room?" she asked.

"Of course! You can even share with Eren if you want."

The idea of Cinder getting her own room sounded incredible. She had seen the rooms at the Glass Unicorn, mainly the beds they had. Cinder rarely got a chance to sleep in an actual bed, so the thought of doing so made her even more excited. All of her worries had been cast aside thanks to the combined efforts of Eren, Carla, and Dina. She was so happy about this, and she immediately found a chance to use a lesson from Eren to convey this happiness.

"Oh, thank you so much!" she said with a smile. "Come on, Eren! Let's go!" She immediately took Eren's hand and ran towards the stairs, much to the delight of both Carla and Dina.

"Wow," said the teacher. "I can't remember the last time I saw a child so happy about reading."

"Or spending time with a friend," said Carla. "Those two are inseparable."

"I can see that. But Carla... who exactly are they?"

"..."

Carla was having a hard time thinking of a way to explain the situation to Dina, but she had a good feeling that her friend would understand.

"I mean, I have no problem with you bringing children here," Dina continued. "Your parents let me stay here, after all. I just wasn't expecting to have company."

"I understand," Carla insisted. "I wasn't expecting it either. But as soon as I met them, I knew they had to stay with me."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Well..." Carla took a look around to make sure that she and Dina were alone. "I'm not exactly sure how to say this."

Dina immediately became concerned. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine. It's just..." Carla took a deep breath to try and relax. "Dina... do you remember how we met? What we... had in common?"

"Yes, of course I do."

Dina didn't like the circumstances of meeting Carla, but she remembered them. Like Carla, she also suffered from nightmares. However, hers were arguably much worse than Carla's. The most frequent one she had was about towering over people on the ground and everyone running away in horror.

But after she met Carla and the therapist, these dreams became less frequent. And they even became hard for her to remember all of the details. They were at the back of her mind, but she just couldn't remember much.

Or rather... she didn't want to remember.

"Carla, are you dreaming again?" Dina asked. "Maybe we can go to the capital for help."

"I'm still dreaming, yes," said Carla. "But they're not as frequent or bad, they're just..." Carla needed to take another breath. "Dina... Eren's like us."

"He is?" Dina looked towards the stairs, in the direction that Eren had run off in. "Oh, that poor boy. No wonder he was so quiet, he must not be getting enough sleep."

"Well, it's more than that." Carla awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. "He has the same dreams, and then some. But... he's the boy from my dreams. He's... my son."

"...What?"

Dina once again remembered the circumstances of how she met Carla. One of them was Carla telling Dina that there was something comforting about them, something that was always recurring. Carla told Dina that she had a son, someone who wasn't always agreeable or well-mannered. But Carla loved him all the same.

Unfortunately, Dina's dreams didn't offer the same comfort for her. She once said she also had a dream about a child, but the dreams of a giant made this other dream too hard to remember.

The memory of these dreams were enough to cause Dina to sweat and stutter. "You... You're sure?" she asked.

"I'm sure," Carla replied. "I know how all of this sounds but... he said the same things that the doctor said. That they're... they're-"

Dina immediately saw that she didn't want to hear any more of this. "Carla, please don't say that," she begged. "Just don't."

"..."

"I'm-I'm sorry, I c-can't."

With that, Dina immediately ran towards a bathroom to calm down. When she closed the door, she used the sink to splash cold water in her face and soon took deep breaths of her own. The dreams she had were less frequent now, just like Carla's. But the fear and terror that she always felt from them never went away.

Dina would always reassure herself that they were just dreams, she always denied the idea that they were actual memories like the therapist said. Her reassurances always helped her, they made her move on with her life.

But now... Dina wasn't even sure what to think.

Especially why she couldn't shake the feeling that she knew Eren.

When night fell upon Eren and Cinder's new home, introductions were made all around. Eren and Cinder learned from Carla that Dina had been staying with her from quite some time. Her job as a private tutor was essential for children, but it didn't exactly earn enough to pay all the bills. And when Dina's parents passed away, Dina couldn't exactly afford her house anymore. So, Carla's parents allowed her to rent a room in their house instead.

Carla was willing to let her friend stay without rent since the house and farm were hers now, but Dina insisted that she would continue to pay. It just felt right, according to her.

Carla also took the liberty of telling the farm's employees that Eren and Cinder would be staying with her as well. Nobody questioned the decision, since the presence of children wasn't likely to affect their work.

So with that, Carla began her role as Ambrose Farms' newest manager.

Everything she had learned in Argus and from her parents served her well, and the first week of her work came with very little issues. Carla even surprised herself when she saw that the work wasn't as intimidating as she would have believed a long time ago.

It was even funny to think that she was once a simple waitress on Paradis. On Remnant, the sky was the limit.

Despite her work, Carla made every effort to spend time with Eren. She gave Eren a proper tour of the small town, and he took Cinder with him. It was easy for both Carla and Dina to notice how happy the children were when they were together, and both the adults were starting to adjust to their presence.

Things were strange and awkward for Dina and Eren, however. Dina was still trying to figure out where she knew him from, and Eren was doing his best to keep the truth a secret. Naturally, this drew a wedge between the two. And since Cinder trusted Eren, she initially found herself drifting away from the adults.

Dina didn't question the distance Eren had created, but a part of her wished that she could reach out and help both children. One aspect of her job was connecting with children so she could figure out how to best teach them, and Dina was willing to do this with both Eren and Cinder.

Her chance to do this came one night, where everyone should have been fast asleep. But Cinder was wide awake, taking sharp breaths and rubbing her forehead free of sweat.

The young girl had just woken up from a nightmare, a mixture of both memory and terror. The Madame of the Glass Unicorn was standing above Cinder, electrocuting her with the collar. Her daughters were laughing as she was suffering, but that wasn't the end of it. Cinder also dreamt that she picked up a knife off the ground and used it to kill the Madame and her daughters. When they died, Cinder felt proud of what she had done. It was true that Eren killed the first daughter, but Cinder's dream made her do it instead.

After she did this, Cinder's pride at obtaining freedom vanished when she looked inside the eyes of her victims. They were lifeless and unblinking, but they were also wide open. They were staring at Cinder, and Cinder couldn't look away. The eye-contact scared the child greatly, since they refused to look away.

Cinder could feel those eyes staring right into her soul.

Cinder didn't know why this was happening, if she was feeling guilty or if it was supposed to be some kind of twisted payback from beyond the grave. Whatever it was, the young girl hated it. Even awake, she felt like she had been violated, that the Madame and her daughters were still watching her.

This dream was a recurring one, and Cinder had experienced it countless times. Tonight, however, was the first night that she sought help from a friend. She was in her own room at the moment, so she tiptoed very slowly over to Eren's room in an effort to wake him up.

"Eren?" she called out to the boy sleeping across from her. Eren was fast asleep, and he appeared to be very comfortable in his bed.

Cinder moved inside the room and stopped at Eren's bed. "Eren, wake up," she said as she shook his body. But Eren simply moved to his side and continued to sleep. "Eren,please."

"Cinder?"

The young girl quickly turned around to see Dina Fritz at the open door. "Are you okay?" she whispered.

"Umm... I'm fine," Cinder lied as she moved away from Eren. She walked towards the door and planned to move back to her own room. "I just needed to-"

A hand to her shoulder caused Cinder to stop walking. A chill crawled up her spine as she looked back at Dina, since she was unsure what was going to happen.

But Dina simply let go of Cinder's shoulder and spoke very calmly. "You had a bad dream, didn't you?" she deduced.

Cinder was surprised that Dina could know that, but decided to brush it off. "No, I-"

"Cinder, you're sweating." Dina was looking at her forehead and her shirt, which was starting to show sweat stains. "And you've been crying."

Cinder touched her cheek and felt a tear line that ended close to her chin. "I... I'm sorry," she said as she rubbed her eye. "I-"

"It's okay," Dina said with an extended hand. "Come with me, we can talk."

"It... It's okay. "It was just a dream, I can-"

"Cinder, trust me when I say this; it is not okay. I've had one too many bad dreams to realize that myself."

"..."

Carla had told Eren and Cinder that Dina also had dreams like her, and Eren told her who Dina was to him. So it was easy for Cinder to understand that Dina also had bad dreams.

And even though she didn't say it... Cinder knew that she needed help with her own dreams.

Fortunately, Dina recognized this need for help. She gently took Cinder's hand and began to lead down the stairs. "We should let Eren rest," she said. "You can talk to me about your dream."

"Are.. Are you sure?" Cinder asked. "I don't-"

"I'm sure." Dina stopped walking and kneeled down to Cinder. "I know you might be scared, I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to. But I don't think I could forgive myself if you were in the same position as me and I didn't do anything about it. Let me help you."

"..."

Dina began to smile. "Please?"

"..."

Cinder looked back to the bedroom, where Eren was still sound asleep. Seeing that this was the best option she had, Cinder nodded and followed Dina's lead.

Dina led the young girl into the kitchen, where she poured two glasses of water. Cinder sat down across from Dina while she kept her eyes focused on the table. Dina had a good idea that Cinder wouldn't be the first one to start their conversation, so she made the first move. "I know that look," she said as she put down the water. "I've woken up so many times with that same look, so I believe I know how you're feeling."

Cinder immediately became defensive when Dina said that. "You don't know what I'm going through," she said in an attempt to shield herself.

The woman saw that she had touched a nerve, so she decided to listen to Cinder. "Not exactly, you're right." Dina took a drink of her water. "But like I said, I know you feel as if something is haunting you."

"..."

Cinder looked down at the table again as she listened. "That's what nightmares do, Cinder. They hurt you, they make you feel all alone in the world. I always thought they were just make-believe your mind creates to scare you. But I was wrong. The fact that reality is coming back to haunt you is what makes us do this."

"..."

Small drops of water fell from Cinder's eyes and hit the table. She couldn't deny that her dreams were based off reality, or that they were making her feel all alone.

"Like you?" she asked. "You're awake too."

"...Yes," Dina admitted. "Exactly like me. I haven't told anyone besides Carla what my dreams were like, but they've haunted me for as long as I can remember. I wouldn't dare ask you to tell me what happened to you, but it's more or less the same as me... isn't it?" Cinder looked up at Dina and nodded. "I can only imagine what scares you Cinder, and what I'm scared of still haunts me to this day."

"Then... what can I do?"

"Nightmares come and go, but they never stay gone. But instead of focusing on what you fear when you wake up... focus on what you love." Cinder tilted her heard, but continued to listen. "My parents and my friends were always supportive when I had my nightmares. They knew something was wrong with me, but that didn't stop them from trying to help me. As long as they were in my life, they showed me my fear was just temporary. You have things you love don't you?"

"..."

Cinder didn't answer this question, but she briefly turned her eyes towards the stairs. When she did this, Dina was able to understand what Cinder was saying.

"I see," Dina continued. "Hold onto it, Cinder. Focus on it whenever you wake up. And then... the fear goes away easier."

Cinder immediately took Dina's advice and thought about all the time she spent with Eren. The images of the Madame and her daughters were still there, but Cinder focused even harder on all the good times she shared with Eren, both at the orphanage and in Kuroyuri. After a few minutes, the images disappeared. Cinder smiled and finished the rest of her water. "Thank you," she said as she got off her chair.

"You're welcome," Dina said sincerely. "If you ever need to talk again, you can talk to me. Is that okay with you?"

"I... I think so." She began to walk back to the stairs.

"Good. Oh, one more thing."

Cinder turned around to see Dina holding Vasilisa. "You left her in the living room. I used to sleep with Anya when I had nightmares. And Carla slept with Vasilisa too."

"She did?"

"Every night. Just don't tell her I said that, okay?

Cinder giggled at the joke and took her doll. Once she did, she walked straight back to bed and laid down. But rather than falling asleep immediately, Cinder found herself opening her eyes and looking back at the doll. Its smiling face was very comforting and hugging it seemed to take a weight off Cinder's shoulders.

As she stared at the doll, Cinder realized that what happened tonight wouldn't have been the same if she had talked to Eren instead. He was her only friend and she trusted him greatly, but Cinder found it hard to believe that Eren could have helped her the way Dina helped her.

And the more she thought about it, Cinder saw that maybe, just maybe... she could trust other people like she trusted Eren.

When she woke up the next morning, Dina prepared herself for work. She had a few appointments with children today, so she was going to be busy. However, the dreams that she had usually made mornings tough for her. Recovering from nightmares, however infrequent they were, required a lot of energy that one didn't usually have in the morning.

Dina's only hope was that Cinder wasn't having the same morning as her.

"Ms. Fritz?"

Dina turned around at the sound of her name to see a child. But rather than the child of one of her clients, it was Eren who was talking to her.

"Um... thank you," he said. "For helping Cinder."

"..."

Dina was mostly surprised at Eren, since this was the greatest amount of words he had said to her ever since he came to Kuroryuri. But when she heard that Cinder had been helped, she became happy.

Cinder's morning was much better than Dina's, as she woke up feeling better and refreshed. Naturally, she told Eren what had happened and how she wanted to trust Dina. Because of this, Eren was finally able to find the nerve to talk to her.

And because he did so, Dina found the nerve to talk to Eren.

"You're welcome," she said with a smile. "If there's ever anything wrong, just let me know."

"Yeah... sure."

Eren began to walk away to find his mother, which made Dina a little upset. She felt that she opened a new path for a relationship with Cinder, but Eren still gave her the cold shoulder. Not that she blamed him, since Carla had told her that he too had the same dreams as him. She was sure that these dreams were the reason Eren was avoiding her, since Dina believed she met him before.

And if that was true, Eren's behavior gave her the idea that their meeting wasn't a pleasant one.

"Eren, just a moment!" Dina said as she moved towards him. Eren stopped and turned around, which made Dina lose her train of thought. "Um... Eren... the thing is... I-"

Eren had a good idea as to what Dina wanted. He was sure that she wanted to bury the hatchet or at least ask for an explanation for his behavior. Eren didn't harbor any resentment for her, but he was unsure how he wanted to handle this conversation. He had hoped that Dina's incomplete memory would make things easier, but it only seemed to prolong the inevitable. So now he needed to take the bull by the horns and make some resolutions.

"I'll go first," he said. "I'm not exactly sure what you remember, or how much you do. But... you should know that you were right. We... We have met before."

Dina took this confirmation as a sign of progress. She became scared, however, at the idea of all of her dreams being memories. She felt like she was about to throw up, that she was going to break down like she did when she was a little girl.

But instead, Dina summoned all of her willpower to say one thing.

"I don't remember too much. But whatever I did to you, if anything... I regret it all. I really do."

"..."

Dina left without a word, mainly because she was going to be sick.

After she recovered, however, determination found her way into her soul. All of her life, she had been running away from how she felt. But now, she knew that she was going to have to make things right with Eren.

One way, or another, she knew that she had to remember what happened to her.

Cinder's conversation with Dina had done wonders for the both of them. In the following week, the duo bonded not only over their reaction to bad dreams, but also for their love of books. Dina always excelled in teaching reading and literature, and Cinder loved reading the books Dina had. And so, Dina decided to take Cinder under her tutelage and teach her whatever she didn't know.

Their journey was based on learning, which made the both of them happy.

Eren remembered what his father said about Dina in his memories, how he was inspired by the readings and information she brought from the Owl when he was an Eldian Restorationist. What she read not only furthered Grisha's resolve, but it also made him and Dina grow closer.

It seemed the same had happened to Cinder.

While this was happening, Eren found himself bonding with his mother. But rather than reading or learning, Eren found Carla's work interesting. Not the business side, but the farming side. Eren was eager to regain the strength he had on Paradis, and he believed he could do so by working on the farm.

After Shiganshina fell, Eren was sent to work on a farm with Mikasa and Armin to survive. There, he had to learn how to keep up with a certain pace and work hard to survive. His training in the army was the main way he developed his strength, but the farm work helped him develop stamina as well.

Carla was against the idea of Eren working the fields, since she didn't see the need for this. However, she decided to let him help bring some of the farm's produce into town so it could be sold. The farm's employees would tend the stands and bring down the produce themselves, and Carla knew she would have to go with them sometimes to check out inventory and how well everything was selling.

And so, she went into town with Eren one day so she could do this work. Eren had volunteered to bring a basket of potatoes to the stands, since they were one of the more popular items in Kuroyuri. This inspired Eren to tell his mother more of his time in Paradis, namely an incident involving potatoes.

"He found her with a baked potato?" Carla asked with a laugh. "In the middle of the meeting?"

"Yep," Eren said as he laughed at the fond memory of his first day in training. "Her name was Sasha. And for some stupid reason, she decided to eat a potato while our instructor was getting to know our division." Eren suddenly remembered something else. "I think you actually knew him. Keith Shadis?"

"Hmm..."

Carla took a minute to think of the name. She had grown accustomed to the fact that her dreams were memories after two weeks, so it was usually easy for her to talk about them with Eren. And the name "Keith Shadis" was familiar.

"I think you're right," she said after a few seconds of thinking and walking. "Was he a part of the Survey Corps too?"

"Yeah, he was actually the Commander for a little while," Eren pointed out. "He resigned and became an instructor, though. That's how he met me and Sasha."

"Oh, right! Sasha!" Carla laughed again. "So what happened next?"

"When he found out what she was doing, Sasha attempted to save herself by offering him half of the potato."

"Did it work?"

"No. He made her run laps until she dropped to the ground. And she wasn't allowed to eat any food for the rest of the day."

"Oh, that poor girl," Carla said while giggling. "I take it she never tried that again?"

"Nope," Eren confirmed. "But that didn't stop us from calling her 'Potato Girl.'" Eren soon found himself laughing with his mother about this. It felt good to laugh, and to think back on his friends with fond memories.

And Carla saw how good it felt, knowing that not all of Eren's days were filled with pain and misery. But she still wished she was there with him.

Carla abandoned these feelings when she came across one of her stands in town. This stand contained a variety of vegetables and other food that her farm sold, and Eren was finally able to replace an empty basket with the basket he was carrying.

"Thanks, Eren," said one of Carla's employees, a man named Abraham. "Nice job."

"I'll say," said Carla. "I'm impressed, Eren. Wasn't that heavy for you?"

"Not really," Eren said. He had to stretch his arms when he placed the basket down, which gave an indicator that he was lying. In fact, the basket was rather heavy for a boy his age.

Carla immediately believed the chore would have been easier for him if Mikasa was here. She had done chores like this before and helped Eren multiple times. Still, it was a surprise to see that Eren was able to do the task all on his own.

"Carla? Hey, Carla!"

"Huh?" Carla asked as she snapped out of her daydream. "Sorry, what was that?"

"I was just saying we're doing pretty good selling," said Abraham. "It doesn't look like everyone wants our lettuce, though. Maybe they got enough? Or they just don't want it."

Carla made a note of this. "Maybe we can sell it to some of the other villages," she said. "If we can get it to them in one piece." Transport between the villages had become harder recently, much more than usual. Carla tried not to dwell on this, since nothing good would become of worrying.

"Yeah, but our corn is selling like crazy. I just went though the extra basket. I'm gonna need another basket."

Carla looked at two empty baskets where corn once had been. She was happy to see that everyone liked what she and her employees were growing, so she decided to sell more today. However, she would have to check her inventory to see what was to be sold and what was going to be stored, and this was something Carla wanted to do herself.

"Let me go check on that," she said. "I'll bring more down as soon as I can."

"Well, I can help with that," Abraham offered. "I could close the stand for a minute, it's not too busy here."

Carla looked around to see that other stands were open. Some were selling fish and others were selling wooden tools. The sight of this small crowd on a beautiful day like this made Carla hesitant about closing the stand for a short time.

"I can watch it."

Carla and Abraham looked down at Eren, who was walking towards the stand. "Mom, I can watch it," he repeated. "You do what you have to do."

Carla was once again surprised by Eren's willingness to work and help around. She was about to say that he didn't need to do this, but Abraham spoke first.

"Thanks, Eren," he said. "We'll be back in a few." He began to walk back towards the farm, but not before he said something else to Carla. "You got some kid, Carla."

"..."

All of a sudden, Carla wasn't entirely sure if this was true.

Children like Eren weren't supposed to be working. They weren't supposed to be helping with chores like this, unless there was nobody else around to help. Carla knew that children Eren's age were supposed to be running around, having fun and getting into trouble.

And yet, Eren was more concerned about doing physical labor and not having any time for fun or friends.

Carla began to feel incredibly sad as she looked at Eren. They may have found each other after impossible circumstances... but Carla couldn't help but feel that she had lost her little boy.

"Eren, you don't have to stay," Carla insisted. "We can go back home, maybe watch some-"

"It's okay, Mom," Eren replied. "It's just for a few minutes, right?"

"Yeah, we'll be quick," said Abraham. He would volunteer to stay himself, but the amount of corn Carla wished to sell was too heavy for a child to carry. "You're a lifesaver, Eren."

"..."

Much had changed within Eren, Carla knew that this was true. One thing that stayed the same, however, was the stubborn look Eren had in his eyes. And so, Carla let Eren stay. But as soon as she got back, Carla decided that she was going keep Eren away from working.

"Okay, we'll be back," said Carla. "The prices for each item are written by the baskets, just in case you need them."

"Okay," Eren said as he moved closer to the stand. When Carla and her employee left, Eren looked at the prices listed by the baskets of produce. "Let's see, that's ten, that's fifteen, and that's... nineteen." Eren was still learning how to read Remnant's writing system, as well as its currency system. "And they'll pay with... with-"

"Lien!"

Eren turned around to see Cinder standing behind him. She had decided to leave the farm as well, but she was more focused on exploring instead of working. "Hi, Eren," she said. "What are you doing?"

"Watching the stand for a minute," he replied. "Mom's gone back to the farm to count some food with Abraham, so I said I could watch it."

Cinder became puzzled. "You said you could watch it?"

"Yeah, just like I said I could carry some of this food down."

Cinder's confusion grew even more. This was because she had noticed the same thing Carla had noticed. "How come you've been working a lot?" she asked. "I've seen you doing a lot of things around the farm."

"I'm just keeping myself busy." Eren didn't really see a problem with this. "And between you and me, I'm making myself stronger." Eren looked at the basket of potatoes he had. "That was actually pretty heavy."

"..."

"But I guess I could start exercising again. I can show you what I did too if you want."

Cinder began to understand things now. "Oh, so you think the work can help your..." She looked around for a moment before she whispered. "Titan?"

"It's mostly for me," Eren said. "But yeah, it should help. I can't really train with it right now."

Cinder smiled when she had an idea. "Well, that gives you some free time. I saw some of the other kids playing a game by the wall. Do you wanna play?"

"Um, no thanks." Eren looked back towards the farm. "I think I'll try some of those exercises when I get back."

"..."

Once again, Cinder noticed the same thing Carla was noticing. It was sad to see Eren so serious, like he had the world on his shoulders. Cinder felt even more sad when she saw that Eren didn't seem to be enjoying the freedom he gained from Atlas. Instead, he was more focused on beating Salem.

Shouldn't he be enjoying what he gained?

"Excuse me!"

Eren and Cinder turned around when they heard a voice. They looked to see a boy slightly younger than them standing with a smile and looking at the stand. The boy was wearing a green shirt and white pants, and he had hair as black as Cinder's.

Cinder immediately recognized the boy as one of Dina's clients. She would usually make visits to his house, but he came over to the farm once or twice. "Oh, hi," Cinder said with a smile. "You're Lie, right?"

"Right!" the boy happily said. He held out a piece of Lien to the older children. "What can I buy with this?"

Eren immediately turned to the stands so he could help the boy. When he looked at the prices of the food and then back to the card, Eren saw that the Lien wasn't enough to buy a whole basket of food. He had about two Lien, and a single piece of food cost about four or five.

"It costs a little more than that," he said. "Sorry."

The boy simply moved down the road and looked inside a cake shop, while Eren moved to the stand. Cinder joined him, and began to have an idea. Dina taught her that asking questions was always the best way to learn, that it was the best way to get an answer. So she decided to learn something about Eren.

"Hey, Eren," she began to get his attention. "Are you... happy here?"

"Huh?" Eren asked.

"I mean, are you happy living here? With me and your mom?"

Eren immediately gave Cinder his full attention. "Well, yeah. Of course I am."

"It's just... you seem a little... unhappy. I mean, I was never happy with doing all the work I had to do. And you're doing it too."

"I'm fine," Eren insisted. "I just don't have much else to do."

"Well, I think I know something you can do," Cinder proposed. "Ms. Fritz lets me talk to the other kids that come by to read and learn. I think I'd like to be friends with them." Cinder pointed towards Lie, who was still looking at the cake shop. "Lie's nice. He's a little shy, but he's smart. I think you'd like him. Why don't you go over and talk to him?"

Eren looked over at the boy while he listened to Cinder. He was happy to hear that Cinder was willing to make new friends, but he didn't see the need for making new ones of his own.

"You can make friends with him if you want," Eren insisted. "But I'm okay."

"...Are you?" Cinder asked. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little... worried." Cinder's cheeks grew red as she rubbed the back of her head. "Um... about you, I mean."

Eren appreciated the concern, but he was quick to put things straight. "You don't have to be worried, Cinder. I'm just... trying to be ready." He moved closer to her. "Things were different on Paradis. You have to be ready at a moment's notice."

"Ready for what?"

"Well, anything. Something could happen at a moment's notice. I just think I should be ready for it."

"Something like what?"

Eren wasn't sure how to answer this, since it was clear that Cinder didn't have the same mentality as him. However, a new voice that seemingly came from nowhere answered for him.

"Hey, get back here!"

All three children turned towards the sound of a boy yelling. Lie Ren had to look around the corner of the shop while Eren and Cinder had to leave the stand to see what was happening. There, they saw three older boys standing in semicircle in an alley. In the middle of the circle was a dirt-covered girl crouched on the ground and holding a loaf of bread.

"Where'd you get that bread?" the tallest boy asked. "I didn't see you pay for it, thief!"

"No, look, it's all moldy!" the shortest boy noticed.

"I think she got it from the trash!" the third boy guessed.

"Lemme see!"

Eren and Cinder watched the girl defend herself by biting the boy on his finger. After he yelled and then pushed the girl to the ground, everyone reacted differently. Lie Ren became fearful and unwilling to do anything to stop the bullies. Eren and Cinder both became angry at the sight, since neither of them liked bullies. Eren remembered what bullies back home did to Armin, and Cinder remembered what she had to endure before she met Eren.

Cinder knew that she had Eren to help her back then, but this girl had nobody. It was time to change that.

"Hey!" Cinder yelled as she walked closer. The boys quickly turned around. "Leave her alone!"

"Get lost!" the tall boy said. "We're in the middle of something!"

"Not anymore," said Eren, who immediately joined Cinder. He was much calmer than Cinder, but he shared her sentiments. "Leave her alone."

"She bit me!" the hurt child yelled. "She could have rabies for all we know!" He turned back and pushed the girl again.

"Consider yourself lucky," Eren said as he stopped walking. "You only got part of what you deserved."

"Oh, yeah?" The boy walked over to Eren with his other friends. "And what else do you-?"

*BAM*

Cinder didn't waste anymore time as she jumped on the boy and began to punch him. His friends jumped back in shock at the sudden act of violence. The tall boy attempted to grab Cinder, but Eren punched his face and he fell to the ground.

As the fighting continued, Lie turned to run. Once he did, he immediately bumped into something and fell to the ground. Looking up, the boy could see a tall man with black hair streaked with gray pulled back into a ponytail, a mustache, and a goatee. He was wearing a sleeveless green tailcoat over a long-sleeved white shirt, black pants tucked into open-toe sandals, and a quiver on his back.

"Father?" Lie asked.

The rest of the children seemed to hear Lie, and they turned in his direction to see Lie's father. The dirty girl took this opportunity to run away with her bread. "Hey, wait!" Cinder yelled as she got off her opponent. The girl was faster than she looked, as she got too far for Cinder to chase. The bullies immediately ran as well, leaving the three children alone.

"Do you wish to run with the rest of them?" the man asked.

Cinder walked up to Eren as he gave an answer. "If they're going after her, yes," he said.

The man ignored Eren as he looked down to his son. "I was asking you."

"..."

The boy did nothing but look at the ground. The man kneeled to his son as he continued to speak. "Sometimes the worst action to take... is taking no action at all."

"..."

"Go home. I need to speak with the mayor." The man turned to leave, but he looked at Eren and Cinder with a nod of approval before he left.

Eren found himself nodding back, and he found himself feeling proud of what he and Cinder had done. It wasn't every day where he would receive approval for fighting bullies; his mother would usually give him grief.

But Eren knew that this fight was different from the ones he had in the past. Back then, he would simply fight people who would make fun of him and Armin. But now, as his mother once requested, he fought to help others instead of fighting for himself.

Cinder felt proud too, but she felt sorry for both the girl and Lie. Fortunately, she had a chance to make things right with Lie.

"Lie, I'm sorry about that," she said as she approached the boy. "I didn't mean to get you in trouble."

"Oh... that's okay," the boy said. " I don't think he's mad at me." He then turned to Eren. "How did you do that?"

"Huh?" Eren asked.

Lie pointed to the area where the fight happened. "Weren't you scared of getting hurt?"

"No, not really." Eren didn't feel scared about fighting, since he had fought much worse than a few bullies in his life. But he could see that Lie wouldn't understand that easily.

But there was one thing that he could understand.

"It's easy to get scared like that, though," he said. "But sometimes being brave is worth the risk."

Lie was never one to take risks easily, since he was mostly afraid of getting hurt. However, the idea Eren offered was an interesting one. Because he took the risk, the poor girl was able to evade her bullies.

And maybe it was worth the risk in more ways than one.

"I'll try to remember that," he promised. "Thank you... Eren. Is that right?"

Eren nodded. "Yeah. My name's Eren. And you're Lie?"

"Lie Ren." The boy offered a hand to Eren, which he shook slowly. Once he did, Lie finally made his way home.

Cinder looked at Eren with a smile and a laugh. "See?" she asked. "I told you that you would like him."

Eren let a chuckle when he saw that his brief interaction had proven Cinder's point. "Yeah, you were right," he admitted.

Cinder was proud, but she had to admit that she learned something too. "I guess you were right, too. We need to be ready for things like that."

Eren returned a smile to Cinder, but not because he too had been proven right. "And you were. Good job, Cinder."

"Thanks. But I still think you don't have to do work all the time. I'll show you when we get home."

When Carla learned from Li Ren what Eren had done, she felt a mixture of feelings. At first, she was annoyed that Eren seemed to be getting into fights again. She remembered all of the fights he had got into at Paradis, mainly how she had to tend to his wounds every time.

Then, she felt surprised to see that not only was Eren unharmed, but he had chosen to fight to defend a girl he didn't even know. Both Li and Cinder confirmed this to be true, and it warmed Carla's heart to know that Eren was starting to choose his fights. She had once told him that he would have to defend Mikasa and fight for her one day, and it seemed that he took that lesson to heart.

Lastly, Carla felt relieved to see that not everything about her son had changed. He may have matured, but Carla could now see that the boy she knew was still with her.

As the days and weeks passed, things only got better for Eren and the people closest to him. Cinder and Dina grew closer and bonded over their love for books and learning. Dina took it upon herself to educate Cinder like she would educate other children of Kuroyuri. As she did, Dina saw in Cinder what Eren first saw; something special.

The time also gave Eren and Carla to rekindle their relationship. When Cinder had expressed how worried she was about him, Eren took some time to think about how he may have come across to her and his mother. Eren soon realized that his maturity and willingness to work may have been unfamiliar to his mother. And Cinder had shown him that not all children were acting like he was.

Eren meant no harm by this, he was simply looking to regain the strength he had on Paradis. He couldn't train with his Titan, but he could focus on building up his physical strength. However, his efforts to do so seemed to be drawing a wedge between him and his mother, which was the last thing he wanted.

When he did that on Paradis, everyone grew to resent and fear him.

And so, Eren decided to put his efforts to grow on hold and spend time reconnecting with his mother. When she wasn't busy with her work at the farm, Carla would spend time talking, reading, and even watching television with Eren. Carla even suggested that Eren spend time learning with Cinder and Dina, so they grew closer as well.

And so, Eren would make sure to either spend his free time with Carla or Cinder. Cinder was usually learning with Dina, so Eren had time to spend with his mother. But when they weren't busy, Eren and Cinder either talked or ran around the farm enjoying themselves. Because of this, because Cinder would normally take the lead for having fun, Carla discovered that she hadn't completely lost her son.

The times he laughed during their talks and the things they watched on television together made sure of this.

The best time for bonding, however, came at mealtimes. Carla made sure everyone would eat together, so that was how she would always be eating with Dina, Eren, and Cinder.

A month had passed since Eren and Cinder came to Kuroyuri, and they were both comfortable with talking to Carla and Dina. Tonight's dinner conversation, however, wasn't exactly Eren's favorite. He had fallen asleep under a tree after he finished a couple of chores he volunteered to do, and Cinder played a practical joke on him. Using a book of arts and crafts she had read with Dina, Cinder made a small crown of leafs and flowers that she placed on Eren's head while he slept.

Eren was still embarrassed by this joke, which was why he was silent when Dina and Carla were talking about it.

"I'm impressed, Cinder," said Dina. "I stopped reading that book after I couldn't make a small ragdoll. I'm glad you found a good use for it." She began to giggle again as Eren rolled his eyes.

"Thank you," Cinder said as she took another bite of her dinner. "Maybe I can show you how to do it. I finished the book."

Dina smiled at Cinder. "I'd like that."

Carla was immediately surprised by Cinder's claim. "You finished the book?" she asked. "Dina, is that the fifth book you've finished with her this week?"

"That's right," Dina replied. "She's a natural, I'm telling you. We're already reading on a whole different grade level than most children her age."

"Really?" Carla looked at Cinder with a smile. "That's amazing, Cinder."

Eren found his chance to talk now. "I'm not surprised," he said, even though he was unsure what Dina meant by "grade level." He simply assumed that meant Cinder was good at reading. "She actually taught me how to read when we first met."

"I've always had a thing for reading," Cinder replied. "I just never had enough books to do it. Not a lot of people know that."

Just then, Eren put down his fork and looked at Cinder. "Huh. You know, I'm glad you said that," he said. "We've been here for a while and we still don't know each other that well." He turned to Carla. "Like, Mom, you said you were always a farmer?"

"Just like my parents," Carla said. "According to them, this farm has been around even before they were born. Other than winter, the soil has always been good for farming, so they never left."

"And they never expanded?"

"They didn't want to risk any of the crops or hired help get eaten by Grimm. Besides, what we have right now is plenty of land. And I was able to learn a lot from my parents." Carla took a bite of food before she talked again. "Eren, I've seen how you've been working here. Maybe one day you could be running this place like me."

"Running?" Eren put down his fork. "Uh, I could see myself working it. How's that sound?"

Carla, Dina, and Cinder laughed at Eren's hesitance. "Wow, Eren," said Carla. "I had the exact same reaction when my parents said the same thing." She leaned her cheek on her arm. "And to think I was doing menial work back home."

Eren laughed at this idea. He had heard how his mother was a waitress before she met Grisha. "Yeah, it's a real step up," he agreed. "And Ms. Fritz, were you always a teacher?"

"I did a few small things around here before I became one," Dina replied. "Things changed when my father decided to send me to school in Mistral. I don't mean to brag, but I was one of the few who got an education in the capital."

"Really? What was that like?"

"Intense, as the years passed. I studied literature, and I even took a teaching position in Mistral. I left it after a few years, though."

"You did?" Cinder asked. "Why?"

"Well, like I said, I was one of the few who went to school in Mistral. And places like Kuroyuri don't have a school of their own, they just learn at home. I wanted to change that, and maybe give children like you and Eren the chance to learn like I did in Mistral."

Cinder started to like the sound of that idea. Dina merely thought of it as a small service to the people of the town, but Cinder felt inspired by it. And she was glad that Dina always took time out of her day to give what she had been given long ago. It was a great idea.

However, at the back of her mind, Cinder couldn't help but wonder what made places like Mistral and Kuroyuri different.

Eren also liked Dina's idea of taking what she had learned and giving it to Kuroyuri, but he didn't wonder the same thing Cinder was thinking about. Instead, he swallowed more of his food before he spoke again.

"You two probably know a lot about my story," he said. "A soldier who died and came back here." Carla had told Dina that Eren was a soldier as well as her son, so she understood what Eren was saying. "But it's okay. I mean, we won."

Carla took pity on Eren for what happened, and she rubbed his back to comfort him. "Well, I'm glad you're here now, Eren," she said sincerely. "There's no war you have to fight here."

"..."

Eren forced a smile when he heard this, since he still remained silent about the war he had to fight with Salem. The less his mother knew about it, the better.

Carla immediately turned to Cinder. "What about you, Cinder?" she asked politely. "What's your story?"

"Oh," Cinder said as she swallowed her food. "Well... it's not exactly like yours." Cinder looked back to Eren. "Eren and I met at a farm in Mistral, kind of like this one. He had only been there a week before we left, but... it was the only home I knew."

"..."

Everyone remained silent as Cinder shared her story.

"The farm was also an orphanage, that's how I came to be there. I didn't know it at first, but I learned that my parents died in a fire. Apparently, the first thought everyone had for me was sending me away." Cinder turned to Dina and Carla. "I know that's not like dying on another world." She then turned to Eren. "Or losing your friends." She looked down at the table. "But... it still wasn't great."

"..."

Everyone fell into silence after they listened to Cinder's story. It was truly a sad one, especially since Cinder never knew her parents and nobody cared about taking her in.

It was this story, as well as their own, that made everyone realize how they were connected by their own pain and trauma. Carla and Dina still had their bad dreams, and Eren had to live with that fact that he destroyed most of the world when he was alive. And now Cinder's pain was revealed to be not knowing what it meant to be loved by others.

At least, before she came to Kuroyuri.

"I'm sorry," Cinder apologized. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright," Dina said with a smile as she took Cinder's hand. "I'm sorry that happened to you, Cinder."

"Me too," said Eren. He took Cinder's other hand, which caused Cinder to smile as her cheeks became red.

"Me too," said Carla. "But you'll always have a home here, Cinder. I promise."

Cinder's smile widened a little when she heard this promise. "Thank you," she said.

Hearing Cinder's story and being reminded of her own made Dina realize something; something that she was willing to share with everyone.

"It can be really hard to let go of the past," she said. "And it always finds a way to come back. I think Carla and I know that better than anyone." Carla nodded in agreement, since Dina was referring to the dreams they always had. "I was always scared of those dreams, I always fought them when they came back. But if they really were memories from my past... I think it's time that I accept them. That we all accept whatever pain might have come our way. Because no matter how much it might hurt..."

"The past is what brought us all here," Carla finished. She looked to Eren with a smile as she held his hand. "Together."

Eren and Cinder smiled at the adults' wisdom as they held on to the grips they made. It was clear that Eren had reconnected with his mother just like Cinder had connected to Dina.

The children then looked back to each other as they continued to smile. They were both glad that their own pasts brought them together as well, and that they would be staying together for a long time.

"Well, I think that's enough for tonight," Carla said as she let go of Eren's hand. It was good to remember that the past indeed brought them together, but Carla was wise enough to know that she shouldn't dwell on it. "How about some dessert?"

"Yeah!" Cinder yelled with glee.

"Sounds great," Eren said. "What do we have?"

Dina also agreed that dessert was a good idea. So she walked into the kitchen and looked into a cabinet that had a mixture of food as well as sweets. "Well, how does-?"

*BOOM*

Everyone jumped at the sound in the distance. Dina was the first to rush to the window to see what it was while Eren was the first to wonder what it was.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I don't know," Dina said as she stared out the window. "It sounded like it came from town."

Eren, Carla, and Cinder jumped out of their seats and rushed to the window, while Dina made room for them to see what was going on. The town was still standing, but there was something glowing in the distance. An orange light was close to one of the houses, it looked like... fire?

"Is something burning?" Cinder asked.

"I hope not," Carla said with a hint of worry. "We don't-"

*WHOOSH*

Just then, a black shape moved across the sky, which caused Cinder to back away from the window in fear. "What was that?" she asked as she walked backwards. She bumped into Dina, but the woman took Cinder in her arms to comfort her.

"Look!" Eren said as he pointed outside. "In the field!"

Carla followed Eren's finger to see multiple black shapes running across the farm's field. It was hard to see at first, but Eren and Carla could see that the shape had animalistic features. Black paws, ears, and fur covered the shape, but the protruding bones and the red eyes told them that it wasn't a simple animal.

"Grimm," Eren and Carla whispered.

Upon hearing the word, Cinder let out a whimper as she held Dina tighter. Dina held the young girl as well, but she couldn't hide her own fear.

Rumors had been spreading across the town recently, that the Grimm in the forest and paths had been getting worse and bolder. There had been a few sightings and attacks outside the wall, but they were easy to forget about.

Tonight, however, seemed to have a breaking point. By the sheer amount of Grimm, everyone could see that this was an invasion.

Everyone was scared, including Eren. He had fought the Grimm before, but only when he was a Titan. He was vulnerable now, just as vulnerable as everyone else in the house. Carla was the first to spring into action, and her first instinct was the same one she had when the Titans invaded her home.

Protect the people she cared about.

Carla rushed over to turn off the lights in the kitchen. "Dina, get the lights in the other room!" she whispered. Dina did as she was told, but she had to convince Cinder that it would be okay before she left the child's side.

As Carla and Dina made the house grow dark, Eren and Cinder stood right where they were. Cinder was growing more afraid of the incoming doom, but Eren was able to find his resolve quickly. This many Grimm clearly called for the power of the Titans, and the short amount of time he had to build up his courage once again wasn't wasted.

Cinder remembered what Eren had said about being ready at a moment's notice, and he was once again proven right. She needed more time to build up her courage, but she had one idea about how she could help. All she needed was Eren's approval.

But that would have to wait.

"Eren, Cinder, come with us!" Carla said as she walked over to the children. She took both of their hands and made her way towards the back door.

"Where are we going?" Eren asked.

"Someplace safe," Dina promised. "There's a-"

*BAM*

*BAM*

*BAM*

Everyone stopped moving when they heard something hit the back door three times. Their hearts nearly jumped out of their chests, and Eren was the only one who turned his hands into fists. But before he could bite his hand, a voice called out from the other side.

"Carla! Dina! Let us in!"

Carla and Dina sighed in relief when they heard the voice. Dina immediately rushed ahead to open the door, where she was treated by all of Carla's employees. They were known for dealing with minor Grimm incursions, but something of this magnitude scared them greatly.

"Did you see the Grimm?" one of the workers asked his boss.

"Yes!" Carla confirmed. "Come with us, we have to go!"

"Go where?" another worker asked. "We can hide in the house!"

"No, not with this many Grimm," Dina argued. "We're going to the storm cellar, we'll be safe there!"

"But we never had to fit everyone down there! There might not be room!"

"Then we'll make room!" Carla said. "Now come on!"

Carla led Eren and Cinder outside. Just as Dina had said, there was a storm cellar near the barn that was used to store extra produce and other supplies. She had to hide down there a few times with her parents when the Grimm became too large for her father to handle alone. The town's volunteers usually took care of them, but Carla knew that something of this size might not help them this time.

And from the way everyone was running and breathing, Eren could tell they were scared. If he heard screams right now, it would be a perfect replication of the reaction people had to the Rumbling. The similarities were still there, and Eren knew how dangerous the Rumbling really was.

The comparisons he made made Eren's resolve grow even stronger, and he soon thought of a plan.

In hardly any time at all, everyone had arrived at the storm cellar. Two workers opened the doors and everyone shuffled inside. The doors closed just in time, as a nearby Beowolf literally smelled fear in the air. But it was too late to see all of the people shield themselves, so it moved to the town instead.

"Is everyone okay?" Carla asked.

"We're fine," a worker said. "This isn't the safe house, but it's better than out there."

"How long do you think we have to stay down here?" another worker asked.

"As long as it takes," a friend replied.

"We have plenty of food down here," Dina pointed out. "Does anyone see a flashlight? Or maybe a weapon?" She needed to see what was going on, and she knew someone might have to defend themselves and everyone else too.

"I got it, right here!" someone shouted.

"Shhh!" someone else quickly shushed the other person. "We can't let them hear us!" he whispered.

"He's right," Dina whispered. "Everyone try to be quiet.

"Here's the flashlight," the farmer said as he turned on the light. Now everyone had the ability to see themselves and each other. The first thing they noticed was how cramped the space was, but they were willing to sacrifice space if it meant safety. They also noticed how much stored food they had, so nobody was going to starve to death.

Carla noticed something as well, but she wasn't happy about it; someone was missing.

"Eren?" she asked as she looked down where her son should have been. "Eren?! Where's Eren?!"

"..."

When Dina helped her friend look for Eren, she noticed that Cinder was also missing. "Cinder?" she asked. "Oh, no, she's gone too!"

The other farmers looked around the cellar with Carla and Dina. They had all met the children before, and knew what they were looking for. But they couldn't find anything in the cellar that resembled a child.

"I don't see them," one of the workers said.

"He... He was right next to me!" Carla said as she began to panic. "He was right there!"

"..."

Eren wasn't here anymore, that was for sure. So there was only one place he could be.

"Eren!" Carla yelled as she began to move towards the stairs. "Let me out, I have to find him!"

Two farmers quickly grabbed Carla and prevented her from ascending. "Carla, no!" one of them said. "It's too dangerous!"

"No, you don't understand!" Carla began to cry as she desperately tried to reach the door. "I can't leave him up there! I just got him back!"

"..."

"EREN!"

The great influx of people going into the storm cellar gave Eren an opportunity to slip past Carla. Her grip on him loosened when they were running to the cellar, which gave him the chance to start running towards Kuroyuri without a second thought. He felt a sense of commitment to this cause in a few ways. The first was that Eren needed to help whoever he could in the defenseless city, and the second was that he could take the opportunity to use his Titan once again.

Another way was that Eren's mother was vulnerable to the Grimm. He couldn't protect her back home, but he could protect her now.

With his mind clear and his thoughts made up, Eren continued to make his way to Kuroyuri. The storm cellar would definitely offer some protection, but Eren knew that only he could stop the Grimm rather than let them win.

Nothing could go wrong now.

"Eren! Eren, stop!"

The sound of a familiar voice made Eren do as he was told. He stopped running and turned around to see Cinder a few feet behind him, out of breath. He hadn't even turned into a Titan yet and something already went wrong. "Cinder, what are you doing?!" he yelled. "Go back home!"

"No, I'm going with you!" Cinder retorted, stopping to catch her breath. "I know what you're going to do."

"Which is why you need to stay as far away from me as possible. It's dangerous."

"But wasn't it dangerous in Atlas, too? And don't you remember what I said when we left?" Cinder jabbed a finger at Eren. "I'm ready, Eren. I'm coming with you."

"..."

Eren began to think back on what he talked about with Cinder. He knew that everything he said to dissuade her from his plans would only make Cinder's resolve grow stronger. So now wasn't the time to argue, and that now was the time for action. But first, he had to do one more thing.

"Cinder... do you remember what you wanted me to do for you?" he asked. "The night we left Atlas?" The young girl nodded. "I can do that now. But I need to know if you're ready. Being a Titan isn't as great as it looks."

"..."

Cinder took a moment to consider the choice presented to her. The only conclusion she had was helping Eren, and saving everyone she could in Kuroyuri. And if that meant being a Titan, a Grimm that would be feared by the rest of the world, Cinder knew it would be worth it if it meant she could help Eren and protect her home.

With that, Cinder made her choice. "Eren... I'm ready."

"...Okay."

Eren took Cinder's hand and concentrated. He didn't exactly know how to do what he needed to do, but he knew someone who did.

*WHOOSH*

Within half a second, the children found themselves back in the Coordinate, with the God of Darkness staring at them. "She's ready," Eren stated.

"..."

If the God of Darkness had a mouth, Eren was sure that he would be grinning. And he was sure the grin was even wider once a black substance creeped its way off Eren's arm and joined Cinder's.

Chapter Text

"I don't rise from the ashes, I make them. I'm the whole fucking fire."

Erin Van Vuren

The first sight to behold was darkness. It wasn't the normal black of night or shadows, but this darkness was the embodiment of a world without light. The environment not only felt warm, but it also felt like it was moving. This only added to the mystery of what was going on for young Cinder.

Most children would be afraid of such a phenomenon, along with a few superstitious adults. But Cinder knew what she had gotten herself into; her sight had left her, but her memories of asking for a Titan remained.

She found herself welcoming the darkness surrounding her, embracing the warmth it provided her, and reveling in the new feeling of strength and power. She believed Eren once felt the same feelings when he first turned into a Titan, and he emerged from it stronger than ever.

And if he could do it, so could she.

The darkness suddenly disappeared, and it was replaced with red. The warmth was the only thing to stay, but it felt... odd. It was as if the warmth was connected to her entire body. Cinder looked around, and saw more red connected to her. On her arms, on her legs, and under her eyes were pieces of warm red flesh. She didn't know what was going on, and she pulled on the flesh with all of her strength in an attempt to get it off. But even though she could feel her arms, and they were stronger than ever, the flesh wouldn't break away. She was trapped.

Before panic could set in, Cinder felt a firm grasp on her right arm. At least, she thought she did. Aside from the warm flesh, there was nothing holding her arm. Even so, she felt an iron-like grip holding something that felt like a hand.

That was when she looked straight ahead and saw the night sky. It was a night like any other, with stars and the moon giving light to the darkness around her. But the next thing that came into view was a large, dark hand. Confused at the sight, Cinder began to move her fingers. As she did, the fingers on the large hand were moving. First, they wiggled. Then, they made a fist. There was no doubt about it, Cinder was controlling that large hand. And sure enough, there was another large hand holding hers.

After Eren transformed into his Titan, he quickly got back in the rhythm of being inside a large humanoid creature. He had transformed so many times back in Paradis that he learned to welcome and embrace the flesh connecting him to the Titan. He hadn't transformed again since he left Atlas, which was about a month ago, yet he still welcomed the feeling of being inside the body.

It was possible, however, that the same couldn't be said for Cinder.

Rather than making his way to the rest of Kuroyuri, which was still burning and drawing more Grimm, Eren decided to check on Cinder. The last time he saw her, they were still at the Coordinate. The God of Darkness used some kind of... part of Eren to envelop Cinder in darkness. It was a strange feeling, he felt as if a part of him left when it joined Cinder. But now, he could see the fruits of the god's labor.

Even in the night, Eren could see the Titan was a marvel to behold.

Standing a few feet in front of him was another Titan with black skin like the new Founding Titan. At a height of about fifteen meters, the new Titan looked at itself with glowing red eyes. The left eye was partially covered by pure white hair just reaching the shoulders, but it could still see. One look at this creature made Eren see many similarities to Annie Leonhart's Female Titan, for it possessed a voluptuous feminine figure with lean muscles. The only differences included the eyes, hair, skin, and the several spine like spikes running down the length of its back, as well as an outer rib cage which acted like a makeshift chest armor.

The new Titan was a curious one, as Eren and Cinder discovered. Eren was taking in the sights of this Titan, and Cinder was moving her arm to and fro. Eren assumed she was still getting a feel for the Titan body since she was waving her arm in such a manner, which was understandable. Once Eren gently grabbed her arm, she began to move less and look at her hand. After wiggling her fingers and forming a fist, the Titan looked at Eren's hand and followed it to the Founding Titan's face. She seemed to relax into the grip as she recognized her first friend.

Eren began to relax as well, when he saw that Cinder's mind still remained inside the beast. He began to feel better about the situation as he watched Cinder take her first steps as a Titan, which led to Beowolves on the ground being crushed.

*CRUNCH*

*CRUNCH*

Cinder stumbled for a moment before she regained her footing. And when she saw ash rise from her feet and more Beowolves clawing at her, Cinder simply stepped on them again.

*CRUNCH*

*CRUNCH*

Eren was proud to see that Cinder was already beginning to fight, but this was only the beginning. "We need... to go," he said as he pointed to the burning Kuroyuri. Cinder followed where he was pointing and nodded, ready to defend the first place she called her home.

Not all of the townspeople were awake when the Grimm began their attack. But when people saw what was going on, they were incredibly afraid.

The sight of Grimm and burning buildings was very uncommon for the small town, which was how panic began to set in. This panic only brought the Grimm closer, and they had their sights on everyone in their path.

Everyone began to react in two ways. Those who were known to fend off Grimm, like Li Ren, immediately took arms and did their best to kill the invading beasts. Those who didn't know how to fight, such as An Ren, rushed towards their homes to find their families and seek someplace safe.

An Ren rushed into her own house and slammed the door to her son's room open. The young boy was starting to wake up after he heard the screeches of Grimm, but the first thing he saw was his mother.

"Lie, get up," An quickly ordered. "We have to go."

"...Mother?" Lie Ren asked as he rubbed his eyes. Before he could ask what was going on, his mother gently grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

"Now, right now, okay? Let's go!"

"..."

Lie was wide awake now, and he was following his mother without a word. As the duo made their way into the kitchen, the front door slammed open to reveal a heavily-breathing Li walking inside. When he heard his wife call to him, the man looked at his family with worry. "An, what are you doing?!" he cried. "We need to hurry!"

"We can go to the safehouse!" his wife suggested.

"No, I saw the beast. We need a Huntsman. And you two need to leave."

"What?"

A loud shriek found its way to the Ren household, causing each member to look at the walls and ceiling in alarm. And when the sound and vibrations of large footsteps took its place, the child began to feel the urge to cry. "Mother?"

An shared her son's fears, but she was able to hide them under a comforting face as she kneeled down to her son. "It's okay," she said, attempting to calm him down. "Everything's okay."

*SLAM*

Another vibration, much closer this time, found its way just outside the house and caused everyone to lose their footing. Li was the the first to stand back up and find out what had nearly hit them. Out the front window, he could see nothing but black. It wasn't the black of night, but something else. The black looked like the black of a Grimm's flesh.

But this wasn't the beast that he had seen moments ago. This was... something else.

*SCREECH*

As his wife and child were getting back up, Li carefully looked out the door to see what was going on. The cries of a Nevermore caused him to look up and feel his jaw drop. There was indeed a Nevermore right above his house, but it was struggling in the grasp of a much larger Grimm. And as it turned down to him, Li could see that this Grimm was almost... human.

When Eren and Cinder reached Kuroyuri, Eren's first target was a large Nevermore that came dangerously close to the Ren household. When he stopped it from crashing onto the roof, Eren began to pull on its wings. Once he ripped them off, the Grimm fell to the ground and almost landed on a group of people running away. Realizing he had to be more careful where he stepped, Eren slowly moved on to the next Grimm he saw.

Cinder had followed Eren to town, but she was hesitant about fighting immediately. She was still adjusting to her Titan, so she decided the best thing to do would be to follow Eren's lead and pick up where he left off.

After she saw what Eren did to the Nevermore, Cinder grabbed the first Grimm she saw: a lone Beowolf. When she picked it up to eye level, the Grimm suddenly turned to dust. She didn't know why at first, since she simply picked it up like she would pick up a pencil. However, Cinder remembered how large she had grown. Her strength must have increased tenfold, and the Beowolf was an ant compared to her force.

Cinder realized that she was much stronger than the common Grimm. She could do this.

*CRUNCH*

*CRUNCH*

*ROAR*

*CRUNCH*

After repeating the process of picking up and crushing Grimm a few more times, Cinder turned to Eren to see how he was doing. Because of this, she was able to catch a glimpse of Eren hardening his skin to punch another Nevermore.

*BAM*

The beast fell lifelessly to the ground, which pleased Eren. He had been looking for a chance to train with his Hardening ability, since he had used it in battle multiple times back home. Now that he had his chance, Eren could see that the ability was just as strong as it was when he had the Attack Titan.

With more time and practice, Eren was sure he would reach the full potential of the new Founding Titan.

Cinder remembered seeing Eren gain the ability to harden the skin of his Titan. It wasn't a Semblance, but the ability was very powerful. Between this and a Titan, Eren was easily making up for the fact that he didn't unlock his Semblance.

Thinking about this gave Cinder the idea to use her Semblance on the Grimm. Her fists and feet were strong, but she wasn't familiar with trained combat like Eren was using on the Nevermores. She was sure her Semblance would make up for this, so Cinder picked up an Ursa and let the Grimm rest on her palm. At that very moment, Cinder focused on activating her Semblance and expected the Grimm to burn slowly.

To her surprise, however, Cinder did something else instead.

*WHOOSH*

Rather than the surface of her palm growing warm, a large jet of fire engulfed Cinder's palm and the Grimm. The fire shot into the sky like a beacon, which caught the inexperienced Titan off guard. Rather than its normal black dust, the Ursa was reduced to ashes that fell off Cinder's hand.

Cinder looked at her hands as she concentrated on her Semblance again. And just like before, large fire was engulfing her hands and burning faster than Cinder's Semblance ever could. She wasn't just heating up anything she touched, Cinder was creating real fire.

*SCREECH*

Cinder decided to test her newfound power when she heard a loud scream, louder than that of the people who were running all over the place. Cinder followed the sound to see a man struggling in the grasp of a long arm. She followed the arm to see a very unique Grimm, a humanoid figure with horns and orange mouth on top of what looked like some kind of horse. It was clear that this Grimm was uncommon, one of a kind. And something that no ordinary man could kill easily.

Cinder didn't know it, but this Grimm was called a "Nuckelavee." It was a rare kind of Grimm, one that fused a horse-like Grimm to a humanoid being known as an "Imp" together to form an unholy atrocity. The Imp was known to scream like a maniac, which would make ears bleed, and swing its elongated limbs to knock people down or embed its sharp claws into their flesh.

The Nuckelavee had just emerged from trampling multiple people under its hooves and tearing others to shreds with its claws. Many of Kuroyuri's villagers had tried to kill it, but none succeeded. Only a Huntsman could stand a chance against the beast, but there were no Huntsmen here.

But while the Nuckelavee was powerful, it was also small. At least, small when compared to a Titan.

Seeing that the man couldn't free himself and that he was getting closer and closer to the Grimm, Cinder raised her right hand and felt it burn again. Rather than another jet of flame, a ball of fire launched from her palm and collided with the unique Grimm.

*BOOM*

The ball exploded once it hit the ground, which engulfed the monster while nearly missing the man. He quickly stomped on the fire that was closest to him to save himself, and then he screamed in horror at the Titan before he ran away. He had never seen a Grimm like that before, and he believed being as far away from it as possible was for the best.

*SCREECH*

As it burned, the monster let out a loud shriek of pain that was agonizing to every set of ears that was close to it. Cinder's ears were one of them, despite the fact that she was in a Titan's body. The pain caused her to cover her ears so she could block out the pain, but it left her vulnerable to another Nevermore clawing at her neck. Once it began to dig its talons into flesh and come close to the human inside, Cinder started to fall to the ground when she felt something scratch her back.

*BAM*

It was fortunate that Eren was watching her the whole time. At first, Eren witnessed Cinder's new ability with awe as she burned Grimm after Grimm. He was taken aback because he had never seen any other Titan control elements like fire before. It was brand new, something to behold.

But Eren snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the Nevermore hurt Cinder. He threw another Hardened fist at the beast, which killed it in an instant, before he caught Cinder's body. He could see that the Nevermore had cut into Cinder's nape, and it was possible that she was hurt. So Eren moved beyond the small wall beneath him and moved towards the woods while carrying Cinder.

Once they were out of sight, Eren exited his Titan and felt the cool night air blow in his face. He had laid Cinder's Titan down on its face so she could exit through the nape, which was already emitting steam. So Eren moved down onto its back and pulled Cinder out. The heat surrounding Cinder's body was nothing unfamiliar to Eren, and he was able to ignore the burning pain to pull her out. He was also familiar with how much of a strain being a Titan was, which was why Cinder appeared to be asleep when she was out. Eren decided to gently shake her so he could wake her up and get back to Kuroyuri.

After a few more seconds, Cinder's eyes began to open.

