Ymir Fritz if she was a small, fat bird

“The Saviors and the Devil”

Eren Jaeger.

Erwin: I have the dumbest employers ever.

Hanji: To be fair, commander, you hired us all.

SnK Chapter 120 Spoilers!

More to be added…

Attack on Titan Manga spoilers for chapter 139

I’ve noticed a lot of people saying some things about Ymir like “she couldn’t possibly have loved king Fritz,” or “something about her loving him doesn’t sit right with me,” and I just want to clear some things up

Her love for him is not in anyway justifying his treatment of her. Their “relationship” was 100% abusive and toxic. She is absolutely a victim of him. That said, there’s no “correct” way to respond to abuse. Many people love their abusers. So yes, Ymir DID love Fritz, but it was not meant to be romantic or healthy

This isn’t really a solid theory but does anybody else think that the curse of Ymir lowkey only really applies to the royal family?

Uri Reiss looked like a young adult when he inherited the founder, but looked elderly by the time he died. And Zeke, while he doesn’t really look old, definitely looks older than late 20s/early 30s in my opinion. (Doesn’t he even have gray hair in the manga?)

Meanwhile, the warriors/other shifters pretty much look their age. I mean, Eren and Reiner both look older but they’re kinda both going through it™ at the moment in terms of mental health so it’s understandable.

Shingeki no Kyojin The Final Season Part 2 Episodio 5

¡¡¡EL RETUMBAR!!!!

Shingeki no Kyojin The Final Season Part 2 Episodio 3

Brave Heart: Chapter Fifty-Eight

Attack on Titan

Rating: Mature

Warnings: sexual themes, death, gore, mature themes, extreme violence, body horror, blood, weapons, major character death, age-gap relationship

Wind whipping her face and leaving her cheeks red and burning, Vera kicked her horse once more, encouraging it to gallop quicker through the empty fields past wall Sina. After she had managed to escape and outrun the guards chasing her, she waited until nightfall and stole a horse from the military stables. Then, without so much as a second thought about the whole thing, she set out. 

Gripping the reins tighter, Vera continued to ride through the sunrise, exhaustion swiftly washing over both her and her steed. She ignored it. There was no time to be tired. They could rest when she was sure Levi was safe. 

Minutes turned to hours, and before long the sweltering sun was high in the sky. Vera was grateful then that she wasn’t burdened by her heavy, thick trenchcoat but knew that she would be wanting it later when it got colder. 

When the vast collection of tall, green trees became visible in the distance, Vera slowed her horse briefly, looking out for any signs of Levi, the Scouts he had taken with him, or Zeke. From where she was, however, all she could see was miles and miles of grass stretching in every direction and her destination, nothing more than a shadow of treetops that looked deceptively small from this distance.

Eventually, however, Vera and her huffing horse made it to the edge of the forest and she stared up at the trees that now seemed to stretch endlessly into the sky above. Noting the fact that her companion was breathing hard, Vera gave it a comforting pat, both for its sake and her own. “Almost there, buddy,” she told it. “ … I hope.”

The horse snorted loudly as it followed the single path into the heart of the forest. Slowly, the sound of crickets and birds died out, swallowed by the dark, looming foliage. Having been in this very forest before gave Vera no sense of comfort; not when she remembered what happened last time.

The eerie silence sent shivers up Vera’s spine and she could sense the unease in her horse’s every step. Eyes peeled, she searched high and low for any sign of Levi and his soldiers, but there was nothing … until there was everything.

Vera’s breath caught in her throat when she came upon a small clearing that had clearly been inhabited not that long ago. A few wagons were stationed around the perimeter of the encampment, some still holding a few crates of supplies while others had been pretty much picked clean. There were also tents littering the space, making it seem more cramped and crowded than it actually was.

This was no normal camp though. It was obvious something had happened. One of the wagons was tipped over, a few of the tents were shredded and left to lie in the mud, and personal effects had been scattered along the ground, probably after being thrown from the destroyed tents.

The worst part, however, was that there wasn’t a single person in sight. Not even a single dead body. That’s what Vera initially thought, that is, until she looked just past the clearing and spotted the first Titan corpse, which was shocking; not just because this was the first Titan, dead or alive, she had seen her entire journey but also because it had yet to disintegrate, meaning it was a fresh corpse. 

Then Vera saw the next corpse and the next. In total, she counted thirty dead Titans laying among pools of bright red blood just beyond the camp. Thirty Titans for thirty soldiers Levi had taken with him. 

The only silver lining Vera could find in that situation was that there weren’t thirty-one. 

“Levi!” Vera called out, hoping beyond hope that he would hear her voice and peek out from whatever large tree trunk or tent he was hiding behind. But he didn’t. Levi didn’t respond. No one responded. The camp was abandoned. “Levi, it’s me!” she tried again, this time unable to keep the desperation out of her voice; unable to keep the gnawing thought that one of the dead Titans was Levi out of her head.

After dismounting, Vera’s horse headed straight for an untouched bucket of water to quench its thirst as she ventured forward. It was then that Vera cursed herself for not stealing a weapon along with her horse. If Zeke was still lurking around, he could jump out and kill her with ease. 

For good measure, Vera searched each and every one of the tents that remained standing, but none of them were occupied. All she managed to find were a few hidden rations and a neatly folded Scout coat that she happily grabbed for later. Then, without an inkling of where to go from there, Vera walked over to the remains of what was once a campfire and sat in the grass. Her horse needed to rest and, as much as she hated to admit it, so did she. 

Pulling out an apple that she had found hidden in one of the tents, Vera bit into it just as she looked up at the crate sitting in front of her and noticed the single teacup sitting atop it. Swallowing her food, Vera reached out for the empty cup and let out a small laugh. Of course, Levi would bring tea and teacups out with him to the middle of nowhere. 

She prayed this meant that he hadn’t had any of the wine. He had never been much of a drinker, aside from tea, and she sincerely hoped he hadn’t started now.

“I’ll find you.” Vera ran her finger over the lip of the cup before gently setting it back down. “Just hold on a little longer, wherever you are.”

As day turned to early evening and the warmth began to fade, just as Vera had predicted, she put on the coat she had taken. The clear sky was gradually replaced by a barrage of dark clouds and, not a moment later, it began to rain. Thankfully, the thick canopy of leaves above blocked most of the rain and kept Vera relatively dry.

Just as she was about to settle into one of the tents, a sudden loud explosion followed by the haunting screech of an injured horse echoed from somewhere far, past the forest. Vera froze, blood running cold. She waited a minute or so to listen for anything else, but when the forest remained silent, she knew something was wrong.

Grabbing her horse, who had been happily munching on a patch of grass, Vera rode out of the camp and in the direction of the noise. 

Just past the Titan corpses, Vera noticed a pair of wagon tracks on the ground and mentally kicked herself for not investigating more earlier. She was willing to bet that the horse she had heard had been the one pulling the very wagon she was following, and that meant that at least someone was still alive.

And although it might have been Zeke who managed to escape, it also could have been Levi. No matter how small the chance, Vera had to pursue it. Hange had trusted her. 

Without the guidance of the wagon tracks, Vera was sure she would have gotten turned around inside the dark, confusing forest. Above, she could hear the sound of the rain against the leaves getting louder and louder and when she finally emerged from the other side of the forest and back into open field, she was almost immediately soaked to the bone from the heavy downpour.

Wiping her eyes frantically so she could keep track of the wheel marks in the mud, Vera kicked her horse faster yet again, wanting to get to the source of that explosion as soon as possible. She was so determined that she didn’t even notice the fact that she was shaking violently and her teeth were chattering, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that she had coincidentally looked up to see the state of the storm, she would have missed the sight of the five airships flying overhead.

Shocked and confused, Vera turned to look over her shoulder at the flying contraptions as they headed in the opposite direction as her, back in the direction of wall Sina. 

“Shit,” Vera cursed under her breath. That couldn’t be good. 

Drawing in a slow breath, Vera continued forward. There was only so much she could do, and right now, her goal was ahead, not behind her. 

After another mile or so of travel, the wagon tracks finally ended. There had been a few times when Vera had thought she had lost the tracks due to the heavy rain and change in terrain, but this time she was sure it was the end. The scattered chunks of wood and wagon pieces littering the wet grass made it impossible to miss.

The sound of rushing water mixed in with the sound of the falling rain filled Vera’s ears, overwhelming her and making it hard to focus on the things around her. Rubbing her eyes once more to rid her eyelashes of raindrops, Vera blinked a few times before noticing a steaming form a little farther up.

Inching her horse closer, Vera gasped when she recognized it as yet another Titan, this one laying on its stomach, steam billowing from its pores. There seemed to be a pool of blood beneath it, but since it was impossible to confirm if it was truly dead or not, Vera didn’t get any closer to find out for sure.

“Levi?” Vera tried again. Nothing. No response. 

As she spun her horse around to double back to the majority of the destroyed wagon, hoping to find a clue among the rubble of who had been in the wagon or where they had been going, Vera felt her chest tighten at the sight of a body on the riverbank. 

A deep-rooted feeling of dread filled Vera and made her feel sick to her stomach. The body didn’t move. It didn’t even flinch when she called out to it. Terrified of what she might find but knowing that she had to check it out, Vera dismounted her horse and approached carefully.

When she saw the green cloak with a sliver of the wings of freedom visible, she knew she had found a Scout. When she saw the mess of straight black hair, her world stopped. 

“L-Levi?” Vera didn’t rush to his side. She couldn’t. With every step she took, the more she was sure that it was Levi laying lifeless before her, and she couldn’t handle all of that realization at once. “It’s me, Levi.”

When Vera dropped to her knees beside Levi, she stopped being able to tell if it was tears or raindrops falling down her cheeks. His face was almost beyond recognition with how much blood and torn skin were obscuring his features. If it wasn’t for the dahlia pin on his uniform, she might have been able to trick herself into believing it was someone else. 

But it wasn’t someone else. It was Levi … and as far as she could tell, he was dead.

Throwing all sense to the wind, Vera wrapped her arms around Levi and hugged him to her chest, trying her best to protect him from the rain and the cold. She didn’t want him to get sick. 

“Levi,” Vera chanted his name over and over again as if there was some magical number that would bring him back. “Please, Levi … you promised I wouldn’t lose you.”

When he didn’t so much as stir in response to Vera’s desperate pleas, she finally broke down and began to sob. Hugging Levi as hard as she could, she prayed that he would be okay and began to rock back and forth gently.

Between the rain, the rushing current of the river, and her own cries, Vera couldn’t hear anything else around her, which was why she nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand rested on her shoulder. When she looked up, she was met with the concerned look of Hange, who had just now realized that the body Vera was clutching was Levi’s.

Vera didn’t bother asking how or why Hange was there. It didn’t matter. 

Looking over her shoulder at the group of horses that had managed to gallop up right behind her without her even noticing, Vera didn’t have a shred of care left to be embarrassed about her lack of awareness. Among the newly arrived individuals, Floch was at the front of the group, and behind him, more Jaegerists. 

“H-Hange,” Vera struggled to speak through her sobs. “Hange, you have to help him. Please, there must be something we can do.”

“Here.” Hange knelt down beside Vera and took Levi into her own arms. “Let me see him.” She pressed her ear to Levi’s chest and even felt for a pulse, but not once did even a glimmer of hope shine through her sombre expression. 

“Is that Captain Levi?” Floch walked over and stood behind Hange, looking over her shoulder at the battered body in her arms. “I don’t know what happened, but we’re lucky it did. The biggest threat we faced is lying in a bloody heap.”

Vera felt rage being to bubble inside of her, but before she could lash out, Hange reached over and rested a hand on her leg, grounding her to the situation and silently reminding her that they were unarmed and vastly outnumbered.

