Chapter Text
“So let me see if I can get this all right,” Erwin said and cleared his throat before speaking, “The Titans that have been killing my ranks for years are actually human Eldians that were turned into Titans by the people of Marley. Everyone in the walls can be turned into Titans as we are all Eldian. The walls are made of colossal size Titans that the old king threatened he would use to flatten the world if they attacked us when he brought his people to this island called Paradis. The royal family has the Founding Titan that could be used by or in contact with someone of royal blood to start a “rumbling” that would have the titans in the walls flatten the outside world. The current king is a fake and you believe the real king is hiding the founding Titan power. Is that correct so far?”
“Yes,” Levi answered. Of course, he and everyone in the room other than Erwin knew the founding Titan was actually in Eren. But, after much discussion, they decided it would be best to let Eren and the Survey Corp find that out themselves. It would be too suspicious if they just somehow knew that Grisha managed to take that power when they had no way of knowing at this point.
“And Eren Yeager's father, Grisha, grew up in Marley until he was caught with a group of Eldians that were planning a revolt against Marley. But while everyone was being turned into Titans another Titan shifter saved him and gave him the Attack Titan power that Grisha then gave to Eren the day after wall Maria fell. Before that, he had a son that is now the holding of the Beast Titan and he and the Cart Titan holder want to meet me as well as their revolution group with the goal to help all Eldians. Have I gotten it all right so far?”
“And the Azumabito clan. They also want to meet with you,” Annie added.
“Well yes but it seems they are most interested in Mikasa from what I’ve been told today. May I ask how much of this does Eren know?”
“About as much as you knew before we came into this office,” Levi replied.
“And how much should he be told after this meeting?”
“That will be my call if that is alright with you.”
“And I would like to be the one to tell him about us being titan shifters,” Reiner said referring to him and Annie.
“I’ll allow that for now.” Erwin then shifted his gaze to Reiner and Annie, “The two of you and two others were sent here on a mission to steal back the Founding titan, correct?” They both nodded, “Marley wants to mine up the natural resources of the island we use to make the gas for our ODM gear and so they wanted the Founding titan power back so that they wouldn’t have to worry about the rumbling. But on your way to the walls, you lost one of your friends to a pure titan that changed back to a human who is in the survey corp. Then, after attacking wall Maria, the two of you decided to defect and confessed all of this to Captain Levi, your two friends here, and a few others. But only two of you defected and the other, that the Colossal titan hasn’t and acted alone on the attack on Trost?”
“Exactly,” Reiner replied, “We realized that the people here weren’t the devils we grew up to believe they were and knew we couldn’t help Marley kill you all.”
“Also, Marley has only been able to be so powerful against other nations because they have most of the titans' powers but other nations are now creating easy ways of defeating titans. Once the Eldian people's usefulness of being turned into titans or taking one of the nine titan powers is gone to Marley, they will most likely kill us all.”
“Well I’ll be the first to say thank you for deciding everyone on this island doesn’t deserve to die,” Erwin said, “Now this 13-year curse, there’s no way around it?”
“Unfortunately not. An Eldian can only live for 13 years after they receive the power.”
“I’m sorry to hear about that, but Levi, I am going to request that Eren is informed of this. He should know about how much time he has left if all of this is true.”
“Alright,” Levi replied.
“Now, what proof of all of this do you have?” Erwin asked the group. That’s when Jean stepped in with a packet. He drops it on Erwin's desk.
“There’s the proof,” Jean said, then handed both Reiner and Annie a knife.
“As well as this,” Annie said and she and Reiner used the blade to create a long, deep cut on their arms. Instantly smoke started to appear from the wounds as they started to heal. Erwin watched the smoke and then opened the packet.
Inside was a bundle of things: pictures, a gun to advance to be from Paradis, a book written in a language Erwin couldn’t read, a map of the entire world, files on both Reiner and Annie with photos of their Titan form and a letter written by Zeke for Erwin. Erwin read the letter and the rest stared at him in silence waiting for him to speak.
“I would like to do a few more things to confirm your story before we proceed. For now, I want your four kids to stay in this building. I will let Nile know that you are going to stay here for a few days Annie. Levi, I want you to retrieve Hange and Miche and bring them back here. But before I can dismiss any of you I need to know the name of the person who has the Colossal titan and the Jaw titan.”