"Hey," Eren said calmly as he watched Cinder regain consciousness. "You're out of your Titan, take it slow." He wanted to get back to Kuroyuri, but Eren understood that Cinder needed time to adjust to all of this.

"..."

After a few seconds, Cinder felt better. She initially felt lightheaded, but the cool air and shaking her head made her feel better.

"Are you okay?" Eren asked.

"Yeah... I'm okay," Cinder finally answered.

Now that she was completely awake, Cinder looked down at the remains of her Titan. She then looked at her hands, which still felt warm from the flesh and the fire she created. The strain of transforming and being in a Titan for the first time made Cinder temporarily forget a few things, but she quickly remembered fire and killing multiple Grimm. So she decided to ask Eren for the rest of the story.

"How... How did I do?" Cinder asked.

"..."

Eren didn't even know where to begin. He was still astonished by what he saw Cinder do a few moments ago. When he first laid eyes on the new Titan the God of Darkness created, Eren assumed Cinder would be the new Female Titan. However, the amount of fire she created threw that idea out the window. It was clear this Titan was something else, something brand new.

And besides saving his new home, Eren wanted to find out what it was.

"You did... You did great," he replied honestly. "How did you do all that? With the fire? It was amazing."

"I was trying to use my Semblance," Cinder explained as she took a few steps. "But instead of just heating my palm, I made all that fire. I didn't have to hold anything either, I just needed to do it as if I was using my Semblance."

"Well, that was more than just your Semblance. Cinder, you were like a walking furnace, like a giant... incinerator."

"..."

Cinder couldn't agree more. And more than that, she liked what she had done. If she could turn Grimm to ash in a second, then Cinder was sure that she could win against any foe.

She could help Eren win this battle, and the future battle with Salem.

*SCREECH*

A screech filled the air once again, causing the children to turn their heads back to Kuroyuri. The Grimm were still there, but they had split apart. If there weren't creatures trying to destroy more buildings and kill more people, they were either retreating or running right towards Eren and Cinder.

"They're coming," Eren said as he took Cinder's hand. He led her away from both of the Titans so they could transform again. "You did great, Cinder, but you have to watch your nape. That's the most important part of the Titan. If something gets inside, you won't be able to protect yourself. Be careful."

"Okay," Cinder said as she moved with Eren. "Are we going back to the Titans?"

"We can transform again. You need to be bleeding to turn into a Titan, the best way to do it is to bite your hand.

Cinder looked at her hand and understood. She saw Eren bleed before, from some of his memories and at the Glass Unicorn.

"Okay, just bite my hand," she said. "Anything else I should know?"

"No, that's all there is to it. Just be careful with that fire, though. You know, don't burn anybody."

"Okay. Are you ready?"

"When you are."

Eren suddenly took off running towards the Grimm, at a pace that Cinder could follow. Eren kept his distance from her so neither of them would be caught in the blast a transformation would create, but he locked eyes with his friend when the Grimm came closer. Their silent understanding was evident as Cinder followed his lead, putting her hand up to her mouth. She bit down once Eren did the same thing and felt jolts of electricity around her body. Eren felt the same thing as well as his new Titan took form.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Once again, Eren felt himself transform into a Titan. He felt himself ascend off the ground, he felt the warmth of larger flesh surround his entire body. He then felt the bones of his Titan take form and connect to the flesh and muscle of the larger body. Soon, when the transformation finished, Eren would be ready for anything that came his way.

Almost anything.

*BAM*

A fist collided with Eren's partial jaw and sent the transforming Founding Titan to the ground. When he finally finished transforming, Eren sat up and wondered what just hit him. He didn't see or hear any Nevermores or other large Grimm coming, and the common Beowolves and Ursai were much too small to land a strike to his face.

Cinder, however, was the right size. And based on her current actions, something strange was going on.

Cinder was fighting the Grimm like she planned, but her methods were very erratic. Rather than picking up and crushing Grimm, Cinder was hitting the ground until there were craters all around her. She then ripped a tree off the ground and swung it hard at the beasts. When ash remained, Cinder continued to destroy the environment around her. And when she began to make her way towards Kuroyuri with fire in her hands, Eren finally realized something was wrong.

"What the hell is she doing?!" Eren mentally asked himself. "Has she gone crazy?!" He quickly got off the ground and ran over to Cinder. When he grabbed both of her arms, the fire thankfully went away. However, Cinder resisted the grip and growled as she thrashed around like a wild animal.

"Cinder... stop!" Eren yelled as he tired to make her hold still. But Cinder refused to stop fighting, and she was now hitting the back of her head against his body. As she did, Eren tried to make sense of what was happening to his friend. She was fine a moment ago, but now she was behaving like a savage.

Eren's first idea was to blame Darkness, since he was the one who helped Eren give Cinder a Titan. Whatever happened to her wasn't like what happened on Paradis, where people had to eat an inheritor to gain one of the Nine Titans. So blaming Darkness was a logical idea, since Eren couldn't recall a time when he gave in to feral nature and attacked everyone out of impulse.

Except one time.

"Right after becoming a Titan... you swung your fist three times at Mikasa Ackerman."

Eren remembered what he was told after the defense of Trost, when he was put on trial to determine if he should live or die. Although he still had no memory of attacking Mikasa that day, everyone he talked to confirmed that it happened. He didn't know what to make of it when it happened, but Eren remembered that something similar had happened to someone else.

Before the invasion of Marley, before a war was declared, Eren and the Survey Corps once helped Armin train with the Colossus Titan. Things went fine at first, but he too lost control upon one of his earlier transformations. It was lucky that they chose to train outside the walls, or else Armin could have destroyed everything.

It took the full might of Eren and his friends, but they were able to stop Armin before he hurt himself or anyone else. When he emerged and learned what happened, the young soldier felt horrible. He too possessed no memory of losing control, but he and Hange were able to use the experience, as well as Eren's, to deduce that inheritors lose control upon one of the initial transformations. It seemed to be a side effect of sorts.

And now, it was clear that the same thing applied to Grimm Titans; in this case, Cinder. And Eren knew he had to stop her before it was too late. Unfortunately, Cinder was a fighter. She broke free from Eren's grasp and quickly launched more fire at him.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

Eren stumbled when the jets of flame hit his chest, but he refused to fall to his knees. Instead, he grabbed her arms and pulled her away from the city. He didn't want to hurt her, but he prepared himself to do whatever was necessary to get Cinder out of that Titan.

Eren soon realized that might be easier than he thought, as Cinder began to recklessly kick and punch whatever was in her way. Back on the first farm, Eren had taught Cinder some of the basics of what he learned from his time as a cadet. There, Instructor Shadis and Annie taught him potent attacks in hand-to-hand rather than just fighting with vertical maneuvering equipment. Eren decided to go with the basics when he trained Cinder, people of Remnant would call it a "crash-course" in basic self-defense. But in her Titan, Cinder seemed to throw all of that out the window. She was more concerned with destroying everything she touched.

Which left her open to a quick and efficient way to take her out of the picture, if Eren performed his planned attack perfectly.

Cinder had escaped again and broke a large hole in Kuroyuri's wall, but Eren was able to grab her once again and pull her away. Cinder suddenly threw a fist towards Eren, which he dodged with ease. Another fist came his way and he blocked it with his arm. Once Cinder let out one loud roar and threw her left fist at Eren's face, that was when he made his move. He twisted her arm to make the fist open into a flat palm, just before she threw another fist. Rather than returning a punch of his own, Eren slapped his hand into Cinder's throat and pushed her to the side. When she was close to his right side, Eren swung his leg into Cinder's to make her stand on one foot. But with the momentum Eren created with his leg and pushing Cinder's throat, the Titan flipped in the air before landing hard on the ground.

*BAM*

Eren caught his breath before he prepared to attack once again. However, he saw that wouldn't be necessary, given that Cinder appeared to be unconscious on the ground.

"I'm sorry, Cinder," Eren said to himself as he kneeled down. He moved Cinder so her back was facing up, so she could exit through her nape once again. "Don't worry. This won't happen again." With time and training, control over a Titan would be much easier.

*SCREECH*

*ROAR*

With Cinder unconscious, this gave Eren a chance to see the remaining Grimm and others that were returning. Eren wasn't sure what had drawn them back; perhaps they wanted to use the Titans fighting as an opportunity to freely destroy Kuroyuri. But he knew these Grimm had to be stopped before they hurt anyone else. And Eren was starting to have an idea about how to do that.

Once he ran up to the horde, Eren slammed his fist down to the ground.

*BAM*

*THOOM*

Suddenly, a massive rock grew from the dirt and turned the Grimm into dust. The rock was like the ones Eren saw in the Coordinate, purplish-black and crystal-like. It was also something similar to what the War Hammer Titan could make. It was large enough to prevent any Beowolves or Ursai to climb, but the Nervermores would have no problem flying over. He would have to deal with those later, as more Grimm came from various directions.

Eren wanted to continue his strategy of creating giant rocks, in an effort to save time and deal with the birds. However, since he didn't have the War Hammer Titan, Eren had to rely on his mastery over Hardening. Unfortunately, this would take time and a lot of energy. And so, Eren decided to finish his work of creating a barrier later.

First, he had to save Kuroyuri.

"Mother! Father!"

The chaos Kuroyuri was enduring didn't just affect the buildings. Every citizen had been running in various directions while screaming and panicking. Some were hurt, but most were able to escape the Grimm and avoid the giant monsters that seemed to kill every creature they saw. Nobody stopped to analyze this, however, as they were more focused on surviving and getting their loved ones to safety.

However, people like Lie Ren had become separated from their families and were alone to fend for themselves. The young boy was with his parents earlier, his mother had been holding his hand tightly as she ran with her husband. But when a group of people crashed into the family of three, An lost her hold on her son as she fell. She desperately tried to turn back with her husband, but the large influx of people running in the opposite direction made this impossible.

Lie Ren was on his own.

Unable to find his parents, and with more Grimm coming his way, Lie ran as fast as he could without a destination in mind. He was separated from the influx of people that inadvertently separated him from his parents, and now he was all alone.

When he began to run out of breath, Lie jumped under a bridge to hide and rest. The Grimm weren't after him, they were either roaming the land or trying to attack the large humanoid creature. But that didn't stop the boy from feeling scared. The Grimm were still present, the second giant had partially set fire to the town before it tore a hole through the wall, and he had no idea where his parents could be.

Lie didn't even know if they were still alive.

The mere idea of being left to fend for himself and the stress of it all came down on the young boy like a hurricane. He started to cry as fear overcame him, since there was nothing else he could do.

However, he wasn't the only person in a situation like this.

About twenty feet away from him, the boy could see a figure crouched under a house. He recognized her as the victim of the three bullies, the little girl who had nowhere to go and no one to help her. She too was hiding from the Grimm, and she was also crying out of fear. Lie Ren began to empathize with her, as he was in the same position as her.

And he continued to cry and sob, as he was unsure of what to do or where to go.

"Sometimes the worst action to take... is taking no action at all."

He couldn't explain it, but Lie began to play those words in his head a few times. It took a little time, but Lie understood what his father meant. He was trying to say that doing nothing would allow things to stay their course, for better or worse.

If his father was here now, Lie was sure he would try to help that girl. However, nobody was going to act now. Lie was supposed to be like his father, if he wanted to take his father's wisdom to heart.

If only he had the courage.

"It's easy to get scared with things like that. But sometimes, being brave is worth the risk."

And all of a sudden, Lie stopped crying. Just as he promised, the boy remembered the words Eren Yeager had said to him. When he took a risk, he saved that girl. If Ren took the same kind of risk, it was possible the same results would be achieved.

This idea, combined with his father's wisdom, seemed to give Lie a new resolve. Things weren't exactly hopeless, since he was still alive. If he did nothing, he and the girl would most likely be killed. But if he took a risk, if he took action, the boy could save his own life.

As well as someone else.

Just as he discovered that truth, a light began to shimmer around Lie's body. As it did, his skin and clothes changed to a dull gray. But the boy felt incredibly calm. And brave enough to stop hiding and run towards the little girl who needed his help. As he moved under the building, he made his presence known by touching her shoulder.

"Hey!"

The girl gasped and jumped back, but calmed herself once she realized the boy wasn't going to hurt her. "We have to be brave," Lie calmly told the girl.

A Nevermore suddenly landed on a house close to the children and let out a loud screech. It then lowered its head close to the ground when it sensed a presence. The girl whimpered for a moment, but then threw her arms around Lie. He didn't expect her to do this, but Lie quickly embraced and returned the hug. Once he did, the light shimmered around his body again. But this time, it spread across the scared girl as well.

The light seemed to do more than either of the children initially thought. Because where the Grimm once sensed a presence, it felt absolutely nothing now. It couldn't sense any sign of negativity in the area, so the search was a waste of time.

After a few seconds of searching, the Nevermore flew into the night. And as soon as it vanished, the color returned to the bodies of both children. The girl let go of Lie when silence fell upon the area, and he took a moment to look around. Even though there was no sign of any Grimm close to the house they were hiding under, the poor girl was still on edge. "I'm scared," she confessed to her savior.

Lie looked back to his companion and made a confession of his own. "Me too," he said.

Although this was true, the boy's fear no longer stopped him from taking necessary action. One of these actions, besides protecting the girl, was moving away from the house to retrieve a small weapon he saw on the ground. His new friend grabbed onto his arm for security, however, since she wasn't ready to be alone again. "It's okay," Lie assured her. He crawled out of the bottom of the house once the girl let him go, which allowed him to pick up a small wooden hammer he saw. Once he had it, the boy crawled back and offered his friend a new source of security. "We'll keep each other safe," he promised as he held out the hammer. The girl took it and began to smile. She wasn't as scared as she was before meeting her savior, and she was grateful to whatever force sent him her way. "What's your name?"

The girl looked up with a genuine smile. "Nora," she replied.

Lie began to smile for the first time since he was separated from his parents. "My name's Lie Ren," he introduced himself.

"Ren... That's a nice name."

After a brief silence, the children crawled out of the bottom of the house, where they were met with more silence. They could hear buildings burn and Grimm screaming, but the immediate area was mostly silent. Ren was grateful for this, since the silence gave him time to think.

When he and his family were about to evacuate, Ren remembered his mother mentioning the safehouse Kuroyuri had. While his father disagreed about going there, Ren knew that it was much safer than being out in the open. And unlike Nora, he knew the town like the back of his hand.

"Follow me," Ren calmly ordered. "There's a safehouse here. If we can find it, we can-"

*SCREECH*

The children looked up to see that the Nevermore had returned. It may have left the houses, but it was still in the air. And now that it could see Ren and Nora, the creature swooped down and prepared to swallow them whole. Nora cowered in Ren's arms, and Ren concentrated on using his newly-unlocked Semblance.

But things didn't go exactly as both parties predicted.

*THOOM*

*BAM*

When Ren and Nora looked up towards the Nevermore once again, they saw that it was currently wrestling with one of the Titans.

Eren had been hard at work to exterminate the Grimm on the ground, as well as in the air. They were all just as dangerous, but there weren't as many on the ground thanks to him and Cinder. Now, Eren could focus on the Nevermore that he saw flying around a group of houses.

The Nevermore was a fighter, however. Its large beak had bit into Eren's neck, but it missed the Titan's nape. Still, Eren was mad that the Grimm had almost penetrated his Titan.

"Die!" Eren yelled as he threw a Hardened fist at the bird.

*BAM*

*CRACK*

The Nevermore fell to the ground when its skull broke from the punch. In fact, it was dead before it hit the ground. Ash and dust arose from the corpse very quickly, and Eren could see that he wasn't alone at the moment.

When they looked at the beast, Nora backed away while Ren stood in front of her. They could tell that this Grimm wasn't like the others, based on its appearance and ability to speak. It was this ability that made Ren and Nora speechless. The boy wasn't as scared as he was before, he was more surprised and confused now. Nora was still scared about everything, but she was just as confused as her friend.

They were even more confused when it didn't move to counterattack.

"Ren?" Nora whispered. "What's it doing?"

"I don't know," said Ren. "It's just... standing there."

Ren and Nora weren't experts when it came to studying Grimm, but they knew that the creatures wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone in its path. And yet, the large beast simply just stood still while looking at the children.

Nora didn't like the uncertainty, which was why she was backing away while pulling Ren with her. And with every step they took, the Grimm continued to stand still. Ren was even wondering if it was going to attack at all.

The answer to this question came in the form of the Titan moving its head in one direction before it turned away.

The children began to find their bravery again when the Titan turned away. "Is it... letting us go?" Ren asked as he watched the Titan walk away.

"It... It... It wasn't like the others," said Nora. Ren knew that this was true, given everything that had just happened. Talking, fighting other Grimm, and letting people go just wasn't something a Creature of Grimm was known to do.

But Ren didn't want to waste the opportunity by analyzing the beast. Instead, he looked towards the direction the Titan had shifted its head towards. It wasn't in the direction of the safe house, Ren knew that this was true. Was the Titan trying to tell them to go there? Or stay away from there?

"We have to go," Ren said as he took Nora's hand. He made the choice to move in the direction opposite of where the Titan had gestured, due to the fact that he didn't trust a Grimm of all things. "The safe house is this way."

"O-Okay," Nora agreed as she tried to be brave. "We better-"

*ROAR*

*GROWL*

"Aaaah!"

A pack of Beowolves quickly ran and blocked the children's path. When they tried to run a different way, a large Ursa came towards them. The pack moved in different directions, which created a ring that the children couldn't escape from. Nora clung to Ren and her hammer to protect herself while Ren prepared to use his Semblance again.

Unfortunately, the growling, snarls, and the mere sight of all the Grimm made focusing on a Semblance very difficult for the young boy. He kept trying, but he also raised his fists in an attempt to defend himself.

Things weren't looking good for either of the children, but they weren't losing their bravery. Nora would have probably curled into a ball and Ren would have probably been crying his eyes out, but they were standing and reminding themselves to be brave. They now knew that fighting was necessary to their survival, and they knew that they weren't going to cower in the face of despair.

And fortunately for them, the bravery of the children was rewarded by two hands coming down. One grabbed both the children while the other smacked the Grimm away.

Before he had disappeared completely, Eren turned around the second he heard Nora scream. He then found the children boxed in by Grimm, and they appeared to be away from the direction he shifted his head in. He had seen a large group of people towards that direction, perhaps the whole population of Kuroyuri. Eren hoped that by gesturing towards that direction, the children would walk there and be safe.

But now it seemed that only he could protect them now. And so, Eren picked them up off the ground and killed the Grimm that were surrounding them.

Once they were in the giant's grasp, Ren and Nora screamed as they hit the hand over and over again. Eren understood why they were scared, and he knew the best thing to do would be to put them down somewhere safe. And so, he moved in the direction that would take him towards the people.

*SCREECH*

A loud screech filled the air and caused everyone to look and see yet another Nevermore fly down with its talons reaching for the children. But Eren was quick enough to grab both legs with one hand and prevent it from flying away. He didn't kill it right away, since two children were in his other fist.

"Dammit, where do they keep coming from?!" Eren asked himself, wondering how all these Grimm kept coming.

*WHOOSH*

Just as he asked that question, Eren's eyes began to glow. Both the Titan's eyes and his human eyes changed into a yellow glow as images flashed in Eren's mind. The first image was the bird ripping its wings out of stagnant black water. The rest of the body came to the surface and flew into the sky, leaving the Land of Darkness. Eren then saw all the people that fell victim to the ruthless Grimm, with no survivors in sight. The last thing he saw was the Nevermore fly to his Titan, and then stop.

"What... What was that?" Eren wondered. He suddenly snapped back to reality when he saw the Nevermore move its beak towards Ren and Nora. Eren didn't throw another punch at the creature, but he quickly swung his arm towards the ground so the Nevermore could be crushed.

*BAM*

*CRASH*

The action caused a house to be destroyed, but the Grimm quickly turned to ash as it died.

Ren and Nora had also fallen into silence, but they weren't dead. Eren assumed that the events of this night had left them in shock, so he wasted no time in taking them to the rest of the people so they could get the help they needed.

Eren found the people huddled a few feet outside the wall, and they all looked up towards him. Some cried as they saw the Titan, some prayed, and some begged for mercy. But everyone went silent once Eren moved his hand to the ground and immediately walked away.

Ren and Nora had been dropped to the ground a few feet away from the crowd, and they watched the Titan disappear into the woods. When it was fully out of sight, everyone began to calm down and look around for more Grimm.

Ren was the first to regain his bearings, and he immediately looked at his friend. "Nora?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

A gentle nudge and Ren's voice were enough to make Nora return to reality. When she did, she turned towards Ren and realized that she was finally safe. To answer his question, Nora quickly wrapped her arms around Ren and once again thanked whatever force had made them join forces. She wasn't thanking the Titan, she was just happy that Ren was with her through this dark time.

But not all of her questions were answered.

"Ren?" she asked as she let go. "Wh... What was all of that?"

Ren found himself asking the same question when he reflected on the night's events. The Titan was extraordinary, a rare kind of Grimm in more ways than one. Ren had seen things tonight, things that he couldn't explain.

"I-"

"Lie?! Lie!"

The sound of his name caused Ren to turn towards a familiar pair of people. All thoughts and questions he had about the Titan disappeared when he saw that his parents were among the group of people. Li and An Ren were planning on going back to find their son, but they abandoned this idea when they saw him against the wall with another child.

Words couldn't describe the relief and joy Li and An felt when they saw their son. Ren also felt this relief and joy, which caused him to run towards his parents with open arms and a wide smile. "Mother, Father!" he yelled as he hugged both of his parents. Tears fell down all of their faces as they basked in the warmth of the reunion, and they all found themselves thanking whatever force had brought them here and led them to being reunited.

In addition to this, Ren turned towards his new friend once they stopped hugging. "This is Nora," he proudly introduced with a smile.

When Eren fled into the woods, he saw that the remaining Grimm were fleeing with him. The Nevermores had all been destroyed and the number of Grimm fell greatly due to the combined efforts of Eren and Cinder. It seemed that the remaining Grimm had decided to stop their invasion and leave while they still could.

After Eren killed another pack of Grimm with his foot, he moved to check on Cinder. He was well aware that if she wasn't outside of her Titan, she would still be acting like a wild animal. Eren prepared himself for this possibility by reliving his days as a cadet in the army. With every step he took, Eren was focusing on the combat methods Instructor Shadis gave him, as well as he learned from fighting Annie. After all, it was her move that Eren had used to stop Cinder earlier.

But once he saw Cinder begin to exit her Titan, Eren knew there wouldn't be another fight. He was grateful for this, and he decided to join her on the ground. When he exited his Titan, Eren helped Cinder off her own, since she was feeling tired and lightheaded again.

Just as Eren believed, Cinder had no recollection of her second transformation. The last thing she remembered was running with Eren towards the Grimm, and then she woke up on the ground. And sadly, she saw the numerous craters and burning embers around her.

When she asked questions about this, Eren knew that he had to tell her the truth. He had to tell her that she lost control, like every inheritor of a Titan did in their first days. Cinder was horrified when she heard this, but hearing that she didn't hurt anyone made her feel a little better.

Cinder said that she would feel a lot better by going home, and Eren agreed. There was enough recovering and shock from the attack to occupy the townspeople, so nobody noticed or paid attention to Eren and Cinder making their way back to the farm. As they walked, Eren said that tonight was a successful test for both of them. Despite the fact that she momentarily lost control, Cinder knew that she made a dent in the number of Grimm that once plagued the town.

And when she remembered that she killed a Grimm unlike the rest, Cinder began to regain her pride and self-esteem.

Of course, hearing Eren tell her that she did a good job and that he was proud of her made Cinder feel even more special. Eren promised that he would help her train in the future, and that losing control would never happen again.

As he reflected on tonight, Eren saw that he too had done a good job. He wasn't trying to be boastful, but Eren knew that he had killed a large number of Grimm, both big and small. And even better, he learned that he could make objects similar to the War Hammer Titan. Of course, he couldn't make the weapons like it could. And it required much more time and energy to make spires like Eren did. He was well aware that he didn't have the War Hammer Titan anymore, and that he would have to improve on his Hardening if he wanted to make more spires like he did earlier.

When they finally made it back to the farm, Eren and Cinder found Carla, Dina, and the farmhands emerging from the storm cellar. They couldn't hear the Grimm running or growling anymore, and they even began to hear the cheers of the survivors from outside. So they cautiously opened the door to see that the Grimm were all gone. Not only that, but their home was still standing.

And better yet, Eren and Cinder were in plain sight.

Naturally, Carla rushed over to her son and tightly embraced him before she demanded an explanation. Eren knew that he should have expected a harsh reaction such as this, and he chose to exaggerate a little rather than completely lie about where he was. Eren said that he believed his experiences on Paradis would help save the town, and he exaggerated by talking about evacuating the town rather than fighting as a Titan. Cinder said that she followed him, which was the truth.

Carla took the children back inside the house and scolded them for being so foolish, especially Eren. She reminded him that the Creatures of Grimm weren't like the bullies he always fought or like the Titans as well. Eren remembered how he would always defend his actions and beliefs in arguments like this, but he decided to remain silent before he apologized for worrying her. He wasn't looking to start any arguments tonight, since the arguments he used to have with her were mostly pointless. Eren understood that now.

Carla eventually calmed down and became grateful that everyone was safe. Just to make sure they were, the farmhands volunteered to take watch shifts during the rest of the night. Carla and Dina took the children to bed, but Carla promised Eren that they would continue their conversation in the morning.

Eren and Cinder couldn't go to sleep right away, however. Both of their minds were racing with thoughts and ideas about their new Titans, mostly how new and powerful they were. Eren saw many similarities between the new Founding Titan and the Attack Titan, but there were differences as well. His experience with the Nevermore, seeing into its memories, gave Eren the idea that he shared some kind of connection with the Grimm. He didn't stop and think about this before, that the new Founding Titan was also a Grimm. And based on what he did tonight, Eren was sure that there was some connection he had with the Grimm that he didn't see before.

If the first Founding Titan could command all of the Titans... could the new Founding Titan control the Grimm?

Cinder thought about how much fire she had created, and how she was able to do such a thing. Based on what Eren told her about the Titans, the ability to control elemental energy was rare. The War Hammer Titan had control of Hardening, it was similar to controlling the earth in the ground. But it wasn't elemental, it was just hardened skin. What Cinder did was something that the Eldians and Marleyans might consider impossible.

It seemed that the fire came from Cinder's Semblance, since she was trying to use it on the Grimm she had picked up. Cinder remembered how she unlocked her Semblance in the first place, how angry and dejected she felt when people took advantage of her and saw her as nothing more than a slave. Cinder suddenly realized that she had this same feeling for the Grimm, since they were close to destroying the one place she could call her home.

Cinder's introspection suddenly left her feeling depressed. All of these powers and abilities came from the fact that she was angry, that she wanted to hurt the people and creatures that wronged her. She remembered what Eren had said about losing control being a side effect, but Cinder couldn't help but wonder if being angry had something to do with it.

Rather than probe further into this idea, Cinder decided to sleep on it.

Eren and Cinder woke up the next morning at the same time. After they greeted each other, they agreed to see how the rest of Kuroyuri was standing. There was a window on the second floor that had a good view of the town, and they could see that everything was still standing. There wasn't any more smoke rising, so the fires had been put out. Eren and Cinder could see some damage from where they were, and they were sure there was more like it across the whole place.

But Kuroyuri was still standing. That counted for something.

Content with what they saw, Eren and Cinder went downstairs. Dina was at the front door talking to someone, and Carla had just placed breakfast on the table for everyone.

"Good morning, kids," Carla said with a smile as she saw Eren and Cinder step into the kitchen.

"Good morning," Eren said casually as he sat down.

"Good morning," Cinder said as she joined her friend.

Carla joined them at the table and began to eat. "Well, the good news is that all of the Grimm are gone," she began. "Nobody's seen anything since last night."

"How bad is the damage?" Eren asked.

"Nothing too serious here. The barn got the most of the damage, but they didn't get into the house." The only damage to her house were a few broken windows, but she had swept the glass up and threw it away.

"What about the rest of the town?" Cinder asked. "Is everything okay there?"

"I'm afraid not," Carla replied with a sigh. "I couldn't see much from the windows, but the wall has numerous holes in it and everyone's trying to figure out how many houses were destroyed."

Eren turned to the door once again to see Dina talking to an older man in a gray robe, who had his hands folded in the opposite sleeve. "Did you hear about it from him?" he asked.

"That's Xing Fa, the mayor," Carla explained. "He came to see how we were doing, since we're not that close to the rest of the town. But yes, we've heard about the damage from him."

Carla had greeted the mayor with Dina, but she spoke with him for a moment since she was in the middle of making breakfast. Dina stayed at the door and learned more about the attack.

And what she learned scared her greatly.

"Are you sure that's what happened?" Dina asked.

"I am," said the mayor. "After those... things finished killing Grimm, they disappeared. Nobody knew what they were or where they came from, but there are people all over saying that we would be goners if they weren't doing what they were doing."

"Grimm killing Grimm? I don't think I've heard of such a thing."

"Neither have I. But some of the people I've checked on have a similar story. Well, except for the second one. It knocked down part of the wall and created fire all across the outskirts. We might have had a wildfire on our hands if we didn't act fast enough."

"That's... completely impossible."

Those were the only words that came out of Dina's mouth. He had just finished his story of how two giants were amongst the Grimm, but that they were concerned about killing other Grimm instead of destroying Kuroyuri. And the way he described them, humanoid and monstrous, made Dina see that she knew what the mayor was talking about.

But such a thing should have been impossible.

"I understand if you bear any skepticism, Ms. Fritz," said the robed man. "I saw one of the giants, but I didn't see what it did. Everything I told you is just what I've heard all over. Anyways, are you sure you and everyone else here is okay?"

"We're all fine," Dina said after she looked at Carla and the children. "We hid in the storm cellar as soon as the Grimm came. Nobody got hurt."

"Thank the Gods. We'll be having a town meeting around noon today, to discuss how to handle the situation. You should come, hear what we all have to say."

"Are people considering moving?"

"That's one of the ideas being tossed around, yes. But we should hear what everyone has to say before we do anything rash."

"I'll tell Carla to come too. Thank you, Mr. Mayor."

Dina closed the door and made her way into the kitchen. Once she saw Eren and Cinder looking at her, she froze. She didn't think about it until now, but the Titan-like monsters weren't the only new and unexplained things in Kuroyuri. Eren still had to find an explanation about how he had come to Remnant in the first place. But there was no way Eren could know about the Titans being here.

Could he?

"Good morning," the children said.

"...Good morning," Dina addressed them as she walked over to the table. "Did you sleep fine?"

"Yeah," Eren replied calmly.

"As fine as we could," said Cinder, who began to rub her eyes.

"Oh, I understand, sweetheart," said Dina. She joined the trio and began to eat the breakfast Carla had made for her. "Last night was scary for all of us."

"Not all of us, apparently," said Carla, who was looking at her son. "Eren, I know you said you were trying to help, but you can't just run off like you did. We were all worried sick about you! And you got Cinder involved too!"

Cinder looked down at the table in shame, saddened by the fact that she had upset the woman who took her in.

"I know, I know!" Eren admitted. "I'm sorry I scared you, Mom, but I was a soldier. I knew how to deal with invasions like last night!"

Carla began to calm down. "'Was' is right, Eren," she said. "I'm sure you could have handled the Grimm if you were the same age you said you were. But you're not. You have to understand that."

"..."

Eren hated the fact that he was still a child, despite the fact that it helped him when he found his mother again. He was sure that he could have killed the Grimm if he had vertical-maneuvering equipment, and if he was old enough to use it.

But Carla was right; he wasn't.

Carla sighed to break the silence. "Look... I don't know everything that happened to you before," she said. "Maybe you're right, maybe being a soldier helped you back home. But it just can't help you right now, Eren. Not yet."

"..."

Eren sighed as well, since he knew that his mother was right. Acting like a soldier wouldn't help him now, not at such a young age. And if he wanted to keep his identity as a Titan a secret, he would have to be more careful about leaving.

"...Okay," he finally said. Though he would still use his Titan whenever it was necessary. It still meant lying to his mother, but the least he could do was promise to not try and be a soldier again.

"Thank you, Eren," Carla said sincerely before she turned to Cinder. "Cinder, I'm sure you were looking after Eren, but-"

"I wasn't protecting him," Cinder immediately corrected. "He was protecting me. And he did a great job at that."

Carla was surprised to hear that Eren was once again protecting other people instead of looking for fights. It seemed that being a soldier really did help him.

"Okay," she said. "But we can protect you too, Cinder. We were all safe inside the cellar. Right, Dina?"

"That's right," said Dina. "I know we're not soldiers or fighters, but we can keep you safe too." She gently touched Cinder's hand and made a promise. "We will keep you safe. Me, Carla, and everyone else here. But we can't help you if you don't let us. Do you understand?"

"..."

The promise and lesson Dina was teaching were both very compelling to Cinder. She and Carla were the first adults who said they wanted to keep her safe, to look after her like she was a part of the community that was established in this farm. And after what happened with talking about her nightmares, Cinder wanted to trust everyone.

She still looked to Eren, however. But rather than nodding or giving Cinder any kind of order to respond, Eren made a spinning hand-gesture; he did this to tell Cinder that she could answer, that she didn't need to look to him for guidance.

Cinder was allowed to think for herself, Eren thought. He didn't want her to think otherwise. And fortunately for the both of them, Cinder made up her mind.

"...Okay," she said. "I'm sorry."

Dina and Carla smiled at the answer. Dina even gave Cinder a hug to let her know that things were fine between them. And Eren was once again proud of Cinder for taking such a big step in her life.

Cinder was indeed willing to trust other people besides Eren, but not without question.

"But... what if there's another Grimm attack?" she asked. "Has there ever been one like that before?"

"Well, we usually had to deal with the occasional small Grimm," said Carla. "But last night was... different. For all of us."

"In more ways than one, I'm afraid," Dina said with a hint of fear. "Eren, Cinder... do you know what happened last night? Did you see any of it?"

"Only some of it," said Eren. "Like we said, the city was in chaos."

"I can imagine," said Carla. "How did you manage to avoid the Grimm?"

"I guess... we were just lucky."

"Well, you weren't the only ones," Dina said as she looked at everyone. She didn't care if she caused discomfort in the household, she needed answers. "Mayor Fa was telling me that a lot of people got to safety and avoided the Grimm. But not everyone."

"..."

There was a brief moment of silence before Dina spoke again. "He told me that there's going to be a town meeting at noon," she continued. "I was thinking we could all go and see what's going on."

"That's a good idea," Carla replied. "I think we might be able to help too. I overheard Abraham and a few others saying they could help with cleanup and repairs. The farm has more than enough people to spare for a job like that."

"Can we help?" Cinder asked. "I mean, I know we're not strong, but we could do something."

Eren had an idea that he was sure his mother would find agreeable. "Soldiers back home were handing out food to refugees the day after the wall fell," he said. "Maybe we could do the same with the food here?"

Carla had the same idea, but Eren had beaten her to the punch. "Great minds think alike, Eren," she said with a smile. "Do you think you and Cinder could help bring some food down later today? I'll come too and see what else I can do."

"Yeah, sure." Eren looked back to Cinder. "Does that sound good to you?"

"Sure," Cinder agreed.

Carla smiled at the children in gratitude before she turned to her friend. "Did the mayor say anything specific the town needed help with?" she asked.

"No, but he might mention it at the meeting today," Dina replied. "He was actually, um... a little more... interested in something else."

"Oh?"

Dina saw that all the attention was on her once again. After she looked at the windows and adjacent rooms to make sure they were all alone, she spoke her mind.

"Well... he was talking about the kinds of Grimm that attacked last night. Everyone said they saw Beowolves, Ursai, and Nevermores."

"Are they common around here?" Eren asked.

"Unfortunately," Carla replied. "But we never had an attack like last night.

"But that's not all," Dina continued. "There was something else that came last night."

"..."

Eren and Cinder immediately knew what Dina was referring to, and the mere thought of it made the color on Cinder's face disappear. Eren remained calm on the outside, but he was nervous about what would happen next.

Because even though he kept his identity a secret, nothing he could say or do would help Eren prevent his mother from discovering something horrible.

"According to the mayor, there were these... giants," Dina said. "Giants that were larger than anything anyone here had ever seen."

"...Giants?" Carla asked. "Wh... What do you mean?"

Dina had to clear her throat and straighten her collar before she spoke again. "There were two of them. They were tall, strong, they had bones protruding from their bodies... basically what you would expect a Grimm to look like. But... they looked human too."

"..."

"They had the same kinds of hands, feet... and faces people have. There were more details, but... I think the mayor was describing a... describing a-"

"A Titan?"

"..."

The woman's silence was not only a confirmation, but it was extremely deafening. Everyone and everything had gone silent when Carla asked this question, it was as if the whole world had stopped moving.

Eren looked to everyone in silence to see similar reactions from everyone. Cinder, Dina, and his mother were all silent and clearly nervous, given the looks on their faces and the nervous sweat moving down their foreheads. However, everyone was afraid for various reasons.

Cinder was nervous about being discovered and being thrown out, Dina was nervous about what she couldn't remember, and Carla was nervous about the past repeating itself. Since she had accepted her dreams being memories, Carla remembered dying.

It wasn't an experience she wanted to go through again. But more than that, she didn't want her son to experience such a thing.

"Eren... did you see them?" Carla asked. "When you were outside last night?"

Eren knew he had to answer the question, but he had a hard time looking at his mother while doing so. "I... I didn't know... how to tell you," he said. This was true, since he still didn't know how he could tell her that he was a Titan.

Carla accepted the answer in silence, but this didn't signify the end to her questions. "How... How is that possible?" she asked. She wasn't asking just Eren, however. Carla would be willing to accept whatever answer came her way.

"I was hoping you would know."

Everyone turned to Dina when she said this, but she was looking at the young boy sitting across from her. "Eren... we're all from the same place," she said. She was talking about herself, Eren, and Carla at the moment. "And... And so were the Titans. Right?"

"..."

Eren was growing nervous again, since it appeared that Dina was putting the pieces together. But he did a good job of hiding his emotions, just like he did on Paradis before he commenced the Rumbling.

"...That's right," he replied.

"Dina, what are you saying?" Carla asked.

The teacher's next response gave some relief to Eren, since it became evident that Dina didn't understand everything.

"Well... if we all came here... it may be possible that they came too," she hypothesized before she turned to the boy. "Eren... do you think the Titans followed us here? If they came with us?"

"..."

Eren and Cinder looked at each other, as they were unsure how to answer the question. He then looked to his mother, who had the same expression as Cinder. She didn't want to put her son on the spot like this, but she couldn't deny the possibility Dina had proposed.

Eren finally let his façade fall, since he was having trouble finding an answer.

"I... Um... I..."

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

Everyone turned to the front door as two knocks echoed through the room. "Oh, that might be Abraham," said Carla. "I think he wanted to go soon."

"I'll get it," Dina said as she walked over to answer the door. But instead of finding one of Carla's farmhands, Dina opened the door to see Lie Ren and a little girl with red hair standing in the doorframe.

"Hello, Ms. Fritz," the boy said with a polite bow. It was part of the good manners his parents had taught him.

"Lie?" Dina addressed the little boy. She was familiar with the boy, since she was one of her students. "This is a surprise." This was true, but Dina couldn't help but smile. "Oh, but it's good to see you're alright."

"It's good to see you too, ma'am."

Dina nodded before she turned to the boy's friend, a young red-haired girl with blue eyes. She knew most of the children in Kuroyuri, but this young girl was different. Wanting to be polite, she smiled at the girl and asked for her name. "And who might you be, young lady?"

"I'm Nora Valkyrie," she introduced herself. "I'm new here."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you Nora. I hope last night didn't give you a bad first impression of Kuroyuri."

"It's better than what's outside the city. Besides..." Nora quickly pulled her friend into a hug. "Last night was how I met Ren!"

"Yes..." Ren choked out as the hug got tighter. Once Nora let go, he took a few sharp breaths. "I found her alone and helped her hide from the Grimm. We've been together since last night."

Lie Ren's bravery was unheard of to Dina. But that didn't stop her from feeling proud of him. "That's very brave of you, Lie."

Carla walked over to the door as well, since she too wanted to talk to Lie. She was friends with his parents, mainly An Ren. And her husband had helped fight off Grimm at the farm, which was something Carla was grateful for.

Which was why she wanted to know how Ren's parents were doing.

"Hello, Lie," Carla said as she joined Dina. "How are you doing? Are you and your parents okay?"

"Yes, ma'am, thank you," Ren replied. "They actually wanted to check in on you. May we come in?"

"Yes, of course." Carla stepped aside to let the children in. She too was unfamiliar with Nora, but she overheard that she was a friend of the boy's. She knew the Ren family well, so she welcomed any friend of that family.

"We were hoping to talk to Eren and Cinder," Ren said as he came in. "Are they-?" He momentarily stopped talking when he saw the answer to his question was in the kitchen. "Oh, hello."

"Hi, Lie," said Cinder.

"Hi," Eren said as he moved away from the table with Cinder. "What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping to talk to you about last night," Ren replied. "About the way you helped."

Cinder and Eren looked at each other in confusion. Lie and his new friend seemed to be acting as alibis for their actions last night, but Cinder didn't recall seeing him. She was in her Titan the whole time, and part of that time was spent being unconscious. But before Cinder, could say anything else, Eren asked another question.

"Talk about what?" he asked.

"Um..."

Ren was at a loss for words. Not that he was caught in a lie, there really was something he wanted to say to them. But he wasn't sure if talking about Kuroyuri's attack with Carla or Dina was a good idea.

Fortunately, both women gave them a chance to talk alone.

"I'd better go talk to Abraham," said Carla. "We should get started on helping the rest of Kuroyuri."

"I'll find some baskets for food," Dina suggested, remembering the idea Eren and Carla shared. "We'll be right back, kids."

"Okay," Eren said as he watched his mother and her friend leave. Once they did, the boy's attention focused back on the two visitors. "What did you-?"

Ren quickly pulled out a knife he had beneath his shirt while Nora took out her wooden hammer. "We know what you are," said Ren, who pointed the knife in Eren's face. He turned back to Cinder. "Both of you."

"..."

Chapter Text

"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success."

Henry Ford

Between the knife in his face and the apparent fact that his secret was out, Eren was at a loss for words. He had no idea how, but Lie Ren claimed to have learned that he and Cinder had the power of the Titans running.

And now the boy was apparently planning to take it away by killing them.

Eren was at a crossroads. He could either try to reason with Lie and tell him the truth, or he could take that knife and turn it against the younger boy. The latter was a drill he ran hundreds of times during training, so Eren was confident that he could do it. But rather than resort straight to violence, Eren decided to see exactly what Lie knew.

"What... What are you talking about?" he asked, playing dumb for a brief moment.

"You two are monsters," the boy said, trying to keep his blade steady. "We saw it. Both of us."

Eren now knew his secret was out, and he would have to take appropriate action.

He also knew that taking care of Lie wouldn't be much of a problem. The shaky knife and a poor fighting position made the boy vulnerable to a counterattack, and Eren felt the first step of clearing the air would be to have no weapons. And so, just as he had been trained, Eren pushed his hands on Lie's stomach. The boy tried to lunge the blade further after he had been pushed, but the distance Eren created made that impossible. All he could do was feel Eren grab his arm and shirt, then come off the ground. Eren threw Ren on the floor and made sure the knife would fall from his grasp.

"Ren!" Nora yelled as she ran over to him. Cinder quickly grabbed Nora's arm and held it as tightly as she could. Unfortunately for Nora, it was the same hand she had her hammer in, and Cinder was beginning to squeeze it so Nora could lose her grasp.

"Cinder, no!"

Everyone in the room turned to Eren, who was beginning to relax. Raising his hands, Eren kicked the knife under a cabinet. The space it flew under was too small for Lie to retrieve it, so he stayed still as Eren offered a hand and explained himself. "Lie, listen to me," he began. "If you're telling the truth, then I know what you saw sounds crazy. But Cinder and I don't want to hurt anyone, just like I didn't hurt you last night."

"Maybe," said Lie. He quickly pointed at Cinder. "But what about her? She almost burned my house down!"

"Yeah!" Nora included. "What about her?!"

Cinder remembered what Eren had told her, despite the fact that she had little memory of her second transformation. "I-It was an accident," she claimed. "Eren made sure I couldn't do it again!"

"It's true," Eren said when he saw Lie and Nora give skeptical looks at her. "Cinder did what she did because I was stupid. The same thing happened to me a long time ago. When I had my first Titan and transformed a second time, everyone told me that I attacked my own friends."

"..."

Lie wasn't expecting Eren to be so honest. He was expecting attempts at covering up the secret, despite what he and Nora knew. And yet, Eren was explaining himself while offering a hand.

When he finally decided to take the hand and get off the ground, Lie began to probe even further. "So you've done this before," he said. "You've turned into... Titans." It seemed that was the name for the beasts he saw.

"That's right," Eren confessed. "I've done it dozens of times, I can do it whenever I need to. But when I transformed for a second time, I had no control and couldn't remember what exactly happened."

"..."

"Lie, what Cinder did last night was my fault. I didn't think what happened to me would happen again, but this was the first and last time it'll happen. I'm sorry."

Cinder didn't take her eyes of Eren as he apologized. She was trying hard to remember anything about losing control, about almost setting the town on fire. But her mind was blank, so she decided to try something else.

"I'm sorry, too," she said as she finally let go of Nora. She then picked up the wooden hammer the girl had dropped and handed it back to her as a token of sincerity. "I won't hurt you two or anyone ever again. I'll make sure what happened last night never happens again."

"..."

Nora looked at the hammer and looked at Cinder's face before she made a decision. The last time she saw a face like that was last night, when Ren offered the hammer to her and offered to keep her safe.

Cinder had the same look Ren had that night. So Nora took the hammer with a smile and nodded.

"It won't, Cinder," Eren promised. "Losing control is just a one time thing. Trust me, you won't hurt anyone you don't want to."

Cinder was somewhat unsure of this claim, but decided to trust Eren and decided to hold off anymore transformations unless it was absolutely necessary.

Eren turned back to Ren and Nora. "Do you believe us now?" he asked. "We're not going to hurt you guys."

Ren and Nora weren't entirely convinced, even though there was peace in the kitchen. They didn't believe they were in danger, but they had more questions other than their home's safety. "So... how were you able to do what you did last night?" Ren asked.

"And what does 'Titan' mean?" Nora asked.

Cinder moved towards Eren for a sense of security, since he defended her moments ago. "We'll explain everything, but we can't do it-"

The front door opened to reveal Carla, who had just come back from talking to the farmhands. "Eren, Cinder, I'll be leaving for town in a little while," she said as she closed the door. "Dina's getting some food ready if you still want to-" She stopped talking when she noticed how close together the children were to each other. Each of them seemed to be invading their personal space. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"No," Eren lied. "We were just..."

"Introducing ourselves!" Nora loudly said. "And Cinder was just about to show me something." Nora quickly took Cinder's arm as Cinder followed Nora's improvised lead.

"Uh... Right!" Cinder falsely confirmed. "I just wanted to show her Vasilisa, is that alright?"

"Of course," Carla said.

"We'll come with you," Eren said as Lie followed behind him. "We'll come with you, Mom. Just let us know when you're ready."

"Okay."

As the children left, Carla was wondering why everyone seemed to be nervous when she came back in the house. And this "Nora" seemed to be excessively loud when she said what they were doing. Then again, maybe she was excited to meet other children. After all, she said that she was new around Kuroyuri.

And it would be nice for Eren and Cinder to have some new friends.

So Carla decided to clean up after Eren and Cinder. As she did so, she remembered what Dina was telling everyone at breakfast. She had heard the same thing from the farmhands who visited Kuroyuri and came back with news; there were indeed two monsters that resembled Titans last night.

Carla remembered what a Titan looked like from her dreams. She believed that she would never forget such a thing as long as she lived. And from what everyone was describing, it sounded like there were indeed Titans on Remnant. Carla shared her best friend's sentiments and curiosity as to how such a thing was possible. And whether or not Eren was aware of it.

Little did she know that Eren was not only aware, but he was dealing with a big problem at the moment.

Once everyone reached his room, Eren closed the door behind him. Before he could say anything else, Nora suddenly yelled again.

"Oh, she's cute!"

Eren and Ren turned around to see Cinder holding her doll in front of Nora. Before she went into Eren's room, she decided to keep her promise to Nora in an attempt to calm the situation they all found themselves in.

"That's what I thought too," said Cinder. "She's pretty old, so I have to be careful holding her." Cinder put Vasilisa on her bed and hoped to get back to talking about last night. But before anyone could do or say anything, Nora rushed over to the bed and took the doll, making it walk along the mattress.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" Nora sang as she happily played with the doll.

"Nora!" Lie called out, waiting to get back at the subject that brought them to the farmhouse in the first place. Nora quickly remembered what was going on and put the doll back where Cinder left it. Cinder couldn't help but giggle at the little song and dance, since she hadn't thought about playing with Vasilisa like that. It actually looked like fun.

So she hoped that Eren could clear the air with the two children.

Now everyone's attention was back on Eren, and Lie was the first to speak. "You didn't answer my first question," he said. "How did you do all of that?"

"We can explain," Eren promised. "But first, Cinder and I were careful to change out of sight. How did you and Nora see us?"

"Because you showed us."

"...Huh?"

Last night

Ren and Nora were caught in the cold grip of Eren's Titan. They were both unbelievably scared and wondering what was going to happen to them, and they grew even more afraid when a large Nevermore came down with its talons close to their faces.

But Eren stopped it before it could hurt anyone.

Ren and Nora were surprised to see a Grimm fighting another Grimm once again. They saw it happen just moments ago, and they still couldn't draw any logical conclusion from what they saw.

Or what happened to them next.

Suddenly, the Titan's eyes began to glow. It stopped moving.

Before Ren could try to communicate with it, to ask what was happening, a strange feeling came into his legs and ran up his body. Nora felt the same thing before something extraordinary happened. Images began to flash in their minds, showing a story of sorts. The images burned as they moved faster and faster, showing more giants and people trying to fight them.

Although his mind was hurting, Ren could see there was one thing all the images had in common; there was an older Eren Yeager in all of them. And it ended when his friend, Cinder, was enveloped in a dark tar.

Once the images disappeared, Ren and Nora found themselves closer to the ground once again. Not wanting to experience anything else as unpleasant as that, the children both jumped off and watched the Titan run away.

"Ren?" Nora asked as she let go of her friend. "Wh... What was all of that?"

Ren didn't have an appropriate response for Nora, between his own confusion and the relief he felt when his parents embraced him.

Once order had been restored to Kuroyuri, Li and An took their child home. When they learned that Nora had nowhere else to go, they opened their house to her and let her sleep in their son's room.

But neither of the children could get much sleep.

"Ren?" Nora quietly called out in the dark room. She was currently resting on a comfortable mat and blanket that An provided her. "Are you awake?"

Ren perked his head off his bed and looked down at Nora. "Yes," he said quietly. "I can't sleep."

"Me neither. I keep thinking about all of those things I saw. Grimm, giants... giant Grimm? What was all of that?"

Ren sighed as he moved closer to the edge of his bed. "I don't know. But I know how we can get answers."

"How?"

"I know those people we saw. The boy and the girl. You saw them too, right?"

"Does the girl have black hair and orange eyes?"

"That's her. The boy is her friend."

"You know them?"

"Their names are Eren and Cinder. They live on that farm up the hill. Up until tonight, I thought they were kids like you and me. But something's going on."

"What do you think it could be?"

"I don't know. But we have to find out."

"Us?" Nora began to shiver at the idea, which caused her to grab her blanket. "What about your parents?"

"We were the only ones who saw all of that. Mother and Father might believe them to be bad dreams." Ren saw how scared Nora was, so he stepped off his bed and moved closer to her. "Don't worry. Remember what I said under the house?" He put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll keep each other safe."

Present

"Even though we saw all of those things, we didn't know what they meant. All we knew was that you were always there."

Lie finished explaining how he and Nora knew about Eren and Cinder, leaving the older children in disbelief. Cinder was the first one to ask a question. "Eren, how did you do that?" she asked. "Why did you do that?"

"I... I don't know," Eren honestly answered. "I had no idea I could do that." Eren suddenly remembered something. "Cinder, do you remember when I said I needed to unlock my Titan's powers? Darkness said that Salem gave it more abilities, I think I found one of them when I saved Lie and Nora."

"What did you do?"

"After catching one of those birds-"

"A Nevermore?"

"Right, a Nevermore. Well, there was something else I did with it before killing it. I think... I saw its life story."

"Life story? What did you see?"

"Every place it went, every person it killed. I did something like that before, having these... flashes of memory. I think I can watch Grimm's past memories if I concentrate."

Cinder took the experience Eren had and made a theory of her own. "Well, it looks like whatever you did goes both ways." Cinder gestures towards Lie and Nora. "If you looked into a Grimm's memories, and if what they said is true, you might have let other people in your head."

"I think you're right. I mean, that's what happened." Eren made a note to be more careful what powers he used and who he used them with.

"Excuse me!"

Eren and Cinder quickly turned back to Nora, who had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot impatiently. "I think you're forgetting something here!" she said.

Lie stepped forward. "We said we saw what you did, but you didn't do a good job explaining what it all was."

"Yeah!" Nora joined her friend. "Why are you talking about the dark like that? And what's it got to do with salami?"

"..."

Ren's eyes briefly widened when he heard what Nora said. "Um... Nora, I think Eren said 'Salem,'" he corrected.

"Oh," Nora said as she realized her mistake. "Oops."

When the confusion was clear, Eren saw that he had little choice but to explain himself. They knew too much to forget about it all, and they wouldn't be leaving without an answer.

His only hope was that Lie and Nora would be as understanding about himself as Cinder was.

And so, Eren told his acquaintances everything. He started with a brief description of his life on Paradis and ended with escaping Salem. Cinder took over and explained how she met Eren, as well as how she learned everything herself. The last thing she explained was how she chose to accept part of Eren's powers, all in the name of defending their home.

This story wasn't one Lie and Nora were ready to hear. But having seen the flashes from Eren's mind, they were able to connect them to Eren and Cinder's words. They indeed saw a purple man claiming to be a god and a pale woman who possessed some kind of Magic. There was no doubt about it; Eren and Cinder were telling the truth.

Even so, the story left Lie and Nora with more questions.

"So you're saying the Grimm have some kind of... leader?" Lie asked as he felt chills travel across his body. "That someone is making and sending monsters across the world?"

"The God of Darkness was the one who made them, but Salem took over when he left," Eren confirmed. "As long as she's still alive, places like Kuroyuri won't be safe."

"And you're going to... stop her, right?"

"That's why I'm here."

Cinder put a hand on Eren's shoulder. "And that's why I asked Eren to make me a Titan," she confessed. "I want to help him."

"..."

A soft sobbing showed that Lie wasn't the only one affected by the truth. Everyone turned to see Nora crying and holding her legs in a fetal position. Lie saw the look before and knew what to do to help her.

"Ren... I'm scared," Nora confessed as she hugged her friend.

"Me too," the boy confessed, who still felt chills go up and down on his body. He looked back up to Eren and Cinder. "What about you two? People think you're Grimm. Aren't you scared?"

"We're scared of what might happen if they found out," Eren said. "People didn't understand before. They won't understand me or Cinder."

"Yeah," said Cinder. "So please don't tell anyone. We're not Grimm, we want the same thing as you." Cinder turned to the crying girl and moved towards her. "Both of you."

"Which is?" Lie asked.

"...A home." Cinder picked Vasilisa off her bed and handed her to Nora, who gently took her and hugged her.

"Cinder's right," Eren said. "We're just trying to live normal lives until we go after Salem." Eren looked at Lie dead in the eyes. "My mom's here too. I have to protect her."

As Nora's sobs disappeared, Ren made up his mind. The kindness Cinder showed and the honesty Eren shared helped him see what he should do from here on out.

"If that's true, the rest of the village should know," he said. "Maybe you should tell them the truth."

"We can't do that," Cinder said. "We can't risk being thrown out."

"I think it's worse than that," Eren pointed out. "They'll try to kill us. And we might be the only ones who can help this place. What are you gonna do the next time the Grimm come?"

"..."

Lie couldn't think of a good counterpoint. Eren and Cinder may have looked like Grimm, but everything they did managed to save Kuroyuri. If they left now and the Grimm came back soon, there was no chance for the town. But Lie couldn't ignore what he just heard.

"Then... I'd suggest you find some way to convince everyone you're here to help. You should-"

"Try to do something good," said Nora, who stood up and handed Vasilisa back to Cinder. "Like you did right now."

Cinder took the doll and looked back at Eren, who was listening to the suggestions with her. "That's... possible," he said.

"Yeah," Cinder agreed. "And that's a good idea. How bad is the town damaged?"

"Pretty bad," Lie replied. "But everyone's more nervous about what to do if more Grimm come again." He looked over to Eren. "If you want to stay, then perhaps doing something to help could help everyone calm down. If you need to use your Titans again, they won't be as afraid as they were last night."

With each word the boy said, Eren found himself agreeing more and more with him. What Lie was proposing sounded a lot like Eren having to prove himself by plugging Wall Rose with a rock. And using his Hardening to seal Wall Maria.

It had to be done once. And now it had to be done again.

"I just have to be careful," he said. "I don't want anyone to know who we are."

"Of course."

"What do you think we could do?" Cinder asked. "How can we help?"

"Um... I'm afraid I don't know," Lie confessed.

"That's okay," said Eren. "My mom's taking us to town to hand out food. We'll see what we could do with our Titans when we're there."

"Hey, yeah!" said Cinder. "We'll get the lay of the land in no time! Thanks for the idea, Lie."

"You're welcome." Lie and Nora turned to leave, but the boy had one more thing to say. "Oh, actually... you two can call me 'Ren.'"

"Ren?" Eren asked for confirmation.

"Sure." Ren looked over to Nora with a smile. "That's what my friends call me." After Nora smiled back, Ren looked to Eren with a smile. "And I think I can call someone who saved my life a friend."

Eren liked the sound of that. "Yeah... friends."

Once they closed the door, Eren and Cinder sat on Eren's bed. "What are you thinking?" Cinder asked her friend.

"I think... they might be right," he claimed. "We can't tell everyone what we are, but maybe we can show them we're here to help."

Eren heard the phrase "actions speak louder than words" before, and he couldn't think of a better time to apply the concept than now.

"I had to defend myself in court when people thought I was a Titan," Eren explained. "I was almost killed, but plugging the wall with a boulder helped my case."

"So Ren's right," Cinder concluded. "We can do something like that for Kuroyuri."

"We'll see what we can do when we help hand out food. And that town meeting should give us some ideas too."

"Are you sure you want to wait for that? Maybe we should do something before they actually start."

"I don't know. Ren and Nora might be just as scared as everyone else. I mean, why else would they come here with a knife?"

Cinder had to admit that people would mostly likely be afraid. However, she was hoping to clear the air as soon as possible, given what she accidentally did for the town.

"Are you sure you want to wait that long?" she asked. "That meeting could go on for hours."

"I just think we should hear what everyone has to say," Eren replied. "We'll listen and try to think of doing something they want. You know, learn as much as possible."

Cinder thought it over, and she decided that it sounded like a good idea. And Eren knew that gathering information and reporting it back was a typical mission for a soldier, so this town meeting shouldn't be different.

"Eren! Cinder!"

The children looked towards the door when they heard Carla calling. When they opened the door and looked down the stairs, they saw Carla looking up at them.

"I'm heading into town now!" she called up. "Are you two ready to go?"

"Yeah, we're ready!" Eren replied before he looked over to Cinder. "We'll tell Mom and Ms. Fritz we wanna go to the meeting."

"Okay," Cinder agreed. "I just hope food will be enough to help for now."

As promised, Carla led Dina and the children down to Kuroyuri with lots of food. Her farmhands carried more baskets as well, so there was plenty of food for everyone. And they all helped pass it out to anyone who needed anything.