“We should put one in his head just in case.” One of the Jaegerists reached for his rifle.

Hange shook her head. “There’s no need. He was caught in a thunderspear explosion at point-blank range,” she said, clearly having heard the same thunderous noise as Vera and having put the pieces together of what had happened. “It shredded his guts. Killed him instantly, from what I can tell.”

“No.” Vera refused to believe Hange’s words. Even though she had all but assumed he was dead herself, it felt more permanent—more real—coming from Hange.

“Then give him to me,” Floch ordered. “I want to check his pulse for myself, so hand him over.”

Reaching out, Vera laid a protective hand on Levi’s chest. “You keep your filthy, traitorous hands away from him,” she spat. 

Floch’s jaw tensed, but before he could retort, the men he had brought with him began to shout. Over by the Titan, they had their weapons drawn, watching as steam began to rush into its pores at a rapid rate. 

“What’s happening to it?” Floch turned. “Did it just die?”

“That’s not it,” Hange corrected. “Their bodies don’t suck in steam like that when they disappear.”

As the rain began to lighten and the clouds began to part, letting in a few rays of sunlight here and there, the Titan began to absorb the steam it had once been emitting until there was nothing left but a deformed skeleton. When the last of the steam had finally dissipated, Zeke Jaeger was left behind in the wake of whatever had just happened.

Slowly, the naked man, now fully reformed after most likely being caught in the thunder spear blast as well, began to slink forward. When he rose to his full height, his stare was nothing less than ominous and chilling. 

Everyone was speechless, even Vera. With her eyes glued to the sight before her, she didn’t even have a chance to react when Hange grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the river. Her mouth opened to let out a shriek but her body plunged under the freezing water before she had a chance, the shock sucking the air out of her lungs. 

By the time Vera finally found the energy to move her limbs again and drag herself through the rushing current back to the surface, she, Hange, and Levi had already travelled far thanks to the river. In the distance, Floch’s shouts could be heard, followed by gunfire, but they were too far away for it to matter.

Struggling against the water to keep her head above, Vera tried to time her breaths but ended up swallowing more river water than was probably good for her.

“Vera!” Hange’s voice was just barely audible over the sound of the rushing rapids, but Vera could tell she was close. “Vera, over here!”

Finally, Vera spotted a flash of brown hair farther down the stream and paddled with all her might to catch up. When she did, Hange was swimming with one arm while using the other to keep Levi’s head above water the best she could.

“Help me!” Hange gasped before her head went under for a brief moment. “He’s not dead! I heard his heartbeat. Help me keep him up!”

Without a moment of hesitation, Vera reached out and grabbed hold of Levi. Together, she and Hange helped keep him afloat the best they could and hoped that any damage done from this risky escape, mainly the cold, didn’t take an extra toll on his already mangled body.

Every minute fighting in that river felt like an hour, but finally, Hange deemed it safe to return to shore and the two of them swam for the riverbank and hauled Levi’s body into the grass. 

Falling down onto her back, Vera gulped air greedily as if every breath would be her last and tried not to focus on the numbness in her fingers or toes. When the adrenaline of the entire experience began to wear off, the same feeling of sickness returned—this time caused by a mixture of having swallowed too much river water and the pure panic—and before she knew it she was spewing water. 

Rushing over, Hange pushed Vera onto her side so she wouldn’t aspirate any of her vomit. “That’s it,” she patted Vera’s back comfortingly. “You’re okay. Breathe.”

Letting out a few more strained coughs, Vera wiped her mouth and sat up with Hange’s continued assistance. “He’s really not dead?” she asked hopefully, her gaze drifting over to Levi. He certainly looked dead. 

Leaning over to Levi’s unconscious body, Hange pressed her ear to his chest once more. “It’s faint, but he’s got a heartbeat,” she said, her voice laced with both relief and hesitation. “Here, listen for yourself.”

Following Hange’s lead, Vera pressed her ear over Levi’s chest, right beside where the yellow dahlia pin was. At first, she couldn’t hear anything, either because his clothing was too thick or the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears drowned it out. But then, ever so faintly, she could hear his heart beating alongside her own. 

Squeezing her eyes shut, Vera focused on the sound of his heartbeat and nothing else. Right then, it was the only thing she needed. 

“It’s unlikely he will survive these wounds, especially since we can’t get him any real medical treatment, but if he has a chance we have to act fast,” Hange said, her words blunt and factual. She wasn’t about to sugarcoat anything. “You have to be prepared for the likely scenario that these are his final moments.”

“They aren’t.” Vera shook her head, fully aware that her stubborn optimism made her sound like a child. 

Hange sighed heavily. “Vera.”

“No.” Vera removed her coat and tore a piece off so she could tie it around the major wounds on Levi’s head and face. “He promised me I wouldn’t lose him. And he always keeps his word.”

Brave Heart: Chapter Fifty-Seven

Attack on Titan

Rating: Mature

Warnings: sexual themes, death, gore, mature themes, extreme violence, body horror, blood, weapons, major character death, age-gap relationship

“More conflict isn’t necessary to solve Eldia’s problems,” said Eren, his tone and expression flat like this interaction was just another thing he had to get out of the way in order for his plan to succeed. “Hange and the others are fine. We’re just relocating them.”

Armin was the first to address the man who sat across from them; the man who looked like their former friend but certainly wasn’t acting like him. “Eren … Mikasa, Vera, and I have been wanting to talk to you too. What were you thinking when you decided to attack Marley on your own?”

Eren’s dark irises flickered toward Vera. “I didn’t attack alone.”

“But you had certainly been planning to,” Armin pointed out. “You couldn’t have known Vera was there before you-” A knowing glint in Eren’s eyes stopped Armin mid-sentence. “ … unless you did know.”

Vera’s fingertips dug into the top of the table. She knew finding Eren randomly that night in Liberio had seemed too good to be true, but how could she have possibly turned away her friend at that moment? Back when she thought he was still her friend, that is. 

“So you knew I was there well before we ran into each other that night.” Vera glared hard. “I’m sure it was Zeke who told you.”

Eren only nodded.

“I was just a puppet all along, wasn’t I?” Vera couldn’t stop herself from asking even though she was uncertain whether she really wanted to hear the answer or not. “You used me to get information.”

Eren shrugged. “It was easy enough. Once I mentioned Levi, you were ready to cut down anyone to get back to him. I could see it in your eyes.” A small, mocking chuckle escaped him. “You, Vera, crave someone strong to follow … someone to guide you through life. That’s why you let Reiner manipulate you so easily, both here and back in Liberio again. And it’s why I only had to say Levi’s name for you to help me see my plan through … for me to control you. You are pathetic.”

Vera felt the anger rising in her veins, but before she had the chance to do or say something stupid in retaliation, Armin spoke up. “Why do all this?” he asked simply. “Did Zeke and Yelena really win you over to their side?”

“I am free, Armin,” Eren answered. “Every single thing that I’ve done, I decided to do. My actions are governed by nothing but my own free will.”

“So even though you secretly met with Yelena, you’re saying that this was all you?”

“Yes.”

“No way!” Mikasa refused to believe it. “You’re being manipulated. The Eren I know would never involve civilians and children in a war, even if they were enemies. And you wouldn’t put us at risk either. You care about us more than anyone, don’t you? You rescued me from those kidnappers in the cabin and wrapped this scarf around me because you’re a kind person!”

As Mikasa spoke, her emotions rose and she stood from her seat, hands leaving the tabletop and gravitating to the red scarf around her neck.

“I said to keep your hands on the table, Mikasa,” Eren reminded her. 

Defeated, Mikasa sat back down and returned her palms to the white tablecloth. Across from her, Gabi was shaking like a leaf. It was clear she wasn’t really listening to what was being said; the fear in her body wouldn’t let her.

“Back in Liberio, I spoke with Zeke, brother to brother. Learned a lot of things from him,” Eren explained. “Honestly, it seems like he knows even more about how Titans work than Marley does. Armin, what do you think it is that drove you to start visiting Annie? Do you really believe it’s your own free will?”

Armin’s jaw dropped. Clearly, he hadn’t thought anyone knew about his visits to the crystalized Annie kept underground. “What … I don’t …”

“If memories play a major role in shaping us into the people we are, then part of you has become Bertholdt. Within you is an enemy who has feelings for another enemy. Understand? Bertholdt has gotten into your head. You’re the one being manipulated by the enemy.”

Mikasa grimaced. “Hey, why would you-”

“You’re being controlled too,” Eren informed her. “The Ackerman clan was designed to be perfect for the task of protecting Eldia’s King. Your Ackerman instincts were dormant until, in that life or death situation, you heard me order you to fight. The strength and certainty you felt in that moment were awakened because your blood mistook me for the host you were made to protect.”

Mikasa’s hands trembled. “That can’t be.”

“It can’t? Why not?”

Eyes glistening, Mikasa hung her head. “It wasn’t a mistake. It’s because it was you. It had to be you. You’re why I became strong. How could that be a mistake?”

“As an Ackerman with awakened powers, you’re apparently supposed to get headaches pretty frequently. The research said this is a side effect of the Ackerman’s true self trying to resist being forced to protect their host. Sound familiar?”

Mikasa’s eyes grew wide, alarmed. Vera never knew she had suffered from frequent headaches, but then again, it had been four years and she and Mikasa had never been the best of friends.

“You’re wrong,” Mikasa denied despite the fact her face was pale and she looked sick.

“What I’m saying is, you belong to a clan created to protect and obey at the cost of losing their true selves. In other words, salves.”

“Stop!” Armin shouted. “Leave her alone!”

“Do you want to know what I hate more than anything else in the world?” Eren asked without waiting for an answer. “Anyone who isn’t free. They’re no better than cattle.”

Armin’s brows furrowed. “Eren!”

“The mere sight of you has always made me so damn angry, and now I finally know why. All of you are controlled by one thing or another.” His gaze glided over the three of them before stopping on Mikasa. “I just couldn’t stand to look at a slave with no mind of her own. Who always followed orders without question. Believe me when I say this, Mikasa … ever since I was a kid, I’ve hated you.”

Mikasa let out a strained gasp as tears finally began to fall from her eyes and slide down her cheeks.

“Eren! How could you say that to her?!” Armin jumped out of his seat and lunged across the table, fist pulled back to punch him square in the face. Before he could get the hit in, however, Mikasa shot forward and grabbed him, holding his arm behind his back and pushing his face into the tablecloth.

She truly was hellbent on protecting Eren, whether she actually wanted to or not.

“Mikasa.” Armin stared up at her, shock on his face.

As soon as Mikasa realized what she had done, her entire body flinched.

“See?” Eren used the action to prove his point. “Everything that you’ve done in your life has been dictated by your Ackerman blood.”

“I-” Mikasa let go of Armin immediately and backed away, hands in the air. “I was just-”

Eren smirked. “That blood is all you really are.”

As yet another tear slid down Mikasa’s cheek, Armin flew into a rage once more and swung again. This time, his fist collided with Eren’s cheek, knocking both of them and the table over in the process. 

As soon as the two scrambled to their feet, Armin went for another attack. Able to predict his actions, however, Eren quickly dodged before uppercutting Armin in the jaw. Armin now dazed, Eren grabbed him quickly by the jacket and tossed him into the cabinet. Bottles and wine glasses shattered as Armin slammed into them.

Vera jumped up to rush to Armin’s aid but Mikasa grabbed her arm, keeping her away from the conflict. Vera wasn’t sure whether she was doing this out of her instinct to protect Eren or whether she wanted to keep Vera from getting hurt as well, but either way, she didn’t like it.