“We can give you the Colossal titan name but not the other. We have been asked to keep their identity a secret for now but they are on our side,” Armin replied.
“I’ll allow that for now but not forever. The other name?”
“Before we give you his name we need you to promise us something,” Annie said referring to herself and Reiner, “Our friend will not be killed, tortured, or experimented on, he will be kept in the nicest cell possible that is underground and that the two of us are allowed to visit him whenever we want and will be present in his capturing.”
“I’ll agree to those arrangements. Now his name?”
“Berthdolt Hoover, he’s a new recruit in the Military Police like me,” Annie replied.
“Alright thank you, the four of you are dismissed.” The four were silent leaving Erwin's office with Armin taking Annie's hand to hold while walking out. Once the door closed behind them Jean spoke.
“That went, overall, pretty well.”
“Should we have told him about Historia?” Annie asked, “I mean if they could get her to spill about her family that would really help with getting rid of Ross.”
“But how would we explain how we knew about it? I agree it would help but there is just no way we can explain how we would know about it without even more suspicion being put on us. Besides, it’s best if we let Erwin and the others find some things out themselves.”
“Hey you four,” They all looked up to the source of the voice. It was Ymir, “Follow me.” They all followed her into a small, closet-sized, room. They could sense the anxiety from Ymir despite her best efforts of hiding it.
“So did you keep your promise?” She asked.
“Don’t worry, he doesn’t know you are the Jaw titan,” Jean replied.
“Good,” Ymir replied, “I got info on the real royal family as you asked me to. Took a lot longer to get dirt on them than I thought it would.”
“And?” Reiner asked.
“Turns out the real royal family is the Reiss family. Currently, it’s just Rod Reiss as the rest of his family perished in an accident at their family church the day wall Maria was attacked. So if you want to start looking for who holds the Founding Titan power then I’d say he is a good person to start with. But you’d have to do it carefully. The reason it took me so long to get this information is that higher-ups in the Military police are constantly surrounding this guy.”
“Thank you Ymir, that’s the exact type of info we needed,” Armin said.
“Just make sure you keep your end of the promise and all will be good. Now if you excuse me, I need to go find Crista.” Ymir didn’t wait for anyone to say anything before leaving the room.
“Well, we can now tell Erwin where to start with the hunt for the royal family.”
“You think Ymir knows about Historia yet?” Jean asked.
“Possibly but it wouldn’t seem favorable to tell us from her point of view so I doubt she would tell us,” Armin replied.
“Doesn’t really matter,” Annie added, “It will come out one way or another, eventually.”
A few hours later, next to wall Maria in a section that was only a forest and nothing more, were Levi, Hange, and Moblit. After Levi brought Hange and Miche to Erwin and they were told everything Erwin was told, Erwin sent Hange out to confirm if there were really titans in the walls. As for Miche, he was sent out to look into Grisha Yeager and see if he can find any record of him before the date that he, supposedly, arrived at the walls from Marley. Of course, Hange needed to bring Moblit with them so Erwin sent Levi to go check on the wall as well to make sure nothing happened.
“You know Levi I must say I am a little mad at you right now,” Hange said to Levi as got their gear ready to climb the walls. The plan was simple: climb near the top of the wall, cut a small chunk out, look and see what is inside, cover the hole, then report back to Erwin.
“Why is that four eyes?”
“You learned so much about titans and you kept it from everyone, especially me. You know how useful some of this info could have been a few years ago?” Hange explained.
“If I told you then I risked ruining the chance of this island becoming allies with Zeke’s group in Marley. Believe me when I say it wasn’t exactly easy to keep it all a secret but it was for the best,” replied Levi.
“I understand that but still, it would have been nice to have been on the loop of all of this sooner.”
“Well you're in the loop now, now do you check the walls or keep on talking?”
“Fine, but we will talk about this again later.” The two, along with Moblit, flew up the wall. They stopped and placed their feet around ¾ of the wall length. Levi took out his blade and began to see out a piece of the wall. It took a bit as the walk was made of Titan hardening but after a few minutes, he managed to saw out a human-sized head hole in the wall. He took a look inside and, through the darkness, could make out the side of a Colossal Titan's face.
“Come take a look at these four eyes,” Levi moved away to let Hange take a look. They curiously took a look and a few seconds later the two men could hear them shriek with delight.