Eren thought back to the day that he was taken to Wall Rose as he helped pass out food. He remembered the soldiers having to hand it all out on a day where hope was lost and refugees were immediately expected to fend for themselves. Fortunately, the small village was still standing. And there didn't seem to be a lot of people who were left all alone.

However, Eren couldn't help but notice three particular small children sitting by themselves and refusing to accept food.

Eren could have sworn he was looking into a mirror of himself, Mikasa, and Armin when he looked at the younger children. Despite the fact they didn't look similar in appearance, Eren could relate to them and how they felt.

Hardly anyone helped him that day, but Eren knew he could help these children.

"Hey," he said to get their attention after he walked over to them. When the girl and the two boys looked up at him, Eren held the basket of bread to them instead of handing each of them one piece. "Take as much as you want."

The children were all astonished by this kindness, and the immediately took the offer. The boys ran off with a lot of bread, and the girl eventually joined them after she said one thing.

"Thank you."

The seconds soon became minutes, and the minutes soon became hours. And yet, the town of Kuroyuri was still trying to get back on its feet. They made very little progress in cleaning up the mess the Grimm had left, such a project would take at least a week. Cinder's focus, however, was on some of the burnt houses. Remembering what Eren told her about losing control, looking at each house made her feel guilty. Eren whispered that it wasn't her fault, but Cinder didn't change her mind. So Eren reminded her that they were going to fix their mess once the town meeting ended.

When everyone heard a bell begin to ring, everyone walked up the steps to a larger building where the bell tower was located. Carla and Dina took Eren and Cinder inside, which was how the children first became acquainted with the building. It definitely looked like the right place to have a meeting for the whole village, given the amount of space and how many people were inside.

And speaking of people, all everyone was doing inside was yelling amongst themselves. Eren and Cinder tried to make out what each person they passed was saying, but it all sounded like one big mess. Carla and Dina noticed this too, but neither of them said anything. Instead, Carla found four seats and took one for herself. Just as Dina and the children joined her, a man in a gray robe walked up to the podium in front of the crowd and spoke as loud as he could.

"Please, everyone, settle down!" the Mayor pleaded. Just as he said that, people began to either stop talking or shush the person next to them. Once the room fell quiet, the Mayor cleared his throat. "Thank you all for coming. I know you're all scared, and recovering from the tragedy last night. But now, we have to-"

"We have to leave!" a man in the back yelled. "Who knows when they'll come back again?! We're not safe out here!" A few others yelled as well, agreeing with the idea to leave Kuroyuri. However, there were some people who disagreed.

"But this is our home!" a woman shouted. "We spent years making Kuroyuri into what it is now, we can't just call it quits!" Other people, mostly families, supported her and offered their own input.

"My father poured his heart and soul into building our house! We can't let that go to waste!"

"Think about the children!"

"Where would we even go?! Mistral is the worst place to raise a family!"

People on the other side of the room joined in on the shouting. As they did, Eren looked over to his mother and gently nudged her. "Is that true?" he asked.

"Not all of Mistral," Carla replied. "The upper half of the capital is where you'll find most of Mistral's higher class and people who are well off. Unfortunately, the lower half of Mistral is the only spot affordable to everyone. But it's just as unsafe as living with Grimm."

"Who cares about what state Mistral's society is in?!" a woman asked. "We'll be safe there!"

"It has more protection and security than we can afford to make or buy ourselves!"

"What about Argus? The Atlas military can stop anything!"

Before anyone could say another word, the Mayor silenced everyone by slamming a gavel onto the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, I was thinking the exact same things you all are right now," he said. "We have reached out to Argus and Mistral in the past to no avail, and and we haven't been able to afford their kind of security and defenses. On the other hand, the cities have been known to be... unfavorable to some."

"Like the Faunus!" a woman with a skunk's tail said as she stood up. "Faunus may live in both cities now, but that doesn't mean we're like everyone else!"

"We can't even buy food in some places!" a Faunus with dog ears said. Some Faunus stood up and agreed with the woman.

"It's not just the Faunus!" said a human in a red shirt. "Prices for just about anything are skyrocketing in the rest of the Kingdom! I can't even buy one of those 'studio apartments,' or whatever they're called in the city if I wanted to! It's like they're just leaving us to rot!"

More and more voices, human and Faunus alike, all shared the man's sentiments.

"That is also one of the factors I've thought about," said the Mayor. "I don't wish for anyone to leave as well, and I too have my disagreements with how things are run in the city. But the fact of the matter is, we don't have the proper defenses to ensure the safety of this town."

The Mayor and the Faunus were continuing to exchange in ideas and conversation. While they were doing this, Cinder had a question of her own; one that she asked Dina when she nudged her arm.

"Is that true?" she asked. "About the Faunus? And everyone else here?"

Dina sighed as she nodded. "I'm afraid so, dear," she said. "The situation with the Faunus is the same everywhere, but Mistral asks villages like ours too much of us whenever we come. Prices are unfair when they shouldn't be, and that's just part of it." Dina sighed. "It's like... the capital puts up this barrier between us. Like this giant..."

"Wall?"

Cinder and Dina turned to Eren when he asked this. "They put up a wall between us?" he asked again.

"Not a literal one, but yes," Dina replied. "That's a good way to put it."

"..."

Eren and Cinder shared a glance at each other while they thought about the idea. But their thoughts were cast aside when the Mayor made a good point.

"Once again, I have to ask everyone to calm down and lend me your ear," he calmly said. "Before any of us think about leaving or trying to get things we can't afford, it may be best to try and see what exactly we're up against out here."

"I agree," someone else said. Eren and Cinder looked to the left to see Li Ren standing up. "I saw the beasts. My hunting party can handle the occasional small Grimm, but there was one monster that was... too powerful. Only a Huntsman could kill it."

"You mean the giants?" a citizen asked. "Li, there were two of them out there."

"I know," Li replied. "But I'm afraid I was speaking of another beast. The Huntsmen call it a 'Nuckelavee,' a horse and an Imp fused together. It killed more people than I could count. My party and I were useless against it. If we wish to continue our way of life, we need a Huntsman. A permanent Huntsman. Perhaps if we speak to the Council, they-"

"Hey, that's not a bad idea!" a woman called out. "Why don't we hire a Huntsman to live in Kuroyuri? You know, full time?"

"Yeah!" a Faunus replied. "Li's right about a Huntsman! The occasional Huntsmen only show their faces around here once a month, but offering a place for them to live would be better!"

The Mayor tapped his gavel again, gently this time. "That is one possible solution, yes," he said. "It's no mystery that Huntsmen and Huntresses in Mistral spend most of their time in Argus or the capital city. If we wish to seek out a permanent Huntsman or Huntress, first off, in order to pay this warrior, I will have no choice but to increase the town's taxes."

"In that case, I say we go for it!" another man yelled. "What's a few more Lien when our lives are on the line?"

The Mayor was happy to hear this, but he needed the town's input in order to go with this plan. "Do I hear a second to that agreement?" he asked.

"AYE!"

A vast majority, more than three-quarters of the room, shouted and raised their hands. It seemed that everyone made up their minds.

"Very well," he said. "Today, I'll be sending my swiftest messenger to Mistral about hiring a permanent Huntsman or Huntress. As for the matter of taxes, I'll schedule another meeting when we learn their expected pay."

Many people began to feel better, and already a little safer, when they heard that a Huntsman or Huntress would be coming.

Unfortunately, those people didn't include Eren or Cinder.

Both of the children were unsettled when they heard the idea. The last time they met a Huntsman, things didn't go too well. Cinder once saw the man as a potential hope of escaping the Glass Unicorn, but the idea was shattered when the Huntsman threatened to arrest her. Eren remembered this as well, and remembered how the man played off Cinder's torment and refused to lift a finger to help her.

Cinder couldn't help but lament as she relived the memories, and she couldn't help but think what would happen if she met another Huntsman. If he was from Atlas, would he somehow recognize her from what happened? And if he would really kill all the Grimm to protect Kuroyuri, that meant she and Eren would be targets.

Cinder hated all of this uncertainty, even while Eren tried to comfort her. And it got worse when the Mayor decided that he had one more thing to point out.

"And then... there is also the presence of the two... giants."

The room fell silent for a few moments as everyone began to look at each other. Eren and Cinder looked around too, noticing the fear written on everyone's faces. Cinder dreaded the uncertainty once again, as did Eren. However, Cinder wore her emotions on her face, which caused everyone close to her much distress. Carla and Dina simply assumed Cinder had seen the Titans and got scared, but Eren knew it was worse than that.

And things were going to be even worse.

The silence was eventually broken by Li Ren once again. "I saw the beasts," he confessed. "They had the appearance of Grimm, as well as their destructive capabilities. However, I do not believe them to be entirely like the monsters the Grimm are."

"How so?" the Mayor asked.

"One of them stopped a Nevermore from destroying my house. It could have been crushed had the giant not intervened. And according to what my son saw and experienced, it was the same beast that saved his life." Li looked down at Lie and smiled. "My wife and I were separated from our son in the confusion and panic. After we evacuated outside the wall, one of them was carrying my son and the young girl we have been taking care of. Rather than hurting them, the giant placed them down gently in front of us."

"You saw this happen, Li?" the Mayor asked. He and others in the crowd were having a hard time believing such a thing.

"I saw the beast come to the wall and leave. My son and his friend were the first witnesses to this oddity. But they were not the only ones."

"It's true!" another man called out. "I saw the whole thing!"

"But what about the other one?!" someone else asked. "It almost burned down some of the houses near the wall!"

Li spoke up again. "That is also true. However, members of my party said it also burned other Grimm like the Nuckelavee before it turned to our town."

More voices called out after Li spoke this truth.

"I think I saw it helping us at first, but it definitely tried to attack us!"

"It wasn't until the first one kicked its ass that things got under control!"

"I don't care if they're with us or against us! What the hell are they?!"

After he spent some time listening, Eren felt something wet touch his hand. When he looked down, he saw what looked like tears hit the back of his hand. Cinder was the one who was crying, since each word sent a knife through her heart. Eren wiped her eye and told her it was going to be fine, which was before Carla and Dina stood up while extending their hands. "Mr. Mayor, we have something I'd like to say," said Dina.

"Dina and I think we know what we're up against," said Carla. "We'd like to share that with everyone."

"Very well," the Mayor said as he beckoned for the women to come up to the podium. "You have the floor."

After Carla whispered for Eren and Cinder to stay where they were, she joined Dina at the podium where they started to reveal what it was that everyone had witnessed last night.

"Ladies and gentlemen... I believe you have every right to be afraid of the beasts you saw last night," the farmer said. Eren and Cinder looked at Carla in disbelief, as did the rest of the room. "Before I returned home, some of my colleagues in Argus informed me that the city of Atlas had been attack by Grimm. And not just any Grimm... but the same giants you all saw last night."

Gasps and whispers filled the room before Dina spoke. "When Carla told me about this, I tried to find anything I could about the attack on Atlas." Dina lifted her Scroll in the air. "Unlike the ones that sought to kill Grimm, the one in Atlas was determined to destroy anything and everything in its path. Right now, the officials of Atlas have named the Grimm... a 'Titan.'"

Eren and Cinder looked at each other as more whispers filled the room. Eren hadn't entirely forgotten about what he did in Atlas, about all the people he hurt and killed. He had told Ren and Nora about his exploits in Atlas, since they saw his memories about that place.

But Eren had no idea that news travelled all the way to Kuroyuri, and he wasn't expecting Dina to share all of it now. It seemed only natural for the people of Kuroyuri to be afraid now, regardless of what Eren and Cinder did next.

This was evident when An Ren suddenly stood up and asked a question. "Dina, Carla... do you think that we're in danger because of them?" she asked.

Dina looked to Carla, who nodded at her friend to go on. "...We do," she said. "Atlas hasn't disclosed everything the... Titan did, but there are images all across the media in regards to the aftermath. Given that we're all alive... I think we're very lucky to be here."

"But how can you explain what one of them did for my son? If they're as dangerous as they sound, my son wouldn't be here. In fact..." An Ren looked around the entire room as she made her point. "Everyone saw that giant help out."

"An, I'm afraid we don't have all the answers," Carla said. This was somewhat untrue, since Carla was all too familiar with the destructive capabilities of the Titans. But since she didn't want to talk about her dreams, Carla focused on what Dina had told her. "All that we can tell you is what I've heard. And I think we've said all we need to." She and Dina stepped off the podium and the Mayor took her place.

"It seems our next course of action is clear," the Mayor said. "My messenger will go to Argus and Mistral to deliver our request for a permanent Huntsman. In the meantime, we will fix what we can and be wary of these giants. Until things are back to normal, I would suggest everyone stay vigilant. Meeting adjourned."

As the Mayor tapped his gavel on the podium once again, everyone made their way to the exit. By chance, Eren and Cinder found themselves next to Ren and Nora.

"What are you going to do?" Ren whispered.

"...I don't know," Eren replied. "I just... don't know."

The rest of the day was mostly spent helping the entire town. Carla's farmhands made good on their plan to help, and they were clearing debris and fixing houses for hours. When it was clear that everyone had enough food to last for a while, Carla and Dina took Eren and Cinder home.

Eren and Cinder kept to themselves for the rest of the day. Carla and Dina didn't notice when they got back to the house, but they noticed when the children decided to go straight upstairs upon arrival. Eren would usually spend some time with Carla after a long day and Cinder would usually spend time learning with Dina. But now, they apparently wanted to be left alone.

And so, Carla decided to make dinner for everyone after she made an inventory count of the farm's harvest. Once she was done with both chores, Carla went upstairs to tell the children that dinner was ready.

"Eren?" Carla called when she knocked on his door. "Are you in there?"

"..."

When she didn't hear a reply, Carla opened the door to see an empty room. Her next instinct was to go to Cinder's room and repeat the action. "Eren? Cinder? Are you in there?"

"We're here," Cinder called out.

"Okay, dinner's ready. You can-"

"We're not hungry," Eren said. "Thanks."

Carla looked at the door in confusion. She knew that Eren and Cinder had been quiet all day, but she wasn't expecting them to turn down a meal like so.

"Are you two okay?" Carla asked, unsure as to what was bothering them.

"We're fine," Cinder called out again. "We just wanna be alone right now."

"Why, did something happen?"

"We want to be alone," Eren said, a little impolite on his part.

"..."

Carla wasn't sure why Eren sounded so angry, but she knew there wasn't anything she could do if he wouldn't let her. So she reluctantly went back downstairs to find Dina preparing places for Eren and Cinder.

"I don't think we need those," Carla sadly reported. "Eren and Cinder aren't coming."

Dina looked up from the table. "They're not?" she asked.

"No. They just said they weren't hungry."

"Oh. Well, we should still fix them some plates. They might get hungry later."

"I'll grab some tinfoil."

After Carla gently wrapped two plates of food to keep them warm, she joined her friend at the dinner table. They were no strangers to eating like this, since they had done it dozens of times before. However, neither of them were accustomed to the silence that resulted during dinner. Eren and Cinder always found ways to start conversations during the month they had been at Kuroyuri.

Dina immediately grew tired of the silence and broke it.

"You had a great idea about bringing food to town today," she said to her friend. "I think we can count on all four of our hands how many families needed it."

"Me and Eren, actually," Carla reminded Dina. "He had the same idea. He really wanted to help everyone."

"That's nice. Well, sorry to ask this, but didn't you always say he was the opposite? In your... dreams?"

Carla wiped her mouth with a napkin before she spoke again. "Most of the time. He was always stubborn, but he had his own way of helping." Carla remembered how one of the fights Eren got in resulted in him making friends with Armin.

And how he was willing to risk his life to save her own.

"Oh, I see," Dina said after she took a bite of her food. "Well, he did a great job today. Cinder too."

"I saw," Carla said. "I guess they make quite the team."

"Mm-hm." Dina swallowed her food before she spoke again. "I just hope we were able to help as well."

"Oh, I'm sure. James and Peter are working the team non-stop with fixing the town. It's not farm work, but I'll have to pay them overtime for the work they're doing."

"It's not going to hurt the farm, is it?"

"Well, some of the other villages might get upset about the delays and shortage. But I'm sure they'll understand when we tell them what happened."

"Let's just hope what happened to us doesn't happen to them. Otherwise, they might have bigger problems on their hands."

"..."

Dina took note of the silence and looked up to see that Carla was staring at the table while poking at her food. Dina had known her best friend long enough to know that mannerisms like this told her that something was wrong.

And what she just said sounded like an obvious trigger.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean it like that, I-"

"No, it's okay," Carla insisted. "You're not wrong, either. Far from it."

"..."

Neither of the women could stop thinking about how the day went. Besides the food, their greatest contribution to Kuroyuri was informing Kuroyuri of the dangerous potential of the Titans to light without revealing their secret. Even though the solution would be a Huntsman, neither Carla or Dina knew if that was enough to be safe. But all they could do was hope that their warning had reached the right ears. Maybe then the safety of the village would increase.

"Is that what's wrong with them?"

Carla looked up from the table again when she heard a question. "I'm sorry?" she asked.

"Eren and Cinder," Dina said as she pointed to the ceiling with her fork. "You don't think we scared them by talking about the Titans, do you?"

Carla sighed when she understood the idea. "I wouldn't blame them for being scared. I wouldn't blame anyone who walked out of that meeting scared."

Dina nodded before she spoke again. "I don't want them to be scared, but we had to tell everyone. When I saw those things I found... I just had to tell you and everyone else."

"No, no. You did the right thing. We both did." Carla was about to take another bite of her food, but she had another idea. "Dina... you remember the Titans... don't you?"

Dina sighed before she replied. "Oh, yes," she said with emphasis. "My dreams were always a little vague, as you know. But I remember the Titans. Their height, their strength... their, um-"

"Their appetite?"

Dina sighed once more. "So you remember that too."

"Everyone always talked about it. That's why I hated Eren going outside." Carla also remembered what happened to her that day, but she didn't mention that. "But I don't remember anyone saying that those... things, ate anyone."

"I don't either. But I think it's safe to assume that those things and the Titans are one and the same. You saw the videos too, that's what they're calling them. Titans."

Carla put her fork down, since she had lost her appetite. Her mind, however, was hungry for more of this conversation. "I don't think they're exactly the same, Dina."

Dina put her fork down as well. One would think that she would stop talking or argue otherwise, but her education taught her to always ask questions.

"Meaning?" she asked inquisitively.

"Remember what Li said at the meeting?" Carla asked. "How Lie was apparently saved by one of them?"

"Oh, that's right." Dina indeed remembered what Li said, but her mind was too preoccupied by the memory of the Titans. "I wanted to ask him about that."

"I talked to An before we all came back. I would have told you earlier, but I wanted to get dinner ready."

Dina leaned forward. She was immediately interested and curious about the idea. "What did she say?"

"That we did the right thing by talking at the meeting. She and Li have children to look after."

"Oh, so she's still looking after Lie's friend."

"Yes, little Nora. She was with An, so I met her properly. We both like her." Carla smiled for the first time since sitting down. "She's just the sweetest thing."

Dina was happy for both An and Nora, but her mind automatically went back to the matter at hand. "So it's true? A Titan really saved her son?"

"It's true. I can't understand it either, but Lie saw it with his own eyes. He lived through the whole thing, just like Nora. And An was telling me they were gone one second, and then they were back the next."

"And he's sure it wasn't a dream or hallucination?"

Carla slowly shook her head. "An said he and Nora were wide awake when she and Li found them."

Dina leaned back in her seat and thought it over. "You're right... that's hard to understand." Dina immediately took out her Scroll and began to type on it. "I'm sorry, I'm taking some notes. I'm just trying to understand everything I can."

Carla understood Dina's sentiments, but she couldn't help but find a very small amount of humor in the idea. "New school project?" she asked sarcastically.

"You could say that," Dina replied in a similar manner. "I just don't want the same thing that happened to Atlas to happen here."

"I don't blame you. You know, I should have taken some notes too. An was telling me she overheard Lie and Nora say something that was strange."

Dina looked up from her Scroll. "Something from last night?"

"No, this was today. An said she could have sworn she heard them say something about 'telling the truth.'"

"Telling the truth? About what?"

"I don't know. When An asked about it, the children changed the subject."

"Hm. It's not like Lie to keep secrets." Dina had many teaching sessions with Ren, so she knew much of his personality.

The same could be said about Eren and Cinder. Or so she thought.

"Carla... what did Eren say Lie and Nora wanted when they came here this morning?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing important," Carla replied as she tried to regain her appetite. "Jus that they were introducing themselves."

"You didn't notice anything out of the ordinary?"

Carla wanted to say that she didn't, but just a moment of reflection was enough to tell her that something was off.

"Well... when I came back into the house, everyone was close to each other. Like, really close. It was almost as if they had no sense of personal space."

Dina knew Ren well enough to know that he respected personal space, so she could tell something was off. And when she put her mind to the task, the teacher found one idea that could explain a disregard for personal space.

"Almost like they were whispering?" Dina asked. "So nobody could hear them?"

"..."

Carla knew Dina well enough to know that being inquisitive like this wasn't abnormal. She was a teacher, and a very good one at that. Her parents said that Dina always asked the right questions, that she wanted to learn everything and anything she could. That was one of the reasons she was sent to school in the capital, after all.

The behavior had helped Carla see a bigger picture a few times in her life, with one of them finding the perfect home in Argus during her departure. While she welcomed it before, Carla wanted to put the matter to rest.

"Dina, I don't think I like what you're implying," she said. "We can't just accuse Eren or Cinder of keeping secrets like that. Eren got in trouble before, but he never hid anything from me."

"I know," Dina said. "I'm sorry, I was just-"

"Eren's my son. And you've seen how close he's been with me ever since he came here. I can't recall a time when he lied to me since we came here."

Carla wasn't planning on hurting Dina's feelings or grow angry at the moment. She was simply defending her son, since she genuinely believed he was innocent. Just like she said, Eren never kept secrets from her before. He wasn't very good at lying, since the truth was always written on his face.

That, and bruises from the fights he would always get into.

So it was easy for Carla to think that Eren wasn't keeping secrets from her. It was true that the past twenty-four hours hadn't been normal, and Eren was acting a little strange when he got home. But none of this was any indication of secrets or lies.

And like she said, Carla couldn't remember a time when he lied to her after they arrived at Kuroyuri.

"He's lied to me."

Carla put down her fork again when she heard Dina say this. "What?" she asked. "What did you say?"

Dina let out a sigh of regret as she made a confession. "Eren lied to me before," she said. "He may not have lied to you... but he lied to me."

"...When?"

"The day he came here. He said that he never saw me before. That we never met."

Carla remembered this experience, since she was excited to introduce her son to her best friend. Eren indeed said that he never saw Dina before, so Carla didn't give the idea a second thought.

Until now.

"Did you?" Carla asked. "Did you meet him before?"

"That's what he told me," Dina confessed. "He wanted to thank me for helping Cinder. And he said that we had met before. That he knew me."

"And... did you know him?"

Dina grabbed her forehead as she groaned. "I can't remember," she said. "I want to remember, I tried to remember. But I can't."

"..."

Carla immediately became just as inquisitive and concerned as Dina. She knew her friend long enough to know that Dina would never lie about something like this. Dina was one of the kindest and honest people Carla had ever met.

So why would Eren deny something as simple as meeting her?

"But if that's true... why would he lie about meeting you?" Carla asked.

Dina groaned again as she tried to remember her vague past. While she did possess some memories, she couldn't make out any specifics or details about Eren.

"I... I don't know," Dina replied honestly. "But maybe... he didn't want me to know?"

"..."

Carla still didn't like what Dina was implying. However, she was in the same mood as her friend; she wanted answers as well. So she got off her seat and began to walk towards the stairs.

"Let's just talk to him," she suggested. "There's got to be an explanation for all of this."

"Right," Dina said as she joined her friend. "You're right, there has to be. There always is."

Carla was glad to see that Dina was agreeing with her. Being on the same page was always something she strived for, which was why the two rarely had arguments.

However, Carla was disappointed that Dina unfortunately couldn't remember much about her past life.

"Dina, wait," Carla requested before she walked up the stairs. "Before we go up there, are you sure there's anything you can't tell me? About your life and how it might connect to Eren?"

Dina shook her head. "I'm really sorry, Carla," she said. "I wish I could. But most of my dreams are just vague. Whatever that doctor did for the two of us really worked for us."

Carla couldn't argue with that, since her trip to the therapist in Mistral helped her sleep without much trouble. But she wasn't ready to give up.

"What about before we went to her?" she asked. "Do you think you can remember anything about that?"

"Maybe," Dina replied. "Like what?"

"Well..." Carla took a moment to think about what Eren told her. "I know you remember the Titans."

"Yes, I do." Dina suddenly remembered something else. "I don't know why, but... whenever I think of them, I can see them clearly. Like, I was standing among them."

Carla didn't know what to think of this idea, so she moved on. "What about a war? Do you remember a war?"

Dina shook her head. "No, I don't remember a war."

"The Survey Corps?"

"No."

"What about a place called 'Marley?'"

Dina froze upon hearing the name. "...Marley?"

"That's the nation that started the war. Does that sound familiar?"

Dina thought long and hard about the name and the nation. As she did, Dina began to have chills all along her body. She felt scared, cold, but she also felt familiar with that place.

"It does," Dina finally replied. "Don't ask me how, but... I know that place. I think something bad happened there."

Carla nodded as she accepted the answer. "Eren said that they hated him. Well, him and everyone inside the walls."

Dina suddenly shook her head. "I don't think that's it, Carla. I mean... something bad happened to me there. Something horrible."

Carla believed she had an idea as to why Dina felt this way, since there was one detail Eren shared with her about Marley.

"Eren said that people like him lived there," she recalled. "That they were treated like slaves. The, um... Eldians! Right, that was their name. Do you remember that?"

"..."

Dina began to feel even colder, which ironically told her that Carla was getting even warmer. The names "Marley" and "Eldian" weren't jogging her memory, but she knew she was involved with both.

As well as something else.

"Did I... ever mention anything to you before?" she asked. "Those names, maybe? And any other name?"

Carla shook her head. "No, sorry," she said. "Are there any other names you might remember?"

"...Only two." Dina took a deep breath before she spoke again. "Zeke... and Founder."

Carla couldn't remember Dina ever mentioning someone named "Zeke," but the title of "Founder" was familiar.

"Founder..." she whispered. "Wait, do you mean 'Founding Titan?'" Eren had told her the names of the special Titans, but not what they did or how they were different from the rest of the Titans. But Carla was sure the name meant something.

"..."

Dina didn't get a sense of familiarity or coldness when she heard that name. What she got instead was something she had been hoping to find.

A memory.

"I'm sure of it! The King took the Founding Titan into the walls! If we obtain that, we can control all other Titans and completely annihilate Marley!"

"Dina?"

The blonde woman looked up at Carla. "We need to talk to Eren," she demanded. "I just remembered something."

Carla was about to ask Dina what she remembered, but her friend quickly moved to the stairs before her. So Carla followed and found Dina knocking on the door.

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

"Eren!" Dina called out. "Eren, Cinder! Open the door, I need to talk to you!"

"..."

Dina knocked on the door again, but much louder this time.

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

"Eren! Open the door!"

Carla sensed much distress from the action, so she gently pulled her friend aside and told her to calm down. After that, Carla tried to open the door, only to find it locked. In order to remedy this situation, Carla reached to the doorframe to retrieve a key that would unlock the door.

Once she did, Carla opened the door to find an empty room with vacant beds and an open window.

"They're here."

"How many?"

"A pack of Beowolves, twelve of them."

Cinder did just as Eren said; once they snuck out of the farm house, they split up to look for any Grimm they could find. After coming back to their rendezvous, Cinder told Eren what she found. And Eren was able to find some Grimm of his own. Now, they were on the way to where they wanted them; Kuroyuri.

"So the plan is to kill the Grimm as soon as they get close to the city?" Cinder asked.

"That's right," said Eren. "Back on Paradis, I had to prove to everyone that I wasn't a threat or looking to kill any people. And everyone's afraid of the Grimm coming back. We can make them less afraid."

Cinder understood the plan, but she was reluctant to carry it out. "I don't like this. It seems really risky."

"Cinder, it's the only way we can buy some kind of trust from everyone. And I can't do this without you."

"...Are you sure? After everything I did already?"

Eren and Cinder had been over this before, but Cinder refused to forgive herself for almost hurting people. And that was causing her to have doubts about using her Titan again.

Eren understood Cinder's fear, and he felt worthless because he couldn't do anything to change her mind. His predicament made him almost wish Captain Levi was here. If he could persuade Historia to take Paradis' throne, he could convince Cinder to do what needed to be done.

But roars and howling in the distance made Eren forget about his wish and focus on the present. "They're here," he said. Turning back to Kuroyuri, Eren saw a few people running out with bows and swords. Some even had firearms similar to the muskets from Paradis. "I'm sure, Cinder. Trust me, I believe in you."

"..."

Cinder had heard the request before, and trusting Eren had never led her down a wrong path before. So she took Eren's hand and let him lead her closer to the walls of Kuroyuri.

Eren was happy to see that Cinder was trusting him again, even though it was evident that she was still afraid. He could hear her breathing heavily and whispering to herself. He would have tried to do more to reassure her that things would be okay, but the incoming Grimm told Eren that time was of the essence. So instead of talking to her again, Eren rushed out and bit into his hand. Black blood shot from his hand surprising and confusing him before he focused on the task at hand.

*ZAP*

*CRACK*

A bright flash of red light filled the air, followed by a massive thud, causing all motion from both the villagers and the Grimm to cease. From within the light rose a large dark figure, as bone and muscle seemed to materialize. As the light fully faded away, the villagers all paled as they stared into the snarling visage of one of the mysterious Titans. Once it stood to full height, gazing out over the town and locking onto the Grimm, it rushed towards the Grimm.

*BAM*

*BAM*

Eren immediately began killing Grimm once again, which resulted in black ash rising and small imprints being made on the ground. Many villagers ran back to the wall, but a few stayed behind to watch what the Titan was doing.

Not only was Eren doing a good job of killing the Grimm, but he was also giving Cinder her confidence back.

She was able to see that Eren was in full control of his actions, that he wasn't trying to hurt anyone besides the Grimm. It was clear that he had learned self-control, so it was possible for Cinder to do the same. And she had seen holes like the ones Eren was making before, both inside and outside the town of Kuroyuri.

She was getting an idea on how she could use her Titan to help.

And so, after being inspired by Eren's actions and remembering the faith he placed in her, Cinder decided that it was time to join her friend.

*ZAP*

*BOOM*

Both Eren and the nearby villagers saw a second flash of red light, and they saw the second Titan rise from the ground. The villagers became afraid at the sight, but Eren had no trace of fear within him.

Because it was already clear that Cinder had control.

The new Titan began looking at its hands and turning them in various places. Its head rose to look at the Founding Titan, who raised its arm and moved it back and forth. Cinder was confused at first, but then she did the same thing.

This was the first thing she willfully did, without any impulse or any lose of control.

Cinder moved both of her arms and legs as she approached closer to Kuroyuri. It was clear that Cinder had full control over her Titan, just like it was clear to her and Eren that she wouldn't hurt anyone or anything if she didn't want to.

*WHOOSH*

*SHICK*

Cinder's thoughts snapped to a small pinch in her arm. Looking down, she saw an arrow sticking out of it. She moved the arm to see the archers of the village shooting her. Rather than attacking, Cinder backed away and moved her hands up, shaking them. The arrows stopped as a man Cinder recognized as Li Ren stepped in front of the other archers. He pointed to the Founding Titan, who stepped in front of Cinder to shield her from more arrows. But once they stopped firing, due to the fact that Li noticed them killing Grimm instead of people, Eren and Cinder got to work.

The archers, including Li Ren, stared up at the two Titans. Rather than shooting, they were observing their behavior.

"What are they doing?" one asked.

"I just shot one of them," said another archer. "Shouldn't it be fighting back?"

"Well, they're not," said Li. "That should be good." He turned towards the nearby Beowolves. "Let's focus on the Grimm in front of us!" The archers obeyed and let arrows fly at the creatures.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

Li's aim was true, as was the aim of his fellow archers. Some of the townspeople who ran away came back and brought guns, which they used to help their friends.

*BANG*

*BANG*

"How do we know they didn't send those Grimm here?!" one of the defenders asked. "They could just want to watch the town be overrun!"

"The bigger one was killing Grimm before you got here!" another person said. "It's not making sense, but that's what we saw!"

"What about the other one?! What's it doing?!"

One man with a rifle, a Faunus with cat ears, saw that Cinder's Titan doing something when his friend asked that question. "There it is!" he said. "Look!"

Li Ren and his comrades turned to see the feminine Titan raise its arms in front of the incoming Grimm. Suddenly, a wave of fire scorched the Grimm and the land beneath it. The warriors were awed and impressed by the ability, specifically that of killing Grimm. They couldn't help but relax as they watched each of the smaller beasts disappear. However, they were confused when they saw the giant move its arms left and right, to pieces of land where there weren't any Grimm.

And then they watched the giant burn the ground.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

"What's it doing?" a warrior asked.

"I don't know," Li replied. "But be ready for anything."

The fire stopped after a few minutes, Cinder's hands met together. Nobody was hurt, but the fire revealed a linear hole that sank beneath the ground. Dirt and burnt earth was visible in the line, but it didn't seem to serve any purpose. Li decided to ignore the strange hole for now, since there were new Grimm approaching that he needed to kill.

"Li, wait!" the second archer said. "Look at that!"

Li did as he was told and looked to see the giant holding its hands out to them. They weren't going to attack, it almost looked like a request to wait a few seconds. So Li reluctantly lowered his bow and watched the Grimm come closer. The beasts suddenly leapt to get closer to the wall and the people trying to defend it, but the linear hole the giant had made was too wide for them to make the jump.

Instead of landing close to the village, the Grimm all fell into the hole and scrambled in vain to get out.

"Huh," said the first warrior. "Well that's... convenient."

"..."

The villagers were surprised to see what they were seeing, and so was Eren. The plan was simply to kill Grimm and show that Cinder had gained full control over her Titan, but this was something new. Not only that, but it was beneficial as well.

Cinder got the idea about using holes in the ground when she saw numerous holes inside and outside Kuroyuri. They were deep enough for a child to get trapped in without the proper help, which was why the townspeople tried to cover them all up. But Eren's actions showed that holes in the ground would be inevitable when it came to fighting Grimm.

Cinder simply decided to use them to her advantage, as well as Kuroyuri's.

When Eren saw what Cinder had done, and what the results were, he stepped back and let the villagers see as well. The other archers were reluctant, but Li was confident that he would be safe. Given that this was the beast that saved his son, he felt some kind of trust with it. So he slowly approached the gap and looked down to see that the Grimm were still there. However, they were having trouble climbing out.

They were trapped like rats.

Li was amazed at this simple invention and called for his friends to join him. They all looked down into the pit and saw the trapped Grimm, who were doing nothing but desperately trying to escape the trap. Some of the Grimm began to pile on top of each other, but the soil was too loose for any of the beasts to get a form grip and climb out.

The predicament was hopeless for the Grimm, but extremely promising for the people of Kuroyuri.

"Don't you see?" Li asked his comrades. "These things, they made a moat in less than five minutes! Grimm like Beowolves and Ursai won't be able to cross!"

"Wow," one of the warriors warrior said in amazement as he scratched his head. "Why didn't we think of that?"

"Hey, check that out," said another warrior. Everyone looked up to see the feminine giant move her arms in a circle. She then pointed to the town of Kuroyuri, which had more people coming out to see the miracle. They were all drawn to the sounds of fighting, and they were all still incredibly afraid. However, when they saw and heard what had happened, nobody bothered to run away. Ren and Nora were among the crowd, and they were pleased to see that their initial idea was working.

Everyone else, mainly the warriors, were pleased to see what had happened as well. But they were confused when they saw the Titan moving its arms and pointing to the town.

"What's it doing?" a Faunus asked. "Trying to create more fire?"

"I think... it's asking us for permission," Li said, astonished at the idea the intelligent beast seemed to present. "It wants to build a moat around the village, to make sure no Grimm can hurt us."

"Wait, you think it's trying to talk to us?" a warrior asked. "Li, they're Grimm. Grimm don't talk to people like that."

Li would normally agree with the idea, since it was common knowledge that the Grimm only sought to destroy mankind. However, Li knew that this situation was different.

"Do they look like just Grimm to you, Joshua?" Li asked his ally. "No. They're... They're something else."

The one known as "Joshua" looked back up to the Titan, who was clearly showing signs of intelligence and communication that no Grimm had ever been known to do. Li was right when he asked the rhetorical question, but he was still uncertain about what to do next.

"So what do we do?" he asked. "Let it build the moat?"

"I don't think we could stop it if we wanted to," Li pointed out. "Maybe we should just let it be."

"No, that wouldn't work," said a man holding a musket. Instead of explaining himself to the other villagers or Li, the man put down his rifle and looked up at the Titan. His friends would think that the idea he had was crazy, Li had said that the Titans weren't like any other Grimm. They were intelligent and clearly capable of their own form of communication.

If that was true, then it was possible that they could understand human speech.

"This... won't work!" he slowly shouted as he pointed to the moat and shook his head. "If... the Grimm... can't come across... neither... can we!" The man kept pointing to the Grimm and the villagers as he spoke, and he also drew a circle in the air as he hoped the beasts could understand.

And when they looked at each other and the moat, they did seem to understand.

Inside her Titan, Cinder began to feel sad. She was so sure of her plan when she thought of it, she believed it would be the best line of defense Kuroyuri could have. But to think that it had the capability of trapping them as well, Cinder knew that she had to stop. And she began to think that she had just made things worse instead of better.

Eren, however, seemed to think of the opposite.

He was impressed by Cinder's intelligent move and her experiment with her fire. It reminded him of all the times he experimented with the Survey Corps, and he too believed Cinder's idea would work. He was saddened to hear that it would also trap the citizens of Kuroyuri, but he had no intention of giving up on a great idea like the moat.

When he looked over to the nearby forest, Eren grabbed a tree and began to pull on it. The roots loudly broke away from the ground, which made Eren capable of carrying the tree on his shoulder. And when he found himself back in front of the village, the Titan gently put the tree down and moved it up and down.

Li and the others managed to get the idea; if they could make some kind of drawbridge, they could travel across the moat and avoid the Grimm below them. Kuroyuri would be safe from any ground assault from the Grimm, and they were clearly safe in the presence of the Titans.

In order to pull the idea off, however, Li knew Kuroyuri would need two things; a new wall to position the drawbridge and enough time to create it. The time would come naturally, but the wall would take some time. The present wall Kuroyuri had already took its founders enough time to build, and the resources they had were already being used to rebuild the houses and buildings that were demolished.

But like Eren, Li didn't want to abandon Cinder's idea either.

When he looked across the field, Li noticed one of the crystal spires Eren had made last night. Everyone was amazed by it when they saw it the next morning, they even mistook it for a new kind of Dust. But when they saw that it wasn't Dust, and that it couldn't be destroyed by anything they had, everyone left the spire alone. It wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

Fortunately, Li saw this as an opportunity.

Following his friend's lead, no matter how crazy or dumb he looked, Li stepped forward and began to communicate with the Grimm. Some of his comrades tried to call him back, but the others remained silent and waited to see what happened. And so, after he nodded to the man who began communicating with the Titans, Li followed the idea by pointing to the nearby crystal-like structure.

"We need... two more of those... here and here," he said as he pointed to two sides behind the moat. "To connect.. the bridge." He moved his hands in a motion that he hoped would show a bridge connecting to two spires. "Can you... do that?"

"..."

Eren was slightly annoyed at being patronized by the people, even though he could understand why they were speaking slowly. But he accepted the request and threw his hands down.

*BAM*

*BAM*

*THOOM*

*THOOM*

When Eren quickly punched his fists into the ground, every villager in the nearby vicinity were knocked of their feet. They even stayed on the ground when they felt it shaking. But once they stood back up, they could see that two more spires like the one Li pointed to had been created. Everyone was impressed by what they had seen, and Li knew that his plan had worked. A bridge and a moat could be made in no time thanks to the Titans.

When Eren realized that he had been weakened by overworking his Hardening, he saw that now would be a good time to leave. The spires he had made were partially able to hide the village's view of him and Cinder, so he beckoned for Cinder to join him and disappear into the woods.

Li was the first to discover that the Titans were gone, but he was more captivated by what he had just witnessed. He couldn't think of a time when he felt safer than he did now. It was almost as if what happened tonight was a miracle ordained by Heaven itself.

The future was looking much brighter for him, his family, and Kuroyuri.

"Make way! Make way!"

Everyone turned to see the Mayor rushing through the crowd. For security measures, two of Li's comrades were hiding him in his office when word spread of the Titans' return. But when enough time had passed, the Mayor grew concerned and demanded to see what was going on.

What he found was a marvel to behold. And all of his questions were generously answered by Li and the villagers who had witnessed the handiwork of the Titans.

"So... these things are actually trying to help?" the Mayor asked.

"Yes, sir," said Li. "We saw it, all of us." The voices of his friends and allies all confirmed the story Li was sharing.

"Even the one who almost burned down our village?"

"That was the one who started building a moat. It was trapping Grimm like flies."

Mayor Fa took a look at the moat once more so he could see the trapped Grimm. "Amazing," he said before he turned around. "But why are they doing this? What are they?"

"We don't know why they're helping us, sir," Li answered. "But perhaps it is for the best. My wife always said to never question a miracle." A few of Li's friends laughed, since they shared the idea that this was a miracle.

"Do you think we could expand?" one of the warriors asked. "If we built another wall, we could cover even more ground without having to worry about the Grimm! Maybe we could even build another moat!"

"Hold on, hold on," the Mayor said before anyone could get too excited. "These gifts and ideas are impressive, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. I still believe having at least one Huntsman around is for the best." Mayor Fa formed a smile. "But this is all truly wonderful. Where are the giants now?"

"They disappeared, shortly after we asked them to make these pillars," Li said. "They understood what we asked for, and they delivered it."

"So they can communicate." The Mayor turned back to the crowd of people, who were talking and looking at the new creations. "Calm down, everyone. I think we've all had enough excitement for one night. Go home, and I'll arrange for a nightly watch." As the crowd began to disperse, the Mayor asked Li to lead a watch party in case any of the Grimm creatures, Titan or not, came back. Although everyone believed they weren't in much danger anymore, Li and his friends all agreed to keep watch.

The only ones who were skeptical of all of this were Carla and Dina.

When they discovered that Eren and Cinder had disappeared, Carla and Dina became more suspicious as well as concerned. They searched the whole farm, but they couldn't find any sign of the children.

And when they reached Kuroyuri, they only found talk of miracles and moats that could protect the whole village.

Carla and Dina saw the spires and heard that the giants had returned. Neither of them doubted any idea that the Titans had indeed returned, and they grew more afraid by the second.

"Why is this happening?" Carla asked as she rubbed sweat off of her forehead.

"I don't know," Dina insisted. "But I know who does."

It didn't take a genius to see that Dina was talking about Eren. But this time, Carla knew that Dina was right. Eren and Cinder disappearing around the same time of the Titans' return couldn't be a coincidence. Eren knew more than he had said, and both women wanted to find out what it was.

"Let's think," Dina suggested. "Where would Eren go?"

"I would think he would do what he did the last time he snuck off," Carla said as she tried to think. "Here. To see the Titans and try to help."

Dina agreed, since that was the story Eren had when he snuck away from the farm with Cinder. In fact, it was this agreement that gave her an idea.

"Wait a minute," she said. "You're right, Carla! This is just like last time!"

"What do you mean?"

"When Eren snuck out, he didn't stay out for long! He didn't try to run away or stay somewhere else! As soon as the danger passed, he came-"

"Home!" Carla looked in the direction of her family house. "Come on! Maybe we can catch him!"

Carla's farm was on top of a hill, at a considerable distance from the rest of Kuroyuri. Because of this distance and the nearby forest, it was the perfect place for Eren and Cinder to abandon their Titans.

After they crouched down as close to the ground as they could, Eren and Cinder exited their Titans and welcomed the cool night air. It would take time for the larger bodies to disappear, but Eren was confident that they would be gone before sunrise. Either way, the children decided to walk their way back to the farm.

They would have been at the farm sooner, if Cinder hadn't convinced Eren to stay in the forest close to town for a moment.

When she heard all the praise from Li and the Mayor, Cinder could feel all of her confidence return to her. She was more than happy to hear that the people of Kuroyuri had a different opinion about her and Eren now. Eren was happy to hear what he heard as well, that his mission had been accomplished.

"I guess it worked after all," Cinder said as they came closer to leaving the woods. "I think we're still getting a Huntsman, but if we do more stuff like that, they'll see we're not dangerous."

"I think we can leave it in their hands now," said Eren. "They know what to do next. But if there's a bigger problem with the Grimm, we'll fix it."

"Okay."

Eren gently nudged Cinder as they walked so she could look at him. "That moat was a great idea," he said with a smile. "I knew we were going to kill Grimm, but you really took it up a step."

Cinder smiled as she felt a strong heat rise to her face. "Thanks," she said. "But it was nothing."

"Nothing? Cinder, I would have killed to have a moat around the walls on Paradis! Do you know how many Titans we could have trapped with that? How'd you get the idea?"

"Uh, from you, actually." Cinder rubbed the back of her head as she continued talking. "I saw the holes you were making in the ground when you were fighting those Grimm, and I saw a bunch of holes in town that we made last night. They're gonna be inevitable, so I figured why not use them? You know, make them work for us?"

Eren was amazed that he had inspired Cinder, even though the holes were completely by accident. Nevertheless, he was both impressed and proud of her.

"And I told you that you can control your Titan," he continued. "Now you should be able to do whatever you want with it. No problems or anything."

"Great!" said Cinder. "Do you think I could try it out again sometime? I mean, in case the Grimm don't come? We could help the town with something else!"

Eren took a moment to think about the future. "They'll need time to actually make a drawbridge around the moat. And they'll have to actually dig the rest of it. Let's give them time before we do anything else. You know, see if they want the Titans to help. But if more Grimm show up, we'll definitely take care of them."

Cinder liked the sound of the plan, but there was just one thing on her mind. "So, uh... do you think we can actually tell everyone?"

"What?" Eren stopped walking. "Cinder, we can't tell anyone else."

"Why not?" Cinder stopped walking with Eren. "They know we want to help, they should know who we are."

"I just..." Eren sighed as he pushed his hair back. "I don't know, Cinder. I can't stay here and help them forever. When I'm ready, I still need to fight Salem."

This time, Cinder nudged Eren so he could look at her. "We," she corrected. "We're going to fight Salem."

Eren smiled again as he appreciated the loyalty. "Right, we," he said. "But we may have to go soon. Or at the very least, be ready for anything."

"Really? How come?"

"Well, Mom and Ms. Fritz know that we escaped Atlas. The news came to them all the way out here. I'm just thinking that if people across an entire ocean can hear that news, Salem might hear about it too. And I think she'll want to pick up where we left off."

"You mean after you fought and escaped her?"

"Yeah. I just hope she only hears about Atlas. You know, not anything about Kuroyuri."

Cinder nodded. "Me too. But maybe we should, you know, have a backup plan."

Eren slightly titled his head. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Ren and Nora found out about us. What if Salem or anyone else find out too? Do you think we should be prepared?"

Eren couldn't argue with Cinder's logic. They were caught off guard when Ren and Nora found out about them, and that was something Eren couldn't afford to be again. He needed to be ready for anything, just like he said.

"Yeah," he finally said. "How about we-?"

"Eren? Cinder?"

The children turned around with a gasp to see Carla and Dina staring at them. The women had managed to make it back home quickly, which led to Dina pointing out what appeared to be smoke rising from the woods. Carla had a bad feeling about the sight, so she traveled to the nearby forest to see what was going on.

First, Carla and Dina found two dead Titans that had steam escaping their necks. Then, they found footprints in mud that led towards the farm. And lastly, they found Eren and Cinder also covered in steam with lines beneath their eyes.

This was not good.

*SCREECH*

The sound of Nevermores in the sky, flying and screaming, had made the last part of the journey quite unpleasant. A well dressed man was sitting next to a grinning Faunus while flying a small airship, and he was quite annoyed by the sound. However, he knew he would just have to learn how to live with it. Fortunately, the man believed the sound would hopefully disappear now that the ship had landed near the top of a crystal-like mountain and in front of a large wooden door.

The Faunus was the first to jump out of the small airship. Despite the fact that he was more or less a passenger, since he couldn't fly an airship, the Faunus bowed his head with a smile and gestured to the door. "Welcome home, Doctor Watts," he said.

After a week of making the final preparations in Mistral, Arthur Watts was finally ready to leave the civilized world and join the one he now dedicated his services to. Although their first meeting came as a complete surprise to him, Salem's offer of taking control of the world and gifting him the Kingdom of Atlas was more than he could have ever dreamed of. The one thing he had to do before making that dream a reality, aside from giving Salem information on some of Atlas' best Huntsmen and Huntresses, was finding a way to leave Atlas undetected and join his new mistress.

Fortunately for him, the recent tragedy in the city of Atlas had proven to be the chance Watts was looking for. The numerous deaths and bodies littered on the streets made his first plan of faking his death in a laboratory accident perfect. After he created fake evidence of his demise and fled to the city of Mistral, Watts waited for one of his new partners, one Tyrian Callows, to arrive and send him to his new home.

Doctor Watts knew it would be wise to find Salem before he got comfortable and straight to work. Fortunately, she had made herself easy to find by waiting on the other side of the castle's front door. "Good day, ma'am," Watts said as he slightly bowed his head.

"Arthur Watts," the dark Queen addressed her newest servant with a smile. "Welcome." She stepped aside to and gestured for the scientist to come inside her castle. Once he entered of his own free will, Salem led the way to Watts' new room. "You have everything you need, I trust?"

"Oh, believe me, I was able to take everything I could have wanted." Watts tapped the briefcase he was carrying with a smile. "I have a few more cases inside my ship. Soon, I'll be able to create anything and everything you need."

Salem continued to smile. "Wonderful. How about first things first?" The witch stopped in front of a room that had a large table covered in multiple tools and books. "Tyrian and Hazel were able to acquire these across each Kingdom. I hope they'll prove sufficient."

Watts stepped inside and looked at each tool and book. After flipping through a few of the books, he turned back to Salem. "These will be perfect," he decided.

"Then I will leave you to your work." Salem was pleased with how well the arrival of Doctor Watts had gone. She had a good feeling the man would prove just as useful as, maybe even more than, her other servants. Speaking of which, she had one idea to test her hope. "But before I go, were you able to find any information on the two things I asked?"

Watts moved away from the table. "As much as I love a good challenge, ma'am, I'm afraid the good General has been all too careful," he reported. "I checked every encrypted file I could get my hands on, but I found nothing on any 'Maidens' or anything else you desire. Although..." Watts opened the bag he was holding and took out a laptop. Quickly turning it on and pressing some of its keys, Watts looked at the screen. "I was able to save a few more files I have yet to examine. I would have broken their encryption sooner, but your distraction showed up. It's no problem, I'll let you know if I-"

Salem rushed to Watts' side at inhuman speed before he could say anything else. "I beg your pardon?" she crossly asked.

Watts wasn't expecting her to take offense to what he said, but didn't waste any time remedying his mistake. "Forgive me," he said as he tugged at his collar. "I was referring to that monster you sent to Atlas, brilliantly done if I do say so-"

Salem moved closer to Watts. Her scowl had disappeared, since she merely wanted to know what he was talking about. "What monster?"

"The giant Grimm in Atlas, the one that destroyed part of the city."

"..."

Salem had no knowledge about sending a giant Grimm to Atlas. The only giants she could think of were a Leviathan and a Wyvern. And to her knowledge, neither of them were anywhere near the city of Atlas. The only other Grimm that was larger than normal that she could think of was...

"...When was this?" Salem asked.

"About a month ago," Watts replied. "Just a moment." The doctor pulled out a black Scroll from his pocket and handed it to Salem. "It was all over the news, and the city is still reeling from the effects. Have a look."

Salem took the Scroll without a word. When she did, she found videos and images of a devastated Atlas that was trying to get back on its feet again. Buildings were destroyed, bodies were on the streets, and there appeared to be a skirmish at the very edge of the city.

A skirmish involving a large Grimm that walked like a person.

"...Interesting," said the witch. "Very interesting."

Chapter Text

"The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable."

James A. Garfield

"Okay. We're waiting."

"I... Uh... I..."

"Still. Waiting."

"..."

Words couldn't describe how awkward things had become in the farmhouse. After Carla and Dina found Eren and Cinder in close proximity of two dead Titans, covered in the same steam as them, words couldn't describe how appalled they were when they put the pieces together.

The first thing Carla and Dina did was drag both of the children back to the house. Once they were there, Carla impatiently waited for Eren to explain himself. She was doing this since the first thing Eren said to her was "I can explain."

However, there wasn't much explaining yet.

Eren could tell by the look on her face that Carla wasn't going to be in a very listening mood. Dina had a similar look on her face, but not one as intense or angry as Carla's. Despite this, Cinder was incredibly scared about what came next. Thoughts of being kicked out or locked away once more came to her mind, as well as punishment for being a Titan.

But Eren was going to protect her no matter what.

"...You already saw it," Eren finally said. The truth was out, so there was no use in denying anything. But since he couldn't think of any way to explain himself without sounding crazy or dangerous, Eren decided to play things by ear after he asked a question. "What do you want me to say?"

"What do I want you to say?!" Carla replied. She was unable to hold back her emotions anymore. "What, you can't admit that you've been lying to me and Dina since day one?! That you've brought the Titans of all things back with you?! That you're one of them?!" Carla looked Eren in the eyes as she yelled. "Did you even know about any of it?"

"...Yes." Again, Eren didn't see any need to deny anything. "Yes, I did."

Carla had stopped yelling for a moment, but the malice in her words was still present. "So that Titan in Atlas, then? That wasyou?"

"...That was me."

The truth was doing nothing to calm Carla's anger.

Dina loudly groaned as she jumped up from her seat. "Do you have any idea how many people you hurt?!" she asked. "How many you killed?!"

Eren was never a fan of being called out for decisions and ideas, especially when it was about gaining freedom. So he did what came naturally to him; he fought back.

"Well, do you have any idea what Cinder and I went through in 'the greatest Kingdom?!'" he asked. "What they did to her?! If they needed to die so we could leave, then fine!"

Cinder wasn't very comfortable in the brief spotlight she found herself in, despite the fact that Eren confessed that he was helping her. And she didn't like where this argument was going either, so she tried to stop it by talking to Eren.

"Eren-"

"These are people's lives you're talking about, Eren!" Carla yelled. Neither she or Eren heard Cinder, so they kept arguing. "Nobody has the right to play God!"

"Who said anything about playing God?!" Eren retorted. "I'm just trying to do the right thing!"

"The right thing?! Are you kidding?! You destroyed a city, and you kept me in the dark about everything!"

Dina found a second chance to join in the argument. "How can you think being a Titan can help anyone?!" she asked. "Don't you know how dangerous they are?!" Dina looked at the young girl by Eren's side. "And you roped someone like Cinder into this... thing you're doing?!"

Cinder looked back to Dina. "Ms. Fritz, please-"

"Was it wrong to stop a family that got by using slaves?!" Eren yelled as he angrily slammed his hand on the table. "To save Kuroyuri?! Cinder and I just came back from giving something that can help everyone protect themselves from the Grimm! Ask anyone!"

"Well, what else are you planning to do?!" Carla demanded. "Are you going to bring more Titans?! Are you going to make us live inside even bigger walls than before?! Who else are you planning to kill, Eren?!"

"You're not listening to me! The only people I killed are the ones who tried to kill me, just like with Mikasa! You remember that, don't you?!"

"Eren, don't you dare try to justify anything of this!"

"There is nothing more dangerous than two Titans freely walking around!" Dina countered. "Especially in the hands of children!"

"So what?" Eren asked as he pointed out the window. "You want me to stop fighting Grimm? Do nothing when the Grimm come back?!"

"You just said you gave the people something to use against Grimm, so yes!" Dina countered. She was angry at Eren as well, but she was listening to him. "There's nothing else here that you need to be using those... things against!"

"That's not enough, Dina!" said Carla. "Did you hear what he said about Atlas?" Carla tried to fight back tears as she said her next piece. "My God, my son is a murderer."

Eren took great offense to this, despite the fact that he was indeed a murderer. He wanted his mother to understand that he wasn't a wild animal, someone who killed and turned into a Titan on a whim. He knew he couldn't justify something like the Rumbling, but Eren felt that he had to try and share his reasons. If he could work his way up to explaining Salem, then maybe he would have a chance tonight.

"You don't understand!" Eren began. "If you would just listen, I can tell you-!"

"Why should I listen?!" Carla demanded. "Why should I listen when all I've heard are secrets and lies?! How do you expect me to trust you, Eren?! How?!"

Cinder was fed up with being ignored by everyone. Now she was about to insist that she speak. "Everyone, stop it!" she cried.

This time, Dina looked over at Cinder. She didn't care what Eren said next, she was still adamant about not using anymore Titans. She couldn't stand the sight of them anymore, and one look at Cinder told Dina that she couldn't stand to see someone like the child become a Titan again. So instead of arguing, she tried to reason with Eren about Cinder.

"Cinder's not old enough to understand any of this, Eren!" she insisted. "I'm sure you've seen plenty of Titans in your life, you know how dangerous they are! And they're especially dangerous to people who don't understand them!" Dina pointed at Cinder for emphasis.

"You're right, I did!" Eren yelled back. "I saw all kinds of Titans and learned how to control them! I learned that from all that I did and all that I saw!"

Dina opened her mouth to speak again, but it was Carla's voice that filled the room.

"Control them?!" she asked. "You want to control the Titans now?! Do you think I'm just going to stand here and let you do any of that, Eren?! What am I supposed to do with you now?!"

It was logical for Carla to not believe in any idea of controlling Titans, but Dina was having a hard time following along with her. The memory she witnessed earlier, about a group of people trying to control the Founding Titan and its "power" seemed similar to what Eren was saying now. Did that mean he was one of those people? What exactly was he saying?

Dina didn't know why, but she decided to try and learn more about this idea.

"Wait a minute!" she said. "Eren, what do you mean that-?"

"No!" Carla yelled as she slammed her fist down. "Dina, don't you dare ask me to listen to them! Why on Remnant should we do that when we clearly mean nothing to either of them?!" She looked at Eren. "Don't try to deny it, Eren! I'm nothing to you, aren't I?!"

"..."

Both children dropped their jaws in absolute shock of what Carla just said. It was a bold and harsh thing to say, but it was clear that Carla meant it. Cinder didn't exactly share Eren's pain, but she was completely taken off guard. The accusation made her feel sad, since she didn't think that either of the women, especially Dina, meant nothing to her.

As for Eren, what his mother said drove something through his heart that caused it to ache. He couldn't speak, he couldn't think, all he could do was look down at the table in heartbreak.

And to make matters worse, there was only one thing that could fill the cracks that Carla inadvertently created.

Anger.

"...Nothing to me?" Eren whispered as he looked up. He had tears forming in his eyes, but the furrowed brow and deadly glare he was giving showed a complexity of emotion.

One that began to scare Cinder.

"E... Eren?" she asked.

"Nothing to me?" Eren repeated, much harder than before.

It was this repetition that caused Dina to see the writing on the wall, which caused her to follow Cinder's idea. "E-Eren, calm down," she timidly requested. Her surprise and anger had disappeared as she felt like an ant in the boy's presence.

And Eren gave her a good reason for feeling that way.

"NOTHING TO ME?!"

"..."

Eren had lost all control over himself as he gave in to anger at the accusation. In this rage, Eren stood up and grabbed the table he was sitting at. And with all of his strength, he threw the table as hard as he could.