Seconds later, the doors flew open and two of Eren’s men, armed with rifles, entered the room.

“I don’t need help,” Eren told his followers as he watched Armin push himself up again. “Hey, Armin, the two of us have never actually fought before, have we?”

Grunting, Armin stepped forward and swung his fist again. Eren dodged it easily. 

“You know why that is?” Eren counterattacked and landed another hit to Armin’s face. He punched the smaller boy over and over again until he was bleeding from his mouth and nose and his face was covered in bruises. “It’s because it would never be a fair fight!”

“Mikasa, let me go!” Vera struggled, and just as Armin collapsed to the floor, she was able to break free of Mikasa’s grip. Throwing herself down beside Armin, Vera made sure to position herself between him and Eren. “Leave him alone, you monster!” she snapped. 

“Please … just stop,” Mikasa begged, her face wet with tears. 

Chest rising and falling rapidly as he caught his breath, Eren stared down at the beaten and bruised Armin. “Like I said at the start, conflict is unnecessary … at least not if you tell us where Zeke is. So just come along quietly.” He then turned to his men. “Take them. And bring the kid who killed Sasha too.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Wrapping her arms around Armin, Vera slowly helped him back to his feet. “So that’s it?” Armin wheezed. “That’s all you came here to say? Is this the freedom you wanted? The freedom to hurt Mikasa? You’re a slave too and your master’s a worthless bastard.”

Eren damn near growled. “Who you calling a slave?” He turned his back on everyone. “Let’s go.”

Mikasa shuddered. “Go where?”

“The place where it all started. Shiganshina.”

As Vera and the others were led outside by Eren’s lackeys, Hange and Falco were being loaded into one of the last carriages. With a gun pressed to her head, Hange didn’t have any choice but to submit. Her green trenchcoat had been stripped from her, and soon after, Vera’s, Mikasa’s, and Armin’s were as well. Their hands were then tied behind their backs. 

Vera looked around frantically for her other friends, but there was no sight of Connie or Jean, indicating they had already been taken. 

“Wouldn’t want you lot planning anything on the trip home.” Floch grinned as he grabbed Vera by her hair and ripped her away from Armin and Mikasa. Then, with a rough push, he forced her into the carriage with Hange and the unconscious boy. 

As soon as an armed Jaegerist joined them inside, the door was promptly shut and the carriage began to move. Struggling against her restraints, Vera pulled herself into the seat beside Falco, who was bandaged up but still looking pretty rough. 

Gaze glued to the small gap in the thick curtains covering the windows, Vera tried her best to figure out where she and the others were being taken.

Halfway through the ride, Falco began to groan and squirm. His eyes fluttered open and closed and his jaw clenched. 

“What’s the matter?” Hange leaned forward the best she could.

Eyes half-open, Falco looked up at Vera. “I feel like I just got shocked by electricity,” he moaned as pain coursed through his body. Suddenly, his physical injuries were no longer the biggest concern.

Glancing up, Vera and Hange made eye contact. Their shared look spoke volumes.

“Wait, does that mean …?” Hange questioned. The guard next to her tightened his grip on his rifle and she knew better than to finish her inquiry aloud, but Vera read the look in her one uncovered eye like a book.

The wine had been tainted by Zeke’s spinal fluid, and whatever he had just done, it had affected everyone who had drank some. Thankfully, either because Falco had only ingested a little or because he was so far away from Zeke, his reaction seemed muted for the time being.

Vera felt her heart ache at the thought of everyone who had drank the wine. And more to that point, if Zeke was just now triggering the ones infected with his spinal fluid, did that mean he was no longer under guard? What had happened to Levi? Had he drunk any of the wine?

Vera closed her eyes tight and tried not to think about all the danger Levi could be in while she was sitting there, tied up and captured like a pathetic pawn in Eren’s sick game. Pathetic. Eren had called her as much himself. He had also accused her of gravitating between strong men, looking for someone to lead her, guide her, control her. 

Vera tried to shake the thought out of her head. She must have looked crazy to everyone else in the cramped carriage, but she didn’t care. Nothing mattered except for escaping and making sure Eren didn’t succeed in his maniacal plan. 

Hange wanted to say something to calm the increasingly panicked woman across from her, but the guard was already staring daggers into the side of her head. So instead of saying anything, she decided to do one better.

Without warning, Hange leaned back and kicked her legs against the door of the carriage. The door burst open, shards of wood splintering off where the lock had been ripped through the exterior. Then, before the guard could react, she threw herself against him, trapping him against the other side of the carriage with all of her weight.

“Go!” Hange’s frantic expression pierced Vera’s soul, breaking through the fear holding her in place and spurring her into motion. 

When Vera lunged toward the open door, the guard let out an angry grunt and pushed Hange off of himself. Unable to catch herself from her fall, Hange landed hard on top of Vera and they both fell to the floor. 

Just when Vera thought they were done for, Hange leaned forward, her breathing ragged. “Giant forest,” she whispered just loud enough for Vera alone to hear. “Find Levi. Stop Zeke. End this.”

Then, before Vera had the chance to react, Hange sat up with all the strength she had left and kicked Vera out of the moving carriage. With a hard thud, Vera landed in the street, dust billowing all around her and a dull ache in her side where Hange’s boot had dug into her ribcage. Debris in her lungs, Vera let out a few strained coughs as she pushed herself to her feet again without the help of her hands.

“Get her!” someone shouted as the carriages slowed to a stop.

Turning back toward Hange, who was being roughly dragged back by the guard, Vera gave her a firm nod of the head in confirmation and high-tailed it out of there.

Lungs burning from fear and copious amounts of inhaled dust, Vera darted through the side streets of the city, unsure where she was going. The only thing guiding her was the shouting behind her; wherever they were, she ran in the opposite direction. It was surprisingly hard to flee with her hands restrained but she managed. The thought of finding Levi and honouring Hange’s trust thrust her forward, igniting strength in her aching legs even when she thought there was none left. 

Eventually, the only shouting of the Jaegerists to be heard were the ones echoing in her head. Slowing to a stop, Vera doubled over and gasped for breath. It was then she noticed the metallic taste on her tongue and the burn in her throat. She let out another few coughs and was genuinely shocked when blood didn’t splatter onto the dirt at her feet.

Looking around, she took in her surroundings. From what she could tell, she had made it to the edge of the city, closer to wall Sina than she had expected, and she had lost her pursuers. 

The sun was beginning to set by then and she needed to find a way to get out to the giant forest. Glancing around herself, she located a rusted pipe and used the jagged edge to cut the ropes around her wrists. She nicked her skin a couple of times, and her hands were bleeding slightly by the time the rope loosened and fell to the ground, but she was finally free.

Rubbing away the blood and soreness from struggling against the ropes on her wrists, Vera inhaled sharply, stilling her racing mind so she could focus on what she needed to do next.

Hand coming up to her chest, Vera rested her palm over her dahlia necklace and exhaled. First, she needed to get a horse and make it out to the giant forest. Then, all that was left to do, according to Hange, was find Levi, stop Zeke, and end this. 

Easy. No big deal. Vera could definitely do this. And even if she couldn’t, she was certainly going to try anyway. 

Brave Heart: Chapter Fifty-Six

Attack on Titan

Rating: Mature

Warnings: sexual themes, death, gore, mature themes, extreme violence, body horror, blood, weapons, major character death, age-gap relationship

“Floch Forster and his cohorts have vanished from prison, along with some 100 soldiers and guards,” Nile informed that small group that he had called for a meeting. “It’s apparent that they planned for this mass desertion to match the timing of Eren’s escape. And, for the record, I have no doubt that they perpetrated the Premier’s murder. This group needs a name. From this point on, let us refer to these anti-military insurgents as the Jaegerists. I can think of no one better than Commander Hange to tell us their goal.”

Hange nodded. “In the short term, their goal is to ensure that Eren meets with his brother.  And in the long term, they intend to reform the military with Eren at its head. They demonstrated their resolve by way of assassinating our premier. It’s obvious what provoked them to act as they have; they must have learned about the military’s plan to transfer the founder, even though you kept it secret from us Scouts.”

“Only because we knew exactly what would happen if we did tell you,” Nile retorted. “In any case, many of these Jaegerists are from the Scouts. How will you take responsibility for their actions, Hange?”

“I’m willing to accept any punishment,” she said. “But I won’t resign from my post. That would be the height of irresponsibility. And there’s a lot we don’t know yet. These Jaegerists could have members hiding anywhere, in any branch.”

“That’s quite true,” the same officer that had delivered the debriefing on Premier Zachary’s death the night before agreed. “In fact, I might be looking at some now. Perhaps one of you will turn out to be a suicide bomber.”

Hange rolled her eyes hard enough for everyone in the room to see. “Please. Don’t be ridiculous, Roeg.”

“We’ve been played for fools once, so why should we trust you now?” Roeg was unwilling to bend. “Until the Scouts prove themselves, they must be contained!”

With a heavy slam, the doors to the meeting room burst open and Pyxis, along with five of his most trusted soldiers, entered the room. “That’s enough!” He put a swift end to the arguing and turned to flash an apologetic look to an older woman sitting at the side of the room—who Mikasa had previously introduced as Kiyomi Azumabito from Hizuru. “Remember that we have a guest here. And even if that weren’t the case, this is no time to be bickering amongst ourselves. Hange, how many soldiers know where Zeke is confined?”

“Captain Levi is guarding him with an escort of thirty soldiers,” Hange responded. “Then there are the three soldiers who deliver supplies to them. And aside from myself, that’s it.”

“Please have those three brought here,” Pyxis requested. “Nile, is the Queen’s residence secure?”

“Its location is a well-kept secret,” Nile confirmed. “But I’ll look into it anyway.”

Hands clasped behind his back, Pyxis radiated control. “We know what Eren wants. He’ll seek out Zeke first, and Historia if that fails. So we must keep both of them out of his reach at all cost.”

“Yes, Sir.” The room echoed with acknowledgement.

“Excuse me, Sir.” Armin stepped forward. “You’re our most senior commander. So now that the Premier’s been assassinated, the only person who can lead us is you. What kind of strategy do you think we should adopt right now?”

Pyxis hummed as he thought. “Well, it seems to me they’ve got us beat.” He threw his hands into the air to make a point. “So I was thinking we’d surrender.”

Everyone froze.

“Against enemies mixed within our ranks, we have no other recourse,” Pyxis explained. “Even if we did somehow manage to smoke all of them out, imagine how much blood we would have to spill. We don’t have the time or the numbers to waste on such folly. It’s the decisions we made as leaders that caused these soldiers to desert us; that’s what brought about our defeat.”

“But, Sir, you can’t actually intend to bow down to the people who murdered the Premier!” a woman standing in the back shouted.

Calmly, Pyxis strode across the room toward the large windows. “I knew Zachary for many years. To live and die by revolution is something that I think he would’ve wanted. And regardless, I don’t think that any of the four soldiers who were killed would’ve wanted their deaths to be the cause of Eldia’s downfall.”

“So instead you want us to submit to the Jaeger brothers?” Nile snapped.

“No, not entirely,” Pyxis denied. “We’ll use Zeke’s location to negotiate with Eren and trust him to accept that he has other enemies. Once we’ve re-established peace, we’ll once again stake Eldia’s survival on a test run of the Rumbling. However, we will not bring up the subject of how our leader was murdered. We’ll look past it. If that is the price of saving hundreds or even thousands of our comrades, then we’ll pay it.”

No one in the room seemed all too pleased with this course of action, but it was clear as day that Pyxis’s plan was the only one that had even the slightest chance of working.

