AUTHOR'S POV:
In a dark room with a lantern dimly lighting, Armin was sitting at a table.
There was a notebook which was Armin's personal diary and a seashell on the table.
He started writing something.
'Eren is doing everything on his own now. I don't know what caused the gradual change in him... Was it because of what we found in the basement or something else...
How he managed to plan everything on his own is still a mystery for me. It's almost like someone is guiding or worse, manipulating him... But who it could be?
He doesn't seem like the person to easily be manipulated...
Even if Marley is our enemy, the destruction we caused there seems so wrong. We just stooped to their level now...
May be... Three years ago, we might have changed something...'
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[THREE YEARS AGO]
In the dark night, a Marleyan ship was making its way to Paradis Island.
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The Marleyan Soldier's Captain was looking through binoculars, standing near the ledge of the ship as a soldier rushed over to him.
"Captain!" The soilder called out. "The team that went ashore hasn't made contact for two hours!"
"Hmm." The Captain hummed and looked at the soilder. "Prepare to send teams two and three."
The soldier saluted. "Yes, sir!" He turned around and ran off.
"This island of devils defeated the Warrior's Unit. Whatever the cost, Marley must learn what happened." The Captain said.
Suddenly, the ship started to tip over and got lifted in the air as the Marleyan soldiers stumbled and rolled around while letting out shrieks.
The Captain was quick to hold onto the railings, shouting to everyone. "Hang on!" The captain then looked down and gasped at the sight beneath the ship.
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The Attack Titan emerged from the water, holding the ship with both hands and having it rest on his back.
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"I-It's a devil!" The Captain yelled in fear.
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The Attacking Titan carried the whole ship on his shoulder to the land.
Once there, he dropped the ship on the ground. Because of the shook from the impact, the Marleyan soldiers on the ground.
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The Attacking Titan just remained standing behind the ship.
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Hange rushed her way over and waving her left arm in the air. "Hello friends from Marley!" She held her arms out. "Welcome to Paradis Island!"
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The Marleyan soldiers all groaned, holding their heads or sides before sitting straight up and looking at Hange with wide eyes.
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Hange grinned and bowed. "I'm Hange, here to greet our guests who've come so far across the sea!" She then held her arms out again and smirked. She turned to her right and formed a close-eye, nervous smile and held her hands to her side. "Now, step this way and join us for some tea!" She let out a nervous chuckle.
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Behind her was Levi and a Marleyan soldier with blond hair, his face was filled with fear.
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"By the way, we're already friends with this guest that arrived before you!" Hange continued, approaching the soldier and placed a hand on his shoulder while putting her free hand on his chest, chuckling nervously.
The soldier tensed at her touch until Hange brought him close and laughed.
"Isn't that right, Nicolo?!" Hange asked.
Nicolo's eyes widened from fear once more as he felt a blade dig on his back, while Levi glared at him.
He shut his eyes, sweat trailing down his face as he let out whimpers before he opened his eyes and began screaming. "Captain! Forget about me and shoot these devils!"
"What are you saying, Nicolo?!" Hange asked and chuckled and got close to his face, making him shriek again.
"Captain!" Nicolo yelled.
Levi just eyed the back of Nicolo's head. "He's tired of your shitty skit."
The captain glared at Levi and Hange, grinding his teeth together as he growled. "Nicolo! Understand this you devils!" He stood up and aimed his gun at them. "Marley doesn't mingle with filthy blood! Go drink your pig piss with your filthy friends!"
"Aww! Hey! You sure you wanna be rude to us?!" Hange asked them. "Can't you see the Titan behind you?!"
The soldiers quickly look behind them and saw the Attacking Titan standing tall and looking down at them.
The soldiers gasped but the Captain turned around and rushed to the edge of the ship, pointing his gun yet again at them. "We'll never yield to you devils! Say hello to this!"
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Hange let out a screech.
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Then a bullet was shot.
It was silent for a moment until Hange peeked over a rock, where she was hiding.
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Mikasa, Faye, Connie, Armin and Sasha, who was holding a rifle stared in shock when they saw the captain was shot straight through the side of the head.
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The soldiers stared at their action as a soldier glared and pointed his gun at them. "Hands up, Yelena!"
Yelena, simply turned to the soldier and pointed her gun at him. "Drop your weapons."
At her words, half of the Marleyan soldiers on the ship pulled their guns out and pointed them at the soldiers.
"What are you...?" The soilder asked, looking from his shoulder.
"Do as she says." Onyankopon said.
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Yelena removed her helmet off and smiled up at Hange. "Hange-san, I'd be happy to accept your invitation." She slightly held her arms out. "Let's have tea."