*CRASH*

*SMASH*

Eren didn't throw it very far, but he was able to flip it over. Everything on the table broke as it fell over, which finally caused Carla to give in to the same fear as Cinder and Dina. Up until tonight, she thought that she had known Eren to simply yell and stubbornly shut everyone out when he was mad. It was a childish thing to do, but normal for a child like Eren.

But tonight, this act of destruction taught Carla that Eren's anger had reached a new level; one that scared her just as much as knowing that her son was a Titan.

Eren finally recognized this fear as he heavily breathed in and out after he destroyed the table. All three people close to him wore the same amount of terror on their faces, which told the boy that he had left an impact on them.

Dina opened her mouth to speak and Cinder tried reaching out to Eren, but he was done talking. He pushed his chair out of his path and got out of the house.

But not before letting a few tears hit the floor.

*SLAM*

The door slamming helped Cinder snap back into reality. Despite the fact that the danger had left and the argument was apparently over, Cinder was still sad over what happened.

Not just for herself, but more for Eren. Not just because he had been thrown out of the house, but also because he was alone and had been incredibly hurt by the one person he came to Remnant for.

"That's not true," Cinder said as she turned around. "That's not true!"

"..."

All of Dina's feelings, save for concern, disappeared when she watched Cinder run out of the house after her friend. She didn't know what state Eren was in, and she was sure that he was capable of hurting Cinder if he wanted to.

Dina didn't want that to happen.

"Cinder, wait!" Dina pleaded as she joined the child. "Cinder!"

*SLAM*

"..."

Carla didn't move or make a sound after she had been left alone. Her shock, anger, and fear all passed as she listened to the silence and looked at the broken table.

The act of destruction wasn't enough to make Carla change her mind about the Titans or how much it hurt being lied to. However, it was enough to make her feel conflicted about what she accused Eren of feeling. He was definitely angry when he shouted at her, but Carla could detect signs of pain in Eren's voice and his tears.

But if what she said wasn't true... then why did Eren do all of this?

Cinder's attempts to comfort Eren were in vain. He ignored her every insistence to come back or talk to her, and she only stopped when Dina came to get her. Dina knew that Cinder wasn't entirely innocent in the matter, but she wasn't like Eren. Dina believed she could genuinely help Cinder, but nothing was going to help Eren now.

After he silently refused to come back inside the house, Eren found refuge the same way he did when he first arrived at Remnant: sleeping in the barn. He found a pile of hay that was somewhat comfortable, but it was hard to sleep due to the cold.

Eren eventually fell asleep, but the manner in doing so was crying himself to sleep.

Eren knew that one day he would have to explain himself to his mother, and he knew that confusion and disbelief would certainly come to pass. But the anger, refusal to listen, and the accusation Carla gave Eren were all too much for the boy to bear.

The accusation was the part that hurt most of all. The whole reason Eren came to Remnant in the first place was to save his mother, to look after her like she always tried to look after him. But the accusation felt more like a rejection; namely, that Carla was rejecting Eren and everything he stood for.

That was what made his heart break. He could live with that if it came from the friends he left behind in Paradis, but being rejected by his mother was a pain Eren wasn't sure he could live with.

He was still angry the next morning, but his depression outweighed his anger. Eren was all alone in the barn, since the farmhands were all working to rebuild the town. Carla provided lodging for her employees, but the majority of them lived in the town of Kuroyuri with their families. And after what happened with the Grimm, nobody wanted to leave their families alone.

And so, Eren was left alone to process everything that happened. Each passing thought left Eren with feeling the need to vent. But without Cinder, Dina, or his mother, Eren found himself doing something... strange.

He talked to Darkness.

"I can't help but fail to see why you're letting this squabble bother you," the dark lord said, leaving no signs of sympathy for the distraught child. "Or why you came to me with this."

Eren sighed. "I'm beginning to wonder the same thing," he retorted. Nevertheless, he continued to talk. "But you're the one who brought her here in the first place! Can't you just, I don't know, do something to make her understand?!"

"I already brought your mother back and gave her the memories she had before she died. Unless you wish me to make her my puppet-"

"What?! No, why would I want that?!" Eren couldn't imagine the things that went through Darkness' head.

"Then I'm afraid I cannot help you," Darkness concluded. "Besides, I thought you were supposed to be focusing on Salem. Not on convincing some human to use your powers."

"That 'human' is my mom!" Eren argued. "The whole reason I came here in the first place! And do you expect me to focus on Salem like this?" Eren he pointed at himself. "I can't fight a witch in a kid's body! Not even with how my Titan is right now!"

"Well, then I'd suggest you work on that. And forget about whatever your mother believes. Who is she to stop you from being who you are? It's pointless to-"

"It's not pointless!" Eren jabbed a finger at Darkness. "Cinder and I have a lot of work to do before we're ready to get rid of Salem, and that includes protecting my mom! It includes her home too! I did everything I could to help people when I was in the Survey Corps, so you better believe I'm gonna do it now!"

Darkness looked back at Eren. "Believe what you wish, Eren. I don't care either way, just as long as you eventually defeat Salem." Out of nowhere, an idea came to the god. "Although... there is a phrase that the people of Remnant say in order to help themselves focus."

"Which is?"

Darkness raised his hand. "I believe it goes along the lines of... 'Get your shit together.'" With that, Darkness waved his hand, leaving Eren to find himself back on the farm.

"...Prick," the boy said to himself as he rubbed his eyes.

"Eren?" a voice from behind called out.

Eren turned around to see Cinder in the doorframe of the barn. She was looking at him with a worried look on her face while holding Vasilisa.

"Hey," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you," Cinder said as she stepped inside. "You... didn't come back."

Eren let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah. That... wasn't really a good idea."

Cinder approached closer. "Are you okay?" She began to look around. "I thought I heard you talking to someone."

"Uh... no. Just to myself."

"Oh."

Cinder decided that some more privacy would be wise. So she closed the door to the barn before she spoke again. "I... I brought you some food," she said as she took a piece of bread out of her pocket. "Are you hungry?"

"Not really." Eren still took the bread. "But thanks."

Cinder decided to address the matter at hand rather than delay the inevitable. "I'm sorry about last night," she said. "Are you... still mad?"

Eren sighed as he leaned against the wall and slumped down to the floor. "Yeah," he confessed. "At... a lot of things."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Eren knew that he did want to talk about it, since he went to Darkness of all people. He didn't know what to expect when he went there, but all he knew was that he needed to let his feelings out. So he was incredibly grateful to have a friend with him.

"It... It really hurt," Eren confessed as he felt tears form in his eyes again. "I just... I don't know what else to think."

Cinder immediately kneeled down and hugged Eren. She didn't know how she was going to do it, but all she wanted to do was to make Eren feel better. The last time he confessed the truth about being a Titan, Cinder rejected him. She thought he was a monster, just like Carla did. When she had been proven wrong, Cinder immediately made amends with her friend.

But this time was different. Cinder may have had a similar mindset as Carla, but it was clear that her disbelief didn't hurt Eren like Carla's did.

Carla had left a tremendous impact on Eren, one that depressed both him and Cinder.

"I... I don't know what to do," Eren sadly confessed. "I can't do this without her."

"Eren... it'll be okay," said Cinder. She didn't believe this to be true, but she didn't know what else she could say. And sadly, Eren didn't believe it either.

"Not this time." Eren let go of Cinder and began to walk away. "She's right, Cinder."

"What?"

"She's right." Eren turned to look at Cinder. "I lied to her. I kept everything from her, and I'm still keeping things from her! She already hates me and I haven't even told her about the Rumbling yet!"

"Eren-"

"I'm just a hypocrite." Eren began to pace again. "It doesn't matter what kind of good I try to do, it doesn't change what I've done! I know that because I tried! I tried to change the outcome of things, and they still happened! I can't change any of it!"

"..."

Eren wasn't talking nonsense at the moment. There was indeed a time when he tried to change things for the better, and it wasn't just last night. He was referring to the time he tried to save a young refugee from the Mid-East back home, a pickpocket who was being beaten for stealing. He was able to help the boy get home, but it didn't change the memories he saw of the Rumbling.

And back then, Eren even asked what his mother would think of it all. It seemed that he got his answer last night. To her, Eren was a disgrace.

But the worst part was... Eren felt like he had always been this way. He killed people to save Mikasa, and he had been killing people ever since he joined the fight against the Titans. He once told himself that this was who he was all along, and he never went against this belief.

Not even after Carla had shunned him out.

"I was right," Eren said. "There was no way she was going to accept me. Coming here was a mistake."

"Eren, no!"

Eren had almost forgotten that Cinder was in the barn with him. So it was a surprise to hear her say that, and it was even more surprising when she continued to reject the idea.

"Eren, that's not true!" Cinder protested. "Coming here wasn't a mistake! If you hadn't been here, I might have never left that farm! Or I could have be stuck in Atlas! And the entire town could have died!" Cinder's eyes began to tear up as she tried to reach Eren. "If it weren't for you, things would have gone from bad to worse! For everyone!"

"..."

Eren took a moment to step back and think about what he had done so far. He had indeed saved Cinder at the farm, and he helped her escape a cruel family of slavers. And just like she said, things in Kuroyuri would have gone from bad to worse if he didn't use his Titan.

All of this was true, but not everyone believed it.

"...Tell that to my mom," Eren said, despite the fact he saw what Cinder was saying.

Cinder dried her eyes before she spoke again. "I don't think I can," she said. "But I know who I can tell."

"What? Who?"

"Ren and Nora." Cinder began to smile. "They gave us the idea to help Kuroyuri. Maybe they can help again! And we can see how the rest of the town is doing!"

Eren shook his head as he dried his own eyes. "I don't know," he said. "This isn't really their business."

"I know." Cinder quickly took Eren's hands. "But this is my business too. I want to help you, and this might be the best way to do it." She formed a smile as she looked into Eren's eyes. "Please?"

"..."

Eren couldn't explain it, but one look at Cinder's face made him see that he couldn't say "no" to her. More people to talk to might help him.

"Okay," he said. "You can go into town. I think I'm gonna rest up."

"Are you sure?" Cinder asked as she stopped smiling. "There might be some better food in town than a piece of bread."

"Thanks, Cinder, but you go on ahead." Eren took a bite of his bread. "I'll be right here when you get back."

"Okay! See you soon!"

Cinder gave Eren a quick but heartfelt hug before she left the barn. She was so quick to leave and find her new friends that she didn't notice Dina hiding out of view.

The child made her way to Kuroyuri as fast as she could, where she expected to see the town continue to rebuild their houses and talk about the Titans. And it seemed that the people lived up to her expectations.

Some of the trees in the surrounding forest were gone, since the wood was being used as support beams and new building materials. The whole town seemed to be busy, and each person was doing their part to rebuild their home. Even the street vendors stopped selling their merchandise in order to feed the workers and use their merchandise as supplies. But what amazed Cinder was the project that was going on by the main gate.

"No way," she whispered to herself. "Is that-?"

Cinder was looking at the two crystal structures Eren made last night. Just behind those structures was more wood being cut, sanded, and carved into something extraordinary. The pieces were being nailed together to make a long bridge, just as Eren suggested last night. Cinder felt a sense of relief and satisfaction that the people listened to her and Eren rather than turn the other way and run. And even better, the warriors added to the idea of the moat by killing the Grimm so more could take their place.

It seemed this town would have a future after all. And Cinder was happy to be a part of it.

"Here you are, Father. The builders said these were the right size."

"Thank you, Lie. These will help."

The Ren family was helping rebuild Kuroyuri as well. At the moment, Li and his son had joined an effort to rebuild the houses that were burned and broken. While some of the houses were broken beyond repair, others could be fixed with the right amount of people and time. And with Nora's surprising speed, she made moving smaller debris much easier and faster.

While she couldn't carry the worn-out beams and pieces that required a three-man job, Nora was able to make a pile of old bricks and broken wood into smaller pieces for her to carry. It was clear that Nora wasn't like most children her age. Ren and his father knew she was quite talkative, but now they could see that she had the energy to match this personality.

"Come on, lazybutts!" Nora yelled back to the people moving debris with her. "We still got three more houses to help!"

"My word, that girl is remarkable," Li said as he complimented Nora's above average strength and determination to help. He then turned to his son with a smile. "You certainly have a good taste in friends, my son."

"I was thinking the same thing," Ren said with a small laugh. "Keep up the good work, Nora!"

As she heard those words, Nora quickly looked away from Ren to hide the redness of her cheeks. She wasn't embarrassed to be in the spotlight during this time, she was simply flattered by Ren's words.

When the heat disappeared, Nora was about to get back to work. However, she forgot about the pile of debris and smiled when she saw a familiar face. "Cinder!" She quickly dropped the pile of bricks she was carrying and ran over to her friend, oblivious to the fact that the bricks had landed on a man's foot.

"Hi, Nora," Cinder greeted the young girl. "I came down to see how things were going."

"Well, you like what you see?" Nora spread her arms wide to show the progress of the town. "We're almost done with clearing out the junk, and this was only our first house! Yep, out with the old, and in with the new!"

"That's good to hear. Really good."

"Hey, now." Nora quickly wrapped her arm around Cinder's neck and shoulder. "Don't forget about the help you put in, Little Miss Human Torch!"

"Nora, shh!" Ren quickly put his hands on Nora's shoulders and looked around. Fortunately, everyone was too busy to hear the ramblings of children. "Keep your voice down," he whispered. "Remember, Eren asked us to keep it secret."

"Oops! Sorry," Nora whispered back before she turned to Cinder. "But really, you guys did great last night! All anybody wants to talk about is the work you and Eren did. It's made everyone want to work even harder."

Once again, Cinder was happy to hear that. Nobody was hurt from last night, and now they wanted to work even harder so they could put the great ideas into action.

It was incredible.

"Speaking of which, where is Eren?" Ren asked. "Is he around here?"

Nora looked around as well, but she couldn't see any sign of Eren. "Yeah, where is he?" she asked. "I wanted to ask him about the pretty crystals!"

Cinder stopped smiling when she remembered why she was in town to begin with. "Actually, Eren is why I'm here," she answered. "We might need some good ideas right now."

"Is something wrong?" Ren asked.

"Uh... sort of. Can we talk?"

"You got it!" Nora replied as she quickly took Ren's hand. "Come on, Ren! I think you deserve a break!"

The little boy could do nothing but follow Nora's lead, leaving Li to work on his own. But he had enough supplies to continue his work, and perhaps he needed a break himself. So Li let his son and his friends have their rest while he went to get some water.

The children were able to get some food free of charge, since people working on the houses were coming to all street vendors for food. Some of the people who lost their homes were also invited to whatever food they needed, like the food from Carla's farm. So once they got their food and found a place to eat, the children ate as they talked.

"That was a great idea," said Nora, who was referring to the moat and drawbridge. "Everyone's saying they might not have to worry about Grimm for much longer."

"That's great," said Cinder. "Thanks for the idea to do some good, by the way. Showing we're just here to help may have been easier said than done, but it's something Eren had to do before." From what she saw in his memories, Cinder knew that Eren didn't win the trust of the Survey Corps overnight. Even after the trial he had to endure, the people Eren worked with were still afraid of him. But as time went on, everyone saw that they needed his help to win their fight against the Titans.

Even if he had to abandon everyone in the end.

"Right..." Ren awkwardly said. There was something on his mind ever since last night, and he was glad he had the chance to bring it out in the open. "Cinder, I'm sorry about yesterday. Coming over with that knife and Nora's hammer was my idea, but now I see-"

"That's okay," Cinder replied. "You're not the first person who was scared of me when they saw what I could do." She suddenly frowned as she put down her food. "And you're not the last."

"What do you mean?" Ren asked. "Did someone else find out?"

Nora quickly put her food down and moved to Cinder, invading her personal space. "Did they try to hurt you?" she quickly asked. "Who was it? Ren and I won't let anyone throw you out!"

Cinder's widened eyes died down as she gently pushed Nora aside. "Thank you, Nora," she said. "But it's not that simple. Eren's mom and Ms. Fritz found out when we went home last night, and... they weren't very happy."

"Why, what happened?"

On behalf of Eren, just like she promised, Cinder told Ren and Nora the whole story. She told them about Carla and Dina's reaction to the Titans and how hurt Eren was from the rejection. Rather than go into too many details, Cinder ended the story with her uncertainty about the future. This left Ren and Nora feeling all kinds of sympathy for their friends.

"That's terrible!" said Nora, who pulled Cinder into a hug. "I'm so sorry."

"I can't believe she would be like that," said Ren. "I don't think I ever heard Ms. Fritz yell before. Especially at a child." Her reaction was the most surprising to Ren, since he knew Dina a little better than he knew Carla.

"Yeah... it was a surprise for all of us," said Cinder.

"What are you going to do?"

Cinder rubbed the back of her head, as she felt awkward asking her next question to people who had their own business to attend to. "Well... that's why I'm here," she explained. "You two gave us a good idea to show the town we want to help. I was wondering if maybe you had some other ideas to help?"

"Of course we'll help!" Nora said as she jumped up. "That's what friends are for! Right, Ren?"

"Of course," Ren agreed. "Did you try talking to Ms. Fritz today?"

"Well... no," Cinder sadly said. "But I talked to Eren. He's just... really upset."

Ren and Nora easily understood that. "Well, maybe you can talk to her today," Nora suggested.

"That's true," Ren included. "Let Ms. Fritz see your side of the story and why you're doing this."

"Well, that's the problem," Cinder countered. "I don't know if Ms. Fritz will listen, but Eren's mom... hates Titans. And for good reason. When Eren tried to do what you said, she just... blew up."

"Well... maybe we can talk to her," Nora suggested. "We were afraid of you too, but you showed us who you really are."

Ren believed the proposal was sound, to let someone else talk about the good Eren and Cinder did. However, he had a better idea.

"Actually, Cinder..." Ren began. "I've seen all of the farmhands here today. Did Eren's mother or Ms. Fritz come here too?"

"Uh, no," Cinder said after a brief moment of thinking. "No, I don't think so. Why?"

Ren spread his arms out. "Look around," he said. "Everyone's working because of what you two did last night. And everyone's been talking about it too. The drawbridge, the moat, everything." Ren put his arms down. "If we can't talk to them, how about we show them what's going on? How you did something good with your Titans?"

Cinder looked around the town once more and listened carefully to a nearby conversation two adults were having. She couldn't hear everything, but she heard the word "giant" and the work that was going on. Ren's point was easily proven, and Cinder now knew that Carla and Dina had to see Kuroyuri in order to believe everything.

"Hey, yeah!" Cinder said with glee. "That's a great idea! Thanks, Ren!" Cinder began to make her way back to the farmhouse, but something caught her hand and held her back.

"Hold it, buster!" said Nora. "Where do you think you're going?"

Cinder turned around in confusion. "Uh, home?" she replied.

Nora let out a laugh. "Not without us, you're not. We're gonna help too!"

Cinder's eyes widened in surprise. She was simply expecting advice from her friends, she didn't want to drag them along in her own issues.

Or Eren's.

"No, you don't have to come," Cinder said politely. "I was just-"

"It's okay," Ren insisted. "Sometimes the worst action to take is to take no action at all." His father's words had stayed with Ren since the day before Kuroyuri was invaded. And after what Eren did that night, Ren made it his mission to live by that lesson every day of the rest of his life. Now, he couldn't think of a better time to do it than right now. So he began to walk back to the farm with Nora. "Let's go!"

Eren hadn't left the barn after Cinder left. He stayed right where he was as he ate the piece of bread Cinder had gotten him, and he passed the time waiting by throwing small rocks at the wall. He didn't know how long he was going to wait, but he didn't care. He wasn't in the mood to be talking to anyone at the moment.

However, he was in the mood to do some exploring when he noticed a shadow on the wall.

When Eren moved around a corner, he found himself in a different part of the barn. The part he slept in was simply a place to store bales of hay for future use. But when he turned a corner, Eren found himself in the spot where the animals were kept.

Eren had seen some of the animals the farm had in the month he and Cinder had spent at Kuroyuri. Namely, he saw pigs and cows that Carla and her farmhands would use for meat and milk. But today, Eren saw something that made him feel a sense of nostalgia for Paradis.

Horses.

Eren found six horses in the barn, all calm and different colors. Eren moved to the closest one, a brown one with black hair, and remembered how he would ride a similar steed outside the walls. He would sometimes ride for hours on his hunt for Titans and his exploration of the outside world, and he would always come back. The best part of it was that he never rode alone. He would even take care of the horses with his friends.

And so, Eren picked up some hay and gave it to the horse, which it ate slowly. After it moved down to eat, Eren smiled as he began to gently stroke its head and think back on his time on Paradis.

"Well, what do you know?" Eren thought to himself as he laughed. "She even has Jean's face."

"She likes you."

Eren jumped back when he heard a familiar voice. He was expecting Cinder or his newest friends to be in the barn with him, but he was surprised and alarmed to see Dina Fritz standing a few feet away from him.

Dina knew that she was taking a big risk by entering the barn, but she also knew that she had to talk to Eren. She followed Cinder to the barn when she saw the child though her window, and that was how she knew Eren was there.

So when Cinder left, Dina took her place. But Eren didn't feel too comfortable with that.

"I'm sorry," Dina said as she took a step back. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"What are you doing here?" Eren asked as he kept his distance. Last night's conversation still burned in his mind. However, what Dina said next made him feel less threatened.

"Eren... I think I might be able to help you."

"..."

Eren almost didn't believe his ears. First, Dina and her best friend were doing nothing but chastising him for keeping them in the dark about being a Titan. And now, she was apparently willing to help him? He began to feel less threatened, but he wasn't exactly trustful either.

"Help with what?" he asked.

"Your mother," Dina replied. "I'm sorry about last night, I am." She began to walk forward. "But I did a lot of thinking last night. I was scared at first, and so was your mother. I've known her for years, she would never say something like that in her right mind."

"..."

Eren looked away in an attempt to hide the sadness on his face. He disguised it under closed eyes as he turned away, but Dina stayed right where she was.

"I think I'm ready to understand everything else," she said. "Everything that happened to you. If... you're willing to tell me."

Eren looked back at Dina, unsure of whether he could trust her or not. "Why?" he asked.

"Last night, I remembered something." Dina stopped walking. "It wasn't easy for me, since my dreams didn't have many details in them. But I remembered something very important."

"..."

Eren didn't respond to this idea, but he was willing to listen. Especially when Dina asked her next question.

"Eren... do you possess the Founding Titan?"

Eren slightly gasped when he heard that question. It was something he once expected to hear from his mother, since he told her the names of the Nine Titans. He didn't explain their powers, since he didn't want to expose his secret. Now that his secret was out, Eren knew that he had to be honest with Dina.

Especially if she could help him like she said.

"How do you know about the Founding Titan?" he asked.

"That's what I remembered," Dina admitted. "People I worked with were trying to obtain it for themselves, to overthrow a place called 'Marley.'" She stepped forward again and kneeled in front of Eren. "I don't remember much of Marley, but I have a bad feeling something happened to me there."

Eren nodded. "You're right. Something bad happened to a lot of people there. People like you."

"Is that how we met? Because of the bad thing that happened?"

"...Yeah."

"..."

Eren decided to answer Dina's first question, since the look on her face was one of reluctance and resignation. "I have the Founding Titan," he said. "It's not exactly like the one back home... but it's the Founding Titan."

Dina nodded in understanding. "And what happened to Marley?" she asked. "Were they overthrown?"

"Not exactly. But before I died, I used the Founding Titan to hurt them. They won't be strong enough to do anything for years."

Dina wondered what Eren meant by that, but she came back to the matter at hand. "Eren... I want to remember," she said. "I want to remember everything. Who I was, what I did, and how I came to be here. If you can help me remember, I'll talk to Carla for you. I'll do whatever it takes to convince her to listen to you."

"..."

It seemed that the tables had slightly turned for Eren. What Dina was implying was that they help each other rather than just her helping him. Eren had no qualms in helping other people, but he wasn't so sure that this was such a good idea. Dina had spent her entire life trying to forget about her past, that was abundantly clear. So to give her memories back, to undo all the work that was done to her in therapy, would surely have unprecedented consequences.

Dina was smart enough to know that was true, and Eren knew that as well. But she wasn't giving up or taking back her request. Instead, she was kneeling in front of Eren and looking at him with determination. There was fear in her eyes, but the determination was still there.

"...You won't like what's there," Eren insisted. "What happened to you was wrong. What it made you do was even worse." Eren made eye-contact with Dina to make his point. "If I were to help you remember... you won't be able to forget again."

Dina slowly nodded before she replied. "I... I understand," she said. "But if there's one thing I learned since you came here... it's that I can't forget forever. I have to remember." Dina stuck out her hand. "Here. And now."

"..."

Eren knew that Dina wouldn't be leaving without an answer. More specifically, she wasn't going to be taking "no" for an answer. If Eren were to do that, he would be right back where he started this morning.

On the other hand, Eren wouldn't know what would happen if he granted Dina's request. She could go back on her word, or be consumed by too much grief to do anything at all. Not that this reaction wouldn't be justified, Eren just didn't know what would happen.

But anything would be better than being stuck in a barn.

"...Okay," Eren said as he shook Dina's hand. He was reluctant to go through with this, but he couldn't turn back now.

"Thank you," Dina said sincerely. "As soon as we're done, I'll talk to Carla. I promise." Dina let go of Eren's hand and began to ask some questions. "Can you tell me who I was? What I was? To Marley?"

Eren had let go of Dina's hand, but he was still holding it out. "I think... I can show you," he said. "It might be easier that way."

Dina looked at Eren's hand. "You can do that?"

"It's a part of the Founding Titan's powers." Eren had discovered this with Ren and Nora the other night, and he was confident that he could do it again. After he cut his other hand on a pitchfork, Eren looked at Dina again. "Sorry. I need to be bleeding to use it."

"..."

Dina was uncomfortable by the sight, especially when the blood from Eren's hand was black. Nevertheless, she believed that he knew what she was doing. And so, she took Eren's open hand once again and waited for whatever came next.

Eren's idea came from his time with his new friends and also with Zeke. Zeke was able to use his connection to the royal family to look through memories with Eren, and Eren was able to use the Attack Titan's powers to shift through memories countless times.

Since his encounter with Ren and Nora proved that he could project memories with his new Titan, Eren decided to do it once more. This time, Eren knew exactly what he was doing.

"This might be... uncomfortable," he warned.

Before Dina could reply, her eyes became filled with visions of the past.

Eren decided that the best thing he could show Dina was herself. Since he had his father's memories from the Attack Titan, he knew everything about Dina Fritz. He knew about her role in the Eldian Restorationists, her meeting with Grisha Yeager, her connection to the royal family, and her son. He knew it all, from the time she met Grisha to the time she was forcibly turned into a Titan as punishment for seeking freedom.

To show his own memories to Dina was a very difficult choice for Eren to make. He was expected to be honest and not hold anything back, to show her everything. But that included the time Dina killed and ate Carla, the one person Dina knew better than anyone. Showing her this could destroy their friendship, which Eren now knew was genuine.

But if he was to gain an ally from Dina, Eren knew that he had to do what he did to Cinder. Dina needed to be shown the whole truth.

And so, with severe reluctance, Eren showed the two memories he had of Dina's Titan. He showed her how they met, and how he had put an end to her suffering.

When Dina returned to reality, she found herself experiencing a new kind of suffering. She was grief-stricken, wracked in guilt, and enormously apologetic for everything she had done.

"Oh, my God..." she said as tears came down her face. "Oh, my God!" Dina fell to her hands and knees as she cried. "I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" When she looked off the ground to see a person's feet, Dina realized that there was one person she could apologize to.

Eren was, of course, one of the people she had wronged as a Titan.

"I'm so sorry!" Dina said as she hugged Eren and cried. "I'm so, so, so, so sorry!" Dina cried even louder as she hugged Eren, and she was even rocking back and forth.

Eren didn't know what to expect from showing all of those memories. He was half-expecting to be on the receiving end of hatred for sending a horde of Titans on her, or even for ending her blissful ignorance.

But this... this was completely unexpected. Nevertheless, Eren accepted the reaction and tried to comfort her. There wasn't much he could do, but gently patted her back. It was very awkward, being hugged by Dina. But it was better than being rejected or thrown out again.

The embrace lasted for a very long time, and it even continued when Cinder returned with Ren and Nora. When she saw that Eren and Dina were having a moment, she quickly moved her friends out so they could have some privacy. But the moment passed soon after Cinder came, and Dina found herself leaving the barn while drying her eyes. Ren and Nora took her place, but not before Dina shared a hug with Cinder as well.

Eren managed to slip in the memory he had of Cinder being beaten within an inch of her life, so now Dina supported Cinder as well. And when she showed this support and affection, Dina steeled herself as she prepared to make good on her promise.

Whatever happened next... she was finally ready.

It had been hours since the sunlight found its way to Carla's room. And yet, the farmer found herself unable to get out of bed. She was still reeling over the fact that the Titans she feared were none other than Eren and Cinder, and she was trying to make sense of the argument she had with her son. On one hand, she wasn't going to change her mind about the Titans. Especially when she had been killed by one of them in the past.

But on the other hand... what Eren said to her made her feel something else.

Carla was very mad at Eren for lying to her and going behind her back. She was very mad that he himself was apparently a "special" Titan, and that he had caused so much damage in Atlas without any sign of remorse. Eren wasn't the same boy Carla once knew, he had become something that was terrifying. Something monstrous.

And yet, there was something else behind this fearful agenda. Something that Carla seemed to know that Eren had ever since he was born.

Passion.

"NOTHING TO ME?!"

Those three words and the crashing of her table rang through Carla's head each and every time she thought the worst about Eren. Mainly, how upset he had gotten over one little thing she said. It was an accusation, and Carla genuinely meant it at the time. However, the reaction she received from Eren made Carla feel different.

It made her feel... important.

The anger, the shouting, and the act of destruction all told Carla that she had gotten under Eren's skin. That she had hurt him just like how she had been hurt. And for the life of her, Carla couldn't remember a time when she hurt Eren's feelings each time they argued on Paradis. There were plenty of disagreements, but no hurt feelings. But last night was a time when Carla had hurt Eren, when her words seemingly meant everything to him. If they hadn't, Eren would have kept arguing with her before he ran off in a huff.

But he didn't. Instead, he let his hurt feelings out very passionately, albeit impulsively.

That was why Carla felt the most conflicted. Eren was a liar, he was dangerous, and if what Atlas said was true, he was also a murderer.

But beneath all of that... Eren loved Carla. She wasn't nothing to him like she had said last night. To Eren, Carla was everything.

And so, Carla was at a crossroads. What was she supposed to do with Eren's love? Was she supposed to embrace him, to love him despite the fact that he lied to her? Or was she supposed to put an end to this nightmare by calling the proper authorities?

The countless hours Carla spent in her room without leaving or eating showed that this was an impossible decision to make. Not without help, at least.

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

"Carla? It's Dina. May I come in?"

The period of silence and solitude Carla had endured made her feel grateful to hear the voice of a friend. The hours of thinking only resulted in her problems having no solution, and they were simply culminating in her mind. And so, she decided that now was the best time to start letting people in.

Both figuratively and literally.

When she opened the door, Carla saw that Dina was not only standing on the other side, but that she was also alone. This was for the best, Carla realized, since she didn't want to see Eren or anyone else right now. And so, she stepped aside to let Dina in so they could talk.

"Is this a bad time?" Dina asked as she stepped inside. "I can come back later if you need to eat or-"

"No, you can stay," Carla insisted. "I wasn't doing anything, anyways."

"..."

Dina immediately picked up on her friend's distress. But after she closed the door, she asked a rather obvious question with an obvious answer.

"How are you doing?" she asked. "Are you... okay?"

Carla let out a sigh before she shook her head. "No," she bluntly said. "Thank you for asking, but... no."

Carla had sat herself down on her bed as she spoke, so Dina decided to move by the window and partially sit in the windowsill. "I'm sorry," she said. "You've been thinking about it?"

"I've done nothing but think about it, Dina," Carla replied. "I just don't understand anything anymore." Carla buried her face in her hands. "...What did I do wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

Carla immediately looked up. "Where did I go wrong with Eren? All I wanted for him was to be safe, to stop him from getting himself into trouble. But this... this is more than I can handle." She looked towards her friend. "Dina, do you think this is somehow... my fault?"

"What?" Dina moved off the windowsill and approached her friend. "No, of course not! Why would you think that?"

"Look what's happened to him! Becoming a Titan, killing people? I thought I taught him better than that, I thought he had the common sense to avoid Titans!" Carla looked down again. "Maybe if I had been there as he grew up, none of this would have happened."

"..."

Dina immediately felt guilty. She was feeling awkward about being in Carla's presence at first, given what Eren had shown her about this first... meeting. But the guilt and shame she carried of robbing Eren of his mother was becoming too much to bear.

However, Dina didn't leave. She had promised to talk to Carla for Eren, to do everything she could to convince her friend to reconcile with her son. And Dina planned to do that with the knowledge Eren had bestowed upon her.

But she would never tell Carla of what happened that day. Dina knew it sounded cruel, but she planned to take that secret to the grave. Nothing mattered more to her than her friendship with Carla.

That was why she was here now. And why she planned to stay her current course.

"It's... It's not your fault, Carla," Dina repeated. "I, um... I talked to Eren. Before I came here."

Carla looked at Dina once more. "Where is he?" she asked.

Dina pointed to the window. "He's outside. In the barn."

"The barn? What's he doing in there?"

"I... I think that's where he slept last night. Since he didn't come back inside."

"...Oh."

Carla felt rather awkward about that, leaving her son to fend for himself. Despite what she thought of him, she knew that Eren still loved her. So that only added to her conflicting feelings.

Feelings she hoped that she could resolve.

"What were you talking about?" Carla asked calmly.

"I wanted to understand him," Dina replied. "To understand what he was talking about last night. And I... I asked for his help."

"His help? What for?"

Dina took a deep breath before she stood upright. "Eren helped me remember. Everything."

Carla gasped as her eyes widened. She knew that Dina's dreams were always a sensitive topic, even after she received therapy for them. Now that both of them knew the dreams were memories, Dina made it clear to Carla and everyone else that she didn't want to remember what it was that she dreamed.

So to hear that she had her memories restored, willingly, was something that Carla wasn't expecting.

"He did what?" Carla asked as she sprang off her bed. "You mean... you remember everything? From your time on Paradis?" She began to grow even more horrified. "Eren made you remember all of that?"

Dina didn't mean to alarm Carla, but she remained as calm as possible. "Nobody made me do anything, Carla," she insisted. "I wanted to remember. It was... It was for the best." She sat down on the bed as she relived her memories again. "I remember everything... but not on Paradis."

Carla began to calm down when she saw that Dina was telling the truth. She had momentarily forgotten about Eren, since she remembered all of the bad reactions Dina had to her dreams. And the idea of memories that weren't on Paradis only confused her.

"What do you mean?" she asked as she sat on the edge of her bed with Dina. "You don't have memories about Paradis?"

"Not too many," Dina replied as she shook her head. "Because all of my memories are from Marley."

"Marley?" Carla's eyes widened. "The country Eren went to war against?"

"That's right."

"But... I don't understand. Why would you have memories of Marley?"

"Because... I was born there." Dina looked Carla in the eye. "Carla, I was an Eldian born in Marley. I was just like you and Eren, but not in a good way." She took a deep breath before she explained herself. "I don't know how or why Eren has a Titan... but I know he was right to go to war against Marley."

Carla softly gasped at the idea. Dina was one of the most peaceful people she knew, and Carla had her own reservations against war, let alone fighting. And after everything that happened last night, Carla couldn't find any reason why someone would condone Eren of all people fighting in a war.

"How can you say that?" Carla asked.

Dina expected a question like this, one laced with doubt and uncertainty. But she answered it quickly. "Because Marley made my life Hell on Earth," she said. "For me, my husband... and my son."

"..."

Dina spent the next twenty minutes telling Carla everything. The first thing she told her was how she learned about a king who abandoned most of his people in the hands of others who grew to hate them, and how she was a descendant of that king. Next, she told Carla about how she and her fellow Eldians were treated like filth and how the smallest offense could result in death... or worse.

All in all, Dina spared no detail about the cruelty she learned from Marley.

After that, Dina told Carla about the glimmer of hope she found within the Eldian Restorationists, people who longed for freedom and their previous place in the world. They were fed up with Marley's abuse and their status as second-class citizens, so they decided to fight back.

And the best way to do that was to gain the Founding Titan.Eren's Titan.

With the power of the Founding Titan, the Restorationists planned to liberate their people and destroy Marley. But in order to gain it, one of their own had to travel to the island of Paradis and obtain it.

The perfect candidate was decided to be Dina's own son: Zeke.

Dina explained how the plan she concocted with her husband was sound; how he would be part of a group of warriors that were to be sent to Paradis to prevent a "war" that the King of Eldia "declared" on Marley. When Zeke gained the Titan, he would return home and use its power to control every Titan on Paradis. The plan would assure Eldia's victory and Marley's defeat.

But Dina eventually learned that the best laid plans often go awry.

Dina explained that she and her husband began to lose faith in Zeke when he showed little progress in being a soldier. His father lost more faith than she did, but Dina couldn't deny her role in Zeke's fate. Namely, how Zeke grew to resent both of his parents and turned them over to the Marleyan authorities.

And as punishment for their rebellion, Dina and her friends were all turned into the one thing that she and Carla hated.

Titans.

"My God..." Carla whispered as Dina finished her story. "That's why you hated your dreams so much."

Dina sadly nodded as she wiped her eyes. "That's right," she said. "And I think that's why my memories were so vague." The thought of being a Titan, and everything she did as a Titan, made Dina feel unable to look at Carla again. She continued to keep her involvement in Carla's death a secret, and she did the best she could to hide her emotions in the matter.

But Dina hated herself more than anyone on Remnant. She even hated herself more than anyone she knew in Marley. Because Dina knew that she could never forgive herself for what she did to her best friend. Nothing about what she did, Titan or not, could be forgiven. It was even hard to imagine how she became friends with Carla in the first place.

But all Dina knew was that she couldn't bear to lose Carla. Fortunately for her, Carla felt the same way.

"Dina... I'm so sorry," she said as she took her friend's hand. "I'm so sorry that happened to you. That's... terrible."

Dina tightened the embrace as she dried her eyes with her free hand. It was nice to see that Carla was understanding and sympathetic to her in this matter. "...Thank you," she said.

"Do you know what happened to your son?"

Dina shook her head. "No. But I think Eren might."

Carla suddenly remembered Eren. And after everything Dina had told her about Marley, she almost began to see her own son differently than how she saw him last night.

Almost.

"Right... Eren," she said as she let go of Dina. "So, he showed you everything?"

"That's right," said Dina. "I remember everything now. And I understand why my friends wanted to use the Founding Titan, his Titan, against Marley."

"So he can control Titans."

"Yes. He even used that power to put me out of my misery. I suppose that's how I came to be here."

"What about Marley?"

"Eren said he used his Titan to make sure that Marley couldn't fight again. That's all I know."

"And Atlas?"

"...I don't know."

Carla reminded herself that Eren had shown Dina her own memories of Marley instead of his memories. So it seemed that there was still much she had to learn.

But Carla understood the idea differently.

"So he's still keeping secrets," she said as she got off her bed. She then moved to the window so she could get a good look at the barn. "He still won't tell us everything."

"I know," Dina said. "But I think he's willing to tell us now. I mean, he agreed to show me my memories."

Carla sighed as she leaned on the windowsill. "Dina, I don't know if I can just accept any explanations now. Not after he lied, and did all of those things in Atlas." She took a deep breath as she stared out the window. "I mean, maybe Marley was different. Whatever he did there might have been different, I don't know. But Atlas isn't the same thing. Here's not the same thing either."

Eren was wise to show Dina a brief glimpse into his past with Cinder. Because now, Dina could shed some light on the idea of Atlas.

"Actually... I did see a little bit of Atlas," she confessed.

Carla quickly turned around. "Wait, you did?" she asked. "What did you see? What did Eren do?"

Dina calmed Carla down quickly by rephrasing her words. "I didn't see anything about his Titan," she said. "I just saw Cinder."

"Cinder?" Carla began to calm down. "What about Cinder?"

"Apparently, she had another home before she met us."

"Right, Eren told me about the farm she lived on."

"Not the farm. Cinder was taken in by another woman and her two daughters. And they... they..."

"They what?"

Dina sighed as she wiped her eyes. She felt enormous pity for Cinder based on what she saw, and she hoped Carla could do the same.

"They made her a slave," Dina confessed. "They beat her, starved her. They made her work in this enormous hotel doing all kinds of work unfit for a child. But the worst part was... they kept in her line with a shock collar."

"..."

Carla's eyes widened in horror at this atrocity. Cinder had never mentioned this before, even though Dina told her that she had nightmares a few times. If this was true, perhaps Cinder was reliving her time in Atlas.

"My God," she said. "You saw this happen?"

"Eren showed me one of them beating her," Dina replied. "When I saw Cinder outside, she told me what she was forced to do. And how Eren saved her."

When the conversation moved back to Eren, Carla pitied herself once again. "Dina, I... I don't know what to do," she said with a sigh. "Eren did all of those things and then some. What am I supposed to do?"

Dina didn't envy Carla's position in this matter. However, she was still willing to help. And now she decided to answer Carla's question with a question.

"Well... what do you want to do?" she asked.

After a moment of considering this idea, after thinking about what she wanted from all of this, Carla gave a worthy reply.

"I want... I want the truth," she said. "Eren's my son, Dina. I still love him, but... I'm just so disappointed in him. I want the truth about everything he's done, but how am I supposed to trust him again? Let alone believe everything he tells me now?"

Dina understood Carla perfectly. She deserved to know the truth, whatever it might be. However, Dina believed that beneath this anger and disappointment, Carla was afraid she wouldn't like what the truth was.

And sadly, she didn't have a worthy response. Carla was right to feel disappointed and betrayed, and her conflicting feelings were completely justified. Dina just couldn't find the heart to tell Carla what she should do.

But she could tell her something else.

"I... I don't have an answer, Carla," she said. "I'm sorry, I don't. But I do have some advice. Something I learned from being a mother myself."

Carla hadn't known until today that Dina was a mother as well. She didn't think she could relate to Dina when it came to Eren, but now she had changed her mind.

Any kind of advice would be welcome right now.

"What is it?" Carla asked.

"Earlier, you said that you believed what happened to Eren was your fault," Dina began. "I don't believe that's true... but what happened with my son was my fault. I ruined his life, I ruined everything."

"..."

Dina had to wipe her eye before she spoke again. "I would give anything to make it right, to fix whatever relationship I had with Zeke. But my chance is gone. It's over."

"..."

Dina looked to Carla once more. "But Eren's here, Carla. I don't want to justify all of his choices, but you have a chance to rebuild what you had with him. Maybe you can steer him on the right path again. Just... please don't waste your chance, Carla. Don't waste it like I did."

"..."

While Dina and Carla were talking inside, Eren and Cinder were waiting outside. Fortunately, they had Ren and Nora to keep them company. They had done nothing but talk about the progress Kuroyuri was making, and how hardly anyone was afraid. In fact, they were feeling quite confident about their chances of survival.

This made Eren feel somewhat better, since he didn't want anyone to be afraid of him. Cinder was still overjoyed at the news, since she also didn't want anyone to be afraid of her. She felt that she had redeemed herself in the eyes of Kuroyuri, and she was happy.

"Hey, Eren," Nora said to get Eren's attention. "How did you make those big crystals near the wall?"

"Oh, that's something I could do back home," Eren explained. "It's called 'Hardening.' It's when I can harden my skin into stone." Eren looked at his hands. "But this time, it looks like I can make crystal. Just like you saw in town."

Nora smiled as she listened to Eren. "Can you do it again? Or maybe make a crystal like that for me?" Her eyes began to shine like the crystals. "They're so pretty!"

Eren couldn't help but chuckle at the face Nora was making at him. "I'm not sure when I'll be using my Titan again. But let me see what I can do."

"Okay!"

After everyone joined in with the laughter, Cinder quickly noticed that Eren was smiling. After everything that had happened last night, Eren seemed to be happy once more. There was something about seeing him smile that made Cinder feel happy, that made her feel content with the world. To her, seeing Eren happy meant the world to her. And all it ever took was one smile.

Which was why it was so heartbreaking to see that smile disappear.

Rather than looking at Ren or Nora, Eren was looking towards the farmhouse. There, he could see Dina walking towards him with a rather neutral expression on her face. The look caused Eren's body to tense up as he relived the memories from last night. While he was appreciative that Dina kept her end of their deal, Eren was worried that her efforts wouldn't be enough to make his mother change her mind.

He didn't think there would be anything to make her change her mind.

However, Eren realized that he wasn't entirely alone in this matter. The feeling of Cinder holding his hand was able to make him do this, and so was the smile on her face. It wasn't much of a warm or joyful smile, but one that told Eren that Cinder was going to stand by him no matter what happened.

And so, after he silently thanked Cinder for her support by nodding, Eren looked up at Dina when she stopped in front of him. However, Cinder was the first to talk to her.

"How did it go?" she asked optimistically.

"About as well as one could expect," Dina said as she rubbed her arm. "But I think I made a step in the right direction."

"...What did she say?" Eren asked.

Dina pointed to the house. "She said that she wants to talk," she said. "I gave her a few minutes to get ready before coming out, I'm sorry I kept you waiting."

Cinder gasped at the idea. "You hear that, Eren?" she said. "She wants to talk!"

"Yeah!" said Nora, who shook Eren's shoulder. "It's gonna be okay!"

Eren wanted to believe that, but he decided to err on the side of caution before he expressed any positivity.

"What did you tell her?" he calmly asked Dina.

"Just what you showed me," Dina admitted. "I thought if I explained my story, it might help you explain yours."

Eren nodded in understanding. "Did she believe you?"

"More or less." Dina took a step out of Eren's path. "I'm sorry, Eren, but I don't think you should keep her waiting for much longer."

Eren looked back to the house and saw that Dina had a point. "You're right," he said before he looked back to Dina. "Um... thank you for helping me, Ms. Fritz."

"Of course. And thank you for helping me." Dina softly smiled as a tear formed in her eye. "It was time for me to stop trying to forget."

Eren nodded once more before he looked back to his friends. He didn't know what was going to happen when he stepped into the threshold, so he believed looking back one more time would help him feel better.

And it did.

"We'll be right here," said Ren.

"Good luck!" Nora said enthusiastically.

Cinder was the only one who didn't say anything. Instead, she let her actions speak louder than her words when she hugged Eren one more time. It was a rather tight hug, but Eren didn't mind. He knew he needed all the support he could get.

It was funny, in a strange way. As he made his way toward the house, alone, Eren thought about how many times he had faced worse situations than this. He thought about the defense of Trost, his stressful day in court, his duel with the Female Titan, sneaking into Marley, and every other time he nearly died.

And yet, for the life of him, Eren couldn't compare the stress and anxiety he felt right now to all of his adventures on Paradis. He felt that this was one of the most important things he had to do, something that he knew he couldn't fail at. Similar to the Rumbling, it was do or die.

Failure, in his mind, was not an option. But that didn't mean it wasn't a possibility. If he failed now... Eren didn't know what he would do.

But he was going to do it anyway.

When Eren stepped inside the house, he found his mother in the kitchen. The table had been set upright again and all of the broken materials had been swept off the floor.

And yet, there was much that was still broken in the household.

Carla didn't say a word as she looked at Eren. Instead, she lifted one finger and gestured for him to come to the table. Eren silently obeyed and found himself sitting down across from his mother. She sat down as well, but she continued to remain silent. Eren was about to break the silence, but Carla stopped him as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Don't talk," she said firmly. "Listen to me."

"..."

Eren closed his mouth and listened carefully to what Carla said next.

"I'm sure you're still angry about last night," she said. "What I said bothered you, I know. But while that may be true, that doesn't change what happened."

"..."

"I've been mad at you before, Eren. I've been confused with just about everything you said and did back home. But this... this is different." Carla braced herself for what she said next, since it was a rather cruel thing to say. "Eren... I don't trust you. I've lost any kind of trust we've had over the years."

"..."

Eren was hurt by the idea, even though he understood where his mother was coming from. But what she said hurt him just as much as what she said last night.

But being invited inside had to mean something.

"...Then what am I doing here?" Eren asked as he looked up at his mother. "Why did you let me in?"

Carla took a deep breath before she answered her son. "Despite everything that happened... I've decided to give you a chance." She lifted a single finger. "It might be against my better judgement, but I am giving you one chance to regain my trust. One chance for you to be honest, and to let all of your secrets out. Do you understand?"

"..."

Eren understood perfectly. He was grateful to Dina, or whatever force of nature that it was that made Carla decide to give Eren this once in a lifetime opportunity. It was clear that it was his last chance as well, his last chance to make things right.

There was just one thing stopping him.

"...And if I can't?" Eren asked.

Carla immediately became exhausted. "You mean you won't?" she rhetorically asked. A part of her still believed that Eren would be keeping secrets from her.

"If I can't," Eren repeated. He could see the misunderstanding he created, so he immediately fixed it. "If I use my chance, and you decide that you still can't trust me... what happens then?"

Carla took a moment to think about the idea. "Well... we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it."

"..."

"..."

This wasn't an empty threat. Carla simply hadn't decided what to do if she couldn't trust Eren again. Perhaps it was because a part of her hoped that she could trust Eren again, that they could make things like the way they were.

But despite this wishful thinking, Carla knew that she would have to take whatever action was necessary if she decided that she couldn't trust Eren. Fortunately, Eren realized that this was true. And he wasn't going to waste this chance.

"Okay," he decided. "I understand."

Carla nodded slowly. "Good," she said.

After Eren waited a few seconds, he asked another question. "Where does that leave us?"

Carla leaned forward. "Here's what's going to happen," she began. "You're using your chance here and now, Eren. We're not leaving this table until you use it in full. You're going to tell me everything you lied to me about, every secret you've been hiding ever since we met in Argus, and you're going to do itnow."

Eren didn't dare argue with his mother. "...Okay," he said. "What do you want to know?"

Carla leaned back as she explained herself. "I want to know everything. I want to know about Marley, I want to know about Paradis, I want to know about Atlas, and I-"

"No, you don't."

"..."

This was a big risk Eren was taking right now. He knew that he was treading on thin ice, that it was going to crack at any moment. One look at Carla's appalled face made that clear.

And yet, Eren didn't waver in his decision. Because if he was going to be honest, he would have to receive it first.

"Excuse me?" Carla asked crossly as she leaned forward.

"I'm going to be honest with you," Eren replied. "But I want honesty too. So let's not pretend that everything I did since we found each other is about Marley, or Paradis, or Atlas. We both know what this is all about."

Carla's patience was wearing thin, but she indulged Eren. "And that would be?"

Eren made direct eye-contact with Carla. "You want to know what I was thinking. You want to know what was going through my mind the second I started using a Titan. You want to know what drove me into using my power, why I choose to be the same thing that's killed thousands of people. With you being one of them."

"..."

"..."

Carla recognized the stubborn glare Eren was giving her. And she realized that she could say that he had used his chance and failed. She held all the cards, and she could use them any time she wanted.

But she didn't.

Because Eren was right.

Marley, Paradis, and Atlas were all insignificant at the moment. Not when her son was choosing to become a Titan and risk hurting people. And he had already used that power to kill people.

And for the life of her, Carla had to find out why.

"...Are you going to tell me?" Carla inquired.

"I'm going to be honest," Eren declared. "Here and now."

"..."

"..."

Carla exhaled as she relaxed in her chair once again. "Alright, then," she decided. "Tell me."

Eren leaned forward against the table. "I have a Titan," he said. "It's called the Founding Titan, and it can control other Titans. It can do other things, but that's the main power of the Founding Titan. There aren't any other Titans on Remnant, except for me and Cinder. Cinder asked me to give her a Titan so she could help me. And I like to think I have my Titan for a good reason."

"What reason?"

"...You."

"..."

As soon as he said that, Eren explained further. Just as he insisted, he talked about how he became a Titan on Remnant. More specifically, how he chose to be one.

Eren started his story at the moment he died. He explained how he expected to move on into the afterlife, and how he met the God of Darkness instead. He explained that after a brief skirmish, Darkness gave Eren the task of going to Remnant and using the power of the Titans to fight a great evil that lurked in the world.

Eren knew that he had to tell his mother about Salem, how she was a person who could make the Grimm follow her every command. Because of this, Salem held the very world at her fingertip.

And even though he didn't plan on telling her about Paradis or Marley, Eren told Carla about the Coordinate. He told her how the Founding Titan could access the Coordinate and every Eldian that existed. In this case, the Coordinate connected Remnant together.

Eren did this not just because he didn't want to ruin his chance at rebuilding his relationship with his mother, but also because he was going to prove everything he just said. That was why he offered his hand to Carla, so he could show her the Coordinate.

But she didn't take it.

Carla didn't know what to expect from Eren when she made her demand. She didn't know what to expect about the Titans or how she was supposedly involved in all of this. And hearing about a god and someone who could supposedly control Grimm of all things was certainly not something she expected to hear.

Let alone believe.

So now, the ball was in Carla's court. She had a choice to believe Eren or not to believe him. The choice was very simple, but it was far from easy. Carla didn't know if she could believe such things, or if she wanted to believe them. It would be easy to say that Eren hadn't gained her trust from his story.

And yet, Carla couldn't find it within herself to do such a thing. Just like the time she spent in her room... Carla didn't know what to do.

However, Eren took another risk by helping her on her way.

"Mom... I know you don't believe me," he said. He wasn't expecting her to believe a word he said, since this was just like the time he confessed to Cinder. "That's why I didn't tell you about this before. That's why I kept it all a secret."

"..."

Carla remained silent as she listened and pondered her next move. Eren, on the other hand, stayed his course and continued to talk.

"I get why you feel that you can't trust me, why you can't believe me now. But before you decide that you won't be able to trust me again, I just need you to ask yourself one question. I need you to ask yourself... 'What if I'm right?'"

"..."

Eren held his hand out a little further. "If you decide that you can't trust me again, I know that means..." Eren choked on his words since they were starting to hurt his feelings. "I know that means you don't want anything to do with me. That you don't want to see me again. But if that happens... that means you'll never know the truth. That means all of your questions will go unanswered until the day you die."

"..."

"I was being honest with you right now, but you won't believe me if you decide you can't trust me. Right now, this is the only way I can prove to you that I'm being honest." Eren held out his hand even further. "Let me prove myself to you."

"..."

The silence and lack of movement from Carla made Eren grow incredibly afraid. It was also breaking his heart, just like it had broken last night. He didn't care about Salem or Darkness anymore. All Eren wanted was his mother, to show her how much she meant to him.

All he wanted was for her to take his hand.

"Mom... please," he begged with a broken voice.

"..."

It was true that Carla didn't believe a thing that Eren had told her. It was true that she didn't think that taking his hand would allow his story to make sense. However, there was one thing that Carla did believe. Between his outburst last night, his insistence that he was being honest right now, and the broken tone of his final plea, there was something about her son that Carla could believe.

Eren was desperate.

Eren was desperate for belief, for acceptance of his story. And more than anything, he was desperate for Carla to take his hand. Carla believed that, since Eren was always somebody who wore his emotions plain on his face. In the past, she saw Eren wear anger, joy, and all kinds of other emotions.

But there was only one time that Carla remembered Eren appear to be desperate. It was the day that he tried to save her from the Titans, the day he refused to leave without her.

And now, there was no denying that Eren was wearing that same face right now.

With that in mind, Carla made her decision. It wasn't the decision that she was willing to trust him again or not, but it was just as important. It was also a risk, one that Carla had calculated very carefully before she made her next move.

With a mixture of reluctance and desire, a desire to remove the heartbreaking look of despair Eren was wearing... Carla took her son's hand.

And that moment, everything changed.

Carla was surprised when her kitchen turned into a barren wasteland of red rocks and dark crystals. She looked from left to right as she tried to make sense of what was happening, but she couldn't.

It was strange to think that Carla was stern and stubborn just a few moments ago, that she was acting how any rational adult would in the past situation. But now, Carla felt that her world had collapsed around her. Not just because of what just happened, but also because Eren did exactly what he said he would do.

He proved that he was being honest.

"Is this... part of the power Eren was saying?" Carla asked herself as she took in every detail. When she heard her son's voice call out to her, Carla was forced to accept the reality of the situation as she looked down at Eren. "My God..." she began. "You... You were telling me the truth."

"Yes. He was."

Carla's heart nearly burst out of her chest when she turned around. As soon as she came across a purple man, one that lacked a face but possessed a pair of horns, Carla became frozen in fear as she asked a question.

"Eren... who is that?"

"That's Darkness," Eren replied as he took his mother's hand. "He's the one who sent me here."

"Eren, aren't you going to introduce me to your mother?" Darkness asked sarcastically, not really caring who the lowly woman was.

"Wait a minute... this is the place?" Carla asked as she looked around at the black wasteland. "This is the Coordinate that ties everyone together?"

"The one back home connected all of Ymir's subjects, but this one works the same way," Eren explained. "This one connects Remnant together."

Carla pointed back to Darkness. "And he's someone with the power of the Titans?"

"My powers are much more than Titans, my dear," said Darkness, chuckling at the woman's ignorance. "Eren may have the ability to change himself, but I've created Remnant itself."

"He and his brother are really the Gods of Remnant," Eren said. "He sent me here to stop Salem."

"Right... Salem," Carla remembered. She was still reluctant to believe everything she was seeing and hearing, despite the fact that a god stood before her. "She's the one who can control Grimm."

"Every Grimm except Titans," Eren explain. "The only one who can do that is me. That's how I gave Cinder a Titan."

Carla was thinking so much about all of this that it was causing her head to ache. "Eren, this... this is just too much to understand all at once."

"And yet you're very much involved," said Darkness, who placed a cold hand on Carla's shoulder. When she looked at him, the deity explained what he was talking about. "Without you, I probably wouldn't have a champion to begin with."

Carla's fear of the purple man grew as she felt the coldness of his hand, and so did her confusion. "Wh-What?" she asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Carla. So naïve." Darkness shook his head very slowly before he spoke again. "How do you think you came to be on Remnant in the first place? After your... unfortunate demise?"

"I... Um... I-"

Eren gently tugged on his mother's hand so she could look at him. When she did, Eren cleared the confusion. "Mom... it was him," he admitted. "He brought you here."

"What?" Carla's looked at Darkness and pointed at him. "You?"

"Who else?" Darkness sarcastically replied as he reveled in Carla's shock and fear. For him, it was truly enjoyable. And he was looking to expand on this enjoyment. "Perhaps you require a demonstration of my power?"

Carla quickly shook her head so she could regain her focus. She was unsure how such a thing was possible, but Carla decided to take Eren's word that Darkness was indeed a god. But there was one thing, above all others, that she couldn't understand.

"You brought me to Remnant?" Carla asked. "But... why?"

"Insurance," Darkness replied. "Isn't that right, Eren?"

Carla was still confused when she looked down again, but this time was different. She began to put the pieces together, from Eren's outburst last night to Darkness' idea of "insurance."

And despite the fear and confusion, Carla felt a warm feeling in her heart as she asked her next question.

"Eren... you came here... for me?"

Eren couldn't find the strength to look his mother in the eyes, but he slowly nodded before he answered the question. "Salem's real," he said. "When I found out you were here... I wanted to help you. To protect you from her." Eren looked down at his hands. "I had to do that... the only way I knew how."

Carla put another piece together. "The Titans."

Eren nodded again. "All of those Grimm... would've killed you." Eren finally looked up at his mother. "So I stopped them."

"..."

Carla was speechless. She couldn't find any trace of lies or secrets ever since she came to the desolate place. She was able to comprehend everything Eren was saying, about Remnant and the Grimm. She immediately believed that she was right about him, that he wasn't the same boy she once knew on Paradis.

But this time, Carla didn't believe this idea out of malice or fear.