“Oh my goodness Moblit, you have to see this! It’s a Titan, a real Titan inside of the walls and if you turn your head there's another Titan! They're so big, almost as big as that Colossal Titan! Oh, Moblit, you must take a look!” Hange yelled with their head still inside the wall.
“Section commander, you need to move for me to be able to look.”
“Oh right!” Hange's head popped out of the hole and a huge grin was on their face, “Take a look.” Moblit moved and put his head in the hole.
“Oh my god,” Moblit said, not sounding nearly as excited as Hange did to see the Titans. In fact, when he moved away from the hole he looked frightened.
“Moblit, did you bring your sketchbook?” Hange asked.
“Yes.”
“Great! We need to get sketches down of these Titans,” Hange then looked at Levi, “Well it looks like you were right, and are there really Titans in all of the walls?” Hange asked with a gleam in their eye.
“Yep.”
“Oh there must be hundreds, maybe even thousands of them then. Isn’t this so exciting Moblit?”
“Only to you section commander, only to you,” Moblit replied with the second part in more of a whisper.
A little while later the three did their best to cover up the hole by putting the piece back and pinning a blanket over the hole. Then they headed back and reported back to Erwin.
Miche arrived back after Hange's group did. In his search, he wasn’t able to find any early record of Grisha and ended up finding out that Keith Shadis had met Grisha in 832 outside the walls. After some questioning, Miche managed to get the truth out of Keith and brought him back to the castle to tell Erwin.
The next day, Armin, Jean, Annie, and Reiner were summoned back to Erwin's office. Levi, Miche, and Hange were there when they entered as well as Erwin.
“After doing some looking into your story it seems like, so far, you were all telling me the truth,” Erwin tells the alliance members.
“Wait which ones are the shifters?” Hange asked, eyeing all the new recruits.
“Us two,” Annie replied, pointing to her and Reiner.
“Oh, you must come by where my lab is some time. I would love to test a few theories on the two of you,” Hange said with a slightly crazy look in their eyes.
“You can test them in due time Hange,” Erwin said then spoke to everyone, “I brought you all here today to discuss the capture of the Colossal Titan shifter Berthdolt Hoover. Tomorrow he will be arriving here along with the MP leader Nile and a few other MP’s. Now, Nile only knows that Bertholdt is believed to be a threat and possible traitor to our government as that is what I told him. Hopefully, Nile took my advice and told young Hoover that the reason they are coming here is to take Eren Yeager away. My plan is this: Nile and the other MP’s leave Hoover stationed in a lone corner of the castle basement corridor. He’ll be told he is to stay guard there in case Eren makes a run for it and tries to escape through the basement. Then Leonhart and Braun will approach and make contact with him. While talking I want one of you to stab him with this.” Erwin pulls out a syringe with a clear liquid in it, “The liquid in this syringe will knock him out in a few seconds once administered into his body. Then, Miche, Levi, and I will help move his body into the cell we have spruced out upon Leonhart and Braun's request. Does anyone have any questions?”
“I have one,” Armin said, “If Bertholdt manages to avoid the syringe and tries to escape then what?”
“Good question. In the case that Bertholdt does manage to try and escape, I want you, Kirstein and the rest of us to be waiting for him at both ends of the hall. I will also be giving each of you a syringe to use. But remember, if this does happen, our goal is to keep this capture as secretive as possible so use as much force as necessary except for death to make sure he does not leave that hall. Once he is captured and in the cell, the MP’s will leave. I want nothing said of Bertholdt's capture unless it comes from or I have given permission for anyone to tell anyone else. Any other questions?” No one spoke up, “Then we will all meet up at the castle entrance at 7 in the morning tomorrow. You are all dismissed.” Miche and Hange took their leave but the others stayed. Levi was going to leave but sensed that the others still had something to say.
“Commander Erwin,” Armin began, “We think we know who could possibly be the real king.”
“Who?”
“Rod Reiss.”
“And where did this information come from?”
“The Jaw Titan holder has been looking into the royal family for a while now. They say that Rod Reiss lost his family in an accident in their church the day Wall Maria was attacked and that now Rod is constantly surrounded by higher-up MP’s.” Erwin took a moment to think before responding.