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Both Levi and Hange looked shocked what just happened.
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Yelena turned around and looked up at the Attack Titan, who was still staring down at them. She smiled at him. "I've longed to meet you, Eren."
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The Squad was outside guarding the tents from a far distance.
"That huge lady of theirs shot and killed her comrade." Connie mumbled as he looked down at the tents. "Wonder what her goal is."
Sasha just let out a little groans, resting her chin against the rock, as she started to fall asleep.
"That's they only know." Faye said. "But I don't think we can trust her."
Sasha let out a small yawn, which made Mikasa come over and pulled on Sasha's ponytail. "No napping, Sasha." Sasha just groaned in response.
Armin smiled down at the tents. "But their willingness to share information is unbelievably lucky for us."
"We are lucky just this time, Armin." Eren said, sitting on a rock. Everyone, except Sasha, look at him. "We stopped their landing by pure chance. If Marley comes in force, we'll be screwed. We've gotta do something."
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Hange was currently looking through of one of Marley's guns gazing in awe before pulling the gun away from her face and reload the magazine. "Ah! I see! That's how it shoots a bunch!" She smiled, exaiming the gun once more.
"That's standard-issue on Marley." Yelena explained and held a cup of tea and took a sip.
Hange continued gawking at the gun with a big smile while Levi looked Yelena.
"The Marley army had 20.000 soldiers per devision. With 50 devisions, that's 1.000.000 soldiers." Yelena said.
Hange looked at her with her jaw dropped.
"There's also the navy with three fleets, each compromised of 21 battleships. They've made tremendous progress in new weapons and aerial warfare as well." Yelena said.
Hange furrowed her brows. "Aerial...?"
Levi gave her a light nudge against her lap, when she said this. He narrowed his gaze and scolded her in his head. 'Don't freak out or they'll think we're weak.'
She looked back at him and answered in her head back, as if she heard him. 'I know.'
"In other words, vehicles allowing one attack the enemy from the sky." Onyankopon said.
"Huh?! From the sky?!" Hange yelled, jumping to her feet with her jaw dropped again.
Levi sent another look at her. "Hey!"
Hange shut her mouth and formed a nervous smile, sweat was trailing down her face. "If Marley had such capabilities this whole time, why haven't they attacked in over a year?"
Yelena put her cup down, eyes on it. "There are two main reasons. One being the Pure Titans released here. Even with the latest weapons, they would hinder a land assault. They were used as a tool to confine Eldians within the walls." Hange sat back down. "But in turn, they've protected Eldia from invasion."
"Yeah. Well, ain't that funny?" Levi commented.
Yelena looked over her right shoulder and saw a bright light slowly rising. "Though dawn is coming soon and that's when Titans are active. But if we're way out here, sipping on tea outside the walls, you must have killed all the Titans roaming around." She turned back to them. "Is that true?"
"And what if it is? You're gonna report it to Marley?" Levi asked in a sharp tone.
Yelena's eyes widened. "No, it blows away expectations."
Hange formed a firm line across her lips. "And the second reason?"
Yelena returned to her neutral expression. "Currently, Marley is at war with multiple nations. They can't be bothered with Paradis." She took a sip of tea. "You defeated the Warrior unit, the pride of Marley, and captured two of their main weapons, the Colossal and Female Titan." She formed a smirk. "Marley's many enemies took notice and were quick to unite and declare war." She took another sip of tea.
Hange furrow her brows. "If you guys are secret agents who infiltrated Marley, I'm guessing you came from conquered nations?" Yelena's and Onyankopon's eyes widened at her words, which made Hange smirk and pointed at them. "Oh I'm right?! If you're going up against Marley, I bet you've got big backers!" She closed her hand into a fist and placed thumb and index finger under her chin.
Yelena put the cup down and looked to the side. "We're not secret agents or anything of the sort." Onyakopon looked at her but said nothing. "We were powerless. Marley took our homes and forced us to be soldiers." She looked away from her. "We were close to losing hope at ever striking back. Until we met him."
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Yelena was on a boat in the ocean, wearing Marley military uniform. She stared up at the Beast titan.
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"A Titan that people in the world feared, calling it a devil. But I saw something completely different..."
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She stared at him with admiration.
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"A god. One that gave hope to the powerless."
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"Under Zeke Yeager's command, we shot our superiors. We're the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers. Our goal: To free the Eldian people." Yelena said.
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The sun started to rise in the background.
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Back within the walls, the regiments were all gathered in the meeting room and discussed the new appearances of the Marleyan soldiers.