“We’ve talked quite enough,” Pyxis turned to face everyone. “Now get to work!”

“Yes, Commander!” The room saluted in unison.

As the soldiers got ready to head out, Kiyomi Azumabito stood and began speaking with Pyxis. Once the two had said all they needed to, Kiyomi turned to Mikasa and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Lady Mikasa, please, if things take a turn for the worse, don’t hesitate to make for our ship.”

“I’m grateful to you for offering and I appreciate your concern. That being said, I see myself as an Eldian,” Mikasa politely declined. “I want to fight for the future of the place I was born and raised. So please, don’t worry about me.”

Vera recalled Armin briefly mentioning something about Mikasa being a long-lost descendent of the Azumabito clan from Hizuru, but with the onslaught of information she had taken on in the past few days, it had apparently gotten jumbled up with everything else. That was, until she found herself witnessing this conversation between the two women.

“What are you talking about?” Kiyomi seemed genuinely shocked by Mikasa’s answer. “You’re the entire reason we crossed the sea to come to this place.”

Mikasa shook her head. “You came for our resources. So long as we stay open to trade, you don’t care who leads this nation. You just need the Rumbling to succeed, right?”

“That’s true,” Kiyomi confessed. “If the promise of the Rumbling turns out to be an empty one, Hizuru will say our clan acted alone and hang us out to dry. Our investments will amount to nothing and the Azumabitos will succumb to our debts.”

“Sounds like one more reason that I shouldn’t rely on you.” Mikasa deadpanned. She really was ruthless, even when she wasn’t necessarily trying to be.

“The Azumabito clan had no choice but to adapt to these turbulent times. But as a result, our prestige has been reduced to the point where we’re now derided as a pack of wretched, money-grubbing vixens. Still, we haven’t lost our pride as a clan anymore than your mother had when she engraved our crest into your wrist. No matter what becomes of this land, we truly wish to protect you.”

Vera’s eyes drifted down to the wrapping around Mikasa’s wrist—the wrappings that had always been there, hidden under her sleeve.

With nothing more to say, Kiyomi released her grip on Mikasa’s shoulders and walked away looking a little more upset than she probably wanted to. Knowing that everyone had witnessed that, Mikasa remained silent as she turned and exited the room first, Vera and the others tagging along behind.

“We’re working with Eren even though he killed the Premier?” Connie asked once the group had made it outside to the courtyard. 

“Hey, nobody knows if he was behind that or not,” Mikasa told him.

Jean grimaced. “Keep your voice down, Mikasa,” he warned. “People suspect us of being Jaegerists as it is.”

Connie frowned at Mikasa. “I’m still not sure whose side you’re on. Care to tell us?”

“Armin, Vera, and I were there when the bomb went off. We almost got killed by the blast,” Mikasa grumbled in response. “That answer your question?”

“Enough!” Hange put a stop to the group’s arguing much like how Pyxis had put an end to the arguing inside; with a stern tone and an intimidating presence. “Like Commander pyxis said, this is no time to fight amongst ourselves.”

“What do you think of his plan?” Jean inquired. “Would you really be comfortable in trusting all our fates to Eren and Zeke?”

Hange shook her head as Onyankopon joined them. “No,” she answered honestly. “This doesn’t feel right. Zeke and Yelena knew that they would never be free of suspicion so they came up with an insurance plan, and now we’re watching it pay out. Our best bet is to assume that they have more contingencies in place. Let’s focus on figuring out what Zeke plans to do next; before he makes even bigger fools of us than he has. If it turns out that I’m getting worked up over nothing, that’ll be a welcome relief.”

“Do you have any leads in mind?” Jean watched as Hange got busy with readying her horse, implicating that she was leaving soon.

“I noticed that Yelena secured work for Marleyan prisoners in a lot of strange places,” Hange said. “One good example would be restaurants.”

As the group readied their horses as well, determined to follow Hange out to investigate some of these ‘odd job placements’, Vera felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Hange standing beside her.

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” she pointed out. “Care to share what’s on your mind?”

Vera let a puff of air past her lips. She knew she couldn’t lie to Hange, but she also knew that what currently had her troubled was nowhere near the most important thing she should be worrying about.

“I’m worried about him too.” It was as if Hange could read Vera’s mind, and for that, Vera was grateful; it saved her the trouble of having to actually say what she was thinking. “If Eren really is after Zeke, then Levi is the only thing standing between their happy family reunion.”

Vera gritted her teeth and pulled hard on the saddle’s girth to tighten it. “I know he can take care of himself, but I hate not knowing where he is.” She caught the quirk in Hange’s eyebrow. “And this isn’t me slyly trying to glean information as to his location. It’s just that … if he needs me, I can’t get to him.”

Hange gave Vera a hardy clap on the back. “If need be, I have no doubt in my mind that the two of you could find each other blindfolded in the middle of a maze. Love has a sickly, disturbing way of beating the odds.”

Vera chuckled. “Forgive my assumption, but you sound jilted, Commander.”

Hange let out a loud laugh; one that Vera hadn’t heard in a long time. “Nonsense. I’m just irked that after my many years of hard work, it ended up being some young, blonde recruit who finally pulled the stick out of his ass.”

Vera smiled wide. “I think you loosened the stick, Commander.”

Hange nodded in agreement. “I most certainly did, Kline.” She gave Vera’s horse a light pat. “Now mount up, soldier. We’ve got work to do.”

Before long, Vera’s hair was whipping through the wind as she, Hange, and the others rode off in the direction of one of the many restaurants that employed Marleyan prisoners. Upon their arrival, they requested to speak to Niccolo, who was working as a chef at the establishment. The restaurant was one of the biggest, fanciest ones Vera had ever stepped foot in and she immediately felt out of place. 

When Niccolo finally emerged from the kitchen, his expression was one of confusion. “Hello there,” he greeted. “This urgent? Sorry but I’m preparing a main course for some very important guests right now.”

“That’s fine,” Hange assured him. “If you’re in the middle of something, you can get back to it. But we’d like to have a quick word with you once you finish up.”

“You wanna talk?” Niccolo chewed his bottom lip. “What is this about?”

Hange seemed unsure of how to phrase her next sentence. “We wondered if you might … have some concerns …”

“The Scouts are investigating our detainment.” Onyankopon took over for Hange. “We were hoping you’d be able to help us.”

Niccolo’s face paled with understanding. “Yeah, no problem.” He then led the group into a separate, empty room. “I’ll ask you to wait in here until I can finish.”

“Wow.” Hange gawked at the pristine dining room filled with tables covered in white tablecloths and cabinets stocked with expensive bottles of wine. “This room is pretty fancy.”

“I bet it’s usually reserved for MPs,” Connie huffed as he passed through the doorway. 

“Hey!” Jean grabbed one of the bottles of wine. “I’ve heard a whole lot of talk about this wine. It’s so nice that it’s only served to high-ranking members of the military.”

Intrigued, Connie walked over to get a look. “Oh, yeah? Well, aren’t we high-ranking members of the Scouts?”

“Sure are.” Jean instantly caught on to Connie’s meaning. “I’d say we’ve earned a quick sip of liquid luxury. Let’s have a little.”

“Don’t touch that!” The sudden outburst came from Niccolo as he snatched the bottle out of Jean’s hand. 

Everyone watched as Niccolo folded his body over the bottle, protecting it like it was his child.

“Whoa, calm down, man,” Jean told him. “We were just screwing around, so relax. No need to make a big thing of it.”

Drawing in a deep breath, Niccolo seemed to calm himself slightly. “A wine of this quality would be wasted on Eldians, understand?”

“What?” Connie asked.

“What’s with you? I can’t believe you’re still spouting that crap. Regardless of what you’ve been told, your wine doesn’t care what race we are!” Jean grabbed Niccolo hard by the collar of his white chef’s jacket. 

Niccolo grimaced. “Get your hands off of me, Eldian. I’ve been civil to you, but that doesn’t make us friends.” He had suddenly done a 180 from the man who had supposedly fallen in love with Sasha, an Eldian. 

“It sounds to me like you’ve forgotten your place here,” Jean tightened his grip on Niccolo. “On this island, you’re just-”

“-just a filthy POW?” Niccolo finished the insult before prying Jean’s hand off of himself. “Guess that makes us even, you Eldian devil.”

Without another word, Niccolo walked out of the room, a triumphant smirk on his face as he closed the door behind himself. 

“What is that guy’s problem?” Connie watched the closed door, almost as if he expected Niccolo to pop back in at any second and admit that the whole thing had been a joke. 

Jean grunted. “Hell if I know. Whatever.”

“You two idiots don’t need to be drinking on the job anyway.” Vera pulled out a chair from one of the tables and sat down. 

Jean squinted at Vera, almost as if he was trying to read her like a book. “So what, you think what he did was okay?”

“I didn’t say that.” Vera was secretly thankful for Jean’s combative nature, as it was currently keeping her distracted from thinking about Levi. “But maybe just cut him a little bit of slack, you know? He’s probably pretty on edge right now with everything going on and we did just show up at his work to question him.”

“If he’s innocent, there shouldn’t be any reason for him to be on edge.”

Vera shrugged. “Authority just freaks some people out.”

Jean’s mouth split into a wide smile. “Hey, yeah, I guess I am pretty intimidating, aren’t I?”

“Totally not what she meant.” Connie smacked Jean in the back of the head. 

“Ow!” Jean hissed. “You better watch yourself, baldie, or else I’m gonna-”

Before Jean could finish his threat, a commotion from down the hall interrupted him. Everyone fell silent at once, heads turning toward the door, waiting to see if something else would happen. When a series of shouts echoed through the building, Vera stood to her feet, her mind already set on investigating the noise.

With Armin on her heels, Vera exited the room and headed toward the only set of open doors along the hallway. When she stepped into the doorway, her jaw dropped at the sight before her. With a knife in one hand, Niccolo was standing in the middle of the dining room, an unconscious, bleeding Falco under his free arm and a scared Gabi on the floor at his feet. Across the room, a man in a brown suit who Vera recognized as Sasha’s father stared at Niccolo and behind him stood the rest of Sasha’s family.

“What’s going on in here?” Armin managed to find his voice before Vera. “Everybody, hurry over!” he called to the others. 

Within seconds, everyone else had rushed in to see the cause of the commotion. “That’s the kid who shot Sasha!” Jean recognized Gabi immediately. “I heard she was on the run but I’m surprised you recognized her,” he said to Niccolo. “Wait, what are you planning to do here?”

“Stay away from me, you hear?!” Niccolo adjusted Falco in his grasp and held the knife to his face. “I’m just going to avenge Sasha. That’s all I want!”

“Stop!” Gabi begged. “Leave Falco out of this, please!”

“What, is this brat someone special to you?” Niccolo spat. “Is that why he tried to protect you earlier? You care about him, huh? Well, I used to care about someone too! A dirt-blooded Eldian! A descendent of devils! A woman who enjoyed the food I cooked more than anyone I’d ever met before! She saved me from this shitty-ass, pointless war. She showed me that the person I’m meant to be is a man who brings people happiness through his cooking. Her name is Sasha Braus. She was amazing and you stole her from me!”

Gabi rose as high as she could while remaining on her knees. “I’ve lost people too! Your Sasha Braus shot two friends of mine! She gunned them both down as they were protecting their home! That’s why I took revenge on her! She’s the one who started it!”

“Shut the hell up! Who cares how it started?!” Niccolo inched the blade closer to Falco. 

“Wake up! Open your eyes!” Gabi pleaded. “You’re supposed to be a Marleyan soldier. That she-devil must have bewitched you somehow. Fight! Don’t let the devils win!”