“I don’t know much about Rod Reiss but he will definitely be a starting point. I’ll have to speak to Nile about those higher-ups tomorrow. Let me speak to him then and I’ll let you know what he says.”
“Thank you, sir,” Armin responded. After that the rest left, leaving Erwin alone in his office.
“I bet you're pleased with yourself right now father,” Erwin whispered to himself.
Outside, Mikasa and Eren were spending their free time sparing with Oulo watching them on a nearby bench. Eren had asked her to spar with him as he wanted to see whether his Titan abilities had given him extra strength. It hadn’t. He lasted maybe ten seconds each time before Mikasa pins him down.
“Eren, you're getting your ass beat!” Oulo yelled at Eren after he got pinned once again.
“I’m aware!” Eren angrily yelled back.
“We can stop if you want,” Mikasa suggested.
“No way, I know I can beat you,” Eren claimed, sounding pretty confident for someone who has lost over ten times. Mikasa just sighed and took her fighting position again.
She decided that this time she will let him be the one to make the first move. He took a step forward and went for her legs but she easily dodged and used him leaning over to her advantage by grabbing his arm, moving to his side, and using her other hand to push him to the ground.
“Dammit,” he mumbled into the dirt.
“Let’s take a water break,” Mikasa suggested and Eren, grudgingly, agreed. The two got water and sat down on a close-by patch of grass. Eren's determination to fight was looking like it was gone.
“So what do you think is going on with our friends that are having a meeting with commander Erwin? Think they are talking about me?” Eren asked.
“Possibly,” Mikasa replied.
“If that is it then Jean better keep his horse mouth shut about me.”
“You think he would say something to get you executed by the MP’s?”
“There’s a possibility. Especially with Reiner and Annie in there. Either of them never really liked me.”
“Well, Armin is there so you shouldn’t worry about that.”
“I guess. Hey Mikasa?”
“Yeah?”
“Did I really try to kill you when I was a Titan?” That was a question that had been haunting Eren since Trost.
“Eren, you didn’t have any control over yourself.”
“But did I try to kill you?” It felt like minutes before Mikasa replied.
“Yes, but I know that wasn’t you.”
“Good because I would never try to hurt you. No matter what.”
“You already have,” Mikasa thought to herself.
“I know,” She replied, “And I would never do anything to hurt you.” The lie felt like venom coming out of her mouth. She has tried to hurt him, hell she tried to behead him before being sent back in time. Mikasa watched as Eren's eyes moved to the ground around them as if something had just caught his eye.
“Weren’t these the same flowers like the ones at the place where the Garrison tried to kill us?” Mikasa looked down to see the purple flowers.
“I think so.”
“Weird.” Eren picked a few of the nicest flowers and crunched them up to look like a bouquet and handed them to Mikasa, “Here.” Mikasa hated herself for how such an innocent act of him handing her flowers made her heart flutter. Then something or someone else caught her eye and made her jump to her feet.
“You okay Mikasa?” Eren asked in confusion and worry. He looked around but, other than Oulo, no one was nearby. Mikasa replied so he got up and took one of her hands in his attempt to get her attention, “Mikasa, are you okay?” He asked even more concerned this time. After a few seconds, she finally spoke.
“Yeah I’m fine,” Mikasa said in a small voice that Eren barely heard. Despite her words, she was still staring at the same place. Eren looked again but nothing was there.
Except there was something, or should I say, someone was there but only Mikasa could see him. It was Eren. Not the Eren that was currently trying to get her attention and had given her flowers. But the one she grew up with, the one who broke her heart then massacred the world. At that moment she felt like she was back in her old, 19-year-old body.
“Eren,” She said without thinking.
“Yeah?” This timeline Even replied. He was honestly starting to panic, “Oulo! I think something is wrong with my friend!” He shouted at the older man.
“What did you confess to her or something?” Oulo yelled back as he made his way to the two. He waved in front of her face, poked her arm, and did anything he could think to get her to break her stare but nothing worked, “She’s in shock or something.” Mikasa could hear the two but it was only a whisper to her. Her Eren wasn’t moving, just looking. Looking at her, with a sad expression. Then, in front of her eyes, he disappeared.
“What do we do?” Eren asked.
“Can you carry her?” At the same moment, as Oulo's words were coming out of his mouth, Mikasa collapsed to the ground.