The Scouts including Erwin were on the right side, the Garrison in the middle and the Military Police on the left side.
In front of them were Zachary, Historia and another high-ranked soldier beside her.
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"That concludes Zeke Yeager's requests." Hange said, standing and reading off from pieces of multiple papers. "For the sake of Eldians whose existence is threatened-"
"Absurd!" A voice cut her off, making everyone looking over to a high-ranked officer who had his narrowed gaze up at Hange. "I don't even want to hear it!"
"He's the Beast Titan!" A Military Police officer added. "He turned the people of Ragako into Titans and incited a panic! This is the same person who nearly annihilated the Scouts!"
The Scouts stayed silent, looking at that soldier while Zachary propped his elbows on the table and intertwined his hands together.
"His one and only goal is to retake the Founding Titan. Since he can't do it by force, he'll attempt it diplomatically." The MP said.
Pixis spoke up from his seat. "He should know we'll expect that." He turned his head to Hange. "Let's hear what else he has to say."
Hange looked at him for a moment before she went back to reading the papers. "According to Zeke, he has a secret plan to solve the Eldian issue. To carry it out, it requires the Founding Titan and a Titan with royal blood."
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Eren raised his brows and opened his mouth slightly at those words.
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"With both, the world can be saved. However, he will only reveal the plan when his conditions are met." Hange said.
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Armin noticed Eren's expression from the corner of his eyes and turned to him.
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"Bullshit!" A Garrison soldier yelled and crossed his arms while he leaned back in his seat.
"He must think we're idiots!" Another soldier yelled.
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Everyone just stared at the two until Eren suddenly shot up in his seat and placed his hands on the table.
His chair was pushed away while he stared at the table with wide eyes.
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Mikasa, Faye and Armin stared at him in surprise.
"Eren?" Armin muttered.
"He's telling the truth." Eren exclaimed. "I remember... The one time I was able to use the Founding Titan's power was when I touched a Titan with royal blood. That Titan had to be my father's other wife, Dina Fritz. Zeke, Dina's son, must have figured out a way to elude the vow of renouncing war. The single hope remaining for us Eldians: To wake the millions of Titans sleeping in the Walls and activate the rumbling."
"You..." Levi said with furrowed eyebrows and Eren looked at him. "Why did you keep quiet about this for so long?"
"I was concerned for Historia's safety." Eren replied. Historia perked up at that, her eyes slightly increasing and her mouth parted. "I couldn't let her get made into a Titan based on a some hunch of mine." They continued to look at him. "Yeah, it was careless of me."
"We'll talk about this later." Levi said.
Hange had sweat rolling down her face. "But if that's really true," She turned around and placed two fingers against her temple, "Zeke's secret plan holds up."
"Are you nuts?!" Nile yelled. "You trust them?!"
"Yeah!" A Garrison member added on. "We can't have all those soldiers on the island!"
"We oughta hang them all!" A Military Police officer stated, which made Hange narrow her gaze at them.
"No, we can't do that." Hange replied. "To protect the island from Marley's scout ships, we need the volunteers. Without their wireless radio..."
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It was night time.
Two Marley ships were making their way to Paradis.
One of the Marleyan soldiers was listening through the wireless radio, until he heard a faint voice coming through.
"This is... fir... scout fleet. Request... aid."
The soldier tried quickly, by tuning the radio, to get a better connection.
"This is... first scout fleet."
After he got a better connection, he pressed his headphones close and spoke in the mic.."Second fleet. Go ahead."
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"What a relief!" Yelena's said on the wireless radio. "Our ship ran ground! We've been waiting for your help!"
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"We're on the way! In the cove, huh? How many ships?" As he got an answer, he replied to her. "Don't worry! Two are headed your way!"
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Onyankopon and a Marley soldier were on the abandoned ship, they were holding onto the railing and waved to the incoming ships.
On three small boats were a few soldiers.
"Hey!" One of them called to them. "You okay? We're coming to get you!"
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Suddenly a huge, blue, electricity field errupted to their right side.
The Colossal Titan slowly stood up.
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"It's the Colossal Titan!"
"How?!"
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Because of the transformation, the waves got aggressive and hit the soldiers on the small boats and on the ships.
They screamed and grunted while trying to stay on the boats.
"Hey! It's the Enemy!" the Marleyan soldier cried, pointing at the Titan.
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"Hurry! Jump!" Onyankopon yelled at them.
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The soldiers began jumping off the ships and started to swim away.
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The bright blue light died down.
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A Marleyan soldier climbed himself onshore, letting out pants until he felt a gun pressed against his forehead.