Instead, Carla remembered how impulsive and bad-tempered Eren was back home. How he always fought and argued with people on a whim. That was what changed within Eren. Carla could now see that Eren did what he did in Kuroyuri for a reason he deemed to be good.

This time... that reason was her.

"Eren..." Carla began. "I-"

"There, you see?"

Eren and Carla looked at Darkness again, who was standing with his hands behind his back.

"This is what happens when you take my advice to heart, Eren," he said. "It seems you have everything together after all. Impressive."

"..."

Eren remembered the "advice" Darkness gave him earlier, which was obviously what the god was referring to. Eren was still annoyed by the experience, so he remained silent.

"As for you..." Darkness said as he turned to the woman. "You would be wise to treat your saviors with respect." He raised his right hand to reveal a ball of fire. "I returned you and your friend to life, Carla Yeager. Taking it away would be simple."

"..."

Carla lost her voice again as fear took over. She finally began to see that there were things in life that were much bigger than her. Much bigger than simple scolding or reprimanding of Eren could fix. She was an ant when compared to the God of Darkness, someone that he wouldn't think twice about killing if he had to.

After all, he gave Eren the ability to turn into a Titan. This, combined with the limitless possibility of what else he could do, made Carla lose her courage and any sense of opinion she deemed worthy when it came to Titans.

She was even beginning to lose her own sense of significance. Namely, that she herself was insignificant.

"That's enough!"

Carla looked down at Eren again, but he was looking at Darkness this time. "It's over," he insisted. "Leave her alone."

Darkness once again appreciated Eren's boldness, which was one of many factors that made Darkness believe he chose wisely when he chose Eren as his champion.

"Very good, Eren," Darkness said as he made the fire disappear. "Protecting your mother from me. Now, I believe you have Salem to contend with."

"I know," Eren replied. "So let me handle it."

While Darkness favored Eren's boldness, he believed it was time that the boy remembered his place. "Like this?" He gestured to Carla. "Spending the entire day reconnecting with your mother?" Darkness took a step to Eren and lowered his head down to his level. "I would hate to think I made the same mistake my brother did when he brought someone back from the dead."

Eren recognized the threat before him, especially after Darkness made fire return to his hand. Their first meeting served as a reminder that Eren couldn't beat Darkness in a fight, so he chose not to fight again.

The same, however, couldn't be said for Carla.

"Get away from him!"

When she recognized the look of fear on Eren's face, Carla pushed him behind her and looked contemptibly at the God of Darkness. "What kind of sick man dares to threaten a child's life?!" she screamed. "You can hate me all you want, but you stay away from my son!"

"..."

Both Eren and Darkness were surprised by this reaction.

Darkness clenched his fists. "You dare-?"

"What's the point of all this?! Just to win some perverted game with your brother?! Are you really that pathetic, hiding your true goals from Eren and Cinder?!" Carla had learned enough from Dina about Marley to know that some words and ideas from officials were just political and hiding a more sinister agenda.

And given that this was a God of Darkness, Carla was sure that there was something more sinister behind his plans.

"I don't care what you want when all this is over!" Carla said as she continued to stand in front of Eren. "But if you think you're going to make my life, our lives, a part of your game, then you can just go to Hell!"

Eren suddenly felt worried about his mother's safety. He had seen what happened the last time someone spoke out against a god, so he tried to stop her from making everything worse. "Mom, stop! You'll just make things worse!"

"Eren is wise to know his place," Darkness said as fire grew from his hand and close to Carla's face. "I could destroy you in an instant, should you choose to keep insulting me."

"...No," Carla said as she backed away. "I'm done here." She looked down to Eren. "I'd like to go home now."

"...Okay."

As the two disappeared, Darkness began to calm down. He was pretty close to making the simple woman suffer for treating her savior in such a manner. One would think she would be grateful at being given a chance to live again. And in a world without the one thing she feared, no less.

Then again, Darkness was able to commend Carla on one aspect of hers; she figured out that there was more to his desires than stopping Salem. But Eren didn't need to concern himself with that.

Not yet, at least.

Eren and Carla immediately found themselves back in the farmhouse. Once they did, Eren was about to commend his mother. The arguments they used to have were usually directed at him, but this time was different. Eren immediately believed his mother to be a brave woman, if she was willing to talk to Darkness like that.

Eren thought back on how Carla argued with Darkness like she argued with him back home. To do both, Eren realized, was incredibly brave of her. It was worthy of the most utmost respect.

"Mom," Eren said with reddened cheeks. "Back there... that was ama-"

"Just a minute, Eren," Carla insisted as she stood up from the table. When she moved to the front door and opened it, Carla found Dina standing on the other side with Cinder and her friends. Nora had run up to the house and pressed her ear against the door to listen to the conversation, and everyone else followed her.

Dina wanted to tell Nora that eavesdropping was wrong, but she couldn't resist her own temptations. That changed, however, when Carla opened the door.

"Carla," Dina addressed her friend. "Are you o-?" She suddenly stopped talking when she felt two arms wrap around her.

"Thank you for doing all of this, Dina," Carla said with a smile. "If it weren't for you, I'd probably be stuck in my room the whole day."

"..."

Dina was at a loss for words, but she was happy enough to return the hug. She was happy to see that she hadn't lost Carla as a friend, and she was also happy that Carla was apparently doing much better.

This might be the first time today that she actually smiled.

When Carla let go of Dina, she looked down at the children. "Eren's in the kitchen," she said to Cinder. "You can see him if you want." Cinder rushed inside to find Eren, which led to Carla seeing Ren and Nora.

And she greeted them in the same manner.

"Hello, Lie," she said with a smile. "Nora." Ren bowed his head while Nora smiled and waved. Carla then stepped aside and invited them in as well.

"They know too," Dina whispered to Carla after the children stepped inside. "It was their idea for Eren and Cinder to do what they did last night." Carla nodded as she let Dina inside as well.

Once she found everyone in the kitchen, and after all of his friends made sure that Eren was doing okay, Carla apologized for how... awkward the past few hours had been for everyone. She then assured everyone that things would be better, and that they could talk about everything over lunch.

Nora was elated to hear the news, which was why she hugged both Eren and Cinder tightly. Both of the children gasped for air as they underestimated Nora's natural strength. But that didn't diminish the good feeling in the room. In fact, it only got better when Ren insisted that he would share the good that came from last night.

Carla accepted the offer, but first she wanted a moment alone with Eren.

After assuring his friends that it would be okay, Eren joined Carla upstairs to finish their conversation. Dina said that she would start making lunch, and Cinder said that she would keep Ren and Nora occupied until Eren rejoined them.

As he walked upstairs, Eren felt better about everything. The walk he was making wasn't like the one he made to the house. The good feeling that Carla created, which suppressed any tension or awkward feeling that last night created, was something that made Eren feel confident and happy.

But most of all, Eren was still proud of his mother for standing up to Darkness.

"Mom, that was amazing!" Eren said after he stepped into his bedroom. Carla was standing by the door after she closed it, but Eren continued to talk. "I mean, I stood up to Darkness before, but not like that! That was just... unbelievable!" Eren chuckled as his cheeks grew red. "I, uh, guess I got some of that bravery from you, huh?"

"..."

Carla finally turned around to face Eren. When she did, Eren felt his joy and comfort flee from him. Carla had changed her attitude once again, but it wasn't like it was earlier. She wasn't stern, or demanding, or asserting her control of the situation.

She was crying.

"I... I'm trying so hard to hold myself together," Carla confessed to her son. "But I've never been more scared than I am now."

Eren felt great pity for his mother when she made her confession. "Mom-"

"A God of Darkness? Grimm being controlled by someone like us? And he wants you to stop her?" Just like she did in the Coordinate, Carla lost her resolve as a mother and her sense of self-importance in life. "I never thought I would be so blind to things bigger than myself."

Eren immediately approached his mother, which caused her to kneel down to his level. "Mom... I know how you feel," he said. "I was blind to the real fight at hand back home. I didn't know Marley even existed before we took back Shiganshina. I always thought I would be fighting Titans. And all of that was before I met Darkness, before he told me about Salem."

Carla dried her eyes, even though more tears came in their place. "...You have to keep using your Titan, don't you?" she asked.

"Yeah... I do." Eren remembered what his mother said about wanting honesty, so he didn't lie to her now.

"And what about Salem? Does that mean you're... leaving?"

Eren sighed before he replied. "I want to stay," he said. "I want to stay here with you. But the thing is... Salem's not going to come after me. She doesn't even know that I exist."

"..."

Carla silently nodded as she closed her eyes and cried. She remembered the last time Eren left her, the day that she died. She remembered being scared and alone, that her only family had vanished before her eyes.

All of that happened before. And now it was going to happen again.

"But I'm not leaving today," Eren promised. "I'm not leaving tomorrow, either. I have to train my Titan, I have to be as strong as I was before I died. It's going to be a while. And... I can stay here. While I grow. If you want."

Carla opened her eyes again and dried them once more. "If... If I want?" she asked. She was confused as to why Eren would believe that would be up for debate, but Eren wasn't confused.

"I lied to you because I knew you wouldn't believe it all," Eren said. "I kept secrets from you because I knew you would react like you did last night. Like you did when I said I wanted to join the Survey Corps. I just... couldn't let anything stop me from fighting Salem."

"..."

"But if I knew what was going to happen, if I knew you would be scared like you are now... I would have told you everything." Eren shook his head before he continued talking. "I mean, I still have to tell you everything. About Paradis, about Marley, about Atlas. You asked me to be honest, so I'm going to be honest."

"..."

"But... if you still feel that you can't trust me, I can go and-"

"No!"

Carla wrapped her son in a hug, one that caught him off guard. It wasn't as strong as Nora's bear-hug, but it still caught Eren by surprise.

"Eren, please don't go!" Carla begged. "I'm sorry I was so mad, I'm sorry I didn't believe you downstairs! I don't want you to go, I want you to stay here! I want to watch you grow, I want to be a part of your life! Please, stay with me!"

"..."

It was a little hard to hear everything in between her sobs, but Eren understood what his mother felt. He also began to cry and he also hugged his mother, as soon as she said one more thing.

"Eren... I love you!"

The confirmation was enough to make Eren let all of his emotions out as well. He was happy that he hadn't lost his mother after all, that he could still fight for her like he fought on Paradis.

Fighting for Carla... was all Eren wanted.

"I'm going to tell you everything," Eren promised as he continued to hug his mother. "I'm not going to hide anything again. I'm going to be honest with you from now on."

Carla was thankful for this, but not as thankful as she was to have Eren back. "And I'm going to trust you," she said. "And when the time comes... I won't stand in your way to Salem. You're going to stop her... and I'm going to be proud of you."

Somehow, Eren knew that was true. That one day, he would stop Salem and free Remnant from her grasp.

But today, he learned that his mother would be there waiting for him to come back home.

And now, he wouldn't have it any other way.

Chapter Text

"Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway."

John Wayne

"So after you tie the knot like this... you got it! It's done!"

"Wow! It's pretty!"

"It really is. Good job."

Cinder was currently at home, sitting at the kitchen table. Her present company was Nora, who decided to visit her new friends while Ren was working with his father. Eren said he was busy, but Cinder was more than happy to play with Nora.

The majority of their time together was spent looking through a book of arts and crafts. Cinder had used the book to make a couple of things, and she decided to show Nora how she could do it too. After scanning the pages, Nora decided to make an attempt at making a small rag doll. Her first two attempts were unsuccessful, but Cinder helped her along the way to make something beautiful.

Nora spent a few seconds admiring her handiwork. Ever since she saw Vasilisa, Nora wished to have a doll like her. The doll she made was very close to Cinder's prized possession, but Nora realized that something was missing.

"What's wrong?" Cinder asked when she saw the puzzled look on Nora's face. "You don't like it?"

"No, I like it!" Nora insisted. "I just need to do one more thing." She quickly jumped off the table and moved to a set of drawers. After searching through each one, Nora found what she was looking for: a black marker. Once she took the cap off, Nora began to draw on the doll.

"Um, I don't think that's part of the instructions," said Cinder. She wasn't trying to tell Nora what to do, but Cinder was worried that Nora might ruin the doll.

"I know, I'm just adding a step," said Nora. She continued to doodle on the toy without a care in the world.

"But you might ruin it!"

"Relax, Cinder. I'm just about... done!" Nora showed the doll to Cinder to reveal a smiling face with a few freckles. "Ta-da! Now she's like Vasilisa!"

Cinder had to admit, she was skeptical of going against the rules like Nora just did. Her time at the farm of orphans and the Glass Unicorn told her that breaking the rules would only lead to pain and punishment. But once she saw what Nora added, Cinder realized that she was being silly. Adding a face was actually a great idea, one that Cinder wanted to try on the next doll she would make with Nora.

But it seemed that would have to wait.

"Nora!" a voice from outside called out. The children moved from the table to a window in the kitchen, where they saw Dina Fritz outside and waving to them. "Li and An are here!"

"Coming!" Nora said as she took her doll. But before she left, Nora pulled Cinder into a tight hug. "See you tomorrow, Cinder!" Quickly letting her go, Nora ran outside with a smile on her face. As she left, Dina stepped inside and looked at a smiling Cinder.

"Did you have fun?" Dina asked calmly.

"I did," Cinder honestly admitted. "Thank you again for letting her come."

"Of course. Seeing you two together is always a treat."

Cinder couldn't agree more. She didn't have many friends at the moment, and Eren was still her best friend. However, a month of living together in Kuroyuri taught Cinder that she couldn't do everything with Eren. He had his own interests, and dolls certainty wasn't one of them.

Spending time with Nora helped Cinder see that making friends wasn't so hard. And it was also for the best, since Cinder was able to do other things she wanted with other friends. It helped her see that being nice to others was a great quality to have.

Playing with Nora was fun, but now Cinder was ready to see if she could spend time with Eren. However, one look out the window told the young girl that this wasn't possible at the moment.

About two weeks had passed since Eren began to divulge the secrets he had been hiding from his mother. Just as he promised, he was going to be honest and tell Carla everything that had happened to him after she died. And he had been doing that every day, whenever Carla was ready to hear more.

Carla would usually have these talks with Eren by the pond. Ever since she was a little girl, Carla found the pond on her property to be a quiet and soothing place. If she wasn't feeding the ducks that swam there, Carla would be thinking quietly about her life and whatever issues were on her mind. The nature of the pond was quiet soothing, even when Carla had grown up into a woman.

Eren found the pond to be soothing as well. It wasn't quiet like the ocean, but Eren once believed that ponds were close enough. He felt this way since he saw Armin's book on Paradis, and felt this way now.

So, it was easy for Eren to tell his life's story and it was easy for Carla to listen. She had heard quite a lot ever since she found out the purpose behind Eren's current Titan, and it was almost hard to believe. The first thing Eren decided to tell her was that he had gained a Titan on Paradis from his father.

Eren and Dina decided to tell Carla together that Grisha was the husband she had on Marley, how he was granted the Attack Titan, and how he had been quested by Eren Kruger to seek and obtain the Founding Titan of Eldia.

And pass both of them down to Eren.

Carla didn't know how to take the news. She didn't know how to react to the fact that her best friend was actually Grisha's first wife. She became hysterical, at first, since she once wondered how she became friends with Dina in the first place. She believed that Darkness, and the whole universe itself, had played a joke on her.

Once the hysterics disappeared, Carla became rather melancholy. Not because she didn't believe what Eren and Dina had said, but rather that she once again felt insignificant in the grand scheme of things. She felt like she had been used by Grisha, that her only purpose was to help him have another child and that he would simply forget about her.

He did, after all, leave her and Eren the day the Colossus Titan destroyed Wall Maria. And it seemed Grisha had passed down his inclination to keep secrets onto Eren.

Eren decided to take it upon himself to make his mother feel better, to let her know that this wasn't true. In order to do that, Eren told Carla how Grisha begged the Reiss Family, the rulers of the island, to prevent the wall from falling.

He then used his memories to show Carla that Grisha wanted to save his wife, son, and adoptive daughter.

This made Carla feel a little better, but she felt even better when Eren told his mother that he still loved her. And not only that, but Eren reminded her that she was the reason he came to Remnant in the first place. Whatever he would do to Salem, however he would save the world, it would be because Carla was here.

"You're special, Mom," Eren insisted. "Because you were born in this world."

That one idea made Carla think about how Eren saved Kuroyuri and saved dozens of people. She still had questions about Atlas, but Carla couldn't deny that Eren had saved Kuroyuri. And to think that she was the inspiration behind this selfless act made her heart warm and open.

She mattered after all.

Eren then explained how the trauma of... inheriting the Attack and Founding Titans caused him to forget what happened. He didn't even know he had a Titan until years later, until he was nearly killed by one. Eren went on about how this first transformation set off a chain of reactions.

First, he had to seal the hole in Wall Rose and survive an angry mob at a trial.

Then, he had to discover that another Titan was hunting him. And that Titan was Annie Leonhart, who was a Marleyan Warrior. Eren didn't find that out until much later.

Next, Eren had to survive being captured by Reiner and Bertholdt, the Armored and Colossus Titans.

After that, Eren learned that Grisha had stolen the Founding Titan when Rod Reiss sent Kenny Ackerman and the Anti-Personnel Control Squad to find him and Historia. The conflict allowed Historia to become Queen and Eren to learn more about his father.

And then after that, it was finally time to retake Wall Maria and find out what else Grisha had been hiding. That was how Eren found out about Grisha's past, mainly with Marley, the Eldians, the Titans, Dina, Zeke, and the outside world.

Each story Eren told made the young boy feel a little better. Carla felt a little better too, since she felt that she was growing closer to her son through the process. Eren didn't spare a single detail about his adventures and deeds, and Carla would thank him each and every time he had been honest.

To thank him, each and every time he finished a story, Carla would give Eren a hug and kiss before they each resumed their daily activities.

Today and yesterday, however, were different. Because Eren knew that each of his stories, each of his acts of honesty, were leading up to one crucial moment.

The Rumbling.

Yesterday, Eren began with what the Rumbling actually was. He explained it was an empty threat King Fritz made to Marley, that he would break the walls and let the Colossus Titans inside walk and destroy everything. Of course, Eren had explained the truth about the walls and the King before. He even explained how King Fritz's vow renouncing war had passed down over the years.

It was always meant to be an empty threat... but Eren was forced to explain how he made that threat a reality.

He explained how he and his friends learned just how strongly the world hated Paradis. How much the world wanted to destroy the island and everyone on it, how they wouldn't even consider the idea of peace.

Carla then listened to the plan Eren had made to prevent Paradis' destruction, his plan to stop the world. After leaving his friends and posing as a Marleyan soldier, Eren made contact with his half-brother and learned how Zeke wanted to sterilize the Eldians so they would disappear after several decades.

Eren agreed to this plan, which led to a city called Liberio being destroyed, Eren inheriting yet another Titan, severing ties with the government and making his own army of "Yeagerists," and the war for Paradis finally beginning.

Eren then explained how he used Zeke just to gain access to the Founding Titan. How he used it to bring the walls down and make the Colossus Titans march.

Carla not only listened to Eren's plan, but she figured it out along the way.

She may not have been educated like Dina was, but Carla wasn't stupid. She could tell that there was more to Eren's plan than he had been confessing, that all of his efforts had been building up to something big.

He wouldn't go though all the trouble of manipulating his half-brother, severing ties with Mikasa and Armin, and bringing down all three walls just to stop a single army. Just as Carla noticed before, Eren had become a person who did things for a well thought-out reason.

"...You didn't stop with the Alliance, did you?" Carla confidently asked.

"...No," Eren confessed.

"You just... kept going... didn't you?"

"...Yes. Yes, I did."

"..."

Eren had much more to tell Carla, how he had seen the Rumbling via the Attack Titan's memories and how he planned for Mikasa and everyone else to stop him. However, he also had to tell her that his act of genocide resulted in eighty-percent of humanity being destroyed.

But Carla wasn't ready to hear all of that just yet.

"Thank you... for being honest with me," Carla said as she stood up. "But I need time, Eren. I need... I need..."

Eren didn't need Carla to finish that sentence. Any rational person would need time to understand this act, to wrap their head around it. And so, Eren nodded at his mother to show that he understood.

With that, Carla left Eren alone. And she was careful to hide her tears and horrified expression while doing so.

However, Eren didn't need to see his mother's face to know how she was feeling. He knew, in his heart, that Carla had the same kind of reaction as Historia had when he revealed his plan. He knew she was thinking about the innocents he killed, the people who did no harm to the island whatsoever.

People who were like Carla.

The lack of a hug and kiss, which almost became a kind of habit, told Eren that Carla had these thoughts and feelings in her mind. It was very similar to the time she found out he was Titan, how emotional and disagreeable she was. There was no emotional explosion this time, but the same feelings were present.

And while they broke Eren's heart once more, the young boy stood up and got his mind off it the same way he had been doing so for the past two weeks: working.

Most of Carla's farmhands were still helping the town, and their work was almost complete. However, there was still some work that needed to be done at the farm since the invasion. Eren naturally volunteered, and Carla found a few chores for him to do. The chores were mostly solitary, but Eren didn't mind. Ever since he had been talking with his mother about his life, Eren required a quiet environment to get his mind back in the right spot.

Only today, this would be different. There was nothing that could get his mind off the Rumbling. Not even the chore of picking apples off trees.

This was Eren's last chore for the day, and he felt mostly indifferent about its simplicity. Carla was adamant that the work he did would be easy and safe, and picking apples that would be sold later was one of them. However, Eren was somewhat afraid that this would not only be the last chore of the day, but the last chore forever.

He wouldn't blame Carla for changing her mind about him. After all, the Rumbling had placed the world's hatred onto Eren rather than Paradis. One more person hating him would just be natural. Eren hoped with all his heart it wouldn't happen with Carla, but he knew hate would be a natural reaction in this scenario.

Eren didn't admit it, but he needed to let these feelings out. And Cinder had just given him an opportunity to do so.

*CREAK*

The sound of a door closing behind him made Eren look to see Cinder walking towards him with an empty basket for apples. She was familiar with Eren's habit of working alone, sometimes for hours, after his long talks with Carla. Today, however, she decided that she didn't want Eren to be working alone. It reminded her of the times she had to work at the other farm, which was something she loathed. And something was telling her that Eren was sad each and every time he finished talking to Carla.

She was right, but Eren's sadness made him unwilling to talk.

"You don't need the basket," he said as he turned back to the tree. "I think I got enough already."

"You had enough when you stopped picking yesterday," said Cinder, who picked up Eren's full basket to make him stop working. "Why don't you let me take over? I can help."

"No, it's fine. Mom could use more apples."

"You could always take a break, you know. I mean, you missed Nora coming over today."

"I know." Eren leaned against the tree. "I was still talking to Mom."

"I know, but you're done now. Eren, come on, just take it easy for a little while."

Cinder may have had the best intentions for Eren, but she didn't understand that the young boy wasn't in the best state of mind. And between his mother's justified reaction to the Rumbling and Cinder's apparent pestering, Eren was starting to grow annoyed and tired.

"What, am I bothering you?" Eren bluntly asked.

Cinder was taken aback by the harsh behavior, but she stayed her course. "Um... no," she insisted. "It's just been a while since we talked. You're always with your mom and working. I just thought you could use a change."

The explanation didn't calm Eren's temper. "Cinder, I don't have time for games. That's not why I'm here."

"Don't have-?"

"..."

Cinder couldn't believe this was what Eren was thinking, that he was being so serious and stubborn. But what hurt her was that she couldn't figure out what had gotten Eren so upset. Kuroyuri was close to being back on its feet, he was talking to his mother again, things seemed to be fine.

But Cinder was unaware that Eren had finally decided to talk about the Rumbling. Because of this, she continued her efforts with her friend.

"But Eren, isn't this what we're fighting for?" Cinder asked. "To be free? To do anything we want without worrying about someone keeping us trapped? Why can't we enjoy it? Why can't we-?"

"Enjoy it?" Eren asked as he moved closer to Cinder. "Enjoy what, Cinder? I still have to train my Titan, I'm still trying to talk to my mom, and I have Salem to deal with! And all three of those things just hit a wall right now, so tell me! What do I possibly have to enjoy?!"

"..."

This was a rhetorical question, so Eren didn't expect an answer from the shocked and speechless young girl. So he turned around and began to walk away, but not before he said one thing.

"Do whatever you want, Cinder. Don't wait up for me."

"..."

Cinder didn't believe what she had just heard. She remembered plenty of times where Eren had been angry and when he used that anger to defend himself. It always gave Cinder hope, since Eren knew how to fight and he was strong for both him and her.

But that anger had never been directed at her before. A part of her once believed that it never would, since she and Eren were the best of friends. But now that it had, Cinder didn't know what to think or how to feel.

However, that didn't stop her from letting a few tears fall down her cheeks.

Fortunately, Dina had witnessed part of Eren's tirade after Carla had returned inside. She knew something was wrong with the way Carla entered the house and locked herself in another room. It wasn't her bedroom, but rather a study that was once utilized by Carla's own mother. And Carla would only lock the door when she wasn't ready to talk to anyone.

Dina knew that Carla and Eren had been talking, so she was certain that something had happened to upset her. And when she heard Eren's tirade, it was clear that something had upset him as well.

Sadly, this feeling had passed on to Cinder.

"Cinder, dear," Dina said as she stepped outside and kneeled down to the child. "It's okay. Don't worry about Eren."

Cinder couldn't help but worry about Eren, since it wasn't like him to act this way towards her. He only did so to people who upset or hurt him, and it seemed that Cinder had done the same.

"I... I was just trying to help him," she insisted as she dried her eyes. "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing, sweetheart." Dina gave Cinder a hug to help her. "Eren's just not ready to talk. Carla's not either, I think their conversation didn't go too well. Just give him a little time, he'll be ready."

"...Really?"

"Really really."

Dina smiled at Cinder when she said this, which caused the little girl to smile once again. She then led her back inside, to the bookshelf she had in her small classroom. Dina was certain that reading with Cinder would help the child get her mind off Eren, and she was right.

Cinder was doing most of the reading, and it was from a book that was supposed to be a little more advanced than most books for children her age. And yet, Cinder read each page clearly and enjoyed everything she was doing.

Dina was very proud of Cinder, and especially proud of what she did next.

*TAP*

*TAP*

*TAP*

Cinder and Dina looked up to the doorframe to see Carla once again. She had mostly relaxed and regained her bearings after her talk with Eren, and she remembered that someone had tried opening the door to her study.

"Sorry to interrupt," she said politely. "Did you need something, Dina? While I was in the study?"

"Oh," Dina said as she shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Sorry to bother you."

"Oh, it wasn't a bother." Carla certainly needed a distraction, so she invited herself inside and looked at Cinder. "What are you reading, sweetheart?"

Cinder closed the book and showed the cover to Carla with a smile. "The Secret History of the World," she said proudly. "I started it yesterday with Ms. Fritz."

"Oh, wow. Do you like it?"

"Uh-huh!"

Dina giggled at the idea. "Haven't you said that about every book we've read together?" she playfully asked.

"...Maybe," Cinder playfully replied.

Everyone shared a laugh at the situation, since it was true that Cinder enjoyed every book she had been reading. Dina was more than proud to do this with Cinder, just like she was with her other students. However, there was something about Cinder that felt different. There was something about her that was special.

Every time she helped, taught, and read with Cinder, Dina felt a sense of familiarity. She felt a sense of instinct. Something that should have been there with Zeke.

But she was taken out of these thoughts when Carla decided to leave.

"Well, I'll just let you get back to it," she said as she turned around.

"Wait!"

Cinder moved out of her seat and ran towards the doorframe to catch up to Carla. Both of the women were surprised by the immediate reaction, but Carla didn't turn Cinder away.

"Yes, dear?" she asked as she kneeled to Cinder.

"I, um... I was just wondering," Cinder began before she regained her confidence. "I saw Eren doing some chores outside. Are there any other chores he has to do?"

Carla took a moment to think about this. She wasn't ready to talk or think about what her son had just told her, but she didn't see the harm in answering a simple question like Cinder had.

"Not today, no," she replied. "Picking apples was the last thing I asked him to do today."

"Oh," Cinder said. "Well, what about tomorrow?"

"He told me that he used to clean stables when he was in the Survey Corps. He said he would do that for me tomorrow."

In that moment, Cinder decided to take a risk. She wasn't mad at Eren or anything, since Dina was able to help her understand that he was just upset. And despite being yelled at, Cinder took Eren's advice of doing whatever she wanted.

She wanted to talk to him, but that didn't seem possible at the moment. So instead, Cinder decided to help Eren in a different way.

"I think... I can start working, too," she offered. "Would you like me to clean the stables?"

Both Carla and Dina were surprised by this. They knew that Cinder wasn't very comfortable with working just yet, given her recent experiences in Atlas. Dina only saw Cinder being beaten in Eren's memories, but she was aware that she was a slave to the family who took her in. She naturally told Carla, who understood perfectly and sympathized with the child.

Which was why she was reluctant to let Cinder start working.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "Cinder, it's okay if you're not ready or anything like that."

"I know," Cinder insisted. "But I think I'm ready."

"Are you sure?" Dina asked as she moved away from her desk. "Nobody's asking you to do anything, Cinder."

"I'm sure. I really want to help."

"..."

Carla and Dina briefly looked at each other after Cinder made this decision. They knew what she had gone through, but they also knew that Cinder knew how to make up her own mind. She had done it other times before, and there wasn't much difference right now.

"...Alright, then," Carla decided. "But if you need to stop, just tell either of us."

"And let me know if you need any help," Dina said. "I'm not too busy, you can come straight away. Okay?"

"Okay," Cinder decided. "So, what do I do?"

"Let me show you," Carla said as she led Cinder outside. "All you have to do is just sweep all the old and loose straw outside. Don't worry about the muck, I can get someone else to clean it."

"Are you sure?" Cinder asked. "I can clean up the dirt, it's just like the other farm I was on."

"Oh. Well, if you're sure, there's a brush and a hose inside. Just spray it down and wipe it up. Oh, and don't forget to use some gloves. That brush will give you splinters."

"Okay. Thank you."

Cinder did this job with pride, and she found out that it was much easier than the work she did at the first farm. The hose made washing the floor much easier, and there wasn't much difference with brushing.

"There," she said after she eventually finished the job. "This'll help Eren."

"..."

"I hope..."

Cinder was able to relieve Eren of his workload, but not of his burden. Carla was able to carry out casual conversation with Eren, but she hadn't spoken to him about the Rumbling or what came after that. She still needed time to wrap her head around it all, but she wasn't making much progress.

Eren understood, but his feelings weren't put at ease. Not even Cinder's best efforts could make Eren break his habits.

One day, Cinder decided to get help on her endeavor. She and Nora were together once again, walking through Kuroyuri's streets. A lot of work had been done into rebuilding the town, and everything was just about down. The main priority right now seemed to transition from cleaning the rubble to building new houses and the drawbridge Eren and Cinder suggested. And soon, there would be a moat surrounding the entire town to prevent a repeat of what happened weeks ago.

But that news didn't seem to make Cinder happy. All she could think about was Eren, and she couldn't help but describe her problems to Nora.

"And that's what he's been doing," Cinder finished her story. "He doesn't want to talk or anything. He just wants to work."

"Well, that's not very fun," Nora agreed, who did nothing but lend a helpful ear to Cinder. "It's... really sad."

"I know. That's why I begged him to come with us today. But he's still at the farm, working."

"And he hasn't said anything?"

"Well... he thanked me for helping him. But that's it."

Nora suddenly felt that she could sympathize with Cinder. There were days where Ren didn't really feel like spending time with her, where he felt like there were other things he either wanted or had to do. Nora was able to understand this sometimes, but there were times when she felt incredibly lonely. And Eren's behavior wasn't like Ren's. Eren was actively avoiding everyone around him. Ren would never do that.

However, Nora had a... creative idea for Cinder.

"You know, Ren sometimes doesn't want to play with me either," she said. "So I found a way to make him change his mind."

Cinder suddenly felt a hope that she could do the same thing with Eren, whatever it might be. "Really?" she asked with a smile. "Tell me!"

Nora yelled her idea with a bigger smile and arms in the air. "I sing to him!"

Cinder's smile disappeared when she heard the idea. During all the time she spent with Nora, Cinder had seen her do some funny, weird, and incredibly stupid things. And the idea Nora just had seemed to fit in the last category.

"What?" Cinder dryly asked, unable to believe she just heard Nora say that. However, Nora was willing to explain herself.

"I sing one of my favorite songs to Ren!" she said. "Whenever I do, he says he'll play with me!"

Cinder knew that Nora wasn't a liar, but she couldn't help but remain skeptical of an idea like this. "Nora, how can that possibly work?"

"I'll show you!"

Nora led Cinder to an more private road, completely free of people at the moment. And once she did, Nora began to sing.

However, she neglected to mention the fact that she decided to sing loudly and completely off-key.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star! How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the-!"

"Nora, Nora, stop!" Cinder yelled as she put her hands to her ears. She was unable to withstand the terrible singing, and she was also unable to hear herself think. "Please, stop."

Nora stopped singing and looked at Cinder's reaction. When she saw Cinder's head down while covering her ears, Nora knew how her friend was feeling. "Wow," she said calmly. "Am I really that bad?"

Cinder opened her eyes and looked back at Nora when she realized what she did. "Wait, I didn't mean-"

Nora suddenly began to laugh. "No, it's okay!" she assured Cinder. "See? Whenever I sing like that, Ren will want me to stop. So I'll stop when he spends some time with me!"

"..."

Cinder's jaw dropped at the realization of what just happened. She had no idea that this was Nora's plan all along. If Ren was anything like Cinder right now, he wouldn't want to hear the singing as well. In order to do that, he would spend time with Nora until her heart was content.

In the end, everyone got what they wanted. Ren wouldn't hear singing and Nora would spend time with her best friend. It was perfect.

"Nora... that's a great idea!" Cinder said with a smile.

"I know, right?!" Nora asked with a laugh. "So if you want Eren to talk or play with you, just do what I do!"

"And it's worked on Ren? I mean, he wasn't angry with you or anything?"

"Oh, no way! He always comes around to spending time with me!"

Cinder's logic behind this question was rather simple. The last time she tried to talk to Eren, he became annoyed and put himself at a distance from Cinder. The last thing she wanted was to make him angry again.

So rather than risk making another mistake, Cinder asked Nora if she could do to Eren what she did to Ren.

"I could, but I think I have a better idea," Nora insisted. "Youcan try singing to him."

"What?" Cinder asked as she felt a heat rise to her face. "Oh, Nora... I don't know, I-"

"What's the matter? It's not hard, you just sing!"

Cinder could see why Nora wasn't bothered by singing; she always wanted to try everything at least once in her life. Cinder, on the other hand, felt that she had a good reason behind her reluctance and embarrassment.

"Well... I never tried singing before," she confessed. "I don't even know if I can sing badly." Cinder knew her greatest skill was in reading, but singing was a different story.

"That's okay!" Nora confidently insisted. "Just choose a song and sing! If you've never done it before, then you won't be good!"

"Okay, but... I don't know a lot of songs." Cinder was familiar with music, but she had never actually tried to sing. She knew the point was to sing badly, but she was still unsure about singing at all.

Nora was about to suggest her favorite song, the one she had sang moments ago. But instead, she had another idea when she saw a bookstore behind her. "Let's find a song for you, then!" she said excitedly. "Come on!"

Cinder took Nora's hand and found herself looking through the books. She had been to this store before, it was one of the places Carla and Dina had shown her and Eren when they were given a proper tour. She spent a few minutes in there the first time she visited, but left when Eren found something he wanted to show her. She didn't remember what it was that Eren found, but she remembered that the two of them were happy.

Now she hoped she could regain some of that happiness through an... unorthodox method.

Cinder eventually found one song she liked, despite the point of the exercise was to sing badly. So she and Nora left the bookshop and began to walk towards the farmhouse. But when Cinder saw that Eren was helping sell the farm's produce, far away from her, she decided to take her chance at that very moment.

And Nora was willing to help.

"Hey, Eren!" Nora said to get the boy's attention. Once she had it, Nora directed the spotlight to her friend. "Cinder has something to tell you!"

Nora stepped aside to let Cinder talk to Eren. "Hi, Eren..." she began timidly.

"Hi," Eren said calmly as he looked at the stand of food he was watching.

"Um... what are you doing?"

"Just helping Mom sell this food. Now that everything's back to normal, we can start selling again."

"Oh, good. Are you, uh... Are you doing this all day?"

"No, Mom said she'd be here a little later to help. She said she wanted to see how everyone was doing."

"Oh. Well, uh..." Cinder turned around when she began to have second thoughts. But when Nora gestured for her to go on, she reluctantly decided to do so. "Nora and I were thinking we could do something today. I think... I really think you should come with us."

Eren didn't pick up on the subtlety of Cinder's words, so he continued to remain neutral. "I can't," he said. "I have other things to do."

Cinder sighed as she looked back to Nora again, who repeated the similar motion. And so, Cinder spoke to her friend once again.

"Eren... what's going on?" she sadly asked. "Why won't you justtalk to me?"

Eren finally understood that Cinder was upset, but he remained calm and collected as he explained himself. He too, was feeling sad, but he was able to hide his emotions well.

"Talking... isn't going too well," he admitted. "You wouldn't understand."

"But I can try!"

Eren didn't think that this was true. Cinder was a very smart young girl, but her situation wasn't like Eren's. Sadly, she had no mother to talk to or had any similar experiences to what Eren had with Carla.

"I don't think so, Cinder," he said. "Sorry."

"..."

He didn't yell, and he didn't raise his voice like he did last time. But what Eren had said still made Cinder feel sad. She felt like she was still being pushed away, which was the opposite of what she wanted.

And just like last time, she wanted to help him. But first, Cinder needed to make Eren want to be helped. And based what she heard from Nora, there was only one way to do that.

So she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Okay... here I go," she said.

Eren looked back to Cinder. "Wait, what are you doing?" he asked.

Nora put her hands to her ears. "Just remember, Eren... Cinder gave you a chance," she said with a smirk. She then lowered her head and pressed her hands hard against her ears.

And with that, Cinder opened her mouth... and began to sing.

"Like the scarlet night, veil in the dark.

You can hide your fear, can lie my dear."

Nora took her hands off her ears and opened her eyes. Eren had a similar reaction as he stared at Cinder, and he let out a small gasp of surprise. He wasn't covering his ears or telling Cinder to stop like Nora had hoped. In fact, neither Eren or Nora wanted Cinder to stop.

Cinder's voice was... angelic. Something that Eren had never heard before, something extraordinary and beautiful. And with each word Cinder sang, Eren felt his worries and thoughts disappear as he listened to the song.

"Just like it is, look into this dream.

See these wings are stained in blood, spread them out!"

There was a group of people close to the stand where Eren was selling food, and they all had the same reaction as the children. They turned to the source of the beautiful singing, which Eren and Nora easily noticed. They too seemed to be enamored with the song, which was the opposite of what Nora was expecting.

"Um... Cinder?" Nora said to her friend. But Cinder didn't allow for any distractions as she continued to sing.

"Like a fallen angel.

Drifts and falls to the ground.

For the winds of time will never allow.

Into the starry night!

Like a Goddess you appear!

Please embrace me, for eternity!

Fly to Heaven."

"..."

Cinder had finished her song, but she didn't hear Eren begging her to stop. Instead, she heard nothing but praise.

*CLAP*

*CLAP*

*CLAP*

*CLAP*

*CLAP*

The sound of applause and cheers made Cinder open her eyes and see that Nora and Eren weren't her only audience anymore. The entire block seemed to be captured by her voice, and they seemed to want an encore. But Cinder was too surprised by her apparent fans to sing again, all she could do was listen to their voices.

"Hey, that was pretty good!"

"Yeah! Way to lighten the mood around here!"

"Not bad, kid!"

Cinder smiled and awkwardly chuckled as her face grew red. Once everyone began to depart, Cinder turned to Nora and whispered to her. "I thought everyone was supposed to cover their ears," she said.

"Why would they?" Nora asked. "That was the best singing I ever heard!"

"It was?"

Nora wasn't alone with these sentiments. Eren had listened to the whole song, awestruck and impressed. He felt calm as he listened to the song, despite the fact that there was no music to accompany it. Nobody really did any singing back on Paradis, so it was a rarity for Eren to hear.

But when he heard what Cinder had just done... Eren felt like something had awakened within him.

"Cinder... that was amazing," he said with a smile. In fact, this was the first time Eren was smiling in a while. "Where'd you learn to sing like that?"

Cinder wasn't expecting Eren's reaction, but she was glad to see it. She realized that the reaction she intended to evoke from Eren would have done more harm than good, so she accepted Eren's smile and amazement as she explained herself.

"Right here... just now," she said as she brushed a hand through her hair. The red on her face had disappeared, and she was starting to get over her embarrassment. "You... You really liked it?"

"Yeah!" Eren walked away from his side of the stand so he could talk to Cinder directly. "I mean, I can't remember the last time I listened to someone sing back home. I don't know if anybody did. But that was great!"

"Thanks." Cinder blushed again. "I, uh... didn't know I was that good."

"It really was, I-" Eren suddenly remembered that Nora had covered her ears at first and said that she "warned" him. "Wait... what's this all about? Why'd you do that?"

Cinder immediately remembered what was going on. "Well... I was hoping that... Nora and I were talking, and..."

Nora saw the opportunity to help Cinder once again and happily took it. "Eren, look," she said with authority. "Cinder's been telling me you haven't been yourself lately. We've seen it too. Ren, Cinder, and me... we miss you. We don't see you anymore, it's like you don't even want to see us." She put a hand on Cinder's shoulder. "Cinder's been telling me all about it, we just wanna talk. If you're still thinking about the Titans and everything, you can tell us."

"..."

"The singing, uh... that was kinda my idea. Just forget about that."

Cinder took over for Nora when she saw that Eren was confused. "Eren... you once said that I was a good friend," she said. "I'm just trying to do that again, I'm trying to be a good friend to you. But I can't do that... if you won't let me."

"..."

Eren had no idea that all of this was about what he said to Cinder. And he definitely had no idea that what he had been doing had been affecting Ren and Nora as well. But then, he remembered how upset Mikasa was when he had the same attitude, and when he pushed her away on purpose. While she never really cried when he said he wanted to do things himself, Eren knew that he hurt Mikasa when he lied about always hating her.

And after he died, after he had been given his mother back, Eren said that he wasn't going to waste his chance. He was going to be honest and upfront about everything. But now, if he wanted to keep the new friends he made, Eren would have to be just as honest to them as well as Carla.

"Cinder... Nora, I... I'm sorry," Eren said sincerely. "I just... I didn't think... Maybe I-"

"Eren," Cinder said calmly as she approached closer. "Just tell me what's going on. That's all I need."

"..."

Whether it was the song or Cinder's current behavior, Eren decided that it was time to open up to his friends. He wasn't keeping secrets like he was before, but he just wasn't ready to talk.

But now, Eren saw that he had to be ready.

And so, Eren decided to tell only Cinder. He whispered into her ear that he had told Carla about the Rumbling, and how hard it was to do so. He then explained how hurt and uncertain he was by her reaction, despite the fact that it could be justified.

"That's why she's been acting strange," Cinder realized. She had noticed that Carla was also acting unlike herself; she had become more docile and quiet as of late, just like Eren.

The idea was actually strange to Eren, since all he noticed was that Carla hadn't spoken to him too much. He was unaware that she had been this way to everyone around her.

"She has?" Eren asked. "My mom?"

"Yeah!" Cinder insisted. "Where have you been?"

Eren sighed as he made another confession. "I think... I think I've been thinking too hard," he said. "About all of this."

The confession wasn't an easy one to make, since Eren had done nothing but let his thoughts ruminate in his head and in his head alone. Cinder was able to understand this, but there was one person who couldn't.

"Huh?" Nora asked. "Uh... how can you 'think too much?'" She tried to understand the concept rather than Eren's problem, but it only led to more questions than answers. "Wait, am I doing it now? Am I thinking too much?! Is it contagious?!"

Both Eren and Cinder couldn't help but laugh at Nora's misunderstanding. This was the first time he had laughed in a while, and Eren realized that he had missed it. Of course, it was Cinder's efforts that made him more open.

That, and her other questions.

"So, what happened?" she asked Eren. "Did your mom get angry again?"

"No, nothing like that," he replied. "I mean, she didn't like what she heard. But she knew I was being honest with her."

"And she hasn't talked to you since?"

"Not about home, no. I've just been trying to figure out what to do next. You know, what I should say. Or if she still wants to talk to me."

"Oh..." Cinder didn't know what to say next, so she hugged Eren instead. When he hugged her back, Cinder found out what to say next. "Well, no matter what happens... I'm still gonna be on your side."

"Yeah, me too!" Nora eagerly said. "Just let us know how we can help, okay?"

Eren smiled at the notion. "Thanks," he said sincerely. "I will." He felt better than before, and he was glad that he wouldn't be alone again. "I really liked your singing, by the way. I never heard anything like that before."

"Thanks, Eren," Cinder said gratefully. "You don't have to be nice, though. It was nothing."

"No, I'm serious. I'd really like to hear it again sometime."

"Really? It was that good?"

"Yeah, it was." Eren looked over to his other friend. "Right, Nora?"

"Totally!" said Nora. "I gotta tell Ren about this!"

Just as Cinder was about to thank her friends for being honest, a new voice came from behind them and said the same thing.

"I... liked it."

Everyone turned to see a young boy standing a few feet behind them. The boy had silver hair and he was wearing brown shorts with a black shirt, which had a gray pattern on the front that resembled a "Y." The boy was about Nora's height, a few inches smaller than Eren and Cinder.

But what everyone immediately noticed about the boy was that he wasn't known to them.

Regardless of the unfamiliarity with the boy, Cinder was the first to speak to him. "Um... thank you," she said politely. "Who are you?"

"Wait, haven't I seen you before?" Nora asked. While she didn't know the boy's name, she could have sworn she saw him at least once before today.

Eren hadn't seen the boy before, but he wasn't too concerned about his name. Instead, he was focused on the bruise under his left eye. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked. "What happened to your eye?"

The boy opened his mouth to answer Eren, but another voice cut him off.

"Mercury!"

Everyone jumped from the surprise and turned to the road behind them. Walking down that road was a man in a red sleeveless shirt, tan cargo pants, and black and green combat boots. Around his waist was a black and silver utility belt with various pouches and an empty holster for what looks like a gun of some kind. Sticking out from one of the pouches was a chrome alcohol flask with two stylized black wings. The man had pure white hair cut short and a pair of stormy grey eyes. A few noticeable scars were visible on his face, as well as his arms.

Along with the scars, the man wore a very intimidating scowl on his face.

"I thought I told you to stay put!" the man hissed as he grabbed the now named "Mercury's" arm. His voice was low and gruff, and a slight slur came along with the faint smell of strong alcohol. The smell left the four kids cringing, especially Mercury. "When I say stay put, you listen to me!"

"...Yes, sir," the boy sadly replied.

Content that the boy understood him, the man turned to the stand Eren was watching and examined the food. After a few seconds, he took a single potato from one of the baskets before he started to walk away with Mercury in tow.

Cinder and Nora were too intimidated by the sudden appearance and yell. Eren, however, didn't like what he was seeing.

"Hey!" Eren yelled to get the man's attention. "What are you doing?"

"Beat it, kid," the man said as he continued to walk.

But Eren quickly got in front of the man. "Aren't you gonna pay for that?"

The man shoved Eren aside as he walked. "I said beat it!"

Eren knew that the man was much bigger than him. And judging by the force behind this push, the man was much stronger too. But Eren had never met someone in Kuroyuri who would be brazen enough to try and steal some of his mother's produce. Everyone knew that they had to pay, nobody ever tried to steal anything.

And Eren, despite everything that just happened, wanted to make sure that nobody tried to steal and get away with it.

"Give that back!" Eren yelled as he grabbed the man's hand. When he scratched his hand, Eren watched the man drop the potato before he felt an iron-like grip around his wrist.

"Goddamn it!" he said as he squeezed Eren's hand. "Listen, you little shit! If you want me here doing my job, you'd better watch out who you're trying to-!"

"Eren!"

Eren and the man turned to see Carla running towards him with a worried look on her face. "What's going on here?!" she demanded. "Let him go!"

The man let go of Eren, but he didn't let the matter rest. "Is this your kid?" he rudely asked.

"Yes, he's my son!" Carla said with a glare. She had come to the stand to relieve Eren of the chore he volunteered for, only to find him being manhandled by someone twice his size. "Why were you-?"

"Well, he's got a shitty attitude," the man said as he picked up the potato he dropped. "He tried to stop me from taking food for myself. Isn't that why that stand is there?"

Carla was surprised to hear this about Eren, but then she remembered how he always started fights back home. However, she knew that he had changed a lot. The last couple of weeks and her last serious conversation with him helped Carla understand this, but she couldn't understand what would make Eren attack an apparent customer of hers.

But Eren was willing to explain.

"Mom, he was stealing that!" he insisted as he pointed at the potato. "He just took it without paying!"

Carla looked back at the man with a stern glare. "Is that true?" she asked. Once she heard that there was a reason behind Eren's behavior, it became easier for her to believe that he would take action against something like this.

"What?" the man asked. His voice didn't give off a gruff exterior or a domineering effect this time. Instead, he sounded confused. "Don't I get the Huntsman's discount here?"

"The Huntsman's... what?" Carla asked. "Sir, if you want what I'm selling, you have to pay like everyone else. I don't offer discounts for Huntsmen."

"...Huh." The man reached into his pocket while muttering to himself. Eren couldn't make out everything, but he thought he heard "backwards town" and "hicks" as the man pulled out two pieces of Lien. "Alright. Here you go."

"..."

Carla took the money without a word, and she gave the man a stern glare before she looked back to Eren. Because her back was turned, Carla missed the man looking at her from head to toe while smiling before he disappeared with his son.

"Eren, are you alright?" Carla asked as she looked at Eren's wrist. "I can't believe he did that to you!"

"I... I'm okay," Eren insisted. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Carla didn't seem to believe that. "Oh, I think it's starting to bruise. Come on, I should have some spray and bandages at the house."

"Wait a second."

Eren closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He knew his Titan powers could heal him from a small bruise like this, but he decided to try something new; something that Cinder had shown him.

His arm began to glow for a few moments. Once it did, the bruise slowly began to disappear and his arm began to feel better. When Eren opened his eyes, he saw that he was able to move his hand normally.

"See?" Eren asked as he waved. "It's fine."

Carla chuckled for a moment when she realized that her son had used his Aura to heal his arm. "I forgot you had one of those," she said. "They must really come in handy, huh?"

"Yeah, I know. I don't even have to use my-Oof!"

Eren's face was covered by Carla's side, since she was hugging him tightly. "That was a brave thing you did, Eren," she said. "I'm proud of you."

Eren's cheeks began to redden. "Um... thanks," he said. This was the last thing he expected his mother to say, since the last conversation they had was intense. But he was willing to accept it, just like he accepted Cinder's friendly ear. "I mean, it wasn't a problem! I just didn't want him to take your stuff."

"I know you didn't," Carla said. "Why don't you head on home? I'll take over."

"Okay."

Eren looked back to Cinder and Nora, who were smiling and waving at him. Cinder was proud to see that Eren had been proven right when he said that he had been overthinking his situation. And everything she just did for him got him thinking on the right track again. Now, Eren could go home and feel better about not only talking to his mother, but helping him too.

But once Eren left, Cinder stopped smiling and angrily glared at the direction the man had left in.

The bruise on the poor boy's eye, the rough way his apparent father had dragged him away in, stealing, and hurting Eren made Cinder feel sick to her stomach. Just like she once helped Nora, Cinder felt that she had to help the young boy who was afraid of his own father.

And more than that, Cinder felt that she had to teach the man a lesson for hurting Eren.

"Cinder, no!" Nora said as she stepped in front of her friend with her arms spread out. "Don't do anything stupid!"

"What?" Cinder asked. "Nora, that guy hurt Eren! And he's hurting that boy!"

"I know, but trust me! You shouldn't try to fight him!" Nora leaned a little closer to explain herself. "Not even as a Titan."

"..."

Once Nora said the word "Titan," Cinder began to calm down. She didn't know it, but she was about to be just as impulsive as Eren used to be. And the only thing that did was make more problems for the boy. So after she calmed down, Cinder decided to ask Nora why she believed that a Titan wouldn't help.

"Who is he?" she asked. "What's his problem?"

"That was Mr. Black," Nora replied. "The Huntsman that the mayor hired to live in Kuroyuri."

"Wait a minute." Cinder pointed in the direction the man had left in. "He's a Huntsman?"

"Yeah, he has a license and everything. And he's really good at fighting Grimm. Big and small."

"..."

Cinder began to see that Nora might be right about this, which was why she was grateful to Nora for stopping her. "Does he have a Semblance?" she asked.

"Yeah, but... it's weird," Nora replied.

"...What?"

Nora looked around to make sure that she and Cinder were alone. Once she saw that nobody was around, she explained herself. "Yesterday evening, he showed us how he fights Grimm. He doesn't use a weapon, just his hands and feet. After a couple of Grimm died, he made a wave of fire to scare them off."

"Okay, so he's like me," Cinder assumed. "He can make fire too."

"That's not all."

Cinder immediately became confused. "Not all? But a Semblance is only one power."

"That's what I thought too. But when an Ursa was outside the wall, Mr. Black lifted his hand and it flew into the air. It must have been up there for a minute before it came crashing back down."

Cinder became even more confused by this information. More than one power? How was that even possible? But more importantly... how dangerous did that make him?

"Come on," she said as she walked back towards home. "I think this is something Eren should know about."

The incident at the stand had actually helped everyone in Carla's household. Eren had learned a valuable lesson, that shutting himself in wasn't the answer to his problems. Not when he had people who were begging him to let them in.

And when Eren started being more open around his friends, Carla had stopped being introverted around her son. She was still upset and trying to think about the Rumbling, but she was proud and grateful to Eren for defending her stand. She only wished she had been there sooner to stop the man from grabbing Eren.

It was this experience that told Carla that if she wanted to understand her son, she would have to be as close to him as possible. And so, she decided that he could work the stand when he was a little older; that way, he could defend against potential thieves a little easier than he did with Mr. Black.

And Cinder had found a new hobby for herself. When she discovered what kind of voice she had, she saw that she was indeed a beautiful singer. And rather than let this talent go to waste, Cinder tried more singing with a book of songs Dina had.

She wasn't comfortable with a large crowd just yet. Instead, Cinder decided to sing a couple of songs to Eren in the hopes that he wouldn't shut himself in anymore. Eren had promised not to do that anymore, but he didn't stop Cinder from singing when she felt like it.

For each time he heard her sing, Eren felt happier and happier.

Dina had heard Cinder as well, and she loved what she heard just as much as Eren did. In fact, she even discovered that Cinder had tried to write a song of her own while she was cleaning the child's room. Cinder was out playing with her friends, including Eren, so the only person she could show the song to was her own friend.

"Hey, Carla, look at this," she said after she found Carla in her makeshift classroom. "I found this in Cinder's room, it's really-"

Dina stopped talking when she found out why Carla was in her room.

Carla still had a lot on her mind, despite the fact that she had become less introverted around Eren. More than anything, she wanted to make sense of why Eren commenced the Rumbling and what good using an army of Colossus Titans would do. Carla felt great pity towards the people that died, despite the fact that she didn't know them. She deeply believed that there could have been another solution, one that didn't turn Eren into a mass-murderer.

Carla wanted to talk to Eren once more, but she didn't have the right words at the moment.

So, Carla decided to borrow Dina's blackboard so she could lay all of her thoughts on an empty canvas. There were many words and lines across the board, each one connecting in a pattern that represented Carla's mind.

"Eldians trapped on Marley."

"Eldians suffer (Grisha's sister killed by dogs)."

"Everyone on Paradis is Eldian."

"World condemns Paradis as 'devils.'"

"Apparently, no peaceful option."

"Eren has both Attack and Founding Titans."

"Uses both powers to defend island."

"No vow of renouncing war."

"Loss of army leaves world defenseless. Possible peace talks?"

"Rumbling the right course of action?"

While Carla had laid all of her thoughts bare on the chalkboard, she still couldn't wrap her head around the situation. She had all of the facts and understood how they connected, but they didn't help her see Eren's point of view.

She was starting to think that nothing could help.

But when Carla heard Dina's voice, she turned around and tried to explain what was going on. "Oh, Dina!" she said at first. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to borrow your board. I, um-"

Dina had read just about everything Carla had written and connected, so she was able to understand what was going on. "Oh," she said. "Is this about what you've been talking with Eren?"

Carla sighed as she took a seat. "Yes. Yes, that's what it is." She then ran a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry, I'm just... trying to wrap my head around all of this."

Dina studied the board one more time before she spoke again. "I remember when Grisha told me about his sister," she said. "He always said that day was the worst day of his life."

Carla looked up at Dina. "I can imagine," she said. "But I still can't believe he hid all of this from me."

"I think it's easy to understand, actually. We spent practically all of our lives together hiding from the Marleyans when we joined the Restorationists. Keeping secrets became second nature for us so we could survive. It seems the same thing applied to Paradis."

"I guess so."

Dina pointed at the chalkboard, at the last line. "Why are you curious about the Rumbling?"

Carla was about to explain what Eren had done, but she stopped herself when a question of her own came to mind. "Wait, you know about the Rumbling?"

"Everyone knew about it. It's why nobody attacked the island until Marley finally got the courage. They knew the Colossus Titans the King used to make the walls would kill them in an instant."

Carla stood up again. "Everyone knew about it?"

"Yes and no." Dina decided to draw on the board as well. "What they knew was that the King made the threat to trample the world if Paradis was attacked. But what they didn't know was that the threat was empty. That he just gave up and decided to use the Founding Titan for the walls. That's why Grisha wanted to use Zeke and retake the Founding Titan. So we could destroy Marley."

"Wait a minute." Carla approached closer. "Grisha wanted to unleash the Wall Titans?"

"That wasn't his exact idea at the time. He just said we could use the Founding Titan to annihilate Marley." Dina paused for a second before she wrote on the board again. "Come to think of it... I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to use the Rumbling to destroy Marley."

Carla couldn't help but gasp at her husband's apparent boldness. "And the rest of the world?"

"Oh, no. We were just focusing on Marley." Dina looked down towards the bottom of the board. "Though it looks like Eren had a bigger picture. What's this about the world's army right here?"

Carla remembered what Eren had explained to her. "Oh, Marley apparently reached out to the rest of the world. Together, they made a Global Alliance to destroy Paradis and everyone on it."

Dina sighed as she shook her head. "Of course they did. Monsters."

Carla had almost forgotten that Dina was an Eldian born on Marley, that she had vital knowledge and wisdom about Marley and its people. Once she remembered this, Carla decided to see if Dina could help her.

"Dina... could you possibly think the Rumbling could be... justified?" she asked. "If there could ever be a time when someone would have to use it? I don't mean want, I mean if they had to use it." Carla hoped that there could be some justification behind her son's actions, that he wasn't the monster he had portrayed himself as in the stories he told.

Fortunately, Dina was willing to answer such a question.

"Well... I don't really know," she confessed. "I don't think I ever thought about what I had or didn't have to do when I was a Restorationist. I just wanted to be free from the internment zones, from Marley."

"..."

"But I can tell you this." Dina looked at the fourth line Carla had written. "Knowing Marley, they would just push and push andpush us until we gave up!" Each time Dina said that word, she underlined the sentence Carla had written. And she had to take a breath while she calmed down. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No, it's okay," Carla insisted. "I didn't mean to upset you, I'm sorry I asked."

Dina smiled. "It's okay, Carla. I understand. Did I, um... Did I help?"

"..."

Carla took another look at the chalkboard before she answered Dina. She focused on the part that her friend had underlined multiple times, and remembered what she said about Marley. This, combined with every story Eren had told her, made Carla realize something.