Finally, Sasha’s father stepped forward. “All right, Niccolo. Give me that knife.” His voice was deep and calm, a stark contrast to the high emotions radiating from Niccolo and Gabi. “Please.”

Drawing the blade away from Falco, Niccolo handed the blade over to Mr. Braus. Fear etched onto her face, Gabi watched as Sasha’s father approached her. 

Lifting the weapon, Mr. Braus studied the sharp blade intently. Behind him, his other children huddled together, afraid of what they might have to watch their father do. His wife simply looked resigned, as if she had no intention of stopping her husband from grieving in whichever way he saw fit. 

“Listen, Mr. Braus, this isn’t right.” Hange attempted to put a stop to things before they could get any more out of hand. “Please drop the knife. Or maybe just set it down.”

Without letting go of the knife, Mr. Braus sighed. “I raised Sasha to be self-sufficient,” he said. “I taught her how to use a bow when she was young, and before long she got good enough to hunt for food in our forest. It was our way of life and we didn’t ever want to give it up. But after Maria fell, I knew we’d have to change with the times or die with the old ways, so I sent Sasha to join civilization. 

"Then, the world just kept getting bigger. Sasha left our forest and our island behind to fight some distant enemy; to shoot folks and get shot. Thing is, she left our forest, but turns out she just traded it for a bigger one, where the same rule of kill or be killed still applied.” Mr. Braus finally handed the knife to his wife, who set it to the side. “I recon Sasha died 'cause she wandered in that forest too long. We gotta get the children out of that forest, at the very least, or else there’s nothing gonna stop this from happening again and again. The way I see it, when it comes to shouldering the sins and hatreds of the past, that burden should fall to adults like you and me.” He looked directly at Niccolo. 

“Please, Niccolo, we need you to let them go now,” Mrs. Braus requested. 

Clearly struggling with the decision, Niccolo finally set Falco down on the floor, the bleeding from the wound on his head seeming to have slowed now. 

“Good.” Mr. Braus and his wife kneeled down beside Falco while Connie and Jean grabbed hold of Niccolo. “Okay, slow and steady does it, Lisa.”

“Right.” Mrs. Braus began to treat Falco’s wounds.

Following suit, Mikasa went to Gabi’s aid. “Mia, you’re okay, aren’t you?” Mr. Braus looked over at Gabi, who had apparently given him a fake name. 

Gabi’s wide brown eyes darted around the room, completely caught off guard by the kindness she and Falco were being shown. “I don’t understand,” she whispered to herself. “Do you really not hate me?”

In that moment, a blonde girl who had been cowering with her other siblings moments ago snatched the knife from the tabletop and darted toward Gabi. Before the blade could pierce Gabi’s head, however, Vera lunged out and grabbed the blonde girl’s arm. 

“Kaya-” Gabi breathed out.

As Mr. and Mrs. Braus pulled the girl away, she began to scream at Gabi. “You killed my sister! How dare you say my name!” She fought against her parents as they wrestled the knife out of her hand. “I thought you were my friend!" 

"I think we should go.” Armin helped Gabi stand. With the sound of Kaya sobbing in the background, he and Mikasa led Gabi back to the other dining room they had been waiting in previously.

“The main dish must have gone cold by now.” Niccolo winced at the sound of Sasha’s family’s cries. “Hange, you should rinse that kid’s mouth out with water. Some of the wine got into it.”

Hange, who was tending to Falco with Onyankopon’s help, perked at that. 

“Although, it’s probably too late.” Niccolo’s eyes darkened with regret. 

Hange gasped. “Why do you say that? What’s in the wine?”

“I think it’s … Zeke’s spinal fluid.”

Grabbing Niccolo by the collar once more, Jean threw him against the wall. “What did you just say?! Why the hell would Zeke Jaeger’s spinal fluid be in the wine?”

“I don’t actually have proof, but still … they packed the first survey fleet to the brim with it,” Niccolo explained while Hange and Connie rinsed out Falco’s mouth with water. “There’s no way they needed that much alcohol for a scouting mission.”

“Again.” Hange motioned for Connie to pour more water into the unconscious boy’s mouth.

Niccolo gulped. “And just as I was starting to settle into my new job here as a chef, I received instructions. In short, I was ordered to start serving that Marleyan wine to higher-ranking military officers.”

“Who ordered it?” Jean slammed him against the wall again. 

Niccolo paused for a moment, trying to decide if he should answer honestly or not. Eventually, he caved. “It was Yelena,” he confessed. “As far as I know, she’s the only one who was in on it. I can’t speak for the other volunteers.”

Hange turned to look at Onyankopon.

“No, I didn’t know about any of this!” Onyankopon denied instantly. “I give you my word.”

“This doesn’t make sense though.” Connie’s face contorted as he concentrated. “If Zeke’s spinal fluid is ingested by an Eldian, they’re supposed to freeze up.”

Hange shook her head. “That’s only what we were told by Zeke. None of us have ever seen how it happens in person, and there was no proof … but we bought it. It seems like such a small lie, but it’s had an enormous effect. We thought Zeke’s spinal fluid caused paralysis so when the wine caused no symptoms, we assumed it was safe.”

“Yeah, but wait, Niccolo.” Jean glared at their new informant once more. “You don’t actually know that it’s dosed, right?”

“No, not for a fact,” Niccolo responded quietly. “That said, I do know that, in the past, Zeke’s spinal fluid has been used in similar ways to tremendous effect. Ten years ago, Marley conquered a hostile nation’s capital overnight. This was made possible by the sudden appearance of hundreds of Titans in the city. She must plan to use the same trick here. Why else would she order me to make sure your military’s top officers drank that suspicious wine? No other explanation makes sense.”

“If that’s true, then when you snatched that bottle from me earlier, you were trying to protect us,” Jean reasoned.

“No. I have no idea what I’m doing. I came here to help save the world from the devils on this island. Now that I’ve told you all of this, I’m sure that my days must be numbered.” Niccolo finally raised his head to look at the Braus family across the room. “Sorry, Mr. Braus. I can’t be as forgiving as you are, but I do want to atone in some small way. I was about to murder a child. How screwed up can I be?”

Mr. Braus closed his eyes and hung his head. “Oh, Niccolo.”

Sensing that the damage in that room had mostly been done by then, Vera excused herself to check on the others in the dining room down the hall. When she arrived, Gabi was sitting in a chair, gaze averted and wounds mostly cleaned up and cared for by Armin and Mikasa.

When Vera’s footfalls gave away her presence, Gabi looked up, her brown eyes glued to Vera’s blue ones. “Why did you save me?” The words tumbled from her lips like she had been waiting to ask that question for a while. 

Vera thought about it as she approached the girl. “I don’t know,” she finally answered, although she was sure it was unsatisfactory. “My body just acted. I didn’t really think about it.”

“I’m the one who killed your comrades on that airship,” Gabi reminded them as if they had somehow been able to forget. The hand she had resting on the table clenched into a fist. “I’m the one who crushed that guard’s skull with a brick. Falco didn’t do anything. So kill me, not him, okay?”

“We won’t kill you,” Armin told her. 

Gabi seemed truly perplexed. “Why not? I know you must want to.”

“Why would I want that?” Armin questioned, his forehead tensing at the very thought of it. “Always with the killing. It’s like it’s all you ever think about. Just like someone else I know.”

Just then, as if he had been summoned by Armin’s words alone, Eren marched into the room. Panicked voices down the hall followed soon after and Vera knew that Eren hadn’t come alone. There was no doubt in her mind that they were here to pry the location of Zeke from them, no matter what it took.

Holding up his hand to reveal the cut on his palm, Eren used the implied threat of transforming at the drop of a hat to force Vera, Armin, and Mikasa into sitting at the table along with Gabi, right where he wanted them. 

Hange’s shouts travelled down the hall, not quite clear enough to discern what she was saying but more than loud enough to figure out that trouble was brewing quickly. 

Seconds later, there were three knocks at the door. “We’re gonna go on ahead,” Floch’s voice was muffled. Of course, Eren brought his biggest fan to this little meetup.

“Good,” Eren responded. 

“That was Floch!” Armin recognized his voice as well. “So you brought him here with you then?”

“Yeah.” Eren motioned for everyone to place their hands on the tabletop, palms down. Without hesitation, Vera and the others obeyed. When Eren followed his own order as well, he promptly ignored the bright red blood seeping into the tablecloth from his self-inflicted wound.

Then, with a rough sigh, he looked across the table at the people he used to call friends. Within his cold gaze, Vera was no longer able to identify that spark of child-like determination that proved he was working toward the good of humanity. Now all she saw was the raw desire for destruction.

His gaze flickered to Gabi for a moment, taking in the terror on her face, before he spoke again. “I wanted to talk with you three.”

Brave Heart: Chapter Fifty-Five

Attack on Titan

Rating: Mature

Warnings: sexual themes, death, gore, mature themes, extreme violence, body horror, blood, weapons, major character death, age-gap relationship

When Vera woke the next morning, the spot beside her in bed was empty. With a resigned sigh, she reached over and brushed her fingertips over the cool bedsheets. Levi had been gone for a while and had left without saying goodbye. No, that wasn’t true. The night before had been one long goodbye whether either of them had said it outright or not.

Everything that needed to be said had been said. Every touch, caress, and kiss had been exchanged until their fingertips had memorized the feeling of the other’s body and their lips were swollen and red. 

Besides, Levi was only going to be gone a short while. He had said so himself. 

Drawing in a deep breath and inhaling what remained of Levi’s scent that clung to the linen, Vera forced herself out of bed. After collecting her clothes from where they had been discarded around the room, she got dressed and ready to face whatever the day and those that came after it had to offer. 

As soon as she opened the door, she came face-to-face with Hange, who was waiting in the hall. “Perfect timing!” Hange did her best to sound like her usual, cheery self, but Vera could see the exhaustion in her eyes; and this wasn’t the same exhaustion that came from staying up all night doing research or pouring over various theories. No, this was the telltale exhaustion that came from having the weight of thousands of lives resting on your shoulders. “I was just coming to retrieve you.”

Vera felt heat rise to her cheeks. She wasn’t sure if the fact that she was emerging from Levi’s room first thing in the morning or the fact that Hange knew to find her there was more embarrassing, but either way, she felt exposed. 

“No need to be so coy, Kline.” Hange turned and led the way back down the hall, assuming that Vera would simply follow, which she did. “I’m well aware of your relationship with Levi.”

Vera cocked a brow. Was that what it was? A relationship? Somehow, despite how startling that word was, it didn’t feel like it was enough to describe what she and Levi had. “Right,” she said, jogging to catch up with Hange. “So where are we going?”

“Word has gotten out that Eren has been arrested and the public is getting antsy,” Hange explained. “And I have a feeling I know exactly who did it.”

With that, Vera followed Hange out of the officers’ barracks, across the courtyard, and into another building. From behind the barred fences surrounding the area, citizens were calling out to Hange, demanding to know what was going on. Hange simply kept her gaze forward, ignoring their pleas for information.

Finally, the two women came upon a door and Hange stopped for a second to collect her thoughts. 

“It must be difficult being the commander,” Vera sympathized. “Erwin always made it look so easy.”

Hange sighed, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. “Yeah, he did,” she agreed. “And somehow I’m making it look like the hardest thing ever.”

Without a second longer of hesitation, Hange pushed the doors open and stepped into the room. Already inside, Vera’s friends and a slew of other soldiers were waiting. At the far end of the room, four Scouts were perched upon chairs. Vera only recognized one of them: Floch.

“So it was the four of you who leaked these rumours about Eren,” Hange addressed them calmly. “Three recruits: Holga, Vim, and Lousie. And one veteran: Floch.” She pulled up a chair in front of the four accused Scouts and sat down. “Care to tell me why you did it?”