He looked up and saw Levi holding the gun and kneeling while other Scouts held their guns and aimed them at the soldiers behind him.
"Welcome to the filthy island of filthy devils." Levi greeted him. "You're gonna love it. As long as you like pig piss."
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The soldiers held their arms up when they noticed that they were surrounded.
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"You can leave if you want, but not on a ship. Are you good at swimming?" Levi asked.
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The Colossal Titan looked down at them, standing still as he listened to them.
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'It was fun back then. Certainly, we Eldians are feared and hated by the world.' Armin wrote on his diary. 'By people across the sea whose faces we don't know. But not everyone across the sea was our enemy. And we found out the world itself was complex and full of unknowns.'
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A blueprint was spread out on the table and Sasha and Connie looked down at it in wonder and interest.
Hange, Yelena, Onyankopon and the rest of the squad, apart from Levi and Eren, were in the room, too. They were discussing things to the group they were amazed from it.
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"By the way, why do you have dark skin, Onyankopon?" Sasha asked him curiously.
The others looked at her when they heard that.
Onyankopon was surprised by that question, but then he smirked and placed his right hand on his chin. "Because our creator thought it's more interesting with a mix of people." They looked at him with wide eyes. "You subjects of Ymir are the same. We exist because we were wanted."
"Who created us?" Armin asked him.
Onyankopon held his arms out. "The one who gave the Founder power. God." A short moment of silence followed and sweat rolled down his face. "That's what some people believe. Aren't we free to think what we want?"
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It was another day, they were at a port, which was in the progress to be built, standing in front of a table with different seafood were Mikasa, Faye Armin, Connie, Sasha.
Yelena and Nicolo were with them, too.
"What the hell is this food? Is it even edible?" Connie asked.
"Smells fishy." Mikasa said.
"But looks good." Faye said.
"You've never had seafood?" Yelena asked them with a smile. She pointed with her right hand at Nicolo behind her, who was cooking. "Nicolo's a master of Marleyan cooking."
Connie, Sasha and Jean looked at the food with wide eyes.
"Jerks. If you don't like it, don't eat. Eldians like you don't-" Nicolo said but was cut off when Sasha took an emotional bite out of the lobster.
She began to eat more and more. "So good!"
The others stared at her with wide eyes and dropped jaws.
"Hey!" Connie called out.
Sasha began to cry over the good food. "Nicolo! You're a food genius!"
Nicolo stared at her shocked, then he blushed from her words. "S-Stop eating like a pig!"
Sasha continued to eat and cried while doing so.
Connie began to eat from a lobster, too.
"I've never had anything like this!" Sasha mumbled.
Nicolo turned back to cooking. "There's plenty take your time."
Sasha continued to cry behind him.
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Nicolo stared at the pots in front of him, still blushing.
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Later that day, Eren was shooting at glass bottles with a rifle with Mikasa, Faye and Armin by his side.
Armin was sitting on a box behind Eren while Mikasa and Faye stood beside Armin with rifles in their hand.
"The port will be finished soon!" Armin said. "Thanks to the Marleyan engineers, building it's been quick."
Mikasa looked at him. "They've sure been cooperative."
Armin held his hands over his ears when Eren shoot again. He put his hands down and looked back at Mikasa. "It went bad at first since neither side trusted the other. But given enough time, if we set aside our labels and see each other as people, we can understand eachother."
Eren looked at him for a moment, before he looked away and aimed at the glass bottles. "I see... Armin. Have you seen Bertolt's memories?"
Armin's eyes widened. "Huh? Yeah, but there's nothing that seems helpful."
"There's not much time." Eren said. "Zeke has less than three years left."
"Yeah, about that..." Armin said. "Do we really want to go along with Yelena's plan?"
"What's the problem?" Mikasa asked him.
"Is using the rumbling to threaten the world the only way to protect Eldians? Then we will be the devils that terrorize the world." Armin said. Eren shot another bottle. "Before it comes to that, can't we talk? If we can fix Marley and the world's misconception..."
"Misconception of us being devils?" Faye asked.
"Yeah..." Armin replied.
"I can't say I blame them." Eren said. "I mean we can literally turn into something that had terrorize them for years."
"But still, we should focus on how to convince them that..." Armin trailed off.
"Armin. We know you wanted the conflict to end in a peaceful way but, that's not even near possible when the whole world is against us." Faye said and Armin looked down.
"And even if we managed to end the conflict in peace, there is no guarantee that the peace will last long." Eren said and turned to him. "Seems like we have to end the conflict by force..."