"I think you did," Carla said before she looked back at her friend. "I could see Marley pushing you over and over again. Because of that... I think it created some kind of... some kind of point."

"A point?" Dina asked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean... there's a point where it tips." Carla tapped the fourth sentence that Dina had underlined. "There's a point where it breaks, where it bends... a point where you just can't take anymore."

"..."

"If Marley crossed that line after we died... they may have reached the point where they couldn't return. If they reached that time and place with Eren..." Carla drew a line towards the word "Rumbling" as she finished her thoughts. "They wouldn't have any bridges left to burn. It would just be... the only way."

Carla was proud to see that she had drawn a new insight from Eren's story. It was an easy one to understand, that a certain point had been reached where peace and comprise was impossible. And if that point had been reached, even if people like Armin believed in peace, there was nothing left to do but fight.

And in Eren's case, it seemed the Rumbling was the only weapon he had large enough to stop an entire army.

But what about the rest of the world?

"...Maybe it's time I talk to Eren again," Carla realized. "I've done enough thinking on my own. I need him to explain everything else to me." With that, Carla turned back to Dina after she put the chalk down. "I think I'm about done here," she said. "Were you saying something about Cinder?"

"Oh, right!" Dina said as she handed Carla a piece of paper. "Take a look at this."

"What is it?"

"You know how Cinder realized she likes to sing? Well, I think she's starting to write her own songs too."

Carla looked at the paper and examined each word. "I think you're right. This does look like a song." She smiled a little. "Aw, it sounds so sweet."

"I know, doesn't it?"

Dina smiled as she looked at the paper with her friend. As she did, a thought came to her mind. It wasn't a random thought, but rather something that Dina had thought about before.

"Carla... do you think I could ask you for some advice?" she asked.

"Advice?" Carla repeated as she stopped looking at the paper. "Sure, what is it? Is it about Eren?"

"No, it's about me. And, um... Cinder as well."

"And Eren?"

"No, Eren's not involved!" Dina took a second to collect her thoughts. "Actually... he might be involved a little bit. I mean, with how you've been raising him. As a mother."

"Oh, I don't think I have advice about that. I mean, I was absent for practically half of his life." Carla sighed as she reminisced on her brief time with Eren, and the chance she had been given. "I hope we can make up for that time."

"Well... I think you can," Dina insisted. "And I know you'll be just as great a mother as you were on Paradis. And that's why... I wanted to ask you... what would you think if I decided to-?"

*BAM*

*BAM*

*BAM*

Both of the women jumped when they heard a violent knocking at the front door. Nobody was expected at this hour, and the farmhands were putting some of the final touches on Kuroyuri.

"Who could that be?" Carla asked curiously.

"I don't know," Dina said as she looked at the clock on the wall. She shared Carla's curiosity and confusion as to why someone would be here at this hour. "I'll go and see."

When Dina left the room, Carla quickly turned around and erased everything that was written on the blackboard. Even though the words were gone, Carla kept the insight she learned in her memory. She was proud of herself to see that she was able to understand Eren a little better, and she hoped that her next talk with him would help her understand even more.

Unfortunately, Carla realized that she would have more pressing matters to attend to.

*CRASH*

A loud and surprising crash near the front door caught Carla's attention and caused her to drop the eraser. "Dina?" she called out. When she heard no answer, Carla rushed towards the front door and called out again. "Dina? Dina!"

When she found her friend laying at the broken table in the kitchen with a bloody forehead, Carla screamed and covered her mouth.

"I was hoping you'd be here."

The sound of a voice caused Carla to turn around, but everything went black.

*BAM*

"Eight... nine... ten!" Cinder opened her eyes and looked across an empty field. "Ready or not, here I come!"

A lot of progress had been made towards rebuilding Kuroyuri. Everything had returned to normal for the people, they could resume their daily lives. But with a new drawbridge and a moat, there would be a new normal very soon. And now, the drawbridge and moat were almost ready to be unveiled.

Li Ren was helping with the efforts of the town, and An had a few errands of her own to run. So Carla was happy to keep an eye on Ren and Nora for her. But it was Eren and Cinder who kept a closer eye on them.

All day long, the four children had been playing games and spending time together. Eren was a little unsure about joining in at first, since he couldn't remember the last time he ever played back on Paradis. His childhood was destroyed the day the Titans breached Wall Maria, and he had some trouble remembering all the good times before the wall fell. But after Cinder's performance and confession, as well as some insistence from Ren and Nora, Eren joined in with the games.

And he actually found himself to be having fun.

After what felt like hours of other games, Eren and his friends were currently playing hide-and-seek. This would be the third time they played today, and Eren was hiding from Cinder with Ren and Nora. And he was about to have a little more fun when Cinder approached a bush.

"And... found you!" Cinder yelled as she pushed through the bush. But she didn't see anyone on the other side, just a patch of dirt.

Eren jumped out from a hollow log behind Cinder. "Boo!" he yelled.

"Gah!" Cinder cried out as she fell. When she looked up, she found Eren laughing at his prank. "Eren, that's not fair!"

"Hey, you found me, didn't you?" Eren asked as he held out his hand to Cinder. Once she took it and felt herself come off the ground, Cinder looked around for her other friends. "Yeah, I don't know where they are."

"Hang on, you actually gave me an idea." Cinder cupped her hands around her mouth and cried out. "Found you, Ren!"

Just then, Ren came out from behind another bush. "How did you find me so fast?" he asked in disbelief.

"I didn't," Cinder said with a laugh. "You just showed me where you were."

"What?" Ren looked back to his hiding place, which still appeared to have hid his presence well. "But you said you saw me!"

"I lied," Cinder said with another laugh. Eren needed a few more seconds to realize what Cinder's plan was, and he started to laugh as well.

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"Come on, it was just a joke! Besides, Eren cheated first when he scared me."

"No, I didn't!" Eren defended himself. "You still found me, didn't you? And now we found Ren, so this game's been completely fair!"

"Okay, okay! Cinder laughed as she briefly waved her hands. "Let's find Nora and take a break."

Ren looked up at the trees, which caused its leaves to give him some shade. "Well, at least one of us is still playing fairly," he said. "I'm sure Nora's hiding in another tree."

"Let's find out," Eren said as he ran to another tree while Cinder went to a taller one across the field. But they didn't find Nora. After searching the rest of the field, in all the possible places Nora could hide, the children found nothing.

"Well, it seems that I was wrong," said Ren. "I guess Nora cheated as well."

"We said that we couldn't leave the field," said Cinder. "So you're right, she cheated. But let's look one more time just to be sure."

"Hey guys!" Eren called out to Ren and Cinder. Coming out from behind a tree, Eren showed his friends the black long-sleeved shirt he was holding. "Isn't this Nora's?"

Ren walked over to Eren in order to get a better look at the shirt he was holding. "You're right," he said as he took the shirt. "Nora wears this over her T-shirt, she was wearing it today."

"What about this?" Cinder asked. Turning around, Eren and Ren saw Cinder holding a white and pink sneaker with a gray strap on it. "Does Nora wear this kind of shoe?"

Ren took a look and nodded. "This is strange. What is she doing without her shirt or shoe?"

"I found them under this tree," Eren said as he pointed upwards. "Nora might have been hiding up there, maybe she fell." Eren pointed towards the farmhouse in the distance. "She might have gone there for help."

"I hope she's okay," Cinder said as she turned in the direction of the farmhouse. "We should go check on her."

With that, Cinder led the way back to Carla's house, with Eren and Ren following her. As they were walking, Ren turned to Eren and started a conversation.

"Eren, can I ask you something?" he politely requested.

"Sure, what is it?" Eren asked.

"Well... ever since Nora and I found out about you and Cinder, I've been a little curious about the Titans. Do you think we could talk about them?"

"Sure, I don't mind. Well, as long as you don't have a lot of questions. The first time someone talked to me about my Titan, we stayed up all night."

"All night?" Ren's jaw slightly dropped at the idea of two people talking throughout the entire night. The only person who could have enough energy to do that was Nora, and he already had his hands full with one Nora. So Ren could sympathize with Eren's feelings on that day. Regardless, he began to ask his questions. "Well, I was wondering... what are they, exactly?"

Eren realized that Ren's understanding of Titans wasn't like that of Hange Zoë's, the person who he stayed up with all night talking. Fortunately, he knew how to explain things better than he did that night.

"Well, after a while, I found out there are two kinds of Titans," Eren began. "Cinder and I are the kind that can turn into one whenever we want. All we need to do is bleed. A small cut or bite is enough to let us turn into Titans."

"And the other kind?"

"Most people would call them 'Pure Titans.' Cinder and I can change back and forth, but the people who got turned into Pure Titans couldn't change back."

"How come?"

"They were changed against their will. They were prisoners that were transformed and sent to Paradis, the island I'm from. The people who did that had a way to make Titans of their own. They were mindless, forced to give into their primal nature. But the worst part was... they ate people."

Ren gasped at the idea of giant, man-eating monsters. While he was confident that Eren and Cinder weren't like those Titans, he was still afraid. "So they were monsters?" he assumed.

"...Yeah. My friends and I fought and killed them to protect our home. That was before the war, before we found out anything about Marley." Eren turned back to Ren. "You might have seen that war, when you saw my memories. Sorry about that."

"It's fine." Ren had another question about the Titans he wanted to ask. "So, what made you and Cinder special? How come you can control your Titans?"

"Back home, there were nine special Titans that stood out from the rest," Eren explained. "They were made by a girl named 'Ymir,' who was the first Founding Titan. After she died, she passed down eight Titans with different powers to her people. The people who inherited them passed them down again and again for years. There was the Colossus Titan, the Armored Titan, the Attack Titan, the Female Titan, the Jaw Titan, the Beast Titan, the Cart Titan, and the War-Hammer Titan."

"Oh, okay. And you had one of them on Paradis?"

"That's right. Mine was the Attack Titan."

"And you have one of those Titans now?"

"...Sort of. You know how the God of Darkness gave me my new Titan?" Ren nodded, since he saw the first time Eren and Darkness met. "Well, I became the new Founding Titan. It's not like the Titans from my home."

"But you can still pass them down, right?"

"Yeah, that's what Cinder asked me to do."

"And she was... the Female Titan?"

"That's what I thought when I saw her Titan. But no." Eren looked back to Cinder, who was still walking in front of them. And they were much closer to the farmhouse. "She's different from the rest. The Female Titan had powers that let her harden her skin. But Cinder can make fire whenever she wants. It's like she's this giant incinerator."

"So would you call her that?"

"Call her what?"

"The Incinerator Titan. That's what she does, right?"

"Well, I-"

Cinder suddenly turned around. "What did you call me?" she asked.

Eren stopped walking. "Oh, sorry," he said. "We were just-"

"No, not you." Cinder walked up to Ren. "You were talking about my Titan, right?"

"Uh... right," said Ren, who was worried he had accidentally offended Cinder. "I'm sorry, I was wondering-"

"Did you call me the... Incinerator Titan?"

"Um... yes?"

Cinder suddenly formed a big smile. "Wow! I like it!" She looked back to Eren. "What do you think, Eren? The rest of the Titans on Paradis had names! Doesn't the Incinerator Titan sound like a good name?"

Eren looked back to Ren. "I think Cinder's been spending too much time with Nora," he said.

"I think you're right," Ren agreed.

The rest of the walk to the house was filled with more talk about Titans, as Ren had a few more questions for Eren. As they approached the front of the house, Cinder ran up the steps.

"Hey, Nora!" she yelled as she walked to the front door. "Nora, are you in-?"

Cinder stopped in her tracks, which caused Eren to bump into her.

"Cinder, what are you-?"

Eren suddenly lost his train of thought when he followed Cinder's gaze. The two children were staring at a broken doorknob with the handle destroyed. It looked like as if something, or someone, had kicked the door open. Ren looked at the door as well, seeing the peculiarity. After all three children shared a worried glance at each other, Eren slowly opened the door.

"Nora?" he called out. "Mom? Ms. Fritz? Are you okay?"

"..."

Everyone shared a look at each other once again before they walked inside the house. Once they went inside, it was clear something terrible happened. The kitchen table was destroyed, which left a few broken plates on the floor along with the chairs being overturned. As they looked down the hallway, they saw that the rest of the house appeared to be in order. Eren and Cinder rushed inside to see if anything else was wrong, but the house was fine.

The only thing wrong, however, was that nobody was inside.

"Mom?!" Eren called out. "Mom, where are you?!"

"Ms. Fritz?!" Cinder called out. "Are you in here?!"

"Nora!" Ren called out as soon as he stepped inside. "Nora?!"

"..."

When they heard nothing but silence, everyone rushed into the kitchen to discuss what was going on.

"What happened here?" Cinder asked nervously.

"Could an animal have done this?" Ren suggested. "Maybe one of the farm animals?"

"No," Eren said as he gently pushed past Cinder. "I... I've seen something like this before." He didn't want to admit it, but the truth was obvious. "Guys... somebody broke in. They kidnapped my mom and Ms. Fritz."

Cinder and Ren gasped and found themselves unable to believe something like this would happen. Eren ran outside again and looked around, but couldn't find anything that resembled a clue. So he walked back inside and punched the wall.

*BAM*

"Dammit!" he said. "They could be anywhere!"

"This has never happened here before," said Ren. Kuroyuri wasn't a city without crime, there would be occasional robberies and vandalism. But nobody had ever done something as horrible as kidnapping. He found himself incredibly worried, since there was still no sign of Nora.

"Who would do this?" Cinder asked. "And why?"

Eren turned to tell Cinder that he had no idea, but stopped himself from talking. He didn't notice it at first, but there was a bad smell lingering in the hallway. Eren took a few sniffs before he asked Cinder a question. "Cinder... do you smell that?"

Cinder took a sniff in the air. After a few seconds, she took another one. Then another. "That smell... It smells like..."

"Liquor."

Back in Atlas, Cinder was forced to serve meals to the guests of the Glass Unicorn. Along with those meals came a drink of the customer's choice. One of the choices was strong liquor. Strong enough to make Cinder's nostrils feel violated when she got too close to the glass. This liquor wasn't as strong, but the smell was more than detectable. And Eren had been in the presence of Dot Pixis long enough to know what liquor smelled like.

Eren followed the scent back into the kitchen, where he found a silver flask spilling its alcoholic contents all over the floor. But it wasn't the alcohol that captured Eren's attention. It was the design of the flask itself, as well as the wings on it.

"I've seen that before," said Cinder, who got a good look at the flask as Eren picked it up off the ground. "Eren... That belongs to-"

"The Huntsman," Eren angrily finished. "He did this."

Li Ren and his wife were the first people to learn what happened at Carla's house. When they walked to the farmhouse to pick up Ren and Nora, the husband and wife found three children running up to them and crying for help. Cinder explained what happened at the house while Eren showed the flask as proof. When Ren told his parents that Nora was missing as well, An began to panic.

Li took action by telling his wife to take the children back home. In the meantime, he would go find Marcus Black with some of Carla's farmhands and figure out what was going on. They may have missed the altercation at the house due to their work in the town, but they weren't going to miss anything now.

Mayor Fa had given a house to Marcus and his son, a small place to stay while Marcus conducted work as a Huntsman. When Li and his reinforcements reached the household, they found nothing inside. Not just in the sense that Marcus and his son weren't home, but they found no trace of anything that Marcus had as personal possessions.

Which either meant that Marcus travelled light or he packed up everything and left. And since the door was unlocked, it seemed that Marcus had indeed left.

And along his way, he had kidnapped two innocent women and a child.

News of the incident travelled fast around the small town, which caused the Mayor to quickly organize a search party. Since his last attempt to seek external help had gone terribly wrong, Mayor Fa knew that he could only rely on the people of Kuroyuri for help.

Many decisions were made about the search party, namely that Li would lead it and he would take most of his hunting party to assist him. One of the unanimous decisions, however, was that the children would stay behind.

But with each passing moment, Eren and Cinder were growing impatient and worried.

"Come on!" Eren prayed as he looked out one of the windows of the Ren household. He saw that the sun was beginning to set, which made his concern and anger grow. "Where are they?!"

"It feels like they've been gone for almost an hour," said Cinder, who sat in the corner. "That means they haven't found anything yet."

"And that means we're running out of time," said Ren, who sat at a table by himself.

Eren turned back to his friends. "So we all need to do something." When he made sure that An Ren wasn't close by, Eren opened the door. "I've waited long enough, I gotta find my mom." Eren had made enough mistakes with his mother already, and he wasn't going to abandon her like before. "Are you coming?"

Cinder nodded. "Nora and Ms. Fritz have always looked out for me," she said. "And your mom was the one who brought us here. If they need my help, they deserve it."

"I abandoned Nora once," Ren said as he stood up. "I promised that I wouldn't make that mistake again."

"Good." Eren pushed the door open and ran outside. "Let's go." He suddenly bit into his hand.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Cinder cried out.

Eren stopped the process of transformation and turned around. He still wanted to transform, so he let his hand bleed from the bite. "What?" he asked impatiently.

"Don't turn into a Titan!" Cinder argued. "That's not going to help us now."

"Why not? We can cover a lot more ground than anyone else could!"

"Well, yeah, but we don't know where to go!"

"Cinder's right," said Ren, who stood behind the young girl. "They could be anywhere, and we don't have time to guess."

Eren was very impatient, but he knew that Cinder and Ren were right. Marcus could have gone in one direction while the hunting party could have gone in another. There was no way to tell which way they went.

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Eren asked. He came off as impatient, but he knew any suggestions would be more than welcome.

Ren suddenly had an idea. "Do you think you can... track them?" he asked. "My father once told me that some Grimm can track whatever they're hunting."

Eren took a moment to think about this while his hand continued to bleed. "Maybe. I never tried that with my Titan before."

"Well, what about my Titan?" Cinder asked as she looked at Eren. "Maybe it could help!"

"Maybe, but I think yours is only good with fire. It'll help with fighting, but not so much as hunting." Eren suddenly remembered something. "Wait, didn't you find some Grimm when we made that moat and bridge that night?"

"Oh, that was just luck. I looked around a few places, and found them all together."

Eren spent some more time thinking about a plan, and more of his blood fell to the ground. When he looked back at his friends for a moment, Eren decided to think out loud.

"Hey, Ren," he said to his friend. "Come here for a second."

Ren stepped out of the house and left Cinder alone. "What is it, Eren?" he asked calmly.

"Your dad's one of the hunters, right?" Eren asked. "Do you think you might know some things that could help?"

"Hmm..." Ren tried to think of times when his father had passed down his wisdom to him, just like he did when he first saw Nora. "Not too much. But I know they always go out the front when they leave town."

Eren believed this was obvious, but he remembered something else. "Wait, that's right," he said. "Everyone saw your dad and the hunters leave, but what about the Huntsman? How'd he get out without being seen?"

"Maybe he took a different way out?"

"Is there another way?"

Eren and Ren continued to talk and hypothesize about how Marcus could have dragged two women and a child without being seen, hoping that it could point them in the right direction of Marcus' trail. Cinder was about to suggest that perhaps the Huntsman had used his unique Semblance to leave, but something else had captured her attention.

The black blood from Eren's hand continued to fall to the ground, but it was doing more than just leaving a few drops on the ground. The blood was coming together and forming a puddle on the ground.

A puddle that was starting to grow.

"Ummm... Eren," she called out.

Eren seemed to ignore Cinder as he continued to talk to Ren. "Okay, maybe he didn't scale the wall," he said. "But maybe he moved in a different direction instead of staying on the path."

"That's true," said Ren. "Father once said that some of the animals he hunted weren't on the main path."

"How far does that path go?"

"I'm not sure. I've been on it before, but only to walk through the woods with my parents."

"The Huntsman might have done the same thing."

Cinder continued to see the puddle by Eren's feet. Now it was beginning to grow even larger. "Eren," she called out again.

"We could try going that way," Eren said to Ren. He was too focused on finding his mother to pay attention to anything else. "I still want to use my Titan, though."

"You were right about covering more ground," said Ren. "I'll try to keep up as best as I can."

"I could just carry you like I did before." Eren suddenly thought of something else. "You'd have to get away when we find them, though. That Huntsman is gonna put up a fight."

"Well, I can't hide forever. Isn't there something else I could do?"

"Unless you want me to give you one of my Titans, waiting for the fight to be over would be for the best."

"..."

Eren couldn't help but notice Ren's silence at the idea. "Um... Ren?"

Before Ren could say anything else, Cinder screamed as loud as she could while she pointed to the ground.

"EREN!"

Eren finally turned around and saw where Cinder was pointing. Growing by his feet, right under his bleeding hand, was a pool of black water that almost looked like tar. Before anyone could ask what it was, a black claw shot out of the water and clutched the soil. It remained still for a few moments before another claw came to the surface, doing the exact same thing.

"Get inside!" Eren yelled as he pushed Ren back.

Ren and Cinder ran into the house, but Eren tripped before he could join them. He turned around fast to see that a Beowolf had emerged from the water, and it began to walk forward. The pool was starting to disappear, but the Beowolf wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Eren!" Cinder yelled when she saw her friend was missing. "Eren, come on!"

The shock of seeing a Beowolf emerge from his own blood finally passed and Eren began to crawl backwards to get away. The Beowolf moved its head towards the boy as it walked closer, but it didn't attack.

Instead, it took a single sniff at Eren before it began to sniff the ground.

As he felt Cinder help him to his feet, Eren couldn't help but observe the Beowolf's unusual behavior. He had seen many Beowolves before, and all they did was scratch and bite at his Titan before he killed them. But rather than attacking, the Beowolf continued to smell the ground. He and Cinder were forced to back up when it moved its head to them and sniffed once more, but they calmed down once it smelled the ground again.

"..."

Eren, Cinder, and Ren were dumbfounded by what they were seeing. The Beowolf looked like it was tracking some kind of scent it picked up, looking for the right direction to travel. Eren pointed to it and was about to tell his friends that it looked like it was tracking something, but then he saw the blood on his hand.

Once he did, Eren was able to figure out what was going on.

"Guys... I think I made that Grimm," he said. He had noticed how his black blood was the same black as the puddle they all saw. "And I think it wants us to follow it." Eren took a step forward, but Cinder put her hand on his chest.

"I think that's crazy," she said.

Just then, the Grimm stopped smelling the ground. It turned around and walked a few feet towards the house. After it let out a growl, the Grimm moved its head to the direction it was previously walking in. It seemed that the Beowolf was calling out to the children like a dog would.

"It does!" Eren said as he walked towards the beast. "It wants us to follow it!" As he ran towards the Grimm, Eren watched it sniff the ground and move away once again. "Come on, let's go!"

Cinder and Ren reluctantly walked away from the house and followed Eren. They soon began to agree that Eren had indeed created this Grimm, and he had unlocked a new power with his Titan.

However, unknown to the children, someone else had felt the new discovery of power. And he had just watched one of his own Grimm take orders from a human of all people.

"...Impressive," said the God of Darkness. "Most fascinating."

"Well, Marcus, you've done it again. Those two are quite the pair."

"You know me, sir. I aim to please. And speaking of pleasure, don't forget my 'Capture Target Alive' bonus along with the payment. I promised this wouldn't be like last time."

"Not to worry Marcus, you'll get your Lien. It will be transferred to you at the drop-off point."

"It better. I'll be there a little early, I'm getting as far away from that stupid hick town as I can."

Marcus Black grumbled as he tossed the remnant of a cigar he had been smoking. He was in a small and isolated cabin that had been abandoned long ago. It was broken and damaged beyond repair, but it served its purpose as a temporary hideout.

For him and his present... company.

Marcus turned to the corner of the room when he heard whimpers in the air. When he did, he saw that Carla and Dina were awake and trying to free themselves from the rope they were tied in. Their mouths were gagged, which made it hard for them to breathe.

Nora was also present, and she was crying.

"By the way..." Marcus said as he walked towards Nora. "You got a client who likes the young ones, right? If you don't, I'll take care of it on my end."

Carla and Dina became more scared for Nora, since they were sure what Marcus was talking about. Fortunately, the man's client put the idea to rest.

"Ah, yes," the voice replied. "Your witness, I believe. Not to worry, one of my colleagues indeed 'likes the young ones,' as you've put it."

Marcus chuckled as an ugly smile formed on his scarred face "Read you loud and clear," he said. "Just to let you know, she's gonna cost a little extra."

"I just spoke with him. He'll gladly pay the price an 'exquisite beauty' like her. His words, not mine."

"He can say whatever he wants. Hell, I'll even gift-wrap her for him when he shows up." The smile on Marcus' face grew wider when he heard the girl's distressed whimpers grow louder. "Tell your contacts I should arrive in a few hours."

"Pleasure doing business with you, Marcus."

"And a pleasure doing business with you too, Councilman."

Marcus closed his Scroll and pocketed it before marching over to the bound and gagged trio. "Who'd of thought that the higher-ups in Mistral were some kinky bastards?" Marcus tilted his head as he nudged Nora with his foot, the poor girls cries muffled by the cloth gag. "It's a shame that you had to be at that house when you were. You're gonna have a new home pretty soon."

Neither of the women could reach out and help Nora, but Carla had managed to spit out the cloth that was around her mouth. "Don't touch her!" she shouted. "What is wrong with you?!"

Dina followed Carla's example and found herself without a gag as well. "How could you do this to us?!" she asked rhetorically. "You're supposed to be a Huntsman, for God's sake!"

Marcus tsked as he shook his head. "You still don't get it do you?"

*SMACK*

Marcus had sent a backhanded slap to Dina's face, which led to a loud sound echoing through the cabin. Dina fell on her side with a yelp of pain while Carla cried out her name in concern. When the echo and Carla's voice disappeared, Marcus began to explain himself.

"Yeah, being a Huntsman's just a cover," he began. "You know, a means to an end? A disguise when I'm on the job?" He was toying with his prisoners by speaking in a patronizing voice.

"..."

Nobody had a response for the man, but Marcus didn't let that stop him for confidently and pompously talking about himself.

"Don't get me wrong, I love a good fight. How do you think I got these bad boys?" Marcus was looking at Carla when he was showing his scars. "But fighting an endless fight? Doing the same thing over and over again for the rest of your life?" Marcus knelt down towards Carla. "Naw... I ain't gonna be like those weaklings. Hell, I've lost count of how many of them I've killed. Instead, I call my own shots. I'm my own boss, I make my own rules."

"..."

Carla could really care less what drove the assassin to do what he did. However, this lack of care was starting to affect Marcus in all the wrong ways.

"Besides, being a Huntsman ain't all it's cracked up to be. Sure, those bastards talk a good game, but that's all it is. I've seen enough that are just like me and then some. So, you know..." Marcus gently grasped Carla's chin. "You might be better off with me than an actual Huntsman."

Carla aggressively shook her head away, which broke Marcus' soft grasp. "Get away from me, you pig!" she demanded. The man's words and behaviors were making her sick.

But Marcus felt the opposite.

"Aw, there it is!" he said as he grabbed Carla's hair to make her look at him. "There's the spirit I saw that day!" He laughed for a moment before he spoke again. "Does that boy of yours have the same spirit? He has a big mouth, but he's got the balls to follow through. Kinda makes me wish he was my kid."

Mercury, the assassin's son, was also in the cabin with his father. He was minding his own business while trying not to listen, but he couldn't help but hear what his father said. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time he had been insulted by his father.

And Marcus was too busy to care.

"Man, you sure are something else," Marcus said as he held Carla's hair. She was still fighting his grip, but he held on tightly. "Maybe I could just give my boss your friend and the kid. Keep you all for myself."

Carla was growing even more disgusted by the man, and so was Dina. The position her friend was in evoked all kinds of pity from Dina, and she wished she could fight back against the man. She was trying to break free of her ropes so she could run, and so was Carla.

But Carla was planning on fighting back rather than just running.

"Nah," Marcus decided. "The Councilman already made me an offer I can't refuse." But rather than let go of Carla, he picked her up off the floor. "Then again, he doesn't really mind used material."

Enough was enough.

As soon as Carla stood up, she kicked Marcus' side in retaliation and defiance. But the man had enough Aura and experience to ignore the brief pain, so he pushed Carla back with enough force to hurt her head on the wall.

*BAM*

"Yep," he said. "Still got that spirit."

*GROWL*

*GROWL*

Marcus stopped everything when he heard growls outside. Mercury, Carla, and everyone else heard them as well and realized that there were Grimm outside the cabin. They were no doubt drawn to the fear, anger, and disgust each prisoner had towards a man as despicable as Marcus Black.

"Seriously?" the man asked. "Right when you get in the mood, this shit happens." Rather than ignore the Grimm that could potentially get inside, Marcus set out to kill them all. "Mercury! Make your ass useful and keep an eye on them!"

"..."

Mercury nodded in silence as he kept his eyes on the floor. However, Marcus grabbed his son's face and moved it upward.

"I said on them, idiot!" Marcus said. "Not the damn floor!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Mercury said as he looked at all three of the prisoners. Marcus suddenly let go of his son and moved to the door.

*SLAM*

When he heard the door slam shut, the boy flinched and released a quick but depressing sigh. It was always like this for him. He was always being dragged along on his father's "jobs." He was never used to what he had seen, but Marcus made it his mission for Mercury to change. All in order to, in his father's own drunken words, "gain experience, along with a spine," for when he "takes over the business." There were times when the boy did learn a few things, mainly about fighting and how to take a hit.

But Mercury still hated it.

He hated the beatings that Marcus disguised as "training."

He hated being dragged into his father's messes.

He hated being forced to having to get his own hands dirty.

And surprisingly, the one thing Mercury hated most of all was hearing people cry and beg before he watched them die. He was never used to the sight of death, even though he learned to hide his trauma under a slightly sarcastic attitude. There were times when he got beaten black and blue for trying to show compassion and kindness to people, like a decent human being, and then being called weak for it. So Mercury did his best to drop any sense of compassion a long time ago.

It was the only way he could survive in his father's presence. Mercury knew that his sense of compassion, his sense of right and wrong, and any attempt at rebellion would have to be replaced. He needed to have a hollow hole in his heart, a place that could start to eat the boy's soul.

But even though Mercury knew what he had to do... he hadn't done it yet.

"...Why?"

Mercury turned and faced Dina, who was staring back at him. "Why are you going along with this?" she asked. She had tried something like this back in Marley, before she was turned into a Titan. She had suffered terrible abuse for doing nothing at all, both verbally and physically. When she asked why they were doing this, answers ranged from "devils" and "being filthy-blooded." Marcus wasn't fueled by hate, just greed.

However, there was something very obvious about his son.

"You don't have to do this," Dina insisted. "You don't have to be anywhere near him. We can help you!"

"..."

Mercury heard statements like that, and many others, about a hundred times in his life. At first, he would apologize and try to offer some relief. He figured it was the least he could do.

But now, Mercury simply said it as it was.

"It's pointless, doing the opposite of what he says," he dryly spat. "And even if I do say no... he'll just beat me 'til I change my mind."

Dina couldn't help but frown. Her heart ached for the poor boy. She always had a soft spot for children, since she spent so much time with them in Kuroyuri. No child should have to experience such awful things at such a young age, she believed.

The mere idea of children made Dina think back to Cinder. She realized that without any help, she was never going to see the little girl again. That bright, joyful, and special little girl that always found a way to make Dina feel special.

What hurt most was that Dina never got the chance to put her plan into action, something that she was going to ask Carla about. She was going to tell Carla that the child deserved a mother, just like Eren did.

And something told Dina that she could be that mother for Cinder. But now... she would never know.

Carla's heart ached as well, since she too was thinking of a particular child. Whether she ended up with Marcus or his client, Carla knew that she wasn't going to see Eren again. They had grown much closer over the weeks and were finally starting to move past the lies and secrets Eren felt compelled to keep to himself.

They both worked incredibly hard, and they were so close to being a family again. That was all Carla wanted, but now she felt that she had been robbed of that chance. Not because of Eren, but because of the despicable and cruel Marcus Black. He robbed her of of her son, which broke Carla's heart.

All she wanted to be was Eren's mother, to keep him safe and help him walk on the right path. But now... she had lost her chance. Just like Dina lost her's.

However... it wasn't too late.

Carla and Dina looked to Nora, who was crying uncontrollably. She had come to the farmhouse after she hurt herself while playing, and that was how she saw Marcus carrying two unconscious bodies with a Semblance that increased his strength. Before she could run, Marcus made Mercury grab her and take her with them.

Neither Carla nor Dina wanted Nora to be here. And when they shared a brief glance of understanding at each other, they knew what they could do.

"It's not too late," Dina pleaded to Mercury. "You can still make the right choice."

"I'm not letting you go," Mercury replied in a monotone voice. "I... I just can't, okay?"

"We know that!" Carla insisted. "But at least let Nora go! Look at her!" Carla noticed a few cuts and a bruise on the child's face and arm, which she was trying to use to evoke some kind of empathy from Mercury. "She's already been through enough! Your father can take us wherever he needs to go, but please don't let him do this to her!"

Mercury turned away from the women and looked over to the bound and gagged girl. He flinched when he saw her look his way, with tears streaming down her face and whimpers echoing through the room. Just as Carla had hoped, something had indeed awakened within Mercury when he looked at the young girl.

He felt pity for her.

This was actually the first time, in a long time, since Mercury felt like this. And this was also the first time he went on one of his father's missions that involved someone his age.

He knew what it was like for a child like him to feel pain. And he wanted that pain to stop each and every time it had been inflicted on him. Now, Nora had the same feelings, along with fear. Mercury had fear too, which made him reach out to Nora as he reflected on what Dina and Carla said.

But he suddenly pulled his hand back. Just like he said, helping would be pointless.

If he released Nora, then the drunk he called his father would know that he had let her escape. That meant the beating he would receive would be far worse than normal. If there was one thing Marcus hated more than his son, it was failing a job and not getting paid.

And yet, as he looked at Nora, Mercury began to see something other than a scared little girl. He began to see... a reflection. He saw what she was going through, and how it wasn't different than what he went through. Maybe... helping her would be... helping him too?

*CREAK*

While Mercury was lost in thought, creaking sounds came from behind him.

*CREAK*

One of the creaks finally made him lift his head up and turn towards the direction of the sound. Since it was nighttime and there were no lights in the cabin, it was hard to see who or what was in the room with him.

But Mercury definitely wasn't alone anymore.

"...Dad?" Mercury assumed as he looked into the darkness.

Suddenly, a small figure ran out of the darkness and let out a small yell. And that figure sent a fist straight into Mercury's face.

*BAM*

"Ahh!"

Mercury let out a shout of pain and surprise as he fell to the floor. He tried to get back up again, but he was suddenly tackled and pinned to the floor. Mercury would have put up more of a fight and throw the person off, since this was a part of his "training," but the burning sensation he was feeling on his arm and chest were too painful to fight off.

"If you touch them again, I'll burn you even more," a female voice threatened.

Mercury didn't recognize the voice, but Dina could.

"Cinder!" Dina cried in relief.

Carla could see that it was indeed a tired and haggard-looking Cinder who was pinning Mercury down. The person who punched, him, however, was somebody else. Somebody that Carla could see when he stepped into the moonlight.

"Eren!" Carla said in joy and disbelief.

Eren couldn't help but smile as he caught his breath. He and Cinder were covered in sweat, and each of them were letting out heavy breaths like they had just ran a marathon.

But the exhaustion was worth it if it meant they could see their caretakers once again.

"Mom!" Eren said as he ran up to his mother. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Carla lied. She was still in pain from Marcus' assault and still feeling sick from his perverted thoughts. But she was happy to see her son again, and happy to see that he was untying her.

"Hang on," Eren said as he worked quickly. "I'm almost there."

"I can't believe it," Carla said as she felt the rope around her hands loosen. "You found us!"

"Not just us," Cinder said as she gestured to the side of the room. Emerging from an open window came the form of Ren, who immediately scanned the room for Nora. Luckily, it didn't take too long to find her.

"Nora!" Ren cried as he ran over to the bound girl. He reached down and began undoing the ropes binding her wrists. "Hang on, we'll get you out of here!"

Nora had finally stopped crying and looked at Ren with joy and relief. And as she felt the ropes loosen, Nora thanked whatever force had led Ren and her other friends to her rescue.

Though she had no idea that it was a Grimm of all things.

The Beowolf Eren accidentally made had led the three children through a long trek through the woods. Everyone had been traveling for a long time, which left them tired, sweaty, and ready to drop. Eren continued to curse himself that he didn't possess the same stamina as he did back on Paradis.

But his spirits, along with Cinder's and Ren's, were renewed once they saw that the Grimm had led them to a large cottage, sitting close to a dirt path. More Beowolves had emerged to join their comrade, and their growls alerted Marcus Black. Once he stepped outside to kill the Grimm, everyone was able to sneak inside.

Carla and Nora had just been freed, who in turn rewarded their saviors with a hug. Each of the boys happily returned the hugs they received before they looked at the wounds on their bodies.

"Nora, are you okay?" Ren asked. "Can you walk?"

"Mom, is that blood?" Eren asked as he looked at his mother's head. "What-?"

"Don't worry about me!" Carla insisted. "Help me with Dina!"

Eren and Carla walked over to Dina and began to untie her. As they did, Dina smiled and felt relieved that she was being rescued.

Though she was even more worried for the children than she was before.

"You all shouldn't be here," she said. "This is no place for children."

"It'll be fine, Ms. Fritz," Eren promised. "The whole town knows the Huntsman took all of you. He won't get away with this."

"He better not," Carla said as she finished untying Dina. Once she did, Carla helped her friend up on her feet.

"Eren, let me see that rope," said Cinder, who was beginning to lose her grip on Mercury. "I can tie him before we-!"

*SLAM*

Cinder was cut off when the door to the cabin slammed open. And before she could say anything, Cinder was struck and pinned against the wall by what looked like a bar of black energy.

*BAM*

"Aaah!"

"Cinder!" Ren and Nora both cried out before they to were struck and pinned by the same energy.

*BAM*

*BAM*

Eren looked to the door to see what was going on, but he too was struck with the energy. And soon, it hit Carla and Dina as well.

*BAM*

*BAM*

*BAM*

The only one who hadn't been hit and bound by the strange energy was Mercury, who looked to the door to see what was happening. And when he did, the boy saw Marcus standing over him with an angry scowl on his face as he stepped into the room.

"Mercury..." the man angrily said as he observed what had happened. Or in his words, what his son had let happen.

Mercury stood up and attempted to explain himself. "Dad, I-!"

*BAM*

"Grk!"

Mercury gagged when Marcus's fist suddenly buried itself in his gut. When he fell to the floor again, spit and bile escaped Mercury's mouth before Marcus unleashed his full rage.

"You had a single!"

*BAM*

"Simple!"

*BAM*

"Job!"

*BAM*

"And you couldn't!"

*BAM*

"Even do that!"

Mercury cried in pain as he laid on the ground. His nose felt like it was broken and blood was flowing all over his face. Bruises soon began to form on his face and underneath his clothes.

Needless to say, it would be a while before Mercury could stand up again.

Marcus took in a deep breath before looking back down at his son. "I'll finish with you later," he said as he faced his prisoners, new and old.

He specifically looked at Eren.

"You again?" he asked sarcastically. "Well, son of a bitch. You're just as brave as that sweet thing you call your mom." Marcus chuckled before he created a ball of fire in his hand and brought it close to Eren's face. "Stupid, but brave."

Eren was still trapped behind the black bar of energy Marcus had created. And now, he was looking at a ball of fire that was resting on the man's flesh. The boy was confused as to how this man could perform multiple feats like this at any time. Cinder and Nora told him how he used his Semblance multiple different ways, but this looked like all different Semblances.

How was it possible?

"How... did you...?"

The false Huntsman began to laugh when he saw how confused Eren was. "Lemme tell you something, kid," he said. "I hate Semblances. They're a crutch. A weakness. One that people, especially Huntsmen and Huntresses, tend to see as the key to winning a fight. But here's the kicker: it's what ends up getting them killed."

"..."

Marcus turned his gaze over to the ribbons of black energy pinning the other children against the wall. "But even I have to admit that they come in handy. They help me get out of trouble. I mean, I feel like I wanna puke when I can't rely on my own goddamn strength, but these Semblances really pack a punch." Marcus looked at the black bar around Eren. "I got this one after some drunk bitch tried to kill me. I won, obviously." He chuckled again as he looked at Carla. "You know, she looked a little like you. Just a little, though. You're much better."

Carla couldn't help but look away from Marcus. His perverted words and tendencies were making her sick, and she dreaded the fact that she was pinned to a wall.

Marcus could do whatever he wanted to her.

Eren, on the other hand, was able to look at Marcus with fury in his eyes. He was angry when he had to watch his mother die, he was angry when the Reiss family condemned people like her to die, and now he was angry that Marcus planned to do unspeakable things to his mother.

Marcus easily noticed this anger, which gave him an idea.

"This was supposed to be an easy job," he said. "Get to a town nobody's ever heard of, grab a bitch or two, then get out and get my pay." He chuckled again. "It really was an easy job. But I'm gonna need some kind of challenge!"

Marcus grabbed Eren's throat as the black energy disappeared. Eren could feel the air being cut off immediately, which made him retaliate by grabbing Marcus' hands and clawing at them. After a few seconds of this, Marcus threw Eren towards the door and destroyed it instantly.

*CRASH*

Eren rolled on the ground outside a few times before he laid down motionless. This caused everyone in the cabin, save for Marcus and Mercury, to call out his name in concern. Marcus wasn't concerned, but he was curious as he stepped outside and looked at Eren.

"I've seen a look like that before," he said as he watched Eren get back up. "It's been on just about everyone who tried to kill me. I've lost count of how many times I've tried to make Mercury look at me like that." Marcus pointed at Eren. "Butyou... you definitely got it." He immediately walked up to Eren and smacked his head.

*SMACK*

"Come on, kid! Impress me!"

*SMACK*

Eren quickly threw a fist at the man's side, despite the fact that he wasn't as strong or as tall as him. He wasn't bleeding, so all he could do at the moment was throw his fists like he had been taught to back on Paradis.

The strikes were relatively harmless and predictable, something that Marcus could either block or dodge. After a few seconds of these actions, Marcus put an end to Eren's attempted fighting by sending a strong kick to his head.

*CRACK*

The kick finally made Eren bleed, but he fell to the ground once more in pain. And since Marcus was unharmed, he had the perfect chance to gloat.

"That wasn't bad," he said as he kicked Eren's side. "Not good, but not bad either. You definitely fight like someone's been teaching you." Marcus chuckled. "Guess that backwards town of hicks are good for something after all."

Eren was still angry at his new enemy, and he wanted to keep fighting. And as soon as he realized that he was bleeding, Eren began to stand up again as he concentrated on the blood.

"Save your strength, boy," Marcus said as he raised his leg. "Or... are you really a boy? I'm a little confused. Last I checked, 'Erin' is a girl's-"

*CRACKLE*

Red lightning suddenly began to form around Eren's body, which soon spread across the soil and caused the ground to rumble.

It also caused Marcus' smirk to finally vanish.

"Wha-?"

*BOOM*

An explosion knocked Marcus back towards the cabin, where he hit the outside wall and fell to the ground. His Aura protected him from both the explosion and the crash, but it required a large amount to do so.

But the amount of Aura he had was the least of Marcus' worries.

After he got back up, Marcus found himself in the presence of a tall monster that was looking down at him and forming a fist. Once the fist began to make its way towards him, Marcus jumped out of the way and let the fist destroy some of the cabin.

*BAM*

The side of the house was completely destroyed, which gave Cinder and the others the chance to escape they had been looking for. The black bars around them had disappeared, since Marcus was currently using a Semblance of speed to avoid the Founding Titan. Once they saw that they were free and unharmed, Cinder and the others turned towards the sight of freedom.

"There's a path over there!" Dina yelled as she held Cinder's hand and ran. "We'll come back for Eren when we find out where we are!"

"Let's go!" Carla agreed as she took Ren and Nora with her.

Cinder and Ren couldn't help but run when Dina and Carla grabbed them. While they had their misgivings about the Titans, Dina and Carla had every confidence that Eren could buy them some time to escape and eventually join them.

However, Cinder turned back to see that Marcus was putting up a good fight. He was able to run up a tree very quickly and jump towards Eren, which brought him very close to the back of Eren's neck. The assassin didn't know about the nape of a Titan, so he was attacking Eren's face. And Eren was trying to grab the man in the air, but he was too fast.

Cinder immediately saw that Eren could use some help. If she had her Titan, she could use its power to burn Marcus in the air. And so, she broke Dina's grasp and ran towards her friend.

"Eren needs help!" Cinder said to Dina. "Get out of here, run!"

"Cinder, no!" Dina yelled as she tried to reach the little girl. However, a falling tree immediately crashed in front of her due to the fight between Eren and Marcus.

*CRASH*

Ren, Carla, and Nora shared Dina's concern for both Eren and Cinder. The rush from being rescued and running away had finally passed, and Carla realized that leaving her son behind wasn't such a good idea.

Ren, however, had a better idea.

"Come on!" he said as he took Nora's hand. "Let's try to find my father and everyone else!"

*BAM*

*BAM*

*BAM*

Eren and Marcus were continuing to throw fists at each other. Eren's fists we're much more stronger and powerful, since they were destroying trees and the ground alike. Marcus was able to use speed to avoid the fists, but the resulting shockwaves from the punches were able to hit and disorient him.

The assassin was able to use another Semblance, one that enhanced strength, against Eren and managed to land blows against the Titan's flesh. While Eren could feel these attacks, Marcus believed that all he was doing was spreading black flesh and blood on himself.

"Son of a bitch!" he yelled as he looked at the blackness on him. "What the fuck is this shit?!" Marcus was growing angry and impatient at what he perceived to be little progress in defeating this unique foe.

However, he had an idea to finish this fight once and for all.

It was true that Marcus hated Semblances, since everyone he fought against always relied on it. However, as much as he hated to admit it, Marcus' greatest strength was his own Semblance.

Namely, the ability to steal other Semblances for himself.

That was how he was able to make black energy, fire, and utilize enhanced strength and speed at the same time. They were all Semblances he stole from other people before he killed them. He even used it to steal his own son's Semblance when he unlocked it.

So now, Marcus believed that he could use his Semblance once more and take this giant for himself.

And so, Marcus used his speed to jump on to the Titan's lower back. It would be hard for Eren to reach him there, and it would give Marcus enough time to concentrate and use his Semblance. After he activated it, Marcus imagined what it would be like to take on this monstrous form. He would be on top of the world, he would kill anyone much easier than before, and he would be able to-

"Huh?"

Marcus realized that something was wrong.

When he opened his eyes, he could see his hands glowing. This was a sign that he was indeed using his Semblance. However, he couldn't feel the boy's Semblance coming to him. The process usually took five seconds, five and a half at most. And yet, Marcus had been using his Semblance for ten seconds.

After the fifteenth second passed, Marcus stopped any further attempts and began to think. He thought that either this boy was a special case with his Semblance, or... this wasn't a Semblance at all.

*BOOM*

A familiar explosion from behind him caused Marcus to turn around and see another giant walking towards him, a feminine one holding a ball of fire in her hand. The distraction allowed Eren to finally grab Marcus Black off his back and hold him in his hand. And once Eren threw the man in the air, Cinder threw fire at Marcus.

*WHOOSH*

Marcus had to use his Aura so he wouldn't be burned, and he had to use another Semblance to land on the ground without being harmed. Once he did, he attempted to think of a new strategy to deal with the giants.

But his attention was lost when a rock hit his head.

*WHACK*

Marcus didn't have enough time to activate his Aura when he was struck from behind. He fell to the ground while clutching the back of his head, which had been hit by Carla.

Despite Ren's insistence about finding his father, Carla began to have the same feeling Dina had about abandoning Cinder. In addition, Carla didn't want to leave Eren behind either. He may have been a Titan, but it was clear that a Titan on Remnant was a Grimm.

And Carla had heard all too well how skilled Marcus was at killing Grimm. That was why he was hired to begin with.

Dina had hurt her foot when the tree knocked her back. And so, Carla bravely, yet foolishly, ran back to help her son. Carla knew she was being foolish, almost every instinct within her screamed to turn back. However, there was one instinct that Carla couldn't ignore, not in a time like this.

A mother's instinct.

Carla could live with herself if she gave up her own life protecting her son. But the other way around was something that Carla couldn't bear to do. So, she went back for Eren.

And when she saw her chance, Carla picked up a rock and struck it hard against the assassin's head. The attack was strong and well-placed, which gave Eren and Carla a chance to talk.

"Mom?!" Eren screamed from within his Titan. "What... are you doing?!" He pointed back towards the dirt path. "Go!"

Eren had told his mother that he could talk from within his Titan, but Carla wasn't used to this ability. Nevertheless, she spoke to her son.

"Not without you!" Carla insisted, despite the fact she felt strange talking to a Titan. "Now's our chance! Let's go!"

Before she could move a muscle, Carla felt an arm wrap around her neck and a voice in her ear.

"No, you don't!"

Marcus couldn't use his Aura when Carla attacked him, but he was able to use it to recover. Once he did, once the pain in his head disappeared, Marcus made a new plan as he wrapped Carla in his grasp.

Carla was Marcus' new insurance policy.

"Alright, enough with the giant monsters!" Marcus called out to Eren and Cinder. "Or I'll break this bitch's neck!"

Both Eren and Cinder were surprised and worried for Carla's safety when they saw Marcus grabbed her. Cinder was the first to retaliate, as she prepared more fire with a low growl.

"No!"

Everyone turned to Eren's Titan, who had his hand stretched towards Cinder. "Do what... he says," he ordered. He hated the idea, but he wasn't going to risk losing his mother by making Marcus mad.

Cinder looked back to Marcus, who tightened his grip on Carla's neck. Once she saw that Eren was right, she lowered her hand and ceased thinking about fire.

"Come on, then," Marcus ordered as he tightened his arm. "Let's talk man-to-man."

"..."

Eren kneeled down to the ground, very slowly. Once he did, Eren reluctantly exited his Titan and stepped off the large body. Cinder mimicked the motions with her own Titan and joined Eren on the ground.

"Well... you don't see that everyday," Marcus said. He then tightened his arm again when he saw Eren and Cinder move towards him. "Hold it, kids. One more step and she dies. Got it?"

"We did what you wanted!" Eren protested. "Let her go!"

"Oh, no way." Marcus began to grin. "Not until we make ourselves a deal."

"Deal?" Cinder asked. She and Eren shared a confused glance at each other before they looked back to Marcus. "What are you talking about?"

"What do you think?" Marcus pointed to the Titans with his free arm. "Tell me how you did that? I know it's not a Semblance." Before either of the children could reply, Marcus had an idea. "Well, let's cut to the chase. Tell me how I can get one of my own, and I'll give you your mommy back."

Eren knew that he couldn't make a deal like this, that he couldn't let Marcus have a Titan of his own. "I have a better idea," he said in retaliation. "Let my mom go and we let you and your son walk away."

"Heh."

Marcus looked at Carla and tightened the grip even more. Carla was starting to lose oxygen now, which she desperately needed to live.

"No, I don't think so," Marcus said as he looked back to Eren. "You're gonna tell me how I can do what you just did. And then maybe I'll let her go."

Eren was growing angrier by the second. That one change of mind told the boy that Marcus had no intention of letting Carla go, whether he had a Titan or not. He desperately tried to think of a plan while remaining still, but nothing came to mind.

However, Cinder was able to see something that could potentially help her and Eren. In order to use it, she would have to talk first.

"What are you going to do with it?" she asked.

"A little of this, little of that," Marcus casually answered. "Steal whatever, kill whoever. I'll tell you what, things are looking brighter for me." Marcus didn't believe he would be getting paid now, since two out of his three prisoners were gone now. But he wasn't planning on leaving empty handed.

If he couldn't get money, Marcus could walk away with power.

"What about your son?" Cinder asked.

Marcus became even more sure of himself, which made him reply even more casually. "...What about him?" he asked.

"You've kept him around this long. Don't you think he'll want it too?"

"He ain't getting shit until he learns how to be a man."

"And what is he now?"

"Someone who can't even keep three bitches in line. Weak."

Eren was wondering why Cinder was going on about a child she hardly knew. He was about to ask what was going on, but then he saw exactly what Cinder was trying to do.

And it was working.

"I don't know," Eren said next. "He was putting up a good fight against Cinder. He might be stronger than you think."

"So he can push a girl off his back," Marcus replied. "So what? Do you have a point?"

"I'm only saying I don't think he's as weak as you think." Eren turned to his friend. "Right, Cinder?"

"Yeah," Cinder agreed. "He's pretty strong. He shouldn't have to go through what you did to him."

Marcus believed the conversation was more than pathetic. "What, are you trying to make me see something in him?" he asked. "I've known what he is since the day he was born. And the day he gets strong as you twerps is the day I get a TV the size of a billboard. And I don't see any TV here. So let's get back to-"

*SHICK*

A sharp pain in his side caused Marcus to stop talking and finally let go of Carla. Looking down, Marcus not only saw Carla gasping for breath and holding her neck, but he also saw his broken and beaten son holding a sharp piece of broken glass in his hand.

Glass that could work like a knife.

"AH, SHIT!" Marcus yelled at the top of his lungs as Mercury pulled out the glass. Blood sprayed on the ground before Marcus could clutch his wound, and Carla finally had the opportunity to run.

"What's the matter, Dad?!" Mercury yelled as he prepared to thrust the glass again. "I thought you wanted me to be strong?!"

*SWISH*

The glass didn't stab into Marcus' flesh, but it cut his side. "Isn't this what you wanted?!" the boy yelled. "You wanted me to be a killer! Someone who can take on anyone!"

Carla had rejoined Eren and Cinder, who were doing nothing but letting the boy unleash his rage at his tormentor.

"Well, guess what, Dad?!" Mercury said as he raised the glass. "Anyone includes you!" The boy quickly lunged with the glass in hand and aimed it at Marcus' heart.

But this time, Marcus caught the boy's hand and twisted it.

*CRACK*

"Aaaaugh!"

Carla and Cinder gasped at the sight of Marcus hurting his son once more. Eren didn't make a sound, but he was shocked to see what was happening.

When the boy dropped his weapon, Marcus kicked Mercury in the gut and watched him roll on the ground. When he stopped, Marcus took the attack a step further and struck his foot at Mercury's leg.

*CRACK*

"AAAAAAUUUUHHH!"

Marcus repeated the motion several times, and he even transitioned to Mercury's other leg. Everyone who was witnessing this knew that they had to stop the assassin, or he might end up killing his son.

Eren was about to turn into a Titan once more, but then he heard something that made him change his mind.

*GROWL*

*GROWL*

Eren looked to his left and right to see multiple Beowolves at his sides. They soon moved close to Carla and Cinder as well, but they didn't attack. They didn't even attack Eren, who was wondering where the Grimm had come from.

But when he noticed that he had been bleeding, and that blood had fallen onto the ground to make large puddles, Eren knew what to do.

"Cinder, take my mom and go," he said as he gestured towards the broken tree. "Go now!"

Cinder didn't protest, but Carla did. "Eren, wait!" she said as she grabbed her son's shoulder. "I can't leave you here!"

"I'll catch up!" Eren promised after he shook his mother's grasp. "Just get the hell out of here! Now!" He immediately took off running towards Marcus with the Grimm in tow.

And Marcus was too busy breaking Mercury's legs in various places to notice.

"You know... if you had stabbed that nagging brat... I bet I would have been proud," Marcus said as he stepped on Mercury's leg once more.

*CRACK*

*SNAP*

"AAAAHHH!"

Mercury screamed as the pain in his legs intensified as his father stepped on them over and over again. "But now... I'm gonna do... what I should have done nine fucking years ago!" Marcus said before he turned around. "And then it's your turn, you fucking-!"

The scowl on Marcus' face disappeared when he saw multiple Beowolves crawling towards him. Two more crawled out of the ground behind Eren, and they all locked their eyes on the assassin.

And not only was Eren safe from harm, but he was also wondering if he could do more than just create Grimm. If he could control them as well, just like how the Founding Titan could control other Titans... that would be a great threat against Salem.

But there was only one way to know for sure.

"...Sic him," he ordered maliciously.

*ROAR*

Just as Eren hoped, all of the Grimm united against Marcus Black. He was able to stop one of them by grabbing its paws, but the others all tackled Marcus to the ground after they pushed him back. Mercury witnessed this, but he passed out from the shock of his injuries.

Eren stopped in front of Mercury, but only to pick up the glass Mercury had used to attack his father. He was inspired by this boy's actions, and now Eren was ready to finish what Mercury started.

*BAM*

*SNAP*

*CRACK*

*ROAR*

*BAM*

With each step Eren took, Marcus fought long and hard against each of the Grimm. His Aura had finally shattered, but not before he used more stolen Semblances to kill most of the Beowolves. But once his Aura had broken, the Grimm began to scratch, bite, and claw at Marcus' body.

With one final burst of energy, Marcus pushed the Grimm away from him rather than kill them. When he did, the assassin came face-to-face with Eren. He was broken, bloodied, and having a hard time breathing and seeing.

But he was mad as Hell.

"You'll pay for this!" Marcus promised as he tried to attack Eren. But his leg was hurt to the point of only being able to limp instead of run.

Which gave Eren a chance to slash at Marcus' face with the glass. The glass had finally broken, but Eren had created a new scar on the man's disgusting face.

"No," Eren replied. "Not this time!"

*ROAR*

Another Grimm had tackled Marcus, but it didn't bite him this time. Instead, it held the man down as Eren approached closer.

"Hey, stop!" Marcus yelled as struggled in the Grimm's grasp.

"..."

When he saw Eren moving closer, with an angry and intimidating look on his face, Marcus could see that victory wasn't assured anymore.

"Hey, hey, wait!" the man pleaded. "Don't! I-I give up! Come on, I give up! Take your mom and get the hell out of here!"

"..."

"Did you fucking hear me?! I give up! You can go! You'll never see me again, just fucking go!"

Eren was standing by Marcus' head now. He was a little surprised to hear that Marcus had finally given up, but in Eren's mind, it was too late for apologies or surrender. There was no way he was going to let someone who thought he could kidnap his mother and his friends without consequences.

And Eren intended to deliver these consequences... personally.

*BAM*

Eren kicked Marcus' face as the Grimm held him down. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" he angrily screamed. "You think you can just walk into my house, kidnap and beat my mom, and get away with it?!"

*BAM*

*CRACK*

"This is what you deserve, you animal! This is what happens when you-!"

Eren stopped screaming when he felt something pull on both of his shoulders. He turned around and looked up fast when he saw that it was his mother pulling on him, moving him from Marcus.

But Eren wasn't done yet.

"Mom, let go!" Eren insisted as he fought against the grip. "He'll come back, I have to finish this!"

"..."

Carla said nothing as she tried to pull Eren away, but Eren continued to talk as he tried to move towards Marcus.

"Mom, stop it!" he said. "I have to finish this!" He turned around once more to look at Carla. "Dammit, are you listening to-?!"

*SMACK*

Eren lost his voice when he felt Carla's hand against his cheek. She wasn't trying to hurt him, the action was meant to calm him down. And when he recovered from the minor attack, Eren looked directly at Carla's face when she took her turn to speak.

"...Thank you," she said sincerely. "Thank you for coming for me, Eren. For a time... I didn't think I was ever going to see you again. That's all I wanted to do back there. Just see you one more time. But not like this." Carla briefly looked to Marcus as she said this.

"..."

Eren took a look at Marcus as well, who was broken and beaten at his feet, before he turned back to Carla.

"Eren, I don't want to lose you again," she said. "You may still be here, but it wouldn't be the same. I don't know what it was that drove you to destroy the entire world, to keep moving forward when you did... but I don't want you to do it again."

"..."

Carla pointed at both Marcus and the Grimm. "He's the monster, Eren. The Grimm are the monsters here. So please... don't be the monster everyone believed you were back home." She began to cry. "Don't... Don't leave me alone again."

"..."