“Because Eren never should have been imprisoned,” Floch answered plainly. “He’s done nothing wrong and should be freed at once. He challenged a powerful, imposing enemy and grasped victory. We now have the Rumbling, a power which secures our right to live. Eren Jaeger is no criminal. He’s a war hero and he just saved the life of every person in the new Eldian Empire.”

“The nation of Eldia is in greater danger than ever. We don’t know if the Rumbling can protect us yet or not,” Hange retorted. “Nobody knows how it works; it’s still just a myth at this point.”

Floch huffed. “Only because you’re keeping Eren locked in a cage. At the very least, I hope you’ll agree that we can’t afford to waste time right now. We need to be decisive; to make use of our victory. It will be Eren Jaeger who leads this nation. Please see reason and release him at once.”

Hange remained silent for a moment, the thick tension in the room working to her advantage. The other Scouts behind Floch began to squirm in their seats. “Yeah, you might just be right about that,” she finally spoke again. “From a certain viewpoint, I’ve already made the decision to see Zeke Jaeger’s plan through to the end. I’m responsible for making that choice, which is why I can’t tolerate insubordination. You will all be tried for the crime of leaking confidential intelligence. Detain them in the meantime.”

“If this is the price of serving humanity within the walls, then so be it.” Floch and the others didn’t put up a fight as the guards flanked them and led them out of the room. 

Sensing that Hange needed some space, Vera and the others followed the guards and detainees out, closing the door behind themselves and leaving the Commander inside by herself. 

It was around that time that news reached Vera’s ears that Gabi and Falcio had managed to escape their prison cell. As the guards were leading Floch and the others away, one of them had mentioned it in passing—something about there being an extra cell free now since the Marleyan kids had escaped.

Vera felt worried for a split second before pushing it down and squashing it. There was no sense in being concerned about the kids who murdered Sasha, even if they were just kids … and even if she had watched them grow from playful children into skilled warriors. She remembered when Reiner had first introduced her to Gabi; the girl was so small and so determined to prove herself. She sort of reminded Vera of herself. 

Just then, the door opened and Hange stepped out. The exhaustion etched into her face had been softened now after she had taken some time alone to gather her thoughts. Without a word, she placed a hand on Vera’s shoulder and began leading her away once again. “Next stop on your redemption tour,” she said, trying her best to make it sound fun and enjoyable.

Vera furrowed her brows, confused. “Redemption tour?”

“Levi may or may not have mentioned to me on his way out this morning that you were looking to get back into Eldia’s good graces,” Hange flashed a knowing smirk. “And since I’ve already witnessed what you can do first-hand and have no qualms about trusting you myself, I’ve agreed to take you under my wing while Levi is gone.”

Vera decided not to argue the point that, somehow, she always found herself needing to be supervised. “But don’t you already have enough on your plate with being the commander?”

“That’s precisely why you’re here.” Hange nodded. “To help take some of the tasks off of my plate and prove to the other higher-ups that you always have and always will be Team Eldia. Pretty great plan, huh?”

Vera’s shoulders slumped and she frowned. “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

“Nope.” Hange sounded a little too cheery. “Now keep that frown you’re sporting. A stern expression is perfect for interrogation.”

Before Vera had the chance to ask what the hell Hange was dragging her into next, Hange had directed her outside. Together, the two women mounted horses and rode out, past wall Sina’s chaos and out where a single house sat in the middle of a vast field.

Sitting at a small table in front of the house, a man with dark skin, who was wearing a black suit, greeted Hange with a nod of the head. A few meters away, sitting under a tree for shade and eating an apple, an armed guard kept watch. 

The man sighed heavily and pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket as Hange dismounted and took a seat across from him at the table. The sky was clear and the sun was warm this morning, so Vera found herself wondering how this man was wearing a full suit and not sweating bullets.

“This is somewhere between absurd and appalling,” the man said as he began to shuffle the deck of cards, making it seem as though he had been expecting Hange. “How could people still doubt us after all this time? I thought we were comrades! We spent three years sweating beside you to build the railway and trade systems that this island needed. Your people are prospering because of us. We gave Eldia everything we had, Hange!”

Hange hung her head, clearly disappointed with how things had turned out. From what Vera could tell, this man was another one of the Marleyan volunteers who had been detained under Pyxis’ order. 

“I’m so sorry,” Hange apologized. “When we first opened our railway ten months ago, I didn’t see this coming.”

Vera suddenly began to doubt that this was an actual interrogation and swiftly let the stern look she had been wearing on her face melt under the oppressive sun. 

“Yeah, you’re telling me.” The man exhaled loudly. “We swore to help fight for Eldia’s future. We meant every word-” He stopped mid-sentence when Hange leaned across the table toward him, her face twisted with what looked like pain. “Hange, what’s the matter with you?!”

Just like that, Hange caved and a slew of information came pouring out of her mouth as if a dam had broken and she was unable to hold back from spilling her secrets any longer.

“Huh?” The man quirked a brow. “Yelena went behind the military’s back and met with Eren in secret? Seriously?”

Even Vera was stunned by this news, but more than that, she felt honoured that Hange trusted her enough to allow her to possess this important intel.

Hange nodded. “Can you give me your word that she didn’t tell you?”

“She never so much as dropped a hint. I promise.”

Hange relaxed into her chair. “Yeah. Your surprise seems to be completely sincere. To me, at any rate.” She then looked up at Vera. “What do you think?”

Vera was silent for a second or two, unsure at first if Hange was really asking her opinion on this. “I don’t know this man,” she replied. “I don’t think I’m the best person to consult on this.”

“Vera, Onyankopon. Onyankopon, Vera.” Hange made the introductions. “Now, what do you think?”

Vera squinted her eyes at the man, Onyankopon. “Well, his shock did seem genuine.” She shrugged. “And I suppose that if he had really been privy to Yelena’s plans, then he probably wouldn’t be talking to us so freely.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Hange agreed.

Onyankopon shook his head. “So she went that far …”

“You aren’t saying that you can’t believe she would do it,” Hange pointed out. “And based off that, I think you must know that it’s in character for her.”

“I don’t exactly know,” he responded. 

“We may have approached it backwards,” Hange said, “but Yelena has given us a reason to detain the volunteers. Now, I need you to tell me everything you do know about her, for the sake of our future.”

Onyankopon was lost in thought for a second before he started talking again. “My understanding is that it was Yelena who first recruited the volunteers. People were doubtful and wary, so things didn’t go so well at first. More than once, Yelena proved her loyalty to us and to Zeke by getting her hands dirty. Any Marleyan who doubted us met an untimely death, even when they were friends who ate and slept beside us. We overcame those losses by telling ourselves it was for the sake of the homelands Marley stole from us.”

Hange tilted her head. “That’s funny. Yelena’s always argued for Marley rights here. She convinced us to let Marleyan prisoners have jobs. You make it sound like Yelena used to be merciless to Marleyans. Why would that change?” Suddenly, Hange sat up. “Right! Please come with me, Onyankopon. I need your help.”

“Huh?” he quirked a brow.

As Vera got ready to follow the two, Hange dismissed her. “Head back before me,” she instructed. “Be my eyes and ears while I’m not there. I will return soon enough.”

Quickly gaining mental whiplash from all of the back and forth she was doing, and unsure what any of it had to do with the grand scheme of things, Vera followed Commander Hange’s orders and returned back through wall Sina’s gates and into the military’s gated headquarters. 

Not even a full minute after returning, Vera heard her name being called as she dismounted her horse and returned it to the stables. Spinning around, she was greeted by Armin and Mikasa, whose serious expressions made her assume they weren’t just stopping by to say hello.

“Vera!” Armin rushed over to her. “There you are! We’ve been looking for you.”

“I’ve been running around all morning. Or, correction, I’ve been getting dragged around all morning,” Vera explained. “Hange has decided to take me under her wing and apparently that means, where she goes, I go.” She noticed their confused looks when they realized Hange was nowhere to be seen. “Except for now. I’m currently serving as the Commander’s eyes and ears while she deals with other business.”

Mikasa’s brows knotted together in confusion. “You’ve sure worked your way up quickly.”

“I wouldn’t exactly say being the Commander’s lacky is anything too impressive but sure.” Vera shrugged. “So anyway, you were looking for me. You’ve found me. What’s up?”

“We’re going to speak to Premier Zachary about seeing Eren,” Armin said. “Having you there might help.”

Vera shrugged. “I doubt so, but lead the way.”

On the way up to Premier Zachary’s office, Mikasa pointed out three new Scout recruits leaving the building. It was certainly weird seeing them at headquarters, especially since it was hard for anyone to get in and out of the gates currently, but at the time, it didn’t raise any serious concern aside from some mild curiosity.

When the three of them finally got in to speak with Zachary, he was facing away from them, staring out the window at the horde of gathered citizens outside the gates. Some of them were holding signs, all of them were yelling, and the patrolling guards didn’t seem to know what to do about any of it.

After Armin requested permission to see Eren, Zachary didn’t respond. Or at least, not at first. “I hear Hange’s been roaming all over the place,” he said, looking over his shoulder briefly to shoot a look at Vera. Apparently, he was aware of her recent change in handlers, so to speak. 

Vera nodded. “Yes, the Commander’s been looking into a few leads that have been dug up.”

“I know. I gave the Commander permission to take one of the detained volunteers.” He must have been referring to Onyankopon. “But I’m afraid that I can’t give you three permission to meet Eren.”

“Why not, Sir?” Armin asked. 

“Because we’ve just confirmed that Eren communicated with the volunteers in secret. This is likely what incited him to attack Marley. It’s certainly something he kept quiet about leading up to the event. We’re currently in the midst of an investigation to see what all was said, and who all was involved in this meeting. Eren has maintained his silence ever since these facts were brought to light. Furthermore, we’re still completely in the dark about what he did during his time alone in Marley.”

Vera swallowed hard, once again feeling Zachary’s eyes on herself. She had already answered this question over and over again during her own imprisonment after returning to Paradis, but it was clear some people still believed she was hiding details.

“I’m sorry to say that we believe that Eren has been manipulated by Zeke,” Zachary continued. “I wouldn’t have shared these secrets with you if you were anyone else, so I’ll ask that you keep them to yourselves.”

Vera could sense that Zachary’s words meant one thing but his actions meant another. It felt as though he was testing them—or maybe just her—to see if this information would be leaked as well. 

Armin’s eyes were wide with shock. “You really think that Eren would …”

“So what now?” Mikasa inquired. “What will you do with him?”

Without answering with words, Zachary rounded his desk and stopped beside an intricate red chair with two panels on each side, each one with what looked like restraints attached to it.

“Is that?” Mikasa gasped.

Zachary looked down at the chair. “Hmm? Oh, it’s nothing. There was nowhere else to store the thing so I had some recruits bring it up here.”

Armin’s eyes hesitated on the chair for a second longer before he looked up at Zachary. “Please hear me out, Sir. We’ve known Eren ever since we were kids. If he refuses to talk to you, that’s all the more reason to send us in. I know there’s no guarantee that we could get him to tell us the truth but there isn’t any harm in trying, right?”

“The situation is too delicate right now,” Zachary answered, sticking with his initial refusal. “This conversation’s over.”

As soon as the three friends found themselves back in the hall, outside the doors to Zachary’s office, they turned to one another. “Why?” Mikasa was still stunned. “You’re right that there’d be no harm in letting us talk to him. So why would he forbid it?”

Just then, the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway alerted the three to the presence of three Military Police soldiers.