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'I wonder... Did we make the right choice?' Armin wrote down. 'I can't help but think: Could there have been some other path?' He placed the pencil down.
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Someone was standing over a sink dropping wet. The person let out a breath, hair hanging down in their face.
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Sasha was at a infirmary with Mikasa, Faye and Connie by her side.
Her left hand was bandaged up to her neck.
"It will take me a month to recover but I am advised not to use ODM gear for now." Sasha explained.
"That's good to know." Mikasa said.
"Nicolo was asking about you by the way." Connie said with a smirk.
"Huh? What's with that face?" Sasha asked, slightly blushing.
"Oh. Nothing." Connie replied. "May be, he is on his way here..."
Sasha's eyes widened. "Re-really?"
"Yeah." Connie replied.
"When is the marriage then?" Faye asked.
"Oh, shut it, Faye." Sasha said, blushing. Then she turned to her. "When are you confessing to Armin?"
"Huh?" Faye asked, blushing. "How do you..."
"Well, it's obvious." Mikasa said with a smile.
Faye looked down in embarassment. "I will... Soon..." Then she suddenly looked at Mikasa. "And what about you?" She smirked.
"What about me?" Mikasa asked, confused.
"You and Eren, Mikasa." Sasha said and smirked.
Mikasa blushed slightly and covered her face with her res scarf. "Nothing-"
"Sorry to interrupt you." Nicolo said, standing at the doorway.
"No. It's ok." Sasha assured him.
"So... How are you now?" Nicolo asked.
"I am fine now." Sasha replied. "It will take a month to fully recover."
"I see..." Nicolo said and turned to his left, slightly blushing. "Umm... I want to... I want to treat you and your parents at my restaurant!" He blurted out.
Sasha's eyes widened. "Really? I sure will come!"
"Th-Thanks..." Nicolo said. "I should get going now." He left.
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A carriage was making it's way down the street.
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Citizens were reading the newspaper.
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Zeke looked out of the window before he turned to the person in front of him. "You guys calling it a victory. Isn't ignorance a scary thing?"
Levi, who was sitting in the carriage with him, glared at him. "If I send body to Marley and reveal your your dead little plot, your gramps and granny are done for. But if this secret plan of yours is real, I can wait to chop you up. Either way works for me."
"I appreciate your graciousness." Zeke said. "But don't I get to meet Eren first and Faye too?
"Don't be in such a hurry. We've got the finest hotel for you. You can stay and relax a while." Levi said.
It was silent for a while before Zeke spoke again. "Hey... Can you please stop glaring at me?"
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Many bottles and syringes were placed on a table.
Yelena and the other Marleyans stood together, they looked nervous apart from her.
Garrison soldiers were pointing guns at them.
"This is all of the Titan serum we stole from Marley." Yelena explained. "But you you'll have trouble reproducing it"
"No, we should manage fine with this much." Pixis said, standing in front of her. "I only wish we could properly thank you. We owe you so much already. We were ignorant, but you gave us hope. For us, to suspect you, we're truly no better than devils."
"For three years, we've done nothing but show we're friends of the Eldians." Yelena said. "It's unfortunate. The guns we brought were meant to give Eldians freedom."
"I know it's selfish to ask, but can you overlook our cautiousness for a while?" Pixis asked her. "We have to keep Zeke on tight leash."
"It's fine Commander Pixis. We'll dine at the same table again soon." Yelena said.
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Zeke and Levi were in front of the Forest of Giant trees.
Levi sat on his horse, while Zeke stood beside him.
"That is my hotel?" Zeke asked in disbelief, his jaw dropped.
"You got a problem with it?" Levi asked him. "It's a forest of giant trees. I can't think of a better place for you."
Zeke closed his mouth before answering. "Might be lots of fun with Odm gear." He turned to look at Levi. "Hey, captain Levi. Think I could show Gabi and Falco this natured wonder?"
Levi looked down at him. "Tsk. Whether they see the sights or not depends on you."
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The evening sun shone at the prison Gabi and Falco were kept.
Falco was sitting on the bed, looking at the bars.
Gabi sat on the other bed in the prison cell. "Eren... Yeager."
A guard slightly opened the prison door. "Here is your food." He put two tray down in which there were two bowls of soup and two breads.
Falco got off the bed and walked towards it. "Thanks." He picked the tray up and brought it to Gabi. "You should-"
"How can you expect me to eat something those devils made?" Gabi yelled.
Falco let out a sigh and gave up. "Fine..." He began eating.
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Putting his wet hair in a bun, Eren stared at himself in the mirror.
"The only way to win is to fight."
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