Eren took another look at Marcus and the Grimm, who were growling at him as they did nothing but look at him. However, Eren couldn't feel the same anger he did moments ago. When he looked at Marcus again, he couldn't see the same man who threatened his mother and then him. He couldn't see a powerful enemy anymore.

The only one who had power was Eren. Just like he did on Paradis, Eren had the power to make this all end. He had the power to kill, to conquer, and to command both Titan and Grimm alike.

But now, all Eren could do was see the event and the people involved in it through his mother's eyes. He could see nothing but monsters in the entire field.

And one of those monsters... was him.

Eren began to cry as well when he realized what he had done. He didn't regret hurting Marcus and beating him close to death. But he did regret that he was losing his mother in the process. Just like everyone he killed did, she was starting to hate him.

And just like before... Eren deserved it.

"...I'm sorry, Mom," Eren said as he looked to the ground. But he wasn't apologizing for hurting Marcus. "I let you down."

"..."

"..."

The Grimm suddenly got off of Marcus and moved a few feet back from him, leaving the man relatively safe from harm. Carla saw this for herself, and saw that Eren listened to her. Not in the sense of a mother telling her child what to do, but in a different manner.

This manner caused Carla to hug Eren once more.

"No, you didn't," she insisted. "You came back to me. Just like you did before. Just like you will again when you stop Salem."

"..."

Eren couldn't help but smile as he returned the hug. In that moment, he felt like he was right where he belonged. And now, he wasn't going to leave ever again.

"Heh, heh, heh."

Eren and Carla turned to see that Marcus was standing back up. He realized that while he was badly hurt, he had enough strength to pick himself off the ground and walk away.

"I knew you wouldn't do it," he said. "What's the matter, boy? You think you still need your mommy to tell you what to do?"

Eren glared at the man with anger, but he didn't move away from Carla. Marcus easily saw this and chuckled once more.

"That's what I thought," Marcus said as he began to limp away. "But don't forget... I know where you live. This isn't over, kid. Not by a-"

*GROWL*

Marcus' path was immediately blocked by a Beowolf, one that threw its hand towards the man and scratched him. Marcus fell back against a tree, where he found himself being surrounded by more Grimm.

Specifically, the Grimm that arose from Eren's blood.

"Hey," Marcus said as he looked back to the mother and son. "Hey! Hey, what the hell is this?!"

Carla shook her head and began to walk away. "Come on, Eren," she said. "Let's go." Eren silently obeyed and followed his mother's lead.

"Hey!" Marcus yelled back. "You can't just leave me here! You stopped him from killing me, didn't you?!"

Carla mustered enough willpower to turn around. "You're right," she said. "I'm not going to let my son kill you."

"Then why are these Grimm crawling around?!"

Carla had a good feeling that Eren could control these Grimm, since she saw them arise from pools of his blood.

And while she couldn't let Eren kill someone, good or bad... that didn't necessarily mean Carla had to help Marcus survive.

Carla felt these feelings, but it was Cinder who had brought them to light. She too hadn't left Eren, and now she was about to tell Marcus what was going on.

"You're supposed to be a Huntsman, right?" the child asked. "Hunt."

"..."

*GROWL*

*GROWL*

Marcus turned back to the growling Grimm just in time to see and feel one bite his leg.

*CRUNCH*

"AAAAHH!"

Marcus' screams did nothing to help him. The rest of the pack all pounced on the man as Carla led the children away.

"NOOO! AAAAHH!"

*CRUNCH*

*SNAP*

*GROWL*

"AHHHH! AAHHH!"

Carla had to cover her ears as she walked. Though she felt no obligation to help the man who had kidnapped and hurt her, she couldn't bear to listen to the sounds of screams.

But eventually, the screams fell silent. And nothing more of Marcus Black could be heard.

When everyone reunited past the broken cabin, they received a welcome sight. Li and his search party had heard the commotion and Grimm, and it finally led them in the right direction of Carla, Dina, and Nora.

Li was very relieved to see that Nora was alive and well, but he was surprised to see that his son was outside when he was told to stay. Eren and Cinder quickly came to Ren's defense while he was being scolded, and Eren insisted that Ren help him look in a different path of the hunting party.

Carla said that such behavior was typical of Eren, only to help the boy defend his friend.

When Li saw that no real harm had been done, that his son and adoptive daughter were safe, the hunter put aside his mixed feelings and welcomed Ren and Nora back.

Dina was the one who hid the secret of the Titans. She said that after they had been rescued, a pack of Beowolves ambushed Marcus Black and gave everyone a chance to escape. Li took this as a sign that they should be going home now.

Everyone couldn't agree more.

When they returned to Kuroyuri, the town was happy to see that not only had the search party returned with the kidnapped victims, but that nobody else had disappeared as well. It was truly a successful mission.

Mayor Fa sincerely apologized to Carla and Dina, taking full responsibility for Marcus' actions. Neither of the women held any animosity towards the leader, since Marcus had fooled everyone into believing that he was a Huntsman. Not only did he have a license, but he also knew how to kill Grimm better than anyone. A Huntsman was the perfect disguise for him.

Nevertheless, Mayor Fa promised that any more ideas about hiring a full-time Huntsman were out of the window. And while everyone silently agreed with this declaration, Cinder was the only one who voiced her support.

After the reunion, everyone led Carla, Dina, and Nora to the town's doctor. They didn't have much of a hospital, but Dr. McCoy took his role very seriously. The deer Faunus eagerly led his new patients inside his office to examine them, but everyone was concerned about one patient they had brought back.

Mercury.

Before they completely abandoned Marcus Black and the ruined cabin, Carla looked back to see that Mercury was seriously hurt. Eren and Cinder shared Carla's concern, since neither of them saw an enemy in Mercury. He had tried to kill his father, after all.

And Cinder couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for the boy's condition. She had used him, he was only a means to an end at the time. And while her plan had worked, Cinder saw that there were serious consequences. If she knew what was going to happen, she would have done things differently.

Eren also felt responsible, since he followed Cinder's lead. But he decided to make things right by helping the boy and taking him home. Cinder eagerly agreed, and she helped Eren carry him back to Kuroyuri.

And so, Dr. McCoy spent much of his time examining Mercury before he moved on to Marcus' other victims. On the surface, he didn't see any major injuries with Carla, Dina, or Nora. And after Dina insisted that Mercury be examined first, Mercury had captured the doctor's full attention.

And so, Carla, Dina, and Nora were taken to separate rooms. Eren went with Carla, Cinder went with Dina, and Ren went with Nora. Li had left to retrieve his wife, to let her know that Nora and the other children were safe.

However, Ren had left the room to find Eren and Cinder. Something was very wrong with Nora, and she needed help.

Eren and Cinder came into Nora's room to find her crying on her bed. At first, they believed that she was crying from an injury. However, Nora's real affliction was sadness.

Sadness that she believed was for a good reason.

"Why does this keep happening to me?" she asked herself. "What's wrong with me?!" She suddenly slammed her fist on the mattress and cried some more.

"Nora, it's okay!" Ren insisted as he moved closer to Nora. "We're going home soon, we'll be-"

"I can't!" Nora yelled as she turned around and cried even more. "I can't keep doing this anymore! I can't pretend that everything's okay while I wait for things to get worse!"

Eren was surprised and confused to see his friend in such a state. Cinder, however, felt her heart begin to break as she stared at Nora. She hadn't know the girl for very long, but Cinder saw Nora as a symbol of true happiness and joy. She was always wearing a smile each and every day they met, and that was something Cinder liked the most about Nora. However, that symbol was transforming into nothing but despair and depression.

And more than anything, Cinder wanted to find out why that was.

"Ren, what's wrong with Nora?" Cinder asked. Normally, she would assume that being kidnapped would upset anyone. But Nora's last sentiment had Cinder believing that there was something else that made her so depressed. "What is she talking about?"

Ren sighed deeply as he looked at Nora. "It's... something she's told me before," he confessed. "Before we met, Nora's mother ran from the Grimm and left her behind."

Cinder gasped as she looked back to Nora. "Oh, Nora," she said with enormous sympathy.

But Ren wasn't done there.

"And she used to think the Grimm attacking the town was her fault, that bad things happen to her and everyone she's around," the boy explained. "I think... she might blame herself for being kidnapped too."

"What?" Eren asked. "Nora, that's not true! That bastard broke into my house and took everyone he could see!"

"Right!" Cinder insisted. "I mean, did he take anything else too, Eren?"

"I didn't really check if anything was stolen, but that's true. Nora, that Huntsman, or whatever he was, wasn't here because of you."

"But it makes sense!" Nora insisted. "I was a complete stranger when I came here! When I came, the Grimm came after that! And now it was that Huntsman! What's next?!" Nora buried her face in her hands. "I shouldn't be here. I should just go."

"..."

It was obvious that Eren and Cinder were telling the truth, but Nora wasn't listening. Unfortunately, Ren was hoping that Nora having friends around would help.

Cinder believed that as well, and she had an idea.

"Can I try something?" she asked. "I think it'll help."

"Sure," Ren said calmly.

Cinder moved closer to Nora and shared her idea. "Nora, remember that idea you had about me singing?" she asked. "Without you, I never would have tried something like that."

"..."

Nora's silence didn't make Cinder stop. "In fact, I actually tried writing a song that makes me think about why your idea won't work," she said. "I mean, I was going to show Eren first, but do you want to hear it?"

Nora looked up from her hands and became slightly curious about Cinder singing again. The last time she heard Cinder sing, it was the most beautiful thing she ever heard. And if she was going to leave, it would be nice to hear Cinder sing one more time. So Nora nodded, and Cinder began to sing again.

"You're not alone.

There's no doubt.

Your gift isn't futile

To be."

Once again, Cinder's singing was beautiful. Ren and Eren were baffled by Cinder's performance, and it had only just begun. Nora had told Ren that Cinder could sing, and Eren was lucky to hear it before. He knew her voice was special, but it was even more special to hear that Cinder wrote this song herself.

"If we'll be united,

We're stronger together.

We always have the high hope.

Not all for one but one for all."

The words Nora listened to were not only beautiful, but surprisingly meaningful. Cinder was telling Nora that she didn't need to be alone, she didn't need to think like she was. Cinder wanted Nora to be stronger, and the only way to do that was if she stayed with them in Kuroyuri.

"Don't worry 'bout a thing.

We'll reach out to you.

Even if it's a harder way,

It's plain to see the reason why.

Oh, that's all because of the mighty heart.

Remember it's just natural that we'll be there if you need help.

Far across the distance, rest assured that our faith just won't die."

Cinder stopped singing once she felt Nora hug her. Relaxing into the hug, Cinder believed that Nora had gotten the message she wanted to share. It was a strong message indeed, something that Cinder had been feeling for a while.

It was true that Cinder had intended for Eren to listen to it first. In fact, Cinder actually wrote the song because of him. The month she had spent with him made Cinder see that her feelings regarding Eren were much stronger than she originally believed. It wasn't until she spent time around other people, until she became sociable and open to others, that she felt that could understand these feelings better.

Expressing them, however, was more daunting. Cinder had memorized the song by heart, but she never had the courage to share it with him. But when she felt Nora hugging her, Cinder believed that it was better she sang it for Nora instead. Looking back, it seemed like a "Nora song" instead of an "Eren song."

And Nora agreed.

"You're right," Nora said gratefully. "Thank you."

Cinder and Ren both hugged Nora and stayed like that for what felt like an eternity. But nobody seemed to mind. They were just glad the nightmare was over.

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

Everyone turned to the door when they heard three knocks. After Nora dried her eyes, she decided to stop shutting herself in from others.

"Come in," she said politely.

The door opened to reveal Dr. McCoy, who was followed by Li and An Ren. An rushed over to her son and adoptive daughter and hugged them both, as she was relieved to see that her nightmare was over as well.

With that, Eren and Cinder decided to take their leave.

"Oh, Eren," the doctor said as the children walked by him. "I just finished with your mother."

"Is she okay?" Eren asked as he looked up at the man.

"She has a bad cut and bruise on the back of her head. I cleaned it up and put some bandages on it. I don't think she has a concussion, but she'll be staying overnight so I can keep an eye on her."

"Can I see her?"

"Of course." The doctor looked down at Cinder. "Would you like to see Ms. Fritz? She's been asking about you."

"Okay," Cinder agreed before she turned to Eren. "I'll come find you later."

"Okay," Eren said as he walked out of the room. "Oh, and Cinder?"

"..."

Cinder turned to Eren and waited before she followed the doctor to Dina's room. "I really liked your song," Eren said with a smile.

"..."

Cinder didn't reply, but she smiled gratefully before she turned around just in time to hide the redness on her cheeks.

Eren was alone very briefly after Cinder left him. He immediately returned to the room he had left his mother in, where he found Carla resting in her own bed with a bandage wrapped around her forehead. She was looking out into the night sky from her window before she turned to Eren with a soft smile.

"There you are," she said calmly.

"I was just checking in on Nora," Eren explained. "Cinder came too."

"How's Dina?"

"Cinder went to see her. I think she's fine, though. How are you?"

"Okay." Carla rubbed the back of her head. "Just a bad headache. How are you?"

"I'm fine. My, uh..." Eren opened the door to make sure he was alone with his mother. Once he closed it again, he explained himself. "My powers healed me."

"Good."

"..."

Eren was slightly surprised to see Carla speak so passively about the Titans, but he didn't question it. Instead, he watched his mother lift a finger and gesture towards herself.

"Come here for a minute," she calmly requested. Eren obeyed and found himself right by his mother's side. Once he was there, Carla lifted a hand and caressed Eren's cheek. "Thank you for saving me, Eren. I know it's supposed to be my job to look after you, but I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. So thank you."

"..."

Eren believed that Carla was grateful, but the reminder of the incident, namely how she snapped him out of his anger in the woods, made Eren feel sad.

"You're welcome," he said. "I'm... I'm sorry about what you saw. What I was about to do. I-"

"I wanted to talk to you about that," Carla replied. "About Marley, the Rumbling, all of it. I'm ready now. And I just want to say... I think I understand."

"..."

Eren didn't believe what he just heard. "You... You do? Really?"

Carla nodded. "I think I understand how Marley pushed you to that point," she replied. "It took me a while, and it took Dina's own experiences with Marley, but I think I understand that Marley didn't give you any option for peace."

Eren knew this too be true, and he knew the perfect way to verify his mother's belief. "They declared war on us. At the festival in Liberio. If I wasn't there, nobody would have any idea."

"I remember you mentioned that. Between that, sending their Titans, and invading the entire island... they left you with no choice but to use the Rumbling, didn't they?"

Eren nodded, and began to feel grateful that he was finally having this conversation. There wouldn't be any more awkward feelings around the farmhouse, no more small-talk to keep things normal. Now, finally, Eren felt that he and his mother could finally understand one another. After all, he felt that he understood her when she told him to stop in the woods.

Carla felt the same way, but there was one final thing she had to know. One more thing to lay down the finishing piece in her new relationship with Eren.

"I just need to understand one more thing, Eren," she said. "I need to ask you something important."

Eren nodded. "Yeah, anything," he replied. "I'll be honest, just ask me."

Carla was grateful for the promise, but she wasn't sure if Eren would keep it after she asked her question. "Eren... I understand the Rumbling was necessary to destroy an army," she began. "But no matter how hard I try, I can't understand something about the Rumbling. About you."

Eren moved a little closer. "What is it?"

Carla took a deep breath before she replied. "...Why did you keep going? Why did... Why did you use the Rumbling to kill people other than the Alliance's army?"

"..."

Eren immediately realized how difficult it would be to answer that question. It was so hard that he found himself having trouble looking at his mother.

"Eren," Carla said firmly. "Eren, look at me."

"..."

After a few seconds of silence, Eren looked to his mother. And to make things easier for him, Carla explained herself.

"I'm not mad," she said. "I'm not trying to think any differently of you, I just want to understand."

"..."

"My mind keeps telling me that peace could have been possible, when the army was destroyed. The world wouldn't have a way to defend themselves, they'd have to make peace. I just have to know... why you didn't give them that option."

"..."

Eren looked down again as he thought about his answer. He wasn't a fool, he remembered his reasoning for letting the Rumbling continue. He knew why he did what he did, he knew that his plan would follow through.

He just didn't know if Carla would believe him. After he killed so many people... how could anyone understand.

"Just tell me, Eren," Carla implored. "Please."

"..."

Eren finally nodded as he looked back up. After he mentally prepared himself, he delivered what he promised to deliver.

The truth.

"Mom... you're right," he began. "The world didn't have their army, their ships, they had nothing against us. When the fighting was over... what came next was up to us."

"..."

Carla remained silent as she patiently listened to Eren.

"We could have made the world do anything we wanted. We could have told them to release the Eldians in the internment zones, we could have told them to stop the Warrior program, we could have told them to stop fighting."

"..."

Carla was somewhat pleased to see that her line of thinking was right, that peace could have been achieved if the Rumbling only took out the world's army. But she wasn't sure where Eren was going with this.

Eren answered that question quickly.

"But... the truth is... there was one thing we couldn't make them do," Eren said. "It's the same thing they've been doing for thousands of years. Trying to make that stop would be impossible. And they would keep doing it if we achieved peace."

"What?" Carla asked. "What is it?"

"...Hate, Mom. They would keep on hating us."

"..."

Carla took a minute to think about this idea, but she didn't understand it right away. Eren could believe that, since Carla had no personal experiences with Marley or the outside world.

Once again, Eren explained himself.

"The world hated Eldia for thousands of years," he continued. "They hated us for the empire, for being able to turn into Titans, for everything. Even in times of peace, they hated us. They wouldn't stop hating until every last Subject of Ymir died. There was nothing that could change that."

"..."

"Except one thing."

Carla was about to ask what that was, what Eren's idea of changing hate meant. However, she was able to answer her own question. It was the same thing she mentioned moments ago.

The answer was in her first question.

"The Rumbling?" Carla assumed, even though she was sure of her answer.

Eren nodded before he spoke again. "The world believed that all Eldians were evil, that they deserved to die. The propaganda even reached the Eldians living in Marley. There was probably enough hate to inspire another attack, if I had just destroyed the army. But the Rumbling changed that. It changed that because I kept moving forward."

Carla listened to what Eren was saying, but she was still unable to understand.

"But... how?" she asked. "How could that change anything?"

Eren was about to answer the question, but then he had an idea. Instead of answering with his words, Eren decided to let someone else answer that question.

"Can I... show you something?" Eren asked as he extended his hand. "From before I died?"

"..."

Carla remembered what happened the last time she took Eren's hand in a moment like this. She remembered the fear, the God of Darkness, and her entire world caving in around her when the truth came to light.

But Carla knew Eren wouldn't be asking this without a reason. She knew that he believed this action would help in a way that she didn't understand, just like last time.

And so, Carla took Eren's hand once again.

"These are my last memories, Mom," Eren explained. "Watch them closely."

*WHOOSH*

Instead of a dark and barren wasteland, Carla found herself in the sky. She could see the blue sky and multiple clouds, and she even saw some of the airships Eren had mentioned before. The ground was miles below her, and there was a mountain in the distance.

And in the distance, Carla could hear a voice over a loudspeaker.

"We exploited hatred. We kept feeding our resentment. We even thought our hate would save us... We dumped every problem caused by our shortcomings onto an 'island of devils.' And the result... was the birth of that monster... which has now come to return our hatred upon our own heads. ...If it's possible... for us to have a future again... I will not make the same mistakes... I swear it. If we see... another tomorrow..."

The next things Carla saw next was an epic battle. Not just any battle, but one that was fought on a large Titan and mere humans. Carla recognized two of them as Mikasa and Armin, and they were fighting for their lives.

Not just that, but they were fighting to stop the Rumbling. To stop Eren.

And they did.

When they did, Carla found herself back into the present. Not just educated, but somehow... reborn. After all this time, after trying so hard to understand her son, to understand what he had become... Carla gained everything she wanted.

She saw that her son had indeed become a monster, the monster that the world made him out to be. He became worthy of hate, of fear, and of death.

Just as Carla believed, Eren had done all of this for a reason. He took on the world's hate, after killing millions, for a very specific reason.

He died... so Mikasa and everyone else could live.

"They saw Eldians kill a monster," Eren explained. "They saw that not all Eldians deserved to be hated. That some of them wanted the same thing."

"..."

"I said goodbye to them. To Mikasa, to Armin... everyone. I think you saw my goodbye to Mikasa. If you want to see Armin's... I can do that."

"..."

The silence made Eren uncomfortable and unsure of what to do. Nevertheless, he had a good idea how to end the conversation.

"I can... I can give you time," he said. "If you need to think, or do anything else. I can-"

"Stop."

Carla took Eren's arm to prevent him from leaving and spoke again to prevent him from saying anything else.

"You're not getting away that easily," she said. "And you're not leaving yet. You're not leaving until I say my piece."

"..."

Eren knew he should have expected a reaction like this. He knew he should have expected anger and resentment, just like everyone else gave him. But just like before, Eren wasn't ready to hear it from his mother.

But more than anything, he wasn't ready to hear what Carla was going to say next.

"And you're especially not leaving... without a hug."

"What?"

Eren was suddenly wrapped in a hug by his mother, which was certainly not what he was expecting.

He especially wasn't expecting to hear Carla say words of comfort and understanding.

"Eren... you're right that I need time," she said. "I need to think about this some more... but you protected Mikasa. In your own way... you protected her." Carla let go of Eren. "You protected the island too, didn't you?"

Eren nodded after he recovered from his surprise. "When I died, the power of the Titans died with me," he said.

Carla understood. "Eren... I need to think about what you've done. It must have been hard to do what you did... but you still did it. I don't know if I can accept that just yet."

"..."

"But thank you for being honest with me. I love you, Eren."

Eren smiled. "I... I love you too, Mom."

"How bad is it, doctor?"

"Not bad at all. You're going to do just fine."

Dina and Cinder were sitting in a small room with a Faunus with deer antlers. At the moment, the Faunus had just finished looking over Dina's bruises and rope burns. And he had just pulled out two small bottles of aloe for his patient. "If the rope burns hurt again, just put a little bit of this on," he advised.

"Thank you," said Dina.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Dina opened her mouth to answer the doctor, but Cinder's voice filled the room. "What about the boy?" the young girl asked. "Mercury? Is he okay?"

Dina didn't say anything, but she decided that asking about Mercury was the best thing to do.

The doctor sighed before he replied. "Well, it's him that I'm worried about," he confessed. "The bruises on his chest and face I could work with." He walked down the hall towards another door, with Dina and Cinder in tow. "But his legs... they were worse than I could have ever imagined. His kneecaps are shattered, his tendons are practically hanging by a thread, his femur and tibia in both legs have multiple cracks. I'm surprised he was able to stand when I first saw him."

Dina didn't know all of the medical terms the doctor was speaking in, so she decided to see what all of it meant. "Can you do anything for him?"

"...I'm afraid we don't have the equipment for something like this. What the boy needs is surgery. After that, well... it'll take him years before he can walk properly again. I can arrange a flight to Mistral, but I'm afraid that's all I can do."

"I see. Thank you, doctor."

Doctor McCoy entered the room where Mercury was resting, and Dina was about to join him. However, she became distracted by the sight of Cinder rubbing tears in her eyes.

"Cinder?" Dina asked after the door closed. She immediately kneeled down to the child as instinct took over. "Cinder, what's wrong?"

"That... That was my fault," Cinder insisted. "I made a crazy plan to help Eren's mom, and look what happened! I mean, it worked, but Mercury's hurt because of me!" Cinder dried her eyes again, but more tears came in place. In her mind, nothing was going to convince her that Mercury was hurt because of her.

But Dina was going to try.

"Cinder, listen to me," Dina said calmly. "You didn't hurt Mercury. You didn't attack him, you didn't do anything wrong. That man, that... monster, he was the one who did those terrible things tonight." Dina took Cinder's hands in hers. "You did the opposite, Cinder. You helped Eren, and Carla, and me." Dina smiled. "You saved me, Cinder. Thank you."

"..."

In a moment, Cinder felt much better. It was nice to hear the opposite of what she was thinking, especially when it came from Dina. There was something about the things she said to her, ever since she helped her recover from her nightmare.

Cinder was really grateful to have Dina to talk to, along with Eren.

To show her gratitude, Cinder gave Dina a hug. And Dina was more than willing to reciprocate it. "Thank you, Ms. Fritz," she said. "Thank you."

"You're more than welcome," Dina insisted. "And thank you, too." Dina gave Cinder a little squeeze as she continued to talk. "I don't know where I'd be right now if it weren't for you and Eren."

"..."

The duo remained silent for a minute before Dina let go of Cinder. "Feeling better?" she asked.

"Yeah," Cinder said as she dried her eyes. "I am, really."

"Well, if you need to talk some more, let me know." Dina let out a chuckle. "I think I'm gonna need someone to talk to myself."

Cinder laughed too. "Well, whoever they are, I hope they're just as nice as you. I feel like I can talk to you like how Eren talks to his mom. You're like Carla, too."

"Really?" Dina stopped smiling, but she was more than happy to talk to Cinder. "In what way?"

Cinder laughed again. "You're kind of like a mom, too. Well, to me, at least."

"..."

Dina knew she couldn't make anything official just yet. She knew that she hadn't given everything much thought, on account of what happened with Marcus and what happened with Zeke years ago. And yet, what Cinder just said awoke something in her.

She knew what she wanted to do.

One way or another, she was going to be Cinder's mother. And this time... she wasn't going to make any mistakes.

Cinder deserved the best. And Dina believed... she knew... that she could do that.

"-with temperatures rising in the nineties, its seems that summer has come early for Mistral this year. Back to you, Tony."

"Thanks, Linda. And in other news, the Grimm activity in the city of Argus has continued to rise, with numbers reaching into the fifties. I've... never heard anything like this before. What appears to have started as a minor pack has grown into a swarm of all kinds of Grimm outside the city. Atlas soldiers have been able to hold them off, but they just keep coming. Nobody seems to know why or how, but something about the hybrid city has drawn more Grimm there each day. Local Huntsmen and Huntresses are due to arrive at the end of the day, hoping to figure out-"

"Arthur."

The television behind Arthur Watts abruptly turned off, leaving the disgraced scientist to continue his conversation with his new master through the jellyfish-like Grimm. "My apologies, ma'am," he said with honesty. "As I was saying, my studies here have come up with nothing. I've run every search pattern, every type of analysis. But there's no conclusive evidence that the Grimm you're looking for ever came to Argus."

"You are sure of this?" Salem asked calmly.

"Beyond any doubt. The mess it left behind at Atlas gave me a hint on what to look for, and I've found nothing like it here. Are the other Grimm having any luck?"

"None. When they're not avoiding the military presence, they've been trying to track my creation. Like you, they seem to have found nothing."

"And brining one of them into Argus, while possible, would result in a death faster than the one they're finding outside the wall."

"So it would seem." Salem put a hand to her chin. "Would it be possible for you to return to Atlas? It may have left something behind."

"Studying in Mantle wouldn't be a problem, but Atlas? Too much of a risk. Perhaps you could send that Faunus of yours... Tyrian, I think."

"Perhaps. Carry on, I will contact you shortly."

The image of Arthur Watts disappeared, leaving Salem with time to think. After his arrival to her abode, Salem had done nothing but obsess over her creation. She was still feeling over the fact it had escaped her grasp and that she could do nothing to find it.

Her efforts to pry information from the Silver-Eyed Warrior had done nothing but try the witch's patience. No matter how hard she tried, how much pain she put the woman through, Salem was unable to find any link between her prisoner's power and her creation's rebellion. So she put aside further interrogations until after she found the Grimm she created.

But each and every attempt to do so had resulted in failure. The Grimm in Atlas were able to follow its tracks to the ocean, where the trace disappeared. But the worst part was that the creation hadn't captured just her attention.

According to Watts, the people of Argus had heard that General Ironwood had recently begun his own search for the monster. His army had just been ordered across the globe to find any trace of the beast. And Salem wouldn't have that.

For the first time in a long time... Salem had no idea what to do.

All that she knew was that she wouldn't rest until her creation was either back in her grasp or it was destroyed. Once that challenge had been completed, the witch would begin to conquer her next obsession; Ozma.

Chapter Text

"The creative adult is the child who survived."

Ursula Leguin

A large airship with a rotor on the back and metal wings was flying in the sky. Its destination was close, and the pilots determined their exact time of arrival would be two more minutes. Throughout the entire voyage, the passengers were telling stories to pass the time. And now, a young boy was telling his story.

"So after Sasha took one look at that meat, everything went to Hell. Instead of her hands, she used her mouth to grab it before anyone could get some for ourselves. I didn't see it, but I heard it took about five minutes for Jean and Connie to make her share."

Eren's friends and Dina, who had her own reasons for joining them, laughed at the story. When the laughter died down, Dina shared a story of her own. "Have I ever told you that I once tried working at Carla's farm?" she asked. "Her parents hired me when there weren't many jobs in town. So, like Cinder, my first job was to clean the stables. Just as I was sweeping around the back, a horse began to nibble on my head, apparently mistaking my hair for straw. I never worked in there again."

Everyone laughed again, and Nora sprang off her seat. "Ooh, ooh! I got a good story!" she said as she looked at everyone. "So... there we were... in the middle of the night."

Ren turned to Nora. "You told me it was day," he corrected her.

Nora ignored him as she continued her story. "We were surrounded by Ursai."

"Ursai? You told me you saw Beowolves."

"Dozens of them!"

"Two of them."

"But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Nora sat down with a proud smile on her face. Ren sighed as he explained Nora's "story."

"Nora's been having this dream since she came back home," he explained. "I guess she wanted to make it sound interesting."

Everyone laughed once again, although it took a few seconds for Ren to loosen up and laugh at Nora's exaggerated dream. Cinder stood up and prepared to share a funny story of her own, but a voice cut her off.

"Could you all keep it down?!"

"..."

They all turned around to see a stretcher on wheels in the back of the airship. And on that stretcher was Mercury Black, who was trying to ignore the pain in his legs by sleeping. And unfortunately for him, the laughter was preventing him from doing so. Dina put a finger to her lips and watched the children nod before she moved to Mercury's bed and gently stroked his head, attempting to comfort the hurt child.

"I'm sorry, Mercury," she said sympathetically. "We'll be landing soon, so you just rest. We'll all be quiet."

Mercury took a deep breath before closing his eyes. "...Sure," he said. "Whatever."

It had been about two days since the incident with Marcus Black. The doctor at Kuroyuri had been working day and night to arrange a trip to Mistral's hospital for the young boy, since he couldn't help with Mercury's legs. Now that time had come, and the children volunteered to travel with him.

Eren initially wanted to stay with his mother, to help her with anything she needed after the attack. However, Carla insisted that she would be fine and that Eren should go with his friends. And with her farmhands all working at the farm once again, Carla would have more than enough help in case anything happened.

Besides the pilots, Dina Fritz was the only adult on the airship. She volunteered herself to accompany Mercury to Mistral, even though she had another reason for being in the city.

The airship landed and the doors opened to reveal the backdoor of what appeared to be a hospital. Two uniformed men suddenly rushed onto the ship and moved the stretcher. Everyone began to run after them as Dina explained what happened to him.

"Our town's doctor wanted me to tell you that he was able to clean the wounds and prevent any infection," she said. "Other than giving him two splints and some medicine for the pain, there wasn't anything he could do."

"Don't worry, ma'am," said one of the orderlies. "The best surgeons in the Kingdom are waiting right now."

Mercury groaned in pain, causing Dina's heart to ache. "Should I go in there? He doesn't have anyone to take care of him."

"Ma'am, the only thing you can do is wait with the other children. We'll take it from here."

Mercury's groans became louder, and he impulsively grabbed Dina's hand. When she saw what was happening, Dina gently gripped his hand and formed an embrace. Other than being taken to get help, this embrace was perhaps the only kindness Mercury received in his life.

"You'll be fine, Mercury," Dina said. "It's going to be okay."

"..."

He didn't think about it before, but Mercury was starting to feel scared. He had no idea what was going to happen or what the doctors were going to do to him. And his fears only grew when one of the orderlies prevented Dina from going into the operating room. Alone, all the boy could do was try to calm himself by breathing. The rest was up to whatever God was watching him.

Dina sadly took a seat in the waiting room, where the rest of the children were waiting for her. Cinder appeared to be just as worried about Mercury as Dina was, since she still felt responsible for his condition.

Fortunately, Cinder had Eren to help her.

"It'll be okay," he said. "They can help."

"That's right," said Dina. "Mercury has the best doctors now."

"..."

Once he saw that Cinder was smiling and Dina was staying with her, Eren walked over to Nora. "Hey, Nora," he said politely. "We haven't had a lot of time to talk. How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," she said, showing Eren her wrists. "The rope burns stopped hurting this morning. And Ren's parents have been talking about it with me." Nora turned to Ren. "And so have you." She pulled him into a hug. "Thanks for coming for us."

Ren smiled and returned the hug. "I'll always be here for you, Nora," he promised.

"Me too," said Eren, causing Nora to smile.

"Me too," said Cinder, who walked over to Nora as well. "You see? As long as we stick together, we'll be okay." Cinder looked to Eren and Ren. "Right?"

"Right!" the two boys said with passion. All four of them knew in their hearts that as long as they were around each other, things wouldn't be as bad as they seemed.

"Excuse me?"

The children and Dina turned to the sound of the voice to see a tanned woman with dark hair, who was wearing a dress shirt and blue dress pants. Everyone knew that she didn't look like a nurse or doctor, so they could only guess who she was. The woman turned to Dina. "Are you Dina Fritz?" she asked.

"Oh, yes," Dina said as she stood up and shook the woman's hand. "You must be Detective Montoya. I'm sorry we had to meet here, we have a-"

"Never mind that," the police detective commanded. "I'm here about the allegations you told me over the phone. I hope you realize how serious it is, accusing a Councilman of what you told me."

"I know it sounds crazy, but it's the truth. And I have proof, if you're willing to listen."

"...Alright." The detective walked into a more secluded part of the waiting room, one with a door. "Let's talk."

Mercury's eyes were beginning to open, slowly but surely. As he was waking up, he could still feel some pain in his legs. It wasn't as serious as before, but the pain was still lingering. It wasn't morning, but a light was shining on Mercury's face, and it had woken him up. It wasn't sunlight, it was something blue and not very warm. It was the color of the TV, and it was on the news channel.

And the news had a very special story to share.

"Reports have just arrived that Councilman Charles, has been arrested early this morning. Allegations about kidnapping and selling women, both young and old, on the black market were made against him, and with the large amount of evidence against him, it seems unlikely he'll be released anytime soon. After a search on his property was conducted, authorities found a hidden room that seemed to act as a den for child pornography. Along with that was a young malnourished girl, who was immediately sent to the hospital. The evidence also pinpointed that Councilman Charles is also known as 'King Charlemagne', Mistral's most wanted human trafficker. The staff of the Mistral Watch are praying for the young girl's recovery. In other news, the Grimm activity in Argus..."

Mercury was having a hard time hearing the rest of the story, since he was still tired. He didn't understand everything he heard, especially that he had a role to play in the Councilman's arrest.

After Carla, Dina, and Nora had been rescued from Marcus Black, Li led some of his hunters towards the broken cabin. They had been told of Marcus' demise, but they wanted to make sure there was nobody else was with him. When they arrived, all they found were Beowolves and human bones.

Among those bones was a Scroll, a device that had every detail of Marcus' mission and arrangement with the man he had been working with. Dina volunteered to bring it to the proper authorities, which was how she met Detective Montoya earlier. And when she did, an arrest was made and a child was rescued.

All because Mercury was brave enough to stand up to his father. And now, he was about to receive the help he needed.

"Ms. Fritz, turn that off! He's awake!"

The television in Mercury's hospital room turned off and Eren and Dina moved closer to Mercury's bed. Dina smiled when she saw his eyes were fully open. "Hello, Mercury," she said. "How are you feeling?"

"...They... still hurt," Mercury groggily said, being careful to lay absolutely still. "What... What did they do?"

Dina cleared her throat before answering, wiping her forehead to clear the sweat from her nerves. "Well... they looked at your legs, they needed to see what happened to you. Now, they're going to see what they can do."

"We wanted to wait here with you," said Eren. "Cinder, Nora, and Ren are still here, they just got hungry."

Mercury had a lot going on for him right now. Knowing that his father wasn't going to come back anytime soon, being unable to walk, having all these new people around him... it wasn't a very normal time for him right now.

"Why... are you helping me?" he asked. That was perhaps the one thing that wasn't making a lot of sense at the moment.

But Dina was more than happy to clarify. "Helping children is something I've learned that I'm good at," she explained, thinking about her time with Eren and Cinder. "And I don't have a reason to stop now."

"Same here," said Eren. "And you helped us, too. Something like this happened to me before. A friend of mine and I helped each other when we needed it most. Now it can happen again."

Mercury still had a little trouble understanding their reasons, but that didn't stop him from saying one other thing.

"Well... thanks."

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

A soft knocking on the door caused everyone to turn towards another doctor. "Sorry to bother you, but I was hoping we could talk outside," he said. "And we're bringing someone else in now." The doctor turned to Mercury. "Sorry, young man. I hope you don't mind sharing a room."

Mercury shrugged. "If they'll be quiet, it'll be okay," he said.

The doctor nodded and held the door open for Eren and Dina. As they walked out and waved to Mercury, Eren and Dina saw another child in a wheelchair being sent into Mercury's room. Dina couldn't stop staring at her, she looked so tired and so hungry. And she also looked very familiar. "Oh, dear," she said softly. "Isn't that the child they found at that Councilman's house?"

"Yes," said the doctor. "Physically, she'll be fine. She just needs some rest and food. But I may reconsider sending her to the psychiatric ward. I can't imagine what that monster did to her."

"Neither can I." Dina looked back to the doctor. "What about Mercury?"

"Well... that's something else I'm concerned about." The doctor put on a pair of glasses he had in his pocket and looked at a clipboard. "His legs took more damage than we thought. Fortunately, it's been long enough to rule out that no bone marrow got into his bloodstream. That would have been bad."

"How bad?" Eren asked.

"Bad enough that... nothing could save him."

Dina frowned when she heard that, but still remained hopeful. "But you can do something now, right?" she asked.

"Well... that's something we need to talk about." The doctor looked up from his clipboard. "The report your town's doctor provided helped us see what the extent of his damage was. His kneecaps and tendons are capable of healing when given the right treatment, but there are some factors to take into consideration."

"Such as?"

"Mostly time. With his kneecaps and tendons healing, the process alone could take a couple of years. Add some physical therapy in the mix, it would take even more time before he can walk properly again."

"But still possible."

"Oh, yes. More than possible." The doctor put away his glasses. "But, Ms. Fritz, if I may be blunt... a process like this, the number of surgeries we'll need to perform, it won't just take time. I'm afraid I need to ask you about-"

"I see." Dina looked down. "It'll be expensive, won't it?"

"I'm afraid so. If you can't afford something like this, there's a second option, one I would probably prefer. We can amputate his legs and gain a prosthetic pair in a few-"

"No, no, no!" Dina cried. "I can't tell him we have to take his legs!"

Eren also didn't like the idea. "Why does this matter?!" he asked. "Money really shouldn't be a problem here, there's someone who needs help!" Back home, soldiers who were injured by Titans rarely had to pay for their treatments, and his father didn't ask for too much money when he worked as a doctor.

"I'm sorry, young man," the doctor replied. "I hate the idea of medical bills as much as you do. But I'm afraid this hospital isn't exactly a charity organization." He could see that the two of them were having trouble dealing with the situation, so the doctor decided to give them some time to think.

Dina slumped into a chair. She put a hand on her forehead as she pondered the situation she had found herself in. Eren was also a little overwhelmed, so he decided to talk with Dina. "Is it that bad?" he asked calmly.

Dina sighed before she answered him. "I don't know what to do, Eren," she said. "Like the doctor said, this will cost too much money. The costs are more than I make in a year. But... I can't just leave that boy like that."

Eren began to think of ideas involving money. "What about Mom?" he asked. "She told me her farm makes a lot of money, maybe she can help."

"I could ask her," Dina said. "But I don't know how much she can spend."

"I thought she said her family's farm was rich."

"Well, rich by the outskirts' standards, Eren. The capital is a different story."

"Oh."

Eren didn't exactly understand the economic differences between Mistral and the villages, even though he understood how a wall had been built between the two societies.

"But what about the other idea the doctor had, about... prosthetics?" he asked next. "What's that?"

Dina wiped her brow. "An invention in modern medicine," she explained. "Prosthetic limbs are made by people to replace lost arms and legs."

Eren was surprised to hear this. "Wait a minute. People can make new limbs?" He leaned a little closer. "Like I can with a Titan?"

"Not exactly." Dina was whispering as well. "I remember learning that Titans can replace limbs like you said. But prosthetic limbs are usually made from metal. I don't know how they work, but they can act like a real arm and leg."

Eren was beginning to understand. "And they work? They could help Mercury?"

"Yes, but the cost is still high. And I don't want him to know we may have to take his legs." Dina started to tear up. "But you might be right. Let's call Carla and see if-"

"Oh, there you are."

Dina and Eren looked up to see Detective Montoya walking towards them. Once she saw Dina rub her eyes, she stopped. "I'm sorry, am I... interrupting something?" she asked.

"Um... no, it's fine," Eren said. "Do you need something, Detective?"

"I just wanted to give your mother this."

Dina stood up. "Oh, Eren's not my-" She stopped talking when she looked down at an envelope the detective was holding. "What's this?" she asked.

"King Charlemagne was on the Kingdom's Most Wanted list for years," Detective Montoya explained. "Who would've thought he was a Councilman? Anyway, there was a huge reward for anyone who could find him. And since we couldn't have done it without you, the chief figured the reward belongs to you." As Dina took the envelope, Rosa Montoya left without a word.

Eren looked back at Dina. "Huh," he said. "I didn't know about that."

"Neither did I," Dina said before she opened the envelope. "But I guess we should see-"

Dina looked at the contents of the envelope, which was a check for a certain amount of Lien. Eren looked as well, the sight causing him to fail to notice Cinder, Ren, and Nora walk towards them.

"Hey, Eren," she said. "Hi, Ms. Fritz. How's Mercury doing?"

A tear fell down Dina's cheek. "He'll be just fine, Cinder," she insisted. "I promise."

Nora walked up to Dina and looked at the small check she was holding. "Wow! That's a lot of zeroes!"

With some of the money that Dina had earned, surgeries for Mercury's legs went underway. The doctors were mostly focused on his tendons and bones, making them stay in the right place with special casts. Mercury was given anesthesia throughout each one, and would always wake up to see doctors around him. Carla, Dina, and the children would also visit him from time to time, along with the little girl he shared a room with.

One day, a few hours after Mercury came out of surgery, the girl had begun leaving her room with a nurse. The nurse would always put her in a wheelchair and walk outside, but she was having trouble today.

"Darn it," she said as she tried to unfold the wheelchair to no avail. "We need to get more wheelchairs." Turning to the girl, the nurse told her that she would try to find another one, if they weren't already in use. So she put the broken chair next to Mercury's bed and left the room.

Mercury was thinking about getting some rest, but he instead found himself looking at the girl next to him. She seemed to be heartbroken; the idea about not going outside seemed to bring her spirits down. Mercury had seen faces like that when he was working with his dad, on the victims he had to see for himself. Now the girl was wearing the same face, almost like she was begging for help. But given the fact she didn't talk much, it didn't seem likely that she was going to ask.

"And it's pointless, anyway," Mercury reminded himself. "If I help, I'm just gonna get-"

That was when Mercury remembered that he was alone. His dad was nowhere near him, not even on the same level of existence anymore. Anything he did right now, right or wrong, his father wouldn't be here to punish him for it. He could do whatever he wanted without fear of being beaten.

And since he had nothing better to do, looking at the wheelchair wouldn't hurt anybody.

The girl couldn't stop staring at the evening sky. It had been so long since she saw daylight, since she had been given something decent to eat. When she realized that things at the hospital would be nothing like that basement, she made a promise that she would enjoy everything the outside world had to offer. But now, seeing the sunlight once again was most likely not going to happen.

"Okay, it should be good."

The girl turned around and gasped. Mercury had carefully moved across his bed to get a better look at the wheelchair. When he saw that one piece was jammed under a small pipe that had fallen loose, Mercury was able to fix both pieces and push the chair open, which surprisingly didn't take a lot of energy.

The door opened to reveal the same nurse before. "I hope you don't mind waiting a few minutes," she said as she closed the door. "Our elderly patients need the-" She stopped talking when she saw Mercury was moving. "Young man, you shouldn't move like that! You might hurt your-!" She became silent once again when she saw the fixed chair.

"There were a couple of pieces loose," he explained. "It should work now."

The nurse looked at the wheelchair and moved it around, seeing that it was indeed fixed. "Um... thank you," she said. "How old did you say you were?"

"Nine."

"And you fixed this by yourself?"

"I had to learn how to fix some broken weapons my dad brought home. He also made me fix a few things around the house. Chairs, mostly."

"Well, thank you. This was really helpful." The nurse turned back at the smiling girl. "Ready to go outside?" The girl happily nodded and the nurse helped her in the wheelchair. As they walked out, the nurse looked back at Mercury. "You be careful, now. I meant what I said about hurting your legs." As she was rolled out the room, the girl looked back at Mercury and gave a small wave.

About fifteen minutes later, the nurse and the girl returned. "Now that was a nice trip," she said as she helped the patient into her bed. "Wouldn't you agree?"

The girl nodded with a smile.

But this only made the nurse frown. "Still don't feel like talking yet?"

The girl slowly shook her head.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow." The nurse walked by Mercury, who was reading a magazine while resting on his bed. "Thank you for your help, young man. Would you like to take a trip outside too?"

"I'm fine for right now," Mercury answered. "But thanks."

With that, the nurse left the room. Just then, Mercury felt something touch his arm. Looking down, he saw a small flower sitting by it. The girl was waving at him and pointing at the flower. Mercury picked it up and looked at it, taking the gesture as a way for the girl to say "thank you."

"Um... no problem," he said as he put the flower down. "But you could just say thank you."

The girl slowly shook her head.

"No?" Mercury thought back on a few times the nurses talked to the girl, but she only responded by shaking or nodding her head. The doctors said that she was capable of talking, but whatever happened to her made her slow to speak again.

"You don't really like to talk much, do you?" he asked.

The girl shook her head again.

"But you can if you want, I don't mind. I mean, I said that I wouldn't mind sharing a room with someone if they didn't bother me. I was just expecting someone loud or annoying, but you don't seem that way. So if you wanna talk, I won't mind."

The girl didn't nod or shake her head, but she smiled at Mercury. The air had indeed been cleared up, but she chose to remain silent.

"You're just not ready yet?" Mercury assumed.

The girl shook her head again.

"Alright. Take your time, I guess." Mercury looked at the flower again. "Well, thanks for the flower..." Mercury suddenly realized that he never knew his new friend's name. "What did you say your name was?"

The girl didn't shake or nod her head, she simply shrugged.

"You don't know your name?"

The girl shook her head.

"Huh. Well... I gotta call you something." Mercury took a couple of seconds to think of something. While he was doing so, he couldn't help but notice the blue eyes staring back at him. They not only caught his attention, but they gave him an idea. "How about... Blue Eyes?"

The girl shook her head, not really liking the name.

"Yeah, it's kind of dumb. I, uh..." Mercury began to feel awkward with what he said next. "Just noticed your eyes were blue. It's... It's my favorite color."

The girl smiled at Mercury again and nodded in understanding. She took the idea as a compliment, which was Mercury's intention. But he still needed to find something to call his new friend.

"Maybe... Spring?" he suggested.

The girl shook her head.

"Flower Girl?"

She shook her head.

"She Who Must Not Be Named?"

The girl took a moment to think about it... but still shook her head.

Mercury looked at the magazine in front of him. It wasn't a very interesting one, it was mostly about spring decorations people could advertise and buy. However, the title gave Mercury another idea. There was a word on the cover that he liked, one that sounded interesting and unique.

Much like his new friend.

"How about... Vernal?" he suggested.

The girl took another few seconds to think about the name. When she did, she began to see that it was much better than the earlier suggestions. She too believed it was interesting and unique, and that it was something she would like to be called.

So with a smile, she nodded and accepted the name.

Mercury smiled too, as he saw that it was a nice name. "Nice to meet you, Vernal," he said. "Thanks for the flower."

Ren was enjoying the peace and quiet of his room. The last visit he paid Mercury was a long one, and the sleep he was getting was well needed. And just like every sleep, he was starting to wake up.

And he woke up to see Nora staring down at him.

"Wake up, lazy butt!" Nora enthusiastically ordered. "It's morning, it's morning, it's morning!"

Ren groaned as he sat up and listened to Nora. He was normally someone who woke up bright and early, but last night was a rather long one. He wanted nothing more than to sleep, but Nora had other plans.

"Nora, what time is it?" Ren groggily asked.

"Time to see Eren and Cinder!" Nora answered. "They're outside right now, they wanna talk to us!"

"Tell them they have to wait." Ren slumped back into bed.

Nora was never a very patient girl, but she was ready to grant his request. Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly had an idea on how to get Ren to join them. "You know, Ren... I've been practicing my singing. Maybe you want to hear it?" Nora cleared her throat and prepared to sing.

"No, no, wait!" Ren pleaded as he jumped out of bed. Sighing in both relief and in annoyance, he moved towards his dresser. "Tell them I'll need a few minutes."

"Okay!" Nora ran out of the room and then out of the house, wishing a good morning to both Li and An. Ren on the other hand, took a few minutes to change. Once he had his green shirt and white pants on, he walked outside to see Eren, Cinder, and Nora waiting for him.

"Okay, we're all here," Eren said as he began to walk away. "Come on, we need to talk." Cinder and Nora followed him, with Ren behind them.

"What's going on, Cinder?" Ren asked when he finally caught up to her.

"A couple of things," she replied to both Ren and Nora. "Eren woke me up and told me that he wanted to talk to us. And I have some news too, I'll tell you later."

"Okay," Ren agreed. "Where are we going?"

"To the farm. Eren thinks it's the best place to talk."

"I hope he's okay," Nora said. "He looks like there's something going on."

"I'm fine," Eren said, who was listening to the whole thing. "But it's all of you that I'm worried about." As he continued to walk, Eren didn't notice everyone else stop and stare at each other, confused by what he was talking about. Nevertheless, they followed him all the way to Carla's farm. And rather than going inside the house, they all stood in the middle of the field.

"What's going on, Eren?" Ren asked calmly.

"Yeah, why are you acting weird?" Nora asked. "Is everything okay? Is it your mom?"

"No, she's alright," Eren insisted. "Her headaches finally stopped, and she can work like she used to again." Eren pointed towards a window on the farmhouse. There, everyone could see Carla sitting in her study going over paperwork and other details about her farm.

But when she noticed everyone was looking at her, Carla paused her work and waved to everyone with a smile. They all waved back with smiles before they turned away from the window.

"So, what's going on?" Nora asked.

Eren sighed as he explained himself. "Listen, guys. Things have gotten back to normal here. The drawbridge is finished, the repairs are done, and we're all safe."

"And it's gonna get better," Cinder said with a smile. "Eren, can I tell them? I said I would tell them later, but I'm just so excited!"

Eren could tell how excited Cinder was; she almost looked like Nora right now, which was a first for her. "Sure," he said. "Go ahead." He felt this meeting was important, but Cinder had some big news she wanted to share.

"Thanks!" Cinder said as she turned to her friends. "Ms. Fritz said she had a lot of money left from Mistral, and the Mayor's gonna use some of it to get better defenses against the Grimm."

"Oh, I heard about that," said Ren, "Father's happy about the upgrade we'll be getting. And the moat we have will only help us more."

"And that's not the best part!" Cinder insisted. "Ms. Fritz said that she's gonna use more money to build a school!"

Ren's eyes widened in amazement. "Wait, a school? Really?"

"Really! Everyone's gonna learn like we do, Ren! Isn't that great?!"

"That's... amazing!" Ren always liked his tutoring sessions with Dina, so a school was going to be even better.

"She wants to build it close to the farm," Eren said as he pointed across the field. "They might build it over there. Most of the kids here should be going, and Mom wants me to go too."

"Yeah, but that's still not the best part!" Cinder insisted with a smile. "After Eren's mom and Ms. Fritz told us about the school, Ms. Fritz said she has some big news for me!"

"What is it?" Ren asked.

"She said... She said she wants to adopt me!" Cinder began to jump in the air. "She's gonna be my new mom!"

Ren and Nora gasped when they heard the news, but Nora was the first to react with enthusiasm. "Adopt?!" she asked with a smile. "Like what Ren's parents did for me?!"

"Yeah!" Cinder replied. "She and Eren's mom asked if I wanted that, and I said yes!"

Nora immediately ran up and hugged Cinder. "Oh, Cinder! I'm so happy for you!"

Ren smiled at Cinder when he understood how happy she was. "Me too, Cinder," he said.

Eren was smiling too, and he put a hand on Cinder's shoulder when Nora released her. "Yeah, we're all happy for Cinder," he said honestly. He remembered how happy his friend was when Dina brought up the idea, so it was easy for him to be happy for her. After everything she saw and went through, Eren knew Cinder deserved to have a loving parent.

Just like how Carla loved Eren.

"But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

Everyone turned to Eren when he said this. He was still happy for Cinder and Kuroyuri, given that things were going to be better for everyone. However, Eren knew that he had to do something to make sure things stayed that way.

"Things are going great, but they might not stay that way," Eren explained. "Something just as bad as Grimm and Marcus Black could come at any time. We survived both of them, but we weren't prepared. The Mayor and the adults are preparing, but I want to help you prepare too."

"Oh," everyone said in understanding. They couldn't argue with the fact that they weren't expecting Grimm or a false Huntsman, and they couldn't deny that things wouldn't have been so fortunate if Eren wasn't here.

"What can we do?" Cinder asked.

"How can we prepare?" Ren followed.

"It's actually pretty simple," Eren confessed. "I want you all to live, and there's only one way I can help you do that."

Nora suddenly remembered something. "You mean going after Salem?" she asked cautiously. She was still scared of the woman, despite the fact that she was miles away.

"No, that comes later," Eren explained. "And that's just for me. What comes next, right now, is me teaching you how to fight."

Nora gasped as Ren's eyes widened. Both of them were unsure about the idea, and Cinder was starting to have some doubts about someone like Nora and Ren trying to fight. Before they could protest, Eren explained his idea a little more.

"Cinder, your fire powers are great, but you can't always rely on your Titan," he said. "You were human with those people from Atlas, and that first Huntsman."

"I remember," Cinder admitted. "I couldn't have gotten away without you."

"If I teach you how to fight, you can make sure nobody will hurt you again."

That was all Cinder wanted. She wanted to be free of anyone or anything that tried to hurt or control her. In order to do that, she would have to defend her freedom by fighting. Eren learned that a long time ago, and now he was teaching Cinder the same thing.

She had to do this.

"Okay," she decided. "But I thought we were supposed to do this to protect people like Ren and Nora. Do you want them to fight too?"

"Yeah, I don't know, Eren," Nora confessed. "I don't really like fighting."

"Just hear me out," Eren implored before he turned to Ren. "Ren, you haven't passed up an opportunity to help Nora. But other than your Semblance, there wasn't much you could do when the Grimm attacked that night. I can help you do more."

"...And there may be another time like that," Ren said as he stared at the ground. "You might be right."

Eren nodded as he made his final point. "Nora, we're always gonna be here for you. But Mercury's dad could have really hurt you, and we would've had no idea. Or worse... we could have come too late."

Nora didn't say anything, she simply nodded. Being kidnapped by Marcus Black was one of the scariest experiences in her life, one that she didn't want to repeat again.

"So... what do we do now?" she asked. "How can I make sure that won't happen again?"

"By letting me train you," Eren insisted. "I learned how to fight back home, how to defend myself against regular people and Titans. It should help against people like Marcus too, if we try to use Aura and Semblances too. Cinder learned a few things, but I didn't have the chance to teach her everything. I can do that now."

"How long do you think until we're ready?" Ren asked.

"A few years, I'd have to say. My training in the military was long and hard, but it was something I needed. And I think it's something you all need too. I'm not going to force you to do this, I just think that it's something that will help you."

Cinder moved up to Eren. "I think you already know my answer," she said. After everything they'd done so far, every danger they faced, she was still willing to help Eren.

"Mine too."

Eren and Cinder turned to Ren. "If you think this is something that's going to help us protect ourselves and each other, I'm ready to start."

"Me too," said Nora, who took Ren's hand, in an effort to show that he wouldn't be alone in this.

Eren smiled. "Alright... let's get started."

[Play 'Battle Tapes- Sweatshop Boys' on YouTube]

Eren was running down a dirt path, moving his arms steady and running at a steady pace. "Doing great, everyone!" he encouraged. "Try and keep up!"

Cinder, Ren, and Nora were all running behind Eren, panting and feeling that their hearts were about to explode. Nora stopped running and immediately fell to the ground.

Eren gave a series of exercises to everyone, staring with curled push-ups. "We'll work on a new form once you're strong enough," Eren said as he watched Ren and Cinder move up and down. "Right now, focus on pushing yourself off the-" Eren stopped talking when he saw Nora eating a pancake instead of exercising.

"Um... you hungry?" she asked with a smile as she looked up at Eren.

"..."

Later on, Eren watched Ren and Cinder spar with a piece of wood, pretending it was a knife. Cinder grabbed Ren's hand to get the wood. They soon began to play tug-of-war with the wood.

"No, no, no!" Eren said as he stopped them. "It's not gonna be that simple. Ren, you need to use your other hand to get Cinder away from you. And Cinder, you can't just go for the weapon, you need to attack another way. Try again."

Just as the two prepared to try again, Eren turned around to see Nora running laps. "Keep running, Nora! And let me tell you what happened to the last time a girl brought food to training!"

The next day, everyone was sore and not looking forward to training. But that didn't stop Eren from giving them the same exercise as before.

"Okay, Cinder. You be the bad guy now. Use that wood to attack Ren."

Cinder did as she was told and swung at Ren. As he tried to dodge and grab the wood, Cinder only landed more strikes on him.

"Good job," Eren complimented his friend as Ren looked up from the ground. "Those were fast and good strikes." He then looked down at Ren. "We'll work on your reflexes."

The days and weeks that passed were like this. Fighting and exercising until everyone was ready to drop. But everyone improved in their own way, mainly with Ren and his speed. As he threw Cinder against a tree when sparring with the knife, Ren felt Eren pat his shoulder.

"Nice throw," he said as he turned to Cinder. "Cinder, try to keep your balance this time." He then turned to Nora, who was doing her push-ups while waiting to spar. But her strength was starting to fail her, as she fell to the ground. Eren simply looked away, failing to notice Nora hit the ground in frustration.

One day after training, Ren noticed Nora practicing her exercises in her room. Seeing her struggle both day and night, Ren helped her with some push-ups. When she asked him about running better, Ren gave Nora one answer.

"You have to want to do it, Nora. If you don't want it, then doing anything is impossible."

The next day, Nora once again struggled to keep up with Cinder and Ren while running. But then, she remembered what Ren said, and decided that she truly wanted to run faster. So with a sudden burst of energy, she passed them in the middle, causing Ren and Cinder to fall to the ground once her arms hit them.

Eren's jaw dropped when he saw Nora running faster. When she stopped running and cheered, he found himself chucking.

"Remember, Nora, you have to find a way to get me on the ground so I can't hit you with this wood."

"Got it."

Nora had been trying various ways to get Eren on the ground when he had the knife. Her attempts didn't work since she didn't have the strength to throw him or grab it out of his hands. But today would be different. With a smile, Nora told Eren to attack her.

So with a charge, Eren swung the knife at Nora's chest.

But she immediately backed away and sent her leg up, right into Eren's crotch.

With a yell, Eren dropped the wood and fell to the ground, clutching his crotch and ignoring Nora's joy.

"I win! I win!" Nora yelled.

"Way to go, Nora!" Cinder cheered.