“If I had to venture a guess, it would be that the military has already decided that he’s a lost cause,” Armin kept his voice low as they walked back down the hall, finishing his thought just as they passed the three others.

At the end of the hall, Vera, Mikasa, and Armin slowed and turned to watch the soldiers knock on Zachary’s door before letting themselves in. 

“If I’m right about that, then they’re probably looking at candidates to replace him with,” Armin finished.

Mikasa nodded, her face set with purpose. “I’ll listen through the door.” She started back the way they had just come.

“Hold on, Mikasa.” Armin grabbed her arm. “You can’t!”

“It’s fine.” Mikasa insisted. “They’re not gonna catch me.”

Vera shook her head, agreeing with Armin. “But if they do, they might charge us with conspiring against the government as well and throw us behind bars too. Then what can we do to help Eren?”

“We can’t afford to take the risk!” Armin told her.

“We can’t afford not to take the risk,” Mikasa retorted. “We need to find out what the military’s planning. No matter what happens, I won’t let Eren be-”

Mikasa’s words were cut off by a sudden explosion from Premier Zachary’s office. In a large eruption of searing heat and intense, bright red and orange light, Vera felt the air being ripped from her lungs as she was sent flying backward from the sheer force. 

When Vera finally landed, thankfully sustaining only minor injuries along with Armin and Mikasa, she began to cough out the smoke and debris that had accumulated in her lungs. In front of them, there was a huge hole in the side of the building and all around, splintered pieces of wood had caught flame. 

People could be heard yelling from outside, and as soon as Vera, Mikasa, and Armin found the strength to stand and evacuate the burning building, they ran out into the courtyard where a group of soldiers had surrounded something on the ground.

Before Vera could get a closer look, Hitch came running over to them. She had apparently been on watch during the whole thing. “Hey, are you guys all right?” she asked.

“Hitch!” Mikasa gasped. “What was that?”

“The Premier’s office just exploded.” Hitch pointed upward, indicating that Vera had been correct in her hazy memory of where the explosion had originated from. 

“Has anyone seen him?”

Turning around, Hitch gestured to the object everyone had gathered around. After taking a few steps closer, Vera felt her stomach twist at the sight of the upper half of Zachary’s torso lying on the ground. He was dead. 

Vera’s hand slapped over her mouth, either to suppress a gasp or the urge to throw up, as she watched one of the soldiers remove their jacket and place it over the Premier’s corpse. 

“Give your hearts and souls!” A man from the slowly growing crowd of citizens shouted. “Our anger’s finally reached them. The time has come for us to fight!”

Before long, the citizens around him were up in arms too, yelling about how they wanted to fight as well.

“Our hearts and souls to the cause!” the same man shouted.

“Our hearts and souls to the cause!” the crowd chanted again and again. 

By the time Hange made it back to headquarters, Onyankopon in tow, Vera had quite a bit to catch her up on—but she only had a brief amount of time to do it in before everyone of importance had been called into a debriefing about the Premier’s death.

“Premier Zachary had his custom chair brought to his room today,” the officer in charge of the debriefing said as he read from a list of bullet points on the paper in his hand. “We believe that whoever delivered the chair must have planted a bomb in it. In addition to the Premier himself, the explosion killed three soldiers. We don’t know who was behind this or what their motives were.”

“All but one of the volunteers have been on house arrest,” Hange explained, “and Onyankopon here was with me all day.”

“Then can you think of anyone else who might have been responsible?”

“Before he died, Premier Zachary said that a group of recruits brought the chair to his office,” Armin spoke up. 

Nile, who still sent shivers down Vera’s spine whenever she thought about him back in that courtroom all those years ago, crossed his arms. “Where were these recruits from?”

“He never told us what branch they were with,” Armin answered, head hung in anticipation for the shock to come with his next statement. “But as Mikasa, Vera, and I were heading to his room for our appointment, we happened to notice a group of recruits leaving HQ in a rush, and those recruits were Scouts.”

“Speaking of your regiment,” Nile huffed, “I hear that a few of you Scouts were arrested and charged with leaking information about Eren to the public. You don’t think that-”

Just then, the doors to the conference room burst open and a soldier, whose face was red and was panting, ran inside. “Urgent news!” he shouted. “Eren Jaeger escaped! He broke out of his underground cell!”

Nile immediately gave the order to mobilize all troops and track Eren down, but the constant hum in Vera’s ears, both from the explosion and her own disbelief, prevented her from hearing much of anything for herself. 

Vera thought back to her conversation with Armin the other day in the graveyard. When she had mentioned that this war was only just beginning, she had no idea how right she really was. 

Brave Heart: Chapter Fifty-Four

Attack on Titan

Rating: Mature

Warnings: sexual themes, death, gore, mature themes, extreme violence, body horror, blood, weapons, major character death, age-gap relationship

Rain falling slowly from the dark grey sky above, barely more than a light drizzle, Vera wiped the water from her face as she stared at the dull gravestone in the distance. Among the vast field of other gravestones, this particular one didn’t stand out from the others aside from the name that had been carved into the front: Sasha Braus. 

“It makes it feel real,” Armin said, his blonde hair sticking to his forehead from the moisture. “I still can’t believe she’s gone.”

In front of the memorial for their dear friend, a boy with blonde hair crouched in the wet grass, head hung and shoulders shaking slightly as he cried. Vera had never met this boy before, but Armin had mentioned something about ‘Niccolo’ and him having 'been in love with Sasha’ when they had first arrived. Upon spotting Sasha’s name on the stone, Vera hadn’t been able to listen to much Armin was saying.

“She adored the food he made.” Armin followed Vera’s gaze toward Niccolo. “And for Sasha, that’s the closest thing to love, I suppose.”

Vera nodded absentmindedly. “Yeah.” She couldn’t help but picture this scene slightly reversed, with her name on the gravestone and Levi crouched in front of it instead. “Do I have one?”

Armin cocked a brow. “Huh?”

“A gravestone,” Vera clarified. “Do I have one? You know, because everyone thought I was dead.”

“Oh. No, you don’t.” Armin answered. “In the beginning, a lot of people refused to believe you were dead in the first place. And then, after a few years, it didn’t seem respectful; like giving you a resting place was admitting that we had given up hope.”

“That’s good,” Vera said, relieved. “That I don’t have one, that is. I’m not ready to be dead just yet, metaphorically or otherwise.”

Armin was silent for a moment, eyes drifting back toward Sasha’s headstone. “I don’t think any of us are. She certainly wasn’t.”

“That’s why we have to keep moving forward, one step after another.” Vera steeled her nerves, unable to stop the mental image of her name on a gravestone just like Sasha’s from popping into her head. “We have to do it for her; to prove that this wasn’t all for nothing … that she didn’t die in vain.”

Armin just nodded and Vera could see the uncertainty in his blue eyes. She knew it wasn’t that he didn’t want to avenge Sasha, but more that he was worried about everything else that could go wrong—about everyone else that could lose their life—in this pursuit. 

“Everything has changed,” Armin sighed softly. “I never thought I would ever say this, but I miss when it was just us against the Titans.”

“Yeah,” Vera agreed. “Me too.”

“I miss when Titans were just Titans and not poor helpless people.”

Vera held her hand out, palm up, and watched as raindrops speckled her skin. “It all seemed so simple back then, but I suppose that is the silver lining of living a lie.”

“Sometimes it seems as though the truths will never stop,” Armin added. “And each one is just as confusing and devastating as the last. Like the fact that Zeke Jaeger is actually an anti-marleyan and has been planning to free the Eldians this whole time.”

Vera took a second to take in all the information Armin had slowly been catching her up on in the past few days since her return. “And Eren has been working with him this whole time?”

“I don’t know.” Armin shook his head. “I feel like I don’t know anything about Eren anymore.”

“I know how you feel.” Vera withdrew her hand, wiped the small collection of rainwater onto her pants, and wrapped her arms tightly around herself. “This place is everything I remember and yet completely different from when I was last here.” She glanced around at the surrounding landscape, picturing the railroad and giant flying boat that had been new additions to Paradis Island while she had been gone—the ladder a donation from a special ally, Kiyomi Azumabito, who was currently representing her nation of Hizuru to support the Eldians. 

Armin drew in a deep breath, shuddering slightly from his nerves or the cold or both. “There’s no stopping this now, is there?” he asked even though it was obvious he already knew the answer. “This war is far from over.”

Vera took a moment to try and picture the future—to try and predict the outcome of this mess. “This war has just begun,” she said.

Armin sighed heavily, the hesitation in his solemn agreement clear as day. “If Yelena has her way, the threat of the rumbling will be enough to end it all before it even begins.”

Vera had only met Yelena briefly on the airship, and from what she had heard, she was one of the few anti-marleyan volunteers (just like Niccolo) who had supposedly switched sides when their boat had finally met the shores of Paradis Island—one of the many boats that had left Marley and never returned. She sounded like a force to be reckoned with and Vera was both looking forward to and dreading actually having to work with the traitor-turned-ally who had seemingly pushed this plan into motion with her own bare hands.

“I presume that’s why she stole the Titan transformation serum,” Armin continued, more or less trying to work things out in his mind by talking out loud by now. “Just like Eren, I assume she will do anything to see this plan through to the end.”

As the rain began to pour down harder, obscuring Vera’s sight and bringing a chill to her body as she finally soaked all the way through to the bone, she and Armin turned to head back inside. When they did, however, Vera spotted a familiar form in the distance, standing just on the edge of the graveyard. It was Levi.

With a gentle hand on Vera’s shoulder, Armin flashed a quick smile, silently letting her know that he would give her some space and see her later. As Armin walked off, Levi soon took his place, hands reaching out to wipe away the moisture from Vera’s face.

“You’re going to catch a cold out here,” he told her, no tone of discipline in his voice; only worry. 

Vera couldn’t help the small smile that spread across her face. “I’ll be okay, Levi. I’ve been through worse and survived.”

“That’s not the point.” Levi shook his head. “How am I supposed to believe you will be okay while I’m gone if you can’t even be bothered to wear a hood in the rain?”

Vera’s smile vanished in an instant. “While you’re gone?” she echoed him. “What?”

Levi’s grey eyes darkened, overcome by disappointment in himself for letting his planned absence slip so soon into the conversation. “Zeke can’t be kept here, not with Eren, and someone needs to be in charge of him,” he said. “Hange has assigned the task to me. I leave in the morning.”

“You’re leaving me?” was the only thing that Vera could think to say, her words akin to a child worried about being separated from their parent. “Again?”

Levi’s entire body tensed, lips stretching into a tight line. “I don’t want to. But this is bigger than you and me. I have a duty to my job.”

Suddenly, Vera felt foolish. “Of course.” She nodded. “Right, I’m sorry … I shouldn’t be upset. Commander Hange wouldn’t do it unless it was necessary.”

Arms falling to her sides, Vera took a small step back, trying her best to distance herself from this situation; trying her best to understand that the war was more important than her emotions. 

Levi’s fingers twitched. He wanted to reach out to her, to assure her that he would be back as soon as possible and alleviate any and all concerns she had. But he didn’t. He could see her physically pulling away and wanted to give her the space she wanted. “Just until this initial mess is over,” he promised without actually saying the word. “If we fail now, it will all be for naught.”

Vera glanced back over her shoulder at Sasha’s grave. If it all meant nothing in the end, then so did Sasha’s death. Forcing her earlier smile to return, Vera leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Levi’s cheek. “In that case, I will be waiting when you get back.” She felt her heart throb at the way his grey eyes regarded her with longing as if they were already separated. “Be careful, okay?”

“I always am,” he told her simply. “You too. No more going off on your own.”

Vera shook her head. “Never again.”