Ren would have joined Cinder's cheers, if he wasn't cringing about Eren's injury. "Eren, are you okay?" he asked calmly.

Later in the day, after Eren got off his feet and grabbed an ice pack, he came out of the house with a new plan. "Okay, I think you all should learn... proper fighting techniques."

"You got the basics down, so let's try something different this time. Kill this Grimm."

Using his Titan powers, Eren had summoned a Beowolf. It lunged at Ren, who jumped out of the way and quickly got up. Using his father's knife, he stabbed its hand first to keep it in place. With a yell, Nora punched it in the throat, which caused it to fall backwards. Cinder picked up a pitchfork and stabbed it in the chest, watching it turn to dust.

As they looked back to Eren, everyone saw him create another Beowolf from a pool of his blood.

"Again."

[End music]

Each day became harder, but everyone got stronger. The days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months, and the months turned into years. In those years, Eren, Cinder, Ren, and Nora had become teenagers, and were stronger than ever. Especially Nora, whose enthusiasm had manifested into her training, making her faster and stronger than most teenagers. She had become so strong that when a lightning bolt struck her during training, it merely unlocked her Semblance.

Cinder and Ren had also become faster and stronger thanks to Eren's training. They were both incredibly skilled with sharp objects, mainly knives for Ren. And Eren made sure to practice as well, regaining much of the strength he developed when he was a soldier. And best of all, their teenage bodies had become reflections of the strength they all gained.

Ren's new outfit was similar to what he used to wear as a child; a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. That same trimming moved down the right side of his torso and formed a black collar. Along with this, he began to wear a black, long-sleeved shirt beneath the suit and light-tan pants with black shoes. After Ren decided to grow his hair much longer than it was when he was younger, his father showed him how to tie it in a small ponytail.

Nora had been through quite the change as well. Well defined muscles formed around her body, which definitely made her the physically strongest of her friends. This became a fact that she had bragged about to Mercury, much to Cinder's annoyance and the boy's amusement. Her simple outfit from her childhood was discarded long ago, in favor of a collared black sleeveless vest with a blue central front section with red accents. That same vest had the emblem of a hammer on the back.

Under the vest, Nora wore a white sleeveless T-shirt with a heart-shaped cutout above her waist line in the center, accompanied with a pair of white detached sleeves on each arm and a pair of light pink fingerless gloves. Just a week ago, she started spotting a short pink skirt with a single white layer under it. Her white and pink ankle boots made Kuroyuri's terrain easier for her to travel.

Cinder arguably had gone through the biggest change. She was always the scrawniest when she was younger, but now she stood proudly at 5'11". Thanks to a sudden growth spurt, her body matured into one that made many women green with envy and caused many heads to turn. And the years of hard training has also left her body packed with well defined muscles. Her choice of fashion consisted of gray pants, black steel-toed combat boots, a beige leather, sleeveless jacket with light-beige details, dark brown gloves, a sarashi tied around her chest and another around her hips, and a pauldron on her left shoulder. She also wore a belt around her waist, which had multiple brown pouches attached to it. Her fingernails were always seen painted with red nail polish.

Eren had definitely grown as well. His training had left him with new muscles and a set of abs. Not very caring of how he looked fashion-wise, Eren decided to wear a very simple outfit; a white shirt and gray jeans. The white shirt was under a black jacket that Eren could tie up if he needed to, not very different from the outfit he wore the last days he was on Paradis. His hair had grown back into the way he used to have it, and it was tied at the back. He was starting to remind himself of his time on Paradis.

It was easy to say that Eren and his friends were all ready to face whatever threat came their way. All that they needed were weapons to match.

And the source of these weapons surprisingly came from Mercury. His surgeries and therapies had helped him regain the ability to walk, despite the amount of time he unfortunately needed to stay at the hospital. Furthermore, he had a lot of downtime when he was out of surgery and therapy. So whenever Eren and his friends came to visit, Mercury would spend time talking about making weapons for them all. Given that he was able to fix all kinds of things, mainly weapons and appliances at the hospital, Mercury was willing to give creating from scratch a try. All he needed were ideas and supplies.

Eren and his friends all began working at Carla's farm to earn their own money, if they weren't volunteering to slay Grimm that came close to the village. Eren was even able to teach his friends a little about farming, since he had to work at a farm when he was a refugee in the walls.

It was easy to say that Eren and his friends made a great addition to the farm's team. Carla was very proud of everyone, especially her own son. She was even sharing advice with him on how to run the farm in the future, just like she was doing now.

However, Eren wasn't sure about running a business such as his mother's farm. Even on Paradis, he always felt his skills were at their best on the field rather than behind a desk. Eren didn't have the heart to tell her this, though. He believed he had hurt her enough for one lifetime, so he swallowed his feelings and let his mother be his teacher.

Cinder found opportunities to help her own mother, Dina Fritz, at her school. After it had been built, and after she educated herself with the rest of her friends, Cinder became a teacher's assistant to Dina when she wasn't at the farm. They both still lived at Carla's farm, since the school was so close. Nobody minded, since they had all grown so close together as the years passed.

With the money they made from cultivating and selling produce, Eren and his friends all brought tools and supplies to Mercury, who took what he had and made something new.

For Ren, Mercury created two pistols capable of firing Dust rounds at an incredible speed. The pistols included two hooks at the bottom of the barrel capable of stabbing Grimm and hooking onto almost any surface. And for Nora, he created something extraordinary to see what he could actually do. With her ideas and everything she brought to the hospital, Mercury made a large hammer that Nora could wield with no difficulty. It also doubled as a grenade launcher, firing large grenades with pink explosions. While Ren named his guns "StormFlower", Nora called the large hammer "Magnhild."

As for Eren and Cinder, they decided to pay their long-distance friend a visit to see what his progress was on their weapons.

"We're landing right now," said Cinder, who was speaking into a Scroll she had gotten a few months ago. "Sure, we'll tell Mercury you said 'Hi.' Don't worry, we'll ask him about coming to Kuroyuri."

Eren tapped Cinder's shoulder to get her attention. "Ask if she needs anything while we're here," he asked politely.

"Eren wants to know if you need anything from Mistral. No? Okay, see you at home. Bye, Mom." Cinder hung up the Scroll and turned to Eren. "Mom says she's fine."

"Okay. I asked my mom before I left, but I forgot to ask Ms. Fritz. Sorry."

"No problem. Did you still want to go into town today?"

"I think Mom and I are going in a couple of days. We got that meeting with the supermarket soon."

"Oh, yeah! She's pretty excited about that."

"Yeah, she is. She said it's been years since her farm did business with the capital."

It was true that Ambrose Farms had done business with the capital of Mistral before. However, the business and deals were usually temporary, and they were before Carla's time. Once the capital had what they needed, they didn't ask for more.

But this time, Carla was sure this deal would be permanent. A few expansions of her farming property had allowed an abundant amount of food for Kuroyuri, as well as villages beyond the district it was located in. Once news reached a particular supermarket in Mistral, a deal was offered that Carla couldn't ignore. She was very proud of herself, as well as the work people like Eren were putting into her farming business.

"How come you're going?" Cinder asked. "Don't we have work that day?"

"Yeah, we do," Eren said. "But you know Mom. She thinks I'll have to do this one day."

Cinder frowned at the response. She was well aware that Carla wanted Eren to be her replacement, and she was also aware of Eren's skepticism towards the idea. She agreed that his skills were better suited for the field, but Carla didn't seem to be aware.

"You're gonna have to tell her sometime, Eren," Cinder calmly insisted. "I mean, I know how that sounds, but she's gotta know how you feel." She placed a hand on Eren's shoulder. "And you deserve to be happy with what you're gonna do."

Eren smiled and silently thanked Cinder for her support. He was aware that he would have to tell his mother that he wasn't suited for her job, but he wasn't going to tell her now.

Not until both of them were ready.

"I will," Eren promised. "Don't worry." After he made the promise and reassured his friend that things would be fine, Eren looked out the window to see where they were. "Here we are."

The airship landed in front of the Mistral hospital, leaving Eren and Cinder to walk inside. Once they did, the sounds and sights of nurses and doctors running around like crazy welcomed them.

"I guess it's one of those days," Eren noticed.

"Really looks like it," Cinder replied.

She and Eren were frequent visitors of the hospital, so they knew what kind of habits the place went through. They also knew a few people, as well, and Cinder was looking for one person in particular.

"Shoot," she said with a frown. "Doesn't look like Midori's here."

Eren didn't follow Cinder's gaze, but he still talked to her. "I don't think we should have expected to see her here," he said.

"I know. Just wishful thinking I suppose."

Eren nodded before he looked at the receptionist desk to see a woman with curly brown hair. "Well, let's hope someone's in a good mood today."

As soon as the receptionist looked up to see two familiar teenagers walking towards her, she smiled as she greeted them. "Hey, you two," she said.

"Hi, Betty," Eren greeted the receptionist. "How are you holding up?"

"Eh, same thing, different day. Here to see Mercury?"

"As always," Cinder replied.

"Aw, come on." Betty leaned closer. "You two never have any time just to see me?"

"Of course we do. You're the first person we see each time we come here."

"True, true." Betty looked to Eren. "But most gentlemen bring something nice for their lady friends."

"Yeah, well... I guess I'm not a gentleman," Eren joked.

"No, I guess not," Betty said before the trio shared a laugh. After it disappeared, the receptionist turned to her computer and pressed a few keys. "Looks like Mercury's finishing up some physical therapy. Visiting hours are still good in Ward B."

"Thanks," Eren said as he led the way to the elevator. Cinder naturally followed him, but she was stopped by the receptionist's voice.

"Oh, Cinder!" Betty called out. "You know, the patients in that ward were asking about you. You left quite an impression on them during your last visit."

Cinder smiled as she recalled her last visit. Mainly, what she did for the patients at the ward. "Do they still have that guitar?" she asked.

"Last time I checked," Betty said with a nod.

"I'll be sure to be there." Cinder waved at her acquaintance before she joined Eren at the open elevator. "Do you mind if we stay a little longer?"

Eren shook his head. "I've got nowhere else to be," he said.

After an elevator ride up three floors, Eren and Cinder walked to the physical therapy room, where they found Mercury taking normal steps with a physical therapist. The therapist smiled proudly at the progress she and Mercury were making; after a long and arduous process, he could finally walk at an average pace. And even Mercury was happy to walk like this again. Ever since his surgeries were finished, he was excited about the therapy.

And he was feeling even better when Eren and Cinder came for another visit. After waving at them, Mercury reluctantly sat in a wheelchair and made his way to the hallway.

Eren and Cinder looked at each other in confusion. "Is that necessary?" he asked. "He looks better to me."

"Hospital policy, I guess," Cinder responded after she shrugged.

"Hey, guys! What's up?"

Eren and Cinder looked down to see Mercury extending a fist at Eren. Eren formed one of his own and bumped it on Mercury's, since it was a greeting Eren learned on Remnant.

Cinder greeted him with her voice and a joke.

"Hey, there he is!" she said. "And how's our lovely patient doing today?"

"Yeah, yeah," Mercury said as he rolled his eyes. "Call me that while you can, Cinder. I'll be outta here in a few weeks."

"That's good to hear," Eren said. "Everyone back home's waiting to see you."

"Yeah," Cinder said. "No more hospital visits, no more field trips. Now you get to see Kuroyuri at its best!"

"Um... about that." Mercury pushed himself down the hall back to his room, not wanting anyone to assist him with something he could do on his own. "Are you sure Ms. Fritz and everyone else are okay with me coming to Kuroyuri? I mean, going there was only an idea. Finding a job and a place in Mistral's not as hard as I thought."

"..."

It didn't take a genius to see that Mercury was long wrong on past deeds. It had been years since his father was finally killed, but everyone had moved past what had occurred. Mercury had been forgiven for his role, but he was still skeptical about how he would be welcomed. If he were a member of the town, Mercury knew he wouldn't warmly welcome a murderer's accomplice.

Fortunately, Eren was able to put these thoughts to rest.

"It's not hard in Kuroyuri, either," Eren insisted. "In fact, you don't have to worry about looking. We got a job for you."

Mercury stopped pushing his chair and looked up at Eren in surprise. "Wait, what?" he asked.

"We told Mom about the weapons you made for Ren and Nora. I mean, Mom's not the biggest fan of weapons, but she can see you're good with tools."

Mercury grinned as he confidently leaned back in his chair. "Guess your mom's got an eye for class."

Eren played off the joke while Cinder laughed. "Anyways, with the recent expansion, we got a lot more manpower and tools. Some of them are broken, and some of them need to be assembled. I was able to convince her that you were the right man for the job."

Mercury nodded slowly as he thought it over. "Yeah, I could handle something like that. I read up on a few farming mechanics while I've been here."

"So you'd be interested?" Cinder asked hopefully.

Mercury took a second to think it over. "Yeah, I guess so. But, uh... what's the catch, Eren?"

"No catch," Eren insisted. "Just chores and the job. Oh, and make sure you take care of your room."

"My what?"

"Your room. We got a spare room at our house for you. It's yours if you take the job. Three meals a day, and no rent to pay."

"No rent?"

When he saw Eren shake his head, Mercury took a minute to think about it. His mechanical skills would definitely help at the farm, and a roof over his head would be good to have. Everything was practically being handed to him on a silver plate if he accepted the job. And it was honest work when compared to the work he had to do with his father.

Along with that, Mercury knew it would be good to see Ren and Nora on a daily basis.

"Okay, I'm in," Mercury said.

"Yes!" Cinder said. "Welcome to the team, Merc."

"Mom's gonna like that," Eren said with a smile. "Ren and Nora too."

"Sweet," Mercury said as he began to move his chair again. "Oh, how are Ren and Nora doing with their weapons? No more problems, right?"

"Everything's fine," Eren said. "Ren's getting better with the guns, and Nora loves the hammer."

"I knew she would."

Cinder cleared her throat as she walked with Eren and Mercury. "Listen, I don't want to sound greedy," she said. "But I was wondering if... you know-"

"Any luck with our weapons?" Eren quickly asked.

"Eren!"

Mercury put his hand up to Cinder. "No, it's fine," he said. "Sorry to keep you waiting, I've only been doing physical therapy and exercise sixteen hours a day."

Cinder nodded at Eren, immediately taking Mercury's side. Eren rubbed his head and looked away. "...Sorry," he said.

Mercury suddenly slapped Eren's chest. "Don't be so serious, Eren," he said with a laugh as he rolled into his room. "But listen, I've been looking at the drawings you gave me for something like this." Mercury rolled over to his table and pulled out a piece of paper. The paper had a drawing of a figure with two large pieces of metal on its side and a grappling hook coming out of one side.

A picture of a person with vertical maneuvering equipment.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking my weapon should be," Eren explained.

"Me too," Cinder said. "When Eren told me what it could do, I thought the idea was interesting."

"Oh, it's cool as Hell," Mercury said as he put the paper down. "I mean, what it does..." He made a whistling sound. "I might even build one for myself. But I gotta say, the design kinda sucks."

Eren immediately became confused. He knew the equipment he had on Paradis wasn't much to look at, but he never heard anyone question the design. "What's wrong with it?" he asked.

"It doesn't seem really practical."

"What are you talking about? Grappling onto buildings to increase speed and grapple up to Grimm on roofs? Sounds practical to me."

"Well, yeah. But what about Grimm in an open field? Fighting them without using these hooks would just weigh you down. And the fuel consumption would be bad too."

"..."

Eren couldn't deny that this was a downside of the vertical maneuvering equipment. He would always have trees and Titans to latch on to, but it was common to find Grimm in an open field. So the first flaw was dangerous, and the second flaw was something else to take into consideration.

"Yeah, but there's not a lot I can do to change it," said Eren. He knew how to explain the equipment, since he had to maintain it every day. But making a brand new design was a different story.

"Me neither," said Cinder. "But we could find a way around it."

"Way ahead of you," said Mercury, who took out a second piece of paper. "Think you'd be interested in this?"

Eren and Cinder looked at the paper to see the same equipment. However, there were some differences that caught their eye.

It made the vertical maneuvering equipment on Paradis look like child's play.

"Wow," said Cinder. "This is actually pretty good."

"You can build this?" Eren asked, hoping that it was possible.

"Not tonight he can't."

Everyone turned around to see another teenager standing in the doorframe. She was a girl with short brown hair and soft blue eyes; she wearing a light brown vest over her torn white shirt along with brown jeans.

When she saw that she had the attention of the room, the girl casually walked inside and locked eyes with Mercury. "Hey, you," she said.

"Hey there, Flower Girl," Mercury said with a chuckle.

The girl leaned down to Mercury and gave him a kiss. After they separated, she looked to Eren and Cinder. "How's it going, guys?" she asked.

"Hey, Vernal," Eren said.

"Still haven't thought of a good comeback for that nickname, huh?" Cinder asked with a smirk.

"Give me time," Vernal answered with a toothy grin. "Sorry that I gotta steal your armorer here." Vernal took Mercury's chair and pushed him towards the door. Given that the two had been dating for a while, she was the only one Mercury allowed to push his chair from time to time.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" Cinder asked. "Dinner and a movie?"

"Overrated," Vernal answered. "Mercury and I are gonna hit the town, maybe show off those weapons he made for me."

"Don't know how long we'll be gone," Mercury pointed out. "But if you like the design, I'll try to start tonight." Before he could say anything else, Vernal whispered into his ear and winked at him. With a gasp and a smile, he turned back to his friends. "Actually, I'll start in the morning." Vernal whispered something to him again. "Later in the morning."

"..."

Eren and Cinder didn't really know what else to say after that, so they just let Mercury and Vernal leave for the town. With that, the duo decided they overstayed their welcome in Mercury's room and began to walk the halls.

"You think Mercury can build something like that?" Cinder asked.

"I hope so," Eren confessed. "That looks way better than the equipment I had back home."

"Yeah, I'll say. Too bad you never got to wear that version they upgraded, though. Maybe that would have helped Mercury."

"You kidding? What Mercury had was even better! Not even Hange could have topped that!"

"Glad you think so." Cinder stopped walking when she laid her eyes on a particular room. "Oh, here we are. Come on, let's go inside!"

Eren and Cinder walked inside and were immediately greeted by the largest room in Ward B. The room was reserved for people who were recovering from severe injury, who needed constant care and the most attention than anyone else in the hospital. It was perhaps the most depressing room in the hospital as well.

That was, until people like Cinder would come in.

Mercury would sometimes spend time in this room after recovering from surgeries, so Eren and his friends would visit him there. Nobody really liked how depressing the room was, as well as Mercury's condition. So one day, Cinder believed singing would cheer everyone up. And not only did it make her friends happy, but all of the patients liked it too.

So whenever Cinder came to visit, alone or with friends, she would always sing to however many patients were in the room. People would come and go, but everyone who was currently in the room loved hearing Cinder sing.

And today, after she and Eren were greeted by the patients, Cinder prepared to sing for them with a guitar that was left behind. She had learned how to play while in Kuroyuri, and she had many songs memorized and prepared for whenever she came to visit. Most of the patients were familiar with Cinder, but there were a few new ones who were in for a treat.

"When I was a babe, I fell down in the holler.

When I was a girl, I fell into your arms.

We fell on hard times and we lost our bright color.

You went to the dogs and I lived by my charms.

I danced for my dinner, spread kisses like honey.

You stole and you gambled and I said you should.

We sang for our suppers and we drank up our money.

Then one day you left, saying I was no good.

Well, all right, I'm bad, but then, you're no prize either.

All right, I'm bad, but then, that's nothing new.

You say you won't love me, well I won't love you neither.

Just let me remind you who I am to you.

'Cause I am the one who looks out when you're leaping

I am the one who knows how you were brave.

And I am the one who knows what you said sleeping

I'll take that and more when I go to my grave."

This wasn't a song Cinder wrote herself; she had heard music from all over, on radios and television. When she liked one so much, she would always download it onto her Scroll and practice it herself.

And sure enough, everyone in the hospital room loved it. Eren was arguably the one who loved it most. He was never a stranger to Cinder's singing, and he probably heard her sing about a thousand times. However, each time he heard her voice was more special than the last time. He couldn't explain it, but Eren was drawn to Cinder's voice. It was, along with Cinder and Carla, a gift Eren received when he came to Remnant.

A gift he would protect from the likes of Salem.

As he promised, Mercury finally left the hospital after two more weeks. Vernal had offered to let Mercury stay with her, since she had her own place in Mistral, but Mercury chose to go to Kuroyuri instead. He promised to come and visit when he could, since he always enjoyed the freedom he had with Vernal. But now, it was time to see his new home.

Eren and Cinder were escorting Mercury while helping him with his bags. So Carla, Dina, Ren, and Nora were left patiently waiting for their airship at Kuroyuri's landing pad.

Nora, however, wasn't being very patient. She was just too excited to see Mercury again, so she wanted to know when he was arriving. At the moment, she was jumping in the air while asking Ren the same question over and over again.

"Are they here yet?"

"No."

"Are they here yet?"

"No."

"Are they here yet?"

"No."

"Are they here yet?"

Ren sighed as he pointed to the sky, trying to hide his annoyance. "Look up to the sky, Nora," he said. "Once you see their ship, you'll know they're here."

Nora did as she was told, and saw a nice blue orange sky, a few clouds hanging over them. Once she gazed into the beautiful sky, Nora had one thing to say.

"...Are they here yet?"

"Ugh," Ren moaned. "I give up."

Carla laughed as she listened to Ren and Nora. "Well, I can't blame you for being excited, Nora," she insisted. "I'm excited too."

"I think your offer was too good to pass up, Ms. Yeager," Ren insisted. "Last time I checked, there weren't many offerings for a job in mechanics in Mistral."

"Yeah!" Nora agreed. "It's perfect here! Better than the last time he was here too! I can't wait to show Mercury all the new things he's gotta see!"

Carla silently agreed. There were many changes that occurred in Kuroyuri. Her farm was one of them, but Carla easily noticed a change with herself. Namely, how she legally changed her last name to "Ambrose-Yeager," to solidify her role as Eren's mother. Everyone usually called her "Carla" or "Ms. Yeager" now, and Mercury was about to do the same when he arrived.

Which, according to Dina, was about to finally happen.

"They're here!" Dina shouted as she pointed in the sky. Everyone followed her finger to see an airship coming closer and closer until it finally touched the ground.

Once it landed, three teenagers hopped out and waved at the pilot. Once he waved back and saw there would be no new passengers, he took the ship back into the air. Without further ado, Dina and the teenagers that accompanied her began to welcome Mercury to Kuroyuri. And the first to do this was Nora.

"Well, if it isn't the Merc with a Mouth!" she said with a smile as Mercury raised his arm and formed a grasp with Nora.

"What's good, Red Bomber?" Mercury asked with a toothy grin. The two had created these nicknames for each other when they were kids, when Nora would visit Mercury in the hospital. Given that Mercury loved to talk and Nora had a habit of exploding in excitement most of the time, the names were perfect. The two had formed a close bond at the hospital, given that Nora could make his bad days have one good thing. And Mercury gave Nora some tips about exercising, given that he learned a lot from both his father and the doctors.

"Welcome back, Mercury," Ren said with an extended hand.

"Hey, Ren." Mercury shook his hand. "What's new and exciting?"

"Other than Nora's unpredictable nature and our training, every day has been the same."

Now it was Dina's turn to greet Mercury. "It's so good to see you, Mercury," she said as she embraced the boy. A heat rose to his face, given that this was the last thing he expected to experience.

"Um... good to see you too, Ms. Fritz," he said.

As she released the embrace, Dina allowed Carla to step in and welcome the boy. "Hello, Mercury," she said with a natural smile.

"Ma'am," Mercury said politely, still feeling a little awkward being around the two women. "Or, uh, should I start calling you 'Boss?'"

Carla laughed as she shook her head. "Carla's just fine, Mercury. And I'm so glad you decided to accept my offer."

"Well, thanks for making it. Eren and Cinder were saying you got a few things that need fixing?"

"We can worry about that tomorrow. Nora's been wanting to show you around first."

"Yeah!" Nora said as she grabbed Mercury's hand. "Come on, you gotta see this!"

As they began to walk, Dina turned to see Eren and Cinder each carrying a set of equipment on their sides. They weren't bags, they were pieces of metal that rested on their waists. Nora and Ren turned back and saw that it was a metal case of blades and arrows, which made them gasp in amazement.

"Like what you see?" Mercury asked when everyone stopped walking.

Nora turned back to Mercury. "Wait, you made these?" she asked.

"Took me some time, but yeah."

Ren took a closer look at Cinder's as he walked around her. "Intriguing," he said. "But what does it do?"

Before Mercury or Eren could answer, Cinder followed Ren's glare and made a quick remark. "There's nothing behind me that involves my weapon." A smirk formed on her lips. "Or is there something else there that you like, Ren?"

"Gah!" Ren turned away in embarrassment, putting a hand up to block his vision of Cinder's behind.

The teenagers began to laugh, but Dina didn't. "Cinder," she said with crossed arms and a dry expression on her face. This wasn't the first time Cinder made witty jokes of her body like this, and it was never something her adoptive mother approved of.

And Cinder stopped doing so as quickly as she began. "Sorry, Mom," she said sincerely. Quickly deciding to change the subject, she told Nora and Ren that she would show off her weapon tomorrow. Eren promised the same thing, since his weapon was similar to Cinder's.

But first, everyone decided to walk through town on their way back to the farmhouse.

As they made the walk, Mercury couldn't help but feel that Kuroyuri was different from what he remembered. He only spent about a week in the town and that was several years ago, but he would think that he would remember a large wall with mounted turrets and a drawbridge for protection. And the village seemed to have much larger houses, some looked like they could fit two families. After a minute of walking, Mercury's curiosity revealed itself.

"So... the town looks... different," he said.

"We were able to make some big changes after you left," said Dina. "The money we got from that Councilman's arrest helped pay for your surgeries and those turrets. Later on, the Mayor decided than rather keep them on the ground, we could make the city's walls larger to keep out larger Grimm and raise the guns high enough for Grimm in the air."

"We even got a chance to expand my farm because of the safety," Carla included. "When the first expansion happened, the town decided to expand as well."

"We built a new wall when we saw we had the resources and time. When we did that, we found out it was in just the right spot."

"Why's that?" Mercury asked.

"We found Dust," Cinder explained. "A deposit of Dust that stretches underground for... who knows how long?"

"Yeah," said Eren. "The Mayor made a trade deal with the surrounding villages and the Mistral Trading Company: supplies for Dust."

"Whoa."

This was a lot for Mercury to take in, which left him speechless for the rest of the trip back to Carla's farm. After sharing a hot meal and explaining Mercury's job of keeping the farm's equipment up and running, everyone went to bed and prepared themselves for what tomorrow would bring.

The first day of working went off without a hitch. While Eren and Cinder were collecting the harvest and cleaning the stables, Mercury was fixing a broken tractor and other farming tools. After a light lunch, Eren decided now would be a good time for training. But rather than staying at Carla's farm, Eren led Cinder, Mercury, Ren, and Nora beyond Kuroyuri's wall and close to the forest.

"So, Eren gave me the rundown of your training," said Mercury, who was walking close to Ren and Nora. "Not bad, it's more than what my dad taught me."

"Are you sure you feel up to this?" Nora asked. "I know you just got out of the hospital, and-"

*WHAM*

"Gah!"

Nora suddenly felt something hit the back of her right leg, sending her off balance and hitting the ground. She looked up to see Mercury with his leg slightly extended past his body. As she rubbed the back of her head, Nora knew what the attack meant. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

"And I'll take that as something we should work on," Mercury said as he helped Nora stand. "Sound good to you, Eren?"

"Yeah, you could definitely show them some of your stuff," Eren said as he looked into the trees.

Mercury followed Eren's gaze and smiled. "And the moment of truth has come. You ready, Eren?"

Eren couldn't help but smile as he prepared himself for what came next. "I was born ready." With that, Eren ran towards the trees and felt himself take flight.

*THWIP*

Quickly moving his leg, a metal hook shot out from his side and made contact with a tree. The hook was connected to a metal cord that made Eren swing in the air, covering much more distance than a normal person could do.

As everyone marveled at the feat he just performed with the equipment on his side, Cinder rushed towards the same direction. "Eren, wait for me!" she shouted as she mimicked his movement.

*THWIP*

The same hook came out of Cinder's metal equipment and struck a different tree. With that, Cinder moved just like Eren did.

*THWIP*

*THWIP*

As Eren shot two hooks from his sides into the trees, he began to regain the same feeling he had when he was a soldier. It was this feeling he wished to regain when he asked Mercury to make him a set of vertical maneuvering equipment. Since it was the primary weapon of any soldier inside the walls of Paradis, Eren knew it would be the perfect weapon to have on Remnant.

In order to use it properly again, Eren tried to recreate the hanging challenge Instructor Shadis had during his training. His Hardening abilities made making the posts easy, and the rope was even easier to find. The hardest part turned out to be teaching Cinder how to hang correctly, since she wanted to have the same weapon herself. Eren shared the initial trouble he had with Cinder, but he also told her to never give up when she found her own struggles.

Because of this, after they each perfected the practice, Eren and Cinder were ready to receive their own equipment.

When Cinder was going through the air, a few feet behind Eren, she found the feeling to be glorious. The wind rushing on her face, the sudden stop once she needed to fire her grappling hook again, it was all incredible. As a child, she once wondered what it would be like to fly. And now, she seemed to have mimicked a fraction of that power.

Eren had also regained that power, and now he was ready to test more power when he saw a pack of Beowolves before him.

"It's time," Eren told himself as he grasped two handles on his side. When he pulled on them, he welcomed the sight of two metal blades that he quickly used to cut through Grimm.

*SWISH*

*SWISH*

It was easier to cut and kill a Grimm, since Eren didn't have to aim for a nape. Because of this, he was able to kill two Grimm with hardly any effort.

The blades Eren had summoned were similar to the ones he had on Paradis. However, Mercury had included a slight difference with them in order to compensate for the numerous blades Eren wished to summon. The gear contained a collapsible cartridge in design, and when inserted on the top of the controls, Eren could extend the blades out to full length. That way, he could carry more blades than what the original variant of the vertical maneuvering equipment had.

Eren welcomed this difference, and he found the gear to be just as efficient as it was on Paradis.

Cinder saw the same chance Eren had to test her own gear when she saw the remaining Beowolves. She also ejected two blades from her equipment, but she was able to do something unique. After she combined the blades and watched a metal string connect on the back, Cinder reached to the side and pulled out an arrow instead of a blade. She had learned to use a bow and arrow very efficiently while at Kuroyuri, and now she proudly let this skill kill two Beowolves.

*WHOOSH*

*SHICK*

*WHOOSH*

*SHICK*

Cinder saw that her aim was true, but this caused her to miss something in front of her.

"Cinder, look out!"

Cinder looked away from the Grimm to see herself crash into some branches. While she didn't get her hooks caught in the trees, Cinder unfortunately came flying out of the woods and into a vast empty field, with nothing to latch onto. Eren acted quickly and flung himself out of the woods, coming close to Cinder. Just when they were about to hit the ground, Eren pressed a small button where two straps met on his chest.

*WHOOSH*

Just as he pushed it, a boost of air escaped from under both pieces of equipment and sent Eren straight into the air rather than to the side. This was one of the new features Mercury had added onto Eren's weapon, a way he could circumnavigate past the initial flaw he found. Eren was happy to see that the upgrade worked, and that he could fly practically anywhere now. And the boost had just made him able to fly closer to Cinder so he could grab her. Once she was in his grasp, Eren landed on the ground.

Eren had to catch Cinder in a bridal position, but she didn't mind.

Mercury stopped working with Nora and Ren to check on Cinder. "Guys, you okay?!" he quickly asked.

"I'm fine," Cinder said as Eren let her go. "Sorry, Eren. Guess I got a little carried away."

"Don't worry about it," said Eren, who got up and dusted himself off. "It actually gave me a chance to try out that new feature. It works great, Mercury."

"Nice," the young mechanic said with a smile. He looked at Cinder's equipment and noticed something missing. "Cinder, did you fire a couple of arrows?"

"Yeah, I did," she replied as she took another one out. "Hit a couple of Bewolves right in the chest. I should probably go back and get the arrows, though." Cinder started to walk towards the woods. "Hey, Eren. Did you try out your-?"

*BOOM*

An explosion in the distance caught everyone's attention. As soon as they turned to the source and heard rapid gunfire follow the explosion, they all knew the same thing; Kuroyuri was under attack.

This caused everyone to start running as fast as they could. Eren and Cinder used their equipment to fly in the air to gain more distance. Once they stopped, they could see a glimpse of what kind of damage the walls were taking, as well as the ones responsible.

Mercury was the first to join them as he stopped running and looked at the large wall. "What is it?" he asked. "Grimm?"

Ren and Nora quickly joined him, and Ren was able to make out something at the bottom of the wall. While he was expecting to see the dark creatures trying to get inside, he instead saw a group of people trying to scale the wall and take down the drawbridge.

"...Worse."

Chapter Text

"You think you are so clever, I will sort you out. You are messing around with a wrong guy."

Kalusha Bwalya

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The sound of Kuroyuri's defense cannons firing bellowed across the air and rang through Li's ears. His heart was pounding and sweat did nothing but drip down his face. But his resolve wasn't shaken by the fear coursing through his body, as his hand continued to firmly grasp his bow and let loose arrow after arrow onto incoming bandits.

It all started like any other day. Li was taking his job as a defenseman on the walls as seriously as ever, even though there was no threat to be found. But they just came out of nowhere. Their cries echoed across the air before the emergency bells sounded across the city.

That was when everyone jumped into action. While half of the defensemen began evacuation procedures and escorted the citizens to the upgraded emergency bunker underneath the city, the other half quickly took up arms and took defensive positions along the wall. Those with the knowledge to operate them manned the cannons while the remaining fighters brought their own weapons and took aim at the charging horde. When they were in range, Li saw the banner the bandits all wore.

That was when he recognized the new enemy.

It was the wings of the Branwen Tribe. One of the most dangerous tribes in Anima.

Without hesitation, Li gave the order to open fire. Bullets, arrows, and artillery rained down upon the bandits. Many fell instantly to the onslaught of projectiles, but some of the bandits possessed Aura and were able to protect themselves while they continued the charge. And while the moat was able to stop some bandits and even cause a few to fall in, the stronger ones were able to make the leap across with little to no effort.

Along with the element of surprise, the bandits came with a risky yet effective strategy. Some of the bandits quickly made a break for the drawbridge controls, leaving them open for Li and several sharpshooters to take them down. But that also gave other bandits the opportunity to try and scale the wall using harpoon guns. Li and the others had little choice but to switch focus between groups of bandits, but that was easier said than done.

"They're getting closer!"

"How many of these bastards are there?!"

"I'm running low on ammo!"

Li grimaced, his gaze briefly flashing to his quiver. He was starting to run low on arrows as well. He had a few arrows with Dust tipped heads, but even those might not be enough. "Flynn should be here with more ammo soon!" he informed the rest of the defensemen. "We just have to-!"

"Li, look out!"

Li whirled around, his eyes widened briefly before a mace slammed into his chest launching him from the wall.

*BAM*

"Li!"

*CRASH*

Li grunted as he impacted the cobblestone path beneath the wall. The mace had knocked the wind out of him and his vision began swimming. Shaking his head, Li quickly performed a kip-up from his previous prone position as his Aura kicked in. His gaze turned up and saw a small group of bandits leaping off from the top of the wall. One of the bandits armed with the very mace that knocked him off the wall in the first place.

With a grunt, Li jerked his bow. The taut string retracted and the arms folded into the bow's body. Emerging from top half of the bow was a curved blade, a purchase he made once in Argus.

"Ha! Suck it, old man!" one of the bandits mocked as he drew an axe from his back, while the others also laughed as they drew swords. The mace-wielding bandit said nothing, but smirked at the pathetic display of defiance.

"If you think... I will let you come here... and take everything we built..." Li held his weapon up and took a defensive stance, fully catching his breath. "Think again!"

"Get him, boys!"

The bandits charged. The axe-wielding bandit swung with a vicious strike, but Li ducked and parried the blow before swiping his blade up, carving a gash into the bandit sending him sprawling to the ground with a cry. The other Bandits dashed together and tried to go for a pincer movement but Li quickly swerved around and swung down, breaking the opposing blades. Unlike his own blade, the bandits blades were apparently of very poor quality. Before they could even react, Li dashed between them and his blade danced in a flurry of strikes. The bandits Aura flashed indicating it protected them from the blades slashes, but the force of Li's swing sent the bandits flying.

"This is my home..." Li panted, glaring at the fallen bandits. "And I won't let anyone bring harm to it." That was when his words were packed with confidence once again. It seemed the Branwen tribe had numbers to make up for their lack of training. And that meant the town may have a chance.

"Oh, really?"

*CRACK*

"Ack!" Li cried out as he was struck and knocked down. His arm bent at an unnatural angle and his blade clattered to the ground, causing him to scream in agony.

"Not bad for an old man."

Li turned his head to the side to see the bandit with the mace. "But some of us aren't as stupid as that lot." He pointed to the fallen bandits and knelt down, staring into Li's pained glare. "Unlike them, I like to observe before taking action. Taking advantage of moments of weakness allows for a cleaner takedown."

"We're... not... weak..." Li protested, who ironically was feeling very weak at the present moment. The only reason he hung onto his resolve was because he learned how no resolve meant defeat was inevitable.

"Yeah, sure." The bandit shrugged uncaring. "Hiding behind walls like these, only a few fighters in this lot? You people just don't get it. Defenses like these are just a show. It's only survival of the fittest with the strong surviving in this world. And unfortunately for you..." The bandit stood up and brought his mace forward. Li's eyes widened. "I'm the strongest."

[Play 'Attack on Titan - The Reluctant Heroes' on YouTube]

*THWIP*

The bandit whirled around, pausing in confusion when he saw a steel cable with an anchor of sorts embedded in the ground. "What the-?"

*SWISH*

With a hiss and the sound of reeling, a blur shot forward and swung. The sound of a blade cleaving through flesh rung through the air, blood spewing from the bandit's throat. He fell to the ground clawing at his throat, gurgling as he tried to form words before the life quickly began to fade from his eyes.

The blur spun around in the air, landing gracefully on the ground. The blur revealed to be Eren, blades held up and glistening with blood. His eyes in a narrowed glare as he stared distastefully at the corpse of the bandit.

"E-Eren?" Li gasped, his eyes wide as he tried processing what just happened.

"Shit! Clive!" one bandit shouted. Turning towards the other bandits who found their way inside. "That brat just killed Clive!"

"Yeah..." Eren muttered, shaking his blade to clear excess blood. "Who's next?"

One of the bandits snarled and brandished his weapons. He quickly ran forward with two of his allies, but they fell to the ground when arrows struck them in their backs.

*SHICK*

*SHICK*

*SHICK*

Eren immediately prided himself in the success of the plan he had made. By killing the larger bandit to get the attention of the others, his friend went in for the kill.

"Nice shot, Cinder."

*THWIP*

Li turned his head and saw Cinder perched on a rooftop, holding what appeared to be a bow attached to some kind of harness. In fact, it was the same harness Eren was currently wearing.

"I knew a bow would work just as good as your swords," Cinder snarked. She dropped from her perch with a single step, gas hissing from the harness and slowing her descent as she landed next to Eren. "Mercury and Nora are on the other side helping the defense on the wall."

"Where's Ren?" Eren asked.

"He's helping with the evacuation." Cinder turned to Li and winced when she saw his arm. "Oh, that's not good." Kneeling down, she looked at his arm and other cuts. She quickly used her Semblance to cauterize the wounds, but that didn't change the fact that Li Ren needed a doctor. "Eren, he needs a doctor."

"We can't take him anywhere yet," Eren pointed out. "There are too many of these guys here. Come on, we'll help him into this house."

Cinder looked where Eren was looking and agreed. She and Eren helped Li stand up and guided him to an empty house. Once they had the chance, they would come back and get him to a doctor.

"What about... you?" Li grunted as he managed to stand up straight and cradle his arm.

"Don't worry," said Cinder, who opened the door to the empty house.

"We'll handle this," Eren promised as he laid the man out of sight.

"Gods be with you..." Li whispered as he gazed at the two. The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes to rest was Eren and Cinder preparing to leave.

When they were outside, Eren and Cinder decided to use their new weapons together. First, they brought their controls up and pressed down on the triggers at the same time.

*THWIP*

Simultaneously, steel cables tipped with hooked anchors launched from barrels located by their waists and embedded themselves in the closest walls. With another press of the trigger, the cables began to rapidly reel back inside the gear and started to pull Eren and Cinder up into the air.

*HISS*

Suddenly, high pressured gas shot out of the exhaust ports located on their backs. Eren and Cinder were propelled forward at greater speeds. Eren felt himself to be familiar with feeling, even though he hadn't used vertical maneuvering equipment in years.

Cinder had to catch herself once or twice, but she didn't fall or hurt herself.

"You alright?!" Eren asked. He had to shout due to the wind moving across his face and ears.

"Yeah!" Cinder replied in the same manner. "I'm getting the hang of it!" Cinder released herself and fired another hook at a wall before she felt herself fly again. "It's kind of like dancing!" She smiled and laughed when she realized how silly that sounded.

Eren laughed as well, since this was the first time he ever heard someone compare this movement to dancing.

"We'll stick together!" he said. "I can watch and help you move when you need it!"

Cinder knew that she needed to train with her weapon, but give the circumstances, she settled for a trial by fire in order to help people faster.

"No, I'm fine!" she insisted. "We can cover more ground if we split up!"

Eren was reluctant to let someone untrained with vertical maneuvering equipment go on their own, but he agreed that coverinrg more ground was essential at a time like this.

"Okay! I'll go left, you go right!"

"Got it! Good luck!"

*HISS*

With a burst of fuel, Cinder re-positioned herself and began to traversing right.

As she soared through the air, Cinder's eyes raced across the area. Fires were littered across the area but were thankfully being contained and extinguished by other defensemen. Cinder's eyes narrowed and anger and disgust filled her being as she noted the bandits littered across town like an infection.

Kuroyuri was her home. And she wouldn't let it fall to these parasites.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

Gunfire soon caught Cinder's ears. Down below she spotted a few civilians under fire by a group of bandits.

Cinder quickly connected her controls to the metal rectangles down by her sides. The components began unfolding into two white and black curved scimitar-like blades.

Releasing the cables and cutting off the gas, Cinder began her descent. Her blades flipped down and positioned tip first.

One of the bandits noticed movement above and looked up. His eyes widened. "What the-?!"

*BAM*

"UGH!" the bandit cried as Cinder slammed on top of him. Her blades had dug into the man's back and came out of his chest, and blood was pouring out all over. This was an attack Cinder had done before on countless Grimm, with swords not entirely different from the ones she was holding now.

She was ready for combat.

"Holy shit! Tom!"

"Where the fuck did she come from?!"

Ripping her blades free, Cinder pressed the trigger and dashed forward to another bandit with a burst of gas. The bandit barely had time to raise his gun as Cinder swiped her blades up. As a result, the swords cleaved the bandit's forearm off.

His scream of pain was cut off as Cinder delivered a roundhouse kick and knocked him to the ground. Sensing something coming up from behind, Cinder ducked down and dodged an overhead strike. Quickly spinning around, Cinder was able to slash the charging bandit across the abdomen sending him flying into the wall.

The two remaining bandits were shaking, staring in horror as their compatriots were cut down without mercy.

"Man, fuck this!" one bandit tossed his blade away and began running in the other direction. The other agreed and followed.

Cinder's eyes narrowed in distaste. "Oh, no you don't!" she said.

Detaching one of her blades from her controls, Cinder joined it on the end of her other blade to form her bow. Reaching into the pouch on her side, she drew two discs that extended into two arrows. She then knocked the arrows and drew back. Taking a breath and closing an eye for better focus, she took aim then released the string.

*SWISH*

*SWISH*

The arrows soared through the air and struck their targets dead center in their backs. The bandits toppled to the ground like dead weight.

"Cinder!"

Cinder whirled around and prepared to fire her bow at another bandit. But then, she relaxed as she saw a familiar green clad person running over "Ren! Quick, get these people to safety!"

"Already on it!" he said to Cinder before he helped the downed civilians up to their feet. Cinder raised her bow once again, but the bandits were too far to get a good shot.

"Heads up!"

Cinder's hair blew over her face as something flew over her head. Pushing her hair aside, Cinder saw Eren strike down the bandits that were too far from her. He struck at them like he would the nape of a Titan or the exposed flesh of Grimm. He had been training like this for a long time as well, among countless Grimm he either found or created himself.

He too was ready for combat. And with numerous bandits bleeding out from their wounds, Eren proved himself to be quite the warrior once more. He wasn't killing Titans anymore, but he was still fighting the good fight.

Eren Yeager was back.

"Show off."

Eren looked to the side to see Cinder shaking her head with a smirk. She had seen him kill all of the bandits just now, but she wasn't afraid. Instead, she was sarcastic and impressed.

Eren wasn't trying to show off; he was simply defending his home and the liberty he had here. But it seemed that it was Cinder's turn now, so he gave her a chance to do so when he pointed behind and above him.

"They're all yours," he said.

Cinder looked where Eren was pointing to see numerous bandits on top of the city wall. Nora and Mercury were on top as well, and they were fighting the way they had learned long ago. Mercury didn't have any weapons of his own, but he let his skills in kickboxing do the work for him while Nora let her hammer hit bandit after bandit. The rest of the defensemen were also fighting, since they too had bandits to take care of.

But there were still other bandits waiting to be finished.

Cinder took the challenge with a smile. She felt proud to be defending her home, since her training had finally come to fruition. Li Ren had taught her how to use a bow and arrow, which was why she decided her weapon would include a bow.

And now, Cinder was firing arrow after arrow from her equipment until she ran out of arrows to fire.

*SWISH*

*SWISH*

*SWISH*

*SWISH*

*SWISH*

*SWISH*

"Dammit," Cinder said as she looked at her equipment. "I'm out."

"No problem," said Eren, who pointed at the wall again. "Looks like they're out too. Out of here."

Cinder looked up to see that the remaining bandits, the ones she hadn't killed, were finally retreating. And if they weren't helping the defensemen with any stragglers, Mercury and Nora were shouting insults at the bandits who were running away.

The invasion had just been repelled, as quickly as it came.

The aftermath of the battle wasn't as bad as everyone initially expected. The only damages to the town were a few houses being raided and partially demolished while bodies littered the streets. The real damage, however, was to the walls. This didn't come as a surprise to everyone, since the walls were the only thing standing in the way of Kuroyuri. But it was nothing some new bricks and repairs to the cannons couldn't fix. And since Mercury didn't have anything better to do, he said he would help take a look at the cannons.

Everyone else was either throwing the bodies of the bandits out of the city or clearing the damaged houses. This was mostly done by Eren and Cinder, as Ren and Nora were more worried about Li's arm. He was currently having the bones in his arm moved back into place by the team of doctors that moved to Kuroyuri long ago.

"Once we're done with that, your husband's gonna have to wear a cast for a while," a doctor informed An Ren. "When that's done, it's just a matter of time before his Aura can do the rest."

"And his chest?" An worriedly asked.

"Looks like his ribs were just bruised, not broken. His arm's the only thing you should worry about."

The door behind the two adults opened, revealing another doctor. "The cast is on, Doctor," she said. "We need to look at everyone else."

"Very good, Doctor."

Once she left, the first doctor turned back to An. "It seems you can see your husband now," he said. "If you'll excuse me, my team needs to look at the other defensemen." With that, he left the worried wife to check in on her husband. Nora and Ren followed soon after, seeing Li Ren sitting on a hospital bed.

"How are you feeling, Father?" Ren asked as he sat down. Nora naturally sat next to him, also worried about her adoptive father.

"My pain has finally gone away," Li replied, staring at the cast. "It will just take some time to get used to this."

Nora suddenly wrapped her arms around adoptive father. "I told you he'd be okay!" she said as she turned to Ren. "You were worried about nothing!"

Li chuckled as he patted Nora's arm with his free hand. "Your confidence never fails to impress me, Nora."

As he watched them grow and train under himself and Eren, which was something he thought was for the best, Li Ren knew that Nora and his son would become great warriors. Which was why he needed to share some bad news with the two of them.

"However... there is something you should know." Li moved his casted arm. "While I am expected to recover in two months, the doctors say that holding a bow again won't be very likely."

Ren's eyes widened as Nora grew concerned herself. "Wha... What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means I'm getting older." Li stood up and moved closer to his wife. "I knew this day would come, where I would reach the age where I can no longer protect our family." Li put his hand on his son's shoulder. "Lie, Eren has told me about the feats you're capable of now. Which is why I believe we will all be safe with you around."

Ren's eyes widened for a brief moment, but his face became neutral once again as he nodded. But the same could not be said about Nora, who looked heartbroken at the news.

"I did not mean for this news to weigh this heavily on you, Nora," he said.

"I... I know," Nora said as she sat down. "It's just that... I never thought I'd hear you say that. After everything you've done for me."

An pitied Nora, hating to see her heart broken. "I'm just as surprised as you. But you know that I'll be there for you too, right?"

"Y... Yeah!" Nora shot up from her seat. "No, don't get me wrong, I wanna protect our family too!" Nora felt a twinge of fear that was very common during her first few days at Kuroyuri, so she tried to be just as strong as Ren and Li. "I'll do whatever it takes, no matter what!"

Li put a hand on Nora's shoulder, knowing just what to say to calm her down. "When you take the problems of the world on your shoulders, you're never going to feel right. Leave the problems of the world to the individual problem-makers of the world, Nora, and you be the joy-seeker that you are."

Seeing that Li would prefer her not to change while taking on this responsibility, Nora calmed down and hugged Li. Ren on the other hand, kept to himself in the corner.

While the Ren family were together, Eren and Cinder were finishing up the chore of throwing out the bodies of the bandits. There was no way in Hell anybody was going to have a funeral for people like them.

"Okay," Eren said as he sat down against a tree, out of breath from the weight. "I need a break." He was so tired that, as he fell against a tree, he felt very inclined to fall asleep.

Cinder looked down on him not in agreement, but confusion. "Eren, why didn't you take off your gear before we started?" she asked.

Eren slowly looked down at his gear, realizing that he didn't even think of taking it off. The equipment and bodies weighing him down were the most likely reasons he got tired so quickly.

"No reason," he lied. "I mean, there could be more of them. Maybe they'll counterattack, or-"

"You didn't even think about taking it off, did you?" Cinder asked with an amused smile.

"...No, I didn't." It was a small yet stupid thing to admit, but Eren brushed off Cinder laughing at him. "Still, they might be coming back. They could learn from what happened today."

"No arguments there." Cinder had stopped laughing when she knew how serious Eren was being. "Worse things have happened with the Branwen Tribe."

"So I've heard."

Word had traveled that these bandits were part of the Branwen Tribe. They had earned a reputation for all villages to hear about, so everyone was aware of the danger they posed. Things could have gone much worse, if Eren, his friends, and the defensemen hadn't been here.

Their training had indeed paid off.

"You might want to put your gear back on in case they do come back," Eren said. "Or you could go check on-"

"Mom!"

Eren followed Cinder's gaze to see Dina running towards them. Cinder quickly ran towards her and into open arms. Eren took this time to stand back up and check in on her as well.

"Thank goodness!" Dina said as she embraced Cinder. "I heard you two helped the wall's defensemen, are you okay?"

"We're fine, Mom," Cinder replied as she let go. "This gave us a chance to try out these weapons." Cinder immediately looked over Dina for any wounds. "Are you okay? Did you get to the bunker?"

"I did, don't worry about me." Dina looked past her adoptive daughter to see Eren still resting. Out of instinct, she ran over and hugged him too. "Carla's safe too, Eren. Don't worry."

"..."

Eren had been hugged by Dina before; on multiple times too. At first, it was rather an awkward feeling. Eren never considered the idea that he would be hugging the Titan who killed his mother, a Titan that he killed personally. But now, after everything that happened to them had passed, Eren was able to not only reciprocate the hug, but he was also able to share the same feelings Dina had now.

He was happy to see that she was alright.

"Thank you," he said gratefully. "I didn't get the chance to check in on her."

"I heard," Dina said as she let go of Eren. "Everyone's talking about how you helped the defensemen fend off those monsters." She turned to Cinder. "I'm proud of you, Cinder. That was very brave, what you and Eren did."

"Thanks, Mom," Cinder said with a smile. "We had help, though." She gestured to the gear she had used. "Mercury's the one who made this for me."

"Yeah, this is what I was telling you and Mom about," Eren said as he stood up. "It's the same weapon soldiers from Paradis used against Titans."

Dina remembered Eren mentioning that one time. "And it runs on some kind of gas?" she recalled. "That's how you were able to do all those things I heard everyone talk about?"

"Mercury helped me use Wind Dust instead of... Wait, people are talking about us? Who?"

"The wall's defense team mostly. They said using that equipment would turn the tide for the next time those people come."

Cinder walked over to Eren and put her arm on his shoulder. "Looks like we made the news, Eren."

"I guess so," Eren agreed with a smirk. "I mean, if Mercury can make more equipment, I can teach the defense team how to-"

"Excuse me, Mr. Yeager."

Everyone turned around to see an adult man in gray clothes standing behind them. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but the mayor would like to speak with you," he said before turning to Cinder. "You too, Ms. Fritz."

Eren and Cinder looked at each other, confident that the mayor simply wanted to thank them for aiding in the defense of Kuroyuri. That was why they immediately walked towards the mayor's office, where Ren, Mercury, and Nora were also waiting.

"How's your dad, Ren?" Eren asked, remembering the bad hit he took on the wall.

"He'll be fine... for the most part," Ren answered, still feeling unsure about his role as the family's new guardian.

Before Eren could ask what was wrong, Mercury changed the topic. "Nice job, guys," he said to Eren and Cinder. "Guess that stuff worked out, huh?"

"It did more than that," Cinder said with a smile. "You really outdid yourself this time, Mercury. Though the weight can be a little annoying." Cinder rubbed her behind, still feeling the equipment's mass around her waist.

"Hey now, I think it's a good thing." Mercury flashed a toothy grin as he moved his head to look behind Cinder. "Really brings out that special something you have."

"Oh, really?" Cinder smiled back and pushed her hair out of her left eye. "You know, I'm actually glad you think so. Perhaps Vernal might like to know too."

Mercury immediately stopped smiling, which caused Nora to laugh and playfully hit his arm. "She's got you there, Merc!"

Everyone, save for Ren, chuckled at Mercury's embarrassment of the situation. Before Mercury could respond with another witty thing to say, the door behind them opened to reveal the mayor of Kuroyuri.

"Ah, good. You're all here," he said as he stepped aside. "Please, come in." As everyone obeyed, the mayor sat down in front of them. "When everyone came out of the bunker, the wall's defense team told a similar story. Of a handful of eager youths who helped defend our home and our people."

Everyone shared a small smile at the praise, while Eren thought back on his time as a Scout. Today wasn't very different from the time he fought to take back Wall Maria, or to fight the Anti-Personnel Control Squad throughout the city. There was no denying that Eren was starting to feel like his old self again.

"We can't take all the credit, sir," said Nora. "Mercury and I worked with the rest of the team, and they knew what they were doing."

"Yeah, but they don't really know how to fight one-on-one," Mercury pointed out. "The ones who got over the walls tossed around a few guys like they were nothing."

"It's true, they're more used to fighting Grimm than people," the mayor remarked. "Which is something you all seem to excel in."

"We had a good teacher," Cinder said as she turned to Eren. Who in turn looked back to Ren.

"Make that two teachers," he said. "Your dad ever tell you he gave me some pointers?"

"He did," said Ren. "But it seems that's all he can do to help the team at the moment."

"Well, so can we."

Cinder looked back to the mayor. "Mr. Mayor, is that why you wanted to talk to us? To see if we can train the defense team?"

"That was one of the reasons, yes." The mayor turned back to Eren. "My boy, it seems you make quite the teacher. Not only with your friends, but your inclusion in the installation of our cannons. We could use your wisdom once again."

Eren wouldn't say that "wisdom" was the right word to use. He merely suggested the location of each cannon based on how the Garrison of Paradis used them. But since nobody in Kuroyuri would believe that, Eren didn't see any reason to correct the mayor. So he instead took the offer.

"I can start giving them training exercises as soon as they're done fixing the walls," Eren promised.

"And I'll help you," said Cinder. Everyone else nodded, save for Mercury. He heard stories about Eren's training from Nora, but he mostly relied on the training his father taught him.

"I was hoping you would say that," the mayor said with a nod. "But there will be no shame if you say the opposite to my next request."

Everyone turned back to the mayor, but Ren was the first one to speak. "Which is?"

The mayor reached into his desk and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Placing it on the wooden surface and unfolding it, the mayor presented a map. "This is the part of Anima that we are in," he said as he tapped on one piece. "This is where we are now."

Cinder looked across the map at the other cities close to Kuroyuri. She and Eren sometimes traveled north with some volunteers in order to protect the town from Grimm. But she rarely went any other places, except by airship.

"I know a few of these places," Eren said. "But I've never gone this way before." Eren pointed south of Kuroyuri, at a few other cities.

"Well, that's where I was hoping you could go," said the mayor. "What do you know about these bandits?"

"My father said they belong to the Branwen Tribe," said Ren. "Their ruthless reputation as thieves is spread across the entire Kingdom."

"Aside from that ruthlessness, they're also known as one of the most elusive tribes in Mistral." The mayor took out a red pencil and made a wide circle on the map. "The capital's authorities were kind enough to share which cities they've been sighted at, which tells us their apparent comfort zone."

"Let me guess," Cinder spoke up. "They still haven't been found?"

"I'm afraid so. But the authorities and I are sure they are somewhere inside this circle. Otherwise, they would have tried raiding cities either north of us or deeper south."

"Alright, we know their hunting grounds," said Mercury. "What do you want to do with it?"

"When I asked the authorities for this information, they asked me what I could do with it. That's when I told them I would assemble a team to search the land mile by mile."

"Great, so where's the team?"

"I hope they're with me now."

Everyone started looking at each other again, sharing some confusion. But Cinder was able to figure it out quicker than everyone else. "You want us to be this team?" she asked.

"Oh, no. I want you to be with this team, not be the entire team."

"Well, what can we do?"

The mayor took out an envelope and put it on the table. "Travel to each of these cities, warn them about the continued presence of the Branwen Tribe. And see if anyone can travel with you, searching for the Branwen Tribe."

"And if we find them?"

"Come back here, and we can tell the authorities of Mistral. The Kingdom's forces are more than capable of dealing with them."

Eren looked around at everyone once more, who all seemed to understand the plan. "Well... it seems you have everything laid out," he said to the mayor.

"All I need are the right people to pull it off," said the mayor. "And given your abilities, I couldn't think of anyone else capable of going outside the walls for so long."

Eren began to see this as not only an opportunity to protect Kuroyuri from another invasion, but to be like his old self once more. He remembered riding outside the walls for the first time when he was in the Survey Corps, the feeling of being outside was exhilarating. Each ride he took never had the same feeling, and there was a good chance doing it again would be the same thing.

But he wouldn't pass up this chance if his life depended on it.

"Sir, I'd be willing to help you," Eren declared. "But could I have some time to talk it over with my friends?"

"Absolutely." The mayor stood up and walked over to another wooden door. "I'll be in here if you need anything." Once the door closed, Eren turned around.

"You took the offer really quickly," Cinder observed. Given the amount of time she spent with her best friend, it was easy for Cinder to tell that Eren seemed excited about this idea.

"The mayor's right," he said. "We're probably the only people who can pull this off. And I think I can help. What about you?"

"When you put it like that, and you plan to go out alone if you have to... how can I refuse?"

Eren was grateful that Cinder was willing to help. Given their track record with Titans, he was certain that the two of them could go out alone and handle the task before the day was up. But he needed to see if anyone else wanted to help.