With that, Vera passed Levi and started back toward the barracks, a million unspoken words left dangling off the tip of her tongue. If she had truly said what she was feeling, she feared it might be enough to convince Levi to stay with her instead of following Hange’s orders. The last thing she wanted to do was crumble Eldia’s carefully laid plans from the inside all because she wanted the man she loved to stay by her side forever and always. That was childish behaviour, and Vera couldn’t afford to make any more childish mistakes.

Despite knowing that she had made the right choice to bite her tongue, Vera was still thinking about it that night as she peered out at the dark sky. The storm had moved on by then, replacing the sound of rain and thunder with chirping crickets and whistling wind. Inside, the soft, warm glow of the candles and the presence of her friends pulled Vera’s attention away from the darkness outside and the lingering darkness in her own mind.

“So Pyxsis detained the volunteers?” Jean questioned, hand on his chin as he thought. “Such a strong-armed tactic. It’s hard to believe he’d go that far.”

Vera wondered how many more cells Eldia had left to fill with captured Marleyans and the like. With Eren occupying one, and Gabi and Falco occupying another, the fact that all the volunteers were now detained as well meant that free space was scarce. 

Was this the best plan Eldia had? To just imprison everyone they thought they couldn’t trust? How long could that possibly work for? How many bridges would that burn for the future?

“They had built good working relationships with a lot of us Scouts, so our regiment wasn’t notified in advance,” Armin said, pulling Vera from her thoughts. 

Leaning back on the couch he was sitting on, Jean sighed. “That said, I doubt Pyxsis had much choice. 'Cause until we understand Zeke’s real intentions, his presence here puts us in a tough spot.”

“I don’t think he’ll be here for much longer,” Vera informed the group, saying only what was necessary in case Levi’s mission to smuggle Zeke out of the city was on a need-to-know basis.

“Even so, I wonder what made Eren decide to go with his plan.” Jean pondered out loud. “Him and Zeke must have talked but, what was said, well … no one knows except for them.”

Vera crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from the window. “I didn’t even know they were in contact in Marley. Eren didn’t mention it at all.”

There was a brief moment of silence before Connie spoke up. “Hey, did that guy look like Eren when you all saw him?” he asked. “'Cause if you ask me, that wasn’t Eren. And if whoever that was is capable of picking his half-brother over us then …”

“If he is, then what?” Mikasa countered.

“Then I say, we’ll need to be prepared to cut him down ourselves if necessary.”

“I won’t let you!” Mikasa snapped. 

Connie’s eyes widened. “Are you taking their side too, Mikasa? Come on.”

“I don’t think it will come to that.” Mikasa collected herself and calmed down. “Eren cares about us more than anyone else. Everyone here should know that. Maybe that’s why he’s become so combative towards anyone who isn’t one of us. It’s because his feelings are so strong.”

“No, that isn’t it,” Jean disagreed. “He’s always seen your strength, but the Eren that we used to know would still try to keep you away from the front lines. But he used you in that battle, just like he used Vera. He sent Armin to destroy that port. He called the rest of us important too and he used us just the same.”

Mikasa shook her head, trying to see it a different way. “But maybe that’s just because he trusts us. I mean, if we hadn’t helped him, his plan would’ve failed.”

“Yeah, and Sasha would be alive right now,” Connie added for good measure, scowling at the looks he got in return. “Hey, what do you think Eren did when Vera told him she had died? Do you think he cried? Or showed some regret maybe?”

“Connie, stop,” Jean told him.

Connie furrowed his brows. “After he left that back room, the bastard laughed! I wonder what part of our friend’s death it was that he found so damn amusing. Why don’t you explain, Mikasa? Why did Eren start laughing? You know everything about him, right?”

“We need to talk to him,” Armin suggested before things could get any tenser. “Just Eren, Mikasa, Vera, and me. We’ll give him a chance to explain his goal.”

“Why me?” Vera scoffed. “It was all too easy for him to lie to me before about what his true intentions were. What makes you think he’ll tell me the truth now?”

“Because you were over there with him when none of us were,” Armin explained. “He trusted you with more than you think. He relied on you when he had no one else.”

Vera rolled her eyes. “Come on, Armin. He used me and you know that!”

“I don’t know that, which is why we need to ask him. I believe that Eren has a plan—a reason for all of this—and we just need to assure him that we are on his side.”

“Are you sure that’ll help?” Jean tilted his head, trying to see this whole mess from Armin’s point of view. “Tell me, what if his goals are the same as Zeke’s?”

“The volunteers gave us Titan serum,” Armin said. “So we have a choice now.”

Mikasa sat up quickly. “Wait, what are you saying?”

“We can choose to turn someone who we can trust into a Titan and then have them inherit the founder from Eren.”

Armin’s words played through Vera’s mind over and over again as she headed back to her room for the night, but less the part about turning someone into a Titan and more the part about having a choice. Refusing to make any more childish mistakes didn’t mean that she could no longer be trusted to make her own choices. There were always choices to make—always an alternative path to follow. 

A few meters away from her door, Vera spun on her heel and started back in the opposite direction. She stomped down the staircase, out into the courtyard, and across the way toward the officers’ quarters, determination in each footfall. 

Locating the door she had passed through days before—before she had been re-assigned her own room—she knocked three times, hard enough for Levi to hear but just soft enough not to wake him if he was already sleeping. Or so she thought.

When the door swung open a minute or so later, Levi’s hair was slightly more mussed than usual and he was wearing a robe, indicating that he was wearing sleepwear inappropriate for answering the door underneath. He had definitely been asleep, or at least in bed, and Vera had disturbed him. His face showed his annoyance clear as day until he realized it was Vera at his door and his features softened.

“Vera.” Levi pulled the door open wider so she could step inside if she needed. “Is everything okay?”

Vera swallowed hard, feeling guilty for bothering him at such a late hour. “Yes, everything is fine. I’m sorry, it didn’t occur to me how late it had gotten already.”

“If you need me, my door is always open for you, no matter what time it is.” He opened the door wider again, this time making a point to usher her inside. “I’m sure you didn’t come here for nothing, so what is it?”

“Well, I …” Vera stumbled over her words, unsure if this would sound better if she told him what was going to happen or if she asked his permission first. “… I wasn’t happy with how we left things earlier and after some thinking, I have realized that we have a choice—a choice that doesn’t involve abandoning the mission or us being apart. Let me come with you.”

Levi cocked a dark brow, contemplating for a moment before shaking his head. “No. Absolutely not.”

Vera’s jaw dropped. Despite what little time she had used to really think this idea through, it seemed pretty cut and dry. She didn’t see a single downside. “What? Why not?”

“Because the only thing worse than worrying about you while you’re here, within the safety of the walls, is having to worry about you without the safety of the walls; where the only thing between you and danger is me … and I cannot focus on you and Zeke at the same time.”

Vera crossed her arms and huffed. “You do know that I can take care of myself, right?”

“That doesn’t mean I won’t feel responsible for you. If you will remember, you are still under my watch.”

“Which only proves my point. How can I be under your watch if we aren’t even together?”

“You being under watch in the first place means that you are not within enough good graces yet to be trusted with something like this. I had to damn near beg Hange permission to even tell you I was leaving in the first place.”

Vera’s brows knotted together. “So Hange doesn’t trust me now? That’s it?”

“It’s not that Hange doesn’t trust you, but it makes her look bad as Commander if she acts like you haven’t been living in Marley for the past four years,” Levi explained.

Vera balled her hands into fists by her sides. She could feel the childish anger rising in her veins. Closing her eyes, she drew in a few deep breaths, trying to organize her thoughts into coherent sentences. When she opened her eyes again, Levi had crossed the room and settled into his desk chair, facing her. 

Folding one leg over the other, he smirked ever-so-slightly. “Why don’t you tell me what this is really about?” he suggested. “Don’t you think you owe me an explanation after waking me so late?”

Vera frowned. “I already told you why. I don’t want us to be separated again.”

“As much as that flatters me, I don’t believe you,” Levi said. “There’s more.”

“No, there’s not.” Vera turned to the door and took a few steps toward it, silently threatening to leave. “But if my embarrassing admission of separation anxiety from you isn’t enough …”

“Vera.” Levi’s voice was calm but stern. When she turned back to face him, he looked just as intimidating as when she had first seen him atop that horse, glaring down at her—even despite the robe and sleep-tussled hair. “Can you please be honest with me?”

Vera hung her head and exhaled slowly, a few loose strands of blonde hair falling into her face. “I don’t like that people think I’m a traitor. I wasn’t trusted in Marley and now, I’m not even trusted here anymore … my home doesn’t trust me. I want to prove whose side I’m on.”

Vera caught the flash of empathy in Levi’s dark eyes as he pushed up from his chair and walked toward her. “I trust you, Hange trusts you, your friends trust you. The people who matter trust you, Vera. You just have to give everyone else a little more leeway. These are unprecedented and scary times. Everyone is on edge.”

Vera brushed the hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. “You trust me?” She lifted her gaze to meet Levi’s. 

“I always have,” he assured her, hands rising to cup her face gently. “I always will.”

Vera melted into his touch and closed her eyes again. “I just don’t want to lose you again. I just got you back.” She gripped his robe tightly in her hands and pulled him closer. 

“You won’t lose me. I promise.” He snaked one arm around her neck and cradled the back of her head before pressing his forehead to hers. 

“You can’t promise that,” she whispered, wishing more than anything that he could promise that. 

“I promise,” he told her again before pulling her flush against his body and kissing her softly, the passion enough to draw the breath from both of their lungs. “And I always keep my word.”

Completely forgetting the reason she had come to Levi’s room in the first place, Vera exhaled and felt relief wash over her body. No matter what was going on outside of that room, nothing could bother her when she was in Levi’s arms. “Okay,” she accepted his promise, even if she knew it wasn’t something he—or anyone, for that matter—had any control over.

“Stay,” he pleaded into her mouth as he kissed her again. “Stay here with me tonight.”

“I shouldn’t,” Vera was saying one thing but her body was saying another as she tangled herself further into Levi. It felt like a reverse of the night they had first kissed—this time, Levi was the desperate one and Vera was the one thinking about logic. But just like that first night, they both soon succumbed to their desires, rules be damned.

Before long, Vera’s green trenchcoat was on the ground beside Levi’s robe, the two of them slowly undressing the other, taking the time to savour every second of their time together. 

Despite the fact that Vera had been completely nude in front of Levi before, even though the context was much different than this moment, she couldn’t help but blush as he laid her down on his bed and removed her boots and pants. 

“Look at me,” Levi rasped as he climbed onto the bed, settling himself between Vera’s legs before he began unbuttoning her top. “Don’t look away. I don’t want you to miss a second of this.”

No amount of embarrassment or self-consciousness could tear Vera’s eyes away from Levi’s. So instead of being bashful, she gripped the hem of his shirt between her fingers before gently pulling it over his head. Discarding the clothing item somewhere in the room, Vera felt goosebumps rise to her skin as she ghosted her hands up Levi’s stomach and chest before settling them on his shoulders. 

“I can’t tell if you’re impressed or horrified,” Levi regarded Vera’s stare with a light chuckle as he leaned closer, dark bangs falling over his eyes. 

“I’m committing you to memory,” she told him as she drifted her eyes up to meet his. “Every last inch of you.”

Levi pressed a kiss to Vera’s nose. “I won’t be gone that long.”

“Still …” Vera ran her hands down his shoulders, over his biceps, and wrapped her slender fingers around his arms. “Just in case. I want to remember you like this, with me. Just us.”

“Just us.” Levi echoed her statement as he trailed kisses along her jaw and down her neck. “You won’t forget a thing, my love. I’ll make sure of it.”